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Table of Contents
Contents
The
selected research topic for this study is the challenges faced by international
students in Canada. The main purpose of conducting a study on this topic is to understand
the experiences and challenges of international students. For this purpose, it
is important to understand their perspectives and expectations in Canada. There
are two research journals are selected to conduct this study that is providing
the information of international students. The research articles are based on
qualitative and quantitative data. The first research article is related to the
understanding of experiences, expectations, and perspectives of Chinese
international students who are providing information that more than 60000
international students came to Canada in the year 2007. The second paper is
based on the challenges and experiences of first-year international students at
Canada University with social integration. This study is providing information
that almost 671,616 students came to Canada during 2008-2009 academic. The
study is providing information that international students in Canada in the
first year have faced several problems in Canada after admission.
The
studies are also providing the main problems faced by international students
that they had to face problems related to culture because the culture of Canada
is completely different from other countries. After cultural differences, the
biggest problem which was faced by international students that they may face
problems related to the language because many people from different countries cannot
speak and understand English. So, the language barrier is also the biggest
challenge for them while studying in Canada. The research studies are based on
both qualitative and quantitative data. For the collection of data from
international students, the researchers did conduct interviews as well as surveys.
These data collection methods were very effective because the researchers can
analyze the collected data easily. Further explanations related to the research
articles on the international student’s challenges are provided in the
following headings.
In
the methodology of conducting the research, the researchers have purely focused
on the research questions which are:
What are the expectations,
perspectives as well as experiences of the Chinese international students and
international students in general of their studies at University?
What could possible reasons for the
challenges and problems of these students have encountered during their study
program?
In the research participation, every
student was asked to fill the online survey. So, a total of 76 students did
complete a paper-based or online questionnaire and 17 students have
participated in the individual interviews. For the collection of data, the
online surveys and paper-based questionnaires were used in which they provided
their perspectives and their experiences of studying.
The findings of this research
according to the qualitative and quantitative were determined by analyzing the
interviews and survey data. The survey data is showing that 76 persons
participated in which 38% of males and 62% of females. The major issues of
students that they wanted to move to another location for residence due to
several reasons. Furthermore, some cultural differences are also identified along
with language barriers that they were facing on a daily basis
For
this purpose, the theoretical framework was designed. About 50% of fresh
students have enrolled in different colleges and universities and the study
shows that 50% were dropped out from the universities before completing their
programs. The study is also showing that around 20 to 25% of students, do not
want to continue their studies and do not proceed with their second year. It
was because of the cultural differences among them. Some other related studies
are also provided in the literature review. The methods to conduct the studies,
the researchers focused on both types of data (primary and secondary). The
online surveys and paper-based questionnaires were provided to the students. There
were 1712 international students registered at the time of data collection and
360 students were studying in the first year. An email was sent to all of 350
students but only 82 responses were received and 77 students were included in
data analysis. The return rate of the survey was about 22%. Furthermore, it was
also determined that students came from 28 countries and can speak 21 home
languages. In the participants, 60% were males and 40% were females. The
researcher found several reason and challenges faced by these students that
they are facing loneliness, different education values, the relationship with
domestic students, language barriers as well as cultural differences. The
results and findings are providing information that 55% of students were
satisfied with the experiences, 81% recommended universities to their friends
and 64% were confident to complete their degrees
References of
Challenges faced by International Students in Canada
Zhang, Z., & Zhou, G. (2010). Understanding
Chinese International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives,
Expectations, and Experiences. Canadian and International Education,
43-58.
Zhou, G., & Zhang, Z. (2014). A Study of the First Year International Students at a Canadian University: Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration. Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale, 43(2). Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cie-eci/vol43/iss2/7
Canadian and
International Education / Education canadienne
et internationale
Volume 43 | Issue 2 Article 7
September 2014
A Study of the First Year International
Students at a Canadian University: Challenges and Experiences with Social
Integration
George Zhou
University
of Windsor,
gzhou@uwindsor.ca
Zuochen Zhang
University of Windsor, zuochen@uwindsor.ca
Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cie-eci
Recommended Citation of the First Year International Students
at a Canadian University, Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
Zhou, George and Zhang, Zuochen (2014)
"A Study of the First Year International Students at a Canadian
University: Challenges and
Experiences with Social Integration," Canadian and International Education / Education canadienne et
internationale: Vol. 43: Iss. 2, Article 7.
Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cie-eci/vol43/iss2/7
This Research paper/Rapport de recherche is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian and International Education / Education canadienne et internationale by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact kmarsha1@uwo.ca.
A Study of the First Year International
Students at a Canadian University: Challenges
and Experiences with Social Integration
Une étude des étudiants internationaux de
première année dans une université
Canadienne : Défis et expériences avec
l’intégration sociale
George Zhou, University of
Windsor
Zuochen Zhang, University of Windsor
Abstract
of the First Year International Students at a Canadian University,
Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
An increasing number of international students come to Canada for their higher education. As a unique group on Canadian campuses, international students deserve our attention so that we can understand their special needs. Using Tinto’s retention model as a theoretical framework, this study investigates the experiences of the first year international students at a Canadian university. It pays special attention to the challenges these students face in the process of their social integration into the new learning and living environment. Data were collected through surveys and focus groups. Data analysis reveals a comprehensive picture of international students’ socialization patterns and challenges. Since student retention has been a central concern for many universities, the findings of this study are informative for higher education institutions to optimize their services to meet international students’ preferences and needs.
Résumé
of the First Year International Students at a Canadian University,
Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
Un nombre croissant d’étudiants internationaux viennent au Canada pour leurs études supérieures. Représentant un groupe unique sur les campus Canadiens, les étudiants internationaux méritent notre attention afin que nous parvenions à comprendre leurs besoins particuliers. En utilisant un cadre théorique basé sur le modèle de rétention de Tinto, cette étude enquête sur les expériences des étudiants internationaux de première année dans une université Canadienne. Elle porte une attention particulière sur les défis auxquels ces étudiants sont confrontés dans le processus de leur intégration sociale dans un nouvel environnement d’apprentissage et de vie. Les données ont été recueillies à partir d’enquêtes et de discussions de groupe. L’analyse des données a révélé un tableau complet des tendances et des défis de socialisation des étudiants internationaux. Étant donné que la rétention des étudiants représente une préoccupation centrale pour de nombreuses universités, les résultats de cette étude peuvent informer les établissements d’enseignement supérieur afin qu’ils optimisent leurs services pour répondre aux préférences et besoins des étudiants internationaux.
Key words: international students, retention, language and
culture barriers, social integration
Mots-clés: étudiants internationaux, rétention, barrières linguistiques et culturelles, intégration sociale
Over the past few
decades, an increasing number of international students came to North America
for higher education. For instance, during the 2008-2009 academic year, the
number of international students in post-secondary institutions in the United
States increased by 8% to a record high of 671,616 students (Institute of
International Education, 2009). According to a recent media release by the
Associate of Universities and Colleges of Canada (2011, Oct. 25), for the 16th
straight year, the number of international students in Canadian colleges and
universities is on the rise. Full-time international enrolment has increased by
more than 11% since 2010 to 100,000 students, a four-fold increase since 1995.
Students coming from around the world enrich the educational experiences of
North American students by bringing global perspectives, new cultures and
languages to their campuses. They also generate financial benefit to their host
countries. As far as Canada is concerned, international students contributed
more
than $8 billion to its economy and created 81,000 jobs in 2011 (Roslyn Kunin
& Associates, Inc., 2012).
The
number of international students will continue to grow in the context of
globalization and financial shortages for higher education. Many post-secondary
institutions have seriously considered curriculum internationalization in order
to keep their programs competitive (Fitzpatrick, 2004). Also, they have
considered taking more international students as an avenue to balance tight
budgets (Mullens, 2006). Federal and provincial governments reflect increasing
interest in the global education market (Tamburri, 2008). Recently, the
Canadian government had close contact with the Indian government and signed
agreements for collaboration in many areas including education (Canada Prime
Minister’s Office, 2012). The Ontario provincial government set up scholarships
to attract more scholars from China (Ontario Premier’s Office, 2010).
While universities are ambitious in their quest to admit more international students into their campuses, they realize that it is not financially wise to admit more students only to lose them before graduation. In the university where this study took place, a recently released five-year strategic plan clearly states the significance of attracting and retaining the best international students. However, this strategic goal will not be achieved until the university clearly understands how satisfied these students are with their study experiences. Such information may directly affect the admission and retention of international students. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of the international students who were in their first year of study in a Canadian university; the focus was on the challenges these students faced with social integration.
