Academic Adjustment:Problems And Coping Strategies

In order to achieve academic success in the new educational system, the important task that international students have to face is to adjust to the new academic setting. However, many international students arrive at their host institutions without being aware of the immense adjustment difficulties they must overcome. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is one of the main destinations to Thai international students as it is an important gateway to Southeast Asian countries. The number of Thai international students who studies in Guangxi Normal University ranks high in Guangxi. Hereby, this qualitative research was conducted to understand the academic adjustment experiences of five Thai international students pursuing their postgraduate program in Guangxi Normal University so as to explore the factors affecting academic adjustment of Thai international students, as well as coping strategies and relevant suggestions.The research is mainly developed according to the following questions:1. What academic adjustment problems have the participants experienced in the course of pursuing their postgraduate studies in China? 2. How have they overcome these problems? 3. What are the factors that influence the academic adjustment of them? 4. What suggestions did they have? Data of this qualitative research was collected through a demographic questionnaire survey, three follow up interviews, several classroom observations and informal conversations in daily life from March to November,2014. Based on the related theories of intercultural adjustment and the differences of education setting between China and Thailand, categories and themes were identified through constant comparative method.The research found that the academic adjustment problems participants have encountered in the process of pursuing their postgraduate in China included in-class participation, thesis writing, student-instructor relationship, local accent and the way Chinese speak, etc.. The participants expressed that it is difficult for them to attend classes on time when they first came to China. Besides, they were accustomed to listening to teachers rather than participated classes actively. Participants said they lacked the experience of thesis writing and were not familiar with the rules of thesis writing in China. The spatial distance plus the level of social status alienated the relationship between the participants and their instructors. Participants also showed that it is difficult for them to understand their teachers who spoke with accent. What is more, participants felt anxiety about Chinese who speak loudly, which frightened them to communicate with those people.To overcome these problems, the coping strategies adopted by participants related to watching TV series and movies, making more friends with Chinese students and more frequent communication with Thai international students. Factors that hindered the academic adjustment of participants included improper learning attitude, network restriction, not familiar with using library and electronic library, no fixed textbooks, and lack of professional knowledge, while scholarship, friends and small-sized class are helpful factors for adjustment. The suggestions proposed by the participants for the host institution related to adding extra lessons, holding more unofficial activities for international students and Chinese students, as well as giving some guiding lectures. As for those future Thai international students, participants advised them to prepare an electronic dictionary and daily expression dictionary, select right major, and prepare for adapting to the living environment of the host country.