Becoming an Intercultural Doctoral Student: Negotiating Identities Through Different Dialectical Processes

• In Event: 51.038 - Emerging Perspectives on International Higher Education

Abstract

International students experience linguistic and cultural difficulties as they integrate into another culture (Andrade, 2006; Zhang & Brunton, 2007). If students acquire intercultural competency (IC) their chances for academic and social success are enhanced (Hammer, 2012). There are different models offering different perspectives to enhance IC (Byram, 1997; Deardoff, 2016; Fantini, 2000). The definitions of IC highlight that obtaining an inside view of other cultures contribute to the understanding of their own cultures (Byram, 1997; Deardoff, 2006). However, the process of acquiring IC involves not only the change of students’ worldviews but also the negotiation through different dialectical processes. This autoethnography (Chang, 2008; Ellis & Bochner, 2000) employed Taylor’s model (1994) to examine my personal experience as an international doctoral student transitioning from Vietnamese cultural background to Canadian culture. From my journal entries written since I arrived in Canada, the model reflected my process of perspective transformation. Besides, the concept of the concentric story (Elliott & Drake, 1999; Drake & Elliott, 2004) was used to deconstruct my stories from which some recurrent themes of conflicts emerged through different dialectical processes (Drake, 2010). These processes have contributed to the formation of multiple identities.

Author

• Anh Tram Bui, Brock University