Abstract:

The focus of this study is on multi-national groups in secondary and higher education, where students from different countries are gathered, or where students of the same nationality are in the core of a group of foreign students. Such a format of teaching and learning faces a number of problems of transmission of knowledge and getting education, among which you can list such difficulties as the language barrier, the ethnic barrier, cultural characteristics, psychosocial factors, religious nuances and a number of others.

On the other hand, this format has several undeniable advantages. Among them are the following: in a group where foreign students study together with local students, foreign students find it easier to learn the language and culture of the country, make new acquaintances and integrate into the educational system in the country.

In addition, it should be noted that according to observations of researchers and psychologists, such students feel more comfortable and united in groups consisting only of representatives of their own country, which allows them to establish closer ties and rely on their compatriots, being united by one language, culture and general mentality. Even in groups consisting of foreign students from different countries, without including representatives of the country where they are studying, the ties are stronger and are based on the realization that they are all foreigners, which means that the group has more chances for close communication, friendship and mutual help.

In addition, if we compare all three types of groups according to the language criterion, an important feature of such a group, compared to a group consisting entirely of foreign citizens, is the use of the language of the host country as the main tool of interethnic communication.
In groups, the core of which are representatives of the host country with a slight interspersing of foreign students, the main language of communication is, certainly, the language of the host community. However, for foreign students in the initial stages of learning this becomes an obstacle to communication, which often leads to their alienation and isolation.

This topic is becoming increasingly important due to the fact that humanitarian and educational cooperation between countries is expanding, getting higher education abroad has been and remains very prestigious, and for representatives of some countries is actually the only opportunity to receive higher education. In addition, an important factor is the growth of foreign migration, which led to the fact that children of migrants go to study at schools of recipient countries in specially created classes, where only children of migrants study, and also in classes where they are a minority. And although this problem in the language plane is more relevant for secondary schools, the problem of cultural, religious and ethnic diversity remains very acute at all levels of education.

It is important to note that if earlier this topic was more relevant for the countries of Western Europe and America, today in a globalizing world, where education is a universal value, the problem has become universal, and therefore the demand for such research and the search for approaches to solving this problem and related questions will steadily grow.

Keywords:

Barriers to learning, education, foreign students, language, ethnicity, nationality, culture, teaching methods, psychosocial factors.