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Australia, I think I know English. But when I listen to the lecture and write report, it’sdifferent”. Others found reading and writing very difficult. One of them commented,“Writing, because my grammar is really bad. I have found Australians cannotunderstand me”.(3) Do you find it hard to communicate with your lecturers/fellow students inEnglish?Five of the graduates found it easy to communicate with lecturers or fellow studentsin English, but four of them found it hard to do so. For example, one of themcommented, “Always. As English is not my first language, I may not be able to fullyexpress my ideas of the learning subjects. Also, I may misunderstand teacher’smessages, assignments, and textbook contents”. Another student said she found ithard to communicate with lecturers, especially in class, but not with fellow students.(4) Do you still prefer to speak your own language to your fellow students wheneverthere is opportunity?Five said it was easier to use their mother tongue instead of English. For example,one of them commented, “I prefer to communicate in my own language. However, ifthere are people who are from other countries, I prefer to speak English to showbasic politeness to … Sometimes, people who are from the same country as mestart chatting to me via Chinese, my mother tongue, I thus reply to them in the samelanguage”. Only two of them insisted on speaking English.(5) What assistance has the university provided to help you with your languageproblems?One graduate said he had no problems with English. The rest of the graduates hadreceived help from different resources at the university, such as help from lecturers,the university’s language centre and English courses. One of them commented,“Rosemary provided me lots of help for writing skill. I did not feel too much otherhelp from our university”. Another student commented, “Firstly, when I came here Iapplied for a four week English course. That was quite useful”.(6) Do you believe the university has done enough to help you with your languageproblems?One graduate said he did not care about this and another responded “definitely not”.The rest of the graduates believed the university has done enough to help. One ofthem commented, “Oh yes, yes. Initially, I didn’t get a high score in the IELTS test,so the University said I can go to the TAFE for more English lessons… Theuniversity staff have been very helpful and friendly”. Another student said,“Rosemary helped me a lot, checking grammar and content. I found it veryrelieving”.(7) If not, what other assistance do you need?There were a lot of ideas about this. Some students thought the university shouldprovide more English courses, some suggested community activities, some eventhought about a free English magazine. For example, “The University should providethe chance for the student to make a speech. The university should also provide afree magazine to students and also provide a new book list and related free article tothe international students to further help improve their English”.5.4.5 Culture-based Teaching and Learning Concepts(1) International students: what were the main study difficulties you encountered in1st year?All seven graduates had encountered difficulties in the first year of study at inAustralia University. One of them gave a very good summary; he said, “At first,when I came here in the 1st year, I worried that I could not understand the localEnglish and could not catch what the lecturers were saying, so I was nervous.95