Bridging Courses for International Students - Essay Example

Globalization and internationalization of education, industry, and business have greatly amplified in recent years. This factor signals that the number of international students admitted to higher education in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other European countries have largely increased. Therefore, studying abroad is a practice that is growing at a faster rate in the field of higher education. Even if this educational element is not certainly a new development, the process of globalization has made international student mobility to gain higher momentum.

Unquestionably, one of the primary influences of globalization is that it inspires citizens from all over the world to learn diverse languages and cultures. This condition explains the motive when many students are very willing to leave their local regions and go overseas to pursue higher degrees. Teichler (2017) reported that more than two million higher education students tend to study away from their home countries. However, the necessity of studying abroad in the internationalization of higher education is met with global challenges, which cannot be avoided. This situation can be seen in Asian International Students who are based in a multicultural learning environment. The interesting part is that even some of the top international students are encouraging young individuals who have been hesitant to seek higher education abroad; thus the number is likely to increase tremendously over the coming years.

Pursuing higher education in a multicultural learning environment can not only contribute towards overwhelming life but also a cultural transition for most Asian international students. There is a stronger belief that this kind of international students come across greater challenges than their counterparts due to the tendency of being less proficient in the English language, thereby exhibiting some difficulties of adapting well to educational and social situations within Westernized Anglophone universities, irrespective of their higher academic skills and aspirations. Most importantly, the English language is the main aspect that brings cultural differences that Asian international students tend to encounter in Westernized Anglophone universities (Huang, Kern, & Oades, 2020). In this case, these students come from regions where English is neither a medium of instruction nor an official language. As a result, they tend to address language barriers alongside facing emotional, cultural, and academic challenges in Westernized Anglophone universities. Pung and Goh (2017) stated that language difficulties resulted from the adoption of special words, different slang, and accent. For this reason, the academic work of non-native speakers' tends to be highly affected due to their language challenges.

Additionally, internationalization of education is highly embraced despite its challenges since it has a variety of benefits to countries, higher education institutions, students, and the academic sector as a whole. Studying abroad provides students with a chance to get an academic qualification, which is considered to be of higher quality when they attend educational institutions which are believed to be better than those in their home countries (Beech, 2018). Besides, this practice is viewed as an opportunity of providing access to study programs on those students who lacked such a chance at their homes. Most importantly, it enables students to study from settings that provide effective predictions of post higher education employment opportunities. On occasions where the cost of living and tuition overseas is more economical than those in the sending countries, it allows international students to save on the expenses of attaining higher education. Consequently, foreign students are believed to be the source of higher income to their receiving countries, which is among the major benefits during the periods of decreasing public funding of these educational institutions (Jacob & Gokbel, 2018). Essentially, in the course of diversifying student populations, the receiving institutions tend to gain a positive reputation. According to Sutton, Miller, and Rubin (2017), studying abroad allows sending countries to educate people for whom academic programs or places might not be present at their homes. Most scholars believe that this element contributes to the internationalization of academic as higher education institutions tend to teach diverse students, who serve as sources of knowledge to their sending countries.

Most studies have shown that many countries, especially those from Asia, lack benchmarks required for identifying the equivalencies of educational qualifications. This situation implies that across the educational systems of their regions, there are difficulties in determining the comparability of academic attainment, which acts as an obstacle to studying abroad (Hao, 2018). In this case, at an undergraduate entry-level, the admission of potential Asian students are likely to be rejected or such people are forced to undertake all, if not part, of their prehigher education study in multicultural learning environment. The main justification for requiring Asian international students to undertake part of their prehigher education in Westernized Anglophone universities is that, at the point of looking for admission, they may tend to have less knowledge about English, thereby presenting a likelihood of lower competence than those who completed such programs. In most cases, international students may realize that they will take longer study periods by doing such program purposed to narrow the competence gap. Hao (2018) stated that this situation is led by the observation that the programs are designed as full, instead of being complementary curriculum phases, therefore, disregarding their previous qualifications. In the long run, potential Asian international students may be forced to study from their local regions.

