Self-segregation, sense of belonging, and social support: An inquiry into the practices and perceptions of Chinese graduate students at an American Mid-Atlantic University

Chinese students studying in the United States face great challenges when adapting to cultural, linguistic, and pedagogical differences. Although discouraged in the literature, self-segregation is a practice common among some international students and is especially prevalent in the Chinese community. This qualitative study explored the motivation and frequency of this practice vis-à-vis social support, and its effect on the participants’ sense of belonging. Insider status was employed to conduct focus groups of mainland Chinese students currently enrolled in graduate programs at a Mid-Atlantic University in the United States. Findings from the study explore how administrators, educators, and the students themselves view the practice of self-segregation and its consequences.

Place attachment and affinity: turning the Mainland Chinese students into “Word-of-Mouth Champions”

PurposeMainland Chinese students are the largest group of international students globally. The role of international students in destination marketing can be seen as “Word-of-Mouth Champions”. This study attempts to examine the effect of place attachment and affinity for Mainland Chinese students on generating word-of-mouth intention towards their place of study.Design/methodology/approachSix well-trained research assistants collected paper-based questionnaires in six institutions in Macao. They chose every tenth student who passed by to fill in the questionnaire at six locations in each institution. This study employed partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to estimate the strength of causal relationship among place identity, place dependence, affinity and intention to word-of-mouth.FindingsThe results of the survey from 327 students in Macao indicate that place dependence, place identity and affinity drive Mainland Chinese students to provide word-of-mouth regarding Macao. Place dependence has a positive influence on place identity, and place identity has a positive influence on affinity with residents. However, place dependence has no significant direct effect on affinity.Practical implicationsEvidence from this study indicates the importance of students' word-of-mouth as they as sojourners, in particular, the students' place attachment and affinity for residents is critical to positive their Word-of-mouth on destinations. This research offers insights about the potential group which need require attention.Originality/valueThis study fills a research gap by exploring the relationship between place attachment and social distance in influencing Mainland Chinese students' behaviour, a relationship that has rarely been investigated in tourism research. Practical recommendations are provided to the governments, universities and education enterprises according to the results of the study. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, the findings from this study suggest promoting international students to turn into real “Word-of-Mouth Champions”.

Schools as spaces for in/exclusion of young Mainland Chinese students and families in Hong Kong

Around 30,000 children living in Shenzhen, Mainland China cross the border to Hong Kong to attend school every day. This paper focuses on the school as a key meso-level organisation that mediates macro-level policies and micro-level everyday life experiences among these children and their families. We advocate a relational, spatial perspective, conceptualising schools as webs of intersecting physical, social and digital spaces, where differences between the “locals” and “others” are played out, negotiated and (re)produced, and in turn giving rise to specific (and understudied) geographies of in/exclusion. Drawing on our qualitative research, we offer a close reading of three exemplary school spaces: (i) the physical classroom and school grounds, (ii) the digital classroom, and (iii) at the school gate. Our findings demonstrate the complex and at times contradictory ways in which “the school” is a place of both inclusion and exclusion. It is a dynamic and power-traversed space where social differences between the “locals” and the “others” are played out, contested and redefined continuously.

Towards an understanding of multilingual investment: multilingual learning experiences among mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong

This paper investigates a group of mainland Chinese students’ multilingual learning experiences in an English-medium university in multilingual Hong Kong. Informed by the sociological construct of investment, the study focuses on the role of identity and language ideology and their interaction in shaping the participants’ experiences of learning English and Cantonese and their multilingual development. The findings reveal that the participants’ multilingual investments were mediated by their ideologies of sociolinguistic competence and flexible multilingualism, which contributed to the development of their identities as competent multilingual speakers. However, the participants’ negotiations of their multilingual identities were constrained by the local students’ deficit perspectives on the participants’ multilingual competences as a result of the influence of the ideology of native-speakerism in the local society. The findings also show that the participants’ internalization of the ideology of neoliberal multilingualism and the ideology of multilingualism as indexical of cosmopolitan membership prompted their multilingual investments, which expanded their imagined identity options for the future. Taken together, the findings point to the complex and dynamic interaction between identity and language ideology in shaping multilingual investments. The study also expands our understanding of multilingual learning by contributing to the conceptualization of ‘multilingual investment’ from a sociological perspective.

