The Role of Communication in Cross-National Adjustment and Identity Transitions among Student Sojourners
Open Access
- Author:
- Pitts, Margaret Jane
- Graduate Program:
- Communication Arts and Sciences
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 30, 2005
- Committee Members:
- Jon F Nussbaum, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Michelle E Day, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Michael L Hecht, Committee Member
Ian E Baptiste, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Intercultural Communication
Social Support
Paris France
Study Abroad
Ethnography
Cultural Adaptation - Abstract:
- There has been a significant increase in study abroad participation among U.S. students over the last seven years. Previous research has indicated that communication in general has been shown to facilitate sojourner adjustment abroad. However, to date, researchers have neither identified specific forms of communication that help students adjust, nor have they explored the specific function communication plays as a tool for adjustment abroad. One focus of this investigation, therefore, is on the patterns of communication established by a group of student sojourners as they adjusted to life abroad. In addition, previous studies have not tracked and explored subjective identity transitions across the sojourn. Thus, a second goal for this investigation was to systematically explore students’ subjective identity transitions throughout the sojourn. This dissertation is the result of an ethnographic investigation conducted over the course of 13 months, 4 months in Paris, France and 9 months in the U.S. pre- and post-sojourn. The primary methods of data collection were narrative interviews, participant-observation, and participant journaling. This study offers a detailed description of the interconnections between sojourner stress, communication, and identity as students experienced them. Specifically, students used 9 types of talk across the sojourn to help them manage adjustment stress: Advice, superficial/introductory talk, information sharing, comparison, humor, story telling, gossip, complaint, and supportive talk. Using aspects of Burgoon’s (1978) expectancy violations theory, I suggest that some student stress is the result of unmet expectations in four major areas: Academic/language expectations, social expectations, cultural/value expectations, and travel/cultural experience expectations. External sources of expectations came largely from their study abroad program, other students, friends/family at home, their host family, and their home university. Further, using Kim’s (2001) integrative theory on communication and cross-cultural adaptation I suggest that the more adjustments students made through communication the more functionally fit they became across time. The result was positive identity transformations including a sense of being a “global citizen” and increased feelings of confidence and independence. Based on the reported findings, this study concludes with practical suggestions for future study abroad coordinators and directions for future research.