Abstract

Despite the increase in the number of international students residing in Korea, there is lack of research on their Everyday Information Seeking behaviors. This study investigated the information needs and information seeking behaviors of international students in Korea according to the settlement stages (before entry, initial settlement, and present) through Critical Incident Technology (CIT). International students in Korea reported their daily life-related information needs more frequently than their academic-related information needs. International students used multiple information sources for seeking information, such as websites, social media, and friends. Compared to websites, international students demonstrated higher satisfaction with interactive sources such as social media and friends. It was found that the language barrier is the biggest difficulty that international students experience during the information seeking process. Unfamiliarity with Korean society and culture were addressed as another difficulty. Based on the understanding of international students’ information needs and seeking behaviors throughout the settlement stages, recommendations for helping international students search for information in their daily life were discussed.