Participation, Feedback, and Academic Adjustment Across Reported Classroom Practices: Korean Exchange Students in U.S. Higher Education

One-semester exchange programs place students in university courses within compressed, credit-bearing mobility timelines. This qualitative case study examines how eight Korean undergraduate exchange students described academic learning and adjustment during a one-semester exchange at a U.S. university. Drawing on online written interviews, the study analyzes students’ reported classroom experiences rather than formal course design or enacted instructional practice. The analysis focuses on how students navigated unfamiliar classroom expectations at the level of reported classroom practice. The findings show that participation became visible as academic work when students prepared texts, engaged in discussions, managed language risk, and judged what counted as an appropriate contribution. Feedback and academic help-seeking served as interpretive resources through peer review, instructor clarification, writing tools, and efforts to turn uncertainty into next steps. Across the accounts, adjustment appeared as selective and uneven additions to students’ academic strategies, most visible in discussion, peer feedback, open-ended writing, instructor clarification, and resource assembly. This study contributes to higher education and international student mobility research by showing how temporary exchange students made classroom expectations workable through targeted strategy additions rather than through a shift from one national learning culture to another. It offers implications for participation scaffolding, feedback design, and pre-departure preparation.