International students’ strategies for overcoming barriers in learning Indonesian

Abstract

The number of international students from a variety of cultural and linguistics students is growing, due to increased global mobility, leading to more interactions with their local counterparts in host nations. These interactions often present cultural, linguistic, and psychological barriers, particularly with regard to their adaptation to new environments and engagement with different social and cultural norms. This qualitative study explores the barriers that overseas students have when studying Indonesian in an academic setting in Indonesia, as well as the methods they use to overcome these barriers. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussion with 11 international students from Gambia, Pakistan, Egypt, and Yemen who voluntarily participated in this case study. Thematic analysis revealed that these students encounter barriers in their Indonesian language learning journey. These barriers include linguistic barriers (lack of vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar difficulties), cultural barriers (misunderstandings related to language politeness and social norms), and psychological barriers (anxiety, frustration, and low self-efficacy) when learning Indonesian. To overcome these, the students employ diverse strategies such as interacting with native speakers, using technology, engaging with the local community, seeking peer support, and practicing self-regulated learning to improve their language acquisition and cultural integration. The findings have academic and practical implications in curriculum development and teacher training to help create more enriching learning experiences for international students studying Indonesian within a rich intercultural and applied linguistics framework.