The Content of Intensive English Courses
I have elucidated salient rationale for IEC to be offered to CIS. I will then illustrate what content should be taught in IEC below.
Cultural Elements in Communication
Given the difference between high-context culture and low-context culture (Guirdham, 2005), the content in IEC should teach CIS to master appropriate English expressions and then contribute to their communications with other students. I suggest that Canadian culture, especially Quebec culture should be embedded in IEC courses. WholeRen (2015) claims that more and more CIS have been dropping out of schools in North America because they are not able to adjust to the environment in host countries (e.g., Canada, the US). What is more, CIS may need to elaborate on Chinese culture in their communications with other students. Hence, IEC should also contain special modules for expressing Chinese culture in English (e.g., the Chinese cuisine, the traditional Chinese constructions, etc.)
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Writing, Speaking, & Other Language Issues
Writing & Speaking
Researchers have showed that while writing and speaking are very challenging for CIS, reading and listening are relatively easy (Andrade, 2006; Berman & Cheng, 2010; Huang & Klinger, 2006). Due to the test-oriented learning style, CIS develop their English skills unevenly. Their listening and reading skills are better than their writing and speaking skills. Unlike the current AEC courses offered by the McGill Writing Centre, the IEC will enable CIS to improve their writing and speaking skills from the very basic level. For example, Galloway and Rose (2015) identify that Chinese students misuse articles (i.e., a(n), the) and pronounce /s/, /z/ incorrectly.
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Colloquial English & Idioms
In regard to the speaking obstacles, I suggest that colloquial English and idioms should be embedded into IEC. At McGill, all students are required to actively participate in class discussions and deliver presentations; however, in the discussions and presentations, they are not necessarily to use academic English or jargon to get ideas across. For example, I noticed that my Canadian classmates would apply colloquial English and English idioms to express their ideas. In this way, some difficult concepts could be easily understood by the audience. Even though these informal English are frequently spoken in an English context, CIS may never have opportunity to grasp any of these informal factors before they come to an English speaking country (e.g., Canada).
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