Difficulties of overseas students in social and academic situations

Abstract

It is generally believed that overseas students have more difficulty than host nationals in dealing with a wide range of social and academic situations. In the first study, 105 Asian students, 105 urban Australian students and 112 rural Australian students completed structured questionnaires, which asked them about the level of difficulty experienced in dealing With everyday social situations in Australia and their methods of coping with these problems. Asian students had more difficulty in dealing with situations related to close interpersonal relationship. In dealing with people of different status and in establishing friendships. Australian students attending university from country areas shared many of these difficulties, although to a lesser extent. In coping with these problems, Asian students engaged in information‐seeking strategies more than host nationals. In Study 2, 101 Australian and 101 ethnic Chinese students responded to four vignettes about academic situations. Chinese students reported special difficulties in dealing with tutorials not knowing how to behave or feeling confidents enough about their English to express their opinions. Across the four academic situations. Chinese students attributed their behaviour to following Australian rather than Asian cultural norms, and to being less confident about their proficiency in English.