| The purpose of this study was to explore the various academic, social, and cultural factors that influenced the transitional experience of four Chinese international students attending an all-male, military boarding in the United States. This mixed-methods narrative case study illuminated the process of transition through in-depth interviews, a Likert-scale survey, participant reflective journals, researcher field notes, and school archival data. The participants of the study were four Chinese international students and one ESL program director from an all-male, military boarding school in the United States. The results of this study were conveyed through first-person narrative accounts that provided readers with an insider's view of what it means to be a high-school aged international student from China living and learning in the United States. Though no two stories were alike, similarities were found in the challenges and triumphs that participants encountered as they transitioned from one language, culture, and educational system into another. The participants did not report the same levels of difficulty adjusting to the academic, social, and cultural differences that is seen in the majority of literature, which focuses mainly on college age international students. Instead, they spoke of personal transformations, enhanced self-confidence, and of new-found independence, all of which they embraced. Results from this study are aligned with a small but growing base of research that defines how international students are reshaping their identities through their experiences abroad. |
