Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Abby Franchitti / With more international students coming to study in the institutions of higher education in the United States, it is essential to examine the infrastructure, support system, and cross-cultural awareness which currently exist within the campus community. Issues regarding internationalization face many institutions on both the micro and macro-level due to numerous variables including the lack of communication between departments, organizations, and offices on campus and an unguided direction of the goals and ambitions behind it. By looking at how the various stakeholders involved in internationalization are affected, possible solutions for academic institutions can be suggested. This report analyzes some of the ways in which the stress and workload often associated with internationalization can be alleviated in order facilitate a community which embraces diversity, and encourages mutual respect in an ever changing global society.

This study explores the phenomenon of discrimination as it pertains to the experiences of international students studying in Southeast Louisiana. This qualitative study seeks to answer the questions of where and how international students perceive discrimination, and how discrimination affects a student's overall experience as a foreign student in the United States. The intent of this research study is to address the sizable gap in the literature on perceived discrimination towards international students, and introduces specific concepts from critical theory in developing a formal conceptual framework model for continued research in this area. Utilizing the concept of sites of struggle as a conceptual framework, eleven international students studying in Southeast Louisiana were interviewed about their perceptions of discrimination from within three areas of interest: federal regulations, educational arena, and social arena. Their responses are presented using their own words via verbatim transcripts of the interview sessions. A discussion of the respondents' experiences and its significance to their perceptions of discrimination within the three areas of interest follows. Implications for policy, practice, and research, along with suggestions for future research conclude this study.

This thesis presents the findings of a descriptive study of goals of international exchange and how they are perceived in terms of relevance by host family participants in homestay exchange programs. The literature of international exchange was examined to identify goals as established and defined by researchers in the field. Experienced exchange coordinators, host families and others were interviewed for their suggestions of additional goals not discussed in the literature. A survey questionnaire was developed and administered to 69 host family members from Tillamook County, Oregon. They were asked to evaluate the importance and achievement of 14 literature-based and 22 non-literature-based goals represented by 43 two-part questions.

The purpose of this study is to determine the adjustment problems Costa Ricans face while living and studying in the United States. The main concern of this thesis is to identify the intercultural communication problems that arise fundamentally from differences in value systems.

Postgraduate research presents particular challenges to students: self-management, independent research, extended writing, and working with a supervisor. If we add to these challenges those faced by international students - the complexity of a new culture, a new academic culture, and the difficulties of a second language - we begin to see the hurdles that such students must overcome. Postgraduate students are already well socialised into their discipline, its discourse, research, and methodology. However, when students undertake their study abroad, how easily do they 'fit' into their new environment? And in what ways does their previous disciplinary socialisation, clash with, or complement their new academic socialisation? Given the large numbers of Chinese international students studying abroad particularly at postgraduate level, a focus on individual student experiences was seen as important in advancing our understanding of these students' experiences and sensitising international providers of such education to the ways in which they may better respond to such students. The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of Chinese international postgraduate students studying in Singapore to find out how they perceived their new learning environment, and to explore the coping strategies they employed to manage, understand and construct meaning out of their learning situation. The study also sought to focus on their particular learning needs, given their perception of their environment, and the ways in which higher education providers could best accommodate these needs. A qualitative constructivist methodology was used to examine the learning experiences and coping strategies of 12 Chinese international postgraduates balanced by gender and level of higher degree study involved. The students were interviewed twice over a five-month period, with each interview lasting approximately one hour. The study focused on understanding students' experiences of positive and negative incidents in their learning environment, on the construction of meaning around those incidents, and on students' subsequent responses to them. Potential differences across the variables of level of degree study, gender and marital status were also considered in the analysis. Four major themes were identified in the student experiences those of marginalisation: student/supervisory relationship, academic/organisational marginalisation, social marginalisation, and advantaging. The coping strategies identified are those of self-determination and technique. It was found that adjustment for students was most difficult in the first six to twelve months from entry into the new cultural context, largely due to the influence of previous educational and cultural experiences on expectations. Also highlighted was the range of interpersonal and intrapersonal coping strategies that students used to help manage their cultural transition. The importance of collegial support as a key coping strategy for international student adjustment was confirmed in the study. Self-determination was also shown to be a strong motivator for managing research work and interpersonal relationships. The research indicated a number of important differences between masters and doctoral students' experiences and highlighted differences concerning traditional gender roles. Implications arising from the study may inform intervention programmes that are directed to the points of tension identified in students' experiences. The tensions in student experiences may largely be understood in terms of unrealistic or unfulfilled expectations being brought to the new study context but grounded in the home culture. Addressing these needs may be seen in various ways, including: (1) changing student expectations to make them more realistic; (2) sensitising students in cross-cultural issues; (3) sensitising host university staff in understanding and responding to cross-cultural issues in students; (4) providing appropriate levels of support in dealing with issues as they arise; and (5) structuring opportunities for mutual support by students in the host institution. Further research is indicated into the investigation of the cultural transition experiences and coping strategies of other national or ethnic groups at postgraduate level. Investigation of the experiences of international Chinese students in other disciplines, other host countries, and at other education levels is also indicated.

