Category: Academic Challenges

Completing education abroad gives a huge amount of opportunities for the student as well as for the university and a hosting community itself. Even though, it may be the most valuable experience to be a full time student in another country, benefiting in many areas of life: personal and professional – it comes with many problems, challenges and issues which the exchange student is forced to face during his time abroad. Students who decide to spend a part of their studies abroad have to deal with issues which consider academics and language, socialization and finances.

As Milian (2015) mentioned in Journal of International Education and Relationship one of the most difficult obstacle for exchange students is academic issue which is mainly caused by the fact that English (in most cases) is a foreign language and the proficiency in it varies when it comes to every student. Özturgut (2009) emphasizes that it increases the stress level in majority of exchange students. Milian (2015) also suggests that students from abroad are not familiar with the way of teaching in other countries and cultures. In her article, Milian (2015) states that difficulties consider mostly students from Asia as well as Eastern Europe where students are used to passively listening to the lecture whereas in Western universities they are forced to use critical thinking, learn how to take notes efficiently and get familiar with oral presentations. As a response to Milian article I am able to confirm her ideas from my personal experience. While studying abroad I meet many obstacles related to the way academic knowledge is provided to students. As a student from Poland I notice many differences between polish and Western style of teaching. In my home country, students are expected to sit quietly in the lectures, not ask questions and not express their doubts where in Spain you are allowed and encouraged to speak up and share your opinion. Oral presentations also do not play a huge part of learning process in polish universities. Since I was not thought to perform and present my own ideas in front of the class, now I am experiencing problems with how to efficiently prepare and deal with stress when it comes to talking in front of many students in the class.

In her article, Milian (2015) points out the difficulties the international students have adapting to new society. She emphasizes that the most common aspects are: discrimination, limited social support and culture shock. As Alghamdi (2016) in his article confirms students have issues fitting into new society mostly because the language barrier as well as the fact of their temporary status. Many students experience social exclusion and isolation. One of the reasons is culture shock. New lifestyle, different food, habit, they way people greet, talk, walk has impact. Everyday tasks become unfamiliar and challenging. And since the way of teaching and language are different international student often have to spend more time studying and understanding topics. As a consequence, they obtain less time for socializing and making new friends. All of it leads to emotional overload and homesickness. Another valid point are preconceived expectations which are pointed out by Gebhart (2013) in his article EFL learners studying abroad: Challenges and strategies. He explains that students form expectations about another country, its culture and their whole stay abroad and they do not consider any problems they are likely to meet. They get to excited and hitting the reality makes them feel emotionally drained. And last but not least issue is the discrimination problem. And it may not be as obvious in the people’s behavior since everybody these days seems to be tolerant and accept new cultures. For many students lack of knowledge about the host country culture makes it impossible to fully integrate and participate in many activities. As a result, the international students often experience social exclusion. As a response to Milian’s and Alghamdi point of view I am able to confirm their ideas but also I would like to notice that it does not consider all of the international students and every single university. Since everybody’s emotional state differs there are people who cope with culture shock very quickly and it does not interrupt them in any way enjoying their time abroad. When it comes to students who incur difficulties with that I would recommend for the host universities to engage and be understanding toward them. Observing many international students I noticed cultural and social discrimination. Some people do not understand that students may need time to adjust to new environment and after one unsuccessful conversation or a meeting they stop integrating and lose an opportunity to experience different culture.

Finally, Milian (2015) in her article argues that many international student encounter difficulties with financial matters. Alghamdi in his article points out very vital case that students from abroad often have limited work and health insurance rights. Milian also says that due to English or other foreign language level it is usually challenging to find a good quality apartment, since landlords often cheat and take advantage of people who are not proficient in their mother language. Another issue are fundings from universities or other organization who are supposed to sponsor the stay but in most cases the money received is insufficient and it barely lets people to pay rent. From personal experience as well as other international students I fully agree with Milian’s and Alghamdi point of view since the money Erasmus student get from the European Union is very little and it only pays off the rent. It often causes a lot of stress for the international students and discourages them from taking such an opportunity in the future.

The high school experience is something that will forever dominate the psyche of most teenagers. It was an unforgettable time of fun, rebel-rousing, summer love, and parties. It was a time of warm summer days at the pool and chilly autumn nights, watching the football team and wondering where the party was going to be that night. School dances and hotel parties. Seems like all I can remember are the good times. But with all those good, fun moments as a teenager, there can be some challenges we can encounter. And one thing I had to face as a high schooler, and a lesson I learned as a result, is that coaches don’t always treat people the same way.

In my experience, when I was a freshman the soccer coach would tell me that I wouldn’t be good enough for varsity if I didn’t try to gain weight. But there was a girl who was in varsity and she weighed the same as me. Then I go on by trying to do my best and gain as much weight so they can move me up, but they never did until their last game. Then the following year the coach told me that I need to start acting like a captain. And so that’s exactly what I did by giving him feedback that can possibly help the team, and he goes on by saying that I was being rude and acting as if I’m the coach and started to tell me that I’m not the coach. Then a few weeks later one of the captains told him that so and so would be better off playing as a forward and he listened to her and not me when I tried to give him advice.

