In the twenty-first century, many universities have internationalized their activity. The number of international students is one indicator of how successful an institution is in the world market of educational services. The international character of modern education is evident in the increase of academic mobility and the growth of numbers of international students. Most often, people adapt to a new socio-cultural environment by changing their stereotypes and behavioral patterns; however, they often remain internally alienated from the social environment. Successful adaptation ensures faster integration into the learning process and an overall increase in quality of education for international students.
To date, problems related to sociocultural adaptation have been studied in scientific works by A.C. Mui, S. Kang, 2006; R. An, S.Y. Chang, 2015; J. Wang, J. Hong, Z. Pi, 2015; S. Potochnick, 2018; M. Zhang, M. Rask, 2019; R. Peng, W. Wu, 2019, and others.
There are a number of works dedicated to the adaptation of international students (Zhou, Topping & Jindal-Snape, 2011; Merenkov & Antonova, 2015; Pham & Lim, 2016; Glass, Gomez & Urzua, 2014; Hunley, 2010; Wang, et al., 2015; Szabo et al., 2016; Hirai et al., 2015; Poyrazli & Lopez, 2007; Constatntine et al., 2005; Crockett et al., 2007; Karrupan & Barari, 2011; Gertzog et al., 2017 and others). However, in the listed works, anticipation competence and coping strategies of foreign students in the process of adapting to foreign cultural environments have not been previously studied. It should be noted that much research in the field of psychology is dedicated to anticipation and prediction, under various aspects: from the point of view of general psychology, medicine, psychology and pedagogy, and ontogenetically (Grigoryeva, 2015; Petrova & Leontyeva, 2017; Natalova & Chylova, 2011; Merc & Subasi, 2015 and others). This article will define the anticipatory competence of international students studying in Russia. Anticipation is the ability of a subject to act and decide with a certain space-time prediction of expected future events. The notions of “anticipation” and “anticipatory capacities” have the same meaning, which makes these categories identical in most psychological contexts (Nichiporenko & Mendelevich, 2006). Anticipatory or prognostic competence is the ability to expect the development of events with high probability, to predict how situations will develop and how an individual will react to them, and to be a few steps ahead when taking action (Mendelevich & Solovyeva, 2002, p. 99). At the present time, there are no studies that explore the anticipatory competence of international students.
Adaptation
In the current era of globalization, there are an increasing number of students seeking higher education outside their native culture (Rienties & Tempelaar, 2013). Educational experiences in host cultures provide an opportunity to expand an individual’s intercultural knowledge and worldview, which in turn enhances personal development and future career prospects (Rienties et al., 2013). However, the process of adapting to a new culture can be difficult and stressful (Berry, 2005; Ward et al., 2001).
Sociocultural adaptation is defined as the ability to understand the culture of the host country and function properly in a new cultural environment (Kim, 1988, 2001; Ward, 2001). During socio-cultural adaptation, the individual experiences cultural stress (Berry & Annis, 1974), which can be alleviated by social support (Adelman, 1988). Researchers argue that an additional aspect of cross-cultural adaptation that needs to be studied is psychological adaptation, though they highlight the close relationship between cultural stress and human mental health. People with high levels of acculturative stress are at risk of experiencing not only depression (Mui & Kang, 2006; Rahman & Rollrock, 2004), but also suicidal ideation (Hovey & King, 1996). Further research has shown that acculturative stress is correlated with high levels of anxiety and depression in international students (Crockett et al., 2007). As scientists note, international students in the process of adapting to a foreign cultural environment experience a sense of loneliness (Hunley, 2010; Wang, et al., 2015), face difficulties caused by changes to their usual way of life (Szabo et al., 2016), experience cultural differences (Hirai et al., 2015), and discrimination (Poyrazli & Lopez, 2007; Ward & Leung, 2005).
In the context of the adaptation of international students to the new environment of a Russian university, as well as defining the structure of adaptation, the issue of coping strategies used to overcome difficulties is of particular relevance.
Coping behavior strategies
International students come to study in Russia from around the world. They are representatives of different cultures and traditions, values and norms of behavior. Despite some experience already gained in their native country, education and lifestyle in Russia are very different for international students. In addition, each student has a different level of proficiency in Russian, special individual psychological qualities and specific ways of coping with stress.
