A comparative study of performance on a college student newspaper: foreign versus American students

College Student Journal, June, 2005 by Robert Stevenson, Kenneth Mufuka

Our study also shows that the international students attending Lander University were more mature and worldly than their American counterparts. Worldliness refers to the amount of time they had been exposed to the world of work or study after high school. These students had completed the Advanced Study, course of study that lasts two years after high school, before they were allowed to come to the United States. Those two years would have placed them well above our freshman student level. Indeed the majority had been exempted from the freshman English level after taking an entry examination.

While recent studies found that, "International students frequently become dissatisfied and alienated because of feelings and attitudes emphasizing a lack of belonging, (Ranjani, 1998) the opposite can be said for international students on the Forum staff. During exit interviews, these students consistently reported appreciation for the sense of community associated with serving on the Forum. This finding is congruent with research documenting the benefit for international students in establishing relationships with host nationals (Flack, 1976). Exit interviews provided another interesting finding. Most international student staff members, the majority of whom played intercollegiate athletics, expressed an enthusiasm for the "teamwork," and "competition" associated with "beating the deadline." Less than half of their American counterparts shared this view. In fact most claimed they "procrastinated" too often.

The students from Brazil, Argentina, England, Columbia, Scotland, Norway, Finland, and France were soccer players. They had played first in their high school teams and then for a couple of years in regional teams before being admitted to Lander. The students from Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands were tennis players. These students contributed to the setting of a national division II record of 10 consecutive first place seasons. Students from Australia played basketball. The students from Serbia set the team record in Lander's cross-country team. The students from Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe were not involved with intercollegiate athletics. Furthermore, students from The Netherlands, Scotland, England, Norway, and Finland served in their countries' military from one to two years. Each of these groups were therefore more advanced academically as well as being worldly wise than their American counterparts fresh from high school.

A comparison between the 2002 and the 2003 already given above did not show any marked variation in scores. In 2002, the total number of staffers was twenty, of which seven were foreign students. Of the foreign students, three held senior editorial positions (60 percent) as compared to six American students (twenty one percent). Their proficiency in grammar was five compared to an average of 2.5 for American students. Their proficiency in news writing, editorializing, accuracy and balance was rated as 5 compared to that of American students which was four, again, five being the maximum score. In meeting deadlines, showing consistency in work habits, foreign students scored five compared to a score of 2.5, again five being the maximum score possible. In their collegial relationships with staff members and supervisors and willingness to help colleagues finish their work, their rating was four compared to 3.5 again five being the maximum score.