Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to find the influencing factors that affect the study performance of foreign students. Previous studies mainly focused on medical undergraduate students in China, while the research objects of this study are engineering graduate students and doctoral students. Researchers constructed a questionnaire with good validity through the literature survey method and the Delphi method. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed, 123 questionnaires were collected, 11 questionnaires with problems were excluded, and 112 questionnaires were valid. Researchers analyzed the factors affecting the performance of foreign students through SPSS. The results show that the scores of Chinese skill, “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework, and the level of teaching presence are positively correlated with the study performance of foreign students. Among them, the correlation between the scores of the three-dimensional evaluation framework and performance is the strongest, and the correlation between Chinese skill and performance is the weakest. In the three-dimensional evaluation framework, psychological factors have the greatest influence on students’ study performance. Based on the above analysis results, the researchers put forward a series of policy recommendations, such as improving teachers’ teaching level, strengthening Chinese language education for foreign students, and enhancing foreign students’ learning motivation and learning satisfaction.
1. Introduction
In recent years, the continuous improvement of China’s economic situation and global ranking of Chinese colleges and universities, coupled with a series of incentive policies launched by the Chinese government, aims to encourage foreign students to study in China; China has gradually changed from an exporting country of international students to an importing country of international students. China has made great progress and development in the educational level and educational scale of international students. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, as of 2020, there are a total of 273,792 international students in China [1]. In the training of foreign students, due to differences in language, culture, religion, living habits, etc., it is difficult to train foreign students, which leads to unsatisfactory training effects for foreign students, and further negatively affects their academic and study performances. Based on the existing studies, this paper analyzes the factors that affect the academic and study performances of international students by combining qualitative and quantitative methods, and proposes methods that help to improve the training effect of international students according to the analysis results.
2. Literature Review
At present, the research on the impact factors of foreign students’ study performance in China is not very sufficient, but the existing studies have made a certain degree of exploration on the influencing factors, which provides some ideas for the development of this study.
Tang et al. [2] found that the attendance rate is positively correlated with the final written-examination results of international students through research on the attendance rate of medical international students (undergraduates) in China. The attendance rate refers to the ratio of actual attendance to expected attendance. The average score of students with relatively high attendance rate is much higher than that of students with relatively low attendance rate. Therefore, Tang et al. [2] believed that improving the attendance rate of foreign students plays a very important role in improving the study performance of foreign students in China, and, on the one hand, the key to improving the attendance rate lies in strengthening the daily management of students, and on the other hand, improving the teaching level of teachers, to enhance the attraction of classroom teaching to foreign students.
Through the analysis of 115 undergraduate students from Southeast Asia at Yunnan University, Liu and Guo [3] found the following results: first, the level of Chinese skill has a significant impact on the learning ability of foreign students. Foreign students with higher scores in Chinese have better scores in other subjects, and vice versa. The authors believe that the reason for this difference may be the poor teaching effect caused by language barriers; second, the scores of foreign students who majored in liberal arts and social sciences are generally better than those of foreign students who majored in science and engineering.
Wang et al. [4] found that the study performance of foreign students who have been taught in English is generally better than those who have been taught in Chinese. Wang et al. [4] believed that the level of Chinese skill of foreign students in China is generally not very high, which is not enough to support them to fully understand the teaching content of courses taught in Chinese, resulting in their low course scores. As an international language, English has a much higher penetration rate in the world than Chinese, and the level of English skill of foreign students is also high. Therefore, foreign students’ study performance is generally better in courses taught in English. Through the research, Wang et al. [4] concluded that there are two main ways to improve the study performance of foreign students. One is to strengthen the teaching level of teachers, especially to recruit more teachers with studying and living experience in English-speaking countries, to increase the proportion of English teaching. The other one is to strengthen the level of Chinese skill of foreign students so that they can understand the content of Chinese teaching.
