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journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 83-90 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis further convergence management to build a more resilient education system for international students at tsinghua university in covid-19 pandemic period 以趋同管理促进构建更有韧性的人才培养体系: 新冠疫情中清华大学国际教育实践 qingling liu (刘清伶) nan zou (邹楠) tsinghua university, china 清华大学，中国 abstract (摘要) covid-19 disrupts regular educational order and poses significant challenges to international education. in the face of the uncertain development of the pandemic, tsinghua university has been actively exploring to build a more resilient education system by further promoting convergence management of the local and international students. based on the organization system theory, we explain the necessity of convergence management, review tsinghua’s responses to the covid-19 crisis, and introduce the practices in building a more resilient education system, and discuss the future for promoting system resilience. 新冠肺炎疫情打乱了正常的教育秩序，对国际学生培养带来巨大挑战。面 对疫情发展的不确定性，清华大学深入推进趋同管理，积极探索构建更有 韧性的人才培养体系。本文以组织系统理论为指导，说明中外学生趋同管 理的必要性，回顾清华应对疫情危机的系统建设历程，介绍构建更有韧性 国际教育体系的实践，进而讨论提升系统韧性的未来展望。 journal of international students 84 keywords (关键词): convergence management, resilience, international student, education system, covid-19 (趋同管理, 韧性, 国际学生, 培养体系, 新冠疫情) 前言 新冠肺炎疫情在所有区域都严重阻碍且逆转了《2030 年可持续发展议程》 的执行进展 (economic and social council, 2021)。截至 2020 年 4 月 5 日，近 16 亿学生无法上学 (赵章靖, 2020)。疫情打乱了人们生活的各个方面，对 青年 (18-29 岁) 造成系统而深远的巨大影响：学校与培训中心关闭影响到 73%以上的受教育青年并会影响到就业，还造成心理、权益、社会行为等 方面的不利影响 (international labour organization, 2020)。 “因为疫情，2020 年将成为人类历史上的分水岭。” (邱勇, 2020) 疫 情危机还在继续并持续影响着清华大学的国际学生培养。疫情爆发时正值 寒假，当时大批国际学生离开了中国，绝大部分学生未能如期返回。438 所高校在籍的 16 万多国际学生中，在中国境内的只有不到 4.6 万人 (李梅 花等, 2020)。截至 2020 年底，清华 3300 多名国际学生中，仅有不到 1100 人在中国境内。客观形势要求采取积极应对策略，化解疫情对国际学生培 养带来的不利影响。 大学是系统，通过高效的组织，可以将系统资源和要素统筹协调起来， 为人才培养服务。在疫情情境下，人才培养工作面临着巨大挑战，如何在 防控好疫情的基础上开展国际学生培养，是清华需要迅速解决的重要课题。 构建中外趋同的人才培养体系 系统是由相互关联、相互作用、相互制约的组成部分所构成的具有某种功 能的整体，由子系统和要素构成，开放系统是指与系统的外部环境有交流 的系统 (钱学森, 2001)。由关联的部分联结或结合在一起是所有系统的共同 特点，这些联结使得系统组成部分之间相互依赖。但这种依赖或联结的程 度并不完全相同，故组织也有自我调节系统的组织与松散偶联系统的组织 (理查德·斯科特, 杰拉尔德·戴维斯, 2011)。 大学是由师生员工等要素为人才培养目的而组织起来的系统，具有很 强的自我调节能力。新冠肺炎的全球传播和病毒对全体人类的攻击客观上 要求大学做出系统性的应急反应和部署，并随形势变化调整措施，以更好 地应对疫情，开展人才培养工作，并促进自身持续发展。新冠病毒对所有 师生员工的危害和疫情防控相关法律政策客观上也要求学校开展系统防控 和统一行动，这也为加强中外学生趋同管理提供了客观依据。 趋同管理要求对国际学生的管理方式与国内学生大体相同 (徐艳春, 李 文武 & 鲁玲, 2016)。趋同管理当然并非因疫情而起，其根本原因在于中国 教育的内在发展。一是中国从教育大国向教育强国转变，中国教育能够培 养出大师。二是中国教育国际化的需要。中国已成为世界第三留学目的地 journal of international students 85 国，以往特殊化的国际学生管理模式难以适应教育发展形势，越来越需要 中外趋同。三是对人才培养认识的深化。构建人类命运共同体成为指导人 才培养的重要思想，价值塑造、能力培养、知识传授“三位一体”成为基 本教育理念，全员全程全方位育人“三全育人”成为基本要求，德智体美 劳全面发展的全球胜任力人才成为重要培养目标。“促进中外青年共同成 长，为实现中华民族伟大复兴和构建人类命运共同体提供人才支撑，是来 华留学事业新的时代使命。” (郦金梁, 2021) 为适应新形势，人才培养上必须深入变革，加强中外趋同。清华近年 来一直在推进中外趋同，努力“实现中外学生的培养趋同和管理趋同、交 流融合与文化认同，建设国际化校园，全面提升面向国际学生的教育、管 理与服务工作质量” (清华大学, 2018)，已初步形成国际化、趋同化、专 业化、协同化的国际学生培养体系 (刘清伶 & 邹楠, 2021)。 这一体系是学校人才培养体系的组成部分，同时其子系统也落实趋同 要求。国际学生招生管理归口至招办，教学与学位归口至教务处、研究生 院，在学校相关委员会领导和院系工作队伍的协作下构成招生教学系统。 学生工作由学生处、研工部牵头，在学校学生工作指导委员会领导下，与 院系学生工作系统联合构成学生工作体系。住宿、餐饮、安全、医疗、保 险等方面校内外各方协作，构成服务保障体系。国际学生学者中心作为国 际学生归口部门在国际学生入学教育、外事管理、中外融合等发面发挥主 导作用，与其他相关子系统及要素共同构成国际学生培养体系。清华在多 层面上推进中外学生趋同管理，创造了有利于国际学生学习与发展的良好 环境，提升了培养效果 (邹楠, 刘清伶 & 杨静, 2020)。 构建更有韧性的人才培养体系，消减疫情为国际学生培养带来的破坏 性影响，是清华面临的重要课题。清华充分发挥趋同管理优势，进行了积 极探索。 危机情境下的人才培养体系建设 危机情境下中外趋同的人才培养体系建设是否有效？这可以用危机管理 4r 模式进行分析。所谓 4r 是指缩减 (reduction)，预备 (readiness)，反应 (response)，恢复 (recovery) 四步管理法，即减少危机情境、做好应对准备、 尽力应对危机、从危机中恢复，危机管理的结果应是组织韧性 (resilience) 即有效生存与反应能力的提升 (罗伯特·希斯, 2001)。 中国“用 1 个多月的时间初步遏制疫情蔓延势头，用 2 个月左右的时 间将本土每日新增病例控制在个位数以内，用 3 个月左右的时间取得武汉 保卫战、湖北保卫战的决定性成果，进而又接连打了几场局部地区聚集性 疫情歼灭战，夺取了全国抗疫斗争重大战略成果。” (习近平, 2020) 国家 成功抗疫为清华应对疫情并做好人才培养工作提供了支持。 journal of international students 86 缩减阶段形成危机预防体系 国家的危机管理体系为清华的危机管理提供了指南。《中华人民共和 国突发事件应对法》明确要求建立健全突发事件应急预案体系，《国家突 发公共事件总体应急预案》提供了系统的危机应对指南，《国家突发公共 卫生事件应急预案》为防控疫情及其危害提供了参考，《突发事件应急预 案管理办法》对预案编制和管理提出明确要求。清华制定了总体预案和各 类突发事件应急预案，形成了应急预案体系。其中校园大规模传染病流行 事件应急预案详细规定了各方面安排，为疫情防控提供了重要指南。此外， 2003 年学校在防控非典型性肺炎中形成的有效经验和防控体系为新冠肺炎 疫情防控提供了参考，而且清华也一如既往坚决防控新冠肺炎疫情。这些 都对减少和应对学校的疫情危机情境有积极作用。 预备阶段构建疫情防控体系 清华“把全校师生员工的生命健康摆在首要位置，把疫情防控作为当 前最重要的工作” (清华大学, 2020)，迅速构建起疫情防控体系。明确 了防控原则。2020年 1月下旬迅速启动防控准备，确立了“高度重视、严 格迅速、积极主动、科学有效、早做准备”的原则 (吴筱君, 2020)。建立 起组织架构。2020 年 1 月 23 日成立由校党委书记和校长任双组长的新冠 肺炎疫情防控领导小组，并陆续成立医疗保障等 15 个专项工作组，其中 包括防控疫情学生工作组。及时沟通信息。通过信息门户网站等提醒师生 做好防护，通知取消聚集类活动、暂停校园参观和场馆开放，要求全体学 生不提前返校，并开通 24 小时热线。保障正常工作。当时虽正值春节期 间，存在人员紧缺困难，学校依然加强了值班值守安排，保持校医院发 热门诊正常接诊，并积极部署排查工作，对各二级单位提出明确防控要求。 明确教学计划。为稳定教学秩序，促进疫情防控，决定“延期开学、如期 开课”，利用寒假组织在线教学培训，准备线上教学。 反应阶段建立工作落实体系 2020 年 2 月至 6 月是疫情防控关键反应阶段，清华采取有效措施，各 部门和全校师生员工共同参与、分工协作，形成系统的工作落实体系，疫 情防控与人才培养齐抓共进。加强校园管控。学生相关部门与院系严格出 入校审批，各单位加强场所管控、校园活动管控，饮食中心强化用餐管理 等，降低传染风险。加强信息化工作。2 月起信息办、信息化技术中心与 学生相关部门写作，陆续开发上线了学生健康和出行情况报告系统、涉疫 风险情况报告系统、学生进出校审批系统等，国际学生学者中心协调上线 了相关双语系统。保障教学科研。在教学专项工作组下成立三个在线教学 专家组和一个学生学习保障工作组，指导与保障在线教学。2 月 3 日全校 师生线上同上一堂课，拉开在线教学的序幕。加大发展支持力度。向受疫 情影响产生经济困难的学生包括国际学生提供特殊困难补助，加强信息服 journal of international students 87 务和线上学习、心理、职业发展等方面的指导，在保证质量的前提下支持 学生按时毕业。2020 年春季学期全校共开设在线教学课程 4471 门次(邱勇, 2020)，能开尽开，科研上在新冠病毒机理研究、疾病诊断等方面产生了一 系列科研成果，全年国际学生毕业人数超过往年。 恢复阶段推进工作融合体系 根据教育部和北京市部署，学校 6 月初启动学生返校并准备新生入学 工作，构建了兼顾境内境外、线上线下、自愿与要求相融合的有序工作体 系。为来校师生上线了双语化的“清华紫荆”小程序，制定实施分批返校 方案和安全预案，开展恢复工作。2020 年 6 月 6 日起首先安排毕业年级学 生分批次自愿返校。虽然由于 6 月 11 日以来北京疫情突转严峻，这次返校 工作被迫中止，在校毕业学生也推迟离校，但是 6月 22日、23日的研究生 毕业典礼和本科生毕业典礼还是采用线上线下相结合的形式如期举行，全 球双语直播，最大限度满足境内外毕业生需求。随着疫情再次得到控制， 学校从 2020年 8月 15日起组织学生有序返校和新生报到。8月中下旬开始 韩国留学生也可办理来华学习签证入境中国，学校积极提供入境帮助与校 内生活服务，数百名国际学生从境内外陆续来校学习。2020 年秋季学期在 校学生落实常态防控要求，开展线下教学，不能到校的学生坚持线上教学。 以线上线下融合的方式持续开展各项工作，适应了疫情情况下国际学生培 养需要。 危机管理中增强人才培养体系的韧性 如前所述，组织韧性 (resilience) 是指有效生存与反应能力，也是危害中的 系统通过保护和恢复基本结构和功能等方法，及时有效抵御、吸收、适应 灾害影响和灾后恢复的能力 (范维澄, 2015)。清华以趋同管理方式建设起国 际学生培养体系，又在疫情危机应对中对体系加以完善。危机管理的各项 努力有效维护了学校人才培养的核心功能，提升了人才培养体系的韧性。 2021年清华的国际学位生新生报到率和报到人数与 2020年相差不到 1个百 分点，比 2019年下降 6个多百分点，三年的报到率均在 72%以上，总体稳 定。学校坚持对滞留境外的 2000多名国际学生开展教学、指导等培养工作， 趋同管理下国际学生培养体系的韧性得以彰显。 清华大学的趋同管理实践对建设更有韧性的国际学生培养体系有何启 示？这可以从组织结构、系统功能和工作效果等方面考察。 完善结构，共担责任，统一要求 新冠肺炎疫情给大学带来新的工作内容，即疫情防控，这要首先从完 善基本系统结构入手。为做好学生疫情防控工作，清华大学建立防控疫情 学生工作组，由学校分管学生工作的副书记领导，学生部、研工部、国际 学生学者中心以及相关部门共同参与，将包括国际学生在内的全体学生纳 入工作对象。工作组统筹安排学生疫情防控工作，在信息采集、防控措施、 journal of international students 88 教学保障等方面统一要求，全体学生一视同仁，消除了中外学生区别对待 的问题。如学校对保留宿舍但不能返校的国际学生与中国学生一样免收宿 舍费，受到普遍认可。工作组统筹学生工作部门、安全保卫部门、医疗保 健部门和院系等共同开展国际学生管理服务，协同承担危机应对、管理服 务、发展支持等方面的责任。如向在校国际学生同样提供免费新冠肺炎疫 苗接种。通过完善结构，最大化降低了风险，提升了系统能力和可持续性， 为更好地开展人才培养工作提供了有力支持。 融合力量，保持功能，提高水平 教学秩序是清华的基本秩序，保障教学秩序是人才培养最核心的工作， 涉及包括 3000 多名国际学生学者在内的数万名师生员工，需要集全校之 力尽力保障。学校 2020 年 2 月初就组织全校师生同上一堂课，强化共同 体理念，号召共同行动。在学校建设在线教学体系的同时，国际学生学者 也主动参与到在线教学培训体系建设和教学技术指南编写等工作中，积极 发挥主人翁精神。清华还统筹安排联系到包括国际学生学者在内的每一位 师生，“一人一策”解决个性化问题，兼顾各地区、各专业、各种情景下 不同教学需求，努力保障一个都不落下。国际学生学者切实感受到了清华 共同体的力量，积极参与到相关工作中。针对绝大部分国际新生不能入境 的情况，国际学生入学教育也全部转为线上，如期开展，并开展多种形式 的线上线下融合式活动。这些举措切实保障了教学秩序和学校核心功能， 也促进了工作水平的提高。 拓展路径，完善系统，优化效果 人才培养工作因时因势而变，国际学生培养尤其要顺应时势，要以灵 活安排促进育人。北京时间 2020 年 3 月 9 日上午，疫情防控期间清华首场 硕士学位论文在线答辩会顺利举行，参加答辩的是位国际学生。学校毕业 安排更加灵活，增加学位审批次数，加强科研和论文指导，为学生按时毕 业创造积极条件。以发展支持促进育人。2020 年初向因疫情影响造成困难 的学生提供困难补助或技术支持，2021 年秋季学期设立蒲公英计划，共已 向 200 多名国际学生提供了资助，促进其更好地投入学习。以示范力量促 进育人。清华积极承担社会责任，2020 年春季学期把 2200 多门慕课和学 校的智慧教学工具免费向社会开放，还与联合国教科文组织联合发起全球 大学特别对话，与武汉等地区的大学合作促进共同发展。学校“自强不息、 厚德载物”的行动是鲜活的教材，国际学生深受鼓舞。2020 届波黑籍硕士 毕业生伊瓦娜在毕业典礼上表示清华给了她远见卓识，并特别倡议毕业生 们团结起来为人类社会和美好未来而努力 (伊瓦娜, 2020)。 结语及展望 趋同管理是促进学校人才培养的正确选择。清华持续推进趋同管理，在应 对新冠肺炎疫情中构建更有韧性的人才培养体系，保障了教育教学不间断， journal of international students 89 促进了学校可持续发展，也带动其他高校提升应对危机的能力。面向未来， 清华提出建设更开放、更融合、更具韧性的大学，这一理念也以 2021大学 校长全球论坛《清华共识》的形式，为世界上 100 多所高校所认同。 可以预见，未来清华将会继续推进中外学生趋同管理，国际学生培养 体系将会继续完善，这一体系以及清华人才培养体系的韧性将会继续增强， 人才培养能力也会持续提高。由于新冠肺炎疫情在短期内还会继续影响国 际学生培养，危机应对体系将继续发挥作用。同时，作为开放系统，大学 未来也会遇到各种挑战，需要提升人才培养体系韧性、进一步促进国际学 生培养。 鉴于目前大部分国际学生还无法正常来校学习生活，学习、心理、经 济、社会、就业等多方面的压力还将持续，面向未来，大学需要提前部署， 在推进在线教育和保障教育质量的同时，要系统考虑如何更好地为国际学 生提供发展支持，让大学及其人才培养体系的韧性化为其所培养人才的韧 性，进而促进大学共同体乃至人类命运共同体的韧性。 参考文献 economic and social council. (2021). regional cooperation in the economic, social and related fields: report of the secretary-general. https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=e/2021/15. international labour organization. (2020). youth & covid-19: impacts on jobs, education, rights and mental well-being. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/ed_emp/documents/publication/ wcms_753026.pdf. scott, w. r., & davis, g.. (2000). organizations and organizing: rational, natural and open systems perspectives. routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315663371 范维澄. (2015). 构建智慧韧性城市的思考与建议. 中国建设信息化, (21), 2021. doi:cnki:sun:zgjs.0.2015-21-012 李梅花, 隋祎宁, 孟翔冲等. (2020). 新冠肺炎疫情对来华留学生工作的影响 及对策调研报告. 来华留学年度报告. 郦金梁 . (2021). 构建新时代国际学生教育管理体系 . 中国教育报 . https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1689818088987791155&wfr=spider&for= pc. 刘清伶, & 邹楠. (2021). 以更高水平人才培养体系促国际学生成长. 神州学 人, 44–47. doi:cnki:sun:szxr.0.2021-04-013 罗伯特·希斯. (2001). 危机管理. 中信出版社. 钱学森. (2001). 创建系统学. 山西科学技术出版社. 清华大学. (2018). 关于完善国际学生工作体系的若干意见. 清华大学. (2020). 同舟共济度时艰 众志成城战疫情 清华大学致广大师生员 工 的 一 封 信 . https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404466167396827503. journal of international students 90 邱勇. (2020). 建设更开放、更融合、更有韧性的大学 实现更加普惠的高质 量教育. https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/info/1688/79321.htm. 吴筱君. (2020). 严密防范 周密部署 清华大学扎实开展新型冠状病毒感染的 肺炎疫情防控工作. https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/info/1685/69269.htm. 习近平. (2020). 在全国抗击新冠肺炎疫情表彰大会上的讲话. http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-10/15/c_1126614978.htm. 徐艳春, 李文武, & 鲁玲. (2016). 高校来华留学生趋同化管理的研究. 教育教 学论坛, 11-12. https://kns.cnki.net/kcms/detail/13.1399.g4.20161108.1430.012.html 伊瓦娜 . (2020). 自强不息 厚 德 载物 在挑战中 寻 求成功方案 . https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/info/1681/79531.htm. 赵章靖. (2020). 新冠肺炎疫情冲击下全球教育的变化特征和趋势. 国家教育 行政学院学报, 59–69. doi:cnki:sun:gjxz.0.2020-09-009. 邹楠, 刘清伶, & 杨静. (2020). 清华大学中外学生趋同管理的实践与挑战. 国 际学生教育管理研究, 100-108. doi:cnki:sun:gjjg.0.2020-01-012. qingling liu (corresponding author) is deputy director of tsinghua university international students and scholars center. his research interests include international student education. email: qlliu@tsinghua.edu.cn 刘清伶 (通讯作者)，清华大学国际学生学者中心副主任。研究兴趣包括国 际学生培养。邮箱: qlliu@tsinghua.edu.cn nan zou is senior manager of tsinghua university international students and scholars center. his research interests include international student management and service. email: zounan@tsinghua.edu.cn 邹楠，清华大学国际学生学者中心高级主管。研究兴趣包括国际学生管理 和服务。邮箱: zounan@tsinghua.edu.cn 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. vol 12 no s3 2022 book review book review © journal of international students volume 12, issue s3 (2022), pp. 189-193 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis intercultural competence for college and university students lantz-deaton, c., & golubeva, i. (2020). intercultural competence for college and university students: a global guide for employability and social change. springer. reviewed by peyman g.p. sabet and elaine chapman, university of western australia globalization has provided the modern world with a great deal of convenience, but it has posed many challenges which need to be overcome by adopting systematic approaches. in the globalized world, land and sea borders do not bear much weight as international interactions increase. such interactions can cause friction if interactants are not sufficiently interculturally competent, leading to the rise of obstacles and communication breakdown. intercultural competence (ic), therefore, has become one of the main concerns of educational institutions (spitzberg & changnon, 2009). consequently, many educational institutions now strive to incorporate ic training into their educational programs, so that graduate global citizens can perform effectively in intercultural contexts. the book intercultural competence for college and university students, co-authored by caprice lantz-deaton and irina golubeva, comprises eight chapters and details how college and university students can become better prepared, both academically and socially, for their future careers. ic is discussed under the three main topics: how ic can contribute to a more peaceful world and enhance intercultural interaction, how it can contribute to the academic and career success of each individual, and how journal of international students 12(4) 190 potential ic can mitigate such issues as “equality, diversity, and inclusion worldwide” (p. vii). chapter 1 begins by introducing the concept of ic and its constituent components, followed by the reasons why ic is a must for the future careers and social lives of graduates. lantz-deaton and golubeva describe how diversity can serve as a two-edged sword; it can contribute to the coexistence of different cultural values in society and the workplace, while also posing inequality challenges, such as prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping, both in and outside the workplace. the chapter invites the reader to reflect on how interculturally competent they consider themselves to be and offers reasons why they might mistakenly overestimate their ic, such as their educational profile, having international friends, extensive travels abroad, speaking more than one language, and many more factors that can contribute to ic but do not necessarily guarantee it. the authors devote chapter 2 to the core concept of culture to ground their discussion of ic as “a complex and not well understood concept” (p. 25). specifically, the authors investigate different aspects of culture, both intrinsic and extrinsic, and consider the reasons for differences between cultures. they also discuss identity -both personal and social -and address cultural concepts from different perspectives, such as deep culture, superficial culture and the values associated with them, i.e., high and low context cultures. before proposing their own definition of culture, lantzdeaton and golubeva discuss implicit and explicit norms by providing examples from different cultures and consider individualism versus collectivism. chapter 3 focuses on the factors that hinder ic and the ways in which cultural differences produce negative reactions such as prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination. by discussing two dichotomies of discrimination, explicit versus implicit discrimination and overt versus covert discrimination, lantz-deaton and golubeva describe how discrimination is manifested as a result of prejudice. to this end, they use reliable statistical data to outline how racial and gender discrimination is manifested. by adopting social identity theory, group conflict theory and concepts such as power and privilege, they discuss how and why prejudices are formed and why people are discriminated against. furthermore, they support the solution suggested by the literature, that intergroup contact needs to occur under facilitative conditions, such as equal status, support from figures of authority, common goals and intergroup cooperation. chapter 4 is devoted to delving into ic models and theories, such as: compositional, co-ordinational, developmental, adaptational and causal path models. additionally, the authors provide an overview of deardorff’s (2006) pyramid model, which is classified as a compositional model, and sabet & chapman 191 briefly examine the main components of ic in this model. to determine whether equality, diversity and inclusion are incorporated into ic, the authors compare deardorff’s (2006) model with barrett’s (2013) compositional model and conclude that the need for all three is highlighted in the latter model. to discuss the role of cultural awareness (interaction) in ic, byram’s (1997) co-ordinational model of intercultural communicative competence and its five components are also examined. lantz-deaton and golubeva highlight the principle of the model that “[o]ne’s development into a more intercultural person is predicated upon constant critical exploration of ourselves as cultural beings” (p. 120). as a model focusing on the development of ic over time, the authors provide a detailed discussion of bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (dmis). they examine the link between the dmis and the general classification of ic components: attitudes, knowledge and skills. berry et al.’s (1987) model, which consists of four acculturation strategies, is presented and the question ‘what makes interactions intercultural?’ is addressed. the authors state that ic is a matter of degree, and then go on to discuss this aspect through the lens of cultural distance, presenting competencies deemed to be essential for raising ic levels. next, they introduce the reader to several instruments, including a self-reflective activity located at the end of the book. the authors also provide an action plan, which includes a range of activities aimed at helping the reader to develop one’s own ic. they conclude the chapter by acknowledging the complexity surrounding ic in terms of its definitions, components and models, confirming that a single definitive definition or model of ic is almost impossible to reach. chapter 5 draws the reader’s attention to the main direction of the volume: the use of ic in a variety of tertiary contexts. two initiatives commonly used by the majority of institutions for the development of ic, internationalization (izn) and equity, diversity and inclusion (edi), are then introduced. lantz-deaton and golubeva present some suggestions to improve the practices that institutions are currently adopting in their efforts to facilitate the adaptation of international students. the focus of chapter 6 is the concept of critical incidents, and how these critical incidents can contribute to the development of ic by university or college students. using a collection of examples from different intercultural contexts, the authors try to develop an understanding of critical incidents, which can be categorized as either positive or negative. to conclude the chapter, lantz-deaton and golubeva encourage students to apply their critical incident competencies in their attempts to develop ic, by journal of international students 12(4) 192 emphasizing the three most influential competencies: self-awareness, critical thinking and empathy. chapter 7 centers on career development, specifically the link between ic development and employability. lantz-deaton and golubeva consider the benefits that staff with an enhanced level of ic can bring to an organization and the reasons why staff with high levels of ic are preferred by employers. the authors conclude the book by devoting the final chapter to intercultural leadership (il), an increasingly important concept for intercultural companies the world over. lantz-deaton and golubeva begin the chapter by investigating leadership, moving to transformational leadership before arriving at il, which still has some way to go before it can be considered as an established concept. the reader-friendly approach that is adopted throughout the book is a salient feature of this volume. to this end, the authors have used a diverse range of strategies, such as scenarios, boxes and thought boxes, which allow the discussions to unfold while at the same time engaging the reader. in this way, the authors attempt to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge and facilitate the application of findings and solutions to real contexts. with ic becoming increasingly more important in modern society, this volume is a timely resource that will address the spectrum of evolving roles: college and university students becoming job-seeking graduates and potential company leaders whose ic proficiency appears to be one of the key requirements of employability. references barrett, m. (2013). intercultural competence: a distinctive hallmark of interculturalism? in m. barrett (ed.), interculturalism and multiculturalism: similarities and differences (pp. 147–168). council of europe publishing. berry, j. w., kim, u., minde, t., & mok, d. (1987). comparative studies of acculturative stress. international migration review, 21(3), 491–511. byram, m. (1997). teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. multilingual matters. deardorff, d. k. (2006). identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. journal of studies in international education, 10(3), 241-266. doi:10.1177/1028315306287002 gibbs, g. (2013). learning by doing. oxford centre for staff and learning development, oxford brookes university. spitzberg, b. h., & changnon, g. (2009). conceptualizing intercultural competence. in d. k. deardorff (ed.), the sage handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 2-52). sage. sabet & chapman 193 reviewers biographies peyman g.p. sabet is a doctoral candidate in education at the university of western australia. he also holds a phd in language and intercultural education from curtin university, australia, where he works as a tesol academic. his research interests lie in intercultural competence, cross-cultural communication, pragmatics and elastic language. email: peyman.sabet@research.uwa.edu.au elaine chapman is an associate professor in the graduate school of education at the university of western australia. her background is in psychology, but she has always had an interest in applying knowledge from psychology to education. dr. chapman’s research interests lie in the areas of applied social and educational psychology, educational assessment, and research methods. email: elaine.chapman@uwa.edu.au 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. microsoft word 2002 production final.docx ix 10th anniversary essay © journal of international students volume 10, issue 3 (2020), pp. ix-xi issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v10i3.2002 ojed.org/jis vulnerability and resilience in a mobile world: the case of international students helen forbes-mewett monash university, australia diverse groups of people experience vulnerability in an increasingly mobile world. populations relocate to other countries for many and varied reasons including economic, environmental, personal safety, and/or educational considerations— generally for a better life. international students form a large and important component of this phenomenon. for international students, education is key to their success. international students are currently facing new challenges, particularly those from china who have been impacted by the coronavirus situation and the resulting travel restrictions, study implications, visa concerns, and general community ignorance giving rise to xenophobia—all contributing further stresses. these challenges are in addition to long-held pressures including being away from traditional family supports, adapting to a different culture, study pressures, and loneliness. for more than 16 years my work has focused on the safety and security needs of international students. while the vulnerability of international students has been consistently brought to the fore in my research, so too has their resilience. the vulnerability experienced by international students relates to risk and opportunity (forbes-mewett, 2020). these dimensions are factored into the decision to leave one’s home country and the security of family and traditional support networks for the opportunity of an international education. such decisions demonstrate an undeniable aspect of bravery. in a 2015 study, i interviewed 150 key informers including international student support staff and international students across the united states, the united kingdom, and australia in relation to the issue of safety from crime (forbes-mewett et al., 2015). importantly, the study acknowledges that most international students do not become victims of crime (forbes-mewett et al., 2015, p. 1). the interviewees paint a vivid and nuanced picture of international student vulnerability among many examples of resilience. their poignant narratives help our understanding of how journal of international students x challenges are overcome and why international education is a crucial part of the contemporary mobile world. more recent work explored international students’ vulnerability in relation to food security, housing, and campus security in australia, the united states, and the united kingdom (forbes-mewett, 2019b). once again, it was shown the difficulties international students face and how they navigate and develop coping mechanisms present examples of great resilience. in relation to food security, the 2019 study presented a case of a student who communicated regularly with her mother at meal times via mobile phone text message to ask and receive cooking instructions. for this student who had no experience in preparing her own meals, not only did the strategy provide cooking instruction and ways to enjoy culturally appropriate food, but it also ensured comforting communication with a close family member at mealtime. the above dimensions, among others, continue to contribute to international student vulnerability and at the same time present challenges to be faced and overcome—in many cases they are. of recent times, the long existing issue of the psychological well-being/mental health of international students is gaining traction (forbes-mewett, 2019a). this attention is long overdue and crucial for helping international students manage their mental health to enable the successful completion of their studies. the mental health of singaporean students was explored to find that this group, over a period of time, shifted from perceiving mental health issues as a taboo subject to a level of acceptance that they are a part of everyday life for many people (gan & forbes-mewett, 2019). further, the practice of seeking help was found to be desirable, notwithstanding acknowledgment that the help offered seemed to mismatch what was expected (gan & forbes-mewett, 2019). this work was extended to show that intercultural adjustment tends to be a stressful process for international students, and as a consequence, it was contributing to a higher risk of vulnerable mental and emotional states (gan & forbes-mewett, 2020). in summary, the vulnerability of international students is a topic of ongoing concern with many and varied contributing factors such as outlined above. however, the resilience of international students in the face of such vulnerability is to be applauded. given nations benefit so greatly from international education, we all must take responsibility to address the vulnerability of international students and ensure that they are well-supported in their educational pursuits and desires for a better life. to this end, my work relating to international students continues unabated. references forbes-mewett, h. (2019a). mental health and international students: issues, challenges and effective practice. international education association of australia. retrieved from www.ieaa.org.au. forbes-mewett, h. (2019b). the new security: individual, community and cultural experiences. palgrave macmillan. forbes-mewett, h. (ed.). (2020). vulnerability in a mobile world. emerald publishing. forbes-mewett, h., mcculloch, j., & nyland, c. (2015). international students and crime. palgrave macmillan. journal of international students xi gan, j., & forbes-mewett, h. (2019). international students’ mental health: an australian case study of singaporean students’ perceptions. in k. bista (ed.), global perspectives on international student experiences in higher education: tensions and issues (pp. 228–242). routledge. gan, j., & forbes-mewett, h. (2020). international student migration and mental health. in h. forbes-mewett (ed.), vulnerability in a mobile world (pp. 115– 134). emerald. helen forbes-mewett, phd, is associate professor in the school of social sciences at monash university (melbourne, australia). she is discipline head of sociology and deputy director of the monash migration centre. helen’s work focusses on the safety and security of international students and other vulnerable migrant groups. she is currently undertaking studies relating to international student mental health. her books include international student security (with marginson et al., cambridge university press, 2010), international student safety from crime (with mcculloch and nyland, palgrave macmillan, 2015), the new security: individual, community and cultural experiences (2019, palgrave macmillan), and vulnerability in mobile world (springer, 2020). email: helen.forbesmewett@monash.edu 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily 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peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 91-104 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis the practice of online teaching at shanghai international studies university during the covid-19 pandemic 疫情期间上海外国语大学留学生本科线上教学实 践 yanli zhang (张艳莉) zihua yang (杨子华) yongtao chen (陈泳桃) shanghai international studies university, china 上海外国语大学，中国 abstract (摘要) we examine the practice of online teaching at the school of chinese studies and exchange, shanghai international studies university during the covid-19 pandemic, with both qualitative and quantitative research methods. based on the analysis, the importance of incorporating web-based teaching into international students’ education is discussed. suggestions are then given from six different perspectives about further developing undergraduate education for international students in the post-pandemic period. 本文通过问卷调查等方法，分析疫情期间上海外国语大学国际文化交流学 院留学生本科教学改革实施情况。在此基础上，提出新时期留学生线上教 育与线下教育相结合、推动信息技术与留学生教育深度融合的重要性，并 从理念、制度、方法等六个方面提出后疫情时代推动留学生本科教育改革 的举措。 journal of international students 92 keywords (关键词): international students, undergraduate education, reform, information technology (留学生, 本科教学, 改革, 信息技术, 新时期) 引言 近年来，随着《国家教育事业发展“十三五”规划》《教育信息化 2.0 行 动计划》《中国慕课行动宣言》等文件的出台，各高校以“互联网+教学” 为突破口，积极运用现代信息技术，改革和建设各类课程。新冠肺炎疫情 爆发以后，教育部提出了“停课不停学”，各高校全面推行线上教学，加 速了信息技术与课程建设的融合。 上海外国语大学 (下文简称“上外”)国际文化交流学院 (下文简称 “国交学院”) 在疫情阶段全力开展线上课程建设的组织和落实工作，在 校内线上教学平台的建设、线上教学的运行保障、线上教学质量的监控等 方面推出了一系列新举措。在疫情常态化防控阶段，高校呈现出境内学生 线下学习、境外学生线上学习双轨并行的态势。国交学院采取的一系列留 学生本科教育改革措施初见成效。 本文以上外国交学院留学生本科教学为例， 从课程资源、课程教学、 课程管理等方面调研上外在“互联网+” 下的课程改革现状，分析所取得 的成效以及在改革过程中存在的问题与困难，在此基础上探讨新时期来华 留学生教育资源与现代教育技术的融合路径，推行更加科学、合理、有效 的留学生课程改革模式。 相关研究情况 新冠肺炎疫情爆发以来，线上教学成为常态，也引起了学界关注，已出现 大量相关研究成果。这些研究主要从线上课程与教学改革、线上教学质量、 线上教学方法等方面展开。 第一类研究从宏观的角度分析线上教学的现状，并在此基础上提出课 程与教学改革的建议。左惟 (2020) 认为，当前中国高校线上教学仍处于线 下往线上平移的阶段，师生的思想观念亟需更新，技术支撑存在短板，优 质资源建设不足，学校和教师的服务能力仍需加强，管理体系有待改善， 因此应从理念、技术、资源、能力、管理等方面着手，促进高校线上教学 的高质量发展。有研究指出线上教学改革所带来的四个方面的转变，并从 教育平台、技术保障和管理服务、教师教学能力等方面提出建议 (薛成龙 & 郭瀛霞, 2020)；也有研究提出了推动课程改革需要处理好的五组关系 (谢 火木等, 2020)，或从场域视角分析高校在线教学目前所面临的瓶颈和困境， 提出在线教学的优化策略 (张军 & 任雅兰, 2020)。于勇和孙艺倩 (于勇 & 孙 艺倩, 2020) 认为，当前线上教学实施已趋向成熟，可从教学平台、学生引 导、线上教学研究等方面进一步提升线上教学质量。而薛成龙和李文 (薛 成龙 & 李文, 2020) 则通过剖析国外三所高校的线上教学实践，从学习空 间、教学过程、教育评价、教育组织保障等方面提出建议。 journal of international students 93 第二类研究重点关注线上教学质量。比如，有的研究者对本科高校和 高职院校线上教学质量进行调研和分析，发现具体问题，并提出相应的对 策建议 (黄文祥等, 2020; 杨伟权, 2020)。李枭鹰等 (2020) 则探讨了高校线 上教学的理想范型，提出高校线上教学质量整体生成的基本逻辑。 第三类研究探讨具体的线上教学模式和教学方法，比如，对民族高校 思政课的线上教学模式的探讨 (邬红丽, 2020)、对如何构建“嵌入式系统” 课程的混合式教学模式的初步研究 (张宏伟等, 2020)。 还有的研究关注线上教学的其他环节。例如，探究线上教学背景下高 校外语教师身份的动态化发展及其与教学改革成效的关系 (许悦婷 & 陶坚, 2020)；或从当前网络化学习环境下大学生的学习能力和学习理念切入，以 建构主义理论和情境性学习理论为指导，对应急体系下高校线上教学运行 机制进行研判 (段鹏, 2020)。 目前关于高校线上教学的研究较多，但其中针对高校留学生线上教学 的研究所占比例很小；从宏观上探讨线上教学的研究较多，而选取一个角 度具体分析线上教学的某一方面的研究相对较少。国外关于高校线上教学 的研究则多聚焦于人工智能、精准教育和虚拟现实，而对线上教学常规环 节的研究较少，且研究主题和内容较为分散。 有的研究关注教师，如 khtere 和 yousef (2021) 从态度、技能、知识三 个角度研究阿拉伯大学教师开展在线教学的意愿和能力。有的研究关注在 线教学中学生的学习行为和表现。例如，结合理论驱动和数据驱动的方法， 通过学生自述、对线上学习的态度以及平时学习表现来预测学生成绩 (han & ellis, 2021)；调研学生线上讨论过程中存在的困难与不便，在此基础上 改进并测试线上学习分析可视化指示板 (yoo & jin, 2020)。huang 等 (2021) 使用贝叶斯法研究在慕课和大学在线学习平台中学生学习目标、线上社区 认同及协同反省的结构关系。lee 等 (2021) 运用大数据和人工智能，构建 了两个神经式网络模型，用于预测中国台湾清华大学慕课中学生的学习表 现。zheng 等 (2021) 则研究在线协作学习中，运用 bert (bidirectional encoder representations from transformers, 基于转换器的双向编码表征) 提 供个性化干预对学生协作知识构建、群组表现、元认知策略和认知负担的 影响。 其他研究关注在线教学的其他环节，例如，探讨如何使用在线平台 (institute for policy analysis of conflict, 2020)；或通过梳理自适应学习相关 的文献，指出目前自适应学习研究存在的机制和安全方面的挑战，并提出 了编码链和去中心化管理模式 (li et al., 2021)。price 和 bryce (2020) 则调研 苏格兰一所大学的在线研究生学位项目，包括发展历史、课程设置、实施 情况、学生评价等。 疫情期间上外留学生本科线上教学运行情况 上海外国语大学从 1981年开始招收外国留学生，开展汉语教学。参加本科 项目的留学生，一部分与中国学生一起进入各院系学习，大部分则进入国 journal of international students 94 际文化交流学院，参加汉语相关专业的课程学习。目前，国交学院设有四 个本科专业：汉语言 (中英双语)、汉语言 (经贸)、汉语国际教育、国际经 济与贸易 (汉语)，四个年级的总人数约 500 人。 本文聚焦上外国交学院留学生本科线上教学的运行情况，入系留学生 线上学习的情况不在本文讨论范围之内。 留学生本科线上教学改革举措 在疫情防控阶段，国交学院按照相关要求，在已建网络教学平台和在 线课程的基础上，全面开展留学生本科线上教学。学院在运行机制、教学 平台、教学资源、技术保障、质量监控等方面推行了一系列改革措施，引 导师生在线上教学实践中不断探索。 构建线上教学运行保障机制 在 2020 年春季学期，国交学院成立了留学生本科课程线上教学领导小 组，由书记、院长任组长，分管留学生教学的副院长任副组长。领导小组 统筹学院留学生本科课程线上教学的组织和管理工作，制定具体的“停课 不停学”工作方案。 在原有的班主任制、层级组长制度的基础上，国交学院为每门课程组 建网络课程制作小组并指定组长，由组长牵头制定课程的具体网络授课方 案，并在教学平台上建立课程体系、制作样课，领导小组成员有序制作教 学视频和建设教学资源。 优化调整线上教学方案 疫情爆发以来，国交学院根据师生的需求，不断调整、优化教学方案， 教学分为录播、直播和恢复在线选修课等不同阶段。2020 年春季学期，国 交学院推荐教师在不具备专业技术和高性能专业设备的前提下，统一使用 电脑录屏的方式制作教学视频。学生在规定时间内观看录播视频，完成学 习任务，教师通过教学平台和微信等工具与学生进行互动指导。 随着师生逐渐熟悉网络教学形式和线上互动反馈的方式，线上教学平 稳、有序开展，自 2020年秋季学期起采用录播和直播结合的方式进行教学， 对汉语精读、汉语口语等互动需求强的课程采用在线直播的形式进行教学， 鼓励其他课程的任课老师在条件允许的情况下开展线上直播课或讨论课， 以增加师生、生生互动，提升教学质量。考虑到时差问题，直播课程时间 设置在午后至傍晚，并通过直播工具的回放功能，确保每一位学生接收到 课堂教学资源。 自 2020 年秋季学期起，国交学院恢复开设选修课程，改用线上教学形 式，为学生提供更多的学习机会。这实质上也是一种增强学生对学校、学 院情感认同的支持服务。 journal of international students 95 全面使用线上教学平台 采用唐风汉语和 classin搭建直播和录播的教学平台。国交学院于 2016 年正式启用唐风汉语“汉语国际教育信息化云平台”。该平台集教学教务、 教学资源、测评、教育应用于一体，有视频点播、学习进度跟踪、文字互 动、发布与批改作业和测试等功能。在疫情发生以前，国交学院已组织多 轮教学平台培训，部分教师已掌握该教学平台各项功能的使用方法，并在 平台上建有课程，因此，国交学院在疫情期间全面使用该教学平台，能较 好地实现教师之间的帮扶带，也能大大地提升师生熟悉教学平台的效率， 降低线下向线上教学转移的难度。 为保障课程在线直播的顺利进行，国交学院对部分直播平台进行了教 学功能测试和优缺点对比分析，决定启用 classin直播平台。该平台具有考 勤检查、屏幕共享、ppt 同步显示、分组活动、回放与点播、音视频对话、 文字互动等多种功能，适合在线同步开展多项教学活动。 优化技术支持保障机制 在网络教学正式开始前，国交学院多次组织线上教学能力培训，向教 师全面介绍教学平台和直播工具的功能和使用方法，并编写了师生平台简 易操作指南和常见问题汇编、制作使用视频，发放给教师和学生，帮助师 生克服困难，熟悉平台操作方法。在开课前和考试前，国交学院组织师生 参加压力测试，确保平台运行畅通，师生网络和设备使用无碍。 此外，国交学院与教学平台进行对接，确保技术人员全程为学院网络 教学提供远程技术支持。学院教师均进入技术支持与服务保障工作群，遇 到技术问题立刻向技术人员反馈、求助，及时解决问题。学生如遇技术问 题，通过班主任或任课老师反馈至技术人员。 完善教学质量监测体系 在疫情防控阶段，国交学院优化原有的教学质量保障体系，多措并举 不断提升线上教学质量。 一方面，学院教务办公室对线上教学的总体实施情况进行监测，特别 将线上教学资源推送、课程微信群建立与师生互动、作业发布等薄弱环节 纳入监测范围。另一方面，由学院领导、教学骨干组成的督导组对教学视 频、教学课件、作业布置等方面进行质量监控，并结合线上教学的特点修 改教学质量评价指标。督导组成员定期听课，并向任课老师及时反馈意见。 此外，教师利用教学平台提供的数据分析学生的学习行为，并据此调 整教学内容和教学方法，督促学生学习。学院教务办公室通过问卷调查、 教学评价等方式了解教师与学生对于线上教学情况的评价和意见。 由此，国交学院形成了以学院、教师、学生为主体，从教学组织、教 学内容、教学方法、教学质量等多个维度对线上教学工作进行全面监测的 质量保障体系。 journal of international students 96 留学生本科线上教学实施效果 为更好地了解线上教学的实施情况及师生的感受，评估线上教学质量 及发现可能存在的问题，学院于 2020 年 3 月和 9 月开展了两次问卷调查， 如表 1 所示。 表 1: 问卷调查具体信息 调查 对象 有效 样本数 问卷 设计 调查对象 简要分析 2020 年 3 月 上外国交 学院本科 留学生 225 有五分量表题 15 道，调查学生对 线上教学内容、 形式、教师指导 的看法，及学生 的适应度、学习 方式和学 习效果；有单选 题和多选题各 1 道，开放问答题 3 道，调查学生的 线上学习方式及 存在困难。 本科一年级 53 人，二年级 57 人，三年级 51 人，四年级 64 人。学习汉语言 (中英双语)专业的 学生 53 人， 汉语言 (经贸) 专 业的学生 43 人， 汉语国际教育专 业的学生 45 人， 国际经济与贸易 (汉语言) 的学生 84 人。 2020年9 月 上外国交 学院教授 本科课程 的教师 16 有开放问答题 5 道，调查教师对 线上教学安排的 看法，及教师对 教学方法、教学 效果、学生反馈 的思考。 参加调查的教师 均为女性；有 1年 以内教龄的教师 2 名，有 1-5 年教龄 的教师 6 名，有 5 年以上教龄的教 师 8 名。 此外，本文将 2020 年春季、秋季和 2021 年春季学期国交学院在留学 生中开展的教学评价结果也纳入分析范围，以更全面地了解留学生的看法 及教学质量 (相关信息见表 2)。 journal of international students 97 表 2: 教学评价具体信息 教学评价 组织时间 调查 对象 有效 样本数 教评题目设计 2020 年 6 月 上外国 交学院 本科留 学生 323 有 8 道五分量表题，调查学生 对教师教学、互动指导、课程 的态度和看法；有 2 道开放性 问答题，调查学生对教师教 学、教学内容等态度和看法。 2020 年 12 月 368 2021 年 6 月 356 由于两次问卷调查和三次教学评价题目较多，数据庞杂，限于篇幅， 本文不逐一列出题目和数据图表，主要呈现问卷分析和数据统计的结果。 学生对在线教学的整体满意度较高 无论是面向学生的问卷调查和学期评教，还是教师对于学生评价的反 馈，都显示本科留学生对上外的在线教学整体较为满意。 一方面，在线教学自身具有一定的优越性。它能打破时空限制，为处 于不同地区和时区的学生提供学习专业知识的虚拟空间。在这个学习空间 中，学生可以根据其个性化的需求调整学习时间、学习地点、学习方式和 学习节奏。在录播的教学形式中，这种优势更为明显，学生可根据个人的 学习习惯、知识掌握程度等决定教学视频播放的速度和次数。在 225 名本 科生参与的问卷调查中，有 143 名 (约占 63.6%) 学生提到，在线教学可以 满足个性化的学习需求，并能节省一定的时间和交通成本。 另一方面，在线教学的各个环节实施和把控情况良好，学生满意度高。 首先，在教学平台方面，问卷调查结果显示 83.1%的学生认为平台很 容易或较易使用；81.8%的学生认为教学平台功能齐备，能满足或基本满 足上课的各种需求。虽然在调查中不少师生也提出了平台的一些问题，但 平台运转基本正常、顺利，师生在线上教学的过程中有较好的平台使用体 验，因此有 82.7%的学生对教学平台的印象很好或较好。教师和学生在日 常教学中不断发现、反馈问题，平台技术开发团队不断改进，因此教学平 台的功能逐步完善，稳定性也逐渐增强，师生的体验也更好。 在教学内容方面，86.7%的学生认为在线教学内容很丰富或比较丰富。 在学生对课程和教师的评价中，我们也能发现教学内容丰富所带来的积极 意义。 此外，在教师的互动指导方面，76.4%的学生认为向教师提问很方便或 较为方便；90.7%的学生认为教师能及时或较快地回答问题。在直播课中， 学生可直接与教师互动、提问，也可通过聊天框进行提问或反馈；在录播 课中，学生可通过教学平台的“短信息”功能和“讨论区”提问或交流。 教师通过这些平台和工具能及时与学生进行互动指导。 journal of international students 98 教师在指导和督促学生学习方面的作用明显 在问卷调查中，85.8%的学生认为老师很清楚或较清楚地告知学习方法； 90.7%的学生表示老师经常或较常提醒他们学习。由此可见，教师在指导 和督促学生方面发挥着重要的作用。 作为学院和学生之间的桥梁、教学的直接实施者，教师在转告教学相 关通知、指导学生使用教学平台和直播工具、帮助学生适应线上教学、督 促学生学习、帮助学生提高自主学习能力等方面扮演着十分重要的角色， 而国交学院的教师在这些方面得到了学生的肯定。在被问及在线教学中面 临的困难时，选择“不清楚平台使用方法”和“没有得到老师的及时帮助” 的占比最小。 学生对在线教学的适应度较高 在 2020 年 3 月，在线教学开展不足 1 个月时，78.2%的学生表示已适 应或基本适应网络教学。国交学院的本科留学生多为 90后，甚至是 00后。 作为一出生就处在互联网时代的“数字原住民”，这一学生群体具有较 强的数字化学习能力，也比较熟悉数字化交往方式；再加上教学平台和 直播工具方便、易用，也有教师清晰的指导和帮助，学生普遍能较快适 应线上教学的形式。在这一过程中，学生也逐步调整自己原来的学习方 式，不断提高自主学习能力。在问卷调查中，有 92%的学生表示，自己 能在规定的时间内完整地观看老师发布的教学视频；表示能在规定时间 内完成作业的学生比例虽略低，但也达到了 90.2%。可见，学生基本适应 线上教学方式，并能按照相关要求完成学习任务。 线上教学存在的问题和困难 线上教学使学生面临更多挑战 在疫情防控阶段，学生可能面临焦虑、恐慌等心理问题。尤其是来自 疫情形势依然严峻的国家的留学生，可能会担心自己和家人受感染，或者 本人和家人确诊后心理上承受较大压力；有些学生因家庭经济压力而不得 不打工，学业和工作的双重压力会让他们焦虑感加剧。 此外，线上教学也给学生带来身体上的挑战。在问卷调查中，有部分 学生提到，长时间地看电脑或手机屏幕使得他们视力下降、头疼。 线上教学对学生的自主学习能力的要求也相应增高。缺少了实体空间 的约束，学生直播时是否专心听讲、是否认真观看录课视频、测试是否独 立完成等，相比于传统的课堂教学，更依赖于学生的自觉性。而且，从长 远来看，线上教学的资源势必会更加丰富，借助人工智能的自适应教学也 会逐步发展，学生可根据个人的需求制定个性化的学习方案。在这个过程 中，学生自我组织、制定并执行学习计划，自主选择学习策略，并控制整 个学习过程，对学习进行自我评估的能力便显得尤其重要。但目前不少学 journal of international students 99 生在自主学习能力方面仍有进步空间。在问卷调查中，约有 53.8%的学生 表示基本不会对过去一周的学习进行总结；22.7%的学生在一个月的学习 时间内没有主动向老师提问。 线上教学也使教师面临更大挑战 线上教学对教师教学能力和信息素养提出了更高的要求。它不仅需要 教师快速掌握教学平台和直播工具的用法，还需要他们快速调整和构建新 型的教学模式。为提供优质的在线教育，教师不能单纯地在另一种媒介上 复制他们的课程内容，而是需要针对这种全新的教学和学习形式制定新的 教学方案，使当前教学内容、教学方法和师生交流方式更符合在线学习的 要求。因此，教师需要发挥主观能动性，不断创新和调整自己的教学法， 满足不同学生的学习需求，提升在线教学的质量。 除此之外，对学生和教师来说，学习总是通过互动完成的；学生与教 师的联系是否紧密也影响其学习的效率和效果，因此教师在与学生存在时 空距离的情况下维持与学生之间的互动和社交关系十分必要，但难度也更 大。 教师要掌握在线教育技术，并指导和帮助学生掌握在线学习方法、熟 悉在线学习，同时要创新教学方法，打造适应在线教学的课程，并在此基 础上与学生保持互动，需要花费大量的时间和精力，对教师是很大的挑战。 线上教学对设备和网络稳定性要求高 在线教学的顺利开展高度依赖于设备和网络，设备性能好、网络服务 稳定、网络速度快能保障在线教学的有序进行。但是留学生分散在世界各 地，由于网络设备参差不齐、各地学习条件和环境差异明显等原因，线上 教学质量无疑会受到一定影响。在问卷调查中，47.6%的学生表示网络教 学中存在网速慢的问题，约有 9.8%的学生指出网速慢导致无法流畅观看教 学视频。在学期末评教中，也有学生指出教师由于网络不稳定而掉线、由 于麦克风有问题导致学生无法清楚听到老师声音、设备条件不够好而导致 的视频质量差等情况。 实际教学中需要处理的问题 虽然学生对在线教学和教师的满意度整体较高，但他们也指出了实际 教学中的一些问题。具体如下： (1) 在疫情期间，每门课程由网络课程制作小组共同制作教学资源。虽 然小组共同协商教学内容并由一名教师领导小组成员制作视频，但因不同 老师的教学方法存在差异，设备也存在参差，所以部分课程存在视频质量 不一、教学方法不同的情况，让学生一时难以适应。 (2) 约有 12%的学生在问卷调查中反映作业偏多。在录播课程中，因为 缺少课堂活动、提问与反馈等环节，教学视频的总时长一般会比实际课堂 journal of international students 100 时间短。为弥补教学时间，评估学生对知识点的掌握程度，部分教师会增 设讨论题、作业和测试。但是，是否只能依靠增加作业来弥补因教学时长 缩短而带来的损失以及评估学生的学习情况，如何平衡教学与作业的时间 分配，还值得商榷。 (3) 课程内容丰富度有待增强。在问卷调查中，有学生提出增加教学内 容、补充更多课外学习资料的诉求。因为学生在学习态度、自主学习能力、 投放在学习上的时间等方面有差异，他们的学习效率、学习效果均有不同。 提供更多教学资源去支持学生不同的学习需求，可增加学习的趣味和动力， 也为将来的自适应学习模式打下基础。 (4) 约有 23.1%的学生在问卷调查中反映了对课堂互动与课堂气氛的需 求。考虑到时差、学生所在国的网络稳定性、学生的学习环境等问题，采 用录播的方式是比较便捷高效的。虽然观看视频后师生、生生可通过讨论 版、微信群等进行交流，但这种交流往往不同步、不直观。此外，录播课 程中非语言线索的部分缺失可能会导致学生对知识点的理解程度降低。而 直播课囿于设备、网络及直播工具功能的限制，可能存在掉线、课堂活动 不够丰富、部分学生无法开摄像头等问题，对课堂进行师生、生生互动会 有一定程度的影响。部分教师没有及时批改作业或给予学生反馈，使得学 生无法及时了解自己对知识的掌握程度，也影响他们的互动体验感，对于 学生进一步学习新课内容有负面影响。 (5) 教学平台和直播工具仍有改善空间。虽然教学平台和直播功能目前 已基本满足师生的需求，但师生在使用过程中，也提出了一些问题，如平 台有时无法成功记录学生观看视频的次数、重新播放视频需从头再看 (无 法拖动视频进度条)、有时无法成功上传照片和音频、有时录音功能突然中 断等。他们也希望平台能增加快速或慢速播放视频、手机端和电脑端同时 登录、信息提醒、在线帮助、课文与视频堆叠打开等功能。 新时期留学生本科教学改革初探 当前，由于海外疫情整体没有得到有效控制，大部分海外留学生暂时 未能返回中国继续学习，国内高校仍然主要采用线上授课的形式。但是， 疫情终将过去，那么在后疫情或疫情后时代，来华留学生教育将会如何变 化和发展？ 我们认为，疫情期间留学生在线教学实践可以转化为疫情结束后留学 生教学改革的重要举措，线上教育与线下教育相结合会逐步成为留学生教 育新常态。 一方面，线上教学打破了地域的限制。国外的学习者若因自身经济、 工作等原因无法到中国学习，可通过网络选修中国大学的线上课程。线上 课程的前置有望吸引更多留学生来华学习。另一方面，线上教学的便捷性 和灵活性给学习者提供了更多的选择。学生不仅可以参与直播课程，也可 以在课后回看教学视频，或者直接选择录播课程。这样可让学生自主选择 学习时间和学习方法，更好地满足他们个性化的学习需求。 journal of international students 101 线上教学的上述特点不仅给学习者提供了更多的学习机会和更大的便 利，也为留学生教育改革带来了多种可能性。比如，在原来的校际交流项 目和 2+2 合作项目中增加线上课程，有助于打破时空限制的壁垒，为项目 合作和开展畅通渠道。此外，可借助线上教学突破班级和学期的限制进行 课程设置和教学安排，一门课程可以月或主题为单位拆分为多个单元，学 生可根据自己的汉语水平、学习兴趣、时间安排等选修规定数量的单元， 获得学分。 虽然未来线上汉语教学将会有更大、更快的发展，但线上教学并不能 完全替代线下教学。一方面，线上教学缺失面对面的育人环境。线上教学 师生互动形式单一，缺乏直观性和即时性，而传统课堂中，教师可随时观 察学生的表现，根据学生的反应及时调整授课进度和教学方式；通过与学 生的直接沟通，帮助学生快速解决当天学习中产生的问题。另一方面，因 为线上教学高度依赖于设备与网络，导致一些学生因为网络环境差、硬件 设备落后而无法全身心融入课堂，难以顺利完成学习任务、与师长保持联 系，这也会进一步加剧学生的分化。 结合上外在疫情期间留学生本科在线教学的实施情况，我们认为可从 以下几个方面着手，进一步进行留学生本科教育改革： 在理念上，学校、教师和学生要充分认识在线教育的重要性以及高等 教育的教学模式在发生深刻变化这一事实，不能有“疫情结束就能回归线 下教学”“线下教学的效果已足够好”的侥幸心态。学校要将在线教育作 为发展战略重点，运用便利、可大规模应用的在线教育，为学校的国际化 事业打开新的突破口。要从培养目标的源头深化改革，积极探索培养留学 生的新目标和新路径，构建以学习者为中心的全新教育生态，让留学生教 育逐渐从“统一化”走向“国别化”和“个性化”。此外，要鼓励教师与 学生互动发展，成为知识的共同建构者和评估者。 在制度上，要为深化留学生教育教学改革健全原有的管理制度。畅通 学校与教师之间、教师与教师之间的沟通渠道，为教师创造一个专业发展 的机制，构建促进教师协作的模式，使教师能够在新的教学模式中支持学 习者。创造相对宽松的政策环境，赋予教师自主权，鼓励和促进教师创新 与发展。要有配套的制度，为创新留学生教学的老师提供一定的时间和经 费支持。除此之外，要尝试根据不同学段、不同年龄层留学生的需求，建 立、健全弹性学习制度，畅通课程修读和学分认定的渠道，开展多元化的 留学生教育。 在方法上，要适时改革课程，确定不同项目和课程选用线下、线上、 线上线下混合教学方式的标准，科学合理地选择项目和课程的组织方式和 授课形式，并思考不同学习阶段如何运用技术手段，创新汉语教学设计与 实践。要引入国内外最新的研究成果，创新教学法，以适应学习者新的、 变化的学习需求；推动教学资源从“传授型”走向“交互化”；增加在线 课程的趣味性和吸引力，有意识地培育学生网上学习的动力和持久力。鼓 励教师多采用参与式、讨论式、交互式的教学，设置有挑战性的学习任务， journal of international students 102 锻炼和培养学生的思维能力。要重视教学服务的科学性和有效性，坚持科 研与教学相结合。 在管理上，汉语教学评价与过程管理要从“经验型”走向“智能化” 和“可视化”。要依靠技术手段，对教学全过程进行科学管理，通过实施 多维度的管理和质量监测，健全教学质量监控体系：运用教务管理系统统 一管理留学生注册、退选课、考勤、成绩登记、缓补考、学籍管理等事宜； 运用教学平台跟踪学生的学习情况，记录教师上传教学资料、批改作业和 互动的情况，并生成统计数据，实现学生学业和教师工作预警。此外，学 校要逐步建立适应弹性学习、学分制和主辅修制的教学管理制度，扩大学 生自主选择课程和上课时间的权利。要根据新的教学模式，调整教学评价 的量化指标体系，以适应新的教学和学习需求。要明确教学目标、健全验 收检查机制，改进结果评价，强化过程评价，以引导教师潜心教书育人, 鼓励他们创新教学方法，加强与学生的互动交流，丰富教学内容，提升教 学质量。 在技术上，要根据教师和学生的需求，选用合适的教学平台、在线教 学工具和直播工具，定期开展培训，帮助师生掌握平台和工具的使用方法， 并充分利用平台和工具的各项功能，将在线工具融入到课堂教学中，创新 教学形式。为师生提供方便查阅的操作手册和演示视频，并在教学平台或 工具上设置“在线帮助”模块，方便师生反馈问题，为他们提供实时的帮 助。要与技术团队进行协调，要求他们为师生提供远程技术支持。要根据 师生的反馈，修正平台和工具的问题，增加必要功能，使其更好地为教学 服务。 在学生支持方面，我们必须要重视培养学生的自主学习能力。要树立 线上学习规范，制定线上学习纪律要求，使学生从一开始就建立“线上如 课上”的意识。通过培训、教师指导、同学分享等方式，帮助学生掌握线 上学习策略和面向碎片化学习的微技能。关注学生的学习兴趣和习惯，帮 助他们更快更好地适应在线学习的形式。此外，精准把握学生的心理现状， 通过教学和课外文化活动，为学生提供价值塑造、情感认同等非学术性支 持服务。 探索远程教育发展的未知领域，推动信息技术与教育的深度融合，进 一步深化留学生本科教育改革，这条道路充满挑战，我们仍需不断努力。 基金项目 本文系中国高等教育学会外国留学生教育管理分会 2020年课题“新时期高 校来华留学教育管理改革与探索” (课题批准号: cafsa2020-y033) 及国家 社会科学基金社科学术社团主题学术活动项目“疫后世界汉语教学学会创 新助推国际中文教育发展策略的研究” (项目号: 20sta014) 的阶段性研究 成果。 journal of international students 103 参考文献 han, f., & ellis, r. a. 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(2020). 场域视角下高校线上教学困境及其超越. 教育理论与 实践, 40(36), 44–46. 左惟. (2020). 趋势与变革: 高校开展线上教学的几点思考. 中国高等教育, (7), 10–12. yanli zhang (corresponding author), phd, is a professor and the dean of the school of chinese studies and exchange at shanghai international studies university, china. her research interests include international student education and management, second language acquisition, and language testing. email: zhangyanli@shisu.edu.cn 张艳莉 (通讯作者)，上海外国语大学教授、国际文化交流学院院长。研究 兴 趣 包括来华留学教育管理、二语习得、语言测试。 邮 箱 ： zhangyanli@shisu.edu.cn zihua yang is a coordinator of academic affairs at the school of chinese studies and exchange, shanghai international studies university. her research interests include international student education and management. email: 02189@shisu.edu.cn. 杨子华，上海外国语大学国际文化交流学院助理研究员。研究兴趣包括来 华留学生教育管理。邮箱：yangzihua@shisu.edu.cn yongtao chen is a coordinator of academic affairs at the school of chinese studies and exchange, shanghai international studies university. her research interests include teaching chinese as a global language and second language acquisition. email: chenyongtao@shisu.edu.cn. 陈泳桃，上海外国语大学国际文化交流学院助理研究员。研究兴趣包括汉 语国际教育、第二语言习得。邮箱：chenyongtao@shisu.edu.cn 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. journal of international students 167�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 3, issue 2 (2013), 167-181 copyright © 2013-2014 jis http://jistudents.org/ international student migration: outcomes and implications jenny mcgill doctoral candidate, king’s college london (uk) abstract the present study examined the possible correlation between six life circumstances of international students (n=124) admitted entry into the united states for the purpose of academic study and their geographic choice of location upon graduation. this paper improves upon the current literature by offering actual migration outcomes (rather than intentions), by including three factors not previously analyzed, and by considering graduate students from a new subject field. the independent variables included: duration of study, scholarship award, doctoral study, participation in optional practical training, application for a temporary work visa, and the economic classification of the student’s country of origin. the dependent variable was student geographic location as of 15 may 2011, categorized as in the united states or outside of the u.s. data from foreign student graduates (academic years 2000-2011) from 43 countries were analyzed in binary logistic regression. results show three variables (scholarship aid, optional practical training and temporary work visa application) were significantly correlated to a graduate’s choice of residence. findings are relevant for academic institutions and government agencies interested in international education, student migration behavior, comparative data as well as strategic policies. keywords: international education; international student; migration; academic study; study abroad; population distribution; human geography ________________________________________________________________________________ in a world of expanding global corporate collaborations and transnational social networks, the appeal for internationally-educated professionals has dramatically increased in the last thirty years. with that has come a remarkable surge in students pursuing foreign degrees: 0.8 million students were enrolled abroad in 1975; 3.7 million were recorded as studying outside of their country of citizenship in 2009 (oecd, 2011). governments, institutions, and universities stand to benefit if more can be determined about what moves highly-skilled individuals across borders. for the decision-making process in migration, considerable research remains (mahalingam, 2006). van der velde and van naerssen (2010) discussed the macroand micro-influences on cross-border mobility, conceptualizing three thresholds as well as various keep and repel factors involved. structural pressures as well as individual rationality impact migration. the connection between personal motivations and migration outcomes has been studied as well (bradley, longino, stoller, & haas, 2008; whisler, waldorf, mulligan, & plane, 2008). bradley et al. (2008) found that the number in the household �� journal of international students 168�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3� issue 2 and the type of move affected migration intention, with the mental expectation to move predicting later mobility. a transnational comparison of five countries showed that different background variables (economic resources, age, home ownership, etc.) were a better predictor of migration behavior rather than a place-utility model of migration, which is based on the perceived cost-benefit analysis between any two locations (simmons, 1986). descriptive models of the process of migration and motivation have also been offered (de jong, 2000; hazans, 2003; kok, 2006). newbold (2001) showed that within canada, economically depressed areas were typically depleted of and not replenished by migrants. in particular, in newbold’s theory (2001, p. 35), “nonreturn migrants tend to be younger, better educated, and more highly skilled.” low retention rates were related to depressed areas with a higher turnover of residents, while in-migration rates were associated with areas having more economic viability. newbold’s study also illustrated that return migrations were “planned events,” influenced by perceived cost-benefit analyses and familial input. return migration was related to age, economic status, and family presence, among other factors. newbold (2001, p. 23-24) argued that a “location-specific capital,” namely, any current connection anchoring one’s choice of location, would prove a better definition of where one considers “home.” however, his study was not focused on international migration or the educated professionals in particular. overall, the migration of highly-skilled and educated workers has not been studied extensively. further, research on migration outcomes specifically for international students who study outside their home country for any degree level is lacking. while considerable migration research exists, few studies observe the subsequent migration behavior of foreign graduates as it pertains to the united states (vasta & vuddamalay, 2006). the number of immigrants entering the united states for educational purposes has increased considerably in the last fifty years, as well as their degree levels attained prior to entrance (agarwal & winkler, 1985; bhagwati, 2003): in the 1949-50 academic year, 26,433 internationals began studies in the u.s. in the 2011-12, about 764,495 international students were enrolled in u.s. institutions, comprising 3.7% of total post-secondary student enrollment. three countries possess 48% of the total number: china, india, and south korea (chow & bhandari, 2012). academic migration raises pertinent questions regarding the causes and effects of such a significant demographic movement of highly-skilled individuals. the broad phenomenon of migrants departing their country of origin, gaining a higher level of skill or education abroad, and not returning home, has created such concepts, well-known in educational circles, as “brain drain.” this pattern of movement highlights several issues for consideration: • what is their choice of residence after studying abroad in the u.s.? why? • what are their migratory intentions, if any, and when do these intentions appear (before, during, or after their course of study)? • what observations have come to light with respect to the migration of these postsecondary graduates? articles discussing the theoretical global implications of brain drain or brain gain are plentiful and worthy of review (adnett, 2010; gribble, 2008; mahroum, 1999, 2005; rosenzweig, 2007; stark, 2005). whether or not countries should participate in stemming or encouraging the most highly skilled to migrate (and even the existence of brain drain for the sending country) is disputed (bhagwati, 2003; borjas, 2004). studies (borjas, 2002; regets, 2001) have also sought to determine the degree to which the international student population leads to displacement of u.s. nationals as students. shao (2008) and suter (2008), on the other hand, investigated the government policies which encourage the settlement and non-return of their foreign graduates. however, caution journal of international students 169�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 is warranted when considering migration only in terms of bidirectional flows rather than in terms of integrated circularity (piper, 2009). considering the united states, prospective overseas students can apply for a student visa for a temporary duration of stay. an international student is defined by this temporary academic status to study in the united states with an established intent not to immigrate. ironically, the very international students approved for f-1 or j-1 non-immigrant visas at u.s. embassies around the world, end up legally and successfully changing their status while within the united states to remain resident. with this relative ease to apply to stay in the united states to immigrate, this is a welcome victory for “open borders” proponents and an issue of concern for those who consider non-immigrant visa entrances should remain just that. lu, zong, and schissel (2009) argued that immigration policies do impact student decisions and called for research to include actual migration outcomes in the study of their relationship. research has focused particularly on foreign doctoral graduates and their rates of stay for the degree fields of economics, science, and engineering. bhagwati (2003) suggested that academic study in the united states is the simplest method foreigners use to immigrate to the u.s. and estimates that over 70% of foreign-born phd graduates remain in the united states long-term. according to borjas (2002), among the foreign students who remain in the u.s.: almost two-thirds of all petitions are a result of marriage (over 50%) or relatives already in the u.s. (10%); one third is due to employment-based applications (28%). aslanbeigui and montecinos (1998) studied the example among economics students (actual stay rates after graduations were not measured): • 40% planned to leave the u.s. upon graduation; • 45% planned to remain working in the u.s.; • 15% intended to stay in the u.s. permanently. finn (2012) showed successive “stay rates” by foreign nationals who obtained doctorates in the u.s., by data extracted from tax records of international doctoral students who remained in the u.s. following graduation. however, the study reflects only the stay rates of doctoral graduates receiving science and engineering degrees: 62% of those who received phds were residing in the u.s. five years after graduation with rates remaining stable over a ten-year period. citizens of certain countries exhibited the highest stay rates: china and iran (89%), romania (85%), former yugoslavia (84%), india and bulgaria (79%). the lowest stay rates were exhibited by students from saudi arabia (5%), thailand (12%), and south africa (28%). card (1979) conducted a longitudinal study to compare the migration outcomes in 1979 of filipino graduate students studying in the u.s. to their stated intentions of migration in 1970. it is one of the very few studies with longitudinal data of migration behavior in addition to the present study. interestingly, there was no significant difference in student attitudes between 1970 and 1979 or in their perceived notions of economic conditions between the u.s. and the philippines. circumstantial changes during their stay in the u.s. determined migration behavior, especially for those who, having planned in 1970 to return home to the philippines, had not done so by 1979. stay rates were affected primarily by student age, opportunity to remain in the u.s., and an overall embrace of the american culture, as opposed to immigration intentions prior to travel to the u.s. migration intentions rather than actual outcomes are more often the focus of attention (lu, zong, & schissel, 2009; soon, 2010b). other studies examine the migration of students departing from their home country. gibson and mckenzie (2011) tracked migration behavior for high school students leaving their home country (new zealand) and related return factors. constant and d’adosto (2008) investigated scientists and researchers leaving their home, italy, and their choice of destination. similarly, de grip, gouarge, and sauermann (2010) inspected the countries to which european science and engineering graduates migrate and why. in summary, what is lacking is �� journal of international students 170�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3� issue 2 research on the return migration of postgraduate international students (in fields other than science, economics, and engineering) from the host country of study. the purpose of this study is to investigate actual international student migration outcomes, from the host country of the united states, and determine which factors relate to whether they remain in the u.s. • what percentage of international graduates returned to their country of origin? • what personal and socioeconomic factors were related to their decision (marital status, gender, age, length of study, type of degree, employment)? • how were migration outcomes related to perceived commitment to their home country, economic opportunity in the host country, and/or changing motivations during the period of study? • did the type of scholarship aid lead to a difference in rates of return? • did a contractual obligation to depart the u.s. (required to receive scholarship aid) then lead to actual student departure from the united states? • should the policies of the graduate school, in order to better meet institutional goals, be altered to accommodate these findings? three types of variables comprise almost all of the research on international student migration: demographic and family-related, education-related, and perception of the country of origin (soon, 2010a). three variables of the present study (length of stay, type of degree, and purchasing power parity) reflected one of each of those three types in order to confirm previous research findings. an additional three variables (scholarship aid, practical training, and work visa application) were introduced to the previous literature. this study is one of the few which offer actual foreign graduate migration outcomes from the host country of study. card’s (1982) study of the filipino student population is outdated. hawthorne & hamilton (2006) focused on foreign medical students in new zealand. this study supplements the current literature by offering migration outcomes from the united states, by including three additional factors not previously analyzed, and by considering graduate students from a new subject field: theology. this research builds the collective set of comparative data and is useful for universities and companies invested in promoting their stay or return as well as offering new directions for research. this paper will consider possible implications for educational and political organizations as well as the present academic institution. current scholarship requirements and guidelines, as well as institutional communications, may be impacted by the findings of this study. on a broader scale, this study offers relevant findings and implications for educational institutions interested in the promotion of reciprocal international influence and government policymakers responsible for immigration regulations and international student trends. variables and hypotheses the correlation between six life circumstances of international students (admitted entry into the united states for the purpose of academic study on a non-immigrant visa) and their geographic choice of location upon graduation was examined. the six independent variables were: length of study; type of scholarship; type of degree; participation in optional practical training; application for a temporary work visa; and the economic classification of the student’s country of origin. the dependent variable was student geographic location as of may 15, 2011, whether remaining in the united states after their period of study abroad or living outside of the u.s. two variables were continuous: duration of study; and the purchasing power parity (ppp) for each student’s country of origin. duration of study was counted by each academic year of two full semesters, starting from august through may of the following spring. four variables were dichotomous categorical variables: scholarship award, doctoral studies completed within the u.s., journal of international students 171�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 participation in post-completion optional practical training, and non-immigrant application for three year work visa (table 1). the initial research questions and hypotheses were: 1. is the length of time an international student studies in the united states related to their residence upon graduation? the length of time for degree(s) completion is positively correlated with united states residence following graduation. 2. is receiving special scholarship aid given by the institution (with students’ contingent agreement to depart the u.s. upon completion of studies) related to an international student’s location after graduation? receiving this designated scholarship aid is negatively correlated with u.s. residence following graduation. 3. is the type of degree studied in the united states related to an international student’s residence upon graduation? completing doctoral studies in the united states is positively correlated with u.s. residence following graduation. 4. is applying for the immigration benefit called post-completion optional practical training (opt) related to the international student’s location after graduation? applying for postcompletion opt is positively correlated with remaining in the u.s. following graduation. 5. is applying for a 3-year temporary work visa (still requiring evidence of non-immigrant intent) during the course of studies related to the international student’s location following graduation? applying for a work visa change of status is positively correlated with ultimate residence in the united states after the term expires; conversely, maintaining the same nonimmigrant visa status (f or j) is associated with a return to home country residence. 6. is the gross domestic product per capita known as the purchasing power parity (ppp) rating [as assigned by the central intelligence agency (cia)] for the international student’s country of origin related to his or her location after graduation ("cia world factbook," 2011)? the ppp economic indicator of a foreign students’ country of origin is associated with residence location after graduation. namely, the lower the country of origin’s ppp, the more likely residence will be in the u.s. table 1 summary of variables type of variable frequency percent cumulative percent independent variables length of study continuous n/a 100.0 100.0 type of scholarship no contract/no full tuition 69 55.6 55.6 contract/full tuition 55 44.4 100.0 phd degree completion in u.s. no phd 101 81.5 81.5 completed phd 23 18.5 100.0 optional practical training (opt)a no opt 97 78.2 78.2 opt participation 27 21.8 100.0 change of status (cos) to temporary work visab no cos 96 77.4 77.4 cos application 28 22.6 100.0 purchasing power parityc continuous n/a 100.0 100.0 dependent variable geographic location not in the u.s. 95 76.6 76.6 in the u.s. 29 23.4 100.0 note. n = 124. no cases missing. aoptional practical training (opt) is an approved 12-month period of work authorization immediately upon graduation by the citizenship and immigration services. bchange of status (cos) is an application to alter one’s non-immigrant student visa to a non-immigrant work visa (h or r) for an initial three-year term of work authorization if approved by the citizenship and immigration services. cpurchasing power parity (ppp) is the economic rating for each student’s country of origin as rated by the cia. the cia categorized 228 countries with ppp ratings ranging from $200 to $122,100. �� journal of international students 172�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3� issue 2 research method participants international students were defined as an individual born outside of the united states who entered the u.s. on a non-immigrant f or j student visa and enrolled in a residential degree program. participants in this study were international students who had enrolled and completed a master’s or doctoral degree in theology at a private graduate school in the south central united states. • 296 international students representing 61 nationalities (hong kong and taiwan being counted as separate entities from china) comprised the foreign graduates of classes 2000-2011. • countries with the largest percentage of students were south korea, india, and canada (15.1%, 7.2%, and 6.8%, respectively). • out of the 296 graduates, 184 students responded to the consent forms sent. • 5 students declined participation. • 179 students consented to be included in group analysis, thus yielding a response rate of 62.2%. the final graduate student sample (n=124; 31 female, 93 male) included 120 individuals who entered the united states to commence a master’s degree and 4 students commence a doctorate. fourteen of the graduate sample, who had entered as a master’s level student, continued doctoral studies at the same institution. age data were not included for this study (table 2). table 2 sample frequencies students frequency percent cumulative percent gender female 31 25.0 25.0 male 93 75.0 100.0 household typea single 46 37.1 37.1 married 78 62.9 100.0 completed u.s. degree ma 101 81.5 81.5 phdb 23 18.5 100.0 note. n = 124. amarital status as of entry into the u.s. to commence studies. bphd includes a minority of residential doctor of ministry (dmin) students prior to 2003, after which all dmin international students were nonresidential. graduating classes from 2000-2011 were defined as the fall, spring, and summer graduating classes for each academic year. as an example, the fall 1999, spring 2000 and summer 2000 semesters comprised the graduating class for the academic year 1999-2000. foreign-born students with an immigration status of “permanent residence” or “employment in the united states” were considered “immigrant students” and not included in this study. twenty five students began studies but did not complete at least one degree (due to withdrawal, transfer, death, currently enrolled without a first degree from the institution, or who otherwise had not yet graduated). these students were excluded from the sample. in order to maximize the validity of this study, 8 students, who could not be verified as initial students entering on an f or j visa, were excluded from the sample (students who completed at least the master’s degree and attempted, but have not completed or are still enrolled in a second degree program, were included in this study. two individuals, classified as “non-degree,” were considered under the certificate of graduate studies program for the clarifying purposes of this study. any individual with the outmoded degree classification of doctor of theology (thd) was journal of international students 173�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 modified to phd based on the two degree programs’ similarities). international students who, after completion of their first degree, lived overseas for a period of time and re-entered the u.s. for a second degree, were noted as “in” the united states. at the completion of their second degree, their resulting location will be re-assessed. the u.s. department of homeland security mandated institutional compliance by august 2003 of the student and exchange visitor information system (sevis). this change dictated that foreign students could no longer live in the united states without studying in a residential degree program at a government-approved institution. in that year, 3 individuals were living residentially and studying a non-residential degree prior to the law change and are included in the study. since 2005, all international students in non-residential programs were not included in this study. postcompletion optional practical training (opt) in this study is defined as the one-year period of work permission granted by the u.s. government after graduation. research materials and procedure first, alumni reports were obtained from the institution’s registrar and alumni offices. second, student files contained in the international student office were analyzed to transcribe the name on each file; the files were incomplete prior to the graduating year 2000. the three lists of names from the three departments (registrar, alumni, and international office) were then crosschecked to confirm immigration status and create a master list of complete names. office files were compared against the institution’s computer database, since the database was known to include false positives in the sample list (e.g., permanent residents included along with those on an f and j visa). the alumni directory is limited to those alumni who voluntarily respond to the department’s request for information and consequent updates. multiple faculty members and staff, who had a personal acquaintance with and considerable knowledge of students’ present locations, reviewed the compiled list. the author, current advisor directing the international student office, has worked in this office since 1999 and possesses extensive personal knowledge of student location, having maintained personal contact with them. the finalized list of students was used to research each member of the sample. informed consent was obtained, reducing the number of graduates available for study from 296 to 179. office staff utilized the last known e-mail of the students and internet search engines (e.g. google, facebook, etc.) to confirm knowledge of student location, and the location of all participants was determined. data collection began formally in 2006 and was completed in 2011. inevitably, a few students’ migration outcomes alternated over the course of ten years; therefore, the migration outcomes for each participant were reviewed and reflect the residence as of may 15, 2011. scholarship aid was defined as a contractual scholarship awarded to the student by the educational institution. the eligibility terms for this kind of scholarship were: 1) preceding evidence of intent to depart the u.s. upon completion of study, and/or 2) a signed contract to that effect by the student upon arrival. out of the 69 students granted scholarships based on their agreement to return to their country of origin: 55 students received full tuition scholarships with the first year of living expenses covered; and 14 received a full leadership scholarship (all tuition and living expenses covered). these two groups were combined to code the scholarship variable. all other kinds of partial scholarship aid were not included. any external or private scholarship aid students may have received was not included in this study. data analysis and results statistical analyses were performed using spss version 18.0, employing binary logistic regression. for all analyses, probability values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. data for the �� journal of international students 174�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3� issue 2 dependent variable of the students’ present location (1 = in the u.s., 0 = not in the u.s.) were available for 100% of the total sample, as were the values of independent variables. the following analysis was done for this particular set of complete data. as of may 15, 2011, roughly threefourths (76.6%) of the international graduate sample (n=124) were residing outside of the united states. this percentage varies greatly, based on which groups of graduates are included (see table 3 for an explanation of this variance). binary logistic regression was performed to measure which variables may be related to the likelihood of foreign students’ residence in the united states after completion of their degree program (see table 4). testing the full model compared to a model with intercept only was statistically significant, χ2(6, n = 124) = 87.25, p < .001, which indicates that the model was able to distinguish between students with residence in the united states and those whose residence was not in the united states. the model correctly classified 91.9% of cases, showing its efficacy to distinguish cases and appropriate goodness of fit. three of the six independent variables showed statistical significance a correlation to the dependent variable. the duration of study did not demonstrate any correlative effect. receiving contingent scholarship aid was negatively correlated with ultimate residence. the odds ratio for a special scholarship award (inverted for clarity; 1/exp(b)) was 15.38 with a 95% confidence interval (166.67, 1.54) and showed students who received scholarship aid with a contractual return were 15 times more likely to depart the united states than their counterparts (see table 3). the type of degree did not demonstrate any correlative effect. in support of the fourth and fifth hypotheses, participation in the 12-month optional practical training and application for the 3-year work visa was positively correlated with u.s. residence. given the 12-month length of optional practical training (opt), the post-completion opt variable was run including only graduating years 2000-2010. the odds ratio for application of postcompletion optional practical training was 24.40 with a 95% confidence interval (3.59, 165.97). this showed that if students delayed departing the united states for a one-year term of temporary employment, they were twenty-four times more likely to remain in the united states. table 3 location frequencies of foreign student graduates frequency percent cumulative percent international students not in us 95 76.6 76.6 in us 29 23.4 100.0 cases unknown 0.0 0.0 0.0 total 124 100.0 100.0 note. location as of may 15, 2011. the original sample (n=179) included 26 graduates currently enrolled in the u.s., 6 currently on 12-month opt, 5 on 36-month work visa, and 18 who married u.s. citizens or otherwise applied for permanent residency. 51 of those 55 were residing in the u.s. if the total number of graduates (including those who during their studies applied for a permanent change of residence, but excluding those graduates who are currently enrolled or on temporary work permission) were considered (n=142), the percentage of international graduates residing outside of the us dropped to 67.6%. if all graduates (n=179) were considered, then 44.7% (80 of 179) of international graduates from classes 2000-2011 held u.s. residence with 55.3% of graduates residing abroad. journal of international students 175�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 table 4 predictors of migration outcome variable b s.e. wald df sig. exp(b) 95% ci for exp(b) total time for studies .069 .145 .226 1 .635 1.071 [.806, 1.424] international scholarship -2.741 1.177 5.424 1 .020 .065 [.006, .648] completion of phd 1.896 1.179 2.586 1 .108 6.656 [.660, 67.075] post-completion optional practical training 3.195 .978 10.665 1 .001 24.400 [3.587, 165.973] change of status to work visa 4.176 .927 20.283 1 .000 65.083 [10.574,400.571] purchasing power parity .000 .000 2.908 1 .088 1.000 [1.000, 1.000] constant -2.455 1.125 4.756 1 .029 .086 note. n = 124. ci = confidence interval. avariables entered: total time for studies (m = 4.34, sd = 3.02, n = 124), scholarship (m = 0.44, sd = 0.50, n = 124), completion of phd in u.s. (m = 0.19, sd = 0.39, n = 124), post-completion optional practical training (m = 0.22, sd = 0.41, n = 124), change of status to temporary work visa (m = 0.23, sd = 0..42, n = 124), economic purchasing power parity rating of country of origin (m = 20509.68, sd = 15991.900, n = 124). a change of immigration status was hypothesized to be correlated with remaining in the u.s. those students, who applied for a short-term work visa which requires an attestation of nonimmigrant intent in the application, were analyzed. considering the temporary three-year term of a work visa, the work visa change of status variable was run including only graduating years 20002008. applying for a work visa had a statistically significant odds ratio of 65.08 with a 95% confidence interval (10.57, 400.57). despite the temporary nature of a work visa application, this variable possessed the greatest positive predictive value, in that students who applied for a 3-year work visa were strongly correlated with remaining in the united states long-term, compared with those who did not seek a temporary term of work.the ppp economic rating of the country of origin was not shown to be statistically significant in relation to the dependent variable. discussion to reiterate the research questions of the study: what were the actual international migration outcomes of graduates after their term of study abroad was completed? which variables were associated with staying in or leaving the united states? six factors (length of study, scholarship aid, type of study, post-completion practical training one-year term, application for a change of status for a three-year work visa, and the purchasing power parity of the country of origin) were tested to investigate their relationship to the dependent variable, location of residence. of the six variables tested, three were significantly correlated to a student’s location upon graduation, in accordance with the hypotheses. duration of study, the total length of time a student remained in the u.s. while enrolled, showed no significant correlation to location outcome, despite earlier research to the contrary (card, 1982). soon (2012) also found that the length of stay is related to migration intention to not return home. more research is necessary to show that the length of stay in the host country affects migration outcomes directly. the awarding of scholarships with a conditional requirement that students return to their country of origin is not a new concept (kwok & leland, 1982). receiving a contingent type of scholarship aid (that is, the recipient was awarded with a conditional requirement that they return to their country of origin) showed a negative correlation to u.s. residence upon �� journal of international students 176�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3� issue 2 graduation, confirming the hypothesis. these findings affirmed the value of a contractual agreement for impacting return migration, which card (1982) also has shown. this encourages the continued institutional practice of a scholarship contract offer as having effect and worth administrative effort. however, the scope of this study could not determine causation between this type of contractual scholarship and location upon graduation. the higher rate of return could have been affected by the signed contract, with its binding ethical considerations or by the institution’s initial selection based on the applicant’s evidence of strong home ties, as being more committed to return home from the start. soon (2010b) found that those who initially intend to return home upon completion of studies in new zealand more often do. in five years, a new and larger sample of graduates (academic years 2000-2015) and will be re-analyzed for significance and longitudinal comparison. the type of degree, and the completion of doctoral study, showed no significant correlation. that is, completing either an intermediary level of graduate or terminal doctoral study seemed not to impact the graduate’s ultimate choice of residence after graduation. this is noteworthy as other research has shown an extremely high stay rate or intended stay rate for those leaving their home for doctoral study (aslanbeigui & montecinos, 1998; constant & d’agosto, 2008; finn, 2012). soon (2010a, 2012) established that doctoral level students are more likely to intend not to return home. given that many of the doctoral students in the present study were still enrolled as of 2011, this variable will be reanalyzed. confirming the hypotheses, participation in the one-year practical training and application for a three-year work visa were confirmed to have a significant correlation to geographic location, despite both having a temporary term and the classification of non-immigrant status. as the data spanned almost twelve years, the findings showed where graduates chose to reside even after their one-year or three-year term of employment had expired. if given a legal occupational opportunity to stay, this may trump their original intention to leave. hazen and alberts (2006) found that students’ intentions to migrate were largely economic and professional factors. although the study did not assess student motivations prior to study, it established that economic ties are related to international students staying in the u.s. delaying departure from the united states after graduation may indicate changing immigrant intent. rosenzweig (2007) has shown that students may be driven by the same motivation as the general population in migration: economic benefit. in addition, the above variables coincide with earlier research that stay rates increase with the permission to remain legally in the foreign country of study, and therefore, delay a return to one’s home country (card, 1982). the “seduction by an appealing alternative to the original plan” dictates migration outcomes rather than the “strength of the original commitment to return home” (card, 1982, 23). an investigation of these matters can offer valuable information to corporations and institutions which may be eager to recruit certain populations to remain in the u.s. or, alternatively, to return overseas. whereas the variable, purchasing power parity of the country of origin (ppp), was hypothesized to be positively related to migration outcomes, this study showed no significance in their correlation. in other words, the study showed no relation to the objective economic differences of a student’s country of origin and their choice of residence after graduation. great value lies in this finding. it serves to correct assumptions about any particular student’s migration outcome. to label students, based on the economic earning power of their home country (and perceived country status), as more or less likely to depart the united states was not validated by the data. suanet and van de vijver (2009) hypothesized that using country-level measures of country wealth (such as gini and hofstede’s dimension of country economic wealth) were associated with foreign exchange student perception of cultural distance, yet the association was similarly not confirmed by their findings. this seems to fit piper’s (2009) argument that the dichotomy between journal of international students 177�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 developed and non-developed nations should be eliminated in favor of the complex interrelatedness of human migratory processes. students are not merely remaining in the u.s. if they originate from a particular nation; rather, a variety of complicated factors impact the decision. this lack of correlation can inform academic staff and donors of how to properly address and advise international students without making presumptions about their migration outcome. however, researchers have found evidence to the contrary. szelenyi (2006) suggested that the economic development of the country is related to international migration. further, hawthorne and harrison (2010) detected that nationality did factor as a significant variable in their study of migration intentions and outcomes. finn (2012) found that graduates from particular countries of origin showed significantly higher stay rates, namely, china, iran, india, and parts of eastern europe. this evidence rests on how the variable is defined, e.g., as student perception of the country’s development or nationality itself rather than the ppp rating. further research on this type of variable is warranted. limitations of study although this study is unique in its measurement of actual migration outcomes of an international student population, a caution should be mentioned. the study analyzed one institution and, with a relatively small sample size, has limited generalizability. also, the sample size discouraged an investigation of gender difference in migration. this is in large part due to the lower rates of female international enrollment as just 25% of the sample population. according to the current study, future graduates will be combined with the current sample to increase the overall population. with a larger sample size, additional factors (age, gender, marital status, and country of origin) will be added to confirm the work of lu, zong, and schissel (2009) who found that gender and marital status affected stay rates. the present study combined the migration outcomes of all graduates as of may 15, 2011. the number of graduates, who changed their location more than once between their respective graduating year and 2011, was miniscule. however, future assessment will distinguish the sample by two-year, five-year, and ten-year stay rates (in addition to the overall calculation of outcomes at a specific date in time). these results will be compared to finn’s study (2012) of doctoral graduates. areas for further research this initial study encourages avenues of further research, for example, a comparison of the migration outcomes between students from different disciplines of study (e.g. students of science versus theology). little data are available on actual international student migration outcomes, and the present study was the first to consider students of theology. finn (2012) found that science and engineering graduates had a very high rate of stay after completion of their doctoral degree in the u.s. doctoral students in economics seem similar in this regard (aslanbeigui & montecinos, 1998). due to the small sample size of theological doctoral graduates in this study, a comparison with doctoral students from other disciplines will be made in the future. perhaps students of theology have a heightened sense of responsibility to contractual agreements and/or more of a moral obligation to reciprocate by returning to their home countries than students of other disciplines. another avenue for research is the investigation of timing, as to when during their sojourn do the migration intentions of students change, considering that all foreign students must convince the u.s. department of state of their non-immigrant intent in order to receive an initial f or j student visa. for the present sample, a follow-up questionnaire will be sent to the international alumni to self-report the reason and motivation behind their migration decision in hindsight. since 2009, incoming international students have completed a questionnaire at orientation regarding their �� journal of international students 178�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3� issue 2 migration intention upon entry. data collection will continue through 2013 and will be compared to actual migration outcomes upon graduation. while gender and family factors influencing migration intention have been considered (lu, zong, & schissler, 2009; soon 2012), further study of student perception of cultural distance (that is, cultural dissimilarity between country of origin and foreign educational context) and the role it plays in leading these initial migrants to stay is valuable, especially to elicit desired labor migration (suanet & van de vijver, 2009). determination of the factors that lead these highly skilled graduates to move can inform institutional policy in sufficing labor demands and strategic goals. concluding remarks the results, however, were useful in designing the future research and for the comparison with other studies. these results—in demonstrating what factors were and were not related to location upon graduation—provide relevant information for the institution to clearly communicate to its constituency and administration as to the correlated factors associated with the migration behavior of foreign students and tomorrow’s international leaders. in addition, if an educational institution has a special initiative for international exchange and reciprocation, this study offers strategic information on capitalizing on achieving desired outcomes. research on the factors and patterns of international student migration can be used for multiple purposes by educational institutions, corporations, and national governments. many schools track their current international student enrollment but may wish to follow their international alumni; this study is a guide to further this goal. moreover, these findings were directly relevant to the current institution in the review of its admission and administrative policies. applications, such as the scholarship contract (the grantee agreement to return overseas upon degree completion), were reviewed to improve the efficiency of administrative procedures. with the result that those who received scholarships were more likely to return abroad, the additional paperwork required was deemed efficient. additionally, the results of this study enabled staff members to describe more clearly to donors and the extended institutional family what percentage of our international students have returned overseas as well as what factors impacting their migration. these findings were also useful to commence further in the areas of international education, migration behavior, and educational reciprocity. as migration involves “individual behavior with respect to movement across space,” the present research discussed migration for international study in particular (fawcett, 1986, p. 5). international migration is a complex engagement of personal motivations, economic prospects, geopolitical factors, and cultural transitions. in that process, this study offers important data adding to the current lack of research. foreign student migration, with its impact both on the host and home country as well as on the individual lives of migrants, is an area worthy of continued research. specifically, the discovery of the factors involved in why people move can prepare educational institutions in how to help their international students to transition during their temporary stay of study and plan for their future. references adnett, n. 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(2012). home is where the heart is: factors determining international students' destination country upon completion of studies abroad. journal of ethnic and migration studies 38(1), 147-162. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183x.2012.640026 suter, b., & jandl, m. (2007). train and retain: national and regional policies to promote the settlement of foreign graduates in knowledge economies. journal of international migration and integration, 9(4), 401-418. doi:10.1007/s12134-008-0072-x stark, o. (2005). the new economics of the brain drain. world economics: the journal of current economic analysis and policy, 6(2), 137-140. retrieved from http://www.econ.upf.edu/docs/seminars/stark4.pdf suanet, i., & van de vijver, f. j. r. (2009). perceived cultural distance and acculturation among exchange students in russia. journal of community & applied social psychology, 19(3), 182-197. doi:10.1002/casp.989 szelényi, k. (2006). students without borders? migratory decision-making among international graduate students in the u.s. knowledge, technology & policy 19(3), 64-86. doi:10.1007/s12130-006-1030-6 van der velde, m., & van naerssen, t. (2010). people, borders, trajectories: an approach to journal of international students 181�� 2013 http://jistudents.org/ volume 3 � issue 2 cross-border mobility and immobility in and to the european union. area, 42 (3), 218-224. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4762.2010.00974.x vasta, e., & vuddamalay, v. (eds.). (2006). international migration and the social sciences: confronting national experiences in australia, france and germany. new york: palgrave macmillan. whisler, r. l., waldorf, b. s., mulligan, g. f., & plane, d. a. (2008). quality of life and the migration of the college-educated: a life-course approach. growth and change, 39(1), 5894. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2257.2007.00405.x _______________ about the author jenny mcgill is an intercultural consultant and has served in international education since 2000. she is a phd candidate at king’s college london, focusing on migration and identity. travel for volunteer work, study, and research has taken her to latin america, europe, eurasia, and africa. email: j.mcgill@fulbrightmail.org 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. microsoft word vol 4 issue 4 journal of international students 389 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 4 reflection/study abroad issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 4, issue 4 (2014), pp. 389-396 ©journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ bilingual advertising in melbourne chinatown sherry yong chen, ba the university of hong kong (hong kong) abstract this paper explores the function of bilingual advertising by analyzing a case study of bilingual advertising in the chinatown of melbourne, australia. the use of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting differentiates itself from those in asian settings where english is not used by dominant proportion of speakers in the society, and this phenomenon has its significance from a sociolinguistic perspective. in this paper, i will adopt the concept of “linguistic landscape” to discuss in detail the general functions of bilingual advertising. by integrating the theories into my case study, i aim to demonstrate how the chinese and english versions of bilingual advertisements in melbourne’s chinatown differ in literal meaning, and to explain why they are designed this way. key words: bilingual advertising, chinatown, linguistic landscape, intercultural communication, globalization, immigrant. ________________________________________________________________________________ my experience as an exchange student in melbourne, australia has granted me, as an english-chinese bilingual and transcultural person, the opportunity to look into the interaction between english-speaking and chinese-speaking communities. to do so, i examined the use of english and chinese in public signs around chinatown where large proportions of chinese immigrants live in australia. the use of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting differentiates itself from those in asian settings where english is not used by dominant proportion of speakers in the society, and this phenomenon has significance from a sociolinguistic perspective. in this paper, i adopt the concept of “linguistic landscape” to discuss in detail the general functions of bilingual advertising. by integrating the linguistic landscape theory into my case study, i aim to demonstrate how the chinese and english versions of bilingual advertisements in melbourne’s chinatown differ in literal meaning, and to explain why they are designed this way. 390 journal of international students linguistic landscape advertising is defined as a form of persuasion that functions to help companies sell their products to an identified group of customers (dominick, 2005). under the influence of globalization, advertising has also found its place in intercultural communication, often in the form of bilingual advertising. to understand bilingual advertising as a sociolinguistic phenomenon, i introduce the concept of “linguistic landscape” (ll), a relatively recent field of study. as a new approach to multilingualism, it focuses on analyzing the use of more than one language in a given context. in the broad sense, ll refers to “the description and analysis of the language situation in a certain country” or “for the presence and use of many languages in a larger geographic area” (gorter, 2006). specifically, when related to advertising, ll is concerned with “the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region” (landry & bourhis, 1997, p. 23). this definition emphasizes the commercial signage and place names that immediately turn our attention to brand names or features of commodities, and this paper will make use of the latter definition. meanwhile, huebner (2008) points out that the current debates in ll theories center around the ambiguity of its definition and a lack of identification of genres within a ll. firstly, researchers are inconsistent on what constitutes a sign, and in various studies, signs have been placed into categories that are not mutually exclusive; a certain degree of arbitrariness in the process of codification is frequently recognized (huebner, 2008, p. 71). secondly, the lack of “an agreed upon, or even clearly identified, unit of analysis” produces problems in ll analysis, which include putting equal weight on signs of different sizes, and not taking into account “the variety of possible intended audience” for items in a ll (huebner, 2008, p. 71). in most case studies of ll, only one of the speech communities is addressed as the participant in discussing the meaning of bilingual advertising practices, ignoring the potential participation of other communities. finally, the lack of identification and description of the genres within a given ll has also made comparisons cross various studies impossible (huebner, 2008, p. 72). huebner (2008) argues that researchers pay attention to the labels assigned to genres and consider the immediate context of a sign of ll. recent ll case studies (see shell, 1977; kasanga, 2010; koslow, shamdasani, and touchstone, 1994, etc.) have examined the perception of the visibility and salience of a certain language and its relation to the symbolic function of that language in various language-contact situations. studies of bilingual advertising in asian settings often draw upon the use of english as functioning to shape a desired identity of the audience. for example, bhatia (2001) mentions that the use of english in asian advertising is to create “a favorable psychological effect upon targeted audience”; takashi’s (1992) study of japanese-english advertising also demonstrates the construction of a more “modern”, “cosmopolitan”, and “successful middle-class” customer identity through the use of english in bilingual advertising in japan. however, the scope of these case studies is limited to the use of english in bilingual advertising in parts of the world where english is not used by dominant proportion of speakers in the society, and the involved societies are monolingual to a large extent. the function of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting, where english is used by most people as native language and another language is used at the same time by bilingual immigrants (or descendants of immigrants), is much less explored. one of the case studies about using spanish in bilingual advertising in the u.s. points out that spanish is used to “increase hispanic consumers’ perception of advertiser sensitivity to hispanic culture”, signaling solidarity among hispanic community in the u.s., which in turn enhances the persuasion of advertisements (koslow, shamdasani & touchstone, 1994). in journal of international students 391 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 4 light of the outcome of this study, paragraphs that follow are devoted to finding out how bilingual advertisements in an immigrant setting interact with both speech communities. case study: bilingual advertising in melbourne chinatown the arrival of chinese immigrants in melbourne can be traced back to the mid-19 th century with the occurrence of gold rush in victoria, australia. today, the chinese community makes up approximately 6.1 percent of melbourne’s entire population, with most of them being englishchinese bilingual to varying degrees. in addition to australian born residents, according to australian bureau of statistics, in 2012 australia had 192,600 enrolled international undergraduate students, with over 90,000 of these being chinese students. melbourne’s chinatown provides an example of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting, which in this case, happens to be the oldest chinatown in australia and has the longest continuous chinese settlement in australia (melbourne’s cultural precincts, 2013). in this case study, i walked around melbourne’s chinatown and collected more than twenty pictures of bilingual advertisements. eighteen advertisements are selected, with most of them being brand names displayed on a billboard, and a few being names of chinese dishes on a bilingual menu displayed outside chinese restaurants. these pictures (see appendix 1) of bilingual advertisements illustrate a careful modification of the literal meanings in two different languages, rather than a direct translation from chinese to english. they represent how the chinese advertisers maximize the visibility and saliency of their advertisements to the chinese-speaking community and englishspeaking community by using two languages at the same time. my research question is (i) how the literal meanings of the chinese and english versions of bilingual advertisements differ from each other, and (ii) how the chinese and english versions function to attract customers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. ultimately, i aim to build knowledge about the underlying relationship between the chinese-speaking community and english-speaking community by examining the different linguistic strategies deployed in these bilingual advertisements. discussion in the case of melbourne’s chinatown, chinese and english are used in bilingual advertisements to attract both chinese-speaking and english-speaking customers. for the purpose of my paper, i will only scrutinize the linguistic strategies deployed in producing the chinese and english versions of these bilingual advertisements. in my analysis i regard the various sizes of advertisements as equally weighted in visibility and salience despite of the fact that they may not be so in reality (see appendix i for a summary of linguistic strategies). the advertisers and customers are respectively the agents and audience of this ll. the advertisers in melbourne’s chinatown are mostly bilingual chinese immigrants, or second generation of immigrants with chinese cultural background and varying competence in chinese languages. from my observations, the customers mostly consist of chinese-speaking community, including chinese immigrants and chinese tourists in melbourne, and the australian englishspeaking community, which, generally has limited knowledge about chinese culture and little competence in reading chinese characters. bilingual advertising in melbourne’s chinatown targets both communities, and the visibility and salience of a piece of advertisement is attributed to the different linguistic strategies deployed in the chinese and english versions of this piece of advertisement. generally, the two versions do not tend to deliver same literal meanings, and i will introduce two most common strategies that i have summarized from my examination of the selected bilingual advertisements. 392 journal of international students the first strategy concerns adding or deleting a chinese city’s name in the english version of the advertisement. for example, a chinese restaurant’s name which literally means “small bun restaurant” adopts an english name as “shanghai street” (item 2) ; another named “authentic lanzhou beef handmade noodles” in chinese has an english name as brief as “noodle kingdom”, with the name of the city “lanzhou” deleted (item 6). this strategy functions to attract both chinese-speaking and english-speaking communities: in the chinese version, the presence of “lanzhou” helps chinese customers recall the national reputation of that city’s noodles, hence it increases the salience of this commercial sign; in the english version the city “lanzhou” is little known to english-speaking customers, so it is deleted from the sign to save more space for other words with higher possibility of attracting the english customers. on the other hand, the presence of a famous chinese city’s name, such as shanghai, triggers english-speaking customers’ knowledge about china and creates familiarity between the advertisers and the targeted customers. another common strategy in producing bilingual advertisements in melbourne’s chinatown involves replacing a chinese phrase with a semantically-irrelevant name in english. for example, a restaurant named after a traditional chinese expression “good luck” advertises itself as “city bbq chinese restaurant” in the english version (item 17) and a piece of advertisement that uses a conventional chinese phrase “time-honoured brand” crowns itself as “best duck in town” in english (item 18). this type of strategy in bilingual advertising that produces completely different meanings in chinese and english is usually accompanied by a shift of salience, typically from culturally salient meaning to a direct reference to the feature of commodities. the chinese phrases used in the chinese versions are very culturally oriented, and they often draw upon the cultural background of chinese customers. using chinese phrases that have no equivalent in english is a way of reinforcing the customers’ chinese identity and bringing together the chinese-speaking community in melbourne. this in turn promotes the visibility of a commercial sign to chinese customers. in the meantime, the english versions often focus on features of commodities, mostly about what it is (“bbq”) and how it is (“best in town”). a direct reference to features of commodities becomes an alternative for advertisers, as it is more effective in attracting english-speaking customers who cannot make sense of the cultural meaning. the choice of using two languages and how to use them relies on the nature of advertising, that is, to accommodate to the linguistic and cultural background of chinese and english speakers and therefore to enhance the salience of commercial signs to different customers. however, it is noteworthy that the use of one language also has significant visibility to the other speech community. having chinese characters in bilingual advertising offers a taste of china for englishspeaking customers who come to chinatown in pursuit of an exotic experience. meanwhile, producing an english version of advertisement shows chinese immigrants have merged into and made contributions to the local culture; it also tells the chinese tourists that their traditions have survived and thrived in a foreign land. munday (2004) notes that bilingual advertising is often to identify how to best “create appeal in different lingua-cultural contexts” (p. 171). the practice of bilingual advertising in melbourne’s chinatown demonstrates that linguistic habits and advertising styles can differ greatly across cultures, and which, consequently, requires different ways of using languages (sidiropoulou, 2008). shell (1997) points out that bilingual advertising “depends on and itself expresses the reciprocity journal of international students 393 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 4 between two languages”, as is in the case of melbourne’s chinatown. the production of bilingual advertisements not only maintains a high degree of salience to both chinese-speaking and englishspeaking communities, but it also manifests the interactions between the immigrant community and the local community who live under the same roof in australia and will continue to the contribute to the country’s economy as a whole. conclusion in this paper i have examined the function of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting by adopting the concept of ll. i have analyzed the bilingual advertisements in melbourne’s chinatown, and discovered the marketing strategy deployed in these bilingual advertisements and a facet of the underlying reciprocal relationship between the chinese-speaking and english-speaking communities in melbourne. the chinese versions of bilingual advertisements are often very culturally-oriented, and they symbolize a chinese identity which functions to maintain the solidarity among the chinese community in melbourne while providing english-speaking customers with an exotic experience. the english versions aim to trigger customers’ knowledge about china, or otherwise present central features of the commodities, and they also represent the chinese immigrants’ immersion into and contribution to the local environment. this case study provides an example of bilingual advertising in an immigrant setting and therefore enriches the literature of ll research. it has further demonstrated the interaction between different languages and different speech communities in a world of increasingly higher social mobility. the wheels of time have brought us into an irreversible trend of globalization, and more convergence as well as clashes between languages and cultures is here to stay. future research in ll may follow the direction of examining language interactions in migration-caused language contact situations, and exploring where globalization has taken us and our languages. references bhatia, t. (2001). language mixing in global advertising. in e. thumboo (ed.), the three circles of english (pp.195-215). singapore: unipress. dominick, j. r. (2005). defining advertising. the dynamics of mass communication. new york, ny: mcgraw-hill. gorter, d. (2006). introduction: the study of the linguistic landscape as a new approach to multilingualism. international journal of multilingualism, 3(1), 1-6. huebner, t. (2008). a framework for the linguistic analysis of linguistic landscape. in shohamy, e., & gorter, d. (eds.), linguistic landscape: expanding the scenery. new york, ny: routledge. kasanga, l. a. (2010). streetwise english and french advertising in multilingual dr congo: symbolism, modernity, and cosmopolitan identity. international journal of the sociology of language, 206, 181-205. koslow, s., shamdasani, p. n., & touchstone, e. e. (1994). exploring language effects in ethnic advertising: a sociolinguistic perspective. journal of consumer research, 20(4) 575-585. landry, r., & bourhis, r. y. (1997). linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: an empirical study. journal of language and social psychology, 16(1). 23-49. melbourne’s cultural precincts: chinatown. city of melbourne. (2013, october). retrieved from http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/aboutmelbourne/precinctsandsuburbs/pages/culturalprecin cts.aspx china munday, j. (2004). advertising: some challenges to translation theory. the translator, 10(2), 199219. 394 journal of international students shell, m. (1977). the forked tongue: bilingual advertisement in quebec. semiotica, 20(3-4), 259270. sidiropoulou, m. (2008). cultural encounters in advertisement translation. journal of modern greek studies, 26(2), 337-362. takashi, k. (1992). language and desired identity in contemporary japan. journal of asian pacific communication, 3(1), 133-144. appendix 1 summary table of bilingual advertisements in melbourne chinatown item no chinese version literal meaning english version features 1 上海炒飯; 牛肉炒飯; 雞球炒飯 shanghai fried rice; beef (&) fried rice; shanghai fried rice with shredded pork; shanghai fried rice with sliced beef; adding a city’s name 2 小籠館 small bun restaurant shanghai street adding a city’s name 3 紅雙喜 red double happiness china red adding a country’s name 4 不夜天 never-night day (non-sleeping day) china bar adding a country’s name 5 貴族世家 aristocratic family, blueblooded family brazilian crystal adding a country’s name 6 正宗蘭州牛肉拉麵 authentic lanzhoua beef handmade noodles noodle kingdom leaving out a city’s name 7 揚州炒飯 yangzhoub fried rice special fried rice leaving out a city’s name 8 重慶樓 chongqing house/building hotpot leaving out a city’s name journal of international students 395 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 4 9 蘇杭川菜館 su hangc chuan food restaurant shanghai village replacing a city’s name 10 山城泉水雞 mountain cityd spring water chicken chongqing style triple-cooked chicken in chilli sauce replacing a city’s name 11 小平菜館 xiao pinge resaurant post-deng café adding prefix to a person’s name 12 夫妻肺片 couple ox tripe & tongue hot spicy couple leaving out part of the dish’s name 13 東藝風水 oriental art feng shui rosewood feng shui & furniture replacing a chinese phrase with semanticallyirrelevant english names 14 怪味合 weird taste matching/suiting 1st choice restaurant replacing a chinese phrase with semanticallyirrelevant english names 15 新潮樓 new trend house/building red silks restaurant & bar replacing a chinese phrase with semanticallyirrelevant english names 16 食為先 eating comes first f shark fin house replacing a chinese phrase with semanticallyirrelevant english names 17 鴻運 good luckg city bbq chinese restaurant replacing a chinese phrase with semanticallyirrelevant english names 396 journal of international students 18 唐人街老字號 chinatown old brandh (timehonoured brand) best duck in town replacing a chinese phrase with semanticallyirrelevant english names notes a. a city in western china, the capital city of gansu province; famous in china for the handmade noodles b. a city in eastern china, in central jiangsu province; famous in china for the special fried rice c. short form for suzhou, a city in jiangsu province, and hangzhou, the capital city of zhejiang province. the combination of their names is famous in china because the two cities together were praised as “a heaven on earth” in ancient chinese poetry. d. a nickname for chongqing city, well-known to chinese people e. the name of deng xiaoping, an influential politician and reformist leader of the communist party of china f. related to the traditional chinese concept that “people regard food as their primary need” g. a traditional way of wishing good luck in chinese h. a fixed way of referring to a well-established brand in chinese _______________ about the author: sherry yong chen is a second year undergraduate student and research assistant at department of linguistics, the university of hong kong. she was an exchange student at the university of melbourne during july 2013 and december 2013. her research interests include language contact, language assessment, language and identity, and computer-mediated communication in mainland china. she can be reached at: schen613@connect.hku.hk 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a 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this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx microsoft word vol 7 issue 3 journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 449 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 7, issue 3 (2017), pp. 449-466 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ vietnamese graduate international student repatriates: reverse adjustment anh t. le barbara y. lacost university of nebraska-lincoln, usa abstract the purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of vietnamese international students who have returned to vietnam after graduation from a u.s. higher education institution. the findings suggest that participants found it harder to readjust to vietnam than to adjust to the u.s. even though they had lived most of their lives in vietnam. time in the u.s. had changed them considerably, making it difficult for them to fit back into their old lives in vietnam. most of them did not expect to experience reserve culture shock, and most had made real efforts to fit back into the vietnamese environment and culture. keywords: vietnamese international students, reverse culture shock, international student readjustment, international student repatriate in the last decade, international students have become an integral part of the student population in the higher education sector (bartram, 2007). international students contribute to the host country in several ways. financially, international students and their dependents spend a substantial amount of money annually on tuitions, housing, food, and consumer goods. these expenditures make them a significant source of revenue for the local community (lee, 2007). skinner and shenoy (2003) discussed multiple factors contributing to host countries’ desire to attract international students. these factors may be categorized as economic, political/security, and academic. economically, the benefits international students bring to the host countries are manifold. besides paying for tuition and living expenses, international students also serve as research assistants and post-doctoral fellows who further research advancement in the host country, which improves the host country’s competitive advantage in the global economy. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.570295 journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 450 politically, a host country gains multiple benefits from hosting international students. international students provide the host community with the opportunity to be exposed to and learn from different cultures and political systems. also, international students who return to their home countries usually bring with them good will about the host country. educating international students is a great opportunity for the host country to influence future leaders who will guide the development of their home countries. academically, international students contribute significantly to cultural and research diversity on campuses. international students, often among the top academic performers in their home countries, provide a healthy and stimulating competition to host countries’ students. given the great benefits that international students bring to host communities, the competition among countries to attract international students has been heightened. countries that are making especially strong efforts to attract international students include the united states of america (henceforth, us), the united kingdom, australia, france, and japan (skinner & shenoy, 2003). research on international student mobility has been focused on the flow from home country to host country; less attention has been paid to what happens after graduation or after students return to their home countries, an issue often referred to as “reverse mobility” (lee & kim, 2010). there are several reasons for a need for more research on international students’ reverse mobility. first, the repatriates can serve as sources of information for other students who are interested in studying abroad. second, host countries invest considerable amounts of human and financial resources (faculty, staff, advisor, assistantship, grants, etc.) into the education of international students, so they have an interest in acquiring knowledge about how these students utilize their training/education after graduation. third, individual institutions and host countries’ higher education systems are interested in learning about how relevant and useful the provided education has been for international students who return their home countries; knowledge gained can encourage them to provide targeted and pertinent improvements in their curricula and programs. within the limited pool of knowledge about the reverse mobility of international students, research has predominantly focused on students from traditional top-sending countries such as china, india, korea, and taiwan (finn 2007; jin, lee, yoon, kim & oh 2006; saxenian, 2005; zweig, fung, & han, 2008). according to the institute of international education (iie) (2012a), vietnam has consistently been among the top ten sending countries to the u.s. since 2009. in the 2011-2012 academic year, vietnam was the eighth leading place of origin for students coming to the u.s., with 15,572 students (iie, 2012b). however, very little research effort has been directed specifically toward vietnamese international students, and even less journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 451 research has addressed vietnamese students who return to vietnam upon graduation from a u.s. higher education institution. the purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of vietnamese international students who have returned to vietnam after graduation from a u.s. higher education institution (henceforth, the repatriates). areas explored include the transitional period, perceptions of the relevance of u.s. education to their current lives, reflections on their experiences in the u.s., and their future plans. knowledge drawn from this study can serve as useful reference information for current and future recruitment efforts, support services, and courses geared toward vietnamese international students. definition of terms international student—a student from another country who is studying in the us on a non-immigrant student visa, classified as an f-1, m1, or j-1. this definition does not include permanent residents, resident aliens, “green card” holders, students on other sorts of visas, refugees, or immigrants. vietnamese international student repatriate – a vietnamese student who returned to vietnam upon graduation from a u.s. higher education institution. relevant literature few studies have investigated the repatriation experience (variously referred to as “return” or “reentry,” as well) of international students (sussman, 2002). slightly more common in the literature have been studies on international students’ intentions to stay in their host countries, but these few research studies have mostly been limited by country of origin, profession, or discipline. for example, butcher (2002) considered east asian students, zweig and changgui (1995) studied chinese students, and baker and finn (2003) studied stay rates among international economics students in the u.s. what studies there have been about the repatriation experience have focused on (a) professional expatriates returning to their home country after working abroad or (b) u.s. study abroad students. for example, şahin (1990) argued that repatriation distress among turkish migrant workers correlated with the length of time abroad. marital status and education level among missionaries have also been associated with the repatriation experience (moore, jones, & austin, 1987). u.s. study abroad students have reported that differences between home and host cultures affected their repatriation transition (raschio, 1987). in addition, identity changes may be related to return home experiences (isogai, hayashi, & uno, 1999; werkman, 1982). several investigators reported positive reentry journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 452 experiences such as (a) more appreciation of the host culture (pritchard, 2010), (b) improved relationships with parents (martin, 1986), (c) positive changes in values orientation (uehara, 1986), and (d) more awareness and acceptance of cultural differences (wilson, 1986). studies about the relationship between the abroad experience and the repatriation experience present conflicted findings. cui and awa (1992) found that sojourners with previous overseas experience adapted better to subsequent overseas assignments due to experience in coping with differences. other researchers found an inverse relationship between overseas adaptation and repatriation such that the more successful the adaptation to a host country, the more distressing and difficult the return to the home country (brein & david, 1971; brislin, 1981; brislin & van buren, 1974). sussman (2000) has proposed a theory of the transition cycle using a social psychological framework, specifically focusing on selfconcept and cultural identity. the cultural identity model (cim) proposes several tenets: (a) cultural identity is a critical aspect of self-concept, (b) salience of cultural identity is a consequence of the commencement of a cultural transition, (c) cultural identity is dynamic and can shift as a consequence of the overseas transition and self-concept changes, and (d) shifts in cultural identity serve as a mediator between cultural adaptation and the repatriation experience. in another study, hazen and alberts (2006) reported (a) the factors that international students consider in deciding whether to stay in the u.s. or to return home upon completion of their studies and (b) how these factors vary by nationality, gender, or academic major. they investigated international students’ decision-making processes through focus groups and informal conversations with international students from a variety of disciplines and countries (chinese, dutch, greek, indian, japanese, and tanzanian). from the focus groups, they found that, generally, professional factors usually encouraged students to stay in the u.s., while societal and personal factors typically encouraged a return home. the majority of the students in the study stated that they had originally intended to return to their home countries after the completion of their degrees. the authors suggested that economic and professional factors typically act as strong incentives for international students to stay in the u.s., while personal and societal factors tend to draw students back to their home countries. more specifically, on the structural level, differences in job markets, economic opportunities, and political systems significantly influence the decisionmaking process. on an individual level, students’ family connections, personal circumstances, and personalities account for much of the variation between students. in one of the more highly cited studies of the reentry experience, butcher (2002) conducted qualitative research with 50 graduates of new journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 453 zealand universities from hong kong, malaysia, singapore, and thailand about the reentry process into their home countries. the article highlighted the difficulties faced by the graduates during the reentry process and offers suggestions for how to alleviate these difficulties. butcher conceptualized the reentry as a grieving process. this grief, he posits, is best understood as a “disenfranchised grief” which is “a grief that can be defined as the grief that persons experience when they incur a loss that is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, publicly mourned, or socially supported” (p. 357). because of the lack of expectations for and acceptance of reentry grief, returnees may experience many psychological challenges. disenfranchised grief may exacerbate and intensify the normal reactions of grief, namely, anger, guild, sadness, depression, loneliness, homesickness, and numbness. the author found that the returnees specifically encountered challenges with (a) their return to family ties, (b) their change in their worldviews, and (c) their expectations of their reentry. many returnees found it difficult to go back to living under their parents’ roofs again. their worldviews and expectations about familial responsibilities was different from their parents’ worldview or expectations. familial tensions were the norm for the returnees. nevertheless, some returnees reported a better relationship with their parents because being away had helped them to appreciate their parents more. besides familial tensions, many returnees experienced disappointment with their employment situations. butcher (2002) postulated that one of the most significant expectations of returnees might be immediate employment that would be relevant to their qualifications and that paid well. he declared this not to be the case. many returnees quickly became dependent on parents because they had a hard time finding suitable employment even after applying for numerous jobs and waiting for several months. for an international graduate, entering a workforce for which they may not know the norms and conventions and for which they may not have been educated compounded the problem. degrees in economics and management may have limited benefits to a graduate seeking employment in any of the countries addressed in this research (butcher, 2002). mooradian (2004) later echoed butcher’s (2002) assertion of a myriad of difficulties facing international student returnees in their reentry process. mooradian suggested that reverse culture shock differed from culture shock because there are many unexpected problems, in that people prepare for difficulties when they go abroad but often do not prepare for their reentry process. they expect home to have remained as they knew it when they return. however, many returnees reported feeling that people and relationships had changed while they were away. mooradian speculated that returnees might feel a lack of support from their home social support networks, which could leave them feeling sad, lost, and lonely. however, journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 454 mooradian also acknowledged the positive advantages of the reentry process. returnees could utilize many of the characteristics of the overseas culture to develop a new cultural identity that would work to their advantage at home. these characteristics can include interpersonal communication (accent or language competence), physical (fashion or appearance), and behavioral (posture or other nonverbal) attributes. mooradian (2004) asserted that reverse adjustment occurs in stages. the first stage, “leave-taking and departure”, includes preparing to leave (saying goodbye, packing) and making logistical plans for going home. the second, “honeymoon stage,” can last for about one month. as the returnees are newly back home, everyone is excited to see them, and they enjoy their time visiting people whom they missed while abroad. “reverse culture shock,” the third stage, begins when life starts returning to normal. the returnees realize that they have changed. they experience doubt and disappointment and are overwhelmed by the prospect of starting over. alienation, rejection, loss of sleep, anxiety, and fears and phobias are among the common experiences of returnees. the fourth, and final, stage is “adjustment,” when returnees begin to adapt to being at home, focus on the future, and try not to dwell on the past. according to mooradian, it may take returnees from six months to a year to feel like they have readjusted to the home culture and to no longer experience a constant desire to go back to their host countries (p. 44). the current literature on the reentry experience suggests that reentry/return/repatriation is a complex and stressful process involving several major aspects of the repatriates’ lives including interpersonal relationships, career, and identity development. however, it is one of the most understudied and least discussed topics in the literature on student affairs work with international students. the aim of this study is to contribute to filling the gaps in the field's understanding of vietnamese students' reentry experiences. research method population/sample study participants were seven vietnamese international students who had graduated from a private university in the northeastern region of the u.s.; its functional pseudonym for the study was “sunny university.” there was no one comprehensive sample frame for this population. after obtaining internal review board (irb) approval, we reached out to potential participants using purposeful sampling and snowball sampling. the participants were purposefully selected based on two criteria: (a) graduated from the selected university and (b) had returned to vietnam to live after graduation. we used snowball sampling after starting with a few journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 455 key informants who had knowledge about or wide connections to people who might fit the study criteria. data collection procedures the first researcher traveled to vietnam and stayed for an extended period of time to conduct face-to-face interviews with the participants. each interview lasted from 45 to 90 minutes and was audio recorded for accuracy. all of the participants chose to have conversations in vietnamese. during each interview, the techniques of probing, seeking clarification, and paraphrasing were used to ensure the accuracy of the recorded information. during the interviews, the researcher took extensive handwritten field notes. the interview guide provided the opportunity to probe, to seek elaboration and clarification, and to paraphrase responses to ensure the accuracy of content and meaning in the transcription process. the inductive approach was used in this study. data analysis because the interviews were conducted in vietnamese, they were, of necessity, translated into english by the researcher. the translation was verified by another vietnamese doctoral student to ensure its accuracy. the data collected for this study were analyzed using an inductive reasoning approach. each transcript text was coded, and the codes were grouped into categories, which in turn were integrated into major themes. descriptive coding was used to generate a set of codes that are words or phrases that “seem to stand out as significant or summative of what’s being said” (saldaña, 2011, p. 99). codes from all transcripts were then clustered into categories based upon similarities. these categories were then further grouped into major themes. themes are defined as “extended phrases or sentences that summarize the manifest (apparent) and latent (underlying) meanings of the data” (p. 108). a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software called maxqda was used to cross-check the coding and theming process to ensure the validity of the codes and themes. findings in the interviews, both adjustment to the u.s. and readjustment to vietnam were discussed at length. interestingly, all of the participants found it harder to readjust to vietnam than to adjust to the u.s. even though they had lived most of their lives in vietnam. time in the u.s. had changed them considerably, making it difficult for them to fit back into their old lives in vietnam. for the purpose of presenting the findings, pseudonyms were used for the participants. there were four female participants (daisy, nancy, lindsay, tracy) and three male participants (tony, thomas, and david). journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 456 table 1. the participants’ demographic data all of the participants returned to vietnam for relationship and career reasons. they had loved ones and support networks in vietnam. most of them also believed that they would have better career prospects in vietnam because of its fast-growing economy and because of the availability of their social capital. however, for some, home did not feel like home anymore. they had changed significantly, which was something of a mixed blessing. the participants, themselves, usually perceived these changes as positive developments. some of their loved ones appreciated the changes; others were skeptical of their value. from the participants’ conversations about their readjustment processes, three common themes emerged: lost career opportunities, familial/romantic relationships, and cultural differences between vietnam and the u.s., as they pertained to readjustment to life and work in vietnam (i.e., reverse culture shock/readjustment to vietnam). loss of career opportunities all participants acknowledged that the time they had spent abroad was in many respects the best time of their lives. however, when they returned to vietnam, they realized that they also had lost a few years of their careers. david, through his father’s connections, was offered a job in a state-owned auditing company right after his bachelor’s graduation. thus, when david resigned from his position to go study abroad for two years, he forfeited a lucrative and highly sought after career opportunity. when he returned to vietnam after two years, his colleagues had advanced in their careers. additionally, he could not even return to his former position because the “economy was so difficult that i couldn’t get the same opportunities like those anymore.” in thomas’ case, he felt that he had lost the competitive edge because “while my friends were working to accumulate experience and pseudonym age marital status years spent in the u.s. years back in vietnam current occupation daisy 35 married 2 2 project coordinator lindsay 27 married 10 2 english teacher, interpreter david 27 single 2 1 business owner tracy 27 single 2 1 corporate finance consultant tony 30 single 11 4 consultant, lecturer thomas 28 single 2 3 investment analyst nancy 35 divorced 2 4 deputy ceo journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 457 build their own networks, i was still a student and didn’t keep pace with them.” similarly, daisy had a tenured government job with many benefits, guaranteed job security, and high career advancement potential before her study abroad trip. when she came back, she was jobless because “they [the government] didn’t know whether i would come back to contribute to the country.” as a result, her position was terminated. familial/romantic relationships most participants expressed great concerns about their personal relationships. depending on individual circumstances and life stages, their concerns varied in degree and in their specifics. however, participants all agreed that personal relationships played an important role in their lives and in their reasons for returning. some of the participants were more fortunate than others in this area. for others, the decision to study abroad led to serious issues and outcomes. nancy, now in her mid-thirties, had gone through a divorce while trying to complete her mba degree. her daughter was just about three or four at the time. she actually had to interrupt her studies to come back to vietnam to deal with her familial issues. when asked about what she had gained and lost as the result of studying abroad, nancy admitted, “my biggest loss was my family.” currently, she lives with her daughter in her own house and is reportedly “very happy.” however, given her extremely busy schedule, she shared, “my personal life has been limited at present.” another participant, daisy, reported some similarities to nancy’s portrayal of personal life. daisy also had a small daughter at the time she left for the u.s. unfortunately, she will also soon become a single parent since she and her husband are currently going through the divorce process. unlike nancy and daisy, tracy was a single woman in her mid-twenties, but like them she also had lost a serious long-term relationship because she had chosen to study abroad. she also encountered difficult in her romantic relationships when she came back home. parents, colleagues, and friends pressured her to settle down because she was “too old for getting married.” thus, she felt “trapped” and frustrated with her love life. she wished to have another opportunity because “if i study abroad, i might meet another international student whose world view is more similar to mine, more open and progressive. he might be more independent.” beside romantic relationships, familial relation was a significant concerns for the participants. david experienced some familial tension with his parents. david mainly focused much of the interview on his relationship with his parents after he returned to vietnam. he described how his parents reacted to his new characteristics: “some are positive, some are negative. for instance, my parents were so pleased with my independence. however, that i came home late without informing made them upset.” like david, journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 458 tony placed great focus on his familial relationships. one of his most significant regrets from being abroad for so long was that he did not get to know his younger brother. he noted that on his return to vietnam, his “younger brother was more mature. they [his family] were happy to have me back. so the positive outnumbered the negative.” furthermore, tony had had a contentious relationship with his father before studying abroad. upon his return to vietnam, their relationship improved significantly as his father became less authoritarian as he got older and had converted to buddhism. the findings presented in this section depicted the participants’ complex and diverse experiences with their familial/romantic relationships. in cases where the participants returned to live under their parents’ roofs again, their familial relationships experienced some degree of change depending on the nature of their relationships before the trip and upon how much they had changed as persons. both sides, the participants and their parents, for the most part were willing to modify their thinking and behaviors to accommodate each other to maintain familial harmony. living abroad for at least two years appeared to make the participants realize how much they had missed their families and how much their parents care for them. as a result, they tended to take a more mature approach to familial conflicts than they would have done prior to their trips to the u.s. these themes mirror butcher’s (2002) results with 50 graduates of new zealand universities from hong kong, malaysia, singapore, and thailand. the author found that returnees specifically encountered challenges with their return to family ties, their change in their worldviews, and their expectations of their reentry. many returnees often find it difficult to go back to living under their parents’ roofs again. their worldviews and expectations about their familial responsibilities might be substantially different from their parents’ worldviews or expectations. familial tensions are the norm for returnees, although some returnees reported having a better relationship with their parents because being away helped them to appreciate their parents more. however, the degree of familial tensions reflected in the current study is of much lesser degree. one possible explanation for this difference is the maturity level disparity between the two groups of participants, as butcher’s participants were mostly undergraduate students. reverse culture shock some of the participants experienced reverse cultural shock upon their return to vietnam from the u.s. five participants had lived their whole lives in vietnam, except for the two years in the study abroad program. however, their whole worldviews had changed significantly because of their study abroad experience. they were more prone to get upset about things they used to consider normal. david described his journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 459 frustrations with things he would have considered normal two years ago such as “those who run red lights or litter on the street or do not fasten seat belts, even my family.” similarly, tracy had experienced more serious cultural shocks in many aspects of her life. career wise, she was disappointed in how her american education became irrelevant as her job “was so different from what i had learned that i couldn’t much apply my specialized knowledge on it.” her personal life also suffered because she “was under pressure and being pushed to settle down” and she “had to go on dates with guys that were completely incompatible with me.” she was discouraged from pursuing her dreams: i was accustomed to life in the u.s., so when i returned to vietnam, i sometimes felt very exhausted because i had to readjust to life here. as you know, living in the u.s., i had the freedom to chase my dreams. even if i wanted to spend four or five years to study higher, it was no problem. my dream was respected, so i didn’t have doubts about making it come true. however, the vietnamese don’t approve that an almost thirty-year-old woman like me doesn’t want to settle down but wants to study, instead. each comment per person was enough for me to become dispirited. chasing my dream is difficult; it’s harder when nobody supports me and everyone tries to talk me out of it. so my dream is very limited here. thus, if i could, i would go abroad again. at work, she also felt left out because of cultural differences. she was used to the american working environment. her current employment environment required her to engage in office politics and vicious (and sometime dirty) competition to get ahead. she could not fit in and did not want to compromise her moral integrity to gain career promotions. another participant, thomas, also felt trapped in his life in vietnam, although his problems were mostly just career related. for him, “the most disappointing issue was that i couldn’t apply what i had studied in my real work” and “the way i think and talk about projects doesn’t seem to fit the working environment in vietnam.” so, he felt “stuck.” even nancy, who was relatively successful in her transition and career, experienced some cultural shocks at first: when i first came to work in vn, i felt that i was less energetic than my colleagues. many overseas students usually met with the same situation. many talk about how in the u.s. people often compliment your ability, while in vietnam, you don’t get that. i think it’s cultural. for instance, american parents always praise their journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 460 children, but the vietnamese usually criticize their kids. it’s part of the culture. she also felt that she needed to show off more status symbols in vietnam to gain acceptance from her networks. “i feel less pressured in the u.s. for example, here in vn, among my friends, i can’t just ride a scooter, especially in hanoi. in the u.s., nobody cares,” she said in explaining why she had to own a car even though it is usually more convenient to get around on a scooter in vietnam. in general, all of the participants experienced reverse cultural shock to some degree when they returned to vietnam. they had changed significantly while abroad. however, they had not anticipated that home would change, that friendships would disappear, and that people would judge them harshly because they had not followed the typical life trajectory for a vietnamese. these experiences were also found in mooradian’s (2004) study. mooradian suggests that reverse culture shock is different than culture shock because there are many unexpected problems. many people prepare for difficulties when they go abroad, but often do not prepare for their reentry process. they expect home to have remained as they knew it when they return. however, as many returnees sadly discover, people change and relationships change. returnees might feel a lack of support from their home social support networks, which leaves them feeling sad, lost, and lonely. re-adjustment to vietnam. three participants, tony, lindsay, and nancy, had relatively smooth transitions because they already found great career opportunities. the other four had to struggle to find employment. however, all of them adjusted their attitudes to adapt to their lives and career situations. david shifted his focus from what he had lost to what he could do now to be happy. though he regretted wasting his american degree, he reframed the situation in a positive way: “the most important thing is how i can earn a living and how i can find a career and a lifestyle that are compatible with my interests, not what i have invested in. […] the coffee shop business is my passion now.” daisy shared that for her “it seemed that adapting to america was easier than readapting myself to vietnam.” when she first came back to vietnam, she had to manage to support her family because everyone was dependent on her. however, she finally realized that she was somewhat successful at readjusting herself: “only two weeks ago did i realize that i am not doing too bad.” similarly, tracy reported feeling happy about being reunited with her family but also had to make significant adjustments. in some situations, she made adjustments to fit in with her colleagues. she journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 461 made some compromises as “it was best that you lower yourself and ask to learn from others. […] i sometimes had to speak in flattering terms to them.” tony was much more fortunate than tracy because he continued to work for a u.s.-based company after repatriation. he took up a second job to help with the re-integration into vietnam. he attributed his successful transition from the u.s. to vietnam partly to his positive attitude and flexibility: “i just try to make the best of my situation. in any circumstances, if i can’t change them, i will change myself to adapt to reach better things.” similarly, thomas also learned to accept the cultural differences and readjust himself to the environment and “gradually accepted that and adapted to my current life.” when he had to drastically change his work philosophy to satisfy vietnamese clients’ needs, he felt conflicted. “having to adjust to something which wasn’t my nature certainly made me feel suffocated. however, i considered it a necessity of my job,” he said. he considered it reasonable to critically examine which traits were appropriate for which cultures and make adjustment accordingly: “i will adapt to the foreign life when living abroad. and when i live with my family, i had to give up things that are not appropriate for this culture to get along with them.” gender difference in readjustment. it would seem germane here to note that there were noticeable gender differences in the participants’ perceptions of their readjustment experiences. the three male participants reported being happy or content with their love lives and careers. in contrast, of the four female participants, only one, lindsay who was married to an american, was happy with her love life. nancy’s marriage was broken when she was still in the us. she was divorced by the time she returned to vietnam. in her current high-powered position, she enjoyed a comfortable material and an active social life. however, she seemed to be constantly under stress at work and often worked long hours. being a single mother, a career woman, and an extremely busy individual left her very little time for a personal life. she often felt “exhausted and lonely.” similarly, daisy was going through a rough time as she was finalizing her divorce. conservative traditional gender norms proved to be powerful and detrimental to these female participants’ pursue of happiness. like thomas, tracy was a single individual in her late twenties. however, unlike thomas, she was under extreme pressure both internally and externally to find a man to settle down with. however, she could not see herself being married to any of the men her family introduced her to. in her opinion, most of them were very patriarchal, “spoiled,” and unambitious men who depended on their parents for financial support and obeyed their parents mindlessly. this sense of disappointment with potential dating partners was also voiced by journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 462 several female participants in pritchard’s (2010) study about asian graduate students’ reentry trauma. she has changed, she said. she wanted to marry for love, not out of necessity. thus, she was constantly in emotional turmoil and experiencing conflicts regarding her love life. in a relatively patriarchal society like vietnam, women are often discouraged from pursuing higher levels of education or high-powered positions because doing so would make them less marriageable. thus, the female participants in this study, except for lindsay, who is married to an american, had to deal with this double standard on top of the common stressors of repatriation. the additional stresses and pressures for female repatriates has been documented in a number of studies on the reentry experience (brabant, palmer, & gramling 1990; linehan & scullion, 2002). discussion each participant’s story is unique, of course. however, there were some characteristics common among most of the participants. their exposure to the u.s. cultural traditions of valuing individual uniqueness and encouraging individual development made a strong impression on them. some of them changed their worldviews and personalities drastically because of their experiences in the u.s. all considered, they felt that these personality changes were among the best things they gained from their study abroad experiences. however, these changes seemed to generate a mixed bag of reactions from the participants’ loved ones and professional networks when they returned to vietnam. most of them found more emotional support when they came back to their families. for some, their familial relationships tended to improve upon their returns. their parents appeared to be happy about their newly developed maturity and independence. however, such as in nancy’s case, her relationship with her father was worsened because he would not approve of her working in the private sector instead of in state-owned organizations. some of the participants were saddened by the fact that some of their friends had drifted apart when they came back from the u.s. the literature (adler, 1981; yoshida et al., 2002) suggests that this phenomenon is a common feature of the repatriation experience. in conversations about their careers, some participants were happier than others about their current employment conditions. nancy, lindsay, and tony were the ones with the most positive perceptions of their jobs. thomas and daisy liked some aspects of their jobs but disliked the intense travel schedule and long hours. david could not find a suitable job and opened his own coffee shop. tracy felt “dispirited” and “trapped” in a viciously competitive work environment where affiliation was valued more than expertise and hard work. this experience of career-related challenges was also reflected in the existing journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 463 reentry literature (riusala & suutari, 2000; suutari & brewster, 2003; westwood & leung, 1994). most of the participants were still struggling to readjust themselves to the vietnamese working and living environments. all of them worked very hard and tried to keep a positive attitude. at the beginning of our conversations, they mainly focused on the positive aspects of their lives. later on in the conversations, when the researcher and the participants had established rapport, they became more open to disclose deeper feelings and concerns about their personal and professional lives. for some of them, readjusting to vietnam felt much more difficult than adjusting to the us during their study abroad time. this sense of misfit between their newly formed identity and their home country environment is reflected in the literature about cultural identity and cultural transitions (sussman, 2000). for several, there was a sense of being “trapped” or “suffocated” because they had very little room in their lives for meaningful personal and professional development. some had resolved to change themselves to fit into the environment, even though doing so might mean that they would have to give up a large part of the perceived positive development they had gained during their study abroad time. others were seeking out opportunities to go abroad again to escape the miserable work environment. in other words, most of them had not adjusted well to the vietnamese working environment even after more than one year home. these findings suggest that the readjustment process might take considerably longer than had been previously asserted in the readjustment stages model (mooradian, 2004). conclusion the principal intent of this study was to contribute some insights into the under-researched phenomenon of international student repatriation in vietnam. the findings highlighted the critical concerns and issues for the participants. each participant’s story, as well as the group’s commonality, was discussed to present the complexity of their lives as a whole and of their reentry experiences in particular. as a result of their time spent studying abroad, the participants have gained and lost important things in life, such as career opportunities, professional skills, and relationships. their readjustment journeys were diverse but also had some common similarities. most of them did not expect to experience reverse culture shock, and most had made real efforts to fit back into the vietnamese environment and culture. for most, their readjustment journeys have been fraught with challenges and disappointments, especially the female participants. however, they all expressed a sense of hope and optimism for their futures because they felt that they had become stronger as a result of all of their journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 464 experiences with cultural transitions. however, because of the life-changing, identify-altering experiences they had had overseas, their adjustment journeys will likely be long and complex processes. references adler, n. j. 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(2008). redefining the brain drain: china’s “diaspora option”. science, technology and society, 13, 1-33. anh t. le, phd, is currently an academic advisor/success coach for international students at the university of nebraska-lincoln (unl). her research focuses on factors contributing to international students’ success and identity development in undergraduate and graduate education in the united states. email: ale10@unl.edu barbara y. lacost, phd, is an associate professor in educational administration at the university of nebraska-lincoln. she has more than four decades of experience in the field of educational administration. she holds a doctorate from louisiana state university. she has written several monographs and articles on educational administration, educational budgeting, and women in educational leadership. email: blacost1@unl.edu manuscript submitted: october 20, 2015 manuscript revised: march 2016 accepted for publication: october 27, 2016 *** 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. final rev 0108 special issue-(clean) 105 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 105-117 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis establishment and practice of academic guidance mechanism for international students in the covid-19 pandemic: a case of dongbei university of finance and economics 疫情常态化背景下国际学生学业指导机制的建立 与实践: 以东北财经大学为例 bi zhang (张苾) jian zhang (张健) dongbei university of finance and economics, china 东北财经大学，中国 abstract (摘要) academic advising plays an important role in the process of international student learning in a new culture. the article discusses the covid-19 impacts on international student learning and the growing needs for academic support at the dongbei university of finance and economics. by reviewing the literature on academic advising services and conducting an academic advising service needs analysis, the university builds an academic guidance system to support international student academic development during the covid-19 pandemic. the survey was conducted to explore international students’ satisfaction levels with the academic guidance system. in this article, we present the results of the satisfaction survey, its effects and actions and offer suggestions for further improvement of academic advising services. 学业指导对身处新文化环境下的国际学生的学业发展发挥重要作用。本文 探讨了新冠疫情对东北财经大学国际学生学业发展带来的影响以及该校国 际学生日益增长的对学业指导服务的需求。在对学业指导服务相关文献的 journal of international students 106 梳理和针对学业指导需求分析的基础上，该校新冠疫情期间通过建立学业 指导体系助力国际学生学业发展。此外，一项针对该校国际学生学业指导 体系满意度的调查揭示了该校学业指导服务的效果，本文据此提出进一步 提升学业指导服务的建议。 keywords (关键词): covid-19, international students, academic guidance, practical experience, coping strategies (新冠疫情, 国际学生, 学业指导, 实践经 验, 因应策略) 前言 “学业指导”思想源于 17世纪美国哈佛大学、耶鲁大学等高校“陪伴式” 的教育理念，即教师与学生同吃同住并负责监督和解决学生所有学业和非 学业问题。19 世纪后期，哈佛大学率先推出选课制度，对于学业指导的需 求进一步显现。20 世纪 70 年代，随着美国高校实行开放入学政策，新的 学生群体带来新的学业问题，对于学业指导的研究逐渐深入。1979 年，全 美学业指导协会 (the national academic advising association 简称 “nacada”) 成立，标志着学业指导成为一个专门领域。目前，超过 75% 的美国高校设有专门的学业指导机构，已经形成体系成熟完备、内容多元 发展、人员组成多样、服务规范专业的美国高校学业指导体系。“学业指 导”理念 20 世纪末引入中国。进入 21 世纪，中国部分高校已具备了一定 的学业指导意识，也有针对性地组织开展了部分学业指导活动。但整体而 言，中国高校学业指导不论指导对象、指导内容、指导形式还是从业人员 的专业化程度方面仍处于发展初期。随着中国成为亚洲最大留学目的国， 国际学生培养正在从扩大规模向提质增效转型，国际学生学业发展得到进 一步重视，许多高校逐步启动国际学生学业指导工作。由于中国高校开展 学业指导工作尚不成熟，面向国际学生群体的学业指导又具有一定特殊性， 导致国际学生学业指导工作缺乏系统性、科学性、实效性。新冠疫情下国 际学生学业问题进一步凸显，对学业指导的需求明显增加，如何有效开展 面向国际学生的学业指导是中国高校面临的共同课题。笔者认为，疫情常 态化背景下建立国际学生学业指导机制将为这一课题提供新的解题思路。 文献综述 美国高校学业指导在全球范围内起步较早，经历了百年的发展已经形成成 熟的学业指导体系和丰富的理论研究成果。相较之下，中国这方面实践和 研究均有待完善，疫情背景下国际学生学业指导问题研究仍存在空白。 journal of international students 107 美国高校学业指导体系研究 学界通常从工作宗旨、指导内容、指导体系、人员构成四个方面对美 国高校学业指导体系进行研究。有学者将美国高校学业指导工作宗旨归纳 为促进高校人才培养目标与学生个性化发展的协调统一 (顾佳, 2011; 王松 婵, 2016)。 从具体指导活动的目的出发，指导内容可分为“诊断性指导”和“发 展性指导” (grites, 1984)。“诊断性指导”，即围绕已经发生的学业问题 开展的有针对性的指导活动；“发展性指导”，即根据学业发展的基本规 律和学生培养主要环节设计的具有一定普适性、说明性、导向性的指导活 动。从具体指导活动设计的主题出发，指导内容可主要划为新生入学指导、 课程选择指导、学习方法指导、学校资源利用指导等方面 (陈晏华, 2014; 崔军等, 2014)。 美国高校学业指导体系一般可以归为分散型、集中型、共享型 (pardee， 2000; 詹逸思等, 2014)。分散型，即由专业学院或专职教师主导开展学业指 导活动。集中型，即由学校专门机构主导开展学业指导活动。共享型，即 专业学院或专职教师与学校专门机构联合开展学业指导活动。 美国高校学业指导团队主要可以划分为专业教师、专业指导者、朋辈 指导者、专业顾问四类 (顾佳, 2011; 陈晏华, 2014)。专业教师是学生寻求 学业指导的第一对象，对学生主修专业或主修课程的学业指导起到关键作 用。专业指导者是学校专门机构聘请的从事学业指导工作的专职人员，他 们有更多的时间和精力为学生提供更为专业的指导服务，构成美国高校学 业指导人员主体。朋辈指导者是由成绩较好的高年级学生担任的学业指导 人员，学生身份和高度一致的学习经验是这类指导者能够与被指导者开展 良性沟通的先决条件。专业顾问是指在某个领域具有从业资格的专业人士， 负责提供针对性和专业性更强的咨询服务。 中国高校学业指导实施情况研究 2012 年，一项对全国 39 所“985”高校学业指导工作的调查显示 29 所 (74%) 受访高校采用由学院负责的分散型学业指导体系；10 所 (26%) 受访 高校采用共享型学业指导体系，调查时已经成立或正在筹建校级专门机构； 而受访高校中没有一所采用集中型学业指导体系。该调查同时反映受访高 校学业指导具有两级联动、资源倾斜、指导队伍专兼结合、团体为主个体 为辅、从消极应对向积极引导转变等共性 (詹逸思等, 2014)。以上内容都 反映了中国高校学业指导工作的积极发展态势，然而对这些受访高校学业 指导体系运行情况的跟踪调查和对其他层次高校的相关调查仍然十分缺乏。 有学者指出中国的学业指导制度虽有一定发展，但总体状况并不尽如 人意。例如，中国高校学业指导存在理念意识、理论研究和重视程度不够， 全国性专业协会尚未建立，学业指导人员能力和专业知识不足，指导内容 journal of international students 108 和对象不够广泛，指导类型和方式单一等诸多问题 (陶敏, 2012; 刘一鸣, 2015; 侯婷, 2021)。 国际学生学业指导研究 有研究人员通过中国知网检索“留学生”“学习适应”“学业/就业指 导”等关键词，所得 88 篇文章中仅 6 篇专门讨论国际学生学业适应性问题。 据此，该作者认为学术界对如何系统解决这部分学生学习适应问题仍有待 充分讨论 (詹逸思, 2019)。也有学者使用 citespace软件对中国知网 2007 至 2019 年间围绕“来华留学生+跨文化”主题发表的 500 篇论文进行分析， 发现“来华留学生适应性”是当前这一问题的主流研究方向。2007至 2011 年期间，来华留学生跨文化主题研究成果多集中在心理适应这一研究热点 上。2014 年开始，研究方向逐渐趋于多元化，跨文化意识、文化适应、学 术适应等成果成为研究热点 (曹彬, 2020)。许多文章从社会文化适应、学业 适应和心理适应三方面分析国际学生跨文化适应现状，提出国际学生服务 工作缺乏连续性，对国际学生学术支持存在盲区，建议成立学校国际学生 服务中心，为国际学生提供连续性的学业指导 (李睿, 2018; 袁丽娟, 2019)。 学界缺乏对国际学生学业指导的系统性研究和针对学业指导工作开展 情况的反馈研究，疫情常态化背景下的相关研究是空白。基于此，本文在 已有文献研究的基础上，对疫情常态化背景下国际学生学业指导机制的建 立与实践进行针对性研究。 需求调查 新冠肺炎疫情的客观要求 2020 年初，新冠肺炎疫情爆发并蔓延全球，致使国际学生流动严重受 阻。国际学生，特别是在中国高校攻读专业学位的境外在籍国际学生面临 学业问题突出、心理状态不佳、情感关系沮丧、人生规划焦虑、经济状况 窘迫等困境 (董柯, 2021)。随着疫情持续时间延长，前期应急性的国际学生 学业管理活动需要向规范化、系统化、常态化转变，因此建立健全疫情防 控常态化背景下国际学生学业指导机制成为亟待解决的问题。 国家和学校国际人才培养需求 2018 年 9 月，教育部印发《来华留学生高等教育质量规范 (试行)》， 从学科专业水平、对中国的认识和理解、语言能力、跨文化和全球胜任力 四个方面定位中国国际学生人才培养目标。不可否认，国际学生群体与中 国学生群体存在学习习惯、思维习惯、文化认同等方面的明显差异，国际 学生内部因文化背景的不同在以上方面也呈现出多元化现象。面对学校趋 同化管理的要求和国际学生多元化特点，需要根据学生自身学习习惯提供 journal of international students 109 科学、全面、具有针对性的学业指导服务，促进人才培养目标在学生个体 上的实现。 国际学生个人发展诉求 为深入研究国际学生对学业指导的需求和反馈，作者以东北财经大学 研究生层次国际学生为调查对象，通过问卷形式开展广泛调查，回收有效 问卷 112 份。参与调查学生中，博士研究生 58 人，硕士研究生 54 人；当 前在境内学习学生 43 人，在境外学习学生 69 人；学习专业集中在经济学 和管理学两大学科；专业学习开始时间集中分布于 2016 至 2020 年。 学业指导需求总体情况 国际学生的学业指导需求调查从入学、疫情前、疫情下三个时间维度 展开。入学阶段学业指导包括六个方面，被调查对象对这六个方面均表现 出极高的需求度 (≥90%)。疫情前，学业指导也包括六个方面，被调查对象 对这六个方面也表现出较高的需求度 (≥80%)。被调查对象对疫情下学业指 导包含的四个方面需求度存在极大差异，发展性指导相关的获得学术活动 信息需求度最高 (91.1%)，诊断性指导相关的课程学习问题指导、科研问 题指导、沟通问题指导需求度明显低于三个时间维度中的其他需求，说明 学校疫情期间集中开展的一系列学业指导工作取得了一定成效，具体数据 见图 1 所示。 图 1: 学业指导需求总体情况 journal of international students 110 境内外学生入学学业指导和疫情前学业指导需求对比 112 名参与调查学生中，43 人在中国境内学习，69 人因疫情在中国境 外学习。对比两组学生的入学学业指导和疫情前学业指导需求数据分析发 现：境内学生对入学学业指导包含的六个方面的需求均高于境外学生，其 中境内学生对于了解培养方案和学习计划、了解如何与导师建立良好沟通、 了解与学习相关的办事指南、了解中国大学校园文化四个方面的需求远高 于境外学生。境外学生对于疫情前学业指导包含的六个方面需求中有五个 方面高于境内学生，其中境外学生对于选课指导、学习习惯指导、授课语 言和基础知识指导三个方面的需求远高于境内学生。以上情况反映出境外 学生更加关注与课程学习直接相关的学业指导，而对于课程学习以外的学 业指导需求明显降低。这一方面说明顺利修读课程并按计划完成学业是境 外学生的首要目标；另一方面也说明课程学习以外的学业指导给境外学生 带来的获得感并不明显，参与这类指导的途径也相对受限，具体数据见图 2 所示。 图 2: 境内外学生入学学业指导和疫情前学业指导需求对比 journal of international students 111 境内外学生疫情下学业指导需求对比 对比境内外两组学生疫情下学业指导需求数据分析发现：从课程、科 研、沟通三个方面一级需求看，境内和境外学生对于科研指导需求高于课 程指导需求，高于沟通指导需求；境外学生三方面需求度总体高于境内学 生，平均需求度差值为 16.52%。三个一级需求包括十二个二级需求，其中 六个二级需求境外学生需求度远高于境内学生，需求度差值在 20%以上。 学位论文开题与答辩指导需求方面，境内学生需求度略高于境外学生，其 原因可能是境外学生论文开题和答辩形式相对灵活，能够满足大多数境外 学生的个体需求。与入学学业指导和疫情前学业指导需求对比发现，疫情 下境内外学生的学业指导需求度大幅下降，这与学校疫情下学业指导服务 密切相关，将在后文详细阐述。具体数据见图 3。 图 3: 境内外学生疫情下学业指导需求对比 实践案例 统筹规划，建立健全国际学生学业指导工作机制 东北财经大学是一所突出经济学、管理学优势和特色，多学科协调发 展的研究型大学，学校将“培养具有国际视野和跨文化交际能力的‘语言 ＋专业’复合型国际财经人才”作为国际学生培养目标。2019 年东北财经 大学国际学生学业指导中心正式成立，形成了与国际学生学历教育、非学 历教育、心理辅导、就业指导相适应的“五位一体”工作机制。中心坚持 “以学生为中心”的教育理念，广泛开展学业跟踪、指导与测评工作，为 journal of international students 112 学生学习与发展提供专业化和个性化的指导、咨询、支持服务，帮助学生 树立正确的学习观念，掌握科学的学习方法，营造良好的学习风气。中心 主任由国际教育学院院长兼任，另设执行主任，负责策划与统筹国际学生 学业指导工作。 科学布局，营造良好学业发展及学术研究氛围 疫情初期，学业指导中心配合学校和各学院教学部门开展国际学生学 业情况摸排和反馈工作，在短时间内调查和梳理学生的个性化学习需求， 为落实学校“一生一策、一课一策”教学管理工作提供一手信息，推动国 际学生线下向线上教学的快速转换和平稳过渡。2020 年 9 月，中国高校恢 复线下授课，境外国际学生继续进行线上学习，两种教学模式并行无疑增 加了管理压力。境外学生长期线上学习所引发的学业发展迟滞问题也在此 时集中体现。针对这些情况，中心开展了一系列诊断性学业指导工作，通 过了解问题根源、细化学生需求、协调学校资源、解决学业问题多个步骤 逐一破解学生学业发展迟滞问题。工作中，学业指导中心与心理指导中心、 就业指导中心、专业学院、辅导员、导师形成了有效的信息交互机制，将 学业问题中反映出的心理、就业、经济、人际关系等问题及时反馈给相应 部门和人员，实现了从“治病”到“预防”的转变。中心同时开展了一系 列发展性学业指导活动。聘请了一批学业导师，定期开设学术讲座，营造 学术氛围；组织科研标兵和优秀论文评选等活动，发挥示范效应；召开国 际学生学术论坛，分享学习和科研经验，促进朋辈互动。 深入分析，多维度跟踪调查国际学生学业指导开展情况 学业指导覆盖面和满意度总体情况 国际学生对学业指导的反馈调查从指导活动的覆盖面和满意度两个方 面以及入学、疫情前、疫情下三个时间维度展开。覆盖面即参加某一学业 指导活动的学生比例。满意度即学生对某一学业指导活动“非常满 意”“满意”“一般”三项反馈之和的比例。 通过分析 112 名国际学生对学业指导活动覆盖面和满意度整体数据发 现：疫情下学业指导活动覆盖面高于入学学业指导活动覆盖面，高于疫情 前学业指导活动覆盖面；入学学业指导活动满意度略高于疫情下学业指导 活动满意度，略高于疫情前学业指导活动满意度；疫情下各项学业指导活 动覆盖面较疫情前平均提高了 24%；疫情下各项学业指导活动满意度较疫 情前平均提高了 4.5%。具体数据见图 4。 journal of international students 113 图 4: 学业指导覆盖面和满意度总体情况 图 5: 境内外学生学业指导覆盖面情况对比 journal of international students 114 境内外学生学业指导覆盖面情况对比 对比境内外国际学生参与各类学业指导活动情况发现：境内学生参加 各类学业指导活动平均覆盖面为 70.5%，境外学生平均覆盖面为 60.3%。 境内学生疫情下参加各类学业指导活动覆盖面 (82.8%) 大幅高于入学 (69.8%) 和疫情前 (58.6%)。境外学生参加入学学业指导活动的覆盖面 (71.1%) 略高于疫情下 (70.2%)，大幅高于疫情前 (46.1%)。除入学学业指导 外，其他各项学业指导活动覆盖面境内学生比例均高于境外学生。境内学 生与境外学生覆盖面差值高于 15%的方面包括选课指导、学习习惯指导、 学术写作指导、疫情下与任课教师和导师沟通指导，具体数据如图 5 所示。 境内外学生学业指导满意度情况对比 对比境内外国际学生参与十六项学业指导活动满意度发现：境内学生 参加各类学业指导活动平均满意度为 87.2%，境外学生平均满意度为 83.1%。境内学生对疫情下各类学业指导服务满意度 (90.2%) 略高于入学 (87.3%) 和疫情前 (84.2%)。境外学生对入学学业指导服务满意度 (86.2%) 略高于疫情下 (82.9) 和疫情前 (79.4%)。境外学生对于入学阶段了解培养 方案和学习计划、了解课程和论文等学术要求、了解中国大学校园文化三 项学业指导活动的满意度略高于境内学生，境内学生对于其余十三项学业 指导活动的满意度均高于境外学生，具体数据如图 6 所示。 图 6: 境内外学生学业指导满意度情况对比 journal of international students 115 总结经验，为未来学业指导工作指明方向 总结东北财经大学国际学生学业指导中心实践经验，特别是疫情下国 际学生学业指导实践经验，可以得出以下几点结论。(1) 该中心疫情常态化 背景下广泛开展学情摸排和信息梳理、科学诊断和处理个体学业问题、定 期组织发展性学业活动，一定程度上缓解了疫情常态化背景下该校国际学 生学业发展迟滞问题。相较疫情前，疫情下学业指导服务整体覆盖面大幅 提高，整体满意度也有所提高。(2) 疫情下，境内学生对学业指导服务的覆 盖面和满意度均高于境外学生，说明面向境内学生的学业指导服务条件更 为充分，参与指导人员组成更为多元，学业问题更具普遍性。而面向境外 学生的学业指导服务条件相对受限，参与指导人员相对集中，学业问题更 具个性化，问题解决也面临更多非学业性障碍。(3) 境内和境外学生参加入 学学业指导活动覆盖面和满意度数据基本持平，说明该中心入学学业指导 服务成熟、经验丰富，学生重视程度也明显高于疫情前学业指导。(4) 虽然 疫情下各项学业指导活动覆盖面大幅提高，但仍有 17.25%的学生未参加某 一项或多项活动，仍有 9.76%的学生反馈意见为“不满意”“非常不满 意”，这也是未来该中心重点关注和着力解决的问题。 因应对策 建立学业指导机制，形成学业指导服务工作合力 为落实国家和学校国际学生培养目标，满足学生各阶段学业发展需求， 最大限度降低疫情造成的不良影响，破解疫情下学业发展迟滞问题，急需 建立符合学校自身实际的“专门机构+专业学院”共享型国际学生学业指 导体系。成立国际学生学业指导专门机构，将学业指导从常规教学管理和 学生管理中剥离出来，使之成为国际学生日常管理工作的主要组成部分， 而非偶发的、零散的、附加的管理行为。国际学生学业指导专门机构负责 策划与统筹国际学生学业指导工作，为各专业学院开展学业指导工作提供 培训和咨询服务，推动专业学院、职能部门、留学生归口管理单位、导师、 辅导员之间的信息交互，促进学业指导工作从被动向主动转变。 加强制度建设，提升学业指导服务质量 以文件形式明确各部门学业指导工作职责，避免学业指导“三不管” 问题，以制度形式促进部门之间、人员之间的通力配合；建立激励机制， 增加教师指导者、专业指导者、朋辈指导者参与热情和获得感；以操作规 程、手册等形式规范各类学业指导活动，促进学业指导取得实效；建立有 效的评价和反馈机制，定期进行学业指导评估工作，帮助学业指导人员及 时发现问题，促使高校学业指导工作不断趋于完善。 journal of international students 116 丰富学业指导内容，加强全员全过程学业指导 应破除学业指导就是入学教育、学业指导只针对问题学生的错误观念， 面向全体国际学生开展学业指导服务，将学业指导服务覆盖人才培养各个 阶段。学业指导内容应该围绕诊断性和发展性两个维度进行设计，诊断性 指导主要解决学生个体学业问题，发展性指导主要培养学习习惯、创新思 维和全球胜任力。 提高人员专业化素养，加强学业指导理论研究 相当一部分高校将学业指导工作纳入辅导员的工作职责。然而，由于 辅导员专业背景缺乏，对于具体学业问题指导能力不足，使得学业指导工 作最终变成了思想政治辅导、心理问题辅导，甚至是批评教育。学校应着 力提升学业指导人员专业化水平，使其精通学业指导专业理论、掌握学校 各专业背景知识、了解国际学生学习特点、具备跨文化交际能力。国际学 生学业指导服务的效度基于对服务对象需求的充分调研，建议各高校在开 展学习指导工作之初，加强对本校国际学生的学习发展实际需求、学习动 机与行为的实证研究，并结合学校的育人理念设计合适的学习指导项目， 从而提高学业指导的针对性。定期开展满意度调查，根据反馈意见适时调 整服务内容和形式，最大限度满足服务对象的学业指导需求。 本文聚焦国际学生学业指导机制的建立，结合问卷调查和实践经验， 探讨疫情常态化背景下建立国际学生学业指导机制的必要性和路径。由于 客观条件的限制，本研究调查对象均为经管类研究生国际学生，涉及专业 和层次不够全面。下一步，相关研究将从区域国别、专业分类、指导质量 等方面展开，以期为国际学生学业指导工作提供更具针对性的对策建议。 参考文献 grites, t. j. 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(2014). 中国 985 工程院校学习指导发展现状研究-基于全 国 39 所 985 工 程 院 校 的 调 查 研 究 . 江 苏 高 教 , (1), 83–86. doi:10.13236/j.cnki.jshe.2014.01.046. bi zhang (corresponding author), counsellor of international students and executive director of international student academic guidance center at dongbei university of finance and economics. her research interests include international student education and management, academic guidance, and education for international understandings. email: zhangbi@dufe.edu.cn 张苾 (通讯作者)，东北财经大学国际学生辅导员，国际学生学业指导中心执行 主任。研究兴趣包括国际学生教育与管理，学业指导，国际理解教育。邮箱: zhangbi@dufe.edu.cn jian zhang, dean of school of international education and director of international student academic guidance center at dongbei university of finance and economics. his research interests include international student education and management and international chinese education. email: zhangjian17@dufe.edu.cn 张健，东北财经大学国际教育学院院长，国际学生学业指导中心主任。研究兴 趣包括国际学生教育与管理，国际中文教育。邮箱: zhangjian17@dufe.edu.cn 503 service unavailable | 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service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 77 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue s3 (2022), pp. 77-95 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12is3.4593 ojed.org/jis the impact of international virtual exchange on student success jonathan lee east carolina university, united states of america jami leibowitz east carolina university, united states of america jon rezek east carolina university, united states of america meghan millea east carolina university, united states of america george saffo east carolina university, united states of america abstract this study expands the literature on high impact practices by assessing the effect of global experiences, including international virtual exchange (ive) and study abroad, on student success, measured as gpa, first-year retention, and graduation rate. our dataset tracks over 47,000 students over 10 years at a large u.s. university. our fixed effects models show that ive and studying abroad increase average gpa. using logit models, we find that taking ive courses or studying abroad positively impacts the probability students are retained and eventually graduate. our findings also show that first-generation college students, financially disadvantaged students, female students, and black and african american students who take ive courses benefit more than their demographic counterparts who don't. taken together, these results confirm that ive is both a high impact practice and a pedagogy that offers significant benefits to under-resourced journal of international students 78 students and students who have historically been underrepresented in global learning activities. keywords: international virtual exchange, study abroad, student success metrics high impact educational practices have been identified by the american association of colleges & universities, among others, as providing significant educational benefits to students who participate in them. global learning and collaborative projects are regularly identified as high impact practices. (association of american colleges and universities, n.d.) these two practices are common elements of international virtual exchange (ive) as described by o’dowd (2018). for the purposes of this research, we define ive as technology mediated international experiences that are peer driven, facilitated, collaborative and sustained over time among geographically separated cultural groups. in this study we examine whether ive is indeed a high impact practice that benefits students. at our large, comprehensive american university, ive has constituted a major portion of the university’s comprehensive internationalization strategy for nearly two decades. as a university with relatively few international students and, until recently, few students participating in global experiences abroad, ive represented the most accessible pathway for high impact interactions with persons of a different culture. the university’s investment in ive was initially seen as a means of building cultural awareness particularly among the 98% of students who did not study abroad. over time the goals of ive evolved from creating opportunities for cultural interactions to more active skillset development including improving intercultural communication and critical thinking through cross-country, cross-cultural discussions, and collaborative projects. these enhanced practices improved the experiences of the students who are traditionally underrepresented in study abroad by providing opportunities to meaningfully engage internationally and build an appreciation for cultural differences. the suite of ive courses offered at the university are called global understanding (gu). these courses use what we refer to as the core curriculum model of ive. this model most closely resembles the stevens initiative program administration type ii, in which “a single virtual exchange program is run mostly the same way across several sites.” (stevens initiative, 2020) when collaborating with their international partners, all classes participating in gu courses follow the same flexible structure that we refer to as the core curriculum. the majority of gu courses receive both global diversity credit and general education credit for either social sciences or humanities. as implemented at our university, students work with peers from typically three partner institutions consecutively over the semester for a total of approximately 18 hours of synchronous connection and additional asynchronous work on collaborative projects. in these courses students develop cultural awareness and cultural competencies by synchronously connecting students in different countries for peer-led facilitated discussions and working together on projects. typically, these journal of international students 79 courses fulfill global diversity requirements within the general education curriculum. students at the university are connected through their ive courses to students in partner countries to collaborate on assigned projects and discuss a variety of topics while working together to overcome logistical barriers and cultural differences. the university has been offering ive courses since 2004. each year, 30-40 ive courses are offered which connect over 400 university students to their peers around the world. in 2016 the university received the nafsa senator paul simon spotlight award for campus internationalization for its work in this area. this study uses 12-years of data that tracks nearly 50,000 students’ participation in globalization experiences and academic performance over their time at the university. we applied advanced statistical analysis of these data to investigate the impacts of ive on student success metrics. while study abroad is commonly cited as a high impact educational practice, less work has been done on examining whether ive falls into this pedagogical category. the results of this study demonstrate that universities can enhance student learning and academic performance through ive and thus establishes that ive courses are also impactful global learning practices. literature review high impact practices to improve student retention and engagement, many universities have implemented high impact practices (hips) such as first-year experiences, learning communities, writing intensive courses, collaborative projects, research, diversity and global learning, capstone courses, and experiential learning activities. these practices enhance “deep approaches” to learning and critical thinking (kuh and schnieder, 2008). gonyea et al. (2008) found that engagement in these activities had positive results on grades as well as increased persistence in obtaining degrees. brownell and swaner (2008) summarize several research projects that find positive impacts of first-year experiences, learning communities, research, and service learning on student persistence and grade point averages (gpas). 1 as a result of the body of research supporting the merits of these types of practices they have been broadly adopted at u.s. universities. study abroad 1 gpa is a common metric for academic performance in the united states. it represents performance in classes; numeric scores are assigned for each class where 4 is associated with the best academic performances and 0 is failing. gpa is an average across all courses. the scale used to calculate gpa at this university is calculated as a as 4.0 quality points; aas 3.7; b+ as 3.3; b as 3.0, bas 2.7; c+ as 2.3; c as 2.0; cas 1.7; d+ as 1.3; d as 1.0; das 0.7; and f as 0. journal of international students 80 this study focuses on the hip of global learning, which is often taken to mean study abroad. kuh and kinzie (2018) assert that studying abroad is “transformative and life changing” for undergraduates. these transformations can be quantified in terms of improved critical thinking skills, cognitive development (gurin et al. 2002; pascarella et al. 2014) and enhanced intercultural competency (salisbury et al. 2013). salisbury (2013) also found that studying abroad provided educational benefits regardless of the student’s background, educational aspirations, or college experiences. other studies of students from u.s. universities studying abroad confirm positive academic outcomes upon returning to campus. bhatt et al., 2021 found study abroad improves 4to 6-year graduation rates and gpas at graduation for students across 35 universities confirming xu’s (2004) results for a single university. several other studies found that study abroad experiences positively affected student’s gpa upon returning to campus including ingraham and peterson, 2004; holoviak, 2009; mcmahan, 2015; and whatley and canché, 2020. recent evidence of the link between academic performance and gpa have been mixed for european universities, however. for u.k. students, cardwell (2020) found a positive impact on gpa while nwosu (2021) found a negative impact. at limerick university, there was no significant impact of study abroad on student performance (cullinan et al., 2021). similar to this literature, our study also uses data from a single university to examine impacts of study abroad on academic performance, as measured by gpa, upon students’ return to campus. our approach is informed by this research; however, we modify previous work by adding retention rates and graduation rates as dependent variables. more importantly, we conduct similar analysis for other forms of global learning, including ive and foreign language studies. international virtual exchange while study abroad is often synonymous with ‘global learning,’ other internationally focused practices are gaining momentum and acceptance across the higher education landscape. ive is an international education modality that focuses on online intercultural interaction among geographically separated students and instructors. ive includes peer-to-peer interaction through facilitated dialogue and collaboration that is generally embedded into academic courses and sustained over time. (o’dowd, 2018) ive leverages technology to allow students to engage and collaborate with peers from across the world without travelling abroad. prior to the covid-19 pandemic ive had been practiced only at a moderate scale, but with travel being curtailed by the pandemic, awareness, interest in, and implementation of ive increased. the stevens initiative in their 2021 survey of the virtual exchange field found that 69% of respondents indicated that their participation in virtual exchange expanded because of the pandemic. few studies have quantified the benefits of ive using a dataset beyond a single ive experience. notable exceptions such as rienties et al.’s (2020) investigation into the impact of virtual exchange on foreign language competence journal of international students 81 and commander, schloer, and cushing’s study examining the impact of ive on the development of intercultural effectiveness (2022) in which they sampled students across eight courses. baroni, et al. (2019) investigated the impact of virtual exchange on teacher education. other research has documented the effectiveness of ive by applying qualitative analyses to case studies (baroni et al., 2019; o’dowd, 2021). our study builds on this literature by expanding the metrics of success to include gpa, retention rates, and graduation rates. these metrics are commonly used for institutional effectiveness and student success studies. foreign language study another way of introducing students to different cultures, experiences and perspectives is through foreign language studies. as of 2016, 7.5% of university students in the us were enrolled in a foreign language course (looney and lusin, 2019). however, for many students, particularly those with limited financial resources, little or no access to virtual exchange programming, and limited exposure to international students, courses in foreign language and culture may be their most accessible form of diversity/global learning. numerous studies have shown that foreign language instruction boosts academic achievement, leads to advances in cognitive development, helps students develop cultural sensitivity and an appreciation of globalization (cooper, et. al, 2008, wiley, 1985, actfl, n.d.). however, there appears to be little research showing that foreign language study leads to improve student success metrics such as gpa. we include foreign language study in this research since it fits the definition of global learning and serves as a reliability check against the other treatments. a significant contribution of this research is related to the longevity of the ive program at the university, which was developed nearly two decades ago to close equity gaps in international experiences and exposure to cultural and global diversity. due to the robustness of the dataset, we can effectively quantify the long run impacts of ive, and other treatments. the large sample size also allows us to test how the impacts of ive, and other treatments, differ among those of various socioeconomic and demographic groups. this is particularly important in an era of renewed emphasis on equity and inclusion in american higher education, which has not historically been the hallmark of international education in the us. our findings indicate ive is both effective in improving student success generally, and its impacts reach students who are typically underserved by other global experiences. method theoretical framework the link between engaging in a particular curricular or co-curricular activity and academic success one, two or several semesters removed from the activity can be viewed through the lens of at least two distinct theoretical frameworks. journal of international students 82 mezirow’s (1978) transformative learning theory hypothesizes that individuals can fundamentally transform their self-perception, worldview, and behavior by developing an acute awareness of their unconscious beliefs, values, and perspectives through engaging in task or problem-based learning combined with critical reflection. according to this theory the permanent changes developed through transformative experiences continue to impact how individuals navigate the world around them. by introducing experiences, such as study abroad and ive, where those underlying values and beliefs that are typically taken for granted are challenged through their engagement with novel environments and others with differing values and beliefs, students are provided the opportunity for transformative learning. david kolb’s (1984) experiential learning theory hypothesizes that the most impactful method of learning is through active experiences. according to kolb there is a four-stage cycle to experiential learning: the concrete experience, reflection on that experience, thinking about that experience to understand the meaning associated with it, and then acting or using that experience to influence behavior or thought moving forward. either of these frameworks are consistent with a strong and persistent impact from the types of activities that are associated with study abroad participation and ive. foreign language learning may or may not generate the type of experience necessary to stimulate the persistent improvement in academic performance. data the data used for this study consists of a panel of students at our university from the fall 2008 semester until the fall 2020 semester. the dataset begins with new freshman and transfer students entering in the fall 2008 semester, and new students are added to the sample as they enroll in subsequent semesters. likewise, students leave the sample upon graduation or termination of enrollment. overall, the sample consists of 365,424 observations of 47,127 students enrolled at the university between 2008 and 2020. importantly, the data contain a unique longitudinal identifier for each student allowing us to track students over time as they complete study abroad, ive, or foreign language courses. this feature of the data is crucial for our identification strategy which relies on estimating the change in average gpa in semesters after completion of a treatment in comparison to a control group. empirical model to assess the impact of ive courses on student success at the university we investigate three statistical relationships: a) the relationship between whether a student took an ive course and their subsequent grade point average (gpa), b) the relationship between whether a student took an ive course and the likelihood they are retained the subsequent year (retention), and journal of international students 83 c) the relationship between whether a student took an ive course and the likelihood they graduate from the university within five years (graduation). for comparison purposes we include the impacts of participating in two related learning activities, (1) participating in study abroad and (2) taking a foreign language course, on these same student success measures. while virtual exchange at the university is described in detail in previous sections of this paper, the intuitional context for the other two treatments has not previously been discussed. study abroad enters our analysis as a dichotomous treatment variable. the study abroad treatment consists of both short-term credit-bearing summer programs led by university faculty and semester exchange programs with partner universities abroad. the foreign language treatment, which also enters the model as a dichotomous variable, consists of any one semester course in a foreign language generally consisting of 45 instructor/student contact hours during the semester. statistically significant results for any of these three activities, or ‘treatments,’ would confirm that they are high impact practices, that is they confer significant educational outcomes by improving measurable student success measures. grade point average to estimate the impact of the treatment on subsequent semesters' gpa, we first estimate the following student fixed-effects model: gpai,t=a+β1∗ivei,t+β2∗abroadi,t+β3∗for_langi,t+maji,t∗δ+ii+tt+εi,t (1) in equation (1), gpai,t is the outcome measuring the semester gpa, where i represents an individual student and t represents time (semester). the variable ivei,t is a 0/1 indicator that is 0 when a student has not had an ive course, and switches to a 1 in the semester a student takes ive and remains equal to 1 every semester thereafter. likewise, abroadi,t and for_langi,t are indicator variables for study abroad and foreign language participation; 0 without these treatments and 1 during and after the treatments. note that the treatment variables of interest measuring participation in virtual exchange, study abroad, and foreign language are not mutually exclusive. in other words, it is possible for more than one indicator variable to equal 1 simultaneously for students participating in more than one international activity.2 equation (1) also includes indicator variables for the declared major of the student (maji,t), individual student (ii) and semester (tt) fixed effects to control for unobservable student characteristics that do not change over time and semester-specific aggregate time-trends in student gpa change. the coefficients β1, β2, and β3 represent the changes in gpa after engaging in 2 roughly, 12% of ive participants also participate in study abroad. foreign language courses are more ubiquitous with roughly 35% of ive participants and 40% of study abroad participants also completing a foreign language course. journal of international students 84 each of the treatment activities, virtual exchange, study abroad, and foreign language, respectively. the random error term is included as εi,t. the statistical estimation strategy shown in equation (1) is reasonable so long as there are not differences in the pre-treatment time trends for students who select to participate in the treatment activities compared to those who do not as illustrated in figure 1. however, if the types of students who select to participate in one or more of these programs have differential time trends in gpa relative to average non-participants, the results from equation (1) would yield biased treatment effects as illustrated in figure 2. to mitigate possible bias, we select a control set of students to incorporate into our fixed-effects estimation strategy who are similar to those receiving the treatment in observable characteristics but did not participate. by pre-processing the data using matching we construct a control group that is more likely to satisfy the parallel trends assumption. this allows us to rule out differences in observable characteristics as a cause of the change in gpa. the only possibility for the change in gpa is because of the treatment or some other confounding factor we cannot observe. we construct a balanced matched sample of control observations for each of the three treatments comprised of students who share similar characteristics based on their observed demographics. specifically, for each of the programs, we first require an exact match in terms of semester of university matriculation to ensure that we compare program participants with non-participants who begin their studies at the same starting point. we then separately estimate the propensity for participating in one of the programs using logit models where participation is modeled as a function of demographic attributes (race, ethnicity, gender citizenship, and state residency status) academic attributes (high school gpa, college entrance exam scholastic aptitude test (sat) score, and honors college designation), socioeconomic attributes factors (first-generation college students and recipients of needs-based grant aid (pell recipients)) and extra-curricular designations that draw on students’ time (student athletes and participation in social organizations designated as fraternity/sorority membership). finally, for each program participant we choose 3 matched non-participating control students who are most similar in terms of their predicted propensity to engage in that activity. after constructing our balanced matched sample of controls, we estimate the following student fixed-effects model: gpai,t=a+β1∗ivei,t+β2∗abroadi,t+β3∗for_langi,t+maji,t∗δ+ii+tt∗gi+εi,t (2) where all variables are defined as in equation (1) with the exception that our semester time trends, tt, are now interacted with a group of indicator variables, gi, indicating whether each observation belongs to one or more of three exhaustive groups. the first gi group consists of ive participants and their matched controls, the second group consists of study abroad participants and their matched controls, and finally, the third group is composed of students taking journal of international students 85 foreign language courses and their matched cohort of nonparticipants.3 in sum, equation (2) is similar to that of equation (1) in that it is based on within-student changes in gpa over time, but it differs in terms of the estimating sample. instead of using the full dataset, this technique uses only the matched treatment and control groups. we next explore the possibility of treatment effect heterogeneity of program participation using the preferred matched sample technique (equation 2). specifically, we estimate whether different demographic and socioeconomic groups experienced differential impacts in terms of gpa from participation in these programs. to explore the possibility of heterogeneous treatment effects, we modify equation (2) to include interaction terms with our demographic and socioeconomic groups as follows: gpai,t = a+β1∗ivei,t∗xi+β2∗abroadi,t∗xi+β3∗for_langi,t∗xi+maji,t∗δ+ii+tt∗gi +εi,t (3) where xi is a vector of variables measuring first generation college students, pell recipients, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, gender, and income status of the student’s county of origin, lowest income/most distressed counties are tier 1 in a 3-tier designation system. for example, in equation (3) we can estimate separate treatment effects for pell recipients and non-recipients based on the estimated coefficient of the interaction of indicators for these groups with our high impact program of interest (ive, study abroad, foreign language). in total, six models are separately estimated to control for each of the previously mentioned demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. the remaining variables in equation (3) are as defined in equation (2) above. retention and graduation rates a different model must be used to estimate the impact of virtual exchange, study abroad and foreign language participation on graduation and retention rates, which are two other commonly used alternative measures of student success and 3 as noted in the main text and footnote 5 many students participate in more than one international activity. the pre-processing of the data first matched all ive participants to 3 nearest neighbor control observations who did not participate in any of the ive, study abroad, or foreign language activities. we then repeated the matching algorithm for the remaining study abroad participants (i.e., those not taking ive), and finally we matched the remaining foreign language participants who did not take ive or study abroad to 3 controls. we matched ive participants first, because 75% of the individuals participating in ive and study abroad took their ive classes before spending a semester abroad. the matching was done with replacement, so the matched controls may serve as control observations for more than one treatment observation and group. this allows to control for the possibility of heterogenous time-trends across the three groups. journal of international students 86 institutional effectiveness. here we estimate the change in the probability of graduating (or being retained) using the following logit model: p(y=1|x, ive,abroad, for_lang)= exp(x*γ+β1*ivei+β2*abroadi+β3*for_langi) 1+exp(x*γ+β1*ivei+β2*abroadi+β3*for_langi) (4) where y is an indicator variable equal to 1 for successful completion of our outcome of interest (i.e., graduation or first-to-second year retention) and equal to zero otherwise. the vector x includes controls for all of our observable demographic and socioeconomic characteristics along with indicator variables for major at time of matriculation. finally, we include our controls of interest measuring participation in ive, abroad and for_lang. notice that the time subscripts have now been dropped from the indicator variables for ive, abroad, and for_lang participation as these variables are now equal to 1 for students who participate in these programs during any point in their college studies (graduation) or equal to 1 for students who participate in the respective programs during their freshman year (retention). with the earlier gpa analysis, we have multiple observations for each individual student before and after the treatment, which allows us to rely on within-student changes to determine the impact of the treatment. however, in estimating the impact of the treatments on whether students successfully graduate (or are retained after one year) we can no longer rely on within-student changes and we must collapse the longitudinal data we had in equations 1 and 2 to a crosssection of one observation per student.4 our estimates of the impact of the treatment on retention and graduate rate may be subject to the selection bias. thus, a careful interpretation of our results is that the positive sign on the coefficients on study abroad and ive in the retention and graduate equations confirms benefits to these two global experiences on student success metrics. results descriptive statistics summary statistics for the full and matched samples are presented in table 1. columns 1-3 show the summary statistics for the ive, abroad, and for_lang treatment groups, respectively. columns 4 and 5-7 present the summary statistics for two alternative counterfactual groups. column 4 consists of all possible control students who never enroll in ive, abroad, or for_lang, and columns 57 consists of a subset of these students who closely match observations in the treatment groups based on their demographic characteristics but who never participated in these activities. 