Theoretical
Framework of the First Year International Students
at a Canadian University, Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
The issue of
student retention has been prevalent in North American post-secondary
institutions (Scoggin & Styron, 2006). About 50% of the freshmen who
enrolled in colleges and universities drop out before completing their programs
(Brawer, 1999). Roughly 20-25% of all first-year students do not proceed to a
second year of study (Grayson & Grayson, 2003). Finnie and Qiu (2009) found
out that persistence rates differ between universities and colleges: roughly
22.6% of college students drop out after the first year compared to 15.1% of
university students. Individual institutions do not bear the cost of student
attrition alone (Elliott & Shin, 2002; Grayson & Grayson, 2003); the
issue also generates significant problems for society. Lotkowski, Robbins, and
Noeth (2004) wrote:
In the face of
changing workforce and educational requirements, the need to retain more
students will only intensify. Low retention rates waste human talent and
resources, jeopardize our nation’s economic future, and threaten the economic
viability of our postsecondary institutions and our country’s democratic
traditions. (p. 2)
According to Tinto’s Theory of Student Departure (1975, 1993), whether a student persists or drops out is quite strongly predicted on their degree of academic and social integration (Figure 1). Academic integration refers to the congruence of a student’s academic attitude, performance, and commitment with his or her university’s academic climate and policy. Indicators of academic integration may include grade performance, intellectual development, comfort with university academic policy, etc. Tinto points out that although college performance is the most significant factor to predict a student’s decision to leave or stay, social integration will influence a student’s goal of degree completion and commitment to the institution. Social integration entails that a student fits into the social environment on
campus; it is determined by factors such as informal peer group association, interaction with academics and staff, and semi-formal extracurricular activities. Tinto believes that social interaction does not only provide comfort to a student to stay with the institution; it also has a positive effect on grade performance when students establish friendships with persons who have strong academic orientations. In short, according to Tinto, a higher degree of integration into the social and academic environments contributes a great degree of educational and institutional commitments of students and therefore leads to lower dropout rates.
Figure
1. A Conceptual Schema for Dropouts (Tinto, 1975, p. 95)
Literature
Review of the First Year International Students
at a Canadian University, Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
Since the decision
to drop out or persist is a result of a longitudinal interactive process
between an individual and the institution, research in student retention should
address the challenges students face when adjusting themselves to the
institutional social and academic systems. Also, the manner in which the
institution addresses students’ needs should be looked into. As a unique group
of students on campus, the institutional experiences of international students
deserve a closer look since they may have different attitudes, cultures, and
learning habits compared with their domestic counterparts (Salvarajah, 2006).
Studies have documented that international students face more challenges on
campus than domestic students (Kuo & Roysircar, 2004; Zheng & Berry,
1991). A number of studies have investigated international students’ adjustment
or adaptation to North American campus life (Dillon & Swann, 1997; Yang,
Noels & Saumure, 2006) as well as their engagement in educational practices
(Zhao, Kuh & Carini, 2005). Frequently cited challenges that international
students face include English language ability, cultural difference, and
loneliness (Berry, 1997; Kim & Abreu, 2001).
For
those students from countries where English is not the primary language,
English proficiency is one significant challenge. Zhang and Zhou (2010) found
out that limited English language proficiency impacts many aspects of their
lives, including making friends with native English speakers, understanding the
course materials, finding group work partners, etc. They reported a
statistically significant correlation between their English language competency
and confidence in successfully finishing their programs. Yang, Noels, and
Saumure (2006) found out that language self-confidence is associated not only
with psychological adjustment but also
with
sociocultural difficulty. Kwon (2009) confirmed that the level of English
proficiency has a strong impact on the feelings of isolation. The better
international students perceive their English proficiency, the better they
become accustomed to English classes without experiencing feelings of isolation
or intimidation.
In
the study of international education, cultural differences have drawn scholars’
attention as well. It has been claimed that there exist socio-cultural
differences between different parts of the world, and the United States and
China were often cited as an example of maximum cultural distance (Hofstede,
1997; Samovar & Porter, 1991; Zhang & Xu, 2007). Such cultural
differences usually affect the relationships between teachers and students, and
among students. For example, the studies on Chinese international students in
the United States found out that the different cultural values between China
and the U.S. led some Chinese students to view U.S. classrooms as lacking
structures and proper behaviours from both teachers and students rather than
being interactive, flexible, informal, and creative (Wan, 2001). Humbleness and
modesty are stressed repeatedly in the Chinese way of life. Efforts to achieve
individual goals are often regarded as inappropriate and attempts to show off a
person’s capabilities are normally perceived as presumptuous or arrogant
(Greer, 2005; Li, 1993). However, once they were in the U.S., students reported
that their habitual humbleness and modesty sometimes brought them undesirable
consequences and that they were looked down upon (Yan & Berliner 2013).
International students with different cultural backgrounds may perceive a
learning environment differently (Koul & Fisher, 2005). For example, Asian
students could be negatively affected by teachers who establish close physical
proximity while teaching. Also, Yan and Berliner (2013) reported that Chinese
international students’ lack of knowledge about their host’s culture amplified
their language deficiencies since they do not have the background knowledge to
understand the dialogue. Ward (1996) concluded that there is a robust
relationship between the degree of cultural distance and the degree of
psychosocial distress experienced in cross-cultural transition.
Methods
of the First Year International Students at a Canadian University,
Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
This study took
place in a Canadian comprehensive university in southern Ontario, which has a
significant amount of research activity and offers a wide range of programs at
the undergraduate and graduate level. The university has attracted an
increasing number of international students in recent years. At the time of
data collection, there were 1712 international students registered in the
undergraduate and graduate programs. Among them were approximately 350 first
year international students. Because the first-year experiences have a strong
impact on students’ perseverance in post-secondary studies (Barefoot et al,
2005; Wright et al, 2008), and particularly because the first-year experiences
are crucial for most international students to get accustomed to the new
culture, this study targeted first-year international students. As far as the
authors know, there are far fewer studies particularly focusing on the first
year international students among the numerous studies of international students
reported in the literature.
The
study employed a mixed-methods design with multiple data gathering techniques.
An online survey was used to collect information about participants’
perspectives and experiences of studying at the university. Tinto’s model of
retention (1975, 1993) was used to guide the design of the survey with a focus
on social integration. Participants’ overall perspective of studying in the
university was measured using four parameters: self-reported satisfaction with
their study experience, whether they were struggling with their current
studies, confidence in successfully finishing their study programs, and
intention to recommend the
university
to their friends. Relevant questions used five scales from “not at all” to
“very much.” As an indicator of social integration, participants’ association
with peers was investigated through asking questions about where they usually
studied after class, whether they studied alone or together with other
students, whether they lived in a shared residence with other students, how
they spent their leisure time, and whether they had native-English-speaking
friends. Other examined indicators of social integration included international
student’s contact with faculty and staff members and their participation in
social activities. Participants were asked to report how often they personally
contacted their instructors, how comfortable they felt approaching service
staff members at various units on campus, how often they attended the events
organized by the International Student Center (ISC), and who they would
approach first for assistance (i.e. home country fellows, ISC staff, department
staff, or their instructor). In addition, the survey also collected
participants’ demographic data which include gender, age, study program, number
of years of being in Canada, and the type of high school
(public/private/international) they graduated from.
An
email invitation was sent to all the 350 first-year international students
asking them to complete the online survey questionnaire. Eighty two students
submitted their responses; however, only 77 were complete and included in data
analysis. The return rate was 22%. Participants came from 28 countries and
spoke 21 home languages other than English. 14% of participants had English as
their native language. Close to 44% were from China and India which represents
two major international groups on the campus. Among the participants, 40% were
females while 60% were males; 78% were under 21 years old. 96% of the
participants were enrolled in various undergraduate programs while 4% were
enrolled in the English Language Improvement Program designed for those
students who need English upgrading before taking regular academic courses. 40%
of participants graduated from public schools in their home countries while 60%
graduated from private schools. Among those participants who graduated from
private high schools, 36% reported that their schools were international
schools where an international curriculum rather than the local one was
implemented and instruction is often bilingual (native language and English).
In terms of disciplines, 17% were enrolled in business and economics, 49% in
engineering, 21% in sciences, and 13% in social sciences and humanities.
Eighteen
participants of various nationalities, 12 males and 6 females, were recruited
on a voluntary basis from different academic programs to participate in five
focus group discussions. Focus group discussions were conducted to gain
in-depth data to understand whether and how participants adjusted themselves to
the new living and learning environments and how the university had facilitated
or would have better facilitated this process. Special attention was given to
the exploration of significant challenges they experienced and strategies they
employed to deal with these challenges. The qualitative data collected from
focus group discussions were used to increase the depth and breadth of the
survey responses (Creswell, 2011). Each focus group had two to five
participants and lasted about one hour on average. The focus groups were
videotaped and the audio component was transcribed.
Survey
Results of the First Year International Students
at a Canadian University, Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
Association with Peers
67% of
participants reported that they had more than two native English speakers as
friends, 25% had one or two, and 8% did not have any. On the issue of
residence, about 58% lived in student residence while 42% lived off-campus. 9%
lived alone while 91% shared a residence with others. About 30% shared a
residence with students from their home countries, 24%
shared residence with
students from other countries, and 37% shared residence with domestic students.
Regarding what they usually did on weekends, 10% reported going out with
domestic students, 38% went out with home country fellows, 25% went out with
students from other countries, 4% went out alone, and 22% usually stayed in
their own rooms. When asked where they studied after class, 21% reported that
they studied by themselves in common places like the library and the student
center; 38% reported studying in these places with other students; and 41%
reported studying in their own rooms. When asked how often they communicated
with their family and friends in their home country by mail, phone or online,
72% reported a few times a week or more, 15% once a week, 11% once every few
weeks, and 2% a couple of times a semester.
