Cultural and Linguistic Lived Experiences of Chinese Student Newcomers in an EAP Program at a Western Canadian University

Date
2017
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Abstract
This study investigates the cultural and linguistic lived experiences of Chinese international student newcomers in an EAP program at a western Canadian university and whether or not intercultural transformations occur in English learning. As Chinese English learners are immersed in the Canadian tertiary education settings, their normative assumptions about knowledge will be challenged. However, through the ongoing process of trial and error, they have experienced a cultural and linguistic integration which accelerates their adaptation to the host country. This study employs qualitative case studies as the selected methodology to document my participants’ identities, investment, and imagined communities which are embedded in their personal trajectories. There are eight themes that emerge from the data collected from the semi-structured one-on-one interviews with ten participants. Gender disparity is also visible in the study’s findings; shaping how learners transformed their identities within the larger society. This study aims to offer an epistemic lens and methodological contribution for western universities and instructors to increase the efficiency of the support offered to the Chinese student body who share the same aspiration to flourish in their future endeavors in a multicultural society, such as the one that exists in Canada.
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Keywords
Education--Bilingual and Multicultural
Citation
Lin, C. (2017). Cultural and Linguistic Lived Experiences of Chinese Student Newcomers in an EAP Program at a Western Canadian University (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25500