4 note that in the matched sample when we collapse to a cross-section there may be repeat observations for control students since matching was done with replacement. journal of international students 87 table 1. summary statistics mean (std. deviation) variable name ive abroad for_ lang all ctrls ive ctrls abroad ctrls for_ lang ctrls semester gpa 3.002 (0.812) 3.300 (0.669) 2.962 (0.827) 2.968 (0.852) 3.024 (0.846) 3.130 (0.799) 2.996 (0.855) on campus resident 0.289 (0.453) 0.243 (0.429) 0.282 (0.450) 0.296 (0.457) 0.297 (0.457) 0.272 (0.445) 0.289 (0.453) 1st gen college student 0.170 (0.375) 0.115 (0.319) 0.176 (0.380) 0.162 (0.368) 0.159 (0.365) 0.104 (0.305) 0.166 (0.373) pell grnt rcpt. 0.445 (0.497) 0.309 (0.462) 0.457 (0.498) 0.388 (0.487) 0.466 (0.499) 0.347 (0.476) 0.457 (0.498) student athlete 0.0490 (0.216) 0.0140 (0.117) 0.0290 (0.168) 0.0318 (0.176) 0.0457 (0.209) 0.0154 (0.123) 0.0335 (0.180) frat/ sorority 0.198 (0.399) 0.308 (0.462) 0.204 (0.403) 0.225 (0.417) 0.233 (0.423) 0.356 (0.479) 0.238 (0.426) honors student 0.038 (0.191) 0.120 (0.325) 0.0399 (0.196) 0.0247 (0.155) 0.0661 (0.248) 0.124 (0.330) 0.0491 (0.216) white 0.608 (0.488) 0.756 (0.429) 0.630 (0.483) 0.716 (0.451) 0.599 (0.490) 0.745 (0.436) 0.634 (0.482) african am. 0.215 (0.411) 0.0908 (0.287) 0.200 (0.400) 0.146 (0.353) 0.221 (0.415) 0.0973 (0.296) 0.197 (0.398) hispanic 0.0578 (0.233) 0.0560 (0.230) 0.0601 (0.238) 0.0484 (0.215) 0.0599 (0.237) 0.0597 (0.237) 0.0610 (0.239) male 0.341 (0.474) 0.237 (0.425) 0.336 (0.472) 0.438 (0.496) 0.297 (0.457) 0.215 (0.411) 0.312 (0.463) noncitizen 0.0193 (0.138) 0.0108 (0.103) 0.0117 (0.108) 0.0110 (0.104) 0.0158 (0.125) 0.0123 (0.110) 0.0118 (0.108) h.s. gpa 3.667 (0.516) 3.789 (0.596) 3.642 (0.518) 3.676 (0.517) 3.742 (0.525) 3.822 (0.542) 3.700 (0.525) sat score 1,039 (117.9) 1,077 (127.6) 1,051 (120.0) 1,038 (115.2) 1,053 (121.3) 1,080 (124.6) 1,054 (119.9) tier 1 county 0.182 (0.386) 0.120 (0.325) 0.175 (0.380) 0.198 (0.399) 0.215 (0.411) 0.184 (0.387) 0.206 (0.404) tier 2 county 0.285 (0.452) 0.260 (0.439) 0.280 (0.449) 0.276 (0.447) 0.269 (0.443) 0.267 (0.442) 0.270 (0.444) out-ofstate 0.133 (0.340) 0.210 (0.407) 0.142 (0.349) 0.138 (0.345) 0.136 (0.343) 0.149 (0.356) 0.139 (0.345) # of obs 28,822 31,585 76,681 253,151 128,141 116,851 207,393 # of students 3,250 3,218 8,828 34,422 7,824 6,374 13,882 journal of international students 88 as shown in columns 1-4 of table 1, we see a higher average semester gpa among abroad participants (3.307) and a slightly higher gpa among ive participants (3.002) in comparison to non-participants (2.968). for_lang participants have a slightly lower gpa at 2.962 on average. however, interpreting these differences in average gpa between treatment and control groups as the effect of participation in international activities on gpa is not accurate, as the data reveal several potentially important confounders associated with the students who select to participate in global curricula. for example, study abroad participants are less likely to be first generation college students or pell recipients, are more likely to be members of the honors college, and have higher average high school gpa and sat scores. each of these factors would be expected to contribute to a higher average gpa among abroad participants in comparison to the control group. ive and for_lang participants are generally more similar to the control group with the exception that these programs tend to attract larger proportions of students of color and female students. removing selection bias as a first step toward constructing causal estimates of the impact of global curricula participation on student gpa we remove the potential bias associated with the previously mentioned selection differences based on the observable characteristics reported in table 1. specifically, this is accomplished by separately estimating the probabilities of participation in ive, abroad, or for_lang as a function of all the characteristics in table 1 (except for semester gpa since this is the key outcome of interest). each ive, abroad, and for_lang participant is matched to 3 control observations who matriculated at the same starting point and who are most similar in terms of their predicted participation probabilities, and by extension their relevant demographic characteristics. columns 5-7 in table 1 present summary statistics for our set of matched controls. as previously noted, our program participants in abroad and ive tend to have a higher gpa than non-participants in the unmatched sample. the average gpa of the matched non-participants is slightly higher at 3.130 and 3.024, respectively. this difference between the matched and unmatched controls reflects the selection process whereby students choosing to participate in study abroad and ive tend to have other confounding observable characteristics that are positively correlated with gpa. the substantial differences in the summary statistics between the control group in column 4 and the matched control groups in column 5-7, suggests that a matched control model, as described in equation (2) may be a preferable estimation strategy. specifically, columns 5-7 illustrate the improved balance among the observable confounders for the matched control groups as the summary statistics for the matched controls are generally comparable to their respective treatment groups. matching alone, however, can only remove selection bias associated with observable characteristics. note, however, that our estimation strategy first preprocesses the data using matching, and then estimates student fixed-effects models on the matched sample. the inclusion of student fixed-effects in equation journal of international students 89 (2) also allows us to remove selection bias associated with unobservable student characteristics provided those unobservable confounders are time-invariant. while we cannot eliminate all possible sources of bias, the remaining bias can only be attributed to time-varying unobservable characteristics that are changing in a systematic fashion with our treatments of interest (ive, study abroad, and foreign language).5 regression results: grade point average results from equation (1) are presented in the first column of panel a in table 2. according to these results, after participating in study abroad average student gpa increases by 0.07 points in subsequent semesters. the 95% confidence interval of this impact is between 0.05 to 0.09 points. to put this number in perspective, the estimated treatment effect of 0.07 is equivalent to each student moving up 1/3 of a letter grade (e.g., increasing from a b to a b+) for one course during each semester following participation in study abroad assuming a normal full-time course load of 15 credit hours per semester. participation in an ive course is also estimated to increase student gpa in subsequent semesters, this time by 0.03 points. the positive effect of ive on gpa is also statistically significant at the 5% level. the point estimate for the impact of ive on gpa is about half the size of the impact of study abroad. again, putting this number in perspective, the treatment effect of 0.03 indicates that about half the students taking ive courses move up 1/3 of a letter grade for one course during subsequent semesters. finally, the impact of for_lang participation is statistically indistinguishable from zero at any standard significance level which means there is no evidence that taking a foreign language course improves gpa in subsequent semesters. results using our preferred matched sample method, as shown in equation (2), are presented in panel b of the first column of table 2. overall, the results are very similar from the baseline fixed-effects model given in equation (1). study abroad participation is now estimated to increase subsequent semester gpa by 0.067 points, ive participation increases gpa by 0.03 points and, again, both of these effects are statistically significant. using the matched sample, for_lang is estimated to increase gpa by 0.003 points, but once again this effect is not statistically significant. the similarity between our matched results in panel b and the baseline model in panel a suggests that although selection may contribute to different levels of gpa among program participants and non-participants, it does not result in significant differences in time trends of the changes in gpa among these two groups. 5 for example, we do not have data on membership in international student organizations. if these memberships are correlated with ive, study abroad, or for_lang, and also improve student gpa, then their effects are confounded in our estimated treatment effects presented in table 2. journal of international students 90 table 2. impact of global curricular activities on gpa, grad & retention independent variable dependent variable estimated coefficients (std. error) panel a: full sample gpa graduation 1-yr. retention study abroad 0.0708*** (0.00810) 1.641*** (0.0768) 1.016*** (0.227) int’l virtual exchange 0.0284** (0.0112) 0.653*** (0.0550) 0.234*** (0.0861) foreign language -0.00426 (0.00778) 0.670*** (0.0372) 0.155*** (0.0531) panel b: matched sample study abroad 0.0670*** (0.0103) 1.618*** (0.0819) 0.681*** (0.228) int’l virtual exchange 0.0297** (0.0126) 0.628*** (0.0610) 0.128 (0.0887) foreign language 0.00258 (0.00838) 0.708*** (0.0382) 0.123** (0.0531) statistical significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% level are represented by *, **, and ***, respectively. note. gpa coefficients can be directly interpreted as the impact of participation in global activities on the average gpa of subsequent semesters. graduation and retention coefficients are from a logit specification and the sign of these coefficients is indicative of the correlation between participation in global activities and the probability of graduation and retention. full sample gpa panel results include 365,424 observations of 47,127 students. matched sample gpa panel results include 398,528 observations of 20,996 students. the graduation and retention samples are cross-sectional and include 1 observation per student. although not reported, each specification includes student, semester, and degree fixed effects. in addition, the matched results include separate time trends for ive, study abroad, and foreign language matched groups. heterogeneity an important contribution of this research relies on the techniques being used to illuminate how these three global experiences impact various demographic student groups. the estimates of heterogeneous treatment effects from equation (3) are presented graphically in figure 3. point estimates of treatment effects for each group are marked with “x” and the bars represent 95% confidence intervals for these estimates. we limit our discussion of treatment effect heterogeneity to ive and study abroad programs since foreign language courses tend to have a negligible impact on gpa across demographic groups as estimated by the overall effects in equation (2). our point estimates indicate that ive boosts gpa for several marginalized groups (black and hispanic students, first-generation college students, pell recipients, non-citizens, females, and students from low-income counties). journal of international students 91 however, the 95% confidence intervals for program participants belonging to different demographic groups generally overlap suggesting that estimated heterogeneity is not statistically distinguishable from the overall effects already presented in table 2. there are a few exceptions and patterns of interest that are worth highlighting. for example, female ive participants experience a roughly 0.06 increase in gpa, while their male counterparts experience a decline in gpa, although this decline is not statistically significant. the effects for male and female students are statistically different from one another. regression results: graduation/retention the results from equation (4) are reported in columns 2 and 3 of table 2. panel a displays the results where all students not participating in the programs represent the control group and panel b displays the results where only the matched sample represents the control group. the estimated signs (+/-) and statistical significance of these coefficients suggest a positive statistically significant effect of all the programs on the probabilities of both graduation and retention, with the one exception of first-year retention effects of ive in the matched sample are not statistically significant. as they are, these coefficient estimates are not directly interpretable as magnitudes of the treatment effects. rather to interpret these effects as the marginal contributions of the treatments, we can calculate the average partial effects of the programs defined as the difference in predicted probabilities of success when all students are assigned to treatment vs. control groups. from panel a, for example, these average partial effects suggest that ive, abroad and for_lang are associated with a 13, 27, and 13 percentage point increase in the probability of graduation, respectively. likewise, ive, abroad and for_lang are associated with a 3.1, 11, and 2.1 percentage point increase in the probability of 1-year freshman retention in the full sample. the full set of predicted probabilities and associated average partial effects for the graduation and retention analyses are provided in appendix table a1. due to the potential selection bias of these crossstudent estimators, the coefficients should not be interpreted strictly as causal effects. rather, we rely on the positive significant correlations between the international programs and the dependent variables (probability of improving retention and graduations rates) as further robustness evidence of the benefits of study abroad and ive courses on student performance. implications this research provides a much-needed infusion of empirical analysis into the research on international virtual exchange, particularly as it relates to its status as a high impact educational practice. using our preferred matched sample approach, we find that taking an ive course leads to higher average gpa each successive semester after taking the course. ive course work has a smaller impact relative to study abroad but outperforms foreign language course. while these results may seem tepid on the surface, the second level of analysis breaks down the journal of international students 92 effectiveness of programming by student attributes. we find that the greatest impact of ive on student success is with students who are historically underrepresented in study abroad experiences. our results suggests that firstgeneration college students, female students, black and african american students, hispanic students, and financially disadvantaged students tend to see the largest improvements in academic outcomes subsequent to participating in an ive course. taking an ive course increases the likelihood that a given student will graduate from the university. this is also true for study abroad and foreign language courses. taking study abroad or a foreign language in the first year improves the probability of retention into the second year. while our point estimate of the impact of ive on retention rate is positive, it is not statistically significant which is likely an artifact of the small number of incoming students who taking ive courses in their first year. taken together the major implications of this research are that the university’s investments in virtual exchange and study abroad programming have positive impacts on student success measures. furthermore, these investments in ive programming have especially large benefits for students who have historically not participated in study abroad courses. as a matter of equity, resources devoted to virtual exchange programming pay substantial dividends for students in historically marginalized and under-resourced groups that have been underrepresented in international curricular experiences. the results from our analysis provide convincing evidence that ive is a high impact practice leading to positive changes in student success metrics at the institution investigated. it is important to note, however, that more research is needed to confirm whether these results are universal to ive more broadly, or whether they are related to the unique model of virtual exchange examined where students collaborate with multiple partners over a full semester with a very high number of synchronous contact hours. given the variability in the broader field of virtual exchange in terms of both dosage and types of interaction, similar research investigating student success measures in different contexts is warranted. studies that show ive not only impacts proximate intercultural learning outcomes, but also higher-level student success metrics are extraordinarily valuable as a part of the narrative that ive practitioners can use to both gain institutional support for their work and promote ive in broader strategic plans. references actfl. (n.d.). how does language learning support academic achievement?. https://www.actfl.org/center-assessment-research-and-development/whatthe-research-shows/academic-achievement. association of american colleges and universities. (n.d.). high-impact practices. https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/high-impact. baroni, a., dooly, m., garcía, p. g., guth, s., hauck, m., helm, f., lewis, t., mueller-hartmann, a., o’dowd, r., rienties, b., & rogaten, j. (2019). journal of international students 93 evaluating the impact of virtual exchange on initial teacher education: a european policy experiment. leon, spain: research-publishing.net. bhatt, r., bell, a., rubin, d. l., shiflet, c., & hodges, l. (2022). education abroad and college completion. research in higher education, 1-28. brownell, j. e., & swaner, l. e. (2009). high-impact practices: applying the learning outcomes literature to the development of successful campus programs. peer review, 11(2), 26-30. cardwell, p. 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(2002). diversity and higher education: theory and impact on educational outcomes. harvard educational review, 72(3), 330–366. holoviak, j., verney, t., winter, a., & holoviak, s. (n.d.). assessing academic performance through study abroad: benefits of the experience. ingraham, e. c., & peterson, d. l. (2004). assessing the impact of study abroad on student learning at michigan state university.  frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal of study abroad, 10(1), 83-100. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v10i1.134 kolb, d.a. (1984). experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. englewood cliffs, nj: prentice hall. kuh, g.d. & kinzie, j. (2018). what really makes a ‘high-impact' practice high impact? inside higher ed. retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/01/kuh-and-kinzierespond-essay-questioning-high-impact-practices-opinion kuh, g. d., & schneider, c. g. (2008). high-impact educational practices: what they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. washington, dc: association of american colleges and universities.  looney, d., & n. lusin (2019). enrollments in languages other than english in united states institutions of higher education, summer 2016 and fall 2016: final report. modern language association. https://www.mla.org/content/download/110154/2406932/2016enrollments-final-report.pdf https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v10i1.134 https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/01/kuh-and-kinzie-respond-essay-questioning-high-impact-practices-opinion https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2018/05/01/kuh-and-kinzie-respond-essay-questioning-high-impact-practices-opinion journal of international students 94 mcmahan, s. (2015). creating a model for high impact practices at a large, regional, comprehensive university: a case study. contemporary issues in education research (cier), 8(2), 111–116. https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v8i2.9144 mezirow, j. (1978). perspective transformation. adult education. 28(2), 100110. nwosu, c. (2022). does study abroad affect student academic achievement? british educational research journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3796 o’dowd, r. (2018). from telecollaboration to virtual exchange: state-of-the-art and the role of unicollaboration in moving forward. journal of virtual exchange, 1, 1-23. research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2018.jve.1. o'dowd, r. (2021). what do students learn in virtual exchange? a qualitative content analysis of learning outcomes across multiple exchanges. international journal of educational research, 109, 101804. pascarella, e. (1980). student-faculty informal contact and college outcomes. review of educational research, 50(4), 545-595. retrieved march 26, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1170295. pascarella, e.t., & p.t. terenzini. (2005). “how college affects students: a third decade of research volume 2.” jossey-bass, an imprint of wiley. indianapolis, in. pascarella, e. t., martin, g. l., hanson, j. m., trolian, t. l., gillig, b., & blaich, c. (2014). effects of diversity experiences on critical thinking skills over four years of college. journal of college student development, 55, 86–92. rienties, b., lewis, t., o’dowd, r., rets, i., & rogaten, j. (2020). the impact of virtual exchange on tpack and foreign language competence: reviewing a large-scale implementation across 23 virtual exchanges. computer assisted language learning,1-27 salisbury, m. h., an, b. p., & pascarella, e. t. (2013). the effect of study abroad on intercultural competence among undergraduate college students. journal of student affairs research and practice, 50(1), 1–20. stevens initiative. (2020). virtual exchange typology. https://www.stevensinitiative.org/resource/virtual-exchange-typology/ stevens initiative. (2021). 2021 survey of the virtual exchange field report. https://www.stevensinitiative.org/resource/2021-survey-of-the-virtualexchange-field-report/ whatley, m., & canché, m. s. g. (2022). a robust estimation of the relationship between study abroad and academic outcomes among community college students. research in higher education, 63(2), 271-308. wiley, p. d. (1984). high school foreign language study and college academic performance. the classical outlook, 62(2), 33-36. xu, m., desilva, c., neufeldt, e., & dané, j. h. (2013). the impact of study abroad on academic success: an analysis of first-time students entering old dominion university, virginia, 2000-2004. frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal of study abroad, 23(1), 90–103. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v23i1.331 https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v8i2.9144 https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3796 http://www.jstor.org/stable/1170295 https://www.stevensinitiative.org/resource/virtual-exchange-typology/ https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v23i1.331 journal of international students 95 jonathan lee, phd, is an associate professor in the department of economics at east carolina university. his major research interests lie in the area of applied microeconomics and industrial organization. email: leejo@ecu.edu jami leibowitz, phd, is director of global academic initiatives and associate director of the office of global affairs at east carolina university. her research interests include development and assessment of international virtual exchange programming. jon rezek, phd, is assistant vice chancellor for global affairs and professor of economics at east carolina university. in addition to administrative duties, his research interests include efficiency and productivity analysis and international economics. meghan millea, phd, is a professor in the department of economics at east carolina university. her major research interests span a range of applied microeconomics and labor economics topics. george saffo completed his bachelor of science degree in economics from east carolina university and was a member of the university’s honors college. mailto:leejo@ecu.edu literature review method results implications references 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 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later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. microsoft word vol 7 issue 3 journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 433 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 7, issue 3 (2017), pp. 433-448 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ confucianism and accents: understanding the plight of the asian international student in the u.s. jennifer t. young california state university, long beach, usa abstract research has shown that international students experience acculturation stress while adjusting to life in the u.s., resolving over time. however, acculturation stress can be exacerbated by several factors, leading to a negative impact on academic performance and general wellness. asian international students traditionally underutilize counseling services on campuses. this article reviews literature of the experiences of asian international students studying in the u.s. the author offers confucianism as a cultural consideration to explain cross-cultural challenges experienced by asian international students and their campus community. suggestions to support asian international students are made based on findings of the literature review. keywords: asian international students, confucianism, english language, mental health international students currently constitute 4.8% of the u.s. higher education population, representing a record high and a 10% increase within the past year (institute of international education, 2015). over the past decade, the number of international students studying in the u.s. increased from 572,509 in 2003/4 to 974,926 in 2014/15. in 2014/15, the majority of international students in the u.s. are arriving from asian nations such as china (31.2%), india (13.6%), south korea (6.5%), japan (2%), taiwan (2.2%), and vietnam (1.9%), totaling 57.4%. recruiting students internationally is highly lucrative for u.s. universities (andrade, 2009). international students contributed nearly $30.8 billion to the u.s. economy in 2014/15 (institute of international education, 2015). furthermore, international students also offer global perspectives and cultural diversity to u.s. campuses. doi:10.5281/zenodo.570022 journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 434 given the economic and educational advantages of international student presence in higher education institutions, the number of international students studying in the u.s. will likely continue to increase. as such, higher education institutions in the u.s. are focusing on providing programs and services that adequately support the international student community. one example of student support services is mental health counseling. recent research of international students show that although this population underutilizes campus counseling services, those who use services are asian international students (hwang, bennett, & beauchemin, 2014). with the majority of students arriving to the u.s. from asia, it is no surprise that literature examining the international student experience in u.s. higher education institutions largely deals with students from asia (andrade, 2006; trice, 2007). many international students do not have abnormal difficulty with adjustment, however those who struggle vary greatly in their ability to cope. among those who have difficulties, the challenges faced by asian international students are well documented with particular attention to mental health concerns (chen & lewis, 2011; constantine, okazaki, & utsey, 2004; dao, lee, & chang, 2007; lee, koeske, & sales, 2004). the volume of research on asian international students in the u.s. and mental health concerns intimate the possibility that fundamental cross-cultural underpinnings are present and may require exploration to further understand cultural differences (dao, 2007; ellisbosold, 2013). yet, there is a lack of literature available that offers a deeper understanding of the adjustment experience for asian international students. this article endeavors to provide an understanding of asian international students’ experiences studying in the u.s. by looking at confucian values. much of the literature examining asian international student experiences consist of students coming from cultures with deeply rooted confucian values (e.g. japan, south korea, china). according to taylor (2011), south asian and east asian cultures have roots in confucianism. there is sufficient research examining south and east asian international students, explainable by the large percentage of these groups represented among international students studying in the u.s (institute of international education, 2015). considering that many asian international students are arriving from cultures notably rooted in confucianism, three key confucian tenets will be presented to provide a deeper understanding of asian international student experiences. literature review the literature was selected by searching for key terms “international student”, “college”, “counseling” and “mental health” within counseling and clinical psychology journals and higher education journals. the search was originally conducted in 2012 using several databases such as academic journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 435 search premier, education research complete, psych articles, and psych info. during 2012, the author was examining international student concerns to assist in the development of a support group at a university counseling center. during the editing process for the manuscript, a new search was also conducted in 2015 and new research was included. mental health and wellbeing of asian international students the literature review on mental health and international students suggest that, although a large number of international students adjust successfully (misra & castillo, 2004), many international students endure challenges related to adjustment in a new academic culture (mori, 2000), culture shock, coping with long distance relationships, feelings of loneliness and homesickness, and stress of language fluency (andrade, 2006; chalungsooth & schneller, 2011). studies examining data of international students who utilize campus counseling centers show anxiety, depression, adjustment and learning issues as common complaints (hwang, bennet, beauchemin, 2014; poyrazli, 2015). still, many international students do not use mental health services or are unaware of services available. international students who engage in mental health services are reported to also be more likely to terminate treatment, endorse suicide ideation, use crisis services, and be hospitalized compared with domestic students (mitchell, greenwood, & guglielmi, 2007). another study suggested that international students with poor adjustment and low support during the first six months to twelve months of arriving in the u.s. are more susceptible to mental health crises (mitchell et al., 2007). at the time that this article was written, virtually no research was found examining possible causes for higher utilization rates of crisis and hospitalization services among international students. nonetheless, susceptibility to crisis can be attributed to stigma surrounding help-seeking and mental health in general (chen & lewis, 2011; masuda et al., 2009), which deters students from seeking support until they are in distress. newly arrived international students lack domestic support and are geographically far from loved ones. this leaves many international students in a vulnerable position. without proper support, adjustment challenges can progress into more urgent mental health problems. reluctance for asian international students to seek external support suggests that there are cultural implications to be explored. the following is an overview focusing on a few tenets of confucianism that endeavors to provide alternative considerations to challenges of asian international students brought forth by existing research and literature. confucian values the review of confucianism values was principally referenced from the book confucianism: the analects, by robert taylor. according to journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 436 taylor (2011), confucius is the latinized name for the chinese scholar k’ung ch’iu, who sought to develop moral teachings focused on living a life filled with goodness. k’ung ch’iu, later known as master kung, strived to achieve societal peace and harmony during a time of socio-political and religious chaos amidst the disintegration of the chou dynasty. master kung (confucius) believed that self and society were not separate. thus, to achieve goodness as a whole in this system, individuals needed to manifest goodness in one’s self. achieving goodness in oneself requires a commitment to two central tenets: moral development and social harmony. confucianism offers an array of teachings, however; a few select virtues are highlighted for the purpose of the article: 1) “rén” 仁, human-heartedness, benevolence; 2) “li” 禮, politeness, correct behaviors, rites; and 3) “xiào” 孝 , filial piety. “xiào” can be classified as a subset of “rén.” within these virtues lie the essence of many asian values (taylor, 2011). for example, attaining “rén” requires that one enters self-study in order to cultivate humane action while striving for moral goodness. “xiào”, the demonstration of filial piety, is one method to achieve “rén”. “xiào” describes mutual love and respect between parent(s) and child(ren) and explains that the obligation between the two parties is demonstrated by responsible action. that is, parents are responsible for providing their children with proper education, nurturing, and a solid moral foundation. in return, children are responsible for showing their respect and appreciation through obedience and service to parents (taylor, 2011). in this belief system, filial piety shows that one can move beyond self-centeredness and ego thereby showing benevolent action, or “rén.” those who are from cultures influenced by confucian values often show respect to parents, elders, and persons in authority by showing obedience. this is shown by refraining from questioning authority and agreeing to commitments due to a sense of duty and respect for their elders. “li” is a virtue which describes politeness and correct action. this is evident in the form of cultural rituals, such as burning paper money while honoring ancestors, or behaving in a caregiving manner such as serving your elders before serving yourself during a meal. conducting oneself in a correct manner is also related to “face saving”. face saving, or “saving face”, is to behave in a way that avoids bringing shame or embarrassment upon oneself and others. it is not simply about being polite toward others but also about anticipating the thoughts, feelings, actions of others and acting in accordance to minimize potential discomfort for all, maintaining group harmony. for example, international students may often forgo their own needs to save face or not inconvenience others. these virtues will be used to provide a perspective of asian international students’ experiences. the review of literature on asian international students studying in the u.s revealed five recurring themes: (a) insecurity with english journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 437 language proficiency, (b) real or perceived discrimination, (c) stigma of help-seeking, (d) relations with faculty, and (e) challenges with social support. additionally, several studies reported that international students had a strong desire to connect with u.s. domestic students and felt their efforts were in vain. the preponderance of research on adjustment concerns and mental health of asian international students indicate that existing student services for this group need to be reconsidered. the plight of asian international students english language insecurity. degree-seeking international students are required to pass an english proficiency exam prior to enrollment as a matriculating student at a u.s. institution (mori, 2000). research suggests most international students who report difficulty with english language are often from asian countries. several studies with samples of international students from east asian and south asian countries found that depression and mental health symptoms were correlated to english language fluency, among other factors (andrade, 2009; dao, lee, & chang, 2007; fritz, chin, & demarinis, 2008; lee, koeske, & sales, 2004; meifen et al., 2007; rahman & rollock, 2004; yakunina, weigold, & mccarthy, 2011). it was also found that english language proficiency served as a precipitator for acculturative stress (tung, 2011; yeh & inose, 2003) and culture shock (swagler & ellis, 2003), which, when unaddressed, can also lead to anxiety and depression. english language fluency concerns have been noted in literature studying the immigrant experience. chan (2013) found that feeling embarrassed about non-fluency followed by perception of critical or negative judgment by fluent speakers can lead to isolation and withdrawal among immigrant children. within the international student population, those who struggle with english language fluency face a similar experience which contributes to difficulties adjusting socially and academically. international students are often both surprised by and ashamed of their linguistic weakness upon arriving in the u.s., a stark contrast to the competence they felt while in their home country. it can be daunting and embarrassing to believe they have achieved english fluency only to realize that their english needs improvement. self-consciousness about their language accent can make connecting with others uncomfortable. feelings of shame, shyness, and embarrassment can eventually lead to social withdrawal, decreased classroom participation, and lower self-esteem. for international students rooted in confucian cultures, the virtue of “li” suggest that international students are not proactive in seeking guidance in the form of tutoring or from asking questions because doing so is to admit that there is a weakness which may bring a “loss of face”. furthermore to ask others journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 438 for assistance with their limitation can be viewed as burdening others with their problem. individuals from cultures who do not ascribe to these values may have difficulty understanding the difficulty for asian international students to seek support. discrimination. research studies have consistently shown that perceived discrimination reported by international students is negatively linked to overall satisfaction with their lives in the u.s. (ye, 2005). perceived or real experiences of being discriminated against can strike at one’s self-esteem (schmitt, spears, & branscombe, 2003) and lead to higher levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness and physical health complaints (jung, hecht, & wadsworth, 2007; poyrazli, & lopez, 2007). perceiving discrimination can affect a student’s sense of belonging, a considerable human need (maslow, 1962). individuals who feel their sense of belonging is threatened will often experience existential angst and fear of being ostracized (maslow, 1962; may, 1983). as such, being rejected or having perceptions of rejection by social groups can induce high anxiety and have negative repercussions on psychological health and wellness. it is noteworthy to consider that international students from south and east asian countries are often accustomed to a more homogenized society than that which exists in the u.s. therefore, diversity, or “otherness”, may be experienced more intensely than those from countries with societies comprised of more racial and ethnic diversity. all things considered, these experiences juxtaposed with confucian values may cause internal conflict or dissonance. to illustrate, the virtue of “rén” teaches individuals to act in way that fosters honor and respect between all people. and “li” enforces paying respect to others. for asian international students adjusting as a foreigner, locals in the u.s. may be perceived to have more authority. those students who are self-conscious about their spoken english ability or speaking accented english can experience higher levels of stress on a daily basis. research shows that asian international students consistently report encounters with discrimination (jung, hecht, & wadsworth, 2007; poyrazli, & lopez, 2007). notwithstanding, it is also possible that asian international students who are experiencing acculturative stress can perceive a stranger’s non-discriminating, but explicit expression of rudeness as discriminatory due to its unfriendly nature and the fact that the interaction is occurring outside of a familiar context. to verify discrimination, exercising “rén” and “li” would require one to engage in sensitive dialogue and communicate with the offender. this can appear an insurmountable feat for a selfconscious, newly arrived foreigner. a perception of discrimination by the dominant majority is particularly harmful in that the exclusion sends a message that the person is journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 439 considered abnormal (schmitt, spears, & branscombe, 2003). discrimination has been tied to lower academic achievement, discomfort in classroom settings, (kernahan, wei, & davis, 2014) and can be a factor of attrition among college students (hurtado & carter, 1997). for instance, literature studying the experience of students of color (soc) indicate that discrimination can have a negative effect on the overall college experience and sense of belonging on campus. the literature suggests higher education institutions in the u.s. have a responsibility to effectively manage diversity within the college student population (levin, van laar, & foote, 2006; o’keeffe, 2013), both domestic and international. stigma of help-seeking. although psychology is over a century year old, mental health stigma continues to exist globally. the term stigma refers to negative judgment of a person or group when their behaviors or characteristic are different or inferior from that of the societal norm (ahmedani, 2011). different groups will hold stigma about ideology that other groups, or out-groups, will not endorse. research shows that asian students who espouse traditional asian values tend to endorse negative attitudes toward counseling and are less likely to seek mental health support when needed (yakunina & weigold, 2011). stigma continues to be a deterrent in addressing mental health concerns in china, japan, and south korea (chen & lewis, 2011). it is suggested that, since the traditional asian values of collectivism, humility, conformity, and emotional self-control directly contradicts western values of individualism, assertiveness, and open expression of emotion, asian students often have negative attitudes toward counseling (yakunina & weigold, 2011). help-seeking, or lack thereof, is another example where the influence of confucian values is implicated. confucius emphasized the importance of managing one’s hardship without complaining (taylor, 2011). according to taylor (2011), emotional strength is emphasized and demonstrated when one is able to control their behaviors despite their feelings. coupled with a deep sense of filial piety, it is easy to imagine how those from confucian-based cultures do not view counseling or seeking help as a viable or helpful option. to do so could bring shame and embarrassment on both the international student seeking support, his/her family, and, in the perception of the international student, on those professionals whom they are troubling for help. in an effort to be polite and save face, individuals feel an obligation to resolve the issues themselves. additionally, asian international students may not be agreeable to speaking truthfully with their parents about the challenges they experience in the u.s. as a result of “xiào” and “li”. that is, due to their love and respect for their parents (filial piety, “xiào”), they do not want to worry them or bring shame upon themselves or their family for their struggle (politeness journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 440 and saving face, “li”). in a non-confucian culture, this can be viewed as avoidant behavior, or at the very least, unhelpful behavior. yet to dismiss this action as such would not only be an enormous misunderstanding, but also an invalidation to international students who are acting properly within their home country’s cultural context. to illustrate, one method of coping popular among asian international students is frequent internet use. frequent internet use is considered unhealthy and is correlated with depressive symptoms (shaffer, hall, & vander bilt, 2000). frequent internet use, also termed internet overuse, is viewed as problematic for college students. excessive webbrowsing or gaming can be viewed as enabling procrastination or socially isolating behaviors. however, ye (2005) found in his study that international students who reported perceived discrimination were more likely to use the internet for coping and relaxation. according to ye (2005), the internet can also provide opportunities to increase english language fluency via chatting or language learning applications. information found on the internet can also aid one’s cultural adjustment without inducing feelings of self-consciousness about english language fluency which is present during social interactions. used in moderation, the internet can be a safe way for international students to connect socially without risking social rejection or discrimination and can provide a medium to combat loneliness. international students can communicate with loved ones and access information about one’s home country cultivating a sense of familiarity, comfort, and belonging in a place where little exists (ye, 2005). internet addiction is a legitimate problem for many college students, but frequent internet use can be one method for international students to exercise the confucian virtue of “li” and attempt to resolve the problem without burdening others. relations with faculty. an acceptable method to seek support is when it is related to academics. however, international students often turn to faculty advisors also when facing an emotional problem (hyun, quinn, madon, & lustig, 2007). faculty support can provide protection from stress and depression among international students. in fact, due to the stigma of mental health and lack of knowledge about counseling services, international students are less likely to reach out to university and college counselors, family members, or even peers and friends when facing a mental health issue. rather, they are most likely to approach their professors (trice, 2007). most faculty members in the u.s. recognize that international students face unique personal and academic challenges (trice, 2004). still many faculty complain of difficulties working with international students. in a study using focus groups, faculty members reported a sense that presentation of class materials needed to be adjusted for international journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 441 students, although not the level of difficulty. these findings suggest that international students may not grasp vital concepts in their courses due to external factors outside of course content, for example, linguistic challenges (andrade, 2009) or unfamiliarity with presentation methods. yet, many faculty conclude that international students are struggling as a result of procrastination, lack of participation in the classroom, social segregation, in addition to inadequate english language fluency (trice, 2007). according to trice (2007), such conclusions are based on misconceptions and only a few faculty members have a true grasp of the problem. trice (2004) conducted a qualitative study interviewing faculty from four departments in a university with a large number of international student enrollment about their perceptions of struggling international students. results suggested faculty perceptions that international students only want to associate with other international students and are unable to tolerate cultural discomfort (trice, 2004). asian international students in andrade’s study (2006) reported feeling that many u.s. professors were indifferent to teaching asian international students. asian international students prefer individual over peer group study, and lacked confidence in their english language ability, which served as a barrier for in-class participation. however, faculty often misinterpreted international students’ lack of verbal participation and reluctance for group projects as a lack of taking responsibility for their own learning. faculty members did not recognize that coming from an entirely different educational pedagogy posed as an academic barrier for international students and also induced mild to moderate psychological distress (andrade, 2006). furthermore, faculty members did not appear to consider linguistic insecurity as a possible source of socialization patterns. these findings intimate that the misconceptions of international students by u.s. faculty members that can have a negative impact on the academic performance of these students. additionally, international students may not be able to identify these barriers, and if they did, due to confucian values of “li”, asian international students would be hard-pressed to raise an issue with their professor. this is unfortunate given that international students often approach their faculty members first when in need of personal or professional guidance and support. for asian international students, adjusting and succeeding in u.s. academic settings where self-expression and expression of critical thinking are highly valued can be confusing and disorienting. for example, in the u.s., a portion of a student’s class grade is class participation, which is evaluated by a student’s verbal participation in the classroom. participation is oft demonstrated by asking questions, sharing ideas, challenging their peers appropriately, and offering opinions as well as turning in online discussion assignments. on the contrary, academic settings in east asian journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 442 countries have not encouraged verbal in-class participation. in fact, asking questions, offering opinions, challenging peers, can be perceived as rude or out-of-line by professors in east asia, which can have undesirable consequences for students. in east asian countries, asking questions of the presenter can be viewed as a message to the presenter that his/her presentation was inadequate and insufficient in explaining concepts. otherwise, there would be no questions. additionally, the confucian value of “xiào”, that is, discouragement of questioning those in authority, applies in this circumstance. challenging others or offering dissenting opinions can be interpreted as self-important or disagreeable, viewed as unharmonious, and causes the presenter to “lose face”. these opposing values in u.s. and asian academic settings create a difficult situation for asian international students studying in the u.s. consequently, asian international students in the u.s. can potentially receive a lower grade for not verbally participating. yet to do so is unnatural and would require concerted efforts to unlearn certain values upheld in their home culture. such students would have to retrain their learning styles and compromise their values in order to operate according to academic rules in the u.s. social support. inadequate social support among asian international students was also found in the review of literature. confucian virtues were not used to explain the challenges that asian international students experience when forming new friendships. however, given that these challenges emerged in the literature review and is essential in understanding the asian international student context, it will be discussed. international students are often criticized for banding together and forming ethnic enclaves, and are perceived as having no interest in integrating with their domestic peers. literature examining the experience of students of color (soc) also report similar findings (tir, van laar, & foote, 2006; o’keeffe, 2013). ethnically similar peers gravitate toward one another on campus and appreciate the ease of connecting with peers in their in-group. this is especially true when soc feel a lack of sense of belonging either due to perceived discrimination or other racial stereotypes embodied by members of the campus community. similarly, international students who engage in ethnic clustering and segregation are often misunderstood. ethnic clustering is mistakenly viewed as a lack of desire to integrate and participate in the larger campus community, rather than viewed as a natural result of individuals seeking belonging and sense of community. in fact, contrary to the belief that exclusivity is preferred, several studies report that international students actually have a strong desire to form relationships with domestic students (hechanova-alampay, beehr, christiansen, & van horn, 2002; munley, thiagarajan, carney, preacco, & journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 443 lidderdale 2007; rajapaksa & dundes, 2003) but found developing these relationships presents an onerous hurdle. international students with weak social support generally report higher levels of mental health symptoms (lee, koeske, & sales, 2004), such as depression (ying, & han, 2006) and anxiety (rajapaksa & dundes, 2003; sümer, poyrazli, & grahame, 2008), feelings of hopelessness, loneliness, and higher acculturative stress (smith & khawaja, 2011). in their literature review, smith and khawaja (2011) found that over 50% of asian international students studying in the u.s. reported difficulties befriending domestic students but wanted them. smith and khawaja (2011) suggested the difficulty for asian students to establish relationships with domestic students is possibly reflective of “conflicting acculturation attitudes between host universities and international students” (p. 704). furthermore, international students fortunate enough to have successful relationships with domestic students report lower levels of homesickness (ying, 2002) and acculturative stress (poyrazli, kavanaugh, baker, & altimimi, 2004). it appears that the desire among international students to connect with domestic students is present but unexamined barriers exist preventing the formation of these relationships. this is peculiar given the mutual benefit of domestic-international relationships. domestic students can help facilitate healthy acculturation with international students and international students can increase the cultural awareness and enhance global perspectives among domestic students. the literature suggests that higher education institutions can support their students by providing more opportunities for domestic-international, cross-cultural interactions. suggestions to support asian international students the literature reviewed in this article suggests that asian international students majorly seek support from faculty even when problems discussed have emotional content. aside from faculty, international education offices on campus usually focus on administrative tasks and university counseling centers focus on mental health concerns. some literature suggests that those who are particularly influenced by the traditions of their ethnic culture may be more reluctant to engage support systems on campus at all (chen & lewis, 2011). this supports the suggestion that those influenced by confucian values are reluctant to seek external support for fear of losing face. the concern of losing face by seeking support can eventually lead to detrimental effects on the emotional wellbeing among asian international students. lack of social support and failed attempts to resolve challenges on their own can lead these students to use crisis services as an intervention, leaving other support avenues untapped. journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 444 the author suggests that university student services provide support for asian international students by providing dual-focus programming to (a) decrease english language insecurity and (b) addressing cross-cultural concerns. programs are advised to help increase awareness among asian international students’ of their existing cultural values in a validating manner while exploring possible challenges to adjusting to a non-confucian culture. these programs can support asian international students by addressing academic performance difficulties which may stem from english language insecurity. furthermore, it is also suggested that programming include leadership by domestic peer/mentors and faculty/staff liaisons who can normalize adjustment challenges and provide informal support. informal support may be better received by students arriving from cultures that endorse stigma of help-seeking. having the support of domestic campus members cultivates a validating environment for international students who may otherwise withdraw when faced with adjustment and emotional challenges. such programs can increase connections between international and domestic members of campus communities. the author echoes recommendations of other researchers regarding the importance of educating and training staff and faculty on ways to work sensitively with international students (tung, 2011). understanding the multiple contexts of asian international students can explain behaviors and deter misperceptions hindering academic and social success for asian international students. universities and colleges in the u.s. have developed numerous ally programs. examples include ally training for veteran service members (e.g. vetnet), students identifying as lgbtq (e.g. safezone), different-abled students, and students with mental illness (e.g. mental health first aid). given the growing number of asian international students entering u.s. higher education institutions, universities are encouraged to provide training to faculty, staff, and administrators to increase awareness and understanding international student populations. conclusions this article provided a few examples of the conflicts that arise when asian international students from cultures rooted in confucian values study and live in the u.s., a non-confucian culture. it is vital to avoid misperceptions of international students from confucian cultures as procrastinating, uninterested, intentionally socially segregated and isolated, or lacking in critical thinking skills. instead, educators and administrators at higher education institutions can be helpful if a more complete picture of the cultural contexts is explored when considering the behaviors and experience of asian international students. more specifically, international students may feel embarrassed of the challenges they face and believe that the only resolution lies in their individual ability to stay strong and persevere. thus, journal of international students, 7(3) 2017 445 the absence of engaging support services is not necessarily an act of noncompliance or resistance, but of differing cultural values. in considering programs and services, it is recommended that the cultural training in the form of ally programs are used to address cultural variance which can serve to prevent unintended alienation, marginalization, or cultivation of further stereotypes or misperceptions of asian international students. for higher education institutions to meet their goals of providing an educational experience to prepare students to function in an increasingly global context, it is imperative that educators and administrators reflect on their own views and see their students with cultural clarity. references ahmedani, b. k. 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(2011). group counseling with international students: practical, ethical, and cultural considerations. journal of college student psychotherapy, 25, 67-78. doi: 10.1037/00220167.54.4.385 ye, j. (2005). acculturative stress and use of the internet among east asian international students in the united states. cyberpsychology & behavior: the impact of the internet, multimedia and virtual reality on behavior and society, 8(2), 154-161. yeh, c. j., & inose, m. (2003). international students' reported english fluency, social support satisfaction, and social connectedness as predictors of acculturative stress. counselling psychology quarterly, 16(1), 15. ying, y. w. (2002). formation of cross-cultural relationships of taiwanese international students in the united states. journal of community psychology, 30(1), 45-55. ying, y. w., & han, m. (2006). the contribution of personality, acculturative stressors, and social affiliation to adjustment: a longitudinal study of taiwanese students in the united states. international journal of intercultural relations, 30(5), 623-635. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2006.02.001 jennifer t. young, psy.d. is currently a psychologist working at united states peace corps. this article was written when dr. young was working as a psychologist at california state university long beach. no part of this manuscript represents the official stance or opinion of the u.s. peace corps. email: dr.jenniferyoung@gmail.com manuscript submitted: march 16, 2016 manuscript revised: august 8, 2016 accepted for publication: november 13, 2016 *** 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | 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503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx jis spring 2012 full pdf.pdf 93 issn-2162-3104 http://jistudents.org/ journal of international students spring 2012 vol.1 issue 1 institutions of higher education in the united states recognize the inherent value of recruiting the best and brightest students from around the world (institute of international education, 2011). the number of international students enrolled in american universities is increasing. a 2007 report on enrollment showed a record 623,805 international students were enrolled in u.s. colleges and universities (association of international educators, 2009). recent data reported in the chronicle of higher education (fischer, 2009) indicated that for 2008-2009 there were 672,000 foreign students enrolled in american universities. in 2010/11, the number of international students enrolled in american universities had swelled to 723,000 (marklein, 2011). these international students facilitate the preparation of american students for a globally connected marketplace by sharing their various cultures, perspectives, and ways of thinking. however, the continuing influx of international students into institutions of higher education in the united states poses verbal communication challenges for the institutions and the international students. english as a second language is often spoken by the majority of these international students and their accents can jeopardize effective communication. even after gaining sufficient english language literacy skills to successfully matriculate in academic programs in u.s. colleges and universities,the intelligibility of conversational speech among international students may be significantly compromised in academic and social contexts by their accents. accordingly, institutions of higher education should share some portion of the responsibility for assisting foreign students as they pursue opportunities to overcome accent-based communication barriers. accent assessment: a preliminary study of scaling validity d. mike mcdaniel, phd professor of communication disorders arkansas state university (usa) richard a. neeley, phd professor and chair, department of communication disorders arkansas state university (usa) julie j. isaacson, rn, msn, ccrn associate professor of nursing arkansas state university (usa) g. daniel howard, phd interim chancellor arkansas state university (usa) abstract direct magnitude estimations (dme) and equal appearing interval (eai) scaling techniques were used to compare listeners’ perceptions of the extent of accent from recorded speech samples of international students enrolled in a united states university who spoke english as a second language. twenty five international students served as speakers by reading the same brief passage for recording purposes. twenty five american-born students with no formal training or experience with accents or accent reduction rated the extent of the accent on each of the spoken samples using both scaling techniques. statistical analysis of the listener’s perceptions indicated no significant differences between the dme or eai scaling procedures and a scatterplot comparing the data sets for each technique produced a significant linear relationship between the data for the two techniques. based on these findings it would appear that either technique could be employed to obtain a valid assessment of the extent of accent in international students. an eai scaling technique would appear to be the technique of choice because of the ease of administration. however, future study is needed to refine the technique into a clinical procedure for routine use in assessing the extent of perceived accent and gauging the success of accent reduction intervention. key words: accent assessment, international students, dme, eai, india 94journal of international students the american speech-language-hearing association (2009) defined accent as “the unique way that speech is pronounced by a group of people speaking the same language.” despite the number of individuals presenting themselves for accent reduction, shah (2007), in the development of a prototype accent assessment tool, reported that none of the 13 protocols reviewed for assessment of foreign accent were evidenced based, norm referenced, or standardized. accent reduction, sometimes referred to as elocution or accent modification, should begin with a systematic, valid and objective assessment of the accent prior to formal intervention. in short, a suitable instrument is needed that can reliably quantify deviations in the individual's current accent from the target reference accent and from which progress in accent reduction can be gauged. before an accent assessment instrument can be developed certain assumptions about the perception of accents in listeners need to be explored to ensure that the accent assessment instrument is appropriate. accent perception appears to encompass a combination of elements based on quality (kind) and quantity (degree). again, for an accent assessment instrument to be valid it should reflect a methodology grounded in what is scientifically known about the perception of accent from a listener’s perspective. to determine if accent differences are a matter of kind or a matter of magnitude, a theoretical concept was adapted from the field of psychophysical perception. stevens (1974) reported works in which perceptions were recorded using both scale and direct magnitude estimation methods. he found that when the nature of perceptual comparisons pertained to differences in magnitude or quantity, the perceptions resided in a prothetic (amount) continuum and were most effectively sampled using a direct magnitude estimation method. according to stevens (1974), the correlation between direct magnitude estimations and equal appearing interval (eai) scaling methods for the same stimuli, determined whether listener perceptions were from a prothetic or a metathetic continuum. specifically, he indicated that a linear relationship between interval scaling judgments and direct magnitude estimation judgments of the same stimuli would suggest that either technique would be appropriate for judging perceptions on a metathetic continuum. from a practical standpoint, interval scaling judgments are easier to accomplish because they do not require an anchor or standard reference for comparison judgments. conversely, stevens (1974) felt that if the relationship between the two sets of judgments were nonlinear then the use of interval scaling was inappropriate and the dimension of the perception was prothetic. previous investigations have compared dme and eai scaling for other aspects of communication such as vowel roughness (toner and emanuel, 1989); stuttering (schiavetti, sacco, metz, and sitler, 1983; berry and silverman, 1972); hearing impairment (schiavetti, metz, and sitler, 1981); dysarthria (weismer and laures, 2002); and nasality (zraick and liss, 2000). the purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of perceived accent differences among international (viz., indian) speakers by listeners unfamiliar with the nature of accents and accent reduction. it was hoped that findings from this study could serve to guide the development of a valid accent assessment technique that would offer clinical utility in the measurement of accents among international students attending u.s. colleges and universities. reliable and valid measurement techniques could then be used to plan interventionsfor accent reduction and document efficacy of treatment techniques. method participants a convenience sample of 26 adult male speakers was selected to provide recorded speech samples for this investigation. twenty-five of the speakers were from india and spoke american english as a second language; and one speaker was a college student from the mid-south region of the united states with no foreign accent. all of the international speakers spoke with an accent but had no personal experience with any formal therapeutic accent reduction programs. twenty-five normal hearing north american-born students for which english was their first language were selected to participate as listeners in this study. listeners had no experience with accents or accent reduction and all reported no known hearing impairment. twenty-two of the listeners were female and three were male. of the original 25 listeners, two (8%) were dismissed based on their inability to make appropriate judgments of the extent of the accents and were replaced with listeners that could perform the tasks. materials and procedure a 72 word passage with a complexity equivalent to an eighth grade reading level was used as the stimulus material to be recorded for this investigation. all speakers were allowed to familiarize themselves with the passage and to practice reading it aloud. speakers were encouraged to relax and read the passage using 95 issn-2162-3104 journal of international students spring 2012 vol.2 issue 1 their natural rate, rhythm, and inflection patterns. each speaker’s reading of the passage was recorded individually and privately to eliminate any potential effects on reading skill related to reading with an audience. digital recordings were made of each speaker’s oral reading of the passage. an additional recording was made for one international speaker after he was asked to exaggerate his accent while reading the passage in his native language. twenty-seven recorded passages were then transferred to a compact disc (cd). of the 27 recorded passages, 25 were test passages and 2 were considered validity passages. the two validity passages were used to ensure that listeners’ responses were accurately reflecting their perception of the speaker’s accent. specifically, it was anticipated that for responses to be valid, listeners would provide responses indicating minimal or no accent for the one speaker with no foreign accent and responses indicating an extremely noticeable accent from the one international speaker exaggerating his accent while reading the passage in his native language. procedure an equal appearing interval (eai) scale was used to obtain listener ratings of the perceived accent from each of the 27 recorded passages (25 test passages and 2 validity passages). the eai scale ranged from 0 (no perceived accent) to 10 (extremely noticeable accent). listeners were encouraged to rate the accents accordingly. if a listener felt that the speaker’s accent was extremely noticeable they were instructed to rate the accent as a “10.” at the opposite end of the scale, if the listener perceived the speaker to have no accent they were instructed to rate the accent as “0.” the eai 10 point scale allowed for subtle variations in scoring commensurate with the listeners’ perceptions of the degree of accent. listeners were encouraged to use any number on the eai scale to within a decimal of .5 which they felt adequately reflected the extent of the speaker’s accent. in addition to the eai scaling scores, direct magnitude estimations (dme) of the extent of the accents were obtained for each of the same recorded passages from the same listeners. during this phase, listeners were instructed to estimate the extent of the accent relative to a standard passage used as an anchor. the standard passage anchor was selected from the original pool of 25 test passages. this was accomplished by ranking the results from the eai scaling phase on the basis of their median ratings and then selecting the passage at the 50th percentile as the standard passage anchor. listeners were informed that the standard passage anchor had been assigned a value of 100 and their task as listeners was to estimate the extent of the perceived accent from each of the test passages relative to the extent of accent of the standard passage anchor. to assist the listeners with their direct magnitude estimations a visual aid was employed with a standard-line anchor with an arbitrary value of 100 used to compare three separate lines of varying lengths. one line was half as long as the standard-line anchor and listeners were informed that a direct magnitude estimation of 50 would be an appropriate perceptual comparison. the second line was twice as long as the standard-line anchor and it was suggested that an estimation of 200 would be appropriate. finally, a line with the exact same length as the standard-line anchor was depicted with the suggestion that an estimation of 100 would be appropriate. for each comparison, the standard passage anchor was played prior to the presentation of the 25 test passages and 2 validity passages. additional validity of the estimations was obtained by having the listeners estimate the extent of the accent from the standard passage anchor when compared to itself. listeners were told that the investigation was designed to study accent. at no time was the word “intelligibility” used with listeners and care was taken, both in written and oral instructions, to avoid using terms indicating “more” and “less” except for the word “magnitude” during the magnitude estimation phase. all listening was performed in a modern amphitheater-type classroom equipped with a computer and high quality public address system capable of playing the recorded passages in any order. care was taken to assure that the volume of passage was adequate and appropriate for comfortable listening. listening practice was performed until the investigators were certain that listeners were familiar with the nature of the responses needed. data analysis in order to address the validity of the dme results, a one-sample t-test was performed between the standard passage anchor (selected at the 50th percentile from the scaling phase and assigned a magnitude of 100) and the value of 100. average values were computed from the listener’s scaled scores for each of the 25 test passages for the eai scaling procedure. likewise, average values were computed for the dme phase for each of the speakers. a scatterplot and pearson product moment coefficient of correlation was obtained between the average rating from each speaker and the average direct magnitude estimations from each speaker. 96journal of international students results as noted in the previous section, 2 (8%) of the original 25 listeners that completed the eai scaling and the dme portion of this investigation were dismissed from the study because of their inability to make appropriate judgments on the extent of the accents. one listener provided a scale judgment for one of the validity test passages indicating his/her scaled scores were not an accurate choice for what he/she perceived. likewise, one listener provided a dme for one speech sample suggesting his/her inability to make the estimations. both of these listeners were dismissed from the study and replaced with listeners who demonstrated adequate ability to complete the listening tasks. in order to verify that listeners were making valid eai rating judgments, the average median rating scores were calculated from the 25 listeners for each of the 27 passages. figure 1 is a bar graph depicting those results. speaker 16 had no international accent. these results indicate that the listeners collectively rated his spoken passage as if he had little, if any, discernable accent. similarly, speaker 22 was the international speaker who exaggerated his accent while reading the passage in his native language. it is clear from figure 1 that the listeners judged his accent to be extremely noticeable and therefore gave his recorded passage an average median rating of 10. these results indicate that the listeners made eai scale ratings that reflected the extent of the accent. average dme scores from the 25 listeners for each of the 27 passages were calculated and figure 2 is a bar graph depicting those results. again, speaker 16 was the speaker with no international accent and speaker 22 was the international speaker who exaggerated his accent while reading the passage in his native language. as with results from the eai scaling method, it is clear from figure 1 that the listeners made valid dmes reflecting the extent of the perceived accent. for all subsequent statistical analyses, data for speaker 16 and 22 were removed. to further explore the validity of the dmes for the standard passage, a onesample t-test was performed on the average listener dme results for the standard passage and score of 100 (e.g. the standard passage anchor). the dme average listener score for the standard anchor passage was 96.047. results of the t-test indicated no significant difference between the mean score for the standard passage anchor and 100 (t = -1.595, df=23, p>.124) indicating that the listeners judged the standard passage anchor to be approximately 100. this finding suggests that it was appropriate for comparison purposes to select the speaker whose accent was judged to be the median as the anchor passage.next a scatter plot was used to explore the relationship between the scores from the eai method and the dme method. results for the eai scaling method were ranked from lowest to highest for the 25 speakers’ passages. the dme results for the same speakers were plotted as a function of the eai scaling procedure. an assessment indicates that average median eai scale results increased at a similar rate as dme average scores.to further explore this relationship a pearson product moment correlation coefficient was calculated between the pairs of average dme and eai scores. the correlation was highly significant (r=.905, p>.000) indicating that the relationship was positive and that a linear relationship existed between the two sets of scores. figure 3 also shows the square of the correlation with a line of best fit added. clearly, as the eai scale scores increased there was a corresponding increase in the dme scores. the relationship between the dme and the eai scaling was, therefore, linear. figure 1. a bar graph showing the average dme values for the 27 recorded passages. 97 issn-2162-3104 journal of international students spring 2012 vol.2 issue 1 discussion the results from this study clearly indicated a linear relationship between dme and eai ratings for extent of perceived accents. applying the logic described by stevens (1974) leads to the conclusion that either eai or dme techniques would yield valid determinations of the extent of perceived accent and thus could be used for assessing the perception of extent of accent. the results indicate that the metathetic nature of the perception of accents was somewhat unexpected given the number of perceptual dimensions relative to other aspects of speech that had been shown to be prothetic (berry & silverman, 1972; schiavetti et al., 1981; toner & emanuel, 1989). as noted earlier, from a practical and clinical standpoint, ratings from an eai scaling technique are easier to accomplish for at least two reasons. first, eai scaling does not require a standard anchor or reference from which to base responses and second, eai rating is a technique with which most listeners are familiar and can readily relate. although not conclusive or alarming it should be noted that 1 (4%) of the original 25 listeners was unable to perform the eai scaling technique despite explicit instructions and considerable practice. a possible explanation for this finding would be a supposition questioning the listener’s motivation and commitment to the technique. although there was ample evidence from this study to suggest eai ratings represent a valid way to assess the perception of accents, there remains much to be learned about the reliability of the method. the experimental design of this study was not selected to focus on reliability per se, but there was nothing in the present findings to suggest the reliability of eai ratings was suspect. future research will be needed to explore the reliability of eai ratings as they are applied to clinical assessment of the perception of the extent of accents. equal appearing interval scaling represents a relatively simple and practical method for obtaining perceptual measurements and could be easily adapted for routine clinical use in the study of accents. the procedure and design used in this study, although sound, does need further research before it is melded into a useful clinical tool. specifically, the manner in which speech samples are harvested needs further investigation and refinement. speakers in this study provided speech samples by reading aloud a short, novel passage in an unfamiliar setting. currently, no research is available to indicate whether this method is the most appropriate format for harvesting natural examples of accent in speech of international students who speak english as a second language. future studies may need to explore the effects of oral reading in the non-native language on the speaker’s accent. as a result, a more natural and less anxiety producing means to harvest speech samples for the purpose of studying accent may need to be developed. also, having a cadre of listeners making accent judgments for every speaker is not clinically practical and highlighted a limitation of this study. it is not known, from this study, whether having listeners hear the same passage repeatedly for as many as 25 times created familiarity with the passage material and thereby influenced the perception of the extent of the accent. future research might explore the validity and reliability of accent judgments made by a single listener both with and without professional experience with accent reduction therapy. once these issues have been thoroughly addressed, further research can focus on determining the perceptual level of accent which is no longer perceived as a barrier to effective communication, thus guiding the practice of reasonable accent modification. summary there is little doubt that accent reduction will be a service increasingly in demand by international students enrolled in american universities. as the number of international students continues to rise in american universities, there will be a need to complement their education with other support services. one such service, when indicated and when called for, may be accent reduction. the foundation of accent reduction will be an assessment instrument that is valid, reliable, evidenced based, norm referenced, and standardized. it is clear from the results of this study that a valid option for documenting the extent of an accent is equal appearing interval scaling. work is still needed to address the reliability of the technique as it is applied to accent. additionally, future research should be directed at a variety of international accents as well as the standardization of a strong clinical protocol. references american speech language and hearing association (2009). what is an accent? retrieved from http://www.asha.org/public/speech/develop ment/accent_mod.htm association of international educators (2009). nafsa’s guide to international student recruitment (2nd ed.), washington, dc.: nafsa: association of international educators. 98journal of international students berry, r.c., & silverman, f. h. (1972). equality of intervals on the lewis-sherman scale of stutter ing severity. journal of speech and hearing research, 15, 185-188. fischer, k. (2009, november 16). number of foreign students in u.s. hit a new high last year. retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article institute of international education (2011). publications and reports. retrieved from http://www.iie.org/en/research-andpublications/publications-and-reports marklein, m. b. (2011, november 14). more foreign students studying in usa. usa today. retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/education schiavetti, n., metz, d. e., & sitler, r.w. (1981). construct validity of direct magnitude estima tion and interval scaling: evidence from a study of the hearing impaired. journal of speech and hearing research, 24, 441-445. schiavetti, n., sacco, p. r., metz, d. e., & sitler, r.w. (1983). direct magnitude estimation and interval scaling of stuttering severity. journal of speech and hearing research, 26, 568573. shah, a. (2007). a comprehensive assessment of for eign-accented assessment speech: test battery and model for assessment, course #3825. retrieved from http://speechpathology.com stevens, s. s. (1974). perceptual magnitude and its measurement. in e.c. carterett & m.p. friedman (eds.), handbook of perception (vol. 2). new york: academic press. toner, m. a., & emanuel, f.w. (1989). direct magni tude estimation and equal appearing interval scaling of vowel and roughness. journal of speech and hearing research, 32, 78-82. weismer, g., & laures, j. s. (2002). direct magni tude estimates of speech intelligibility in dysarthria: effects of chosen standard. journal of speech, language, and hearing research, 45, 421-433. zraick, r. i., & liss, j. m. (2000). a comparison of equal-appearing interval scaling and direct magnitude estimation of nasal voice quality. journal of speech, language, and hearing research, 43, 979-988. acknowledgments this research was supported, in part, by a grant from the arkansas state university communication disorders foundation account. the authors would like to thank brandy messer and mary hannah pulliam for their assistance in preparing recordings and data collection. ________________________________________ about the authors: dr. mike mcdaniel is a professor of communication disorders in the department of communication disorders at arkansas state university. he has directed 15 master’s thesis over the past 23 years. his research interests include auditory processing and speech intelligibility. he can be reached at dmcdan@astate.edu. dr. richard a. neeley is a professor and chair, department of communication disorders at arkansas state university. his e-mail is rneeley@astate.edu. julie j. isaacson is an associate professor of nursing at the school of nursing and health professionals, arkansas state university. she can be reached at jisaacson@astate.edu. dr. g. daniel howard is interim chancellor of arkansas state university. his academic career spans more than 35 years. among other things, dr. howard is an expert in globalizing institutions of higher education. he holds two master’s degrees “with honors” and two doctoral degrees from indiana university. he may be reached at dhoward@astate.edu. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. vol 12 no s3 2022 editorial unangst editorial © journal of international students volume 12, issue 4 (2022), pp. i-iv issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis calling higher education leaders: which departments on your campus serve displaced learners? lisa unangst suny empire state college, usa particularly in the last eight years, many calls have been issued for postsecondary education stakeholders to imagine new pathways for displaced learners seeking access to degree programs. here, “displaced learners” encompasses refugees, asylees, and individuals holding other legal statuses indicating temporary protection; these nationally-specific categories are constructs that may overlap with international student status (oliveira & kentor, 2020; vigil & abidi, 2019). while progress has been made – according to unhcr (2022), only 5% of refugees access higher education worldwide at present, up from 3% in 2020 – it is clear that much more focused attention is required. in this piece, i am speaking specifically to college and university presidents as i ask: how is your campus serving displaced learners? which departments are engaged, and what resources would you need to expand your offerings? what follows below is a list of questions posed to senior leaders in the united states and internationally, where diverse public and private institutions host initiatives that could be tailored to serve lifelong learners with histories of displacement, and with many campuses making significant investments in relevant areas including support for marginalized students and global engagement. this checklist is intended to underscore good practices and the role of institutional silos. internationalization whether your campus is currently highlighting student mobility, coil, intercultural competence, or other aspects of internationalization, a focus on displacement belongs underneath the internationalization umbrella. here, i speak of an intentional approach to the integration of displacement across college/university functions. how does your institution enact an expansive understanding of internationality and migration via student journal of international students 12(s3) ii support services, for instance (a useful example: rhode island college’s office of international, immigrant, undocumented, dacamented, and refugee student services)? further, how is displacement articulated across institutional commitments to internationalization and budget allocations; how is displacement addressed in curricula (for example teacher training curricula with graduates serving as instructors of migrant children); and how do college/university job descriptions highlight an interest in applicants with histories of migration and displacement? equity initiatives does your equity, diversity, inclusion, or social justice office reflect in its web-based materials, physical collateral, and programming that displaced learners, staff, and faculty may be served? the depaul university office of institutional diversity and equity includes a webpage titled immigration and refugee resources at depaul university that outlines relevant statements from senior leadership, resources for legal services and free translation services provided by depaul constituents, scholarships, events, and support services. this type of visibility and collation of relevant resources is a vital step. admissions & financial aid is information about admissions and financial aid made available in languages other than english? does your admissions team identify pathways to admission and faqs for displaced students with various legal statuses (approved and pending asylee and refugee, parolee, temporary protected status, special immigrant visa (siv) holder)? how is your admissions team offered training on these and other pertinent issues? development & advancement as your development/advancement team plans a capital campaign or interim fundraising initiative, how do they prioritize financial aid for refugee and other displaced learners? is this included in the menu of giving opportunities made available to potential donors as they visit the institutional website? in the suite of giving opportunities pitched to leadership-level donors? salt lake city community college is doing this work as is northeastern illinois university. community engagement as institutional giving to community organizations is planned, are groups serving displaced people in the region considered? are they asked what sorts of engagement would be most useful (long-term funding, human resources, etc.)? as student volunteer, internship, and practicum unangst iii opportunities are assembled each year, how are those same organizations considered? student & faculty research development could your institution fund student and faculty summer research fellowships focused on displacement? further, which academic departments currently address displacement in their curricula, and how might that expertise be harnessed for campus-wide action research on displacement, with that work centering displaced learners themselves? finally, what senior level positions focus on migration and displacement? does this fall under the role of the senior international officer, chief diversity officer, vice president for intercultural affairs, or another role? in other national settings there are senior level titles including vice rector for diversity and internationalization (university of stuttgart); executive vice-president for gender equality, international affairs, and external affairs (kyoto university); and the university of sydney employs both a deputy vice-chancellor for indigenous strategy and services and a provice-chancellor for global engagement. advocacy institutions regularly advocate at state and national levels for initiatives including increased public funding of education, also offering information to alumni and other constituents interested in advocating on the university’s behalf. the presidents’ alliance on higher education and immigration and the refugee advocacy lab offer useful resources in this area, as does every campus a refuge. how can your institutional advocacy page be updated to reflect that displacement is a key concern? prior learning assessment many campuses award credit for prior learning experiences, whether for veterans or other groups. my own institution, suny empire state college, has been a leader in this area since the 1970s, and many other institutions offer similar pathways for adult learners with significant training and/or professional experience outside of a traditional classroom. these systems already in place might well be adapted to suit the particular needs of refugees and other displaced learners; this has been discussed in depth across national contexts in the recent open access publication refugees’ access to higher education in their host countries: overcoming the ‘super-disadvantage.’ journal of international students 12(s3) iv institutional research how many students, staff, and faculty does your campus welcome who identify histories of displacement? that data will inform policy and programmatic iteration moving forward. higher education institutions and alliances are nothing if not innovative. indeed, departments for innovation abound. contemporary displacement represents yet another area for institutional innovation, and the education of displacement people has been justified by at least four arguments (unangst et al., 2022): student equity, humanitarian, internationalization at home, and economic. just as higher education institutions in the us and elsewhere have considered education as a public good in light of their regional context, mission, capacity, and other factors, so too must they consider this new reality as permanent and pressing. references martin, m., & stulgaitis, m. (eds.) (2022). refugees’ access to higher education in their host countries: overcoming the ‘super-disadvantage.’ international institute for educational planning (unesco). http://www.iiep.unesco.org/en/publication/refugees-access-higher-educationtheir-host-countries-overcoming-super-disadvantage oliveira, g., & kentor, c. (2020). latin americans in the united states: considerations on immigrant and refugee access to higher education. in l. unangst, h. ergin, a. khajarian, t. delaquil, & h. de wit (eds.), refugees and higher education: transnational perspectives on access, equity and internationalization (pp.98–112). brill-sense. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004435841 unangst, l., casellas connors, i., & barone, n. (2022). state-based policy supports for refugee, asylee, and tps-background students in us higher education. refuge: canada’s journal on refugees, 38(1), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40819 unhcr. 2022. refugee statistics. https://www.unrefugees.org/refugeefacts/statistics/ vigil, y. n., & abidi, c. b. (2019). “we” the refugees: reflections on refugee labels and identities. refuge: canada’s journal on refugees,34(2), 52–60. https://doi.org/10.7202/1055576ar lisa unangst is assistant professor of higher education leadership at suny empire state college. her research interests include how displaced learners access and experience higher education, cross-national constructions of diversity and equity, and international alumni affairs. email: lisa.unangst@esc.edu 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. koo et al-11.1 122 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 11, issue 1 (2021), pp. 122-143 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v11i1.2063 ojed.org/jis who spends too much time online? associated factors of internet addiction among international college students in the united states katie k. koo texas a&m university-commerce, usa gudrun nyunt northern illinois university, usa boshi whang northern arizona university, usa abstract this study investigated the relation between internet addiction and several associated factors (mental health, academic performance, socioeconomic status, self-esteem, demographic characteristics) for international students in the united states. one hundred and fifty-seven international students at a u.s. university completed five questionnaires: an internet usage behavior questionnaire, an internet addiction scale, a self-esteem inventory, a mental health inventory, and a demographic questionnaire. data were analyzed using spss to examine the relation between internet addiction and associated factors. the results indicated that male students who speak english as a second language and who are not religious are more likely to develop internet addiction. academic performance and socioeconomic status were found to be positive predictors of internet addiction, and mental health and self-esteem were found to be negative predictors of internet addiction. the relations between other associated factors were also examined. keywords: academic performance, english proficiency, international students, internet addiction, mental health journal of international students 123 introduction college students in the united states spend a significant amount of their day online (jones et al., 2009). they use the internet more frequently than the general population and are often the first to adopt new internet tools and applications (jones et al., 2009). the pew research center (2019) reported that in 2019, 100% of u.s. 18to 29-year-olds used the internet. but while the internet has become woven into the fabric of college students’ lives, excessive use can negatively influence physical and mental health (derbyshire et al., 2013). international students in the united states may be particularly at risk for problematic internet use (park et al., 2014). they often rely on the internet to seek information needed for daily life, to stay connected to friends and family at home, to make new friends in the host country, and for entertainment and relaxation (lee et al., 2011; sin & kim, 2013; yoon & kim, 2014). spending a lot of time online, coupled with feeling isolated and struggling to make friends, particularly with domestic students (girmay & singh, 2019; liu, 2009), could lead to problematic reliance on the internet. problematic use of the internet has been referred to as internet addiction (cash et al., 2012). internet addiction is defined as “non-chemical dependency on the use of the internet” (tikhonov & bogoslovskii, 2015, p. 97). individuals suffering from internet addiction experience excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, desires, or behaviors regarding internet access that lead to impairment or distress (shaw & black, 2008). while research on international students’ internet use is growing (e.g., lee et al., 2011; mikal et al., 2015; sin & kim, 2013; yoon & kim, 2013), many studies focus on how students use the internet to help adjust to a new environment, failing to explore potential negative effects on students’ mental health. the few studies that have looked at internet use and mental health indicate that there may be a connection between mental health issues and frequent internet use among international students (han et al., 2013; s. e. kim et al., 2015; park et al., 2014). however, there is still the paucity of studies exploring internet addiction and its associated factors among international students in the united states. purpose of the study and research questions the purpose of this quantitative study is to examine factors associated with international students’ internet addiction. specifically, the study strives to answer the following three research questions: (a) how does the rate of internet addiction among international college students vary based upon demographic factors?; (b) what are predictors of internet addiction among international college students?; and (c) to what extent are academic performance, parents’ education, socioeconomic status (ses), self-esteem, mental health, and internet addiction associated with one another among international college students? to answer these questions, we explored the rate of internet addiction associated with students’ demographic factors and other factors to provide an in-depth understanding of internet addiction among international college students. journal of international students 124 literature review international students in the united states in 2018–2019, over 1 million international students attended a higher education institution in the united states (institute of international education [iie], 2019). international students, defined as anyone studying at a u.s. higher education institution on a temporary visa that allows for academic coursework, now make up 5.5% of the u.s. higher education student population (iie, 2019). international students contribute billions to the u.s. economy each year (iie, 2019), enhance intellectual capital, contribute to innovations, and promote diverse campus climates (national association of international educators, 2019). past research has documented the challenges international students face (e.g., bastien et al., 2018; koo & nyunt, 2020; liu, 2009; li et al., 2018; wu et al., 2015). international students, particularly those from non-english speaking countries with cultures that differ greatly from the united states, often experience language and academic barriers, homesickness, and social isolation (liu, 2009; koo et al., 2021; mori, 2000; wu et al., 2015). individuals’ struggle to adjust to a new cultural environment, referred to as “acculturative stress” (berry, 2006), has been linked to mental health issues (girmay & singh, 2019; liu, 2009; mori, 2000; zhang & goodson, 2011a). for example, zhang and goodson (2011a) found that international students who experienced higher levels of acculturative stress and had less social support experienced more negative psychological symptoms. mental health issues, in general, seem to be on the rise among the collegeage population (american college health association, 2008, 2017). international students seem to be particularly at risk of developing anxiety and other mental health issues (forbes-mewett & sawyer, 2016). researchers estimate that 15%– 20% of international students in the united states experience poor mental health (zhang & goodson, 2011b). such statistics are particularly concerning as much literature documents international students’ hesitance to seek professional help (forbes-mewett & sawyer, 2016). internet usage and acculturation internet use has been expanding rapidly. in 2001, 513 million users existed worldwide (cohen-almagor, 2011). by 2016, there were over 3.4 billion users worldwide, with china and india reporting the most, despite only 50% and 26% of their population being online, respectively (roser et al., 2019). the amount of time individuals spend online has also increased. in 2019, about eight in 10 u.s. adults indicated that they accessed the internet daily (perrin & kumar, 2019). about three in 10 (28%) indicated that they were online almost constantly; among those aged 18–29, almost half (48%) were online almost constantly (perrin & kumar, 2019). to our knowledge, specific statistics on the internet usage of international students in the united states are not available. however, as international students journal of international students 125 fall in the 18–29 age range, they are likely to be among those using the internet frequently. in addition, previous research indicates that the unique acculturation challenges international students face may make them turn to the internet, which has been found to, at times, be helpful in the acculturation process (mikal et al., 2015). using english-language internet sites can positively impact english proficiency, which reduces acculturative stress (ye, 2005). international students may use the internet to look up everyday life information such as health information (yoon & kim, 2014) or to build emotional and social support networks with individuals in their home or the host country (mikal et al., 2015). this can be positive or negative as, when such networks consist primarily of conationals, the internet may allow international students to limit their cultural learning and integration into the new environment (mikal et al., 2015; park et al., 2014). individual differences and approaches to acculturation may shape how international students use the internet (wang & sun, 2009). chinese students in the united states who felt lonely have been found to be more likely to use the internet for companionship and to pass time, while students who were not lonely used it for acculturation purposes (wang & sun, 2009). how chinese international students in the united states approached acculturation (whether they focused on assimilating to u.s. culture, maintaining their own culture, etc.) has been found to influence whether they accessed u.s. or chinese websites (j. li et al., 2018). internet addiction and its associated factors while the internet presents many opportunities, the use of the internet can become problematic, and turn into internet addiction (cash et al., 2012). clinicians and scholars have disagreed on what exactly internet addiction is and how to diagnose it (yellowlees & marks, 2007). some argue that it should be classified as its own disease; others see the internet as a tool used for addictive behaviors such as gambling, gaming, or pornography (yellowlees & marks, 2007). the american psychiatric association (2013) listed “internet gaming disorder” as a mental illness but does not highlight internet addiction as a separate disorder in the fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. many scholars, however, have suggested definitions and diagnostic criteria for internet addiction, sometimes referred to as “problematic internet use,” “computer addiction,” “internetomania,” or “pathological internet use” (e.g., griffith, 2000; shapira et al., 2003; m. c. shaw & black, 2008; tikhonov & bogoslovskii, 2015). shapira et al. (2003) classified internet addiction as an impulse control disorder. diagnostic criteria include use for longer periods than planned, preoccupation with the internet, and/or internet use becoming one’s most important activity (griffith, 2000; shapira et al., 2003). in addition, for addicted individuals, internet use leads to significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (shapira et al., 2003). journal of international students 126 much research has linked problematic internet use to other mental illnesses (e.g., j. kim et al., 2009; şenormancı et al., 2014; shang-yu et al., 2019). for example, several studies indicate that problematic internet usage such as excessive online shopping, gambling, gaming, and aimless surfing lead to higher levels of depression (morgan & cotton, 2003; şenormancı et al., 2014; shang-yu et al., 2019; yau et al., 2013). others found that loneliness and/or depression can be the cause as well as the effect of problematic use (ceyhan & ceyhan, 2008; j. kim et al., 2009). connections seem to exist between low mental well-being, low self-esteem, and problematic internet use (akin & isekender, 2011; h. k. kim & davis, 2009; nie et al., 2017; niemz et al., 2005; younes et al., 2016). while most studies highlight negative impacts on mental health, some indicate that internet use can also have positive impacts. for example, l. h. shaw and gant (2002) found that it can decrease loneliness and depression and increase self-esteem and social support. these studies indicate a need to further explore the connections between mental health, internet use, and other factors. while much literature exists on associations between internet addiction, mental well-being, and self-esteem, fewer studies address additional factors associated with internet addiction. a study on korean youth (heo et al., 2004) revealed that a higher ses has an indirect, inverse association with internet addiction, as children with higher sess were found to have higher self-esteem, which was considered as a negative factor associated with internet addiction in that study. in another study on korean youth, hur (2006) found an association between academic performance and internet addiction with students who received poor grades in school being more likely to be addicted to the internet. several studies have examined the association between internet addiction and demographic factors, though none of the studies focused on international students. several studies found that men are at greater risk than women (anderson, 2001; lee et al., 2001; şenormancı et al., 2014). studies on malaysian youth (charlton et al., 2013) and muslim university students (nadeem et al., 2019) found that religious affiliation was associated with lower internet usage. a study on the association between parents’ education and internet addiction found that parental education was inversely associated with internet addiction among boys but found no association among girls (heo et al., 2014). heo et al. (2014) argued that parents with a higher educational status are more likely to guide their children toward healthy and desirable internet use, and the different results among genders might indicate korean parents (where this study was conducted) had more concern and supervision on boys’ internet use as they were perceived as more vulnerable to video games and sexual and violent images. very few studies have focused on the topics of internet addiction among international students in the united states. a few studies, however, have explored this topic among international students in other countries. for example, a study on chinese international students in korea by s. e. kim et al. (2015) found that international students’ smartphone addiction, a particular form of internet addiction, could lead to poorer physical health. this could be caused by international students spending less time on physical activities when excessively using their smartphone (s. e. kim et al., 2015). a study on international students journal of international students 127 in singapore by dutta and chye (2017) found that international students who felt depressed, lonely, and socially isolated reported higher levels of problematic internet use. the authors suggested that international students may use the internet to escape from psychological distress, which could lead to overuse and addiction. they also noted that depression may interfere with one’s ability to selfregulate. one of the few studies on international students in the united states indicated that little use of internet could also be an indicator of poorer mental health (han et al., 2013). based on a mental health survey from yale university, the study revealed that international students at yale who spent a moderate amount of time on the internet had better mental health than students who spent too little time using the internet (han et al., 2013). spending too little time using the internet could indicate that the students’ work or academic schedules are too rigorous, which could negatively impact students’ mental health (han et al., 2013). in conclusion, although a wide range of studies have examined the association between various demographic factors, mental health, and internet addiction, study participants were typically domestic residents of the country where the studies were conducted. as discussed earlier, international students’ experience of living in a foreign country is quite unique and could affect their mental health and relationship with the internet. to our knowledge, no study has systematically explored the relation between problematic internet use (or internet addiction), mental health, and other associated (demographic) factors for international students in the united states. building on previous research, this study will examine these relations among international students in the united states. method data and procedure data was collected through self-reported internet surveys in fall 2010. upon receiving institutional review board approval, the first author and three international student advisors from the office for international students and scholars recruited participants via flyers, online advertisements, international student orientations, seminars and workshops for international students, and word of mouth. only international undergraduate students enrolled in a degree program under an f-1 student visa were recruited. we gave interested participants detailed information about the purpose of the study and directed them to an online informed consent form and online survey. out of the 200 students we initially targeted, 166 responded. nine students did not fully complete the questionnaire; thus their data were excluded, resulting in a final sample of 157 participants. journal of international students 128 table 1: characteristics of participants (n = 157) category % gender male 46.0 female 54.0 year in college first 17.6 second 25.5 third 19.6 fourth 25.5 fifth+ 15.2 major pre-med 35.0 biology 27.0 nursing 15.0 business 11.0 engineering 5.0 education 4.0 grade point average 3.5–4.0 7.1 3.0–3.5 39.8 2.5–3.0 26.9 2.0–2.5 18.2 1.5–2.0 6.7 length of stay in the us <6 mo 3.0 6 mo–1 yr 12.1 1–2 yr 24.2 2–3 yr 13.5 3–4 yr 33.8 4–5 yr 12.5 >5 yr 7.3 socioeconomic status high 36.0 middle-high 54.3 middle 8.3 middle-low 1.1 religion protestant 32.3 buddhist 28.6 catholic 18.0 muslim 16.9 other 0.9 father’s highest education high school 18.9 journal of international students 129 category % college 46.2 graduate 35.9 mother’s highest education high school 16.2 college 36.1 graduate 47.1 parents’ marital status together 67 divorced 25.7 separated 7.0 deceased 2.6 participants participants in this study were 157 international undergraduate students from 14 different countries who were enrolled in a large private research institution located in the mid-atlantic region of the united states. fifty-four percent were female. over 80% were asian, 9% hispanic, 7% white, and 5% african american. regarding country of origin, 35% were from china, 31% from india, 17% from korea, 10% from saudi arabia, 7% from taiwan, 2% turkey, and 2% from mexico. more than half were in pre-med or biology majors. approximately 40% had lived in the united states for less than 2 years. thirty-six percent indicated that they came from a high ses family, while 54% reported coming from a middle-upper class and 8% from a middle ses family. lastly, 81% spoke english as a second language. see table 1 for demographics of participants. instruments based on previous studies on internet addiction and associated factors (şenormancı et al., 2014; shang-yu et al., 2019), we examined how demographic factors (gender, primary language, and religion), family factors (parents’ marital status, ses, birth order, and parents’ education), and personal characteristics (grade point average [gpa], self-esteem and mental health) were associated with internet addiction. instruments used to measure the various factors are described below. internet addiction scale the internet addiction scale (i-scale) developed by c. t. kim et al. (2002) was employed to measure the presence and severity of internet addiction. the internet addiction scale is a self-reported questionnaire composed of 40 questions using 4-point likert scales (1 = never to 4 = always). sample questions include: “do you stay online longer than originally intended?” and “have you jeopardized or risked the loss of a significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunity because of the internet?” cronbach’s alpha for the current journal of international students 130 study was .95. we treated internet addiction as a continuous variable for all statistical performance in the study. self-esteem inventory the self-esteem inventory (sei; coopersmith, 1981) was applied to measure self-esteem in this study. the sei is a self-reported questionnaire composed of 25 questions using 4-point likert scales (1 = never to 4 = frequently) with the following sample questions: “there are lots of things about myself i’d change if i could” and “i can make up my mind without too much trouble.” cronbach’s alpha was .85. mental health inventory mental health was measured by a brief version of the mental health inventory-5 (mhi-5) by berwick et al. (1991), which is based on the mhi developed by veit and ware (1983). the brief version of the mhi-5 is a selfreported questionnaire composed of five questions using 6-point likert scales (1 = never to 6 = always). five questions asked participants about their mental health status in the past month. sample questions include: “how much of the time, during the last month, have you been very nervous?” and “how much of the time, during the last month, have you felt downhearted and blue?” a high score represents good mental health, and a low score indicates poor mental health. cronbach’s alpha was .91. the aforementioned instruments were selected for the study after confirmatory factor analysis for validity testing (johnson, 1983; c. t. kim et al., 2002; rivera-riquelme et al., 2019). demographic questionnaire in the demographic questionnaire, participants reported information about gender, age, type of school, gpa, family background, religion, ses, religiosity, parents’ highest degree, and parents’ marital status. data analysis after we completed coding and data-cleaning procedures, we analyzed the data from our 157 participants using spss version 22. we first analyzed our data through descriptive statistics to get a sense of who our participants were. we then conducted t tests to compare internet addiction, which we treated as a continuous variable, by demographic factors (gender, native english speakers, religiosity— comparing religious vs. nonreligious, and parents’ marital status—comparing together vs. not together). next, we conducted correlation analysis with pearson product-moment and hierarchical multiple regression analysis to gain insights into relations between internet addiction and other associated factors. journal of international students 131 results we performed a preliminary analysis to examine whether relations existed among dependent variables, independent variables, and demographic variables. with the presence of relations, we performed advanced analysis on all variables. prior to performing regression analysis, statistics for multicollinearity were conducted. for all variables, the variance inflation factor was between 1.14 and 2.77, and the collinearity tolerance was above .9, indicating that the variables were not multicollinear. in addition, we evaluated the normality of all variables for skewness, kurtosis, and quantile-quantile plots. because skewness and kurtosis for all of the independent variables in this study were within normal ranges (boylan & cho, 2012), further transformation of variables was not necessary. lastly, for missing data, we employed pairwise deletion for data cleaning. internet addiction by demographic factors independent t tests were conducted to examine distributions of internet addiction by demographic factors (gender, native english speaker, religiosity, and parents’ marital status) for international students (see table 2). men (m = 68.22, sd = 20.296) reported significantly higher scores for internet addiction than women (m = 60.31, sd = 16.99), t =11.697, p < .01, and international students who spoke english as their second language showed significantly higher scores (m = 63.22, sd = 18.90) than native english speakers (m = 61.49, sd = 18.90), t = 2.62, p < .01. the internet addiction scores of religious international students were significantly lower (m = 58.33, sd = 17.71) than those of nonreligious international students (m = 61.84, sd = 19.26), t = 3.51, p < .05. there was no significant difference by parents’ marital status. table 2: means, standard deviations, and results of the t test comparisons for internet addiction by demographic factors categories n m sd t gender male 71 68.22 20.30 11.69** female 86 60.31 16.99 native english speaker native 32 61.49 18.90 2.62** nonnative 125 63.22 18.08 religiosity religious 110 58.33 17.71 3.51* non-religious 47 61.84 19.26 parents’ marital status together 95 62.72 19.29 0.82 not together 66 62.18 17.74 note. n = 157. *p < .05, **p < .01, **p < .001 journal of international students 132 correlations among internet addiction and associated factors we conduced correlation analyses to examine how each associated factor related to internet addiction (see table 3). international students’ internet addiction was positively associated with academic performance (r = .09, p < .01) and ses (r = .09, p < .01) and negatively associated with self-esteem (r = −.38, p < .01), and mental health (r = −.24, p < .01). internet addiction tended to be positively associated with parents’ education (r = .02) and birth order (r = .03), but these results were not statistically significant. we further analyzed how other factors were correlated with one another (see table 3). students’ academic performance was positively associated not only with internet addiction but also with ses (r = .16, p < .01) and birth order (r = .07, p < .01), while it was negatively associated with self-esteem (r = −.17, p < .01) and mental health (r = −.07, p < .01). ses was positively associated with internet addiction (r = .09, p < .01), academic performance (r = .16, p < .01), and parents’ education (r = .14, p < .01), and negatively associated with self-esteem (r = −.28, p < .01). self-esteem was positively associated with mental health (r = .56, p < .01) and negatively associated with internet addiction (r = −.38, p < .01), academic performance (r = −.17, p < .01), and ses (r = −.28, p < .01). the last factor, mental health, was positively associated with self-esteem (r = .56, p < .01) and negatively associated with internet addiction (r = −.24, p = <.01), academic performance (r = −.07, p < .01), and sess (r = −.18, p < .01). predictors of internet addiction lastly, we performed a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to examine predictors of international students’ internet addiction guided by conceptualizations of internet addiction and associated factors (şenormancı et al., 2014; shang-yu et al., 2019). as presented in table 3, the regression model accounted for 20.5% of the variance in international students’ internet addiction (r2 = .205). table 3: correlations among variables note. n = 157. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 table 4 illustrates a summary of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis. each column contains the final beta (standardized regression coefficient) of each variable m sd 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 internet addiction 62.45 18.54 1 2 academic performance 3.08 1.01 .106** 1 3 parents’ education 4.58 1.13 .02 .10 1 4 socioeconomic status 2.87 .85 .09** .16** .14** 1 5 self-esteem 83.12 12.58 −.38** −.17** −.01 −.28** 1 6 birth order 2.04 1.06 .03 .07** −.01 .02 −.01 1 7 mental health 19.73 4.80 −.24** −.07** .02 −.18** .56** .03 1 journal of international students 133 independent variable after all variables were entered into the regression model. among six independent variables, four were significant predictors. ses and academic performance were positive predictors (b = .09, p < .01 and b = −.103, p < .01, respectively), meaning that affluent students and students with high gpas were more likely to be addicted to the internet. self-esteem and mental health were negative predictors (b = −.120, p < .001 and b = −.130, p < .001, respectively), indicating that students with high self-esteem and those who were psychologically well were less likely to be addicted. table 4: predictors of internet addiction variable r2 r step 1 step 2 final b step 3 step 4 step 5 step 6 birth order .008 .032 .04 .04 .05 .05 .05. .05 parents’ education .010 .026 .03 .03 .03 .04 .04 ses .101 .098 .09* * .11** .11** .11** self-esteem .150 −.38 0 −.120*** −.122** * −.122** * academic performanc e .177 .106 .103** .107** psychological well-being .205 −.24 0 −.130** * note. n = 157. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 discussion while international students in the united states often benefit from using the internet to find information, stay connected to family and friends back home, and have access to entertainment (lee et al., 2011; sin & kim, 2013; yoon & kim, 2014), problematic use, or internet addiction, can lead to negative outcomes (derbyshire et al., 2013). this study explored factors associated with internet addiction to get a better sense of who, among international students in the united states, may be particularly at risk. our first research question asked how the rate of internet addiction varies based on demographic factors among international students in the united states. we found that men and international students who spoke english as a second language showed significantly higher scores of internet addiction than women and native-english speaking international students, respectively, while students who were religious had significantly lower scores in internet addiction than nonreligious peers. our findings support previous studies that found gender differences in internet addiction (anderson, 2001; lee et al., 2011; senormanic et al., 2014). gender dynamics among international students in the united sates appear to be similar to those among u.s. college students (anderson, 2001), with men being journal of international students 134 at greater risk of internet addiction. research on u.s. college student men indicates that they spend more time videogaming and other leisure activities online, while women spend more time on communication and educational activities (weiser, 2000). these differing activities may explain the higher risk for men of developing an addiction, as online gaming has been found to have a strong association with problematic internet use (van rooij et al., 2010). our findings further support previous studies that found that religious students are less likely to be addicted to the internet than their nonreligious peers (charlton et al., 2013; nadeem et al., 2019). this difference, previously explored for malaysian youth (charleton et al., 2013) and hong kong university students (nadeem, 2019) appears to hold true for our participants as well. this finding could be explained by the current literature (charlton et al., 2013; laurin et al., 2012; rounding et al., 2012) indicating that religiosity is associated with better self-control and ability to delay gratification, which may weaken dependence on addictive behaviors such as internet use. our study adds to the literature by finding that international students who speak english as a second language are at a greater risk than their native englishspeaking peers. much research indicates that those who speak english as a second language face unique challenges related to adjusting to u.s. culture and academics (liu, 2009; mori, 2000; wolf & phung, 2019). being socially isolated and struggling academically may lead those for whom english is a second language to turn to the internet to get support from family and friends at home, find information about the host country, or access entertainment and leisure activities in their native language. such reliance may lead to overuse, which may result in addiction. figure 1: relations of internet addiction and associated factors journal of international students 135 our second research question asked to what extent academic performance, parents’ education, ses, self-esteem, mental health, and internet addiction are associated with one another among international college students in the united states. our findings indicate that ses, academic performance, self-esteem, and mental health are associated with internet addiction as well as with each other. our model (see figure 1) supports and expands on existing research. previous research on various populations has found associations between internet addiction and academic performance (hur, 2006), ses (heo et al., 2014), self-esteem (akin & isekender, 2011; h. k. kim & davis, 2009; nie et al., 2017; niemz et al., 2005; younes et al., 2016), and mental health (ceyhan & ceyhan, 2008; j. kim et al., 2009; morgan & cotton, 2003; şenormancı et al., 2014; shang-yu et al., 2019; yau et al., 2013). our study indicates that the same associations exist for international students. our final research question explored predictors of internet addiction among international college students in the united states. our regression analysis found that affluent students, students with high gpas, students with low self-esteem, and those with poor mental well-being are more likely to be addicted. our study supports findings from previous studies and indicates that these apply to international students in the united states as well; our study also contradicts some findings from previous studies. first, unlike heo et al. (2004) found, participants in our study who were from a higher ses were more likely to be addicted to the internet. the difference in findings may be due to the different populations. heo et al.’s (2004) participants were korean youth. for our participants, international students in the united states, being more affluent may mean having access to more devices that provide internet access, and thus more opportunities to spend time online. previous studies indicate that the amount of time spent online is a significant predictor of addiction (hur, 2006). second, our study contradicted previous research that found a relation between low grades and internet addiction (akhter, 2003; hur, 2006; kubey et al., 2001) by indicating that international students with higher gpas were more likely to be addicted to the internet. previous studies focused on different populations: domestic college students (akhter, 2003; kubey et al., 2009) and korean youth (hur, 2006). more research is needed to understand why this dynamic may be different for international students in the united states. finally, our findings support previous research indicating that low levels of well-being and self-esteem are predictors of internet addiction (akin & iskender, 2011; ceyhan & ceyhan, 2008; j. kim et al., 2009; nie et al., 2017). individuals who experience high levels of stress or anxiety and those experiencing low selfesteem, loneliness, depression, or other mental health issues may turn to the internet for distraction, comfort, and to find connections, which may increase their likelihood of becoming addicted. considering that many international students experience loneliness, homesickness, and other mental health issues while adjusting to studying in the united states (girmay & singh, 2019; koo & nyunt, 2020; liu, 2009; mori, 2000; zhang & goodson, 2011b), the connection between these symptoms and internet addiction is concerning and indicates a need to journal of international students 136 provide information and support related to healthy internet use to international students. limitations while this study’s results provide meaningful insights regarding internet addiction and international students’ experiences, several limitations must be acknowledged. first, generalizability of our findings is limited since data were collected only in one institution and from only 157 students. since international students at this institution may differ in important ways from those at other institutions, these findings cannot be generalized to the entire population of international students at u.s. higher education institutions. our study, however, is one of the first exploring associated factors of internet addiction for international students in the united states. as such, our study can be seen as an exploratory study indicating factors that may be associated with internet addiction for international students in the united states. future research should replicate this study with different international student populations in the united states. another limitation is that all measures elicited self-reported data and thus were vulnerable to common method bias and inflated correlations because of halo rating effects. because participants were young adults, ranging in age from 19 to 27, and researchers could not closely supervise all 157 participants, the reliability of the survey results is limited. in addition, although correlation and regression analyses provide a snapshot of predictors of a dependent variable and the predictive value of independent variables, they do not prove cause and effect relations or directional relations between dependent and independent variables. thus, the methodology is limited in its ability to show causal relations. finally, our data was collected in fall 2010. access to internet and thus internet usage has drastically increased in the past 10 years; new technologies have also altered the ways we access the internet. this may raise concerns that our study results no longer hold. we, however, do not regard this as likely. our study was not concerned with specific ways individuals access the internet nor how much time individuals spend on the internet; rather we were exploring the relations between various factors such as student demographics and internet addiction. these relations are likely to stay constant over time. for example, research has consistently shown that men are more likely to be addicted to the internet than women, a gender dynamic that was found about 20 years ago by anderson (2001) but held true for our data, which was collected 10 years later. implications our study suggests several important implications for future research and practice. first, considering the vulnerability of international students in the united states to internet addiction and the limitations of this study, future research should explore factors associated with addiction with a larger sample from multiple institutions. in addition, research should explore how unique aspects of international students’ experiences and acculturation shape their internet use and journal of international students 137 thus impact addiction, such as looking at links between acculturation strategies and addiction. other research may strive to identify types of internet use that lead to addiction for international students in hopes of providing practitioners with insights into types (e.g., social media use, entertainment, academic use) that should be encouraged or discouraged. our study also provides important insights for practitioners working with international students in the united states. while the internet can provide international students with helpful information and opportunities to connect (lee et al., 2011; sin & kim, 2013; yoon & kim, 2014), practitioners should proactively address the differences between healthy and unhealthy use. advisors and counselors may also ask questions about international students’ internet use, particularly for those at higher risk of becoming addicted, in hopes of recognizing problematic use and being able to intervene early on. proactive interventions should also address various factors associated with internet addiction, particularly those to which international students may be most vulnerable. proactive measures may include fostering friendships between domestic and international students to reduce loneliness and homesickness and thus improve international students’ well-being. proactive measures could also focus on providing academic support specifically geared toward international students to reduce the risk of academic stress. finally, when working with international students who struggle with problematic internet use, practitioners should not only address the addiction but also consider factors associated with it. adequate support may require identifying underlying factors that may have led to problematic use, which could include academic stress, low self-esteem, or poor mental well-being, and providing assistance to address these. conclusion most importantly, practitioners and educators need to recognize that while the internet provides many opportunities and beneficial resources to international students in the united states, excessive use may place international students at risk of addiction (park et al., 2014). this study highlighted who, among international students in the united states, may be particularly at risk of developing an addiction and the factors associated with addiction. we hope that researchers, educators, and higher education administrators can use this information to develop proactive educational interventions to better support international students who are struggling with problematic internet use. references akhter, n. 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(2016). internet addiction and relationships with insomnia, anxiety, depression, stress and self-esteem in university students: a cross-sectional designed study. plos one, 11(9), e0161126. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161126 journal of international students 143 zhang, j., & goodson, p. (2011a). acculturation and psychosocial adjustment of chinese international students: examining mediation and moderation effects. international journal of intercultural relations, 35(5), 614–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2010.11.004 zhang, j., & goodson, p. (2011b). predictors of international students’ psychosocial adjustment to life in the united states: a systematic review. international journal of intercultural relations, 35, 139–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2010.11.011 katie koo, phd, is an assistant professor in higher education at texas a&m university-commerce. her research focuses on diversity issues in higher education and underrepresented students’ mental health and psychological wellbeing. she is interested in marginalized students’ collegiate experiences and mental health issues, and international students’ adjustment and well-being. email: katie.koo@tamuc.edu gudrun nyunt, phd, is a clinical assistant professor in higher education at northern illinois university. her research interests revolves around educational practices that foster the development of intercultural maturity and prepare students for active engagement in a global society. in addition, she engages in research that strives to better understand the experiences of international, underrepresented minority, and women graduate students, faculty, and student affairs staff at u.s. higher education institutions. email: gnyunt@niu.edu boshi wang, ma, is a senior academic advisor at northern arizona university, where he advises first year and major-exploratory students. prior to this position, he worked at center for international education at nau. his research interests include the mental health of international students, quantitative studies, and student development theories. email: boshi.wang@nau.edu 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 53 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print / issn: 2166-3750 online volume 7 number 1 (2017), pp. 53-72 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ factors affecting the academic and cultural adjustment of saudi international students in australian universities nisreen alsahafi university of new south wales, australia seong-chul shin university of new south wales, australia abstract the authors investigate factors affecting saudi students’ educational experiences in australian universities and their adjustment issues. the data comes from the survey of 100 saudi international students in sydney and subsequent interviews. the analysis revealed that language proficiency is the main barrier to saudi students’ academic and social adjustment, with some academic factors such as classroom activities and assessment methods, and social factors such as homesickness and loneliness also affecting their study. the analysis has also identified saudi students’ coping strategies such as improvement of language competence, time management and mixing with others. it then discusses differences in perceived level of difficulty with respect to gender, age, educational level and length of residence, as well as some implications of the findings. keywords: affecting factors, australian universities, international education, saudi students international education is a great experience, which provides students with the opportunity to gain a number of valuable benefits. however, the literature demonstrates that international students experience the differences between their home culture and the new culture, which may have a great impact on their study. international students face a new learning environment, a foreign language, difficulties related to finance and journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 54 accommodation, as well as different cultural aspects and norms (borland & pearce, 2002; poyrazli & grahame, 2007; trice, 2007). these challenges tend to be more complex if the students’ home culture is markedly different from the new culture. although adjustment to a new learning environment is not an easy process, previous research shows that international students generally take a positive approach to overcome all the difficulties and they have the ability to adjust to the new environment (vole & renshaw, 1996; wu, 2011). with the establishment of the king abdullah scholarships program in 2005, there has been a significant increase in the number of saudi students enrolled in australian universities over the last few years, with about 10,000 saudi government-sponsored students in 2011 (ministry of higher education, 2012). being supported financially by the government, saudi students may not struggle with financial burdens but they face a new environment, which is vastly different from their home country, which may have a significant impact on their study. despite the significant increase in the number of saudi students enrolled in australian universities, very little research has been done to understand their experiences and how they bridge the cultural differences. thus, this study sought to investigate the language and cultural difficulties facing saudi students and the strategies they use to cope with the new environment. the findings of this study will greatly enhance the educational experiences of international students in general and saudi international students, in particular. the findings will also assist education providers in australia to make a better plan for international education. literature review language issues affecting international students studying in a non-native language is one of the main difficulties facing international students. proficiency in the target language is a fundamental factor that enhances their academic achievement and cultural adjustment. stoynoff (1997) examines the main factors affecting international students’ academic performance and found that there is a correlation between their academic achievement and language proficiency. based on another study by lewthwaite (1996), lack of confidence in the language of instruction is one of the main frustrations that may face international students and their contribution inside the classroom. many aspects of academic language barriers facing international students have been identified in previous studies (robertson, line, jones, & thomas, 2000; shin, 2011; wong, 2004; wu, 2011). for example, wu (2011) investigates the difficulties faced by taiwanese students enrolled in an journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 55 american university and found that the main problems were related to written assignments, tests, the use of language, second language comprehension, note-taking, oral presentation and participation in class discussions. in her case study, bifuh-ambe (2009) summarizes the main difficulties faced by international students into four domains: the receptive and expressive language, written language such as written assignments and note-taking, comprehension such as understanding texts, and difficulties related to the methods of teaching and assessment in the host country. language barriers also affect international students in the social settings as they contribute to their socio-cultural adjustment. besides the academic language, international students need to acquire the social language as well. they need to have competence in the language used in academic contexts as well as in informal, non-academic, contexts. some international students may have sufficient level of language proficiency, which enhances their success academically, but they may avoid social interaction as a result of the lack of social language (lewthwaite, 1996). likewise, trice (2007) attributes international students’ isolation from domestic people to their weakness in language skills. furthermore, lack of social language may also affect international students even inside classrooms. as robertson et al. (2000) reported, one of the difficulties facing international students is the difficulty of understanding colloquial language, idioms, slang and the different accents used by their lecturers. cultural issues affecting international students besides language proficiency, international students need to acquire cultural competence. differences between cultures have a great impact on international students’ academic and social lives. borland and pearce (2002) reported that international students’ language knowledge without cultural competence is not sufficient to achieve success in both the academic and the social settings. one aspect of cultural differences is related to the differences in learning and teaching approaches, which hinder most of international students’ adaptation to the new academic setting. the lack of familiarity with the learning approaches in the host country resulted in great challenges amongst international students in the academic context (borland & pearce, 2002; shin, 2011). loneliness has been reported as one of the problems that are most likely to impact international students’ adaptation. sawir, marginson, deumert, nyland, and ramia (2008) attribute cultural loneliness to being away from the familiar environment. according to berry (1997), those who separate themselves from the new culture are more likely to experience a high level of cultural stress. when the home culture and the new one are vastly different, cultural stress becomes a big challenge (thomson, rosenthal, & russell, 2006). making friends with students from the host journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 56 culture is a difficulty that most international students encounter (sawir et al., 2008; sun & chen, 1999). difficulty in making friends may lead to the feeling of homesickness, which is considered as one of the frequent concerns among international students (kegel, 2009). adaptation to the new culture in order to gain their goals, international students do need to overcome the language and cultural challenges and to adjust to the new environment. adaptation to the new culture may take five stages as suggested by adler (1975): (a) contact with the new culture; (b) disintegration; (c) reintegration; (d) autonomy; and (e) interdependence. different factors that enhance the adaptation process have been identified: self-efficacy and social support (hechanova-alampay, beehr, christiansen, & horn, 2002), familial support (mittal & wieling, 2006; poyrazli & kavanaugh, 2006), understanding the similarities and differences between the two cultures (tseng & newton, 2002). research shows that international students generally take a positive approach to overcome all the difficulties (vole & renshaw, 1996). international students’ demographic characteristics may have an impact on their adaptation process, though there are no consistent findings. for example, in some studies, female students showed a higher level of stress (kwon, 2009). poyrazli and lopez (2007) found that male students had a higher level of language difficulties. in contrast, some other studies revealed that gender had no impact on the adjustment process (poyrazli, arbona, bullington, & pisecco, 2001; yan & berliner, 2011). age has also presented to have an effect on the adjustment process. sumer, poyrazli, and grahame (2008) reported that younger students adapt to the new culture more easily, compared to older students. however, a study by yan and berliner (2011) revealed that younger students are more likely to experience cultural difficulties. hofmann (2010) found that younger undergraduate students experience a higher level of language difficulties and cultural stress. it was also found that respondents who resided in the host country for two years had more cultural stress than those who resided for longer or shorter periods of time. saudi international students saudi students’ learning and culture backgrounds cannot contribute more to their academic success in western universities. shabeeb (1996) found that english language was the main difficulty affecting saudi and arabian gulf students’ adjustment process. furthermore, saudi students are accustomed to teaching and learning styles, which are different from the common teaching approaches in western culture (kampman, 2011). another cultural aspect, which may have a great impact on saudi journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 57 international students, is the gender segregation aspect of saudi culture. male and female are segregated in schooling and universities. they attend separate schools and institutions and are taught by teachers from the same gender. being in a non-segregated culture is considered as a new experience that saudi students need to adapt to. a study by shaw (2009) revealed that saudi students in the us experience a different culture and unfamiliar learning styles. the major differences reported were: the mixed gender classes, the negotiation atmosphere of american classrooms, and the availability of different resources, and to bridge these differences, they use strategies such as setting their goals, developing study skills, study in groups and time management. abdel razek (2012) identified different factors that limit saudi students’ participation in the social life in america including religion, the mixed gender aspect of american culture and dietary restrictions. al-hazmi’s study (2010) focused on the impact of saudi gender segregation culture upon saudi students in australia. the study revealed that being in a mixed gender culture has an impact on saudi students’ cultural identity. the study is directed by the following research questions: 1. what are the language-associated activities that saudi students experience difficulties with in australian universities? 2. what are the cultural issues affecting saudi students’ in australian universities? 3. are there differences in the perceived level of language and cultural difficulties based on demographic factors among saudi students in australian universities? 4. what strategies do saudi students use to overcome the language and cultural challenges they face? research method mixed method research is defined as “research in which the investigator collects and analyzes data, integrates the findings, and draw inferences using both qualitative and quantitative approaches or methods in a single study or program of inquiry” (tashakkori & creswell, 2007, p. 4). the rationale for integrating both quantitative and qualitative methods in this study is that using a single method is insufficient to address the complex issue of saudi student experiences in australia. using the mixed method approach offers a better understanding of the research problem and provides richer data from the participants as the two methods complement each other (creswell & clark, 2011; valadez & bamberger, 1994). the fieldwork for data collection was conducted in 2012, in a fourmonth period. it was designed in two phases. in the first phase, a survey was developed and administered to a large sample to measure a number of journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 58 language and cultural affecting factors and coping strategies considered important in the relevant literature. the second phase was a qualitative exploration of saudi students’ personal educational experiences in australian universities using semi-structured interviews to gain more insight into the quantitative data. the results of the quantitative and qualitative data were integrated when discussing the findings of the study. 100 saudi students enrolled in 17 different australian universities participated in this study (see table 1 for participants’ backgrounds). those who were still undertaking english as a second language courses were not included in this study as they did not have full academic experiences outside the esl program. table 1: description of the participants' background table 2: the examined factors and strategies journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 59 data collection and analysis survey instrument. an online questionnaire was designed using a survey software tool to collect data from participants about their experiences in australian universities. the questionnaire was constructed around 9 language factors, 7 cultural factors, and 9 coping strategies. the factors and strategies were adopted from the relevant literature (bifuh-ambe, 2009; sawir et al., 2008; shaw, 2009; shin, 2011; trice, 2007; tseng & newton, 2002) based on their relevance and importance to the research questions of the study. the examined factors and strategies are presented in table 2. the first section of the survey asked a series of demographic questions about gender, age, level of education, and length of stay. in the next sections of the survey, a five-point likert scale was used to measure the level of difficulty experienced with each of the examined factors as well as the level of helpfulness of each of the examined coping strategy. different response scales were used in each section. frequency scales (5-always, 4 usually, 3-sometimes, 2-rarely and 1-never) were used to measure the level of language difficulties, level of problem scales (5-very problematic, 4problematic, 3-not sure, 2-hardly problematic,1-not problematic at all) were used to rate the level of problem experienced with the examined cultural factors, and level of helpfulness scales (5-very helpful, 4-helpful, 3-not sure, 2-hardly helpful, 1-not helpful at all) were used to measure the level of helpfulness of the examined coping strategies. at the end of the questionnaire, respondents were invited to take part in follow-up interviews and asked to provide their details (name and contact details) if they are interested in taking part in the interviews. after obtaining ethics approval, the researchers sent an email to the saudi students’ club in sydney to seek their assistance to distribute the questionnaire link to all saudi international students who were studying in different australian universities. after obtaining the agreement, an email invitation to participate in the online survey questionnaire was forwarded to the club president, who then circulated it to all saudi students in australia. the body of the email included a clickable hyperlink to the survey. they were provided with clear details about the study and its purposes. they were assured of their privacy and confidentiality. 100 responses were received. to analyze the quantitative data, responses to the survey exported into an excel spreadsheet, and then transferred to spss software. the data analysis included descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and one-way anova. the mean scores were used to determine the overall level of difficulty experienced with each examined factor as well as the overall level of helpfulness of each of the examined coping strategies (rq1, 2 and 4). the maximum possible mean score for each factor/strategy was 5 (1-2.33 indicate a low level, 2.34-3.66 indicate a moderate level, and 3.67journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 60 5.00 indicate a high level). to answer rq 4, the data analysis procedure involved a comparison of means through one-way anova to explore whether differences between the means of the overall level of difficulties based on the selected demographic factors were significant. semi-structured interviews. qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 7 students selected from those who indicated their willingness in participating in the interviews. participants were selected to present a sample of saudi students with different demographic factors. interviewees were contacted by email to arrange an appropriate time. english was the language used mainly for the interview with 5 of the participants, and arabic was used with 2 of the participants. interviews were conducted by phone with 7 students. choosing to administer the interviews by phone was for two reasons. firstly, this method helps reach the participants quickly with the time limit and to collect data most economically. as pointed out by crano and brewer (2002), telephone interviews can be accomplished with greater speed, compared to personal interviews. secondly, the participants indicated their preference in conducting the interviews via phone. pre-determined open-ended questions were used as an interview guide to ensure the covering of the important issues. participants were asked about the main difficulties faced during their study and the main strategies they adopt to overcome these difficulties (see appendix a). they were given the opportunities to freely talk about their experiences. the length of the interviews ranged from 20-30 minutes and all of them were audio-taped and then transcribed. in order to maintain anonymous, letters (a-g) were assigned to the participants. the qualitative data were analyzed in different steps (king & horrocks, 2010; mason, 2002). firstly, the interviews conducted in arabic were translated to english. secondly, the interview transcripts were read several times literally and interpretively. thirdly, the significant statements and sentences were identified, coded and categorized under key themes formulated through the related literature. fourthly, the themes were connected and interrelated. finally, the main themes were discussed to give more insight into the statistical analysis. results quantitative data affecting language and cultural factors. the mean sores indicated that the overall level of difficulty experienced with language was in moderate level (m= 2.96). the highest level of language difficulties was experienced in journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 61 written assignments and participation in class discussions. on the other hand, understanding questions and understanding lectures were perceived as the least difficult activities. table 3 illustrates the mean of the experienced level of difficulty with the examined table 3: the means of the level of difficulty with the language-associated activities with respect to the cultural factors, the data revealed that, overall, the level of difficulty experienced with the cultural factors, both academic and social, examined in this study was not high. the level of difficulty experienced with the examined academic and with the examined social factors was in moderate level (m-2.51 and 2.34, respectively). however, the level of difficulty with the social factors was somewhat greater when compared to the academic factors. there were noticeable differences between the levels of difficulty perceived in each factor. the main problematic academic factors were types of assessment tools and classroom arrangement and activities, while the most problematic social factors were loneliness, homesickness and discrimination. table 4 presents the mean scores of the experienced level of difficulty with the cultural factors. table 4: the means of the level of difficulty with the cultural factors journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 62 differences in the level of perceived difficulty based on the demographic factors. the analysis indicated significant differences in the level of language difficulties based on age (f =3.28, p < .05). no significant differences were found in the level of language difficulties based on the other demographic factors (gender, level of education and length of stay). table 5 presents differences in the level of difficulty with language based on demographic factors. table 5: differences in the level of difficulty with language based on demographic factors table 6: differences in the level of difficulty with cultural factors based on demographic factors with respect to the cultural factors, the analysis revealed that no significant differences between the overall experienced level with cultural factors, academic and social, based on the selected demographic factors. table 6 presents differences in the level of difficulty with cultural factors based on demographic factors. journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 63 coping strategies. overall, the mean scores indicated that the perceived helpfulness with the examined strategies was in high level (m=3.93). improving language, time management, and using the available resources were perceived as the most helpful strategies. table 7 illustrates the mean scores of the level of helpfulness of each strategy. table 7: the means of the level of the helpfulness of coping strategies qualitative data qualitative data were categorized into three major themes: language challenges, cultural challenges and coping strategies. language challenges: participants indicated that they experienced some difficulties with language, though they did not perceive it as a big barrier. when asking whether the students regarded the language as a barrier, one response was “it is not very much as a barrier because i can understand a lecture and i can still answer the questions…but i still have language difficulties”. the perceived difficulty with language was reported to be associated mainly with expressive language with both oral and written language. one of the interview responses was “i feel sometimes like i cannot express my ideas enough, particularly, in practical, oral exam and oral presentation”. another participant responded “when i sit and read the questions to start to write the answer… there are some limitations limit me to write in an academic way, in the way that in the master level”. participants reported also some difficulties with receptive language in terms of reading texts and articles. one of the responses was: i still have some difficulties with some of the scientific words or scientific terminology...i have to, you know, nearly if it is a new subject, i have to check nearly more than 10-15 words in one page, journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 64 just because i want to understand all the details of this subject...i need an hour to finish three pages in a chapter. cultural challenges. perceived difficulty with cultural factors indicated in the qualitative data was categorized under academic challenges and social challenges. academic challenges. participants indicated that they experienced some academic difficulties with assessment tools, mainly with tests and oral presentations. one participant stated, “the most difficult thing is the multiple choice questions in the test. for example, you may have 60-70 questions. you need to understand everything in the book”. another participant said: the most difficult one is exams or tests especially when australian style emphasizes on your time management more than on your knowledge. they give you a little bit of time; let’s say an hour, to finish 40 or 50 questions. with regards to oral presentation, one participant mentioned: ... i do not have the full confidence to present my work in front of people, so maybe this one is like a bit challenging...i am not used to present in front of people. it is more than confidence, more than a language for me. most participants attributed their perceived difficulty with academic factors to their prior learning experiences. they pointed out to some of the differences between studying in their home country and studying in australia that caused some academic challenges for them. one participant said, “the main difference is the focus on research. unlike in saudi arabia, you cannot depend on a book or a lecture. you have to work on your own, to read a lot to get a good grade”. another participant stated, “in saudi arabia, the teacher is the source of knowledge whereas in australia, the student needs to search about knowledge. this difference is the main difficulty i faced here in australia”. differences between studying in their home country and studying in australia were also reported to cause some academic challenges in terms of classroom activities. one student stated, “they focus more here on practical activities more than theoretical, but in saudi arabia, they focus on theoretical rather than practical”. another participant said, “here, they have a strategy called tutorials... but in saudi arabia, we do not have such tutorials. we just attend a lecture or a class” journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 65 social challenges. participants indicated that they experienced some of cultural challenges especially homesickness and loneliness. some of the statement made include, “i do miss my family; i do miss my mother and everything. well, here you have just to keep an eye on the ball. you have to stay focus on your study” and “sometimes, i feel lonely because here they have their own life style…i cannot be like them because of the religion, because...even their thinking style, the way of thinking is different from us”. interview responses showed that most participant experienced cultural stress at the beginning, but they could adapt to the new culture later. one of the statements made was: “at the beginning, i felt homesick. but after two or three months, i adapted to the new culture”. another statement was, being in a new culture affected my study so much at the beginning especially in the first year because of the cultural differences. but to some extent, i am ok now. going to saudi arabia from one time to another helps me much. interview responses indicated that there was no difficulty faced with mixing with others especially when having a good language level. however, some of the responses indicated the preference of having friends from the same cultures. one participant stated, “i prefer to have friends from my culture, not necessary from saudi arabia, but at least, they can speak my language. i can have relief. i can express myself easily without any difficulties”. another participant said: at the beginning, it was difficult because of difficulty with the language. with a very low level of language proficiency, it is difficult to contact with natives. but with the improvement in language, it became ok. but still i meet with people from my culture in our cultural celebrations. coping strategies. improving language was indicated as a very helpful strategy to enhance their academic performance and to cop with the new culture. one student stated, “the most important thing is language. once i have the good language to communicate, i will be good at communicating with people. i will not be isolated…i will not have any barriers”. participants identified some other strategies that helped them to adapt to the new culture both academically and socially such as using of the available resources, celebrating specific cultural occasions with people from the same culture and mixing with others. some of the statement made included “in the academic context, i prefer to work independently, i try to depend on journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 66 myself and use the available recourses”, “mixing with others from different cultures helps to adjust to the new culture”, and “attending special cultural celebrations with people from the same culture helps me reduce stress”. discussion the quantitative and qualitative data indicated that saudi students experience difficulties mainly with expressive and written language. respondents reported spending extra time for doing their assignments or studying due to the lack of language competence. this finding is consistent with the findings of other research concerned with international students or saudi students, in particular. stoynoff (1997) found that there is a correlation between international students’ academic achievement and their language competence. similarly, shabeeb’s study (1996) that investigates saudi and arabian gulf students’ adaptation problems revealed that english language was the main difficult area facing their adjustment process. the current study also indicated that language barriers affect the respondents even in their social life and their contacts with others. this is confirmed by the findings of previous research (lewthwaite, 1996; trice, 2007). with regard to cultural factors, the findings revealed that respondents did not have a high level of difficulty with the cultural factors. however, a greater level of difficulty was experienced with the social factors, compared to the academic factors. the highest level of academic difficulty was experienced in types of assessment tools and classroom activities. tests and oral presentations were reported as the most difficult types of assessment tools. beside lack of language competence, difficulties with the academic factors, as the qualitative data indicated, are associated with saudi students’ prior learning experiences and unfamiliarity with the education style in australia. saudi students are more accustomed to a teacher-centered teaching style and to memorization strategies in testing as pointed by vassall-fall (2011). additionally, preparing and presenting an oral report is not widely practiced in saudi arabia, as the assessment system is more examination based. this may lead to a lack of confidence among saudi students to present in front of others in class. this finding is consistent with the findings of a study by kampman (2011) who has pointed out that saudi students are accustomed to passive learning styles, which make it difficult for them to adapt to the teaching styles that encourage creativity and critical thinking. it also concurs with other studies (shin, 2011; sun & chen, 1999; wong, 2004). as to the social factors, the findings indicated that respondents experienced some aspects of cultural stress especially in their initial semesters. it was found that loneliness, homesickness and discriminations were the main problematic factors. these findings concur with the findings journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 67 of previous research (poyrazli & lopez, 2007; sawir et al., 2008; yue, 2012). the findings also indicated that respondents faced some difficulties in making friends from other cultures due to certain barriers, such as lack of language proficiency and cultural differences such as differences in preferred food, social and religious activities. this finding goes in line with the findings of a recent study done by abdel razek (2012) that saudi students’ participation in the social life in america is very limited due to different reasons such as religion, mix-gender aspect and dietary restrictions. it is also supported by the findings of another study by yue (2012) concerned with international students’ experience in australia. the study revealed significant differences in the perceived level of language difficulty based on age, which concurs with the findings of a study done by hofmann (2010) which found that younger students experienced language difficulty more frequently than older students. on the other hand, the study showed no significant differences between the experienced language difficulty based on gender, level of education and length of stay. this is inconsistent with the findings of a study conducted by poyrazli and lopez (2007) as they found that female international students had higher level of english proficiency than male students and the researchers attributed this to their willingness to establish relationships with others, which create opportunities to practice the language. in the case of saudi female students, it could be difficult for them to build relationships with others as they come from a segregated culture even in their social lives. no significant differences were found between the experienced level of cultural challenges based on the examined demographic factors (gender, age, level of education and length of stay). this finding concurs with the findings of previous studies (abdullah, adebayo, & talib, 2015; yan & berliner, 2011). in relation to coping strategies, improving language was the main strategy that helped the respondents to adapt to the new culture. this result was expectable as lack of language proficiency was reported to be one of the main factors affecting their adjustment. other strategies such as time management, using of available resources, and celebrating specific cultural occasion were also found to be very helpful strategies. it was also evident that saudi students try to take the advantages of both mixing with others from different cultures and with people from the same culture. both of these strategies have their advantages. having friends from different cultures can help in understanding other cultures, which facilitates the adaptation process. on the other hand, having friends from the same culture helps in gaining the social support, which helps decrease the effect of the cultural stress such as homesickness and loneliness. these coping strategies are also highlighted in previous research (shaw, 2009; tseng & newton, 2002). journal of international students, 7(1) 2017 68 conclusions and implications students’ language competence, especially in expressive and written language, plays a significant role in their academic and social adjustment process. saudi students’ academic performance was affected mainly by classroom activities and assessment methods that require practical use of language such as tutorial discussion and oral presentation. socially, saudi students were most affected by such cultural factors as homesickness, loneliness and discrimination. the students coped with difficulties by improving their language skills, by exerting study skills (e.g. time management) and/or by attempting socio-cultural skills (e.g. mixing with others). while there were significant differences in the perceived level of language difficulties based on age, there were no significant differences found based on the other factors. similarly, there were no significant differences between the perceived levels of cultural difficulties based on the demographic factors. the study has a number of implications. for saudi and other arabian gulf international students, the study reinforces the importance of having a high level of english proficiency as well as cultural competence, awareness of different educational approaches and provisions for challenges and socio-cultural difficulties. for sponsors and education providers, the findings highlight the importance of orientation programs for future students before coming to australia about life and study in australia with a particular focus on the main differences in the education systems and learning/teaching approaches. a further implication may be a question of what social activities will be effective for students’ cultural adjustments and how effectively students can be encouraged to participate in those activities. a further research is required to find out specific areas of difficulties in language, academic and so-cultural domains, as well as ways of helping saudi international students adjust to a new environment. 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(2012). health and wellbeing of international students in an australian tertiary context. (doctoral dissertation), university of tasmania. retrieved from http://eprints.utas.edu.au/id/eprint/15009 nisreen alsahafi, is currently completing a phd in linguistics in the faculty of arts and social sciences at the university of new south wales. email: n.alsahafi@student.unsw.edu.au seong-chul shin, phd, is a senior lecturer in the school of humanities and languages. his research interests include error analysis, socio-linguistic issues in l2 contexts and other topics such as l2 pedagogy and curriculum planning. email: s.shin@unsw.edu.au manuscript submitted: april 15, 2015 manuscript revised: november 2, 2015 accepted for publication: february 21, 2016 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. microsoft word 2187 production final.docx 546 book review © journal of international students volume 10, issue 2 (2020), pp. 546-548 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v10i2.2187 ojed.org/jis the geographies of international student mobility: spaces, places and decision-making s. beech, 2019. palgrave macmillan: isbn 9789811374425 reviewed by jing yu, university of california santa barbara, usa the geographies of international student mobility: spaces, places and decision-making is a timely volume offering distinctive and critical insights into the geographical dimensions of international student mobilities. after the 2016 united kingdom referendum to leave the european union, and in the same year, the election of donald trump as the president of the united states, both countries faced the rise of conservative populism and sociopolitical upheavals. brexit and trumpism have been reshaping the politics of western democracies in a more nationalistic and nativist way. this anti-immigration macro-level trend actually has ramifications for the internationalization processes of uk higher education. the author, suzanne beech, provides the readers with a holistic understanding of the motivations and factors that have resulted in today’s transnational mobility. the book is organized into four parts in an attempt to bring complex processes and dynamics of students’ decision-making to the fore: visa policy, university reputation, social networking, and global imaginary. these different geographies of student mobility are illustrated by abundant data from a quantitative survey, qualitative interviews, as well as consistent participant observation. to begin with, international student mobility is not a recent phenomenon. this cross-border educational activity is largely influenced, shaped, and decided by national policy geographies, which are often neglected in the existing academic literature. driven by the neoliberal agenda, uk higher education is already an export journal of international students 547 product to be “sold” to the international buyers all over the world. in other words, international students are considered as “consumers, a revenue stream and even a product of the university when they graduate” (beech, 2019, p. 33). beech then points out an essential role in this transnational business industry: agents or middlemen, who have commission-based partnerships with uk universities. agents are more like salespersons hired by these neoliberalized universities to promote their “brand name” and recruit potential customers. considering economic rationale in neoliberal internationalization, international consumer-led behaviors are devalued in many ways. in addition, overreliance on the revenue that international customers generate will leave universities vulnerable to changes in visa policy and cause unintended consequences. for example, it can be predicted that there will be a drop in numbers within the european union (eu) student community after the uk’s exit from the eu. therefore, international student mobility is highly contingent upon governmental policy geographies. secondly, for degree-seeking international students, quality education and university reputation seem to be determinants of students’ mobility, both in terms of making the choice to study abroad and choosing where to be enrolled. reputational value is not only about ranking systems and league tables, but also age and established histories that are favored by students as a key influencer in their decisions to study overseas. beech explicitly problematizes the global rankings dominated by anglophone universities, which further widens geographical and sociocultural divides between global north (e.g. uk, us) and global south (e.g., china, india). furthermore, social networks including kinship and friendship profoundly affect international student mobility. beech discovers that these reliable resources operate in two ways, explicitly and implicitly. on one hand, relatives or friends will share their overseas experiences and give advice on choosing spaces and places; on the other hand, within this circle, study abroad gradually becomes an expectation and even a norm of the “right” way to follow. it seems that student mobility is an individualized experience in nature, but after analyzing students’ narratives, beech argues that the decision is more tacitly decided by collective and societal ideology of “ideal” education in western countries. apart from policy, reputation, and networks, the role of imaginative geographies is the last factor that facilitates student mobility. given that the uneven power relations within the global context have led to the production of a western-dominated higher education landscape, international student mobility is highly asymmetrical and unidirectional (marginson, 2006). specifically, the flow of students paralleled by flows of knowledge has been directed largely from global south to north—from developing countries (non-white) to western universities (white), mostly in englishspeaking countries. western education is always constructed as valuable and desirable, while “asian nations—often colonized—were instead considered to be defeated and distant, irrational and dangerous” (beech, 2019, p. 173). the phenomenon of such romanticized geography again perpetuates global hierarchies and becomes conflated with reality. to conclude, beech in the last chapter summarizes three central themes of a theoretical framework of international student mobility: (a) the uk higher education system is immensely neoliberalized and marketized; (b) students think and behave as journal of international students 548 consumers; and (c) students believe overseas experiences will bring them higher levels of cultural capital and economic prospects on graduation. i find this volume to be an excellence resource for early-career faculty and researchers, especially when the author reveals how power relations work in creating imaginative geographies on the global level and how students self-perpetuate the idea of “superior” western education to reinforce global inequalities. this book also provides administrative staff and practitioners a close look into the multifaceted nature of student decision-making to help them better support the unique student population in the uk’s post-brexit era. references beech, s. (2019). the geographies of international student mobility: spaces, places and decision-making. palgrave macmillan. marginson, s. (2006). dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. higher education, 52(1), 1–39. jing yu, ma, is a teaching assistant in asian american studies at the university of california santa barbara, where she is also pursuing a phd in the department of education. her major research interests focus on international student mobility, recruitment, and lived experiences in the context of american higher education. email: jing02@ucsb.edu 383 journal of international students peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 5, issue 4 (2015), pp. 383-394 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ cultural demands of the host-nation: international student experience and the public diplomacy consequences benjamin triana (doctoral candidate) university of kentucky (usa) abstract traditional approaches for hosting international students tend to focus on classroom achievement rather than on intercultural exchange and cultural immersion. such approaches lessen the possibility of successful educational experiences which also hinders public diplomacy. two case studies are presented that reveal how structural changes at a southeastern university could be modified in order to address the international student experience and 2.) how the international student experience of former egyptian president mohamed morsi illustrates the need for increased emphasis on intercultural exchange due to the likelihood of international students embarking on influential political and private careers. keywords: international student education, intercultural dialogue, cultural immersion, public diplomacy, international relations, mohamed morsi after world war ii, decisions concerning american international education, both for domestic students studying abroad and international students attending american institutions, possessed this underlying philosophy: international education was “a force for peace and mutual understanding and ultimately as the means through which the united states could build and maintain its influence in the world.” through this influence, “world leaders trained in the united states would be more inclined to understand and sympathize with the united states when conducting their international affairs” (pandit, 2009, p. 647). this ideology assumed that “peace and understanding” would also support foreign policy and security (de witt, 2002). by the midtwentieth century, international education had become a public diplomacy approach for managing national reputation and international relations (wang, 2006). based on the growth of international education exchange, nations should be aware of its potential impact on international relations. according to the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd), there has been an increase from 3.4 million international students to 3.7 million from 2000 to 2009 (chau, 2011). in 2010, international students attending colleges and universities in the united states increased three percent, with over thirty percent coming from china. in 2011, international student attendance jumped another 5.7 percent from the 2010 numbers (fischer, 2010; mcmurtie, 2012). with economic growth in developing journal of international students | 384 september/october 2015 http://jistudents.org volume 5•issue 4 countries, the international student demographic has become an important population to consider for economic and public diplomacy considerations. bellamy and weinberg (2008) and fulton (2007) have called for a redefinition of public diplomacy and a reforming of the practice of public diplomacy in order to address changes in the world. public diplomacy can be defined as the ways in which non-government diplomats influence and improve relations with another nation or culture. in support of these calls, this essay argues for a holistic approach to the international student experience at higher education institutions in the united states. a more holistic approach that includes outside of the classroom intercultural dialogue and cultural immersion has the potential to increase the likelihood of successful international student experiences, and these gains are not only educational gains, but also international relations’ gains. fulton (2007) suggested that international students that enroll in american universities are the ones in society that “make a difference” and have an “appetite for positive change” (p. 314). in the altruistic role education often plays, an improved education experience has the potential to influence the opinion international students have of the united states, and for those students that return to their home countries, these international students may influence the opinions of home country acquaintances. this reasoning is in alignment with the international relations role that both senator j. william fulbright and president harry s. truman believed international education could serve. by considering the diplomacy role of international education, this perspective places more emphasis on intercultural exchange and cultural immersion as central components of the international education experience. such an approach increases the likelihood of improving the international student experience as well as international relations. a review of the literature on the challenges facing international students and the characteristics of successful international student experience will highlight the cultural characteristics involved in the successful international student experiences. the literature review explicates how these challenges and characteristics parallel the cultural aspects of public diplomacy. the second half of the paper involves two case studies. the case studies are presented to provide empirical examples as to: 1.) how policy and structural changes at a southeastern university could improve the cultural exchange aspects of the international student experience, and 2.) how the international student experience of mohamed morsi demonstrates the importance of out-of-classroom cultural immersion in order to address issues of identity management as a result of international education exchange. the morsi case study emphasizes the importance of positive international student experiences as international students possess a higher-than-normal potential for embarking on influential careers in government and in private business (fulton, 2007). conceptual framework: public diplomacy and international student education since the fulbright act of 1946, education has been a central component of international relations and public diplomacy. president truman reinforced this relationship with his commission on higher education which published the report, higher education for american democracy (president’s commission for american democracy, 1948). from that moment, public diplomacy has been linked to higher education and international students. public diplomacy can be defined as the ways in which non-government diplomats of a nation, culture, or people influence and improve relations with another nation, culture, or people (fulton, 2007). as a part of modern diplomacy and international relations, public diplomacy is 385 journal of international students an essential, non-invasive attempt to influence the economic and political choices of international and intercultural cultures and nations through civic interaction. public diplomacy is connected to the concept of soft power (nye, 2004). soft power is concerned with the efforts of the government or government agencies intended to influence other nations and cultures (leonard, 2002). through the fulbright act, united states’ public diplomacy and soft power were linked to post-secondary international education exchanges as a viable strategy for influencing other nations and cultures. internationalization and globalization have increased the importance of successful international student experience as an aspect of public diplomacy. pandit (2009) recognized the importance of the international student experience and its relationship to globalized markets, cultures, and communities: “there is a growing societal recognition that our graduates will compete in a global labor market and need to develop the ability to work more effectively in international and multicultural settings” (p. 646). to work effectively, nations and their citizens must have beneficial relationships with other nations and their citizenries. with the increased connectivity of international economic markets and the propensity of international students to hold important positions in private business, the importance of cultivating productive international relations through international student education is essential. the next section explores what makes for a successful international student experience. it establishes the need for a more holistic and culturally focused international-student-support infrastructure. a more holistic approach addresses the out-of-classroom challenges that inhibit positive international student experiences. the section also reinforces the beneficial relationship between international student success and improved international relations. reasons for choosing a host nation, challenges to and successes of international students in order to improve the international student experience, one must ask “what makes for a positive international student experience?” this question led to a review of why students embark on an international education, the challenges to a successful experience, and the most successful characteristics of a positive international education. reasons for choosing a host country and host institution the reasons international students choose a host country have a strong connection to the cultural interactions between two nations’ peoples. reasons for choosing a specific host country and academic institution include (mazzoral & soutar, 2002): 1. knowledge and awareness of the host country. 