Addressing English Skills of International Students in Melbourne

This essay investigates the English language proficiency challenges encountered by international students studying in Melbourne. It highlights the increasing influx of international students, particularly from non-English speaking countries, and the communication barriers this creates. The essay proposes a mobile application as a solution, designed in collaboration with Melbourne college teachers, featuring translation capabilities and a live portal for student-teacher interaction. The app offers low cost, convenience, and online learning resources. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is evaluated using Schamar's 7R's framework, assessing its relevance, revolutionary nature, rapid implementation, potential for pilot projects, right approach, relational effectiveness, and replicability. The essay concludes by emphasizing the app's potential to address both immediate communication needs and long-term English language skill development.

Running head: IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Improving English skills
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Introduction
In the recent time, traffic of international students in different countries has increased in
huge extent. This is due to the reason that, with the increase in the career opportunities and
diversity in the courses, more colleges are attracting students from different countries. However,
in the recent time, it is being seen that the number of the students opting for international courses
are majorly from the developing countries and the countries, which are not having English as
their main language (Braine 2013). Thus, students are facing the problem of communication due
to their lack of knowledge in English.
This essay will discuss about the issues being faced by the international students in terms
of English speaking skills in studying in the colleges in Melbourne. Moreover, this essay will
also discuss about the solution process in accordance to this issue using the Schamar’s 7r’s
framework.
Identification of the issue
Melbourne is one of the attractive destinations for the students from all around the world
due to the presence of good number quality universities. The figure given below is showing the
increasing trend of student immigration in Australia.

2IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Figure: 1
Trend of student enrollment in Australia
Source: (Internationaleducation.gov.au 2018)
However, the major portion of the students opting for studies in Melbourne is not having
strong knowledge and communication skills in English. This is due to the reason that, majority of
the students are coming from the Asian regions where English is not the national language
(Pennycook 2017). This issue is creating challenge for the international students in their stay in
Melbourne. The mode of study in these colleges is English along with the mode of
communication is also English. Therefore, these international students are in the urgent need of
some sort of solutions in improving their English. The need is considered as urgent due to the
reason that, their daily livings and the studies are all depending on their knowledge on English
language (Jenkins 2013).

3IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Recommended solution
It is suggested that updated technology should be used in order to overcome the identified
issue. The suggested solution is an availability of online app that will provide English speaking
skill and assistance to the international students (Pareja-Lora et al. 2013). The app will be
designed in coordination with the teachers from number of colleges in Melbourne. Inputs from
the teachers will be beneficial in designing the app due to the reason that teachers are having the
exact idea about what type of communication and language issues are being faced by the
international students. Moreover, the app will also have the live portal between the teachers and
the students in order to enable the students in meeting their queries at any point of time and from
their convenience (Yang 2013).
Another key feature of this app will be the translation facility. This is important due to
the reason that inputs from the teachers will not help the students in communicating in their daily
life. In that case, the translation option will help the students translating their mother tongue in
English instantly. Online app is being suggested over the traditional English speaking classes due
to the reason that, in the current scenario, nearly all the students are having Smartphone and it
will be easier and convenient to use the app in their mobile devices (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015). In
addition, it is also to be noted that majority of the international student works as part time in
order to earn their daily living. Thus, it will be difficult for them in attending the spoken English
class in regular basis with addition to their college schedule. Thus, the app will serve as holistic
solutions for the international students in improving their English skills (Wang, Teng and Chen
2015).

4IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Online English app
Low cost Convenience Translation option
Learning resourcesLive portal
Will be beneficial for the
students in incurring low
cost for improving
English skill.
Students are always having their
mobile devices along with them.
Thus, it will be convenient for
them to use the app at any point of
time.
Students will be able to
translate their mother
language at point of time. It
will help them to meet the
daily communication issue.
It will help the students to stay
connected with their teachers at all
time. The queries can be effectively
met through it.
It will also serve as online learning
portal.
Students will have the access to
huge number of online learning
materials, which will help them
in enhancing their knowledge in
English.

5IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Schamar’s 7R’s framework
Schamar’s 7R’s model will be used in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested
solutions. This model or framework will help in classifying the innovative ideas and the level of
innovation being involved in the solution. This will help to conclude the extent to which the
discussed idea is innovative in nature and it will serve the purpose. The following sections will
discuss about each of the elements of the framework in relation to the English speaking and
assistance app.
Relevance
This element refers to the effectiveness of the idea in serving the core or basic purpose or
issue. In this case, the core issue is the lack of English speaking and communicating ability
among the international students. Thus, the core aspiration of the students is to have a portable
assistance service, which will assists them in improving their English communication skills.
Revolutionary
The idea can be considered as game changer due to the reason that, currently there are
various apps available in the market for the students but they are having holistic benefits as this
one. The currently available apps are mainly serving as learning materials and expert interactions
in relation to the subject. But the concept of the discussed idea will revolutionize the existing
scenario by providing instant solutions to the language issues. This will enable the students to
deal with the daily communication issues of the international students.
Rapid

6IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
The discussed idea can be implemented rapidly and fast. This is due to the reason that,
application development is much easier in the current time with the help of various expert
software developers. Moreover, with the rapid popularity of Smartphone and app markets, it will
not be difficult for the students to get access to the app.
Rough
The idea can be implemented in small scale as a pilot project on certain number of
students in Melbourne. This will help to determine the effectiveness of the app in serving the key
objectives. Upon successful evaluation, it can be promoted in large scale. It can also be done
locally due to the reason that, there are number of apps such as ABC and Pocket Book, which are
only based in Australia. Thus, the discussed idea can also be implemented locally. Moreover, the
cost will also be lower due to the reason that majority of the popular and most productive apps in
Australia are free of cost. This app will also be offered as free of cost. Revenue will be generated
from the advertisements in the apps.
Right
The key objective of the discussed idea is to provide the instant solution to the students in
order to help them in dealing with the daily communication issues. On the other hand, the
presence of online portal and learning materials will help to improve the English skills of the
students. Thus, it can be concluded that this idea is addressing the right issues of improving their
English skills for their studies and meeting the daily communication needs in order to stay in
Melbourne.
Relationally effective

7IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
The more inputs of the teachers will be used in the process, the more will be the
effectiveness of the app. This is due to the reason that input from the teachers will be helpful in
guiding the students in improving their English skills. On the other hand, the more teachers will
get involved in the project, the more will be the effectiveness of the online learning portal in the
app. Thus, the idea is effective and is in the process of optimum use of the resources.
Replicable
The idea is having the potential to replicate in large scale. In that case, the project for the
students in Melbourne can be considered as pilot project. The app can be added with more
subjects other than just English and can be targeted in other areas also. Addition of more
languages will help to reach out to larger section of the society.
Conclusion
This essay discussed about the issues of English communication skills being faced by the
international students in studying in the Melbourne. In addition to this, this essay also discussed
about an effective solutions, which will have both short term and long term impact for the
students. A mobile app is being suggested in this essay, which will help the students to meet their
daily communication requirements as well as learning English. The effectiveness of the solution
is being evaluated with the help of Schamar’s 7R’s framework.

8IMPROVING ENGLISH SKILLS
Reference
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https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/
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