Language difficulties affected more than classroom conversations for Pakistani students studying in London.
Interviews with 15 students connected communication challenges with friendship, belonging and emotional adjustment.
What researchers studied
Qirat Naz studied 15 Pakistani graduate and postgraduate students attending four universities in London.
The qualitative phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews, rather than a representative survey or controlled experiment.
The researcher analysed participants’ accounts thematically, using established theories of culture shock and adaptation.
Interviews explored academic communication, social relationships, homesickness, identity and strategies for navigating unfamiliar expectations.
The aim was to understand how these experiences interacted.
What they found
Language emerged as a central theme linking academic participation, social integration and psychological wellbeing.
Students described difficulties with British accents and dialects, which sometimes made classroom engagement, friendship formation and everyday communication more demanding.
Participants also reported loneliness, homesickness and tensions between familiar identities and new cultural expectations.
Their accounts identified social support, university assistance, intercultural awareness and growing linguistic confidence as resources that helped them navigate adjustment.
What it means
The research suggests that meeting formal English-language entry requirements does not necessarily eliminate communication challenges.
Everyday accents, informal conversation and social confidence can remain difficult even for students able to study in English.
Universities could consider peer networks, accessible academic support and opportunities for informal conversation alongside standard orientation programmes.
Such measures are plausible responses to the reported experiences, but this study did not test whether they improve outcomes.
Important limitation
The interview themes should not be interpreted as prevalence estimates or evidence of a causal relationship between language proficiency and mental health.
Adjustment appeared to be a continuing process, rather than a predictable sequence completed during the first semester.
Only 15 students from one national background participated.
The results cannot represent all international students, and retrospective interview accounts depend on participants’ recollections and thematic interpretation.
Comparative and longitudinal work would be needed to assess wider applicability.
Source Information
Study: A qualitative study of cultural shock and acculturation experiences among Pakistani international students in London, United Kingdom
Authors: Qirat Naz
Journal / Source: Frontiers in Sociology
Published: 6 November 2026
