Open AccessU.S. Higher Education Classroom Experiences of Undergraduate Chinese International Students
Author(s) -
Gabriela Valdez
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of international students
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.47
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 2166-3750
pISSN - 2162-3104
DOI - 10.32674/jis.v5i2.434
Subject(s) - china , consciousness , perception , psychology , pedagogy , identity (music) , international education , critical consciousness , consciousness raising , chinese americans , higher education , double consciousness , sociology , political science , gender studies , ethnic group , physics , neuroscience , law , anthropology , acoustics
The purpose of this study was to explore undergraduate Chinese international students’ perceptions about their classroom experiences in the United States institutions of higher education. Double consciousness, introduced by W.E.B. Du Bois, was used as the theoretical framework for this study. After analyzing the 15 interviews to Chinese international students, the following areas were discussed: comparison of classroom experiences in the United States and China; positive and negative classroom practices in the U.S.; perceptions of the way American faculty and students perceived Chinese international students; and double consciousness of Chinese international students. While most of the participants preferred the American classroom practices over practices in China, their perceptions about the way American students and faculty perceived them were conflicting. The concept of double consciousness also helped to illustrate the internal identity conflict of being Chinese and being “Americanized.”