Presented by Bal Sharma

1. Navigating the academic culture in the U.S. by
international students
Bal Sharma
Emilija Jovanovska
Mikayla Sievers
GSSP Lecture Series Spring 2019
University of Idaho

2. Goal and agenda
● Theoretical framing: second language and discourse
socialization
● Empirical findings: case study of international students

3. Popular culture in the mainstream
high school classroom
● The Simpsons
● America's Most Wanted
● Guinness Book of World
Records
● Teen Magazine
Duff, P. (2002). Pop culture and ESL students: Intertextuality, identity, and participation in classroom discussions. Journal of Adolescent and Adult
Literacy, 45, 482-487.

4. Language proficiency is just one
factor, and perhaps not a major one
There can be deeper philosophical and cultural
differences in terms of:
• Learning and teaching
• Creation and ownership of knowledge
• Teacher-student relationships
• “Good student” characteristics
• Assignments, homework, tests…

6. Word Context
Context
Words
words context
Words
Context

8. Second language and academic discourse socialization
● First language and first culture socialization (Ochs and Shieffelin, 1984)
● Novices and newcomers develop the social, cultural, and communicative
competencies needed in the second language context
● A processes of apprenticeship into additional languages and cultures by
experts or peers

9. Socialization: two directions
1) socialized into community norms and expectations
Does this always happen?
2) changing community norms through agency
To what extent does this happen?

10. Socialization: Academic concepts
● Faculty (member)– as opposed to an academic unit, e.g.
Department
● School (vs. university)
● Advisor… -- What is this? Is it a counseling class?
● Office hours– Why should I go to my professor‘s office? What are
these office hours for?
● What are the differences between homework, assignment, project,
test....?
● What the heck is this BBLearn, due date, and online submission?
● Conference: I have a conference with my students.
● Journal: Keep a two-page journal for each lesson.

11. Chinese doctoral student in the US
Anderson, T. (2017). The doctoral gaze: Foreign PhD students’ internal and external academic discourse
socialization. Linguistics and Education, 37, 1-10.

12. Englishes and communicative genres
● It’s not that they don’t know English; they may just have a
different set of English repertoires; some genres of
communication may be new to them

13. Indian graduate student in the UK
Sah, P. K. (2019). Academic Discourse Socialization, Scaler Politics of English, and Racialization in Study Abroad: A Critical
Autoethnography. The Qualitative Report, 24(1), 174-192. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol24/iss1/14

14. Chinese doctoral student in the US
Anderson, T. (2017). The doctoral gaze: Foreign PhD students’ internal and external academic discourse
socialization. Linguistics and Education, 37, 1-10.

15. Student participation?
● Evidence of learning and engagement
● Grade

16. Indian graduate student in the UK
Sah, P. K. (2019). Academic Discourse Socialization, Scaler Politics of English, and Racialization in Study Abroad: A Critical
Autoethnography.The Qualitative Report, 24(1), 174-192. Retrieved from https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol24/iss1/14

17. Japanese graduate student in Canada
Morita, N. (2004). Negotiating participation and identity in second language academic
communities. TESOL Quarterly, 38, 573-603.

18. Japanese graduate student in Canada
Morita, N. (2004). Negotiating participation and identity in second language
academic communities. TESOL Quarterly, 38, 573-603.

19. Critical thinking?
● Facts vs. opinions
● Critiquing and responding

20. EXPLAIN WHY
International students may find it harder to understand the educational
objective or long-term value of assignments and activities
● Why am I finding faults in the reading? (critical reading)
● Why am I guessing the meaning of words or texts? (Inferencing)
● Why am I supposed to respond to a TED video? (listening and evaluating information)

21. OPINIONS
● Why does my opinion matter in class discussions? Why don’t we focus on
what IS there in the book?
● Does my opinion matter against what the scientist has written in this article?
● Can I disagree with the author?
● Training students on ‘what’ and ‘how-to’ aspects of expressing opinions.

22. Generalization and Stereotypes
● Warn against generalization
New students tend to over-generalize everything
What do ‘Americans’...?
How do professors...?
● Don’t generalize ESL students as homogeneous
There is a danger of stereotypically overgeneralizing international students
Asian students tend to ….
Students from the middle east tend to…
Every student is an individual

23. Language proficiency is just one factor
There can be deeper philosophical and cultural differences