The social and cultural life of non-native English speaking international graduate students at a Canadian university

An EAP Program and Students’ Success at a Canadian University

“…By the midpoint of the fall term, all participants reported some difficulty making new friends in their disciplinary programs. Unlike some international students who deliberately chose not to pursue friendships with local students (Myles & Cheng, 2003), all eight of the participants in this study were interested in meeting students from other language and cultural backgrounds but found various obstacles. Participants reported a lack of opportunities and time because of busy lives on the part of domestic students.…”

EAP Curriculum Alignment and Social Acculturation: Student Perceptions

“…In Cheng and Fox's (2008) investigation of academic acculturation and the role of EAP, study participants commented that they needed help in learning how to make friends with Canadians and how to communicate naturally with them. Myles and Cheng (2003) found that the international graduate students in their study at times felt like "outsiders" and preferred to socialize with other international students (p. 258). Other studies related to the adaptation process of international students studying at English-speaking universities have addressed acculturative stressors.…”

Saudi English-Major Undergraduates' Academic Writing Problems: A Taif University Perspective

“…He has further explained that the reported research in this field can be divided into four categories. The first category research studies investigated the faculty perspective regarding the academic writing (e.g., Zhu, 2004;Casanave and Hubbard, 1992;Bridgeman and Carlson, 1984;Eblen, 1983), the second category investigated the students (Chou, 2011;Alsamdani, 2010;Grami, 2010;Yiu, 2009;Anderson, Day and McLaughlin, 2008;Myles and Cheng, 2003), the third one analyzed the students writing specimens (Ezza, 2010;Tahaineh, 2010;Cooper and Bikowski, 2007;Zhu, 2004;Braine, 1989;Horowitz,1986) and the last category attempted to investigate the perceptions of the students versus the academic advisors (Bacha and Bahous, 2008;Anderson et al, 2008;Myles and Cheng, 2003;Dong, 1998;Belcher, 1994). It has also been reported that much of the research in the past two decades has primarily focused on either product, process or both" (Yiu, 2009, p. 9).…”