Purpose

As there are many Arab students seek to earn an international degree, this research article aims to explore the factors that influence Arab students' adaptation to the foreign cross-culture of the USA and how it is related to their academic achievement. Exploring these factors will introduce different insights into the effectiveness of adaptation and studying in a foreign country and earning an international degree. Besides, this study contributes to the body of knowledge of international higher education by including Arab students as a less-researched group. Arab students' adaptation process is explained in terms of the Cross-cultural Adaptation Theory (Kim, 2001).

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative research study was conducted using a focus group discussion (FGD). Multiple face-to-face interviews were conducted to obtain data from the participants. Participants were divided into four groups, each female group contained nine participants and each male group contained seven participants. The researcher explained to each group independently about their perception, beliefs and attitude toward earning international degrees, the adaptation to the host culture and their academic achievement. The researcher carried out five FGDs for each group. Each interview continued for 60 minutes in length. All participants received a consent form. The discussions were audio-recorded and then transcribed.

Findings

Arab students are a group of enthusiastic learners; however, their feelings of homesickness enable them to develop overwhelming sorrowful emotions, howbeit their communication with their ethnic group facilitates the adaption and acceptance of the host cultures, which requires quite some time to adjust to new surroundings. Arab students are recognized with high academic achievements; nevertheless, they require prolonged periods to complete course assignments. American society gives international students a warm welcome; this may encourage other Arab students to consider earning an American degree and prepare themselves for this intercultural transition.

Research limitations/implications

This is subjective qualitative data; some limitations need to be addressed when interpreting the findings. Participants are English as a Second Language (ESL)learners, which may influence their word choice during the discussion. Interesting future research could be related to designing an assessment model to evaluate the academic achievement of ESL in different methods that focus on their achievement motivations and communication skills.

Practical implications

Based on the findings, professors can integrate the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to help multi-cultural students to learn and earn an international higher education degree.

Social implications

Higher education institutions can offer more social multi-cultural opportunities to include multi-cultural students and develop their social skills to facilitate the adaptation process to the new host culture.

Originality/value

This qualitative research study represents an original work of the researcher, and it has not submitted elsewhere. All research ethical codes were followed by the researcher and participants. There is no fund for this research project.

中文翻译：

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国际学生的成就和对美国文化的适应

目的

由于有许多阿拉伯学生寻求获得国际学位，本研究文章旨在探讨影响阿拉伯学生适应美国外国跨文化的因素以及它与他们的学业成就之间的关系。探索这些因素将为适应和在国外学习以及获得国际学位的有效性带来不同的见解。此外，这项研究通过将阿拉伯学生纳入研究较少的群体，为国际高等教育的知识体系做出了贡献。阿拉伯学生的适应过程用跨文化适应理论（Kim，2001）来解释。

设计/方法/方法

这项定性研究是使用焦点小组讨论 (FGD) 进行的。进行了多次面对面访谈，以从参与者那里获取数据。参与者被分为四组，每个女性组包含九名参与者，每个男性组包含七名参与者。研究人员向每个小组独立解释了他们对获得国际学位的看法、信念和态度、对东道国文化的适应以及他们的学术成就。研究人员对每组进行了五次 FGD。每次采访持续 60 分钟。所有参与者都收到了一份同意书。讨论被录音，然后转录。

发现

阿拉伯学生是一群热情的学习者；然而，他们的思乡情绪使他们产生了压倒性的悲哀情绪，但他们与族群的交流促进了对东道国文化的适应和接受，这需要相当长的时间来适应新环境。阿拉伯学生的学术成就受到认可；然而，他们需要很长时间才能完成课程作业。美国社会热烈欢迎国际学生；这可能会鼓励其他阿拉伯学生考虑获得美国学位并为这种跨文化过渡做好准备。

研究限制/影响

这是主观的定性数据；在解释调查结果时需要解决一些局限性。参与者是英语作为第二语言 (ESL) 的学习者，这可能会影响他们在讨论过程中的用词选择。未来有趣的研究可能与设计评估模型有关，以不同的方法评估 ESL 的学术成就，重点关注他们的成就动机和沟通技巧。

实际影响

根据调查结果，教授可以整合通用学习设计 (UDL) 来帮助多元文化的学生学习并获得国际高等教育学位。

社会影响

高等教育机构可以提供更多的社会多元文化机会，让多元文化的学生参与进来，培养他们的社交技能，以促进对新东道国文化的适应过程。

原创性/价值

本定性研究报告代表研究人员的原创作品，未在别处提交。研究人员和参与者遵守所有研究伦理准则。该研究项目没有资金。