Language Challenges Faced by International Students in the...

Language Challenge 1

Language Challenges Faced by International Graduate Students

in the United States

Ya-Hui Kuo, Ph.D.

Assistant ProfessorDepartment of English

Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages900 Mintsu 1st Rd., Sanmin Dist., Kaohsiung 80793, Taiwan

TEL: 886-7-3426031 ext. 5331

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Abstract

Universities and colleges in the United States require international students to provide

certain English proficiency documents along with their admission applications before

they are admitted to their programs. However, many international students with

required TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores or IELTS (The

International English Language Testing System) still experience language challenges

on campus and off campus. Lacking the language capacity in listening, speaking,

reading and writing certainly affects international students’ academic performance

and takes away opportunities to blend in with the locals and different ethnicities.

There are two objectives in this paper. One is to explore the language challenges

faced by international graduate students at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama in

the United States. The other is to offer recommendations and suggestions to prepare

and assist international students in adjusting, adapting, and overcoming their language

challenges.


Introduction

According to Petersen (1991) & Carney (1989), international students are

primarily from one of two educational backgrounds. One group is very weak in

academic achievement and is not able to enter or admit the universities back home

due to entrance requirements. Once in the United States, these students usually go to a

school for one or two semesters and then leave school. The second group is well-

educated and often receives scholarships and institutional aid or uses their own

personal funds. Most international students are in the second group. Consequently,

their family, friends, sponsoring organizations or universities, and others have high

expectations for their success.

Despite their high abilities, when these international students arrive on the

university campus, they often face serious challenges to sustaining their good

academic performances. They often have difficulty taking tests (memorization vs.

formulating their own ideas), reading material for courses, following a set curriculum

and registering and understanding the American grading system (Breuder, 1972;

Amoh, 1984; Leong & Sedlacek, 1989; Mau & Jepsen, 1990 & Razavi, 1988).

Language Challenges Faced by International Students


Constantinides (1992) asserted that international students who choose to study in

America are often the brightest students in their home countries and are also very

motivated students. However, proficiency in the English language may be particularly

problematic for most international students. For example, the way that English is

taught in China is more through writing than through a speaking form. As a result,

many Chinese international students know English grammar and vocabulary, but have

a difficult time with conversational English (Wan, 1999). Further, Chinese students

often have difficulty answering questions verbally and writing essays (Feng, 1991).

International students often have problems understanding lectures, taking notes,

taking part in class discussions, and writing papers (Huntley, 1993). These students

may also have difficultly understanding English American slang, accents, idioms, and

jokes. These difficulties with the conversational usage of English or cultural language

can create a great deal of academic stress in university classrooms, particularly when

communication and participation are encouraged (Bolanle, 1996). International

students may think that they are incompetent in conversational English to participate

in class. Writing can be another problem for international students as well.


While universities require international students to meet the minimum language

proficiency, many of them do not have adequate practice with the verbal usage of

English. Antanattis (1990) found that a language deficiency is the major academic

obstacle to the success of Asian students who experienced more serious academic

difficulties. For example, Jenkins, Jordan and Weiland (1993) found that in science

and engineering more than 25% of students’ theses/dissertations were re-written by

the faculty themselves. Sharma (1973) also identified the non-European graduate

students’ academic problems to include giving oral reports, participating in class

discussion, taking notes in class, understanding lectures, taking appropriate courses of

study and preparing reports.

Hagey and Hagey (1974) investigated the kinds of services that 265 Middle

Eastern students from Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria,

Turkey and the United Arab Emirates received and the kinds of help they would like

to have while attending colleges in Oregon. The results showed that for overcoming

difficulties with the English language, 61% of Middle Eastern students desired to

have more time during tests, 50 % desired more explanations while working on test

and 43% desired to have lecture notes available.

Belcher's (1994) case study examined the international doctoral student / faculty

relationship at the dissertation writing stage. She suggested that mismatches between

faculty advisors and students (e.g., students and professors can not reach an

agreement with research and academic English expectations) could partially affect

degree completion, job placement, and professional development. On the other hand,

a good match between the student and faculty member could at least make language a

lesser problem for international students. Unfortunately, Saleh’s (1980) study of Arab

students’ personal, social and academic adjustment problems at North Texas State


University, Southern Methodist University and Texas Tech University reported that

professors were not considerate of their feelings. 56.6 percent of the students reported

that they had to take courses that they did not want to take.