2. recommendations from friends and relatives. 3. cost issues (local ethnic communities are believed to help with costs). 4. social links. 5. geographic and/or cultural proximity. 6. an institution’s reputation for quality, including staff. 7. alliances and partnerships between the institution and institutions familiar to the student. 8. alumni base and word-of-mouth referral. almost all of the reasons on this list affect and are affected by intercultural interaction and ongoing diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations between the host country and an journal of international students | 386 september/october 2015 http://jistudents.org volume 5•issue 4 international student’s country of origin. recommendations from friends and relatives, social links, cultural proximity, alliances and partnerships, and alumni word-of-mouth are all dependent on positive exchanges between the populaces of two nations. knowledge and awareness of an institution and an institution’s reputation for quality can also be improved via direct international student exchange. the rationale behind selecting a host nation is linked to the international exchange between two countries. when viewed through this lens of cultural exchange, american academic institutions with regional reputations may have an advantage in recruiting international students. while armstrong (2007) argued that a university, “trapped in its traditional place-based identity” is at a disadvantage in international education, a regional institution has the ability to offer a unique cultural experience that cannot be replicated at any other institution (p. 134). the historical place of a university creates an opportunity for significant, place-based cultural exchange which can improve understanding and intercultural interaction as international students discover the unique culture of a specific institution, town, and people. regional institutions can take advantage of their placed-based identity through initiatives that celebrate an institution’s cultural connections that have the potential to encourage cultural immersion. challenges international students face and secrets to success for institutions where the hosting of international students has only recently emerged as an aspect of their educational goals and responsibilities, identifying the challenges and the best practices for international student success is essential for establishing a successful international student program. similar to the reasons for selecting a host institution, many of the challenges and the best practices identified in international student research is culturally-oriented. challenges to the international student experience have been researched extensively. zhai (2002) found cultural differences, language adjustments, and the actual united states educational system as the most difficult obstacles to navigate. ying and liese (1994) reported homesickness as an important issue. in response, tseng and newton (2002) documented eight characteristics of a successful international student experience: 1. knowing themselves and others. 2. building relationships. 3. expanding their worldview. 4. asking for help. 5. developing cultural and social contacts. 6. establishing relationships with advisors and instructors. 7. english proficiency. 8. letting go of problems. none of the eight characteristics could be isolated as in-classroom-only or curriculum associated approaches. conversely, none of the characteristics could be considered entirely cultural. the importance is in recognizing the fluidity and relationship of out-of-classroom and cultural/intercultural aspects of the characteristics. the research revealed that the challenges and characteristics of international student success address out-of-the classroom issues, especially cultural understanding and intercultural exchange as well as the more traditional academic concerns. the conceptual framework and the review of the international student research led to the questions for the following case studies: 387 journal of international students 1. how are post-secondary institutions allocating resources dedicated to hosting international students? 2. how can the allocation of resources for the hosting of international students be improved? 3. why do some international student experiences fail to generate positive public diplomacy effects? 4. why is it essential to generate positive public diplomacy effects with international students? research method the two case studies should be considered individual case studies as they address different level effects and are of different design (yin, 2014). the choice to include two case studies was in response to the multiple-level functioning of intercultural communication documented by oetzel, dhar, and kirschbaum (2007). in the first case study, a southeastern university’s resources and organizational structure were analyzed. the university can be classified under armstrong’s (2007) description of a reputable university with a strong regional presence and sharing the common characteristics with a large number of regional, higher-educational institutions in the united states. the strategic plan analyzed can be considered a similar representation of how strategic plans are designed for the international student experience at similar institutions. the first case study is informed by researcher observation of international students and interviews with individuals involved in international student support. the observations and interviews were conducted over a four-year period. a subsequent document analysis of the strategic plan was conducted to corroborate the interview analysis (lindlof & taylor, 2011). the first case study is primarily concerned with research questions rq1, rq2, and rq3. in the second case study, a number of published accounts of mohamed morsi’s international student experience are analyzed to demonstrate the necessity of a more culturallyfocused approach to the international student experience. morsi’s experience demonstrates the importance of generating positive public diplomacy effects based on the likelihood of international students obtaining influential positions in their home nations (bellamy & weinberg, 2008; fulton, 2007). the second case study can be considered an extreme, unusual, and critical case (yin, 2014). case study 1: a southeastern university’s approach to international students in 2012, a southeastern university announced that it had increased the number of international students accepted for the fall semester. along with the increased enrollment, the institution announced the implementation of an international strategic plan in order to manage the increase in international student enrollment. the following description is a summary of the resources and strategic plan. the strategic plan is paraphrased in order to protect the institution’s confidentiality. over 1,600 international students enroll at this university each year, and enrollment is projected to increase for the foreseeable future. international student and scholar services (isss) and office of international affairs (oia) are the two main programs that offer services for international students. the isss provides the following services: immigration, travel journal of international students | 388 september/october 2015 http://jistudents.org volume 5•issue 4 document advisement, work permits, transfers and extensions of stay, social programs and activities that help students learn about life on campus, opportunities for community involvement, help with language translation, and international instructional support for family members. an additional service, the international hospitality program (ihp), focuses on adaptation, assimilation and intercultural relations-management for international students once they arrive. along with ihp, the university offers a cultural coffee hour, a cross-cultural workshop for undergraduates expecting to work for international companies, an international buddy program, and a multi-organizational cultural diversity festival to increase cultural awareness. in support of these activities, the university also offers a listserv and an online calendar for students to remain informed on international affairs’ sponsored events. the university also offers services for dependents. the university offers educational support for dependent children including a japanese saturday school and k-12 educational initiatives. there is an english as a second language center for language reinforcement. there are two other services that support the international student experience at this particular university. first, esl instructors are involved in cultivating positive experiences for international students (university esl instructor, personal communication, december 3, 2012; university esl instructor, personal communication, december 4, 2012). esl instructors encourage students to increase involvement in official university functions through extra credit opportunities and class curricula. secondly, depending on the ethnic community and informal efforts, students are assigned mentors to help with culture shock and adaptation (university esl instructor, personal communication, december 4, 2012). still, a lack of international student integration persists. international student council meetings and events are not attended by international or domestic students. this issue has led to concerns over the actual intercultural interaction and cultural exchange occurring between international and domestic students (isc president, personal communication, october 15, 2012). the lack of participation implies that few students value a visible and formal relationship between the university and the international students. increasing international and domestic student engagement was one of the goals of the strategic plan. the university implemented a multi-faceted approach in order to improve the international focus of the university. however, a major oversight in the approach involved the areas concerning interaction between international and domestic students, local ethnic communities involved in international student support, and the evaluation and improvement of the individual international student experience outside of the classroom. the plan summary is included to emphasize the oversight: in 2007, the [university name omitted] embarked on a two-year assessment of its international activity, encompassing student mobility, faculty research, global visibility, engagement, accessibility of information, the role of the office of international affairs, and [university name omitted] position vis-à-vis our aspirational benchmarks. two areas that scholars have identified as important for the international student experience, intercultural interaction and local cultural immersion, are omitted. such an oversight limits the success of the strategic plan. case study 1: discussion. based upon the description of the services offered at this southeastern university, it is not the legal, institutional/structural resources, nor the classroom pedagogy that is in question. instead, international and domestic student interaction is the 389 journal of international students primary concern at the university. by encouraging increased interaction between international and domestic students, the cultural exchange can improve the academic experience of all students and simultaneously support public diplomacy. however, encouraging intercultural student exchange can be difficult. oftentimes, international students experience prejudice, negative stereotypes, and exclusion in and outside of the classroom. likewise, domestic students express apprehension and reluctance when considering interacting with international students (charles-toussaint & crowson, 2010; pandit, 2009). this can cause a campus to remain segregated and homogenous even with a diverse student population (volet & ang, 1998; petersen, briggs, & dreasher, 1999). the university in the aforementioned case study is representative of such a space. domestic and international student interaction is limited, and as a result, defined spaces, such as areas close to international dormitories and local ethnic neighborhoods, are reserved for international students; whereas, traditional domestic university spaces are dominated by domestic students. there are two specific strategies that have been identified as viable options for improving this situation. first, frey and roysircar (2006) recommended continued and increased counseling and outreach that encourages greater international student adaptation to the host country. the second strategy has been to alter the social environments and attitudes of domestic students and local communities (charles-toussaint & crowson, 2010). domestic students can also be at the center of host-nation, intercultural education exchange. charlestoussaint and crowson (2010) recommended such a focus after their research found that two of the four types of threat perception predict prejudice and negative relationships between american and international students. case study 2: mohamed morsi mohamed morsi was formerly the fifth president of egypt, and the first democratically elected president. morsi was sworn into office on june 30, 2012 and served as the president until july 3, 2013. his term ended when he was relieved of his duties by the egyptian military after protests from the egyptian population. morsi is a member of the muslim brotherhood (mb), a worldwide, social, political and religious (islamic) organization with significant influence in the arab world. he was the chairman of the freedom and justice party (fjp), the political arm of the mb in egypt, before running for the presidency in the 2011 egyptian elections. morsi was educated in the united states. he received a ph.d. in materials science from the university of southern california in 1982 and was an assistant professor at california state university until 1985. before becoming heavily involved in egyptian politics, he held a position as a professor and head of the engineering department at zagazig university until 2010. morsi’s time spent in the united states offered the hope that the newly elected president would have some affinity for the united states’ interests in the region as well as for the values, laws, and institutions that coincide with america’s interpretation of democracy. as a result, some individuals believed that morsi’s american experience would be impetus for resolving a number of issues that plagued egypt during hosni mubarak’s rule, including human rights violations, repression of expression and religion, and issues of inequality (blomfield, 2012). morsi’s tenure did not progress as some hoped. he expanded executive powers without appropriate legal oversight and backed a questionable constitution that failed to guarantee and protect the rights of minorities and women. both western and arab media outlets criticized the constitution’s failure to outline government organization, its functions, and policies (al jazeera, journal of international students | 390 september/october 2015 http://jistudents.org volume 5•issue 4 2012; carlstrom, 2012). a constant criticism of morsi’s time in office concerned the justification of his questionable actions by claiming majority will and majority rule. while the american version of democracy may possess its limitations and outright failures, based on morsi’s actions, he had not recognized the value in protecting the rights of minorities emphasized during the american civil rights movement nor the value and contributions of the united states diverse minority communities. dissent and public political protests ensued until the egyptian military intervened, unseating morsi on july 3, 2013. case study 2: discussion. there are many reasons for the current difficulties in egypt that go well beyond public diplomacy. however, the tension, misunderstanding, and conflict experienced when interacting with a different culture can lead to identity issues. identity concerns have been documented in both intercultural communication and international relations research, so their emergence should not come as much of a surprise in morsi’s case (zaharna, 2000). morsi’s membership in the muslim brotherhood is one of the most significant issues. scholars have described the mb as “an organization that sought nothing less than the transformation of society and the individual [in line with the tenets of islam]” (hamid, 2013, p. 3). since altering a society to align more with islam is not part of american international relations and diplomacy, an american and morsi agreement on the direction of egyptian democracy and governance was unlikely. trager (2013, 2011), outlined a number of additional reasons as to why an outcome favorable to american interests was unrealistic. first, the mb is a political organization focused on political uniformity, not compromise based upon political plurality. secondly, there is a five to eight year initiation process before becoming a full-fledged mb member. this includes an oath to listen and obey. ayman nour of the secular al ghad party reiterated this point when discussing his parliamentary interactions with morsi during mubarak’s tenure. parliamentary requests designed for mubarak had to be submitted through morsi, but when given to morsi, he would hold onto the requests, “pocketing the documents instead of passing them on, explaining that he couldn’t sign until he’d gotten the opinions of all the brotherhood’s representatives” (hammer, 2012, p. 21). the above episodes demonstrate just how entrenched morsi was in mb cultural and political practices. unfortunately, morsi represents a fairly common story for many international, and even national, out-of-state students. when confronted with a new culture, an individual will have to re-examine his or her identity and community, decide if and how to acculturate, and what new perspectives are worth adopting. hammer (2012) noted that morsi did little to reassess his understanding of the united states: although he [morsi] admired the american work ethic, he chose to insulate himself from american society, spending much of his time with a small circle of fellow students from arab countries… by the time he returned to egypt in 1985, he was “dedicated to the [muslim brotherhood], a changed man. (p. 19-20) when he expressed disdain for the “naked restaurants” such as hooters, acquaintances had recognized that he had already extricated himself from the larger american society (hammer, 2012, p. 20). intercultural dialogue is one of the primary ways of negotiating confusing cultural phenomenon such as “naked restaurants,” but within an insulated ethnic community, intercultural dialogue is difficult to conduct. another integral piece in morsi’s experience was the demands and heavy influence of his home community. the potential for increased affinity with the values and beliefs associated 391 journal of international students with american public diplomacy were substantially lowered in relationship to an integrated and culturally sophisticated home community organization. in an increasingly internationalized world, more and more individuals will rely upon their home community as an anchor when interacting abroad. in fact, similar reports about one of egypt’s interim presidents, general abdel fattah al-sisi, have surfaced (see kenner & lubold, 2013). while at a super bowl party, sisi was more attracted to the host’s collection of islamic symbols and cultural artifacts than experiencing an american cultural phenomenon for the first time. this does not mean that sisi will follow the same path as morsi, but the reoccurring descriptions argue for the development of more well-researched strategies for international-education-public-diplomacy. increased intercultural integration and international conversations in american college and university settings could never offer a complete answer to the complex issues of concern in american and egyptian relations. however, intercultural communication processes offer opportunities for the peaceful interaction of differing populations, especially in educational settings. without an integrated and established cultural exchange, the beliefs and actions of individuals like morsi and sisi are understandable, if not predictable, and they serve as critical examples of the potential highs stakes of international education. in morsi’s case, home community demands along with cultural isolation led to negative opinions of the united states. these outcomes highlight the importance of holistic international education support in order to avoid cultural misunderstanding. his case also identifies the need for identity management support that could be addressed through counseling, mental health, and wellness programs. morsi’s international student experience highlights the importance of intercultural dialogue, cultural immersion, and wellness services as aspects of an international student experience. the international student may become the president of a country vital to a nation’s international interests. in morsi’s case, one of the most pressing concerns was his position on the 1979 peace treaty with israel (blomfield, 2012). morsi recognized the treaty, which alleviated some international anxiety of a renewed conflict between egypt and israel. still, the outcome remained unclear until the treaty was signed, and the uncertainly unsettled the region. as mentioned throughout this paper, international students have a higher likelihood of obtaining influential positions in their host nations (fulton, 2007). thus, the consequences are intensified. international student experience and public diplomacy limitations the theory of public diplomacy hinges upon idealism. more specifically, public diplomacy presupposes that cultural, educational, and private business efforts will be recognized and appreciated by the involved nations and their publics. in practice, benefit to the host and/or the home nation is much harder to measure. patricia de stacy harrison (2008) and lindsay (1989) warned that the underlying value in an education may take ten or twenty years to recognize. any international education changes must consider the time involved in long-range policy and relationship improvement. this issue highlights a significant tension underlying the merging of education and public diplomacy. the assumption is that there is something culturally valuable in the sharing of information and knowledge, and that not only does higher education lead to economic prosperity, but as harrison (2008) believes, higher education leads to good citizens that contribute to their societies. journal of international students | 392 september/october 2015 http://jistudents.org volume 5•issue 4 conclusion the case studies presented in this paper raise a number of complicated and intertwined issues. first, while colleges and universities offer a wide array of resources and programs for international students, what needs are being met, how, and through what channels may not be accurately identified or employed. furthermore, what characteristics and qualities international students find necessary for a successful experience at particular institutions may not be widely known or shared with the appropriate publics. the first case study reveals the importance of planning and resources dedicated to the outside-the-classroom elements that improve the international student experience, especially intercultural communication, interaction, and exchange. the second case study emphasizes the importance of intercultural dialogue, cultural immersion, and support for identity management for international students. overall, the entire process of how to improve the international student experience would benefit from further macro-level, institutional, documentation, research, and initiatives. there is no one certain way to improve the international student experience. what is most important is to acknowledge that the process “should be a comprehensive strategy that is built with input from the many stakeholders: faculty, students, alumni, and others” (pandit, 2009, p. 654). a successful international student experience will most likely involve multiple strategies from different stakeholders. there is also a need for increased research into the cultural and intercultural aspects of international student education, and especially international student education as public diplomacy. references al jazeera. 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(2009). leading internationalization. annals of the association of american geographers, 99(4), 645-656. doi:10.1080/00045600903120552 journal of international students | 394 september/october 2015 http://jistudents.org volume 5•issue 4 petersen, d. m., briggs, p., dreasher, l., horner, d. d., & nelson, t. (1999). contributions of international students and programs to campus diversity. new directions for student services, 86(summer), 67–77. president’s commission on higher education. (1948). higher education for american democracy. new york, ny: harper and brothers. trager, e. (2011). the unbreakable muslim brotherhood: grim prospects for a liberal egypt. foreign affairs, 19. retrieved from http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/68211/eric trager/the-unbreakable-muslim-brotherhood trager, e. (2013, january 28). think again: muslim brotherhood. foreign policy. retrieved from http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/28/ think_again_the_muslim_brotherhood_egypt?page=0,0andwp_login_redirect=0 tseng, w., & newton, f. b. (2002). international students' strategies for well-being. college student journal, 36, 591-597. volet, s. e., & ang, g. (1998). culturally mixed groups on international campuses: an opportunity for inter-cultural learning. higher education research and development, 17(1), 5–23. wang, j. (2006). managing national reputation and international relations in the global era: public diplomacy revisited. public relations review, 32, 91-96. ying, y., and liese, l. h. (1994). initial adjustment of taiwanese students to the united states. journal of cross cultural psychology, 25, 466-477. yin, r. k. (2014). case study research: design and methods. thousand oaks, ca: sage. zaharna, r. s. (2000). intercultural communication and international public relations: exploring parallels. communication quarterly, 48(1), 85-100. zhai, l. (2002). studying international students: adjustment issues and social support. eric document 474481. author benjamin triana is a doctoral candidate in the department of communication at the university of kentucky. his research interests include international and intercultural communication, cultural and media studies. email: ben.triana0515@uky.edu *** 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | 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later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx microsoft word 1370 production final.docx 1040 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 10, issue 4 (2020), pp. 1040-1063 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v10i4.1370 ojed.org/jis object in view: understanding international students’ participation in group work john straker university of exeter, uk abstract the literature on international student participation in anglo-western universities is predicated on an assumption of underachievement. reductive understandings prevail with english language competence and cultural background highlighted. drawing from a case study of group work in a first-year module in a management course at an internationalizing university in the united kingdom, this article explores students’ perceptions of the impact of english language competence on participation. the case study, which aimed at a holistic understanding, adopted an activity theoretical framework for modeling participation and for analyzing focus group data. four educational objects were identified with the construct “object in view” employed in recognition of the plurality of the object. the in-depth analysis focused on the object. although the focus groups traversed a range of topics, english language competence was widely discussed. however, the analysis suggests that the extent english language was perceived as an issue was relative to the object in view. keywords: activity theory, english for academic purposes, international students, object in view, united kingdom the scholarly literature in the field of english for academic purposes (eap) has focused on the linguistic features of academic genres and their associated pedagogies (hamp-lyons, 2015). this literature informs the practice of eap teachers, including those providing language support for international students engaged in university study. however, familiarity with the genres they need to command is not in itself sufficient; international students’ success will ultimately depend on how successfully they participate in their academic programs, and it follows that to better help their journal of international students 1041 students, eap practitioners need to understand what the students experience in the mainstream. the advice we give them, and how we engage them in discussions about the challenges they face, requires an understanding of “the contexts they come from and go back to while taking our courses” (hamp-lyons, 2015, p. a2). this article draws from a case study (straker, 2014) that sought to better understand one such context: a first-year undergraduate module in management in a u.k. business school. the module was taught primarily through tutorial classes with group work as the principal mode of pedagogy. the study adopted a holistic approach using an activity-theoretical framework that enabled a broad range of factors to be seen as impacting participation. this article concentrates on one aspect, students’ perceptions of the impact of language use and competence in english on participation in group work. it uses the construct “object in view” (hiruma et al., 2007) to argue that students’ understandings, experiences, and responses to group work can be better understood in the light of their varying perceptions of the object of activity. focus groups were used as the research instrument, providing data on both international and home students’ experiences of working together in diverse work groups. following some introductory comments on the focus of previous research, my position, and the theoretical framework, the article proceeds with a brief review of the literature on the impact of international students’ english language competence on participation in university classes, followed by a critique of how participation has been understood. the research design of the larger study and the presentation of findings germane to this article are then presented. in the discussion, the case will be made that alongside our preoccupation with the impact of english language competence on international student participation, we should concern ourselves with the contexts in which such competence is perceived as an issue. the focus of previous research what facilitates or impedes international student participation in anglo-western universities (carroll, 2015) has been a topic of research since the 1990s and reported in a variety of journals. the debate has been most active in australia, with the primary driver that the classroom participation of students from countries that share a confucian heritage fall short of the ideal. although participation is the matter at issue, the focus has been on international students themselves—on what makes them different—rather than their participation per se. the relative impact of english language competence, on the one hand, and culture of origin, on the other, has been central. while a number of contributors have argued that linguistic, sociolinguistic, or psycholinguistic factors have been paramount (e.g., kumaravadivelu, 2003; lee, 2007), others remind us that competence in language includes competences shaped by culture (jones, 1999), or of the indivisibility of second language acquisition and students’ intercultural journeys (gu, 2009). regarding culture of origin, the literature has moved from the polarized early positions, which elevated the impact of culture (ballard & clanchy, 1991) or vigorously challenged it (biggs, 1987, 1996), to more nuanced understandings (louie, 2005; ryan & louie, 2007). in the postmillennial period, the move has been toward interculturalism (brown & jones, 2007; de vita, 2007). while responsive to the concerns of reification, stereotyping, and cultural journal of international students 1042 hegemony raised by the earlier literature (kumaravadivelu, 2003), these concerns have not been entirely swept away. my position for educators involved in the teaching of international students, the debate has not always been helpful as it fosters a deterministic mindset in which the challenges international students face in anglo-western higher education are too readily seen as rooted in competence in english or cultural difference, with both often construed in deficit terms (straker, 2016). this is not to deny the importance of these factors; indeed, this article focuses on the language issue. rather, it is to call for an approach that is holistic and contextual: one that appreciates that many of the challenges international students face are generic to all students; that their participation will also be shaped by what others bring to the interaction; and that what participants in learning encounters hope to achieve will influence their experiences and behaviors. the case study that informs this article attempts such an approach. theoretical framework the study used activity theory as a framework for conceptualizing group work and for analyzing the focus group data. as a further benefit, activity theory offers a theorized understanding of the relationship between participation and learning. activity theory takes vygotsky’s triangular conception of mediation as its starting point, with the “subject” seen to use “tools” to achieve their “object” (vygotsky, 1978, p. 40). in its classic representation, second generation activity theory, engeström (1987, p. 78) following leontiev (1978), elaborated the vygotskian triangle to include the social elements of “rules,” “community,” and “division of labor” (figure 1). it is through the interaction of these six elements that what facilitates or impedes the pursuit of the object can be explored. in the study, group work was understood as a collective activity operating as a single activity system with learning its object, and engeström’s (1987) second generation model was adopted as the theoretical framework, complemented by hedegaard’s (2001) construct of “institutional practice,” which serves as a bridging element helping to locate activity in an institutional context. journal of international students 1043 for stage 1 of the analysis, the framework was reworked as a coding frame. in stage 2, given its centrality in activity theory, the analysis focused on the object, understood as both the object to which the activity was directed and the motive for engaging in activity (leontiev, 1978). while engeström’s understanding of activity assumed a unitary object, recognizing object ambiguity—and its explanatory potential—has been a feature of some activity theoretical research in education studies. fisher (2007), for instance, in her study of oracy in the primary classroom, noted that understandings of the object of activity differed, as the subject consisted of multiple actors (teacher and students) who did not see eye to eye, resulting in mismatched expectations regarding what was desirable in classroom speaking. the key argument of this study is that participants’ varying interpretations of the object, evidenced in stage 1, influenced their assessment of their own and each other’s participation and of their behaviors in their work groups. while fisher (2007) used the term “object in mind” to describe those immediate objects that shaped actions, in this study i use the term “object in view” (hiruma et al., 2007) in preference, as it better captures the real-world nature of the object. literature review the impact of english language competence on participation the internationalizing of anglo-western higher education has meant that english as the medium of instruction is a second language for many students (carroll, 2015). the main issues concern students’ competence in english at entry, the language entry policy of universities, and competence in academic english appropriate to the context. carroll (2005a) considered it unsurprising that the english object outcome tool subject rules community division of labor figure 1: second generation activity theory note. from learning by expanding: an activity-theoretical approach to developmental research by y. engeström, 1987, orienta-konsultit, p.78. copyright 1987 by orienta-konsultit . journal of international students 1044 language competence of international students was often viewed as the main cause of their difficulties, given the probability that most were nonnative english speakers who may not have studied previously through the medium of english. marginson and sawir (2011) noted that the competition among universities for international students in many western countries resulted in english language entry levels being set too low for students to manage without english language support. mclean and ransom (2005) suggested that the linguistic challenges to international students went beyond the obvious; citing the literature on contrastive rhetoric, they noted that even the structure of academic texts was language dependent. in the eap literature, the specificity of disciplinary discourses, and the challenges they present to international students, have been repeatedly emphasized (e.g., hyland, 2006; swales, 1990). several studies that have considered the experiences and understandings of international and home students working together in multilingual, multicultural higher education settings have emphasized language. barron’s (2006) survey of australian university students concluded that for both home and international students, the language level of international students created problems, including communication breakdown, pressure on home students to edit international students’ work, and language fatigue. harrison and peacock’s (2010) u.k. study into the anxieties home and international students experienced in studying together concluded that language was perceived as a barrier to interaction and learning. in osmond and roed (2010), language was also seen as an issue for both international and home students. international students are often critical of their own english language level and of home students and lecturers for not accommodating them. morita (2004), in an ethnographic study of six japanese postgraduates, noted that rie, one of her subjects, ascribed her feelings that both her classmates and the instructor were ignoring her, to her language level. ramsay et al. (1999), in a study of first-year undergraduates, noted that international students related their difficulties in understanding lecture content to their language level, and lecturers’ speed of delivery and choice of vocabulary. language and academic ability were sometimes conflated. harrison and peacock (2010) noted that home students were repeatedly characterized as experts, while osmond and roed (2010) reported international students’ experiences of rejection by home students, noting one student’s admission to feeling “very stupid” when working with british classmates (p.115). while the literature has emphasized competence, confidence has also been a consideration. martirosyan et al. (2015), for instance, evidenced that students’ self-perception of english proficiency impacted academic performance. for home students, the issue gave rise to both positive and negative responses. students reported a willingness to edit international students’ work (harrison & peacock, 2010; osmond & roed, 2010) and to sit with international students to help them undertake tasks (harrison & peacock, 2010). these altruistic behaviors were juxtaposed to the increase in workload home students reported, perceptions that language level made it difficult to assess international students’ other skills, and the undermining of home students’ confidence that international students understood subject content (osmond & roed, 2010). home students noted that ensuring meaning was shared led them to moderate their speech to accommodate international students, journal of international students 1045 making group work slower and more fraught (harrison & peacock, 2010). some feared a negative impact on the academic outcome of group work (jackson & huddart, 2010). home students’ frequent expressions of discomfort working with international students was characterized by one as “walking on eggshells” (osmond & roed, 2010, p. 118). zhu and bresnahan (2018) captured u.s. home students’ experiences of their relationships with chinese international students in terms of the conflicting emotions of frustration with their unequal contributions and the feelings that they should befriend them. it is clear in these studies of working together that the english language competence of some international students, or perceptions of their competence by themselves and others, present challenges to participation. insufficient attention, however, has been paid to why students interact, or experience interactions, in the way their interactions were reported, or why they reported them in the way they did. in sum, little insight has been offered into the underlying motives of participants. use and understanding of participation while concern with international student participation as the rationale for this research field is evident, understandings informed by what makes international students different have been central, with participation often sidelined or overlooked and the term largely undertheorized. where participation is in the frame, it is commonly understood in terms of language, specifically spoken language; for instance, all items in lee’s (2007) 8-point questionnaire, which sought a quantifiable measure of participation, related to speaking. other writers emphasized listening (thom, 2010; trahar, 2010). however, perhaps most discussion has surrounded the question of silence, which is commonly seen to characterize nonparticipation (hsieh, 2007; ramsay et al., 1999). jones (1999) exhorted lecturers to help international students “out of silence into talk” (p. 248), a concern prevalent even in recent literature (freeman & li, 2019), with the importance of lecturers and classmates creating an inclusive learning environment reiterated (hsu & huang, 2017). there is also a critical dimension. morita (2004) and hsieh (2007) referred to international students as being silenced by more dominant (domestic) participants, while chanock (2010) saw students who chose to remain silent as exercising their “right to reticence.” others have argued that silence can be participatory; mclean and ransom (2005) noted that silence may mean “engagement in thought, not lack of ideas” (p. 50), while carroll (2015) criticized lecturers for misinterpreting the fixed expressions on students’ faces as indicative of passiveness and disengagement. broader understandings of participation are also present. marlina (2009) noted that the students in her study considered the reading and thinking they did in preparation for classes a form of participation, whereas carroll (2005b) identified the ability “to crunch the data” and generate powerpoint slides as nonverbal participation (p. 90). mclean and ransom (2005) saw the unorthodox behavior of some local students (putting their feet on the table) as a form of participation. the relationship between participation and learning is more commonly assumed than articulated (marlina, 2009). ryan and hellmundt (2005, p. 15), for instance, journal of international students 1046 spoke of international students’ “right” to participate so that they could learn effectively. morita (2004) was unusual in employing the terms “peripheral” and “full participation,” making reference to lave and wenger (1991). it is my view that studies into participation in educative contexts should have a theorized understanding of the relationship between participation and learning as their starting point. from a vygotskyan, sociocultural perspective, participation is more than taking part as it embodies personal development. in educative contexts, through their participation, students acquire new competencies while building on what they know. in activity theory, the modeling of activity as a complex system supposes the modeling of participation, as it enables inquiry to focus on how participation may be facilitated or impeded, and how this participation facilitates or impedes the pursuit of the object. given the motivational aspect of the object (leontiev, 1978, p. 62), it is understandings of the object that have the most potent impact on what is learned. method undertaking the research the rationale for selecting a u.k. university business school as the research site lay in the popularity of business disciplines among students in eap classes in my practice context. i adopted a case study methodology given its appropriacy for context-specific research in the social sciences where preserving some distance between researcher and participants is both necessary and desirable. it takes as a given an interpretive approach (yin, 2003). the case itself was not predetermined but arose through contact with the business school in question and familiarization with the school’s pedagogies. the research procedure observed british educational research association ethical research guidelines (2011), and was certified as ethical by my affiliated institution. following exploratory observations of undergraduate classes, group work in a first-year undergraduate module, theory and practice of management (hereafter tpm), emerged as an appropriate case for study. international students were well represented in the module while group work, as the dominant pedagogy, offered a ready way to explore international student participation. in contrast, in other of the business school’s subject areas (e.g., accountancy, economics), lectures were the principal mode of delivery and students focused on individual study. tpm was large in the institutional context (>250 students) and was taught in several tutorial classes, averaging 16–25 students per class. the course was mandatory for all management students. a lecture series and weekly drop-in sessions complement the tutorials, which form the core of the module. to enable group work, tutorial groups were divided into work groups, consisting of four to seven members and “engineered” to be as diverse as possible. in the first tutorial, course tutors used an ice-breaking activity to encourage students to engage with others different from themselves with whom they might not normally speak. this activity led to the formation of work groups. in these groups, students prepared a group report (written) and a group presentation, both assessed components. as a first-year module, the module grade was not included in their final degree assessment; the requirement was journal of international students 1047 only to pass. work groups met regularly both in and out of class. several tutorials in the second half of the term were dedicated to giving presentations, which included a question-and-answer (q&a) session, with each work group presenting to the tutorial group. each work group received written feedback from another work group on both their presentation and report, a peer review process. the term “international student” some clarity was sought for this study regarding the term “international student” and its operational definition, given the distinction between the institutional use in the united kingdom, where it refers to a fee category, and use in the literature on international student participation, where its value lies in identifying a group of students for whom coming from abroad generally signifies being nonnative english speakers and lacking experience of anglo-western education (carroll, 2005a). in its u.k. institutional use, the term includes students from english-speaking countries who would not normally be included in the understanding of the term in the literature cited in this article. likewise, it cannot be assumed that “home student” refers to a homogenous group who have english as their native language and familiarity with the u.k. academic culture. in this study, however, there was a close match between how the participants identified as native/nonnative english speakers and how they were classified in the institution’s admission data, with all nonnative english speakers recorded as either international or non-u.k. european union students. this classification allowed students’ identifications as native or nonnative english speakers to be used as proxies for home/international students. in the write-up of findings, nonnative english speakers were assumed to be international students and native english speakers, home students, unless otherwise stated. of the native english speakers, all bar one, were home students. data collection i derived a broad understanding of the teaching context through observation of tutorials and lectures over two terms (two iterations of the module), and through ongoing informal catch-ups with tpm tutors. however, the data set consisted of recorded focus group interviews with students. a particular advantage of the focus group as a research instrument lay in facilitating the reenactment of the type of discussions students had had in their work groups, hence its appropriacy to a study seeking a holistic understanding of participation in group work. after working with two focus groups as a pilot, i revised the interview prompt. the final data set comprised the focus groups undertaken with students from the second module cohort: eight focus groups, fg03–fg10 (table 1). these focus groups were scheduled in the final week of the term with all students taking the module invited to attend. the sample size (n = 51) comprised those students who volunteered to take part, with the distribution across focus groups determined by the students’ availability around endof-term activities. although the length of the interviews was nominally 45 minutes, i allowed them to reach their natural end. journal of international students 1048 table 1: focus groups included in the data set focus group nonnative english speakers native english speakers length of focus groups (min) fg03 4 — 51 fg04 3 — 45 fg05 6 — 54 fg06 5 6 62 fg07 7 2 49 fg08 5 2 58 fg09 2 1 42 fg10 6 2 61 total 38 13 as part of the focus group procedure, the research subjects completed a brief survey of their language background (table 2). of the 51 subjects, 38 were nonnative english speakers and 13 were native english speakers. three groups consisted solely of nonnative english speakers. among nonnative english speakers, multilingualism was the norm, while native english speakers reported low levels of competence in languages other than english. summers and volet (2008) reported similar findings. table 2: the language background of participants tag m/f fg first language near native fluent functional basic level not specified charlie m 3 vietnamese english chloe f 3 spanish english french gabriella f 3 italian english, french katie f 3 cantonese english putonghua amelia f 4 thai english grace f 4 farsi turkish english jessica f 4 thai english dutch charlotte f 5 kazakh russian, turkish, english eleanor f 5 russian english james m 5 malay english arabic joshua m 5 russian english rebecca f 5 malay english french, arabic sarah f 5 japanese alfie m 6 english french, spanish journal of international students 1049 tag m/f fg first language near native fluent functional basic level not specified emma f 6 english spanish ethan m 6 czech english german freya f 6 english spanish, french hannah f 6 japanese english holly f 6 bulgarian czech english french spanish jacob m 6 english lucy f 6 english french nicole f 6 german english, creole french italian nicole f 6 german english, creole french italian thomas m 6 russian english abigail f 7 bulgarian english german daisy f 7 german danish english french erin f 7 english french imogen f 7 chinese french, english jasmine f 7 chinese two chinese dialects english matilda f 7 bulgarian english russian, spanish megan f 7 english patrick m 7 german english poppy f 7 french english german alexander m 8 english french, spanish daniel m 8 russian english george m 8 gujarati english, kiswahili, hindi french, spanish layla f 8 english maisie f 8 russian english, german italian samuel m 8 russian english chinese william m 8 italian english lucas m 9 french english italian oscar m 9 english french, spanish journal of international students 1050 tag m/f fg first language near native fluent functional basic level not specified phoebe f 9 french spanish, norwegian, english anna f 10 swedish english spanish benjamin m 10 german english spanish, french dylan m 10 russian armenian, english henry m 10 romanian english german spanish max m 10 italian english spanish mandarin maya f 10 english french spanish molly f 10 english french scarlett f 10 french english spanish the focus group prompt asked students to discuss their experiences of participation in their module work groups. the wording derived in part from the tpm module description, which specified positive collaboration in group work in the course learning outcomes. the prompt reminded participants that groups were diverse, with participants coming from different countries and regions. subprompts, which were more narrowly focused, were occasionally used when discussion faltered. prompts were projected on a screen with this the only interaction between me and the subjects during the interviews, other than conducting the survey and the formalities of opening and closing. the focus groups were recorded using video and audio devices. the raw interview data was fully transcribed, following standard conventions for transcribing classroom talk (stubbs et al., 1979), providing a verbatim transcription rendered in written form. no attempt was made to correct nonnative english language errors. additional signaling of some paralinguistic features (e.g., laughter) was added. data analysis the first stage of the analysis served to sift the data, coding to the predetermined categories of subject, object, tools, rules, community, division of labor (engeström, 1987), and institutional practice (hedegaard, 2001). the insight deriving from stage 1 that the abstract object “learning” was perceived by focus group participants as multiple objects in view, shaped the second stage of analysis. the second stage focused on the single category of object, seen simultaneously as the focus of the analysis and the lens through which activity could be viewed. the objects in view, identified as collaborating in work groups, fulfilling a task, academic study, and gaining professional experience, were used as level 1 categories, and in coding it was useful to keep in mind the question, “what object does the speaker have in view?” coding at stage 2 proceeded through a total of eight levels, with the number of excerpts coded to categories falling to single digits. it provided a layered and journal of international students 1051 multithemed analysis; however, language or language-related items repeatedly emerged as coding categories. a simplified representation of the analysis of object, insofar as it relates to participants’ experiences and understandings of language or language-related items, is provided in table 3. table 3: analysis of the educational objects in view level 1 level 2 levels 3–8 collaboration dealing with linguistic diversity degrees of competence and confidence in english—impact on collaboration using english to exclude speaking languages other than english assumptions about and expectations of native/expert english speakers task language level as an issue english language level at entry english language competence as an obstacle to task accomplishment academic study developing skills and skill use english language skills study skills it skills professional practice i used nvivo software for coding at both stages, with each excerpt tagged with a unique reference identifying the speaker by focus group, gender, and whether they identified as native english speakers (ns) or nonnative english speakers (nns). subsequently, proxy male and female names, taken from a web-based list of popular u.k. first names, were randomly assigned as individualized gendered markers and to humanize the write up. results the findings reported in this section focus on how participants in the focus groups spoke about language when collaboration, task, and academic study were the objects in view. no categories relating to language were identified when professional practice was the object. journal of international students 1052 collaboration data excerpts were coded to collaboration when participants discussed their experiences of group work in terms of the object of working together collaboratively. while it was uncommon for this object to be explicitly articulated, henry (fg10nns) did so when he questioned the understanding of the object as getting “the highest grade possible” (task accomplishment), arguing “the most important thing [was] working in the group” (collaboration). dealing with linguistic diversity data coded to this level 2 category included discussion of the impact on collaboration of degrees of competence in english, using english to exclude, the use of languages other than english, and expectations of expert english speakers (levels 3–8). linguistic diversity was commonly reduced to the native/nonnative english speaker binary, terms carrying assumptions of disadvantage or advantage. imogen (fg07nns) put her difficulty in the presentation down to her first language not being english, while alfie (fg06ns) presupposed that expertise in english brought academic benefits and vice versa: [w]hen you’ve got foreign students in your group, you presume that you’re going to be able to the work at a higher level. … it’s not saying that they can’t do it, it’s just, if they do have a language barrier… the belief that competence in english could obstruct group work was frequently expressed. molly (fg10ns) noted, “it’s very difficult for people whose english is very good to work with people whose english isn’t so good …” deeper sensitivities were also evidenced. rebecca (fg05nns) characterized home students’ construction of international students as weak linguistically as a way to rationalize her perception of their reluctance to accept international students as full participants: the home students … have this assumption that international students cannot speak english… . [t]hey will always say … the big part we’ll give to the uk students. phoebe (fg09nns) likewise supposed ulterior motives, arguing that the whispering of home students in her group could not be justified as a reasonable response to the presence of nonnative english speakers who might not understand, but rather a deliberate intention to exclude international students. references to the use of languages other than english further highlighted how language use might exclude. lucy (fg06ns) reported how two members of her group “often speak together in their own language,” noting how this made “collaboration within the group harder” by setting up a “language barrier.” there were no mentions of benefits that might arise from language plurality. many international students had high expectations of expert english speakers. katie (fg04nns), identifying the advantages of british groupmates, observed, “i can ask them to help me to proofread my composition.” some saw help from native journal of international students 1053 english speakers as indispensable; jasmine (fg07nns) described her group’s dismay when their native english-speaking groupmate fell sick the day before the presentation: [y]ou became really stressed when the only guy who can speak this language properly, he was ill. … [f]or international students it was so hopeless. expert speakers were divided in their responses. many met expectations; layla (fg08ns), for instance, detailed how her group supported an international student by slowing the conversation, explaining things, and “happily” correcting language errors. but there were also tensions around being cast as an english expert. molly (fg10ns) acknowledged the value of language help to international students while emphasizing the extra work involved and her discomfort in being cast as a teacher: they are benefiting … but you have to work so much harder to drag them up … go over their work, check it like you’re the teacher. others showed frustration when their efforts to help seemed taken for granted. scarlett (fg10nns) described correcting another student’s work during a meeting, observing “the girl who had actually written that part wasn’t even, like, paying that much attention.” however, there were also expressions of gratitude for help received. speaking of the british students in her group, matilda (fg07nns) noted, “they really tried to help the international students.” from the activity theoretical perspective, when the object collaboration was in view, the instrumental character of language was evident, with individuals’ varying competence in english seen to facilitate or impede collaboration. while expert speakers commonly accommodated to less competent speakers and the less competent assumed the support of experts would be forthcoming, the findings also indicated that facilitating communication coexisted with tensions around the social elements: community (feelings of being otherized); rules (which language might be used and when, delimitations of roles); and division of labor (how tasks should be distributed). there was also a recognition of language as “constitutive” (turner, 2004) in the understanding of the reluctance to communicate as embodying reluctance to collaborate, and in this sense language ceased to be seen as purely instrumental but rather as a dimension of the object. there were occasions when mismatched expectations suggested participants had different objects in view. as scarlett’s frustration with her groupmate instances, those prioritizing collaboration were unlikely to see eye to eye with groupmates who saw the part they played solely in terms of its contribution to accomplishing the task. task the written report and the group presentation were the main tasks students were set in their work groups. these deliverables incorporated reflective tasks, principally peer review. data was coded to “task” when speakers’ utterances indicated they were mindful of the module tasks and the purposeful nature of the work to accomplish them. journal of international students 1054 language level as an issue at this level 2 category, focus group participants expressed concern about the language level at entry and the linguistic challenges associated with the module tasks (levels 3–8). samuel (fg08nns) saw the former as the root cause of difficulties, noting, “it’s so strange how all these people get an offer to university because it’s ... a pretty high standard for ielts.” discussion followed concerning what language exams test, coaching, and speculation regarding the university’s softening of language entry levels. for many, language level was perceived as an obstacle to task accomplishment. jessica (fg03nns) observed, “there are a couple of people who are finding it really difficult to actually do things in english” (her emphasis). for native and expert english speakers, concern about english seemed most in evidence in editing written tasks. surprise was commonly expressed at the work involved; phoebe (fg09nns) commented: i thought it would be really easy, i mean i would do it in 20 minutes, but when you have to turn around all the sentences and try to find a bit more diverse vocabulary … it does take some time. to note, she does not question the necessity for rigorous editing. the peer review process, poorly understood and often delayed, was a focus of tension, with the expert english users who consistently led, doing so with less grace. alexander (fg08ns) expressed his frustration at the lack of involvement of his groupmates and how this colored his view of group work: [n]obody was doing it … and in the end it just involved me and [an]other girl … . and that … affected the way that i perceived my group. this comment prompted george (fg08nns) to relate his experience, framing it in terms of home and international students. he noted how the home students went ahead with the peer review without consultation, expressing with bitterness his belief that this was to be expected: george: the two english guys in our group did the peer review … [t]hey just came and said they had done the peer review. alexander (ns): they didn’t even ask you … to check it? george: oh, why would they ask us to? … [i]n our group they’re two english students and the rest of them are international students. i doubt if they’d had said, “do you want to check it?” much of the discussion of the presentation concerned the challenges that answering questions posed for nonnative english speakers. as jasmine (fg07nns) noted, her panic when the native english speaker in her group fell ill related to the q&a session. regarding comprehension, participants mentioned accents (charlotte, fg05nns; eleanor, fg05nns); speed of delivery (william, fg05nns), and the coherence of utterances, particularly when the speaker was also an international student (eleanor, fg05nns). in formulating responses, jessica (fg04nns) identified the demands of “think[ing] on the spot” as compounding the difficulty in understanding, highlighting the impact on her participation: journal of international students 1055 i can’t really interpret the question well and i can’t really think on the spot, so i think that … makes it quite difficult for me to … participate in that discussion group. some believed that in order to impress the tutor or reduce others’ chances of doing well, students acted competitively (eva, fg07nns; rebecca, fg05nns), asking “killer questions” (rebecca). in a focus group consisting only of international students (fg05), the participants discussed a strategy for dealing pragmatically with q&a sessions, involving the exchange of prescripted questions. james (fg05nns) explained: [t]he group … who is going to present distribute a set of questions to the other groups … . [t]hey already know the answers, so they won’t look stupid in front of everyone … like a mutual agreement. in the ensuing discussion, sarah (fg05nns) defended this practice noting, “i think it is good to collaborate.” in activity theoretical terms, the instrumentality of language was uppermost when task completion was prioritized, with some international students’ competence in english perceived as an obstacle to task accomplishment. the efforts to overcome this barrier were evident in the division of labor within groups, with english experts spending time on editing and being relied on to take the lead in presentations. this dependence could lead to tensions when group members were not seen to be pulling their weight (rules) or when other objects were present, as was evident in alexander (fg08ns) and george’s (fg08nns) contrasting recollections of the peer review. while alexander prioritized task accomplishment, george saw the home students as overlooking the object of collaboration. when the challenges to task accomplishment appeared insurmountable, as in the q&a sessions, there was evident flouting of rules, albeit artfully justified by sarah through invoking an alternative object (collaboration). at points, language seemed to merge with the object; not questioning the necessity of correct written english supposed that this was perceived as an aspect of the object, part of the defining criteria, rather than an instrument for achieving it. academic study academic study as an object was always implicit but rarely explicit, with reminders that this was the raison d’être for attending university provided circuitously. anna (fg10nns) ventriloquized the geography students she rooms with (“why are you in the library all the time? do you even have to study?”), making the point that while geography students might have an easy time, as a management student she needed no reminder of the purpose of university. when academic study was the object in view, participants distinguished between subject knowledge and skills, recognizing the necessity of language and study skills, including computer skills, to acquire and articulate subject knowledge. journal of international students 1056 developing skills and skill use despite the many references to language level, explicit recognition by international students of the need to improve english, how to do so, and the outcomes of any actions were less evident. max’s (fg10nns) work group was unusual in conducting a skills audit. in a frank discussion, group members informed others in the group of the need to improve their english. max recognized this topic as a sensitive issue, describing the initial reticence of group members to participate. maya (fg10ns), herself an international student, took this issue further, implying that stigma was attached to admitting one’s language level was inadequate. even to enter the language centre, which provided classes in eap, was to lose face: if you’re coming … from russia, from china, you don’t want to admit that you’re falling behind … . if you walk through these doors you’re always already showing you’re weaker than someone else who’s english. focus group participants identified shortcomings in their language skills more readily than how they might address them. rebecca (fg05nns) noted her need to work on her listening skills, jessica (fg04nns) her lack of fluency. william (fg08nns), an exchange student, stated that his main purpose in coming to the united kingdom was to improve his english “of course,” the tag affirming his belief in the generality of this view. the language learning strategy with which participants seemed most at ease was informal peer communication. maisie (fg08nns) spoke of living with native english speakers, ethan (fg06nns) of socializing with british friends, while william (fg08nns) observed, “i can just cover my english classes talking with people.” max (fg10nns) criticized what he saw as the reluctance to attend eap classes. indeed, george (fg08nns) was in a minority in stating that he did so, taking at face value a request to explain what this entailed. it is unclear whether focus group participants knew as little as they appeared to about the availability of language support. participants also reported on their progress; george (fg08nns), for example, spoke of the language teacher helping him with his grammar. however, progress also came through gains in confidence, with students pushed from their comfort zones realizing they could manage. reflecting on her panic about the q&a session, jasmine (fg07nns) observed how her native-speaking groupmate’s absence “really pushed you to work,” resulting in an unexpectedly favorable outcome. international students seemed to find it less hard to accept the role of formal learning for developing study skills, where they were also seen to lag behind home students. max’s (fg10nns) pragmatic approach to improving his study skills (“it’s not a matter of how smart you are; it’s a matter of how much time you give to it”) is not contested or seen as stigmatic. in contrast to both these areas, focus group participants appeared comfortable with the need to acquire computer skills. while being an international student was not considered disadvantageous in this context, cultural background did have a place, with students’ nationalities commonly referenced. anna (fg10nns) mentioned learning to use spreadsheets from an indian student, while lucas (fg09nns), referring to google docs, noted “the american guy showed us how it worked.” journal of international students 1057 from the activity theoretical perspective, while the acquisition of skills was broadly viewed as mediating the learning and presentation of subject knowledge (tool), developing these competencies was perceived as a dimension of the object “academic study.” a variety of english language skills and subskills were deemed necessary and in need of improvement. however, while international students recognized this need, they showed reluctance to engage in formal language learning. despite the availability of eap classes (institutional practice), the majority clearly favored informal learning. the discomfort around this area, arising from the values brought to or inherent in the interaction (community) and captured in the encultured notion of stigma, impeded the pursuit of the object. stigma was less evident with study skills, while work groups seemed to develop effective and uncomplicated divisions of labor for developing computer know-how. william’s single-minded preoccupation with improving his english illustrates the bidirectional instrumentality between skill acquisition and subject knowledge familiar to language teachers, and incorporated into some language teaching methodologies. discussion the study from which this article draws sought to contribute to the literature on international student participation in anglo-western higher education. like this literature, it assumed as valid the juxtaposition of international and home students. while the distinction facilitates understanding of the needs of a particular group of students, readers will not need reminding that these terms are problematic; they resist definition and incline debate toward what divides them. notwithstanding, the following points should be kept in mind: • the study participants readily used these terms and it was clear that the distinction was meaningful for them. • conflating ‘home student’ with ‘native english speaker’ and ‘international student’ with ‘non-native english speaker’ worked in this study and concurred with the students’ use and understandings of these terms. • moving the focus from international students themselves to their participation meant that the ways in which international students might be distinguished from other students was not the main concern. • the identification in the findings of some non-native english speakers as english experts diminished the imperative of the native speaker/nonnative speaker binary. in particular, the study sought to contribute to those studies that recognize that international students’ experiences of learning encounters are shaped as much by their interactions with home students as by what they themselves bring to the learning environment. the reductivist approach prominent in the literature was considered important to challenge. for educators working with international students, reductivist thinking, journal of international students 1058 while providing ready answers, has reinforced preconceptions and oversimplified. this is not to deny the relevance of english language competence or culture of origin; indeed, this paper addresses the former, but rather to highlight the virtue of developing approaches to inquiry that are holistic in nature and contextual. in the study, activity theory, primarily engeström’s second generation model (1987), was adopted as the theoretical underpinning, as it offered a framework that comprises a diverse range of elements related to doing and the social constraints on collective human activity. as such, it accommodates factors unrelated to being international students and the recognition that learning cultures conducive to participation are coconstructed. as a post-vygotskian approach, activity theory has the further virtue of furnishing a theorized understanding of the relationship of participation to learning. the focus group as the research instrument had particular resonance given that the unit of analysis was group work. the findings of the study reported in this article relate to students’ understandings and experiences of the impact of english language competence and language use on participation in their work groups. international students often mentioned the benefits of working with native english speakers. although some were fulsome in their gratitude, others seemed to take for granted the help they received. while some english experts met these expectations, demonstrating altruistic behavior, others expressed their frustration in working with students whose english language competence did not always seem adequate. with identities readily built around being international or home students, there was a tendency to otherize (said, 1978), inclining towards misrepresentation and misunderstanding. notwithstanding, as noted, being an expert english user in this study was not synonymous with being a home student or native english speaker, and expert english users who were international students often seemed to share more in common on the language issue with native english speakers than with other international students. in terms of the relationship between international and home students—on the one hand, the reaching out, on the other, the frustrations and tensions—these findings echo other postmillennial uk studies into multilingual, multicultural group work in higher education contexts (harrison & peacock, 2010; osmond & roed, 2010), although the heightened emotions reported in some literature, including aggressive behavior (osmond & roed, 2010), were not in evidence. the theoretical framework furnished by activity theory offered a way to understand participation in terms of the core components of the vygotskian triangle and the social elements introduced by activity theorists. given the primacy of the object in activity theory, and the insight of the first stage of the analysis that focus group participants had multiple understandings of the educational object of group work, the in-depth analysis was restricted to the category of the object. accepting that the object might have multiple interpretations, although a departure from the standard position in second generation activity theory, has precedent in education studies. while engeström explored this possibility in third generation theory, which considers the interactions of adjacent activity systems (1999, 2001), in this study the integrity of the activity system was not at issue, only the plurality of the object. the meaningful relationship between the expectations and behaviors of subjects and their different understandings of the object observed by fisher (2007) was also evident in journal of international students 1059 this study. as such, the construct ‘object in view’ (hiruma et al., 2007), which the study adopted, offers explanatory potential. in the in-depth analysis of the object, the ‘objects in view’ were employed as first level categories. using the descriptive language of activity theory, understandings facilitated by the different objects in view, in so far as they related to the language issue, were presented above (findings). the distinct contribution of the construct ‘object in view’ can be summarized as follows: when ‘collaboration’ was the object in view, focus group participants expressed frustration at the ways language might impede collaboration, while actively seeking ways of improving communication in their groups. the good intentions, however, were sometimes marred by misunderstandings including second-guessing the motives of others. (language was a challenge.) when ‘task’ was the object in view, the language issue tended to be viewed as an obstacle to task accomplishment. pragmatic responses by either the institution or participants, were seen as necessary, but these were deemed to come at a cost. (language was a barrier that needed to be overcome.) when ‘academic study’ was the object in view, awareness of the english language as a set of skills requiring enhancement was juxtaposed to the stigma associated with this need. participants sometimes found it hard to divorce language from ability in general, leading to questions of identity and self-worth, and in this sense language as a set of skills was viewed differently from other skill areas. (students were reluctant to address the language issue.) recognition that understandings of the object of activity impact on students’ perceptions of english language competence is of value to eap teachers and others involved in the education of international students in anglo-western higher education. it invites us to go beyond a concern with the nature or degree of the linguistic challenge international students face, to ask questions of the contexts in which english language competence is perceived as an issue. in encouraging educators to qualify deficit perceptions of language (or for that matter culture) it reminds us that the urge to ‘fix’ international students language should not be divorced from concerns to re-model the learning environments in which language is perceived as needing ‘fixing’. a premise of this paper has been that activity theory, as a dynamic framework that perceives activity as both social and developmental, may help to move away from the reductivist discourse that has prevailed in the literature. in particular, it has been argued that the more nuanced understanding of the object furnished by the construct ‘object in view’ facilitates understanding of why participants in activity act in the way they act, express the views they do, differ in their views, or hold views perceived as contradictory. a particular ‘take-away’ for eap practitioners is that accenting the deficit in support, is unlikely to curry favor among students. journal of international students 1060 references ballard, b., & clanchy, j. (1991). teaching students from overseas: a brief guide for lecturers and supervisors. longman cheshire. barron, p. (2006). stormy outlook? domestic students’ impression of international students and an australian university. journal of teaching in travel and tourism, 2(2), 5–22. biggs, j. (1987). student approaches to learning and studying. australian council for educational research. biggs, j. (1996). western misconceptions of the confucian heritage learning culture. in d. watkins & j. biggs (eds.), the chinese learner: cultural, psychological, and contextual influences (pp. 45–67). comparative education research centre/australian council for educational research. british educational research association. (2011). ethical guidelines for educational research. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/bera-ethical-guidelines-foreducational-research-2011 brown, s., & jones, e. (2007). introduction: values, valuing and value in an internationalised higher education context. in e. jones & b. brown (eds.), internationalising higher education (pp. 1–6). routledge. carroll, j. (2005a). “lightening the load”: teaching in english, learning in english. in j. carroll & j. ryan (eds.), teaching international students: improving education for all (pp. 35–42). routledge. carroll, j. (2005b). multicultural groups for discipline-specific tasks. in j. carroll & j. ryan (eds.), teaching international students: improving education for all (pp. 84–91). routledge. carroll, j. (2015). tools for teaching in an educationally mobile world. routledge. chanock, k. (2010). the right to reticence. teaching in higher education, 15(5), 543–552. de vita, g. (2007). taking stock: an appraisal of the literature on internationalising he learning. in e. jones & b. brown (eds.), internationalising higher education (pp. 154–168). routledge. engeström, y. (1987). learning by expanding: an activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. orienta-konsultit. engeström, y. (1999). activity theory and individual and social transformation. in y. engeström, r. miettinem, & r.-l. punamäki (eds.), perspectives on activity theory (pp. 19–38). cambridge university press. engeström, y. (2001). expansive learning at work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. journal of education and work, 14(1), 133–156. fisher, r. (2007). talking of talk: how exploration of the object can illuminate participants’ understanding of classroom discourse. in r. alanen & s. pöyhönen (eds.), language in action: vygotsky and leontievian legacy today (pp. 223– 244). cambridge scholars publishing. freeman, k., & li, m. (2019). “we are a ghost in the class”: first year international students’ experiences in the global contact zone. journal of international students, 9(1), 19–38. journal of international students 1061 gu, q. (2009). maturity and interculturality: chinese students’ experiences in uk higher education. european journal of education, 44(1), 37–52. hamp-lyons, l. (2015). the future of jeap and eap. journal of english for academic purposes, 20, a1–a4. harrison, n., & peacock, n. (2010). interactions in the international classroom: the uk perspective. in e. jones (ed.), internationalisation and the student voice (pp. 125–142). routledge. hedegaard, m. (2001). learning through acting within societal traditions: learning in classrooms. in m. hedegaard (ed.), learning in classrooms: a cultural historical approach (pp. 15–25). aarhus university press. hiruma, f., wells, g., & ball, t. (2007). the problem of discoursing in activity. an international journal of human activity theory, 1, 93–114. hsieh, m. (2007). challenges for international students in higher education: one student’s narrated story of invisibility and struggle. college student journal, 41(2), 379–391. hsu, c., & huang, i. (2017). are international students quiet in class? the influence of teacher confirmation on classroom apprehension and willingness. journal of international students, 7(1), 38–52. hyland, k. (2006). writing in the academy: reputation, education and knowledge. institute of education, university of london. jackson, e., & huddart, t. (2010). curriculum design based on home students’ interpretations of internationalisation. arecls, 7, 80–112. jones, j. (1999). from silence to talk: cross-cultural ideas on students’ participation in academic group discussion. english for specific purposes, 18(3), 243–259. kumaravadivelu, b. (2003). problematizing cultural stereotypes in tesol. tesol quarterly, 37(4), 709–718. lave, j., & wenger, e. (1991). situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation. cambridge university press. lee, e. l. (2007). linguistic and cultural factors in east asian students’ oral participation in u.s. university classrooms. international education, 36(3), 29– 47. leontiev, a. n. (1978). activity, consciousness and personality. prentice hall. louie, k. (2005). gathering cultural knowledge: useful or use with care? in j. carroll & j. ryan (eds.), teaching international students: improving education for all (pp. 17–25). routledge. marginson, s., & sawir, e. (2011). ideas for intercultural education. palgrave macmillan. marlina, r. (2009). “i don’t talk or i decide not to talk? is it my culture?” international students’ experiences of tutorial participation. international journal of educational research, 48, 235–244. martirosyan, n. m., hwang, e., & wanjohi, r. (2015). impact of english proficiency on academic performance of international students. journal of international students, 5(1), 60–70. mclean, p., & ransom, l. (2005). building intercultural competencies. in j. carroll & j. ryan (eds.), teaching international students: improving education for all (pp. 45–62). routledge. journal of international students 1062 morita, n. (2004). negotiating participation and identity in second language academic communities. tesol quarterly, 38(4), 573–603. osmond, j., & roed, j. (2010). sometimes it means more work ... student perceptions of group work in a mixed cultural setting. in e. jones (ed.), internationalisation and the student voice (pp. 113–124). routledge. ramsay, s., barker, m., & jones, e. (1999). academic adjustment and learning processes: a comparison of international and local students in first-year university. higher education research & development, 18(1), 129–144. ryan, j., & hellmundt, s. (2005). maximising international students’ cultural capital. in j. carroll & j. ryan (eds.), teaching international students: improving education for all (pp. 13–16). routledge. ryan, j., & louie, k. (2007). false dichotomy? “western” and “confucian” concepts of scholarship and learning. educational philosophy and theory, 39(4), 404– 417. said, e. (1978). orientalism. routledge & kegan paul. straker, j. (2014). a case study of international student participation in an undergraduate module in management in a uk business school using the lens of activity theory [unpublished doctoral thesis]. university of exeter, uk. straker, j. (2016). international student participation in higher education: changing the focus from ‘international students’ to ‘participation’. journal of studies in international education, 20(4), 299–318. stubbs, m., robinson, b., & twite, s. (1979). observing classroom language. open university. summers, m., & volet, s. (2008). students’ attitudes towards culturally mixed groups on international campuses: impact of participation in diverse and non-diverse groups. studies in higher education, 33(4), 357–370. swales, j. (1990). genre analysis: english in academic and research settings. cambridge university press thom, v. (2010). mutual cultures: engaging with interculturalism in higher education. in e. jones (ed.), internationalisation and the student voice (pp. 155– 168). routledge. trahar, s. (2010). has everybody seen a swan? stories from the internationalised classroom. in e. jones (ed.), internationalisation and the student voice (pp. 143– 154). routledge. turner, j. (2004). language as academic purpose. journal of english for academic purposes, 3(2), 95–109 vygotsky, l. s. (1978). mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. harvard university press. yin, r. k. (2003). case study research: design and methods (3rd ed.). sage. zhu, y., & bresnahan, m. (2018). “they make no contribution!” versus “we should make friends with them!”—american domestic students’ perception of chinese international students’ reticence and face. journal of international students, 8(4), 1614–1635. journal of international students 1063 john straker, edd, is an associate research fellow in the college of social sciences and international studies at the university of exeter and program manager of the english language skills development program, into university of exeter. his main professional and research interest is facilitating international student participation in degree programs. his current research explores the utility of activity theory as a framework for understanding and researching international student participation. email: j.o.straker@exeter.ac.uk 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 0016_4729 560 book review © journal of international students volume 12, issue 2 (2022), pp. 560-563 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12i2.4729 ojed.org/jis humanizing methodologies in educational research: centering non-dominant communities by c. c. reyes, s. j. haines, & k. clark. (2021). teachers college press, us. isbn 13 978-0807765548 reviewed by xinyue zuo, university of massachusetts, amherst, us amid the covid-19 pandemic and continued instances of systemic racism, societies of trauma unfold before us. the impact of these and other events on school children, especially those from non-dominant families, compels a growing number of scholars and educators to act and render care and support. in this context, the book humanizing methodologies in educational research: centering non-dominant communities written by reyes et al. was born. these authors apply ishimaru et al.’s (2016) definition of non-dominant groups, which are groups comprising low-income, immigrants/refugees, and other groups of color, marginalized by dominant institutions. they reflect on ethical concerns and methodological challenges associated with leading a community-based research project, centering connections, which explored the relationship between refugee families and schools. engaging in critical reflexivity, the authors examine the complex dynamics of power relations in journal of international students 561 research relationships, particularly between researchers and refugee participants and detail how a humanizing approach is a powerful tool for fostering mutually beneficial researcher-participant relationships. the book challenges the conventional stance of researchers remaining impersonal and neutral, an elitist view of researchers as all-knowing experts, and deficit-based stereotypes of refugee communities. the book provides practical strategies for research alongside marginalized communities and insightful thoughts on applying humanizing approaches in future qualitative research. in chapter 1, the authors delve into relationship building with non-dominant communities, focusing on researchers’ commitment to participants. the authors argue that the humanizing approach, based on decolonizing self-reflection within the filipino concept of kapawa and critical, postcolonial, and feminist theoretical frameworks, helped them cope with the relational tensions encountered in centering connections. the approach is mainly composed of three key elements: critical reflexivity, humility, and reciprocity. critical reflexivity requires intentional listening (paris, 2011) to understand others’ ways of knowing, and examining one’s own epistemology to develop an awareness of the unequal power dynamics in research relationships. humility calls for respecting and centering others’ ways of knowing and generating learning through dialogic engagement. reciprocity involves a transactional “give and take” (harrison et al., 2001) and researchers’ initiative to interpret, represent, and center participants’ voices. these concepts guide humanizing research relationships, as explained in the chapters to follow. chapter 2 examines tensions arising in navigating the institutional review board (irb) process and following irb standards regarding research on nondominant communities, especially with respect to recruiting, obtaining informed consent, and interviews. it discusses the limitations of irb protocols and questions the term “vulnerable population,” which fails to acknowledge participants’ strengths and assets. the authors advise researchers to critically examine the language of consent forms and interview protocols and build relationships with participants while maintaining full consideration of the cultural, linguistic, and historical differences to ensure meaningful and respectful engagement. in chapter 3, the authors reflect on their experiences working with student researchers (students with refugee backgrounds and their u.s.-born peers), particularly around the dynamics of relationships. the authors emphasize that principal investigators should position themselves as learners and teachers and construct a comfortable, personal, and growing space for the team to thrive. humanizing the relationship within the team would enable co-construction of knowledge, negotiating meaning from the lenses of cultural insiders and outsiders. recommended practices for working with students are also put forward. as principal investigators and the refugee families did not share the same language, partnership with interpreters was essential across the research project in focus here. in chapter 4, the authors discuss their experiences in working with interpreters through a decolonizing lens. the salient roles different types of xinyue zuo 562 interpreters (home-school liaisons, student researchers, and other community members) played are highlighted, including, yet not limited to, participant recruitment, data collection, and data interpretation. the authors also elucidate how interpreters might filter data, thus underscoring the importance of understanding interpreters’ connections with the community, seeking interpreters’ understanding of the project, and building trust with them. chapter 5 further elucidates what “reciprocity” means for both researchers and participants, expanding the notion to encompass “relational reciprocating actions like processing, advocating, and amplifying voices” (p. 129). the authors posit that to make the research mutually beneficial, researchers should approach a project with decent care of relationship-building, creating a space not only for participants to recount their stories but also for researchers themselves to listen intentionally to gain knowledge and establish friendships. participants’ voices as insiders and “co-thinkers” (p. 129) should be respected and augmented through researchers’ probing, writing, and disseminating research results. the authors devoted chapter 6 to the methodological reflections of guest researchers on their work with “vulnerable” groups. two guest authors describe a five-step research model they developed for researching individuals with disabilities that stresses focusing on participants’ needs and including them throughout the research process. they suggest including reflexivity at every stage, positioning participants as co-researchers and co-constructors of knowledge, and committing to them. another guest author presents research with undocumented students, demonstrating the importance of transparency, rapport, trustworthiness, and confidentiality in maintaining a connected relationship. the consensus among guest authors is the need for culturally responsive research designs. the authors conclude the book by summarizing significant insights from each chapter and offering implications to inform future research. the authors recommend (1) creating an inclusive, transparent research space by critically selfreflecting on preconceptions and analytic foci and by simultaneously helping mentees establish such mindset; (2) conducting follow-up participant interviews to co-construct knowledge; (3) engaging multiple embedded case studies; and (4) building dynamic relationships to ensure iterative community responses. from interrogating the language used in irb protocols through data analysis, the authors expound on tensions, challenges, and ambiguities researchers experience when performing research with non-dominant populations. this book heightens our awareness of dilemmas researchers frequently encounter by detailing researchers’ experiences and presenting relevant examples substantiating the authors’ proposed process for pursuing a humanizing approach to research. centering connections describes the intricacies of employing the humanizing approach while critically reflecting on the process. the authors offer insightful, practical strategies for employing this approach, based on the authors’ and guest authors’ experiences. interwoven throughout and heavily emphasized is the necessity for researchers to gain participants’ trust and build dynamic, respectful, and reciprocal relationships with non-dominant participants, teachers, schools, and interpreters. through vivid descriptive stories, the authors solidify journal of international students 563 their case for humanizing research by citing the impossibility of producing iterative community responses yielding substantial change and/or supportive resources for refugee children without it. the book encourages self-reflexivity and reiterates how researchers should assume the role of a learner. as argued by nieto in the foreword, researchers should be “more vulnerable, more human, and less certain of our own expertise and knowledge” (p. 12). the authors of centering connections do a remarkable job of deconstructing deficit perspectives toward refugee families in educational literature. further, the book makes a valuable contribution to the dearth of literature regarding the ethics of performing research with non-dominant populations. school administrators, teachers, liaisons, researchers, and members of nondominant communities can benefit from the ideas this book presents. policymakers in universities can also derive lessons concerning policies and practices for researching non-dominant populations. while the book reported on a study situated within the educational context, the publication’s insights may be generalized and applied across disciplines. readers may note that the language used to define concepts like “humility” and “reciprocity” distracts from some salient points. simplifying the verbiage used to describe essential concepts would enhance reader engagement and connectivity with concepts and their applications. however, this does not detract from the overall quality of publication. references harrison, j., macgibbon, l., & morton, m. (2001). regimes of trustworthiness in qualitative research: the rigors of reciprocity. qualitative inquiry, 7(3), 323–345. https://doi.org/10.117780040100700305 ishimaru, a. m., torres, k. e., salvador, j. e., lott, j. ii, williams, d. m. c., & tran, c. (2016). reinforcing deficit, journeying toward equity: cultural brokering in family engagement initiatives. american educational research journal, 53(4), 850–822. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831216657178 paris, d. (2011). “a friend who understand fully:” notes on humanizing research on a multiethnic youth community. international journal of qualitative studies in education, 24(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398. 2010.495091 xinyue zuo, mat-tesol, is a doctoral candidate in teacher education and curriculum studies at the university of massachusetts amherst. her research focuses on language and literacy development of english language learners, second-language acquisition, and educational bilingual interpreting. email: xzuo@umass.edu 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again 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service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a 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this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx ch09_3190 (0002) 932 research article © journal of international students volume 11, issue 4 (2021), pp. 932-949 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v11i4.3190 ojed.org/jis agency and accountability in the academic reading of international graduate students using english as an additional language mahmoud altalouli duke university, usa abstract this grounded theory study explores the academic english reading practices of six english-as-an-additional-language students from china and japan in a graduate course in their first semester at a u.s. university. academic reading is an understudied yet foundational literacy practice for graduate students. data include classroom observations of the graduate course during one semester, individual interviews with six students and the course instructor, and the collection of documents. drawing on the analytic lenses of agency and accountability, the findings show that while the requirements established by the instructor and syllabus explicitly or implicitly held students accountable for the work, students also responded strategically to the course’s accountability structure. they agentively made choices about how to engage with the readings in terms of the purposes for which they read and how much time they spent on the readings. keywords: academic reading, english as an additional language, graduate students, literacy practices international graduate students around the world continue to travel to enroll in higher education institutions in english-speaking countries in high numbers. in 2019, over 5 million students were internationally mobile (institute of international education [iie], 2019b). in the united states, which has the largest overseas study market of more than 1 million international students, 34% are mahmoud altalouli 933 graduate students (iie, 2019a). these students choose universities in englishspeaking countries for several reasons, including the global status of the english language, the quality of education provided, the highly resourced research infrastructures available, and, for some students, the availability of funding (kim, 2011). most international students come from countries where english is an additional language (iie, 2019b), which shapes their academic experiences, including academic communication practices (i.e., reading, writing, and speaking). learning to succeed in english-speaking universities can be complex for many international students, not only because they have to use english as an additional language (eal) but also because they often need to learn and use new communication practices of a new academic context (seloni, 2012) and of their specific discipline. they may also be asked to do larger quantities of reading and writing than in their undergraduate programs (singh, 2015). considerable research has explored how international graduate students learn the writing practices of their disciplines in anglophone contexts, focusing on how students write genres such as academic essays (e.g., bauer & picciotto, 2013), articles for publication (e.g., tardy, 2005), and dissertations (e.g., chou, 2011). to date, more research has focused on writing in an additional language rather than on reading or other communication practices. this study contributes to the underresearched area examining eal graduate students’ academic reading at anglophone universities. because reading is a foundation for success across all disciplines and across academic levels (grabe & zhang, 2013), there is a need for it to be more visible in both research and discussions of pedagogical practice. this article is part of a larger study that explores how international eal graduate students engage with disciplinary readings in their graduate coursework at a u.s. university. in this article, i present findings that answer the following research questions: 1. how do eal graduate students’ academic reading practices inform their contributions to classroom discussions? 2. how do eal graduate students’ academic reading practices inform their contributions to written assignments? drawing on the analytic lenses of agency and accountability (archer, 2003; bourdieu, 1990), my findings show that the graduate course held students accountable for the requirements as established by the syllabus and mediated by the instructor. while establishing varying degrees of accountability for the assigned readings, the structure also enabled students’ agency. before doing specific readings, the students typically set a goal either to read in order to participate in classroom discussions (hereafter “reading to speak”) or to write course assignments (“reading to write”). over time, the students became less concerned about completing reading-to-speak assignments, instead valuing reading to write more highly because they developed a stronger sense or “feel for the game” (bourdieu, 1990, p. 108) of what was required as opposed to recommended by the syllabus and instructor. by identifying their goals for journal of international students 934 reading and adapting their reading practices, the students made agentic choices within the course’s accountability structure. in what follows, i review the literature about the academic reading practices of international graduate students in anglophone and non-anglophone universities. then i discuss the theoretical framework and methodological approach adopted in this study. the findings are then presented and supported by illustrative examples from observational field notes, interviews, and documents. finally, limitations and implications arising from the findings are discussed. literature review academic reading encompasses a set of complex, interrelated components related to the expectations and practices of a particular context, including the quantity of reading and academic vocabulary. indeed, many graduate programs require large quantities of reading. in the results of an online survey of 744 doctoral students in clinical psychology across the united states, an average of 330 pages per week was assigned (mcminn et al., 2009). these assigned readings aim to help students achieve other academic purposes such as participating in class discussions (lee, 2015) and writing in academic genres (bauer & picciotto, 2013). however, many eal graduate students across disciplines find it difficult to find enough time to complete the significant amounts of reading required (e.g., kuzborska, 2015; singh, 2015). the four graduate student participants (three from china and one from taiwan) in kuzborska (2015), majoring in management, international education, marketing, and mass communication, reported that they had no time to do a lot of required reading at a british university. similarly, singh’s (2015) qualitative data through 17 focus groups of graduate students at a malaysian university with three to seven participants in each group showed that lack of time is a major issue graduate eal students face due to lots of readings and lack of discipline-specific vocabulary. indeed, disciplines use technical vocabulary that eal graduate students may need to learn (hyland & tse, 2007) and use in writing and speaking (altalouli, 2020). most students in these studies depend on rereading, translating, and guessing word meaning from context as strategies to approach unknown words at the beginning of their graduate programs (iwai, 2008; singh, 2015). to deal with large volumes of reading, many undergraduate students tend to avoid doing or completing the reading assignments, a phenomenon that many studies of undergraduate students have called “noncompliance” (e.g., brost & bradley, 2006; burchfield & sappington, 2000; clump et al., 2004; hoeft, 2012). in clump et al.’s (2004) study, about 27.5% of undergraduates (n = 423) across disciplines at a u.s. university completed their assigned reading to prepare for classroom discussion, while almost 70% completed the reading before a test. that is, without a reason other than preparation for class, most students would not complete the reading. in these studies, the students reported “lack of time” as a reason for reading noncompliance. few studies of graduate students have found similar results (burchfield & sappington, 2000; clump & doll, 2007). clump and doll (2007) found that only 54% of 193 masters-level students in six forensic mahmoud altalouli 935 psychology courses at a u.s. university completed their assigned reading before class. researchers conclude that such reading noncompliance negatively affects students’ achievement (e.g., brost & bradley, 2006) and classroom participation (hoeft, 2012), however. as a result, these researchers have called teaching staff to use strategies for getting students to read what’s assigned, such as taking quizzes, presenting in class, and writing reading journals (starcher & proffitt, 2011). thus, the above reviewed research shows that reading non-compliance is a problem and that college professors must act to hold students more accountable for doing the assigned readings. however, research seems to ignore students’ agency in academic reading. through the lenses of agency and accountability, i seek to deepen the theoretical understanding of student reading choices in terms of the academic purposes for which they read. theoretical framework this study draws on the notions of agency and accountability to address the question of international students’ reading practices as they begin graduate study in the united states. agency is defined as the capacity of individuals to act in particular contexts (e.g., archer, 2003; bourdieu, 1984). archer (2003) argued that students can evaluate situations and take strategic actions to support their meaning making within course structures. for example, course instructors may ask students to write a paper of a specific length on a topic of students’ interest, citing a certain number sources and using a particular format and style. nonetheless, the students may decide to use more than eight sources or to overrun a page limit. such an assignment in the field of higher education institutions is an example of the practices and policies (i.e., rules) that define relations between the agents or players in the field (bourdieu, 1984). in other words, fields are spaces of power that influence the practices and position of agents, who are engaged in struggle to gain power and position (bourdieu, 1984). indeed, power exists in social spaces and influences the relationships between individuals and institutions and their practices in given spaces (clayton, 1998); thus, the practices of a social group cannot be explained as only the collective of individual behaviors but also in relation to objective structures within society (jenkins, 1992). bourdieu (1984) used the metaphor of a game to understand agents’ practices and positions. players act according to their understanding of the rules of the game and their “feel for the game,” which in turn supports their positions and their gains (bourdieu, 1990, p. 108). that is, players’ practices are not constrained to applying the rules of the game. instead, their sense of the game can open up possibilities for action. thus, even though students’ decisions may be bounded by institutional policies and course accountability structures, students can decide what works for them. in this study, i construe graduate students, the course instructor, and institutional administrators and policymakers as the players engaged in a higher education institution whose activities comprise the game. the institution has its own rules, nested within the larger “game” of u.s. and global higher education. therefore, structure and agency are interconnected in terms of journal of international students 936 the study participants’ social practices in a particular field that can help in understanding how they act. method to answer my research questions about the role that academic reading played in spoken and written activities in a graduate course, i gathered qualitative data in a graduate-level course during one semester. data included classroom observations, interviews, and document collection (marshall & rossman, 2016). to analyze the data, i used constructivist grounded theory (cgt; charmaz, 2014), which enables researchers to synthesize, analyze, and build theory from qualitative data. grounded theory studies generally focus on social actions and seek to explain how and why people act in certain ways (charmaz, 2014; glaser, 2001). cgt acknowledges that the researcher brings underlying assumptions that can be framed ontologically and epistemologically. my understanding of reading as a socially situated practice led me to choose cgt as a research methodology. as a doctoral student using eal at a u.s. university, and a writing center tutor, i realized that academic reading is purposive and that reading practices change across contexts: from one course to another, one discipline to another, one institution to another, and one culture to another. research context and site the study was conducted in fall 2018 at a research university in the united states. at the time of the study, the university enrolled about 2,000 graduate students. i selected the first semester of a master’s level course on theories of second language learning. the course is required for some programs, particularly those preparing teachers of english and other languages. it met once a week for 2 hr and 45 min, over a 14-week semester. the course reading requirements included the textbook understanding second language acquisition written by ortega (2009) as well as 29 journal articles (including literature reviews and empirical studies) with an average of three readings per week assigned. the average length of each reading was 15 pages. the course aimed to develop students’ understanding of issues influencing second-language acquisition and topics in language teaching, and to consider these topics for use in their future classrooms. participants following the approval of the university’s research subjects review board, including the instructor’s agreement to participate in the study, i invited the students in the course to participate. the course had 19 students, five domestic and 14 international students (10 new and four recurrent). among the 14 international students, 12 were from china, one was from japan, and one was from turkey. ultimately all 19 students consented to participate in the study, and mahmoud altalouli 937 i started to observe the class and take notes. i invited six international students to be the focal student participants (hereafter “focal students”). thus, the analyses in this paper relate to the instructor and the six focal students. the instructor, sandra (pseudonym), was an advanced doctoral student from south korea when data were collected. sandra had completed her undergraduate degree in english literature in south korea and earned her master’s degree in teaching english to speakers of other languages (tesol) from an american graduate school. she had taught the course two times previously. all of the focal students had completed their undergraduate studies in different home universities (see table 1) and had no previous experience of studying or living abroad. table 1: focal student profiles student (pseudonym) country undergraduate major age carol china translation 23 kate china broadcasting 23 mai china marketing 23 coco china english literature 22 han china economics 22 sallya japan english literature 26 a sally had also earned a master’s degree in english literature. data collection and analysis sources of data included classroom observations, interviews with the focal students and the course instructor, and the collection of documents. i engaged in participant observation of each class meeting and made field notes of my observations (emerson et al., 2011). field notes included documentation of informal conversations with the focal students and records of the course activities. in addition, i conducted two semistructured interviews lasting 60–70 min with each focal student and the instructor, in the middle and end of the semester. each interview was audiorecorded and transcribed. also, i collected the written assignments produced by all focal students for the course, the syllabus, and the assigned readings. these documents contributed information to the rich picture of the social, cultural, and political context of the course that i constructed and developed to understand students’ various reading practices (marshall & rossman, 2016). several steps were taken to analyze data using cgt, which allows researchers to develop a general explanation (theory) built on their views, feelings, and ideologies and is shaped by the views and experiences of the participants (charmaz, 2014). i engaged in the process of coding the interview transcripts and field notes with pen and paper (creswell & poth, 2018). initial codes included examples such as “time,” “quantity of reading,” “lack of content knowledge,” “the syllabus,” and “deadlines.” i synthesized these codes as analytic categories of “reading challenges,” “course requirements,” and “purpose for journal of international students 938 reading.” next, i compared these codes and categories to those used for other data sources to determine if the emerging categories were linked to others or were discrete. i wrote analytic memos reflecting on the emerging codes and categories (saldaña, 2013), then i identified the most significant and/or frequent codes to sift through the data (charmaz, 2014). finally, i identified the themes of how students engaged in reading practices to meet the course accountability structure, while exerting their personal power (agency) by setting goals for reading (reading to write and reading to speak). i added credibility to the study by using multiple data sources from the students and their instructor, as well as course documents (marshall & rossman, 2016). i also achieved confirmability, defined as a degree of neutrality of the researcher (schwandt et al., 2007) by involving a group of colleagues to code parts of the data. i then compared their codes with my own coding. results and discussion despite confronting a large quantity of reading in their first semester in graduate school in the united states, the focal students responded strategically to the course’s accountability structure. specifically, they set various purposes for the reading assignments once they understood the patterns and requirements of the course and how the instructor mediated them. before doing specific readings, for example, the focal students typically set a goal either to read to participate in classroom discussions (what i called reading to speak) or to write course assignments (reading to write). in this article, i discuss the findings related to reading to students’ speaking practices. while the students began the semester anxious to comply with the requirements outlined on the syllabus and explained by the instructor in the first class meeting, over the semester, they became less concerned about completing reading-to-speak assignments, instead valuing reading to write more highly. this shift illustrates how they developed a stronger sense or “feel for the game” (bourdieu, 1990, p. 108) of what was required as opposed to recommended by the syllabus and instructor. by identifying their goals for reading and adapting their reading practices, students made agentic choices within the accountability structure of the course. to substantiate this argument, i first describe the accountability structure of the course as embodied in the syllabus and explained by sandra in the first class. analyzing the syllabus as a course document, i show how the accountability structure provided or enabled students’ agency in relation to their reading practices. then i explore how students exercised their agency. the course accountability structure: institutional power the course accountability structure was codified in the expectations and practices explained in the syllabus but was put into practice by the instructor. indeed, the institutional accountability structure empowered sandra to mediate the requirements of the course, thus influencing students’ particular actions and mahmoud altalouli 939 practices. in this section, i explore how sandra mediated the course accountability structure by presenting the syllabus as a type of contract that documented the expectations for students’ work. yet sandra’s presentation of the syllabus and how she held students accountable also enabled students to exert agency. syllabus requirements the syllabus represented a statement of student accountability by delineating the responsibilities of students in attendance, completion of assignments, academic honesty, and other requirements. requirements for students included preparing and participating in classes, reading an average of three texts weekly, and leading a class discussion of one assigned reading. table 2 maps out the percentage value of each of the assignments. while some assignments rested on the assumption of student reading (participation, the literature review), others were explicit about the expectations for reading. for example, in the syllabus, the reading journal assignment instructs students to write a: brief (1 double-spaced page) commentary about the readings for five classes, submitted via blackboard (bb). please do not merely summarize the readings; use this journal as a critical synthesis task— what issues, topics, questions arise? you can use the journal to relate issues in the readings to other things you have read, your own experiences and views. (emphasis in original) the reading journal assignment offered students several choices for readings and topics. in addition, the syllabus allowed students to choose which ideas or themes to discuss from among 11 weeks of the course in their five journal entries. in these ways the syllabus, although an accountability document, also enabled student agency. table 2: course requirements and assignment weighting assignment grade percentage class attendance, preparation, and participation 15 reading journals 10 leading discussion of one reading 20 interview paper 20 literature review with these interim assignments 35 table 2 shows the varying accountability for reading to write and reading to speak. the assignment weighting for the reading journal, interview paper, and the literature review amounted to 65% of the total points available. thus, reading to write was weighted considerably more than reading to speak. in effect, the course assignments as outlined on the syllabus provided students with both constraints and possibilities for how to engage with reading. here, students’ reading practices were conditioned by the syllabus, a contract (singham, 2005) that documents course policies and practices and holds students responsible journal of international students 940 for them (thompson, 2007). as the syllabus was presented to the students by the instructor, next, i discuss the instructor’s role in mediating the syllabus. the role of the instructor in mediating course requirements the instructor played a significant role in mediating the syllabus by drawing on her authoritative role to offer student agentive possibilities. sandra’s own experiences with english academic reading informed her instructional practices. while she was not the ultimate authority on the choice and quantity of the weekly readings assigned on the syllabus, sandra exercised personal power early in explaining the course requirements while she presented the syllabus and later in holding students accountable for the work. in the first class, sandra explained the course rules, assignments, and grading scheme while students read the syllabus in hard copy or on screen: “i am strict with deadlines. however, i believe in the power of productive procrastination. so if you need extension, please email me” (field notes, september 4, 2018). here sandra’s emphasis on deadlines exemplifies the structural limitations of courses in higher education (due dates), yet her flexibility in offering the possibility of an extension serves to enable students’ agency. that is, the instructor played a role in both limiting and increasing students’ agency, as i discuss below. next, sandra explained the course description and objectives, then on a powerpoint slide presented the major assignments shown in table 2. in subsequent slides, she presented each assignment with details including its point value. she supplemented the information on each assignment described in the syllabus. for example, she previewed that in the second class she would model the classroom discussion. this presentation of the syllabus established sandra’s authority as the instructor who enforced the power of the syllabus yet mediated it with her own practices. instructors often face a tension between communicating the syllabus and its accountability requirements and creating a supportive learning environment (thompson, 2007). in this case, sandra also offered students advice on how to succeed in the course. after her descriptions of the assignments and overall course requirements, sandra presented two slides entitled “academic writing” and “academic reading.” four bullet points were included on the academic writing slide: “fear not,” “we will do this together,” “do your best with in-class activities,” and “you can revise your interview paper and final research paper (one time).” while presenting this slide, sandra previewed how she would support students in meeting the course requirements; for example, in following the format of the publication manual of the american psychological association (apa) or writing specific assignments: many of you may not be familiar with apa format, how to write a literature review, right, what is an annotated bibliography. that’s fine. you have no reason to fear because we will do everything together. each class, i will spare about 15 to 20 minutes on mini sessions, and if you actively participate in those mini sessions, you’ll be ok. we have a mahmoud altalouli 941 librarian coming to help you find sources. also, try to use writing support. [the school] has a fantastic writing support center. (field notes, september 4, 2018) this extract shows sandra’s strategy of “softening the blow” (thompson, 2007, p. 61), which can be used by instructors to balance the tension between establishing authority and demonstrating care. thompson argued that a common softening the blow strategy is to provide information beyond the syllabus and address students’ fears. in this course, sandra also softened the blow by inviting a librarian to the class and a writing consultant to support student research and writing. in those classes, the guests provided additional options for students to find sources and write their literature review papers, thus creating opportunities for student agency. also in the first class, sandra, as an international student herself, explicitly discussed her own experiences with academic reading. the academic reading slide included two bullet points: “never read word by word” and “try to get a big picture.” while presenting the slide, sandra stated: one suggestion or recommendation i received and found helpful in my first semester is, try to spend 30 [minutes] to an hour on each reading. i used skimming and scanning. it takes time to get this kind of reading. but, technically, i do not want you to spend too much time on each reading. try to see the big picture of what each reading tries to talk about. (field notes, september 4, 2018) this explicit sharing of the instructor’s perspectives and advice on academic reading may not be typical. however, in an interview discussion about her own experiences as a student, sandra saw talking about academic reading as useful: we have about an average of three readings each week. each is about 40 pages long. it is a lot of reading, and it’s not just about someone’s anecdote or life experience, it’s not a novel, each paper has really heavy information about different theories, right. these theories are not easy to understand, so i don’t want [students] to spend too much time on them because they may not be able to understand them. (interview, december 5, 2018) sandra’s concern for students’ understanding of the readings also informed how she mediated the syllabus. at the end of each class, she previewed the next week’s assigned readings, which she reported hoping would entice the students into engaging with them: so i rather want them to come to my class getting gist of each article because … i hope the readings work like a movie teaser or trailers. i give them very short surface level of preview of what’s out there, they watch the preview and they get to choose what movie they actually want to watch from beginning to end. (interview, december 5, 2018) journal of international students 942 in addition to offering choices, as discussed, here sandra provided strategies for students to engage with the readings and made the workload more manageable. overall, the syllabus, the instructor’s presentation, and the instructor’s experiences about reading created possibilities for the students to enact agency while being held responsible. students’ agency in reading: exercising personal power strategically, the focal students set their own goals for reading, intentionally making their own choices. once they understood the patterns of the course, they brought different purposes to the reading assignments. before doing the readings, the focal students typically set a goal, either to read to speak in classroom discussions or to read to write. all of the focal students realized the role of reading at the beginning of the semester and characterized it as being a requirement of graduate school. as mai, a marketing major, noted: “it’s … an assignment because professor asks us to read before class. there’s a grade for it [reading], so we have to read before [class] to participate in the discussions” (interview, september 17, 2018). this extract demonstrates academic reading as a practice embedded in relations of power. specifically, mai’s phrase “have to read” suggests that reading before class is a requirement of a graduate course imposed on students, leaving students with little choice but to read. however, mai’s mention of the purpose of reading, to “participate in the discussions,” exemplifies her understanding of the value of reading before class. as a result, she chose to do the reading before class. in fact, at the early stages of the semester, all of the focal students completed the assigned readings before class, even though the amount of reading was a large concern for them. while the participants intentionally set the goal of reading to prepare for classroom discussions, they became less concerned about reading to speak over the semester. the variation in how much reading they did and how much time they spent on reading during the semester resulted from three major reasons: (a) students’ increased knowledge about the content, (b) students’ greater attention to written assignments, and (c) the patterns of classroom activities. here, i explore how these three reasons interacted with students’ agency. in the first four classes of the semester, most of the focal students did all of the assigned readings every week. they reported spending an average of 4 hours on one assigned reading at the beginning of the semester, which dropped to about 2 hours per week for the rest of the semester. in terms of building content knowledge, carol, an english translation major, explained: i had [a] knowledge gap in the beginning, so i needed to do all the readings. i used to spend a lot time to understand a lot of concepts. … but later in the semester i spent less and less time on reading for [the course] because i see the same concepts over and over again. ... so, i don’t spend the same time to understand these concepts again. … my reading speed got faster. (interview, december 1, 2018) mahmoud altalouli 943 in this extract, carol associated how much reading she did and how much time she spent on reading to speak with her increased knowledge of the content. carol’s ability to integrate disciplinary information over the semester enabled her to reduce her reading time. like carol, kate’s choices about the time she spent on reading depended on her familiarity with the area of second-language acquisition, which developed as the semester progressed. carol and kate’s accounts suggest that the depth and breadth of knowledge students can develop may increase their agency in a given context. however, their decisions about reducing reading time were partly conditioned by the course accountability structure. the course readings were connected to one another; these connections represent repeated concepts and ideas discussed in different readings. thus, the assigned readings helped students to encounter concepts multiple times so that they did not have to spend the same amount of time as when they first came across the concepts. that is, students’ agency was enabled by both the course structure and students’ awareness of the consequences of their practices that they reflected on. like reading to speak, reading to write was a purpose that all of the participants set before doing the assigned readings. however, it was not an equal practice. as mentioned, in the syllabus, the grade weighting for reading-to-write assignments is 65% of the total. the course accountability structure seemed to account for this disposition. therefore, the focal students tended to value reading to write more than reading to speak and thus spent more time on reading to write. as sally, an english literature major, reported toward the end of the semester: i cannot spend a lot time to read [the assigned readings] before class. … i have to spend more time on [preparing] the annotated bibliography and final paper. … because of these assignments, i do not spent time on the readings like before. (interview, december 1, 2018) sally’s decisions about how much time to spend on reading shifted because of the demands of other assignments she deemed more important. sally determined the need to shift her reading focus and time from the assigned readings on the syllabus to her independent reading gathered for her literature review to achieve a specific goal for reading. unlike mai’s words “have to,” which echo the authoritative power of the instructor as discussed above, sally’s words “have to” index her agentive choice about time spent on specific reading goals, even though her actions were influenced by the grading system. similarly, other focal students believed more time should be spent on reading to write. like sally, as the semester progressed, they all reduced the time spent on reading to speak in favor of doing readings to write. mai, a marketing major, pointed out: why to spend more time to read before class? i just read quickly to get the big picture. … i don’t need to read everything to help me speak in class. i just need to use my time focusing on reading for the most important paper [the final]. (interview, november 27, 2018) journal of international students 944 by “focusing on reading,” mai refers to reading the sources she found for the final literature review. at the beginning of the semester, students focused on reading to speak not only to learn the content but also because the only other assignments were writing journal entries about the same readings from the syllabus. by the fourth class meeting, however, students started to search for literature on their topic of interest for the final paper, and had to submit their topic on blackboard after class. after the fourth class, the focal students’ time spent on reading to speak started to decline. thus, reducing their time on the assigned readings became a manifestation of students’ exercise of agency. moreover, the focal students’ observations of the patterns of classroom activities influenced the quantity of reading and the time they spent on reading to speak. the focal students identified three major activities in the class: (a) small group discussions, (b) “discussion workshops” (in the instructor’s words), and (c) mini-workshop sessions. after participating in these class activities for a few weeks, students chose not to read as much before coming to class as they did at the beginning of the semester. in fact, the discussion workshops allowed students to do a quick reading of the assigned texts while in class and to learn from one another. in my observations of the class meetings, sandra offered six discussion workshops, as she explained: i divide the students into small groups of two to four students; each group is assigned a prompt or a theme from the assigned readings. after each group discusses the theme and writes some notes about it, one student is the presenter staying in his or her group station and the others are listeners of other presenters in different workshop stations. the listeners are encouraged to ask questions. after a specific time, the listeners keep rotating until they have been to all workshop stations. after the listeners go back to their own stations, the presenter and listeners change roles. by the end of the discussion workshop, every student has been introduced to all the themes chosen by the instructor in a particular class. (interview, december 5, 2018) to participate in this activity, most focal students believed they did not have to read everything or spend a lot of time reading deeply because they were able to do the reading in class to respond to prompts given by the instructor. they felt they learned more about the assigned readings by listening to one another. coco, an english literature major, reported: i don’t read [now] like before, no need to do all of the reading and spend too much time reading because in the class we never talked about everything. … in the discussions, we learned from everyone. you know, in our classes in [the course] we discuss each reading in small groups, so i do not worry like before about reading everything. (interview, november 27, 2018) here, coco became aware of the patterns of discussions facilitated by the instructor and sometimes by students leading the class explorations of a reading. these activities reduced the focal students’ concerns about completing the mahmoud altalouli 945 assigned readings and understanding the writing assignments. moreover, in small group work, students relied on one another to understand the readings. these shifts suggest that the focal students made agentive choices about the depth of their engagement with the assigned readings. indeed, most of the focal students remembered the instructor’s advice about academic reading. for example, sally reported: we always discuss some of the readings in class. so if i don’t read [closely], i do not think it is a big issue. … the teacher told us we should get the big picture. maybe if i can read the main concepts, it is enough for me when i listen in the class. (interview, september 19, 2018) sally’s words “the teacher told us” suggest the influence of the instructor on participants’ practices. here, the instructor’s early emphasis on getting “the big picture” through skimming and scanning encouraged participants to believe the effectiveness of these practices. overall, the focal students’ growing content knowledge, their attentiveness to the need to complete other assignments, their experiences with classroom patterns, and their memory of the instructor’s explicit comments about academic reading influenced their agentic choices about how to engage with the readings in terms of the purposes for which they read and how much time they spent on the readings. conclusion agency as a complex concept involves not only students’ capacity to make choices constrained by the social structural conditions (e.g., archer, 2003) but also their choices as translated into practices and their understanding that these practices can be consequential. the focal students’ reading practices yielded success for them in the graduate course, as they all passed with grades of a, substantiating the role of student agency in reading and learning. to exert agency, the students recognized the rules of the game (e.g., assignment page limits, meeting deadlines, class participation practices) as mediated by the instructor; they engaged in individual purposive practices and ultimately achieved their goals. moreover, their degree of agency varied over time. toward the beginning of the semester, the focal students demonstrated low levels of agency in the context of the course requirements as they were still making sense of the game. over the semester, however, they displayed high levels of agency as they became less concerned about completing the reading and decided to spend decreasing amounts of time on reading to speak. in contrast to the discourse of compliance in student reading (e.g., burchfield & sappington, 2000; hoeft, 2012), in this study the focal students’ decision about doing the reading was conditioned by the course structure as well as their own goals. previous research has viewed students not completing the reading as a dilemma for faculty, who, it is proposed, need to think of and apply strategies to increase student compliance with course requirements (hoeft, 2012). the assumption in this discourse is that students must complete all requirements of the journal of international students 946 syllabus and the instructor in order to be successful. in this study, however, the instructor’s role in mediating the course structure and requirements included giving advice about managing the academic reading. her mediation was one of the ways that students were able to make choices that supported their learning and their success as indicated by course grades. the notion of compliance in previous research signals a type of pressure on students that can override their ability to choose what makes sense to them—and suggests that they are incapable of making their own decisions. in this study, when students did not complete the reading intended to support the speaking activities, it did not affect their classroom participation. interestingly, in previous research (e.g., burchfield & sappington, 2000) the purpose of reading in the courses studied was not specified. here, the purposes of reading played an important role in how students approached the readings and how much time they spent on them. indeed, the concept of compliance or noncompliance in student work is actually an example of student agency; students have their own reasons whether to complete the assigned readings. students are agentive in their reading practices (van pletzen, 2006) in that they can exert control in multiple ways and understand the consequences of their practices. with or without rigid structures that held students accountable for doing every reading, the focal students in this study enacted agency in making rational decisions based on a number of factors. limitations and implications as a semester-long study of one theory-focused course in one program at one university, the study’s findings are not transferable across contexts. however, the study provides an in-depth understanding of the experiences of eal students in a graduate course in the united states that may be relevant to different contexts. in addition, because this course focused on theories of second-language acquisition, the assigned readings may have been more challenging than readings in other courses. thus, future studies of the reading practices of eal international students could investigate their experiences of academic reading in more concrete and practice-based courses as well as in other types of theoretically oriented courses. findings of this study may be useful for professionals who intend to help international students adapt to the new environment and for faculty members who teach or mentor international students pursuing graduate degrees in the united states and other english-speaking countries. the quantity of reading can be a concern to many eal students who have not been required to do large quantities of reading in other contexts or programs (singh, 2015). in response, faculty members can reduce students’ anxiety by providing explicit instruction on academic reading, as sandra did in this study. she softened the blow (thompson, 2007, p. 61) by unequivocally advising students not to read word by word and to get the big picture. sandra also dedicated classroom time to activities in which she talked with students about and explained the disciplinary concepts discussed in the assigned readings. recognizing students’ agency as independent learners mahmoud altalouli 947 does not obviate the need to provide them with such explicit supports and scaffolds. references altalouli, m. 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(2015). perspective taking in second language academic reading: a longitudinal study of international students’ reading practices. journal of english for academic purposes, 20, 149–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.jeap.2015.09.004 lee, j. (2015). language learner strategy by chinese-speaking efl readers when comprehending familiar and unfamiliar texts. reading in a foreign language, 27(1), 71–95. marshall, c., & rossman, g. b. (2016). designing qualitative research (6th ed.). sage. mcminn, m. r., tabor, a., trihub, b. l., taylor, l., & dominguez, a. w. (2009). reading in graduate school: a survey of doctoral students in clinical psychology. training and education in professional psychology, 3(4), 233–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016405 ortega, l. (2009). understanding second language acquisition. routledge. saldaña, j. (2013). the coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). sage. schwandt, t. a., lincoln, y. s., & guba, e. g. (2007). judging interpretations: but is it rigorous? trustworthiness and authenticity in naturalistic evaluation. new directions for evaluation, 2007(114), 11–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/ ev.223 seloni, l. (2012). academic literacy socialization of first year doctoral students in us: a micro-ethnographic perspective. english for specific purposes, 31(1), 47–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2011.05.004 singh, m. k. m. (2015). a qualitative perspective of academic reading practices and overcoming strategies used among international graduate students in malaysia. malaysian journal of languages and linguistics, 4(1), 55–74. https://doi.org/10.24200/mjll.vol4iss1pp55–74 mahmoud altalouli 949 singham, m. (2005). away from the authoritarian classroom. change: the magazine of higher learning, 37(3), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.3200/ chng.37.3.50-57 starcher, k., & proffitt, d. (2011). encouraging students to read: what professors are (and aren’t) doing about it. international journal of teaching and learning in higher education, 23(3), 396–407. tardy, c. m. (2005). “it’s like a story”: rhetorical knowledge development in advanced academic literacy. journal of english for academic purposes, 4(4), 325–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2005.07.005 thompson, b. (2007). the syllabus as a communication document: constructing and presenting the syllabus. communication education, 56(1), 54–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634520601011575 van pletzen, e. (2006). a body of reading: making ‘visible’ the reading experiences of first-year medical students. in l. thesen & e. van pletzen (eds.), academic literacy and the language of change (pp. 104–129). continuum. mahmoud altalouli, phd, is an instructor in the english for international students department at duke university. his major research interests lie in the area of academic literacies including reading and writing of students using english as an additional language. he can be reached via email at mahmoud.altalouli@duke.edu. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 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503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. vol 8 iss 3_final_draft_6-15 the final journal of international students 1328 issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 8, issue 3 (2018), pp. 1328–1336 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1254588 building bridges across the international divide: fostering meaningful cross-cultural interactions between domestic and international students cindyann rose-redwood university of victoria, canada reuben rose-redwood university of victoria, canada abstract in this article, we consider the ways in which both formal and informal social practices at colleges and universities can lead domestic and international students to engage in meaningful cross-cultural interactions. employing a narrative-based approach, we reflect upon our own personal experiences as domestic students who developed close friendships with international students at two higher education institutions in the united states at the turn of the twenty-first century. in one case, an international friendship grew from a formal, university-sponsored conversation partner program organized by the university’s international office, and, in the other case, a close friendship with an international student emerged through informal social interactions on a college campus. taken together, these cases suggest that higher education settings have the potential to be spaces of meaningful cross-cultural interaction. however, this requires an active commitment on the part of both domestic and international students to engage in social interactions across the international divide. keywords: conversation partner programs, cross-cultural interactions, narrative, international friendships, international students college and university campuses have the potential to be ideal settings in which to foster cross-cultural interactions and meaningful international friendships. studies suggest that international students often build crossjournal of international students 1329 cultural friendships with other students from around the world when studying abroad, yet social interactions between domestic and international students are generally more limited, particularly in the united states (trice 2004; gareis, merkin, and goldman 2011; gareis 2012; rose-redwood and rose-redwood 2013). this lack of social engagement has important implications not only for the student experience itself; it also shapes the social networks and professional opportunities that students encounter once they have completed their studies. if domestic students only interact with their domestic peers, this will most likely have the effect of limiting their cultural literacy as well as diminishing their ability to socially and professionally interact with people from diverse cultural backgrounds in different geographical contexts. as lee suggests, there is a “need to concentrate on how to enhance the quality of intercultural friendships and how to make such relationships work” (2006, p. 6). how, then, might meaningful cross-cultural interactions and international friendships be fostered on college and university campuses? what formal and informal practices can effectively break down the social barriers between domestic and international students? put simply, how might we actively seek to build bridges across the international divide in higher education settings? this article seeks to address these issues by reflecting on our own personal experiences as domestic students interacting with international students at two higher education institutions on the east coast of the united states around the turn of the twenty-first century. we employ a narrativebased approach to frame our discussion, which enables us consider the intricacies of how international friendships develop within higher education contexts. in one case, an international friendship with a malaysian student grew from a formal, university-sponsored conversation partner program organized by the university’s international office, and, in the other case, a close friendship with an international student from tanzania emerged through informal social interactions on a college campus. although the mode of initial contact differed in each case, both resulted in lasting friendships that not only expanded our social networks and cultural capital but also broadened what we might call our “geographical empathy” based upon an ethic of care for those living in distant places around the world. in the remainder of this article, each of the present authors provides a narrative account of our experiences developing an international friendship in a higher education setting. our aim is not to claim that these experiences are representative of international friendships in general but rather to highlight how both formal and informal opportunities exist on college and university campuses that can facilitate the development of meaningful, longlasting friendships between domestic and international students. for far too journal of international students 1330 many domestic students, the lack of cross-cultural engagement with international students results in a series of missed opportunities that could have enhanced their educational experience and enriched their understanding of the world. we hope that our stories will inspire more domestic students to cultivate their own international friendships and assist higher education professionals by illustrating two cases in which domestic and international students sought to break down the social and cultural divides on college and university campuses. personal narrative #1: a journey from conversation partner to international friendship as a young caribbean women of east indian descent, i (cindyann) moved from trinidad to new york city in 1992, and i attended both high school and college in new york. spending my formative years in a city of immigrants provided me with a deep understanding of the value of learning how to socially interact with people from a diverse array of cultures and world regions while also navigating between the “western” idioms of american popular culture and my own creolized cultural upbringing. after completing my undergraduate degree in new york, i moved to pennsylvania to pursue my graduate studies. while in graduate school, i interacted with a wide variety of students from different parts of the u.s. and abroad, and it was also during this time that i became a naturalized u.s. citizen. when i started my graduate studies, i was the only domestic, visible minority student in my incoming departmental cohort, and i interacted with both domestic and international students alike, playing the role of cultural chameleon so common among caribbean islanders. on the one hand, i could fit in with domestic students because i had spent the past decade living in the u.s. and could speak excellent english, which is, after all, my mother tongue having been born in a former british colony in the caribbean. yet, on the other hand, my international origins helped me to form connections with international students from india, the uk, australia, and columbia. given my own hybrid social identity, i found myself placed at the intersections of both domestic and international students’ social networks, which is part of what led me to volunteer in the university’s conversation partner program, organized by the international student office on campus. when i saw an advertisement for the program, i thought it would be a great opportunity to help an international student practice their english language skills, since i knew that language barriers are often one of the greatest challenges impeding cross-cultural interactions between domestic and international students. i had seen this firsthand while living in new york, o journal of international students 1331 where many of my friends in high school and college were newcomers to the united states, so i understood how difficult learning english could be for non-native english language speakers. in other words, i had developed a strong sense of empathy for international students even before arriving at the university, which predisposed me to seek out formal opportunities such as volunteering in the conversation partner program. when i contacted the international student office to inquire about this program, they matched my profile with a young woman from malaysia who was taking english language classes while her husband pursued a graduate degree. after both of us agreed to become conversation partners, the international student office provided us with each other’s contact email and guidelines about our responsibilities as conversation partners. i first met zara (pseudonym) for coffee on campus, and we decided that it would be best to meet periodically throughout the academic year and to select “focused topics” for discussion during our meetings. as it turned out, zara was already a good english speaker when i first met her, but she just wanted more practice speaking the language and was also interested in learning more about american culture and the colloquial “lingo” of everyday speech. she was particularly fascinated by my ability to “fit in” with domestic students despite the fact that i had been an immigrant to the u.s. and had only recently become a citizen. our conversations explored a wide range of different topics related to current events. sometimes we would discuss local events occurring on the university campus, and other times zara would bring a newspaper article about a national or global event. one of our very first conversations was about u.s. politics and then president george w. bush’s recent speech about the war on terror and the “clash of civilizations.” she asked me to explain what this “clash” was about, which led us to reflect on how our own cross-cultural interactions challenged the belief that cultural difference must necessarily lead to antagonism. over the course of a year, we met regularly and discussed everything from the myths and fairytales in different cultures to our own dreams, desires, and passions. around the time of halloween, zara was curious to learn more about the american obsession with myths of vampires, ghosts, and werewolves. the more we shared stories about cultural myths, we began to realize how similar they were across cultures, and we found it amusing that the point of many cultural myths in different cultures was to scare little kids into listening to their parents so they wouldn’t get into trouble. at the time, zara wasn’t sure whether she would stay in the u.s. or go back to malaysia after her husband completed his studies. we stayed journal of international students 1332 good friends for the remaining three years that i spent completing my doctoral research, continuing to meet regularly for coffee once a week, but eventually we began to socialize in other ways as well. for instance, she invited my partner and me to her house for a homemade malaysian dinner. this was one of the most memorable experiences of our friendship, and i came to appreciate the significance of sharing food as an important part of fostering hospitality, mutual understanding, and friendship across cultural differences. over a decade has passed since zara and i last saw each other, and it turned out that both of us would end up leaving the united states—her to singapore and myself to canada. we both have children of our own now and see each other’s lives through facebook. although we live far apart, i still value our friendship which had its beginnings in a university-sponsored conversation partner program. personal narrative #2: international friendship beyond the institutional frame as a u.s.-born man of eastern european jewish descent with family ties to new york city, i (reuben) grew up in the suburbs of washington, dc, during the 1980s and 1990s. many of my high school peers were the children of international diplomats, world bank officials, and other professionals, which exposed me to a diversity of cultures and international perspectives prior to pursuing higher education. in 1996, i enrolled in a small, liberal arts college in rural virginia and then transferred to a larger research university about an hour away in the middle of my second year. however, the friendships that i made during my freshman year of college remained strong even though i transferred to a different university, and one of those friendships was with an international student from tanzania. i first met jeremiah (pseudonym) in the college dining hall when one of my anthropology professors introduced us, and we then began to meet regularly for meals over the course of the semester. i had never been to sub-saharan africa before, and i was intrigued to learn more about jeremiah’s life experiences and home country. jeremiah was also curious about american culture and how it compared to his own cultural values. i recall us discussing everything from american misconceptions of africa and how such stereotypes compare with the everyday lives of africans, on the one hand, to the u.s. constitution and race relations in the united states, on the other hand. we were both intimately aware of the racial divide on campus and in the surrounding community, since the town in which the journal of international students 1333 college was located had a long history of segregation along racial lines as well as anti-black racism and discrimination. although we came from different cultural backgrounds, the more we got to know each other, the more it became evident that we shared many common interests. for instance, we were both passionate about issues of social and environmental justice. jeremiah was particularly inspired by role models such as nelson mandela, malcolm x, and martin luther king jr. similarly, i had grown up hearing my parents tell stories about the civil rights movement and how they had been involved with the anti-war movement as well as the grape boycotts that césar chávez led with the united farm workers in california. however, our friendship went beyond questions of politics and intellectual concerns, since we also went to see movies together, drove around town on the weekends, went shopping, and engaged in various other everyday activities of friendship. after transferring to a different university, i began volunteering as an organizer of a guest speaker series in my academic department, and one semester i invited jeremiah to give a talk about his experiences with environmental conservation in tanzania. i also regularly visited jeremiah and my other friends back at the college that i had left on the weekends, and we maintained our friendship even after we both received our undergraduate degrees and went to graduate school. then, after completing my master’s degree at a research university in pennsylvania, i finally took jeremiah up on an invitation to visit him in tanzania for about a month during the summer of 2002, which was one of the most incredible experiences i’ve ever had travelling abroad. his family welcomed me into their home with warm hospitality, and so too did the entire village, especially the school kids. during my visit to tanzania, our roles were reversed with jeremiah hosting me in his home country. now it was i who played the role of the “outsider,” since i was seen as a visible minority, albeit a very privileged one, in jeremiah’s home town. i lost track of the number of times kids would point to me and call out, “mzungu” (white person), as i passed them on the road. while in tanzania, i had many opportunities for cross-cultural interaction, including sharing home-cooked meals with jeremiah’s family and playing a board game called bao with jeremiah and other villagers. one of the most memorable experiences occurred sitting outside by a fire on a warm, moonlit summer night. when we approached the fire, a village elder was telling an origin story about his people and the land, and when he finished the group asked me to tell a mythic story about my “culture.” at first, i was at a loss, since i wasn’t religious and could not immediately think of a secular origin myth from the west. after a moment’s reflection, i journal of international students 1334 decided to tell them the myth of plato’s cave with my own variation on the ending—instead of seeing the light of truth when leaving the cave at the end of the story, the truth-seeker wanders into another cave and mistakes the shadows for reality yet again. although i wasn’t a master-storyteller, the group seemed to enjoy the tale and we all had a good laugh at my attempt at cross-cultural, mythological storytelling. after my trip to tanzania, jeremiah and i kept in touch as we continued to pursue our doctoral studies. he came to visit me twice and i went to see him as well during this time. when i got my first tenure-track faculty job in texas, i invited him to give a public lecture at the university as well. then, when i moved to british columbia, canada, a year later, he came to visit me there on the way to a conference he was attending a few hours away in 2010. now that he has completed his doctoral studies and moved back to tanzania, we keep in touch by phone and via social media, and he remains one of my closest friends despite the physical distance between us. concluding reflections in this reflective article, we have drawn upon our own educational experiences to illustrate that college and university campuses have the potential to serve as spaces of meaningful cross-cultural interaction between domestic and international students. however, this potential all-too-often goes unfulfilled for a variety of different reasons (rose-redwood 2010). as domestic students, we both had the good fortune of developing international friendships as part of our university experience. in cindyann’s case, a formal university-sponsored conversation partner program initiated an international friendship, whereas in reuben’s case a friendship emerged from a chance encounter in the college cafeteria. although the two cases discussed above are unique, there are a number of lessons that can be drawn from these experiences that may have broader relevance for efforts to foster cross-cultural interactions and international friendships in higher education settings. the first main lesson from this study is that cross-cultural interactions and international friendships can arise from both formal and informal encounters on college and university campuses. universitysponsored events and initiatives, such as conversation partner programs, can play an important role in fostering social interactions between domestic and international students. in some cases, these formal connections may even lead to the development of meaningful friendships that extend beyond the confines of the initial program itself. in other instances, international journal of international students 1335 friendships may develop from chance encounters on campuses that are not pre-determined by institutional programs. yet, regardless of the means of first contact, such connections are dependent upon an openness and willingness among both parties to engage in cross-cultural dialogue. the second lesson worth considering is that domestic students who have had cross-cultural experiences before going to college or university may be more likely to develop friendships with international students while pursuing higher education. this was certainly true in the two cases discussed above, although further research is needed to better understand whether this claim is generalizable. based on our own experiences, however, it is clear that having been exposed to diverse cultures and perspectives prior to becoming university students led both of us to be more proactive in developing international friendships on college and university campuses. yet, even in such cases, it would have been easier to socially interact with other domestic students within our established social networks, since it requires an active effort to reach out across the international divide of campus life. the third main lesson to be learned from our narrative accounts is that international friendships which develop on college and university campuses may extend beyond the spatial and temporal boundaries of student life on campuses themselves. such friendships may lead domestic students or alumni to travel abroad to visit international students in their home countries, which may not necessarily be part of a formal study abroad program. these international connections could possibly even lead domestic students to relocate abroad after they have completed their studies. it is understandable that higher education professionals tend to be more concerned with the international student experience on higher education campuses themselves, yet from a student’s perspective the development of international friendships forges global connections and the university campus is merely one node within a global geography of social and professional networks that extend across space and time (rose-redwood & rose-redwood 2013). lastly, at a time when xenophobic sentiments are on the rise, higher education institutions have an important role to play in broadening the horizons of our ethic of care beyond the narrow confines of nationalistic parochialisms. our own experiences have led us to develop a greater sense of empathy with those living in other countries, particularly in places where we have friends who we initially met at university. yet developing such an ethic of care cannot be achieved through formal institutional programs alone. both domestic and international students themselves need to work toward building more bridges rather than walls and commit to meeting each journal of international students 1336 other halfway across the international divide on college and university campuses. references gareis, e. (2012). intercultural friendships: effects of home and host region. journal of international and intercultural communication 5(4): 309-328. gareis, e., merkin, r., & goldman, j. (2011). intercultural friendship: linking communication variables and friendship success. journal of intercultural communication research 40(2): 153-171. lee, p-w. (2006). bridging cultures: understanding the construction of relational identity in intercultural friendship.” journal of intercultural communication research 35(1): 3-22. rose-redwood, c. (2010). the challenge of fostering cross-cultural interactions: a case study of international graduate students’ perceptions of diversity initiatives. college student journal 44(2): 389-399. rose-redwood, c. and rose-redwood, r. (2013). self-segregation or global mixing? social interactions and the international student experience. journal of college student development 54(4): 413-429. trice, a. (2004). mixing it up: international graduate students’ social interactions with american students. journal of college student development 45(6), 671-687. cindyann rose-redwood, phd, is an assistant teaching professor in the department of geography at the university of victoria. her research examines the social experiences of international students in higher education settings, the social geographies of immigrant communities in north american cities, and the caribbean diaspora. she is currently co-editing a book entitled, international encounters: higher education and the international student experience (with reuben rose-redwood). email: cindyann@uvic.ca reuben rose-redwood, phd, is an associate professor in the department of geography at the university of victoria. his research examines the cultural politics of place, critical social theory, and the spatialities of power. he is the editor of performativity, politics, and the production of social space (2014, with michael glass), the political life of urban streetscapes: naming, politics, and place (2018, with derek alderman and maoz azaryahu), and gridded worlds: an urban anthology (2018, with liora bigon). he is currently co-editing a book entitled, international encounters: higher education and the international student experience (with cindyann roseredwood). email: redwood@uvic.ca manuscript submitted: december 1, 2017 manuscript revised: april 13, 2018 accepted for publication: may 11, 2018 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 108 special edition | bahasa indonesia mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19 [international students and covid-19] issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 10, issue s3 (2020), pp. 108-125 © journal of international students https://ojed.org/jis the emotional experiences of indonesian phd students studying in australia during the covid-19 pandemic pengalaman emosional mahasiswa program doktor asal indonesia belajar di australia selama pandemi covid-19 supiani universitas islam kalimantan mab banjarmasin, indonesia dina rafidiyah universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, indonesia yansyah universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, indonesia hafizhatu nadia universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, indonesia ______________________________________________________________ abstract: this narrative study aims to explore the emotional experiences of two indonesian students pursuing a doctorate (phd) degree in australia during the covid19 pandemic. drawing on semi-structured interview data, we found that the prevalence of covid-19 affected the participants’ emotions and behaviors. both participants experienced different emotions and behaviors in facing various challenges during the pandemic. the study stresses the importance of independence, family support, social support, and university support that the participants needed to reduce their anxiety and stress due to some social restrictions during the outbreak of covid-19, especially for those who are extrovert. https://ojed.org/jis 109 abstrak: penelitian naratif ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman emosional dua orang mahasiswa program doktor asal indonesia yang sedang belajar di australia selama pandemi covid-19. berdasarkan data wawancara semi-terstruktur, kami menemukan bahwa dampak covid-19 memengaruhi emosi dan perilaku partisipan. kedua partisipan mengalami emosi dan perilaku yang berbeda satu sama lain dalam menghadapi berbagai tantangan selama pandemi. penelitian ini menekankan pentingnya kemandirian, dukungan keluarga, dukungan sosial dan dukungan universitas yang diperlukan oleh partisipan untuk mengurangi perasaan cemas dan stres yang diakibatkan oleh berbagai pembatasan sosial di masa covid-19, terutama bagi partisipan yang berkepribadian ekstrover. keywords: covid-19, emotional experience, indonesia, students’ emotions, phd students [covid-19, pengalaman emosi, indonesia, emosi mahasiswa, mahasiswa doktor] ________________________________________________________________ pendahuluan penyebaran wabah covid-19 mengubah wajah pendidikan dunia. covid-19 membawa dampak disrupsi pendidikan dalam skala yang begitu luas berupa penutupan sementara sekolah hingga universitas. pembelajaran yang semula berbentuk tatap muka harus beralih menjadi pembelajaran daring. misalnya, dalam konteks pendidikan tinggi, peralihan mendadak ini menimbulkan beragam tantangan, seperti ketidaksiapan institusi dan mahasiswa untuk melakukan pembelajaran daring secara penuh. telah banyak penelitian yang membahas tentang dampak covid-19 terhadap pendidikan (baloran, 2020; bao, 2020; demuyakor, 2020; quattrone, borghini, emdin & nuti, 2020; xue, li, li & shang, 2020), namun pembahasan yang menekankan pengalaman emosional mahasiswa internasional masih terbatas. berdasarkan penelitian oleh nguyen dan balakrishnan (2020), pandemi covid-19 memiliki dampak signifikan terhadap kesehatan mental mahasiswa internasional. oleh karena itu, penelitian yang membahas perspektif sisi psikologis diperlukan agar bisa memahami permasalahan mahasiswa internasional secara komprehensif. mahasiswa internasional terutama yang berasal dari asia menjadi sorotan selama krisis kesehatan yang disebabkan oleh covid-19. di australia, misalnya, rasisme terjadi dengan menganggap bahwa orang berwajah asia adalah penyebar virus. tanggapan pemerintah pun menjadi tolok ukur penting bagi keberlangsungan dan reputasi australia dalam penyelenggaraan pendidikan internasional (soong, kerkham, reid-nguyen, lucas, geer & mills-bayne, 2020). penelitian yang dilakukan oleh ma dan miller (2020) juga menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa cina memiliki tingkat stres yang tinggi diakibatkan oleh diskriminasi pemberitaan media. berdasarkan pemaparan ini, menarik untuk membahas tentang bagaimana pengalaman emosional, tantangan yang dirasakan dan strategi mahasiswa asal indonesia yang sedang menempuh pendidikan doktor di luar negeri, khususnya di australia dalam menghadapi berbagai masalah tersebut. 110 landasan konseptual mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19 covid-19 telah memberikan dampak yang besar terhadap penyelenggaraan pendidikan internasional (fischer, 2020). sebelumnya, mahasiswa internasional telah memiliki tantangan berupa stereotip, perbedaan budaya dan isu terkait bahasa (maddamsetti, flennaugh & rosaen, 2018). ketika covid-19 mewabah, tantangan seperti peralihan pembelajaran dari tatap muka ke daring (demuyakor, 2020) dan permasalahan terkait rasisme menjadi tambahan kompleksitas yang harus dihadapi oleh mahasiswa internasional, khususnya yang berasal dari negara-negara asia. pembelajaran daring menjadi solusi yang bisa ditawarkan untuk keberlangsungan pendidikan selama krisis covid-19 (bilecen, 2020). meskipun pembelajaran daring telah lama diperkenalkan, tidak semua mahasiswa merasa nyaman atau siap dengan metode ini seperti keluhan mereka terhadap akses internet yang lambat (demuyakor, 2020). tran (2020) menjelaskan tujuh faktor penting yang berpengaruh terhadap kehidupan akademik, sosial dan psikologis mahasiswa internasional, seperti (1) keterkaitan dengan isi dan proses pembelajaran, (2) ikatan emosi dengan pengajar dan mahasiswa internasional lainnya, (3) keterlibatan dengan komunitas kampus, (4) interaksi sosial, (5) hubungan dengan jaringan profesi dan sosial, (6) akses komunikasi dengan keluarga dan (7) koneksi digital. akses mahasiswa internasional dengan ketujuh faktor ini berubah karena terjadi pembatasan berskala besar selama pandemi, terutama terkait isu interaksi sosial. adaptasi dengan kebiasaan baru berpengaruh terhadap berbagai aktivitas, termasuk strategi belajar yang digunakan oleh mahasiswa. pengalaman emosional pendidikan tinggi bertujuan untuk mendidik para mahasiswa mampu berpikir secara mandiri, sehingga kajian tentang pengalaman yang mereka alami merupakan hal yang sangat penting (radley, 1979). pengalaman sosial dan emosional merupakan aspek yang berkaitan dengan performa akademik seseorang (glass & westmont, 2014). mengkaji pengalaman sosial dan emosional mahasiswa internasional dapat membuka perspektif yang lebih luas tentang bagaimana lingkungan dan keadaan sosial budaya berpengaruh terhadap proses belajar. covid-19 telah membatasi ruang dan gerak masing-masing individu. hal ini bisa menyebabkan kesepian (loneliness), terutama bagi mahasiswa internasional yang jauh dari keluarga atau tanah airnya. selanjutnya, hawkley dan cacioppo (2010) mendefinisikan kesepian sebagai perasaan subjektif yang mengakibatkan seseorang merasa terasing. pengalaman emosional juga erat hubungannya dengan kesejahteraan psikologis (psychological well-being) seseorang terhadap keadaan yang sedang terjadi. sebagaimana disebutkan sebelumnya, covid-19 memberikan tekanan psikologis terhadap mahasiswa terkait perubahan pembelajaran dan pembatasan 111 kehidupan sosial mereka. ryff (1989) menawarkan enam faktor utama yang memengaruhi keadaan psikologis seseorang. keenam faktor tersebut meliputi (1) otonomi, (2) keakraban dengan lingkungan sekitar, (3) hubungan positif dengan orang lain, (4) tujuan hidup, (5) penerimaan terhadap diri sendiri dan (6) pengembangan diri. keenam faktor ini juga memengaruhi persepsi emosional seseorang tentang kepuasan dan kebahagian dalam hidupnya. kesejahteraan psikologis ini memiliki hubungan erat dengan kesuksesan akademik (brunsting, zachry, liu, bryan, fang, wu & luo, 2019). kesejahteraan psikologis setiap orang bisa berbeda bergantung pada tipe kepribadian tiap individu (crea & francis, 2020) dan dukungan sosial. brunsting, zachry, liu, bryan, fang, wu, dan luo (2019) juga menegaskan dukungan sosial yang berasal dari fakultas, mahasiswa domestik dan mahasiswa internasional lain menjadi faktor yang harus diperhatikan agar mahasiswa internasional merasa diterima dan dihargai di lingkungan baru mereka. metodologi penelitian ini menggunakan desain naratif (clandinin & connelly, 2000) dengan mengeksplorasi cerita pengalaman emosional mahasiswa program doktor asal indonesia di australia dalam belajar dan berinteraksi dengan dosen pembimbing serta rekan sesama mahasiswa di masa pandemi covid-19. cerita pengalaman emosional partisipan bersifat personal dengan mengungkapkan perasaan, tantangan yang dialami mereka dan strategi yang dilakukan selama pandemi covid-19 di australia. partisipan dua orang perempuan dengan nama samaran weni (43 tahun) dan santi (42 tahun) bersedia secara sukarela menjadi partisipan dalam penelitian ini. mereka adalah mahasiswa program doktor berasal dari indonesia yang sedang menempuh pendidikan di perguruan tinggi yang berbeda di australia. weni belajar di sebuah universitas negeri di melbourne dan sudah berada di australia sejak desember 2019. sedangkan, santi menempuh studi di salah satu universitas negeri di new south wales sejak desember 2018. mereka samasama berasal dari perguruan tinggi islam, mendapatkan beasiswa mora yang dikelola oleh kementerian agama republik indonesia, dan mengambil jurusan pendidikan bahasa inggris (teaching english to speakers of other languages). perekrutan partisipan penelitian ini dilakukan dengan tiga alasan utama: (1) kesediaan mereka untuk memberikan informasi yang berkaitan dengan pengalaman emosi mereka selama pandemi covid-19 di australia; (2) adanya kedekatan emosional, pertemanan yang akrab sebagai dosen di program studi s1 pendidikan bahasa inggris dan (3) partisipan dan kami sebagai peneliti berasal dari kota yang sama di provinsi kalimantan selatan, indonesia. ketiga alasan tersebut memudahkan kami untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman emosional mereka selama covid-19 di australia secara mendalam. 