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Cross-cultural adjustment: examining how involvement in service-learning contributes to the adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students

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Cross-cultural adjustment: examining how involvement in service-learning contributes to the adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students

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Content Running head: CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING

Cross-Cultural Adjustment: Examining How Involvement in Service-Learning Contributes
to the Adjustment Experiences of Undergraduate International Students

by

Napatthorn Laoboonchai

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2016

Copyright 2016 Napatthorn Laoboonchai
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor Dr. Artineh Samkian for her continue
support, guidance, understanding and encouragement throughout my study and research. Without
her patience, my dissertation would have been an overwhelming pursuit. In addition, I express my
appreciation to Dr. Julie Slayton for serving on my committee. Her thoughtful questions and
comments were valued greatly. Next, I would like to give thanks to Dr. Susan Harris for sparking
my interest on this research topic, and for being the kindest and most supportive supervisor
throughout the process.

I would also like to thank my classmates for making this educational journey fun and memorable,
and for providing such a strong sense of camaraderie throughout the program. I am so grateful to be
able to call many of them friends.

Next, I would like to thank the participants of my study for providing their time and sharing insights
on their adjustment experiences with me. Without their contribution, the completion of this
dissertation would not be possible.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their unconditional love and support throughout my
educational pursuit. I would not have been able to achieve and be who I am today without them.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2
LIST OF TABLES 5
LIST OF FIGURES 6
ABSTRACT 7
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 8
Background of the Problem 9
Statement of the Problem 14
Purpose of the Study 16
Significance of the Study 17
Definitions of Terms 19
Organization of the Study 20
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 22
An Overview of International Students’ Adjustment and Current Support Systems 23
Identifying Factors Affecting the International Student Adjustment Experience 23
Assessing Support Services for International Students 30
An Approach to Intercultural Adjustment and Learning 39
Traditional Acculturation Models 40
Berry’s Acculturation Model 40
Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity 45
Applications of Berry’s and Bennett’s Models 48
Alternative Acculturation Paradigm: Towards Intercultural Learning 50
Deardorff’s Intercultural Competence Model 51
Service-Learning: Practical Implications? 58
An Overview of Service-learning Pedagogy 60
Theoretical Roots of Service-Learning Pedagogy 62
A Lens Model for Service-Learning Educators 64
Benefits of Service-Learning for Undergraduate Students 68
Reflection Process in Service-Learning 73
Service-Learning & International Students 76
Conceptual Framework 80
Conceptual Framework Narrative 83
Summary 86
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS 88
Research Design 88
Sample and Population 90
Site Selection 91
Participant Selection 92
Instrumentation and Data Collection Procedures 97
Interviews 98
Observations 102
Document Collection and Analysis 104
Data Analysis Procedures 106
Credibility and Trustworthiness 107
Ethics 109
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Conclusion 110
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS 111
Case Study 1: Linda Yao 113
Linda’s Adjustment Challenges 115
Summary 122
Case Study 2: Anna Fang 123
Anna’s Adjustment Challenges 125
Summary 131
Case Study 3: Maria Park 133
Maria’s Adjustment Challenges 135
Summary 146
Case Study 4: Jane Wong 147
Jane’s Adjustment Challenges 149
Summary 157
Conclusion 158
Cross-Case Analysis: Service-Learning Components 159
“Service Experience” and Intercultural Learning 160
“Critical Reflection” and Intercultural Learning 186
“Mediated Learning” and Intercultural Learning 199
A Return to the Conceptual Framework 207
Linda Yao 210
Anna Fang 212
Maria Park 214
Jane Wong 216
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH 221
Summary of Findings RQ#1 222
Summary of Findings RQ#2 226
Implications and Recommendations 229
For Higher Education Administration Policy and Practice 229
For Service-Learning Practice and Research 231
Limitations 232
Areas for Future Research 234
Conclusion 235
REFERENCES 237
APPENDICES 249
Appendix A: International Student Consent Form 249
Appendix B: International Student Pre-Interview Protocol 252
Appendix C: International Student Post-Interview Protocol 254
Appendix D: Recruitment One Email 256
Appendix E: Recruitment Qualtrics Survey 257
Appendix F: Recruitment Two Email 260
Appendix G: Reflection Assignment for Psychology Course 261
Appendix H: Reflection Assignment for Freshmen Seminar 266
Appendix I: Reflection Assignment for Math Volunteer 271

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Summary of Participants’ Interview Duration 102
Table 2: Summary of Participants’ Profile 113
Table 3: Summary of Service Experience Findings 185
Table 4: Summary of Critical Reflection Findings 199
Table 5: Summary of Mediated Learning Findings 206
Table 6: Summary of Participants’ Adjustment and Intercultural Learning 209
Progress Pre and Post Service-Learning

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Berry’s Acculturation Model 41
Figure 2: Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity 46

Figure 3: Deardorff’s Pyramid Model of Intercultural Competence 55
Figure 4: Deardorff’s Process Model of Intercultural Competence 56
Figure 5: Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning 63
Figure 6: A Lens Model for Service-Learning Educators 65
Figure 7: Conceptual Framework 82

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Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to investigate the social and cultural
adjustment experiences of four undergraduate international students who engaged in a semester
long service-learning course. This study examined their cultural adjustment through the theoretical
lens of acculturation and intercultural learning. The study sought to answer two research questions:
1) What are the challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-learning face
socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university? 2) How does participation in a
service-learning course contribute to undergraduate international students’ social and cultural
adjustment process, specifically the development of their intercultural competence? Participants in
the study were four freshmen Asian international students at Sunshine University who participated
in service-learning in the fall 2015. Data collection from participants included interviews, an
observation during a group discussion and document analysis of weekly reflective essays. Findings
revealed that, while it was not a silver bullet, participants perceived and reported their participation
in service-learning to be beneficial for their social and cultural adjustment experiences, and
intercultural learning. By participating in service-learning, participants found themselves gaining
more culturally related knowledge about the community while also fostering useful intercultural
skills such as communication skills. Service-learning also helped participants to connect their
academic course materials and real world contexts. This study recommends that higher education
administration and service-learning practitioners work together to integrate service-learning as a co-
curricular activity for international students to take part during their initial transition to colleges.

Keywords: Acculturation, experiential education, intercultural learning, international students,
service-learning, reflection
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CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to investigate the social and cultural adjustment experiences
of undergraduate international students who engaged in a semester long service-learning course.
The study focuses on international students and their well-being because international students are
important to U.S. higher education institutions for several reasons. First, international students
provide a significant amount of financial contributions to the U.S. economy. During the 2013-2014
academic year, the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA) estimated that
international students and their dependents contributed $26.8 billion to the U.S. economy, creating
and supporting 340,000 jobs (NAFSA, 2015). In addition, they also contribute to the diversity of
U.S. college campuses as they help enhance the intellectual and cultural environment for domestic
students (Luo & Jamieson-Drake, 2013). International students make up over 4 % of the total U.S.
graduate and undergraduate population (Institute of International Education, 2013). Evidently,
international students are valuable assets to the U.S., hence it is important to ensure their success
and satisfaction during their program duration.
Given the importance of international students in U.S. colleges and universities, it is critical
to ensure their college experiences are successful and positive. One way to increase the chances that
this population will have a positive college experience is to provide opportunities for them to adjust
to life in their host country and to be a part of the fabric of this new society. This study examines
international students’ social and cultural adjustment through the theoretical lens of acculturation
and intercultural learning. By understanding the developmental process of international students
during their adjustment, culturally sensitive support services can then be implemented to ensure that
their college experiences are positive and successful.
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Furthermore, I argue that acculturation is in itself a learning process for international
students to acquire and foster skills related to cross cultural competency (Gill, 2007). To facilitate
such a learning process, I examined the participation in service-learning of undergraduate
international students. A co-curricular activity that provides learners with opportunities to engage in
meaningful service assignments and critical reflection, service-learning is known to promote
cognitive skills that are regarded as critical for the development of intercultural competence
(Deardorff, 2004). This intercultural competence, I contend, improves the chances that international
students will successfully adjust to their host country. By investigating the acculturation
experiences of undergraduate international students who engaged in service-learning, I attempted to
capture and explore whether and how the participation in a service-learning program can contribute
to the acculturation process. Particularly, I aimed to identify the components in service-learning that
are useful for the social and cultural adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students,
given the particular challenges international students face when adjusting. In addition, I assessed
the level of intercultural competence developed by international students before and after their
participation in a semester long service-learning course.
Background of the Problem
The population of international students in American universities and colleges has been
growing rapidly, and is now at a record high. During the 2012-13 academic year, there were
819,422 international students, which accounted for 4 % of the total population of U.S. higher
education students (Institute of International Education, 2013). Despite the economic benefits and
greater diversity international students bring to U.S. college campuses, these students face a variety
of challenges including language barriers, academic difficulties, and the loss of social support
during adjustment periods (Yeh & Inose, 2003). Living and studying in a country does not
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necessarily ensure acclimation and acculturation for international students especially if the majority
of opportunities to interact in English with native speakers are limited to the classroom environment
(Marlow, 2007). Therefore, it is critical that international students have the opportunities to not only
gain academic knowledge, but to also integrate in a meaningful way in the social context of the host
culture during their college experiences (Mataczynski, 2013). Research suggests that international
students face unique challenges and difficulties as a result of both academic and non-academic
factors. A variety of issues related to academic adjustment range from language barriers (Yeh &
Inose, 2003), academic difficulties, to classroom climates (i.e., teaching-learning styles) (Yoon &
Portman, 2004). Non-academic adjustment factors come from encountering cultural and social
dissimilarities, which can result in acculturative stress, cultural misunderstanding, racial
discrimination and loss of social support (Yakunina, Weigold, & McCarthy, 2011). These factors
play a significant role in determining the college experiences of international students (Yeh &
Inose, 2003).
In light of these challenges, it is critical to investigate existing support services that are
available to address the complex needs of international students. Apart from academic and language
assistance, support services for social and cultural adjustment are widely offered in the forms of
mental and counseling services, wellness support, and informal peer support networks, just to name
a few. Despite the increasing availability of these support services, very little empirical research
exists to systematically assess their effectiveness. And even with the studies that do exist, results
have generally been inconsistent and contradictory (Hwang, Bennett, & Beauchemin, 2014). The
general consensus derived from these few studies is that a lot of support services for international
students are either mismatched or underutilized (Mori, 2000; Yakunina, Weigold, & McCarthy,
2011). The utilization rates of support services such as counseling services continue to be low
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among international students even though there has been a significant increase of this population in
U.S. higher education. One of the explanations for this underutilization is that support services were
implemented without taking into account the unique needs of international students and were not
provided in culturally sensitive manners (Mori, 2000; Yakunina et al., 2011). In order to understand
how to best support international students, practitioners and scholars contend that various types of
existing support services must be critically identified and assessed on their effectiveness and
appropriateness based on sound theoretical frameworks.
Acculturation has been a common term used to define and explain the adjustment process
international students experience as they adjust to new cultural environments. Berry’s Acculturation
Model and Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) are two traditional
acculturation models that describe the adjustment experiences of individuals using typologies and
continua of adjustment. Berry explored acculturation from a cross-cultural psychological
perspective, which tends to emphasize general principles and their variations across cultures. In
other words, Berry’s model conceptualizes various ways/strategies individuals undergo the
adjustment process, which leads to different acculturative outcomes. On the other hand, Bennett’s
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) is derived from the field of intercultural
communication, which emphasizes the processes that underlie interactions between cultures (Liu &
Gallois, 2014). To supplement Berry’s model that looks at acculturation as a model of changes in
attitudes and behaviors, the DMIS focuses on cognitive structure development and explores a
change in an individual’s worldview structure (i.e., level of sensitivity to other cultures of
individuals). Both of these traditional acculturation models conceptualize the various ways
individuals may develop their identities during adjustment using typologies. Unfortunately, such
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classifications have limited applications as they simply label adjustment phenomenon into different
categories, and rely extensively on self-reported measurements.
Recently, contemporary intercultural scholars have considered an alternative paradigm that
adopts the grounded theory perspective to not only classify the adjustment process into categories
or a continuum, but to evaluate the process and outcomes of intercultural learning of individuals
who experience acculturation. Scherto Gill (2007) contends that
intercultural adaptation is in itself a process of intercultural learning, which has the potential
to bring about profound changes in international students themselves, transforming their
understanding of the learning experience, self knowledge, awareness of the others, and
values and worldview (p. 167).
By evaluating the process and outcomes of acculturation, this more contemporary paradigm
provides insights into the cognitive processes of individuals by examining intercultural learning and
skills individuals acquire as they go through adjustment.
When adjustment is considered a process of learning, the concept of intercultural learning
becomes significant. Deardorff’s (2004) pyramid model of intercultural competence and the process
model of intercultural competence offer concrete assessment of intercultural learning. Deardorff
created a framework of intercultural competence that included a research-based definition and
elements necessary for assessment purposes. The framework defined intercultural competence
along the following categories: 1) attitudes, 2) knowledge, 3) skills, 4) internal outcomes and 5)
external outcomes. Deardorff’s model extends from the simple linear categorization that Berry used
to describe acculturation strategies and Bennett used to explain intercultural competence in terms of
a continuum. Deardorff’s model extends Bennett’s because hers also provides a practical
framework to assess intercultural learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, skill sets and attitudes.
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The strength of this comprehensive approach is the focus on the intercultural learning process as
well as the outcomes produced from this process rather than the proposal of rigid stages
characteristic of the traditional approaches.
According to Deardorff (2006), intercultural competence does not “just happen” instead it
must be intentionally addressed. Deardorff’s framework of intercultural competence advocates
critical reflection as a powerful tool in acquiring attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for
individuals to become interculturally competent (Deardorff, 2006). She proposed that these skills
could be fostered for college students through educational interventions and/or co-curricular
activities such as programs, orientations, experiences, and courses that focused on fostering
reflection. Service-learning has been one of the pedagogical strategies and a co-curricular activity
used widely at the university level to help foster well-rounded college experiences for students. It
provides an ideal setting for students to experience and develop their intercultural attitudes,
knowledge, and skills “with and about diverse persons that are not easily replicable in the classroom
setting alone” (Deardorff, 2012, p. 158). Existing studies have verified the benefits of participation
in service-learning programs in students’ attitudes towards school and learning, civic engagement,
social skills, and academic performance (Celio, Durlak, & Dymnicki, 2011). However, very few
empirical studies and research have made the connection to examine whether and how service-
learning can contribute to the social and cultural adjustment experiences of international students.
As this dissertation attempts to bridge intercultural learning as a byproduct and outcomes of the
acculturation process, it examines service-learning as a learning pedagogy that can potentially foster
intercultural competence in undergraduate international students. Particularly, it explores different
components of service-learning namely, service experience, critical reflection, and mediated
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learning, and assesses how effective each component is in contributing towards international
students’ adjustment and their intercultural learning.
Statement of the Problem
Due to the increasing growth of the international student population in the U.S., there is a
need for U.S. universities and colleges to provide culturally appropriate support services to ensure
positive and successful college experiences for this group of students. The existing body of
literature has primarily focused on the interventions related to English language assistance, and the
effects of assisting international students with their English proficiency. Furthermore, the majority
of the studies also considered undergraduate and graduate students together without taking into
account that the experiences of international students at different education levels may differ.
Undergraduate and graduate international students should be studied separately to provide
customized services that are appropriate for each subset of this population. Also, there are gaps in
the literature to address the non-academic issues such as social and cultural adjustment faced by
international students. Research that has focused on the non-academic issues has revealed that
support services provided to assist international students in their social and cultural adjustment are
mismatched and underutilized due to cultural difference issues (Mori, 2000; Yeh & Inose, 2003).
Recognizing the gaps in the literature, this study focuses on investigating the social and
cultural adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students only. It intends to explore
the type of support services that are culturally appropriate and beneficial to this population under
the premise that acculturation is in itself an intercultural learning process. To offer a practical
implication for intercultural learning, this study considers service-learning, a co-curricular activity
that has the potential to support undergraduate international students as they undergo social and
cultural adjustment. Particularly, this study is interested in exploring how service-learning
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experience and its pedagogical components (i.e., meaningful service, reflection activities) may
provide a learning context that fosters social and cultural adjustment of undergraduate international
students.
Despite the growing number of studies related to international students’ adjustment on the
one hand, and the documented benefits of service-learning in higher education on the other, little
research has been conducted to specifically investigate international students’ experiences with
service-learning. Recognizing the current gap in the literature, this study seeks to explore potential
features of service-learning that can contribute to the acculturation of international students. No
study has ever examined whether the participation in service-learning can help improve the social
and cultural adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students. This study attempts to
fill this gap and asserts that international students who participate in service-learning are likely to
develop intercultural competence skills that are likely to positively contribute to their social and
cultural adjustment.
Without attention and appropriate service intervention, international students may be at risk
of having mental health problems such as stress from the loss of social support, and discrimination,
just to name a few (Hanassab, 2006; Nina, 2009). This could potentially worsen their adjustment
issues, and further prevent them from fully engaging in an enriching U.S. college experiences. And
if these at risk international students fail to receive the support they need, they may simply depart
the institutions, which will ultimately affect the retention rate of the institutions (Mamiseishvili,
2012) and minimize the benefits of their presence in the U.S. higher education that were previously
presented.

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Purpose of the study
The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the social and cultural adjustment
experiences of undergraduate international students in a service-learning context. Since the majority
of existing research focuses on providing academic support during adjustment (i.e., language
development), this study intends to fill in the knowledge gap. Research suggests that support
services provided to assist international students in their social and cultural adjustment are
mismatched and underutilized due to cultural difference issues (Mori, 2000; Yeh & Inose, 2003).
To understand the underlying issues that may influence such a negative phenomenon among
international students, this study explores adjustment issues through the theoretical lens of
acculturation and intercultural competence. It further makes connections and proposes that the
process of acculturation is in itself an intercultural learning process. As this study attempts to bridge
and conceptualize intercultural learning as a byproduct and outcome of the acculturation process, it
intends to examine service-learning as a learning pedagogy that can potentially foster intercultural
competence in undergraduate international students. The study recognizes that despite the growing
number of studies related to international students’ adjustment and the benefits of service-learning
in higher education, very few studies have been conducted to look at international students’
experiences with service-learning. Therefore, this study will assess whether and how the
participation in service-learning contributes to the adjustment and the development of intercultural
competence in undergraduate international students. As such, this study seeks to answer the
following research questions:
1. What are the challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-learning
face socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university?
2. How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate
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international students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the
development of their intercultural competence?
Significance of the Study
The investigation into the social and cultural adjustment experiences of undergraduate
international students who participate in service-learning incorporate three significant fields of
research including international students and support services, acculturation and intercultural
learning, and service-learning. By providing a unique yet holistic approach to address the problems
at hands, this research seeks to contribute and add to the existing literatures in three different areas.
First, there is a critical need to improve experiences of undergraduate international students,
and to provide culturally sensitive support services that take into account the unique challenges this
population encounters. The examination into existing literatures on international students and
support services revealed that most studies and interventions did not distinguish between
undergraduate and graduate international students. This study exclusively explores the experiences
of undergraduate international students and digs deep into their perceptions and experiences using a
qualitative study design. I hope to contribute new knowledge about undergraduate international
students through rich narrative description of experiences.
Second, the study will contribute new knowledge to the field of acculturation and
intercultural learning. Since this study proposes to look at the development of intercultural
competence as an outcome and a by-product of acculturation, this study goes beyond simply
classifying various stages of acculturation for undergraduate international students. Instead, it
examines the cognitive learning process of students as they undergo the adjustment experiences and
addresses their intercultural competence development. As a result, I hope to contribute new
knowledge on how acculturation with appropriate guidance can allow international students to
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acquire attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for individuals to become interculturally
competent (Deardorff, 2006).
Third, the study will contribute to the field of service-learning. By exploring service-
learning as a co-curricular activity that has the potential to foster intercultural competence skills for
undergraduate international students as they adjust socially and culturally, this study explores the
rigor of service-learning pedagogy, and contributes to the larger body of literature on the benefits of
service-learning. In addition, there has been abundant research on the documented benefits of
service-learning for students in K-12 as well as in higher education. However, there have been very
few empirical studies and reports connecting service-learning with international students.
Therefore, this study hopes to shed light on how service-learning can contribute to the intercultural
learning and the adjustment experiences of this particular group of students.
All in all, the outcomes of this study will provide recommendations for both practitioners
and scholars to further research and explore alternative support services (i.e., service-learning that
are culturally appropriate and beneficial to the intercultural development and adjustment of
undergraduate international students). Ultimately, the goal of this study is to promote positive U.S.
college and university experiences for undergraduate international students.

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Definitions of Terms
Acculturation: According to Berry (2005):
Acculturation is the dual process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of
contact between two or more cultural groups and their individual members. At the group level, it
involves changes in social structures and institutions and in cultural practices. At the individual
level, it involves changes in a person’s behavioral repertoire. Acculturation is a process of cultural
and psychological changes that involve various forms of mutual accommodation, leading to some
longer-term psychological and sociocultural adaptations between both groups (Berry, 2005, p. 699).
Intercultural Competence: “The effective and appropriate behavior and communication in an
intercultural situation” (Deardorff, 2006, p.1).
International Student: According to Open Doors (2015), an international student is defined as
anyone studying at an institution of higher education in the United States on a temporary visa that
allows for academic coursework. These include primarily holders of F (student) visas and J
(exchange visitor) visas. For the purposes of Open Doors, students at institutions other than
accredited colleges and universities are not counted (i.e., secondary schools or vocational schools).
Individuals who have permanent residency or a separate work visa are not counted.
Service-Learning: For the purpose of this study, service-learning is “a form of experiential
education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together
with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development”
(Jacoby, 1996, p. 5). In addition, service-learning programs are distinguished from other approaches
to experiential education by their intention to equally benefit the provider and the recipient of the
service as well as to ensure equal focus on both the service being provided and the learning that is
occurring (Furco, 1996). Due to this definition, this study spells “service-learning” with a dash in
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between the two words to indicate service and learning goals have equal weight and each enhances
the other for all participants (Sigmon, 1994).
Organization of the Study
This study is organized into five chapters. The first chapter provided an introduction and
background of the problem. It presented the context for undergraduate international students as
they transition and adjust culturally and socially to the U.S. higher education. The purpose and the
significance of the study were then presented providing justification to investigate service-learning
as an alternative co-curricular support service to support adjustment and promote intercultural
learning was stated. The chapter ended with organization of the study and definitions of relevant
terms.
Chapter Two provides a literature review and a conceptual framework that will be used to
inform the study. The chapter first examines factors affecting the international student adjustment
experience and assesses current support services available for international students. Next, the study
investigates various theoretical approaches to intercultural adjustment and learning including
Berry’s Acculturation Model, Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and
Deardorff’s Intercultural Competence Model. Lastly, the study explores service-learning pedagogy
and considers it as a possible intervention for adjustment and the development of intercultural
competence for international students.
Chapter Three outlines the methods for this proposed study. This chapter presents details on
research design. A detailed description is provided on the population and sampling procedure, data
collection instruments and procedures, techniques for data analysis, along with considerations on
credibility, trustworthiness and ethics.
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Chapter Four presents findings after analysis has been conducted for the study. It is
organized first as a case-by-case analysis of each of the four participants in my sample and then
looks across the cases to examine similarities and differences between all four participants’
experiences.
Chapter Five is the concluding chapter, where I summarize the main findings, the
limitations of the study, and discuss broader implications of the research, ultimately giving
recommendations on topics for future research studies.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the rationale for examining undergraduate international students and their
adjustment experiences in U.S. colleges and universities is presented. The study focuses on the
social and cultural adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students. Specifically, this
study explored the acculturation experiences of international students who engaged in service-
learning. As such, this study sought to answer the following research questions:
1) What are the challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-learning
face socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university?
2) How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate
international students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the
development of their intercultural competence?
In this review of the literature, there were three main bodies of literature that I included to
inform my conceptual framework. I drew on literature related to international students’ adjustment,
models of acculturation and intercultural learning, and service-learning respectively. To understand
the experiences of international students in U.S. higher education, it was critical to examine the
various difficulties these students face, and assessed the existing support services being provided to
accommodate their social and cultural adjustment. Models of acculturation and factors influencing
adjustment were then used to contextualize the social and cultural adjustment of international
students in broader discussions related to theories on acculturation. In particular, I drew on three
acculturation/intercultural competency models namely Berry’s Acculturation Framework, Bennett’s
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), and Deardorff’s Model of Intercultural
Competency to construct a conceptual framework for this study. In addition, no study has looked at
the potential benefits of service-learning on international students’ adjustment, so rather than
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reporting on empirical studies that have examined this topic specifically, this chapter examined the
pedagogy and goals of service-learning as an additional element to consider in the larger conceptual
framework. This chapter concludes with a presentation of my conceptual framework that served as
the foundation for the design and methods of my study, and determined the types of data and the
instruments I used.
An Overview of International Students’ Adjustment and Current Support Systems
The steady increase of undergraduate international students in the U.S. has prompted
educational researchers and practitioners to examine the adjustment experiences uniquely relevant
to this group of students. To ensure their positive and successful college experiences, there has been
an increase in efforts by U.S. colleges and universities that recruit and host international students to
not only provide a quality education but to also understand and address this student population’s
social and cultural needs (Ren, Bryan, Min, & Wei, 2007). A significant number of studies were
conducted on international students presenting different aspects and issues related to both their
academic and non-academic adjustment experiences. In this section, I presented literature related to
international students’ adjustment focusing particularly on their social and cultural adjustment.
First, I identified social and cultural factors that affect international student adjustment experience.
Next, I identified various types of support services available to help international students adjust to
the U.S. college experiences as well as to address issues and challenges related to those services.
Identifying Factors Affecting the International Student Adjustment Experience
Research has shown that adjustment to college is difficult for all students but it is even more
challenging for international students since they have to deal with additional issues such as culture
shock, social norm difficulties, and language difficulties (Andrade, 2006; Hechanova-Alampay,
Beehr, Christiansen & Van Horn, 2002; Mori, 2000; Toyokawa & Toyokawa, 2000). The existing
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24
literature has broadly categorized issues international students face while pursuing their U.S.
college education into academic and non-academic adjustment factors. A variety of issues related to
academic adjustment range from language barriers (Yeh & Inose, 2003), academic difficulties, to
classroom climates (i.e., teaching-learning styles) (Yoon & Portman, 2004). In addition to academic
challenges, non-academic adjustment factors, such as cultural and social dissimilarities to domestic
peers, also play a significant role in determining the college experiences of international students
(Yeh & Inose, 2003). In recent years, studies have shown an increasing number of efforts to address
international students’ non-academic needs, specifically social, cultural and psychological
problems. The empirical findings have demonstrated that the international student population is
faced with unique mental needs related to adjustment including acculturative stress, cultural
misunderstanding, racial discrimination and loss of social support (Yakunina, Weigold, &
McCarthy, 2011). The non-academic and academic challenges international students face are
interconnected as a lack of English skills is likely to affect international students’ academic
performance, and academic difficulties, which in turn would affect their psychological adjustment
(Yeh & Inose, 2003). Evidently, there are interrelationships between both academic and non-
academic challenges that must be addressed to foster positive college experiences for international
students.
In addition, the lack of cultural knowledge also contributes to the adjustment challenges
(Andrade, 2006). Because a vast amount of literature has already addressed the academic
adjustment factors for international students, I exclusively examined the non-academic adjustment
issues, thus bounding this literature review per my research questions.
Existing literature has identified various challenges that international students face upon
arrival to the United States and during their U.S. college and university experiences. Not only do
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25
international students have to cope with the academic challenges and language difficulties, they also
have to adjust culturally and socially. During the initial transition, international students must
undertake administrative tasks such as finding housing, registering for classes, obtaining social
security and driving licenses, to name a few. Grahame and Poyrazli (2007) identified four general
areas in which international students need assistance as they adjust to living and studying in the
U.S. They include (1) initial transition, (2) academic life, (3) social life, and (4) psychological
experiences. Compared to domestic students, international students face extra time pressure as their
student visa status only allows a short window of time for them to arrive to the United States prior
to their studies. This restriction makes the initial transition to settle down and navigate in a new
environment more difficult and challenging. As a result, international students face more stress
compared to domestic students especially if their English competency levels are low (Gu, 2008) and
they are not able to seamlessly navigate the logistical issues of moving and securing housing etc.
Abrahao Andre de Araaujo (2011) conducted a review of literature in which he
investigated major adjustment issues international students experienced while enrolling in
American colleges and universities. Using a systematic search of empirical articles from three
online databases–PsychINFO, ProQuest Education Journals and ProQuest Psychology Journals,
Andre de Araaujo limited his search range to full text documents only, and peer reviewed journals.
He found 21 relevant original studies from 1991-2010. From the search, six convergent findings
associated with the adjustment issues were identified, namely English language proficiency, social
support, length of stay in the U.S., perceived discrimination or prejudice, establishing relationship
with Americans, and homesickness. These findings suggested that international students face social
adjustment challenges beyond the academic settings.
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26
Hechanova-Alampay, Beehr, Christiansen, and Van Horn (2002) conducted a longitudinal
study to compare adjustment experiences related to self-efficacy, cultural novelty and social support
of two groups of students during the first six months of their college experience, and to examine
factors that predicted adjustment and predicted strained in both groups. Strain is a term used in
some stress research to indicate psychological problems such as depression or anxiety (as cited in
Hechanova-Alampay et al., 2002, p. 464). Hechanova-Alampay and colleagues’ study was
conducted at a medium-sized, mid-western U.S. state university over a six-month period. Method
and rationale for selecting this particular site and how students were recruited was not specified. In
the beginning, 294 international and domestic students took part in the surveys. Of these, 106 were
international students and 188 were domestic students. It is important to note that in the later phase,
the sample size decreased from 294 to 151 representing 51 % of the original sample size. Using all
available survey data collected at three different time periods, the study found that international
students had greater difficulty in adjusting during their initial transition when compared with
domestic students. In addition, even when international students became adjusted to their academic
and general environment after six months, they continued to have difficulty in making connections
with Americans. In other words, international students received and formed less social support than
domestic students. The study also revealed that only a small percentage of international students
reported developing close friendship with domestic students. Those who reported having more
confidence in their own ability and having higher self-efficacy had a more positive adjustment
process. The study concluded that self-efficacy, cultural novelty and social support were factors that
influenced the adjustment and strain of students.
Furthermore, Yeh and Inose (2003) conducted a cross-sectional quantitative survey study
with a sample of 359 international undergraduate and graduate students from a large urban
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27
university in the northeastern part of the U.S. No information was given on how the university was
selected. Surveys were distributed at international student organizations and clubs where
international students voluntarily participated. Four hundred and six surveys were distributed and
383 were returned representing a 94.3% response rate. Participants were from the following
geographic regions: Asia (61%), Europe (16.9%), Central/Latin America (10.8%), Africa (7.8%),
North America (3.0%), and Oceania (0.5%). Due to small sample sizes of Oceania and North
America, they were excluded from the analyses. The study was conducted to investigate the extent
to which international students’ age, gender, reported English fluency, social support satisfaction
and social connectedness predicted acculturative stress (Yeh & Inose, 2003). For this study, social
connectedness was defined as “an aspect of the self that manifests the subjective recognition of
being in close relationship with the social world” (as cited in Yeh & Inose, 2003, p.17). Using the
acculturative stress scale for international students (ASSIS), Yeh and Inose found English fluency,
social support and social connectedness factors to be highly predictive of international students’
stress levels. However, age and gender were not significant predictors of acculturative stress.
Moreover, the level of stress varied according to where students came from. For example,
international students from Europe experienced less acculturative stress than students from Asia
(Yeh & Inose, 2003). The findings suggested that social factors such as social support and social
connectedness are important factors that influence the adjustment of international students. It also
reported that international students from different countries of origin and backgrounds encountered
stresses and challenges differently which pointed to the relevance of cultural factors during
adjustment. In addition, the study found that students who felt socially connected were less likely to
have acculturative stress. In other words, when students felt connected or when they could establish
relationships with other peers through partaking in social activities, they had less stress, anxiety and
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28
depression. However, it is important to note that this study measured social connectedness as one
aspect of collectivism and not about the extent to which students felt they fit in to American society.
The authors believed that feelings of social connectedness were strong predictors of acculturative
stress due to the priority placed on relationships by international students from interdependent
cultures. Particularly, “international groups including Asians, African and Latin/Central Americans
value close connections among different individuals” (as cited in Yeh & Inose, 2003, p. 24). As a
result, when international students left their countries of origins to the individualist cultures of the
United States, they experienced cross-cultural differences that might have affected their sense of
self thus causing distress (Yeh & Inose, 2003). For example, international students perceived U.S.
culture and social relationship as superficial (Bulthuis, 1986; Cross, 1995). Therefore, it has been
argued that when they do not feel that they can establish close relationships and develop a sense of
social connectedness with other Americans, they may be dissatisfied with their interpersonal
connections (Mori, 2000). Due to such cultural differences, international students prefer to interact
with peers from their own countries preventing them from integrating into the U.S. cultures and
benefiting from authentic and well-rounded U.S. college experiences.
Corresponding to the findings on social connectedness and challenges due to cultural
factors, Hanassab (2006) investigated the perceived discrimination of international students using a
survey. The purpose of the study was to assess discrimination experienced by international students
and to examine their experiences from demographic and cultural factors such as gender, degree
objective, and field of study. The UCLA Office of International Students and Scholars supplied
international students’ information. All 2,093 international students were invited to participate via
mail. The final sample included 640 undergraduate and graduate international students (31%
response rate): 369 males and 271 females. Respondents were divided into seven groups according
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29
to their region of origin: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, and South
East Asia. Using a two-component instrument, the first section of the survey focused on students’
experiences in Los Angeles assessing their perception of discrimination, and the second on their
demographic information. The majority of the questions were close-ended with yes-no responses.
For example, have you experienced discrimination when interacting with professors, classmates,
staff and potential employers? The more yes the respondents answered suggested that they
experienced greater discrimination. One open-ended question was asked for students to describe
their discrimination experiences, if any. Chi-square analyses along with comments from the
participants were reported as findings. The study reported discrimination in the following areas:
interaction with professors, interaction with university staff, interaction with classmates, potential
employers and prejudice in the community. Specifically, the chi-square results were statistically
significant on interaction with professors, interaction with classmates, prejudice in the community
but not with interaction with university staff and potential employers. The authors concluded that
international students coming from different regions experienced discrimination in various degrees.
Students from the regions of the Middle East and Africa reported experiencing more discrimination
than students from other regions (Hanassab, 2006).
From the review of literature, many studies in this area found consistent findings on social
and cultural factors that affect international students’ adjustment. It is evident that international
students face adjustment problems that are varied according to attributing factors such as country of
origin, race and ethnicity, English language proficiency, and cultural beliefs (Hanassab, 2006).
Social support is an important variable and indicator found in many of the studies, which
contributes to how well international students adjust to their U.S. colleges. The literature suggested
that international students face a lot of challenges when trying to develop a new social support
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30
system and to foster new friendships. Due to cultural differences, this can be a stressful and uneasy
task for many international students (Mamiseishvili, 2012; Mori, 2000; Yakunina, Weigold, &
McCarthy, 2011). In addition, international students may face psychological experiences including
homesickness, disorientation, depressive reactions, and feelings of isolation, alienation, and
powerlessness (Nina, 2009). These phenomena affect international students’ mental well-being and
can lead to stress related illnesses such as depression (Mori, 2000).
Assessing Support Services for International Students
In light of these challenges and to understand the complete picture of what international
students experience during their adjustment to U.S. higher education, it is essential to review and
assess the support services that have been available to them. Pedersen’s (1991) review of literature
on counseling for international students has been regarded in the field of counseling psychology as
a seminal work on the topic. Pedersen examined existing literature on changes and trends in
working with international students, and reported that research in this area had been “isolated,
uncoordinated, and fragmentary studies on specialized variables, with no clear application of results
to comprehensive theory building or to practical implication for institutional policy” (Pedersen,
1991, p.50). Given this lack of coordination among studies on international students, there was a
sense that support services could not be well informed by research.
More recently, it has become evident that U.S. colleges and universities have been
increasingly providing various types of support services to international students. The most
common form of academic assistance has been to support international students who are from non-
English speaking countries on improving English proficiency (Mori, 2000). Apart from academic
and language assistance, support services for social and cultural adjustment are widely offered
including mental and counseling services, wellness support, and informal peer support networks.
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31
However, despite the implementation of these support services, very little empirical research exists
to report on and to assess support services provided to this group of students. And even with the
studies that do exist, results have generally been inconsistent and contradictory (Hwang, Bennett, &
Beauchemin, 2014). The general consensus derived from these few studies has been that a lot of
these services are either mismatched or underutilized (Mori, 2000; Yakunina, Weigold, &
McCarthy, 2011). Despite the increase in the population of international students in U.S. colleges
and universities, the utilization rates on support services such as counseling services continue to be
low. One of the reasons provided for why the services are not utilized effectively is because
services are provided for international students based on faculty and staff members’ assumptions
about the adjustment needs of these students. The services are not based on any systematic
assessment of international students’ needs (Hsu, 1996). In order to understand how to best support
international students, scholars contend that different needs and various types of existing support
services must be critically identified and assessed on their effectiveness.
To this end, Hwang, Bennett, and Beauchemin (2014) examined undergraduate and graduate
international student utilization of counseling services at a midwestern university over a period of
five years from 2005-2010. No information was provided on how and why the university was
selected. The purpose of the study was to find out how many international students sough
counseling services, and to examine their demographic characteristics. The study also investigated
how international students were referred to the counseling center and the concerns that made them
seek out services. The student data came from a standardized intake questionnaire from the
university counseling center. The authors reported that 834 international students sought counseling
service during 2005-2010. However, no information was provided on the total numbers of students
seeking counseling services. Hence, it was not possible to compare the rate of utilization between
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32
domestic and international students, and to get a sense of whether 834 was a low number or not
relative to other subgroups. The top four issues international students identified for why they were
seeking out counseling included relationship, anxiety, mood and adjustment learning issues.
Specifically, 48% of international students in this study expressed they had relationship issues with
roommates, classmates, staff, faculty, and other individuals due to their unfamiliarity with
American cultural norms (Hwang et al., 2014). This study also yielded important insights that most
international students sought help as a result of referral from faculty and staff. This suggested that
international students tended not to seek help by themselves, which supported the larger argument
that some international students associated seeking help for mental health issues with stigma and
taboo due to their different cultural backgrounds (Mori, 2000).
To validate the underutilization of support services among international students, Nina
(2009) conducted a quantitative study that looked at the relation between academic stress and
psychological adaptation in international students. The study examined the impact of awareness and
utilization of counseling services on international students’ academic stress. In other words, the
researcher was interested in examining whether there was a significant difference in the levels of
academic stress between international students who were aware of and used counseling services
versus those who were not aware of and did not use the services. The study was conducted at a
large public university in the Rocky Mountain region. No information was given as to why this site
was selected. All international students were invited to complete a voluntary online survey through
email recruitment. Sixty-two international students including 35 females and 24 males voluntarily
participated. The response rate was not disclosed. This study reported that international students
who were aware of and/or used counseling services reported significantly lower levels of academic
stress than those who were not aware. In addition, the study also examined whether students with
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33
higher levels of academic stress displayed poorer psychological adaptation. The results revealed
that international students with higher level of stress reported significantly higher level of fatigue,
tension, depression, confusion, and anger. This study validated that the unawareness and the
underutilization of counseling services among international students contributed to a more
challenging psychological adaptation that could lead to a greater academic stress.
In line with the empirical studies presented above, Mori (2000) presented a review of
literature on counseling services for international students. She examined sources of international
students’ psychological concerns, the reasons students underutilized existing counseling services,
and the ways to provide more culturally sensitive services. From her report, she found that the
demands for cultural adjustment frequently placed international students at greater risk for various
psychological problems. She pointed out that cultural values and beliefs about mental health
services held by most international students were often in direct conflict with a traditional American
concept (Mori, 2000). In other words, some international students associate seeking mental heath
services as taboo because it was regarded as shameful back in their home countries to have
psychological problems. Also, some may be in denial that they have mental health problems due to
the values and beliefs from their home countries. For example, research suggested that Asian
students mistrusted the counselors and held larger stigma towards seeking mental health assistance
than their U.S. and European peers due to their collectivism values (Miville & Constantine, 2007).
This unique phenomenon led Mori to conclude that a majority of the currently available services
lacked sufficient cultural relevance, and that was one of the reasons they were underutilized. Mori
(2000) thus called for culturally sensitive and personalized mental health services for international
students. Yakunina, Weigold, and McCarthy (2011) also shared a similar sentiment on reasons
international students underused mental health services provided by their host institutions. They
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34
contended that international students had not been exposed to such services in their home countries
as mental health had a cultural stigma. For example, in Asian cultures, self-concealment was valued
(Liao, Rounds, & Klein, 2005), therefore international students from Asian countries might have
been hesitant to discuss their feeling with authority figures or medical professionals. International
students from Asian countries tended to feel more comfortable sharing their problems with friends
and family members (Hyun, Quinn, Madon, & Lustig, 2007). It is evident that some cultural factors
can discourage international students, especially Asian students, towards not seeking assistance
from mental health services.
Apart from mental health and counseling services, peer programs have been an alternative
mode of support offered by universities to help international students with their adjustment
experience. Abe, Talbot, and Geelhoed (1998) conducted a comparison post-only design study on
60 newly admitted internationals students at a mid-west public university, which enrolled 2000
international students out of their 26,000 students. The purpose of the study was to assess the
effects of a peer program on international students’ awareness of campus resources, and to evaluate
whether international students found it beneficial to be matched to host students during their
adjustment. In addition, the study assessed whether students from non-Asian countries adjusted
better than Asian international students. Through the International Peer Program (IPP), 36
international student participants (the treatment group) were matched with domestic peer students to
support them during their matriculation to the university. After the fall semester, a self-reported
questionnaire was administered. Survey packets were mailed to both the treatment and the control
groups.
Twenty-eight survey packets were returned from all IPP participants representing a 77.8%
return rate, and 32 out of 80 packets were returned from the newly admitted international students
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35
who did not participate in the IPP (the control group) yielding a 41.6% return rate. The control
group was recruited with the help of the OISS to mirror the demographic composition of the
treatment group. Altogether, this study had an overall return rate of 51.7%. The survey results
suggested that the peer program participants showed significantly higher social adjustment scores
than the non-participants. In addition, students from Asian countries from both treatment and
control groups had more difficulty adjusting to campus life compared to international students from
non-Asian countries. Despite the positive findings on the peer program, it is important to note some
limitations of the study. First, the study only included a small sample comprising only 3% of the
entire international student body. Second, the sample was also a mixture of both undergraduate and
graduate international students. This prevented the study from teasing out whether undergraduate
and graduate international students had different adjustment experiences. Third, the study included
a sample of students who previously lived in the U.S. As such these students might have
inaccurately reported their adjustment experiences. In addition, in term of study design, since there
was no pre-program data to compare, it was possible that there might have been extraneous
variables that were not taken into consideration.
In line with peer support programs, extracurricular activity is another alternative type of
support that has been shown to generate positive adjustment experiences for international students.
A study conducted by Toyokawa and Toyokawa (2002) focused on how extracurricular activities
provided opportunities for students to engage with host nationals. The researchers proposed that
international students engagement in extracurricular activities would be considered an important
social context in which they might develop social networks and learn social skills, values and
customs in the host country (Toyokawa & Toyokawa, 2002). Eighty-four Japanese students
studying in a 10-month program in the United States were studied using data collected from an
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36
administrative survey after about 9 months in the program. This was a census sample as the entire
sampling frame of students who were part of the program was included. The authors explored “the
relation between the level of engagement in extra curricular activities of these students and their
academic involvement, psychological health, social support from friends and active use of leisure
time” (Toyokawa & Toyokawa, 2002, p. 366). The high activity engagement group referred to
international students who actively participated in out-of-class activities. The self-reported results
showed that students who were more engaged reported higher scores on satisfaction with life in
general than those who were not as engaged. In addition, the study showed that students in the high
activity engagement group were also more involved in academics. The positive association between
academic and extracurricular activities engagement were explained as a reciprocal process by the
researchers. They further elaborated that international students might have found positive
connection between classroom materials and out-of class activities. Hence, they found an
immediate reward and benefit in their learning, which encouraged them to actively participate in
both academic classes and extracurricular activities. Despite the positive benefits shown for extra
curricular activities, it is also important to note some limitations. The study did not consider the
nature of activities international students participated in and it was arguable that not all activities
might equally provide benefits for student adjustment. Due to the collectivist nature of Japanese
students, it could be inferred that some students might have spent time in activities to maintain their
group membership even if they did not want to. Hence causal direction that the participation in
extra curricular activities led to better adjustment could not be concluded.
Apart from the underutilization issue, it is also important to consider the effectiveness of the
available support services. Ikwuagwu (2011) conducted a mixed methods study using surveys and a
focus group interview to assess international students’ satisfaction of support services at Delaware
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37
State University. Using the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), a 7-point scale was
used to assess satisfaction levels of Delaware State University (DSU) international students who
were members of the DSU International Student Organization in 2007-2008. Out of 95 international
students enrolled at DSU, 54 completed the survey yielding a 56.8% response rate. The sample
included diverse participants both males and females from all undergraduate class levels. The
researcher reported that these students utilized a variety of services provided by the university
including campus organizations, sports programs, campus facilities and dining services. Based on
the 13 core items from Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), the researcher focused on 13
corresponding student support services. The study also compared the data from DSU international
students with a similar survey conducted at 4-year colleges in the nation to compare the satisfaction
gap between DSU and other national 4-year public institutions. To triangulate and strengthen the
study, focus group interviews were conducted with some members of the ISA. It was unclear how
many participants were part of the focus group interview. The purpose of the focus group was to
clarify some of the emergent responses related to support services that showed low level of
satisfaction. Data from the SSI surveys and the focus group interview revealed the gap between
current services provided and students’ expectations. The study reported that international students
were highly satisfied with academic advising and instructional effectiveness, but were least satisfied
with recruitment, financial aid and immigration services. Such findings implied that the academic
needs of international students were fulfilled. However, the non-academic issues were not being
effectively addressed. From the focus group, international students shared their dissatisfaction on
the International Student Office as they felt that the staff did not provide them with adequate
information and guidance regarding their F-1 visa status and renewal process. Regarding financial
aid, international students were not given clear information that financial aid was only available to
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38
local students. Another concern was on student connectedness with the campus communities.
International students felt that some professors and staff were insensitive to their cultural
differences (i.e., language barriers). This made the international students feel isolated from the
campus environments. Such findings implied that when international students did not receive
appropriate consultation, and felt they were not treated fairly by university staff, they would prefer
to isolate and put themselves at risk of failing to adjust socially and culturally.
The literature review on international students’ adjustment and support services revealed
that international students face unique adjustment challenges compared to domestic students.
International students have greater adjustment difficulties and experience more stress and anxiety
during adjustment (Andrade, 2006). Furthermore, different types of international students
experience adjustment differently, so it is important to be aware of these variations. The literature
has also suggested that different types of international students can have cross-cultural differences
in self-concept. For example, international students from Asian countries value interdependence
while those from Western countries value individualism (Cross, 1995; Varnum, Grossman, &
Kitayama, 2010). Such factors can contribute to the different adjustment processes and needs of
international students. Despite the abundance of research identifying stressors during adjustment,
not many empirical studies were conducted to assess the effectiveness of existing support services
(i.e., counseling, peer programs) provided to international students. In other words, intervention and
support services specifically designed to address international students were limited. For the
services that are available, their impacts and effectiveness have not been systematically assessed
(Pedersen, 1991), or have limitations. For example, the majority of studies had small sample sizes
and was generally conducted at one institution from a specific region and location settings, which
limited the generalizability of the results to a larger population. In addition, most studies included
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39
both undergraduate and graduate students in their samples, which might not depict accurate
experiences of different types of international students. Another important finding was that
international students underutilized or were unaware of the existing services (Mori, 2000;
Yakunina, Weigold, & McCarthy, 2011). All in all, these few available studies have shown that
services are mismatched or culturally insensitive to the unique nature of different groups of
international students (Gu, 2008; Mori 2000; Yakunina, Weigold, & McCarthy, 2011).
The review of literature in this section provided a detailed overview of current support
services provided to international students. It also revealed that international students are a complex
population group that needs to be competently supported based on various cultural and social
values. To understand why that is the case, I turn to review theoretical frameworks related to
adjustment. Specifically, in the following section, I present theoretical models related to
acculturation from a sociocultural perspective, and intercultural adjustment and learning from the
field of communication.
An Approach to Intercultural Adjustment and Learning
There is a significant amount of research on international students’ adjustment. According
to Feng (2009), there are two common approaches that researchers have adapted to examine the
experience of this population. One approach is to use acculturation models developed by prominent
scholars such as Berry (1990) and Bennett (1993) to describe developmental stages of intercultural
sensitivity and adaptation. Researchers taking this traditional approach attempt to model and
generalize the adjustment stages individuals experience using checklists and inventories. Another
approach that has gained popularity in recent years is working in an interpretive paradigm. The
interpretive paradigm uses mostly qualitative research methods for data collection. For example,
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40
grounded theory is utilized to examine the process and outcomes of intercultural learning, personal
growth and transformation of individuals (Deardorff, 2006; Gill, 2007).
To present both historical and disciplinary perspectives on the intercultural adjustment and
learning theories, I first examine the traditional acculturation models advanced by Berry (1990) and
Bennett (1993). Then I present Deardorff’s (2006) theory, which offers both theory and practical
assessment on intercultural competence from the field of intercultural communication.
Traditional Acculturation Models
Acculturation has been a term widely used by many scholars to describe adjustment
experiences of individuals who have lived in one context, but have moved to a different setting and
culture. To theoretically comprehend international students’ adjustment to the U.S. colleges and
universities, I use acculturation as a framework to describe possible circumstances of adjustment
individuals go through after they arrive in the host country. Specifically, I first synthesize and
present a model of acculturation advanced by psychologist John Berry (1990). Then, I review
Milton J. Bennett’s model of cultural competency (1993), which was derived from constructivist
psychology and communication theory. These traditional models describe the adjustment
experiences of international students using typologies as they go through different phases of their
U.S. colleges and universities.
Berry’s acculturation model. In the field of intercultural psychology, researchers and
scholars refer to the unique experiences faced by individuals who are re-establishing their lives in a
new cultural context as acculturation (Berry, 2005). There are various definitions of acculturation.
For example, acculturation is a process of adaptation and encompasses the process of adjusting to
life changes in the new cultural environment (Gu, 2008). Acculturation has also been defined as a
dynamic and multidimensional process of adaptation that occurs when distinct cultures come into
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41
sustained contact (Organista, Marin, & Chun, 2010).
Berry examined acculturation from the socio-cultural and psychological perspectives by
looking at processes that take place during adjustment. Specifically, he advanced a theory of
acculturation to study the cultural interaction when a person migrates to a new host country. Berry’s
model of acculturation (1990) was based on two key questions: Is it considered to be of value to
maintain cultural identity and characteristics? Is it considered to be of value to maintain relations
with larger society? Depending on how individuals answer these two questions for themselves, they
fall into one of the four categories suggested by Berry. The two dimensions derived from the
questions are cultural maintenance and contact and participation.

