Five Academic Challenges of Chinese International Students in U.S Higher Education: Educational System Adjustment and Classroom Transition

Recent years have witnessed a growing mobility of Chinese international students into the U.S higher education institutions, however, many scholars suggested that international Chinese students were inclined to think it was challenging for them to adapt to the college education in the U.S. While pursuing higher education and academic careers in the U.S continuously being an irresistible trend of Chinese society, there have been increasing attentions to the major academic challenges of international Chinese students in the American educational system adjustment and classroom transition. Drawing on what literature exists combined with research addressing Chinese international students’ adjustments with educational system and classroom management, this article examines the five major academic challenges of Chinese students studying in U.S colleges: 1) language barriers; 2) critical thinking skills; 3) in-class participation; 4) teamwork and cooperation; 5) understand new academic expectation and goals. This article focuses on discussing and analyzing the deep reasons of the five academic challenges for Chinese international students, which brought by Chinese traditional culture and the students’ previous learning experiences in China. Through recognizing and understanding about the major difficulties of Chinese students as well as the reasons behind them, U.S institutions of higher learning are able to provide useful strategies and particle policies to assist Chinese international students successfully overcome the challenges and make the adjustment in a new educational environment.