An Investigation into the Transformation of Transnational Identities of Chinese Students with Study-Abroad Experiences

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”.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education Graduate Program – Educational Research

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Werklund School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• He, Miao

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roy, Sylvie

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Dressler, Roswita
• Delanoy, Nadia

• identity
• transnationalism
• Chinese students

Statement dc:rights

• University 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.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39318

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/114006