Figure 1. Berry’s acculturation model (Berry, 1997).

In response to the posed questions, John Berry developed a bi-dimensional model of
acculturation as shown in Figure 1 that explained four possible acculturation “strategies”
1

1
“Strategies” is the term Berry uses to explain how individuals may acculturate.
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individuals may adapt, which are integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization (Berry,
1997). Assimilation describes individuals who do not wish to maintain their cultural identity and
seek to interact with other cultures. These individuals prefer to give up their heritage culture, and
become absorbed into the dominant society. Separation describes individuals who place a value on
holding on to their original culture, and at the same time wish to avoid interaction with others.
Integration refers to individuals who have an interest in both maintaining their heritage culture
while participating in daily interaction with other groups. For this strategy, there is some degree of
cultural integrity maintained while individuals also participate as an integral part of the larger social
network (i.e., ethnocultural group member). Marginalization refers to individuals who have little
possibility or interest in maintaining heritage culture and little interest in having relations with
others, which leads to exclusion and discrimination (Berry, 1997).
Clearly, these four strategies present different ways individuals could adjust to new host
countries. Different acculturation strategies adopted by individuals inferred various ranges of
adaptation efforts that could contribute to diverse adaptation experiences (Berry, 1997). Integration
is a strategy regarded by scholars and practitioners as the most beneficial strategy during adjustment
followed by separation, assimilation and marginalization (Berry, 1997; Berry, Phinny, Sam, &
Vedder, 2006; Güngör, 2011). In support of integration, literature on acculturation presented
consistent empirical evidence that maintenance of both original cultural identity and relations with
other groups are associated with better adaptation outcomes (Berry et al., 2006). Specifically,
identification with home culture is associated with psychological well-being, and identification with
host culture is associated with positive functioning in daily living (Nguyen, Messe, & Stollak, 1999;
Ward, & Rana-Deuba, 1999). In other words, the integration strategy allows individuals to maintain
their traditional values and customs while learning about and adapting to cultures and values from
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the host country. In contrast, literature suggests that marginalization is the least adaptive strategy
while assimilation and separation are viewed as transitional strategies (Berry, 1997).
Apart from conceptualizing various adjustment strategies, Berry also investigated
individuals’ challenges and the impacts the acculturation process might have on individuals’ health,
psychological and behavioral outcomes. The supplemental knowledge on mental health issues
related to acculturation provided an additional framework to understand the social and cultural
adjustment experiences of international students, the population of interest for this dissertation.
Particularly, Berry used the term “acculturative stress” to describe individuals’ challenging
experiences as they develop stress because the foundational, social, personal and cultural needs are
not met (Berry, 1997). Berry contended that when individuals adjust to a new environment, it is not
difficult to change the behavioral practices. The process encompasses three sub-processes: cultural
shedding, cultural learning, and cultural conflict (Berry, 2005). The first two processes involve
gaining or losing some behaviors or practices in order to fit in with the norms of the society.
However, individuals may face some cultural conflicts that have psychological effects on them,
which creates acculturative stress. Berry found that the pursuit of integration is least stressful when
individuals experience acculturative stress.
While Berry’s model has been one of the most dominant models of acculturation, there have
been criticisms of this model such as conceptual issues, uses of different methodology to measure
acculturation strategies, and differences in terminology (Castro, 2003). First, the simple appraisal
provided in Berry’s model has raised criticism from some scholars who have argued that due to its
superficial nature, the model may fail to account for the complexities during adjustment.
Particularly, many scholars have argued that it is impossible for any individuals to experience
marginalization as it is unclear how individuals can develop a cultural identity without drawing on
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either the heritage or receiving cultures (Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008). Hence, the validity of
marginalization as one approach to acculturation has been called into question. Scholars have
argued that what appeared as marginalization may actually represent a sense of discomfort or
cultural identity confusion (Berry & Kim, 1988; Berry et al., 2006). For example, international
students may feel alienated from the host culture because of language barriers. At the same time,
they can also feel alienated from peers from the same country of origin due to different interests and
lifestyles. As a result, international students may feel overwhelmed with the experience, and choose
to alienate because they feel confused in their identities that they cannot relate to either cultures.
Second, by basing his model on the dichotomy of one’s identification and participation
along two-dimensions, this model leads to oversimplification of individuals’ adjustment (Burnett &
Gardner, 2006). The categorization of individuals’ adjustment experiences into one cell in the four-
part grid is problematic since individuals may be assimilated in one area but marginalized in
another area of their lives. For example, international students can be adjusted to the academic
culture and competently interact with classmates and professors during class time. However, they
might not be adjusted to the social culture and might prefer to solely interact with peers from their
host country who share similar cultural values and customs.
Third, Berry’s model of acculturation assumed that adjustment choices are consciously in
the hands of sojourners ignoring the socio-cultural context (Burnett & Gardner, 2006). In other
words, this model does not take into consideration that individuals are part of the larger social and
cultural context and their acculturation experiences can largely be dependent upon such contextual
factors. For example, international students may have desire to integrate and establish social
connection with domestic peers. However, they may face resistance from their peers who perceive
them as different. As a result, it may not be in international students’ control to integrate as they
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wish to.
Despite the criticisms of Berry’s model, there are merits to this model that make it
appropriate when exploring the acculturation experiences of individuals, particularly with
undergraduate international students. First of all, the model recognizes various ways and strategies
individuals use in the adjustment process, which leads to different acculturative outcomes. In
addition, the model conceptualizes the various ways individuals may develop their identities, and
the various stages they may go through when transitioning from a home culture to a new host
country. These strategies in Berry’s model provide a frame of reference for this study because they
help explain the various adjustment experiences and potential acculturative outcomes of
undergraduate international students. However, the model does not tell much about what can be
done to improve the adjustment experiences.
Bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. Another well-known
acculturation model is Milton J. Bennett’s (1993) model of intercultural development, also known
as the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). DMIS was created as a framework
to explain the observed and reported experiences of people in intercultural situations (Bennett,
1993). Using a grounded theory approach, Bennett “applied concepts from cybernetic
constructivism (cf. Maturana & Varela, 1987; VonFoerster, 1984) to his observations of
intercultural adaptation” (Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003, p. 423). Using a developmental
continuum, Bennett’s model is organized into six stages moving from ethnocentrism to
ethnorelativism.
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Figure 2. Bennett’s developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (Bennett, 1993).

DMIS identifies the underlying cognitive orientation individuals use to understand cultural
differences. In other words, it assesses the level of sensitivity to cultural differences in individuals.
As depicted in Figure 2, the first three stages, together are categorized as ethnocentric, are denial,
defense and minimization. During these stages individuals perceive their own cultures as central to
reality. The other end of the continuum is termed ethnorelative, which constitute stages four to six:
acceptance, adaptation to integration. During this phase of ethnorelativism, there is an increased
shift in sensitivity in which individuals perceive their own cultures in the context of other cultures.
The purpose of DMIS is to provide an assessment instrument to monitor behavior and attitudes of
individuals who are dealing with cultural differences. This assessment can help provide structure
and information so educational interventions can be facilitated to move learners along the
developmental continuum (i.e., becoming culturally-competent). It is assumed that as individual
experiences of cultural difference becomes more complex, the potential competence in intercultural
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relations of individual increases. Hence, this model asserts that for a person to become
interculturally competent, he/she needs to move along the developmental stage continuum.
Despite the systematic foundation of DMIS, the model has been criticized for similar
reasons as Berry’s model. Scholars have been concerned that DMIS is too clear-cut and
scientifically defined, which may not reflect the reality of individuals’ growth. For example, the
model does not acknowledge that each individual may have different reactions and adaptations, and
may not develop in a linear way as proposed by the continuum. Also, DMIS does not take into
account the social and contextual factors that may affect how individuals adjust since the
development of intercultural competence is not done in isolation. It is also possible that individuals
may not achieve integration, which is the state that is reached when individuals become bicultural
or multicultural in their worldviews. It is possible that throughout the process the individuals may
develop identities that are marginal to any one culture and re-establish identities that are unique to
each individual’s encompassing experience (Bennett, 1993). Therefore, any efforts in categorizing
may prove self-defeating (Zafar, Sandhu, & Khan, 2013).
Another point of criticism with DMIS deals with assessment. DMIS has been studied using
self-reported measures. The concern with self-reported data is that it may not accurately measure
the construct one intends to examine, in this case intercultural competence. Self-reported data can
be misleading because they are dependent on how individuals perceive, evaluate, and ultimately
wish to represent themselves. Hence, there is a possibility that individuals may report on how they
think they adjust rather than how they really adjust. In addition, the nature of self-reported
assessment does not provide details on the actual skills and knowledge individuals possess relative
to cultural competence.

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Applications of Berry’s and Bennett’s models. Berry’s Acculturation Model and
Bennett’s Intercultural Sensitivity Model are traditional acculturation models that describe the
adjustment experiences of individuals using typologies and continua. It is noteworthy that Berry
explored acculturation from a cross-cultural psychological perspective, which tends to emphasize
general principles and their variations across cultures. Bennett’s background, on the other hand, was
in intercultural communication, which focuses on the processes that underlie interactions between
cultures (Liu & Gallois, 2014). These disciplinary perspectives have shaped the models and their
application.
Grounded in a socio-cultural and cross-cultural theory, Berry’s model provides a
comprehensive framework using typologies, to describe four possible strategies individuals may
acquire during their adjustment. Berry’s model has been extensively applied to the study of
immigrants (cf. Zheng & Berry, 1991), and recently has been expanded as a framework used to
study sojourners such as expat workers (cf. Ward & Rana-Deuba, 2000) or international students
(cf. Sullivan & Kashubeck-West, 2015). Berry’s model not only explains various adjustment
strategies but it also explores identity issues, challenges and the impacts the process has on
individuals’ health, psychological and behavioral outcomes (e.g., acculturation stress) related to
migration. Hence, Berry’s model is insightful and applicable in describing various adjustment
processes of undergraduate international students, the group of interest in this study, as they adjust
to the U.S. colleges and universities.
On the other hand, Bennett’s model originated from the specific discipline of intercultural
communication. Unlike Berry’s acculturation framework, the DMIS is not a model of changes in
attitudes and behaviors. Rather, it is a model that focuses on cognitive structure development, a
change in an individual’s worldview structure. Bennett argued that the observable behaviors and
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self-reported attitudes at each stage are indicative of the state of the underlying worldview (Bennett
& Bennett, 2004; Hammer et al., 2003). In other words, the statements about behavior and attitudes
described in each stage are indicative of how individuals process in their intercultural development
progress. The underlying assumption of the model is that as one’s experience of cultural difference
becomes more sophisticated, one’s competence in intercultural relations increases. In other words,
individuals move along stages in the continuum from ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism as they
become more exposed to different cultures (Bennett & Bennett, 2004). Bennett recognizes the
importance of intercultural communication and views it as acquirable skills. He believes that
individuals can foster these intercultural competence skills through educational interventions
enabling them to progress along the continuum (Bennett, 2004). Since this study proposes that
individuals’ cultural and social adjustment is in itself intercultural learning, Bennett’s model
becomes highly relevant as it provides guidelines which help shed light on cognitive stages
individuals go through in the intercultural learning process.
Both Berry and Bennett shared a similar approach of using typology to describe
acculturation. Berry’s model is helpful because it provides a classification of acculturation.
However, although similar because of its stages, Bennett’s model is more complex than Berry’s as
it does not simply illustrate variations of different types of adjustment. Instead, he extends the
model to explore the process individuals undergo to develop intercultural competency (i.e., to
increase sensitivity to cultural difference). As a result, Bennett’s six-stage model offers a systematic
outline for growth that can be applied to understand the developmental process of undergraduate
international students while adjusting to the multicultural environment like in U.S. colleges and
universities.

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Alternative Acculturation Paradigm: Towards Intercultural Learning
The traditional acculturation models just set forth theorize that international students go
through stages of development as they acclimate and adjust to new cultures and environments.
From a socio-cultural perspective, models of acculturation give us the ability to observe and
understand individuals’ attitudes through their self-reported data, and behaviors from their actions.
For instance, who they hang out with, what language they choose to use more, what kind of support
services they seek out, what activities are important for them to retain culture or behaviors that
ultimately result in them losing their culture. The communication theorists then supplemented this
conceptualization by exploring and modeling the cognitive process (knowledge and
comprehension) of adjustment. They describe the development of intercultural competency as part
of personal growth and transformation in different cultural contexts. However, these acculturation
models do not identify concrete assessment measures for the outcomes of intercultural learning
(Wang, 2010).
This section turns to a discussion of an alternative paradigm that adopts the grounded theory
perspective to not only classify the adjustment process into categories or a continuum, but to
evaluate the process and outcomes of intercultural learning of individuals who experience
acculturation. By evaluating the process and outcomes, this more contemporary paradigm provides
insights into the cognitive process of individuals by examining intercultural learning and skills
individuals acquire as they go through adjustment. In order to dig deeper to their internal cognitive
development, the intercultural learning framework is promising as a framework. Hence, I proposed
that it is important not only to understand and assess undergraduate international students’
adjustment by simply classifying them into different categories, and identifying what happens to
students as they acculturate, but to also consider the learning and the skill sets they acquire through
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the adjustment process. In other words, it is important to recognize that acculturation results in
changes in the individuals experiencing the transition. Scherto Gill (2007) contends that
intercultural adaptation is in itself a process of intercultural learning, which has the potential
to bring about profound changes in international students themselves, transforming their
understanding of the learning experience, self knowledge, awareness of the others, and
values and worldview. (Gill, 2007, p. 167)
It is this view that has prompted me to conceptualize intercultural learning as outcomes of
acculturation process. By considering adaptation as a process of learning, the concept of
intercultural learning becomes significant to my study. As a result, intercultural learning is another
body of literature used to supplement my theoretical approach on adjustment experiences of
undergraduate international students. Particularly, Deardorff pyramid model of intercultural
competence and the process model of intercultural competence (2006) were investigated and
utilized for concrete assessment of intercultural learning. Hence, the next section focuses on
definitions and theoretical frameworks related to intercultural learning and competency, and its
outcomes.
Deardorff’s intercultural competence model. Over the last decade, scholars studying
intercultural processes and outcomes have been unable to reach a consensus on the terminology
related to intercultural competence. Different disciplines adapt a variety of concepts including
cultural competence, global competence, multicultural competence, cross-cultural awareness, and
global citizenship, to name a few. As a result, a review of literature often finds that the terms related
to intercultural learning are used without concrete definitions and are used interchangeably. In
response to the issue of measurement and assessment, contemporary scholars of intercultural
learning have continued to work on defining and finding ways and models to assess intercultural
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competence more accurately. Drawing extensively from Bennett’s intercultural sensitivity model
(1993), Darla K. Deardorff (2006) conducted the first study to document consensus on the
definition and assessment methods of intercultural competence among intercultural experts. She has
been one of the prominent intercultural scholars in postsecondary education who sought to identify
a set of research-based components of intercultural competence using both quantitative and
qualitative research methods to capitalize both deductive and inductive processes (Spitzberg &
Changnon, 2009).
The purpose of Deardorff’s research was to determine a definition and appropriate
assessment methods of intercultural competence. To conduct the study, multiple research methods
including the Delphi technique and questionnaires were used for data collection. The Delphi
technique is a reiterative, interactive process between a researcher and a panel of experts, often with
the goal of reaching consensus among panelists (Deardorff, 2006). In this study, three rounds of
Delphi with intercultural experts were conducted via e-mails to generate definitions of intercultural
competence, refine those definitions, validate them, and reach some agreement on key elements of
the term. These intercultural experts were chosen through a variety of means including practitioner
recommendation, expert recommendation, International Academy of Intercultural Research
membership list, scholars cited in Deardorff’s literature review. In the end, 37 experts were invited
to participate and 23 of them agreed to take part in the Delphi study, which yielded a 62% response
rate. The participants were from the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.
Another type of data collection included an 11-item questionnaire that was distributed to
administrators from 73 higher education institutions in the U.S. These institutions were chosen on
the basis that they were identified as strongly committed to the internationalization of their
institutions such as they emphasized intercultural competence as one of their student outcomes.
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Twenty-four of them agreed to participate representing a 32.9% response rate. The intention was to
find out what was currently known and done in assessing students’ intercultural competence. Then,
Deardorff distributed the final round of the Delphi to a sample of 24 higher education
administrators to approve or reject the definitions and assessments of intercultural competence
developed by the intercultural experts from her study. Primary findings included a preference for a
general definition of intercultural competence among both experts and administrators (Deardorff,
2006).
From the Delphi study and the questionnaire, Deardorff created a framework of intercultural
competence that included a research-based definition and elements necessary for assessment
purposes. The framework defined intercultural competence along the following categories: 1)
attitudes, 2) knowledge, 3) skills, 4) internal outcomes, and 5) external outcomes. In the framework,
Deardorff began with the explanation on attitudes that were deemed as an important element for
interculturally competent individuals:
Attitudes: Several essential attitudes emerged, those of respect, openness, curiosity
and discovery. Openness and curiosity imply a willingness to risk and to move
beyond one’s comfort zone. In communicating respect to others, it is important to
demonstrate that others are valued. These attitudes are foundational to the further
development of knowledge and skills needed for intercultural competence.
(Deardorff, 2006, p. 1)
The second category describes knowledge necessary for intercultural competence.
According to intercultural scholars in the study, they agreed on the following definition of
knowledge:
…cultural self-awareness (meaning the ways in which one’s culture has influenced
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one’s identity and worldview), culture-specific knowledge, deep cultural knowledge
including understanding other worldviews, and sociolinguistic awareness. The one
element agreed upon by all the intercultural scholars was the importance of
understanding the world from others’ perspectives. (Deardorff, 2006, p. 1)
The third category outlines skills necessary for the acquisition and processing of knowledge
to include “observation, listening, evaluating, analyzing, interpreting, and relating”
(Deardorff, 2006, p. 1). Deardorff saw these attitudes, knowledge, and skills as being critical
in producing both internal and external outcomes. Internal outcomes were defined as those
that happen to the individual that enable the individual to change. External outcomes, on the
other hand, are demonstrated by outward expressions or behavior. As Deardorff states:
Internal Outcomes: These attitudes, knowledge, and skills ideally lead to an internal
outcome that consists of flexibility, adaptability, an ethnorelative perspective and
empathy. These are aspects that occur within the individual as a result of the
acquired attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary for intercultural competence. At
this point, individuals are able to see from others’ perspectives and to respond to
them according to the way in which the other person desires to be treated.
Individuals may reach this outcome in varying degrees of success.
External Outcomes: The summation of the attitudes, knowledge and skills, as well as
the internal outcomes, are demonstrated through the behavior and communication of
the individual, which become the visible outcomes of intercultural competence
experienced by others. (Deardorff, 2006, p. 1)
These five elements served as a foundation of the definition of intercultural competence
derived from Deardorff’s study. Intercultural competence is broadly defined as “the effective and
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appropriate behavior and communication in an intercultural situation” (Deardorff, 2006, p. 1). It is
also important to understand that effectiveness can be determined by the individual while
appropriateness can only be determined by the other person. This suggests that the individual’s
level of cultural sensitivity and his/her level of cultural competence can be assessed through
communicating with others in an intercultural situation.

Figure 3. Deardorff’s pyramid model of intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006).
Based on the findings from the study, Deardorff synthesized the data to derive a pyramid
model of intercultural competence as depicted in Figure 3. The model suggested that having
components of the lower levels enables upper levels. Through the development of specific attitudes,
knowledge and skills related to intercultural competence, this model contends that attitude is a
fundamental starting point, and individuals should possess the appropriate attitudes (motivation) as
they begin to acquire intercultural competence skills. Specifically, “the attitudes of openness,
respect (valuing all cultures), and curiosity and discovery (tolerating ambiguity) are viewed as
fundamental to intercultural competence” (Deardorff, 2006, p. 255). A unique element of this
pyramid model is its emphasis on both external and internal outcomes on intercultural competence
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(Deardorff, 2006, p. 255). In other words, this model assesses the unobservable cognitive
developmental process, which includes acquisition of attitudes, knowledge, and skills, as well as the
observable outcomes demonstrated through the individual’s behavior and communication. The
visual representation of the pyramid model of intercultural competence is presented above in Figure
3.

Figure 4. Deardorff’s process model of intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006).

In addition to the pyramid model, Deardorff also created the process model of intercultural
competence as shown in Figure 4 above. The process model of intercultural competence shares the
same elements as the first pyramid model but it outlines the complexity of acquiring intercultural
competence by highlighting more of the process of movement from a personal level to the
interpersonal level (Deardorff, 2006, p. 257). Using arrows, the model demonstrates various
developmental paths and possibilities individuals could take to acquire intercultural competence.
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Deardorff emphasized the internal and external outcomes, and suggested that it is possible for
individuals to go from attitudes to external outcomes, or from attitudes to knowledge to external
outcomes (as depicted by the thin, black arrows) but she cautions that the degree of effectiveness
may not be as high as completing the entire cycle with internal outcomes also having been achieved
(Deardorff, 2006, p. 257). Finally, Deardorff contended that intercultural competence development
is a continual process of improvement and one may never become a fully interculturally competent
person.
Deardorff’s model provides a comprehensive framework to understand the various
processes individuals can go through to acquire internal and external aspects of intercultural
competence. Applying this model to the context of international students’ acculturation, it suggests
that the cultural and social adjustment of students is in itself a process of intercultural learning. As
international students go through such adjustment, they gain necessary attitudes,
knowledge/comprehension, and skills that can assist and transform them to become acculturated.
Deardorff’s model extends from the simple linear categorization that Berry used to describe
acculturation strategies, and Bennett used to explain intercultural competence in terms of a
continuum. It is important to note that even though Bennett’s model also considers cognitive
development of individuals as they go through acculturation and gain intercultural competence,
Deardorff’s model extends Bennett’s because Deardorff’s model also provides a practical
framework to assess intercultural learning outcomes in term of attitudes, knowledge, and skill sets.
In addition, this framework illustrates that it is possible for an individual to have the
requisite attitudes and be minimally effective and appropriate in behavior and/or communication,
even without further knowledge or skills (Deardorff, 2006). In other words, adding the necessary
knowledge and skills may ensure that an individual can be more effective and appropriate in one’s
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intercultural interactions (i.e., external outcomes), but there are different degrees of competence.
With the development of an individual’s learning to be more flexible, adaptable and empathetic, an
individual can then be even more effective and appropriate in intercultural interactions.
Another distinction between Deardorff’s model and Bennett’s model is the contention that
intercultural competence is a lifelong process and there is no one point at which an individual
becomes completely interculturally competent (Deardorff, 2006). This provides a more realistic,
nonlinear approach compared to Bennett’s, which assumed integration as the final stage for
intercultural competence. Another strength of Deardorff’s model is that it was created based on both
quantitative and qualitative data. Such approach of data collection allowed her to obtain the general
perceptions of a larger sample of higher education professionals and more in depth perceptions of a
smaller sample of experts. The strength of this comprehensive approach is the focus on the
intercultural learning process as well as the outcomes produced from this process rather than the
proposal of rigid stages characteristics of the traditional approaches.
All in all, Deardorff’s model of intercultural learning is a robust framework to assess
intercultural adaptation as a process of intercultural learning. This suggests that intercultural
learning can be assessed and taught, which is aligned with what this study attempted to understand
by exploring the intercultural learning process undergraduate international students gain during
their acculturation and adjustment.
Service-Learning: Practical Implications?
According to Deardorff (2006), intercultural competence does not “just happen” instead it
must be intentionally addressed. Deardorff’s framework of intercultural competence promotes
critical reflection as a powerful tool in acquiring attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for
individuals to become intercultural competent (Deardorff, 2006). She advocated that these skills
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could be fostered for college students through educational interventions and/or co-curricular
activities such as programs, orientations, experiences, and courses that focused on fostering
reflection.
Service-learning is a form of experiential education that has been regarded as one of the
high impact educational practices that helps equip college students with real world applications. It
provides an ideal setting for students to experience and develop their intercultural attitudes,
knowledge, and skills “with and about diverse persons that are not easily replicable in the classroom
setting alone” (Deardorff, 2012, p. 158). Apart from providing students with the opportunities to
engage in meaningful service-learning assignments, the practice of critical reflection is a
complementary component of service-learning that helps foster students’ cognitive development
and learning. Correspondingly, reflection, as depicted by Deardorff, is a critical skill for the
development of intercultural competence.
As this dissertation attempted to bridge and conceptualize intercultural learning as
byproducts and/or outcomes of the acculturation process, it proposed to examine service-learning as
a learning pedagogy that could potentially foster intercultural competence in undergraduate
international students. Specifically, this study examined whether and how the participation in
service-learning contributed to the adjustment and the development of intercultural competence in
undergraduate international students. As such, it is important to understand the literature on service-
learning pedagogy.
In the following section, I present an overview of service-learning pedagogy by first
addressing its theoretical roots and historical context. Then I review relevant empirical studies on
its documented benefits to provide contextual framework for this study.

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An Overview of Service-Learning Pedagogy

Over the last several decades, service-learning pedagogy has been widely adopted at all
education levels as an instructive method that intentionally connects community service to
classroom learning (Campus Compact, 2007). Service-learning utilizes out-of-classroom
experiences in helping students make meaning of abstract theories and concepts through a
structured service assignment in local communities and reflective practice. Service-learning is
defined as a form of experiential education that occurs in meaningfully structured experiences
within a collaborative relationship involving community partners (Flecky, 2010). In other words, it
is an instructional strategy that integrates community service with an academic curriculum, and
utilizes reflection as a key component to evaluate students’ learning outcomes (Celio, Durlak, &
Dymnicki, 2011).
As a result, empowerment of students and community are central to the service-learning
approach (Marlow, 2007). Through student-centered teaching and learning strategies, service-
learning has been shown to enhance students’ personal, social and cognitive outcomes by offering
students a practical connection between classroom experience and social context (Butin, 2010). As
part of the process, reflection is utilized as a key component to evaluate the learning outcomes of
students during service-learning, and is done in many intervals such as before students begin the
assignment, during the assignment, and after completion. Unique to this learning approach is the
fact that service-learning is tied to the academic course objectives, but most of the learning takes
place in a local community setting outside of the classroom. To demonstrate how service-learning is
generally conducted, the following hypothetical example is provided. For instance, students may be
enrolled in a human rights class that integrates and offers a service-learning program as part of the
course. To connect class content to a real world context, service-learning students from a human
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rights class may be assigned to give a presentation on discrimination to elementary students in the
local community. Enrolled service-learning students then takes part in creating a lesson plan and
preparing for a presentation. In addition, they are required to keep journals and complete weekly
reflective essays to reflect on their experiences. The purpose of reflection is to provoke and get
students to think deeply about social issues they encounter during their service experience as well
as to connect their academic course materials to a real world setting. Such pedagogies have proven
to be popular and beneficial in promoting cognitive development for college students (Eyler &
Giles, 1999).
Since service-learning offers students a practical connection between classroom experience
and social contexts outside the university, many college professors and practitioners have integrated
service-learning as part of course curricula and requirements. Academic-community partnerships
have become visible through the practice of service-learning activities in many U.S. college
campuses, and there is also a rise in programs in higher education that award certificates, minors,
and/or majors in service-learning (Butin, 2010). According to Campus Compact (2014), more than
1,100 colleges and universities have incorporated service-learning programs in their curricula. As
students, faculty, institutions, and community partnerships increasingly collaborate to integrate
service-learning as part of their teaching and learning approach, there is a growing demand to
empirically assess the rigor of service-learning as an effective pedagogy, and to critically evaluate
the impacts of service-learning on students’ learning outcomes (Astin, Vogelgesand, Ikeda, & Yee,
2000; Eyler & Giles, 1999). I first examine the theoretical roots of service-learning pedagogy to
describe the components of service-learning as well as how learning occurs. Specifically, I
investigate the cognitive learning process that can potentially contribute to the adjustment and the
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development of intercultural competence in undergraduate international students. Next, I review the
empirical studies on the benefits and outcomes of service-learning at the undergraduate level.
Theoretical Roots of Service-Learning Pedagogy
There are a few characteristics of service-learning pedagogy deemed important for its
implementation. Rooted in the service-learning pedagogy is the practice of reflection. To
understand how reflection has become a critical component of service-learning, it is important to
understand that service-learning pedagogy was built on decades of pedagogical theory influenced
by John Dewey (1938). As an advocate of experiential learning who believed in incorporating
reflection to produce real learning, Dewey set out a six-stage process of inquiry which involved: 1)
encountering a problem, 2) formulating a problem or questions to be resolved, 3) gathering
information that suggests solutions, 4) making hypotheses, 5) testing hypotheses, and making
warranted assertions (as cited in Cone & Harris, 1996, p. 44). The process of inquiry enabled
students to be engaged in experiences so as to comprehend their surroundings and real world
environment through reflective exercises.
Building upon Dewey, a contemporary theorist David Kolb (1984), conceptualized Dewey’s
six-stage into a four-stage experiential learning cycle comprising of concrete experiences,
reflection, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation (Cone & Harris, 1996). Putting
students at the center of learning, this model focuses on fostering students’ internal cognitive
processes by utilizing reflection as a learning tool. Kolb’s learning cycle demonstrates that effective
learning occurs when students encounter a new experience and take the opportunities to observe
and reflect on the new experiences. Reflection leads to the formation of abstract concepts and the
development of ideas. When students test out those new ideas or hypotheses in future situations,
they encounter new experiences. Through this cyclical reflection process as presented below in
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Figure 5, Kolb’s learning cycle model has been instrumental in providing a foundation for the role
of reflection in the field of service-learning.

Figure 5. Kolb’s model of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984).
For service-learning students, the cycle typically begins with the concrete experience of
being at an assignment location such as local school classroom, legal clinic, non-profit organization.
For example, a service-learning student can be placed in a classroom to tutor math for a local
elementary student. As she/he encounters the new environment, in this case, a local school, he/she
makes observations about the contextual setting of the school and people in the surroundings as
well as how they interact with each other. Generally, descriptive comments from observation are
generated at this point. A service-learning student may observe a poor condition of the classroom,
how teachers interact with students, the ethnicities of students, etc. As a student becomes more
familiarized with the setting, he/she makes abstract conceptualization based upon previous
knowledge that may include generalization and his/her own interpretation. For example, his/her
reaction may include associating student race with being poor and underperforming in school. As a
result, he/she actively tests those theories in new situations for instance, testing to see if other
students in the local school fit his/her theories. The critical part of service-learning pedagogy is to
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foster students’ desire to actively ask and reflect on their experiences through guided prompt
questions and/or discussion to make the learning more meaningful and enriching.
Through this experiential learning model, it is evident that students are free from the formal
didactic classroom instruction experience, and have more opportunities to reflect upon their own
learning. Compared to the passive role of students in didactic and rote learning styles, experiential
learning enables students to take a more active role in their learning as they are given more
opportunities to reflect, ask questions and make meaning of the knowledge content. However, one
must be cautioned about this type of individual learning as it may “simply be built upon their prior
attitudes and values” (Cone & Harris, 1996, p. 51). When conducted without careful guidance,
students may base their reflection on the existing assumptions and stereotypes, which is detrimental
to the learning process. As a result, the field of service-learning has been advocating for a learning
model that purposefully addresses and corrects prior assumptions of students through guided
reflection.
A Lens Model for Service-Learning Educators
Cone and Harris (1996) argued that Kolb’s model in the context of service-learning could be
ambiguous to educators as it relates to their role in facilitating or supporting students’ reflective
process. With a goal of clarifying the role of educators in supporting students’ reflective process,
they proposed a more comprehensive service-learning model that encompassed “the individual,
psychological nature and the interpersonal, socio-cultural nature of service-learning” (Cone &
Harris, 1996, p. 46). Essentially, a Lens Model for Service-Learning Educators as presented in
Figure 6 in the next page focuses not only on the learners, but also on the roles of educators. To do
this, the model begins highlighting the role of learners as they engage in service-learning
experiences and undergo reflective activities. The Model then introduces the role of educators
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during the “Mediated Learning” phase with an objective of assisting learners as they process their
reflection.

Figure 6. A lens model for service-learning educators (Cone & Harris, 1996).