The connection between VFR experience based and sociocultural dimensions of international students and mainland Chinese students

Purpose This paper aims to present the host experience of student hosts in Hong Kong, a popular educational destination for international students from mainland China and other countries. This study examines the interconnection between the experience-based and sociocultural dimensions of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel, considering the overall host experience, the host–guest relationship and post-hosting changes in perception of both the VFR experience and destination. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts a qualitative approach to compare the experience-based and sociocultural dimensions of VFR travel considering international university students as VFR hosts in Hong Kong, taking a student sample from both mainland Chinese and overseas students. Based on a voluntary sampling approach, the research team had face-to-face interviews with the students that agreed to participate. The interviews were conducted voluntarily and anonymously and included those students who had hosted any friends or relatives in the past 12 months. A total of 26 interviews were successfully completed, including 10 mainland Chinese and 16 non-mainland Chinese students. Findings The results confirm that the VFR host experience is generally shaped by an integration of internal characteristics (sociocultural characteristics of both hosts and visitors) and external environment (urban infrastructure and tourism resources). The two groups distinctively express their host experience that shows some areas of cultural barriers and geographical proximity. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this research mainly lie on its relatively small sample size because of constraints in accessing the contact information of international students across universities. These shortcomings should be improved by adopting a research design that uses other sampling approaches, such as snowball sampling, to include a wider scope of students from different local universities, or convenience sampling, to interview and compare responses of international students from various educational destinations. Alternative data sources may be considered, for example, through user-generated contents from online and social media platforms that contain sharing of students as hosts. Practical implications The geographical and cultural proximities influence VFR tourism development and social construction of values and the consequent hosting behaviour. The unique role of international students should be further explored, especially in the Asian context. The outcome of VFR travel must be evaluated and studied more from cultural and personal dimensions than economic gain, which should be relevant to host perspective such as improved quality of life, social ties and place attachment and psychological benefits. The changing risk perception caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may be examined through some forms of travel intention. Social implications Firstly, the destination marketing organisations of the educational destination should address the difficulty faced by student hosts in terms of external attributes such as local culture, urban infrastructure, tourism resources and information accessibility. Secondly, to target the hosts, some specific VFR-related products and services may be developed for international students through local tertiary institutions such that the role of hosts as ambassadors can be facilitated and enhanced. Thirdly, the functional role of international students can be distinctive based on their unique network, activities and knowledge constructed upon learning during the period of education. Originality/value The studentification of many educational destination cities, the dynamism of the role of international students as VFR hosts and their cultural differences between places of origin have provided an opportunity for deepening the understanding of VFR tourism.

Guarding the Space In-between

Based on eight in-depth interviews, this article analyses the quandary faced by liberal mainland Chinese student migrants in Hong Kong. On the one hand, the liberal pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong are deeply intertwined with the rise of localism, which is based on a dichotomy between Hong Kong and mainland China. On the other hand, a rising, development-centric nationalism in mainland China reduces Hong Kong protesters to unemancipated British colonial subjects. However, in the context of this “double marginalisation,” liberal Mainland students guard a form of liberalism that transcends both Hong Kong localism and Chinese nationalism. They debunk the stereotype of mainland Chinese students being apolitical and therefore provide an alternative definition of being Chinese. They challenge the view that mainland Chinese can only be emancipated outside mainland China to destabilise a Fukuyamian linear interpretation of history. They use four tactics to cope with double marginalisation: understanding localists, befriending expatriates, assuming professionalism, and becoming apolitical. Image © Ling Tang

Views on learning difficulties in basic sciences by mainland Chinese students

Science programs at Western higher education institutions are popular with mainland Chinese students. My teaching experience in Chinese classes suggest significant challenges for China-raised students in gaining deep appreciation and understanding of the principles of pure science, which differs from applied science in motivation and skills. The learning difficulties can be traced to students’ early education and cultural background. The information provided here could benefit future development of new course structures and teaching style in basic sciences, which is expected to generate a better appreciation of Western basic science philosophy by China-raised learners who in turn will gain a more rewarding learning experience.