Stress Level and Academic Performances for Chinese Overseas Students in Australia - Research Paper Example

?Topic: Research on the stress level and academic performances for Chinese overseas in Australia Content ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Introduction -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Methodology ------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 Results ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Discussion -------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 Reference -------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 Appendix -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Abstract Studies by the Franklin Institute (2004) indicates that the level of stress of a student has a great bearing on the academic performance of such a student. To this effect, this research was conducted to find out the level of stress that Chinese students in Australian universities go through have on their academic performance. Using questionnaires and interview as research instruments, the researcher gathered data from Chinese postgraduate students from different kinds of field in University of Western Sydney. Using the questionnaire, the researcher collected data in areas such as the age of participant, gender of participant, the courses studied by participants, extra activities undertaken by participants such as part-time work, how participants spent their leisure among other things. Results obtained from students go a long way to show that most of the students go through stressful activities during the day even aside their studies. Combining studies with such activities therefore worsen their stress level. In the long run, it was revealed students with very high levels of stressful activities performed poorly compared to those who went through normal routines of the day. Introduction Learning is an act that demands so much mental attention and concentration. To this effect, it is almost a requirement that before learning can take place, the mind (brain) must be in a state of alertness to receive the volumes of new ideas that is being added to it. Sadly though, most students who are the anchor of learning find themselves deprived of the state of alertness that is being discussed here. Such students lose their mental alertness to stress. Quoting Selye (1974 p. 27), Murff (2006) states that stress is a "nonspecific response of the body to any demands made upon it". This means that stress is a reaction that the body (and more specifically brain) gives towards any act of pressure that is placed on it. Koduah (2008) explains that the pressure that demands the body to respond is often found on the brain. To this effect, stress can be said to be a mental state of tiredness and this tiredness arises because there is so much pressure on the brain. Literally, one would be tempted to think that the only time that the brain is made to work is the time that the brain is being used to think and so it tiredness of the brain results only out of excessive thinking. This assumption is not correct. Rather, the brain is responsible for carrying out 80% of all activities that any part of the body undertakes (Kanner, 1981). This means that apart from activities that demand thinking, in undertaking activities with other parts of our body, it is actually the brain that we are using most. As elucidated by Garret (2001), stress is no respecter of person. Once so much pressure is put on the body, the mind gets tired and stress will sets in. Students have been identified to be one of the worse sufferers of stress (Murff, 2006). This is because apart from the fact that learning itself demands so much mental alertness and puts so much pressure on the brain, students are faced other activities and processes such as adjusting to university life and routines (Ross, Neibling and Heckert, 1999). Some of these activities and processes demand that students make new friends, have regular inter-personal relationships, work within fixed and at times stringent time schedules, take examinations, cope with examination failures and in some cases, take up part-time jobs to keep them going. Once some of these unavoidable processes and activities compete with learning, students are sure to record higher levels of stress and subsequently have their academics affected. The relationship between stress and academic success is given by Murff (2006) who states that “stress has the ability to prevent students from being successful in their respective educational goals.” Indeed, stress prevents academic success because in the event of stress, a student who attempts to learn only be put the brain in a competition between absorbing the ideas that are being learnt and the function of the brain to fight the stress. Luckily for students, there are ways of ensuring that their daily activities and programs that make them stressful are managed or dealt with. This is to say that as inevitable as stress can be in some cases, students still have access to stress management activities that can help them cope with stress and live normal student life and pass their examinations. Quoting According to Dziegielewski et al. (2004), Murff (2006) observes that “programs that identify stressors and provide information on stress reduction and burnout prevention can help students learn to better cope with stressful experiences.” Methodology The research design adopted by the researcher is a survey. Trochim (2006) explains that “survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research. The broad area of survey research encompasses any measurement produces that involve asking questions of respondents.” With survey, the researcher was offered the opportunity to get a general view of how stress affected students’ academic success by representing the views of twenty (20) students who were sampled as the bigger picture of the effect of stress on all Chinese students in University of Western Sydney. The research instrument used in the survey was mainly a questionnaire, which was distributed to twenty (20) students who volunteered to be part of the research. In accordance with academic research ethics, the researcher did not push or force any student who was not willing to take part in the survey to be part of the survey. This not withstanding, the researcher was able to achieve fairness and balance in the selection of the sample group by undertaking a random sampling technique. Random sampling is a sampling technique where