East Asian International Students Research Articles

“Can I really be authentic?” A co-created critical autoethnography on whiteness in dance/movement therapy education

As a cultural force, Whiteness is insidious in dance/movement therapy (DMT) education. In the process of learning, East Asian international students and educators may aspire to White, middle-class, able-bodied, heteropatriarchal norms of what constitutes healthy movement and relational styles while excluding others, particularly within a group dynamic that privileges modern dance technique and overt emotional and verbal expression. The reach of educational neocolonialism in East Asian countries further perpetuates this force. As the foundational form of the discipline of DMT, “modern dance” is the standard of the expressive practice. And although “other” dance forms are starting to be welcomed, there is still a gap regarding how these are included into DMT education and applied in practice. This co-created critical autoethnography emerged from an embodied reflexive dialogue between two East Asian former international students on their experience of Whiteness in DMT education. Through counternarratives, we illustrate ways towards a decolonizing praxis of DMT that is situated within the educational environment and with the students with whom we work as educators and supervisors.

Understandings of race and racism in globalizing higher education: when east Asian international student perspectives resonate with color-blindness

ABSTRACT This article examines how class, race, and neoliberal cultural logics are intertwined with the understanding of race and racism among Chinese and Korean international undergraduate students, drawing on data from an 18-month ethnography. The data suggests that the discourse of color-blind racial ideology and the positionality of the ‘strategic cosmopolitan’ interactively fabricate the perspective of East Asian international students. Specifically, their motivation for acquiring globally competitive cultural capital is connected to the pursuit of White capital. Despite aspiring to be cosmopolitan, students find themselves socially isolated on campus, which is attributed to cultural differences and individual responsibility rather than racial dynamics. Students tend to deny the existence of racial discrimination or avoid discussing racism, distancing themselves from ostensible racial subordinates while emphasizing individual responsibility and meritocracy. By investigating these dynamics, the article adds complexity to the understanding of racism and diversity in global higher education.

East is East: Socratic classroom communication is linked to higher stress in students from confucian heritage cultures

East Asian students are often educated in a more instructor-led and less interactive manner than their North American and European peers. Therefore, as international students at Western universities, they need to adapt to unfamiliar teaching practices that involve classroom communication emphasising critical thinking, debating, and challenging others' views. We explored the stress from such communication by assessing the relationships between East Asian students' perceived ease of engaging in Socratic communication and stress. 51 students from various majors completed the Ease of Socratic Communication scale and the Conceptions of Learning Inventory. One week later, students rated on the Perceived Stress Scale their levels of helplessness and self-efficacy. East Asian students found it less easy to engage in Socratic communication than their non-Asian peers,. The harder students found Socratic communication, the higher were their stress levels. On the other hand, higher Socratic communication ease was associated with higher self-efficacy. Moreover, the relationship between Socratic communication ease and stress was less pronounced the more students viewed learning as the development of personal competence. Complementing extant qualitative research, our findings suggest that Socratic communication may act as a stressor to East Asian international students. Reducing that stress might help improve international students’ learning experience and thus foster their academic integration.

“I Feel Your Fear”: (Counter)stories of East Asian International Doctoral Students About Awakening, Resistance, and Healing

ABSTRACT As an extension of the personal and intellectual conversations that took place in the sister-scholar group consisting of four East Asian international doctoral students from China and South Korea, in this article, we narrate and examine our (counter)stories traversing between different spaces and across time. These narratives center our racial, linguistic, social, and academic experiences and illustrate our processes of awakening, resistance, and collective healing. We used transnationalism and Asian Critical Theory as our theoretical guide, and collaborative autoethnography as our methodology. Through the canvas of (counter)stories, we (a) refuse dominant views and definitions of what it means to be Asian in the United States, (b) resist the simplistic and monolithic ways of understanding our existence and experiences as international students, and (c) challenge the academic community and broader society to develop more complex and critical social praxis regarding race, culture, and relations of power.