Contact with Faculty and Staff and
Participation in Social Activities
73% of participants had never personally contacted their
instructors, 19% did so occasionally while 8% had a close contact with
instructors. Their first resource for help was students from their home country
(50%), followed by the ISC (21%), department staff (8%), instructors (11%), and
others (10%). 63% of participants felt comfortable or very comfortable to
approach service staff at various units for assistance, 22% felt somewhat
comfortable, and 15% felt a little comfortable or not comfortable at all. Only
one percent attended all events organized by the ISC for international
students, 17% attended most of them, 69% just some of them they were interested
in, and 13% none of such events.
Satisfaction with Studying Experiences at
the University
55% of participants were satisfied or very satisfied, 34%
somewhat satisfied, and 11% a little or not satisfied at all. Correspondingly,
when asked about their feelings of studying at the university, slightly over
70% reported feeling “okay” with their current status, 13% felt at home, 16%
were struggling, and 1% wanted to quit their programs of study. 64% felt
confident or very confident in successfully finishing their programs of study,
27% somewhat confident, and 9% a little bit confident or not confident at all.
In response to the question regarding their future plans, 38% planned to stay
in Canada for further study after completing their current programs, 22%
planned to stay and work in Canada, 8% planned to go back to their home
countries, and 32% were not sure yet about what they would do after graduation.
In response to the question whether they would recommend the University to
their friends, 81% reported that they would while 19% would not. This means a
lot since only 23% reported that the university was their first choice when
applying for admission to universities.
Through t-test analysis,
statistically significant gender differences were found regarding participants’
comfort level in approaching university staff members for help and confidence
level in successfully finishing their programs (Table 1). Males felt more
comfortable than females approaching staff members for help and were more
confident in successfully finishing their program. However, no significant gender
difference was found in their overall satisfaction with their study experience
at the university.
Table 1: Gender differences
|
Variable |
|
|
Group |
Number |
Mean |
Standard |
t-test |
|
|
|
of cases |
deviation |
results |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Comfort |
approaching |
Female |
29 |
3.31 |
1.039 |
t = 2.524, |
|
|
staff members for help |
|
Male |
44 |
3.89 |
.895 |
p < 0.014 |
|
|
Confidence |
for |
a |
Female |
31 |
3.45 |
.925 |
t = 2.607, |
|
Male |
46 |
4.04 |
1.010 |
p < 0.011 |
|
|
study program |
|
|
|
|
|
Chi-square tests were used to
explore the association between gender and all other measured variables such as
residence preference, friend making with native English speakers, contact with
instructor, the first choice for help, feelings about their current study
status, and whether to recommend the university to friends. No such association
was detected. Comparisons between participants who graduated from public vs.
private high schools revealed that private high school graduates were more
likely to make friends with native English speakers than their public school
counterparts (Table 2). 79% of private school graduates had two or more of such
friends while 48% of public school graduates reported to do so.
Table 2. High school vs. Native English
speaker as friends
Cross
tabulation
|
|
High School |
|
|
|
|
|
Public |
Private |
Total |
|
|
Native
English speaking friends None or
Less than two |
13 |
8 |
21 |
|
|
More than two |
12 |
30 |
42 |
|
|
Total |
25 |
38 |
63 |
|
Chi-Square
Tests
|
|
Value |
df |
Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided) |
|
Pearson
Chi-Square |
6.499 |
1 |
.011 |
|
Likelihood Ratio |
6.470 |
1 |
.011 |
|
Linear-by-Linear
Association |
6.396 |
1 |
.011 |
|
N of Valid Cases |
63 |
|
|
Focus
Group Results
A few themes emerged from the focus group discussion data
including residence issues, challenges, relationship with domestic students,
and suggestions for service improvement.
Living On- or Off-campus. In the university, students
could choose to live in the on-campus residence or off-campus
housing. Those participants who lived in residence reported that they liked it
because of the opportunities to meet other students and the perceived safety
and convenience. One participant reported that:
Residence life is the best
part of my experience at the university because while you are living in
residence you are more involved in the university. You are always involved in
something in the residence lifestyle. People come up with events to keep
everyone motivated and to get together and they socialize and [it] is great
fun. (Bangladesh)
When some participants argued that living in residence was
too noisy, the participant from Bangladesh responded, “Don’t care [about] the
noise. Go to library when [you] want to study.” He strongly suggested that
international students live in residence at least for the first year.
Beside the noise issue, the
major reasons participants gave for living off-campus include lower cost,
choice of food, and flexible schedule. One Indian participant stated, “Living
off-campus is cheaper. I live [on a] tight budget and it was challenging.
[Living] on-campus you
can’t
get the food you want. Off-campus you can eat whatever you want.” Another
participant (Pakistan) shared his reason for living off-campus, “Well I live
off-campus. On campus they have restrictions like after this time you can’t shower,
you can’t make noise, you can’t enjoy.”
Initial Difficulties. Many participants experienced
some initial difficulties at their arrival. It seems that finding specific
places they were looking for was a challenge to many of them. Where is the grocery
store? Where is the bank? Where is the pub? Such ordinary things seem trivial
for long-time residents, but ended up as quite significant for international
students at their first arrival. Because they were new to the university and
lacked knowledge about available services, some participants spent unnecessary
time to get things done. For example, one participant reported his experience
with name change:
When I first arrive[d] to school, I got a problem with my
first name and last name. Because my first and last names I use daily are
different from those printed in the passport…so that I ended up with two
different student IDs. I didn’t know how to solve it. I went to Registrar’s
Office [and] they told me I had to go to Computer Center. It took me two days
but then I met one of the faculty advisors in Business administration and
finally solved my problem. That was a big issue for the first week. (Chinese)
Another
participant (Sri Lanka) wanted to change her major after a couple of classes.
She reported her frustration doing this without knowing the existence of
counselling service: “I had to switch majors…I didn’t know there were
counselling services; otherwise I would have loved to discuss what I should do
to change my major. I had to go to three places to get one thing done, so yeah,
it was very difficult to change majors.”
Independence and Loneliness.
Leaving and
studying away from their home countries and families was challenging to
participants. Participants reported their struggle to live independently from
their parents and expressed difficulties balancing their academic life,
personal living, and social life, as one participant (India) described: “I
found it really hard to sit down and study along with cooking, along with
meeting friends and trying to socialize.” Another participant admitted that he
was lost for the first term:
Parents get everything [done
for you]. You just seat at home, do your studies, eat, sleep, [and] play
around. But when you come here your life is totally on you. Just from the first
day you have to be on your own, like you should wake up on time for your
class…I was totally lost. I didn’t know how to begin and how to go on about… my
first semester …was completely messed up. (Kuwait)
Participants
frequently mentioned feeling homesick. Possibly because of the lack of social
relation and their struggle with an independent life, participants missed their
families. One Chinese participant considered homesickness as the biggest
challenge she encountered in the first year:
I think the biggest challenge
is [that] I really miss my home, my family a lot, homesick. The first several
weeks it was okay, meeting some new guys, new environment, everything made me
feel excited, but after[wards] I began to miss my family, I miss my parents. I
don’t know if I miss them or I miss what they did for me.
It is interesting to note
that this Chinese participant did not want to reveal to parents that she was
homesick. She continued: “I talk to them about once a week, sometimes twice a
week. I tell them [about] my life. I only tell them good things, not bad
things. I have never
told them bad things and I
will not tell them I miss them. I think [it] is awkward to say ‘Mom, I miss
you.’”
Different Education Values. Some participants stated that it was a challenge for them
to get adjusted
to the new education environment which is different from what they used to
have. One participant reported that Canadian universities emphasized knowledge application
while their home education attaches more value to theoretical knowledge:
For me the greatest challenge
was to get adjusted to the education system in Canada because it’s pretty
different from my country, the way professors expect you to work. In my country
it is based on [what] you know, you are given tons of notes and then you go
home, you study and you write exams on it. But here you have to apply them;
[it] is more based on your application knowledge rather than conceptual.
(Bangladesh)
Some
participants reported that they had never expected to do so much essay writing,
especially for science or engineering courses. One participant (Turkey)
commented “[Back at home], we don’t have that education, we have just… to write
one page, that’s enough. When you come here you have to write seven pages, ten
pages. It’s too much for us.” Some participants thought Canadian university
employed lots of group work, which could pose challenges to international
students. One participant (China) reported: “Here there are a lot of group
projects, and most of the time, if you are an international student, group
members don’t want to talk with you. You don’t know what to do. You don’t learn
much.”
Participants
also observed that the emphasis at the university lies in the whole learning
process while in their home country the most important factor for evaluation
was the final exam. One participant (India) commented: “Here, you have to study
from the first day of the semester. You have to study regularly, like the whole
semester. In my home country, you have to study only when you have exams, and
you study only to pass over them.”
