Forms of Racism and Discrimination faced by International Students

International students might face challenges in the host country caused by a wide range of social
inequalities including racism (Tran & Hoang, 2019; Tran & Gomes, 2015; Tran & Vu, 2016). International
students might encounter physical and verbal racist abuse such as swearing, being told to go back
to their home country, pejorative comments about the home country, aggressive laughter and missiles
thrown (Brown & Jones, 2013). While verbal assaults occur more often, international students also face
significant physical abuse of being thrown at objects such as bottles, stones, eggs and water, and
some students experience multiple racist incidents (Brown & Jones, 2013).
Linguistic racism is another form of racism typically endured by international students due to their
attachment to an academic environment as a student. Dovchin (2020) denotes two main traits of
linguistic racism: “ethnic accent bullying” and ‘linguistic stereotyping’. Racism and discrimination
facing international students might originate from stereotypes and negative perceptions about their
home countries as national discrimination rather than the traditional racism that solely from the colour
of their skin (Lee, 2006).