Measuring Religiosity of East Asians: Multiple Religious Belonging, Believing, and Practicing

AbstractSocial surveys normally assume that respondents adhere to a single religious faith in belonging, believing, and practicing congruently. Some surveys even take religious identity as the singular measure of religiosity and examine its relationship with other variables. This practice, however, fails to capture nonexclusive and hybrid religiosity, which is arguably the traditional and normal pattern in East Asia while becoming increasingly common in the West. We have developed a new set of survey questions and conducted a survey among East Asian international students at an American university. The findings show that multiple religious belonging, believing, and practicing are quite common, the level of believing and participating in religions varies substantially, and no confession‐based single measure of religious identity or practice is sufficient for measuring religiosity. We recommend this set of improved measures of religiosity be adopted in future surveys in East Asia and probably in the West as well.

TENSÕES ENTRE PORTUGUESES A PARTIR DE METACOMENTÁRIOS DE ESTUDANTES INTERNACIONAIS DO LESTE ASIÁTICO NO BRASIL

ABSTRACT The aims of this paper are to analyse how East Asian international students narrate tensions in Portuguese language, or Portugueses, through metacommentary, and to foster reflections on the counter-hegemonic potential that language learning comprises, particularly when thinking of the internationalisation agenda implemented by a Brazilian public university. To pursue that, we depart from audio-recorded semi-structured interviews, later manually transcribed, with a Korean and a Japanese undergraduate student during their sojourn. We observed that these tensions in Portugueses arose as students’ communicative repertoires were put to the test, either by them or their interlocutors, in different spaces. Our discussion foregrounds how students, when engaging in various social practices on campus and off-campus, manoeuvre sociolinguistic scales in comments made by themselves or by their interlocutors about ways of speaking Portuguese. We considered that, overall, students resort to ecological factors when doing scales, whilst indexing dominant language ideologies. Moreover, it was also possible to conceive that metacommentary from their interlocutors, particularly from Brazilians, impact (negatively) on students’ perception about their language learning and linguistic practices. To tackle these tensions, we advocate for an internationalisation agenda that envisages language education not only to international students, but also to home students and staff in order to promote different degrees of language and social justice awareness.

“Switching to the Online MA TESOL Program”: Experiences and Decision-Making Processes of International Learners

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the curricula and mode of instruction for many postgraduate taught and research programs. Before the pandemic, many MA TESOL programs included on-campus tutorials as requirements, as the curricula were designed based on on-campus activities. However, as the United Kingdom restricted face-to-face teaching due to social distancing, most of the courses were switched to online learning platforms during the pandemic. Although most courses returned to on-campus teaching during the 2021/2022 academic year, a group of East Asian international students decided to continue their MA TESOL program online as an alternative option. The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences and decision-making processes about this group of MA TESOL students and their decisions to finish their degrees via the online completion option. In line with social cognitive career and motivation theory, the results indicated that flexibility, career development through online learning options, and concerns about job security were the main three themes that arose within this group of students. The outcomes provide suggestions to university leaders and program directors in regard to developing additional online courses and programs to meet the needs of adult and postgraduate students who cannot attend on-campus courses, particularly MA TESOL learners.

Internationalizing Violence Prevention: East Asian Perspectives on Sex, Relationships, and Sexual Violence

Sexual violence prevention initiatives often do not address the unique experiences of international students. This study examined the experiences of eight East Asian international students navigating sex, relationships, and sexual violence in the United States. Four themes emerged: navigating a more open society without preparation, feeling pressure and choosing silence, searching for meaning and learning through example, and developing knowledge through interactions. These themes describe the students’ experiences and lead to implications for practice.

\u201cI always prefer to withdraw than use a condom\u201d: contextualising condomless sex among East Asian and sub-Saharan African international students in Sydney

BackgroundIncidence and prevalence of blood-borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections among young people continue to necessitate population-based studies to understand how contextualised sexual health services can be developed and implemented to promote protective behaviours such as consistent condom use. This study examined condomless sexual practice among a sample of East Asian and sub-Saharan African international university students in Sydney, Australia.MethodsThis qualitative study was methodologically guided by interpretative phenomenological analysis. Data was provided by 20 international students sampled from five universities in Sydney, who participated in either face-to-face or telephone semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interview sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded in NVivo and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsCondomless sexual practices appear to be common among the study group based on participants’ self-reports of their own practices and the practices of friends and peers. Three themes contextualising condomless among the study participants were generated from the interview transcripts: (1) unanticipated sex, condom related stigma and alcohol use (2) pleasure-seeking, curiosity and intimacy (3) condomless sex as a gendered practice.ConclusionsThe result of this study has implications for public health research, practice and policy around design, implementation and evaluation of multi-layered and population-specific sexual health services that are tailored to addressing the needs of international students, who migrate from traditional sexual cultures to Australia, where sexual norms are more liberal.

