International Students' Challenges, Strategies and Future Vision

A Socio-Dynamic Perspective

Anas Hajar

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781788922234
• eBook ISBN: 9781788922258
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Erwachsenenbildung

Study abroad is now both an international industry and an experience that can have a deep impact on students' linguistic, cultural and personal development. This book explores 'the social turn' in the fields of study abroad and language learning strategies. The longitudinal qualitative study reported in this volume investigates the international educational experiences of Arab university students from diverse countries (Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates) and represents one of the few empirical studies to capture an in-depth understanding of the study abroad experiences of newly-arrived international students in higher education. Particular attention is paid to their changing learning goals, underlying motivations and strategy uses during their attendance on both short and long academic programmes in a study abroad context. It also examines their past language learning experiences in their homelands retrospectively. Readers will gain a better understanding of international students' study abroad experiences in terms of their expectations, aspirations, diverse difficulties and the strategies they deploy to deal with these difficulties.

1 Introduction

1.1 Background to the Book

This book is a new exploration of language learning strategies (LLSs) based on recent longitudinal research conducted with eight postgraduate Arab students from the date of their arrival in the UK till the end of their master’s degree (MA) courses, taking account of their previous language learning experiences in their homelands. The focus of this book is on international students whose first language is not English. In the UK, the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) reported that 310,575 international students from outside the EU had registered at UK universities for the academic year 2015/2016, and 127,440 students from other EU countries (UKCISA, 2018). UK higher education policy sees international students as potential customers who pay full-cost fees, thus student recruitment teams aim to recruit more of them every year. Benson et al. (2013: 3) point out that ‘study abroad’ refers to ‘any period spent overseas, for which study is part of the purpose’. Therefore, the purpose of study abroad is not limited to achieving academic qualifications, but can include personal and intercultural development. As Jackson and Oguro (2018: 4) suggest, the study abroad experience can be one of the most exciting events in students’ lives, because the experience can lead to ‘significant development in intercultural competence, second-language proficiency, global-mindedness, and personal growth’. International students thus need to be viewed as whole people with complete lives instead of separating their minds, bodies and social behaviour into separate domains of inquiry (Coleman, 2013; Jackson, 2018).

While international students from different backgrounds are often able to make outstanding contributions to their home countries, many encounter daunting linguistic and academic challenges during their overseas sojourn. As a result, a number of researchers (e.g. Chamot, 2001; Cohen, 1998; Ellis, 1994; Oxford, 1990; Wenden, 1987, 1998) have suggested that one possible way for individuals to deal with such a situation is for them to be efficient language learners in terms of strategy use, in the belief that variation in strategy use accounts for differences in language learners’ learning achievements. Interest in LLSs remains intense because of their apparent potential for fostering effective teaching and learning. This is evidenced by their ongoing presence in the research literature (e.g. Cohen, 2011; Grenfell & Harris, 2017; Griffiths, 2018; Oxford, 2017; Oxford & Amerstorfer, 2018; Trendak, 2015). However, LLS research has attracted vigorous debate due to the conceptual ambiguities of the term ‘learning strategy’, and the questionable results obtained from the survey methods used (Dörnyei, 2005, Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015; Gao, 2007; Wray & Hajar, 2015).

Some researchers, adopting socially oriented theoretical approaches, call for a shift in the theorising of LLSs together with other concepts, including language learners, learning and context (Gao, 2010; Hajar, 2016; Norton & Toohey, 2001; Palfreyman, 2006; Rose et al., 2018). They pinpoint a commensurate need for more qualitative, holistic perspectives in LLS research to capture the ‘lived experience of learners in real-life contexts’ (Palfreyman, 2003: 244). This has lent support to researching learning strategy studies informed by a sociocultural standpoint. These studies, however, are ‘still relatively rare’ (Mason, 2010: 647). The longitudinal, qualitative study reported in this book represents one of the few empirical studies to capture an in-depth understanding of the changing learning goals of eight Arabic-speaking students in higher education. Particular attention was paid to their underlying motivations and strategy use during their attendance on both short and long academic programmes (i.e. the pre-sessional language course and a postgraduate programme) in a study abroad context. The study also shows how these students’ dynamic strategic behaviour in a study abroad context is influenced by their past language learning experiences in their Arab countries. This is because the study abroad experience does not begin in the minds of individuals at the airport departure gate; how individuals see themselves and how they approach language learning in their homelands often influence the shape of their strategic learning efforts and personal study abroad goals (Irie & Ryan, 2014; Jackson, 2016).

The participants in the current study came from several Arab countries. The modern history of the Arab world goes back to the post-World War I settlement (Rawaf & Hassounah, 2014: 138). At present, the Arab world comprises 22 countries. The Arab people have Semitics origin, living largely in Iraq, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, the Maghreb region of North Africa, Egypt and Mauritania (Al-Khatib, 2006). Arabs are united in their use of Arabic as their native tongue. A great Arab unifying force is Islam, the religion of 95% of all Arabs (Al-Khatib, 2006: 2). However, there are Arabs who are Christians, Jews and atheists. English as a foreign language (EFL) was introduced to the Arab world after World War I, the commencement of Western colonialism in the Arab world (Al-Khatib, 2006: 3). Van-den-Hoven (2014: 67–68) posits that during most of the 20th century, English was treated in the Arab world as ‘the language of a colonizing and bellicose West’. There was also a fear that learning more English could weaken the Arabic language, the language of the Quran. This, in turn, led to a delay in the introduction of English into the school curriculum, then confining English to the classroom, and accepting the fact that students entering university would have a poor command of English (El-Ezabi, 2014). Nonetheless, a few wealthy families in the Arab world sent their male children abroad for higher education as a means of maintaining their position above other social class groups (El-Ezabi, 2014).

By the end of the 20th century, the flourishing of business and communications technology ‘forced Arab states to reevaluate their positions’ towards the learning ...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures and Tables
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword by Jane Jackson
• 1 Introduction
• Part 1: Theoretical Considerations
• 2 Has Language Learning Strategy Research Come to an End?
• 3 Towards a Socio-Dynamic Perspective on Language Learning Strategy Research
• Part 2: Language Learning Strategy Research in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Contexts
• 4 Impact of Household Members on EFL Students’ Strategic Language Learning and Future Vision
• 5 Impacts of Mainstream Schooling and ‘Shadow Education’ on EFL Students’ Strategic Language Learning and Development
• Part 3: Learning Strategy Research in a Study Abroad Context
• 6 Social Interaction, Strategy Use and Future Vision on Pre-Sessional English Programmes
• 7 Social Connectedness, Learning Strategy Use and Future Vision during Master’s Programmes
• 8 The Challenges of Writing a Master’s Dissertation, Learning Strategy Use and Future Vision: Perspectives of International Students
• Epilogue by Carol Griffiths
• Appendices
• References
• Index