Cross-cultural adaptation of Thai students in Australia: A qualitative study

The aim of this chapter was to discover the difficulties confronted by Thai international students during their cross-cultural adaptation process in Australia and their coping strategies. A qualitative method was used for the study. Fourteen Thai international students were interviewed using a semi-structured interview technique. The findings indicate that psychological barriers, language difficulties and culture differences contribute to cross-cultural adaptation difficulties of Thai international students in Australia. To overcome the difficulties, these students employed the certain coping strategies, which are family support, acceptance and integration, and social support. The chapter suggests that educators can assist these students by understanding the importance of cultural differences so that they may support international students to be more productive in achieving their academic goals and adapt to their new cultural environment.