An Investigation into the Transformation of Transnational Identities of Chinese Students with Study-Abroad Experiences
Date
2021-09-23
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Abstract
In our globalized and diverse world, the number of international students in post-secondary institutions is increasing more than ever. While bringing their experiences and ideas to their new settings, these students also learn and change the way they see themselves and the people around them. My project is a case study that examines the transformation of Chinese students’ transnational identities against the backdrop of the internationalisation of higher education (Varghese, 2008). Based on a social constructivism paradigm, the study used a qualitative research approach in order to probe issues lying beneath the surface of behaviours (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2018) and investigate six individual cases in significant depth. The study includes two phases of data collection. During the first phase, the data was gathered from two rounds of semi-structured interviews: the first round focused on the participants’ experiences abroad; the second, on their home-visiting experiences. In the second phase, through a complementary data collection method, document review, I explored how the participants positioned their identities on social media by investigating their posts on WeChat, which was ubiquitous in Chinese students’ lives for its wide functional range. My findings were analysed on the racial factor and the six conceptual premises of transnationalism proposed by Vertovec (2009). The study will benefit both higher education staff and faculty members in understanding Chinese students’ transnational identities, while helping Chinese international students see themselves better through the lens of “transnationalism”.
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Keywords
identity, transnationalism, Chinese students
Citation
He, M. (2021). An Investigation into the Transformation of Transnational Identities of Chinese Students with Study-Abroad Experiences (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.