Xu and Chen [5] mainly focused on the impact of foreign students’ learning autonomy on their Chinese course performance. By using the “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework. According to their study, learning autonomy is the behavior in which learners can recognize their knowledge and ability, actively adjust their learning strategies and efforts according to the requirements of learning ability and learning motivation, and independently learn knowledge, skills, and abilities. And “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework interprets learners’ learning autonomy from the psychological, ability, and behavior levels. Researchers have carried out research from both quantitative and qualitative aspects and found that there is a significant positive correlation between foreign students’ learning autonomy and Chinese course performance.
By analyzing the individual characteristics of “nationality and gender” of foreign students, Liu [6] found that students of different nationalities and genders have great differences in their study performance, and the dropout rate of foreign students from some countries is also higher than that of foreign students from other countries.
Qiu et al. [7] found that the average score of foreign students is significantly related to their adaptability, preview in advance, or not, teaching services level, and other factors such as curriculum and teachers’ teaching methods.
According to Qiu et al. [8], learning motivation refers to the initiation and maintenance of students’ learning behavior. They found that the learning motivation of foreign students is closely related to their study performance. Students with strong learning motivation have better study performance than students with weak learning motivation. Therefore, Qiu et al. [8] believed that universities should strengthen professional-related education and let students know their professional employment prospects so that international students can improve their recognition of their majors. At the same time, universities should strengthen the education of career planning, innovation, and entrepreneurship for foreign students, guide them to set reasonable life goals, and improve their career value motivation.
3. Research Object
By combing the existing literature, we can find that the existing researches have the following characteristics. First, the research objects are mainly undergraduate students in China. Second, the research objects are mainly foreign medical students.
At present, there are not only foreign undergraduate students but also many foreign master’s and doctoral students in China. Due to the different training objectives, the training methods of master students and doctoral students are quite different from those of undergraduate students. Therefore, the research results of undergraduate students in China cannot be directly used for master’s students and doctoral students. At present, there is no research on the factors that affect the study performance of foreign master’s and doctoral students in China. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out research in this area. In addition, among the foreign students in China, there are not only medical students but also liberal arts and science and engineering students. Due to the differences in disciplines, the factors that affect the study performance of students who major in different disciplines may also be different. Therefore, it is necessary to research on this aspect.
To sum up, a total of 112 international engineering students were selected for this study, including 78 master’s and 34 doctoral students (Figure 1 and Table 1). Among the 112 foreign students, 58 were from Pakistan, accounting for 51.79% of the total; 22 students were from Nigeria, accounting for 19.64% of the total; 19 students were from Sudan, accounting for 16.96% of the total; 9 students were from Bangladesh, accounting for 8.04% of the total. The remaining students come from other countries. Among the 112 international students, 58 were 21–25 years old, accounting for 51.79% of the total; 48 people were 26–30 years old, accounting for 42.86% of the total; 6 people were over 30 years old, accounting for 5.35% of the total. Among the 112 foreign students, 93 were men, accounting for 83.04% of the total, and 19 were women, accounting for 16.96% of the total (Figure 2 and Table 2).
4. Research Method
This study adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. First, the preliminary influencing factors were determined by consulting the relevant literature. At the same time, the preliminary influencing factors were added and deleted by the Delphi method to determine the questions of the questionnaire to be used. Finally, the collected effective questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS, and the corresponding policy suggestions were put forward according to the analysis results.
In the early stage, researchers found the relevant factors affecting the study performance of foreign students in China by consulting the relevant literature. The researchers classified these factors, and by deleting the repeated factors, the research group decided to include the “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework [5] and the Chinese level of foreign students in the questionnaire. The Chinese level of foreign students is measured by their HSK level. HSK is a standardized test set up to test the Chinese skill of non-Chinese native speakers (including foreigners, overseas Chinese, ethnic Chinese, and Chinese minority candidates). HSK is divided into six levels; level 6 is the highest. Candidates who pass level 6 can easily understand the Chinese information they hear or read, and express their opinions in oral or written form in Chinese fluently.