In the end, we did both grow from it and now we give each other feedback on how the team looks and how to get better. This experience made me realize that I have a voice and if that’s not good enough, I’ll show you what I am capable of doing on the field. This is who I am, I am someone who doesn’t give up, who see things other people can’t see for themselves, and someone who will give it her all no matter what other say. And at the end of the day, I will be the one who goes that extra step and follow my dreams no matter what.

Over the past year universities worldwide has had an increase in the number of admission of visually impaired students drastically. Whereas in the past visually impaired students were disadvantage mostly because of the campuses physical and academic environment. According to research the University of Namibia (UNAM) in 2004 had only 2 visually impaired students and the number has increased in the recent times. This is because of the increase in improvements of physical environments. Through research done the findings of this essays content is based on books, online articles and the internet. This essay explains the challenges of visually impaired students and their achievements.

According to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and cause of Death (ICD-10), defines visual impairment as the best corroded vision and refers it to individuals who are partially and legally blind. Conceptually visual impairment is viewed as being a burden and a lack of independence to the majority of the student population. Regardless of this Tertiary Education is viewed as crucial element in the world as Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the key to Success”.

The United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of opportunities with persons with disabilities (1994) is very vocal about giving individuals with disabilities equal opportunities as to the ones without any disabilities. Therefore UNISA (University Of South Africa) took the initiative to open a resource centre for students with disabilities, their responsibility is to provide academic support and braille transcription and proof reading (Haihambo, 2010).

According to Josua (2013) most visually impaired are however faced with challenges. Challenges regarding social activities (social groups and television facilities), academic curriculums (field of study) and physical facilities/infrastructure (classrooms and labs).

Social Activities

Socail activities are one of the largest system where majority of students participate in. It includes activities such universities talent shows, sport activities and beauty pageants. Students with visual impairments feel left out from these social events because they are unable to see the beauty of the activities taking place and the stadium is usually overcrowded. The type of sports codes at universities for visually impaired are not that well know and supported and this makes it difficult as to participate it.

‘All students should stay together, wherever possible, regardless of any difficulties or differences they may have’ (UNESCO, 1994, p. 11). Regardless of this most of the time students do not engage with visually impaired students because they believe society will mock them. One of the most contributing factor among others are the stereotypical way of thinking of individuals such as: visually impaired are seen as an outcast and that they have been spiritually bewitched.

This creates a feeling of loneliness and burdensome to the visually impaired. They are humans and they want a feeling of love, care and support. An overwhelming and welcoming habitat is all they need in order for them to boost their self-esteem and self-concept (Möwes, 2002).

In most instances they have to swallow their pride and ask for assistance from their peers in order for them to be accompanied to places they cannot go without help. They often choose to do assignments on the basis of what they remembered so they would not disturb their friends. Haihambo (2009) states that visually impaired students found it easier to request support from another student with a disability, for they believed that they would understand exactly what it feels like to need another person’s assistance.

Academic Curriculum

About 90% of all visually impaired students are prohibited from taking the field of study of their choice due to their disability. For example the science field, thus decreasing their will of fulfilling their desires and achieving their long life dreams of choosing their own career path regardless of their circumstances.

Josua (2013) furthermore illustrated that the examination duration for learners with visual impairment is double the normal time for the sighted students( DNEA Guidelines, 2010). However, when there were test to be taken all learners are expected to be done in the given time period which disadvantage the visually impaired as they take longer then the other students. In addition most test written by partially sighted learners test were not printed on a magnified font size.

Haihambo (2009) stared in this research most visual impaired students have a problem with finding their way around the library because of the absence of books in braille (a form of writing language for blind people in which characters are represented by patterns of raised dots that are fell with fingertips), both academic and non-academic which they compare to hunting without a rifle.

Majority of lecturers at universities use power point presentation as a method of teaching. This type of lecturing does not take visually impaired students into consideration On the other hand some lectures bring different types of materials that needs to felt and used in certain class activities. This type of protocol focus on auditory and less on visual kinaesthetic and tactile learning style.

Physical Infrastructure

Research has proven that with stairs through the whole of Campus it is nearly impossible for one in that situation to find their way around. They would need a helping hand to budge around, this causing emotional dilemma in the visual impaired students.

Half of the laboratories in the universities do not accommodate visually impaired students, thus creating a feeling of omission towards those students. Despite the laboratory experiments which is a disadvantage to those special students they are unable to see which chemicals react with each other.

A major challenge is the irresponsive environment on the campuses objects and other structures that are placed for decoration or other purposes as well as poor lighting. These factors pose as a threat to visually impaired students as this results in falls and minor accidents (Haihambo, 2010, p. 339).

