Vietnamese International Students Research Articles

Narratives of ‘delayed success’: a life course perspective on understanding Vietnamese international students’ decisions to drop out of PhD programmes

PhD (non-)completion rates have been considered important criteria with which to evaluate the effectiveness of doctoral programmes and of universities’ performance. To date, there has been a lack of qualitative studies on the voices and experiences of funded international students who discontinue doctoral research degrees. This paper uses qualitative methods and six themes of a life course perspective to uncover the ‘hidden’ experience of international Vietnamese students who dropped out of funded doctoral programmes in social sciences and humanities. Its findings suggest that linked/independent lives and the timing of live themes helped to understand reasons for international doctoral students to drop out, which underline their engagement with research networks, academic identity and familial responsibilities. Meanwhile, the consequences of dropout illustrate the intersections of five themes: linked/independent lives, development risk and projects, the timing of lives/interplay of human lives and historical times, and diversity in life courses. The five themes capture diverse life trajectories and forms of agency developed by PhD non-completers while negotiating social pressures and institutional politics in their home institution as well as their perceptions of well-being and life priorities. Their life trajectories and forms of agency are gendered and culturally specific, with female non-completers being more active in searching for and building back their ‘agentic orientations’ through learning new skills, entering motherhood or leaving academic institutions. These findings are useful for reflecting on the current supporting structures, especially mental health support, for international doctoral students and supervisor training.

베트남 유학생의 “학습자 되어가기”의 경험 탐구

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the process of “becoming a learner” for Vietnamese students and explore its educational implications in order to reflect on the lives and experiences of international students as agents of learning.
 Methods For the purpose, this research conducted in-depth interviews with 7 Vietnamese international students enrolled in A-University in KyungBuk province. This research used ‘becoming a learner’ process and experience that cannot be generalized by using Yin’s ‘explanation’ method with following steps of ‘open coding’, ‘categorization’, and ‘confirm category’. In addition, Deleuze and Guattari's concept of ‘becoming’ was used as the direction of analysis of the interview data.
 Results As a result of the analysis of the data, the experiences of Vietnamese students ‘becoming a learner’ were confirmed to be those that continuously pursue novelty and were classified in the following forms: ‘escape to Korea,’ ‘experiencing the ‘difference’ and ‘repetition’ of balancing work and study,’ ‘growing up while observing the lives of myself and others,’ ‘the place where I am becomes a place of learning,’ and ‘dreaming a nomadic life different from yesterday.’
 Conclusions The insight from the Vietnamese international students' experience in the process of 'becoming a learner' was that the learning was not limited to a place. The process of constantly rearranging the given environment and people through their lives allowed creative creation and transformation to continue, and it could be explained that work and learning were never separated. In this respect, it is necessary to devise educational countermeasures such as community connection and university community vitalization that enable Vietnamese students to maintain their studies based on their understanding of life as learners.

Emigrate out of National Borders, Immigrate into Diasporic Spaces

Abstract The article explores the ways in which Vietnamese international doctoral students participated in and influenced social spaces to produce diasporic subjectivity among Vietnamese diasporic communities in the study countries, and how this diasporic subjectivity was produced in what I term ‘diasporised moments’. Guided by theory of space, I look at how Vietnamese doctoral students negotiated their ‘membership’ of those communities, how their national identity was challenged and contested, and how their nostalgia was triggered against the backdrop of their transnational life, leading to their diasporic subjectivity in the making. I argue that the theoretical bearings of space allow us to expand our understanding of the integration of international students into life on foreign soil beyond the common assumption of integration into the local culture only. I further argue that international students do not purely experience homesickness but actually produce diasporic subjectivity in their temporary migration for academic pursuits.

재한 베트남 유학생의 문화 적응 양상

This study aims to examine the acculturation of Vietnamese students in Korea. To this end, the acculturation patterns and acculturation strategies of Vietnamese international students enrolled universities in Korea were analyzed. A survey was conducted on 107 Vietnamese international students, enrolled in a university in the metropolitan area, based on acculturation patterns and acculturation strategies. Kim’s (2018) acculturation scale and Barry’s (2001) EAAM were used as research tools. In this study, items necessary for analysis were selected by considering the reliability test results and the importance and correlation of each variable. Thereafter, factor analysis was used to extract latent variables corresponding to acculturation factors and acculturation strategies. The factor score generated through factor analysis was set as an independent variable, and its influence was identified through the regression relationship between latent variables. Accordingly, factors and their influence on marginalization, integration, separation, and assimilation strategies were derived. As a result of the study, the following implications were presented. First, the factors that have an important influence on the acculturation of Vietnamese international students were related to personal factors. Second, among the acculturation strategies, marginalization strategies were noticeable. Finally, it was found that the factor that positively influenced the separation strategy was the adaptation to school culture.

