"My Purpose Was to Help Them with Accounting, Not English" An Exploratory Study of Languages Other than English in Peer Assisted Study Sessions.
This paper considers when and for what purposes Peer Assisted Study Session (PASS) Leaders at an English medium university use their first language (when that language is not the dominant language of instruction) to facilitate PASS sessions in an English speaking university. This small qualitative exploratory study examines the experiences of eight PASS Leaders who speak a language other than English. The paper explores how and for what purposes the PASS Leaders utilised their first language (referred to as L1) of Chinese or Vietnamese and their second language of English (referred to as L2) The research participants revealed complex and well considered decision making processes regarding the language(s) they used in their sessions as PASS Leaders. Broadly, the language they used depended on the linguistic backgrounds and preferences of the session attendees, the concepts covered in the sessions, and the importance PASS Leaders ascribed to learning English over learning the subject's content. We suggest that there may be room for languages other than English as a "medium of instruction" in PASS sessions. Our initial investigations warrant broader discussion and further research within the PASS/SI community about the role L1s can play in enhancing the student learning experience in PASS sessions, for both PASS Leaders and PASS attendees. INTRODUCTION PASS and the Victoria University Context The Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) program is a student peer learning program based on the Supplementary Instruction (SI) model from the USA (Sole, Rose, Bennett, Jacques, Rippon, 2012) It involves student mentors (referred to in this paper as PASS Leaders) who have previously excelled in a subject of study facilitating weekly review sessions with a group of students who are currently studying the subject (referred to in this paper as attendees) PASS sessions are voluntary and open to anyone who is a current student in the subject. PASS Leaders use collaborative learning approaches to facilitate sessions which run for an hour in duration once a week. The sessions are aimed at helping students better understand the content of the subject in a group based setting where they learn with and from their peers and build positive relationships with other students. An Exploratory Study of Languages Other Than English in PASS: 50 In PASS the more equal power distribution inherent in relationships with near peers creates a learning environment that is generally more relaxed than "formal" learning settings, such as lectures and tutorials. Such a nonthreatening environment encourages learner voices to be heard (Hurley, Jacobs, Gilbert, 2006) Having completed the same subject of study as the attendees, PASS Leaders can recognise and relate to the learning experiences of the attendees. PASS sessions are planned by the PASS Leaders and facilitated in a way to encourage active, group based learning rather than solitary, passive learning (Murray, 1997; Sole et al. 2012) While lecturers have expert knowledge of their particular discipline, in the PASS context it is the students who are the experts they bring their knowledge and experience of studying the subject and being a successful student to share with attendees (Couchman, 2008) In their role as expert students, PASS Leaders are in effect translating the multiple discourses and practices of the institution for students (e.g. lecturer expectations, subject guides, assessment criteria, study skills, and strategies for excelling in the subject) and in doing so, PASS Leaders are helping students in their navigation and understanding of various institutional codes (Couchman, 2008) PASS at Victoria University (VU) has a strong track record of contributing to student success and enhancing the academic experience of its students. The PASS programs at VU have received national recognition, which includes a citation from the Australian Teaching and Learning Council and three Australasian Student PASS Awards for an outstanding team and for new Leaders. As part of VU's overarching Students Supporting Student Learning (SSSL) programs, an adapted version of the established PASS model (Martin Arendale, 1992) has been running since 2003. The major modification to this model involved assigning two PASS Leaders to facilitate the PASS sessions rather than one. PASS Leaders are required to attend two days of training at the start of semester and one day of "top up" training mid year. As part of their role, they participate in weekly PASS Leader development workshops to discuss their sessions and post to an online platform about their experiences each week. PASS sessions occur once a week over the semester and run for one hour. VU has a richly diverse student cohort. Located in the west of Melbourne, Australia, its student demographic is characterised by first in family (being the first person in the family to pursue