Narrative Experiences of Indonesian Academic Sojourners Studying Master’s Degree in English-Speaking Countries: A Cross-Case Analysis

Abstract

The study of academic sojourners' experience has been discussed and reported from different perspectives such as social, cultural and linguistic, which are generally contextualized in a single case. Little empirical evidence has been framed from language education lens, particularly on the cross-case analysis of their academic experiences in English-speaking countries. Therefore, this study is focused on examining the experiences of seven Indonesian academic sojourners studying master's TESOL in the UK and Australian Universities. The stories of seven Indonesian academic sojourners and their artefacts were thematically analysed. The current findings showed that reading and writing were the most prevalent challenges they have to deal. Based on data analysis, these two skills were quite demanding, which in many cases led to their emotional disturbance. Although the sojourners struggled to cope with their emotional distress, they creatively sought suitable strategies to anticipate and solve their problems, spanning from recognizing self-learning style, changing habits, going to the university writing centre, and joining study groups, to asking for help from colleagues. The implication of the study calls for the inclusion of (classroom) academic cross-cultural understanding in language teacher education.