'Rules You Have to Know': International and Domestic Student Encounters with Institutional Habitus through Group Work

Journal of International Students. 4005 Spurgeon Drive #6, Monroe, LA 71203. Tel: 318-600-5743; Fax: 318-342-3131; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jis/index

Y

19

Student Attitudes; Foreign Students; Student Adjustment; Study Abroad; Socialization; Comparative Analysis; State Universities; Acculturation; Cultural Differences; Intercultural Communication; Teaching Methods; Groups; Cooperative Learning; English for Academic Purposes; Peer Relationship; School Role; Cultural Awareness; College Students; Higher Education

2162-3104
2166-3750

As more universities internationalize, interest in engagement between international and domestic students has increased. University initiatives to bring students together often adopt a deficit approach dependent on international students' adjustment to the host culture, overlooking the need for engagement to be a two-way exchange and the role of the institution in this process. Focusing on academic group work as a salient site of cross-national interaction, this study draws on analysis of focus group data to explore how institutional habitus or unwritten rules are enacted at a large U.S. university. Findings indicated that domestic students were better socialized to understand the habitus of the institution and tended to take charge in group work. In contrast, international students were seen as linguistically and academically deficient and were relegated to passive roles in a group. Important implications for practitioners and scholars of U.S. higher education are discussed.

As Provided

2022

EJ1352733