Julie Bytheway hails from Ohope Beach, New Zealand. Unabashedly enthusiastic, she raves about the Netherlands, `I love it here - I'm totally sold!' She originally taught English to native speakers, but declares that here at the UT, `I have found my job - I love it!' What is there to love? Her list is long: `A brilliant team of colleagues. The variety of teaching with a changing audience - master's students, PhDs, support staff. Because courses are specific for the needs of students, I feel like I'm really helping them.' Classes are generally small - 8-15 students - and instructors can bend the curriculum to suit the needs of the participants.
Bytheway is the TCP's English Coordinator. Her job description comprises developing and teaching courses and includes research projects for departments. Recent projects with DISC (Student Services and Campus) and the faculty of Behavioral Sciences required that she conduct an assessment of the English language learning needs of support staff members. The project ultimately yielded three new English language courses. In a few months, there will be more levels of courses available for support staff, which will be thematically specific to the demands of the particular professional tasks, for example: correcting common Dutch errors and helping to build specific vocabularies.
Another international member of the TCP team is Phing Choo. Born in Singapore, raised in San Francisco, she brings with her experience in the business sector: from advertising to real estate. Choo is the Testing and Assessment Coordinator, a misleading title because she does virtually no testing, mainly assessing. She evaluates English language ability. In her own words, she is `assessing English skills in an international environment, not a native-speaking environment, using English as a world language.'
To date, no assessment has been compulsory. A faculty representative will approach Choo, requesting that she come to assess its academic staff. However, from that point on, it is on a voluntary basis per lecturer. To assess a lecturer, she will attend a class and evaluate the lecturing skills in English. She clarifies: `Whether they can order a pizza is not important; I am assessing language skills in their professional environment.'
Bytheway explains why her colleague's services are so useful: `Not many people can give a realistic assessment of themselves. Some give over-estimations, others are overly modest. Phing can be very helpful in giving realistic assessments.'
In general the assessed lecturers are nervous, partly because they perceive this to be a test, which it is not, Choo emphasizes; it is an evaluation to determine what TCP can to do to help if necessary. She then submits a written assessment and recommendations. To date, roughly 1% of those whom she has assessed have sought further assistance based on those recommendations. Another colleague, Froukje van Veggel, is working to address this low follow-up rate.
Choo is quick to add that of the tested and assessed lecturers, 80% of them qualify as C1 (proficient user of the target language, according to Common European Framework of Reference). Of the remaining 20%, many of them score even higher (C2), leaving a small minority of the academic staff that may actually require further linguistic aid.
Starting this September, the English language skills of all UT support staff members will be assessed through TCP. Many of these people are vital liaisons with incoming international students and employees. The goal is to ensure that everyone is communicating in English with optimal effectiveness. So far, there has been only positive feedback. Most staff members who undergo an assessment find the result encouraging and are relieved to learn how well they function in English.
What lies ahead for the TCP? Bytheway suggests that the TCP will continue to `discover specific needs of target groups and develop appropriate courses for those groups.' She stresses, `We want to find out how to help people and then help them!'
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| Julie Bytheway and Phing Choo work at the Language Coordination Center. (Foto: Arjan Reef) |
