Explain the Main Difficulties That are Faced During Overseas Study Essay

As Australian universities have obtained popularity in the worldwide zone, the number of overseas students has been increased progressively. Accompanying with the overseas study trend, numerous difficulties that are faced during the overseas study appeared. To be specified, the term â€Å"overseas study† in this essay can be defined as students from those non-English speaking countries, especially Asian countries, receive the tertiary education in Australian universities. There are many difficulties can be encountered during the overseas study, some of which are the barrier of language, the new mode of education and the difference of culture. Firstly, the general problem in the overseas study is the language barrier. Although the language abilities of overseas students have been tested and verified by the language tests such as IELTS or TOEFL, there are still some obstacles in the English usage for academic purpose and daily communication. For instance, on campus lectures, tutorials, consultations and discussions are normally conducted in English, so there can be a huge number of technical terms that have never been heard by those international students. It may cause inaccurate understanding of some certain problems. The fast-talking and the use of slang during off campus everyday life such as the purchase of food, clothes and other necessities can also make a confusing. Therefore, academic or special usage of English can lead to some trouble in understanding as the incomprehension of English usage of those overseas students. The second difficulty that can be faced during the overseas study is completely different mode of learning. As differences of education widely exist among countries and also the gap between elementary education and tertiary education is generally concerned, overseas students will face two huge changes while receiving education abroad. To give an example, in many Asian countries, the study style before college is more like being driven or in another word, passive, whereas the tertiary education undertaken in Australian universities is more inclined to an independent process. As a consequence, the lack of motivation and automaticity can be shown on some overseas students that the education of those students may not be continued. Thirdly, the difference of culture is considered as one of the main difficulties that can be faced during overseas study. Culture varies from country to country, and the culture difference between Asian countries and Australia is tremendous. The hard adaption of culture difference should be made. For example, the food culture, the clothing culture and the religious culture can be quite different. A lot of Asian students used to have lunch as the main meal, however, in Australia, supper is regarded as the main meal. Hence, overseas study can be hard when spending time and energy on making adaption of these differences. In conclusion, the three main difficulties that are faced during the overseas study are the barrier of language due to the incomprehension of some specific terms and usage in English; the entirely different way of learning which depends on the independence; the huge difference of disparate culture which can be hard to be adapted. Of the three difficulties, the culture difference is the toughest because it is hard for an international student to adjust himself from a background to a wholly unlike one.