Class notes 3-28

An appropriate observation to start this project:

a specific phenomena that you have experienced/observed/heard about
an observation that will be surprising and intriguing to your listeners
a complex phenomena that involves different groups of people in different ways
a phenomena that demands analysis: in other words, listeners will immediately have
compelling questions about it that they will want answers for
Examples of boring observations that will not lead to good podcasts (if you use one of these in your
proposal, you will earn a '0' on the assignment):
international students face language problems
international students face culture shock or difficulties adjusting to a new environment
Examples of great observations that could lead to great podcasts:
a lot of international students at ASU feel unsafe around ASU.
many international students are paying much money than residents students, yet they may
be getting a lower-quality education.
while ASU is well-known in the U.S. as a party school, it hosts a very large population of
international students, who are assumed to be serious students not given to habits of
partying.
most people assume that international education benefits both international and domestic
students because it gives students chances to interact with other cultures. However, at ASU
many students will never socially interact, and rarely academically interact, with those
outside their own language/culture group.
because ASU is so large it does not individually test international students for fluency in
English. Instead, it relies on a students' TOEFL score to determine admission. Relying only
on this test poses several problems: cheating is possible, a good test score does not
necessarily correspond to actual fluency, and the nature of this admission requirement may
privilege wealthier students over poorer ones.
like many American universities, ASU offers an accelerated English program for
international students. Many students arrive to campus early in order to take Global
Launch classes before the start of a semester. However, other students who could benefit
from it do not enroll in Global Launch, perhaps because of convenience and cost (~$3500
for 4 weeks, the shortest time period available).
Notice how each one of these observations immediately suggest several questions.