Abstract
Through 24 semi-structured interviews with non-native English-speaking (NNES) international graduate students, this study explores their academic English socialization experiences in Taiwan guided by Lave and Wenger’s (1991) community of practice framework and Lee and Rice’s (2007) concept of neo-racism. Throughout a complicated academic English socialization process, newcomers became increasingly competent in communicating with the university community in English. However, this process was not unproblematic; challenges included differential welcome and treatment, a relative lack of interaction with Taiwanese peers or students outside their own ethnic groups, and negative perceptions of their accents and non-fluent English. Findings suggest a need to stimulate deeper reflection on international students’ experiences in host communities, where they are increasingly the targets of nationality-based discrimination.
Highlights
Through 24 semi-structured interviews with non-native English-speaking (NNES) international graduate students, this study explores their academic English socialization experiences in Taiwan guided by Lave and Wenger’s (1991) community of practice framework and Lee and Rice’s (2007) concept of neo-racism
This work is guided by two theoretical frameworks, communities of practice (CoPs; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and neo-racism (Lee & Rice, 2007), each of which are described in detail
Given that international students are universally encouraged to enroll in Taiwanese universities, the present study’s findings suggest that more remains to be done to address the differential welcomes such students receive upon arrival
Summary
Through 24 semi-structured interviews with non-native English-speaking (NNES) international graduate students, this study explores their academic English socialization experiences in Taiwan guided by Lave and Wenger’s (1991) community of practice framework and Lee and Rice’s (2007) concept of neo-racism. When this process occurs through the medium of English, it can be described as academic English socialization (AES) This task becomes even more difficult for non-native English-speaking (NNES) international graduate students who lack prior experience learning in English and often find it difficult to access the support and resources AES requires (e.g., Braine, 2002; Nambiar & Ibrahim, 2013). According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, in the 2014–2015 academic year, 4,439 NNES international graduate students (70% of all 6,305 international graduate students) were enrolled in Taiwanese higher education institutions (MOE, 2015) Given this growing presence, a better understanding of NNES international graduate students’ AES experiences is urgently needed. This work is guided by two theoretical frameworks, communities of practice (CoPs; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and neo-racism (Lee & Rice, 2007), each of which are described in detail
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