Page 14/The Battalion/Friday, March 4, 1988
ELI
Changes
(Continued from page 1)
dial training is — one, it shouldn’t cost them an arm and
a leg; and two, it should be taught within the University
where normal University evaluations and performance
requirements are expected and It should be more di
rected toward what they’re actually going to be doing.”
Anderson says this is one solution that he will be con
sidering.
Another major problem that Young and his col
leagues have pointed out with A&M’s proficiency sys
tem is its inflexibility. They think incoming interna
tional students should be evaluated on a more case-by-
case basis and that the department head and faculty ad
viser should be involved in that process.
Anderson agrees with this recommendation.
“I think we should involve faculty and administrators
in departments and colleges that play such a critical role
in bringing graduate students to our campus and vital
role in planning the studies and research experience of
our graduate students,” Anderson says. “I believe the
earlier in the process that the involvement of these peo
ple can be brought to bear, the greater is the likelihood
that proper attention will be given to the English lan
guage training that each of them might require.”
Anderson says he plans to begin formulating a new
“concept and procedure” right away.
“I’m in the process now,” he says, “of constructing a
procedure for discussion purposes that is responsive to
the many complaints of faculty and graduate students
that have been brought to me.
“I plan to have this concept and procedure in a form
complete enough for full discussion and comment by
the end of March. I hope that we can adopt an im
proved concept and begin to implement new and im
proved procedures before the arrival of new graduate
students this fall.”
(Continued from page 1)
within the system but that the ELI it
self is not the problem.
“The problem with the ELI is not
with the ELI itself,” Colegrove said
at a recent meeting of the Faculty
Senate. “The problem with the ELI
is how it is implemented.”
Colegrove said later that financial
concerns appear to be a main point
of controversy.
“When you are looking at the ELI
in particular, I think you will find
that they are doing their job,” he
said. “The problem, and what has
everybody irked among the stu
dents, is the fact that it can cost a
great deal. It’s very expensive to go
to the ELL It’s extremely expensi
ve.”
Deanna Wormuth, coordinator of
the ELI, agrees with Colegrove that
the ELI is the symbol rather than the
source of the problem.
“We are identified as being the
source of the entire problem,” she
says, “whereas, in fact, many of these
decisions are not made by us or car
ried out by us. But we’re kind of the
visible one because this is where the
student is asked to come, so we be
come the source.”
Wormuth says the reason for the
cost of ELI courses is the fact that
the ELI receives no funds from the
state or the University, although it
does use University facilities.
She says she is aware that many
foreign students take a hostile atti
tude toward the ELI and says that at
titude has a “very definite impact”
on the effectiveness of the program.
“Learning a language is very
much related to one’s attitude to
ward what one is doing,” Wormuth
says. “And when a student ap
proaches it and says ‘I don’t need it,
this is a waste of my time, I’m going
to invest my energies in other areas,’
then the student’s not successful.
You have to be somewhat commit
ted.”
Wormuth also says that if students
weren’t so caught up in time con
straints, they would realize the value
of the ELI program.
“The bottom line is it costs them
money and time,” Wormuth says.
“Those are the two issues. I think if
students were asked if they felt a
need for additional help in English,
they would agree they need it. But
they are concerned with the pres
sures of fulfilling a degree within a
certain amount of time. TIjey are
also concerned with the cost of doing
this.
“Upon entry it appears that it
takes your time; upon reflection at
exit, it may have been the mech
anism that allowed you to finish up
in the time that you did.”
Stavi Hapzo Polous, a Ph.D. stu
dent in biomedical engineering from
Greece, agrees with Wormuth’s com
ments. He says he was somewhat re
sentful when he found out he would
have to take a composition course at
the ELI after getting a bachelor’s de
gree at the University of Southern
California. But he says that once he
got into the program, he realized the
value of good communication skills
and appreciated the efforts that
Wormuth and her staff made to help
him.
But Ry Young, a tenured profes
sor of biochemistry who is outspo
ken against the ELI system, says the
ELI itself is a major part of the prob
lem.
“I don’t believe the ELI accom
plishes what is needed,” Young says.
“I don’t yet have hard data. But an
ecdotally — which means just talking
to a large number of foreign stu
dents — I have yet to find any of
them, in fact I think it’s fair to say
I’ve never found a single one . . .
who told me that they thought they
got their money’s worth out of ELL”
Young is secretary of the Council
of Principal Investigators, an organi
zation of research faculty that has
been investigating the ELI system
for more than a year. During that
time, council members met more
than once with Wormuth and other
A&M administrators, but Young
said they never received solid evi
dence that the ELI accomplishes its
objectives.
“We were not shown any convinc
ing data, other than arbitrary eval
uation, that the students actually
gained anything from the ELI,”
Young said. “I’m sure if you forced
them to write a lot of sentences and
listen to a lot of expositions that
they’re going to get better at it,
there’s no doubt about that. But
they’re also apt to do that in a labo
ratory and in the University.
“The students, after spending 6'
months or a year in the ELI, they are
now better at English, no doubt
about it. But the question is ‘Did they
get better at English because of the
ELI, or did they get better at English
because they’ve been here a year and
been required to speak English all
the time?’
“I don’t know whether either one
of those is true, but I guess I funda
mentally believe the foreign students
when they tell me that they consider
the ELI a rip-off.
“I think the only difference in
these students, as far as I can tell, af
ter ELI is they’re a lot poorer and
more cynical about the America
system.”
Young says he takes a moreradi
cal stance then his colleagues in tti
CPI. I n their conclusions, publishes
in a February newsletter, CPI meit
bers called their findings “distm
bing” and said they oppose A&M
current English proficiency system
Young says he wants the ELItoh
abolished.
“I’d like to see the ELI abolish#
just totally abolished,” he says. “Ni
reformed, not anything. I’djustlii
to see it done away with entirely an
the University spend some times
an honest effort to consider whj
things could be done to make sui
that by the time a foreign graduas
student has been here the fulllengil
of time, he is competent attheem
of that period and can read a#
write it.”
Young said he does not questic
the intentions of the ELI adminisir
tors and f aculty but says they area
addressing the real problems. 11
says foreign students are belt
taught generalized remedial Englii
courses at the ELI rather than E;
glish skills that would be useful!
them in the laboratory and ck
room.
“1 know these people are trying:
do the best job they can, and Imn
personally opposed to DeannaWa
muth or anybody else, but tk
doesn’t mean that 1 think the El
should continue,” he says. "As loo
as the ELI exists, there’ll be a te
dency for everybody to assume tk
the problem is not there.”
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