Immigrants, Students, and Language

I think this long question can be summed up pretty easily in regards to the difference between immigrants and students abroad when learning English. In short, a student studying abroad at a University for an extended period of time will have a greater advantage over an immigrant learning English through immersion alone. Simply put, the student abroad comes equipped with not only the resources involved for learning English, but also, the student likely has predetermined goals set by their institution which act as motivators for the student to reach certain levels of proficiency. To study in the US is a qualifier of competency, since students who come to study in the US are likely distinguished individuals from their home university. On the other hand, immigrants (lets use immigrants from Mexico, for example) arrive with limited resources for quick learning (such as: english speaking friends, ESL programs, or any L2 background). Most immigrants will rely on immersion techniques, or online classrooms to improve their English skills. One strength in learning this way is that one's English becomes adept at understanding cultural nuances such as local slang, and how to emote. Another strength is that their English will improve gradually at a natural pace as a long as they use it. And lastly, later generations will more than likely grow up being bilingual.

For immigrants, skills such as listening and speaking will come more naturally since daily immersion and survival is their primary tool for learning. Meanwhile, reading and writing can easily be neglected since it requires study of complex rules and grammar within the language. As for other weaknesses, immigrants coming to an English speaking country usually don't arrive alone considering most will immigrate with their families. Therefore, if the need is not there for learning English - it becomes easy to get in the habit of only speaking their native tongue. Also, the task of learning an entire language can become daunting, and thus producing a lack of motivation for an immigrant to seek out fluency.

As for students abroad, like I said before many come well-equipped with a history of language learning and a motivation for studying English - be it for a job, school, or research. Their strengths lie within the resources granted to them via their university, and the self-efficacy they have built up through the years to accomplish their goals. However, students studying abroad also have some weaknesses. The most prominent is "clique-ing" with other students from their home country. When this happens these students don't seek out English speaking friends, and therefore lose the all essential immersion experience. Another risk is that students only develop high levels within the technicals, (reading and writing) since schools require mostly reading and writing for assignments. And even here there is a great deal of leniency universities have towards international students when it comes to accuracy in their work. Therefore,  the focus while learning English abroad can become "how to write a grammatically correct sentence," "how to read more efficiently," and other basic survivor skills. And less on learning how to listen intently and how to speak with confidence and cohesion.

Therefore, the skills I would (and have offered) for students studying abroad is the opportunity to not only speak with a native speaker in a casual and comfortable setting, but also provide interesting background information about the words they are learning and the cultural they are immersed into. I believe part of learning to speak a language is also learning the emotion and cultural semantics behind the words in which we are using. In this way, the language becomes attached cognitively to something tangible, while being supported by the power of emotion. And therefore making things like recall, long term memory, and flow much easier to produce.