How to overcome challenges related to English and academic writing skills when studying abroad

I went to Australia to undertake a master’s degree at the University of Sydney right after completing my MD degree from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam [1]. It should be noted that I had not been abroad for studying purposes before. Like other colleagues, to prepare for my adventure, I worked really hard on English and got a good International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score. Although I had no problem in communicating with the locals, I totally did not understand what the lecturers said in class. I realized that achieving a good IELTS score does not guarantee a smooth conversation with the locals due to the differences in using English and diverse accents between countries. A student who can communicate well with the locals may not be able to understand a speech or a lecture due to the differences between general and academic English. Especially, undertaking postgraduate trainings in medicine abroad requires advanced knowledge of health/medical terminology which is not considered in IELTS. The communication difficulties at school had made me lost my confidence. I still remember that I was not willing to respond to a question about the clinical symptoms of a HSN1 influenza infected case in a virology class which I knew the answer. I could not ask for any clarifications or explanations during the lectures. I was afraid of people laughing at me.

Studying overseas right after completing a MD degree can be considered as an advantage to explore the new knowledge at a master level. This is because my theory-based medical knowledge was still very fresh and considerably updated. Yet I never got high marks in assignments in the first semester due to my English writing problems and failure in adherence to reference styles guidance. Written grammar in English is definitely different to that in Vietnamese [2]. Academic writing at postgraduate levels is far more different between the two styles. Similar to English communication issues, a high IELTS score does not guarantee a competent written English at university. Moreover, universities in Australia seriously request students to provide references when using the work of other people in any format. Correct referencing requires both correct in-text citations and a correct reference list which are in accordance with the requested style such as Harvard, American Psychological Association (APA) or Vancouver style [1]. Failure to do this properly may constitute plagiarism [3]. Developing a correct referencing manually is a real challenge since each style has different criteria in presenting the information. I lost my marks in assignments because I did not know how to fully follow those criteria when manually developing the referencing. As a result, my in-text citations and/or referencing list was considered incorrect.

I let the lecturers know my concerns regarding the lectures. Now, being an academic in Australia, I understand that lecturers have the responsibility to listen to the students and address students’ concerns and questions seriously. If the lecturers do not have enough time to talk in class, they will be pleased to discuss with the student via email or arrange an in-person meeting at their office or help the student find an appropriate tutor. The lecturers can also suggest some available academic kills and/or English workshops for students [4, 5]. Discussing with the lecturers and attending similar workshops greatly helped me improve my English skills and understand new medical terminology when I undertook my master’s course. Indeed, international students are expected to reach the required English level for the postgraduate training. Yet the lecturers understand that students are from both native and non-native English speaking countries. Therefore they will take head and address their students’ academic issues.

In my opinion, international Vietnamese students tend to make friends with students from the same country rather than the locals including the Australian-Vietnamese students. This is absolutely a good practice. Given they have the same culture and language, international Vietnamese students can easily communicate with and support each other. Yet this cannot help in improving the English skills as they tend to use Vietnamese in group communications. Even if they use English in group communications, their English slowly improves as Vietnamese people usually have the same accent and acquire the same grammatical mistakes and typos. Indeed, there is a negative impact of few opportunities to use the language outside the classroom on learning English among international students in Australia [6]. In addition to this, using Vietnamese in group communications may adversely lead to self-isolation. I made friends with non-Vietnamese students to improve my English, to support each other in understanding the lectures, and to share knowledge about medicine, culture and life. My English was strongly improved when working with the locals and other international students in several activities such as tutorials, journal club, and group presentation. I also realized that understanding a new culture or even a few simple words in other languages definitely enriched my overseas experiences.

I undertook my master’s course under sponsorship of the Australia Awards (e.g. Endeavour Scholarship). The advantage of this is that I did not have any financial pressure during my stay in Australia. However, the disadvantage is that I was not allowed to fail in any subject according to the scholarship policy at that time. This was actually a real pressure even though no-one wants to fail when studying overseas. To ensure my expected study outcome, I studied harder than other colleagues. Attending Fisher library (e.g. one of the largest libraries of the University of Sydney) every day after the lectures for self-learning was my choice. Unfortunately, apart from studying, I did not manage my time very well to explore the local life. After my first year in Australia, all I knew about this country was just the Sydney Central Business District (CBD) and Kiama (a coastal town south of Sydney). This resulted in my bad mood, homesickness and limited knowledge and experience about Australia. To me, Sydney was boring and had nothing except the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I would have never come to know the true beauty of Australia until several years later when I completed my PhD and had the opportunity to fully explore Australia. Like making friends with non-Vietnamese students, exploring the local life through travelling or finding a part-time job not only improved my English, but also enriched my overseas experiences through interaction with the locals. It is well documented that having cultural knowledge and living in an English speaking language environment facilitate the success in learning English language [6]. Yet, to balance this, time management skill is a must.

There is several reference management software that can help to manage references. As advised by my course convenor, I learnt to use EndNote to search, organize, write, publish and share the references [7]. Available EndNote output styles can also be modified in accordance with the preferred style [7]. There was no problem for me to learn to use EndNote as it is user-friendly. Yet it is completely important to understand the requested style to enter sufficient data to EndNote.

Universities in Australia always offer a wide range of free academic skills workshops that support students’ learning. For example, the Learning Centre at UNSW Australia offers referencing, plagiarism, writing skills, critical thinking, reading and note-taking workshops [4]. Students can also ask for a reference management software instruction or request a consultation on a specific learning issue such as searching online databases at the library. I found that these workshops specifically designed for postgraduate students greatly helped me improve my writing skills.