In most cases students with visual impairement have experienced the lack of consistency with opening and closing doors as a barrier posed safety threats and caused a feeling of self-doubt and uneasiness (Haihambo, 2010, p. 349). With moving furniture in the classrooms as well as the hostels, increases the risk of accidents for visually impaired students and is anticipated as inconsiderate towards this students.

Haihambo (2008, p. 353) withal found that Braille books take up much more space therefore students with visual impairments might need larger rooms to provide more studying space and to correct their body position, such students not only need larger rooms, but also larger desks. Students with visual impairment have reported developing health problems resulting from bad sitting position due to lack of space.

Although they may face such complex challenges the visual impaired students never fail to deliver to the fullest of their ability. This is driven by the urge to be regarded as independent and to feel the satisfaction of beating the odds of their circumstances. One of the greatest achievement among others is their academic break through.

For example Johannes Tala Matsi, who was a student at the University of Namibia (UNAM) and who was the first visual impaired student that graduated with a Masters Degree in Gender and Development Studies. As Matsi said, “disability does not mean inability” hence he did not let this stop him from being successful. He got through University by recording cassettes in every lecture, although they piled up after the semesters, it was all worth it. Matsi is currently the Chief Labour at the Ministry of Labour (New Era, 2019).

Conclusion

In conclusion, although the visually impaired students faces a lot of difficulties that includes the physical, academical and social adaptation on and off campus it is save to say that majority of universities try to accomadate these special students. They also act as a large source of motivation for their peers.

Senior High School is the last two years of the K to 12 program that DepEd implemented back in 2012. It is between Junior High School and College, it is not as easy as Junior High School and it is similar to college but easier from it. It helps the students to have background knowledge of their preferred career paths and to be ready once you enter college. But for others, senior high school is not necessary. For them, it is just a waste of time because instead of being a college already, you need to take senior high school time. It has different tracks to choose, such as Academic track, Technical Vocational Livelihood track, Sports Track, and Arts and Design track. Accounting, Business and Management Strand (ABM) is a strand that belongs to Academic track that students can take aside from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), General Academic Strand (GAS), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS). After taking Senior High School, it is the time that you will receive your High School Diploma.

Being a student is fun, there is a lot of new things that you will learn, you will meet new people, and you will be able to explore. But despite those things, there are also hardships and struggles that you might face along the way. Taking ABM will be difficult. ABM Strand focuses on the concepts of management and accounting. Students who want to become an Accountant or in the field of Business, ABM is the strand for you. It can help students increase their skills and widen their knowledge to be ready in College Life. For example, making a business plan, advertising, and the basics of preparing journals, ledger, financial statements (Accounting). It is like an orientation for those students who will take Accountancy or any business related courses after their Senior High School. With the help of this, it will be easier for the students when they start college because they have studied the basic things that they need to know unlike before when there is no program like these, after Highschool, students enter college without knowing the basic things that should know.

Calculator, journal, and worksheet are the must have for an ABM Student. These things are not just things, these are very important things because these are the most used for almost every day especially when there are activities. You might confuse why the calculator is needed. It is a must have because even if it is basic math you still need a calculator because it is basic math with large numbers. In terms of attitude and skills, it needs a lot of effort and deep analysis. It does not require you to be good at Mathematics but still, love math even if it is different to understand, even if it is boring sometimes and difficult to understand, even if there is so many formulas and equations to remember. It will challenge your analytical skills in analyzing transactions that are very complicated and hard to understand. Numerical, leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills are the skills that can help to become entrepreneurs or an individual that will manage a company. It also requires you to have creativeness and logical skills. Creativeness because in marketing you need to have a unique strategy and plan to promote products and to encourage the people to patronize your product. And Logical skills because there are questions that the answer is there, just have common sense. Having those things will really help you a lot to pass those problems.

Along the way, you will conquer some challenges. At first, you might think to give up but it is just in the beginning maybe because you are adjusting with the subjects and the things that the professors ask you to do but when the time comes when you adapt with the environment, it will be slightly easier unlike in the beginning. According to a research study, ABM students encounter difficulties in learning Mathematics. This study seeks to investigate, know and research why ABM students encounter difficulties in learning Mathematics and what are the factors affecting it. It shows that there are student’s factor and teacher’s factor. In Student’s factor, students experiencing pressure towards the subject that is why they find it hard to learn Mathematics. In the teacher’s factor, the teacher may not have a teaching style that is why the students cannot catch up. These factors affect so much in students. It leads them to have a hard time coping and understanding the lessons and as result, the students tend to get low grades. One of the struggles is having difficulty in time management. There is a lot of activities, tasks, and assignments that the professors will give. You need to know what you should do first and also when you are going to study. Procrastinating is not advisable to do. Do not waste your time. If you have time, do it and do not wait for tomorrow so that you will not problem it anymore. Decision making is a challenge to students because they need to look into it deeper. They must know how to make good and intelligent decisions in order to become a good entrepreneur.