Relationship with Domestic Students. When asked about their relationship with domestic
students,
many participants said that they had Canadian friends but in most cases, they
only worked with them on class projects. When hanging out for leisure, they
went with friends from their home country or other international students
“[Be]cause we are all missing home and trying to fit in here.” When asked if
they had domestic students as friends, one participant interestingly provided a
yes and no answer depending on the definition of friends. His answer to the
question would be yes if the term of friend meant knowing each other; but the
answer would be no if the question asked about close relationship.
English
language proficiency was a significant factor that influenced participants’
contact with Canadian students. Some participants observed that the language
difference stopped them from communicating deeper meaning with Canadian
students. As one participant (India) stated: “Some things you can only
understand when you talk in your own language. It is something that you can
explain better because some things which you say in another language is
difficult to understand how it happens.” Another participant used his own case
to support the importance of language in friend making. He reported that most
of his friends were Canadian and he believed that was because of his English
proficiency:
Most of my friends are
Canadian. I feel it is because I have that language advantage, I mean I can
speak fluent English, and I think it helps a lot in terms of making friends and
I think that’s really important but, sometimes I do wonder what if I wasn’t
really good at English? Would I have the same friends? (Sri Lanka)
While language was a factor that limited participants’
relationship with domestic students, there were other factors that were
significant. Those participants with adequate English language background still
had difficulty making close friends with domestic students. For example,
students from India usually have a better English proficiency compared with
other major international student groups on campus (Education First, 2012);
however, one Indian participant said “Is not that we are not interested [in
making friends with domestic students] or anything like that, we enjoy being
with them and it is pretty fun…but somewhere somehow ultimately you get out
hanging with your own group itself, no matter how hard you try. It happens that
way.” Another Indian participant concurred:
It’s very easy sitting there
with one of my Canadian friends like “how is going?” and “yeah, my studies are
going well”, then some my friends comes, suppose is from India, and says “Oh
let’s go and have food”, I would say “Okay bye, I am going to have food.”
(India)
Participants’ Suggestions for the Better Accommodation of International
Students. Many
participants
expressed their good experiences with the services provided by the ISC,
particularly its orientation programs that provide newcomers with information
about study and leisure on campus, a brief description on the rules and
regulations of Canada, and how to meet people around. However, participants
suggested that there was room for improving the awareness of these available
services. They were of the view that there were some students who did not know
about the ISC services as one participant from Bangladesh stated: “Most of the
people I’ve met so far are like ‘what’s the ISC?’ ‘I’m studying [here] for
three years. I didn’t know that.’ So I would say they should expand and create
awareness among people that there is a body on campus called the International
Student Center.”
Due
to the international students’ unfamiliarity with the new environment and their
financial constraints, some participants suggested that the ISC should provide
international students with more information that goes beyond campus life such
as things about car insurance discounts and locations to buy cheap goods. Some
other participants thought that the ISC provided support mostly related to
their social life and they hoped that assistance would also be available
regarding their academic life. In the case that international students had
issues with academic units or professors, one participant would like ISC to
“come in between and intervene the things…at least, they should guide them.”
(India)
In
regard to the on-campus residence, some participants suggested improving the
experiences of international students living in residence. One participant (Sri
Lanka) reported that international students were assigned bedrooms on certain
floors and this limited their opportunities to mingle with domestic students.
He suggested that international students should be spread out a bit in the
residence. Food service was a great concern of participants who lived on
campus. One participant described his difficulty getting himself fed in the
following quotation.
Another thing is the
university food services. The time should be a lot more flexible because like
for Vanier [student residence] it closes at 7pm and we are up till 2 or 3 in
the morning and by 10pm we are hungry again, and we have no place to go and
yeah the food service times are really bad… Yeah for example during study week,
everything was closed on-campus. I mean the students that decided to stay in
town had no choice but walk outside of campus and grab something to eat. We
were stuck here at the university and we had no place open. Market place opened
for two or three days and still, the timing…, I mean the timing was very
limited to till 5 in the evening I guess. (Bangladesh)
Findings and Discussion of the First Year International Students
at a Canadian University, Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
Our study reveals
a mixed picture about international students’ experiences on campus. On one
hand, 55% of participants were satisfied with their experience at the
university, 64% were confident to successfully finish their programs, and 81%
would recommend the university to their friends. On the other hand, more than
one third of participants were not fully satisfied with their study experiences
and lacked confidence in successfully completing their programs. There were 17%
of the participants struggling with their studies.
Participants’
social integration patterns posed a more worrisome picture. Connection with
academics and staff is a significant indicator of social integration in Tinto’s
model of student retention (Tinto, 1975 & 1993). Unfortunately, our study
found out that 73% of participants had never personally contacted their
instructors. For half of the participants, the first source for assistance was
from their home country fellows, which is consistent with the previous findings
reported in the literature (Yan & Berliner, 2013). 37% of participants felt
uncomfortable approaching service staff members for help. This could lead to
frustration and anxiety among this portion of international students.
Participants’ socialization with domestic students was quite limited since only
37% shared residence with domestic students and 10% reported going out with
domestic students on weekends. There is no wonder that over 87% participants
communicated with their family every week. This reflects their loneliness on Canadian
campus as specified by focus group attendants.
Most
international students experienced homesickness and mitigated the feeling by
communicating with their families back home via the internet (Kelly, 2010). The
potential drawback of this is that it could slow down the international
student’s process of adjusting to the new environment. In our study, many
participants who shared off-campus accommodation chose other international
students from their home country as their roommates. While some scholars noticed
the benefits of such a pattern of socialization as these students have many
things to share and they can help each other (Montgomery & McDowell, 2009),
other scholars have argued that staying together mostly with students from
their home country may limit their communication with local and other
international students (Jiao, 2006).
Students
have an international education experience to make friends with local students,
but for various reasons, it is not easy for international students and local students
to work together smoothly, let alone become close friends (Jiao, 2006;
Montgomery & McDowell, 2009). It seems that the study participants got
along well with domestic students in class and many of them had native English
speaker friends. However, these friendships seem to be “superficial” (Jiao,
2006) as they reportedly spending most of their time out of the class with
students from their home country.
Like
findings from previous studies on international students (Kwon, 2009; Yang et
al., 2006; Zhang & Zhou, 2010), our study found out that one of the
important factors that affect participants’ acculturation to the new learning
environment is their English language proficiency. Participants who graduated
from private high schools that usually had better English preparation reported
to be more likely to make friends with native English speakers. During the
focus group discussion, participants from countries where English was not the
primary language reported that their inadequate English language skills limited
their in-depth communication with local students and making close friends with
them. Those of the participants who reported to have close domestic friends
admitted that their language advantage helped them doing so.
However,
language is not the only factor that contributes to the challenges
international students face. For some participants especially those from
countries where English is widely
used,
they were fluent in English and felt comfortable using English for social and
academic purposes; yet they still had a variety of problems adjusting
themselves to the new school life in Canada including communicating with local
students and actively participating in the learner-centered classes. Many of
them still mainly socialized with home country fellows. Some participants
indicated that they were getting along with Canadian students in their class
but still felt that they had a closer relationship with other international
students than with Canadian students.
It
seems that culture is another factor that determined participants’
socialization as reported by Jiao (2006) and Liang (2003). Yan and Berliner
(2013) pointed out that the cultural difference amplifies the communication
difficulty. International students who grew up in another culture usually
possess different personal interests, ways of communication, sense of humour,
daily routines, and perceptions on many things such as friendship, sexual
relationships, and privacy concerns which will negatively influence their willingness
and attempts to make close friends with domestic students. In contrast,
although such differences may exist among international students from different
countries, the same foreigner status makes them share similar challenges and
face similar issues. Such similarity will pull their hearts closer to each
other compared with their relationship with domestic students.
International
students came with educational experiences which may differ greatly from what
domestic students have. The training they received from high school may not
meet the expectations of the university for its first-year undergraduates.
During the focus group discussion, some participants who even had an
educational background in which English was extensively used in their curricula
admitted that their writing ability was not adequately developed to meet the
expectation of Canadian classes. International students may also bring unique
learning preferences which are different from the learner-center approach at
the university. Edwards and Tonkin (1990) claimed that, influenced by their
previous educational experiences, some international students may be more
accustomed to listening and learning rather than speaking in class. In our
study, some of the participants were used to learning by listening with a focus
on theoretical knowledge and felt at odd with the instruction that values
students’ contribution in class and emphasizes practical skills. Because of
their established values on instruction, international students may find
interactive classes chaotic (Wan, 2001). Such resistance to Canadian way of
instruction may limit their willingness and engagement in the process of
teaching and learning. For those participants who came from a highly
competitive education system, group learning was contradictory to their past
school experiences. In high schools, they were not encouraged and prepared to
participate in group learning. Such lack of prior experience with group
learning coupled with language and culture barriers would cause international students
to be in an awkward position in the context of education that emphasizes
collaborative learning. These differences explain why participants suggested
that the university should provide more academic services in addition to social
services.