Deviating from Kolb, Cone and Harris intentionally began the first component of their
model with students as learners to serve as a reminder that the rest of the model is “systemically
attempting to help students to use experiences in the community to better build upon, critique and
evaluate that knowledge, and move to an intellectually higher ground” (Cone & Harris, 1996, p.
46). Consistent with other scholars, they took into account that each student possesses unique
characteristics and comes with different assumptions, attitudes and values. The second component
focuses on the cognitive and pragmatic issues of service-learning tasks. They advocated that
service-learning practitioners must carefully plan the experiences for students to progress
intellectually (academically) and meaningfully (pragmatically). For example, it is critical that
students are pre-trained on concepts that enable them to have basic understanding of the
community, and to help clarify expectations and intentions. The third part focuses on the service
experience that is “discontinuous” from students’ daily experience. In other words, students’
service-learning assignments are intentionally different from what students are used to, allowing
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them opportunities to broaden their perspectives and raise questions about the world. The fourth
part highlights the holistic approach of critical reflection. This particular part differentiates this
model from other learning models as it emphasizes reflection on both intellectual and emotional
capacities using written and oral skills. Even though previous learning models such as Kolb’s
learning cycle also emphasize a similar process of reflection, they do not critically elaborate on the
various modes of reflection, which can include both written and oral components. In addition to
individual reflection, the fifth part focuses on meditated learning, which involves guided reflection.
At this phase, service-learning educators takes an active role to mentor and assist in students’
learning process. The final part of the model returns to learners who are more informed. Returning
to the learner is a way to demonstrate, according to Cone and Harris, that “service-learning is not
simply an abstract pedagogical tool, but an experience that has potentially profound effects on a
student’s intellectual and personal growth” (Cone & Harris, 1996, p. 46).
Extending from Kolb’s learning model, the lens model offers a comprehensive guide for
service-learning educators to understand how they can practically guide students through their
reflection process. It emphasizes that the learning and reflection process should be carefully guided.
Based on Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development (ZPD), this model advocates students’
problem solving to take place under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers
using scaffolding. Hence, the mediated learning phase becomes instrumental as instructors play a
critical role in providing conceptual tools and identifying problems and formulating questions to
enhance students’ learning experiences. In this model, Cone and Harris elaborates not only the roles
of service-learning instructors but also program assistants (PAs) who help scaffold and mediate
learning for learners/students. PAs are undergraduate students who have prior service-learning
experience who are trained to guide, clarify thoughts and feeling, and reduce anxiety of service-
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learning students. It is important to note that not all service-learning programs may have program
assistants.
To facilitate this guided learning process, Cone and Harris presented two types of prompt
questions that are utilized to support students’ reflection on both their academic knowledge and
their personal perceptions. Academic questions are used to evaluate students’ ability and
competency to construct well-formed, objective arguments related to the coursework in their
disciplines. Journal questions then provide space for students to share personal response, which
includes attitudes and emotions. This process determines their “level of experience as a participant
in the community” (Cone & Harris, 1996, p. 50). In addition to written responses, students
participate in oral reflection through a weekly discussion that serves as an interactive reflective
component. Cone and Harris contended that learning is socially constructed hence it is important
that students get to share and reshape their ideas based upon a larger public discourse. With the
guidance of service-learning instructors, it is believed that students will develop the ability to think
critically about the contextual validity of both academic and social concepts like culture.
It is evident that active cognition is an integral element in the learning process of this
service-learning model. As previously asserted, when students encounter experiences that are
discontinuous from students’ daily lives, conceptual challenge may take place, which leads to
reconceptualization. Reconceptualization is a process of formulating new hypotheses and testing
them (Dewey, 1938). The service-learning experience thus provides students with an experiential-
reflective cycle that gives them the opportunities to practice critical reflection. Applying abstract
concepts from classrooms to real social situations, students develop analytical skills and re-
conceptualize their knowledge from different learning contexts. The reconceptualization that takes
place during service-learning can potentially provide cultural learning that helps transform one’s
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understanding about diversity and to enable him or her to develop cultural competency as proposed
by Deardorff (Deardorff, 2006).
From the review of literature on theoretical roots of service-learning, it is apparent that
service-learning models have been carefully constructed based on rigorous experiential learning
pedagogy that combines classroom experience with real life application. Service-learning exposes
students to local communities allowing them to foster attitudes, knowledge, and skills that can
potentially equip them to be interculturally competent. Utilizing reflection through mediation
activities, such as reflective essays and group discussion, as key learning instruments, service-
learning fosters students’ cognitive development in both academic and personal realms. To present
a complete picture of service-learning and its current state, I turn from theoretical frameworks to a
review of empirical studies on benefits and impacts of service-learning on students’ learning
outcomes.
Benefits of Service-Learning for Undergraduate Students
Since growing numbers of colleges and universities are integrating service-learning as part
of their curricula, there has been a vast amount of literature documenting the benefits and outcomes
of service-learning. For the purpose of this study, I synthesize benefits of service-learning for
undergraduate students into three primary areas: (a) academic engagement and achievement, (b)
social and personal skills, (c) civic attitudes and behaviors. Research has indicated that service-
learning students demonstrated academic competency in problem analysis, critical thinking,
cognitive development, application of knowledge across context, and writing ability (Astin et al.,
2000; Celio et al., 2011; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Sedlak, Doheny, Panthofer, & Anaya, 2003; Warren,
2012). In addition, service-learning students were found to have higher intention to re-enroll at their
campus compared to students who did not take part in service-learning programs (Bringle, Hatcher,
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& Muthiah, 2010). In the areas of social and personal development, service-learning has been found
to promote social and personal skills such as an increase in cross-cultural awareness interpersonal
skills, and social justice (Baldwin, Buchanan, & Rudisill, 2007; Eyler & Giles, 1999; Marlow,
2007). The increase in students’ civic attitudes and behaviors is another area of development that
has frequently been associated with the participation of service-learning. Previous studies have
shown that service-learning helped instill and foster the sense of civic responsibility and morals in
students (Bernacki & Jaeger, 2008; Celio et al., 2011; Pritzker & McBride, 2005; Stewart, 2012).
A seminal study that looked at the process and outcomes of service-learning as part of a
national survey was conducted by Eyler and Giles (1999). The study assessed the impacts of
service-learning programs on students’ citizenship values, skills, attitudes, and understanding.
Through a multi-campus study, 1,544 students at 20 colleges and universities completed pre-and-
post service-learning experience surveys. Using a hierarchical multiple regression analysis with
controls for age, gender, minority status, family income, and other community service during
college, the result showed that service-learning students demonstrated a positive change in personal
development, social responsibility, interpersonal skills, tolerance, and stereotyping (Eyler & Giles,
1999). Particularly, they found that service-learning increased students’ sense of connection with
others who were from different backgrounds. Through service-learning assignments, students
developed tolerance and appreciation of other cultures as they discovered that they shared
similarities with others who they previously thought were different from them. As a result, the
participation seemed to have led to a reduction in stereotypes. In addition, the study discovered that
students in well-integrated service-learning courses self-reported higher quality experiences and
greater learning. This study suggested that by being part of service-learning classes for just one
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semester, students could benefit from a gain in their personal, civic, cognitive and academic
outcomes.
Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, and Yee (2000) conducted another influential longitudinal study
in an effort to distinguish classroom-based service-learning and its unique benefits from other types
of community service. Using longitudinal data collected from a national sample of students at
diverse colleges and universities, they explored the effects of service-learning on the cognitive and
affective development of 22,236 college undergraduates. Apart from quantitative data, qualitative
in-depth case studies were also conducted through individual and group interviews with faculty and
students, as well as classroom observations on three different campuses. One of the main foci of the
study was to investigate the reflection component, which was a unique element of service-learning
that distinguished it from other types of community services. In the quantitative research design,
reflection was one of the 11 mediating variables used to predict student outcomes. Qualitative data
on reflection was collected through group interviews. Consistent with Giles and Eyler’s study,
Astin and his colleagues also found positive effects on both academic and personal outcomes of the
students. Particularly, the participation in service-learning as a course-based activity yielded a
positive effect on academic outcomes, namely GPA and writing skills (Astin et al., 2000). This
study also highlighted the effectiveness of reflective practice as a powerful component for both
community service and service-learning. They argued that service-learning courses provided more
opportunities than community services for student-to-student discussion and reflection among one
another. This study inferred that being in a structured service-learning class with reflection built
into an academic course was more beneficial than simply participating in community service. It also
stressed the role of professors in connecting service experience through course subject matter as the
study showed that the support prior to service participation and the discussions throughout the
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course contributed to students’ positive and meaningful experiences. This study provided more
evidence that service-learning with built-in reflection exercises were beneficial to students’
learning, and helped students gain both academic and personal/social skills.
While much of the available research at a college level explored the effect of service-
learning in a short time during single courses, Keen and Hall (2009) conducted a longitudinal study
that looked at the impact of service-learning for a longer period of time, namely over the course of
four years in college. The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of co-curricular service-
learning on students’ appreciation of diversity and of dialogue across boundaries of perceived
difference, which was articulated as desired outcomes of college experience. The study was
conducted with college students in 4-year, co-curricular service-learning programs at 25 liberal art
colleges located in Appalachia. Through surveys at three different time points (beginning, mid-
point, graduation), the data was collected from about 1,500 students who were part of the Bonner
Scholar Program, sponsored by the Bonner Foundation (“Bonner Scholars”). Bonner scholars
applied to be part of a 4-year program that required students to complete a minimum of 10 hours of
service, training, and reflection each week for 4 years. They were also provided financial support to
take part in at least 7-week summer or co-op semesters where students spent the summer
completing full-time service-learning assignments. By the end of the 4-year program, each scholar
served at least 1,680 hours. The study revealed that students who participated in the Bonner service-
learning program over 4 years gained academic, civic and personal skills. However, since this was
not a true experimental study, and students were self-selected to be part of the program, it was not
possible to attribute these changes to the program as there could be other extraneous variables that
contributed to service-learning students’ development. Furthermore, the study reported that the
graduation rates of Bonner Scholars were higher than campus averages and many scholars had gone
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on to career in public service (Keen & Hall, 2009). The authors attributed such positive outcomes to
the opportunities students had for reflection and dialogue with others. When comparing the survey
results between freshmen and senior years, the results revealed that as students had more exposure
with the program (i.e., seniors), they rated the importance of the opportunity to reflect be much
higher than when they were freshmen students.
From this study, reflection journal writing as well as having the opportunities to dialogue at
the site with their supervisors were reported as valuable to learning. According to Keen and Hall
(2009), the process of reflection helped students “internalize their experiences and build capacity to
listen to dialogue with those who may be different from Scholars themselves” (p. 67). These
findings were consistent with the study conducted by Eyler and Giles (1999). However, Keen and
Hall also expressed a contrasting view that service-learning implemented during one semester
courses may be too short for students to appreciate dialogue across differences. This study proposed
that a well-designed, 4-year, co-curricular service-learning program has a potential power to
transform students’ learning. The authors also concurred with Astin et al. (2000), stating that
“service-learning has a place in the curriculum, and should not be relegated solely to the
extracurricular” (p. 19).
Another learning outcome that has been documented as a result of service-learning is the
increase in civic engagement. Stewart (2012) investigated the impact of service-learning
participation on first-year honors students’ sense of civic responsibility. A one-group, pretest-post
test research design was conducted with 119 first semester undergraduate honors students enrolled
in a mandatory service-learning program at a large public research-intensive university. Based on
pre-and-post self-reported survey responses, participants’ sense of civic responsibility showed
significant increases in students’ community connectedness, civic attitudes and civic efficacy
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respectively (Stewart, 2012). Corresponding to this study, Celio et al. (2011) conducted a meta-
analysis of 62 studies to assess the impact of service-learning on student outcomes. They found that
through participation in service-learning courses, both faculty and students developed a heightened
sense of civic responsibility and personal effectiveness (ES =0.27). In addition, they also found
significant benefits in students’ attitudes toward self, attitudes towards school and learning, civic
engagement, social skills, and academic performance (Celio et al., 2011).
Reflection Process in Service-Learning
Apart from literature conducted on outcomes and benefits of service-learning as a whole,
“the growing body of research has begun to unearth programmatic features and participants
characteristics that produce positive outcomes for students, faculty, and communities” (Moely,
Furco, & Reed, 2008, p. 37). In other words, more scholars and practitioners seek to understand and
explore the learning and cognitive processes that take place during service-learning so that they can
provide empirical evidence to support the rigor of the pedagogy.
Rockquemore and Schaffer (2000) conducted a mixed-methods study that focused on the
cognitive process of learning during service-learning experience. The study explored the oft-
ignored cognitive process students undergo during the community service-learning experience. A
census sampling of 120 students between the ages of 18-22 years old was chosen to participate in
the study. These students enrolled in service-learning courses through “Religion 101, Sociology
200”, and two freshmen seminar courses titled, “The Call of Service” (Rockquemore & Schaffer,
2000). Students took these classes as part of their general education curriculum at Pepperdine
University, a private Christian university in Malibu, California where students came from upper
class backgrounds. The purpose of the study was to investigate the cognitive process that occured
between pre-and-post assessment to explore the learning outcomes of students’ engagement in
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service-learning. Using pre-service and post-service attitudes surveys, participants completed a 26-
item questionnaire before and after their service-learning experiences to measure their cognitive
learning. This method allowed researchers to observe students’ attitudes at two points in time. In
addition to the questionnaires, the researchers sub-sampled a group of 50 students for qualitative
analysis. These students were selected from different service-learning assignments and were asked
to keep a journal entry for each day of their service. Fifty daily reflection journals (about 103
journal entries per students) were collected to create a description of the social psychological stages
that occurred during service-learning.
Using a grounded theory approach to conduct content analysis, the study proposed three
identifiable stages of development: 1) shock, 2) normalization, and 3) engagement to describe
social and psychological experiences of service-learning students. The findings also revealed that
students developed significant changes in attitudes towards social justice, equality of opportunity
and civic responsibility (Rockquemore & Schaffer, 2000). However, it is important to note the
demographic of the students as the limitation of this study. Students at Pepperdine University were
from upper class background implying that they had limited opportunities being exposed to people
from other socioeconomic, racial and religious backgrounds. This might skew the results leading to
significant cognitive changes that might be higher than if compared to a study with university
students from inner city or low-income areas. All in all, the study proposed that a better
understanding of the cognitive processes of students during service-learning is critical to
improvement of the pedagogical tool.
Consistent with the previous study, Baldwin, Buchanan and Rudisill (2007) conducted a
qualitative study to examine the process of reflection during service-learning for undergraduate
teacher candidates (“candidates”). Forty-one candidates in a service-learning course from a mid-
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Atlantic university and a rural southeastern university were interviewed and were asked to write
reflection papers about their teaching experiences in underserved community. The goal of
integrating service-learning into the curriculum was to provide candidates opportunities to cultivate
deeper understanding of diversity, social justice, and themselves. The following themes were
extracted from the discussion and reflective papers: preconceived notions about teaching in diverse
setting, how pre-conceived notions were overcome (or reinforced), and “learning about myself as a
teacher” (Baldwin et al., 2007, p. 320). Similar to Rockquemore and Schaffer (2000), these themes
suggested that candidates went through stages of cognitive development as they participated in
reflective activities. Service-learning candidates confronted and reflected through difficult issues
related to societal inequities and stereotypes.
Evidently, there is a progression towards utilizing service-learning and its reflection process
to promote cognitive development for students at the undergraduate level. In addition, the
intercultural interaction during service-learning has further prompted researchers to connect
service-learning pedagogy with the development of intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006). De
Leon (2014) conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate and compare the effects of an
intensive intercultural service-learning program on the intercultural competence between service-
learning and non service-learning undergraduate students. Using pre-and-post course assessment of
intercultural competence as measured by the cultural intelligence (Van Dyne, Koh, & Ang, 2008)
and intercultural sensitivity measures (Chen & Starosta, 2000), 170 students who enrolled in 6
sections of the same course took part in the study. Of these, 52 students took the course with the
service-learning component while 118 students took the course without the service-learning
experience. Statistical analyses showed that service-learning had a significant positive effect on
students’ intercultural competence, particularly their intercultural strategy and action. The authors
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also noted that their study “provided evidence that intercultural training that deliberately includes
interaction with cultural others can aid participants in developing intercultural skills, possibly even
before awareness and knowledge are fully developed” (De Leon, 2014, p. 26).
This review of literature provided a succinct overview of the myriad benefits of well-
integrated service-learning as part of academic curriculum during undergraduate study. The
increase in academic achievement and retention, social and personal skills, civic attitudes and
behaviors, were some of the positive learning outcomes derived from the participation in service-
learning. In addition, the investigation into service-learning models revealed that service-learning
was carefully constructed based on sound learning theories and incorporates various learning
components that contributed to a positive learning experience. By connecting to course content and
allowing students to participate in meaningful service and critical reflection, these complementary
components validated the rigor of this learning approach and suggested that service-learning, when
implemented with high quality, can yield statistically significant effects on students’ learning
development (Cashman & Seifer, 2008; Klute & Billig, 2002).
Service-Learning & International Students
Despite the growing number of studies related to international students’ acculturation, and
the documented benefits of service-learning in higher education more broadly, little research has
been conducted on international students’ experiences with service-learning. The exploration into
the literature for empirical studies that connects service-learning with acculturation of international
students yielded limited results.
Miller, Berkey, and Griffin (2015) conducted a qualitative study to explore how service-
learning contributed to the development and transition of international students in a pathway
program, a non-degree university affiliated program which is a preparation courses focusing on
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intensive language English training for international students prior to their undergraduate and/or
undergraduate degrees. The study took place at Northeastern University, a research and teaching
university in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of the research was to examine whether and how
service-learning contributed to international students’ development in the following areas: create
transformative learning experiences, prepare students with cross-cultural collaboration, improve
English language proficiency, and develop sense of agency. The researcher collected data from a
pathway program called American Classroom (currently called Community Learning) at
Northeastern University. Data collected online over four semesters from fall 2012 came from 250
international students who participated in the program. Data included a compilation of post-
semester evaluation data from 186 students, students’ journals and blogs, and pre-and-post student
evaluations. Data was analyzed using narrative summary, thematic analysis, and aspects of
grounded theory. Results revealed that international students found service-learning to be beneficial
in creating transformative experience as they reported that service-learning served as catalysts for
attitudinal and behavioral change. One student wrote in a reflection there that “there was a shift
from a relatively paternalistic view of service-learning of I am serving others to a more mutually
beneficial view of service-learning to I am serving and learning” (Miller, Berkey & Griffin, 2015,
p. 344). In addition, international students reported that service-learning provided them with cross-
cultural learning experiences through collaborating with peers, and the experiences working with
community members also enhanced their knowledge of diversity and cross-cultural competencies.
International students also found that their fluency and confidence in English had improved.
Moreover, they reported they gained communication skills, management skills, a sense of
belonging, and organization skills, which contributed to their sense of agency. This study
contributed to the literature on international students and service-learning by providing qualitative
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evidence that service-learning is applicable in helping international students during their
adjustment.
Prior to this study, only one other qualitative case study was found to explore the benefits of
integrating the service-learning program as part of an ESL course (Marlow, 2007). The study was
conducted as part of an ESL class in a university setting in Boise, Idaho. However, no information
was provided on how many people took part in this pilot program. The course goal was to help
integrate international students socially and culturally into the American college experience. It is
important to note that in this study, international students were recipients of the service, and not the
participants. As part of a pilot initiative, the instructor introduced “Conversation Lab” to provide
international students and service-learning students with opportunities to connect and foster their
cross-cultural awareness. The native-English speakers who participated in the service-learning class
(service providers) acted as culture mentors for international students (service recipients). Through
this program, the service-learning students and international students spent 30 hours together over
the course of a semester. These students were paired up to engage in different activities together
outside of the classroom and wrote a reflection about their experiences. The analysis of feedback
from both the international and service-learning students suggested positive benefits in enhancing
their cross-cultural awareness and in mediating cultural differences (Marlow, 2007). In addition, the
experience also helped students examine their cultural identity and realized that there were no
superior or inferior cultures. One of the American service-learning students shared that,
I have learned more about the world than I ever thought without leaving Boise. I
never realized how skewed the American view on the rest of the world is, but this
class has opened my eyes. I am more culturally aware now.
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As for the ESL international students, they also found benefits in interacting directly with local
peers in improving their English. For example, one student commented that:
Even though I made mistakes several times in speaking English, my partner
responded to me very nicely and helped my English speaking. Especially, I could
know about her life. Also, throughout these activities international students can
make native speaker friends and native speakers can make international students
friends.
The review of literature has revealed that there have been almost no studies conducted on
service-learning in relation to international students and/or acculturation. Furthermore, there was
very little research that explicitly highlighted international students as participants of service-
learning, and the benefits of such participation on the acculturation process and the development of
intercultural competence. Recognizing the current gap in the literature, I sought to explore
components of service-learning that can potentially contribute to the acculturation of undergraduate
international students. In addition, I explored whether and how service-learning could foster
intercultural competence for this group of students as they embarked in their college education in
the United States. Despite a limited amount of research found on this topic, the literature has
provided sufficient evidence that there are elements embedded in service-learning and its pedagogy
that are worth exploring, and that it can potentially assist international students with their social and
cultural adjustment to the U.S. lifestyles.

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80
Conceptual Framework
This study posited that the explanation of how international students adjust to life during
their higher education is further understood by framing their experience in the acculturation
process. To address the extent of social and cultural learning and adjustment that international
students encounter due to language, custom and social standards, I drew from theoretical
frameworks from a wide variety of sources including, psychology, anthropology, cross-cultural
communication, service-learning, higher education and counseling. Specifically, I bridged Berry’s
model of acculturation from psychology with Bennett’s intercultural sensitivity model from the
field of communication as the framework for analysis. Specifically, I aimed to identify stages of
adjustment in term of acculturation and intercultural learning. In addition, I further explored
acculturation as a process of intercultural learning. By including both acculturation and intercultural
learning models, my conceptual framework encompassed both socio-cultural and cognitive
psychology perspectives that are crucial for understanding undergraduate international students’
development holistically during their adjustment.
To effectively provide good learning experiences and ensure a positive adjustment, an
intervention that gave clear definition of the set of skills expected from such learning experiences
was desirable. Hence, Deardorff’s intercultural competence model was incorporated to provide
assessments on attitudes, knowledge, and skills to evaluate international students’ development of
intercultural competence during their acculturation. Despite the limitation of Deardorff’s model as
western centric focusing on American students and their experiences learning about other cultures,
the framework was deemed applicable for international students as they experience learning about
American and other cultures while in the United States.
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81
With the goal to provide practical implications to support international students, I further
explored components of service-learning that may be suitable in assisting international students’
social and cultural adjustment. Particularly, I was interested in exploring how service-learning
experience and its reflection process might contribute to the cognitive development of international
students.
All in all, the approach to acculturation that I proposed is the bridge between the socio-
cultural and psychological perspectives of Berry combined with the intercultural and cognitive
approach from intercultural scholars likes Bennett and Deardorff. I contended that acculturation is a
learning process for individuals attempting to become interculturally competent. In addition, I
attempted to capture and explore whether the participation in a service-learning program could be
beneficial in supporting the acculturation process of undergraduate international students attending
U.S. universities and colleges. It is important to note that the goal of my study was not to generate
quantitative data to support program improvement but to enhance the knowledge base in the field of
service-learning, international students’ adjustment and intercultural competence.

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82

Figure 7. Conceptual Framework: The Diagram of Intercultural Competence International Student
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 83
Conceptual Framework Narrative
The Diagram for Intercultural Competence of International Student was created to
conceptualize the relationships of three key theoretical frameworks used to inform this study:
acculturation, intercultural learning and service-learning. Particularly, the diagram represents
international students’ progression in acculturation and intercultural learning from pre service-
learning to post service-learning.
In the diagram, I establish that I recognized there are multiple social and cultural factors
that can contribute to the college experiences of international students. Some of the factors
include the choices international students make in choosing major, courses, friendship, and
extracurricular activities, just to name a few. However, for this particular study, I only tease out
and examine service-learning participation, a co-curricular activity, as a factor. Therefore, I
position service-learning at the top middle of the conceptual framework diagram. I contend that
by participating in service-learning, international students will make progress in their
intercultural learning, and ultimately shift their acculturation strategies towards integration as
this is what literature said is the most efficient way to acculturate (Berry, 1997; Berry, Phinny,
Sam, & Vedder, 2006; Güngör, 2011).
First, I argue that international students arrive to the U.S. college with their acculturation
strategies (Berry, 1997). They come with a set of strategies that ultimately shape how they take
up any activity, including service-learning. However, they are still theorized to be influenced by
participation in service-learning, thus ultimately moving them into one of the other categories in
Berry’s model. Therefore, Berry’s acculturation typologies are used as frames of reference to
categorize international students’ acculturation strategies they adapt during their pre service-
learning and during their post service-learning ranging from assimilation, integration, separation
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to marginalization. Thus, the diagram begins with “Acculturation strategy” and also ends with
“Acculturation strategy.”
Second, acculturation is in itself an intercultural learning process (Gill, 2007). Therefore,
I argue that not only do international students identify themselves with Berry’s strategies, they
also possess some level of intercultural sensitivity and competence before they come to the
United States (Bennett, 1993). In other words, they are already on the continuum when they first
arrive. Since Berry’s model is limited to only classification but intercultural learning is a
dynamic cognitive learning process, Bennett’s Development of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS)
is introduced and included in the diagram to help explain international students’ intercultural
learning process. Furthermore, I argue that the development continuum is relevant for each stage
of the progression of international students, from arrival and the initial acculturation strategy
through the students’ ability to take up what is being offered through the service-learning
experience, to the final acculturation strategy demonstrated at post-service learning.
Therefore, Bennett’s Development of Intercultural Sensitivity is positioned below Berry’s
strategies to specify that acculturation is an intercultural learning process. Using three-way
arrow, the top arrow suggests the relationship between acculturation and the development of
intercultural sensitivity. The two-way arrow represents the dynamic nature of Bennett’s
continuum as international students initially adjust in a new country. Hence, Bennett’s
intercultural development continuum conceptualizes the idea that as undergraduate international
students participate in service-learning, they become more sensitive to other cultures, and are
moving through the intercultural development stages (i.e., from denial through adaptation). The
continuum is utilized to gauge level of cultural sensitivity of undergraduate international
students. In other words, it is expected that during their participation in service-learning,
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international students will progress through different stages of the intercultural development
continuum (Bennett, 1993).
Next, service-learning is introduced as a co-curricular activity that provides the
contextual setting for undergraduate international students to acquire and foster their intercultural
competence. Presented at the top-middle of the diagram, service-learning incorporates various
components including service experience, critical reflection, and mediated learning. By taking
part in service-learning, undergraduate international students are believed to foster their
intercultural learning, which is both a product and a process that happens during the activity.
Since it is believed that service-learning leads to the development in intercultural learning, the
two-way arrow represents the relationships between the participation in service-learning the
intercultural learning development. To assess the intercultural learning during service-learning,
Deardorff’s process model is placed at the middle of the diagram, The two-way arrow also
suggests that intercultural learning is developed, and deems as an outcome during service-
learning. The model evaluates the cognitive development of undergraduate international
students, which includes the acquisition of attitudes, knowledge and skills gained during
intercultural learning (Deardorff, 2006).
Finally, the outcomes are international students with their “new and updated”
acculturation strategies post service-learning. The blue box with an upward arrow represents the
intercultural learning process during service-learning. I expected that after service-learning,
international students would gain useful intercultural attitudes, knowledge, skills leading to a
positive social and cultural adjustment experience. This learning was then expected to shift their
acculturation strategies as per Berry’s model.

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Summary
In this chapter, I drew on three main bodies of literature to inform the conceptual
framework of my study. First, to provide the context for the study, I presented an in-depth
overview on undergraduate international students and their adjustment experiences to the U.S.
colleges and universities. Particularly, I focused on the social and cultural aspects of their
adjustment. I exclusively investigated different challenges international students face along with
the assessment on the existing support services available. The literature revealed that currently
the support services are mismatched and underutilized due to the insensitive nature of how
services are provided and cultural differences between the U.S. and various host countries of
international students.
Second, I introduced models of acculturation and intercultural training to contextualize
the social and cultural adjustment of international students in broader discussions related to
theories on acculturation. In particular, I drew on three acculturation/intercultural competency
models, namely Berry’s Acculturation Framework, Bennett’s Developmental Model of
Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), and Deardorff’s Model of Intercultural Competency to
construct a theoretical framework for this study. These models were chosen to investigate
international students’ challenges in social and cultural adjustment through diverse theoretical
lenses including socio-cultural, psychological and communication perspectives. The progression
of the knowledge in this area of literature suggested that
“intercultural adaptation is in itself a process of intercultural learning, which has
the potential to bring about profound changes in international students
themselves, transforming their understanding of the learning experience, self
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knowledge, awareness of the others, and values and worldview.” (Gill, 2007, p.
167)
Third, the emphasis on fostering reflection and being engaged in real world applications
led to the investigation into the third body of the literature. Service-learning pedagogy was
investigated as a co-curricular activity with a learning pedagogy that could potentially foster
intercultural competence in undergraduate international students. Specifically, I reviewed the
theoretical roots of service-learning, its components and its documented benefits among general
undergraduate students. The review of literature also revealed a knowledge gap in the literature
on service-learning and international students. As a result, this study examined whether and how
participation in service-learning contributes to the adjustment and the development of
intercultural competence in undergraduate international students. This chapter concluded with a
presentation of my conceptual framework that served as the foundation for the design and
methods of my study, and determined the types of data and instruments I used.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODS
This chapter describes the qualitative approach, sample and population, instrumentation,
data collection and data analysis methods I used to conduct the study. The purpose of this study
was to advance the understanding of international students’ adjustment with a specific focus on
their experiences participating in service-learning. I explored whether and how service-learning and
community engagement opportunities addressed the complex challenges international students
faced specifically in facilitating their social and cultural adjustment. In addition, the study investigated
how/whether participation in service-learning contributed to the acquisition of intercultural competence
skills for international students. The study was based on the conceptual framework presented in Chapter
Two and answered the following research questions:
1. What are the challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-
learning face socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university?
2. How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate
international students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the
development of their intercultural competence?
Research Design
To understand the unique experiences of international students as well as their
perspectives on whether and how service-learning contributed to their college experiences in the
U.S., a qualitative case study approach was used. A case study approach allowed for “deeper
insights to the phenomenon through a comprehensive description and analysis of a bounded
system” (Merriam, 2009, p. 40). In the context of this study, I narrowed the focus around a
single entity within a bounded system. The unit of analysis for this study was undergraduate
international students who were participants of a service-learning program. This research design
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was selected to help me gain a better understanding of international students and their
adjustment experiences, specifically on how and whether service-learning had contributed to
their adjustment and the acquisition of intercultural competence skills. Specifically, I utilized a
multiple case study approach. The holistic approach of a case study allowed me to capture
details of individuals within a real life context. Utilizing multiple sources of data including
interviews, observations and document analysis, I was able to gain deeper insights into the
phenomena of interest. In addition, using multiple case studies enabled me to replicate the same
data collection methods and analysis across various participants. Such a deliberative process
allowed me to explore differences within and between cases. By comparing and contrasting
findings from multiple cases, I was able to provide the reader with in depth information to allow
him or her to transfer some of my findings to larger social contexts.
Using a qualitative approach was appropriate because it enabled me to elicit the
underlying feelings, values, and perceptions of international students who had direct experience
with a service-learning course (Creswell, 2014; Merriam, 2009). This approach allowed me to
study international students’ interactions (as participants) in their naturalistic setting, and to
understand the process of their social and cultural adjustment from the insiders’ perspectives
(Merriam, 2009). The data collected using qualitative methods also included rich descriptive
content directly from the participants who provided valuable information to help inform the
study’s conceptual framework. At the same time, the inductive approach enabled me to utilize
data collected to extend the conceptual framework set forth before the start of the study. In other
words, this inductive approach enabled me to build concepts and theories emerging from the
field rather than deductively testing hypotheses as in the positivist tradition (Merriam, 2009).
In this dissertation, I sought to better understand, and helped readers understand how
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undergraduate international students socially and culturally adjusted to the U.S. college
experiences through the participation in a service-learning program. The intersections of
acculturation, acquisition of intercultural competency, and service-learning were the
perspectives I used. As illustrated in my conceptual framework, international students who
participated in service-learning were likely to develop intercultural competence skills that were
likely to positively contribute to their social and cultural adjustment. It was the process of
developing these skills and the process of adjustment as well as the meaning international
students make of these process I was interested in examining.
Sample and Population
I identified my research participants using the purposeful sampling strategy. The
intention of this study was not to generalize the sample to the population of interest, but rather
to focus on particular characteristics and to gain insight and understanding from a particular
group of interest. As such, purposeful sampling was the technique most likely to provide me
with “information rich participants” (Merriam, 2009; Patton, 2002). Specifically, I attempted to
use maximum variation sampling (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam, 2009) to ensure a wide range of
perspectives concerning the topic I was interested in studying. In other words, I tried to sample
participants who differed on important characteristics so that different individuals’ perspectives
were represented in my study. For example, I sought international students who completed
service-learning for different academic courses or had different majors. Maximum variation
sampling was appropriate because it enabled me to gain greater insights by looking at it from all
angles since cultural experiences could vary among different people. The first step in purposeful
sampling was to determine what selection criteria were essential in choosing the people and/or
sites that provided such rich data (Merriam, 2009). Based on this notion, selection criteria were
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 91

created for both the site and participants. The following section outlines the criteria that were
used for determining the most appropriate site.
Site Selection
The case study for this dissertation took place at one university using convenience
sampling. Given that the unit of analysis was the international students themselves, the site
served as a means to access the study participants. Although the selection of the site was
conveniently sampled, the chosen university also had appropriate characteristics for the nature of
the study, which also made the sampling purposeful. The focus of my study was on
undergraduate international students’ adjustment and their service-learning experiences. In order
to gain as much insight on international students’ adjustment through their experiences of
service-learning, the following criteria guided my university selection process:
Site criterion 1. The first criterion for a university site to be included in my study was
that the university must have a diverse international student population, coming from overseas as
holders of F1 visa. According to Open Door Data (2014), international students made up 4.2 %
of all universities in the U.S, where California was the largest receiving state accounting for
9.2% of total numbers of international students. Given this data, purposefully selecting
California and then selecting a university within California that enrolls diverse types of
international students coming from many regions was an appropriate choice. Since my study
focused on various adjustment experiences of international students, having diverse types of
international students gave me access to different acculturation experiences. Specifically, I
collected data from a large university located in California. The university attracts a large
number of international students from all over the world. This site was selected with the
expectation that it allowed for an examination of various types of international students with
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different adjustment experiences. The pseudonym of Sunshine University was used in this study
in order to protect the school’s identity.
Site criterion 2. The second criterion for selection of a university site was that the
university must have a service-learning program that provided students with opportunities to
complete service-learning as part of course curricula and as a volunteer activity. Since the goal of
my study was to investigate the participation of international students in a service-learning
program, it was critical that the university provide international students with such an
opportunity. Specifically, I collected data from students enrolled in the Service-Learning Project
(SLP), a service-learning center at Sunshine University. SLP typically places about 800-900
students in service-learning assignments each semester. About 14 % of SLP participants are
international students, which is roughly proportional to the overall international student
population at the university (SLP, 2014).
Participant Selection
In a similar fashion, selection criteria were established for the participants. It is important
to note that it was impossible to predict the types of international students who would apply to
the program so specificity of the sample was difficult to determine in advance of the semester
commencing. In addition, service-learning was not necessarily pursued by international students
to assist with the acculturation process. However, since the purpose of this study was to explore
whether and how service-learning could potentially contribute to the adjustment experiences of
this population, this study bounded the participant selection accordingly. Typically, students
submitted their applications during the first 2 weeks of the semester through an online
application system. During the initial screening for recruitment process, I had no access to any
student information. The access to online application system for the initial screening was done
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through the Associate Director of SLC who had the right to access the data and helped narrow
down the participant selections. For example, the Associate Director excluded domestic students
from the database. Due to the limited time available to conduct the study, I limited my total
sample size to 4-6 participants, and planned to conduct an in-depth analysis including pre-and-
post interviews, observations and document analysis with each of them. The justification on the
sample size derived from the in-depth exploratory nature of this research. The research did not
aim to generalize the findings to a larger population but to develop insights and a better
understanding of selected international student participants. In order to achieve my sample with
maximum variation, the following criteria were used to determine the most appropriate
international student sample.
Participant criterion 1. The participating international students had to have recently
moved to the United States meaning they were in their first year or semester at the university.
They should have lived in the U.S. for less than a year at the time of their service-learning
participation. Hence it was likely that the participating international students would be freshmen.
This criterion helped ensure that the adjustment experience was recent enough so as to help
disentangle the contribution service-learning had over other factors. With the assistance of the
Associate Director of SLC, the demographics of participants was screened by information
collected from the registration to narrow down the pool of applicants for recruitment. Once
potential participants were identified, a recruitment survey email was sent out by the Associate
Director to invite international students to participate in the study where participants were asked
to re-verify their demographic information. Only after the potential participants filled out the
recruitment survey did I have access to their personal information and could contact them
directly.
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Participant criterion 2. The participating international students had to have participated
in service-learning as part of an academic course or as volunteers who had intention to complete
all the required assignments, which included providing service at a service-learning site,
completing required reflective essays, and attending individual and group discussions. It is
important to note that it was not required that participants had to complete weekly reflective
essays, or had to participate in the group discussions as required by the service-learning
curriculum to reflect the voluntary nature of this study. However, I hoped to collect the complete
set of data from each participant to maximize the credibility and rigor of my data collection. The
study excluded recruiting international students who were involved in service-learning as
program assistants (PAs). The reason was because as PAs, they had already completed service-
learning in a previous semester. To become PAs, it was required that they had a prior service-
learning experience. Hence, PAs were usually more experienced and they had to be interviewed
through a rigorous selection process by staff committee for the position, which suggested that
they might have already adjusted to the U.S. college experiences to the point they were
competent enough to supervise other students. Therefore, PAs were not the types of participants
this study wanted to explore.
Participant criterion 3. The participating international students had to demonstrate a
good level of English proficiency to ensure that the students would be able to comprehend the
conversation/discussion during pre-and-post-interviews. In addition, the language proficiency
also helped to ensure that the participants’ English was good enough to be part of this study that
focused on having students describe their development and experiences both verbally and in
writing. Hence this criterion helped assure the quality of reflective essays that were used as a key
source of data. To screen for English proficiency, I limited the pool of international student
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participants by purposefully sampled only those who did not have to fulfill the language
requirements. In addition, as part of the recruitment survey, participants were asked to rate their
level of English proficiency. The study only included participants who rated themselves as native
speaker, near native/fluent, excellent command/high proficient in spoken and written English
level or very good command. Students who rated themselves as having good command or basic
communication skills were excluded for the study.
Participant criterion 4. The participating international students participated in either
individual assignments or mini-team assignments. An individual assignment referred to service-
learning tasks that students would complete individually. For example they might have tutored
student/s or help an immigrant prepare for a citizenship exam. A mini-team assignment referred
to service-learning tasks that students would work on with a group of 2-3 other service-learning
students. As a group, they worked together to create a lesson plan or learning project to be
presented to at elementary classrooms in neighborhood schools. One of the goals of this study
was to also explore whether one type of assignment was perceived to be more beneficial in
helping international students adjust more than another. By mid-September, or week four of the
fall 2015 semester, all service-learning students were already assigned to either individual or
mini group assignments. In order to ensure that my sampling group contained both types of
participants, I planned to purposefully recruit at least two international students from each type
of assignment.
Final participant selections. In the beginning of the fall 2015 semester, 177
international students initially signed up and were included in the service-learning database. By
the end of the drop out period (week 4 of 2015), 90 international students were left, which
suggested the drop out rate of 49%. Of the 90 international students, 66 were females and 24
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were males. Due to the high drop out rate, I decided to send out a recruitment email to all 90
students to maximize my sampling pool. Of those, only three students responded. Due to the
small numbers of respondents, I included all of them for the pre-interview even though they were
not freshmen. The participants included one female freshman, one male sophomore who was a
transfer student, and one female junior. After the first interview, I followed up with each
participant to collect his or her reflective essays. Only the female freshman followed through
with the study. The male sophomore dropped out of the program after his first week of
assignment. The female junior did not submit any of her reflective essays. By October 2015, I
was left with one participant.
Due to the small sample size from the first recruitment, a second recruitment was called
for. I submitted the amendment request to IRB in early November, and was able to announce the
second recruitment in mid November. For the second recruitment, convenience sampling was
used to target active international students on the service-learning database. The Associate
Director sent out a solicitation email asking international students to take part in the study. For
the second recruitment, the participants were asked to submit their reflective essays and to
participate in one post-interview at the end of the semester. The pre-and-post-interview protocol
were combined and revised for the new recruits. Since the second recruitment took place after
the group discussion, there was no observation data from participants from the second
recruitment. Three freshmen participants were recruited from the second recruitment. Two of
them completed service-learning as part of their academic courses, while one took part as a
volunteer. All three were doing individual assignments. All in all, the study recruited four
freshmen participants.
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In summary, all four participants fulfilled criterion 1 as they were all female freshmen
who recently moved to the United States for college. Three of them completed service-learning
for academic courses and one completed as a volunteer. Unfortunately, I was not able to recruit
any male participants to maximize the variation in the study. As for where the participants were
from, three participants were from China while one was from Korea. However, the Korean
participant attended the last 3 years of her high school in China. Despite the limited variation of
the sampling, it was still fair to conclude that criterion 2 was fulfilled. Next, all four of them
demonstrated applicable level of English proficiency per criterion 3. Three of them rated
themselves as having excellent command in English while one of them rated herself as having
very good command. As for criterion 4, unfortunately all four participants took part in individual
assignments. This study was not able to recruit service-learning participants who took part in the
mini courses. Therefore, I could not conduct a comparison analysis to explore whether one type
of assignment was perceived to be more beneficial in helping international students adjusted
more than another.
Instrumentation and Data Collection Procedures
In a qualitative study, the researcher is regarded as the primary instrument of data
collection (Creswell, 2014). In this study, interviews, observations, and document analysis were
utilized as the primary forms for data collection. The primary goal of this study was to
understand the complex phenomenon of service-learning from the perspectives of the
participants and their interactions with their environments which provided comprehensive,
holistic, expansive and richly descriptive findings (Merriam, 2009, p. 18). These data collection
methods were appropriate because the combination of these data gathering methods allowed for
triangulation to maximize the credibility of the findings (Merriam, 2009). Particularly, l began
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 98

data collection with pre-interviews followed by observations, document analysis, then post-
interviews. Pre-and-post-interviews were the predominant data collection methods, because it
provided the most flexibility to understand the unique experiences of international students who
participated in service-learning. In addition, as a human instrument conducting interviews I had
the ability to be adaptive and responsive when collecting and analyzing data (Merriam, 2009, p.
15). This allowed me the opportunities to probe and clarify with participants in real time, which
could not be done during observations or from document analysis. Document analysis and
observations were then used to supplement and validate the data gathered from the interviews.
Interviews
Interviews were important methods of data collection primarily because they allowed me
to enter into the perspective of the participants and to discover things such as feelings, thoughts
and intentions that could not be directly observed (Patton, 2002; Weiss, 1994). Interviews were
also beneficial to understand the past events and experiences that were impossible to observe
(Merriam, 2009). In this particular study, I wanted to understand the social and cultural
adjustment experiences of international students and their perceptions of service-learning. Such
experiences were unique to each individual, therefore interviews were deemed a viable method
to gain insight about them.
My conceptual framework presented in Chapter Two was utilized to guide the concepts
to be investigated in the interviews. The interviews focused on exploring participants’ opinions
related to the following topics: acculturation, adjustment challenges, intercultural learning,
service-learning pedagogy and practice. Particularly, the pre-interview data asked the
participants about their adjustment experiences to the U.S. university, which covered questions
about their support system such as friendships, academic assistance, utilization of support
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services, extra curricular activities, to name a few. These types of questions allowed me to dig
deeper into whether and how undergraduate international students navigated and got involved in
the new environment during their initial adjustment. Review of literature suggested that factors
such as social support and social connectedness are important factors that influence the
adjustment of international students (Yeh & Inose, 2003). Hence, questions about their social
circles were deemed relevant as they helped gauge the level of adjustment and the overall
impression international students had related to social and cultural adjustment to their U.S.
university experiences. These questions also enabled me to gauge the level of acculturation. For
example, by asking about the types of friends they made could provide insight on participants’
acculturation strategies. Those who made friends with both local students and students from their
home country could be assessed as using an integration strategy while those who only made
friends with people from their home country could be seen as adopting a separation strategy.
In addition, interviews allowed me to evaluate the level of intercultural competence and
level of cultural sensitivity of each participant by evaluating their characteristics, behaviors and
actions pre-and-post service-learning. The pre-interview included questions related to
participants’ service-learning experiences, which covered their assignments, their expectations
on the local community, and their perceptions of the service-learning courses. Ultimately, the
pre-interview asked the student about her beliefs on whether and how the service-learning
experience might have contributed to her adjustment experience in the U.S. and more
specifically a U.S. university context. To dig deeper on the concept of intercultural learning,
questions related to stereotypes were asked to observe the progress in her intercultural
sensitivity. For example, during the pre-interview, the participant was asked to provide her
opinion about the local community. Then at the post-interview, I asked participants whether her
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opinion and perception had changed after her service-learning so I could assess whether service-
learning was instrumental in shifting her level of cultural sensitivity.
As stated above, only one participant in this study completed both pre-and-post-
interview. The pre-interview was scheduled around week 7-8 of the semester, which was around
the first or second week that students started visiting sites. By then, the participant already turned
in her essay 1, which addressed similar issues. Hence, the pre-interview was used to validate and
dig deeper into the participant’s response to essay 1. This timing was appropriate because the
participant was new to the assignments and might experience cognitive dissonance as she
became exposed to and interacted with local communities. The pre-interview provided excellent
opportunities to build upon the essay responses, and elicited her feelings as they were still fresh
and recent. During the pre-interview, it was beneficial to ask the participant about challenges
faced during adjustment and to also inquire about how she sought help as this could validate the
findings from the literature about help-seeking patterns that were specific to some cultural
norms. Another important discussion covered during the pre-interview included questions on
expectations from both college and service-learning experiences. The answers given by the
participant served as pre-assessment information that could be revisited to further support
whether the actual participation in service-learning led to the development in intercultural
competence (i.e., change in attitudes, behaviors, skills) and a more positive social and cultural
adjustment experience.
In addition to the pre-interview, the post-interview was conducted at the end of the
service-learning assignment, which was week 15 of the semester. For the one participant from
the first recruitment, the post-interview revisited the questions asked during the pre-interview to
examine whether and how the participant perceived to have adjusted to her U.S. college
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experience through her service-learning participation. In addition, the post-interview was used to
compare against the pre-interview to explore and assessed the change in her perception, attitudes,
skills, and knowledge related to social and cultural adjustment as well as intercultural learning.
For example, the post-interview enabled me to understand things like how she might handle
challenges or sought help differently as a result of her participation in service-learning.
As for the other three participants from the second recruitment, participants also
completed their interviews during week 15 of the semester. Questions from the pre-and-post-
interview protocols were combined together. In the beginning of the interview, pre-interview
questions were adapted to ask the participants to reflect back on their journey to colleges and
their adjustment experiences at the beginning of the semester. Also, they were asked to share
their service-learning assignments. After that, the post-interview questions were asked in a
similar manner as with the first participant.
The format of the interviews was semi-structured to allow for some flexibility and
availability to draw out more detailed descriptions from a small sample of participants (Merriam,
2009; Patton, 2002). An interview protocol was used to provide guidelines and interview
questions, and to ensure that participating students addressed the topics that were aligned with
my study (see Appendices B and C for interview questions). Each interview covered about 30
open-ended questions, which was anticipated to last approximately 60 minutes each. The
duration of the actual interviews conducted lasted from about 58 minutes to about 82 minutes.

