International students’ intercultural sensitivity in their academic socialisation to a non-English-speaking higher education: a Korean case study

Abstract

As global competition has intensified in Higher Education (HE) over the past decade, HE institutions of many non-English-speaking societies have strategically concentrated on internationalisation and increased the international population of their campuses. This case study investigated non-native English-speaking international students’ academic socialisation in a Korean engineering university devoted to internationalisation. A mixed method was adopted to analyse the questionnaire responses of 141 international students, along with qualitative interviews with ten of the respondents. The factors significant in their academic socialisation included their affective reactions to local cultures (intercultural sensitivity), in-class English-mediated interaction, and the need for the local language and social interaction. While their negative view of classroom interaction in the context of English-medium instruction was frequently associated with the use of the local language in class, their sensitivity to the local culture was found to exert a greater influence on their academic socialisation than the factor of the local language used by their local peers in a classroom. Notably, the negative correlation between attentiveness to the local culture and the need for social interaction illuminated the participants’ limited understanding of the local norms of interaction, such as politeness. The findings highlight a balanced approach towards locality and internationality which promotes intercultural interactions in both class and systemised language and culture education programs.