Asian international students (AIS) are becoming increasingly more populous in American universities each year. While AIS are enrolled in the same required classes as American students, it has been observed that frequent interaction between AIS and American students is rather uncommon. Due to obvious social hesitation between the two groups of students during classroom discussion, the study presented was initiated in order to unveil possible reasons for this social integration dilemma. Social Attractiveness, Perceived Homophily and Attributional Confidence scales were selected in order to determine possible factors contributing to this dilemma. In order to pursue explanations for the dormant socialization between the two groups of students during class, a survey was administered to a convenience sampling of 426 undergraduate students enrolled in upper-level courses at the University of Central Florida. Results indicated that passive classroom behavior was perceived as less socially desirable by American students. In fact, participants determined that students reflecting passive classroom behavior were less socially attractive, less similar, and less predictable than students that demonstrated active classroom behavior. Ethnicity factors did not play a key role in determining social appeal. These findings provide evidence that the social integration dilemma facing AIS and American students has much more to do with perceived social behavior and cultural differences regarding classroom behavior than with racial prejudice or ethnicity factors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-4492 |
| Date | 01 January 2008 |
| Creators | Nuru, Audra |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
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