THE IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ SOCIAL ADAPTATION ON THE TRAINING PROCESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION 1

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5780-4454 ABSTRACT The article deals with the impact of international students’ social adaptation on the training process in higher educational institution. The article aims to highlight and analyze the main aspects of international students’ social adaptation as one of the effective factors that impact the quality of training. The tasks of the article are to study and characterize the features of the process of international students’ social adaptation (phases, types, components); to analyze challenges of social adaptation that international students meet; to introduce ways to overcome the problems of international students’ social adaptation in higher education. According to the purpose and the set of goals, the following general theoretical methods were used in the research: systematic analysis of philosophical, sociological, psychological-pedagogical, socio-pedagogical literature, analysis of the conceptual-terminological system for the theoretical study of the problem of international students’ social adaptation in higher education; theoretical generalization, synthesis and analysis in order to reveal the main features of the process of international students’ social adaptation in higher education as well as generalizing own teaching experience. The result as follows: t he international students’ adaptation is a continuous process adaptation to training, cultural social environment. That is, as a process in which a student adapts to different activities (learning, scientific, etc.), acquires knowledge and skills, adapts to a new way of life in society (living conditions), adopts cultural norms, values, and interacts with the social environment, develops communicative abilities (language, communication). A number of challenges (psychological, training, socio-cultural) that international students meet were identified. Effective ways such as a proper organization of training process and individual work; expanding friendly contacts with local students; social-pedagogical support; were proposed to overcome international students’ social adaptation challenges . We have concluded that the sufficient international students’ social adaptation has as a positive impact on the academic process as on students’ mental and physical state.


INTRODUCTION
Nowadays the processes of globalization affect not only the sphere of economics, politics but also education. Professional mobility is a common practice today. People move freely from country to country in search of professional and selfrealization opportunities. The same tendencies are manifested in education.
Modern globalization processes and the growing importance of academic mobility in the field of higher education led to increased attention to the quality of international students' training in Ukrainian higher education institutions.
The quality of training obtained by international students in Ukraine is the most important component of Ukrainian universities' success of internationalization, Ukraine's competitiveness in the international market of educational services and a priority for every educational institution where international students receive their training. That's why quality assurance of higher education is today a priority of the higher education system of Ukraine as a whole and each university in particular, as it is an important condition for the development of mobility, motivation to learn.
It is worth noting, the efficiency and quality of the training process are significantly influenced by international students' social adaptation in the training and cultural environment of a higher educational institution. In addition, international learners' emotional and psychological satisfaction with the training process has an important role in the effectiveness of language acquisition as a means of communication and mastering a profession.
Therefore, not only international students' professional training but their social adaptation, which is a process of learner's professional development and selfrealization, the acquisition of professional knowledge, skills and abilities, the development of professional culture, becomes especially relevant in the system of higher education. Thus, the successful organization of the training process for international learners is impossible without solving the problems of their social adaptation in the training and cultural environment of a higher educational institution.
On the basis of the points mentioned above, the issue of the effectiveness of the university's work on international students' social adaptation is of particular importance at the current stage of the development of society.
Keen attention of Ukrainian and foreign researchers in the problem of international students' social adaptation in higher education determined the relevance of our study.
Despite the existing scientific and pedagogical background on this issue, the impact of international students' social adaptation on the training process in Ukrainian higher educational institutions is not solved fully.
The purpose of the article is to highlight the main aspects of international students' social adaptation as one of the effective factors that impact the quality of training. The tasks: 1) to study and characterize the features of the process of international students' social adaptation (phases, types, components); 2) to analyze challenges of social adaptation that international students meet; 3) to introduce ways to overcome the problems of international students' social adaptation in higher education.
Hypothesis. International students' social adaptation was expected to improve their professional and personal development in the training and cultural environment of a higher educational institution.

METHODOLOGY
According to the purpose and the set of goals, the following general theoretical methods were used in the research: systematic analysis of philosophical, sociological, psychological-pedagogical, socio-pedagogical literature, analysis of the conceptual-terminological system for the theoretical study of the problem of international students' social adaptation in higher education; theoretical generalization, synthesis and analysis in order to reveal the main features of the process of international students' social adaptation in higher education as well as generalizing own teaching experience.

