Coming to Belong: A Narrative Analysis of

International Students’ Experiences in an

Australian University

by

Jung-Hsiu Lin

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Centre of Learning Innovation

Faculty of Education

Queensland University of Technology

2012
Abstract
This thesis reports on an interview study with 17 international students about
their experiences of coming to belong in an Australian university. All used
English as an additional language (EAL). The students’ narratives of ‘coming to
belong’ are conceptualised through the theory of Bourdieu, in particular the
concepts of field, capital, habitus and legitimation; and the methodological
premises of critical realism’s layered ontology. The literature review argues that
access to and accrual of a range of capital is critical to successful adaptation to a
new educational system. This, and processes of legitimation by others in the
fields, affects the senses of belonging for students of various linguistic
backgrounds, of different countries of origin, studying from primary to higher
education in diverse parts of the world. Data were collected by semi-structured
interviews and email dialogues at three points during the students’ first year of
study in Australia. The analysis shows how the students’ empirical experiences
were ordered in terms of narrative structure—orientation, complication,
evaluation, resolution and coda—and highlight the emotions generated by the
sequence of events. The findings show that EAL international students sought
new field positions through legitimation in multiple senses across (sub-)fields.
They also show that academic, social and linguistic legitimacy granted by others
produced a spectrum of belonging: in the centre, at the margin, and/or to
meaningful intercultural encounters. This study makes a contribution to the
growing literature around the experience of international students in higher
education, and to empirical literature using Bourdieu to understand educational
relations.
Keywords
Habitus, capital, field, legitimation, Bourdieu, sociology of education, higher
education, international students, narrative analysis

iii
Table of Contents
Abstract ...............................................................................................................ii 
Keywords ........................................................................................................... iii 
Table of Contents ............................................................................................... iv 
List of figures ....................................................................................................vii 
List of tables ......................................................................................................vii 
Abbreviations .................................................................................................. viii 
Authorship.......................................................................................................... ix 
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. x 
Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................ 1 
The Research Question ..................................................................................... 2 
Researcher’s Subjectivity ................................................................................. 3 
Significance of the Research Question ............................................................. 5 
International Education in Higher Education in Australia ............................... 5 
The positioning of worldwide higher education ........................................... 8 
Policies, service and support in Australian universities ............................... 9 
Overview of This Thesis ................................................................................ 11 
Chapter Two: Literature Review .................................................................... 13 
Introduction .................................................................................................... 13 
Belonging in higher education........................................................................ 13 
Belonging for international students .......................................................... 19 
First Year Experience ..................................................................................... 23 
Group work ................................................................................................. 26 
Oracy and academic support ...................................................................... 27 
EAL International Students ............................................................................ 30 
Heritage learning styles: The Chinese learners .......................................... 30 
Adaptation prompted by new requirements ............................................... 30 
Sociological views of EAL international students ..................................... 32 
EAL Migrant Students .................................................................................... 35 
Investment in language learning ................................................................. 36 
Social interactions and English skills ......................................................... 37 
Audibility: Being heard by student peers and teachers .............................. 37 
Language use and social capital ................................................................. 38 
Social interactions and social capital in schools......................................... 39 
Perspectives of Language Socialisation ......................................................... 42 
Academic socialisation: Oracy in group work ........................................... 42 
Conclusion: ‘Coming to Belong’: A Bourdieusian Framework ..................... 46 
Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework........................................................ 49 
Introduction .................................................................................................... 49 
Relation One: Field and Legitimation ............................................................ 51 
Legitimation ............................................................................................... 54 
Relation Two: Habitus and Field .................................................................... 57 
Aligning habitus to new games .................................................................. 60 
Habitus and emotion ................................................................................... 64 
Relation Three: Capital and Field................................................................... 68 
Forms of capital .......................................................................................... 68 
Linguistic capital ........................................................................................ 72 
Convertibility of linguistic capital .............................................................. 74 
Social acceptability ..................................................................................... 75 

iv
 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 77 
Summarising Three Relations .................................................................... 77 
Theorising ‘coming to belong’ ................................................................... 78 
The research question in theoretical terms ................................................. 80 
Chapter Four: Methodology and methods ..................................................... 81 
Introduction .................................................................................................... 81 
Critical Realism as Meta-theoretical Approach ............................................. 81 
A double hermeneutics: The researcher and the researched ...................... 87 
Research Design ............................................................................................. 88 
Narrative as a way of knowing ................................................................... 88 
Methods ...................................................................................................... 90 
Data sources.............................................................................................. 101 
Analytic method ....................................................................................... 101 
Revisit Theoretical and Methodological Framework ................................... 108 
Propositions of Three Relations and ‘coming to belong’ ......................... 108 
A Critical Realist, Bourdieusian, and narrative structure framework ...... 110 
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 112 
Chapter Five: New Fields of Exchange ........................................................ 114 
Introduction .................................................................................................. 114 
Personal trajectories.................................................................................. 115 
Capital at Starting Points .............................................................................. 121 
English proficiency as part of the game ................................................... 121 
Nation-selected and institution-sponsored ............................................... 126 
Status change in student life ..................................................................... 129 
Acquiring a Feel for the Game: Individual Assignments ............................. 133 
Feel for the game versus new capital ....................................................... 134 
‘Making a guess’ versus ‘it’s kind of helpful’ .......................................... 140 
Building capital ‘piece-by-piece’ ............................................................. 143 
Peer social capital ..................................................................................... 148 
Peer coaching............................................................................................ 151 
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 156 
Chapter Six: Legitimating Capital................................................................ 158 
Introduction .................................................................................................. 158 
Entering into Group Discussion ................................................................... 159 
Donna grouped with nursing students ...................................................... 160 
Vietnamese student not legitimated by peers ........................................... 168 
Legitimating group members ................................................................... 172 
Building social relations ........................................................................... 174 
Legitimation in group discussion ............................................................. 176 
What Counts as Valued Capital in Group Assessment ................................ 179 
Privileged local insight for group projects ............................................... 179 
Aligning assessment criteria but… ........................................................... 181 
Taking ownership of group work process ................................................ 184 
Participating from a marginalised field position ...................................... 187 
Legitimation in group assessment ............................................................ 190 
Grouping Choices: Field Position and Social Networking........................... 191 
A shared dilemma ..................................................................................... 191 
Accruing capital versus social networking ............................................... 195 
Conclusion: Legitimation in Group Work .................................................... 201 
Chapter Seven: Pivotal Moments.................................................................. 203 

v
 Introduction .................................................................................................. 203 
Moments of Coming to Belong Academically ............................................. 204 
Appealing against a mark ......................................................................... 215 
Moments of ‘Coming to Belong’ in Social sub-fields.................................. 219 
Coming to Belong to Intercultural Encounters ............................................. 229 
Locked in her room studying .................................................................... 229 
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 237 
Chapter Eight: EAL International Students’ Coming to Belong .............. 241 
Introduction .................................................................................................. 241 
The Research Design .................................................................................... 241 
Orientations .................................................................................................. 244 
Complications ............................................................................................... 245 
Resolutions ................................................................................................... 249 
Capital-oriented resolutions...................................................................... 250 
Legitimation-oriented resolutions ............................................................ 254 
Codas ............................................................................................................ 258 
Senses of ‘coming to belong’ and their sources ....................................... 263 
Revisiting the Researcher’s Subjectivity ...................................................... 265 
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 269 
Limitations of the Study ............................................................................... 273 
Significance of the Study.............................................................................. 273 
In empirical terms ..................................................................................... 274 
In theoretical terms ................................................................................... 275 
In methodological terms ........................................................................... 278 
Recommendations for Further Research ...................................................... 279 
Supplementary Materials .............................................................................. 281 
Appendix A: Interview Guide ...................................................................... 281 
Interview guide for participants (Second Interview) ................................ 281 
On-site interview guide for researcher (Second Interview) ..................... 282 
Email check-in In-between interview sessions......................................... 283 
Appendix B: Participants’ Profiles ............................................................... 284 
Appendix C: Transcription Conventions ...................................................... 285 
Appendix D: Ethics Approval and Information Kit ..................................... 286 
Appendix E: Summary of Associated Data .................................................. 304 
Overview of the data ................................................................................ 304 
Chronological overview ........................................................................... 306 
Thematic overview (An example) ............................................................ 308 
Operationalising theoretical concepts for data analyses ........................... 309 
Appendix F: Fieldnote Example ................................................................... 315 
Bibliography ................................................................................................. 316 

vi
List of figures
Figure 3.1 Relation Three linguistic capital and field 74
Figure 3.2 Theorising ‘coming to belong’ in Bourdieusian terms 79
Figure 4.1 Layered reality 82
Figure 4.2 Layered reality and narrative 89
Figure 4.3 Layered reality and codas 103
Figure 4.4 Coding by themes 104
Figure 4.5 Coding by themes and theoretical concepts 106
Figure 4.6 Critical realist, narrative structure and Bourdieusian
frame 110
Figure 4.7 Analysing narrative in Bourdieusian and critical realist
frame 112
Figure 8.1 Design of the research 242
Figure 8.2 Resolutions and field categorisation 258
Figure 8.3 Legitimacy and coming to belong 270
Figure 8.4 Coming to belong: A theoretical and methodological
framework 278

List of tables
Table 5.1 Participant profile 120
Table 8.1 Types of complications and associated concepts 245
Table 8.2 Types of resolutions 250
Table 8.3 Legitimation-oriented resolutions 254
Table 8.4 Types of legitimation 256
Table 8.5 Codas and associated theoretical concepts 259

vii
Abbreviations
AU Australia
CHL Confucian Heritage Learning
CoP Community of practice
DEEWR Department of Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations
DIAC Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Dip. Diploma
EAL English as an Additional Language
EAP English for Academic Purposes
Ed Education
ESL English as a Second Language
ESOS Education Services for Overseas Students Act
F Female
GDip Graduate Diploma
IELTS International English Language Testing System
Inter. International
KMT Kuomintang of China, the Romanisation of a political party in
Taiwan
L1 users Users of English as a first language
L2 users Users of English as a second or additional language
LPP Legitimate peripheral participation
M Male
MODL Migration Occupation in Demand Lists
MSN MSN Messenger
NESB Students of non-English speaking background
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
QUT Queensland University of Technology
Sci. Science
Tech. Technology
TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
The U.K. The United Kingdom
The U.S. The United States of America
U. University
Undergrad. Undergraduate
Authorship
Acknowledgements
This thesis would not have been possible if I had not met Dr. Karen Dooley, my
principal supervisor, whose insight on EAL migrant and refuge students’
education in Australia I have long respected, for a chat on one Friday afternoon
February 2007. The chat was pivotal. It was the first time that I realised my
inquiry, as documented in this thesis, might have a larger audience. Shortly after,
I came to Dr. Catherine Doherty, my associate supervisor, who brought a wealth
of enthusiasm about, and perspectives on, international students’ educational
experiences in Australia. Then Dr. Anita Jetnikoff, my second associate
supervisor, joined the supervisory team at the final stage of my thesis. Together
we shared a journey to the richness of intellectual challenges, sociological
discussions, and, sometimes, disagreements. I am most grateful for the quality
of their supervision and their dedication to my work over the past few years. I
owe much gratitude to their support and commitment.

I would also like to thank Professor Allan Luke, who guided my project in
various ways, challenged my reading and writing of Bourdieu’s theory, and
pushed it to the next level. I hope I have added some fresh perspectives to
Bourdieu’s sociology from my thesis.

I thank Dr. Ting-Hong Wong, who sponsored my visit as a doctoral student at

Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica in Taiwan, for conversations, guidance,
and support during the time from February 2009 to February 2010. The valued
resources, including seminar talks, dialogues with academics and sociologists
and great collections of sociological and methodological texts in the Institute of
Sociology, Academia Sinica were inspiring to my doctoral study when I was
away from my home campus in Australia.

Next I am grateful for peers, academics, staff and friends, with whom I
exchanged views in conversations at workshops, seminars, conferences, in
corridors, at the library, and on and off campus. I thank, in particular, their
warmth and friendship that have helped me grow as a person and a doctoral
student during my stay in Brisbane.
Then, I offer my special thanks to my participants, who were very generous of
their time with me and who trusted me with their happiness, sadness,
disappointments, frustrations, confusion, and hopes about their study abroad
experiences.

Finally, I thank my family, my children, David, and Kenny, and my husband,

for their unending love, patience, and understanding in my process of thesis
writing. My children have grown from early teens to adolescent. I am indebted
to them in many ways.

xi
Chapter One: Introduction
Since the 1990s international education has grown to become Australia’s third
largest service industry (Australian Council for Private Education and Training,
2009). Internationally, Australia is ranked as the fifth largest education export
country following the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Germany
(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009). Among
these education export countries, Australia has the highest concentration of
international enrolments in its total tertiary enrolments (OECD, 2009). To be
more specific, international enrolments accounted for 28 % of the total student
body in higher education in 2009 (DEEWR, 2010). This statistic indicates
diverse demographic composition in local classrooms in Australian higher
education. It also suggests that interactions and relations might be expected
among students of international backgrounds and between students of domestic
and international backgrounds.

This thesis documents and conceptualises the complexities of international

students’ learning experiences from a sociological perspective. ‘International
students’ in this thesis refers to a subset of the entire international student body
in Australia, specifically those who use English as an additional language (EAL
international students). I use ‘EAL international students’ to refer to this student
population in this thesis. EAL international students are typically fee-paying,
whether individually or under home institution/country sponsorship. I exclude
domestic students who are termed as students of ‘non-English-speaking
background (NESB)’, ‘English as a second language (ESL), or ‘English as an
additional language (EAL)’ educated in Australia. Further, the term ‘Australians’
is used to refer to white, domestic students who are proficient speakers of
English as a contrastive term to ‘EAL international students’. I acknowledge
that this term is not used correctly, as it does not reflect the complex
demographic composition of the Australian population. The term ‘Australians’
here includes white Australians of the British, and of the European heritage, but
excludes those who are not white. Two points need to be made here. The first is
this term reflects the views of newly arrived EAL international students

1
regarding who is ‘Australian’. The second is the term Anglophone Australian is
not used to discuss whether the students’ view on who is ‘Australian’ is correct.

The Research Question

This thesis is concerned with first-year EAL international students’ learning
experiences. In broad terms, it investigates these students’ use of English in
academic and social contexts while making adaptation to academic demands,
and their explanations of coming to belong in an Australian university. The
central research question is:

‘What knowledge, resources, and skills are important for coming to belong at
university for EAL international students in their first year of study in Australia?’

The sub-questions include:

1. What knowledge, resources, and skills did EAL international students

at university see as critical for their adjustment to new life and study
routines in Australia?
2. What knowledge, resources, and skills did EAL students consider
responsible for positive experiences as learners at university in
Australia?
3. Given these students’ experiences within, as well as beyond,
university, how do these students describe their coming to belong over
time?
These questions are proposed and positioned in the context of the first decade of
the 21st century in Australia. This is a time when internationalised universities
are increasingly understood as a profit-making educational market (Sidhu, 2006).
It is also a time when EAL international students can come to Australia for
multiple purposes, such as education, English proficiency, and immigration
(Ahern, 2009). This thesis investigates how EAL international students talk
about their experiences under these circumstances in Australia.

Questions emerging from data of this thesis are interpreted through the
theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, capital
and legitimation (Bourdieu, 1977, 1986, 1991; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992).
The Bourdieusian framework in this thesis is framed within a methodology
premised on critical realist ontology (Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen, &
Karlsson, 2002). Narrative analysis (Riessman, 2008) is selected to generate

2
data and used as an analytic framework. Data sources include three semi-
structured interviews with each of 17 EAL international students from 9
countries and 341 email exchanges, in total, with the researcher over two
semesters. The analyses show EAL international students’ experiences are
affected by recognition and reception of their competencies, including but not
limited to their English proficiency, in new educational and social lives. These
experiences further impact upon the students’ descriptions of coming to belong.
The analysis shows that English proficiency is necessary but not sufficient to
achieve a sense of belonging in international educational contexts.

In the following, I discuss how the research question has emerged through the
lens of researcher’s subjectivity. The focus is on my own educational and
professional experience as relevant to the thesis.

Researcher’s Subjectivity
I look and sound like one of the EAL international students, whose educational
experiences are focused on in this thesis, but I am not an eligible participant. I
held Australian permanent residency when I enrolled in a doctoral program in
2007 and later became a citizen in 2009. I have thus been entitled to a waiver of
tuition fees and was granted a living stipend in my second and third year of PhD
candidature. Nonetheless, I arrived in Australia in mid-2006, barely knowing
anyone and without a place of residence.

I have an educational and professional background outside Australia. I was born

and educated in Taiwan. I held a teaching job in a public secondary school
before my enrolment in a doctoral program in Australia. I learnt and used
English in Taiwan as an additional language. All these factors would suggest
that I share a background similar to that of an EAL international student, as
contrasted to the objective categorisations, such as my holding an Australian
passport. I began to be interested in how the complex and varied backgrounds of
EAL international students affect their experiences on and off campus, and how
these experiences impact on their views on students’ life in Australia.

My interest in the research question started with differential experiences of

acceptance of my spoken English at home and in Australia. I was angry, upset,

3
and confused about situations in Australia when I felt I was not considered a
competent user of English. These experiences were a stark contrast to the
competent English speaker I had been in my Asian context. I could
communicate with Anglophone expatriate educators from North America
residing in Taiwan, but I lost such recognition in my early days in Australia.

An example of this happened at an Australian Commonwealth government

office shortly after my arrival in Australia. At the transaction, my query was
interrupted by an Anglophone speaker with a gesture directing me to an Asian-
looking, English-speaking government officer. I was spoken to at a slower pace
in English, which was not helpful, as nothing more was communicated to me. I
was offered a packet of brochures and a contact number for a call centre and
then signalled to leave without being given more time to explain my query.
Being sent off like this was humiliating and devastating. I was just an Asian-
looking woman, with limited English in this specific context.

I did not expect this to happen the way it did, as I believed my English was
reasonable. The pride I had taken in myself as an English teacher almost all my
adult life was compromised. I was confused about how I reached the point of
being signalled to leave. I barely remember what I said in the turn-taking. I felt
powerless about not having any further chance to clarify my requests. I doubted
the effectiveness of English spoken at a slower pace. I wondered why I was
understood differently in my spoken English by Anglophone speakers in
Taiwan and in Australia, why the incident had happened the way it did, and why
I reacted in the way I did.

Luke (2009) argued that race and language are readable and that some groups of
people have advantageous positions by virtue of their ethnicity and use of a
language in a particular context. When I shared this experience with a male
Mandarin-speaking friend from Taiwan in North America, he insisted that I had
experienced discrimination. He might have been right if he had considered the
readability of my ethnicity and use of English at that time, as argued (Luke,
2009). Nonetheless, I was also aware that this friend trusted the intelligibility of
my English. He also knew my social, educational, professional and economic
backgrounds in Taiwan, and my potential for acquiring a doctoral degree in

4
Australia. These understandings were important, as they might have resulted in
the trust my friend had in my speech of English. I wonder whether I would have
been treated differently or how my speech in English would have been
recognised or ‘read’ if these backgrounds had been known to the
Commonwealth government officers. These queries helped shape the research
question in this thesis. However, this thesis is not about my experiences at the
Commonwealth government office. Nor does it simply focus on the classic
sociological categories of race and class, although these categories are important.
The aim is to provide an alternative understanding of EAL international students
and their experiences in social and academic contexts within and beyond
university under the circumstances of the readability of existing racial and
classed positions.

Significance of the Research Question

After three decades of recruiting international enrolments it is timely to
reconsider EAL international students’ experiences. It is also timely to take into
account changing educational and professional backgrounds of EAL
international students, or their different classed experiences; and their impact
upon their English proficiency level and intention to migrate to Australia in the
21st century. It is important at this time to look into such change to see whether
it reflects their expectations for the future or affects their experiences at
university.

International Education in Higher Education in

Australia
This section outlines the context of the research problem as situated in higher
education development in Australia. Education was traditionally viewed as a
form of aid provided to students in neighbouring developing Asian countries
(Sidhu, 2006). In the 90s, however, education came to be viewed as a form of
commodity just like ‘cars or breakfast cereals’ (Lazenby & Blight, 1999, p. 78).
This shift marked the initiation of education export as a lucrative enterprise in
Australia (Sidhu, 2006).

5
Australia joined education export countries with a range of approaches initiated
by the Commonwealth government (Marginson, 2002; Sidhu, 2006).
Universities were encouraged to recruit international students from affluent
Asian countries. Meanwhile, as the Commonwealth government funding to
higher education decreased over time, universities were allowed to retain tuition
fees of international enrolments as discretionary funds. To ensure the quality of
such education provision, the Commonwealth government enforced quality
control acts, such as the Education Services for Overseas Students Act
(Registration Charges) (ESOS) Act and subsequent amendments (Australian
Education International, 1997, 2000, 2001). The conclusion that might be drawn
is that the internationalising of higher education in Australia is largely
economically motivated and supported by top-down Commonwealth
government initiatives (Marginson, 2002; Sidhu, 2006).

Australia’s intention to export education meets the needs of students and parents
in neighbouring affluent Asian countries in their pursuit of Western credentials
for prestige and family strategies (Sin, 2009; P. Singh & Doherty, 2008). In a
short time, Australia has become a new player in international education,
following the United States and the United Kingdom as the third largest
English-speaking education export country (Sidhu, 2006) and the fifth largest
among OECD countries (OECD, 2009).

EAL international students from Asian countries are interested in entering into
degree-seeking programs, as they desire Western educational experiences,
Western credentials, advanced disciplinary knowledge and English skills
(Doherty & Singh, 2007). Pursuit of these experiences has drawn considerable
sponsorships largely from individual students and their families, but also from
governments in Asia. Malaysia, for example, is among one such government
which funds its national elite students to be educated in Western countries (de
Wit & Knight, 1997).

English-medium Western education in Australia is appealing to EAL

international students from Asian countries (Doherty & Singh, 2007). However,
the aim to acquire English skills through tertiary education has a pre-requisite—
for degree-seeking EAL international students, they should meet language

6
requirements to qualify for enrolment. Australian universities commonly require
results in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as
indicators of students’ English proficiency. IELTS tests four macro skills of
English—listening, speaking, reading and writing, and provides scores for each
skill and an overall band score (International English Language Testing System,
2009). A score of band 9 to 1 corresponds to respective levels of English
proficiency in descending order (IELTS, 2009). Universities set a minimum
benchmark in IELTS bands for EAL international students as proof of their
English proficiency, unless otherwise requested.

For example, an overall IELTS score of 6.5 is commonly required for EAL
international students to study a Master’s degree in Australian universities.
Those who hold a score of 6.5 or higher are eligible to enrol directly. For those
who do not meet this requirement, more time, money and effort is often required
and to achieve the necessary band score (Ahern, 2009). Depending on
circumstances, some EAL international students can take pathway courses such
as English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to improve their proficiency in order
to successfully enrol in desired programs.

English proficiency is also high stakes for EAL international students interested
in migration to Australia (Ahern, 2009) through the General Skilled Migration
Program. This policy mandates that EAL international students must have
achieved adequate IELTS scores and relevant skills on demand in order to
qualify as eligible applicants for the Migration Occupations in Demand Lists, as
issued by Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Ahern, 2009).
Under this scheme, having adequate English proficiency in the form of
sufficient IELTS scores is ‘the’ ticket to gaining permanent residency as a
skilled migrant through education (Ahern, 2009).

Further to this, for university graduates, English proficiency is an indicator of

employability at workplace (Benzie, 2010). According to Benzie, English use in
the higher education sector can differ significantly from that in workplace
contexts. EAL international student graduates can be proficient in academic
English after studying in the higher education sector for some time, but might
not have acquired other skills and language relevant to workplace requirements

7
during their time at university (Benzie, 2010). Benzie argued that EAL
international students might not be able to function readily with native-like
English proficiency upon graduation.

For educators in classrooms, universities in Australia are no longer ‘positioned

in a relatively predictable and controllable space of assimilatory education, now
they find themselves located at a cultural crossroad’ (Kostogriz, 2009, p. 134).
This has challenged the teaching practices once geared exclusively towards
mainstream, monolingual student populations (Kostogriz, 2009). On one hand,
practices should respond to different languages and students’ cultural
orientations. On the other hand, educators must address national concerns of
standards of English in higher education sector, as well as in local professional
employment contexts. Educators as representatives of educational institutions
must ‘manage “risk” associated with cultural, religious and social differences
and to ensure national cohesion and citizenship through the assimilation of
differences’ (p.134). This is the context which EAL international students enter
for their international education.

I have briefly outlined conditions of an economic impetus in international

education in Australia, the high-stake status of English proficiency, and
challenges arising from diversity in student populations in local classrooms in
terms of their requirements of English. In the following, I discuss the
positioning of Australian institutions in the global higher education field. The
aim is to further understand the context of this thesis.

The positioning of worldwide higher education

This section discusses the positioning of Australian universities in the
worldwide field in higher education. This positioning has implications for the
context in which this thesis is situated; it further impacts on EAL international
students’ entry and ongoing educational experiences at university.

According to Marginson (2008), universities worldwide are positioned

differently in terms of their research capacity and profit-orientations. At one end,
universities such as Stanford, Yale and Oxford are globally recognized as
research-intensive universities. At the other, there are for-profit teaching

8
universities. In-between are universities with varying levels of global linkage
and renown, research capacity and profit orientation.

The study university in Australia is not on a par with globally prestigious

research-intensive universities. Nor does it fall at the opposing end of the scale
in being teaching-intensive. It has a combination of research activity and
vocation-oriented teaching. This positioning has led the university to take
students, international and domestic, who are typically interested in vocational
or professional courses that would prepare them for employment either in
Australia or their home countries. Interested EAL international students choose
to enrol in broad professional study areas such as nursing, teaching and
accounting that may target local employment in Australia. At the same time, the
university continues to build its research capacity to draw in research grants and
funding and has achieved reputation and recognition in this regard.

Policies, service and support in Australian universities

This section outlines policies, services and support typically provided by
Australian universities, including the study university. I discuss the popular
strategies of group work, students’ places of residence, EAL and academic
support, as relevant to data analyses in this thesis. It should be noted that this
empirical research captures a snapshot of a moment in time that has now passed.
It cannot be assumed that the circumstances participants described still exist or
continue to exist in the way they did. Rather, like other Australian universities,
the study university has put programs in place to address some of the concerns
emerging from the study. However, this study exemplifies the kinds of
challenges that arise with demographic diversification of educational institutions.
Thus, the theorisation and analyses are of broader interest for institutional
response to such diversification.

Group work
Australian universities, including the study university, consider group work to
be important for pedagogical, curricular and assessment reasons, and have
invested in building new spaces with computer facilities and internet
connections. This is to encourage and facilitate group work and to cater for
students’ group meetings on campus. Some universities may circulate a sector-

9
wide document on group work design and implementation to academics as
guidelines.

In this thesis the term ‘group work’ is used to refer to collaborative and
cooperative learning activities, performed by two to six students. Australian
universities, including the study university, consider group work as important
pedagogical activity to prepare graduates with employable capabilities, in
addition to disciplinary knowledge. These capabilities include experiences, as
well as skills, of negotiation, problem solving, conflict resolution, leadership,
and time management. All undergraduate and postgraduate students,
international and domestic, are encouraged to develop these generic capabilities
through activities embedded in disciplinary study, in response to employers’
demands.

Further, Australian universities are aware that the increasing number of EAL
international students has added to the diversity of group composition. Diversity
is recognized to have the potential to bring new perspectives to group work,
possibly arising from difference in cultural backgrounds, gender, age and life
and work experience. It is also noted that conflict and tension are possible and
that academic staff, as well as students, are responsible for related challenges
and expected to take initiatives to manage conflict within groups. The
implication here is that EAL international students in Australian universities can
expect to interact with a variety of other students in group work and the
interpersonal challenges that can create.

Places of residence
Universities in Australia provide on-campus residence to students, international
or domestic alike; however, these places of residence are not necessarily used
by students for varied reasons, in particular high cost. Some students, including
some participants in this study, look to their own social networks, associates or
rental services for short- or long-term stay for places of residence.

One similarity among the study participants was that they did not live with
family or their partner during their study abroad life in Australia. This is also
experienced by some domestic students who travel within or between states for

10
higher education. Thus, students, international and domestic, tend to share a
house or a unit with other housemates, who, in most cases, are strangers or new
acquaintances. The implication here is that establishing new social networks is
necessary for EAL international students during their study abroad lives in
Australia.

EAL and academic support

Australian universities, including the study university, have made considerable
efforts over time to provide linguistic and academic support for EAL
international students. During the time this study was conducted, the majority of
the study participants did not have an additional EAL support module in their
disciplinary units. This meant that the participants mostly relied on university-
wide EAL and academic support such as international student service, language
advisors and library services. For example, intermittent generic workshops were
available on academic English and academic literacy skills such as citation
conventions. In some cases these workshops were held for a specific discipline
in a particular faculty. The implication here is that EAL international students
have to be proactive to identify and access such support services.

Overview of This Thesis

In this chapter, the research question of this thesis is proposed and the context of
the research question and the study university is outlined. I discuss my
researcher’s subjectivity.

In Chapter Two, I review pertinent research literature that informs the research
question of the thesis. The literature review addresses four bodies of literature:
belonging in higher education; first year experience; international student
research; and language socialisation research. It aims to synthesize these studies,
to present a critique of them, and to argue for the new line of inquiry
theoretically and methodologically, upon which this thesis is based. The review
situates commencing EAL international students’ learning experiences in the
literature of first year experience research and adds to an understanding of the
diverse experiences of a particular group of students.

11
Chapter Three presents a theoretical framework for this thesis using Bourdieu’s
concepts of habitus, field, capital, and legitimation. This chapter further
proposes a framework of EAL international students’ coming to belong,
theorised in Bourdieusian terms.

Chapter Four discusses methodological considerations of this present thesis. It

then presents a design based on Critical Realism and narrative analyses, with
interview and email correspondence methods of data generation. It also reports
the data reduction process of this thesis and ethical considerations. Finally, it
explicates a joint theoretical and methodological framework.

There are three analysis chapters. Chapter Five reports participants’ profiles,
early experiences entering Australian universities and hopes for the future. The
analyses show how emotional reactions emerged as a result of a (mis)match of
participants’ social, educational and economic backgrounds and new conditions
and circumstances.

Chapter Six demonstrates how divergent power operated in relations between

participants and their group members and how these relations affected
participants’ academic and social experiences.

Chapter Seven discusses participants’ accounts of what constituted pivotal

moments in their first year experiences and how these moments impacted on
sources and types of coming to belong in an Australian university.

Chapter Eight concludes by theorising coming to belong in Bourdieusian terms.

It discusses limitations, significance of this study, and recommendations for
further research.

12
Chapter Two: Literature Review
Introduction
Chapter One established the context for this thesis of the experiences of EAL
international students during their first year in an Australian university.
Specifically, this thesis looks at how the students come to belong in the
university, and their experiences of belonging. The aim of this chapter is to
locate the study in relevant literature to establish what is already known about
the problem and how the problem has been investigated theoretically and
methodologically in previous research.

Four bodies of research literature are relevant to the study: i) belonging in

higher education; ii) first year experience; iii) research on international students
in English-medium higher education; and iv) language socialisation research in
English-medium higher education. These selections of the research literature are
concerned, firstly, with transition into higher education, in particular in the first
year; and, secondly, with the specificities of studying in English-medium
education as EAL international students. These bodies of literature are
addressed in turn in the following sections.

Belonging in higher education

The concept of ‘belonging’ has emerged in the research literature as an indicator
of students’ adaptations to educational expectations in higher education and as
part of universities’ responses to the growing intake of non-traditional students
studying in the United Kingdom and Australia. The term non-traditional
students generally refers to domestic students who are not young, white, middle-
class, academically elite students. In this thesis, the term ‘non-traditional’
students is used in a broad sense to encompass those who are not ‘traditional’
white elite university students, including EAL international students from Asian
countries. In this section, I review selected literature on ‘belonging’ in higher
education to reveal how such research does not adequately theorise ‘belonging’
as a concept from a sociological perspective.

13
Wilcox, Winn and Fyvie-Gauld (2005) investigated reasons for students’
withdrawal using a grounded theory approach. They interviewed thirty-four
first-year students in a British university, of whom twelve withdrew before
completion of first year. The thirty-four student participants were largely white
domestic students (32), plus ‘Afro-Caribbean’ (1) and ‘mixed ethnicity’ (1)
students. Also, the majority of these students were living away from home and
thus needed to build new friendships at their places of residence and on campus
(Wilcox, et al., 2005). The authors argued that friendships made in the
university are helpful for first year students and that social integration can foster
positive educational experiences and prevent withdrawal. Social integration
refers to ‘the structure of social relationships, such as the size and density of a
social network’ (p. 708), factors that are ‘closely related’ (p. 708) to social
support. The authors further suggested that universities should help first-year
students create meaningful social bonding through mindful institutional
arrangements.

Emotional support from friends provides a sense of belonging and can also
help students when they face problems. The type of support that students
receive from friends and tutors on their course is different from those
provided by the friends in their accommodation, it is more likely to be
instrumental (Wilcox, et al., 2005, p. 718).
Here, the authors argued that students need different types of social support and
that emotional support is most important in students’ adaptations to higher
education. The authors used ‘a sense of belonging’ as a commonsensical term
associated with positive and critical social experiences. The concept of
belonging is not theorised further in this paper.

The authors concluded by arguing for a need to systematically research and

theorise aspects of ‘social integration and social support in the university
context’ (p. 720). Of particular importance to this thesis, the authors suggested a
theorisation that could encompass the tangible supports and emotional supports
in students’ social experiences in the university and its wider contexts. This
thesis has built on their recommendation to provide a systematic investigation of
relations between ‘social integration and social support’ and a broad perspective
of belonging.

14
In this paper, Wilcox and colleagues analytically separated emotional support
from academic support. However, their analytical perspective did not explore
the complex relationships between self-confidence, academic support,
achievements and failure. This thesis employs a research gaze that orients to
both social and academic experiences to produce fuller accounts of their
integration into university than is possible with either a social or an academic
focus.

Apart from social integration and social support, Kalantzis, Cope and others
(2005) argued that belonging to learning can be a source of academic success
and failure. In their terms, students ‘… have to feel they belong in the content;
they have to feel they belong in the community or learning setting; they have to
feel at home with that kind of learning or way of getting to know the world’ (p.
43). The more students feel that they belong in what they learn, how they learn,
and who they learn with/from in what settings, the more likely they are to learn.
This typology of belonging is useful to broaden the understandings of factors
other than social integration and social support in educational experiences.
Although Kalantzis and colleagues wrote about school experiences, their
typology of belonging may be equally relevant to first-year university students’
learning experiences, and their social experiences. These aspects of belonging
offer a fuller understanding of students’ educational experiences in higher
education.

Similar aspects of ‘belonging to learning’ in particular ‘the learning content’ are

explored in Solomon’s study (2007). Solomon investigated the relations
between first year students’ disciplinary knowledge in mathematics and their
views on being novice or advanced learners in the discipline. Twelve domestic
students were interviewed once in the middle of their first semester in a British
university. The author applied two concepts from Wenger (1998): i) ‘legitimate
peripheral participation’ (LPP), a process when novices become experienced by
participation in practices of tasks and by learning from experts in a given
community; and ii) ‘three modes of belonging—engagement, imagination and
alignment—and combinations of these’ (Solomon, 2007, p. 79), understood as
different degrees of engagement with participation in practice, imagination of

15
future roles in a given community, and alignment with a wider context of the
community. Solomon’s analysis showed that alignment to the learning content
was necessary but not sufficient to endow students with expert status. The
author further contended that the theory of ‘community of practice’ is useful but
limited to address the gap between students’ perceived, actual and potential
abilities in mathematics. To resolve this, the author suggested ‘recognising their
[students’] position in multiple communities of practices with opposing rules of
engagement, and consequently of differential experiences of identity’ (2007, p.
94). It is acknowledged that ‘opposing rules of engagement’ can arise from the
multiple communities students are simultaneously engaged with and that these
rules can affect their perceptions of belonging. In this thesis, I investigate these
rules further and explain them through ‘field’ as a concept.

Rather than focusing on either students’ social or academic experiences, Palmer,

O’Kane and Owens (2009) argued for a concept of betwixt space (p. 73) to
explain the in-between-ness of first-year students’ multiple turning points and
transitions from home into higher education. Eighteen first-year university
students in the U.K., some of whom lived away from home, were interviewed
once at mid-first semester. Using a grounded theory approach, the authors
argued that students’ experiences at the betwixt space, both positive and
negative, shaped their views on ‘(not) belonging’ (p. 50) in their university life.
This opens up considerations of a temporal process of coming to belong in
university life and of a range of different turning point experiences. However,
the authors did not explain how (not) belonging might be generated in this or
the next space. In this thesis, the term ‘university’ is not just taken as a space in
its literal sense. Rather, it involves sets of conventions, relations, expectations,
tasks, itineraries and schedules that impinge on students’ daily life. Students’
lives could be better explored through sociological perspectives on the
university in this metaphorical sense.

This section has reviewed three pertinent studies of ‘belonging’ in higher

education recounted by first-year students (Palmer, et al., 2009; Solomon, 2007;
Wilcox, et al., 2005). The review reveals that there are a variety of facets
concerning shades, locations and means of belonging. In part, student life away

16
from home presupposes discontinuity with familiar social networks, which
might complicate any challenge. Also, the students in these studies tended to be
viewed as homogenous without adequate attention to varied educational
trajectories. This lack of nuance about diversity limits our understandings of
students’ readiness for higher education and academic success or failure.
Considering the limitations of these studies, interview studies at multiple points
of students’ university lives are required if we are to understand the subjective,
emotional process of coming to belong. The thesis will adopt multiple
interviews and emails as an improvement on the snapshot, one-interview,
designs, reported in this review. Multiple points during their university studies
and emails will better catch a process of coming to belong.

Reay (2001) was similarly interested in questions of belonging but with a

different student population, and consideration of how students’ past
educational experiences impacted on their sense of belonging at university. Her
data were interview accounts from nineteen mature-aged, working-class
students in the U.K. Using Bourdieu’s theory, Reay explained ‘belonging’ as a
matter of fit or match of habitus with the educational institution. By her analysis,
the working-class students felt uncomfortable about their schooling histories,
feared to be found out and found it hard to fit in. The students’ lives in the
university were processes of balancing safety, risk and challenge. Through the
focus on classed differences in first-year students’ experience in higher
education, Reay’s study highlights the dimension of emotions, both negative
and positive, in the processes of coming to belong. There is additional literature
using a Bourdieusian frame that interrogates first year students’ early
experiences in higher education (for example, Watson, Nind, Humphris, &
Borthwick, 2009), particularly the non-traditional students and their educational
trajectories.

Reay’s study may seem unrelated to this thesis because of its focus on classed
differences in educational experiences, but it offers particular views on
questions of belonging in British universities. Reay’s analysis shows that a
sense of ‘not belonging’ is a complex mix of unsuccessful schooling
experiences and insufficient support in higher education. It stems from power

17
relations, implicit but present, that work to advantage certain groups of students
in university and marginalise others. This perspective is made possible through
a sociological lens—a point of contrast to the ‘community of practice’ theory,
employed in Solomon’s (2007) study. Legitimate Peripheral Participation and
its modes of belonging typically disregard effects of power relations on
formations of these different modes of belonging. This matters; thus, this thesis
has departed from the notion of ‘community of practice’ to explore how power
relations worked to facilitate different senses of belonging.

In another body of literature, ‘student engagement’ is used as a parallel to the

concept of ‘belonging’. Student engagement is viewed as an indicator of
students’ participation and belonging in school (Willms, 2003). It is defined in
broad terms as ‘the extent to which students identify with and value schooling
outcomes and participate in academic and non-academic school activities’
(Willms, 2003, p. 8). It includes ‘behavioural engagement,’ ‘emotional
engagement,’ and ‘cognitive engagement’ (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris,
2004, pp. 62-64). I focus my review on ‘emotional engagement’, as it bears the
closest link to a sense of belonging. Emotional engagement is defined as
‘positive and negative reactions to teachers, classmates, academics, and school’
(p. 60) and enables ‘ties to an institution and … willingness to do the work’ (p.
60). Belonging, viewed as an emotional and psychological aspect of student
engagement, has an effect on academic performance in schools for students in
general in OECD countries (Willms, 2003) and for newcomer immigrant youth
in the U.S. as well (Suarez-Orozco, Pimentel, & Martin, 2009).

Suarez-Orozco and colleagues (2009) conducted mixed-methods study on

newcomer immigrant youth in schools in the U.S. In this paper, they reported
that positive school-based relationships were productive academically in the
newly-arrived immigrant youth’s primary and secondary education. The authors
followed 407 student participants over five years. The students were typically
fluent in a home language other than English and had schooling prior to study in
the U.S. education system. They were interviewed individually each year in
structured interviews in their preferred language. The 2009 paper reports on
students’ interview accounts obtained in the final year of the research. It is

18
argued that supportive relationships with school staff, family and community
members mediated challenges, helped channel ‘tangible and emotional school-
based supports’ (p. 741) to the migrant students, and further facilitated academic
engagement and achievement. This finding is important, as it provides insight
into how migrant students profited from both tangible supports and ‘the
emotional connections, or feeling of support and closeness, that students
develop with the people around them’ (pp.733-734). This thesis is similarly
interested in exploring relations between academic support and emotional
engagement in educational experiences in higher education.

It is acknowledged that immigrant youth in the U.S. are a different student

population from the EAL international student participants in Australia in this
thesis. However, the two bodies of student participants are similar in that they
enter—voluntarily or not—into in a new educational system on different routes
with different resources. They also share, to various extents, EAL backgrounds,
home language proficiency, and relatively high quality educational experiences
in home countries. What is particularly useful is that Suarez-Orozco et al.’s
(2009) study unpacks complex factors conducive to academic engagement in
new educational systems. From this, I take the point that on transition into a
new education system, students might benefit from a range of resources,
including but not limited to emotional and tangible supports, to foster their
academic success. However, this thesis departs from Suarez-Orozco and
colleagues’ study by adopting a sociological gaze to frame questions of students’
engagement in higher education.

Belonging for international students

This section shifts the focus to research on international students in higher
education. As discussed earlier, international students, in particular those with
EAL backgrounds, constitute part of the population of non-traditional university
students. To further explore the complexities of (not) belonging, I review three
recent studies pertaining to international students in higher education.

Koehne (2006) interviewed twenty-five first-year international students in

Australia about their study, life experiences and interactions within university
and its wider context. The data were analysed through a discourse analysis

19
informed by Foucauldian theory. According to the author, the international
students in the study constructed themselves, their host universities and the
wider context through various discourses. Through their talk the students
revealed multiple aspects of (be)longing and (be)coming in relation to the
discourses around them. Although Koehne did not theorize belonging as a
concept, the analysis shows that students talked about their ‘fight for respect, to
be heard’ (p. 252) and that their ‘not being heard’ is related to being looked
down upon and feelings of ‘not belonging’. It is argued that these students have
multi-faceted senses of selves that draw on their educational and personal
trajectories. For this thesis, Koehne’s study (2006) provides insight into how a
sense of (not) belonging can be produced by students’ struggle to resist
discourses they encounter.

Recent research on the concept of belonging was conducted by Sawir,

Marginson, Deumert, Nyland and Ramia (2008). The authors identified
loneliness as part of international students’ experiences in higher education in
Australia. The research is part of a larger study focused on international student
security, defined as ‘the maintenance of a stable capacity for self-determining
agency’ (Marginson, Nyland, Sawir, & Forbes-Mewett, 2010). Sawir and
colleagues (2008) reported responses by 200 international students from 34
countries to one question, ‘Have you experienced a period of loneliness or
isolation?’ (p.158) in structured interviews. The students’ responses were
interpreted through psychological perspectives on emotional and social
loneliness. The authors proposed a third type of loneliness, cultural loneliness,
‘triggered by the absence of the preferred cultural and/or linguistic environment’
(Sawir, et al., 2008, p. 171). This inclusion virtually guarantees the authors will
find high rates of loneliness because the students are in a new cultural
environment. Also, though ‘not belonging’ is not developed in the analysis
explicitly, it is implied in the authors’ theorization of the loneliness.

Sawir and colleagues (2008) reported that two-thirds of the students experienced
loneliness caused by a loss of friends and family and feeling out of place
socially, culturally and linguistically. According to the authors, the loneliness
persisted even for those with the company of close friends and family members.

20
The authors suggested that universities should intervene to facilitate
engagement with a wider local community, not limited to same-culture
networks. However, contrived social bonds could equally further deepen the
sense of feeling out of place socially and culturally. Also, new social networks
alone may not tackle the underlying problems or power relations causing the
isolation and loneliness. Though well intended, the suggested solutions in Sawir
and colleagues’ paper have implications of pathologising the international
student, and patronising them. The international students are independent
mobile youth, who set out for adventures in their study abroad lives. The
students’ emotional reactions of loneliness may arise from challenges of
transitions into new institutions, but not necessarily relate to conditions of their
mental health or resilience.

For first-year university students (both international and domestic), building

new friendships and maintaining old ones are commonly suggested as solutions
to problems in higher education (Sawir, et al., 2008; Wilcox, et al., 2005).
Friendships are also viewed as useful to foster a sense of belonging in higher
education. However, it cannot be assumed that efforts to foster social bonds will
simply and easily overcome loneliness arising from the absence of preferred
culture and language in the case of international students. Friendships or social
relations may not transcend classed differences (Reay, 2001) among university
students in general regardless of countries of origins. Cultural and linguistic
differences can constitute other vectors of ‘not belonging’. Finally, it is
important to stress the emotional reactions identified in this group of studies: i)
working-class students’ fear of being found out in Reay (2001); and ii)
international students’ ‘fight … to be heard’ in Koehne (2006). This thesis will
further explore such reactions, as produced by circumstances and interactions
with student and/or staff members in the university.

This review now turns to mixed-methods study around similar questions of

belonging, conducted with Hong Kong-Chinese learners in international schools
in Hong Kong (Jabal, 2010). While not situated in the context of higher
education, this paper focuses on aspects of belonging experienced by the
international student from the perspective of social inclusion and exclusion,

21
discussed in later sections. The circumstances Hong Kong-Chinese students
negotiated and coped with in the international schools bear some resemblance to
those encountered by the international students in higher education; namely,
being EAL and international in English-medium educational institutions. But
these students belong to the Cantonese speaking majority outside the institution.

Jabal’s (2010) paper reports qualitative interviews with ten international

students from two international schools in Hong Kong. These students typically
held British or other European passports and had lived overseas. The analyses
show that the students envisaged diversity to be an advantage of international
education, as compared to attending local schools. However, these students
were reported to be socially segregated by differences in ‘linguistic, race/ethnic,
and nationality, but also interest group and academic subjects’ (2010, p.82). The
author concluded that the international school in Hong Kong should look into
factors arising from differences in language, race, and nationality in order to
foster positive school experiences of diversity.

In this paper, social inclusivity in the form of ‘getting the students to mix’ (Jabal,
2010, p. 87) was used as an indicator of how a sense of belonging was
experienced by the Hong Kong-Chinese students in international schools in
Hong Kong. However, there is a taken for granted notion of preferred friendship
choices, not sufficiently examined in its links to fostering belonging in
international schools. Also, the focus on relations of belonging and befriending
with non-Chinese counterparts might limit our understandings of other sources
of belonging, including the content or ways of learning (Kalantzis and
colleagues, 2005). These experiences of learning might contribute to other
sources of (not) belonging in international schools.

The review thus far on international students’ belonging suggests that social
experiences, in particular new friendships, are viewed as an important aspect of
coming to belong in educational settings. For EAL international students, the
formation of new friendships is complicated by facets of languages, nationalities,
and personal attributes. Non-traditional domestic students and EAL
international students in these studies experienced some common challenges on
transition into higher education. Focusing on just their differences among the

22
student population can overlook commonalities of sociological positioning
within educational institutions. This review offers grounds to view transitional
challenges from a sociological perspective, rather than as a cultural or a
psychological problem. In the following, research literature on first year
experience in higher education is explored for more insight.

First Year Experience

This section reviews relevant research literature on first year experience in
higher education. It explores what is known about the commonalities shared by
first year students in higher education. Australian first year cohorts are
somewhat unique in that mature-age students make up a large proportion of the
first year student population and that a growing body of students have
commitments other than study, such as work to support themselves financially
(McInnis, 2001). Australian universities tend to be more occupation-oriented, as
reflected by the students’ characteristics and selections (McInnis, 2001), than
their U.S. counterparts.

For several decades research into the first year experience has focused on
students’ adjustments and academic performance (McInnis, 2001). This focus
stems from its relation to problems of retention and quality teaching in higher
education. Two dimensions—‘support and orientation’ (2001, p. 108)—were
identified as guidelines for universities to resource and orient their first year
students. These guidelines formed the underlying principles for program
inductions and arrangements. A similar call came from a national survey
conducted by Krause, Hartley, James and McInnis (2005) on 2344 first year
students in Australian universities in 2004. It was argued that Australian
universities should provide adequate institutional supports to meet the needs of
commencing students and to ensure students’ engagement with academics, peers,
and university lives.

A range of supportive programs and orientation activities have emerged. Not

surprisingly, evaluations of such initiatives made up major themes for research
on students’ first year experience in higher education (McInnis, 2001). For
example, Pikethly and Prosser (2001) conducted and evaluated a model of a
university-wide First Year Experience Project in an Australian university to

23
better serve first year students. They argued that a better understanding of first
year students’ experiences could inform universities how to best target strategies
for retention.

A similar effort is made by Trotter and Roberts (2006) in the U.K. They
reported evaluations of several support programs with high and low retention
rates in one British university. They identified six key factors that might affect
students’ decisions to withdraw: pre-entry information, induction, personal tutor
support, attendance, teaching and learning activities and assessment. Their study
argued that the support staff in programs with a higher retention rate than others
tended to provide informative, engaging, and supportive activities in a
prolonged manner in students’ first semester.

Both papers by Pikethly and Prosser (2001) and Trotter and Roberts (2006) are
representative of the on-going institutional efforts and supports to ensure
positive university experiences to improve retention in the first year. However,
this type of literature is limited in its theoretical purchase on challenges facing
first year students. For example, a broad brush recommendation that ‘[t]eaching
and learning strategies that involve students actively in class are likely to be
more successful’ (Trotter & Roberts, 2006, p. 383) seemed similarly under-
theorised. There is also a lack of elaboration on what teaching and learning
strategies would work to this end.

A comparative study conducted in the Netherlands and New Zealand

investigating first year students’ expectations and levels of preparedness for
university (van der Meer, Jansen, & Torenbeek, 2010) similarly lacked any
theoretical perspective. The study had survey, open-ended questions, and
interview data, generated with first year students in two universities. The paper
reported on aspects of ‘time and study management’ from two surveys at
beginning and end points of the first academic year, with responses from 1465
first year students in the Netherlands and 440 in New Zealand. The authors
argued that first year students were initially not fully aware of the level of
challenge entailed in university and that academics and institutions should take
more responsibility to attend to students’ study skills.

24
The study by van der Meer and colleagues (2010) points out the importance of
looking into self-reported change of students’ readiness for university over time.
Their study also highlighted students’ and lecturers’ different perceptions of
academic expectations. However, there is no description of whether these
students had successful schooling experiences before they entered university.
There is also a limited account of how the teaching staff differed in their
expectations and whether these differences were idiosyncratic or not. These
considerations warrant the sociological gaze undertaken in this thesis.

On the other hand, researchers have attended to relations between first year
students’ academic and social experiences. Specifically, Morosanu, Handley
and O’Donovan (2010) investigated how first year students in a British
university coped with academic challenges by drawing upon their social
interactions and resources. The data were from audio diaries of five first year
students’ daily experiences and adaptations in higher education. Applying a
social network perspective, the authors differentiated resources obtained by
participants from different social networks to cope with ‘academic hurdles’ (p.
668). The authors’ point is that institution-related supports from teaching and
support staff were not considered as adequate or accessible as those from ‘peers,
flatmates, informal study groups, family, friends, and work colleagues’ (p. 672).
With the study of Wilcox et al. (2005) reviewed earlier, this paper is useful in
that it reports a parallel concern with students’ social experiences as relevant to
adaptation to higher education settings.

This review reflects, firstly, universities’ ongoing efforts to better support first
year students (for example, Pikethly and Prosser, 2001; Trotter and Roberts,
2006), and, secondly, researchers’ interest in students’ social supports and
resources (for example, Morosanu, et al., 2010). These two themes recur in
much of the literature on first year experience. However, they are not
interrogated sufficiently with relevant theorisation, nor grounded in sound
methodology (McInnis, 2001).

In the next section, I review another body of literature on group work, not
limited to first year experience. Group work has been widely adopted as a
favoured type of pedagogy and assessment by Australian universities (Doherty,

25
Kettle, May, & Caukill, 2011), which has raised a number of concerns for EAL
international students and others .

Group work
Group work is considered important to learning in higher education to develop
graduate capabilities for collaboration (Burdett, 2003). Group assignments have
also been accepted as a favoured form of assessment on the ground that they
provide ‘opportunities for students to negotiate meaning and manipulate ideas
with others and reflect upon their learning’ (p. 177). However, group work is
highly contentious for students in higher education, particularly concerning
fairness of group assessment (Strauss & Alice, 2007). Students can both benefit
or be disadvantaged by strategies related to task allocation and member
selection (Pitt, 2000). For the purpose of this thesis, this review is not about the
value of collaborative learning or the learning outcomes of group work. Rather
it focuses on complexities involved in EAL international students’ experiences
of group work that can impinge on students’ sense of belonging.

Burdett (2003) found that students, in general, welcomed group work as a type
of assessment because of possibilities of generating ideas, building networks
and friendships, improving learning processes and sharing workload. However,
‘frustrations associated with perceived unfair practices’ (p. 190) and logistics of
group meetings were identified as some negative experiences. Similarly
concerned with possible unfairness of group assessment, Remedios, Clarke, and
Hawthorne (2008) addressed issues around silent participation, involving
members of varied ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. The data reported in this
paper is part of a two-year ethnographic study investigating collaborative
learning, specifically 13 first year international and 17 local student participants.
The authors argued that silent participation is not necessarily a product of
students’ cultural backgrounds, but a behaviour shared by students, both
international and local. This study is useful as it shows that silence could be
produced by circumstances and interactions among group members.

Also interested in groups of diverse student backgrounds, Strauss and Alice

(2007) explored lecturers’ perceptions of and reactions to challenges in group
assessment in a New Zealand university. 14 lecturers were interviewed for their

26
accounts on difficulties and challenges when implementing group assessment.
The authors reported that lecturers felt that they were caught in a dilemma about
whether to force first language speakers of English to take EAL international
students as group members. Strauss and Alice’s (2007) paper is representative
of broader concerns over the effectiveness and fairness of group assessment
when group members are of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

The review here shows that group work concerns are associated with risks
possibly arising from students’ diverse linguistic, cultural and educational
backgrounds (Remedios, et al., 2008; Strauss & Alice, 2007). The following
section proceeds with a review of research on oracy and academic support to
students for further discussions concerning cultural and linguistic differences in
the research literature.

Oracy and academic support

The needs of oracy and academic support to EAL international students in
higher education have been widely researched from various theoretical and
methodological perspectives. The review here focuses on selected research
literature reporting the development of English oracy and writing skills to EAL
international students in higher education in Australia. This is to explore factors
that might affect group work experiences.

To start with, the review focuses on typical challenges of English proficiency

for new arrivals in English preparatory programs in Australia. Sawir (2005)
investigated EAL international students’ prior experiences of learning English
and their impacts on conversational experiences. The author interviewed 12
EAL international students individually. The author reported that these students
learnt how to improve their skills in English conversations. Sawir’s paper is
important in its acknowledgement that the EAL students made on-going effort
to improve their English oracy.

Also heavily researched are challenges in writing in academic English

(Arkoudis & Tran, 2007; Tran, 2008). Arkoudis and Tran (2007) looked at EAL
international students’ agency in making adjustments to writing requirements of
a TESOL postgraduate program. The authors conducted a group interview with

27
seven student participants for accounts on first assignments, and then these
students were interviewed again individually six months later for changed views.
The data also included their lecturers’ accounts on these participants’ written
assignments. Analysed within a linguistics framework, the data showed that the
student participants either conformed to or rejected adherence to assignment
criteria, designed and provided by the lecturers. The authors argued that
students’ choices and strategies were formed based on their prior educational
experiences and beliefs. They further suggested that these EAL international
students exercised their agency and made progress in their academic writing in
English. This paper provides a similar view to Sawir’s (2005) on the EAL
international students’ on-going efforts to adapt to new academic requirements
in the new educational institution.

