ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways that lecturers can create learning contexts to assist international students to adjust to new learning environments. In order to create these contexts, we need to understand some of the underlying reasons for the difficulties that international students can face in unfamiliar academic environments. Insights gained can, in turn, guide adjustments to teaching and learning practices to better meet students’ needs. Using sociocultural theories of learning, this chapter explains how students’ perceptions of what is expected in higher education environments are influenced by existing understandings and epistemologies, then argues for ways of teaching that do not disadvantage and/or marginalise students coming from different social and cultural backgrounds. These strategies are described in more detail in later chapters; here, the focus is on teachers as cultural mediators, opening up a dialogue between themselves and their students.