112 pengumpulan dan analisis data dalam menggali data naratif, kami menggunakan wawancara semi-terstruktur untuk mendapatkan pengalaman emosional mereka pada saat belajar di program doktor selama covid-19. sebelum mewawancarai kedua partisipan, kami terlebih dahulu menghubungi mereka melalui obrolan dan telepon whatsapp untuk meminta kesediaan partisipasi mereka dalam penelitian ini. setelah mereka bersedia, kemudian kami menegosiasikan dan membicarakan waktu wawancara yang sesuai dengan waktu luang kedua partisipan. kegiatan wawancara dilakukan dengan menggunakan aplikasi zoom agar kami dapat bertatap muka langsung dengan partisipan dan melihat ekspresi emosi mereka dengan baik. harrell dan bradley (2009) menegaskan bahwa wawancara dapat dilakukan melalui tatap muka atau melalui telepon, tergantung pada jenis riset dan tingkat akses terhadap partisipan. kami menggunakan bahasa indonesia selama wawancara untuk memudahkan komunikasi, tetapi kami memberikan kebebasan partisipan untuk menjawab wawancara menggunakan bahasa indonesia atau kombinasi bahasa indonesia dan bahasa inggris. setiap wawancara berlangsung sekitar 30-60 menit. dua partisipan diwawancarai secara terpisah dengan waktu yang berbeda, menyesuaikan dengan waktu luang mereka. pada umumnya, wawancara dilaksanakan pada siang dan sore hari. wawancara dilakukan dalam suasana santai agar partisipan merasa nyaman dan terbuka untuk mengungkapkan pengalaman emosi yang mereka alami. ketika wawancara berlangsung, kami meminta izin untuk merekam percakapan atau jawaban mereka melalui fitur di zoom. transkrip wawancara yang telah dibuat dan kemudian dianalisis berdasarkan tema yang sering muncul. dalam menganalisis data, tema yang muncul diidentifikasi melalui pendekatan induktif (braun & clarke, 2006). analisis dengan pendekatan induktif dapat dilakukan melalui identifikasi pola dan tema yang muncul dalam data wawancara (harrell & bradley, 2009). kami membagi cerita dan pengalaman emosional kedua partisipan pada beberapa tema dengan mengidentifikasi data wawancara. tiga hal yang menjadi tema utama pada penelitian naratif ini, yaitu perasaan emosional mereka, tantangan yang mereka alami dan cara atau strategi untuk mengatasi tantangan tersebut. ketiga hal tersebut diambil berdasarkan tema yang jelas tergambar secara induktif dalam cerita atau pengalaman mereka selama studi program doktor di australia. pendekatan holistik yang digunakan dalam menggarisbawahi pemilihan tema dan cerita merupakan suatu proses cara menemukan data dari makna dan pengalaman hidup para partisipan (van manen, 1990; 1997). kemudian, kami mentranskrip data wawancara partisipan secara lengkap sesuai dengan cerita mereka. widodo (2014) menegaskan bahwa data wawancara yang ditranskrip adalah suatu cara untuk merepresentasikan, menganalisis dan menginterpretasikan data yang sudah disampaikan. setelah itu, transkrip wawancara kami kirim kembali ke kedua partisipan melalui obrolan whatsapp untuk dicek ulang. jika mereka berkeinginan untuk melengkapi data yang 113 dirasakan belum tepat atau menambahkan yang sudah ada agar lebih jelas dan akurat, kedua partisipan bisa mengembalikan transkripsi data wawancara dengan umpan balik kepada kami. pada tahap akhir, kami mengirimkan transkrip data ke partisipan untuk mengecek ulang (member checking) apakah data yang ditranskripsi sesuai dengan data naratif yang disampaikan oleh kedua partisipan (fishman, 2001). temuan penelitian berdasarkan hasil analisis tematik induktif ditemukan tiga tema hasil penelitian, yaitu pengalaman emosional partisipan selama covid-19, tantangan emosional partisipan dan strategi mengatasi tantangan emosional tersebut. pengalaman emosional partisipan selama covid-19 penyebaran covid-19 di australia memunculkan cerita emosional dari kedua partisipan yang sedang menempuh studi doktor. mereka merasakan suatu perubahan yang signifikan dalam belajar, bimbingan disertasi dengan dosen pembimbing dan berinteraksi sosial dengan teman-teman indonesia dan mancanegara. dengan situasi covid-19 yang sangat mengkhawatirkan ini, pemerintah australia memberlakukan sistem karantina wilayah untuk warga negara asing yang akan masuk ke australia dan menetapkan sistem pembelajaran daring, khususnya di perguruan tinggi. hal ini membuat para mahasiswa internasional khususnya di australia yang sedang menempuh pendidikan mengalami perasaan emosional yang beragam dalam menyikapi covid-19. mereka bisa beradaptasi terhadap perubahan yang terjadi. weni dan santi menyikapi keadaan ini dengan emosi, karakter dan cara pandang yang berbeda karena sebelum wabah ini muncul, mereka merasa nyaman untuk belajar, berinteraksi sosial dan bertemu secara tatap muka dengan dosen pembimbing mereka. ketidakhadiran keluarga juga berdampak pada perasaan emosional yang membuatnya merasa sendiri di tengah situasi yang sulit. kehadiran keluarga sangat berarti bagi weni dalam hal memberi dukungan dan semangat untuk tetap kuat dan tegar menghadapi situasi sekarang. seperti yang disampaikan oleh weni pada saat wawancara, dia merasa cemas dan sedih karena suaminya tidak bisa berangkat ke australia untuk menemani dia selama kuliah dikarenakan adanya covid-19: saya merasa stres dan sedih masalahnya suami saya sudah beli tiket mau berangkat ke sini untuk menemani saya di sini. padahal visa sudah granted bulan februari dan rencananya berangkat bulan april, karena masih banyak pekerjaan. seharusnya berangkat maret, tetapi beliau harus menyelesaikan pekerjaan. waduuh saya pusing ketika muncul covid-19, akhirnya tidak bisa datang. bagi saya kehadiran suami sangat penting untuk support studi saya di sini. di sisi lain, saya sedih juga karena tidak bisa jalan-jalan ke cafe atau refreshing bersama teman-teman karena sekarang semua kegiatan 114 dibatasi oleh pemerintah, kalau ini dilakukan bisa kena denda. jadi, saya harus banyak stay at home. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) perasaan emosional weni tersebut berbanding terbalik dengan yang dirasakan oleh santi. santi tidak merasa kesepian di masa sebelum dan selama covid-19 karena dia ditemani oleh keluarga (suami dan anak) yang tinggal satu rumah bersama-sama di australia. oleh karena itu, dia merasa senang dan menganggap bahwa adanya wabah ini tidak memengaruhi emosinya walaupun ada aturan pembatasan aktivitas sosial secara kontak langsung atau fisik. dia memahami karakternya yang cenderung introver sehingga dengan adanya covid-19, dia mengatakan keadaan ini adalah suatu berkah (blessed) karena berkurangnya tuntutan untuk interaksi sosial di kampus dan masyarakat. sebagaimana dia ceritakan dalam wawancara: saya senang dan enjoy karena ada suami dan anak menemani saya sebelum wabah ini dan sampai sekarang di sini. well...i know that covid-19 is a serious disease, but for me if you are asking for my opinion, it is blessing for me, i felt blessed. saya tidak masalah, my character i don’t like any social gatherings, jadi kan sebelum covid-19 memang ada undangan dari temanteman, ayooo datang ke rumah, but sekarang kan tidak ada lagi undangan dari teman-teman atau kegiatan lainnya. so, it is okay. i like it. mungkin juga sesuai dengan karakter saya, because my character is actually introvert, i like to do actvities alone actually. heehehee (sambil tetawa kecil) (santi, wawancara zoom, 9 agustus 2020) perubahan moda komunikasi dalam belajar dan bimbingan riset dengan dosen pembimbing yang dilakukan secara daring dengan bantuan aplikasi zoom juga memberikan dampak psikologis terhadap tiap individu. weni dan santi sama-sama belum terbiasa belajar dan bimbingan secara daring, sehingga hal ini memaksa mereka untuk belajar mandiri memahami penggunaan teknologi khususnya zoom dan mencari sumber ilmu pengetahuan atau referensi jurnaljurnal terkait riset yang mereka kerjakan. pemberlakuan situasi dari tatap muka langsung luring menjadi daring membuat mereka merasa kurang nyaman dan agak sulit untuk memunculkan gairah atau motivasi semangat belajar. sebagaimana yang diceritakan oleh weni bahwa: feelingnya sangat beda, terakhir saya bertemu langsung berhadapan dengan supervisor di bulan maret. saat itu saya merasa nyaman konsultasi dan lebih leluasa bertanya, tapi sekarang lewat zoom sepertinya kurang nyaman, agak kaku bimbingan. pada dasarnya pengaruh online itu perpindahan belajar dari kampus ke rumah, padahal di kampus itu ada macam-macam fasilitas seperti ada desk atau office, kita bisa seharian di situ belajar, bisa makan, kerja, ngeprint pokoknya full untuk diri sendiri dan ke perpustakaan cari referensi. setelah pindah ke rumah suasananya jadi berbeda. kalau di kampus saya lebih semangat belajar, tapi kalau sudah di rumah jadi berkurang motivasinya, agak malasan. suasana di rumah memang berbeda dengan suasana di kampus. kalau saya ke perpustakaan 115 lihat orang belajar, pasti saya semangat untuk belajar. tapi kalau di rumah ini kayanya saya kurang semangat jadinya. kalau di rumah untuk lebih semangat belajar memerlukan waktu lama, apalagi di rumah saya sendirian. jadi situasi ini penuh perjuangan dari bulan maret, april sampai sekarang. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) sama halnya dengan weni, santi juga merasakan ketidaknyamanan dan ketidakleluasaan dalam belajar dan bimbingan disertasi melalui daring. dia merasa belum terbiasa dengan situasi lingkungan pembelajaran virtual, misalnya saat dia harus melakukan aktivitasnya secara daring seperti mencari referensi, meminjam buku-buku di perpustakaan dan merekam pesan atau ucapan dosen pembimbing ketika bimbingan disertasi. hal-hal demikian dijalani secara mandiri oleh santi tanpa melakukan kontak fisik sosial. dia menceritakan perasaan yang dialaminya ketika belajar dan bimbingan disertasi secara daring: dulu sangat mudah sebelum covid-19, saya ke perpustakaan meminjam buku, cari referensi dan ada fasilitas ruang kerja di mana saya baca dan belajar sendiri. tetapi dengan kejadian sekarang, saya belum bisa pergi lagi ke kampus. kegiatan belajar di rumah saja dan meminjam buku dengan online misalnya cari-cari jurnal, buku-buku di website perpustakaan. jadi saya hanya request online, mengirim email, terus dibalas untuk bisa diambil bukunya di perpustakaan. begitu juga bimbingan disertasi dengan supervisor secara online dengan jadwal dua kali sebulan, tetapi sebenarnya saya merasa tidak begitu suka seperti ini karena saya sudah terbiasa offline. dulu waktu offline saya biasa mencatat apa yang disampaikan oleh supervisor. kalau pakai zoom saya tidak perlu lagi mencatat tapi terkadang saya bisa lupa dan tidak sadar apa sudah merecord, apa pertemuan zoom ini, terkadang bingung sendiri. kemudian, saya diingatkan oleh supervisor untuk merecord ucapan beliau saat online. (santi, wawancara zoom, 9 agustus 2020) tantangan emosional partisipan selama covid-19 tantangan menjadi mahasiswa program doktor sangat berbeda dengan masa studi s1 (sarjana) dan s2 (magister). tantangannya terasa lebih berat dengan munculnya wabah covid-19 di australia. selama covid-19 terjadi, weni dan santi tidak menghadiri kelas lagi dan tidak harus bersosialisasi di kampus serta berinteraksi langsung dengan orang lain. secara umum, mereka dituntut untuk mengerjakan segala kegiatan akademik atau aktivitas lain secara mandiri seperti belajar dan konsultasi riset disertasi dengan dosen pembimbing melalui zoom. weni menceritakan dalam wawancaranya: pada umumnya kami di sini membiasakan play solo atau mandiri begitu, karena topik penelitian kami juga beda satu sama lain, jadi lebih banyak konsultasi ke supervisor masing-masing. ini merupakan suatu tantangan bagi saya yang dituntut harus terbiasa belajar dan riset serta dikerjakan sendiri. dulu waktu kuliah s2 banyak diskusi dengan teman-teman, ada kelas, dan 116 mengerjakan tugas selalu bersama-sama. jadi ini sangat berbeda, dipaksa harus siap secara mandiri, istilahnya “you have to be in your own”. dengan kesendirian ini, saya harus bisa menghandel jadwal bimbingan riset, mengatur diri dan waktu supaya disiplin. kemudian supervisor memberikan tugas ke saya untuk baca-baca artikel di jurnal terkait riset dan malah bingungnya tidak ada penjelasan secara detail dari supervisor bagaimana bernavigasi dan memahami referensi jurnal. bahkan, supervisor berkata dalam bahasa inggris “what do you like? what are your interests?”. jadi, ini harus benar-benar mandiri untuk memahaminya. memang saya agak shock dan bingung perasaannya saat itu, apalagi di masa covid-19 ini. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) weni juga menambahkan ceritanya terhadap tantangan lain yang dia hadapi selama wabah berlangsung dikarenakan susahnya bersosialisasi dengan teman-teman. selain itu, keadaan kesendirian di negara orang membuat dia harus bisa bertahan hidup tinggal di rumah dengan tujuan agar terhindar dari wabah penyakit saat ini. dia menyampaikan pada saat wawancara bahwa: selain kesendirian belajar dan kesusahan bimbingan disertasi via online, secara sosial saya juga harus stay at home dan tidak boleh ke mana-mana paling cuma beli makanan, olah raga, jalan-jalan. tapi semuanya itu dilakukan dengan kesendirian. dengan kondisi ini, saya akhirnya tidak bisa kumpul-kumpul dan refreshing lagi bersama teman-teman karena aturannya harus menjaga jarak diri masing-masing. intinya harus selamat dan sehat di negara orang. itulah yang paling berat. padahal saya sukanya kumpul sama teman-teman untuk menghilangkan rasa kesepian dan kejenuhan. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) santi juga merasakan tantangan serupa yang dia alami, khususnya terkait dengan kelas dan bimbingan disertasi. dibandingkan dengan weni, santi merespons lebih bijak dan santai terhadap pandemi covid-19 dan pembatasan sosial berskala besar di australia. ketika diwawancarai, dia menyampaikan ceritanya dengan menggunakan bahasa inggris dan bahasa indonesia secara bergantian: i don’t have classes this year. i haven’t met my supervisors and friends. so, it is difficult for me not to meet my supervisors especially. sebelum covid-19 saya bisa janjian untuk ketemuan tapi saat ini susah untuk mengatur waktu yang tepat. mungkin supervisor sibuk juga…i don’t know, but i enjoyed learning independently. tapi yang jelas semua cukup dengan online saja kalau mau konsultasi atau bimbingan dengan supervisor, tapi saya merasa tidak puas, ketimbang dengan tatap muka karena ada yang kurang jelas untuk mendapatkan poin penjelasan supervisor. di sisi lain, saya tertantang harus banyak baca jurnal dan kemudian diringkas bacaannya sesuai anjuran supervisor karena saya belum terbiasa hal demikian agak berat menjalaninya tapi saya ambil hikmah dan positifnya saja. take it easy and relax. (santi, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) 117 cerita kedua partisipan tersebut menggambarkan bahwa tantangan yang dialami mereka tidak jauh berbeda, terutama dalam hal belajar dan bimbingan disertasi. akan tetapi, beban emosional yang dialami oleh weni lebih berat dibandingkan santi. weni merasakan tekanan psikologis di masa-masa sulit ketika berkuliah di australia dikarenakan jauh dari keluarga. selanjutnya, keharusan untuk belajar mandiri dan adanya pembatasan fisik dan sosial yang diatur oleh pemerintah australia tidak memungkinkan bagi dia untuk bisa berkumpul bersama teman-teman atau pergi ke suatu tempat untuk penyegaran. sementara itu, santi menyikapinya dengan berpikir positif terhadap penyesuaian lingkungan pembelajaran dan bimbingan riset secara daring. kehadiran keluarga santi (suami dan anaknya) di australia dan karakter diri santi yang introver berpengaruh pada emosi dan sikap positif yang diambilnya dari penyebaran covid-19 di australia. strategi mengatasi tantangan emosional selama covid-19 strategi kedua partisipan berbeda satu sama lain tergantung cara pandang dan karakter mereka menyelesaikan tantangan di masa covid-19. walaupun dalam kesendirian dan kejenuhan, seperti yang dialami weni, dia berupaya untuk membiasakan diri disiplin dengan membuat jadwal bimbingan disertasi regular dengan dosen pembimbing dan berkomitmen untuk belajar mandiri. dia juga selalu berkomunikasi dengan keluarga dan teman-teman asal indonesia atau negara lain di kampus maupun luar kampus melalui aplikasi whatsapp. weni menceritakan hal ini saat wawancara bahwa: saya harus disiplin dan mandiri dalam melakukan kegiatan akademik khususnya bimbingan riset disertasi seperti membuat jadwal sendiri untuk belajar, membaca jurnal dan membuat ringkasannya, kemudian progresnya harus tetap dilaporkan atau dikomunikasikan ke supervisor sesuai jadwal yang sudah kami sepakati bersama. kemudian, saya juga selalu telepon keluarga, suami dan anak di indonesia via whatsapp dan tentu komunikasi dengan teman-teman indonesia atau negara lain di kampus australia via zoom juga saya lakukan supaya tetap semangat menjalani kuliah di sini. sifat saya lebih suka berkawan atau bersosialisasi sama siapapun di sini. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) selain itu, weni pun mendapatkan dukungan dari pihak luar. dia mendapatkan dukungan morel, materiel dan sosial dari dosen pembimbing dan pihak kampus untuk semua mahasiswa internasional yang sedang studi. hal ini merupakan bentuk dukungan nyata dari kampus dan dosen pembimbing sehingga mereka merasakan kenyamanan selama studi di saat adanya wabah virus dan mengurangi beban finansial di situasi tersebut. weni menyampaikan bahwa dia merasa senang dan nyaman karena adanya kepedulian dan dukungan kampus sehingga dia bisa tetap fokus untuk studi dan menyelesaikan risetnya tanpa halangan apapun. pihak kampus dan asosiasi mahasiswa kampus di mana tempat weni studi memberikan bantuan dalam bentuk dana, makanan, jaringan 118 area lokal nirkabel gratis dan lain-lain untuk semua mahasiswa internasional yang terdampak oleh covid-19: jadi kami bisa apply untuk dana bantuan itu, dan akhirnya kemarin dapat bantuan au$ 1,000 dari kampus istilahnya emergency fund. karena kami dianggap pihak kampus yang kemungkinan mengalami kesulitan dalam belajar atau bimbingan online di rumah. jadi dana tersebut bisa digunakan untuk beli data atau kuota internet, tapi kalau saya pergi ke kampus tidak masalah karena ada wifi gratis untuk kami. ada beberapa teman kami tidak bisa bekerja di cafe, misalnya, karena wabah ini cafenya ditutup akhirnya kehilangan pekerjaan, sehingga sangat memerlukan bantuan tersebut. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) di kampus ini juga ada menyediakan makanan gratis dari asosiasi mahasiswa untuk mahasiswa dan bisa diambil di kampus. biasanya ini ada jadwalnya untuk free lunch itu. apalagi mahasiswa yang kehilangan pekerjaan karena tidak semua mahasiswa di sini beasiswa, ada yang biaya sendiri itu dapat makan cuma-cuma dari asosiasi mahasiswa di kampus. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) kepedulian sosial dan saling membantu yang diberikan oleh kampus dan asosiasi mahasiswa merupakan wujud nyata untuk saling berbagi dan berempati terhadap mahasiswa domestik maupun internasional yang sedang menempuh pendidikan. kampus dan asosiasi mahasiswa turut merasakan beban psikologis yang dialami oleh mahasiswa internasional, seperti rindu pada keluarga, kesepian, stres, bingung dalam studi, tidak ada pekerjaan dan masalah keuangan. selain itu, mereka juga memberikan bantuan untuk meringankan permasalahan yang dialami para mahasiswa. hal ini sangat membantu kebutuhan fisik dan mental weni sebagai mahasiswa program doktor dari indonesia untuk bisa bertahan hidup selama covid-19 berlangsung. dia juga bersyukur mendapatkan dukungan morel dan materiel serta empati dari dosen pembimbingnya yang sangat baik hati, suka membantu dan mengerti keadaan mahasiswa yang dibimbingnya: yang terpenting juga adalah support dari para supervisor yang selalu menghubungi mahasiswanya. supervisor di sini sangat baik, malah waktu pertama kali mau bimbingan, supervisor menghubungi saya duluan. kadang malu sendiri karena mereka yang menghubungi duluan. mereka menghubungi saya bisa lewat email, lewat whatsapp atau lewat instagram. sampai mereka tanya weni, are you sure to have enough food, female stuff? karena mau lockdown sekarang, if you have any difficulty, i can get you. malah saya merasa tidak enak, saking baiknya mereka. jadi mereka itu sangat care, bahkan terakhir itu if you don’t have enough money, tell me. i can give you a loan. padahal kan malu, iya kan? pokoknya sangat care, sangat peduli, membantu. pernah saya tidak ada kabar untuk beberapa hari, supervisor email saya, just check are you ok? sampai dikirimi email seperti itu. (weni, wawancara zoom, 18 juli 2020) 119 sama seperti weni, santi juga melakukan hal serupa, yaitu belajar mandiri dan mendisiplinkan diri untuk tetap mengikuti jadwal dua kali bimbingan riset dalam sebulan yang sudah disepakatinya dengan dosen pembimbing melalui aplikasi zoom. dia berkomitmen untuk membaca artikel dari jurnal-jurnal internasional dan menuliskan serta melaporkan kemajuan belajarnya kepada dosen pembimbing tentang sejauh mana dia memahami konsep riset yang dia kerjakan. selain kegiatan akademik yang dikerjakan, dia kadang-kadang pergi ke taman atau ke pantai di sekitar kampus baik sendirian atau bersama keluarga untuk menyegarkan pikiran dan menghibur diri di tengah kesibukan kegiatan belajar dan bimbingan disertasi selama covid-19. dia menceritakan strategi yang dilakukannya selama wabah terjadi: saya lebih banyak belajar mandiri dengan membaca, reading and after reading we write what we have read. pertemuan dengan supervisor itu sudah dijadwal secara regular dan saya harus komitmen untuk patuh terhadap jadwal yang sudah ditetapkan dengan bimbingan daring. artinya dalam satu bulan itu dua kali bimbingan. jadi harus disiplin waktu agar bisa menyelesaikan studi. kemudian, saya terkadang jalan-jalan sendiri ke kota dan ke pantai atau bisa juga bersama keluarga untuk refreshing dan santai-santai, tapi tetap mengikuti protokol kesehatan. (santi, wawancara zoom, 9 agustus 2020) selama masa pandemi covid-19 ini, santi pun bisa mengambil sisi positif. dia mendapatkan banyak hikmah yang dirasakan saat wabah terjadi, diantaranya lebih mandiri, menerima keadaan, dan pasrah kepada tuhan yang maha esa. selain itu, penerapan teknologi zoom pun dirasakannya mendukung studinya selama di australia, seperti untuk mengikuti kegiatan-kegiatan workshop dan seminar daring tentang topik riset yang dia kerjakan. partisipasi di forum ilmiah tersebut sangat membantu dia dalam mengerjakan disertasi. dia berharap bisa menyelesaikan program doktor tepat waktu, sebagaimana dinarasikan dalam data wawancara berikut: saya rasa saya bisa menggunakan zoom akhirnya karena dulunya saya gagap teknologi tapi dipaksa harus bisa menyesuaikan diri di lingkungan daring. jadi ini berarti saya tidak hanya bisa berkonsultasi dengan dosen pembimbing dengan daring, tetapi juga saya bisa ikut berpartisipasi di kegiatan workshop atau seminar daring terkait dengan riset saya. (santi, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) pembahasan dan kesimpulan kedua partisipan sudah pernah menempuh pendidikan s-1 (sarjana) dan s-2 (magister) di australia dan malaysia. dengan latar belakang pendidikan tersebut, kemahiran berbahasa inggris, dukungan keluarga, kemampuan akademik dan adaptasi lintas budaya (tantangan sosial) bukan merupakan permasalahan yang berarti (wolf & phung, 2019; yu, bodycott, & mak, 2019). akan tetapi, pandemi covid-19 memang berpengaruh sangat besar pada emosi 120 yang dialami oleh mahasiswa internasional, khususnya weni. dia mengeluhkan kesepian atau kesendirian karena suaminya tertunda datang ke australia disebabkan oleh covid-19. istilah kesepian tampaknya sangat sederhana, tetapi bila hal ini dipahami dari aspek psikologis, hal tersebut dapat memengaruhi fungsi fisiologis, mengurangi kualitas tidur, bahkan dapat meningkatkan morbiditas dan mortalitas. sebagai makhluk sosial, tidak ada manusia yang bisa bertahan hidup tanpa adanya interaksi dengan lingkungan sosialnya (hawkley & cacioppo, 2010). keadaan ini memerlukan intervensi yang terus menerus baik dari diri sendiri maupun pihak lain seperti keluarga, teman, beserta pihak kampus agar dampak kesepian tersebut tidak makin memburuk. pada kasus weni, komunikasi dengan keluarganya melalui whatsapp dan keaktifan serta kepedulian dosen pembimbing menghubungi dan mengecek kondisinya dirasa dapat meringankan beban psikologisnya. hal ini juga sejalan dengan yang disampaikan oleh radley (2006), bahwa kedekatan antara dosen pembimbing dan mahasiswa secara personal dapat membantu mengatasi situasi dan keadaan yang sulit. dukungan institusi pendidikan memiliki dampak tidak langsung pada penanganan kesepian yang dialami oleh mahasiswa (brunsting, zachry, liu, bryan, fang, wu, & luo, 2019). selain itu, kesepian mereka juga dapat dikurangi dengan cara berkomunikasi dan berteman baik dengan mahasiswa lain atau komunitas senegara atau mancanegara. interaksi sosial dapat mengurangi kesepian seseorang sehingga ini dapat memacu semangat untuk belajar. sebagaimana disampaikan oleh glass dan westmont (2014), berempati dan berinteraksi dengan orang lain dapat berpengaruh pada keberhasilan akademik. selanjutnya, hubungan lintas budaya mahasiswa domestik dan internasional juga dapat menumbuhkan rasa saling memiliki. hubungan positif dengan orang lain, kemandirian dan kemampuan beradaptasi membuat mahasiswa internasional bisa bertahan untuk menyelesaikan pendidikannya. partisipan dengan rentang usia 42-45 tahun secara psikologis sudah memiliki kematangan jiwa untuk menghadapi tantangan hidup (ryff, 1989). oleh karena itu, baik weni maupun santi bisa menerima kenyataan bahwa kejadian sekarang ini adalah wabah global, tidak ada yang menginginkan wabah virus merajalela. dengan segala daya upaya, mereka berusaha untuk menyelesaikan pendidikan mereka dengan sebaik-baiknya dan tepat waktu. crea dan francis (2020) menjelaskan bahwa perbedaan kepribadian memengaruhi reaksi emosional terhadap suatu kondisi. hal ini tergambar pada cerita kedua partisipan dalam penelitian ini. weni yang lebih suka berteman dan bersosialisasi mempunyai kepribadian ekstrover, dia merasa lebih stres dan cemas terhadap keadaan covid-19. sedangkan, santi yang berkepribadian lebih tertutup atau introver dan tidak terlalu suka bersosialisasi merasa kehadiran covid-19 ini adalah suatu berkah. dia bersyukur bahwa dia tidak harus bersosialisasi karena adanya pembatasan sosial berskala besar yang ditetapkan oleh pemerintah australia. temuan ini berimplikasi bagi setiap individu yang memiliki karakter ekstrover agar lebih berhati-hati, mengurangi 121 rasa cemas, sedih dan stres bahkan depresi berlebihan, supaya terhindar dari penyakit fisik dan mental (baloran, 2020; turashvili & japaridze, 2012). pembelajaran yang baik seharusnya mendorong kompetensi sosial dan emosional individu dalam situasi yang nyaman dan kondusif tanpa adanya ancaman (frydenberg, martin, & collie, 2017). pembelajaran di tingkat program doktor ternyata sangat berbeda dengan program sarjana dan magister karena para mahasiswa dituntut harus mandiri, mulai dari belajar, bimbingan disertasi sampai berkegiatan akademik lainnya. mereka juga harus mampu memotivasi dan mendisiplinkan diri sendiri. dengan kata lain, kemandirian belajar menjadi salah satu strategi dalam menyelesaikan tantangan pada situasi pandemi covid-19, sehingga hal ini dapat mengurangi kecemasan seseorang menjalani proses pembelajaran (ma & miller, 2020). bilecen (2020) mengatakan penggunaan media daring berupa zoom dan whatsapp dapat memaksimalkan komunikasi antarsesama. hal ini sejalan dengan yang dialami baik oleh weni maupun oleh santi dalam berkomunikasi, terutama dengan dosen pembimbing mereka. berdasarkan temuan penelitian, kebijakan institusi pendidikan selama pandemi seharusnya bertujuan untuk memastikan kesehatan fisik dan mental dosen dan mahasiswa, memastikan kualitas pembelajaran mahasiswa dan meningkatkan kemampuan penerapan teknologi pengajaran dosen (yu, bodycott, & mak, 2019). penelitian ini dilaksanakan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman emosional mahasiswa indonesia yang mengikuti program doktor di perguruan tinggi australia, tantangan emosional yang mereka rasakan dan strategi untuk mengatasi tantangan tersebut selama wabah covid-19. emosi yang dialami oleh setiap partisipan dengan adanya covid-19 ini beragam, tergantung pada kepribadiannya. bagi individu yang berkepribadian ekstrover, dia tentu merasa lebih sedih, stres dan cemas karena dia tidak bisa bersosialisasi dengan orang banyak. sedangkan, tipe kepribadian introver memaknai kejadian ini merupakan sebuah berkah tersendiri baginya karena dia tidak perlu berinteraksi sosial secara langsung. tantangan yang dominan adalah pembelajaran dan konsultasi yang harus dilakukan secara daring dan mandiri dengan dosen pembimbing serta hilangnya kesempatan untuk bisa berdiskusi dengan teman secara tatap muka. akibatnya, dia merasa kesepian ketika belajar sendiri sehingga motivasi belajar jadi menurun. kedua partisipan memiliki strategi yang sama untuk mengatasi tantangan tersebut. mereka bekerja keras, mandiri, dan berkomitmen untuk menyelesaikan tugas-tugas disertasi dan akademik lainnya secara disiplin supaya mereka dapat menyelesaikan pendidikan secepat mungkin. pernyataan penulis [disclosure statement] penulis menyatakan bahwa tidak ada konflik kepentingan dalam hal riset, kepengarangan, dan publikasi artikel ini [the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article]. 122 pernyataan kontribusi penulis [authors’ contribution statements] supiani: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (utama), menulis artikel awal (utama), mengevaluasi (utama), dan mereview dan mengedit (utama) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (lead), writing-original draft (lead), review (lead), editing (lead)]; dina rafidiyah: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (penguat), menulis artikel awal (penguat), transkripsi data (utama), mengevaluasi (utama), mengedit (utama) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (supporting), writing-original draft (supporting), data transcription (lead), review (lead), editing (lead)]; yansyah: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (penguat), menulis artikel awal (utama), pengumpulan data (utama), mengevaluasi (berimbang), mengedit (berimbang) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (supporting), writing-original draft (lead), data collection (lead), review (equal), editing (equal)]; hafizhatu nadia: mengonsep ide (penguat), merancang metode penelitian (penguat), menulis artikel awal (penguat), pengumpulan data (utama), transkripsi data (utama), mengevaluasi (penguat), mengedit (penguat) [conceptualization of ideas (supporting), methodology (supporting), writing-original draft (supporting), data collection (lead), data transcription (lead), review (supporting), editing (supporting)]. daftar referensi baloran, e. t. 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(1990). researching lived experience: human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. new york: the state university of new york. van manen, m. (1997). from meaning to method. qualitative health research, 7(3), 345-369. widodo, h. p. (2014). methodological considerations in interview data transcription. international journal of innovation in english language teaching and research, 3(1), 101-107. wolf, d. m., & phung, l. (2019). studying in the united states: language learning challenges, strategies, and support services. journal of international students, 9(1), 211-224. doi: 10.32674/jis.v9i1.273 xue, e., li, j., li, t., & shang, w. (2020). how china’s education responses to covid-19: a perspective of policy analysis. educational philosophy and theory. terbit pertama online (hlm. 1-13). doi: 10.1080/00131857.2020.1793653 yu, b., bodycott, p., & mak, a. s. (2019). language and interpersonal resource predictors of psychological and sociocultural adaptation: international students in hong kong. journal of studies in international education. terbit pertama online (hlm. 1-17). doi: 10.1177/1028315318825336 ________________________________________________________________ biografi singkat penulis [notes on contributors] supiani (penulis korespondensi) adalah seorang dosen bahasa inggris di program studi s1 pendidikan bahasa inggris, universitas islam kalimantan mab banjarmasin, kalimantan selatan, indonesia. minat riset penulis adalah keterampilan menulis, umpan balik menulis, metodologi pengajaran bahasa inggris dan motivasi dalam belajar bahasa. email: supiani.uniska@gmail.com supiani (corresponding author) is an english language lecturer in the department of english education at universitas islam kalimantan mab banjarmasin, south borneo, indonesia. his research areas include esl/efl writing, written corrective feedback, elt methodology, and motivation in language learning. email: supiani.uniska@gmail.com dina rafidiyah adalah dosen di program studi s1 pendidikan bahasa inggris, universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, kalimantan selatan, indonesia. penulis tertarik mengkaji pengajaran bahasa inggris menggunakan teknologi, pendidikan kejuruan dan pengembangan bahan ajar. email: dinarafidiyah@gmail.com dina rafidiyah is a lecturer in the department of english education at universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, south borneo, indonesia. she is interested in researching technology-enabled language instruction, vocational education, and language materials development. email: dinarafidiyah@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v9i1.273 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1793653 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1793653 https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315318825336 mailto:supiani.uniska@gmail.com mailto:dinarafidiyah@gmail.com mailto:dinarafidiyah@gmail.com 125 yansyah adalah dosen di program studi s1 pendidikan bahasa inggris, universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, kalimantan selatan, indonesia. penulis tertarik mengkaji pengajaran bahasa inggris menggunakan teknologi, pengembangan bahan ajar, bahasa inggris untuk tujuan khusus dan pengembangan profesi guru. email: yansyah@umbjm.ac.id yansyah is a lecturer in the department of english education at universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, south borneo, indonesia. his research interests are in technology-enabled language learning, language materials development, english for specific purposes, and teacher professional development. email: yansyah@umbjm.ac.id hafizhatu nadia adalah dosen di program studi s1 pendidikan bahasa inggris, universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, kalimantan selatan, indonesia. penulis tertarik mengkaji metodologi pengajaran bahasa inggris, pengembangan bahan ajar dan pengajaran bahasa inggris menggunakan teknologi. email: hafizhatunadia@gmail.com hafizhatu nadia is a lecturer in the department of english education at universitas muhammadiyah banjarmasin, south borneo, indonesia. her research interests lie in elt methodology, language materials development, and technologyenabled language learning. email: hafizhatunadia@gmail.com mailto:yansyah@umbjm.ac.id mailto:yansyah@umbjm.ac.id mailto:hafizhatunadia@gmail.com mailto:hafizhatunadia@gmail.com 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again 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unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 75 special edition | bahasa indonesia mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19 [international students and covid-19] issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 10, issue s3 (2020), pp. 75-90 © journal of international students https://ojed.org/jis thought, attitude and action: the struggle of an international phd studentmother during the covid-19 pandemic in australia berpikir, bersikap dan bertindak: perjuangan seorang ibu berstatus mahasiswa internasional program doktor saat pandemi covid-19 di australia lara fridani universitas negeri jakarta, indonesia ulfa elfiah universitas jember, indonesia selfi handayani universitas sebelas maret surakarta, indonesia aschawir ali institut agama islam negeri (iain), bone, sulawesi selatan, indonesia ________________________________________________________________ abstract: the purpose of this narrative study was to explore how an international phd student-mother, who has a young child, negotiated and coped with the challenges to complete her studies during the covid-19 pandemic. multiple semi-structured interviews were adopted to collect narrative data. anchored in a thematic analysis, qualitative data showed that the participant encountered such challenges as the skills of managing academic time and activities, difficulty in focusing on studying, worries about family conditions in indonesia and financial needs. we concluded that physical, mental https://ojed.org/jis 76 and spiritual strengths of an individual derived from family and community support play a pivotal role in thinking of, managing, and coping with various challenges during the covid-19 pandemic. abstrak: tujuan studi naratif ini adalah untuk menggali bagaimana seorang ibu berstatus mahasiswa internasional program doktor yang memiliki anak usia dini, bernegosiasi dan mengatasi tantangan dalam menuntaskan studinya di masa pandemi covid-19. pengumpulan data naratif dilakukan melalui beberapa wawancara semiterstruktur. berdasarkan analisis tematik, data kualitatif menunjukkan bahwa partisipan menghadapi beragam tantangan, diantaranya keterampilan mengelola waktu dan kegiatan, kesulitan untuk fokus belajar, kekhawatiran terhadap kondisi keluarga di indonesia dan kebutuhan finansial. kami menyimpulkan bahwa kekuatan fisik, mental dan spiritual individu yang berasal dari dukungan keluarga dan komunitas berperan penting dalam menentukan cara berpikir, mengelola dan menghadapi berbagai tantangan selama pandemi covid-19. keywords: covid-19, family and community support, international student, mental spiritual power, mother [covid-19, dukungan keluarga dan komunitas, mahasiswa internasional, kekuatan mental spiritual, ibu] ________________________________________________________________ pendahuluan sebelum terjadinya pandemi covid-19 di berbagai belahan dunia, selama dua puluh tahun terakhir jumlah mahasiswa internasional di beberapa negara seperti amerika, australia, cina dan inggris masih mengalami peningkatan yang signifikan (unesco, 2019). australia termasuk salah satu negara yang menjadi tujuan mahasiswa internasional pada jenjang perguruan tinggi di mana dalam beberapa tahun terakhir tercatat lebih dari 400.000 mahasiswa internasional per tahun melanjutkan studi di negara ini (australian government, 2019). jumlah mahasiswa internasional yang cukup besar tersebut mencakup mahasiswa yang berstatus sendiri dan yang membawa keluarga. keputusan mahasiswa dengan beragam kondisi tersebut membawa konsekuensi tersendiri yang mendorong mereka untuk memiliki strategi dalam berjuang menghadapi berbagai tantangan selama bermukim dan menuntut ilmu di negara orang. grzywacz dan carlson (2007) meneliti tantangan yang dihadapi keluarga dalam mengelola waktu dan mencapai keseimbangan antara tuntutan pekerjaan dan kewajiban dalam keluarga. masalah keseimbangan dalam mengelola berbagai aktivitas sehari-hari merupakan isu yang penting karena dapat berdampak pada pilihan aktivitas yang dilakukan. adanya pandemi covid-19 di berbagai belahan dunia, termasuk australia berdampak pada perubahan penyelenggaraan pendidikan internasional dan menambah semakin kompleksnya masalah (baloran, 2020; fischer, 2020). di masa pandemi, perdana menteri negara bagian victoria di australia, daniel andrews membuat kebijakan yang tegas dengan menerapkan penutupan akses di beberapa wilayah sekitar melbourne hingga tahap ke empat (the guardian, 2020). kondisi ini berpengaruh terhadap aspek fisik, psikologis dan finansial 77 masyarakat sehingga muncul perasaan cemas yang berlebihan (australian bureau of statistics, 2020). kajian tentang peran serta mahasiswa internasional perempuan untuk melanjutkan studi ke jenjang pendidikan tinggi telah relatif banyak dilakukan. akan tetapi, penelitian yang melibatkan partisipan mahasiswa internasional yang membawa keluarga untuk mendampingi studi masih terbatas jumlahnya (grzywacz & carlson, 2007). lebih khusus lagi, penelitian yang menarasikan pengalaman dan tantangan yang dihadapi oleh mahasiswa internasional program doktor berstatus ibu belum banyak dibahas. berdasarkan pertimbangan tersebut, studi ini menarasikan mahasiswa internasional berstatus ibu yang memiliki anak usia dini dalam berpikir, bersikap dan bertindak terhadap tantangan baik akademik maupun nonakademik selama masa studi di era pandemi covid-19. riset narasi ini mengkaji perjuangan seorang ibu yang memiliki banyak tuntutan. di satu sisi, partisipan harus menuntaskan studi program doktor dan di sisi lain harus memenuhi kewajibannya untuk mendampingi putranya yang masih berusia dini serta bekerja paruh waktu. hal ini harus dilakukan oleh partisipan secara mandiri karena suaminya memiliki komitmen pekerjaan di indonesia. landasan konseptual penelitian ini didasari oleh pemahaman terhadap adanya tantangan yang relatif kompleks pada mahasiswa internasional program doktor berstatus ibu yang memiliki anak usia dini dalam menghadapi berbagai kendala selama masa pandemi covid-19. proses penyesuaian yang dihadapi mahasiswa internasional yang membawa pasangan dan keluarganya lebih berat dibandingkan mahasiswa internasional yang belum berkeluarga atau berstatus lajang. mahasiswa internasional yang membawa keluarga umumnya harus menghadapi masalah dalam hal pengaturan dan pembagian waktu untuk tugas akademik, kebutuhan keluarga dan pekerjaan. secara umum, kondisi pandemi covid-19 membawa pengaruh yang besar terhadap berbagai aspek kehidupan, termasuk bidang pendidikan, sosial dan finansial. mahasiswa internasional yang sedang menempuh pendidikan di masa ini mengalami tantangan yang lebih berat dibandingkan masa sebelum terjadinya pandemi. cleland, mckimm, fuller, taylor, janczukowicz dan gibbs (2020) menegaskan bahwa covid-19 menginterupsi bidang pendidikan, misalnya mahasiswa internasional berisiko tidak dapat mencapai target kompetensi dalam rentang waktu yang diberikan sesuai dengan standar akademik. adanya kebijakan pembelajaran daring yang diterapkan sebagai pengganti pembelajaran tatap muka juga memiliki masalah tersendiri, meskipun hal ini dilakukan pemerintah dengan pertimbangan untuk meminimalkan penyebaran pandemi (blankenberger & williams, 2020; murphy, 2020). studi terkait dengan dinamika masalah yang dihadapi mahasiswa internasional telah banyak dilakukan oleh para ahli dari berbagai negara seperti australia, amerika dan cina. para pakar mengkaji permasalahan ini dari 78 berbagai aspek kehidupan. hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa tantangan yang dihadapi mahasiswa internasional bersifat relatif kompleks yang mencakup masalah akomodasi, dukungan sosial, kerinduan terhadap kampung halaman dan kompetensi berbahasa inggris (mamiseishvili, 2012). tantangan lain berupa kesehatan mental (forbes-mewett & sawyer, 2016); motivasi dan ketekunan (mostafa & lim, 2020); diskriminasi, orientasi budaya dan kepuasan hidup (jamaludin, sam, sandal & adam, 2016); masalah pribadi, keluarga, ketrampilan belajar, penyesuaian kehidupan kampus, kegiatan ekstrakurikuler dan akomodasi (haverila, haverila & mclaughin, 2020); serta penyesuaian budaya dan strategi mengatasi masalah (yang, 2020). kendala yang dihadapi setiap mahasiswa bersifat individual dalam artian seorang mahasiswa dapat mengalami satu masalah atau lebih tergantung kesiapan pribadi dalam beradaptasi di lingkungan baru. beragam masalah di atas menjadi kasus yang mendunia di berbagai negara termasuk australia. para peneliti menggunakan kajian narasi yang menekankan dimensi kronologis yang berbentuk cerita, peristiwa, pengalaman dan sudut pandang yang khas untuk melihat fenomena kontekstual partisipan secara khusus dan hubungannya dari segi waktu, situasi dan interaksi sosial (clandinin & caine, 2012). studi ini menggunakan pendekatan narasi dan analisis teks tematik (widodo, 2014). pertanyaan penelitian dalam studi ini adalah sebagai berikut: 1. tantangan apa yang dihadapi oleh seorang mahasiswa internasional program doktor berstatus ibu yang memiliki anak usia dini saat menempuh studi di masa pandemi covid-19? 2. bagaimana cara mahasiswa tersebut berpikir, bersikap dan bertindak terkait kendala dan tantangan di masa pandemi covid-19? metodologi konteks penelitian penelitian ini dilakukan di negara bagian victoria, australia. pemerintah negara bagian ini memberlakukan peraturan yang tegas berupa penutupan berbagai akses di beberapa wilayah tertentu sebagai usaha untuk meminimalkan penyebaran covid-19. partisipan penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa program doktor di salah satu universitas terbesar di australia. pengambilan data penelitian ini dilakukan oleh salah satu penulis yang bermukim sementara di australia dan bertempat tinggal di wilayah yang cukup dekat dengan partisipan. rancangan penelitian studi ini menggunakan rancangan penelitian naratif yang bertujuan untuk mengkaji pengalaman dan tantangan yang dihadapi seorang mahasiswa internasional program doktor berstatus ibu di australia. kegiatan penelitian dilakukan pada awal juli hingga pertengahan agustus 2020. penelitian ini 79 memperhatikan pengalaman partisipan sepanjang waktu dan di berbagai tempat yang mencakup hubungan interaksi sosial (connelly & clandinin, 2006). kajian naratif secara holistik menekankan dimensi ruang dan waktu serta konteks sosiokultural yang mempengaruhi diskursus cerita pengalaman partisipan yang bersifat kompleks dan dinamis (craig, zou & poimbeauf, 2014). partisipan partisipan adalah seorang dosen dari perguruan tinggi di jakarta, indonesia yang sejak tahun 2017 berstatus sebagai mahasiswa internasional program doktor dan merupakan rekan kerja dari salah satu peneliti saat di indonesia. partisipan berusia 35 tahun dan memiliki anak berusia empat tahun yang dibawa ke australia. alasan pemilihan partisipan ini oleh peneliti karena adanya faktor kedekatan secara emosional dan hubungan kerja sebagai kolega. salah satu penulis memiliki pengalaman bekerjasama secara cukup intens dengan partisipan dalam berbagai kegiatan baik di bidang pendidikan maupun kegiatan sosial. selain itu, partisipan bersedia untuk mengonstruksi cerita mengenai pengalaman hidupnya kepada peneliti. pengumpulan data pengumpulan data dilakukan pada pertengahan bulan juli hingga awal bulan agustus 2020 dengan menggunakan teknik wawancara semi-terstruktur yang memungkinkan penyajian pertanyaan bersifat fleksibel sehingga peneliti dapat memperoleh gambaran pengalaman partisipan. proses wawancara dilakukan oleh peneliti dengan jaminan kerahasiaan, anonimitas dan kenyamanan emosional. dalam hal ini, partisipan memiliki hak untuk mengundurkan diri dari proses wawancara setiap saat tanpa konsekuensi (harvey, robinson & welch, 2017; widodo, 2014). sebagai salah satu upaya terkait dengan jaminan keselamatan selama pandemi, penggunaan media zoom, video whatsapp, dan teks whatsapp menjadi pilihan kesepakatan salah satu penulis bersama partisipan dalam proses wawancara. kelebihan proses wawancara melalui teknologi digital tersebut adalah peneliti dapat melihat ekspresi emosi partisipan secara langsung (harvey, 2015). selanjutnya, salah satu penulis dan partisipan membuat kesepakatan jadwal bersama terkait dengan waktu wawancara sebanyak tiga kali dengan menggunakan variasi aplikasi yang berlangsung antara 30 sampai 60 menit. peneliti meminta persetujuan partisipan untuk menceritakan perjuangannya selama studi khususnya saat pandemi sehingga dapat menjadi pembelajaran dan sumber inspirasi bagi banyak pihak termasuk calon mahasiswa internasional lainnya. saat wawancara pertama, partisipan menceritakan latar belakang keputusannya untuk studi ke luar negeri dan tantangannya beradaptasi dengan tuntutan akademik, kepentingan keluarga maupun pekerjaan. wawancara kedua memfokuskan kondisi yang dialami oleh partisipan selama masa pandemi dan strategi partisipan dalam menangani masalah tersebut. wawancara ketiga terkait 80 dengan cara berpikir, bersikap dan rencana tindakan partisipan ke depan. hasil wawancara tersimpan dalam bentuk rekaman catatan maupun teks. data tersebut kemudian dikaji untuk mendapatkan penjelasan penting yang menjadi penekanan partisipan. ketidakjelasan informasi dikonfirmasi ulang oleh salah satu peneliti melalui obrolan whatsapp. untuk eksplorasi data lebih lanjut, partisipan diberi pertanyaan terbuka terkait dengan pengalaman yang dihadapi selama pandemi. contoh pertanyaan terbuka tersebut sebagai berikut: adakah tantangan tertentu yang dihadapi dalam menyelesaikan studi, khususnya di saat pandemi ini? bagaimana pengalaman dalam membagi waktu antara tugas akademik, mendampingi anak yang masih berusia dini dan pekerjaan tambahan lainnya? analisis data penggunaan kajian narasi sebagai rancangan penelitian adalah sebuah metode untuk menemukan makna sebuah cerita yang dinamis dan mengandung nilainilai (connelly & clandinin, 2006). makna atau diskursus cerita ini tidak lepas dari aspek konteks dan dimensi ruang dan waktu. analisis teks tematik (widodo, 2014) digunakan untuk mengkaji narasi partisipan terkait perjuangannya dalam konteks kehidupan selama studi di australia di masa pandemi covid-19. data hasil wawancara melalui zoom dicatat dan diorganisasikan menjadi sebuah data tertulis yang kemudian dicari keterkaitan masing-masing leksis yang menyusun kalimat sebagai informasi penting. setelah data dibaca secara menyeluruh beberapa kali, data tersebut diberi kode secara leksis, frasa dan kalimat dengan menggunakan kode warna yang berbeda. berdasarkan prosedur analisis konten tematik (braun & clarke, 2006), data yang dikodekan tersebut diklasifikasikan ke dalam beberapa tema untuk meninjau, menghubungkan dan meringkas data (spencer, richtie, ormston, o’connor & barnard, 2014). setelah itu, data tersebut dimaknai secara interpretatif diskursif. temuan dan pembahasan berdasarkan analisis tematik terhadap narasi partisipan, kami mengidentifikasi empat tema terkait tantangan yang dihadapi dan upaya yang dilakukan partisipan dalam menuntaskan studi di masa pandemi covid-19. partisipan mengalami tantangan dalam beberapa hal, yaitu: (1) keterampilan mengelola waktu dan kegiatan; (2) kesulitan untuk konsentrasi dalam belajar; (3) kekhawatiran terhadap kondisi orang tua di indonesia dan (4) kebutuhan finansial. keterampilan mengelola waktu dan kegiatan sebelum pandemi, partisipan dapat menjalankan perannya sebagai mahasiswa penerima beasiswa untuk disiplin dalam belajar dan memperhatikan kondisi 81 kesehatan fisik, psikologis, kebutuhan keluarga dan bersosialisasi, sehingga dia merasa hidupnya seimbang. sebagaimana mahasiswa international lainnya, di sela-sela kesibukannya, partisipan mengambil kesempatan untuk bekerja paruh waktu di bidang kebersihan rumah tangga, pabrik makanan dan sesekali menawarkan jasa pengiriman masakan indonesia. kondisi yang cukup nyaman ini menurut partisipan berubah secara signifikan ketika terjadi pandemi. pada masa tersebut, partisipan tidak dapat bersosialisasi, berolahraga secara rutin dan bahkan mengalami kehilangan pekerjaan. padahal berbagai kegiatan yang dilakukan oleh partisipan sebelum pandemi sangat menunjang keseimbangan hidupnya. sullivan (2015) membuktikan bahwa keseimbangan antara kehidupan dan pekerjaan dapat berpengaruh terhadap masalah kesehatan fisik dan psikologis individu. studi sebelumnya oleh chandra (2012) mengkaji perbedaan perspektif masyarakat di negara asia dan negara barat dalam menyikapi konsep keseimbangan antara kehidupan dan pekerjaan. studi di negara-negara asia menunjukkan bahwa keseimbangan antara pekerjaan dan aktivitas lain dalam kehidupan lebih menjadi masalah bagi wanita dibandingkan laki-laki. dalam konteks penelitian ini, partisipan memiliki banyak peran dan tanggung jawab untuk bisa menyeimbangkan antara tuntutan tugas di kampus, kewajiban ibu terhadap anaknya dan pekerjaan paruh waktu. partisipan merasakan gejolak tantangan yang cukup besar ketika pemerintah australia menerapkan kebijakan penutupan jalur wilayah tertentu selama beberapa bulan sejak pandemi berlangsung. kondisi pandemi ini berdampak pada perubahan sistem belajar yang menuntut pembelajaran daring dari rumah sebagaimana diungkapkan dalam data naratif berikut ini. sebelum pandemi ini, saya bisa seharian belajar di kampus, menghasilkan beberapa paragraf tulisan dan terlihat kemajuannya setiap hari. di masa pandemi ini, waktu saya habis minimal 6 jam untuk mendampingi anak saya belajar online dari rumah, membantunya men-scan beberapa tugas dan melayani hal lainnya yang dibutuhkan anak. hari-hari saya dipenuhi dengan kesibukan. waktu seolah sangat cepat berlalu namun saya seperti tidak melakukan apa-apa untuk studi saya. setelah mendampingi anak saya belajar dan menyiapkan makanan serta membereskan rumah, saya sudah merasa lelah. belajar untuk diri sendiri saya lakukan dengan sisa tenaga. (partisipan, wawancara zoom, 14 juli 2020) di awal masa pandemi, partisipan mulai merasa kesulitan dalam menuntaskan tugasnya sehari-hari sebagai seorang mahasiswa dan seorang ibu. hal ini mempengaruhi kesehatan tubuh dan kestabilan emosinya. kegiatan sosialisasi bersama rekan sejawat, kegiatan pengajian dan olahraga yang selama ini dijalani secara rutin, tidak dapat dilakukan sementara waktu, sebagaimana diungkapkan dalam data naratif berikut ini. 82 jadwal rutinitas saya hampir berubah total. biasanya saya rutin berkumpul dengan komunitas orang-orang indonesia untuk sekedar makan bersama atau latihan persiapan untuk pertunjukan budaya indonesia. ini refreshing buat saya dan anak saya. sekarang tidak bisa lagi (partisipan, wawancara zoom, 14 juli 2020). partisipan menceritakan berbagai keuntungan yang dirasakan saat menjalin pertemanan terutama dengan komunitas indonesia. narasi partisipan diperkuat oleh gomes (2020) tentang adanya upaya para mahasiswa internasional yang studi di australia untuk membentuk komunitas. keberadaan komunitas ini membuat mereka merasa nyaman untuk melanjutkan studi, bahkan tidak sedikit yang berkeinginan untuk menjadi penduduk tetap di negara ini. partisipan juga memahami pentingnya olahraga untuk menjaga kestabilan fisik dan emosinya, namun saat pandemi ini, partisipan merasa kurang termotivasi untuk melakukan kegiatan tersebut. domokos, domokos, mirica, negrea, bota dan nagel (2020) mengkaji tentang kontribusi olahraga dalam kehidupan pelajar terhadap kinerja pendidikan, aspek sosial, psikologis dan peningkatan motivasi. olahraga secara rutin khususnya di masa pandemi juga bermanfaat dalam membantu individu mengelola stres. kesulitan untuk konsentrasi dalam belajar sebelum terjadi pandemi, partisipan menceritakan bahwa dia dapat menggunakan waktunya secara efektif untuk belajar di kampus dari pagi hingga sore hari. fasilitas kampus sangat memadai dan suasananya mendukung partisipan untuk bisa fokus belajar. partisipan merasa puas bisa membaca beragam buku dan artikel yang dapat diakses dengan mudah. selain itu, partisipan mendapat fasilitas untuk bisa mencetak berbagai makalah yang dibutuhkan. kondisi saat partisipan terpaksa belajar dari rumah sungguh berbeda dengan sebelumnya. partisipan mengalami kendala untuk dapat berkonsentrasi belajar di rumah. fasilitas di rumah sangat terbatas dan situasinya tidak kondusif untuk mengerjakan berbagai tugas akademik. data narasi berikut menggambarkan hal tersebut. saya mengalami kendala saat mengerjakan tugas-tugas akademik dari rumah. bagaimanapun saya merasakan bahwa suasana belajar di kampus bisa mendukung saya untuk dapat berkonsentrasi belajar. dalam kondisi sudah cukup lelah mengurus anak dan membersihkan rumah, saya sulit untuk bisa berkonsentrasi. kadang-kadang hal ini membuat motivasi saya menurun, saya merasa cemas juga dengan kondisi ini. fasilitas untuk belajar di rumah sangat terbatas. saya tidak punya meja belajar yang besar, tidak ada double monitor, tidak punya printer dan sebagainya. intinya saya tidak mendapatkan fasilitas standar untuk menuntaskan disertasi saya sebagaimana saya peroleh dari kampus selama ini. (partisipan, wawancara zoom, 14 juli 2020) 83 partisipan berpikir bahwa dia membutuhkan waktu sejenak untuk menenangkan diri dalam kondisi transisi seperti ini. partisipan juga bersyukur karena dalam waktu dekat bulan ramadhan akan tiba dan partisipan berkeyakinan dia bisa mendapatkan ketenangan di bulan suci ini sekalipun pandemi belum berakhir, sebagaimana dinarasikan dalam data berikut. saya sangat menikmati ramadhan bersama anak saya tahun ini. saya baru menyadari bahwa selama dua tahun tinggal di australia, intensitas kebersamaan saya dengan anak cukup terbatas. saya seharian sibuk di kampus, anak saya seharian di sekolah. saya tidak menyentuh tugas-tugas akademik saya. saya ingin fokus beribadah bersama anak saya (partisipan, wawancara zoom, 14 juli 2020). partisipan menyadari bahwa selama ini kondisi emosinya terkadang kurang stabil, terutama ketika tugas dari kampus harus diselesaikan bersamaan dengan tuntutan anaknya untuk diperhatikan. di bulan ramadhan, partisipan merasa cara berpikirnya menjadi lebih terbuka sehingga sekalipun dirinya lelah secara fisik, dia merasa lebih tenang secara psikologis dan spiritual. partisipan merasa yakin dapat melalui masalah ini dengan bekal pengalaman yang telah dilaluinya selama hampir tiga tahun berada di australia. keyakinan dan cara berpikir partisipan menunjukkan kemampuannya dalam mengambil pelajaran dari pengalaman yang lalu sehingga dia dapat beradaptasi dan membuat keputusan untuk memecahkan masalah. partisipan sempat mengalami kendala untuk bisa berkomunikasi secara daring dengan dosen pembimbingnya sehingga tidak bisa mencapai target untuk mengumpulkan makalah tepat pada waktunya. kondisi fisik dan psikologis partisipan juga sempat menurun sehingga dia memutuskan untuk berkonsultasi dengan dokter dan tim psikolog. para ahli tersebut menyarankan partisipan untuk beristirahat beberapa minggu agar kondisinya pulih kembali. akan tetapi, hal ini membuat partisipan cemas karena dapat berdampak pada perpanjangan masa studinya yang mengakibatkan penambahan biaya hidup dan pendidikan. raaper dan brown (2020) menganalisis dampak kondisi pandemi terhadap berbagai aspek kehidupan mahasiswa diantaranya kedisiplinan, motivasi, kesehatan fisik dan mental pada mahasiswa. penelitian sebelumnya tentang kajian emosi pada mahasiswa program doktor yang memerlukan waktu lama untuk penyelesaian studi juga telah dilaporkan oleh wright dan cochrane (2000). kekhawatiran terhadap kondisi orang tua di indonesia di saat partisipan masih berjuang untuk bisa fokus belajar dan melanjutkan disertasinya, partisipan mendengar kabar dari indonesia tentang ayah beliau yang sedang mendapatkan perawatan di rumah sakit karena kondisi kesehatan yang terus menurun. berikut data narasi yang diungkapkan oleh partisipan. 84 saya khawatir dengan kondisi ayah saya yang memburuk. saya merasa takut dengan kondisi ini. saya terus memantau perkembangan kesehatan ayah saya di rumah sakit setiap hari. beberapa hari ini saya tidak bisa fokus belajar. saya memikirkan ayah saya. saya tidak bisa melakukan apa-apa. selama ini orang tua saya selalu memberi motivasi. saya tidak tahu mengapa saya jadi begini. saya harus bangkit lagi. (partisipan, wawancara teks whatsapp, 17 juli 2020) perasaan cemas yang dihadapi partisipan adalah hal yang wajar dan banyak dialami oleh para mahasiswa internasional yang berpisah dengan keluarganya karena studi. harvey, robinson dan welch (2017) melakukan penelitian terhadap masalah yang dihadapi mahasiswa internasional di luar bidang akademik, misalnya munculnya rasa ragu, cemas dan bersalah dalam mengambil keputusan meninggalkan keluarga. untuk kasus partisipan dalam penelitian ini, para peneliti memandang partisipan memiliki kontrol emosi yang cukup stabil karena partisipan berusaha untuk tidak larut dalam perasaan negatif. partisipan juga memiliki kesadaran diri yang cukup kuat untuk bisa memutuskan penyelesaian masalah secara mandiri dan mencari bantuan profesional. kebutuhan finansial kebijakan pemerintah di berbagai negara seperti amerika dan cina terkait dengan pembatasan jam kerja untuk mahasiswa internasional juga berlaku relatif sama dengan yang diberlakukan di australia. partisipan sebagai mahasiswa internasional di jenjang pendidikan doktor memiliki kesempatan untuk bekerja paruh waktu sebelum masa pandemi, sebagaimana diungkap oleh partisipan berikut ini. ada saja biaya ekstra yang kita butuhkan. ternyata di masa pandemi ini, yang berbarengan dengan musim dingin, biaya listrik dan gas melonjak, karena kami sering di rumah dan otomatis menggunakan fasilitas di rumah. selama masa pandemi ini, saya juga kehilangan pekerjaan part-time saya (partisipan, wawancara, video whatsapp, 29 juli, 2020). partisipan merasa lebih lega ketika pemerintah australia mengeluarkan kebijakan kenormalan baru. dalam situasi ini, para pelajar termasuk anak partisipan dapat kembali ke sekolah dan partisipan dapat kembali belajar di kampus mulai pagi hingga sore hari. namun hal ini tidak berlangsung lama karena tidak sampai sebulan kemudian terjadi pelonjakan kasus covid-19 sehingga pemerintah kembali menerapkan aturan penutupan akses wilayah. berikut data narasi yang disampaikan oleh partisipan. saya pusing dengan kebijakan lockdown ini. saya dan anak harus menjalani home learning lagi, saya sempat protes pada pihak sekolah anak. mengapa 85 mereka harus menggunakan beberapa platforms untuk tugas online anak. ini cukup merepotkan orang tua yang harus terus mendampingi mereka. saya sekarang sedang berpikir bagaimana saya bisa mendapatkan tambahan dana untuk biaya editor dan proofread disertasi saya. bantuan dari beasiswa untuk biaya ini ternyata tidak cukup. saya masih harus memperbaiki masalah penulisan referensi yang tidak sinkron. (partisipan, wawancara video whatsapp, 29 juli 2020) laufer dan gorup (2019) meneliti berbagai faktor yang menyebabkan kegagalan mahasiswa dalam studinya, salah satunya adalah faktor finansial. para mahasiswa internasional mengalami kondisi keuangan yang tidak stabil. hal ini bisa disebabkan oleh bantuan beasiswa yang kurang memadai, beasiswa yang sudah berakhir ataupun kebutuhan finansial lainnya yang tak terduga di masa studi. di akhir wawancara, penulis mendalami persepsi partisipan mengenai berbagai kendala yang dihadapi selama studi dan bagaimana partisipan menyikapinya di masa yang akan datang. meskipun masalah yang dihadapi partisipan belum selesai, partisipan menunjukkan rasa syukur, berpikir positif dan bersemangat untuk melanjutkan perjalanan studinya. berikut ini adalah narasi partisipan terkait hal tersebut. saya tetap bertekad menuntaskan studi. ayah dan ibu adalah akademisi yang produktif, mereka memotivasi, memberikan contoh dan berbagai informasi termasuk tentang karir dan kepangkatan. saya tidak menyesal dengan keputusan saya menjalankan studi di sini. saya lebih banyak bersyukur dengan segala kemudahan yang pernah saya terima. walaupun kendala pasti ada, saya harus berusaha menghadapinya. mau bagaimana lagi? bahkan jika saya dapat kesempatan melanjutkan studi, saya akan jalankan dengan senang hati. saya bisa menikmati hidup di sini, saya merasa kehidupan saya lebih teratur dan anak saya bisa mendapatkan pendidikan yang baik. (partisipan, wawancara video whatsapp, 29 juli 2020) para peneliti memandang bahwa partisipan memiliki karakter dan motivasi yang cukup kuat, dengan menunjukkan tekad untuk berjuang melalui berbagai kendala dan memiliki motivasi untuk meraih prestasi (gustems-carnicer & calderón, 2016). partisipan juga memiliki kapasitas yang baik dalam menggunakan strategi kognitif untuk menerima kenyataan yang terjadi padanya. hal ini dilandasi dengan sikap positif untuk tetap bersyukur dan beradaptasi dengan berbagai situasi yang menekan. beberapa peneliti membuktikan peran kekuatan rasa syukur dalam memfasilitasi kemampuan individu menghadapi masalah (wood, joseph & linley, 2007). dengan rasa syukur, seseorang dapat memperbaiki kondisi psikologisnya dengan menerima situasi yang tidak 86 diharapkan, membangun pemikiran yang positif dan beradaptasi dengan situasi yang menuntut pemecahan masalah. partisipan meyakini bahwa semangatnya didukung oleh keluarga untuk mencapai target akademik yang akan memberikan manfaat untuk kariernya di masa depan. guerin, jayatilaka dan ranasinghe (2015) menganalisis peran motivasi intrinsik dan peran faktor keluarga maupun pertemanan lintas negara. faktor motivasi dan dukungan orang-orang terdekat sangat berpengaruh terhadap semangat mahasiswa untuk bertahan melanjutkan studi dengan alasan untuk mendapatkan pengalaman akademik secara langsung dan pertimbangan karier masa depan. keterbatasan penelitian penelitian naratif ini memiliki keterbatasan akses dan negosiasi dalam rekrutmen partisipan, sehingga peneliti hanya menemukan satu partisipan berstatus ibu yang bersedia menceritakan pengalamannya sebagai mahasiswa internasional bersama anaknya yang berusia dini di masa pandemi. dengan demikian, data hasil penelitian dan pelajaran yang dipetik dari pengalaman partisipan tidak dapat digeneralisasikan untuk semua mahasiswa internasional. hal ini disebabkan oleh adanya perbedaan individu baik dari aspek jenis kelamin, latar belakang keluarga dan budaya, pengalaman dalam bersikap dan mengatur strategi menghadapi kondisi pandemi serta kondisi emosi partisipan saat dilakukan wawancara. penelitian selanjutnya perlu mengkaji berbagai pengalaman mahasiswa internasional yang sudah berkeluarga, baik laki-laki maupun perempuan dari berbagai negara dan mengkaji aspek kesehatan fisik, psikososial maupun spiritual. selain dari aspek partisipan dan latar belakangnya, rentang waktu pengambilan data selama kurang dari dua bulan dan pelaksanaan wawancara yang hanya dilakukan sebanyak tiga sesi juga memiliki keterbatasan tersendiri. keterbatasan ini tidak memungkinkan eksplorasi pengalaman partisipan lebih mendalam lagi. hal ini terkait dengan pertanyaan penelitian yang hanya menggali pengalaman partisipan di awal-awal bulan proses pandemi, sehingga dinamika perubahan emosi sosial dan spiritual secara umum tidak dapat diprediksi. selanjutnya, penggunaan aplikasi zoom dan panggilan video whatsapp juga tidak maksimal karena dalam waktu tertentu, partisipan memberikan informasi melalui teks whatsapp sehingga ekspresi emosi saat bercerita tidak terungkap. kesimpulan penelitian ini menarasikan perjuangan seorang mahasiswa internasional program doktor berstatus ibu yang berjuang untuk dapat melanjutkan studinya dan menghadapi berbagai kendala yang tidak terduga di masa pandemi covid19. penelitian ini memberikan gambaran strategi dalam berpikir, bersikap dan bertindak mahasiswa internasional tersebut dalam beradaptasi dengan 87 lingkungan baru dan berbagai tuntutan tugas akademik, kewajiban dalam mendampingi anak dan pekerjaan paruh waktu. dengan demikian, studi narasi ini diharapkan dapat meningkatkan wawasan bagi calon mahasiswa internasional, terutama yang akan membawa anak atau keluarga selama studi. hal ini bermanfaat bagi calon mahasiswa dalam mempersiapkan dirinya secara matang dari segi akademik, fisik, psikologis, spiritual dan finansial agar dapat mengantisipasi berbagai hal di luar dugaan. selain itu, penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan informasi tambahan bagi pihak pemerintah yang berwenang dan institusi akademik dalam menentukan kebijakan, panduan dan pelayanan yang lebih baik, khususnya kepada mahasiswa internasional yang membawa keluarganya untuk studi lanjut di negara lain. pernyataan penulis [disclosure statement] penulis menyatakan bahwa tidak ada konflik kepentingan dalam hal riset, kepengarangan dan publikasi artikel ini [the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article]. pernyataan kontribusi penulis [authors’ contribution statements] lara fridani: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (pendukung), menulis artikel awal (utama), mengevaluasi (utama) dan mengedit (berimbang) [conceptualization (lead), methodology (supporting), writing original draft (lead), reviewing (lead) and editing (equal)]; 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(15 juli 2020). melbourne stage 4 restrictions and covid lockdown rules explained. diakses tanggal 18 agustus 2020 dari https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/07/victoria-stage-4restrictions-melbourne-lockdown-rules-covid-19-stage-four-metropolitanmetro-explained-what-you-need-to-know unesco. (2019). higher education. diakses tanggal 18 agustus 2020 dari http://data.uis.unesco.org/index.aspx?queryid=172 widodo, h. p. (2014). methodological considerations in interview data transcription. international journal of innovation in english language teaching and research, 3(1), 101-109. wood, a. m., joseph, s., & linley, p. a. (2007). coping style as a psychological resource of grateful people. journal of social and clinical psychology, 26(9), 1076–1093. doi: 10.1521/jscp.2007.26.9. 1076 wright, t., & cochrane, r. (2000). factors influencing successful submission of phd theses. studies in higher education, 25(2), 181–195. yang, j. (2020). american students’ cultural adjustment in china: experiences and coping strategies. journal of international students, 10, 106–123. doi: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/07/victoria-stage-4-restrictions-melbourne-lockdown-rules-covid-19-stage-four-metropolitan-metro-explained-what-you-need-to-know https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/07/victoria-stage-4-restrictions-melbourne-lockdown-rules-covid-19-stage-four-metropolitan-metro-explained-what-you-need-to-know https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/07/victoria-stage-4-restrictions-melbourne-lockdown-rules-covid-19-stage-four-metropolitan-metro-explained-what-you-need-to-know 90 10.32674/jis.v10i1.764 __________________________________________________________________ biografi singkat penulis [notes on contributors] lara fridani adalah tenaga pengajar di program studi pendidikan anak usia dini di fakultas ilmu pendidikan universitas negeri jakarta. fokus penelitian penulis di bidang psikologi pendidikan dan perkembangan, keluarga dan asesmen pendidikan. email: lfridani@unj.ac.id lara fridani is a lecturer in the department of early childhood education at the faculty of education of universitas negeri jakarta. her research focuses on educational and developmental psychology, family and educational assessment. email: lfridani@unj.ac.id ulfa elfiah (penulis korespondensi) adalah tenaga pengajar di fakultas kedokteran universitas jember. fokus penelitian penulis adalah di bidang anatomi manusia dan bedah plastik. email: ulfa.fk@unej.ac.id ulfiah elfiah (corresponding author) is a lecturer at the faculty of medicine of universitas jember based in east java, indonesia. her research interests lie in human anatomy and plastic surgery. email: ulfa.fk@unej.ac.id selfi handayani adalah tenaga pengajar di fakultas kedokteran universitas sebelas maret surakarta. fokus penelitian penulis adalah di bidang anatomi manusia dan akupuntur medik. email: selfihandayani@staff.uns.ac.id selfi handayani is a lecturer at faculty of medicine of univesitas sebelas maret surakarta based in central java, indonesia. she is interested in researching human anatomy and medical acupuncture. email: selfihandayani@staff.uns.ac.id aschawir ali adalah tenaga pengajar di program studi tadris bahasa inggris di fakultas tarbiyah institut agama islam negeri bone, sulawesi selatan dengan fokus penelitian penulis di bidang bahasa inggris sebagai bahasa tambahan, penulisan akademik dan metodologi penelitian dalam pendidikan bahasa. email: aschawir.ali@iain-bone.ac.id aschawir ali is a lecturer in the department of english education at the faculty of tarbiyah of institut agama islam negeri (iain) bone, south sulawesi, indonesia. his research interests include english as an additional language (eal), academic writing, and research methodology in language education. email: aschawir.ali@iain-bone.ac.id mailto:lfridani@unj.ac.id https://ojed.org/jis thought, attitude and action: berpikir, bersikap dan bertindak: ________________________________________________________________ abstract: the purpose of this narrative study was to explore how an international phd student-mother, who has a young child, negotiated and coped with the challenges to complete her studies during the covid-19 pandemic. multiple semi-structured interv... abstrak: tujuan studi naratif ini adalah untuk menggali bagaimana seorang ibu berstatus mahasiswa internasional program doktor yang memiliki anak usia dini, bernegosiasi dan mengatasi tantangan dalam menuntaskan studinya di masa pandemi covid-19. pen... the guardian. (15 juli 2020). melbourne stage 4 restrictions and covid lockdown rules explained. diakses tanggal 18 agustus 2020 dari https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/07/victoria-stage-4-restrictions-melbourne-lockdown-rules-covid-1... 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try 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38 issn-2162-3104 fall 2011 vol.1 issue 2 journal of international students language challenges faced by international graduate students in the united states ya-hui kuo, phd assistant professor department of english wenzao ursuline college of languages, taiwan 94101@wtuc.edu.tw abstract universities and colleges in the united states require international graduate students to provide certain english proficiency documents along with their admission applications before they are admitted to their programs.this study explored the language challenges faced by international graduate students at a southern university in the u.s. the author also offered recommendations and suggestions to prepare and assist international graduate students in adjusting, adapting, and overcoming their language challenges. international students who choose to study in america are often the brightest students in their home countries and are also very motivated students (constantinides, 1992). english proficiency may be particularly problematic for most international students. for example, in china, english is taught more through writing than through a speaking form. as a result, many chinese students know english grammar and vocabulary better, but have hard time with conversational english (wan, 2001). international students often have problems understanding lectures, taking notes, taking part in class discussions, and writing papers (huntley, 1993). these students may also have difficulty understanding american english slang, accents, idioms, and jokes. international students may think that they are incompetent in conversational english to participate in class. while universities require international students to meet the minimum language proficiency, many of them do not have adequate practice with the verbal usage of english. antanattis (1990) found that a language deficiency is the major academic obstacle to asian students who experienced more serious academic difficulties. for example, jenkins, jordan and weiland (1993) found that in science and engineering more than 25% of students’ theses/dissertations were re-written by the faculty themselves. sharma (1973) also identified the non-european graduate students’ academic problems to include giving oral reports, participating in class discussion, taking notes in class, understanding lectures, taking appropriate courses of study and preparing reports. the study of hagey and hagey (1974) showed that for overcoming difficulties with the english language, 61% of middle eastern students desired to have more time during tests, 50 % desired more explanations while working on test and 43% desired to have lecture notes available. belcher's (1994) case study examined the international doctoral student / faculty relationship at the dissertation writing stage. she suggested that mismatches between faculty advisors and students (e.g., students and professors cannot reach an agreement with research and academic english expectations) could partially affect degree completion, job placement, and professional development. saleh’s (1980) study of arab students’ personal, social and academic adjustment problems at north texas state university, southern methodist university and texas tech university reported that professors were not considerate of their feelings. in that study, 56.6 percent of the students reported that they had to take courses that they did not want to take. while participants in saleh’s (1980) study reported that they did not want to take the courses they took, many international students are unaccustomed to the freedom they have in choosing their own courses, thus they may look to their advisors for direction (cadieux & wehrly, 1986). in addition to the academic stress caused by a lack of conversational english skills, many international students face academic challenges with regards to the instructional methods that are used in american college classrooms. class participation, especially at the graduate level is expected in american classrooms (aubrey, 1991). however, this may be very stressful to students from asia, the middle east, and africa who have been taught to sit in the class quietly, and to take notes while listening to professors. wan (2001) pointed out that it is regarded as respectful when students listen attentively and quietly to their professors. however, in america, teachers allow students to eat or drink in class, and often, student participation is encouraged or even part of the grade. international students should adjust to the peer-reviewed articles issn-2162-3104 fall 2011 vol.1 issue 2 39 various accents and teaching styles of the teachers. students may feel hesitant to participate in the class discussion if they do not understand the lecture (lin & yi, 1997) due to the accent or cultural appropriateness of their response. kao and gansneder (1995) surveyed three hundred and fifty-five international students from forty-five countries enrolled in an american university to study why they did not participate in american classroom discussions. results suggested that cultural factors make asian students less likely to participate in the class. parker (1999) studied a group of taiwanese students who studied at louisiana tech university. he found that many of these students felt uncomfortable asking repeated questions even if they did not understand a concept or technique demonstrated by the faculty. chinese students preferred to be good listeners rather than talkers. they seldom asked questions to their teachers. similarly, african graduate students preferred being silent and did not use phrases “excuse me,” “what did you say?” and “can you repeat what you said, please" to ask questions (antwi and ziyati, 1993, p. 9). many international students also think that to be active in a group discussion is disrespectful. in many countries, if students interrupt professors who are lecturing, it is considered to be impolite and even insulting (balas, 2000). in many foreign countries, professors dress formally and require students to do the same in class. in america, some professors sit on the desk and dress informally but this is considered offensive in many foreign classrooms. in many american classrooms, the teacher is more interactive, creative and flexible, but to many international students, this approach does not seem to have a structure at all (wan, 2001). therefore, to be successful in american classrooms, international students must make a shift from the more formal lecture methods used in their countries and learn more active problem solving, critical thinking and resource skills (ladd & ruby, 1999). international students face learning challenges both inside and outside the classroom. angelova and riazantseva (1999) examined four international students' first year college experience in america and found that students lacked computer knowledge. this study further indicated that paper writing was not a common practice outside of the united states. zain (1965) conducted a study involving 147 international students from 50 nonenglish speaking counties at the university of oregon. zain reported that the largest problems reported by those students were writing essays and reports, participating in classroom discussions, and taking and organizing notes. the least problems were understanding textbooks, locating information in the library, and understanding lectures. in examination methods, finishing on time in objective tests were the most difficult problems reported by the largest percentages of the students. in the payind (1979) study of academic, personal and social problems of afghan and iranian students in several institutions in the united states, the most severe academic problems for both groups were completing written examinations in the same length of time as american students do, improving english to the level necessary to pursue academic work, communicating thoughts in english, presenting oral reports, competing with american for high grades, taking notes, and writing reports. the causes of the academic problems, payind suggests, are related to the lack of proficiency with the english language and, to a certain extent, to the existence of differences between the educational systems at home counties and those of the united states. asian students found that completing forms for registration, student aid, or student employment were confusing. the procedures for registration may seem awkward and adding or dropping a course is unusual for them (jensen & jensen, 1983). methodology this study included 716 international graduate students pursuing their degrees at a southern university, alabama, u.s. a survey instrument was used to recruit the participants, and it was sent by the office of international education. within one week after the initial invitation letter was sent out, an e-mail entitled “international graduate students survey" was sent by the director of the office of international education via electronic mail. there were 714 e-mails sent out, but only 152 international graduate students who responded to the structured online survey were returned with a 21.3 % return rate. results and discussion the major english language challenges faced by the international graduate students in this study were their listening comprehension and oral proficiency. when the english language was mentioned as a challenge, the researcher made the assumption that it might relate to the international graduate students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiency. the listening comprehension challenge for international graduate students in the present study was not being able to understand the lectures in classes. journal of international students 40 issn-2162-3104 fall 2011 vol.1 issue 2 journal of international students difficulties in understanding lectures were due to the speed at which the professors talked and their accents. participants in the study said: “don't understand what teacher says,” “difficult to understand their talking, especially terms and phrases,” “some professors spoke too fast and it was hard to keep following him/her,” “the accent of some of the professors was a challenge for me. i had difficulties understanding them,” and “coping with the southern accent.” finally, one participant mentioned that it was “hard to participate when my fellow classmates discuss some topics. they talk fastly [sic] and unclearly.” with regard to listening comprehension, many international graduate students stated that they have a hard time understanding what other people say as they believe the southern accent is different from what they are accustomed to and have practiced back home. for example, participants in the study said, “southern accent is difficult to understand.” another participant added: “here iam [sic] facing accent problem with english. eventhough[sic] iam [sic] also studied my studies in english,the [sic] way they pronounce words is different compare to my country.so [sic] for it will take some time to understand their language clearlyand [sic] also to talk in their accent.” language is an important and necessary medium of communication. participants explained, “american can't understand my englis [sic],” “a little bit of problem with people understanding my accent and me able to understand their …,” and “… we can talk but the recievers [sic] cannot understand and you have to try in their own way.” therefore, when communication was mentioned throughout the study as being central to other challenges faced by international graduate students, this led to two assumptions made by the researcher. one possible reason for these communication challenges may be the way in which students learned english in their home country. many international graduate students state they feel like children who are powerless and unable to express the thoughts and feelings they have because they are not well-versed using the english language. not being able to do what they are able to do back home, such as bargaining, shopping, arguing, and communicating can lower international students’ selfesteem since they are adults, some of have a very high social economic status in their home country. communication difficulties might also cause people to look down on them. some international graduate students in the study indicated that american students thought they were stupid and not intelligent because they could not express themselves fluently in english. for example, there was one participant in kuo’s (2002) study whose husband protected her (not letting her have opportunities to practice her poor english by taking care of everything from grocery shopping to communicating with others) and this resulted in the fact that she did not have any opportunity to learn how to use the english language. thus, when she started to go back to school, she felt she was discriminated by her classmates who thought that her poor english was associated with low intelligence. however, based on the findings of this study, the researcher has also made the assumption that international graduate students’ communication and language skills seem to be an important factor contributing to the fact that international graduate students have a hard time making friends with americans. one participant answered “difficult to communicate with other students” and another admitted “at a party, i could not understand the jokes while anericans [sic] were laughing.” in addition, many participants in kuo’s (2002) study shared that americans do not have the patience to listen or talk to international students whose english skills are poor. as a result of that, it is the opinion of the researcher that language barriers have created a barrier to building friendships with americans. another possible reason for these communication challenges could be the gap between the two different cultures, or backgrounds. for example, communication and interaction between international graduate students and the academic advisor and/or boss were both listed as challenges in the survey responses. participants listed such challenges as: “i was hesitant to ask for help with my research problems. i wanted to show him that i could learn on my own and crack these problems,” “communication problem,” and “understand his field and intention.” one participant in the survey expressed “ … getting advisors to get on borad [sic] with you timing as an international student.” working with graduate students is a very challenging task and it is more demanding to work with international graduate students whose backgrounds are different than the academic advisor and/or boss. after september 11, 2001, there are more regulations and restrictions for international students. for example, f-1 students are required to enroll in at least 9 credit hours to keep their immigration status and international students can only work 20 hours on-campus during the normal semester terms. issn-2162-3104 fall 2011 vol.1 issue 2 41 therefore, when one participant expressed “… getting advisors to get on borad [sic] with you timing as an international student” as a challenge, the researcher assumed that the participant tried to tell her advisor that she wanted to finish up her doctoral study before her visa expired or her funding ran out. participants in the study recognized other language challenges they have, such as “reading papers in english,” “reading textbook…,” “to keep up date with so much reading in my career (rural sociology),” and “some weeks are real rough with lot of deadlines of assignments combined with tests, research etc all at the same time.” since most of the international graduate students were not using english in their field of study, getting used to the terminologies of their field in english textbooks and keeping up with the readings could be challenge. “the new concepts in a different and new language” was a challenge experienced by one participant in the present study. furthermore, the writing styles and standards might be very different from what international graduate students were used to, and to meet the expectation of different professors can also cause frustration. most of the participants in the present study noted that their language challenges were primarily in the classroom or in interacting with other people. however, the author believes that there are more language challenges that international graduate students experience beyond these academic and social areas. for example, an irania student in the kuo’s (2002) study experienced difficulty communicating with his long distance phone service and credit card company. another participant from turkey did not know what to order in the restaurant and she still asked people what the menu items were even though she had been in the united states for a while. in conclusion, english proficiency not only affected these international graduate students academically, but also contributed to their social, cultural, and personal adjustment. conclusions the standardized test scores of international graduate students do not ensure that they are not going to experience language challenges once they arrive on campus in the u.s. students are required to understand classroom interaction and other communications no matter how good they were on the tests (toefl/ielts/gre). kuo (2001) pointed out that toefl scores only showed how well one performs in the english language, not in one’s academic area. english test score are not good predictors of the academic success. there are a lot of english training courses and programs targeted to help students pass the standardized exams overseas. however, these programs do not focus on developing the language skills that students need to participate and study at an american university. as a result, there are a lot of asian students who have high scores on the toefl, but still experience an enormous amount of difficulty with their oral and listening comprehension. the lack of field based english terminology might result difficulty in reading for foreign students. in many foreign countries, english is not a medium of instruction and students do not have enough expose to english communication. international graduate students should learn the terminology related to their college work and outside such as: opening a bank account, visiting physicians, fixing cars, ordering food in restaurants, or even getting a haircut. before coming to the united states, international graduate students should try to have some training in listening comprehension or gain some type of access to the way that people speak in the united states or in the regions where they will be studying. another suggestion that international graduate students should take into consideration is to enroll in the classes in their fields that are taught by american professors while they are still at home. this will provide practical interaction with native speakers in learning field terminologies, understanding the american education system and culture. if there is no such opportunity available, international graduate students could try to find an opportunity to work in american companies or even to get involved in schools, adult learning centers, libraries and churches. in short, international graduate students should ask themselves if they are well-prepared in communicating in the english language and can adjust to the different accents and word usages before arriving to the u.s. references amoh, k. o. (1984). newly arrived foreign students at a u. s. university: their adjustment difficulties and coping strategies (unpublished doctoral dissertation). the university of minnesota, minnesota. angelova, m., & riazantseva, a. (1998). if you don’t tell me, how can i know?: a case study of four international students learning to write the u. s. way. (eric document reproduction service no. ed 423696) antanaitis, c. a. (1990). culture variances as they affect classroom performance and behavior of foreign graduate students in education (unpublished doctoral journal of international students 42 issn-2162-3104 fall 2011 vol.1 issue 2 journal of international students dissertation). the george washington university, washinton. antwi, r., & ziyati, a. (1993, april). life experience of african graduate students in a multi-cultur al setting: a case study. retrieved from eric database. (ed 361791) aubrey, r. (1991). international students on campus: a challenge for counselors, medical providers, and clinicians. smith college studies in social work, 62, 20-33. balas, a. (2000). using participation to assess stu dents’ knowledge. college teaching, 48 (4), 122-123. belcher, d. (1994). the apprenticeship approach to advanced academic literacy: graduate students and their mentors. english for specific purposes, 13 (1), 23-34. breuder, r. l. (1972). a statewide study: identified problems of international students enrolled in public/community / junior colleges in florida. (unpublished doctoral dissertation). the florida state university. cadieux, r. a. j., & wehrly, b. (1986). advising and counseling the international student. in k. r. pyle (eds.), guiding the development of for eign students (pp. 51-63). new directions for student services, no, 36. san francisco, ca: jossey-bass. constantinides, j. (1992). academic challenges and opportunities. in d. mcintire, & p. willer (eds), working with international students and scholars on american campuses (pp. 23-47). (eric document reproduction service no. ed 360599) hagey, a. r., & hagey, j. (1974). meeting the needs of students from other cultures. improving college and university teaching, 22 (1), 4244. huntley, h. s. (1993). adult international students: problems of adjustment. (eric document reproduction service no. ed 355886) jenkins, s., jordan, m. k., & weiland, p. o. (1993). the role of writing in graduate engineering education: a survey of faculty beliefs and practices. english for specific purposes, 12 (1), 51-67. jensen, i. k. k., & jensen, j. v. (1983). cross cultural encounters: the newly arrived asian student. college student journal, 17, 371-377. kao, c-w., & gansneder, b. (1995). an assessment of class participation by international graduate students. journal of college student development, 36 (2), 132-140. kuo, y-h. (2001). a case study of two male taiwanese students’ experiences at auburn university. unpublished manuscript, auburn university. ladd, p., & ruby, jr. r. (1999). learning style and adjustment issues of international students. journal of education for business, 74 (6), 363-368. lin, j-c. g., & yi, j. k. (1997). asian international students’ adjustment: issues and program sug gestions. college student journal, 31 (4), 473480. mau, w-c., & jepsen, d. a. (1990). help-seeking per ceptions and behaviors: a comparison of chinese and american graduate students. journal of multicultural counseling and development, 18 (2), 94-106. parker, d. r. (1999, november). teaching, learning, and working with international students: a case study. retrieved from eric database. (ed 438756) payind, m. a. (1979). academic, personal and social problems of afghan and iranian students in the united states. educational research quarterly, 4 (2), 3-11. saleh, m. a. (1980). the personal, social, and aca demic adjustment problems of arab students at selected texas institutions of higher educa tion (unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of north texas. sharma, s. (1973). a study to identify and analyze adjustment problems experienced by foreign non-european graduate students enrolled in selected universities in the state of north carolina. california journal of educational research, 24 (3), 135-146. wan, g. (2001). the learning experience of chinese students in american universities: a cross-cul tural perspective. college student journal, 35 (1), 28. zain, e. k. (1965). a study of academic and personalsocial difficulties encountered by a selected group of foreign students at the university of oregon (unpublished doctoral dissertation). university of oregon. __________________about the author: ya-hui kuo earned her phd in educational psychology from auburn university. currently she teachers at wenzao ursuline college of languages, taiwan. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. final rev 0108 special issue-(clean) 30 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 30-44 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis quality evaluation of the educational services for international students during the covid-19: the case of universities in shaanxi china 来华国际学生教育服务质量评价与提升策略: 以陕西省高校为例 wei zhao (赵炜) guangrui wen (温广瑞) xi’an jiaotong university, china 西安交通大学，中国 abstract (摘要) in this article, we report a survey study involving 582 international students studying at five universities in shaanxi, china. adopting a self-developed evaluation questionnaire, the survey explored the participants’ perceptions of educational services provided by their host universities during the covid-19 pandemic. the results revealed medium to low levels of the participants’ perceived educational service quality, with the least favorable perceptions to the quality of the “communication with local students and faculty” and effectiveness of “help and support”. the research also found that gender, age, current location, scholarship, and length of the study programs in china significantly affected the participants’ perceptions of chinese institutions’ educational service quality. suggestions are proposed to further improve the quality of educational services to better support international students during the pandemic. 来华国际学生对高校教育服务质量的感知及其影响因素，呈现出新的特点 与趋势。依据前期开发的教育服务质量评价量表，对陕西西安5所院校的 journal of international students 31 国际学生进行抽样调查。研究发现：来华国际学生教育服务质量整体水平 一般，“沟通交流”与“服务帮助”维度水平相对较低；国际学生的性 别、年龄、所在地、是否有奖学金以及在中国学习时长对教育服务质量的 感知水平有显著影响。在综合考虑教育服务质量影响因素的基础上，应注 意丰富国际学生沟通交流的形式，优化服务支持体系，提升教职工的英语 水平，增强课程的针对性与互动性等，以达到有效提升国际学生教育服 务质量的目标。 keywords (关键词): international students in china, quality of educational services, promotion policy (后疫情时代, 来华国际学生, 教育服务质量, 提升策略) 前言 2020 年初全球范围内爆发的新冠肺炎疫情，给国际高等教育带来强烈冲 击。由于受到旅行禁令与签证限制等因素的影响，国际学生的流动性大幅 减弱，国际学生教育市场短期衰退的风险性不断增大，教育投资的不确定 性日益增加。为了应对疫情危机，日本、澳大利亚等发达国家为保障国际 学生权益而建立起系统性的援助方案，全方位地提供各类支持服务，在扩 大国际教育影响力的同时，将之作为经济增长的助推器。 作为世界第三大最受欢迎的留学目的国，中国同样面临着全球局势变 化带来的风险。面对当前严峻的疫情挑战，中国要在竞争日趋激烈的国际 学生教育市场中取得优势地位，则须审时度势，化危为机：一方面，立足 于有目共睹的抗疫成果与恢复有序的教育秩序来提升教育的国际吸引力； 另一方面则须苦练“内功”，利用国际学生流动性减弱的“窗口期”，着力提 升教育服务质量，加快内涵式发展 (王艺鑫, 2020)。因此，对后疫情时代来 华国际学生教育服务质量现状进行调查研究，针对薄弱环节提出策略性建 议，这对于提升国际学生教育服务水平，增强高等教育的国际影响力与竞 争力具有一定的参考价值。 文献综述 服务质量与教育服务质量 服务质量是源于市场营销领域的基本概念，其不仅是市场经济活动的 驱动力，也是保证市场主体持续竞争力的关键性因素。和一般实体产品相 比，服务产品具有无形性、差异性、不可存储性以及不可分离性等显著特 征，导致与之相应的服务质量成为一个相当“油滑”的概念，迄今学界尚未 形成一致的看法 (qureshi 等, 2012)。 journal of international students 32 北欧学者 grönroo (1982) 首先提出“顾客感知服务质量”的概念，认为服 务质量主要是顾客的一种主观感知，取决于顾客期望与实际感知水平间的 差异程度。与之相近，lehtinen (1982) 和 parasuraman (1985) 等学者同样认 为服务质量是顾客感知的质量，是在服务传递过程中顾客所感受到的服务 优势与卓越性，其实质是满足与超越顾客期望的一种能力。 基于顾客主观感知视角来阐释服务质量的理路，影响着高等教育领域 对教育服务质量的理解角度与测量方法。abdullah (2006) 指出，高等教育 领域对顾客的定义不同于其他服务业，包括多元需求的责任群体。学生作 为最重要的责任群体之一，是教育服务的主要对象。因而以学生感知视角 为中心，通过对学生预期与实际感知之间差异的测量来反映教育服务质量 水平，是理解与测量教育服务质量的主流趋势。 教育服务质量的测量 用于服务质量测量的经典工具 servqual、servperf与 ipa模型， 在经过调整后，被运用到教育服务质量的测量中，具有较大的影响力。 servqual 模型由 parasuraman, zeithaml 和 berry (1985; 1988) 提出， 用顾客对于服务的期望水平与实际水平之间的差值来标示服务质量。该模 型包含 5 个维度 (有形性、可靠性、响应速度、信任和移情作用)，下设 22 个项目。不少学者如 oldfield 和 baron (2000)，katiliūté 和 kazlauskiene (2010)和 shafiq等人采用调整过的 servqual模型，对高等教育服务质量 进 行 测 量 。 另 如 eduqual 、 hrduqual 、 coursequal 、 servqual based model 等测量工具，其维度与指标均是参照 servqual 进行创设的。 servperf 模型是在对 servqual 模型修正的基础上，由 cronin and talor (1992) 提出的测量工具。该模型所辖维度及项目与 servqual 模型 基本一致。不同之处在于改变了传统的测量范式，将对顾客期望值的测量 从模型中删去，直接测量顾客的实际感知水平。servperf 模型的简便性 要优于 servqual 模型，有不少实证研究证明 servperf 是测量服 务质量的更好选择 (brady, cronin & brand, 2002; jain & gupta, 2004)。 servperf 被用来发展与检验了一系列综合性模型，如瑞典消费者满意度 指标 (scsb)、美国顾客满意度指标 (acsi)、欧洲顾客满意度指标 (ecsi) 等，这些综合性模型也常常用于教育服务质量的测量。 受 servperf 模型影响，ipa 模型 (importance-performance analysis) 也倾向于直接测量顾客实际感知水平，但同时关注顾客对各测量指标之重 要性的评价(o’neill & palmer, 2004)。通过测算顾客实际感知水平与其对服 务质量各维度重要性评判的差值，便能对亟待改进的重要服务领域提出针 对性的建议，有利于集中优势资源提升服务质量。在维度与指标的构建 上，ipa 与 servperf 基本相同。 除通用型服务质量测量工具之外，一些学者针对高等教育的特点开发 出专用的测量模型。abdullah 基于马来西亚高等教育背景，开发出高等教 journal of international students 33 育服务质量测量模型hedperf，包含5个维度：学术层面、非学术层面、 声誉、接近性与项目，下辖 41 项指标，之后修订为 38 项 (abdullah, 2005, 2006)。在 hedperf 影响下，产生了 phed、hedqual、tedperfect 等一批用于高等教育服务质量测量的模型。其中 phed 影响较大， 包含 8 个维度 (可靠性、有效性、实施力、效力、服务能力、自信力、应变力与 课程)，下设 67 个项目 (brochado, 2009)。 国内研究主要是运用国外经典测量工具，对不同层次的教育服务质量 进行测量并提供策略支持。余天佐、韩映雄 (2013)、许长青 (2017) 将 servqual 模型运用于研究生教育服务质量的测量与管理中，为改进服 务质量提供重要参考。钟贞山、孙梦遥 (2016) 参照 servperf模型以及结 合专业学位研究生教育服务的特点，构建量表实施调查，并提出改进意 见。张庆堂、曹伟 (2016)、杜婧等 (2019) 则分别对远程教育与在线教育进 行调研，形成相应的教育服务质量评价模型。在对来华国际学生教育服务 质量的研究上，成果相对较少，主要集中在评价工具的编制与检验方面。 王升 (2009) 建立了含有 7 个维度、31 个指标的自费国际学生教育服务质量 评价体系。马光秀 (2016) 等采用因子分析法初步形成了国际学生教育服务 指标体系，但测量工具的信度与效度有待接受进一步检验。因此，本研究 旨在对后疫情时代国际学生教育服务质量进行初步调查评估，在数据分析 的基础上提出具有针对性的策略建议，进一步丰富学界相关研究。 研究设计 研究问题 1) 后疫情时代来华国际学生教育服务质量整体水平及各维度特征。 2) 影响来华国际学生教育服务质量的主要因素。 3) 提升来华国际学生教育服务质量的策略与建议。 研究工具 2020年 1月，笔者项目组在借鉴 servqual与 hedperf模型基本维 度的基础上，结合对 50 名国际学生的深入访谈，形成一个 4 维度 21 个项 目的来华国际学生教育服务质量测量量表。利用该量表对 680 名国际学生 进行初步测量，经过探索性因子与验证性因子分析检验，量表信度与效度 较好，二阶因子模型拟合度达标。 受疫情影响，中国高校调整了对国际学生的教育管理方式，网络成为 实施教学与管理的主要途径，国际学生对于教育服务质量的感知角度与感 知水平也呈现出一些新特征。据此，我们对原先的调查量表进行了修订， 在整体维度不变的前提下，将项目增至 23项。在这个基础上，对西安交通 大学的 291 名国际学生进行试测，对数据进行信度与效度检验。在验证性 journal of international students 34 因子分析中，删除因子负载系数低于 0.65 的选项 (共 5 项)，形成 4 维度 18 项 的教育服务质量测量量表，模型拟合度较好。 四个维度分别为：(1) 沟通交流，指国际学生与学校其他师生群体间的交 流水平，包括 3 个项目，cronbachα 系数为 0.843。(2) 师资课程，指师资教研 素养与课程实施水平，下设6个项目，cronbachα系数为0.925。(3) 心理状态， 是国际学生就读过程中的整体心理特征，包括 3 个项目，cronbachα 系数为 0.865。(4) 服务帮助，指学校为国际学生提供的各种支持性服务与帮助，下设 6 个项目，cronbachα 系数为 0.884。量表总体 cronbachα 系数 0.963，信度较 好。 调查情况 问卷调查主要在陕西省西安市 5 所高校展开，共调查国际学生 640 名，回 收有效问卷 582 份。其中男生 340 人，女生 242 人；亚洲学生 422 人，非洲学 生 119 人，其他地区学生 41 人；奖学金生 406 人，自费生 176 人；本科生 246 人，硕士生173人，博士生163人；疫情期间在华学生177人，非在华学生405 人；医学专业 230人，理工科专业 161人，人文社科 73人，其他专业 118人。 本文采用在线 spss 对数据进行分析。 研究发现 来华国际学生教育服务质量的整体水平与各维度特征 调查样本的统计结果显示如见表 1 所示，来华国际学生教育服务质量的平 均值为 3.488，标准差为 0.867，这说明国际学生教育服务质量的平均水平一 般，学生感知存在一些差异。虽然教育服务质量平均水平明显高于理论平均值 3，但是距离较好的水平还存有一定差距。 在构成教育服务质量的四个维度中，“心理状态”维度平均值最高 (3.542)， “课程师资”维度平均值次之 (3.500)，“服务帮助”维度与“沟通交流”维度平均值 相对较低 (分别为 3.493 与 3.395)。这表明后疫情时代国际学生心理状态整体较 好，师资素养与课程实施水平较高，但是针对国际学生的服务帮助比较薄弱， 特别是在沟通交流方面学生受到疫情影响较大。 表 1：来华国际学生教育服务质量总体及各维度描述性统计 名称 样本量 最小值 最大值 平均值 标准差 中位数 教育服务质量 582 1.000 5.000 3.488 0.867 3.557 沟通交流 582 1.000 5.000 3.395 1.072 3.500 课程师资 582 1.000 5.000 3.500 0.957 3.500 心理状态 582 1.000 5.000 3.542 0.967 3.667 服务帮助 582 1.000 5.000 3.493 0.898 3.667 journal of international students 35 得分最低的“沟通交流”维度包括三个项目：与教师之间的交流、与行政人 员之间的交流以及学校为国际学生提供相互沟通与自我展示的机会。上述三个 项目的统计结果如表 2 所示。在“沟通交流”维度中，“国际学生与教师交流”一 项得分最高 (3.493)，教师是学生交流的重要对象，线上授课是师生交流的主要 方式。其次是“学校给国际学生提供相互沟通与自我展示的机会”一项 (3.411)。 国际学生与行政人员交流一项得分最低 (3.282)，说明两者在沟通中存在一些问 题。 与之相关的“服务帮助”维度下设 6 个项目，统计结果如表 3 所示。表中可 以看出选项“行政人员有礼貌” (3.802) 与“行政人员的英语水平较好”.(3.639) 得 分最高，“学校能及时提供各种重要信息” (3.545) 与“教师英语水平较好” (3.505) 次之，“疫情期间，我能获得及时的帮助” (3.373) 与“我能获得及时必要 的心理咨询与帮助” (3.091) 得分最低。可见，能否提供及时的帮助，特别是心 理上的咨询与帮助，是影响学生对“服务帮助”维度整体评价的重要因素。 表 2：沟通交流维度各项描述性统计 名称 样本 量 最小 值 最大 值 平均 值 标准 差 中位 数 疫情期间，与教师交流 较好 582 1.000 5.000 3.493 1.253 4.000 疫情期间，与行政人员 交流较好 582 1.000 5.000 3.282 1.301 3.000 疫情期间，学校给国际 学生提供相互沟通与自 我展示的机会 582 1.000 5.000 3.411 1.125 3.000 表 3：服务帮助维度各项描述性统计 名称 样本 量 最小 值 最大 值 平均 值 标准 数 中位 数 行政人员有礼貌 582 1.000 5.000 3.802 1.092 4.000 疫情期间，我能获得及时 的帮助 582 1.000 5.000 3.373 1.091 3.000 疫情期间，学校能及时提 供各种重要信息 582 1.000 5.000 3.545 1.210 4.000 疫情期间，我能获得及时 的心理咨询与帮助 582 1.000 5.000 3.091 1.265 3.000 教师的英语水平较好 582 1.000 5.000 3.505 1.062 4.000 行政人员英语水平较好 582 1.000 5.000 3.639 1.038 4.000 journal of international students 36 来华国际学生教育服务质量的影响因素 国际学生个人特征对教育服务质量感知水平的影响分析 国际学生个人特征主要包括性别、年龄、目前所在地、有无奖学金、 在华时长、汉语水平、教育程度七个因素，本研究采用多因素方差分析法 检验上述特征对国际学生教育服务质量感知水平的影响程度。 如表 4 所示，在个人特征的七个因素中，性别、年龄、目前所在地、 是否有奖学金以及在中国学习时长会对教育服务质量产生显著性差异关 系，汉语水平与教育程度不会对教育服务质量产生显著性差异。r²为 0.183，说明上述七个因素可以解释教育服务质量 18.3%变化原因。 表 4：多因素方差分析结果 项目 平方和 df 均方 f p 截距 2660.695 1 2660.695 4247.301 0.000** 性别 3.410 1 3.410 5.444 0.020* 年龄 9.015 3 3.005 4.797 0.003** 目前所在地 12.941 1 12.941 20.658 0.000** 是否有奖学金 5.390 1 5.390 8.604 0.003** 在中国学习时长 8.887 2 4.443 7.093 0.001** 汉语水平 0.573 2 0.286 0.457 0.633 教育程度 2.489 2 1.244 1.986 0.138 残差 356.446 569 0.626 注. *p<0.05 **p<0.01 r ²=0.183 性别差异 如表 5 所示，男女生对教育服务质量感知水平在四个维度上均存在显 著差异。性别对于“沟通交流”、“服务帮助”、“心理状态”呈现出 0.01 水平 显著性，对于“课程师资”呈现出 0.05 水平显著性。在四个维度上，男生得 分明显高于女生。 journal of international students 37 表 5：基于性别差异的教育服务质量各维度描述统计 性别(平均值±标准差) f p 女 (n=340) 男 (n=242) 沟通交流 3.53±1.07 3.20±1.04 13.491 0.000** 课程师资 3.58±0.96 3.39±0.95 5.507 0.019* 服务帮助 3.59±0.87 3.35±0.92 10.117 0.002** 心理状态 3.63±0.97 3.41±0.95 7.411 0.007** 注.*p<0.05 **p<0.01 年龄差异 表 6：基于年龄差异的教育服务质量各维度描述统计 年龄(平均值±标准差) f p <22 (n=143) 22-25 (n=145) 26-29 (n=150) 30+ (n=144) 沟通 交流 3.06±1.04 2.90±1.12 3.75±0.88 3.86±0.90 34.498 0.000** 课程 师资 3.39±0.93 3.20±1.02 3.69±0.89 3.71±0.90 9.962 0.000** 服务 帮助 3.31±0.85 3.14±0.95 3.71±0.82 3.80±0.80 19.700 0.000** 心理 状态 3.42±1.00 3.29±1.04 3.75±0.89 3.70±0.86 7.810 0.000** 注.*p<0.05 **p<0.01 不同年龄段的学生对教育服务质量的感知在四个维度上存在显著差 异，均呈现出 0.01 水平的显著性。在对教育服务质量的评价上，26 岁以上 的学生评价要明显高于26岁以下的学生，30岁以上的学生评价得分最高， 22-25 岁的学生评价较低。这说明大多数硕士生 (基本处于 22-25 岁年龄段) 对教育服务质量的评价最低。 journal of international students 38 目前所在地差异 表 7：基于目前所在地差异的教育服务质量各维度描述统计 目前是否在华 (平均值±标准差) f p 在华 (n=177) 不在华 (n=405) 沟通交流 3.88±0.93 3.18±1.06 56.473 0.000** 课程师资 3.76±0.83 3.39±0.99 18.824 0.000** 服务帮助 3.82±0.80 3.35±0.90 35.446 0.000** 心理状态 3.88±0.85 3.39±0.98 33.506 0.000** 注.*p<0.05 **p<0.01 表7展示本研究将目前学生所在地整体划分为“在华”与“不在华”两类， 所在地差异在四个维度上均呈现出 0.01 水平的显著性。在华学生对教育服 务质量的评价要明显高于不在华学生，其中“沟通交流”维度的差距最大 (0.7)，课程师资差距相对较小 (0.37)。疫情期间，在华国际学生与教师及 行政人员的交流相对方便，其对于教育服务质量的感知更为全面真实。 有无奖学金的差异 表 8 展示了有无奖学金的差异在四个维度上均呈现出 0.01 水平的显著 性。具有奖学金的学生对于教育服务质量的评价要明显高于没有奖学金的 学生，其中“沟通交流”维度的差距最大 (0.75)，“心理状态”差距最小 (0.35)。奖学金生在与教师、行政人员及其他国际学生之间的沟通交流上 表现出更强烈的意愿，其交流水平要优于没有奖学金的学生。奖学金作为 一种激励措施，影响着学生对教育服务质量的感知水平。 表 8：基于有无奖学金差异的教育服务质量各维度描述统计 是否有奖学金 (平均值±标准差) f p 有 (n=406) 无 (n=176) 沟通交流 3.62±0.97 2.87±1.12 67.201 0.000** 课程师资 3.65±0.89 3.16±1.01 33.575 0.000** 服务帮助 3.65±0.82 3.12±0.97 46.779 0.000** 心理状态 3.65±0.91 3.30±1.06 16.304 0.000** 注.*p<0.05 **p<0.01 journal of international students 39 在华学习时长的差异 表 9 展示了在华学习时长的差异，在华学习时长的差异在四个维度上 均呈现出显著性，在课程师资与服务帮助维度呈现出 0.01 水平的显著性， 在沟通交流与心理状态维度呈现出 0.05 水平的显著性。其中在华学习时长 在 1-3 年的学生对教育服务质量的整体感知水平最高，学习超过 3 年的学 生对教育服务质量的整体感知水平最低。特别是在“课程师资”维度，1-3年 学习时长的学生与 3 年以上学习时长的学生的感知差异较大 (0.33)。 表 9：基于在华时长差异的教育服务质量各维度描述统计 在华时长: (平均值±标准差) f p <1 年 (n=87) 1-3 年 (n=223) >3 年 (n=272) 沟通 交流 3.34±0.91 3.56±0.98 3.28±1.17 4.541 0.011* 课程 师资 3.68±0.87 3.65±0.91 3.32±0.99 9.056 0.000** 服务 帮助 3.43±0.85 3.65±0.80 3.38±0.97 5.589 0.004** 心理 状态 3.56±0.88 3.67±0.88 3.43±1.05 3.817 0.023* 注.*p<0.05 **p<0.01 四个构成维度对整体教育服务质量的影响程度 前文对量表进行了验证性因子分析，构建出由教育服务质量与四个维 度形成的二阶因子模型，模型拟合指标如表 10 所示。 表 10：模型拟合指标 常用 指标 χ² df p χ²/df gfi rmse a rm r cfi nfi nnf i 判断 标准 >0.05 <3 >0.9 <0.10 <0.05 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9 值 0.000 2.830 0.910 0.091 0.056 0.916 0.901 0.902 χ²/df 的值为 2.830，rmsea 值为 0.091，cfi 值为 0.916，均达到了良 好水平，说明模型拟合度较好。四个构成维度“沟通交流”、“课程师资”、 “服务帮助”和“心理状态”与整体教育服务质量间的路径系数分别为 0.982、 journal of international students 40 0.894、0.993 和 0.833，说明四者与教育服务质量密切相关，其中“沟通交 流”与“服务帮助”与教育服务质量关系尤为密切，应成为关注的重点。 研究结论与策略建议 来华国际学生教育服务质量平均水平表现一般，各维度水平有差异 就调查样本整体而言，来华国际学生感知的教育服务质量平均水平表 现一般，距离较好的教育服务质量水平还有一定差距。这一方面说明在疫 情期间，由于中国高校采取了应对疫情的积极措施，国际学生对于教育服 务质量的整体评价是合格的，教育教学与管理服务质量得到最基本的保 障。另一方面也反映出高等教育服务中的一些薄弱点，具有一定的提升空 间。 来华国际学生教育服务质量的四个维度有一定差异，“心理状态”的平 均水平最高，“课程师资”居于其次，“服务帮助”低于“课程师资”，“沟通交 流”平均水平最低。这表明后疫情时代国际学生的整体心理水平表现相对 较好，特别是在学校的人文关怀与心理疏导下，大多数国际学生对于常态 化疫情防控中的教育教学环境越来越熟悉，其适应性在增强。在教学上， 经过一年以来多种形式的研讨与培训，教师的在线教学素养得到极大提 升，在线课程的组织与管理也趋向成熟，国际学生对于“课程师资”维度的 评价保持在中等水平。“服务帮助”与“沟通交流”水平相对较低，后疫情时 代的师生交流仍存在较多障碍，线上交流也很难达到面对面交流的效果与 效率，而基于网络提供的各项服务与帮助也因之受到一定的影响。 来华国际学生对教育服务质量的感知在个人特征上存在差异 来华国际学生对教育服务质量的评价在包括性别、年龄、目前所在地 (是否在华)、奖学金(是否有奖学金)以及在中国学习时长等因素上存在显著 差异。其中，性别之间的差异非常明显，男生在四个维度上的得分均高于 女生，教育服务应更加关心女生的实际感受；在华国际学生对于教育服务 质量的感知水平明显高于非在华学生，因而针对滞留海外国际学生的教育 管理应成为重要关注点；奖学金生对于教育服务质量的感知水平要明显高 于自费生，建议适度丰富奖学金的种类以扩大奖学金覆盖面，加强与自费 生的交流与沟通，提升自费生对教育服务质量的满意度；就在华时长与年 龄段综合考虑，硕士生 (一般在 22-25 岁) 对教育服务质量的评价相对较 低，这不仅与本科生的毕业去向密切相关，同时也会影响博士生的生源质 量，故应作为提升教育服务质量的目标群体。 journal of international students 41 后疫情时代提升来华国际学生教育服务质量的策略建议 丰富沟通交流的形式，为国际学生营造温馨和谐的交际环境 在构成教育服务质量的四个维度中，“沟通交流”与教育服务质量的路 径系数为 0.982，其对教育服务质量的影响较大。但在本次调查中，“沟通 交流”在四个维度中的得分最低，为 3.395，应成为提升教育服务质量的重 要维度。 国际学生“沟通交流”维度主要包括与教师、与行政人员以及国际学生 之间的三种交流形式，其中师生间的交流水平最高，行政人员与学生间的 交流水平最低。对此我们建议：(1) 加强行政人员特别是辅导员队伍建设， 补充辅导员人数，对国际学生实施有针对性的、个性化的管理与服务。对 于滞留海外的国际学生，通过网络建立点对点的联结，采用主题班会等形 式，增加互动频率，提升交流质量。(2) 充分激发一线教师的管理服务功 能，利用课堂教学互动频繁的优势，掌握学生身心动态信息，在教学与管 理之间形成信息互通与良性联动。如西安交通大学国际教育学院实行全员 24 小时值班制度，有效发挥了教师群体在服务管理中的作用。(3) 推进国 际学生组织建设，发挥其自我教育的功能，促进国际学生之间以及国际学 生与中国学生之间的沟通交流。西安交通大学通过国际学生大使、国际学 生校友积极组织各种线上线下活动，宣传抗疫知识，传播正能量，有效增 进了国际学生对学校的全方位认知。 优化服务支持体系，为国际学生提供及时有效的咨询与帮助 在构成教育服务质量的四个维度中，“服务帮助”与教育服务质量的路 径系数为0.993，其对教育服务质量的影响最大，应作为提升教育服务质量 的关键维度。在构成“服务帮助”的 6 个项目中，“获得及时的心理咨询与帮 助”得分最低，为 3.091；其次是“我能获得及时的帮助”与“教师英语水平较 好”，分别为 3.373 与 3.505。基于上述分析，可做如下的举措。 (1) 多渠道定期分类汇集学生问题，建立工作台账，为学生提供及时反 馈。在目前管理体制下，大部分信息都是单向信息，国际学生是信息终端 的接受方，学校与学生之间双向互动的信息沟通常态化机制尚未建立起 来。一方面，可以院系为单位，以任课教师为骨干，建立国际学生学业支 持体系，定期收集学生学业上的问题与困惑，集体研讨解决方案并进行及 时反馈。另一方面，以国际学生辅导员队伍为核心，完善国际学生管理服 务支持体系，定期汇集与解决其学业之外的其他问题。 (2) 重视国际学生的心理状态，全面收集相关信息，通过关怀引导，帮 助其消除疑虑、恐慌等负面情绪。充分发挥高校大学生心理健康咨询中心 的作用，将国际学生纳入大学生心理健康教育工作范畴，提供汉英双语心 理咨询服务，举办线上线下相结合的心理咨询活动。如西安交通大学在疫 情期间，整合校内外资源，利用微信公众号以汉英双语举办心理战疫小课 journal of international students 42 堂，开展心理健康教育讲座，帮助国际学生掌握心理调适的有效方法；定 期举办“交心有约”心理健康沙龙与心理团体辅导活动，提升国际学生心理 健康水平，改善人际交往的能力。 (3) 提升教师及行政人员的英语水平。在本次调查中，国际学生对行政 人员英文水平的评价要高于教师，其原因主要在于行政人员的英语使用以 满足学生最基本的服务需求为主，而教师则需要掌握难度较高的专业英 语，满足学生更高层次的专业需求。我们建议高校外国语学院与教师教学 发展中心定期对从事国际教育的教师与行政人员进行具有针对性的英语培 训，不断提升教职工的英语交际能力与授课水平。另外，根据《来华留学 生高等教育质量规范 (试行) 》的要求，增设汉语课程，培养国际学生汉语 交际能力，构建中英双语交流通道，帮助国际学生更快更好地融入中国社 会生活。 调整课堂教学，增强教学的互动性，满足国际学生的特点与需求 虽然国际学生对“师资课程”维度的评分相对较高，但其所辖“教师能考 虑国际学生的需求”、“课程具有互动性”以及“教师能提供高质量的反馈”三 项得分为 3.342、3.242 和 3.452，均低于该维度均值 3.500。在对学生的访 谈调查中发现，非独立编班的国际学生 (即插入中国学生班级的国际学生) 对教学提出的问题最多，普遍认为教师没有充分考虑国际学生的水平和需 求，从而导致产生跟不上中国学生学习进度的焦虑感。特别是滞留海外的 插班国际学生，由于受到时差的限制，不能参与直播课堂，只能依赖于录 播视频，学习的互动性极差。我们建议高校：以授课教师为骨干，及时掌 握插班国际学生的学习动态与实际需求，为其提供一定的课外指导与帮 助；以导师为核心，组建中外学生互助小组，加强师生及中外学生间的沟 通交流，共同进步。 总之，后疫情时代为中国来华国际学生教育的内涵式发展提供了重要 的契机，有目共睹的抗疫成果与稳定有序的教育环境将吸引更多的高素质 国际人才来中国深造学习。但就世界范围来看，国际学生的流动性仍在减 弱，短期衰退的风险性逐步增大，确保国际学生教育市场稳定增长的关键 在于高水平的教育服务质量。因而围绕“沟通交流”、“服务帮助”、“课程师 资”等领域不断探索教育服务的新模式与新方法，提升来华国际学生的教 育服务质量，积极应对教育国际化与市场化带来的各种新挑战，将成为来 华留学教育的重要课题。 基金项目 本文系陕西省社会科学基金项目“陕西高校来华留学生教育管理满意度测 评与提升策略研究” (项目批准号: 2019q027)、来华留学教育科学研究课题 “基于国际学生视角的高校教育服务质量模型构建与实证研究” (项目批准 号: cafsa2020-y034) 以及陕西省哲学社会科学重大理论与现实问题研究 journal of international students 43 项目“陕西高校国际学生教育服务质量模型构建及相关因素研究” (项目批 准号: 2021nd0219) 的研究成果。 参考文献 abdullah, f. 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(2018). service quality scale development for higher education institutions: the asian context. journal of quality and technology management, xv(1), 37–55. journal of international students 44 杜婧, 段江飞, & 李绯. (2019). 侧重用户感知的在线教育服务质量模型研究.现代 教育技术, 29(10), 74–79. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.10098097.2019.10.011 马光秀, 沈瑜晨, & 杨珊珊. (2016). 关于在校留学生对高校的满意度研究调查-以 江苏大学为例. 当代教育实践与教学研究（电子刊）, (12), 372–373. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.2095-6711.2016.12.336 王艺鑫. (2020). 后疫情时代我国高校留学生教育发展的机遇与挑战. 高等理科教 育,(5), 45–46. https:// doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1000-4076.2020.05.013 王升. (2009). 来华留学生教育学生满意度评价指标体系的构建-以河北省高校为 例 . 中 国 经 贸 导 刊 , (24), 116. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1007 9777.2009.24.091 许长青. (2017). 研究生教育服务质量评估及影响因素分析.高教发展与评估， (5), 30–49. https://doi.org/10.3963/j.issn.1672-8742.2017.05.004 余天佐, 韩映雄. (2013). 研究生教育服务质量管理的实证研究:基于 servqual 模型 . 研究生教育研究 , (1), 11–16. https://doi.org/ 10.3969/j.issn.20951663.2013.01.003 张庆堂, 曹伟. (2016). 学习者和管理者视角下现代远程教育服务质量评价体系研 究 . 中 国 远 程 教 育 , (10): 44–50. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1009 458x.2016.10.006 钟贞山, 孙梦遥. (2016). 专业学位研究生教育服务质量满意度及改进策略的实证 研究 . 教育学术月刊 , (5), 65–73. https://doi.org/10.16477/j.cnki.issn16742311.2016.05.010 wei zhao, phd, is an associate professor and the director of teaching affairs department of the school of international education at xi’an jiaotong university, china. his research interests include international student education and management, and teaching chinese as a foreign language. he has published four books and over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles. email: zhaowwei@mail.xjtu.edu.cn 赵炜, 西安交通大学副教授、国际教育学院教学事务管理部主任。研究兴 趣包括留学生教育与管理、国际中文教育。邮箱：zhaowwei@xjtu.edu.cn guangrui wen (corresponding author), phd, is a full professor of the school of mechanical engineering and the dean of the school of international education at xi’an jiaotong university, china. his research interests include international student education and management. he has authored two books and over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles. email: grwen@mail.xjtu.edu.cn 温广瑞 (通讯作者)，西安交通大学机械学院教授、国际教育学院院长。研 究兴趣包括留学生教育与管理。邮箱：grwen@mail.xjtu.edu.cn 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. microsoft word 961 production final.docx 443 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 10, issue 2 (2020), pp. 443-465 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v10i2.961 ojed.org/jis geographic embeddedness of higher education institutions in the migration policy domain alexandra m. bozheva western university, canada abstract in 2014, canada issued its first international education strategy, articulating targets for international enrollment and its economic benefits, but lacking international student retention goals. universities and colleges used to be places where students could get immigration advice, but past bill c-35 only regulated canadian immigration consultants can provide such advice. there is no requirement for institutions to hire these consultants. i investigate the geographic stretch of the education domain’s engagement with retention, through an examination of immigration advising support provision across canada’s campuses. this provision is highly uneven, with a moderate association with school size, reflecting the voluntary nature of such engagement. a defined international student retention strategy could possibly change the current state of immigration governance through the education domain. keywords: higher education, immigrant retention, international students, rcic, risia introduction the priority canadian universities place on the recruitment of top international talent has converged over the last several years with the government’s agenda of attracting these students as a potential pool of high quality immigrants and skilled labour (association of universities and colleges of canada [aucc], 2009, p. 4). journal of international students 444 with canada’s 2014 national international education strategy (ies), the two domains, education supply and migration management, seem to have reached a unison toward accelerating international student migration to canada. yet, i argue, it is the recruitment priorities of education providers that were at the core of the ies, whereas the country’s retention goals remained far less defined. retention of international students was listed as one of the strategic goals: “increase the number of international students choosing to remain in canada as permanent residents after graduation” (department of foreign affairs, trade and development [dfatd], 2014, p. 17), but the document lacked an elaboration on how to achieve this. from the 14 recommendations of the advisory panel on canada’s international education strategy (2012), only one spoke to expansion and promotion of the canadian experience class (cec) as a student retention path. as these recommendations laid the foundation of the ies, it also gave very little space to understanding how international students can potentially transition to permanent residency. this was largely expressed in the following passage: international students are a future source of skilled labour, as they may be eligible after graduation for permanent residency through immigration programs, such as the canadian experience class (introduced in 2008). international students are well positioned to immigrate to canada as they have typically obtained canadian credentials, are proficient in at least one official language and often have relevant canadian work experience (dfatd, 2014, p. 12). the lack of a strongly identified national international student retention goal can be attributed to the fragmented and complex nature of canada’s education and migration domains governance. education is governed at provincial/territorial level, with no federal body in charge (government of canada, 1867). provincial ministries of education collaborate via the council of ministers of education canada. the migration domain is also fragmented and multilayered, managed by immigration, refugees and citizenship canada (ircc) and increasingly by provincial ministries/departments. universities are spatially embedded entities, not only within education, but also within the migration domain. trilokekar and el masri (2016), examining synergies between the ies and 11 ontario universities’ internationalization strategies, highlighted that much of the variability in the federal-institutional alignment on retention policies depends on institutions’ geographical positioning (locally in proximity to major metropolitan areas, and globally in international rankings). trilokekar and el masri (2016) concluded that “supporting the transition of international students as new immigrants is a policy arena resulting in close cooperation between the two levels [federal and provincial] of government; however, university strategy documents rarely reflect this policy intent” (p. 554). in the same vein, a study by covell et al. (2015) discovered that institutions participate in assisting their students in integration on a voluntary basis. some institutions do have certified services in place, but the overall role of the education community is not clearly defined and remains largely insignificant. with canada’s interprovincial variability in migration policies, we must consider intraprovincial geographic variability journal of international students 445 between institution institutions. their engagement with retention, under conditions of no established framework for a dialogue between the immigration and education domains, seems to lack any pattern. this article focuses on the status quo of immigration advising support to international students and questions the state of alignment between the domains involved in international student migration. for policies to be “truly active” there is a need for concordance of agendas, shared vision of outcomes, and coordination of practices (mosneaga, 2015, p. 16). with this, i ask the following research questions: is the present canadian immigration policy approach to international students “truly active? is there a connection between migration policies and immigration support on canadian campuses? to answer these questions, this article examines the availability of immigration advising services on canadian campuses and compares any crossprovincial differences. considering geographic embeddedness, i hypothesize that universities located in the peripheral (that is, not ontario, british columbia, or quebec) provinces might be more invested in retention of international students as a part of a broader migration agenda. the provinces, which do not experience large immigration numbers in general and international student migration in particular, might be much more invested in coordinating efforts with universities. in other words, a province’s migration agenda could be more pronounced in the actions of the institutions located within it. as a result, universities in such provinces may have a greater extent of international student immigration services. this article is an analysis of availability of immigration advising services, in universities and colleges throughout canada, conducted using immigration consultants of canada regulatory council (iccrc) registration information on regulated canadian immigration consultants (rcics) and regulated international student immigration advisers (risias). this analysis is preceded by a discussion of the recent trends in international students transitioning to permanent residents. issue with retention? neoliberal transformations of the education sector in canada, initiated in the late 1970s, pushed universities to treat international students increasingly not as a source of “diversity on campus” but as a source of a diversified revenue portfolio. actively advocating for a strategy to “deal with foreign students on a national basis” (aucc, 1985, p. 9), education institutions collaborated with global affairs canada to institutionalize profit-making internationalization at the federal level, transforming canada’s education services into a well trading export. canada’s first ies became a landmark document, elevating international trade of education from the institutional to the federal level. being developed in consultation with education institutions, the council of ministers of education canada, provinces and territories, and other stakeholders, the ies became a proclamation of the national internationalization vision. in it, attraction goals have a clear formulation, while retention goals remain vague. the ies acknowledges the role of immigration in the labor force, anticipates that international students are predisposed for easy integration, yet has no clearly defined retention plans (dfatd, 2014). such a “retention-lite” approach stands in journal of international students 446 stark contrast to the other objectives: calculated recruitment targets, economic benefits, and investments necessary for education marketing and visitor visa processing, all expressed in concrete dollar amounts. international students are interested in canada not only as a location of their education abroad, but as a potential future residence. according to a canadian bureau for international education (cbie) survey, about half of international students decide on the country first, then on an institution (cbie, 2009, p. 24). the 2013 survey showed that 60% had chosen canada first, and in the 2014 survey, 55.5% (cbie, 2014, p. 33). in addition, 59% consider popular international rankings, such as times higher education, as a factor in their decision (cbie, 2013, p. 24). considering international students’ future plans in canada, the 2007 cbie survey found that 32% consider staying (bond et al., 2007, p. 18); later the 2015 survey reported that 51% of international students consider applying for permanent residency (cbie, 2015, p. 35). yet, despite a higher percentage of students willing to stay, ircc (2019b) data indicates that the number of direct transitions from student to permanent resident declined in 2016 by 34%, compared to 2006. lu and hou (2015, p. 4) estimated the cumulative transition rate (all migration paths included, 10 years since first student permit) for international students being the highest for the early 1990s cohort, at 27% becoming permanent residents, with the late 1990s cohort at 20%, and the early 2000s cohort catching up at 25%. lu and hou’s (2015) rate is cumulative, meaning that it accommodates all possible migration paths, be those skilled or unskilled work after studies, marriage to a canadian, or claiming refugee status. given a spectrum of possible pathways, stagnated retention rates are an outcome, i argue, of a progression toward education commercialization and a fight in the global market. further, with the pursuit of increasing education as an export and the burgeoning numbers of international students (over 370,000 postsecondary international students in 2017 compared to just over 110,000 in 2007; ircc, 2017f), the cumulative retention rate could go down from 25%. while canada plans to increase the overall immigration levels (ircc, 2017e) and desires to accommodate more international students (hussen, 2018), it is not clear how international students fit into the outlined brackets, as ircc “does not currently have targets for the number of international students it would like to transition to permanent resident status but rather sets targets for various permanent residence streams/programs” (citizenship and immigration canada [cic], 2015, p. 20). upon graduation, students are faced with provincial and federal immigration programs, yet they are left to make migration choices with no settlement support services that could help them to navigate these. temporary residents are not eligible for ircc-funded settlement services before receiving approval for permanent residency (ircc, 2018c). considering that about a half of permanent residency applicants under the express entry, uniting the federal economic immigration programs (federal skilled worker, canadian experience class, federal skilled trades), already reside in the country (ircc, 2018a, p. 13), the current international student retention approach is reactive in nature. only the atlantic immigration pilot, a new policy formation of the four eastern provinces, has turned to proactive measures providing settlement support, including to international students, at the prejournal of international students 447 permanent residency-approval stages (ircc, 2018b). in the rest of the country, “it is absurd to see a very limited social service access for international students since the education and immigration policy proactively recruit them and later absorb them as high skilled labor immigrants into permanent resident status” (johnstone & lee, 2014, p. 217). canada’s recent international student migration policy history has not been linear. there has been a number of student inflow stimulating measures, including introduction of the canadian experience class in 2008 and creation of a number of provincial nominee programs’ (pnps) streams, designed specifically to retain international students. as these steps were taken forward, they were contradicted by some gatekeeping legislation, such as 2014 “strengthening canadian citizenship act” that changed the rules for citizenship application by denying students the use their years of temporary residency toward the permanent residency years count (government of canada 2014, 10–11). in 2017, the government passed bill c-6 that counteracted the damages of bill c-24 (ircc, 2017c, 2017d), but before that international students had to reconsider their eligibility and future life plans. before bill c-24, another significant barrier came in the form of bill c-35, or the “cracking down on crooked consultants act,” in july 2011 (citizenship and immigration canada, 2014, p. iv), limiting student access to immigration advice services and, hence, undermining retention. the measures introduced by the bill are still in effect. the immigration consultants of canada regulatory council (iccrc) became the ircc designated body regulating canadian immigration consultants (rcics), and from november 2015 regulated international student immigration advisers or risias (iccrc, 2016, p. 26). the key difference between the two is that risias are limited to providing support on student visas and study permits, whereas rcics can advise on permanent residency application. there is no regulation requiring education institutions to hire consultants of either type, regardless of international students’ enrollment. it is the intuitions’ responsibility to decide whether they invest in immigration support on campus. this “two steps forward, one step back” legislative trajectory, in combination with neoliberal pressures to pursue attraction, means that little progress has been made in retaining international students in the 21st century. ircc’s latest evaluation of the international student program “found that there is a lack of an effective wholeof-government approach between federal departments regarding international students” (citizenship and immigration canada , 2015, p. vi). this article argues that post-ies, when it comes to retention, such an approach is still lacking. further, the current approach, with no settlement support available to any temporary residents and international students being faced with an array of pnps’ streams, might be causing more confusion (alboim, 2011; bond et al., 2007) than facilitating a streamlined retention. there is still a limited understanding of how universities fit into any province’s retention plan. walton-roberts (2011) posed the question: with the shift from “red card to the red carpet” in migration policies, “how the higher education sector will manage this responsibility”? (p. 471). indeed, in canada today, do universities identify themselves as key facilitators in international student integration, or do they draw their responsibility line at “attraction” with no mandate to be involved in journal of international students 448 “retention”? in other words, does the “red carpet” start with universities? this article contributes to understanding canada’s migration management framework through examining universities as places of talent retention. it identifies which universities go beyond the mandate to educate, and answers whether there is a connection to the international student migration priorities of the province/territory in which such universities are located. universities can act as the key facilitators in the transition of international students from temporary to permanent immigrant status. though many institutions provide services to international students, these are limited in staff and capacities (covell et al., 2015; el masri et al., 2015). at the turn of the century, cbie (2002) noted that “campuses are not adding essential isa [international student advisors] in line with burgeoning enrolments” (p. 7). as we navigate 2020 and beyond, it is worth exploring if universities, especially after bill c-35, consider themselves channels of international students retention by providing the necessary rcic staff. study framework mosneaga (2015) suggested that when it comes to international students, the concept of “migration management”—a policy term referring to a totality of migration policies exercised by nation-states—should be extended to lower domains, where international students come into contact with educational and labor market infrastructures. walton-roberts (2011) added that in knowledge economies, with skills-oriented migration systems, universities are to become increasingly central to “channeling and driving immigration” (p. 455). adopting these approaches, i examine canada’s migration management framework, extending it to an education institution level. figure 1 reflects such an understanding of canada’s international student migration management framework, incorporating national and provincial level actors from the two domains: migration regime and education supply. figure 1: canada’s international student migration management framework this framework could include other stakeholders, such as employers or regulated professions associations (see covell et al. 2015), but the focus of this article is on the journal of international students 449 tangency points between education and immigration domains. this article highlights the role of higher education institutions in international student retention. according to postsecondary education enrollment data, 70% of postsecondary international students are studying in the top three cycles of university education: bachelor’s, master’s, and phd programs (statistics canada, n.d.), making universities and colleges key stakeholders in drawing a “potential pool of high quality immigrants” (aucc, 2009, p. 4) into the country. method first, i review ircc data on international students transitioning to permanent residency. the necessary dataset was obtained through canada’s open government portal. i use these data to calculate the proportion of international students transitioning to permanent residency through pnp for each province. this is essential information not only for understanding the paths that students choose, but for understanding which programs might be more efficient in retention, provincial or federal. i then present findings from an analysis of the availability of international student immigration advising services, based on the iccrc registration information. the focus of this article is on universities and colleges, or diplomaand degree-granting institutions. these institutions not only enroll 70% of long-term international students in the country (statistics canada, n.d.), top-level graduates are also actively targeted by provincial programs (bozheva, 2020). iccrc maintains a registry of rcics and risias on its website (iccrc, n.d.). the list of the currently accredited risias is available and updated often. this article uses the list dated july 3, 2018, containing 111 specialists. information on availability of rcics was retrieved on july 25, 2018, using a keyword search in the iccrc registry based on the “company name field,” which is institution name. institutions’ names were entered with variants to minimize the discovery error. for example, the university of british columbia was also entered as ubc. the search revealed that there are consultants providing advice for several institutions simultaneously, meaning some institutions are served remotely. such shared consultants were counted for each institution they serve. the list of degree-granting institutions was created based on the canadian information centre for international credentials (cicic), which is a part of the council of ministers of education canada directory (cicic, n.d.). only recognized and authorized public and private universities and colleges (not private career colleges and vocational/technical schools) that have been approved as designated learning institutions for canada’s international student program were included in the analysis. for quebec, due to the specificity of its education system, only universities were included in the analysis, colleges and cegeps (collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) were excluded. the final list included 202 institutions, 117 universities and university colleges, and 85 colleges. after these data were collected, immigration services provision levels were calculated as the percentage of institutions with at least one rcic to the total number of select institutions in a province. further, the number of available rcics on canadian campuses was compared against international students’ enrollment in the journal of international students 450 top three cycles of postsecondary education (statistics canada, the postsecondary student information system), by calculating the rcic availability per 1,000 international students index. in addition, for an examination of whether rcics’ availability depends on enrollment body size, independent sample t test and bivariate correlations were performed. the enrollment data for 2016 was obtained from universities canada, collecting statistics on its members. enrollment data for 93 universities canada members were available. to estimate the size of the international student body, i used the information on the percentage of international students in first-year undergraduate and overall graduate enrollment, collected by maclean’s magazine from the participating institutions (dwyer, 2017; maclean’s, 2017, p. 83). maclean’s reported the presence of graduate international students for medical doctoral and comprehensive universities only, based on their broader graduate programs’ offerings. this limits the analysis to universities only, affecting the sample size; nevertheless, it is telling. the uneven participation of the institutional domain in international student migration needs to be considered within the geographical context of international enrollment and international students transitioning to permanent residency. the calculated provincial shares in the distribution of postsecondary international students and the rates of international students transitioning to permanent residency through pnps were plotted on a map against the estimated rcic and risia provision rates. the resulting map served as a base for a comparative analysis of the institutional domain’s engagement with international student retention. international student transitions to permanent residency immigrant countries of origin are often thought of and pictured in statistics as countries of birth or citizenship, not as countries of actual residence. however, express entry data showed that in 2015, 78% of invited candidates resided in canada (ircc, 2017b, p. 14); in 2016, 64%; in 2017, 49%; and in 2018, 45% (ircc, 2018a, p. 13; 2019a, p.12). this effectively means that, while the electronic system makes permanent residency application process more accessible for applicants from outside of canada, the country continues to be the main immigrant source country to itself, with temporary workers and international students being the key ingredients in the make-up of immigration. express entry includes federal economic programs, but many provinces operate streams that are not integrated with the system. the observed decrease of canadian applicants in express entry seem to be compensated by pnps, as the overall role of pnps in transitioning of temporary to permanent residency has increased. the proportion of temporary residence–principal applicants under pnps between 2010 and 2015 grew to 76%, with the highest numbers in northwest territories (98%), british columbia (96%), yukon (94%), ontario (93%), newfoundland and labrador (88%), alberta (84%), nova scotia (75%), and saskatchewan (61%), versus new brunswick (40%), manitoba (23%), and prince edward island (20%) (ircc, 2017a, pp. 19–20). quebec plans “to increase to at least 40% in 2019 the proportion of immigrants … of the subcategory of skilled workers, selected and having either a temporary worker or a foreign student status in quebec journal of international students 451 at the time of their selection” (ministère de l’immigration, de la diversité et de l’inclusion, 2016, p. 8).1 ircc’s evaluation of the international students program indicated that in 2009– 2013 in transitioning to permanent residency the pnps’ share has been increasing, and substantially ahead of cec, and opposite to dropping numbers under the fsw category (citizenship and immigration canada, 2015, p. 19). the most recent ircc transitions data reveal that popularity, or, one can say, “efficiency of different paths” depends on the previously held status, and that pnps have been losing their appeal for international students. table 1 examines admissions to permanent residency from prior study permit or postgraduate work permit (pgwp) holder status, which i consider to be the two main statuses international student/potential immigrants can have, being temporarily in canada. note that for studies under 6 months, a study permit is not required (ircc, n.d.), making such international students ineligible for pgwp and for permanent residency under most streams (bozheva, 2020). table 1: transition paths of international students to permanent residency from study permit and postgraduation work permit statuses, %. 1 google translate. transition paths 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 (q1–2) from sp to pr paths atlantic pilot 0.8 3.2 pnps 25.4 25.3 24.9 30.6 29.2 quebec 18.4 20.5 17.7 18.7 12.2 federal programs 56.1 54.2 57.4 49.9 55.4 total in is to pr transitions 45.5 42.9 33.4 30.9 29.2 from pgwp to pr paths atlantic pilot 0.1 0.7 1.8 pnps 43.8 33.9 25.6 31.0 35.0 quebec 20.6 22.4 16.3 14.4 5.5 federal programs 35.5 43.7 58.1 53.9 57.7 total in is to pr transitions 54.5 57.1 66.6 69.1 70.8 total is (sp+pgwp) to pr by path 100 100 100 100 100 atlantic pilot 0.1 0.8 2.2 pnps 35.4 30.2 25.4 30.9 33.3 quebec 19.6 21.6 16.8 15.7 7.4 federal programs 45.0 48.2 57.8 52.6 57.1 total is (sp+pgwp) to pr (in absolute numbers) 18,760 19,230 28,140 35,480 14,310 transitions from tr to pr 100 100 100 100 100 is (sp+pgwp) 27.6 31.6 36.2 38.6 39.0 imp (non-lmia) 59.1 57.0 56.2 56.3 55.4 tfw (lmia) 13.2 11.4 7.5 5.1 5.5 journal of international students 452 note. sp = study permit; pr = permanent residency; pnp = provincial nominee programs; is = international student; pgwp = post-graduation work permit; lmia = labour market impact assessment; tr = temporary resident; imp = international mobility program; tfw = temporary foreign worker. data source: ircc, 2019b, 2019c, 2019d, and 2019e. federal programs include sponsored family members. overall, there has been a growing number of students obtaining permanent residency, which has impacted the overall number of the temporary residents transitioning to permanent residency. there are four statuses, under which temporary residence can be present in the country: the already mentioned study permit and pgwp for international students, and temporary work permit obtained either through international mobility program (imp) that does not require a labor market impact assessment (lmia) or through temporary foreign worker (tfw) program requiring an lmia. the table 1 data indicates that while temporary workers dominate transitions to permanent residency, their cumulative share (imp+tfw) have dropped in the recent years from 72% to 61% (mostly due to declining tfw share), with international students becoming a growing source of immigrants to canada, representing almost 40% of temporary-to-permanent residency transitions. significantly, direct transitions from study permit-to-permanent residency have declined and students transition increasingly after getting post-graduation work experience (69.1% in 2018). this is caused by the growing profit-making under the ies, causing a rejuvenation of international student inflow through an increased presence of undergraduate student programs (statistics canada, n.d.). with younger students without work experience, direct transitions from study permit to permanent residency might decline further. among study permit holders, the distribution between pathways to permanent residency have been more or less stable in the last years, with 25% going through pnps, under 20% admitted through streams in quebec, and slightly over 55% choosing federal paths. the most recent data reveal that pnps rewarding international students experience might be gaining a momentum. for pgwp holders, the situation has been changing dramatically. pgwp holders increasingly opt for federal programs (up to 58.1% in 2017), finding pnps, with many designed with post-graduation working experience in mind (bozheva, 2020), less suitable. though pnps’ contribution seems to be on a rise lately, federal programs are still dominating pathways to permanent residency. what these data reveal about international student migration cannot be overestimated. once having obtained canadian experience on pgwp, students choose not to be geographically bounded by a province, choosing to apply through a federal program. the push for pwgp by the cec requirements and by the majority of employer-based pnps makes getting one a necessary pre-immigration step. once it is accomplished, international students prefer standard federal programs over a plethora of pnps, causing this path to gain strength over the years, with 57.8% of the total transitions to permanent residency from the two statuses in 2017, and 57.1% in the first two quarters of 2019. on the other hand, this could be caused by the pnps’ thresholds: each province can nominate transitions from tr to pr (in absolute numbers) 67,925 60,855 77,695 91,840 36,675 journal of international students 453 only a certain number of applicants, negotiated with ircc (ircc, 2017e). not all pnps specify on their websites how many students they are willing to accept; it is hard to judge what is the total allocation for students under all of the pnps. however, due to the increase in the overall number of international student transitions, particularly between 2016 and 2017, combined with the predefined overall pnps’ limits, we could be witnessing a natural increase in the use of the federal programs. yet, the growth in permanent residency admissions between 2015 and 2016 was not that significant, only 2.5%, but the drop in the pgwp-holders channeled through pnps was almost 10 percentage points. thus, there could be a double jeopardy for pnps when it comes to students on pgwp: declining attractivity complicated by the programs’ caps. considering that in november 2016 express entry was adjusted to reward international students with extra points for canadian credentials (ircc, 2017b, p. 5), it is probable that the role of pnps in international student migration, at least for the pgwp-holders component, could further decline. the emergence of the supraregional atlantic immigration pilot, driven by shared demographic and immigrant retention concerns, aimed to achieve “the immigration lifecycle of recruitment, processing, settlement and retention, [taken] into consideration when implementing immigration policy” (standing committee on citizenship and immigration, 2017, p. 30). further, the atlantic provinces expressed that “few students are aware of their eligibility for the specific stream designed for international graduates,” asking ircc to “allow international students...to access settlement services once they have started the permanent residency application process” (pp. 34, 39). since march 2017, international students have access to settlement services as a part of the permanent residency application process under the atlantic international graduate program. outside of the region, settlement support for international students is practically absent. the matters of immigration advice and support are handled by education institutions on a voluntary basis. while having risias might be considered a necessary means to guarantee a smooth international enrollment process, hiring rcics is indicative of institutions’ willingness to partake in a provinceand nation-wide talent retention agenda. availability of immigration consultants on canadian campuses according to iccrc’s 2017 report, there are 4,121 rcics working in canada and 163 elsewhere abroad (iccrc, 2017, p. 7). based on the registry scan, only 98 rcics work on campuses of the 202 considered institutions, representing less than 2.5% of the in-country specialists. universities are more likely to employ an immigration consultant, with 74 rcics working at universities versus 24 at colleges. similarly, a majority of risias are employed by universities, with 60 out of the 102 registered advisers working at universities, and 42 at colleges (quebec’s excluded). availability of immigration help is not even across the 202 institutions and across provinces. the national level of the immigration advising provision, estimated as the percentage of schools offering the designated specialists, is shown in table 2. colleges and universities are hiring risias at a similar rate, and fewer than 30% of them have advisers on campuses. when it comes to rcics, hiring immigration consultants is a more widespread practice among universities than colleges. overall, journal of international students 454 the provision of specialists eligible to help with application to permanent residency is low: 26% of 117 universities offer such support, and only 21% of 85 colleges. out of 48 institutions with rcics, 30 schools also have risias, meaning that availability of both kinds of specialists is limited to a small number of schools). table 2: national provision levels of regulated international student immigration advisers (risias) and regulated canadian immigration consultants (rcics) note. quebec colleges and cegeps excluded. table 3: regulated canadian immigration consultants (rcics)/regulated international student immigration advisers (risias) presence at institutions crosstabulation rcic risia no yes total no 127 27 154 yes 18 30 48 total 145 57 202 availability of immigration consulting staff may depend on institutional resources. statistical testing indicated that rcics are likely to be found in schools with substantial total enrollment numbers, including undergraduate and graduate components (pearson’s r = .600**, .608**, .506**, respectively, n = 29).2 when considering the size of the international student body, schools hiring rcics tend to have a greater international student presence in the undergraduate first-year enrollment in terms of the proportion and absolute numbers. examining the maclean’s list of comprehensive and medical doctoral schools, which includes 29 of the top 30 largest universities in the country (excluding athabasca university, as its primary delivery mode is distance studies), reveals that the graduate international student body size does not vary significantly between schools with and without rcics (t = 0.802, df = 28, n1 = 18, n2 = 12; and r = .290, p = .242, n = 18). the undergraduate international student body for these institutions differs between universities with and without rcics, but with under a 95% level of statistical 2 full statistical output is available upon request. risias rcics variable college university college university total number of institutions 85 117 85 117 with immigration assistance 23 34 18 30 without immigration assistance 62 83 67 87 provision levels 27% 29% 21% 26% journal of international students 455 significance. this indicates that though size of student body is connected to rcics’ availability, many of the largest universities do not employ immigration consultants, despite having a significant international student enrollment. concordia university and western university are similar in size of the total and international undergraduate enrollment, yet the former has zero rcics, while the latter has five. there is a highly uneven distribution of the employed rcics between institutions and between provinces. out of the 98 rcics working in 48 degree granting institutions (out of the 202 considered), 52 work in 10 of them (table 4). most of rcics are working for institutions in british columbia, ontario, and alberta. the atlantic provinces collectively share 10 rcics. the region recently has moved toward a shared policy space, meaning that students may now access necessary immigration consulting outside of campus. table 4: leading institutions in regulated canadian immigration consultants (rcics) provision, as of july 25, 2018 the uneven participation of institutions in international student migration needs to be considered within the geographical context of international student enrollment and international students transitioning to permanent residency. the map in figure 2 incorporates such a context with the availability of rcics and risias. it offers estimates of rcics’ availability per 1,000 international students enrolled in the top three cycles of higher education (bachelor’s, master’s, and phd or equivalent programs). use of a standardized measure accommodates for interprovincial differences in the scale of international student enrollment. international student enrollment in the top cycles is led by three provinces: ontario (36.3%), quebec (22%), and british columbia (20.5%), followed by alberta (7%). the very same provinces are the top destinations for the students transitioning to permanent residency, albeit with ontario and alberta being even more attractive as settlement destinations versus study destinations. there is an important caveat: the direct comparison between the two indicators is not possible as there are no publicly institution province city rcics the university of british columbia bc vancouver 10 university of waterloo on waterloo 6 university of alberta ab edmonton 6 university of toronto on toronto 5 york university on toronto 5 simon fraser university bc burnaby 5 western university on london 5 dalhousie university ns halifax 4 university of calgary ab calgary 3 university of victoria bc victoria 3 journal of international students 456 available data on transitions by level of education. in the east, nova scotia is the indisputable leader. together with manitoba and saskatchewan, it forms a secondtier league in international student migration. there is a pattern in the provinces’ reliance on pnps in international student-topermanent resident transitioning. the lower a province’s share in the total international student enrollment and the number of international students destined to the province, the higher the share of international students obtaining permanent residency via pnp. this trend is true with two exceptions. quebec does not have a pnp, making it incomparable directly with the rest of the provinces. new brunswick, newfoundland, and labrador are another exception. along with ontario and british columbia, these two jurisdictions have lower levels than could have been expected by their pnps’ utilization by international students, distinguishing them from other peripheral provinces. ontario and british columbia pnps offer streams for certain groups of students, such as master’s and phds, not requiring a labor market attachment through a job offer or work experience (bozheva, 2020). considering this, one could expect a higher proportion of international students transitioning via pnps there. i could hypothesize that based on the overall provincial nomination limits for british columbia (6,250) and for ontario (6,600, allotment for 2018) (british columbia provincial nominee program, n.d.; ontario citizenship and immigration, 2018) and significant international student enrollment levels, there could be a “spillover” effect. when a pnp’s capacity is not able to absorb all applicants, redirection to federal streams is inevitable. if the caps are filled with top level graduates, then the rest of international students, willing to stay in british columbia or ontario, would have to apply through federal streams. lower pnps utilization in new brunswick and newfoundland and labrador are surprising, as the other two provinces in the region seem to rely heavier on their programs. the situation with pnps in the region is mostly likely to change soon. with extension of the atlantic immigration pilot, other individual provincial programs are likely to be negotiated with the ircc. the leading four provinces employ more rcics compared to the rest of canada. however, considering that they host a majority of universities and colleges, this advantage disappears, particularly within universities. the atlantic provinces’ proportion of universities offering rcics’ services is comparable to the leading provinces’. in prince edward island, the main of two universities, the university of prince edward island, employs rcics. maritime christian college is largely a theological school with a smaller enrollment. factoring this in, by the virtue of a lesser number of institutions, prince edward island has the highest provision of immigration support across its universities. in manitoba, two out of two colleges employ rcics, bringing the provision level for this type of institution to 100%. manitoba universities do not participate in retention to the same extent; their rcics provision is among the lowest in the country. saskatchewan presents a special case, comparable to manitoba by size of international student enrollment and international students’ admission to permanent residency, but not offering immigration consulting in any of its colleges or universities (as of july 25, 2018). journal of international students 457 with varying rcic provision levels, we can observe the extent of geographical spread of immigration support. in addition, it is important to estimate a standardized measure accounting for both: the number of specialists working and the number of international students in a province. this allows estimation of specialists’ accessibility—in other words, potential client load per rcic staff member. focusing on the bachelor’s and higher (bachelor+) levels of international student enrollment, i calculated the number of rcics employed on campuses per 1,000 international students in each province. saskatchewan employs zero rcics and has zero availability, but quebec is not far off from this level with 0.06 rcics available. this study did not include quebec colleges; hence this index might be improved with inclusion of such institutions. however, my earlier preliminary scan of the iccrc registry, on october 31, 2017, revealed that out of 172 cicic-identified designated learning institution colleges in quebec, only institut teccart had rcics, employing two. institut teccart still has two rcics, bringing the index of availability per 1,000 international students to 0.12—still substantially below ontario and british columbia. figure 2: international student migration and provision of immigration support on canadian campuses. (statistics canada n.d., 477–0019; ircc 2019b,c; the author’s scan of the iccrc registry). manitoba and newfoundland and labrador offer around 0.5 rcics available per 1,000 for bachelor+ international students. ontario and british columbia do not employ enough rcics for the enrollment of their size. they are in one group with nova scotia and new brunswick, with rcics’ availability varying between 0.7 and 0.9. the leading provider of immigration support on campuses is alberta. the journal of international students 458 province has favorable numbers in the “spread” of immigration support, especially across universities, and in terms of rcic availability at 1.45 specialist per 1,000 bachelor+ students. prince edward island has only one rcic registered, but due to the province’s lower enrollment (under 700 international students studying in bachelor+ programs), the availability is higher than in the rest of canada, at 1.49 per 1,000 international students. collectively, the atlantic provinces have rcic staff availability at 0.78, which brings the region on par with british columbia and ontario. i hypothesized that universities located outside of the top three provinces might be more invested in student retention as part of a wider provincial skilled immigration agenda. this intuitive assumption was mostly confirmed by the estimated immigration consultant provision and standardized (per 1,000) rcic availability levels. though the “core” provinces host most of the largest universities and colleges and have more resources to provide support to their international students, the currently available support is not adequate to their international enrollment size. popularity of these provinces is unlikely to decline, and one might think that those provinces and institutions adopt a laissez-faire approach to retention. however, ontario and british columbia keep advancing their pnps (bozheva, 2020) and the top schools employ rcics in numbers (table 4). to the disadvantage of international students, the pace of enrollment outpaces immigration support spread and availability. yet, ontario and british columbia are still ahead of many provinces: saskatchewan, manitoba, newfoundland, and labrador. quebec, separate from the rest of the country’s immigration policy space, still would benefit from providing more support, as it plans to increase immigration intake from temporary workers and students (ministère de l’immigration, de la diversité et de l’inclusion, 2016, p. 8). all of canada needs to provide a more consistent management of international student migration, with higher rcic staff availability across campuses, as even the highest observed level was only 1.5 immigration consultant per 1,000 international students. discussion and conclusions in the post bill c-35 era, universities and colleges are getting involved in migration, yet at different speeds. the interest in hosting international students, confirmed by the greater geographical spread of risia provisions across both types of institutions, prevails. offering transition to permanent residency support is a less widespread practice, with under 25% of the considered institutions having rcic staff available. rcics’ presence and their number on campuses are connected to institution’s size and administrative capacity. yet, the association between the two variables is moderate, as some schools are underhiring rcics, relative to their enrollment size. simon fraser university has a total enrollment of close to 30,000 and the estimated international student body 5,700+; the university of toronto has total enrollment 3 times larger, with international student body close to 21,500 (maclean’s, 2017; universities canada, 2016); however, both have the same number of rcics—five. such disproportion in rcic availability extends from the interinstitutional to journal of international students 459 interprovincial level. the leading provinces (ontario, british columbia, and quebec) are not leading the way in providing immigration support adequate to their enrollment. alberta and prince edward island, two peripheral provinces, supply more rcics for their international students. it is encouraging to observe the big players in international student attraction, individual institutional and regional, stepping up in their involvement in permanent student stay, yet, the unevenness of the geography and depth of support (rcics per 1,000 international students) demonstrates a pattern reflective of a poorly managed retention strategy. all 10 provinces have pnp streams designed for international students, and it is difficult to argue that they are unwanted by canada. what is lacking are proactive coordinated collaborations of the two domains: migration policymaking (at provincial and federal levels) and education institutions, such as those being put in practice in the atlantic region. the first ies came into realization with the federal government obtaining clear economic estimates, provided in the reports commissioned by global affairs canada (see roslyn kunin & associates, 2009, 2012, 2016). the institutional and governmental domains arrived at the junction of financial benefits, and the trade part of international student migration became well-articulated in the ies. considering international student retention, there is no national strategy shared between the two domains. why? by the government’s own admission, canada does not have the same economic clarity on permanent settlement of students versus utilizing them as global ambassadors in the education market or connectors enhancing the country’s international presence in other spheres: the government of canada recognizes the benefits both to having international students stay on in canada permanently after their studies, as well as return home. ...neither cic nor dfatd [now global affairs canada] have attempted to quantify the relative benefits gained when an international student decides to stay or decides to return home… in light of this, there may be a need to further examine the relative benefits of international students working and transitioning versus international students returning to their home country; and, review the policy alignment between the isp [international student program] and cic's [now ircc] other temporary and permanent resident programs as well as dfatd's objectives under the international education strategy (citizenship and immigration canada, 2015, pp. 20–21). this excerpt is revealing of the current state of affairs between international student migration stakeholders. canadian federal government, provinces, and education institutions have agreed to increase enrollment “to more than 450,000 by 2022” (dfatd, 2014, p. 11), but they have yet to agree on how many should stay. until quantifiable benefits from retaining international students in canada are produced, we might not see the atlantic provinces’ take on migration approach spreading nationwide. the geographies of immigration for studies and international student permanent settlement are two layers that may never align. cities and provinces, hosting top journal of international students 460 universities and most international students, might be more selective in choosing who stays, or have a lesser capacity to transition international students to permanent residency at the same scale as their enrollment (two possibilities are not mutually exclusive). and, peripheral provinces, under-receiving immigrants, might be more interested in absorbing international students as permanent residents. ontario hosts 36% of degree-education students and receives 45% of settling permanently in the country, with only 17% of them transitioning through ontario’s pnp (figure 2). these numbers indicate simultaneously three possibilities: ontario’s pnp’s limited capacity, its questionable efficiency over the federal programs, and that a substantial proportion of the retained-in-ontario international students did not study in the province. in other words, there is a channeling of international students away from the provinces that might need them more. all three concerns require attention. the atlantic international graduate program is an attempt to merge the two geographies and retain international students within the region of studies. for an effective permanent retention nationwide, the federal and provincial governments and education stakeholders need to decide on how the two geographies are to adjoin and at what scale. this would entail strategic rethinking of provincial nominee and federal streams, with the goal of a more harmonized distribution of international students, which does not imply a simple equalizing “leveling off” in retention. inevitably, geographic variability in education location-related factors (global reputation, availability and quality of programs, tuition fees) has an impact on distribution of international students. nor less important and far less directly manageable are the factors associated with the socioeconomic environment of institution location (wage levels, career opportunities), with which a certain geographic disparity between international student location at education and international student location at immigration is expected. however, migration policy tools and pre-permanent residency transition support services, as demonstrated by the atlantic pilot, can be used to coordinate student attraction and retention more effectively for the benefit of all stakeholders. in this managed international student retention, universities could become a network of immigration supporting agents, where the necessary staff (rcics) are made available. a coordinated international student retention strategy, involving all the layers of international student migration governance (figure 1) would elevate canada’s international student migration policy to “truly active.” acknowledgments my endless gratitude extends to my supervisor, dr. belinda dodson. the time and input she has given me are simply invaluable. i also thank the anonymous reviewers for the comments on the earlier draft of this article. journal of international students 461 references advisory panel on canada’s international education strategy. 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(2019c, may 31). canada— admissions of permanent residents with prior international mobility program (imp) work permit holder status under post-graduate employment by province/territory of intended destination and immigration category. transition from temporary resident to permanent resident status – quarterly ircc updates. retrieved may 31, 2019 from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigrationrefugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/statistics-open-data.html immigration, refugees and citizenship canada. (2019d, may 31). canada— admissions of permanent residents with prior international mobility program work permit holder status (for work purpose only) by province/territory of journal of international students 464 intended destination and immigration category. transition from temporary resident to permanent resident status – quarterly ircc updates. retrieved may 31, 2019 from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugeescitizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/statistics-open-data.html immigration, refugees and citizenship canada. (2019e, may 31). canada— admissions of permanent residents with prior temporary foreign worker program work permit holder status (for work purpose only) by province/territory of intended destination and immigration category. transition from temporary resident to permanent resident status – quarterly ircc updates. retrieved may 31, 2019 from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugeescitizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/statistics-open-data.html johnstone, m., & lee, e. (2014). branded: international education and 21st-century canadian immigration, education policy, and the welfare state. international social work, 57(3), 209–221. lu, y., & hou, f. (2015). international students who become permanent residents in canada (no. 75-006-x) (p. 10). statistics canada. maclean’s. (2017, november 1). the year’s best. maclean’s magazine, 130(10). ministère de l’immigration, de la diversité et de l’inclusion. (2016). plan d’immigration du québec: pour l’année 2017. gouvernement du québec [ quebec immigration plan: for the year 2017. government of quebec. http://www.midi.gouv.qc.ca/publications/fr/planification/plan-immigration2017.pdf mosneaga, a. (2015). managing international student migration: the practices of institutional actors in denmark. international migration, 53(1), 14–28. ontario citizenship and immigration. (2018, may 4). ontario immigrant nominee program (oinp): monthly nomination and processing times reports. retrieved june 1, 2018, from http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/oi_pnp_processingtimes.htm l roslyn kunin & associates, inc. (2009). economic impact of international education in canada (p. 63). roslyn kunin & associates, inc. (2012). economic impact of international education in canada—an update. (p. 65). roslyn kunin & associates, inc. (2016). economic impact of international education in canada—an update. (p. 82). standing committee on citizenship and immigration. (2017). immigration to atlantic canada: moving to the future (p. 102). the house of commons. statistics canada. (n.d.). table 37-10-0018-01 (cansim 477-0019). postsecondary enrolments, by registration status, institution type, sex and student status. retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710001801 trilokekar, r. d., & el masri, a. (2016). canada’s international education strategy: implications of a new policy landscape for synergy between government policy and institutional strategy. higher education policy, 29, 539–563. universities canada. (2016). enrolment by university. retrieved july 27, 2017, from https://www.univcan.ca/universities/facts-and-stats/enrolment-by-university/ journal of international students 465 walton-roberts, m. w. (2011). immigration, the university, and the welcoming second tier city. journal of international migration and integration, 12(4), 453– 473. alexandra m. bozheva, phd, geography and migration and ethnic relations, is a postdoctoral fellow with the network for economic and social trends (nest) at western university, canada. her major research interests are migration policy, higher education internationalization and international student migration, immigration geography, and retention rates. email: abozheva@gmail.com 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 32 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue s2 (2022), pp. 32-49 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12is2.4354 ojed.org/jis once a chinese international student and now an english professor: an autoethnographic selfinquiry of journeys against linguicism and monolingual ideologies qianqian zhang-wu northeastern university, usa abstract through an autoethnographic self-inquiry, this study captures my journey against linguicism and monolingual ideologies from being a chinese international student to a junior faculty in english at an american higher education institution. this study contributes to the scarce literature drawing upon an autoethnographic approach to investigate and resolve tensions in identity negotiation, to empower, and to transform knowing into improved teaching and learning practices across individuals’ transitional identities over time. in addition to vividly documenting and reflecting on my lived experiences and identity shifts fighting against linguicism and monolingual ideologies throughout my journey as once a chinese international student and now an english professor, i share two coping strategies including resorting to writing as healing (desalvo, 2000; golombek & johnson, 2004) and actively seeking role models for empowerment. i argue that while this story is seemingly unique to me, the message is relevant to empowering many culturally, linguistically, and racially minoritized individuals like me. keywords: linguicism, higher education, monolingual ideologies, chinese international students, autoethnographic self-inquiry, identity the number of international students enrolled in american higher education has exceeded one million, among whom the vast majority speak english as an additional language (institute of international education, 2020). over the past decade, chinese international students remain the largest ethnic group among zhang-wu 33 international students in the united states (institute of international education, 2020). while chinese international students should be regarded as competent multilingual communicators with rich and dynamic communicative repertoires, previous research on chinese international students tends to disregard their fluid multilingual identities and instead (problematically) focuses primarily on their english-learner status (see review in zhang-wu, 2018, 2021a, 2021b). due to this reason, chinese international students are often studied as research participants and described as having language barriers (wang, 2016), facing language difficulties (yeh & inose, 2003), and being linguistically incompetent (jiang, 2014). yet, beyond being examined by researchers from outsider perspectives which could potentially lead to dangerous (mis)conception that chinese international students are english deficient by default, it is crucial to get a full picture of their lived multilingual journeys and identity struggles from an insider perspective to fight against linguicism (also known as linguistic racism) and monolingual ideologies. autoethnography, which critically and systematically examines one’s lived experiences through self-inquiry, is an important research method to understand such personal journeys (ellis & bochner, 2006). this method has been found particularly beneficial in examining the transnational, translingual, and transcultural experiences of language educators (yazan et al., 2020). in this autoethnographic critical self-inquiry study, i draw upon my unique identity as once a chinese international student and now an english professor at a private research university in the united states to investigate how i sought my multilingual identity and empowered my international students while coping with linguicism and monolingual ideologies. specifically, i strive to explore answers to the following research questions: 1. how did my non-whiteness and non-native-english-speakerness affect my identity and self-positioning as a chinese international student and an english professor? 