From a workshop designed to help university lecturers work effectively with students from a variety of cultures and backgrounds.

1. Working with
International Students
Dr Emma Kennedy
Queen Mary University of London

2. Learning Outcomes
After this session, you will be able to:
Reflect on the international nature of higher education and what that means for your practice.
Analyse your own teaching practice for areas where you can support international students better
Describe Geert Hofstede’s theory of cultural difference
Identify the difficulties experienced by university students when studying in a country that is not their own

3. International Students – context & benefits
19% of students in the UK in 2014-15
were international (EU and non-EU)
(Source: UKCISA)
In the USA nearly 1 million students were
international – an increase from the last
year of 10% (Source: IIE and Open Doors
Report)
‘International students can (if we encourage them to
do so) help home students to become global
learners, competent in intercultural communication
and understanding’. (Ryan & Carroll, 9)
‘Teachers who show genuine curiosity about their
students’ backgrounds are already well on the way
to being better mentors. Far too often the flow of
cultural knowledge in teacher-learner relationships
is seen as a one-way business’ (Louie in Ryan &
Carroll, 17)
‘it is most important for teachers to help students
develop meta-cultural sensitivity. That is, they
should be provided with the tools to assess different
cultures, particularly the host culture, with
understanding and acceptance.’ (Louie in Ryan &
Carroll, 23)
‘working with students to develop the skills and strategies
for meta-cultural sensitivity not only helps students
appreciate the home and host cultures, but also helps
teachers do the same. The development of meta-cultural
sensitivity is thus a process of personal growth, through
which both the teacher and the student can progressively
attain more sophisticated awareness, understanding and
acceptance of cultural difference’

4. Culture Shock
Think of a time when you felt ‘culture shock’ – you
were in a different culture and you struggled to
understand what was going on. How did that make
you feel? Write down your thoughts.

5. Hofstede’s 6 dimensions of cultural difference
Individualism vs
Collectivism
“A collectivist society is tightly integrated; an individualist society
is loosely integrated”
Power
Distance: large
vs small
“the extent to which the less powerful persons in a society accept
inequality in power and consider it as normal”
Uncertainty
Avoidance:
strong vs weak
“Cultures with a strong uncertainty avoidance are active,
aggressive, emotional, compulsive, security-seeking, and
intolerant; cultures with a weak uncertainty avoidance are
contemplative, less aggressive, unemotional, relaxed, accepting
personal risks, and relatively tolerant.”
Masculinity vs
femininity
“The Masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference
in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material
rewards for success. Society at large is more competitive. Its
opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation,
modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is
more consensus-oriented.”
Long term
orientation
Societies who score low on this dimension […] prefer to
maintain time-honoured traditions and norms while
viewing societal change with suspicion. Those with a
culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a
more pragmatic approach: they encourage thrift and
efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the
future.
Indulgence
vs restraint
Indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively
free gratification of basic and natural human drives
related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint stands
for a society that suppresses gratification of needs and
regulates it by means of strict social norms.
How can we use this?
To uncover our own cultural and cognitive biases
and to think about the assumptions we make every
day. Do these assumptions influence our teaching?

6. Cultural Difference in the classroom
Teacher and student are an ‘archetypal role pair’ in many societies –a
culture’s perception of the teacher-student relationship will thus be
dependent on how it conceptualises such role pairs (ie the 4 dimensions)
Differences in power distance Differences in
individualism/collectivism
Impersonal truth (fact) or personal
wisdom located in the person?
Is it OK to confront each other or
have differences in the classroom?
Students to initiate communication
and direct their work, or teacher?
Is learning associated only with youth
or can it be lifelong?
Can the students criticize the
teacher?
Are all students equal?
Are students & teachers equal
outside the classroom?
What is the point of education – to
get a certificate/status or improve
oneself?
Does a teacher’s age matter? What is better – tradition or novelty?

