Ethnography of International Students in American Universities - Essay Example

Ethnography of International in American Universities It is evident that international go through ahard time in adjusting to the American universities because of the differences of the American and their diversified cultures and level of English proficiency. “It was on a day that students were being handed the results of a course introductory assessment and the instructor had to comment on the general performance of the class. The instructor pissed a question on the reason why only the students with strange names are the one who had scored the lowest mark in the assessment. The instructor pinpoints his disappointments of the way the international students in the class are performing compared to the Americans despite of issuance of similar lectures and notes. The issue of the level of English among the foreign students comes up with the instructor indicating that some of the members require attending English classes and threatens not to mark the poorly written papers that are submitted. The instructor furthermore called on an African student called Antony, Asking whether the English he had written to answer the assessment questions is the one that Kenyans use. He claims that where he instructs students is in the United States and not in Kenya; hence, all students that come from similar places where English is a second language required to improve accordingly. American students joined the lecture explaining how the international students do not know to speak to them in a pure English and categorically the Americans in the class indicates that the do not prefer interaction with the international students.” There has been an increased interconnection of different areas of studies globally in different education sectors (Bevis and Lucas). Subsequently, many international students have enrolled in American universities following the demand of higher and high quality higher education. Researchers have indicated that more than 10 billion international students are enrolled in the American universities. However, the diversified cultural backgrounds of the international students’ lead strains in adjusting to the new environment. The environment becomes unfavorable due to factors such as the international students language constrictions, social behaviors, and cultural differences. The environment that the International students face once in a foreign country has a totally different cultural background owing to the fact that most of the students come from different geographic regions and backgrounds. Consequently, most of the international students in the United States universities are prone to unique challenging situations such as probable prejudice and discrimination, language barriers and various aspects evolving from the different cultural backgrounds. The level of English proficiency for the international students is a main aspect related to how well the student will cope with the new environment. English proficiency has a great impact on the level of stress that the students face while trying to adjust to the new environment. The international students who show an improved level of English proficiency easily adapt to the new environment with ease compared to those with low English adeptness. In addition, English proficiency clearly manifests in the students’ studies results accordingly. Recently, this factor on language has had increased attention globally; leave alone in the United States, to help the international students improve levels of English fluency to avoid the depressive feelings associated with limited communication with other students and instructors in the universities because of low levels of proficiency. Consequently, this raises the issue of whether the international students should attend English lectures as an additional program. Most students, in particular the international students, have a sense of feeling intimidated or perceives themselves as outcasts on advise to take English classes. These indicate that the aspect of language proficiencies is a main issue that should be well addressed to ensure that the international students pursue studies with minimal distress that arise from inadequate English proficiency. The aspect of cultural differences leads to how well an international student is able to establish a worthy relationship with the natives, who in this case are the Americans students. The procedure of changing to a completely new environment that has a different culture from a student’s background raises many anxieties caused by the individual deficits on how they can well manage to achieve in the new environment. For example a scenario that international students has a sense of alienation caused by the unspoken rules, which rule the behaviors in the United States such as time factor. Subsequently, an international student has to undergo under a self-examination and sense of humor on the cultural values and differences emerging from the new environment. Another situation is in a case where the cultural background of the international student indicates that the act of asking g the instructor a question is regarded as a rude and disrespectful aspect while in the United States; most of the questions are expected from the students directed to the instructors. Consequently, the instructor may easily attribute the international student with lack of commitment and interest towards the course, which is not the case as the student’s cultural background prohibits such student-instructor question participation in class. It is noticeable that international students always have difficulties in adjusting to the new environment’s social aspects because of the insufficient social support they experience once in a new country. The quantity of social support that the international students determine the duration taken to fight the crisis of the adjusting student in American Universities. Every student is prone to stress from different sources such as family matters, peers and the instructors in the university. The more social support is provided to the international students’ decreases the level of academic stressors. One Chinese international student clearly explains the first encounter with the new environment with most of those who provided social support back in the mother country china. The new environment introduced the Chinese student to various levels of academic stressors especially from the instructors who are not ready to provide extra help to international students with difficulties to understand class work because of poor levels of English. The student categorically indicates that the only social support received was only through online social networks that provided a connection to other peers in china. Consequently, this student experienced high levels of acculturative stress that would have been reduced by the introduction of a special program in the United States to provide international students with a social support framework. According to Bevis and Lucas, International students in the American universities are prone to prejudice and discrimination by the American. Studies indicate that Americans perceive other students as having a lower priority compared to the natives of the country. For example, an African student studying in a university located in the United States is alleged to be of less important and receives a less attention of the instructors compared to the than the Americans. In addition, the international students find it very hard to establish a relationship with the Americans because of the different culture in America and the foreigners’ background cultures. Consequently, there lacks the social interaction of the students, which makes the international students feel slaves in the new environment. The international students in American universities are associated with low self-esteem due to their inferiority of cultural values to those of the Americans. International students level of English proficiency is low that lead ineffective communication and interaction with the Americans. Probably, the poor social support experienced by the international students can improved through the introduction of social classes involving both the Americans and the international students. Integration of international students can be effectively done without much distress that most experience before adopting the American universities environment. Work cited Bevis, Teresa & Lucas, Christopher. International Students in American Colleges and Universities: A History. New york, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print. Read More