Groen, Janet ElizabethYu, Eustacia Quan2020-07-092020-07-092020-07-07Yu, E. Q. (2020). The Impact of Expectations on Chinese Students’ Transition to a Canadian University (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.http://hdl.handle.net/1880/112266The purpose of this study is to research the impact of expectations held by Chinese students themselves and by third persons, such as their parents, instructors, and peers, on Chinese students’ holistic experiences during their transition into a Canadian university. This important transitional period provides participants with opportunities for more diverse experiences as they navigate the three-fold transition: moving from China to a linguistically and culturally different country like Canada, going through a major life change from high school to university, and from adolescence to adulthood, a dynamic period of both physical and psychological development. This study used narrative inquiry as the research methodology to highlight students’ own invoices through the exploration of two sides of the expectations and how these expectations in turn shape their holistic experiences in a Canadian university. The research utilized the theories of transition and intercultural adaptation as frameworks to examine how all the internal and external factors in both their home and host countries contribute to Chinese students’ transition. Key findings from this study revealed that, shaped by their own expectations and those held by third persons, these Chinese students encountered both challenges and opportunities for development in their transition to the Canadian university. Much as they share commonalities, these students are not a monolithic group; rather they each have their unique personality, expectations, and aspirations. Remaining open to new ideas, lifestyles, and ideologies while maintaining inherited values of effort and self-determination, these participants have taken up transcultural identities that offer them the affordance to explore and function comfortably in different worlds. This study also sheds light on how the entire higher education practice can work together to make joint efforts for international students’ success by involving them both socially and academically instead of viewing them through a deficit lens.engUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.expectationshigher educationinternational studentsChinese studentsCanadian universitystudy abroadEducationEducation--Higherdoctoral thesis10.11575/PRISM/37988