7. Difficulties international students face
CULTURE SHOCK
“Students attending universities in a culture different from their own have to contend with novel social and
educational organisations, behaviours and expectations – as well as dealing with the problems of adjustment
common to students in general. This is difficult enough when the newcomer is aware of the differences in
advance, but even more difficult when the newcomer is unaware and falsely assumes that the new society
operates like their home country. Newcomers easily become ‘lost in translation’. “ (Zhou et al, 2008)
LANGUAGE
If the teacher points at me, I will speak. I will hide if nobody asks
me to speak because my English is not good and I can’t speak
fluently. I feel shame to speak in front of twenty, thirty something
people as they are local and their mother tongue is English.
INDEPENDENCE
The system is very different here. In India, you
are literally told what to do. Here you are on
your own. You have to make your own
decisions. In a way it is very good that it
makes you independent. But at times you are
so lost because when you come here initially
you want someone to tell you what to do...
GROUP WORK
It was difficult for me. One of the reasons
was my English, but another reason
would be the characters of students in my
group. My students have strong
characters and they tend to be
uncompromising to others so it was
difficult to produce an outcome as a
result of group work.
TEACHING STYLE
In the States, I wouldn’t stress this
much about my work, because the
teacher would be stressing for me,
saying ‘you have to get this done’, and
I’m like ‘okay, okay!,’ but here I have
no one saying that to me, so I have to
say it to myself. That’s stressful!

8. Your academic culture
What are the hidden assumptions within your
own academic culture regarding (for example)
power distance, plagiarism, student-teacher
relations, assessment? Write down your thoughts.

9. Practical steps: academic culture
Be explicit about teacher-
student relationships.
When can students
contact you? What is your
office hour for?
Be explicit about what is considered plagiarism.
In some cultures it is actually considered better
to copy from the textbook, for example. Give
concrete instances of plagiarism.
Be explicit about
assessment
requirements: What are
the penalties for being
late?
What if students go over
the word count?
Provide concrete examples of
assignments so students will
know when they are on the
right path.
Good feedback is explicit and
positive: ‘instead of X, you
should do Y’. Don’t be
enigmatic, e.g. “evidence?”.
Think about the hidden
assumptions in your own academic
culture: what are you assuming
students will know or do? Make
this explicit where possible.

10. Your experience in the classroom
What are your experiences of teaching
international students? What difficulties did they
face and overcome? Note down your thoughts.

11. Practical steps: participation and the
classroom
Make expectations clear – set ground rules around issues such as behaviour and participation
Encourage participation but be gentle
Model interaction and participation by asking a confident student to speak first. It’s less scary to follow on from what
someone else said.
Use more structured exercises where everyone has to contribute (e.g. going round the class) – less of a spotlight
Small group work or ‘think pair share’ can be less threatening than whole-class discussion. Just watch out for dominant
group members.
Ask students to speak about their own experiences: this prevents the classroom’s ‘home culture’ becoming central and allows
international students to add value to the classroom.

12. Practical steps: language barriers
Release a few questions in advance of the class so that students can prepare a response ahead of time.
It can be helpful to have words or phrases written out, eg. in handouts or on slides
Recording lectures using lecture capture allows students to pause and rewind if they struggle with
particular words or phrases.
Make sure that you speak clearly but don’t speak extra slowly - use pauses instead.
If technical or difficult vocabulary comes up in the classroom, write it on the board. You could even start
a glossary and add to it every week – ask students to nominate difficult words.
Don’t assume language is to blame for everything: students may be understanding you perfectly well
but struggling to respond because they have another issue, e.g. with a concept.
Allow extra time after you ask questions. Students need to translate your question and figure out an
answer.
Become familiar with support available to students so that you can direct them to it.

13. What can you do? Looking forward
If you could change one thing about your teaching to
make it more inclusive for international students,
what would it be?

14. References
Carroll, J., & Ryan, J. (Eds.). (2007). Teaching international students: Improving learning for all. Routledge.
Louie, Kam. (2007). ‘Gathering Cultural Knowledge: Useful or Use with Care?’ In Carroll, J., & Ryan, J. (Eds.). Teaching
international students: Improving learning for all. Routledge. 16-27.
Sovic, Silvia (2007). ‘Coping with stress: the perspective of international students’. URL:
http://international.bangor.ac.uk/css/sites/international.bangor.ac.uk/files/blog/2013/03/Coping_with_Stress_-
__The_Perspective_of_International_Students_-_Silvia_Sovic.pdf [Accessed 23/11/2016]
Yuefang Zhou, Divya Jindal-Snape, Keith Topping & John Todman (2008). Theoretical models of culture shock and
adaptation in international students in higher education, Studies in Higher Education, 33:1, 63-75.
Online Reading List: Working with International Students:
https://qmul.rl.talis.com/lists/FE9B127E-528B-97B4-2F25-
5DD3A6665D74.html