As foreign-language instructors at SLU, last week’s report on the struggles of international students left us appalled at the failure of the administration to understand the fundamental nature either of international study or of second-language acquisition in general.

That incoming international students be required to meet general English-language criteria is understandable, but the policy of denying registration upon failure, and especially of requiring them to enroll in ESL classes, is ridiculous.

Admission of such a student’s application itself presupposes more facility in English than could ever be gained in an ESL class. Furthermore these students (by their own report) have already long since completed such basic courses in their countries of origin.

As undergraduate German majors, we knew the only path to fluency was immersion in a German curriculum, so we applied to an exchange program at Universit?t-Hannover. Our international studies office suggested we spend an additional month in a GSL class. Having already gone through the 400-level of German in America, we believed we had gone as far as we could without immersion, so we refused. The first few weeks of classes in Germany were difficult, but we got into the groove before we knew it.

Our experience wasn’t unique-it’s the hallmark of foreign language acquisition. If international students who failed their English exams could be allowed to conditionally enroll while studying for the exam, chances are they’d quickly adapt as one can only do in an immersive classroom situation, and by semester’s end they’d pass the test.

Students don’t come to SLU from all over the world to learn English; they come to learn a subject they love. Let them throw themselves into what they love, and most, if they’ve gotten this far, will succeed. ESL will only delay their success.

Martha King and Jonathan King,
SLU adjunct faculty