ABM is not an easy strand. Actually, there is no easy strand, it is also difficult and hard. There is a lot of reason why it is a tough strand. The lessons are one of those reasons. It is arduous, but it depends how on students will handle it. The combination of perseverance and patience is the best. As I have said, it needs to exert a lot of effort, so if the students do not have perseverance in terms of reading and analyzing transactions, it may be hard for the students to conquer this strand. Just know your priorities and have focus, you can make it. Patience is also essential in studying some lessons because there are things that you will not learn easily. It might be tough and rough but with perseverance and patience, you will overcome those challenges and hardships. Also, despite those hardships, it is very beneficial because those activities can really improve your skills as a student. You will learn what is your purpose as an ABM student and you will also know what are your own weaknesses are and how to overcome it. According to a student who took up ABM strand, in ABM you will learn a lot of things, You will be Mathematics friendly, you are free to express everything, you will meet more friends, you can explore Mathematics, you may learn how to manage a business, you can improve your business-minded ability, you may know how to be a successful accountant, you can learn how to effectively manage your own management, your efforts are not worthless and most especially in ABM you will not just be better but you will the best.

Having hard times is just normal for a student. You will encounter many struggles in studying. Those challenges are just challenging your capacities as a student. While taking ABM strand you might have sleepless nights because of the requirements that you need to pass, you might have headaches because of the mathematical problems that you are repeatedly solving, and you might think to give because of the stress that you might feel. You can do something about that. These sufferings can help you to be a better person and these can give you learnings that can help when you enter college. Reading those things might get you afraid to take this strand, please do not. Every hardship there will be a result of success as an exchange. If it is your dream, do not give up, remember nothing is impossible. Enjoy everything that you do. Do not let your fears take your dreams. Believe in yourself that you can do it. You can do what you think you cannot. So, are you going to take the ABM strand? In every decision, you made always seek God’s Guidance. Rizal one’s stated that “Children are the nation’s future”. Do not be discouraged with the difficult things you experience but let it be your inspiration to overcome it.

Students face a variety of academic challenges in universities. University is harder than and very different from high school, thus many students find it hard to cope and find balance. Students are required to put in more effort than usual in order to understand and chow the course. The magnitude of academic difficulty is high, so focus and discipline are essential. In this essay I will be discussing the sociological imagination and the problems of university students in African countries.

‘Sociological Imagination’ was invented by C. Wright Mills (1916-1962), an American sociologist. Sociological imagination is the ability to interlink your personal life problems with that of the society. “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both” (Mills, 1959: 3). Sociological imagination connects the two poles of social understating and examination, which are the individual and society. With sociological imagination people can discern the basic issues that affect their lives. And the individuals can deal with their matters, which might improve both their own situation and that of society. The sociological imagination enables one to look at an issue not with a personal perspective (lacking personally) but social perspective. This helps individuals to realize their personal troubles relate to social issues.

Take this example, you come from a poor background and you go to school on an empty stomach. Your school doesn’t have a feeding scheme and this affect your studies because you can’t concentrate in class, you don’t have the necessary stationery, you’ve been failing tests and you starting to doubt your own future. This creates personal problems for you. Now let’s take you and most of your classmates failed the term because of being poor. You all now share the same issue considered as a social problem. Poverty is a social issue. This problem is no longer seen as your personal issue, you are not blamed for this condition, it is a product of social strife.

Personal problem occurs within the characters of the individual and within the range of his or her immediate relations with others; they have to do with one’s self and within those limited areas of social life of which one is directly and personally aware. A problem is something bad that you have to deal with privately. Being robbed is a personal problem because you lose your belongings and that could raise your stress levels which can affect your health. Social issue has to do with matters that transcend these local environments of the individual and the range of her inner life. They have to do with the organization of many such milieu into the institutions of a historical society as a whole, with the ways which various milieu overlap and interpenetrate to form the largest structure of social and historical life. An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be threatened. Issues are connected with difficult decisions, and involve crisis in institutional arrangements.

A young adult in my neighborhood went to The University of Johannesburg (DFC) to study Business Management in 2015. While his mom who is paying for his fees thought he was studying he was going wild in night clubs every week, skipping lectures and never submitting assessments. When they asked about the first semester results, he kept on stalling them until they forgot; he failed the first semester and the second one as well. The following year her sisters took it upon themselves to go to the institution and do a follow up because according to them the results never came out. What they got is a very scary record and he had to drop out. He had a n alcohol addiction, a very bad one.

This was created by the society because before varsity, he wasn’t like this. Peer pressure and bad influence led to change in his behavior. So, this is a personal problem as his life is breaking down, he lost his family’s trust and has to deal with himself as a human being, it’s also a social issue because alcoholism is one of our problems as a country, a rate of university dropouts has increased as well as unemployment.

