LINGUISTIC HUMAN RIGHTS

Language Rights/ Linguistic Human Rights

Language Rights/ Linguistic Human Rights

The specific study of ESL students in American college libraries is mostly grounded in the practicalities of how best to serve these students, and it often reflects concerns of an instructional nature. An appendix compiled by Baron and Strout-Dapaz1 lists a number of different studies concerning ESL students and libraries. The Baron and Strout-Dapaz appendix divides the service categories that were either promoted or reported on in these articles. They identify “pedagogy” as the service receiving the most notice in the written literature connecting libraries to ESL students, followed by “staff issues including training,” “interdepartmental collaboration,” “diversity in the library,” “orientation,” “collection development,” and “outreach” as further topics of discussion. The appendix has been compiled as a list to highlight “recommendations for services to international students in the library literature.”

In a more extensive bibliography compiled by Moeckel and Presnell, seventy articles from about twenty-five years are identified in the library literature that deals with ESL students and college libraries. The majority of articles in this bibliography offer opinions about raising awareness of ESL student/library issues, propose instructional programs or models, or offer language advice to librarians intended to smooth transactions with ESL students in college libraries.

Raising awareness of ESL student needs in the library literature, for example, appears as a strong concern:

…academic librarians, especially those involved in bibliographic instruction, are finally waking to the unique problems faced by foreign students and beginning to join international student advisers and ESL teachers in responding to the special needs of this growing group. It is the purpose of this article to encourage that awakening…

Offering potential instructional models designed specifically for ESL students appears as another goal in the library literature. Conteh-Morgan, for example, proposes a collaborative model for improving library use by ESL students in which the ESL instructor remains the main deliverer of library information to the students. Her rationale is that the ESL instructors are in the best position to teach both language content and library skills:

Using the language specialists to teach both language and information skills, both of which are necessary for this specialized group of students' academic success, can only mean the enhanced language and library skills, and ultimately, empowerment of students. This is the goal for which both ESL instructors and librarians strive.

In terms of interacting positively with ESL students, advice has been offered to librarians on how best to improve these interactions:

Being aware of speech patterns of our international students, listening to their words rather than intonation, being tactful in what we ask of and say to them, understanding the real and sometimes exaggerated backgrounds of some foreign nationals, and taking classes in foreign language and culture will go a long way in helping us deal better with international students.

Further advice to librarians suggests that “Analogy, universal humor, hands-on experience, and an integrated program involving ESL and library personnel can effectively cope with the difficulties and differences, making library use easier and more ...