2. how did i cope with linguicism and monolingual language ideologies in american higher education and beyond? multilingual college campuses and monolingual ideologies with the internationalization of higher education, u.s. college campuses have witnessed growing cultural, racial, and linguistic diversity. hosting over one million international students from all over the world (institute of international education, 2020), american higher education institutions have turned into “fundamentally multilingual spaces” (conference on college composition and communication, 2020). while most existing studies on multilingual international students tend to focus primarily on their difficulties with english (e.g., jiang, 2014; wang, 2016), some scholars in multilingual research at the tertiary level consider u.s. college campuses as linguistically superdiverse ecologies, in which the term international students itself is “insufficiently robust as an analytical journal of international students 12(s2) 34 category” (e.g., benda et al., 2018, p. 79; poe & zhang-wu, 2020). zhang-wu (2021b) draws attention to the within-group variabilities among chinese international students, proposing a developing continuum to understand their varying degrees of linguistic acculturation based on their previous language and educational experiences. faced with such within-group variabilities, it is important to view international students as competent multilinguals who can draw upon all resources from their rich linguistic repertoire instead of linguistically incompetent english language learners (canagarajah, 2011; garcía & wei, 2014; zhang-wu & brisk, 2021). despite the increasing linguistic diversity among the student population, the faculty body in degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the united states remains dominated by white, monolingual speakers of english (national center for education statistics, 2019). such a lack of diversity in the faculty body is especially present in the field of english, where monolingualism and nativeness is often the unspoken norm (nigar & kostogriz, 2019). monolingualism and nativeness, which considers “standard” english spoken by the so-called native speakers as the only acceptable form of communication, has its roots deeply in the zero point of english (mignolo, 2009). having its history in coloniality, the zero point epistemology of english considers the mastery of english a social capital, which “colludes with many of the pernicious processes of globalization, deludes many learners through the false promises it holds out for social and material gain, and excludes many people by operating as a segregational class dialect” (pennycook, 2019, p. 180). under the zero point of english, monolingualism and nativeness is the norm and gold standard in global communication, othering other languages as well as non-standard varieties of english (mignolo, 2009). consequently, multilinguals are often subject to the deficit portrait as forever “english language learners” who speak english with accents, without recognition of their home language and literacy skills along with their rich multilingual communicative repertoires. functioning as the hidden curriculum (brisk & zhang-wu, 2017; zhang-wu, 2021c) in american higher education, english often serves as a gate-keeper for academic publication in higher education (hartse & kubota, 2014). furthermore, “english monolingualism is manifested not simply in the language(s) of the scholarship produced but the language(s) of scholarship cited” (horner et al., 2011, p. 272), further reinforcing the status of english as the zero point. failure to perform to native-like proficiency in english (e.g., accents in spoken english, occasional grammatical errors in writing) often makes multilingual faculty subject to linguicism (or linguistic discrimination), resulting in biased teaching evaluations as well as psychological stress and lowered selfesteem. this has exerted far-reaching impacts on multilingual, nonnative-englishspeaking university professors of color, posing substantial challenges to their professional development, instructional practices, and identity negotiation. while some existing studies have been conducted on multilingual faculty’s experiences navigating academic publication (lillis & curry, 2006) and teaching in american higher education (e.g., braine, 2012, 2013; ilieva, 2010; reis, 2011), these studies tend to examine nonnative-english-speaking professors from outsider zhang-wu 35 perspectives without taking an insider examination of their lived experiences navigating monolingual ideologies and challenges in today’s multilingual college campuses. recently, a small yet emerging body of scholarship has taken an emic view to examine multilingual scholars’ experiences wrestling with the zero point of english using autoethnographic self-inquiry methods (e.g., kim, 2020; lawrence & nagashima, 2020; motha, 2006; yazan, 2019). reflecting on the complexity and lived experiences of multilingual scholars from insider perspectives from doctoral students (kim, 2020), english language teachers (lawrence & nagashima, 2020; motha, 2006), and teacher educators (yazan, 2019), these studies shed important light on promoting equity and inclusion in academia. drawing upon storytelling and counter storytelling informed by critical race theory, kim (2020) captures a korean doctoral students’ experiences navigating academic imperialism and calls for systemic change in american higher education to be more inclusive and culturally, racially, and linguistically responsive. similarly, yazan (2019) conducted an autoethnographic inquiry to explore identity and ideology issues among multilingual teacher educators. shifting the focus beyond the united states, lawrence and nagashima (2020) adopt autoethnographic methods to investigate the intersectionality of nativespeakerness, race, gender, and sexuality by critically reflecting on their experiences as english language teachers working in japan. despite the importance of such emerging scholarship in critically examining multilingual scholars’ lived experiences across various contexts, most existing studies (e.g., kim, 2020; lawrence & nagashima, 2020; motha, 2006; yazan, 2019) tend to focus primarily on participants’ current professional identities as educators or graduate students without capturing their transitions from student to teacher. yet, because language is a social practice (canagarajah, 2011), it is important to examine multilinguals’ languaging experiences over time, especially across their transitions in professional identities. to fill the void in research, this study aims to draw upon autoethnographic methods to initiate an emic investigation of my journeys fighting against linguicism and monolingual ideologies as once a chinese international student and now an english professor in an american university. method autoethnography, which “look(s) inward into our identities, thoughts, feelings and experiences—and outward into our relationships, communities and cultures” (adams et al., 2015, p. 46), is a helpful approach to systematically explore one’s personal experiences from unique cultural perspectives (ellis & bochner, 2006). critical self-inquiry is an essential research methodology to investigate tensions between belief systems and about identities (larrivee, 2000; 2008). autoethnographic critical self-inquiry allows exploration of lived experiences from an insider stance while acknowledging the dynamics of identity shifts and interaction (adams et al., 2015). this autoethnographic critical self-inventory study focuses on my journeys as once a chinese international student pursuing journal of international students 12(s2) 36 doctoral studies (2014-2019) and later an english professor (2019-current) in american higher education. following the critical self-inventory model (adams et al., 2015; allard & gallant, 2012), data were collected to reflect both my on-going self-reflections (my teaching journals and diaries from september 2014 to september 2021) and my conversations with others, including recordings and documentations of my interactions with colleagues and students from august 2019 to september 2021. my on-going self-reflections, totaling approximately 1,100 hand-written pages, covered a variety of topics including but not limited to my teaching during graduate school and as a faculty member, my job-hunting experiences, and my participation in the professional community. these informal journals were composed in a translingual manner at least twice per week, using english, chinese, or a free combination of both to facilitate my meaning-making and identity expression (canagarajah, 2011). in other words, my choice of mixing chinese in journaling had nothing to do with my english language proficiency, but instead was made based on communicative purposes (in this case, i myself was the only target audience of my writing). for instance, when it came to chinese proverbs such as “万事开头难” and “授人以鱼不如授人以渔,” the meaning of which could easily be lost in translation, i intentionally chose to keep them in their original language forms. data were analyzed following the coding procedures of applied thematic analysis (guest et al., 2012) to explore important storylines in order to bring "readers into the scene" through showing and telling (ellis, 1993, p. 711). given the translingual nature of my journaling (an example of code-mixing when journaling see above) and the complexity of multilinguals’ meaning-making in relation to their unique identity expression and lived experiences (canagarajah, 2011), i decided to follow blair’s (2016) method to analyze my data in its original translingual format without first translating them into english to “preserve the nuance” (p. 112). indeed, my insider positionality has made subjectivity unavoidable. to allow more comprehensive interpretation and increase credibility of the data, i adopted guest et al.’s (2012) recommendation to read and re-read my data with a two-week interval. firstly, i followed the coding procedure in applied thematic analysis (guest et al., 2012) to separate meaningful data from irrelevant information (data reduction). after close reading of my data, i assigned 14 codes: identity, accent, non-whiteness, nonnative-english-speakerness, selfpositioning, chinese international students, english professor, coping strategies, linguicism, legitimacy, empowerment, multilingual advantage, self-doubt and stereotype. after closely examining these codes, three themes emerged including: influence of nonwhiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness on me as once a chinese international student, influence of nonwhiteness and nonnative-englishspeakerness on me as now an english professor, and coping linguicism and monolingual ideologies. results zhang-wu 37 the findings section is organized based on the three themes identified above. preliminary findings show that while my non-whiteness and nonnativeness have posed challenges to my initial self-positioning as a legitimate member in american higher education, i gradually transitioned my self-perceived “otherness” into my unique advantage as a multilingual expert with lived experiences as a means to fight against linguicism and monolingual ideologies. consequently, i was able to draw upon my lived identities to serve as a role model to empower my students which in turn empowered myself. influence of non-whiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness on me as once a chinese international student nanjing born and nanjing bred, i did not come to the united states until after finishing my undergraduate studies in china. in 2014, i started my doctoral studies in curriculum and instruction at the school of education in a private catholic university on the east coast of the united states. my main research interests were teaching english to speakers of other languages. back in china, i had always taken pride in my high english proficiency. throughout my secondary and tertiary education in nanjing, i have won multiple national prizes in english competitions. additionally, i held advanced certificate in chinese-english interpretation and translation and had taught english in china for over four years by the time of my college graduation. all these experiences made me interested in the teaching and learning of english as a second language, which prompted me to apply for graduate schools in the united states with english as a second language education as my concentration. as part of my graduate school application, i took toefl and yielded near-perfect scores, which according to this standardized assessment demonstrated my high proficiency in english and my strong likelihood to be linguistically competent participating in american higher education. i had been confident in my english proficiency and my previous achievements in english. yet, upon arrival, i noticed that i immediately started self-doubting because of my non-whiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness. soon upon arrival, i was frustrated to notice that my glorious english proficiency back in china was no longer my strength. for instance, walking down the street, i was frustrated to realize that even a 5-year-old american kid spoke “better” (accent-free) english than me. when i went to the shopping mall to buy essentials for my dormitory, i was shocked to realize that my high english proficiency as measured by toefl did not quite translate into my successful linguistic functioning. while i was able to effortlessly choose the correct answers in multiple-choice questions in the standardized english assessment, it took me a long time to figure out the differences between “sham” and “pillowcases” and the meaning of “comforter.” to make matters worse, although the u.s. national center for education statics (2021) largely portrays international students as seemingly raceless “non-resident aliens,” a separate category aside from eight common racial groups such as american indian, asian, black/african american, hispanic/latino, and white, i was subject to xenophobia stemming from the intense political relationships journal of international students 12(s2) 38 between china and the united states as well as hostility due to racial discrimination in american society. as alerted in a recent npr news article, xenophobic sentiment against chinese is now present in academia with “u.s. intelligence agencies… encouraging american research universities to develop protocols for monitoring students and visiting scholars from chinese-affiliated research institutions” (feng, 2019). furthermore, with the global pandemic and former u.s. president donald trump publicly referring to covid-19 as “china virus,” such hostility and discrimination against people of chinese descent has further aggravated, leading to a national increase in hate crimes against asian americans (yam, 2022). in small talks, i often heard somewhat offensive comments such as “oh, you are a chinese international student. i heard lots of chinese international students are spies who try to steal our technologies in the united states. do you know anyone like this?” and “hey! you are chinese. i heard there are tons of street dogs out there in china. do you guys really often eat dogs and cats for dinner?” such xenophobic comments gradually swallowed my confidence in english and my self-perceived legitimacy and capability to be a researcher and teacher educator training english teachers to better support multilingual students. at school, whenever i opened my mouth to speak, i was hyperconscious about my differences, racially, linguistically, and culturally. as a result, i became nervous and sensitive about my accent and foreignness. english, which used to be my biggest strength, had turned into my self-perceived weakness. in my diary during my first semester as a doctoral student back in 2014, i documented my insecurities and self-doubts: sometimes, i am the only non-white student in class. i’ve never felt so different before. i am intimidated by my classmates as they speak—their english is so fluent, they are so smart, and they can express their ideas so well. should i raise my hands when i have questions or when i know the answer? but i don’t know if i can do this. it is so scary to hear my own accent in a quiet classroom as i speak. what if my peers judge me? what if the professor cannot understand me? what if i get the answer wrong? (diary, 9/18/2014) such self-doubts persisted even though i was a straight a student in my phd program and even when my course paper was chosen as a model essay by one professor to be shared among many of my white, native-speaker classmates. in my diary, i described my excitement and nervousness to be acknowledged as a role model in class. rather than proudly embracing this incident as a moment of empowerment, i was worried about whether any nonnative english writer features would negatively influence my peers’ perceptions of my qualification and intelligence as an apprentice researcher: when that happened, i was incredibly proud and nervous at the same time. i am proud because despite my nonnativeness in english, my paper was selected as the model essay for the whole class. but i was nervous and scared—will my peers catch any grammatical mistakes in my zhang-wu 39 writing as they read it? will they all think it is good enough to be a model essay? (diary, 3/21/2015) in 2017, as part of my graduate assistantship as a phd candidate, i started to teach undergraduate and graduate courses. by then, i had already taught english to second language learners of all ages in china and the united states for almost 10 years, which positioned me as an experienced language teacher. yet, i was extremely nervous and shaken to the core when i walked into the classrooms to teach undergraduate and graduate pre-service teacher candidates who were in my class to learn how to teach multilingual students instead of to learn english as a second language. despite my extensive content-subject knowledge and first-hand experiences as an english language teacher and learner, i could not stop selfdoubting. while i had no difficulties expressing myself during teaching and was lucky enough to consistently yield satisfactory teacher evaluations, i was always aware of the linguistic and racial differences i have brought into the classroom— in many cases, i, as the instructor, ended up being the only non-white, nonnative english speaker in class. this was nothing surprising to me as an education major, since the demographics of my undergraduate and graduate level pre-service teacher candidates resembled the general lack of diversity in the u.s. public school teaching force (sleeter, 2008). nevertheless, i was concerned that my nonwhiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness might reduce my credibility and authority as a college instructor. during my conversations with my close peers in the phd program, i shared my self-doubting moments, which sometimes discouraged and frustrated me while simultaneously functioning as a catalyst for self-improvement (johnson & worden, 2014). similar with the emotional contradictions as documented in gile’s (2018) study of an english language teacher, i found my position as a college instructor itself “full of irony.” i recalled venting to my close peers about my constant self-doubting: sometimes i feel my life as a phd student full of irony. i am a chinese who speaks english with an accent and who makes grammatical mistakes here and there. but i am also the instructor in the classroom, and the person who is supposed to have the most expertise. how ironic is this?! i am a lifelong english language learner myself, yet i am teaching how to effectively teach english to a full class of undergraduate and graduate education majors who are white, native-speaking american folks and whose english seem 1,000 times better than me. (diary, 12/18/2017) influence of non-whiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness on me as now an english professor soon after graduating from my phd program in 2019, i was fortunate enough to land a tenure-track assistant professor position at the department of english in a private, research-intensive university in the northeast united states. this officially marked my transition from once a chinese international student to now journal of international students 12(s2) 40 an english professor. i was extremely blessed to be able to survive the notoriously fierce academic job market and land a dream job upon graduation. for the first time since i had come to the united states, i felt proud of myself and my english proficiency. i wrote in my diary soon before the official start of the semester: “yay! can’t believe my english is good enough for me to transition from an english learner and chinese international student to finally an english professor! a new identity, a new start.” yet, such excitement did not last very long. on the first day of my official start as an english professor, i attended the university-wide new faculty orientation event, during which new faculty members across the disciplines were invited to a networking social hour. to facilitate the networking event, all new faculty were asked to wear a name tag introducing their full name as well as which department they were from. as i was holding the wine glass and cheerfully walking across the room wearing a name tag displaying my name above the word “english” in enlarged, bold font, a young white, male professor came towards me and initiated a conversation: “hi, my name is xyz. i just joined the mechanical engineering program. which engineering program are you in? i figured we should probably grab coffee sometime and chat about research.” out of astonishment and confusion, i replied bluntly while pointing to my name tag: “excuse me? i mean… nice to meet you, but i am not an engineering professor. you see, i work at the english department.” the engineering professor carefully and quickly re-examined my name tag before apologizing with an awkward smile: uh…sorry. that was completely my bad. i thought you were with us in engineering. you know… just now i heard you talking [with a chinese accent] over there, and i saw your [chinese] face and your [chinese] name, and the starting letters ‘eng’ on your name tag. so, i immediately thought it was engineering. hahaha… it looked like i misread english as engineering… (private communication, 8/26/2019) this incident has vividly reminded me of the long-held stereotype in american society: (mis)perceiving all asians as stem professionals who are always hard-working, good at math calculation, yet whose english is never good enough, contributing to their seemingly forever foreigner status (tuan, 1998). in fact, this stereotype has been so rampant in society for decades that back on august 31, 1987, time, one of the most prestigious magazines in the united states, chose to design its cover with a picture of a group of glasses-wearing, somewhat nerdy-looking asian students in front of books and a computer. along with the cover picture and right under the highlighted magazine title “time” in red, were the four words: “those asian-american whiz kids.” in this incident, it was my chinese appearance, accent, foreign looking/sounding name and the first three letters “eng” of my department information that jointly prompted the engineering professor to jump at the conclusion that it must be impossible for me to be an english faculty member and what follows eng must be “ineer” instead of “lish.” zhang-wu 41 such unintentional stereotyping based on my non-whiteness and nonnativeenglish-speakerness also extended well beyond the college campus. for instance, when i engaged in small talks with my eye doctor during my annual check-up or ran into a newly-arrived neighbor down the street, i was constantly reminded of my (misperceived) illegitimacy as an english professor and conflicting identities as a chinese woman who works at the english department. when interlocutors heard that i worked in higher education, they often assumed that i was in the stem field, where native-like, high english proficiency was seemingly less important compared with the skills to juggle with numbers. “let me guess,” my eye doctor was eager to predict my field of expertise based on his brief interaction with me during the routine examination, hearing my chinese accent, seeing my asian face, and noticing my foreign-looking name in chinese pinyin: “you are a professor of data science… no? okay, computer science? … still no? how about electronic engineering?” after being presented an almost exhaustive list of stem disciplines, i told him that i in fact am an english professor. “oh, really?” my response clearly surprised my eye doctor who continued with his racial and linguistic stereotyping, further rejecting the fact that a chinese woman with an accent was qualified to teach english as a subject to american college students at the english department: “what do you teach at the english department?... wow, i didn’t know they offer chinese classes there?!” similar incidents questioning my credibility as an english professor also occasionally occurred at the english department, where i work every day. for instance, soon after i started my faculty position, i ran into a colleague down the hallway. we were chatting casually about how our teaching and research was going when that colleague suddenly made an unexpected comment: “i have to say that your english is really good. we talked for around 3 minutes just now, but you did not make a single grammatical mistake!” while my colleague, a white senior scholar in english, was intending to provide me with a good-intentioned compliment, i felt extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed. apparently, despite my doctorate, publications, career potentials, years of experiences in teaching, and most importantly my current position as a junior english professor, i was still under the influence of the zero point of english, subject to the so-called nativespeaker superiority fallacy (arnold, 2020; nuske, 2018; zhang-wu & brisk, 2021) and was (mis)conceived as linguistic incompetent by default along with countless chinese international students (zhang-wu, 2018). during my short journey so far working as an english professor, i have already encountered similar incidents many times, both on and off campus. while i was lucky enough to never have had any student who made offensive comments straight to my face based on my non-white and nonnative-english-speaking backgrounds, these repeated events somewhat reduced my confidence in both my proficiency in english as a language and my capacity to conduct research on english communication. furthermore, given the unique political tensions between china and the united states, research activities of chinese faculty working in american higher education institutions are often subject to additional scrutiny to ensure national security (feng, 2019), adding to my nervousness as an earlycareer chinese scholar. despite my identity transition from once a chinese journal of international students 12(s2) 42 international student to now an english professor, my self-doubting continued. as i noted down in my diary: it has been super fun to work with my talented graduate assistants. yet i am nervous to be a graduate advisor, despite my content expertise. sometimes in those research meetings with graduate students, i was kind of nervous. i hope i did not make a grammatical mistake or mispronounce a word at our standing meeting yesterday. that would totally make myself a fool in front of my grad students. (diary, 6/12/2021). coping linguicism and monolingual ideologies recognizing the negative influences of my self-doubting and insecurity stemming from the many incidents of stereotypes and hostility regarding my nonwhiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness, i initiated two coping strategies to fight against linguicism and monolingual ideologies. firstly, i started to systematically document these experiences in writing as a means to heal, reflect, and empower myself. desalvo (2000) has drawn attention to the importance of rethinking writing as a method of healing and critical reflection. narrative writing, in particular, has been found beneficial to facilitate faculty growth (golombek & johnson, 2004), especially in enhancing transnational language teachers’ identities development and pedagogical practices (yazan et al., 2020). by documenting my life events in narrative written forms such as diaries, i was able to discover patterns, facilitate healing, and engage in personal growth through constant thinking and reflections (desalvo, 2000; golombek & johnson, 2004). years ago, i used to think that my self-doubts and insecurities originated from my incompetence, both linguistically and academically. back then, i used to be unaware of the strong grip of monolingualism on people’s minds (myself included) and how my deviation from the “standard” english norm has led to biased assumptions of my intelligence and capability, regardless of my identities as a chinese international student or an english professor. yet, thanks to my routine journaling as healing and active reflections, i was able to discover the patterns behind those incidents—perhaps it was not my incapability, but rather the rampant influence of linguicism and monolingual ideologies in society that have positioned me in constant self-doubts and insecurity. this prompted me to think deeper about the problematic issues of monolingualism within today’s increasingly linguistically superdiverse higher education institutions, which has subsequently altered my research trajectory from focusing primarily on how to better support english language learners to master the “standard” english norm (brisk & zhang-wu, 2017) to paying close attention to the intersectionality of language, power, race, and identity in society (e.g., motha, 2005, 2006; motha et al., 2012; zhang-wu, 2018, 2021a, 2021b). for instance, in my recently published article in college english, a prestigious refereed journal in the field of english (zhang-wu, 2021a), i pointed out the often-overlooked colonial history and social power behind the english language zhang-wu 43 and used the verb “tweet” as an example to illustrate that “english is neither neutral nor universal but rather an artificial construct created to maintain the imperialist legacy and to preserve the power of those who are considered mainstream” (p. 123). similarly, in my book focusing on chinese international students’ communication experiences during their first semester in american higher education, i focused on how they leveraged their cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge (gonzalez et al., 2006) to navigate the unspoken english-only rules in college and debunked commonly held stereotypical misconceptions of chinese international students, such as relying solely on toefl results as criteria for linguistic support (details see zhang-wu, 2021b). recently, reflecting on my lived experiences with racial and linguistic discrimination, i wrote a commentary to debunk commonly held misconceptions in society stereotyping chinese international students as both raceless and linguistic incompetent (zhang-wu, 2021d). through all these endeavors fueled by my lived experiences as once a chinese international student and now an english professor, and more importantly, my constant writing as healing and reflection, i was able to fight against linguicism and monolingual ideologies through my research and academic publications. in this process, i sought my pen as my weapon to document and question the status quo, which in turn empowered myself as well as other culturally, racially and linguistically marginalized individuals. my second coping strategy was to actively identify role models and seek support from them. i have been extremely fortunate to receive enormous support, guidance, and mentorship from my previous professors, cohort members, and peers during my phd studies as well as my current colleagues at the english department. these mentors and peers were always there to cheer me up when i was trapped in self-doubts due to linguicism and monolingual ideologies. yet, i was also aware that not all these supportive mentors and peers shared my lived experiences with non-whiteness and non-native-speakerness. to seek empowerment and find directions of my endeavors, i felt the necessity to actively seek role models who directly share my experiences of being racially, linguistically, and culturally minoritized. to realize this goal, i took advantage of fellowship opportunities within national and international professional organizations to get to know peers and mentors beyond my local contexts who have lived experiences seeking their professional identities as scholars of color who speak english with accents. these opportunities have made it possible to form safe professional communities based on our shared differences and marginalization in society to uplift and support each other. furthermore, thanks to my active search for role models who used to be just like me, i was able to shift my attention from how to accept my identity as a lifelong english language learner and co-exist with my forever english with an accent to how to cherish my differences, especially my unique multilingual and multicultural backgrounds. i started to recognize that if my research intended to tear down the english-only wall and to re-imagine pluriversality in academic and social communication (zhang-wu, 2021a), i must embrace my entire identity and linguistic repertoire. to realize this goal, one of my close mentors and role models who had first come to the united states as an argentinian international student journal of international students 12(s2) 44 decades ago suggested that i listen carefully to my very own students and see what my non-whiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness meant to them. after reviewing comments from my teaching evaluations and private email correspondence, i was amazed to find that my students claimed that they enjoyed my teaching not because i was near-native in my english proficiency or assimilated enough to be just like a typical english professor; instead, they appreciated how different i have been, racially, linguistically and culturally. to be specific, some of my white students who have spent their whole life in american education systems reported that they found my international perspectives “eye-opening” and “incredibly interesting.” one student who selfdescribed as someone who grew up in a typical middle-class white neighborhood wrote in the teaching evaluation comment that he felt having a non-white, nonnative-english-speaking professor teaching a graduate class on multilingualism and multilingual education had added to the “authenticity” of the content subject; this was because i not only had the subject knowledge, but also “lived it.” similarly, multiple of my students who are different from the mainstream in many ways in their sexuality, language or racial backgrounds, told me that they felt “amazed,” “inspired” and “empowered” by “how brave” i was to transition from once a chinese international student to now an english professor. one asian american student wrote in her email: thank you for being an inspiring role model. you made me understand that i should never say never. if a chinese girl has the courage to come to the united states and fight for her spot in a white-dominant space, i must do the same. (private communication, 12/8/2020). it turned out that as i was striving to embrace my non-whiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness, i have to some extent influenced my students in various ways. their words have in turn empowered me to accept and appreciate my racial, linguistic and cultural differences. consequently, i started to enjoy being atypical as an english professor and draw upon my differences in my teaching and professional engagement. nowadays, i frequently find myself sharing my own lived experiences during teaching and presentations as once a chinese international student and now an english professor who faced and is still facing linguicism and monolingual ideologies in my everyday life yet have learned to cherish my differences and fight against stereotypical assumptions. concluding remarks in this autoethnographic critical self-inquiry, i explored the many negative influences from my non-whiteness and nonnative-english-speakerness throughout lived experiences as once a chinese international student and now an english professor. like most research adopting an autoethnographic method, this study is limited by its subjectivity, small sample size and highly contextualized nature. however, it is worth clarifying that the purpose of this study has never been to seek generalization and prescribe a one-size-fits-all portrait of the languaging journeys of multilingual scholars. instead, this study represents an zhang-wu 45 effort to learn from self-reflection and share my story to multilingual students and teachers like me who are battling through the zero point of english (mignolo, 2009) while seeking their unique identities. in my years of soul-searching, i went through the paradigm shift in my understanding of multilingualism and being multilingual—from eager to assimilate and acquire native-like proficiency, to identity awakening, and finally to taking concrete actions to cherish my linguistic, cultural, and racial differences to fight against linguicism and monolingual ideologies. my journey has echoed the dynamics of language as a social practice (canagarajah, 2011) which is sophisticatedly intertwined with identity, race, power, and many other factors in society (motha, 2005, 2006; motha et al., 2012). yet, more importantly, it has made me realize that my differences in cultural, racial, and linguistic backgrounds can be my biggest asset and strength as a researcher and educator. in my navigation and reflection as once a chinese international student and now an english professor and during my battle against linguicism and monolingual ideologies in american higher education and other social spaces dominated by unspoken native english superiority fallacy (arnold, 2020; nuske, 2018; zhangwu & brisk, 2021), my differences have inspired and influenced my students which in turn has empowered myself. this study contributes to the scarce literature drawing upon an autoethnographic critical self-inventory approach to investigate and resolve tensions in identity negotiation, to empower, and to transform knowing into improved teaching and learning practices across individuals’ transitional identities over time. in addition to vividly documenting and reflecting on my lived experiences and identity shifts fighting against linguicism and monolingual ideologies throughout my journey as once a chinese international student and now an english professor in american higher education, i share two coping strategies including resorting to writing as healing (desalvo, 2000; golombek & johnson, 2004) and actively seeking role models for empowerment. while this story is seemingly unique to me, the message is relevant to many culturally, linguistically, and racially minoritized individuals like me. when faced with linguicism, we should not let it defeat us. once we take active actions to fight against it, we can retell the story, seek support and empowerment, and even advocate for other marginalized people. taking such actions will in turn empower us. the key is not to see differences as inferior and reason for emotional insecurity. instead, it is important to adopt a new way to understand our racial, linguistic and racial differences so as to move away from self-doubting and bravely seek meaning and find our unique position to shake and reinvent the english-only world. references adams, t. e., holman jones, s., & ellis, c. 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(re)imagining translingualism as a verb to tear down the english-only wall: “monolingual” students as multilingual writers. college english, 84(1), 121–137. zhang-wu, q. (2021b). languaging myths and realities: journeys of chinese international students. multilingual matters. zhang-wu, q. (2021c). preparing monolingual teachers of multilingual students: strategies that work. in u. lanvers, a. thompson, & m. east (eds.), language learning in anglophone countries: challenges, practices, solutions. palgrave macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-566548_23 zhang-wu, q. (2021d). rethinking chinese international students in american higher education: “raceless” and “linguistically incompetent”? educational research and development journal, 24(2), 10–14. zhang-wu, q. & brisk, m. (2021). “i must have taken a fake toefl!”: rethinking linguistically responsive instruction through the eyes of chinese international freshmen. tesol quarterly, 55(4), 1136–1161. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3077 qianqian zhang-wu, phd, is an assistant professor of english and director of multilingual writing in the english department at northeastern university, usa. her major research interests are tesol, multilingual writing, and internationalization of higher education. email: qzhangwu@northeastern.edu https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v8i2.139 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56654-8_23 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56654-8_23 https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3077 mailto:qzhangwu@northeastern.edu 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 126 special edition | bahasa indonesia mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19 [international students and covid-19] issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 10, issue s3 (2020), pp. 126-141 © journal of international students https://ojed.org/jis emotional geographies experienced by an indonesian doctoral student pursuing her phd in new zealand during the covid-19 pandemic pengalaman geografi emosi mahasiswa indonesia yang menempuh program doktor di selandia baru selama masa pandemi covid-19 johanes leonardi taloko universitas negeri malang, indonesia universitas katolik widya mandala surabaya, indonesia martin surya putra universitas negeri malang, indonesia politeknik negeri samarinda, indonesia yenny hartanto politeknik ubaya, indonesia universitas surabaya, indonesia ________________________________________________________ abstract: this narrative study explores the emotional experience of a female indonesian pursuing her phd in new zealand when the covid-19 pandemic hit this country. garnered from the results of several virtual interviews with the participant, the data were analysed with the hargreaves‟s emotional geography framework (2001) focusing on five different emotional dimensions: physical, sociocultural, moral, professional, and political. the findings showed that during the covid-19 pandemichttps://ojed.org/jis 127 impacted phd study, the participant experienced different emotions shaped by physical, sociocultural, moral, professional, and political factors while negotiating and coping with such emotions. abstrak: penelitian naratif ini memaparkan pengalaman emosi mahasiswa internasional asal indonesia yang belajar di selandia baru saat covid-19 melanda negara tersebut. data diperoleh melalui wawancara virtual dan dianalisis menggunakan kerangka geografi emosi oleh hargreaves (2001) yang berfokus pada aspek fisik, sosiokultural, moral, profesional dan politik. temuan penelitian mengindikasikan bahwa selama menempuh kuliah doktoral yang terdampak oleh covid-19, partisipan mengalami berbagai emosi yang diakibatkan oleh faktor-faktor fisik, sosial budaya, moral, profesional dan politik serta cara mengatasi semua emosi tersebut. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, emotional geography, international student [pandemi covid-19, geografi emosi, mahasiswa internasional] _______________________________________________________________ pendahuluan virus covid-19 teridentifikasi pertama kali di wuhan, cina pada akhir tahun 2019 dan menyebar ke berbagai belahan dunia. wabah ini berdampak terhadap penutupan sekolah dan perguruan tinggi untuk menghindari kontak fisik dan sosial antar individu (bayham & fenichel, 2020). secara global, pandemi ini berpengaruh pada keluarga dan siswa (burgess & sievertsen, 2020), pola pengasuhan anak (bayham & fenichel, 2020) dan mahasiswa internasional yang sedang menempuh kuliah di negara lain. sebelum pandemi, mahasiswa internasional yang berkuliah di negara lain sudah mengalami berbagai kendala atau pengalaman kurang menyenangkan di negara tujuannya. kendala yang terjadi di kampus antara lain: kemampuan berbahasa inggris mahasiswa internasional yang belum memadai, diskriminasi akademik oleh mahasiwa setempat dan perlakuan dosen yang tidak memahami kondisi mereka. di luar kampus, dalam beberapa kasus, mahasiswa internasional diperlakukan tidak menyenangkan oleh masyarakat sekitar karena dianggap minoritas atau orang asing (yan & pei, 2018). kendala lain yang dihadapi oleh mahasiswa internasional adalah kesehatan mental (forbes-mewett & sawyer, 2016), misalnya depresi kejiwaan yang memungkinkan tindakan bunuh diri. kemampuan beradaptasi dengan lingkungan baru dan upaya mengatasi tekanan psikologis karena perubahan jejaring sosial, belajar keterampilan hidup, keterpenuhan tuntutan akademis di lingkungan pendidikan yang baru, serta konsumsi makanan merupakan faktorfaktor penting untuk mahasiswa internasional (alloh, tait & taylor, 2018). mereka yang tidak mampu mengatasi masalah tersebut akan merasa kesepian, mengalami depresi dan tidak mampu mengendalikan diri (dutta & chye, 2017). tran (2020) menegaskan bahwa mobilitas mahasiswa internasional juga rentan dipengaruhi oleh perubahan politik, budaya, ekonomi, bencana alam, serta isu kesehatan. ditinjau dari segi kesehatan, khususnya di masa pandemi covid128 19, karantina wilayah turut menambah beban para mahasiswa internasional yang tidak bisa kembali ke negara asalnya. ketakutan yang dirasakan oleh mahasiswa internasional terhadap penularan virus dan peluang dirawat di rumah sakit tanpa didampingi oleh keluarga berpotensi menimbulkan kekhawatiran yang luar biasa. terlepas dari berbagai permasalahan yang dialami oleh mahasiswa internasional, kontribusi mahasiswa internasional secara ekonomi cukup substansial seperti dipaparkan oleh bordia, bordia, milkovitz, shen dan restubog (2019), yaitu £14 miliar di inggris raya, au$20 miliar di australia dan us$30,5 miliar di amerika serikat per tahun. hui, lee dan rousseau (2004) menekankan pentingnya hubungan keterikatan psiokogis, yaitu saling melengkapi antara harapan mahasiswa internasional dengan kewajiban yang harus dipenuhi oleh lembaga pendidikan tinggi di luar negeri. perlakuan yang baik dari perguruan tinggi merupakan harapan mahasiswa internasional ditinjau dari keterikatan psikologis, yaitu terpenuhinya kewajiban oleh perguruan tinggi tempat mereka berkuliah (morrison & robinson, 1997) agar tidak tercetus reaksi negatif yang rentan terhadap sikap dan perilaku negatif (zhao, wayne, glibkowski & bravo, 2007). penelitian tentang mahasiswa internasional yang telah dilakukan selama ini cenderung mendokumentasikan aspek-aspek seperti diuraikan sebelumnya, namun jarang yang memfokuskan geografi emosi yang dialami oleh mahasiswa internasional, seperti dicontohkan oleh liu (2016) dan hargreaves (2001). oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman emosi mahasiswa internasional yang sedang menjalani program doktoral saat pandemi covid-19 melanda selandia baru. berikut dua pertanyaan yang dikaji dalam penelitian ini. 1. pengalaman emosi apa yang dirasakan oleh mahasiswa internasional yang sedang menempuh program doktoral saat pandemi covid-19 merebak di selandia baru? 2. bagaimana cara mahasiswa internasional yang sedang menempuh program doktoral tersebut mengatasi tantangan emosi saat pandemi covid-19 merebak di negara tersebut? landasan teoretis: geografi emosi penelitian ini menggunakan teori geografi emosi yang dialami oleh partisipan selama masa pandemi covid-19. geografi emosi didefinisikan oleh hargreaves (2001) sebagai: ‘pola spasial dan pengalaman dari kedekatan dan/atau kesenjangan dalam interaksi dan hubungan manusia yang membantu menciptakan, mengkonfigurasi, dan mewarnai perasaan dan emosi yang kita alami tentang diri sendiri, dunia kita, dan satu sama lain’ (hlm. 1061). hargreaves (2001) mengungkapkan bahwa ada lima aspek penting dalam 129 geografi emosi, antara lain dimensi fisik/personal, dimensi sosiokultural, dimensi moral, dimensi profesional dan dimensi politik. kelima dimensi tersebut menjadi landasan pembahasan dalam penelitian ini. pertama, geografi fisik yang mengacu kepada kedekatan dan/atau kesenjangan yang terjadi akibat adanya dimensi ruang dan waktu. belajar di luar negeri memiliki konsekuensi harus berpisah dengan keluarga, sanak saudara dan para sahabat hingga mengubah pola komunikasi yang telah terjalin selama ini. perbedaan zona waktu menuntut pola penyesuaian komunikasi. perbedaan dimensi ruang dan waktu berpotensi menimbulkan kesalahpahaman hingga membutuhkan pemahaman emosi antara satu dengan yang lain (denzin, 1984, hlm. 1). kurangnya pemahaman terhadap dimensi ruang dan waktu cenderung menyebabkan kesalahpahaman di berbagai aspek kehidupan. bagi mahasiswa yang sedang menuntut ilmu di luar negeri, dukungan keluarga dan sahabat sangat penting. geografi moral mengacu kepada kedekatan dan/atau kesenjangan yang terjadi karena adanya perbedaan tujuan dan keinginan untuk mencapai prestasi praktik profesional. karena latar belakang kehidupan sosial yang tidak sama satu sama lain dan adanya sistem pendidikan dengan standar yang berbeda dari berbagai negara, mahasiswa internasional pun memiliki standar moral yang berbeda antara satu dengan yang lain. berkuliah di tempat baru menyiratkan bahwa mahasiswa internasional perlu mendekonstruksi moral bawaan dan keyakinan epistemologis untuk memahami praktik legitimasi moral yang baru. selama proses ini, mahasiswa internasional mengalami berbagai emosi seperti rasa bersalah, rasa malu dan keraguan diri, hingga memerlukan penanganan dan pengelolaan emosi secara berkelanjutan (zembylas, 2007). ketiga, geografi sosiokultural berkaitan dengan kedekatan dan/atau kesenjangan akibat adanya perbedaan jenis kelamin, ras, etnis, bahasa dan budaya. mahasiswa internasional yang datang dari berbagai penjuru dunia membawa ciri khas masing-masing negaranya, terutama dari sisi sosial budaya. masing-masing mahasiswa memiliki kebiasaan tersendiri dalam hidup bersosialisasi di komunitas yang baru. kebiasaan ini tentu saja berpotensi menimbulkan friksi pada saat berinteraksi antarsesama mahasiswa internasional sendiri atau dengan pembimbing, dosen atau masyarakat sekitarnya yang berakibat pada keakraban atau kesenjangan interaksi sosial karena perbedaan tingkat emosi. geografi profesional berhubungan dengan kedekatan dan/atau kesenjangan akibat adanya pemahaman yang berbeda terhadap norma profesionalisme dan praktik profesional. cara belajar dan mengajar sangat dipengaruhi oleh perbedaan norma profesionalitas. hal ini berdampak terhadap pemahaman tentang standar profesionalisme. praktik yang dianggap baik dalam sistem pendidikan di sebuah negara mungkin saja dianggap tidak wajar, tidak pantas bahkan mungkin dipandang sebagai hal yang membahayakan di negara lain. bagi mahasiswa internasional yang berprofesi sebagai dosen, kedekatan dan/atau perbedaan profesionalisme ini dapat memengaruhi emosi profesionalitas, legitimasi dan kepantasan mahasiswa tersebut. hal ini tentu saja tercetus dalam berbagai emosi seperti kecemasan, tekanan dan frustrasi. 130 terakhir, geografi politik adalah kedekatan dan/atau kesenjangan yang terjadi karena pemahaman yang berbeda terhadap kekuasaan, yaitu cara pandang terhadap orang lain yang memiliki jabatan tertentu. mahasiswa internasional sering merasa segan pada saat berinteraksi dengan dosen pembimbing mereka. perasaan tersebut dapat menimbulkan rasa rendah diri, cemas dan khawatir tidak diluluskan. metode penelitian partisipan partisipan dalam penelitian ini berjumlah satu orang yang bernama melati (nama samaran). ia berasal dari indonesia berjenis kelamin wanita yang berusia hampir 30 tahun, baru menikah dan belum memiliki anak. ia penerima beasiswa dari perguruan tinggi di selandia baru untuk menempuh kuliah lanjut doktoral di bidang pendidikan. dia tiba di selandia baru kurang lebih dua bulan sebelum karantina wilayah diterapkan di negara tersebut. jeda waktu yang pendek antara masa kedatangan dengan pemberlakukan karantina wilayah merupakan salah satu faktor yang menjadi pertimbangan penulis untuk merekrutnya sebagai partisipan penelitian. cetusan emosi partisipan yang merupakan refleksi pengalamannya dalam menjalani kuliah di tengah-tengah pandemi covid-19 mengungkapkan hal-hal yang unik untuk dibahas. pengumpulan dan analisis data data penelitian dalam artikel ini dikumpulkan melalui wawancara mendalam yang dilakukan secara virtual dengan aplikasi zoom sebanyak tiga kali yang diawali pada tanggal 12 juli 2020 sebanyak dua kali. wawancara kemudian dilanjutkan pada tanggal 19 agustus 2020. tujuan wawancara adalah menggali pengalaman mahasiswa internasional ini dalam menghadapi berbagai macam isu, kebijakan dan tantangan selama pandemi covid-19 di negara lain. data yang diperoleh dari wawancara virtual mendalam ini kemudian ditranskripkan dalam format narasi untuk selanjutnya dianalisis. esensi data dalam bentuk transkripsi seperti ditegaskan oleh widodo (2014) memegang peran yang sangat penting dalam menganalisis bahasa percakapan, terutama untuk mencari dan mengungkapkan kerumitan dan pemahaman fenomena yang timbul secara alami seperti nilai, keyakinan, perasaan, pemikiran dan pengalaman dalam konteks sosial. landasan untuk melakukan analisis melalui narasi geografi emosi ditegaskan oleh albin-clark (2018), hargreaves (2001) dan olson (2015), yaitu dengan cara mengamati pola-pola keakraban dan/atau kesenjangan dalam interaksi antarmanusia. pola-pola demikian mencuat ke permukaan akibat konstruksi emosi yang timbul dalam hubungan antarmanusia. realisasi emosi tentu saja terekam dan tersimpan dalam bentuk pengalaman di pikiran masingmasing individu. panduan dalam menganalisis data percakapan seperti 131 ditekankan oleh widodo (2014) terdiri dari lima tahap. pertama, mendengarkan data percakapan, yaitu rekaman percakapan antara partisipan dengan tim penulis melalui aplikasi zoom. kemudian, mengetik data percakapan tersebut dalam bentuk transkrip untuk memudahkan analisis. langkah ketiga adalah memilahmilah data percakapan yang telah berbentuk tulisan tersebut untuk ditafsirkan atau diinterpresikan. pada tahap ini, para penulis berusaha semaksimal mungkin agar ungkapan kata-kata yang dipilih mampu menyingkap pengalaman emosi partisipan. tahap selanjutnya adalah merekonstruksi data percakapan tersebut untuk memaknai diskursus narasi. langkah terakhir adalah membangun kredibilitas data, yaitu memeriksa data dari sisi keakuratan informasi yang tersingkap. verifikasi kredibilitas dilakukan untuk memberikan umpan balik tentang keakuratan data percakapan yang diperoleh dari semua sisi mulai dari penyajian dan penafsiran data, konstruksi data percakapan, hingga konstruksi kredibilitas data. hasil penelitian data wawancara beserta pembahasannya berdasarkan geografi emosi yang terbagi atas geografi fisik, geografi sosiokultural, geografi moral, geografi profesional dan geografi politik disajikan berikut ini. geografi fisik: ‘kegiatan-kegiatan itu juga membuat saya semakin mengenal ‘bubble’ dan tetangga-tetangga saya di sini’ demi menyelamatkan nyawa penduduknya dan menghambat penyebaran virus covid-19, pemerintah selandia baru akan memberlakukan isolasi di seluruh negara dan menutup semua sekolah dan perkantoran (menon, 2020). dengan berhentinya seluruh aktivitas akademik, para mahasiswa setempat tentu saja harus pulang ke rumah mereka masing-masing, sedangkan para mahasiswa internasional harus berada di apartemen mereka sendiri. di apartemen inilah, para mahasiswa mancanegara ini banyak melakukan kegiatan bersama secara berkelompok sehingga mereka bisa saling berempati dan mengenal lebih dekat satu sama lain. hal ini terungkap dalam data berikut ini. jadi karena ini international student accommodation, sebagian besar memang mahasiswa internasional. yang mahasiswa lokal, sudah pulang ke rumahnya masing-masing. jadi kita saling bahu-membahu, saling menyemangati, saling cerita kondisi pandemi di negaranya masing-masing. kita malah saling berempati dan saling membandingkan situasi dari satu negara dengan negara lainnya. sejak itu saya malah semakin guyub dengan orang-orang di dalam gedung atau lantai ini. dengan adanya pandemi ini, aktivitas di akomodasi semakin digalakkan. setiap hari bisa ada tiga kegiatan, misalnya belajar bahasa maori atau belajar budaya lokal di sini. setiap hari selama empat minggu itu. supaya kita tidak stres, tidak mendekam terus di dalam kamar, supaya ada semangat, terutama untuk mahasiswa yang baru pertama kali ke luar negeri. di 132 akomodasi mahasiswa di tempat saya ini, setiap lantai ada ketuanya yang mengorganisir kegiatan setiap minggu. ada „art and craft‟, diskusi tentang topik tertentu, atau lainnya. kegiatan-kegiatan itu juga membuat saya semakin mengenal „bubble‟ dan tetangga-tetangga saya di sini. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 12 juli 2020) pemberitahuan tentang akan diberlakukannya karantina wilayah di negara tersebut membuat masyarakat setempat sempat mengalami kepanikan. bagi melati yang tinggal di kamar apartemennya seorang diri, hal tersebut dirasakan cukup berat. penelitian yang dilakukan oleh brooks, webster, smith, woodland, wessely, greenberg dan rubin (2020) memaparkan bahwa masa karantina wilayah menyebabkan orang mengalami gangguan emosi, kecemasan, marah dan kebingungan. khususnya untuk mahasiswa setempat yang kebanyakan berasal dari wilayah lain di negara tersebut yang sudah berada di rumah masing-masing. melati beruntung karena memiliki banyak kegiatan yang bisa diikuti di apartemen untuk mengalihkan perhatiannya dari situasi yang harus dialaminya saat itu. pengelolaan apartemen yang dialokasikan untuk mahasiswa internasional sangat memperhatikan kesehatan emosi para penghuni yang terkekang di dalamnya selama empat minggu masa karantina wilayah tersebut. langkah ini sangat tepat mengingat kelompok usia 16-24 tahun pada umumnya termasuk kelompok usia yang rentan terhadap gangguan mental, seperti depresi, kecemasan dan penyalahgunaan zat kimia (forbes-mewett & sawyer, 2016). pihak pengelola membentuk “bubble” yaitu kelompok-kelompok kecil yang terdiri atas empat hingga lima orang mahasiswa internasional yang tinggal satu lantai serta memperbanyak jumlah kegiatan sosial yang dapat dilakukan. kegiatan-kegiatan tersebut antara lain diskusi kelompok dan saling bertukar informasi tentang kondisi pandemi di negaranya masing-masing. mahasiswa yang menyukai seni rupa dapat terlibat dalam kegiatan belajar bahasa dan budaya penduduk setempat. setelah mengikuti kegiatan yang dialokasikan, mereka diwajibkan membuat laporan tertulis tentang setiap kegiatan yang dilakukan. hal ini dimaksudkan agar para mahasiswa internasional tersebut bisa merefleksikan apa yang telah dipelajari dan didapatkan selama mengikuti kegiatan belajar selama karantina demi perkembangan diri ke depan. meskipun tidak bisa bebas keluar dari gedung tempat tinggalnya, melati justru merasa semakin dekat dengan kelompok kecilnya dan para mahasiswa internasional lain yang senasib di apartemen tersebut. tingginya intensitas kegiatan antarmahasiswa internasional dalam apartemen membuat mereka saling berempati dengan kondisi teman yang lain bahkan saling membantu antarsesama. semua ini berdampak terhadap stabilitas emosi, yaitu tidak mengalami rasa jenuh dan tertekan, patah semangat atau mengalami emosi negatif lainnya. 133 geografi sosiokultural: ‘saya merasa lumayan nyaman’ kondisi sosial masyarakat, sistem pendukung yang baik dari kampus dan keberadaan orang-orang terdekat sangat membantu melati untuk melewati masa transisi selama pandemi dengan baik. hal ini diungkapkannya dalam bentuk narasi berikut ini. selandia baru ini sangat multikultural meskipun mayoritas memang dari eropa tapi yang dari asia dan maori itu juga cukup besar jumlahnya. orang-orang yang memegang posisi itu juga tidak melulu orang eropa yang mendominasi. jadi untuk rasisme saya rasa tidak terlalu kentara. beberapa konselor di sini di unit yang bernama student learning untuk membantu mahasiswa yang kesulitan berbahasa inggris juga yang dari indonesia. koordinatornya pun orang asia. jadi ya lumayan nyaman dan tidak terlalu bermasalah bagi mereka yang kemampuan bahasa inggrisnya masih belum lancar atau masih terbata-bata. saya juga punya beberapa sahabat/teman baik yang sama-sama berasal dari asia dan dua orang di antara mereka sudah menikah dengan orang lokal di sini dan sudah menjadi permanent residence (pr). jadi sudah cukup baik mengenal dengan budaya di sini. ibu-ibu semua dan sudah menikah. setiap kali ketemu kita tidak bicara tentang kehidupan pribadi tetapi membahas proposal setiap hari selasa kira-kira sekitar dua-tiga jam dengan meminjam salah satu ruangan di kampus. kita membicarakan tentang respons dari supervisor masing-masing. bahkan sesekali kita mengundang kakak kelas untuk berbagi dengan kita tentang metode atau data analisis mereka. tapi semenjak adanya pandemi ini, kita tetap berkumpul setiap hari selasa lewat zoom. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 12 juli 2020) universitas membantu lewat unit-unit di dalam kampus seperti student learning. mereka memberikan lokakarya, bantuan konsultasi secara akademik, baik lewat zoom atau telepon, bagaimana mengikuti kelas daring, bagaimana menulis esai yang baik, memperlancar bahasa inggris, dan lain sebagainya. saya juga ikut beberapa sesi well-being dari sebuah perusahaan yang bekerja sama dengan universitas. selama masa pandemi itu, kegiatan-kegiatan semacam ini lebih digalakkan dan terarah pada pembelajaran online. secara keseluruhan universitas juga tidak menganjurkan pembelajaran synchronous. itu saya rasa membantu sekali. jadi lebih ke compassionate reason, bukan melulu untuk akademis. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 19 agustus 2020) penduduk selandia baru mempunyai sikap yang positif terhadap para imigran dan menghargai multikulturalisme lebih dari negara lain (ward & masgooret, 2008). struktur sosial kemasyarakatan yang multikultural dan ketiadaan unsur-unsur rasialisme ini ternyata sangat membantu melati untuk beradaptasi di lingkungan barunya dengan lebih mudah. meskipun selandia baru didominasi oleh warga keturunan eropa, orang-orang dari asia, termasuk indonesia, dan suku maori, penduduk asli selandia baru menempati peran dan 134 posisi penting di kampus. sibley dan ward (2013) mengamati bahwa imigran dari britania raya dan irlandia (29%), asia (29%) dan pasifik (15%) merupakan yang populasi terbesar di negara itu. dari uraian melati, terungkap bahwa sebagai mahasiswa asing, keberadaan orang-orang di sekitarnya yang juga berasal dari negara lain turut membantunya merasa nyaman dalam beradaptasi dan beraktivitas seperti mahasiswa setempat. dukungan sistemik dari universitas tempat ia menuntut ilmu merupakan salah satu faktor pendukung bagi melati. student learning, unit khusus yang ada di kampus yang bertugas membantu mahasiswa internasional dalam mengatasi kendala bahasa dan akademik membuat melati merasa cukup nyaman untuk melanjutkan kuliah sebelum dan selama masa pandemi. keberadaan unit tersebut menjadi semakin penting selama masa pandemi karena diharapkan mampu mengurangi beban psikologis mahasiswa akibat karantina wilayah. pengalokasian kegiatan-kegiatan yang diharapkan dapat meningkatkan kemampuan akademik maupun nonakademik selama masa pandemi lebih ditingkatkan. bahkan, pihak universitas juga tidak menuntut mahasiswa untuk melakukan pembelajaran secara sinkron. tujuannya adalah agar para mahasiswa dapat melewati masa-masa sulit selama pandemi dengan baik. hal ini dapat dikatakan sebagai upaya atau strategi yang dilakukan oleh universitas terhadap mahasiswa internasional dalam mengatasi kendala psikologis selama masa pandemi. hal lain yang tidak kalah penting tentu saja keberadaan sahabat dan teman dekat yang senasib untuk berbagi banyak hal, terutama yang terkait dengan isu akademik. sebagai mahluk sosial, manusia tidak dapat lepas dari interaksi sosial pertemanan dan persahabatan dengan rekan-rekan sesama mahasiswa. hal ini tentu saja sangat membantu melati melewati masa pandemi dengan baik. sebelum pandemi, mereka telah terbiasa berkumpul dan mengundang kakak kelas untuk berdiskusi mengenai metode penelitian, termasuk menganalisis data. di masa pandemi, kegiatan rutin mingguan kelompok belajar ini tetap dipertahankan meskipun harus dilakukan secara maya melalui aplikasi zoom. geografi moral: ‘saya rasa saya egois karena membeli banyak barang dan lebih memikirkan proyek saya’ dalam situasi pandemi yang penuh ketidakpastian, naluri mempertahankan hidup sebagai manusia membuat melati cemas dan panik akan kebutuhan hidup sehari-hari. ia pun melakukan bulk-buying yaitu membeli kebutuhan sehari-hari dalam jumlah besar agar bisa mencadangkan kebutuhan konsumsi selama masa karantina wilayah dan khawatir tidak mendapatkan suplai barang-barang konsumsi sebagai langkah antisipasi terjadinya penutupan toko grosir dan swalayan. namun, sebagai mahasiswa internasional penerima beasiswa, pemberlakukan karantina wilayah dan pembatasan datang ke kampus tidak menyurutkan semangatnya untuk menyelesaikan proposal penelitian tepat waktu. data naratif berikut menggambarkan pengalaman melati tersebut. 135 hari-hari pertama menjelang karantina wilayah itu saya merasa takut karena harus survive dan saya lari-lari karena belum shopping dan belum ada makanan untuk satu minggu ke depan. saya juga merasa agak egois karena saya melakukan bulk-buying. kemudian saya juga kepingin ketemu lebih sering dengan supervisor saya setiap satu minggu lewat zoom. dosen saya mengatakan saat karantina wilayah ini kalau tidak mau bertemu juga tidak apa-apa. tapi saya tidak mau karena nanti [proposal saya] tidak selesai-selesai. itu egoisnya saya karena lebih memikirkan proyek saya. saya merasa harus ada kemajuan, jadinya ingin ketemu setiap minggu. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 12 juli 2020) saya juga pergi ke perpustakaan untuk meminjam banyak buku. saya tetap ingin ada progress meski situasinya seperti itu. saya takut karena masa persiapan proposal saya ini hanya satu tahun. tapi ada beberapa mahasiswa yang bisa selesai lebih awal, tergantung dari tipe proyek mereka, terutama kalau harus ke luar negeri untuk ambil data. biasanya proposal semacam itu harus dipersiapkan dalam waktu singkat enam atau sembilan bulan. karena rencananya partisipan untuk penelitian saya itu di indonesia maka saya harus bisa menyelesaikannya juga, batas waktunya semakin dekat. akhirnya saya jadi cenderung depresi kapan ini bisa berakhir dan saya bisa segera selesai. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 19 agustus 2020) situasi karantina wilayah yang baru pertama kali diberlakukan di selandia baru membuat banyak orang yang mengalami kepanikan. mereka berusaha memborong kebutuhan konsumsi pribadi maupun keluarganya untuk disimpan dalam jangka waktu yang agak lama. makanan kaleng, kertas toilet dan kebutuhan pokok lainnya menjadi sasaran pembelian besar-besaran. situasi demikian memengaruhi melati karena dia melihat perilaku orang-orang di sekitarnya, sehingga ia pun melakukan hal serupa. ia membeli keperluan pribadi dalam jumlah banyak untuk persediaan selama satu minggu ke depan di luar porsi kebutuhan normal. namun, akhirnya ia menyadari bahwa tindakan yang dilakukan adalah sesuatu yang egois dan tidak tepat karena membeli banyak barang maupun makanan yang sebenarnya tidak terlalu dibutuhkan, mungkin bisa lebih bermanfaat untuk orang lain. cetusan emosi kecemasan melati lainya adalah isu akademik. ia berkeinginan kuat untuk menyelesaikan proposal penelitian tepat waktu di tengah situasi yang kurang menguntungkan tersebut. hal itu mendorongnya untuk mewujudkan penyelesaian proposal tersebut tepat waktu sesuai jadwal yang ditetapkan oleh universitas tempat ia berkuliah. situasi pandemi dengan pemberlakukan karantina wilayah juga membuat melati cemas terhadap kebutuhan akademik berupa buku-buku sebagai bahan rujukan. maka, ia mempersiapkan diri untuk meminjam banyak buku di perpustakaan universitas, karena khawatir tidak dapat mengakses fasilitas perpustakaan kampus selama masa pendemi. hal ini dilakukan sebagai langkah antisipasi menghadapi 136 penutupan fasilitas dan sarana kampus di masa pandemi. ia selalu berusaha keras untuk menyelesaikan proposal penelitiannya tepat waktu dan pulang ke indonesia untuk mengambil data dalam tenggat waktu setahun tersebut. cetusan kecemasan merasa putus asa membayanginya apabila tidak dapat menyelesaikan proposal tepat waktu. situasi pandemi tetap tidak menyurutkan semangatnya untuk berusaha menyelesaikan proposal penelitiannya sesuai target dan jadwal. untuk itu, upaya yang dilakukannya kemudian adalah berusaha menghubungi dosen pembimbing agar tetap bersedia memberikan bimbingan setiap minggu secara daring. meskipun partisipan mengakui secara lisan kalau ia egois, hal ini tidak dapat dimaknai sebagai cetusan emosi yang negatif atau mementingkan dirinya sendiri. ungkapan ini merupakan kekuatan partisipan sebagai upaya untuk bersikap baik karena menyadari kekeliruan yang telah dilakukan dan memiliki tekad untuk menggapai impian akademik sesuai harapan. geografi profesional: ‘saya merasa harus ada kemajuan’ status mahasiswa internasional penerima beasiswa yang dibiayai oleh perguruan tinggi tempat melati berkuliah terikat dengan perjanjian pertanggungjawaban penyelesaian kuliah tepat waktu yang skemanya tidak sama dengan mahasiswa internasional dengan biaya mandiri. beban tanggung jawab ini memotivasinya untuk mencapai prestasi terbaik di kampusnya secara akademik, sebagaimana diungkapkan dalam narasi berikut ini. sebagai penerima beasiswa dari kampus ini, kalau ada hal kecil-kecil, misalnya saya diminta menjadi koordinator kelompok tesis, kalau saya menolak juga tidak baik. jadi saya bersedia. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 12 juli 2020) saya juga memberi tahu supervisor saya kalau beasiswa saya akan diberhentikan kalau saya tidak selesai dalam waktu satu tahun. “tolonglah saya. kalau tidak nanti saya bisa dipulangkan”. saya rasa dia juga terkejut. akhirnya dia mau menemui saya seminggu sekali. saya merasa harus ada kemajuan, jadinya ingin ketemu setiap minggu. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 19 agustus 2020) keberadaan dirinya sebagai mahasiswa internasional di selandia baru, membuatnya sadar bahwa ia tidak mungkin berada di negara tersebut tanpa dukungan pembiayaan beasiswa program doktoral dari kampus tempat ia kuliah di negara tersebut. kesadaran inilah yang membuatnya merasa terpanggil untuk menyisihkan waktu untuk membantu kegiatan-kegiatan di kampus. cetusan kekhawatiran terhadap kegagalan studi doktoral juga mendorongnya untuk melanjutkan konsultasi dengan dosen pembimbing secara rutin mengenai proposal penelitiannya seperti sebelum masa pandemi. ia sangat cemas dengan proposal penelitian yang tidak dapat terselesaikan dalam waktu satu tahun. karena berdampak terhadap penghentian beasiswa dan akan memaksanya harus pulang ke indonesia. keberaniannya ternyata membuahkan hasil, karena dosen 137 pembimbing akhirnya mengerti situasi yang dihadapi melati dan bersedia meluangkan waktu untuk secara rutin berkonsultasi setiap minggu. geografi politik: ‘tetap tabah dan bijaksana. semuanya akan baik-baik saja’ untuk menenangkan masyarakatnya dalam menghadapi masa pandemi covid19, perdana menteri selandia baru, jacinda ardern, mengeluarkan pesan yang sangat memotivasi: ‘tetap tabah dan bijaksana. semuanya akan baik-baik saja’ (whyte, 2020). seruan ini ditanggapi dengan baik oleh pihak universitas yang kemudian diteruskan ke pihak staf pengajar, pengelola apartemen, maupun pihak-pihak terkait lainnya, seperti terungkap dalam data naratif berikut ini. dosen dianjurkan untuk tidak melakukan kelas sinkron. kalau di sekolah atau fakultas saya itu sudah dilarang. jadi harus asinkron karena jika sinkron itu memberi tekanan pada mahasiswa untuk membeli kuota dan universitas tidak mau itu terjadi. universitas lebih mengutamakan wellbeing mereka daripada akademik. akademik jadi nomor dua. dosen saya mengatakan bahwa selama karantina wilayah jangan merasa harus membuat banyak progress. “be easy on yourself”. “be kind to yourself”. jadi retorikanya selalu seperti itu. saya rasa universitas sangat mengakomodasi kesehatan mental dan ketangguhan mahasiswa selama pandemi. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 12 juli 2020) saya rasa universitas selalu mengarahkan kebijakan atau keputusan mereka sejalan dengan keputusan pemerintah. jadi kalau pemerintah mengeluarkan keputusan apapun, beberapa jam setelah itu vice chancellor kami selalu mengirim email. dalam email itu selalu ditulis bahwa univesitas tidak akan bertindak melangkahi pemerintah. saya rasa sebagian besar emailnya selalu kata-kata seperti itu “be kind to yourself”, “be safe”, “stay at home”. email dari manager akomodasi kami yang diregulasi oleh universitas di bagian bawah sebelum penutup itu selalu mengutip kata-kata jacinda itu. ada juga beberapa video dari universitas yang merekam keheningan kampus selama pandemi itu menggunakan suara pidato jacinda sebagai latar belakangnya. kita di sini satu suara mengikuti jacinda. (melati, wawancara melalui zoom, 19 agustus 2020) cetusan geografi politik terungkap dalam bentuk kepercayaan kepada seorang pemimpin negara yang berada dalam kondisi bahaya. melati melihat adanya unsur-unsur kepemimpinan dalam diri sang pemimpin dalam memberikan perlindungan kepada semua warganya, termasuk mahasiswa internasional yang berada di negara tersebut. kepemimpinan negara dijalankan dalam bentuk penegakan hukum dan pemberlakuan bagi warganya (morrell & hartley, 2006). himbauan kepada semua warga untuk tetap tegar dalam melalui masa-masa sulit karantina wilayah harus dipatuhi, namun tetap 138 mempertimbangkan interaksi hubungan sosial dengan diri sendiri dan dengan orang lain di sekitarnya. warga manapun harus mengikuti protokol yang sudah ditetapkan oleh pemerintah. upaya yang dilakukan tentu saja bertujuan agar tidak ada orang yang terinfeksi, dan semua individu tetap selamat. sebagai bagian dari warga masyarakat yang wajib mengikuti aturan dari pemerintah, universitas meneruskan seruan yang sama secara tertulis maupun himbauan narasi audio visual kepada ke segenap civitas academica. pihak manajemen pengelola apartemen juga turut mengingatkan mahasiswa internasional yang tinggal di apartemen tersebut untuk selalu mematuhi aturan-aturan yang sudah ditetapkan pemerintah. wujud nyata dari pihak kampus dalam merespons himbauan pemerintah itu adalah mengubah kebijakan yang terkait kegiatan akademik. maksud perubahan tersebut tentunya untuk meringankan beban mahasiswa dan memastikan mereka tidak terganggu kesehatan mentalnya dalam melewati masa-masa sulit selama pandemi. jadwal pertemuan akademik/perkuliahan, tugas-tugas dan asesmen semuanya diubah agar mahasiswa tidak merasa tertekan. bahkan, dosen bersikap lebih longgar dalam konsultasi atau bimbingan akademik. hal ini membantu mahasiswa tidak terbebani dengan tugas-tugas perkuliahan secara akademik dan tidak mengalami depresi. kesimpulan penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengalaman melati, mahasiswa internasional asal indonesia pada saat pandemi covid-19 melanda selandia baru berlandaskan kerangka geografi emosi oleh hargreaves (2001). hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa melati mampu mengelola emosinya dengan baik selama masa karantina wilayah, meskipun ia pada awalnya mengalami kekhawatiran dan ketakutan pada saat pemberlakuan karantina wilayah itu diumumkan. kekhawatiran dan ketakutan adalah suatu respons alami akibat keadaan yang dapat mengancam keselamatan seseorang terutama pada masa pandemi covid-19 (extremera, 2020). namun demikian, ada dua faktor utama yang membuatnya mampu melewati masa itu dengan baik, yaitu faktor eksternal dan internal. dukungan moral dari pihak pemerintah berupa himbauan untuk tetap tabah dan bijaksana diwujudkan dengan baik oleh pihak universitas dan pengelola apartemen. pihak universitas lebih mengutamakan kesehatan mental para mahasiswanya dibandingkan isu-isu yang bersifat akademik, sedangkan pihak manajemen apartemen menjaga kesehatan mental para penghuni di dalamnya dengan menyelenggarakan berbagai macam aktivitas bersama. selain itu, kultur masyarakat selandia baru yang menghargai perbedaan suku, agama, ras, maupun golongan serta perhatian yang baik dari para sahabat juga membuat melati merasa aman dan nyaman dalam melewati masa karantina wilayah di negara tersebut. faktor pendukung lainnya adalah melati berusaha untuk selalu bersemangat dalam menyelesaikan studi dan mempunyai empati tinggi serta bersedia untuk saling membantu antarsesama penghuni di dalam apartemennya. 139 semua hal yang dilakukan oleh melati tersebut menunjukkan bahwa ia memiliki kecerdasan emosional yang baik karena dia mampu mengatasi kondisi yang membuatnya tertekan dengan cara dan sikap yang tepat (extremera, 2020). penelitian ini memberikan kontribusi kepada para pihak pemangku kebijakan seperti kalangan pemerintah maupun perguruan tinggi untuk menghasilkan kebijakan-kebijakan yang bertujuan untuk memelihara kesehatan mental para warganya, khususnya mahasiswa internasional. selain itu, para mahasiswa internasional perlu didorong untuk memiliki kecerdasan emosional untuk menjaga kesehatan mental mereka dengan baik melalui kegiatan-kegiatan yang bermanfaat untuk diri sendiri dan orang lain. pernyataan penulis [disclosure statement] penulis menyatakan bahwa tidak ada konflik kepentingan dalam hal riset, kepengarangan, dan publikasi artikel ini [the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article] pernyataan kontribusi penulis [authors’ contribution statements] johanes leonardi taloko: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (utama), menulis artikel awal (utama), mengevaluasi (utama) dan mengedit (utama) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (lead), writing original draft (lead), review (lead), and editing (lead)]; martin surya putra: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (utama), menulis artikel awal (utama), mengevaluasi (utama) dan mengedit (berimbang) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (lead), writing original draft (lead), review (lead), and editing (equal)]. yenny hartanto: pengumpulan data (utama); mengevaluasi (pendamping) dan mengedit (pendamping) [data collection (lead); review (supporting); and editing (supporting)]. daftar referensi albin-clark, j. 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(2007). theory and methodology in researching emotions in education. international journal of research and method in education, 30(1), 57–72. doi: 10.1080/17437270701207785 zhao, h., wayne, j. s., glibkowski, c. b., & bravo, j. (2007). the impact of psychological contract breach on work-related outcomes: a meta-analysis. personnel psychology, 60(3), 647–80. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007. 00087.x biografi singkat penulis [notes on contributors] johanes leonardi taloko adalah mahasiswa doktor (s3) di universitas negeri malang dan pengajar bahasa inggris di universitas katolik widya mandala, surabaya, indonesia dengan minat riset di bidang pengajaran bahasa inggris dan pembelajaran bahasa inggris berbantuan komputer. email: jlltaloko@ukwms.ac.id johanes leonardi taloko is a doctoral student at universitas negeri malang (state university of malang), and has been teaching english at widya mandala catholic university surabaya, indonesia. his research interests lie in english language teaching (elt) and computer-assisted language learning (call). email: jlltaloko@ukwms.ac.id martin surya putra (penulis korespondensi) adalah mahasiswa doktor (s3) di universitas negeri malang dan pengajar bahasa inggris di politeknik negeri samarinda dengan minat riset di bidang pengajaran bahasa inggris dan linguistik terapan. email: mrtputra11@gmail.com martin surya putra (corresponding author) is a doctoral student at universitas negeri malang (state university of malang) and teaches english at politeknik negeri samarinda, indonesia. his reseach areas include english language teaching (elt) and applied linguistics. email: mrtputra11@gmail.com yenny hartanto adalah pengajar bahasa inggris, bahasa mandarin dan bahasa indonesia bagi penutur asing (bipa) di politeknik ubaya dan ubaya language center, universitas surabaya selama lima belas tahun dengan minat riset di bidang pragmatik, semantik dan pemahaman lintas budaya. email: yennyhart2020@gmail.com yenny hartanto teaches english, mandarin, and indonesian for foreigners at politeknik ubaya and ubaya language center, university of surabaya for 15 years. her research interests include pragmatics, semantics, and intercultural communication. email: yennyhart2020@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00087.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2007.00087.x microsoft word 8999e2bf39cdce15a1a1168de275da96.docx 467 research article © journal of international students volume 12, issue 2 (2022), pp. 467-488 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12i2.3198 ojed.org/jis the duality of persistence: academic enclaves and international students’ aspirations to stay in the united states vasundhara kaul linda renzulli purdue university abstract international students have been a growing presence in u.s. higher education institutions for over a decade. feelings of belonging play a crucial role in the adjustment of these students to campus life in american universities, and their conationals play a significant role in facilitating this adjustment process. however, the role of belonging and co-national communities in facilitating the persistence of international students toward and beyond degree attainment remains understudied. in our examination of the aspirations of 642 international students across 9 u.s. universities, we establish that stronger feelings of academic and social belonging are associated with a higher likelihood of aspiring to stay in the united states after graduation. in particular, we demonstrate the presence of an academic enclave effect wherein larger communities of co-nationals have a stronger influence on the aspirations of international students with low social belonging but does not affect the aspirations of socially well-integrated international students. keywords: belonging, ethnic enclaves, higher education, international graduate students, international students, student persistence introduction every year, tens of thousands of international students arrive in the united states to pursue their career ambitions in higher education (institute vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 468 international education [iie], 2020a). for many, the beginning of their higher education journey also marks the start of the gradual process of incorporation into american society. a critical moment in this incorporation process is whether these students choose to stay in the united states upon graduating from their institutions. in this paper, we examine the factors that determine the outcome of this critical juncture in an international students’ life. in particular, we ask two key questions: how do feelings of belonging shape international students’ aspirations to stay in the united states? and how do university-level factors—conational diversity specifically—alter this association? the role of feelings of belonging in facilitating international students’ adjustment to campus life (glass & gesing, 2018; kaya, 2020; tang et al., 2018; wang & freed, 2021) and its positive impact on international students’ psychosocial well-being is well-established (cho & yu, 2015; khanal & gaulee, 2019). there is also a growing body of scholarship on recruitment and retention of international students. however, these studies primarily focus on factors such as institutional funding and support services, and immigration policy (bista & foster, 2011; glass et al., 2013; srivastava et al., 2010). the role of feelings of belonging in shaping the persistence of international students in u.s. higher education institutions remains understudied (garcia et al., 2019; mamiseishvili, 2012). further, while the importance of co-nationals in engendering feelings of belonging amongst international students is recognized (rivas et al., 2019; tang et al., 2018), whether these groups create different paths of persistence for different groups of international students has not been examined. our concept of academic enclaves, defined as the concentration/density of students from the same country of origin (co-nationals) in the same university, provides a more nuanced model of international student persistence. in particular, we demonstrate the duality of structure (giddens, 1979) wherein communities of co-nationals encourage persistence by facilitating feelings of belonging for one group of international students and have no effect on another group. we contribute to the scholarship on belonging of international students by demonstrating how these feelings in tandem with institutional characteristics give rise to heterogeneity in the international student experience and persistence in the united states. literature review belonging and persistence we emphasize the importance of understanding the lived experiences of international students in this study instead of focusing on individual students’ ability to incorporate themselves into the dominant culture of their universities. since the concept of belonging acknowledges the inherent subjectivity of the incorporation process, we employ it to understand international students’ experiences in higher education institutions. further, we anticipate these feelings will play a critical role in ensuring the retention of international students just as they do for american students, particularly students of color (hausmann et al., 2007; museus et al., 2017). journal of international students 469 feelings of belonging are contingent on individual student characteristics as well as the student’s evaluation of their educational environment. belongingness is understood as the feeling of connectedness and the idea that one matters to others (rosenberg & mccullough, 1981) and students’ psychological sense of connection to their campus community (hurtado & carter, 1997). belonging is also operationalized as a function of perceived support from peers, teachers, and family members (johnson et al., 2007; strayhorn, 2008). drawing on strayhorn’s definition of belongingness as “students’ perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued by, and important to the group (e.g., campus community) or others on campus (e.g., faculty, peers)” (2012, p. 3), we use a conceptual definition of belonging that allows us to examine how supported and included international students feel not only in their interactions but also with respect to the resources and networks they need to succeed. using the concept of belonging allows us to acknowledge that students engage in subjective evaluations of their integration which vary based on the context (strayhorn, 2012) rather than adhering to a set of universal and objective criteria for integration. further, it allows for the recognition that students’ feelings of belonging can be fostered in multiple ways across different contexts and does not necessitate their integration into the dominant culture of the university. after all, “some student communities are developed as forms of resistance to the larger institutional culture, but they will still represent unique areas where students’ views of themselves and their aspirations converge” (strayhorn, 2012, p. x). international students’ belonging feelings of belonging often take on heightened significance in certain contexts and certain times (strayhorn, 2012). one such instance is when individuals are in unfamiliar and foreign contexts where they are more likely to perceive themselves as being marginal to the mainstream life of college (anderman & freeman, 2004; strayhorn et al., 2013). academic and social interactions that constitute campus life in american universities present such unfamiliar and foreign contexts to international students. in fact, the marginalization and isolation that international students experience in u.s. universities, particularly in social interactions with american colleagues and local community members, is well documented (kaya, 2020; khanal & gaulee, 2019; wang & freed, 2021). in addition to facilitating academic achievement and psychological well-being, feelings of belonging play a central role in facilitating the persistence of american students toward the final goal of degree attainment in higher education institutions (maestas et al., 2007; museus et al., 2017). preliminary examinations of international undergraduate students’ experiences in u.s. colleges also suggest that an increase in their sense of belonging reduces their withdrawal from college (garcia et al., 2019; mamiseishvili, 2012). we build on this evidence in two key ways. first, we make international students’ aspirations to stay in the united states after graduation our focal point of inquiry. thus, we are able to extend the understanding of international student vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 470 persistence beyond the commonly examined outcome of degree attainment. although an international student’s presence in the united states after graduation is constrained by several legal factors, aspirations to persist are foundational to the movement toward this final goal. we propose that these aspirations are indicative of the probability of international students transitioning into the u.s. labor market, an area of the immigrant experience that remains underexamined. second, we only focus on graduate student experiences because being a graduate student comes with its own set of challenges which are distinct from the challenges faced by undergraduate students (brunsting et al., 2018; le et al., 2016). experiences of domestic and international students indicate the presence of two key dimensions to feelings of belonging—one engendered by the students’ academic interactions (i.e., academic belonging) and another by the students’ social ties (i.e., social belonging). increased academic interactions and engagement—discussions with peers about course content, tutoring other students, frequent discussions with faculty members—are strongly associated with feelings of belonging (horne et al., 2018; hurtado & carter, 1997; maestas et al., 2007). social interactions that result in the establishment of meaningful relationships with other students and faculty on campus and participation in student organizations also play an important role in bolstering feelings of belonging (glass & gesing, 2018; hurtado & carter, 1997; strayhorn, 2012; yao, 2016). further, preliminary evidence also suggests that academic and social integration influence international students’ persistence in opposite directions (mamiseishvili, 2012). thus, we examine academic belonging and social belonging separately. given the centrality of feelings of belonging in reducing social isolation and improving academic achievement, we propose that international students’ feelings of academic and social belonging are critical in determining their persistence within and beyond their universities in the united states. we hypothesize: h1(a): international students with higher levels of academic belonging are more likely to aspire to stay in the united states than those with low levels of academic belonging. h1(b): international students with high levels of social belonging are more likely to aspire to stay in the united states than those with low levels of social belonging. the academic enclave effect co-national students play a critical role in facilitating feelings of belonging for international students (glass et al., 2013; rivas et al., 2019; tang et al., 2018). students from the same country studying in u.s. universities help each other maintain connections with their home culture and language (du & wei, 2015; rivas et al., 2019), provide alternatives to participating in mainstream campus culture (rose-redwood & rose-redwood, 2013), and are a source of valuable information on how to survive in a foreign country (tang et al., 2018). rather journal of international students 471 than assume that all international students respond similarly to the presence of conationals, we build on this evidence to examine whether the presence of conationals has a differential impact on the aspirations of persistence for different groups of graduate international students. drawing on the concept of ethnic enclaves, we propose that a concentration of international students from the same country in the same u.s. university creates “academic enclaves.” ethnic enclaves are best characterized as tight knit networks of co-ethnic migrants within a specific geographical location. typically, these areas have a high concentration of residency and business operations of a particular migrant minority group that has a distinct cultural character (hikido, 2018; kosta, 2019; toussaint-comeau, 2008). further, ethnic enclaves serve multiple economic and social functions including the provision of economic opportunities and encouraging feelings of belonging (bouk et al., 2013; portes & manning, 2013). the primary utility of ethnic enclaves lies in the close social networks that they help foster since these networks provide access to resources and help members navigate racial hostility and discrimination (portes & jensen, 1989; portes & manning, 2013). close social networks serve similar functions for communities of co-national international students; they insulate their members from physical harm and social stigma, facilitate academic engagement, help in the maintenance of one’s national identity, and facilitate social cohesion through cultural activities (guo & chase, 2011; page, 2019). in our conceptualization, we emphasize the academic nature of enclaves because they are created by the transnational inflow of co-nationals into the very specific organizational setting of academic institutions. while the importance of co-nationals in facilitating international students’ feelings of belonging is well supported (glass et al., 2013; rivas et al., 2019; tang et al., 2018), this evidence does not account for the heterogeneity in the distribution of international students across the united states. the overall population of international students is not equally distributed across all universities with some universities attracting larger proportions of international students than others (iie, 2020c). furthermore, not all nationalities are equally represented in the growing diversity of u.s. higher education institutions (iie, 2020b). for instance, the international student population from china and india is usually larger than that from somalia and morocco. thus, some nationalities in the international student community constitute an “ethnic majority” while others form an “ethnic minority” (geven et al., 2016). the ethnic density hypothesis posits that members of immigrant groups are more likely to experience better mental health outcomes when they are surrounded by higher proportions of people of the same ethnicity (bécares & nazroo, 2013; das-munshi et al., 2010). the presence of co-ethnics buffers the detrimental effects of interpersonal racism and discrimination on the health of ethnic minorities. similar positive effects of co-ethnic ties in the form of social support and increased feelings of belonging have been noted for students studying in schools with a higher share of co-ethnics (geven et al., 2016). immigrants’ vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 472 income is also positively influenced as the proportion of co-ethnics living in their residential communities increases (andersson et al., 2014). building on this density proposition, we anticipate that variations in the concentration of co-nationals of international students will shape the environment in which international students operate and the extent to which their feelings of belonging translate into aspirations to persist in the united states for instance, between two international students with the same level of academic or social belonging, we expect the student surrounded with more co-nationals to be more likely to aspire to persist in the united states after graduation. after all, preliminary evidence suggests that both international and domestic students find their campus climates to be more inclusive in the presence of more international students (zhao et al., 2005), which is likely to impact their belongingness and persistence. thus, we hypothesize that: h2(a): the association between academic belonging and aspirations is moderated by the size of a student’s co-national community. as the size of a student’s co-national community increases, the association between academic belonging and aspirations is stronger. h2(b): the association between social belonging and aspirations is moderated by the size of a student’s co-national community. as the size of a student’s co-national community increases, the association between social belonging and aspirations is stronger. methods we utilize several data sources to examine our research questions. international stem graduate student in the u.s. survey the “international stem graduate student in the united states survey 2015” (han et al. 2015) is the most recent, publicly available dataset on the experiences of international students. the online survey was conducted with domestic and international graduate students who were enrolled in stem disciplines at the 10 u.s. institutions with the largest total number of enrolled international students in 2013–2014—arizona state university, columbia university, michigan state university, new york university, northeastern university, purdue university, university of california-los angeles, university of illinois-urbana champaign, university of southern california, and university of washington at seattle (han & appelbaum, 2016). in 2019–2020, nine of these ten institutions continue to be amongst the top 15 u.s. schools with the highest international student population (iie, 2020c). a total of 2,810 graduate students from 114 departments across the 10 institutions participated in the survey (see han et al. (2015) for response rate details). of the 2,493 students who completed the survey, 836 students were international students. the analysis presented in this paper draws on information collected from these 836 students. we were able to identify the university journal of international students 473 affiliation of 667 of these students across the 10 universities using their email addresses and the latitude-longitude coordinates collected by qualtrics. more details about this process are available on request from the authors. after accounting for missing data, our final sample consists of 642 international students across nine universities. the sample characteristics are presented in table 1. table 1: sample characteristics (n = 642) variable frequency percentage gender men 394 61.00 women 237 37.00 do not want to respond 11 2.00 country of origin (top 3) china 190 29.60 india 170 26.48 taiwan 21 3.27 discipline life sciences 103 16.04 physical sciences 89 13.86 engineering 221 34.42 mathematics 61 9.50 computer science 85 13.24 other 83 12.93 international student enrollment nine of the ten universities in the sample make their international student enrollment data, including their distribution by country of origin, publicly available. the only exception is northeastern university and therefore it was dropped from the sample. we utilize the fall 2014 enrollment reports of the remaining nine universities to determine the proportionate representation of each country in the international student population of each university. of these nine universities, two universities—arizona state university and the university of southern california (los angeles)—only provide data for the top 15 countries from where they receive the highest enrollment of international students. in our sample, only eight students’ country of origin, across both universities, was not included in the top 15 countries. hence, these students were removed from our analysis. vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 474 u.s. news & world report 2018 u.s. news provides education rankings and is a popular resource to access institutional-level data. we rely on their latest department rankings since rankings from past years are not publicly available. university websites information pertaining to the type of institution (private or public) and the location of the university (rural or urban) is drawn from individual university websites ets test taker data 2014 the ets publishes annual reports on the population of individuals taking the gre every year across various demographic characteristics such as age, gender, race, u.s. citizenship status, and country of citizenship. we utilize the average quantitative and verbal gre scores in 2014 for test takers from each country in our analysis. variables dependent variable (dv). the key concept of interest in this study is international students’ aspirations to stay in the united states after graduation. aspirations is measured by asking international students whether they hope to remain in the united states after graduation. focal independent variable (iv). we employ two variables to measure the dimensions of belonging, i.e. (a) academic belonging, and (b) social belonging. academic belonging is conceptualized as the feelings of belonging engendered by a student’s interaction and engagement with faculty and peers on academic issues (hurtado & carter, 1997). we extend the definition to include engagement in different parts of the research process such as access to books and journals, and freedom to pursue self-proposed research. we measure academic belonging using seven items where each international student is asked to rate seven different facets of their u.s. academic experience, compared with their home country. feelings of belonging in each area are recorded on a 5-point scale ranging from very much worse (1) to very much better (5). the areas of interest are as follows: (a) open classroom discussions; (b) professors’ teaching styles; (c) subject teaching matter; (d) access to books, magazines, journals, and databases; (e) freedom to openly debate established theories; (f) freedom to pursue new, selfproposed research directions; (g) collaboration with other graduate students in your lab. an aggregate academic belonging score is computed for each student by taking an average of responses across the seven areas (chronbach’s α = 0.8294). journal of international students 475 social belonging is conceptualized as the feelings of belongings kindled by a student’s interactions with their peers and friends in non-work settings (hurtado & carter, 1997; maestas et al., 2007; walton & cohen, 2007). we measure social belonging using the question “how do you feel you are treated by your colleagues and professors in the u.s. in comparison with those in your home country?” we recognize that this measure is limiting since (a) it does not refer to social interactions alone, and (b) it does not examine social interactions across multiple settings but condenses them into a single, aggregate measure. nevertheless, in the absence of widely available secondary data on international students, we utilize it as a conservative measure to examine our theory. international students’ feelings of social belonging are recorded on a 5-point scale ranging from ‘treated much worse (1)’ to ‘treated much better (5)’. given the categorical nature of the dependent variable and limited sample size, social belonging was recoded into a binary variable with the categories of ‘better’ (1) and ‘not better’ (0) to facilitate meaningful comparisons. a key characteristic of all the items used to construct these two measures of belonging is their relational nature; the items capture a students’ feelings of academic and social belonging in the united states compared with their home country. such a conceptualization reaffirms a key premise of the belonging framework that feelings of belonging are subjective in nature and vary across contexts. further, a framing of this nature ensures that the same subjective experience is being captured for all international students, i.e., their experience in the united states compared with their home country. moderating variable (mv). to examine the effect of academic enclaves on students’ integration and aspirations, we employ co-national concentration as the key moderating variable in our analysis. thus, we measure the concept of academic enclaves as the concentration of each nationality in an individual university. the international students in the survey reported their nationality across 79 different countries. since most of these countries have extremely low representation (less than 1% of the total international student population) in each university, the distribution of the percentage of country representation was skewed to the right. to address this skewness, we performed a log transformation of the percentage of the international student population represented by each country in a university to arrive at a more normally distributed curve. control variables we control for several factors that are associated with our dependent and independent variables: department prestige, gender, type of institution and location of institutions, and gre scores. details of these variables can be found in table 2. vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 476 table 2: variables of interest: definitions and descriptive statistics (n = 642) variable description and coding frequency % mean s.d. dependent variable aspirations to stay in the united states international students’ plan to stay in the united states after graduation. binary variable. 642 100 no (0) 68 11 possible (1) 574 89 independent variables academic belonging international students’ feelings of belonging engendered by academic systems and communities in the united states compared with their home country. continuous variable. 642 3.87 0.65 social belonging international students’ feelings of belonging engendered by social interactions in the united states compared with their home country. dichotomous variable. 642 not better (0) 340 53 better (1) 302 47 moderating variable academic enclave logged percentage of international students from each country in a university (co-national concentration). continuous variable. 642 2.06 1.42 control variables discipline prestige prestige of a department within a university in relation to the same department across other u.s. 642 28.43 17.62 journal of international students 477 variable description and coding frequency % mean s.d. universities. continuous variable. gender self-identified gender identity of international students. dichotomous variable. 642 100 men (0) 394 61 women (1) 237 37 do not want to respond (88) 11 2 type of institution the funding status of a university dichotomous variable. 642 100 private (0) 192 30 public (1) 450 70 location of institution the location of a university dichotomous variable. 642 100 rural (0) 222 35 urban (1) 420 65 gre score— quantitative the average gre quantitative score of all test takers from each country 642 157.19 5.30 gre score— verbal the average gre verbal score of all test takers from each country 642 147.15 3.44 data analysis the analysis of this study proceeds in two steps. first, we examine the relationship of academic and social belonging with students’ aspirations to stay in the unite states (h1a and h1b). we then analyze how co-national concentration moderates this relationship (h2a and h2b). since aspirations to stay in the united states is a nominal variable, we employ multinomial logistic regression models to test all our hypotheses and calculate the predicted probabilities of aspiring to stay in the united states across different degrees of belonging. in addition to aforementioned theoretical reasons, we run separate models for academic and social belonging because there is a moderate amount of correlation (polyserial correlation of 0.5.) between the two variables. to account for clustering and heteroscedasticity, we use robust standard errors in our models. vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 478 all analyses rely on predicted probabilities and marginal effects. marginal effects represent the difference between two predictions. while marginal effects are identical to regression coefficients in linear regression models, this is not the case when nonlinearities are introduced in the models. we examine the association between belonging and aspirations (h1a and h1b) by interpreting the coefficients of the belonging variables in the predicted probabilities metric and computing its marginal effect. for our second set of hypotheses (h2a and h2b), we test how the association between belonging and aspirations varies depending on the size of a student’s co-national community, our measure of academic enclaves. although we include the interaction term between co-national concentration and belonging in the logit models, we do not utilize its coefficient to draw conclusions about the significance of statistical interaction because it “does not provide a test for whether the effect differs in the predicted probability metric” (mize, 2019, p. 98). instead, we test for equality of multiple marginal effects. the first effect that we examine, i.e., first level differences, is the marginal effect of the belonging on the aspirations (dv) at different levels of co-national concentration (mv). in the case of second level difference, we use wald’s test to examine whether these firstlevel differences are significantly different across levels of co-national concentration (berry et al., 2010; long & freese, 2014; mize, 2019). more specifically, we test whether the marginal effect of belonging when co-national concentration is 5 is significantly different from the marginal effect of belonging when co-national concentration is 0. predicted probabilities and marginal effects are computed using stata’s 16.1 margins command and long and freese’s (2014) user-written command for stata called mtable (program name is spost13). the wald’s tests underlying the computation of second differences are evaluated using the user-written command mlincom within the spost13 program (long & freese, 2014). results importance of belonging we find support for the first set of hypotheses that greater feelings of belonging—academically and socially—are more likely to be associated with stronger aspirations to stay in the united states after graduation (h1a and h1b respectively). in figure 1a, we see that international students who report one unit higher on academic belonging than their peers have a 0.115 higher probability of aspiring to stay in the united states (p < 0.001) (figure 1). further, students who are higher on the academic belonging scale are significantly less likely than their peers to feel undecided about their aspirations to persist in the country (me = −0.101, p < 0.001). overall, the more a student feels like they belong academically, the more likely they are to aspire to stay in the country and less likely to feel undecided about their future plans. journal of international students 479 figure 1: probability of aspiring to stay in the united states based on feelings of belonging note: outcomes for social belonging with significant differences are starred we find a similar positive relationship between social belonging and the aspirations to persist in the united states. in figure 1b, we see that international students who report ‘better’ levels of social belonging in the united states compared with their home country have a 0.152 higher probability of aspiring to stay in the united states (p < 0.001) and 0.057 lower probability of aspiring to leave (p < 0.05) than international students with ‘not better’ levels of social belonging. students with better levels of social belonging also have a 0.095 lower probability (p < 0.05) of feeling undecided about their future aspirations compared with their less socially integrated peers. thus, our findings corroborate the importance of feelings of belonging in ensuring the persistence of international students. students who feel more like they belong in the united states—academically or socially—are more likely to aspire to stay in the country upon graduation. academic enclave effect our second set of hypotheses propose that academic enclaves, as measured by co-national concentration, will have a positive moderating effect on the association between feelings of belonging and aspirations. thus, the marginal effect of belonging on aspirations should be larger as co-national concentration increases. we anticipate that international students who feel like they belong more are less likely to want to leave the united states after graduation and more likely to want to stay when they are enrolled in universities with a larger share of conationals than universities with a smaller share. vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 480 the results only provide support for our social belonging hypothesis (h2b). in our test for h2a, the marginal effect of academic belonging for all categories of aspirations does not change significantly between high and low levels of conational concentration. thus, there exists no moderating effect of co-national concentration on the association between academic belonging and aspirations. however, we find support for the social belonging hypothesis albeit through a different pathway, i.e., co-national concentration shapes the effect of social belonging on aspirations to not stay in the united states/leave the united states after graduation instead of the aspiration to stay in the united states. at initial levels of co-national concentration, the marginal effect of social belonging (better—not better) on aspirations to not stay is negative and significant at α < 0.1 (see mize, 2016 for significant testing approaches).1 thus, students who report better levels of social belonging have a lower probability of aspiring to leave after graduation than those who report not better levels of social belonging. after the logged value of co-national concentration exceeds 2, this marginal effect is no longer significant (dotted section of figure 2). to ascertain whether these changes in the marginal effect of social belonging are meaningful, we compute the difference between the marginal effects of social belonging at the highest (5) and lowest level of co-national concentration (0) and find the difference to be significantly different (second difference = 0.132, p < 0.1). the second level difference is not significant for the remaining outcome categories of ‘yes’ and ‘undecided’ and thus not reported here. in keeping with h2b, we conclude that the effect of social belonging on a student’s aspirations varies based on the size of their academic enclaves made up of co-nationals. however, the moderation does not take the pathway we had anticipated, i.e., the association between social belonging and aspirations does not become stronger as the density of academic enclave increases. nevertheless, a closer examination of the factors driving the changes in the marginal effect of social belonging still lends support to the positive role of dense academic enclaves in ensuring international student persistence. the probability of aspiring to leave/not stay for students with ‘better’ levels of social belonging (blue line in figure 2) does not vary at different degrees of co-national concentration. however, as the size of the co-national concentration increases, students who report ‘not better’ levels of social belonging are less likely to aspire to want to leave. 1 marginal effects of social belonging outcome category ‘no’: (a) me at concentration 0 = −0.128 (p < 0.05); (b) me at concentration 1 = −0.078 (p < 0.05); (c) me at concentration 2 = −0.042 (p < 0.1); (d) me at concentration 3 = −0.019; (e) me at concentration 4 = −0.004; and me at concentration 5 = 0.004. journal of international students 481 figure 2: probability of aspiring to stay in the united states across social belonging and co-national concentration note: group difference (better vs. less better) is significant at the p < 0.1 level when lines are solid thus, changes in the marginal effect of social belonging are driven by two unanticipated factors. first, only the aspirations of students who experience lower social belongingness change in response to an increasing presence of co-nationals. students who report stronger feelings of belonging are less likely to be influenced by the presence or absence of co-nationals. second, co-nationals do not bolster the aspirations of students with low levels of social belongingness to “stay” in the united states. instead, academic enclaves temper international students’ “desire to leave” but that is also only up to the point when they become as well-adjusted as their peers. we refer to these dual paths of persistence that emerge when we account for heterogeneity in the presence and experiences of international students as the “academic enclave effect.” discussion and conclusion our findings demonstrate the importance of “academic enclaves” in ensuring the persistence of international graduate students in the united states. building on scholarship that emphasizes the importance of co-nationals in improving academic outcomes, reducing loneliness, and bolstering the psycho-social wellbeing of international students (glass & gesing, 2018; kaya, 2020; khanal & gaulee, 2019; wang & freed, 2021), we draw attention to the positive association between feelings of belonging (academic and social) and the persistence of graduate international students. our examination of international student persistence extends into aspirations to stay in the united states upon graduation. we emphasize the importance of this extension because factors contributing to the transition of international students into the american labor market, beyond legal factors, remain underexamined (wadhwa et al., 2009). vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 482 by accounting for the heterogeneity in the distribution of the international student community across universities, we are also able to establish a more nuanced model of international student persistence. we find that students with lower levels of social belonging are more likely to persist in the united states, when they are enrolled in universities with a higher density of co-nationals. in contrast, co-national density does not have a significant bearing on the aspirations of students with higher levels of social belonging. we refer to these dual paths of persistence as the “academic enclave effect” because we conceptualize conational communities as “academic enclaves” that support international students in the same way ethnic enclaves support immigrant communities (hikido, 2018; kosta, 2019). however, academic enclaves differ from ethnic enclaves on account of the “enclave ceiling effect” present in the former—co-national communities only shape the likelihood of persistence for those students who are experiencing a certain level of paucity in their social belonging and have no bearing on socially well-integrated international students. limitations the analysis presented in this paper is based on cross-sectional data and therefore associational and not causal. further, given the sampling frame, our results are generalizable only to the experiences of international graduate students enrolled in universities with relatively large international student populations. another limitation lies in the measure of aspirations. aspirations to not leave do not imply that students are more likely to stay—they could simply feel undecided. nevertheless, the reduced probability of leaving is still a movement in the direction to retain valuable, yet overlooked, members of the american society (hagedorn & lee, 2005). finally, we also recognize that individuals of the same nationality can be of different racial identities and that these identities shape their feelings of belonging and persistence within u.s. higher education institutions (mwangi, 2016). although we focus on the national identity of international students, we hope that future research will take a closer look at how racial dynamics influence the academic enclave effect. implications and future research our findings demonstrate the important relationship between feelings of belonging and the persistence of international students, not only toward the completion of their degrees but also in terms of aspiring toward transitioning into the american labor market. second, our explicit focus on the graduate international student population addresses an important gap in the international student scholarship that is predominantly focused on undergraduate students’ experiences. finally, recognition of the academic enclave effect extends our understanding of how co-nationals influence international students’ experiences in the united states. the pivotal role of co-nationals in creating inclusive spaces for international students where they feel like they belong is well established (glass journal of international students 483 et al., 2013; kaya, 2020; rivas et al., 2019; tang et al., 2018). evidence also indicates that international students’ reliance on their co-nationals as a primary source of social support changes as their duration of stay in the united state increases (bhochhibhoya et al., 2017; le et al., 2016). we contribute to this knowledge about co-national communities’ influence on international students’ experiences by demonstrating how variations in their density have implications on international students’ persistence. at a broader policy level, the discourse on the persistence of international students is often focused on visa and immigration policies. our results demonstrate the importance of meso-level, institutional factors—the presence conational communities—in shaping international students’ aspirations to stay in the united states. international graduate students, especially those pursuing doctoral programs, spend long durations of time in the united states and are an integral component of american society. future research should inquire into additional university-level factors that would similarly encourage international students to aspire for a life in the united states beyond degree attainment. by highlighting the heterogeneity in international students’ experiences and their differing responses to increasing co-national presence, we facilitate future research into other factors that engender variations in this community’s experiences. in particular, future research should examine the factors that shape the persistence of students with higher levels of social belonging. it is critical to identify the factors engendering variations in international students’ experiences so that universities can develop more inclusive policies and structures to best support all groups of international 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(2005). a comparison of international student and american student engagement in effective educational practices. the journal of higher education, 76(2), 209–231. https://doi.org/ 10.1353/jhe.2005.0018 vasundhara kaul and linda renzulli 488 vasundhara kaul is a phd candidate in the department of sociology at purdue university, west lafayette. her research integrates how culture and emotions shape inequality and social policy across different institutional contexts. her current research focuses on the effect of culture and emotions on how lay citizens make sense of and protect their personal data privacy. email: kaul9@purdue.edu linda renzulli, phd, is a professor of sociology and department head in the college of liberal arts department of sociology at purdue university, west lafayette. her scholarly interests include sociology of education, organizational change, and stratification. she is also interested in the family school nexus to understand better educational opportunities and constraints. email: lrenzull@purdue.edu 88 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue s2 (2022), pp. 88-105 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12is2.4345 ojed.org/jis going beyond the (un)awakened body: artsbased collaborative autoethnographic inquiry of korean doctoral students in the united states hyeungok kang university of georgia, usa sung-ryung lyu american university, usa sehyun yun ball state university, usa* abstract three korean female doctoral students studying at u.s. higher education institutions address our lived experiences in this paper. by drawing on critical race theory (crt) and asian critical theory (asiancrit), we reflected upon the feelings and experiences that we swallowed to survive. we used collaborative autoethnography with artistic methods, such as digital collage and poetry, to share how we have wrestled with feelings of shame when reckoning our embodied knowledge of race and racism. using crt and asiancrit, we disrupted racial stereotypes regarding asians and their invisibility in racial discourses. we end with suggestions for providing support to asian international students exploring racialized discourse and positioning themselves as qualified professionals and political agents. in sharing our stories, we hope to illuminate lived experiences that have been neglected, misunderstood, silenced, and forgotten. keywords: korean international doctoral students, asian critical theory (asiancrit), arts-based inquiry, collaborative autoethnography, critical race theory (crt) this paper aims to speak out and take action against systemic racism by examining the feelings and experiences of three korean female doctoral students * authors evenly contributed to publication and author names are listed in alphabetical order. kang et al. 89 in u.s. higher education institutions. amidst the covid-19 pandemic, the significant increase in anti-asian incidents urged us to break our silence on systemic racism and prevent the “passing over into forgetting” of such events (hong, 2020, p. 165). the real stories of asians’ racialized experiences in the united states have been silenced (kim, 2020). past studies have thoroughly examined the experience of international doctoral students in western higher education institutions but have mainly reported on challenges that international students encounter: a language barrier (adebayo & allen, 2020; anandavalli et al., 2021; bui, 2021; kim, 2020; xu & hu, 2020), cultural differences (adebayo & allen, 2020; anandavalli et al., 2021; bui, 2021), pressure to acculturate (campbell, 2015; koo, baker, et al., 2021), a lack of social support (koo, nyunt, et al., 2021; sullivan & kashubeck-west, 2015), and psychological distress (koo, kim, et al., 2021; li, 2016; lin, 2021; mitchell et al., 2017). however, few studies underpin how race and racial discourse impact the lived experiences of international students (buckner et al., 2021; hernandez, 2021; lee & rice, 2007), especially students coming from asia. thus, there is a growing need to highlight asian international students’ racialized experiences and how they interrogate and navigate racist discourse to (re)position themselves. we center our lived experiences to acknowledge how racism operates among asian international students. through our work, we show that international students are capable of responding to race-related issues. by focusing on the racialized experience of korean female international doctoral students, this autoethnographic paper will make our experiences visible within racial discourse. racism against asians is distinct from racism against other minoritized people of color (li & nicholson, 2021). however, the everyday discourse on asians in the united states often describes a superior foreigner (kim, 1999) because asians are seen as an academically and financially successful ethnic group (chang, 1993; kim, 1998). the covid-19 pandemic further complicated the racialized discourse against asian international students (koo, 2021b; koo, yao, et al., 2021). not only has the disease been called a “chinese virus,” but asian international students are also often viewed as other, which invokes the “colonial imagery of the yellow peril and the racist trope of the ‘perpetual foreigner’” (suspitsyna, 2021, p.57). our paper recounts how three south korean female international doctoral students have wrestled with feelings of shame when reckoning their embodied knowledge of racism and race through an arts-based collaborative autoethnographic inquiry process. reflections from this collaborative autoethnographic inquiry open up a dialogic space to unearth our shameful and thus buried feelings. hong (2020) articulated shame as a political feeling that we bury to survive when we face social structures of domination and oppression. we feel shame when we are being dishonored and also when we see ourselves as unable to protect other beloved asians from racism in everyday life. our paper shows how we can use shame as a motivation for change to better ourselves, our community, and society. journal of international students 12(s2) 90 we not only highlight the challenges that we experienced but also position ourselves as active agents who can confront racism. we intentionally resist identifying ourselves as minoritized bodies who suffer from racial discrimination. instead, we go beyond static mythical images of asians as model minorities or perpetual foreigners. through sharing our stories, we hope asian international students can begin to create a conversation where even those with different experiences can find commonalities and build solidarity. we first provide an overview of the theoretical concepts underpinning our study. next, we present our methodological approach, autoethnography, using artistic methods. a digital collage and poems we jointly created are presented as findings. our discussion analyzes our experiences, using critical race theory and asian critical theory to examine how racialized discourse impacts our daily lives and positions and to compare these findings to previous scholarship. we then conclude by suggesting practical and methodological implications. sharing our stories gives voice to lived experiences that have been neglected, misunderstood, and silenced. theoretical and conceptual framework we use critical race theory (crt) to critically reflect on our daily lives. crt, which initially stemmed from legal studies, has been widely used as a framework to theorize how systemic racial oppression shapes social institutions (ledesma & calderón, 2015). one of the key tenets of crt that guided our reflections is the notion that racism is a normalized aspect of daily life in the united states (delgado, 1995). crt has been widely used as a theoretical framework to challenge “the dominant discourse on race and racism as it relates to education by examining how educational theory and practice are used to subordinate certain racial and ethnic groups” (solórzano & yosso, 2001, p. 2). under the umbrella of crt, our inquiry is further grounded in asian critical theory (asiancrit). asiancrit problematizes the pervasive tendency of ahistoricism, colorblindness, white meritocracy, and the black-white binary in studying people of color’s racialized experiences (chang, 1993). chang (1993) argued that “asian american history and the asian american experience are unique and different from the history and experiences of other disempowered groups” (p. 1241). thus, racial oppression among different minority groups should be explored based on their cultural and historical contexts. although asians also suffer from racialized oppression, asians in the united states context have often been overlooked as they are regarded as a group that does not experience racial discrimination (iftikar & museus, 2018). we employ asiancrit as a lens to understand asian international students’ racial marginalization in daily life. following the asiancrit perspective, we focus on two prejudicial myths: the model minority and the perpetual foreigner. the model minority myth is defined as “a white supremacist racial project that strategically frames asian americans as a universally successful racial group to maintain systems that enact differential forms of violence on all communities of color” (yi et al., 2020, p.551). although the model minority myth may seem to kang et al. 91 be positive, the myth actually “benefits the white elite in the u.s. racial hierarchy” (poon et al., 2016, p.473) by “discrediting one racially minoritized group’s real struggles with racial barriers and discrimination through the valorization of oversimplified stereotypes of another racially minoritized group” (p.474). the core point is that the myth inevitably justifies blaming the victim and denies the existence of systematic racism against asians. the “sense of foreignness” (chang, 1993, p.1258) is also at the core of asian americans’ experiences in the united states (wu, 2002). saito (1997) explained that “the construct of foreignness, based more on what is perceived as notamerican than on the realities of another nationality or culture, conflates the national and the international” (p. 80). this racial construction is also invented to uphold white supremacy along with the model minority myth (kim, 1999; kim, 1998). ng et al. (2007) described the perpetual foreigner myth as “whites constructing asian americans as foreign and other” through “the process of civic ostracism” (p.96). as a result, asians develop internalized racism (trieu & lee, 2018) by seeing themselves as others who are not eligible and qualified americans. in this paper, we employ the asiancrit perspective to discuss korean female international students’ experiences as an intersection of race, primary language, and foreigner status, which generates a “disqualified image” (jang, 2017, p. 561). in the understanding of asiancrit scholars, these two prejudicial myths are considered hegemonic racial devices that reinforce white supremacy in the united states (chang, 1993; museus & iftikhar, 2014). drawing upon crt and asiancrit, this study analyzes how our personal moments and feelings are shaped by the hegemonic racial discourse and connect our individual experiences to a larger context. method autoethnography is a qualitative research method in which researchers collect, analyze, and interpret autobiographical stories while recalling their own experiences or those of others (ellis et al., 2011; hughes, 2008). collaborative autoethnography (cae) allows researchers to use multiple perspectives to interrogate their lived experiences within the larger society (chang et al., 2013; lapadat, 2017; winkler, 2018). we, three korean female doctoral students, interrogate our experiences as foreign-born women at us higher education institutions using cae methodologies. the three authors shared several common identities. we were all born in south korea and speak korean as our first language and english as our second. we came to the united states to pursue ph.d. degrees in education. we have been in the united states for less than seven years, holding student visas. we have all worked with preservice teachers as graduate lecturers or field supervisors in the united states. we also have professional teaching experience in our home country. we integrated the arts-based inquiry method to make our stories more visible. arts are useful research tools to show how social inequities, especially racism, operate through our bodies, feelings, and daily experiences (finley, 2008). journal of international students 12(s2) 92 artistic methods complement conventional cae because arts allow researchers to engage in creative and explicit meaning-making processes (leavy, 2020). the art-making process itself of collaboratively creating collages and poetry is used to express feelings of shame and racialized experiences. furthermore, the process requires cultivating both space and time to attend to nuanced and affective experiences. thus, the final product of the arts-based inquiry allows marginalized voices and experiences that are usually ignored in traditional research methods to be heard (guyotte et al., 2018). our study was inspired by our reading of minor feelings: an asian american reckoning (hong, 2020) and our subsequent discussion of it in a virtual book club amidst covid-19 and asian hate crime incidents. after the virtual book club, we decided to meet once a week to explore what it meant to be(come) an asian living in the united states. over 4 months we had weekly meetings for 2-3 hours each through zoom. while engaging in dialogues and discussions, we shared personal memories, narratives, and written accounts, which are acknowledged as legitimate forms of field or research text (chang et al., 2013). after each meeting, we made brief notes about salient issues we discussed in google docs so we could revisit our conversations. we discovered that we shared experiences of feeling ashamed for being ignorant about racism while finding ourselves in a minority position in the united states. as a form of arts-based inquiry, we chose to make a collaborative collage (see figure 1) using visuals and texts because collage is an excellent medium to make people think and see things differently (leavy, 2020). each author brought images representing our internalized racial bias and instances of daily discrimination that provoke shameful feelings. we discussed the stories embedded in those images. then, we worked together to create a visual collage by juxtaposing images with text using adobe spark. next, we collaboratively composed two poems to reflect on our experiences as international students in the u.s. academy. we decided to write poems because poetry can elicit emotional reactions from readers and honor marginalized voices (nichols et al., 2014). in order to create poems, as lahman et al. (2019) suggested, we first chose several images to represent our experiences and then brainstormed some words that could describe those images. then, we selected some words to create the poems. specifically, we focused on two themes that emerged from our conversation: feeling ashamed and the sense of foreignness. we acknowledge concerns regarding “relational ethics” (ellis, 2007), which is the ethical responsibility researchers have toward other people they include in their autoethnographic narratives. to address those concerns, we decided to share our stories as one character, using the singular “i,” to protect the confidentiality of not only authors but also the other people who are in our stories (leavy, 2020; winkler, 2018). collapsing stories into a single narrative can reduce the potential risks associated with sharing personal stories (cortes santiago et al., 2017). besides, the multivocality of cae enhances the trustworthiness of autoethnography as well as remediating ethical concerns related to the singularity of autoethnography from an individual perspective (hernandez et al., 2017; lapadat, 2017). in this cae, the three authors’ multiple perspectives and kang et al. 93 experiences provide “a scholarly space to hold up mirrors to each other in communal self-interrogation” (chang et al., 2013, p.26). findings in the findings, we present our shared feelings of shame through the digital collage and poems that we collaboratively created. through these works, we tried to understand and share our emotions and experiences related to racism and racial discourse. first, we discussed our shared experience of feeling ashamed and ignorant about race and racism by drawing on the model minority myth. second, we discussed our shared experience of encountering a powerless and disqualified image of ourselves by utilizing the perpetual foreigner myth. we share our stories as one character to share collective memories, using the singular “i,” as explained in the method. trapped in racialized discourse: becoming asian in the united states in the digital collage (figure 1), the airplane represents the “fantasy” of the american dream before coming to the united states. i thought that america was a wonderland that established equity among diverse people through multicultural education. i believed america was a fair country where all people were respected regardless of where they came from that was what i thought on the airplane to the united states. back in korea, i was a part of the mainstream culture. i could be ignorant of racial categories that were directly related to skin color. once i arrived in the united states, it was difficult to accept the fact that i was inevitably categorized as an asian female and to understand what it really meant. figure 1: trapped in racialized discourse journal of international students 12(s2) 94 however, it did not take a long time to figure out what it meant to become an asian female in the united states. the asian girl at the center of figure 1 came from the cover of a time magazine on august 31, 1989, titled “those asianamerican whiz kids.” the image hinted at how asians were perceived in mainstream society. as a graduate student studying education, i saw this whiz kid as the image that allowed the mainstream cultural group of people to accept my presence here in the united states as a polite, hardworking, and clever child (hong, 2020; zhang, 2010). one day i was at a national conference’s presidential address. the presenter introduced literacy research as white property, but also discussed how the literacy organization had made progress toward equity and how some scholars used their research to build an equitable flow of knowledge. it was quite an impressive speech and helped me to see the systemic inequity in education and academia as well as to consider how i could leverage my research to deconstruct the dominant discourse. after the speech, i had a casual conversation at dinner with some professors. one white female professor asked me what i thought about the presidential address. while i was organizing my thoughts to respond to her question, she said, “so we, white people, are always bad.” she said, “what do you think? do you really think like her [the presenter of the conference]?” she asked somewhat naively. “well…” i could not say anything. her words struck me as a racist microaggression, but i just smiled timidly. not just because of the power dynamics but because i did not want to make our conversation uncomfortable because of the racial issue. then, i was silent and silenced. as a response to her question, i indeed passively complied with my racial position as asian, a race positioned beneath white people yet above black people by being silent. i felt something was wrong but could not confront the white female professor because i just did not want to argue with her and hurt her feelings. was it because she was a professor and i was a student? that incident lingered in my head for a long time. when i reflected on the conversation, i kept feeling powerless. the feeling of shame for not answering the question (or choosing not to answer the question) kept coming back to me, and i said to myself, “you are so stupid. you could have said something to her.” she might have thought that i did not know anything about racism because i smiled silently at her implicitly racist comments about the scholars and their work. it seemed that i was “safe" enough for her to blatantly reveal her whiteness (delgado & stefancic, 2017). powerless and disqualified image of ourselves the first poem is 수오지심(羞惡之心) [su-o-ji-sim], which means a feeling of shame about one’s inability to fight against injustice. it represents my feelings about witnessing daily racism and recognizing my limited response-ability. in my second year of teaching preservice teachers, i met esther. she was my first korean-american student, and i was also her first korean teacher ever. esther’s report on microaggressions in her field placement and the incidents themselves evoked my emotion. hearing about her experience was when i started to think kang et al. 95 seriously about “everyday racism” (essed, 2008) against asians. esther critiqued the fact that she was treated unfairly and placed in a white-dominant field school with only white peers. her comment has haunted me until now. i still feel shame that i could not help her in any other way than just being a good listener and reporting to my supervisor. poem 1: 수오지심(羞惡之心) [su-o-ji-sim] esther was my preservice student a second-generation asian american. she reached out to me and asked for help. esther: i feel like i was singled out in my field placement. i am the only person of color in my school. this makes me feel uncomfortable. when entering the school building, i was asked to show my i.d. card, but not white peers. also, my mentor… makes less eye contact with me, but not with white peers. i feel like i am invisible in space. but, i don’t want to cause any trouble. i want to keep staying in this placement. me: i am sorry. that would be tough. i will discuss it with my instructor. i was mad. i was ashamed. my response-ability was only showing empathy. empathy was not enough. i wanted to protect her. but, i could not reach out to the placement officer. i could not reach out to the mentor to fix the problem. i didn’t want to cause any trouble. i wanted her to keep staying in this placement. i was afraid my actions would harm her. my response-ability could not protect her. was it enough? was it enough? was it enough? journal of international students 12(s2) 96 the first poem highlights my experience of not speaking out against racism and not being able to protect my fellow asian. that was when i was not sure that i was qualified to take more action to deal with the incident. what else could i do to protect her? was it not my responsibility to actively raise my voice? what was my role as an asian female teacher educator? i just followed the university’s protocol. i felt that “the rules are the way they [the institutions] are, and we cannot change them” (kim, 2020, p. 502). i could not go beyond the rules. i questioned myself. what should i have done to protect her? am i even qualified to raise my voice against racism? i often hesitated to take action and speak out because of the “sense of foreignness” (chang, 1993). my sense of foreignness resulted in my silence against everyday racism. besides, ever since i came to the united states, i had witnessed racism not only in my daily life but also in the larger society. i saw the black lives matter and the stop asian hate movements. they were social movements that raised the voices of racially minoritized groups. “people of color” was a group where i (should) belong because i was identified as asian. but there was always an inner resistance to agree with the protestors because i didn’t belong here. i was not an american citizen. i was a foreigner, an alien resident. so, i tried to push that news away by drawing a line. that became the rationale to justify my reluctance to work for social justice. i was ashamed of being silenced. poem 2: belittling “i” an international doctoral student in the united states. i will and need to prove my professionalism. in the course evaluation, one student wrote “english is her second language, makes for a tough class, as she often mispronounces words & cannot say other words.” did my mother tongue make things difficult for you? swallow, swallow, swallow my pain, sorrow, shame on my tongue, my korean tongue, my english tongue, my knowledge, my experiences, my feelings. my broken english made me look non-professional. my broken english made me into an image of students who is still learning. i am a doctoral student who wishes to stay in academia. i try to prove my intellectual knowledge and professionalism. i need to show they are not fake. i practice writing professional english. but, dang, i just became an elementary kid from a kindergartener. i am a doctoral student who always needs editors, english native speakers. kang et al. 97 ms. so and so. then i willingly give up my learnings from my motherland how to teach how to learn how to be an expert. i should adopt as quickly as i can what others normally do in this space … but what is normal? “use sandwich strategy when you provide feedback to students.” “acknowledge an individual’s insight instead of summarizing the contents.” “use academic english, without any grammatical errors.” erasing all my figures rooted in the motherland. no more i exist before i left my home. only i am who eager to be a normal american. i was a doctoral student who wished to stay in academia. i tried to prove my intellectual knowledge and professionalism. i need to show they were not fake. but i also need to (re)member they are not fake. i want to be an active agent who is a developing scholar with an accent who brings diversity and inclusion in the institution who brings a unique voice and perspective in academia. as an international student, i struggled to learn the appropriate ways to become a professional here in u.s. academia. the self-assimilating process engendered mixed feelings, such as frustration, anger, anxiety, and humility. english language proficiency is considered the core criterion to evaluate one’s professionalism (zheng & samuel, 2017). my broken english often caused others to belittle my professional knowledge and expertise (lin, 2021). there was a conflicted awareness of the desire to fit the mainstream image of a professional while feeling incapable of meeting the standard. thus, i intentionally chose to use a lowercase “i” because speaking english made me feel tiny, incapable, and therefore only able to talk through an editor. however, i argue that this monolingual, monocultural, and deficit perspective is problematic (gutiérrez et al., 2009). by drawing on crt, i can view myself as a qualified teacher educator who can speak more than two languages and bring diversity to academia. as teacher educators, our job is “to educate our preservice teachers to understand the dynamics of multiple cultural and linguistic diversities in educational contexts, preparing them to teach students with diverse racial and cultural backgrounds” (jang, 2017, p.571). i believe that non-standardized journal of international students 12(s2) 98 english does not interfere with my ability to teach and bring my cultural capital and knowledge to education. in the next section, we will share our own interpretations of the findings, by drawing on two theoretical concepts, the model minority myth and the perpetual foreigner myth, and connecting the findings to the literature. discussion our study examines how korean female international students respond to and navigate racist narratives, employing crt and asiancrit theoretical frameworks. the theoretical concepts of the model minority and perpetual foreigner and the arts-based collaborative autoethnographic approach allow us to interrogate our racialized experiences and the systems of oppression that create our shared shame. this study shows that we inadvertently secure whiteness when silent and ignorant of racial issues. by drawing on crt and asiancrit, we acknowledged that our silence about racism in our daily lives was in compliance with the model minority stereotype, thereby legitimizing racism. iftikar and museus (2018) stated that “the model minority stereotype suggests that asian americans are universally successful and do not face racial challenges” (p.937). asians are often positioned as if they are not minorities but rather the same as privileged whites (kim, 1998). unfortunately, this model minority myth is being used to defend whiteness by differentiating asians from other racially minoritized groups, weakening our alliance in disrupting the racial hierarchy (poon et al., 2016). our findings indicate that our daily silence toward racism can cooperate in justifying discrimination. racism is how individuals are socially positioned in a power structure, and it is historically embedded in our everyday lives (delgado & stefanic, 2020). we feel shame because we are trapped in the mythical racialized discourse, and thus our silence contributes to racism. both poems portray our shameful memories of (in)voluntarily complying with the perpetual foreigner myth, resulting in us devaluing ourselves as powerless and unqualified. we found that our sense of foreignness positioned us as outsiders whose voices were not heard and who had difficulty negotiating standards or given institution rules. in accordance with our findings, previous studies have demonstrated that international students’ (non)belonging stemming from non-citizenship status made it hard for them to protect their rights (tran & hoang, 2020). as in kim’s (2020) story of her experience as a korean international scholar, we doubted our ability to raise our voices to change institutionalized regulations or the unfair treatment of asian students. moreover, our professional competencies were often overlooked due to language barriers. this is similar to m. li (2016), and sterzuk (2015), who found that international students often encounter disconnected feelings in a monolingual english-centric environment. the stigmatized “language learner marker” (p. 58) contributes to a disqualified image of international students of color in u.s. higher education because of native-speaker norms of english that focus on the notion of correctness (cortes santiago et al., 2017). hence, we constructed our self-images as foreigners under the notion of correctness and standard english. shuck (2006) kang et al. 99 said that “language and race are closely linked as a means of distinguishing self from other” (p. 259). as our language was layered with our racial identity, we inevitably positioned ourselves as outsiders who were ignorant of the dominant u.s. cultural norms. however, we repositioned ourselves through our collaborative work as experts who can bring “dynamics of multiple cultural and linguistic diversities in educational contexts” (jang, 2017, p.571). implications this collaborative autoethnographic study has implications for understanding the racialized experience of korean female international students in u.s. higher education. our work advances the understanding of how the u.s. racial hierarchy involves and impacts asian international students. few studies on international students have addressed race-related issues (hernandez, 2021). however, our stories show that racism is not an issue bounded by citizenship or nationality. asian international students are subjected to racism every day (koo, 2021a; koo, 2021b). racism should therefore be treated as our issue regardless of citizenship. we found that asian international students need support to understand and navigate racialized discourse and position themselves as qualified professionals and political agents. through support from institutions, mentors, and peers, they can realize that monolingual, monocultural, and deficit perspectives are problematic (gutiérrez et al., 2009). also, asian international students need more opportunities to debunk what it means to become asian in the united states. they must critically examine their position as political agents and professionals who can speak multiple languages and contribute significant cultural capital and diversity to society. in addition, this research contributes to the growing need for non-traditional methods of inquiry (leavy, 2020). digital collages and poems allowed us to share and examine our feelings of shame concerning the racism we experienced. using this non-traditional method, we could capture ambiguously racialized moments in the everyday life of an asian international student in the united states. we believe that the stories presented in this study can inspire more scholars to use arts-based autoethnography as a way to reveal silenced feelings generated by social inequity in daily life (finley, 2008). this study has limited scope and generalizability as do all qualitative research studies. as a response to previous research investigating unique experiences of individuals from a specific country or culture (koo, kim, et al., 2021), this study mainly focuses on the experiences of three korean female international doctoral students in u.s. higher education institutions located in different states. another potential concern is the unintentional disclosure of personal details and observations of others. while we carefully advocate “relational ethics” (ellis, 2007) by employing multiple perspectives and arts, we could not receive consent from all the people we met in the past. furthermore, this study may include researchers’ unconscious bias in interpreting others’ words (lapadat, 2017). nevertheless, we argue that it is important to create spaces for sharing our stories and building solidarity. in sharing our racialized experience, we open a journal of international students 12(s2) 100 dialogue about biases and unfair treatment of marginalized racial groups. our work encourages people to question pervasive myths about asians in general and korean international students in particular. we also invite readers to interrogate how systematic oppression operates in their daily lives. international students’ invisibility in the discourse of race-related issues should be acknowledged and understood in the context of systemic oppression. ignorance or silence toward racism should not be regarded as an individual’s responsibility. conclusion using critical race theory and asiancrit, this arts-based collaborative autoethnography enables us to critically reflect upon the feelings and experiences we have swallowed to survive in u.s. higher education. through a reflection on shameful memories, this paper describes how international students experience and witness racism on a daily basis. previous literature has shown that international students of color in higher education experience racial stereotypes and layered challenges “based on [their] english abilities as a second language, their different cultural backgrounds, their disparities in appearance” (lin, 2021, p. 646). crt and asiancrit taught us that racism shapes the lives of asians; the “u.s. racial hierarchy” (poon et al., 2016, p.473) guides what it means to become asian in the united states. we realized that we unconsciously employed racial stereotypes of asians – the model minority and the perpetual foreigner – to locate ourselves in this white-dominant society. crt and asiancrit further taught us that we need to think critically about our position as asians in order not to secure whiteness. lastly, we would like to end our paper by sharing our ongoing process to awaken our ignorance and resist internalized racism based on this collaborative autoethnography. we are currently designing the website asian international students’ guide to surviving in academia without losing yourself. we believe that, because we are community members of a global society where racialized discourse is hovering, it is our responsibility to deeply ponder racism through this virtual space. on the website, we will provide spaces where we continuously interrogate and reflect on our (un)awareness of racism and its destructive impact on our self-image. through this space, we hope to build a supportive community to share how international students can successfully employ the assets they bring from their heritage. note we are grateful for the mentorship of the korean association early childhood researchers association. furthermore, we would also like to thank dr. kimbossard for her advice regarding our paper. kang et al. 101 references adebayo, c. t., & allen, m. 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(2017). does seeing an asian face make speech sound more accented? attention, perception, & psychophysics, 79(6), 1841–1859. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414017-1329-2 hyeungok kang, phd candidate in the department of educational theory and practice at the university of georgia, emphasizing early childhood education. her research interests include decolonial educational research and culturally sustaining education using technology. email: hyeungok@uga.edu sung ryung lyu, phd, is an assistant professor in school of education at american university. her major research interests lie in the area of early childhood education focusing on praxis of critical multicultural education and critical race theory. email: lyu@american.edu sehyun yun, phd, is an assistant professor of elementary education at ball state university. her research interests are mostly focused on the bilingual and biliteracy development of children as well as the professional development of preservice teachers. particularly, she is interested in how teacher education programs develop preservice teachers’ expertise in fair and equitable assessment for children from diverse cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic backgrounds. she can be reached via email at sehyun.yun@bsu.edu. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2019.1593214 mailto:sehyun.yun@bsu.edu theoretical and conceptual framework method findings trapped in racialized discourse: becoming asian in the united states powerless and disqualified image of ourselves discussion implications conclusion note references 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 175 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue s2 (2022), pp. 175-192 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12is2.4359 ojed.org/jis internationalization in higher education: equity, affordability, epistemic democracy? or social reproduction and world-systems stratification? maribel castañeda muñoz universidad anáhuac puebla, méxico abstract this autoethnographic paper exposes the multiple barriers encountered by an international doctoral female student in the united states: health issues especially covid-19, institutional, political, geopolitical, knowledge production and economic factors. reproduction theory, the world-system analysis and intellectual imperialism are used to examine these factors exposing the illusion of equity in international higher education and its role in perpetuating the imbalances and exclusion of large groups of people and entire countries. contrary to the narrative, international students are often part of these large excluded groups of people but are not regularly included in the discussion. keywords: internationalization, higher education, covid-19, epistemic democracy, cultural capital, world-systems analysis multiple factors converge impeding the realization of and dignifying the life of millions of people around the world. many of these factors are part of the experience of being an international student as well: they are personal, institutional, political and economic. sometimes, these factors combined with an emergency like the covid-19 pandemic, create searing experiences. i am a latina, mexican, non-immigrant, first generation, dual phd degree international student from a working-class family. i am a woman suffering from hypothyroidism. simultaneously i am also a daughter whose father passed away from covid. in this paper, using an autoethnography methodology, i describe my journey as a doctoral student in the united states. the narrative is that higher education and particularly international education provides people opportunities to improve journal of international students 12(s2) 176 their position in a stratified society. the reality is that the international education system itself is stratified and is often only reserved for exclusive groups; those who can afford it and possess the needed cultural capital. in that regards, economic, political and geopolitical factors are imbedded into an international education system that perpetuates inequity. additionally, the perpetuation of imbalances of the system embeds in other areas such as the production of knowledge, the legitimization of knowledge, the definition of the academic values, the definition of merits and the worth of a student, who as a person, deserves respect and appreciation. accordingly, in this autoethnography, i reflect on what equity and affordability in internationalization means and, how economic and geopolitical factors intersect with international education to perpetuate inequality and the exclusion of large groups of people. although these factors are not new, they become clearer when narrated from the perspective of someone struggling with them; they become alive, and remind us that behind the label international students there are human beings. for this reason, autoethnography is an appropriate methodology to explore these issues; as adams et al. (2015) suggest, personal experiences and self-reflection are a form to come to knowing because they help interpret cultural experiences, in that regards they are artistic and analytic simultaneously. thereby, this autoethnography is constructed based on my reflections, memories, conversations with family and spouse, documents and personal notes; the personal experience of the human behind the label international student. as weaver-hightower (2012) argues, sometimes beyond a scientific intent, an autoethnography is also an attempt at healing and, this is part of my process. internationalization there were about 5.3 million of international students in 2019 and an increasing year to year (unesco, 2019). in the united states, there were 1,075,496 international students enrolled in the in the 2019-2020 academic year who represented the 5.5% of the total enrollment. the main places of origin of international students are china and india (open doors, 2020). latin america and the caribbean accounts for the third place of origin of students, mostly undergraduate. me and my internationalization dream i was born in mexico city during the 80´s. my parents did not attend college and even secondary school as they were working class. i witnessed their efforts to send my sister and myself to college. parents of first generation, foreign-born immigrants in the united states consider higher education for their children a priority and an honor (orazova, 2017). although i was not an immigrant during my childhood, my parents shared that priority. i studied for my bachelors at a four-year public institution in mexico. after completion, i pursued graduate school by applying to several scholarships. over castañeda muñoz 177 time, i was able to complete two master degree programs successfully in mexico. i never thought of studying abroad because of my financial precarity. all my academic history is product of scholarships due to an outstanding gpa and my work ethic. i applied to another governmental scholarship to pursue my doctoral studies and i was admitted to a private university in 2014 with a scholarship from the national council of science and technology in mexico (conacyt by its acronym in spanish). my first encounter in life with internationalization and studying abroad occurred during the second year of my doctoral studies. i was enrolled at a private institution with a long history in internationalization and an aggressive strategy. i was told that internationalization and specifically studying abroad was a great experience; a great way to learn from another educational system, develop skills and my cultural understanding and increase my employability. all of that sounded like a dream and above all, i was sold the idea that i could make it come true as it was accessible and affordable; that it was for me. figure 1 best wishes cartel from my family before coming to the united states my journey in the illusion of affordability and equity in access to internationalization, a system of social reproduction my university in mexico had a long history of international relationships with a four-year intense research institution in the united states. in 2016, it had sent more than one hundred students as part of dual master degree programs. due to a special memorandum of understanding, i became the first person to participate in a dual phd program between the two institutions. it was treated as a milestone especially for my university in mexico. this way, i began my journey through the formal admission process and the disillusion of affordability and equity in the access to internationalization. journal of international students 12(s2) 178 in order to finance my studies abroad, i applied to a complementary scholarship from conacyt; although the complementary resources were not abundant, they were sufficient to finance my stay. during the signing process of the memorandum of understanding and the initial admission process, i was never told about the special financial requirements for international students, in particular the financial guarantee required from the united states´ government. to my enormous surprise, in order to complete my admission, i was asked to send a financial guarantee consisting of documentation of financial resources to meet my expenses for an entire year. specifically, i was asked to send a bank statement documenting that i had all those resources in my or my parents´ savings account. additionally, i had to include a letter signed by the bank´s manager testifying that the bank statement was real and original. although the memorandum of understanding between the universities included an in-state tuition waiver, i was required to send an out of state financial guarantee. i had to send documentation demonstrating i had more than $33,000 usd; this represents about $700,000 mxn, an immense amount of money that no working-class family has in their savings bank account. i question if policy makers know the current exchange rates between the united states and other middle-income or low-income countries. as choudaha (2020) describes, currencies have increasingly devaluated against the dollar in recent years impacting international student’s access. suddenly, i was faced with something that appeared surreal to me. i often wonder how other students have dealt with such a requirement; how many working-class students could ever possibly meet this? by the time i was asked for the financial documentation, i had an official letter from conacyt, a mexican governmental institution stating that i will have the necessary financial resources to pay my expenses at the american university but, this was not sufficient; this was not considered a financial guarantee. i felt frustrated, angry and sad, how can a student from a working-class family ever have access to study abroad with such a requirement? on top of that, i felt as if were a criminal who must document that a potential bank statement was not a fraud. my family and i started a painful journey to borrow money from family and friends to achieve such a bank statement. at the end of the day we were able to get it. but even today i wonder if that was worth it because we went on such a journey of countless phone calls, visits, headaches and tears. now i know i am not the only case. raby, ward and rhoades (2021) report that misinformation, lack of advisor support and institutional coordination, make students feeling alone during the application process and represents a significant barrier to study abroad. as netz (2015) describes, insufficient information often creates a significant mobility obstacle, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. thereby, internationalization, at least in a study abroad modality is not affordable or accessible to everyone. universities that incurred in the illusion of equity and affordability are irresponsible to disadvantaged students. according to bordieu (1973) and his social reproduction theory, the effects of the school are unequal among children from different social classes, in that regards the castañeda muñoz 179 educational system reinforces initial inequalities because it dictates the norms and criteria to access and to be successful within it. due to such governmental policies, american universities are by no means accessible to everyone and reproduce inequities. as di pietro (2020) argues, the cost of studying abroad deters the participation of students from less advantage backgrounds. more important, the accessibility to international education, not only has not improved, but has gotten worse. di pietro (2020) shows in his research, the social gap in study abroad has increased, with a clear trend towards wider inequality. in mexico the outbound mobility ratio has decreased in the latest years data from unesco (2019) suggesting that opportunities for studying abroad are increasingly becoming scarce. table 1 mexico´s outbound mobility ratio 2015-2019 outbound mobility ratio mexico 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 0.86 0.78 0.77 0.74 0.73 adapted from: united nations educational scientific and cultural organization institute for statistics (2022, feb 21). outbound mobility ratio by host region. http://data.uis.unesco.org/ financial challenges, or financial precarity, is one of the main struggles of international students (lin, 2012; leong, 2015; liu, 2016; hefner-babb and khoshlessan, 2018) although most of the research concerns to the cost of living during studies and not the admission process itself. as choudaha (2020) describes, affordability has various dimensions and implications. in my case and in the case of many other students, those dimensions and implications appear to be not considered by national policymakers, institutional outreach offices and faculty. social reproduction beyond institutions, a systemanalysis of an unequal world social reproduction lies not only in the cost of accessibility but in other norms and criteria imposed by an educational system. in this case, it is significant that the format of the financial guarantee does not meet the needs of disadvantaged students. although as an international student you have been granted a scholarship, that is not sufficient to meet governmental requirements. at the end of the day, it does not matter if universities sign memorandums of understanding if governmental policies are applied equally to all international students and single cases and special circumstances are not considered. the fact a document issued by a governmental institution from a partner country is not valid as a financial guarantee is meaningful given the historical and economic relationship between mexico and the united states. http://data.uis.unesco.org/ journal of international students 12(s2) 180 since 1994, there is a special commercial treaty between the united states, canada and mexico, initially called north american free trade agreement (nafta). this treaty was renewed in july 2020 and beyond its commercial benefits, as gutiérrez (2021) argues, its potential to generate a more competitive human capital and greater technological capabilities for mexico is more important. the real benefits derived from this commercial agreement for mexico are beyond the purpose of this article but in terms of education, the student mobility rates have not changed and there are no clear or known initiatives of national policies in both countries to increase the opportunity for more and varied students to gain benefits under this treaty. in the 2019-2020 academic year, there were 34,319 mexican students abroad; from those, there were about 15,149 students in the united states (unesco, 2019), the top destination of international students. however, mexican students account for 1% of the total international students in the united states (open doors, 2020) indicating these figures are rather small. there are certainly some scholarships from american institutions that allow students to gain access to higher education, particularly for master and doctoral students. however, it is clear that they are insufficient, and their eligibility criteria are likely reserved for students who possess significant cultural capital. as bordieu (1973) describes, the educational system reproduces social hierarchies based upon the hierarchy of merits. however, those merits are the accumulation of training and education carried by individuals often come from dominant or more advantage classes. most of the graduate students and particularly doctoral students in mexico are first generation students, thereby they are not familiarized nor possess all the merits with international educational systems associated with doctoral studies. in response, the mexican government launched the national quality graduate program (pnpc by its acronym in spanish) to provide opportunities for students from varied socioeconomic backgrounds to access to internationalization; however, the government in the united states does not accept mexico’s scholarship letter as a financial guarantee! what are the options for disadvantaged students? it seems there are no options; the roads are closed and this lack of empathy and adjustments in national policies are part of an unequal treatment considering the historical and commercial relationship. in that regard, bringing in the world-systems analysis is appropriate to understand this situation. in the world-systems analysis, wallerstein (2006) argues the capitalist world economy is marked by a division between core-like production processes and peripheral production processes located in core and peripheral states (not necessarily in terms of geographical location). this results in an unequal exchange where core states are strong and wealthy and peripheral are weak and poor. “strong states relate to weak states by pressuring them to accept cultural practiceslinguistic policy; educational policy, including where university students may study; media distribution-that will reinforce the long-term linkage between them” (wallerstein, 2006, p. 55). paradoxically this unequal relationship occurs within a geoculture that has the inclusion of all as its definition of a good society (wallerstein, 2006). castañeda muñoz 181 thereby, apparently all are welcome to internationalization of higher education, particularly in the united states; as long as they can afford it and conform to the norms. as my lived experience shows, national institutions of partner countries do not coordinate in mechanisms that allow students from different backgrounds to gain access. furthermore, government bodies and universities from a strong state, like the united state, have not made adjusts for students of weaker partner countries although both agreed to cooperate under a major treaty to enhance human capital and technological capabilities. thereby, students from weaker peripheral countries face additional obstacles to gain access to international higher education; this way, an unequal relationship persists, students and the country remain poor and in the peripheral. figure 2 assignment scholarship letter from a mexican governmental organization epistemic democracy or intellectual imperialism? in this section i describe my struggles with a lack of epistemic democracy. by epistemic democracy, we understand a knowledge relationship in epistemologically equal and reciprocal terms (hayes, 2020). it means an appreciation of the different knowledge systems without privileging one over another. however, as hayes (2020) argues, under a coloniality view, western educational systems are viewed as superior so that home students and universities consider international students as intellectually inferior foreigners. furthermore, this idea prevails in international students´ home countries and universities to the point that many students also feel inferior. it is what alatas (2000, p. 37) calls a “captive mind, one that is imitative and uncreative and whose thinking is based on western categories and modes of thought and is selfinduced”. studying the experiences of some graduate students in the united states, kaya (2020) found some of them see themselves in the past, as ignorant, less capable or less skillful. while i never saw myself in this way, there were very journal of international students 12(s2) 182 remarkable episodes when i experienced this lack of epistemic democracy in my relationships with both male and female faculty members. the following are some of those episodes. english! in a review of literature regarding challenges of international doctoral students in the united states, gao (2021) found a prevailing theme that they are required to perform at the same english standards as native english speakers. although international students understand that language proficiency is a major factor to succeed in an english language educational system, many times the standards seem unreachable. i began studying english as a kid. later, after completing my bachelors i took toefl and cambridge tests and was certified with c1 level. during my master’s degree program, i also attended english teaching lessons and was certified with the highest score in the teaching knowledge test administered by cambridge. none of these were sufficient to satisfy my advisor´s standards. i was recommended to request reviews for my class papers in the writing center because according to my advisor, my english ability was never sufficient to write a publishable paper. in regards to my dissertation, i was told that i need to hire a professional editor, otherwise my dissertation would not be approved. i could not afford a professional editor. still i wonder how i will be able to graduate. i remember thinking it is unfair that a person that does not speak other language than english, may put on hold my dissertation approval because of my proficiency in a foreign language. furthermore, these overemphasis in english language proficiency and the publication issue reinforces the inequalities in the knowledge production where english is the dominant language of publication. as collyer (2016) discusses, there are persistent structures of inequality in the knowledge production, they began by the definition of what scientific knowledge means, privileging northern, english written productions of knowledge as the real, authentic or best knowledge. singh et al. (2018), cited in suspitsyna (2021), argue the dominance of english is limiting and epistemologically undemocratic. so, it is not only a matter of english proficiency, but also a matter of who defines what is worthy and what is not for the academic field. this way, it was not a matter of being able to communicate my ideas, to give voice to my thoughts and potential contributions to academy in a foreign language, it was about my proficiency in english. a proficiency that i never reached according to my advisor. is that epistemic democracy? as alatas (2000) states, the basis of intellectual imperialism is ethnocentrism. mapping the global research related to international students, jing et al. (2020) found cross-cultural adjustment as a major theme which includes language barriers. however, in my case i did not struggle to understand or to communicate with professors or peers. i was able to make friendships with people from different geographical contexts, including americans. several times i was praised by other professors because of the quality of my contributions and i could reach a 3.7 gpa. castañeda muñoz 183 thereby, i do not think language was a barrier for my academic performance in general and that´s why i consider this particular issue from an unequal epistemic approach. theoretical lenses and the understanding of what a doctoral dissertation in the united states means another major episode in the lack of epistemic democracy is understanding what a doctoral dissertation means. during my master and doctoral studies in mexico, i attended methodology lessons and i completed a thesis to graduate. during all these courses, i was never told that i had to use a specific theoretical framework to analyze my research’ data. i have worked with faculty from different countries in latin america and i can say there are several approaches in regards to research and dissertations. in that regard, the use of theory or theoretical frameworks varies. what i mean is that there is no a unique research approach. however, under an intellectual imperialism view, the non-western world is limited in competence and creativity (alatas, 2000). i remember discussing with my advisor the need to have a specific theoretical lens in my research. i guess at the beginning i did not understand very well what they meant. i asked several questions. i truly wanted to understand this research approach. although later now, i understand the importance to have a specific theoretical framework in research however there are different approaches in generating knowledge. i remember being asked how it was possible that i did not know about the importance of specific theoretical frameworks if i was supposed to have written a dissertation. how it was possible that i had graduated from a doctoral program previously without knowing this? i felt miserable. i wondered what that meant. does that mean that i graduated from a lesser doctoral program where faculty does not know proper research methodology? does that mean that i should not have graduated because i do not have the necessary research skills? is there a specific and valid research approach that i did not know earlier? it was also then i learned about the qualifying exam in my doctoral program. i learned that a qualifying exam meant a doctoral student shows they possess the necessary research and methodology skills. now i understand that it means that we possess the research skills according to a united states research approach. i did it and i showed my skills in my qualifying exam successfully in the first attempt. after passing the qualifying exam i continued working on my dissertation, i completed the first three chapters although several factors, including covid-19 impeded me in defending my proposal. during this time, i received an email from my advisor stating that the proposal was “almost ready to defend”. due to reasons i still do not understand, i was later told “you do not understand what it means to conduct a dissertation in the united states”. it is important to note, at the moment of the signing of the memorandum of understanding for the dual doctoral program, it was agreed that i would work on a single dissertation to graduate from both programs. that never happened. journal of international students 12(s2) 184 although my previous dissertation served as a foundation, i was asked to complete a second dissertation to graduate from the american university because there is a specific way to complete dissertations that basically i do not understand. studying the experiences of first generation, foreign-born immigrants in higher education in the united states, orazova (2017) found that the background education received in their home countries, developed the strong skills necessary to face the challenges encountered in the american academic environment. according to my advisor, apparently this is not my case. it is clear there is no epistemic and academic reciprocal terms because there is no compliance of an agreement between two institutions, nor appreciation of my research skills, thoughts or academic background. in other countries you do not pay attention to plagiarism and ethics like us the third major episode in questioning the epistemic democracy was related to apa style. in mexico, i studied my masters at a major institution ranked as the most important private institution in latin america. instituto tecnológico y de estudios superiores de monterrey is ranked among the top two hundred institutions in the qs world university ranking. apa style of writing is required in this university. furthermore, there were strict regulations in terms of academic plagiarism where any student who received two plagiarism allegations would be dismissed from the entire university system permanently. more importantly, honesty and academic honesty are part of the most important values that were instilled in me by my parents and my teachers. my dad was the most honest man i ever known in my life, and every step i take i feel obliged to honor my dad´s values. once in the united states, i worked as a graduate research assistant (gra). i was part of a research team with two faculty members. i had an outstanding performance during my first semester where i was invited to supervise the team´s activities. so, i was in shock when during my methodology class with one of the faculty members that was part of the research team, i received an email notifying me that i had an allegation of plagiarism! studying apa and having a commitment with academic honesty is not equal to not making any mistakes. so, i had a paper with some mistakes in regards to the extent of paraphrasing; however, all the appropriate references and citations were included. i was accused but was never questioned about the paper! i could not discuss what the issue was, nor was i notified by the professor directly. i received an email to be present at an allegation meeting with the professor and the coordinator of the program; i used to work with both of them! once in the meeting i was told that “in other countries you do not pay attention to plagiarism and ethics like us”. after the allegations meeting, it was concluded that i did not commit plagiarism! all the necessary references and citations were in the paper but the mistake i made was in the extent of paraphrasing. even though, not only i was accused of plagiarism, i was accused that in my home-country we do not care castañeda muñoz 185 about plagiarism and ethics. my values, my family values, my academic values were discredited even before the allegations meeting. a person i trusted, accused me without even give me a chance to explain anything. they never notified although we had an academic and research relationship; i was part of their research team! at the beginning they say that the professor would fill an admonition form for my record. later, the professor argued they were an empathic person and did not want to affect my record, so they will dismiss the admonition. they never accepted that my academic honesty was questioned without reason. the nonwestern world is receptive to compassion (alatas, 2000) and, that compassion was an excuse to avoid accepting an unfair accusation. i did not expect being excused in case of any violation to the university regulations. however, i did not violate regulations and, the admonition that i received was excessive and unfair. i expected to be notified personally and above all, expected not being accused before the necessary reviews were made. i expected my personal values would not be questioned before reviews. that´s what i would have expected from faculty members with whom i worked with; however, i realized i was never part of the team. i was always an outsider holding lesser personal and academic values from a lesser country (paradoxically a partner country). racism and ethnocentrism are basic to intellectual imperialism (alatas, 2000). health, covid-19, loss, everything intertwined and a non-supportive academic environment that reproduces inequity in this section, i address my health struggles, including covid-19 and loss as my dad passed away. all factors intertwined to create a painful experience as an international student. health issues my health issues combined with a dismissal of my symptoms and a lack of appropriate medical treatments at the university health services, definitely negatively impacted my doctoral studies. although i was a relatively healthy person during my first semester at the american institution, i struggled with my respiratory tract. the first time i requested help was at the university health services. i had severe sore throat to the point that i was barely able to speak. even tough, i was told my symptoms did not indicate an infection or anything serious, i was not given any medication, not even as aspirin. that was on thursday. on saturday night i could not breathe and speak, a friend of mine took me to the emergency room where i was diagnosed with severe bronchitis. i spent almost two weeks in bed and i struggled to accomplish academic responsibilities resulting in a low grade in two courses. the second time i requested help at the university health services, i was suffering from panic and anxiety attacks with severe physical symptoms that i had journal of international students 12(s2) 186 never experienced before. that time i was told i could not be given any medication and they recommended me to attend counseling services. the counselor disagreed with the lack of medication and requested to talk with a psychiatrist. however, she was not successful. i attended counseling services almost daily during one week as i was getting worse. the next weekend i was taken to hospital by a friend of mine where i was diagnosed with severe anxiety and panic attacks; i was given medication and hospitalized for two days. my medical insurance however did not cover hospitalization and the recommended lab tests in the hospital. remember, i was required to have a financial guarantee and everything i went through to get it; a financial guarantee that includes a quite expensive medical insurance. as choudaha (2020) argues, universities should reinvest part of the tuition fees on university services for students improving their quality of life. i wonder, how could universities improve their health services for international students? i wonder, how a payment for medical insurance, which was not helpful for me, regarding the university health services i received? after that episode, i was in shock because i did not understand what was going on with me. the situation was so painful that i made the decision to return to my home-country. i was forced to request a leave of absence for a year to recover my health. once in mexico i was diagnosed with an untreated long hypothyroidism that produced an imbalance in brain chemical causing depression, anxiety, panic attacks and other health issues. after a year, i made the decision to return to the university in the united states, where i was forced to go through a re-application for the program, including sending another financial guarantee! a tsunami called covid-19 covid-19 represents the worst thing has ever happened to me. its first impact in my life was the cancellation of my research plans. at the end of 2019, i left the united states because i had completed all my courses and was working on my dissertation. i had been awarded a travel research grant to go to colombia to conduct a multi-case study. it included financing tuition for my seven remaining dissertation hours. all that was to happen in 2020. i was not yet in colombia when covid-19 forced lockdowns worldwide. suddenly my life change, i was stuck in mexico without any kind of income, no job amidst a pandemic, no research grant including no tuition coverage because the grant would be released only if i travel to colombia. in short, i had nothing. finally, the research grant was cancelled because i did not travel to colombia, although it was not my decision. it was travel restrictions, but i was working distantly with universities in colombia! uncertainty about immigration policies for international students and the risk of infection made me consider to not go back to the united states. so, i was in mexico, i was an adult living with my parents with no income at all! i could not afford tuition, so i applied for scholarships explaining my situation but was not granted any of them. at the beginning of 2021, despite all our efforts and following sanitary protocols and recommendations, both my dad and i got covid. so far, i still castañeda muñoz 187 wonder when and how we got infected. when we were told we got covid, i was in shocked and in panic. we were told we did not require hospitalization so both of us initiated our quarantines. as days went by, my dad was getting worse and worse; i could not do anything. i was also in quarantine and with severe body pain, headaches, with no energy even to get up. i remember hearing my mom and sister´s desperation as he was getting worse and worse. there was no more oxygen equipment available, hospitals were bursting. my dad then passed away and i was still in quarantine; feeling useless, stuck in my bedroom. a useless observer: a distant witness because i could not even attend his funeral as it was risky for other people. after my dad´s death i was living in chaos. i got worse; the physical and moral pain, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation is all i remember. i may need hundreds of words to describe what i went through while in quarantine with my dad in the other bedroom getting worse and dying from covid. i may need hundreds of words to describe what i lived with my own symptoms. of course, the last thing i was thinking of during the following months was my doctoral studies. there was no way!!! afterwards i went through a prolonged grief disorder a new psychiatric category introduced in the international classification of diseases that involves traumatic, disenfranchisement and chronic grief that cooccurs with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, guilt, somatization, regret, anger (kokou-kpolou, 2020). after months of psychotherapy i decided to begin to recuperate my life. i decided to request a virtual meeting with my advisor to explore any chance to finish my degree. i did not enroll one semester because of my family’s covid situation and at the time i could not afford tuition. so, i was being forced to request a leave of absence for a second time. although my advisor agreed with it, i realized later it had quite negative implications for me. for instance, they stated i had a long timeline for graduation as it would take me at least two years to finish my dissertation although my proposal is “almost ready to defend” according to their last email. the long timeline would involve taking more dissertation hours which involves paying more tuition which i could not afford it. my family spent too much money on my dad´s illness because he did not have medical insurance. we are still paying back our debt so not only they cannot support me, i have to help them. in addition to extra credit dissertation hours, i was required to attend research courses as a refreshment because i may have lost research skills. i explained that before getting infected with covid i was working distantly with a colombian university and had submitted my research to the annual conference of the association of the study for higher education (ashe) and was accepted. i wanted to express that my research skills were fresh. no matter, the answer was that i had to take research courses again in case i take a leave of absence. i discussed these implications and my financial struggles; however, i was told that i “do not understand what making a dissertation in the united states means”. later, my advisor resigned as my chair and as member of my doctoral committee arguing that i do not listen because they suggested to stop and not finishing the dissertation because it will involve a long time and commitment that journal of international students 12(s2) 188 clearly, i do not possess. no, i cannot listen to a faculty member that suggests to stop and not finishing a degree in which i have invested time, effort and money, in which i have invested part of my life. despite all my struggles including prolonged grief disorder because my dad passed away! i have good gpa and i still wanted to finish my degree. that´s why i reached out again. apparently, that is not a proof of my commitment. gomes et al. (2021) describe some of the strategies that are critical to support international students and their capacity to resilience, some of them are engaging with peers, supervisors or the university. those have not been critical supporting strategies for me. i have not felt that the university is supporting me by any means. i am here because of my own agency (raby et al., 2021) to overcome struggles and trauma and transcend the lack of institutional support. what the university has done is to add more burdens to my situation. as lipura (2021) argues, covid is widely discriminating with whom are more adversely affected. disadvantaged people, in this case international students, encounter serious struggles including financial precarity. the infection forces quarantine, cases of family loss, and severe trauma which may lead to absence from work or school which many institutions do not provide support leading to dismissal from jobs or school, consequently it leads to a vicious circle of precarity and inequity. figure 3 extract from an intended leave of absence final thoughts in writing my experience as an international student, i intend to inform practitioners, faculty, staff, and policymakers at institutional and national level regarding the experience of the human beings behind the label international students. i intend to inform them of all the struggles that we and our families go through. although there is abundant research of international students, there are still areas to focus and further investigate. for instance, most of the literature regarding latin american students focus on immigrant latinos in the united states; however, there is need to illuminate the experience and the struggles of castañeda muñoz 189 non-immigrant latino students, particularly mexican given the context of international cooperation treaties. on the other hand, there is increasing literature regarding mental health issues; however, there is scarce literature regarding other health issues or the combination of both mental and physical health issues and their impact on the academic performance of international students. it is still coming to surface the multidimensional impact of covid. additionally, although the literature highlights financial precarity as one of the main struggles of some international students, more attention is needed to the various dimensions of financial precarity. it is not only a matter of granting scholarships but all the different facets associated to affordability and accessibility. in that regards, my experiences serve to recognize the gray areas in research and policy. the implications of this article are varied. for international students it involves getting as much information as they can prior to studying abroad, including getting a copy of special memorandums, agreements or treaties and their terms and conditions. it involves the need of a mentality that recognizes their contributions and academic worth as international students. it involves also requesting permanent communication with their home institutions and the adherence to commitments made. for faculty, staff, and academic managers in universities, it involves recognizing the particular needs of students, adapting policies for different cases, recognizing the need to work with foreign universities in reciprocal terms, and acknowledging the role of higher education to achieve international cooperation goals and the knowledge, potential, academic and personal value of people worldwide. it also involves the need to coordinate at national level in educational international policies with partner countries. as castiello-gutiérrez and li (2020) state, as international students we want to be seen more than money. we desire that universities in the united states be aware that many times international students require not only extra but different support. this is financial, academic and/or psychological because those are the barriers that we constantly encounter. and, we want to be recognized as knowledgeable people. most of all, we want to be seen as human beings. as lipura (2021) states, international students are thinkers and not subjects. in this humanness, as castiello-gutiérrez and li (2020) argue, we need to be aware of our own responsibility in creating or perpetuating inequity. i absolutely agree. i do not intend to take a victim´s role, actually the opposite. i think i should have spoken up clearly when i encountered each of these issues. many times, we are afraid to speak up. i assume my responsibility in creating safe and equitable higher education spaces. i share my story with hope in reflection regarding students as human beings beyond labels like international students, mexican students, latino students and others. every human being has a story and policies and procedures need to be flexible to consider the individuality and the different struggles. higher education and international higher education need to recuperate its mission and advocacy for human beings beyond labels. an advocacy for fairness, equity and inclusion for the development of millions of people worldwide transcending attachment to journal of international students 12(s2) 190 geopolitical and economical evils. in that regards, i wish international higher education recognizes me as a human being with multiple and complex roles and supports me in that complexity because i am an international first generation from a low-income family student, dual phd degree pursuer. but, i am also a woman, latina, mexican, a daughter whose father passed away from covid. i am a human being and want to be recognized as such. references adams, t. e., linn, h. j. s., & ellis, c. 