University of Southern Queensland An investigation of the social and academic experiences of ...

203 Pages·2015·1.82 MB·English

University of Southern Queensland

An investigation of the social and academic experiences of Arabic
international students in Australian tertiary education

A Dissertation Submitted by

Bassim Almansouri, B.Ed (English language), M Ed. (TESOL)

For the award of

Doctor of Philosophy

2014
Abstract
This research project addresses the social and academic experiences that Arabic
international students (AIS) have in transitioning to tertiary study in Australia. This study
investigated (1) how these students experienced studying in the Australian tertiary
education system, (2) to what extent they integrated academically and socially, and (3)
how they can be supported when they choose to study in Australia. The conceptual
framework was built on sociocultural, social identity and Hofstede’s (1980) four
dimensions of culture (power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and
masculinity) theories with the need for effective intercultural communication at the
centre. A mixed methods design was used. Data were collected through a parallel survey
of students (69) and teachers (32) across Australia and follow-up, in-depth interviews
with sub-samples of six students and seven teachers. The statistical data analysis of the
survey results compared students’ and teachers’ views about the challenges of studying in
Australia. The qualitative data were analysed on the basis of emergent themes. The
research findings highlighted the need for these students’ journey to be conceptualised as
a transitional pathway that begins in their home country, so that the different challenges at
each stage of their journey can be clarified and so better supported. In raising the
importance of both students and teachers becoming interculturally literate, the research
illuminates students’ English language difficulties in relation to cross-cultural
communication, the nature of their culture shock, and the need to reconceptualise
teaching and learning and the notion of being independent learners. The study makes a
significant and original contribution to extending current theoretical knowledge with
regards to the nature, scope and depth of intercultural literacy necessary to allow AIS to
transit more smoothly into study in Western society. It highlights the significant social,
cultural and pedagogical challenges they face, while trying to maintain their social
identity and simultaneously acculturate into Australian society and the academic context.
The study uncovers the complexity of the English language demands these students face,
showing that in spite of meeting gate keeping test requirements they are challenged
academically in the use of Standard Australian English, and the language and concepts
required to learn through constructivist pedagogical approaches, including digital
technologies as well as the Australian colloquial English to communicate locally.

Major challenges for AIS were found to be the need to reconceptualise their beliefs about
teaching and learning and make a cognitive shift from the teacher-centred environment
they experience in their home country to the student-centred approach at the centre of
constructivist pedagogy found in Australian tertiary education contexts that requires
independence in learning, and living in Australia with a completely different culture and
language. To help AIS more effectively in this shift, the study provides advice to enable
review of current policy and practice, making recommendations in the form of support
keys for each stage of their journey that apply to both students and Australian tertiary
educators to make these students’ transitional pathways easier and more likely to enhance
their academic success.
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Acknowledgments

I am indebted to several people without their support achieving this thesis would have
been impossible. First and foremost, my deep gratitude and appreciation goes to my
principal supervisor, Associate Prof. Shirley O'Neill for her endless patience, continuous
support, and encouragement. Shirley, you have not been only a supervisor but also close
friend with great social and academic support and your supervision is a symbol of respect
and trust. Also, I appreciate Dr. Warren Midgley for his support. My heartfelt thanks to
the Associate Dean Prof. Patrick Danaher for his invaluable and unforgettable support
and advise through the whole journey. I would also to thank Dr. Henk Huijser for his very
informative support as a proof reader in keeping with the university’s policy. My thanks
also go to Mrs Marlene Barron for her daily continuous support in various ways as proof
reader.

My other colossal thanks and gratitude go to my Mum who lives away from me but has
continually prayed for me and has been encouraging me via the Internet. Unique thanks
must go to my beautiful wife Hiba for her continuous encouragement and my children
Yousif and Ahmed, for accepting my being away from them and staying away from them
for several nights since it was hard for them to go to sleep without their Dad.