Concluding
Remarks of the First Year International Students
at a Canadian University, Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
While universities
are attempting to recruit more students from oversea countries, international
student retention becomes a significant issue for them. The literature on
student retention has concluded that students’ decision to drop out or persist
is affected by the degree of suitability between the student and the
institution. In Tinto’s student integration model (Tinto, 1975 & 1993), the
pre-entrance characteristics including family background, individual
attributes, and pre-college schooling contribute to the outcome of student and
institution matching. For
international
students, such pre-entrance characters are more complex than those of domestic
students since they were educated in a foreign system, came from a different
culture, and spoke a different language. Our study reveals that the first-year
international students face many challenges at the university especially with
regards to social integration. Possible explanation for poor social integration
can be attributed to language barriers, culture shock, as well as the different
instructional context and requirements.
Even
though a large portion of international students have limited English language
proficiency upon entry, limited knowledge about Canadian culture, different
learning habits and education values and beliefs, most international students
commit to the goal of obtaining a Canadian university degree. Such commitment
will not easily drop since they are willing to leave their families to study in
a foreign place and acknowledge the financial and emotional costs that their
studying aboard causes their parents. Tinto (1975) acknowledges the
significance of the commitment to the goal of degree completion on student
persistence in university education. Students came to the university with
initial goal commitment and institutional commitment to the postsecondary
institution they are registered. These commitments will be influenced by their
interaction with the academic and social systems of the institution. If their
institutional experiences shake their goal commitment to degree completion,
they will drop out from the postsecondary education. For those students who
have a strong goal of degree completion, even though the institutional
experience is at the low level of satisfaction, they may want to stay unless
they are dismissed by the university due to their poor academic records or
transfer to another institution. In their model of student attrition, Bean and
Metzer (1985) correctly pointed out that the
decision process of dropping-out from university is also influenced by outside
factors such as financial issues and peer influence. Most international
students have relatively limited opportunity to transfer to other institution
due to visa issues and less freedom to drop out from the educational system
because of various outside factors including parents’ expectation and almost zero
job possibility. The relatively high goal commitment and the dropout
constraints set by outside factors could offer a good explanation for the fact
that international students’ retention rate is actually slightly higher than
that of domestic students at some universities even though international
students often face more challenges than their domestic counterparts (Kwai,
2009).
It
should be noted that the current literature provides a mixed picture in regards
to international students’ dropout rate compared to that of domestic students.
Contradictory to the finding of Kwai (2009), Zhou and Scratchley (2005) found
that the retention rate of international students was lower than domestic
students at one university. Such confusion may take place because researchers
failed to distinguish between different types of dropout: “dropout resulting
from academic failure” vs. “dropout which is the outcome of voluntary
withdrawal” and permanent dropout vs. temporary leaving or transfer between
institutions (Tinto, 1975, p.89). Finnie, Childs, and Qiu (2012) recently
reported that the persistence rate in Ontario universities is higher than
expected after considering students transfer between institutions and returning
after temporary leaving. Students who drop out from the university where Zhou
and Scratchley (2005) conducted their study might temporary leave the
institution or get transferred to other institutions. The statement that
international students have a higher persistence rate may still be a valid
hypothesis although subject to verification by further research.
A
possible high persistence rate is not a good reason for ignorance about
international students’ needs or undermining the effort to retain them. No
institution is willing to lose any of their students to others. In order to
provide international students with a pleasant learning
experience
and keep more of them to the end of their study programs, Tinto’s theory (1975
& 1993) reminds us of the need of university commitments since student
education goals and commitment to the institution will be potentially modified
by their institutional experiences. The following suggestions can be drawn from
our study for the university to improve its services to international students.
Most
participants chose to live in student residence when they first arrived but as
they got themselves familiarized with the learning and living environments,
many would move to shared rental apartments/houses because they are quieter and
cheaper. The residence services of the university should find ways to improve
the environment (e.g., mixing international and domestic students to give them
more opportunities to communicate and providing more choices for food) so that
these students may choose to stay in student residence. There, they could have
more opportunities to communicate and work with international students of
different origins and local students so as to enrich their international study
experience.
Participants
indicated that they benefited from service providers on campus but that there
is room for improvement. For instance, better awareness of the service units
could be made among international students; assistance should be provided to
students to meet their needs in both academic and social aspects. What is more
important is that the service organizations should be better coordinated so
that students could get assistance more efficiently. University authorities
need to make effort not only to provide services to international students but
also encourage domestic students to get involved in events and activities
organized for international students so that international students can get
more opportunities to socialize with domestic students.
Social
integration occurs through “informal peer group association, semi-formal
extracurricular activities, and interaction with faculty and administrative
personnel within the college” (Tinto, 1975, p. 107). Successful encounters in
these areas will result in important social rewards (friendship support, faculty
support, and collective affiliation) that modify a student’s institutional and
education commitments. In our study, while the university has some avenues such
as the ISC to offer help, international students still approach their home
fellows first for help and rarely contact instructors personally. Many of them
studied alone and some experienced difficulty finding study partners or project
team members from local students. Such challenges could be reduced if the
university increases its awareness and appreciation of international students’
unique situation and special needs at all levels: administrators, academic
faculty, staff members, and domestic students. Given international students’
unique educational background and learning preferences, university authorities
and teaching staff need to consider the learning differences of international
students in the curriculum design and course delivery at both course and
program levels so as to best meet the needs of these students. This step is
much harder to achieve compared with organizing social parties, orientation
workshops, and other host services.
This
study for the first time employed a retention framework to investigate the
first-year international students’ social integration on a Canadian campus. Although
there is plenty anecdotal description of international students’ social
experiences scattered in different pieces of literature, this study for the
first time measured their socialization using a wide range of parameters:
friend making, residence sharing, study partner, study place, interaction with
instructor, contact with staff, participation in social events, etc. It
provides a comprehensive picture about international students’ socialization.
In addition, the study offered both quantitative and qualitative data to
understand the issue of social integration. Therefore, we consider that this
study makes significant contributions to the literature. Future studies may
employ
a similar research design to explore international students’ academic
integration, which is the other significant aspect of student retention.
Acknowledgement
of the First Year International Students at a Canadian University,
Challenges and Experiences with Social Integration
This project was
kindly supported by a teaching and learning innovation grant from the
University of Windsor. The authors own great thanks to Enrique Chacon from the
international student center and Grace Liu from the university library for
their assistance at the stage of data collection.
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George
Zhou (gzhou@uwindsor.ca)
is a professor at the Faculty of Education and Academic Development,
University
of Windsor. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in science education
and research methods. His research interests cover science education, teaching
science to ESL students, technology and teacher education, parental
involvement, comparative and international education.
Zuochen Zhang (zuocheng@uwindsor.ca) is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education and Academic Development, University of Windsor. His current research interests include e-learning, ICT integration and international education.
Canadian and
International Education / Education canadienne
et internationale
12-1-2010
Understanding Chinese International Students at a Canadian University:
Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
Zuochen Zhang
University
of Windsor,
zuochen@uwindsor.ca
George Zhou
University
of Windsor,
gzhou@uwindsor.ca
Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cie-eci
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Zuochen and Zhou, George (2010)
"Understanding Chinese International Students at a Canadian University:
Perspectives,
Expectations, and Experiences," Canadian and International Education /
Education canadienne et internationale: Vol. 39: Iss. 3, Article 5.
Available at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cie-eci/vol39/iss3/5
This Research paper/Rapport de recherche is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian and International Education / Education canadienne et internationale by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact kmarsha1@uwo.ca.
Understanding
Chinese International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives,
Expectations, and Experiences
Zuochen Zhang (University of Windsor)
George Zhou (University of Windsor)
Abstract
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
The objective of this study was to understand perspectives, expectations, and experiences of Chinese international students studying in the graduate and undergraduate programs at a Canadian university, paying special attention to the challenges these students faced in the process of acculturation. Multiple data gathering techniques were used for the quantitative and qualitative data, including a survey questionnaire, individual interviews and focus group discussions. Findings related to the participants’ adjustment to the new environment include English language proficiency, previous education background, communication with other students, and understanding of the local culture. The study found that participants experienced various challenges in their new learning and living environment and some recommendations are offered for improvements.
Résumé
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
L’objectif principal de cette étude est de comprendre les perspectives, les attentes et les différentes expériences des étudiants internationaux chinois de deuxième et de troisième cycles dans des programmes canadiens. L’article décrit également avec beaucoup de détail les défis que ces étudiants doivent relever lors du processus d’acculturation. Plusieurs techniques de collection de données quantitatives et qualitatives ont été appliquées dont un questionnaire, des interviews individuels et des discussions en groupe. Les résultats en rapport avec l’adaptation des participants au nouvel environnement incluent la compétence langagière en anglais, la formation antérieure et la compréhension de la culture locale. L’étude exposera plusieurs défis auxquels ont dû faire face les participants pour pouvoir s’adapter aux nouveaux environnements et quelques recommandations seront offertes pour faciliter ce processus.
BACKGROUND
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
In recent years, the number of international students coming to Canada has been increasing rapidly. In 2007, more than 60,000 international students came to Canada, “representing a 4.6 percent increase over the previous year” (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2008) . Like many universities in Canada, the University of Windsor has also been attracting an increasing number of international students in recent years, and the population of international students from China comprises one of the biggest groups of international students at the University. At the time of data collection, around 400 international students from China were registered in the undergraduate and graduate programs, which is approximately 27 percent of the international student population of the University. It is very important for the university to clearly understand how
Education canadienne et internationale Vol. 39 no 3 - décembre 2010 43
satisfied these students are
with their learning and life experiences, as this information may directly
affect the recruitment and retention of international students.