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(2006). world-systems analysis, an introduction. duke university press. maribel castañeda muñoz, phd, is the coordinator of the leadership and management of higher education institutions doctoral program at universidad anáhuac puebla, méxico. her major research interests lie in the area of leadership, leaders´ training, strategic management in higher education and quality in internationalization of higher education. email: maribel.castanedamu@anahuac.mx mailto:maribel.castanedamu@anahuac.mx 91 special edition | bahasa indonesia mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19 [international students and covid-19] issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 10, issue s3 (2020), pp. 91-107 © journal of international students https://ojed.org/jis exploring the emotions of single international students in hong kong facing the covid-19 pandemic eksplorasi emosi mahasiswa internasional lajang di hongkong dalam menghadapi pandemi covid-19 suprihatin (kehok) universitas negeri jakarta, indonesia lilik istiqomah institut agama islam negeri (iain) surakarta, indonesia rini intansari meilani universitas pendidikan indonesia, indonesia khoiriyah universitas negeri malang, indonesia institut agama islam negeri (iain) jember, indonesia ________________________________________________________ abstract: this narrative study aims to explore the emotional experiences of international students in hong kong during the covid-19 pandemic. data in this study were garnered from the results of interviews with two single female students who were completing their doctoral studies at a public university in hong kong. we analyzed the interview data thematically with the hargreaves’s emotional geography framework (2001a, 2001b). findings showed that the covid-19 pandemic affected the emotional experience of international students in terms of the dissertation guidance process, psychological mental state, relationships with family, finance, and spirituality. this https://ojed.org/jis 92 empirical evidence may provide new insight into the role of emotionality in the completion of postgraduate studies during uncertain and worrying pandemic. abstrak: penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman emosi mahasiswa internasional di hongkong selama masa pandemi covid-19. data dalam penelitian ini diperoleh dari hasil wawancara terhadap dua mahasiswi lajang yang sedang menyelesaikan studi doktoral mereka. data wawancara dianalisis secara tematik dengan kerangka pemikiran geografi emosi hargreaves (2001a, 2001b). hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pandemi covid-19 telah memengaruhi pengalaman emosi mahasiswa internasional dalam proses bimbingan disertasi, keadaan mental psikologis, hubungan dengan keluarga, finansial dan spiritualitas. temuan ini diharapkan akan memberikan inspirasi tentang peran emosi dalam penyelesaian studi pascasarjana di masa pandemi yang tidak menentu dan mengkhawatirkan. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, emotional geography, international students’ experiences, narrative inquiry [pandemi covid-19, geografi emosi, pengalaman mahasiswa internasional, penelitian naratif] pendahuluan sejak ditemukan pada akhir tahun 2019, covid-19 menjadi kajian yang menarik bagi khalayak umum, termasuk para peneliti yang tertarik untuk mempelajari dampaknya terhadap beragam aspek kehidupan yang saling berkaitan seperti politik, kesehatan, ekonomi, sosial budaya dan pendidikan. dalam konteks pendidikan, wabah covid-19 ini sangat memengaruhi semua pembelajaran sekolah dan kegiatan akademik dan non-akademik kampus, termasuk mahasiswa asing yang sedang studi di berbagai belahan dunia. misalnya, penelitian ma, heywood dan macintyre (2020) dalam konteks australia menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa sangat tergantung pada ketersediaan jaringan internet untuk berkomunikasi jarak jauh dengan dosen, pembimbing, keluarga dan teman. keberadaan mereka menjadi sangat penting dalam membantu mengatasi beragam masalah kesehatan yang dialami oleh mahasiswa internasional pada masa pandemi. beragam isu kesehatan baik fisik maupun mental dan bahkan kasus bunuh diri ditemukan di hongkong dalam masa pandemi ini (choi, 2020; lee, 2020). hal ini disebabkan oleh pengaruh ditemukannya covid-19 di cina pada akhir tahun 2019. dalam masa mencekam tersebut, banyak mahasiswa internasional yang belajar di hongkong terkena dampaknya. mereka harus bergelut dengan beragam isu yang mengancam keselamatan jiwa dan raganya. oleh karena itu, mengupas salah satu sisi kehidupan mahasiswa asing di hongkong yang sedang terdampak oleh pandemi covid-19 menjadi sebuah daya tarik untuk dikaji secara empiris. selain itu, masih terbatasnya penelitian yang berfokus pada emosi sebagai salah satu aspek psikologis yang berpengaruh pada kesuksesan studi mahasiswa di masa kritis. penelitian terdahulu berfokus pada mahasiswa internasional dan kesehatan (chen, akpanudo & hasler, 2020; forbes-mewett & sawyer, 2016), mahasiswa 93 internasional dan pendidikan (aydin, 2020; haverila, haverila & mclaughlin, 2020), serta mahasiswa internasional dan motivasi belajar (mostafa & lim, 2020). penelitian sebelumnya juga masih terbatas dalam mengkaji refleksi diri tentang perjuangan mahasiswa internasional (heng, 2020), gambaran deskriptif tentang mahasiswa internasional (jing, gosh, sun & liu, 2020) dan kemampuan menyelesaikan belajar (choudaha, 2020). oleh karena itu, artikel ini menyajikan hasil studi naratif mengenai pengalaman emosi dua mahasiswi lajang asing yang berasal dari dua negara berbeda. pengalaman emosi ini berkaitan dengan dampak drastis yang dialami oleh kedua mahasiswa internasional ini dalam kehidupan akademik dan non-akademik yang diakibatkan oleh prevalensi pandemi covid-19. metode konteks penelitian hongkong dipilih menjadi latar dalam penelitian ini karena kedua partisipan dalam penelitian ini, yang merupakan teman peneliti pertama, sedang menjadi mahasiswa di sana. sejak bulan januari tahun 2020, covid-19 telah memasuki hongkong dan kasus yang terkonfirmasi menunjukkan peningkatan (the government of the hong kong special administrative region, 2020). dalam penelitian ini, desain penelitian naratif dipilih untuk mengeksplorasi kehidupan individu melalui penggalian informasi pengalaman pribadi serta bagaimana pengalaman tersebut terbentuk dan dimaknai secara kontekstual (schreiber & asner-self, 2011) yang akan memberikan wawasan untuk memahami dunia di sekitar kita (webster & mertova, 2007). dalam sebuah penelitian naratif, peneliti memiliki peran yang khas, yaitu sebagai kolaborator sekaligus partisipan (james, 2018). dari awal pengumpulan sampai penyajian data dalam bentuk artikel ilmiah, peneliti naratif merupakan perpanjangan pemikiran dan perwakilan dari para partisipan yang ditelitinya. karena perannya yang seperti ini, peneliti naratif harus selalu berhati-hati dalam menginterpretasi dan menyampaikan pemikiran partisipan. perekrutan partisipan dalam penelitian ini dilakukan berdasarkan prinsip kemudahan akses dan karakteristik partisipan yang sesuai dengan tujuan penelitian. peneliti pertama adalah teman dari para partisipan yang bersedia untuk diwawancarai dalam penelitian ini. mereka adalah liong dan astried (nama samaran) yang merupakan teman sekelas dalam beberapa mata kuliah pada tahun pertama program doktor. hubungan pertemanan ini berlanjut sampai sekarang. kami, peneliti pertama dan partisipan, sering berinteraksi secara sosial melalui aplikasi whatsapp dan atau wechat. saat ini, liong dan astried berada pada tahun terakhir program doktor mereka. liong adalah seorang perempuan lajang berkewarganegaraan cina dan berusia sekitar 28 tahun. astried adalah seorang perempuan lajang yang berkewarganegaraan rusia dengan usia sekitar 30 tahun. 94 pengumpulan data pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan wawancara melalui aplikasi zoom dan pesan suara pada aplikasi whatsapp. kegiatan wawancara dilakukan oleh penulis pertama menggunakan bahasa inggris. sesuai dengan kesepakatan, wawancara dengan liong dilakukan melalui pesan suara aplikasi whatsapp pada tanggal 18 juli 2020 selama 1 jam 30 menit. tiga hari kemudian, pada tanggal 21 juli 2020, wawancara dengan astried dilakukan menggunakan aplikasi zoom sesuai dengan sarannya selama 1 jam 30 menit. pada saat wawancara, astried menggunakan masker yang merupakan kewajiban bagi warga yang tinggal di hongkong. wawancara tambahan pada tanggal 16-17 agustus 2020 dilakukan melalui pesan suara aplikasi whatsapp untuk memperkaya data naratif. pertanyaan yang diberikan kepada partisipan berfokus pada pengalaman emosinya mengenai dampak pandemi covid-19 yang dialami dan dirasakan dalam berbagai aspek kehidupan. analisis data dan kerangka teori untuk analisis setelah wawancara selesai, langkah berikutnya adalah melakukan transkripsi data wawancara. masing-masing anggota peneliti mendapatkan bagian yang sama dalam mentranskripsi data berdasarkan durasi waktu hasil wawancara. selanjutnya, hasil transkripsi dibahas oleh tim peneliti dalam forum grup whatsapp peneliti. dalam proses transkripsi, salah satu peneliti mengalami kesulitan ketika mentranskrip data yang diperoleh dari astried. hal ini disebabkan oleh masker yang digunakan dan dialek yang terdengar kurang akrab bagi peneliti. transkrip data utuh juga diberikan kepada masing-masing partisipan guna diperiksa kebenarannya. kedua partisipan terkejut mendapatkan transkrip wawancara yang ternyata sampai sembilan halaman untuk liong dan sebelas halaman untuk astried. kerangka teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisis data dalam penelitian ini diadopsi dari teori geografi emosi yang dirumuskan oleh hargreaves (2000, 2001a, 2001b, 2005). teori ini terdiri atas lima dimensi emosi yang saling terkait yaitu geografi fisik/personal, geografi sosiokultural, geografi moral, geografi profesional dan geografi politik. tabel 1 menjelaskan kelima dimensi tersebut. data yang telah ditranskripsi dan diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa indonesia dianalisis secara tematik (widodo, 2014) dengan mengidentifikasi pola yang muncul secara berulang dalam data. identifikasi pola ini dihasilkan melalui proses pemberian kode pada kata/frasa/kalimat tertentu yang membentuk kategori atau topik tertentu yang mengacu pada teori geografi emosi. dalam pemberian kode ini, proses identifikasi tema-tema yang relevan dengan mudah ditemukan. 95 tabel 1. teori geografi emosi geografi emosi deskripsi konseptual geografi fisik/personal dimensi geografi ini memengaruhi interaksi sosial yang dibatasi oleh faktor-faktor, seperti kedekatan emosional yang terjadi dalam hubungan antara mahasiswa, dosen pembimbing dan masyarakat kampus lainnya. jarak yang menunjukkan hubungan emosi ini sangat dipengaruhi oleh intensitas hubungan yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa dan dosen pembimbing, misalnya. geografi sosiokultural dimensi ini menciptakan diskursus kedekatan atau kesenjangan sosial dikarenakan oleh perbedaan ras, budaya, gender dan disabilitas, termasuk perbedaan cara merasakan dan mengekspresikan emosi yang dapat menciptakan jarak antar mahasiswa, dosen dan masyarakat kampus lainnya. jika semua hal ini tidak dipahami secara sosial dan budaya, masyarakat kampus akan memperlakukan mahasiswa internasional berdasarkan stereotip yang ada atau norma sosial budaya masyarakat kampus dan masyarakat setempat. geografi moral diskursus kedekatan atau kesenjangan sosial dipengaruhi oleh nilai dan norma moral yang dimiliki oleh mahasiswa, dosen, dan masyarakat kampus lainnya dalam meraih visi dan tujuan yang kemungkinan berbeda antara satu dengan yang lainnya. geografi profesional dalam dimensi ini, norma profesionalitas memengaruhi hubungan/interaksi sosial antara dosen, mahasiswa dan masyarakat kampus lainnya. setiap kampus memiliki normanorma profesionalitas yang harus dipatuhi/diikuti oleh masyarakat kampus, termasuk mahasiswa internasional. geografi politik dalam dimensi ini, kekuasaan hierarki atau power menyebabkan kedekatan atau kesenjangan sosial di kalangan masyarakat kampus. misalnya, otoritas kampus memiliki kekuasaan dalam mengendalikan masyarakat kampus, termasuk pemberlakuan kebijakan pembelajaran daring untuk dosen dan mahasiswa. temuan dan pembahasan penelitian ini dirancang untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman emosi dua mahasiswi internasional lajang yang sedang menyelesaikan program doktor mereka dalam masa pandemi covid-19 di hongkong. berdasarkan hasil analisis, diketahui bahwa kondisi tersebut memengaruhi pengalaman emosi mereka dalam lima hal. kelima hal tersebut adalah proses bimbingan disertasi, keadaan mental psikologis, hubungan dengan keluarga, finansial dan spiritualitas. pada bagian di bawah ini, tema yang teridentifikasi tersebut disajikan bersamaan dengan data yang mendukung. 96 geografi profesional: “saya merasa kurang nyaman saat pertama konsultasi dengan menggunakan zoom, tapi kemudian semua berubah” liong dan astried mengatakan bahwa mereka merasa cukup nyaman dalam berinteraksi dan berkonsultasi dengan pembimbing akademik secara langsung bertatap muka di kampus. kegiatan konsultasi ini berjalan dengan lancar sebab semua elemen di kampus cukup mendukung, seperti keberadaan perpustakaan yang buka sepanjang waktu, kenyamanan membaca dan mengunduh semua dokumen yang dibutuhkan. hal ini kemudian secara drastis berubah total saat pandemi berlangsung. waktu itu peneliti pertama bertanya kepada liong tentang bentuk konsultasi yang diterapkan oleh pembimbingnya. liong menceritakan bahwa sejak pandemi dia melakukan proses bimbingan menggunakan aplikasi zoom. dari wawancara yang mendalam terkuak satu hal penting yang dirasakan baik oleh liong maupun astried yaitu perasaan mereka pertama kali berkonsultasi memakai media zoom. di cina, sudah menjadi hal umum bahwa setiap warga masyarakat termasuk mahasiswa dilarang memakai produk-produk teknologi dari luar cina seperti google, facebook dan whatsapp (chiu, 2020). aplikasi zoom juga belum pernah digunakan oleh kedua partisipan dalam berkonsultasi dengan pembimbingnya. saat pertama kali menggunakannya, mereka merasa khawatir dan canggung dalam mengekspresikan ide-ide yang dimiliki. seiring waktu, liong dan astried menikmati konsultasi dengan pemanfaatan aplikasi tersebut. sensasi yang dirasakan ketika pertama kali dan selanjutnya menggunakan zoom tentu berbeda dengan konsultasi secara langsung. hal ini kemungkinan disebabkan oleh perbedaan gaya berkomunikasi yang dipengaruhi oleh kebudayaan para partisipan dan pembimbing mereka, seperti dalam penelitian nieto (2016). hal tersebut membuat kedua partisipan kurang nyaman berkomunikasi melalui aplikasi zoom. liong bercerita bahwa pada awalnya dia mengirimkan surel yang berisi permintaan untuk berkonsultasi dengan pembimbingnya. ketika pembimbingnya menyatakan bersedia, maka mereka berdua akan menentukan waktu yang disepakati untuk bertemu melalui zoom. pembimbingnya kemudian mengirimkan sebuah tautan zoom yang telah diatur sesuai waktu yang telah disepakati. liong yang semula merasa khawatir, gugup dan bingung harus melakukan apa saat bertemu dengan pembimbingnya, dia mulai merasa nyaman seiring waktu. selanjutnya, baik liong maupun pembimbingnya sepakat untuk saling berdiskusi melalui zoom pada masa pandemi ini. sangat berbeda dengan astried yang walaupun merasa nyaman menggunakan aplikasi zoom, dia masih membutuhkan bimbingan secara tatap muka. berikut kutipan wawancara dengan liong dan astried: ya.. sebenarnya pertama saya merasa khawatir bagaimana konsultasi lewat zoom. ini pertama kali bagi saya melakukannya. saya mengirimkan permintaan berkonsultasi kepada pembimbing saya lewat email. kemudian jika dia menyetujui permintaan saya, maka ia akan mengirim satu tautan zoom untuk proses bimbingan. pada hari yang telah disepakati, saya 97 mengklik tautan tersebut dan mulailah kami berdiskusi. saya merasa nyaman dan mudah. untuk selanjutnya kami akan memakai zoom terus. lebih nyaman bagi kami, karena saya tidak perlu keluar rumah dan dia juga tidak perlu jauh-jauh datang ke kampus. (liong, wawancara whatsapp,18 juli 2020) berbeda, proses bimbingan yang saya lakukan sekarang menggunakan aplikasi zoom. dulu sih lebih nyaman, saya bisa bimbingan secara langsung tapi sekarang….harus pake zoom. memang mudah tetapi saya masih perlu pertemuan langsung seperti dulu. pake zoom tidak begitu bebas mengekspresikan apa yang saya pikirkan. (astried, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) dari pernyataan liong di atas dapat dimengerti bahwa ada perasaan khawatir akan kenyamanan berkonsultasi dengan menggunakan media zoom untuk pertama kali. dia merasa khawatir akan adanya interaksi yang kurang dan juga ketidakleluasaan dalam menyampaikan pendapat. namun demikian, kekhawatiran itu sirna setelah dia mulai terbiasa berkonsultasi melalui zoom. jadi, walaupun ada rasa khawatir ketika mulai berkonsultasi melalui zoom, liong tetap profesional untuk terus menggunakan aplikasi tersebut sampai dia menemukan kenyamanan. lain halnya dengan astried, dia memang menemukan kenyamanan saat proses bimbingan menggunakan aplikasi zoom, tetapi dia masih memerlukan pertemuan secara tatap muka. geografi sosiokultural: “meskipun saya lajang dan sendiri di hongkong, tapi saya tidak merasa kesepian” kedua partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswi tingkat akhir yang sedang menyelesaikan studi doktoral mereka. sejak tahun pertama, mereka hidup sendiri tanpa ditemani oleh keluarganya. mereka berdua adalah mahasiswi dewasa yang mandiri dan bisa bertahan di tengah badai kesendirian ketika bencana sosial dan wabah covid-19 melanda hongkong. lain halnya dengan mahasiswa doktoral yang membawa keluarga mereka, keseharian mahasiswa yang membawa keluarga lebih hangat dibanding dengan mahasiswa lajang. bila mahasiswa yang membawa keluarga bisa bertukar cerita atau sekadar berbagi canda gurau dengan suami/istri dan juga anak-anaknya, mahasiswa lajang menjalani semuanya sendiri. “mendekatkan yang jauh” adalah metafora yang paling bermakna berkaitan dengan fungsi teknologi bagi kedua partisipan dalam studi naratif ini. mendukung apa yang disampaikan oleh ma, heywood dan macintyre (2020), partisipan dalam studi ini juga sangat tergantung akan keberadaan teknologi untuk selalu merasa dekat dengan keluarga mereka. teknologi membantu mereka mengatasi kerinduan pada keluarga dan orang tersayang. dengan menggunakan teknologi, liong merasa tidak ada yang berbeda dengan hari-hari sebelum pandemi. intensitas komunikasi yang dia lakukan dengan kekasih dan keluarganya terbilang tinggi sehingga rasa rindunya terlampiaskan. fasilitas 98 komunikasi daring membuat jarak terasa tidak ada bagi liong, sehingga tidak lagi menjadi masalah yang membebani secara fisik dan psikologis. data berikut mendukung keterangan liong: saya berkomunikasi dengan kekasih saya setiap hari, juga melalui videochat. kami dapat melihat satu-sama lain. sayapun melakukannya dengan ayah saya, paman, dan bibi. dan ketika kami dapat melihat dan berbicara dengan satu sama lain, terkadang saya lupa karena mereka terasa bersama dengan saya dan saya baik-baik saja. (liong, wawancara whatsapp, 18 juli 2020) demikian juga halnya dengan astried, kekecewaannya karena tidak bisa pulang di masa musim panas ini tergambar jelas dari jawaban atas pertanyaan “apakah kamu merindukan keluargamu?” karena kebijakan jarak sosial yang sangat ketat di hongkong, dia tidak bisa pergi terlalu jauh dari tempat tinggalnya di kampus. dia tidak bisa bertemu dengan teman-temannya sebagai pengalihan rasa rindu kepada keluarganya. tidak ada lagi tempat makan bersama lebih dari tiga orang. selain itu, tempat duduk harus berjauhan atau berjaga jarak. petugas keamanan dan petugas kantin kampus selalu siap sedia menegur siapa pun yang melanggar aturan ini. berikut ungkapan astried: sekarang bangku dan meja di kantin mulai berkurang, bagaimana saya bisa mengobrol dengan teman saya, setiap kali kami berdekatan petugas kantin datang menegur, di luar juga, satpam datang ngomong dengan bahasa hongkong menyuruh kami tidak bergerombol padahal kan saya pengen curhat juga ke teman dekat saya. saya memang lebih sering ngobrol dengan orang tua saya di rusia, (menahan nafas) saya tidak bisa pulang ke moscow, biasanya saya dan keluarga saya liburan bareng di moscow, ya….telpon saja. (astried, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) geografi politik: “meski berat menanggung beban finansial, saya tetap terus mencari pekerjaan di tengah ketidakpastian ini” pandemi memang memengaruhi segala lini kehidupan, tak terkecuali dari sisi ekonomi. imbas pandemi pada sisi ini juga dirasakan oleh partisipan kami. hal itu diungkapkan oleh astried ketika ditanya tentang pekerjaannya sebagai asisten riset di kampus. dengan segera, astried menjawab bahwa dia sudah tidak menjadi asisten riset lagi tetapi sebagai guru bagi mahasiswa yang kesulitan dengan bahasa inggris mereka. lebih lanjut astried menjelaskan bahwa dia tetap harus mencari pekerjaan tambahan untuk menopang keuangannya sebab dia sudah tidak menerima uang beasiswa lagi dan gaji yang dia terima dari pekerjaannya saat ini tidaklah cukup. berikut kutipan wawancara dengan astried: ee...tidak juga. saya harus mencari beberapa kerja tambahan lagi di luar. saya tidak bisa pergi sebab selama musim panas kemarin ada pembatasan. saya juga tidak bisa pergi ke kampus. tapi selama musim panas saya bisa 99 pergi jalan-jalan keluar. saya berusaha mencari kerja sampingan, beberapa pekerjaan mudah sebenarnya, tapi saya tidak bisa menemukan pekerjaan tersebut. walaupun tidak mudah, saya tetap berusaha untuk mendapatkannya. (astried, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) astried bercerita bahwa selama musim panas ada pembatasan yang disebabkan oleh adanya pandemi di hongkong. dia tidak bisa mendapatkan pekerjaan di kampus karena ditutup sehingga dia mencari pekerjaan di luar. akan tetapi, pekerjaan paling mudah dan ringan pun sulit didapatkan karena identitasnya sebagai orang rusia. dengan kulit putih dan wajah rusianya, dia bahkan kesulitan untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan yang dinilainya mudah (tidak sesulit menjadi asisten riset). hal ini kemungkinan juga disebabkan oleh keadaan warga hongkong sendiri yang menjadi pengangguran (cheung, fong & bressington, 2020) sehingga semua pekerjaan yang ada lebih diutamakan untuk warga hongkong. walaupun demikian, dia tetap berusaha untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan sampingan sebagai pendukung keuangannya. keadaan kekurangan dana yang dialami oleh astried banyak pula dialami oleh mahasiswa lainnya, bahkan sangat memengaruhi keberlanjutan program doktoral yang sedang diikuti oleh para partisipan, seperti dalam penelitian laufer dan gorup (2018). dalam kekurangan yang sedang dialaminya, astried berusaha untuk tetap bertahan menyelesaikan program doktoralnya. lain halnya dengan liong, dalam masa pandemi ini, dia diterima bekerja di sebuah universitas di daerah kelahirannya dan mendapatkan kontrak kerja secara daring. selama masa pandemi, dia tidak harus hadir secara fisik ke tempat kerjanya, tetapi tetap mendapatkan gaji. liong mendapatkan pekerjaan dan gaji tersebut tanpa harus bersusah payah. dia hanya perlu menandatangani kontrak kerja tersebut secara daring, dan dia mendapatkan gaji setiap bulan tanpa harus melakukan pekerjaan apapun, seperti pernyataan liong berikut: kamu tau kabar menggembirakan apa yang saya dapatkan (dalam masa pandemi ini)? saya mendapatkan pekerjaan di universitas dimana saya tinggal (di kampung halamannya di cina). universitas tersebut tidak memiliki pegawai yang memiliki gelar phd dari luar negeri. jadi mereka menawarkan pekerjaan pada saya dan karena mereka khawatir saya tidak akan kembali ke kampung halaman dan tidak menerima pekerjaan itu mereka mengirimkan kontrak kerja secara daring dan meminta saya untuk menandatanganinya. saya tidak perlu melakukan pekerjaan apapun tapi saya digaji. (liong, wawancara whatsapp,18 juli 2020) geografi fisik: "saya merasa kuat meski di sekitar saya orang-orang banyak yang depresi" “studiku adalah hal yang terpenting bagiku”. itulah yang diucapkan para partisipan untuk menafikan segala hal yang membuat mereka terganggu secara kognitif maupun emosional sebagai mahasiswi internasional lajang. astried misalnya, dia merasa pembatasan fisik dan sosial dalam masa pandemi covid100 19 begitu membebani secara psikologis dan sosiokultural karena membatasi geraknya dalam berinteraksi. sedangkan bagi liong, dia menyatakan bahwa lebih aman dan nyaman bagi dirinya untuk tetap tinggal di rumah susun (apartemen). dia melakukan ini untuk menghindari hal-hal yang tidak diinginkan, seperti bertemu dengan banyak orang atau terinfeksi virus corona yang mungkin bersumber dari barang-barang yang dibeli ketika berbelanja secara luring. itulah sebabnya mengapa liong lebih memilih untuk berbelanja secara daring yang dirasa lebih aman. berikut adalah kutipan wawancara dengan liong dan astried: untuk saya sendiri, seperti yang saya katakan padamu, saya tetap tinggal di flat yang membuat saya nyaman dan merasa aman. saya merasa khawatir ketika saya keluar untuk membeli bahan makanan atau sekedar jalan-jalan sebab saya takut apakah barang-barang tersebut aman (dari virus)? seberapa banyak saya akan berhubungan dengan banyak orang. nah hal-hal semacam itu yang membuat saya merasa tidak nyaman. jadi, bagi saya mengisolasi diri lebih baik dan lebih aman. (liong, wawancara whatsapp, 18 juli 2020) sangat membosankan. saya tidak tahu apa yang harus saya lakukan. seperti tidak tau apa yang harus dilakukan untuk menghibur dirimu sendiri. saya tidak dapat pergi keluar terlalu sering. saya tidak bisa pergi ke restoran atau menonton film di bioskop. dan saya pun merasa takut untuk keluar dan terkadang harus berfikir dua kali sebelum pergi keluar. apakah saya harus pergi atau tidak. jadi sangat membosankan. jadi saya berusaha untuk menghibur diri saya dan menerima semua kebosanan ini, dengan melakukan hal yang bisa menghibur saya di rumah dengan hal-hal yang bisa dilakukan seperti menonton film yang bisa diputar di rumah. (astried, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) pembatasan secara fisik pada umumnya akan menyebabkan terganggunya kesehatan mental (cao, fang, hou, han, xu, dong & zheng, 2020; dubey, biswas, ghosh, dubey, chatterjee, lahiri & lavie, 2020; mechili, saliaj, kamberi, girvalaki, peto, patelarou, bucaj & patelarou, 2020). hal ini dirasakan oleh astried sebagai sebuah beban psikologis yang besar karena kebutuhan berinteraksi dengan orang lain tidak dapat terpenuhi. astried merasa sangat bosan karena dia bingung dengan apa yang harus dilakukan untuk menghibur dirinya dalam kesendirian. di satu sisi, dia merasa bosan karena tidak dapat keluar meskipun hanya untuk makan sejenak di restoran atau menonton di bioskop. di sisi lain, dia merasakan ketakutan jika harus keluar rumah. dilema ini membuat astried semakin tertekan dalam kebosanan sehingga dia berusaha untuk menghibur dirinya sendiri dengan aktivitas yang dapat dilakukan di rumah seperti menonton film. kondisi yang semakin memperkuat dilema yang dihadapi astried adalah pola komunikasi yang terbentuk dari latar budayanya (lim, 2016). sebagai orang rusia, dia terbiasa berbicara hanya pada orang terdekatnya saja, terutama dengan orangtuanya walaupun hanya sesekali saja ketika ditelepon. seiring 101 waktu, beban psikologis yang ia hadapi membuatnya menjadi semakin tegar dan berpikir pragmatis. sebagai pembelajar dewasa di tahun terakhir masa pendidikan, dia merasa harus segera menyelesaikan studinya agar dapat kembali ke rusia bertemu dengan keluarga yang sangat dia rindukan. bagi astried, saat ini tidak ada yang ideal yang bisa didapatkan ataupun dilakukan, semuanya dalam kondisi yang tidak mengenakkan. semua gejolak pertempuran rasa dan pikir yang dialami menggiringnya untuk “menerima”, menjalani dengan penuh rasa syukur, dan mengatur strategi untuk mencapai tujuan utamanya. dalam wawancara yang dilakukan, astried menunjukkan keyakinannya dengan mengulang-ulang kata “menerima” sebagai penegasan bahwa dia memiliki tekad yang sangat kuat dari dalam jiwanya dengan apa yang dia katakan dan lakukan. berikut kutipannya: menerima...menerima....seperti menerima semua hal ini sudah terjadi dan banyak-banyak bersyukur karena banyak orang dalam keadaan yang buruk saat ini dan saya berfikir saya tidak dalam keadaan seburuk itu. saya merasa cukup diberkati karena saya memiliki banyak fasilitas. tinggal di dalam kampus tidak terlalu buruk. kita tidak jalan-jalan tapi masih bisa keluar dari ruangan dengan menerapkan beragam aktivitas pencegahan dengan mencuci tangan, mencuci baju yang dipakai setiap hari, dan menggunakan masker. universitas kami memberikan kami satu masker setiap hari dan ini merupakan hal yang bagus karena jika tidak saya akan menghabiskan banyak uang hanya untuk membeli masker. bagi saya saat ini yang paling penting adalah menyelesaikan studi saya dan pulang bertemu dengan keluarga saya yang saya sangat rindukan. (astried, wawancara zoom, 21 juli 2020) dari pernyataan di atas, sangat jelas bahwa astried akhirnya menerima segala hal yang terjadi dan beradaptasi serta bersyukur dengan apa yang dimiliki. bertempat tinggal di kampus menjadi strategi hidup yang baik menurutnya, selain mendekatkan dia secara psikologis pada tujuan akademiknya. beragam fasilitas yang didapatkan menjadi daya tarik tersendiri ketika astried bersyukur. hal ini astried lakukan untuk mengatasi tekanan psikologis (kesendirian dan kebosanan) yang dialami dalam masa pandemi. dia bernegosiasi dengan lingkungannya sehingga terjadi keseimbangan emosi dalam dirinya. semua ini astried lakukan untuk mencapai tujuan yang sangat diinginkannya yaitu lulus dan pulang ke rusia. berbeda dengan astried, liong merasa menghadapi tekanan emosional yang lebih besar karena identitasnya sebagai warga negara cina yang selalu dihubungkan sebagai penyebab terjadinya pandemi. selain itu, pemerintah dan pihak universitas di hongkong pun mulai memberlakukan pembatasan sosial yang ketat. liong membaca dan mengikuti berita yang ditayangkan di televisi maupun situs-situs berita bahwa banyak sekali terjadi gangguan sosial di hongkong. orang-orang merasa tidak aman dan tidak nyaman bahkan hanya sekadar membeli kebutuhan pokok ataupun jalan-jalan. hal ini terus-menerus terjadi berbulan-bulan sehingga membuat sebagian masyarakat mengalami sakit 102 mental, tekanan psikologis dan juga emosi yang tidak stabil. liong tidak menghitung secara pasti berapa banyak masyarakat yang mengalami hal ini, tetapi dia menegaskan bahwa cukup banyak anggota masyarakat yang mengalami depresi (choi, 2020; lee, 2020). berikut pernyataan liong: saya mengikuti berita bahwa banyak masyarakat yang mengalami gangguan sosial, antara lain merasa tidak aman dan tidak stabil lingkungan sosialnya. hal ini mempengaruhi banyak orang sehingga mereka merasakan sakit mental, psikologi dan emosi. saya tidak ingat berapa banyak jumlahnya, tetapi sedikit banyak dari masyarakat ini mengalami depresi. tapi saya sekarang berhenti membaca berita itu, saya tidak perlu berita itu. (liong, wawancara whatsapp, 16 agustus 2020) karena cina terpapar oleh covid-19 terlebih dahulu dibandingkan negara lain, liong merasa sudah teruji. dalam kesendirian tanpa keluarga, dia dituntut untuk mampu tetap waras dalam berpikir dan bertindak sehingga dia bisa tetap sehat dan bisa melanjutkan studinya dengan lancar. berdasarkan cerita liong tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa liong bisa menghadapi berbagai kesulitan selama masa pandemi. bahkan, dia berhasil untuk tetap kuat menjaga kewarasan berpikir dan kesehatannya di antara orang-orang yang depresi di tengah pandemi covid-19 dan demonstrasi. liong dan astried yang lajang dan sendiri berada di perantauan terbukti tetap bisa kuat menghadapi kesulitan. kedua partisipan dalam penelitian ini memiliki cara tersendiri dalam menghindari depresi dan gangguan kesehatan mental lainnya. astried berusaha menerima apa yang terjadi dan membandingkan apa yang dimilikinya dengan apa yang tidak dimiliki orang lain. sementara itu, liong menghentikan kebiasaannya membaca berita yang kemungkinan akan memengaruhi kesehatan mentalnya. geografi moral: “kudekati tuhan dalam kamar sempitku” sebagian besar orang indonesia meyakini bahwa warga negara dari negara berpaham komunis pasti tidak beragama (ateis), seperti cina dan bekas uni soviet, rusia (hafidhuddin, 2017). tetapi, dalam studi ini, para peneliti mendapati kenyataan bahwa kedua partisipan meyakini adanya tuhan. liong sering mengunjungi wihara dan tempat ibadah agama buddha lainnya bersama peneliti pertama ketika dia masih di hongkong. hal tersebut menunjukkan hati dan perilaku liong yang percaya kepada tuhan ketika berada di hongkong, perilaku yang tidak pernah dilakukan ketika dia berada di cina daratan. sementara itu, astried yang seorang kristen ortodoks merayakan natal setiap tanggal 6 januari dan hanya pergi ke gereja di saat itu saja. kondisi spiritual kedua partisipan tersebut menarik karena di masa pandemi ini liong tidak bisa pergi ke wihara, sedangkan astried tidak bisa pulang ke negaranya untuk merayakan natal dan pergi ke gereja. hal ini mendorong kedua partisipan untuk lebih sering mendekat kepada tuhan. liong berdoa di kamarnya dan sesekali memandang patung dewi kuan im yang 103 terlihat jelas dari jendela kamar walaupun letaknya jauh. sementara itu, astried berdoa sambil bermeditasi dalam yoga. kedua cara partisipan mendekatkan jiwa mereka kepada tuhan yang diyakini tidak jauh berbeda. hal ini berbeda dengan yang ditemukan oleh bryson, andres dan davies (2020) di mana para partisipan dalam penelitian mereka melakukan ibadah secara daring. berikut kutipan pernyataan liong dan astried: selama pandemik saya tidak bisa pergi ke mana-mana walaupun saya ingin pergi. pertama karena pemerintah melarang kami pergi ke manapun, kedua bahkan bila situasi sudah bagus pun kami tidak bisa pergi dengan bebas karena saya rasa tetap tidak aman selama musim pandemik ini. ya, saya tidak bisa pergi ke tempat ibadah, saya hanya berdoa pada tuhan saya di ruangan saya. dewi kuan im selalu ada di depan sana. (liong, wawancara whatsapp, 17 agustus 2020) “saya tidak pergi ke gereja... saya hanya berdoa di rumah dan dalam hati saya saja”. (astried, wawancara whatsapp, 17 agustus 2020) kesimpulan penelitian ini sangat penting dilakukan karena masih kurangnya informasi dan pengetahuan mengenai cara mahasiswi internasional lajang beradaptasi selama masa krisis pandemi. peneliti menyadari adanya keterbatasan dalam penelitian ini, seperti partisipan yang hanya mewakili gender tertentu dan sumber data yang terbatas. penelitian selanjutnya bisa melibatkan berbagai gender dan sumber data lainnya yang akan menambah warna dan kompleksitas narasi. para peneliti menyimpulkan bahwa partisipan mampu beradaptasi dengan baik ketika menghadapi masa yang sulit di hongkong. hasil penelitian ini diharapkan dapat memberikan tambahan wawasan dan informasi akademik dan non-akademik, khususnya bagi calon mahasiswa indonesia lajang yang akan belajar ke luar negeri. deklarasi penulis [disclosure statement] penulis menyatakan bahwa tidak ada konflik kepentingan dalam hal riset, kepengarangan, dan publikasi artikel ini. [the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.] pernyataan kontribusi penulis [authors’ contribution statements] suprihatin (kehok): mengonsep ide (utama), metode penelitian (setara), menulis draf artikel awal (setara), mengedit (utama), referensi (utama), proofreading (penguat) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (equal), first drat (equal), editing (lead), referencing (lead), proofreading (supporting)]; lilik istiqomah: mengonsep ide (penguat), metode penelitian (setara), menulis draf artikel awal (setara), mengedit (penguat), referensi (penguat), proofreading (utama) [conceptualization of ideas (supporting), methodology (equal), first draft (equal), editing (supporting), referencing (supporting), proofreading (lead]; rini intansari meilani: mengonsep ide (penguat), metode penelitian (setara), menulis draf artikel awal (setara), mengedit (penguat), referensi (penguat), proofreading (penguat) [conceptualization of ideas (supporting), 104 methodology (equal), first draft (equal), editing (supporting), referencing (supporting), proofreading (supporting)]; khoiriyah: mengonsep ide (penguat), metode penelitian (setara), menulis draf artikel awal (setara), mengedit (penguat), proofreading (penguat) [conceptualization of ideas (supporting), methodology (equal), first draft (equal), editing (supporting), proofreading (supporting)]. daftar referensi aydin, o. t. 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(2014). methodological considerations in interview data transcription. international journal of innovation in english language teaching and research, 3(1), 101-109. ______________________________________________________________ biografi singkat penulis [notes on contributors] suprihatin (kehok) adalah dosen di program studi pendidikan khusus, fakultas ilmu pendidikan, universitas negeri jakarta. minat penelitian penulis dalam bidang pendidikan calon guru, autisme dan pendidikan inklusif. email: kehoksuprihatin@gmail.com suprihatin (kehok) is a teacher educator in the department of special education at the faculty of education, universitas negeri jakarta. her research interests are in preservice teacher education, autism, and inclusive education. email: kehoksuprihatin@gmail.com lilik istiqomah mengajar bahasa inggris dan penerjemahan pada program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris, iain surakarta, indonesia. lilik menekuni bidang riset seperti linguistik terapan, penerjemahan, penerjemahan lisan dan penerjemahan audio visual. email: mdcorp100@gmail.com. lilik istiqomah lectures on english language and translation studies in the department of english education of iain surakarta based in central java, indonesia. her research interests include applied linguistics, translation, interpreting, and subtitling. email: mdcorp100@gmail.com. rini intansari meilani saat ini mengajar bahasa inggris untuk ekonomi dan bisnis di universitas pendidikan indonesia. minat riset penulis mencakup pengajaran bahasa inggris untuk tujuan khusus, kognisi guru, desain mata kuliah, pengembangan bahan ajar dan metode penelitian. email: intanmusthafa@upi.edu rini intansari meilani currently teaches english for economics and business at universitas pendidikan indonesia. her research interests lie in teaching english for specific purposes, teacher cognition, instructional design, language materials development, and research methodology. email: intanmusthafa@upi.edu https://doi.org/10.1002/jpoc.21204 mailto:kehoksuprihatin@gmail.com mailto:kehoksuprihatin@gmail.com mailto:mdcorp100@gmail.com mailto:mdcorp100@gmail.com mailto:intanmusthafa@upi.edu mailto:intanmusthafa@upi.edu 107 khoiriyah (penulis korespondensi) adalah dosen di fakultas tarbiyah dan ilmu kependidikan (ftik), institut agama islam negeri (iain) jember, indonesia. bidang kajian riset penulis adalah pengembangan profesi guru dan pengembangan bahan ajar. email: khoiriyah.iain@gmail.com khoiriyah (corresponding author) is a faculty member at the faculty of education at iain jember, indonesia. her research areas include teacher professional development and language materials development. email: khoiriyah.iain@gmail.com mailto:khoiriyah.iain@gmail.com mailto:khoiriyah.iain@gmail.com 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. final rev 0108 special issue-(clean) 1 guest editorial © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 1-7 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis teaching, learning, and management: international student in china during the covid-19 pandemic guangrui wen xi’an jiaotong university, china mei tian xi’an jiaotong university, china abstract the covid-19 pandemic presents unprecedented challenges to the management, teaching, and learning in chinese international education. this special issue focuses on national policies on international student education, institutional riskmanagement strategies, quality assurance practices, online teaching pedagogy, international student engagement, and factors affecting their satisfaction. we hope that the discussions in this special issue will allow us to share the lessons that we have learned during this crisis, promote international cooperation to cope with common challenges, and support the sustainable development and transformation of international education in china and worldwide in the post-covid era. keywords: international students, covid-19 pandemic, china, teaching, learning, management introduction the abrupt outbreak of new crown pneumonia (covid-19), which was first identified in wuhan, china, in december 2019, has rapidly changed people’s daily lives in almost all countries. as of october 13th, 2021, 210 countries and regions were affected, with over 238 million confirmed cases worldwide, including 4.8 million deaths (world health organisation, 2021; worldmeter, 2021). the world health organization declared the new coronavirus a public health emergency and a pandemic (world health organisation, 2020). journal of international students 2 before the epidemic, the traditional “east-to-west” model of international student mobility was challenged by the emerging study-abroad destination countries (tian et al., 2020). china (albach & de wit, 2017), together with south africa (lee & sehoole, 2015), turkey, mexico, russia (kondakci et al., 2018), south korea (jon et al., 2014), singapore, malaysia (lee, 2014), uae, qatar, and bahrain (knight & morshidi, 2011), have emerged as regional education hubs. for example, the average annual growth rate of international students in china has exceeded 10% since the turn of the new century. in 2001, 52,150 international students studied in chinese educational institutions. the figure rose to 492,185 in 2018, making the country the world’s third most popular destination for international students (institute of international education, 2018). international education reflects the economic and soft power competition of nation-states. the increasing importance of international student inflow to china and other global south countries indicates the world’s transformation from a unipolar to a multipolar power structure (tian & liu, 2020). since the outbreak of the highly contagious covid-19, similar to many other countries, china has adopted strict prevention and control measures, including travel bans and border restrictions, which have immediate impacts on the country’s international education. a survey conducted by the china association of foreign student administration (cafsa) showed that between january 23rd and may 18th, 2020, among the 162,465 international students studied at 438 cafsa member institutions, 45,785 stayed in china (including 7,065 stranded outside the host cities), 1,667 suspended their courses, 2,588 dropped out of universities, and 41,256 returned to their home countries (li et al., 2020). an unpublished estimate provided by china’s ministry of education suggests that as of the fall semester of the 2021 academic year, approximately 200,000 international students in chinese higher education institutions (heis) remain in their home countries and continue their studies remotely online. in response to the pandemic, chinese international education has seen a rapid shift from face-to-face instruction to virtual education using various asynchronous and synchronous communication tools. although online education has been steadily developed in china before the pandemic, the covid-19 transformation to the massive uses of remote instruction presents unprecedented challenges to the management, teaching, and learning in chinese international education. for administrators, the most prevalent and critical tasks involve evaluating and assuring the quality of online education (an, this issue). given the general lack of preparedness, chinese heis have to innovatively handle unexpected problems, review the solutions, and work out contingency strategies (liu & zou, this issue). other challenges involve recruiting and retaining international students (li et al., this issue). administrators need to manage financial problems in institutions where the number of international students has sharply dropped. the financial hardship can be worsened by the less ability of self-funded international students to pay tuition fees. additional challenges include conducting routine work, ensuring the health and safety of international students, and navigating resources to provide services and support (zhang & zhu, this issue). journal of international students 3 the past months were also difficult for faculty. most teachers in chinese heis had inadequate experiences teaching remotely online. many of them had no proper training on online teaching. immediate challenges presented by the online transition to chinese faculty, similar to many teachers worldwide (johnson et al. 2020), range from managing technology to modifying teaching content, adopting interactive teaching methods, and re-designing course assessment. before the pandemic, when teaching international students in classrooms, chinese teachers were likely to face language barriers, communication problems, and pedagogy inadequacy (tian & lowe, 2018). these problems can be further exacerbated in emergency online education. international scholars have called for research on students’ experiences during the pandemic, warning of students’ reduced satisfaction with, decreased motivation for, and increased disengagement in online education (chan, bista & allen, 2021). most international students in china are from economically less advantageous countries in asia and africa. the drastic digitalization of international education places heavy demands on local internet infrastructure, learners’ accessibility to electronic devices and online course platforms, and sufficient it competence (zang et al., this issue). to meet the demands is challenging to international students in chinese heis in general, and those staying in economically underdeveloped home countries in particular (ibid). despite the challenges, the research reports that once carefully managed, the emergency online instruction can support the academic development of international students in china (yu & xu, this issue; zhang et al., this issue). with the widespread use of vaccines, hopefully ending the pandemic (geddes, 2021), we anticipate that international students will soon return to chinese campuses. studies have suggested that the flow of international students will remain strong after the pandemic (mok et al., 2021). the crisis management strategies that chinese heis implement will affect their share in the postpandemic global market of international education. the effective responses are also critical for the country’s building of its soft power and realizing its diplomatic vision when online education and “virtual” internationalization become a new “normality” (see gultekin, 2020). it is within this context that this special issue is organized. papers in the special issue this special issue invites chinese administrators, researchers, and practitioners to critically reflect on the challenges, responses, and impacts of the changes in chinese international education during the covid-19 pandemic. we believe that the topics discussed in this special issue are of significance. we hope that the discussion in this special issue will allow us to share the lessons that we have learned during this crisis, promote international cooperation to cope with common challenges, and support the sustainable development and transformation of international education in china and beyond in the post-covid era. this special issue contains ten articles. in the first article, mei li, qixia jiang, and shuli su review the impacts of covid-19 on international student journal of international students 4 recruitment in chinese heis. this research used documentary analysis to analyze the recruitment policies of international undergraduate students implemented by 41 national “double first-class” universities in china. the findings categorized the “double first-class” universities into four groups according to their recruitment policies, i.e., active-rigorous, active, rigorous, and inactive. the discussion pointed to a lack of national standards for international student recruitments, and highlighted the significance of political and social-cultural rationales for china’s international student recruitment. following the policy discussion, the next three articles empirically explore the impacts of the pandemic on international students in china. wei zhao and guangrui wen examined international students’ perceived educational service quality and the factors affecting these students’ perceptions. the discussion was based on a survey involving 582 international students at five universities in china’s shaanxi province. the research showed less than satisfactory levels of the perceived quality of the educational services that the participants received at their host institutions. in addition, the analysis revealed the demographic factors which had significant impacts on the participants’ perceived educational service quality. the article by fengxiang zang, mei tian, jingwei fan, and ying sun focuses on international students in intensive chinese courses at a comprehensive chinese university. data were generated from an online questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. the research revealed the nature and characteristics of the participants’ perceptions of the online chinese learning environment, their intrinsic motivation towards online chinese learning and engagement in online chinese learning. the analysis highlighted dissatisfactory internet connection, insufficient technical skills, and inadequate pedagogical preparation among teachers in emergency online education. the article by lan yu and lingying xu focuses on south asian students in online chinese programs at universities in beijing, china. drawing on the data generated by a questionnaire survey, the research revealed the participants’ positive online learning status and positive perceptions of online learning effects. the study also showed the significant impacts of the participants’ autonomous learning on their perceptions of online learning effects, mediated by online learning status. the following five articles review institutional practices over the pandemic. the article written by qingling liu and nan zou focuses on the case of tsinghua university, china, and reports the administrative measures implemented by the university in managing the negative impacts of covid-19. drawing on the organization system theory, the authors have stressed the significance of convergent management of international and domestic chinese students in the crisis. the integration of international students into the institution’s regular operation enhances its managerial efficiency, enabling effective resource utilization and coordination to support learning in the pandemic. the article ends with a discussion on the building of resilient international education in the postpandemic period. journal of international students 5 in the following article, yanli zhang, zihua yang, and yongtao chen from shanghai international studies university (sisu) share the measures and reforms that the school of chinese studies and exchange of the university has implemented to support online teaching since the covid-19 outbreak. to assess the quality of the emergency online teaching, the school administers student satisfaction questionnaires, collects student end-of-course feedback, and invites faculty to reflect on the students’ feedback. the quality evaluation results are reported in the article, and suggestions are proposed for further reforms of online instruction in the post-covid era. academic advising is significant to the success and development of international students learning in a new culture and likely encountering complex academic challenges. the article by bi zhang and jian zhang discusses the covid-19 impacts on international student learning and the growing needs for academic support at the dongbei university of finance and economics, china. in this article, the authors review the actions and measures that the university implements to support the international student academic development during the crisis. the international student satisfaction survey results are presented, the effects of the actions and the measures are discussed, and suggestions for further improvement of academic advising services are proposed. the following reflexive essay is contributed by yun zhang and yining zhu from the university of nottingham ningbo china (unnc), the first sino-foreign cooperative university in the country. the essay reports the significant problems encountered by international students at unnc during the pandemic, and the services and support provided by the university to help the students cope with such challenges. the reflection holds implications for international student management and services in times of crisis. ling gao lebeau and fajun zhang’s reflective essay discusses an innovative international partnership initiative between southwest university, china, and the universities in australia, new zealand, and the u.s. during the global pandemic. this reflection holds implications for transformative international cooperation to promote higher education internationalization. references albach, p. g., & de wit, h. (2017). the new nationalism and internationalization of he. university world news, 474. chan, r. y., bista, k., & allen, r. m. (eds.). (2021). online teaching and learning in higher education during covid-19: international perspectives and experiences. routledge. geddes, l. (2021). how next-generation covid-19 vaccines could help to end the pandemic. https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/how-next generation-covid-19-vaccines-could-help-end-pandemic. gultekin, o. (2020). inquiry on the role of international education in future diplomacy after covid-19 pandemic. international journal of multidisciplinary perspectives in higher education, 5(2), 146–154. journal of international students 6 institute of international education (2018). project atlas: current infographics. https://www.iie.org/research-and-insights/project-atlas/exploredata/current-infographics. johnson, n., veletsianos, g., & seaman, j. (2020). faculty and administrators’ experiences and approaches in the early weeks of the covid-19 pandemic. online learning, 24, 6–21. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v24i2.2285 jon, j. e., lee, j. j., & byun, k. (2014). the emergence of a regional hub: comparing international student choices and experiences in south korea. higher education, 67(5), 691–710. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-013-9674-0 kondakci, y., bedenlier, s., & zawacki-richter, o. (2018). social network analysis of international student mobility: uncovering the rise of regional hubs. higher education, 75(3), 517–535. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0154-9 knight, j., & morshidi, s. (2011). the complexities and challenges of regional education hubs: focus on malaysia. higher education, 62(5), 593. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9467-2 lee, j. j., & sehoole, c. (2015). regional, continental, and global mobility to an emerging economy: the case of south africa. higher education, 70(5), 827–843. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9869-7 lee, j. t. (2014). education hubs and talent development: policymaking and implementation challenges. higher education, 68(6), 807–823. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9745-x li, m. h., sui, w. n., & meng, x. c. (2020). the novel coronavirus pneumonia’s influences on the work of international students in china and the coping strategies. annual report on studying in china. mok, k. h., xiong, w., ke, g., & cheung, j. o. w. (2021). impact of covid19 pandemic on international higher education and student mobility: student perspectives from mainland china and hong kong. international journal of educational research, 105, 101718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101718 tian, m., dervin, f., & lu, g. (2020). academic experiences of international students in chinese higher education. routledge. tian, m. & lowe, j. (2018) international student recruitment as an exercise in soft power: a case study of undergraduate medical students at a chinese university. in f. dervin, a. härkönen, & x. du (eds.), international students in china: education, student life and intercultural encounters (pp. 221–248). springer. tian, l., & liu, n. (2020). inward international students in china and their contributions to global common goods. higher education, 81, 197–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00522-5 world health organisation (2021). who coronavirus (covid-19) dashboard. https://covid19.who.int. journal of international students 7 worldmeter (2021). covid-19 coronavirus pandemic cases by country. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/?fbclid=iwar35zfirzj8t ybcwazx2n-k7yjjzoldqizsa_msjafdk74s8f2a_dgx4ivk. world health organisation (2020). who director-general’s opening remarks at the media briefing on covid-19. https://www.who.int/directorgeneral/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-themedia-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020. guangrui wen, phd, is a full professor of the school of mechanical engineering and the dean of the school of international education at xi’an jiaotong university, china. his research interests include international student education and management. he has authored two books and over 80 peerreviewed journal articles. email: grwen@mail.xjtu.edu.cn mei tian (corresponding author) is a professor in the school of foreign studies at xi’an jiaotong university, china. her current research interests include international student experiences in china. her recent publications include academic experiences of international students in chinese higher education (london: routledge). email: temmytian@mail.xjtu.edu.cn 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. final rev 0108 special issue-(clean) 45 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 45-60 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis research on the online learning experience of south asian students during covid-19: the mediating effect of online learning status on autonomous learning and learning effect evaluation 新冠疫情期间南亚来华留学生线上学习体验调查 研究: 线上学习状态对自主性学习与学习效果评 价的中介效应 lan yu (余蓝) lingying xu (许灵英) beijing language & culture university, china 北京语言大学，中国 abstract (摘要) covid-19 has influenced the flow of international students and their learning experience continuously and deeply. teaching chinese as a foreign language to international students during the covid-19 faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities. based on the review of the literature on online chinese teaching, this research explored the online learning experience of a group of south asian students in china during the pandemic. adopting the questionnaire method, the results revealed the participants’ overall positive online learning status and evaluation of the online learning effect. in addition, this research showed that the participants’ autonomous learning, reflected by their cognition and attitude towards learning, had a significant impact on learning effect evaluation, mediated by online learning status. suggestions for teaching and management are given to support the incorporation of online and offline chinese education during the pandemic. journal of international students 46 新冠肺炎疫情持续而深刻地冲击着全球国际学生的流动与学习，面向来华 留学生的国际中文教育也面临着前所未有的挑战之“危”与转型之 “机”。本文聚焦国内外学者关于国际中文线上教学的讨论，采用问卷调 查法收集南亚来华留学生线上学习的相关数据，结果发现线上学习状态及 学习效果评价总体良好，个体对学习的认知与态度所反映出来的自主性学 习，通过线上学习状态影响到线上学习评价，线上学习状态在二者之间具 有显著的中介效应。为适应全球中文教学转向线上线下混合模式，既要促 进信息技术与中文教育资源的深度融合，更要转变汉语国际人才培养的观 念，通过有效教学塑造二语学习者的自主性学习，使汉语学习由外部推动 内化为自我调节，注重塑造学习者持久而积极的学习态度、习惯和能力， 从而更好地适应不断变化的学习环境和教学方式。 keywords ( 关键 词 ): south asian students, online learning experience, autonomous learning, china, covid-19 (南亚来华留学生, 线上学习状态, 线 上学习评价, 自主性学习, 新冠疫情) 前言 新冠疫情仍持续影响着全球高等教育尤其是国际学生的流动与学习，我国 高校面向留学生开设的中文教学也由线下转向全面的线上模式，深刻地改 变了传统汉语二语教学的理念和方法。国际中文教育界就未来线上教学是 否会“常态化”以及如何应对展开了讨论，有人认为“线上中文教学费时费 力，其效果远不如课堂面授”，“可以成为突发情况下的权宜之计，绝不能 替代教室内的教学，不能提供同等优质的中文教育，更不应成为有些人所 说的未来中文教育的必然发展方向”。也有人认为“疫情改变了汉语教学的 生态，对教师和学生是一次集体转型，线下和线上混合式教学将成为常态 化的教学模式”，“应研究和探索的是，如何使线上和线下最大限度地合二 为一，使教学和学习的手段、资源和效益最大化。”还有人预测未来线上 教学将发展成为一种独立的教学样态，即独立的线下教学、线下线上结合 的混合式教学、独立的线上教学并存，等等 (李宇明等, 2020；陆俭明等, 2020；巴丹等, 2021)。 随着线上中文教学平台与技术不断改进，有效的教学经验和资源逐步 积淀，一线教师和研究者们纷纷将目光聚焦到如何促进线上中文教与学的 有效性，如何将新技术有机整合到汉语作为第二语言教学之中，从线上教 学设计、教学模式分析、课程类型特点、教学资源建设和教师信息技术素 养等角度进行探讨 (李泉, 2020；文秋芳 & 杨佳, 2020；崔希亮, 2020)，但 多数仍停留在宏观层面，鲜有从学习者特征及其线上学习体验视角开展的 实证研究。线上中文教学不仅仅是授课方式和环境发生了变化，它促使教 师和学生以及教学管理者在学习观念、技能和行为等方面都要适应一种新 的转换，向着泛在学习、终身学习和学习共同体的方向演进，也彰显了二 journal of international students 47 语学习者主体性的重要意义。研究表明，学习者的自主性学习是决定学习 态度、投入和效果的重要因素，而且与学习环境存在复杂的交互影响 (牛 亏环, 2014; 王改花等, 2021)，而这在中文教学尤其是线上教学中更加凸显 (林毅, 2015；李爱萍, 2017; 陈钰, 2020; 周汶霏 & 宁继鸣, 2020; 陈晨, 2021)。 本研究通过调查南亚留学生在疫情期间线上中文学习的行为表现、情绪体 验、认知态度和效果评价等因素，分析他们的自主性学习与线上学习体验 及环境因素之间的互动关系，为国际中文教师设计线上教学提供实证依 据。 国内相关研究综述 现代信息技术融入汉语二语教学及研究始于二十一世纪初，郑艳群 (2001) 提出“课堂上的网络”与“网络上的课堂”将构成世界范围的汉语教学大课 堂，是对外汉语教学在新世纪的发展趋势，二者都需要有现代教育技术在 理论和方法上的指导，既要把多媒体和网络技术引入课堂，使课堂教学更 加完善和高效，又要在网络教学中尽可能地再现课堂教学的人的因素和优 势。她在总结教育技术在对外汉语教学发展历程中的影响及作用时指出， 信息技术的角色已经或正在从表层的辅助手段向深层的基本形态和主导力 量转变 (郑艳群, 2019)。受疫情持久影响，国内外高校中文线上教学由最 初被动应对到如今积极探索，加速推进了新技术与国际中文教学深度融合 的趋势与实践。从系统性视角来看，国际中文教育需要充分挖掘语言学习 与新技术整合的优势，积极融入线上学习、混合学习、智慧课堂、虚拟现 实等应用场景中，满足世界各国中文学习者自主学习、智能化学习、个性 化学习需求；通过新技术开发中文学习产品，提供便捷的语言服务，同时 注重适应不同国家、不同受众、不同硬件条件的学习者的差异化需求，支 持中文学习的当地化和便利化 (王辉, 2020)。 已有文献的研究主题集中在教学模式、设计和资源等领域，且以宏观 分析为主 (徐娟 & 孙德金, 1999; 刘永权 & 张铁道, 2013; 孙瑞等, 2015; 高晨, 2017; 刘士娟, 2018)。目前对国际中文线上教学的实证性研究成果较少，主 要原因除了大规模数据收集存在相当难度外，也与学界对线上中文教学的 认识还处于摸索阶段有关。结合不同课型的要求和内容，吴英成、邱利军 (2019) 探讨了线上成人汉语口语入门课程的设计、编制与实施等问题；沈 庶英 (2019; 2020) 将“三步十环节”教学模式应用到商务汉语教学的翻转课堂 实践中，通过教研共同体的研讨、对比班的学习效果比较和对学习者的调 查，发现该模式对学习者的知识增长、能力提升和课程建构起到积极作 用。基于学习者视角的实证研究，以王瑞烽 (2020) 和徐来等 (2020) 两篇论 文为代表：前者对北京语言大学四个留学生学院的汉语技能课(听、说、 读、写) 教师和外国留学生进行了网络问卷调查，结合访谈记录对三种主 要线上教学模式(录播、直播、融合)在技术平台、地域时差、网络环境、 人际言语交互实施、优质教学资源共享等方面的各自优势和问题，提出了 将录播视频有机融入到直播教学的融合模式，打造汇集本学科优质师资和 journal of international students 48 课程资源的汉语线上教学公共平台；后者对国内某高校国际学生群体的线 上学习体验进行了调查，发现学历生与非学历语言生对线上学习方式 (自 主学习、同步互动、异步互动) 的偏好、积极与消极的学习体验及其原因 有所不同，主要涉及网络技术与环境、学习资源、教学互动、学生学习适 应性、教师课程管理等。从教师的角度出发，曾妙芬等 (2021) 就教师在同 步线上中文教学中如何遵循有效性原则开展了访谈研究，发现教师在反向 课程设计、目的语的可理解输入、创建以学生为中心的课堂等三方面的反 思频次远高于其他有效教学原则，建议线上教学应回归到语言教学的基本 面，以掌握教学目标与教学设计为首要之务。其他关于线上中文教学的经 验总结与问题讨论零星分布在综述类文献及研讨会资料中，如“疫情下tts 和 asr 语音技术在对外汉语教学中的应用” (刘荣艳, 2020)、“线上课堂中 的初级汉字教学” (司甜, 2020) 和北京语言大学主持的“新形势下的全球中文 线上教学反思与展望”等专题研讨等。 关于汉语学习者自主性学习的研究尚不多见，直接与线上教学有关的 则更少 (丁安琪, 2010; 王丕承, 2016; 陈钰, 2020)。林毅(2015)曾深入调查影 响在京青少年汉语学习者线上学习汉语的因素，提出通过时间管理、移动 学习、碎片化学习、翻转课堂等措施对他们的线上学习行为加以调控以提 高学习效率。李爱萍 (2017) 指出汉语学习者具有自我引发、自我指导的主 动学习特征，互联网提供的大量公开、免费汉语学习资源更为易得，学习 者的自我调节学习能力的重要性愈加凸显，对外汉语教学要关注汉语学习 者有效制定学习计划、调控学习过程、利用学习资源和评价反思能力。陈 晨 (2021)选取不同环境中的汉语慕课学习者进行个案研究发现，慕课为汉 语二语学习者提供了灵活、专业的学习方式，但其自主化的学习形式也对 学习者的自我调节学习能力提出了挑战，集中在课程选择、主观题反馈、 问题解决和反思、真实生活中语言应用等方面。从以学习者为中心和有效 反馈促进教学的重要性而言，研究线上汉语学习者对自身的学习表现、态 度、效果及教学环境诸多要素的评价和反思，对改进和提升线上中文教学 更加具有现实意义。 研究方法 研究问题 自主性学习 (autonomous learning) 又称学习自主性，是指“学习者在内 在、外在学习动力的驱使下，充分利用各种学习资源，在学习活动过程中 独立或在教师指导下，对学习目标、学习内容、学习策略、学习任务、学 习进度等进行自我监控、自我反馈、自我调整、自我管理，并在学习活动 过程中及时进行自我总结、自我反思和自我评价的学习模式，是学习过程 评价的一个重要指标维度” (牛亏环, 2014)。20 世纪 70 年代以来，自主性学 习越来越受到第二语言教学界的关注，被认为是成功习得第二语言的重要 因素。相比于线下课堂环境而言，线上中文教学对教师和学生都提出了新 的挑战，一方面教师要熟练地应用信息技术，将其融入到教学过程之中， journal of international students 49 另一方面学生要积极地参与线上学习互动，有效地控制自己的学习活动， 基于上述认识，本研究的具体问题包括： 第一，通过问卷调查收集数据进行分析，客观地呈现南亚留学生在疫 情期间对线上学习状况的看法，涉及总体态度、学习行为、情绪感知、压 力应对、效果评价等重要因素。 第二，考察南亚来华留学生对自身学习活动的认知和态度，作为推断 和衡量其自主性学习的客观依据。 第三，采用相关性分析、多元线性回归分析等方法，探讨自主性学习 与线上学习状态和线上学习评价三个维度之间的相关性。 第四，建立三个维度的结构方程模型假设如图 1 所示，具体包括： h1：南亚留学生自主性学习对线上学习状态存在正向影响。 h2：南亚留学生线上学习状态对线上学习评价存在正向影响。 h3：南亚留学生线上自主性学习对线上学习评价存在正向影响。 h4：南亚学生线上学习状态在自主性学习和线上学习评价之间具有显 著中介效应。 图 1: 结构方程模型假设 研究样本 此次调查的数据来源于 2020 年 12 月“北京高校南亚国家汉语师资班留 学生跨文化学习适应研究”的长期项目。为了解该群体疫情期间线上学习 状况，课题组在历年调查问卷的基础上增加了与线上学习体验有关的题 项。调查问卷以“问卷星”链接的方式通过微信群组发放，邀请历年参与该 项目南亚来华留学生自愿填答并提交，最终回收有效样本共计 153 份，详 细信息如下：性别比例，男生 113 人占 73.9%，女生 40 人占 26.1%；年龄 段，18~25 岁 80 人，26~30 岁 63 人，31~40 岁 10 人；国籍分布 (人数由高 到低)，巴基斯坦、尼泊尔、孟加拉国和斯里兰卡；来华留学起始时间 (按 年份由远及近排序)，2015年 7人、2016年 102人、2017年 28人、2018年 16 人；⑤汉语水平，达到 hsk 五至六级水平的总人数为 134 人，占比 88%。 之所以选取该项目南亚留学生作为研究对象，一方面是考虑到历时五 年，该项目有着相对稳定且配合度高的样本，能够确保调查问卷的回收率 及有效性，另一方面是这些学生在北京高校留学时长从两年至五年不等， 对我国大学的教学模式和课堂环境较为熟悉，且汉语水平经历了从零起点 journal of international students 50 到高级的发展阶段，均达到我国专业教育的入学标准，能够适应纯中文学 习环境，对微信、钉钉、腾讯会议、雨课堂、中国大学 mooc等全中文线 上教学平台及技术应用几乎没有障碍，在作答时能理解并聚焦于线上中文 学习体验的问题，做出相对客观、理性的比较与评价。 研究工具与方法 结合大学生学习测量与评价的理论和工具，本研究经过预访谈和调查 检验，得到了包含 27 个题项在内的调查问卷，划分维度与题项如下： 第一个维度是个体对学习的认知和态度，通过选择符合自身惯常学习 活动频率的描述来推断其自主性学习的倾向及能力，包括 10 个题项：q2 按时参加课程学习、q3 专心致志地听讲、q4 认真完成老师布置的作业或 任务、q5 课堂上提问或主动回答老师的问题、q6 积极参与课堂讨论、q7 课后找老师和同学讨论问题、q8 主动寻找学习同伴、q9 寻找可利用的资 源自主学习、q10 将自己课堂上学到的知识联系实际、q11 找各种机会说 汉语。一般而言，对以上所描述的直观学习行为，选择“经常”、“总是”的 留学生倾向于具有较强的自主性学习的意识、习惯和能力，并可以持续地 适应任何学习条件和环境，即使线上中文学习受到一定的干扰或影响，他 们也会更积极地参与学习并主动地寻找其他可替代的学习途径和资源。 第二个维度是个体的线上学习状态，从学习行为、情绪感知、自我效 能感和压力应对等次维度进行考察。“线上学习行为”包括 5 个题项：q12 我需要在课前预习所学的内容、q13 我能准时参加线上直播的课程、q14 线上学习时我能集中注意力、q15 我能自己制定学习计划并执行、q16 我 会反复观看和学习录播课程。“学习情绪”聚焦个体在学习时内心是否感到 快乐并觉得有收获 (q17)，如果表示“完全同意”或者“部分同意”说明线上学 习并没有降低个体的学习满意度和获得感。“自我效能感”关注个体是否对 自己能够解决线上学习所遇到的困难抱有信心 (q18)，如果表示肯定，说 明即使线上学习存在一定的挑战，也能从容地应对并积极寻求解决问题的 办法。对于线上学习压力及应对的考察，主要从学习者是否感到有压力和 能否适应与调节压力的角度设问，包括“q19 我不努力学习就会被淘汰”和 “q20 我能适应学习带来的压力”。 第三个维度是个体对线上学习效果的评价，分为自我评价和对教学环 境及其影响因素的整体性评价。前者从主观上反映留学生如何看待自己线 上学习的效果 (q21)，后者重点从线上教学设计 (q22)、线上师生互动 (q23)、线上小组合作 (q24)、线上学习氛围 (q25) 四个题项进行考察。 此外，我们还设计了两个题项，一是了解疫情是否对个体学习造成影 响及其程度如何，从总体上考察留学生如何看待和应对线上中文教学所带 来的变化 (q1)，二是个体是否在疫情结束后仍希望保持线上学习状态 (q26)，如果选择“是”，说明其已经较为适应线上中文教学，在可以自主选 择的情况下，更愿意留在本国继续接受线上教育，而非回到留学目的语环 境，尽管后者具有明显的沉浸式学习和真实情境下人际互动等优势。通过 journal of international students 51 明确的态度选择，可以验证和推断被调查者在其他题项上选择的一致性与 否，表明其对线上中文教学的真实想法。 考虑到留学生的个人背景对线上学习也会产生一定的影响，我们也收 集了被调查对象的性别、年龄、国籍、就读中国大学、来华学习起始时 间、汉语水平等级等信息，结果表明均无显著的相关性，这可能与研究群 体的同质性较高有关，但也有利于排除无关因素对研究主题造成干扰。为 了弥补封闭式问题的不足，了解南亚留学生线上上教学中遇到的现实困 难，我们还设计了一道开放性问题 (q27“您在参加线上教学过程中遇到了 哪些困难？”)，为切实改进中国高校面向海外留学生的线上中文教学实践 提供依据。 统计方法有皮尔逊相关系数分析、斜交验证性因子分析、结构方程模 型拟合度分析。 研究发现 信度和效度检验 使用 spss23.0 进行可靠性分析，显示克隆巴赫系数为 0.901，内部一 致性非常好，通过信度检验。使用因子分析方法进行效度检验，提取方法 为主成分，旋转方法为最大方差法，最大收敛迭代次数为 25。结果显示 kmo值为0.89，p＜0.001.通过结构效度检验。进一步进行收敛效度检验， 发现三个构面内在一致性 (cr) 基本通过检验，潜在变量对观察变量解释度 的平均值 (ave) 在“自主性学习”维度上显著，而在“线上学习评价”和“线上 学习状态”两个维度上略低于参考值，主要原因在于 q22“教师需要改进线 上教学设计”和 q19“我不努力学习就会被淘汰”两个题项可能在描述或理解 层面造成一定偏差，大规模线上中文教学是新生事物，问卷在未来修订时 需要对设问角度及表述方式进行优化。 总体态度与倾向 就疫情对南亚留学生学习状态的总体影响而言，比我们所预想的情况 要好得多，选择“疫情影响了我原有的学习计划，但一些补救方法弥补了 这些损失”占比 36%，“疫情没有影响我原有的学习计划，我仍可以像以前 一样学习”占比50%，这样的结果说明南亚留学生总体能适应疫情给学习带 来的变化，适应学习环境和调整学习活动的能力较强。尽管选择“彻底改 变” (2%) 和“严重影响” (12%) 的人数比例不算高，但仍需要我们关注。一 方面外部的客观因素是导致学习严重受阻甚至停滞不前的重要原因，且有 些超出了个体所能控制的范围，例如疫情期间所在国家的教育政策、网络 环境和家庭影响等，有的学生反映所在地区网络稳定性较差，且线上学习 需要耗费大量流量、网费支出过多，也无法获得学习所需的教材和相关资 料等，但另一方面则与个人的学习态度有关，比如经常因为时差而无法按 journal of international students 52 时上课 (考虑到排课已经尽可能照顾到地域时差较大学生需求的前提下)， 对线上学习软件的操作不太熟悉，经常找不到合适的线上学习场所等。 在回答“疫情结束后我仍希望线上学习”时，56%的人表示“完全同 意”，27%的人表示“部分同意”，16%的人表示表示“完全不同意”，从侧面 说明大部分南亚留学生能够适应并继续接受线上学习，这与教学效果和自 我调节能力也有关。通常来讲，目的语国家留学体验和沉浸式汉语学习环 境以及教育资源更具优势，但综合考虑影响留学成本效益的诸多因素，比 如工作机会、家庭压力、经济来源、文化适应和社会支持等，南亚留学生 可能会倾向于线上留学方式，尤其是在经济相对落后的国家和地区。 相关性分析 线上学习状态与效果评价 个体的线上学习状态与学习效果的自我评价及环境因素的整体性评价 之间均存在显著的相关性，且总体信度相当好 (cronbach’s alpha=0.762)。 如表 1 所示，个体线上上的学习行为与学习情绪、自我效能感、自我评价 呈显著负相关，而与压力感知及应对、环境因素整体评价均显著正相关。 表 1: 南亚留学生线上学习状态与效果评价之间的相关性 journal of international students 53 留学生在学习过程中情绪状态越好，则自我效能感越强，感知到的学 习压力就越少且能从容应对，受环境因素的影响也更小。自我效能感与压 力感知及应对、环境因素影响呈显著负相关，而与线上学习的自我评价呈 显著正相关，说明对自身线上学习的掌控感和自信心能正向地影响自己线 上学习的成就感和满意度，这也解释了为何有少数人不愿意尽快回到中国 大学继续留学，可能是出于线上学习的自我体验感较好，在一定程度上既 能满足学习需求又能降低留学成本。对线上学习压力的感知与应对与线上 学习环境因素之间存在显著的正相关，这说明线上师生、生生互动，学习 氛围和教学内容及其组织形式等外部因素是给他们线上学习带来压力的重 要来源。对线上学习效果的自我评价与对环境因素的整体评价之间呈现负 向的相关性，这说明那些更依赖于教师提问、小组合作、学习氛围和教学 设计的留学生表现出场依存性的学习风格特征，而自我评价较高的留学生 则更倾向于场独立性的学习风格，具有更明显的自主性学习特征。此外， 对线上学习环境及其影响因素的整体性评价与是否希望回到中国学习的明 确表态之间并没有显著的相关性，这可能与除学习以外的其他因素有关， 也说明线上教学等情境因素目前并没有对学习产生实质性影响。 自主性学习与线上学习体验 如表 2 所示，南亚留学生的自主性学习体现在参与课堂教学、课外主 动学习和积极语言实践三个次维度。 表 2: 南亚留学生自主性学习与线上学习体验的相关性 journal of international students 54 统计结果表明该部分题项的总体信度非常好 (cronbach’s alpha = 0.945)。经相关性分析，南亚留学生的自主性学习与线上学习体验 (综合线 上学习状态与效果评价) 之间均呈显著的正相关。这与二语习得领域关于 学习者的自我效能感水平、目标设定与学习表现之间存在正相关关系 (zimmerman & bandura, 1994；zimmerman & kitsantas, 1997)，以及我国对 英语二语学习者的元认知、学习动机、学习策略等研究结论大体一致 (张 日昇 & 袁莉敏, 2004; 王毅敏, 2006)。 自主性学习是二语学习者成功掌握汉语的重要因素，尤其是在缺乏较 强指导与控制的学习环境之下，自我引发、自我指导的主动学习特征更为 显著 (李爱萍, 2017)。从积极的意义上讲，线上中文教学给留学生提供了更 多自主性学习的机会，尤其是在异步教学和录播课程的条件下，个体可以 选择学习的时间、地点、方式和同伴等，拥有了更多的选择自由和自我控 制感。但是，线上中文教学由于脱离了原有的课堂环境和学习文化，对非 母语学习者的自主性学习也提出了更高要求，需要个体抱有持久的学习动 机和热情，在学习上投入足够的时间和精力，能与老师、同伴在线上交流 讨论和合作学习，能有效地管理和利用身边的学习资源，能合理地规划和 安排自己的学习生活，能将学到的知识和技能应用于实践，等等。反之， 如果学习者缺乏自主性学习的意识和能力，就算教师努力改进线上教学设 计和组织实施，也很难在相对有限的教学时空里促进他们持续而有效地提 高汉语水平。 结构方程模型拟合度分析 对 假 设模型进行拟合分析显示，在 绝 对适 配 度指标中， chi/df=2.199，落于 1-3 区间较好值。gfi=0.756，agfi=0.706，稍微低于 0.8 的门槛值。rmsea=0.089，略高于 0.08 的门槛值。总体而言，模型可 用，如图 2 所示。 图 2: 结构方程模型 journal of international students 55 h1: 自主学习对学习状态有显著正向影响。标准因子荷载量是0.54。假 设成立。 h2: 线上学习状态对线上学习评价存在显著正向影响。标准因子荷载 量是 0.75。假设成立。 h3: 自主性学习对线上学习评价存在正向影响，但是不显著。标准因 子荷载量是 0.03，假设不成立。因此，自主性学习对线上学习评价并没有 显著影响。 这与已有研究的结论相似 (陈钰, 2020；高鹏, 张学忠, 2005)， 在较短时间内“自主性”对学习者成绩测试的影响并不明显，这既与学习效 果评价的方式有关，也与“自主性”的培养是一个长期的、潜移默化的过程 有关。 h4: bootstrap 检验 (置信水平为 90%，观察有偏校正置信区间的上限和 下限) 显示，自主性学习对在线学习评价中介效应下限为 0.130，上限为 0.398，置信区间不包括 0，通过线上学习状态向线上学习评价所传递的中 介效应是明显的。 研究结论 本研究通过统计分析验证了自编问卷的信效度可靠，总体上南亚师资班项 目的来华留学生线上中文教学基本有效，大部分留学生能够适应疫情所带 来的学习变化并对自身学习活动进行适当的调整，也有不少学生较难接受 线上学习这种方式。个体的线上学习状态与学习效果评价之间呈显著的相 关性，具体表现在：个体的学习行为与学习情绪、自我效能感、学习效果 的自我评价呈显著的负相关，即学习投入不足则容易出现低落或挫败感等 消极情绪，对自己应对学习困难的能力感到信心不足，对学习效果产生主 观上的负面评价。个体的学习行为与压力感知及应对、环境因素的整体评 价成显著的正相关，也印证了当前对线上中文教学“缺乏与老师和同学的 互动”的共识 (吴勇毅, 2020；林秀琴 & 吴琳琳, 2020)，在缺乏课堂语境、 学习文化和同伴压力与合作学习等环境条件下，汉语学习者要独立专注于 线上学习，完成课后作业，找机会语言实践和文化体验都更加困难，需要 形成内心强大的学习动机来推动和维持学习行为。另外，积极的学习情绪 体验能增强自我效能感，受外部环境干扰和对学习压力感知更少，还能促 进学习效果的自我正面评价。南亚留学生对学习压力的感知与线上教学环 境呈显著的正相关，表明线上学习氛围、师生互动方式等环境变化确实给 他们带来了压力。 经检验，从参与课堂教学、课外主动学习和积极语言实践三个层面来 考查南亚留学生对学习的认知和态度，能够较客观地反映出自主性学习倾 向及能力。自主性学习与线上学习体验和效果评价各项因素之间均呈显著 的正相关，说明自主性学习者即使转换到线上教学模式，仍然会自己掌握 学习的主动权和控制感，比如为自己设定学习目标、善于自我激发学习动 机，充分利用线上学习资源，灵活调整学习策略，管理学习时间和计划， 保持良好的学习习惯，在遇到学习困难和挑战时对自己充满信心，能推动 journal of international students 56 自己专注地投入到线上学习过程中，较少受到其他外部因素的干扰，力求 使自己的学习效果达到最优化。 从结构方程模型的检验结果来看，自主性学习通过线上学习状态向线 上学习评价所传递的中介效应是显著的。也就是说，那些倾向于自主性学 习的南亚留学生，转换到线上教学与学习环境后，能够更好地通过调节自 身学习行为，比如专注于线上听课、课后完成学习任务、补充整合学习资 源等方式，使自己尽可能适应和保持良好的学习状态，从而获得较好的学 习效果与自我评价。然而，自主性学习的培养是一个长期积累的过程，需 要个体在与学习环境互动的过程中全面塑造自身对学习的认知、行为和情 绪，才可能在学习环境发生较大变化时表现出更好的适应性,也存在个体的 差异性与不平衡性。 讨论与启示 尽管汉语课堂教学的理论与实践已经成熟，但疫情使我们更紧迫地意识到 互联网、大数据、人工智能等现代信息技术对传统学习方式与教育生态造 成的强烈冲击和长期影响。业界要更新观念 、迎接挑战和探索创新，认识 到线上教学的突出优势在于打破了时空阻隔，顺应了新生代汉语二语学习 者的需求和特点，符合个性化、多渠道、泛在学习和终身教育的趋势，还 有降低留学时间和投入成本等边际效益。对国际中文教学和教师而言，关 键是如何适应快速更新迭代的新技术，如何将新技术深度融合到线上线下 教学中，如何处理好教学中人与技术的关系等。 此次调查虽然针对的是南亚留学生群体，但也能部分代表目前仍在线 上坚持学习的广大来华留学生的学习状况。研究发现，学习者的自主性学 习与线上学习体验及效果评价之间有着复杂紧密的互动关系。线上中文教 学不仅要着眼于促进非母语学习者积极的学习体验和学习效果，更要关注 如何塑造他们的自主性学习意识、习惯和能力，通过有效教学的设计与实 施达成良性的循环机制。这里提出三个建议： 首先，可以通过优化教学设计对课程内容、组织形式和教学方法做出 适应性调整甚至创新。以语言技能训练为例，线下成熟有效的教学模式和 方法受到线上环境的限制无法开展或低效，语言操练、分组讨论和游戏活 动等受平台和技术限制难以实现或效果不好。这就要求教师重新设计和组 织适合于线上环境的教学内容及形式。例如，在词汇教学中，教师在直播 授课的同时，可以利用微信群组织抢答、词语接龙等小游戏；在口语教学 中，通过腾讯会议等软件的视频模式对学生进行纠音点评；在讲授中华文 化时，用直播软件带学生“云”游博物馆，或者带领学生进行在线“包饺 子”“编中国结” “剪纸”等趣味活动；在布置作业或任务时，安排学生课前 预习和课后答疑巩固所学，把简单、短小的随堂练习穿插到直播教学中， 要求线下完成更复杂的自主性学习任务，比如拍摄短视频和完成闯关语言 游戏等，做到环环相扣、步步落实，激发和培养学生自主学习的兴趣、动 机与能力。 journal of international students 57 其次，研究发现师生之间缺乏互动与情感交流是弱化线上中文教学效 果的重要因素 (徐来, 2020)，而这恰恰说明教师用以往熟悉的、易操作的互 动方式和课堂管理显然不适用于线上教学环境，因为在线同步互动与真实 情境下面对面互动的确存在差异，除了技术层面的网络延时甚至中断外， 双方可能难以观察到彼此的口型、表情、声音、眼神和动作等，造成互动 效率低下或不充分。 然而，在网络课堂上，教师同样能够创建出鼓舞学生 积极参与的学习氛围，同样可以加强与个体学生和整个班级的随时沟通， 线下老师还可以做个体或小组跟踪，有效地辅助个性化学习。 鲁洲、张艳 (2021) 提出了汉语网课互动的三个原则，即充分网络和科技手段进行多元 互动，积极推动课内外互动融合，注重个体反馈。直播课堂的在线互动离 不开教师的实时指导和及时反馈，以及同伴之间合作学习的氛围，翻转或 混合式教学的离线互动却可以随时随地进行，而且更符合一对一个性化学 习需求。马婧 (2014) 指出学习者与学习内容、学习者与教师、学习者与学 习者之间的互动，直接影响网络课程中学习者的知识建构水平和学习质 量。国际中文教师要设计出贴合教学目标和内容的线上和线下小组学习任 务，最大限度地促进师生互动、生生互动并给予合理评价。就教师普遍反 映线上教学工作量剧增的问题，教师可以与学生协商线下答疑和辅导时 间，同时把线上教学作为培养学生自主性学习和终身学习能力的重要契 机，引导他们积极主动发现和利用网络汉语学习资源，探索自己学习汉语 的有效策略和方法。 最后，在“互联网+”的大背景下，汉语教师自身也是在线教学的“学习 者”之一，为了适应新的线上中文教学环境，需要不断更新和完善自身知 识结构和专业能力，将信息技术与中文教学深度融合起来。正如崔永华 (2020) 所言：“后疫情时代，运用以互联网为核心的现代科学技术支持语言 教学，已成必然，新一代的国际中文教师，要具备现代科技能力，即要具 备利用现代科技进行教学研究、课程编制、课程实施的能力。”例如，汉 语教师要熟练操作授课软件，充分利用不同教学平台，掌握基本的图片编 辑、视频剪辑等功能，能够根据教学主题，收集整理课外学习资料，精心 准备课件，通过更加丰富的形式来拓展学习资源，给留学生更好的线上学 习体验和感受。学习评估应充分利用授课平台的统计功能，综合线上课堂 出勤、在线互动、小组合作、课后作业和自主性学习任务等多项表现注重 形成性评价，同时借助大数据来分析不同学习者的个体特征，针对每位学 生的需求、能力和进度，为他们制定个性化的学习方案，以促进学习者更 好地提升中文学习能力和改进教学为目的。 此外，构建教师之间的教研共同体和师生之间的学习共同体，与国外 汉语教学机构和研究平台开展合作也是解决目前线上中文教学诸多新问题 的重要路径，这样能够有效地整合优质课程、在线资源和师资力量等，加 强线上中文教学实践的行动研究，营造一种新的汉语二语学习生态，进一 步扩大海外汉语学习者的规模和层次，吸引更多对汉语和中华文化抱有热 情的优秀国际人才来华留学。 journal of international students 58 基金项目 本文系 2017 年北京市哲学社会科学青年项目“北京高校南亚国家本土化汉 语教师培养路径研究” (项目批准号: 17jyc015)，北京语言大学 2019年校级 教改重点项目 (中央高校基本科研业务费专项资金)“来华留学本科生通用学 术汉语课程建设研究”(项目批准号: xjgz201903) 的研究成果。 参考文献 zimmerman, b. j., & bandura, a. 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(2021). 如何确保在线直播课程的教学成效？-以疫情期间在线直播课程 的学习环境和学习内容设计为例.现代教育技术, 31(01), 112-118. doi:cnki:sun:xjjs.0.2021-01-017. 张日昇, 袁莉敏. (2004). 大学生外语焦虑、自我效能感与外语成绩关系的研究. 心理发展与教育, (03), 56-61. doi:cnki:sun:xlfz.0.2004-03-012. 曾妙芬, 耿子怡, & 蔡罗一. (2021). 从教师反思分析线上中文教学有效原则之应 用. 国际汉语教学研究, (1), 27-38. doi:cnki:sun:hjxy.0.2021-01-011. 郑艳群. (2001). 课堂上的网络和网络上的课堂-从现代教育技术看对外汉语教学 的发展.世界汉语教学, (4), 98-104. doi:cnki:sun:sjhy.0.2001-04-014. 郑艳群. (2013). 汉语网络学习的数字环境与生态环境体系设计.汉语学习, (02), 78-85. doi:cnki:sun:hyxx.0.2013-02-010. 郑艳群. (2019). 汉语教学 70 年-教育技术的影响及作用. 国际汉语教学研究, (04), 69-76. doi:cnki:sun:hjxy.0.2019-04-015. 周汶霏, 宁继鸣. (2020). 学习者视角下的国际中文慕课建设:一种比较的路径. 国 际汉语教学研究, (3), 82-89. doi:cnki:sun:hjxy.0.2020-03-011. lan yu, phd, is an associate professor at the school of teaching chinese as a second language (tcsl), department of humanities and social science, beijing language and culture university, china. her research interests include higher education internationalization, international student mobility, education of international students, cross-cultural adaptation, and chinese teaching and learning. email: yulan@blcu.edu.cn 余蓝, 北京语言大学人文社会科学学部汉语教育学院副教授，研究兴趣包 括高等教育国际化、国际学生流动、来华留学生教育、跨文化适应、汉语 教与学等领域。电子邮箱: yulan@blcu.edu.cn lingying xu, graduate student, school of journalism and communication, department of humanities and social sciences, beijing language and culture university, china. her research interests include the learning experience of international students in china, new media and international student education. email: 201921198397@stu.blcu.edu.cn 许灵英, 北京语言大学人文社会科学学部新闻与传播学院在读研究生，研 究兴趣包括来华留学生学习体验，新媒体与国际学生教育等领域。邮箱: 201921198397@stu.blcu.edu.cn 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 57 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue s3 (2022), pp. 57-76 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12is3.4665 ojed.org/jis marginalization and underrepresentation in virtual exchange: reasons and remedies nael h alami modern university for business and science, lebanon josmario albuquerque the open university, uk loye sekihata ashton class2class james a. elwood meiji university, japan kwesi ewoodzie culture beyond borders, south africa mirjam hauck the open university, uk joanne karam modern university for business and science, lebanon liudmila klimanova university of arizona, usa ramona nasr modern university for business and science, lebanon müge satar newcastle university, uk journal of international students 58 abstract the recent expansion of virtual exchange (ve) in lieu of the covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing advance of technology has resulted in considerably larger numbers of ve participants for those in certain areas and contexts, yet not all would-be participants have been so fortunate. in some regions and in various contexts, challenges in ve implementation have resulted in disadvantaged populations in terms of underrepresentation and marginalization in global ve networks. to illuminate such challenges, a mixedmethod approach was utilized in the current study, beginning with a global survey to elucidate reasons for underrepresentation in terms of political, governmental, institutional, administrative, technological, pedagogical, cultural and personal challenges. thereafter, semi-structured interviews with instructors, administrators, and educational decision makers were conducted to gain further insights. although ve is now well established as an impactful mode of studying abroad, various region-specific challenges remain. we conclude with recommendations on how to overcome the challenges especially in those underrepresented regions and populations. keywords: virtual exchange, intercultural education, marginalization, underrepresentation, global survey the backdrop for this contribution is a large-scale study funded by the us-based stevens initiative (https://www.stevensinitiative.org), an international organization that supports the development of global competence and career readiness skills for young people by enhancing the field of virtual exchange. the study was carried out in 2021 by an international consortium of virtual exchange (ve) scholars and practitioners who are committed to the myriad benefits of ve while remaining concerned that ve lacks the egalitarian aspect that education should entail. a long history of research on contact theory, which advocates having students from various backgrounds interact and study with each other (allport, 1954), has demonstrated a significant reduction in stereotypes and improvement in attitudes toward the so-called out-group (moaz, 2000; pettigrew & tropp, 2000, 2006). this research has also shown that those who have the opportunity to study abroad generally exhibit "higher levels of international political concern, cross-cultural interest, and cultural cosmopolitanism", along with "a greater change in intercultural communication skills” (carlson & widaman, 1988, p. 13; alred & byram, 2002). these findings have encouraged institutions all over the world to establish in-person student exchange programs to foster similar results among students from different backgrounds (paige et al., 2009). however, in-person exchange remains limited to a very small percentage of students due to its high cost, the required period of time spent away from one’s home, and lack of flexibility (doyle et al., 2010). as a result, educators have sought to implement ve programs as an alternative form of student exchange that delivers the same benefits of traditional student mobility while utilizing more accessible tools at a much lower cost and in a safer way. indeed, studies demonstrate that ve offers the benefits of enhancing cultural awareness, subject knowledge, and communication (olsen et al., 2006; journal of international students 59 todhunter et al., 2013; machwate et al., 2021), all of which are characteristic of traditional in-person exchange. however, not all student groups have shared in the benefits of study abroad programs or ve. certain groups are underrepresented, participating at a lower rate than would be expected: for example, in 2017 in the united states, only 9% of the students that identified as hispanic or latinx participated in study abroad programs although they constituted 17% of the overall student population. this underrepresentation situation paralleled that of black/african-american students, who comprised 15% of the student population yet only 6% of study abroad participants (engle, 2017). moreover, such underrepresented populations often face challenges that are specific to their particular context (ecker-lyster & kardash, 2022). marginalization is also of concern in study abroad and ve programs, reflecting a form of educational marginalization. unesco defined educational marginalization as “a form of acute and persistent disadvantage rooted in underlying social inequalities” (education for all, global monitoring report 2010), yet it can originate with institutional or legal constraints as well. in a us context, for example, undocumented university students (i.e. those with no legal standing to reside in the us) faced extensive challenges in participating in study abroad (butler, madden, & smith, 2018). thus, the current study is an endeavor to illuminate and more fully understand the challenges that limit or even prevent educators and administrators from fully utilizing ve as a vehicle for inclusive international education for underrepresented and marginalized student populations. the study focused on five geopolitical sectors: south and central america, sub-saharan africa, the middle east, central asia, and east asia. the study was further informed by critical ve, an emerging line of ve research and practice (hauck, 2020; klimanova & hellmich, 2021), which sees ve as a vehicle for socio-political change. the tableau upon which ve develops is multi-faceted, being influenced by societal factors such as gender and age issues, institutional constraints such as lack of support, technological shortcomings, geopolitical realities, and systemic issues such as the pervasiveness of western hegemonies. critical ve is well situated to explore issues of inclusion and exclusion in ve-based efforts to internationalize higher education home curricula (a process known as internationalization at home, or iah; beelen & jones, 2015). moreover, critical ve advocates addressing social injustice at both institutional and individual levels (e.g., by improving student access to employment through purposeful ve experiences; see also andreotti, 2006). its focus on marginalized and underrepresented learner populations is particularly germane. research questions thus, in light of this complex background and the need to more fully comprehend the challenges that inhibit or even preclude a more complete implementation of ve as a vehicle for inclusive international education, this study addresses the following research questions: q1: what are the challenges leading to the underrepresentation and marginalization of communities of learners in ve programs? q2: which practices and policies can contribute to mitigating the impact of these challenges? journal of international students 60 literature review the genesis of this study lies in the world of student exchange, to which virtual exchange is a reasonably recent addition. the world of student exchange has for years depended on the availability of several factors, all of which must align in order for the student to study in a location other than the home institute. on a personal level, the student requires ample motivation and the financial wherewithal to participate in an exchange program. on a societal level, an attractive school must first exist and be available as an exchange venue, and the respective societies must be conducive to study (i.e., not be in a conflict zone or subject to stringent rules and regulations that precludes studying). on an administrative level, support for exchange study needs to be included in the student’s curriculum, and exchange protocols (e.g., memoranda of understanding or agreement) must be extant. on a technological level, the infrastructure to physically travel to the exchange location must be available and within one’s financial means, and in the current pandemic-restricted context the tools for virtual exchange such as a stable internet connection and a sufficiently powerful device must be both available and not prohibitively expensive. absent any one of these aspects, exchange study becomes significantly more difficult and perhaps impossible. as a result, only a small minority of students across the world is able to participate in physical student mobility, due mainly to financial reasons (miles et al., 2018). for example, only 60,000 out of 8.6 million students within higher education institutions in brazil took part in study abroad in 2019. by the same token, only 1% of u.s. students pursue a study abroad experience each academic year although over 90 percent of u.s. universities sponsor study abroad programs (lipinski, 2014). against this set of challenges, ve has proven a useful method for beginning to address some of those challenges. ve is widely perceived as a means to achieve an equitable and inclusive education for all by removing the need to study abroad which contributes directly to the global climate crisis (de wit & altbach, 2020). given access to sufficientlydeveloped infrastructure, students can partake in “pedagogically-structured online collaborative learning between groups of students in different cultural contexts or geographical locations” (o’dowd, 2018, p. 2). moreover, ve combines the deep impact of intercultural dialogue and exchange with the broad reach of digital technology (evolve, 2019) and is a powerful instrument and catalyst in advancing iah (o’dowd & beelen, 2021). ve programs have been found to be an ideal instantiation of iah as “they represent a collaborative, international exercise on the part of teachers and students … make use of online technology to foster interaction,” and “lead to active intercultural and international learning and learning outcomes; and they can be actively integrated into the learning process” (de wit, 2016, p. 78). in fact, ve initiatives are generally integrated into students’ formal learning, and student participation comes with some form of (academic) recognition such as grades, credit or badges. however, while the aim of iah is to reach all students, many ve practices are still electives available to some students only because expanding ve to include all students requires considerable effort (evolve project team, 2020). thus ve-based iah is not inherently inclusive. on the contrary, ve has the potential to present one-sided perspectives and concepts to learners that do not account for the diversity of contexts and experiences, similar to any other form of online or blended education (dewinter & klamer, 2021). the use of the english language in ve programs serves as a journal of international students 61 good example of such biases and hegemonies, in addition to the fact that facilitators are trained using western ideologies, which might lead to alienation of certain student populations (ibid). advances in educational technology rely on resources taken for granted in developed countries (e.g., a reliable source of electricity, high-bandwidth internet access, fast wifi, and powerful devices). as a result of such assumptions, digitization has not yet had a globally transformative impact on education nor has it led to greater equality and inclusion (european parliament, 2018). if anything, the covid-19 pandemic and the worldwide move to online education have shown how lack of technology access has not only exacerbated inequality and exclusion (correia, 2020), but has also created new digital inequalities (satar & hauck, 2021). thus, “while technology has the capacity to empower and liberate, it also has the capacity to exclude and marginalize” (darvin, 2016, p. 2). moreover, the political and social dimensions of technology use tend to be underestimated, as are the power dynamics created by educational practices, like the prioritization of certain types of knowledge that reinforce social and epistemic inequalities and injustices (selwyn & facer, 2013). therefore, researchers need to systematically dissemble the assumptions and ideologies in the discourses and practices associated with educational technologies, with ve-based iah first and foremost. educators, therefore, need to examine carefully how processes of inclusion and exclusion play out in virtual settings (o’dowd & beelen, 2021) and ultimately what particular challenges curtail or preclude participation in ve. this is addressed further in section 3. method drawing on mixed methods (nunan & bailey, 2009) this study uses quantitative data from a likert-scale instrument to examine trends and categories. these data were then complemented by qualitative data from open-ended questions to illuminate reasons for underrepresentation in terms of political, governmental, institutional, administrative, technological, pedagogical, cultural, and personal challenges. qualitative data from semistructured interviews with educators and administrators identified via the survey were collected to gain in-depth knowledge of the challenges associated with ve in underrepresented populations. this comprehensive data capture enabled us to examine those issues embedded in the rqs which are not amiable to an investigation using quantitative instruments only. the methodology was also informed by ethnography, which has a “unique capability for getting close up to sites of social injustice and offers the ethnographic researcher a unique opportunity for constructing emancipatory practices” (gray, 2014, p. 459). ethnography is concerned with articulating identifiable cultural and political issues including injustices and thus allows one to “criticise how things are and imagine how they could be different” (denzin, 1999, p. 153). moreover, ethnography—in accordance with willis and trondman (2000)—is “a family of methods involving direct and sustained social contact with agents, and of richly writing up the encounter, respecting, recording, representing at least partly in its own terms, the irreducibility of human experience” (p. 5). the focus in this study is on exchanges that are collaboratively designed and implemented by two or more university educators who want to integrate an international and intercultural dimension into their extant courses; this represents the very definition of faculty-led ve. this is the model that has its origins in foreign language education, where journal of international students 62 it is known as telecollaboration (belz, 2003; guth & helm, 2010) or online intercultural exchange (o’dowd & lewis, 2016). in the us this model is also referred to as collaborative online international learning (coil; guth & rubin, 2015), which has been used in a wide range of disciplines. the survey instrument the primary focus of the survey was to understand the reasons for underrepresentation in ve-based iah in five geo-political regions: africa, south and central america, the middle east, central asia, and east asia. toward this end, an iterative process based on sperber (2004) was employed through the successive steps of instrument creation, validation, translation, implementation, evaluation, and refinement. based on the literature and the team’s experience in ve research and practice, the research team first identified the seven broad categories of ve challenges introduced earlier. next, the team engaged in operationalizing key constructs and used those to create the survey items for each category before carrying out the validation process. in the translation step, the survey instrument was translated from english into the eight target languages: arabic, chinese, french, japanese, portuguese, russian, spanish, and turkish; the initial translations were then back-translated by other bilingual academics. discrepancies were reconciled and final versions of the respective language surveys were produced. according to bolarinwa (2015), the theoretical constructs of a survey instrument are assessed through scrutiny of face validity and construct validity. while the former is “the appropriateness, sensibility, or relevance of the test and its items as they appear to the persons answering the test” (holden, 2010, p. 1), content validity refers to “the extent to which the items on a test are fairly representative of the entire domain the test seeks to measure” (salkind, 2010, p. 233). to examine face validity, a pilot group of five participants provided feedback on the survey items, which the research team then discussed and selectively incorporated into the revised version. this version was then shared with eight ve experts for content validation. following their recommendations, a further improved version of the survey was produced, which formed the basis for the translations. for each target language, a bilingual academic or team of academics provided an initial translation, which was then back-translated from the target language into english. discrepancies in the two english versions were then addressed, yielding a final target language version that was made available online via cognito forms (www.cognitoforms.com). beginning in september of 2021, recruitment of participants commenced through word of mouth and invitations through concentric personal and professional international networks. for example, the invitation was distributed through linkedin connections, who were invited to pass it along through participant networks. as such, the participant pool was one of convenience, but in most cases the participants were or had been involved in virtual exchange. in the four months in which the survey was available, a total of 340 participants (238 educators and 102 administrators) completed the survey. although we initially targeted the aforementioned geo-political sectors, distribution via social media allowed participation across a larger geographical range and the inclusion of two additional journal of international students 63 geopolitical areas, europe and north america. the number and role of participants per region are shown in table 1. table 1. participants and role by region teacher administrator africa 13 2 central asia 62 26 east asia 39 4 europe 20 7 latin america 15 7 middle east 61 37 north america 28 19 total 238 102 the reported data from table 1 relate to participants’ (teachers and administrators) responses to the 28 survey items. an initial internal reliability analysis of these items was performed; results are shown in table 2. the analysis suggested that dropping some items would improve the reliability in most constructs. in addition, a factor analysis was performed to obtain more evidence in support of our decision regarding the configuration of the instrument. to this effect, a principal component analysis (pca) was conducted based on the correlation matrix and varimax rotation method. the results supported the hypothesis that the configuration of seven components was robust. based on the initial reliability analysis and the pca, some survey items were revised and others were deleted; the final reliability values for the respective components are shown in table 2. journal of international students 64 table 2. final configuration and reliability of the survey instrument construct with sample item α 1. experience with ve (k = 2) 0.77 q3. i have the necessary digital skills and knowledge of technology to implement a ve. 2. political issues (k = 3) 0.79 q12. national or local political regulations have an impact on ve. 3. institutional issues (k = 5) 0.90 q15. my school has training in ve methodology. 4. technological issues (k = 3) 0.90 q22. internet connectivity is one of the main technological challenges for ve. 5. pedagogical issues (k = 2) 0.70 q24. at my school/institution students who have taken part in ve rate the experience highly. 6. emotional issues (k = 2) 0.79 q34. students’ parents and/or other community members discourage me from implementing a ve at my institution. 7. attitudinal issues (k = 3) 0.88 q40. ve is a safe learning environment for female students. semi-structured interviews semi-structured interview questions were developed in line with the survey questions to elicit detailed information on participants’ ve experiences in each region while enabling valid comparisons across regions. the development of prompts with volunteers (see section 3.1) underwent a rigorous process including operationalizing of key constructs (which was informed by insights gained from the survey) and validation. to validate the interview protocol, two pilot interviews were conducted and analyzed by two researchers, and necessary modifications were made before the interview schedule was shared with the rest of the team for further refinement. this process showed that some of the prompts required further revision to allow the research team to address factors contributing to marginalization and underrepresentation in ve-based iah in a more direct manner. thus, in the section on ‘issues of access and inclusivity’ two questions were added: question 3.3. do certain ethnic or social groups or minority populations lack access to ve? question 3.4. are there differences in opportunities for learning due to one’s background? in the section on ‘political/governmental issues/access to funding’ two questions were added: journal of international students 65 question 7.3. do you have funding at your institutional level that you can request for building new programs? who can request that funding? everyone who teaches at your institution? question 7.4. do graduate students have access to special grants and stipends for implementing new methodologies at your institution? a total of 33 interviews were conducted; all were done in english. the participants were chosen from the countries that were most represented in the survey responses. table 3 shows the number and type of interviewees by region. table 3. interviewee numbers, roles, and locations by region teacher administrator countries represented africa 2 3 ghana, uganda, south africa central asia 4 3 kazakhstan, uzbekistan east asia 5 1 japan, china latin america 4 4 ecuador, mexico, brazil middle east 2 2 turkey, lebanon europe north america total 20 13 the interviews were then transcribed and the textual data analyzed thematically (braun & clarke, 2006) using nvivo, release 1.6 (qsr international, 2022). to ensure credibility and trustworthiness, a 6-step approach was followed in the analysis of the textual data: following data transcription and familiarization (step 1), a member of the research team was allocated to each region to initiate systematic inductive coding (step 2). codes were then collated into potential themes per region (step 3). once themes from all regions were identified, the entire data set was merged to establish themes across regions and to create a thematic map (step 4). the specifics of each theme were then refined (step 5). finally, compelling extracts that represent overall findings and main highlights per region were selected (step 6). in the next section findings are presented and discussed in detail. results hereafter insights gained that address the two rqs are presented and discussed. quantitative findings the first step in our quantitative results was a perusal of the entire data set and the challenges identified there. the top five challenges globally are shown in table 4. journal of international students 66 table 4. top five global challenges 30. ve takes too much time/effort to develop. 23. partners’ incompatible preference for software. 18. no incentives for ve implementation. 12. national/local political regulations. 19. lack of processes for curricular change. of these, the top two arise from the pedagogical sphere and implementation of ve. being occupied with the day-to-day business of teaching constitutes the primary challenge for educators. the necessity of software synchronization between ve teaching partners is also a significant hurdle, perhaps because of institutionally mandated software or a tendency to utilize freeware. two further challenges are administrative inasmuch as interested teachers face a lack of incentives to implement ve as well as an avenue to introduce curricular change in a more principled manner. the remaining challenge lay outside the university or institutional context as political regulations presented obstacles to ve implementation. these broad swaths do not, however, capture region-specific challenges, which were addressed with a second perusal of the data. in the second analysis of the data, the top five challenges for the respective regions were assigned point values with five (5) representing the most commonly noted challenge. these were then tabulated as shown in table 5. table 5. summary of the top 5 challenges per region two items emerged as contenders for the top global challenge: in africa, europe, and north america “no incentives for ve implementation” occupied the top position, while “ve takes too much time/effort to develop” was the major challenge in three regions (latin america, central asia, and east asia). in the middle east, however, “extreme weather impacts technology access” was as the primary challenge. the second challenge on a global level, “partners incompatible preferences for software”, was noted in four areas, while “poor internet connection” was a major challenge in central asia, sub-saharan africa, and journal of international students 67 the middle east. another widespread challenge was “students unable to participate locally”, which ranked in the top five challenges in five sectors. the fourth challenge worldwide, “national/political regulations”, only appears in the same position in central asia but is absent from the top five challenges in the other regions. finally, “lack of processes for curricular changes”, which placed fifth in the global ranking, was noted in five sectors in the region-specific rankings. a closer look at the challenges and their ranking in the regions under consideration also reveals that “poor internet connection” is definitely a hurdle for ve-based iah in subsaharan africa, central asia, and the middle east but is not a global challenge, failing to appear among the top five. “students unable to participate in ve locally” was a lesser challenge yet appeared in five areas. another noteworthy impacting factor is “extreme weather conditions”, which was mentioned only in the middle east where it took the top position. in addition, a concern unique to east asia was that ve training and best practices are at an introductory level and much more education and promotion are required; it was the second biggest challenge reported in that region. this assessment of the situation in east asia is echoed by seneviratne: as the region slowly begins to recover and as borders and universities open up for face-to-face interactions, the challenge will be how to offer students digitized learning together with traditional personal interaction and intercultural experiences to boost internationalization and exchanges, according to academics and policy-makers. (2022, ¶2) the quantitative data show that challenges to ve with respect to marginalization and underrepresentation fall into two large categories, incentives and access. these two represent quite different perspectives, the former being administrative and the latter being related to environmental and infrastructure concerns. the qualitative findings explain some of the reasons for these individual factor rankings. qualitative findings this section presents the main themes that were identified across the data in each of the regions and across regions. figure 1 summarizes the main challenges across all regions and figure 2 shows unique challenges per region arising from the thematic analysis. insights from the qualitative data shed further light on the reasons for region-specific challenges and ways these challenges could be addressed to mitigate underrepresentation and marginalization in global ve initiatives. in south american, the main challenge was limited funding and incentives at the institutional and governmental levels for educational projects, especially compared to research projects. second it was perceived that some students were disadvantaged due to challenges associated with language barriers, gender, and ethnicity. representative quotations read as follows: in ecuador, i don't think there is anything for it like that. we barely have a beginning of a funding system for research… not for pedagogical activities. (south america, participant 3) journal of international students 68 i see differences in ethnicity groups, for example, indigenous. i think they don’t have this access [to ve] yet, at least not in mexico, i can assure you that they don’t even know what is virtual exchange or coil is yet.” (south america, participant 8) in the middle east, our interviewees reported challenges related to internet connectivity, electricity cuts, access to technologies, time zone differences, and language. some of the interviewees were not familiar with ve at all and did not have any insight into whether all instructors in their institutions had access or freedom to implement ve programs at their institutions. one interviewee made the following observation: students are not very rich actually and they can’t afford to pay [for] large data bundles in their mobiles phones, they don’t have enough hotspot connections as well. (middle east, participant 5) figure 1: thematic map of main challenges based on merged data sets journal of international students 69 in central asia, three themes stand out. first, ve is not perceived as a mainstream methodology but is often equated with online teaching. ve is viewed predominantly as an opportunity to invite speakers from other countries as an extracurricular activity. training in ve pedagogies is practically non-existent. second, there is a big disconnect between instructors who teach and administrators who approve and launch ve initiatives in the region. finally, ve is perceived primarily as an opportunity to engage with english speakers for students that are trained in languages. existing initiatives are contained within individual departments; interdisciplinarity is discouraged at the institutional level. here is a quote that speaks to what appears to be the main challenge: everything is regulated by our international cooperations office. this is their responsibility to decide who we collaborate with in the department. (central asia, participant 1). figure 2: unique challenges per region based on thematic analysis in east asia, the interviewees reported limited understanding of and exposure to ve pedagogy. three main barriers were identified in relation to this. first, there is a lack of interest on the part of the faculty to engage in sustained initiatives involving ve. second, similar to the middle east region, although teachers have freedom to implement ve, encouragement from the administration is limited. teachers who are interested in doing ve feel isolated. third, intercultural learning is also not perceived as a necessary component of education by some students. the following quote speaks to the second challenge: i once talked about [ve] with my dean. … and they all think it’s nice to have it but [that’s] not enough. and also, i mentioned this with some of my colleagues… and i asked whether they would like to join this program this semester again, with me. none of them responded. (east asia, participant 5) in africa, the participants revealed that technological challenges are still prevalent and deeply rooted in challenges around infrastructure, socio-economic inequalities, digital skills, and political and pedagogical attitudes resulting in issues of access and inclusivity. referring to coil one participant said this: journal of international students 70 i think for me as a coordinator, uptake [buy-in] by our own academic staff [is most concerning] because i mean, the first thing that i always hear is that coil is intimidating. (africa, participant 4) overall, the challenges identified through the survey and the qualitative interviews with teachers and administrators in each geopolitical region point to the unique characteristics of local educational structures that lead to marginalization and exclusive practices in the internationalization efforts at the local institutional and global scales. these challenges also reveal the aspects of ve administration that can be improved for a better inclusion of these regions in global ve initiatives and programs. the following sections address the implications of these findings for future ve-based educational practices. discussion first and foremost, despite the fact that it is by now well established that ve is as impactful as traditional study abroad programs (olsen et al., 2006; todhunter et al., 2013; machwate et al., 2021), this message has yet to reach educators and educational decision makers globally. the same applies to ve-specific benefits which are supported by an emerging body of research in multiple disciplines (e.g., bowen et al., 2021; dawson et al., 2019). our study reveals that there is a need to systematically increase awareness of ve in all regions, the processes involved in ve project design, best practices in ve implementation, and effective approaches to evaluating ve that bring its benefits to the fore and thus its potential impact on, for example, graduate employability. there is a similar need for training in ve pedagogy and administration with a focus on ve from an equity lens (kastler & lewis, 2021). as deftly stated by kastler and lewis, such a lens is notable for its inclusion and equitable treatment of all concerned parties and for its focus on careful prioritization. there is a similar need for training in ve pedagogy and administration with a focus on ve from an ‘equity lens’ perspective (kastler & lewis, 2021). such a perspective would be notable for at least two reasons, the first of which is the inclusion and equitable treatment of all concerned parties. among others, these could include minority minority-serving institutions, non-english-medium institutions, and disadvantaged participant groups. the second reason is careful prioritization of time and resources to support implementers (teachers) while including activities that address social issues and local realities of all participating communities as part of the exchange dialogue. our findings show that funding for training in ve project design and incentives for ve implementation are especially needed in africa, south america, the middle east, and central asia. awareness raising is crucial in altering the common perception that ve is primarily an opportunity to practice language skills (english) and suitable for the humanities only. this will help promote ve for all students and also contribute to overcoming detrimental language ideologies and linguistic hegemonies. implications journal of international students 71 the data collected make it clear that a systematic approach to ve implementation is needed in all geo-political sectors investigated in this study. toward this goal and in accordance with the equity lens tenets provided above, we recommend the following steps: align ve efforts with institutional/regional goals in terms of providing students with an international education including institutional iah strategies; create the position of specialized ve ambassador, who would advocate for ve programs and assist faculty in the curriculum internationalization process; develop policies to encourage and incentivize faculty to participate and design ve initiatives (e.g., not only providing funding for ve research but also for pedagogy and career progression); and encourage the establishment of ve partnerships directly with faculty and departments rather than with administrative units at heis. in addition, ve needs to be recognized and publicized as a legitimate and valuable form of international learning either independent of traditional student mobility programs or as a suitable complementary educational intervention. ve is typically conceptualized as a partnership with a western university (preferably an english-speaking one). all other types of ve are often not perceived as critical for comprehensive internationalization. this can be addressed by explicitly training institutional international cooperation officers and holding more conferences on ve pedagogies in a variety of disciplines and contexts (e.g., in central asian countries, in which ve was perceived as an initiative led by university administrators rather than teaching staff). finally, more studies and published research on ve implementation in underrepresented regions are needed so we can better understand their specific challenges and thus address them as a unified international educational community. references allport, g. w. 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(2000). manifesto for ethnography. ethnography, 1(1), 5–6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24047726 nael h alami, phd, is an associate professor in the department of public health and provost at modern university for business and science. his major research interests lie in the area of learning sciences, educational technology, global health and neuroscience. email: nael.alami@mubs.edu.lb josmario albuquerque, is a ph.d. candidate at the institute for educational technology at the open university uk. email: josmario.albuquerque@open.ac.uk loye sekihata ashton, phd, is vp of partnerships and chief academic officer at class2class, where he is working to help develop immerseu into one of the leading global virtual exchange and virtual mobility platforms. email: loye@class2class.com james a. elwood, edd, is a professor in the faculty of interdisciplinary mathematical sciences at meiji university in japan. his major research interests lie in educational psychometrics, the intersection of technology and foreign language acquisition, and the nature of international posture. email: elwood@meiji.ac.jp kwesi ewoodzie, phd, is the founder of culture beyond borders (cbb), and an organizational culture consultant who facilitates virtual and in-person cross-cultural exchanges. dr. ewoodzie’s doctorate concentration was in the sociology of organization and culture. he promotes experiential learning with impactful and inclusive travel to the african continent. email: contact@cbbexperience.com mirjam hauck, phd, is associate head for internationalization, equality, diversity and inclusion in the school of languages and applied linguistics at the open university/uk. her work covers aspects such as learner and teacher autonomy, mailto:nael.alami@mubs.edu.lb mailto:loye@class2class.com mailto:elwood@meiji.ac.jp mailto:contact@cbbexperience.com journal of international students 76 intercultural communicative competence, and critical digital literacy. email: mirjam.hauck@open.ac.uk joanne karam, phd, is chairperson of the nutrition department at modern university for business and science. her research interests include nutrition and dietetics and global health. email: jkaram@mubs.edu.lb liudmila klimanova, phd, is assistant professor of call and digital studies, at the university of arizona. her research focuses on the intersection of critical pedagogies, critical virtual exchange, intercultural virtual learning. she is co-founder and director of connecting the borderlands, an initiative that brings together institutions in border towns around the world for a productive discussion of social, political, and cultural issues associated with borderland locations and beyond. email: klimanova@arizona.edu ramona nasr, phd, is acting chairperson of the public health department at the modern university for business and science. her major research interests include global health, non-communicable diseases, and academic literacies. email: rnasr@mubs.edu.lb müge satar, phd, is a reader in applied linguistics at newcastle university, uk. she is interested in communicative and pedagogical aspects of multimodal interaction for online language learning and teaching. she is the co-editor of the journal of virtual exchange and principal investigator of the eu-funded enact project. email: muge.satar@newcastle.ac.uk mailto:mirjam.hauck@open.ac.uk mailto:jkaram@mubs.edu.lb mailto:klimanova@arizona.edu mailto:rnasr@mubs.edu.lb mailto:muge.satar@newcastle.ac.uk research questions literature review method the survey instrument semi-structured interviews results quantitative findings qualitative findings discussion implications references 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx buckner et al 32 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 11, issue s1 (2021), pp. 32-49 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis diversity without race: how university internationalization strategies discuss international students elizabeth buckner punita lumb zahra jafarova phoebe kang adriana marroquin you zhang oise, university of toronto, canada abstract this article examines how a sample of 62 higher education institutions in canada, the united states and the united kingdom discuss international students in their official institutionalization strategies, focusing on how ideas of race and diversity are addressed. we find that institutional strategies connect international students to an abstract notion of diversity, using visual images to portray campus environments as inclusive of racial, ethnic and religious diversity. yet, strategy documents rarely discuss race, racialization, or racism explicitly, despite the fact that most international students in all three countries are nonwhite. moreover, in the few instances when race is discussed, racial injustice is externalized as a global issue and racial diversity is instrumentalized as a source of improving institutional reputation or diversity metrics. we argue that a first step to creating more inclusive and anti-racist campuses is to acknowledge international students’ racial identities and experiences with racism in official discourses and strategies. keywords: race, internationalization, diversity, higher education increasing international student mobility has rapidly changed higher education in many parts of the world. in 2019, international students accounted for 25% of all enrollments in the united kingdom (u.k.), 21% in canada and 5% in the united states (u.s.) (institute of international education [iie], 2019). in many countries, international students are viewed as a source of supplemental, even necessary, revenue for institutions faced with journal of international students 33 declining public funding. however, revenue generation is not the only stated benefit for institutions (buckner, 2019; khoo, 2011). international students are also viewed as a resource to help diversify the student body and expose domestic students to “diversity” (stein, 2015). this is particularly true in the english-speaking global north, where the normative domestic student is generally assumed to be a white, christian, middle-class, monolingual citizen with little experience abroad (jones, 2013). much of the literature on how higher education institutions engage in internationalization is oriented towards the experiences of international students. a large literature in higher education documents the many challenges they face when integrating into campuses and communities with different academic and cultural norms (see chen, 2006; guo & guo, 2017; kenyon et al., 2012). however, there is less focus on institutions’ responses and responsibilities to their growing international student enrollments (yao et al., 2019). recognizing this gap, this article explores international student recruitment as an institutional project through a close reading of how higher education institutions discuss international students in their official international strategy documents. specifically, we ask: how do higher education institutions in canada, the u.k. and u.s. discuss and portray international students in official internationalization strategies? we find that while institutions celebrate cultural diversity in their official strategies, their discussions nonetheless frame whiteness as the norm against which cultural diversity is defined. meanwhile, the strategies ignore international students’ racial identities and experiences with racism. we argue that by not acknowledging international students’ racial identities and experiences with racism, internationalization strategy documents ignore their institutions’ role in perpetuating racism and the normalization of whiteness in higher education. literature review around five million students in higher education studied in foreign countries in 2017 (unesco institute for statistics, 2018.) with one-third of all international students enrolling in only three countries: the u.s., the u.k., and canada (iie, 2019). despite some differences, international students in all three countries are overwhelmingly treated as sources of additional revenue and diversity for their changing societies (buckner, 2019; khoo, 2011; pandit, 2013; sawir, 2013; stein, 2015). for example, studies find that internationalization in english-speaking countries is linked to students’ international awareness (buckner, 2019) and developing global citizens (khoo, 2011). these findings are part of a broader body of work that finds diversity has become a ubiquitous word in higher education. diversity is increasingly viewed as a valuable resource that “diverse” students bring to their institutions, and so even abstract commitments to diversity can bolster the image of the university (ahmed, 2007; glasener et al., 2019; smith & khawaja, 2011). in line with these discourses, many institutions strategically represent their diversity visually through their websites and recruitment brochures (ford & patterson, 2019; pippert et al., 2013). for example, institutions in the united states strategically include images in recruitment brochures of a student body that is more diverse than their actual student population (pippert et al., 2013). glasener et al. (2019) argue that many u.s. institutions journal of international students 34 focus on diversity to avoid discussing how race is experienced on campus, while also giving the impression that the institution offers a progressive and inclusive campus environment. these studies point to the need to critically unpack how institutions invoke certain ideas through their visual images and representations. the large number of international students on campuses has prompted a growing literature on international students’ experiences. studies find that international students in english-speaking countries face challenges adjusting to new academic environments and socio-cultural stressors (andrade, 2006; kuo, 2011; sawir et al., 2008; smith & khawaja, 2011). the literature also finds that international students face racism and discrimination of various types. a deficit assumption is pervasive (hanassab, 2006; jones, 2017). international students are often treated as a problem and in need of support to catch up with local knowledge to fit in (jones, 2017; leask, 2015). east asian and south asian international students report feeling excluded and avoided, ridiculed for their accents, disregarded, and stereotyped in the united states and canada (houshmand et al., 2014; yao et al., 2019). studies also find that international students from the middle east, africa, asia and latin america experience more discrimination than their white international student peers in the united states (hanassab, 2006; yao et al., 2019). studies in the u.k. also find that international students of color are more likely to report having experienced racism and verbal abuse (brown & jones, 2013). yet, there has been much less discussion of institutional roles and responsibilities to international students (yao et al., 2019). higher education institutions create the academic and social environments in which their international students live and learn: they are undoubtedly aware of the many challenges, including racism, that international students face and have both the responsibility and the resources to respond. unpacking institutions’ understanding of their international students can be an important first step to addressing international students’ challenges by identifying how institutional oversights and assumptions harm students. theoretical perspectives our analysis is informed by three distinct, but related, literatures: critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, and critical multiculturalism. first, we draw on key ideas in critical race theory (crt) and critical whiteness studies to ground our analysis of how race is discussed, or evaded, in internationalization strategies (henry et al., 2017). our analysis draws on the idea, foundational to critical race theory (crt), that race is a central identity marker and shapes individuals’ lived experiences in our three focal countries (gillborn, 2005; omi & winant, 2014). similarly important to crt is the idea that racism is endemic to society and that in a racialized society, whiteness becomes a lens through which all else is compared and interpreted (hiraldo, 2010; ladson-billings, 1998). in higher education, critical race theorists explore how policies and structures impact how race and racism are experienced on campus and point to the need to analyze how institutions discuss and engage with race and racism. drawing on crt, the related field of whiteness studies, seeks to unpack and denaturalize the norm of whiteness, and points to the ways in which current social, economic, political, and ideological structures privilege white people and disadvantage people of color (gillborn, 2005). a key goal of cws is to deconstruct the “unnamed and journal of international students 35 unmarked role of whiteness in producing racialized subjects and structuring racial hierarchies” and recent studies have used cws to deconstruct practices that uphold whiteness in higher education (foste & irwin, 2020, p. 443). for example, scholarship finds that in higher education, whiteness structures evaluations of merit, intelligence, aptitude, and other characteristics (croom, 2017; iverson, 2007). scholars have argued that whiteness is assumed to be “the norm,” and so to be not white is “abnormal” (dixson & rousseau, 2005; thompson, 1998). in higher education, whiteness is a prism through which the concept of diversity is interpreted (iverson, 2007). this observation is important to our research because even as higher education institutions increasingly claim to celebrate diversity and institutionalize equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, whiteness remains the unarticulated norm against which “diversity” is defined. although both crt and cws developed to discuss the experiences of non-white citizens, particularly african and latinx americans, in the united states, many of their insights in education also apply to the experiences of international students (yao et al., 2019). in analyzing how strategies discuss the idea of diversity in particular, we also draw on the critical scholarship on multiculturalism. a large literature on multicultural education explores how ideas of racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious, and economic diversity can and should be incorporated into educational policy and practice in democratic societies (banks & banks, 2019). approaches to multiculturalism are often classified into three categories: traditional, liberal, and critical (mclennan, 2001). traditional multiculturalism tends to view cultural categories as relatively fixed and essentialist and argues for a multiculturalism that acknowledges the identities of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities in order to prevent societal division. in this view, multicultural education tends to advocate for the inclusion of non-western cultures and histories of ethnic, racial, and religious minorities into the dominant curriculum, but rarely questions the dominance of a white majority. in contrast, liberal multiculturalism values cultural pluralism, and argues for education to enhance intercultural awareness and understanding, premised on the idea of a universal humanity. liberal multiculturalism moves beyond tokenistic or essentialist understandings of culture, to call for a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of how varied identity characteristics, including race, ethnicity, gender, language, social class, gender, and exceptionality intersect (banks & banks, 2019). yet, while liberal multiculturalism recognizes the reality of racism, it does not focus on the role of power in perpetuating racist structures. therefore, in his analysis of multiculturalism, fish (1997) groups together both traditional and liberal forms as ‘boutique multiculturalism’ and argues that this form of multiculturalism represents only a superficial and cosmetic form of commitment to diversity. hall (2018) similarly explains that boutique multiculturalism as something that “celebrates difference without making a difference” (p. 97). in contrast, critical multiculturalism explicitly recognizes the role of power in perpetuating white privilege. it views the goal of multicultural education not as simply greater inter-cultural understanding or awareness, but rather, the transformation of society and dismantling of existing racist social structures. these three conceptions of multiculturalism have proven useful in orienting our analysis to recognize different possible framings of international students’ identities. in our analysis, we draw on these three conceptions of multiculturalism to interrogate how strategies discuss race and diversity in their internationalization strategies. journal of international students 36 data and methods data for this project comes from internationalization strategy documents, which are discursive artifacts that define and articulate the university’s formal vision for internationalization. we focus on these documents because they are typically formally endorsed by the highest levels of leadership and can be important in guiding resource allocation (childress, 2009; taylor, 2004). we collected a set of internationalization strategies produced by colleges and universities in canada (n=32), the united kingdom (n=20), and united states (n=10) that were publicly available in english in 2020. to find documents, we conducted online searches of documents titled internationalization strategy, internationalization plan or global engagement strategy that were available on the institutional website of any college or university in the three countries, using advanced searches that included educational institutions’ url extensions (i.e., .edu, .ca, .ac.uk). in total, our sample includes 62 documents published between 2009 and 2020. the vast majority of these institutions, excepting nine colleges in canada, were four-year bachelor’s degree granting institutions. although there are many differences in terms of geography and demographics of the institutions represented in our sample, the discourses concerning international students were strikingly similar. therefore, we focus on commonalities across all institutions, and leave the question of how institutional characteristics shape subtle differences in discourses to subsequent analyses. this article emerges from a larger study that employs critical content analysis methods to analyze trends in internationalization strategies (krippendorff, 2018). using emergent, iterative qualitative coding (charmaz, 2006), a team of research assistants developed a standardized coding protocol that covered the major activities and discourses captured by the strategies. all research assistants were trained extensively on the protocol and performed a series of inter-rater reliability assessments to ensure consistency of coding. for our analysis, we conducted a close reading of all excerpts coded at the “international student” and “diversity” nodes. in addition, given our interest in race, which was not initially coded, we conducted targeted searches using nvivo and did close readings of all mentions of the words race and racial. to complement the textual analysis, we also examined how strategy documents visually represent students. to do this we first identified all images in the documents that seemed designed to represent students or graduates. to be included in the analysis, an image had to portray one or more individuals who were conceivably a student and in a setting that could be their campus; we intentionally excluded photos of international travel or study abroad. we found a total of 155 relevant images in 24 strategic documents from canada (15), the u.k. (8); and the u.s. (1). for the analysis, we employed an iterative qualitative coding process to categorize representations of students. for each image, we made notes on how many students were included in the image, whether the students appeared to be white or non-white, what activities the students were engaged in, if any symbols were included to imply particular national origins, and students’ demeanors. in the first pass of coding, we noticed that non-white students were much more likely to be portrayed with particular material symbols. therefore, in a second round of coding, we examined the images for how cultural symbols were being used to represent or imply specific student identities. journal of international students 37 findings our analysis pointed to an overarching finding: institutional strategies map international students onto the idea of “diversity,” while ignoring race and racism. visual images are used to celebrate racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, and represent diverse and inclusive campuses. yet, strategy documents rarely explicitly discuss ideas of race, racialization, or racism, despite the fact that the majority of international students in all three countries are non-white. in the section that follows, we organize these findings into two over-arching discussions: celebrating diversity and ignoring race and racism. celebrating diversity international students as carriers of diversity there was a common tendency in the internationalization strategies we examined to associate international students with the word “diversity.” an initial quantitative analysis revealed that 47 of the 62 strategies discussed “diversity” as a discursive rationale for internationalization, and diversity was coded more frequently than any other rationale, including revenue, reputation, or globalization. word counts from all 62 documents found diversity mentioned 220 times and culture/cultural 754 times, in contrast to race/racial (12 times), ethnic/ethnicity (22 times), multicultural (26 times), religion/religious (29 times) and linguistic (17 times). these quantitative counts show the extent to which generic and depoliticized ideas of culture and diversity dominate discussions of international students, while references to specific forms of diversity, such as racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic are less common. strategy documents frame international students as sources of “diversity,” which is often equated with cultural difference. for example, the university of waterloo (canada, 2018) states that international students “contribute to the diversity of the student body” (p. 10) and bristol university (u.k., 2009) states that they have “a diverse student body from multiple cultures and societies” (p. 3). similarly, queens university (canada, 2015) states that through domestic and international student recruitment, they “will cultivate an inclusive, culturally diverse student body” (p. 5). meanwhile, mount allison university (canada, 2019) states that international students: “enhance the cultural diversity of campus and bring a different and important array of perspectives to the classroom” (p. 4). mount allison’s strategy, which states that international students “bring the world to mount allison” is illustrative of how international students are portrayed as “carriers” of diversity. notably, discussions of “diversity” often occur within a narrow, almost exclusive, focus on nationality. this typically happens by referring to diversity in terms of the number of countries that international students represent. plymouth university (u.k., 2014) mentions that, “we will increase the diversity of our student body by seeking to attract international students from a wider range of countries,” making a clear link between national origin and the diversity of the student body (p. 7). similarly, the university of regina (canada, 2016) states: “our students currently come from more than 60 countries” and then state that “these enrolment increases have been crucial in enhancing and diversifying our student population” p. 3). in this framing, having too many students from one country is framed as a risk. for example, the university of bradford (u.k., 2016) explains that they need to diversify students’ countries of origin: “not only to avoid journal of international students 38 overexposure to particular markets but to ensure a diverse student body without overrepresentation of particular nationalities” (p. 6). in equating nationality with culture, strategy documents reflect a traditional, essentialist view of culture, and seem to ignore the ways in which students’ multiple identities overlap. moreover, assuming that international students’ identities are defined primarily by their nationalities implicitly frames both culture and identity as static and homogenous markers, rather than viewing identity formation and cultural meaning-making as complicated, ongoing processes (bhabha, 1994; hall, 2018). strategies then link international students’ diversity to many positive outcomes, including student learning and quality. for example, queens university (canada, 2015) states that by increasing the “size and diversity of the international student population” the university could “enhance learning experiences for all” (p. 10). bristol university (u.k., 2009) states that the diversity of their student body “enriches our intellectual environment” (p. 3). similarly, the university of regina (canada, 2016) explains that their increasing numbers of international students have helped to “internationalize the experience of our domestic students” (p. 2) suggesting that international students, “expose” their domestic students to diversity. notably, the diversity of international students is expressed as supporting the identity development and experiences of domestic (read: white) students, not the other way around. as such, international students implicitly constitute a racialized ‘other’ who are then made responsible for teaching white students about ‘diversity.’ meanwhile, the needs of international students to learn about forms of diversity in host countries, as well as confront and overcome their own prejudices and biases is not mentioned at all. out of the 62 strategies we coded, only one (ryerson university, canada, 2017) frames discussions of diversity beyond the idea of “culture” and other identity attributes to note that international students may have different worldviews and epistemologies. it also acknowledges the role of imperialism and colonialism in shaping the dominance of western perspectives, stating that: a broader definition of global learning incorporates engagement with other cultures and nations within canada and elsewhere. this perspective includes an acknowledgement of the role imperialism and colonialism have played both at home and abroad. this recognizes the importance of meaningful collaboration with indigenous studies and perspectives on campus, as well as an exploration of how we engage with difference in canada given the co-existence of diverse worldviews and epistemologies. global learning can, and should, include recognition of other ways of knowing and being that function outside the dominant western point of view – a framework that is not necessarily challenged through international exchanges or travel experiences. – ryerson university, canada (p. 11) ryerson’s more expansive definition of global education stood out, given that most of the strategies we examined viewed individual students as carriers of diversity. in short, our analysis shows how current institutional discourses surrounding international students celebrate international students as sources of a vague and essentialist notion of cultural diversity, in line with a traditional, static, and depoliticized view of multiculturalism. in these documents, culture is often equated with nationality, while being detached from other journal of international students 39 identity attributes, such as race, ethnicity, and religion. we also find that international student diversity is then linked to many positive outcomes for the institution, including improved student experiences and student learning. this finding resonates with prior work on how the concept of “diversity” is instrumentalized in higher education (glasener et al., 2019; pandit, 2013). inclusive, multicultural campuses to complement our textual analysis, we also analyzed images that portrayed students. we found that 80% of all 155 analyzed images included at least one individual who was non-white. moreover, many included groups of students from different religious and racial backgrounds, often smiling or talking in small groups. in this section, we select six illustrative images to discuss common tropes. in figure 1, from vancouver island university (canada, 2017), three smiling students are depicted. the image focuses on a man, who is wearing a turquoise dastār, a symbol of sikh faith. the young man is surrounded by a black woman, smiling, and a white woman, whose face is blurred and partially obscured. nonetheless, she also appears to be smiling or laughing. this image seems to be conveying a multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multifaith campus, where students from different racial and religious backgrounds mingle with joy. british columbia, where viu is located, is home to the largest population of sikhs in canada and the largest outside of india and london, england. as a result, it is not at all obvious that this student is international – he could be from the vancouver area. yet, when employed in the institution’s internationalization strategy, this image seems designed to signal that sikhs, and by association, punjabis and indians, are welcome in canada. given the rapid increase in international students from india and their high representation in british columbian colleges and universities, the image also seems to be signaling the importance of a multi-racial campus and suggests to potential indian international students that viu offers the opportunity to meet and intermingle with students from other backgrounds. figure 2, from cardiff university (u.k., 2018), depicts two black women hugging and smiling. the young woman on the left is dressed in graduation regalia, while the woman on the right is older and their close embrace suggests that the older woman is her mother, a relative, or mentor. the older woman is wearing a bright blue cloth head scarf, possibly a gele, a tied cloth head covering that is common in western and southern africa. the older woman’s headdress seems to imply she is of african heritage, and therefore implies a sense of foreignness or international status to both her and her presumed daughter. given the happy celebratory smiles of the graduating woman, the image symbolically conveys the institution’s support for the success of its racialized international students. figure 3 from manchester metropolitan university (u.k., 2017) appears in a section of the strategy titled “ambitions,” which highlights the potential of the university to diversify its income streams through increasing the enrollment of international students. the photo depicts three students: a muslim woman, a black woman, and a white man, walking side-by-side. we identify the muslim woman from her hijab, a symbol of the muslim faith. a closer look also reveals that in addition to wearing a hijab, she has a henna tattoo on her right hand, a cultural tradition at weddings, eid, and other celebrations in the middle east and south asia. unlike the muslim woman, the black woman’s religious journal of international students 40 background is not clear. as with figure 1, this photo seems designed to present an image of an institution that celebrates and welcomes religious, ethnic, and national diversity. fig. 1: vancouver island, canada fig. 2: cardiff, u.k. fig. 3: manchester metropolitan, u.k. fig. 4: western, canada figure 4 appears on the cover of the strategy from western university (canada, 2014). this photo, like the others, seems designed to highlight a harmonious, diverse campus by representing a number of asian students (some blurred out) mingling well with white students on campus. the image focuses on a man, who appears to be of east asian heritage, and a young white woman smiling and chatting. as with figures 1, 2 and 3, these students may not be international, but they do convey a sense of opportunities for positive interactions with members of different genders, and those from different racial, ethnic or religious backgrounds. journal of international students 41 fig. 5: de montfort, u.k. fig. 6: lehigh, usa a second common trope we found in international strategies’ choice of images was the use of traditional ceremonies and symbols to invoke an institution’s sense of cultural diversity. for example, figure 5 from de montfort university (u.k., 2018) depicts a student of presumably chinese heritage holding two red fans in what appears to be the staircase landing. there is not a clear message in this image, but it does seem designed to signal that “chinese culture is here.” similarly, figure 6 from lehigh university (u.s., 2018) depicts a group of about ten young people throwing colored powder in the air. for those familiar with the holiday, the image is a clear symbol of holi, a holiday associated with the coming of spring and new life in hinduism. today, holi is strongly associated with play and fun, and celebrated by throwing colored water and smearing others with paint. upon close inspection, the image shows the event was organized by the india club and the international student association (isa). however, among the large numbers of americans likely unfamiliar with holi, this image nonetheless conveys a sense of fun through its portrayal of bright colors, movement, and bare arms. the image links international students with fun and celebration, a common trope in portrayals of study abroad in the u.s. (miller-idriss et al., 2019). our visual analysis showed that a very high proportion of images in internationalization strategies include individuals from seemingly different racial and religious groups mingling, smiling, and celebrating together. it is worth noting that the primary types of diversity represented in the images are race, ethnicity, and religion; other forms of diversity are less visible; notably, students are overwhelmingly portrayed as young, thin, and able-bodied. also noteworthy is how strategy documents make strategic use of cultural and religious symbols, including head coverings, henna tattoos, traditional clothing and ceremonies to connote religious, ethnic and cultural diversity of primarily non-white students. combined, these images seem designed to visually represent their institutions as culturally, religiously and racially diverse communities, while the many smiles and laughs depicted in images imply that their campuses are inclusive environments. these visual displays of diversity allow institutions to demonstrate depoliticized commitments to inclusion through images of “colourful happy faces” (ahmed, 2007, p. 604). yet, the use of symbolic tropes particularly in pictures of non-white students journal of international students 42 reinforces the idea that the international and/or racial minority student is an ‘exotic other,’ while the white student is the neutral norm against which diversity is implicitly defined (applebaum, 2019; hanassab, 2006; haynes, 2017; miller-idriss et al., 2019). furthermore, the emphasis on happy, smiling faces ignores the reality of racism students of color may experience on campus whether based on skin colour, religion, or possibly for appearing ‘too foreign.’ ignoring race and racism absent and avoided in contrast to discussions of cultural diversity, which are plentiful, other aspects of international students’ identities, including their race, ethnicity, and religion are rarely discussed in the texts. we find that the word race or racial is only mentioned explicitly in five of the strategy documents, all from u.s. institutions. the word “ethnic” is found only eight times, socio-economic is mentioned in two documents, and religion is mentioned in five documents. a notable exception was the university of bradford (u.k., 2016), which states that: “the internationalization strategy will support the university’s mission to…increase the diversity of our staff and student body in terms of cultural, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds” (p. 2). in another exception, the university of british columbia (canada, 2011) explains that supporting international students requires “keeping in mind the intersection of ethnicity, gender, age, language proficiency and culture” (p. 13), a clear reference to the idea of intersectionality, which has become an increasingly common framework through which to understand identities and student needs. given such few mentions, our analysis of how race is discussed in internationalization strategies centers on five u.s. institutions: lehigh, vanderbilt, northwestern, mit and seton hall. it is notable that the word “race” and “racial” occurred only in strategies from the u.s. while we can speculate that this is likely due to the greater prominence given to issues of race and racism in u.s. higher education policy and discourse, we cannot be certain. regardless, the fact remains that race appearing in only five of the 62 documents demonstrates its overall absence from strategic planning in internationalization of higher education. when race was mentioned, it was often coupled with culture broadly, seemingly interchangeable with ethnicity or cultural diversity. for example, in response to a question about how the college responds to students from different cultural backgrounds, seton hall’s strategy (2009) states: “most of our professors and classes are inclusive in their practices and approaches and are welcoming to persons of different cultures and racial backgrounds” (p. 40). the document then quotes an individual who states that “our college has a large number of asian students. all cultures are welcome in our school” (p. 40). in this context, it is not clear whether references to “different cultures” and “racial backgrounds” are to be read as a stand-in for all identity attributes, or if they are intended to be grouped together, implying that culture and race are synonymous. similarly, in the next sentence, it is not clear here whether “asian students” is meant to refer to a homogeneous cultural group, which is highly problematic in of itself, or is used to connote a particular racial background. race is also minimized under the broad umbrella of diversity in northwestern’s strategy (2016). the northwestern strategy identifies six priority areas for its journal of international students 43 internationalization activities, of which one is “difference,” where the word “race” appears five times. for example, northwestern’s (u.s., 2016) strategy states that the university has “considerable strengths in the study of global race, ethnicity, religion, indigeneity, socioeconomic status, and other aspects of human sociality” (p. 15). in four of these mentions, race is mentioned along with other social markers of difference such as gender, ethnicity, class, indigeneity, sexuality, and religion. race is not explicitly centered in the discussion of difference but rather used as one of the ways difference can be understood and defined. in general, the discussion of difference is related to northwestern faculty’s scholarly expertise and research on related topics, including critical race studies. it is used to suggest that northwestern can lead scholarly work concerning difference as it already houses a variety of critical fields of study, including critical race studies. while race is explicitly mentioned multiple times, a notable contrast to other documents, it is mentioned primarily as a scholarly field and an object of study – rather than as an integral aspect of students’ identities and experiences. it is also framed as existing within the general category of “difference.” recognizing that race is a floating signifier, hall (2018) argues that the preoccupation with ‘difference’ is used to not only define the ‘other’ but also establish the normalcy of whiteness. the effect of this conflation in these strategies is to minimize the nuanced and specific ways that international students of color experience race and racism on campus. this finding is not surprising, as the absence of explicit support for underrepresented groups among higher education institutions has been well documented (see squire et al., 2019 for the case of undocumented individuals in the u.s.). externalized and instrumentalized when racial injustice is mentioned, it is externalized as a global issue, and not a pressing institutional concern. for example, in mit’s strategy (2017), a discussion of racial discrimination is mentioned alongside discrimination due to gender and sexual orientation and is framed as a global or foreign issue. specifically, in its principles for global engagement mit states that: if mit is to establish a presence in societies whose cultural norms or policies appear biased against women, or against particular racial or ethnic groups, or against groups based on sexual or gender preference, we should do so only if our faculty and administration are confident that members of these groups will experience no such bias within the frame of mit’s operations… – mit, usa (p. 28) such a statement offers no acknowledgement of racism as a local, institutional and national issue, despite the fact that race and racism are fixtures of u.s. history, society and higher education (ladson-billings, 1998). similar framing of race as an external and global issue can also be found in strategies from lehigh (2018) and northwestern (2016). in lehigh’s strategy, race, along with other identity markers such as gender, comes up only once in the document and is inserted in a paragraph about their leadership in addressing “critical global questions, including...race...” (lehigh university, p. 2). similarly, as mentioned above, the northwestern strategy frames race as part of a larger “global theme” (northwestern, p. 15). how race and racism may be experienced on campus by students, journal of international students 44 staff, and faculty and how that is connected to internationalization efforts is not acknowledged in these documents. a number of strategy documents also instrumentalize racial diversity by linking international students’ racial backgrounds to concrete institutional benefits. for example, race is mentioned once in vanderbilt’s strategy (2017) as a type of diversity that foreign graduate students add to their institution. the document explains that international students are counted as only foreign and are not counted in other more specific measures of diversity such as racial diversity, stating: “a student from ghana would count as an international student but not in domestic diversity metrics” (p. 8). it continues: “the diversity benchmarks, upon which graduate programs are partially evaluated, should be expanded to include foreign graduate students who add racial, ethnic, religious, and intellectual diversity at vanderbilt” (p. 8). although not directly stated, the mention of “ghana” suggests that that the institution wants “credit” for enrolling an additional black student – a carefully monitored metric in the u.s. context, given its history of discriminating against african-americans. in this example, it seems that institutions are seeking to leverage the racial diversity of international students to improve accountability or reputational metrics. in a second form of instrumentalism, a number of strategies coupled racial diversity to concepts of research excellence and scholarship. however, as explored above, this scholarship focuses on global questions and issues rather than proving excellence in addressing issues of racism on campus. for example, lehigh’s strategy (2018) states: we will advance leadership... as related to the university’s key areas of excellence in teaching and research and build on interdisciplinary programs that address critical global questions, including...religion, gender, race and identity, and global citizenship. – lehigh university, usa (p. 2) this idea is echoed in northwestern’s strategy (2016), which states: northwestern is well positioned to become a leading venue for the study of how difference shapes identity, understanding, and interaction across all levels of the human experience. – northwestern university, usa (p. 15) both quotes focus on the universities’ scholarship and areas of strength and in this context, race and diversity are instrumentalized to support institutional narratives of excellence and reputation. meanwhile, in contrast to diversity, explicit mentions of race or students’ racial backgrounds or experiences with racism are exceedingly rare. the general absence of race and racism in internationalization strategy documents aligns to prior studies that have also found only minimal and cursory mention of racism as an explanation of experiences and outcomes in higher education (harper, 2012). in fact, despite many international strategies stating explicit student recruitment goals, often with specific targets for students and particular countries identified as “target markets,” they largely ignore the reality that the majority of international students in all three countries are non-white and are known to experience racism on and off campus. rather, when the idea of race is mentioned, strategy documents externalize and instrumentalize race, by focusing on how international students’ journal of international students 45 racial diversity could benefit the institution. specifically, both lehigh and northwestern discuss their ability to address race as an area of institutional expertise that could be leveraged to improve their global reputation for research excellence. similarly, vanderbilt instrumentalizes international racialized students for their diversity metrics. given the almost absent discussion of race and racism in the text of these documents, the widespread usage of people of color in the images seems incongruent at best. we interpret the disconnect between the written text and the images in the strategy documents as a form of “cosmetic diversity,” whereby institutions celebrate diversity in their marketing materials and websites, but avoid discussion of racial inequalities, or the ways in which their institutions are complicit in racism and racialization (ford & patterson, 2019). we argue that the absence of race and systemic inequities in official discourse concerning international students reflects, and likely exacerbates, the othering and exclusion of international students. the fact that official strategy documents do not acknowledge international students’ racial identities and experiences likely reflects the more pervasive practice of ignoring the discrimination and exclusion that many international students experience. implications and future directions our analysis of internationalization strategies shows how these official documents celebrate their students’ diversity, while largely ignoring international students’ race and experiences with racism. while we do not know how these documents map onto institutional practices, official strategies have their own form of power. documents such as these can become part of institutionalized narratives and can also shape employees’ beliefs and perceptions about how the institution is serving its students (ahmed, 2007). the absence of mentions of race in these documents implicitly reinforces the idea that whiteness is the norm in higher education, with little institutional questioning or reflection on institutional responsibilities to address students’ intersectional identities and experiences with racism. when institutional strategies celebrate diversity and portray happy students in multi-racial and multi-faith groups, it can become difficult for employees to recognize and acknowledge systematic forms of racism and discrimination (ahmed, 2007). as long as institutions fail to acknowledge the racial identities and racialized experiences of their international students, they will most likely have very limited ability or desire to address the historicized and ongoing forms of racial discrimination and racism they face both on campus and in the larger societies. we argue that higher education institutions must begin by acknowledging their students’ racialized identities and experiences on campuses as a starting point for building more inclusive and anti-racist spaces. we might start by asking leaders, faculty and staff to reflect on the construction of these documents, and to ask themselves: what are the racial structures and stereotypes embedded in these documents? what does it mean for institutional practice when internationalization strategies center whiteness as normative? how could shifting our lens to center the experiences of people of color impact how we strategize for internationalization? this study also raises many avenues for future research. although beyond the scope of our paper, we urge, as ahmed (2007) does, scholars to “follow” these strategic documents to examine how they are taken up within their institutions. future research can journal of international students 46 explore how the exclusion of race impacts how institutions recruit, educate, and support racialized international students, and how their experiences are understood by various groups within the institution. references ahmed, s. 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(2019). exploring the intersection of transnationalism and critical race theory: a critical race analysis of international student experiences in the united states. race ethnicity and education, 22(1), 38–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1497968 journal of international students 49 elizabeth buckner, phd, is an assistant professor of higher education at the ontario institute for studies in education, university of toronto. her research examines how globalization affects higher education, and recent projects focus on privatization and internationalization. her recent publications have appeared in comparative education review, higher education, and the sociology of education. email: elizabeth.buckner@utoronto.ca orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6335-0997 punita lumb, is a phd student in higher education specializing in comparative, international and development education at the ontario institute for studies in education, university of toronto. additionally, she coordinates programs rooted in decolonial thought for student life at the university of toronto. her primary research interests are international and comparative higher education, critical race, decolonial and postcolonial theory. email:punita.lumb@utoronto.ca orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8944-549x zahra jafarova, is a phd student in higher education specializing in comparative, international and development education at the ontario institute for studies in education, university of toronto. for the past 7 years, she has worked as a coordinator of european commissions’ erasmus+ capacity building in higher education projects and international education. her research interests are politics of higher education, privatization and internationalization. email: zahra.jafarova@mail.utoronto.ca orcid:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7998-4254 phoebe kang is a doctoral candidate in the educational leadership and policy program at the ontario institute for studies in education (oise) at the university of toronto, canada. over the past 15 years, ms. kang has worked in curriculum development and as an adult english language educator at various universities and colleges in ontario. her research interests are international students' equity and policy analysis in higher education contexts. email: ekang@mail.utoronto.ca orcid:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1215-0917 adriana marroquin is a phd student in higher education at the ontario institute for studies in education at the university of toronto. within the field of comparative international education, her areas of interest include international student experience, ethical, inclusive and sustainable internationalization and international academic relations. adriana is part of a research project team that is empirically examining how different higher education institutions in canada and the world frame and practice internationalization. email: adriana.marroquin@mail.utoronto.ca orcid:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3420-9190 you zhang, is a phd student at the ontario institute for studies in education, university of toronto. her research interests are internationalization and regionalization of higher education. her recent publications have appeared in sustainability, higher education, and the canadian journal of higher education. email: youzhang.zhang@mail.utoronto.ca orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1253-9786 198 special edition | bahasa indonesia international students and covid-19 [mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19] issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 10, issue s3 (2020), pp. 198-208 © journal of international students https://ojed.org/jis international students' perceptions of virtual service learning program amidst covid-19 pandemic persepsi mahasiswa internasional terhadap program kuliah kerja nyata virtual (kkn-v) di masa pandemi covid-19 sitti nurfaidah institut agama islam negeri kendari, indonesia anna riana suryanti tambunan universitas negeri medan, indonesia fadhila yonata sekolah tinggi agama islam negeri sultan abdurrahman kepulauan riau, indonesia dewi kurniawati universitas islam negeri raden intan lampung, indonesia reni puspitasari dwi lestariyana universitas sebelas maret, surakarta, indonesia ________________________________________________________________ abstract: this article presents two thai international students’ accounts of their lived experiences during a virtual service learning (community service) program due to global covid-19 pandemic. semi-structured interview and participants’ reflection data were thematically analyzed through the lens of positive and negative emotions so as to explore participants’ perceptions of virtual service learning. findings indicate that the https://ojed.org/jis 199 pandemic situation was not a barrier to contributing positively to society. one of the positive effects of the community service activities is that such activities could build students’ creativity. it was also found that despite bad internet connectivity in their respective areas, the final-year international students were able to adapt to both academic and non-academic environments. this indicates that all the international students should maintain their positive feelings when completing their service learning program. abstrak: artikel ini menyajikan pengalaman dua mahasiswa internasional dari thailand yang melaksanakan program kuliah kerja nyata virtual (kkn-v) pada masa pandemi covid-19. data wawancara semi-terstruktur dan refleksi partisipan dianalisis secara tematik menggunakan perspektif emosi positif dan negatif untuk mengeksplorasi persepsi mereka terhadap program kkn-v. temuan penelitian ini mengindikasikan bahwa situasi wabah bukan penghalang untuk berkontribusi secara positif kepada masyarakat. salah satu efek positif dari kegiatan ini adalah dapat meningkatkan kreativitas mahasiswa. temuan studi ini juga mengungkapkan bahwa meskipun mengalami kendala seperti sinyal internet yang kurang stabil di daerah masing-masing, mahasiswa internasional tingkat akhir mampu beradaptasi dengan lingkungan akademik maupun nonakademik. dari temuan penelitian tersebut, mahasiswa internasional disarankan agar selalu mempertahankan perasaan positif mereka sampai program kkn-v selesai. keywords: covid-19, international students, narrative study, student emotion, virtual service learning [covid-19, mahasiswa internasional, studi naratif, emosi mahasiswa, kuliah kerja nyata virtual] ________________________________________________________________ pendahuluan sejak virus covid-19 mewabah, penelitian sebelumnya (erekson, bailey, cattani, fox & goates-jones, 2020) menunjukkan bahwa beberapa universitas menangguhkan kelas dan layanan mahasiswa untuk memperlambat atau mencegah penyebaran virus covid-19. semua universitas beralih dari pembelajaran dan aktivitas pelatihan di luar kampus ke pembelajaran virtual guna memberikan layanan pendidikan kepada para mahasiswanya. dengan demikian, emosi yang muncul di tengah krisis didominasi oleh emosi negatif (fredrickson & joiner, 2002; kim & niederdeppe, 2013). hal ini juga berdampak pada kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat, termasuk kuliah kerja nyata (kkn). dalam situasi pandemik ini, mahasiswa tidak memungkinkan terjun langsung ke masyarakat karena perguruan tinggi menghentikan kegiatan sivitas akademika baik di dalam kampus maupun di luar kampus. hal ini selaras dengan yang dilaporkan oleh corbera, anguelovski, honey-rosés dan ruizmallén (2020) bahwa perubahan kegiatan akademik ke moda pembelajaran virtual tidak dapat dihindari selama masa pandemi. kkn, salah bentuk program pengabdian kepada masyarakat (helms, rutti, hervani, labonte & sarkarat, 2015), merupakan bentuk kegiatan akademik untuk menerapkan pengetahuan para mahasiswa strata satu. higher education 200 research institute menegaskan bahwa setiap universitas menawarkan kesempatan kepada para mahasiswa untuk terlibat dalam pelayanan atau pembelajaran pengabdian kepada masyarakat setiap tahunnya (liu, ruiz, deangelo & pryor, 2009). tujuan utama dari program kkn ini adalah untuk mendidik mahasiswa agar bisa bekerja sama dan berdiskusi dengan masyarakat guna menumbuhkan kesadaran berpikir kritis (seider, 2012). dengan demikian, mahasiswa diberdayakan untuk memberi kontribusi pengetahuan yang didapat di bangku perkuliahan kepada masyarakat sehingga mereka bisa berperan aktif sebagai agen alih pengetahuan. di tengah pandemi covid-19 ini, program kuliah kerja nyata virtual (kkn-v) harus tetap dilakukan di indonesia. pelaksanaan kkn-v ini tentunya memengaruhi emosi mahasiswa, sehingga bisa berdampak terhadap program yang dilakukan (corbera, anguelovski, honey-rosés & ruiz-mallén, 2020). penelitian sebelumnya mengeksplorasi kecemasan dan emosi negatif mahasiswa internasional pada tahun awal perkuliahan (li, liu, wei & lan, 2013). dampak kedua emosi tersebut saat ini juga dialami oleh mahasiswa selama pelaksanaan kkn-v di masa pandemi covid-19. sebelumnya, proses pembelajaran diintegrasikan dengan pengalaman lapangan dan proses refleksi dilakukan secara langsung atau tatap muka, namun sekarang kegiatan tersebut dilaksanakan secara virtual. kegiatan kkn-v di masa pandemi covid-19 ini juga diharapkan berlangsung secara optimal untuk menumbuhkan sikap kepekaan sosial terhadap berbagai masalah yang terjadi di masyarakat. oleh karena itu, kajian tentang persepsi mahasiswa internasional dalam program pengabdian kepada masyarakat selama masa pandemi covid-19 perlu dilakukan. temuan dalam penelitian ini diharapkan dapat berkontribusi untuk pemetaan emosi mahasiswa internasional dalam upaya beradaptasi saat melaksanakan kkn-v di tengah wabah covid-19. metode penelitian penelitian ini mengadopsi pendekatan naratif (craith, 2012) yang bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi persepsi dua mahasiswa thailand yang sedang belajar di salah satu universitas di sulawesi tenggara, indonesia. mereka merupakan mahasiswa bimbingan penulis pertama yang mengikuti program kkn-v pada masa pandemi covid-19. kedua partisipan yang berusia 22 tahun ini berasal dari dua kota yang berbeda di thailand. ali (nama samaran) berasal dari narathiwat, sementara ani (nama samaran) dari yala (lihat tabel 1). mereka bersedia menjadi partisipan dalam penelitian ini secara sukarela. tabel 1. data partisipan dan konten unggahan di media sosial partisipan gender asal usia (tahun) semester ke konten unggahan (youtube, instagram, facebook) ali laki-laki narathiwat 22 7 11 video, 1 poster ani perempuan yala 22 7 7 video, 5 poster 201 pengumpulan dan analisis data proses pengumpulan data dilakukan sejak dimulainya program kkn-v pada awal juli sampai dengan pertengahan september 2020. program ini diawali dengan pembekalan mahasiswa secara virtual melalui aplikasi zoom yang diikuti oleh hampir 900 orang yang terdiri atas mahasiswa peserta program, panitia dan dosen pembimbing lapangan (dpl). sehari setelah pembekalan, dpl mengadakan bimbingan virtual bagi enam belas mahasiswa bimbingannya dengan tujuan mendiskusikan arah dan rencana program kerja kkn-v mereka. seluruh peserta, termasuk ali dan ani, setuju untuk melaksanakan kkn-v dengan pertimbangan bahwa beberapa lokasi di sulawesi tenggara termasuk daerah zona merah. mahasiswa sangat dianjurkan untuk melakukan aktivitas yang tidak melibatkan banyak orang dan mematuhi serta menjalankan protokol kesehatan. sehari kemudian, mereka berkonsultasi dengan dpl tentang program yang akan mereka laksanakan. setelah melalui beberapa arahan, kedua partisipan mengajukan beberapa program kerja yang hasilnya akan diunggah di media sosial kelompok dan di media sosial pribadi mereka (lihat tabel 1). setelah dua pekan berjalan, dpl melakukan pengawasan dan evaluasi dengan mengajak para partisipan merefleksikan perkembangan program kerja mereka. data diperoleh dari catatan reflektif dan wawancara semi-terstruktur. salah satu penulis meminta mahasiswa untuk menulis catatan reflektif dalam bahasa indonesia tentang kemajuan kegiatan yang dilakukan selama kkn-v, misalnya tahap pembekalan, konsultasi perencanaan program kerja, pembuatan konten dan kerja sama tim. catatan reflektif tersebut digunakan untuk melihat emosi mahasiswa dalam bentuk tulisan. selanjutnya, catatan tersebut dikirim ke surel salah satu penulis. setelah mencermati refleksi kemajuan kegiatan mereka, para penulis melihat kecenderungan data emosi positif dan negatif. akan tetapi, kami belum menemukan hal signifikan terkait emosi mereka saat memilih kkn-v, sehingga kami melakukan wawancara semi-terstruktur secara virtual melalui pesan whatsapp (gibson, 2020). kami menanyakan apakah mereka sudah memutuskan untuk melaksanakan kkn-v sejak sebelum pembekalan. wawancara ini dilakukan melalui pesan singkat whatsapp dengan ali dan ani pada tanggal 30 juli 2020 yang berlangsung sekitar satu jam. data catatan reflektif dan wawancara dianalisis secara tematik (braun & clarke, 2006) dengan mengadopsi konsep emosi positif (yih, kirby & smith, 2019) dan emosi negatif (li, liu, wei & lan, 2013). pendekatan tematik ini bertujuan untuk memahami emosi positif yang bisa dilihat dari manfaat kkn-v dan emosi negatif yang terlihat dari kendala yang mereka hadapi. kami membaca data catatan reflektif dan wawancara berulang-ulang agar mudah dalam pengodean untuk menemukan tema terkait emosi positif dan negatif selama kkn-v. kemudian, kami menginterpretasikan catatan reflektif dan wawancara serta memaknai setiap kata dan kalimat yang ditulis oleh kedua partisipan. 202 temuan dan pembahasan hasil analisis data menunjukkan dua tema utama, yaitu (1) emosi positif mahasiswa yang mengungkap manfaat yang diperoleh partisipan selama kknv dan (2) emosi negatif yang mengungkap kendala yang dihadapi partisipan selama melaksanakan kkn-v. emosi positif mahasiswa: “kami bisa menghasilkan konten edukatif bagi masyarakat” program kkn-v merupakan kebijakan program pengabdian kepada masyarakat di perguruan tinggi yang mulai diterapkan pada masa pandemi covid-19. ada dua pilihan kkn yang ditawarkan oleh kampus yaitu kkn langsung di zona hijau dan kkn virtual di zona merah. kegiatan kkn-v merupakan hal baru baik bagi sivitas akademika maupun bagi masyarakat di indonesia yang berpotensi memengaruhi emosi di tengah wabah (kim & niederdeppe, 2013). dalam konteks penelitian ini, kedua partisipan menunjukkan alasan yang berbeda pada saat harus memilih kkn-v. ani awalnya menghendaki program kkn langsung karena beberapa teman di kelompoknya sudah mendapatkan izin untuk melakukan kkn di salah satu desa di sulawesi tenggara. sebaliknya, sejak awal ali sudah memilih kkn-v atas saran ayahnya. namun, setelah melewati proses pembekalan dan konsultasi virtual bersama dpl dan mahasiswa lainnya, kedua partisipan mendapatkan pemahaman sehingga mereka lebih siap menghadapi kkn-v. narasi emosi positif partisipan dapat dilihat di dalam petikan data jurnal refleksi dan wawancara di tabel 2. kebijakan kampus mengenai penerapan kkn-v di zona merah menimbulkan kekecewaan bagi mahasiswa internasional. contohnya, ani sudah membayangkan akan melakukan kkn langsung di desa, seperti yang dialami oleh teman-temannya pada tahun sebelumnya. namun, dia harus mengubah semua rencana yang telah dibuatnya. hal ini serupa dengan temuan penelitian kim dan niederdeppe (2013) yang melaporkan bahwa adaptasi nonakademik dapat menimbulkan kesedihan dan kecemasan bagi mahasiswa dan sivitas akademika lainnya. seiring dengan berjalannya program, ani menunjukkan perubahan emosi ke arah positif. dia menikmati proses pembekalan dan konsultasi virtual karena bisa mendapatkan informasi yang dibutuhkan tanpa harus keluar dari rumah di masa berisiko ini. ani menikmati proses pelaksanaan program kerja dengan dukungan kerja sama tim dan mengunggah informasi ke media sosial terkait konten yang sedang dibuatnya. moda virtual memudahkannya menyelesaikan target kerja dengan lebih fleksibel. narasi ani menunjukkan bahwa emosi negatif yang diikuti emosi positif berperan penting untuk menghadapi situasi kritis seperti pandemi (fredrickson & joiner, 2002). data yang menunjukkan emosi positif dan negatif dapat dilihat di tabel 2. 203 tabel 2. narasi emosi positif partisipan tahapan narasi ali narasi ani awal program sejak awal saya pilih daring karena kondisi begini kita harus menjaga kesehatan. saya diskusi sama bapak sebelum memilih, beliau menyarankan untuk daring biar menjauhkan diri dari virus. (wawancara whatsapp, 30 juli 2020) pembekalan via zoom lebih fleksibel karena dapat dilakukan walaupun berada di rumah masing-masing. saya juga cukup nyaman mendengarkan materi sambil nyantai di kos. (jurnal refleksi, 23 juli 2020) awalnya kami sepakat mau ke kampung teman dan program kerja kami sudah ada. di sana sudah diizinkan kepala desa karena teman saya orang di sana. pertama tahu kalau harus pindah ke daring, saya sempat down karena kami sudah persiapkan semua untuk kkn luring seperti gambaran program kerja, dan model pelaporannya. setelah pindah ke daring saya harus menyesuaikan dari awal. (wawancara whatsapp, 30 juli 2020) konsultasi online konsultasi dengan dpl via zoom lebih mudah. saya bisa merekam kemudian melihat kembali dan mencatat instruksi dpl tanpa takut terskip atau tidak terdengar. konsultasi melalui wa grup sangat fleksibel, kadang pertanyaan kita terjawab oleh jawaban pertanyaan teman lain. (jurnal refleksi, 23 juli 2020) melalui konsultasi dengan dpl via zoom dan wa saya bisa langsung melihat teman-teman saya, bisa bertanya dengan dpl, bisa mendapatkan informasi kegiatan atau peraturan kkn. setiap orang bebas bertanya di dalam grup, saya bisa tahu sesuatu sebelum saya menanyakannya. (jurnal refleksi, 20 juli 2020) program kerja proker memudahkan kami mengatur waktu kegiatan dan yang sudah terlaksana jadi acuan dan pelajaran agar bisa menjadi lebih baik dan lebih semangat di proker berikutnya. mengupload konten ke medsos membuat saya lebih bersemangat untuk membuat proker lain. saya jadi memikirkan banyak hal yang akan saya lakukan. (jurnal refleksi, 23 juli 2020) selama dua minggu berjalan, saya mulai menyesuaikan berkat bantuan dpl dan teman-teman yang selalu siap membantu setiap kesulitan saya. (wawancara whatsapp, 30 juli 2020) dengan mengupload konten ke medsos saya merasa program kerja yang saya buat dapat menghibur atau bermanfaat bagi orang lain. (jurnal refleksi, 20 juli 2020) kolaborasi kolaborasi menjadikan saya lebih mudah melaksanakan proker dan berbagai aktifitas kkn. (jurnal refleksi, 23 juli 2020) saya senang bisa kolaborasi karena kita bisa berdiskusi tentang konten, bisa dapat ide yang keren dan bagus. (wawancara whatsapp, 30 juli 2020) kolaborasi lebih memudahkan saya dalam melaksanakan beberapa program kerja karena pekerjaan akan dibagi-bagi sehingga lebih mudah dikerjakan oleh setiap orang. (jurnal refleksi, 20 juli 2020) bagi ali, kkn-v merupakan kegiatan yang fleksibel karena memberikan kesempatan untuk merencanakan program kerja tanpa terikat oleh waktu dan tempat. fleksibilitas ini juga membuat dia lebih semangat melaksanakan 204 program kerja, apalagi didukung oleh kerjasama kelompok yang cukup baik. emosi positif ali ditunjukkan dengan kemampuannya beradaptasi dengan program kkn-v yang menuntutnya menghasilkan konten edukasi dan literasi pencegahan covid-19. respons positif ini tergambar dalam semangat, perasaan senang dan kemudahan (yih, kirby & smith, 2019) yang dialami ketika melakukan berbagai hal dalam kegiatan kkn-v. emosi negatif mahasiswa: “jaringan jelek dan saya bingung mau buat konten apa” ani dan ali mengalami berbagai masalah baik teknis maupun nonteknis dalam pelaksanaan kkn-v di tengah pandemi covid-19. dalam narasi emosi negatif yang tertuang di dalam data jurnal refleksi dan wawancara, ali dan ani mengakui bahwa koneksi internet yang buruk di musim hujan menjadi kendala teknis yang utama bagi mereka dalam mengunggah konten ke media sosial. emosi negatif partisipan dapat dilihat di tabel 3. tabel 3. narasi emosi negatif partisipan kendala narasi ali narasi ani koneksi dalam mengupload update kegiatan kkn di medsos kendalanya jaringan yang lemah saat musim hujan seperti sekarang. (jurnal refleksi, 23 juli 2020) jaringan kurang baik sehingga mengupload video terjeda. dua pekan hujan terus menerus yang mengganggu pembuatan video. (jurnal refleksi, 20 juli 2020) program kerja kadang saya bingung menentukan konteks proker. saya ingin melakukannya di sini tapi tidak memungkinkan, atau ingin kolaborasi, tapi ada saja kendala. (jurnal refleksi, 23 juli 2020) saya kurang paham cara mengambil gambar, mengedit video, dan menggunakan aplikasi pengeditan. rekaman kadang terkendala cuaca, jika hujan maka harus pindah hari. (wawancara whatsapp, 30 juli 2020) saat merencanakan proker, saya sulit mendapatkan ide-ide. saat melaksanakan proker, saya kadang kurang percaya diri di depan kamera. saya harus memberanikan diri untuk membuat video karena harus berbicara di depan kamera dan kadang saya harus membuat video di tempat umum. (jurnal refleksi, 20 juli 2020) manajemen waktu saya merasa sulit mengatur waktu dengan tim. saya free hari ini, teman saya sibuk. saya sibuk, mereka free. (wawancara whatsapp, 30 juli 2020) kendala dalam teamwork sulit mengatur waktu dan hari yang tepat untuk melaksanakan program kerja. (jurnal refleksi, 20 juli 2020) selain kendala teknis yang dipaparkan dalam narasi tersebut, ali dan ani juga mengalami kendala nonteknis seperti keterbatasan ide, ketidakmampuan menyunting video, kesulitan mengatur waktu dan krisis kepercayaan diri. ali merasa bingung dalam merencanakan program kerja yang sesuai dengan tema 205 edukasi dan literasi pencegahan covid-19. selain itu, dia mengalami masalah dalam mengedit video karena kurang menguasai aplikasi terkait. hal ini menjadi tantangan bagi mahasiswa yang tiba-tiba terpaksa mengikuti kkn-v. temuan ini sejalan dengan penelitian helms, rutti, hervani, labonte dan sarkarat (2015) yang melaporkan bahwa perubahan moda kkn dari langsung ke virtual menuntut adaptasi mahasiswa terhadap teknologi. sama dengan ali, ani kekurangan ide dalam merencanakan konten yang akan dibuatnya dalam kegiatan kkn-v ini. selain itu, ani merasa kurang percaya diri jika tampil di depan kamera. hal ini menjadi salah satu kendala suksesnya program kkn-v (helms, rutti, hervani, labonte & sarkarat, 2015). baik ali maupun ani mengalami kesulitan dalam mengatur waktu ketika membuat konten dengan rekan sekelompoknya. saat mereka mempunyai waktu luang, temannya sedang sibuk atau sebaliknya. kesimpulan penelitian ini mengungkapkan respons emosi positif dan negatif mahasiswa internasional selama mengikuti kkn-v. dampak positif dari pelaksanaan kkn-v ini adalah mahasiswa menjadi lebih kreatif dengan adanya kegiatan mengunggah program kerja masing-masing di media sosial youtube. hal ini bermanfaat untuk memberi informasi kepada masyarakat virtual (netizens) mengenai program-program sosial yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa. salah satu kendala yang dialami oleh mahasiswa selama kkn-v yaitu ketidakstabilan sinyal internet di daerah masing-masing. dari berbagai pergulatan emosi dan kendala yang dialami oleh mahasiswa selama kkn-v tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa mahasiswa internasional berupaya beradaptasi dengan memunculkan emosi positif demi kelancaran dan kesuksesan kegiatan kkn-v selama masa pandemi covid-19. berdasarkan temuan penelitian tersebut, disarankan agar mahasiswa internasional untuk selalu mempertahankan perasaan positif melalui komunikasi yang baik dengan dosen pembimbing lapangan (dpl) dan anggota kelompok supaya kegiatan kkn-v mereka berjalan dengan sukses. penelitian ini melaporkan hasil yang memberi wawasan baru, tetapi penelitian ini memiliki keterbatasan karena hanya melibatkan dua mahasiswa internasional saja. penelitian selanjutnya diharapkan dapat melibatkan partisipan dengan jumlah yang lebih banyak. selain itu, pendekatan yang dilakukan bisa lebih beragam sehingga mendapatkan hasil penelitian yang memberikan wawasan lain terkait dengan adaptasi emosi positif dan negatif mahasiswa internasional dalam kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat. dengan bantuan dan kerja sama antara dpl dan anggota kelompok lain, partisipan yang awalnya menunjukkan emosi negatif, secara bertahap memunculkan emosi positif sehingga program kkn-v mereka berhasil. 206 pernyataan penulis [disclosure statement] para penulis menyatakan bahwa tidak ada konflik kepentingan dalam hal riset, kepengarangan, dan publikasi artikel ini. [the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.] pernyataan kontribusi penulis [authors’ contribution statements] sitti nurfaidah: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (utama), menulis artikel awal (utama), mengevaluasi (utama), dan mengedit (setara) [conceptualization (lead), writing-original draft (lead), methodology (lead), review (lead), and editing (equal)]. anna riana suryanti tambunan: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (utama), menulis artikel (utama), mengevaluasi (setara), dan mengedit (setara) [conceptualization (lead), methodology (lead), writing draft (lead), review (equal), and editing (equal)]. fadhila yonata: mengonsep ide (pendukung), merancang metode penelitian (pendukung), menulis artikel (setara), mengevaluasi (setara), dan mengedit (setara) [conceptualization (supporting), methodology (supporting), writing draft (equal), review (equal), and editing (equal)]. dewi kurniawati: mengonsep ide (pendukung), merancang metode penelitian (setara), menulis artikel (setara), mengevaluasi (setara), dan mengedit (pendukung) [conceptualization (supporting), methodology (equal), writing draft (equal), review (equal), and editing (supporting)]. reni puspitasari dwi lestariyana: mengonsep ide (pendukung), menulis artikel (setara), mengevaluasi (setara), dan mengedit (pendukung) [conceptualization (supporting), writing draft (equal), review (equal), and editing (supporting)]. daftar referensi braun, v., & clarke, v. 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(2009). findings from the 2008 administration of the college senior survey (css): national aggregates. los angeles, ca: higher education research institute, ucla. seider, s. (2012). the influence of parental support on the community service learning experiences of american college students. education, citizenship and social justice, 7(3), 271–288. doi:10.1177/1746197912456340 yih, j., kirby, l. d., & smith, c. a. (2019). profiles of appraisal, motivation, and coping for positive emotions. cognition and emotion, 34(3), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2019.1646212 ___________________________________________________________________ biodata singkat penulis [notes on contributors] sitti nurfaidah adalah dosen di institut agama islam negeri kendari, sulawesi tenggara, indonesia. minat penelitian penulis pada kajian reflektif, psikologi positif dalam pembelajaran bahasa dan umpan balik menulis dalam bahasa inggris di perguruan tinggi. email: sittinurfaidah@iainkendari.ac.id sitti nurfaidah is a lecturer at institut agama islam negeri kendari, sulawesi tenggara, indonesia. her major research interests lie in the areas of reflective practice, positive psychology in language learning and teaching, and feedback in l2 writing. email: sittinurfaidah@iainkendari.ac.id anna riana suryanti tambunan (penulis korespondensi) bertugas sebagai dosen di universitas negeri medan. fokus penelitian penulis adalah pengajaran bahasa inggris sebagai bahasa asing, umpan balik dalam menulis secara daring dan komunikasi lintas budaya. email: annatambunan@unimed.ac.id anna riana suryanti tambunan (corresponding author) is a lecturer at universitas negeri medan. her research interests include teaching english as a foreign language, online feedback on writing, and intercultural communication. email: annatambunan@unimed.ac.id fadhila yonata adalah dosen di sekolah tinggi agama islam negeri sultan abdurrahman kepulauan riau, indonesia. minat penelitian penulis adalah pengajaran bahasa inggris sebagai bahasa asing, evaluasi buku ajar dan analisa wacana. email: fadhila.yonata@stainkepri.ac.id fadhila yonata is a lecturer at sekolah tinggi agama islam negeri sultan abdurrahman kepulauan riau, indonesia. his research interests lie in teaching english as a foreign language, textbook evaluation, and discourse studies. email: fadhila.yonata@stainkepri.ac.id mailto:sittinurfaidah@iainkendari.ac.id mailto:sittinurfaidah@iainkendari.ac.id mailto:annatambunan@unimed.ac.id mailto:annatambunan@unimed.ac.id mailto:fadhila.yonata@stainkepri.ac.id 208 dewi kurniawati adalah dosen bahasa inggris di jurusan pendidikan bahasa inggris universitas islam negeri (uin) raden intan lampung, indonesia. bidang minat penulis meliputi metodologi pengajaran bahasa inggris, teknologi dalam pengajaran bahasa dan pengembangan profesi guru. email: dewikurniawati@radenintan.ac.id dewi kurniawati is an english language lecturer in the english education department of universitas islam negeri (uin) raden intan lampung, indonesia. her areas of interest include language teaching methodology, technology in language teaching, and teacher professional development. email: dewikurniawati@radenintan.ac.id reni puspitasari dwi lestariyana adalah seorang mahasiswa pascasarjana di program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris di universitas sebelas maret, surakarta, indonesia. penulis sudah menerbitkan karya-karyanya di journal of asia tefl, indonesian journal of applied linguistics dan sexuality and culture. minat riset penulis mencakup pengajaran bahasa inggris untuk anak-anak, evaluasi buku teks bahasa, pengembangan profesi guru dan pembelajaran bahasa berbasis teknologi. email: renidwilestariyana@gmail.com reni puspitasari dwi lestariyana is a postgraduate student in the department of english education at universitas sebelas maret based in surakarta, indonesia. her publications appeared in the journal of asia tefl, the indonesian journal of applied linguistics, and sexuality and culture. her research interests are in teaching english to young learners (teyl), language textbook evaluation, teacher professional development, and technology-enhanced language learning (tell). email: renidwilestariyana@gmail.com mailto:dewikurniawati@radenintan.ac.id mailto:renidwilestariyana@gmail.com microsoft word vol 6 issue 3 articles-layout journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 678 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 6, issue 3 (2016), pp. 678-699 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ international students’ motivation and learning approach: a comparison with local students kah loong chue national institute of education, singapore youyan nie national institute of education, singapore abstract psychological factors contribute to motivation and learning for international students as much as teaching strategies. 