In recent years there has been a call for more provision of discipline-based
academic skill program (Baik & Greig, 2009; Green, 2007). This type of
academic skill program is often conducted by both EAL support staff and
faculty academics, in contrast to programs designed and delivered solely by the
former. Baik and Creig (2009) developed an adjunct EAL program tailored
specifically for students enrolled in a particular discipline. The adjunct program
closely mirrored faculty lectures and provided extra time for attendees to review
content presented and to clarify points raised in the lectures. All this was
designed to happen before the attendees sat in regular tutorials. The authors
reported the participants’ significant improvement in both the technical English
required for the discipline and in grades awarded as final results. However, the
authors did not discern whether improvement was an outcome of the language
support or of the mere fact of more time invested by students on task.

Baik and Creig’s paper is typical of practitioners’ responses to special needs of

the EAL international students and evaluations of programs conducted for a
particular student population, as raised by McInnis (2001). This paper does not
aim to provide empirical findings, but reports outcomes of an intervention
without careful methodological and theoretical examinations. However, it has
documented one university’s constant efforts and practices to support students

28
entering into new disciplines. It also argued that with adequate support, the EAL
international students will make progress and overcome challenges.

The selected literature reviewed here is similar in that i) the EAL international
students continue improving both oracy and writing skills; ii) these students are
active in making decisions, seeking support, and dealing with challenges; iii)
contextual factors such as new pedagogies and writing requirements have the
potential to induce change; and iv) students’ prior educational experiences can
be productive in adjustments made for their tasks. However, the review also
shows that the selected literature focuses on student agency and institutional
provision of language support. At the same time, the literature leaves out other
issues that are problematic, such as what constitutes good oracy and writing in
English, in what discipline or context, according to whose standards, and why
all these work the way they are in a given situation. These cannot be easily
resolved by student agency and language support, but matter.

To conclude this section on first year experiences of students in general, we

know that universities have been particularly interested in the critical stage of
students’ first year experiences and in the improvement of retention rates. This
interest has reflected the themes of first year experience literature in tackling
challenges related to academic skills such as time management, academic
English, and the equity and fairness of group assessment. The review shows that
universities have been responsive and supportive of EAL international students.
It also shows that these authors typically acknowledged that these challenges
would pose a large impact on first year experiences, and that the EAL
international students could learn to improve. However, the review further
indicates that the studies do not present a theorized, sociological perspective to
understand these challenges and the diverse student population differently. This
lack warrants this thesis to take a sociological perspective to explore different
understandings.

As argued by McInnis (2001), diversity in higher education tends to be treated

separately in first year experience literature on different student populations in
higher education. In the following, I review selected literature on EAL
international students to see what we know about these students.

29
EAL International Students
In this section, I review three bodies of research literature on EAL international
students. The reasons for the selection and the categorisation of the literature are
based on their relevance to the challenges of these students discussed thus far in
the current chapter, and chronological change in the substantive research in
these issues in the context of Australian higher education.

Heritage learning styles: The Chinese learners

EAL international students have been traditionally viewed as Chinese learners,
reflecting the intake of these students in the development of international
education in Australia since 1990s. These students typically came from
Australia’s Asian neighbours such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and
Taiwan. They are thought to be of Chinese ethnicity and to have Confucian
Heritage Learning (CHL) characteristics. They are widely perceived as rote
learners, who are passive, lacking in critical thinking skills or insufficiently
fluent in English (Ballard & Clanchy, 1997; Cadman, 2000).

This thesis does not aim to take this track, but acknowledges that some
researchers have argued that these students’ prior educational experiences and
their inherited cultural traits would hinder progress or adjustments in their study
in English-medium, Australian universities. This view suggested that these
students be taught and supported differently and separately by academics and
teaching staff. For the purpose of this thesis, the review now turns to potential
for adaptation.

Adaptation prompted by new requirements

The second body of literature contends that Chinese learning styles should not
be viewed as constraining attributes (Biggs, 1997; Rao & Chan, 2009; Ryan,
2005). Rather, the concern is with the pedagogical arrangements that can enable
these Chinese learners or EAL international students to better adapt to Western
universities in general and Australian universities in particular (Biggs, 1997).
This view is supported by the argument that South-east Asian and Australian
undergraduate students in one body of work did not show significant difference
in coping with academic demands (Volet, Renshaw, & Tietzel, 1994). Given

30
enough time, the South-east Asian students could make sense of what they were
required to do in group work, at tutorials, and in goal seeking, and could make
successful adjustments academically (Renshaw & Volet, 1995; Volet & Ang,
1998; Volet & Mansfield, 2006; Volet, et al., 1994).

I discuss an example to illustrate the point in this body of literature. In Renshaw

& Volet’s (1995) quantitative study, students’ participation at tutorials was
observed and documented. When student initiated or tutor-generated responses
at these tutorials were examined, no specific differences were noted between
South-east Asian students and local students. The findings showed that both
groups of students ‘engaged in tutorial discussions of their own accord’. Also,
Volet and Renshaw (1995) held that both South-East Asian and Australian first-
year students’ goals and perceptions of academic settings did not differ
significantly, based on their survey study. The authors argued that these students
had strategies and made adjustments in response to the new requirements of
higher level learning in universities.

From this review, it is clear that the two bodies of literature are similar in that
Chinese learners, or EAL international students, encounter initial academic
challenges such as English proficiency and participation norms in Australian
universities. These students are considered homogeneous with similar
educational backgrounds, heritage cultural learning styles, and seemingly
limited English proficiency. However, the researchers in these two bodies of
literature are different in their views on the students’ previous educational
experiences and their cultural traits. They disagreed on how well these students
can adapt to new requirements in new contexts. Nonetheless, neither body of
literature adequately contests what produces the differences between the
students perceived by different groups of researchers. Also largely unexplored
are the taken-for-granted values, preferences, and behaviours of EAL
international students and those of Australian educational institutions. This
thesis is interested in what the taken-for-granted notions of the students and
institutions are, and what enables student adaptation to higher education in
Australia.

31
Sociological views of EAL international students
More recent literature marks a shift in methodological and theoretical
considerations. These studies constitute the third group of the research literature.
They typically adopted small-scaled, qualitative, interview designs in framing
questions about differences commonly attributed to EAL international students
from a range of sociological perspectives. Also, they tend not to focus on
country- specific student populations as research participants, but include
participants from a variety of source countries.

Bullen and Kenway (2003) reported contradictory representations of female

EAL international students from China and South-East Asian countries held by
the students themselves and their teaching and support staff. They adopted a
qualitative study design and a postcolonial perspective. They found that students
were viewed as wives of other postgraduates, low in English proficiency, and in
need of more guidance from academics. Also, the students were seen as
submissive, or oppressed. However, the students saw themselves as capable,
brave, and independent. The authors argued that there may be discrepancies
between international students’ self representations and representations made by
others. The point here is that the perceived differences of these female
international students may be imagined.

Similarly, international students showed some acceptance of others’

representations of them (Bullen & Kenway, 2003). Reporting the same study,
Kenway and Bullen (2003) found these students accepted their being
represented as being ‘serious, studious, uninterested in social interaction’
(pp.12-13). The reason for this was that they had to spend time dealing with
study pressures, so that they did not have time for socialising. However, they
resisted labels such as sexually ‘easy’ and ‘subversive’ (p.14), but found
themselves ‘strong’ (p.14) and independent in making decisions and conducting
study. The selective acceptance reported by the authors reflected these female
international students’ struggles against stereotypical representations by others.

The significance of discrepancies between self-or perceived representations of

international students lies in its impact upon some pedagogical choices of their
teachers in Western universities. With data drawn from EAL teachers’

32
interviews, Singh and Doherty (2004) investigated how teachers made
pedagogical decisions to include or exclude certain activities or practices in
their classrooms. It is argued that these decisions arose from two types of
teachers’ perceptions— i) what Western universities should be like; ii) what the
EAL international students would be like. These imaginations might limit what
both universities and their students can become in Western universities.

Researchers turned to look at student agency, rather than focusing on perceived

differences. Agency here is referred to as discursive practice, based on the
perspective of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, where the student is an
agentive self by engaging in his own learning in response to pedagogical
practices as a second language learner (Kettle, 2005). Kettle (2005) illustrated
this point by describing a Thai postgraduate student’s adaptations over time, as
drawn from two interviews at separate times in the semester. The author argued
that the Thai student actively responded to academic demands requiring him to
speak out in English and that he worked as an agent on his own terms to make
this change. Kettle’s work is useful in that it provides empirical evidence that
the Thai student made efforts to adapt to the preferred form of participation in
the local Australian classroom and that it acknowledges that the Thai student
sought to fit in the learning community.

Departing from Kettle’s focus on student agency, Singh and Doherty (2008)
contested notions of cultural differences held by the EAL international students
and their teachers. Drawing on interview data, they argued that cultural
differences are not as disparate as imagined by the two parties. The students
were reported to have experienced similarities rather than distinct differences
and to have an awareness of their fluidity in their pursuit of Western credentials.
On the other hand, their teachers noted that their students sought deeper
understandings of Australia than information about kangaroos, koalas and so
forth. The authors cautioned that mismatched representations in both ways
could affect classroom interactions and choices of knowledge to be transmitted
to these students. They suggested that these students be viewed as mobile
students with transnational selves on their sojourns in Australia.

33
Drawing on the same interview study, Doherty and Singh (2007) further
reported that international students offered an alternative understanding of who
they were and that they were aware that they might need to use both their
previously accumulated resources and newly established ones to invest in their
future employment prospects. The authors argued that the EAL international
students had flexible identities conditioned by their situated contexts and that
these students hoped to profit from their investment in their transnational
journeys.

Both papers by Singh and Doherty (2008) and Doherty and Singh (2007) are
important in that cultural differences might be produced by imagination and that
these imaginings can limit what we know about who EAL international students
are in their transnational pursuit of education. The mismatched representations
can result in inappropriate pedagogical choices and content being put on offer to
these students and further lead to mutual disappointments regarding the
provision of international education.

To summarise this body of literature, we know that cultural differences can be

interpreted from different points of view. The same female international
students can be viewed differently by themselves and by staff members (Bullen
& Kenway, 2003; Kenway & Bullen, 2003). Students’ representations by
teaching staff can further affect pedagogical choices and knowledge transmitted
(Doherty & Singh, 2007; Singh & Doherty, 2004, 2008). On the other hand,
EAL international students have been increasingly recognised as active agents
(Kettle, 2005), and mobile students with flexible and transnational identities
(Doherty & Singh, 2007; Singh & Doherty, 2004, 2008). This thesis will follow
this line of research as it has broadened our understandings of what these
students can be through sociological perspectives, rather than focusing on
cultural heritage selves and academic achievements.

However, this body of literature offers limited evidence about how EAL
international students invest in their study abroad life and how they appropriate
their existing and new resources to adapt to new norms or requirements. Also, it
largely overlooks the role English played in an English-medium context and its
impact on international students’ study abroad lives. It should be noted that in

34
the two bodies of research literature on first year experience and international
students reviewed thus far, there have not been adequate theoretical accounts of
the role of English in the life and learning experiences of language minorities. In
the following, I turn to the EAL migrant and student literature for some insight
into this perspective.

EAL Migrant Students

This section aims to explore theoretical perspectives of power relations
experienced by the EAL migrant students in school contexts. The selected
literature focuses on educational experiences of migrant students with limited
English proficiency studying in mainstream classrooms. However, this line of
inquiry starts with two migrant studies. The first is concerned with Lippi-
Green’s (1997) study on adult migrants’ accents in European contexts. The
author argued that communicative responsibilities are not necessarily shared
mutually among conversants when accents of second language migrant speakers
are detected by first language speakers. It is also argued that these adult second
language migrant speakers are typically held responsible for ineffective
communication in the process and that ineffectiveness is often attributed by the
conversant to second language migrant speakers’ incompetence of the targeted
language. Whether intentional or not, first-language speakers can subsequently
refuse further clarification and withdraw from communication.

In line with Lippi-Green’s arguments is Norton’s (1995) study on migrant

women in work contexts in Canada. Norton’s (1995) work is monumental in its
insights drawn from sociological theories to explore power relations at play in
communication practices. This work looked at how EAL migrant women in the
English-medium context were in a disadvantageous position to decide when
they could talk, what they could choose to say, and with whom they could
converse in English. Norton (1995) argued that language learners negotiated
multiple social identities at various sites through complex social relations with
their conversant. Both Lippi-Green’s (1997) and Norton’s study (1995) are
important for educational research on issues of accessing conversational
practices with Anglophone speakers in mainstream classrooms and in the wider

35
context outside schools. These are the focus of the review in the following
sections.

Before I proceed with the review, it should be noted that the EAL migrant
student population is not the same student population this thesis aimed to
explore. These two student bodies are different in that the EAL international
students in this thesis typically received a longer period of education up to
higher education in home countries and they were of higher social and economic
statuses attained than the EAL migrant students explored in the studies to be
reviewed. However the two are similar in that they, by virtue of coming to
English-medium contexts whether voluntarily or not, conducted their study in a
new and different educational system, where English proficiency is crucial in
their educational and social experiences in and beyond school contexts.

Investment in language learning

In line with the Norton’s (1995) arguments and based upon the same study,
Norton (2000) argued that language learners are aware that they could acquire
advantageous positions in the mainstream context. She argued that language
learners invest in language learning with a view to profiting socially and
economically from competence in the target language. Norton (2000) proposed
that the concept of investment in language learning encompasses both learners’
intentions to learn a second language and its convertibility to other capital,
drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital, or educational advantages, to
be discussed in more detail in Chapter Three.

Norton’s (1995, 2000) work provides theoretical insights into the

understandings of power relations involved in communication among speakers
of different language proficiency. Language learners with limited language
proficiency are not in advantageous positions in social interactions. It should be
noted that Norton’s work was largely on migrant women and on spoken
practices in work contexts. Conditions involved under these circumstances
might not be the same in schools. Still, these understandings are useful for this
thesis to further explore how power relations and investment are at play in the
educational experiences of the EAL international students in an English-
medium university.

36
Social interactions and English skills
Building upon Norton (1995) but researching in school contexts, McKay and
Wong (1996) looked at immigrant Chinese adolescents negotiating their
educational experiences in school contexts with different levels of skills in
reading, writing, and listening. Four students were interviewed from their arrival
onward and were observed in classrooms for two years. The authors argued that
these EAL migrant students negotiated who they were through their interactions
with teachers, students and community members. They also argued that the
students made different investments in selected language skills, depending on
their relations with their conversants. These two points are useful to understand
the complex use of English experienced by newly arrived adolescents in
mainstream classrooms. Though the EAL international students in this thesis
were not in their teens, these points may also be worth further exploration. In
the following I turn to an Australian study exploring similar problems
experienced by newly arrived migrant adolescent students.

Audibility: Being heard by student peers and teachers

In Australia, Miller (2003) conducted an eighteen-month ethnographic study,
with data generated from interviews, observations, and students’ journals. She
followed five immigrant students in an intensive English language centre and
later in a mainstream secondary school. Adopting Bourdieu’s concepts of
linguistic capital and legitimacy, Miller (2003) investigated how inaudibility in
educational institutions might affect EAL migrants’ education opportunities in
school contexts. According to Miller, inaudibility refers to how EAL migrant
students might not be heard or understood in their second language by their
student peers and teachers in schools, given difference in accent. Miller argued
that such ‘institutional deafness’ (p. 169) can have serious consequences,
hindering these migrant students’ adaptation to new educational systems. She
(2003) suggested that those in educational institutions should share
responsibility for audibility when newly arrived migrant students struggle to
make themselves heard in their second language.

Miller’s (2003) work is important for this thesis. Though the concept of
audibility is grounded in the empirical study researching school contexts, this

37
concept is worth exploring in the educational experiences of EAL international
students in higher education. The reason is that, despite varied levels of English
proficiency and different routes of entry into mainstream classrooms, EAL
international students might go through similar social interactions, hoping to be
heard and understood in English. Audibility can affect these students’ friendship
building, participation in pedagogical activities and opportunities to further
develop English skills. In the following, I review research literature on
discussions over language use and social interactions.

Language use and social capital

Similarly using Bourdieu, Goldstein (2003a) reported a four-year ethnographic
study looking at the dilemma of the use of Cantonese in a Canadian post
secondary school. Students’ use of home language in the school’s public
domain created conflict, risk, and dilemmas. This linguistic tension arose when
school authorities attempted to delegitimate students’ use of home languages in
public domains. It should be noted that this was occurring at a time of intense
‘English only’ activism in the U.S. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of ‘capital’
and Valenzuela’s (1999) notion of ‘peer social capital’, Goldstein argued that
the use of home language enabled the migrant students to access peer social
capital and that peer social capital can be converted to cultural capital to
advantage the pursuit of other forms of capital.

I take two points from Goldstein’s work. The first is that this work makes
explicit links between language choices and accrual of social capital, in line
with Valenzuela’s work. The research literature on social capital, including but
not limited to Valenzuela’s work, will be reviewed in the following section. The
second is concerned with factors that would affect accrual of social capital. For
the purpose of this thesis, I continue to explore ‘silence’, emerging from
Goldstein’s work and employed somewhat consciously by the Cantonese-
speaking students as a strategy.

In Goldstein’s work, silence posed a significant challenge to teachers and

students in interaction and communication in English-medium schools
(Goldstein, 2003a, 2003b, 2008; Pon, Goldstein, & Schecter, 2003). For the
Cantonese-speaking students in Goldstein’s (2003a) study, speaking English in

38
whole-class discussion could be viewed as ‘showing off’ and risked loss of
Cantonese peer support. Thus, silence became a strategy to stay in a particular
linguistic group and to maintain social support. However, this strategy is highly
contentious because it creates tension with teachers and students who favour
active oral participation. Still, the adolescent Cantonese-speaking migrant
students made their choices with a view to accessing peer social capital and
cultural capital.

To summarise this section, we learn that EAL migrant students’ experiences of

using their second language with Anglophone counterparts and/or teachers
affected their senses of selves (Norton, 1995, 2000), their chances for speech
activities, their investment in language learning and different language skills
and further educational opportunities in school contexts (McKay & Wong, 1996;
Miller, 2003). Also, these students’ use of home language had a positive impact
on seeking peer social capital, which could be converted to other forms of
capital to advance the students academically. Lastly, the sociological
theorisations employed in this body of literature, in particular Bourdieu’s
concepts, provide deeper understandings of the complex relations between
English proficiency and EAL migrant students’ educational experiences in
schools (Goldstein, 2003a; Miller, 2003; Norton, 1995, 2000). These
understandings warrant this thesis’ exploration of Bourdieu’s concepts to
unravel the complex relations of language proficiency, access to social capital
and academic success.

Social interactions and social capital in schools

To further explore challenges of acquiring social capital in migrant students’
educational experiences in the U.S., the review to be followed is selected from a
slightly different body of literature from those in the previous section. Despite
varied students’ personal attributes and idiosyncrasies, these studies typically
aimed to answer the question, from a sociological perspective, of why and how
certain groups of migrant students could succeed in the educational system and
continue on to higher education while others could not. To start with, I review
Valenzuela (1999) on Mexican migrant students’ language choice and social
capital and then introduce and critique briefly on other literature in this line of

39
inquiry (for example, Stanton-Salazar, 1997). However, it is acknowledged that
the Spanish-speaking migrant students and the minority students researched in
this body of literature are different student populations from the EAL
international students in this thesis, in that the latter are relatively affluent in
socio-economic, educational and social relations and opportunities in home
countries. For the purpose of this thesis, I particularly highlight the theoretical
perspectives on accrual of social capital in this review.

In a case study design, Valenzuela (1999) investigated how limited home

language proficiency hindered the possibility of accessing profitable social
interactions with bilingual Spanish-speaking migrant students in a secondary
school in the U.S. She argued that the bilingual migrant students typically had
better school-related resources such as tutoring opportunities, homework help
and college enrolment information than their less fluent Spanish-speaking
counterparts. The author concluded that i) devaluing home language and culture
was an outcome of the U.S. educational policy that systematically excluded the
teaching of home language and heritage of migrant students in the U.S.
educational system; and ii) that this policy deprived the migrant students of their
opportunity to accrue peer social capital to advantage them in forming
educational aspirations and seeking higher education.

Valenzuela (1999) based her arguments on Coleman’s concept of social capital,

defined as advantageous academic resources mobilisable through social
networks, and extended it to peer social capital, focusing on profitable relations
and resources generated and transmitted by peer students and their associates, as
briefly discussed in the review of Goldstein’s (2003) work. In this work,
Valenzuela (1999) argued for migrant students’ proficiency of home language
as positive resources to access peer social capital. This argument is in line with
Stanton-Salazar and Dornbusch’s (1995) survey study on inequality of
accessing social capital through institutional agents, defined as ‘those
individuals who have the capacity and commitment to transmit directly or to
negotiate the transmission of institutional resources and opportunities’ (p. 117).
The authors argued that bilingual migrant students’ proficiency in both English
and home language benefited the acquisition of the support from institutional

40
agents for academic success and future career development (Stanton-Salazar,
1997; Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch, 1995). Nonetheless, the point is not about
students’ bilingual proficiency, but the cultural capital in the Spanish-speaking
networks.

Stanton-Salazar (1997) adopted Bourdieu’s (1997, 1986) concept of social

capital in addition to Coleman’s in the previous work researched by Stanton-
Salazar and Dornbusch (1995). This addition of Bourdieu’s theory is also taken
up by Lareau and Horvat (1999). They adopted an extensive use of Bourdieu’s
concepts of habitus, field and capital to explain the complex relations of family
and school in the context of U.S. schools. They investigated how white, middle-
class parents could better activate their economic, cultural, and social resources
in parent-teacher interactions in school contexts to advantage their children’s
life trajectories than black, working class counterparts; and how Black middle
class parents could also activate cultural resources.

For the purpose of this thesis, the point here is that, drawing on more Bourdieu,
we understand better how social capital and cultural capital derived from
profitable social interactions with school-related personnel can be unequally
activated and utilised and how these further prevented moments of inclusion, or
‘the coming together of various forces to provide an advantage to the child in
his or her life trajectory’ (Lareau & Horvat, 1999, p. 48), for less privileged
parents.

To conclude the review of this body of theoretical literature, it should be noted

that the researchers generally agree that educational success for migrant students
in the context of U.S. schools can profit from the acquisition of social capital
through institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Stanton-Salazar &
Dornbusch, 1995), peer social networks (Valenzuela, 1999), and parent-teacher
relations (Lareau & Horvat, 1999). They also hold that opportunity to access
social capital is unequally distributed. In some cases, it typically relies on
proficiency of home language (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Stanton-Salazar &
Dornbusch, 1995; Valenzuela, 1999); in other cases, it is dependent on race and
class (Lareau & Horvat, 1999). Finally, these understandings are made possible
through theorisations of Bourdieu’s theory on unequal access to different forms

41
of capital for alternative explanations for educational success or failure. These
understandings are useful for this thesis to take a fresh stand point to further
what we can know about the EAL international students in their acquisition of
social capital and other profitable social relations in their adaptation to a new
educational system.

In the following section I would like to review selected research literature on

similar challenges facing EAL international students studying in Northern
America, Canada in particular. For the purpose of this study, the review focuses
on how learners of English are understood to be socialised into academic
discourse communities, in particular how they appropriate their oracy and
participation in academic contexts (Duff, 2010; Duff & Kobayashi, 2010; Leki,
2001; Morita, 2004).

Perspectives of Language Socialisation

In this section I review selected literature on language socialisation research
conducted on EAL international students’ adaptation into English-medium
universities in Northern America and on mature-aged EAL migrant students at
work and university in Canada. The review of this body of literature focuses on
how theorisations from the perspective of language socialisation and
methodological considerations give purchase on these challenges.

Academic socialisation: Oracy in group work

Academic socialisation is a process by which new members are socialised into
an existing academic discourse community (Duff, 2010). Academic discourse is
considered ‘not just an entity but a social, cognitive, and rhetorical process and
an accomplishment, a form of enculturation, social practice, positioning,
representation, and stance-taking’ (Duff, 2010, p. 170). Socialisation into
academic discourse involves recognizing, accepting and producing work
according to the way things are in a given context, including guidelines, values,
conventions, and preferences.

Morita (2004) investigated how a group of Japanese students negotiated their

membership and participation in whole-class discussion in a Canadian
university. The study was framed using a range of theories, especially

42
community of practice (CoP), which emphasizes how novice learners are
socialised into a new community of practice, and acquire knowledge from
expert members through participation. Morita (2004) employed an ethnographic
approach, interviewing and observing six female Japanese post-graduate
students studying in the broad areas of education, arts and humanities. She
argued that academic socialisation is a complex process whereby participants
negotiate how they view themselves through competences and through feelings
about how others view them.

For the purpose of this thesis, I would like to present a detailed review of the
cases of three EAL student participants in Morita’s (2004) work. The first found
speaking up in whole-class discussions challenging, but managed to seek fuller
participation and membership with a range of strategies over time, including
preparing something to say in advance. These experiences impacted upon her
making sense of herself in the class and of herself viewed by others. The second
student, facing similar challenges, chose to remain silent in the discussions. She
maintained a marginal position—a language learner, a novice student and an
outsider to the Canadian classroom. The third student displayed different
degrees of participation in different classes. When she felt her silence was a
problem in one class, she actively sought solutions by requesting the lecturer in
email to slow down the delivery of her lecture and to invite silent students, like
herself, to participate in whole-class discussions. However, this attempt was not
fruitful; thus, she maintained silent throughout the lectures. Morita concluded
that participants’ senses of selves were affected by their different degrees of
membership and participation in a number of communities.

Similarly adopting a CoP’s perspective, Leki (2001) researched six EAL

international students’ oracy in group work with the local English-speaking
students in a university in the U.S, based on data from interviews and
observations for up to five years. The author argued that power relations were
operative in group discussions, where the local English-speaking students could
dictate directions of group projects and bypassed suggestions made by the EAL
international students. Leki further contended that those whose suggestions were
not valued subsequently took marginalised positions in the group.

43
Leki’s (2001) work on group work participation is parallel to that of Morita’s
(2004) on whole-class discussions. Though Leki (2001) was more explicit about
the power relations among group members than Morita (2004), neither author
provided adequate explanations of what caused the struggle of power.
Relatively implicitly, Leki (2001) suggested that imbalances of power were
produced by the difference of being English-speaking and EAL international.
However, if we are to understand better what is valued and what is not in the
interactions of group discussions, there should be more contestations as to
factors inherent in such difference. These aspects are worth exploring further in
this thesis.

Similarly researching group work, Duff and Kobayashi (2010) and Koayashi
(2003) also adopted a CoP and ethnographic design investing how eleven EAL
international students were socialised into group work practices in a Canadian
university. These students were enrolled in a pathway program with mock
practices designed to mirror a cycle of group work in mainstream classrooms.
The aim of the study was to document the socialisation process, in which new
students were inducted into formats, procedures, and valued behaviours
involved in group projects and presentations. The authors argued that students
were socialised into the academic community through assistance provided by
peers and their teachers. However, they did not provide critical evaluations of
group work socialisation, but reported an outcome of an intervention.
Nonetheless, the point made on the value of support from peer students and
teachers is useful in that students at their seemingly similar novice positions can
have different degrees of expertise that can be valued for a group project.
Different dimensions of ‘expertise’ are insufficiently explained in the categories
of ‘the expert’ and ‘the novice’, stressed by the concept of CoP.

With regard to peer supports, Duff (2007) investigated how EAL international
students in Canada were associated simultaneously with peers in a number of
communities of practice. By communities of practice, the author referred to the
university campus, as well as a range of social contexts such as the dormitory
and local Korean immigrant communities. For this study, Duff interviewed 45
Korean international students at various points over an academic year in

44
university. These Korean students, returning to Korea after short-term sojourn
experiences, were reported to i) have limited access to Anglophone Canadian
social networks and communities; ii) find their bilingual local compatriot
immigrant students providing the most suitable cultural and linguistic support;
and iii) to maintain close contacts with other Korean friends and non-Korean
Asian friends simultaneously. Duff contended that ‘pressures of in-group
Korean-conformity and affiliation sometimes forced students to be less active in
Anglo-community life’ (2007, p. 316). She suggested that the Korean students
could profit from their social interactions with compatriots after returning to
their home country. This work is important in that the author pointed out
tensions and profitable relations arising from friendships with different groups
of students in the Korean international students’ study abroad experiences. This
aspect is worth further exploring in this thesis.

The use of ‘community of practice’ in theorisation is not without limitations. In

Duff’s (2007) work, it is argued that the concept of community of practice
should not be viewed ‘as a uniformly benign, undifferentiated, and apolitical
one (p. 316), because participation in community of practice can be highly
contentious (Duff, 2007; Morita, 2004). However, Duff (2010) concludes that
the perspective of social network analysis might be useful to ‘account for
students’ simultaneous engagements with richly distributed human, material,
and symbolic resources and relationship (their individual networks) better than
the typically narrower, more immediate, apolitical, and tightly circumscribed
sense of discourse socialization associated with CoP’ (pp. 174-175). The point
here is that CoP has a limited capacity to provide sufficient explanations of the
contention operative in the struggle, different dimensions of resources
transmitted among members, and relatively narrowly defined boundaries of
communities in question.

From the review on research literature on academic socialization, I have four

points to make, with a particular focus on Morita’s (2004) work and Duff’s
(2010) work. Firstly, student agency (Morita, 2004) in the process of adaptation
can meet with resistance and denial. Despite efforts made and agency exercised,

45
Morita’s students were not all successful in the process of adaptation to the
preferred mode of participation in western classrooms.

Secondly, in line with Norton (1995, 2001), Morita (2004) and Leki (2001)
argued that social interactions in a second language can affect how language
learners view themselves in different settings. However, both Morita and Leki
depart from Norton in that they overlook the power relations operating in the
interactions among the students that produce different degrees of senses of self
and membership. This difference lies in different theorisations employed in the
understanding of social interactions. Academic socialisation, theorised through
the concept of CoP, tends to view negative experiences as necessarily occurring
in the process of seeking participation and membership, rather than as outcomes
of imbalanced power relations between novices and experts. The experts can
have more power than those novices which produces possible rejection of
membership into the given CoP.

The third point is that, following concerns with power relations, the students in
both Morita’s (2004) and Leki’s (2001) work are not all audible (Miller, 2003)
to peer students in whole-class discussions. As Miller (2003) has argued,
inaudibility can affect students’ subsequent educational opportunities, including
but not limited to their deciding to remain silent in classroom interactions.

The last point is that Duff’s (2010) work highlights profitable relations with
certain friendships made by the Korean international students during their study
abroad life. However, unlike Goldstein (2003a) in her argument about acquiring
peer social capital through choice of language, Duff provides limited
explanation of the mechanism causing differentiated investment in different
social networks.

Conclusion: ‘Coming to Belong’: A Bourdieusian

Framework
The review of research literature in this chapter aims to ground this thesis in
bodies of work on first year experience, EAL international students, EAL
migrant students and language socialisation. The review thus far encompasses i)
a thematic grouping of the literature, particularly in the first year experience (for

46
example, Wilcox, et al., 2005) and EAL international student research (for
example, Doherty & Singh, 2007; Kettle, 2005); ii) theoretical perspectives, as
shown in EAL migrant student literature (for example, Miller, 2003) and social
capital in school contexts (for example, Goldstein, 2003a; Stanton-Salazar,
1997); and iii) methodological perspectives, ‘community of practice’ in
particular, as discussed in language socialisation research (for example, Leki,
2001; Morita, 2004). Further, the review highlights aspects of belonging in
higher education (for example, Reay, 2001; Solomon, 2007), EAL international
student literature (for example, Jabal, 2010; Koehne, 2006) and students in
general in primary and secondary education (for example, Williams, 2003;
Willms, 2003) as an important indicator to positive educational experiences of
different student populations, at different levels of education, in various
educational contexts.

From this review, we find that research on challenges of entering into a new
educational system, be it newly-arrived EAL migrant students into mainstream
classrooms, first year students into university, or EAL international students
into an English-medium university, are overlapping to some extent. We also
learn that solutions to these challenges typically point to the acquisition of social
capital and advantageous knowledge and resources through various channels,
including students’ social networks and institutional support.

However, it is suggested in this review that access to social capital and

institutional support is not equally distributed to students of different linguistic,
cultural, socio-economical, and educational backgrounds. These inequalities are
revealed best in the research literature employing sociological perspectives,
Bourdieu’s concepts in particular, and conducted in primary and secondary
educational contexts. The research literature that is directly related to the student
population and educational context relevant to this thesis, first year experience
and higher education research for example, has not yet adequately explored
these questions. Nor has it explained mechanisms generating unequal access to
social capital, advantageous resources and institutional support in higher
education sectors.

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From this review, I would like to highlight sociological aspects related to
English proficiency and language use as the most under-researched, but worth
further exploring, in the literature of higher education and EAL international
students. We have learnt that EAL international students found it challenging to
use English in conversations, group discussions, reading and writing, and that
they improved over time in the new educational context. We have also learnt
that some researchers disagree over whether these students’ previous
educational and language learning experiences, benefit or hinder their
acquisition of new skills, new knowledge, and new resources for satisfactory
educational experiences in an English-medium university. We do not know,
however, how access to opportunities to improve English proficiency, to build
of social networks and friendships, to acquire university-related resources might
affect the EAL international students’ ‘coming to belong’. As reviewed, a
Bourdieusian theoretical framework might serve best to further investigate these
complexities in this thesis.

Thus, this review has pointed this thesis towards taking a sociological
perspective of ‘coming to belong’ in an English-medium university through a
Bourdieusian framework. Bourdieu’s concept of ‘capital’ will be useful in
addressing concerns regarding English proficiency, social interactions,
resources, as raised in the review of this present chapter. Further to this, many
of the challenges examined in the literature reviewed ask questions of access to
certain knowledge, resource, opportunity, or experience. This warrants this
thesis to include the concept of ‘field’ in a Bourdieusian sense for more insight
into these issues. The following chapter will present and explain a Bourdieusian
theoretical framework for the purpose of this thesis and to argue for the concept
of ‘belonging’ in Bourdieusian terms.

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Chapter Three: Theoretical Framework
Introduction
In Chapter Two literature relevant to this study’s research question about
international university students’ entry into English-medium mainstream
classrooms was reviewed. In general terms, it was found that diversity brought
about by EAL international university students was largely under-researched
from a sociological perspective and that belonging was viewed as an important
indicator of positive educational experiences in the research literature reviewed.
This review also showed that educational, social and emotional resources were
indispensable to adaption to new educational systems, but that they were not
equally accessible to different student populations. It then showed that
inequitable access to useful resources could arise from diverse backgrounds of
EAL international university students and it could further impact on their senses
of belonging. I concluded that this thesis would follow Bourdieusian researchers
(for example, Miller, 2003; Reay, 2000) and apply Bourdieu’s concepts to
examine questions of unequal access. The purpose of the current chapter is to
establish a Bourdieusian sociological model that gives theoretical purchase on
international students’ entry into an Australian university and the social
communities meaningful to them.

This section starts with a brief discussion of Bourdieu’s biography, focusing on

how transitions made by Bourdieu over time across his educational and
academic trajectories resonate with his social theory. Born in 1930, Bourdieu
grew up in a broader peasant family, but was educated in elite French schools.
He used a regional dialect, distinctively different from that of ostensibly more
‘sophisticated’ peers. Relative poverty and a ‘different’ linguistic background
meant that Bourdieu did not fit easily into the elite culture of French education
at that time. Nonetheless, he prospered as a promising young philosopher at
university. Later, Bourdieu switched from his initial field of philosophy to that
of anthropology, undertaking research in a village in a battle field in Algeria.
This change marked a move from the well-established discipline of philosophy
to the emerging discipline of anthropology and then to sociology. Through this,
Bourdieu established a version of sociology, became known as a social theorist,

49
and has influenced contemporary sociology, and, before his death, was feted as
one of France’s premier intellectuals.

Bourdieu’s transitions across different settings have demonstrated a process of

seeking acceptance, prestige, and prosperity through education in new contexts.
What is pertinent to this study is how Bourdieu’s theory addresses this same
process, particularly how everyday experiences interact with the contexts where
these experiences are situated. It emanates from more stable, less mobile times.
However, it is timely to revisit the relevance of a Bourdieusian framework in the
first decade of the 21st century with new conditions enabled by cultural flows
(Marginson, 2008).

According to Bourdieu, habitus, field and capital are concepts that are not to be
understood in isolation but as interdependent (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992).
They are useful in their own right, but are powerful when used systematically as
a trio. This is the position taken in this thesis; the tools are considered an
interrelated trio in this chapter and are used to develop a comprehensive
theoretical framework. In order to highlight different focuses on interrelatedness
in the trio, I switch the common sequence of habitus, field and capital, and
propose that these concepts can be better understood in this chapter as Three
Relations. They discuss in turn field, habitus, and capital and varied
combinations of the trio in this framework. The term ‘Relation’ here is used in
response to Bourdieu’s call in An invitation to reflexive sociology (Bourdieu &
Wacquant, 1992) to examine the effects of field on habitus and capital.
‘Relation’ here is not in its singular sense; rather, it is an umbrella term,
encompassing interrelatedness, and somewhat overlapping in developing the
trio model, relevant to this thesis.

In this chapter, I start with Relation One: Field and Legitimation, with a
particular focus on the interrelatedness of field, a feel for the game and
legitimation. These concepts are pertinent to entry into new social spaces. Next,
I talk about Relation Two: Habitus and Field, highlighting the relations between
habitus, field and emotion. Then, I illustrate Relation Three: Capital and Field,
and the pertinence of linguistic capital in this theoretical model. Finally, I

50
conclude by proposing a Bourdieusian framework of ‘coming to belong’ for this
thesis.

Relation One: Field and Legitimation

A field is what Bourdieu refers to as a ‘structure’ (Jenkins, 2002; Thomson,
2008) that operates by objective social rules. In Bourdieu’s terms, a field can be
defined ‘as a network, or a configuration, of objective relations between
positions’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 97). It is a social space constituted
and regulated by positions, from which social actors are able to mobilise actual
and potential capital accessible to them from their positions (Bourdieu &
Wacquant, 1992). Accordingly, these social positions command access to power
available in the field.

A field can also be compared to a game, ‘although, unlike the latter, a field is
not the product of a deliberate act of creation, and it follows rules or, better,
regularities, that are not explicit and codified’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p.
98). The rules of the game, on one hand, are prescribed by social positions; on
the other hand, they operate on the interpretations of social actors, depending on
their social positions, values, and preferences. These rules are more or less
implicit; thus, insider knowledge is required to make sense of these rules.

‘A feel for the game’ is essential for those who would like to play and win the
game. According to Bourdieu, this is ‘the practical mastery of the logic or of the
immanent necessity of a game – a mastery acquired by experience of the game,
and one which works outside conscious control and discourse…’ (Bourdieu,
1990a, p. 61). It is a more or less unconscious, intuitive process that stems from
actors’ social and educational trajectories and generates strategies that conform
to the rules of the game. However, a feel for the game is ‘unequally distributed,
because there are everywhere, in all groups, degrees of excellence’ (Bourdieu,
1990a, p. 64). It is not uncommon for players in the same game not to have the
same degree of a feel for the game. This will be reflected in their positioning in
the field of relations.

According to Bourdieu, each field defines its ‘cards’ for the game as forms of
capital, whose relative value (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 98) can

51
advantage social actors in playing or winning the game. These cards are
‘accumulated labour … which, when appropriated on a private…basis by
agents…, enables them to appropriate social energy in the form of reified or
living labour’ (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 105). Capital is power that takes time to
accumulate; it can be further utilised by social actors to profit from a game.
However, any one capital asset is not necessarily accorded the same value in
different games or fields. Some capital is valid and effective in a given field, but
not in other fields because values can ‘change with each game’ (p.98).

This chapter uses the term ‘capital portfolio’ to refer to what Bourdieu called
the ‘pile of tokens’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 99) that can be utilised by
players in a game. The concept of a capital portfolio is based upon the notion
that capital comes in different forms: economic, cultural, social, linguistic and
symbolic (Bourdieu, 1986, 1991, 1993b). These forms of capital will be
discussed in more detail in a later section of this chapter. The focus here is on
the capital portfolio or a combination of various species of capital accumulated
over personal and educational trajectories across a number of fields.

According to Bourdieu, capital can be understood ‘both as a weapon and as a

stake of struggle’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992, p. 98). Capital is not only that
which is already in a social agent’s portfolio, but also that which is sought as
profit from a game. There is struggle as social actors compete to improve their
pool of existing capital or to build new capital in any chosen field. Bourdieu
(1990a) further explained:

I am thinking for instance of … educative strategies as strategies of cultural

investment or of economic strategies … through which the family aims
to … reproduce the properties that enable it to maintain its position, its
rank in the social world under consideration (Bourdieu, 1990a, pp. 68-69).
Social actors compete for capital or power through strategies generated by their
feel for the game to secure and improve their social positions in the field by
growing their capital portfolios. The focus of this chapter is about these
‘educative strategies’ and ‘strategies of cultural investment’ in the education
field. To better illustrate, I unpack Australian universities as an example of a
field with valuable capital at stake.

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‘An Australian university’ is considered a field of education, or a social space
constituted by social positions. There are ‘adjacent and overlapping social fields’
(Luke, 2008, p. 350) where students live and learn in this field of education.
Members of the universities—teachers, administrators, and students alike—take
up positions in the field; they are endowed with differentially distributed capital
of all species. Members function and interact in accordance with the rules of the
game in the field of education. There are both scripted rules that are explicitly
written down; and more or less implicit rules that are taken for granted as
insider knowledge.

Explicit rules are laid out in any university’s policy handbook. For example the
researcher’s university has a detailed Manual of Policies and Procedures. This
handbook stipulates protocols to be followed by members of the university—
staff and students alike. One such protocol would be the 7-point grading scale
used in some Australian universities. On this scale, a grade of 7 or ‘high
distinction’ represents the highest level of achievement; and a grade of 1 or ‘low
fail’, the lowest. There are also explicit parameters for each scale; for example,
a grade of 7 is awarded for marks of 85-100%. All members of the field—
students and teachers alike—must follow this explicit rule.

Another example of explicit rules of the game would be the protocols and
procedures for grade reviews, enshrined in university policy, to ensure reliable
and consistent grading of student work. However, there are also implicit rules
with regard to making requests for grade review. These may include the tacit
knowledge of whom to approach first and how to word an appeal in oral and
written forms. For instance, some taken-for-granted insider knowledge may be
required such as manner, posture, and word choices in talk and writing to make
an effective request. Following the explicit procedures for making a request for
grade review may be necessary, but not sufficient. Rather, it takes a feel for the
game, alongside knowledge of both explicit and implicit rules, to effectively
participate in the game.

Further, participation at seminars, lectures and tutorials and skills for academic
writing have been well documented as part of the game in the field of higher
education (e.g., Arkoudis & Tran, 2007; Ellwood & Nakane, 2009; Fejes,

53
Johansson, & Dahlgren, 2005; Leki, 2001; Tran, 2008). To acquire a feel for the
game, it is essential to learn to participate appropriately in the pedagogical
activities, and to make sense of what is required for written assignments;
different games require different species of capital and a feel for each game.

Above all, students’ feel for the game needs to be validated, that is, verified and
recognized by those who hold relevant positions in the given field. To clarify
this, the concept of legitimation will be introduced in the following section to
further the discussion of Relation One: Field and Legitimation.

Legitimation
Bourdieu did not explicitly theorize legitimation or legitimacy as concepts in
itself; rather, these terms are used in various discussions concerning field, power
and recognition (Bourdieu, 1977, 1990b, 1991; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977).
The term legitimation is parallel to Bourdieu’s use of recognition, the latter
meaning processes of recognising power, based on a shared belief and principles
of value (Thompson, 1991). In this chapter, I focus the use of legitimation on
the process, or an act, of recognising power; and legitimacy, to its product—a
legitimate status endowed with a desired or advantageous social position in a
field (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). The purpose for this differentiation is to
make explicit the process of new actors entering into a new field and the
struggle for achieving a legitimate status in situ.

In this chapter, I highlight the importance of legitimation in the process of social

actors entering new fields. According to Bourdieu, the value of capital is
defined and determined in the games of each field. Therefore, legitimation is
central to the process of defining and affirming the value and relevance of forms
of capital. Legitimation is also essential to understand the boundary of any field
because it determines where capital ceases to have value (Bourdieu & Wacquant,
1992).

Legitimation can be compared to a process of going through ‘rites of passage’

(Bourdieu, 1990b, p. 211). It is a symbolic process ‘to regulate magically the
crossing of a magical limit where … the world “pivots”’ (p. 211). An analogy is
a graduation ceremony, where students are conferred with a degree, gain the

54
legitimacy as graduates, and become alumni. The magical power on which that
world and their positions pivot is regulated by the process of legitimation. The
moment of the shifted power is the focus of the discussion in this thesis.

Bourdieu used another term ‘rites of legitimation’ (Bourdieu, 1991, p. 115) or

‘rites of institution’ (p. 115) to refer to a similar pivotal process to ‘consecrate
or legitimate an arbitrary boundary, by fostering a misrecognition of the
arbitrary nature of the limit and encouraging a recognition of it as legitimate’ (p.
116, original emphasis). According to Bourdieu, rites of institution function to
legitimate, or potentially change the taken-for-granted definitions of legitimacy.
Further, legitimation operates on the basis of unequal distribution of power
amongst the social actors, taking different positions in the field (Bourdieu &
Wacquant, 1992). Processes of legitimation are processes of exercising
symbolic power on the part of those who legitimate (Bourdieu, 1991). That is,
they are those who hold powerful positions and who themselves are recognised
as having legitimacy or power to define species of capital and exercise power
(Bourdieu, 1991).

Social actors are considered to have ‘legitimate competence’ (Bourdieu, 1986, p.

245) when the value of their capital is recognised vis-à-vis that of others. This
recognition has two manifestations: legitimating social actors’ feel for the game;
and configuring their field positions. It is through processes of legitimation that
social actors are granted legitimacy by actors exercising power endowed with
their field positions in a field.

Legitimacy granted in one field may retain its status in another, but this transfer
of legitimacy across fields is not necessarily guaranteed. This is because
legitimacy is granted field by field, but each field has its own rules and valued
capital. For example, different rules can apply to different forms of assessment
adopted in Australian universities, such as group discussion and written
assignments. A mark of 7 awarded for a written assignment may mean
legitimate competence in this particular sub-field; however, such legitimacy
cannot be easily recognised in another sub-field such as group discussions. A
legitimate status in written assignments does not equate to similar status in
group discussions involving oracy. This is because oracy is valid capital in

55
group discussions, but it is not necessarily reflected in the legitimate status
acquired in written assignments. The registers of both modes have different
rules in different contexts. Writing is legitimated in an academic field if it
deploys particular formal rules, whereas oral exchanges can be informal, even in
academic contexts or sub-fields. Thus, legitimacy granted by lecturers for
written assignments may not be recognised by peers in group work.

To be more specific, in the field of international education, it is not just the

teaching staff, or university’s authorised representatives, who bestow
legitimation. Lecturers can legitimate or delegitimate students’ work and award
marks accordingly, but fellow students can also exert an influence on the
reception of certain forms of participation in group discussion. Legitimacy
conferred by authorised representations has more or less institutional
recognition, while that by peer students does not have the same value as
recognised by institutions. Though operating similarly, different sources of
legitimacy can have different levels of recognition and subsequent significance.

Further, attention should be drawn to the rules of the game whereby legitimation
operates. As discussed, these rules can be both explicit and implicit, but cannot
be excluded from what operates in the social world, beyond a particular field or
sub-field (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). According to Bourdieu (1991),
principles of legitimation can function on the basis of ‘the common sense, the
explicit consensus of the whole group’ (p.236); for example, how power can be
attributed to one group rather than others by ‘recognised differences’ (p. 237)
arising from class, religion, and ethnicity. Such recognition can work
symbolically to legitimate or delegitimate attributes in situ.

The case of new students, particularly commencing EAL international students,

in Australian universities is marked because almost all sub-fields are initially
new games for them that will each require a new feel. For these students,
intention to fit into university as a single community of practice is not enough.
Rather, entering new fields is a process of negotiating multiple relations in each
field. Bourdieu’s sociological theory is useful as it allows the reading that
reception by the existing members of the field can be more important than
participation. Legitimation is necessary and pivotal in each sub-field in order for

56
these students to gain legitimacy. I summarise Relation One: Field and
Legitimation with a set of propositions;

Propositions for Relation One: Field and Legitimation

 To win a game, social actors need to acquire a feel for the game and
legitimated capital in the pursuit of a desired field position.
 When social actors go through ‘rites of legitimation’, their world
‘pivots’, and they are granted legitimacy in a given field; they become
legitimated members in the field.
 Legitimacy is not granted once and for all, but sub-field by sub-field.
This is because each sub-field has its own rules for the game and
defines its value of capital.
 Social actors accrue a specific field’s valued capital and have it added
to ‘capital portfolios’ through processes of legitimation.
For this study, rites of legitimation are viewed as central to Relation One: Field
and Legitimation, when social actors are legitimated as having a feel for the
game and as acquiring capital portfolios valued in a given field or sub-field.
‘The world pivots’ when actors gain legitimacy and take up their desired field
positions, or more powerful positions in the field. However, Relation One
between field, a feel for the game, and legitimation is not a linear process.
Complexities arise when actors are not legitimated; constant struggles are
produced in the rites of legitimation. The point here is that acquiring a feel for
the game and being legitimated as a member in the chosen field can facilitate a
sense of belonging; and that social actors’ personal and educational trajectories,
beliefs and values can also affect shades of belonging. In the following section,
Bourdieu’s most contested concept, ‘habitus’ (Bourdieu, 1977), will be
unpacked and discussed regarding Relation Two: Habitus and Field.

Relation Two: Habitus and Field

In this section, I focus on the concept of habitus (Bourdieu, 1977), and its
relation to that of field. The purpose is to highlight two aspects of the relation
between habitus and field: possible alignment of habitus to new games; and
habitual emotional reactions to rules of the games. I first discuss habitus,
highlighting critiques of the concept, and identifying its limitations. I make a
distinction between ‘primary’ habitus (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977, p. 42),
acquired in the family, and ‘secondary’ habitus (p. 43) acquired in other social

57
fields, such as educational settings. In the second, I talk about the relation of
habitus to field. The purpose is to explore possibilities of aligning habitus to
new games in Bourdieusian terms. In the final section, the relation of habitus
and emotion is raised to foreground the theorisation of belonging in this thesis.
Emotion is viewed as an index to the process of ‘coming to belong’ and will be
discussed in a later section of this chapter.

Habitus
The concept habitus is developed by Bourdieu as a way to transcend the dualism
of structure and agency in sociological debates (for example, Archer, 2007;
Calhoun, 1993; Jenkins, 2002). In this thesis, I use the most frequently cited
definition of habitus given by Bourdieu in 1977, but will also include later
elaborations given in interviews in the 1990s. Habitus is defined as

…systems of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures,

predisposed to function as structuring structures, that is, as principles of the
generation and structuring practices and representations … and …
collectively orchestrated without being the product of orchestrating action
of a conductor. (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 72)
Habitus is Bourdieu’s term for a system of dispositions that orients social actors
to what to think and how to act (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). Dispositions are
attitudes, tastes, values and beliefs. By this definition, habitus, largely
unconscious and predictable over time in different situations, generates actions
and practices. Bourdieu also sees habitus as ‘a way of being, a habitual state
(especially of the body) and, in particular, as a predisposition, tendency,
propensity, or inclination’ (1977, p. 214, original emphasis). Habitus can trigger
unconscious reactions, including but not limited to habitual embodiments. This
‘habitual state’ can include embodiments of emotional reactions.

Bourdieu maintained that habitus is acquired and learnt through imitation,

modelling and socialization. One’s habitus has a history starting within the
family, or primary habitus, acquired in primary and familial institutions
(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). Secondary habitus refers to what is acquired at
schools or other social fields (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). Accordingly, social
actors internalize plural systems of dispositions accrued in primary and
secondary associations across fields (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992).

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According to Bourdieu, habitus functions like ‘a matrix of perceptions,
appreciations, and actions’ (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 82). It has the potential to
actualize one’s past in the present through actions towards one’s perceived
future outcomes. Habitus generates actions and strategies, largely unconsciously,
in accordance with social actors’ readings of consequential reactions of these
actions and strategies. Strategies and actions are manifestations of some tacit
feel for the game, based on principles of perception and appreciation of
practices and the social world (Bourdieu, 1990a). Depending upon differences
in actor’s primary and secondary associations and institutions, these principles
can conform with or differentiate from preferences, values, tastes, beliefs
belonging to particular groups of people in accordance with their social
positions in a field (Bourdieu, 1990a, 1984). These classifiers are not limited to
social class (Bourdieu, 1984), but include other ‘principles of division—ethnic,
religious, or national’ (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 132). That is, as argued by Luke
(2009), race, gender and social class can constitute particular aspects of
habituses.

According to Bourdieu (1977), strategies and actions are not entirely based on
conscious decisions, but are products of interactions between personal relations
in the field and the power of capital. However, my purpose in looking at habitus
in this chapter is not to look only at differences between social classes, which is
the more typical application of Bourdieu’s concept (for example, Bourdieu,
1984). It is to look at how habitus, particularly in its secondary form, functions
in new education fields across countries and how it can be adapted to new
games the social actor encounters. As suggested earlier, the class backgrounds
of my participants were such that the class-based senses of not belonging found
in the literature on non-traditional students was not a salient feature of the data.

I use the term ‘the force of the field’ in this thesis to refer to how rules and
relations between positions constrain and shape the way that social actors
operate and interact in the field. This force comes from rules external to social
actors. It produces struggle both by an effect of the external rules, and by
internal readings of these rules.

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When social actors acquire a feel for the game, there is a match or alignment
between habitus and field: ‘And when habitus encounters a social world of
which it is the product, it is like “a fish in water”: it does not feel the weight of
the water and it takes the world about itself for granted’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant,
1992, p. 127). However, when there is a mismatch between habitus and field,
the outside world can no longer be taken for granted.

It should be noted that the Bourdieusian framework of habitus, field and capital
applied in this thesis serves to avoid reducing considerations of mismatch
between habitus and field to simple discussions of duality. A mismatch does not
arise from either personal attributes, or structural constraints. Rather, it is the
outcome of complex relations between habitus, field and capital in the empirical
everyday world. Building on Relation One, Relation Two further allows this
thesis to look into the effect of rules of the game in new educational fields upon
the habitus of new students. In the following section I focus on debates around
the potential within habitus to align to new games.

Aligning habitus to new games

Much of the debate around the concept of habitus has been concerned with
habitus being overly deterministic and reproductive (Calhoun, 1993; Jenkins,
1992, 2002). According to Bourdieu, habitus is a system of dispositions that
orients social actors to act and respond in a field; moreover, it is relatively
immutable and transposable (Bourdieu, 1977). By ‘immutable’ is meant that
habitus has its fundamental history; thus, it is relatively unchangeable.
‘Transposable’ implies that habitus remains relatively coherent across fields.
However, Bourdieu (1990a) later argued that effects of fields, in particular new
‘expectations and aspirations’ (p.116), have the potential to re-align habitus to
new forces of the field.

... [H]abitus, as the product of social conditionings, and thus of a history

(unlike character), is endlessly transformed, either in a direction that
reinforces it, when embodied structures of expectation encounter structures
of objective chances in harmony with these expectations, or in a direction
that transforms it and, for instance, raises or lowers the level of
expectations and aspirations….Habitus can, in certain instances, be
built, … upon contradictions, upon tension, even upon instability…(1990a,
p. 116).

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According to Bourdieu, although habitus is relatively immutable and
transposable, it can be transformed under certain circumstances. He pointed out
forces in changing fields can produce ‘contradictions … tension … instability’
that indicate a mismatch of habitus and field. He further explained that new
appreciation of the forces of the field and of perceived future outcomes can
work either to ‘reinforce’ or ‘transform’ habitus. Thus, habitus is an on-going
social construction that can be transformed by alignment to external forces in
new fields.

