The COVID-19 pandemic has changed nowadays life in every aspect so irreversibly that there is no doubt that the educational landscape must be continuously re-evaluated and revised. In this regard, particular emphasis is given to the issues of academic mobility and adaptation of foreign students. The aim of the study is to clarify a new understanding of the issues traditionally faced by foreign students in universities in the host country and to analyze new barriers that have arisen as a result of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper reports on a narrative research study exploring the experiences and perceptions of 42 first-year bachelor and master foreign students having come to Russia for the first time. Taking into account that human behaiviour can be predicted through language patterns, we analysed language features to compare the participants’ rational and emotional perception of the barriers to adaptation highlighted from their narratives. The findings suggest that almost all issues traditionally faced by foreign students have received a new understanding or have changed their hierarchy in their perception. Contemporary challenges have also created new barriers to adaptation. Temporalities and restrictions in physical movement received special emphasis as an obstacle to adaptation of foreign students. In the context of the total transformation that awaits higher education after the end of the pandemic and its transition to a hybrid format, the results of this study can be used by academic developers to establish a system of foreign students’ psychological adaptation.

中文翻译：

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对不断变化的教育环境中外国学生适应障碍的新认识：以心理语言学叙事分析为例

COVID-19 大流行已经不可逆转地改变了当今生活的方方面面，毫无疑问，必须不断重新评估和修改教育格局。在这方面，特别强调了外国学生的学术流动和适应问题。该研究的目的是澄清对东道国大学外国学生传统上面临的问题的新理解，并分析由于 COVID-19 大流行的蔓延而出现的新障碍。本文报道了一项叙事研究，探讨了 42 名第一次来俄罗斯的本科和硕士一年级外国学生的经历和看法。考虑到人类行为可以通过语言模式来预测，我们分析了语言特征，以比较参与者对他们叙述中突出的适应障碍的理性和情感感知。调查结果表明，几乎所有外国学生传统上面临的问题都得到了新的理解或改变了他们的认知等级。当代挑战也为适应带来了新的障碍。身体活动的时间性和限制作为外国学生适应的障碍受到了特别重视。在大流行结束后等待高等教育的全面转变和向混合格式过渡的背景下，本研究的结果可以被学术开发人员用来建立外国学生心理适应系统。