Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom
The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has exerted tremendous influences on the wellbeing of international students and the sustainable development of higher education. The current study adopts an 8-month exploratory case study to trace eight Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adju...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.942227/full |
| _version_ | 1811266355290177536 |
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| author | Guangxiang Liu Wentao Li Yueshan Zhang |
| author_facet | Guangxiang Liu Wentao Li Yueshan Zhang |
| author_sort | Guangxiang Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has exerted tremendous influences on the wellbeing of international students and the sustainable development of higher education. The current study adopts an 8-month exploratory case study to trace eight Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in the United Kingdom amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging from the qualitative data constitutive of semi-structured interviews, self-reflection writings, memoing, together with stimulated-recall interviews, findings have demonstrated the three main types of obstruction for such students’ adjustments in the foreign land including COVID-specific challenges (i.e., the threat of infect, reduced access to university facilities and resources); COVID-enhanced challenges (i.e., anxiety exacerbated by parents and social media use, anti-Asian racism and hate incidents); and language barriers and cultural differences as long-standing issues. Students’ previous lockdown experience, individual resilience, development of monocultural friendship patterns, and institutional provision and support are all factors that have contributed to their ability to overcome or at least mitigate the psychological and academic difficulties. The study offers insight into the impacts of COVID-19 on international students, providing implications that could contribute to the sustainable adjustments of international students in times of disruptive events and inform future responses to global health crises from individual and higher education perspectives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T20:40:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-61e675e1d62847649257524732ddb3b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T20:40:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-61e675e1d62847649257524732ddb3b52022-12-22T03:17:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-09-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.942227942227Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United KingdomGuangxiang Liu0Wentao Li1Yueshan Zhang2Department of English, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaDepartment of Language and Literacy Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaSchool of English, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, ChinaThe worldwide spread of COVID-19 has exerted tremendous influences on the wellbeing of international students and the sustainable development of higher education. The current study adopts an 8-month exploratory case study to trace eight Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in the United Kingdom amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging from the qualitative data constitutive of semi-structured interviews, self-reflection writings, memoing, together with stimulated-recall interviews, findings have demonstrated the three main types of obstruction for such students’ adjustments in the foreign land including COVID-specific challenges (i.e., the threat of infect, reduced access to university facilities and resources); COVID-enhanced challenges (i.e., anxiety exacerbated by parents and social media use, anti-Asian racism and hate incidents); and language barriers and cultural differences as long-standing issues. Students’ previous lockdown experience, individual resilience, development of monocultural friendship patterns, and institutional provision and support are all factors that have contributed to their ability to overcome or at least mitigate the psychological and academic difficulties. The study offers insight into the impacts of COVID-19 on international students, providing implications that could contribute to the sustainable adjustments of international students in times of disruptive events and inform future responses to global health crises from individual and higher education perspectives.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.942227/fullpsychological adjustmentacademic adjustmentChinese international studentshigher education in the United KingdomCOVID-19qualitative case studies |
| spellingShingle | Guangxiang Liu Wentao Li Yueshan Zhang Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom Frontiers in Psychology psychological adjustment academic adjustment Chinese international students higher education in the United Kingdom COVID-19 qualitative case studies |
| title | Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom |
| title_full | Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom |
| title_fullStr | Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom |
| title_short | Tracing Chinese international students’ psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times: An exploratory case study in the United Kingdom |
| title_sort | tracing chinese international students psychological and academic adjustments in uncertain times an exploratory case study in the united kingdom |
| topic | psychological adjustment academic adjustment Chinese international students higher education in the United Kingdom COVID-19 qualitative case studies |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.942227/full |
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