How institutional and interpersonal variables impact international L2 students’ language gains at university

Deygers, Bart

doi:10.1016/j.system.2018.05.012

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…Given that Turkish would assist an international student in the larger community, but English is required for academic success, this finding is sensible. The important association between language and sociocultural adaptation is consistent with Deygers' [39] findings. Specifically, Deygers used a mixed-method approach to learn from quantitative findings that international students made little-to-no gains in the language of the host country in the first eight months of their adjustment.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Birds of a Feather Fare Less Well Together: Modeling Predictors of International Student Adaptation

Gibbs¹,

Güneri

Pankau

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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Sociocultural adaptation to the host country is an important corollary to the psychological well-being of international students. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a model of sociocultural adaptation and psychological wellbeing. International students in Ankara, Turkey (N = 161, mean age = 22.35) completed online surveys. Consistent with our hypotheses, interpersonal connections with host nationals predicted greater sociocultural adaptation (β = 0.250, p = 0.001) and interpersonal connections with co-nationals resulted in poorer psychological adjustment (β = −0.171, p = 0.025). Host-country language proficiency led to better sociocultural adaptation (β = 0.262, p < 0.001), and perceptions of greater cultural distance had a negative impact on both psychological (β = 0.314, p < 0.001) and sociocultural adaptation (β = 0.328, p < 0.001). Thus, students who were able to engage in relations with host-country nationals fared better. Our results provide insight for sending and receiving institutions regarding the preparation (e.g., exploring cognitive frames for immersion, language skills, reviewing coping strategies) and supportive services (e.g., connection with host country nationals) that will facilitate the adjustment of international students. Drawing on the model of cross-cultural adaption proposed by Searle and Ward [9,10] and related literature, we modeled the effects of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual factors on the psychological and sociocultural adjustment of international students at a prestigious, comprehensive, public university in Ankara, Turkey. This university attracts over 1000 international students to its campus from 85 different countries. The largest proportion come from the Middle East and Central Asia and they enroll in the variety of majors/disciplines that are offered. The overall number of students who are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs is 27,000. While the language of the country and the surrounding community is Turkish, the medium of instruction is English. Turkey is a developing country with a diverse population that has, over the last several decades, seen cultural shifts towards the adoption of several Western ideals, such as individualism and a nuclear family structure, but in many ways retains its collectivistic roots through cultural values of sharing and hospitality. With this specific cultural context established, questions surrounding how international students adjust to this environment can be explored. Sociocultural AdaptationSociocultural adaptation has been defined as "behaviorally based competencies required in various situations and circumstances during cross-cultural transitions" [11] (p. 1476). Examples include adjusting to living, working, and studying in a new environment, and the ability to perceive, understand, and respond appropriately to new cultural situations. Research on international student adjustment has been advanced by Ward and colleagues [9,12,13], who have analyzed numerous variables across their studies, such a...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Birds of a Feather Fare Less Well Together: Modeling Predictors of International Student Adaptation

Gibbs¹,

Güneri

Pankau

et al. 2020

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This analysis relies on comparing measurements of complexity (lexical: type/token ratio; syntactic: clauses/T-unit), accuracy (written: errors/T-unit; oral: errors/AS-unit), and fluency (written: words/T-unit; oral: pruned syllables/minute) over time. These results will be referenced below, but the analyses themselves have been reported in detail elsewhere (Deygers, 2018). All quantitative analyses were conducted with R Studio ( QuantPsyc and car packages).…”

Section: Methods and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

University entrance language tests: A matter of justice

2017

Self Cite

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University entrance language tests are often administered under the assumption that even if language proficiency does not determine academic success, a certain proficiency level is still required. Nevertheless, little research has focused on how well L2 students cope with the linguistic demands of their studies in the first months after passing an entrance test. Even fewer studies have taken a longitudinal perspective.Set in Flanders, Belgium, this study examines the opinions and experiences of 24 university staff members and 31 international L2 students, of whom 20 were tracked longitudinally. Attention is also given to test/retest results, academic score sheets, and class recordings. To investigate the validity of inferences made on the basis of L2 students' scores, Kane's (2013) Interpretation/ Use Argument approach is adopted, and principles from political philosophy are applied to investigate whether a policy that discriminates among students based on language test results can be considered just. It is concluded that the receptive language requirements of university studies exceed the expected B2 level and that the Flemish entrance tests include language tasks that are of little importance for first-year students. Furthermore, some of the students who failed the entrance test actually managed quite well in their studies -a result that entails broad implications concerning validation and justice even outside the study's localized setting.

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“…Achieving an IELTS score alone is not the only predictor of whether or not their language will be sufficiently developed to study in English (Daller and Phelan 2013). Even 'successful' candidates admitted to a university face considerable challenges (Rea-Dickins, Kiely, and Yu 2007) and it is not necessarily the case that they will improve as they study (Deygers 2018). Research into university written work has revealed that there are some expected differences between the nature of IELTS writing tasks and academic activities in essay writing for university degree courses (Wingate 2017;Jenkins 2013).…”

Section: Balancing Authenticity With Other Key Assessment Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the IELTS test: Chinese and Japanese postgraduate UK experiences

Clark

2020

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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This case study explores the challenges that Master's students encounter when learning to write in academic English as part of a UK postgraduate course, after having achieved the required IELTS entry score. Interviews with six Chinese and Japanese learners at different stages of the Master's study revealed more sophisticated writing difficulties than they had previously experienced. Although students were largely managing their written work overall, there were recurring challenges with critical thinking, the transition to full academic compositions, using reading to inform academic writing, presenting evidence and conveying a clear written message over demonstrating lexical or grammatical range as required in IELTS writing. Furthermore, candidates on non-standard courses (e.g. film or finance) found their assignments to be quite unfamiliar; the use of one academic test for all disciplines may be disadvantageous to some. In summary, although IELTS had provided an important first step to help students develop basic writing skills, meeting university assessment expectations necessitated considerable further progress. The required support to achieve this may be somewhat underdeveloped in the existing model of international postgraduate study, for the participants in this paper. This research follows as part of a larger project, which focussed on IELTS test preparation in China and Japan (Clark 2018).

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How institutional and interpersonal variables impact international L2 students’ language gains at university

Cited by 12 publications

References 43 publications

Birds of a Feather Fare Less Well Together: Modeling Predictors of International Student Adaptation

Birds of a Feather Fare Less Well Together: Modeling Predictors of International Student Adaptation

University entrance language tests: A matter of justice

Beyond the IELTS test: Chinese and Japanese postgraduate UK experiences

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