It should be noted that alignment and perceived chances of success can orient
social actors in two ways, either to conform to habitual reactions by giving up,
or to adjust or transform habitus by making some effort. Either will affect
subsequent strategies and actions. Bourdieu also argued that

not only can habitus be practically transformed … by the effect of social

trajectory leading to conditions of living different from initial ones, it can
also be controlled through awakening of consciousness and socioanalysis
(1990a, p. 116, original emphasis).
For habitus to be aligned to new fields, Bourdieu stressed firstly the importance
of ‘the effect of social trajectory’, whereby habitus can be transformed. By the
effect of social trajectory is meant not just social actors’ experiences of social
fields, but also their acquisition of a feel for the game in these fields. Bourdieu
acknowledged that ‘consciousness and socioanalysis’ can ‘control’ habitus to
some extent. For this thesis, educational fields are exactly those fields that offer
new experiences and a new trajectory, in which social actors enlist consciously
in the hope of acquiring new capitals and perhaps adjusting habitus.

Bourdieu’s work has also been criticized for its lack of recognition of actors’
reflexivity, a concept fundamental to individual agency (Archer, 2007). By
reflexivity, Archer (2007) meant ‘an individual reflecting about herself in
relation to her circumstances and vice versa’ (p. 54). In her terms, reflexivity is
ever present through self-reflection upon external situations. In contrast to
Bourdieu’s perspective on the social conditioning of reflexivity, Archer
contended that Bourdieu recognized social actors’ reflexivity but only partially.

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I acknowledge the different stances towards reflexivity as defined by Archer
(2007) and Bourdieu (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). They share common
grounds. While Bourdieu did not see individual agency or actors’ reflexivity as
a given, the point here is not Bourdieu’s endorsement of reflexivity in habitus,
but that habitus needs to be considered in relation to the force of field. This
resonates with Archer’s (2007) arguments of social agents’ reflexivity through
considerations of their circumstances. For this thesis, Bourdieu’s emphasis on
potential of transforming habitus in two ways—‘the effect of social trajectory’
and ‘consciousness and socioanalysis’—is important. This is the centre of
Relation Two: Habitus and Field—how the relations between habitus and field
can have effects on social actors in the face of the new force of the field in their
pursuit of new field positions.

Further, Bourdieu has also been critiqued for not being explicit about how
habitus operates to remain durable and transposable and to produce actions
(Jenkins, 1992, 2002). Jenkins (2002) believed that the concept of habitus has
limitations in accounting for social change and individual change. The concern
is that if habitus has a history, then the status quo will be largely maintained and
social change would not be possible because history would tend to repeat
history. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus is considered by critics to be more
reproductive than transformative (Calhoun, 1993; Jenkins, 1992, 2002).

In response to these criticisms, Bourdieu maintained that his concepts described

the contexts he studied and that habituses he studied were shaped by history, but
that need not be the case (Bourdieu, 1993a). He further elaborated on how
choices and strategies can be aligned to meet new challenges when external
conditions change drastically. The alignments are part of the manifestations of
habitus:

Times of crisis, in which the routine adjustment of subjective and objective

structures is brutally disrupted, constitute a class of circumstances when
indeed ‘rational choice’ often appears to take over. But, this is a crucial
proviso; it is habitus itself that commands this option. We can always say
that individuals make choices, as long as we do not forget that they do not
choose the principles … of these choices (Wacquant, 1989, p. 45).
‘[T]imes of crisis’ refer to situations when social actors are no longer able to
react similarly to how they would in familiar contexts. According to Bourdieu,

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these conscious decisions are also generated by habitus. In this thesis, times of
crisis are evident in the discontinuities associated with studying abroad, where
new study routines and approaches need to be acquired and deployed for
successful adjustments. The discontinuities will have additional unpredictability
when communication and interactions involve a medium of communication
other than home languages (Kelly, 1999). However, there are risks associated
with unsuccessful adjustments to new conditions and new rules of the game,
when students are likely to experience ‘contradictions … tension … instability’
(Bourdieu, 1990a, p.116). A mismatch of unconscious applications of old study
routines and strategies to new conditions and new rules of the game can produce
negative emotions such as confusion, stress and uncertainty.

Both Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and Archer’s concept of reflexivity are

useful in this thesis. These two concepts can be reconciled (Elder-Vass, 2007)
on the ground that Bourdieu recognized actors’ reflexivity, though not freely,
while Archer emphasized human agency, reducing effects of field. Thus, there is
tension between the two perspectives, but also common ground. I suggest that
reflexivity will not arise simply from individuals’ internal resources, but also
from tension and struggle produced in the pursuit of desirable capital and field
positions. This chapter focuses on reflexivity at disjunctural moments of
‘contradictions … tension … instability’ and its interface with habitus. This is
the ground upon which I argue habitus will be aligned to new fields over time.
This view is in line with Mills’ (2008) argument that some habitus has more
potential to be transformative than others and Naidoo’s (2009) argument that
changeability of habitus can be enabled by new accrual of capital.

Slightly different from Mills’ (2008) and Naidoo’s (2009) positions, this study
holds that individuals’ field positions, along with their social trajectories and
capital portfolios, have an effect on how habitus can generate strategies and
produce actions. Also, contradictions, tension and instability from changing
fields can evoke changes in social actors’ appreciation of the rules of the game
and probable future outcomes; and further enable alignments of habitus to
emergent circumstances. A Bourdieusian framework opens up a theoretical gap

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for empirical work to investigate how habitus may be actively aligned under
these conditions.

In this thesis, I use ‘dispositions’, ‘inclinations’, ‘appreciations’ and ‘aspirations’

to refer to what makes up habitus. Of these, ‘appreciations’ and ‘aspirations’ are
the focal points. Appreciations are understood to be evaluations social actors
make of the force of the field, or the externals outside the control of individual
actors. I further use ‘aspirations’ to refer to anticipated future outcomes,
projected by social trajectory, field positions and investment in capital accrual.

…it [habitus] adjusts itself to a probable future which it anticipates and

helps to bring about because it reads it directly in the present of the
presumed world, the only one it can ever know. (Bourdieu, 1990b, p.64)
Aspirations can bridge from the internal resources of habitus to the externals of
an envisaged future through ‘strategies’. Strategies in Bourdieu’s term are
manifestations of a combination of appreciations of the externals, aspirations to
envisaged futures, as well as dispositions and inclinations. I acknowledge that
Bourdieu was not explicit about aspirations as part of social actors’ habitus and
that the term aspirations as used in current Australian political discourse implies
a sense of going up the social ladder. Nevertheless, it is a useful analytic term in
this thesis, given its focus on educational investments.

Habitus and emotion

In this section, I consider the relation between habitus and emotion, particularly
in the field of education. Emotion is implicit in Bourdieu’s theorization of
habitus (Reed-Danahay, 2005). However, Bourdieu made links between
emotion and suffering as by-products of symbolic power in his anthropological
work (Bourdieu, 2000, 1999; Schubert, 2008). For Bourdieu, ‘emotion and
feeling are part of the habitus, which is both structured by, and helps structure,
systems of power and domination’ (Reed-Danahay, 2005, p. 102). Emotion is
thus understood not only as a psychological attribute but also as a sociological
manifestation of habitus and field position in the face of the rules of the game.

Further, emotion has been increasingly recognized and understood as a form of

capital by recent Bourdieusian theorists in educational research which focuses
on teachers’ and students’ educational experiences and practices (Zembylas,

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2007) and on mothers’ involvement in children’s education (Reay, 2004). Here I
view emotion as part of the lived reactions stemming from the interaction
between habitus and field.

This section focuses on habitus and the emotion invoked in everyday

experiences through rites of legitimation performed by existing members of the
field, particularly at times of transition for EAL international students. The
impact of such ‘times of crisis’ (Wacquant, 1989, p. 45) upon social actors
contributes to their different degrees of adjustment to new rules of the game.
Changing fields incurs risks associated with the different values accorded to
capital and with new force of the field. This section focuses on bodily
expressions of emotion, particularly those of shame, humiliation, timidity,
anxiety, and guilt and their manifestations in sentiments of rage, anger,
confusion, and dissatisfaction as sociological objects of study (Bourdieu, 2000).

Although Bourdieu did not define emotion as a concept in his anthropological

work, he made the following link between dispositions and emotion. He argued
that

… dispositions are the true principle of the acts of practical knowledge and
recognition of the magical frontier between the dominant and the
dominated, which the magic of symbolic power only serves to trigger . The
practical recognition through which the dominated, often unwittingly,
contribute to their own domination by tacitly accepting, in advance, the
limits imposed on them, often takes the form of bodily emotion (shame,
timidity, anxiety, guilt), often associated with the impression of regressing
towards archaic relationships, those of childhood and the family. It is
betrayed in visible manifestations, such as blushing, inarticulacy,
clumsiness, trembling, all ways of submitting, however reluctantly, to the
dominant judgment, sometimes in internal conflict and ‘self-division’, the
subterranean complicity that a body slipping away from the directives of
conscious and will maintains with the violence of the censures inherent in
the social structures (Bourdieu, 2000, pp. 169-170, original emphasis).
Bourdieu considered emotions to be more or less uncontrollable and generated
as reactions to circumstances. Bodily emotions are learnt socially from the early
years, and are activated thereafter by the exercise of symbolic power.

In this thesis the relation of habitus and emotion is considered part of Relation
Two: Habitus and field. Emotion is not just a personal phenomenon but also
social. Bourdieu noted that the force of the field works in two directions: to

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discipline bodily expressions of emotions and to trigger these expressions
(Bourdieu, 1990b):

Every social order systematically takes advantage of the disposition of the

body and language to function as depositories of deferred thoughts that can
be triggered off at a distance in space and time by the simple effect of
replacing the body in an overall posture which recalls the associated
thoughts and feelings, in one of the inductive states of the body which, as
actors know, give rise to states of mind … in particular the bodily
expression of emotion, in laughter or tears. (Bourdieu, 1990b, p. 69)
According to Bourdieu, the body functions as a memory bank that stores and
activates the cultural and social norms inscribed in habitus and that, once learnt
or disciplined, bodily emotions can be consistent in different fields. Emotion
can be viewed as an empirical index to the interaction between habitus and the
forces of the field.

Further, emotion can be associated with how social actors react to perceived
future probabilities. Emotion is generated in the interaction between anticipated
future outcomes and impending happenings:

Emotion, the extreme case of such anticipation, is a hallucinatory

‘presenting’ of the impending future, which, as bodily reactions identical to
those of the real situation bear witness, leads a person to live a still
suspended future as already present, or even already past, and therefore
necessary and inevitable –‘I’m a dead man’, ‘I’m done for’ (Bourdieu,
1990b, p. 292).
A negative emotion such as ‘I’m a dead man’ is provoked in the present by a
mismatch of anticipated future outcomes and dispositions. It is thus an empirical
manifestation of habitus in the face of the force of the field.

Emotion is a form of ‘bodily reaction’ produced in a social trajectory that is not

easily controlled by consciousness. Social actors are particularly vulnerable at
times of crisis to the force of the field as they negotiate their positions field by
field, as in the case of EAL international students at transition into new
educational fields. These students are likely to experience a stronger degree of
bodily emotion in new fields than others.

However, emotion does not only occur at times of crisis. Emotions are provoked
by interactions between social actors’ dispositions and appreciations of the force

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of the field. More specifically, they can be generated by a mismatch of the
accorded value of capital accrued and social actors’ anticipated outcomes. For
example, shades of emotions such as disappointment, frustration, shame, anger
or guilt can be produced, when a student expects to acquire a grade of 7, but a 6
is awarded, instead. The 6 is lower than expected on the grading scale, but this
is not a case of lacking a feel for the game. When one aspires for symbolic
capital—a point I will discuss further in later sections of this chapter, the
acquisition of a feel for the game is not sufficient to guarantee positive emotions
such as satisfaction, honour, happiness and comfort. From the other angle, a
grade of 6, or any manifestation of a feel for the game can generate those whose
habitus orients them to feel positive about this grade.

To summarise this section, I propose the following:

Propositions for Relation Two: Habitus and Field

 Habitus is acquired firstly in family and later in various social fields

including school, work contexts and membership groups.
 Times of crisis can affect the effectiveness of routine strategies and
thus prompt change in habitus in the face of new force of the field.
 Changeability in habitus is possible, but dependent on relation of
habitus and field, in particular social actors’ appreciations of the force
of the field and anticipated future outcomes.
 Emotions are empirical manifestations of a (mis)match of habitus and
field.
It should be noted that realignment of habitus to new force of the field is by no
means a linear or straight-forward process. I suggest that it is at times of crisis
that habitus can be realigned to the new force in the processes of adjusting
appreciations of the field and individuals’ aspirations for future outcomes. For
this thesis, the focus of change in habitus is on that acquired in social fields
beyond the family. Furthermore, I suggest that bodily emotion is a by-product
of interactions between habitus and field and that emotions are markers
indicating a (mis)match of habitus and field.

Thus far, I have highlighted changeability in habitus and emotion arising from
relation of habitus and field. In the following, I turn to discussions over the

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concept of capital and its accrual and convertibility in a field—Relation Three:
Capital and Field—to further the point.

Relation Three: Capital and Field

In this section I discuss forms of capital, with a particular focus on linguistic
capital, and their relation to the concept of field. The purpose is to present a
framework to explain how linguistic capital is a pre-requisite for the accrual of
other species of capital and to obtain a favourable position in the field. This
section has three parts. Firstly, I introduce Bourdieu’s definitions of species of
capital. Secondly, I elaborate on linguistic capital, highlighting its definition,
function, and significance. Finally I discuss convertibility of linguistic capital to
other forms of capital and its relevance to this thesis.

Forms of capital
Following a brief discussion in the section on Relation One on legitimation of
capital in a field, I focus here on Bourdieu’s definitions of forms of capital,
highlighting linguistic and symbolic capital and convertibility of forms of
capital. According to Bourdieu (1986), capital has three basic forms. Economic
capital, ‘which is immediately and directly convertible into money and may be
institutionalised in the form of property rights’ (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 106), is
fundamental and essential. It is concerned with financial assets that can be
directly converted to money. However, economic capital cannot always convert
to other forms such as cultural capital, social capital or symbolic capital. There
are conditions involved in these conversions.

Cultural capital can be embodied, objectified or institutionalised, and is

‘convertible, on certain conditions, into economic capital’ (Bourdieu, 1986, p.
106). Embodied capital is an ‘integral part of the person’ (p. 107) and becomes
part of a habitus. It is acquired through cultivation over time and is part of what
constitutes one’s habitus. Objectified cultural capital includes cultural goods ‘in
material objects and media, such as writings, paintings, monuments, instruments,
etc.’ (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 109). Cultural goods can be purchased with money;
however, it is embodied taste, knowledge, values and attitude that orients social
actors to make such purchases. An academic qualification, conferred by

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educational institutions is an example of institutionalised capital (Bourdieu,
1986).

For the purpose of this thesis, I draw upon other theorists to extend
understandings of what constitutes cultural capital. Cultural capital is further
distinguished as funds of knowledge (Lareau & Weininger, 2003), school-based
knowledge or embodied competences, that could orient students to get a head
start in educational institutions. Curry (2008, p. 280) identified four
competences as species of cultural capital that enable students to profit from
their prior academic advantages. Students demonstrate their spatial competence
in their choices of a classroom space that allows for an easier access to teachers.
In this thesis, I extend the focus on access to ‘teachers’ to include access to
peers and other social actors with valid capital or at authorised/powerful field
positions. According to Curry, participation competence is another form of
embodied cultural capital that ensures productive engagement with teachers and
curricular practices. Curricular competence is shown in the meaningful links
students make between pedagogical practices and its curricular significance in a
specific course, as well as its wider educational context. Finally, institutional
competence is students’ know-how when it comes to finding solutions, locating
resources, and making negotiations in the educational institution.

For this thesis, Bourdieu’s concept of social capital is also important. This can
be defined as, possessing ' a durable network of more or less institutionalised
relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition … which provides each of
its members with the backing of the collective-owned capital’ (Bourdieu, 1986,
p. 110). It is the actual and potential capital that social actors can mobilise
through their social networks. In other words, social capital is an adjunct to
other forms of capital, ‘convertible in certain conditions, into economic capital
and may be institutionalised in the form of nobility’ (Bourdieu, 1986, p. 106).
Amongst other things, it is more or less inscribed in family connections or
group memberships such as alumni associations, friendship groups, school
associates, flat mates, and colleagues.

There are three points to make here. Firstly, I acknowledge that Bourdieu’s
(1986) definitions of social capital is criticised by social network theorists (for

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example, Lin, 2001) for restricting accrual of social capital to relationships with
parents and family. However, what is important for this thesis is Bourdieu’s
emphasis that social actors need to be recognised, and legitimated as valid
members or part of a social network by existing members in a particular field of
relations. This follows what is brought up in Relation One in this thesis;
specifically, that legitimation, or recognised membership, is essential for any
mobilisation of capital within social actors’ social networks.

Secondly, capital takes time to accumulate and to convert (Bourdieu, 1986,

1990a). Social actors invest in the accrual of capital and at the same time use the
capital accrued to pursue other capital. This is a process of configuring capital
portfolios for the purpose of seeking more desirable field positions, as discussed
in Relation One in this chapter.

Finally, central to Bourdieu’s theory of capital is the premise that the value of
any capital can change with each game (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992). This is a
significant point. It suggests that when capital is not recognised in one field or
sub-field, it has no value and thus no power; and furthermore, that change in the
value of capital indicates new boundaries of a field or sub-field. To highlight the
point raised earlier in Relation One for this thesis, I hold that the boundaries of
field are not rigid; rather, fields, or sub-fields within the education field, are
nested, adjacent to each other, and overlapping to some extent (Luke, 2008).
This sense of field is important, when EAL international students come to a new
education field, they enter a range of inter-related sub-fields not entirely
independent of each other. What is critical here for these students is how their
capital is valued in a new field and the struggle of translating, or reconfiguring
capital across the fields. To summarise briefly thus far, capital is cumulative,
convertible, pivotal, and field-specific, but it takes time to accumulate and
(re)configure a capital portfolio.

In the following, I would like to stress symbolic value of capital, or symbolic

capital. In Bourdieu’s terms, symbolic capital is ‘the acquisition of a reputation
for competence and an image of respectability and honourability that are easily
converted into political position as a local or national noble’ (Bourdieu, 1984, p.

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291). For example, a particular family name can accrue more value than others
for reasons meaningful to relevant actors of a particular field.

Symbolic capital is also used as a collective term for recognisable value

attributed to differentiation and distinction, based on institutional or taken-for-
granted valuing principles (Bourdieu, 1990). This is not to equate symbolic
capital to capital portfolios, as the latter focuses on the pluralities of capital
accrual. An example of symbolic capital is that of the so-called “state nobility”,
as described by Bourdieu. These are the powerful administrators of the state.
They enjoy a capital of prestige and probability of becoming ‘en-abled’,
accorded to individual, as well as the whole group of, students educated in elite
schools (Bourdieu, 1996). Further, an educational qualification is not just a form
of institutional capital, but serves as a classifier to symbolically distinguish a
particular actor or group from another. However, such explorations of symbolic
capital describe advantageous positions deployed from classed differences in
economic and cultural backgrounds in French society during the time Bourdieu
conducted his quantitative study.

Recognition of symbolic capital can vary at different times in different fields, as

different rules may apply. The context in discussion in this thesis is not that of
Bourdieu’s geographic migration from a rural French school to elite French
education. Rather, it is about mobility of EAL international students for
advanced field positions in new education fields, where different sets of
principles of recognising value of these students’ existing capital can be
employed by powerful others. For example, Weiss (2005) argued that the
symbolic value accorded to a particular educational qualification taken for
granted in the old field, can be misrecognised by actors in the new field where it
is viewed merely as ‘qualifications’. The legitimate competence accorded to
their holders can thus be compromised.

To elaborate on the significance of symbolic capital in the case of EAL

international students in this thesis, I now turn to the concept of linguistic
capital in Bourdieusian terms. I focus my points around questions of learning
and using an additional language, not those of dialects in the case of the French
language, as Bourdieu (1991) discussed.

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Linguistic capital
Bourdieu (1991, 1993b) did not provide a direct definition of linguistic capital,
but addressed it from different perspectives. First of all, Bourdieu (1991, 1993b)
considered linguistic capital to be accrued when social actors are viewed by
their conversants to be legitimate speakers of a particular language. Secondly,
this language should be the legitimate language of a particular field or sub-field.
It bears greater value than any other dialect or language spoken in the field. It
should be ‘the language … the official definition of the official language of a
political unit’ (Bourdieu, 1991, p. 45, original emphasis), authorised by
powerful bodies in that specific field. The quote below illustrates critical
constituents of a legitimate language:

A legitimate language is a language with legitimate phonological and

syntactic forms, that’s to say a language meeting the usual criteria of
grammaticality, and a language which constantly says, together with what
it says, that it says it well. And in so doing, it implies that what it says is
true. (Bourdieu, 1993b, p. 66)
A legitimate language favours the accepted linguistic features, or grammatical
conventions. It should also stipulate content and manner that is considered
appropriate for an occasion. It should be uttered by an authorised person entitled
to exercise power relevant to the occasion. This occasion should align with its
purpose and with appropriate linguistic expressions. Above all, given its
grammaticality, content, manner and the authorised position of the speaker,
what is said will be considered credible and believable (Bourdieu, 1991, 1993b).
That is, the value of linguistic utterances is dependent on acceptability in a field
(Bourdieu, 1993b). He who can impose such acceptability has gained
‘legitimacy’ (Bourdieu, 1993b, p. 84) in this language situation; this person is
thus licensed to speak and to be believed. Here, Bourdieu argued that not all
first speakers’ French is accorded with the same credibility and value in every
field.

More specifically, Bourdieu argued that linguistic acceptability is also

concerned with bodily dispositions of using a language—how ‘the whole body
which responds by its posture, but also by its inner reactions … to the tension of
the market’ (Bourdieu, 1991, p. 86). These dispositions tell of not just linguistic
competence of a language, but also particular expressions of the social world.

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Differences in accent, for example, can be detected and traced back to actors’
social positions, or economic and cultural backgrounds. According to Bourdieu
(1991), there are distinctive classed differences in linguistic practices.

I acknowledge that Bourdieu’s concept of linguistic capital was critical of the

classed and regional distinctions between French dialects and standard French,
plus their subsequent differentiated credibility in the French society. The stance
of this thesis is that Bourdieu was explaining how the different treatment arose
sociologically, but not endorsing it. In the case of EAL international students the
question here is not the same. For these students, English, being the legitimate
language in their educational institution, has a higher value than their home
languages in English-medium university and its wider community. Also,
English for these students is learnt and used as additional language; thus, the
students vary in a wide range of linguistic capabilities and productions. These
questions matter in social acceptability of the language used, and should all be
considered.

To augment Bourdieu’s point of social relations of linguistic practices, Luke

(2009) argued that race and language are also forms of capital and that they
constitute habituses of teachers, peers and students themselves. Luke also added
that race and linguistic productions are readable by students and their associates,
and teachers in educational institutions, where readability and visibility of race
and linguistic productions matter in relations between students and students,
between students and teachers in the day-to-day educational experiences. EAL
international students read power produced by others, at least initially based on
their understanding of the social world in the new field. An example is the
sometimes simplistic understanding of who is ‘Australian’ noted in the
introduction to this thesis. Likewise, these students are read by others
accordingly. In this chapter, I acknowledge that race and language are forms of
power, but focus on how habituses and capital portfolios function in new fields
of education under the circumstances of power inherent in EAL and first
speakers of the legitimate language in the field.

Further, learning an additional language is essentially an investment in accruing

capital. ‘If learners invest in a second language, they do so with the

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understanding that they will acquire a wider range of symbolic and material
resources, which will in turn increase the value of their cultural capital’ (Norton,
2000, p. 10), as discussed in Chapter Two. Norton argued that proficiency in an
additional language has exchange value for symbolic, cultural and other forms
of capital and can enhance existing cultural capital. The problem is that
investment in oral proficiency is dependent on gaining speech opportunities
with friends, classmates, teachers and associates in formal and/or informal
occasions in school contexts (Miller, 2003; Toohey, 2000) and in social
interactions at the workplace (Norton, 1995, 2000). However, accessing these
speech occasions is determined by recognised language proficiency (Miller,
2003; Toohey, 2000) and field positions (Norton, 1995, 2000). Thus, I consider
social capital and linguistic capital to be mutually reinforcing in the case of
accessing linguistic practices for EAL learners of English.

For this thesis, I acknowledge the importance of economic and cultural capital,
as argued by Bourdieu (1991), in enabling mobility of EAL international
students to a new field of education in Australia. I highlight that linguistic
capital, among a range of different species of capital, is mutually reinforcing its
convertibility to others in the case of international education. I now turn to
conclusions concerning Relation Three.

Convertibility of linguistic capital

The first part of Relation Three: Capital, linguistic capital and field extends the
concepts of investment (Norton, 2000), and linguistic, social, and cultural
capital (Bourdieu, 1986, 1991, 1993b). This is illustrated in Figure 3.1 below,

Figure: 3.1. Relation Three: Capital and Field

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In the case of EAL international students, linguistic capital has a high exchange
value for other forms of capital, including cultural, social and economic capital.
Extending Bourdieu, when social actors are legitimated as legitimate speakers
and endowed with linguistic capital, their linguistic capital enables further
acquisition of other forms of capital. Accrued capital such as social and cultural
capital in turn has the potential to enable the enhancement of linguistic capital
accrued particularly through social interactions with legitimate speakers.

The process of accruing a capital portfolio is by no means linear or

straightforward. Emotion can arise, as discussed in Relation Two, from success
or failure in converting particular species of capital, such as cultural capital to
others, such as linguistic capital. In pursuit of linguistic capital in an additional
language, emotions are the empirical manifestations of unpredictability between
habitus and the intercultural communication (M. Kelly, 1999). Feeling
uncomfortable, ashamed, or humiliated marks unpleasant linguistic situations
between second language learners and their conversants (Norton, 2000).
Emotional reactions can also arise in cases of changing taken-for-granted bodily
expressions, such as differences in accent, of a new language required for a
particular field. To further this point, I turn to the following discussion over
social acceptability, second part of Relation Three and its links with Relation
One and Two, established earlier in this chapter. This is to stress the role of
legitimation in the convertibility of capital.

Social acceptability
Bourdieu also identifies three facets concerning ‘social acceptability’ (Bourdieu,
1993b, p. 66) when a language ‘is listened to (i.e. believed), obeyed, heard
(understood)’ (p. 66). Social acceptability refers to social conditions
determining how language production is legitimated as credible, or what is said
is granted credibility. To start with, I discuss grammaticality of a legitimate
language and its effect on social acceptability.

According to Bourdieu (1993b), ‘He says it so well, it must be true’ (p. 66) is an
extreme case when grammaticality and appropriate manners imposes credibility
on what is said. ‘He says it so well’ demonstrates the symbolic capital to profit
from acceptability. Miller (2003) built on this and extended it to the concept of

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audible difference, making the point that when a speaker sounds ‘different’,
they are likely to jeopardise credibility. Here accent or a linguistic feature of
language production is considered a factor that can hinder the ‘audibility’ of
second language learners’ talk and further delegitimate the speaker.

Secondly, ‘He says it so well’ is particularly important in formal situations

(Bourdieu, 1993b). The more formal the situation, the more the effect of
grammaticality on credibility. In Bourdieu’s terms, the same talk can be granted
different degrees of credibility by different audiences or conversants (Bourdieu,
1993). The second point here is what is said can thus be accorded different
value among different listeners.

The third point is that social acceptability reflects the field position of the
speaker. For example, advice by a medical doctor on certain health conditions
might be expected to have a higher value than the same advice from a lay
person. An extreme case is when an ‘authorized representative’ (Bourdieu,
1991, p. 110, original emphasis) speaks with symbolic capital on behalf of
institutions represented. The credibility of what is being said is enhanced by the
power invested in the advantageous field position. The theory thus looks at the
social relations around the language, which impacts on what is said is heard or
legitimated or legitimated by others. For this thesis, as discussed in Relation
Two, emotions are important indicators of a (mis)match produced by social
relations around the language concerning facets of social acceptability and
legitimation, highlighted in Relation One and Relation Three.

Bourdieu’s theory focuses on social relations of power relation involved in

linguistic capital and legitimacy. Bourdieu did not expand on the relations
between linguistic capital and other forms of capital, or a capital portfolio.
These relations are important in this thesis, as the linguistic situations studied
are situated in the educational field, which is a social space where students have
existing capitals re-configured and also acquire new capitals. I suggest that
capital portfolios are constituents of field positions and they have an effect on
the credibility of any linguistic production. In some cases, recognizable valid
capital and readability of race and language (Luke, 2009) in linguistic

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productions can impose credibility in a specific linguistic situation. As in the
previous sections, I now summarise this section with a set of propositions.

Propositions for Relation Three: Capital and Field

 Accrual of linguistic capital in a second language mutually reinforces

accrual of other forms of capital, configuration and/or enhancement of
existing capital in a capital portfolio valued in a specific field.
 Social relations of the language can affect social acceptability and
further evoke a range of emotion indicating a (mis)match of habitus
and field.
To conclude this chapter, I propose, in the following section, a theorisation of
‘coming to belong’ in Bourdieu’s terms, drawing on the three relations of
habitus, field and capital I have discussed thus far in this chapter.

Conclusion
In this chapter, I have argued that Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and
capital can best serve the purpose of the research questions posed in Chapter
One. I revisit these questions and elaborate on them through the three theoretical
relations in the following sections.

Summarising Three Relations

The three relations in discussion are overlapping to some extent but each offers
a different focus. Relation One focuses on the power of legitimation in valuing
capital within a given field. Processes of legitimation decide the value of capital,
enable its accrual and legitimate actors’ feel for the game. The term ‘capital
portfolio’ was proposed as a composite term for the quality and quantity of
capital accrued over time by social actors and available to be reconfigured in
new fields. For the purpose of this thesis, entering a new field is a process of
seeking legitimation in the desired field position, enabled by the acquisition and
reconfiguration of a capital portfolio.

In Relation Two, I argued that what is in habitus can be severely disrupted at

times of crisis when habitual reactions to rules of the game in a new or changed
field can no longer produce effective outcomes. Bodily emotions are prompted
in the process of acquiring a feel for the game as empirical indicators of a
(mis)match between habitus and field. I concluded by suggesting that

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changeability in habitus can be achieved on the conditions of aspired adaptation,
reconfigured capital portfolios and adjusted readings of the force of the field in
the process.

I further highlighted the role of linguistic capital in accessing other forms of

capital in Relation Three: Capital and Field. I argued that Bourdieu did not
adequately address the power relations involved in legitimating linguistic capital.
I suggested that the accrual of linguistic capital in a second language requires a
two-way process of exchange in capital.

Theorising ‘coming to belong’

For the purpose of this thesis, I would like to propose a theorisation of ‘coming
to belong’ in Bourdieusian terms. This term is premised on how social actors
aspire to achieve a match between habitus and field (Reed-Danahay, 2005)
under the circumstances of coming to a new field. ‘Coming to belong’ is defined
as passage through rites of legitimation, empirically evident in a spectrum of
emotional reactions to legitimacy granted by social actors in a given field,
indicating a (mis)match of habitus and field. The sense of ‘coming to’ in this
term here is twofold in firstly its literal sense of travel to, or entry into a new
field, and secondly its sense of a temporal process over time enabling a sense of
belonging. ‘Coming to belong’ is produced by power relations involved in
configuring the new social actors’ field positions and capital portfolios and the
legitimation granted by existing members of a field. I illustrate ‘coming to
belong’ in the following diagram.

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Figure 3.2. Theorising ‘Coming to Belong’ in Bourdieusian Terms

For the purpose of unpacking this diagram and its metaphor, I firstly explain the
metaphor’s features. The two arrows on the left represent beams entering into
the prism in the middle of the diagram. The prism serves to refract the light
from the beams into separate colours, adjacent to each other and overlapping to
some degree, but nonetheless distinct.

Secondly, I explain the diagram in theoretical terms. From the left of the
diagram, social actors enter a new field with their capital portfolios and acquired
feel for the game. Their capital and feel for the game needs to go through
processes of legitimation. The prism in the centre is a metaphor of the
mechanism of legitimation, operated by actors holding divergent social
positions in the new field and associated sub-fields. The purpose of legitimation
is to give value to capital and to grant membership. On the right, the rainbow
colours are metaphors of different emotional reactions and senses of belonging
to outcomes of processes of legitimation in various sub-fields.

Figure 3.2 aims to highlight processes and outcomes of legitimation in new

fields and associated sub-fields. It should be stressed that legitimacy is sought
and granted sub-field by sub-field by different social actors with differentiated
power derived from capital portfolios. Senses of ‘coming to belong’ are closely
related to, though not determinant, outcomes of legitimacy. Thus, they are not

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acquired once and for all, but in constant negotiations in the struggle for
configuring capital and preferred field positions in a sub-field.

The research question in theoretical terms

I rephrase the research question and sub-questions in theoretical language in the
following.

‘What capital counts for questions of “coming to belong” at university for

EAL international students in their first year of study in Australia?’

The sub-questions are as follows:

1. What capital did EAL international students at university see as

critical to adjustment to new rules of the game in Australia?
2. What capital did EAL students invoke to account for their feel for the
game as learners at university in Australia?
3. Given these students’ experiences within, as well as beyond,
university over time, how do these students describe their coming to
belong?

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Chapter Four: Methodology and methods
Introduction
In Chapter Three a Bourdieusian theoretical framework was proposed for
understanding international students’ entry into Australian university
classrooms. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a meta-theoretical
argument to link the methodological and theoretical frameworks; to present
methods used to produce the data of the study; and introduce narrative as the
analytical lens for this thesis. This chapter firstly addresses the choice of critical
realism as philosophical premises for social science, its link to narrative as the
analytic lens and its relevance to the theoretical framework proposed in the
previous chapter. Secondly, this chapter describes the research design, the data
generation process, the data reduction process and analytic phases, and an
introductory overview of the data set.

Critical Realism as Meta-theoretical Approach

It was established in Chapter Three that social actors’ behaviours, values,
decisions, and tastes were structured by the multiple relations between habitus,
field and capital. This theoretical framework aimed to look beyond social actors’
observable behaviour. This is because their trajectories, the rules of the game
and valued capital cause social actors to act in a certain way. These theoretical
premises align with critical realists’ views of ontology (Bhaskar, 1978;
Danermark, et al., 2002).

One fundamental premise of critical realists’ world views is to ask questions

‘from epistemology to ontology, and within ontology from events to
mechanisms’ (Danermark, et al., 2002, p. 5). It attempts to inquire into what
reality is, before we explore how to acquire knowledge about it. It also aims to
move from investigating what happened, or events, to what produces the events,
or their causal mechanisms. Thus, the choice of critical realism as meta-
theoretical premise enabled this study to provide alternative explanations of
EAL international students’ learning experiences.

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Critical realists believe there is a reality out there, independent of social actors’
knowledge. The social world is that of a complex ontology of layered realities:
‘structured, differentiated, stratified and changing’ (Danermark, et al., 2002, p.
5). This is a departure from what positivists’ realism considers a single domain
of reality. For critical realists, there are three domains of reality: the empirical,
the actual, and the real (Bhaskar, 1978) as illustrated in Figure 4.1 below.

Figure 4.1. Layered Reality

The empirical is the domain of reality that social actors experience (Danermark,
et al., 2002), and that is able to be sensed and made empirically evident. The
second layer is the actual which can be experienced by social actors, but is not
necessarily empirically evident. This can include the absence of an event in the
empirical realm. Underneath the actual is the real. The real is the system of
underlying ‘potential’ or ‘causal mechanisms’ that generate events. Whether
social actors sense or experience something is not the only criterion for what
constitutes reality.

Events constitute the empirical domain of reality; however, ‘things do not

happen just by chance or without a reason’ (Danermark, et al., 2002, p. 198).
Complex causal and emergent mechanisms generate events that become actual
and perhaps empirical facts. Exploring mechanisms is important so as not to
flatten reality to just reflect its empirical domain. The use of tools in social
science can mediate what is not immediately accessible and get as close as

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possible to the actual and the real ontological realms. However, there needs to
be a distinction between natural and social sciences. Natural science is similar to
a closed system, ‘when reality’s generative mechanisms can operate in isolation
and independently of other mechanisms’ (Danermark, et al., 2002, p. 66). In
such a closed system, causal effects can be studied through interventions
isolated and controlled in a laboratory. In contrast, social phenomena are
operating in more complex relations and interactions among complicated
mechanisms. It is not possible to isolate and control certain mechanisms to
investigate their causal effects. Such an open system creates complexity in
social science research.

Further, critical realists believe that theoretical tools can ‘conceptualize events,
mechanisms and internal relations’ (Danermark, et al., 2002, p. 120). Theory is
important in critical realist frames. However, the use of theory does not
guarantee the quality of the study. The selection of theory in use needs to align
with the design of research and its compatibility with methodological
considerations. Thus, the concepts of theory can provide theoretical vocabulary
to describe empirical practices and to enable knowledge of the underlying
mechanisms.

A Bourdieusian theoretical model proposed in Chapter Three attempted to

mediate the understandings of the causal mechanisms operating behind
empirical events. In this study, concepts of habitus, field and capital and their
transforming relations are tools to drill down to complex relations and
interactions between social actors in their social contexts. In addition, habitus as
‘structuring structures’ (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 72) aligns with critical realists’
frame to explore the interrelations of individual agency and social structure,
rather than to treat agency and structure as distinctively apart.

Moreover, critical realism stresses the importance of language in social science

research. Language is a communication tool, but it is neither neutral nor
transparent (Danermark, et al., 2002; Sayer, 1992). For example, ‘language has
effects of its own, which go beyond those intended by users’ (Sayer, 1992, p.
20). Meanings communicated through language will depend on the interactions
between the components of language and its contexts. Also language itself is

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socially defined, ‘a product of social interaction’ (Sayer, 1992, p. 20). When it is
used to express emotions and feelings, the expressions convey their social
interpretations, not exclusively a demonstration of personal or individual actions.
Language is used to perform social functions, such as to ‘question, command,
argue, confer respect or distribute contempt, establish relationships and …
conduct our business in society’ (Sayer, 1992, p. 20). These views align with
Bourdieu’s emphasis on the social effect of language, as outlined in Chapter
Three. Language has performative power, but it is the individual who exercises
power based on their capital to impose reception or to refute recognition
(Bourdieu, 1991). In this study, language has both theoretical and
methodological significance in understanding the causal mechanisms.

The underlying philosophy of critical realism pertinent to this study has been
outlined in the previous sections. The concepts of layered reality help to
understand the importance of not being limited to the empirical, but the need to
drill down to the actual and the real ontological realms. The distinction between
closed and open systems of science reveals the complexities inherent in social
science. Thus the use of theory can help to provide concepts and vocabulary for
explanations of deeper realities and mechanisms. Further, it was established that
language in this study has its methodological and theoretical significance, and
should be built into the design of the study. In the following sections, based on
this critical realist frame, I present a methodological review of the literature
around EAL international students. This review identifies typical
methodological approaches employed since the 90s.

One group of studies reviewed in Chapter Two adopted quantitative designs,

using instruments and surveys (for example, Renshaw & Volet, 1995; Volet &
Renshaw, 1995; Volet, et al., 1994). This group of studies sought to understand
students’ learning strategies across cultures and their adaptations to higher level
learning. The survey approach is suitable for capturing snapshots at particular
moments. However, this approach often lacks the capacity to provide evidence
to explain the similarities and differences of students’ learning strategies within
and across cultures. Furthermore, it can only provide limited understanding of
adaptations by students in response to the demands in new educational contexts.

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Another body of literature is typically written from the researchers’ classroom
experiences (for example, Ballard & Clanchy, 1997; Cadman, 2000). As stated
in Chapter Two, EAL international students, Chinese students in particular,
were theorised as uncritical thinkers, not independent learners, having poor
English abilities, and passive in class discussions. However, there was a lack of
examination of the researchers’ taken-for-granted positions in their theorisation.
This lack tended to create binary contrasts; thus, it further undermined their
arguments to attribute culture as ‘the’ causal mechanisms. Other possible
mechanisms were left unexplored.

A more recent group of studies has taken up other paradigms and methodologies
to research EAL international students. These studies were typically interview
studies. I categorise these studies into three methodological sub-groups.

The first sub-group of studies looked at the construction of EAL international

students’ subjectivities (for example, Kettle, 2005; Koehne, 2005, 2006). These
researchers viewed reality as socially and discursively constructed. In this
reality, individuals perform their social positionings through discourse, thereby
realising their subjectivities. The methodology and methods of these studies
made possible insights from viewing international students as agent (Kettle,
2005) and as having multiple subjectivities (Koehn, 2005, 2006). However, this
approach seemed to place too much emphasis on individual agency and
individual subjectivities. The effects of structural constraints such as grading
assessments and English as the medium of instruction were not explicitly dealt
with. Thus, this approach may provide limited explanations of how individual
agency and subjectivities were impacted by these constraints.

In contrast, a second sub-group of studies argued that university practices based

upon assumptions about their EAL international students contributed to the
identities made available to the students (Doherty & Singh, 2007, 2008). These
researchers used qualitative design with classroom observation and interview as
data generation methods. They drew insights from a post-positivist perspective
to provide alternative explanations for the reality. They constructed these
students as mobile students and recognized the real beneath the empirical. This
present study builds on Doherty and Singh’s design (2007) to view university

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practices as constitutive constraints shaping EAL international students’
learning experiences. It also adopts a similar ontology to view reality as
structured, stratified and differentiated. This is a departure from Kettle’s (2005)
and Koehne’s (2005, 2006) work discussed earlier.

A third sub-group of interview studies is research specifically conducted by

EAL international students themselves. These studies reflect upon the
intertwining relations between language and culture in these students’ learning
experiences in Australia (for example, M. Singh & Fu, 2008; M. Singh & Guo,
2008). These studies used qualitative design and autobiographical accounts. The
researchers challenged taken-for-granted assumptions about Chinese students’
behaviours, for example, that these students think uncritically. Furthermore,
they challenged English-only conventions which proscribe translation as a
learning process. The researchers’ critical reflections upon the interactions
between structural constraints and international students’ individual agency
offer alternative explanations of translation practices, showing how they
enhanced rather than detracted from learning. The value of translation practice
to register accrued knowledge, not often observable, constitutes the actual and
the real. M. Singh & Fu (2008) and M. Singh & Guo (2008) have pointed
towards a new direction that can unearth such domains of reality to enrich the
collective understanding of international students’ learning experiences.

Though individual researchers differ in their paradigmatic positions, these more

recent studies on EAL international students have generally adopted qualitative
designs and analysed qualitative data (for example, Doherty & Singh, 2007;
Koehne, 2005, 2006; M. Singh & Fu, 2008; M. Singh & Guo, 2008). Semi-
structured interviews have been typically used for data generation. In Kettle’s
and Koehn’s design, interviews were scheduled twice to capture sequence or
change. Koehne’s work (2005, 2006) specified the use of narrative as data,
while M. Singh and Fu (2008) and M. Singh and Guo (2008) use
autobiographical accounts as data sources. These methodological choices reflect
a shift of paradigms and methodology in EAL international students’ research
from quantitative to qualitative designs. This change also resonates with a
similar pattern in education research in the U.S. since the 90s when researchers

86
turned to investigate individual lives for insights from particularities (Casey,
1995-1996; Milner, 2007).

This review suggests that a critical realist frame to look into the causal
mechanisms that produce events and experience will enable this study to get
beneath empirical events and experience. Individuals’ biographical trajectories
and their capital are helpful to understand the particularities of actions and
decisions and underlying mechanisms producing them. This approach has not
yet been used previously in much of the literature. Thus this study aims to
achieve a rich understanding by tapping into the actual and the real. In the
following sections I shall address challenges of a double hermeneutics in social
science research.

A double hermeneutics: The researcher and the

researched
Social science researchers investigate the social world, but such study involves a
double hermeneutics, that is, the problem of how to ‘interpret other people’s
interpretations’ (Danermark, et al., 2002, p. 32). The social world is necessarily
where both the researcher and the researched are ‘most active, taking part in and
relating to the social world they are a part of, but also partaking in and relating
to the production of knowledge taking place there’ (Danermark, et al., 2002). It
is essential that social science researchers address concerns of imposing
researchers’ interpretations upon participants’ interpretations of the social world.

Similar concerns arise for education researchers who need to minimize risks of
interpreting research findings through taken-for-granted worldviews (Milner,
2007). This needs to be done through researcher reflexivity when research aims
for a better understanding of students’ educational experience (Milner, 2007).
Reflexivity here refers to researchers’ reflections upon the research processes,
their interpretations of others’ interpretations of the social world and their
representation of the researched (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2000). This reflexive
move is essential at every stage of the research process, from research design to
reporting (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2000). To handle the double hermeneutics, it
is important for researchers to explicitly attend to these methodological and
ethical practices.

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For this study, my role as a researcher who has experienced part of the world of
international students produces both strengths and limitations. It was important
to build into the research design opportunities to document my interpretations. It
was also important to clarify participants’ accounts and to check my
interpretations of these during the research procedures. At the same time, I
acknowledge that it might be challenging to be conscious of all the blind spots
in my interpretations (Heshusius, 1994). Thus, the endeavour here shall be
viewed as minimizing the possible imposition of my experiences on the process
of generating data and analysis. I shall now turn to the research design in the
following sections to operationalise the design of a critical realist narrative
study.

Research Design
This chapter has argued for a Bourdieusian framework under an overarching
critical realist metatheoretical framework. A Bourdieusian framework is used to
explain causal mechanisms producing experience and events in the empirical.
This chapter now turns to the following sections explaining why a narrative
design was adopted, how narrative aligned with the critical realist frame
proposed, and how data were generated for analysis.

Narrative as a way of knowing

The term ‘narrative’ has been taken up as an umbrella term to encompass
various paradigmatic and theoretical positions in social science and humanities
research (for example, Andrews, Squire, & Tamboukou, 2008; Bamberg, 2007;
Casey, 1995-1996; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Riessman, 1993, 2008). The
discussion here focuses on research working on narrative data generated from
interview. Narrative has been described as

a way of organizing episodes, actions, and accounts of actions; it is an

achievement that brings together everyday facts and fantastic creations;
time and place are incorporated. The narrative allows for the inclusion of
actors’ reasons for their acts, as well as the causes of their happening.
(Sarbin, 1986, p. 9)
Narrative is a way of knowing and a way of telling individuals’ experiences,
actions, and reasons. Everyday life can be revealed through sequences of events,
and causal links between happenings. It is also interpreted through personal

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perspectives. In addition, narrative ‘represents the most internally consistent
interpretation of presently understood past, experienced present, and anticipated
future at that time’ (Cohler cited in Mishler, 1992, p. 25). The teller’s self is
revealed in perceived sequential and consequential events. The timeline of
recounted past experiences can extend backwards and forwards, as is
meaningful to the teller.

The premises of narrative inquiry are consistent with those of critical realist
methodology discussed earlier in this chapter (see Figure 4.2 below). Narrative
offers ‘a way of understanding experience’ (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 20).
It is also a way for the teller ‘to make sense of the past’ (Riessman, 2008, p. 8)
through the process of telling, and to communicate a point meaningful to the
teller. Thus, narrative allows the audience to understand the empirical, and the
sense made of it. Further, narrative also has the capacity to include reasons and
causes of experience and events (Sarbin, 1986). Reasons and causes have the
potential to drill down to the actual and the real and to investigate causal
mechanisms. The capacities of narrative design allow this study to access
ontological layers underneath everyday experiences, events and happenings.

Figure 4.2. Layered Reality and Narrative

Figure 4.2 shows how narrative forms of knowing and telling can articulate with
a critical realist frame. Narrative telling can tap into reasons and causes that
produce the empirical. However, it is acknowledged that the sense-making and
points made in narrative telling do not immediately reveal the causal

89
mechanisms. Rather, the rich data derived from narrative telling need to be
interpreted through the theoretical framework proposed in Chapter Three. These
reasons and causes can then be explained through theoretical concepts to
interpret the actual and the real.

Methods
Within the critical realist frame, this study was designed to generate participants’
narratives for analysis. For this study, narrative refers to first-person oral
accounts of one’s past experiences (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996; Riessman, 2008).
While narrative researchers differ in their choice of methods to elicit narratives,
this study adopted research interview narratives (for example, Clandinin &
Connelly, 2000; Mishler, 1991; Polkinghorne, 1988; Riessman, 2008). Also,
consistent with the a priori theoretical framework proposed, the design of semi-
structured interviews was used to include the researcher’s interest, aims of this
study and also to achieve openness by allowing participants to lead their
accounts (Kvale, 1996).

A series of interviews were built into the design to ensure prolonged

engagement with participants. This approach aligned with the theoretical
underpinnings of this study that argued time was important to capture evolving
events and experiences, and to identify possible growth or change. As discussed
in the methodological review of international student literature, multiple
interviews rather than a single data point enhanced the richness of the data set.
Thus, three face-to-face interviews were conducted across an academic year for
a fuller understanding of effects of time upon students’ learning experience.
Three interviews enabled intermittent contact between the researcher and the
participants, but also accommodated difficulties of logistics and ethical use of
participants’ time spent on this study.

Further, email dialogues between interview sessions were added to the design of
face-to-face interviews. Email offers some data production advantages
increasingly used in research (Mann & Stewart, 2003). The asynchronicity
makes it convenient for participants to jot down their ongoing experiences. Also,
the impersonality of the written medium may reduce the anxiety of face-to-face
interview for some participants (Mann & Stewart, 2003). In addition, email has

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also been adopted by narrative researchers to encourage participants to record
their experiences in writing. The experiences thus documented could then serve
as points of discussion for narrative elicitations in follow-up interviews (Roberts,
2001). Finally, email connections facilitated the building and sustaining of
meaningful, and collegial rapport between the researcher and the researched
which was important for data quality and continued participation (Fontana &
Frey, 2003, 2005).

Thus, the data generation process was designed to maximize the capture of life
transitions and to maintain on-going rapport with the participants. The first
interview was scheduled within the first four weeks of the participants’ first
semester in their Australian universities. The second interview was conducted
either at the end of the first semester or the beginning of the second semester.
The third interview was conducted at the end of the second semester. Email
invitations were maintained at a fortnightly interval, with questions such as
‘How’s everything?’ or ‘What’s your university life so far?’. These open
questions allowed the participants to report any significant moments during the
interval. The design of the process enhanced the possibility of continuing
contact, and open elicitations in order to generate rich data for analysis.

The research interview has been termed ‘an inter-view’ (Kvale, 2007, p. 13).
This highlights the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee.
The researcher’s identity, in the eyes of the interviewee, can impact on what the
interviewee chooses to say. For example, an interviewer introduced as a
professor may generate different accounts than if she were introduced as a
mother of three (Silverman, 2005). This is because an interview is a site of
knowledge production (Kvale, 2007) in which both the interviewer and the
interviewee participate in producing the knowledge and both strive to present
themselves credibly in the eyes of the other.

An interview is also ‘a social encounter, sometimes displaying cultural

particularities’ (Abbas, 2006, p. 322). These particularities include interrelated
issues around ethnicity, language use, religion and politics of the researcher and
the researched. Similarities could easily accord the researcher insider status on

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one aspect, while, at the same time, a sense of otherness could arise from
perceived difference.

For this study, I acknowledge that myself as a researcher and PhD student from
Taiwan may have impacted on the relations between me and the interviewees,
for better and for worse. However, I am not sure whether these roles were
overly problematic to the quality of the data. In some ways, my status as a
student with overseas educational qualifications and an accent might have
indicated that I shared part of my participants’ worlds as an ‘insider’. Yet, my
ethnicity and bilingual capacities (English and Mandarin Chinese speaking)
could just as easily mark me as different and hence ‘outsider’ among the diverse
ethnicities and complicated politics of the internationalised university.

Interview techniques
Narrative researchers generally believe that narratives come most unexpectedly
(for example, Riessman 2008). However, to achieve purposeful use of
participants’ time in generating narratives, this study followed the following
guidelines (Flick, 2000). The principles included preparing interview guides,
foregrounding interview procedures, and rehearsing possible formulaic
questions (see Appendix A). I started each interview section with an interview
guide. The interview guide listed a broad range of topics this study was
interested in. Key words such as friends, lectures, assignments and technology
were highlighted. Then, procedures of the interview were briefly explained.
This included foregrounding what would come next during this interview
session, and when the interview would be concluded. The final part was to
explain the nature of interview questions. For example, ‘during this interview, I
may want you to slow down and think about what came before or after what you
just told me.’ This explanation prepared interviewees with the expectation that
more detailed information of a specific event or experience may be required.

Language of interviews
As a bilingual researcher, my linguistic capabilities opened up new
opportunities, as well as challenges. Using only Mandarin Chinese would limit
the pool of possible participants, and perhaps limit the interpretation of who
international students are. Using both languages maximized the pool of possible

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recruits and allowed for the possibility of losing some participants over the data
generation period. Similarly, using English during interviews also posed
challenges, particularly with regard to accuracy of meaning. Time was built in
during interviews for special attention to be paid to meaning-negotiations and
clarifications. For example, the world ‘help’ was used extensively across the
interviews. I sought clarifications during interviews whether ‘help’ was used to
mean ‘assistance’ or ‘pastoral care’ in the context of the talk. Also, I made use
of email and follow-up interviews for further clarifications. These
considerations were consistent with the double hermeneutics discussed earlier in
this chapter. They also aligned with ethical practice as will be discussed later.

The design considerations considered so far impacted on the sampling and

recruitment of participants. It is important to address these two points before
proceeding with further discussions of other aspects of language use in this
study.

Recruitment of participants
Convenience sampling or opportunity sampling was chosen for the recruitment
of participants (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2000). This sampling strategy
allowed the researcher to invite ‘the nearest individuals to serve as respondents’
(p. 102). Thus, the recruitment of participants did not aim for a statistical
representation of the whole population. The design of narrative interviews over
time further limited the number of recruits. This study thus aimed for a rich
understanding of a small number of participants for more insights. It sought an
analytical generalization that allows for readers to make ‘a reasoned judgement’
(Kvale, 2007, p. 127) about how the findings might be meaningful to situations
happening in another settings.

The selection of participants focused on commencing international students,

enrolled in February 2008. The selection criterion was international students
who used English as a second or additional language. This criterion aimed to
achieve a diverse group by ethnicity, gender, and religion, and also included a
variety of study areas. At a two-day orientation event, I was able to recruit
seventeen participants at the research site, who gave their informed consent

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prior to their first interviews Appendix B summarises the participants by
ethnicity, gender, religion and study area.

Nine out of seventeen participants from China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and

Singapore identified Mandarin Chinese as their first language. These
participants chose either English or Mandarin Chinese in the interview. Code-
switching between English and Mandarin Chinese was common across their
interviews. However, there was a pattern whereby Mandarin Chinese was used
more in the first round of interview, and less so in the later rounds. Both
Singaporean students and two of the five students from China used more
English than Chinese in their code-switching. Only one participant consistently
used Mandarin Chinese in all three rounds of interviews. The remaining eight
participants were diverse in their countries of origin and their first languages.
English was the lingua franca, thus used throughout the interviewing sessions.
Accents, intelligibility of words, and contextual information of their country of
origin and disciplinary vocabulary were identified as challenges in the
interviewing process. However, clarity and intelligibility improved over the data
generation period. These descriptions of language preferences are important for
the subsequent discussions on translation and transcription.

Transcription
Interview data were prepared for analysis through a transcription process.
Principles underlying transcription included retaining the information needed
for the research study and being as close as possible to the interaction in the
interview (Edwards, 1993). Also, the conventions used for situations transcribed
from talk needed to be readable and consistent (Edwards, 1993; Flick, 2007;
Kvale, 2007), as shown in Appendix C for transcription conventions. Decisions
should align with the research aim, theoretical and methodological frameworks.

This study aimed for a narrative analysis, focusing on experience and events
recounted. To this end, talk was transcribed verbatim, but only major non-verbal
expressions were included. Non-verbal expressions such as laughter, crying or
extended long pauses were recorded in brackets following the verbatim script
(Edward, 1993). Thus readability in the aspect of text arrangement of transcripts
was maintained (Edwards, 1993).

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The transcription of participants’ talk was as close to their use of English as
possible. However, in order to increase the readability of the transcripts in terms
of grammaticality, the researcher rephrased tenses, or word usage that caused
misunderstanding of sequences or meanings in the texts. For example, when
transcripts were prepared as data for reporting, raw data in the following were
changed from (1) to (2). The change was marked in bold.