We learned from
anecdotal sources that many Chinese international students at the University of
Windsor are experiencing various challenges. Our consultation with staff at the
International Students Center at the University confirmed this statement based
on their observations, saying that one of the major challenges for the
international students is their weak English language proficiency, which
affects their acclimatization to the new learning environment. However, we were
also informed of the observation that many Chinese students currently enrolled,
especially those who are doing their undergraduate degrees, are fluent in oral
English, yet still have a variety of problems adjusting to the new school life
in the University, including communicating with local students, getting
involved in the University activities, and more Chinese international students
than those from other countries drop out, skip classes, and/or suffer from
stress, a phenomenon that mirrors the findings in a study by Zheng and Berry
(1991).
The objective of this study was to understand perspectives, expectations, and experiences of Chinese international students studying in the graduate and undergraduate programs at the University of Windsor, paying special attention to the challenges these students face in the process of adjustment. Based on our findings, we hope to generate some useful suggestions to administrations such as the International Student Centre, Student Recruitment Office, and the academic program committees across the university, so that services can be provided to best meet the needs of international students in general and Chinese international students in particular.
LITERATURE
REVIEW of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
Studies have documented that
international students face more challenges on campus than their domestic
counterparts (Kuo & Roysircar, 2004; Zheng & Berry, 1991), not only due
to language barriers, but also because international students have different
expectations and approaches to study from local students (Grey, 2002). Several
studies have investigated international students’ adjustment or adaptation to
North American campus life (e.g., Dillon & Swann, 1997; Kuo
& Roysircar, 2004; Liang, 2003;
Yang, Noels & Saumure, 2006) as well as their engagement in educational
practice (Jiao, 2006; Zhao, Kuh & Carini, 2005). Frequently cited challenges
international students experience include difficulty with the English language,
cultural differences, and loneliness (Berry, 1997; Kim
& Abreu, 2001).
44 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
Adjustments for
international students are related to their life and/or academic experiences,
that is, they have to deal with life and academic stresses (Misra, Crist &
Burant, 2003) in the new environment. Life experiences include social life,
housing and practical issues (Sam, 2001) and academic experiences are related
to their studies. As students’ cultural backgrounds have an impact on their
learning (Lambert, 1973), international students with different cultural
backgrounds may perceive a learning environment differently (Koul & Fisher,
2005). For example, Asian students could be negatively affected by teachers who
establish close physical proximity while teaching (Rifkind, 1992). Influenced
by their previous educational experiences, international students may be more
accustomed to listening and learning rather than speaking in class (Edwards
& Tonkin, 1990). In regard of the education environment in China, a
teacher-centred lecture method has been dominant in the Chinese teaching and
learning culture for centuries (Gu, 2006) . Although a social-constructivism
approach that encourages students to actively participate in class has been
promoted in recent years, education systems still put a lot of emphasis on
examination scores (Zhu, Valcke, & Schellens, 2009), and for Chinese
students who have been mainly taught by the traditionally behaviourist oriented
teaching approaches, the social-constructivist learning approach, which is
widely used in Western education environments, is new to them and they may find
it challenging to adapt to such teaching methods.
It is suggested
that the “social environment is one important aspect of the university
experience that should not be ignored by university faculty” (Lacina, 2002, p.
26), and getting support from friends can be a strong noncognitive predictor
for international students’ academic achievement (Boyer & Sedlacek, 1988).
Montgomery and McDowell (2009) argue that international students can work
together and help each other to get a successful learning experience at
university even if they do not have a close social and cultural contact with
domestic students. However, the phenomenon that Chinese international students
only communicate and seek help from friends from their home country does not
help these students gain learning and social experience from students of other
origins (Jiao, 2006), which is one of the important benefits of studying in a
different country as an international student.
With the advancement of new technologies, international students of today have different experiences dealing with homesickness and adapting to the new environment. The Internet makes it possible for international students to keep close contact with their family and friends back home, which helps them to overcome homesickness, but spending a lot of time online communicating with
Education canadienne et internationale Vol. 39 no 3 - décembre 2010 45
those in their home country
may also slow down the process of adapting to the new environment (Kelly,
2010).
The studies
mentioned above report investigations of international students studying in
different countries, and some of the studies are about Chinese students in
Canada (e.g., Kuo & Roysircar, 2004; Jiao, 2006; Liang, 2003; Zheng
& Berry, 1991). Kuo and
Roysircar’s study examined factors related to acculturation level and
acculturation stress of adolescents of Chinese descent in Toronto. There were
506 participants in this study and 108 of them were international students. The
case study by Liang investigated Chinese students who were studying or had
studied in graduate programs at the University of Calgary. Zheng and Berry’s
study compared the psychological adaptation of Chinese sojourners in Canada and
identified problems experienced by the Chinese participants. Jiao’s study was
conducted in the same university where the current study was carried out and
the focus of her study was to explore the reasons for the phenomenon that Chinese
students are “always seen staying within their own culturally homogenous
circles (p. iii). In recent years, the University of Windsor has taken certain
measures to improve its services for international students, but as the
international students from China nowadays may have different backgrounds from
those who came a few years ago (e.g., graduates from international schools in
China, students with better spoken English ability), and the advancement in
communication technologies that makes it easier for students to communicate
with their family and friends back home, the current study was conducted with
the hope to have findings that can make updated contributions to the body of
knowledge on this topic.
RESEARCH
METHODS
Research
questions of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
We are interested in
understanding the perspectives, expectations and experiences of the Chinese
international students regarding their academic and social lives at the
University, so as to come up with suggestions for the relevant university
authorities on how to optimize their services to best meet the needs of Chinese
students in particular and international students in general. The following two
research questions guided our study:
1. What are the Chinese
international students’ perspectives, expectations and experiences of their
studies at the University of Windsor?
2. What could be possible causes of the challenges these students may have encountered during their programs of study?
46 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
Research
participants of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
The target population of this study was Chinese international students, whose immigration status was international students at the time of data collection, or those students whose immigration status was not currently international students, but they had been international (visa) students when they first came to Canada. Participants for this study were recruited to 1) fill out a paper-based or online survey questionnaire and 2) participate in an individual interview or focus group discussion. A total of 76 students completed the paper- based or online questionnaire, and 17 participated in individual interviews or focus group discussions. As the survey was anonymous, we are not sure how many participants did both survey and interview/focus group discussion.
Data
collection of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
Multiple data gathering techniques were employed for this study. A survey questionnaire in both paper-based and online format was administered from January to February of 2009 to collect information about participants’ perspectives, expectations, and experiences of studying at the University of Windsor. The survey also collected participants’ demographic data, including gender, age range, number of years being in Windsor, their home city in China, types of high school (public/private/international) they graduated from, range of TOEFL or IELTS score, if they took any ESL courses in Canada, their GPA at the University of Windsor, if they had any close native-English-speaking friends, and if they lived in student residences. In January 2009, when the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at the University of Windsor had a Chinese New Year Celebration on campus, we attended the event and asked the attendees there to voluntarily participate in our study by filling out the paper- based questionnaire. There were about one hundred people at the event but only Chinese international students would qualify as research participants. At the end of the event, fifty-four (54) valid questionnaires were returned. Toward the end of the Chinese New Year Celebration, we used a poster to advertise the online version of the questionnaire (same content as that in paper format) and distributed paper slips with the web address of the online questionnaire on them, asking the attendees to pass on the slips to their friends. We also put up the recruitment poster about the online questionnaire in the Student Union Center and at the entrance of the residence buildings. We set up a prize draw to encourage participation. By the end of February, when the online survey was closed, twenty-two (n = 22) participants had completed the online questionnaire. That means, out of 400 Chinese international students, 76 completed an online or paper survey, which makes a return rate of approximately 19 percent.
Education canadienne et internationale Vol. 39 no 3 - décembre 2010 47
Based on the survey data, semi-structured interview questions were developed for focus group and individual interviews to gain in-depth data to understand whether and how participants adjust themselves to the new living and learning environment. Special attention was given to the exploration of significant challenges they might have experienced, and possible causes of such challenges. The qualitative data collected from individual interviews and focus group discussions were used to triangulate the depth and breadth of the original survey responses. The interviews and focus group discussions were conducted “as a follow-up data collection, pursuing ‘exploratory’ aspects of the analysis” (Morgan, 1988, p. 35). The participants in one focus group were mostly students in the English Language Improvement Program (ELIP) and the discussion was conducted in Chinese upon the request of the participants. All the interviews and discussions were recorded with digital voice recorders which were later transcribed (and translated) to text by a research assistant who was fluent in both Chinese and English, before the data analysis commenced. In accordance with the nature of the semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, the interviewers used the guided approach to start each interview or discussion topic and allowed the participants to express their views (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2007). To obtain in-depth responses, the interviewers asked for elaboration on emerging topics.