An examination was done to explore the pervasiveness of substance abuse and misuse of substance use among understudies at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban, South Africa. The examination used a cross-sectional review structure and gathered information from an advantageous example of 515 understudies. The investigation found that alcohol is as the most widely recognized substance utilize. Despite the fact that life time alcohol usage (68%) and use inside the previous three months (57%) was high, 17.5% of the students were found to be extensively engaged in alcohol consumption. Male students were more in danger for unsafe substance use, and altogether extraordinary on cannabis use from female students. White and Colored students were additionally observed to be unsafe alcohol clients. The student’s general Psychological capital (PsyCap) was high, however scores were low in self-adequacy. Male students PsyCap were significantly higher than of female students.

One of every seven grown-ups confess to being gorge drinkers, yet business analysis state the issue is probably going to be much more terrible. In view of affirmations in a study of 20 00 adults, UCT analysts state 4.8 billion mixed beverages were expended in 2014/15. Yet, in the equivalent period, the South African Income Administration gathered extract obligations on four-fold the number of beverages. Furthermore, an assessment in 2017 found that just 14.6% of alcohol utilization was represented in confirmations amid the National Income Dynamics Study.

Students ought to be made mindful of the negative outcomes of substance on their wellbeing and prosperity and intercessions should be coordinated at upgrading strength and commitment in more wellbeing advancing ways of life through supportive environments and skills building opportunities. Campaigns around responsible alcohol consumptions should be run more often and alcohol age should be increased to an age where people are really responsible.

The sociological imagination makes us to see the general in the particular and it helps people and sociologists acknowledge general patterns in the behavior of specific individuals. One can think of the sociological perspective as one’s own personal choice and how society plays a role in shaping individuals’ lives (Macionis, Gerber, 2010). So, we are nothing without the sociological imagination. In order to understand any problem, you must look at it with an objective view so that you can see the external factors causing it.

The United Kingdom’s universities are the second most popular choice for higher education in the world for students from overseas. Furthermore, the interesting fact is that 15% of the student population in the United Kingdom, mostly in England are international students (Al-Quhen, KY, 2012). Purpose of this essay is to provide international students perceptions of their educational experiences at English university. University of Central Lancashire is well-known as a very friendly place for international students from all over the world. By qualitative and quantitative data, this essay is to examine different kind of issues: language, social, cultural, such as other manner or behaviors represents in the same situations. Main point is to present cultural clashes between international students at University of Central Lancashire. Questions in this essay are what are the intentions, purpose and what guidance students from different countries use to study at UCLan and issues they face on daily basis both in a way of study and live.

There is a need of encouragement at a very high level to decide to study abroad. Hypothetically it seems like there is a purpose of facing cultural clashes within the English culture. However, when look inside the University of Central Lancashire must develop their decision making, strategies and change their way of living in a way to deal with more than English origin students. UCLan is very helpful at the beginning of this journey. Staff responsible for international students made their best and still develop to make student’s life easier. The website is a repository of knowledge about how to prepare yourself to study in Preston. Many different forms of communication, airport information and collection and other forms of help are extremely helpful. Students at university level tend to show and highlight their experiences from their perspective of studying and dealing with cultural clashes between different nationalities.

Nowadays there is a lot of opportunities of international placements all around the world available for a wider and still growing number of people. The aim of this essay is to define as well as explore challenges that international students face by studying at UCLan and in the United Kingdom.

How Do International Students Cooperate and What Are They Challenges?

According Michael Byram’s (1997) model of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) there is 5 factors of development to achieve a satisfactory level in intercultural communication, skills of interpreting and relating, knowledge, critical cultural awareness, attitudes (savoir être) and /skills of discovery and interaction. Each of them answers the question ‘what?’ and expand by giving an example of development those skills.

Language Barriers (Idioms, Slang, Local Dialect)

One of the biggest challenges for international students is language. Even though English seems to be an international language. People who are non-native speakers, no matter of years of learning the language, still face many issues associated with it. For many international students who have achieved the language criteria to study in the UK are not prepared for living and dealing with every-day life as well as communication with other non-native speakers. Fluency in English does not affect the academic achievement of international students. Furthermore, it is significantly associated with both academic success and psychological adaptation (Poyrazili, 2003). It may be the most important factor in achieving positive learning outcomes for international students. Lack of language communication skills can lead to confusion, misunderstandings, anxiety and stress associated with participation in presentations and other performances. It can cause the alienation from the side of the students. Also, according to students at UCLan need to probably for the first time in their lives have a contact with Northern English accents and dialects which are not taught at school.

Social and Cultural Adjustment

Many international students talk about mixed emotions in the beginning of their transition as well as recognizing unique and exciting opportunities to mix with those of different nationalities. In order to address some of these negative feelings and enhance the positive, Bartram (2008) suggests that students should be offered counselling and mental support. Not all the international students will actively seek out such support, which means that the university needs to promote these services and encourage them to participate. Essential part of the first weeks is to turn down the anxiety in those students which can smoothly turn into confidence. University of Central Lancashire provide by themselves but also advertise many other events where international students can adjust themselves and find their place at English university.