Westernized Anglophone universities have adopted an education bridging training programs in sociology of education, ecological psychology, and language ecology meant for the benefits of Asian international students. Such an approach is effective, since it appeals Asian students that tend to less have understanding in English language, therefore, the program is structured to promote their admissibility to the needed level, though with less expenditure of time. Although the program of bridging courses is meant for positive outcomes, other individuals have frequently criticized them as they believe that it decreases the quality of higher education enrollees. Most importantly, critics believe that comparative to full curriculum cycles, the duration, facilitation, delivery, content, and assessment of the programs that relates to sociology of education, ecological psychology, and language ecology are lax, thereby posing to have the incapability of closing the competence gap between the local students and attendees (Mitchell, 2018). A primary assumption for this this condemnation is that, different from conventional preuniversity training programs that are structured and evaluated by national bodies, criticizers assume that in most cases, bridging courses are limited to the institutions that establish, and provide them, as they are not accredited and their participants are not exposed on external assessment. Therefore, there is the importance of recognizing that the programs that relates to bridging courses for international students cannot be terminated due to their vital role of addressing various academic and language related changes that are commonly faced by Asian international students in multicultural learning environment.

In addition to the challenges that accompanies language obstacle and academic issues, Asian International students face social and cultural changes. Since their social networks and families are left in their native countries, they are required to establish new ways of interacting, which emerge to be different than the old ones. In this case, developing and maintaining friendships, being ready to talk with native-speaking students, and adopting the initiative in conversations are all vital for social adaptation. However, Ai (2017) claimed that Asian international students regularly face cultural shocks during their early years of adapting to studies and life in Westernized Anglophone universities. As a result of the highly differing expectations and past experiences, many of these individuals face alienation. This aspect is an indication that they tend to feel helpless, lonely, lost, confused, and crave for dependence. Further reports indicate that international students’ depression, confusion, and anxiety has the possibilities of bringing physical illness, insomnia, and loneliness.

Cultural differences impact Asian international students’ capability to create social relationships. This notion is reinforced by the perception that each culture is made up of its concepts, way of life, values, beliefs, and norms. A good examples is that friendship is regarded different in diverse cultures. For instance, there is a common trend showing that Asian students love to socialize with each other just after classes are over, and therefore, they view the American to be difficult to approach (Yoon & Merry, 2018). Students from the United States are considered to be distant, since their culture do not reinforce the practice of spending time with each other than their Asian counterparts. Most importantly, international students have exhibited that individual’ academic performance can largely be impacted by cultural differences. For example, American society has embraced two-way learning approach in higher education for quite some time, and therefore, they highly reward and encourage active participation. This claim is supported by Macfarlane and Tomlinson (2017) who reported that Canadian and American educational contexts often reward students for assertiveness, participation, and questioning in pursuit for original, creative, and independent academic work and researches. However, there can be difficulties in the interplay between professors and students from the cultures where the learners respect and consider educators as dependable authorities. Such a condition implies that norms and cultures are vital factors that refine people’s perceptions as they associate with those from diverse cultures.

Based on the above analysis, there is an understanding that Asian international students face many challenges in Westernized Anglophone universities. This situation calls for effective strategies that can help them overcome, while studying in such multicultural learning environments that tend to bring up challenges relating to language and communication during their transitional period. As mentioned earlier, Hao (2018) claimed that cultural diversities contributes towards other challenges that Asian international students face. With the confidence to internationalize higher education, a variety of studies have indicated that most of these institutions of higher education have realized the unique needs of Asian international students. Most of Westernized Anglophone universities are actively taking part in the recruitment of such students and have the desire of promoting intercultural recognition on their campuses, thereby developing internationalization of higher education. In this case, Westernized Anglophone universities have begun offering to Asian students essential academic and support programs through bridging courses that focus on sociology of education, ecological psychology, and language ecology so that they can effectively pursue international education.