RESULTS
The process of international students' adaptation has its own specifics and is more complex than of Ukrainian students. It is because, the system of factors and motives that affect this process are different, besides international students meet a lot of challenges that have different features of overcoming them.
Adaptation is a dynamic process when an organism adapts to changed living conditions. That is why international students coming to study in Ukraine need to adapt to new psychological, social and cultural conditions. All these processes cause some difficulties for them. Without doubts, the process of adapting to student life is quite difficult, even if the training takes place in the country of study. It is more difficult for educationalchallenges.org.ua

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those who study in another country (Hans de Wit, 2019).
There are many definitions of the concept of "social adaptation" in the scientific literature. However, despite this, there is still no unambiguous definition that would take into account the complexity and inconsistency of this process and reveal the adaptive human activity from sociological, psychological, professional, cultural and ideological positions.
Social adaptation is an individual adjustment to group standards and, vice versa, adjustment of social group's interest to a certain person within the group (Zakharenko et al, 2008).
According to the Psychology Dictionary (2013), social adaptation is the adjustment to the demands, restrictions and morals of society where we all live in harmony.
We fully agree that social adaptation is a constant and ongoing process responding to changes in a person's life and it is difficult to separate its individual aspects from each other. Thus, social adaptation can be interpreted as a continuous communicative process in which people, interacting and adapting to each other, create new ways of communication and connection with various elements of the social environment. Meanwhile, the goal of social adaptation is the individual's integration into a certain established system of social relations. This involves the development of patterns of behavior that determine the system of values and norms and reflect the behavior in a cultural environment, as well as the acquisition, acceptance and development of interpersonal communication skills. Social adaptation is defined as the adaptation of an individual (or a group) to the conditions of a new culture, to new values, orientations, norms of behavior, and traditions (Vitkovskaya & Trotsuk, 2004).
Adapting to the training process ensures an adequate international students' interaction with a new social and intellectual environment of the university. It facilitates the development of personal qualities, professional identification, involves a new social status development, mastering of new social roles, the acquisition of new values, understanding the significance of future profession.
It is important to note that in socialization, the psychological and social aspects are inextricably linked. In this regard, social adaptation is an integral component of socialization.
As it is known, in real life, all types of adaptation cannot be separated from each other, they are closely related. The division of various types of social adaptation, depending on the objects of adaptation, is based on the human activity in the social environment.
There are different theoretical models of international students' social adaptation. One of them is Lysgaard's culture shock model (Gebru & Yuksel-Kaptanoglu, 2020). He divides the process of adaptation into four different stages. The first stage is called "the honeymoon stage". It takes place during the first few months and is characterized by the excitement of the new environment. In the second one "the cultural shock stage" the person faces the problems and tries to solve them. The third stage is "the adjustment stage". The person starts to learn and adapt to the new culture. In the final stage "the mastery stage" the person accepts and adapts to the new society.
Thus, as it is known, social adaptation can be seen through the triad: personality, society and culture since an international Ukrainian researcher N. Hryshchenko claims, that the problem of social adaptation of students can be solved by creating an educational system aimed at forming "effective social adaptation of students, social competence, which will comply with the individual's inner motivation" (Hryschenko, 2012, p. 195). According to the researcher, the process of international students' socialization has three stages: 1) social adaptation, which takes place at the preparatory faculty or the first year of study; 2) social integration, which includes training in basic faculties; 3) individualization, which is implemented in the system of postgraduate education (postgraduate studies, doctoral studies, internships).
It should be pointed out, that Ukrainian and foreign scholars pay much attention to three principal types of students' social adaptation (Slepykhin, 2014;Hrushevskii, 2014;Grund, Brassler & Fries, 2014;Yashchenko et al., 2018). The following types of social adaptation are common for international students: 1. An international student, being in a new socio-cultural environment, fully accepts customs, traditions, norms and values, which subsequently begin to dominate the original ethnic features. 2. An international student partially perceives a new socio-cultural environment. This is expressed in agreement with the generally accepted society's norms, but at the same time, the main ethnic features are persisted through the ethnic groups' formation.
3. An international student demonstrates a refusal or isolation from the acceptance of cultural norms and values typical for most representatives of a social group.
It is clear that intercultural contacts play an important role in international students' social adaptation. S. Bochner (1986) states that international students can belong to different groups and each group has significant importance in adaption. The first group communicate only with countrymen and support their culture and relations. The second one communicates with local students and learns socio-cultural skills that help them adapt to the training process. The third group contacts other international students and support each other. According to his theory, the second group of students quickly adapt to the training process, university and country's social environment.
We have found that four components take place in the process of international students' social adaptation. They are the following: 1. Spontaneous socialization during the spontaneous interaction between a person and society, the impact of various life circumstances on a person. 2. Relatively directed socialization, which occurs in the process of the state's impact on the circumstances of a person's life. 3. Relatively socially controlled socialization, which occurs through the systematic creation of conditions for a person's education. 4. Conscious self-change of personality. educationalchallenges.org.ua