Acculturation and Its Implications for the Academic Achievement and Subjective Well-Being of East Asian International Students

The U.S. higher education system hosts a wide range of international students with the majority from East Asian countries. East Asian international students may have particular difficulty with acculturating into a novel environment given their predominant interdependent self-construal, which contrasts with the largely independent cultural imperative of the West. The present study investigates the potential associations between international students’ acculturation, self-construal (SC), and their academic and psychological adjustment (e.g., achievement goals, academic achievement, subjective well-being) to shed light on how East Asian international students can best adapt to a new culture. Participants included a total of 48 East Asian international students (25 male, 23 female; age range: 18 to 23). Results from a series of correlation analyses indicated that there were no significant correlations between acculturation strategy and self-construal. However, there was a significant correlation between performance-avoidance goals and GPA. Additionally, the separation strategy was negatively associated with negative affect and positively associated with life satisfaction, and the marginalization strategy was positively associated with negative affect and negatively associated with life satisfaction. The findings suggest that acculturation strategy is not directly linked to academic achievement; instead, it has a more prominent influence on well-being among East Asian international students. Further longitudinal research may provide a more comprehensive understanding of the association between acculturation and achievement goals in this unique student population.

Outsiders Within: College Sport as an Avenue to Integrate International Students

The increasingly volatile social, cultural, and political environment in the United States has made it difficult for U.S. institutions of higher learning to retain and integrate international students, especially those from East Asian countries. Drawing upon social identity theory and the acculturation process, this study explored how college sport contributes to international students’ university identification using narrative interviews with East Asian international students who attended college football events at a U.S. university. Findings revealed that international students identified with their co-national peers for socialization purposes at football events and identified with the football spectator subgroup through the influence of domestic students, which contributed to university identity. Theoretically, our research highlighted the dynamics between sport identification, university identity, and acculturation by showing how college sport spectatorship can foster university identification but also create cultural distance within the university community. Findings also offer practical guidelines on how universities can use college sport to initiate organic social interactions between students from different cultures and empower international students to identify as essential members of universities.

Why the other-race effect matters: Poor recognition of other-race faces impacts everyday social interactions.

What happens to everyday social interactions when other-race recognition fails? Here, we provide the first formal investigation of this question. We gave East Asian international students (N = 89) a questionnaire concerning their experiences of the other-race effect (ORE) in Australia, and a laboratory test of their objective other-race face recognition deficit using the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). As a 'perpetrator' of the ORE, participants reported that their problems telling apart Caucasian people contributed significantly to difficulties socializing with them. Moreover, the severity of this problem correlated with their ORE on the CFMT. As a 'victim' of the ORE, participants reported that Caucasians' problems telling them apart also contributed to difficulties socializing. Further, 81% of participants had been confused with other Asians by a Caucasian authority figure (e.g., university tutor, workplace boss), resulting in varying levels of upset/difficulty. When compared to previously established contributors to international students' high rates of social isolation, ORE-related problems were perceived as equally important as the language barrier and only moderately less important than cultural differences. We conclude that the real-world impact of the ORE extends beyond previously identified specialized settings (eyewitness testimony, security), to common everyday situations experienced by all humans.

