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With the exponential growth in international students pursing postsecondary degrees in the U.S., an increasing number of faculty members and staff have raised questions and concerns about supporting international students’ academic engagement. Although prior studies have explored the educational experiences of international students in the United States (U.S.), few have investigated international student engagement at four-year institutions. Little is known about the engagement and overall institutional satisfaction of Chinese international students (CISs), the top represented international student group in the U.S., and how their experiences compare to those of U.S. domestic students (U.S. students). In this quantitative study, I compared CIS and U.S. student engagement in effective learning strategies (LS), collaborative learning (CL), and student-faculty interaction (SF), which may be influenced by culture, at U.S. four-year colleges and universities. I also examined the relationship between LS, CL, SF, and overall institutional satisfaction, and compared how such relationships vary between CISs and U.S. students. Finally, I investigated the variations of LS, CL, SF, and overall institutional satisfaction between first-year and senior CISs, and I explored whether class standing moderates the effect of country of origin on LS, CL, SF, and overall institutional satisfaction. The data was from the 2015 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement, a large-scale and multi-institutional survey. This study contributes an important dimension to the existing literature regarding CIS engagement in U.S. higher education. Using Hofstede's (2001) Dimensions of Culture (e.g., individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance) as the conceptual grounding, this study helps CISs and U.S. students establish a mutual understanding of each other's engagement in LS, CL, and SF. This study also provides recommendations and implications to faculty and practitioners for supporting the cross-cultural integration and mutual engagement of CISs,even the entire international student group, and U.S. students through college teaching, learning,, student advising, and co-curricular activities. |
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