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Table 1
Summary of Participants’ Interview Duration
Pseudonym Pre-interview Post-interview
1) Linda Yao 10/1/2015 58.32 minutes 12/2/2015 82.30
minutes
2) Anna Fang N/A 12/2/2015 68.40
minutes
3) Maria Park N/A 12/1/2015 79.12
minutes
4) Jane Wong N/A 12/2/2015 64.21
minutes

Each interview was audio-recorded with the written and/or verbal permission of student
participants. I also took notes during and after each interview to provide a back up record, as
well as to document students’ nonverbal behavior, where informative, and my thoughts as the
research instrument. At the end of each interview, I wrote summaries and reflective notes that
included my interpretations and any remarks from the conversations, and by so doing begin the
preliminary analysis of the data. Each interview was transcribed by me along with hand-written
notes, and was saved confidentially for further data analysis.
Observations
In addition, observations were used as another data collection method. They are an
effective method when a trained person conducts them systematically with the purpose of
addressing specific research questions that lend themselves to observations (Merriam, 2009). For
this study, observations provided insights to the research question which asked, how does
service-learning pedagogy help foster international students’ intercultural competence.
Observations were important because they took place in real time in naturalistic settings where
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the phenomenon of interest occurred. The data represent a first encounter rather than a second
hand account obtained in an interview (Merriam, 2009, p. 117). Observations also took place in a
social context where the subjects interact with others. It was believed that individuals had
different footings depending on where they were (Goffman, 1979) so it was informative to
observe students as they engaged in the service-learning curriculum. For this study, observations
helped advance a more holistic understanding to complement, clarify and confirm the data from
interviews. Observations were useful tools to triangulate emerging findings when used in
conjunction with interview and document analysis.
For this study, the plan was to conduct observations during the group discussion with
mentors and other service-learning students, which took place during the first week of November
2015, or week 11 of their service-learning assignments. At this point, participants would be half
way through the service-learning program providing a suitable timeframe to monitor their
development and adjustment. The format and exact schedule was determined by the timetable set
by program assistant/s. Each participating international student was to be observed once as
he/she interacted in the group discussion. By observing participants’ interactions in a structured
reflective environment with mentors and peers, I expected to elicit some of their social and
cultural development from their gestures and conversations with others. For example, how
comfortable they were sharing their thoughts and feedback with others in English, how they
reacted to questions about their self-development, etc. Referring to the DMIS, the observations
provided space to evaluate the level of sensitivity participants might have developed, and to
monitor changes in behaviors and attitudes of the participants as they interacted in the contexts
with cultural differences. In other words, observations would have helped to assess if participants
still perceived their own cultures as central to reality or had shifted to perceive their own cultures
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in the context of other cultures (Bennett, 1993). As such, the observations would have allowed
me to answer the research question on how does service-learning pedagogy help foster
international students’ intercultural competence.
Due to the challenges during the recruitment phase of this study, only one observation
was conducted with the participant from the first recruitment who followed through with the
entire study. During the observation, I assumed a role of non-participatory observer to preserve
the naturalistic setting of the group dynamic. An observation protocol was used to guide the
observation that allowed recording space for both descriptive and reflective notes (Creswell,
2009). Guided by Bogdan and Biklen’s (2007) framework for descriptive field notes, I included
detailed portraits of the subjects, reconstruction of their dialogue, descriptions of the physical
meeting space, accounts of events and activities, and records of the observer’s behavior (Bogdan
& Biklen, 2007). In addition, I documented the participant’s conversations as close to verbatim
as possible to enrich my observational field note and support later inductive analysis. At the end
of the observation, I wrote a reflective field note to document my frame of mind including
opinions, beliefs, ethical conflicts, and any issues that needed clarification. Since there was only
one observation collected from one participant, it did not really add much knowledge to the study
because I was not able to compare and compile the notes with other observations. Therefore, I
decided to leave that data out of this study.
Document Collection and Analysis
Document collection and analysis was another critical method of data collection proposed
for this study. For this research, I used content analysis, which is “a systematic procedure for
describing the content of communications” (Merriam, 2009, p. 152). As part of service-learning
courses, participants were required to submit weekly reflective essays throughout their semester-
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long participation. Each reflective essay assignment was guided by carefully constructed
prompts. Typically, the prompts were created in conjunction between the professors for which
the service-learning was being completed, and the service-learning staff and graduate research
assistant. The purpose of the reflective essays was to help participants reflect on their service-
learning experiences and made connections back to their class content as well as to allow for
their personal reflection.
During the participation of service-learning courses, participants were required to
complete 4-5 reflective essays depending on their courses and particular service-learning
assignments they completed. Typically, the individual assignment participants would complete
five essays while the mini team assignment participants would complete four essays. Each week,
all service-learning participants were given an essay assignment along with prompts to reflect on
their experiences connecting back to their academic course, and on their perceptions on various
social issues from race and ethnicity, inequality to their own skills development. In this study, I
collected five reflective essays from three participants, and nine from one participant. It is
important to note that the one participant who completed nine essays took part in her service-
learning for a freshmen seminar course which had a different format and requirements from the
other three participants who participated through regular academic courses. Since the essays had
been carefully constructed to scaffold and helped participants learn and reflect throughout their
service-learning courses, the essays provided clear evidence on the developmental progress of
participants that reflected their learning and the changes in their perceptions and attitudes, if any.
Thus, document analysis of the reflective essays of participants served as artifacts that
triangulated, validated, and supported data gathered from interviews (see Appendices G, H and I
for Reflection Assignments).
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Data Analysis Procedures
Due to the qualitative nature of this study, a thematic coding approach was used to
analyze the data (Glesne, 2011). Utilizing Creswell’s (2014) six step method, my data analysis
consisted of the following steps: (1) data management, (2) reading and marking margin notes,
(3) describing, (4) coding, (5) interpreting, and (6) representing and visualizing data.
My initial data analysis began during the data collection process. To effectively manage
the data, after every interview and documents analysis, I wrote analytic memos and researcher’s
comments (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). This reflexive process enabled me to be aware
of my own biases and subjectivity as a researcher, and acknowledge it throughout the data
collection process (Merriam, 2009). Throughout the data collection process, I transcribed all my
interviews as I conducted them, cleaned up the vignettes and notes from my observation, and
coded/categorized relevant sections from the reflective essays. This process allowed me to
immerse myself in the data while still in the field and to let the analysis from one phase of the
study inform the other. For example, when I finished transcribing and coded each interview, I
made an effort to re-read other coded interviews to refresh my memory and to find common
themes among each participant. In addition, for each participant, I also compared the interview
transcriptions with the reflective essays to look for consistency in each participant’s data set.
This process allowed me to keep myself grounded in the data for each participant as well as
across cases.
Once data collection was completed, I read through my interview transcripts and my
document analysis notes with the intention of gaining a sense of the whole. As I familiarized
myself with the data, I read and marked margin notes to identify themes across different data
sets. I described any insights and feedback that came up as I investigated and interrogated the
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data. Using my research questions and my conceptual framework as guides for analysis, I began
coding with pre-set codes that derived from my conceptual framework. My initial pre-set (a
priori) codes and themes came from my literature review so they were quite straightforward.
For example, I had acculturation, intercultural competence skills and service-learning as my
main working themes. Different components from each main theme were utilized as sub-
themes. For instance, with acculturation, the sub-themes included assimilation, integration,
marginalization and separation. For DMIS, the sub-themes included denial, defense,
minimization, acceptance, adaptation, and integration. I then went back to my data set, and
began to extract comments and vignettes as supporting evidence. I then compartmentalized
them under the appropriate categories. The next phase was to eliminate codes and themes that
did not come up in the data set or were too atypical to be included. Those considered relevant
and informative based on the research questions were selected, and were further organized and
reduced. My data collection also revealed emerging themes so I coded those unexpected themes
as well. The inductive open coding process was utilized to code those data that I might not have
anticipated from the beginning and account for concepts and themes that did not fit in the pre-
set codes. Hence, my coding was a hybrid of pre-set (a prior) codes and emergent (open) codes.
Then, I constructed a qualitative narrative to convey and presented the findings of my
data analysis as it related to the research questions and proposed conceptual framework. I wrote
up the findings that addressed the research questions using both narrative and visual forms of
data presentation.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Several strategies were used to increase the credibility and trustworthiness of the
findings and by extension my study. These included triangulation of methods, reflexivity, an
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 108

audit trail, and thick description (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). To ensure credibility, I used
triangulation to collect data from a variety of methods, namely interviews and documents (Miles,
Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). Pre-and-post-interviews were my primary techniques used to gain
insight on service-learning and adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students,
especially as it pertained to the meaning the students themselves made of their
adjustment/acculturation. While I was only able to conduct one true pre-interview, the remaining
three students were asked to retrospectively report on their experiences at the start of the
semester and then to address how they changed, if at all. In addition, I triangulated by collecting
students’ reflective essays and subsequently using content analysis as an additional data
collection and analysis technique. All data collection procedures were used to compare and
crosscheck data (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). In order to create thick description from
interviews, I wrote analytic memos after each data collection point to include my reactions,
biases and initial theories. Thick descriptions of the participants and sites were also provided to
make the research transparent and increased transferability of findings across settings. In
addition, reflexivity was another strategy I used to ensure credibility and trustworthiness of the
study. Reflexivity enabled me to study and minimize the effect I may have had as a researcher
during the research process. As a graduate research assistant working at the service-learning
center where the data collection took place, I was aware of my own bias and subjectivities, which
were important to discipline. Furthermore, as an international student, I also had to be cognizant
of my subjectivity as it relates to the nature of this group of participants. In order to control my
reflexivity, I had to practice “disciplined subjectivity” (Erickson, 1984), the practice of rigorous
self-reflection about my impact on the field and my preferences and/or prejudices that might
affect the course and outcomes of research. For example, as an international student working for
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a service-learning center, I was aware of my preference towards the program. I anticipated for
service-learning to be beneficial for the international student participants in my study. Therefore,
it was important for me throughout the data collection and writing process to assure that I had
evidence to support each argument I made. Lastly, an audit trail was also used to carefully record
detailed accounts of the methods, procedures, and decision points carried out during the study
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985). This documentation helped disclose a clear description of the research
path I took and also provided instructions for future research to replicate my study in different
contexts. Not only was the audit trail useful when tying back the decision points with my
findings, it also is useful in the case that another researcher asks about my process so as to try the
same in a different setting.
Ethics
To ensure the ethics of my qualitative study, I created my research protocol based on
Patton’s ethical issues checklist (Patton, 2002). Patton’s checklist offered 10 essential guidelines
including 1) Explain the purpose of the research, 2) Promises and reciprocity, 3) Risk
assessment, 4) Confidentiality, 5) Informed consent, 6) Data access and ownership, 7)
Interviewer mental health, 8) Advice, 9) Data collection boundaries, and 10) Ethical vs. legal.
Per the recommendations based on the checklist, I verbally explained the purpose of my study as
well as how the data would be used to all my participants in person. This information was also
included as part of the interview protocol, recruitment materials and consent forms. Consent
forms were distributed to participants detailing their rights to opt out as well as the
confidentiality of their contribution and their identities. The intention of the study was explained
thoroughly to all participants. I informed them that they might not directly benefit from the
participation, but that this study would allow me to understand more about international students
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as service-learning participants, and might later inform better programming for this student
population. Since this study was not sensitive in nature, there was no use of deception. All
interviews, observations and document analysis were conducted with full consent from all
involved participants.
Conclusion
This chapter presented the proposed research design and a justification for the study.
Additionally, the chapter provided a description of the sample and population that were
conveniently and purposefully sampled and recruited to participate in this study, as well as an
explanation of the instrumentation and data collection procedures. The chapter concluded with a
description of the data analysis process that ensued, concluding with strategies that were utilized
to ensure credibility and trustworthiness of the findings and an explanation of how I maintained
ethical practice throughout the study.

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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
The purpose of this study was to investigate the social and cultural adjustment
experiences of undergraduate international students who engaged in a semester long service-
learning course in a university setting. The study aimed to explore whether and how participation
in service-learning programs could contribute to the social and cultural adjustment as well as the
development of intercultural competence skills of undergraduate international students. The first
three chapters provided an introduction to the challenges faced by undergraduate international
students during adjustment in regards to their acculturation experiences. I framed the study by
providing a rationale for examining ways in which these challenges can be mitigated. Then, a
review of literature was presented on the topics of acculturation, intercultural competence, and
service-learning ending with a conceptual framework that guided this exploration. The third
chapter outlined the methodological approach that was utilized for this study including the
overall research design, sampling, data collection and data analysis procedures and ways that I
ensured a credible, trustworthy and ethical investigation.
In this chapter, I present the findings that emerged from the data collected using the
conceptual framework outlined in Chapter Two. Utilizing a multiple case study approach, data
was collected from various sources including interviews and document collection (Merriam,
2009) of four participants. Pseudonyms for the university and for each participant were created
to ensure the confidentiality of the data. I first introduce each participant as a separate case. The
format included the detailed background of each participant followed by the findings in relation
to the research questions (Yin, 2009). Specifically, adjustment challenges for each participant
were included as part of their individual profiles (Research Question 1). After the presentation of
each case study, a cross-case analysis is presented to integrate findings and analysis on
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participants’ service-learning experiences to help answer the subsequent research questions
(Research Question 2). The research questions that guided the study are as followed:
1. What are the challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-
learning face socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university?
2. How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate
international students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the
development of their intercultural competence?
To answer these questions, I worked with four undergraduate international students
who were enrolled in a service-learning program at Sunshine University during the fall 2015
semester. As outlined in Chapter Three, the participants were sampled using purposeful
sampling. While the intent was to sample using maximum variation strategies to include
diverse characteristics among participants, due to difficulties with recruitment, the participants
were all females and of Asian background. While this sample did not represent the range of
characteristics of all international students at Sunshine University, given the demographics of
the students who were enrolled in service-learning, this sample provided insight into this
specific group of international students. For example, of the 90 international students who took
part in the fall 2015, 73% of them were females. Therefore, it was reasonable that all four
participants recruited were females as they were the majority gender in the program. The
profiles of the four final participants are presented in the table in the next page followed by the
case-by-case descriptions of the students.

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Table 2
Summary of Participants’ Profile
Pseudonym Country of Origin
/Gender
Year/Major Type of Assignment
1) Linda Yao China/Female Freshmen/Psychology Individual -
Math tutor for 2
nd
grade
2) Anna Fang China/Female Freshmen/Occupational
Therapy
Individual -
Teaching Assistant for
kindergarteners
3) Maria Park Korea-China/Female Freshmen/ International
Relations and Global
Economy
Individual –
College Mentor for 12
th

grade
4) Jane Wong China/Female Freshmen/Undeclared
(Biological Engineering)
Individual –
Math tutor for 5
th
grade
*Volunteer

Case Study 1: Linda Yao
At the time of this study Linda Yao was a freshmen undergraduate student from
Shanghai, China. She came to the United States to pursue her undergraduate degree in
Psychology with a focus on working with children. Prior to coming to the United States, Linda
spent the last 2 years of high school in an international school in China as preparation for
attending a university in the United States. During her senior year, Linda worked closely with
her college advisor to choose U.S. universities to which to apply. Originally, Linda preferred
only small colleges but her advisor recommended that she also apply to some bigger universities
as well. Sunshine University was among the list of suggested universities made by her advisor.
From the admission results, Sunshine University had the best ranking compared to other schools
to which she was admitted. However, Linda did not make her final decision until she and her
family had the opportunity to attend a local information session led by Sunshine University.
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Linda recalled that in April 2015, she attended two information sessions in one day. In the
morning, she and her family attended an information session for Oceanside University, another
university in California to which Linda got accepted. Then, in the afternoon, they attended a
Sunshine University session. Linda shared that both she and her mother were very impressed
with the representative from Sunshine University. She shared:
My parents attended both with me. It was my mother! She doesn’t understand
much English so she didn’t get what the Dean was saying at all but she just had a
sense that the Dean of Sunshine University who was speaking there had a really
good figure and the style. The way he was giving speech made her [Linda’s
mother] feel really comfortable and she thinks that is a good speaker so she had
really good impression on Sunshine University, so did I. Maybe that’s how I
decided to come to Sunshine University.
After careful evaluation of all her college choices, Linda chose to attend Sunshine University due
to its good ranking, and her positive impression during the information session. Linda further
shared that she had not lived in other countries before, but had spent 2 weeks in France and 2
weeks in Canada as part of exchange programs. Hence, Linda had some prior exposure to being
abroad but it was for a short period of time. Attending a university in the United States was her
first study abroad experience, and it was her first time visiting the United States. Linda arrived in
the U.S. just a day before her college orientation in August 2015. At the time of the first
interview, Linda had been in the United States for 7 weeks.
Despite being in the U.S. for just a short period of time, Linda was already taking part in
various extra curricular activities. Linda shared that she took part in a self-defense class, because
she wanted to participate in some sports and stay healthy. In addition, she also joined Teach for
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LA, which was a campus-based club that brought local children from the nearby community to
the Sunshine University campus on every Saturday morning for tutoring sessions. Linda was an
assigned tutor for a young boy and assisted him with homework. Then, she took part in service-
learning. Linda’s choices of extra-curricular activities were related to teaching as she reasoned,
“personally, I am interested in teaching. I like dealing with children so I signed up for these
activities.” As such, Linda was strategic in choosing the kinds of extracurricular activities that
aligned with her interests.
Linda took part in a service-learning course to fulfill the requirement for her
Introduction to Psychology (Psych101) course, a required course for her major. She chose
service-learning over other available activities because she thought “it will be a great opportunity
to get to know and fit into the community I will stay [in] for the next 4 years.” In addition, she
was hoping to use this experience “to get some actual work experience that will help me
understand how an educational career is really like and help me decide if I want to go further in
education after graduation.” Linda’s service-learning assignment was an individual assignment
where she worked as a teaching assistant for second grade students at a local elementary school.
I conducted the first interview with Linda on October 1, 2015. In addition, I observed
Linda during her service-learning group discussion on November 12, 2015. Then at the end of
her service-learning course, I conducted a post-interview with Linda on December 2, 2015.
Throughout the semester, I also collected Linda’s reflective essays to be used as part of the
analysis. Altogether, there were five reflective essays that Linda completed. She successfully
fulfilled all the requirements for her service-learning assignment.
Linda’s Adjustment Challenges
To answer the first research question, I investigated the social and cultural challenges
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faced by undergraduate international students during their adjustment. Based on the review of
literature on international students’ adjustment, the interview questions were framed to extract
responses on various social and cultural adjustment issues such as acculturative stress, language
difficulties, cultural misunderstanding, discrimination, loss of social support, to name a few. In
order to provide a thorough analysis on these various challenges, I will present the findings in the
three following categories: challenges related to social adjustment, challenges related to cultural
adjustment, and other adjustment challenges.
Challenges related to social adjustment. As a freshmen undergraduate international
student who never before lived abroad, Linda appeared to have a very positive outlook when
discussing her adjustment challenges. As she explained, “I expected it to be kind of difficult for
me because I think that the living habit here is really different from mine back in Shanghai.
Actually it all went ok.” Having realistic expectations that she would face challenges upon
arrival made for a smooth transition for her. When asking Linda about her social adjustment
challenges, I sought to understand how Linda transitioned to her new environment. Specifically,
I wanted to understand if she was able to navigate the logistical situations of settling into a
college in a foreign country, and if she was able to establish relationships and a support system
with others (i.e., peers, professors etc.) during her transitional period. From the pre-interview
earlier in the semester, Linda commented that she expected there would be differences compared
to her home country but the differences “were minimal for her.” She attributed the easy
transition to living on campus with a pre-arranged dormitory and meal plans. Therefore, the
experience was not perceived to be challenging. She mentioned the experience would have been
more challenging if she had to find her own housing off campus and had to cook for herself.
When asking about her social connection with the local community during her pre-interview, she
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mentioned that she only went off campus twice. The first time was part of the orientation when
her Residential Assistant (RA) led a group of students on the Metro to Target near campus. Her
second off-campus outing was for her service-learning assignment: she walked to the site by
herself. At the time of the pre-interview, Linda had travelled two times during her 7 weeks at the
university. Later, in the post-interview, Linda shared that she typically just travelled off campus
to attend her service-learning assignments, and a few times to a local supermarket. This
suggested that the service-learning was a reason for her to travel off campus to the local
community, and without that experience, her off-campus outings would be minimal. It was also
through these outings that she learned to take the subway.
Another aspect of social adjustment I focused on was relationship building with peers
and others at the university. When I asked Linda about her experience making friends, she
described it as positive and smooth. Linda said, “it just happened naturally.” She described
that her social relationships were formed with suitemates during the floor meetings and with
peers from the same major during the classes and group work. She also talked about friends
from Shanghai whom she met before she came here through a Chinese social media website,
and are here at the same university. Her response suggested that she had no challenge making
friends with people around her. This was evident from the fact that her circle of friends
included a mixture of friends from her dorm, classes, and home country.
Overall, Linda did not have much difficulty adjusting socially to her college
experience in the United States. Her initial transition to the university environment seemed to
go smoothly as a lot of the basics were prearranged for her. As a freshmen international
student, she was assigned to on-campus housing and signed up for meal plans. She also did a
lot of research and reading about California and Sunshine University prior to arriving. For
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example, Linda read about her required courses before she arrived and was able to register for
her classes faster than her peers. She shared:
I did it really quickly. Most people just spent time looking for all the courses.
Actually the courses lists are available on the Internet days before the orientation.
So I just made a list of courses I want to apply for and see what time fits and
which courses are available so I did it really quickly. All the others were
spending time to read the list.
Such preparation was beneficial as it enabled her to register for her courses early, which helped
ensure she would get into the classes of her first choice. In addition, Linda also read about
Sunshine University from its website to learn more about the location of the campus and its
surrounding neighborhood. Her preparation equipped her with information about the new
environment she will be living in for the next four years. However, it is important to note that
her social domain was limited to the life inside the college campus where she was surrounded
with others who shared similar experiences and background being college students. As a result,
she was able to make friends, and found herself feeling comfortable in her network of peers.
However, the culture shock might have been greater had she interacted with different types
people, including local people outside the university walls. She commented in the pre-interview,
“now my life has actually just in the campus so I don’t really find anything difference. Maybe I
find more difference if I know the community.” Hence it would be interesting to see how Linda
continues to adjust when she ventures outside of the college campus.
Challenges related to cultural adjustment. Based on the literature on international
students’ adjustment, another key adjustment challenge tends to involve cultural differences.
When I asked Linda about her cultural adjustment challenges, I was interested in learning
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whether she found it difficult and challenging to be exposed to new cultures, and if there were
any surprises during her initial adjustment. One of the pre-interview questions asked Linda if
she experienced any homesickness. Linda commented that, “I never feel homesick. I don’t know
why. I think I get used to the life here quickly.” A follow up question was about culture shock to
which she responded that she did not experience any culture shock because she “watch[es]
American TV shows or movies” so she is “kind of used to American cultures.” However, she
mentioned that one of the differences she found was that many of her classmates listen to English
songs while her favorite music is traditional Chinese. Although she did not see this as an
adjustment challenge or an obstacle that prevented her from understanding or being engaged in
the U.S. social and cultural sphere because as she said “we always have something to talk
about,” it implied that there was a gap in cultural knowledge between her and her American
peers. In fact, the mere equating of American pop culture to “American cultures” reveals an
incomplete understanding of her host society. Linda’s narrowed viewpoint towards the American
cultures suggested that she might have been dealing with cultural challenges beyond her own
comprehension.
Other adjustment challenges. Apart from social and cultural adjustment issues
international students face during the transition to college, each participant also faced unique
personal challenges, which they talked about during their interviews as well as in their
reflective activities. In Linda’s case, she was concerned about academic challenges. This
concern is consistent with the literature that focused exclusively on academic challenges.
Even though academic challenges are not the focus of this study and are beyond the scope of
this study, it is essential to briefly mention to create a profile for the participant. During the
pre-interview, Linda was aware of the academic requirements for university level coursework
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and she had a positive attitude about it. She reflected that she thought to herself “ok loads of
readings, essays, and papers, I can deal with that.” However, later in the post-interview, she
disclosed, “I still have some difficulties understanding all the readings that professors gave
especially when they were given by one professor for Civilization of Rome.” The amount of
reading, which was more than 100 pages every week seemed to be a challenge for Linda,
however she mentioned that “local students also have difficulty reading that.” This suggested
that the challenge was acceptable for her and that Linda did not attribute this challenge to the
fact that she was an international student.
Another adjustment issue that Linda discussed was related to health. During her pre-
interview, she talked about difficulties related to eating and sleeping patterns. Linda stated, “I
think now my biggest difficulty is the freshmen 15.” Linda knew of freshmen 15 before she
came to the United States and she believed that “it is common and it is true,” which made her
panic. In addition, she also shared that “I am sleeping kind of late…that may be the reason that
causes me to get my weights increase.” From the data collected from Linda, it was evident
that she was dealing with some health-related adjustment challenges. However, much like her
comments about the reading load, her weight gain was seen as a common phenomenon among
college students in general, not just for Linda as an international student.
Although Linda described her transition to college as smooth and easy, there was a
subtle cue to the contrary, which suggested to me that her adjustment experience might not be
as positive as she described. For example, evaluating her pre-interview comments related to
her plans and goals to her response during the follow up post-interview, it was evident that she
was not able to accomplish a lot of the plans she had set out to accomplish. As a case in point,
she did not join any extra curricular activities as she planned to, and she did not attend any
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football games, which was the cultural experience she wanted to check off her list. When I
asked her to reflect on her adjustment experience during the post-interview, she responded, “I
think very smooth! Although I am not interested in all those events, activities, I never went to
any of the football games and all those emails we have like campus events, I never go to those
as well.”
Instead she had spent her time, “reading, doing homework, writing essays and watching some
videos.” I wanted to elicit more information so I asked specifically what she had been doing
during weekends and her time off. Her response was:
Weekends? Most weekends I have the Teach for LA Saturday morning so for the
Saturday evening, I may be doing some homework with essays, projects and for
Sundays, it will be reading for Rome and Civilization because we got loads of
readings every week. I often spend the whole day with the class. If I still can have
some times, maybe in the evening, I just watch some series.
Analyzing the account given by her, it was evident that the academic challenges such as the
course workload, readings and new class schedules might have made Linda uninterested in
engaging in more active social and cultural experiences. In other words, the intensive academic
demand was too excessive that she did not have time to participant in many extra curricular
activities. From the recap of her experience during her first semester, Linda did not socialize, and
did not explore life outside of classrooms or campus beyond activities related to school
assignments (i.e., service-learning course, group work etc.).
Another adjustment issue that emerged from Linda’s interviews was the fact that she did
not think there was a cultural difference between the U.S. and China saying that both were
modern cities and they are similar. Linda felt that her transition was smooth and that she does not
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see much difference: “I don’t see many differences, I guess it is metropolitan and modern city.”
She also attributed her smooth adjustment experience to the diverse circumstance of the
university. She commented, “people are used to accept cultures and thinking from everywhere,
so in college people are just very open.” It is unclear whether Linda was in the denial stage
(Bennett, 1993) or whether she was already developing intercultural competency and
successfully integrated to the multicultural environment.
Summary
As a freshmen undergraduate international student who had no experience studying
abroad, Linda perceived herself to have adjusted very well both socially and culturally. This was
evident from how fast and efficient she was in registering for classes and signing up for extra-
curricular activities on campus. It was apparent that she did a lot of preparation prior to arriving,
which might have made the adjustment a smoother one for her. She also had no problems
making mixture of friends from both her dorm and classes. Although she admitted to facing
some academic related challenges, her positive outlook made the difficulties less severe as she
demonstrated that she was able to dedicate the time and effort to deal with such issues. However,
even though Linda felt that she had a smooth adjustment experience, I felt that she compromised
her social and cultural experiences to make sure she did well academically. In addition, the fact
that she expressed she did not see much difference between the cultures and the social lifestyle
between California and Shanghai might prevent her from wanting to explore the local cultures
and take active part in the mainstream cultures. To assess her adjustment experiences using
Berry’s acculturation strategy, it appears on the outset from Linda’s story that she used
assimilation strategy since she did not think there was a cultural difference between the United
States and her home country, China. In other words, she did not see herself as different from the
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local students. Next, to evaluate her intercultural competence and level of her cultural sensitivity
using Bennett’s continuum, it was inconclusive from the conversation with her whether Linda
was in denial stage or integration stage prior to her participation in service-learning. According
to Bennett, the denial stage refers to someone who is unaware of cultural differences therefore
he/she is not threatened by cultural differences because he/she refuses to accept them. On the
other hand, a person at the integration stage accepts that his/her identity is not based in any single
culture so the person can effortlessly maintain his/her own cultural identity while also accepting
other cultures. At this point, it might be too early to determine whether Linda was in denial or
integration stage since her experiences were limited only to her life on campus.
Case Study 2: Anna Fang
Anna was a freshmen undergraduate student from Shanghai, China at the time of this
study. Her major was Occupational Therapy with a focus on children. Her goal was to complete
the 5-year program to receive both bachelor and master degrees from the university. Knowing
early on that she wanted to attend a university in some English speaking countries, Anna
attended a local traditional Chinese school until 10
th
grade. Then, she spent her 11
th
and 12
th

