In an increasingly globalized educational system, learning from, and trying to understand, a foreign instructor with a heavy accent has become commonplace.

“I had one, and I had to drop the course,” Bret Ellis, a UW senior. “He said that he had had trouble with students understanding him. But he had trouble understanding us too. By the time the first exam came, I was screwed.”

“Don’t get me wrong. He knew his stuff,” Ellis continued. “These guys are experts in their field. When he took the time and tried to explain I was like, OK.”

Katie Kasprzyk, a sophomore, also had a frustrating experience with one of her instructors.

“He was from Arabia. He would tell us it was easier to learn things in his country, and then he would yell at us in Arabic,” Kasprzyk said. “I’m not racist. But if you’re going to teach in America, at least speak English.”

Ellis agreed, saying, “We’re paying a lot of money for a professor we can’t understand. In the math and science departments it’s a major problem,” he said, believing the problem to be a combination of the subject material and the language barrier.

Rick Burnson, a faculty associate in the English as a second language program, believes the heart of the problem goes deeper than language. “They’re really bright people, but they come from a very different education system,” said Burnson, who points out the differentiation of educational cultures in different countries, which in many countries means a lot less give and take between instructors and their students in foreign countries.

Also, based on a test in which English comprehension was tested on audio alone versus audio and video, Burnson noted that most of his students did better without seeing the speaker.

“Miscommunication goes on for many different reasons,” he said.

Due to this fact, his 10-week course for incoming, foreign TAs focuses not only on language, but also on teaching skills and cultural differences. “These TAs can’t figure out what students are expecting. We show them different techniques to have in a toolbox.”

Since starting out at the office in 1985, Burnson has noted at least three positive trends develop.

“The level of English they are learning is improving. The Internet is giving them a lot more input. And there are more real-life situations taught in foreign institutions.”

Ulrike Bostelmann, a math TA from Germany, believes the problem can be overcome. “At the beginning, it was hard,” she said, “But it’s gotten better.”

“They (the students) think it’s a language problem,” Bostelmann continued, “But it’s the material itself. If I try to understand the language, I get used to it.”

However, Bostelmann still believed the English as a second language course was helpful in familiarizing him to American education. “I had trouble understanding,” she said. “And it was good to get to know the culture better.”

Marco Loskamp, another TA from Germany, said that the problem has been exaggerated and is not usually a critical issue. Regarding his own accent, he said, “It was more like a funny thing, it wasn’t a problem. If a teacher is nice and respects his class, and a student still does poorly, then it’s probably the fault of the material and not the language in the final end.”