Socialization as sensemaking: a semiotic analysis of international graduate students' narratives in the USA

Suspitsyna, Tatiana

doi:10.1080/03075079.2011.629343

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Empirical research by scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds has, collectively, provided useful accounts of the challenges and successes that international students have experienced. Researchers in psychology have primarily focussed upon stress levels and coping strategies and the quality of the support mechanisms that are available to promote (or inhibit) students’ intercultural adaptation, intra‐ and interpersonal interactions and psychological wellbeing (Ward & Kennedy, ; Cushner & Karim, ; Zhang & Goodson, ; Suspitsyna, ; Glass & Westmont, ). However, the limitation of their ‘objectivistic’ methodology (Gudykunst, , p. 25) means that they often fail to consider the role of human agency in the management by international students of their overseas learning experiences or to elaborate on the complexity of international students’ identity negotiations and sense making in the cultural, social and educational worlds that they are exposed to.…”

Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

Schweisfurth

2015

British Educational Res J

120

128

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International students constitute a substantial and growing mobile population globally. However, as yet, the experiences of returnees and the ways in which their overseas studies impact on their identity and professional and personal lives over time have been under-researched areas. In this article we employ concepts from theories of transnationalism as a framework for the analysis of the experiences of Chinese graduate returnees. The empirical basis for the article is a 20-month, twostage, mixed-method study of 652 Chinese students who returned home for work on completion of their degrees in UK universities over the last 25+ years. Evidence suggests that their journeys of studying abroad and returning home are dynamic and interconnected transnational experiences. Such experiences are avenues for diverse social networks that reinforce a complex cosmopolitan identity and awareness. They are, also, avenues for transnational(ised) new competences, skills and worldviews, which are increasingly valued by the students themselves upon return home. Irrespective of differences in their demographics and backgrounds, studying and living abroad was perceived by most returnees in our research as a profound identity transformating experience. These new connections, competences and identities enabled them to view and live life with a new sense of self at 'home' and, as a result, function in ways that continued to distinguish themselves from those around them over time. The findings have implications for higher education institutions and agencies that are concerned with enhancing the quality of university internationalisation. They also have implications for a broadened empirical and conceptual understanding of transnationalism.

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Section: The Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

Schweisfurth

2015

British Educational Res J

120

128

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“…There have certainly been some studies focusing on international graduate students' problems. For example, Tatiana Suspityna [6] studied the socialization of international graduate students. In her study, she examined how they make sense of their new world using organizational sense making with focus on cognitive aspects of international students.…”

Section: Studies On International Graduate Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the Japanese Graduate Education System on the Experiences of International Students

Arikawa¹,

Tomoko²

2021

ujer

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This paper examines how the experiences of international graduate students are influenced by the graduate education system applied in higher educational institutions in Japan. It is based on the author's ethnographic study on Indonesian students who studied in Japan from 1991 to 1992. The follow-up studies on the returnees after their study abroad were conducted from 2011 to 2013. The paper is likewise based on the author's work on international students at a Japanese university. This paper studied the experiences of Indonesian graduate students in the Science field with the graduate education system at Japanese universities. It focused on the koza research unit, which usually had the head professor and other faculty members in different ranks and the students in different years. The study found that this koza unit could be described as a "person-dependent" system, since the experiences of international graduate students differed depending on how the koza community was managed and practiced. For example, differences arouse from the variety in teaching methods and research learning among its members. This paper discusses the problems that arise when such system does not work from the perspective of international graduate students. Additionally, it discusses some possible improvements in overcoming the limitations of this system, while keeping the positive aspect of teaching and learning among its members. There are many higher educational institutions which seek globalization. This paper discusses the importance of international graduate students' perspectives in clarifying macro-level problems concerning the graduate education system of higher educational institutions.

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“…To illustrate, one of the participants reported that she was "lost" because of the necessity of critical thinking for successful completion of presentations and term papers and she realized that it was because of the type of education she had received in her country. Suspitsyna (2012) researched the narratives of international students and found how those narratives reflected perceptions of international graduate students towards their host departments and the ideas they developed in their home countries. In another study, Lan (2018) examined academic English socialization of non-native English-speaking graduate students in Taiwan through semi-structured interviews and reported that participants successfully socialize into their academic communities following a period where they experience challenges including negative perceptions towards their English accents, and a lack of interaction with their Taiwanese counterparts.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of a Writing Center in Academic Writing Socialization of Second Language Graduate Students

Solmaz

2021

Acta Educationis Generalis

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Introduction: The present study aims to investigate second language graduate students’ academic writing socialization in relation to their experiences at writing center in North American higher educational context. The study documents how graduate students are socialized to use academic language in order to participate effectively within their academic communities by employing Weidman, Twale, and Stein’s (2001) framework for Graduate and Professional Student Socialization. Methods: The data is collected through semi-structured interviews with five graduate students who had experience visiting writing center to receive support for their academic writing. The data was analyzed based on the tenets of thematic analysis, which followed an iterative process. Results: It was revealed that second language graduate students’ reasons for visiting the Campus Writing Center included their educational background, field of study, and their first language(s). It was also shown that all participants expected revision on their grammatical errors as well as feedback on global areas such as idea development and organization during their visits. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that the participants gained both positive and negative experiences from the tutoring sessions, while it was found that writing center was not the only resource our participants relied on for the development of their academic writing. Discussion: There are various factors influencing and contributing to second language graduate students’ development of writing socialization within academic community. It is a challenging task for students from other educational and cultural backgrounds to adapt and socialize into new environments, especially in the academic community of higher education. Therefore, the support from writing service and writing development programs/workshops that are tailored to the specific needs of second language graduate students would be one helpful resource to help them go smoothly through the process of second language academic writing socialization. Given that second language graduate students generally benefited from a strong supervision and supportive feedback, and appreciated them as reported in the literature, it is also important to survey international students’ academic enculturation experiences periodically in terms of areas such as writing, speaking and participation in scholarly activities, faculty mentorship and offer feedback-support to overcome issues reported by students. Limitations: The number of participants and the lack of students’ academic text investigation were noted as limitations of the study. It is suggested that further research incorporates various sources of data collection such as tutor’s perspectives and the analysis of participants’ texts. Conclusions: It was concluded that writing center played an important role in academic writing socialization experiences of the participants, and there were various factors influencing and contributing to their academic writing socialization. Overall, it was concluded that the developmental processes into academic writing in second language were non-linear, dynamic, and multimodal.

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Socialization as sensemaking: a semiotic analysis of international graduate students' narratives in the USA

Cited by 16 publications

References 40 publications

Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

Transnational connections, competences and identities: experiences of Chinese international students after their return ‘home’

The Impact of the Japanese Graduate Education System on the Experiences of International Students

The Role of a Writing Center in Academic Writing Socialization of Second Language Graduate Students

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