Vietnamese International Students in Offshore Programs: Engagement in Intercultural Communicative Competence and Intercultural Sensitivity

ABSTRACT This mixed-methods explores the intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and intercultural sensitivity (IS) of Vietnamese international students who participated in offshore programmes. A group of 164 students were examined. The students studied abroad at several universities overseas, and then returned to their Vietnamese university as part of an offshore programme between a Vietnam university and partnered universities overseas. The quantitative and qualitative results altogether suggested there were relationships between three ICC constructs, with each construct valued by students differently. Our findings also showed the relationships between ICC and IS to some extent. Students located across three different continents placed importance on the five elements of IS. Although students most valued respect for cultural differences, their growth in IS seemed to contribute to their ICC levels.

Coping strategies of Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees to do research in home university contexts

PurposeThis study focuses on Vietnamese international students who returned from their overseas doctoral education to home universities in Vietnam (henceforth Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees). The purpose is to explore the experience of these returnees “doing research” (i.e. being research active) when resuming a lecturing role at a Vietnamese regional university. In the context of research now receiving heightened attention in both the wider global higher education (HE) discourse and the Vietnamese HE sector, this study is timely and provides valuable insights.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 76 Vietnamese overseas-trained returnees from varied disciplinary backgrounds completed a questionnaire on their research motivation and their perceived constraints doing research. Eighteen subsequently took part in semi-structured interviews. The study draws on the notion of human agency from the sociocultural perspective to understand the coping strategies of the Vietnamese overseas-educated returnees in response to the challenges they encountered.FindingsThe results show that the returnees' motivations to conduct research varied, fuelled by passion, but constrained by multiple factors. Time constraints, heavy teaching loads, familial roles and lack of specialized equipment are key inhibiting factors in re-engaging in research for these returnees. Addressing them necessitated a great deal of readaptation, renegotiation and agentive resilience on the part of the returnees in employing different coping strategies to pursue research.Practical implicationsThe paper argues for a subtle understanding of the returnees' experience of re-engaging in research that is both complex and contextual. Implications are drawn for research development in the regional Vietnamese HE context and perhaps in other similar settings.Originality/valueThere is little empirical knowledge about how Vietnamese returned graduates – university lecturers – continue doing research after their return. Also underexplored in global discourse is research on foreign-educated returnees doing research, while they are an important source of human resources. The present study, therefore, fills these research gaps.

Determinants of Vietnamese international student satisfaction in Taiwan universities

This paper aims to explore factors impacting Vietnamese international students’ satisfaction in Taiwan universities. The study was based on a process design of two sub-studies. Study 1 was qualitative research with focus group discussion, and open-ended survey questions were applied to explore essential factors of Vietnamese international students’ perception of their satisfaction. Study 2 was a quantitative study in 20 Taiwan universities, in which 192 Vietnamese students participated to answer the formal questionnaires. In this Study 2, a statistical procedure was employed to analyze the data. The findings from Study 1 indicated that instructor, learning material and facility, dormitory services, and extracurricular activity constitute Vietnamese international students’ satisfaction in Taiwan universities. Findings from Study 2 showed that Vietnamese students are satisfied with these factors. While instructor, dormitory service, and extracurricular activity were considered strong predictors of these students’ satisfaction, learning material and facility were relatively low. Also, it found that scholarship-sponsored students had lower satisfaction than self-supporting students. These findings could provide theoretical and practical implication as it addresses the lack of research on international students’ satisfaction with universities in host countries. Also, practitioners could find interesting points from this paper to design marketing strategies for international student recruitment.

사회복지학전공 베트남 유학생의 학업경험에 관한 내러티브 탐구

The purpose of this study is to analyze the academic experience of Vietnamese students majoring in social welfare. To this end, in-depth interviews with four Vietnamese international students studying in the 4th grade of the Department of Social Welfare at C University in Kyungsang province were conducted and the collected data were analyzed through a narrative research methodology. As a result of the analysis, 4 meanings of the academic experience were driven; ‘Going to Korea, Land of Opportunity’, ‘The Unconquerable Mountain, Study’, ‘Social Welfare outside of the theory’, ‘Social Worker, blue ocean that will definitely be in Vietnam’. Vietnamese international students chose Korea, which is well known in their home country, as their study destination, and the most difficult point in the entire course of their academic experience was that they were not fluent in Korean. Because of this, they did not fully understand the contents of the lecture or that it was difficult to perform assignments. In addition, it was difficult to obtain information on not only the credits required for graduation, but also various non-subjective activities required for graduation certification. However, the social welfare system while living in Korea and on-the-job training that they practiced helped them to understand social welfare studies, and after graduation, hoped to get a job as a social worker in Korea if possible. After returning to Vietnam in the future, they hoped for a leading role in the social welfare field. This study is meaningful in that it can serve as a basis for attracting and managing foreign students majoring in social welfare at a time when foreign students are increasing.

