Despite the increase in methodological sophistication and complexity of models being tested for international student adjustment to universities in the United States (U.S.), researchers often do not test or control for salient demographic differences between students, including their educational status (i.e., graduate or undergraduate) and country…

Social adjustment is one of the most difficult and long-lasting challenges for international students who study in a new country. This paper uses a case study of cooperative painting activity conducted in Australian setting, in which two Chinese and three other students from different countries participated, in order to assess the efficiency of…

International student enrollments in U.S. colleges and universities continue to increase. Entry into an undergraduate or graduate program requires that applicants demonstrate suitable English language proficiency by means of a standardized test score such as the Test of English (TOEFL) or the International English Language Tests (IELTS).…

International students encounter academic and social adjustments different than those of their domestic peers. Of particular concern is language proficiency, specifically students' investment in continual language development throughout university study. In the current article, I present a comparative case study of two Chinese freshmen (Jenn,…

This article presents a comparative study of the personal adaptive capabilities of Chinese students studying in Chinese, British and Russian universities. The study involved 224 Chinese first-year students who formed 3 groups: Group 1, 96 first-year students studying in China; Group 2, 100 Chinese first-year students studying in Russia; Group 3,…

Due to the significant growth in Chinese students pursuing education abroad, there is an increasing trend for researchers to study Chinese international students' challenges, especially the challenges in social adjustment. However, only a few studies intend to design activities or supporting practices to solve these challenges. This study, drawing…

This research assesses the first cohort of pathway students' needs and their academic and sociocultural experiences at a US university. A needs analysis survey, individual student interviews, and a follow-up survey were used for data collection. Understanding lectures, completing assignments, and building social relationships with domestics were…

This phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of identity development of Chinese graduate students in the United States. Through in-depth interviews with 15 participants at a Midwestern research university, the study found that the majority of Chinese graduate students came with a strong student identity that conflated with…

The present research explores the sociocultural adjustment of international students and the role played by university structures in the process. The adjustment process of international students has been modelled in psychological literature as a U-curve, a learning curve and most recently as a long, uneven and unending process of change. Yet,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine language, academic, social-cultural and financial adjustments facing mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: The current study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods and included over 300 mainland Chinese students from seven major universities in Hong Kong.…

This paper presents an empirical study of the social situations of first year Chinese students in one UK University. The study used in-depth interviews and constructivist grounded theory to investigate the social situations of 19 foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate students in 2004-05. This exploratory approach was informed by Siu's…