Accent acculturation of African international Graduate Students in the United States

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: International Student Across Countries and Career Choices

Proposal

Study Purpose: The increasing number of African international students in the United States underscores the pressing need for a deeper understanding of their experiences. This exploratory case study, focusing on accent acculturation at a Midwest University, is a crucial step in unraveling the resilience of these students. As an understudied population, this study serves as a pilot by answering the 'what' question of how African international graduates undergo accent acculturation and which strategies they initiate to navigate it.
Theoretical Framework: This study will be grounded on Heng's (2018) hybridized sociocultural framework (HSF) first and third pillars to unravel how African international graduate students undergo accent acculturation. These pillars are: (a) sociocultural context surrounds and models humans, and (b) humans could adjust, engage, or challenge the “values, beliefs, and behavior” found in each sociocultural context (agency). HSF provides a holistic view of participants’ experiences by accounting for their previous and current experiences. The first pillar will help researchers understand the accent acculturation of African international graduate students by contextualizing their experience shaped by their sociocultural background. The second pillar provides the tools to establish how African international graduate students navigate accent differences when interacting with natives.
Methodology: This qualitative exploratory case study will involve full-time African international graduate students at a Midwest University. Participants will be citizens of English-speaking countries and have completed their undergraduate degrees in their countries of citizenship or Africa. As one of the researchers is an insider, the participants will be recruited directly through the African Students WhatsApp group and contact them directly via text and calls. Data will be collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The interviews and focus group discussions will be audio recorded and transcribed using Otterai software. The data analysis will adopt deductive and inductive approaches. Initially, line-by-line coding; the emerging codes will be grouped, and then themes will be developed. All emerging themes will be analyzed exclusively and across other data sources for an extensive analysis.
Preliminary findings: The findings will reveal that participants experience accent challenges at the point of entry, which persist throughout their studies. These accent difficulties are further exacerbated by the numerous academic and social adjustments African international graduate students must make when transitioning to the United States. It will also indicate that accent challenges are daily when interacting with native students, staff, and faculty. Many natives do not adapt to African international graduate students. In dealing with the accent challenges, the participants typically spoke slowly, listened attentively, wrote down ideas, conversed with other African colleagues, and mimicked native speakers to bridge the accent differences.
Significance and Contributions: The study will contribute to our knowledge about the experiences of African international students in the United States. It also underscores the need for further research in this area, particularly on how international students from different regions navigate the differences in accents in the United States.

Authors

• Lamarana Jallow, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

• Minghui Hou, Southern Illinois University Carbondale