Socio-cultural Adaptation of Foreign Students in Austria Academic Culture and Language Policy

Abstract

My study focuses on the challenges faced by Iranian students in Vienna, employing a constructivist grounded theory strategy (Charmaz, 2006), with particular emphasis on Iranian students. The study examines essential questions about the types of challenges encountered the factors that influenced them, and the consequences for both students' lives and Austrian society. Furthermore, it explores the students’ employed strategies and provides some suggestions for overcoming these challenges.

A data triangulation method is employed during both the data collection and analysis phases. I gathered data through focus groups, individual interviews, and expert interviews for analysis. I used both grounded theory and critical discourse analysis. Due to the centrality of the academic environment in this study, the influence of academic culture at both macro and micro levels has been demonstrated. At the macro level, substantial differences between the academic systems of Iran and Austria provide fundamental challenges for students. At the micro level, differences in the academic culture of universities - different majors and levels of study with language policy - an environment that is receptive to cultural diversity has been shown to influence students' different experiences and the formation of students' sociocultural identity and linguistic perspectives.