Students see diluted pledge while abroad

Author: Scott Greene

The 2007-2008 academic year will see more than 350 Middlebury students study abroad in more than 40 countries at more than 90 different programs and universities, including 30 current locations for the C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, which have been in operation for over a half-century. The College reports this much on its Web site, which is loaded with information about the various limbs of excellence which drive its global vision, a vision unveiled on Oct. 6 with the launch of The Middlebury Initiative. The College's Schools Abroad, an integral part of this vision for the future, employ the same strategy that has facilitated success at its Summer Language Schools: complete immersion.

But does the concept of complete immersion have the same affects abroad as it does here in the summer?

"It is clear that students going abroad do not necessarily make gains as significant as those made by students in the Middlebury immersion program," wrote Benjamin Rifkin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a 2005 study of Russian language acquisition, specifically referring to Middlebury's Summer Language Schools.

The College's Schools Abroad also require students to abide by the same language pledge as its summer programs, which requires that they speak only the target language while enrolled in the program. Still, members of the College recognize the limits of enforcing the pledge in an abroad setting.

"We can't expect [students] to observe the language pledge at all times in the way that we expect them to do here," said Michael Geisler, vice president for Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Graduate Programs, "because here on campus we can create a somewhat simulated environment where you really don't need to use English."

It is not uncommon for Middlebury students who study a foreign language to first attend one of the College's summer language schools before going abroad. Many students claim that the abroad experience to them is more about learning the culture and expanding their personal horizon, while at summer school the most important thing is language learning.

Geisler conceded that students likely do not follow the pledge as strictly while abroad, but that the College's standards remain unchanged.

"There are certain pockets because we can't control the environment the way we do here," said Geisler. "That's why we call it a modified language pledge when we explain it to the students. That being said, they are expected to abide by the language pledge and we do take it seriously and we do go after them when they don't observe the language pledge abroad. But no, we don't follow the students around to see that they're following the language pledge at a disco at 11 o'clock at night."

Administrators in the College's abroad programs reflect similar stances.

"Students do break the Pledge, but they are very skilled at keeping all Pledge-breaking under the radar of staff and teachers," said Jeremy Friedlein, resident director of the C.V Starr - Middlebury School in Hangzhou, China.

Still, Dean of Schools abroad Jeffrey Cason said that students by and large adhere to the pledge.

"One of the interesting things that I have found when I traveled abroad to our sites is that students from other institutions who come on Middlebury programs (about 35 percent of all students) tell me that one of the most important reasons they come on Middlebury programs is the language pledge," he said. "They know that Middlebury takes the language pledge seriously, which is why they choose to come on our programs."

In his article, Rifken noted that the pledge and immersion are important components to a successful abroad experience, but that the abroad environment itself is often not conducive to a perfect adherence to the pledge.

"Cultural differences (dormitory or home stay, dining, health and fitness, etc.) require cognitive processing during study abroad, reflection that often must be carried out in the native language than in the target language," he wrote. Furthermore, he claimed that "the study abroad program requires students to interact with a broader range of native speakers, not all of whom are sympathetic to the learning process."

Many students echo Rifken's findings, adding that just a short time of speaking in their native tongue helps them maintain their sanity in an otherwise unfamiliar setting.

"Were I able to make a change in the language pledge, I would give students a day off once a week, or allow discussion groups to be formed, really anything that would allow our brains to once again function at anything close to 100 percent," said David Wrangham '08, currently studying abroad in Kyoto, Japan.

Wrangham attended the College's summer Japanese School this year, and his current program does not require students to sign a pledge. He spoke of the advantages to not having a pledge while abroad.

"What is nice about the program now, is that we can help each other in English when we find ourselves stuck, or have the nuances of a grammar point explained fully instead of just having a tenuous grip on it," he said. "But we still speak in Japanese whenever there are Japanese kids around.

Ultimately, according to Friedlein, the pledge will only survive as long as the students want it to survive.

"There is a common misconception that just the right set of rules and just the right balance of reward and punishment can usher in a Pledge that holds for an entire semester," he said. "This is simply not the case. If a group comes and they are not prepared for and excited about the Pledge, there is nothing we can do to make the Pledge happen."