While participants in Saleh (1980) reported that they did not want to take the

courses they took, many international students are unaccustomed to the freedom they

have in choosing their own courses, thus they may look to their advisors for direction

(Cadieux & Wehrly, 1986). In addition to the academic stress caused by a lack of

conversational English skills, many international students face academic challenges

with regards to the instructional methods that are used in American college

classrooms. Class participation, especially at the graduate level is expected in

American classrooms (Aubrey, 1991). However, this may be very stressful to students

from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa who have been taught to sit in the class

quietly, and to take notes while listening to professors. Wan (1999) pointed out that it

is regarded as respectful when students listen attentively and quietly to their

professors. However, in America, teachers allow students to eat or drink in class, and

often, student participation is encouraged or even part of the grade.

Further, international students must also adjust to the various teachers’ accents and

teaching styles. Likewise, international students may feel hesitant to participate in the

class discussion if they do not understand the lecture (Lin & Yi, 1997) due to the tone

or cultural appropriateness of their response. For example, one student said that when

the teacher asked him / her to introduce him / herself to everyone on the first day of

the class, he / she did not know what to tell other people about himself/ herself

because that is not what he or she would be asked to do back home (Dillon & Swann,

1997).


Kao and Gansneder (1995) surveyed three hundred and fifty-five international

students from forty-five different countries enrolled in an American University

regarding the reasons why they did not participate in American classroom discussions.

Results suggested that cultural factors make Asian students less likely to participate in

the class. Parker (1999) studied a group of Taiwanese students who studied at

Louisiana Tech University. He found that many of these students felt uncomfortable

asking repeated questions even if they did not understand a concept or technique

demonstrated by the faculty. Chinese students often prefer to be good listeners rather

than talkers. Even though they have questions concerning course material or class

assignments, they seldom ask teachers questions. Instead, they prefer to figure out the

answers by themselves or get them from their classmates. In a study of African

graduate students conducted by Antwi & Ziyati (1993, p. 9), African graduate

students prefer to keep silent and avoid saying asked “Excuse me,” “What did you

say?” and “Can you repeat what you said, please.”

Many international students also think that to be active in a group discussion is a

sign of showing off. In many countries, if students interrupt professors who are

lecturing, it is considered to be impolite and even insulting (Balas, 2000). Further, in

many foreign countries, professors dress formally and require students to do the same

in class. In America, some professors sit on the desk and dress informally. In many

American classrooms, the teacher is more interactive, creative and flexible, but to

many international students, this approach does not seem to have a structure at all

(Wan, 1999). Therefore, to be successful in American classrooms, international

students must make a shift from the more formal lecture methods used in their

countries and learn more active problem solving, critical thinking and resource skills

(Ladd & Ruby, 1999).


Not only can learning inside the classroom be frustrating for international students,

but learning outside of the classroom can be frustrating as well. Angelova &

Riazantseva (1999) examined four international students’ first years of study in

America and found that they lacked experience with computers. This study further

indicated that participants indicated that paper writing is not a common practice

outside of the United States, and they found this to be difficult as well. Zain (1965)

conducted a study involving 147 international students from 50 non-English speaking

counties at University of Oregon in 1965. Zain reported that the largest problems

reported by those students were writing essays and reports, participating in classroom

discussions, and taking and organizing notes. The least troublesome problems were

understating textbooks, locating information in the library, and understanding

lectures. In examination methods, finishing on time in objective tests were the most

difficult problems reported by the largest percentages of the students.

In the Payind (1979) study of academic, personal and social problems of Afghan

and Iranian students in several institutions in the United States, the most severe

academic problems for both groups were completing written examinations in the same

length of time as American students do, improving English to the level necessary to

pursue academic work, communicating thoughts in English, presenting oral reports,

competing with American for high grades, taking notes, and writing reports. The

causes of the academic problems, Payind suggests, are related to the lack of

proficiency with the English language and, to a certain extent, to the existence of

differences between the educational systems of home counties and those of the United

States.

Asian students found that completing forms for registration, student aid, or student

employment to be confusing source. The procedures for registration may seem


awkward and adding or dropping a course is unusual for them (Jensen & Jensen,

1983).

Method

The structured survey that was chosen because it allowed the researcher to gather a

large amount of data from the 716 international graduate students at Auburn

University.

The survey participants were recruited through an invitation letter sent on behalf of

the investigator by the Office of International Education. Within one week after the

initial invitation letter was sent out, an e-mail entitled “International Graduate

Students Survey (Sent only to Graduate Students)” was sent on the behalf of the

researcher by the Director of the Office of International Education via electronic mail,

since the Director had all of the e-mail addresses of the international graduate students

enrolled at Auburn University. There were 714 e-mails sent out, but only 152

international graduate students who responded to the structured Internet survey

resulting in a 21.3 % return rate.

