<p>“Generation Z” multilingual writers are caught up in a globalized/globalizing and superdiverse linguistic and cultural contact zone as well as a neoliberal political and institutional environment. To understand how they inhabit their idiosyncratic literate worlds and practice their differences, I aligned myself with an ethnographic case study approach and investigated four writers’ ecologically situated and distributed literacy practices and experiences on and off the campus of an internationalized U.S. university. Through a conceptual framework I call “affordancescape” (a spatiotemporally stabilized ecological representation of structural, semiotic, experiential, social, bodily, and material relations that enable the human actors to rhetorically act and react) and methodology I name “trans-scape tracing,” I conducted semi-structured interviews and observations, videotaped writing ecologies, analyzed multimodal artifacts. Then, I reconstructed the four writers’ literate worlds that are always emerging and knotworked, rhetorically powerful, and rich in ecological affordances. These literate worlds define, bound, afford, constrain, tie and untie, mediate and remediate these writers’ practices of rhetorical differences.<br></p><p>The following three overarching research questions guided my data collection and analysis:<br></p><p>1.What does it mean to be “different” in the international multilingual students’ own terms? How do they practice self-perceived differences through various literate activities?<br></p><p>2.What are the ecological affordances that enable these students to practice their differences? How are these affordances knotworked? How do their practices of difference position nd reposition themselves?<br></p><p>3.How do we move toward a new understanding of international multilingual students’ practices of difference through literate activities?<br></p><p>Ultimately, I argue it is imperative to (re)examine international multilingual students’ practices of difference through literate activities against the global context characterized by the resurgence of nationalism and growing transnational migration, and the local institutional context characterized by internationalization and neoliberal corporatization, as the global and local trends deeply affect students’ bodily experiences in small and large ways. In Chapter One, I lay out in broad strokes the global and local contexts, the emerging issues, and the current scholarly responses to the issues. In Chapter Two, I introduce the analytical framework that I call “affordancescape.” Chapter Three is dedicated to the description of the research methodology that builds on the approach of ethnographic case study, which I call “trans-scape tracing,” as well as detailed data collection and analysis procedures. Chapter Four through Seven constitute the narratives of individual cases: Janus, Manna, Bohan, and Yang. In Chapter Eight, the last chapter, I revisit the individual cases through a holistic lens and provide suggestions for a new understanding of students’ practices of difference.<br></p><p><br></p>

Background: There has been an increasing trend of more Swedish higher education institutions competing for international students in response to international student mobility trends, self-management and budget securement, and government-backed recruitment campaigns. An emerging stream of higher education research is brand personality, and it may represent a robust basis for differentiation between many universities competing for student recruitment. Therefore, the study was built to get a deeper understanding of the impact of university brand personality on international students' choices. Purpose: Given the importance of brand personality for higher education institutions to deal with the international competition or differentiate themselves, the purpose of this study is to explore international student's perception of the university brand personality that affects the selection of a Swedish university. Method: To address the purpose of the exploratory study, the qualitative research approach was applied, combining with interpretivism philosophy. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 11 international first-year students. By utilizing abductive reasoning, the data was analyzed and interpreted through thematic analysis. Conclusion: Cosmopolitan is perceived as the most distinct brand personality dimension that Jönköping University possesses. Nevertheless, the degree of perception among foreign students regarding each brand personality dimension is different during the decision-making process. In the early stages, the potential students perceive prestige as the most distinct and significant dimension, followed by cosmopolitan. However, when the consumption process nears, cosmopolitan becomes an essentially more important dimension. Further, lively and sincerity are found to partly influence students' choice for higher education.

This Bachelor thesis is about international students, who travelled to Uppsala to study abroad during the autumn exchange term, which took place between September 2021 to January 2022. Four students from different countries were interviewed about their cultural and social experiences when the students studied abroad and how they oriented themselves in a foreign environment. This thesis focuses on sensory anthropology, which is a subfield. The sensorial aspects are about the international student's experiences and the primary ones are light and darkness, space, flavors, and memories. When it comes to local belonging and imagined communities, the sensory aspects are about the value of individual experiences as well as the collective aspect of establishing a new community. In the period where international students learned, they clarified whether they felt a local belonging to Uppsala.  When it comes to whether the students feel a sense of local belonging in Uppsala, the student's own educational experiences, local belonging, and communities in their home countries are compared to the Swedish students' existing communities at Uppsala. Foreign students also describe their native languages and their encounters with the Swedish language, and how the contrast resulted in feelings of exclusion from the Swedish society.