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Of course, international students deal with all mentioned above components of social adaptation in Ukraine. Contacting with various representatives of the Ukrainian society, international students are exposed to spontaneous socialization, since they find themselves in different life situations, often quite difficult ones, such as lack of language knowledge, inability to establish productive interaction with local students and residents. But the most important thing for international students who came to Ukraine to obtain higher education is the relatively socially controlled socialization that takes place in the training and cultural environment of the higher educational institution because the university where international students study takes full responsibility for their stay in Ukraine. In the process of social education as a relatively socially controlled socialization, there is also a self-change of the international students' personality, that is, the fourth component of socialization is realized.
It should be mentioned, in the process of international students' social adaptation, students' needs play an important role. We can state that successful social adaptation is determined not by any needs, but only by actualized ones. We have identified the following actualized international students' needs in the training and cultural environment of the university: educational, informational and social.
According to statistics, the social ones cause the most adaptive challenges. International students who came to study in Ukraine from other countries find themselves in a rather difficult situation. Student life turns into a serious life test for them. Students are forced not only to study at a higher educational institution, to prepare for their future profession but also to adapt to a completely new and unfamiliar socio-cultural environment. Thus, the international student is faced with a set of problems in the training and cultural environment.
The analysis of scientific-pedagogical literature on a problem of students' adaptation to training activity has allowed us to emphasize the following international students' challenges related to social adaptation. We have divided them into such groups: On the other hand, international students have a lack of skills of individual work, inability to take notes, search for the necessary information, analysis and compression of information. This is due to the difference between methods and forms of teaching Ukrainian higher education from the education of their native country.
In addition, international students cannot carry out behaviour's psychological selfregulation, find the optimal regime of work and rest in new conditions, develop a way of life and self-service, especially at transition from home environment to a hostel.
Overcoming the above-mentioned challenges is a priority of each educational institution, as it has an effective social impact on the further productive training process.
As we have stated before one of the international students' important challenges is a low language proficiency. In the process of language training, the teacher must focus on the practical requirements of the training process and the international students' real needs. That is why it is important to take into account the following aspects in language classes: to create communicative situations as close as possible to the international students' real needs in the training and cultural environment of higher educational institutions and the socio-cultural environment of Ukraine; take into account ethnopsychological, nationalcultural and personal characteristics of international students; stimulate the motivational sphere; to form cognitive activity; to develop skills of individual, training and scientific work. Organization of various competitions ("Ukrainian song", "Ukrainian poetry", "Ukrainian customs and traditions" etc.), excursions around the city, visiting local museums and galleries has a socializing effect on international students, enhances their intercultural competence, overcomes language, psychological, socio-cultural barriers, creates an atmosphere of positive emotional mood.
As for specialist teachers, as a rule they are not very familiar with the international students' ethnopsychological and national-cultural features, are not properly prepared for intercultural interaction in the training process. Determined efforts to prepare teachers for interaction with international students, focused on a significant social effect, are meaningful.
International students are not always sufficiently prepared for self-assess of their knowledge. Faced constantly with the need for adequate assessment of their own knowledge in the training process, international students need proper organization of academic achievement control. This will allow them to better understand the assessment criteria, ensure productive learning, proper professional and personal development. Most international students do not have enough necessary skills to organize training activities independently, they also are not able to implement them properly. Proper organization of individual work will reduce the number of unsuccessful students, increase their selfassess, provide emotional and psychological comfort in the educational educationalchallenges.org.ua