Study Help

Every country represents their own educational system. Grading system at UCLan can be confusing for international students. Project groups with a mix of students from different backgrounds is a good way to face new terms as a group. Also, there is a platform where students ask other students with help of search of level of studies, area of studies and countries, so nobody is left on their own. This is a great opportunity to find an academic support from experienced students. However, University of Central Lancashire provided a ‘Buddy program’ for Korean students in the 2018/2019 academic year. From all the above, not only international students but every student has the academic advisor on the campus. They can always set an appointment when is needed in their office hours and they keep a contact with each of their students.

Social Networks

The UCLan Facebook community is a place where students can expect all information’s from university. It can also help make friends with other people from same or different course or subject area not necessarily form the same country.

Indian community at UCLan. created the ‘Indian society’ group on Facebook and organize many events to help people from India by sharing experiences to get to know more of Preston and its culture. Apart from the Indian society, Students Union at UCLan are successfully run the Chinese society group. They are holding events such as Chinese New Year Gala, Second Hand Market, matches of LOL, CSSA Welcome Party, singing competition etc. They provide a membership card which contain a discount for shops and restaurants, also lower enters for all the events they organize.

Blogpreston.co.uk provides the latest news from Preston and UCLan campus. It was founded by Ed Walker in 2008. There are many different articles and different way of finding information to gain interest of a wider range of people. This is also another way of helping international students dig into the new society.

Culture Shock

Term ‘culture shock’ is an issue highlighted through many authors and is described via Brown and Holloway (2008) as anxiety from losing acquainted signs and symbols of social sex which is tough to assess. It is a duration of mourning for one’s own cultural context that’s also associated with the idea of ‘homesickness’. There is no set time period over which college students enjoy culture shock and it need to be referred to that each student adjusts at a special pace (Brown and Holloway, 2008; Wang et al., 2012). It is a natural human reaction when changing places from familiar to unfamiliar one. What is important is not to avoid and reject thought of having a culture shock, on the contrary once faced will benefit in the future. There are four main stages of culture shock: initial euphoria/ the honeymoon stage, irritation and hostility/ the negotiation stage, gradual understanding/ the adjustment stage and adaptation or biculturalism. Each stage’s time depends on personal adjustment. However, sometimes it appears as a study abroad depression (Go Overseas, 2020). Culture shock is strong component that appears in student’s life when they decide to study overseas. University of Central Lancashire provides many forms of support and one of them is the place called ‘Oasis’. University tries to take care of mental wellness of international students by providing place to meditate, pray and clear student’s mind from anxieties.

Cultural Differences

As already mentioned and supported via the work of Brown and Holloway (2008), students come to the United Kingdom to be able to enhance their cultural awareness and there is a possibility to cross cultural differences in the getting to know the environment. Many students are labelled because of their cultural background. According to Hofstede’s 6 cultural dimensions, every country has their own certain values and beliefs and live in a very different ways than others. It is not easy to adjust to the country which is from two opposite sides of any of 6 dimensions presented by Hofstede, which are: power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long vs. short term orientation, indulgence vs. restraint (Mindtools, 2020).

Hofstede points out that these factors affect multicultural communication and it is useful to apply them in real life. As a result, people may avoid wrong judgment by lack of knowledge about other’s culture.

Those establishments with international students need to end up familiar with specific values. The wish is to discover cultural diversity on the way of studies. However, there may be a want to adapt swiftly to the new culture. This can project a few students’ progress in becoming unbiased thinkers and agents for change. The combination of struggles of academic and daily life in time of pressure during the transition is a typical student’s experience. Successful transition requires deep knowledge and support to gain enough skills to deal with cultural differences at UCLan and any other university in the world.

Conclusion

To sum up all the above, Byram’s model of intercultural competence is a very useful tool to use in practice for students who decided to study overseas. Also, to understand properly term ‘intercultural awareness’, Hofstede’s makes it clear that every country has its own individual insights about life and their values.

All in all, international students will doubtlessly have many issues and stresses to deal with whilst coming to study inside the United Kingdom. This essay identified main issues that international students are dealing with while study abroad. There are many positive reasons for choosing to an overseas country, however, with an assistance from the foreign student, domestic student and the university. All events provided by university can help them to broaden an international graduate that could make a distinction in their country once they return from overseas experience. It can benefit in their future lives as a proven skill in intercultural awareness and communication within many different nations. Nevertheless, to be able to understand other people from different countries, nationalities, backgrounds, religions, certain values and beliefs are crucial to explore all of them layers. Even if it is not possible to achieve at full, it is essential to be aware of many issues according to intercultural communication existence. There is therefore a need to cooperate to provide high-quality reinforcement, which will encourage large numbers of students within the United Kingdom, England and in this case especially at University of Central Lancashire.