The Predictive Validity of the IELTS Test and Contribution of IELTS Preparation Courses to International Students’ Subsequent Academic Study: Insights from Vietnamese International Students in the UK

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores have been widely used as the language entry requirements for international students in many English-medium universities. However, research on the predictive validity of IELTS on subsequent academic performance has been inconclusive. Additionally, despite the proliferation of IELTS preparation courses, very few attempts have been made to explore the extent to which these courses support course takers’ development of knowledge and skills needed for their subsequent university study. This paper investigated (a) the predictive validity of IELTS results on the subsequent academic performance of Vietnamese international students at UK universities, and (b) the extent to which an IELTS preparation course in Vietnam supported its course takers in their subsequent academic study in the UK. Questionnaires with 80 Vietnamese international students from 31 universities across the UK showed that there was a positive significant correlation between these students’ IELTS scores and their academic results. Follow-up interviews with two undergraduates and two postgraduates who had previously studied in the same IELTS preparation course, but were studying different academic disciplines at different institutions in the UK, and analysis of the materials used in their IELTS preparation course and university courses revealed that the course positively supported these students’ subsequent academic study, but certain skills and knowledge needed in their academic study were not effectively covered in the IELTS preparation course.

베트남 유학생의 문화적응 스트레스 정도에 따른 ‘빗속의 사람(PITR)’그림검사 반응특성 연구

베트남 유학생의 문화적응 스트레스 정도에 따른 ‘빗속의 사람(PITR)’그림검사 반응특성 연구

Discursive constructions of the viewing of a bathroom as a linguistic landscape in a shared home

Abstract In the linguistic landscapes (LL) literature there is frequent mention of the viewing of public locales by passers-by, owners, and tourists, who necessarily enter and exit locales in different ways, times, and conditions. This paper extends our understanding of the viewing of LL by investigating the discursive constructions of the bathroom of a shared home through the voices of its residents: six Vietnamese international students studying in Australia. When the residents of the home were asked to reflect on their perceptions of language in this locale, the findings show that they attend to the inscriptions on the artifacts, the linguistic activities that take place within the locale, or see no LL whatsoever because of the ways they construct the locale. The findings suggest that linguists need to give more consideration to the types of linguistic activities that occur in a locale in exploration of how individuals view their LL.

Motivations for Studying Abroad and Immigration Intentions

This article reports a study that investigated prospective and current Vietnamese international students’ motivations to study abroad and their immigration intentions. Analyses of 55 intercept interviews and 313 responses to a survey revealed 12 push and pull factors that motivated students to pursue overseas studies and 18 sociocultural, economic, and political factors that influenced their immigration intentions. Independent samples t tests indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the influence of motivations on decisions to study overseas between groups of male and female students and prospective and current students. The analyses, furthermore, suggested that students’ immigration intentions depended on their personal attachment to the home country and (perceived) adaptability to the host country.

The Role of Subjective Task Value in Forming Satisfaction and Loyalty Among Vietnamese International Students: A Structural Equation Model

Relationship with international students can be beneficial to higher education in terms of financial and human resources. For this reason, establishing and maintaining such relationship are usually pre-eminent concerns for higher education providers. In this study, we extended the application of the disconfirmation-expectation model by incorporating three components from subjective task value (i.e., attainment, utility, and intrinsic) to predict the loyalty of international students toward their host countries. On a sample of 410 Vietnamese students enrolled in higher education institutions in over 15 countries across the globe, we employed structural equation model to validate the conceptual model. Our empirical findings revealed that satisfaction and disconfirmation still play important roles as direct and indirect antecedents of international student loyalty, respectively; nonetheless, the most impactful predictor is intrinsic value which directly and indirectly affects loyalty through the mediating roles of satisfaction and disconfirmation. Meanwhile, our findings also unveiled that attainment value has slight impact, but utility value does not have any impact on loyalty. A number of implications might be withdrawn for heads of universities and policy makers while practicing in internationalization of higher education as a consequence of these above results.