grades in an international school as preparation to improve her English skills. At the international
school, Anna also worked closely with her high school college counselor who provided her with
resources and information on possible future career paths. Anna was interested in healthcare,
driven by her desire to be in a helping profession. Her college counselor made recommendations
for her to look into the fields of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy. Anna did not know
much about these two fields before so she did some research online, and found the field of
Occupational Therapy to be intriguing. As a result, she decided to apply to Sunshine University,
because it had a very strong Occupational Therapy program.
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Prior to coming to Sunshine University, Anna had some prior exposure to the U.S.
through attending two short summer school sessions at Yale University and University of
Cincinnati. Anna spent 3 weeks at Yale taking part in their English summer school program then
she spent 1 week shadowing in-house occupational therapists at the health center in Cincinnati.
Despite having visited the United States before, she had not visited the west coast until she came
to attend Sunshine University. Reflecting on her experiences at different locations in the U.S.,
Anna preferred the environment of the west coast more, because she felt that “the weather is
nicer and people are very welcoming.”
Her service-learning assignment was an individual one in which she worked as a
teaching assistant for kindergarteners. She helped the students with basic writing of letters and
simple words. She also assisted in activities such as drawing. She usually worked with two to
three kids during each session, and she then worked individually with them. Anna took part in
the service-learning course to fulfill the requirement for her Occupational Therapy course.
Anna’s reasons for participating in service-learning included developing English skills and
getting work experience with children. She wrote in her first reflection essay, “[b]eing assigned
to work with kindergarteners this semester, I am given an awesome opportunity to test my
knowledge of Occupational Therapy. Furthermore, working with children can help me exploring
my future career pathways.” As such, the main motivation for Anna was to gain experience in
her field of interest.
Anna was part of my second recruitment efforts so I conducted one in person
interview with her on December 2, 2015. The interview lasted 68.40 minutes and took place at
the end of her service-learning assignment. In addition, Anna submitted five reflective essays
that she completed during the semester, all of which were included in my data corpus.
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Anna’s Adjustment Challenges
As a freshmen international student, Anna’s experiences were influenced by various
factors that are consistent with the review of literature on international students’ adjustment (i.e.,
acculturative stress, language difficulties, cultural misunderstanding, discrimination, loss of
social support). Making a transition to a new environment was a complex process that brought
both excitement and fears to Anna during her initial time in a U.S. university. The data collected
reveal that Anna was dealing with both social and cultural adjustment challenges. Anna’s
adjustment experience presents an interesting case because she was the only international student
in her Occupational Therapy program, which was a small cohort of students. This circumstance
had a substantial influence on both her social and cultural adjustment experiences.
Challenges related to social adjustment. Similar to Linda, I wanted to understand
Anna’s initial adjustment to the new environment, whether she was able to navigate the logistical
situations of settling into a college in a foreign country, and if she was able to establish
relationships and a support system with others (i.e., peers, professors etc.). During her interview,
Anna shared that she was nervous in the beginning because her father and people she knew who
had studied abroad warned her that the experience would be challenging. For example, her father
raised a concern about language challenges. However, her initial experience was better than
expected. Anna explained that one of the major factors that helped with her social adjustment
was the support she received from her cohort and professors. Since she was the only international
student in her cohort, she felt that other people wanted to help take care of her. She commented,
“I was kind of scared at that time because I was the only international student, but after I met
with my advisor and my classmates, they are really kind. They think you’re the only one so we
should take good care of you.” Anna recalled her peers inviting her to hang out outside of classes
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for meals, and to the football games. They also connected her with their other friends. She
shared, “I went to football game with one of my classmates in the OT major and she had her
friends there so we talked to each other and I made a lot of new friends.”
Apart from support from her advisor and peers from the Occupational Therapy program,
Anna spoke highly about a particular professor from her General Educational (GE) seminar who
helped her significantly in her initial adjustment. Linda enrolled in a freshmen seminar class
called Asian American Culture of Asian Films with a professor who was half Japanese, half
African-American. Anna felt that the professor was “really eager to help Asian international
student to adjust to the environment.” Anna shared,
When we had the chance to fieldtrips, she always drove the two Chinese students
in class, me and another girl to the theater and restaurant we were going to have a
meal and looked at the place. She always said I would drive you guys to there.
And we were so thankful to the teacher. Sometimes I even felt sorry because
every time she drove us to the place for free. She drove us there and drove us
back. I was really thankful to her and we really talked about a lot of different
cultures stuffs.
This quotation suggested that Anna really appreciated the assistance of her professor and felt
comfortable around her, which added to her positive adjustment experience. In addition to the
positive support received from peers and professors, Anna explained that she had been making a
conscious effort to integrate socially to the United States. She provided a concrete example
about buying a season ticket to the university football game. Linda shared, “for example, the
football game, I bought the season ticket. We all sit in the student section so you can talk to
people around you and make friends with them.” This suggested that Anna had used social
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activity as a way to make friends and to connect with other peers socially. This shows her
willingness to get involved in unfamiliar activities in order to socialize in the new environment.
Apart from attending football games, Anna also joined a club called OT club to connect with
her classmates in her program. Being proactive and intentional about her effort to make friends
and take part in the university life, Anna seemed to be adjusting fine socially.
Additionally, Anna added that she tried to listen to American music and followed
celebrity news in order to keep current with her American peers so they had common topics to
chat about. However, she expressed that:
It’s kind of stressful to hang out with American friends. It’s like we are really
good friends but sometimes when they are talking about western culture things, I
will be kind of quiet and kind of depressed maybe because I cannot really
involve in their conversation.
Anna’s honest disclosure revealed that even though she has made a conscious effort to integrate
socially to the American lifestyles, it was not a completely smooth process for her. The sense of
being an outsider and not being able to relate sometimes made Anna feel depressed around her
American peers. The lack of sense of belonging is a common phenomenon widely documented
in the literature on initial adjustment (Yeh & Inose, 2003). Anna expressed:
I feel I am trying to be connected, trying to connect with them and it’s like
transition stage and I am not totally involved or transformed to the really
American lifestyles. I am really trying to do that but maybe in the next few years,
I will adjust even more. But at the same time, I also want to keep my Chinese
spirit (laugh) so I don’t know what will happen in the next few years.
Evidently, Anna is going through a transitional stage of adjustment. This was evident because as
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she wanted to be a part of the new culture but at the same time she also wanted to maintain her
Chinese identity. She disclosed that when she first arrived, she made an effort to only hang out
with American students since Sunshine University was known to have a large population of
Asian international students, especially Chinese. She wanted to avoid that social scene. Anna
shared during the interview:
At first, I was like I have to hang out with more American friends because
honestly Sunshine University is also famous for the huge Asian populations. My
father is really afraid of me only hanging out with Chinese friends, Chinese
students. So at first, I was like I have to hang out with American friends more.
And at first, I was really happy to hang out with them because they are really
friendly, welcoming to the international students.
Although she enjoyed her experience hanging out with American friends in the beginning, after a
while she realized, “from deep inside, I am totally Chinese.” Hence, she started to make more
Chinese friends and they became her support system outside of her the Occupational Therapy
network. Anna added, “each time I feel depressed I will hang out with my Chinese friends.”
From our conversation during the interview, it was clear that Anna faced some challenges to
adjusting socially and culturally with her peers. Hence, she would also hang out with her Chinese
friends as they were her comfort zone. This suggested that she made a conscious effort to
maintain her home country culture while also absorbing and being part of the new environment
of the U.S. In a word, Anna is working towards integration, which is regarded as the most
effective way to acculturate (Berry, 1997; Berry et al., 2006; Güngör, 2011). Literature suggested
that when an individual chooses to integrate, the person maintains her traditional values and
customs while learning about and adapting to cultures and values of the host country. By keeping
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the home culture as a frame of reference, a person is theorized to be less stressed during her
adjustment contributing to a positive psychological well-being.
All in all, Anna had a smooth initial adjustment experience to the U.S. college social
lifestyle. She attributed the positive experience to the warm welcome received from her
American classmates and professors. This suggested that having an effective support system
from the beginning helped set a positive path for adjustment. However, Anna also expressed
some concerns related to her feeling out of place when engaging in conversations about
unfamiliar American topics. Her concern was consistent with the acculturative stress many
students who are going through transitional phases face during their initial adjustment.
Challenges related to cultural adjustment. Despite some previous exposure to the U.S.
culture from attending summer school in the United States, Anna still found it challenging to
adjust culturally as a full time college international student. When I asked Anna about her
strategies to adjust to the U.S. cultures, interestingly, Anna equated U.S. cultures to music and
celebrity. Using music and celebrity as the measuring stick for being culturally adjusted, the fact
that Anna felt she had limited knowledge on such topics made her feel like she was not yet very
cultured, and it became her cultural adjustment concern. In addition, Anna pointed out a subtle
difference between the Chinese and the Americans as it related to their daily interaction. Anna
shared,
…in Asia or in China, the interaction with friends is more calm…I don’t know.
It’s like in the U.S., I found that I really exaggerate my gestures and the facial
expression and always do high five with my friends.
The way people interact is clearly a cultural product that can vary from place to place. It was
apparent that Anna picked up on this subtle cue, and tried to make an effort to fit in to the U.S.
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cultures by mimicking how Americans interact when interacting with her American friends. She
added that when she interacted with her Asian and Chinese friends, she would be calmer. This
example shows that Anna tried to find a balance between maintaining her own culture while
adjusting to and learning about the new culture of her host country. Sociologist Erving Goffman
(1959) wrote of this interactional flexibility, by stating that we present ourselves differently in
different contexts. He proposed that the social nature of human beings receives influences from
society, forms of interaction, evaluation of self and others, practices and procedures in order to
maintain some type of normal or equilibrium relationship in interaction. Goffman’s approach can
be applied to explain the integrated adjustment experiences of international students like Anna.
By being part of a new society, Anna learned to find a balance in maintaining her own cultural
values while involving herself in a new environment, which is what Goffman termed as “ritual
equilibrium.” In addition, Anna’s cultural adjustment strategy could also be seen as consistent
with the integration strategy proposed by Berry, which is regarded as one of the most effective
ways for acculturation when the individual preserves an equilibrium stage between their host
culture and the new culture.
Other adjustment challenges. Apart from social and cultural adjustment challenges,
Anna found it challenging to get used to the new education system. She gave an example of the
difference in classroom environment. Comparing it to her prior experience being in a small
international school, the college classroom environment was a lot bigger. Hence she had to learn
a way to be effective in big lecture classes. She shared:
…like trying to get used to the culture and the language and also the new
education system like how to be effective in class like the big lecture. Because in
my high school, I really had a small class because in the international school I
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studied at was really a small school. Basically we knew everyone in our school…I
don’t know it’s like for our grade, pretty much, all the students, no matter what
class you were in, you are really good friends. And in the university, you have to
push yourself to make friends and be used to the environment…in high school,
you don’t have to do anything to get involved because it’s really small
environment and the teachers were really close to you.
To cope with that, she shared she had to push herself to talk with the professors and go to their
office hours. She also changed the style of taking notes and how she reviewed her class
materials. Such academic challenges are common among freshmen college students who moved
from smaller high schools to big public universities. However, it might have been more difficult
in Anna’s case since the education system in China was different from the American system. For
example, the participatory and student-center approach of the U.S. education system was not
commonly practiced in China where students were trained to listen to teachers rather than taking
an active participation as Anna explained, “in China, I usually just listened to teachers and took
notes without asking questions.”
Summary
Overall, Anna seemed to have adjusted relatively well both socially and culturally. This
was evident from the fact that Anna made a conscious effort to be more social. She had made
new friends and has participated in different activities on campus. When I asked Anna to rate
how she would evaluate her adjustment effort, she rated herself 7 out of 10. When I asked Anna
what she planed to continue working on to ease her adjustment, she admitted that she still found
it hard to adapt to western cultures. Therefore, her plan was “to pay attention to more western
cultures and music.” Because, in her mind, celebrities and music represented a big part of
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“American culture,” Anna found it necessary to gain knowledge of U.S. movies and music as a
way to gain access to the U.S. lifestyle. She shared during her interview:
I kind of discovered that for example, you have to have common interests with the
friends that knew about the western. For example, western music like I don’t
know like hot issues like the really popular stuffs in the U.S., then you can talk to
the friends that have common topics to talk with and so I really pay attention to
the western music and the news which is kind of hard for me because honestly I
am not interested in western …the I don’t know...celebrities (laugh) and the music
so I am kind of forced myself to do it because you know like in Asia, also a lot of
people who are really into western music and things . They are like…easier for
them but for me, I was like…for the past 18 years, I only listen to the Asian music
so now I have to pay more attention. I am kind of reluctant to do that but I don’t
know maybe a few months later, I will find it really interesting. Also, it’s hard for
me to remember the names of celebrities.
From the excerpt, it was clear that she was not sure if that is what she wanted to do because she
had no interest in those “American things.” Anna seemed to believe that the way to more fully
adjust in American society was to gain a better understanding of American pop culture, but she
recognized that it would come at the price of engaging in something with little value to her.
From Anna’s description of her experience, it was apparent that she was going through some
identity development as well. She admitted that she was quieter back in China and did not try to
be proactive in taking part in social activities. But in this new environment, she clearly had
become more social and outgoing as her way to fit in.
All in all, to assess her adjustment experiences using Berry’s acculturation strategy, it
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was evident that Anna utilized the integration strategy to navigate through the experience. Anna
recognized the differences between her home culture and the U.S. culture. As a result, she tried
to preserve her traditional values and beliefs while integrating into the practices of the U.S.
society. Although it was clear that she chose integration as her acculturation strategy, Anna still
found it challenging to fully integrate. This was evident from the fact that Anna felt conflicted
at times when she had to get involved with American cultures and lifestyles such as music and
celebrity. To comprehensively grasp Anna’s adjustment progress, it is useful to assess her using
Bennett’s continuum because the continuum provides more details of the adjustment in stages.
Given the findings gleaned from Anna’s data, she began her adjustment experience already in
an ethnorelative stage since she recognized cultural since she recognized that there were other
cultures, not just her own. However, it was not yet effortless for her to be interacting in a
diverse cultural environment. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that Anna was progressing from
the adaptation stage towards the final stage of integration. Adaptation suggested that she was
working on adapting cognitively and behaviorally to cultural differences however the
interaction might not have felt comfortable and natural.
Case Study 3: Maria Park
When I met Maria, she was a freshmen undergraduate student originally from South
Korea where she was born and attended local school until 9th grade. Then, she moved to Beijing,
China where she attended 10th to 12th grades, and graduated from a public high school. At the
time of this study, Maria was pursuing her undergraduate degree in International Relations and
Global Economy. Despite the fact that Maria had never been to the United States before, her
dream was to study here. Although her parents and friends thought it would be better for her to
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just apply to Chinese universities since she was already living in Beijing, she insisted and still
applied to several universities in the United States.
Her motive to apply and attend a university in California was due to its geographical
location and its diverse culture. Since the West Coast is closer to Asia than the East coast, she
thought California was a convenient location. In addition, “there are Chinatown, Korea Town,
Little Tokyo, and Little Armenia so diverse culture is all in California.” And since her plan was
to major in International Relations and Global Economy, she thought, “if I study in California or
New York, those big cities, it would be better for me to understand the diverse relationship
between cultures.”
When I asked Maria about her involvement in extra curricular activities, she mentioned
that she was a member of two clubs. The first one was the U.S.-China Institute where she worked
as an intern. Maria shared that her responsibilities as a cultural liaison “included promoting U.S.
cultures to Chinese and promoting Chinese cultures to Americans.” She also joined the
International Relations Undergraduate Association. This club helped students understand the
basic concepts of International Relations (IR) though mentorship. Maria worked closely with a
mentor who was an upperclassman with the same major. In this IR club, members meet regularly
to give each other support related to IR coursework, which included helping each other study for
quizzes and tests from the IR classes. Maria shared, “we join the meetings regularly and meet
each other and maybe if I have questions before quizzes and tests, I just ask her [mentor].”
Maria’s service-learning assignment was an individual one in which she worked as a
mentor for high school students. Her responsibilities were to assist high school students in
writing their personal statements and to answer their questions about college applications and the
admission process. Her course instructor assigned two senior high school students/mentees for
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her to work with. Maria took part in a service-learning course to fulfill the requirement of her
freshmen seminar, which is part of a General Education (GE) course. Maria’s reason for
pursuing service-learning was because she wanted to give back. She shared,
“I myself was kind of the person who needed help and really fortunately, I had the
chance to come to the United States. Therefore, I really want to help others who
really want to study but have no opportunities so I just want to help these people.”
Maria was part of my second recruitment efforts so I conducted a 75-minute in-person
interview with her on December 1, 2015. This was at the end of her service-learning assignment.
In addition, Maria submitted nine reflective essays that she completed during the semester, all of
which were included in this data corpus.
Maria’s Adjustment Challenges
Compared to other participants, Maria’s educational journey was slightly different since
she already had the study abroad experience in China prior to coming to the United States. Such
a unique trajectory peaked my interest about whether she had an easier transition this time
around. I assumed that Maria’s prior experience would have helped make her transition smoother
compared to other participants. Unfortunately, despite Maria’s prior study abroad experience in
China, she still found it difficult to adjust as an undergraduate international student in the United
States.
As a freshmen international student at a large university, Maria’s adjustment challenges
were consistent with findings from the literature on international students’ adjustment. As a
reminder, the literature mentions acculturative stress, language difficulties, cultural
misunderstanding, discrimination, and a loss of social support as some of the main challenges for
international students. In addition, Maria was faced with a personal challenge when she
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experienced the loss of a family member. This personal loss had a significant impact on her
adjustment experience. The unique circumstance that Maria faced allowed me to present the
adjustment experience from a different perspective. Specifically, through Maria’s experience, I
was able to explore how an international student utilized a counseling service as a support
system.
Challenges related to social adjustment. Because I wanted to find out if Maria’s
prior study abroad experience had helped her in her social adjustment, I first asked Maria to
reflect on her first study abroad experience. At the age of 15, Maria shared that she was
excited about the experience since she “was interested in travelling.” So moving to China “was
kind of fascinating.” However, she admitted, “as soon as I went there, it was kind of tough and
difficult.” She explained, “I just knew a little bit about Mandarin, very basic greetings, I am
hungry, those kind of things.” Then, like I had done with the other participants in my study, I
asked Maria to reflect on her initial adjustment experience in the United States. Maria shared,
“at first, it was just hard even to get to the classrooms. I don’t know where everything is…I
don’t know anyone in my class. I just knew my roommate and that’s it. But as time goes by, I
started to settle down.” From Maria’s statement, it was clear that the initial adjustments to new
countries were challenging for her both times. Maria struggled in the beginning to navigate the
new social environment when she moved to a Chinese public school due to a language barrier.
Then, during her U.S. college experience, she had a difficult time navigating the bigger
college environment so she found it challenging to navigate the logistics. To cope with such
difficulties during the adjustment, she was able to utilize adjustment strategies from her prior
experience. She explained,
When I was in Korea, it’s my mother language right? So I never went to find
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teachers for help but as I went to China, everything was totally new and I didn’t
understand anything so I tried to meet my teachers after class. I went to their
office hours and asked teachers. I think it became some kind of habits.
As a result of being an international student in China, Maria developed a help seeking
behavior that she did not previously have when she was in Korea. She found this habit
helpful with her transition to the United States and reported still using it. Maria shared, “I
also try to meet the IR professors if I miss class or I have question with the research.” This
indicates that her prior experience equipped Maria with some strategies to assist her in
overcoming initial adjustment challenges related to seeking help from others. When
asking if she saw any differences between her study abroad experiences in China and the
United States, Maria expressed, “I have noticed that students here are very diverse and
every individual is very unique person and they all are not very arrogant and they really
know how to listen to others so I was really fascinated.” Evidently, Maria was able to
utilize her previous experience as an international student in China to help with her
adjustment in the U.S. college this time around.
In regards to making friends, Maria’s circle of friends seemed to be limited to her
dorm friends. She shared, “I have my dorm friends. I sadly don’t get really close with my
classmates.” She explained that her dorm friends comprised of some local students and some
international students. However, she was closer to international students and shared, “most of
my friends who are international students are Chinese and Korean.” This suggested that Maria
preferred to hang out with peers from similar backgrounds who are international students with
Chinese or Korean origins. In regards to making friends with her classmates, Maria explained,
“I personally think that classes are too big. We have 100 of people there and we can’t really
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find people whom I think are similar.” This statement shows that Maria thought it was
important to find friends who have similar interests or lifestyles. However, it was difficult for
her to get to know her classmates during class time because of the lecture hall format, which
limited interaction among students. Thus, she was not able to make many friends from her
courses the same way she was able to with her dorm friends. She commented, “people whom I
met in my dormitory and my environment, are really close intimate.” Since Maria spent most
of her time outside of classes, it was not surprising that she did not develop closer
relationships with her classmates. Maria spent a significant amount of her time socializing
with friends from her dorm.
Additionally, since Maria disclosed early on in the interview about the loss of her
grandmother, a close family member, I was interested to find out if she was able to seek social
support from her peer groups. For Maria, she found her friends to be helpful in providing her
with emotional support. She said, “…friends were helpful. They couldn’t give me advice
because the problems couldn’t be solved but they kind of cheered me up in many ways. I
could see they are caring for me.” Despite their emotional support, she also chose to seek
advice from adults or authority figures. She shared,
…if you ask your peers, it is like asking to myself because we are young, we
don’t know yet. But if I ask professors, and teachers and elders about certain
kinds of questions and topics, they at least give me some ideas how I can plan to
solve the problems.
Evidently, Maria felt that she could get different kinds of support by seeking help from adults.
However, at the time, her parents were also in despair from the loss, so she felt that she “could
not really lean on them.” Since Maria was not able to seek support from the primary adult
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figures in her life, she connected herself to other adult figures to comfort her for her loss.
Specifically, she reached out to the campus health center and utilized the counseling services,
which was a critical resource for her during that time. Maria reflected about her experience:
I actually visited the Health Center twice because first I couldn’t really adjust to
the new environment, and second recently my grandmother passed away. My life
was totally got messed up and I couldn’t really stand it so I went there.
Another common social adjustment issue for international students concerns the sense of
social belonging and whether they feel like they have become a part of the community. Maria
bitterly expressed, “to be honest, at some points, I feel that I am regarded as an international
student because I cannot access to the certain jobs or opportunities that only local residents can
have.” Due to certain restrictions as an international student, Maria felt that her status restricted
her from some opportunities. There was a sense of me versus them, which made Maria feel like
she was excluded from some opportunities such as getting a job. Lacking the sense of belonging
is a common social adjustment issue during acculturation that leads to acculturative stress (Berry,
2005; Yeh & Inose, 2003).
In addition to the tangible example of how her status difference made it difficult during
her adjustment, she further commented on certain behaviors of local students that made her feel
uncomfortable. Maria shared, “sometimes the sad thing is students even judge each other
because people are from different cultures, different backgrounds, and maybe some people even
judge each other because of financial backgrounds because international students pay full
tuition.” When probing why she felt that other people were judgmental, she explained, “…they
[local students] kind of have the wall.” In other words, Maria did not feel that her local peers
accepted her as the same as them. The fact that she was an international student from a different
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background, she felt that local students perceived her as “different”, not one of them. Maria
further gave an example,
…some people say “you are fresh off the boat”. It’s kind of fun to making fun of
me but when they go farther than that like you don’t know anything blah blah
blah, if they go too far, then I feel some kind of…how do I say it…not different
but feel the distance.
Her example validated that there was a sense of social separation from the social interactions she
had with her local American peers. There was a feeling of being not only different, but also
subservient because she was not American. Such experiences helped explain why Maria
preferred to hang out with other international students, who shared similar background with her.
She shared that the majority of her friends “are international students and most of my [her]
friends who are international students are Chinese and Korean definitely.” Her negative
encounter with some of her American peers prevented her from trying to integrate and be part of
the American society.
All in all, Maria’s social adjustment was a challenging one. Even though she was able to
navigate and locate a support system in the new environment, it was obvious from the
conversation with her that she felt there was a wall between her and others in her host country.
She strongly identified and perceived herself as an international student thus creating a
separation between her and the mainstream Americans. The feeling of being discriminated
against is widely documented in the literature as one of the common social challenges
international students face during their adjustment (Hanassab, 2006).
Challenges related to cultural adjustment. Despite some previous study abroad
experience in China, Maria still found it difficult to navigate the U.S. culture due to its diversity.
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Maria explained that in China and Korea, people were from a single ethnicity while in the United
States, there were mixtures of people from various races and ethnic backgrounds. Although, the
multicultural environment in the United States was drastically different from what she was used
to, Maria was excited about the change, and shared that “one of the reasons I want to come to the
United States was my interest in American’s multiculturalism.” She thought it would be a good
experience since “everyone has different background.” She also expressed, “I really want to
know how they feel and how they went through their life experiences.” Maria’s comment points
to her wanting to migrate internationally in order to have exposure to different kinds of people.
She was not solely aspiring for academic growth.
Despite the positive attitude she had upon coming to the United States, Maria faced
some cultural adjustment challenges. The most significant cultural challenge she faced was
related to language. Specifically, she found some of the English language expressions difficult
to understand. For example, when she first heard the phase “fresh off the boat”, she shared,
“people said “I am fresh off the boat” and I didn’t even know what that means.” This suggested
that even though Maria’s English competency from her writing and interview were quite fluent,
her knowledge of idioms and non-academic language was limited. This is common during
language development. Hence, when she moved to the United States where English was used
beyond the classroom setting, she found the social slang and expressions to be challenging to
comprehend. Hence, this contributed to her feeling out of place in her when interacting with her
American peers. Language difficulty is a common cultural challenge faced by international
students, and is documented as one of the major factors that lead to acculturative stress
(Andrade, 2006).
In addition to the language challenges Maria faced, she also felt that there was a
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difference in the way people expressed their opinions and feelings here in the United States.
Maria found that there was a cultural difference between the Asian culture like the Chinese and
the Korean, and the western culture, on how people expressed their feelings. She elaborated:
At first, I didn’t really reveal my ideas and feeling because it was what I learned
in Korea and China not to express my feelings. But here, everyone expresses their
feelings even in front of the professors and even though it was stupid to tell or
say, no one really judges you.
It was clear that Maria was not used to the expressive behaviors of her American peers. This was
very different from how she was taught back in China and Korea where she had to suppress her
feelings and not talk back to teachers. Even though it was quite a shocking experience for Maria,
she actually liked the American way. In the beginning, Maria observed the difference in the way
people expressed their feelings here. Then she explained that being in this environment, “I gain
courage and I can now fully express myself about the feelings.” Hence this was a challenge that
she was able to overcome, thus ultimately assimilating to the norm rather quickly. By being in a
cultural environment where being expressive was encouraged, Maria claimed that she felt
comfortable to assimilate the practice. She further compared her experience back to Chinese high
school, “when I was studying in the Chinese high school, no one really raised the questions in
class or raised your hands up to say something to the teachers. Everyone was just in total silence
and they were taking notes.”
Her comment suggested that the norms in China did not allow for clarification or
checking for understanding. Next I asked Maria if there was any other cultural challenges or
surprises she faced. She shared that the social issues in the United States were very different and
extreme compared to what she was used to in China and Korea. In one of her reflective essays, as
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part of the prompt, she was asked to read an article related to current social issues in the United
States in which the article openly discussed issues related to sex and drugs, and she compared
and contrasted to social issues back in her home country. In the essay, she wrote,
I spent my life in Korea and China, and both countries are very strict on teenage
sexual and illicit drug issues. No one was ever allowed to share their ideas or even
talk about this topic, and if someone did, the person was considered as a nasty or a
bad child to other students and people around him or her.
As a result, it was quite appalling for her to be discussing these issues in her reflective essay. In
her essay, she wrote her opinion responding to the article on her perspectives about sex and
drugs issues in the United States: “I have never seen people using illegal drug yet on campus but
I have heard that people are doing those drugs somewhere else and I have also seen people
buying and selling those illicit drugs on campus.” She commented that what she encountered was
a fresh and new experience that she was not used to. She further explained that back in China or
Korea, drugs and sex were taboo topics, which people discreetly discussed. However, in the
American society, people openly discussed these topics. These differences became part of
Maria’s adjustment challenges related to cultures as such learning experience made her recognize
that there are set of values and beliefs the U.S. society adheres which is different from China and
Korea.
Other adjustment challenges. Apart from social and cultural adjustment challenges,
Maria was faced with a personal challenge concerning the loss of a family member. After a
month of moving to the United States, she learned that her grandmother passed away. She shared
that it was the worst period of her life, because she was having a hard time adjusting to the new
environment as it was. To receive such bad news exacerbated her difficulty. Maria said, “my life
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was totally got messed up and I couldn’t really stand it.” When I asked how she coped with that
hardship, she said chose to visit the health center on campus to seek help from a therapist. She
shared her positive experience with the health center: “I was very fascinated by how Sunshine
University is caring for students because I actually visited the heath center twice because first I
couldn’t really adjust to the new environment, and second recently my grandmother passed
away.” Due to such adversities, Maria was stressed and felt the need to receive professional help.
She decided to reach out to the health center to talk to a counselor. She shared, “people there
were really nice. They knew how to listen to other students. They really cared about students.
They told me how to cope with those stresses.” Even though the challenges were quite heavy for
her, the fact that she decided to seek assistance made the recovery and adjustment process
smoother for Maria.
In addition, Maria found having too much freedom to be challenging. She mentioned
that there was a lot of freedom here, which was different from what she was used to. She
explained, “when I came to college, no one really cares how I live and my parents also think that
it should be myself who should really think and care about my health.” There was a big shift in
lifestyle from when Maria was in China. She shared that in the Chinese public high school, she
had a host mom who managed her schedule, making sure she woke up in the morning and
completed her homework. Hence, she explained,
Even though I could fully appreciate freedom that I have never experienced
before, not only travelling to California by myself but also making a decision
whether I should participate in fraternity clubs or not, it became harder for me to
manage school work, extracurricular, health and everything in a totally new
environment.
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So while Maria saw the value of being granted this freedom, she also found herself challenged
by not having the support of someone who would help her manage her time and choices.
Although the issue of having more freedom and less guidance in college could be seen as a
common challenge among local freshmen college students, it was more difficult for Maria as an
international student to navigate through all the unfamiliar options and activities. As an
international student, Maria also felt more overwhelmed than local students due to her language
proficiency. Certainly, it would be more time consuming for international students like Maria for
whom English is not their first languages to explore and learn about different activities she could
take part in.
As a result of having a restrictive environment before moving to the U.S., it took her
some time to regulate herself and manage her schedule on her own. She shared, “I bought a
schedule planner with calendar application so that I can check my schedule while the application
notifies me events and homework due dates.” This new system helped her to handle her
schoolwork. Similar to her help-seeking efforts after the loss of her grandmother, Maria actively
identified and found ways to mitigate the challenges she faced. All in all, when I asked Maria to
assess her progress on adjustment, she said,
I would give me D minus for this semester because my grades are not really good
right now. It was good at the first 1/3 of the semester and the second I got totally
crushed because of certain things as I mentioned before and now I just got
recovered and the semester is over.
In this comment, Maria was speaking to how the challenges she faced in adjusting
influenced her academics. Although Maria’s academic related challenge is a common challenge
faced by any freshmen college students, the loss of her family member and the lack of support
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system had contributed to make the circumstance more difficult for Maria.
Summary
Examining Maria’s adjustment experience, it was clear that she was able to utilize the
help seeking skills she acquired in her previous study abroad experience to help in her transition
to the U.S. college. It still took her a bit of time to navigate the new environment. Maria was able
to overcome some social and cultural challenges as she immersed herself more in her college
experience, and found ways to mitigate these challenges. However, there were still some
underlying challenges that bothered her. For example, the way she was treated by local peers as
an international student made her feel like she did not belong. However, such realization
suggested that Maria was aware of cultural differences, which indicated significant progress in
her acculturation. To assess Maria using Berry’s acculturation model, I considered Maria to
adopt separation as her strategy with a possibility of switching to integration in the near future. I
placed her at separation based on her choice of friends, and her concerns related to social
connectedness. Those concerns she raised prevented her from wanting to get engaged and
integrate to the mainstream because she did not feel welcomed. However, the fact that she sought
help from the mainstream service at the health center suggested her openness to integrate.
Clearly, her personal challenge dealing with the loss of a close family member made it more
challenging for her to adjust and engage in her social and cultural experiences in the United
States. However, her help seeking behavior was also a positive signal that Maria would gradually
switch to adopting integration.
To comprehensively grasp Maria’s adjustment progress, it is useful to assess her using
Bennett’s continuum as the continuum provides more details of the adjustment in stages. From
Maria’s findings, she has proceeded from the ethnocentric to the early stage of ethnorelative as
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she recognized that there are other cultures not just her own. I placed Maria at the first two stages
of ethnorelativism, the “acceptance” stage and the “adaptation” stage. In the acceptance stage, an
individual begins to recognize other cultures and accept them as viable alternatives. He/she
recognized the genuine difference between her value systems and behavioral norms and others.
However, she does not yet adapt her own behavior and action to integrate to the new cultural
context. This description is consistent with Maria’s story on her choice of friends and other extra
curricular activities as she still preferred to interact with Chinese culture over the mainstream
U.S. one. However, her help-seeking behavior also placed her at the adaptation phase. In this
phase, an individual begins to view cultural differences as valuable resources. For example,
seeking mental health services can be seen as taboo for Asian cultures (Yeh & Inose, 2003).
However, Maria recognized the benefits of such service for her own well-being and chose to
utilize it. All in all, it is fair to conclude that Maria has been making positive progress during her
adjustment and it is very likely from the evidence presented here that she should be able to
eventually integrate to the U.S. cultures and maximize her diverse college experience that she
hoped for.
Case Study 4: Jane Wong
Jane was a freshmen undergraduate student from Hang Zhou, China. Hang Zhou is a “big
city next to Shanghai with beautiful scenery.” Jane attended a local traditional Chinese school
until junior high school. She then transferred to a British curriculum international school where
she spent the last 3 years completing A-level courses, which were college preparation courses
similar to the AP courses in the U.S. When Jane applied to Sunshine University, her initial
chosen major was Biological Sciences. However, during the interview she shared that she
wanted to change her major to Biological Engineering so her current standing was Undeclared.
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Prior to coming to Sunshine University, Jane attended a 2-week long summer school in
Maine. The summer program was offered through Cornell University where Jane took part in a
marine biology program. During the program, she was staying on a boat to conduct projects
along with other 20 students. Her summer school peers were mostly local American students
with three to four other international students. Jane was the only Chinese student in the program.
Apart from her visit to Maine for summer school, Jane also visited California half a year before
coming to California for vacation. When I asked Jane the reason she chose to apply to Sunshine
University, she explained that she chose the university “due to its location being closer to China
than the east coast and its warm weather.” She also found that the university had great resources
for students both academically and socially.
I then asked Jane about her involvement in extra curricular activities. During the time of
the interview, Jane was not part of any social organizations on campus. However, she shared that
at the beginning, she wanted to be part of the administrative team of the Chinese Students
Association. Unfortunately she did not pass their interviews. She expressed that she planned to
take part in more activities in the next semester. She said, “I am interested in doing research and
I also want to take a part time job on campus.”
Jane’s service-learning assignment was an individual one in which she worked as a math
mentor for fifth grade students. Her responsibilities were to assist students in math class. It is
important to note that Jane took part in service-learning as a volunteer. Even though Jane did not
complete her service-learning as part of an academic course, she fulfilled all the requirements
including reflective essays, attended the in-person meeting and group discussion. Hence she
qualified to be part of the study and, in fact, her volunteer status provides an interesting
perspective to the research. Jane heard about service-learning during the orientation and thought
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it was a great way for her to continue volunteer work which she has been passionate about since
high school. She was involved in a variety of volunteer activities including working in a local
Chinese hospital and volunteering as a teacher in Malaysia.
Jane was part of my second recruitment effort. I conducted a 65-minute in person
interview with her on December 2, 2015. This was at the end of her service-learning assignment.
In addition, Jane submitted five reflective essays, which she completed during the semester.
Jane’s Adjustment Challenges
As a freshmen international student from China who had prior experience attending a
summer school in the United States, Jane nevertheless faced social and cultural challenges as
well as challenges related to academic expectations at the university level. From the outset, Jane
seemed to be adjusting fine. She shared during the beginning of the interview, “I have quite a
good time here because although everyday is busy, I enjoy being together with my friends and
study something that I am really interested in.” However, as the interview progressed, there was
evidence to demonstrate that her adjustment experience was somewhat removed from
mainstream American experiences, which suggested that she might not be adjusting as well as
she was willing to let on intentionally.
Challenges related to social adjustment. Similar to other participants, I wanted to
understand Jane’s initial adjustment to the new environment, whether she was able to navigate
the logistical situations of settling into a college in a foreign country, and if she was able to
establish relationships and a support system with others (i.e., peers, professors etc.). After only 3
months in the United States, Jane said, “I have quite a good time here because although everyday
is busy, I enjoy being together with my friends and study something that I am really interested
in.” As for challenges related to moving a new a country, Jane felt that it was a smooth process
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for her. Even though she came here by herself, she already knew her roommate because she had
put in a request to live with a friend from high school. She explained, “I can ask for her help so it
is better than being alone.” Apart from sharing with me some positive experiences, Jane also
expressed some social concerns concerning her suitemates. Apart from Jane and her Chinese
roommate, there were three other freshmen students living in the suite. Two of them were from
the United States, and one was from Indonesia. She shared that the student from Indonesia was
not very friendly, which upset her. She wanted to solve the problem so she got together with her
other suitemates, “…we discussed about this problem together with other suitemates but now we
still don’t know what can we do…we keep trying to be friendly to her.” It was obvious that Jane
found it uncomfortable to be in a social living situation where she could not get along with
everyone and that became one of the adjustment challenges for her. Although the friendship
related issue is a common phenomenon even with local students (Pittman & Richmond, 2008), it
might be more difficult for an international student like Jane who is living in the United States by
herself with no family. Therefore, friends especially dorm mates made up a critical support
system during her adjustment and throughout her college years.
I then asked Jane about her circle of friends beyond her suitemates. She shared that
she had been making new friends by saying, “when I knew a person, sometimes I have a
dinner with her and her friends come so we sit together. They introduce themselves and you
get to know each other.” However, all of the friends she made have been from China. I also
asked if she has other close friends from other countries, she said that one of her close friends
was from Hong Kong. Despite the fact that they did not share the mother tongue and had to
communicate with each other in English, her friend from Hong Kong still had a similar
Chinese background and values, so it was fair to say that Jane still kept her social circle
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exclusive to peers from very familiar background.
Jane also had challenges related to engagement in extracurricular activities. She
shared that at the beginning of the semester, she applied to be part of the administrative team
for the Chinese Students Associations. Unfortunately, she did not get accepted and did not find
other organizations she wanted to join. Therefore, she had not been very active in taking part
in clubs and organizations outside of the classroom. Although she expressed that she wanted to
take part in more activities, there was not much evidence to support that she was being
proactive about finding other avenues to getting involved. Her choice of club also reflected the
fact that she preferred to be among other Chinese peers rather than integrating to the
mainstream. Her behavior and actions suggested that Jane utilized Berry’s separation strategy
as she chose to maintain her own cultural identity and rejected involvement with the host
culture. She added that the only other activity she took part in was her volunteer participation
in service-learning. I asked her to evaluate herself after being here for almost a semester. She
shared,
I think at the beginning, I felt like days went by slowly and everyday was quite
new for me. There were lots of activities at the beginning of the semester, then
later on everything became like a routine and I feel like the days pass really
quickly.
I wondered if she liked the fact that everything started to feel like a routine, to which she
responded, “after I get used to this life, it sometimes feels a little boring so I hope that I can take
part in more activities.” So rather than not wanting to participate in activities that had the
potential to improve students’ social adjustment, Jane was open to the idea, but did not actively
pursue her choices nor did she broaden her interests in her first college semester.
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Since Jane had a prior summer school experience in the United States, I was interested
to understand whether such an experience helped Jane with her social adjustment this time
around. Hence, I asked Jane to compare her Maine summer school experience with her current
experience at Sunshine University. Jane openly shared that she had a better adjustment
experience during her summer program. She preferred and felt much more comfortable being in
the small close-knit environment of a summer school compared to the bigger setting of Sunshine
University. She expressed:
In the summer program, being together with those quite open people, they
encouraged me to express more. At the beginning, most time I would listen to
them talking, and later on I would talk more with them and sometimes they would
invite me to sit together with them which made me quite happy, and I felt like
being together from different cultures was not that hard for me.
Jane felt that Sunshine University was much bigger, which made it harder for her to navigate
and get to know other people. She also admitted that she was a shy person so it was challenging
for her to initiate a conversation or talk to other people. She shared during the interview, “most
of the time, I was just listening to other people talk, I will not talk to people first.”
On the contrary, in the summer school program, her peers initiated the conversation,
which made her feel more welcomed and more willing to open up to them. She concluded, “the
experience I had in the summer program was much better than what I have here.” From
listening to Jane, I felt that the comparison she made between her previous summer school
experience and her college experience might have made the second social adjustment more
challenging for her, because the current experience was not as welcoming as her summer school
experience. As a result, Jane might have experienced some acculturative stress, which made the
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adjustment process more difficult for her.
Despite her college experience not being as positive as the experience she had with a
smaller group of students in Maine, Jane seemed to have an overall positive adjustment
experience to the U.S. since she was able to establish a support system early on. For example,
she put in a request to have her friend from high school as her roommate. This familiarity with
her roommate enabled her to have someone to ask questions, thus serving as an early support
system. However, such a pre-arranged support system could be a double-edge sword. Even
though it might have made the initial transition easier for her, it could have prevented her from
exploring and trying to integrate to the mainstream U.S. college experience. She admitted that
her circle of friends was limited to peers from China. Since her social and cultural boundaries
were limited to people she already knew and culture to which she was familiar, it might be
inaccurate to conclude that her social adjustment to the U.S. was only positive and smooth. It
also suggested that Jane chose to separate her social life from the mainstream American culture
because she preferred to hang out with her Chinese peers. In other words, Jane can be assessed as
pursuing “separation” according to Berry’s (1997) acculturation strategies.
Challenges related to cultural adjustment. Compared to other participants, Jane’s
interaction with people from other cultures was described to be rather limited. As a result there
was not much that Jane shared with me about her cultural adjustment experiences since her
frame of reference on culture was still very Chinese dominated. I first asked Jane to share with
me her view on diversity and how she felt when she had to deal with different cultures. She
responded, “I think different cultures are good for because I am always willing to know more
about other cultures.” I then asked her to compare and contrast her cultural experiences between
China and the United States. Jane first gave an example of classroom culture. She explained,
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“when I was in high school, we had a class of students so there was a concept of a class but now
most of the time, you are just by yourself or only with friends around you.”
Her comment was consistent with her preference for the small close-knit community of the
summer school program over a large environment at a university. This suggested that Jane
found it challenging to navigate through the cultural change towards a more independent society
reflected in a U.S. college setting. Jane was still used to being part of the group where she did
not have to make much effort to socialize since a collective cultural environment enabled the
collaborative process to happen more organically. However, now that Jane was in a large
university, she felt it was more difficult to socialize and interact with local peers. She shared,
In the summer program, being together with those quite open people, they
encouraged me to express more. At the beginning, most time I would listen to
them talking and later on I would talk more with them and sometimes they would
invite me to sit together with them which made me quite happy and so I felt like
being together from different cultures was not that hard for me but it was different
here. The experience I had in the summer program was much better than what I
have here.
She further expressed that in fact, “I want myself to be more open.” However, it has been quite
challenging for her since she was not used to being proactive in making connections with
others. She admitted. “I still don’t interact with a lot of people from different backgrounds.”
This is because “you don’t have the opportunities to be together with many Americans.” When
she said that, I was curious about her classmates as I assumed there should be a lot of local
American students she could befriend. She shared that people from class were mostly local
students but due to the big lecture format of her classes, she did not have the opportunity to
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really interact with her classmates despite that fact she wanted to be more open. It is fair to
conclude that although Jane had the willingness to learn more about other cultures, the new
cultural environment (i.e., big, impersonal university) prevented her from being able to do so.
This suggested that Jane faced a cultural challenge that prevented her from integrating herself.
Jane said, “I really want myself to be more open, to be more brave to make friends with other
because most time, I will not talk to people first.”
As a Chinese person, Jane perceived herself as shy and introverted, not one to take the
first step in meeting new people. This made it more difficult for her to get used to the American
culture. She shared, “I think American are always more open so they will not hide their
emotions.” Jane found it challenging to get used to the directness of American people since she
was used to keeping to herself. Even though Jane wanted to connect and interact with
Americans, it seems like her personality got in her way. Such a mindset also affected Jane’s help
seeking behavior as she was not used to being outspoken and expressing her ideas with others.
Moreover, Jane found it challenging in the beginning to get used to the new educational
system and the learning cultures in the United States. Therefore, she was not doing well in class
in the beginning. I asked how she coped with that challenge. She shared that she resorted to self-
help. For example, when she received a really low grade in one of her quizzes, instead of seeking
help from the professor or TA, she shared, “actually most time I did it by myself just like spend
more time reading.” Jane preferred to figure out the solutions by herself. By not seeking help,
Jane took on the extra burden of helping herself, which contributed to a more difficult
adjustment, not just culturally but academically as well.
Other adjustment challenges. Apart from social and cultural adjustment challenges,
Jane also faced some academic challenges. She shared, “I didn’t do well in many exams
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because the marking is very strict here. Sometimes I just made a little bit mistakes at the
beginning so the whole point of the question was deducted.” The difference in teaching and
learning styles between the U.S. and China created a learning obstacle for Jane. She explained,
Learning in China and here are quite different because when I was in high school,
we still had a lot of homework to do everyday so you were asked to study so
someone would supervise your study, they would check on how you learned. But
in the university, you study in large class or some science classes, GE classes
so…we only have one homework for 2 weeks so no one is supervising your study
so you need to study by yourself. You should have more motivation to study by
yourself.
Clearly, Jane was used to the rigid structure of the Chinese education system. Therefore, when
she had to self-regulate and come up with her own schedule, she felt that she needed more
motivation. I asked whether she had a coping strategy to overcome this challenge. She shared
that it was difficult in the beginning. Before her first midterm, she admitted that she did not
spend a lot of time preparing, because she felt that the materials were quite easy and she had
already learned it in high school. As a result, she did not do as well as she expected. She shared
that she did quite well with calculation problems, but did not do well when the questions were
related to definitions. The midterm result made her feel really stressed. She explained:
The math class, I felt like it was quite easy for me because some of the things we
learned were also covered in my high school course so I think things were quite
easy for me. But before the first midterm, actually we had two midterms, before
the first midterm, I didn’t spend a lot of time preparing for that. I didn’t do well
with definition questions but things like you need to calculate, those I did quite
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well. So I knew I needed to pay more attention to these questions.
To solve the problem, she decided to adjust her revision strategies and took more time to
prepare for exams. She shared, “before the second midterm, I read the textbook more patiently
and did some exercises in the textbook so for the second midterm, I got the full mark.”
Fortunately, Jane was able to navigate through her academic challenges and was able to develop
new learning strategies to be more effective in her university level classrooms. This was
something she felt she had to figure out alone, however.
Summary
From Jane’s description of her adjustment experience, it might seem that her adjustment
was smooth as she was able to make friends and navigated through the challenges and finding
solutions to most of them. However, my interaction with Jane made me realize that she had not
really engaged in the mainstream U.S. culture, which throughout the interview she expressed
she wanted to do. Apart from her classroom experiences and her involvement in service-
learning, her daily interaction was limited to her peers from China. Jane also did not take part in
any other extracurricular activities that would give her the opportunity to interact with the local
culture. Thus, it is fair to conclude that Jane’s decision to pursue service-learning as a volunteer
could be seen as her taking a proactive role to be more involved in the campus activities as an
international student in the U.S. university.
To evaluate Jane’s overall adjustment experiences using Berry’s acculturation strategy, I
assessed that Jane utilized the separation strategy as she made her transition to the U.S. college
experience. This was evident from her selected choice of friends and her involvement (or lack
thereof) in the mainstream extracurricular activities. Furthermore, her introverted personality
might have contributed to her disengaged behaviors and failure to take part in more activities
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and to step out of her comfort zone. From the finding, Jane recognized the cultural differences
between her home culture and the U.S. culture. She expressed that she wanted to be more
integrated into the mainstream culture but did not display evidence to follow through and fulfill
her aspiration. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that during the time of this study, Jane still had a
very difficult time adjusting socially and culturally to her U.S. college experiences. Next, to
thoroughly evaluate Jane’s adjustment progress, Bennett’s continuum was utilized to gauge her
cultural sensitivity. Since Jane recognized the different cultures and showed willingness to
accept some new cultures, she could be viewed as situated at the ethnorelative side of the
continuum. However, she only demonstrated that she was at the early stage of acceptance. In
this stage, an individual begins to recognize other cultures and accept them as viable
alternatives to his/her own worldview. He/she now understands that there are other value
systems and behavioral norms to accept. However, he/she does not yet adapt the behavior to the
new cultural context. This is consistent with Jane’s response during the interview as she said
“different cultures are good for me because I am always willing to know about other cultures.”
Although Jane expressed her willingness to learn about other cultures, she admitted that she did
not want to interact with many people from different backgrounds, which also corresponded
with what is described as part of acceptance. She said, “the way I interact with people from
different cultures is still quite similar maybe because I still don’t interact with a lot of people
from different backgrounds.” As such, it is fair to conclude that Jane was slowly progressing
towards becoming more culturally sensitive.
Conclusion
In this section, the detailed answers and analysis to the first research question was
presented. I created a profile for all four participants to provide a complete picture of each
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participant’s journey to their U.S. university and the adjustment experience and challenges
thereafter. All four participants anticipated their adjustment experiences to be challenging.
However, the findings reveal that the more participants expected the experience to be difficult,
the smoother the transition they had. All four participants had their own unique trajectories in
the way they chose to acculturate. The findings suggested each participant was adopting
different strategies including assimilation, separation and integration to assist with the
adjustment process. Those who gravitated towards integration and assimilation tended to have a
more pleasant adjustment experience and display more cultural sensitivity than those who
utilized the separation strategy.
Cross-Case Analysis: Service-Learning Components
The second research question explored how the social and cultural adjustment
experiences of undergraduate international students were shaped by experiences in service-
learning courses during the fall semester of their freshmen year, and especially how they
developed intercultural competence. In order to understand how the participation in service-
learning contributed to their social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the development
of their intercultural competence, I attempted to explore this by subscribing to the argument that
acculturation/adjustment is an intercultural learning process. Therefore, research question 2
sought to elicit findings that focused on assessing undergraduate international students’
intercultural learning through their engagement in various components of service-learning.
According to Cone and Harris’s (1996) Lens Model for Service-Learning Educators, service
experience, critical reflection, and mediated learning are three key components in service-
learning. To evaluate how each of these components contributed to adjustment and intercultural
learning, Deardorff’s Process Model of Intercultural Competence was utilized for analysis in
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conjunction with these three key components of service-learning. Deardorff suggested that for a
person to be culturally competent, there are three areas of competence to master: 1) attitudes, 2)
knowledge and comprehension, and 3) skills (Deardorff, 2006). Therefore, I sought to elicit
whether and how participants found the three components of service-learning to be beneficial in
fostering their intercultural competence as suggested by Deardorff. All in all, this findings
section is formatted to juxtapose service-learning components (service experience, critical
reflection, mediated learning) with Deardorff’s intercultural competence (attitudes, knowledge
and comprehension, skills).
“Service Experience” and Intercultural Learning