254 international students and 144 local students enrolled in a private education institute were surveyed regarding their perception of psychological needs support, their motivation and learning approach. the results from this study indicated that international students had a higher level of self-determined motivation and used a deep and surface learning approach more extensively than local students. perceived psychological needs support positively predicted intrinsic motivation, identified regulation and a deep learning approach for both groups. there were also differences in the effects of motivation on learning approach between the two groups. further possibilities for exploration are discussed in this study. keywords: international students, self-determined motivation, learning approach, deep learning, surface learning in the past few decades, the number of students studying abroad has increased significantly from 0.8 million in 1975 to an estimated figure of 4.5 million in 2012 (oecd, 2015). these international students are prone to face adjustment issues that are unfamiliar to local students, primarily in the area of language proficiency and culture adaptation (andrade, 2006) and this may impact their motivation and learning in the classroom (robertson, line, jones, & thomas, 2000; tompson & tompson, 1996). as such, lecturers in classes comprised of both groups of students will need to take journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 679 into account differences in prior educational and cultural experiences when designing strategies to improve motivation and learning. for example, to address their lack of language proficiency, chinese students use silence as a means to avoid making mistakes (liu, 2001). however, this strategy could easily be mistaken by lecturers for a lack of interest or engagement in the subject (liu, 2001). previous research that dealt with this topic has focused mainly on differences in learning styles (ramburuth & mccormick, 2001) and the implementation of appropriate teaching strategies (robertson et al., 2000; tompson & tompson, 1996; wong, 2004) or policies, services and programs (ren & hagedorn, 2012; stoynoff, 1997; wicks, 1996). relatively few studies have been conducted on psychological factors that contribute to motivation and learning for international students. indeed, robertson et al., (2000) noted that many academic staff neglected the impact of emotional and psychological dilemmas faced by international students (robertson et al., 2000). what are some psychological factors that might affect motivation and student’s approach to learning? self-determinant theory postulates that supports for autonomy, competence and relatedness contribute to the overall psychological growth of an individual (deci & ryan, 2002). it is reasonable to conjecture that the same psychological supports would impact the motivation and learning of international students. moreover, if international students have to face challenges which are unfamiliar to the local students, these psychological supports might have a greater impact on them than on local students. thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationships of these psychological needs support on motivation and learning approaches for international students. furthermore, this study also examines how such relationships amongst international students differ from their local counterparts. literature review in exploring this particular area, the psychological constructs from selfdeterminant theory (sdt) will be applied. self-determinant theory is a broad motivational framework that is centered on the beliefs that all humans have basic innate psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competency and that social environments play an important role in the actualization of these needs (deci & ryan, 2002; deci, vallerand, pelletier, & ryan, 1991). according to sdt, motivation can be categorized into distinct types along a self-determinant continuum. amotivation lies on one extreme end of the continuum and represents a complete lack of motivation. people who are amotivated either do not act or act passively. at the other extreme end lies intrinsic motivation which represents the pinnacle of self-determined behaviors. individuals who are intrinsically motivated perform activities for their inherent fulfilment rather than some external stimuli. in the middle journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 680 band lies extrinsic motivation which can be further differentiated into three types according to their level of self-determination: external regulation, introjection, identification. external regulation is caused wholly by externally imposed rewards or punishment. introjection occurs when individuals impose their own internal rewards or constraints (e.g. guilt, shame or obligation). identification takes place when individuals can identify with the reason for behavior. in recent years, findings regarding sdt in the field of education has shown that a higher level of self-determinant leads to positive educational outcomes, i.e. deeper engagement, better conceptual learning and higher persistence (areepattamannil, freeman, & klinger, 2011; black & deci, 2000; lin, mckeachie, & kim, 2001; moneta & siu, 2002; pelletier, fortier, vallerand, & briere, 2001; standage, duda, & ntoumanis, 2005; vansteenkiste, lens, & deci, 2006; wang & guthrie, 2004; zhou, ma, & deci, 2009; zhu & leung, 2011). to develop a higher sense of selfdetermination towards intrinsic motivation, an individual’s basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness must be satisfied (deci et al., 1991). this requires the awareness of internal factors (e.g. an individual’s age, gender, cognitive ability) and the introduction of external social factors (e.g. degree of autonomy support in the environment) (wehmeyer et al., 2011). when social factors satisfy the three basic psychological needs, one can expect intrinsic motivation to be facilitated. in contrast, when these needs are thwarted, the individual’s motivation is diminished (ryan & deci, 2000b). autonomy refers to the experience of one’s behavior as volitional. an environment that supports students’ autonomy can be achieved by tapping on inner motivational resources, minimizing external pressure through language and providing explanatory rationale to transform any task into one of personal value (reeve, 2009). competence refers to the experience of one’s interactions with the surroundings as effective. students’ competence can be supported by introducing appropriate learning activities and providing students with the appropriate tools and feedback for improvement (niemiec & ryan, 2009). relatedness refers to the experience of a sense of belonging and connectedness to a group. this is realized when students feel that a teacher genuinely respects and cares for them (ryan & deci, 2000a). recent research has combined the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness into one composite variable and the satisfaction of these needs has been positively associated with self-determined motivation, i.e. intrinsic motivation, identified motivation and introjected motivation (chen & jang, 2010; jang, reeve, ryan, & kim, 2009; w. c. liu, wang, tan, koh, & ee, 2009; standage, duda, & ntoumanis, 2003; standage et al., 2005) but negatively associated with external regulation and amotivation (w. c. liu et al., 2009; standage et al., 2003, 2005). journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 681 approaches to learning the concept of learning approaches is derived from the seminal work of marton and saljo (1976). in essence, a student’s approach to learning could be classified into two categories based on their study behavior. students, who apply a deep learning strategy read widely, interrelate with previous relevant knowledge and try to connect their information with other subjects. students who apply a surface learning strategy do the bare essentials, relying mainly on rote learning and memorization (biggs, 1987). naturally, most educators would wish to inculcate a deep learning approach in students. as such, numerous attempts have been made to identify the factors that induce deep learning. to categorize these factors and their impacts, baeten (2010) conducted a study of previous literature and established that these factors can be grouped into three areas. contextual factors refer to the actual learning environment, e.g. teaching methods, assessment, feedback and cognitive scaffolding. perceived contextual factors refer to the manner in which students interpret instructional interventions, e.g. workload, teaching, supportiveness and relevance. student factors refer to individual level factors, e.g. gender, personality, motivation. at the same time, it was acknowledged that a lot of these variables have yet to be empirically investigated (baeten, kyndt, struyven, & dochy, 2010). previous studies focusing on the relationship between motivation and learning approaches have generally associated intrinsic motivation with deep learning and extrinsic motivation with surface learning (entwistle, 1986). this is not surprising as many behaviors are typical of both intrinsic motivation and deep learning, e.g. performing tasks based on inherent satisfaction. however, the various types of extrinsic motivation as postulated by sdt were not considered in most studies pertaining to motivation and learning approach. the distinction between the various types of extrinsic motivation is important. firstly, identification is usually classified as autonomous motivation and has been associated with positive results whereas introjection and external regulation have been associated with negative results (e.g. pelletier et al., 2001). secondly, whilst external regulation consistently predicted negative outcomes, introjected regulation has shown correlations with both positive and negative outcomes (ng et al., 2012). lastly, studies have indicated that students are generally motivated by extrinsic factors (tan, goh, chia, & treagust, 2001; yee, 2011). it is therefore essential that a distinction be made between partial external regulation and full external regulation so that the appropriate strategies can be employed to improve students’ approaches to learning. journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 682 international students in singapore to complement the public education institutions in singapore, private educational institutes offer a range of education programs at the diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels to both local and international students. the private educational institutes have partnered with overseas universities (typically from uk, us or australia) to provide external degree programs, thereby providing students the opportunity to acquire qualifications of foreign universities whilst studying in singapore. in 2012, there was a total enrolment of 227,000 students in the private educational institutes, of which 44% were international students (council of private education, 2012). many of them hail from different countries in asia, thus creating an immensely diverse and heterogeneous student profile. the push and pull factors for these international students are usually compliance with their parents’ desires, inability to secure a place in their countries’ prestigious universities, lower costs than western countries, lower safety concerns and the prospects of learning english in a bilingual society (kitty, 2005). previous research studies on international students have largely concentrated on the east-west divide or more commonly the collectivisticindividualistic worldview. for example, results pertaining to approaches to learning have indicated that students in eastern societies tend to emphasize rote memorization whilst their western counterparts focus on conceptual understanding (biggs, 1991; murphy, 1987). however, in recent years, the notion that culture is represented by a set of values embracing individualism or collectivism has been replaced by a systems view of culture (kitayama, 2002). this alternate view proposes that culture is a dynamic system made up of many loosely organized but connected elements such as practices and associated mental processes. each individual’s psychological processes and behaviors are organized around efforts to coordinate with a system of practices and public meanings. the systemic view of culture explicitly refutes the notion that eastern and western societies are composed of different core values. instead, all psychological processes are potentially available to all groups of people (kitayama, 2002). from this viewpoint, it is conceivable that the motivation and learning processes of international and local students within an educational institute may be vastly different from each other. for example, international students usually choose to study abroad for academic and personal growth, better career prospects and economic benefits (eder, smith, & pitts, 2010; li & bray, 2007) and this may show a tendency to be extrinsically motivated. they could also have an intention to avoid disadvantageous conditions in their home country (valery chirkov, vansteenkiste, tao, & lynch, 2007). before finalizing the decision to study abroad, they would also have to consider many factors such as the host countries’ reputation for quality and cost issues (mazzarol & soutar, journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 683 2002), that local students would not have to contend with. these reasons suggest that international students demonstrate a significant amount of forward thinking and planning which may result in different learning processes from their local counterparts. in addition, international students face social and academic adjustment challenges unfamiliar to local students. social adjustment were ascribed to less social support and social connectedness whilst academic adjustment challenges were mainly attributed to english language proficiency (andrade, 2006; yeh & inose, 2003). they experience more anxiety and stress, thus requiring different levels and types of support to foster their cross-cultural learning skills (andrade, 2006; yamazaki & kayes, 2004). international and local students also differ in their learning systems (ramsay, barker, & jones, 1999; zhao, kuh, & carini, 2005). furthermore, faculty staff often have a different perception of the behaviors of international students (robertson et al., 2000; tompson & tompson, 1996). for example, academic staff felt that international students lack writing and critical thinking skills whereas international students had difficulties understanding the instructor’s use of colloquial language (robertson et al., 2000). research in this area has emphasized the implementation of appropriate teaching strategies (robertson et al., 2000; tompson & tompson, 1996; wong, 2004) or policies, services and programs (ren & hagedorn, 2012; stoynoff, 1997; wicks, 1996) but have largely neglected the motivational and psychological needs of these students. these needs are especially important to international students as a higher level of selfdetermination could lead to more beneficial cultural adaptation outcomes (chirkov, safdar, de guzman, & playford, 2008; chirkov et al., 2007). therefore, the current study will seek to address this gap in the literature by investigating the following research questions: (1) what are the differences in motivation and learning approaches between local and international students? (2) how does perceived psychological needs support contribute to motivation and learning approach of international students? (3) how do the relationships between perceived psychological needs support, motivation and learning approach differ for local and international students? based on the framework of sdt and previous research, the hypothesized model for both groups of students is represented in figure 1. specifically, perceived psychological needs support would be positively associated to self-determined motivation (intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation) and negatively associated to external regulation and amotivation. a deep learning approach would be positively predicted by intrinsic motivation, identified regulation and introjected regulation as these motivation types have elements of self-determination. a surface learning approach would be positively predicted by identified regulation, introjected journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 684 regulation and external regulation. amotivation would be negatively associated with both deep and surface learning as a lack of interest should naturally correspond to a lack of learning. similarly, as perceived contextual factors play a role in determining learning approaches, perceived psychological needs support would positively predict deep learning and negatively predict surface learning. research method sample the participants in this study were 401 students enrolled in a business mathematics course at a private educational institute in singapore. the sample consisted of 144 local students (84 male, 59 female, mean age = 20.4, sd = 2.64) and 254 international students (99 male, 155 female, mean age = 19.0, sd = 1.72). three participants did not state their nationality and gender. english is the medium of instruction in the module. to ensure that students had sufficient time for perceptions of autonomy, competency and relatedness to be formed, the survey was conducted in the middle of the semester. the total time required to complete all the questionnaires is approximately 15 minutes. all students provided their background and demographic information. measures perceived psychological needs support. perceived psychological needs support was measured with three subscales (i.e. perceived autonomy support, perceived competency support, perceived relatedness support) that journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 685 were adapted from a modified version of a raters scale for perceived autonomy support (reeve, jang, carrell, jeon, & barch, 2004), the intrinsic motivation inventory for perceived competence and the need for relatedness scale for perceived relatedness. each subscale had five items. example items from the subscales include “my lecturer explains the rationale for the value of tasks” (perceived autonomy), “my lecturer makes us feel like we are good at math” (perceived competence) and “my lecturer cares for our learning” (perceived relatedness). the three factors are further collapsed into a single composite factor. a second order confirmatory factor analysis with three factors at the first level and one factor at the second level showed an adequate fit for the data 2(84, n = 401) = 280.576, p < .01, tli = .93, cfi = .95, rmsea = .076. the subscales showed good internal consistency reliability (α = 0.89 for perceived autonomy support, α = 0.86 for perceived competency support, α = 0.88 for perceived relatedness support). motivation. motivation was assessed using an adapted version of the perceived locus of causality (ploc) questionnaire (goudas, biddle, & fox, 1994) and the academic motivation scale (vallerand et al., 1992) . there were five subscales to measure intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation. each subscale had four items. all items were altered to fit a mathematics module context (e.g. intrinsic motivation – i take part in mathematics lessons because i enjoy learning new skills/techniques in math). a five-factor confirmatory factor analysis provided an adequate fit for the data 2(140, n = 401) = 484.422, p < .01, tli = .91, cfi = .93, rmsea = .078. the subscales showed good internal consistency reliability (α = 0.96 for intrinsic motivation, α = 0.89 for identified regulation, α = 0.70 for introjected regulation, α = 0.78 for external regulation, α = 0.87 for amotivation). learning approach. surface and deep learning were measured using a modification of the revised two-factor version of the learning process questionnaire (kember, biggs, & leung, 2004) and the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (elliot, mcgregor, & gable, 1999; pintrich, smith, garcía, & mckeachie, 1993). two subscales assessing deep and surface strategy were modified from the questionnaire to suit a mathematics module context. each subscale had six items and scores for each item were extended to a 7-point scale. a twofactor confirmatory factor analysis provided an adequate fit for the data 2(23, n = 401) = 74.475, p < .01, tli = .91, cfi = .96, rmsea = .075. the subscales showed good internal consistency reliability (α = 0.82 for deep learning, α = 0.72 for surface learning). journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 686 demographical variables. the demographical variables of age, gender (male = 0, female = 1) and nationality (local students = 0, international students = 1) were measured. results descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients among the variables for the two groups were computed and inspected. gender was not significantly correlated to deep or surface learning for both groups indicating that any relationships between the variables were invariant across gender. path analysis was conducted to examine the significant direct and indirect relations between perceived psychological needs support, motivation and learning approaches for both groups. multi group analysis was conducted to determine if there were significant differences in path coefficients between the two groups. descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations descriptive statistics and correlations for international and local students are presented in table 1 and 2 respectively. international students reported a significantly higher level of perceived psychological needs support (t(396) = -4.63, p < .001, d = .47), intrinsic motivation (t(396) = 5.57, p < .001, d = .56), identified regulation (t(396) = -5.24, p < .001, d = .53), external regulation (t(396) = -3.14, p < .01, d = .32,, deep learning (t(396) = -2.92, p < .01, d = .29) and surface learning (t(396) = -2.03, p < .05, d = .20) but a lower level of amotivation (t(396) = 2.87, p < .01, d = .29) than local students. for both groups of students, there were surprisingly no significant correlations between perceived psychological needs support and introjected regulation and external regulation. several differences in bivariate correlations between the two groups were quite evident. for example, surface learning was positively associated with only external regulation for journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 687 local students whereas it was positively associated with perceived psychological needs support, identified regulation, introjected regulation and external regulation for international students. path analysis the model for both groups was examined via sem using the asymptotically distribution-free estimation method to cater for multivariate non-normality. in both path models, the residuals of the various motivational types were allowed to be correlated to represent their interrelationship as recommended by standage et al. (2003). non-significant paths were removed from the model. differences in pairwise path coefficients were inspected using multi-group analysis in amos. the final path models for international students and local students are presented in figure 2 and 3 respectively. an examination of the fit indices suggested a good fit for the data, 2(34) = 44.23, p = .113, tli = .95, cfi = .98, rmsea = .028. in both path models, perceived psychological needs support positively predicted intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, negatively predicted amotivation and had no associations with introjected regulation and external regulation. in the path model for international students, a deep learning approach was positively predicted by perceived psychological needs support, intrinsic motivation, identified regulation and introjected regulation but negatively predicted by amotivation whereas a surface learning approach was positively predicted by identified regulation and amotivation. however, in the path model for local students, perceived psychological needs support and identified regulation predicted a deep learning approach. no motivation types predicted a surface learning approach (see table 3). a comparison of pairwise path coefficients across the two groups also revealed significant differences in the path coefficients between perceived psychological needs support and intrinsic motivation (p = .013) and perceived psychological needs support and amotivation (p = .062) (see table 4). international students reported a greater impact of perceived journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 688 psychological needs support on intrinsic motivation (β = .42 compared to β = .16) and a lesser impact of perceived psychological needs support on amotivation (β = -.17 compared to β = -.37). journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 689 discussion and conclusions the current study was designed to examine and compare the relations between perceived psychological needs support, five types of motivation as specified by sdt and approaches to learning for both international and local students. the results indicate that international students have a higher level of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, external regulation, deep learning and surface learning but a lower level of amotivation. an inspection of the path models indicate the following key observations congruent to both groups : 1) perceived psychological needs support positively predicted intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, negatively predicted amotivation but has no effect on introjected and external regulation, 2) a deep learning approach was predicted by perceived psychological needs support and identified regulation. an examination of the differences between international and local students indicated that 1) a deep learning approach was positively predicted by intrinsic motivation, identified regulation and introjected regulation but negatively predicted by amotivation for international students whereas there were no effects for local students, 2) a surface learning approach was positively predicted by journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 690 identified regulation and amotivation for international students whereas there were no effects for local students. motivation and learning patterns between international and local students international students reported a higher level of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation and external regulation but a lower level of amotivation than local students. this may be due to the reason that international students usually have a specific aim in mind when they opt to study overseas. for example, when they choose to do so for personal or professional growth (eder et al., 2010; li & bray, 2007), this will naturally correspond to a higher intrinsic motivation than local students who may be just following a natural academic progression. by the same token, when international students opt to study overseas for better career prospects and an enhanced social status (li & bray, 2007), this will correspond to a higher identified regulation and lower amotivation. finally, it may be that international students who do not pass the course will have their students’ visa revoked. the continuous threat of an external penalty will correspond to a higher external regulation. international students also reported a significantly higher use of both deep and surface learning, indicating that they have a stronger focus on concepts and connections as well as memorisation than local students. baeten (2010) had suggested that a myriad of student factors influence the adoption of learning approach, such as level of cognitive development, prior educational experience and self-direction in learning (baeten et al., 2010). international students may have to resolve many issues that are unfamiliar to local students, before finalizing a decision to study abroad. this issues range from a consideration of push factors e.g. the availability of educational opportunities in their home country to pull factors, e.g. the quality of education in the host country and financial costs of staying overseas (mazzarol & soutar, 2002). this suggests that international students may have a higher level of cognitive development and self-direction than local students. however, further investigations will need to be carried out before any definite conclusions can be made. the beneficial role of perceived psychological needs support the beneficial role of perceived psychological needs support is consistent for both local and international students. the present results support the generalizability of sdt claims that perceived psychological needs support positively predicted self-determined motivation (intrinsic and identified motivation) and negatively predicted amotivation in both local and international students, thus highlighting the importance of the socioenvironmental context in education. surprisingly, differing from previous journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 691 findings, the perceived psychological need supports were not associated with introjected and external regulation. one possible reason could lie with the antecedents of these motivational types. for example, supporting psychological needs may not have any effect on the lack of external financial resources. future research could attempt to explore in greater detail the antecedents of the various motivational constructs and their consequences. a pairwise comparison indicated that an increase of perceived psychological needs support had a greater impact on intrinsic motivation and amotivation for international students. specifically, the same level of perceived psychological needs support would result in a higher level of intrinsic motivation and a lower level of amotivation for international students. a possible reason may be that the most critical adjustment factors for international students in the host country are proficiency in the english language and building a social network (andrade, 2006). according to sdt, perceived psychological needs support comprises of supports for autonomy, competence and relatedness. supports for competence might have addressed the issue of english language proficiency whilst supports for relatedness might have addressed the issue of building a social network indirectly. as local students do not face similar adjustment issues, this may account for the disparity in the relationship. with regard to the relationship between perceived psychological needs support and learning approaches, the results indicated that perceived psychological needs support is a significant positive predictor of deep learning but not a significant predictor of surface learning for both groups of students. previous studies had confirmed the importance of the learning environment in cultivating deep learning (entwistle, 2000; hall, ramsay, & raven, 2004) and strategies have been advocated to create a suitable environment, e.g. providing relevant feedback and clear objectives, creating opportunities for questions, making efforts to understand students’ difficulties and offering options for students do decide what and how they learn (trigwell & prosser, 1991). these strategies are synonymous with strategies for providing supports for autonomy, competence and relatedness, thus reinforcing the premise that perceived supports for psychological needs predicts deep learning. differences between international and local students several differences emerged upon comparing the findings of international and local students. firstly, aligned with previous research, a deep learning approach was positively predicted by intrinsic motivation, identified regulation and introjected regulation for international students. all three motivational types encompass, to different extents, an internal perceived locus of causality which may be a significant precursor to a deep journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 692 learning approach. however, the same three motivational types had no significant effect on deep learning for local students. one possible reason might lie in the behaviors linked with the motivational constructs. for example, performing tasks based on inherent satisfaction is a common characteristic to intrinsic motivation. but what does it mean for local students to be interested in math for inherent satisfaction? in singapore, the central focus for primary and secondary mathematics education is problem solving (ministry of education, 2007a, 2007b). teaching activities are assessment focused (hogan et al., 2013) and mainly involve practicing procedural routines (fan & zhu, 2007). students enjoy math when they can easily get high marks after much practice of routine close-ended questions (fan et al., 2005). hence, it is possible that local students may be intrinsically motivated to do math problems, i.e. towards procedural understanding, but do not strive for conceptual understanding nor establishing links with other subjects. secondly, amotivation negatively predicted deep learning for international students but had no significant effect for local students. although the bivariate correlation between amotivation and deep learning was significantly negative for local students, this relationship did not exist in the multivariate path analysis, suggesting that some other variable may affect the relation between amotivation and deep learning. for example, previous research had proposed that the antecedents of amotivation comprised of four factors: ability beliefs, effort beliefs, task characteristics and task value (legault, green-demers, & pelletier, 2006). of the four factors, ability beliefs and effort beliefs were related to academic outcomes whilst task characteristics, task value and effort beliefs are tied to problem behaviors. it is plausible that international students are amotivated because of ability beliefs and effort beliefs whereas local students are amotivated because of task characteristics and task value. if international students believe that they are neither intelligent nor able to expend the necessary effort to do well, this might have a negative influence on their types of cognitive strategies used (wigfield & eccles, 1994). conversely, local students might not believe in the value of the subject in which they are studying but this belief do not interfere with the manner in which they approach learning. lastly, a surface learning approach was positively predicted by identified regulation whereas there was no effect for local students. this indicates that for international students, a greater level of identification with the importance of the subject will result in a higher level of surface learning, suggesting that international students recognize the need for both deep and surface approaches to learning in order to achieve good academic outcomes. likewise, amotivation positively predicted surface learning for international students but had no effect on local students. as mentioned in the preceding journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 693 paragraph, international students may be amotivated because of ability beliefs and effort beliefs. implications one primary aim for educators is to inculcate self-determined motivation in students. the findings in this study suggest that the most effective strategy for international students is to increase support of their psychological needs. although previous research has indicated that all students will benefit when these needs are supported (standage et al., 2005), it would appear that there is a greater impact on international students than local students. specifically, educators could aim to support feelings of relatedness by establishing a sense of connectedness with the students (niemiec & ryan, 2009). for example, separate dialogue sessions could be conducted with international students. this serves to acknowledge the students’ backgrounds and expresses an interest in them. instructions during lessons could also emphasize a caring aspect by recognizing that each student has his or her own interests and emotions (sheldon & filak, 2008). an autonomy supportive climate could possibly be created by nurturing students’ inner resources, displaying patience and acknowledging student’s expression of negative affect (reeve, 2009). for example, educators can openly ask what international students need or want and consequently modify the lesson accordingly. students could also be offered the option to evaluate themselves from a self-referent standard (stefanou, perencevich, dicintio, & turner, 2004). furthermore, as international students may not be proficient in english, displaying patience and acknowledging their difficulties may also increase their self-determination level. in addition, supporting international students’ needs of competence addresses issues pertaining to their language proficiency and prior academic knowledge. this could be achieved by introducing optimally challenging learning tasks with appropriate tools and feedback (niemiec & ryan, 2009). limitations a number of limitations need to be considered in the present study. first, the current study is cross-sectional in design; hence, any causal conclusions cannot be drawn. for instance, because of an increase in the exposure of metacognitive skills, it is possible that students who adopt a deep learning approach will gradually enjoy performing tasks for intrinsic motives. future studies might consider using an experimental or longitudinal design to help clarify the relationships. second, the relative importance of autonomy support, competence support and relatedness support in the model could be explored in greater detail. for example, researchers have debated whether journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 694 students in different cultures value autonomy equally (markus & kitayama, 1991). international students who are separated from their home societies could have different perspectives of autonomy. third, some other variables such as prior knowledge were not considered as control variables. for example, one potential factor that could have a high impact is that of cultural distance which is described as the degree of incongruence between cultures (popp, love, kim, & hums, 2010). due to cultural similarities, students from malaysia would experience a smaller cultural distance than a student from korea. although it would have been ideal in the present study to investigate if the country of origin makes a difference, the small sample size did not permit such an investigation. references andrade, m. s. 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(2011). motivation and achievement: is there an east asian model? international journal of science and mathematics education, 9(5), 1189-1212. doi: 10.1007/s10763-010-9255-y kah loong chue, is adjunct faculty and a graduate student in an edd program. his research and teaching interests include motivation in education, learning styles, personality traits and assessment methods. email: klchue@gmail.com youyan nie, phd, is an assistant professor in the psychological studies department. her research interests include motivation in education and human development, self-regulated learning, organizational climate in classroom and school settings and innovation in curriculum instruction and assessment. email: youyan.nie@nie.edu.sg. manuscript submitted: november 1, 2014 manuscript revised: january 4, 2015 accepted for publication: february 5, 2016 *** 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx final rev 0108 special issue-(clean) 8 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 8-29 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis international undergraduate student recruitment at china’s “double first-class” universities mei li east china normal university, china qixia jiang liuzhou vocational & technical college, china shuli su the university of hong kong, china southern university of science and technology, china abstract focusing on the “double first-class” universities in china, we analyze the recruitment policies of international undergraduate students at the institutional level. findings indicate that “double first-class” universities have a certain autonomy in determining the recruitment scale and academic thresholds, demonstrating an unevenly set and loosely regulated policy decision making in china with an absence of a national academic standard and coordinative system. we categorize institutional policies at “double first-class” universities into four kinds: active-rigorous player, active player, rigorous player and inactive player. as active-rigorous players, the most prestigious universities set admission requirements as strict as that of some research universities in north america. in general, academic rationale and economic rationale are not as important as political and social-cultural rationales in the recruitment policy. china’s heis need to maintain a subtle balance among academic, political, economic and social-cultural rationales, with more emphasis put on the quality control of international student recruitment. keywords: “double first-class” universities, international undergraduate students, recruitment, academic standards, rationales journal of international students 9 introduction international student mobility is an important component of the internationalization of higher education. it also plays an active role in enhancing the political, educational, social and economic development of both the hosting countries and sending countries and promoting institutional and individual students’ international horizon and capability. china is traditionally perceived as the most important sending country, but the past decade has witnessed china’s rising position as one of the major hosting countries for international students and the largest one in asia (ma & zhao, 2018). in 2018 there were 492,185 international students from 196 countries/areas pursuing their studies in china, among whom more than 258,122 students were enrolled in degree programs, accounting for 52.44% of all international students (moe, 2019). with the rapid expansion and development of international students in china, the quality issue and sustainable development have become major concerns of policy-makers and university administrators. for example, chinese universities face some problems in student recruitment, internationalized pedagogy, and international student management, such as obsession with the recruitment scale, low entrance thresholds, teaching quality, uneven development between regions and disciplines, a lack of quality faculty and teaching resources, and ineffective quality assurance and supervision system. in china, due to the interplay of governmental incentives, institutional competition, and university rankings, the motivations of recruiting international students are unreasonable, resulting in more enthusiasm in increasing the number and the scale of international students than caring about the quality and academic standards of international students. the quality of enrollment and education of undergraduate international students in china is closely related to higher education institutions' reputation and competition. by taking 41 “double firstclass universities” as examples, this paper analyzes the admission policies and practices for international undergraduate students in china, exploring the characteristics and problems and proposing suggestions for policy improvement. the paper starts with a brief literature review, followed by an introduction on research methods and findings, then turns to the discussion and conclusions. literature review the conceptual lens: rationales and logics of international student recruitment in the global higher education market, hosting international students is of significance for universities’ international competition, reputation, academic position in rankings. the rationales that drive universities to recruit international students are dramatically important and differ from country to country. de wit (2002) identifies rationale as the motivation to integrate the international dimension into higher education pedagogy and practice, including an extension of both the purpose and outcomes of internationalization. different rationales represent different ends and means of internationalization. knight (2006) journal of international students 10 classifies rationales of internationalization of higher education (ihe) into four categories: political, economic, academic, and social/cultural. she further analyzes the rationales of different actors and stakeholders in the process of internationalization (knight, 2006). as the implementers of government policy and the suppliers of international higher education, chinese higher education institutions’ (heis) rationales for international student recruitment have direct influences on the quality and characteristics of international students. the rationales of international undergraduate admission differ from institution to institution. different rationales lead to different international student recruitment strategies and practice. “academic rationale” refers to that higher education institutions pay attention to academic standards in isr by recruiting students with strong academic capability for the purpose of enhancing academic reputation, and providing scholarships to high-achieving students. “political rationale” means that higher education institutions aim to recruit international students for the purpose of serving government policies and strategies, and are committed to improving the country’s status and soft power. “economic rationale” means that higher education institutions stress short-term and long-term economic benefits of international student recruitment by charging high tuition fees, expanding the scale of enrollment, improving the competitiveness of human resources. “social/cultural rationale” focuses on multicultural integration and cross-cultural understanding, emphasizing the cultural diversity of students. furthermore, three logics and dynamic forces, namely the state logic/force, the institutional academic logic/force and the market logic/force, interact and interplay with each other in shaping the admission policies of international students in china. the state logic stresses the national goal and strategy of international student education; the institution’s academic logic pays much attention to the quantity or quality of international students; and the market logic attaches importance to economic benefits and the market mechanisms for the supply and demand match of cross-border higher education. there are complex interactions and dynamic influences between these different rationales and logics in different higher education systems. three logics play different roles in the recruitment of international students in china’s socialist market economy environment. international student recruitment in china international student recruitment is highlighted not only in traditional major hosting countries but also in emerging economies such as china, singapore, malaysia in asia. with the aims of building up regional education hubs, the governments and higher education institutions in these countries have adopted active strategies to increase their competitiveness in the international student market (wen & hu, 2019). the past decade has witnessed china’s rising role as a major receiving country (ma & zhao, 2018; wen & hu, 2019; wu, 2018). most studies have examined china’s international student education either from the macro-level of journal of international students 11 government policy or the micro-level of individual students’ behaviors and experiences. the meso-level of hosting institutions’ policy and practice are long time ignored. at the macro level, the role of the chinese national government is crucial in issuing policies and regulations, offering financial resources and scholarships, and making strategic planning and quality management. the regulations on management of higher education institutions in their acceptance of international students in 2000 has stipulated international student education guidelines, management systems, types of students, scholarships, teaching, social management, and stay permits (ma & zhao, 2018). recruiting international students has been taken as a strategy to strengthen china’s soft power and promote the competitiveness of chinese higher education (wen & hu, 2019). the national governments have launched policies and projects to drive the heis to recruit more international students. in 2010, the “study in china program” set the ambitious goal of receiving 500,000 international students by 2020 and aims to make china the biggest host country in asia (wen & hu, 2019). as a non-western emerging player of international education, chinese policies and rationales differ from traditional suppliers of international education. for the traditional major suppliers, such as the us, the uk, australia, canada and new zealand, economic rationale is a priority in recruiting international undergraduate students (altbach & knight, 2007). these countries have adopted neoliberalism ideology at the governmental and institutional policies by charging full tuition fees for international students since the 1980s or 1990s. the 21st century has witnessed the continental european countries, such as germany, france and finland, are shifting their policies from low tuition fees to high tuition fees for international students (cai & kivistö, 2011). in contrast to these countries, china has not set economic rationale as a priority. rather, political and socialcultural rationales are more important in the policy and practice of internationalization of higher education (ma & zhao, 2018). since international students are a potential source of soft power, the recruitment of international students could be a fundamental way to achieve china’s diplomatic mission (tian & lowe, 2018). china pays more attention to long-term strategies of building and strengthening international relationship with the neighboring countries by enhancing higher education (he) exchange and hosting students from the “one belt and one road” (obor) strategy (lu & tian, 2018). the micro-level research focuses on educational, psychological and cultural issues of international student mobility (ding, 2016; lu & tian, 2018; wen et al., 2018). economic growth, chinese language and culture, scholarships, china’s governmental policies, the reputation of research universities, and low costs are the main pull factors for attracting international students to pursue higher education in china. low quality of higher education is named a major pushing factor for international student recruitment in china. quality is a major concern for chinese higher education hosting international students (yang, 2018). after 1990, the chinese government delegated recruitment of international students to heis, permitting them to be responsible for recruitment, education, and routine management of international students (ma & zhao, 2018). a sound quality assurance system for educational programs for journal of international students 12 international students is lacking at the state level. ding (2016) and wen et al. (2018) found that the satisfaction levels of international students in shanghai and beijing were lower than those of international students in western countries such as the usa. some international students studying in china reported that administrators showed little concern about the quality of their experiences at university (tian & lowe, 2018). the language barrier is one of the crucial factors influencing international students’ cultural integration in china (yang, 2020). according to lu and tian’s survey, only 33.1% and 38.6% of international students reported that their oral chinese and written chinese were fluent. in contrast, most of the international students thought that their chinese was average or poor. (lu & tian, 2018). the language requirements and academic standards for international student admission in china vary from institution to institution. in some chinese higher education institutions, the low requirements and standards lead to the unsatisfactory learning outcomes of international students. new challenges facing international students admissions amid impacts of covid-19 the spread of the corona virus disease (covid-19) has significant impacts on international higher education in general and on international student mobility in particular. the covid-19 has led to the decreasing scale of international student mobility in the short term, accelerating changes in directions and features of international students and intensifying competition in the international student market (yang et al., 2021). with border closures and global travel restrictions, international students experienced educational, psychological and financial difficulties amid the pandemic (alaklabi et al., 2021). in china, researchers predict that the number of international students coming to china will decline in the short term. yet, as china moves toward recovery from the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic, the number of international students will keep on increasing (lin & liu, 2021; ma & zhang, 2021; yang et al., 2021). in the post covid-19 era, the strategies of international student admission and the situations of epidemic prevention and control vary by country, which could cause changes in international student mobility and intensify the competition in the international student market (ma & zhang, 2021; yang et al., 2021). health protection and safety occupy a more important position in influencing students’ and parents’ decisions on studying abroad and destination choices (whatley & castiello-gutiérrez, 2021). under the government policies on covid-19, universities in china posit healthy protection as a priority and set up strict rules for returning of international students. a survey of 504 international students in china shows that 92.85% students were satisfied with the measures taken by chinese government and 58.53% preferred to stay here in china rather than go to their home countries (kulyar et al., 2020). although china has been successful in pandemic control, the quality of china’s international higher education is not as attractive as european and american countries (yang et al., journal of international students 13 2021). the provision of a high-quality education is the fundamental way to attract international students coming to china (yang et al., 2021). the chinese higher education institutions’ international student admission policies, rationales, management, education and services are under-researched. in practice, the recruitment of international students in universities may be dominated by one or more rationales. the paper aims at filling in the knowledge gap by focusing on international undergraduate student recruitment at china’s “double first-class” universities. research questions the rationales and strategies of higher education institutions in recruiting international students predict what international students can be enrolled into chinese universities, which result in the quality, quantity and composition of international student recruitment. aiming at exploring the features and quality of international student recruitment, the paper focuses on three dimensions of international undergraduate student recruitment at china’s “double first-class” universities. 1). what was the scale of international undergraduate student recruitment at the “double first-class” universities in china? 2). what were the admission requirements (such as language proficiency requirements and academic standards) for international undergraduate students at the “double first-class” universities? 3). what were the rationales of the international student recruitment policies at the “double first-class” universities in china? research method in china, the policies and rationales of international undergraduate student recruitment vary from institution to institution. the research focuses on the “double first-class” universities due to the following reasons: a. these universities are major heis hosting a large number of international students; b. the “double first-class” universities represent the top-tier research higher education institutions in china, playing an important role in the global higher education competition; c. their admission policies are available for document analysis. we focus on the quantity, quality and rationales of international undergraduate student recruitment in the “double first-class” universities: the quantity refers to the enrollment scale of international students, the quality is determined by the academic requirements of enrollment, and the rationale is underlined by the priority on quality or quantity in the process of recruitment. the data were mainly drawn from governmental documents and higher education institutional materials. the governmental documents include study in china program (moe, 2010), administrative measures for the enrollment and cultivation of international students by higher education institutions (moe, 2017), and the trial quality standard of higher education for international journal of international students 14 students (moe, 2018), and concise statistics of international students in china (moe, department of international cooperation and exchange 2019). the institutional materials were from the official websites of the 41 “double firstclass” universities. the national university of defense technology was excluded from the list of analyzing because it did not recruit international students. on the official websites of foreign affair offices at the 41 “double first-class” universities, we collected documents of undergraduate programs for international students in 2020 and 2021, and built up a database of recruitment information, including the chinese and english language proficiency requirements, forms of entrance assessments, and the qualification requirements for international students in 41 “double first-class” universities in 2021. the research is based on document analysis. we conducted statistical descriptive analysis on the number of international students and content analysis on application eligibility, academic requirements, and academic assessment for international undergraduate student recruitment at china’s “double first-class” universities. results we analyze the recruitment policies including the documents, regulations, and plans issued by the heis. in china, the higher education law stipulates that heis enjoy the autonomy on recruiting international students. admission policies impact the quantity and characteristics of international students enrolled at each institution. this section elaborates the admission policies from the aspects of the enrollment scale, admission standards, requirements of language proficiency, and academic assessment at “double first-class” universities in china. the enrollment scale of international undergraduate students at “double first-class” universities international student education has been given great importance by the chinese government and heis. in total, the 41 “double first-class” universities hosted 160,783 international students, accounting for 20.65% of a total enrollment of international undergraduate students in china in 2018 (moe, 2019). the recent years have witnessed the number of international students from african countries through the “one belt, and one road” strategy increased rapidly (ma & zhao, 2018). as shown in figure 1, the numbers of international undergraduate students hosted by “double first-class” universities varied from institution to institution in 2018. the higher the academic position, the higher the number of international undergraduate students were recruited. thirteen universities hosting more than 1000 international undergraduate students are all prestigious universities, including zhejiang university (number = 2676), wuhan university (1916), shanghai jiao tong university (1698), peking university (1644), sichuan university (1547), zhengzhou university (1524), tsinghua university (1494), and fudan university (1446) (see figure 1). journal of international students 15 figure 1: the number of international undergraduate students at 41 “double first-class” universities in china in 2018 sources: department of international cooperation and exchange, ministry of education, china (2019). concise statistics of international students in china. 16 in general, the enrollment number at universities in east china is higher than those in central and west china. the number of international students recruited by the “double first-class” universities decreased sharply in 2020 due to the impacts of covid-19 and the uncertainty of the admission policy in china. taking xiamen university as an example, the number of international students has reduced from 3,481 in 2018 to 1,719 in 2020. admission requirements the admission requirements are closely related to the quality of international students recruited by “double first-class” universities. the admission decision is based on a comprehensive evaluation of applicants’ language proficiency, academic performance, and other supporting materials. language proficiency requirements for admission language proficiency of international students is a critical precondition for a successful learning experience and high achievements. aiming at attracting more international students and enhancing international competition capability, chinese research universities provide bachelor’s degree programs in both chinese medium and english medium of instruction. international students must demonstrate proficiency in chinese or english to be admitted. table 1 shows the language proficiency requirements of undergraduate programs in 2021. applicants whose native language is not chinese/english must take at least one of the chinese/english language examinations and earn the necessary scores to meet the requirements. as shown in table 1, among the 41 “double first-class” universities, the degree of the requirement of chinese proficiency test (hsk) scores can be divided into three levels: low (≥level 4), middle (≥level 5), and high (≥level 6). twenty-two “double first-class” universities require hsk at level 4 or above, and 17 universities require level 5 or above. only peking university set a very high requirement of level 6 or above. eight universities add their own chinese test in the process of enrollment, and 12 universities claim that they accept other certificates of chinese learning and transcripts. the international students recruited by the 22 universities with the chinese language proficiency at hsk level 4 may face more challenges on academic and cultural adaption than another 18 universities with the requirement above hsk level 5. thirty-one of the “double first-class” universities offer english-taught undergraduate programs for international students. most are in medical and economic management majors. toefl or ielts score is needed if the applicant’s native language is not english, but the requirements vary among institutions. for example, the bachelor program of medicine and bachelor of surgery (mbbs) at sun yat-sen university requires higher english scores than other programs: a toefl scored on 105 or above, or an ielts scored on seven or above. journal of international students 17 table 1: the language proficiency requirements for international students in programs of chinese as medium of instruction in 40 “double first-class” universities in 2021 chinese proficiency requirements degree of requirement university number of universities ≥hsk level 4 low nankai university, tianjin university, dalian university of technology, jilin university, harbin institute of technology, tongji university, southeast university, xiamen university, shandong university, ocean university of china, wuhan university, huazhong university of science and technology, central south university, south china university of technology, chongqing university, university of electronic science and technology of china, xi’an jiaotong university, northwestern polytechnical university, lanzhou university, zhengzhou university, yunnan university, northwest a&f university 22 ≥hsk level 5 middle minzu university of china, tsinghua university, renmin university of china, beihang university, beijing institute of technology, china agricultural university, beijing normal university, fudan university, shanghai jiao tong university, east china normal university, nanjing university, zhejiang university, university of science and technology of china, sun yat-sen university, sichuan university, northeastern university, xinjiang university 17 ≥hsk level 6 high peking university 1 sources: the chinese version and data sources are acquired from the enrollment policy of the 41 “double first-class” universities for international students in 2021. journal of international students 18 table 2: the language proficiency requirements for international students in programs of english as medium of instruction in 39 “double first-class” universities in 2021 english language requirements degree of requirement universities number of universities toefl score ≥65 very low northwestern polytechnical university, shanghai jiao tong university, south china university of technology 3 ≥70 low nanjing university, northeastern university, jilin university 3 ≥80 middle beijing institute of technology, tianjin university, harbin institute of technology, southeast university, zhejiang university, wuhan university, xiamen university, shandong university, ocean university of china, zhengzhou university, tongji university, beihang university, dalian university of technology 13 ≥85 high* east china normal university 1 ≥90 high fudan university, sichuan university 2 ≥105 very high sun yat-sen university 1 ielts score ≥4.5 low northeastern university 1 ≥5 low northwestern polytechnical university 1 ≥5.5 middle beihang university, beijing institute of technology, harbin institute of technology, nanjing university, zhejiang university, wuhan university, ocean university of china, south china university of technology 8 ≥6 high* shandong university, east china normal university，tianjin university, shanghai jiao tong university, southeast university, xiamen university, zhengzhou university 7 ≥6.5 high tongji university, fudan university, sichuan university 3 ≥7.5 very high sun yat-sen university 1 sources: the chinese version and data sources acquired from the enrollment policy of the 41 “double first-class” universities for international students in 2021 journal of international students 19 note: *a toefl score of 85 or above is a language requirement for the university of alberta. *an ielts score of 6 or above is a language requirement for university of hong kong. this english proficiency requirement for international students is almost at the same level as that of harvard university, with toefl scores of 100-120. as shown in table 2, sun yat-sen university, fudan university, east china normal university and sichuan university require international applicants to achieve toefl scores of above 85, and sun yat-sen university, fudan university, sichuan university and tongji university require ielts scores above 6.5. in addition, seven universities require ielts scores above 6.0. the rest of the “double first-class” universities have middle and low-level requirements for ielts and toefl scores. the language proficiency requirements for some universities are unclear. in summary, 12 “double first-class” universities require applicants’ english language proficiency as high as that of research universities in north america, for example, a toefl scored on 85 or above, which is equivalent to the language requirement at the university of alberta. academic assessment for admission academic performance shows students’ learning ability and learning attitude. in order to ensure the academic performance of international students, many countries have set up admission assessments and examinations for applicants to assess their academic preparation. china has no unified entrance examination or academic standards for the admission of international students. the first category of hosting institutions has strict academic standards and assessment process, paying much attention to academic rationale in their recruitment policies. nineteen “double first-class” universities have language and academic test requirements for admission (see table 3). among them, ten have both written exams and interviews. eight have only interviews. sun yat-sen university has only written exams. among the ten “double first-class” universities assessing applicants’ academic performance by written tests, chinese, mathematics, and english are the main test subjects. in addition, seven universities, including peking university, tsinghua university, renmin university of china, beijing normal university, shanghai jiao tong university, fudan university, and university of science & technology of china, allow applicants to provide their national/regional high school graduation exam or college entrance exam scores or results of international standard tests (e.g., sat, ib, a-level, ap, act) as academic certificates to apply for exemption from the entrance exam. taking peking university as an example, the exemption requirement for overseas students in 2021 is a score of 30 or above on the act. based on office of undergraduate admissions data as of 2020, the sat scores of international undergraduate freshmen admitted to the university of california berkeley are between 29-35 (university of california berkeley, n.d.). journal of international students 20 this group of hosting institutions stresses the academic standards and rationale of international student recruitment. the second category of hosting institutions has neither strict academic standards nor clear assessment processes for international student recruitment. thirteen “double first-class” universities have neither written exams nor interviews (see table 3). table 3. the forms of entrance assessment for international students in 41 “double first-class” universities in 2021 forms of entrance assessment universities number of universities academic rationale written examinations and interviews peking university, tsinghua university, renmin university of china, beihang university, beijing normal university, fudan university, shanghai jiao tong university, nanjing university, university of science and technology of china, sichuan university 10 very importance interviews only xiamen university, wuhan university, tianjin university, beijing institute of technology, china agricultural university, east china normal university, chongqing university, northwestern polytechnical university 8 importance written examinations only sun yat-sen university 1 importance determined by the academic committee of each college nankai university, jilin university, harbin institute of technology, tongji university, zhejiang university, shandong university, ocean university of china, electronic science and technology of china, yunnan university, 9 empowered to college no entrance examinations minzu university of china, dalian university of technology, southeast university, huazhong university of science and technology, central south university, south china university of technology, zhengzhou university, northeastern university, northwest a&f university, xinjiang university, xi’an jiaotong university, lanzhou university, hunan university 13 neglected journal of international students 21 sources: the chinese version and data sources are acquired from the enrollment policy of the 41 “double first-class” universities for international students in 2021. that means the academic rationale for admission is overlooked in these universities. the academic committees of each college at the other 9 “double first-class” universities have the autonomy to decide whether to set up entrance examinations for international students. in addition to the academic assessment and exams, the academic performance in senior high school is considered as a qualification requirement for admission by some “double first-class” universities. all “double first-class” universities require that the applicants have a certificate of senior secondary education, while only eight “double first-class” universities require applicants to have a good record in high school. discussion the section summarizes the findings and discusses the china’s research universities’ international undergraduate student recruitment policies and practice. forces shaping the recruiting international students in china the international student recruitment policy and rationale are shaped by the forces of state logic, market logic and institutional logic in china. institutional logic is operated under the market logic regulated by governmental policies and regime in china. compared with counterparts in traditional major receiving countries, china’s heis lack awareness of international market campaigns and branding. the hosting institution has not fully played the role of market agency. strategies of these “double first-class” universities are similar, mainly relying on traditional recruitment channels and marketing strategies. new creative strategies such as new media technology, partnerships with source countries, and strategic and marketing research on recruitment, which are commonly used at universities in advanced countries, are rarely seen in china (sin et al., 2019). chinese universities face challenges in attracting and recruiting international students since they are later-comer and not competent in global market competition. in china, the demand for and supply of international student education does not meet with each other automatically by the liberalized market mechanism. rather, the national government's strategic projects and policies, such as the “study in china program”, “double first-class” project, obor, have significant impacts on the heis’ rationales and policies of recruitment. the government encourages and motivates the “double first-class” universities to recruit more students from the obor countries by providing scholarships and financial support, leading to a niche market in the asian and developing countries since 2015 (ma & zhao, 2018). since all “double first-class” universities are public journal of international students 22 research universities, they prefer to follow the state logic rather than the professional academic logic on recruiting international students. four types of players in terms of international student recruitment are shown in table 4(a) and table 4(b). table 4(a): types of players in international student recruitment category quantity of internation al students quality of international students institution (no. of international students) number of institutions category a: active & rigorous player high (numbers >5 00) high (written exams or interview & high language proficiency requirement) shanghai jiao tong university (1698), peking university (1644), sichuan university (1547), tsinghua university (1494), fudan university (1446), east china normal university (978), renmin university of china (905), beijing normal university (795), nanjing university (704), beihang university (643) 10 category b: active player high (numbers >5 00) low/middle (no entrance examination, and low/middle language proficiency requirement) zhejiang university (2676), wuhan university (1916), zhengzhou university (1524), huazhong university of science and technology (1043), tong ji university (1043), xi’an jiaotong university (1004), shandong university (991), xiamen university (921), south china university of technology (915), southeast university (764), beijing institute of technology (577), 12 journal of international students 23 table 4(b): types of players in international student recruitment category quantity of international students quality of international students institution (no. of international students) number of institutions category c: rigorous player low (numbers < or =500) high (written exams and interview) university of science and technology of china (8) 1 category d: inactive player low (numbers < or =500) low/middle (no entrance examination, and low/middle language proficiency requirement) central south university (384), ocean university of china (310), university of electronic science and technology of china (264), dalian university of technology (256), northeastern university (229), lanzhou university (143), hunan university (130), xinjiang university (139), chongqing university (127), minzu university of china (99), china agricultural university (35), northwest agriculture and forestry university (1) 12 note: the table only includes the universities with information of quantity and entrance requirements of international students. journal of international students 24 market logic does not play a major role in matching the demand and supply. according to wen and hu (2019), the recruitment of international students in china has gradually become an autonomous behavior of colleges and universities, while the market is playing a coordinating force. however, the market influences institutional recruitment through university rankings, generating prospective student competition and revenue returns. due to that, the number of international students is counted as one of the indicators in university rankings, some “double first-class” universities pay more attention to the quantity than the quality of international student recruitment. the “double first-class” universities are different types of players in recruiting international students since they adopt different strategies and rationales on recruitment. according to the international student quantity (recruitment scale) and quality (academic requirements and process), they could be categorized as four types of players, namely active-rigorous player (category a), active player (category b), rigorous player (category c), and inactive player (category d). ten category a-universities stress both the quantity and quality of international students and they indicate most competitiveness. a majority of them are the most prestigious universities located in the most economically developed big cities in china. twelve category b-universities, as active players, pay more attention to the quantity rather than the quality of international students. they need to enhance the entrance assessment and academic requirements of international student recruitment so as to become major competitors. belonging to rigorous player of category c, the university of science and technology of china stresses the quality and ignores the quantity of international students. as inactive player, twelve category d-universities have both low number and low/middle quality of international students. this group of universities has disadvantages in attracting international students due to both the less prestigious academic position and the geographical position located in western and less developed regions in china. institutional rationales and priorities for international undergraduate recruitment the findings echo the previous research argument that rationales of international student recruitment in china focused more on political and social cultural rationales and less on economic and academic rationales (wen et al., 2018; tian & lowe, 2018). in general, regarding the elite institutions’ rationales of recruiting international undergraduates, academic rationale and economic rationale seem less important than social-cultural and political rationales in china. the research universities’ rationales on international student recruitment differ by institution. one-third of “double first-class” universities (active-rigorous player-category a) with rigorous admission requirements on academic performance and language proficiency adopt the academic rationale as the priority. taking the quantity as the priority, another one-third “double first-class” universities (active player-category b) emphasize political, economic, cultural rationales rather than the academic rationale. chinese research universities are journal of international students 25 suggested to pay more attention to academic rationales. keeping the subtle balance between academic, political, social-cultural and economic rationales in international student recruitment is crucial for the sustainable development of the internationalization of higher education. chinese heis need to adopt different strategies and rationales according to specific international student markets so as to promote their global competitiveness (li, 2021). impacts of covid-19 on international students admissions in china covid-19 has had a profound impact on the flow of international students. the number of international students applying for 41 “double first-class” universities has decreased dramatically in the past two years. some “double firstclass” universities have simplified the application procedures and processes to attract more applicants. for example, peking university, renmin university of china and shanghai jiao tong university canceled the written entrance examinations for international students in 2020. applicants can directly participate in the online interviews as long as they pass the registration review. some universities have modified the exam methods by using online examinations, although they face challenges of guaranteeing the reliability of admission assessment. with increasing uncertainty and fiercer competition in the international student market, the “double first-class” universities, as the first-tier of chinese heis, need to address quality issues and challenges of covid-19’ impacts. heis need to keep the balance between adopting flexible recruitment forms and maintaining the quality of international students admitted. conclusion quality issues of international student recruitment in china over the past decades, china has paid more attention to the quantity of international students and has achieved the goal of being one of the major receiving countries of international students. however, the catch-up mindset is detrimental to the long-term sustainable development of chinese international higher education. the rapid expansion of the quantity does not mean the samelevel increase in the quality of enrollment and education. the niche market china has occupied in the global he market is the low or middle-level students rather than the high level. the government in china has played a weak role in supervising the quality of institutional international student recruitment, which results in consequent misconducts of individual heis, such as low entry thresholds for admission and weak internal quality assurance (wen et al., 2018). the absence of a unified entrance examination system and clear admission standards make universities lack an objective basis for the evaluation of students’ academic levels and educational preparation. the academic standards of international undergraduate recruitment are unevenly settled and loosely regulated in china. china lacks a national academic standard and coordinated system for recruiting international journal of international students 26 students. such loosely regulated recruitment policies are not effective to recruit high-quality students. at the institutional level, quantity priority and nonacademic rationales driving recruitment will negatively affect chinese universities’ reputation, competitiveness and attractiveness of in the international student market. our findings show that “double first-class” universities play a crucial role in international student education, hosting one-fifth of international undergraduates. the most prestigious universities in the coastal regions receive the largest number of international students. the heis located in the least developed western regions attract a small number of degree-seeking international students. the admission standards of chinese research universities are not high compared with those of the research universities in economically advanced countries. the language proficiency and academic requirements for international undergraduate student recruitment differ among 41 “double first-class” universities. the most prestigious universities have the highest standards at both language and academic levels. more than half of “double first-class” universities adopt middle-level admission standards of chinese language proficiency, and one-third have no written subject test or interview for recruitment assessment. the thresholds of the chinese and english language proficiency and academic level requirements in some heis are not enough for international students to be qualified for academic training. the admission standards are the gatekeeper for the quality of international students. language and academic requirements for admission need to be enhanced to recruit high quality international students. china’s research universities need to set rigorous admission standards, requirement processes and national entrance exams so as to enhance the quality of international students. inadequate admission standards lead to unsatisfied education experience of international students in china. as the top-tier universities in china, “double first-class” universities should compete for the high-level international student market rather than the lowlevel or middle-level student market. china’s research universities’ practice on international student recruitment the international student admission policies of elite universities in china are influenced not only by the international environment and domestic government policies, but also by the development strategies and ideas of universities themselves. overall, “double first-class” universities have a certain autonomy in determining the recruitment scale, language proficiency requirements, academic standards and assessment form and process. currently the dominant rationales for recruiting international students are associated more with social-cultural and political rationales while less with academic and economic rationales. as the largest developing country, china faces opportunities and challenges as an emerging major hosting country of international students. the paper contributes to understanding rationales and policies at china’s research universities in terms journal of international students 27 of international undergraduate student recruitment. policy suggestions are also provided for thinking of how to improve china’s heis’ international student recruitment. funding this research was 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(eds.) international students in china: education, student life and intercultural encounters (pp. 249–255). palgrave macmillan. mei li is a professor at institute of higher education, the faculty of education of east china normal university, china. her research focuses on internationalization of higher education. email: mli@ses.ecnu.edu.cn qixia jiang is an administrative staff at the liuzhou vocational & technical college. her research focuses on internationalization of higher education. email: 51184105004@stu.ecnu.edu.cn shuli su (corresponding author) is a ph.d. student of the joint education programme offered by hku and sustech. her research interests include internationalization of higher education. email: u3008549@connect.hku.hk 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 58 special edition | bahasa indonesia mahasiswa internasional dan covid-19 [international students and covid-19] issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 10, issue s3 (2020), pp. 58-74 © journal of international students https://ojed.org/jis thai students' experiences of online learning at indonesian universities in the time of the covid-19 pandemic pengalaman mahasiswa thailand dalam pembelajaran daring di universitas di indonesia pada masa pandemi covid-19 sandi ferdiansyah institut agama islam negeri jember, indonesia supiastutik universitas jember, indonesia ria angin universitas muhammadiyah jember, indonesia ________________________________________________________________ abstract: the present interview study reports on eight thai undergraduate students’ experiences of online learning at three different indonesian universities based in east java, indonesia. semi-structured interviewing was designed based on the sociocultural framework proposed by ma (2017) to elucidate the students’ voices of online learning experience. the data garnered from online interviewing were transcribed and interpreted using thematic content analysis. the study elicits three important data themes: the agility of the student participants to adapt online learning to suit their learning needs, the participants’ strategies to build learning autonomy, and the participants’ ability to sustain their learning motivation. this study stresses the important roles of such other agents as teachers, parents, and friends in providing international students with mental and emotional support to help them get through covid-19 affected online learning. 59 abstrak: studi wawancara ini melaporkan pengalaman belajar daring delapan mahasiswa thailand di tiga universitas berbeda di jawa timur, indonesia. wawancara semi-terstruktur dirancang berdasarkan kerangka teori sosiokultural ma (2017) untuk menggali pengalaman mahasiswa belajar secara daring. data wawancara ditranskripsi dan ditelaah dengan menggunakan analisis konten tematik. studi ini melaporkan tiga tema data penting yang mencakup kemampuan partisipan mahasiswa thailand untuk beradaptasi dengan pembelajaran daring, strategi partisipan untuk membangun otonomi belajar dan kemampuan partisipan mahasiswa untuk meningkatkan dan mempertahankan motivasi belajar mereka. studi ini menekankan pentingnya agen lain, seperti guru, orang tua dan teman dalam mendukung mahasiswa internasional secara mental dan emosional untuk membantu mereka melewati pembelajaran daring yang terdampak oleh pandemi covid-19. keywords: covid-19 pandemic, international students, online learning, sociocultural theory [pandemi covid-19, mahasiswa internasional, pembelajaran daring, teori sosial budaya] ________________________________________________________________ pendahuluan kesempatan belajar di luar negeri, baik dalam konteks pembelajaran penuh maupun dalam konteks pembelajaran singkat, menjadi salah satu impian bagi setiap orang dengan berbagai alasan. andenoro dan bletscher (2012) melaporkan bahwa belajar di luar negeri memberikan mahasiswa peluang untuk membangun kompetensi antarbudaya dan wawasan global. nilsson dan ripmeester (2016) juga mengamati bahwa lulusan mahasiswa internasional memiliki kesempatan untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan yang lebih baik ketika kembali ke negara asalnya. pham (2020) menyimpulkan bahwa sepulang dari studinya, para alumni dapat memberikan kontribusi keilmuan bagi negaranya serta membangun jejaring sosial dan profesional yang lebih beragam. dengan kata lain, motivasi dan kontribusi menjadi dua hal penting bagi mahasiswa yang ingin berkuliah di luar negeri sebagai agen perubahan dalam tataran lokal maupun tataran global. meskipun menjadi mahasiswa internasional memberikan sejuta impian dan harapan, mereka juga dihadapkan dalam berbagai tantangan yang tidak mudah sebagai mahasiswa asing. dalam konteks bidang pendidikan keguruan, misalnya, kabilan, ramdani, mydin, dan junaedi (2020) melaporkan keterlibatan mahasiswa indonesia dalam program praktik mengajar internasional di malaysia. mahasiswa indonesia ini mendapatkan tantangan dalam menghadapi isu multikultural dan mengadaptasi pengajaran bahasa inggris yang disesuaikan dengan konteks penggunaan bahasa, misalnya bahasa inggris sebagai bahasa kedua. di dalam studi pustakanya, khanal dan gaulee (2019) mengungkap tiga masalah utama mahasiswa internasional selama masa studinya, yaitu masalah diskriminasi dan rasisme, keuangan dan psikologis, serta permasalahan bahasa dan akademik. oleh karena itu, mahasiswa internasional perlu mempersiapkan diri, baik secara fisik maupun secara mental untuk menghadapi tantangan selama mereka berkuliah di luar negeri. 60 selain permasalahan yang dipaparkan di atas, dalam kurun waktu sepuluh bulan terakhir ini, wabah covid-19 menyebabkan penutupan sekolah dan perguruan tinggi, sehingga pihak institusi pendidikan mendesain pembelajaran daring (dalam jaringan). penerapan pembelajaran secara daring menjadi pilihan terbaik di tengah pandemi untuk menjaga keberlangsungan proses pembelajaran. azorin (2020) menunjukkan bahwa pandemi covid-19 ini tidak hanya menyebabkan hilangnya proses pembelajaran di kelas sementara waktu, tetapi juga berpeluang kehilangan sumber daya manusia jika berlangsung dalam jangka waktu yang lama. pembelajaran daring bagi mahasiswa internasional juga memberikan tantangan tersendiri. secara psikologis, raaper dan brown (2020) menyimpulkan bahwa krisis pandemik ini dapat berdampak pada kondisi psikologis mahasiswa, misalnya isu kedisiplinan, kesehatan mental dan fisik, serta motivasi dan perasaan terisolasi selama diberlakukannya pembelajaran daring. oleh karena itu, efektifitas pembelajaran daring di tengah pandemi serta dampaknya terhadap kondisi psikologis mahasiswa internasional menjadi hal yang penting untuk dikaji secara mendalam. kajian pustaka dampak covid-19 terhadap moda pembelajaran di perguruan tinggi di konteks pendidikan tinggi, dampak penyebaran covid-19 di klaster institusi pendidikan mengharuskan negara-negara di dunia memberlakukan pembelajaran daring secara penuh. misalnya, moorhouse (2020) melaporkan bahwa perkuliahan di universitas-universitas di hongkong diselenggarakan secara daring baik secara sinkron maupun asinkron sejak awal februari 2020. di spanyol, azorin (2020) mengamati bahwa penutupan sekolah dilakukan sejak pertengahan maret 2020 melalui hybrid schooling (sekolah daring). sementara itu, di indonesia pembelajaran daring secara penuh dilakukan mulai bulan maret hingga akhir semester (atmojo & nugroho, 2020). pembelajaran daring ini diharapkan dapat menjembatani proses pembelajaran karena dapat diakses oleh mahasiswa saat belajar di rumah. sebelum masa pandemi covid-19, pembelajaran daring telah banyak diterapkan dalam pendekatan pembelajaran campuran (blended learning) untuk mendukung pembelajaran tatap muka di kelas dan untuk memediasi interaksi dan keterlibatan mahasiswa di kelas daring. secara umum, stone (2019) memaparkan bahwa mahasiswa menyukai pembelajaran daring karena pembelajaran ini fleksibel, dan dapat diakses tanpa keterbatasan ruang dan waktu. selain itu, de paepe, zu dan depryck (2018) melaporkan bahwa dosen menganggap bahwa pembelajaran daring dapat memediasi mahasiswa membangun otonomi belajar dan membantu mereka memenuhi kebutuhan belajar dalam pembelajaran bahasa. meskipun memberikan harapan, pembelajaran secara daring tentu saja tidak lepas dari tantangan terlebih keputusan tersebut diambil pada saat mendesak. dyment, downing, hill dan smith (2017) mengungkapkan keraguan efektifitas pembelajaran daring karena 61 tiga alasan, yaitu cara penyampaian materi, hubungan dengan mahasiswa yang terbatas dan penilaian. secara teknis, moorhouse (2020) menyimpulkan bahwa setidaknya ada dua permasalahan dalam pembelajaran daring yaitu pembelajaran menjadi berpusat pada dosen dan kesenjangan interaksi antara dosen dan mahasiswa menjadi semakin lebar dikarenakan berbagai kendala teknis dan keterbatasan akses. oleh karena itu, untuk memaksimalkan proses dan hasil pembelajaran daring, karkar-esperat (2018) menyarankan setiap dosen untuk: (1) menerima pelatihan teknis pembelajaran daring; (2) memberikan petunjuk yang jelas; (3) memberikan desain instruksi yang jelas; (4) memberikan aktivitas pembelajaran yang membangun interaksi dan (5) membangun semangat berkolaborasi. sejalan dengan ide tersebut, dalam studi perbandingan dari hasil tiga proyek penelitian yang dilakukan di australia, stone (2019) memaparkan lima hal yang perlu diperhatikan untuk menerapkan pembelajaran daring, antara lain: (1) penyertaan mahasiswa secara adil; (2) persiapan yang matang; (3) komunikasi dan hubungan yang membangun interaksi; (4) dukungan institusi secara proaktif dan (5) desain pembelajaran yang membangun keterlibatan belajar. memahami pengalaman belajar melalui kerangka teori sosial budaya dari sudut pandang sosial budaya, pengalaman belajar banyak dipengaruhi oleh keterlibatan individu dalam aktivitas dan institusi sosial budaya yang dimediasi oleh artifak semiotik (lantolf & beckett, 2009; rogoff, radziszewska, & masiello, 1995; wertsch, 1985). perkembangan zaman juga memberikan kontribusi terhadap dinamika dan produk sosial budaya, misalnya kehadiran teknologi digital seperti komputer dan internet yang digunakan untuk memediasi interaksi sosial dalam dunia maya. kusumaningputri dan widodo (2018) mengungkapkan bahwa banyak aktivitas sosial budaya dan interaksi antarbudaya yang dimediasi oleh teknologi digital, seperti internet dan media sosial. penggunaan teknologi informasi saat ini semakin meluas di masa pandemi. oleh karena itu, pendekatan sosial budaya dapat digunakan sebagai parameter untuk memaknai pengalaman belajar dalam situasi dan konteks tertentu. dalam konteks pendidikan tinggi, memahami pengalaman belajar mahasiswa membantu dosen untuk merefleksikan pelaksanaan pembelajaran, penugasan dan ujian yang telah dilakukannya. sebagai contoh, widodo dan ferdiansyah (2018) memaparkan bahwa refleksi penting untuk mengevaluasi pengalaman mengajar secara emosional dan pemahaman untuk merekonstruksi ulang praktik mengajar mereka supaya menjadi lebih baik. sejalan dengan pentingnya refleksi tersebut, ma (2017) mengembangkan kerangka teori sosial budaya yang relevan dengan perkembangan teknologi dalam memotret pengalaman belajar mahasiswa yang meliputi teknologi seluler (alat fisik), agen bahasa kedua (elemen psikologis) dan agen lainnya (mediator lainnya). beberapa penelitian telah memanfaatkan pendekatan sosial budaya sebagai kerangka teori yang berkontribusi dalam memperkaya dinamika perkembangan 62 bahasa. dalam penelitiannya, rassaei (2020) menemukan bahwa penggunaan smartphone, yang dalam konteks sosial budaya menjadi salah satu alat untuk memediasi pembelajaran dan membantu mahasiswa mencari makna yang benar dari perbendaharaan kata. selanjutnya, niu, lu dan you (2018) dalam penelitian yang melibatkan empat mahasiswa bahasa inggris melaporkan bahwa mereka menggunakan 13 alat sosial budaya yang dikategorikan dalam artifak, aturan, komunitas dan peran untuk memediasi keterlibatan aktif mereka dalam pembelajaran bahasa inggris lisan. selain itu, li dan ruan (2015) melaporkan hasil pengamatannya dalam studi jangka panjang pada mahasiswa yang belajar bahasa inggris untuk tujuan akademik. dilaporkan bahwa ada perubahan keyakinan mahasiswa yang sangat signifikan disebabkan oleh faktor sosial budaya, antara lain mata kuliah yang diajarkan, aktivitas ekstrakurikuler, penilaian formatif dan hal penting lainnya yaitu dosen. meskipun kerangka sosial budaya bermanfaat dalam membantu memahami pengalaman belajar mahasiswa, penggunaan kerangka teori tersebut untuk memahami pengalaman belajar mahasiswa internasional masih sangat terbatas. oleh karena itu, perlu sebuah penelitian yang mengkaji pengalaman pembelajaran daring mahasiswa internasional selama pandemi covid-19 dari sudut pandang sosial budaya. berdasarkan pada pemikiran ini, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk (1) menggali pengalaman belajar mahasiswa thailand selama pembelajaran daring pada masa covid-19 dan (2) mengungkapkan adaptasi kebiasaan baru mahasiswa thailand selama pembelajaran daring pada masa covid-19. penelitian ini memberikan wawasan baru mengenai dinamika pengalaman belajar mahasiswa internasional yang dibatasi oleh wabah korona dari aspek sosial budaya. metode penelitian penelitian ini merupakan penelitian wawancara yang mengikuti kerangka teori sosial budaya ma (2017) untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman mahasiswa thailand yang belajar di indonesia selama pandemi covid-19. kvale (2008) berargumentasi bahwa wawancara memungkinkan peneliti untuk menggali aktivitas, pengalaman dan pendapat partisipan dengan bahasanya sendiri. transisi metode pembelajaran dari tatap muka di kelas reguler ke metode virtual (online classes) berpotensi memberikan pengalaman baru bagi mahasiswa. mereka merasakan pengalaman yang berbeda satu sama lain, berkaitan dengan dinamika yang terjadi. wawancara semi-terstruktur digunakan sebagai panduan untuk menggali informasi terkait latar belakang partisipan penelitian, pengalaman akademik, kultural dan psikologis. partisipan penelitian melibatkan mahasiswa thailand yang sedang belajar di tiga perguruan tinggi di jawa timur, indonesia. pemberitahuan tentang rekrutmen partisipan dalam penelitian ini dilakukan melalui kelompok belajar whatsapp 63 mahasiswa thailand yang terdiri atas 30 mahasiswa. mahasiswa thailand yang tertarik menjadi partisipan dalam penelitian ini, diminta secara sukarela menghubungi peneliti secara personal melalui obrolan pribadi. calon partisipan yang bersedia bergabung diberi penjelasan bahwa mereka bisa mengundurkan diri apabila dirasa kurang berkenan dengan penelitian ini. dari 30 mahasiswa thailand yang tergabung dalam tiga kelompok belajar yang dimediasi dengan whatsapp, delapan mahasiswa dengan rentang usia 22 tahun sampai 25 tahun, bersedia menjadi partisipan penelitian tanpa adanya paksaan. data partisipan dapat dilihat pada tabel 1. tabel 1. data partisipan mahasiswa thailand mahasiswa yang terlibat dalam penelitian ini umumnya bertempat tinggal di rumah kos atau kontrakan di salah satu kabupaten di jawa timur selama lebih dari tiga tahun, kecuali satu partisipan yang baru bermukim di daerah ini selama satu tahun. pada umumnya, partisipan mengalami kesulitan berbahasa indonesia maupun berbahasa inggris pada tahun pertama pembelajaran mata kuliah inti, sehingga mereka harus belajar bahasa indonesia kepada mahasiswa yang lebih senior maupun kepada teman-teman sekelas dari indonesia. berdasarkan penilaian diri sendiri mengenai kemampuan berbahasa inggris, partisipan menyatakan bahwa kemampuan berbahasa inggris mereka mulai mengalami kemajuan pada semester tiga dan selanjutnya, meskipun dua dari delapan partisipan (25%) menyatakan bahwa kemampuan bahasa inggris mereka masih rendah. sebelum penelitian dimulai, peneliti meminta persetujuan partisipan untuk mengisi formulir kesediaan terlibat dalam penelitian ini. peneliti menjelaskan tujuan penelitian, metode penelitian serta kemungkinan risiko yang mungkin dialami (hammersley & traianou, 2012). mahasiswa yang terlibat menyatakan kesediaannya mengikuti rangkaian wawancara untuk berbagi pengalaman hidup yang terkait dengan fokus penelitian ini, sehingga informasi ini bisa dijadikan data hidup partisipan. untuk melindungi privasi partisipan dan menjaga etika penelitian, peneliti tidak menyebutkan nama lengkap dari partisipan serta nama partisipan gender universitas semester ke jurusan usia (tahun) sun perempuan unversitas a 6 pendidikan bahasa inggris 22 nur perempuan universitas a 6 pendidikan bahasa inggris 22 nad perempuan universitas a 6 pendidikan bahasa inggris 22 mar laki-laki unversitas b 3 ilmu komunikasi 22 pas perempuan universitas b 4 pendidikan bahasa inggris 22 num perempuan universitas c 10 sastra inggris 24 sar perempuan universitas c 12 sastra inggris 25 haf laki-laki universitas c 12 sastra inggris 24 64 perguruan tinggi (widodo, 2014). prosedur penelitian metode wawancara dipilih sebagai desain untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian. pertama, peneliti menjelaskan terlebih dahulu tujuan penelitian dan menanyakan kepada calon partisipan tentang kesediaannya menjadi partisipan penelitian. setelah diperoleh kesepakatan, peneliti memberikan angket dengan mediasi google form tentang latar belakang partisipan untuk diisi dan beberapa pertanyaan tentang pengalaman partisipan dalam perkuliahan di masa pandemi. setelah wawancara tertulis diisi oleh partisipan, peneliti dan partisipan menyepakati kegiatan wawancara tatap muka sebagai lanjutan untuk konfirmasi mengenai data dan informasi yang dirasa kurang jelas. wawancara virtual ini direncanakan oleh peneliti dan partisipan berdasarkan kesepakatan waktu dan tempat. satu kali wawancara dilakukan selama 30-60 menit dan direkam dengan alat perekam digital baik dari aplikasi smartphone maupun laptop. sebagian besar wawancara dilakukan melalui whatsapp dan zoom. data rekaman kemudian didengarkan berulang-ulang dan ditranskripsi. data wawancara melalui pesan whatsapp dikumpulkan dan disalin ke dalam format tabel yang telah disepakati oleh peneliti untuk memudahkan identifikasi dan klasifikasi data. wawancara dilakukan dalam bahasa indonesia, kecuali satu mahasiswa selalu menjawab pertanyaan dengan bahasa inggris, sehingga dalam hal ini, peneliti melakukan penerjemahan hasil wawancara ke dalam bahasa indonesia terlebih dahulu. metode pengumpulan data teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui wawancara tertulis yang dikirim melalui google form, dan dilanjutkan dengan wawancara semi-terstruktur yang meliputi pengalaman belajar daring dan refleksi mahasiswa terhadap proses belajarnya di masa pandemi covid-19. pertanyaan wawancara meliputi kendala yang dialami, bagaimana strategi untuk mengatasi masalah dan siapa yang berperan membantu menyelesaikan kendala tersebut. secara umum, data diklasifikasikan menjadi empat bagian, yaitu: (1) informasi tentang latar belakang mahasiswa; (2) kemampuan mahasiswa untuk beradaptasi; (3) strategi mahasiswa untuk menjadi pembelajar otonomi dan (4) strategi mahasiswa untuk mengembangkan motivasi belajar. peneliti telah membangun kedekatan secara personal dengan partisipan sebelum penelitian dilakukan, sehingga partisipan dapat mengungkapkan pengalaman akademik dan pengalaman sosial budaya selama pembelajaran di masa pandemi ini pada saat wawancara. ketika kedekatan secara emosional telah terbangun antara peneliti dan partisipan, wawancara menjadi lebih mudah dilakukan dan partisipan merasa nyaman. selain itu, wawancara dilakukan dengan mempertimbangkan waktu dan situasi yang fleksibel bagi partisipan dan peneliti. hal ini mendorong partisipan secara sukarela mengungkapkan 65 pengalaman dan pergulatan akademik selama pandemi, yang relevan dengan kebutuhan data penelitian. sebelum data dianalisis, partisipan penelitian diberikan kesempatan untuk mengecek data wawancara (member checking) untuk membangun keterpercayaan data (data trustworthiness) dan menjaga etika dalam (re)konstruksi data (harvey, 2015). metode analisis data data yang telah terkumpul dianalisis menggunakan analisis konten tematik (fullana, pallisera, colomer, pena & perez-buriel, 2014). pendekatan tematik ini bertujuan untuk memahami “apa yang diceritakan” bukan pada struktur ceritanya serta untuk mengidentifikasi permasalahan dan pengalaman berdasarkan tema yang telah ditetapkan. analisis berfokus pada pembacaan transkrip wawancara berulang-ulang untuk memahami makna dan diskursus cerita, kemudian transkrip tersebut diberi kode sesuai dengan tema, subtema dan tema yang kemungkinan berkembang. secara rinci, prosedur analisis data wawancara mengikuti widodo (2014), yang diawali dengan mentranskripsikan hasil wawancara dengan proses sebagai berikut: 1. mendengarkan data wawancara yang direkam berulang-ulang untuk menemukan tema-tema atau poin penting yang dibutuhkan; 2. menuliskan transkrip wawancara dalam format yang tepat agar mudah dalam pengodean, memilah dan mengklasifikasikan data yang penting; 3. menginterpretasikan data wawancara; memaknai setiap kata dan kalimat yang disampaikan oleh partisipan, mengomunikasikan pandangan, pendapat atau sudut pandang (inner voices) partisipan (lihat tabel 2); 4. menghasilkan data yang terpercaya dengan cara memberikan kesempatan kepada partisipan untuk memberikan umpan balik terhadap hasil interpretasi data. hal ini penting karena partisipan adalah sumber data sehingga suara partisipan harus bisa tersampaikan dengan benar. umpan balik juga dibuat oleh peneliti ahli yang diundang dalam diskusi kelompok terpumpun. tabel 2. contoh prosedur analisa data yang dilakukan secara tematik data wawancara pengodean kata tema sun #1 tetapi seiring waktu berlalu (kemampuan beradaptasi) kita harus membangun dorongan (motivasi). berikan energi pada diri anda untuk menghadiri kelas tepat waktu (strategi) dan pekerjaan rumah yang perlu tepat waktu karena disampaikan dalam sistem… kemampuan beradaptasi nur #2 … jadwal tidak sesuai (permasalahan waktu) dengan waktu sebenarnya belajar di universitas. cara saya memecahkan masalah adalah mencoba belajar sebanyak mungkin (semangat) untuk memahami berbagai tugas harus antusias setiap saat (semangat). membangun motivasi 66 haf #48 … kedua, saya akan mulai dengan mempelajari (pembelajaran yang dikelola mandiri) dari materi pelajaran yang menarik, seperti buku cerita, satu bab buku dengan topik yang menarik, film, video di youtube untuk topik tertentu dan sebagainya (keaktifan) …. otonomi belajar dalam penelitian ini, data yang sudah terkumpul, diberi kode dan diklasifikasikan (lihat tabel 2). selanjutnya, data diinterpretasi menggunakan analisis wacana kritis untuk menemukan makna yang tepat dari setiap kata yang diucapkan oleh partisipan. analisis ini berfungsi untuk mengungkapkan makna yang terkandung di dalam sebuah data sebagai teks empiris (setyono & widodo, 2019; widodo, 2018). halliday (1996) menekankan bahwa sebuah fenomena dapat ditafsirkan melalui makna, susunan kata dan ungkapan pengalaman dan hubungan sosial dalam sebuah konteks situasi tertentu. dalam penelitian ini, data mengandung makna sosial yang tidak lepas dari konteks sosial dan budaya. temuan dan pembahasan penelitian ini menghasilkan tiga tema temuan, antara lain (1) kemampuan mahasiswa thailand untuk beradaptasi terhadap pembelajaran daring; (2) strategi mahasiswa thailand untuk membangun otonomi belajar; dan (3) kemampuan mahasiswa thailand untuk meningkatkan dan mempertahankan motivasi belajar. kemampuan mahasiswa thailand untuk beradaptasi dengan pembelajaran daring pembelajaran daring yang diterapkan oleh universitas selama pandemi covid19 merupakan pengalaman baru yang dialami oleh partisipan. mereka memiliki pengalaman belajar melalui pendekatan pembelajaran campuran (blended learning) sebelum pandemi yang memungkinkan mereka mendapatkan kesempatan bertatap muka dengan dosen. akan tetapi, selama karantina (lockdown) mahasiswa benar-benar didorong untuk membangun kemampuan beradaptasi dengan pembelajaran daring secara penuh dalam waktu yang sangat mendesak. berdasarkan hasil wawancara, mahasiswa thailand perlu beradaptasi dengan jadwal yang berubah-ubah dan jaringan internet yang tidak stabil. hal ini diungkapkan partisipan dalam data wawancara sebagai berikut. kendala untuk pembelajaran online adalah bahwa mungkin sinyal internet tidak bagus yang membuat pembelajaran tidak efisien. selain itu, ada gangguan teknis misalnya pada saat dosen presentasi, sinyal tidak stabil sehingga komunikasi terputus-putus. (nur #2, wawancara zoom, 7 juli 2020) waktu perkuliahan kadang tidak tetap dan jadwal sering berubah karena dosen mengubah jam perkuliahan. jika pembelajaran di kelas, saya masih sempat diingatkan oleh teman jika ada kelas tapi selama perkuliahan daring jadwal sering terlupa. (nad #3, wawancara zoom, 7 juli 2020) 67 koneksi internet sering putus sehingga presensi sering terhambat karena menunggu koneksi internet terhubung kembali sampai saya tertidur lagi sehingga terlambat untuk presensi (num #6, wawancara whatsapp, 9 juli 2020) yang tidak menyenangkan bagi saya adalah kelas yang diganti jadwalnya oleh dosen. karena gangguan jaringan lalu dosen itu lupa jadwal pengganti jadi kelas kosong di saat mahasiswa nunggu kelas dibuka. (haf #8, wawancara whatsapp, 9 juli 2020). mahasiswa mengeluhkan efektifitas dan efisiensi pembelajaran daring yang tidak maksimal karena hambatan koneksi internet yang berdampak pada perubahan jadwal yang terkadang tidak menentu, ketidakhadiran dosen pada saat perkuliahan daring dan kehilangan kesempatan belajar mahasiswa. temuan penelitian ini serupa dengan apa yang dilaporkan oleh harrison, harrison, robinson dan rawlings (2018) bahwa meskipun mahasiswa saat ini sudah terampil menggunakan alat teknologi, koneksi internet masih menjadi masalah khususnya di daerah-daerah yang jaringan internet bermasalah dikarenakan kuota internet dan letak geografis. untuk mengantisipasi perubahan jadwal dan ketidakstabilan koneksi internet sebagaimana diungkap mahasiswa dalam data wawancara, mereka belajar beradaptasi dengan kondisi tersebut. partisipan menarasikan hal tersebut dalam data wawancara berikut. jika wifi di kos lambat, saya harus memastikan paketan data tersedia. selain itu saya biasanya pergi ke warung kopi dekat kos karena di sana ada jaringan nirkabel (nad #3, wawancara zoom, 7 juli 2020) selama pembelajaran online, saya mencoba mendisiplinkan diri, seperti bangun pagi, menunggu kelas depan monitor laptop atau telefon genggam seluler, adalah cara bagi saya untuk beradaptasi (sun #33, wawancara zoom, 7 juli 2020) berdasarkan data wawancara di atas, diketahui bahwa mahasiswa berupaya menghadapi permasalahan perubahan jadwal perkuliahan dan ketidakstabilan koneksi internet dengan mencari alternatif akses internet yang lebih baik sebagai jalan keluar. meskipun kemampuan mahasiswa untuk mengatasi keterbatasan akses internet dinilai positif, raaper dan brown (2020) menyarankan kepada dosen untuk membantu mahasiswa menghadapi situasi krisis saat ini dengan menghadirkan pembelajaran daring yang dapat dijangkau oleh mahasiswa yang memiliki keterbatasan akses internet. hal ini dapat dilakukan misalnya dengan menggunakan aplikasi teknologi yang hemat biaya. poin penting selanjutnya adalah terbangunnya kedisiplinan diri untuk beradaptasi dalam situasi krisis saat pembelajaran daring di masa pandemi. karkar-esperat (2018) menegaskan bahwa salah satu keberhasilan dalam belajar adalah kedisiplinan diri yang tinggi. 68 strategi mahasiswa thailand untuk membangun otonomi belajar pada masa krisis covid-19, mahasiswa mencari banyak strategi untuk bisa tetap belajar, memahami materi perkuliahan dan menginternalisasi pemahaman tersebut menjadi pengetahuan baru secara mandiri. meskipun pembelajaran tetap berlangsung secara daring dan mahasiswa banyak mengalami kendala, mereka tetap berusaha belajar secara mandiri supaya tidak tertinggal dalam perkuliahan. hal ini dinarasikan oleh partisipan dalam data berikut. untuk mengatasi masalah selama pembelajaran daring, saya harus meyakinkan diri bahwa saya telah membaca semua materi kuliah yang di unggah oleh dosen sebelum saya meneruskan membaca yang baru. jika saya tidak paham juga, maka saya akan mencari tahu lewat internet atau saya tanyakan teman satu kelas yang berkaitan dengan masalah pelajaran yang saya sedang pelajari. (haf #8, wawancara whatsapp, 9 juli 2020) jika saya mengalami kesulitan selama pembelajaran daring, saya mencari informasi di internet dan buku yang saya dapat dari kakak tingkat atau teman yang bisa saya temukan. ini menjadi basis data untuk melakukan berbagai tugas dan mencari contoh-contoh lain dulu terus nanti kerja tugas. untuk mengurangi kejenuhan, saya biasanya beristirahat, bermain hp, nonton youtube, jalan dekat kos saat sore. (sun #41, wawancara zoom, 7 juli 2020) banyak ujian yang dihadapi selama perkuliahan online, terkadang saya sendiri merasa lelah dan menyerah dengan menghadapi kuliah online. sejak mulai kuliah online saya belum paham sama sekali, kadang paham kadang tidak paham, sulit untuk memahami waktu mengerjakan tugas kadang-kadang minta bantuin sama tema teman indonesia untuk menjelaskan apa yang diminta sama dosen dan bagaimana mengerjakan tugas. selama perkuliahan online saya selalu minta bantuan kepada teman. (pas #45, wawancara whatsapp, 8 juli 2020) data wawancara di atas menunjukkan bahwa dengan membaca materi perkuliahan yang telah diunggah oleh dosen pada sistem pembelajaran daring dan mencari sumber bacaan pada internet dilakukan oleh partisipan untuk memastikan bahwa mereka dapat memahami materi tersebut. aktivitas belajar itu secara tidak langsung menuntun mahasiswa mengelola pembelajaran oleh mereka sendiri (self-regulated learning). hal ini bermanfaat untuk membangun kemandirian belajar. su, li, liang dan tsai (2018) melaporkan bahwa terdapat hubungan antara pembelajaran yang dikelola sendiri oleh mahasiswa dengan sikap terhadap pembelajaran daring dalam mencapai tujuan belajar. selain itu, pada umumnya mahasiswa juga berusaha membangun komunikasi dengan temannya. raaper dan brown (2020) menegaskan bahwa dukungan teman sejawat dapat berkontribusi terhadap pengembangan kemandirian belajar, misalnya dengan menjadi rekan dalam bertanya, berdiskusi dan berbagi tugas dalam membantu mereka belajar. dalam konteks belajar di luar negeri, kemampuan mahasiswa internasional dalam membangun komunitas dengan 69 teman baru dari negara yang berbeda penting dilakukan untuk mendukung mereka secara pribadi dan sosial serta akademik maupun nonakademik (pazil, 2019). kemampuan mahasiswa thailand untuk meningkatkan dan mempertahankan motivasi belajar pandemi covid-19 tidak hanya berdampak secara fisik tetapi juga secara psikis yang membuat motivasi belajar mahasiswa menjadi tidak stabil. oleh karena itu, mahasiswa berusaha mengembangkan motivasi belajarnya baik yang bersifat intrinsik maupun yang bersifat ekstrinsik. berikut kutipan wawancara yang disampaikan oleh mar. dosen berperan sangat penting karena mereka dapat memberikan dorongan bahwa tidak sulit untuk belajar dengan nyaman selama kampus ditutup. kata-kata motivasi yang membuat saya tidak tertekan untuk belajar daring yang tidak pernah saya temukan saat di kelas. dan dalam beberapa mata kuliah, dosen memberi mahasiswa kesempatan untuk bertanya setelah menyelesaikan pembelajaran secara terbuka yang menyebabkan siswa tidak merasa tertekan sendiri (mar #17, wawancara whatsapp, 8 juli 2020) pernyataan mar tersebut menunjukkan bahwa dosen berperan sangat penting dalam membangun motivasi belajar. dia merasakan kata-kata motivasi yang disampaikan oleh dosen kepada dirinya memberikan perasaan nyaman. selain dosen, partisipan juga menyampaikan peran penting keluarga dalam memotivasi mereka belajar. hal ini diungkap oleh partisipan pada data berikut. selama covid -19 saya kuliah online, saya memang tidak harus pergi ke kampus tapi tetap membuat saya sibuk dengan tugas dan pusing dalam kuliah online. kadang-kadang membuat saya lemah dan butuh semangat tapi saya ingat orang tua saya di rumah tidak bisa kerja juga tapi mereka juga cari apa yang bisa untuk dapat uang untuk kuliah saya. itu menjadi motivasi buat saya untuk selalu ingat kepada orang tua (nad #35 wawancara zoom, 7 juli 2020) di masa pandemi, mahasiswa merasakan ketidakstabilan semangat belajar. oleh karena itu, pesan yang disampaikan orang tua menjadi penyemangat tersendiri bagi mahasiswa. harvey, robinson dan welch (2017) melaporkan bahwa saat jauh dari keluarga, mahasiswa internasional sering mengalami guncangan emosi. menjalin komunikasi menjadi salah satu cara dalam menjaga emosi dan pikiran agar tetap stabil. sebagaimana diungkapkan oleh nad, orang tua menjadi agen lain yang berperan penting dalam membangun motivasi belajarnya. berbeda dari sun dan nad, haf membangun motivasi belajar dari hasil refleksi pribadinya. dia selalu bertanya kepada dirinya sendiri cara mencapai tujuan dan mengemban tanggung jawab ketika dirinya memilih belajar di luar negeri agar dia kembali termotivasi dalam belajar. haf mengungkapkannya pada data wawancara berikut. 70 secara personal, menurut saya, sangat tidak umum bagi mahasiswa untuk tetap memiliki motivasi yang stabil selama pembelajarn daring. motivasi selalu naik dan turun tergantung aspek internal dan eksternal. namun, untuk meningkatkan motivasi diri, saya mengingatkan diri sendiri dengan cara menanyakan beberapa pertanyaan untuk memotivasi diri misalnya “mengapa saya disini?”, “apa tanggung jawab saya selama disini?” (haf #48, wawancara whatsapp, 9 juli 2020) data wawancara tersebut menunjukkan bahwa dosen dan orangtua sebagai agen lainnya memberikan kontribusi yang sangat penting dalam membangun motivasi belajar. selain itu, refleksi diri juga berperan penting dalam membangun motivasi diri. hal ini sejalan dengan temuan penelitian yang dilakukan oleh wu, zhai, wall dan li (2019) yang melaporkan bahwa motivasi diri merupakan salah satu hal yang sangat krusial bagi mahasiswa internasional untuk membangun semangat belajar. kesimpulan penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi pengalaman belajar mahasiswa thailand yang sedang belajar di indonesia secara daring pada masa pandemi covid-19 dari perspektif sosial budaya yang dikembangkan oleh ma (2017). hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa meskipun dalam situasi pandemik, mahasiswa thailand mampu beradaptasi dengan pembelajaran daring, mengembangkan kemandirian belajar dan membangun motivasi belajar. secara empiris, penelitian ini memberikan pertimbangan penggunaan aplikasi teknologi digital yang tidak membutuhkan biaya mahal sebagaimana banyak dikeluhkan oleh para partisipan pada saat penerapan pembelajaran daring. penelitian ini juga memberikan kontribusi secara teoretis bahwa kemandirian belajar mahasiswa dapat dibangun melalui kolaborasi belajar dengan teman, sehingga mahasiswa dapat saling bertanya, berdiskusi dan berbagi tugas. selain itu, refleksi diri maupun dukungan dari orang-orang sekitarnya, misalnya dosen, orangtua dan teman menjadi faktor pendukung terbangunnya motivasi belajar. walaupun peran perguruan tinggi dalam temuan penelitian ini tidak terungkap karena tidak secara eksplisit ditanyakan kepada partisipan, penelitian ini dapat berkontribusi terhadap pengembangan kebijakan perguruan tinggi dalam rangka membantu mahasiswa internasional selama pandemi covid-19. pernyataan penulis [disclosure statement] penulis menyatakan bahwa tidak ada konflik kepentingan dalam hal riset, kepengarangan, dan publikasi artikel ini. [the authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article]. pernyataan kontribusi penulis [authors’ contribution statements] sandi ferdiansyah: mengonsep ide (utama), merancang metode penelitian (penguat), pengumpulan data (setara), menulis artikel awal (utama); mengevaluasi (setara) dan mengedit (setara) [conceptualization of ideas (lead), methodology (supporting), data 71 collection (equal), writing-original draft (lead), review (equal), editing (equal)]. supiastutik: mengonsep ide (penguat), merancang metode penelitian (utama), pengumpulan data (setara), menulis artikel awal (penguat), mengevaluasi (setara) dan mengedit (setara).[conceptualization of ideas (supporting), methodology (lead), data collection (equal), writing-original draft (supporting), review (equal), editing (equal)]. ria angin: pengumpulan data (setara), menulis artikel awal (penguat), mengevaluasi (setara) dan mengedit (penguat). 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(2019). understanding international students‟ motivations to pursue higher education in mainland china. educational review. terbit pertama online (hlm. 1-17). doi: 10.1080/00131911.2019.1662772 ___________________________________________________________________ biografi singkat penulis [notes on contributors] sandi ferdiansyah bekerja sebagai dosen pada program studi pendidikan bahasa inggris di institut agama islam negeri (iain) jember, indonesia. minat akademik penulis meliputi metodologi pengajaran bahasa inggris, penggunaan teknologi untuk peningkatan pembelajaran bahasa dan pengembangan profesi guru. email: sanjazzyn@yahoo.com. sandi ferdiansyah is a lecturer in the department of english education of institut agama islam negeri (iain) jember, indonesia. his research interests include methodology in tesol, technology-enhanced language learning, and teacher professional development. email: sanjazzyn@yahoo.com. mailto:sanjazzyn@yahoo.com mailto:sanjazzyn@yahoo.com 74 supiastutik (penulis korespondensi) adalah seorang dosen senior di jurusan sastra inggris, fakultas ilmu budaya, universitas jember, indonesia. minat penelitian penulis di bidang sastra, bahasa dan budaya, terutama yang berkaitan dengan kajian gender. email: supiastutik.sastra@unej.ac.id supiastutik (corresponding author) is a senior lecturer in the english department of faculty of humanities, universitas jember, indonesia. her research interests lie in literary works, language, and culture, especially focusing on gender studies. email: supiastutik.sastra@unej.ac.id ria angin mengajar di program studi ilmu pemerintahan di fakultas ilmu sosial dan ilmu politik, universitas muhammadiyah jember, indonesia. minat penelitian penulis di bidang analisis kebijakan publik, studi gender dan politik dan tata kelola keuangan pemerintah. email: ria.angin@unmuhjember.ac.id ria angin teaches in the department of government sciences at the faculty of social and political sciences, universitas muhammadiyah jember, indonesia. she is interested in researching public policy analysis, gender studies, and government financial management. email: ria.angin@unmuhjember.ac.id mailto:supiastutik.sastra@unej.ac.id mailto:supiastutik.sastra@unej.ac.id mailto:ria.angin@unmuhjember.ac.id mailto:ria.angin@unmuhjember.ac.id 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. final rev 0108 special issue-(clean) 61 peer-reviewed article © journal of international students volume 12, issue si (2022), pp. 61-82 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) ojed.org/jis influences of online learning environment on international students’ intrinsic motivation and engagement in the chinese learning fengxiang zang mei tian jingwei fan xi’an jiaotong university, china ying sun new york university, usa abstract with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, chinese teaching for international students in chinese universities has largely moved online. despite the comprehensive literature regarding the influences of environmental factors on domestic students’ learning in traditional learning environment, few studies have addressed the influences of online learning environment (ole) on international students’ chinese learning experiences. we focus on international students in intensive chinese courses at a chinese university, and explores the influences of ole on these students’ intrinsic motivation (im) towards and engagement in chinese learning during the covid-19 pandemic. data were collected from an online questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. the results revealed that the participants had positive perceptions of the online chinese learning environment, and that the participants had high levels of im towards and engagement in their chinese learning. the results also showed the positive impact of the participants’ perceived ole on their im towards and engagement in chinese learning. the research, though with several limitations, has implications for teachers teaching chinese as a foreign language and institutions promoting international students’ im and se in online teaching contexts. keywords: online learning environment, intrinsic motivation, student engagement, international students, learning chinese as a foreign language journal of international students 62 background in the last few decades, china has witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of international students it hosts. in 1999, 44,711 international students studied at 356 higher education institutions in china (ministry of education of the people’s republic of china [moe], 2015). from 2005 to 2015, the average annual increase rate of international students in china reached 16.92% (fang & wu, 2016). in 2018, 492,185 international students dispersed in 1004 chinese higher education institutions (moe, 2019). with china gaining increasing global influences, learning the chinese language has also gained popularity. in 2020, approximately 25 million people were studying chinese globally as a foreign language; 70 countries worldwide had integrated chinese into their education system (moe, 2020). since the worldwide spread of the covid-19 pandemic, higher education has primarily converted online (ali, 2020). the international student population was one of the most affected and vulnerable communities during the pandemic (sarker et al., 2021). research has reported challenges and difficulties faced by international students during the pandemic. for example, younis et al. (2020) found that international students in china during the period suffered from various psychological problems, such as stress and anxiety, especially those living in the most affected regions. despite the growing research on the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic in general and those on international students in specific (e.g., crawford et al., 2020; hofer et al., 2021), few studies focused on these students’ online chinese learning during the pandemic and how the ole affects their im towards and engagement in their online chinese courses. literature review online learning environment lim and fraser (2018) define the learning environment as social, psychological, and pedagogical in-class and off-campus contexts, where learning occurs. lim and fraser (2018), by reviewing 20 past studies on the learning environment in various subject areas, pointed out that learning environment affected students’ learning attitudes, and was a critical predictor of students’ cognitive and affective development. other scholars argued that the quality of learning environments is a crucial factor to be investigated in evaluating the effectiveness of educational programs (wubbels, 2006). in the last few decades, with the development of information technology, ole has gained growing popularity in higher education. it introduces new possibilities to further facilitate knowledge, skills and attitudes that otherwise could not be advanced in traditional learning environment (chang et al., 2015). as suggested by chen and jang (2010), ole, with its features of flexibility and choice, technical skills, and social interactions, poses significant challenges for both learning and teaching. journal of international students 63 despite these challenges, many researchers have reported that once well managed, the ole can have positive impacts (e.g., akbari et al., 2016; broadbent, 2017). young and norgard (2006), by reviewing previous literature, discussed the factors contributing to the efficiency and effectiveness of online courses. they summarized that given adequate technical support and opportunities for timely interaction with peers, the flexibility of online courses helps to support students’ study. novel teaching methods and careful course management also contribute to high-quality online learning (jung, 2011) and high-level student satisfaction (sher, 2009; yukselturk & bulut, 2007). since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, an emerging number of studies have investigated the influences of ole on college students. patricia (2020) collected qualitative and quantitative data regarding students’ perceptions and uses of emergency online education due to covid-19. the results demonstrated that under the ole, students’ learning motivation was lower than their motivation before the pandemic. gonzalez et al. (2020) reported significant improvement in students’ grades during covid-19, compared to the grades of the students taking the same courses in the year prior to the pandemic. the reason was attributed to their continuous autonomous learning strategies that the students adopted over the pandemic, and the consequently increased efficiency in learning. despite the contribution of the research, more research is urgently needed to deepen our understanding of how the covid-19 pandemic and the emergency online education affect international students’ learning. intrinsic motivation (im) william james first described im as “interest and instincts of constructiveness” (james, 1890, p.162). ryan and deci (2000) define im as “the doing of an activity for its inherent satisfaction” (p.56). it is distinguished from extrinsic motivation, which refers to the “construct that pertains whenever an activity that is done in order to attain some separable outcome” (p.60). when an individual is intrinsically motivated, he or she initiates the activity, which, once completed, would bring about a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. the concept of im can be further understood within the self-determination theory (sdt) proposed by ryan and deci (2000). in sdt, ryan and deci proposed three fundamental psychological needs, i.e., competence, autonomy, and relatedness. according to sdt, im is triggered by these innate psychological needs and requires no reward other than interest and enjoyment. each individual possesses these three psychological needs, and these psychological needs help to foster self-motivation in turn. based on sdt, vallerand et al. (1992) further classified im into three types, namely im to know, im toward accomplishment, and im to experience stimulation. the first type, im-knowledge, associates im to the conduction of an activity to gain knowledge. the second type, im-accomplishment, relates to the satisfaction and pleasure brought about by successfully accomplishing a targeted goal. the third type, im-stimulation, refers to the excitement of performing a task. this three-component taxonomy advanced the understanding of im in learning. journal of international students 64 although im is liberally endowed in humans, the sustainability and reinforcement of this inherent propensity rely on social and environmental conditions around the individuals (ryan & deci, 2000). ryan and deci’s cognitive evaluation theory (cet) worked as a sub theory within sdt that emphasizes the social and environmental variables that could enhance or diminish im. it suggests that social and task environments are crucial for affecting a person’s feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. in education, classroom and home environments could facilitate or forestall im by enabling versus undermining students’ psychological needs (ryan & deci, 2000). in line with ryan and deci, empirical research in traditional learning environment has reported statistically significant correlations between motivation and students’ perception of the learning environment (e.g., bi, 2015; cerasoli et al., 2014; chua et al., 2009; hardré et al., 2006; shi & gao, 2017). similarly, the research on im in online contexts has reported the significance of ole to students’ learning processes (ushida, 2005) and learning outcomes (liu & chu, 2010). moreover, a growing number of studies have explored the factors influencing im in the online context. for example, fırat et al. (2018) evaluated the levels of im of 1,639 students involved in distance education and found that the students’ im in ole was not affected by their gender, program types, teaching methods, or academic disciplines. hartnett et al. (2011) explored students’ learning motivation in ole. the research found that students’ motivation in online learning activities was multifaceted, situation-dependent, and complex. the specific learning contexts and the interaction with teachers and peers were likely to influence students’ motivation to learn. hartnett (2015) went further and identified a more comprehensive range of social and contextual factors in ole that influenced students’ perceived fulfillment of their psychological needs, including high workload, assessment pressure, or lack of interaction. further research is needed to deepen our understanding of the influence of ole on international students’ im in chinese language learning. student engagement (se) as defined by hu and kuh (2002), student engagement (se) is “the quality of effort students themselves devote to educationally purposeful activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes” (p.555). it involves time and energy students invest in their learning activities (kuh, 2003). fredricks et al. (2004) classified three types of engagement, namely, behavioral engagement, emotional engagement and cognitive engagement. behavioral engagement refers to students’ involvement and its positive conduct, such as following the rules. emotional engagement is about students’ overall positive affective reactions, including happiness, enjoyment, and sense of belonging. according to fredricks et al. (2004), cognitive engagement is the investment in one’s activities and appreciation of challenges. a large volume of research has explored the effect of se on learning, which reported a close linkage between se and positive academic performance (kuh et al., 2012), improved learning outcomes (carini et al., 2006), and enhanced levels journal of international students 65 of satisfaction (zhao & kuh, 2004). previous research also investigated the influences of contextual factors on se. such research suggested that a positive learning environment, including diversified teaching methods and high-quality student-teacher interaction, could facilitate se (e. g., zhang et al., 2015; tian et al., 2020). with the development of information technology, researchers have investigated the relationship between se and online learning contexts. for example, chen et al. (2010) collected questionnaire responses from 23,706 college students and found a generally positive relationship between using online learning technology and se. robinson and hullinger’s study (2008), online students reported higher levels of engagement than on-campus students. dixson (2010) surveyed students at six campuses in the u.s., and the results suggested that the improved student-student and student-teacher communication were strongly correlated with higher se. young & bruce (2011) examined students’ classroom community and reported that student interaction had a moderate positive correlation with se. junco et al. (2011) reported a significant increase in se when students were supported by online social networks throughout their learning processes. despite the contribution of the previous research, it remains largely unknown how international students engage in the emergency online chinese education, as a response to the pandemic. it is of urgency to explore how international students’ perceived ole influences their engagement in chinese language learning. research methods this research explores international students’ learning experiences in emergency online chinese courses provided by a chinese university during the covid-19 pandemic. specifically, the research explores: 1) the participants’ perceptions of the ole that they have experienced in the online chinese courses; 2) the participants’ perceptions of their im towards chinese learning in the online chinese courses; 3) the participants’ perceptions of their engagement in chinese learning in the online chinese courses; 4) the impact of the participants’ perceived ole on their im towards and engagement in chinese learning in the online chinese courses. questionnaire measurement the questionnaire used in this research consisted of two parts. the first part was to collect the participants’ demographic information. the second part investigated the participants’ perceptions of online chinese learning environment, their self-reported im towards and engagement in chinese learning. the second part of the questionnaire contained five-point, likert-type question items. participants were asked to indicate their levels of agreement with each item by choosing from the following five options: strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree. journal of international students 66 specifically, to measure students’ perceptions of their online chinese learning environment, three subscales of the web-based learning environment instrument (weblei, chang & fisher, 2001) were adopted, which respectively explored participants’ perceptions of convenience and efficiency of the ole (access, 7 items, e.g., the flexibility allows me to explore my own areas of interest), their interaction with peer students (interaction, 3 items, e.g., other students respond promptly to my queries) and online course structure and designed activities (course organization, 8 items, e.g., the structure of each lesson keeps me focused on what is to be learned). a subscale of the university mathematics classroom environment questionnaire (umceq, yin & lu, 2014) was also included (teacher support, 6 items, e.g., instructors help us when we have difficulty in learning), given the crucial role that teachers played in supporting students’ successful online learning. all items on the students’ perceived ole had been re-worded to fit the purpose of this research. for example, the original item “the instructor has constant communications with students” was changed to “the instructor of my chinese course has constant communications with students”. to measure students’ im towards chinese learning, nine items measuring im in the academic motivation scale (ams, vallerand et al., 1992) were adopted in this research. these nine items further consist of three items measuring imknowledge (e.g., [i learn] because i experience pleasure and satisfaction while learning new things), three items measuring im-accomplishment (e.g., [i learn] for the satisfaction i feel when i am in the process of accomplishing difficult academic activities), and three items measuring im-stimulation (e.g., [i learn] for the intense feelings i experience when i am communicating my own ideas to others). all items were modified to fit the current research purpose. for instance, the original heading question, i.e., “why do you go to college?”, has been changed into “why do you study the chinese language even when the courses are moved online?”. the item “[i learn] because i experience pleasure and satisfaction while learning new things.” has been modified into “[i study chinese even in the online context]” because i experience pleasure and satisfaction while learning new things in chinese.” students’ engagement was measured using the student course engagement scale (sceq, briggs & towler, 2005). sceq examines behavioral engagement (4 items, e.g., i try hard to do well in school), emotional engagement (3 items, e.g., i think what we are learning in school is interesting) and cognitive engagement (2 items, e.g., i try to understand the learning material better by relating it to what i already know). all items were modified for the purpose of the current research. for example, the original question “i think what i am learning is interesting” was re-worded into “i think what we are learning in my online chinese lessons is interesting”. survey procedure data collection took place in january 2021 at a national key university located in central china. when the research was conducted, all chinese courses designed journal of international students 67 for international students in this university had moved online as a response to the covid 19 pandemic. both english and chinese versions of the questionnaire were provided online via the survey tool wenjuanxing, along with a letter fully explaining the research purpose and sincerely inviting voluntary participation. with the help of the school of international education, address links and quick response (qr) codes of the survey were shared with all international students taking chinese courses at the sampling university. students could access the survey anonymously by scanning the qr codes or clicking the links. it is worth noting that, similar to many other chinese universities, since the pandemic outbreak, the sampling university had experienced a sharp drop in the number of international students taking chinese courses, decreasing from over 1000 to roughly 200. table 1: demographic information categories items frequency % gender male 26 41% female 37 59% age 29 or under 61 97% 30 or above 2 3% continent of origin asia 45 71% africa 6 10% europe 7 11% north america 3 5% oceania 1 2% south america 1 2% years of chinese learning 1 43 68% 2 8 13% 3 6 10% 4 4 6% 5 2 3% tuition fee family 30 48% chinese government scholarship 15 24% chinese university scholarship 8 13% other 10 16% online courses before yes 13 21% no 50 79% forms of online chinese courses synchronous 21 33% asynchronous 4 6% both 38 60% journal of international students 68 participants of all international students taking chinese courses, 63 voluntarily participated in the research. among the respondents, 26 were male students, and 37 were female students. 97% of them were 29 years old or under, and 3% were 30 or above 30 years old. most of the participants (71%) were of asia origin, 10% came from africa, 11% from europe, and 9% from north america, oceania, and south america. 68% were in their first year of chinese study; 32% had studied chinese for more than one year. they were financially supported by family (48%), by government and university scholarship (37%), or by other funding resources (16%). 21% of the participants had online learning experiences prior to the covid-19 pandemic, while 79% had never taken online classes before. when the research was conducted, four participants were taking asynchronous online chinese courses only, in which they accessed recorded lectures and prepared learning materials according to their arrangement. twentyone students were taking asynchronous online chinese courses only, which required them to participate in online lectures at a specific time. thirty-three students had both asynchronous and synchronous online chinese courses. demographic profiles of the participants are presented in table 1. face-to-face interviews based on the preliminary analysis of the questionnaire results, semistructured interviews were conducted to further explore the participants’ online chinese learning experiences. among all questionnaire respondents, three female and five male students volunteered in the interviews (see table 2). the interviews were conducted in quiet coffee shops. each interview lasted approximately 30 minutes to an hour. the interviews were either in english or chinese, according to the language preference of each interview participant. with the consent of the participants, all interviews were recorded. table 2: participants in the interview participants gender nationality c1 m lesotho c2 f pakistani c3 m liberian c4 f vietnamese c5 f russian c6 m japanese c7 m moroccan c8 m grenadian journal of international students 69 data analysis the questionnaire data were analyzed using spss 26.0. factor loading was calculated to exclude insignificant variables. the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were tested. means and standard deviations were calculated. structural equation modeling (sem) was performed to explore the relationship between ole, im and se. all recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed following the thematic analysis method. results psychometric property of the instruments factor loading was assessed for each item in the ole instrument. the results showed that two items of the access subscale and one item of the result subscale had factor loadings lower than 0.4 and hence, were excluded from the instrument. table 3: reliability and convergent validity of the instruments construct number of items cronbach’s α (>0.7) composite reliability (>0.7) average variance extracte d (>0.5) access (acc) 5 0.821 0.831 0.512 student interaction (si) 3 0.78 0.783 0.549 teacher support (ts) 6 0.887 0.893 0.586 course organization (co) 7 0.901 0.901 0.568 im-knowledge (imk) 3 0.84 0.847 0.652 im-accomplishment (ima) 3 0.798 0.828 0.636 im-stimulation (ims) 3 0.793 0.794 0.575 behavioral engagement (be) 3 0.769 0.778 0.55 emotional engagement (ee) 3 0.798 0.862 0.679 cognitive engagement (ce) 2 0.856 0.858 0.751 the reliability test of the ole instrument was then performed. the results are presented in table 3. the total cronbach α of the instrument on ole was 0.922 (>0.7). as shown in table 3, the cronbach α of each subscale ranged from 0.78 to 0.901. the results revealed a satisfactory internal consistency of the instrument. the research then performed confirmatory factor analysis to test the convergent validity and discriminant validity of the ole instrument. all criteria for convergent validity were satisfied: composite reliability of each construct was journal of international students 70 over 0.7; all average variance extracted (ave) exceeded the variance (>0.5), more significant than the variance due to measurement error. the convergent validity test indicated a high consistency across all subscales (see table 3). discriminant validity evaluates the distinction of every dimension. according to fornell and larcker (1981), discriminant validity is displayed if the square root of each construct’s ave value exceeds its highest correlation with any other constructs. the results of discriminant validity showed that all constructs of the instrument were not overlapped (see table 4). table 4: discriminant validity of the instruments acc si ts co imk ima ims be ee ce acc 0.72 si 0.24 0.74 ts 0.34 0.49 0.766 co 0.42 0.53 0.752 0.753 imk 0.81 ima 0.73 0.80 ims 0.72 0.74 0.76 be 0.742 ee 0.579 0.824 ce 0.732 0.649 0.867 all construct items of the im instrument satisfied the factor loading test. one item of the se instrument with factor loading less than 0.4 was excluded. the total cronbach α was 0.915 and 0.898 (>0.7) for im and se instruments, with every subscale exceeding 0.7, indicating high reliability (table 3). all criteria for convergent validity were satisfied: all the cr exceeded 0.7 and all ave over 0.5 (table 3). as shown in table 4, the discriminant validity of both instruments also met the requirements. students’ perceptions of online chinese learning environment as shown in table 5, participants generally had positive perceptions of their online chinese learning environment. specifically, the mean value of teacher support (mean=4.27) was the highest, indicating that the participants perceived most positively the support that they received from their teachers. the mean value of access (mean=3.508) ranked the lowest, suggesting that the participants were least likely to perceive that their online chinese learning was flexible or convenient. journal of international students 71 table 5: descriptive statistics of perceived ole dimensions min max mean sd access 2 5 3.508 0.806 interaction 1.67 5 3.868 0.707 teacher support 3 5 4.27 0.59 course organization 2.43 5 3.934 0.708 note: strongly disagree=1; disagree=2; neutral=3; agree=4; strongly agree=5 the descriptive statistics were supported by interview findings: firstly, all interviewees highly appreciated their teachers’ understandings of the emerging challenges that they had encountered in online learning, and the personal assistance their teachers offered to support them going through the difficult time. it was also reported that chinese teachers considered the variation in the students’ chinese proficiency levels and designed their online teaching lessons accordingly, provided adequate learning materials and presented prompt feedback to the questions that the students raised. for instance, the interviewees claimed that: “teachers sent videos according to students’ chinese language proficiency so that they could learn more…” (c4, female) “… due to time difference, i could not participate in the live classes and ask questions directly like other students. my teacher would record the classes for me and warmly answer my questions. i sent my questions to them on wechat, and they would answer me in time, explaining the grammar and unfamiliar words. so, i did not have much trouble. it’s very convenient.” (c5, female) “the care and consideration teachers gave us made us felt very moved…we encountered many problems in online learning, the teachers would always be willing to solve them, listen to us and understand us.” (c4, female) although touched by teachers’ heartly devotion of their time and energy to online courses, the interviewees were dissatisfied with the traditional teaching methods, stressing largely the chinese language’s pronunciation, vocabulary, speech patterns, and grammatical structures. inadequate opportunities to practice communicative and conversational skills would not effectively support chinese learning in traditional classrooms. in online learning contexts, traditional teaching methods were even more difficult to gain or maintain students’ attention, nor effectively elicit their performance. to compensate for the slow progress in online teaching, teachers were reported to assign much heavier homework, which caused more complaints: “normally the teachers explain and ask students questions…” (c6, male) journal of international students 72 “i think because we take classes online, we have more homework.” (c8, male) moreover, fewer chances of pair work or group discussion in online learning also resulted in inadequate opportunities for the students to interact with peers and support each other in learning: “in off-line classes, we could talk face-to-face, which is easier to communicate. [in online classes] it’s difficult to hold group discussions.” (c1, male) in fact, since the students were geographically distant from each other, they reported they had great difficulty even in making acquaintance with their classmates: “we did not have much contact with our fellow students. we did not know what other students look like… we had little communication after class.” (c4, female) furthermore, the interviewees confirmed that time had been saved in online courses, which otherwise had to be spent commuting to campus. meanwhile, many admitted that the time saved from commuting had not been spent on chinese learning. staying with their family and relatives, the students found much time has been spent on chores and socializing: “… at home, i have to do housework. housework takes much time, so i do not have much time to study.” (c6, male) as for the access to their online chinese learning, the difficulties that the interviewee reported also involved poor internet connection, which particularly troubled the students in developing countries: “when the weather is not good, for example, when it’s raining, the internet connection gets bad, and i would lose signals. i could hear the teacher in the beginning, and then i could not hear what they were saying.” (c4, female) “internet speed is a problem in some countries that are not very developed. even if you buy the best internet, the cables and the infrastructures will bring you this [slow] speed of internet.” (c7, male) in this research, synchronous chinese classes were delivered via online meeting software, particularly the tencent meeting. in most cases, teaching had been recorded, and the videos were available online at the university teaching platforms. teachers also used various online communicating tools, such as wechat, to answer students’ questions inand after class. lack of familiarity with these online teaching platforms or communicating tools had resulted in various journal of international students 73 difficulties in logging in, participating in classes and submitting assignments, which further hindered students’ chinese learning: “we weren’t settled on one platform. at first, we used zoom, then tencent meeting and ding talk… we submitted our homework using siyuan classroom or emails… we spent much time learning how to use rain classroom and we had much trouble.” (c1, male) students’ im towards online chinese learning as shown in table 6, participants generally had high im towards chinese learning. the means of each subscale were close, indicating that students were similarly motivated by three types of im, i.e., im-knowledge, imaccomplishment, and im-stimulation. table 6: descriptive statistics of im dimensions min max mean sd im 2.333 5 4.092 0.65 im-knowledge 1.667 5 4.079 0.764 imaccomplishment 2 5 4.079 0.705 im-stimulation 2.333 5 4.116 0.683 note: strongly disagree=1; disagree=2; neutral=3; agree=4; strongly agree=5 table 7: detailed mean scores and sd of each im items items mean sd imk1 4 0.898 imk2 4.143 0.82 imk3 4.095 0.911 ima1 3.952 0.728 ima2 4.079 0.938 ima3 4.206 0.826 ims1 4.079 0.885 ims2 4.206 0.699 ims3 4.063 0.84 table 7 demonstrates the mean scores of each im item. the results showed that the participants were motivated in chinese learning even when all teaching was delivered online under the impact of the pandemic. the most crucial internal motive for their online chinese learning was “wanting to feel the satisfaction of understanding chinese” (mean=4.206, sd=0.826), followed by “the pleasure that journal of international students 74 i experience when i learn about chinese culture” (mean=4.206, sd=0.699). the least significant internal motive for their online chinese learning was “the pleasure i experience while surpassing myself in studying chinese”. the results showed that the participants were not learning for the sake of learning. rather, they were motivated primarily by the needs to understand chinese culture and to master the chinese language, while grades could be merely a by-product of becoming competent linguistically and culturally. interview findings also suggested the participants’ high im in online chinese learning. when asked why they chose to study chinese, all interviewees stressed their passion for chinese culture, history and the chinese language. for example, one student stated that: “it is very intriguing for me to learn the rich history and culture of china… the chinese language is also very interesting because the characters are very different from the alphabet we use. that is why i choose to learn chinese.” (c5, female) students’ engagement in online chinese learning table 8 and table 9 present students’ self-reported engagement in online chinese learning. as is shown in the two tables, students generally have high levels of engagement in their online chinese courses, and they were similarly engaged behaviorally, emotionally and cognitively. table 8: descriptive statistics of se dimensions min max mean sd behavioral engagement 2.667 5 4.085 0.677 emotional engagement 1 5 4 0.832 cognitive engagement 2 5 4.016 0.767 note: strongly disagree=1; disagree=2; neutral=3; agree=4; strongly agree=5 table 9: mean scores and sd of se items items mean sd be1 4.286 0.658 be2 4 0.88 be3 3.968 0.897 ee1 3.952 0.974 ee2 3.968 1.015 ee3 4.079 0.829 ce1 4.079 0.809 ce2 3.952 0.831 journal of international students 75 interview findings supported the questionnaire results. specifically, the participants were aware of the reduced chances of practicing the chinese language without being personally in china. to maximize their exposure to the language, whilst completing the readings recommended by their teachers, the participants studied extra chinese learning materials, listened to chinese radio, watched chinese movies and sought other possible opportunities to practice their uses of chinese, including volunteering to be interviewed in chinese in this research: “i myself listen to chinese radio every day.” (c6, male) “i would watch [chinese movies and video clips] until 3 or 4 a.m. i do not feel bored. i would watch the chinese subtitles and try to understand so that my listening ability is improved.” (c4, female) impact of perceived ole on im and se structural equation modeling (sem) was conducted. all criteria of goodnessof-fit indices were fulfilled: χ²/df =0.827 (<3), rmsea=0 (<0.10), cfi=1.015 (>0.9), nfi=0.935 (>0.9), nnfi=1.021 (>0.9). figure 1 presents the standardized regression coefficients for each path. as illustrated in figure 1, the participants’ perceived ole significantly impacted their im towards and se in online chinese learning. regarding the impact of im on se, no significant impact was found. figure 1: influences of ole on im and se note: * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 discussion an emerging number of studies has investigated the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on higher education (see ali, 2020; patricia, 2020). however, being one of the most affected communities during the pandemic, international students were largely overlooked in literature (sarker et al., 2021). the current study focused on international students who had been studying the chinese language online since the covid-19 pandemic. the research was designed to investigate these students’ online learning experiences, specifically, their perceptions of the ole in online chinese courses, their im towards and engagement in online chinese learning. journal of international students 76 the first research question examined the students’ perceptions of their online chinese learning environment. the results showed that the participants held generally positive perceptions, with teacher support gaining the highest mean score and access the lowest. the results indicated that the questionnaire respondents highly appreciated their teachers’ emotional and academic support. in contrast, the mean score of student interaction was low, indicating that the students were not content with the communication opportunities in the online chinese courses. similarly, the comparatively lower mean score of access suggested that students were less likely to describe their online chinese learning environment as flexible or convenient. the interview findings supported the questionnaire results. the interviewees thought highly of their chinese teachers as they responded timely to their inquiries and cared for the students’ difficulties in online learning. the findings were in line with those of the research stressing the significance of teacher support in supporting student learning in face-to-face traditional learning environment (e.g., lee et al., 2009). meanwhile, interviews revealed that chinese teachers tended to follow traditional teaching methods, and the activities that they had designed were ineffective in ole. students’ complaints were also concentrated on the increased homework in online courses and reduced interactions with other students. the findings reflected the lack of pedagogical preparation among teachers in emergency online education. in addition, students reported dissatisfactory internet connection and their lack of familiarity with online learning technology, which further affected the effectiveness of their online chinese learning. these findings were consistent with those emphasizing the importance of internet facilities and technical support in online learning (e.g., young & norgard, 2006). the second and third research questions explored the students’ im and se towards chinese learning. the participants reported high im towards chinese learning in online contexts. understanding chinese culture and mastery of the chinese language were the most important motives for their learning of the chinese language. the questionnaire results were supported by interview findings. the majority of the interviewees expressed their admiration for chinese history and expectations to communicate with local chinese people, reflecting high im for chinese learning. previously research also reported significant and positive relationship between motivation to know about chinese culture and international students’ chinese language proficiency (e.g., yu & watkins, 2008). in addition, questionnaire results showed higher levels of engagement in their online chinese courses. interviews suggested that they were actively engaged in chinese learning activities after class. various self-directed learning activities were reported in interviews, including reading extra materials, listening to chinese radio and watching chinese movies. the fourth research question examined the influences of ole on students’ im towards and engagement in online chinese learning. the results of sem showed a statistically significant positive relationship between the respondents’ perception of their online chinese learning environment and their im towards chinese learning. it was in tandem with the previous findings in off-line scenarios, such as hardré et al. (2006) and chua et al. (2009), in which students’ perceptions journal of international students 77 of their learning environment were found to be highly correlated to their learning motivation. the results confirmed the influences of learning environments on im in learning (ryan & deci, 2000). the research also found that ole had a significant impact on se. it supported the previous studies on the influences of environmental factors on se in traditional learning context (e. g., tian et al., 2020) and in ole (e. g., chen et al., 2010; young & bruce, 2011) implications with the increasing stabilization of the global pandemic, we anticipate that international students will soon return to chinese campuses. we, however, believe that further strengthening of classroom teaching can be informed by the lessons we have learned over the past months. based on the data analysis, this research holds the following implications for online learning and teaching of the chinese language to international students in the post-pandemic era. first, few studies have explored international students’ online learning experiences during the covid19 pandemic. the current research provides some insight into international students’ perceptions of ole, their im towards and se in chinese language learning during the pandemic. practically, the research found that international students were less satisfied with the traditional online language teaching methods and the lack of interaction opportunities. they were also likely to be troubled by the lack of familiarity with online learning platforms or communicating tools. to further improve ole so as to enhance international students’ im towards and se in online chinese learning, this research suggests that, following yukselturk and bulut (2007), online courses could provide various learning support, including it training workshops, to better support international students’ learning. in addition, teachers could design their teaching content and class activities to fit ole better. for example, rich materials (e.g., multimedia applications and videos) that arouse interest in language learning could be integrated into the online courses. moreover, activities encouraging students’ cooperation and communication in online situations should be arranged. students’ social interactions via various communication tools would not only support their language learning, but be crucial for the formation and development of friendship, which are particularly important to reduce anxiety and stress in online learning. limitations and recommendation the present study has the following limitations. firstly, the research scope is limited. participants in this study were international students taking online chinese courses at a single chinese university. future research could focus on international students at different universities located in different areas of china, so as to further explore potentially various measures taken by the institutions in their transition to the emergency online delivery. in addition, this research only explored intrinsic motivation in chinese learning. future research could focus on extrinsic motivation, such as china’s economic development, global influences, and career prospects, and investigate journal of international students 78 how extrinsic motivation relates to the perceived ole and the students’ engagement in chinese learning. moreover, previous research has illuminated significant inter-relationship among learning environment, motivation and engagement (e.g., eseryel et al., 2014; tas, 2016; yildirim, 2012). future research on international students in china is needed to further explore the association among ole, motivation, and engagement to effectively support these students’ chinese language learning. funding the research is partially supported by shaanxi province undergraduate and further education teaching reform research project (21zz003) and higher education academy of china “higher education opening up” research project (21zsyzzd02). references akbari, e., naderi, a., simons, r. j., & pilot, a. 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(2004). adding value: learning communities and student engagement. research in higher education, 45(2), 115–138. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:rihe.0000015692.88534.de fengxiang zang is a student in the school of foreign studies at xi’an jiaotong university, china. her current research interests include international student experiences in china. email: fengxiangzang@163.com mei tian (corresponding author) is a professor in the school of foreign studies at xi’an jiaotong university, china. her current research interests include international student experiences in china. her recent publications include academic experiences of international students in chinese higher education (london: routledge). email: temmytian@mail.xjtu.edu.cn jingwei fan is a lecturer and phd student in the school of foreign studies at xi’an jiaotong university, china. her research interests include international student experience in china. email: fanjingwei@mail.xjtu.edu.cn ying sun, masters’ student in tesol at new york university, u.s. her research interests include international students’ identity in china. email: daisysun19970217@gmail.com 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 257 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 7, issue 2 (2017), pp. 257-269 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ chinese students’ motivations for studying in the united states chiang-nan chao niall hegarty john angelidis victor f. lu st. john’s university, usa abstract this study examines the presence of chinese students in u.s., and attempts to explore the reasons why so many chinese students choose to study abroad and why the united states is their preferred destination. this population is a vital component of university life at many colleges and a much needed source of financial revenue. the results indicate that chinese students are seeking education with a worldview and opt to break from the chinese system of learning. this article seeks to offer academicians and university administrators a deeper understanding of the motivation of these chinese students and contribute to the knowledge area extant on this population. keywords: chinese students in u.s., international students, mobile students. the total number of international students in the higher education in the u.s. rose from 572,509 in 2003/04 to 886,052 in 2013/14, about 54.8% in the ten-year period, while the chinese students rose from 61,765 to 274,439 during the same period, a 344% increase, according to open door report (report of open door, 2015). among the competing countries for the international students, the u.s. attracted over 20% of the total international students, and it was about 4.2% of the total number students enrolled in the u.s. universities and colleges. these international students and their families spent about us$27 billion in 2014, according to us government report (2015 top markets report). by any measure, international education makes a significant contribution to the u.s. economy. in new york state journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 258 for example, the portion of this contribution was about us$3.2 billion, which accounts for over 10% of the national total contribution of international students. the economic impacts are not limited to the spending of these foreign students, but also their families residing in the host country (nafsa report). attracting the best students from around the world has become a large and growing global export opportunity and source of competition (zawacki-richter & bedenlier, 2015; lumby & foskett; 2015 top markets report). conversely, countries that see their students study abroad normally hope that these students return home and contribute to their home economy. the u.s. has maintained its leading position for attracting international students, while china has become the largest single source of international students studying in the united states. in 2013-14, china sent 274,439 students to the united states, an increase of 17% compared with the previous year. the chinese students make up a commanding 31% of all international students, and have accounted for about two-thirds of the increase in total international student enrollments in the u.s. since 2003. this strong growth is likely to continue, presenting important export opportunities for u.s. colleges and universities (2015 top markets report; report of open door, 2015). educators and researchers seek to understand this phenomenon and identify better ways to serve this population, not as an educational strategy, but also an international trade strategy. this research, through an empirical setting intends to explore the drives of chinese students who choose to study in the u.s. in order to provide insights and direction for educators, university administrators, and trade administrators. literature review yung wing might be the first chinese student graduated from yale in 1850. by 1880 there were mere 108 chinese students studying in american universities, and almost no chinese in european universities (the chineseamerican museum of chicago, 1880). noticeably, china has become the largest single source of international student source for the u.s. schools in the recent years, about 31% in 2013/14. figure 1 shows the growth of students from china, compared with the total international students. for thousands of years, education has been placed as a top priority by chinese families and with china's economic reforms during the past decades leading a growth in wealth and a shrinking family size (only one child per family) sending children to international universities has become less burdensome. in the past decade, chinese parents are tired of an education system that focuses mainly on academic scores at the expense of pupil’s overall development, and many other drawbacks in china’s educational system, make them seriously consider sending their children abroad for college education (yan, 2015). journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 259 figure 1. total number of chinese vs. total international students in the u.s. source: open door, 2015. american businesses, management knowhow, and capital have been flowing to china for the past 30 years, but it is education that reverses the tide. the benefits of studying abroad are felt both by individuals and entire nations. for these reasons educators and researchers are interested in the motivations that encourage chinese students study in the u.s. of all international students, about 65% of source of funding comes from students’ families. meanwhile, many u.s. universities are facing an increasingly tough financial situation with a shortage of domestic students, a decrease in corporate support, and declines in government subsidies. in such a situation, chinese students with money to spend may fill that financial gap (wes report, 2015; joseph, 2012). for chinese students in the 2013/14 year, the top fields of study are business/management. among all the majors, 26.5% of chinese students choose business and management, with knowledge these students can more easily find employments in china (ortiz, chang, & fang, 2015). besides economic well-being, many chinese students decide to study abroad because they believe there is a better quality education in foreign countries. the growth in chinese students may also reflect a confluence of factors. first, more chinese citizens are completing college and thus eligible to apply to graduate school. second, many u.s. schools are recruiting more aggressively overseas, marketing their programs to a wider talent pool. word of mouth then fuels the trend. once some students attend a program, they recommend it to friends back home. many schools have set up their gateway offices in china, i.e. columbia university and ohio state university. meanwhile, new specialized master's programs appeal to students, particularly those from china, eager to delve deeper into a single subject and gain a credential to compete with the growing population of 0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000 1,200,000 chinese students journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 260 educated young adults, without taking much time out of the workforce (ozturgut & murphy, 2009; yan, 2015; albrecht, malagueno, holland & sanders, 2012). when looking into the chinese applicants’ backgrounds, many schools find some outstanding characteristics the chinese applicants possess. first, they are china's best students who are probably aware that if they attend universities in china, they may not able to go to the best universities in the world. for example, among top 100 universities around the world, only two chinese universities are in 39th and 67th places by the u.s. news and world report (u.s. news and world report, 2014). unlike u.s. institutions that value candidates who present themselves as unique, their chinese counterparts want students who excel on entrance exams that require years of rote learning and possess a strong grasp of math and science. some critics say china’s state-run education system — promoted as the hallmark of communist meritocracy — are being overrun by bribery and cronyism. such corruption has broadened the gulf between the privileged and non-privileged classes. third, these young individuals are ambitious and many want to go to ivy league schools, a symbol for those parents who raise their children successfully. fourth, they desire to learn more about critical thinking, and very importantly, they want to be exposed to things aside from just test taking (henze & zhu, 2012; taylor, 2012; wu, 2014; ruiz, 2014; soria1 & troisi, 2014). institute of international education (iie) published a report on motivations of the foreign students in the u.s. the report focuses on the following motivations: 1) limited places available to study at (highly prestigious) universities in the home country; 2) specialize in an area which is not offered in the home country; 3) have access to specific laboratories/libraries not available/accessible in the home country; 4) learn or improve knowledge of a foreign language; 5) interest in foreign culture, history and landscape; 6) get more practice-oriented education than offered in home country; 7) possibility to build up networks/friendships in an intercultural context; 8) improve career prospects/chances of getting a job in the home country; 9) opportunity to develop the personality/become more independent; 10) get a broader/more flexible education than offered in home country; 11) experience new ways of thinking and acting in the field of study; 12) improve chances for an international career (2015 top markets report). journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 261 the report on motivations is rather general. other research focuses more on what graduate courses the chinese students choose rather than why they choose united kingdom as their destination (zheng, 2010; russell, rosenthal, & thomson, 2010; wu, 2014). chao and hegarty (2014) focuses on the chinese students’ reasons for attending colleges in the u.s. their results indicate that chinese students are seeking education with a worldview and opt to break from the chinese system of learning. their study indicates choosing to study in the u.s. may be an academic endeavor, but the reasons behind the choices are not solely for academics. due to its preliminary nature, it is questionable for generalization of the findings. this article focuses in depth on the chinese students’ motivations for coming to the united states, so to provide some insights for educators and university administrators a better understanding of the chinese students’ motivations, therefore, serve this market segment better. this study samples a different chinese student groups. research method with the focal questions in mind, this research focused on chinese students’ motives for studying in the u.s. a survey questionnaire was developed to investigate the issues related to the objectives of this study, chinese students’ motives to leave their home country and study in the u.s. then the survey questionnaire was backwardly translated into chinese to ensure the accuracy of the questionnaire, or in case some respondents may need a chinese language questionnaire. however, all the respondents had an adequate grasp of the english questionnaire. the following variables were based on literature reviews. variable selection the following variables serve as motives that affect chinese students in their decision making for studying abroad derived from the literature review. 1. gain a new perspective on my own country; 2. can attend a better school overseas, but not able to attend the schools i want due to china national college entry exam; 3. it is easy to be admitted by a foreign school; 4. it is also costly if i study in my home country; 5. my friends have gone abroad, so i would; 6. i want to be away from my country; 7. i must study abroad because my parents’ wish; 8. there are more fields of studies offered by foreign schools; 9. political easiness in programs abroad; journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 262 10. better living conditions, housing, eating, and environmental, i.e. clean air, etc; 11. the educational system is better overseas. hypothesis, test of hypothesis, and sampling the hypotheses for this research are to find if there are any significant differences in the chinese students’ motives for choosing to study in the u.s. h1: there is no significant difference for chinese students to gain a new perspective between china and the u.s. h2: there is no significant difference for chinese students to attend a better school either in china or in the u.s. h3: there is no significant difference for chinese students to be admitted by a foreign school either in china or in the u.s. h4: there is no significant difference for chinese students to attend schools either in china or in the u.s. as far as cost is concerned. h5: there is no significant difference for chinese students to attend school either in china or in the u.s. because their friends have gone. h6: there is no significant difference for chinese students to attend school either in china or in the u.s. as there is no difference between the two countries. h7: there is no significant difference for chinese students for where their parents wish them to study. h8: there is no significant difference for chinese students to find more fields of studies either in china or in the u.s. h9: there is no significant difference for chinese students to find political easiness in programs either in china or in the u.s. h10: there is no significant difference for chinese students living conditions, housing, eating, and environmental, i.e. clean air, etc. either in china or in the u.s. h11: there is no significant difference for chinese students between the educational systems in china and the u.s. alternatively, there are significant differences in each of these hypotheses. due to the nature of this empirical study, the questionnaires were distributed to chinese students in two large university campuses in the northeast america for a convenient sampling. the respondents were asked to evaluate the selected variables in a five point likert scale, with 5=most important, 4=important, 3=neutral, 2=not important, and 1=least important. one sample student’s t-test is any statistical hypothesis test in which the test statistic follows a student's t distribution if the null journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 263 hypothesis is supported. it is most commonly applied when the test statistic would follow a normal distribution if the value of a scaling term in the test statistic were known. when the scaling term is unknown and is replaced by an estimate based on the data, the test statistic (under certain conditions) follows a student's t distribution. the estimate value for testing hypotheses in this study is 3 which are either important or not important. the one sample t-test requires that the dependent variable follow a normal distribution. when the number of subjects in the experimental group is 30 or more, the central limit theorem shows a normal distribution can be assumed. if the number of subjects is less than 30, the researcher should plot the results and examine whether they appear to follow a normal distribution. if the distribution appears to be non-normal, and/or if the number of test cases is significantly less than 30, then a one sample median test, which does not require a normal distribution, should be used to test the hypothesis (hamburg, 1977; conover, 1980; davis and cosenza, 1985). five percent of the t-tests one tailed probability level was selected to signify the differences between preferences. table 1: backgrounds of the respondents variables groups valid % 1. age <18 6.4 18-35 92.0 >35 1.6 2. gender male 56.0 female 44.0 3. family annual income <$30k 33.9 $30-50k 26.4 $50-75k 13.7 >$75k 25.8 4. education college 69.6 graduate 30.4 5. marital status married 9.6 single 90.4 6.sources of financial supports parent 56.8 own saving 5.6 obtained scholarship or ga 22.4 combination of various sources 15.2 7. number years studied in the u.s. <1 year 13.6 1 year 9.6 1-2 years 16.6 >2 years 60.0 journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 264 results over 350 respondents were surveyed, with 128 completed responded for analyses, representing 36.5% of the total surveyed. table 1 presents the general background information of the respondents. it is noticeable that roughly a third of the chinese who took the survey has an annual family income over us$75k equivalent, and most of the students were born after 1978 when one child per family policy was initiated (healthland time, 2013). over 97% of the respondents took college entrance exams and stood at the top 50%, while currently, over 50% of chinese high school graduates are able to go to college in china. in comparison, in the u.s. over 70% of the high school graduates go to college (bureau of labor statistics, 2015). in another word, these respondents had alternatives for their college selections: either stay in china or go to the u.s. table 2 presents the test results of one-sample t-test, with mean differences, t values, degrees of freedom, and two tailed significances of these tests. table 2: one-sample t-test results, test value=3, neutral, degree of freedom=117-122 items mean mean dif. t sig. 1. gain a new perspective on my own country 3.61 0.61 4.98 0.000 2. can attend a better school overseas, but not able to attend the schools i want due to china national college entry examinations. 2.99 -0.01 -0.06 0.952 3. it is easy to be admitted by a foreign school. 2.64 -0.36 -3.21 0.002 4. it is also costly if i study in my home country. 2.43 -0.57 -4.96 0.000 5. my friends have gone abroad, so i would 2.34 -0.66 -5.40 0.000 6. i want to be away from my country 2.39 -0.61 -4.77 0.000 7. i must study abroad because my parents’ wish 2.40 -0.60 -4.98 0.000 8. there are more fields of studies offered by foreign schools. 2.99 -0.01 -0.06 0.949 9. political easiness in programs abroad 2.66 -0.34 -2.92 0.004 10.better living conditions, housing, eating, and environmental, i.e. clean air, etc. 2.84 -0.16 -1.36 0.177 11. the educational system is better overseas. 