scholarly journals Adoption of non-Chinese Names as Identity Markers of Chinese International Students in Japan

Names ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinyan Chen
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Chinese International Students ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Student Power ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Identity Markers ◽  
Naming Practices

This study explores naming practices among Chinese international students and their relation to personal identity during their sojourn in Japan. Although previous studies have reported that some Chinese international students in English-speaking countries adopt names of Western origin (Cotterill 2020; Diao 2014; Edwards 2006), participants in this study were found to exhibit different naming practices: either adopting names of Japanese or Western origin; or retaining both Western and Japanese names. Drawing on fifteen semi-structured interviews with Mainland Han Chinese students, this investigation examines their motivations for adopting non-Chinese names and determines how personal identities are presented through them. The qualitative analysis reveals that the practice of adopting non-Chinese names is influenced by teacher-student power relations, Chinese conventions for terms of address, pronunciation, and context- sensitivity of personal names. As will be shown in this article, through the respondents’ years of self-exploration, their self-adopted non-Chinese names gradually became internalized personal identity markers that allow the bearers to explore and exhibit personality traits, which might not have been as easily displayed via their Chinese given names.

scholarly journals Teacher Beliefs and Emotion Expression in Light of Support for Student Psychological Needs: A Qualitative Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingwen Jiang ◽  
Marja Vauras ◽  
Simone Volet ◽  
Anne-Elina Salo
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Beliefs ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Emotion Expression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Student Behaviors ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Student Power

This study explored teacher beliefs and emotion expression via six semi-structured interviews with teachers, and discussed the findings in relation to the Self-Determination Theory, which addresses teacher support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The findings showed that teacher beliefs about their roles as educators, carers, and providers of reassurance reflected expressing clear expectation, caring for students, and considering student perspectives and feelings; teacher beliefs about equality between teachers and students appeared connected with trust in students and encouragement of their self-initiation; teacher beliefs about closeness to students reflected caring for students; teacher expression of negative emotions by discussing the problem with students conveyed explanatory rationales for expected student behaviors. This study revealed that teacher beliefs about teacher-student power relations may be connected with teacher appraisals of student misbehaviors. The findings also suggest that teachers need to discuss the problem with students rather than lose their temper or suppress their emotion when they feel a need to direct-stage anger. Future research could investigate teachers’ faking a particular emotion, such as faking indifference as revealed in the present study. Future research could also explore the reason for and harmfulness of embracing beliefs, e.g., negative expression of anger as a safety belt.

scholarly journals Identity negotiation of Chinese international students in Canada: A study on cosmopolitan post-graduation settlement

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 221258682110591
Author(s):  
Sebastian Zhao ◽  
Boulou Ebanda de B’beri
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Identity Negotiation ◽  
Family Values ◽  
Chinese International Students ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Chinese Identity ◽  
Canadian Identity ◽  
Career Factors

This study focuses on analyzing the acculturation of Chinese international students in Canada, emphasizing students' post-graduation settlement in China, Canada, or in other countries. Chinese international students commonly experience a multilayered acculturative adjustment when they are challenged by a new culture. In this process, they develop an identity negotiation that impacts their settlement into a new country. This study mobilizes four notions of acculturation (e.g., assimilation, integration, marginalization, and separation), to evaluate Chinese international students’ identity negotiation after university. This research uses 17 semi-structured interviews to understand how participants' identities were negotiated through their acculturative adjustment. First, the findings highlight the importance of career factors and family values in participants' settlement decisions. Second, the balance between Chinese identity and Canadian identity has some impact on student’s migration plans.

scholarly journals Three Levels of Push-Pull Dynamics Among Chinese International Students’ Decision to Study Abroad in the Canadian Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Mian Chen
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
International Student ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
Chinese International Students ◽  
Student Migration ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Migration Flows ◽  
The Individual

The extant literature on student migration flows generally focus on the traditional push-pull factors of migration at the individual level. Such a tendency excludes the broader levels affecting international student mobility. This paper proposes a hybrid of three levels of push-pull dynamics (micro−individual decision-making, meso−academic marketing, and macro−national marketing) to paint a more accurate picture of student migration flows. A case study of 15 semi-structured interviews with Chinese international students at a Canadian university was conducted to illuminate the underresearched reality that universities and Canada as a nation offer additional incentives, in conjunction with individual/familial reasons, for study abroad. The paper concludes with recommendations for new research directions arising from the present study.

scholarly journals Strengthening University Student Wellbeing: Language and Perceptions of Chinese International Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5538
Author(s):  
Lanxi Huang ◽  
Margaret L. Kern ◽  
Lindsay G. Oades
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
International Students ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
University Student ◽  
Chinese International Students ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Support Students

