by JAMES S. KIM | @james_s_kim
editor@charactermedia.com
No one hates Rate My Professors more than professors, who claim that the website can lead to unfair ratings. Many students, however, find no issue with referencing the site, and some even take the time to offer their own ratings and comments.
A new study by Nicholas Close Subtirelu, a doctoral student at Georgia State University, examined how students on Rate My Professors rated Nonnative English-speaking (NNES) instructors. Overall, the results suggest that these instructors received significantly lower scores than those with other last names, specifically in the categories of clarity and helpfulness.
Subtirelu looked at the ratings and comments given to over 1,000 mathematics professors with Chinese or Korean-sounding last names, then compared the results to a much larger sample of instructors whose last names did not suggest an Asian background.
After breaking down the numbers between male and female instructors, then by U.S. region, Subtirelu found that instructors with American-sounding last names received clarity scores that were 0.60 to 0.80 points higher (on a five-point scale) than those with Asian names. The gaps in rankings were the largest in the South, while they were closest in the West.
You can see the spread of results below:
Image via Inside Higher Ed
Subtirelu also looked through the student comments for these NNES instructors, noting a pattern where many students began a positive remark by saying the instructor “has an accent, but …” He also said in certain comments where students commented about language, they “seemed to view that as a surprise or as something that needed to be shared about someone with an Asian last name.”
Comments such as “Her English is perfect,” although seemingly positive, he says, “suggest a focus of students on Asian instructor’s language skills when evaluating them.”
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Subtirelu does acknowledge there are instructors who are legitimately difficult to understand, but he says with a little effort, students would be just fine with most instructors. The main issue is when students actively avoid certain instructors based on the comments about their accents.
Noting the amount of English language skill testing and training foreign graduates go through, Subtirelu expressed his skepticism of the idea that they are unintelligible and their English proficiency is so poor. In the classroom, there needs to be a little effort “on both sides” for better comprehension.
You can read the full abstract of the study here.
This study comes on the heels of another that looked into the word choices that students used when rating their male and female professors.
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