In this section, I will focus on the first component in service-learning, the service
experience. In this study, service experience refers to the 8-week period participants spent
working directly with local community members at their assigned sites. Specifically, I will
explore how the involvement in service experience contributed to the development of
intercultural competence of undergraduate international student participants.
Through service experience, participants gained more understanding and became
more sensitive about the local community. All four participants in this study were freshmen
undergraduate international students in their first semester at Sunshine University. During the
interviews, each participant shared that prior to coming to the university, they heard that
Sunshine University was located in a dangerous neighborhood with high crime rates. For
example, Maria shared, “before I came here, people were talking about how bad Sunshine
University neighborhood is, you will get killed if you go outside after 8pm or whatever.” As a
result, participants usually spent most of their time on campus as they were concerned about
safety issues of the local community. By participating in service-learning, these international
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students were given a reason to exit the university and explore the local neighborhood as they
had to visit their service-learning sites to complete their assignments. The assignments provided
them with access and opportunities to learn more about the geography of the community as well
as to interact with the people who were part of the community. Such interactions enabled all four
participants to gain a better understanding of the community through first hand experiences. This
in turn helped correct some misconceptions they previously had about the local community,
establish personal relationships with local community members, and acquire some new
knowledge about the community.
Stereotypes. Service experience provided participants with real life contexts allowing
them opportunities to question their judgments, beliefs and misunderstanding about local
community through their first hand experience. Linda shared her first impression during her first
visit to Rainbow Elementary School, her assigned service site. As Linda walked down the
neighborhood, she noticed many Spanish posters outside of the street, which made her assume
that all Hispanic students in the community were Spanish speakers. She said, “yes, it was just
kind of stereotype thinking. I saw the words Spanish, I saw all these posters and I just had the
ideas oh you all spoke Spanish but actually it wasn’t.” As she continued to work with students at
the elementary school weekly, she finally asked them whether they spoke Spanish or English at
home. From the conversations, she found that most of her students spoke English at home. She
expressed, “I really got to know about the local community by interacting with my students. If I
didn’t ask, I wouldn’t know about those things.” She further commented, “I can learn from those
children virtues and qualities to eliminate inadequacies hidden by my self-serving bias.” This
statement revealed that Linda was open to learning from her students, and also recognized that as
an international student from a foreign country, she might have been biased towards the local
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community thinking that she was correct about them being Spanish speaking. As such, it seems
taking part in service-learning helped Linda gain a more complex understanding of the language
abilities of Latinos in the local community, which contradicted her initial assumptions. Through
her service experience, her attitudes have shifted to be more open and more respectful of others
even if they were children. During Linda’s pre-interview, she expressed that she did not expect
to gain any cultural knowledge from her students as she reasoned:
I don’t think that the 7 years old kids, they can reflect much of local cultures
because they are actually a brand new wash sheet and they can absorb any kinds
of cultures so they don’t bring with them many characteristics of local cultures
there. I am not sure if I can really learn about local community cultures from
them.
However, in her final reflective essay, she shared that she has learned a lot about the local
culture through her students. For example, she wrote about an activity she took part in:
They [Students] were once asked to design a family plan, and it was at that
moment that I became aware of the fact that their families were immigrants from
everywhere: not only from all over the country such as New York, Lopez, but also
from all over the world, including Jamaica and Guatemala.
Through her interaction with the students during the activity, she also gained knowledge
about the students’ immigration history as well as the language they spoke at home which
surprised her. Linda shared:
In my imagination, most of the kids there would be used to speaking Spanish in
daily life and English could even be a foreign language for them. The truth was
entirely the opposite. Though their families were from various places, the children
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all had spent most of their life in the United States and were educated in an
“American” environment. The history of many of the families there may be
“immigrants,” while the future, to be seen on these kids, may be “locals” with a
global perspective.
From the experience, she learned to ask questions instead of assuming that her opinions were
right. Clearly, Linda became more aware of her cultural and social bias, and believed that by
interacting with local students, she would be able to learn more about the community, and have
more accurate perspectives about the individuals she encountered.
Similar to Linda, Anna also found the service experience to help change her perception
about the surrounding neighborhood. Anna was assigned to work at a local kindergarten called,
Growing Tree Kindergarten. Her responsibility was to assist the young students with basic
writing of the alphabet and simple words. Prior to her service experience, Anna had never visited
the neighborhood in which the university was situated because she had heard it was dangerous.
Service experience helped correct some stereotypes she previously had. After her participation,
Anna shared, “service-learning helped inform that stereotype or what people said was not
entirely true.” She further explained,
I believe that only a few, a small percentage of the community is bad people but
most of them are good and nice from what I saw and also from the school. The
students and the staff and people working on the street, they look nice. I think the
dangerous part is only really little amount. People, especially people from other
countries, they think everyone in the community is dangerous but it is not the fact.
As a teaching assistant at a local kindergarten, Anna had the opportunity to directly interact with
various local community members making her realize that people in the community were not as
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dangerous as the media or other people portrayed them to be. Service experience provided her
with access to local community members so she did not just believe in the faulty claims other
people had communicated about the community. Instead, she has become more open and more
understanding of them through her direct interactions.
Corresponding to Linda and Anna’s experience, Jane also developed a better
understanding about the community. Through her volunteer experience as a math mentor for fifth
grade students at Cactus School, Jane found local residents to be friendly, which made her less
fearful than she had been before she first entered the community. She commented,
I haven’t been to that area before because there are rumors that the surrounding of
Sunshine University is quite dangerous but after I went to my site, I found out that
the area is not dangerous, people living there are quite friendly. Sometimes when
I was biking to my site, people would say hi to me.
Jane admitted that prior to her participation in service-learning, she had spent most of her time
on campus with her Chinese friends, and had very little knowledge of the neighborhood. She
further commented that what had prevented her from going out to the neighborhood was a
variety of rumors which made “the neighborhood even seems to be a little bit dangerous.”
Hence, she was excited to utilize the service experience as a point of access to the local
community. After spending 8 weeks completing her service, Jane’ s first hand experience
contradicted what she heard from her Chinese peers about the community being unsafe and
scary. Jane’s service experience helped refute the stereotype about the neighborhood and made
her feel more comfortable to travel around the area. Jane wrote in her final reflection:
As time goes by, going to the site has now become a routine for me on Mondays
and Wednesdays. It occurs to me that people are all very kind in the surrounding
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as some of residents I encountered on the way would say hi to me
enthusiastically and many drivers would stop to let me pass first at intersections.
Maria also found her service experience to help correct some misconception and
stereotypes she previously had. It is important to note that even though Maria’s service site was
at Sunshine University, she worked with local high school students from the community
providing mentorship for their college admissions process. Hence, she learned about the local
community through her interactions and the stories her mentees shared. She explained, “what I
have learned from that was even though the environment looks like it is bad and it is not secured,
people are not…people themselves are not bad.” Getting to interact with her mentees who were
members of the local community, Maria understood the diverse cultural context more deeply,
which made her reflect on her own actions:
I somehow felt that what people were talking about Sunshine University
neighborhood depends on myself. If I care, if I myself become conscious about
going out at 3am in the morning or even wearing expensive clothes, if I don’t do
that I think it will still be fine because people themselves are not bad.
Through her statement, it is evident that Maria’s attitude about the local community had shifted
significantly. Even though she was conscious that the neighborhood could be dangerous and bad
things could happen, she was careful about her own well being by not exposing herself to
dangerous circumstances. She felt that taking preventive action was a wise thing to do no matter
the area. In addition, her experience interacting with the local community made her realize that
not all the people were bad people so it was up to her own judgment on the kinds of contexts she
chose to put herself to prevent her from bad experiences while also giving herself the opportunity
to be open and learn more about other positive aspects of the community.
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Since all four participants were international students from Asia, they were not familiar
with the U.S. lifestyle, culture and tradition beyond what they have heard from their peers or
seen in American movies or online resources. Despite some participants’ prior experiences
visiting the U.S. for summer schools, the participants were not given access to be part of the
local community the way service-experience provided. In other words, the summer school might
have only provided them with a superficial experience about the U.S. as they might have only
interacted with their peers from the programs on the school campus while service-learning
provided them access to interact within the local community. The service experience could be
seen as more authentic. Thus, service experience really enabled participants who were
international students to engage in their new community as insiders, which helped with their
social and cultural adjustment to the community they would be part of for the next couple years.
Personal Relationships. Apart from developing a more accurate understanding of the
local community namely as it relates to safety, the service experience also provided
participants with the opportunity to interact with individuals in the community who were from
different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Such relationships potentially contributed to the
development of participants’ intercultural competence as they learned to communicate in a
more diverse situation. For example, as a math tutor for fifth grade students, the majority of
Jane’s students were of Hispanic or Black. As an international student from China, Jane
previously had very limited opportunity interacting with people from different backgrounds.
She explained,
In China, people around me all have quite similar backgrounds and now I have
more opportunities to interact with different kinds of people so I am quite willing
to learn more about different cultures.
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During the interview, Jane admitted that she was nervous about the experience. She shared, “I
didn’t get along with people from other races before so at the beginning I was quite worried
about it.” However, the interaction was smoother than she expected as she explained, “it might
be because they were all children” making her feel like there was less pressure to communicate
using English. Through the service experience, Jane was able to foster a relationship with local
students from different culture and race, and felt more open interacting with them. During the
interview, Jane recapped her fond memory of a particular Hispanic student she worked with,
Charlie (pseudonym):
In the beginning, I paid great attention to Charlie, who was one of the naughtiest
boys in the class. He was quite willing to receive my help and I found out that
since then he started to take notes in the class and tried to do homework after
school. Every time when I was going to leave, he was reluctant to say goodbye
and asked me whether I would come the next day. He said many times that he
wished I could stay much longer and he wanted me to be there when he celebrated
his birthday at school.
It could be inferred that Jane’s relationship with Charlie made her feel helpful and valuable to be
making a difference in Charlie’s life. Her service experience served as a vehicle that provided
Jane access to step out of her comfort zone and started to feel more comfortable interacting with
people from different backgrounds. Although these interactions were not deep or sustained, it
was clear that Jane became more curious and more willing to expose herself to the new cultural
environment in this community. Jane’s direct interaction with Charlie gave her the opportunity to
build a relationship with someone from a different background, which enabled her to gain a
deeper understanding and knowledge about people from the local community.
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Maria was another participant who fostered a close relationship with local students. As a
mentor to two local high school students who were from different racial, ethnic and social
backgrounds, Maria described that her experience taught her to be more respectful of others:
I feel like I respect more people…at first I didn’t know or I couldn’t understand
why people do certain things but after I knew everyone has its own background,
there is always a reason, not only tangible reasons but also their reasons below
their conscience. Sometimes, the environment affects people and everyone has
different living backgrounds. I kind of started to understand why people are
making those different decisions.
Maria’s statement suggested that she has developed some personal connections with her
mentees. From the direct interaction as well as reading their college application essays, Maria
has gained alternative versions of reality about people in the community through the perspectives
of her mentees. By knowing students’ backgrounds and learning stories of their hardship such as
mentees’ family immigration history, not only Maria developed a better understanding about her
mentees, she also understood the social and cultural contexts of the population in the community.
For example, she shared, “both of my mentees will be the first ones from their families to attend
colleges and the students told me that their parents worked really hard to provide them with good
future.” As a result, she was able to provide appropriate assistance to the mentees while learning
to become more respectful of people from the community.
From her mentorship experience, Maria shared, “I am still interested and really excited to
know people from different backgrounds but at this point, I also feel that every human being is
the same at some point. They love their family and those fundamental things don’t change.” Her
statement suggested that even though she was excited to learn about other people and their
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diverse stories, she also came to understand that despite the differences people have such as race
and ethnicity and different upbringings, we are all fundamentally the same. Maria’s response
demonstrated the shift in her intercultural perspectives and attitudes. The interaction with people
from different backgrounds during her service experience suggested that she has made progress
towards becoming more interculturally competent because she was able to look beyond
superficial differences of people and showed respect for those who were different from her. Such
a shift in attitude demonstrated that Maria has made progress from being ethnocentric to
ethnorelative according to Bennett’s continuum (Bennett, 2006). In other words, Maria has
progressed away from perceiving her own culture as central to reality to becoming more
sensitive about other cultures.
Going out in the community to offer services provided participants who were
international students with access to the local community. The opportunity to move beyond the
university walls enabled all four participants to debunk the stereotypes and assumptions they
initially held about the community, and learn more about local people by developing
relationships with them. Through the service-learning activities, all four participants showed
development in their intercultural learning. Specifically, they all possessed intercultural attitudes
of “respect, openness and curiosity.” These attitudes are “foundational to the further
development of knowledge and skills needed for intercultural competence” (Deardorff, 2006).
Service experience enabled participants to move beyond their comfort zones and become open to
learn and value differences in multicultural environments of their local neighborhood.
Through service experience, participants gained more knowledge about the local
community. Another benefit that participants gained from service experience was the
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opportunity to learn more about some culturally specific knowledge that they could gain from
their direct interaction with their students, and the involvement in their assigned tasks.
Knowledge from service experience. For example, Maria gained knowledge about U.S.
education and its financial aid system from mentoring her high school mentees. As an
international student, Maria was not familiar with the American educational system since she
was not eligible to apply for these benefits. At first, she was even hesitant to participate, and was
afraid she would not be equipped with useful resources. However, the opportunity to work with
these mentees necessitated that Maria gain more specific knowledge about the U.S. financial aid
process. Therefore, by assisting mentees, she understood more about the American financial aid
system that she might not otherwise have learned. Maria shared, “there are four types of financial
aid: grants which are financial aid that do not need to be paid back, student loans, work study,
and veterans’ benefits.” In addition, Maria also learned about local issues related to the ethnic
and economic inequalities, diversity policy, first generation college students and their college
matriculation process. Specifically, Maria learned from her two Latino mentees about their
Latino cultural background and that the majority of the mentees were “first generation college
students from below average economic backgrounds.”
Maria added that even though she was gaining insightful local cultural knowledge from
her mentorship experience, she believed there was much more cultural knowledge she could
know. Maria made an interesting comment:
I am still unsure whether I fully learn cultures of the United States through this
course because I only had Hispanic students and I don’t know whether they
showed me the true representation of the United States cultures. However I think I
learned the culture of the local community of LA.
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This statement shows Maria’s awareness that the United States is a very diverse country and
one service-learning opportunity will not enable her to get a sense of the whole.
Similar to Maria, Jane was able to learn the differences in how math was taught between
the United States and China. By being involved in a fifth grade American math classroom, Jane
was able to compare and contrast the teaching and learning styles. She explained, “the teaching
mode of math here was quite different from what I had in China.” She provided an example of
how math was taught with different emphasis on different types of knowledge. She shared that
her students were learning about the calculation of power of 10. In order to complete the
problems, the students were using the method of using a place value chart that Jane thought was
easy to understand but quite procedural. She further explained,
For instance when you want to calculate 231 x 100, you have to write 231 in the
correct place value in the chart. And then, since you are asked to multiply 231 by
100, which is 10 to the power of 2, you should move the 2 at the 100s place to the
left for 2 more places and write the numbers follow 2 at the 10,000 place now and
fill the 10s and ones place with 0 to get 23100.
From this method, she felt that it was a procedural way of solving the problems so the students
just followed instructions without understanding why they had to put numbers at certain
positions. In contrast, in China, the math education was different. She explained, “I think both
procedural and conceptual knowledge were emphasized in Chinese elementary school.” She
claimed that she was able to understand the reasons why she had to do certain steps rather than
just following instructions like her students in American classroom were doing.
Additionally, Jane found the way students in the U.S. participated in extracurricular
activities to be different from what she was used to in China. She shared that she had the
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opportunity to watch her fifth grade students’ rehearsal for the upcoming school event. She was
surprised that every student in the class took part in the performance. In China, “only selected
students got to be part of a school performance.” She explained, “the full participation of the
class in events like that was quite rare when I was in primary school.” From that incident, she
was able to observe the differences between the two cultures. She personally thought that the
U.S. full participation culture was better as all of the students got to take part in the performance.
Despite the fact that three participants gained insightful cultural knowledge during
service experience, one felt that the format and duration of the assignments limited the cultural
learning opportunities. Particularly, Anna wrote in her first reflective essay, “beside my teaching
assistant job, I would try my best to explore the neighborhood myself and get deeper insights
about the community.” However, she expressed her disappointment in her final reflective essay
that her experience fell short of her expectations. She did not gain much local and cultural
knowledge from the people with whom she worked with. She further explained, “my site teacher
does not live in the neighborhood and my students are too little to provide any valuable
information.” Due to the specific nature of her service-learning assignment working with
kindergarteners, these were valid reasons that prevented Anna from learning more about the local
community during her service experience. She was only positioned to learn about the
experiences that transpire in an American Kindergarten classroom in this community. However,
it still suffices to say that Anna benefitted from the experience because the assignment provided
her access to the surrounding neighborhood, which gave her the first-hand experience, as limited
as it was.
Analyzing the participants’ acquisition of cultural knowledge, it is fair to conclude that
through service experience, participants were able to gain some specific knowledge of the local
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community and its culture. As a result, participants developed cultural self-awareness related to
the community they were now a part of as they compared and contrasted the local culture with
their own cultural background. Due to the short duration of service-learning, it was reasonable
that some participants might have only gained superficial local knowledge limited by logistics
and geography. All in all, it could be inferred that different types of service experiences could
affect the extent to which participants did foster their intercultural learning.
Knowledge from being in the community. Although the primary intention of service
experience focused on the impact of the direct involvement at their service sites, participants also
found the journey/commute to the sites to help supplement their awareness about the larger, local
community. The experience allowed participants to recognize some unique characteristics of the
community. For example, Linda realized that the local community was a lot more diverse than
how she had imagined. As a case in point, Linda described her experience walking through the
neighborhood and stopping by at a donut shop on the way to her site:
I walked through the neighborhood so I could have a very good look of the
community around. Once I went to buy donut in a shop near the site and I had a
really long chat with the owner of the shop. He just kept talking and I couldn’t
just leave like that so we chatted for quite a long time. He talked about the other
lady in the shop who was Chinese but couldn’t speak any Chinese. She said
somebody took her as Cambodian, and he asked me if I was from Thailand. I
didn’t know why he asked. I didn’t look like a person from Thailand anyway. And
I realized that maybe even the residents there, not those in the university, were
quite open to outside cultures. They knew more about other countries than I
thought.
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Thus, Linda’s service experience provided her the opportunity to visit some locations in the local
community that she might not otherwise have visited. She discovered that the local community
outside of her college campus was much more diverse than she expected it to be. She
commented, “I didn’t expect an old man like him to tell the difference between Mandarin and
Cantonese but he knew really well about these differences.” And while he asked about her being
from Thailand thus not being able to distinguish between a Chinese and Thai individual, the
knowledge he did have surprised Linda.
Similar to Linda’s realization, Anna also discovered that there was a lot of diversity
within different neighborhoods of California. To get to her service-site, Anna usually rode a
bicycle, which allowed her to pass different areas of the neighborhood. During the interview,
Anna made a comparison between the neighborhood where her service-site was located with
another neighborhood in California. Anna expressed:
I have to say that it [Sunshine neighborhood] is really kind of a dark community
(laughing). I feel really sorry about that because it is totally different. When I go
to downtown and when I bike in this community, it’s a totally different world.
Through Anna’s comparison, she perceived the neighborhood around Sunshine
University to be underdeveloped compared to the downtown area, which had tall
buildings and nice restaurants.
She shared during the interview, “for the first time I biked there [Sunshine neighborhood], it
was really scary for me but after that I felt it was ok but I still felt sorry for the community.”
Her opinion revealed that she has gained a more comprehensive knowledge about the local
contexts. In other words, she became aware that different neighborhoods in the same city could
look very different or even two areas in the same neighborhood could also be very different.
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She expressed,
“Sunshine University looks very nice compared to the other areas I travelled in
the neighborhood and my school site. Sometimes I see students from elementary
school taking a tour at Sunshine University campus, I feel it’s really good for the
relatively poor students to get a chance to make a fieldtrip to visit and use
Sunshine facilities.”
In addition, her bike commute enabled her to “know more about the transit rules in the
U.S. and what people’s habits of driving or biking” are. She admitted, “if I didn’t participate in
service-learning, I would not go around the community so maybe I would just be stuck in the
campus or just Uber to downtown.” Similar to Anna, Jane also biked to her service site and
found the trips to be useful. Jane commented, the experience “helped me learn more about my
surroundings.” She got used to the directions and understood more about traffic laws. For
example, she shared “cars stopped for me when I was on a crosswalk.” Evidently, the
participation in service experience provided Anna and Jane the opportunity to be more familiar
with the immediate surrounding, and to recognized the diversity, the local culture, and social
systems that existed in the community. However, it is important to note that both Anna and Jane
mentioned that this knowledge resulted from their decision to ride their bike to their respective
service sites. By biking to the sites, both participants got to experience and see the
neighborhood very closely as they were able to interact with the local people during their
commute.
In Maria’s case, she also agreed that the service experience enabled her to learn more
about the local community. Although Maria spent most of her service time on campus, on one
occasion she had the opportunity to visit the high school her mentees attended for a guest
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speaker session. The trip to the high school campus provided Maria with more insights about
the local community especially about the American high school her mentees attended. When
reflecting on her impression of the local high school, she commented, “it was kind of different
from Sunshine University and actually it felt like the environment was different but the kids
were really nice. Somehow I felt that the local environment was not suitable for these kids.”
From her experience, Maria felt that the high school campus was very old compared to
the facilities of her own university. She expressed, “it made me feel bad that local students did
not have the same resources I had back at the university.” The stark difference made Maria
realize the wealth gap within the community, another pressing issue related to diversity. From
the experience, Maria realized that despite the fact that the high school was in the same
community as Sunshine University, the university had far greater resources.
All in all, all four international student participants were able to utilize their service
experience to gain some knowledge about the community and recognize some of the pressing
social issues that characterize this community, such as diversity and income inequality. Such
exposure gave them a more accurate and comprehensive version of reality about the community
that Sunshine University is located in. By partaking in service-learning and having the
opportunities to be part of the local community, the participants developed familiarity with their
surroundings which contributed to their smoother adjustment.
The service experience allowed participants to gain confidence in their English
communication skills and fostered some intercultural skills. Another benefit that participants
gained from service experience was the opportunity to enhance and practice their communication
skills. In addition, participants found that service experience helped foster some intercultural
skills.
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Communication Skills. As described by Deardorff (2006), intercultural competence is
“the effective and appropriate behavior and communication in intercultural situation (p. 1).”
Hence, part of being interculturally competent is having the ability to communicate effectively in
various situations. In this case, service-learning provided all four international student
participants whose English was not their first language the opportunity to speak up and interact
with community members in local American schools, an unfamiliar environment.
All four participants attributed the service experience to helping promote their
communication skills. Anna explained, “as a newcomer to the community and the school, it was
essential for me to communicate with the people I would work with and try to give them a good
first impression.” Since the environment of the local school was new and unfamiliar for Anna,
she stated, it “pushed me to overcome my shyness and became an active speaker.” Through this
experience, she had become more confident about her communication skills, which she strongly
believed would be useful for her college life and future career.
In addition, Maria also attributed the service-learning experience to helping her be more
proactive in initiating and engaging in a conversation. She reflected, “I myself was also shy
when I was in high school. Everyone seems so awkward. I knew it so I tried to be more friendly
with them so I kind of yes I think…I…my communication skill has developed.” She recalled her
experience bringing her mentees to the restaurant after her course was finished. She shared,
“after I came back from the restaurant and when I was in my dorm, I felt like I could never do
this when I was high school like how could I do that. I was really a shy person and yes it changed
me a lot. This service course changed me into more social and outgoing person.” Evidently,
service-learning experience has positively contributed to Maria’s adjustment experience as it
allowed her to become more open and improved her communication with people from different
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backgrounds. Jane also made a similar remark as she shared that service experience “helped me
to gain more confidence so I would be more willing to communicate with others in the future.”
As a result, the service-learning experience served as a stepping-stone for Anna, Maria and Jane
to be more social and active in using their English, which could ultimately make them feel more
comfortable making friends and communicating with American students. The service-learning
experience clearly benefitted the adjustment experience for Maria and Jane as it provided them
the opportunities to practice their English in contexts beyond their classrooms.
Apart from making participants more outspoken and more comfortable communicating in
English, service-learning also assigned participants to work as a teaching assistant, tutor or
mentor, which required them to practice their teaching skills. This is important because the act of
teaching requires the teacher to customize his or her communication techniques for different
audiences, specifically with children. For example, for Linda, her primary goal was to “better
communicate with kids.” She was assigned to work as a math tutor for second grade students.
She explained that talking and explaining to young children was different from adults as “you
have to have different tones, and use different sentences for different kids.” She shared an
example of how she had to simplify her language when explaining subtraction to her students.
She explained, instead of saying “take 2 from 7,” she tried using expressions like “take away two
triangles from the seven here.” This example demonstrated that Linda learned to simplify the
way she explained math to young students. In addition, Linda also understood that each student
required different types of attention, as “they are so different. Some of them are really open,
really talkative. Some of them are just quiet.” Hence, Linda had to adapt the way she
communicated with each of them. She gave an example when she had to work with her students
who were more shy and quieter. She said “you have to be very patient with them and to
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encourage them speak up.” By the end of service-learning, Linda said in the post-interview, “I
really learned how to communicate with kids.” Evidently, spending 8 weeks of service-learning
provided Linda with opportunities to practice her communication skills working with young
students who were of different races and backgrounds from her. Through such experience, Linda
learned to be more flexible and more adaptive in her communication styles.
Similar to Linda, Jane also attributed service-learning to help her foster communication
skills through teaching. As a freshmen international student, Jane did not have much opportunity
to socialize with local American students as much as she wished. Therefore, her service-learning
experience as a math tutor provided her the opportunity to interact with local students. By
working with local students and their teacher, Jane expressed, “it makes me feel like I can
interact with people from different backgrounds.” She added that working with these students
allowed her to customize her communication styles as “sometimes kid might think a different
way than we do, so I need to be extremely patient and listen to their own opinions.”
Despite the fact that the level of communication between the participants and their
students seemed to be very basic, these opportunities were particularly useful for these four
international students for whom English was not their first language. By being part of the
service-learning program, participants were required to engage and communicate with local
people in English twice a week for 8 weeks. Without service-learning, these participants might
have only spoken their local languages with their peers, and attended big format lectures which
did not grant them much chance to use English. Hence, service-learning was a useful learning
opportunity for these participants to learn to communicate in English in real life settings which
expanded their communication skills and their confidence greatly.
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Intercultural skills. Participants attributed the benefits of service experience to the
opportunities they had to develop their abilities such as to “listen, observe, interpret, analyze,
evaluate and relate,” all of which are important skills for intercultural learning (Deardorff, 2006).
The service-learning pedagogy emphasizes having participants connect academic knowledge to
the real life settings of their service assignments. Through such a process, participants were able
to practice these skills as they engaged in their assigned services, which ultimately contributed to
the development of their intercultural competence.
For example, Anna found her service experience working with kindergarteners to help
relate her class materials with a real life setting. In her first reflective essay, Anna wrote that she
was interested in working with young children to supplement her Occupational Therapy
coursework on children’s development. She was assigned “to help three or four kids a day to
improve their basic writing skills, such as practicing tracing their names.” These students were
students who were behind in classes because they had problems paying attention or conducting
fine motor movements. To assist them, Anna adapted psychology concepts learned in her course
to complement her teaching strategies. Anna explained,
I find that one of the techniques, scaffolding, mentioned in Vygotsky’s
sociocultural theory of cognitive development is particular helpful for me to
utilize in my teaching experience. To help kids develop particular skills, adults
should give them enough support, but at the same time they must encourage the
kids to complete their tasks independently.
As a result, Anna modeled her teaching strategies using a scaffolding method she learned from
her coursework to assure that her young students were able to follow her instructions.
Furthermore, Anna practiced her observation skill as she monitored each student’s performance
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so she could customize her scaffolding appropriately. She gave the following as an example, “I
found that most of the kids I was working with had a hard time writing the letters S and E
correctly.” To assist them, “I would hold their hands to help them trace the first word, and then
asked them to do the rest themselves.” In addition to scaffolding technique, Anna also utilized
reinforcements as her teaching technique. She described, “using the high five praising, I could
keep the kids being more involved and concentrated on their writing workshop.” Evidently,
Anna was able to incorporate various psychology concepts she learned in her class into her
service-learning experience teaching the kindergarteners. Her action inferred that she was able to
foster some intercultural skills such as relate, observe, and evaluate while working with her
students.
Similar to Anna, Jane also gained some useful skills from tutoring her fifth grade math
students. Even though Jane used to be a volunteer and worked with children when she lived in
China, she expected this experience to be different. She reasoned,
I think it will be very different from my previous volunteer experience since I am
now at a foreign country and serving for people of other ethnic groups who speak
a different first language from me.
Jane realized there might be some other skills she needed in order to work with students who
were different from what she was used to. Her goal, which she wrote in her first essay was,
“hopefully I can build greater relationship with these kids, teach them something useful, and also
learn from them.” During the interview, Jane reflected and shared, “it occurs to me that the one
size-fits-all approach was used by the teacher.” Being part of the classroom, she saw that some of
the students were neglected and falling behind. She explained, “I noticed that there was a boy
sitting at the back of the classroom who hardly ever listened to the lesson.” After seeing that, she
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took an active role as a teaching assistant to reach out to the boy and worked with him
individually. She provided an analysis of what she thought happened in the class. She wrote,
There is a somewhat vicious cycle: the boy doesn’t learn well so he finds his
homework really difficult so he loses interests. Then he is punished because he
doesn’t finish his homework, which makes him unwilling to listen to the lessons.
As he becomes more confused, he doesn’t want to do the homework anymore.
Jane’s testimony served as evidence that through her math tutor experience, Jane observed what
took place in the classroom, rationally interpreted the situation, and then considered possible
causes to which solutions could be applied to the problem. Her thinking process demonstrated
her analytical and critical thinking skills that she already had. These skills aligned with what
Deardorff regarded as useful intercultural skills. In addition, being in the classroom environment
where students were from different races and class background, Jane was able to foster her
communication skills in an intercultural situation, which was recognized as useful skills for an
interculturally competent person. Hence, it is fair to conclude that Jane’s service-learning
experience provided her with the opportunity to apply her observation skills and deployed her
analytical and critical thinking skills.
Furthermore, Jane shared that she felt the urgent need to give the boy some personalized
learning, which was to work with the boy individually, and to evaluate his knowledge level so
she could set an action plan to get the boy to the same level as his peers. To help the boy
overcome his challenges, Jane “tried to encourage him to bring out his math journal and take
notes.” She recalled, “when they were learning multi-digit multiplication, I gave him a
multiplication table for assistance, which made him regain confidence.” Once she felt that the
boy felt better about himself, she worked with him on addressing his knowledge gap because she
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found out that “he couldn’t even do addition and subtraction.” As a result, Jane worked with the
boy individually to provide him with the necessary knowledge to catch up to his classmates. She
also encouraged him to practice and do his homework. By the end of her service-learning
assignment, the boy was performing much better as he learned to take notes and paid attention in
class. Jane’s story demonstrated that she got to utilize various intercultural skills during her
service experience.
In the case of Maria, she applied some intercultural skills such as listening to help her
engage in intercultural learning through her role as a mentor. Since her responsibilities included
assisting two mentees with writing their college essays and preparing their college applications,
Maria spent a lot of her time listening to her mentees share their stories that they wanted to
include in their essays. As a result, Maria listened attentively as it was critical that she helps the
mentees determine which piece of their stories should be included in their college essays. Maria
shared,
I noticed that she [Lopez] listed a set of hardships and difficulties rather than
explaining the one significant experience and expressing how she felt and learned
through that specific experience. I understood her feelings because I did the same
thing when I first wrote my college application draft. Fortunately, I could clearly
notice that there were some very bright and valuable experiences like a pearl
hidden underneath her sentences. I wanted to develop those ideas and specific
experiences that only she went through in an attractive college application.
From this statement, it is clear that Maria used her personal experience of applying to college to
assist Lopez. Not only did she listen, Maria also helped Lopez critically evaluate the pieces of
information she felt would make a strong essay. The skills she utilized were beneficial for the
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development of her intercultural learning.
In addition, her mentorship equipped her with some college essay writing techniques.
Maria explained, “the reading materials from the writing center provided important insights and
ways to approach writing college applications and essays.” For example, she used diagram
techniques to brainstorm with her mentees “asking them about their characteristics, favorite
books, movies, hobbies, etc.” She further described the process of how she and the mentees
reviewed their essays, “we first brainstormed what Lopez and Paul could write as a topic for
their own personal essays that day…then we mainly worked on describing their experience in
details and proofreading.”
Evidently, the service experience in which Maria partook enabled her to foster some
intercultural skills through her role as a writing mentor. By working with mentees from
underprivileged backgrounds, Maria listened to their experiences and worked with them to
transform the hardship mentees shared with her into powerful stories in their college essays.
Maria retold one of her mentee’s stories, “Lopez shared with me that her parents were
immigrants from Guatemala and they had to work many jobs to send her to school which made
her want to go to college so she could support them later.” Clearly, Maria was learning personal
stories of her mentee hardships. Without her service-learning experience, she would probably not
have been exposed to such information. And even though Maria did not have the same support
while she applied for college, she was able to use her experience along with resources from the
writing center to support her mentees in their processes.
Despite the different nature of each participant’s assignments, it could be concluded that
service experiences provided opportunities for participants to connect classroom materials with
their service in a manner that fostered their intercultural learning. Specifically, as international
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students, being in unfamiliar environments working with individuals from different backgrounds
required participants to utilize various intercultural skills to help them complete their
assignments efficiently. For example, in order to provide assistance to their local students,
participants must be open to learn and accept their different opinions as well as their beliefs and
values. Hence, the service experience became particularly impactful for international students as
they typically would not have the access or the opportunity to visit the local community and be
as deeply involved as the level service-learning offered. It is fair to conclude that service-
experience opened the door for an intercultural learning opportunity for international students,
and facilitated their adjustment experience as they adapted to the cultures and lifestyles of the
local community. In other words, by taking part in service-learning experiences, participants had
the opportunity to foster and utilize their skills such as observation, listening, critical thinking
which promoted their intercultural learning.
Table 3
Summary of Service Experience Findings
SERVICE EXPERIENCE
Through service experience, participants gained more
understanding and became more sensitive about the local
community.
Intercultural
Attitudes
 Stereotypes
 Personal relationships
✔
Through service experience, participants gained more
knowledge about the local community.
Intercultural
Knowledge
 Knowledge from service experience
 Knowledge from being in the community
✔
The service experience allowed participants to gain
confidence in their English communication skills and fostered
some intercultural skills
Intercultural
Skills
 Communication skills
 Intercultural skills
✔

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“Critical Reflection” and Intercultural Learning

This section explores the second component in service-learning, critical reflection.
Specifically, it explores how reflective essays, as the mechanism for reflection, provided
throughout the course of service-learning contributed to the development of intercultural
competence for undergraduate international student participants.
Reflective essays fostered some intercultural attitudes. Critical reflection is regarded
as a critical component of service-learning pedagogy as each reflective activity (i.e., essay,
journal, discussion) includes prompts to provoke or to get learners to think deeply about the
issues in a purposeful manner with the goals of shifting learners’ attitudes to be free from bias
and prejudice (Deardorff, 2006). For example, in the case of Sunshine University, the
surrounding neighborhood of the university is heavily portrayed as dangerous. Therefore, one of
the service-learning goals was to get participants to critically assess this claim as they took part
in their reflections. For the purpose of this study, critical reflection refers exclusively to weekly
reflective essays participants completed throughout their service-learning semester.
The primary goal of each reflective essay was to use questions and prompts to help
participants draw connections between the coursework to the service-learning activities. The
process of reflection also served as an effective scaffold for students to reflect on their own
values as they encounter unfamiliar and diverse circumstances during their service-learning
assignments. For example, a math reflective essay asked participants to: Reflect on what you
have learned through your experiences in service-learning this semester. How has your
assignment helped you to develop knowledge about math, community awareness, and other
skills? Then, participants were provided with prompts to consider how the local community is
affected by geography, history, policy, and inequality.
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From the findings, despite the fact that all participants found reflection to be useful,
Linda, Anna and Maria who took part in service-learning for social sciences
2
courses perceived
they had a stronger shift in attitudes compared to participants who did service-learning for other
courses or as volunteers with no course connection. This finding corresponds to the suggestion
that reflection is most effective when it includes provoking questions and prompts that are
intentional and links to the course objectives and expected outcomes (Cone & Harris, 1996). As
previously discussed, three of the four participants took part in service-learning assignments as
part of the social sciences academic courses while one participated on a non-course credit basis
as a math mentor volunteer but completed all the required reflective essays.
Maria took part in service-learning as part of her freshmen seminar with a sociology
focus, and was assigned to be a mentor for local high school students. For her course, Maria
completed nine reflective essays, which were more than the standard requirement of five essays.
Each essay was structured to scaffold and build upon each other. To elaborate, in her first
reflective essay, Maria discussed her own experience applying to college. Then, the second essay
provided her with California school performance index and asked her to compare her high school
educational system with the U.S. educational system in regards to issues such as racial and ethnic
inequality. This exercise enabled her to really compare and contrast her personal experience with
her new environment. Then, the third essay narrowed down the focus to the college experience
using a report on risk-taking behaviors in college. The fourth essay got even narrower and
focused on Maria’s direct experience with the mentees. Eventually, in her last essay, she was
asked to reflect on her overall experience throughout the course.

2
Psychology and sociology courses.
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Clearly, each essay was built on the previous one allowing participants like Maria to
continuously develop critical thinking processes. In Maria’s essay, there was a clear development
in her increased awareness about herself revealing a shift in her intercultural attitudes. For
example, in the earlier essay, Maria wrote about not wanting to take the course because she was
not sure if she was able to contribute due to her poor grammar. However, at the end of the
semester, her reflection was no longer about her. Rather she wrote more about providing help
and giving opportunity to others, particularly her two mentees. Maria wrote in her final essay,
I felt it would be unfair for those students to just miss their chance or rights to be
considered as equal to other college applications. People should share their
experiences and help those students in order give them a fair start in the society.
The change in her essay content, from earlier reflections to those written later in the semester,
shows Maria’s development as her experiences with her mentees led her to use a critical lens
when considering issues of equity in college access. In addition, she also completed a reflective
essay on the topic of diversity in thought in the college context. Maria shared her opinion
supporting diversity on campus. She expressed,
Even though there is no model answer for one’s idea or values, students from
various backgrounds should freely talk about how they think about one event or
situation and develop their ideas not based on a bias or a power. This is extremely
important.
From the excerpt, Maria used her reflective essays to voice her opinion on bigger social issues
such as inequality and college access. Her reflective essays revealed that she felt strongly that
these were societal issues that others should get involved like she did to help these students get
admitted to college. It was apparent that her attitude had greatly shifted from the beginning of the
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semester when she was hesitant to take part because of her assumption that she could not help
her mentees. By the end of the semester of service she felt personally invested in the issue and
committed to the work of providing support to those less fortunate.
Similar to Maria, Linda also found reflective essays to be helpful in fostering her
intercultural attitudes. She took part in service-learning for an Introduction to Psychology course
as a second grade math tutor. She shared, “the most important thing I learned from the
experience was to consider things from a view entirely different from my former one, either that
of a profession or that of a child.” Linda’s statement served as strong evidence showing the shift
in her intercultural attitudes. The fact that she learned to consider things from different
viewpoints suggested that she has developed a sense of respect for others, which is an important
characteristic of a culturally competent person. As a result of working with a local teacher and
students, Linda learned to understand their perspectives and realized that there was more than
one way to consider the same issue. In Linda’s words, “I explored it both from inside, when
being surrounded by the ‘community,’ and from the outside, when learning about it from all
kinds of data.” According to Bennett (1993, 2004), realizing and accepting that there are other
viewpoints, a person has shifted from an ethnocentric mindset to an ethnorelative mindset.
Hence, reflective essays were effective learning tools for Linda to process her experience and
shift her attitudes to a more ethonorelative one. In other words, the essays helped make her more
intercultural and more sensitive to other cultures.
In contrast to Linda and Maria who took part in service-learning for their psychology and
sociology courses respectively, Jane signed up as a volunteer and was assigned to work as a fifth
grade math tutor. Jane did not find the reflective essays to be as effective in fostering her
intercultural attitudes as much as her peers. She expressed, “to be honest, I didn’t learn a lot
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about the history, geography, policy and even inequality of the community.” As a math mentor
volunteer, Jane also completed the five standard reflective essays requirement but the majority of
Jane’s reflective essays and the provided prompts were related to different aspects of math rather
than social issues. This is because Jane was not enrolled in service-learning in courses where
they were simultaneously talking and reflecting on community and societal issues.
Like other service-learning participants, her first essay was a personal reflection in which
she talked about her expectations for the experience. Subsequent reflective essays were math
related. Her second essay was to compare and contrast the education system and how math was
taught in her home country versus the United States. The third prompt asked her to reflect on her
teaching and tutoring techniques. The fourth one asked her to reflect on the issue of diversity in
STEM education. Finally, her last reflection was about her overall service-learning experience.
In contrast to her peers who were completing service-learning for social science courses and had
more specific prompts to connect classroom materials with their experience, Jane’s essays were
not linked to any of her academic coursework but were related to math, the subject matter she
taught. The staff at the service-learning center developed these prompts specifically for
volunteers who did not participate in service-learning for their academic courses. Therefore, the
prompts were related to the assignments of the volunteers rather than the academic coursework.
For example, in Jane’s case, as a volunteer math tutor, her prompts focused on math related
topics. As a result, it could be inferred that Jane’s reflective essays were mostly limited to math
rather than offering her opportunities to reflect on and understand more about the local
community or social issues as deeply as her psychology and sociology course-taking peers. With
that being said, Jane still found reflection to be useful as it allowed her to reflect and draw
connections between her personal experience, academic experience and so on. However, Jane’s
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process of reflection was limited in the sense that it did not provoke Jane to reflect on social
issues the way her peers experienced.
It could be inferred from the finding that the prompts provided from reflective essays
played a critical role in fostering participants’ intercultural learning. Participants who took
service-learning as part of their social science courses were provided prompts not only to connect
service experience with course materials but also to reflect on social issues in the local
community. Those types of prompts were beneficial in getting participants to challenge their
personal beliefs and values, which in turn fostered the development of their intercultural
attitudes. On the other hand, the participants whose prompts were not as focused on social issues
did not have the same experience. Due to the limited variations of participation for this study, it
was not possible to compare and contrast the experiences of students who took part in service-
learning for social sciences with those who did it for hard sciences or math courses. Although
Jane was able to offer some insights on the math related prompts as a volunteer, there was a
possibility that the prompts might have been different for hard sciences or math participants who
did it for course credit.
Reflective essays fostered some intercultural knowledge. In addition to cultivating
their intercultural attitudes, participants found prompts and information provided as part of
reflective essays to be instrumental in fostering their knowledge about the local
community/intercultural knowledge. Linda attributed the benefits of reflective essays to the
prompts and information on different topics that were provided in each essay. Linda shared, “we
got prompts, and we got links to those maybe about their scores of the schools and the average
scores of the state and that helped me understand the environment and the community.” For
example, in her second essay titled Stress, Health and Student Performance, the prompts
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 192

provided Linda with data on the performance index score of the school she worked at in
comparison to other schools in California. She learned that her school-site had lower
performance rates in English and Math compared to other schools. The information combined
with her first hand experience at the school enabled her to draw a connection that the
performance might have been lower because a lot of the students at her site came from lower
socioeconomic backgrounds. She also observed and wrote in her reflective essay, “some of the
school faculty also have a strong Spanish accent which sometimes makes their oral English
difficult to be understood. This is very likely an explanation for their falling behind in English.”
The provided information supplemented service-learning students’ real world experiences with
facts about the local community, ultimately helping participants to better understand the context
in which they were completing their services. Through reflection, service-learning students like
Linda were able to gain deeper understanding about local culture and community. She shared,
“without the essays for SLP, I would only have developed an unexplainable affection for the
neighborhood because of the kids. The SLP essay required me to do further research of the
surroundings and relate them to certain event.” Linda’s remark suggested that the reflective
essays were structured in a way that allowed Linda to dig deeply into local social issues by
supplementing her actual experience with additional data about the local community. She
realized that this enabled her to develop a more complete understanding of the social and cultural
contexts of her service site.
Anna also found websites and resources given as part of the reflection prompts to be
beneficial in supplementing her knowledge about the community. Anna learned, “there are not
enough stores for the residents to buy necessities and the health problems of people there are also
severe.” In addition, “the academic performance of the students is not as good compared to that
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 193

of students living in other areas.” Through the supplemental information provided as part of the
reflection prompts, Anna was able to form a better understanding about the local community.
Namely, the comparative data allowed her to make connections and contrasts between her
specific service site (the micro) with the larger society (macro).
Similar to other participants, Maria attributed the prompts and reading resources to be
very beneficial in her learning process. She explained that prompts provided her “with contexts
about the American cultures, society and educational system.” For example, one of the prompts
provided Maria with the overall data from the California Department of Education. The
information helped Maria understand the bigger context of California as a whole. She learned
that “the racial and ethnic inequality in California does exist…most of the African American and
Hispanic/Latino suffer from economic inequalities as well.” Such information served as a
reference point for Maria to understand some of the potential causes to her mentees’ experiences
of hardship. For example, Maria learned that poverty is a deep seeded issue in the immigrant and
minority communities and these characteristics intertwine to create a circumstance of hardship.
Jane also shared similar experiences as her peers. In the first essay, she expressed that she
liked that service-learning emphasized both community service experience and personal
reflection. She wrote, “I may learn more if I am asked to reflect on what I do.” Jane’s realization
corroborated with the literature on reflection that learners learn more deeply when they are asked
to reflect (Dewey, 1933, Butin, 2010). Jane recapped during the interview and gave an example
of how she was able to foster some intercultural knowledge through writing a reflection. She
explained, “the reflective essays enabled me to think more deeply by comparing and contrasting
my prior personal experience in China with my service-learning experience in the local school.”
In her essay, she wrote,
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 194

As what I expected, I can sense the difference between us caused by the different
environment we grew in. The teaching mode of math here is quite different from
what I had in China as educations in China and America has different emphasis
on things like conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, fluency and
application.
Jane used the reflective essay to compare the educational systems of China and the United States,
and in so doing, demonstrated heightened awareness of the cultural differences that exist
between the two societies.
The above examples demonstrate the usefulness of reflective essays as perceived by all
four participants in this study. The provoking questions along with supplemental information
about the local community enabled participants to develop a better understanding and gain more
social and cultural knowledge. Such a learning process was foundational to the development of
intercultural learning as it equipped participants with knowledge about the community, which
could contribute to smoother social and cultural adjustment experience for international students.
By gaining more cultural knowledge and becoming more familiarized with the local community,
international students might feel more comfortable and more confident in their daily interaction
in their new environment. As a result, they could develop a stronger sense of social
connectedness enabling them to open up and be more involved in the mainstream activities, and
eventually integrated themselves wholesomely.
Reflective essays fostered some intercultural skills. Despite the fact that participants
found the process of writing reflective essays to be beneficial, the benefits related to skills
development were more on the mechanics of writing than on the fostering of intercultural skills
or the assistance with participants’ social and cultural adjustment. For example, Jane expressed,
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 195

“I think it improved my writing skill and it helped me to write more comprehensively in the
essay because I was asked for different kinds of questions so they helped me to think deeper.” In
addition, Jane found the reflective essays more as an outlet for her to communicate:
That kind of writing is quite different from my writing in the writing course. That
kind of reflective essays, I feel is better because I can write in a free style essay. I
can write what I saw and what I want to say about that so it’s a way for me to talk
about myself to others.
Anna’s comment resonated with Jane as she expressed, “writing the essays help a bit with my
writing skills. I get to use to write in English and help me review the knowledge in my class. I
think those are the two benefits of it.” She did not feel that the essays contributed to her
adjustment experience and explained, “honestly the essays were really short so I tried to analyze
my experience and think more yes but not like a really huge influence.”
In Maria’s case, she did some reflective essays during high school but back then she felt
that “writing a reflective would be kind of not genuine but it was mandatory so I did it.”
However, this time around she found it to be more useful. She shared that the reflective essays
she did for service-learning helped “reflect my memory every single class. I could remind
myself my conversation with my mentees and everything so I think it’s good.” An investment in
learning the content and remembering her experiences seemed to drive Maria’s response.
Different from the three participants, Linda perceived reflective essays to have more
value in fostering her intercultural skills than others. Linda shared, “it was the essays which
helped me build the habit of relating things, the really normal things I meet in life with what I
learn in class. It helps me to do that useful habit.” Through writing reflective essays, Linda felt
she has developed a habit and a skill of making connections, which is regarded as one of the
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 196

intercultural skills (Deardorff, 2006). Linda found that the fact that the essays prompted her to
constantly relate her classroom materials with her service experience in her writings, it
encouraged her to make connections with the world around her. In other words, she perceived
herself to have become more reflective.
While the majority of participants perceived the essays as a vehicle to practice the
mechanics of writing, and not to build intercultural skills, the improvement in writing skills was
not merely academically beneficial. Rather, the fact that all participants were international
students for whom English was not their first languages, the improvement in their English
language skills could be considered as a part of their intercultural learning process. Writing
reflective essays weekly gave the participants the opportunities to practice writing in English,
which could contribute to more effective communication for them.
Reflective essays, specifically the use of provoking questions and prompts, were key
learning instruments for participants to connect their service experience to academic
course materials and real world contexts. Through the intentional scaffolding, reflective
essays provided structures for participants to connect their service activities to their course
materials. Participants found reflective essays and their provided prompts to help them process
and revise their academic knowledge. One of the participants, Linda, found the carefully crafted
prompts to help guide her to think critically about her service-learning experience in relation to
her psychology course. Linda shared:
I would have taken the service as a routine, not having carefully thought about it,
if I had not been asked to write an essay every 2 week. The specific and detailed
prompts of the essay were helpful in leading me to have a full reflection on what I
have learned and what I should learn from my service experience. They helped
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 197

me set an image in my brain of the way I could interpret textbook knowledge with
examples I had met in the service and helped me see things from a psychological
perspective.
The excerpt above suggested that Linda found writing reflective essays useful as it helped her
process her course materials during her involvement in service-learning activities. For example,
in one of her reflective essays titled The Psychology of Service, she took the concept of “flow”
learned in her psychology class to describe her personal experience and feeling when working
with her students during service-learning. She described in the beginning of her essay that “flow
is a particular kind of experience that is so engrossing and enjoyable that it is worth doing for its
own sake even though it may have no consequence outside itself (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p.
824).” She then wrote that her service-learning participation “seemed to be a flow at the very
beginning, the experience has now become a reward itself” since she really enjoyed spending
time with the kids. Using the concept of flow to describe her feelings towards service-learning, it
was clear that Linda was making connections between psychology knowledge learned in class
with her own personal development and feelings. This suggested that reflective essays helped
Linda to make academic knowledge connections with her service activities.
Another participant, Anna, also completed service-learning for her Introduction to
Psychology course as a teaching assistant for kindergarteners. Through the completion of her
five essays, Anna found that the tasks made her more reflective particularly with combining the
knowledge learned in class to her real life experience. In one of her reflective essays, she wrote:
Teaching as well as observing kindergartners’ everyday school time, I found that
most of the young kids are aware of helping and taking care of one another, even
if they are still 4 to 5 years old immature preschoolers. These intuitive actions
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 198

performed by the kids are defined as prosocial behaviors, which include doing
favors, offering assistance, paying compliments, subjugating egocentric desire or
needs, resisting the temptation to insult or hit another person, or simply being
pleasant and cooperative (Gazzaniga, Heatherton, & Helpern, 2015, p.514). As
mentioned in the textbook, the prosocial behavior is hardwired in humans
(Gazzaniga, Heatherton, & Helpern, 2015, p.514), which explains why the
socially immature children can also conduct these kinds of behaviors.
The above excerpt demonstrates that Anna was able to utilize reflective essays to connect her
course materials with her first hand experience assisting her kindergarteners. During the
interview, she further explained,
Service-learning really provided me with the opportunity to revise and each time I
wrote the essay, I had to reread the textbook and thought deeply about like…oh
that concept could be used into this perspective of my real experience so that was
good.
Evidently, reflective essays provided opportunities for participants to connect their classroom
materials in the social and cultural contexts of the community in which participants reside. This
was particularly useful for international student participants as they were new to the community
and might be facing some academic challenges due to the different teaching and learning styles
in the U.S. Thus, the process of reflection accommodated participants in their learning not just in
the classroom but also outside. These dual benefits potentially contributed to a more positive
adjustment experience. Literature on learning shows that the kind of reflection made through co-
curricular activities like service-learning has positive influences on the students as it enabled
students to make connection between classroom materials and real life experience (Dewey,
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 199

1933). From the findings, all four participants demonstrated that they found service-learning
experience to be beneficial in helping them feel connected to the community, which led to a
smoother social and cultural adjustment experiences.
Table 4
Summary of Critical Reflection Findings
CRITICAL REFLECTION (REFLECTIVE ESSAYS)
Reflective essays fostered some intercultural attitudes Intercultural
Attitudes
 Participants for social sciences courses had stronger shift
in attitudes compared to participants who did service-
learning for other courses or as volunteers with no course
connection
✔
Reflective essays fostered some intercultural knowledge Intercultural
Knowledge
 Provided prompts and resources were key learning
elements for participants to acquire their cultural
knowledge
✔
Reflective essays fostered some intercultural skills Intercultural
Skills
 Writing skills
 Critical thinking, analytical and relating skills
✔
Emerging finding: Reflective essays, specifically the use of
provoking questions and prompts, were key learning instruments
for participants to connect their service experience to academic
course materials and real world contexts.

“Mediated Learning” and Intercultural Learning

This final findings section explores the third component in service-learning, mediated
learning. Specifically, it explores whether and how mediated learning contributed to the
development of intercultural competence for undergraduate international student participants.
Mediated learning was useful for participants for logistical purposes but not for
deep sustained intercultural learning. Mediated learning is a critical component of service-
learning as it centers on the belief that learners can be guided in their learning and development
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 200

through their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (Vygotsky, 1978). In service-learning, the
program assistants (PAs)
3
are intended to act as mediators and take active roles in assisting
learners to make meaning and cultural connections between classes and local communities
through giving feedback on reflective essays. Additionally, they are points of contact to answer
questions or concerns related to service-learning assignments participants may have throughout
the semester. From the data collected for this study, participants found PAs to be helpful with
logistical support. However, there was not much evidence to suggest that PAs were instrumental
in promoting intercultural learning for the participants.
Logistical Support. All four participants agreed that their PAs were helpful in providing
logistical information such as giving information on their service-sites, clarifying required
assignments and attendance, just to name a few. Linda gave an example of one incident when she
found her PA to be helpful. Linda usually spent 30 minutes walking to her service-site but one
time she needed to find an alternative transportation mode to make sure she came back to
campus on time for her mid-term exam. Hence, she reached out to her PA. The PA suggested
using the train and provided her with Metronet website to check for schedules. Linda expressed,
“she (PA) was really helpful when she told me to find that Metronet.” By introducing Linda to
Metronet, her PA was able to provide some local transportation knowledge that Linda did not yet
know about. Other than that, Linda mentioned that she went to her PA to clarify her attendance
record and “we got a training before she assigned the first essay, and she told us some techniques
to teach children.”