Results & Discussion

The major English language challenges faced by many of the international

graduate students in this study were their listening comprehension and oral

proficiency. These English language challenges were faced by many of the

international graduate students, especially those from Asia. When the English

language was mentioned as a challenge, the researcher made the assumption that it

might relate to the international graduate students’ listening, speaking, reading, and

writing proficiency. The listening comprehension challenge for international graduate

students in the present study was not being able to understand the lectures in classes.

Difficulties in understanding lectures were due to the speed at which the professors


talked and their accents. Participants in the study said: “Don't understand what teacher

says,” “Difficult to understand their talking, especially terms and phrases,” “Some

professors spoke too fast and it was hard to keep following him/her,” “The accent of

some of the professors was a challenge for me. I had difficulties understanding them,”

and “Coping with the southern accent.” Finally, one participant mentioned that it was

“Hard to participate when my fellow classmates discuss some topics. They talk fastly

[sic] and unclearly.”

With regard to listening comprehension, many international graduate students

stated that they have a hard time understanding what other people at Auburn say as

they believe the southern accent is different from what they are accustomed to and

have practiced back home. For example, participants in the study said, “southern

accent is difficult to understand.” Another participant added:

“Here iam [sic] facing accent problem with english.Eventhough[sic] iam [sic]

also studied my studies in english,the [sic] way they pronounce words is

different compare to my country.so [sic] for it will take some time to understand

their language clearlyand [sic] also to talk in their accent.”

However, the international graduate students in this study also pointed out that their

own accents have also made it difficult for others to understand them. Participants

explained, “American can't understand my Englis [sic],” “A little bit of problem with

people understanding my accent and me able to understand their ….,” and “… We can

talk but the recievers [sic] cannot understand and you have to try in their own way.”

Language is an important and necessary medium of communication. Therefore, when

communication was mentioned throughout the study as being central to other

challenges faced by international graduate students, this led to two assumptions made


by the researcher. One possible reason for these communication challenges may be

the way in which students learned English in their home country.

In addition, because they are not well-versed using the English language, many

international graduate students state they feel like children who are powerless and

unable to express the thoughts and feelings they have. Not being able to do what they

are able to do back home, such as bargaining, shopping, arguing, and communicating

can lower international students’ self-esteem since they are adults, some of have a

very high social economic status in their home country. Communication difficulties

might also cause people to look down on them. Some international graduate students

in the study indicated that American students thought they were stupid and not

intelligent because they could not express themselves fluently in English. For

example, there was one participant in Kuo’s (2002b) study whose husband protected

her (not letting her have opportunities to practice her poor English by taking care of

everything from grocery shopping to communicating with others) and this resulted in

the fact that she did not have any opportunity to learn how to use the English

language. Thus, when she started to go back to school, she felt she was discriminated

by her classmates who thought that her poor English was associated with low

intelligence.

However, based on the findings of this study, the researcher has also made the

assumption that international graduate students’ communication and language skills

seem to be an important factor contributing to the fact that international graduate

students have a hard time making friends with Americans. One participant answered

“difficult to communicate with other students” and another admitted “at a party, I

could not understood the jokes while Anericans [sic] were laughing.” In addition,

many participants in Kuo’s (2002a) study shared that Americans do not have the


patience to listen or talk to international students whose English skills are poor. As a

result of that, it is the opinion of the researcher that language barriers have created a

barrier to building friendships with Americans.

Another possible reason for these communication challenges could be the gap

between the two different cultures, or backgrounds. For example, communication and

interaction between international graduate students and the academic advisor and/or

boss were both listed as challenges in the survey responses. Participants listed such

challenges as: “I was hesitant to ask for help with my research problems. I wanted to

show him that I could learn on my own and crack these problems,” “communication

problem,” and “understand his field and intention.” One participant in the survey

expressed “ … Getting advisors to get on borad [sic] with you timing as an

International student.”

Working with graduate students is a very challenging task and it is more

demanding to work with international graduate students whose backgrounds are

different than the academic advisor and/or boss. After September 11, 2001, there are

more regulations and restrictions for international students. For example, F-1 students

are required to enroll in at least 9 credit hours to keep their immigration status and

international students can only work 20 hours on-campus during the normal semester

terms. Therefore, when one participant expressed “… Getting advisors to get on borad

[sic] with you timing as an International student” as a challenge, the researcher

assumed that the participant tried to tell her advisor that she wanted to finish up her

doctoral study before her visa expired or her funding ran out.