Experience of International Education of East Asian Students in English-speaking Countries: A Four-Dimensional Approach

Global participation in international education in the last two decades has increased exponentially.International students face difficulties in adjusting to the culture of their host country due to their unique needs (Bertram, Poulakis, Elsasser & Kumar, 2014). This article presents themes comprising the international education phenomenon involving the experiences of East Asian international students in English-speaking countries. The literature reviewed for this article pertains to many aspects of international education, covering the factors that influence the decision to embark on the international education journey to the adjustment experienced by students to the host culture. The authors suggest that the international education experience is comprised of four dimensions: structural, linguistic, internal, and external. We also posit that Confucianism, which many East Asian students follow, influences not only the psycho-social dimension of the international education experience but also their instructional preferences within the structural dimension. We further contend that students’ actual and perceived proficiency (or the lack thereof) in the host country’s language greatly shapes all aspects of thestudent’s international education experience, which then determines the degree of acculturative stress involved and plays a key role in each of the three dimensions. Because of the anticipated continued growth in the number of international students from EastAsia attending higher education institutions in English-speaking countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, and parts of Africa, it is important to examine how each of the dimensions proposed impact each other. Approaching the study of the international education experience one dimension at a time, as many scholars have done, does not completely address all of the unique needs of international students. We suggest that research in this area be conducted holistically by exploring the ecology surrounding the international student. Taking this ecological approach will help clearly definethe role that home and host countries and host higher education institutions must take in serving theinternational students well.

How perceived Australian sexual norms shape sexual practices of East Asian and sub-Saharan African international students in Sydney

IntroductionSexual norms, real or perceived, shape young people’s sexual behaviour and may constitute one of the greatest challenges in HIV/STIs prevention among this population. This study used sexual script theory to explore how international students in Sydney, Australia – from traditional cultures of East Asian and sub-Saharan African countries – construct home backgrounds and Australian sexual norms and how this may shape their sexual practices during their studies in Australia.MethodsThe study involved face-to-face and telephone semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data were provided by 20 international students who are enrolled in various universities in Sydney. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded into NVivo and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsIdentified patterns in the data showed three themes through which participants perceive sexual norms in Australia as distinctly different from their home country norms. First, participants stated that unlike their home country norms, sexual norms in Australia are permissive. Second, participants hold the view that compared to their home country norms, sex in Australia is largely casual as it is not always attached to love. Some participants revealed that this could shape their own sexual practices during their studies in Australia. Finally, participants noted that compared to their home countries’ norm of sex talk taboo, Australia has an open sexual communication norm; which they believe, enables young people in western societies to easily acquire sexual health information.ConclusionsFindings provide evidence to support a need for contextualized and effective sexual health services for international students that take account of perceptions around sexual norms and how they can be modified to ensure that sexual practices which these students may engage in, will be managed in a safe and responsible manner.

Speaking with a foreign accent: Developed strategies of East Asian international students in Australian higher education

This study investigates strategies developed by East Asian international students to cope with the communication barriers caused by accented English. While these students encounter a range of communication barriers caused by accented English, research investigating how these students mitigate the challenges to successfully complete their studies has been limited. Using a qualitative survey approach, this study presents findings from responses from 306 East Asian students to the question “What would be the three top tips that you would give to new international students to be better understood by others and why?” The students, originally from English as foreign language countries (EFL) located in both Northeast and Southeast Asian regions, at one Australian university. In this survey research, two main types of strategies were identified: (a) verbal strategies and (b) non-verbal strategies. The first theme concentrates on enhancing the ability to produce intelligible sounds. The second theme emphasises behaviours or self-discipline in attempting to improve overall speaking fluency. Practical implications are considered for these students’ intercultural communication and learning support. (Griffith University · Griffith College)

Some experiences of non-EU international students following an access to Higher Education Diploma course in a general further education college in the North of England

ABSTRACT This study provides a basis for deepening understandings of approaches which offer effective and enhanced learning experiences for predominantly East Asian international students following provision alongside local students in UK general further education colleges. A mixed methods approach employed a largely quantitative questionnaire to access the views of 25 international students, 22 of whom were Chinese nationals, and to identify four participants (two Chinese, one Japanese and one Maldivian) for subsequent semi-structured interviews. This fieldwork was supported by the collection of college achievement data for the international students and for the local students who had studied directly alongside them. The outcomes indicate that the international students achieved at least as well as the local students in relation to academic outcomes, and that they valued teachers who allowed their cultural experiences to directly contribute to classroom learning. The study also highlights the importance of inter-cultural activities. More prosaically, the outcomes also suggest that important concerns for these international students were that they should receive clarity in answers to their questions as part of the processes of learning, as well as the resolution of ostensibly more peripheral issues such as the quality and type of food available in the college catering outlets.