(1) But they tell me my English was very terrible but my not understanding
is caused also because of the lecturer speaking.
(2) But they told me my English was very terrible, but my not
understanding was caused partly because of the lecturer’s way of
speaking.
In this way, the intended message was kept without compromising
readability.

Translation
Translation is a process of negotiation, in which textual types, world views
behind the texts, and audiences are factors to be considered and negotiated (Eco,
2003). The style of language used should be retained in the translated text. Also,
the intended meanings, including communicating the world views behind the
texts should be kept and explained as much as possible to the target audience.
However, reconciling all these factors is challenging, if not impossible.
Different linguistic systems and cultural frameworks do not always have
compatible terms for translation. Thus, partial rewriting is often necessary. The
translator needs to make decisions to rewrite, but aim to ‘create the same effect
in the mind of the reader’ (Eco, 2003, p. 56).

Interviews conducted in Mandarin Chinese were translated by myself, following

the principles discussed. I offer the following excerpts as examples to
demonstrate the code-switching (English) in italics and partial rewriting in bold.

(1) 我覺得我考 IELTS 還 OK。我 listening 還考蠻高分的；可是我來這

邊，一開始 listening 就不好。就是全部都敗在 listening 就對了。
(Sandra M., from Taiwan)
My IELTS results were OK. I had a good grade for my listening. However,
after I came here, initially I did badly in my listening components of the
course. It was the listening that failed me.
In this excerpt, the literal meaning of the original text read as initially,
listening was not good enough. This did not convey what she meant by

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 that. In the partial rewrite, I inserted listening components and course to
provide a context to the intended message.
(2) 畢竟，過去在台灣的時候，是沒有讀過這種東西的。就是英文就
是英文阿！哪有什麼 Academic 什麼什麼東西的！ 就沒有。(Sandra M.,
from Taiwan)
After all, in the past when I was in Taiwan, I have never taken such a
course. English is English. How would I know there was any academic
English or else? There wasn’t anything like that.
In this excerpt, I partially rewrote a literal meaning of ‘study’ as taken such a
course. Then I changed the exclamation structure of the sentence in Mandarin
Chinese to a question in English to convey her style.

Transcripts for narrative analysis

A further step to prepare transcripts for narrative analysis considered the
analytic framework of the study (Riessman, 2008). Before transcripts could be
presented in the analytic chapters, it took time and effort for experience and
events in the transcription to be identified for analysis (Creswell, 2005;
Riessman, 2008). Such identification of the narratives was also theoretically
informed (Andrews, et al., 2008; Riessman, 2008; Squire, 2008). Different
decisions could be made when attending to different aspects of the narrative for
analysis. How much detail needed to be included and the boundaries of the
narratives (beginnings and ends) depended upon readings aligned with
theoretical underpinnings of the thesis. This section focuses on this process of
tidying up transcription and setting boundaries for narratives. These practices
were often not discrete.

In the following excerpt, the interviewee talked about her experience in tutorials.
She mentioned another student, highlighted in bold, in this event.

I had two tutorials, and I would like to group with Australians because that
will be good for my language learning. However, Australians tend to sit
together and they group with each other. International students sit together,
so they group together. For example, in one tutorial, I was with another
Korean student. We were the only two international students. We
found that we were isolated from others. In fact, we sat mixing up with
Australians, but when it comes with grouping, everything I need to ask,
‘May I join your group?’ and they said OK you can. Then I can. It is not
like that they are natural to be grouped together. That was my feeling. I
may be too critical. (Donna Excerpt 6.15)
The transcription was tidied up for analysis in the following way.

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 I had two tutorials, and I would like to group with Australians because that
will be good for my language learning. However, Australians tend to sit
together and they group with each other. International students sit together,
so they group together. In fact, we sat mixing up with Australians, but
when it comes to grouping, every time I needed to ask, ‘May I join your
group?’
This transcript focused on the narrator and her grouping experience. The ‘we’
was left dangling after the deletion of mention of another student. However, it
could still refer to ‘international students,’ which corresponded to the intended
reference. The boundary of this narrative was set to her question ‘May I join
your group?’ What was left out was part of the actions and her further
evaluations and coda. Although these were important and relevant, the tightened
transcript still retained the intended message. The ending of this transcript was
selective and negotiated to talk to other selected pieces of data in reporting.

Ethical practice
The ethical practices of this study was informed by the National Statement on
Ethical Conduct in Human Research (National Health and Medical Research
Council, 2007). These included considerations of informed consent,
confidentiality, member-checking and representations of personal lives in public
domains (Burgess, 1989; Cohen, et al., 2000; Creswell & Miller, 2000; Howe &
Moses, 1999; Merriam, c1998; Simmon, 1989; Strike, 2006). These ethical
practices aligned with the researcher’s reflexivity practices discussed earlier.

This study ensured voluntary and informed consent before data generation
processes started. Participants were informed of the background to the study, the
likely contribution and the probable consequences of their participation. Risks
were clearly stated, including possible effects arising from recounting personal
experiences. Participants were also provided with contact details for seeking
help, should they experience discomfort from recounting their personal
experience, and for reporting adverse incidents. All these considerations were
clearly stated in an information kit prepared for the participants (see Appendix
D).

Confidentiality was observed at all stages of data generation, storage and

reporting. Data were de-identified by removing names from transcripts and
addresses from emails. Contact details were kept separate from the data. Also,

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access to raw data was limited to the researcher and supervisors. Data were
stored securely on password protected computers, to which only the researcher
had access. All printed transcripts were stored in locked filing cabinets.

In order to ensure the accuracy of interview accounts, transcripts were member-

checked by the participants (Creswell & Miller, 2000). In the following excerpt,
I show an example of change made by a participant after she read her transcript.

Yeah, like last day… yesterday…I was in the lecture…it was…I felt like I
wasn’t involved. Actually I was listening what lecturer was saying but I
couldn’t understand what she was saying for a part of them is having
abbreviation and that every part of them it kept me…a frustrating
feeling…it’s I mean… the full story of her saying I could understand but
part of them was too difficult. But I feel like it’s a par… it’s more
important than the full story. You know what I mean?
She changed it to the following.
I felt like I wasn’t involved in there. Actually I was listening what the
lecturer was saying but I couldn’t understand. There were lots of
abbreviations and those kept me frustrated. I mean…I could understand the
overall story of the lecture but a part of them (abbreviations) was too
difficult. Thus, I felt like, although it was (abbreviations) a part of her
lecture, it seemed more important in order to understand the lecture than
the full story which I was listening.
The whole excerpt was paraphrased in a clearer manner. I placed the emphasis
on the latter section of this excerpt to highlight the fact that the change made
was in fact easier to understand.

Further, any mention of issues related to religion, politics, morals, or cultural

values with regard to participants’ countries of origin were handled with care.
For example, some issues relating to religion impacted on certain participants
more than others. Participants were assured that their accounts would not be
reported in public domains without their consent. Thus, contact details of
participants for future contact were sought to ensure chances to verify the
researcher’s interpretations and representations of the participants in research
publications.

Pragmatic considerations
The main pragmatic considerations of this study were concerned with logistics
around interview appointments and a tight timeline for recruitment of
participants. It was considered pragmatic for this study to limit data generation

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time to one academic year, rather than a longitudinal design across participants’
completion of degrees. However, the compromise made did not necessarily
undermine the richness of the data. This was because constant contact both face-
to-face and electronically proved very useful in capturing ongoing change and
growth over an extended period of time. Further, effort was made to capture a
significant year of adaptations from the first to the follow-up second and third
interviews. Rich data were generated; yet, they were manageable.

A tight timeline for recruitment was a practical consideration behind the

decision to offer both English and Mandarin Chinese as interview languages.
Thus, a diverse group of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds were recruited. This
posed challenges, because the participants were not necessarily of the same
ethnic and linguistic group to the researcher. Other than linguistic concerns
discussed in the earlier sections, immediate sameness and differences between
the researcher and the researched created complexities in research procedures.
However, the breadth and depth of experiences from this diverse group enabled
this study to question whether EAL international students’ learning experiences
were culturally determined. Thus, the findings of this study could be
strengthened.

Validity and reliability

The terms ‘validity’ and ‘reliability’ are used to discuss the quality of this study,
though these two terms are often regarded as serving a quantitative focus (Kvale,
2007). ‘Validity’ refers to truth of the research findings (Silverman, 2005). In
other words, it asks whether research findings can be trusted. To this end,
researchers need to demonstrate how findings are achieved through ‘critical
investigation of all their data’ (Silverman, 2005, p. 211).

In order to get more valid findings, this study considered relations between
cases against an initial analysis based on the first interviews. Marked cases were
compared with less marked ones. Typical cases were also identified and
examined. Contrasting cases were attended to. By the second round of
interviews, there had been repeated readings of the data set. The purpose was to
provide a comprehensive treatment of the data and to include as many cases as
possible in the analysis.

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‘Reliability’ refers to the consistency of the research findings and the possibility
of replication by other researchers (Flick, 2007; Kvale, 2007). For interview
studies, how data are prepared for analysis concerns the reliability of the
analysis and findings. In this study, all interviews were digitally recorded, which
enabled the data to be retained in as much detail as possible and to be listened to
repeatedly. Careful transcription of interview data guided by the transcription
principles discussed earlier enhanced the reliability of the data. In addition,
careful documentation of the process such as supplying interview guide
questions (see Appendix A) and detailed descriptions of analytical procedures
has been presented in this thesis to make the ‘process’ transparent and replicable.

However, this is not to suggest that this interview study or any interview study
can be replicable, eliciting similar data, given the role the identity of the
researcher has played in this study. Such role might have increased the
possibilities to establish rapport through equal power relations concerning status,
race, and language use between the researcher and the participants.

Visibly and linguistically different from the majority of the teaching staff, I did
not hold any teaching positions in Australian universities. This might have
minimized the distance and power during interviewing. Further, not being a
native-speaking English speaker, I was not endowed with the power of native-
speakerness. Rather, the participants could relate to my EAL background, but
need not feel that they were being judged and assessed in their way of telling.
The following excerpt shows an equal power relation when participants used
their English during the interviews,

I’m lazy to converse but sometimes it is still easy for you as a Chinese or
as ((a)) second language ((learner)), you still understand me, but the local
person they don’t understand. I have to use correct sentence. I know that is
my fault, but it still make ((me)) afraid to communicate sometimes.
Still, the reliability of this study has been assured through a cohesive research
design, attending to every stage of the research process.

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Data sources
Interview transcripts, emails, and supplementary fieldnotes
The data sources included interview transcripts (48), email exchanges (341), and
supplementary fieldnotes maintained across the academic year of data collection
(See Appendix E for profiles of participants and their associated data).

The interview data sources incorporate fifteen complete sets of three interviews.
There were two sets complete with the first two rounds of interview data and
one set of interviews with the first and third. In total, there were forty-eight
interviews. A total of three hundred and forty one email exchanges were
generated in six email cycles. The number of emails per participant ranged from
six to forty exchanges.

Fieldnotes were kept as supplementary data. They recorded aspects of the

research procedures, reflections and interpretations. Field notes were recorded
during and immediately after interviewing sessions. The first types of fieldnotes
documented noticeable experience and events in the interviewing process. These
included decisions made in the undertaking of research. Also, the researcher’s
reflections upon the research process were maintained. (See Appendix F for an
example of the fieldnotes).

Analytic method
Narrative approach
This study was designed as a narrative analysis given the capacities of this mode
of analysis to process participants’ ‘talk organized around consequential events’
(Riessman, 2002, p. 219). Further, narrative captures life transition processes
(Riessman, 2002, 2003). As explained, this study was interested in providing a
fuller account of EAL international students’ educational experiences. To do
this, it was useful not to fragment interview data for analytic purposes (Coffey
& Atkinson, 1996; Riessman, 1993, 2002), but to allow extended pieces of data
to reveal participants’ considerations for their actions and decisions. In the
following section, I explain the analytic model used in this study, informed by
the critical realist frame, and the ‘telling moments’ (Riessman, 2002, p. 246) of
narrative analysis approach.

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‘Telling moments’ (Riessman, 2002, p. 246) are when participants selected
specific events and experiences that were meaningful to them. These telling
moments exemplified participants’ life worlds through a particular event or
experience. During the time of telling, the teller ‘takes the listener into a past
time or ‘world’ and recapitulates what happened then to make a point, often a
moral one’ (p. 219). This study, following Riessman (2002), holds that stories
were told to make a point; thus, this study paid attention to the points made, and
treated them as lessons learnt. These lessons learnt could lead to subsequent
decisions or actions. Hence, the telling moments could link to participants’ past
experiences; at the same time, they could inform actions for future experiences.

The data sources for investigation for this study included transcripts of
interview data, emails and fieldnotes. As explained, the purpose of this study
was not only to look for events happening in participants’ study abroad lives,
but also their explanations, meanings and views on these events. Labov’s sense
of narrative structure (Labov, 1997; Labov & Waletzky, 1967/1997) was useful
in understanding how participants made sense of the world by how they
structured their stories for the researcher. Labov and Waletzky (1967/1997)
break narrative structure into a number of phases. An ‘orientation’ might be
used to introduce an experience or event with information of time, places, and
people involved. ‘Complication’ refers to a problematic turn of events. Then,
participants ‘evaluated’ the situation either to make comments or to take
subsequent actions. Participants might then take actions to resolve the problem.
These actions were termed as ‘resolutions’. Participants might end the story
with another evaluation or a ‘coda’. A coda, as explained, referred to a lesson
learnt, often a moral one.

However, narrative researchers do not necessarily agree as to how exhaustively

to attend to linguistic categorizations of narrative structure need to be attended
to (for example, Patterson, 2008; Squire, 2008; Squire, Andrews, & Tamboukou,
2008). Paying too much attention to narrative clauses has limitations (Patterson,
2008; Riessman, 2002, 2008; Squire, 2008). Researchers need to consider the
purpose of the study when making decisions over what counts as narrative.
Insights from a broad sense of interviewees’ experience, feelings, and sense of

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selves, rather than exclusive structure of event descriptions in narrative might be
more important to certain inquiries than others (Patterson, 2008).

For the purpose of this study, narrative structure was identified but with a
particular focus on participants’ resolutions and codas. That is, the point behind
identifying narrative structure was to look for what had happened and what had
been learnt. These were viewed as focal points for analytic purposes that could
be linked to the critical realist frame of causal mechanisms underlying actions
taken. In particular, codas can act as pointers to participants’ evolving actions in
their ongoing educational experience. In order to get as close to the causal
mechanisms, resolutions and codas will be probed into underlying causes such
as participants’ educational backgrounds, employment experiences in home
countries, values, tastes, and preferences. I illustrate the analytic model in the
Figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3. Layered Reality and Codas

In Figure 4.3, codas and consequential actions, as identified in narratives, were

investigated and interpreted. Codas were analysed to see whether they could
point to possible causal mechanisms in the aspects such as participants’
educational backgrounds, employment experiences in home countries, values,
tastes, and preferences. On the other hand, consequential actions could also be
traced back to previous lessons learnt, and codas.

Data reduction process

Coding is a process of categorizing and classifying data to prepare units for
analysis (Flick, 2002; Lampert & Ervin-Tripp, 1993). It is an important step

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toward analysis. The purpose of coding is ‘to make sense out of the text data,
divide it into text … segments, label the segments with codes, examine codes
for overlap and redundancy, and collapse these codes into broad themes’
(Creswell, 2008, p. 251). A code is used to segment a piece of text. When
similar codes aggregate together, they form themes.

This study went through several data reduction processes. I started coding topics
and themes and indentified patterns in first interview transcripts. The first
question I asked of the data was ‘What’s happening?’ I looked for events
recounted, reasons and consequences given, and the interpretations of these
events and experiences. Themes and patterns in the content participants talked
about were identified. At this stage, data were coded in large chunks with
topical codes such as ‘place of residence’. For example, the following data was
coded by its broad topic of ‘place of residence’:

Figure 4.4. Coding by themes

Thus, I could see similarities and differences in such topics and telling moments
across participants. The themes identified were also used as guidelines in the
second interviews when interviewees were asked to reflect on whether there was
anything different or similar in their experiences in Australia to what they
narrated in the first round of interview. However, I needed to go a step further to
see how this piece of data could serve as referent to the theoretical model
proposed and how it could talk back to the research question of ‘coming to
belong.’

For the second stage of coding, I started with the inductive coding categories
informed by the a priori theoretical framework, discussed in Chapter Three.

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Codes such as ‘habitus’ and ‘cultural capital’ were used. However, these
sociological concepts have syntaxes of ‘the internal language’ (Bernstein, 2000,
p. 133). The internal language constitutes theoretical concepts and these
concepts are often invisible. Thus, the syntaxes of the internal language (L1)
need to be translated into the external language (L2) ‘as a means to make those
invisible visible’ (Bernstein, 2000, p. 133). Thus, a good translation from L1 to
L2 requires careful attention to the definitions of theoretical concepts and the
internal syntaxes of these concepts, as well as the realisation of these syntaxes in
empirical interview data. The process of successful operationalization of theory
into this empirical study can increase validity and reliability of the study
(Calhoun, 2002).

For example, the concept of ‘habitus’ is defined as ‘a system of lasting,

transposable dispositions which, integrating past experiences, functions at every
moment as a matrix of perceptions, appreciations, and actions’ (Bourdieu, 1977,
pp. 82-83). It is only realised by the outcomes consciously or unconsciously
generated or not generated by dispositions, perceptions, and appreciations.
Therefore, an operationalizational definition was required to make the
translation from L1 to L2, and then back to L1.

Thus, I looked for descriptions of language that could describe ‘embodied

dispositions acquired through family, education systems, social groups at
different social and economic positions.’ Examples included expressions
describing ‘habitual or usual traits,’ ‘knowing what to do’, ‘feeling comfortable’,
or ‘feeling at home’ in the data. In the same excerpt discussed earlier coded as
‘places of residence’, the phrases ‘I feel tired’ and ‘I don’t want to wake up in
the morning’ were outcomes of habitus that illustrates a change of ‘habitual
traits’. This was a consequence of the narrow and dark conditions of the place of
residence. Finally, this piece of data indicated a misfit with current conditions.

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Figure 4.5 Coding by themes and theoretical concepts

Other examples that indicated presence of habitual traits were also coded under
‘inclination’, ‘aspiration’, or ‘appreciation’. These codes were the
operationalizing definitions of the concept of ‘habitus’. Actual examples from
the data were as follows.

Ruby: Because my personality is very shy actually. So even though may be

my – my personality is like outgoing …how can I say? (see details in
Excerpt 7.9)
The habitual trait was demonstrated in the expression ‘is very shy’, as opposed
to ‘outgoing’. This phrase provided information on what the interviewee was
inclined to do. The code was ‘inclination’, labelled under one of the ‘layering
themes’ (Creswell, 2008, p. 259) of habitus, representing inter-related broader
themes.

Wendy: I always want to know more about art, but I have the chance now,
so I just want to take that chance to know more. (see details in Excerpt 7.14)
This piece of data shows how the interviewee insisted that her interest in art has
been there for some time. It shows her tastes, and preferences for what she had
liked. It also indicates her aspiration to ‘know more about art’ and her
knowledge of conditions in support of her aspiration.

The coding to this level identified themes and theoretical concepts; however, the
coding needed to include identifying narratives with relevant themes and
theoretical concepts from the data. This was the third stage of coding identifying
extended stories or parts thereof spread across the various data sources. For

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example, the following excerpt was part of the whole narrative about why the
participant took up the editing service provided by the university in her second
semester.

Int: Now, why did you start to go to [university’s student service]?

Ruby: Mmm, I don’t know.
Int: What got you there?
Ruby: I don’t know, mmm-----
Int: Anyone suggest that to you?
Ruby: No, no. No one. Because I just many ….my experience and maybe I
thought that maybe I cannot express what’s exactly in my mind and maybe
the lecturers cannot understand my main purpose and it was true, …much
of the sentence is not meant .. expression of meaning and then rewrite it or
its too long. I can get the idea …this is helpful.
This excerpt was part of the emerging narrative about why she took up the
editing service provided by the university in her second semester, how she
proceeded with bookings, and what she learnt from these experiences.

The incompleteness of this excerpt shows the challenge of doing narrative

coding. It was not easy to decide where this narrative started, and where it ended.
The boundaries of this narrative depended upon how this narrative was analysed
using what framework. The beginning and end of the narratives could not really
be finalized at the stage of coding. Thus, at this stage, the coding needed to
encompass a large enough passage, lest it risk fragmenting the data.

Once assembled in some sense of chronological order of events, such pieces of

narrative data were interrogated with the following questions. The first level
focused on an overall structure of the assembled narrative to see how the teller
made sense of the experience or event. For example,

Who are the characters? (Is the teller a main character? Passive or active?)
What complications arise?
How are the complications handled?
What is the outcome?
What evaluation does the story carry?
What is the coda of the story to the teller?
What lesson did the narrator take from it?

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The second level of questions focused on how the narrative responded to the
inquiry of this study. They were as follows.
How does this narrative speak to the research problem?
How does it exemplify aspects of the complete data set?
How would the events narrated be re-described in the theoretical language?
How/what does this story say about ‘coming to belong’?
The purpose of this stage was to identify how any narrative in the data could
address the research aims through the theoretical language. This narrative was
then compared with narratives across participants with similar themes and
significance. The cross-case analysis helped to select which narratives would be
reported in detail in the analysis chapters, either on the grounds of being typical,
or a marked case.

In summary, data reduction processes involved several coding phases. These

included stages of coding topical themes, theoretical concepts, and narrative
structure. In the following I revisit the Bourdieusian theoretical framework,
discussed in Chapter Three and link it to the critical realist and narrative
framework presented in this chapter.

Revisit Theoretical and Methodological Framework

I would like to review the Bourdieusian framework proposed in Chapter Three.
This thesis uses this framework firstly to examine how power relations are
operative in valuing capital in a field and in accessing institutional supports and
friendship buildings. It then investigates how rules of the game can be made
explicit to new members in the field and how experiences of adaptation into
new field can/cannot affect habitus. It finally looks at how acquisition of the feel
for the game can facilitate legitimation and foster senses of ‘coming to belong’.
My arguments are based on the Three Relations in the form of ten propositions,
discussed in Chapter Three.

Propositions of Three Relations and ‘coming to belong’

In Relation One: Field and Legitimation, I highlight how legitimation works
pivotal change in valuing capital and granting membership.

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Propositions for Relation One: field and legitimation
 To win a game, social actors need to acquire a feel for the game and
legitimated capital in the pursuit of a desired field position.
 When social actors go through ‘rites of legitimation’, the world
‘pivots’; and they are granted legitimacy in a given field. They
become legitimated members in the field.
 Legitimacy is not granted once and for all, but sub-field by sub-field.
This is because each sub-field has its own rules for the game and
defines its value of capital.
 Social actors accrue field’s valued capital and have it added to ‘capital
portfolios’ through processes of legitimation.
I then discuss Relation Two: Habitus and Field and illustrate how habitus can be
realigned in the pursuit of legitimacy and valued capitals in the face of rules of
the game, particularly at times of crisis. I suggest the following,

Propositions for Relation Two: habitus and field

 Habitus is acquired firstly in family and later in various social fields
including school, work contexts and membership groups.
 Times of crisis can affect effects of routine strategies and thus prompt
change in habitus in the face of new force of the field.
 Changeability in habitus is possible, but dependent on relation of
habitus and field, in particular social actors’ appreciations of the force
of the field and anticipated future outcomes.
 Emotions are empirical manifestations of a (mis)match of habitus and
field.

Further, Relation Three: Capital and Field highlights how capital, linguistic
capital in second language in particular, mutually reinforces the accrual of other
species of capital in a new field. The theory stresses social relations of the
language and conditions of social acceptability. This impacts upon how habitus
is challenged and how emotions are produced in the process of converting
species of capital and building of capital portfolios. I summarise in the
following,

Propositions for Relation Three: capital and field

 Accrual of linguistic capital in a second language mutually reinforces
accrual of other forms of capital, configuration and enhancement of
existing capital in a capital portfolio valued in a specific field.

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  Social relations of the language can affect social acceptability and
further evoke a range of emotions indicating a (mis)match of habitus
and field.
The Three Relations, mutually imbricate, underlies how emotional reactions to
the force of the field generate senses of ‘coming to belong’ in Bourdieusian
terms. In the following, I illustrate how this Bourdieusian framework can be
further understood through Critical Realist’s layered ontology and narrative
structure as its analytic lens.

A Critical Realist, Bourdieusian, and narrative structure

framework
This Bourdieusian theoretical framework is framed with critical realist ontology
and a narrative approach for this thesis. Critical realists argued that reality
should be understood as layered realities with the empirical, the actual and the
real, as discussed in earlier sections of this chapter. I would like to illustrate this
framework in the following figure (Figure 4.6).

Figure 4.6. Critical Realist, Narrative and Bourdieusian Frame

At the top level, I argue that the empirical is manifest in events, experiences,
views, emotional reactions to the force of the field, indicating a (mis)match of
habitus and field. Emotions include positive ones—happiness, satisfaction,

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honour, pride, a sense of fulfillment and achievement; and negative ones—
sadness, shame, humiliation, frustration, disappointment, feeling rejected,
neglected, ignored, or looked down upon.

At the top right of this figure, narrative is placed at the same level as the
empirical. I argue that narrative telling is situated at this level when tellers
recount courses of events and offer their feelings, views, and reasons. Some see
or experience firsthand the empirical layer of reality, so that their accounts
provide this version of the reality. Some might not have firsthand experience,
but their accounts still provide a version of the reality.

Next, the middle level of the figure refers to the actual. I argue that, in a
Bourdieusian frame, this can be understood as struggle, as well as educational
strategies, arising from lack of the capital valued in the new field, a feel for the
game, and legitimacy. Both struggle and strategies are manifest in a range of
student experiences in university settings, social fields, places of residence, and
work contexts.

Finally, the bottom level of the figure refers to the real, which, as argued, is
understood in Bourdieusian terms as habitus, rules of the game and principles of
legitimation. These are the mechanisms that generate the feelings, experiences,
and views in the empirical; and the struggle and strategies in the actual.

In the following I further explain how narrative structure—orientation,

complication, evaluation, resolution and coda—fits this theoretical and
methodological framework. These elements are employed as analytic units to
provide empirical evidence of layered realities. I use Figure 4.7 below to
illustrate my points.

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 Figure 4.7. Analysing Narrative in Bourdieusian and Critical Realist Frame

In this figure, I argue that orientation and evaluation of a narrative provide

evidence of the empirical. The former offers information about where and when
an event happens and which actors are involved. The latter indicates how a
certain event or an experience is made sense of and what emotions are generated
by actors.

I also argue that complication provides evidence of actors’ struggle or effort,

which indicates what is in the actual. I further argue that resolutions and codas
provided over time refer to what is in the real, as they are actors’ reactions
produced by habitus to the force of the field and processes of legitimation. I
should stress that narrative accounts for this thesis were produced at multiple
points at interviews in the first year of study in Australia. I found educational
strategies and actions taken over an extended period of time to resolve emerging
complications. I also found ‘lessons learnt’ from these experiences in codas
when students talked about morals drawn and internalised from their whole
experience over time.

Conclusion
This chapter presents this study’s methodological framework. It has described a
metatheoretical framework of critical realism featuring layered realities, a
narrative approach which uses ‘telling moments’ and focuses on resolutions and

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codas as empirical indicators of actors’ future actions and strategies. The data
generation processes involves a series of three interviews across the first year.
This was complemented with email check-ins in-between interview sessions,
and preparations and analytic considerations including transcriptions,
translations, and coding. This chapter highlights the importance of the
researcher’s reflexivity, its consideration in the data generation and analysis
processes and its significance to this study’s metatheoretical framework.
Language use as theoretical and methodological considerations has also been
addressed.

Analyses of the data will be presented in the following chapters. In Chapter Five,
participants’ biographical starting points, disruptive routines in a new field,
adaptations made to assignment writing in an Australian university will be
discussed. In Chapter Six, participant’s experiences associated with group work
participation will be explored. In Chapter Seven, participants’ pivotal moments
of learning experiences within university and intercultural experiences in an
outer context will further be examined.

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Chapter Five: New Fields of Exchange
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to address the first sub-question: what capital did
EAL international students at university see as critical to adjustment to new life
and study routines in Australia? In this chapter the critical realist analytic
methods introduced in Chapter Four are used to understand the empirical data
through the theoretical models established in Chapter Three. Interpretations are
made with insights from Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, capital, and
legitimation. The findings are related to the literature on first year experience,
EAL international students and EAL students in mainstream classrooms
reviewed in Chapter Two.

The literature reviewed in Chapter Two suggested EAL international students

are increasingly viewed as mobile students and active agents in their choices of
international education, strategies for academic adjustments, and contingent
representations of their cultural selves (Doherty & Singh, 2007, 2008). These
understandings contrast with other literature that assumes a collective profile for
EAL international students, mostly Chinese, as being noncritical thinkers, quiet
and passive class members and non-proficient users of English (for example,
Ballard & Clanchy, 1997). For others, EAL international students may arrive in
Australia with dispositions and study habits that differ from their Australian
counterparts but are capable of adjustment to meet new expectations in
Australian universities (for example, Biggs, 1997; Volet, et al., 1994). However,
these studies provide limited understandings of what and how adjustments may
be made and what roles English proficiency may play in these adjustments.

This chapter has three sections. The first provides summaries of the biographic
trajectories described by the EAL international students in this study. The
second analyses participants’ narratives of acquiring a feel for the game in the
process of writing individual assignments. The third section discusses findings
as evidence for the proposition that EAL international students’ educational
experiences are differentiated by their capital portfolios and positions in the new
field of education.

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Personal trajectories
The following descriptions of personal trajectories for the seventeen EAL
international students in this thesis are grouped by two principles into three
categories—sources of funding for study in Australia and future employment
locations. The three categories overlap to some extent. The line is drawn in
terms of purposeful actions taken by the students to achieve desirable future
employment.

The first group, Partnership return-oriented entry, includes EAL international

students coming to Australia through university partnerships such as exchange
programs and joint degree programs with home institutions. These students
typically planned to return to their home countries. The second group, Self-
funded return-oriented entry, consists of EAL international students who came
to Australia on personal or family funding. The last group, Self-funded
immigration-oriented entry, refers to EAL international students who plan to
immigrate to Australia. These students enrolled in programs that aimed for local
employment markets.

Partnership return-oriented entry

Of the seventeen EAL international students sampled in this research, three
came to Australia through institutional twinning arrangements between their
home and hosting universities. Siti and Fatimah, selected through a nation-wide
competitive process in Malaysia, were on a government-funded undergraduate
program in Education. The former came from a rural Malay village, while the
latter, from a relatively affluent outlying island, is the daughter of a taxi driver.
It should be stressed that had it not been for the partnership and sponsorship, it
would not have been possible for these three students to be international
students, given the students’ social and economical backgrounds. The two
students undertook an initial year of study in their home university before
coming to Australia for the second and third years of their degree.

The third student, Apple, from a peasant family in China, was studying in an
undergraduate Commerce program. Apple said her family had very little cash at
disposal and that she maintained a top ranking among other students throughout
her middle years. Thus, she was able to be admitted into one of the elite

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universities in China. This home university had international links to the host
Australian university, in which she continued her third-year study. Apple said
that she had been selected because her IELTS score was one of the highest
among the applicants in her university. She explained that this exchange study
abroad program was her only opportunity to be an international student, as her
parents could barely support her six-month living expenses in Australia. Still,
she hoped study in Australia would advantage her for employment in an
international company in China. In her Australian university, Apple was entitled
to a waiver of a semester’s tuition fees, plus the general support available to
EAL international students, but received no living stipend. Apple did not
describe having any special arrangements or support provided by her hosting
university in Australia.

Unlike Apple’s entitlement, Siti and Fatimah’s first year program in Malaysia
purposefully mirrored the requirements of their study in Australia. The
institutional support included having academics sent from the Australian
university to teach into the first years of the program in Malaysia. These
students also enjoyed the services of a dedicated EAL tutor in the Faculty. This
benefit was built into the funding of their program. Both Siti and Fatimah
planned to return to their country to fulfil the remaining requirements for their
degree and an employment bond.

One similarity between Apple, Siti and Fatimah is how they described their
access to a ready-made social network of students who had entered the
Australian university under the same arrangements. Apple lived in a shared
room passed on to her by the previous occupant who had been on the same
program. Siti and Fatimah, likewise, stepped into residence arrangements that
were already in place for the cohort that had come ahead of them, although
these were organised by the Australian university, rather than by the students
themselves.

Self-funded return-oriented entry

Four students were categorised as self-funded return-oriented. Their narratives
are typically about investing in educational credentials for better employment
prospects. Although these students talked about immigration as one possibility,

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during the data generation period, they had not made firm plans to seek
immigration.

Ngoc, from Vietnam, was enrolled in a Masters program in Commerce. She had
eight years of work experience in a couple of international companies in the
capital city of her country. Well-off herself, she funded her study in Australia,
which she viewed as a way to advance her future career in her home country.
Through an education consultant in her country, she had arranged to live in
homestay residence on arrival.

Sandra M. (her chosen pseudonym) from Taiwan is the second student in this
group. Sponsored by her mother, she was enrolled in a Masters program in
Education. Her first degree was in Arts from an industry-oriented university in
Taiwan. Sandra M. had worked two years in an international consultancy
company, managing project schedules. Not having a teaching background, she
hoped that a Masters degree in Education could lead her to a career change to
teaching at home. She had arranged to live in a homestay in her first six months
in Australia through her mother’s friend.

Patrick, growing up in a relatively affluent engineering family, is an Italian-

speaking Swiss, studying in a French-medium university in Switzerland for his
diploma. His father travelled to work in European countries, wherever his
engineering expertise was demanded. Prior to coming to Australia, he had
worked as a research assistant in a university in south-eastern China for six
months. Then he arrived in Australia with his wife, who came from Spain, to
learn English in a private language centre. He went on to enrol in a Masters
program in Science and Technology. His goal was to continue to study for a
PhD, possibly back in Europe. He made a point of touring around the world as a
goal in life, as well as going to places in Australia during his study.

The final student in this group is Xue, from China, whose parents are both
public servants. She was studying in a Masters program in Commerce. Xue
came directly from university without any prior work experiences. Of all the
participants, she was least explicit about future job locations; nor was she
certain about her stay in Australia. During the data generation process, she did

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not mention any further plans for the purpose of immigration. Xue had not yet
decided on where to go next.

Self-funded immigration-oriented entry

The remaining ten participants are immigration-oriented and had formulated
plans for immigration. The plans included, but were not limited to, choosing to
study in disciplines identified as meeting local employment needs such as
information technology, nursing, primary and secondary teaching and
management.

Chengying and Victor, Singaporean Chinese, and Tom, a Malaysian Chinese, all
considered immigrating to Australia. They all came from relatively affluent
business families in their home countries. Chengying held a diploma in Science
and Technology from Singapore, but changed to enrol in applied science. Victor,
holding a similar diploma in the same discipline as Chengying’s, planned to
continue on to a Masters degree after a first degree. Victor and Chengying
reported failing to be admitted into universities in Singapore. They were open to
possibilities to work in Australia and cited China as a possible job location.
Unlike Chengying and Victor, Tom had worked for several years in the art
design industry before study in Australia for his first degree in humanities. He
expressed his intent to immigrate to, and his preference to work in Australia. He
did not mention China as a location for his future employment.

Donna, Celina and Ruby were enrolled in nursing programs for the express
purpose of immigration to Australia. Despite being in the same course, these
three students had taken different routes into nursing and had different skill sets.
For example, self-sponsored, Donna had been a medical doctor for seven years
in a metropolitan city in south-eastern China. She was unable to satisfy English
proficiency requirements to have her medical qualifications certified in
Australia. Her intent was then changed to acquire a nursing qualification to be
an eligible applicant for Australian permanent residency.

In contrast to Donna’s established career in medicine back home, Celina, not

explicit about her family backgrounds, and Ruby, the daughter of peasants,
sought a career change by entering the nursing profession. Both from Korea,

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these students had work experience in international trade but left their jobs
before coming to Australia. Self-sponsored, Celina had a first degree in
Engineering from a university in the capital city. In contrast, Ruby did not have
a degree, but was seeking her first degree in Australia. After Ruby ran out of
money in first year, she was sponsored by her family.

Julia, from a family of public servants in China, also decided on a career change
by enrolling in a Graduate Diploma in Education. Her first degree was in
Engineering. Julia believed this diploma would lead to a teaching career and
possible immigration to Australia. However, she withdrew after the first
semester and then transferred to Commerce.

Similar to Julia’s family backgrounds, Wendy, from China, firstly enrolled in a

Masters in Education. Then, she filed a second application for a place in
Graduate Diploma in Education. She was open to the possibility of immigration
to Australia. She believed study for a Masters degree could enhance her English
proficiency for subsequent study and work in Australia. It should be noted here
that a Graduate Diploma in Education is a pre-service teacher education
qualification, but a Masters of Education is not an initial teaching qualification.

The last two participants in this category are Risa, who was not explicit about
her family background, from Japan; and Maryam from a well-off family in Iran.
The former had a Humanities degree from the U.S. and was enrolled in an
Honours program in the same discipline in Australia. The latter, with relevant
work experiences, held a Science and Technology degree from a high status
university at home and continued on to a Masters program in Management in
Australia. Both Risa and Maryam had strong familial support in Australia.

Table 5.1 summarizes the 17 EAL international students’ backgrounds,

education experience, studies in Australia, future plans and levels of English.

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Table 5.1 Participant Profiles

CATEGORY NAME COUNTRY OF PREVIOUS STUDIES IN AUSTRALIA FUTURE PLANS/ IELTS SCORES
ORIGIN
(GENDER) EDUCATION LOCATIONS (IF APPLICABLE)
(LANGUAGE)

I. Partnership 1. Apple (F) China 3-years undergrad China Commerce/Undergrad. Inter. Company/home country Overall 7
entry 2. Siti (F) Malaysia (Malay) I year undergraduate, Malaysia Education/ Undergrad. Teacher/ home country Not specified
3. Fatimah (F) Malaysia (Malay) I year undergraduate Malaysia Education/Undergrad. Teacher/home country Not specified
II. 4. Ngoc (F) Vietnam Degree in Vietnam Commerce/ Masters Own business/ home country Overall 6
Self-funded 5. Sandra M. (F) Taiwan Degree in , Taiwan Education/ Masters Teacher/ home country Overall 6.5
return-oriented 6. Patrick (M) Switzerland (Italian) Dip. Sci. & Tech. Switzerland Science/ Masters Global/ PhD/ home country Not specified
entry 7. Xue (F) China Degree, Commerce China Commerce/ Masters Home country Overall 6
8. Chengying (M) Singapore Chinese Dip. in Sci. & Tech. Singapore App. Sci./Undergrad. Global/ AU/home country Not specified
III.
9. Victor (M) Singapore Chinese Dip. in Sci. & Tech. Singapore. Sci. and Tech. Global/ AU/home country Not specified
10. Tom (M) Malaysia Chinese Arts industry employment Humanities/ Undergrad. Arts industry/ home country Not specified
Self-funded
11. Donna (F) China Degree in medicine China Nursing/ Undergrad. Nursing/AU/ immigration Overall 5.5
immigration-
12. Celina (F) Korea Degree in Tech. Korea Nursing/ undergrad. Nursing/ AU/ immigration Overall 7
oriented entry
13. Ruby (F) Korea Two-year college Korea * Nursing/ undergrad. Nursing/ AU/ immigration Exemption
14. Julia (F) China Degree in Tech. China Education/ GDip/Accounting/ Masters Accountant/ AU Overall 7
15. Wendy (F) China Degree in Arts China Education/ Masters Teaching/ AU Overall 7
16. Risa (F) Japan Degree in U.S. Humanities/ Honours Professional/ AU Exemption
17. Maryam (F) Iran Degree in Sci. and Tech. Iran Commerce/ Masters Professional/ AU Overall 6.5
Note. F/Female; M/Male; Ed/Education; AU/Australia; U./University; Inter./International; Dip./Diploma; Sci./Science; Tech./Technology; GDip/Graduate Diploma; undergrad./undergraduate; IELTS/International
English Language Testing System; *Ruby did not finish the Two-year college in Korea.

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The participant profiles suggest that these students were positioned differently
with varying dispositions, economic, social, cultural, symbolic, and linguistic
capital. Such difference includes that of institutional support, stemming from
sources of funding. It should be noted that this cohort is relatively affluent in
terms of economic capital, which enables these students to take up international
education. The exceptions are Apple, Siti, and Fatimah, on university and
government sponsorships; Ruby, on family sponsorship. The point here is how
these biographical circumstances, constitute individual resources of, orientations
to, and investments in coming to belong in everyday study and life experiences
in an Australian university. The following sections describe participants’ capital
at starting points. The focus is on English proficiency and its role in university
life and life beyond university.

Capital at Starting Points

Most participants highlighted in their narratives how English proficiency
impacted on their life as students—that is, the role that linguistic capital played
in this new field. This section discusses selected students’ linguistic profiles,
focussing on the narratives of Ruby, Donna, both self-funded immigration
oriented, Siti, partnership entry, and Ngoc, self-funded return-oriented. Their
narratives are contrasted with that of Victor, self-funded immigration-oriented,
to reveal the complexities of participants’ different experiences. This discussion
provides essential backgrounds to understand subsequent learning experiences:
how linguistic capital, namely English proficiency, impacted upon life routines
in the new field from arrival onward.

English proficiency as part of the game

Ruby’s initial plan to come to Australia was to learn English. The following
narratives tell of her changed plan to study in a vocational education institute in
Australia.

Excerpt 5.1 (Ruby, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: But when I was in a private English school ((in Australia)),
Complication: I was very stressed because I just decided I wanted to go to
[vocational education institute], like after six months.
Resolution 1: So I had to study English quickly for six months.

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 Evaluation: So I was very stressful because my English was not getting
better, I think, so I was very, very stressful.
Resolution 2: Then, I moved to [vocational education institute], like in
August.
Her decision was made in response to the emerging possibility of becoming a
nursing professional in Australia. In Excerpt 5.1, Ruby narrated how she felt she
had to improve her English proficiency in a relatively short period of time to
meet admission requirements. This challenge produced considerable stress for
Ruby. Ruby’s emotional reaction manifested as habitus reactions to the
condition and her self-imposed time frame that decided whether Ruby could
enter a desired institution.

Excerpt 5.2 (Ruby, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: I didn’t finish my major ((information technology)) in a
((two-year)) college ((in Korea)). I skipped the college after just one
year, and worked at ((a)) trading company.
Complication 1: I was interested in ((working in the)) trading company,
but my English was still not enough to work there
Resolution 1: so I decided to come here to study English. That is my first
aim and purpose. And secondly, I want to specialise ((myself)) and to
study in nursing course.
Evaluation: Because even though my English is getting better ((and))
improved,
Complication 2: but I’m not sure I can work there for a long time in ((a))
trading company.
Resolution 2: So I decided to study more, to specialise me, because I want
to work, like, even though I’m older I want to work for a long time
Coda: so I came here to study English here and nursing course.
Excerpt 5.2 reveals the story behind her decision to continue to study for
vocational training and a university degree, rather than return home after
language lessons. Ruby linked her decision to pursue a nursing degree to her
past experience of not finishing college education in her home country. By her
report, she intended to pursue a new career with a new qualification though she
was not explicit about her intent to immigrate to Australia as a nurse.

Learning English was a trigger for Ruby to come to Australia. This practice was
drawn from the situation when English held Ruby back from desirable
employment in a trading company in Korea. After arrival, she envisaged a

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future that was different from her plan in the first place. English further became
the legitimate language for education and work in Australia. Ruby needed to
acquire linguistic capital to be eligible to enter her desired course and to pass all
academic requirements and hospital clinical placements. Linguistic capital
became a pre-requisite for Ruby’s envisaged future.

Excerpts 5.1-5.2 show that the underlying mechanism that produces Ruby’s
empirical practice to study English and to acquire a nursing qualification is to
aspire for desirable field positions in Korea, Australia or a field of choice. As
shown in the resolutions and codas of Excerpts 5.1- 5.2, Ruby turned to herself
for solutions to improve her field positions.

The following narratives by Donna provide a similar but slightly different

scenario to the role of English proficiency in Ruby’s student life. The difference
is shown in Donna’s medical knowledge and seven years’ work experience as a
medical doctor in a hospital in China. The following excerpt outlines her
narrative of coming to Australia.

Excerpt 5.3 (Donna, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: We ((my husband and I)) rent a unit ((here)). You know, my
financial status in China was not bad. In fact, it was very good. It was
not because of financial reason that we came and stay here. It is just
because of immigration, and because of my son.
Complication 1: But I think my son may not like here because he may feel
the same with me ((since coming here)). If we came here originally for
him, but he may not like here, it may not be worthwhile … My son is
just two years old. Maybe in the future, my son will want to stay in
China …. If my son tells me he will like to go back home, in the end
we still go back home. […]
Evaluation 1: We come here because we want to give my son another
chance…because my husband wanted to immigrate to Australia,
Resolution 1: so we decided to go to study nursing.
Evaluation 2: If I studied nursing and became a RN ((registered nurse)),
maybe it will be easy to immigrate …
Complication 2: but we do not know whether this is a good choice. I don't
know. I am not sure.
Resolution 2: But since I am here, I want to do it well.
Coda: Not thinking about other things. Since I am here, I want to do it
well.

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Donna reported that study in Australia was her family’s strategy for
immigration. She was financially well-off back home, but her family would like
to give their son a chance to have a future in Australia. By her report, Donna felt
challenged at arrival in Australia. Although she was uncertain about their
decision to migrate, she resolved to do her best for her study.

Excerpt 5.3 suggests that Donna had a capital portfolio containing cultural
capital in the form of medical knowledge, access to economic capital, and a
relatively privileged field position as a doctor in her home country. In the
resolution of Excerpt 5.3, she described the route of acquiring a nursing
qualification as the family’s solution to envisage a future field position in
Australia.

In this excerpt, Donna showed her emotions of feeling uncertain about the
decision to migrate for the family. These emotions were displayed in her
descriptions of understanding her son’s probable decision to return to China in
the future. Donna reported that she would be sympathetic about this decision. In
her view, she would doubt whether it would be worthwhile to invest in
international education in order to migrate if her son should decide to return to
China. These emotions manifest a mismatch of Donna’s habitus and field.

The investment Donna made was to enrol in the Nursing course at university for
two years and to acquire linguistic capital through her study in Australia. This
investment came alongside with the risk whether she could successfully meet
the local regulations for nursing registration in Australia. The regulations
include passing the university’s academic requirements and hospital clinical
placements through the field’s legitimate language—English. For Donna, she
could not do much with the field or the regulations as a nursing student. She
took the initiative to improve her English proficiency, as in the coda of Excerpt
5.3. Linguistic capital is both a means and an end for her goal.

Donna in Excerpt 5.3 is similar to Ruby in Excerpts 5.1-5.2 in that she took up
international education as a way to build a new field position in a new field.
Both students also lacked necessary linguistic capital for their purposes.
However, they differ in their educational trajectories and capital portfolios.

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Donna had a relevant first degree to the field of nursing education while Ruby
sought a career change without much tertiary education experience. These
differences constitute their varied starting points in the new field of education.
In the following, Donna accounted for her English proficiency and her medical
knowledge.

Excerpt 5.4 (Donna, Interview 1, Translated)

Orientation: So far ((till the end of Week 3))
Complication: the most challenging to me is the technical terms in
English.
Resolution: I spent a lot of time on finding Chinese translations of these
medical terms.
Coda: As long as I know the Chinese terms, I know what concepts these
terms referred to.
In this excerpt Donna claims relevant medical knowledge not in English, but in
Chinese. Given her medical background, this excerpt shows that translating
technical medical terms had two implications: i) the literal process of translating
English terms to Chinese, and ii) the metaphorical process of translating medical
knowledge. By her account, Donna could access the medical concepts if she
knew the translated Chinese terms.

Donna reported her solution to her lack of English medical terms by translating,
as described in the resolution of Excerpt 5.4. This is a way to resolve what she
stated in the coda of Excerpt 5.3, ‘Since I am here, I want to do it well.’ Further,
in the coda of Excerpt 5.4, Donna came to the realisation that she had a
repertoire of medical knowledge through the translated terms. There was a
degree of certainty in this coda about her position in the nursing education.

It should be noted that the narrative here (Excerpt 5.4) is not sufficient evidence
with which to assume that a China-trained doctor would necessarily have all the
required medical knowledge for nursing education in Australia. Rather, the
point of interest here is Donna’s account of translating her cultural and linguistic
capital into English. Donna elsewhere gave the example of the word ‘diabetes’.
She reported that when she found the Chinese translation for this term, she
could access her well-developed knowledge, including symptoms, causes, and
possible diagnosis related to ‘diabetes’. The immediate challenge for Donna was

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the bulk of technical terms such as ‘diabetes’ and limited time for her to master
these technical terms.

Linguistic capital was thus critical to Donna, as well as Ruby. These two
students, both self-funded, studied in a discipline that is highly dependent on
technical terms, linguistic expressions of bodily functions used by the local
patients, or other relevant knowledge related to clinical practicum in Australia.
Above all, they needed to be able to conduct verbal communication in English
in everyday interactions with patients, counterparts, and supervisors in the local
hospital settings. In the following, I discuss narratives of Siti, who studied on a
sponsored outsourcing teacher education program. These narratives are
contrasted with the descriptions of the starting points of Donna and Ruby in
Excerpts 5.1-5.4.

Nation-selected and institution-sponsored

The following narrative tells of how Siti went through a competitive nation-
wide selection in her home country for the chance to study in Australia. The
discussion here highlights probable resources from the support of home and host
institutions and countries.

Excerpt 5.5 (Siti, Interview 1, English language interview)

Evaluation 1: We were quite lucky
Orientation: because in our program it’s only about a hundred and twenty
students and my lecturer told us that around one hundred thousand
people were applying for this
Complication: and only a hundred and twenty of us successfully enrol in
this program.
Evaluation 2: A lot of people want this program because it is fully
sponsored ((by government)) and you can fly, you can study abroad
and you ensure your job in the future ((as a teacher in primary
education)), so it’s all very competitive.
In this narrative, Siti expressed how lucky she felt in gaining an advantageous
position in her country through the competitive selection process. However, it
was not Siti’s first priority to become an English teacher by taking up this offer.

Siti signed up for a guaranteed field position in her home country through
international education arranged by her home institution and government. She

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was endowed with economic capital accessible to her in the form of a stipend
and extra cultural capital available to her through the education program in the
hosting university, as paid for by her government. Siti has a very different field
position in the hosting institution from her counterparts not on any similar
arrangements. These arrangements will be further explored to illustrate Siti’s
starting point.

In the following excerpt, Siti commented on the challenge of understanding

some domestic students’ talk at tutorials. However, she pointed out a particular
way of speaking by some male students as a reason for incomprehension.

Excerpt 5.6 (Siti, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: The things that I am not listen((ing)) in class ((are that))
Complication: Australians talk a lot and they project their voices very
good, but that’s only for like females, but compared to males or
boys, … based on my observations during class, they tend to swallow
their words … I couldn’t figure out what he is trying to say actually.
Evaluation 1: I feel like, ‘Can you speak slowly and make me understand
what you are trying to say?’
Evaluation 2: In lectures, I don’t really have any problems because all the
lecturers speak clearer and not very fast, so far it’s quite okay but in
tutorial class we do have a lot of discussions or the group work, so I
find it quite difficult to talk to boys compared to girls, yeah.
Coda: Like the thing is yeah, we are in their culture, we … can just sit and
try to figure out what he is trying to say.
This narrative shows that Siti distinguished her comprehension of male students’
talk in English from females’ at tutorials. By her report, the challenge for
comprehension lay in how talk was produced. However, she felt that she should
find some solutions to this problem.

Siti’s observation of gender differences is a matter beyond this study. My

interest here is that Siti did not attribute incomprehensibility in English to her
proficiency. Rather, she reported that lecturers speak more slowly than students
to facilitate comprehension. In the resolution of Excerpt 5.6, Siti described her
awareness of the power of the field’s legitimate language; thus, she believed she
needed to adapt to the rule for the game of talk at tutorials.

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In the next narrative Siti continued to describe ‘listening’ problems in the new
field of education in Australia. This time, Siti talked about a strategy of buying
television sets for her cohort in order to improve English proficiency.

Excerpt 5.7 (Siti, Interview1, English language interview)

Orientation: In our house we don’t have television ... I watch TV here at
my senior’s house [the house of a Malaysian student a year ahead of
her], but that’s my first time watching television in Australia …. We
were planning to buy televisions
Complication 1: but still planning it: first we don’t have transportation to
take televisions home, because we went there by bus … maybe we are
planning to buy like … we have five houses of students from my
country, so we are planning to buy like five televisions in a row so that
you can get cheaper prices ... one for each house.
Resolution: So we are still planning, we will see whether it is a little bit
too ((much)) to buy that, yeah.
Complication 2: It’s just that we haven’t been exposed to Australian
programs.
Evaluation: My ((EAL)) lecturers told us that it’s quite good for us to
watch some sorts of programs, the Australian programs, for your
English because it’s very useful and it’s very helpful for you to pick up
their accent.
Coda: But so far we don’t really feel like something missing if we don’t
watch television, because we do have internet in our rooms so we still
keep in touch with outside world.
Siti and her compatriots were planning to purchase television sets for their five
houses as investments in English learning. According to Siti, she and her cohort
could do without television in their lives; however, she believed, as her lecturer
suggested, that watching television could help her ‘pick up the accent’.

It is of interest here that Siti’s cohort reacted to the particular linguistic aspect of
English spoken in the new education field—the local Australian accent—as one
influential factor in comprehension. It is also interesting to note how
pragmatically this cohort responded to this factor by planning to buy five
television sets. By Siti’s report, the cohort’s discussion about the purchase is
indicative of a collective, rather than individual, resolution to a shared problem
in terms of a particular English accent. Though not yet realised, the potential
purchase can be enabled by economic capital and this strategy may have effect

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on changing bodily techniques required for producing and understanding a
particular accent.

In Excerpts 5.1-5.7, emotions displayed in the narratives of Siti, Donna and

Ruby are distinctively different. Stress, disappointment, frustration, confusion
and anxiety about the challenges of English, early life experience at university
and uncertainties about envisaged future field positions are not typically present
in Siti’s narratives in Excerpts 5.5-5.7. Apart from these students’ idiosyncrasies
and personal attributes, Ruby, Donna, and Siti further differ in their field
positions and capital both in their new field and home countries. Their field
positions and capital, as well as their future aspirations, impact upon how they
view their experiences and how they respond to them.

To follow the discussion of participants’ starting points, the section below turns
to narratives from Ngoc, from Vietnam. She reported experiences of a contrast
in status change after becoming an EAL international student in Australia.

Status change in student life

Ngoc had been a top business executive and described herself as ‘very strong
and very straightforward.’ During her time as an executive, she took business
trips to France for a French company in which she worked. Also, prior to
coming to Australia, she had conducted meetings in English in her home
country with the company’s stakeholders of various nationalities. That is, in her
old field, she functioned well in English, French and Vietnamese in business
contexts. Excerpt 5.8 discusses Ngoc’s changed field position, future aspirations
and early challenges in new field in Australia.

Excerpt 5.8 (Ngoc, Interview 1, English language interview)

Resolution 1: I just quit my job.
Orientation 1: My boss ((said)), ‘Oh, you do a very good job, a very good
position. You can earn money. I think in Vietnam, in Saigon, there
((are)) not a lot of people ((who can)) do that. But why ((do)) you want
to start again?’…
I think my strength is in finance, in figure, and in business. I also want to
have my own business in the next coming years. My business will be
something like the delivery for service in finance or in other kind of
service.

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 Resolution 2: If you want to do that you must have strong knowledge.
Basically, good knowledge is what decides your experience so I had to
be better and that’s the reason why I’m here …
Evaluation 1: I think one year and a half is nothing. It’s good for me to
((become)) proficient ((at)) my English also, and to live here, in a new
environment and new experience in a new country…I’m happy here,
Complication 1: but still, I still have lots of difficulties to live here …
Orientation 2: I ordered fried noodle and the girl asked me, ‘What do you
want to…?’ I said, ‘I want this,’ and added, ‘With cook also.’…
Complication 2: She ((was)) so surprised and looked at me, ‘What do you
want? Cook? What is cook?’ I repeated, ‘Cook,’ but she still did not get
it, ‘Cook? What is a cook?’
Resolution 3: And I ((pointed)), ‘Oh, that one.’ I meant Coca Cola. You
know?
Coda: And sometimes my difficulty is something like this.
Excerpt 5.8 shows that, according to Ngoc, despite her previous social and
economic status and global experience, she could not order a drink easily in this
new field. By her report, the decision to study in Australia was a risk to what
she had already achieved. However, Ngoc believed it necessary to invest in
building new capital for her future: to gain more knowledge, to perfect her
English and to have the intercultural experience of studying and living in
Australia. This example shows Ngoc’s challenge in the new field.

