Abstract:

This paper reports a part of a larger research that investigates the learning and teaching experiences of Middle Eastern and African international students and academic staff in aninternationalised Malaysian university – a setting where all students and academic staff (local and international) are English as an additional language (EAL) speakers. Part of the findings of this research showed that academic staff were in predicament when they have to teach international students in their class, normally due to theirs and the students’ capabilities in the use of English language in the teaching and learning process. This paper aims to draw out these predicaments through the experiences of academic staff, and how these perplexities affect their teaching philosophies and practices. The research adopted the qualitative case study methodology, and applied in-depth interviews to all eleven international students and nine academic staff. For the purpose of this paper, the focus will be given to the findings revealed by those nine academic staff. The analysis involved thematic analysis, assisted by NVivo version 9. The analysis revealed that the role of academic staff in leading towards quality teaching, to a large extent, was impaired by the lack of English language proficiency among the staff and the students involved. It would appear that the previous studies may underestimate the complexities in this situation where English is not the first language for either all international and local students or academic staff, but is mandated for instruction.

Keywords:

Malaysia, Middle East, Africa, international students, academic staff, English as additional language (EAL).