FINDINGS
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
By analyzing the survey and interviews data, we intend to answer the research questions by interpreting the quantitative and qualitative data, and offer our discussions based on the findings related to the literature we reviewed.
Survey data
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
The online and paper-based
survey attracted 76 participants, which represents about 19% of eligible
population for the study. Given the low response rate, we feel reluctant to
claim the validity and generalizability of the data. Selection bias might also
be a factor that contributes to the limitations of this study. Following are
some interpretations of the survey data.
Of the 76 participants, 62% are females and 38% males. A majority (95%) were under 25 years of age. Approximately 27% of participants were enrolled in the ELIP program, 68% in various undergraduate programs, and 5% in graduate programs. Approximately 62% graduated from public schools in China, 15% from private schools, and 23% from international schools. In terms of disciplines, half of the participants were registered in business, 25% in science, 19% in engineering, and 6% in other programs.
48 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
In order to
examine participants’ exposure to Canadian language and culture, the survey
asked participants about whether they had native English speakers as friends,
78% reported that they did and 22% said they did not have any native English
speakers as friends. Approximately 49% lived in student residences, 21% in
off-campus apartments, 25% shared a house with other Chinese students, 1%
shared houses with international students from other countries, and 4% shared
houses with native English speakers. Regarding what they would do in their
spare time, 17% reported hanging out with native English speakers, 50% reported
hanging out with Chinese friends, and 33% said they would usually stay in their
own rooms. When asked where they studied after classes, 35% reported that they
studied by themselves in common spaces such as the library and the student
center, 21% reported studying in these places with other students, and 44%
reported studying in their own rooms.
Regarding their
experiences of studying at the University of Windsor, 7% of participants were
very satisfied, 23% were satisfied, 39% were somewhat satisfied, 19% were
little satisfied, and 12% were not satisfied. Correspondingly, when asked about
their feeling of studying at the University of Windsor, 3% reported feeling at
home, 67% reported feeling “OK”, 21% reported they were struggling, and 9%
reported that they wanted to quit their program of study. Approximately 26%
were very confident that they would successfully complete their programs, 31%
said they were confident, 30% were not sure, 7% were not confident, and 6% did
not believe they could successfully complete their program of study at all. In
response to the question regarding their future plans, approximately 25%
planned to stay in Canada for further study after they finish their current
programs, 20% planned to stay and work in Canada, 15% planned to go back to
China, and 40% were not sure yet about what they would do after graduation. In
response to the question whether they would recommend the University of Windsor
to their friends, approximately 58% reported that they would and 42% said that
they would not recommend it.
In regard to their
communication with family and friends back in China, approximately 34% reported
using telephone, and 66% reported using online communication tools such as MSN,
QQ, Skype, etc. No participants reported writing letters as a way for such
communications.
The percentage of male participants who reported having native English speakers as friends was higher (37%) than that of female participants (21%). However, no significant difference was found between male and female participants in their overall satisfaction with their study experience at the university.
Education canadienne et internationale Vol. 39 no 3 - décembre 2010 49
Inferential
analysis of survey data indicates that the friendship with native English
speakers was a significant indicator for participants’ satisfaction with their
studying experience at the University. T-tests between participants who had
native English speaking friends and those who did not, resulted in significant
p values for their satisfaction levels with their study experiences (p=0.018),
their feelings about their study experiences (p=0.023), and their confidence
levels about successful completion of their programs (p=0.010). Those
participants who had made friends with native English speakers tended to be
more satisfied with their study experience and had a higher level of conference
to successfully complete their programs. Other factors such as where they
lived, where they studied after the class, and how they spent their weekend，which
were used to measure participants’ exposure to Canadian language and culture,
were not found to be significant factors.
We used t-tests
to compare study experiences of participants who graduated from public schools
in China and those who graduated from private schools. Statistically
significant differences were found to indicate that public school graduates had
a higher level of satisfaction with their study experience (p=0.006) and felt
much more comfortable with their current study status (p=0.000).
Interview and
focus group data of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
Seventeen Chinese international students from different academic programs participated in one-on-one interviews or focus group discussions. A few themes emerged from the interview and focus group discussion data, including reasons for choosing the University of Windsor, initial difficulties at arrival, residence issues, perspectives of life in Windsor, challenges, learning differences, the impact of prior educational experiences at public, private or international high schools, and their suggestions for improvements.
Reasons for
choosing Windsor
A variety of reasons was given as to why they chose the University of Windsor for their education in Canada. Some participants made the choice because of the academic programs offered, for example, mechanical engineering and business. Others, especially those enrolled in the ELIP program, said they had friends studying at the University or that their parents made the choice for them, reasons being reasonable living cost or the location, i.e., close to the USA. A majority of the undergraduate participants came to the University of Windsor because their high schools have a relationship with the university. Those schools are usually
50 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
international schools using the curriculum of a Canadian province, mostly British Columbia, Ontario or Newfoundland.
Initial
difficulties on arrival of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
Most participants flew to Toronto before they transferred to Windsor, some by airplane and others by bus or train. The University has a Soft Landing Arrival Program which allows international students who arrive in Windsor after the university business hours to stay at a nearby motel for the first night and then take a free taxi to the campus the following morning. Participants who used the Soft Landing Arrival Program appreciated the service but many of the participants stated that they had difficulty finding directions on campus. They had to run from one office to another to get the paper work done, often having to haul their luggage to different places. Getting used to the food served on campus was mentioned as a challenge for many participants. There are some food services on campus, but the choice of food is limited. Most participants said they had known very little about public transportation in Canada, and as a mid -sized city Windsor provides public transportation that is disappointing for most Chinese students who were used to more convenient public transportation in their home cities. They had never learned that they had to call a taxi by phone because in China you usually hire a taxi by waving your hand on the street.
Residence
issues of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
About half (49%) of the participants were living in a student residence and many of them indicated that they were planning to move out for various reasons. Noisiness was the factor mentioned by most participants, especially those who had arrived not long before. They said they could hardly bear the loud music from their neighbours on the same floor late at night or the noise from people who held parties outside the building. When asked if they had tried complaining to the RA (residence advisor) on their floor or in their building, some of the participants said that often times the noise was coming from the RA’s room so they thought it was part of the nature of residence life, and they had to learn how to live with it or move out. The compulsory meal plan at the residence also received quite a number of complaints. The food was believed to be too expensive and the choice was too limited. It was a challenge for some of the participants to get along with their roommate or neighbours, mainly due to different life styles or class schedules. Culture also appears to play an important role in the misunderstandings or conflicts. One female student who had come to the university not long before said that she chose to have a native English speaker as her roommate in her residence application but now she was wondering if she
Education canadienne et internationale Vol. 39 no 3 - décembre 2010 51
had made the right decision of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences:
My roommate is Canadian and
she is nice. She is also patient with me. When I first arrived, she tried hard
to help me, when I had questions. She even brought her friends to our room and
introduced them to me. She thought I was homesick and lonely and she wanted me
to make friends with those people. But I found it very hard to make
conversations with them. I don’t understand their conversation topics. Some
topics are not interesting to me. Now I seldom talk with my roommate. Maybe I
should have a Chinese student as my roommate. (Focus group discussion)
Perspectives of
life in Windsor
Many of the participants used
the word “boring” when they were asked to describe their life experience in
Windsor. They described the cost of living as reasonable but as they did not
have many friends, and there are not many places to go, so they felt bored in
their spare time. There are a few shopping malls in the city but because of the
limited public transportation what they could do on weekends was limited to
watching movies online or sleeping in.
Challenges
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
Some of the challenges the
participants experienced were related to their academic life while others were
related to social life. Language barriers, especially oral communication in
English, was perceived as a major challenge for many participants. Those who
graduated from international schools had their high school education in English
and their courses were mostly taught by native speakers of the language, but
they still found it difficult to communicate with instructors and, especially
their peers in class. Many courses require a lot of group work and during the
first few weeks many participants found it hard to actively participate in
group discussions as they had difficulty clearly expressing their ideas.
Writing papers was
also a big challenge for many participants, especially those enrolled in
humanities or social science programs. Most of them, especially those who had
graduated from international schools, felt they were not well prepared in their
high school years for writing papers. One female participant stated that:
I remember in my first semester, I was taking three Political Science courses. It was horrible. The textbooks seemed easy, but the course requirements were really high. We were asked to write three papers. Each one was more than 2000 words. And before that, I did not write any papers in high school. So I had to learn APA style, and learn everything from the very beginning. The Academic
52 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
Writing Centre is not that
helpful, I think. Even in my second year, I was taking theoretical courses, and
I was asked to write an essay. I should admit that I rushed it, finished
overnight, just one night, so I didn’t care about my grammar. And I just got a
C-, and I was shocked. It’s my lowest essay mark I’ve ever got. So I just went
to the TA’s office, and she said “Are you an international student?” I said
“Yeah.” And she said “Even though you are an international student, we still
reduced your grammar scores. We don’t care about it [We have the same
requirement for everybody]. You have the responsibilities to figure it out.” So
that’s really frustrating for me at that time. I didn’t write any paper in
China. What is a paper? I don’t know. (Focus group interview)
In terms of social
life, the participants generally agreed that they found it hard to make friends
with local students or international students from other countries. Several
participants asked the researchers during the interview or focus group
discussion for the definition of “friends” because they thought that even
though they were getting along with some of their classmates they did not think
they had a relationship close enough to be called friends. They said that as
they did not have close friends to associate with in their spare time,
homesickness and loneliness were the challenges they had to face, especially
during the first few semesters.