A Phenomenological Study of East Asian International Students’ Experience of Counseling

Although research has identified factors associated with U.S.-based Asian international students’ psychological help-seeking attitudes, there is scant research addressing how those who have sought counseling services perceived their counseling experiences. Therefore, this is the first known qualitative study to examine the experiences of East Asian international students who had sought mental health counseling in the United States. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, the authors examined East Asian international students’ perceptions of (a) factors that facilitated or inhibited their decision to seek counseling; (b) their positive and negative experiences in counseling, and (c) the role of culture in their decision to seek counseling as well as in their overall experience of counseling. Five Chinese and four Korean international students who had sought counseling services at U.S. universities were interviewed. Six themes emerged: (1) Perceived Influence of Social Networks on the Decision to Seek Counseling, (2) Perceived Stigma, (3) Expectations of a Medical Model of Counseling, (4) Perceived Cultural Incompetence of Counselors, (5) Positive Experience of Counseling, and (6) Expectations of the Counselor’s Background. The findings provide an account of East Asian international students’ experiences of counseling that align with the extant literature on counseling in some respects but also diverge in others, thus contributing to a more complex and less stereotypical view of East Asian international students’ counseling needs.

P126 Changes in Frequency of Cooking, Eating Out and the Relationship with Food Consumption of East Asian International Students in New York

Background During 2017-2018, East Asian international students accounted for 46% (n = 466, 265) of total international students in the US. Upon arrival here, they tend to face challenges regarding cooking and eating out while focusing on academic achievement and navigating a different food environment. However, how the transition takes place and how it links to current food consumption have not been explored. Objective To examine East Asian international students' changes in frequency of cooking and eating out upon arrival to the US, and the relationship with food consumption. Study Design, Settings, Participants A cross-sectional survey administered to East Asian international students (n = 511; female 67.1%; mean age 24.8 years;) at four universities in New York State. Measurable Outcome/Analysis A 14-item food frequency questionnaire using nine-point Likert scale was used to measure food consumption. Comparison between cooking and eating out in their home country and in the US were measured by descriptive statistics and t-test. Multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze how current cooking and eating out, and weekly expenditure, were related to current food consumption. Results Students cooked more frequently in the US than in their home countries (t = -19.74; P Conclusion While students tend to spend more on eating out due to busy academic schedules, cooking more often would help them eat more whole foods and less processed foods, leading to healthy food consumption while they stay here. Funding None.

Seeking a Sense of Belonging: The Exclusion of Female Doctorate Holders in South Korea and the US

Despite the vast literature on East Asian international students in higher education during the current era of globalization, few studies examine how the international migration of doctorate holders is gendered. The migration and career choices of Korean women who hold doctorates from American universities, we argue, are shaped by geographical imaginations based on the political connections between South Korea and the US and their personal experiences from their home and host countries. The notion of the US as an ally of South Korea and the hegemony of US higher education in Korean academia have led Korean women to pursue doctorates in the United States. Yet, the Korean women who participated in this study revealed that earning a doctorate from a world-class university did not necessarily bring them greater mobility. Whether the interviewees returned to Korea or not, they found themselves situated within the hierarchy of gendered power relations and excluded from everyday practices such as decision-making both at home and at work. Consequently, they attempted to build a sense of belonging at various geographic scales. This study found that Korean women scholars’ migration and career choices were the multi-layered outcome of gendered power relations within the family, political connections between the two countries, and cultural values of their home and host countries.

Change in Food Consumption and Food Choice Determinants among East Asian International Students in New York

ABSTRACT This study describes East Asian international students’ changes in food consumption since coming to the US, and reasons for the changes. The results of this cross-sectional study from four campuses in the New York area show that after coming to the US, they ate/drank more processed food, water, raw vegetables, meat, dairy, and other Asian foods, and ate fewer cooked vegetables and foods from their home countries. The main reasons were their concerns about health, weight, availability, convenience, taste, and price. The least chosen reasons were related to concerns about food sustainability issues. Future research should focus on conducting qualitative studies to better understand nuances in international students’ food choice concerns and motivations.