| Currently thousands of international students traverse the globe to enter programmes of higher education in English speaking countries. A smaller group of sojourners lacking the proficiency in English to enter directly into university are accepted "conditionally," on the proviso they successfully complete English second language training. As an ESL teacher, I have witnessed firsthand, language learners struggle to adapt to a new educational system, at the same time they are learning a language and trying to understand an unfamiliar culture. In this thesis, I explore what it means to be an international ESL sojourner who comes to Nova Scotia to study. My research was meant to look at this question from the sojourners' point of view, offering them an opportunity to share their stories.;By affirming the multi-faceted adaptation issues facing international ESL sojourners my research expands upon largely unrecognized aspects of the internationalization process. The research affirms the transition ESL sojourners make during the initial stage combines language acquisition and cultural adaptation needs. I conclude the responsibility for support rests on the shoulders of the institutions benefiting from their enrolment. Further, I recognize this support is part of a much larger need for institutions to systematically examine what internationalizing education means to them. Through this critical self-reflexive process I conclude it is possible to create infrastructures to provide the support international ESL sojourners need and deserve.;My research used the three dimensions of narrative space (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) as a framework for six international ESL learners to tell their stories. In-depth interviews offered a comfortable venue for them to reflect, experiencing the experience again in the re-telling of their stories. At the same time this allowed me to reach across a narrative space to make meaning of their fragments of storied moments. Through a process of reflecting on their interviews I was able to see patterns of the shared experience they described. Further, using thematic analysis I grouped my findings into topic areas. My research found that my initial hunch was accurate. The beginning phase of adjustment for ESL sojourners is a complex web of challenges for which there is little support. The research question of what it means to experience this transition helped to reveal four aspects related to their adjustment: adult education, second language acquisition, cultural adaptation, and intercultural competence. Through the research process I also gained insight into ways these four fields intersect, confirming the second hunch I began with. |
