Rationalization as a Communicative Strategy Used by International Graduate Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: International Student Adaptation and Cross-Cultural Identity (Table 12)

Abstract

Co-cultural communication theory is used to examine data from a study on the experiences of international graduate students when engaging in small talk in Canada. Eight international graduate students in their first year of study at a mid-sized university in Western Canada, who speak English as an additional language, took part in this interpretive phenomenological inquiry. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, journal entries, and focus group discussions. It was found that when the participants encountered situations they perceived as exclusionary, prejudicial, discriminatory, or racist, they would frequently draw on a specific communicative strategy known as rationalization as a tool to help them develop an alternative explanation for their perceptions as a method to manage the tension.

Authors

• Hui Xu, University of Regina

• Kathleen Theresa Nolan, University of Regina