The Reason Your Class is so Hard May Not Be Your Fault

The first college class I attended was a math lecture in an auditorium with two-hundred or so other freshmen. With a few small exceptions here and there, it was pretty much what I expected it to be; a boring math class with too much boring homework that was too early in the morning.

Two years later, and there is really only one aspect of the class I remember; having no idea what the professor was saying (and not because I didn’t understand the material we were learning, although for the record, I didn’t understand the material we were learning). The reason for my confusion was, to put it bluntly, the guy couldn’t speak English.

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Okay, yes, that’s an exaggeration. He would not have been hired if he couldn’t speak English (hopefully). But this professor just wasn’t very clear. Admittedly a math class need not require a master of linguistic interpretation as a professor, however, the bare minimum should at least be raised. If, for ninety-percent of the lecture the majority of students believe “C” to be equal to “P,” and “Z” to be equal to “B,” and are confused as to how that could possibly be the case if the numbers do, in fact, add up, then the realization with five minutes left in class, that “C” is actually “Z,” and “B” is actually “P,” and that the professor’s handwriting is no clearer than his accent, hardly makes up for 50 minutes of confusion.

This analysis invites another criticism; “if the professor has good handwriting, it shouldn’t matter how capable he or she is of speaking English.” In a perfect world, sure, but last I checked, the Indians weren’t winning the World Series every year. One of the reasons I chose to go to college is because I am an interactive learner. I like to hear a concept delineated and explained in order for me to understand it (unless it’s math, in which case I need a lot more than a little interaction). This should not be too much to ask. If I didn’t want a professor to explain things to me I could take an online class instead. Hell, I could buy the textbook and skip every lecture; but I don’t (not every lecture).

Before I go any further I feel the need to clarify a point; I don’t think that the lack of English as a first language is a reason not to be permitted to teach. In fact, many of my best professors have not been as proficient in English as I would have liked them to be. The point at issue, rather, is the ability to present in a clear way, and thus, the issue is not limited to a mastery of the English language.

Indeed, my complaint makes no distinction between a professor who struggles to convey or clarify material as a result of a language deficiency and a professor who struggles to convey or clarify material due to the inability to annunciate, or to speak loudly enough, or to speak slowly enough, or… you get the gist. Thus, I feel that the solution lies in a case-by-case method of assessment. While this already exists to an extent (the hiring process, for one), it seems that there are holes in the system (full disclosure, this is entirely from personal experience and that of colleagues).

And math is by no means the only course that suffers from an English deficient professor. In fact, foreign language classes are often the worst in this regard. Though it is generally a requirement that foreign language professors teach only in the language the class is learning, there are several instances in which these teachers are called upon to speak English, and in which a deficiency is both likely and extremely detrimental.

Because foreign language professors are often subject to less stringent English proficiency policies than teachers of other courses, the problem is often exacerbated during the translation aspects of these classes. If a student needs extra help, for example, and attends a professor’s office hours, the confusion the student initially felt may be only heightened by the language gap. I have had friends lament the fact that they were unclear about the meaning of a certain phrase in a language they were learning, but that the professor was unable to understand the nature of their questions, and was thus, unable to clarify the meaning of the foreign passage.

Again, however, I do not mean to suggest that there is a particular class in which the failure to speak English sufficiently is any more noticeably detrimental. Ultimately, if a professor’s inability to comprehensibly speak English is unavoidably harmful to the learning environment, something should be done to remedy the situation. If, on the other hand, you slept through every class and then failed the final, “my professor couldn’t speak English” is hardly a legitimate excuse.