If English proficiency acquired in an old field can be transposable to a new one,

what Ngoc experienced in this case of ordering a drink might not have happened.
However, the new sub-social field such as a transaction of ordering/getting a
coke might require a different set of vocabulary, syntax, and pattern of
interactions from those of business English. Particularly important is the clear,
intelligible and concise delivery of these within a very limited time frame that
can be picked up by the sales person at transaction. Audible and proper
linguistic forms play an important role in making transaction work satisfactorily.

Ngoc sought to add to her already high level of cultural capital recognized in her
home country by accruing more institutional cultural capital (a Masters degree),
linguistic capital, and intercultural capital (living and studying in a new country).
By her account, Ngoc aspired to own her own business in the global economy

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and she believed building her capital portfolio would enhance the likelihood of
success.

However, Ngoc’s strategy is not without risk or challenge in everyday life

experiences. For one thing, she had lost her privileged field positions in her
country after leaving her job. For another, she experienced unexpected
challenges when she first arrived in Australia. In the following narrative, Ngoc
described another challenge: to unexpectedly share a room with another student
in her place of residence.

Excerpt 5.9 (Ngoc, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: ((Sharing my room with another girl)) is totally disappointing
and really makes me angry. You cannot believe that. ((The people who
arranged my home stay)) said one room ((with)) just one window, ((but
did not mention that the room is shared)) by two. My ((space)) is very
narrow, just enough place to put ((a)) table for studying, ((a)) single
bed and ((a)) very narrow area for you to put clothes...And the light,
it’s never bright enough for you. It looks like you live in ancient
Paris…
Complication: And that’s the reason why every morning I feel very tired
and I don’t want to wake up because everything around me is black…
Evaluation: In fact I don’t want to complain but really I have ((to))
suffer…And that’s the reason why I feel I get fever, not stable, because
I think, ‘Oh, no I have to suffer today. I have to suffer ((everyday)).’
Resolution: Tomorrow I am moving out.
Coda: … as I said …’Hey, Ngoc, you have to overcome everything by
yourself.’… I hope that after stable my place everything will be better.
I hope I will get more friends and things will be better for me.
In this excerpt, Ngoc narrates her dissatisfaction with her residential
arrangement, and a consequential loss of a sense of wellbeing. However, it is
also indicated that she quickly acted to resolve these unfavourable
circumstances and made a resolution ‘tomorrow I am moving out.’ In the coda
of this excerpt, Ngoc learnt to encourage herself to look forward to a new
chapter in life after moving to a new place. One point of interest here is the
contrast between her emotions (‘totally disappointing’) and her quick resolve by
taking the initiative to make the necessary change and to maintain her
momentum and hope for the future.

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Excerpts 5.8-5.9 show that Ngoc, by her report, expected to shoulder everything
on her own. Ngoc’s case is important because all these challenges happened in
the first three weeks after her arrival. They required timely attention,
adjustments and assertive decisions. Ngoc hoped she could then focus on her
study after recovering a sense of ‘stability’. Compared to Siti and her cohort in
Excerpts 5.6-5.7, Ngoc, without a supportive social network, must rely on
herself to resolve complications.

Another point of contrast in these selected narratives is the marked difference in

students’ capital portfolios on entry to Australia. Both Donna and Ngoc were
upper middle class and recognised at their workplaces and in their home
countries. Donna had the cultural capital of relevant medical knowledge and
clinical experience in hospital, which need to be ‘translated’. Ngoc had the
habitus of a global business executive with relevant knowledge in commerce
and international trade. However, this might not be the case for other EAL
international students in the same course. Thus, EAL international students
should not be understood as one homogeneous category. Their situations can
vary greatly.

Lastly, the selected narratives in this section highlight the acquisition of the
linguistic capital as pre-requisite to participants’ next goals. Linguistic capital is
essential for institutionalized capital (a degree) and the future field positions to
which participants aspired. The field’s legitimate language is both an end in
itself and a means to an end in these students’ learning experiences in Australia.
It is also shown that English did not just affect participants at university but also
in other social fields such as hospital clinical practices and retail services. These
social fields sit alongside each other and exercise different forces that shape the
students’ experiences.

In contrast to challenges of English reported in study and life outside university,

the following excerpt narrated by Victor provides a different scenario. As
previously discussed, this student is from Singapore, and seeking a degree in
Science and Technology.

Excerpt 5.10 (Victor, Interview 1, English language)

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 For me…, English is pretty much used ((in Singapore)) because we have
friends, Indian friends, ((and)) Malay friends. When we interact with
Indian friends, so most of the time we use English. So it’s not a problem
for us although we still …don’t quite understand some Australians. ((I))
Have quite difficulty understanding what they are trying to say. Likewise
they have difficulty in understanding what we are trying to say, it’s the
same, much the same, yeah.
According to Victor, he did not experience much difficulty using English in his
student life at the beginning of the first semester. He did not attribute any
difficulty communicating with domestic students to a problem of his own use of
English, since he already has significant linguistic capital.

It is important to stress that Victor claimed that he did not have a problem with
English. He reported to have a smooth transition from using English socially,
resulting from his habitual experience communicating in English with friends in
Singapore. He felt the Australian accent was difficult to manage, but he did not
show much negative emotion when describing this. The weight of the field’s
legitimate language on Victor was not as obvious as other students such as Ruby,
Donna and Siti. This excerpt suggests that the field of international education is
differentiated and that participants can hold different field positions and
different capital in their portfolios. The field position and capital portfolio
Victor held enabled him to feel less concerned with the field’s legitimate
language in his life in Australia than Ruby, Donna, Ngoc and Siti did.

However, English proficiency is not the only challenge in participants’

processes of acquiring a feel for the game in the field. Other rules of the game,
both implicit and explicit, constitute the field forces. The following section
explores how participants talked about their adjustments to different rules of the
game in the field as students at university in Australia. To this end, student
narratives about handling individual written assignments are used as examples.

Acquiring a Feel for the Game: Individual

Assignments
Capital is essential to the process of acquiring a feel for the game. As previously
discussed, on entry into the Australian university, participants had varying
existing capital in their capital portfolios. This section will focus on how these
students acquired a feel for the game through their individual written

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assignments in each of the academic fields with which they engaged. Through
these fields of exchange, participants could have existing capital legitimated and
build new capital that matters for institutional capital (grade or a degree) or
symbolic capital (recognition).

The discussion focuses on narratives about two aspects of ‘individual written

assignments’: the ‘what’ of the disciplinary knowledge and the ‘how’ of writing
in academic English. These two aspects are explored to exemplify participant’s
processes of acquiring a feel for the game in the following narratives by Julia,
Maryam, Ngoc, Sandra M. and Siti.

Feel for the game versus new capital

In this section, I present Julia’s narrative and discuss her process of coming to
belong in her learning experiences. Julia, Chinese-speaking from China, firstly
enrolled in a diploma program in Education, a one-year intensive teacher
education course, and then transferred to Commerce after finishing first
semester. The program in question below is that of GDip, when Julia was
required to write a lesson plan for practicum as a first assignment. This program
did not typically have a large presence of EAL international students, the intake
of whom was a relatively recent phenomenon. According to Julia, she was one
of the few.

Excerpt 5.11 (Julia, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation: …So I just sat there imagining
Complication 1: what type of programs and what’s my ((objective)) and
what would be the point? What…would I give to students and what
((would be)) the progress? Also, I need to use English to communicate
to them. How will I do that and what would the students’ reaction ((be))
to all of the things I will do? ... That’s really a challenge for me.
Resolution 1: And I cried. I cried, I called Mum and Dad ((over the
phone)) and I said, ‘Oh no, I can’t do that.’…
Complication 2: But at that time I ((had)) just got here…less than two
months. I don’t know what the Education structure here … and … what
really happens in the classrooms … how does the teacher teach here
and what the content ((is)) like, or what the students here actually study.
I don’t know anything, but the first assignment … required me to
design the real world thing: design what ((you are)) going to teach
during that ten week’s program ((practicum)).

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Evaluation 1: All the Australian students know what’s happened. They
went to school here and they know what … ((and)) how their teachers
teach them. I had no idea about that, so it was very hard for me …
Resolution 2: My mum just say, ‘Don’t cry. That’s your choice. No one
forced you to do that … ((If)) you just complain about that and … just
worrying, that means nothing. You need to stop ((to)) think about what
you can do …’ She said, ‘Maybe you ((could ring)) your friend,
Australian friend ((to)) … get to … a school teacher here … and get
some ideas or opinion.’
Resolution 3: I said, ‘Yeah.’ I started thinking and I called one of my
friends and asked her. Actually … I just did that ((the lesson plan)) by
myself and started to search ((for)) lots of materials online and get to
know ((what’s it about)). I found some websites of the schools here and
see what they are doing and … whether they’ve got some lesson plans
or something. And ((I)) started doing something …
Evaluation 2: I think that’s the most terrible days those three days. That’s
terrible.
Resolution 4: ((But)) because the family I stay with have a friend who is a
teacher in school, I called her and asked her some questions
Evaluation 3: but it didn’t help a lot,
Resolution 5: so I just got some material from online and started
researching ((by)) myself and I finished that. I spent nearly ten days for
that assignment, but I need to go to the uni during the day so I just do
that at night and you can’t believe that: I just like write one part each
day and ((there are)) seven parts, so I finished that during the week.
Each night I just stay there for a very long time and then you can really
start writing.
Evaluation 4: You know that feeling: you just stay there and think, think
and get very painful, get very upset and think, think and then
Resolution 6: I just can only finish one part each day and, but eventually I
finished them and handed ((my assignment)) in. And two weeks
later…we got the results … my friend, an Australian friend...very smart
and she got 7 for that assignment. I was just there, thinking how many
marks I can get. And after that class I went to grab the assignment and
then I found out I got 6 for that assignment.
Coda 1: I’m so happy, so happy, and ((my marks are)) even more than
many local students, you know. Oh I can’t believe how happy I am
then. I just ... from then on I got some confidence from that
((experience)).
(Embedded narrative 1)
Orientation 2: But the following weeks, it was still very hard for me,
Complication 3: because I really don’t like that. So for the next four
assignments…it gets less ((painful)), a little bit better, but…just similar
to that ((first assignment)). Maybe I could do it ((assignments)) quicker
but the feeling is similar…Every time when I think about assignments I

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 started to get really upset. I start to get very depressed...but it gets
better and better. I spent less time…and could do it ((assignments))
better. And for the last one, the math one, ((whose lecturer I saw for a
consultation)) I got 7 on that assignment. So that’s really good. I was
happy but yeah, I just can’t find an interest in ((this Education course)).
Coda 2: I am not interested in it at all.
(Embedded narrative 2)
Orientation 3: I forgot ((to)) mention the teacher ((the lecturer teaching
math)).
Resolution 7: During that time I asked lots of advice from her … but
she’s nice, she just said … ‘Sit there,’ and she let me in the office and
take out one piece of paper and started to describe the education system
for me: from the primary school, middle school, high school and how it
works …
Excerpt 5.11 shows how Julia managed to complete her first assignment and
how she viewed herself across this event. By her report, that first assignment
was pivotal: she learnt how to supplement her lack of insider knowledge and she
was awarded a grade of 6. She believed her grade showed that her effort and
achievement were recognized by her lecturer. She believed she performed better
than her local counterparts in the same course. Another pivotal moment was
Julia’s seeking consultation with a lecturer. At the consultation, the lecturer
supplied relevant knowledge on the schooling systems in Australia, as she was
aware of Julia’s outsider status to the teacher education program.
Chronologically, Julia’s third pivotal moment was when she was awarded the
highest mark of 7 for one assignment. However, this achievement/legitimation
did not change her decision to transfer to another program.

There are several points to take from Julia’s narrative. Julia’s emotions such as
anger, frustration, and anxiety were produced in part at least it seems as
reactions to assessment requirements in the field and her lack of relevant
cultural capital (insider knowledge of Australian education). They are empirical
manifestations of a mismatch of habitus and field. These emotions affected
Julia’s ability to proceed. However, the lecturer’s recognition of Julia’s status as
an outsider in effect legitimates Julia’s negative emotions—it treats her distress
as a legitimate need, triggered by reactions to the rules of the game.

Julia’s emotions changed into satisfaction, happiness and confidence when Julia
learnt of her awarded mark of 6. This mark enabled a pivotal change in

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confidence; however, her disinterest in the discipline in Education was not
dissolved by her feel for the game in doing written assignments.

Excerpt 5.11 shows how Julia acquired a feel for the game and became a
legitimated high-achieving student in her course. She had learnt the way of
studying at university in Australia. Her legitimacy was indicative of successful
adjustments to finding what to write (relevant cultural capital) and knowing how
to write what she knows (appropriately displaying her capital). At the same time,
Julia showed how she dedicated her time toward the completion of challenging
tasks. Julia profited from her feel for the game and a combination of capital,
including social capital from family members and from the lecturer and the new
cultural capital built in the field.

It should also be noted in Excerpt 5.11 that having a feel for the game is not the
same as having an interest in a particular study area. Julia could achieve high
marks for her study in Education; however, the high marks were not sufficient
to enable her to take up Education as a future goal. She had happy feelings
derived from a match of her capital and field, but she eventually discarded her
first goal to become a teacher in Australia. This aspect on questions of
belonging will be explored further in Chapter 7.

In contrast to Julia’s lack of a specific form of valued, relevant capital

(knowledge of the Australian school system) on entry into the university,
Maryam’s narrative presents a different scenario. Maryam had a first degree and
work experience relevant to the course in which she had enrolled. She had
compatible capital in her portfolio in this aspect. In the following excerpt, she
narrated an occasion when she sought clarification from her lecturer for her first
assignment.

Excerpt 5.12 (Maryam, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: It was about assignment both ((at tutorials and lectures)).
((The lecturer)) explained how we had to write the assignment
Complication 1: but I didn’t understand.
Resolution 1: And then I went to the lecturer/tutor and asked him to give
me an example.

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 Orientation 2: The topic of our assignment was that we have to pick one
of the knowledge area ((regarding)) project management and compare
it with our experience … ((It was related to my)) work experiences.
Complication 2: But ((I)) didn’t exactly understand … for example,
‘What…did I have to say?’ ‘Yeah, I did this and it’s against or
according to this knowledge?’
Resolution 2: Then, he gave me an example, ‘You have to ((choose one
example from)) technical or cost control performance … in your
company and … was not very useful … and how you think it could be
better’.
Evaluation: I didn’t comfortably understand what things I can write in my
assignment.
This excerpt is about Maryam’s approaching her lecturer for a discussion of
what to include in her assignment. It should be noted that Maryam, by her report,
did not seek content knowledge. Rather, the discussion helped her to make sense
of what was required in the assignment.

Excerpt 5.12 suggests that Maryam did not feel comfortable about the field, at
this stage, with little feel for the game. She might have had relevant capital
essential to her assignment; however, she was unsure about how to display her
capital. Maryam sought advice from her lecturer to make the rules of the game
more explicit to her. Being a new member, Maryam needed the support from the
authorised representative of the particular education field.

Both students in Excerpt 5.11-5.12 were ‘fish out of water’. They had confusion
and discomfort that was produced by a mismatch of their habituses and fields.
At this stage they had not yet acquired a feel for the game. However, they built
new capital, facilitated by the authorised representatives who held cultural
capital relevant to the field. The two students consequentially accrued new
cultural capital in their capital portfolios. Julia, in particular, also acquired social
capital, explicitly offered by her lecturer, in support of her relative outsider
status in her discipline.

It should be noted issues of English proficiency were of less salience in both

Maryam’s and Julia’s narratives of first assignments. What worried Julia and
Maryam respectively was a lack of knowledge about Australian education
systems (Excerpt 5.11), and how to address her assignment (see Excerpt 5.12).
However, English proficiency would still be critical, because it is through their

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English proficiency that the two demonstrated their potential to be legitimated
and to accrue and build capital. Capital of disciplinary knowledge, and
academic skills that cannot be displayed in English lose their value in new fields
of education in Australia. I suggest that while linguistic capital is not stressed by
these students, it is operating at the ‘actual’ level.

Ngoc gave another example of the facilitative role lecturers played in acquiring
a feel for the game. Ngoc, from Vietnam, was a Masters student in Commerce
building on her first degree.

Excerpt 5.13 (Ngoc, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation: I remember there ((was)) one ((assignment for)) my lecture. I
spent a lot of time on it. And I start((ed)) my writing already,
Complication: but after that, I found that it seems that I am wrong. I think
that I go on a wrong direction. Because you sometimes when your
assignment you can think in a different way, so I ((was)) really
confused and panicked at that time,
Resolution 1: and I think I have to see and discuss with the tutor. And I
went to see the tutor, and ((I was)) really surprised she spent most time
with me explain((ing)) to me clearly what she expected from the
assignment, and which way I should do and she showed me ((how to
incorporate)) my point of view. ‘I think that one is good, and you can
go ahead.’ They ((were)) also happy that I applied some of my theory
to the practical case. They said, ‘That’s very good.’
Evaluation: I am really happy, you know. After talking to the tutor, I met
the lecturer and three of us discussed together…like open discussion
and both of them are very happy, they said ‘Oh you are good when you
come here and ask us questions like that, and we are happy when you
asked questions to make sure that your assignment is good quality, and
based on this.’
Resolution 2: Finally I got ((a mark of)) 38 out of 40 for my assignment.
In Excerpt 5.13 Ngoc narrated her proactive process for acquiring the feel of the
game and achieving a high mark for an early assignment. The narrative stems
from the point when Ngoc felt something wrong with her direction in the
assignment, resulting in a high degree of stress. As a consequence, Ngoc, by her
report, consulted with her lecturer and tutor. According to her, she profited from
the consultation and subsequently achieved a high-achieving mark. The work
legitimated Ngoc’s effort and achievement.

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Excerpts 5.11-5.13 suggest that Julia, Maryam, and Ngoc went through a similar
pattern of strong emotional reactions when their capital did not match the field,
and the rules for the game were opaque or implicit. Also, these students
demonstrated their institutional competence (Curry, 2008), which enabled them
to seek support through consultation with lecturers. Institutional competence
facilitates the accrual of cultural and social capital, fostered by lecturers. The
narratives have made evident that the knowledgeable and authorised
representatives (the lecturers) in the education field are important agents in
fostering the acquisition of a feel for the game and capital building.

Questions of acquiring rules of the game and capital building are typically
missing in the research literature on students in higher education and their
coming to belong in the university. However, the analyses that these questions
are highly associated with emotions produced by EAL international students’
educational experiences at university. The new cultural capital possibly supplied
and facilitated by lecturers, and existing capital legitimated by lecturers
contributed to, at least partially, the acquisition of a feel of the game. Capital
building and a feel for the game largely relieved negative emotions produced by
a mismatch of habitus and field. They are central to adjustments made to meet
new challenges in the field. They exemplify the contradictory representations of
international students as fighters but at the same time as in need of pastoral care
(Koehne, 2006).

‘Making a guess’ versus ‘it’s kind of helpful’

In this section, I discuss two narratives about seeking support. The first is
Sandra M.’s narrative of her confusion over two writing genres–critical
reflections and critical analysis—required in her assignments. As previously
discussed, Sandra M., Chinese-speaking, studied in a Masters program in
Education. In the narrative below, she talked about the requirements in two units.
Her overall grade for the assignment of the second unit was ‘5 plus’ on a scale
1-7 ascending scale. A mark of 5s indicates a high level of achievement, as
described on the websites of the university.

Excerpt 5.14 (Sandra M., Interview 2, Translated, Code switching to

English Bold)

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 Orientation 1: I don’t know what it exactly means by being critical, but I
have some idea.
Evaluation 1: It is like using a third-person voice to describe an article
and write annotated reflections. I learnt this through writing a lot of
critical reflections for my assignments.
Orientation 2: For example, we were to write critical reflections on our
participation in activities … for mid-term and final assignments in [unit
1].
Complication 1: At first, I did not know what to write. I did not know
how to criticize my interactions in these activities.
Resolution: But the lecturer pointed some directions …. So I wrote …
mistakes made in these activities because these stood out in my
memory. When I reflected upon my mistakes, I realised how to
improve them.
Evaluation 1: I felt this is different from being ‘critical’ because I wrote
both my strengths and weaknesses …. This is what I mean by critical
reflections.
Complication 2: However, I don’t know what to do with critical analysis
for my assignment in [unit 2].
Evaluation 2: Like [unit 2], the lecturer’s feedback on my final
assignment was ‘A’ for the sub-area of structure and organization, but
‘C’ for critical analysis. The ‘C’ is my lowest sub-area mark in this
assignment, but I am happy about my ((overall)) result…
Coda: I feel I know of critical reflections, but I can only make a guess
about critical analysis. A mark of ‘C’ indicates that I don’t have a
good grasp of it.
This excerpt shows Sandra M.’s process of making sense of the difference
between written genres. Confusion about the two genres could affect different
selections of what to include and how to present them. According to Sandra M.,
she felt she could not grasp the genre of critical analysis, as reflected by a sub-
mark ‘C’. Her explanation: ‘I can only make a guess’, indicates that she did not
seek clarification prior to submission of the assignment.

Nevertheless, an overall mark of ‘5 plus’ would indicate that Sandra M. had a

very good feel for the game. It was her perception that her capital was
insufficient to distinguish from the two written genres. This lack, by her report,
impacted upon her sense of achievement.

In contrast to Sandra M.’s decision to ‘make a guess’, the following analyses

focus on how such capital was supplied to Siti and her institutionally supported

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cohort. Siti’s narrative below was elicited around the topic of differences
between her home and hosting universities. As previously described, the
program in discussion was a twinning undergraduate program in Australia,
preparing teachers for her home country.

Excerpt 5.15 (Siti, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: Firstly, the time for the classes. Like in my country for my
first year, I have class like studying from 8 until 1…Like here I really,
REALLY have free time, like a LOT of free time, because I do have
class per day but that is like two hours and the maximum is four hours
per day for the lecture, so I have A LOT OF TIME to do all the
assignments.
Evaluation 1: But in my country, we ((were)) kind of spoon-fed in a way.
For example, like here teachers, the lecturers will tell us how we’re
going to approach this question, what are some of the tips for
((assignments)). Like here it’s more independent.
Resolution: We have to really work on ourselves. It is up to us whether
we want to do the work, do the assignment, you know. Like ((you can
do it in the)) last minute or you ((can)) prepare earlier, because the
lecturers here don’t really force you. They don’t really ((force)) you to,
like send drafts or what. In my country we needed to send drafts of our
assignments to lecturers to ensure that we were on the right track, like
here, some of the lecturers don’t accept drafts.
Evaluation 2: But luckily in our program here, we have [EAL teacher].
She is the lecturer who has been appointed to check all of our drafts
and help us in the study. So like she also conducts a workshop for us
every week about how to manage time, how to address the questions,
so it’s kind of helpful for us in a way, yeah.
In this excerpt, Siti narrated her observations of the difference between her first
year of university in her home country and her second year in Australia. The
point of this narrative is Siti’s EAL support lecturer, conscientious and
responsive, providing extra support such as reading drafts, conducting
workshops, and providing directions as to what to address in assignments. It
should be noted that Siti and her compatriots were enrolled in a custom-made
program. These students enjoyed extra support, such as a dedicated EAL
lecturer, that was unavailable to other EAL international students in the same
units. They did not need to ‘make a guess’ in the same way as Sandra M. did.
For those like the latter, not on partnership entry, university-wide EAL advisors
were available, but the support is different.

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The potential capital supplied systematically through custom-made EAL-
support is in marked contrast to the support described in narratives by Julia,
Maryam, and Ngoc. Without initiatives taken by these students, not on
partnership entry, capital might not have been built. In the case of Sandra M.,
genres confusion could have been clarified in time if her drafts had been read.
Institutional support and resources are readily supplied to some (Siti), but not
others (Sandra M.).

It is made evident in Excerpt 5.15 that Siti is a particular student on a particular

program in the field of international education. She is positioned differently
with institutional support accessible to her through regular workshops
conducted by faculty-based EAL support. The supply of capital enables a
relative ease in Siti’s acquiring a feel for the game. This ease is reflected in her
positive tone in her account, as opposed to that in Julia’s (Excerpt 5.11).

Excerpts 5.11 to 5.15 show how pivotal moments with lecturers or the
authorised representatives can facilitate the feel for the time in how to display
capital in assignments. However, self-adjustments and self-reliance over time
are also important in acquiring a feel for the game and building new capital. In
the following, I turn to discussion on questions of time in the process of
acquiring a feel for the game and new capital, described in the narratives
provided by Wendy and Patrick.

Building capital ‘piece-by-piece’

The focus of this section is how participants reported making adjustments to
manage interruptions to their study routines. The first example is Wendy’s talk
about becoming more self-reliant by making ‘piece-by-piece’ adjustments.
Wendy, a Bachelor of Arts student from China, was studying in a Masters
program in Education. Excerpts 5.16-5.17 illustrate Wendy’s process of
acquiring a feel for the game over time. .

Excerpt 5.16 (Wendy, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: I spent every day in the library
Complication 1: but I don’t know how to start because…the assignment is
too open for us. ….So…how to start and how to collect the information
or the materials we want is a big problem for me here…

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 Evaluation: I’m still thinking about if I’m wasting time in the library
Complication 2: because every time when I go home I don’t know what I
did today. Though I come here ((the library)), I’ve read some articles
but forgotten…after I go home, ((I still)) don’t know where to start,
because nobody tells you how to, how to choose…and the
lecturers…don’t give you a direction. They just have…materials for
you. And you just choose and it’s your responsibility not others’.
Coda: ((This is)) The biggest problem I’m facing.
Excerpt 5.16, and its lack of any resolution, shows how Wendy was
overwhelmed by assignments at arrival in her first semester. According to her,
she struggled to decide both what to write and how to research.

By her report, Wendy was challenged by new rules in the new field. She was
experiencing interruptions to her study routines accrued in her past learning
experiences. She felt like ‘a fish out of water’, not knowing what to do. She had
made a conscious effort by reading and going to the library as her strategies;
however, the rules for the game were still opaque to her. Thus, her effort was
not necessarily productive. She did not yet have a feel for the game.

It took a whole semester for Wendy to make her adjustments to the new study
routines. The following narrative was produced shortly after her submission of
final assignments at the end of the first semester. Her average grade for earlier
assignments was around 6. Wendy was asked to comment again on the ‘open-
ended’ assignments, raised in her first interview.

Excerpt 5.17 (Wendy, Interview 2, Translated)

Orientation: I: At our first meeting, you were not sure about how to deal
with open-ended questions in your assignments. What about now?
Evaluation 1: W: This is still true, but right now I won’t dwell on how I
learnt before because I am now accustomed to what I am required to do.
So I will learn independently. Now I am not keen to approach lecturers
for advice or even for an exact direction for my assignment. I am no
longer like the type of student I was when I first started here…I am
more independent now. I was very dependent initially, but not now ….
Int: Could you tell me how you got to this point?
Resolution 1: W: I think I gradually adjusted myself to what I was
required to do when actually working on the first assignment… I am
getting to know how to approach an assignment: what is required and
what is valued. I learnt this step by step. For example, I looked for a

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 framework that was used before. Then I learnt to apply my own
thinking using the framework.
Complication: In the beginning I wasn’t so sure about what to do,
Evaluation 2: but after I finished the assignment, I was coming to believe
I must be on the right track.
Int: Could you tell me more how you knew that?
Resolution 2: I am not sure, but I have tried to model the way others
wrote their assignments. I read samples and I followed what they did.
When I wrote my final assignments, I checked them against my criteria
sheet.
Evaluation 2: At the moment, I am not sure how I did, because I have not
had results of my final assignments back.
Coda: That is the only way I can do, because…doing written assignments
is not like when we can work on the same questions together with other
students, discuss with them, and find out what is right or wrong…
Excerpt 5.17 demonstrates a change over time in Wendy’s talk about how to
deal with open-ended assignments. By the end of her first semester, Wendy
believed she knew what she was required to do and was able to produce
assignments accordingly, though ‘open-ended’ assignments were still
challenging. According to Wendy, she had made adjustments by reading
examples and then learning to apply such frames.

Excerpt 5.17 tells of Wendy’s process of learning piece-by-piece to acquiring

the feel for the game in terms of academic genres. Wendy was acquiring a feel
for the game by building new routines to deal with individual written
assignments in her new educational field. She made sense of what was required
in an assignment and how she would be graded. Making sense of the rules was
also a process of building new capital: the cultural capital acquired by ‘reading
samples’. Although she did not have a full grasp of the rules, she was able to
make her own judgements against assessment criteria. Reading samples is a
manifestation of the utilisation of curricular competence (Curry, 2008), a
species of cultural capital, that enabled Wendy to acquire knowledge and
understanding of the pedagogical significance this particular assignment aimed
to bring about.

However, acquiring a feel for academic genres was not the only challenge. In
the field of education, building disciplinary knowledge is critical to making new

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addition to existing capital portfolios. In the following, Patrick’s narrative is
analysed to further the discussion of the impact of insufficient disciplinary
knowledge on participants’ entry into a new discipline or a new game.

Patrick, Italian-speaking from Switzerland, deployed a strategy of spending

more time and making more effort than he normally did. It should be kept in
mind his first diploma was in bio-science, and that he had never studied
Business before.

Excerpt 5.18 (Patrick, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation: …because this ((assignment)) was ((in the study area of))
Business
Complication 1: and these things I have like no knowledge. If I have to
write paper for scientific or like that I will write all of them in two or
three hours, very fast, but for business like that it takes long time and I
don’t know exactly what I have to write.
Resolution 1: I have to check all the notes. I try to find ideas ((that)) I can
write because I have no idea.
Complication 2: Also…we have like marking criteria but there is nothing
about what we have to do, you know?
((It’s) just if ((you)) write good you get 7. If you not write good, ((you
will get)) 6. Or if you put these two things it will be 7. But they don’t
give like good guidelines ((describing)) what we have to do.
Resolution 2: I spend a lot of time to do something, but at the end I get
just 5.
This excerpt shows that Patrick was not comfortable about his new study area in
Business. In his view, he could do better and faster assignments in Science. He
felt under-resourced for the business assignment. However, this might be a
result of his not being able to find out what counted in a business assignment
through a simple reading of ‘marking criteria’. Further, in his view, he did not
feel satisfied with 5 as his mark. Though ‘5’ is officially explained on the
websites of his university as an above average mark on a scale of 7, he expected
more from himself. He had suffered a loss of recognition and status on transition
into a new study area.

This narrative suggests that Patrick needed to acquire a new feel for a different
game. His extra effort, as compared to that made for other assignments, and
reactions was similar to that of Wendy in Excerpt 5.18. Like Wendy, Patrick

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was a fish out of water when approaching a study area new to him. When his
capital matched the field, he had a feel for the game, and in Science, he
reportedly knew what to do with assignments. For Patrick, failing to decode
‘marking criteria’ for a business assessment might result from lacking necessary
capital. As a result, he had to build new capital by spending more time and
making extra effort.

It is important here to draw comparisons between the case of Siti (see Excerpt
5.15) and the cases of Wendy and Patrick (see Excerpts 5.16-5.18). The point
here is not about the extra time and effort described in Wendy’s and Patrick’s
narratives, but in the contrasting emotional reactions in Siti’s feeling ‘luckily’
and Wendy’s and Patrick’s ‘I don’t know’. Wendy’s negative emotions arose
from an unfamiliar study routine in Australia, while Patrick’s were derived from
a new study area. However, the relatively relieved feelings in Siti’s talk were
reportedly associated with the institutional support accessible.

Patrick is a scientist and had a sense of fulfilment in his description about

science assignments: ‘If I have to write paper for scientific or like that I will
write all of them in two or three hours – very fast.’ The ease and speed in
writing scientist assignments is an example of Patrick’s feel for the game in
science. It is Patrick’s habitus developed in Science and cultural capital (good
marks) that had fostered a sense of belonging in science.

The analyses so far show that participants managed study routines across
transitions to new fields of education by acquiring a feel for the game, by
having capital formally legitimated through assessment, and through
legitimation by the teaching staff. For some, extra effort was necessary when
new capital was required and when they were in an area they knew nothing
about. In addition to interactions with university staff, participants also talked
about relations with their social networks and access to study help and social
support. The following discussion will focus on the impact of participants’
social networks on acquiring a feel for the game, using narratives by Ruby,
Fatimah, Sandra M., Celina, and Maryam.

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Peer social capital
The focus on social capital in this section highlights participants’ different
experiences as students. This section starts with Ruby’s narratives concerning
peer support and social capital. In the first semester, she approached librarians
to find references for her assignments. Over time, she still found it challenging
to locate relevant references on her own.

Ruby changed her strategy in the second semester. In the following excerpt, She
stressed that she ‘took time’ to seek a reference list from a classmate. It should
be noted that Ruby achieved an average grade around 4.5 in the first semester.

Excerpt 5.19 (Ruby, Interview 3, English language interview)

Orientation 1: When I doing assignment … ((there was)) … one thing
different from last semester: I didn’t start like early,
Complication: because sometimes even I don’t understand the question…
Orientation 2: Normally because the lecturer gave us early, early,
beginning of the semester they just gave the assignment and that we
have to finish like two months later or end of semester.
Resolution: so I just…took time to ask a friend. And as the time goes by
we knew little bit about the assignment because we had got the
information from the people, from the classmates. So actually I didn’t
start early. I just take time and when I got the information from the
friend who already did, who already got some idea I’d just listen to
them and then like two weeks ago to due date I just start…
Int: Tell me more what information you got from your classmates.
R: Because we had to get that reference, … actually when I doing the law
assignment I just asked my classmate to get the references because she
already did her assignment. But I just asked to her to get the
references … I just have a look ((at)) these references and then I got
some idea …
Evaluation: It was very helpful.
In this narrative, Ruby reported a change in how she handled assignments in her
second semester. She learnt to wait until she could understand better what was
required in the assignment and when she could ask for a reference list from her
classmates after they finished their assignments. According to her, she profited
from her social networks in the second semester.

Excerpt 5.19 is not about Ruby’s improved academic understandings. Nor is it

about challenges of a new study area. Ruby did not seek to build new cultural

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capital, for example, disciplinary knowledge or institutional competence, by
making more effort or spending more time. Rather, she learnt from experience
that she could save time by resorting to help from social networks to supplement
her academic skills or disciplinary knowledge. Ruby began to realise how she
could play the game at her position by activating social capital for cultural
capital.

Like Ruby, Fatimah benefited from her social networks and spontaneous
discussions among her housemates in her house. Fatimah and her housemates
were all on a government sponsored program in Education, as Siti’s. The ‘house’
mentioned in the excerpt refers to Fatimah’s place of residence, where she lived
with four other compatriot students.

Excerpt 5.20 (Fatimah, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation: …for the assignments we usually have smaller groups like a
group of four or three, depends on the house….
Complication: because we cannot go to other houses and say ‘how are
you going to tackle your assignments?’ So I think it’s quite hard
because we have to actually walk to that ((other)) house…
Resolution: so we usually discuss between three or four. Sometimes when
we are cooking, ((I will ask))…‘how are you going to tackle your
assignments?’…and she will explain to me how to do it...
Evaluation: Sometimes it’s good yeah but sometimes it makes us think
deeper: it’s like okay she’s doing it like this, ((but)) how can I improve
on what she said? …Sometimes her idea’s good so I’m going to take
her idea but I’m going to write it my way…
Coda: So yeah it’s like that. We tend to take good points and we try to do
it our own way…We take all the points.
In this excerpt, Fatimah emphasized the ease of brainstorming for assignment
writing at informal and spontaneous situations such as while cooking. By her
report, she enjoyed these discussions because she engaged with various
perspectives with which to address questions in her assignment.

Fatimah benefits from existing social networks at her place of residence, pre-
arranged through the institutional partnership. The social network, composed of
her peers at similarly comparable levels, enabled an easy exchange of social
capital for cultural capital, if initiatives to seek such an exchange were taken.

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What differs in how Fatimah and Ruby benefit from their social capital is the
ease and route to social capital. Fatimah’s access to social capital was facilitated
initially by her home university during the one-year intensive preparatory
program; and was, later, maintained by residence arrangements. It was perhaps
designed so; and thus predictable that Fatimah would accrue social capital and
capitalize on her networks in her study. In Ruby’s case, accruing social capital
was dependent on field, other actors, and by luck—she happened to have a
friend willing to provide a reference list. The following section turns to other
routes to social capital.

In the narrative below Sandra M. described a virtual discussion with a particular

friend she happened to know through family connections, prior to coming to
Australia. The exchange in Sandra M.’s conversations was similar to the
discussions Fatimah had with her housemates. The difference, however, is that,
as opposed to Fatimah’s face-to-face conversations, Sandra M. enabled the
sharing by way of online instant messaging software, in this case, MSN. The
online chats were self-initiated, not required by any components of the
university’s programs. The task in question was an assignment addressing
sociological perspectives on colonization in her home country.

Excerpt 5.21 (Sandra M., Interview 2, Translated)

Orientation: In fact, I had a discussion with my other friend before I
emailed [name]. He asked, ‘Why don’t you write about KMT
domination?’ This is something new to me.
Complication: …I was not quite sure whether Japanese colonization
would make a good argument. But when he raised the issue of KMT
domination in our online chat, it inspired me like a sparkle in the
darkness to me … The first time that idea came across to me …
Resolution: I decided to clarify with [name] right away. I thought you
may somehow give me some feedback …
Evaluation: He is a great help. He was introduced to me ((by my mother’s
friend)) when I was in still in Taiwan, but we never met each other
until I arrived in Australia. While I was still in Taiwan, he was studying
in Australia. But we had online chats through MSN from then on. He
has been very helpful. He had a Masters degree from [research site].
Then he went to study in [university name]. He gave me a lot of
suggestions such as [research site] support services. He told me about
the support service. I asked him more about what I just told you.

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This excerpt shows how Sandra M. benefited from social online chats for one
assignment. According to her, she was able to use a topic and perspective
suggested by her associate through digital means. The ‘he’ here is a compatriot
peer with an insider’s knowledge of Sandra M.’s home country.

The discussion in this section is not about the benefit of online chatting. Rather
it is about how Sandra M. resourced herself through means available to her. By
her report, this friend spoke from both insider positions of her home country and
the Australian host university. He was an extension of a social network
embedded in Sandra M.’s field positions in her home country. Through the chat
with him, Sandra M. accessed cultural capital necessary for her assignments. As
shown in the narrative, the coaching facilitated the accrual of social capital, in
exchange with cultural capital. It is worth noting that Sandra M. took the
initiative to foster the exchange and capital exchange.

Researchers generally agreed that building social support networks is important

to new students in higher education (Wilcox, et al., 2005). The analyses thus far
support this. However, there are two points to make. Both Sandra M. and
Fatimah benefitted from their field positions in their home country. It is
relatively easy for them to accrue capital in new field. In contrast, Ruby must
rely on her investment in new social networks. The point is i) that differentiated
field positions impact upon access to institutional support; and ii) that
differences in field positions further impact upon access to social and cultural
capital in new fields.

The following discussion explores how academic skills can also be built through
peer coaching. The narratives are concerning how Celina was coached to rules
of the game and how Maryam achieved her high-achieving status as a student.

Peer coaching
The focus here is on how peer coaching facilitates participants’ feel for the
game. Celina’s experiences of learning how to paraphrase and synthesise are
used as an example.

Excerpt 5.22 (Celina, Interview 2, English language interview)

Int: Tell me what you learnt from your first semester.

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 Orientation: C: Basically with assignment: how to use English in writing.
It’s very different to speak English and write English. And I think most
of the student uses the same information from books…but the content
in their assignment may be very different. It could depend on their
ability of English use or ability of understanding
Complication: but for the international student they have handicap
because English is a second language … So there is ((a)) limitation of
understanding the content, using the content and then writing the
content in their own ((words in English)). So…in doing assignment I
shouldn’t use the same sentence so I have to change it…eventually the
two sentences may mean the same thing…but…changing the content to
my own sentence was harder than finding the information to write.
Int: Tell me how you know you need to change the sentence and write in
your own way.
Resolution: C: I ask some students, ‘How should I write assignments?’
and then the student said, you know, who is one year ahead of me, who
used to study like university here: ‘You collect information from there
((the library)) but you can’t write the same thing in your assignment.
Then the tutors or markers will find you use the same thing so you have
to show how you understand. Even though ((using)) the same content
and the book, you can’t use directly the same thing. You have to, like
translate in your own language.’…It’s like…if I found some
information I don’t just use one book. So I may use…three or four
different kinds of books but they may have the same core thing but
some books have different things, just slightly different, then I have to
put them together and then to write my own sentence.
So I learnt from …what my friends taught me, the one year ahead friend,
talked to me and then my own experience- the feeling that I felt while I
was writing.
Evaluation: The first semester it was hard but
Coda: now I think the second semester will be much easier.
This narrative shows how paraphrase and synthesis are essential skills for
assignments and how Celina made sense of them over time and through peer
coaching. Celina recalled approaching ‘the one year ahead friend’ for advice on
assignments; by her account, she benefited from this advice. Celina stressed that
it took time to feel at ease with these skills to paraphrase and synthesise. She
was confident that she would become more skilful in her coming semester.

I am not arguing for effectiveness of peer coaching in terms of academic skills

in this chapter. The point is the pivotal moments of seeking advice in Celina’s
case, and the impact of such moments on a feel for the game. I would also like

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to stress the importance of time, which is required for new skills to build and for
Celina to feel comfortable about these skills.

In the following narrative, Maryam talked about a similar scenario to Celina’s

peer coaching in academic skills. Maryam came to understand the role of
citation practice and its importance in assignments over time.

Excerpt 5.23 (Maryam, Interview 3, English language interview)

Orientation: I: Tell me about your study in the second semester.
M: You know it was really better, because I found the way how
to…satisfy my lecturers - how to present, how to format my
assignments and what the contents that have to include and what are the
expectations and I really have better marks in my assignments that I
already submitted …
Evaluation 1: About the assignment, it was easy
Resolution 1: because I could compare my assignments with others’, my
friend’s assignments that got higher mark. I asked them to send their
individual assignments for me and I saw that they refer a lot of
concepts - called referencing and literature review.
Complication: I didn’t know what I do with literature review is. In my
country assignments are not like that. They didn’t have literature
review and I realized that it’s really important and the lecturer wants to
understand really you understand the concepts and you can link the
concepts with the practicalities. Maybe … ((these were required)) just
in my course or my special field of study, I don’t know, but it was the
thing that the lecturers pay attention ((to)) and more, based on that.
Resolution 2: So I figure out that I have to attend a workshop regarding
literature review and referencing and they were really useful for me. It
was not a long workshop but a lot of useful information. ((It was)) my
first assignment of the subject I got a hundred percent. [laughs]
Evaluation 2: It’s not really easy to get a hundred percent. Maybe you can
get seven but something between eighty-five to one hundred, but one
hundred percent exactly ((isn’t easy)).
This excerpt shows how comparing assignments led to Maryam’s series of
actions that contributed to a maximum mark for one assignment. According to
Maryam, she built citation skills at workshops after she realised what was
valued and required in assignments. Her maximum grade indicated that she had
achieved a feel for the game; however, it should also be noted that her feel for
the game came toward the end of the second semester.

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It should not be assumed that the moment when Maryam read her friends’
assignments was the first or only moment she learnt about citations. Rather, it
was a pivotal moment when Maryam realised referencing was a necessary skill
for academic writing. It was also a pivotal moment when she could profit from
social capital. However, it was by means of Maryam’s actions taken to further
her skills in referencing that contributed to her new skills. Social capital here
was an adjunct and prompted to the acquisition of valuable cultural capital
through Maryam’s own agentive actions.

It is thus instructive to revisit Excerpt 5.12 where Maryam described

approaching a lecturer for an example for a first assignment. She had acquired
the feel for the game gradually through actions taken to seek clarification and
legitimation from authorized representatives in university. She built from her
existing content knowledge accrued through education and employment at home
to new capital legitimated and valued in her new field of education. She then
added a new feel for the game and new capital to her capital portfolio.

In contrast to the journey Maryam took from beginning to end of the university
year, Victor in the following excerpt talked about the relative ease in his
learning experiences. Referencing or writing in English was not a concern in his
study in Australia.

Excerpt 5.24 (Victor, Interview 2, English language interview)

Int: So could you compare now and when you first started? Do you feel
that your English has improved? Do you feel that it’s still the same?
V: It’s basically still the same. I think…not much different.
Int: And about writing? How have you found your writing?
V: The writing, of course in Singapore, our education system, everything
teaches in English. And also Mandarin. That is my mother tongue.
Writing isn’t a problem for us.
Int: How about referencing?
V: Referencing shouldn’t be a problem….I have not encountered much
problem ((with regard to)) language barrier.
According to Victor, he did not experience much difference in his study at home
and Australia. He attributed the similarities of his learning experiences to his

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previous educational experiences at home. By his report, he did not find English
proficiency an issue.

This excerpt shows that Victor had dispositions and capital, such as English
proficiency and writing skills, that in his opinion matched his new field of
education well. He was relatively relaxed in his descriptions of his student life at
that time and had not experienced much interruption to his study routines in his
transition to a new field.

Before closing this present chapter, it is important to highlight how extra effort
is made in response to forces of the field. Excerpt 5.24 is discussed as a typical
example of the participants’ talk about how self-discipline enabled the
investment of time necessary for acquiring a feel for the game. The narrative
was produced when Maryam was invited to talk about her typical day during the
first semester.

Excerpt 5.25 (Maryam, Interview 2, English language interview)

I spent most of the time in library ((last semester)), almost every day, even
((on)) holidays, ((but)) not the early days. But I think from the fourth week
of this semester I have to come every day even weekends ((to the)) library
to study and do my assignment …. may be sooner, even ((Week)) Three,
because it depends on the due date of my assignment and I think because
this term I have two assignments that I have to submit in Week Five. I have
to come at least in Week Three.
This excerpt shows how Maryam managed to find the time she needed to invest
in order to meet assignment deadlines. Maryam’s typical day is indicative of her
self-discipline in response to new forces of the field (i.e. submission dates and
assignment demands). This self-discipline and investment of time is considered
essential to accrue new cultural capital and the feel for the game.

The analyses so far show that participants in this study are not a homogeneous
group. Their field positions and capital can vary greatly. The contrast between
Victor’s relative ease and the others’ degrees of stress and strategy surrounding
the field’s valued linguistic capital and academic writing highlights the
generative complexities of field positions interacting with capital in participants’
student lives. It has been demonstrated in the analyses that divergent capital
accessible to participants at their varied field positions, at home and in Australia,

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produces different experiences in their student lives. English proficiency is
critical; however, individual students’ academic skills and disciplinary
knowledge further impact upon their acquisition of a feel for the game. Social
capital can facilitate the accrual of cultural capital; however, it is through
legitimation granted by institution’s authorised representatives that participants’
existing capital is confirmed as legitimate and new capital built.

Conclusion
This chapter has documented the interactive relations between the field’s valued
linguistic capital and participants’ capital portfolios, field positions, and future
aspirations. This chapter’s analysis addressed the sub-question: how did
international EAL students account for and manage interruptions to their life
and study routines? The analyses unpacked participants’ narratives at their point
of entry into new fields of education and through written assignments. These
narratives were then interpreted with reference to participants’ master narratives
of coming to Australia.

The analyses show that one of the most important causal mechanisms
underlying participants’ decisions to study in Australia is their goal to seek
advantageous field positions either in their home country or in Australia by
accruing valued capital. The capital includes institutional capital (a degree
conferred in Australia) and the field’s valued linguistic capital (English
proficiency). Local knowledge of a profession and language specific to a
specific discipline such as Nursing are also important.

The second causal mechanism underlying participant’s learning experiences in

Australia lies in acquiring a feel for the game. The analyses made evident that
what is in habitus generates appreciations of forces of the field and produces
strategies. For example, the analyses report how negative emotional reactions
were produced when participants’ capital did not match new fields and when
they could not generate unconscious or habituated actions to react to new forces
productively. Further, the analyses show that participants made extra effort,
devoted substantial time to acquire a feel for the game in order to build new
capital. Given sufficient time and effort, feelings of being ‘like a fish out of the
water’ gradually lessened when capital better matched the field,.

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A third causal mechanism producing participants’ varied empirical experiences
is that the new field of the university is differentiated and structured.
Institutional support was more easily available to some but not to others. The
difference here was whether the rules of the game could be made more explicit
and how easier access to necessary and relevant capital had the potential to
impact on participants’ educational experiences.

However, the analyses further made evident how students took active actions to
seek legitimation from knowledgeable others and from peers. These actions
were made possible through their growing sense of the forces of the field at
points of disjuncture and interrupted routines. It is that which is in habitus as
shown in participants’ self-talk and reflections in their resolutions and codas
that have the potential to generate strategies to resolve problems and cope with
challenges. It is shown that what is in habitus can also generate active and
purposeful change.

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Chapter Six: Legitimating Capital
Introduction
This chapter reports findings related to the research question posed in Chapter
One: What capital counts for coming to belong at university for EAL
international students in their first year of study in Australia? The sub-questions
addressed in this chapter are concerned with what capital help EAL
international students acquire a feel for the game and a sense of coming to
belong as learners at university in Australia. This question is directed to
participants’ narratives about group work and group assignments.

It will be recalled from Chapter Three that legitimacy is understood as a desired

outcome in the competitive struggle to be recognized by others as a valued and
valid player in the field of relations (Bourdieu, 1991; Bourdieu & Wacquant,
1992). Legitimation refers to the process of having legitimacy conferred by
powerful others in the field. A legitimate speaker is someone whose capital
portfolio is accorded with value in the field. Hence, one’s field position is
dependent upon others’ evaluation of one’s capital portfolio. The capital of
competence, knowledge, and objects in a field only has value if recognised by
its members. An individual’s capital portfolio functions in two ways: i) it is the
source of their legitimacy; and ii) it is the basis on which they legitimate others’
capital. In other words, legitimacy is achieved as outcomes of legitimation.
However, legitimacy is not granted once and for all because social fields
overlap and sit alongside each other (Luke, 2008). Rather, it is granted field-by-
field and also over time, in response to the forces of each field. Every field has
its forces, which include socially established norms for acting and speaking. An
individual’s linguistic performance is important in the process of legitimation in
any field. According to Bourdieu (1991), grammaticality of language
contributes to part of linguistic capital. However, this is only a partial
explanation of position: who says what under what circumstances and in what
form of the language also matters. Students whose articulation in oracy is
legitimated as valued and valid are considered to have linguistic capital and can
subsequently exchange its value for other forms of capital. It is this theory of
legitimation, legitimate speakers and linguistic capital that will be used to

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understand students’ narratives of interactions with student peers and lecturers
in this chapter.

Collaborative learning is often highlighted as a valuable form of learning and

student experience in the higher education literature. However, in the literature
reviewed in Chapter Two, research on group work reported i) troubles around
group formation, varied effort, and group assessment; and ii) EAL international
students’ limited English proficiency and non- or partial participation in group
discussion. This literature provides very limited understanding of EAL
international students’ perspectives on interactions among group members
during, or external to, tutorial sessions.

Central to the second and third sections of this chapter is the concept of capital
and capital portfolios, as defined and legitimated in a field. Group work in this
chapter is viewed as a field of relations, where group members work to
legitimate others and/or be legitimated within their field positions. It builds on
the findings of Chapter Five, showing that capital and capital portfolios
contribute to members’ various field positions; at the same time, cultural capital,
such as knowledge, and symbolic capital, such as group marks, are both rewards
and resources in the struggle within the field of group work.

The discussion in this chapter is not about the benefits of collaborative learning
during group work. Rather it is about the relations of legitimation, legitimacy,
field and capital in EAL international students’ group work experiences. The
point of interest is how these relations tell of the students’ coming to belong in
an Australian university. This chapter has three sections. Building from Chapter
Five’s discussions of ‘acquiring a feel for the game’, the first section focuses on
group discussions and processes of legitimation in these processes. The second
section concerns questions of group assessment. The third section talks about
group formation.

Entering into Group Discussion

As established in Chapter Five, English proficiency is typically viewed as
critical and valuable linguistic capital by participants in this study. Specifically,
the students’ study in an Australian university is considered an opportunity to

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improve their English proficiency in order to enrich their capital portfolios. At
the same time, English is the medium or legitimate language for education at
university. This section looks at the complex relations between learning English
and learning through English in participants’ experiences of group work. The
focus is on entry into group discussion, and being legitimated and heard as a
group member. The following narratives by Donna, Tom, Ngoc, Maryam, and
Sandra M. tell of their experiences of entry into discussions in various contexts,
for different purposes, with different people. Experiences at these points provide
insights into how participants’ talk is accepted or rejected under what
circumstances.

Donna grouped with nursing students

Pair work
Donna’s early experience of one tutorial serves as an example of problems
around entering and coming to belong in a discussion. The task described in the
following excerpt was a worksheet. The sheet was to be completed with a
partner during the tutorial and was awarded marks towards students’ final
grades.

Excerpt 6.1 (Donna, Interview 1, Translated)

Orientation: Recently, an Australian female student, a very young student
in her second year, did the writing to report our discussion on the
worksheet.
Complication 1: I asked four or five times, tactfully, whether she was sure
that one answer on the sheet was correct. I suggested that we ((my
partner and I)) go to the tutor to find out whether it was correct or not.
But, she said ‘No’, and that she had checked the answer in the text
book.
Resolution: However, I still decided to check with the tutor myself. The
tutor advised that the answer we’d recorded on our worksheet was
wrong. I continued to seek clarification about whether the answer I
suggested was correct. This answer was confirmed as the correct one
((by the tutor)).
Evaluation 1: In fact, I felt another answer we’d written on the worksheet
was also wrong; it couldn’t be right.
Complication 2: My partner approached the tutor for clarification.
However, even after the tutor’s explanation, she still missed the point.
Evaluation 2: There might be something wrong with her understanding.

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 Coda 1: There is nothing I can do.
Evaluation 3: … I might be too sensitive, but I felt wronged because my
understanding was better than what it might seem.
Complication 3: I was very angry, you know, because my partner looked
very impatient when I indicated the answers were wrong. I didn’t tell
her I was a doctor. I NEVER told anyone I was a doctor. I NEVER told
anyone of my prior experiences. She looked very impatient when I
tactfully challenged her answers.
Evaluation 4: I wouldn’t mind if I don’t make friends, but what I do
object to is that others look down on me. It was this that was very
uncomfortable.
Coda 2: It is just that my language is not as good, so I cannot express
myself very well. I think this influences their trust in my understanding
and explanations. I believe that if I can convince them, they won’t have
such an attitude. So language is very important, I have no choice. I
must, I have to improve my language.
Excerpt 6.1 describes a moment at a tutorial when Donna negotiated a problem
with her partner: ‘I asked four or five times tactfully’. The problem arose from
disagreement over a particular answer suggested by Donna. Donna made
clarifications with her tutor and her answer was confirmed as correct;
corrections were made accordingly. However, Donna was concerned with a
second answer, but she could not make any correction when her partner, seeking
clarifications, could not fully understand the tutor’s explanations. According to
Donna, she felt powerless about this experience.

Donna was emotional when explaining that she felt both upset and defiant at the
tutorial. In her narrative, she relayed the manifestations of her emotion (‘I was
very angry’) and spoke forcefully (‘NEVER … NEVER’). Donna felt wronged
because she assumed that her understanding and credibility deserved
recognition. Donna described the non-fulfilment of her expectation as an
experience of ‘being looked down upon’, an experience of the bodily emotion of
humiliation. In short, Donna’s emotions manifest unconscious reactions of
habitus to the interactive relations between field and capital portfolio. The
bodily emotion of humiliation was manifest in Donna’s reactions to being
wronged.

A twist comes in the coda of Excerpt 6.1 when Donna stressed the importance
of improving her language. For her, improving English proficiency had the

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potential to prevent further humiliating experiences. This strategy serves as an
active response to an unconscious bodily emotion of humiliation, produced by
the relations encountered in the group discussion between Donna and her
classmate.

