SOCIAL INQUIRY ANALYSIS
WS 4005
RESEARCH REPORT
Experience of an International Student at James Cook University, Australia
Praveen Poovathumkal Sukumaran Nair
12010802
Abstract
After arriving to a new country, every foreign student experiences in one way or another “culture shock” that occurs when a person in getting into new, different from the native cultural environment. Foreign students, who come to study in Australia, have to adapt not only to the university, but also to life in another country: its culture, traditions, the existing standard system of norms and values. In order to see how the process of social adaptation as a special kind of interaction of the subject with new the environment,
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I believe that Australian students do not realize to a full extent how difficult it can be for those coming from different cultural environment. One of the symptoms Oberg described was a sense of loss. Conversation with Ben demonstrated that this is one of the first confusion an international student goes through – the world he used to live in and felt comfortable is no longer the same and there is no one to guide him. No wonder that at the beginning the majority feels depressed. The universities do not analyze social aspect of the international students’ problems. Without finding their place first, they are not able to succeed in their learning process. In most cases, culture shock is difficult to avoid especially if these are not just two different countries but two different continents. Each student needs an introduction to this new world, but he faces too make challenges to cope with them on his own. This is often one of the major explanations why they fail courses or even semesters. It should be reminded that social adaptation is vital for further curriculum progress. Otherwise, they feel detached from the environment. Thus, any further studies considering the experience of international students should be devoted to psychological and social aspects of adaptation as these are the key factors of their acculturation. I can select three of the leading trends that require deeper analysis. Firstly, the study of acculturation changes in the behavior of international students. Secondly, the study of acculturation stress - emotional changes the international students go through. And finally, the third area is the study of acculturation attitudes, i.e. attitudes and values that the individual form under the influence of new cultural environment. Thus it can be seen that student’s adaptation is a much more complex issue that it might
Living and studying in another country has never been easy for everyone, and it happens to me too. There are many things for me to adapt to, such as language, culture, food, lifestyle…
Another big social challenge affecting these students is the discrimination and inter-cultural issues. Apparently inter-cultural differences are inevitable when cultures collide however the cultural variances should be harmonized rather than polarized. Western culture the pre-dominant culture in Australia is usually perceived negatively by the international students and creates a hostile environment for the students. Discrimination has been a teething problem for international students and this has greatly affected the academic morale for the students when racist undertones and practices are perpetrated against the students. Right wing demonstrations against the influx of immigrants and students have poisoned the learning environment and also greatly tarnishing the academic image of Australia to prospective international students. For instance, the cross- border scholars do not have citizenship rights, an issue which not only affects the day-to-day living of a student, but also this or her academic programs. This impact usually depicts itself in the acquisition of internship programs where most recruiters do not consider the non-citizens in Australia, yet this is an important aspect of college and university education.
With an increase in student mobility around the world, there are many positive outcomes related to learning a different set of education from their home country and obtaining intercultural experiences with a global mindset. On the other hand, students may struggle with different challenges, which they may have unexpected to encounter.
They have to face new experience and new challenges in their life when they come to abroad. The first year of their college abroad is a litmus test for them, if they have a positive experience they will stay but if they have negative experience they have to leave. I had observed the issues faced by the international students over here as they make their entry to new culture and a new educational system. They have to begin a new life in an environment that is very different. For example simple tasks such as going to grocery store where the language is different and the products are unfamiliar. The education system in India and Canada is different as in India, more focus is on memorization and there is no practical work but over here, more focus is on problem-solving skills and self-guided research. Majority of the students live without their family which is very hard for them to live without parents in abroad. Their parents sent them over here with a hope of their family
Culture can shape a person’s identity because it is something that directly affects all people. People who grow up in a culture that is quite different from that experienced in the home or local community may feel isolated and may struggle to forge an identity. At times it is necessary to make some concessions in order to belong. Very often new arrivals to Australia find themselves struggling with the demands that their original culture places upon them as well as the pressures of Australian culture.
In this paper I will analyze two articles, one is quantitative and the other is qualitative. I will describe the quantitative methods used including the research question addressed, the hypothesis, and variables. I will identify the population and sample. I will discuss the reliability and validity of the instruments used. I will then discuss the design of the article and how the findings were analyzed. For the qualitative article, I will identify the design of the article, the methods used and the strategies used for analyzing the data. Lastly, I will look at the implications for practice in the qualitative article, discuss other journals that might be interested in publishing the article and discuss how this article might
Human beings are defined as ''social animals'' because in every aspects of life they live together, they form a variety of groups and improve relationships with each other. Interaction with others is a natural result of living in society. In the process of interaction, society and its rules has a social impact on each individual. If people face with any kind of social impact such as group pressure, great part of them show conformity by changing their behaviors, ideas, decisions in expected way. A person conforms if he or she chooses a course of action that a majority favors or that is socially acceptable. Some kind of conformity is natural and socially healthy but obeying all the norms, ideas, and decisions without thinking or accepting
Acculturation as a concept is a relatively new theory in the fields of sociology and anthropology, even more so in the world of psychology. In recent years, it has been throuroghly investigated and analysed as the immigration rates increase in Australia and worldwide since world war two. Acculturation has become an ever increasingly relevant concept in today’s eclectic blend of cultures. Immigrants are usually caught in limbo between two different cultures of their own and the host country, with little idea as to how to successfully assimilate. They are confronted with being separated with their culture, unfamiliar aspects of life and uncertainty. Many researchers have studied the assimilation process regarding the best approach and causal factors that may interfere in doing so. Although the literature presents acculturation in a variety of contexts, this literature review’s primarily focus will be on suggested approaches for immigrant assimilation and associated implications with a strong focus on the work of John Berry.
I analyzed the data using the constant comparative method as found within the field of sociology. The constant comparative method consists of analyzing a single interview for themes, then using these themes to analyze the remaining interviews (Boeije 2002). The interviews are also analyzed against themselves to discover new themes and alter the beginning themes. In addition, the interview data will be compared between the gender of the interviewees, the roles of the interviewees, and the phase during which they were interviewed. The observation data is analyzed in a similar manner, however instead of comparing interviews the different observation sessions will be compared to first the initial observation session and then between days of the week and time of the day.
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Maureen Andrade article, “International students face academic and social transition issues in their first year of university” (P.135), so, students will face hard times at the beginning because they came from different countries which have different traditions and believes so, they will need time to adjust with the new environment depends on the student’s personality if he or she is extroverted or introverted. Accordingly, social adjustment issues present an obstacle for the international student; they face new life style, and sometimes the social support they get is less than what the domestic students get. Language proficiency can be the biggest obstacle for the international students, sometimes they feel shy speaking to native speakers because
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bar was not busy, as most of the staff was male except for a lone,
According to John W. Berry (2005) , acculturation is the cultural and psychological double-process, that be due to two or more cultures’ representatives meeting. It can be separated into individual- and societal-level. In the societal level, acculturation is associated with changes in social structure. This usually includes the learning of a new language, food habits, dressing code and behavior. Sometimes the process can be easy, but other times it can cause rough collisions and stress.