Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Feng QiFollow

Publication Date

Spring 4-16-2017

Abstract

This study focuses on how Chinese international graduate students make meanings of their experiences through everyday social communication with native English speaker to make adjustment to their new lives. Grounded on Vygotsky’s sociocultural theoretical framework, this study is conducted by the case study method to present the target group of students’ understanding of barriers encountered in social communication and their interpretation of the relations between self and the environment. Perezhivanie shed light on exploring the participants’ different attitudes and interpretation of the same life issues with the increasing length of residence in the United States. By experiencing a range of emotions generated in social communication, the participants’ perezhivanie undergo changes, which assists them to achieve clear self-identification, adjust their performance in social life, and make adjustment to the target sociocultural environment.

Keywords

second language acquisition, social communication, make meaning of experiences, sociocultural adjustment

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Holbrook Mahn

Second Committee Member

Lucretia Pence

Third Committee Member

Melissa Axelrod

Fourth Committee Member

Seon Park

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