It is acknowledged that there is no knowing from this data what exactly

happened. I only have Donna’s account, including her attribution of mental and
emotional states to her classmate. That information is beside the point here:
humiliation in minority-majority relations of power is not attendant on intent
(Fangen, 2006). The point of interest for this thesis is how Donna made sense of
what happened, her reflections and her consequential actions. By her description
of ‘an Australian female student,’ Donna referred to what she perceived as a
local student who used English more comfortably than her. This is suggested by
Donna’s final coda reflecting on her lack of linguistic capital: ‘I must improve
my language’. Given the racial, linguistic and cultural diversity of the
Australian population, it should also be acknowledged that the assumption
behind her use of the term ‘Australian’ is not necessarily an accurate one.

Excerpt 6.1 shows that Donna had hoped to be credible in her talk during group
discussion given her self-reported professional expertise. However, her
credibility, by her account, was masked by inadequate linguistic proficiency, so
that Donna did not achieve legitimacy in pair work. This raises the question of
why Donna did not seek some tactful way of bringing her status as a doctor into
the conversation. From a Bourdieusian perspective, a display of this cultural and
institutional capital might be considered a ‘trump card’ in a disagreement over
second year nursing knowledge. However, Donna ruled this move out of the
question and explained in the following her reasons for concealing her status as
a medical doctor.

Excerpt 6.2 (Donna, Interview 1, Translated)

Orientation: I was late for a tutorial when students were invited for a short
self-introduction. However,
Resolution: I would not have introduced myself as a doctor even if I had
had a chance to do so in the tutorial.

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 Complication: I was worried that people might not understand why I am
studying nursing here, but my experiences were very different from
theirs.
Evaluation 1: I don’t like to be viewed as unusual for studying nursing in
Australia as a China-trained doctor. I don’t want my classmates to think
that I am a strange person. I hope to start my course as an ordinary
student and to interact with others without any strange feelings. I may
be selective about who I share my background with. For example, I will
consider telling my friends from China in due course, but definitely not
in class. This is because Chinese friends won’t feel it is strange
[laugh] …
Evaluation 2: I wondered whether it would be worth my time to study
nursing. However, [laugh] I realised that I could learn how to interact
and communicate between doctors and patients ((in English)). This is
very important because it is usually nurses who carry out practices and
procedures with patients. In hospitals, doctors are like leaders, who
give commands, but it is nurses who take on the responsibilities for
operations.
Excerpt 6.2 shows that Donna considered public concealment of her status as a
doctor necessary in order to be ‘ordinary’ among her fellow students. According
to Donna, her reasons for studying nursing might not be understood by students
who were not from China. She was aware of the social distance between doctors
and nurses in the professional hierarchy, that is, doctors as leaders, and had
attempted to reduce the distance between herself as a doctor and other nursing
students.

It is shown in this excerpt that Donna viewed making a self-introduction as an

occasion to potentially establish her social position in a new field. However, she
weighed up the pros and cons of concealing her status as a doctor, and insisted
on sharing equal status with nursing students. She chose her tactics of relational
positioning in the field to start as an ‘ordinary student’, but in some senses her
decision backfired. She effectively lost the symbolic capital that would accrue to
her as a doctor because she did not advertise this professional expertise. This
meant that she lost the opportunity to be in a position to legitimate peers and to
compensate for her more limited reserves of linguistic capital. Given the
linguistic politics of the field, Donna’s cultural capital is masked by how she
used English in her speech situation. Sounding different can affect the audibility
of EAL learners’ talk (Miller, 2003). Thus, her particular case makes evident the
difference that one’s use of language can make.

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For the EAL international students in pair work, acquiring the status of the
legitimate speaker is a complex process. This process involves a process of
being legitimated through recognition of cultural capital relevant to the talk in a
context, where different capital portfolios and the field’s legitimate language are
valued. Cultural capital such as Donna’s medical understanding and relevant
employment experience can be masked in the field of international education.
The mask can be produced by insufficient language skills as Donna explained in
Excerpt 6.1. It can also be produced by insufficient cultural capital, as is
common amongst students, who aim to build new capital through education. In
contrast, Donna’s tutor, being differently positioned in the field, is likely to have
the right and sufficient capital to recognize her masked cultural capital. Above
all, the tutor as an authoritative representative of the education institution is
someone who also has symbolic capital to legitimate her contribution.

When the cultural capital of the EAL international students is devalued in the
field of internationalised education, this can be a mutual loss for both the host
university and the EAL international students themselves. The host university
could fail to fulfil its goal of internationalising education to enrich students’
learning experience through collaboration with EAL international students. At
the same time, these students could have negative group experiences.

The following narratives describe what subsequent decisions Donna made to

improve her English proficiency as a strategy to increase the audibility and
credibility of her talk. The following narratives continue the discussion of
different group work experiences and effort to improve English.

Study group with Korean-speaking peers

As a point of contrast to Donna’s earlier experience, this section explores
Donna’s narratives about her ongoing position in the field of relations in the
nursing course. Donna talks about her overall grades for the first semester: ‘The
final grade includes both that of assignments and exams. My assignments are
all 6. They are OK’. This indicates that Donna is recognized and legitimated by
tutors/lecturers as well-above average in her written assignments and exams. In
the following excerpt Donna tells of how she was recognized as a good student,
not just by her tutors, but by a Korean student.

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 Excerpt 6.3 (Donna, Interview 2, Translated)
…the Korean classmate asked me about my mark for the assignment. I told
her I got a 6. Then she said ‘You got what?’ and that my tutor was very
strict. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that but I did not feel anything in
particular about the tutor’s marking. I really did not pay attention to issues
of strictness regarding marking against the criteria. In fact, I almost made a
mistake because I wasn’t supposed to sign in the space for markers’
signature. It was not until I saw my name crossed out when I had my
assignment back that I realised my carelessness. [laugh] Now when I look
back … [laugh] I think I was rather rather silly. But I didn’t have any idea
then.
This excerpt highlights the interactions between Donna and her Korean
classmate in their talk about her grade. The Korean student was amazed at
Donna’s achievement in a written assignment. Yet, a mistake in the signature
space revealed Donna’s status as a relative novice in handling the mechanics of
an assignment. However, the novice experience did not have any apparent
impact on recognising the value of her work. The tutor/marker must have
noticed valued capital in the written assignments, as reflected in Donna’s high-
achieving grade patterns.

Excerpt 6.3 makes evident Donna’s cultural capital in written assignments and
exams in contrast to her challenge in pair work with the local student portrayed
in Excerpt 6.1. Donna’s cultural capital is recognized, legitimated and valued by
tutors both in her talk and written assessment. The Korean fellow student also
thought highly of Donna’s achievement as reflected in her grade of 6. It seems
that entry into discussion described in Excerpt 6.1 is a different game within a
different set of relations. Successful participation in group discussion requires
legitimation by group members who can value capital portfolios differently.
Group members are subsequently allocated different positions in group work.
The game of group discussion seems to be even more complicated among
novices in the field with different proficiency levels of English. This is because
the exchange of valued capital in the field of international education is largely
dependent upon the proficiency level in the legitimate language, in this case,
English.

The following excerpt about a self-initiated study group is provided to

demonstrate two things. The first concerns actions flowing from Donna’s coda

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in Excerpt 6.1, specifically to improve her language. The second point of
interest is Donna’s experience of group work when her peers are Korean
students, rather than ‘Australians’ (as she termed them). It should be noted that
Donna did not mention whether they knew that she was a medical doctor or
whether the student from Korea mentioned in Excerpt 6.3 was part of this group.
The following narrative is elicited in response to a request for more details
about what Donna means by exchanging information with classmates.

Excerpt 6.4 (Donna, Interview 2, Translated)

Orientation 1: I formed a study group last semester with several Korean
classmates. This was because at that time we needed to do an online
test every week, and the duration of the test was an hour. We were
required to post as many answers as we could in the hour. And we had
to complete it, once we started the test. If you do it by yourself, it may
take you longer to find answers in the books. As a result, you may not
score as high.
Evaluation 1: However, our small group of three to four people could
save time consulting the books. We also had the benefit of learning
from different views. That is, we could finish faster, with a higher rate
of correct answers. [laugh] It was apparent that doing the test as a
group would be more efficient than if I were to do it all by myself…
Sometimes when we disagreed with each other we consulted reference
books. Somehow, we discovered the right answers through these
practices. This is a special experience for me.
Orientation 2: I: How did you know who to work with?
D: It was the Korean students who invited me. They asked me whether I
would like to join a study group with them. We were all international
students. We booked a workshop room in the library and set up a time
and an agenda. We met twice a week, but doing the online test together
was not the only thing we did—we also prepared for tutorials. We
made this decision because we often had a lot of things to prepare for
the tutorials, such as medical concepts, procedures and precautions
implementing procedures…
Int: Did the teacher suggest that you form a study group?
D: No, we initiated this. They invited me. We planned together.
Complication 1: I had to admit that initially we, myself included, did not
know what to do…
Resolution: Later, we had a discussion, so we decided to do what I just
mentioned as major tasks for us: the online test and tutorial
preparation … we were aware that we needed to work on terminology,
concepts and patients’ case histories for tutorials. We also learnt to
analyse patients’ case histories by ourselves before tutorials. We did

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 this in the hope that we could understand better at tutorials. So that was
what we decided to do.
Evaluation 2: I: How do you think your study group helps you?
D: I am very positive that the study group was very helpful. Firstly, I
learnt key concepts, so that I could make a better sense of what the
tutor talked about. That is better. If I did not know the technical terms
the tutor mentioned, it would be difficult to understand the lecture or
discussions. Also, I previewed lessons; thus, this helped me attain
deeper understanding during the lecture and I could memorize these
medical terms in English a lot easier.
Int: How do you think this helped you with your English?
D: In terms of English, that’s for sure. When we ((Korean group
members)) were together, we spoke English. Whatever we talked about
was in English…
Evaluation 3: Firstly, I become more confident in speaking English.
Secondly, I knew how to speak in such a way that the others in the
group could make sense of what I was saying. Being able to make
myself comprehensible was fundamental, not to mention pronunciation
etcetera… At that time, my husband said that my English was better
than before … By better he did not mean that I became native-like in
terms of pronunciation or else. As an international student, I am not
using English correctly, and neither were my Korean peers. Although
we could make ourselves understood in English, we were aware that
our English might not be correct. We can communicate, and, most
important of all, we made friends because we have met on a regular
basis for meetings… Although we no longer need to work in teams as
much as we did last semester, our friendship has grown through our
interactions with each other last semester. So we have become
friendlier. Now we exchange information and have discussions. I feel
good about this. Also I meet more people through their friends.
Coda: So I think it is good to make friends. This is even more helpful than
my progress in language.
It is shown in Excerpt 6.4 that the purpose of discussion in this self-initiated
study group was initially to enable cooperative learning for online tests. Later
this study group performed other functions such as preparation for tutorials and
learning technical terms together.

Excerpt 6.4 is important in regard to Donna’s descriptions of how the study

group started, how she felt she was invited, how she evaluated her experiences
and whether those experiences had significance for her overall learning
experience. According to Donna, the study group formed as an active response
to improve their practices in the field such as online assessment, content
knowledge and associated English challenges. Donna further viewed her

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participation in the study group as positive, and legitimated from the outset. She
claimed progress in English oracy and new social capital extending her social
networks. This narrative makes it evident that Donna views the gesture of
invitation as welcoming. It offers a telling moment of coming to belong in the
learning context.

The analysis shows how English oracy and making friends are thematic
concerns in Donna’s group work experience across Excerpts 6.1 to 6.4. In
Donna’s first pair task (Excerpt 6.1), English oracy is considered the problem
that caused the breakdown of negotiation. By Donna’s account, English oracy is
capital which she needs to gain. In her study group (see Excerpt 6.4), she reports
becoming more comfortable about English oracy: gradually acquiring a feel for
the game. At the same time, she builds friendships which give her the
opportunity to develop her linguistic capital and subsequent cultural capital. Her
friendships develop into social capital. As the literature in higher education
suggests, acquiring social support or friendship is important for commencing
local students to fit in university (Wilcox, et al., 2005). For EAL international
students, social support alone is not sufficient. Rather it is legitimation that
works to grant membership that helps foster a sense of coming to belong.

The following narratives from another participant, Ngoc, provide a parallel

example to Donna’s unfortunate group experience narrated in Excerpt 6.1. They
relate to similar situations of being de-legitimated as a group member.

Vietnamese student not legitimated by peers

In Chapter Five, Excerpt 5.13, Ngoc tells of being awarded very high marks:‘38
out of 40’ for her individual assignment thereby demonstrating her feel for the
game in the form of institutional competence (Curry, 2008) in seeking
clarification of assignment requirements when she is in doubt. The next
narrative concerns a group assignment in which legitimacy as a high achieving
student is not forthcoming. The point of interest here is that this exception to her
pattern of high achievement occurs in a group assignment.

Excerpt 6.5 (Ngoc, Interview 3, English language interview)

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 Orientation: In this semester I got two assignments, no, three assignments.
Two assignments ((were)) individual and one assignment ((was a))
group assignment. I got a maximum mark ((for)) the two individual
((ones)). Like nineteen ((out of)) twenty, and another one is twenty
nine ((out of)) thirty. But for the group assignment it’s really bad
because at that time other students were interested ((in)) their parts and
they chose the main part of the assignment, so I said, ‘Ok, I trust you’.
And I let them manage by themselves. Sometimes we meet together
and to discuss what ((would be)) a problem ((with our individual parts
of the assignment)).’
Complication 1: I asked them to modify some and also gave them some
recommendation, but they still considered that what they did was the
correct one, the best one.
Resolution 1: I respected them and finally we got ((a)) very, very bad
mark ((a mark of ten out of twenty)),
Coda: but that’s the reason why I have to work very hard for final exam
of this semester …
Evaluation: It was my fault also because I didn’t argue strongly
because … I cannot just like become a person like that ((someone
forceful)) … and we also need to discuss with the lecturer also to see
what he, he’s really expects from us. From my part I discussed with the
lecturer already, so it’s ok, but for their part, I don’t know if they
discuss with the lecturer, but their part is the main part and finally we
got a very bad one, but it’s okay. You know it’s also interesting that
this one was my first group assignment. And I hate that.
Complication 2: Because at that time, we had six people in the group and
I ((was)) with another girl from Taiwan ((to work on a part with me)).
Sometimes I disagreed with her, the way I did analysing is, I mean, a
lot of critical thinking. I always said critical thinking. ‘You cannot say
something ‘blah, blah, blah’, but no main idea. It’s not close to what
the lecturer expected from you, and what is really being analysed ((had
to be)) brought to the essay.’ And when ((I)) discussed ((this)) with her,
she just argued ((with me)). And she looked at me as if I were ((a))
stupid girl. I didn’t understand what she wanted to analyse. You know?
And, because I said to her ‘When I read I have the knowledge to
understand what you want to say but when you write down, you have
to make sure that…when other people read ((it is)) easy for them to
understand and easy for them to recognise the logic. But she said ‘((It
was)) you that did not understand, but not necessarily others.’ You
know? I argued with her quite long and I was very tired.
Resolution 2: So I said, ‘Okay, if you feel that is good, I will leave it like
that.’ Okay? And all of us will take full responsibility for what we
did …
In this excerpt, Ngoc narrated her unhappy experience of discussions in her first
group assignment when fellow group members discounted her feedback. The
result of this group process was a poor group mark: ‘ten out of twenty’. This

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poor mark, according to Ngoc, was an outcome of her inability to sway her peer:
her feedback on her partner’s writing was discounted and de-legitimated as
merely personal opinion. The consequence of this is that she needed to make
extra effort towards the final exam in order to maintain her record of high
grades.

In this narrative, Ngoc began by claiming a position in the new field as a high-
achieving student with her cultural capital strongly legitimated by lecturers.
However, this position was not legitimated by her fellow group members,
including the Chinese-speaking peer. Ngoc’s feel for the game was not allowed
to contribute to the group assignment. Her capital portfolio was not recognized
by the other group members or her partner in the pair work. As a consequence,
the value of Ngoc’s cultural capital, in the form of grades, was eroded.

It is acknowledged that Ngoc did not specify whether not being legitimated was
an outcome of her status as a novice learner or a matter of her accent, English
expression or mode of talk. However, both aspects can operate in the reality
even though they were not articulated by Ngoc. Theoretically, given her
ethnicity and accent, she can lack the symbolic value or power to enable
recognition of the value of her cultural capital. Nonetheless, based on only
Ngoc’s account, the stance of this thesis is to acknowledge this point, but not to
claim it.

Ngoc’s evaluation in Excerpt 6.5 is similar to Donna’s in Excerpt 6.1, ‘There is

nothing I can do’. In both cases, there was a sense of resignation in their codas.
When Ngoc’s negotiation with the Chinese-speaking partner failed, there did
not seem to be much she could do. It is not clear from the data whether or not
Ngoc’s group members knew of her high-achieving status. There is also no
knowing why Ngoc did not tactfully establish her relative position by her capital
portfolios while working with her group members. This does not detract from
my point here which is that Ngoc and Donna made similar judgements of self
and resolutions for the future as a consequence of their group work experience.

Like Donna, Ngoc turns to herself as both the reason for the failed negotiation:
‘didn’t argue strongly’ and as the remedy: to work harder. This demonstrates

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both students’ capacity to adapt and adjust their strategies in their pursuit of
international education. Their behaviour is as much produced and shaped within
relations in situ as by any habitus they bring with them.

In Ngoc’s case, by her positioning in the field of group relations her correct
arguments were not listened to, and thus she could not gain recognition for her
cultural capital both within the group and in the institutional form of a good
grade. Perhaps, Ngoc could have achieved legitimation if her status as a high-
achieving student and global business person were known to fellow group
members.

Ngoc’s strategy for the group to seek clarification about the group assignment
resonated with Donna’s strategy (see Excerpt 6.1). In Ngoc’s case, her
suggestion was not taken seriously. The resulting low grade eventually became
a turning point in itself, fostering her resolve to study harder for the final exams
in order to maintain her record of high marks.

It is evident from both Ngoc’s and Donna’s narratives that forces in the field of
exchange entail complex positioning and displays (or masking) of capital
portfolios by group members. Within these dynamics some capital is legitimated
and some is not. Both students masked their professional expertise in the field
of relations, but underestimated the value of linguistic capital in their
contribution of valuable knowledge and their status as novice learners in the
discipline. Linguistic capital is granted not simply by acceptability of linguistic
forms of English in the form of grammaticality, cultural capital manifest in
what’s being said, and appropriateness to the setting. Rather it matters strongly
who is speaking from what positions in the field. By their reports, neither
student was considered a legitimate speaker within group/pair discussion: their
curricular competence was not recognised; their cultural capital in the form of
good grades was not acknowledged; they were not granted the status of being a
legitimate speaker.

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Legitimating group members
Group activities with English speakers of mixed proficiency
The narrative below is provided as a counter example to Ngoc’s and Donna’s
narratives, but one that reinforces the analysis of relations of linguistic capital
that is presented here. In this case, the participant is in a position to legitimate
another students’ contribution or not. The following data about Maryam’s
experience of a workshop organized by her lecturer illustrates how cultural
capital is legitimated by peers during group discussions. The task described in
the data was not graded; rather it was part of the workshop activities. Group
members were organised by the lecturer to mix members’ cultural and linguistic
backgrounds within the group.

Excerpt 6.6 (Maryam, Interview 3, English language interview)

Orientation: M: …we had an Arabic-speaking member in our group.
Complication: He had brilliant ideas but his English was not very good.
He couldn’t explain his ideas very well. Our team, the other members,
didn’t take him seriously, didn’t pay attention to his ideas but we lost
the first game.
Evaluation: ((In fact, in the beginning of the discussion)) he knew what
was the problem and he advised that but no one paid attention.
Resolution: ((Thus)) in the next game all the people trusted him. And
((we)) knew that his idea was worthy and ((that)) he was the one that
had the brilliant idea. And this ((time)) everybody worked according to
his solutions…
Int: Any reasons for why his suggestion was not listened to?
Coda: M: I don’t know. I don’t know. ((But)) it’s usual ((that)) people
want to, in a group, want to prove themselves. Someone ((who)) has
more power, ((which)) depends on the conditions and situations.
((He/She )) can succeed …in the first stages but when the time goes
on … the real person with most ((or)) better knowledge, I think, show
itself afterwards. But in human relationships and even special … ((at
the)) first moment, other things-becomes more important, ((for))
example, how to present yourself.
Excerpt 6.6 tells of Maryam’s experience in one workshop. The ‘we’ in the
narrative referred to Maryam as an EAL international student, in a mix of local
students and other international students, both EAL and Anglophone, as
allocated to the group. Maryam, herself an EAL speaker, described the situation
of an Arabic-speaking student with English skills judged to be inadequate and
how his advice was not heeded resulting in the group’s failure in the first

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activity. However, there was a change in status for this Arabic-speaking student
because, by Maryam’s report, the whole group realised that he had the right
knowledge essential for the group task. The Arabic-speaking student was
subsequently listened to.

In this narrative it was the ‘we’ of the whole group, Maryam included, that did
not listen to the Arabic-speaking student’s advice when it was first raised.
According to Maryam, ‘we’ failed as the Arabic-speaking student predicted. In
her view, the group dismissed his advice because he could not explain himself
well enough in English. The value of this Arabic-speaking student’s cultural
capital was not recognised at the first attempt. According to Bourdieu, this can
be an outcome of a lack of symbolic capital arising from the student’s limiting
bodily dispositions of linguistic competence of the field’s legitimate language.
Given the lack of observation data and others’ accounts, I focus my point in this
thesis on the explanations Maryam provided in terms of what contributed to the
inaudibility (Miller, 2003) of that valuable cultural capital and the shifted status
of this Arabic-speaking student in the group.

Maryam’s narrative in Excerpt 6.6 is similar to Donna’s (Excerpt 6.1) and

Ngoc’s (Excerpt 6.5) experience, but told from the opposite perspective.
Maryam is not the one seeking legitimation in the group discussion, but
someone, along with other group members, who was in a position to legitimate
another’s capital. Like Donna and Ngoc, the Arabic-speaking student’s
inaudibility was attributed to limited English oracy. However, when the group,
Maryam included, learnt the value of his cultural capital, the Arabic-speaking
student became a legitimate speaker. The linguistic barrier seemed to be
overcome by the recognition of other capital in his portfolio.

Although there is a difference between the assessed tasks described by Donna

and Ngoc, and the learning task in Maryam’s narrative, the legitimation of
capital entails a similar mechanism. On entry into the field of exchange in group
discussions, Donna (Excerpt 6.1), Ngoc (Excerpt 6.5), and the Arabic-speaking
student (Excerpt 6.6) were not considered legitimate speakers and thus they
were granted weak positions in the field. However, they all persisted in seeking
legitimacy. The informal study group (Excerpt 6.4) was also triggered and

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maintained under similar forces. There was a struggle and effort to improve
results, by investing in linguistic capital.

For EAL international students, legitimation is critical if they are to take field
positions as valued members in their group work tasks. Donna’s and Ngoc’s
narratives (Excerpts 6.1 and 6.5) speak to questions of legitimate speakers and
audibility. It should be noted that the audibility achieved by the Arabic speaking
student or Donna in her study group did not stem from linguistic capital only,
but from legitimated status which made his/her talk audible. English proficiency
may constitute one form of capital in their portfolios, which may have the
potential to produce early legitimacy, as shown in Excerpt 6.6. However, other
capital that has a high exchange value in the field, for example, technical
knowledge required of a certain task, offers another opportunity to be
recognized. Group members’ capital is assessed against first impressions at
entry into group discussion, but then positions and relations among group
members can be re-configured through ongoing processes of legitimation. Thus,
it should be noted that field positions and capital portfolios are part of the causal
mechanisms structuring relations in these fields.

The following excerpt presents a different narrative about an EAL international

student actively seeking and achieving legitimation in group discussion through
his reading of the forces of the field. The point of interest here is how his
evaluations of the forces of the field informed his actions to better reconfigure
his capital portfolio.

Building social relations

Tom’s group work with proficient English speakers
Tom, from Malaysia, arrived in Australia for the 2007 mid-year intake. The data
discussed here was elicited in Tom’s first interview in 2008 when he looked
back upon his first semester. He had a background in art design industry before
starting his undergraduate study in Australia. He had four group assignments in
his first semester. The excerpt below (Excerpt 6.7) is a narrative about one case
of group work, following his evaluation of his early experience: ‘Everything is
so new’.

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 Excerpt 6.7 (Tom, Interview 1, Translated, Code-switching in English
in bold)
Orientation: T: In Week 3 I needed to form a group for a group
assignment. … I just said ‘Yes, ok’, when invited. I didn’t know
anyone until we started our group work. They spoke so fast when they
talked to each other.
Complication 1: I didn’t understand what they talked about. And I was
too embarrassed to ask. Language was a very big barrier. … I
wondered whether they liked me because I wasn’t really involved in
the conversation. I felt they did not like me. It was four or five local
students. I was the only Asian. They were all foreigners … The topic of
their chat seemed to be about an Australian band or a local current
affair, but I had no idea what that was. How would I be able to respond
if I didn’t know much about the band or the news in the first place? … I
could not fit in. For this reason they might not like to have me in the
group.
Resolution 1: I told myself that I should not let my group meeting
continue like this. I needed to do something the next day when we
would meet for group discussion. I should take this opportunity
because I wanted to fit in … I also made special effort on my project.
During our meeting, I joined the chit chat in the first hour such as
joking about their hairstyles and dress, so I seemed to narrow the
distance between us. When it came to the second hour, I presented what
I had prepared for our project. They helped modify it, because their
writing was better than mine.
Evaluation 1: At that time, we felt much closer…They said my research
was very detailed, and that it was good research. I was happy about
what they said.
Resolution 2: We closed the distance between us. They helped me with
my English, because I told them my English was not good enough.
They told me ‘Of course, we are in a group. We are your members.
Of course we can help you out ((because)) we are in a group.’
Evaluation 2: That was very important feedback to me because I had
made a special effort to close the distance between us.
Coda: I think I usually analyse. I tend to see things from two different
perspectives. This is a habit I have had because of my art background.
Art people see things from the front and from the back.
Resolution 3: The next week, I was happy to go to school. I was happy to
see them. When I saw them, I said, ‘How are you?’ And they were also
happy to greet me.
Evaluation 3: We became closer … became closer.
In this excerpt, Tom narrated his ‘turning point’ experience in one case of group
work. His problem occurred when he could not understand the conversation
shared by his group members. He interpreted this incapacity as being unable to

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fit in. He attempted to ‘close the distance’ between him and his peers by making
a conscious effort in doing his part of the group assignment and actively
engaging in social interactions. Tom’s group members asserted his membership
in the group: he got help with English and he was welcomed. By his report,
Tom was happy that he had had a positive group experience.

This narrative explains how Tom worked his ways to be legitimated by fellow
group members. In Tom’s view, English was initially only part of the barrier
preventing him from fitting in his group: Tom also lacked the local knowledge
to enable himself to participate in social conversations. Indeed, he described the
local students as ‘foreigners’, marking their difference from him. However, he
reported resolving this by consciously contributing his allocated part in the
group project, that is, by displaying his relevant cultural capital. Also, he
actively built friendships with the other members. By his report, he purposefully
utilised his cultural capital in exchange for friendship. The legitimacy granted
by the group members offered the potential to accrue other forms of capital
(linguistic capital). Tom believed that his strategies were successful and that he
was subsequently legitimated as a valued member and even as a friend.

Legitimation bestows legitimacy as a valued group member, whereby members

can access social support and further social capital. Tom emphasized
‘narrowing/closing the distance’ in the process of legitimation; however, his
effort to perfect his part of the group project involved exchange of capital rather
than remediation of some ‘deficit’ in his capital portfolio. It was when his
cultural capital, according to Tom, was recognised in new fields that he gained
access to friendship and his field position was re-configured. The underlying
mechanism, like that in the cases of Donna and Ngoc, is how entry positions in
the field are re-configured through processes of legitimation and displays of
capital portfolios.

Legitimation in group discussion

The experience of being legitimated as a valued group member amongst peers,
not just by lecturers, is an important part of participants’ descriptions of coming
to belong in an Australian university. By her account, Donna did not have a feel
for the game in her first experience of group discussion (Excerpt 6.1). She did

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not seem to be able to gain any further recognition from her strategy of making
a ‘tactful challenge’. Her evaluation further indicated, from a Bourdieusian
point of view, that she felt like a fish out of water in the forces of this new field:
her cultural capital was not recognized and her habitus was challenged by this
first experience.

The moral Donna drew in her coda from Excerpt 6.1 pointed to further action as
described in Excerpt 6.4, Donna’s study group narrative. Her effort was
analysed as a process of realigning her capital portfolio in response to the
practices of the new field and its premium on English skills. She was always
recognised and legitimated by the teacher. It is arguable that if she had been
legitimated by the peer, then she would not have been legitimated by the teacher
(because she would have been wrong!). The re-configuration of Donna’s
position comes as a result of her cultural capital being re-valued and legitimated
by different peers, as well as her accrual of more linguistic capital.

There are micro fields (group relations) with various practices within macro
fields (Australian university). What is complex is that each practice in each field
requires different combinations of capital and possibly different relations
between field positions. Legitimation is not locked into place or granted once
and for all, but is achieved sub-field by sub-field. EAL international students
like Donna are negotiating their positions in all of these simultaneously. They
have to renegotiate new positions in every aspect of their life at the same time,
but with an eye to their overarching goal of improving their field positions in
life in general.

In other words, membership granted through legitimation in one practice is not

necessarily transposable to another, resulting in different senses of coming to
belong in different sub-fields. When Donna was at odds with the interactions
with another student (Excerpt 6.1), she did not feel she belonged there. In
contrast, she achieved a better sense of coming to belong as a valued member
with reciprocal support and exchange of capital in another sub-field with other
members (Excerpt 6.4).

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Similar to Donna, Ngoc demonstrated a feel for the game in her written
assignments (see details in Chapter Five). Her feel for the game enabled a re-
configuration of her capital; however, her re-configured portfolio was not
recognized or legitimated in group discussion. The lesson learnt was that ‘if
you’re not forceful you may find yourself having to work very hard to make up
for the poor group mark’. This coda contributed to Ngoc’s subsequent
decisions—turning to her own personal effort—to hopefully maintain her high-
achieving status.

On the other hand, Donna’s experience in the study group (Excerpt 6.4) was
interpreted as a process of capital being legitimated and accrued. By her own
judgement, Donna was esteemed by her Korean social group as a valued
member. This esteem, along with group members’ similar positions in the field
as L2 users, facilitated her ease in their group discussion, and comfort in this
field of exchange. This field further offered a social network, where Donna
could subsequently and consequentially mobilise other forms of capital.

Tom, in contrast, made an effort to build friendship within his group; however,
in the meantime, he also ensured that he did his best with his allocated task.
Fields of relations for group discussions operated as fields of exchange, where
friendship could be exchanged for cultural capital and vice versa. The analysis
suggested his being legitimated as a valued group member was an important
moment that gave him access to the social and cultural capital of the group, who
also benefitted from what he brought to the task.

In summary, the analysis shows that entry into group discussion is a complex
game, where valued capital does not necessarily have a transparent exchange
rate for institutional capital and symbolic capital. In these fields of exchange
and fields of relations, group work involves complex processes of legitimation
that operate around achieving the status of a legitimate speaker. Legitimacy is
granted based upon capital portfolios which can be accrued, re-valued, and/or
re-configured. However, the capital in one’s portfolio needs to be recognized or
legitimated by student peers to have any exchange value. Also, legitimacy is
granted, not once and for all, by a variety of social actors occupying different
positions in the field.

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However, the role of the teacher in the education field is a pivotal one which
legitimates capital and distributes the institutional capital of grades. Linguistic
capital is doubly important to EAL international students entering new fields of
education in field positions to have their capital firstly legitimated and then
augmented. In contrast, students, international or domestic alike, who have the
necessary linguistic capital seem to have more privileged field positions
enabling capital to be more readily legitimated or facilitating positional relations
to legitimate others’ capital.

What Counts as Valued Capital in Group

Assessment
It is argued in the previous sections that reconfiguring field positions relies upon
processes of legitimation. This section furthers the discussion of what counts as
relevant cultural capital to group projects, this time focussing on participants’
understanding of assessment criteria and the implications for coming to belong.
To this end, narratives by Maryam, Apple and Patrick about their experiences of
group project decisions will be discussed. These narratives are selected on the
grounds that they provide explicit evaluations of group projects, whether being
rewarded or being failed.

Privileged local insight for group projects

The following narrative by Maryam, a Masters student in Commerce, is explicit
about what counts as valued capital in one of her group projects.

Excerpt 6. 8 (Maryam, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: Again, I want to tell that I think that the group members are
very important.
Evaluation 1: They have really big role. In three of my subjects I have
really good group members and they really help me but one of the
group members in [unit name] … was … from USA, really good
English language
Evaluation 2: but I think their classmates, … domestic students, they’re
Australian students and more helpful. They actually know … what are
the exact things that the lecturers like.
Orientation 2: Let me give you an example. For example we had one
presentation of one of the units and … we have to choose a project for
our presentation.

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 Complication 1: I felt that we have to choose a very serious and formal
topic and present in a formal way but the other members of the group
told me it’s better to choose a funny topic, for example, a Gala Dinner.
We planned for dinner … Wedding planning, yeah … just planned
things but not necessarily for the wedding: the scheduling, the
controller…something like that. And we choose the project of planning
a charity event …, for example, inviting a singer to come. And this can
attract more people to come and pay for the ticket and we can gain lots
of benefit and money. And in our presentation we used some informal
words and try to make the audience laugh and
Resolution 1: our lecturers really like it … Yes. And we got a 7 in our
presentation, yeah. It was the best one …
(Embedded narrative)
Orientation 3: because I think … the best topic ((to)) choose is something
very technical ((from)) production or technical point of computer for
example, something in my mind
Complication 2: but they say, ‘No, it’s better to be something very usual,
something in our everyday.’…
Int: So did you agree at the time of discussion?
M: No, no … I wasn’t the only one. I said, ‘No, it’s not a good topic….,
but they showed me that now. They were sure that the lecturer liked it.
Resolution 2: Then I went to the lecturer and ask him because I wanted to
be sure about that and he really surprised and say, ‘Yeah, that’s a very
good topic. You can continue.’ Yeah.
In this narrative, Maryam narrated one example of differently valued cultural
capital competing in a group project. She disagreed with her peers over choices
of the subject matter for the group project. She preferred a serious and formal
one, while a local Australian group member suggested it was best to use
everyday experience. Maryam initially opposed this suggestion at the meeting,
but failed to win the point. She then sought confirmation from the lecturer, but
found that the lecturer liked the idea. The group project was awarded the highest
possible grade. This positive work experience prompted Maryam to readjust her
earlier evaluations of her suggestions for the group project.

The narrative shows that cultural capital brought by each member to the group
project was not accorded the same value. Assessment criteria for a group project
may be explicitly written as guidelines. However there can also be unwritten
rules such as a local cultural preference that are implicit, and unavailable to
those who do not share the same habitus. EAL international students like
Maryam or the U.S. Anglophone international student may have lacked the

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insight their local counterparts possessed in this regard (a preference for
amusement). Linguistic capital may have been important and advantageous but
was not sufficient. It had to be augmented by an understanding of what would
be valued for a specific assignment in a particular discipline. The freedom to
choose a topic for a presentation has within it a trap for those who do not have
dispositions formed in the local field.

Excerpt 6.8 has illustrated the complexities involved in legitimating a group

project idea during group discussion with members or through assessment by
academics. The analysis shows that when a group project idea is rejected, or not
favoured, it should not be assumed that the linguistic features of EAL learners
or first speakers necessarily are the only capital that affects outcomes of
legitimation.

It is important to point out that despite an initial disagreement over the subject
matter for the group project, Maryam seemed happy about her adjustment to
what was expected of the group project and positive about the group experience.
However, acquiring a feel for the game, though essential, is not sufficient to
enable a sense of coming to belong. In the following excerpt, a similar initial
disagreement over the subject matter for a group project is presented, as a
contrastive case to Maryam’s.

Aligning assessment criteria but…

The group experience below is narrated by Apple, a Chinese-speaking exchange
undergraduate student from an elite university in China. The group project was
awarded the highest possible mark. In reading the data below, it is instructive to
keep in mind that Apple enjoyed group work ‘I like group discussion.’ and had
had group project experience in China. She pointed out her awareness of the
role of group work in the development of graduate capabilities and its
significance in employment capacities ‘because in a group you have to
persuade others. You don’t only ((work)) with yourself. You have to do team
work and communication skills. That is very important for me to get a job in a
society. (Apple, Interview 1, English Language Interview).’ By her report, she
thus had positive attitudes toward group work.

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Apple’s early challenges were concerned with expressing her ideas in English.
In Excerpt 6.9, Apple described how she felt at receiving and producing ideas in
discussion in English.

Excerpt 6. 9 (Apple, Interview 1, English language)

A: Only three members in the group, the other two are local students and
then they are speaking fast maybe, but I’m trying to catch them. I think
next time I will be better. Now another question is that most ((of the))
times I can’t express my own opinions ((well enough)) in English. I wanted
to suggest that I have a good idea ((for a different topic)), ((but)) I don’t
know how to express this idea to them ... I can’t find proper words to
express my opinion.
Int: So did you say something?
A: I said something, but I think it’s difficult for them to understand me.
Int: Why did you think so?
A: I think my English is so poor that they can’t understand me. But they all
think my English is too poor.
Similar to the early difficulties expressed by Donna, Ngoc, Tom and the Arabic-
speaking student in Maryam’s group, Apple attributed her difficulty in group
discussions to limited English skills. She believed that her limited proficiency
resulted in her compromised status as a member because her suggested topic
was not adopted for the group project. However, when she looked back upon
this group experience at the end of the first semester, she offered a different
evaluation.

Excerpt 6.10 (Apple, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation: I: Tell me about your group work. Anything interesting?
A: Yeah, yeah, we got a 7.
Int: …what was the topic in this group project?
A: Kangaroo meat. I gave up my idea just for them, and do my best to
support kangaroo meat. …
Complication 1: A: In the beginning a bit difficult. And we don’t have
enough time to discuss because the other two have part time jobs and
they are very busy. They were not busy with their study. They are busy
with their work. And every time I said that, ‘Do you have time on
Wednesday, do you have time on weekends?’ ((They said)) No, no.
((They)) Just have time before that class. So we just discussed our
group work for twice, yeah, really for twice. And the boy didn’t attend
the first discussion, so he just discussed with us for once.

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 Resolution 1: But we independently, we did a good job, and individually,
and we just put them together. …
A: Another girl … just put them together, and she wrote the executive
summary, yeah, that’s the additional work…
Evaluation 1: That’s all…Their group work ((group work in Australia)) is
not like a group work ((in my country)). ((It’s)) just individual ((work))
put it together.
Int: So do you find it different from your experience before?
Evaluation 2: A: Some experience is like that too.
Coda 1: I think it depends, depends on the group members. Yeah, if we
have more time to discuss together, then we will have our group work.
Evaluation 3: I: So did you have fun with your group work this time?
A: No.
Int: Did you have fun with your group work before?
A: Yeah, in China, yeah, in China.
(Embedded narrative)
Complication 2: I: I remember you told me that your group member did
not understand or it was difficult for you to explain your ideas in
English. Tell me what happened later.
Resolution 2: A: It’s not so difficult later, because I’m prepared…I just
said some information from the website, and prepared something I
wanted to say. Yeah, in the first discussion, I just had an ((abstract))
idea, but I’ve never thought about that before. I just want to say, and
the company and the product I’m not familiar with, so it’s difficult.
Yeah, after that I give up my idea and just follow their ((idea of))
kangaroo meat, and I can talk about something we can do to export our
kangaroo meat.
Coda 2: Yeah, I can get prepared, so it’s not so difficult.
Apple received the highest grade for her group project but she did not enjoy the
group experience, in contrast to some previous fun group projects experienced
in China. By her account, face-to-face collaboration was unexpectedly limited,
with just two meetings. Apple explained reasons for giving up her idea for the
topic of their group project, and her tactics of preparing for group discussion.

Apple did not insist upon her choice for the group project. She went with the
choice of another group member. The high mark indicated that the group project
aligned successfully with the assessment criteria and that their pooled capital
matched the field. However, Apple’s emphasis on the limited group meeting

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revealed her unfulfilled expectations of more face-to-face collaboration and
interaction.

It is of interest that Apple was quite dissatisfied with her group experience. She
expected something more than producing a collaborative piece of work. Despite
Apple’s successful reconfigurations of her cultural capital, a highly legitimated
group project did not give the whole story of her process of coming to belong.

Apple had had different undergraduate experiences in China. A school leaver in

her early twenties, she lived on campus and did not have to work to support
herself. Other undergraduates in her university were all in similar situations.
University life for her was vibrant. In contrast to Apple, her group members in
this Australian university studied full-time while holding part-time jobs. Time is
spent between university and part-time jobs. These conditions affected Apple’s
group work process in terms of arranging time to meet for discussion and
collaboration. Apple’s habitus and dispositions of group work acquired in her
Chinese context were disrupted in Australian settings, which produced new
conventions in group work in the university in Australia.

The point here is that achieving a feel for the game is essential to facilitate
satisfaction or happiness from group work experiences. Both Maryam (Excerpt
6.7) and Apple (Excerpt 6.9) had positive emotions about their high marks.
However, the happiness triggered by having a match of habitus with field may
not be sufficient to foster their coming to belong. The analysis has made evident
that Maryam and Apple experienced different levels of coming to belong in
response to their grades. Coming to belong will derive from more of what is in
one’s habitus than simply the pride in high grades.

Taking ownership of group work process

In the following, Maryam evaluates two group projects in her first semester, one
of which has been discussed in Excerpt 6.8. The larger context behind the
elicitation of this narrative was Maryam’s explanations of why she felt EAL
international students were not welcome as group members. This theme was
initiated firstly in Maryam’s email to the researcher after the first interview.
Later in the second interview, the researcher invited Maryam to elaborate. In the

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following narrative the term ‘an Australian boy’ presumably refers to a white,
Anglophone Australian, and, likewise the term ‘an American boy’ presumably
refers to a white, Anglophone American.

Excerpt 6.11 (Maryam, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: I: Can you tell me a little about group members?
M: One of them was the project manager and he was Australian, very
kind, very caring and he really paid attention and try to increase my
self-confidence and try, for example, the first time…
Complication 1: I couldn’t present my sentences fluently, ((something
like)) ‘er’ like this,
Resolution 1: but he suggested practise with my husband at home or in
front of mirror.
Evaluation 1: This helps me to… ((be)) better…
Orientation 2: our group ((was)) five girls and ((the Australian boy)) …
And the other two girls are two Australian girls and they are like that.
For example the divided part of the project you have to write a project
plan and a different body of knowledge in the project plan and
Complication 2: at first I picked up one of the knowledge that I didn’t
know much about it
Resolution 2: but when I told the group that I can’t, and I have ((been))
struggling and I can’t do it, they helped me. And one of them changed
her part with me: the one I could do it better.
Evaluation 2: They’re really supportive. They’re responsible…His name
is [Name] and again he was the project manager and he told me that
‘Your part is great and we heard more about the thing that I didn’t
know and I learn about your part…you do a good assignment.’
Orientation 3: But the other group I didn’t like the boy, the American boy.
An American boy in [unit name], he was prepared and good knowledge
but he didn’t feel any responsibility about the group.
Complication 3: I remember the other member…had a problem. I can’t
remember about exactly what was that but he didn’t make ready his
part but ... the American member told them ‘It’s not my problem. I
((have)) solved my problem and ((will)) tell the lecturer it’s his
problem.’ But as you know we are a group team and we have to
support. We have to ask lecturer to give us some extension but he
didn’t like that. He was just to show the lecturer that he is the best and
didn’t care about us, you know…he didn’t care and he wanted: just
submit his part and told the lecturer that it’s their problem
Resolution 3: but I called him and told him that, ‘No, we are responsible.
It is the group work and we have to support about this problem’. And
finally he agreed.

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 Coda: … when I think about ((the situation that the local students do not
prefer to have international students in their group)), I think they are
right. Sometimes, you know, if…all the members of the group is like
you and the same knowledge, same skills, so it’s obvious that the total
result is better but when an international student comes to the
group…only because of their English I think. For example, they have
to check his or her part ((done by)) international student member. It’s
extra work for them, you know. And they have to help them. The
responsibility of the international students is on them. They have to
support them because the mark is group mark and if the international is
not doing well they have to help.
In this excerpt, Maryam told of her contrasting experiences of two group
projects in terms of members’ mutual support. She had benefited from support
by one group member when she had trouble fulfilling her part. However, in her
second group, one group member had wanted to walk away from another
struggling member. The turning point here was when Maryam stepped into the
situation and argued for support for that member. She learnt from these
experiences: a lack of certain skills for group members may mean extra work
for others.

By Maryam’s account, ‘the Australian boy’ and ‘the U.S. boy’ were a marked
contrast in terms of their different reactions to problems arising from group
members’ insufficient capital for group projects. ‘The Australian boy’ offered
support for Maryam to develop skills. However, ‘the U.S. boy’ initially denied
such support, but changed his mind as a result of Maryam’s intervention.

This excerpt shows how Maryam’s changed field positions and reconfigured
capital portfolio across two group projects affected her views on international
students, EAL and Anglophone, in group work. Maryam became less
judgmental when she realised that one group member’s insufficient English
skills or other capital might result in more work for the remaining members,
herself included. Her realisation seemed to have come from her different
positions in her group work: being supported by other group members and
having skills built, and supporting another group member, by persuading other
group members to ask for an extension. Maryam was thus both in a position
needing to be legitimated as a valued group member and able to legitimate
another group member’s needs to build capital for a group project.

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At the same time, Maryam also developed a strong sense of ethics and was
judgemental, in particular, about one member’s failure to support another
student’s struggle. She displayed her feel for the game in the case of group work
and its rules such as its morality when she insisted on stepping in with an
intervention to help the other student. She protested about the American student
in the group.

The analysis here is not about the moral of whether to support struggling group
members or not. The point here is to highlight possible generative mechanisms
producing different strategies. It is shown that with either approach, both the
Australian student and the American student sought maximum marks for their
group projects, but in different ways. According to policy guidelines on group
work by the university, group members should report both activities and
problems taking place during the process of group work. Moreover, higher
education research has reported that high-achieving students adopt group work
strategies that include reporting unsatisfactory contributions in group work or
completing the group projects alone to maximise group marks (Pitt, 2000). In
group projects, the same mechanism (seeking to maximise grades) can produce
very different empirical experiences.

It is important here to draw attention to how these mechanisms impact upon

Maryam’s coming to belong in her group work experience. Maryam had grown
to actively define and assert the rules of the group work game in her second
group project. By her actions to opt for intervention, she turned her initial
novice and marginalised field position into that of an active and legitimated
group member. She then had the power to help reconfigure the field position of
the struggling group member. These actions demonstrate her growing sense of
coming to belong, her repositioning in the field of relations, her mastery of the
rules of the game and ownership of group work processes.

Participating from a marginalised field position

The following narrative from Patrick provides a different scenario. In this
narrative, Patrick, a Swiss Italian Masters of Science student, talked about a
group presentation in a cross-disciplinary unit new to him (see details in Chapter
Five). Patrick aimed to become a PhD student in the field of bio-science after

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his Masters program. He was not interested in pursuing a career in the industry
of bio-technology manufacturing, but rather in research. The narrative was
produced as Patrick explained why he approached the course coordinator to
withdraw from the unit.

Excerpt 6.12 (Patrick, Interview 2, English language interview)

Complication 1: Because the lecturer, there is two or three students he
likes, you know, and all the other students he seems don’t care.
Sometimes he is not clear about the guidelines, nothing clear about
how the marking is done.
Orientation: For example, like he gave us the first assignment to do you
will be reading a scientific paper about commercialisation and
Resolution: after present to the class with our group work we got 3, but
there is the group that, there are the people he likes - he gave good
((mark)). Like to one he gave [indistinct], that was a group of two
Indians.
Evaluation 1: He likes them because they always say, ‘We love business.
We love business.’ They say all the time like that, you know? And he
gave a paper about India. For example, to us he gave something, the
needs of biotechnology or something like that. Theirs was 7 pages. For
us, it’s 25 pages, you know? Not fair, because for this thing everybody
get about ten pages.
Coda 1: To be fair everyone should get the same number of pages, not
one group seven and the other 25, like us, because there were all sorts
of subjects…
Complication 2: And also they were a group of four. We are a group of
three. So we are a smaller group with longer presentation, you know?
Evaluation 2: All sorts of things we don’t like this unit because half class
will be from business background and half class from scientific
background. So all the business background they like to do business
there, all these things, they have always bad mark ((in science)) like
this and all the other, also when he speak in the lecture, the lecturer will
always look like - to them; to us never look. We are there or we are not
there, don’t look, don’t care if we are there or not…Here is the screen.
There is table like that [drawing diagram] and here is the business
student [drawing diagram] and here we have the scientific group
[laughs].
Int: Why did you separate yourself like that ((at the tutorial))?
Evaluation 3: Because we don’t like each other [laughs]…. Yeah, and
also in this way, they most are Australians and here most of us are
overseas--
Coda 2: And we have, all friends, we are all from, you know, like
overseas and Australians, I think, don’t like too much to mix with us,

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 you know? And I have just two Australian friends ((and)) all the others
are overseas.
In this excerpt, Patrick narrated an unsuccessful case of a group presentation
conducted by science-oriented students in a commerce-related tutorial. In his
view, problems arose from the pedagogy and assessment criteria. He evaluated
the pedagogy he experienced as marginalising: ‘We are there or we are not
there, don’t look, don’t care if we are there or not’ and the marking assessment
as unfair and unclear. A failing grade of 3 (on 1-7 ascending scale) was awarded
to Patrick’s group presentation. In his coda Patrick outlined what he believed
would make for fair assessment. Given the complexity of the Indian diaspora,
the term ‘Indian students’ presumably means Indian-looking, English-speaking
students, not necessarily a term for the student’s country of origin. The term
‘Australians’ presumably referred in this narrative to white, English-speaking
students. It is crucial to acknowledge that these terms are problematic in their
essentialism.

In Excerpt 6.12 Patrick represented the outcome of his group experience as a

product of the lecturer’s perceived bias. His accounts of assessment criteria and
the lecturer’s practice were based upon his perspective and their accuracy is
beyond the scope of this study. The point here is his explanations informed his
understanding of his experience and his sense of coming to belong.

In the data, a negative manifestation of bodily emotion, anger, was apparent.

Patrick was upset that the group’s presentation did not receive a good mark. By
his account, the group’s pooled perceptions did not match what the lecturer
expected. A failing grade accrues very little symbolic capital; indeed it can
erode reserves of that capital. This group was thus not legitimated and the work
did not have value. The consequence of this was that Patrick did not feel that he
belonged in the business unit. His emotion, manifest in anger, was indicative of
his sense of not coming to belong.

Patrick evaluated the size of his social networks against his interactions with his
Australian counterparts in the same unit. The links he makes between group
work experiences, tutorial interactions and friendship are themes consistently
brought up in the representations of group work and friendship experiences

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described in this chapter. Patrick felt that it seemed easier to make friends with
students who had similar field positions like himself, not a business student and
being international. The analyses so far show that educational relations among
peer students are important. These experiences are critical to how the students
describe their sense of coming to belong in the university.

Legitimation in group assessment

The analyses in this section show that group projects that received a high mark
indicated their group members’ awareness of what counted as valid and
valuable in group projects. These experiences had implications for how EAL
international students described their processes of coming to belong. One
generative mechanism producing different group work experience was the level
of insider knowledge about what counted as valid for disciplinary knowledge or
assessment criteria. In other words, it should not be assumed that a successful
group project necessarily denotes a sense of coming to belong, as Apple’s
narratives show in Excerpt 6.10. High marks can be facilitative, but might not in
themselves be sufficient; it is legitimation by peers, bonding, friendship, and
ownership of the rules of the game built through group work experiences that
produce a sense of coming to belong for some students.

The analyses further make evident that reconfigurations of personal capital

portfolios in new fields were not the only thing going on in participants’ group
work experiences. Social networks built (or not built) through participation in
group work were also part of the educational experiences of EAL international
students as Maryam, Apple and Patrick described in this section, and Donna and
Tom described in previous sections. These students view their interactions with
peer students, international and domestic alike, as reflective of their field
position in university: being legitimated as a valued member by both group
members and lecturers. The students were also concerned about how they were
recognized and legitimated as a friend in new social networks.

In the cases of EAL international students like Maryam, Apple, and Patrick, it
may be fair to argue that group work experiences are much more than
collaborative learning. Symbolic power worked to legitimate and value capital
in group projects, presentations, and assignments and at the same time de-

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legitimate capital considered not relevant to a particular field. It also worked to
trigger emotions as a result of processes of legitimation. When legitimacy was
granted, happy feelings were reported. However, the happiness generated by
achieving a feel for the game, as shown, was not a guaranteed source of coming
to belong.

Grouping Choices: Field Position and Social

Networking
Following the analysis of what counts as valid group assessment, this section
explores one possible generative mechanism producing different group
experiences: group formation. The selection of group members comes prior to
group discussion, and has important implications for group experience as raised
in previous sections. However, the reason for the discussion over group
formation here, not earlier, is that, group formation operates in a similar logic to
legitimation in group work, but augments this argument in a slightly different
light. The following narratives produced by Siti, Fatima, Donna and Sandra M.
concern a shared dilemma as to whom they should work/pair/sit with in class or
groups, and their different strategies.

A shared dilemma
The following excerpt is provided as a case of students forming groups with
compatriot members, as opposed to forming groups with students of various
linguistic and cultural backgrounds as described in the previous section. In
reading the data below, it should be noted that Siti (introduced in Chapter Five)
and Fatima are part of a large cohort that have completed a foundation year in
their home university prior to commencing first year in this Australian
university. This background makes their experience of group work potentially
unique in the data set.

Excerpt 6.13 (Siti, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: I have one group assignment here
Complication: but in this group work it is all people from my own country.
We don’t mix with others because due to the title we choose…
Resolution 1: It’s a bit easy because all of us know each other very well
so we can give our full cooperation,

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 Evaluation: but then the negative side maybe we don’t really have a
chance to work with Australians,
Coda 1: so we don’t even know how they study, how they work in a
group,
Evaluation 2: because if you work with our friends for group work, so it’s
not very different. Like in my country we did have a lot of group work
Coda 2: so it’s supposed to be our opportunity to work with Australian
right, you know, like to get to know them better,
Resolution 2: but…since we chose similar titles, so the lecturers give us
the group.
This excerpt shows Siti’s comments on the pros and cons of grouping with
compatriot students. According to Siti, she enjoyed working with compatriots in
the same group, as they had known each other’s talent and skills so well that
they could work to their fullest. But, by her report, this resulted in losing the
opportunity to work with the domestic students in a group. The focus here is not
about whether she ‘was supposed to’ have opportunity to work with the
domestic students, but the contrast she drew between working with her friends
and the ‘others’.

According to Siti, grouping with compatriots eases the group experience, given
similar field positions, shared habitus and comparable capital portfolios. What is
of interest here is that forming groups with the domestic students is part of Siti’s
aspirations for her on-campus educational experiences in Australia. It is shown
in Siti’s two codas that she believed grouping with compatriots was not optimal
use of the opportunity she had in Australia. Grouping with compatriots was like
being a fish in water for Siti; however, she was looking for more to extend and
challenge herself. In the following narrative by Fatimah, who is on the same
program as Siti, similar aspirations to work with the domestic students were also
expressed.

The narrative in Excerpt 6.14 discusses seating choices over two semesters.
From her prior educational experience, Fatimah believed that seating choices
often led to possibilities to form groups with those close by. This knowledge is
an example of classroom participation competence (Curry, 2008) a species of
cultural capital which enables students to choose advantageous places to sit in

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the classroom. In this excerpt Fatimah explained a dilemma around whom to sit
with at a tutorial when she commenced study in Australia.

