CANCELLED. Enduring the Rough Road to Academic Acculturation: Interrogating Education Equity for Chinese-Speaking International Students

• In Event: 54.077 - Educating Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Learners: New Approaches to Achieving Educational Justice

Abstract

This presentation addresses impediments to education access for Chinese-speaking international graduate students, an increasingly common problem for this group of education sojourners. Based on sociocultural theories of learning (Vygotsky, 1978), communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), and academic acculturation (see Casanave and Li, 2008), I explore complexities in language, culture, and academic practices within western education contexts. Through data analysis (Merriam, 2009), I identify links between academic acculturative challenges and equitable access to education.
Overall, I argue for, among other elements of an infrastructure of support, coping strategies that include student-oriented use of assistive technologies and institutional policies to enhance positive acculturative experiences. This kind of support is a form of education justice.

Author

• Ya-Li Wu