Graduate Studies for L2 Learners

Several important concepts stand out from the readings for this week. George Braine points out that the level of academic literacy required of students in graduate school involves “more than the ability to read and write effectively” (60). Graduate students must have a solid knowledge of their subject matter, good research skills, as well as “sound social skills” evidenced by frequent opportunities for communication with others within their department. In addition, despite the relationship of one’s writing skills to success in graduate courses, case study research indicates that “a collaborative relationship” with one’s advisor “is essential to” the success of the student (65).

Graduate students whose first language is other than English face additional challenges than do native speakers of English, as the article by Canagarajah points out. In the past few decades, teachers have focused on grammatical proficiency and cultural differences between students representing various multilingual groups. However, as Canagarajah has noted, these pedagogical concerns are perhaps not as important in today’s world, since, due to the increased globalization of English and Anglo/American culture, many ESL students are more aware than in previous years of “Western linguistic/cultural characteristics” (10), and therefore, they have developed a rather “hybrid” (11) perspective in terms of their “composing strategies” in English (12).  The challenges faced by non-native speaking graduate students of today involve the need to understand and negotiate the “identities, values, and discourses” (21) that these multilingual/multicultural students have brought with them in relationship to those of the dominant language/culture and its implicit ideologies.

I found the “social skills” aspect of graduate student development quite interesting. As important as knowledge of one’s subject matter and the ability to express oneself both orally and in writing must be, it seems equally (or more) important to possess the social aptitude for successful interactions with others in the department to be truly successful in a graduate program. This seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of graduate school for an L2 learner.