Excerpt 6.14 (Fatimah, Interviews 1-2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: …we tend to sit in our own groups sometimes ... Usually
this table ((is)) for this kind of students; this table for ((that kind of))
students. So whenever we go to the class, there is the seat for us.
Evaluation 1: …I don’t think we really mix that much except for group
discussion or when you are scrambled in class….
Sometimes it’s good but sometimes it’s better to mix with other people
because you are in a new country and it’s best to meet new people …
But sometimes it’s good to be in our own group because we understand
us and they ((my compatriot cohort)) accept us for where we are now.
Resolution 1: And then right now I tend to mix up with other Australians,
other students. I don’t usually sit with my cohort anymore ... Because I
think in order to, like, talk to other Australians maybe it’s quite good to
practice first in tutorials, because in a small group I tend to have more
courage to speak.
Evaluation 1: So when I’m sitting with my ((compatriot)) cohort I don’t
have the opportunity to talk to other Australians. So if I sit with
Australians maybe sometimes we have pair work so I have more
opportunity to talk with them…it’s a good practice to talk English ...
Resolution 2: I’ll be sitting ((at a table)) with the less people groups ...
just the first days because the table is already full so I can’t join that
table anymore. So I tend to sit at…other places. And then when the
next weeks to come…I don’t really sit there ((with my compatriot
cohort)) anymore.
Int: Did that change your relationships with your friends?
Complication: No, not really, but at first it feels quite weird because I
keep sitting somewhere else…
Resolution 2: I said that at first ‘because the table is already full so I
didn’t see that there’s a place there.’
But then when the weeks to come I said ‘Just it’s okay to mix with other
students because our lecturer always said try to mix with other students
also’.
Coda 2: [Course coordinator] always say ‘Try to mix with other students,
try to be friends with them, try to talk to them’… because different
people have different things ... ’
This excerpt is about how Fatimah moved from mixing only with her cohort to
sitting elsewhere, thereby creating chances to meet new people with a view to
accruing new cultural capital. According to Fatimah, there are unwritten rules
governing seating choices at the tutorial. Her dilemma arose when she first

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chose to sit with her compatriots, but felt it was better for her to sit with ‘others’.
However, six months later, it was a changed scenario. She accidentally sat at a
different table from her counterparts, but then decided to continue doing so.
This new practice created a complication when Fatimah was asked for an
explanation for sitting at ‘other’ tables. She drew on her lecturer’s advice to
‘mix up with other students’ to support her decision.

In this excerpt, ‘mixing with other students’ has underlying facets: i) it was a
strategy to broaden social networks with a view to accruing linguistic and other
capital; ii) this is a strategy suggested by Fatimah’s lecturer and agreed and
practiced by Fatimah and her peers; and iii) it become part of Fatimah’s
dispositions, as shown in the taken-for-grantedness —‘it’s best to meet new
people’. However, it took time for Fatimah to eventually realise this strategy
and disposition. At the early stage, being close to compatriots was an
unconscious practice— interacting with those of the same field position as a
matter of course. This resulted in a sense of comfort and belonging on this term.
Then, an accidental breaking of this unwritten rule created an opportunity to
seek friendships outside her cohort by mixing up with others. This breaking led
to subsequent conscious decisions, which eventually facilitated the embodiment
of Fatimah’s disposition to extend social networks by connecting to social
groups other than her cohort.

Excerpts 6.13-14 suggest a shared dilemma of whether to stay within one’s field
position in order to belong. Both Siti and Fatimah were aware of the relative
ease and sense of belonging with their compatriots where they were like ‘fish in
water’. However, these established social relations posed other risks of limiting
friendship and thus field position to her existing compatriot cohort. It was
further shown that an expert other’s explanation, the lecturer’s advice, served to
legitimate her actions to build new friendships in order to accrue capital in new
fields. Resorting to an expert other further resolved possible tension within
existing friendships. Stepping out of compatriot cohorts in a multicultural
classroom in Fatimah’s case was not free of challenges. Disregarding this
tension might result in a risk of losing peer social capital (Goldstein, 2003b).
This risk might in turn impede the opportunity to accrue relevant and valid

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cultural capital to student life, as discussed in Ruby Excerpt 5.19, and Fatimah
Excerpt 5.20.

In contrast to Fatimah’s change from sitting with compatriots to sitting with

‘others’, Donna in the following narrative took initiatives to group with ‘others’
from the very first tutorials when she barely knew anyone in class.

Accruing capital versus social networking

The context of the excerpt below is when Donna at her first interview is asked
how she viewed her university life in Australia. She talked about how she as an
EAL international student at the tutorial was spatially mapped away from her
domestic counterparts.

Excerpt 6.15 (Donna, Interview 1, Translated)

Orientation: I have had two tutorials so far. I wanted to group with
Australians because that would be good for my language learning.
Complication 1: However, I find that Australians sit together and they
group with each other. International students sit together, so they group
together. For example, at one tutorial I sat with one Korean student. We
were the only two international students.
Evaluation 1: We found that we were isolated from the others.
Complication 2: In fact, we sat mixing up with Australians, but when it
comes to forming groups,
Resolution: Every time I need to ask, ‘May I join your group?’ and they
said ‘OK’, then I could.
Evaluation 2: Unlike them, I didn’t become a group member as a matter
of course. That was the feeling.
Coda: I may be too judgemental.
This narrative describes how Donna actively pursued her intention to develop
her English proficiency by forming groups with her term of ‘Australians’, as
discussed in Excerpt 6.1. She was explicit about her intention and strategy from
the outset. However, she felt she was ‘isolated from the others’ and did not
become a group member as a matter of course. By her interpretation, Donna
believed she was not legitimated like others in self-selected grouping.

It is acknowledged that there is no knowing what actually happened in the

tutorial Donna described in Excerpt 6.16. Donna assumed that the ‘Australian’
students were able to join the group as a matter of course. In the absence of

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observation data or interviews with the ‘Australians’ the validity of this
assumption cannot be ascertained. What matters here is that Donna’s
understanding and evaluation of the events and the forces of the field informed
her subsequent actions. It is of interest that, like Fatimah, Donna highlighted
accruing social capital as a strategy to gain linguistic capital. They both acted to
create opportunities to participate in pair work with the domestic students by
choosing who to sit beside and where to sit at a tutorial. The underlying
mechanism that generates Donna’s and Fatimah’s experience is the aspirations
for an exchange of valued capital in the field. These experiences are
manifestations of empirical practices of re-configuring field positions by way of
building capital, for example, linguistic capital and social capital, and
participation competence (Curry, 2008).

Different emotions expressed in Donna’s (Excerpt 6.15) and Fatimah’s (Excerpt

6.14) narratives stem from the students’ distinctively different habituses, capital
portfolios and field positions. Negative bodily emotions are implied in her
report of ‘being isolated’, and perhaps anxiety in her request, ‘May I join your
group?’ This undercurrent of negative emotion is alluded to in what she
described as her being ‘too judgemental.’ Donna, by her report, was more
challenged than Fatimah, and Siti, in the practice of mixing with ‘others’. These
students had very different habituses, capital portfolios, institutional support and
existing field positions (see details in Chapter Five). Donna’s narrative placed
more stress upon her acceptability in grouping practices, while Fatimah’s
stressed more her inward resolution to step out of the available comfort zone.
Their emotions were understandably different.

The role linguistic capital (English proficiency) plays in these students’ lives is
also different. Donna, as an immigration-oriented student, was unable to have
her previous professional qualifications certified because of insufficient English
proficiency (see details in Chapter Five). In contrast to Donna, Fatimah and Siti
enjoyed status as national elites, belonging to the distinct cohort in a custom-
made program, whereby symbolic capital was accrued.

In addition, Donna, a mature-age established doctor, by her report, had a

privileged field position and economic capital in her home country. In Australia,

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she suffered a loss in her field position as a doctor studying nursing. She also
risked losing the symbolic capital of being a doctor by choosing not to display
her profession in Australia. On the other hand, Fatimah and Siti were school
leavers, with full government sponsorship and the promise of a privileged field
position in the future. Considering these differences in their trajectories and
probable future outcomes, Donna could be expected to experience very different
bodily emotions.

In contrast to Donna’s narrative, emotions are less marked in Sandra M.’s

narrative. A Chinese speaker from Taiwan, Sandra M. told of her preference to
sit with those with ‘black hair’. Excerpt 6.16 below narrates Sandra M.’s first
tutorials at university. In reading the data below, it is important to note that six
students were present in a combined postgraduate lecture and tutorial of a
Masters course in Education. There were two, Chinese-speaking students
including Sandra M.

Excerpt 6.16 (Sandra M., Interview 1, Translated)

Orientation: S: I usually sit beside Asian students. I look for students with
black hair. Not necessarily with Chinese, but at least with Asians, like
Japanese, Koreans, so that I would have a sense of security. Not
knowing why, we tend to sit together and they ((Australian students))
sit together too. At that time, I would like to group with another female
student from China,
Complication 1: but when the lecturer sensed our intention to pair with
each other, she didn’t seem to like this idea. We were also concerned
that we might speak Chinese to each other in the same group.
Resolution: The lecturer suggested that the Chinese-speaking girl pair
with one of the Australian local teachers, and I with another. We
formed different groups.
Int: Did the lecturer make the decision?
S: Yes, my lecturer asked, ‘Why don’t you come here?’ I agreed, so I
went. That’s how these two groups were formed. The third group were
two female students, local teachers,
Complication 2: but they did not seem to be willing to group with us.
They sat close to each other and initiated to form a pair. Their pair was
formed without being prompted by the lecturer. This made me feel that
they did not appreciate the lecturer’s arrangement of groups.
Evaluation 1: Now I am not worrying about not having teaching
experience. I was worried about this because when we did self-
introduction in the first week, my classmates, except the Chinese girl

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 and myself, were local teachers. Everybody seemed to know about
teaching, but I did not have any teaching experience. I wonder what I
can do in this Masters in Education without teaching experience.
Evaluation 2: Then, I felt some students like my group member in [unit
name], the Australian teacher, are nice…He is a teacher, but doesn’t
seem to act like teachers. He was friendly when teaching me something.
I was like his student as much as his classmate, like a student and
classmate at the same time. I don’t know other people in the same class
much. Those teachers ((in [unit name])) were not very friendly
Coda: I feel people here are not as friendly as I imagined. I remember my
classmates at EAP said they had experiences of being ignored when
talking to local Aussies.
In Excerpt 6.16, Sandra M. explained her seating choices, grouping experiences
and stories told to her about interactions with ‘local Aussies’. She also
expressed the ultimate goal to acquire English proficiency. By her account, her
seating choices make evident how she viewed interactions with other EAL
international students and her local counterparts.

This excerpt shows how Sandra M. sought ‘a sense of security’ in her seating
choices. However, there was a twist in how she explained her decisions. She
firstly made it explicit what she looked for was those with ‘black hair’, a term
that indicates that Sandra M. was aware of the visible differences of her
ethnicity in a classroom of multicultural composition and of the possible
‘reading’ of the symbolic value inherent in such differences. However, she then
offered an underlying concern: her lack of teaching experience studying for a
Master of Education, which indicates her different dispositions and possible
lack of cultural capital relevant to the discipline. Although she denied the
impact of this lack on her learning experience, it continued to serve as a
criterion against which she evaluated her interactions with her partner for a pair
work. Her ‘friendly’ local student partner was both an expert (teacher) and a
peer (classmate). Sandra M. did not seem to be uncomfortable with the
representations of herself as a novice in the presence of a certified local teacher.

By choosing to sit beside those with similar field positions Sandra M. sought a
sense and space of coming to belong. She chose not to place herself where she
could be advantaged in terms of creating opportunity for talk in English, or the
classroom participation competence (Curry, 2008). It was a dilemma for Sandra
M. because her ultimate goal was to accrue linguistic capital. However, she

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resolved this dilemma by, though involuntarily, giving in to concerns of using
her first language with another Chinese-speaking classmate, but formed a pair
with another student.

From the vantage point of six months later, in her second interview Sandra M.
compared her interactions with others in two units. In the following narrative
she explained a subtle change regarding her views about the friendliness of
‘Australian’ students in the class.

Excerpt 6.17 (Sandra M., Interview 2, Translated)

Int: Tell me what you think about your Australian classmates now. Are
they still not so friendly as they were in Interview 1?
Orientation 1: S: I had more interactions with my Australian classmates in
the unit I mentioned earlier [same unit in Excerpt 6.16] than other units
in this semester. I felt this is because we had only six students in the
class, a very small group ...
Evaluation 1: And I found them very friendly. In fact, only three of them
are Australians. We usually had some chat, and they seemed to be
interested in my culture. They asked me and the other Chinese speaking
student about my culture … during break time … they were keen to
know about China and Chinese culture. I felt very good about this.
Complication: But I did not have much interaction with Australian
classmates in other units. Not much life experience to share with them.
There was no foreseeable reciprocity between them and myself.
Nothing would prompt them to approach me.
Evaluation 2: I can’t really say that they are not friendly. We are here for
class, so making friends may not be a priority, perhaps! Anyway,
communication is difficult … because there is nothing in common in
our lives. I can understand why they act like this.
Int: How would you describe what you mean so far?
S: …Perhaps it is like the Chinese saying ‘You walk on your sunny path,
and I go on my single-planked bridge.’ (妳走你的陽關道；我過我的
獨木橋。) That kind of feeling. So I do not feel anything in particular
about this.
Coda: Anyway, I have good interactions with my Australian classmates in
one unit. That is good enough for me to feel comfortable about having
them around. I am happy to meet them there.
Excerpt 6.17 describes how she had changed her view about interactions with
Australian counterparts over time. According to Sandra M., some interactions
were welcoming, so that she was happy about them, while other experiences
were just more pedestrian. She realised that she and her domestic counterparts

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were taking different routes in terms of building friendships. She enjoyed the
happy interactions she had in one unit; at the same time, she understood reasons
for lack of such interactions with certain groups of students.

Sandra M.’s initial expectation of social interaction with the domestic students
was readjusted. These re-adjustments were facilitated by her pleasant experience
in one unit, despite earlier challenges in grouping, alongside other more or less
limited interactions. As a result of this, she had come to realise there were
mechanisms operating in the practice of limited interactions with a particular
group of students. Despite differences in ‘hair colours’ and English proficiency,
she was also aware that she did not have sufficient capital to enable exchange
for social capital, and that there were different levels of interest in intercultural
experience.

Excerpt 6.17 is significant, as it is a resolution to the dilemma brought up in

Excerpt 6.16. This resolution stems from the realisation that there needs to be
something wanted in the reciprocal deals of friendship building. This realisation
lessens emotional reactions to dissatisfactions about friendships and prompts
realignments of previous expectations.

Narratives in this section illustrate different experiences of group formation and

interactions with group members, both fulfilling and problematic. The analyses
indicate that group formation reflects how participants view their field positions
as a result of their capital portfolios and how they subsequently react to their
evaluations of the forces of the field. In this section, it has been shown how
participants’ evaluations of group formation subsequently inform their social
networking strategies. Some participants are explicit about their intention to
accrue capital through purposeful seating choices and participation in group or
pair work. However, others step back and take up the more marginal and
perhaps more comfortable field positions on offer, rather than making a
conscious effort to build new social networks. However, decisions in this regard
are not necessarily made once and for all. The same participant may respond
differently at different times. This shows that re-adjustments to views on social
networking might arise in response to changed conditions and circumstances,

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and a growing feel for the game. This section adds to previous discussions in
two ways:

i) that participants work toward re-configurations of their capital portfolios

such as building linguistic capital and intercultural experience; and

ii) that they achieve this by way of strategic actions in seating choices and
group formation.

Conclusion: Legitimation in Group Work

This chapter illustrates the field forces regulating how the EAL international
students could enter and conduct discussions for group work and group
assignments. EAL International students’ different experiences in this regard are
both problematic and positive. These experiences are produced by additional
complexities of English oracy and power relations operating in group work, plus
conditions essential to individual written assignments, as established in Chapter
Five. These complexities as manifest in the participant’s narratives can be
explained through a number of generative mechanisms.

The first generative mechanism made evident in the analyses is legitimation by

group members taking more powerful field positions and the valuing of capital
portfolios. As discussed in this chapter, legitimacy, an outcome achieved
through the process of legitimation, will determine how EAL international
students can enter and participate in group discussions and group assignments.
EAL international students’ talk may lose its audibility (Miller, 2003) when
species of capital are not detected or considered valid to the field by other
members. Thus, an exchange of capital in group discussions will not be
successful. In contrast, when such legitimacy is granted, the EAL international
students’ talk in group discussions carries credibility, and can contribute to the
accrual of cultural capital such as good grades.

The second mechanism lies in how linguistic capital is validated by group

members during group discussions and how it contributes to group members’
legitimation. Though essential, English proficiency is not sufficient to guarantee
legitimacy. Other forms of cultural capital valid to a specific field and members’

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field positions can have more power in certain fields and at different junctures.
However, features that constitute linguistic capital such as accent and
grammaticality may cause initial impediments to having capital recognised and
legitimated by other group members.

While Miller’s (2003) concept of audibility captures aspects of this argument,

the analyses in this chapter offer further insight. It is shown that inaudibility
should not be viewed as derived from the fault line between first English
speakers and EAL learners or the readability of visible differences. The
intelligibility of the EAL learners’ oracy is not entirely determined by EAL
audibility. Rather audibility relies on the value accorded to relevant capital
considered accessible through EAL talk.

The third mechanism is concerned with the exchange of peer social capital for
cultural or linguistic capital in the field of relations. This is similar to peer social
capital (Valenzuela, 1999), which operates within students’ social networks
through an exchange of capital to academic advantage. However, the analyses in
this thesis show that legitimation of capital is necessary to facilitate an exchange.
That is, capital needs to be recognised as having value prior to an exchange.
When capital is masked, it does not have value. Therefore, students may risk
losing the benefit of an exchange, when their capital portfolios’ value has
limited capacity to be recognised.

Finally, the underlying mechanism generating the empirical experiences of

selecting a seat and group members is classroom participation competence
(Curry, 2008). This is a species of cultural capital that informs the choice of an
advantageous seat in the classroom.

In brief, the analyses establish how group work is a field of relations and/or
positions, where group members subtly struggle in competition over access to
the capital at stake. Mechanisms, in particular that of legitimation, produced the
relations between position in the field, which in turn produced the empirical
experiences of these EAL international students when making contributions to
group work, and choosing their seats and group members.

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Chapter Seven: Pivotal Moments
Introduction
This chapter addresses the key research question posed in Chapter One: what
capital counts for coming to belong at university for EAL international students
in their first year of study in Australia? It analyses pivotal moments described
by participants that indicated different sources, degrees, and senses of coming to
belong. In the narratives selected in the chapter EAL international students tell
of the complexities of their emotions as indicators of their senses of coming to
belong in their university and beyond.

It was established in Chapters Five and Six that EAL international students
acquired a feel for the game when rules were made explicit to them and relevant
capital was built, legitimated and/or utilised. It was also established that bodily
emotions serve as indices to a match and/or mismatch between habitus and field.
This chapter continues to discuss different senses of coming to belong these
students reported in selected social fields, including but not limited to
educational institutions.

It will be recalled from Chapter Two that belonging has become an important
aspect of students’ experiences, particularly in first year, addressed in the
research literature on higher education and international students. Belonging is
considered beneficial for enhancing first year students’ educational experiences
and questions of retention. It was established that senses of ‘in-between-ness’
came alongside processes of adjustment at critical moments to lives and
learning at university (Palmer, et al., 2009, p. 38). However, researchers have
not yet explored much about what might foster or hinder students’ coming to
belong in university. It is suggested that senses of belonging might be produced
by institutional effort (Reay, 2001). In this current chapter, the aim is to explore
what support could facilitate senses of belonging of EAL international students
and why.

This chapter has two sections. The first is concerned with narratives of pivotal
moments in participants’ life as students at university. By ‘pivotal’, I highlight

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how the particular events flagged the students’ progress into a new stage. There
are two subsections: Risa’s stages of coming to belong over time and Ngoc’s
experience of appealing against a mark. The second section is concerned with
narratives of participants’ life outside university that shaped their senses of
coming to belong in Australia. The narratives discussed are Ruby’s experiences
of learning English, Wendy’s visit to an art gallery and Siti’s experiences as a
part-time childcare assistant. The conclusion reflects on the various sources,
stages and types of coming to belong.

Moments of Coming to Belong Academically

This section discusses participants’ pivotal moments in academic settings that
indicate different senses of belonging. The excerpts selected reflect
chronological stages in participants’ lives as students. The first narrative was
drawn from Risa’s email to the researcher in response to the question ‘Is there
anything in the past two weeks you would like to share?’ The email was
received after Risa had results from her first assignments. She had received
grades of 6, 6 and 6.5 (on a scale of 1-7) for three assignments, indicating her
strong grasp of the rules for the game. When reading the data below, it should
be kept in mind that Risa is Japanese-speaking, and studying in an Honours
program in Arts and Humanities, with a thesis component in addition to six
other units. An ordinary yearly workload is eight units for a regular
undergraduate program.

Excerpt 7.1 (Risa, Interview 2, English language email)

Orientation: Everything's been good for me,
Complication: but it's been absolutely crazy with the thesis preparation.
I've had a bit of culture shock and homesick for the past week possibly
because I've been so busy and feeling like I'm living in chaos, which
made me miss home and shifted my focus ((to)) the negative sides of
life here, like not having friends that I feel really comfortable with.
Evaluation: It was surprising because I thought I got over and also I have
my boyfriend here. I was teary for a while, but after I studied quite a bit
and the sense of being in chaos has subsided, I've been feeling much
better.
Resolution: I have more energy to approach people here with ((an)) open
mind, and it became easier to interact with them without being too self-
conscious.

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 Coda: There should be more ups and downs, but I'm in one of the better
mental states at the moment. :)
This excerpt shows that Risa had attempted to productively manage her
emotions through a range of challenges and stressed that she had been coping
well with initial stressors. The challenges were concerned with thesis
preparation, ‘cultural shock’, homesickness, and not having close friends.
According to Risa, these challenges were task-related, induced by the demands
of thesis preparation. Also, by her report, her negative emotions were already in
the past after she ‘studied quite a lot’ as a solution to the problem of feeling
negative about her life as a student. Risa ended this email with an emoticon—a
smiling face (:)), indicating her change from negative to positive emotions.

This excerpt captures the changes in emotions at different stages in Risa’s life as
a student at university. These emotions were manifestations of a mismatch of
her habitus and field and subsequent adjustments. They further indicated that
Risa did not feel that she had the necessary capital that could enable her to
match this new field of education. She reacted to this problem by making extra
effort. However, she felt she had ‘got over’ ‘not having friends’. She had
overcome the need for friends and felt more comfortable—less a fish out of
water.

At this stage, Risa did not feel that she belonged. She reported a lack of relevant
cultural capital and social capital in the new field of education in Australia. In
the following excerpt, she clarified on request in a reply email on aspects
identified earlier; however, she elaborated on one particular point.

Excerpt 7.2 (Risa, Interview 2, English language email)

I don’t have anybody who can share what I am going through. I know that I
am old enough, but I just sometimes wish that I had witnesses who would
acknowledge how hard I’m trying and how well I get things done
considering a lack of background knowledge in some areas of my study
and the fact that I’m not a native English speaker. Nobody will set different
standards on me just because I’m an international student, which is fair
enough, but I just want some acknowledgement from somebody!
I certainly don’t expect it from my lecturers, but I won’t be able to get it
even from my friends because they won’t understand it. They will probably
tell me that I am doing well, but it won’t be because they actually know
how hard it is. I guess I need somebody from my own country, or someone

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 who’s just come to Australia and is going through the same or similar
things.
In this excerpt, Risa made more explicit that she would like to seek ‘witnesses
who would acknowledge’ both her achievement and effort under the
circumstances of ‘not a native English speaker’. At the same time, she excluded
the possibility of having acknowledgement from lecturers or friends ‘because
they won’t understand it’. She added by identifying criteria for who would be
appropriate witnesses: i) somebody from her own country or a newly arrival in
Australia; ii) someone going through the same or similar experiences.

In this excerpt, Risa felt strongly that her effort was not acknowledged because
she believed herself to be a different type of student in the discipline. She
claimed that her effort would only be understood by someone in similar
circumstances—‘just come to Australia and is doing similar things’. She
expressed a strong desire to have acknowledgement from someone in a field
position similar to hers. These strong emotions indicate her sense of still being
an outsider at university.

It is necessary here to provide some background information about Risa’s

boyfriend (Excerpt 7.1) and her friends (Excerpt 7.2) with regard to her criteria
set for witnesses of effort and achievement. The former is a white, English-
speaking Australian, who Risa met in Japan nine years ago and who lived in
Japan since then. The latter refer to the white domestic students studying in her
discipline. This background information is important to understand the reasons
provided by Risa in the following accounts regarding what she meant by some
who understood what she had gone through.

In the following excerpt, Risa provided accounts of how her friends at

university did not understand her circumstances. This excerpt extends
discussions concerning questions raised in Excerpt 7.1.

Excerpt 7.3 (Risa, Interview 2, English language)

Int: I remember you commented on some of your friends and you said
that you found them very positive. So can you tell me a bit more?
Coda: R: I think that’s also connected to the reason why I couldn’t talk
about what I was going through because they’re [Risa’s friends] so

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 positive and say – you know – say, like, “Yeah, it’s all right. You’re
doing fine.” You know that kind of stuff?
Evaluation 1: If I talk about while I’m having trouble understanding this
lecture or I’m – I feel like my English isn’t good enough and I’m
definitely taking a lot longer than other people to read this journal,
these journals and stuff like that, then they will say, “No, you’re doing
fine. I’m sure you’ll be all right.” You know? You know if somebody
said exactly the same thing to me I will probably say, “You’re doing all
right. Don’t worry about it.” You know?
Complication 1: But everything just seemed very superficial to me at the
time. […]
Int: Could you discuss that with your boyfriend?
R: Ah, yeah. Definitely –
Complication 2: but they never actually been in the same situation so they
will say, “You’ll be all right.” Or sometimes have a deeper discussion
and say that, “Don’t worry about it. It’s going to get definitely easier if
you keep doing this and a little bit concrete, that kind of talk. Like if
you keep doing this you’ll be all right.” Yeah – or stuff like that –
Evaluation 2: but so a little bit less superficial
Complication 3: but at the same time because they’ve never been there, I
didn’t feel like they actually understood me. So at that time when I was
talking about stuff with my boyfriend – felt like you know they
probably understand me definitely better than my friends who’d never
been to a foreign country or had ever been in a foreign university
setting and how demanding it can be.
Resolution: But when I talked to this lecturer, I felt really good.
In this excerpt, Risa described how she perceived reactions, actual and potential,
from her friends, boyfriend included, when she sought support. She stressed that
her friends were very ‘positive’ and that their responses had degrees of being
‘superficial’. She also felt having particular challenges from circumstances of
‘having trouble understanding lectures’, ‘my English isn’t good enough’, and
‘taking a lot longer to read’. Then Risa highlighted a change in her emotion ‘I
felt really good’ when she talked to her lecturer. Before turning to her talk with
the lecturer, I would like to make a few points.

Risa expressed a marked change in emotion when describing her friends’ and
one lecturer’s reactions to the three challenges of study at university as an EAL
international student. According to Risa, her friends were superficial; thus she
felt dissatisfied with what she thought was a glib acknowledgement (‘You’ll be
all right’). Her repetitions of ‘You’ll be all right’ indicated her degrees of

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dissatisfaction. This emotion (dissatisfaction) was the empirical manifestation of
Risa’s feeling like an outsider to her friends’ circumstances. This emotion was
further contrasted the happy feelings (‘I felt really good’) she felt after a talk
with a lecturer.

According to Risa, her friends overlooked her levels of effort. Risa felt that she
was accorded with belonging status but glibly so. The glib recognition provided
by peers or associates was not the same type as encouraging remarks on
students’ competence from academics. The peer recognition did not have the
same value as authorised representatives’ legitimation. Such
supposedly/apparently glib ‘belonging’ from peers failed to acknowledge the
extra load she was carrying. According to Risa, this type of belonging is just
superficial because though she was recognised as competent, such legitimacy
could not induce a secure sense of coming to belong. At this stage, she did not
feel that she came to belong to broader university life in Australia, but rather to
a subset therein.

In the following excerpt, Risa narrated her visit to a lecturer, as mentioned at the
end of Excerpt 7.3. This visit was paid as part of Risa’s effort to find a part-time
job in order to be able to afford a haircut. Risa was offered a job working as a
casual research assistant by the lecturer.

Excerpt 7.4 (Risa, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: I recently had a conversation with one of the lecturers
whose native language was ((European language)) and she learnt
English in high school, just like I did, but she’s fluent now. I associated
((her)) as a native speaker. She’s fluent and she’s written books and
journals and stuff like that.
Resolution 1: The reason why I went to see her wasn’t really intentional. I
got the work permit now and I wanted to work a little bit
Complication 1: because of my financial ((distress)).
Orientation 2: I wanted to have a haircut. I went to see her a week ago …
We talked about the ((casual)) work and things that I wanted and what
I’m planning for the next year. Oh, yeah.
Complication 2: I had the ‘meltdown’ there. I was pretty, like, ready to
cry but I was trying to control it. I could see that [lecturer’s name] saw
that I’m ready to burst into tears at any moment. Then she said, ‘Okay,
how were things with you?’ That was like a cue and just-‘Blahhh’ and

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 crying, but I didn’t feel like I was having such a bad time. But just her
being there, being kind to you … that was touching me.
Resolution 2: And she told me how she collapsed ((at one of the first
classes in her discipline))… and how she thought she’d be all right but
((at)) the first lecture she didn’t understand anything. And she told me
that I’m doing well so I actually don’t have to worry about it but
because I know she knows how things can be. ((Thus)) I could actually
believe her so I have more confidence now.
Evaluation 2: Like friends’ telling me that I’d be all right doesn’t mean
anything but her telling me that I’d be all right has actual weight on her
comments. … And also the fact that she understands made me feel
really good. That kind of sharing experience together made me think
that she really, really gets me. That was good. ((I)) felt REALLY
GOOD afterward. Then I realised, ‘Ah, this is probably what I really
wanted.’
Coda: I don’t know why, but it felt like all the worries I had or everything
were justified. I’m entitled to have these worries because it’s hard. …
‘Yes, it’s okay to worry.’ And that made me worry less with that.
In this excerpt, Risa described moments of her ‘meltdown’. The tears, ‘the
bodily expression of emotion’ (Bourdieu, 1990b, p. 69), are the manifestations
of her ‘internal conflict’ (Bourdieu, 2000, p. 170) against the rules of the game
in the field. According to Risa, she had made effort to keep to herself the
challenges of studying as an EAL international student (Excerpt 7.3), or ‘the
subterranean complicity’ (Bourdieu, 2000, p. 170). However, her body had kept
the memory of what she had gone through, and when it was triggered, the tears,
far from controllable, betrayed all the intentional effort (Bourdieu, 2000). This
‘meltdown’ was pivotal, as it marked how Risa had come to realise she was not
essentially an outsider to circumstances of being a learner.

The pivotal ‘meltdown’ was provoked by a friendly cue in a casual conversation

when Risa was invited to talk about how things were going with her. The
invitation was prompted by an academic, who was once an EAL international
student herself in an English-speaking country – significantly fulfilling the
criteria for a confidante (Excerpt 7.2). By her account, Risa did not expect she
would have such strong emotions, but she could not control them. The academic
offered extra support and recognition, which, according to Risa, confirmed her
right to worry because the study and task in her discipline was hard. This
recognition from this lecturer ironically relieved her worries.

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The lecturer’s legitimation of Risa’s hard work and effort was more than what
she had felt was only glib recognition. It legitimated her belonging as an EAL
international student. The gesture projected the probability that someday Risa
will achieve what her lecturer has attained. This recognition of her additional
load and challenges produced strong positive emotions.

It should be noted that legitimation of Risa’s difference was granted by an

academic with a powerful field position achieved by expertise, research
capabilities, and institutional recognition. Also, the academic shared similar life
experiences as Risa in terms of those of an EAL international student in an
English-medium university. It is both what is said and from whom it is said that
matters. The powerful field position as an academic adds credibility not present
in any of Risa’s peer social networks. Also the academic’s biography generates
understanding of Risa’s particular challenges and further facilitates Risa’s sense
of coming to belong.

Risa’s example shows that coming to belong is complex, produced by varied

interactions among habitus, field and capital. On the one hand, Risa had a match
of capital and field, which was reflected in a pattern of high marks. She should
have achieved a sense of belonging, as her friends at university had predicted.
However, what she saw as glib recognition of achievement in the display of
high marks did not dissolve her feelings of an outsider status. On the other hand,
Risa’s perceived outsider status became legitimated by an authorised
representative as one shared by similar novice and EAL learners. This
recognition prompted the pivotal moment, in the expression of bodily
emotions—it marked Risa’s different emotional stage in the process of coming
to belong. It is established that coming to belong needs to be understood in
relation to the type of legitimacy from a particular actor Risa desired and felt
comfortable about—fulfilling a match of her habitus and field, but not an
objective match of field and capital in the form of a feel for the game or
distinction.

Though slightly different, Julia’s experience of legitimation was discussed in

the following as a parallel to Risa’s. Julia, a graduate diploma in education
student discussed in Chapter Five, had her worries similarly legitimated during

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a consultation with a lecturer for her first assignment. Julia, as an EAL
international student, was studying for a teaching qualification in Australia at
that time. In Julia’s case, negative emotions were produced by a mismatch of
capital and field. At this stage, similar to Risa, Julia felt an outsider in her
discipline at university. It was not until Julia met with her lecturer that Julia had
the momentum and affirmation to continue her strategies to search online for
lesson plans and to consult a teacher friend (see details in Chapter 5). The
following serves as a supplementary example to Risa Excerpt 7.4.

Except 7.5 (Julia, Interview 2, English language interview)

…but she’s nice, she just said, because it’s very hard and you need to teach
them in English and … you are not familiar with the system here and yeah.
According to Julia, the lecturer understood how challenging her task ‘to
teach … in English’ would be and what impact her limited knowledge of
Australian educational system might have upon her. By her report, Julia
believed that her worries were listened to and affirmed by the lecturer.

The significance of the acknowledgement to Julia and Risa from the powerful
others in terms field positions at university can be understood as follows. Firstly,
the lecturer legitimated Julia’s need of information of the local educational
system, crucial to the first assignment. She then supplied capital, lacking but
necessary, to Julia. Secondly, the emotional support of both lectures for the two
students relieved their worries of the challenge of the legitimate language and
their outsider status, arising from its acceptability of their use in situ. Such
emotional support turns into social capital, mobilisable to capital in need—
species of cultural capital in Julia’s case, and activating embodied cultural
capital in the form of taking up strategies and putting in effort in both cases.

Further, temporality concerning lecturers’ acknowledgements is important. For

Julia, the pivotal moment turned her feeling deficit into a start to build capital.
For Risa, moments of interruptions and disjunctures have well passed, but it
does not mean that she has acquired senses of coming to belong in this new field.
The prolonged adjustment period in the process of thesis preparation comes
alongside a lack of fulfilling her need to have extra effort and achievement
recognised. She never quite felt she belonged in a field of Anglophone and

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advanced English-speaking peers until the pivotal ‘meltdown’ and subsequent
legitimation (Excerpt 7. 4). I stress that it is this temporality, moments of pivotal
change, that marks possibility of adaptations across transitions and stages of
coming to belong in this new field.

At the end of the second semester, Risa emailed the researcher again. She, near
thesis completion, offered her reflections upon her study so far. A marked twist
shows changed views on her educational experiences in contrast to those of
Excerpt 7.1.

Excerpt 7.6 (Risa, Interview 3, English language email)

Orientation: …Because the year for uni will be over in a month,
Evaluation 1: I've been feeling slightly nostalgic and sad already. I'm
certain that I will miss my friends greatly when it's all over. It almost
feels like that we all fought together. The honours year for [course
name] is considered to be the hardest year, even harder than Masters or
PhD years in [course name]. When I heard this for the first time, it
freaked me out, but I am now left with this strong sense of survival that
I somehow share with my friends.
Complication: When I started this year, I had no idea what to expect and I
was feeling homesick and going through culture shock. I was full of
dissatisfaction and complaints. I've never even dreamed of the
possibility of missing my friends or university at the end of this year.
Resolution: But I think I will miss the whole thing when it's over although
I would not want to go through this again so blindly not knowing what
to expect from university life in Australia.
Evaluation 2: Looking back and thinking about how I started out and how
I was, I have no idea how I got through (though it's not over yet!).
Coda: I am proud of myself actually. I've learnt a lot about myself and
about how to do research and so on.
The twist refers to how Risa described feeling nostalgic and sad about the end to
her study and how she talked about friends as ‘we all fought together’. By her
report, Risa realised that writing a thesis was hard for everyone and that hard
work was necessary. This time she explicitly identified with her friends at
university. Her claim earlier (Excerpt 7.1-7.2) that she had to make extra effort
was not mentioned. She now represented herself as part of the cohort she once
felt she did not belong to.

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The feeling that ‘we fought together’ in Excerpt 7.6 is significant, but
contrastive to Risa’s initial sense of ‘not belonging’ discussed in Excerpts 7.1-
7.2. Fighting together denotes a sense of togetherness. It also demonstrates that
Risa shared a similar field position with other students in terms of thesis writing.
Her negative emotions went from feeling chaotic to a next stage of positive
emotions. Risa has undertaken a journey to build cultural capital, and has, as
claimed, ‘learnt a lot about myself’ and ‘how to do research’. In addition, she
has built new social networks through shared educational experiences.
International educational journeys, in Risa’s case, are both emotional and
educative.

Risa later reported in an email to the researcher that her thesis was awarded a
mark of 6 and that she was happy about this mark. Shortly after Risa submitted
her thesis, she reflected on the social bonds and the sense of coming to belong
achieved over her sojourn in Australia.

Excerpt 7.7 (Risa, Interview 3, English language interview)

I still felt a little bit sad leaving ((America)) because I spent a lot of time
and energy for uni work when I left. I felt…pretty nostalgic. … But I
expect I don’t feel the same way as I did before … when this ((my study in
Australia)) is all over. But … thinking of that made me feel nostalgic.
So … that was struggle definitely this year, but … this is a period I will
never come back to and live in the same way. Just thinking ((of)) that made
me feel a little bit sad.
Also two of my closest friends will go to England … after this year here
and also other friends that I came to know they have family and their
obligations so I can’t really … hanging out with each other … as much as
we did when we were working on our presentation together and so forth.
The fact that we might not see each other as often as I like made me feel
sad. … Being completely immersed in study environment and that is really
a unique period of your life, don’t you think?
This excerpt shows Risa’s emotional trajectory throughout her university life,
eventually becoming nostalgic about life as a student and sad about leaving
university. According to Risa, she missed the togetherness shared with other
students in working on assessment tasks—she enjoyed life and time in
university.

This excerpt (Excerpt 7.7) is a contrast to the time when Risa first started
university in Excerpts 7.1-7.2. At the start of the first semester, from her

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perspective, she had been offered a glib sense of belonging. This was manifest
in her negative emotions towards such belonging and perception of being an
outsider. Nonetheless, at the end of the second semester, Risa showed a
different emotion—nostalgic and sad about leaving the life ‘fought together’
with those ‘once others’. She became an insider on her terms.

Excerpts 7.1 to 7.7 indicate that coming to belong at university for EAL
international students manifest processes of progressive matching habitus and
field. This is not the same as having or acquiring a feel for the game or
distinction (Bourdieu, 1984). Senses of coming to belong are reliant upon a
particular emotional state of habitus and field, depending on individuals’
appreciation of sources of legitimacy. For Risa, her coming to belong was
achieved, at part, as an outcome of legitimating her extra hard work by an
institutional representative with similar experiences. This sense of belonging is
further enhanced through Risa’s eventual social bonding with peers and building
of new capital in the process of thesis completion.

It should be noted that this thesis does not suggest that only academics who
were once EAL international students themselves can demonstrate
understanding of the challenge facing these students. Julia, for example, was not
explicit about her lecturer’s biography. The point here is that the power
endowed with lecturers at their field positions, together with individual capital
portfolios, can foster sources of coming to belong for EAL international
students. Such power can be demonstrated in acknowledging these students’
‘extra’ effort and particular challenge, produced by conditions of this new field
of education.

Also, the aim of this thesis is not to suggest that all EAL international students
require the same source of acknowledgement. Rather, it argues that coming to
belong depends on different forms and sources of belonging at pivotal moments,
as a result of varied relations and interactions involving habituses, capital
portfolios and subsequent field positions. I discuss another example, Ngoc, in
the following, who desired and asserted a different type of coming to belong.

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Appealing against a mark
The following sections deal with decisions and considerations involved in an
appeal against a mark, filed by Ngoc. This is a pivotal moment that exemplifies
the process of coming to belong in the practice of asserting rights as a student.

To briefly revisit Ngoc and her life thus far, study in Australia was to advance
her English proficiency and intercultural experience in English-medium
contexts. Her long term is to set up a business consultancy company. These
were imaginings that had not actualised in reality, but they are what brought
Ngoc to Australia and sustained her life abroad. Her views on these experiences
are contrasted to those at early times, when Ngoc, once a top executive in an
international trade company in Vietnam, had trouble ordering a drink, as
detailed in Excerpt 5.8.

The following excerpts are drawn from narratives by Ngoc to explore how she
dealt with grade review and how her experiences fostered coming to belong.
Before proceeding, it is important to provide background on such practice in
higher education. Grade review is an established and acceptable practice at
university in Australia to ensure the fairness of marks allocated to students
taking the same unit. This practice is a manifestation of the university’s effort to
actively protect students’ rights, to be consistent in marking, and to ensure
equity among all students. It is part of the bureaucratic machinery that is
particularly important for those who are culturally distant from the educational
institution and its representatives. To this end, procedures for an appeal are
documented as explicit rules of the game in protocols and policies on the
university’s website. The procedures usually start with a process of clarification
when students dissatisfied with a mark informally contact the unit coordinator.
Formal appeals are then made in writing to seek a review of the mark. A final
mark is then released to align with the result of the reviews.

In the hierarchy of Australia’s universities, part of a unit coordinator’s role is to

moderate marking across all students. The unit coordinator can review marks,
but the review may result in no change of marks, a higher mark or a lower mark.
Also, it is possible that a unit coordinator takes up a tutorial and does marking

215
as well as other tutors. In this case, the unit coordinator can ask a peer to review
the disputed mark.

In the excerpt below, ‘the lecturer’ referred to Ngoc’s unit coordinator. The
discussion below starts with Ngoc’s experience of appealing against a mark of 6.
Ngoc believed, ‘I must get 7’ and was successful in having her mark changed to
a higher mark of 7.

Excerpt 7.8 (Ngoc, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: I: I remember you said something earlier in this meeting
that you sometimes fought with the tutor. Can you give me an example?
[…]
Complication 1: Just one time I argued with my lecturer, but not during
the class ... I mean one time she was a very nice tutor, but at that time
she gave me assignments ((a mark of)) 6 but I think I must get 7.
Evaluation 1: Because when I looked at the criteria sheet, I said to her that
because, you know, the lecturer teach us the essay looks like a
sandwich and sandwich will have bread, meat in the middle. Bread is
not important; the middle is much more important ((than)) meat. You
know she gave me 7 for the meat, she gave me also 7 for the bread, OK,
just because of the packaging for the sandwich, and she gives me 6. ... I
said no. It’s not fair for me.
Resolution 1: I wrote an email to my lecturer and she replied. You teach
me ok sandwich like this, like this, just because of packaging of the
sandwich is not nice, and finally you give me 6, no way. And I also
said, I got 6 because the communication is not clear from the tutor,
from the [university], to claim back from my lecturer. Finally she gave
me 7.
Int: Could you explain what you did to achieve this?
Resolution 2: N: First I met her just to explain to her the situation, and
after that she said, anyway just send me your essay, and explained why
you want to argue. And I argue like that way … [laugh]
Int: How did you know that you could do that?
Complication 2: N: I really saw [university] there is one ((poster)):
Disagree with your mark. You can claim. Also I know from my friend.
Because at that time I really got angry, and I shared with my friend and
I said, ‘This is totally not fair for me,’ and I really said, ‘No, it’s not
fair.’ My friend said, ‘Why don’t you claim to the lecturer because the
tutor who … give the mark but the lecture can review.’ He said, ‘Why
not?’ … That’s the reason why I asked that. You can see the lecturer,
and the lecturer said, ‘I can review for you, but send me message.’
Something like that.

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 Evaluation 2: I really appreciate the lecturer in [university]. They are
quite fair and sometimes like listening carefully to the student.
Coda 1: I also learn one ((thing))-whenever you want to argue anything,
you must be clear, you must be strong.
Int: Yes, very interesting. But how did you know what to write?
Resolution 3: N: I don’t know. I mean … I just cannot say ‘Could you
please review my …’ I felt no way. If it is just that, she would not
((pay)) attention. I think that I should write something much better, and
I write that for it, and finally I-
Coda 2: ((There are)) two issues I learn from the process. First, whenever
you have problem, … ((you)) should talk to lecturers or tutors. Second,
when you want to do something, you must be clear ((about)) what is
the reason and ((you)) have to explain clearly what you want. If not,
you will fail. […]
Int: Can you tell me when that happened?
Orientation 2: N: I think it is really end of the ((first)) semester…
Int: Was it the only assignment you needed to claim?
N: Yes, in the beginning I think ok, the tutor already said like that, we
have to respect them, something like that. But at the end of semester,
Coda 3: I said, ‘No, I have the right to say, to speak out, and I do that.’
[laugh] … And now I really know the way of studying and the way of
working at [university] and I know the rights of students, why not?
Why don’t I do that?
In this excerpt, Ngoc reported her emotions in the processes of making an
appeal against what she considered to be an unfair mark and her views on these
experiences. The whole incident started when she shared her anger in a
conversation with a friend. The friend suggested that Ngoc proceed with a grade
review. In the meanwhile, Ngoc recalled seeing a poster on campus describing
grade review as a student right. She then took action by informing the lecturer.
She sent, on the request of the lecturer, a carefully-written email with well
developed arguments for her claims. In the end, she successfully had her mark
changed from 6 to 7.

In Excerpt 7.7, Ngoc described how her emotions changed at various stages in
the appeal process. Ngoc initially felt angry about her mark of 6, which is
already a very high mark that indicated her excellent grasp of the game and a
match of capital in the field. However, this did not match Ngoc’s expectation. It
was Ngoc’s dispositions, aspirations and newly built capital such as the
sandwich metaphor that generated her dissatisfactions. The display of emotions

217
at this stage was manifestation of the relations of Ngoc’s habitus (being a good
student) and field (not legitimating the good work). Meanwhile, Ngoc discussed
her anger at her mark with a friend, who came in with support and reminded her
of the established practice of appeals against marks. The social support turned
into social capital, whereby Ngoc exchanged this advice ultimately for the
symbolic capital of a mark of 7. She described positive emotions produced as a
result of this successful change of mark. Her confidence and assertiveness
indicated that her anticipation was fulfilled. Such sense of fulfilment is bodily
emotion manifesting matching habitus and field.

In this excerpt, Ngoc noted her changed views on perceived unfair marks at
different times—the beginning and end of the semester. She contrasted what she
had learnt from her appeal experiences with her initial values about respecting
tutors—‘the tutor already said like that, we have to respect them, something like
that’. However, Ngoc became aware that appealing against a mark in Australia
is a practice supported in university policy. This appeal practice itself is not
associated with disrespect for lecturers in Australia. The interactions, though,
between the lecturer and the student in the appeal process should be enacted in a
respectful way.

Further, Ngoc realised that she was clear and strong in her arguments and that
she could have failed the appeal without clarity and strength in her arguments.
This is an outcome of having new capital added to her existing capital portfolio.
It is argued in this thesis that the building of new capital played a key role in
facilitating a better match of habitus and field. On the other hand, it should be
noted that the analyses do not support that Ngoc’s successful appeal are or are
not dependent on social capital in the first instance. Interactions between the
lecturer and Ngoc, as described in this situation, are beside the point in this
section. It is argued that the lecturer was required to function as an
institutionalised representative in Ngoc’s case, as in any other appeal case.

The lecturer’s treatment of Ngoc’s case suggests that the procedural design of
appeals against marks in the university counters any potential inequitable effects
of differences in students’ social capital. This is evidenced in Ngoc’s opinion
that ‘… they are quite fair and sometimes like listening carefully to the student’.

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Ngoc felt that she could exercise her right as a student, as much as any other
student at university. The fair treatment produced Ngoc’s confidence and
fostered a sense of coming to belong.

In contrast to Risa’s experiences in Excerpts 7.1-7.7, Ngoc’s in Excerpt 7.8 are

a different source and form of coming to belong to university—through
legitimation and full ‘citizenship’ rights as a student. Ngoc was able to exercise
her right for grade review and was ‘clear and strong’ in doing so. Her sense of
coming to belong arises from a match of habitus and field, enabled by a new
confidence in her feel for the game in the context of international education in
Australia.

However, the type of belonging described here is not necessarily generalisable.

Ngoc had a particular habitus which oriented her to feeling dissatisfied with a
mark of 6. This mark did not fulfil her anticipated field position in the new field.
Even so, it was not entirely about the symbolic capital endowed by a mark of 7
that Ngoc pursued. Rather it was the relations and interactions embedded in her
decisions and actions associated with encounters with lecturers and rules of the
game in the field that contributed to sources of coming to belong. To be more
specific, Ngoc acquired additional intercultural learning for her habitus, capital
which was only available to her through these relations with ‘others’ in the field
of international education in Australia. For this particular student, the success in
having a mark changed, amongst the whole process of grade review, indicated a
pivotal moment of coming to belong in the new education field—a moment
whereby Ngoc can fully function as a student in the circumstances of a
disagreement with the lecturer.

Moments of ‘Coming to Belong’ in Social sub-

fields
Experiencing social interactions with students of different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds has been highlighted as beneficial to those undertaking
international education (Jabal, 2010). However, expectations to experience
‘diversity and inclusivity’ (p. 87) are not necessarily fulfilled by some
international students (Jabal, 2010). Thus, it is important to understand how
EAL international students accounted for ‘(not) coming to belong’ in selected

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social sub-fields, meaningful to these students. These sub-field experiences
were viewed by the students as critical for their international education—to
become proficient in English, to graduate with a Western credential, and to have
diverse intercultural experiences.

In this section, I focus my discussions building new friendships in social sub-

fields. This concerns which friendship groups the EAL international students
choose to belong to and their subsequence senses of coming to belong. To this
end, selected accounts by Ruby and Xue on i) which group to interact with; ii)
for what reasons; iii) in which social sub-fields; will be explored.

The data below are drawn from narratives across sub-fields, places of residence
in particular. Typical examples are narratives by Ruby, a Korean-speaking
student studying nursing in Australia. As detailed in Chapter Five, Risa’s
proficiency in English oracy is required to pass hospital clinical practicum for a
nursing qualification, apply for permanent residency, and to eventually work in
Australia. What challenged Ruby was how she coped with her perceived
limiting personality, discussed in the following excerpts.

Excerpt 7.9 (Ruby, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: … At first semester ((in [vocational institution])) I studied a
lot ((about)) everything …
Resolution: Even though I couldn’t understand I have to study to pass …
everything. I study a lot.
Evaluation 1: So just my understanding is like, actually my score, like in
writing, like exams, is good actually … But with the speaking exam it’s
not … good …
Complication: When I went to ((clinical)) practise in hospital…the
professor always recommend me to study English more. … ((but)) I
already did [laughs] …
Evaluation 2: Because my personality is very shy actually. So … maybe
((if)) my … personality is like outgoing, … my English is improved
more than now but…whenever I speak English, … they will laugh at
me because my English is …, ((I)) have no confidence. I have no
confidence with English speaking.
The point of this excerpt is how Ruby attributed her ‘being shy’ to sources of
insufficient progress in English and level of anxiety when speaking English.

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Excerpt 7.9 shows that making effort was Ruby’s response to the new rules of
the game in new field in Australia. During the vocational training, Ruby
acquired content knowledge and learnt to cope with academic requirements in
terms of written assignments and exams. She acquired new capital (content
knowledge and English), but not yet the linguistic capital, in particular the
spoken English. Her emotions of feeling diffident were a display of habitual
dispositions with her reactions to her field—afraid of being laughed at—as an
added effect.

Still, attention needs to be drawn to Ruby’s claim that ‘my personality is very
shy.’ According to Ruby, she came to Australia despite disapproval of her father.
This move was, as detailed in Chapter Five, her strategy to improve field
positions by way of improving her English proficiency. A counter example to
her being shy is her choice of who to live with at places of residence for a
period of two years, following her arrival in Australia. Ruby described these
situations in the following excerpt:

Excerpt 7.10 (Ruby, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation 1: I: Do you have friends who you can speak English with?
R: Actually I try to make Australian friends
Complication 1: but it’s too difficult, because my English is not good. So
I couldn’t make Australian friend. […]
Resolution 1: So actually I try to live with Australian people…until two
months ago. ((Since)) I came here ((Australia)), I never live …. with
Koreans, I lived with the Australian people, ((who)) always … speak
English very well. But even though I lived with them and they are very
kind, [pause] …
Complication 2: they have to work and they haven’t the time and I have
no time as well
Evaluation 1: so there is really not helpful […]
Orientation 2: Some of the people already recommend me to see …
English drama … with not subtitle. Just listen to what they’re saying.
Complication 3: But it’s not … helpful for me, really. Just with subtitle I
can understand what they say, ‘Ah, that time I can express’ like this
way, ‘Ah, I can use this one like that’. But without subtitle it was not
helpful for me actually.
Resolution 2: So … when I ask them ((the Korean family)) in Korean
they told me ((and)) they explained … this case how can I say in
English like that. So they explain to me.

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 Evaluation 2: They ((The Korean family I live with)) was helpful
actually … English people … even though they are friendly they have
no time and they are not … like my family …. So [pause] every time
when I came to my home, feel alone ((in the shared house)).
Coda: So now I’m very happy with the Korean family but when I live like
((with)) other country people I feel very lonely.
In this excerpt, Ruby told of her considerations and strategies behind her choice
of residence. She lived with Anglophone Australians with a view to creating
chances to speak English. However, by her report, Ruby found that time was
limited for her and her housemates to interact in the shared house. Also, she felt
lonely in the shared house. She later moved out to live with a Korean family.
The family had bilingual backgrounds, so that Ruby could ask questions in
Korean and learn from them useful expressions in English. She found the
Korean family helpful in terms of learning English and was happy about this.

Being shy, as part of attributes of habitus, did not prompt Ruby to withdraw
from living with total strangers in House 1—Anglophones, socially,
linguistically and culturally. Her hope to improve English oracy came prior to
other consideration, that is, Ruby was instrumental in this choice. However, this
initial hope to improve English oracy and then to be included as part of her
housemates’ social life was not actualised. The proximity with housemates
because of sharing the same house can be helpful circumstances that can foster,
but will not force, friendship or profitable interactions. Feeling lonely in House
1 became another circumstance that Ruby needed to cope with, as experienced
by some EAL international students (Sawir, et al., 2008).

Although it is not explicit in Excerpt 7.10, Ruby was excluded from Korean
social networks. She had good connections, as evidenced in her choice of House
2, the Korean family. She found the daughters of the Korean family helpful
English tutors, because of their bilingual backgrounds and willingness. This is
consistent with what Duff (2010) argued about the usefulness of 1.5 generation
immigrant youths to the Korean international students in Canada. Relations to
and interactions with these immigrant youths were profitable to Korean-
speaking EAL international students.

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However, moments of usefulness faded some time later. The daughters of the
compatriot family did not make good confidantes because, as stated elsewhere
in the interview, they were younger than Ruby and novices about nursing. Other
concerns, such as transportation, arose, so Ruby considered a third move. She
took up the opportunity to share a room with a Chinese-speaking fellow nursing
student, as described in the following excerpt. The data arose during a reflection
on life during the second semester of university:

Excerpt 7.11 (Ruby, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation: I live in the city. And now study Bible very serious. Bible
study is very important to me to stay here….I have English tutor ....
She is ((a)) [university] student …. Actually I share a room with my
friend in the city … she is my classmate so I’m so happy because
before I moved …
Complication 1: I was worried about sharing the room because I haven’t
ever shared a room in my country and here. Sometimes it is very
uncomfortable to share the bedroom. But when I moved to here with
my friend
Evaluation 1: it was just SO good.
Resolution: Actually I want to live like English speaker. I don’t want to
live ((with)) Korean. Actually I want to live English speaker … but ((I
have)) no close English speaker friend. But she’s ((the Chinese friend))
very familiar with me … so I just asked her because … she knew me so
she want to share with me.
Complication 2: Actually I was very lonely, feel lonely even though
before when I lived with the Korean family. … They are so good, too
nice to me but I still felt very lonely in the room because I always be all
alone in my room
Evaluation 2: so when I share the room with my friend it’s not
uncomfortable. It was very happy because I feel not alone, being alone.
At the time we knew each other but we were not familiar each other but
when we share a room we was getting familiar so this ((is)) very nice.
We study together in the same class, that’s why…if I didn’t know
something, I can ask her and then…we can share like the information
Coda: so it was very good. And she’s not Korean-I can speak English
with her.
This excerpt is about Ruby’s reflections upon varied aspects in life—her
reliance on Bible study, having a private tutor for her English, and opportunity
and conditions of moving to live with a Chinese-speaking friend in House 3.
Ruby also offered her changed views on housemate choices, in support of her
new choice.