3.37 0.37 2.80 0.006 journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 265 implications and recommendations the mean differences as compared to the test value of 3 which is neutral tell the researchers how relatively important of these variables. the results show that two variables, 1. gain a new perspective on my own country and 11. the educational system is better overseas, show the positive mean differences, which mean the respondents view these variables more important. to supplement the survey, interviews were conducted. many respondents indicate that chinese higher education system lacks of innovation, and the students have to memorize the doctrines, rather than to find new ways of doing things. this gives credits to many us colleges that give chinese students a worldwide view and encourage them to innovate. with regard to the other nine variables: 2. can attend a better school overseas, but not able to attend the schools i want due to china national college entry exam; 3. it is easy to be admitted by a foreign school; 4. it is also costly if i study in my home country; 5. my friends have gone abroad, so i would; 6. i want to be away from my country; 7. i must study abroad because my parents’ wish; 8. there are more fields of studies offered by foreign schools; 9. political easiness in programs abroad; 10. better living conditions, housing, eating, and environmental, i.e. clean air, etc, the respondents express that these are less important. this would suggest to the researchers these variables are less important for the chinese students who study in the u.s. some respondents indicate that it is as difficult as they apply for admissions at chinese universities, especially the top 200 universities. many indicate that the cost of studying at chinese universities has rapidly increased in the past years. “catch up with jones” is a fallacy for the chinese students, rather than an important motive for their study aboard. these respondents indicate that there were aware that the job opportunities for foreign students were not good in north america, so the overwhelm majority need to return to china for jobs. the respondents also indicate that they come to study aboard, not subject to their parents’ wishes, as they want to do at their own will. for variable 9, some respondents indicate that in the recent years, the chinese universities ease political required courses. the test results of one-sample t-test reject eight null hypotheses: 1. gain a new perspective on my own country; 3. it is easy to be admitted by a foreign school; 4. it is also costly if i study in my home country; 5. my friends have gone abroad, so i would; 6. i want to be away from my country; 7. i must study abroad because my parents’ wish; 9. political easiness in programs abroad; 11. the educational system is better overseas. in other words, these eight variables present that they are either more important or less important in chinese students’ motivations to come to the u.s. journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 266 the test results of one-sample t-test accept three null hypotheses: 2. can attend a better school overseas, but not able to attend the schools i want due to china national college entry exam; 8. there are more fields of studies offered by foreign schools; 10. better living conditions, housing, eating, and environmental, i.e. clean air, etc. in other words, the acceptances of these hypotheses recommend that the chinese students do not view these issues differently. many respondents indicate that the chinese educational system is rigid, the choices of college are limited, even when the higher school students get good china national college entry exam scores. what more comes through from this research is that non-academic reasons are primarily driving chinese students to study in the u.s. cultural aspects and desires to gain a non-chinese world perspective emerge as primary motives for study in the u.s. this may be due to the understanding and realization by the chinese of a global economy and the need to understand the ‘internationalization’ of business. these attitudes could also be considered to be consistent with attitudes of all affluent middle classes who have moved beyond daily sustenance and have achieved long term security. limitations and future research while this study is limited by sample size and confined to chinese students studying at only two universities in the northeast america it does provide direction and insight for future researcher to build upon. the sample size can be accepted as a good representation of the motives of chinese students who wish to study in the u.s. as the northeast america, particularly new york state, has a larger number of chinese students. the chinese students’ motivations for coming to the u.s. may include more. the author took a special research tour recently in china to interview with the parents (some are grandparents) who have their children in the u.s. or plan to send their children to, indicate that they believe that higher education overseas is much better. as long as they can afford, their first choice is to let their children study overseas. academic research on the motivations of international student populations (4% of the total us college students), particularly chinese students (over 1% of the total us college students) in the u.s. is limited. while much has been written in terms of their numbers and how universities accommodate chinese students is limited. it is imperative in servicing this population that universities first need to better understand the motivations then colleges and universities in the u.s. can build programs to cater to the long term facilitation of this segment market. journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 267 future empirical studies may also focus the life style and living of these chinese students in the u.s. or elsewhere, as many participate in this study, live together, and speak their own language, and it seems there is a battier between this market segment and the rest of local and international students. a further recommendation would be to look at any major differences between undergraduate and graduate chinese students as well as differences between graduate chinese who have completed bachelor degrees in the u.s. and those who haven’t. the growing number of the chinese students in the u.s. has raised some challenging questions for both educators and researchers. in the future, researchers will need to know more about: what are the expectations of these chinese students when they land in the u.s.? are their expectations met during their studies or after their studies? if their expectations are not met, what educators in the u.s. schools need to do? references 2015 top markets report, education--a market assessment tool for u.s. exporters, industry & analysis (i&a) (2015). international trade administration, u.s. department of commerce. retrieved from http://trade.gov/topmarkets/ albrecht, c, malagueno, r., holland, d., and sanders, m. 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(2010). “the international student experience: three styles of adaptation,” higher education, 60(2), 235–249. soria1, k. m., & j. troisi (2014). internationalization at home alternatives to study abroad, journal of studies in international education, july 1, 18: 261-280 taylor, a. (2012). three reasons china's students are desperate to study in america, business insight. wes report: international trend in higher education, an oxford report (2015). retrieved from https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/international%20trends%20in%20higher %20education%202015.pdf wu, q. (2014). motivations and decision-making processes of mainland chinese students for undertaking master’s programs abroad, journal of studies in international education. 18(5). 426-444. yan, a. (2015). why chinese parents are sending their children abroad to study at a younger age, south china morning post. retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1747075/why-mainland-parents-aresending-their-children-abroad-study-younger-age?page=all zawacki-richter, o., & bedenlier, s. (2015). internationalization of higher education and the impacts on academic faculty members, journal of studies in international education, 10: 185-201. zheng, x. (2010). re-interpreting silence: chinese international students' verbal participation in u.s. universities. the international journal of learning, 17(5), 451– 464. chiang-nan chao, phd, professor of management, earned his mba from lamar university, and his phd in supply chain management and international business from arizona state university. his articles, books, book chapters, conference papers, conference presentations, and case studies, etc. have published in many leading journals and conferences, i.e., journal of world business, the journal of supply chain management, the journal of education for business, journal of teaching in international business, etc. e-mail: chaoc@stjohns.edu niall hegarty, edd, is assistant professor of management at st. john's university. his area of research covers the domain of motivation. he has published in such journals as human resources and adult learning, journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 269 journal of continuing higher education, and business education and accreditation. e-mail: hegartyn@stjohns.edu john angelidis, phd, earned his phd from georgia state university. his research interests are in the area of strategic management, international business, and corporate social responsibility. he has published a great number of refereed articles in journals such as the journal of business ethics, international journal of management, journal of education for business, journal of global marketing, journal of applied business research, the american asia review, mid-atlantic journal of business, review of business, and the journal of global business, etc. e-mail: angelidj@stjohns.edu victor f. lu, phd, earned his phd degree in operations research from syracuse university. his research areas are business analytics and information technology. he published a number of peer-reviewed articles in journals including operations research and has made numerous presentations at international and national conferences and symposia. he has authored two academic books and several book chapters, edited several conference proceedings, and served in various international and national academic organizations by holding the roles of conference chair, program chair, track chair, editor, associate editor, and reviewer. e-mail: luf@stjohns.edu manuscript submitted: september 28, 2015 manuscript revised: january 30 and may 24, 2016 accepted for publication: september 27, 2016 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. microsoft word vol 6 issue 3 articles-layout journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 700 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 6, issue 3 (2016), pp. 700-711 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ country image and the study abroad destination choice of students from mainland china peter g. ghazarian keimyung university, korea abstract in this study, the author focuses on the issue of country image in destination choice. to examine the relationship between these two variables, the study tests whether mainland chinese who favor a destination as their ideal first choice for study abroad have a significantly more positive view of that destination's country image than their compatriots. the findings suggest policymakers and marketers from most destinations may be more successful focusing on factors other than country image in their attempts to attract cross-border students. keywords: destination choice, study abroad, china, country image, internationalization, push-pull keeping pace with globalization, the market for cross-border students in higher education has grown markedly in recent years. increasing student mobility provides an alternative source of funding for many higher education institutions (heis) in a time of austerity and cuts in public funding. the potential benefits of this market can be seen in the top three destination countries: the us, uk and australia (unesco, 2012), where cross-border students and their dependents make a significant contribution to their host economies. within the growing market for cross-border students, east asia has served as an important region, accounting for an estimated 20.4% of total cross-border students in 2010 (unesco, 2012). china is the largest source country, with more than twice the number of outgoing students than india, its next closest rival (unesco, 2009). while such students are often referred to as international students, the term ‘cross-border’ students may be journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 701 more suitable for mainland china, given movement into special administrative regions such as macau and hong kong, and the special case of taiwan. demand from mainland china can be traced back to high competition and quality issues in the domestic market for higher education. mainland chinese heis are under considerable pressure to meet the demand, desire for personal investment, and choice in the domestic market (marginson, 2002), but the higher education system is still recovering from the damage it sustained during the cultural revolution (guo, 2010). though there has been progress in improving access, elitism remains a concern in judging the value of a domestic degree (zha, 2011). the middle class has adopted an independent view of supporting their children’s education (chan & mok, 2001) and increasingly look abroad when feeling stifled by the opportunities available in the domestic system. a trend towards privately funded cross-border study to a wide variety of destinations and various tertiary programs is taking root (wu, 2014). meanwhile, many developed countries face population decline, posing challenges that could potentially be addressed via selective migration. stress on higher education institutions caused by decreasing local student numbers, for instance, could be remedied by attracting cross-border students. just as governments have successfully used export promotion agencies to strengthen exports (lederman, olarreaga, & payton, 2010), many countries seek to grow interest in their higher education systems through various marketing strategies. without sufficient information, however, these funds may be ineffectively spent. though political science and economics literature point to the benefits of positive country image, work continues to establish a conceptual framework for country image, how it influences individual decision making (nadeau, heslop, o’reilly, & luk, 2008; roth & diamantopoulos, 2009), how it disseminates (yang, shin, lee, & wrigley, 2008) and how it influences cross-border students (son & pearce, 2005). a better understanding of the cross-border student destination choice would provide greater insight into recruitment (maringe, 2006). a deeper understanding of how the cross-border student market functions (cubillo, sánchez, & cerviño, 2006; naidoo, 2007) would help stakeholders better understand how it might be influenced. the present study focuses on the issue of country image in destination choice, specifically examining mainland china. the study tests the hypothesis that mainland chinese who favor a destination as their ideal first choice for study abroad have a significantly more positive view of that country’s image than their compatriots with other first choice destinations. to this end, this study analyzes the presence and nature of differences in journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 702 perceived country image among mainland chinese with different first choice destinations for study abroad. literature review models of cross-border student movement previous work in tourism serves as an inspiration for cross-border student movement models. mazzarol and soutar (2002) extend the model of push and pull factors from destination choice in tourism to cross-border higher education. as eder, smith, and pitts (2010) explain, “individuals are influenced by motivational factors that push them into a travel decision, or in other words ‘whether to go,’ while pull factors indicate how they are attracted by a location, or in other words ‘where to go’ (baloglu & uysal, 1996; kim, jogaratnam, & noh, 2006).” (234). findings suggest that after students are motivated to undertake cross-border higher education, they then select a host country, followed by a host higher education institution (mazzarol & soutar, 2002, llewellynsmith & mccabe, 2008). these decisions consume significant amounts of time and money, include great risk, and require the consideration of an account an enormous number of options (eder et al., 2010, kumar, 2008; pimpa, 2005; shanka, quintal, & taylor, 2005). additionally, decisions are not made independently; they occur under the influence of family members, agents, peers (bodycott, 2009, bodycott & lai, 2012, pimpa, 2003; pimpa, 2005), public policy (perkins & neumayer, 2011; kahanec & králiková, 2011), and hei global ranking (ghazarian, 2011, marginson & van der wende, 2007), among others. within the push-pull model for cross-border education, much remains unsettled. efforts continue to determine constituent push and pull factors and how the actual decision-making process takes place. push factors consist of variables that cause students or their families to look into the option of cross-border higher education. they can be divided into three categories: social/cultural, economic, and political reasons (naidoo, 2007; hung, chung, & ho, 2000), although these factors are often interlinked. increased domestic demand for higher education (bohm, davis, meares, & pearce, 2002), low capacity and the perceived higher quality of foreign heis drive interest in cross-border higher education (ji, 2011). home country tuition fees, currency exchange rates (naidoo, 2007), language learning, and desire for greater potential personal and professional growth have also been found to motivate students to consider cross-border higher education (eder at al., 2010, mpinganjira, 2009). pull factors are a common focus of inquiry hoping to reveal how to best draw students to a destination. mazzarol and soutar (2002) list six types of factors: knowledge and awareness, recommendation, cost, environment, journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 703 geographic proximity, and social links. alternatively, cubillo et al. (2006) offer five categories of factors: personal reasons, country image, city image, hei image, and program evaluation. in an analysis focusing on mainland chinese students, bodycott (2009, p. 354) identifies ten common pull factors drawn from: (1) knowledge and awareness of the institution, its reputation, and general knowledge of the destination country, (2) positive attitude toward supporting international education in the destination country, (3) recommendations and the influence of relatives, parents and friends, (4) tuition fees, living expenses, travel cost, and social cost, (5) environment considerations including climate, lifestyle, crime, safety and racial discrimination, (6) geographical proximity [...], (7) social or educational links to family or friends living in the destination country [...], (8) immigration prospects after graduation, (9) perceived higher standards of education and employment prospects, and (10) availability of scholarships for study. country image the present study focuses on one pull factor, country image. country image consists of the symbols and associations that people envision when thinking about a particular country. these associations influence judgments in relation to particular foreign countries. prior research findings on the importance of home country and destination image as critical components in destination selection for travel (baloglu & mccleary, 1999; sirakaya, sonmez, & choi, 2001; um & crompton, 1999; woodside & king, 2001) suggest that country image may also be an important part of study abroad destination choice. a positive country image offers significant benefits to a state. country branding offers a competitive edge in the global market for stimulating exports, tourism, foreign direct investment, and immigration (jaffe & nebenzahl, 2001; laroche, papadopoulos, heslop, & mourali, 2005; kleppe & mossberg, 2006). lee, rodriguez, and sar (2012) find that even something as simple as country tourism logos can have a significant influence on an individual’s willingness to travel there. the evidence also suggests that country image tends to be more important for destination choice than hei branding (chen, 2008; llewellyn-smith & mccabe, 2008), implying higher education marketers need to focus on international perception of a host country. to effectively manage country image, one must understand its constituent factors. nadeau et al. (2008) break country image into two components: character factors and competency factors. these character and competency factors provide a useful framework for better understanding aspects of country image. yet it remains unclear whether findings from tourism or consumer behavior can be generalized to cross-border higher journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 704 education. the link between destination choice and country image requires further investigation. research method this study tests the hypothesis that mainland chinese who favor a destination as a first choice for study abroad have a significantly more positive view of that country’s image (in terms of both character factors and competency factors) than their compatriots with other first choice destinations. sample this study draws on the data collected in the chicago council on global affairs’ (2008) soft power in asia study, a study that sought to measure soft power in east and southeast asia and includes information on first choice study abroad destination. the chicago data also include information on each respondent’s demographic background and perception of overall country image, country character image, and country competency image for each of japan, korea, and the usa. the sample consists of a nationally representative group of the population over 18 years of age from mainland china (n = 1,237), 51.7% male (n = 640) and 48.4% female (n = 597). table 1: respondents by educational attainment educational attainment frequency percent no formal education 4 .4 some elementary school 12 1.6 completed elementary school 69 8.5 some high/secondary school 144 22.8 completed high/secondary school 405 63.2 some college/university 213 84.4 completed university or equivalent 141 98.5 postgraduate degree 13 99.8 illiterate 2 100.0 table 2: respondents by coded total household income for 2005 income level frequency cumulative percent very low 183 18.2 low 202 38.4 average 362 74.5 high 187 93.1 very high 69 100.0 journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 705 data collection occurred between january 25 and february 19, 2008 as telephone interviews in mandarin chinese by the international polling firm globescan. the survey was fielded to 23,442 respondents leading to 1,237 completed interviews, 17,326 partial interviews, and 5,879 refusals. the sample was drawn via a stratified multistage sampling method in which the thirty-one provinces were divided into three strata by geography and human development index. variables the study uses a categorical variable representing ideal first choice of destination and seven country image aspect variables that are combined to calculate variables for overall country image variable, country character image, and country competency image. country image variables were limited to respondents’ perceptions of china, japan, and the us. ideal first choice destination was determined by a respondent’s reply to the question “if you were to send your children to receive their higher education in another country, which country would be your first choice?” responses were coded: japan, korea, one of the countries of the european union, the united states, other, and don’t know/no answer. the distribution of responses for first-choice destinations were: european countries (23.5%), japan (29%), korea (38%), us (83.3%), and other countries (94.5%). the country character image variable was determined by calculating the mean of the values for a respondent’s reported sense of personal connection, diplomatic importance, political system, and culture for each of the destinations. the country competency image variable was determined by calculating the mean of the values for a respondent’s reported views on the economy, military prowess, and education/technology of each of the destinations. the overall country image variable was determined by calculating the mean of all seven aspects of country image variables. analysis ancova tests were used to determine any differences among the first-choice groups for each of the overall country image, country competency image, and country character image variables of japan, korea, and the us. the results are further analyzed via bonferroni pairwise comparisons to determine the precise nature of differences in perceived country image. limitations though the chicago council on global affairs (2008) data provide valuable information, the data limit this study to comparing first-choice groups for the eu, japan, korea, the us, others, and dk/na. additionally, the set restricts measures of perceived country image to japan, korea, and journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 706 the us. these limitations could potentially obscure important differences among first-choice groups. additionally, the first-choice groups may not be representative subsamples. the japan first-choice group (n=55) and dk/na first-choice group (n=56) would both benefit from a larger sample size. language presents another possible source of concern. mandarin chinese is not used equally in all regions of china, a possible influence on data collection, and the translation of the survey items and results into english could also introduce bias. finally, the data do not account for degree of interest or intent in taking part in study abroad. thus, while the present study provides insight into the relationship between perceived country image and destination attractiveness, the findings are not limited to families with a clear interest or firm intent to send a student abroad to study. results while there are significant differences among the first choice groups’ perception of us and korea’s country image, there are no statistically significant differences in their views of japan’s country image. table 3 reveals the results of the ancova tests. bonferroni pairwise comparisons provide further insight into the precise differences for each country image variable. the japan first-choice group stands out from other groups not because of a favorable view of japanese country image, but because of its significantly negative perception of all us country image variables. it appears to be a negative perception of another destinations’ country image, rather than a positive country image of their ideal destination, that differentiates the japan first-choice group’s perception of country image from their peers’ views. the korea first-choice group has a significantly more positive view of korean overall country image than the eu first-choice group and a significantly more positive view of korean country competency image than the eu and us first-choice destination groups. the us first-choice group has a significantly more positive view of us overall image than the japan, korea, and eu first-choice groups, a more positive view of us character image than the eu first-choice group, and a more significant view of us competency than all other first-choice groups but the other first-choice group. meanwhile, the other first-choice group has no significantly varying perceptions of country image compared with all the other firstchoice groups. the dk/na first-choice group has only significantly negative views of korean and us competency relative to those destinations’ first-choice groups. journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 707 table 3: analysis of covariance of perceived country image among firstchoice groups variable df f p overall japan 5, 992 .979 .430 overall korea 5, 992 2.098 .010* overall usa 5, 992 6.659 .000* japan character 5, 992 .307 .909 korea character 5, 992 2.065 .067 usa character 5, 992 4.298 .001* japan competency 5, 990 1.732 .124 korea competency 5, 985 4.012 .001* usa competency 5, 990 7.497 .000* discussion the results reject the hypothesis that mainland chinese who favor a destination as their first choice for study abroad have a significantly more positive view of that country’s image. while those who chose the us or korea as their first-choice destination did hold a significantly more positive view of their chosen destination’s country image, the same does not hold true for those who give japan as their first choice. the japan first-choice groups disprove the hypothesis that study abroad destination choice associates with a significantly more positive perceived country image. although those respondents who selected korea as their first-choice destination do have a significantly more positive view of korean competency and overall country image, the korea first-choice group does not have a significantly more positive view of korea’s character image, thus rejecting a portion of the hypothesis. furthermore, respondents who gave japan as a first-choice destination do not view any of japan’s country image variables significantly more positively than other ideal first-choice groups. as a result, a favorable view of a destination’s country image may not always translate into destination selection. in indicating the absence of a simple, direct relationship between favorably perceived country image and destination choice, these findings support the notion that other factors beyond country image hold greater sway in destination selection. concerns such as visa/immigration matters, geographic proximity, tuition fees and living costs, or personal links to friends or family may play a more important factor into the decision-making process for most destinations. despite rejecting the hypothesis, the findings do reveal the us firstchoice group holds a significantly more positive view of us country image relative to all other groups. these results suggest that not all destinations journal of international students, 6(3) 2016 708 may benefit from country image in the same way, and that the relative prominence of a country may interact with the influence of country image over destination choice. certain destinations’ country image may be more influential over destination choice than others, and particularly prevalent destinations’ country image may play a more important part in destination choice than the country image of actual destination selected by an individual. country image of particular third-party destinations may play a mediating role in pushing international students towards destinations that they do not view significantly more positively than their compatriots. the results of the japan first-choice group are particularly interesting in revealing how negative perceptions of country image may be more important than the positive. in spite of the conventional view that a focus on promoting a positive country image is sufficient, the findings of this study reveal that higher education marketers and policymakers, especially those outside the us, may benefit from moving beyond a focus on country image in their attempts to draw students from abroad. those hoping to influence the outward flow of mainland chinese tertiary students in their favor may benefit more from emphasizing their destination’s comparative advantages in terms of visa/immigration, geographic proximity, tuition fees and living costs, and personal links with friends or family already residing at the target destination. further research on the process of destination choice and the relative importance of these various pull factors would help to increase the efficacy of such an approach. conclusion the results of the present study reveal that no simple, direct connection exists between ideal first-choice destination selection and relatively more positive perception of country image. the study finds that push and pull factors unrelated to country image are likely to play a greater role in destination choice. higher education marketers and policymakers may benefit from targeting specific demographic groups and emphasizing comparative advantages, rather than relying on a country image strategy. to shed further light on the impact of marketing and policy on destination choice, further research could replicate this examination of country image 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(2014). motivations and decisions-making process of mainland chinese students for undertaking master’s programs abroad. journal of studies in international education, 18(5), 426-444. yang, s.-u., shin, h., lee, j.-h., & wrigley, b. (2008). country reputation in multidimensions: predictors, effects, and communication channels. journal of public relations research, 20, 421-440. zha, q. (2011). china’s move to mass higher education in a comparative perspective. compare: a journal of comparative and international education, 41, 751-768. peter g. ghazarian, edd, is an assistant professor of education at keimyung university in daegu, korea. his research interests include multicultural & international education, the international flow of human capital, and social change in post-industrial economies. email: pg@kmu.ac.kr manuscript submitted: august 18, 2015 manuscript revised: november 10, 2015 accepted for publication: november 15, 2015 *** microsoft word 2014 spring vol 4 issue 1 selected articles 16 journal of international students peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 4, issue 1 (2014), pp. 16-33 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ challenges facing asian international graduate students in the us: pedagogical considerations in higher education shu-yuan lin, edd susan day scherz, edd idaho state university (usa) abstract non-native english speaking (nnes) international students attending colleges and universities in the united states often encounter difficulties in adjusting to their new cultural environment. in addition, they often struggle with academic language while learning the content and conceptual structures of various graduate level disciplines. this phenomenological study identified cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by nnes asian international graduate students at a mediumsized rural university in the northwestern united states. a pedagogical framework and recommendations for professional practice address the linguistic, cultural, and academic needs of this particular student population in higher education. keywords: cultural challenges, cultural responsiveness, international students, learner-centered approach, linguistic challenges, scaffolding _____________________________________________________________________________ the number of international students in the united states in 2008-2009 reached an all-time high of 671,616, reflecting an eight percent increase in student enrollment (institute of international education [iie], 2009). in particular, asian students represented 62% of the international student population (kim, 2012). these numbers reflect an unprecedented and significant trend of mobility and migration, as well as an increase in cultural and linguistic diversity within higher education (altbach, 2004; carroll & ryan, 2005; kim, 2012). according to al-sharideh and goe (1989), international students in the united states often encounter difficulties in adjusting to their new cultural environment. they come to the classroom with different worldviews, different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and varying strategies for learning. in addition, they vary widely in academic ability, motivation, prior educational experience, and english language proficiency (arkoudis, 2006; kim, 2012). many international students experience cultural and linguistic challenges different from those of domestic students (arkoudis, 2006). they often struggle with academic language in journal of international students 17 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 english while also learning the content and conceptual structures of various graduate level disciplines (beaven, calderisi, & tantral, 1998; lin & yi, 1997). differences in writing styles, linguistically and culturally driven logical thinking, and appropriately formulating thought into writing structures may vary widely and play a significant role in students’ academic and interpersonal experiences (levi, 1991; zhu & flaitz, 2005). furthermore, to interact socially with american peers, instructors, and community members, international graduate students have to personally adjust to american culture and learning expectations. as an example, in some asian cultures instructors have absolute authority and are not to be challenged by students (ariza, 2010), which is very different from higher education in the united states. although students often employ strategies for overcoming cultural and linguistic challenges, these culturally influenced strategies are not always understood nor valued by instructors and student peers (arkoudis, 2006; beaven et al., 1998; millar, 2009). western university instructors often categorize asian students as either the brainy asian or the rote learner (marton, watkins, & tang, 1997). researchers, however, have found that the learning patterns of asian students reflect the type of curriculum and assessments encouraged by schools in their home countries (barron 2002; li & kaye, 1998). in addition, asian students tend to adopt spontaneous collaborative approaches in researching and writing assignments. studies suggest that the employment of this type of group learning is highly influenced by the confucian cultural values that focus on group work (gatfield & gatfield, 1994; ramburuth & mccormic, 2001; tang, 1996). given the increasing global diversity in student demographics in higher education, it becomes critical for instructors to understand nnes international graduate students’ cultural and linguistic challenges in order to facilitate effective teaching and learning for all students. to create positive learning environments that prepare all students to interact and engage with others different from themselves, instructors must address cross-cultural and linguistic dimensions within the student population (altbach, 2004; wong, 2006). considerations include the following: how do instructors understand and address cultural and linguistic challenges within the classroom? how do instructors create a sense of community within their diversely populated classrooms? how do instructors provide and create culturally and linguistically inclusive teaching and learning environments that are relevant and stimulating to nnes international graduate students as well as to other student populations? theoretical framework culturally responsive teaching cultural responsiveness reflects the awareness of an individual to variances within cognition, behavior, language, and education among individuals who have differing racial, ethnic, social, gender, linguistic, religious, political, or other backgrounds and experiences. characteristics of culturally responsive teaching include: assessing and using cultural knowledge and background of students, valuing and respecting diversity, managing the dynamics of differences, and institutionalizing cultural knowledge to facilitate student learning (ariza, 2010; banks et al., 2005; gay, 2000; ladson-billings, 2009; terrell & lindsey, 2009). culture changes (consisting of four key components: cognitive development, behavior, language, and education) were based on the influences and interactions of both internal and external circumstances (collier, 2011). culture shapes the way individual students think; the way they interact; the way they communicate, and the way they transmit knowledge to the next generation. to be culturally responsive, instructors must be knowledgeable of the cultural characteristics of their students and understand how culture affects learning and teaching (gay, 2000; pai, adler, & shadiow, 2006). instructors’ self-knowledge, knowledge of their local community, and knowledge of their students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds are essential foundations for culturally responsive teaching. instructors “who ‘think pedagogically’ about diversity are able to build a practice that is 18 journal of international students both academically challenging and [culturally] responsive to students” (banks et al., 2005, p. 245). culturally responsive instructors are empowered to integrate students’ learning styles, learning expectations, and academic strengths into an inclusive learning environment for all students (millar, 2009; smith, 2009). culturally responsive teaching impacts the development of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessments that are responsive to all students. by determining to what extent the native languages and cultures of international students represent a bridge or a barrier to learning, instructors may then adjust curriculum, course design, teaching methods, and assessments accordingly (jin & cortazzi, 1998). culturally relevant knowledge empowers instructors to internationalize their teaching and work more effectively with diverse international students (arkoudis, 2006). at the same time, domestic students also benefit. learner-centered instruction students who are exposed to and engaged in varying experiences and interactions are more likely to develop different and deeper types of competence, including cultural, linguistic, and academic. by using a learner-centered approach designed to promote and facilitate deep understanding, instructors create an inclusive context while facilitating processes, resources, and content. students, on the other hand, are encouraged to articulate their own goals for learning and are actively engaged in the learning process. they construct knowledge, synthesize information, develop essential questions, and work collaboratively with others. in doing so, “learners make sense of course material and develop a deeper understanding than they would if they passively listened to a lecture” (huba & freed, 2000, p. 36). additionally, instructors and students, as co-managers of learning, share the joint responsibility of generating learning opportunities in class. learner-centered approaches become particularly powerful for nnes international graduate students seeking academic rigor and the opportunity to influence or co-manage meaningful learning contexts for themselves while also deepening their academic and social language skills in english (kumaravadivelu, 2003). by centering the learners in the learning process, international students as well as domestic students are empowered to bring their own unique experiences as members of the larger global community and thus are engaged, thereby enhancing learning through the social, cultural, and linguistic dynamics and experiences shared among all students. as an outcome, learner-centered teaching becomes a tool for creating a culturally and linguistically inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students (arkoudis, 2006; kumaravadivelu, 2008). scaffolding vygotsky (1978) and other researchers (ohta, 2000; pérez, 2004) define scaffolding as a collaborative process that promotes cognitive development through sociocultural interactions. learning opportunities that engage all graduate students in sociocultural interactions set the stage to deepen or enhance their cognitive growth while improving their academic english (krashen, 2003; pérez, 2004). “social processes allow the language to become a cognitive tool for the individual” (ohta, 2000, p. 54). the use of scaffolding by the instructor not only supports student understanding of content (comprehensible input), it also further develops students’ proficiency in academic english. all students gain in this process as language proficiency and content knowledge develop through interactions with peers and instructors. scaffolding techniques include, but are not limited to, small group interactions, visual support, hands-on activities, clear directions, explicit explanations about tasks and assignments, and rubrics used as assessment tools that provide constructive, guided feedback to students (davis & miyake, 2004; huba & freed, 2000; wood, bruner, & ross, 1976). the use of scaffolding provides assistance or support via techniques or tools to help international students transition to a new cultural and linguistic environment while also attaining the targeted goal(s) for learning. journal of international students 19 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 insights from the literature insights from the literature indicate the following issues that also impact the cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by nnes international graduate students. with the best of intentions, instructors often take a deficit view of the academic skills and differences of nnes international students. according to carroll and ryan (2005), instructors may see nnes international graduate students “as lacking in independent, critical thinking skills; as plagiarizers or rote learners, speaking broken english and having awkward ways of participating in class” (p. 6). instructors may subconsciously accept the deficit view without realizing the impact of second language acquisition and cultural influences on learning and thinking. in spite of so-called deficits, international and other linguistically and culturally diverse graduate students bring additional academic skills, cultural knowledge, and worldviews that become value-added features for instructors to consider and incorporate when planning and delivering curriculum. despite the tendency in the united states to view asians as a homogeneous community, asian communities reflect great diversity in terms of political, social, economic, cultural, linguistic and educational features (um, 1999). these differences have the potential to bring richness to the graduate classroom but challenge students and instructors alike as all struggle to find common ground for meaningful instruction, assessment, and worldviews (gladding, 2009). overzat (2011) indicated that one of the difficulties facing college instructors or counselors is the rich diversity among asian international students. for example, in china alone, there are 56 native chinese ethnicities; each has its own history and belief system. yet, some asian international students may come from a homogeneous society and may not have developed a distinct racial identity (yang, maddux, & smaby, 2006). even though chinese international students from particular geographic regions might be quite similar, not all chinese international students will share exactly the same worldview, nor should all asian international students be expected to have the same views (gladding, 2009). for asian international students, “learning and living in a different culture; learning in a foreign university context; learning while developing english language proficiency; and learning the academic disciplinary discourse” (arkoudis, 2006, p. 5) offers a variety of challenges. although all asian international students do not share the same cultural and linguistic backgrounds, they do share the common experience of facing linguistic and cultural challenges while studying in the united states. this phenomenon offers instructors a unique avenue for examining cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by nnes international graduate students participating in higher educational settings. the purpose of this phenomenological study was (a) to identify the cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by nnes asian international graduate students at a medium-sized rural university in the northwestern united states, and (b) to develop a learner-centered, culturallyresponsive, scaffolded pedagogical framework to address these challenges in an increasingly diverse higher education environment. the research questions addressed through this study were: 1. what cultural and linguistic challenges were experienced by participants in relation to their graduate studies through university programs? 2. what strategies were used by participants in dealing with cultural and linguistic challenges experienced through their university programs? 3. what recommendations would these participants make to the university or specific programs that would help all international graduate students? 20 journal of international students method this qualitative phenomenological study identified cultural and linguistic challenges experienced by a group of nnes international graduate students. creswell (2007) states that phenomenological research focuses on “describing what all participants have in common as they experience a phenomenon” (p. 58) and allows researchers to integrate “their own experiences and the context and situations that have influenced their experiences” (p. 58). since globalization is increasingly important, the phenomenological qualitative analysis about “what” and “how” nnes international graduate students experience in american higher education learning environments will be instrumental for future curriculum design and research. in creswell’s words (2007), “it is important to understand these common experiences in order to develop practices” (p. 60). the phenomenological approach allows a small group of participants’ voices to be heard while providing researchers in-depth understanding of the experiences shared by these students. this qualitative approach is supported by lester (1999) who clarifies that by limiting participants to a smaller number, more in-depth reflection is encouraged by the participants and deeper insights gained by the investigators. additionally, an interpretative phenomenological study, as described by smith, flowers, and larkin (2009, 2010), allows an emerging framework to develop through the analysis of the participants’ responses. the following assumptions provided a foundation for this study: international students encounter cultural and linguistic challenges in contexts that are different from their native countries; international students may not have developed effective strategies for dealing with cultural and linguistic challenges in contexts that are different from their native countries; and many instructors are not pedagogically prepared to support culturally and linguistically diverse nnes international graduate students. participants and contexts this study was initiated at a medium-sized university of 15,000 students in a rural town in the northwest. there were 139 enrolled international graduate students, accounting for about seven percent of the graduate student population. five nnes asian international graduate students, four male and one female, from three different countries voluntarily participated as a convenience sample in the videotaped focus group interview. three were doctoral students and two were in masters programs. all five participants had been in their programs for at least one year when they participated in this research study. procedure the procedures of this study involved the following components: development of an interview protocol using the focused conversation method (institute of cultural affairs, 1994); human subjects approval; implementation of a focus group interview; and data analysis methods using charting, coding, and theme analysis. development of interview protocol. the interview protocol was designed using the objective, reflective, interpretative, and decisional (orid) methodology, developed by the institute of cultural affairs (i994). the orid method began with a series of objective questions that functioned as a warm-up activity in which students provided relevant background knowledge information: home languages, majors, and educational experiences in the u.s. higher education classrooms. at the reflective level, questions brought forth personal and often emotional reactions journal of international students 21 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 to the topic of discussion. at the interpretative level, meaning, values, and significance of the topic were revealed. finally, at the decisional level, questions brought the conversation to a close, allowing respondents to draw conclusions about the topic of their discussion (stanfield, 1997). the process allowed active participation in a spontaneous and free-flowing conversation (barcillano, 2003). focus group interview. the focus group interview obtains contextual data from a group of individuals who share commonalities (frey & fontana, 1993). krueger and casey (2009) indicated that small focus groups, with four to six participants, are more comfortable and less threatening. indepth insights can be accomplished with small focus groups because participants have more opportunities to express and share their experiences related to the topic studied. the interview for this study was conducted in english and lasted approximately two hours. participants’ responses were voluntary. they were not required to answer questions unless comfortable doing so. the interview was also videotaped with audio, which allowed both visual review of physical responses (e.g., meaningful body language) and aural review of discussions. analysis and interpretation of data. the process of analyzing responses consisted of identifying “significant statements,” sentences, or quotes that conveyed participants’ experiences from the interview. the significant statements, sentences, or quotes were then categorized under key cultural and linguistic themes, coded, and charted for analysis (creswell, 2007, p. 61). conclusions were then drawn based on: 1) the individual and collective responses of the participants relevant to the identified cultural and linguistic themes, 2) the relationship of student responses to the themes formulated through the literature review for this study, and 3) the identification of additional themes that emerged through the discussion with participants. for the purpose of confidentiality, pseudonyms were used to protect participants’ identities; however, references to their native countries or native languages were included in the coding charts and written documentation of the study. roles and perspectives of the researchers at the time of this study, we taught in the college of education at the same university. both of us have graduate training in and teaching experience with teaching english to speakers of other languages (tesol). one researcher has engaged in graduate coursework as an nnes asian international graduate student in the united states with prior experience teaching english as a foreign language. she currently teaches graduate and undergraduate courses for teacher preparation programs. the other researcher is a native english speaker, who has worked with culturally diverse communities as a school district administrator. she has also taught graduate courses in educational leadership for prospective principals and superintendents. before starting this study, we had opportunities to interact with international students at the university where we taught. they openly shared their learning experiences, positive and negative, with us. we had also witnessed the perceptions among some instructors struggling to work effectively with international students in their classes. in many cases, the instructors did not appear to be culturally aware and/or did not have an understanding of the processes and time involved in second language acquisition and acculturation. the interactions we had with students and instructors led us to want to “explore” challenges international students face in the u.s. higher education context with hope that we could provide “insights” for instructors who work with them. findings most of the participating nnes asian international graduate students indicated positive experiences at the university while also acknowledging various challenges. initially, we focused on 22 journal of international students giving voice to nnes international graduate students experiencing cultural and linguistic challenges. in the process of analyzing participants’ responses, we discovered that their voices not only informed the purpose of the study and questions to be addressed, but also contained intersecting and complimentary insights and experiences, thus strengthening the overarching themes. as a result, in addition to linguistic and cultural themes, a third theme, instructional and academic challenges, emerged from student responses. linguistic challenges participants’ home language, prior knowledge of the english language, and proficiency levels of social and academic language have an influential impact on their learning, thinking, and performance in the u.s. higher education context. understanding these linguistic challenges provides both students and instructors with insights that can be used to develop strategies for overcoming difficulties. understanding lectures. linguistic differences between home languages and the english language may place a heavy burden on students to understand lectures, especially when professors speak fast or use slang or idioms with which the students are not familiar. george indicated, “people speak fast. usually some professors do not think about this. they [professors] speak some slang, which [nnes] students do not understand.” john shared, i have hard time understanding lectures. before i can do my writing, i have to understand what my professors say. i use a recorder to tape lectures and listen to the recorded lectures over and over (usually five or more times) until i fully understand the lectures. participating in classroom discussion. study participants often found it difficult to participate in classroom discussions for a variety of reasons. they had to be able to follow the conversation contextually and with understanding, while also attempting to contribute orally to the discussion. at times, they felt inadequate expressing themselves to the point of feeling “stupid.” bruce shared his frustration, “english was the challenge. i sometime feel uncomfortable in the class, but if we can speak [our home languages], we don’t feel so stupid.” john added, “listening and speaking skills in english are difficult [for me to participate].” lisa said, “i feel anxious when speaking english in front of other students. i have difficulty participating [in] class discussions with classmates.” lisa also reflected that prior to participating in an english preparation program on campus, she had never actually spoken english although she had studied it before. developing language skills in social-academic contexts. study participants expressed frustration with blended social and academic conversations. tom shared, we had study groups with american classmates. i realized sometimes that we are talking about a topic. because in our asian way, we solve the problem, just vote. but in our group, americans they try to talk about everything related, not related. what is the point? they just keep talking clichés. it seems like we have a lot of discussion, but no, you just didn’t catch the point . . . american students are not precise on . . . topics of conversations. because of the participants’ expectations for academic focus in this scenario, they did not maximize the opportunity for social, linguistic interactions with native english speakers regardless of whether they were on task or not. logistically, international students could have used the group meetings to practice their language skills, but due to their “asian way, we solve the problem, just vote,” they missed an opportunity to expand their linguistic skills in a blended social and academic context. journal of international students 23 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 with a tone of frustration, george concluded by saying, “the more i learn english, the more difficult i think english is to learn.” this student’s response reflects the challenge of developing language proficiency for academic success. time for reading and writing. participants in this study indicated the tendency to read academic texts slowly in order to better understand content. they needed more time for reading and writing. john shared, “international students spend a lot of time reading.” tom also indicated that “reading in english is challenging” for him. cultural challenges social relationships. the prevailing social relationships international students faced in higher education included those with instructors and staff, native english-speaking peers, and community members. according to george, “culture [in the united states] is really different from what i experienced in my country. here people do more things individually.” this statement points out the cultural differences he was experiencing. since nnes asian international graduate students based their expectations for social relationships on their home cultures, they were not always comfortable with developing social relationships on campus or in the classroom. lisa indicated that the relationship between students and instructors in her native country was somewhat distant, formal, and serious. consequently, it was difficult for her to approach instructors for help: socially, linguistically, and academically. fortunately for lisa, once she asked her instructors for assistance, she found them easy to approach. most participants indicated limited opportunities to interact socially with domestic students, in the classroom and outside the classroom. a linguistic disadvantage manifests from the students’ perceptions about limited opportunities to practice social language skills with native english speaking (nes) students. george commented, “i feel left out in summer because there are not many native speakers on campus.” bruce shared, on campus, just a few of the american students will talk with you, accept you. it is a limited conversation. americans always like to talk about the sports games. we have no kind of american football in my country. we do not have the knowledge to talk with them. through the above examples, students shared their actual experiences with social interactions, reflecting cultural differences from what they knew previously about their native cultures, had anticipated for their present environment, or wanted to experience. expectations for time. perceptions of time vary across cultures. as indicated by hall’s cultural iceberg model (1976), the concept of time reflects cultural values that are invisible or implicit to people from different cultural backgrounds. how international graduate students prioritize and use their time may be different from american students. for example, tom indicated, “american students are not precise on time . . . this is scientific time and everything is fast. i don’t have american time.” tom also expressed, american friends are always late. i am always waiting for them. i thought americans talked what they thought. every time they would say okay, 3:00 p.m. then, they would call and say, ‘oh, i’m sorry. i have to run an errand.’ here everything is slow. in addition, bruce shared his perception of scheduling individual appointments with instructors who were not available at the scheduled time or during office hours. from the student’s description, it is not clear whether the instructor did not keep posted office hours or lost track of a scheduled 24 journal of international students appointment. either way, the scenario lends itself to a cultural and/or communication mishap, which becomes confusing and frustrating for the student and which can be perceived as a barrier to success. instructional and academic challenges cultural and linguistic awareness by instructors equips them to effectively reach out and engage nnes international students in rigorous, meaningful, culturally responsive and inclusive instruction. instructional delivery. course structure and the delivery of content reflected another blend of cultural and linguistic challenges for study participants. lisa indicated, the course syllabus is a good introduction for international students. we prefer . . . specific information and guidelines for assignments. if the syllabus is not clear, it is difficult to know what to do, how assignments should look, and so on. tom shared that he is a well-organized person. “i want to know ahead of time what is going to happen.” course delivery becomes ineffective and non-inclusive when instructors use culturally embedded explanations or examples, speak too fast, or use unfamiliar slang, in these situations, instructors themselves pose a potential learning barrier for culturally and linguistically diverse students. according to george, people do not always speak in a structured way that helps people understand. usually some professors do not think about this. in order to explain something, they often use examples that are u.s.-based. international students still have no clue. unmet academic expectations. participating students indicated they were looking for a rigorous and intellectually challenging academic environment. instead, they felt some courses were not challenging and, at the same time, not aligned with assessments given within the course or program of study. tom discussed his perception of the program’s comprehensive exam. a comprehensive exam is a total conclusion of all the work. here, there are two exams. the first level is multiple choice, which to me seems like a drill. the essay for the second comprehensive exam overlaps [with the multiple choice] . . . it is kind of like torture to me. when expressing this concern to the instructor, tom was told, “it [timed writing] is a good opportunity to train students to work under a high pressure situation.” for this student, overlapping content and practice while working under pressure did not represent academic rigor nor did it represent curricular alignment for a comprehensive assessment. bruce shared that some “courses are too easy to pass, but we get nothing . . . [yet we are not provided] enough experience in english and enough resources to do the comprehensive exam.” in some cases, participants’ expectations for academics were not met. most expressed interest in research, more practical field experiences, and internships. from tom’s perspective, more internships and working experiences for graduate students would be helpful. they cannot just learn the knowledge from textbooks. they [professors] should force students to go out and do community experience to get the experience. studying in the classroom is not enough. journal of international students 25 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 bruce shared, “international students are interested in doing research . . . during their studies.” students participating in this study were looking for academic rigor, opportunities for research, and collaborative involvement in a larger community as part of their academic career and to expand their linguistic and cultural competence. student strategies for overcoming challenges linguistic strategies. participants in this focus group were aware of their linguistic strengths and weaknesses. they engaged in an on-going effort to improve their language skills. john shared, “i audio-taped lectures and would listen to them up to five times to make sure i had captured all the content.” other students shared efforts to visit churches in order to practice language skills. bruce said, “i go to different churches to make friends and practice my english.” others spent extra time reading. additional strategies to overcome linguistic barriers included watching tv, self-talk in english, and spending time in the cafeteria talking with native speakers. george shared his strategies, “i practice my english by paying attention to how people say things in the supermarket, in the classroom. . . . sometimes, i talk to myself in english when i walk.” all these examples reflected a commitment to learning. cultural strategies. participants expressed interest in learning about american sports in order to engage in social conversations with native speakers. some students found the community to be open for conversation. george said, “i learned how to play basketball and watch football.” this was his strategy for bridging a cultural gap. bruce indicated “hanging out at the campus gym” as his strategy for meeting and engaging in conversations with native speakers. john said, “i spend time in [the] cafeteria talking with students. i like to live on campus, so i can talk with american students.” lisa practiced english by talking with and exchanging food with neighbors, while tom explained that he enjoyed making friends. his strategies included traveling and visiting churches. i travelled visiting san francisco, disneyland, las vegas and other places. i take pictures and keep a photo/picture diary. i go to different churches to make friends. in church, americans will talk to you . . . i want to experience life in the u.s. i was burned out in my country, working 14 hours a day, seven days a week. instructional and academic strategies. in order to meet their instructional and academic expectations and goals, students have to integrate linguistic and cultural strategies within their courses. in the united states, asking instructors for assistance is a common strategy for coping with academic challenges. that approach may require a blend of linguistic and cross-cultural adjustments for international students, who may have a difficult time asking for assistance from their instructors. as study participants worked through these challenges, they found instructors to be approachable. george said, when i first came into a classroom, i was really nervous. the instructor of the class shook hands with me. ‘you are fine. if you have questions, come to me.’ it really took the pressure away from me . . . professors [are] more knowledgeable . . . i feel i am becoming a better thinker. lisa shared her experience, “sometimes [i] have to ask for assistance from professors and have found professors here very nice and willing to help.” these strategies reflected participants’ commitment and creativity to overcome cultural challenges and build social-cultural relationships to support their academic success. 26 journal of international students recommendations: a pedagogical perspective the pedagogical recommendations that follow address issues shared by study participants and reflected in the conceptual framework regarding cultural and linguistic needs of international students. for many instructors and graduate students, the use of this conceptual framework with its accompanying pedagogical recommendations represents a significant departure from expected and commonly-used instructional strategies. linguistic strategies language is one of the barriers that international students identified in this study. instructors who understand and instructionally address the varying levels of students’ language proficiency are better prepared to provide equitable access to instruction for nnes international graduate students. the following strategies can assist instructors in thinking about course design and delivery of instruction. scaffold student learning. nnes international graduate students bring different levels of english language proficiency to the university classrooms. some students converse well but do not have the same academic language proficiency as native speakers to fully participate in all aspects of instruction: reading content materials, academic writing, research projects, and interactive activities either in class or online. others may have academic language proficiency in reading and writing but do not yet have the capacity to fully understand spoken language. international students’ english proficiency affects how fast and how well they read and write. they learn better when learning is scaffolded. george suggested, “when dealing with is [international students], they [instructors] need to think we are different. english is one of our barriers. [instructors should] try to be more . . . helpful. we need extra help.” instructional strategies that scaffold student learning include: organizing class activities and facilitating academic interactions among students and themselves in a way that enhances and clarifies linguistic and cultural contexts for all students. instructors should carefully select reading materials, design appropriate course assignments and assessments, and use a variety of resources (e.g., visuals, texts, audios, videos) to support student learning in the classroom. realizing that nnes international students, and possibly other students, need more time to process information, instructor expectations for timed reading and writing assignments may need to be adjusted. instructors who intentionally employ scaffolding strategies are able to facilitate and further develop all students’ academic english relevant to the content area. increase linguistic awareness within the classroom environment. because language plays an important role in teaching and learning, instructors should be aware of varying linguistic patterns among nnes international graduate students. instructors should avoid culturally embedded terms and examples as well as slang, when explaining vocabulary and concepts in class. if used, these expressions should be introduced to the entire class to assure a common understanding by all students, including the international students. when delivering instruction in class, instructors should keep the following in mind with relation to their language: (a) simplify complex language; (b) keep it relevant to the content; (c) explicitly define culturally-embedded terms and expressions; and, (d) maintain a good rate of speech, paced so as to be comprehensible. in addition, key concepts may need to be reviewed or repeated to ensure students’ understanding. journal of international students 27 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 cultural strategies international students come to the classroom with different prior knowledge, experiences, and backgrounds, which affect how they learn and think in the classroom. consequently, instructors should use a variety of instructional strategies to address different learning styles and preferences that ensure student success. internationalize teaching and learning: view culture as an instructional asset. instructors need to be aware of students’ different prior experiences and incorporate them in their plans for teaching and learning (arkoudis, 2006). the following strategies can be used to accomplish these goals: cooperative learning in which students work together interdependently in small collaborative groups designed to accomplish a particular task or learning activity; reciprocal learning in which students take turns being the teacher and explain their learning and understanding to each other; small group discussions; and, comparisons of differing perspectives. additionally, these strategies allow students to express their viewpoints while exploring commonalities, differences, and applications to course content. instructional activities such as bringing in guest speakers with international or other cultural experience, fostering discussions that explore differing perspectives, and encouraging students to explore the curriculum from an international perspective, use cultures as assets in the learning process and help prepare all students for participation in a global society. understand students’ cultural backgrounds and expectations. tom suggested, “if you want more students to come . . , you should be more international.” instructors should attempt to bridge cultural differences that may unintentionally hinder nnes international students’ learning in american higher education. these differences include but are not limited to students’ cultural expectations in relation to time, space, and social interactions as well as their expectations for knowing, teaching, and learning. instructors should specifically and clearly communicate their expectations involving office hours, making appointments, grading procedures, asking for help with assignments and clarifications, class content, and test preparation strategies. by taking the time to be clear and explicit with expectations, instructors can addresses feelings of uncertainty in students and additionally build community and trust. instructors and staff should be friendly and open when talking with all students in settings outside of the classroom: the gym, the library, before and after class, and other non-classroom locations when they encounter the students. instructors should make sure that classroom activities include social interactions among students. cooperative or reciprocal learning strategies and other types of group work facilitate the development of social relationships among students. in addition, students should be encouraged to take advantage of resources available on campus, as these opportunities expand their circle of social relationships, whether they are seeking assistance from the library or a tutoring center, working out at the gym, or attending a social event on campus. academic strategies the effectiveness of a lesson lies with instructional delivery in terms of student engagement, interaction with the content, student understanding of the content, and student performance. with the various linguistic and cultural backgrounds of nnes international students, instructors should be culturally responsive to students and focus on “teaching academic content in and through english” (millar, 2009, p. 1) to ensure learning is meaningful to all. provide clear directions and course expectations. because of varied prior schooling and linguistic backgrounds, nnes asian international graduate students need clear and detailed directions in order to successfully engage with various academic tasks and procedures. for example, the syllabus should be very specific with detailed information about the design of the 28 journal of international students course, textbooks, specific timelines, expectations as to how and where to submit assignments, and expected outcomes for students participating in the course. in addition, class activities and assignments should be clearly designed with detailed instructions. as lisa said, the syllabus is a good introduction to international students. [i] prefer professors to give specific syllabus and to give guidelines for assignments. if they are not clear, it is difficult to know what to do, how assignments should look, and so on. . . . i hope advisors can give international students more information about their schedules, internships. scaffold course rigor through pedagogical methods and strategies. to maintain rigorous course content and high standards instructors should use pedagogical strategies that engage all students. for nnes international students, cooperative learning is particularly effective and essential as it engages students in intellectually and culturally inclusive learning experiences, while expanding their language and social skills. bruce’s recommendation for “one-one discussion/mentor between native speaker[s] and international student[s]” is one strategy for instructors to use that “gives more connection with school practices.” cooperative learning groupings should reflect differences in students’ learning abilities as well as their ethnic and linguistic diversity. guided reciprocal peer questioning, think-pair-share, cooperative debates, send-a-problem, graphic organizers with jigsaw, and talking chips are examples of cooperative learning activities to use in a scaffolded learning environment (millis, 2010). these strategies create and provide a context for international and native english-speaking students to share and discuss content from their various perspectives. provide relevant research and field experiences. international asian students participating in this study indicated an eagerness to gain knowledge and skills useful for their career when they return to their native countries. bruce stated that “[international] students are interested in doing research during their studies . . . develop some type of research together.” tom shared, “more internships and working experiences for graduate students would be helpful. [instructors] should force the students to go out and do community experience to get the experience. studying in the classrooms is not enough.” whenever possible, instructors should provide, support, or encourage opportunities for them to engage in research, internships, and field experiences related to academic studies. nnes international graduate students expect and want to have opportunities to engage in real-life scenarios that provide them with practical experiences, to expand their knowledge, as well as to practice their language skills and cultural understandings in real-life contexts. a paradigm shift for professional practice research has found that academia is aware of the learning needs of international graduate students (beaven et al., 1998; carroll & ryan 2005; lin & yi, 1997; millar, 2009). it has been our experience that many instructors who work with nnes international graduate students: (1) are not always aware of cultural and linguistic differences; (2) do not always scaffold their pedagogy and expectations in ways that promote success for all students; and consequently, (3) often miss opportunities to build a sense of community among a diverse student population within their courses. instructors who know or value students’ cultures will be more likely to fully access, facilitate, and assess what their students know and can do (ariza, 2010; gay, 2000). how to best address these issues, however, is still not clear due to the widely diverse backgrounds of international graduate students (ryan, 2005). all students, regardless of their linguistic and cultural backgrounds, should be supported to succeed academically, culturally, emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially in a rigorous academic environment. unfortunately, the academic culture journal of international students 29 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 within higher education does not always foster learner-centered approaches to teaching, scaffolding to support differentiated learning and the development of social relationships as part of the support for academic learning (huba & freed, 2000). the following considerations may be used by instructors as they begin, continue, or deepen their paradigm shift. employ learner-centered instruction learning is a social activity involving interactive, dynamic, collaborative processes and social interactions between instructors and students as well as among students. a learner-centered approach offers a structure within which instructors adapt instruction, assessment, and interaction among students. it represents a significant cultural shift within higher education. in using this approach, academic rigor is not only expected, it is supported. the instructor facilitates learning processes and creates equitable access to resources and content. at the same time, all students have the opportunity to further develop their academic skills in thinking, writing, speaking, and problemsolving, while deepening their content knowledge. within this context, nnes international students are encouraged and guided to construct knowledge, synthesize information, develop essential questions, work collaboratively with others, and actively engage in the learning process. mere input or exposure to learning contexts is not enough to support international students’ academic success. by facilitating student engagement among peers, native-speakers of english and nnes international graduate students, instructors set the stage for deeper levels of learning and increased academic competencies for all students. the employment of learner-centered scaffolding by the instructor not only ensures student understanding of content, it also supports and develops students’ proficiency in academic english. incorporate linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogies learning, language, and culture are inextricably linked. culturally responsive instructors assess students’ cultural knowledge, value and respect diversity, manage the dynamics of differences, and incorporate cultural knowledge in professional practice. by developing their own awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity, instructors recognize that the native language and culture of each individual student provide an additional set of tools or resources for learning and teaching (genesee, geva, dressler, & kamil, 2008; pérez & nordlander, 2004). instructors should develop a rigorous academic foundation that continues to grow and change through the influence of their ever-changing student population as well as through new dimensions within their content area(s). doing so provides a value-added dimension for the course, the program, and the institution while providing opportunities for students and instructors to expand their thinking to a broader global environment. linguistic and cultural differences experienced by nnes international graduate students should be regarded as cultural assets, as opposed to academic deficits, and integrated into the learning process. in this way, instructors are able to build a practice that is both academically challenging and culturally responsive to all students. expand curricular applications to include global perspectives what is our curriculum in higher education? is it focused on a local view, a regional view, a national view, or a global view? are we able to define the similarities and differences for our students? local students need to see a broader global context in order to better understand local applications in relationship to global ones. nnes international students may already bring with them the broader global context, but may not be proficient in sorting out local dimensions based on cultural and linguistic contexts. learning processes should be supported by the histories, experiences and diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of all students participating in higher education settings. these cultural and linguistic adaptations prepare nnes international graduate 30 journal of international students students as well as domestic graduate students to be more productive within international and/or global contexts. discussion the challenges and differences impacting nnes international graduate students and the instructors who serve them have the potential to positively or negatively impact academic achievement for all students. these linguistic and cultural challenges also represent opportunities to change pedagogical practices, design high quality instruction, enhance student learning, and promote higher levels of academic rigor for all students. after 3 years in the u.s, i have learned a lot these couple of years and [i am] eager to learn more because i think i will lead a better life. [i am] a better thinker, a better writer, and student. [i] feel good about myself. people think differently about me. (george) as instructors become more familiar and comfortable using a scaffolded, learner-centered, pedagogical framework that is culturally and linguistically responsive, all students will be more likely to achieve higher levels of success in an academically rigorous and meaningful graduate program of study. the students themselves provide an important resource. by listening to all students’ voices and understanding their perspectives, instructors develop the capacity to gain a deeper understanding of student needs. instructors can use students’ cultural and linguistic strengths to adapt course design, enhance their own professional practices, and engage students across differences. these instructional practices support diversity awareness on and off college campuses, promote inter-group understanding and relations, and improve the capacity of all learners to engage in deeper levels of academic understanding while broadening students’ capacity to explore multiple perspectives. the pedagogical framework highlighted through the findings from this study provides insights to instructors interested in working more effectively with asian (and other) nnes international graduate students. it may represent a paradigm shift from traditional approaches to instruction in higher education, but there is strong evidence supporting learner-centered, culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogical practices. these approaches require instructors to actively engage with learners in co-construction of knowledge, demonstrate cultural responsiveness, and develop linguistic awareness. in addition, these pedagogical changes may require intentional efforts and critical reflection by the higher education community when addressing the common phenomena: cultural, linguistic, and academic challenges experienced by nnes international graduate students. in order to create culturally and linguistically inclusive teaching and learning environments, instructors may need additional support and training. supporting instructors as they develop or refine pedagogical practices within this framework will benefit the entire higher education learning community. instructors’ implementation of the recommended framework will not only broaden the scope of domestic students to include a global perspective, it will also help international students better understand the differences and similarities between their cultural and linguistic backgrounds and those of other students and instructors with whom they interact. in general, the suggested framework promotes learning for all and enhances the experience for everyone involved. journal of international students 31 2014 http://jistudents.org volume 4 • issue 1 references al-sharideh, k. a., & goe, w. r. 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(2005). using focus group methodology to understand international students’ academic language needs: a comparison of perspectives. teaching english as a second or foreign language, 8 (4), 1–11. retrieved from http://tesl-ej.org/ej32/a3.html _______________ about the authors: dr. shu-yuan lin’s current research interests are focused on english as a second/foreign language instruction, standards-based teacher assessments, technology integration in k-20 instruction, cultural and linguistic diversity in education, with a focus also on teacher education applications. her email is: linshu@isu.edu dr. susan scherz currently works as an education consultant and school board trainer in idaho. she has also taught educational leadership courses in higher education. her background includes teaching english as a second language and working with culturally and linguistic diverse students in public schools as well as higher education. her email is: schesusa@isu.edu 156 research article © journal of international students volume 12, issue 1 (2022), pp. 156-174 issn: 2162-3104 (print), 2166-3750 (online) doi: 10.32674/jis.v12i1.3367 ojed.org/jis the stem glass ceiling: the influence of immigration status on stem trajectories of afro-caribbean women (a narrative approach) sophia rahming florida state university, usa abstract afro-caribbean women initially construct their science identity outside of the united states in unique sociocultural contexts where black is the dominant racial group and british-styled instruction remains intact. afro-caribbean women often experience the “triple threat” minoritizing effects of being black, female, and international/nonimmigrant when they pursue stem education and careers in the united states. using grounded theory methods, i gathered the narratives of eight afro-caribbean women in stem education or careers in the united states to examine how citizenship and immigration status influenced their stem trajectories. participants described how their educational and career aspirations were either supported or constrained by citizenship. immigration status, therefore, operated as a figurative glass ceiling for some of the afro-caribbean women in this study, limiting degree and career choice. keywords: afro-caribbean women, barriers, international students, science identity, stem introduction the literature on afro-caribbean women’s stem identity development and their experiences at all strata of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the united states is limited (rahming, 2019a). such a dearth might suggest that journal of international students 157 there are no afro-caribbean women engaged in branches of stem, or that there are very few at the levels that would be of interest to investigators interested in science identity construction among black women. this assumption would be false, and their apparent invisibility may be analogous to other findings about women’s presence in stem fields, especially previous research about african american women in stem (rahming, 2019a). we do not know because not many studies have focused on afro-caribbean women in stem (rahming, 2019a). what novel and unique findings might an investigation into foreign-born afro-caribbean women and their stem identity development reveal and add to the literature on black women’s absence from stem spaces? several research studies have investigated why there are so few women in upper-level management (fagenson, 1993; simpson & holley, 2001). such studies have been responsible for the introduction of terms like the “sticky floor” (reskin & padavic, 1994, 2002; tesch et al., 1995) and, for black women, in particular, the “concrete ceiling” (ogilvie & jones, 1996). morrison and von glinow’s (1990) iconic work, “women and minorities in management,” introduced the term “glass ceiling,” though the empirical evaluation of the “glass ceiling effect” was and continues to be in contestation. what is generally agreed upon is the idea of barriers and obstacles that are systemic and invisible (maume, 2004; morgan, 1998). morrison and von glinow (1990) offered this definition of the glass ceiling: “a barrier so subtle that it is transparent, yet so strong that it prevents women and minorities from moving up the hierarchy” (p. 200). since the publication of the researchers’ work, the glass ceiling framework has been applied to varied contexts beyond business management, including the fields of social science and education (di palma & topper, 2001; glazer-raymo, 1999; hill, 2004). research projects have focused on race, gender, and their intersections as subtle and invisible barriers to women, minorities, and minority women, in particular (hill, 2004; ogilvie & jones, 1996; powell & butterfield, 1997, 2002). many identified factors inhibit black women’s entrance, persistence, retention, and advancement in stem fields (ong et al., 2011). these factors include inadequate college preparation in math (cole & espinoza, 2008; ellis et al., 2016; huang et al., 2000), a chilly academic climate (hall & sandler, 1982; seymour & hewitt, 1997; shakeshaft, 1995), lack of funding (ginther et al., 2011), few undergraduate research opportunities (crisp et al., 2009), and a shortage of role models (leggon, 2006)—that is, senior black scholars and professionals who provide representation and mentorship to junior black women in stem education and careers. the myriad obstacles and barriers converge and diverge in an oft-cited “leaky pipeline” analogy (atkin et al., 2002) sometimes used to explain the absence of a critical mass of black women in stem. one possible variable contributing to the underrepresentation of black women in stem that remains to be investigated is the invisible yet limiting influence of immigration status on international black women’s advancement in sophia rahming 158 stem. here, i apply morrison and von glinow’s glass ceiling in a contemporaneous investigation of eight afro-caribbean women at several stem education stages and in careers ranging from undergraduate studies to early career professionals in the united states. this project enriches our understanding of how immigration status and stem’s glass ceiling—a transparent barrier of immigration policies, and, in some instances, xenophobia—can both promote and simultaneously constrain stem aspirations, postsecondary education, and careers for a unique group of black women. afro-caribbean women pursuing stem-related education or careers in the united states present a unique subset of international black women in the stem community, probing the influence of immigration status and citizenship on stem trajectories (rahming, 2019a). forty percent of all international college students in the united states enroll in stem programs (national science board [nsb], 2018). in 2014, the caribbean sent the highest proportion of female international students (44%) to study stem in the united states (u.s. immigrations and custom enforcement [u.s. ice], n.d.-a), while in 2016, the caribbean was second to melanesia (41% and 45%, respectively; u.s. ice, n.d.-b). afrocaribbean women have constructed personal and collective identities crucial to constructing science identity and stem career development outside of the united states in unique sociocultural contexts where black is the dominant racial group and british-styled instruction remains intact. afro-caribbean women studying stem or pursuing stem careers in the united states exist in a unique bifurcation of hypervisibility and invisibility resulting from multiple and intersecting identities, and they experience the “triple threat” minoritizing effects of being black, female, and international/nonimmigrant (asher, 2010). the importance of considering women’s intersecting identities in stem has recently been noted (grossman & porche, 2014; johnson, 2012; rodriguez et al., 2016). afro-caribbean women, however, tend not to be featured in research on stem diversity and participation. in fact, women are often examined in educational research as a monolithic group, without specific attention to how their experiences in stem may be further shaped by their immigration status, racial or ethnic identities, socioeconomic class, or other identities. it is increasingly clear that any understanding of women’s experiences in stem must attend to the many dimensions of women’s lived experiences and how their experiences are distinct from those of not only men but also other women. a few studies focus on caribbean women in u.s. higher education (edwardsjoseph & baker, 2014; hunter-johnson & niu, 2019; rahming, 2019b). however, few exclusively concentrate on these women’s experiences in stem (rahming, 2019a). to address the lack of literature about afro-caribbean women’s experiences in stem, i used grounded theory methodology to gather narrative data about eight women’s experiences in stem educational programs and career fields for a substantially larger research study (rahming, 2019a). the larger project focused on how afro-caribbean women developed a science identity in journal of international students 159 u.s. stem programs. i approached the research question about constructing science identity by examining anglophone afro-caribbean women’s stem experiences before, during, and after their postsecondary stem programs. i found that well-prepared afro-caribbean female students with “troubling languages” (meyer & land, 2003, 2005) navigated liminal spaces (hahamovitch, 2011; rollock, 2012) as they transformed and adjusted to their identity as both scientist and minority. what organically surfaced in the larger study was that constructing science identity is an iterative process. many of the same processes that affected the participants’ academic success in early life and contributed to their decision to pursue stem were also prominent in their postsecondary and career stem experiences. women claimed the title “scientist” at various points along the continuum of constructing their science identity. several described sponsorship or advocacy by meaningful people in and out of stem who opened doors to academic and professional success. the overall findings resulted in a model for constructing science identity for afro-caribbean women (see figure 1). a major finding within the larger project was the importance of citizenship and immigration status as a glass ceiling for the women in the study. immigration status was an unexplored factor that either promoted or constrained afrocaribbean women’s trajectories in stem. immigration status operated invisibly, under the radar as it were, prescribing and restricting the international women into particularized stem fields (rahming, 2019a). figure 1: rahming’s (2019a) grounded model of science identity construction in anglophone afro-caribbean women. sophia rahming 160 based on results from my larger study, i concluded that citizenship, and therefore immigration status (rahming, 2019a), was missing from extant science identity construction models (see carlone & johnson, 2007) for minoritized women. i proposed that nativity and citizenship were most likely missing from such models because the women of color interviewed in these studies had all lived in the united states for all or most of their lives and possessed u.s. citizenship or permanent residency status. the influence of the push and pull of nativity and immigration status on minority women’s personal and science identity construction, and by extension, possible stem trajectories, would not have been considerations given the contexts, participants, and settings of previous studies. therefore, i tended to the gaps in stem research foregrounding immigration status by answering the following research question: how has citizenship or immigration status impacted the stem trajectories of afro-caribbean women in u.s. postsecondary stem education or careers? method data for this study came from digital recordings of two rounds of interviews of eight afro-caribbean women that were conducted as part of the larger study on science identity construction (table 1; rahming, 2019a). i conducted 16 individual interviews with eight participants for a total of 64 hrs of interview data. four interviews were conducted in person, and 12 were conducted via zoom, an online digital conferencing platform. in round 1, i listened to stories and illustrative examples and asked clarifying questions in interviews with the research participants (atkinson, 2007; crossley, 2000). during this round of interviews, i asked about participants’ early introduction to science and math, their social and educational influencers, and the role of race, gender, and ethnicity in their high school science experiences. table 1: participant demographics name immigration status college type class standing degree/ program ses family structure denise dual citizenship private senior bs, mechanical engineering, minor: math lower middle class 2-parent household; 1 sibling gina nonimmigrant f-1 private senior/ 1st year masters combined bs & ma in applied math and statistics; ma, financial math middle class single-parent household; 2 siblings jasmine nonimmigrant f-1 private freshman ba, computer engineering working class single-parent household; 0 siblings journal of international students 161 name immigration status college type class standing degree/ program ses family structure jenny nonimmigrant h-1b (change of status in progress) private 1-year postgrad combined bs, biomedical engineering & ms, chemical engineering working class 2-parent household; 4 siblings tanya permanent resident private freshman bs, biomedical engineering, minor: biochemistry upper middle class/working class single-parent household (divorced); 1 half-sibling kendra nonimmigrant h-1b private 1st year postgrad combined bs, biomedical engineering & ms, chemical engineering working class single-parent household; 0 siblings rhonda nonimmigrant h-1b private 2 years postgrad bs, mechanical engineering middle class single-parent household; 0 siblings sharon nonimmigrant f-1 public junior bs, mechanical engineering working class single-parent household; 1 sibling note: ses = socioeconomic status. in round 2, i used a protocol of more semistructured questions to elicit participant responses that addressed the research questions and filled in gaps or discontinuities that arose in participant narratives during round 1 interviews. the interview protocol was composed of 15 semistructured interview questions with latitude built in for additional probing to clarify when ambiguity arose and to extract more detail from interviewees when necessary. introductory questions in the protocol encouraged interaction and built rapport (halcomb et al., 2007). interview questions invited reflections on race, gender, nationality, minoritization, and relationships with peers, faculty, and their institutions to explore the processes by which participants came to see or failed to see themselves as scientists. each interview lasted for approximately 1–2 hrs. i recorded responses to interview questions, completed initial transcribing for hand coding, and then ordered professional transcripts for nvivo coding. during the first round of interviews, i used life story interview techniques (atkinson, 2007), also called narrative interviews (crossley, 2000). this investigatory technique allowed me to pose questions that sought depth and detail about the participants’ science identity formation rather than collect normative data. i encouraged participants to describe events from their lives in “chapters” that they perceived to be particularly salient to the construction of their scientific identities. excerpts from the narrative interviews are presented next to support the sophia rahming 162 proposition that stem trajectories are delineated by immigration status. participants are identified by pseudonyms and their reflections are verbatim to preserve the respondents’ subaltern voices and the context of their viewpoints. thus, i have retained what to some might be considered “incorrect” grammar in an effort to protect and respect participants’ use of english (nero, 2014). results interviews with the eight afro-caribbean women in stem revealed that participants experienced minoritizations related to their race and citizenship. moreover, interview data significantly demonstrated that citizenship or immigration status operated either as a benefit or constraint on the participants’ stem trajectories, depending on the context. below, i present excerpts of interviews with study participants that detail how they formulated beliefs about how citizenship influenced their science trajectories. for instance, rhonda, in the following reflection, revealed how caribbean nativity and citizenship influenced her early career aspirations at home in the caribbean: i knew i didn’t want to be a lawyer, and particularly, growing up in the caribbean, the options that are presented to you are mostly law, teaching, things along that track, right? granted, i was a teacher at some point, but i knew that long term, i probably wanted to get out of that field for a bit. i knew i didn’t want to become a lawyer, and being a doctor wasn’t my top interest, so what was left was engineering; that’s because that’s what we’re exposed to back home. the afro-caribbean women in the study either experienced immigration status as a beneficial contributor to their stem success and foundation of discipline choice, or as the cause for lost stem opportunities, including constraints on career choice and trajectories. members only: immigration status as an advantage in stem trajectories immigrants to the united states often compartmentalize positive and negative social experiences in order to achieve success (ogbu, 1992). the participants in the current study demonstrated similar modes of compartmentalization when they immigrated to the united states and as they matriculated in u.s. stem programs or advanced in stem careers. the women in this study felt enormous pride that they were from small countries yet were achieving so much at their academic institutions and in their stem professions. participants noted more than once that caribbeans use fictive kinships (ebaugh & curry, 2000; ho, 1993; rogers, 2001) when possible to connect, support, and shield themselves from the assaults of race, gender, and nationalism in the united states. jenny described the way in which citizenship was the bulwark that allowed caribbean students to succeed: we were all awarded the top scholarship. yeah, we came to our institution, and you know caribbean people tend to stick to each other journal of international students 163 because my school’s club teams are like 90% asian. so, we tend to stick to, and we had our own little clique. it was very important. i mean, that’s the type that like, we share the same culture for christ’s sake, you know. we speak the same. we understood each other. we know the struggle. most of us, we came from nothing. we got the opportunity to come to the us to study, and we always used to push each other. two of the study’s participants had dual citizenship. they were legally both caribbean and american, and immigration status opened new federal funding and work opportunities. denise explained: well, the case for me, and fortunately, i was born here [united states]. but i just grew up in the caribbean with my parents. so, i didn’t have that issue of getting a visa. and that was one of the reasons why i decided to come up here, too, because of that, you know, ease of access, i would say. i had the opportunity. i often say, if i was like…if i was not a citizen, i’m not sure how i would have been able to afford coming out here. tanya was similarly fortunate to immigrate to the united states after she graduated from high school because relatives sponsored her family. she revealed the following: i think it was grade 10. i went to take my green card interview, and then my mom just asked me, “do you want to go to school in the states?” i was like, “okay, why not?” and then, from then on, i knew that i was going to end up going there. i didn’t take time to think about it; i just said okay. i had a grandmother; my mother’s mother was living here before us, and she filed for my mom. and, i’m not sure, but somebody on my father’s side had filed for me. so, yeah, so i think me and my mother coming up were separate events because i went to my father, and she went to new york. citizenship as a benefit or a positive experience extended beyond tertiary education into stem careers in the united states. rhonda recalled that she was the first international employee at a fortune 500 company: i was the first, i guess, to be entered into the system. the immigration and hr teams were somewhat intrigued by that. it felt good to be the first. being different and coming in and breaking boundaries of what people thought a third-world country was capable of felt good. guest workers: immigration status as an invisible barrier to stem trajectories according to the participants, the constraints of citizenship and immigration status often began long before arriving in the united states but became magnified when they realized the limitations placed on their aspirations. the women described ways that their international status constrained their stem trajectories, access to financial aid, networks, and other human capital resources. support was sophia rahming 164 funneled to those who could study in the united states and impacted who among them could envision and build long-term stem careers. participants reported not knowing about the many available fields of study in stem before they arrived in the united states. others talked about their limited career options in their home countries if they chose the stem field in which they were most interested. therefore, citizenship became the factor that the women talked about as unexpectedly influencing their science identities. even though participants had proven themselves academically and possessed the relevant educational experiences, competence, evidence of strong scientific performance, and the recognition of faculty or sponsorship of important and strategically placed mentors, citizenship was the gatekeeper students could not evade. only participants who possessed the means to qualify for student visas (f-1 immigration status) or held dual citizenship or permanent residency status had the opportunity to explore a wider range of stem fields in the united states. rhonda explained: so, i did the whole math, physics, geography thing, graduated [high school in the caribbean]. jobs are at a scarcity. so, you kind of take what you get until you get what you want. so, as i said, i was able to do the short stints at the meteorological office. they were just rotating students because i did the geography, and i wasn’t old enough to join the army, and my mom wouldn’t sign. i’m like, “i’m ready for more. i’m ready for…i need to get out.” i felt a little trapped in my country because it didn’t have what i wanted, and i wasn’t even sure what the heck i wanted, but i knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t there at the time, at least. i had interest in planes and space shuttles. the aerospace thing—i knew it would be difficult as a non-u.s. citizen to find a job in that field, first of all. that’s why i chose mechanical engineering. i’m enjoying the journey. rhonda discussed another poignant example of the constraint citizenship placed on her educational trajectory. she explained that if students were interested in studying to be an air traffic controller, they would do so with the knowledge that they would probably not be eligible for internships nor have the opportunity to develop a career in the united states because of immigration status. rhonda wanted to be an astronaut and came close to joining the nasa program, but when recruiters discovered she was not a u.s. citizen, the offer was rescinded. in effect, she ran into a glass ceiling when her citizenship proved to be a barrier she could not overcome. rhonda admitted, “i would still say that it would be awesome to be an astronaut.” denise, who had dual citizenship, also noted the importance of citizenship, saying: a lot of these students in stem in the smaller islands, like, a lot of them, tell me that you know they’re trying to stay here, of course, for the opportunity because back home there’s not much, you know, maybe teaching as far as stem degrees. so, for them choosing something like that stem, where in the back of their mind, knowing that, ok, there’s not much opportunities in the country to work for the small islands. of journal of international students 165 course, because trinidad, you know, i feel like a lot of the trinis that i knew studied here, a lot of them went back. with the small islands, you know you’re trying to get internships and get sponsored, so i think that’s a very big step, you know, coming and studying and you don’t really know what’s going to happen after that. further, only some afro-caribbean women from their networks could work during their educational careers or seek employment after graduation. without additional immigration paperwork, afro-caribbean women could not fully actualize their science identities in whatever field interested them. students with dual citizenship had the option of choosing any field of study during their college matriculation, but students without similar immigration or citizenship status had to position themselves in multiple fields simultaneously to be able to take advantage of future internships or possible job opportunities that were allowed by the immigration process (table 1). kendra shared an incident that involved a negative interaction with an advisor at her school that hurt her deeply. she recalled: i do remember going to one of my advisors and asking about the research opportunity, and being asked the question, “well, do you have any money? why do you think you have any money?” and i did not understand that at first. okay, that if you want to do research, you need funding, and they only fund u.s. citizens to do research. like many african american women, afro-caribbean women also experience reduced access to research funding and undergraduate research opportunities, an identified obstruction to developing real-world stem expertise. in kendra’s case, immigration status represented an additional impediment that she could not breakthrough. choosing to stay in the united states to gain experience or to stay permanently due to lack of jobs in the caribbean was just the first step to remaining and succeeding in the united states. participants noted that they had to negotiate the optional professional training (opt) or the h-1b (work-related green card) process. some companies were willing to hire study participants, and often the immigration paperwork and process could be confusing and onerous without guarantees of success. gina noted: i had an experience this summer where it’s just one of the difficulties of being international, where my company, they were like, “we like the work you’re doing. we want to offer you a position. we just don’t know how this is gonna work in terms of the visa.” it was because of the stem thing that they were like, “okay, we’ll give you a chance.” he said something; i was very moved. like something like, “we view you as an exceptional candidate.” and worst case, the company i’m working for starting in february is an international one. so, they were like, “worst case, we’ll find another country.” and then, also being mathematicians, they calculated the probability. and he said it was like a 19 point something percent chance i wouldn’t get it. sophia rahming 166 jenny saw the difficulty in securing a job because of citizen status as u.s. protectionism, and she believed that this policy constrained afro-caribbean women from choosing fields in stem that they truly wanted to pursue. she said: these people cater to their people, americans to americans. i know so many of my friends had to return to the caribbean because they weren’t lucky. not even for an international student, you want to get a company that will give you the h-1b visa and stuff like that. when you apply to most companies, they say, “oh yeah, she’s not a u.s. citizen.” boom, they just cancel that. rhonda, who got a job and a green card, was perhaps the most successful of all the women. she made the most money, had the most professional responsibility, and traveled for her job. she was also among the highest credentialed at her company. she reported that citizenship still constrained her stem trajectory. she stated: there are certain things you can do and [can]not do, but because these are unionized workers. if anybody’s going to get fired, i will be. i had to think about, hey, i have a student loan to pay back. i need to watch my words. it was frustrating at times, super frustrating. i feel like maybe once or twice, i probably cried about it at home. i just had to release it. i’m sure i did. i remember, i’m sure i did, but it was uncomfortable. one, frustrating because you can’t answer back as you would in another society because if somebody writes you up, you get sent home. for me, it wasn’t just [about] being unemployed. there are other immigration issues to go with it. hegemony of immigration status on stem trajectories the afro-caribbean women in the study opted into stem fields or careers regulated by their immigration statuses and the possibility of working in the united states or in their home countries. all participants spoke of a return home or plans to retire at home in the caribbean. their reasons were varied: they could be authentically themselves in the caribbean; they could go where they wanted without fear, do what they wanted, and say what they wanted; or they had the confidence of dominance. they wore their nativity as metaphorical shields while they immersed themselves in the united states as an intellectual site—a place to acquire degrees and professional experience, and when possible, a way to provide financial uplift for their families. not all stem fields are economically viable in all countries. not all institutions are as committed to providing globalized internships, whether directly or indirectly through their broad networks, as they are to providing globalized and diversified education through international student recruiting. some participants noted that the globalization and internationalization discourse found in institutions’ mission and vision statements stopped at graduation. some recognized that their institutions did not perhaps consider journal of international students 167 student career outcomes as part of the educational process and limited the support to a narrow conception of education as defined by the coursework. more than one woman in the study believed that the lack of equitable access placed afrocaribbean women at a disadvantage both academically because they missed out on some of the real-world applications of their course of study and professionally because postgraduation, their resumes were not as competitive in terms of experience as domestic u.s. students graduating with stem majors. discussion science, once the property of african scholars (abdalla, 1997; zaslavsky, 1999) and traditional healers engaged in “bringing rain [meteorology], detecting witches and criminals” [criminology], “‘doctoring’ armies” [trauma care] “… and using herbs and surgical procedures to cure and mend the body” [medical science] (flint, 2008, p. 20), was denied to the enslaved in the west, while the mendacities about the paucity of black intellect, creativity, and innovation were simultaneously proliferated (willinsky, 1998). since then, the black mind has had to disrupt the discourse to remember and assert itself as equal, belonging, and imaginative (do nascimento, 1980; gilroy, 1987; young, 2004). contemporaneously, gatekeeper restrictions persist, invisibly sorting who can and cannot engage in particular kinds of knowledge acquisition, and capitalist structures determine who is involved in innovation and the propagation of invention (rahming, 2019a; ong et al., 2011). for example, agreements by industrialized nations limit the free sharing of covid-19 vaccines and covid19 knowledge through enforceable patents, instead offering the rhetoric of help and leadership while withholding the ability to save the world at no cost (medecins sans frontiers, 2021). the result is the stockpiling of vaccines in some countries while other countries stockpiled bodies. this is the consequence of stem as empire (rahming, 2021–present)—a capitalist and imperialist in industry approach to stem knowledge. similarly, but from the higher education quarter, during the trump presidency, systemic and intentional policies attempted to limit the number of international students studying in the united states. the trump administration proposed even more draconian measures to restrict the opt and temporary worker h-1b visas that would have severely impacted career pathways (mizelle, 2020). stem education and stem-related jobs might have been significantly obstructed for international students and workers. in the present study, citizenship (celeste, 2016) was a gatekeeper, and i propose a figurative glass ceiling for the second group of women without dual citizenship or permanent residency status in the study. therefore, citizenship and immigration status became crucial focal points through which i examined afro-caribbean women’s stem trajectories through u.s. higher education to careers. applying the glass ceiling framework to the data, immigration status was “a barrier so subtle that it is transparent, yet so strong that it prevents [some afrocaribbean women and by extrapolation some international women] from moving up” (morrison & von glinow, 1990, p. 200) and through stem fields. the sophia rahming 168 consequences of immigration status were both professional and economic (rahming, 2019a). afro-caribbean women attempted to push back at efforts to keep them in lower-tier jobs with fewer responsibilities, infrequently leading research and development projects, or the opportunity to engage in high-level work with transnational corollaries. lower tier jobs also translate into lower incomes and diminished ability to be socially and upwardly mobile. it further impacts afro-caribbean women’s capacity to send remittances to the family at home in their countries. the remittances may improve the lives and opportunities of family they left behind (lim & simmons, 2015). the afro-caribbean women in the present study arrived in the united states either well-prepared, well-resourced financially, or well-connected, with a network that allowed access to education and the capacity to excel (edwardsjoseph & baker, 2014; hunter-johnson & niu, 2019; rahming, 2019a) in contrast to some of the research on black women’s preparation for college stem degrees (cole & espinosa, 2008; ellis et al., 2016; huang et al., 2000). participants looked inward or outward to other caribbean students to persist and achieve, especially in math or physics (edwards-joseph & baker, 2014; hunter-johnson & niu, 2019; rahming, 2019a). despite societal racial and xenophobic tensions within and outside stem (hall & sandler, 1982; seymour & hewitt, 1997; shakeshaft, 1995), the women continued to be successful in their programs, winning awards and scholarships and garnering faculty members’ recognition. although the second group of women was well-prepared academically to secure jobs and succeed in stem careers, they were limited in stem field options by their immigration status (rahming, 2019a). in response, the women positioned themselves in multiple stem education fields simultaneously, not based on stem interest necessarily, but rather to take advantage of future internships or possible job opportunities allowed by immigration processes. after graduation, those who secured employment needed to complete additional immigration paperwork that was sometimes protracted with long waiting times for approvals or denials from u.s. citizenship and immigration services, a component of the united states department of homeland security. therefore, the study results show that stem degree choice and trajectories were tightly moderated and regulated by citizenship for these afro-caribbean women. opportunities to reimagine immigration policies as stem becomes more globalized, and the doers and innovators of science continue to come from a lengthening list of nations and cultures, studies that address the construction of science identity, stem pathways, and variables that contribute to stem’s glass ceiling become more valuable (rahming, 2019a). the research presented here demonstrates that immigration status, citizenship, and nativity can impact the stem trajectories for afro-caribbean women and operate as a type of glass ceiling limiting stem career options for international women like them. given that the caribbean may produce black women academically prepared to graduate and move into stem careers in comparatively greater proportions than black women in the united states, it may be prudent to study the journal of international students 169 success of afro-caribbean women in their local environments more fully. we can see evidence of the incongruence in the number and proportion of women at the university of west indies (uwi) studying stem, for example, but with limited stem majors and careers postgraduation options. uwi’s (2018) institutional data reveals that caribbean women have consistently enrolled in stem at higher rates than their male counterparts in all stem fields except engineering. the u.s. educational enterprise has struggled to successfully attract black women to stem and provide the support needed to enable them to persist and attain stem degrees in the numbers called for by advocates of stem diversity. the caribbean has large numbers of black women with the necessary qualifications to enter stem degree programs. however, there are limited stem major options at uwi and limited stem occupational diversity in the local workforce. the second group of women without dual citizenship or permanent residency status expressed a valid concern about the limitation citizenship placed on their success as scientists in the united states. if internships and research opportunities are indeed an essential component of a well-rounded future scientist’s experience (crisp et al., 2009), then the invisible barriers that immigration policy erected restricting their full participation seem unjust. further, employers who are unwilling to engage in the opt process also limit stem career trajectories for international students (nitzschke, 2016). members of the stem community cannot genuinely complain about declines in available stem labor when industry, however unwittingly, plays a role in the diminution. companies must recognize that stem is not a local endeavor but a global and interconnected one. limiting stem participation in one place or enacting xenophobic and protectionist policies does not advance innovation, research, and development (rahming, 2019a). the ability and capacity for afro-caribbean women to participate fully, especially when they have passed homeland security requirements to be in the united states, should be promoted (rahming, 2019a). opportunities for future research discussions of minoritization for african american students have been ongoing in stem research (atkin et al., 2002). fewer discussions center on how other black women scientists who were previously members of the dominant racial group in their native countries adjust to numerical and social minoritization and career restrictions due to immigration status (rahming, 2019a, 2019b). the work is generative and additive rather than substitutive to the research on african american students. a new branch of theory generated by this project is immigration status as a glass ceiling for some women’s stem trajectories and, therefore, immigration status should be considered as another variable in stem evaluative instruments. this research showed that immigration status had an unforeseen influence on afro-caribbean women’s aspirations to a multitude of stem major options and may hold similar implications for other international women considering stem in the united states. it is imperative to consider the factors critical to the success of this group of women in stem. sophia rahming 170 conclusion stem has a glass ceiling, and the invisible barrier is held in place by the bolts of capitalism, imperialism, xenophobia, and structural racism. research on stem career trajectories is incomplete without the exposure and further exploration of this new 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(1998). learning to divide the world: education at empire’s end. university of minnesota press. young, r. (2004). white mythologies, 17–47. https://doi.org/10.4324/ 9780203461815-4 zaslavsky, c. (1999). africa counts: number and pattern in african cultures (3rd ed.). chicago review press. sophia rahming, phd, is an associate director in the center for the advancement of teaching (cat) at florida state university. dr. rahming oversees the learning assistant program at cat. she also serves as the mentorship lead for the gulf scholars program through a nasem grant at the famu-fsu college of engineering. she graduated from the higher education phd program at florida state university where she received florida state university’s fellow’s society dissertation fellowship, the w. hugh stickler award for the enhancement of dissertation research, the legacy fellowship, and other major graduate awards. she served formerly as the deputy director for research on equity in science, engineering, and technology, a project focusing on black women and men in engineering. she also served as a research assistant for the center for postsecondary success on multiple mixed-method studies funded by the bill and melinda gates foundation and the institute of education science. her research interests include science identity construction in international women of color; migration experiences of international women of color; gender in education and development; broadening participation in stem; and simulation use in stem education in small and developing nations. email: sgr14@my.fsu.edu 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service unavailable | this is a temporary error. please try again later. 503 service temporarily unavailable 503 service temporarily unavailable nginx journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 163 peer-reviewed article issn: 2162-3104 print/ issn: 2166-3750 online volume 7, issue 2 (2017), pp. 163-187 © journal of international students http://jistudents.org/ brazilian and nigerian international students’ conceptions of learning in higher education carol ashong nannette commander georgia state university, usa abstract the growth of international students compels examination of introspective aspects of learning experiences such as conceptions of learning. additionally, learning conceptions profoundly impact learning outcomes (tsai, 2009). to address the lack of research on learning conceptions of students from africa and south america, this study examines brazilian and nigerian students' conceptions of learning while studying in the u.s. reflective diaries and interviews reveal an awareness of learning as not limited to the classroom, along with clear themes regarding ideas about learning and actual learning experiences. findings provide valuable information to institutions regarding academic support and assistance for international students. keywords: conceptions of learning, international students, brazilian students, nigerian students, higher education one area of research that informs institutions about meeting the needs of international students is the literature on conceptions of learning. all students come to learning situations with different preconceived views of what “learning” means (marshall, summer, & woolnough, 1999). conception1s of learning refer to students’ fundamental understanding, or interpretation, of the learning phenomena (marton, 1981) and have been defined as coherent systems of knowledge and beliefs about learning and phenomena related to learning (marshall et al., 1999; tsai, 2009; vermunt & vermetten, 2004). in more depth, cano and cardelle-elawar (2004) explained that learning conceptions are individual constructions that develop from knowledge and experience and dictate the different ways in journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 164 which learning is understood. vermunt and vermetten (2004) argued that conceptions of learning include what an individual thinks about learning objectives, activities, strategies, tasks, and processes. students’ conceptions of learning are important because they profoundly impact learning outcomes (tsai, 2009) and influence students interaction with courses, classroom environment, teachers, and peers (marshall et al., 1999). further, learning conceptions include preconceived ideas about students’ roles, the role of the instructor and other professionals in academia, and these ideas about roles and the relationships between all the different players in educational settings impact how students approach learning (mclean, 2001). tsai (2009) argued students’ conceptions of learning guide primary beliefs about and interpretations of learning experiences as well as ultimately influence learning outcomes. students’ conceptions of learning have also been found to impact and predict academic achievement (allan, 2003; boulton-lewis, marton, lewis, & wilss, 2000; tsai & kuo, 2008). cano and cardelle-elawar (2004) noted the more capable students are of deciding for themselves what learning means the more successful they are in their academic performance. it is therefore critical that educators are aware of and understand students’ conceptions of learning. literature review when investigating international students’ conceptions of learning, culture is an important construct to consider (marshall et al., 1999; tsai & kuo, 2008; tsai, 2009). hong and salili (2000) argued that conceptions of learning are formed by cultural values. purdie, hattie, and douglas (1996) stated that environment, where learning occurs, influences conceptions of learning, and culture is embedded in environment. the general assumption that learning is a well-defined standard experience across cultures has been challenged by research indicating students’ conceptions of learning differ (jones, 2008). for example, purdie, hattie and douglas (1996) found austrailian students have a narrow school based view of learning, while japanese students have a broader, more community based view of learning. along similar veins, boulton-lewis et al. (2004) reported differences in indigenous australian and australian university students’ views in terms of learning as an increase in knowledge, memorizing and reproducing, applying, and understanding. abhayawansa and fonseca (2010) examining sri lankan students enrolled in an australian university found that the students from sri lanka reported beliefs about learning being teacher centered, whereas their australian classmates perceived learning as student centered . research has reported that asian students differ from their western classmates because they consider learning to be more than the journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 165 transference of knowledge and attending school (jones, 2008). jones (2008) reported that asian students view knowledge as having to do with things that cannot be measured such as emotions, intuitive feelings, spirituality, morality, and social skills, and this view differs from traditional western beliefs about learning being built upon things that can be scientifically proven. thus, students from various cultures differ in their conceptions of learning. however, research has predominantly been with “western students,” from europe, north america, and australia, who are compared with those from “non-western” cultures, usually represented by asia. the general trend is to rely on investigations in these regions as the basis for cross-cultural theorizing, and students from other geographical locations are not included in the literature (abhayawansa & fonseca, 2010; jones, 2008; marshall et al., 1999; purdie et al., 1996; tsai & kuo, 2008; tsai, 2009). in particular, south american international students’ conceptions of learning are not typically investigated although this population is steadily increasing in the u.s, with most students arriving from brazil (castaneda, 2008; downie, 2005). according to the international institute of education, 23, 675 brazilian students were enrolled in universities in the u.s. during the 20142015 academic year. brazil is currently the sixth leading place of origin for students coming to the u.s. african international students’ conceptions of learning are also not being addressed although the number coming to the u.s. is increasing with nigeria sending the most students. according to the iie’s open door report (2015), nigeria is the fifteenth leading place of origin for students coming to the u.s. during 2014-2015 academic year, 9, 494 students from nigeria were studying in the u.s. although previous research encourages concentrating on international students from brazil and nigeria due to their steadily increasing numbers (castaneda, 2008; downie, 2005), very few investigations focus solely on these two groups of students. previous research encourages concentrating on international students from brazil and nigeria due to their steadily increasing numbers (castaneda, 2008; downie, 2005). yet very few investigations focus solely on these two groups of students. some research that includes international students from africa has addressed transition problems (adelegan & parks, 1985), racial identity (phinney & onwughalu, 1996), and cultural adjustment (constantine, anderson, berkel, caldwell, & utsey, 2005). one of the few studies with international students solely from africa examined female scientists enrolled in western universities. results revealed that white professors questioned the students’ ability to do the work, asked them to take remedial classes, and criticized their accents (beoku-betts, 2004). additionally, participants experienced feelings of exclusion and a lack of support emanating directly from prejudicial attitudes. similarly, few studies have focused on international students journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 166 from south america. wilton and constantine (2003) found high levels of psychological distress among south american international students. more recently, reynolds and constantine (2007) examined south american students’ sense of social and academic competence and reported that a lack of confidence in their social, academic, and career contexts might have a profound effect on their future career goals and aspirations. castaneda (2008) examined the academic needs of south american students and found that second language problems, quality of academic advisement, availability of financial support, level of integration into their academic program, and cultural adjustment impact their academic experiences. some research has focused specifically on the conceptions of learning of students in brazil and nigeria. one reported brazilians view learning as not constrained to a formal learning environment but an ongoing process in everyday life (crabtree & sapp, 2004). this study also found students in brazil believe learning takes place when there is a social, emotional, and physical closeness between teachers and learners. these findings are supported by santilli, miller, and katt (2011) who found brazilian students are comfortable spontaneously greeting their teachers on the street with an embrace and a kiss on the cheek and expect instructors to be actively interested in their personal as well as academic affairs. however, fidalgo-neto et al. (2009) found that in learning settings in brazil teachers play a central role in knowledge transference, and students play a more passive role in their learning process. watkins and akande (1994) reported nigerian students believe that they do not play an active role in learning, and it is the responsibility of the teacher to pass down knowledge to them. this study also reported students prefer a less competitive classroom environment. sunal, inuwa, sunal, and haas, (2001) similarly reported nigerian students believe learning takes places through hands-on experience but teachers play a governing role in the learning process, with students expected to follow and cooperate with the teacher. this study also found students in nigeria view learning as something that should be practical and applicable to everyday life instead of being theoretical. another study reported students in nigeria believe learning is a group activity and as a result often participate in cooperative learning (iyamu & ukadike, 2007). while these studies provide valuable information on brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning, it is important to note that data was collected in the students’ countries of origin. research method this study was carried out in an urban university in the southwestern united states. students may be experiencing or may already have experienced conflict between what is presented and expected in the american university setting and experiences in their home cultures, so their journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 167 conceptions may be fluid and shifting. at the time of the study no other research had investigated brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning while studying in the u.s., and no other research has examined both groups within the same study. thus, this study was exploratory in nature. findings from this study provided information on brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning and inform instructors of international students and international programs in general. the research questions were: 1) what are brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning? 2) are there differences and/or similarities between their conceptions of learning and learning experiences in the united states? 3) are there differences and/or similarities between the two groups in their conceptions of learning? this study was informed by grounded theory developed by glaser and strauss (1967) whereby researchers discover concepts and hypotheses through the method of constant comparative analysis. this methodology, best suited for exploring social phenomena and the behavior of groups allows a shift from existing theory to themes that emerge from current data and focuses on areas with little or no literature (glaser & strauss, 1967). researcher’s positionality first author’s experiences of crossing cultural borders as an international student informed this research and contributed toward efforts to be transparent. i came to the united states as an international student for undergraduate and graduate studies 11 years ago and therefore closely related to the participants in this study. as a ghanaian international student, i continuously examined my relationship to the participants and the study. though my familiarity with the experiences of the participants presented somewhat of a challenge to my objectivity, i was also well aware that my identity as an international student did not necessarily mean that the participants and i had the exact same experiences. however, i had an "insider” status because of shared similar cultural and educational experiences, and i constantly reflected on this during the research process. my insider status also influenced the way participants engaged with me. in fact, participants often expressed they were comfortable talking to me because they felt i could relate to them and the experiences they shared with me. our shared status as international students was advantageous and helped build a cordial and trusting relationship that allowed the interviews to run very smoothly. in some instances participants asked if i understood the experiences they shared or if i had similar experiences. i refrained as much as possible from sharing my experiences so as not to influence participants’ responses. some participants asked me questions about my experiences as an international student, expressing curiosity about my learning experiences. i made efforts to always keep their experiences the journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 168 focus of the conversations and reflecting on this positionality allowed me to find the middle ground. my reflections during the research process heavily relied on theoretical sensitivity and reflexivity. theoretical sensitivity refers to the researcher’s ability to use personal and professional experiences together with methodological knowledge to see data in new ways and think abstractly about data in the process of developing theory (glaser & strauss, 1967; strauss & corbin, 1998). however, since theoretical sensitivity may create a situation where the researcher explains data in a biased way, the process should be complemented by reflexivity. re exivity is de ned by horsburgh (2003) as “active acknowledgement by the researcher that his or her own actions and decisions will inevitably impact upon the meaning and context of the experience under investigation” (p. 308). re exivity allows researchers to deconstruct who they are and the ways in which their beliefs, experiences, and identity intersect with that of the participants (macbeth, 2001). this re ection occurs both in individual thought and through dialog with others that acknowledges the researcher’s own experience and perspectives (johnson & water eld, 2004). instead of trying to hide behind a false sense of objectivity, the researcher makes his or her own sociocultural position explicit. for example, reflexivity requires researchers to question how the “researcher-participant interaction” and the researcher’s perspective affect the analysis and the results (hall & callery, 2001). re exivity is a process that occurs throughout every stage of research (guillemin & gillam, 2004). guided by theoretical sensitivity, my personal and academic experiences as an international student allowed me to view the data in new ways and think abstractly about the data. also, i actively engaged in constant reflexivity throughout the stages of research design, data collection, and analysis. in addition to theoretical sensitivity and reflexivity, i employed various techniques recommended by and lietz, langer, and furman (2006) and shenton (2004) to ensure the trustworthiness of qualitative research. shenton (2004) suggests that it is important to use well-established research methods and triangulate by using different methods of data collection for rigor. this study was informed by grounded theory, a well-established methodology, and employed the use of interviews and reflective diaries as established methods of data collection. the use of two data sources in this study, in addition to theoretical memos, allowed for triangulation and contributes towards the credibility and trustworthiness of the research. it is important that qualitative researchers help ensure honesty from participants by giving them opportunities to refuse participation to make sure that data collection involves only those who are genuinely willing to take part and prepared to offer data freely (shenton, 2004; lietz et al., 2006). accordingly subjects were informed that their involvement was strictly voluntary, and they could refuse and/or stop participation at any time. this journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 169 study employed the use of iterative questioning which shenton (2004) argues allows the researcher to return to matters previously raised by participants and extract related data through rephrased questions. a second round of interviews gave opportunities for issues raised in student diaries to be further explored and clarified. participants thirteen (n = 13) students participated in this study (six from brazil, seven from nigeria, eight females, five males). length of stay in the u.s. ranged from six months to four years, with an average of a year. data was collected in the spring semester of 2014. after the researcher gained irb approval from the university, participants were recruited through emails sent by the international education office to currently enrolled undergraduate students from brazil and nigeria. those who responded were asked to contact the researcher directly and to forward the email to other students from brazil and nigeria who might be interested in taking part in the study. the researcher then sent information on the study and requirements for participation to all students. the researchers collected data through initial interviews, reflective diaries, and final interviews. consent forms were provided at initial interviews, and all interviews were semistructured, audio-recorded, and at a location of the participants’ choosing. initial interviews lasted approximately an hour and a half and were guided by questions previously used in the literature (marshall et al., 1999; tsai, 2009 & tsai & kuo, 2008): what is your definition of learning? how do you learn best? how do you know when you have learned something? and what do you think makes up a good learning environment? participants were asked to reflect upon experiences in ways that rarely occur in everyday life (charmaz, 2006). the rationale behind initial interviews was to create rapport between the participants and researcher and prompt participants’ thinking about learning experiences. after initial interviews participants were instructed to keep a diary for one week by selecting one learning experience connected to their education daily and reflect on it using these guiding questions from previous research (marshall et al., 1999; tsai, 2004 & tsai & kuo, 2008): what did you learn? (describe the learning experience), what did you find satisfying or frustrating in your learning experience? when were you aware that you had learned something? how did you feel if you thought you were not learning as you should? and what about this learning experience was different from previous experiences? participants were instructed to address other issues believed to be pertinent, provide examples connected to their reflections, state the date and time at the start of every reflection, and contact the researcher if they had questions. no restrictions were placed on the length or format of the diaries. none of the participants contacted the researcher journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 170 during the week of diary entry for clarification on requirements and expectations. the use of reflective diaries within research and formal learning settings as a way to deepen learning and stimulate critical thinking has increased in recent years (prinsloo, slade, & galpin, 2011). re ective diaries are useful mechanisms that can move students beyond simple observation towards deeper reflection, analysis, synthesis, and critique (mcguinness & simm, 2005; travers, 2011). once participants submitted their diaries, final interviews were scheduled. the purpose of the final interviews was to clarify and explore issues addressed in the diaries and gain further information on the students’ broader views about learning. audio-recorded semi-structured final interviews lasted approximately an hour and were guided by the following questions: do you use the same or different approaches to learning in the u.s. that you used at home? what have you found fulfilling or frustrating about approaches that are new to you versus ones that you used to at home? do you find that the learning experiences you have in the u.s. are different from or similar to learning experiences you had at home? do you find that the learning environments you experience in the u.s. are different from or similar to the learning environments you experienced at home? do you feel you are learning more, less or differently than what you were accustomed to previously? and how would you say the process of adapting to a new learning environment has been like for you. whereas initial interviews concentrated on asking students abstract questions about learning in order to explore how they would respond independently, final interview questions were more specific in order to guide students to think about how learning experiences in their home culture compared to those in the u.s. the time period between initial and final interviews was approximately two to three weeks. data analysis interviews were transcribed verbatim and each diary read thoroughly to develop an empathetic understanding of individual views. following the hierarchical coding process of grounded theory, open, lineby-line coding was conducted followed by axial coding that specifies relationships between categories (hallberg, 2006). open coding involved reading all interview transcripts and diaries line by line several times and creating tentative labels for chunks of data that summarized or represented distinct concepts and categories, which formed the basic units of analysis. focus during this stage of analysis was on highlighting descriptive keywords and phrases pertaining to learning. axial coding involved deconstructing each category that emerged during open coding into subcategories. relations between emerging categories and between categories and their properties were identified and verified in the data to ensure that these conceptual relationships were grounded in the data. the journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 171 text was re-read to confirm that categories accurately represented participant responses. the final stage of analysis was an integration of empirical data with theoretical memos. through this process, the themes and categories that emerged from both sources were identified. in accordance with the constant comparative process, after initial categories were coded during open coding, incidents applicable to each category were compared. each incident in the data was coded into as many categories as possible. analysis of data then shifted from comparing participant’s responses to one another to comparing individual responses to categories and their properties. nvivo 7, a software program designed for qualitative research, was used to organize the data. theoretical memos that served as a record of how codes were developed along with the properties of each category were written every time data was coded. detailed memoing during the entire analysis process involved writing down ideas, assumed associations between categories, and theoretical reflections related to each of the emerging categories. additionally, this process encouraged reflection and helped keep track of the coding process while allowing for critical questioning and necessary adjustments. results participants’ entries in their reflective diaries and responses to interviews provided information in response to research question 1, “what are brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning?” eleven of the 13 participants typed and two hand-wrote their diaries. diary entries for all participants varied in length, format and depth. most participants organized their daily entries according to the guiding questions. approximately half the participants wrote lengthy daily reflections that were often a page long. the other half wrote shorter daily reflections consisting of about half a page. data from the reflective diaries indicated participants wrote either about non-school or school related experiences, but most of the students (9 out of 13) wrote about non-school related learning experiences. three out of thirteen (23%) reported a more balanced split of non-school and school related learning experiences. only one participant (7.7%) described school related experiences more times than non-school related experiences. nonschool related topics ranged from learning about culture through activities such as cooking, watching movies, music, artwork, sororities, and fraternities to learning experiences that taught participants values, such as being hopeful, polite, hardworking, and patient. other non-school related learning experiences included playing an instrument, improving listening skills, parallel parking, twirling a flag, and using a gun safely. participants also wrote about learning experiences that helped make their day-to-day life easier, such as how to use the different functions of an ipad, a fax machine journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 172 and an automated teller machine (atm). school related topics experiences included business capstone class assignments, petro physics, derivatives for calculus, and rene descartes’ theory on realism. participants addressed other issues about their learning experiences in their diaries, however participant responses were very varied and no clear themes emerged. interview transcripts revealed five different conceptions of learning identified by students from both countries. conceptions of learning were described in terms of: 1) new/increase in knowledge, 2) acquisition of knowledge for practical application, 3) memorization, reproducing and studying, 4) understanding, and 5) a process not bound by context or time. each theme is presented below with representative quotes and participants’ nationality in parentheses. learning as increase in knowledge. participants talked about learning in terms of acquiring new knowledge and/or increasing one’s knowledge or being presented with new information and knowledge. this conception of learning is quantitative in nature, referring to the accumulation of knowledge. an example statement is: i think i would say learning is picking up something i didn’t know previously, basically and it depends, like in school, yeah i think that’s just it, learning is finding out something i didn’t know before or being exposed to something i didn’t know, like getting more information. (nigerian student) statements like this convey the belief that learning involves coming into contact with new information or skills. learning was also described as an acquisition or increase in a particular skill: well when you learn your grow, you develop skills that you maybe you know don’t even know that you have, it’s difficult to explain, but like also, anything you didn’t know before, like skills, different subjects, like culture too, not just learning in like a school. (brazilian student) when talking about gaining new knowledge in the learning process, participants noted knowledge and information are often transferred from teacher to student, and they often described teaching as the transference of knowledge. in addition to identifying teachers as one source for new knowledge, participants discussed personal experiences and the experiences of others as ways through which new information and knowledge is acquired. journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 173 learning as acquisition of knowledge for practical application. participants discussed learning as acquisition of knowledge for practical application, often describing what purpose it serves. participants generally did not discuss the purpose of learning within a school or educational context. their responses focused more on real life applications. representative statements are: i’d say, being able to use something that you’ve actually been taught, in the sense that you can recall it later in the future not just what is being forced down into you, where you cram and you write an exam, pass and that’s it, to me that’s not learning, it’s actually being able to use what you know, what you’ve been taught, that’s learning…. oh yes definitely, that’s what i mean, learning should have a practical end, i don’t want to learn something that i won’t use in life and i should go further and say in my day to day life, to me then it’s useless. we learn, or we should learn in order to be able to use it, so yes, it should be practical. (nigerian student) central to this application-based conception of learning is practice and the importance of being able to practice what one learns. this focus was emphasized in comments regarding opportunities for hands-on experiences directly related to their education. participants made statements such as: yeah, like so people can relate, not just classroom, but take it out the classroom, not just book, book and technical, but make the content and subject real, like give us something to do to make what we are learning real to us students…like an activity outside of class. real life. (brazilian student) such comments implied a shift from learning as passive with learners who receive new knowledge transferred either from the teacher or other sources to a more active process that involves practicing and utilizing the acquired knowledge. learning as memorization, reproducing and studying. this conception of learning was characterized by viewing learning as remembering and/or partly in terms of being able to reproduce something. for some participants learning was inseparable from memory: i learn when i remember, to me, learning is like remembering when i get some new information and i can remember it later, and give it back, either in writing, like a test or paper, or i am able to tell someone else and i remember it all. (nigerian student) journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 174 other statements implied that beyond remembering, the ability to explain something to someone else is perceived as an indication of learning: to me i think, if i am able to remember something i have been told and taught, if i am remembering and explain to someone else, that how i know i’ve learnt something or if i am able to bring it up in a conversation, that’s learning, i study too, when i study i learn too you know? (brazilian student) learning as understanding. this conception of learning focused on understanding, with personal meaning being a prominent feature. within this conception, developing and discovering meaning is important. example comments include: hmmm, well i would say, understanding, making sense of it, in a way that makes sense to me, you know. you can’t say you have learned something if you can’t say you understand it and not just understand it exactly as it is taught to you, but in your own way. make it your own. (nigerian student) learning i think is when where you have the possibility to really understand something in our own view point, in our own. ummm, learning for me is when we have possibility to comprehend, have comprehension about all the topics about one thing, when we have opportunity to solve doubts. (brazilian student) learning as a process not bound by context or time. this conception of learning is characterized by the belief that learning occurs outside of schools and other formal educational settings. participants expressed that they believe that learning takes place predominantly outside of school. additionally they see life, from birth to death, and life’s experiences as a learning process, stating that they believe all of life is a learning experience. they made statements such as: we can learn outside of school…i think the school is 30% percent, 40% percent maybe, it can be different for each individual, but mainly i think, we learn mostly out of school. and i think in brazil this is how i felt, that we learn a lot, more than in school, in life, outside of school….like things that happen to you during day to day what you are doing…for me i say school 30% because i learn mostly from my family and people around me at home you know…they tell me things about life in general…sometimes i see things happen to them and i learn, like that. (brazilian student) journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 175 i think we may not always be aware of it, but we are learn in our day to day living, i think because mentally we know, we are told that school is where you come to learn, we expect to learn there, but are not always consciously expecting or consciously aware of learning outside of school, but i think we definitely do, i would dare say that i think for most people, or let me say for myself when i really sit to analyze and compare, i learn more outside of school than in school…i think you are learning until you die, everyone.(nigerian student) in response to research question 2, “are there differences and/or similarities between their conceptions of learning and learning experiences in the united states?” themes emerged about conflict between their conceptions of learning and learning experiences in the u.s. for example, participants expressed the belief that students should work together and collaborate in learning environments. however, they reported experiencing competitive environments in the u.s.: to me it should be cooperative, competitive makes everyone want to overshadow everybody and that way no one is learning anything, because for example, if there is someone who doesn’t like competition, the person will actually lose out, but if everything is cooperative and you know, then students learn from each other, maybe a comment here, a comment there, that person will understand what is being taught better, competition, i feel, can destroy morale, because i believe learning is encouraged when people do it together, at any level, in any setting you know, not just the classroom, when there are other people around you learning, you open up and learn more…..i feel. (nigerian student) no we are not encouraged to compete, errr, i think it’s a social, cultural thing, i first heard about it, then saw it for myself, about the selfishness of american people, the individual thing, maybe it’s not a bad thing, but american students are like “i will do the best for myself, and you do the best for yourself” and errr, i find that back at home you can talk to more people and bond, with other classmates and here there is more of the competition feeling, with people used to doing it by themselves, yeah competition is not so big in brazil. (brazilian student) statements such as this convey the discrepancy between participants beliefs about competition versus collaboration in the learning process and their experiences in the united states. participants basically expressed the belief that students should work together and collaborate in journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 176 learning environments. however, their experiences in the united states involve competitive environments. their views on collaboration are directly in contrast with their views on competition and convey what they believe to be the cons of competition and pros of collaboration. participants also reported that they experienced a great deal of hands-on learning in their home countries and it is central to their conception of learning. however, they experienced a lack of hands-on learning in the u.s.: i think that here in the united states, it’s really based on the book and if you wanna do good you have to do your research, and then i feel like back home the professors, they are more clear, like i’ll go back to the instructions, they give you more, you’ll be able to see more things than you see here, for example in one of my classes in brazil, we had to learn, it was very similar to my capstone class, somehow. the difference was we actually went to a factory where we saw the raw material from argentina and then you are actually able to see the whole process of the raw material becoming flour and then we had access to the books, so then that’s how we made our report. (brazilian student) so it’s a little difficult. in nigeria, we didn’t have so much to do like here, some we did in classes, but a lot of it was take it outside the classroom and do it in life, you know, like you are learning, take it home and then see how you can connect or ummm link it to life and make sense of it that way, so everything was not classroom, classroom, like here, it was more than classroom, like it was life you know. (nigerian student) these statements indicate a stark difference between their home countries of nigeria and brazil and the united states in terms of hands-on learning. diversity is the one area where students’ experience a similarity between their learning experiences at home and in the u.s. an example comment is: i think, like not really similar, i think like in a way because, you know nigeria is a different culture, so you know, it’s like different, it’s like almost all african there, here and in america it’s like different people, so at the end of the day if i meet someone from a different tribe in nigeria, i can learn something new from them, same thing here, if i meet someone from a different country, i feel like that’s a similarity like you tend to learn from people outside, outside, your own you know, own, tribe country or whatnot, so i think that’s kinda like a similarity, yeah. (nigerian student) journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 177 i’d say, because where i grew up, it’s a big city, so it was very diverse, lots of different people, from different tribes, countries, so but here, in atlanta, in gsu, it’s also diverse, a lot more diverse i would say, and so though its broader in a sense, i would say it’s a similarity a lot of cultures from all over in the world, so in both places, you are exposed, maybe to different degrees, to different viewpoints, experiences, perspectives, and that is very vital to learning you know…that exposure. (brazilian student) embedded in these views on diversity are beliefs about the benefits it provides such as being exposed to and learning about and from different cultures and people from different backgrounds. in response to research question 3, “are there differences and/or similarities between the two groups in their conceptions of learning?” no clear themes emerged regarding differences in brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning despite direct comparisons of the two countries. participants expressed that the process of adapting to learning in the u.s. as difficult: very hard, like if i should put it on a scale of zero to ten, i would put ten and i am thinking of this when i first started going to college here, because i am a transfer student because the systems work a little different because, here, you have, every time you ask someone something, they address you to the website, oh go to the website go to desire2learn, go to your paws account, you do not have someone, you don’t have a mentor that says, i’m gonna talk to you, like look, that’s how it was when i got started, go here, go there, and i know from my culture, brazilian people we are very passionate about helping people, we are not afraid to help others, with learning too, we help each other, together and our way of helping people, like i do it, we are very hands-on. and then the american culture is very private, individualist, and there is a conflict for those students coming here, and i can’t imagine, for those also doing the esl, how hard it is for them because they also have to learn the language and be with a big group of teachers, it is such a diverse school, such a diverse body of teachers, where sometimes you can be in a classroom with a teacher who also has an accent, so it must be really hard for them. (brazilian student) other statements addressed more specific things that were new and required adjustment, such as the relationship between old and young people. some example statements were: journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 178 so i think that was one of the things i found challenging and when i first came to this country and ummm…the way people view things, people see things quite differently from how i as nigerian sees things and i think it’s a cultural thing. ummm this is quite basic anyways, like when you are talking to someone who is older than you are, you know, there’s a couple of terms you can’t us, how you refer to them, how you address them , like here people talk to older people as if they are their age mates, call them by the first names and things like that, you know, just those basic things and it all piled up and i wasn’t used to things like that, so i had to slowly adjust, so in relation to that, in the classroom, i would see students talking to the teacher any way they want, and that was new to me, students arguing with teachers, telling them they were wrong, even when the teachers were a lot older than us. i wasn’t used to that, you give them that respect because they are older and because they are our teachers you no…so i have had to adjust. (nigerian student) discussion and conclusions data from the reflective diaries indicated students’ awareness of how much learning takes place outside formal school environments. a majority of students described non-school related learning experiences more often than they did school related experiences. previous research with brazilian and nigerian students in their countries of origin also indicates beliefs that learning is not reserved for formal learning environments but is embedded in everyday life (crabtree & sapp, 2004; iyamu & ukadike, 2007). this finding and its alignment with previous research is interesting because it indicates that , whether brazilian and nigerian students are home or abroad they consider learning as a process not limited to the classroom. educators that work with this population may wish to encourage students to pay attention to the learning experiences they have beyond the classroom. specifically, drawing students’ attention to how they learn outside of school could inform what methods and strategies they chose to use in the classroom. conceptions of learning revealed in this study may importantly be viewed in terms of active and passive learning. the theme of acquiring knowledge for practice indicates ideas about learning as an active process. research has established that in order for students to develop mastery in any concept or skill, they must go beyond knowledge acquisition and learn how to apply and practice it. this process is vital to students’ academic achievement because it speeds up learning, helps with long-term retention, and facilitates recall (seels & glasgow, 1997). previous research with nigerians in their country of origin reported a preference for practical instead of theoretical learning (watkins & akande, 1994). an important finding of this study is that nigerian students journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 179 whether home or abroad view learning as a practical endeavor involving practice, indicating an active approach to learning. the theme of learning as understanding is another conception involving action, where gaining, developing, and discovering personal meaning from knowledge is important. the view that learning is not bound by context or time may also be considered active. students discussed that they learn in a variety of environments and will continue to learn over their life span. research on active learners has established that they utilize higher order thinking and problem solving skills and are more enthusiastic about learning which leads to greater academic success (anderson et al., 2005; emelo, 2013; petress, 2008; thaman, dhillon, saggar, gupta, & kaur, 2013; wolfe, 2006). the view that learning is the accumulation of knowledge may be considered passive since students often describe themselves as the recipients of information from teachers. another example of passive learning is the view of learning as memorization since students discussed this category in terms of being able to remember and reproduce information rather than do something with the information. research on passive learners established that they have diminished motivation and enthusiasm, are less likely to ask questions, apply what they learn, and engage the information they receive, an approach to learning that often presents a challenge to academic achievement (anderson et al., 2005; emelo, 2013; petress, 2008; thaman et al., 2013; wolfe, 2006). it is interesting to note that both active and passive conceptions of learning emerged from brazilian and nigerian students. it is also important to note specifically that elements of both active and passive conceptions of learning were present in individual participant responses. perhaps this finding is a result of students transitioning from cultures that focus on passive learning to one that focuses on active learning. in any case, educators working with this population may wish to foster and encourage active learning. it is interesting to compare participants’ conceptions of learning to previous research on u.s. students’ conceptions of learning. two conceptions of learning (learning as gaining information and learning as a process not bound by time or place) that emerged in this study were also reported in earlier research with american students (hong & salili, 2000; purdie & hattie, 2002). it is important to consider that conceptions of learning may be shifting as participants adapt to the culture in the united states. international students studying in other cultures may have “hybrid” conceptions of learning, or ideas that are influenced both by their culture of origin and the culture they are experiencing while studying abroad. the fact that participants in this study report conceptions of learning similar to american students may indicate their conceptions of learning are shifting as they experience american culture. thus the findings that this study captured may be reflective of the intersection of two cultural influences, indicating that students still hold on their conceptions of learning from their journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 180 cultures of origin but are influenced by the conceptions of learning they encounter in american culture. findings on differences between learning conceptions and experiences are not surprising when considering previous research on classroom environments in the u.s. american classrooms are predominantly learner centered where students think critically about content, express perspectives in class, participate in dialogue, and demonstrate understanding (smithee, greenblatt, & eland, 2013). additionally, research has found that classrooms in the u.s. are environments where there are expectations of independent work, which can hinder collaboration. the differences reported between conceptions and experiences may be contributing to participants’ reports that adapting to learning in the united states is difficult. it is interesting to view these reported difficulties in light of international students’ challenges reported by previous research which include the individualist nature of the u.s. culture, increase in workload, being away from family and friends, new environments, and an increase in technology use (abe, talbot, & geelhoed, 1998; brown, 2008; liu, 2011; okorocha, 2010; sam, 2001; trice, 2005). it is possible that one explanation for why international students report these specific set of challenges is the discrepancy that exists between their conceptions and experiences once they are in the united states. institutions may wish to directly address the conflict between conceptions of learning and experiences in addition to these identified issues through providing international students with workshops and courses. the one theme that reflected a similarity between learning beliefs and experiences in the u.s. was diversity. participants expressed the belief that diversity is important because it presents opportunities to learn from different people and allows exposure to different viewpoints, experiences, and perspectives, which is very vital to learning. this belief in the value of diversity is supported by the diverse learning environments they experience in the u.s. research outlined several benefits of diversity in higher education, including enriching educational experiences, promoting personal growth by challenging stereotypes, encouraging critical thinking, learning to communicate effectively with people of varied backgrounds, and fostering mutual respect and teamwork (hardy & tolhurst, 2014; tienda, 2013; turner, 2013). it is important to note that participants in this study were attending an urban, diverse institution where their belief in the importance of diversity in a learning environment was likely matched by their experiences. this value for diversity underlines need for educators working with brazilian and nigerian students to create opportunities for students to interact and work with various groups of students and facilitate a context for diverse points of view to be expressed in the classroom. programs and institutions that are explicit about diversity as a core value journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 181 would be contributing toward international students feeling more comfortable in their educational environment. no clear themes emerged regarding differences in brazilian and nigerian international students’ conceptions of learning. thus results indicate noticeably similar conceptions of learning among students from both countries. hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions (1986) may provide one explanation for this finding since most west african and south american nations fall along similar sides on the five cultural dimensions. through his early seminal work on national work culture in 72 countries hofstede (1986) identified five cultural dimensions: individualismcollectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinityfemininity, and long-versus short-term orientation (jaju, kwak, & zinkhan, 2002). individualism-collectivism describes how individuals define themselves within society and measures the extent of the role of the individual versus the role of the group in a society. the dimension of power distance represents the extent to which members of a society expect and accept power distribution within the society. uncertainty avoidance measures the degree to which members of a society feel threatened by uncertain, ambiguous, and unstructured situations. the dimension of masculinity-femininity represents the polarization between gender roles in any given society. masculine cultures are male dominated societies characterized by clearly distinct gender roles, while feminine cultures in contrast have overlapping gender roles. long-term orientation cultures foster virtues oriented towards future rewards, such as adaptation, perseverance, and thrift, while short-term orientation cultures foster virtues oriented toward past and present, such as respect for tradition, preservation of face, and fulfilling social obligations. brazil and nigeria are identified as cultures that are highly collectivistic and masculine with high power distance, weak uncertainty avoidance, and short-term orientation (hofstede, 1986). beliefs about learning in collectivistic cultures are centered on the collaborative process, and there is a general preference for group learning (al-fraih, duffy, monserrat, & baker, 2012; foley & mitsis, 2004; hofstede, 1986; jaju, kwak, zinkhan, 2002; signorini, wiesemes, & murphy, 2009). students from high power distance cultures expect to learn and abide by the truth provided by teachers, and thus learning mostly involves teachers transmitting content to students. cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance have learning environments characterized by flexibility with teachers as guides and facilitators in the learning process (al-fraih et al., 2012; foley & mitsis, 2004; jaju et al., 2002; signorini et al., 2009). however, the similarities between the brazilian and nigerian cultures on hofstede’s dimensions and conceptions of learning among students from both countries should not be interpreted as an indication that these two groups of international students are homogenous and share identical learning experiences. rather, implications for educational journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 182 practice drawn from the findings for these two groups should serve as important frameworks to guide educators and institutions. implications and significance information on international students’ conceptions of learning is significant for a number of reasons. research has argued that there is very little congruence between university students’ conceptions of learning and those of their teachers, citing this discrepancy as one of the reasons for learning difficulties in higher education (perry, 1970; burnett, pillay, & dart, 2003). hofstede (1986) emphasized that teachers at all levels of education need to be trained to become intellectually and emotionally accustomed to the fact that in other societies people learn differently, especially as learning environments become more culturally diverse in order to be able to effectively develop culturally inclusive teaching approaches. learning shapes the main ideas of educational practice. the way individuals define learning and beliefs about the way learning occurs has important implications for educators who facilitate learning. an understanding of learning theories and conceptions provides instructional designers with verified instructional strategies and techniques for facilitating learning as well as a foundation for intelligent strategy selection (ertmer & newby, 2013). it is a fundamental belief that when educators gain a full understanding of students’ conceptions of learning, they can design better teaching and curricula or instructional environments (burnett, pillay & dart, 2003; chin & brown, 2000; tsai, 2009). a significant finding of this study is that nigerian and brazilian participants have multiple conceptions of learning. according to lee (1998), students with multiple conceptions of learning pay attention to learning conditions and subject difficulty level. furthermore, lin and tsai (2008) believe that students with multiple conceptions of learning use higher levels of cognitive and metacognitive strategies and thinking skills, such as self-monitoring, and a selection of different problem-solving strategies that are effective in their academic achievement. in other words, students who have multiple conceptions of learning use a combination of various learning methods to achieve academic success. even though the focus of this study did not extend to learning strategies, it can be inferred that the population employs a variety of learning methods. educators who work with students from brazil and nigeria may consider encouraging them to explore and think about the different ways in which they conceptualize learning and expose them to the different conceptions of learning identified in the literature. additionally, educators and teachers can help students understand how learning conceptions influence and shape learning strategies and methods. this study is also significant because it addresses the importance of understanding definitions of learning. saljo (1976) early on emphasized, journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 183 “learning does not exist as a general phenomenon. to learn is to act within man-made institutions and to adapt to the particular definitions of learning that are valid in the educational environment in which one finds oneself” (p.106). different educational environments define learning according to “different socially and culturally established conventions with respect to what counts as learning” (p.104). in this regard, international students come to institutions of higher education in the u.s. with a variety of culturally and socially influenced definitions of learning and must learn how to function and integrate into already established learning environments with existing definitions of learning. for this joining of different definitions of learning to work effectively, it is important that all parties involved have an understanding of each other’s definition of learning. this study provides educators in universities in the u.s. with information on how students from brazil and nigeria define learning. on a broader level, this research is significant because it expands on the relatively small literature on international undergraduate students from brazil and nigeria studying in the u.s. this study sheds light on a segment of the international undergraduate student population not previously addressed in the literature (dahlin & regmi, 1997; marshall et al., 1999; purdie et al., 1996; tsai, 2009). the general trend in conceptions of learning research is to rely on an east-west dichotomy as the basis for cross-cultural theorizing, and this study offers additional lens with which to view learning by a much-understudied population. this study reports findings that provide needed information on brazilian and nigerian international students, populations that are increasingly becoming part of classrooms in universities across the u.s. one limitation of this study is the reliance on self-report data. future studies could combine additional techniques such as observations together with self-report to gain a deeper understanding of conceptions of learning. another limitation of this study is maturational effects are not examined. future research could examine students’ conceptions of learning at the beginning, middle, and end of their study abroad experience to determine if length of stay in the u.s. may change learning conceptions over time. importantly, future research could also examine the relationship between brazilian and nigerian students’ conceptions of learning and academic achievement, as has been done with other populations. there is the need for a bridge between research on the learning experiences of international students and educational practice. through reflective diaries and interviews themes emerge that paint a clear picture of the learning conceptions and experiences of brazilian and nigerian international students. findings inform instructional, curriculum, and program designers and educators who work directly and indirectly with this population and provide valuable information for making decisions regarding learning objectives and strategies. understanding how students learn is useful in journal of international students, 7(2) 2017 184 determining what kinds of programs can be created to help international undergraduate students succeed academically and overall transition smoothly into the u.s. education system. references abe, j., talbot, d. m., & geelhoed, r. j. 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(2006). active learning. journal of teaching in travel and tourism. 6(1), 77-82. carol ashong, phd, is an instructor of education. her research focuses on culture and learning, international, immigrant and refugee student populations. she recently taught educational psychology courses at georgia state university. e-mail: carol.ashong@gmail.com nannette commander, ph.d. is a professor in the department of educational psychology and special education at georgia state university. e-mail: ncommander@gsu.edu manuscript submitted: september 9, 2015 manuscript revised: january 17, 2016 accepted for publication: february 20, 2016