3
Generally, program assistants are undergraduate students who previously took part in service-
learning. Hence they had the experience and could offer participants with assisted-learning. The
majority of program assistants tend to be local American students with only a few being
international students. In this study, all four participants were assigned program assistants who
were Americans.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 201

Similar to Linda, Anna shared that her PA provided some guidance in the beginning of
the program. She explained, “I asked questions about the program, the assignment, and how to
get to know more about the community.” The PA shared some knowledge about the community
and gave Linda suggestions that she should also “talk more to the teacher or staff in the school”
for some advice on teaching strategies and the neighborhood. Another participant, Jane also met
her PA in the beginning when the PA introduced the assignments to her. Linda, Jane and Anna
also attended their individual one-to-one chats with each of their PAs. One session of a one-to-
one chat was a mandatory individual check-in for PAs and service-learning participants at the
mid point of the program. All three participants reported that their PAs asked them the same
question whether they had any problems with their assignments. Since all of them were doing
fine with their assignments, the meetings were brief. For example, Anna shared, “I just asked my
PA about the feedback she gave on my essays and she told me to provide more evidence.”
In contrast to the three participants, Maria had a slightly different mediated learning
experience due to the structure of her freshmen seminar. Maria was not working with any PAs in
this class. Instead, the mediated learning was provided through the assistance of faculty at the
writing program and a college advisor from the Admissions Office. The additional support
provided through the course served as resources for Maria to gain appropriate knowledge needed
to guide her high school mentees. For example, she learned more about the admissions process
and financial aid from a college advisor subsequently relaying the information to her mentees.
Since the support provided by these mediators was more on mentorship techniques and it was
more specific to Maria’s service-learning project, it was not apparent whether Maria gained
much intercultural learning through such interactions.
All in all, the nature of the interaction between participants and PAs were limited to
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 202

logistical support in which the PAs simply guided the participants on how to fulfill the
requirements of the service-learning component of the course. There was no evidence suggesting
that participants found the assistance of PAs to be critical in fostering their intercultural learning.
Due to the structure of service-learning, participants were only required to meet with program
assistants about two times in person including one one-to-one chat and one group discussion. As
Linda stated, “I actually have not had many connections with her [PA]. We don’t exchange
emails very often.” Jane echoed this sentiment, saying “I think we are not that close, because we
don’t have quite a lot of opportunities to talk.” Hence, there were limited opportunities for PAs
and participants to engage in deep, sustained intercultural learning opportunities.
Essay Feedback. A critical responsibility of the PA was to provide feedback on
participants’ reflective essays. As mediators, PAs played a critical role in dispelling any
assumptions or stereotypes participants might have through giving thought provoking feedback
usually in the form of questions (Cone & Harris, 1996). Since I only received ungraded versions
of participants’ essays, I did not see how feedback was given by PAs. Hence I relied on
participants’ self-reported responses during the interviews to determine how they found the
feedback component to be beneficial. According to Anna, by the end of her service-learning, she
only received feedback for only one out of her five essays. She shared, “honestly, for the first
essay, she gave me feedback. I really appreciate that, but honestly the other essays she hasn’t
graded it yet. Maybe she graded but it hasn’t shown up on the blackboard so I don’t know.” As
for other participants, they did not deliberately comment on how they found their PA’s feedback
to be helpful. Due to limited information I have on the actual feedback, I cannot conclude if the
feedback cycle was instrumental to participants’ intercultural learning process.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 203

Group discussion showed potential as an effective mediated learning tool for
intercultural learning. Another component of mediated learning was a one-time mandatory
group discussion, in which all service-learning participants came together with their assigned
PAs in week six of the semester. During the group discussion, the Program Assistant led the
session, which addressed the memo from the University Provost on various issues related to the
university and its surrounding community. Some of the issues included construction on campus,
neighborhood safety, diversity on campus, just to name a few. Due to the course structure, all
participants except for Maria participated in the group discussion. The finding suggested that the
group discussion activity was well received by all three participants. They found the interaction
with their peers to contribute to their intercultural learning. For example, Anna found the group
discussion to be a really good learning experience because “you can listen to other people’s
thoughts about the different issues on Sunshine University which gave me alternative
perspectives to consider those issues.” However, Anna confessed that she did not take part in
sharing her ideas with the group. Similar to Anna, Jane spent the majority of her time at the
group discussion listening to other people. She shared,
Most of the time, I was just listening to other people talk. And we were talking
about how develop Sunshine into a better community, something like that.
Although I didn’t talk a lot but I think I learned quite a lot because like different
people gave their own opinions and some of them were quite new for me so these
would encourage me to think more diversely.
Both Anna and Jane’s limited interaction in the group discussion did not serve as strong enough
evidence to claim that mediated learning via such peer discussion made them gain any specific
intercultural learning. However, it was clear that they found this activity to be useful as they
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 204

were able to hear the opinions of others which exposed them to different perspectives in
considering the same issues.
Linda, on the other hand, demonstrated that she truly benefitted from the group
discussion and wished there were more sessions. Linda was the only participant I was able to
observe during the group discussion. Then, I had the opportunity to follow up and asked Linda
more about her group discussion during the post-interview. Linda found all the issues discussed
during the session to be relevant to all students at Sunshine University. She felt that “those needs
fit for everyone whether they are local or international students. Those were the same needs we
have as a college student.” This statement epitomized that Linda felt that she was the same as
other students, which demonstrated a characteristic of an interculturally competence person.
Linda’s perspective from the group discussion further supported that Linda utilized assimilation
as her acculturation strategy (Berry, 1997). More importantly, the finding provided justification
to assess whether Linda was in denial stage or integration stage. From the discussion, Linda
demonstrated that she was sensitive to different opinions and different cultures and she was able
to interact organically which corresponded to Bennett’s integration description. Integration is
used to describe an individual who accepts that his/her identity is not based on any single culture.
As a result, an individual can effortlessly and unconsciously operate in cultural diversity as
he/she maintains his/her cultural identity while integrating aspects of other cultures into it. It was
evident that Linda felt comfortable interacting and sharing her opinions with her U.S. peers in a
group setting.
In addition, Linda found the format and structure of group discussion to be constructive.
She explained, “I love the experience of turning really abstract ideas which appeared in that
material into really specific action plan.” Her statement referred to the assigned task of reading
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 205

the provost message and generated action plan and ideas for solutions during the group
discussion. She admitted that she was not sure what she was supposed to do at the beginning but
she observed and learned how others responded:
It was really helpful because when I first tried to do what the PA said about the
materials, I just got confused. I just had no idea in mind how you turned those
really vague sentences into really practical problems and solutions. I didn’t speak
after I heard several opinions and I kind of formed how to do those things and I
just came up with idea after that so listening to other is really inspiring so I think
the group chat is kind of an experience that inspires you.
Linda’s comment above validated that the mediated learning through group discussion was an
effective method for her to acquire some intercultural skills. Specifically, the skills to
communicate, exchange, and accept ideas of peers from different backgrounds. Evidently, the
Program Assistant and other peers played critical roles in scaffolding how to respond in a group
discussion for Linda. They also inspired her to express her ideas. Since Linda was an
international student from China, it was not a common practice in China for students to
participate in a group discussion and express their opinions. Therefore, by having the opportunity
to participate in a group discussion as part of her service-learning assignment, Linda learned to
take other peoples’ point of views while expressing her own, which is a critical intercultural
competence quality (Deardorff, 2006).
Since all participants were working individually at their service-sites, the group
discussion provided a space for participants to interact and reflect with other people who had the
same experience completing similar assignments. The examples above demonstrates how a
group discussion could be a potential mediated learning activity that could be utilized to foster
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 206

intercultural learning especially for international students. Since there was evidence to suggest its
usefulness, service-learning could benefit from having more than one group discussion
throughout the program duration, especially given participants’ comments about the minimal
contact they had with their program assistants.
Table 5
Summary of Mediated Learning Findings
MEDIATED LEARNING
Mediated learning did not play a large role in
promoting participants’ intercultural attitudes
Intercultural
Attitudes
X
Mediated learning was useful for participants for
logistical purpose but not for deep sustained
intercultural learning.
Intercultural
Knowledge
 Logistical support
 Essay feedback
✔
Mediated learning did not play a large role in fostering
participants’ intercultural skills
Intercultural
Skills
X
Emergence findings: Group discussion showed potential
as an effective mediated learning too for intercultural
learning.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 207

A Return to the Conceptual Framework: Participants’ Acculturation and
Intercultural Learning Assessment
In my conceptual framework, I argued that acculturation is in itself a learning process for
international students to acquire and foster skills related to cross cultural competency (Gill,
2007). Service-learning was introduced as a co-curricular activity that could potentially
contribute to a more positive social and cultural adjustment for undergraduate international
students, and help promote intercultural learning. As a result, I individually examined each of the
three components of service-learning: service experience, critical reflection and mediated
learning, to see whether and how each component contributed to a more positive adjustment
experience for the undergraduate international students in my study.
The general finding across the four participants suggested that they found their
participation in service-learning to be beneficial for their social and cultural adjustment
experiences and intercultural learning. The first component, service experience, enabled
participants to gain more understanding and comprehensive knowledge about the local
community. Particularly, participants were able to utilize their first hand experience being in the
local community to refute stereotypes, to develop personal relationship with local community
members, and to gain more knowledge about their service sites as well as the community. In
addition, service experience allowed participants to gain confidence in their English
communication skills and fostered some intercultural skills for all of the participants.
Next, participants found the second component, critical reflection, as an instrumental
learning tool, which helped them connect their service experience to academic course materials
and real world contexts. The process of writing reflective essays was found to be useful in
linking service experience to academic connection, and for some participants improved their
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 208

writing skills. In addition, participants acknowledged the provided prompts to be useful in
promoting their intercultural learning which included the developments of attitude, knowledge
and skills.
The final component, mediated learning, was reported as the least impactful as
participants found the role of mediators to be only useful for logistical purposes, and not for
deep, sustained intercultural learning. However, group discussion, a sub component, was
perceived as beneficial, and showed potential to be an effective mediated tool for intercultural
learning.
To evaluate how the participation in service-learning contributed to each participant’s
adjustment and intercultural learning journey, the summary table on the next page provides an
overview of their pre and post service-learning acculturation strategies and their location on
Bennett’s intercultural sensitivity continuum. Their location on these two models is based on the
data I was able to collect from them during the interviews and from their reflective essays.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 209

Table 6
Summary of Participants’ Adjustment and Intercultural Learning Progress Pre and Post
Service-Learning
Pseudonym Pre Service-
Learning:
Acculturation
Strategies
Pre Service-
Learning:
Intercultural
Sensitivity
Continuum
Post Service-
Learning:
Acculturation
Strategies
Post Service-
Learning:
Intercultural
Sensitivity
Continuum
1) Linda Yao Assimilation Denial or
integration
Assimilation Integration

2) Anna Fang Integration Adaptation/
Integration
Integration Integration
3) Maria Park Separation Acceptance/
Adaptation
Separation Adaptation
4) Jane Wong Separation Acceptance Separation Adaptation

The summary table features individualized assessments pertaining to each participant in
the study. Based on the conceptual framework, it is assumed that each participant has a unique
adjustment and intercultural learning journey due to his/her history, upbringing, and background.
As a result, each identifies him/herself with a different acculturation strategy. In addition, the
levels of cultural sensitivity are varied because of their unique identities and past stories. With
the participation in service-learning, it is assumed that as each participant engages in various
components of service-learning, he/she is likely to foster intercultural learning and progress
further towards becoming an ethnorelative person as well as shifting his /her acculturation
strategy towards integration, the most efficient strategy for acculturation.
To accurately depict the adjustment trajectory of each participant, I analyzed
participants’ interviews and reflective essays, then classified each participant’s acculturation
strategy using Berry’s model to create a reference for each participant’s pre service-learning
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 210

stage. In addition, I also located each participant on the intercultural development continuum to
see the relationship between (if any) participants’ acculturation strategies and their levels of
cultural sensitivity. Then, during the post service-learning, the data from post interviews and
reflective essays were analyzed to see if each participants had shifted their adjustment and
become more sensitive to other cultures due to their experience in service-learning. The
following section analyzes each participant’s adjustment and intercultural learning journey.
Linda Yao
Prior to coming to the United States, Linda spent the last 2 years of high school in an
international school in China to prepare for her U.S. college experience. Her exposure to the
international school and its diverse environment might have influenced Linda to employ
assimilation as her acculturation strategy during her initial transition. Hence, when she came to
the U.S., she explained during the interview that she did not feel different from other college
students. In addition, Linda appeared to be very organized and well prepared. This was evident
when she shared that she already read up about all her courses prior to registration so she did
not have problems registering for the courses she wanted. Also, Linda settled into her college
life rather quickly as she was taking part in extra curricular activities such as Teach for LA, and
the self-defense club, which seemed to help her adjust socially and culturally. Through those
activities, Linda was able to navigate the different aspects of college experience and making
new friends. To assess Linda’s level of cultural sensitivity prior to service-learning, I located
her to be in either denial or integration stage of the Bennett’s continuum as she expressed that
she did not see cultural differences. Her response could mean she was in denial about the
cultural changes or she could effortlessly navigate and integrate as part of a diverse
environment.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 211

To understand how Linda found various components of service-learning to help her
adjust and acquire intercultural learning, I analyzed her interviews and reflective essays. Linda
made numerous positive remarks about her service-learning experience. Being engaged in
meaningful service in the local community, Linda became more sensitive about cultural
differences and gained more knowledge about the local community. Through her direct
interactions with them, she was able to refute stereotypes she had prior to her engagement in
service-learning. For example, she recognized that the community was not as dangerous as
others portrayed it to be. Also, she learned that most Latino students she worked with used
English as their primary language and not Spanish as she expected. Apart from the shift in
attitudes and the acquisition of some cultural knowledge, Linda also got to foster her English
communication skills, which gave her the opportunity to use English in contexts beyond
classroom settings. Linda also found the process of reflection to be powerful since writing
reflective essays helped her connect the knowledge she learned in her course with real life
experience. In addition, she found mediated learning to be beneficial in providing her with
logistical information. These examples demonstrated that Linda utilized her service-learning
experience to foster her intercultural learning.
At the end of service-learning, Linda found the experience to be beneficial for her
intercultural learning, Linda felt that she was becoming more sensitive and more respectful
towards other people. However, she did not feel that service-learning had a direct connection to
the way she was adjusting or helped change her adjustment strategy. She still saw herself as the
same as other students. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that service-learning was a vehicle that
enabled Linda to gain some intercultural learning resulting in her development in intercultural
attitudes, knowledge and skills,. However, her participation in service-learning did not lead to
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the shift in Linda’s acculturation strategy. It is important to note that Linda was also actively
involved in other extracurricular activities, and that while it is beyond the scope of this study, her
acculturation strategy and her development in intercultural competence cannot be examined in
isolation of her engagement in other activities.
Anna Fang
Similar to Linda, Anna also spent the last 2 years of her high school in an international
school prior to coming to the U.S. In addition, she attended 2 summer school sessions in the U.S.
Due to her prior exposure to the U.S. cultures and lifestyles, Anna seemed to have adjusted very
well. Anna utilized integration as her acculturation strategy and this was apparent from her
outgoing personality and proactive action to be involved with the host country cultures and
activities such as going to football games. Moreover, she made a conscious effort to be part of
the social scene and to listen to American music so she could have conversations with her
American friends. Also, the fact that Anna was able to establish a support system early on during
her initial adjustment with her peers from her Occupational Therapy cohort made the integration
process more seamless for her. However, she still recognized the difference between her as an
international student from China and her peers who were local students. According to Bennett’s
DMIS continuum, Anna could be identified as an ethnorelative person since she was aware of
cultural difference. Specifically, I placed Anna at the adaptation stage as she was working on
adapting cognitively and behaviorally to cultural differences. However, the interaction has not
felt comfortable and seamless enough to place her at integration.
In order to understand how service-learning contributed to the adjustment and
intercultural learning experience for Anna, I utilized data collected from her interview and
reflective essays. Both data sources showed that Anna found service-learning to be beneficial
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specifically in changing her perception about the local community. For example, she admitted
that without service-learning, she would not have left the campus to visit the local community.
As a result, she learned that people in the community were nice and hardworking people, and not
dangerous as she heard from the media. Anna also found working with kindergarteners to help
relate her class materials with a real life experience. Utilizing reflective essays, she was able to
process her experience more thoroughly as she was given prompts and resources to complement
her personal experience. She also found the task of writing essays to help with her writing skills.
However, she did not feel that writing reflective essays contributed to her adjustment experience
as the essays were short so they did not have a strong influence. All in all, through working as
part of the local community, Anna found service-learning to foster her intercultural learning as
she learned to become more accepting of other cultures and the differences they had. Through
the process, she also got to utilize skills such as listening and critical thinking when working
with her students. These skills are considered as useful intercultural skills.
At the end of service-learning, Anna had demonstrated that she became more sensitive
to other cultures and became more willing to be part of the new social and cultural context. She
also developed more empathy towards other people as demonstrated by her recap about the boy
she was giving personalized help to. It was apparent that Anna has made progress along the
DMIS continuum from being at the adaptation stage during her pre-service learning to
integration stage. Service-learning experience enabled her to gain a sense of belonging to the
community, as she was able to make a positive impact on her students’ lives. Such feeling made
the adjustment process more pleasant to her as she continued to integrate to the U.S. lifestyles.
Even though Anna attributed service-learning to be integral in helping her become more open-
minded and respectful of others, it is important to take into account other influential factors such
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as the strong social network she had developed with her peers from her Occupational Therapy
cohort. Her exposure to diversity through her peer group might have also played a critical role in
shaping her behaviors to be more sensitive towards other cultures, as well as making the
acculturation process smoother. Hence, it is worth noting that other contexts beyond service-
learning experience matter and may have influenced Anna’s outlook towards intercultural
learning and her adjustment experience.
Maria Park
Prior to coming to the United States, Maria was studying abroad in China during her
high school years. Since she already had a previous experience living in another country, I
expected Maria to have a smooth adjustment. Despite the fact that Maria demonstrated that she
was equipped with effective help seeking behaviors, as she was not afraid to reach out for
assistance, she seemed to have a difficult time getting adjusted to the new environment in the
United States. One of the possible reasons that might have contributed to the hard adjustment
could be the loss of a close family member right after she moved to the U.S. Because of this loss,
Maria might have been too emotionally occupied to get engaged in various activities that the
college experience had offered. Hence, during Maria’s initial transition, it was evident that she
employed separation as her acculturation strategy. She expressed her concern about social
connectedness that she did not feel she belonged to the local culture. Also, her choice of friends
was also limited to peers from similar backgrounds, and she kept herself excluded from taking
part in extra curricular activities. To assess Maria’s level of cultural sensitivity using Bennett’s
DMIS, Maria could be identified as having already developed an ethonorelative mindset even
though she used separation as her acculturation strategy Her level of cultural sensitivity existed.
Maria recognized that there are other cultures other than her own, but she chose to exclude
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herself from engaging in them. In other words, she did not yet adapt her own behavior and action
to integrate to the new cultural context. However, it was interesting to see that her help-seeking
behavior placed her at the adaptation phase. The fact that she reached out for assistance, it
suggested that she began to view cultural differences as valuable resources, which was a
common description for individuals who have reached adaptation.
To assess whether Maria found service-learning to be helpful for her adjustment and the
development of her intercultural learning, I analyzed her interviews and reflective essays. Maria
presented an interesting case since she admitted that she almost dropped the course because she
thought she could not offer assistance as a mentor because of her international status. However,
Maria chose to persist and completed the assignment. Through her service-learning experience,
Maria found herself learning more about the local community through hearing about her two
mentees’ personal stories. In the process, she also acquired new skills related to mentorship as
she helped them prepare for their college applications. For example, she got to utilize her
listening analytical thinking skills as she helped her mentees constructing and proofing their
personal essays. Maria reported that she found service learning to help advance her intercultural
learning. She gave an example of how the facts and statistics she received as part of her
reflective essays helped her gain a better understanding not only about her mentees but also
about the local community. For example, she became more respectful and sensitive about the
mentees as she came to understand their history and their hardships that made them who they
were.
At the end of service-learning, Maria showed a significant progress in becoming more
sensitive to other cultures. During her initial transition, I assessed Maria to be located at
acceptance stage on the DMIS continuum as she demonstrated that she was aware of cultural
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differences. However, she appeared to be uncomfortable interacting with peers and people of
different cultures. After taking part in service-learning, Maria not only showed that she respected
different cultures but she showed empathy towards others. As a case in point, she expressed that
she wanted to advocate and help her mentees to receive fair treatment and equal opportunity for
their college admissions. It could be said that the interaction with her mentees and learning about
local community through them enabled Maria to become more open-minded. She showed
willingness towards integrating to the mainstream culture. This could come from the fact that
Maria realized that as an international student, she was able to offer help and be useful for her
mentees. Such feelings might have contributed to Maria being more willing to integrate to the
mainstream culture. When I asked Maria whether she found her service-learning experience to
contribute towards her adjustment and intercultural learning she felt that it was a useful vehicle
for her to learn more about the community and to equip her with knowledge, skills and attitudes
that are useful for living in a diverse environment like Sunshine University. However, service-
learning did not make her change her acculturation strategy from separation to another category.
Jane Wong
Prior to coming to the United States, Jane spent 3 years attending a British curriculum
international school to prepare her for college admission. In addition, she also took part in study
abroad experience in the United States. Despite her exposure to the diversity and U.S. cultures,
Jane appeared to be quiet and introverted. Her personality could have influenced her
acculturation strategy choice as she employed separation during her initial transition. This was
evident from the interview where she explained she preferred to hang out with Chinese friends,
and did not feel comfortable interacting with people of different backgrounds. Jane made an
attempt to take part in extra curricular activities by joining a Chinese club. However, when she
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did not get admitted to the club, she did not make more effort to take part in other extra
curricular activities on campus. Furthermore, her introverted personality might have contributed
to her disengaged behaviors and failure to take part in more activities and to step out of her
comfort zone. Despite her disengagement, Jane demonstrated that she was aware of cultural
differences between her home culture and other cultures and showed willingness to learn about
them. Therefore, it is fair to position Jane at the acceptance stage on Bennett’s DMIS continuum
even though she did not yet adapt her own behavior and action to integrate to the new cultural
context.
To assess Jane’s service-learning experience, I analyzed her interviews and reflective
essays. Prior to her participation, Jane admitted that she had spent most of her time on campus
with her Chinese friends and had very little knowledge and exposure to the local community as
she heard that the surrounding neighborhood was dangerous. Therefore, service-learning granted
her access to visit the local community in which she learned that the neighborhood was safer
than she thought and people were friendly and helpful. Her experiences enabled her to gain local
cultural knowledge while correcting the misconception she had about the local community. The
experience has made her more sensitive to other people and their cultures. In addition, Jane also
developed a personal relationship with her students particularly she worked closely with one boy.
Jane admitted that she felt helpful and valuable to help make a difference in the boy’s life.
Throughout her interview, Jane expressed her desire to be more integrated to the mainstream
culture. Thus, service-learning became one of the vehicles that allowed her to interact with
people from other cultures. Jane also commented that she found the reflective essays to be useful
in connecting her coursework to real life experience. However, Jane did not feel that the essays
provoked her to reflect on social issues or to assist her adjustment experience. At the end of
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service-learning, Jane admitted that she still found it challenging to adjust socially and culturally.
When asked if she felt that she was engaged in intercultural learning during service-learning,
Jane responded that she gained some cultural knowledge and became more respectful of other
cultures. She found the participation to provide access and outlet for her to interact with people
from other cultures, which she otherwise would not have done. As a result, it is fair to conclude
that service-learning helped Jane make progress to move from acceptance towards adaptation as
she became more respectful of people from other cultures. However, she still did not feel entirely
comfortable around them. This suggests that Jane was acquiring some intercultural learning
which contributed to more intercultural attitudes, knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, service-
learning did not make her shift her acculturation strategy from separation to integration.
In sum, all four participants demonstrated that their participation in service-learning
enabled them to engage in some intercultural learning, which in turn helped foster their
sensitivity to other cultures, gained cultural knowledge and information, and also fostered skills
such as communication. However, the participation in service-learning did not necessarily
change their adjustment strategies as presented in Berry’s model. In some cases, participants
were already at the integration stage, which has been deemed to be the most efficient strategy to
employ (Berry, 1997; Berry, Phinny, Sam, & Vedder, 2006; Güngör, 2011). In other cases, the
lack of change might be because of the limited duration of students’ exposure to the service-
learning curriculum, which was only one semester. Potentially, it could also mean that there
might not be a direct connection between intercultural learning development and social and
cultural adjustment process. As well, although beyond the scope of this study, it is possible that
international students’ acculturation and intercultural learning development cannot be examined
in isolation of other factors such as participation in other extracurricular activities, their college
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majors, their choices in friendship, how they traverse the academic landscape of their university
etc. These other experiences can provide a more holistic examination of the factors that influence
the movement from one category to another, both in Berry’s and Bennett’s models.
The findings collected from all four participants beg the question whether it is possible
to develop intercultural competence without the shift in their adjustment strategies. In my
conceptual framework, I argued that acculturation is in itself a learning process for international
students to acquire and foster skills related to cross cultural competency (Gill, 2007). From this
study, it became evident that each participant demonstrated their progression in their intercultural
learning. Particularly, the findings show that service-learning was a vehicle that enabled the
learning to take place. However, the findings do not support that the development in intercultural
learning necessarily leads to the shift in acculturation strategies towards integration. From the
study, the four participants were able to gain new intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes
over a short term of one semester. In other words, they were able to build intercultural
competence in a short period of time without changing their adjustment strategies. Through
partaking in service-learning and its various components, participants were gaining intercultural
skills, knowledge and attitudes. Despite this progression on the part of all participants, none
moved from one acculturation strategy to another.
Hence, it is fair to conclude that there are some promising components in service-
learning that allowed students to build intercultural competence attitudes, knowledge and skills.
However, in this particular study, keeping in mind the time limitation and the short duration of
the service-learning assignments, there was not much movement in their adjustment strategies.
However, the findings demonstrated that there were developments in their intercultural learning
in terms of attitudes, knowledge and skills. It is important to note that future research needs to
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take into account that participants in this study were also engaged in other activities as part of
their adjustment experiences so there were external factors that must also be taken into account
in order to accurately assess their adjustment and intercultural learning experience.
In the next and final chapter, I offer a discussion of the ideas that have emerged as a
result of this qualitative multi-case study. I then address the implications for international
students, service-learning practitioners, and the research field respectively. I conclude my study
by offering recommendations for further research.

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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH

This study examined the social and cultural adjustment experiences of undergraduate
international students who engaged in a semester long service-learning course through the
theoretical lens of acculturation and intercultural learning. Given that service-learning has been
regarded as a pedagogy that provides an opportunity for participants to connect their classroom
materials with real life experience (Cone & Harris, 1996), I asserted that service-learning could
then be utilized for undergraduate international students to connect their on campus experience
with real life experience in the local community. Through the exposure to the local community
during their service-learning, participants were expected to foster intercultural learning that
positively facilitated their social and cultural adjustment.
A qualitative multi-case study approach was employed to answer the following two
research questions: (1) what are challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in
service-learning face socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university? (2)
How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate international
students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the development of their
intercultural competence? To answer these questions, data was collected from students enrolled
in service-learning at Sunshine University, and was comprised of interviews and collection of
participants’ reflective essays (Yin, 2009). Pseudonyms for the university site, service-learning
sites and the four undergraduate international students were created to ensure confidentiality. All
data collected was transcribed and analyzed using a combination of deductive and inductive
approaches. A case-by-case as well as cross-case analysis were conducted to compare and
contrast all four cases.
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This final chapter is a culmination of insights gained as a result of this study. The
remaining sections of this chapter are organized as followed: summary of findings for Research
Question #1, summary of findings for Research Question #2, the implications for the study’s
participants, the service-learning field and the research community. Recommendations for future
research are also offered to conclude the chapter.
Summary of Findings for Research Question #1
What are challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-learning face
socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university?
The findings for this multi-case study presented the adjustment experiences of
participants, who were undergraduate international students. To reveal a fuller picture of their
transition to college, my study inclusively investigated their adjustment experiences as any local
freshmen college students, and found that these participants faced similar adjustment challenges
such as challenges related to the transition from a tight knit and small classroom setting in high
school to a lecture-format class and the more free and unstructured environment in a university
setting, as well as challenges related to academic course work were found to influence
international students’ transitions.
Then, I exclusively explored and focused on the unique social and cultural challenges that
were pertinent to the participants as international students specifically, recognizing that
international students generally have more difficulties in their social and cultural adjustment due
to issues such as language, cultural differences etc. Andrade (2006), for example, revealed that
international students face unique adjustment challenges compared to domestic students, and
have greater adjustment difficulties and experience more stress and anxiety during adjustment.
The premise of my study was that the frequency and quality of the contact with people in the
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host country is directly related to their sociocultural adaptation (Berry, 1996; Noel, Pon, &
Clement, 1996). In other words, the more students participate in host culture activities, the more
they can adjust and integrate to be part of a new community. Therefore, through the lens of
Berry’s acculturation model, I expected to see participants utilizing the integration approach as
literature suggested is the best approach for sociocultural adjustment, because it represents a
balance between maintenance of original culture and participation in the host society (Ward &
Kennedy, 1994). However, my study revealed that participants who appeared to have a better
overall adjustment experience resorted to the separation approach, because they preferred to
interact exclusively with peers from their host countries. The peers from their host country
served as a support system during their adjustment, providing them with psychological benefits
and an overall sense of comfort.
For social adjustment challenges, I focused on extracting information on the participants’
logistical situation settling into a university in a foreign country, and how they established
relationships and a support system with others (peers/professors etc.). The findings revealed that
participants had relatively easy transitions as it related to their logistical situation. As freshmen,
they were assigned with dormitory arrangements and meal plans prior to their arrivals. As for
establishing social support systems, participants with better social adjustment were those who
chose to spend the majority of their time hanging out with friends from their host countries. This
finding spoke to and validated their separation acculturation strategy. I also found
communication styles and level of confidence using English to play a critical role in how the
international students in my study adjusted socially. Participants who reported feeling more
comfortable using low-context communication style–meaning they felt comfortable with direct
communication–were able to adjust better in the U.S. social domain. This is because such a
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communication style is a predominant communication style in the sociocultural context of the
U.S. On the other hand, those participants who were not as outspoken and as direct in their
communication style (due to their collectivist cultures) tended to keep their interactions with
people exclusively connected to those with similar backgrounds.
Next, I considered participants’ involvement in extra curricular activities in the host
culture. Participants who took part in extra curricular activities and were exposed to more U.S.
culture appeared to have a better social adjustment experience compared to those who were not
as active. Another finding is related to social connectedness. Participants who had developed a
connection with local peers and professors and utilized integration strategy seemed to feel more
connected socially compared to those who preferred the separation strategy of hanging out with
peers from their host countries.
As for cultural adjustment challenges, I was interested in understanding how participants
found their international student status to bring about challenges such as language issues, culture
shock, and homesickness that affected their transition and cultural adjustment to their college
experience. Despite participants’ high level of English proficiency given their admission to a
prestigious U.S. university and their self-reported proficiency from the recruitment survey, the
study revealed that participants still faced English language challenges, because they were not
used to being in an English-speaking environment. This particular challenge was a unique one
faced by international students that domestic students would not be expected to encounter. The
U.S. cultural context directly affected international student participants’ sociocultural
adjustment. Since English was not their first language, some participants were not confident
using English which limited their access to mainstream activities and culture. The participants
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who appeared to have a higher confidence in using English tended to manage their daily lives
more effectively which enabled them to adapt to their new cultural environment.
As for culture shock, since participants from the study spent most of their time with peers
from their host countries, they did not experience much culture shock. Also, since it was their
first semester in the U.S., they did not have much opportunity to explore the local culture beyond
the college campus. It is important to note that Sunshine University is a very diverse campus
with a large population of international students. Hence, participants did not encounter as many
experiences with culture shock as one would expect. As for homesickness, most participants
found the demand of their academic coursework to occupy the majority of their time and energy.
All of them utilized mobile technology to keep in touch with their parents, which alleviated
homesickness. Apart from social and cultural adjustment, participants also faced a range of
personal issues that made their adjustment journey more challenging. In this study, the
challenges included health related issues and a death in the family.
All in all, despite some challenges related to social and cultural adjustment, participants
seemed to have an overall positive adjustment experience. It is worth noting that this group of
participants was unique as all of them had some previous preparation for their study abroad
college experience. For example, they attended international schools or they attended summer
school in the U.S. before migrating for college. Hence they might have had an easier adjustment
compared to other international students who might have not have such exposure prior to their
U.S. college experience.

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Summary of Findings for Research Question #2
How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate international
students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the development of their
intercultural competence?
According to Bennett (2004), intercultural learning, specifically intercultural
communication, is acquirable skills that can be fostered through interventions. Bennett believes
that in order for individuals to acculturate, they must develop their intercultural competence
skills in order to make progress along his Intercultural Sensitivity Model (level of cultural
sensitivity). Since I argue that acculturation is in itself an intercultural learning process that can
be fostered through intervention (Deardorff, 2006; Gill, 2007), I chose to investigate service-
learning pedagogy and assessed how the participation in service-learning contributed to
undergraduate international students’ social and cultural adjustment process.
The findings from this multi-case study revealed that service-learning had some merit in
assisting international students in their acculturation and intercultural learning.
In this study, I exclusively explored each component of service-learning, namely service
experience, critical reflection and mediated learning, to assess how each component contributed
to the acculturation and intercultural learning experience for participants who were international
students. Using Deardorff’s intercultural learning model as a framework, intercultural learning
was assessed at three levels: attitudes, knowledge, and skills. The key findings are summarized
below:
1) Service experience–Participants found the service experience component to be very
helpful in their social and cultural adjustment as the experience allowed them to venture out in
the local community to gain some local cultural knowledge. As a result, they were able to
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interact with community members to some degree and witnessed the local neighborhood, which
helped correct their stereotypes, foster their intercultural attitudes, and adopt different
perspectives. As for intercultural skills, participants were able to gain some confidence and some
communication skills related to working with children in particular.
2) Critical reflection–Participants found reflective essays and provided prompts to be
instrumental learning tools as they supplemented their knowledge about the local community and
connected their service experience to academic coursework. Through reflection, participants felt
more connected to the community because they got to experience and reflect continually about
them. Hence, it could be said that critical reflection made the social and cultural adjustment
journey smoother for the participants. As for intercultural learning, the process of reflection
enabled participants to think about social issues such as racism, poverty, which shifted their
attitudes to be more open and more sensitive to other cultures. Reflection also enabled them to
connect their first hand experience with some historical and factual information about the
community giving them a fuller context of the situation. In other words, they were gaining
intercultural knowledge. Finally, participants fostered intercultural skills including the abilities to
“listen, observe, interpret, analyze, evaluate and relate” as they reflected their experience through
writing reflections.
3) Mediated learning–Participants found the mediated learning component to be the least
impactful for their intercultural learning due to limited interactions with the mediators, the
program assistants. However, participants found the role of mediators helpful for logistical
purposes, which contributed to their ability to move around in the local community.
All in all, service-learning provided a structurally guided-learning experience for
international students to get familiarized with the local community and develop their
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understandings about the larger sociocultural context of the U.S. beyond college campus. By
enabling participants to navigate the life outside of campus and make connections to course
materials through reflection, service-learning enabled participants to develop some intercultural
learning as their perspectives were expanded. In the case of international students, the benefits
were significant because without participation in service-learning, international students’ lives
could just be limited to their on-campus lives. This study contends that the high involvement in
the U.S. culture and frequent intercultural contact with people from different backgrounds could
increase international students’ participants and facilitate their sociocultural adaptation.
Evidently, service-learning provided a non threatening environment i.e., working with young
children, which helped international students gain confidence, practice their communication
skills which in turn provided them with an easier adjustment. Service-learning allowed
international students to become more acquainted to the local culture, and provide them with
stepping stone to enter into the mainstream culture and society.
Given the findings, it is important to also present the shortcomings of service-learning.
Although it was evident that service-learning provided access to local community and opened
doors for international students to foster their intercultural learning, service-learning did not
necessarily move the participants into developing behaviors or actions to integrate as they
acculturate and adjust to the U.S. society. The current service-learning program being offered at
Sunshine University did not have the intention to be utilized for international students’
adjustment purpose. The different nature each service-learning assignment offered to the students
had different learning influences for each participant. Also, it was clear that reflection was
mostly effective when the prompts were created with expected learning outcomes. Therefore, if
one wants to utilize service-learning to foster international students’ intercultural learning, the
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curriculum and the prompts must be created to accommodate such expected outcomes.
Moreover, the findings suggested that the process of mediated learning was not utilized to its
maximum potential to help promote intercultural learning. These were some of the limitations of
the current service-learning program being offered at Sunshine University that must be taken into
account before concluding that service-learning experience is beneficial to the acculturation and
intercultural learning experiences of undergraduate international students. Therefore, it is fair to
conclude from this study service-learning shows potential to benefit international students but
there is room for improvement to make the program more intentional and more customized to the
international student population.
Implications and Recommendations
There is much that can be drawn from this study’s findings to inform our approaches in
providing support to undergraduate international students, improving service-learning practice,
and contributing to the research field. In this section I present both implications and
recommendations in relation to each area.
For Higher Education Administration Policy and Practice
Based on the findings of this study, implications and recommendations for institutions of
higher education in the U.S. on how to assist international students during their adjustment in
becoming successful were generated. Drawing on the literature, despite the myriad types of
support being offered to international students, many services have been mismatched and
underutilized by international students (Yeh & Inose, 2003). This study revealed the benefits of
service-learning and how it can be used to promote the adjustment experience and intercultural
learning for international students. It showed that service-learning seems to have benefited the
international students in my study as it relates to their academic adjustment, because it helped
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connect coursework materials with first-hand service experience. In addition, service-learning
provided access for international students to gain social and cultural knowledge about the local
community. Two implications are offered to U.S. higher education administrators. First, the
administrators should be aware of the value for international students to be engaged in
mainstream activities. Participation in the host society was a crucial factor of becoming
acculturated, and it influences their cross-cultural adjustment. As such, it is essential that
international students be encouraged to step out of the comfort zones of their own cultural
community, and get connected with people in the host community. Therefore, I recommend that
administrators promote and emphasize to international students the value of partaking in co-
curruicular and extra curricular activities. Service-learning, while not the only type of activity
and certainly one that is partial in its ability to build students intercultural skills, has potential as
one such activity. By encouraging it and providing students with more opportunities to take part
in it, universities can provide international students the access to local people, thus moving them
outside of their comfort zones in a supported way.
Second, according to Deardorff’s intercultural learning model, learning opportunities are
designed by creating a learning context where students systematically explore and learn more
about how they can get involved in the social and cultural lives of the local community.
Therefore, I recommend that administrators consider integrating service-learning as an
alternative intervention and support program to supplement international students’ academic
learning success while also assisting with their social and cultural adjustment. More than just
encouraging and making service-learning opportunities available, universities can go one step
further by creating a service-learning program specifically for the purpose of exposing
international students to the local community and life beyond the university walls.
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For the Service-Learning Practice and Research
This case study served as a first step in exploring the potential benefits of service-
learning pedagogy for international students. Service-learning presents a uniquely positive
opportunity for international students to engage in local community in a structured learning
environment. As international students have more opportunities to be involved in the mainstream
culture, the involvement can facilitate their sociocultural adaptation and contribute to their
intercultural learning. Given the findings revealed in this case study, I present implications for
future practice to integrate service-learning as an alternative support and intervention program
for international students. Particularly, I recommend that in addition to the existing service-
learning program that aimed to connect academic course materials with real life experience,
service-learning practitioners should consider implementing an intercultural service-learning that
integrates intercultural learning objectives and principles to involve interaction between
international students with cultural groups other than their own. In addition, the curriculum
should intentionally provide prompts and reflection that help deliberately promote intercultural
learning. An important finding from this study was that service-learning practitioners could be
more intentional in utilizing and developing the role of the mediators. While in this study the
PAs served only as supports for logistical questions, their presence could have much more
profound influence on international students’ intercultural learning. Since this study only
provided a semester long snapshot of international students’ participation in service-learning at
one institution, I recommend that other researchers continue to add more case studies to provide
further insights on undergraduate international students and their participation in different
service-learning contexts over time.