The research group selected nine experts from the school of materials science and engineering, the school of electrical engineering, the school of civil engineering and water conservancy, and the school of energy and power. Among the nine experts, three were vice deans, three were tutors for foreign students, and three were administrative personnel in charge of related work for foreign students. The research team adopts the Delphi method, that is, by repeatedly soliciting experts’ opinions and using experts’ professional knowledge and work background, to put forward consistent suggestions for the research work [9]. The research group sent the purpose of this study and the influence factors collected in the early stage to the members of the expert group, and the experts deleted and added the influence factors according to the Delphi method. After many turns of communication with the members of the expert group, the questionnaire used in this study was finally determined. The questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part is personal basic information, which includes a survey of students’ average grades. The second part is divided into three subparts, of which the first subpart is students’ Chinese level and the second subpart adopts the three-dimensional evaluation framework of “psychology–ability–behavior,” which is further refined into self-efficacy, learning attitude, learning management ability, strategy useability, autonomous learning behavior in class, and extracurricular autonomous learning behavior [5]. The third part draws on the research of Almasi and Zhu [10] and focuses on the impact of teaching presence on students’ study performance. Teaching presence refers to the activities that teachers organize teaching activities, increase communication, and dialog between teachers and students that help students carry out learning design and guide students’ learning activities in the learning process [11]. The whole questionnaire is divided into 31 questions, and each question adopts the Likert scale, which has five options from 1 to 5. The larger the number, the more consistent the description of the question is with the personal situation. According to SPSS, Cronbach’s α of this questionnaire is 0.874 (Table 3).
In this survey, questionnaires were conducted online and offline. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed and 123 questionnaires were collected, with a collection rate of 82%. Among the 123 questionnaires collected, 11 questionnaires with problems were excluded, and 112 questionnaires were finally valid, with an effective rate of 91.06%.
5. Data Analysis
(1)HSK grade and the average score of international students
In Table 4, X1 represents the HSK level of the tested students, and Y represents the average score (study performance) of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between X1 and Y is 0.469, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the HSK level of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(2)The three-dimensional evaluation framework of “psychology–ability–behavior” and the average score of foreign students
In Table 5, TD represents the average score of the three-dimensional evaluation framework of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between TD and Y is 0.853, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the average score of the tested students’ three-dimensional evaluation framework is significantly positively correlated with their average score.
(3)Psychological factors in the three-dimensional evaluation framework and the average score of foreign students
In Table 6, XL represents the score of psychological factors in the three-dimensional evaluation framework of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between XL and Y is 0.834, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the psychological factor of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades
(4)Ability level factors in the three-dimensional evaluation framework and the average score of foreign students
In Table 7, NL represents the score of ability level factors in the three-dimensional evaluation framework of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between NL and Y is 0.730, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the ability level factor of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(5)Behavioral factors in the three-dimensional evaluation framework and the average score of foreign students
In Table 8, XW represents the score of behavioral factors in the three-dimensional evaluation framework of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between XW and Y is 0.744, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the behavioral factor of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(6)Learning motivation and the average score of international students
In Table 9, A represents the learning motivation of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between A and Y is 0.699, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the learning motivation of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(7)Self-efficacy and average scores of foreign students
In Table 10, B represents the self-efficacy of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between B and Y is 0.795, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the self-efficacy of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(8)Learning attitude and the average score of international students
In Table 11, C represents the learning attitude of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between C and Y is 0.639, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the student’s learning attitude is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(9)Learning management ability and average score of international students
In Table 12, D represents the learning management ability of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between D and Y is 0.578, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the learning management ability of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(10)Strategy useability and the average score of international students
In Table 13, Q represents the strategy useability of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between Q and Y is 0.710, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the strategy useability of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(11)Autonomous learning behavior in class and the average score of foreign students
In Table 14, M represents the students’ autonomous learning behavior in class, and Y represents the average score of the students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between M and Y is 0.637, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the students’ autonomous learning behavior in class is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(12)Extracurricular autonomous learning behavior and the average score of foreign students
In Table 15, N represents the extracurricular autonomous learning behavior of the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between N and Y is 0.679, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the extracurricular autonomous learning behavior of the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
(13)Teaching existence and the average score of foreign students
In Table 16, T represents the teaching existence felt by the tested students, and Y represents the average score of the tested students. Through the two-tailed test, it is found that the Pearson correlation between T and Y is 0.637, which is significantly correlated at the level of 0.01, proving that the teaching existence perceived by the tested students is significantly positively correlated with their average grades.
