Perceived adaptation difficulties and perceived influencing factors: a descriptive survey of CFL teachers in UAE schools
Di Zhu, Qilong Zhang, Ke Jiang, Jing XuPurpose
The purpose of this study was to examine adaptation difficulties and perceived influencing factors among 73 Chinese as a Foreign Language teachers in UAE public schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Means, standard deviations, 95% confidence intervals and ranks were calculated for 18 difficulty items and 12 perceived-impact items. Exploratory gap analysis compared seven conceptually corresponding pairs.
Findings
Using Arabic at work was the highest-rated difficulty (M = 4.12), followed by classroom management (M = 3.03). All other difficulty means were below the scale midpoint. Perceived-impact means clustered between 2.79 and 3.19, with substantially overlapping confidence intervals. Gap analysis identified two boundary-sensitive convergence cases, three stable divergence cases and two boundary-sensitive divergence cases. These comparisons are hypothesis-generating and do not establish causal attribution or psychological alignment.
Originality/value
The study provides exploratory evidence concerning an under-researched group of international teachers. Combining complete descriptive profiles with a restricted comparison of corresponding domains generates context-specific hypotheses for future instrument development and longitudinal, qualitative and mixed-method research.