124Journal of International Students

collaborative education ventures.In part two, the authors present a country study in

which they choose and observe inward educationalmobility in the United States. In the first section, theauthors outline the U.S. visa systems (student visa, F-1; exchange student visa, J-1 or vocational training stu-dent visa, M-1) for international students who are doc-umented as alien non-resident (without a U.S. passportor a permanent resident card). The second sectionreports total international students in American col-leges and universities, their study levels and field ofstudies, and the top 20 sending countries by year andstudy level. The authors bring most of statistics anddata for this section from the Open Doors 2010 inwhich China, India and South Korea are the leadingcountries for sending students to the United States. Thefinal section deals with 15 types of the ExchangeVisitor Programs into several scheme groups: Au Pairs,Camp Counselors, Summer Work/Travelers,Secondary School Students, College and UniversityStudents, Professors and Teachers, Research Scholars,Short-term Scholars, Trainees, and Interns.

Macready and Tucker provide a global picture ofwhy and how students are attracted to several overseasdestinations for higher study in various parts of theworld. With illustrations, tables, figures and chartsfrom the latest data on international students, this bookis a helpful resource material for international students,scholars, faculty, staff members and researchers of stu-dent mobility.

ReferencesBhandari, R., Belyavina, R., & Gutierrez, R. (2011).

Student mobility and the internationalization of higher education: National policies and strategies from six world regions—A Project Atlas ® report. New York, NY: Institute of International Education.

Chow, P., & Bhandari, R. (2010). Open Doors 2010: Report on international educational exchange. New York, NY: Institute of International Education.

___________________________About the Reviewer:Krishna Bista is founder of Journal of InternationalStudents. He works at the Center for Excellence inEducation, Arkansas State University. His interests areglobal and comparative education, learning styles,international student affairs, and English as a SecondLangauge. E-mail: Krishna.Bista@gmail.com.

Second Language Learning: CulturalAdaptation Processes in International

Graduate Students in U.S. Universities.Virginia Gonzalez (2004), University Press ofAmerica ISBN-13: 978-0761827900, $ 42.99

Reviewed by Mariella Espinoza Herold, Northern Arizona University (USA)

The impact of globalization, therapid technical advancements, andthe access to educational opportu-nities have attracted large numbersof bright international students to

study in the United States. Graduate and undergraduateinternational students as well as foreign-born facultyare now visible in American higher education institu-tions.

American educators and administrators in highereducation are working toward strengthening and inter-nationalizing their curricula, becoming leading educa-tional knowledge networks, and developing peopleable to think and work on a global basis. Internationalstudents and foreign-born scholars enrich learningcommunities at the national and international levels,and bring new perspectives on globally shared prob-lems in addition to experiencing being a financial gainfor America institutions.

Many first time international students encountertremendous challenges to adjust to a new society, andto effectively socialize and to succeed academicallyinto the culture of American universities. In this con-text, Gonzalez’s book Second Language Learning:Cultural Adaptation Processes in InternationalGraduate Students in U.S. Universities, insightfullyexamines this problem. As a former international stu-dent herself, who had to adapt to a new culture and lan-guage, Gonzalez brings an authentic insider perspec-tive to describe what constitutes a successful adapta-tion to the American college culture.

Grounded in psychology frameworks and employ-ing utilizing both qualitative and survey data of inter-national students’ experiences, Gonzalez powerfullyargues against reductionist college admission criteria,which solely relies on standardized scores to measurestudents’ linguistic and cultural “readiness” and back-ground experiences.

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Spring 2012 Vol.2 Issue 1

Chapter 2 deals with several social and culturalfactors (language, adjustment) affecting the culturaladaptation of international students. As a former inter-national graduate student myself and later, as aninstructor of international graduate students at theUniversity of Arizona’s Center for English as a SecondLanguage, I can identify and agree with the thoroughreview of existing literature in the field. Chapter 3deals with the adoption of English as a second lan-guage of international students in an academic envi-ronment. Chapter 5 presents a study showing the effectof personality and identity factors on the adaptationprocess of international graduate students to theAmerican college culture.

Test scores alone (as the Test of English as aForeign Language–TOEFL, or the Graduate RecordExamination–GRE) do very little to predict graduateinternational students’ cultural adaptation to a newsociety and language, and by no means are an accuratepredictor of academic success. Based on interviewswith international student participants, the sojourns'difficulties in academic performance and social adapta-tion to the university culture seem to lie in the externallocus of control variables. That is the environment orcontextual factors, such as the interpersonal relationsand social interactions between students and Americancollege professors or advisors, and foremost their lackof familiarity with bureaucratic paperwork and admin-istrative procedures, with academic expectations, andwith an academic cultural system which seems toemphasize production, individual competition, andspeed in accomplishing tasks and products. All thesecontextual factors, stemming from social and culturalcontexts, negatively affect international students’ aca-demic achievement in the American universities.

As the findings of the survey research study, pre-sented in Chapter 5, show for American colleges tomeet the genuine needs of international students, theymust provide a well-rounded support program to ini-tialize and mentor graduate international students tobecome familiar with the American college culture,and the general American society culture, and universi-ty norms and regulations. Most important, Americancolleges must provide support resources for interna-tional graduate students to develop strategies tobecome familiar with the American cultural values andbeliefs. The keys to improve educational programs andincrease academic performance for all internationalgraduate students in American universities are notfound in test scores, but in the knowledge that can onlybe gleaned from students’ personal and cultural per-

spectives as those shared in this book.In short, Gonzalez (2004) masterfully demon-

strates the fact that knowledge of the English languageper se is not the only predictor of academic success forinternational graduate students studying in the UnitedStates. Instead, ability to adapt to the social and aca-demic American college culture is a key for interna-tional students to develop academic and social Englishlanguage proficiency leading to academic achieve-ment. Her book offers a compelling argument support-ing this key point, through the use of statistical and richdescriptive data, which is supported by a very completeand critical literature review. Together the chapters ofGonzalez’s book highlight wide gaps for the case ofgraduate international students between American col-lege admission procedures and the requirements andcultural expectations present in academic programs ofstudies. These gaps negatively impact internationalgraduate students’ academic achievement becausethere is no support for them to develop linguistic andcultural adaptation. In summary, this publicationserves as a source of opportunities to create better andmore attractive programs in the American universitiesfor graduate international students that will be increas-ingly intertwined with the global village._____________________________About the Reviewer:Dr. Espinoza-Herold is a faculty at Northern ArizonaUniversity. She has participated in teacher profession-al development projects and initiatives in the areas ofeffective schooling for culturally-diverse student popu-lations. She has also served as faculty at the Universityof Arizona. She was the recipient of two Fulbrightawards and a Sasakawi award. Her awards and fel-lowship allowed her to observe educational systems inJapan, China, Europe and Latin America.