Chinese and Vietnamese international students in Australia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the voice of Chinese and Vietnamese international students through studying the similarities and differences in their learning experiences and the reasons underlying their experience.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 57 Chinese and Vietnamese international students participated in focus groups and interviews regarding their experiences of higher education and their suggestions for improvement.FindingsThe findings show that Chinese and Vietnamese students had varying levels of challenges and different progress in the adaptation process and that Chinese students were more vocal and less satisfied with their experience of higher education than Vietnamese students. This is due to the mismatch in their expectation and the actual experience and the cultural influence.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample size is relatively small. This study only looked at Vietnamese and Chinese students in one university, which might have limitations in relation to subjectivity and bias.Practical implicationsThe findings provide useful implications for educators, institutional leaders and support staff to improve facilities, teaching quality and service to students.Originality/valueIn the current era of internationalisation, commercialisation and mobility in institutions around the world, this study advances current research and provides timely insight into the experiential differences of the Chinese and Vietnamese student experience and their voice.

Dancing, Google and fish sauce: Vietnamese students coping with Australian universities

ABSTRACTThis study examines the language, academic, and socio-cultural concerns of 24 Vietnamese international students (PhD, master’s and undergraduate) studying in universities in Sydney, Australia. Alongside the obvious linguistic concerns, the salient issues that emerge from this study draw attention to the struggles these students face to adapt to different educational norms, and particularly the varied expectations of supervisors, the different coping strategies these students use to overcome linguistic and other concerns, and the broader socio-cultural domains that support their studies. This study contributes to an understanding of Vietnamese international students, a growing cohort in Australia and elsewhere. Its findings provide insights that shift the focus away from the “difficulties” faced by international students and the institutional responses (or lack thereof), towards understanding their agentive modes of accommodation in the context of their degree programmes and their other lived experiences which include foods and ways of living.

Vietnamese Graduate International Student Repatriates: Reverse Adjustment

The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of Vietnamese international students who have returned to Vietnam after graduation from a U.S. higher education institution. The findings suggest that participants found it harder to readjust to Vietnam than to adjust to the U.S. even though they had lived most of their lives in Vietnam. Time in the U.S. had changed them considerably, making it difficult for them to fit back into their old lives in Vietnam. Most of them did not expect to experience reserve culture shock, and most had made real efforts to fit back into the Vietnamese environment and culture.

Voices of dissent: unpacking Vietnamese international student experience

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine Vietnamese international students’ experiences with the campus learning environment by analysing differences in staff and student perceptions.Design/methodology/approachTwo focus groups (n=12) and ten in-depth interviews were conducted with Vietnamese students and four in-depth interviews with the university staff (totalling 26).FindingsThe findings show a greater divergence of views between students and staff on teaching and learning than English language proficiency and student support services. These key differences were influenced by students’ prior expectations of their learning environment in Vietnam.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to one group of international students and to one Australian university.Practical implicationsThe lecturers/administrators must have a good understanding of international students’ learning backgrounds and expectations to enhance their positive experience; appropriate teaching skills and practices are essential for teachers to meet the current needs of students. More effective training for international students to understand the multicultural nature of Australia is also essential.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by identifying the experience of Vietnamese international students in a western university, which is, a relatively under-researched nationality compared to other Asian nationalities such as Chinese and Indian.

Thinking globally or “glocally”? Bilingual identity of Vietnamese international school students

This article examines bilingual identity of Vietnamese international school students as reflected in their language practices and language beliefs (Spolsky, 2004). It seeks to identify the factors related to sociocultural connection, interaction and investment (Fielding, 2015) that influence their bilingual identity. Interviews with three students were the main source of the data. Findings reveal that a number of factors had an impact on the students’ ways of practising Vietnamese and English and shaping their beliefs of the languages. As the students attached their imagined future identity to English and global mobility more than to Vietnamese and local experience, schools should play a significant role in encouraging students to think more “glocally” and positively contribute to their local communities.

베트남 유학생의 교우관계 갈등경험에 관한 현상학적 연구

베트남 유학생의 교우관계 갈등경험에 관한 현상학적 연구

Social structures in the economics of international education: perspectives from Vietnamese international tertiary students

Drawing on the findings from in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students studying at Australian universities, this article presents insights into the sociological influences that stem from international students' social networks, at home and abroad, and how they impact on students' aspirations and engagement in international education. Underpinned by Bourdieu's social capital framework, this article critically challenges human capital ideology for its assumptions of individualism and utilitarian function of education as economic goals. The implication for international education providers is to create learning and living opportunities that consider students' social and cultural conditions so as to develop their capacity, self-determination and citizenship.