This study is an indepth exploration of the experience of the children of Asian international students in Halmstad University, Sweden. The study has a qualitative research design and it provides insights to the perceptions and experiences of the kids through semi structured interviews. The results highlight positive aspects of relocation as well as areas where additional support is needed for a better integrationa and adaptation. The findings are informatives to parents, university and to policy makers.The study concludes that there must be clearly better understandingabout the reality of kids and more effective practices are to be developed to ensure better adaptation of the kids.

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As the number of international students grows, the importance of understanding them grows also. This thesis analyzes in-depth interview data from 17 international students from 12 different countries at East Tennessee State University who discussed their experiences as international students. Findings show that they are willing to adjust to the new culture and a new educational system, but they are reluctant to assimilate further. After they obtain their education, most of them want to return to their home country with their degree to work, even though situations are often better in the United States. These students serve as cultural ambassadors, but they will not be permanent immigrants, which contradicts popular assumptions about international students who study in the United States.

This study investigated the intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension of Chinese international students. Participants in the study consisted of Chinese international students over 18 years old studying at two 4-year public universities in the southeastern United States. The study participants completed 2 online survey questionnaires: the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS), which measured the degree of intercultural communication competence, and the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA), which measured the degree of intercultural communication apprehension. The findings of the study indicated a significant relationship between Chinese international students' intercultural communication competence and their intercultural apprehension. Findings also noted that gender, age, number of U.S. friends, and level of education were not factors predicting the participants' degree of intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension. However, frequency of speaking English outside of the classroom was an important factor indicating differences in the degree of the study participants' intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension. In addition, the study revealed that the length of time in the United States affected participants' intercultural communication competence but not their intercultural communication apprehension.

The international student experience presents an interesting and complex case in which a student must adjust to a new environment. Informed by poststructural theories, this exploratory study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of eight Saudi international students’ linguistic, cultural, and identity experiences while living in Canada. It examined how Saudi students’ linguistic and cultural transitions within Canada relate to their L2 learning. To conduct this study, narrative inquiry was adopted as a methodology to gather narratives from Saudi participants by conducting semi-structured interviews. In the first part of the findings, using thematic analysis, I found nine emergent themes that revealed participants’ cultural/linguistic challenges, e.g., language anxiety and problems with academic English, and demonstrated participants’ difficulties socializing in their new L2 communities. In the second part of the findings, a narrative co-construction of one Saudi female participant’s life story in Canada revealed that gender-related issues were a central theme in Saudi female students’ integration. Linking all these emergent themes to poststructural L2 acquisition (SLA) theory, four key conclusions about the Saudi international student experience were brought to light: 1) Saudi participants faced challenges in building an academic identity in which they could participate confidently; 2) the formation of a non-native speaker identity impacted their ability to fully participate in the L2 community; 3) while attempting to gain access to the L2 community, some participants found themselves constrained and secluded by what they perceived as a lack of communicative competence; and 4) female participants talked about the re-negotiation of the Saudi female identity throughout their stay in Canada. Given these conclusions, this study carries various policy implications through which university administrators can build support services and foster international student inclusion.

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The film addresses the problem of why it is challenging for Chinese college students to study, socialize and succeed in American universities and how language barriers, differences in family communication, educational systems and socialization between the United States and China contributes to the challenges that Chinese students are facing in the The United States. Some of the problems that Chinese students encounter are getting worse, leading to serious mental health problems or even Chinese students committing suicide.

In Fall 2022, Auburn University Libraries faculty and staff hosted an orientation event for newly arrived international graduate students. Highlights of the event included tours of major library service points, a shared meal, and a meet and greet for graduate students and subject librarians. A key takeaway for both groups was an increased awareness of the differences that exist between U.S. academic libraries and those in other countries. The authors discuss elements of the library orientation that worked well, and address lessons learned that will be used to improve future events.