6. Results
According to the data analysis, the main factors affecting the study performance of foreign students who majored in engineering in China are as follows.
HSK level: This study takes the HSK level as the standard to measure the Chinese skill of foreign students. According to the data analysis results, international students with relatively high Chinese skill have relatively high average scores. The average score of foreign students with a relatively low Chinese level is relatively low. There is a certain correlation between HSK level and the study performance of foreign students. However, among all the influencing factors adopted in this study, Chinese skill has the least impact on the study performance of foreign students. This may be because the research objects of this study were engineering students, and the language ability requirements of engineering is far lower than that of liberal arts and social sciences.
The three-dimensional evaluation framework of “psychology–ability–behavior”: According to the analysis of the data, among all the influencing factors adopted in this study, the “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework has the greatest impact on the study performance of foreign students, and the study performance of students with high scores in the three-dimensional evaluation framework is generally better, and vice versa. This study proves the following conclusions: the research results of Xu and Chen [5] on the impact on the study performance of undergraduate students in China are also applicable to foreign master’s and doctoral students in China.
Psychological factor in the three-dimensional evaluation framework: This study draws on the relevant research results of the correlation between foreign students’ learning autonomy and achievement under the three-dimensional evaluation framework, and transplants the relevant research results to the research of foreign doctoral and master’s students in China. As shown in Table 17, through the analysis of the data, it can be seen that the psychological level has a strong correlation with the study performance of students; and the psychological level factor has the greatest impact on the average score of students in the three-dimensional evaluation framework. International students with high psychological scores have relatively better study performance, while international students with low psychological scores have relatively worse study performance. Based on relevant research [5], this study divides psychological factor into learning motivation, self-efficacy, and learning attitude. Learning motivation refers to the psychological state that promotes learners to carry out learning [12], and self-efficacy refers to learning attitude, which refers to whether learners are willing to assume their learning responsibilities in the learning process [5]. The study found that learning motivation, self-efficacy, and learning attitude all have a strong correlation with the study performance of foreign students. Among them, the correlation between self-efficacy and the study performance of foreign students is the strongest, the correlation between learning attitude and the study performance of foreign students is the weakest, and the contribution of learning motivation to psychological factors is the strongest.
Ability factor in the three-dimensional evaluation framework: As shown in Table 7, according to the analysis data, ability has a strong correlation with the study performance of students. International students with high scores in ability level have relatively better study performance, while international students with low scores in ability level have relatively worse study performance. Based on relevant research, this study divides the ability factor into learning management ability and strategy useability. Learning management ability refers to the ability to self-allocate and control learning time and methods [13], and strategy useability refers to the behavior or action taken by learners to increase the effectiveness of learning [14]. Learning management ability and strategy useability are strongly related to the study performance of foreign students. According to Table 18, the contribution of learning management ability to the ability factor is the strongest.
Behavioral factor in the three-dimensional evaluation framework: As shown in Table 19, through the analysis of data, it can be seen that the behavioral factor has a strong correlation with the study performance of students. In the three-dimensional evaluation framework, it is inferior to the psychological factor, and slightly stronger than the ability factor. International students with high scores in behavior factor have relatively better study performance, while international students with low scores in behavior factor have relatively worse study performance. Based on relevant research, this study divides behavioral factor into in-class autonomous learning behavior and extracurricular autonomous learning behavior. Autonomous learning behavior refers to the state in which learners can independently choose and adjust their learning state [15]. The study found that both in-class autonomous learning behavior and out-class autonomous learning behavior have a strong correlation with the study performance of foreign students. Among them, the out-class autonomous learning behavior has the strongest correlation with the study performance of foreign students, and the in-class autonomous learning behavior has the strongest contribution to behavioral factor.