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The number of international students enrolled in Western English-speaking universities has significantly increased in the last 10 years, and is a trend expected to continue. There are 125, 392 international students studying in New Zealand, and New Zealand Education (2018) suggest a consistent growth of this number. In Australia, it is predicted that the number of international students will rise to over 800,000 by 2018, and will increase ‘sevenfold’ by 2025 (Ryan & Carroll, 2005). In Australia, 80% of international students are those with non-native English-speaking backgrounds, particularly from Asian countries (IDP, 2005). The increasing number of English language learners presents challenges for not only these students, but also the schooling systems. However, it is not only language barriers holding these students back, and this essay aims to outline the key cross-cultural barriers facing these NESB students in their academic studies. The following essay aims to identify these barriers in NESB student life, and to determine the primary patterns in research in order to have a broader understanding of why the above statistics occur. It will also offer implications on how to overcome these barriers, from the perspective of the institutions and all students. 10 academic studies were evaluated to identify repeating patterns in the area of NESB student communication barriers. It appeared that many components of student life contribute to the difficulties NESB students face, namely learning styles, course guidance, international student support, discrimination, class communication and social support.

Course Guidance and International Student Support

Wolf and Phung (2019) found that support services, particularly tutoring and social interaction programs helpful, but recommended more speaking opportunities and ‘life support’ for future students. Burk and Wyatt-Smith (1996) found similar views in that non-native English speakers needed very explicit directions and much more guidance than English-speaking students. Burk and Wyatt-Smith’s 1996 study revealed that many participants did not attend Orientation Day because they were at work commitments and reluctant to take time off, many who now regret missing out on being shown how to access books, journals, and other resources. Burk and Wyatt-Smith (1992) found that many students refused to see ESL councilors for help with assignments, as they felt as graduate students, they were responsible for overcoming their own English language weaknesses. In this study, several participants knew psychological counselling services were available, however not one student had sought this assistance. Although institutional services and facilities (such as learning support, health services, and vocational guidance) were found to be rated as good or excellent, students appeared relatively uninformed of these services (Ward & Masgoret, 2004). In relation to this, Treloar (2000) found common themes emerging from focus group discussions, including issues with course structure, group learning, assessment, support, and proficiency with mainstream Australian English. The study found that participants felt that examination questions had little relationship to the course, and a major absence of guidelines and direction during examination preparation (Treloar et al., 2000). Additionally, these participants raised concerns of the unstandardized nature of the assessor’s activities such as oral assessments ‘blatantly unfair’ (Treloar et al., 2000). The students perceived program support for international students as disappointing, with some participants strengthening this perception that ‘all they want is our money’ (Treloar et al., 2000). Mullins, Quintrel and Hancock (2006) also found that students were provided with inadequate information about course material, a critical point which can have undesirable consequences for student fulfilment and achievement. Mullins, Quintrel and Hancock (2006) reported that course content was a noteworthy area of concern with NESB students, predominantly regarding the examination procedure. Most students did not have a strong understanding of the criteria staff were using in exam work, and what was or wasn’t satisfactory (Mullins, Quintrel & Hancock, 2006). Furthermore, they found that students were not concerned with their own shortcomings, but the inadequacies in the teaching, services, facilities and social setting (Mullins, Quintrel & Hancock, 2006). It was recommended that staff needed to try to clarify more visibly, be inspiring, and comprehend the education system differences (Jones, Roberson & Line, 1999). Long (2008) identified several opinions on institutional offerings, including several NESB students enrolling in smaller classes, which significantly helped them to focus and allows for more personal attention and interaction with teachers.

Communication in the Classroom

Marlina (2009) found that NESB students see tutorial and lecture participation as both enjoyable and educationally beneficial, indicating that if they were to feel comfortable participating, they would do so. The participants in Marlina’s 2009 study made a point in arguing that they do not just ‘sit there’, but actively listen, think, process and link with prior knowledge before expressing their opinion. Marina (2009) concluded that NESB students were more likely to participate if their teacher is ‘enthusiastic, motivating, and accepting’, while less likely where peers and teachers exhibit stereotypical ‘passive behavior’. When teachers are perceived as showing preference towards English-speaking Australian students, sending non-verbal messages that students are ‘unintelligent’, or teaching in an authoritarian way, NESB students interpret this as disrespectful and are more likely to withdraw (Marlina, 2009). Long (2008) identified a number of key issues in the area of improving outcomes for NESB students. Collaboration was a major issue where the research suggests that mainstream English teachers should endeavor to seek advice from professionally trained ESL teachers when they feel a student is struggling to meet class expectations (Long, 2008). Staff also found this to be acceptable as they felt it was a major issue that could support both teachers and students (Long, 2008). Burk and Wyatt-Smith (1996) also found that students had complications speaking English during tutorials and lectures, affirming a major problem with the American English taught to them being very dissimilar to the Australian colloquialism. Mullins, Quintrel and Hancock (2006) found that contribution in tutorials and seminars were a strong apprehension for various students, with seventeen percent demonstrating these problems were serious. Singh (2019) found challenges in academic speaking practices, lack of self-assurance in communicating orally, and lack of English language proficiency as major indications of the success of NESB students. Predominantly, it was acknowledged that many students can proficiently communicate orally but choose not to speak up until they are prompted or stimulated to, in which typically results in admirable communication (Singh, 2019). A key aspect contributing to this is the difficulties these students have in relation to their local peers (Mullins, Quintrel & Hancock, 2006). Burns (1991) found similar results where NESB students had extreme trouble in joining discussion, due to not only inadequate English, but cultural values relating to questioning authority figures. A lecturer in Singh’s 2019 study stressed that her colleagues are more animated and use more technical and specialist lexis associated to their field. Moreover, this participant described fast speaking and the use of words less commonly used in ‘normal’ discussions which affected the readiness of student classroom interaction (Singh, 2019). A momentous finding in Long’s 2008 study was delivery of content in that teachers needed to develop an awareness of the impact of selective choice of vocabulary, writing, and delivery of instructions on the understanding by NESB students. Also apparent was the benefit of using legible handwriting in lectures and in marking student work (Long, 2008).