My last thanks go to my friends and loved ones who have supported me and encouraged
me during the process of the thesis and reaching its conclusion, which has been a huge
step in my life.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 1
An Overview .............................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Purpose of the Research ..................................................................................... 6
1.3 Objectives .......................................................................................................... 6
1.4 Focus of the Study ............................................................................................. 6
1.5 Research Problem .............................................................................................. 7
1.6 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 9
Chapter 2: The Research Conceptual Framework and the Review of the
Literature .................................................................................................................. 10
An Overview ............................................................................................................ 10
2.1 The Research Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Bases ......................... 10
2.1.1 Sociocultural Theory ................................................................................. 12
2.1.2 Social Identity Theory............................................................................... 15
2.1.3 Hofstede’s (1980) Cultural Dimensions Theory ....................................... 16
2.1.4 Achieving Effective Intercultural Communication ................................... 22
2.2 Summary of the Research Conceptual Framework and the Theoretical Bases 22
2.3 Literature Review............................................................................................. 23
An Overview .............................................................................................................. 23
2.3.1 Socialisation and Acculturation ................................................................ 23
2.3.2 Language Issues ........................................................................................ 27
2.3.3 Pedagogical Issues .................................................................................... 30
2.4 Summary Discussion ....................................................................................... 35
Chapter 3: Methodology ....................................................................................... 38
An Overview ............................................................................................................ 38
3.1 The Pragmatic Research Paradigm .................................................................. 38
3.2 The Research Methodology ............................................................................. 39
An Overview .............................................................................................................. 39
3.2.1 The Mixed Methods Design...................................................................... 39
3.3 Participants and Sampling Techniques ............................................................ 41
3.3.1 Quantitative Sampling .............................................................................. 42
3.3.2 Qualitative Sampling ................................................................................ 42
3.4 The Process of Data Collection Stages ............................................................ 43
3.4.1 Surveys Development and Trial................................................................ 44
3.5 Validity and Reliability .................................................................................... 46
3.5.1 Validity ..................................................................................................... 46
3.5.2 Reliability .................................................................................................. 48
3.6 Ethical Considerations ..................................................................................... 49
3.7 Researcher Stance ............................................................................................ 50
Chapter 4: Results of Parallel Survey to Arabic International Students and
Teachers ................................................................................................................... 52
An Overview ............................................................................................................ 52
4.1 An Overview of Parallel Survey to Students and Teachers ............................. 52
4.2 The Students’ Survey Structure ....................................................................... 52
4.2.1 Students’ Demographic Information......................................................... 53
4.2.2 Students’ Experiences with their Home Learning Systems ...................... 58
4.2.3 Students’ Views of the Australian Learning System ................................ 60
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4.2.4 The Nature of Support Offered to Students by their Australian Tertiary
Institutions.......................................................................................................... 62
4.2.5 Students’ Experience of Living in Australia ............................................. 63
4.2.6 Students’ Experience of their Academic Situation in Australia ............... 64
4.2.7 Students’ Experience of Being Away from Home ................................... 64
4.3 Students’ Self-reported Experience Settling and Learning in Australia .......... 65
4.3.1 Students’ Five Most Difficult Problems Faced in Australia ..................... 66
4.3.2 Students Identification of the Five Most Important Facilities that can be offered
to assist with Settling to Study in Australia ....................................................... 68
4.3.3 Students’ Identification of the Five Most Important Strategies that they have
followed to assist them in Settling to Study in Australia ................................... 71
4.3.4 Students’ Suggestions of the Most Effective Ways that Teachers Could help
them Learn Better in Australia ........................................................................... 73
4.4 The Teachers’ Survey Structure....................................................................... 76
4.4.1 Teachers’ Demographic Information ........................................................ 76
4.4.2 Teachers’ Views about Teaching AIS ...................................................... 80
4.4.3 Teachers’ Views about the Living Situation of AIS in Australia ............. 82
4.4.4 Teachers’ Views about the Academic Situation of AIS in Australia ........ 82
4.5 Teachers’ Self-reported Experience about Arabic International Students’ Settling
and Learning in Australia ....................................................................................... 83
4.5.1 Teachers’ Identification of the Most Effective Strategies to Teach International
Students .............................................................................................................. 84
4.5.2 Teachers’ Views about the Most Important Strategies that Worked Best for
Teaching International Students ........................................................................ 86
4.5.3 Teachers’ Suggestions and Advice for Improving the Learning and Social
Experiences of International Students ............................................................... 87
4.5.4 Teachers Identification of the Most Effective Strategies that They Used to Help
International Students Learn Better ................................................................... 89
4.6 Comparison of Students’ and Teachers’ Views on English and Pedagogical
Approach Used in Australia ................................................................................... 91
Chapter 5: Results of Interviews with Arabic International Students and
Teachers ................................................................................................................... 95
An Overview ............................................................................................................ 95
5.1 Students’ Interviews Thematic Analysis ......................................................... 96
5.1.1 The Overarching Theme “The Challenges of Communication” ............... 97
5.1.2 The Overarching Theme “Issues Impacting on Classroom Learning” ... 100
5.1.3 The Overarching Theme “Students’ Motivation to Learn in the Australian
Learning System”............................................................................................. 103
5.1.4 Students’ Participation in Cultural Activities ......................................... 105
5.1.5 Students’ Experiences with Technology ................................................. 107
5.1.6 The Overarching Theme “The Challenges of Settling in Australia in Order to
Study” .............................................................................................................. 108
5.1.7 Students’ Experiences with the Australian Culture ................................ 111
5.2 Teachers’ Interviews Thematic Analysis ....................................................... 112
5.2.1 The Overarching Theme “The Challenges of Communication” with AIS113
5.2.2 The Overarching Theme “Issues Impacting on Classroom Learning” ... 119
5.2.3 Locating Their Cultural Food ................................................................. 123
5.2.4 The Overarching Theme “Students’ Motivation and Praising” .............. 123
5.2.5 Students’ Participation in Cultural Activities ......................................... 126
5.2.6 Students’ ICTs Literacy .......................................................................... 127
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5.2.7 Understand the Australian Culture .......................................................... 127
Chapter 6: Discussion, Recommendations, Contributions to Knowledge and
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 130
An Overview .......................................................................................................... 130
6.1 The Transitional Impact of Arabic International Students’ Learning Experiences in
their Home Countries ........................................................................................... 130
6.2 Factors Impacting on AIS Settlement in the Host Country ........................... 134
6.3 Post-arrival – AIS Development and Adaptation to the New Culture and Approach
to Learning System .............................................................................................. 140
6.4 Recommendation ........................................................................................... 149
6.4.1 Recommendations to Students ................................................................ 149
6.4.2 Recommendations to Australian Teachers and Tertiary Institutions ...... 151
6.5 Research Limitations ..................................................................................... 153
6.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 154
6.7 Contribution to Knowledge............................................................................ 162
References ............................................................................................................. 163
Appendices ............................................................................................................... 179
Appendix1: Students’ Consent Form: Survey ..................................................... 179
Appendix2: Teachers’ consent form: Survey ....................................................... 181
Appendix3: Students’ Consent Form: Interviews ............................................... 183
Appendix4: Teachers’ Consent Form: Interviews ............................................... 184
Appendix5: Students’ Survey Questions .............................................................. 185
Appendix6: Teachers’ Survey Questions .............................................................. 188
Appendix7: Students’ interview questions ........................................................... 190
Appendix8: Teachers’ Interviews Questions ........................................................ 192
Appendix9: List of Arab States ............................................................................. 194