Students at the tertiary education level in Australia are at increased risk of experiencing high levels of psychological distress, with international students at particularly high risk for poor adjustment. As mental health and wellbeing strongly correlate with students’ academic performance and general overseas experience, a growing number of studies focus on what universities can do to effectively support students’ wellbeing. However, assumptions are made about what wellbeing is, strategies primarily focus on treating mental ill-health, and treatment approaches fail to account for cultural differences. This study aimed to explore how Chinese international students understand wellbeing, the language used about and for wellbeing, and activities that students believe strengthen their own and others’ wellbeing. Eighty-four Chinese international students completed the online survey, and a subset of 30 students participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic, phenomenographic, and language analyses. Physical health and mental health appeared as the key components that participants believed defined wellbeing, and intrapersonal activities were perceived as the primary approach used to strengthen wellbeing. Findings help broaden the understanding of wellbeing concept from the population of tertiary students, identify students’ perspectives of activities that strengthen their wellbeing, offer a snapshot of the language used by Chinese students around wellbeing, and provide new data of population health through a wellbeing lens.

Linguistic identity changes of Chinese international students in Germany

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingyue Maeder-Qian
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
German Society ◽  
Chinese International Students ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Linguistic Identity ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Identity Changes

AbstractThis article presents findings from a pilot study that aimed to examine Chinese international students’ linguistic identity changes in relation to their English as a lingua franca (ELF) experience and their multilingual competencies in Germany. Data were collected through two rounds of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven Chinese postgraduate students over a period of three to five months, with email reports as a supplementary method. A phenomenological approach was then used to interpret four students’ study-abroad experience by looking at relationships among language, identity, and context. The findings suggest that most of the ELF-users demonstrated positive transformation of linguistic identities within the university setting, but ELF also led to a role of ‘bystander’ in German society. The Chinese students’ multilingual identity development demonstrated diverse features and various reasons for this were identified, such as the context in which their social interaction took place, the perceived power relationships between speakers, and the extent of their multilingual competencies.

Challenges in obtaining employment in China: Lived experiences of Australian Chinese graduates

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-163
Author(s):  
Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Chinese International Students ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Barriers To Employment ◽  
Successful Employment ◽  
Australian Universities

Previous scholarly work has elaborated on challenges faced by Chinese international returnees at Chinese workplaces. However, limited research has captured to what extent such challenges have involved Chinese Australian graduates in gaining employment in China. Hence this study investigates the challenges involved in obtaining successful employment in China. Drawing on a qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 Chinese graduates who studied at one Australian university and returned to China upon graduation. The study results highlight significant barriers to employment. Challenges include limited prior working experience, graduation in Australia that is not synchronised with employment months in China and lack of guanxi. This study provides important insights into barriers of employment in China for Chinese returnees from Australia and, potentially, for graduate returnees from other countries to China. It also discusses implications for Australian universities and for Chinese international students in Australia.

scholarly journals The mediating effects of teacher-student power relations in a blended English course for academic purposes

2021 ◽  
pp. 46-51
Author(s):  
Li Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Role Identity ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Academic English ◽  
Mediating Effects ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Online Interactions ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Student Power

Guided by the theory of Language Socialization (LS), this study investigates the mediating effects of teacher-student power relations in an academic English course. To do so, several sets of data were collected: responses to a questionnaire survey, a series of semi-structured interviews, and the online interactions which took place on two teaching platforms (WeChat and QQ). Our results show that together with other factors, the power relations highlighted in this study influenced the participants’ academic performances. Besides, three types of teacher-student power relations were brought to the fore. Eventually, the power relations identified affected the construction of role identity in our study. The findings provide supporting evidence for the complicated power relations which exist between language learners and their community of practice.

Study-work-life balance of international students in the context of temporal boundaries

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Megan O'Mahony ◽  
Debora Jeske
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Social Withdrawal ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Time Zone ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Personal Challenges

The goal of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of study-work-life balance among international students who were separated from their family both geographically and temporally. Using 10 semi-structured interviews with postgraduate students and thematic analysis, several themes were identified. These included boundary management shifts due to study/work demands and time zone differences. In addition, students reported social and personal challenges (in terms of family’s expectations, relationships maintenance, socialization in host country). Temporal boundaries contributed to social withdrawal and isolation among students, many of which were heavily reliant on their own family network for support. The findings strengthen the argument that time difference impacts the boundary management and social experience of international students.

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