Education: Values and
Expectations
Conversation Exercises
Section 2: Common Causes of
Academic Difficulty
The following list of academic problems was compiled by an
international student adviser at a state university, based on interviews
with foreign students. For each item, first answer the question,
"Is this a problem for American students?" If you respond
"yes," answer the second question, "Is this problem more
serious for foreign students?" Then discuss the questions after the
exercise.
Problem
|
| 1. |
Student doesn't understand the system
(add/drop, incompletes, testing, etc.). |
| 2. |
Student takes too many classes. |
| 3. |
Student doesn't have a good
background in the subject. |
| 4. |
Student has English deficiency
despite an adequate score on her or his English exam. |
| 5. |
Student is experiencing adaptation
problems in the new culture and is homesick. |
| 6. |
Student has roommate and housing
difficulties. |
| 7. |
Student is lonely. |
| 8. |
Student does not know how to study. |
| 9. |
Student is nervous about taking
tests. |
| 10. |
Student cheats or plagiarizes. |
Discussion Questions
| 1. |
Why do students have these kinds of
difficulties? |
| 2. |
Which problems, if any, can be
prevented? |
Conversation exercises taken from Beyond Language by Levine
and Adelman, Prentice Hall, 1993.
|