Learning Styles

In Singh’s 2019 student, 13 lecturers raised the issue of difference in learning culture as crucial to the academic success of NESB students. In their 1996 study, Burk and Wyatt-Smith found that writing was perceived by all NESB participants to be their greatest difficulty. Burk and Wyatt-Smith (1996) found that on the 31 participants, only a few reported a fairly strong sense of conflict between the learning styles at home and in their host country. Although there were few remarks concerning approaches to knowledge and academic authority, a number of Asian students perceived lecturers not having time for appointments, or that they preferred help from equivalent students (Burk & Wyatt-Smith, 1996). Poyrazli and Isaiah (2018) found unfamiliarity with the U.S. college system a key causative factor in the success of NESB students, affirming that the large classes, grading system, education style and class arrangement among the topmost influences. Wolf and Phung (2019) summarized the key findings from their quantitative and qualitative analyses, stating that most complications found in NESB learning stemmed from the linguistic strains of the writing and listening tasks, and the participants unfamiliarity with the academic writing style. Gil and Katsara (1999) found that a high percentage of NESB students didn’t collect any material on the education system of their host country, or even their own program of study.

Social Support

Wehbe (2013) describes the common complications facing English learners in an academic environment. He identifies culture shock as a cause of anxiety originating from language challenges, social isolation, identity confusion, weather and food differences, accommodation, homesickness, role and status change, and a new education system. Poyrazli and Isaiah (2018) found that cultural differences led to impediments on social interactions both in and out of the classroom, including making friends, language barriers, understanding accents and prejudice and discrimination. The social support systems within ethnic and racial groups fulfil a profusion of constructive roles, including coming together to authenticate and share experiences, providing a sense of belonging, and a sense of self-worth (Smith, 1991; Tajfel, 1981 & Turner, 1984). In their 2018 study, Poyrazli and Isaiah found that several students had difficulty making friends with their new American peers, leading to interactions being between people from their own countries.

Discrimination

In Poyrazli and Isaiah’s 2018 study, one student reflected their experience of discrimination as high because he was from the Middle East: “Maybe because of the politics that’s going on right now, but when you meet someone, ‘where are you from?’ the second they know you’re from the Middle East or you’re international, some people are interested, some start asking questions, and some people just take step back and get quiet… That was a bit of a cultural shock to me because back home in Syria, we have Christians, we have Muslims, we have people who come from out of town, we all talk together and hang out together. Here it was different”. Of high concern to NESB students was contact and developing relationships with New Zealanders. One in four students said they had no communications with New Zealanders in social surroundings, and over a third stated they had no New Zealand friends (Ward & Masgoret, 2004). Though it can be claimed that NESB students have a habit of being exclusive, seventy percent of these students advised they wanted more New Zealand friends, and findings established that amplified contact with New Zealanders positively impact academic, social, and psychological outcomes for NESB students (Ward & Masgoret, 2004). The previous paragraph explains why international students tend to form ‘alliances’ with one another. Treloar et al. (2000) found that NESB participants experienced serious levels of racism, professed to be a major determining factor of how alienated they felt. Participants reported that this racism dropped confidence, reduced participation, and contributed to feelings of isolation (Treloar et al., 2000). Mullins, Quintrel and Hancock (2006) found that ten percent of international students specified prejudice and racism was a serious problem, and fifty two percent indicated it was a minor problem, also finding that international students rated fair treatment of international students as poor.

Conclusion and Implementations

This literature review highlights the barriers facing NESB students in the English-speaking classroom. The results call for recommendations for higher education institutes to improve the educational experience of NESB students. Communication in the classroom and course guidance are leading barriers among the literature, and discrimination, learning styles, social support and financial barriers a mentioned in a significant proportion of the literature. The major gap in the literature is in the small sample size or participants, where quantified data could contribute immensely. Particularly, the use of summary statistics is influential in gaining support for international student studies, which can result in more support of the reader. In the future, it is recommended that both qualitative and quantitative data research are employed in such studies. It is also recommended that further research be done on strategies to overcome the barriers for NESB students, that can be applicable to both the student and the teacher. With the ever-increasing number of international students worldwide, particularly NESB in Western universities, this topic demands attention.

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