How International Students' English Level Affect Their Use of Social Media Choosing Universities - Essay Example

How Can International English Level Affects Their Use of Social Media In The Process Of Choosing Universities Methodology Study design The research study was a descriptive cross-sectional study based on the international students in the UK universities. A descriptive cross-sectional study is advantageous to the researcher since it is easier and quicker to conduct; data is collected once and it is possible to measure all the variables under investigation n the study (Miles and Huberman, 1994, p. 35; Elliot and Timulak, 1992, p. 147-150). The study was conducted in one of the UK major universities therefore the conclusions and the recommendations derived by the researcher from the information collected in this university was further deduced to be information of the larger university population. Data collection The researcher used both the questionnaires and oral interview methods to adequately collect primary data from the respondents. A section of the questionnaires was emailed to the respondents and others were administered directly by the researcher. The questionnaires incorporated the use of both the closed and open ended questions. The open ended questions are significant in a research study for they give the respondent a room to respond to give more information left out by the researcher when he or she was designing the questionnaire (Reja et.al, 2003, p. 160-167). The questionnaires used a five Likert scale with items; strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree or disagree, agree and strongly agree. Before the interviews were conducted and before the questionnaires were sent to the sample population, the researcher sought permission from the respective university managements to authorize him to collect data from the sample population. A pilot study was conducted by the researcher prior the administration of the questionnaires on at least 5 respondents. This was to test for the validity and reliability of the questionnaires that were used in the study. According to Ceswell et.al (2010, p. 32), 10 percent of the sample is to constitute the pilot test or the pilot study-rule of thumb. Also, there were no ethical concerns raised by the respondents both in the time of conducting the interviews and filling in of the questionnaires. Further, the participation of the respondents in the study was plainly voluntary. No respondent was forced to participate in the study at any circumstance. Target population and Sample population Although both the target and the sample populations incorporated UK and non UK students, the research study was mainly targeting the international university students pursuing studies in the UK. This is because these students have a better understanding of the researcher’s problem than the native students. The study targeted the first year students (fresher), second year students, third year students and even fourth year students since even in the years two, three and four, there are students who lie squarely in the target population. The target population entailed all students in the university. The target population (N) was sought to be 150 students; 45 students from first year, and 35 students from each of the other years. The students were randomly picked. From the target population, the researcher determined his sample population (n) using the formula; n= 0.3(N). The sample population that was used in the study was therefore 45 students. Results and Analysis According to Kothari (2008, p. 23), Cronbach alpha is one of the basic formulae used by the researcher to determine the reliability of a study based on the internal consistency. In this case, a standard minimum alpha 0.7 is the most recommended by the different researchers of the world (Cooper, 2005, p.9). In this regard, the researcher adopted a content validity. A content validity is a measure of the extent of coverage of the topic under investigation. The content validity in this regard then was achieved when the researcher further subjected the instruments he used in data collection to a panel of education experts who adequately gave their comment on the relevance of the different items in the different instruments used. These experts further indicated the different items as being relevant or not on the grounds of whether they had any relations to the topic under study (How can international students English level affect their use of social media in the process of choosing universities). According to Cooper (2005), it is recommended that the instruments to be used in a research study should have Content Validity Index (CVI) of about 0.78 or more and that at least three experts are considered evidence to good content validity in an instrument used in the study. During the study, both the quantitative and qualitative data was collected by the use of the oral interview and the questionnaires administered to the sample population by the researcher. The collected data was then was saved in a drive for further analysis and the participants in the research study remained unidentifiable. The collected data was first screened for the missing data and anomalous results. The data was then analyzed by use of both the qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. SPSS version 20 software as well as excel were largely used by the researcher in the data analysis process. The findings were further presented by use of the statistical tables and graphs for more comparison and further analysis of the data. Further, the researcher adopted the regression analysis model that could prove that a relationship existed between student’s English level (Independent variable) and the social media usage on selection of universities (dependent variable). The model was adopted at a 95 percent confidence level and 5 percent level of significance. The researcher emailed 30 questionnaires to the respective respondents and administered 20 questionnaires personally. Amongst the questionnaires sent through the email, he received 25 responses; a return rate of 83.3 percent. Of the received responses only 20 were fully completed; an accuracy rate of 66.7 percent. The 20 responses were proved valid and reliable for use in the study. Out of 20 samples he administered personally, five were incomplete; a return rate of 100 percent and an accuracy rate of 75 percent. At the end of the response time, the researcher had 40 complete responses from the questionnaires. The interviewer further interviewed five respondents. The study further showed the representation of the students in the major universities in the UK based on their origin. Origin UK Non UK Total Student’s No. 30 15 45 Percentage (%) 66.7 33.3 100 From the above table, it is evident that there are more UK students in the UK universities (66.7 percent) compared to 33.3 percent non UK students. Out of the 45 reliable responses; 25 from the emailed questionnaires, 15 from the self administered questionnaires, 27 seemed to agree or partially agree respondents 2 remained neutral on the idea while 11 of them disagreed. Response to “Social media posts gave me information to decide on this university” Stand Agree Neutral Disagree Total Students No. 27 2 11 40 Percentage (%) 67.5 5 27.5 100 The research sought to establish