the researcher has no per-determined mentality to include or exclude any member of the population (Koduah, 2008). To this effect, the researcher selected the first twenty (20) willing students, who entered class for lecturers during the first period of 24th April, 2011. Basically, the questionnaire was in two major parts. The first part was to collect personal data on the respondents. The second part was focused on stress related issues. Generally, the researcher chose questionnaire it makes data analysis very simple and concise because when using questionnaire, the researcher is sure to deal with the same pattern of answers. Again, respondents do not answer or ask questions outside the set questions when using questionnaires. Results Demographic Information of Respondents Figure 1: Sex of Respondents From figure 1, twelve (12) of the respondents were females whereas the remaining eight (8) were males. Figure 2: Age of Respondents Figure 2 show that out of the twenty (20) students who answered questions from the questionnaire, none of them was less than twenty (20) years. Three (3) of the students were between 20 years and 25. Eleven (11) of the students were between 25 and 30 whereas the remaining six (6) were over 30 years. Working Status of Students Figure 3: Students who did Part-Time Work Figure three shows that fourteen (14) of the students worked on partime basis whereas six (6) did not do any part time work. Figure 4: Students view on Effect of Working on Academic Performance In other to seek students’ view on whether or not they believed working in addition to schooling affects their academic performance, the researcher asked the question; “Do you think working on a job puts stress on you?” From figure 4, eighteen (18) were of the view that working in addition to schoolig affected academic performance. Two (2) students were however of the view that working did not have any impact on their studies. Life as Foreigners The researcher wanted to find out how the students were coping in Australia as foreigners and relate this to their level of stress. Figure 5: Racism against Students The researcher wanted to know if students battled with racism. To this end, the students were asked; “Do you experience racism and discrimination in Australia?” Figure 5 explains that three (3) students experienced racism in Australia whereas seventeen (17) students did not experience any acts of racism. Table 1: Most difficult challenge in studing in a strange land Students were asked to select the condition that hampered their stay as foreigners most. The results is displayed in the table below. Challenge with Living Number of Respondents Percentage Feel of homesickness Difficulties in fitting into Australia culture Unfamiliar food and environment No supporting friends Difficulties in managing time Racism and discrimination High living cost 3 4 1 1 1 3 7 15 20 5 5 5 15 35 Total 20 100 Academic Performace The researcher wanted to find out of students if they were satisfied with their academic performance. To this end, the researcher posed the question; “Are you satisfied with your academic performance?” Figure 6: Students’ satisfaction with their academic performance According to figure 6, fifteen (15) studets were not satisfied with their academic performance. Five (5) students on the other hand were satisfied with their academic performance. Figure 7: Relation between Stress and Academic Performance In order to get the students relate their level of stress to their academic performance, the researcher posed the question; “does your academic performance have anything to do with your level of stress?” In the view of sixteen (16) students, their level of stress had a direct impact on their academic performance. Four (4) students were however of the view that their stress level did not have any impact or bearing on their academic performance. Discussion Generally, the results are in great consonance with the hypothesis that high level of stress affects academic performance. The results confirms earlier findings by Ross, Neibling and Heckert, (1999) that when students are involved in activities such as part time working and the challenge to adjust to university life, it puts a lot of stres on them. This is because the research revealed that as many as fourteen (14) students, which represents 70% were involved in part time work. It is not surprising therefore that a corresponding fifteen (15) students representing 75% lamented that they were not pleased with their academic performance. As rightly put, eighteen (18) students representing 90% of students admitted that working on part time basis puts stress on them. Correspondently, sixteen (16) students representing 80% admitted that high levels of stress affected their level of performance. From this discussion, it can be concluded that reasons like feeling of homesickness, Difficulties in fitting into Australia culture, Unfamiliar food and environment, No supporting friends, Difficulties in managing time, Racism and discrimination and High cost of living all contribute to Chinese students in Australia becoming stressed up. However, taking up part time work is the highest among the causes of stress. Admitantly, high levels of stress affects students learning negatively. REFERENCE LIST Dziegielwski, S. F., Turnage, B. & Roest-Marti, S. (2004). Addressing stress with social work students: A controlled evaluation. Journal of Social Work Education, 40(1), 105-119 Franklin Institute (2004). The Human Brain – Sleep and Stress. Accesed May 26, 2011 from http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/sleep.html Garret, J. B. (2001). Gender differences in college related stress. Undergraduate Journal of Psychology, 14. Kanner, A. D. (1981). Comparison of two modes of stress measurement: Daily hassles and uplifts versus major life events. Behavioral Medicine, 4(4). 1-39 Koduah I (2008). Mental Alertness for Higher Academic Achievement. Kumasi: PrintMark Group Limited. Murff S.H (2006). The Impact of Stress on Academic Success in College Students. Accessed May 23, 2011 from http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/391477/the_impact_of_stress_on_academic_success_in_college_students/ Ross, S. E. Neibling, B. C. & Heckert, T. M. (1999). Sources of stress among college students. College Student Journal, 33(2), 312- 317. Trochim W.K (2006). Deductive and Inductive Reasoning. Accessed May 1, 2011 from http://www.infobarrel.com/deductive_and_inductive_reasoning Appendix Read More