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Limitations
There are a few limitations in the current study that require future efforts and caution in
the interpretation of the findings. First of all, the sample size for the study was small with little
variation. Despite the extensive data collected from multiple data sources for each participant, all
four participants were females from the Asia region. Therefore, the findings might be restricted
due to the limited profile of these international students, as they might not reflect and be
applicable to the entire international student population. While generalizability was not the aim
of this qualitative study, it is important to recognize the specificity of the sample. Second,
participants were self-selected into participating in the study and in service-learning. This might
indicate that they were personally invested in service-learning and their responses might have
been filtered through that investment. In fact not all students chose to take up the service-
learning assignment option as part of their academic courses so not only were the participants in
my study those who wanted to engage in service-learning in the first place, they were also the
few who agreed to be a part of this study. In other words, they could be classified as highly
motivated compared to the general international students population. In fact, several of the
participants mentioned wanting to help others and being interested in future professions in the
social services. In addition, the study was limited by virtue of being based on students’ self-
reported perceptions. Even though self-report was useful to examine participants’ perceptions
towards service-learning, it could not accurately assess learning outcomes or provide causal
connections between service-learning and these outcomes. The nature of self-reported data could
skew the findings and was susceptible to bias. In other words, the validity of the data was
dependent on the honesty and the self awareness of the participants. Using interviews as a
primary tool for data collection, the notion that a person’s affect might be altered during
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 233

questioning out of bias, vulnerability, or pure nervousness must be taken into account (Patton,
2002). Thus, triangulation using document collection and analysis was employed to ensure that
the findings of this study were as accurate as possible. In addition, this study did not attempt and
could not make assertions connecting students’ involvement in service-learning with their
intercultural learning. Therefore, the case would have been stronger had I solicited evidence
from people with whom participants interacted so as to triangulate the self-reported data. Thus,
results were based exclusively on students’ perspectives of their own intercultural learning and
not on a direct assessment of that learning. Third, the data was collected in English. Due to the
variation of English language proficiency among participants, participations might not have
expressed their thoughts as thoroughly as if the data collection was done in their first language.
Ideally, using the first language during the interviews would reduce the errors generated during
the data collection process. However, I could not speak Mandarin or Korean to make that
possible.
Next, my role as graduate research assistant at the service-learning center might have
influenced my reading and interpretation of data and contributed to researcher bias. As an
international student working as a graduate research assistant for the service-learning center, I
was considered an insider on both the subject matter of this research and the study site, which
could have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages were that as an insider, I was
already an accepted member of the study site and since I was also an international student, I
could better relate and elicit information from the participants making them feel comfortable to
share their experiences. However, the role of the researcher could also be problematic due to
issues related to ethics, bias, and role duality. One strategy used to decrease the likelihood that
my subjectivity influenced the findings was the involvement of the dissertation committee
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 234

members from outside the service-learning field. Throughout the process, my dissertation chair
read what I was producing and posed questions about the evidence I was bringing to bear to
make the assertions I was making. As such, peer review was used as a strategy.
The final limitation was the fact that this study was conducted on one service-learning
program over the course of one single semester at one institution. Therefore, only small or weak
generalizations could be made without close attention to the participants’ characteristics. In
other words, should the reader wish to know whether and how the findings might be similar in
his or her context, he or she must take into consideration the specific context of this study.
Areas for Future Research
The current study was a purely qualitative study. All the data collection and analyses
subscribed to a qualitative research approach. It would be interesting and informative for future
research to incorporate quantitative methods such as having the participants complete pre-post
acculturation scale surveys to collect some quantitative data to track the adjustment and
intercultural learning progress. Further, a quasi-experimental study that compares these
international students who participated in service-learning with their peers who chose not to
would be informative. To supplement qualitative data collection, future researchers may consider
setting up a focus group where all international students participants can interact together, then
encourage them to share their cross-cultural adjustment experience. These extra data collection
methods would be valuable and enrich the study. By providing international students with the
opportunities to interact with each other while they go through similar experiences, they are
likely to be more willing to disclose their experiences as the group discussion provides a sense of
community and support for one another. The interaction will also enable researchers to observe
the dynamics between each international student which should make it easier to gauge the level
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 235

of acculturation or the level of cultural sensitivity of each participant in the group. And finally,
while I attempted to incorporate observations in this study, a more robust observational study
could gather insights into how international students actually interact with others.
Due to the limited timeframe for data collection, I suggest researchers for future studies
(if possible) monitor the students for a longer period of time. For example, future researchers
might conduct a follow up interview with participants a year after the service ends or conduct
longitudinal studies to track the progress of participants from their freshmen to senior years to
assess whether and how the participation in service-learning has a long term effect on their
college experiences. In addition, future researchers may consider conducting the interview in
participants’ first language for more insightful data. Finally, future researchers should continue
to explore more cases of international students’ involvement in service-learning especially
including international students from different regions in the samples, and assess the
effectiveness in different areas of research. For example, future researchers can explore master
level students’ involvement in service-learning or conduct studies at universities in other
locations.
Conclusion
In summary, using qualitative research methods, this study explored four undergraduate
international students’ adjustment challenges related to their social and cultural adaptation during
their first year at an American university. In addition, the study assessed whether and how their
participation in service-learning contributed to their process of adjustment and intercultural
learning. The findings indicated that international students face a series of transitional difficulties
during their initial period to the new sociocultural context of the U.S ranging from academic,
social, cultural to personal issues. Service-learning offered access for international students to get
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 236

acquainted to the U.S. social and cultural settings in a structured way. International students
benefitted from having the opportunity to improve their English communication skills and
acquired knowledge about the local culture through their first hand experience. It also revealed
that service-learning opened the door for intercultural learning for international students and,
thus, can be more impactful if it was intentionally structured to promote intercultural learning.
Hence, the efforts to integrate service-learning as part of the adjustment experience of
international students could prove to be beneficial for international students and help ensure they
have the tools and support to successfully cope with their transition to the U.S. college
experience by having opportunities to access the community at large and interact with locals
outside the walls of the university.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 237

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CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 249

Appendix A
University of Southern California
Rossier School Of Education
Waite Phillips Hall, Los Angeles
90089-4033
INFORMED CONSENT FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

International Students’ Cross Cultural Adjustment through Service-Learning

You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai, a
doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership program at Rossier School of Education,
University of Southern California (USC). Your participation is voluntary. You should read the
information below, and ask questions about anything you do not understand, before deciding
whether to participate. Please take as much time as you need to read the consent form. You may
also decide to discuss participation with your family or friends. If you decide to participate, you
will be asked to sign this form. You will be given a copy of this form.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The research study aims to explore whether and how participation in service-learning programs
contributes to the social and cultural adjustment as well as the development of intercultural
competence skills of undergraduate international students in U.S. higher education.
STUDY PROCEDURES
If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to participate in pre-and-post audio-
taped interviews (at the beginning and the end of your service-learning assignment) with Bel
Napatthorn Laoboonchai. Each session will last about one hour during which you will be asked
to comment on your adjustment to college experiences and your experiences participating in a
service-learning course. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to. In
addition, you will give consent to the investigator to access any of the SLP written assignments
that you have decided to complete for the purpose of document analysis. In addition, you will be
observed while participating in your service-learning group discussion/s. Each observation may
last from a few minutes to an hour. The investigator may ask you questions and take written
notes about your activity while observing. The study will be conducted in the fall 2015 and you
will be asked to do the following:
1) Participate in one-hour pre-interview during the week of September 28- October 2, 2016
2) Give me access to any of your written assignments during that you have decided to
complete during your service-learning semester for the purpose of document analysis
(i.e., weekly reflective essays)
3) Give me access to observe you during your group discussion during the week of
November 9-13, 2016
4) Participate in one-hour post-interview during the week of November 30-December 4,
2016
With your permission, the interviews will be recorded and transcribed. You may decline to be
recorded, and you may have the recorder turned off at anytime during the interview. After the
audiotape is transcribed, all names will be removed from the data and the tape will be destroyed.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 250

You have the right to review, edit or erase any and all parts of the tape. If you do not want to be
taped, handwritten notes will be taken.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS.
There are no known risks associated with this research study.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
You may not directly benefit from your participation in this study. The investigator hopes to
gain a sense of how participation in service-learning contributes to the social and cultural
adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students. The findings will help improve
the service-learning program and better address the needs of undergraduate international
students.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be compensated for completing the recruitment survey. At the end of your full
participation, you will be compensated with a $20 gift card for your time. You do not have to
answer all the interview questions nor complete all the reflective essays in order to receive the
card.

CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. However, if we
are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information about you. The members
of the research team, and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection
Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

The interview will be transcribed verbatim, you have the right to review your audio transcript
and/or to have the recording destroyed. No identifying information will be associated with the
interview transcripts. Your responses will be coded with a false name (pseudonym) and
maintained separately. All data will be stored for 5 years in password-protected computer data
files then destroyed.

PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or
remedies because of your participation in this research study.

ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
Your alternative is to not participate; your relationship with USC, including grades, will not be
affected, whether or not you participate in this study.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this research, you can contact Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai via
email at laoboonc@usc.edu or Faculty Advisor Artineh Samkian at samkian@rossier.usc.edu

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 251

If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu

SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT

I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I have
been given a copy of this form.

AUDIO

□ I agree to be audio-recorded

□ I do not want to be audio-recorded

Name of Participant

Signature of Participant Date

SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR

I have explained the research to the participant and answered all of his/her questions. I believe
that he/she understands the information described in this document and freely consents to
participate.

Name of Person Obtaining Consent

Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 252

Appendix B
International Students’ Cross Cultural Adjustment through Service-Learning
International Student Pre-Interview Protocol
Participant: _________________________
Date: ______________________________
Interview #: _________
Introduction:
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me today, and for taking part in this
research project. Through this study, I am hoping to gain a better understanding of how
participation in service-learning contributes to your social and cultural adjustment experiences as
an international student in a large university. I also would like to explore if the participation
contributes to the development of your intercultural competence skills. As a student who is
participating in a service-learning program at a university level, your perspectives are invaluable.
Your insights as a participant of the program will help me understand the practical implication of
service-learning program on international students. Your participation in this interview is
completely voluntary, and you may choose to not answer any of the questions I pose today.
There are no right or wrong answers. I am most interested in hearing about your experiences,
your perspectives, your beliefs, and your stories. (Ask participant to read and sign consent form,
review any questions regarding confidentiality, and ask permission to tape record the interview).
Do you have any (other) questions before we begin?
DEMOGRAPHICS
First let’s start off with a few background questions:
1. Which year are you in school?
2. What is your major? What kind of work do you want to do when you finish your
education?
3. Do you live on campus or off campus? Do you live with other international students? Do
you prefer to live with foreign or American students? Why?
4. Where are you from – city and country? (If unfamiliar to interviewer, ask subject to
describe hometown – is it a large city? Rural? etc.).
5. How/where did you learn to speak English?
a) (Confirm languages spoken from survey): In general, how often and with whom
do you speak each language?
ACCULTURATION
6. How do you like Sunshine University? (If positive) What do you most like about it? (if
negative) what do you least like about it?
7. Did you spend any significant amount of time in the U.S. (or elsewhere outside your home
country) prior to attending college? Do you think those experiences have helped you in
college now? If so, how?
8. What challenges have you faced related to studying abroad (e.g., language, study,
economic, etc.)? How have you coped with these challenges?
9. Have you ever tried to seek support to help you adjust to living in a new country? If yes,
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 253

where did you seek support (e.g., family, friends, organizations, support groups)? Did you
seek support online, offline, or both?
10. How do your experiences in the community and at Sunshine University compare to your
expectations? What has surprised you, if anything, about the Americans you have met and
worked with while at Sunshine University (including experiences in SLP) (Probe for
sources of surprise -- how were initial expectations formed? e.g., from popular culture,
travel, work experiences, etc.)
11. Is there anything you wish you had known (e.g., about Sunshine University, California,
Americans, etc.) before coming to college?
12. What advice would you give to other students from your home country regarding studying
in the United States?
SERVICE-LEARNING EXPERIENCE
13. Please share with me some of the most important reasons why you are participating in
service-learning this semester. You can give me 2-3 reasons.
14. Can you walk me through the requirements of the service-learning course that you have to
complete/partake to receive a course credit?
15. What is your SLP assignment(s) this semester? What class are you doing it for?
16. How would you describe your expectations of SLP?
17. What are some of the required assignments you find beneficial to you as you adjust to your
college experience?
18. As an international student, how do you think your engagement in service-learning can help
you adjust (acculturate) to living in the U.S.? Can you give me a concrete example?
19. What parts of your service-learning experience do you think help you adjust
socially/culturally to your university and to the city?
20. Students often find that SLP helps them to develop skills or that it reveals new talents or
interests. How and which skills do you think you will learn and grow from SLP experience?
(For example, communication skills, organizational skills, public speaking etc.)
21. What do you expect to learn about the local community and California as a result of your
SLP experiences? What are your impressions of the neighborhood surrounding the campus
before coming to Sunshine University?
22. How do you expect to learn about the local community and California as a result of your
SLP experiences? What are your impressions of the neighborhood surrounding the campus
before coming to Sunshine University?
a) Do you think your SLP experience may change your perceptions of the
neighborhood at all? If so, how?
b) Do you think your perceptions of racial and ethnic issues may change
because of your experience in SLP? If so, how?
Closing: What other comments do you have on any of the issues we have discussed today?
Thank participant. Ask permission to contact them for any follow-up questions if necessary at
the end of the data collection process.
Adapted from SLP International Students Interview Protocol Fall 2014

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 254

Appendix C

International Students’ Cross Cultural Adjustment through Service-Learning
International Student Post-Interview Protocol
Participant: _________________________
Date: ______________________________
Interview #: _________
Introduction:
Thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me today, and for taking part in this
research project. Through this study, I am hoping to gain a better understanding on how
participation in service-learning contributes to your social and cultural adjustment experiences as
an international student in a large university. I also would like to explore if the participation
contributes to the development of your intercultural competence skills. As a student who
participated in a service-learning program at a university level, your perspectives are invaluable.
Your insights as a participant of the program will help me understand the practical implication of
service-learning program on international students. Your participation in this interview is
completely voluntary, and you may choose to not answer any of the questions I pose today.
There are no right or wrong answers. I am most interested in hearing about your experiences,
your perspectives, your beliefs, and your stories. (Ask participant to read and sign consent form,
review any questions regarding confidentiality, and ask permission to tape record the interview).
Do you have any (other) questions before we begin?
ACCULTURATION
1. How has the semester been for you? (exams, upcoming trip etc.)
2. Any recurring challenges you faced related to you social and cultural adjustment (e.g.,
language, study, economic, etc.)? What are they? How have you coped with these
challenges?
3. Have you seek support to help you adjust to living in a new country? If yes, where did you
seek support (e.g., family, friends, organizations, support groups)? Did you seek support
online, offline, or both?
4. How did your experiences in the community and at Sunshine University compared to your
expectations? What has surprised you, if anything, about the Americans you have met and
worked with while at Sunshine University (including experiences in SLP) (Probe for
sources of surprise -- how were initial expectations formed? e.g., from popular culture,
travel, work experiences, etc.)

SERVICE-LEARNING EXPERIENCE
5. How would you describe your overall experience in SLP?
a) Has it been a good experience?
b) What has been most challenging?
c) How have your actual experiences in SLP compared with your
expectations? Has anything surprised you about your experience?
6. As an international student, how did your engagement in service-learning help you adjust
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 255

(acculturate) to living in the U.S.? Can you give me a concrete example?
7. What parts of your service-learning experience did you think help you adjust
socially/culturally to your university and to the city?
8. Students often find that SLP helps them develop skills or that it reveals new talents or
interests. How has your SLP assignment has changed you or helped you to learn and grow?
For example, communication skills, organizational skills, public speaking etc.
9. What have you learned about the local community and California as a result of your SLP
experiences? What were your impressions of the neighborhood surrounding the campus
before coming to Sunshine University?
a) Have your experiences in SLP changed your perceptions of the
neighborhood at all? If so, how?
b) Do you think your perceptions of racial and ethnic issues have changed
because of your experience in SLP? If so, how?
Closing: What other comments do you have on any of the issues we have discussed today?
Thank participant. Ask permission to contact them for any follow-up questions if necessary at
the end of the data collection process.
Adapted from SLP International Students Interview Protocol Fall 2014

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 256

Appendix D

Recruitment One Email

Dear SLP International Student Participant at Sunshine University,

On behalf of Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai, a SLP research assistant and a doctoral candidate in
the Educational Leadership program at Rossier School of Education, University of Southern
California (USC), I am writing to invite you to participate in a research study conducted by Bel
Napatthorn Laoboonchai as part of her dissertation. She is conducting a study to better
understand how the participation/involvement in service-learning contributes to the cultural and
social adjustment process of undergraduate international students. Hence she is recruiting 10-12
undergraduate international students to be part of her research study. At the end of the study, you
will receive $20 gift card for your time.

If you would like to participate in her study, please click on this survey link:
https://sunshineu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8k8Ofz7NYmBcX77 to learn more about the
study and to complete the recruitment survey (this survey should take less than 5 minutes to
respond).

Please note that your participation is completely voluntary and all information you share with
Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai will remain strictly confidential. Your participation in the study is
unrelated to your participation in SLP; your Program Assistant will not have access to any
information from this project, including your decision to participate. You may withdraw at any
time without penalty. You may also refuse to answer any questions in the interview.

If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact: Emily
Johsnson (pseudonym), Associate Director, Research & Academic Affairs, Service-Learning
Project (SLP), Sunshine University at ejohnson@sunshine.edu.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Sincerely,

Emily Johnson, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Research & Academic Affairs
Sunshine Service-Learning Project (SLP)

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 257

Appendix E

Recruitment Qualtrics Survey

Survey link: https://sunshineu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8k8Ofz7NYmBcX77

International Student Recruitment: Cross-Cultural Adjustment through Service-Learning Study

Q1 Thank you very much for taking this short survey. My name is Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai.
I am a research assistant here at SLP, and also a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership
program at Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California (USC). As part of
my dissertation, I am conducting a study to better understand how the participation/involvement
in service-learning contributes to the cultural and social adjustment process of undergraduate
international students. Hence I am recruiting 10-12 undergraduate international students to be
part of my research study. If you would like to participate in this study, please complete this
recruitment survey (this survey should take less than 5 minutes to respond).

If you are selected for the study, I will ask you to do the following during the Fall 2015
semester:

1) Participate in one-hour pre-interview during the week of September 28- October 2, 2016
2) Give me access to any of your written assignments during that you have decided to complete
during your service-learning semester for the purpose of document analysis (i.e., weekly
reflective essays)
3) Give me access to observe you during your group discussion during the week of November 9-
13, 2016 4) Participate in one-hour Post-interview during the week of November 30-December
4, 2016

If you complete the above requirements, you will receive a $20 gift card of your choice at the
end of the study.

By completing the survey, you are agreeing to be considered for this study and giving permission
to me as the principal investigator of this study to access your survey responses which includes
your demographic and contact information. You will also give me the right to contact you
directly to confirm your participation. If you are selected for the study, I will contact you by the
week of September 21-25, 2016.

Thank you so much for your assistance,

Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 258

Q2 How old are you?
 Younger than 18 years old (1)
 18 (2)
 19 (3)
 20 (4)
 21 (5)
 22 years or older (6)
If Younger than 18 years old Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey

Q3 Which year are you in school?
 Freshmen (1)
 Sophomore (2)
 Junior (3)
 Senior (4)
 Other (please explain) (5) ____________________

Q4 What is your gender?
 Male (1)
 Female (2)

Q5 In what country were you born?

Q6 What language or languages do you speak other than English? Please rank according to your
level of fluency (1 being most fluent).
______ Click to write Item 1 (4)
______ Click to write Item 2 (5)
______ Click to write Item 3 (6)

Q7 Do you speak English as a second language?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)

Answer If Do you speak English as a second language? If yes is selected:
Q8 Please rate your level of English proficiency.
 Native speaker (1)
 Near native/fluent (2)
 Excellent command / highly proficient in spoken and written English (3)
 Very good command (4)
 Good command / good working knowledge (5)
 Basic communication skills / working knowledge (6)

Q9 Right before moving to the United States, which country or countries did you live in?

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 259

Q10 How many years have you lived in the United States?
 Less than one year (1)
 1-2 years (2)
 More than 2 years (3)

Q11 Are you doing service-learning for course credit?
 Yes (1)
 No (2)
If No Is Selected, Then Skip To End of Survey

Q12 What course or courses are you doing service-learning for?
______ Click to write Item 1 (1)
______ Click to write Item 2 (2)

Q13 Are you doing individual assignment or mini course this semester?
 Individual Assignment (1)
 Mini Course (2)
 Both (3)

Q14 What is your name?

Q15 What is your email-address?

Q16 What is your phone number?
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 260

Appendix F

Recruitment Two Email

Dear SLP International Student Participant at Sunshine University,

On behalf of Bel Napatthorn Laoboonchai, a SLP research assistant and a doctoral candidate in
the Educational Leadership program at Rossier School of Education, University of Southern
California (USC), you are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Bel as part of
her dissertation. She is conducting a study to better understand how the
participation/involvement in service-learning contributes to the cultural and social adjustment
process of undergraduate international students.

Please note that your participation is completely voluntary and all information you share with
Bel will remain strictly confidential. Your participation in the study in unrelated to your
participation in SLP; your Program Assistant will not have access to any information from this
project, including your decision to participate.

If you would like to be part of her study, you will agree to the following:

1) Provide access to any of your written assignments that you have decided to complete
during your service-learning semester (i.e., weekly reflective essays)
2) Participate in a one-hour post-interview during the week of November 30- December 4,
2016

If you wish to participate, please email me back at ejohnson@sunshine.edu.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Sincerely,

Emily Johnson, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Research & Academic Affairs
Sunshine Service-Learning Project (SLP)

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 261

Appendix G

Reflection Assignment for Psychology Course

ESSAY #1 - “Preflection”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 9/25)
Over the next eight weeks, you will be taking your college education outside of the walls of the
university; your experiences as a service-learning student may lead you to think about education,
the community and yourself in new and different ways. How, if at all, do you think your SLP
assignment will help you to develop:
 Awareness of the community context, such as:
o Knowledge of the Sunshine neighborhood (or the neighborhood in which your
site is located).
o An understanding of how communities are affected by geography, history, policy,
inequality, etc.
o Insight into the social context of your site.
 A deeper understanding of the moral, legal, political and/or ethical aspects of service?
 Other skills? (please specify)
 For SLP students receiving course credit: Greater comprehension of the subject
matter or academic discipline of your SLP course?
 For returning SLP participants: Insights that build on prior service-learning
experiences? In other words, how do you think your experience in SLP—and what you
will learn from it—will be different this time?
In which of these areas do you think you are likely to experience the most change or
development? Why? When you think about SLP, what makes you most nervous or concerned?
What makes you most excited or interested? Remember to be as specific as possible when
describing the knowledge or skills you expect to develop.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 262

“One-on-One Chats”
Approximately 200 words, 40 points, due prior to chat; 10 points for attendance and
participation, October 5-9 (may extend into following week)
This week you will meet one-on-one with your Program Assistant to discuss your initial
experiences in SLP. Respond to each question below after you have visited your SLP site at
least once and post on Blackboard in advance your scheduled meeting time. Your PA will
review your responses with you during the chat. Please come to the “chat” prepared to
discuss what you are doing at the site and any problems you may be encountering.
 What are your first impressions of your SLP assignment?
 What has surprised or interested you about your SLP site, the individuals with whom you
are working, the community context and/or your first experiences on site?
 Do you have any concerns about your assignment, or are you encountering challenges
with the logistical aspects of your assignment (e.g., schedule, transportation, Blackboard
access, etc.)?

ESSAY #2: “Stress, Health, and Student Performance”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 10/9)
For this week’s essay, you’ll be taking your knowledge from recent course lectures/readings on
stress and mental health and combining them with research on the neighborhood where your
service site is located.
First, use the California Times website to locate the data for the school at which you are serving:
 From the map on the main page, click on the district, and then the neighborhood, where
the school is located. Click on the tab that reads “Schools,” where you will be able to find
the individual school from the full list.
 Find the school’s Academic Performance Index (API) and Math/English proficiency
rates. See how students compare to the state averages. You should also review the other
data—you’ll need the demographic breakdown and percentage of English language
learners for your next assignment.
 If your service site is a private school, skim the data from two nearby public schools at
the same grade level instead.
Second, find your school’s neighborhood on at least two of these statistical maps from the
California 2013 Health Atlas:
 Percentage of Students Eligible for Free and Reduced-Priced Lunches
 Level of Parks / Outdoor Recreation Space
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 263

 Grocery Store Rate and Healthy Food Sources
 Asthma-Related Population Rate in Population 17 and Under
 Health Professional Shortage Areas
 Pollution Exposure Score
 Percentage of Linguistically Isolated* Households
o Linguistic isolation describes individuals who have difficulty speaking English,
and their lack of English or limited English may isolate them from other segments
of the population.
In your response, analyze the student achievement at your in relation to these other social,
structural, and economic factors. How might these data point to the factors behind stress and
health that would positively or negatively impact student performance?

 For instance, why might access to outdoor recreational space form a correlation or
connection between children’s health, stress levels, and student performance?
 Feel free to bring in observations from your initial site visits. Do the data from the
Mapping LA site and the Health Atlas maps fit your observations of the community?
 If you were a psychological researcher, how might you design an experiment to test these
hypotheses? Do students have identifiable coping mechanisms to stressors, for instance?
 You don’t have to have elaborate answers for a 500-word essay, but do make an informed
case for why you think these factors are related to student achievement.

ESSAY #3: “Observations on Cognition and Child Development”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 10/23)
Describe a challenging and/or successful moment that you’ve navigated so far as part of your
SLP service. Then, use the recent course materials on learning and child development to
explain or make sense of that moment.
Things to consider:
 The competing development theories espoused by Piaget and Vygotsky (Chapter 8)
might be a useful topic for you to relate to your experiences. In working with your
students, do you find that one model of child development fits more closely?
 Have you found that one of the different types of learning (Chapter 6) has been
particularly effective in working with students? If you’re working with multiple students,
do different students have different learning styles and skills? If one teaching strategy did
not work well, how did you respond to find a more useful method?
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 264

 What percentage of students at your service site are English language learners? Based on
your experiences, how might the particular challenges facing those students impact their
ability to learn or their overall development?
 For the previous SLP essay, you likely saw how children who grow up in different parts
of California face drastically different social, structural, and environmental conditions.
How do you think these external factors influence child development? Do the
psychological models you’ve discussed in class account for the divergent circumstances
children face?
SLPedia!
Approximately 250 words, 50 points, due: Friday 10/30)
SLPedia is a wiki for SLP students by SLP students. You will work together to build on the
content created by SLP students last semester in order to help future SLP students to better
understand their experiences in the communities surrounding Sunshine University. Details TBA.
ESSAY #4: “The Psychology of Service”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 11/6)
Recently in PSYC 100, you’ve covered social psychology: the study of behaviors and attitudes in
social context. This is an ideal opportunity to think about your own role in the classroom—to
turn the tools of analysis back upon yourself.
For this essay, draw from your classroom knowledge and your SLP experiences to date to answer
the following: How might a (social) psychologist explain the practice/process of service-
learning? Or, use your knowledge of psychology to analyze your own participation in SLP.
Points to consider:
 Draw from terminology and concepts from the course. For instance, how might service
learning promote prosocial behavior?
 How has SLP made you more aware of the specific ways in which you were socialized
into particular attitudes and social norms?
 You may be serving in a community in which you had not spent significant time
beforehand. How has your SLP experience compelled you to confront earlier biases or
prejudices? What do stereotypes conceal, for instance?
 Have the social dynamics between you and the students/teachers at your service site
changed over the course of the semester? What do you think a social psychologist would
make of the changing dynamics (or lack thereof)?
It may help you to read SLP’s philosophy around service
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 265

“Group Discussion”
50 points for attendance and participation, November 9-13)
The Group Discussion brings SLP students together to share insights and ideas about their
experiences in the community. Details TBA.
ESSAY #5: “Final Reflections”
(625 words, 60 points, due: Friday, 11/20)
Reflect on what you have learned through your experiences in SLP this semester.
PART 1

Elaborate on every bulleted item. How has your SLP assignment helped you to develop:
 Awareness of the community context, such as:
o Knowledge of the University Park neighborhood (or the neighborhood in which
your site is located).
o An understanding of how communities are affected by geography, history, policy,
inequality, etc.
o Insight into the social context of your site.
 A deeper understanding of the moral, legal, political and/or ethical aspects of service?
 Other skills? (please specify)
 For SLP students receiving course credit: Greater comprehension of the subject
matter or academic discipline of your SLP course?
PART 2

Login to Blackboard to re-read your response to Essay #1.
o How did your actual experience in SLP compare with your expectations? Use
examples from Essay #1 to compare and contrast.
o Returning SLP participants only: How did your experience in SLP—and what you
learned from it—differ this time?

In which of these areas did you experience the most change or development? Was it the
outcome you initially expected (per your response to Essay #1)? What about your SLP
assignment helped you to develop in this way? Please be as specific as possible when describing
the knowledge or skills you developed, elaborating on your initial expectations and ultimate
experience.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 266

Appendix H

Reflection Assignment for Freshmen Seminar

Reflective Essay #1: Due Thursday, September 3
In approximately 2 pages, reflect on the recommendations Bill Tierney makes for supporting
college- bound students in his essay, “Getting In and Staying In,” particularly in light of your
own high school experiences and what you’ve learned about your Waterpark High School and
NP through your initial experiences in class. How did your high school (administrators,
counselors, teachers, and/or other individuals or programs) build—or fail to build—a college
culture on your campus? Of all the issues identified by Tierney, which do you think were most
important for your own success? How does NP attempt to limit the achievement gap and increase
the odds of the students’ success in higher education? Once admitted, what can colleges and
universities do to retain students—particularly underrepresented students, according to the
CERPP report? How does Sunshine University compare to other urban research universities in
terms of student retention? (See http://about.sunshineu.edu/facts/) What evidence have you seen
here at Sunshine University of practices to ensure student success?
Reflective Essay #2: Due Thursday, September 10
Go to the California Department of Education website and look up information about Waterpark
High School:
http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
For box #1 (“Level”) select “school”
For box #2 select “create your own report” at the bottom of the drop down
list
Click the “submit” button
Ø Select the most current year available and enter “Waterpark High School” in
the text box.
Check the boxes for the data elements listed in the table below, including
race/ethnicity, pupil- teacher ratio, 1-year drop-out rate, free/reduced lunch, and any
other variables that interest you, such as class size or internet access.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and make sure that the correct school is
highlighted in the “Select an Agency” box and click “Submit.” (Note that not all data
points are available for all school for all years. Also, you can change the year to see
change over time and to see if data is available for different years) Use the data from
your search to fill in the column of data for Water Park. If you attended a public high
school in California, look up the same information for that school. If not, try searching
for your school on the National Center for Education Statistics
(http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/) or use Google to search for demographic data
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 267

about your high school or school district. Please fill in as much of the table as possible
and upload with your essay submission (as a single document). You can find a copy of
the spreadsheet in the Course Documents folder in Blackboard. If you can’t find any
“hard” facts about the school to complete the table, recall and write about the school
context from memory: What was the approximate enrollment (e.g., how many students
were in your graduating class)? Was it located in an urban environment? Suburban?
Rural? Inside or outside of the U.S.? Was the student population diverse or relatively
homogeneous? Were there a mix of families from all socioeconomic strata or did families
tend to be alike, in terms of race/ethnicity and social class?
This research task emphasizes the significance of context and place on the experiences of
children in schools in California, and the United States. While not directly comparable, the data
in the table above nevertheless suggest significant differences in the demographics of the County
public school population and the state and county populations in general. In approximately 2
pages, compare and contrast these data with those you collected for Waterpark High School and
your own high school. How are they similar and different? What interests or surprises you about
the data? What do the data suggest about racial and ethnic inequality in the County public school
system and elsewhere? Look at the information provided about Waterpark High School, your
own high school and compare it to the data provided in the table above.
How can school districts address these problems of inequality? Based on what you read in the
Harvard “Strategic Data” report, what are the pros and cons of requiring a college-prep
curriculum for high school graduation? How might this help to address the problems of
inequality in California public school? How might the changes exacerbate the problem?
Student Data Table
State of
California
%

Sunshine
County
%

Sunshine Unified
School District
%

Waterpar
k High
School

African Am
1

7.2
African
American
1

8.3
African American
2

8.8
American Indian
1

1.9
American
Indian
1

0.2
American Indian
2

0.2

Asian / Filipino
1

14.
9
Asian /
Filipino
1

13.5
Asian/ Filipino
2

5.7

Latino (any race)
1

61.
6
Latino (any
race)
1

47.7
Latino
2

73.7

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 268

Pacific Islander
1

0.8
Pacific
Islander
1

0.2
Pacific Islander
2

0.3

White
1

61.
6

White
1

27.8

White (non-Hispanic)
2

9.8

Multiracial &/or
No Response
1

4.9
Multi &/or
No
Response
1

2.5
Multi &/or No
Response
2

1.0
Pupil : Teacher
ratio
2

23:
1

Pupil :
Teacher
ratio
2

22:1

Pupil : Teacher ratio
2

20.5:1

1-Year Drop out
rate
2
(9
th
-12
th
grades, %)
2

3.9.

1-Year Drop
out rate
2

(9
th
-12
th
grades, %)
4.6

1-Year Drop out rate
2
(9
th
-12
th
grades, %)
3.9

% students
receiving free or
reduced price
meals (indicator of
poverty rate)
2

57.
5
% students
receiving
free or
reduced
price meals
(indicator of
poverty
rate)
2

67.9
% students receiving
free or reduced price
meals (indicator of
poverty rate)
2

75.6
% English
Language
Learners

22.
7

% English
Language
Learners

23.8

% English Language
Learners

25.4

% Proficient or
above at English
Language Arts
2

20.
4
% Proficient
or above at
English
Language
Arts
2

28.1

% Proficient or above
at English Language
Arts
2

34.9
Data sources:
1
US Bureau of the Census, 2010 (population-level data);
2
California Department
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 269

of Education, 2014-15 (student/enrollment data)
Reflective Essay #3: Due Thursday, September 17
In 1-2 pages, consider the findings reported in the “New Adolescents” report, published by a
team of researchers at Sunshine University. What is the main “take home message” of the study
for you? Which of the study’s findings were most surprising, distressing and/or reassuring to
you? Have you seen evidence at Sunshine University of the kinds of risk-taking behaviors
reported in the study? How does your experience at Sunshine University compare to the
behaviors of peers in high school?
Reflective Essay #4: Due Thursday, September 24
In 1-2 pages, describe the primary problems or issues affecting your mentees’ overall writing
styles and their personal statements in particular? How did the “useful materials” on the Writing
Center’s website help you to better understand these issues? Briefly summarize some of the more
useful suggestions you read and consider how you might use them to help your mentees. What
help or advice would enable you to better support your mentee?
For Thursday’s workshop, be prepared to review some of the specific challenges you are facing
in helping your mentees with their essays. Also be ready to share some of the successful
strategies you’ve developed that could be helpful to the other students, as well.
Reflective Essay #5: Due Thursday, October 1
In 1.5-2 pages, consider (and briefly summarize) the trends in college costs (Census report) as
well as the arguments that Venegas and Broh make about the barriers to financial aid and other
types of support for college—particularly for low-income students. How do the authors’
accounts compare to your own experiences with figuring out how you would pay for college?
Recall your (and/or your parents’) experience of preparing financial paperwork for college. Was
the FAFSA a user-friendly process? How easy/difficult was it for your family to access or
understand information about financial resources for college and who helped you with this
process? Did financial aid or scholarships play a role in your decision to come to Sunshine
University? Do financial issues affect your choice of major?
Now consider your experience in light of your mentee’s potential experience with the financial
aid process as (in most cases) a first generation college student. What are some of the unique
challenges facing such students (including, perhaps, yourself)? If you were able to make changes
to the financial aid award process -- particularly with first generation students in mind -- what
changes would you make?
Reflective Essay #6: Due Thursday, October 15
In 1-2 pages, reflect on your experiences so far as a writing-mentor. What has gone well and not
so well, and what do you hope to accomplish with your mentees in the remaining few weeks of
the semester? What additional resources or support would help you in your role as a mentor?
17
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 270

Reflective Essay #7: Due Thursday, October 22
th

In 1-2 pages, reflect on the transition to college and the ways in which your experiences so far at
Sunshine University have been similar to and different from your experiences in high school.
What strategies did you develop in high school for studying, balancing school, work and extra-
curricular activities, etc., that helped you to succeed? Have you found that you need to develop
new strategies or modify old ones in order to succeed in college? What has been most
challenging aspect of your transition to college? What has been easier than you expected? How
do your experiences relate to those described in the chapter “Survival Strategies” from This Book
Is Not Required?

Reflective Essay #8: Due Thursday, October 29
The readings for this week describe some of the contrasting ways in which various institutions –
colleges and universities, the legislature and the court system, and even the College Board –
address issues of race, class and inequality in higher education. In approximately 2 pages, reflect
on the debates surrounding affirmative action, diversity, and individual achievement. Do you
think it is important for colleges and universities to have diverse student bodies? Why or why
not? Colleges and universities consider many factors in admission– e.g., grades, test scores, race
and ethnicity, family income, gender, where a student is from (in- or out-of-state), whether a
student is an athlete, whether a family member previously attended the institution, etc. Which of
these special considerations do you consider fair or appropriate (and vice versa) and are there
other considerations that you would add to this list? Do you think the recent changes to the SAT
will be successful in its attempts to “neutralize advantages of the privileged”? Drawing in
particular from the AAC&U report, what can (and should) colleges and universities do to
increase student retention and to insure the success of all students? In sum, what is the
responsibility of colleges and universities – and other influential social institutions – to diversify
higher education?
Reflective Essay #9: Due Thursday, November 5
In 2-3 pages, reflect on what you have learned in this freshman seminar—about yourself, about
the community, about mentoring, about the transition to college, about inequalities in K12 and
higher education. Have your experiences in this class changed your perceptions of the
neighborhood in which Sunshine University is located and/or Sunshine University’s role in the
community? How have your understandings of the issues we have addressed – e.g., college
access, first generation college students, higher education, social inequality, diversity, etc. –
changed, if at all? Please conclude your essay with suggestions about how this class might be
modified in the future to more effectively serve the Sunshine University and NP participants.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 271

Appendix I

Reflection Assignment for Math Volunteer

ESSAY #1 - “Preflection”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 9/25)
Over the next eight weeks, you will be taking your college education outside of the walls of the
university; your experiences as a service-learning student may lead you to think about education,
the community and yourself in new and different ways. How, if at all, do you think your SLP
assignment will help you to develop:
 Awareness of the community context, such as:
o Knowledge of the University Park neighborhood (or the neighborhood in which
your site is located).
o An understanding of how communities are affected by geography, history, policy,
inequality, etc.
o Insight into the social context of your site.
 A deeper understanding of the moral, legal, political and/or ethical aspects of service?
 Other skills? (please specify)
 For SLP students receiving course credit: Greater comprehension of the subject
matter or academic discipline of your SLP course?
 For returning SLP participants: Insights that build on prior service-learning
experiences? In other words, how do you think your experience in SLP—and what you
will learn from it—will be different this time?
In which of these areas do you think you are likely to experience the most change or
development? Why? When you think about SLP, what makes you most nervous or concerned?
What makes you most excited or interested? Remember to be as specific as possible when
describing the knowledge or skills you expect to develop.

“One-on-One Chats”
Approximately 200 words, 40 points, due prior to chat; 10 points for attendance and
participation, October 5-9 (may extend into following week)
This week you will meet one-on-one with your Program Assistant to discuss your initial
experiences in SLP. Respond to each question below after you have visited your SLP site at
least once and post on Blackboard in advance your scheduled meeting time. Your PA will
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 272

review your responses with you during the chat. Please come to the “chat” prepared to
discuss what you are doing at the site and any problems you may be encountering.
 What are your first impressions of your SLP assignment?
 What has surprised or interested you about your SLP site, the individuals with whom you
are working, the community context and/or your first experiences on site?
 Do you have any concerns about your assignment, or are you encountering challenges
with the logistical aspects of your assignment (e.g., schedule, transportation, Blackboard
access, etc.)?

ESSAY #2: “Conceptual & Procedural Knowledge in Elementary Mathematics”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 10/9)
In 1999, Liping Ma published "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics," in which she
argues that Chinese elementary school teachers generally teach conceptual knowledge of a math
topic, whereas their U.S. counterparts focus more on the procedural knowledge of the topic.
This, she claims, explains why Chinese students typically outperform U.S. students on
international comparisons of mathematics competency. Eleven years later, the National
Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers
published the nationwide Common Core Standards for Mathematics, which calls for three shifts
– note item #3:
1. Greater focus on fewer topics
2. Coherence: Linking topics and thinking across grades
3. Rigor: pursue conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application
with equal intensity

Common Core defines conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application
as:

Conceptual understanding: The standards call for conceptual understanding of key
concepts, such as place value and ratios. Students must be able to access concepts from a
number of perspectives in order to see math as more than a set of mnemonics or discrete
procedures.

Procedural skills and fluency: The standards call for speed and accuracy in calculation.
Students must practice core functions, such as single-digit multiplication, in order to have
access to more complex concepts and procedures. Fluency must be addressed in the
classroom or through supporting materials, as some students might require more practice
than others.

Application: The standards call for students to use math in situations that require
mathematical knowledge. Correctly applying mathematical knowledge depends on
students having a solid conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 273

Describe how conceptual knowledge of a math topic differs from procedural knowledge,
using an example to demon.

How would you assess the majority of your own math education, in terms of its emphasis
on developing procedural and/or conceptual knowledge?
 Provide examples of topics that you gained conceptual knowledge about, and examples
of topics that you feel you have only procedural knowledge about.
 What kind of support both inside and outside of school did you receive in math
education?

Compare and contrast your own K-12 education with your experiences at your SLP site.
 In what ways do the site’s facilities, resources, and students account for any differences
between the two? For example, do the resources available (such as handouts, curriculum,
students’ attention, time, and skills of the teacher) shift the attention of education towards
procedural skills, conceptual knowledge, or fluency?
 Are conceptual understanding, procedural skills and fluency, and application equally
emphasized at your SLP site?
 If your student has shared insight with you into their life outside of school, how does the
academic support they receive outside of school compare to your experiences?

Helpful Hints: For gaining a better understanding of conceptual knowledge and procedural
knowledge, take a look at
 Liping Ma’s book (Introduction and Chapter 1):
http://tiny.cc/lipingma
 Common Core Key Shifts in Mathematics:
http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-mathematics/

ESSAY #3: “Personalized Math Education”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 10/23)
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced a set of 14 Grand Challenges that
engineers will face in the 21st century (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/). One of these
Grand Challenges is to "Advance Personalized Learning” – a mandate relevant to many, if not
most, other professions, as well:

"Throughout the educational system, teaching has traditionally followed a one-size-fits-all
approach to learning, with a single set of instructions provided identically to everybody in a
given class, regardless of differences in aptitude or interest. Similar inflexibility has
persisted in adult education programs that ignore differences in age, cultural background,
occupation, and level of motivation.

In recent years, a growing appreciation of individual preferences and aptitudes has led
toward more 'personalized learning,' in which instruction is tailored to a student's individual
needs. Personal learning approaches range from modules that students can master at their
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 274

own pace to computer programs designed to match the way it presents content with a
learner's personality," (http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges/learning.aspx).

Reflect on your own educational experience so far, as well as the educational experiences that
the students at your SLP site are having.

What personalization in the math curriculum would have helped you in the past and/or
currently as a college-level math student? What are some techniques you could use (or have
used) to personalize the instruction of a specific math topic for your SLP students – for
example, to advance both their conceptual understanding and procedural skills of the topic
(review Essay 2 for definitions)? Give an example of a topic that you adjusted or could adjust to
personalize the educational experience of your students.

What are the challenges a teacher might face in trying to personalize education in the
classroom? As a mentor, what advantages and challenges do you face in doing the same
thing?

SLPedia!
Approximately 250 words, 50 points, due: Friday 10/30)
SLPedia is a wiki for SLP students by SLP students. You will work together to build on the
content created by SLP students last semester in order to help future SLP students to better
understand their experiences in the communities surrounding Sunshine University. Details TBA.

ESSAY #4: “Diversity in STEM”
(500 words, 45 points for essay, 5 points for review, due: Friday, 11/6)
Based on your experiences at your SLP site, how do issues of race, class, gender, and
sexuality affect the learning and teaching of mathematics? What is the impact on the
demographics of STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)? How
can/should educational institutions address these issues to create more a more diverse
STEM field?

“Group Discussion”
50 points for attendance and participation, November 9-13
The Group Discussion brings SLP students together to share insights and ideas about their
experiences in the community. Details TBA.
ESSAY #5: “Final Reflections”
(625 words, 60 points, due: Friday, 11/20)
Reflect on what you have learned through your experiences in SLP this semester.
CROSS-CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SERVICE-LEARNING 275

PART 1

Elaborate on every bulleted item. How has your SLP assignment helped you to develop:
 Awareness of the community context, such as:
o Knowledge of the University Park neighborhood (or the neighborhood in which
your site is located).
o An understanding of how communities are affected by geography, history, policy,
inequality, etc.
o Insight into the social context of your site.
 A deeper understanding of the moral, legal, political and/or ethical aspects of service?
 Other skills? (please specify)
 For SLP students receiving course credit: Greater comprehension of the subject
matter or academic discipline of your SLP course?

PART 2

Login to Blackboard to re-read your response to Essay #1.
o How did your actual experience in SLP compare with your expectations? Use
examples from Essay #1 to compare and contrast.
o Returning SLP participants only: How did your experience in SLP—and what you
learned from it—differ this time?

In which of these areas did you experience the most change or development? Was it the
outcome you initially expected (per your response to Essay #1)? What about your SLP
assignment helped you to develop in this way? Please be as specific as possible when describing
the knowledge or skills you developed, elaborating on your initial expectations and ultimate
experience.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to investigate the social and cultural adjustment experiences of four undergraduate international students who engaged in a semester long service-learning course. This study examined their cultural adjustment through the theoretical lens of acculturation and intercultural learning. The study sought to answer two research questions: 1) What are the challenges undergraduate international students enrolled in service-learning face socially and culturally during their adjustment to a U.S. university? 2) How does participation in a service-learning course contribute to undergraduate international students’ social and cultural adjustment process, specifically the development of their intercultural competence? Participants in the study were four freshmen Asian international students at Sunshine University who participated in service-learning in the fall 2015. Data collection from participants included interviews, an observation during a group discussion and document analysis of weekly reflective essays. Findings revealed that, while it was not a silver bullet, participants perceived and reported their participation in service-learning to be beneficial for their social and cultural adjustment experiences, and intercultural learning. By participating in service-learning, participants found themselves gaining more culturally related knowledge about the community while also fostering useful intercultural skills such as communication skills. Service-learning also helped participants to connect their academic course materials and real world contexts. This study recommends that higher education administration and service-learning practitioners work together to integrate service-learning as a co-curricular activity for international students to take part during their initial transition to colleges.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Laoboonchai, Napatthorn (author)

Core Title Cross-cultural adjustment: examining how involvement in service-learning contributes to the adjustment experiences of undergraduate international students

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publication Date 07/25/2016

Defense Date 04/27/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag acculturation,experiential education,intercultural learning,international students,OAI-PMH Harvest,reflection,service-learning

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Samkian, Artineh (committee chair), Harris, Susan (committee member), Slayton, Julie (committee member)

Creator Email laoboonc@usc.edu,napatthorn.l@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-275367

Unique identifier UC11281196

Identifier etd-Laobooncha-4600.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-275367 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Laobooncha-4600.pdf

Dmrecord 275367

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Laoboonchai, Napatthorn

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

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