Can LAB (Learning After Broadcast) extend to a higher education EFL (English as a Foreign Language) program?

At NYIT/NUPT Nanjing, China we are endeavoring to find out. So far we have found PBS materials not only helpful but crucial.

In 2007, New York Institute of Technology opened its American-style Nanjing campus in collaboration with Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT). Four academic degree granting programs are offered to qualified Chinese students. All programs are taught in English by NYIT professors; the curriculum mirrors the programs offered in the United States.

The Problem

As the only American degree granting program in China, NYIT/NUPT found their entering students to be in need of EFL help. Though their grammar and reading were adequate, writing coherence and listening comprehension were not.

The Solution

In 2007 an intensive six-hour-a-day, three-week program was created to address this. The program was taught by three American ESL instructors and nine Chinese English teachers. Limited improvement occurred in the 300 students. Comprehension studies included excerpts from NPR shows as well as PBS films (without educational support materials).

In 2008 the program was expanded to five weeks using all American ESL or speech instructors and incorporating new materials.

Thirteen’s Education Department Materials Introduced

The primary tool for this was the use of PBS programming and their collateral teaching aids. Program choice was based on student need to prepare for an American education based in western culture; preparation for future course work, concepts; and vocabulary, with a simple to moderate degree of difficulty.

The students had had ten years of Chinese-taught English. They all had the same materials, and the same vocabulary They had memorized and learned by rote. English conversation was limited, and comprehension of anything of length was nearly impossible.

The PBS materials were excellent tools, as they are visually arresting and of the highest quality. The programs were well received in rooms of 150 students with no air conditioning and 90 degree temperatures (with humidity to match).

We started and ended with CYBERCHASE. Cartoons are favorites with these 18 year olds. We also showed WHAT’S UP IN FINANCE (Economics), WILD TV (Environmental studies), THE SECRET LIFE OF THE BRAIN (science and psychology), and the WIDE ANGLE presentations “The Empty ATM” and “Turkey’s Tigers.” Also included as part of educational readiness was the POV special, “The Hobart Shakespeareans.” The WIDE ANGLE ‘Back to School’ segment gave them a global perspective.

Each presentation was divided into 40-minute segments. We accompanied each with vocabulary, outline topics, discussion items and listening goals. We followed up the presentations with break out Q&A sessions of 25-30 students.

We tested their comprehension and note taking with open notes quizzes. We held to an English only, no dictionaries or electronic devices rule.

Conclusions

Though rules of the Chinese educational system prevented us from formal pretesting, using informal short tests and subjective written student feedback we concluded the following.

Students improved in listening for main ideas and listening for details. Listening for inference was still a challenge. The students’ abilities and backgrounds were not as uniform as anticipated. The non-urban students were less prepared. Motivational levels of students were highly mixed. The students appreciated the openness of the classroom, the opportunity to freely ask questions, and the “kindness” of the teachers.

Subsequent teacher evaluations, as the students began their academic term, noted that the students had an increased readiness from 2007, participating in class discussion with original and well articulated ideas.

Most significantly, Chinese students, fearful of school, exhausted from the rigors of a high school experience concerned only with the test score, expressed a first-time joy of learning.