whether the level of English influenced the selection of universities via the social media platform. The majority (67.5 percent) seemed to agree with the fact that English level adequately influenced the university selection in the social media. The responds proved aware of the social media platform and how the different universities advertise themselves in such platforms. Further, 31 respondents agreed that English language can be a barrier to the international students who are not native English speakers while 14 respondents disagreed. Response to “Language can be the major barrier for non-English speaking students” Stand Agree Disagree Total Students No. 26 14 40 Percentage (%) 65 35 100 From the interviews; Response to “is English difficult to learn or understand” Stand Yes No Total Students No. 3 2 5 Percentage (%) 60 40 100 From the above table, 60 percent of the interviewed students felt that English was difficult to learn and understand while 40 percent felt that it was not. Response to “How often do you use Social media” Stand Often Not often Never Total Students No. 4 1 0 5 Percentage (%) 80 20 100 From the table above, 80 percent of the interviewed students claimed to use social media often, 20 percent claimed to not using social media regularly while none of them claimed to not using the social media. Response to “Do you use Google to translate” Stand Yes No Total Students No. 3 2 5 Percentage (%) 60 40 100 From the above table, 60 percent of the interviewed students claimed to use Google to translate English while 40 percent claimed not to use Google to translate English. The regression analysis Regression analysis is a statistical process in which relationships between variables can adequately be estimated (Nueman, 2006, p.19). It therefore helps in generating equations that adequately describe the statistical relationship existing two or more variables. Regression analyses therefore provide a mechanism for prediction, forecasting and estimation. The regression equation was expressed as X= β0 + β1(Y)+ e, where, X is the social media usage on selection of universities, β0 is the coefficient of intercept which is a constant, Y is the student’s English level, e is the error term and β1 is the regression coefficient of the independent variable. From the SPSS software Version 20, the following information in relation to regression coefficients was derived. Unstandardized coefficients Standardized Coefficients T Sig. B Std. Error Beta Constant 1.105 1.154 0.2021 0.001 Student’s English level 0.232 0.021 0.001 0.117 0.002 From the above table, the regression equation becomes: Predicted media usage on selection of universities = 1.105 + (0.232 * Student’s English level). Therefore, from the regression analysis, if the student’s English level is zero, then the media usage on selection of universities remained constant at 1.105. Therefore, a one unit increase on the student’s English level will result to a 0.232 increase in media usage in selection of universities. Also, at 5 percent level of significance, the student’s English level recorded a 0.002 significance level. Conclusion The study concluded that the university selection via the social media platforms was adequately influenced by the student’s level of English. The study found out that the student’s level of English was the major thing affecting how the respective international students who are not native English speakers choose the universities they join in the social networks. This study was similar to a study by Choudaha (2013, p. 8) who warns that the recruitment of the international students is inherently complex. It is a process that is adequately faced by the challenges of language and cultural contexts if the different countries of the world. The requirement process therefore according to Choudaha (2013, p. 8), need not only and adequate strategy by the university to integrate the aspect of the different languages and cultures of the world but also a deeper understanding of the local markets. Bartlett and Fischer (2011) further indicated that even though social media platforms have evolved to be the most recent development in the institutions of higher learning where the new students; local and international students have a chance of meeting the alumni of the respective institutions, language barrier and other cultural aspects are major factors affecting the social media university selection process. Recommendation The study recommends a number of key things. First, the study recommends that the international institutions deeply understand the local market where they advertise themselves on verge of recruiting new students on social sites. By understanding means, they should be aware of the varying communication languages and cultural norms. Through understanding the languages and the different cultural norms of the different communities of the world, the different institutions should therefore find new strategies of reaching out to the local markets apart from the social media. Secondly, the study recommends that the different institutions should further integrate other languages in the advertisements posted in the different social media so as to help address the problem ‘English biasness’. Such languages would entail Japanese, Chinese, Hispanic or even French. Thirdly, the study recommends integration of special programs in the curriculums of the different international institutions especially in the UK where the foreign students who are non English speakers would major in English as a course so as to improve on their communication which would not only improve their relations with the native students, reduce language barrier and potential discrimination cases but also improve their overall performance since all of the courses pursued in such institutions are in English. Lastly, the study also recommends a longitudinal study on the student’s English level and its effect on the education institutions’ social media recruitment of students. Bibliography Bartlett, T.& Fischer, K. 2011. The China conundrum. The Chronicle of Higher Education. [Pdf]. Available at [Accessed 24 April, 2015]. Choudaha, Rahul. 2013. Social Media in International Student Recruitment. Pdf. Available at [Accessed 24 April, 2015]. Cooper, D. R. Schindler, P.S. 2005. Business Research Methods. (8th ed.). Mc Graw-Hill, New Delhi, India. Creswell, C., Cooper, P., & Murray, L. 2010. Intergenerational Transmission of Anxious Information Processing Biases. In J. Hadwin, & A. Field (Eds), Information processing biases in child and adolescent anxiety. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Elliott, Robert and Timulak, Ladislav . 1992. Descriptive and interpretive approaches to qualitative research. [Pdf]. Available at [Accessed 24 April, 2015]. Kothari, C. R. 2008. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. New Delhi: New Age International Publishers. Miles, M. B. and Huberman, A. M. 1994.Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook,2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Neuman, W. L. (2006). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Pearsons Education Inc. Boston. USA. Reja, Ursa, Manfreda, Katja, Lozar, Hlebec, Valentina and Vehovar, Vasja. 2003. Open ended vs. Closed ended Questions in Web Questionnaires. 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