This study examines how international students faced the double culture shocks of learning within a new culture as well as learning in an on-line environment (Sadykova & Meskill, 2019). Additionally, multilingual learners often face linguistic and cultural challenges in their efforts to participate online (Harrison et al, 2020). This study examined how the students exhibited the various stages of culture shock as evidenced through their written journal assignments both at the beginning and the end of the semester after they had become accustomed to online instruction. The research questions for this study were as follows: What challenges did the students encounter when they migrated to on-line English learning? What strategies did the students find to be most helpful to adjusting to learning English through an on-line platform? The data was analyzed using the culture shock model (Ting-Toomey, 1999) to study the participants’ sensemaking and professional learning of their experience of transitioning to an on-line teaching model. Findings revealed that the students reported various experiences from the euphoria of learning at home, their frustration with technology issues, interaction challenges, and instructional distractions. The presentation will describe the personal strategies that the students developed to support reach equilibrium in their own learning. After exploring the themes of the findings, the presentation will empower participants by offering practical suggestions for supporting students in online English instruction to address the concerns revealed in the study’s data.

Authors:
Gwendolyn Williams, Auburn University, United States
Mary Diamond, Auburn Global, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Gwendolyn Williams is a University Associate Professor/Senior Lecturer at Auburn University , United States

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