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and cultural environment of higher educational institution.
It is important to expand the sphere of friendly contacts between international and Ukrainian students, as such informal relations are the most effective in social adaptation. Active socio-cultural activities, involvement of international students in student life, friendly relations with peers help to overcome the difficulties of socialization and positively affect the quality of the training process.
Acquaintance with the international students' ethnopsychological and national-cultural features studying at the university touches not only Ukrainian students and teachers who work with them, but also other representatives of the training and cultural environment. These are, for example, librarians, dormitory and canteen workers. Because they are also involved in ensuring the training process and life of international students.
An important role in increasing the effectiveness of social adaptation is played by socio-pedagogical support, which is carried out throughout the period of training, aimed at sociopedagogical protection of international students at the stage of social adaptation, socio-pedagogical assistance at the stage of social integration and sociopedagogical support at the stage of social individualization. We are completely sure, the process of acculturation takes place through the interaction of the international student with the social teacher, employee of the structural unit responsible for training international students, curator, dean's office employee, language teacher etc.
We believe that the program of social and pedagogical support of international students' social adaptation in the training process is focused on solving the following tasks:

1.
International students' sociopedagogical portrait creation, outlining the psychological, pedagogical, cultural and social characteristics of their personality. 2. International students' acquaintance with the cultural heritage of Ukrainian culture. 3. International students' support during social adaptation to life in Ukraine and study in the higher educational institution. 4. International students' support in professional and personal selfrealization in the training and cultural environment of the university. 5. International students' cross-cultural literacy development. 6. Raising the level of intercultural competence of international students. 7. Interethnic tolerance development representatives of the training and cultural environment of the higher educational institution and international students in the sociocultural space of Ukraine. 8. Initiation of international students to all university events, student holidays associated with important events in the life of representatives of the community; preparation and holding of evenings; organization of international meetings, sports events; preparing students for participation in festivals, disputes, etc.
Organizing and conducting various events helps international students to immerse themselves in a foreign environment, avoid discomfort, mitigate the negative impact of "culture shock", understand, accept and begin to use new models of social behavior in training, professional and socio-cultural activities.
Researcher S. Vorozhbyt understands adaptation to university education as a complex, dynamic process due to the interaction of subjective and objective socio-psychological, mental, psychophysiological and physiological factors (Vorozhbyt, 2008: 74). Scholars M. Vitkovska & I. Trotsuk (2004) states that social adaptation is a process of adaptation of the individual to the academic group, adoption of regulatory requirements stay at the university; meaningful acceptance of the norms of morality and culture; adaptation of accommodation in a hostel.
The problem of international students' adaptation is actively discussed by foreign scholars (Pitarch, 2015;Akhtar & Kroner-Herwig, 2015;Zhou et al., 2008;Ozoğlu, Gur, & Coskun, 2015). According to Zhou et al. (2008), socialization is a continuous process of adaption and fight against stress at different levels. For Lewthwaite (1996) on the other hand, adaptation is a quest for a balance between a person and the environment. According to him, people react to a new condition in one of four different ways: changing the environment, changing oneself, doing nothing, or avoiding it. D. Sam & J. Berry (2006) define the four main strategies of adaptation: integration, assimilation, division and isolation.
The process of social adaptation is influenced by several factors such as type of personality, some knowledge about the country of study, previous experience living abroad (Zhou et al., 2008).
Arriving from another country, international students meet many challenges in their academic and daily lives.
As the international students' adaptation to new sociological, psychological and cultural conditions is the main factor affecting the effectiveness of the training process, foreigners who come to study in Ukraine find themselves in an extremely difficult situation: they have to study in higher education institutions (prepare for a future profession), and also to adapt to a new socio-cultural space.
As it is known, some researcher distinguish the following priority challenges faced by international students: difficulties associated with entering a new climate, unusual living conditions, the need to adapt to new norms and traditions of behavior and interaction with others; possible manifestations of ethnocultural stereotypes and prejudices; maladaptation reactions that lead to deterioration of health, increased anxiety, severe alienation from the study group, intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts and as a consequence -to reduce academic success, loss of interest and meaning in training and professional activities.
Exploring the issue of international students' challenges in Ukraine, Ukrainian scholar V. Miziuk (2014) divides them into three main groups: 1) psychophysiological challenges associated with personality restructuring, "entering" a new environment, psycho-emotional stress, climate change, etc.; 2) educational and cognitive challenges associated with insufficient language training, overcoming differences in education systems; adaptation to new requirements and knowledge control systems; 3) sociocultural challenges related to the educationalchallenges.org.ua