Since 2006, international student enrollment in U.S. higher education institutions has increased significantly, which has precipitated an increase in the institutions' multiculturalism. A mechanism to facilitate the integration of students of different cultures within a multicultural institution would be valuable to fostering positive educational experiences for all students. The purpose of this phenomenological study was the inclusion of multiculturalism within U.S. higher education institutions. Banks' multiculturalism theory provided the study's conceptual framework. Six international students were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed to answer 2 research questions concerning the lived experiences of international students enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions and the inclusion of multiculturalism in the institution's curriculum, programs, policies, and practices and regarding their institutions' efforts to assist them in adjusting to and integrating. Data were analyzed to identify the emerging themes. According to the study's findings, multiculturalism was included in most of the participants' higher education institutions; however, the students felt their expectations had not been met, and that the institutions could have done more to assist them with cultural and social integration and navigation through the institutions' educational systems. The findings of this study create an opportunity for social change by informing U.S. higher education institutions on the ways to enhance programs, service, and curriculum to best meet the needs of enrolled international students.

Because international students are an increasingly significant aspect in American colleges and universities and on the North Texas State University campus in particular, this study was undertaken to explore the intercultural clash which Thai students at North Texas State University experience. Twenty-two Thai students were interviewed in depth using the oral history method. Ten faculty and administrators who work with international students were interviewed concerning their observations of Thai students. The information gleaned from these thirty-two interviews and from an examination of the basic socio-cultural differences between Thailand and the United States resulted in the isolation of the following basic difficulties. 1. Thais do not have command of written and oral English. 2. Americans do not have an appreciation of foreigners and lack tolerance in everyday exchanges with them. 3. Thais avoid becoming involved in American society. 4. Thais are not efficiently prepared for the American classroom. 5. American instructors do not appear prepared to handle the problems of Thai students. The study also developed a number of suggested solutions: 1. Raise the consciousness of Americans concerning Thai students; 2. Provide more effective ways of improving oral and listening skills in the English proficiency of Thai students beginning with American-directed programs in Thailand and including a revamping of the Intensive English Language Institute; 3. Provide studies in American culture for Thai students which would require them to become acquainted with this society; 4. Develop in Americans an appreciation of foreign culture and an international awareness; perhaps even a formal international cultures program should be initiated; 5. Involve Thai students with Americans in crosscultural activities: encourage membership in campus organizations, invite them to speak at civic and educational occasions, develop the host family program; 6. Provide effective services for Thai students especially through the International Office; and 7. Set tuition and entrance regulations based on goals of the university not on whether it will include or exclude international students.

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International migration flows and patterns shaped by the determinants, processes and outcomes of social, political, and economic conditions have led to important transformation of society and human geographies. As Canada continues to effectively manage its immigration system and uphold its commitment to international refugee protection and resettlement, it is critical for Canada to do so with an understanding of the changing context of immigration, which are reinforced by shifting policies and their impact, in our contemporary society. In this thesis, the migration trajectory of three groups of newcomers to Canada; international students, Syrian refugees, and refugee youth, are explored by examining policies and conditions that can create group risks and vulnerabilities in immigration, settlement, and integration as groups transition to life in Canada after arrival. As suggested by Castle (2010) migration researchers can advance the field by embedding their work in broader theories of social change to facilitate understanding of the complexity, interconnectedness, variability, contextuality, and multi-mediation of migratory process in the context of rapid change. This thesis employs a geographical lens of place to deepen understanding of processes and outcomes in our contemporary society, while responding to these evolving contexts in one mid-size, post-industrial Canadian city. In three separate research, this thesis examines: 1) economic immigration flow under Express Entry in 2015 and 2016; 2) the role of the voluntary sector during the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Initiative in Hamilton, Ontario in 2016; and 3) the place of school-based settlement in bridging and brokering school-based mental health for newcomer youth. / Thesis / Doctor of Science (PhD) / As Canada continues to effectively manage its immigration system and uphold its commitment to international refugee protection and resettlement, it is critical for Canada to do so with an understanding of the changing context of immigration in our contemporary society. In this thesis, I examine the migration trajectory of three groups of newcomers to Canada; international students, Syrian refugees, and refugee youth, by asking two overarching research questions that explores policies and conditions that can create group risks and vulnerabilities in immigration, settlement, and integration. This thesis seeks to understand how policies could be addressed to improve successful outcome for newcomers. This thesis employs a geographical lens of place to deepen understanding of processes and outcomes in our contemporary society, while responding to these evolving contexts in one mid-size, post-industrial Canadian city.