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List of Tables
Table 2.1: Definitions of Hofstede’s (1980) four cultural dimensions
Table 2.2: Comparison between the teacher-centred and learner-centred
pedagogical paradigms
Table 2.3: Comparison between the power distance of teacher-centred and
student-centred learning environments
Table 3.1: An overview of the research stages and the data collection plan
Table 4.1: The structure of the survey to AIS
Table 4.2: Students’ experience learning English in their home countries
Table 4.3: Students’ rating on the pedagogical approach experienced in their
home countries
Table 4.4: Students’ experience of English learning in Australia
Table 4.5: Students’ ratings on the pedagogical approaches experienced in
Australia
Table 4.6: Students’ ratings of the nature of assistance provided by Australian
Tertiary Institutions
Table 4.7: shows students’ living situations in Australia
Table 4.8: Students’ views of their early experience of learning in Australia
Table 4.9: Students’ experiences of living away from family members
Table 4.10: Students’ self-reported most difficult problems faced in Australia
Table 4.11: Students’ self-reported most important facilities to help them settle in
Australia
Table 4.12: Students’ self-reported most important strategies they have used to
support themselves while studying in Australia
Table 4.13: Students’ self-report on the most effective ways their teachers might
help them learn better in their study in Australia.
Table 4.14: The structure of the survey to Australian teachers
Table 4.15: Teachers’ experience with AIS learning English in Australia
Table 4.16: Teachers’ ratings on the pedagogical approach they use with AIS in
Australia
Table 4.17: teachers’ views about the living situation of AIS in Australia.
Table 4.18: Teachers’ views about the students’ early experience of learning in
Australia
Table 4.19: Teachers’ self-report on five most effective strategies of teaching
international students
Table 4.20: Teachers’ self-report about most important strategies to better
teach international students
Table 4.21: Teachers’ self-report about the advices of improving learning and
social experiences of international students
Table 4.22: Teachers self-report about the most effective strategies that they
used to help international students learn better
Table 4.23: Comparison of students’ and teachers’ views of Arabic international
students’ English language learning experiences in Australia
Table 4.24: Comparison of students’ and teachers’ views on the pedagogical
approach used with AIS in Australia
Table 6.1: Overview of Arabic international students’ transitional path