study beyond high school level) low socio economic, refugee, and migrant backgrounds, as well as international students. In 2013, there were 24,260 non English speaking students attending VU, which was 49.6% of the total student cohort (Victoria University, 2014) PASS in AIS and the Chinese student cohort PASS was first implemented in the subject of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) in Semester 1, 2010, with four PASS Leaders who ran their sessions in pairs. These four PASS Leaders, three females and one male, were international students from China who had completed a VU Diploma of Business in English at one of VU's partner universities in China. Chinese students from the partner institutions usually arrive in Australia at VU in Semester 2 to begin a specialisation such as Accounting, of which their first subject is Accounting Information Systems (AIS) The majority of VU's onshore Chinese international students have credit for most first year 51 Supple, Best, and Pearce subjects of a Business degree, including the core Accounting subject, Accounting for Decision Making. Chinese students from the partner universities form the vast majority of the AIS cohort. These students then study in Australia for two more years to complete their degrees. In 2010, the PASS Leaders for AIS were selected according to VU's methods for student mentor recruitment, which at the time was via an email from the lecturer who invited all students who had completed the subject with a high distinction grade (85% and above) to apply, followed by attendance at an interview and training session. Since student mentoring pairs were assigned based on common availabilities, not language commonalities, it was pure coincidence that the student PASS Leaders for AIS in semesters 1 and 2 in 2010 and 2011 all spoke Mandarin Chinese as their first language (L1) The only non Chinese speaker, an international student whose L1 was Vietnamese, was a student mentor in 2012. Attendance by student attendees at PASS in AIS in Semester 1 in the first year was low, averaging around 10 students per session, but Semester 2 saw a dramatic increase with some sessions having up to 40 students in attendance. It became clear that this was largely due to the arrival of a new cohort of Chinese international students who had attended the same universities as the PASS Leaders. During the first iteration of the PASS program in AIS, the four international PASS Leaders from China attended weekly development workshops with the PASS supervisor. After some weeks, although not explicitly stated, it became clear through a number of different comments made by the PASS Leaders that they were speaking in Mandarin Chinese in the PASS sessions rather than English (their L2) The PASS Leaders seemed uneasy about being too open about their use of their L1, avoiding discussion of language use in their sessions. However, the PASS supervisor was keen to let the PASS Leaders know that use of their L1 was acceptable and to be encouraged. She also wanted the use of L1 to be discussed openly in the PASS development workshops that she facilitated for the PASS Leaders each week. In order to broach the issue, she shared with them a recent experience where she had raised with colleagues the fact that the PASS Leaders were speaking their L1 in their PASS sessions. She relayed to the PASS Leaders that she had told her colleagues that she condoned and encouraged the use of L1 in the PASS sessions. The PASS Leaders seemed pleased and relieved at hearing this and from that point discussed their use of L1 more openly. The PASS supervisor had indeed raised this topic with colleagues, who had responded negatively to the PASS Leaders' use of L1. These colleagues argued that students from overseas needed to be encouraged, if necessary, forced, to use English as they were enrolled in an English speaking university. This and other experiences working with non native English speaking students in their roles as PASS Leaders led our PASS Supervisor team to question and further develop our thinking concerning the use of L1 and L2. Rather than merely encourage the use of L1 as we had to that point, we raised 1 The term L2 is used here for English; however the authors acknowledge that English may be an individual students' L3, 4 or 5. An Exploratory Study of Languages Other Than English in PASS: 52 this question: To what extent do we have the right to force PASS Leaders to adhere to an English only practice, when we don't fully understand the reasons behind using L1 versus L2? LITERATURE REVIEW This literature review considers some of the main theoretical arguments underpinning the use of different languages in learning contexts. We use the phrase "English only" here to mean a setting where the use of L1 is openly discouraged. The literature review considers: 1) research surrounding the best way to learn a language and the socio political significance of language; 2) the consideration of the various identities people have and how this is inextricably linked to language; 3)