Research attention on word of mouth (WOM) communication is growing in necessity and popularity as recent studies continue to confirm that WOM has a significant effect on consumer and organisational decision-making and buying behaviour. Much of the theory generated from this field of communications research has been based on product purchase situations that take place in the United States. More recent developments in the stream of research have begun to address WOM in service contexts and also driven a need to test the reliability of previous works in other countries and cultures. The research problem of this thesis emerged from such needs to further develop WOM theory and is defined by two key statements: (i) How does perceived source credibility and the content (message) of personal communication shape and determine the nature of a WOM system? (ii) What likely influence does culture have on a WOM system? The WOM system conceptualised within this thesis refers to a network of actors in which, personal, verbal, face to face communication occurs. It also refers to the nature of the information exchanged and how these messages determine which actors within the system participate. Addressing the need for further research into service-based contexts, the industry of export education was identified as an ideal environment in which to investigate the problem. In particular, international students (current and potential) were interviewed and surveyed on how WOM is used to gather information to make a decision on where to study. A predictive model of referral source selection is developed as the significant contribution to theory resulting from the qualitative and quantitative research employed in the methodology. The qualitative research was exploratory in nature and designed to understand the decision-making process international students went through before making a choice on their study destination. In depth interviews confirmed that WOM was used frequently throughout this process and identified the important pieces of information sought after by students and which sources the students consulted to obtain the information. International students are concerned about the international recognition of a university, teaching styles, tuition fees, graduate prospects and how compatible the lifestyle of the host country is for them amongst many issues. They consult a variety of personal sources including family, friends, alumni, university agents and even their school teachers. The main quantitative study in this thesis surveyed 420 university students from China and Malaysia and was designed to provide theory verification for the WOM system and explore potential impacts of culture on this system. Firstly, four common WOM themes were identified from all of the content exchanged through WOM between students and their referral sources. These themes are grouped as; informational messages, comparative messages, personal perspectives and guidance messages. The WOM system was then depicted as a predictive model of referral source selection based on which WOM themes are exchanged between actors. As consumers progress through a structured decision-making process, their information requirements (WOM themes) change and so do the sources selected to deliver the information. Secondly, important differences in WOM behaviour emerged between the Chinese and Malaysian samples. Although students from both countries are equally influenced by personal sources of communication, Malaysians considered alumni friends and parent/family sources to be more influential than the Chinese. Whereas the Chinese preferred talking with school teachers and close friends to help in their decisions. These findings added credible evidence of national culture effects to the predictive model of source selection. The thesis concludes by addressing limitations in the research - largely, that the study failed to produce evidence of cultural value dimensions impacting on the WOM system. The Chinese cultural value framework employed was well justified as an appropriate measure however, there were no equivalent measurements of Malaysian cultural values and the study was conducted on a limited convenience sample, making results difficult to generalise through Chinese and Malaysian populations. Further research was then suggested to address these limitations.

The current study attempted to examine the roles of product functions and form in consumers¡¦ mind when they encounter a new product with state-of-the-art technology. Also, the study tried to explore and understand the moderating effects of consumption schema and using situations on technology acceptance. The research picked e-book reader as the experimental product, while used qualitative research method with phenomenological approach. There were 12 key informants participating separately in the in-depth interviews. Eleven of them are foreign graduate students in the NSYSU. The phenomenological one-to-one interviews were conducted in three phases in different days and with particular aspects of technology acceptance, that is, reading schema, technology beliefs, responses to e-book reader, and the using situations. Findings of the study revealed that positive beliefs and affective connection with the product emerge once consumers find the conformity between product functions, form and their reading schema expectations. Regarding specific situations, consumers have certain goals to be fulfilled. Questions in the survey scale of acceptance confirmed people¡¦s adoption when they see the products meet their goals.

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Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 364-376).

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.