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List of Figures

Figure 2.1: An overview of the research conceptual framework and the theoretical
bases of the study
Figure 2.2: The connection between English language and culture
Figure 2.3: An overview of the cultural differences between the Arab world and
Australia
Figure 3.1: Explanatory design: Taxonomy Development Model (QUAL
emphasised)
Figure 4.1: Arabic international students’ country of origin
Figure 4.2: Participating students’ gender
Figure 4.3: Arabic international students’ place of residence at the time of the
research
Figure 4.4: An Overview of time survey students spent studying in Australia
Figure 4.5: Students’ study areas in Australia
Figure 4.6 shows the teachers’ period of teaching
Figure 4.7: Teachers’ major teaching areas
Figure 4.8: Percentage of sample of teachers across education providers
Figure 4.9: shows the country of teaching
Figure 5.1: Emergent themes: Arabic international students’ views about their
learning experiences in home country and in Australia
Figure 5.2: Emergent themes: Teachers’ views about Arabic international students’
experiences in home country and in Australia
Figure 6.1: Mind map of the research findings in relation to effective intercultural
communication
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Chapter 1: Introduction
An Overview
This chapter introduces the background of the study and presents the research
purpose in studying the social and the academic experiences of AIS in the Australian
tertiary education context. It also outlines the objectives of the study in its
investigation of these students’ experiences while studying in Australia. This chapter
also presents the focus of the study and the research problem and outlines the
research questions.

1.1 Background
As the competition to attract more international students (IS) to Western Universities
increases, understanding students’ motivations, aspirations, expectations and needs is
of paramount importance to ensure high quality programs and students’ positive
experiences and success. Furthermore, research shows that moving to study in a
different language and culture from one’s own presents substantial challenges for
both students and their education providers. Carroll and Ryan (2005) state that “the
increased number of IS in Western Universities brings challenges for teachers and
international students alike” (p.5). They note that most IS have some form of
depression when studying abroad and this could be the result of the students’
acculturation stress (Smith & Khawaja, 2011).

International students’ experiences could vary according to the amount of distance
between their home country experience and that of the host country since, according
to Daly and Brown (2005), “the level of cultural distance shapes the intercultural
contact between students” (p. 10). Therefore, the greater the distance between the
language, culture and pedagogy of a student’s background and that of the host
country, the greater the challenge involved. Similarly, Rosenthal, Russell and
Thomson (2007) found that, the further the cultural distance between international
students’ culture and the host culture, the more difficulties would occur during their
study overseas. AIS originate from the Arabic world, which has a relatively big
cultural distance from the mainstream Australian culture (Hofstede, 1980).
Consequently, these students would not have much contact and integration with
students from the host country because they would tend to speak and communicate
with their own ethnic group, as these ethnic groups “ . . . can play an important role
in supporting on-shore international students” (Colvin & Jaffar, 2007, p. 10). In a
similar and recent study by Rienties, Beausaert, Grohnert, Niemantsverdriet, and
Kommers (2012) it was found that international students are less integrated in
universities compared with domestic students because they tend to integrate and pair
with their same country people.

AIS are a group of IS who potentially share many problems (for example, linguistic
and cultural) that are likely to affect all international students in Western
Universities. However, there are also likely to be issues that specifically affect AIS,
and there is a paucity of research about this specific group of IS in the context of
Western Universities. According to the researcher’s experience, as an Arabic
background student in Australia, there is a large distance between the Arabic
culture/language and the Australian culture/language. Thus, it can be argued that AIS
are very likely to have problems with/in the Australian learning system and their
learning experiences may be substantially different from those of many other IS
whose cultures and languages are closer to those of Western nations. For example,