During an
individual interview, a male participant said that before he came to Canada he
had thought that he would have a lot of Canadian friends to hang out with and
to study with. But later on he found it hard to make friends with local friends
because it was hard to find common topics to make conversations with them. The
possible reasons he gave include different cultural backgrounds and the
university system. In China a class usually has the same group of students
during their program of study, but in Canada students have different classmates
in different courses, so they found it hard to get to know their classmates
really well as they did not spend time with the same people for a long time.
Some participants
expressed their frustration regarding the relationship with peers and course
instructors. Although some of the participants were quite at home in English
and did quite well in their coursework, they reported that their opinions were
usually not valued by other students in their project groups, and they had
unpleasant experiences communicating with instructors and/or Teaching
Assistants.
Learning
differences of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
The participants reported various differences in their learning in China and in Canada. Group work was one of the most frequently mentioned differences they
Education canadienne et internationale Vol. 39 no 3 - décembre 2010 53
experienced at the University
of Windsor. They reported that it was challenging for them at first because
much of their previous learning was mostly an individual effort, and they had
to learn how to cooperate and collaborate with other group members. Two
participants in a focus group commented that:
… I am majoring in social
science and there’re not many Asian people in my major. And the foreign people,
like, they have their group, and it’s really hard to
get into it. …Yeah, I also have difficulties with my teamwork, because in the business school, we have teamwork with them [local students]. And I’m concentrated on HR, so there’s more local people in this program. So I always work with local people, like White people. Most of them know each other from different classes, or they’re friends from high school, so they’re always together. You don’t have topic[s] to communicate with them, so it’s hard to get into the group. You just talk what you did for the topic, but you can’t talk [about] other things with them. And they’re friends together, you can’t say “Oh, stop talking. Because I’m here, you have to talk to me.” That would be unfair for them too. (Focus group discussion)
In some cases
language barriers prevented these students from participating in group
discussions as much as other students, while in others they had to get used to
negotiating meanings by working together with others students. Most
participants also thought the programs were more demanding than similar
programs in China, especially because of the laboratory work for science and
engineering students which requires a lot of time and effort, and essay writing
for social sciences majors. When they looked back and reflected on their high
school curriculum, the participants expressed their wish that they had been
given more training in essay writing and experiences in group work.
I felt [it] very hard. I
didn’t need to take language classes here, the ELIP. I just arrived here and
taking regular courses. It was really hard at the very beginning.
[I] [s]till had language
problems, and [especially] oral English. At first I just couldn’t understand
what the professors were saying in the lectures. If he or she had [an] accent,
or spoke very quickly, I couldn’t understand. Even the course requirements I couldn’t
understand. But I just forced myself to adapt to it. Because I didn’t have any
Chinese people [in my class], I didn’t have somebody to ask with, I needed to
figure out by myself. (Individual interview)
Type of high
schools attended of Understanding Chinese
International Students at a Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations,
and Experiences
Public high schools in China use a national curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education while private and international schools use curricula of their choice. Private high schools in China are usually owned and operated by individuals or
54 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
private organizations. By
international high school, we mean the high schools in which the curriculum of
a foreign country is taught by instructors who are mostly native speakers of
the official language of that country, or a program which physically resides
inside a public high school but the curriculum and instructors are structured
the same way as an international school (these schools belong to the category
of so called “schools inside schools” in China). It seems that students who
graduated from private or international schools felt more comfortable in terms
of social life and they experienced fewer challenges in their process of
adjusting to the new environment than those graduated from public high schools.
Another difference we noticed was that many graduates from public high schools
mentioned education quality as a factor for their school choice while very few
international high school graduates mentioned this during the interviews. This
was because the international schools often had agreements with Canadian
universities on student recruitment.
Analysis of the data indicates that those who graduated from international high schools or language training programs that are mostly located in big cities in China prior to their arrival in Windsor have more confidence in their English language competency. Students from smaller cities usually have to take the ELIP (English Language Improvement Program) before they are allowed to register in degree programs. In terms of programs of study, the number of students who came to study business, science or engineering is much larger than that for social science or humanities.
DISCUSSION
Not surprisingly, one of the
important factors that affect international students’ acclimatization to the
new learning environment is their English language proficiency. However, among
the Chinese students who are currently enrolled, especially those who are doing
their undergraduate degrees, many are fluent in English and feel comfortable
using English for academic purposes, yet they still have a variety of problems
adjusting to the new school life in Canada, including actively participating in
the learner-centered classes and communicating with local students, which is
consistent with the findings of Jiao (2006) and Liang (2003). The findings of
the current study point out that even though Canadian curriculum is taught in
the international schools that some of the participants had graduated from, the
writing ability of these students was not adequately developed. This could be
an important topic for future research. University authorities and teaching
staff need to consider learning differences of international students in
curriculum design and course delivery at both course and programs levels so as
to best meet the needs of these students.
Education canadienne et
internationale Vol. 39 no 3 -
décembre 2010 55 Most participants
chose to live in a student residence when they first arrived, but as they got
themselves familiarized with the learning and living environments, many would
move to shared rental apartments/houses as they are quieter and the cost is
comparatively lower. The majority of those who shared off-campus accommodation
chose Chinese students as their roommates. This does not necessarily mean
something bad as these students have many things to share and they can help each
other (Montgomery & McDowell, 2009). However, since they come to the host
country to learn the culture as well as academic subjects, staying together
only with students from their home country may limit their communication with
local and other international students (Jiao, 2006). The residence services of
the university should find ways to improve the environment (e.g., reducing
noise level and providing more choices for food) so these students may choose
to stay in residence, where they could have more opportunities to communicate
and work with international students of different origins and local students,
so as to enrich their international study experience.
Regarding
communicating with family members and friends back in China, the most popular
method was online chatting with MSN or QQ (an online chatting system widely
used in China). Some used their cell phones to send and receive short text
messages and used pre-paid phone cards to make international calls. Because of
the time difference, they had to get up early in the morning or stay late at
night for the communication, which could mess up their normal schedule for
their studies. Usually such communications were more frequent during the first
few months of their arrival, during which period they had to spend more time
overcoming homesickness. As Kelly (2010) suggests, the online communication
with family and friends back in their home country may help to reduce
homesickness, but it could also slow down the international student’s process
of adjusting to the new environment. So the university should organize more
activities to help students overcome the challenges they face during their
acclimatization.
Like other international students, many Chinese international students came to Canada with the expectation of making friends with local students (Jiao, 2006), but for various reasons, it is not easy for international students and local students to work together smoothly, let alone making close friends (Jiao, 2006; Montgomery & McDowell, 2009). Although 78% of participants responded in the survey questionnaire that they had native English speakers as friends, most of them stated during the interview or focus group discussion that the friendship was “superficial” (Jiao, 2006), and few mentioned they had close friendships with other international students, as described by Montgomery and McDowell (2009). University authorities need to make efforts to not only provide service to
56 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
International students, but also encourage domestic students to get involved in events and activities organized for international students, so that both categories of students can benefit from the diverse learning environment.
CONCLUSION
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
Among the array of factors
that are relevant to Chinese international students’ studying and living
experiences at the University of Windsor, language barriers, previous learning
and living experiences, and cultural backgrounds were among the most frequently
mentioned. English language proficiency and cultural differences caused
barriers to their willingness and attempts to make friends with native English
speaking friends, share residence rooms with them, and become fully involved in
group work. Although language proficiency was mentioned by many participants as
one factor that influenced their full engagement in the academic and social
life on and off campus, it was often cultural differences that thwarted their
efforts to be a part of the large community. It is not surprising that
international students feel more comfortable making friends and seeking help
from students from their home country, but if the university can find ways for
international students to communicate not only with their own cultural circle,
but also with other international students and domestic students, more useful
and meaningful learning and living experiences will be offered to both international
and domestic students. This study provides a basis for the university studied
and universities elsewhere to address the issues this research raises. It
points to the need for future research to explore topics such as how language
proficiency and cultural differences are intertwined with the process of
Chinese international students’ adjustments to Canadian campus life, and in
what ways communication and friendship between domestic and international
students can be facilitated so as to improve international students’ academic
and life experience in the new environment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
of Understanding Chinese International Students at a
Canadian University: Perspectives, Expectations, and Experiences
This project was kindly supported by the University of Windsor Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grants.
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Zuochen Zhang (zuochen@uwindsor.ca) ) is an Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Windsor. His current research interests include e-learning, ICT integration and international education. George Zhou (gzhou@uwindsor.ca) is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Windsor. His research interests include discourse in science education, ICT integration and multicultural and international education.
58 Canadian and International Education Vol. 39 no. 3 - December 2010
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