the three most common concerns for non-Western international counseling students were English proficiency, adjustment, and conflict with Western understanding and approaches. Students may not understand readings or questions because English is not their first language. They may be dealing with concerns around cultural adjustment. They may also be struggling to relate to Western conceptualizations of cases and solutions. Sharing conflicts or personal experiences with a group of strangers may also be inappropriate from a cultural standpoint. It is important to check and provide assistance as well as consider the unique perspectives of non-Western students in the context of class discussion (Ng, 2006).
When instructors consider cultural differences, it is important that they think about aspects of U.S. culture and history that may make international students and English language learners uncomfortable (Interiano & Lim, 2018). Historical inequalities and experiences of marginalization may cause students to feel uneasy asking or answering a question in class. In this same vein, dominant white American culture tends to strongly favor assimilation, encouraging people of color to abandon their culture of origin in favor of adopting dominant norms and values. Students may worry about their English not being good enough or their perspectives going against white American values. These concerns can lead to students being rejected by peers and faculty members. Instructors can combat this by viewing the material they are teaching through a multicultural lens. Incorporating multiple cultural perspectives into lessons and opening the door for conversations about culture may encourage students to share their views.
There are also considerations for working with minoritized students from the United States. In one study, Black doctoral students suggested that having white teachers who were invested in them and their success helped them feel supported and have more trust in their mentors (E. M. Brown & Grothaus, 2019). White faculty members may leverage networks and resources to help minoritized students access opportunities that are more difficult to access as a result of systemic oppression; this is a way to show investment in their success. Instructors can also demonstrate investment in students’ success and experience by reaching out to students outside of class to check in, which may help them feel more comfortable speaking up in class.
Actions and Outcomes
Professor O spent some time processing students’ lack of preparation. He empathized with their heavy school workload and reiterated the importance of coming to class prepared. These actions were consistent with his teaching philosophy. In this case, the incident could have been mitigated with better planning on the part of the instructor. Although Professor O discussed expectations, more explicit directions may have been helpful for students. For example, he could have provided discussion prompts prior to class to help students prepare ahead of time rather than relying on students’ ability to recall specific concepts from the reading.
As a result of this incident, Professor O provided more guidance by developing questions for review prior to class. He adjusted the class format to give students an opportunity to engage in small-group discussion prior to large-group discussion. Students discussed prompts with a partner before coming together for class discussion. This helped accommodate students who were not comfortable speaking in front of the large group. In future courses, Professor O tied class discussions based on readings to course credit to help students feel more invested in the activity.
Professor O confronted students about being prepared, but he ultimately did not hold them accountable by reducing participation points. He also could have required students to complete readings or an additional activity or assignment to demonstrate understanding of the topic as opposed to moving on with the class. Although he processed students’ reactions, he could have spent more time processing expectations for active participation. For example, he could have started by getting a sense of students’ preferences and their comfort sharing in large groups. Professor O could also have sought more explicit feedback on course readings. It could have been that the readings were not interesting or were too difficult for students to understand.
As a result of the incident, Professor O gained insight into more effective ways of interacting with students. The students were honest with him about feeling overwhelmed. This interaction is encouraging within a humanistic teaching philosophy. Students seemed to appreciate an empathic response and became motivated to participate in the class. However, Professor O also learned that his student-centered approach required adjustments to fully work. He recognized the need to be especially clear about expectations. Students may know they will be expected to contribute to class discussions, but they are more engaged when they know which topics from the reading might be discussed.
Conclusion
Active student engagement is a fundamental requirement in essentially all counselor education courses. There are a variety of reasons why students may hesitate to participate, and instructors are responsible for fostering active engagement in the classroom. Doing so will help instructors avoid disappointment when students do not prioritize their specific class. In Professor O’s case, guided questions helped provide structure and organization for discussions, which subsequently flowed more smoothly in future class meetings. Overall, the empathy of Professor O and the intentional design of experiential activities helped everyone feel more comfortable with expectations and with participating in learning with their classmates.
Reflection Questions
1 What are some challenges you anticipate when promoting student engagement in discussion?
2 What are some additional helpful strategies for engaging students in discussion?
Critical Incident Response
Samir H. Patel
A common expectation across academic disciplines is that students will read assigned materials prior to the start of class. Despite being a necessity for most, if not all, counselor education courses, students do not always follow through with this requirement. Professor O experienced a conundrum when his approach to teaching did not account for student noncompliance with reading expectations. The case provides dialogue around potential reasons for readings not being completed, ethical issues this might pose, and cultural considerations of which to be mindful. These components are critical, and there are other opportunities to explore: (a) limitations of pedagogies, (b) specific techniques to increase reading compliance, and (c) cultural competencies to enhance student-teacher relationships.
Professor O took a humanistic and experiential approach to teaching. Major tenets of humanistic education include (a) creating learning environments that promote achievement by actualizing the full potential of students; (b) fostering a culture in which self-directed learning results in deep learning of new material; and (c) cultivating relationships in which cooperation, not competition, is center of the classroom experience (Khat-ib et al., 2013). In addition, the experiential teaching philosophy provides a path for assisting students in challenging personal beliefs while exposing them to diverse worldviews (Greene et al., 2014).
Professor O can use humanistic constructs to design courses and deliver content to promote student learning. Although he could penalize students for noncompliance by deducting participation points, this strategy would be out of character for an orthodox, humanistic counselor educator. Thus, an argument for considering limitations of the humanistic teaching philosophy is warranted.
There are a number of strategies for increasing student compliance with reading. For instance, Hoeft (2012) discussed the efficacy of attaching quizzes to readings, providing supplementary assignments tied to readings, and discussing readings in class prior to assigning them (e.g., hyping up chapters before students leave class). Kerr and Frese (2017) encouraged instructors to create collaborative apps (e.g., word clouds, wikis, Google Docs) to promote dialogue around readings outside of class. These types of self-directed learning activities are foundational to both humanistic and experiential teaching and might help Professor O view strategies to remedy student noncompliance through a student-centered lens.
The authors