This dissertation, Navigating the Legal Constraints of Being a Nonimmigrant: A Study of the Technical Communication Challenges for International Graduate Students in the United States, explores the issues that can occur for international graduate students when navigating situations involving technical communication before, and during, their stay as nonimmigrants in the U.S. while they attend graduate school. In this project, I analyze rhetoric as situational, expanding on our understandings of communicative constraints that occur in specific instances of intercultural communication. To begin this analysis, I conducted semi-structured interviews with current international graduate students at a R1 university in Virginia to discuss specific instances in which they felt constrained by their status as nonimmigrants. I then used initial coding and pattern coding to deconstruct specific themes of constraints from my data. There were two emergent themes to the constraints: technical, legal, and financial constraints, and ideological constraints. Within these two themes I found more specific codes which were: misperception, information access, incorrect information, time, linguistic, cultural, and institutional constraints. By coding these constraints, and analyzing how my participants navigated them, I demystify the issues faced by international graduate students in our institutions. One of the main findings of this project showcases that there is a gap between the social-justice oriented scholarship being produced in the fields of technical communication, rhetoric, and composition, and the lived experiences of international graduate students. I conclude that building scaffolded support structures that target instances where constraints are most likely to occur will better support international graduate students during their time at U.S. institutions. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation, Navigating the Legal Constraints of Being a Nonimmigrant: A Study of the Technical Communication Challenges for International Graduate Students in the United States, explores the issues that can occur for international graduate students when navigating situations involving technical communication before, and during, their time attending graduate school in the U.S. In this project, I analyze the rhetorical situations (moments where we see how rhetoric is happening in specific instances) in which international graduate students found themselves constrained in ways they feared would impede their success at school. I conducted semi-structured interviews with current international graduate students at a R1 university in Virginia to discuss specific instances in which they felt constrained by their international status. In coding the data from these interviews, I found two main themes of constraints they impacted my participants: technical, legal, and financial constraints, and ideological constraints. These two main themes, and the resulting sub-themes, highlight two target areas where international graduate students feel constrained in technical communication situations. One of the main findings of this project showcases that there is a gap between the social-justice oriented scholarship being produced in the fields of technical communication, rhetoric, and composition, and the lived experiences of international graduate students. I conclude that building scaffolded support structures that target instances where constraints are most likely to occur will better support international graduate students during their time at U.S. institutions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/119020 |
| Date | 17 May 2024 |
| Creators | Robertson, Chloe Jade |
| Contributors | English, Commer, Carolyn, Pender, Kelly Elizabeth, Rabbi, Shakil, McComiskey, Bruce, Lindgren, Chris Aaron |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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