Analysis on Difficulties and Optimization Paths of Non-native Learners’ Academic English Learning in Higher Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/661xfh02Keywords:
Academic English, Non-Native Learners, Higher Education, Learning Difficulties, Optimization Paths, Academic LiteracyAbstract
This paper explores the typical difficulties that non-native English learners face in their studies at the university level and puts forward all-round optimisation strategies to address these problems. With the rapid spread of global academic exchange, learning English for academic purposes (EAP) has been widely implemented in education around the world. Non-native speakers are more likely to have significant language differences and psychological pressure when trying to participate in difficult discussions at school. Based on the above analyses, several problems have arisen in teaching basic interpersonal communication skills and achieving the aim of high academic-level cognitive language proficiency. The paper has also listed all the problems with the current teaching system in detail. To address the above urgent problems proactively, this study puts forward the following targeted optimization paths: first, strategically introduce genre-based teaching; second, explicitly teach specialized academic vocabulary; and third, intentionally cultivate highly inclusive academic socialization environments. In short, we need to build an all-encompassing, highly supportive teaching and learning system to help non-native English-speaking university students improve their studies and cultivate general academic skills.
Downloads
References
[1] Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 19, 121–129.
[2] Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings (pp. 1–50). Cambridge University Press.
[3] Flowerdew, J. (1999). Problems in writing for scholarly publication in English: The case of Hong Kong. Journal of Second Language Writing, 8(3), 243–264.
[4] Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213–238.
[5] Biber, D. (2006). University language: A corpus-based study of spoken and written registers (pp. 10–45). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
[6] Hyland, K. (2006). English for academic purposes: An advanced resource book (pp. 1–35). Routledge.
[7] Leki, I. (2007). Undergraduates in a second language: Challenges and complexities of academic literacy development (pp. 50–85). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates/Routledge.
[8] Duff, P. A. (2010). Language socialization into academic discourse communities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, 169–192.
[9] Wingate, U. (2015). Academic literacy and student diversity: The case for inclusive practice (pp. 1–25). Multilingual Matters.
[10] Macaro, E. (2018). English medium instruction: Content and language in policy and practice (pp. 1–40). Oxford University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Education and Humanities

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.