In addition, unless the advisor and/or the boss used to be an international

graduate student in the United States him/herself or s/he has many experiences

working with international graduate students, it is sometimes hard for him/her to


understand the difficulties that these students face. For example, obtaining or

renewing a visa can be costly, time consuming, and difficult. The only way to renew

or obtain a U. S. student visa is to go to the Embassy of the United States of America

overseas, in which Mexico and Canada are the closest countries that international

students can go to. Still, for certain nationalities, there are other visas requirements for

entering Mexico or Canada, thus the travel time and the process of obtaining a

Mexican or Canadian visa prior the US visa can interfere with student’s study.

Frequently, international graduate students wait until they visit home to renew their

visas, some try to finish up their studies before their student visas expire, and other

never visit home until they are done with their studies. Therefore, faculty who were

born outside the U. S. have fewer problems with foreign students in communicating

than U. S. born faculty members (Barber, Morgan, & Torstrick, 1987). Further, the

presence of foreign–born faculty may help to alleviate some of the foreign-student

problems.

Participants in the study recognized other language challenges they have, such

as “reading papers in English,” “Reading textbook…,” “To keep up date with so

much reading in my career (rural sociology),” and “some weeks are real rough with

lot of deadlines of assignments combined with tests, research etc all at the same time.”

Since most of the international graduate students were not using English in their field

of study, getting used to the terminologies of their field in English textbooks and

keeping up with the readings could be challenge. “The following of new concepts in a

different and new language” was a challenge experienced by one participant in the

present study. Furthermore, the writing styles and standards might be very different

from what international graduate students were used to, and to meet the expectation of

different professors can also cause frustration.


Most of the participants in the present study noted that their language

challenges were primarily in the classroom or in interacting with other people.

However, the researcher of the present study believes that there are more language

challenges that international graduate students experience beyond these academic and

social areas. For example, one participant from Romania in Kuo’s (2002a) study

experienced difficulty communicating with his long distance phone service and credit

card company. Another participant from Turkey did not know what to order in the

restaurant and she still asked people what the menu items were even though she had

been in the United States for a while. In conclusion, English proficiency not only

affected these international graduate students academically, but also contributed to

their social, cultural, and personal adjustment.

Conclusion

With regard to language aspects, international graduate students should

understand that no matter how high they score on the Test of English as a Foreign

Language (TOEFL) or the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), it does not ensure

that they are not going to experience language challenges once they arrive on campus.

A Taiwanese participant in Kuo (2001b) pointed out that TOEFL scores only showed

how well one performs in the English language, not in one’s academic area. Thus, it is

not a good predictor of the academic success. Based on the researcher’s experiences, a

lot of English training courses and programs are targeted to help students pass the

standardized exams overseas. However, these programs do not focus on developing

the language skills that students need to participate and study at an American

university. As the result, there are a lot of Asian students who have high scores on the

TOEFL, but still experience an enormous amount of difficulty with their oral and

listening comprehension. Another way of practicing the English language is to have


roommates who do not speak the same language as one do. Further, because little or

no field-specific academic training in English is available in many countries,

international students need to master their field-related terminology. The lack of

terminology might result in reading difficulties.

The researcher also suggests that international graduate students not only learn

the terminology in their field, but also some terminology for basic daily living. This

terminology should include the vocabulary necessary for: Opening a bank account,

visiting physicians, fixing cars, ordering food in restaurants, or even getting a haircut.

For example, one Taiwanese male participant in Kuo’s (2001b) study shared that he

had hard time communicating with barbers. In some cases, English is the official

language of the country that international graduate students are from. However, due to

different accents and language usages, even this can create listening comprehension

difficulties. Therefore, before coming to the United States, international graduate

students should try to have some training in listening comprehension or gain some

type of access to the way that people speak in the United States or in the regions

where they will be studying.

Another suggestion that international graduate students should take into

consideration is to enroll in the classes in their fields that are taught by American

professors while they are still at home. This will not only provide practice interacting

with Americans, but will also provide practice with learning field terminologies,

understanding the American education system and culture, and provide practice with

listening and speaking skills. If there is no such opportunity available, international

students could try to find an opportunity to work in American companies or even to

get involved in church activities where there are a lot of ministries from the United

States.


In short, before international graduate students decide to study in the United

States or have started to apply for schools, international graduate students should ask

themselves if they are well-prepared in communicating in the English language and

can adjust to the different accents and word usages. If international students rate their

language proficiency at about 90%, they would have less of an adjustment for

example, than those who would only rate their proficiency at 75%.

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