The transition to university life is challenging, involving academic adaptation and social and lifestyle adjustment, so it is no surprise that attrition is at its highest in the first year of attending university. Studies have investigated factors influencing students' adjustment, and the formation of a new learner identity within university has…

The present study explores the role of writing in undergraduate education students' learning experiences in the United States. It focuses on how writing about previously significant experiences in the forms of narratives and journal entries transforms international education students' perceptions and identities and provides them with the space for…

P-12 (pre-school -- grade 12) international schools educate increasing numbers of local and expatriate students, who make up a growing proportion of tertiary (university level) international students. Using the transnational social fields framework, this phenomenological study focused on the experiences of 19 students from international schools in…

Considering the broad context that there is a growing number of international students seeking English teacher education in the Western TEOSL programs and the majority of them will eventually go back to their own countries to teach, these international TESOL trainees face the challenge of integrating two different language education systems.…

There is an increasing number of Chinese graduate students who study in Canada and have quite different educational backgrounds. Despite a large number of studies attending to the challenges and difficulties they encountered in life and study, not much research narratively explores Chinese international students' academic adjustment experiences in…

This paper contributes to an understanding of the ways in which not being bound to the nation of education, in legal and cultural terms, excludes international students. Based on narrative interviews with 20 students from 6 countries, the paper considers a range of difficulties international students encounter in social and educational domains in…

In this paper, through a personal narrative discourse, I explore the influence and the contribution of my cross-cultural study experience in China on my development as a young researcher. Through the Chinese academic culture, I learned some best practices that I consider essential for the blossoming and development of a student. Nonetheless, I…

Situated within an increasing trend of globalization and internationalization, many universities pride themselves on the number of international students they recruit. At Canadian universities, there are more international students from China than any other country. However, Chinese international students tend to demonstrate lower spoken English…

In the past decade, there has been a rapid increase in the number of Chinese international students studying overseas. There has also been a corresponding increase in the media stories about their cross-cultural difficulties. Reported in this study is a reflective inquiry into my work as an international student advisor with a large number of…

Insider-researchers are said to enjoy many advantages during the interview process that help them to access the innermost thoughts of participants. As a Chinese doctoral student interviewing other Chinese doctoral students, I assumed I was an insider. However, my experiences proved otherwise, as I oscillated between insider and outsider positions.…

Studies on the cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students in American higher education institutions have received more attention in the past decade with the dramatic increase of Chinese students enrolling in American colleges and universities. According to the 2012 Open Doors Report, the number of students studying in the United States from…

In this article, the author expresses her thoughts and experiences on studying abroad. Yang Huang explains that studying overseas for international students means a lot--not only being away from home but also experiencing quite a few unexpected difficulties. Studying abroad is full of challenges for every student due to the language barrier,…

International students, who study a foreign language abroad, experience more adversities than their domestic peers. The social challenges they face include problems with immigration status, isolation, difficulty speaking a new language, and learning unfamiliar customs. There is limited research focused on the coping strategies of these…

Social networking sites have seen tremendous growth and are widely used around the world. Nevertheless, the use of social networking sites in educational contexts is an under explored area. This paper uses a qualitative methodology, autoethnography, to investigate how social networking sites, specifically Facebook[TM], can help first semester…

Eight students from mainland China chart their learning journeys across national and continental boundaries and socio-cultural contexts. The five women and three men structure their experiences of studying in China and the West around the turning points and life changing choices they made in chasing their dreams. They embody its emergent…