international doctoral students, their advising relationships and adaptation experiences

231 Pages·2017·1.4 MB·English

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations,
Educational Administration, Department of
and Student Research
Fall 11-15-2015
INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL STUDENTS,
THEIR ADVISING RELATIONSHIPS AND
ADAPTATION EXPERIENCES: A
QUALITATIVE STUDY
Katherine Najjar
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected]
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Najjar, Katherine, "INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL STUDENTS, THEIR ADVISING RELATIONSHIPS AND ADAPTATION
EXPERIENCES: A QUALITATIVE STUDY" (2015).Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research. 255.
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INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL STUDENTS, THEIR ADVISING
RELATIONSHIPS AND ADAPTATION EXPERIENCES: A QUALITATIVE
STUDY
by
Katherine M. Najjar
A DISSERTATION

Presented to the Faculty of
The Graduate College of the University of Nebraska
In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements
For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Major: Educational Studies
(Educational Leadership and Higher Education)
Under the Supervision of Professor Marilyn L. Grady
Lincoln, Nebraska
October 2015
INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL STUDENTS, THEIR ADVISING
RELATIONSHIPS AND ADAPTATION EXPERIENCES: A QUALITATIVE
STUDY
Katherine M. Najjar, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska, 2015
Advisor: Marilyn L. Grady
Thirty four international doctoral students were interviewed to determine what
types of advising and mentoring experiences were effective and beneficial, and what
experiences had been difficult or unhelpful. The students reported a high level of
satisfaction with their advisors and with their program of studies. However, during the
interviews, students began to describe other factors that contributed to their well-being
and their experiences.
Issues described included language difficulties and problems developing
relationships with other students. Although most students developed close, personal
relationships with advisors or departmental colleagues, few students reported having
large numbers of friends and associates outside of their academic departments.
Topics that international doctoral students described as significant in their lives
included specific obstacles encountered with immigration or visas, family and financial
concerns. Several lived in poverty, and the precarious nature of their personal incomes
and academic financing was frustrating and stressful. The students also spoke of the ways
in which they had grown as scholars and as individuals. These experiences influenced
how the students visualized their future positions as educators, global citizens, and
community members. They were open to new ideas and experiences. The students
frequently used language that was associated with high levels of self-efficacy and
personal growth; in many ways they mentored themselves. Potential policy changes and
additional areas of research are identified.
iv

DEDICATION
This study is dedicated to the international doctoral students who so
generously entrusted me with their stories and experiences. I have no appropriate
words to express my gratitude. I remain honored by their confidences, and I am in
awe of their intelligence, curiosity, and creativity. My world is better for having
met each of them.
My work is also dedicated to my wonderful family. My parents, Richard
and Deanna Schlenz, raised me to think for myself, to ask questions, and to look
for answers. I especially thank my husband, Lotfollah Najjar, who is my favorite
international scholar. He has been a thoughtful guide, a true mentor, and my best
friend. He has given me the world, and seeing that world with him has been a joy.
Finally, our daughter, Jihan Najjar worked as my transcriber and as my
sounding board. I could not have completed this project without her
compassionate insights, thoughtful remarks, and diligent efforts. Her assistance as
a fellow scholar and researcher made this project better in every way.
v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My committee has been terrific. First, always, I thank Dr. Marilyn Grady,
my advisor. I have joked that I was “shoved” rather than “led” through the
program. I stand by my choice of verbs, with many thanks. I expect she will
always be the voice in my head.
My committee was comprised of remarkable people: Dr. Barbara LaCost,
whose classes, friendship, and conversations I have valued beyond measure, Dr.
Kent Mann, a calm and steady presence in the turmoil of doctoral studies, and Dr.
Dixie Sanger, who is one of the kindest people I have ever met. I have also
learned more than I can express from Dr. Jody Isernhagen, an incredibly patient
woman who has taught me about teaching and critical reading, Dr. John Mackiel,
whose passion for justice is contagious, and Dr. Richard Torroco, whose
leadership on issues of poverty changed my world.
I have particularly appreciated my departmental colleagues over the past
two years, fellow students Jeff Beavers, Jeff Espineli, Crystal Garcia, Mary
Johnson, Michael Jolley, Sue Showers, Jae Strickland, Minette Tuliao, Dr.
Lindsay Wayt, Nan Wang, Arefeh Mohammedi, and Dr. Tareq Daher, all of
whom have been great friends as well as great resources. Finally, I cannot
imagine what I would have done without the thoughtful friendship and insights of
Dr. Tania Reis. Having a partner in misery and stress was life-saving, and I am
forever grateful that we shared this journey.
vi

INTERNATIONAL DOCTORAL STUDENTS, THEIR ADVISING
RELATIONSHIPS AND ADAPTATION EXPERIENCES: A QUALITATIVE
STUDY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
List of Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
CHAPTER 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Rationale for Qualitative Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Outline of Dissertation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
CHAPTER 2 Review of the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
International Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Culture Shock and Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Personal factors specific to each student: Family obligations . . . . . . . 24
vii

Loneliness, depression, and stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Relationships with Other Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Home students’ point of view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Conational and other student friendships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
International Student Individuality and Identity: Individuality . . . . . . . . . . . 28
International student identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
International Graduate Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Graduate Student-Faculty Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Socialization and Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Faculty Perceptions of International Graduate Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
International Students’ Expectations of Faculty Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Advising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Mentoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
CHAPTER 3 Purpose of Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Deriving a Sample Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
viii

Qualitative Research and Narrative Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Phenomenological Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Qualitative Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Validation Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Ethical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Role and Background of the Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
CHAPTER 4 Positive Advising Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Finding an Advisor: An orderly search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Purposefulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Advisor selection is random . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
First Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Depth of knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Organization and preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
ix

Empathy and personal supportiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Clear expectations and feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Friendliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Supportiveness of student research, interests, and life . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Responsiveness/accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Mentoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chinese students and mentoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Non-Chinese students and mentoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Individual Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Two important mentors: Lian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Nuwa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Four mentors: Isabella . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
CHAPTER 5 Poor Advising Practices and Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Advisor is Absent/Disengaged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Advisor Doesn’t Know the Student’s Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Hostile Work Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101