Exploring factors affecting first-year students’ learning experiences: A case study of a private university in Taiwan

Abstract

Taiwan’s low birth rate and declining demand for higher education among the country’s high school graduates has led to vigorous competition between Taiwanese universities to attract and retain students. Increasing international student enrolment can help alleviate these existing pressures. However, the transition from high school to university life and the need to study in a degree program with English as the primary medium of instruction, can present challenges for first-year students. We aimed to investigate First Year (FY) Taiwanese and non-Taiwanese students’ learning experiences and the barriers they face at a private university. The key research findings are based on factors affecting FY students’ learning experiences such as interactive teaching techniques, peer support, program attributes, social integration, and the international learning environment. We argue that for higher education institutions (HEIs) to stand out in a highly competitive environment, university management should optimise their resources and services to meet local and international students’ needs.

Factors Affecting Academic Performance of First-Year University Students: A Case of a Vietnamese University

“…In Vietnam, almost all recent reforms and international aid projects in the higher education sector more or less highlight the importance of supporting lecturers with new pedagogies and methods of instruction (Hamano, 2008;Nguyen, 2010). In the literature, many authors (such as Baumert et al (2010); Akanni and Oduaran (2018); Bruffaerts et al (2018); Chalapati et al (2018); Keller et al (2017); Mortenson (2006)) relate lecturers' pedagogical competencies to students' motivation for learning, claiming that this is the key to inspire learners. Kunter et al (2008), for example, found that enthusiastic teaching, characterised with teachers' express style and energetic, animated, inspiring teaching, particularly produces high-quality learning and is indicative of student outcomes and interest.…”

Challenges to Internationalisation of University Programmes: A Systematic Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research on Learner-Centred English Medium Instruction (EMI) Pedagogy

“…For both home and international students in at least 12 studies, concerns stemmed from adapting to a bilingual academic environment in which students had low general English proficiency. Students believed that their inadequate English was one of the leading causes of poor content comprehension [6,12,64,66,78], and as such this had a negative effect on their confidence 'to speak in front of classmates' [6,79] and their motivation to learn [82]. Many students pointed to the weaknesses of their academic English skills and attributed it to the lack of prior experience with English Medium Instruction [6,76,82].…”

“…The participants in 10 studies believed that lecturers' low English proficiency was another major hurdle for content comprehension [12,53,72,84], and that it prevented course instruction 'in a deeper way' and jeopardised class facilitation and engagement [12,84]. As some instructors were not properly trained to teach or communicate in English, this led to their committing noticeable grammatical and vocabulary errors when using spoken English [75,86]; thus, they often resorted to their L1 to teach courses [79]. Students suggested that universities should 'test teacher's levels of English' or establish 'certain language standards' for EMI lecturers to help students perform better in their EMI courses [83,86].…”

“…The use of comprehension strategies such as recording and listening to lectures several times [53], extensively using online translation tools [90], taking elaborate notes [12], printing out PowerPoint slides, and checking unfamiliar words and spelling [81,82] point to the students' needs to cope with these problems on their own. Some other themes, such as bilingual instructional materials, could also relate to the problem of EMI lecture comprehension and course performance [12,13,53,65,67,79]. As some English textbooks and handouts were 'wordy and complex' [67], and as 'understanding a new concept in written English takes a bit longer and you have to read a sentence more than once' [53], students would prefer reading additional materials in their native language 'to gain in-depth knowledge of the subject contents delivered in English' [13].…”

“…However, in some settings where students were more fluent in English, they 'preferred reading authentic rather than simplified or abridged materials' in English [53]. In addition, some students were critical about 'an imbalance in the use of teaching materials' [79], in other words, lecturers' overreliance on textbooks disregarded the students' need to support learning with additional teaching materials such as videos.…”