Journal of Education & Social Policy

ESL Graduate Students’ Academic Experience in a US Nursing Program
Chiu-I Sung

Abstract
Increasing numbers of international students are coming to study in US nursing schools as part of the globalization of higher education and diversity of healthcare industry. Previous research has revealed many problems in English as a Second Language (ESL) student development, and suggestions are provided for faculty to advise these students. But the extent to which these problems persist, ESL students’ development have neither been investigated at graduate level nor examined under college impact model. This empirical study uses interviews, curriculum vitae, and onsite observation to investigate the student-advisor relationship of ESL graduate students in a US nursing program. The results suggest that faculty’ influence and students’ effort are both significant; outweigh the importance of student’s English language proficiency. Faculty’ influence is found to have positive effect on ESL students ‘successful academic experience if students take initiative action to overcome language difficulty while persist to learn.

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