Teaching Speech Communication with a Foreign Accent:

A pilot study examined problems encountered by foreign instructors teaching in American colleges. Fourteen Chinese-born instructors teaching in Speech Communication answered a questionnaire containing 12 open-ended questions. Recurring themes were coded from the answers, and then organized into three categories: cultural differences; linguistic level of understanding; and relationship development. Results indicated that: (1) cultural differences was the major difficulty the subjects encountered; (2) deeper meanings of their students ' language (including slang, idioms, and jokes) were the linguistic barriers the subjects were trying to overcome; (3) American students tended to use formal language to interact with foreign instructors, limiting establishment of personal relationships; and (4) subjects reported a high degree of satisfaction with teaching. Future studies shouid examine othe