THE PECULIARITIES OF ACADEMIC MOTIVATION OF FOREIGN STUDENTS STUDYING AT UKRAINIAN UNIVERSITIES
Authors:   A.S. Makarenko State Pedagogical University in Sumy, Pukhno Svitlana , Usik Dmytro ,   A.S. Makarenko State Pedagogical University in Sumy
Published: June 2021

The article analyses theoretically motivation to study at a universities, as well as the features of such motivation at foreign students (of the first academic year) – future teachers studying at Ukrainian universities. Motivation, as it presented in modern researches on foreign students’ trained at Ukrainian universities, is analyzed. In our research light, such phenomena as academic motivation, socio-psychological adaptation, students’ adaptation to university training, adaptation to an academic group are analyzed. The article confirm that the peculiarities of academic motivation of first-year foreign students studying at Ukrainian universities influence their socio-psychological adaptation, and, accordingly, the quality of their professional knowledge, relevant competencies and transformation of future teachers’ personal characteristics. Motivation to acquire professional knowledge is a compensating factor of socio-psychological adaptation in the situations when necessary knowledge and skills are insufficient. Today, it is important to form foreign students’ stable positive motivation for professional training, as a factor for successful socio-psychological adaptation and chosen profession mastery. The empirical study was organized at the Institute of Slavic and Foreign Philology and the Physics and Mathematics Faculty, A.S. Makarenko State Pedagogical University in Sumy; the sample consisted of first-year foreign students; their motivational characteristics were studied. According to the obtained data, the main motive to university training at 19% of the examined foreign students was knowledge acquisition, 65% wanted master their professions and 19% of the respondents wanted obtain a diploma. Thus, most international students had chosen university training with motivation to master their profession, which evidenced conscious choice of learning area, compliance of their training with their professional interests and a vision of professional perspective. Motivation to obtain a university diploma evidenced a desire to achieve various goals, not directly related to further professional work in a chosen specialty. 77% of the study participants showed high scores as for adaptability to an educational (academic) group and 23% showed low ones. High scores meant a favorable psychological climate for students during their studies, created at the university, without difficulties in interacting with fellow student, foreign students’ willingness to interact, initiative, acceptance of group norms and values, compliance with group rules, mutual support. Low scores of adaptability to an educational (academic) group signaled complicated communications and interactions, inability to find help from other students and lecturers on issues of education, life, etc. 71% of the examined students showed high scores as for adaptability to educational activities, which indicated their high desire to master knowledge and successful knowledge acquisition, and 29% of the participants had low scores on this scale. The students had the following difficulties: language skills, terminological apparatus of academic disciplines were insufficient to understand instructions and to have successful interaction; lecturers or fellow students did not propose active cooperation; the students avoided initiative, responsibility, and so on. The examined students, as a rule, did not have formed motivation for professional training, had low communication skills, communicative barriers, etc. Permanent systematic consultations (according to pre-organized schedules), organization of individual independent work and analysis of its implementation introduced into university lectures’ work could be effective at work with such students. The motivation to study is a significant factor of successful socio-psychological adaptation; the specific of such motivation at students with low adaptability to learning activities was that their main motive was to obtain a diploma. However, the dynamics of foreign university students’ motivation to study depends on many factors at different stages, positive motivation is influenced by lecturers’ professionalism (from the point of view of foreign students, it means lecturers’ knowledge and the sense of justice); university lecturers’ attitude to students as competent people; lecturers’ assistance and cooperation with students for students’ self-determination, their awareness of close and ultimate education goals, professional orientation; development and support of a favorable psychological atmosphere during interactions; learning sequence and understandability of study material; introduction of innovative educational methods in order to stimulate educational and cognitive activities; organization of individual work; work of the preparatory department to organize the continuity of the study material for foreign students’ university training; creating and “reinforcing” a success situation during training. The main task for the lecturer staff of Ukrainian universities in their interactions with foreign students, in particular, first-year student, is to form the student’s sense of self-efficacy (belief in the effectiveness of their own actions, a sense of confidence), which is possible with constant practice in knowledge mastering. The effective innovative teaching methods are: didactic and role-playing games, special trainings, problem solving, individual research tasks, etc. Prospects for further research include developing effective methods and forms of educational process organization based on studies of lecturers’ experience at Ukrainian universities. Today, the problem of foreign students’ sustainable motivation to study at different educational stages at Ukrainian universities remains important, as motivation changes affect not only academic achievements but also learning continuation and university graduation; thus, scientific research on this phenomenon should be activated.