Adjustment Experiences of Zimbabwean International Students Studying in the United States

Abstract

Studying in a foreign country presents some unique adjustment problems for international students who tend to be more vulnerable to emotional, relational, and psychological distress in comparison to their domestic counterparts (Bista & Gaulee, 2017; HBSC, 2019;Mesidor & Sly, 2016). If not properly understood and appropriately addressed, these problems can result in declining academic performance, withdrawal from school, and physical deterioration (Alloh, Tait, & Taylor, 2018;Bista & Gaulee, 2017). Even though efforts are being made to study international students' experiences, most samples have come from Asian and Latin American international student populations and results have been overgeneralized to all international students (Bista & Gaulee, 2017;Araujo, 2011). This trend in literature tends to overlook the unique experiences of students from other nations. To avoid such overgeneralizations, this qualitative study explored adjustment experiences of Zimbabwean international students studying in the United States. Qualitative inquiry (basic interpretive approach) was selected as the research method due to the explorative nature of the research questions. Nine participants from six universities across the United States were recruited using the snowball sampling method. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data and NVivo was used to code and categorize responses. Three overarching themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) limited resources, (b) navigating the United States' academic environment, and (c) socio-cultural barriers. These findings will likely provide new insights that help educators become more culturally responsive to the needs of Zimbabwean international students and create more inclusive learning environments that facilitate better adjustment and academic success.