Recent studies have explored differences in coping strategies and ranking of life values among students of different ethnic groups. The sample of one study comprised 441 international students in Russian universities: Africans - 149, Turkish people - 164, Mongols – 128 (Darinskaia et al., 2017). This study concluded that psychological support should facilitate formation of sociocultural competence and development of coping strategies connected with social contacts and rationalization. In group training sessions it is necessary to focus on universal values and prevention of behavioral abnormalities.
The aim of another study, held in Russia, was to determine the safe and unsafe types of defensive and coping behavior of students. The study involved 332 college and university students from the first to the fourth years of study (from 16 to 22 years old) from Ekaterinburg (Nikiforova, 2016). The author identified four types of defensive and coping behavior: adaptive, victim, neurotic, and altruistic. Many protective and coping behaviors were divided into two types: safe or unsafe, directed at oneself or at others. "Adaptive" and "altruistic" types of behavior are attributed to safe defensive and coping behavior, and "neurotic" and "victim" types are attributed to unsafe behavior.
Several studies conducted outside of Russia have also examined students’ coping strategies. One of those studies looked at the coping strategies used by the students of the Faculty of Economy and Management at the Czech University, within the “Governmental management and regional development” study programme (n=177). The research showed age differences between students, and differences between the groups of part-time and full-time students, regarding the following coping strategies: situational control, reaction control, positive self-teaching. Such coping strategies were dominant among part time-students of the Faculty of Economy and Management at the Czech University (Natovova & Chylova, 2012).
Another study involved Turkish students as respondents: 12 EFL students who had finished their study practice at the Anadolu University. Participants were asked to keep a diary where they had to describe their adaptation issues. The research data also included semi-structured interviews and field notes taken by researchers. The analysis of the data showed that the most serious adaptation problems were related to interpersonal communication inside a group, and the most successful coping strategy was when cooperation occurred between students and teachers with a similar mindset (Merc & Subası, 2015).
Research by Australian authors (Khawaja et al., 2001) used a quantitative approach to investigate problems that international students may encounter. Twenty-two international students from a university in Australia took part in four focus groups. It was found that the students’ problems included their social isolation, their limited English skills, academic struggles, expectations that weren’t satisfied, a tight schedule, cultural shock and psychological discomfort. The main coping strategies implemented by the international students involved seeking additional information, leaving their comfort zone, interacting actively with native speakers in the hosting country, practicing their social skills, developing time management skills, and approaching the university for psychological counselling.
The results of another study showed that, in stressful situations, international students used different coping strategies when compared to domestic students (Sapranaviciute, 2012). The study recruited 356 students: 258 host and 98 international students. The coping strategies used by international and domestic students were different related to their health outcomes.
A series of studies has been based on the responses of Chinese students (Cao, C., et al., 2017; Cao, C., et al., 2018). Consensual qualitative research (CQR) was used to analyze data gathered from semi-structured interviews. Chinese students in various universities around the world were recruited. The authors defined several academic stressors and differentiated them according to frequency labels. The dominant sources of academic stress were: academic incompetence, cultural shock, different academic standards, and intercultural communication issues. It was found that Chinese students had been getting social support in the academic context from their compatriots of the same age. The results implied that their culture mainly influenced the behavioral peculiarities of Chinese students and not the general academic context. Indian students have also been recruited as respondents in studies dedicated to revealing the problems of adaptation to Russian universities (Shkuhov & Radchenko, 2011; Abramova et al., 2018). Authors have found that it is possible to make the adaptation process easier and faster by supporting the education and residence of students from different countries with a consideration for their historical and cultural heritage, and the national and religious characteristics of the individuals involved in the educational space (Abramova et al., 2018).
Although several studies have examined coping strategies used by international students, it should be pointed out that most studies do not differentiate students by their nationality. Existing studies do not provide any analysis of the differences between coping strategies used by the representatives of different cultures.
Therefore, in the existing literature, one can see contradictions between the amount of empirical data on adaptation of international students and the lack of research aimed at revealing coping strategies and how international students can predict problematic situations and overcome them.
Present study
The aim of this research is to study the characteristics of the socio-cultural adaptation of international students. The objectives of this study are:
-
To study the anticipatory competence of international students associated with adaptation.
-
To study the coping strategies of international students to the new conditions of the educational environment of the university.
The scientific novelty of the presented work is to identify coping strategies and components of the anticipatory competence of students from China and students from the CIS countries studying in Russia. The anticipatory competence of international students has not previously been studied, especially in the cross-cultural aspect.