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development of a new social and cultural space of higher educational establishment; overcoming the language barrier in solving communication problems. Changes in living conditions and lack of usual comfort often prevent students from concentrating on their learning as they have to take care of themselves. Cultural traditions and regional features play an important role in the formation of adaptive skills in international students.
Research conducted by Poyrazli et al (2002) showed that the challenges of adopting to a different educational system can result in students receiving lower grades than they have previously achieved.
We fully agree with the opinion of some researchers, that the problems of everyday life such as the organization of meals in the canteen and the hostel, equipping the hostel with household appliances, access control in the hostel, medical care, as well as the lack of modern conditions for study are one of the most difficult.
Most scientists consider that language challenge is the most severe of all other challenges making socio-cultural and academic adaptation very hard. This is in consistent with findings of researchers like Titrek et al. (2016), Andrade (2006), Ward & Kennedy (1999). As a result, language fluency is a major determinant of successful integration and lessened trauma in a new culture (Andrade, 2006).
Most international students suffer from a lack of self-confidence (Jackson, Ray, & Bybell, 2013), which is a key aspect of learning a new language because constant communication as well as social integration with local students boosts one's proficiency in the new language (Yoon & Portman, 2004). Due to limited language skills international students face problems with writing, comprehension and reading in academic process (Poyrazli, 2003).
Students' inability to communicate effectively in the host culture complicates their ability to socialize and integrate with local students (Wright & Schartner, 2013).
Study of Aune et al. (2011) shows that international students suffering with language barrier with this psychological and socio-cultural adjustment which resulted in stress and effect their academic performance. Therefore, it is necessary to provide international students with a social support system to overcome challenges (Baklashova & Kazakov, 2016). Davis & Garrod (2013) states that it is not easy for international students to build a new social network in a new culture that they do not fully understand. According to their study, this is because many international students interpret their lack of friends to mean that they have been rejected by the entire culture in which they have arrived. Over time, these feelings lead to social isolation and low self-esteem. Their study showed that perceived social support levels positively contribute to international students' psychological wellbeing and positively influence their acculturation process.
Polish scientists M. Lazarewicz and B. Warner (2016), studying the role of universities in the social adaptation of international students, point to the following areas of activity: information support (exchange of information in the training process, which contributes to a better understanding of the situation); instrumental support (conducting conversations on specific areas of behavior); emotional support (positive attitude towards students, interest in

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their problems, psychological help). In addition, extracurricular activities can help foreign students improve their language skills, integrate with the locals easily and help them in their adaptation (Cathcart et al., 2005).

CONCLUSION
Therefore, we can conclude that the international students' social adaptation is defined as a continuous process of adaptation to new conditions in training, cultural and social environment. That is, as a process in which a person adapts to activities (learning, scientific, etc.), acquires knowledge and skills, adapts to a new way of life in society (living conditions), adopts cultural norms, values, and interacts with the social environment, develops communicative abilities (language, communication skills).
A holistic analysis of approaches to defining the phenomenon of social adaptation allows us to highlight the main features of this process: a person's assimilation of social norms and rules adopted in a society, social roles, culture, and the psychological readiness of an individual to interact with various social groups.
We have identified a number of challenges (training, psychological, sociocultural) that impede the social adaptation of international students to study at the university and finding out their circumstances and gist allowed us to suggest ways to overcome them. In particular, the main conditions for successful international students' adaptation to the format of activities in higher education establishments are outlined.
Further research may be related to the introduction of social directions of the higher educational institution's activities aimed at overcoming the challenges of international students' social adaptation. Development of a program of social and pedagogical support for the social adaptation of international students in the educational and cultural environment of the higher educational establishment will be promising. Grund, A., Brassler, N. K., & Fries, S. (2014)