Finally, the effectiveness of bridging courses for international students in terms of helping the target group to be well conversant with English that in turn serve as some source of competence is paralyzed by an existing research gap. This claim implies that the goal of fully assisting Asian international students can be effectively achieved by filling the existing research gap concerning learning of English as a Second Language (ESL) in multicultural educational context. Most commonly, there are few studies, such as government documents and institutional programs that have outlined the encounters of these students. This claim indicates that there is a larger research gap that uncovers the challenges of Asian international students from their personal narration. Besides, there is a larger research gap in terms of the encounters of these students concerning the action of being subjected to bridging courses. Generally, there are a lot of difficulties in understanding the problems, which Asian international students come across when learning academic English through the adoption of sociology of education, ecological psychology, and language ecology in Westernized Anglophone universities. Such inadequacy led to the adoption of this research so that it may help people who tend to rely on assumptions about the real experiences of Asian international students in multicultural learning environment.

Additionally, internationalization of education is highly embraced despite its challenges since it has a variety of benefits to countries, higher education institutions, students, and the academic sector as a whole. Studying abroad provides students with a chance to get an academic qualification, which is considered to be of higher quality when they attend educational institutions which are believed to be better than those in their home countries (Beech, 2018). Besides, this practice is viewed as an opportunity of providing access to study programs on those students who lacked such a chance at their homes. Most importantly, it enables students to study from settings that provide effective predictions of post higher education employment opportunities. On occasions where the cost of living and tuition overseas is more economical than those in the sending countries, it allows international students to save on the expenses of attaining higher education. Consequently, foreign students are believed to be the source of higher income to their receiving countries, which is among the major benefits during the periods of decreasing public funding of these educational institutions (Jacob & Gokbel, 2018). Essentially, in the course of diversifying student populations, the receiving institutions tend to gain a positive reputation. According to Sutton, Miller, and Rubin (2017), studying abroad allows sending countries to educate people for whom academic programs or places might not be present at their homes. Most scholars believe that this element contributes to the internationalization of academic as higher education institutions tend to teach diverse students, who serve as sources of knowledge to their sending countries.

Most studies have shown that many countries, especially those from Asia, lack benchmarks required for identifying the equivalencies of educational qualifications. This situation implies that across the educational systems of their regions, there are difficulties in determining the comparability of academic attainment, which acts as an obstacle to studying abroad (Hao, 2018). In this case, at an undergraduate entry-level, the admission of potential Asian students are likely to be rejected or such people are forced to undertake all, if not part, of their prehigher education study in multicultural learning environment. The main justification for requiring Asian international students to undertake part of their prehigher education in Westernized Anglophone universities is that, at the point of looking for admission, they may tend to have less knowledge about English, thereby presenting a likelihood of lower competence than those who completed such programs. In most cases, international students may realize that they will take longer study periods by doing such program purposed to narrow the competence gap. Hao (2018) stated that this situation is led by the observation that the programs are designed as full, instead of being complementary curriculum phases, therefore, disregarding their previous qualifications. In the long run, potential Asian international students may be forced to study from their local regions.

Westernized Anglophone universities have adopted an education bridging training programs in sociology of education, ecological psychology, and language ecology meant for the benefits of Asian international students. Such an approach is effective, since it appeals Asian students that tend to less have understanding in English language, therefore, the program is structured to promote their admissibility to the needed level, though with less expenditure of time. Although the program of bridging courses is meant for positive outcomes, other individuals have frequently criticized them as they believe that it decreases the quality of higher education enrollees. Most importantly, critics believe that comparative to full curriculum cycles, the duration, facilitation, delivery, content, and assessment of the programs that relates to sociology of education, ecological psychology, and language ecology are lax, thereby posing to have the incapability of closing the competence gap between the local students and attendees (Mitchell, 2018). Read More