Pre-departure academic preparation: international students’ experiences of disciplinary study on 2 + 2 joint programmes

Combating language and academic culture shocks—International students’ agency in mobilizing their cultural capital.

“…First of all, managers of higher education joint programs on both sides should work closer together to better align the curriculum, teaching practice and assessment across the two stages of the joint programs as both this and other research (e.g., , 2021a, 2021bDai et al, 2018;Dai, Matthews, et al, 2020; reveals that the incongruence in the above areas is the major origin of challenges students experience. Since students on joint programs need to complete their degree eventually in overseas institutions, it is imperative that the home preparation programs expose them to authentic English use and academic practices that are adopted in the host universities.…”

“…COMBATING LANGUAGE AND ACADEMIC CULTURE SHOCKS toward and sensitivity to Chinese international students' challenges and agency, instructors may create a more inclusive approach to teaching classes with Chinese students among their cohorts and get into a better position to promote the students' agency. For example, they may show more understanding and preparedness when Chinese students ask questions after class (Bai & Wang, 2021b). Course coordinators may choose to recruit Chinese-English bilingual teaching assistants for the teaching team to leverage the students' linguistic capital by adopting translanguaging in times of need, for example, when explaining some key concepts that the Chinese students may find hard to understand in English.…”

“…In reporting the learning experiences of this special cohort, researchers focus on their senses of cultural belonging and varied experiences in adapting to the new learning context (e.g., Dai & Garcia, 2019;Wang et al, 2016). They find that while all students experience the incongruence between what they have been used to in China and what they are expected of in the Western academic context , 2021a, 2021b, over time, most of them have developed the This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

“…In reporting the learning experiences of this special cohort, researchers focus on their senses of cultural belonging and varied experiences in adapting to the new learning context (e.g., Dai & Garcia, 2019; Wang et al, 2016). They find that while all students experience the incongruence between what they have been used to in China and what they are expected of in the Western academic context (Bai & Wang, 2020, 2021a, 2021b; Wang & Bai, 2020), over time, most of them have developed the “in-between cosmopolitan habitus” that help them to navigate their unique learning journey across the two systems (Dai, Lingard, et al, 2020, p. 1329). Although these studies demonstrate international students’ agency in the new learning context, the theme of agency is neither explicated nor the primary research focus.…”

“…The joint programs may take the form of 1 + 3, 2 + 2, 3 + 1, or 4 + 0. Despite the differences in the arrangement, students from both pathways (individually or institutionally arranged) experience language and academic culture challenges when they embark on their overseas study journey (e.g., Bai & Wang, 2020, 2021a, 2021b; Dai et al, 2018; Holmes, 2006; Sato & Hodge, 2009; Vu & Doyle, 2014; Zhou, 2014). After decades of research on international students’ experiences, researchers are shifting their focuses from the deficit model of portraying mostly the students’ challenges to their agency and adaptation (Marginson, 2014; Tran & Vu, 2018).…”