Download Document - Office for Learning and Teaching

8 Guideline for International Students of Asian BackgroundStudying in Australian UniversitiesInternational students should be well prepared for studying in Australian universitiesbefore they start their study in Australia. One important aspect is to an haveadequate level of English skills. While having satisfactory results in an English test(e.g., IELTS) is essential, it is only a starting point. Many other things need to beconsidered and implemented to better prepare them. For example, Asian students,especially Chinese students and others of non-English background (i.e., the officiallanguage of their country is not English) could have quite good English reading andwriting skills but have poor listening and speaking skills, which can only be fullydeveloped in an English-speaking environment. They may still need a lot of practiceto improve their English, especially their speaking and listening abilities. On theother hand, students coming from Asian countries such as Malaysia, India,Singapore, Philippines and Hong Kong normally have better English skills(especially speaking and listening) than those students from non-English speakingcountries.Apart from language problems, our study finds that a significant difficulty forinternational students is the cultural shock. Most international students come from acultural background and education system which are significantly different fromAustralia’s. Becoming familiar with the Australian tertiary educational environmentand the social environment could be a time-consuming and daunting task for manyinternational students. In addition, for some international students, feelings ofloneliness and helplessness, as well as homesickness, could dramatically distractthem from their studies in the beginning stage of their Australia life, especiallyundergraduate students, most of whom have never left their parents or countrybefore.Asian international students also face many other challenges, such asunderstanding and adapting to the Australian style of teaching and learning,becoming accustomed to Australian education management systems, and so on.To help Asian international students to quickly familiarise themselves and getcomfortable with the new study environment in Australian universities, we havedeveloped this guideline to offer some useful advice to Asian international studentson tackling their language problem and culture shock issues, as well as otherlearning-related issues.The target readers of this guideline are Asian international students, especiallythose first year tertiary students of non-English speaking background. We also hopethat the guideline provides useful information to those foreign students who arepreparing to study in Australian universities in the near future, as well as Asianinternational students who are currently studying in Australian secondary schools orcolleges.This guideline is divided into three sections: Accommodate yourself to the Australianeducation system, In classroom study skills and on campus study skills.8.1 Accommodate yourself to the Australian education systemBefore arrival in AustraliaFind out as much as possible about Australia before you leave your home country. Ifyou can, talk to someone who has studied here before. With regard to English skills,you should keep in mind that passing the English test, such as IELTS, is not enough138