A Phenomenological Investigation of the International Student Arrival Experience

• In Event: Poster session I
  In Poster Session: Poster session 1

Proposal

An overlooked time during an international students’ time studying abroad lies between arriving and course-taking (i.e., the “arrival” period). By understanding this period and its overall impact on students, institutions will be able to encourage a smooth cultural transition. This strategy will be useful among institutional efforts to retain international students, thus, encouraging the sustainability of internationalization efforts among U.S. colleges and universities. Therefore, my research seeks to answer the following question: How do degree-seeing undergraduate international students experience arriving to a four-year institution in the United States?

Schlossberg’s transition theory can help to make sense of how international students experience transitional elements related to their arrival (Goodman, Schlossberg, & Anderson, 2006). Defined as any event, or non-event resulting in changed relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles, a transition can be experienced by anyone in any new situation. Learning how these areas evolve for new international students could be useful for anyone interested in their success.

To research the international student arrival experience, I will conduct a phenomenological study. Phenomenology is a "systematic attempt to uncover and describe the internal meaning structures of a lived experience" (van Manen, 1990, p. 10). Further, phenomenology seeks to describe elements of a lived experience that all participants have in common (Creswell, 2007). In my case, these include the essential, common arrival experiences.

I plan to interview international students attending a large, public, research university in the Midwest. I will follow an in-depth approach developed by Seidman (1998), who integrated Dolbeare and Schuman's three-interview series structure (Schuman, 1982) in which each interview provides foundational details for the next. The first interview is a "focused life history"; the second focuses on the phenomenon; and the third asks the participant to reflect on the experience’s meaning.

I will analyze transcript data and memos over multiple rounds. First, I will categorize excerpts into broad themes indicating the subject of each passage. Then, I will identify inductive codes that are grounded in the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), deductive codes that are based on existing theory or knowledge (Miles & Huberman, 1984), and in-vivo codes, which capture data segments using the participant's words (Charmaz, 2006). I will also highlight "significant statements,” (Cresswell, 2007, p. 60) that indicate how participants experienced arriving.

Preliminary findings from my pilot study suggest that the three-interview series is effective for providing context explaining why the participant experienced her arrival how she did. It also offered the space needed to recall details of her first days on campus, and reflective thoughts that provided meaning. In short, her narratives produced unexpected data that offers a new lens with which to view the arrival experience.

Many studies analyze factors influencing international student adjustment during their sojourn in the U.S. Yet, few seriously consider the period when students first arrive. This gap presents an opportunity to use in-depth, qualitative approaches to highlight students' experiences. For practitioners, preparing for international student arrivals based on students’ insights will help mitigate unfounded assumptions about their needs.

Author

• Brit Wagner, University of Wisconsin-Madison