China international students overcome language barriers with defence mechanisms

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the defence mechanism among China international student to handle the stress and anxiety due to language barriers in one of the Malaysia local university. The research methodology utilised in this research was the qualitative approach; five China international students participated in this research through purposive sampling and interviews were carried out. The interview session was audio recorded with the consent of the participants. Steps taken to ensure the trustworthiness of the study, include member checking, peer-reviewing, being sensitive to ethical practice and appropriate arrangement of data collection. The findings of this study revealed the language barriers are difficulties in academic, poor English, differences in local accents and emotional states. Three defence mechanisms investigated which is denial, projection and identification. The researcher recommends that university and international students themselves should take appropriate steps to solve the language barriers.