Teaching presence: According to the analysis of the data, the impact of teaching presence on the study performance of foreign students is high, which is higher than the impact of Chinese skill on the study performance, but lower than the impact of the three-dimensional evaluation framework on the study performance. High level of teaching presence means that teachers are able to organize teaching activities effectively, increase communication and dialog between teachers and students, help students carry out learning design, and guide students’ learning activities in the learning process. Caskurlu et al. [16] found that there is a strong positive correlation between teaching presence and students’ satisfaction; according to relevant study, high satisfaction level helps students to improve their nonintellective competencies in order to increase their performance [17]. This can explain why teaching presence can improve students’ study performance, and some researchers have found that enhancing teaching presence can also improve the effectiveness of online teaching [18].What is more, as some researchers have indicated, by evaluating teaching presence, teachers will be able to improve their teaching methods and teaching design by evaluating teaching presence [19].
By comprehensively analyzing the data of this study, we can draw the following conclusions: HSK level, three-dimensional evaluation framework, and teaching presence have positive correlations with the study performance of foreign students. Among them, the three-dimensional evaluation framework has the strongest positive correlation with the study performance of foreign students, and the HSK grade has the weakest positive correlation with the study performance of foreign students.
6.1. Policy Recommendations
Strengthen teaching presence: The research shows that teaching presence has a significant impact on the study performance of foreign students. Colleges and universities should carry out further vocational training for teachers so that they can master effective ways to communicate with foreign students and improve teachers’ teaching skills and curriculum organization ability to improve the level of teaching presence.
Strengthen language education for foreign students: The research shows that the Chinese skill of foreign students has a certain degree of influence on their performance of foreign students. Although according to the research results, the impact of Chinese skill on performance is at the lowest level, there is indeed a certain correlation between them. Therefore, strengthening Chinese education for foreign students is also one of the effective measures to improve the study performance of foreign students. Moreover, enhancing the language ability of foreign students will also help them integrate into Chinese society and facilitate their life in China.
It can be seen from the research results that the positive relationship between the “psychology–ability–behavior” three-dimensional evaluation framework and the study performance of foreign students is the strongest. In the three-dimensional evaluation framework, the psychological factor is particularly important. Therefore, schools should pay attention to how to enhance the learning motivation of foreign students, enhance their sense of satisfaction through learning, and help them actively assume the responsibility of learning in the learning process. Enhancing the learning motivation can also reduce the workload of teachers, and more importantly, it can promote the psychological construction of foreign students to help them achieve better study performance. In addition to psychological factor, it is also very important to enhance the learning ability of foreign students. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the ability of foreign students to use learning strategies. Previous studies have found that foreign students’ different Chinese learning strategies have a great impact on their Chinese learning performance [20, 21]. On the other hand, we should also strengthen the learning and management abilities of foreign students. As organizations that produce and disseminate knowledge, colleges and universities should teach students how to study more efficiently and reasonably arrange their study and lifetime while teaching students knowledge. It is reasonable to believe that colleges and universities can help foreign students achieve good academic results by enhancing their learning ability. Finally, behavioral factor also has a certain impact on the performance of foreign students. If you want students to take the initiative to learn, the best way is to increase students’ interest in this subject. To achieve this goal, on the one hand, it depends on students’ characteristics, and on the other hand, it also needs to make the teaching activities more interesting and make the course content more attractive. This requires teachers not only to improve teaching skills but also to always maintain the novelty of teaching content.
6.2. Research Deficiencies and Prospects
The objective of this study was only foreign students who majored in engineering, it may be for this reason that the influence of Chinese skill on study performance is not strong enough. Therefore, the results of this study are only applicable to foreign students majored in engineering, but not to foreign students who major in liberal arts, social sciences, and other disciplines.
Next, we plan to further expand the sample range on the basis of this study, and include more foreign students with different disciplinary backgrounds as research objects in the following study to find out the common factors that affect their study performance.
Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Ren Gangyi, upon reasonable request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.