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Ruby’s third move is significant in her processes of adaptations to forces of the
field while friendship building and seeking opportunity to improve English
oracy. The changes in Ruby’s views are produced by what she perceived as
unsuccessful experiences of finding conversants and reciprocal social and
economic needs of the Chinese-speaking friend.

Ruby’s pattern of choosing whom to be friends with is of interest here. Despite

the idiosyncrasies and personalities of friends, Ruby made decisions based on
how well they are able to use the legitimate language in the new field. Her first
choice was to converse with Anglophone speakers, or whom she thought
‘Australians’. Her second was English-speaking Korean speakers, or her term
‘Korean family’ living in Australia for some time. The third was an EAL
international student, in this case, the Chinese-speaking nursing student. These
preferences are not lineal, but outcomes of comprises made as a result of
adjusting Ruby’s aspirations to circumstances in the field of interest. They are
further prioritised by the hierarchy of field positions held by speakers of the
legitimate language in this field. The generative mechanism producing the
practice of prioritising friendship groups is to accrue linguistic capital based on
field positions of the legitimate speakers of the language.

It is worth relating Ruby’s befriending pattern to what Jabal (2010) discussed in

his paper on the social realities of the Hong Kong-Chinese students’ friendship
patterns in English-medium international schools. He argued that most Hong
Kong-Chinese students in his study did not enjoy friendship built with their
international peers and that this befriending pattern reflects complexities of
linguistic preferences, ethnicity, race or nationality. I acknowledge the role of
linguistic preferences in friendship building as discussed in this study; however,
Jabal did not account for the mechanisms operating in these complexities.

Still, Excerpts 7.9-7.11 show that Ruby had been independent, strategic, and
consistent in major life decisions. Four months later at the end of the first year,
Ruby offered her views on conversing with the domestic students. The context
of the following narrative is when Ruby was reflecting upon her university life
in the second semester.

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 Excerpt 7.12 (Ruby, Interview 3, English language interview)
Orientation: ((My university life is))
Evaluation: getting better,
Complication: but I’m still uncomfortable … to have conversations with
like Australian people … when I have conversation with Australian, I
just … want to leave … as soon as I can …
Resolution: But nowadays I try to have conversation with Australian
classmates if I got time, if I get chance. Because my ((private)) tutor
said to me, because I already said to her … I don’t want to live here
((Australia)) anymore … and then she just advised me, ‘If you enjoy
the conversation … with other Australian, you can enjoy … more to
stay here. You need to change your personality. So … you need to
make friends.’ So, I realised if I don’t have friends maybe … I will
think about … my family too much if I just be more alone. Or if I don’t
have conversation or … if I don’t hang out with friends I will think
about more, more and more about the Korea …
Coda: so … I’m changed … a little bit than last semester … if I get the
chance … try to have conversation with English speaker and I try to
enjoy …
In this excerpt, Ruby highlighted uncomfortable reactions to conversations with
the English-speaking domestic students: ‘I just … want to leave … as soon as I
can.’ Such reactions were contrasted to her claims that university life was
‘getting better’. Ruby said that she had a small social network and hence felt
homesick and lonely. As a result, she stated ‘I don’t want to live here
((Australia)) anymore’. However, she displayed a willingness to enjoy
conversations with Anglophone Australians in the future.

Ruby’s habitual status (Excerpt 7. 12) and her series of changed places of
residence (Excerpt 7.9-7.11) indicate her subsequent marginal position in the
social groups she hoped to be included. Ruby was not a target candidate for
friendship and conversations, even though she had been strategic about seeking
out opportunities and circumstances which might help build them. She lacked
social capital, as well as its potential to be converted to linguistic capital. Thus,
her hopes were compromised and adjustments, made.

Excerpts 7.10-7.12 show a display of emotions during a series of moves: feeling

positive about perceived capital accrual and then lonely. Ruby was tossed from
hope to reality as she struggled to belong to various social groups. The concern

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for Ruby is that capital building (English proficiency) may seem to be at odds
with belonging (staying with the Korean family).

Also, Ruby remained uncomfortable in the face of Anglophone speakers.

Although she was not explicit about the readability of habituses of her
Anglophone conversants—being white, with what Ruby perceived as a favoured
accent in the field of interest and a combination of other linguistic attributes,
such power seems to have a particular effect on her. Ruby lost her confidence
and power in making herself understood in their presence. This is an empirical
manifestation that she did not belong to this particular group. ‘Not coming to
belong’ may be part of the mechanisms producing the realisation that ‘I don’t
want to live here ((Australia)) anymore’ (Excerpt 7.12).

Lastly, Ruby felt that she belonged with her Chinese-speaking friend (Excerpt
7.11). The inclusiveness derived from the friendship with her Chinese-speaking
friend and the potential to accrue linguistic, social, and cultural capital
generated her sense of belonging at this particular moment.

In the following, I discuss a parallel example, provided by Xue, to contrast

Ruby’s sense of coming to belong. Xue, a Masters student in Commerce from
China, offered her views on friendships and church experiences. Her initial
views, together with those suggested by parents and host family in Australia,
serve as a point of contrast as follows.

Excerpt 7.13 (Xue, Interview 1, English language interview)

Orientation: … many people … including my parents and including my
homestay parents they tell me if you want to really enjoy the life in
[city] you should make Australia friends
Complication 1: but I think it’s a little bit hard for international students
because language is the first reason. But I don’t think it’s the main
reason. I think the main reason is still the culture reason
Evaluation 1: so that’s … why it’s hard to make friends who come from
the other country. International students actually can make friends
easily because I already make two friends who come from Thailand
Complication 2: but when I speak to the Australian person I think I will
feel a little bit nervous and I don’t, I can understand why they don’t
like to…,they don’t like to speak with international student. For me if I
speak Chinese for a person and the person just continue to ask me,
‘What story? Pardon?’ If I repeat many times but that person still can’t

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 understand what I am meaning I will lose the interest to communication
with that person.
Evaluation 2: So I can totally understand why this hard to make friends
with Australian person
Resolution 1: but, yes, I do want to make friends, so … my best friend
told me the best way you should go to church … because the Christians
they are always very friendly, compared to the other person. They love
to talk with you. So I tried that way before
Complication 3: but there is also a problem for me because I’m not a
Christian so I think when I went to the church they, they’re pretty
friendly, that’s true but they want to push you to believe God and the,
yeah, so they do many things that they want you to believe. And they
call you, they email you and they want you can go to the church every
week, even every day, and they want to tell you anything about their
beliefs.
Resolution 2: So that’s why … at the end I say, ‘Okay, that’s it. I can’t, I
can’t do that again.’ Even ((though)) I want to make friends I still
can’t … say to me ((myself)), I believe in God. I think that’s a lie, so I
don’t want to do that ((go to church)) again.
Coda: (laughs) Yeah, so that’s the experience about the church.
By her report, Xue believed that making friends with Anglophone Australians is
essential to ‘really enjoy life’ in Australia. She also believed that linguistic and
cultural differences that matter in the new field would impede her chances of
befriending Anglophones. However, she offered two examples that were at odds
with her claims. She firstly stressed the relative ease when it came to the case of
her Thai friends, who shared particular cultural and linguistic differences from
her Chinese speaking background. Nonetheless, these differences did not have
the same effect on the befriending practice between Xue and the Thai-speaking
friend as on the case of making friends with Anglophone Australians. Secondly,
Xue reported that she had church friends, also linguistically and culturally
different from her, but friendly to her but keen on her conversion to Christianity.
The friendliness and potential friendship with church friends eventually ceased
when Xue realised that she did not want to be converted and thus withdraw from
the church. In her view, trading her religious belief was not a price she was
prepared to pay for friendship.

The claim that cultural and linguistic differences can hinder friendship building
needs to be reconsidered. For Xue and her Thai-speaking friends, their
differences are a particular fact but did not matter in their social sub-field. These

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differences contributed to the similar field positions they shared as EAL
international students in an English-medium university in Australia, and their
reciprocal needs for friendship. For the friendly church, the cultural and
linguistic differences between Xue and other church members did not matter
much in this social sub-field when there is explicit interest in trading different
forms of capital. In this case, it was Xue’s potential conversion to Christianity
that was in exchange with opportunities for linguistic conversations and for
friendship building. Thus, instrumental initiatives are taken and maintained by
both parties. However, it should be noted that when Xue, the potential convert
to Christianity, was not willing to exchange her religious orientations for social
and linguistic capital, the exchange was suspended and friendliness ceased to
function.

Xue showed strong emotions (‘Okay, that’s it’) when she realised she could no
longer act like a Christian to maintain friendship. Such emotions are the bodily
manifestation of a mismatch between her religious inclinations and the church
community’s. This mismatch contributes to a sense of ‘not coming to belong’ to
the church community. ‘Not coming to belong’ seems to be at odds with the
priority Xue had accorded exchange for social capital such as friendliness and
togetherness, and linguistic capital (English proficiency) and cultural capital
(knowledge about the local Australian society). Xue’s potential to build social
and cultural capital was constrained for the purpose of feeling comfortable
about her habitus in this particular social field. In short, habitus can limit capital
acquisition.

The analyses thus far show that while capital accrual is an important mechanism
generating actions and strategies, it is not the only measure for coming to belong.
It is the relations between habitus (for example, Xue’s religious inclinations)
and field (for example, church) that produce senses of coming to belong. The
emotional contours such as feeling uncomfortable, disappointment, timidity,
loneliness, and alienation from religious inclinations, as well as confidence,
togetherness, happiness, fulfilment and comfort are important manifestations.
They are more or less uncontrollable, but outcomes of complex relations of
habitus, field, and its associated actors.

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To augment discussions over differentiated effects of social sub-fields on
coming to belong, this chapter turns to the final section on meaningful events
and encounters at particular moments in specific fields. These experiences are
selective, but significant to these students, as they tell of certain types and
sources of coming to belonging that mean different things to different students.

Coming to Belong to Intercultural Encounters

The intercultural experiences in this thesis refer to participants’ work, travel,
access to new experiences and meaningful opportunity to interact with people of
diverse backgrounds in varied social sub-fields. I focus, in this thesis, on those
experiences, described as significant and pivotal to the students, as well as
unique to their study abroad life in Australia. I am making the case on the
grounds of participants’ explicit pursuit to explore as much as possible in
Australia, as discussed in the excerpts provided by Siti, Julia, and Wendy.
Intercultural experiences other than ‘just study’ are expected and valued by
these students.

In this section, narratives from Wendy, Maryam, Julia, and Siti are selected for
discussion. They provide marked examples of how dispositions and inclinations
match the force of the field that contribute to senses of coming to belong at
particular moment and sub-fields. I argue that these examples may seem
ordinary to the local residents in Australia but have considerable significance
embedded in the telling moments chosen by participants.

Locked in her room studying

As recalled in Chapter Five, Wendy made an effort to adjust to new academic
requirements and demands. However, she was not happy about the struggle to
balance study and life in Australia. At her first interview, she stressed that
‘maybe I can do a lot of things, meet different people and like working.’ This,
though, was not realised—‘I felt that the first semester though I came here, I
was just locked in my room without talking with others. … Because of my time
management, I lost a lot of chances to be exposed to the culture here.’ It is
evidenced that intercultural experiences were an aspiration for Wendy.

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Wendy invested most of her time in study (see details in Chapter Five) and
hence felt a sense of disappointment. She doubted whether it was worth coming
to study in Australia because she had been ‘lock[ed] in my room’ throughout the
first semester, as she carried a full-time study load for a Masters degree in a
discipline new to her.

Wendy’s routines started to change when she took up two hospitality jobs. No
longer locked in her room, Wendy did not feel as fulfilled, as she had hoped.
She needed to manage her time finely between work and study. A pivotal
moment came when Wendy made time to go to an art exhibition, as described in
the following.

Excerpt 7.14 (Wendy, Interview 3, English language interview)

Orientation 1: During my semester, I went to [art gallery]—an art gallery
to see [exhibit theme]. Actually, I got a free postcard here in the
cafeteria – there are some free postcards with pictures on it.
Evaluation 1: I liked that picture. And it attracts me. I think that’s
something like mysterious or something.
Resolution 1: So I need to know it. I just made the time for me to go there
and it was the first time for me to go to another university.
Evaluation 2: My education background lacks the knowledge on art,
though I’m interested in that … I sometimes cannot understand it, and I
just want to know more about it. And it’s free, yeah, free entrance,
Resolution 2: So I just want to take the chance to go to the museum …
Coda: I always want to know more about art, but I have the chance now,
so I just want to take that chance to know more. Maybe when I have
another day off, I will go to the museum for another exhibition.
A postcard happened to catch Wendy’s attention and eventually triggered a trip
to an art exhibit. The pictures on the postcard prompted an old interest in visual
arts. This visit marked several ‘firsts’—making up a change in Wendy’s routine
work and study schedules. It further fulfilled Wendy’s sense of longing for what
had not been available to her in her own country.

Excerpt 7.14 shows that Wendy’s existing dispositions for arts generate actions
to enrich her life as an EAL international student in Australia. I argue that this
pivotal moment should be viewed as filling the gap between her habitus and her
previous field and that it is made possible by opportunity open to her in the new
field in Australia. This match subsequently produces positive bodily emotion,

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manifest a sense of coming to belong at the particular moment in this sub-field.
The coda of Excerpt 7.14 provides further evidence of potential to take up more
opportunity than before to broaden her horizons and to fulfil her dispositions.

Wendy is not a local resident in Australia, but a particular EAL international

student who likes arts. For her, the art gallery visit is not an ordinary event, but
made possible by her investment in international education, including time and
money spent in preparations for coming to Australia, and her willingness for
adventure in a new field. This visit has a special meaning that should be
contrasted with what is lacking in her life back in China. My point is that an
intercultural encounter like Wendy’ visit means different things to different
goers and that such experience has potential to enable senses of coming to
belong for some EAL international students in Australia.

As an art gallery visit is to Wendy, so is the freedom of having her hair blowing
and the feeling of leisure at a beach to Maryam in Australia. The latter has a
particular habitus and religious dispositions at odds with the Muslim rule in her
country of origin. She was explicit about feeling a match of her habitus in the
new field in Australia—‘I really feel I am free here. … You can imagine that
each time the wind blows--and I feel my hair. It makes me very happy.’ Such
senses of coming to belong stemmed from her dispositions for freedom, not
readily available to her in her previous contexts. The telling moment for
Maryam came when her recalling beach experiences after her arrival: The first
weekend I came [to Australia] –yeah I went to the beach. For example it’s …
impossible if you want to swim with your husband. It’s not possible. It is only
when you have a pool in your house.’ Going to the beach for Maryam was a
special, liberating experience, only made possible after she became an EAL
international student in Australia.

The happiness and freedom derived from experiences at the beach and with
wind-blown hair are empirical manifestations of a match of habitus and the new
field. These ordinary events are significant and meaningful to Maryam that
engender moments of coming to belong in Australia. Study in Australia for her
has potential to foster a new life that can be free from feelings of exclusion
caused by her religious inclinations at odds with those in the old field.

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In the following excerpt, reflecting upon her first semester in a new discipline
(Commerce), Julia talked about not having much social life, as well as hopes to
experience something different. She also offered her views on limiting and
enabling conditions for her circumstances.

Excerpt 7.15 (Julia, Interview 3, English language interview)

Int: Do you have anything that you wish that you could’ve done, or you
should’ve done in the past?
J: I wish … I didn’t ((had not)) spend ((spent)) that much time studying but
do something else. Because lots of reasons … I can’t do that, but I don’t
regret for that because that’s a different experience in life .… I’ve got
enough time here to do different things,
so I don’t regret whatever I’ve done. I think I make myself too difficult to
want to get the highest marks for all the units. That’s crazy, so I just work
very hard, study very hard, but yeah I got very good results. Like
Education I think … is the most difficult time for me in my life but it’s
really a valuable thing for me, yeah.
But I think next year I will change my life to do something new. I want to
get 7s because I want to get job here. … I wish I could get 7s but 6 is not
bad. Anyway, I will move to another place to live. I won’t stay here
((homestay)) anymore. I think I will get more and more mature.
This excerpt makes explicit what Julia had hoped for in her life abroad in the
semester to come, under the circumstances of achieving particular goals in study
and at work. By her account, Julia accrued very high marks with all 7s (cultural
capital) and recognition as a top student (symbolic capital). However, this was
made possible at the price of not having something new in life in Australia. Julia
showed an array of strong emotions describing past experiences and future plans:
‘(not) regret’, compromise, difficult, crazy, happy, worthwhile, determined, and
hopeful.

I argue that Julia’s data in Excerpt 7.15 should be read as a coda to a series of
narratives of her first year experience studying in Education and then
Commerce, as documented in Chapter Five and Six. This coda suggests the
lessons Julia drew from her first year of study abroad—i) acquiring a feel for the
game in a new field of study; ii) having symbolic capital as a competent and
confident student, with employment prospects in Australia; and iii) re-
configuring her capital portfolio to match a new field.

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Attention should also be drawn to evaluations Julia made in Excerpt 7.15. In
particular, the emotion of expressed terms ‘I don’t regret’ means different
things. Firstly, Julia was aware that her investments of time and effort in
accruing cultural capital and symbolic capital were necessary for positions in a
new field and that they would pay off. Secondly, Julia was positive that her time
for intercultural encounters would come soon, though only after her accrual of
capital.

Moments for intercultural encounters come at different times for different EAL
students, as described in the Wendy, Julia, and Maryam excerpts. Wendy and
Julia have a pattern of prioritising study over adventure. For Maryam, her hair-
blowing and beach experiences come alongside her entry into Australia. These
moments are dependent on individual students’ habituses, appreciations of field
forces and acquisition of feel for the game and capital portfolios. They further
make up different sources of coming to belong. In the following, I introduce
Siti’s casual work experiences as a contrast to further the point.

Siti told of how she sought casual work at a local child care centre and what this
experience meant to her. When reading the narrative below, it should be kept in
mind that Siti is an undergraduate in Education from Malaysia. Her narratives
below are explored to further the discussion over how a sense of belonging can
be facilitated by geographic mobility and by being accepted as a young Muslim
woman.

Excerpt 7.16 (Siti, Interview 2, English language interview)

Orientation 1: I have three friends who work together with me and we
were under the same company … It started from my friends because
she’s the one who told me about this job and she said it’s quite okay,
the pay is quite okay and it’s very flexible …
Complication 1: Not many of them ((my friends)) working as the child
care assistant, they like to work as cleaner. I don’t know why, maybe
they want to travel. Because if you work as a child-care assistant as
relief staff you have to travel to places that you never went to, so in that
case it’s quite risky. However, … in terms of transportation it’s not that
bad. We really depend on the website so it’s quite easy. Just that you
have to take the risk to go there and to know the people there. You
never know the people in the first place but you have to work with
them.

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 Orientation 2: Like on previous Tuesday that was my first time going to
child care centre here,
Complication 2: at first I felt quite nervous because I don’t know what
they will expect, what they will expect on me, like my knowledge and
all.
Evaluation 1: But the thing is they’ll just accept me the way I am …. I
just need to ask or sometimes … they’ll tell me ‘Okay now you have to
do this, you have to do this’. Different centres have different jobs to do.
Normally I’m just an assistant. I just like to monitor the kids and help
them to eat; after they’ve finished eating just mop the place or clean up
the place and that’s all. That’s why I’m quite scared at first but then
when I went yesterday I felt more confident because I already know a
bit about the child-care centre: what basically they are doing every day,
the routine and also it’s not so much difficult. I think as time passes I’ll
be more confident in that.
Evaluation 2: It’s just that I have to travel, ((but)) I get the chance to
know a lot of people and they really respect me as the way I am
because I’m a Muslim. […] So that’s why that’s one of the factors as
well in accepting this job because I know I’m a different person here in
terms of my religion and even though I went to the [suburb name] is
quite in a suburb area they still respect me even though it’s quite hard
to see Muslims there but they don’t really discriminate me and all.
They even approach me and ask me a few things so I think that’s one of
the Australian culture that I like here.
Coda: The thing that I learn here is not to make assumptions: if you want
to know something just ask. Don’t assume that … because the people
don’t talk to you, you assume they don’t like you.
This excerpt shows backgrounds and considerations behind Siti’s decisions to
work as a casual child-care assistant. The casual work entailed necessary travel
to different child-care centres at varied locations and suburbs. Siti viewed her
travel mobility and independence at work contexts as valuable experiences. She
was happy about becoming an independent young Muslim woman and was
accepted as such. Also, she felt more comfortable than previous visits when she
became familiar with tasks required, patterns of interaction and communication
with co-workers at her second post.

For Siti, the concern is her display of being a Muslim woman by wearing a hijab
to work. She showed her moments of relief when ‘[t]hey don’t really ask me
why you wear hijabs’. She believed when she was not asked about her religious
clothing, she was assured of her right to her religious inclinations. To Siti, such
acceptance fostered growing comfort and senses of coming to belong in the
social field beyond the university campus.

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There are other emotions present in Excerpt 7.16. These emotions include
feeling uncertain about first experiences, but feelings of comfort and confidence
about work and travel mobility in a new city over time. It is shown that time is
necessary for the acquisition of a feel for the game in a new sub-field and that
the feel for the game, together with time, is a valued asset to generate positive
emotions. It is also important to highlight legitimation/recognition as a key
factor for positive emotions. Feeling legitimated/recognised by existing
members in sub-fields further helps nurture a growing sense of coming to
belong to broader life experiences in Australia.

Next, the focus is on the coda drawn from Siti’s interactions with people at
work. By her account, Siti learnt that she should not assume she was not liked or
accepted as who she was before she had a chance to verify the accuracy of this.
My aim here is not to agree or disagree what Siti felt she had learnt. Rather it is
to highlight how these intercultural encounters in contexts outside university
have potential to foster or hinder senses of coming to belong for EAL
international students, like Siti, who have particular religious inclinations. I
would also like to stress that these intercultural experiences are significant to
new members in the new field, like the case of EAL international students; and
that they constitute sources of coming to belong and new species of capital, not
yet validated or converted in any particular sub-fields. These aspects are to be
explored further in Siti’s views in the following excerpt.

Excerpt 7.17 (Siti, Interview 2, English language interview)

In child care centre I have to interact with the carer or the group leader
about the kids and I have to interact with the kid itself, I have to be with
them at the playground, monitor them. I like kids. I also see that this job
the child care assistant need a lot of interaction, that is why I chose this job
because I want to mix with other people’s culture, want to know about how
they manage kids and that’s why. […]
I have other option like I can just work as cleaners if I want, but I chose to
work as child care assistant. Why? Because I want to improve my English
in terms of mixing around people, my conversation skills because it’s
really, really challenged me to speak to people, to stranger, to someone
I’ve met for the first time. And because it is really tough, you’re the only
one in that centre that is new, so I have to really be friendly to all, yeah,
which requires some social skills and also because I like it myself so I get
to meet with them, they are really really cute. I like that. I think that’s
basically it, and the pay is quite good, so far it’s quite good.

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This excerpt shows what Siti experienced and learnt from her casual work
contexts. She had her habitual dispositions challenged initially when meeting
new people in new conditions. However, these new conditions broadened her
views and experiences, as she could ‘mix with other people’s culture,’ learn
‘how they manage kids,’ and build social skills and English proficiency.

Excerpt 7.17 makes explicit the potential for these intercultural encounters to be
converted to capital in a particular field in the future. Though Siti found it
relatively implicit, she knew that intercultural knowledge, including how to talk,
act and interact in English at the child-care centre, could be relevant to her
future home and teaching. This intercultural knowledge in the form acquired by
a child-care assistant could be profitable to Siti, as a teacher in her context.

The findings from Excerpts 7.16-7.17 support, in part, those reported by Cha
and Chang (2009). They argued that work experiences provide cultural and
language benefit for the Chinese-speaking international students in Korea.
However, interactions and language patterns at particular work contexts can be
limiting or confining (Duff, Wong, & Early, 2000), when EAL international
students, as well as other employees, are only allowed to function at a particular
hierarchical position in that context, with a certain group of actors, in a way of
talk and action. Nonetheless, it is not my purpose here to argue for work
experiences in the course of study in Australia. My aim is to show that work, as
well as other intercultural experiences, can be meaningful and profitable to
some EAL international students and that these experiences mean different
things to different students. It should be stressed that the intercultural
experiences matching habitus and field can generate senses of coming to belong
to these particular moments in Australia for actors and project probability for
future convertibility, whether or not these actors are conscious of its effect or of
necessary time required to take effect.

In brief, the analyses thus far show that participants aspired to have intercultural
experiences, along with their study in Australia. These past experiences are
believed to enrich their lives as students and are often contrasted to those
experienced in home countries. Among participants discussed in this chapter,
Julia is an exception, who talked about hopes for the future. The others shared

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pivotal moments that told of their tastes, beliefs, values, needs and preferences.
The analyses also highlight participants’ emotions, generated by matching
habituses and field forces. Senses of coming to belong are likely to be produced
when relations of habitus and field match with reconfigured capital, legitimacy,
and future probability.

It should be stressed that participants discussed in this section are particular

students, who hold relatively privileged field positions as mobile students.
Others, for example, refugee students do not necessarily share these privileges.
The intercultural encounters EAL international students hope to acquire reflect
their dispositions and what is valued and valid in their fields. For example, Siti
would have potential to capitalise on her knowledge of how a child care centre
operates and how children are educated in Australia when she educates her
students in home country. For participants who wish to immigrate to or work at
Australia, the intercultural knowledge specific to their workplaces may also be
convertible in terms of employment and migration prospects. Such species of
capital will benefit their field positions in new fields.

Finally, the analyses in this chapter show that the participants discussed thus far
seem to have particular habituses that are compatible to new experiences and
intercultural settings. These students seem to have coped well and have a range
of possibilities, positive and negative, in their adjustments in the new field. As
shall be recalled, we see Ngoc grew from having trouble ordering a drink to a
student with rights; Ruby came to Australia despite her father’s disapproval, but
sustained her momentum under constraints on her desire to practice oral English
and make friends; Julia was positive about the future after overcoming several
challenging first experiences. Nonetheless, there are points that can be drawn
from students’ trajectories. These students are different in terms of their capital
portfolios, outcomes of legitimation, and relations of their habituses and fields.
Thus, their senses of coming to belong should be read against their emotional
states of habituses and fields on the grounds of their circumstances.

Conclusion
This chapter explores pivotal moments that indicate participants’ senses of
coming to belong. The analyses contribute to this thesis investigating what

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capital counts for coming to belong at university for first year EAL international
students in Australia. In this chapter, three groups of narratives from Risa, Ngoc,
Ruby, Xue, Wendy, Maryam, Julia and Siti are discussed to explicate types,
degrees, and sources of coming to belong.

The first group of narratives by Risa and Ngoc told of pivotal moments of being
legitimated by authorised representatives (lecturers) in university settings. For
Risa, coming to belong is concerned with a pivotal moment, when her extra
effort and achievement was acknowledged by an understanding EAL lecturer in
the field of education. Coming to belong for Ngoc is concerned with the pivotal
moment when she could exercise her rights and when she was granted the
legitimacy of a student with rights and attendant symbolic capital. The
underlying mechanism generating senses of belonging lies in outcomes of
legitimation granted in the education field, by its authorised representatives.

The second group of narratives discuss Ruby’s and Xue’s strategic actions for
capital building and conditions hindering senses of coming to belong. The
analyses show that these students withdrew from a particular sub-field when
they felt uncomfortable about relations and interactions with actors, in this case,
Anglophone Australians, and that such withdrawal was an outcome of
unsuccessful exchange of capital and undesired reciprocity.

The third group of narratives reports pivotal moments of intercultural

experiences meaningful to Wendy, Maryam, Julia and Siti. These encounters
provoked varied emotions, positive ones in particular. They indicated matching
relations of habitus and field, based on accrual of capital and the potential
convertibility of such in relevant fields. These emotions are indicative of
participants’ senses of coming to belong to the particular intercultural
encounters made available in life of study abroad in Australia, at particular
moments.

Thus, senses of coming to belong depend on particular moments, fields and

associated actors. They are of different types, sources, and degrees. The
analyses show that coming to belong is firstly concerned with capital accrual
and secondly with outcomes of legitimation at pivotal moments. However,

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acquisition of capital and legitimacy does not necessarily generate senses of
coming to belong. It is participants’ appreciation of relations of habitus and field
that matter in fostering senses of coming to belong.

I would like to make a point here. Considering the relative power of associated
actors in each sub-field, senses of coming to belong can be understood in terms
of centre (university) and margin, as perceived by the participants. Coming to
belong in the centre inheres in legitimacy granted by actors from the centre,
including academics and powerful others. Legitimacy is granted in the centre to
legitimated capital (cultural, social and linguistic) in the field of international
education in Australia. This type of legitimacy is typically acquired by
participants who are academically strong and have the field’s linguistic capital.

Next, a sense of coming to belong at the margin is acquired by legitimacy

granted by those taking similar field positions. This type of legitimacy is
generated by a reciprocal exchange of capital to willing students with
compatible capital or power in the field. Given the relative ease of moving
across varied sub-fields and social fields, participants enter into and withdraw
from varied sub-fields fields alternately and/or simultaneously. Thus, the centre
or the margin is not as discrete as can be. Acquiring a sense of coming to belong
in the centre in a given sub-field is not necessarily at odds with acquiring that at
the margin in another sub-field. However, the ease or possibility depends on
participants’ relative power in capital portfolios, vis-à-vis others’.

Further, a unique sense of coming to belong for EAL international students is

concerned with intercultural encounters accessible to them in their study abroad
lives. I limit the intercultural encounters to those new or different experiences
meaningful to the students and those with potential value in a particular field. It
is acknowledged that intercultural encounters take time to be recognised as
valuable and to be converted to other forms of capital. Still, their convertibility
and potential value may constitute at part the underlying mechanism that
generates students’ hopes and actions for the pursuit.

Finally, I argue that elements of narrative structure tell of participants’ agency

and capacity to change to adapt to new rules of the game. To be more specific,

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evaluations typically contain expressions of emotions, views and feelings, as
provoked by particular moments and events. Resolutions provide accounts of
strategic actions and their outcomes. Codas of narratives typically offer
formative comments on experiences and events in general and can indicate
orientations to future actions.

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Chapter Eight: EAL International Students’
Coming to Belong
Introduction
This thesis has explored how EAL international students come to a sense of
belonging in an Australian university. The research question of this thesis is
concerned with what capital counted as important to EAL international students’
descriptions of their coming to belong in an Australian university. The thesis
further investigated sub-questions addressing: the capital EAL international
students at university saw as critical to adjustment to new life and study routines
in Australia; the capital that helps these students acquire a feel for the game and
a sense of belonging as learners at university in Australia; and pivotal moments
selected and described by the students that indicated the spectrum of different
senses of ‘coming to belong’. These questions are framed through Bourdieu’s
concepts of habitus, field and capital (Bourdieu, 1977, 1986, 1990a, 1991,
1993b; Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) under a Critical Realist framework
(Danermark, et al., 2002) using student narratives collected at separate times
over their first year of study.

This final chapter is divided into three parts. In the first I revisit the research
literature reviewed on higher education, international education, EAL migrant
students in mainstream education, and language socialisation; Bourdieu’s
theoretical framework (Bourdieu, 1977, 1986, 1990a, 1991, 1993b; Bourdieu &
Wacquant, 1992) and a Critical Realist methodological frame (Danermark, et al.,
2002) with Riessman’s (2002) narrative analysis with a particular focus on
Labov’s (Labov & Waletzky, 1967/1997) narrative structure. The second part
presents findings through narrative complications, resolutions, codas and
evaluations of capital necessary for ‘coming to belong’ in the process of
adaptation. The final part discusses practical implications, suggestions for
further research, and limitations of this thesis.

The Research Design

The research design of this thesis is illustrated in Diagram 8.1. This thesis
reviewed four bodies of research literature. This review suggests that questions

241
of ‘belonging’ are critical for first year student, non-traditional university
student and international student experience (Jabal, 2010; Koehne, 2006; Palmer,
et al., 2009; Reay, 2001; Wilcox, et al., 2005), and mainstream education
experienced by students in general and their EAL migrant counterparts (Suarez-
Orozco , Pimentel, & Martin, 2009; Williams, 2003; Willms, 2003). Questions
of belonging are viewed by researchers as indicators of positive educational
experiences and inclusivity in educational institutions (Jabal, 2010; Williams,
2003; Willms, 2003), and of successful educational and employment
opportunities (Suarez-Orozco , et al., 2009; Wilcox, et al., 2005).

Figure 8.1. Design of the Research

The student bodies researched in the literature reviewed vary in age, levels of
education, countries of origin, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. They further
differ in proficiency in English and the quality of education received in prior
educational institutions and/or educational systems. However, these students
share commonalities. They are relatively new to the educational systems they
enter and typically lack substantial social networks in the new educational
institutions. These commonalities are important. They indicate that EAL

242
international students in this thesis share similar challenges with students in
general entering into a higher level of education and/or a new educational
institution, as well as particular challenges arising from a range of English
proficiency because of their EAL backgrounds.

The review further shows that diversity in higher education has not yet been
adequately researched (McInnis, 2001). Rather, the focus is on intervention of
academic and linguistic support to first year students in general and students of
diverse backgrounds (McInnis, 2001) in particular. This focus limits
sociological understandings of university students’ experiences of accessing
institutional support (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Stanton-Salazar & Dornbusch,
1995); linguistic opportunities (Leki, 2001; Morita, 2004; Norton, 2000; Toohey,
2000); and risks of devaluing cultural and linguistic differences (Goldstein,
2003a).

Sociological perspectives are utilized in an emerging body of literature. EAL

international students are increasingly viewed as active agents of their own
change (Kettle, 2005), as taking on strategic transnational educational journeys
(Doherty & Singh, 2007), and as selectively accepting representations of
themselves by teachers and associates in Australia (Kenway & Bullen, 2003; P.
Singh & Doherty, 2008). These lines of inquiry open up opportunities to take a
fresh look at cultural and linguistic differences and to read the students in
different terms.

Following Reay (2001) and Goldstein (2003), I adopted a Bourdieusian

framework in this study, highlighting Three Relations of field, habitus, capital
and legitimation. I suggest that legitimation is the central generative mechanism
in producing senses of coming to belong in the process of adaption to a new
field of education. This theoretical framework was operationalised in a
methodological framework of Critical Realist layered realities and narrative
structure. Generative mechanisms of field, capital, habitus and legitimation
operate in the real to generate struggle. Additionally educational strategies,
experienced by participants are recounted in the empirical layer of
complications, resolutions and codas in a narrative. In the following, I present
discussions over typical orientations, indicating a field or a sub-field in question

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and the complications, resolutions, and codas that provided the empirical
evidence.

Orientations
Orientations in a narrative indicate what happens, when, in which setting and for
whom. In this chapter, the settings illustrate fields or sub-fields associated with
participants’ experiences. The identification of settings is important, as fields or
sub-fields contain different sets of rules applied to participants’ struggles and
sense-making processes. Furthermore, participants, as well as those who they
interacted with, take different positions within a field. This often entails
differentiated power.

In participants’ early accounts of hopes and future plans, the field invoked was
‘Australia’ (Ruby Excerpts 5.1-2; Donna Excerpts 5.3-4). The nation was a new
field, within which EAL international students hoped to achieve positions,
amendable to their dreams of returning to home countries with new
qualifications or seeking entry into Australia as skilled migrants. Participants’
talk about Australia was constantly referenced back to previous fields and
reasons for leaving them (Ngoc Excerpt 5.9).

In the analyses of orientations, points of challenge happened in a variety of

fields and sub-fields, but most task-associated challenges were concerned with
university settings. For example, Ngoc experienced difficulty ordering a coke to
go with her noodles at a restaurant (Ngoc Excerpt 5.8), and a sense of insecurity
in her shared house (Ngoc Excerpt 5.9). Later she had an unfair mark awarded
to her (Ngoc Excerpt 7.8). Julia talked about sources of struggle across several
sub-fields when working on her first assignments. These sub-fields include a
private space, where phone conversations with Chinese parents took place, her
place of residence in Australia and her teacher’s office (Julia Excerpt 5.11).
Donna felt wronged in a pair work situation at a tutorial (Donna Excerpt 6.1).

Most of the emotional outbreaks described by the participants occurred in their

places of residence and their teachers’ offices (Julia 5.11; Risa Excerpts 7.1-4).
The talk about educational strategies described interactions in informal settings

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with peers, classmates and associates; in offices with academics; and in their
places of residence where they fell back on their own resources.

Complications
Complications were experienced at various stages of the EAL international
students’ study in a new field of education in Australia. They were produced by
lacks of capital, a feel for the game, and processes of legitimation operating in
layered realities in their adaptation to new rules of the game.

Table 8.1 Types of Complications and Associated Concepts

Complications Theoretical interpretations

 Struggle to improve English  Lack of linguistic capital
proficiency for eligibility for a desired  Lack of legitimacy
position in a particular situation. (Ruby
Excerpt 5.1; Donna Excerpts 5.3-4;
Ngoc Excerpt 5.8)
 Struggle to be understood in English at  Lack of linguistic capital
transactions such as ordering a coke to  Lack of a feel for the game in a sub-
go with noodles. (Ngoc Excerpt 5.8) field
 Struggle to understand particular  Lack of linguistic capital—appropriate
linguistic features such as Australian linguistic forms of a legitimate
accents; or struggle to improve oracy language
with a particular focus on accents and
pronunciation. (Siti Excerpt 5.6;
Maryam Excerpt 6.11)
 Struggle to get heard and to participate  Lack of legitimacy
as a valued member at pair and/or  Lack of linguistic capital
group discussions. (Donna Excerpts
6.1-2 & 6.15; Ngoc Excerpt 6.5; Tom  Lack of a feel for the game
Excerpt 6.7; Apple Excerpt 6.9; Sandra
M. Excerpt 6.16)
 Struggle to write first assignments, in a  Lack of a feel for the game
new discipline, and/or at a higher level  Lack of cultural capital
of study such as writing a thesis. The
struggle includes not knowing how to  Implicit rules of the game
reference, how to paraphrase or
synthesize, where to start, or content
knowledge. (Julia Excerpt 5.11;
Maryam Excerpts 5.12 & 5.25; Ngoc
Excerpt 5.13; Wendy Excerpt 5.17;
Patrick Excerpt 5.18; Ruby Excerpt
5.19; Sandra M. Excerpt 5.21; Celina
Excerpt 5.22; Risa Excerpts 7.1-3).
 Struggle to find proper topics for oral  Lack of cultural capital
presentations in a particular discipline.  Lack of a feel for the game
(Patrick Excerpt 6.12 vs. Maryam
Excerpt 6.6)
 Implicit rules of the game

 Struggle to make friends with  Lack of linguistic capital

Anglophone students. (Fatimah Excerpt  Lack of social capital
6.14; Ruby Excerpts 7.11-12; Xue
Excerpt 7.12).
 Lack of legitimacy

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 Struggle to make friends who
understand circumstances of studying
as an EAL international student. (Risa
Excerpt 7.1)

Types of complications
Table 8.1 illustrates types of complications. They were typically caused by a
lack of different forms of capital, linguistic in particular, and a feel for the game
and legitimacy in a particular field, as shown in Table 8.1. Of these, a lack of
linguistic capital in a second language created most trouble across a range of
sub-fields in the new field of education in Australia, such as Ruby’s eligibility
for entry into social sub-fields, Ngoc’s ordering of a coke and Donna’s getting
heard in pair work. A lack of linguistic capital also affected potential to accrue
social capital through befriending Anglophone students in social fields to
reconfigure existing capital, as in Ruby’s case (Excerpts 7.11-12).

For EAL international students, conditions of social acceptability of the

legitimate language were crucial in accruing legitimacy in a field of interest.
One such condition was problematic proficiency. Donna’s audibility (Miller,
2003) in Excerpts 6.1-2 was affected. It should be stressed that EAL
international students’ English proficiency varies and that it is often important
for students to improve in this regard; indeed, improved English is often a
reason for choosing to study in an English-medium context. For this thesis, the
focus is on social relations of the legitimate language that prohibited Donna’s
audibility in a pair work discussion (Excerpts 6.1-2), but enabled changed
audibility in English, legitimated by a group of Korean-speaking students
(Excerpt 6.4). Another similar case lies in changed legitimacy of Maryam’s
Arabic-speaking group member granted by others, who were of mixed English
proficiency (Excerpt 6.6). This happened when this Arabic-speaking student had
valued capital which was sought by other members under the circumstance of
his initial unfavoured presentation of English speech by its members.

Conditions of social acceptability of the legitimate language in the education

field are largely overlooked in discussions over improving EAL international
students’ English oracy in the research literature in higher education (for
example, Sawir, 2005). Social relations of the language among group members
consisting of Anglophone and EAL international students in a Canadian

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university (Leki, 2001; Morita, 2004) were examined, but not adequately
contested sociologically. Inaudibility (Miller, 2003) arises from different power
relations among EAL speakers and their conversants; however, difference in
power does not necessarily come from differences of proficiency between
Anglophone and EAL speakers. While proficiency can affect audibility at the
initial stage, it can be overcome when valued capital is detected in the speech of
EAL students and when effort is made to make audibility possible.

For EAL international students, a lack of linguistic capital operates to

undermine their life and study in an English-medium university, as shown in
Table 8.1. Equally problematic complications arose from a lack of a feel for the
game, and implicit rules of the game in a range of sub-fields. The lack of a feel
for the game and not knowing the rules of the game made up a significant part
of challenges when the EAL international students approached their first
assignments, requiring different knowledge, skills and techniques. In summary,
these students lacked general knowledge of academic literacy, including skills
of referencing (Maryam’s Excerpt 5.25), and academic writing (Wendy’s
Excerpt 5.17); they were also in need of cultural capital valued in specific fields
or sub-fields, including disciplinary knowledge (Patrick’s Excerpt 5.18 and
Ngoc’s Excerpt 5.13), insider knowledge of lecturers’ preferences (Maryam’s
Excerpt 6.6 and Patrick’s Excerpt 6.16), and knowledge of a particular
profession in the Australian context (Julia’s Excerpt 5.11). These complications
originate from what operates in the actual and what is opaque to new arrivals in
a new field of education. I further stress that these rules vary across sub-fields
and they require different capital valued in particular sub-fields.

Considering the particular implicit knowledge of rules of the game, support and
orientation to resource first year students in higher education (McInnis, 2001),
as discussed in Chapter Two, is helpful for some EAL international students like
Maryam at some stage in her first year (Excerpt 5.25), but not sufficient. Early
on, she did not have the time or energy to access support in referencing. Other
challenges, ‘like what [to write]’ in an assignment were urgent and demanding
(Maryam’s Excerpt 5.12). It took time, literally a semester, for Maryam to be

247
able to exercise her institutional competence (Curry, 2008) to profit from a
library workshop to achieve an exceptionally high mark (100%).

For the EAL international students studying in the broad areas of Business,
Education, Arts and Humanities, and Social Science, a lack of cultural capital
valued in their particular sub-fields could only be supplied through
conversations and consultation with authorised representatives, including
lecturers and tutors. Ngoc (Excerpt 5.13) and Julia (Excerpt 5.11), for example,
required disciplinary knowledge in Business and Education that could not be
provided through university-wide support and orientation services, but relied on
their initiatives to approach their lecturers and tutors for support. The new trend
to provide faculty-specific support programs (for example, Baik & Greig, 2009)
may have potential to fill the gap; however, it should be questioned where such
investment should come from—the university taking in EAL international
students or the students themselves.

Attention should be drawn to relatively well resourced EAL international

students in this thesis—Siti (Excerpts 5.5-7 & 5.15) and Fatimah (Excerpt 5.20).
They experienced fewer complications in terms of academic literacy and content
knowledge support. Their government-institution sponsored custom-made
program was equipped with a supportive ESL lecturer providing tutorials on
academic literacy and supervision and disciplinary tailor-made tutorials. The
field of international education in Australia is differentiated, stratified and
structured in terms of accessibility to valued capital. Capital was channelled to
Siti and Fatimah readily. This was enabled by their powerful field positions, but
did not require much exercise of the students’ institutional competence, (Curry,
2008) as discussed in Maryam’s and Ngoc’s case. Complications were not
evenly experienced by EAL international students in the field of international
education. They were produced by differentiated resources that gave the
students different field positions and power mobilisable locally and
internationally.

The final type of complication was derived from a lack of legitimacy and a lack
of reciprocal recognition of capital (Sandra M. Excerpt 6.16; Ruby Excerpts
7.11-12; Xue Excerpt 7.12). These complications were manifest in the EAL

248
students’ struggle to make friends with Anglophone students and to become
valued participants in group work. The struggle in this regard was commonly
associated with a lack of linguistic capital or cultural capital. For this thesis I
argue that this lack of capital affects legitimacy in the practice of friendship
building and group work. For example, Sandra M. realised that she did not have
capital that could be in exchange of social capital with some Anglophone
counterparts in the class (Excerpt 6.16). In Excerpt 7.12, Xue refused to
reciprocate her religious belief with friendship with associates at a church. Ruby
had very limited linguistic capital to foster friendship with local students in
several social sub-fields.

In contrast, relatively easy access to friendship was commonly involved with

those with similar field positions. Xue’s comment ‘I already made two Thai
friends’ and compatriot friends (Excerpt 7.12) illustrated mutual needs of
friendship, warmth, support, and material exchange in accrual of social capital
with other EAL international friends. Suggestions have been made for
educational institutions to make mindful arrangements to assist EAL
international students to make friends with local Anglophone students and to
ease the phase of loneliness (for example, Sawir, et al., 2008). However, it
should be reminded that forced arrangements can be facilitative, but befriending
practices are still operated by the generative mechanisms consisting of actors’
power relations stemming from positions and capital portfolios.

Resolutions
A narrative typically ends with resolutions which describe actions taken to
resolve complications or indicates results of what happened (Labov & Waletzky,
1967/1997). For this thesis, resolutions of the narrative are educational
strategies generated by habitus, arising from adjusted appreciation of the force
of the field, to resolve complications. As the EAL international students in this
thesis were interviewed at multiple points during their first year, chained
resolutions in different narratives were made toward an ultimate goal: coming to
Australia for education to advantage their field position nationally,
internationally and transnationally. In broad terms, I discuss two types of

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resolutions, capital-oriented and legitimation-oriented, commonly sought by
EAL international students and associated theoretical interpretations.

Capital-oriented resolutions
Table 8.2. Types of Resolutions

Capital-oriented Resolutions Theoretical interpretations

 To improve English by self. (Ruby  To seek linguistic capital by self-study,
Excerpts 5.1-2 & 7.9; Donna Excerpts by trade, and by accruing social capital.
5.3-4; Ngoc Excerpt 5.8; Apple Excerpt  To acquire legitimacy
6.9)
 To acquire a more powerful field
 To use English with friends to improve position
English. (Ruby Excerpts 7.10-12;
Donna Excerpts 6.4 & 6.15; Xue
 To reconfigure a capital portfolio
Excerpt 7.15; Fatimah Excerpt 6.14)  Arising from adjusted appreciations of
 To learn English by taking a course and the force of the game
hiring a tutor. (Ruby Excerpts 5.1-2)
 To improve pronunciation, as well
other linguistic features, and
presentation skills. (Maryam Excerpt
6.11)
 To understand Australian accent. (Siti
Excerpts 5.6-7)
 To approach lecturers and tutors for  To seek cultural capital
consultation. (Julia Excerpt 5.11;  To have existing cultural capital
Maryam Excerpt 5.12; Ngoc Excerpt legitimated
5.13 & 7.8; Donna Excerpt 6.1; Risa
Excerpt 7.3)
 To make rules of the game explicit
 To approach friends for solutions to
 To seek social capital for an exchange
assignments (Fatimah Excerpt 5.20; of cultural and linguistic capital
Maryam Excerpt 5.23 & 6.11; Ruby  To acquire legitimacy
Excerpt 5.19; Sandra M. Excerpt 5.21;  Adjusting appreciations of the force of
Celina Excerpt 5.22; Tom Excerpt 6.7) the game
 To work harder and spend more time
than normally did. (Wendy Excerpt
5.17; Patrick Excerpt 5.18; Risa
Excerpt 7.1)

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The EAL international students mostly turned to themselves to improve their
English as a strategy to accrue linguistic capital. They employed a range of
strategies: studying hard, taking a course, hiring a tutor, and using English with
EAL and Anglophone friends. They did so for the purpose of acquiring
eligibility for a particular course ‘I had to study quickly, like in six months’
(Ruby’s Excerpt 5.1) or profession ‘finding the Chinese translations of …
medical terms’ (Donna’s Excerpt 5.3). They invested in linguistic capital in a
second language to reconfigure their capital portfolio by enhancing its value ‘I
had to be better’ (Ngoc’s Excerpt 5.9); and ‘come here to study English … to
study more … to specialise me’ (Ruby’s Excerpt 5.2).

Strategies to seek opportunities to use English with friends, EAL or Anglophone,

were instrumental. Some EAL international students targeted Anglophone
speakers initially through accommodation arrangements (‘actually I try to live
with Australian people’ in Ruby Excerpt 7.10), through church activities
(‘Christians … very friendly … love to talk with you’ in Xue Excerpt 7.13) and
through seating choices (‘I don’t really sit ((with my compatriot cohort))
anymore’ in Fatimah Excerpt 6.14). For these students, these strategies did not
always work as hoped; they thus withdrew from these practices to build and
maintain friendship with other EAL or compatriot friends, such as Ruby’s new
Chinese-speaking flatmate (Excerpt 6.11), ‘Okay, that’s it. … I can’t do that
again’ (Xue Excerpt 6.13), and Donna’s Korean-speaking study group members
(Excerpt 6.4). Only two EAL international students in this thesis positively
stated that they acquired friendship with Anglophone friends through group
work. We see this in Tom’s comment ‘[w]e closed the distance between us’
(Excerpt 6.7) and Maryam’s description of becoming a friend of one
Anglophone group member (Excerpt 6.11).

The generative mechanism producing these strategies to accrue linguistic capital

is to seek an advantageous field position with a reconfigured capital portfolio.
This position will enable these EAL international students to have legitimacy in
a particular sub-field of international education, in their national employment
market, Australian, or global employment market.

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Further, resolutions reflect EAL international students’ solutions to resolve
complications arising from assignment writing and group work participation. A
few students approached lecturers/tutors for cultural capital, as in ‘he gave me
an example’ after tutorials (Maryam Excerpt 5.12); ‘I have to see and discuss
with the tutor’ at structured consultation time (Ngoc Excerpt 5.13); and ‘I asked
a lot of advice from her’ at out-of session consultation time (Julia Excerpt 5.11).
Donna approached a tutor to legitimate her existing cultural capital to acquire
legitimacy in pair work discussion, as in ‘I decided to check with the tutor
myself’ (Excerpt 6.1).

A number of the EAL international students sought to configure their cultural

capital from EAL friends/colleagues, and compatriots. They did so more
frequently than through consultations with lecturers. They sought help most
commonly in informal settings, more or less impromptu, by chance or luck. For
example, Sandra M. had a convenient compatriot friend, with whom she
discussed one argument in her assignment, as in ‘I decided to clarify with [name]
right away’ (Excerpt 5.21); Ruby ‘took time to ask a friend’ for a reference list
for her assignment (Excerpt 5.19); in the second semester, Maryam ‘could
compare … assignments with others’ and found out she lacked a good reference
list in her assignment (Excerpt 5.23); and Celina ‘asked some students’ and
learnt from them how to paraphrase and synthesize (Excerpt 5.22). The potential
of social capital mobilisable in these social networks was not easily predicted or
consistent, but crucial in making rules of the game more explicit than before,
reported by the students, and in supplying capital relevant to a particular sub-
field.

In contrast, for some students, there was less chance of opportunity to be

involved in locating valid cultural capital necessary in a particular sub-field. Siti
had systematic ESL support from an ESL tutor, who offered workshops so that
cultural capital was supplied in a timely manner. We see this in Siti’s comment
‘so it’s kind of helpful for us in a way’ (Excerpt 5.15). Fatimah had pre-arranged
accommodation in her first year, sharing with compatriot others, who she could
turn to for ideas to write in assignments while cooking or in conversations at
night (Excerpt 5.20). At group work, Siti felt it’s ‘a bit easy for us because all of

252
us know each other so we can give our full cooperation’ (Siti Excerpt 6.13).
Siti’s group work experience was very different from Ngoc’s. Ngoc could not
resolve disagreement during discussions, and withdrew her insistence on her
point but ‘respected them’. The group ended with a pass mark for the group
assignment, a mark lower than Ngoc’s history of good marks in first year of
study in Australia (Ngoc Excerpt 6.5).

The EAL international students’ resolutions show pursuit of capital in a range of

strategies. This is consistent with the findings that the acquisition of institutional
and peer support was crucial in the process of adaption to a new field of
education and in the success of academic work (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Suarez-
Orozco, et al., 2009; Wilcox, et al., 2005). Secondly, it provides empirical
evidence to explain processes of adaptation, as is lacking in the literature on
EAL international students (Biggs, 1997; Renshaw & Volet, 1995; S. E. Volet
& Peter D. Renshaw, 1995). It further broadens understandings of student
agency, as suggested in Kettle’s (2005) Thai-speaking student, with evidence of
acquiring legitimacy over time of speaking to a large group audience.

Further, some EAL international students relied on themselves to make effort to

resolve complications. By effort is meant that more time on task was required to
acquire relevant cultural capital (‘I have to check all the notes’ and ‘I spend a
lot of time to’ in Patrick Excerpt 5.18), and to have a feel for the game (‘I have
tried to model the way others wrote their assignments’ in Wendy Excerpt 5.17).
Making what the students perceived as more effort made than usual was a
strategy in response to new rules of the game in a new sub-field when habitual
reactions to the rules were no longer applicable. Thus resolutions to turn to
personal resources were produced by the force of the field for new tasks and
new requirements.

The discussions thus far focus on resolutions to problems of accrual of capital. It

should be stressed that capital accrual cannot be separated from processes of
achieving legitimacy and acquiring a feel for the game. Accrual of capital lies in
the premise of having capital legitimated in a sub-field by existing members or
members of power. I continue discussions in this regard in a later section and

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provide categorizations of different types of legitimations. In the following table
(8.3), I focus on legitimation-oriented resolutions.

Legitimation-oriented resolutions
Table 8.3 Legitimation-oriented Resolutions

Legitimation-oriented Resolutions Theoretical interpretations

 To exercise student’s rights for a grade
review. (Ngoc Excerpt 6.5)
 To acquire recognition from someone
who understands. (Risa Excerpts 7.1-4)
 To ‘fit in’ a group. (Tom Excerpt 6.7)
 To exercise ethics for group
participation. (Maryam Excerpt 6.11)
 To explore intercultural experiences.
(Wendy Excerpt 7.14; Siti Excerpt
7.15)
 To seek legitimacy
 To acquire a feel for the game
 To have habitus adjusted for new
games
 To seek cultural capital
 To have habitus adjusted
 To seek legitimacy
 To seek legitimacy
 To seek cultural capital
 To have habitus adjusted

As illustrated in Relation One in Chapter Three, legitimation works pivotal

change in valuing capital and offering membership in a particular field. It
involves power accorded with field positions to legitimate capital and to grant
legitimacy. The power to legitimate is typically in the hand of those who hold
relevant and privileged capital and field position. Within educational institutions,
authorised representatives typically refer to teaching staff, lecturers and tutors
included. In sub-fields, peers and colleagues play a similar role to offer
recognition or membership.

In this thesis, EAL international students sought legitimation in a range of sub-

fields. In this section, I highlight how some students had legitimacy granted in
their processes of making sense of rules of the game and acquiring a feel for the
game. For example, Ngoc went through a grade review to have her mark
changed from 6 to 7 (Excerpt 7.8). This grade review was successful because
Ngoc mobilised social capital to enable accrual of cultural capital through
legitimation. Ngoc was legitimated as an active student with rights by
authorised representatives of university, enshrined in university’s policy, as in
her comment—‘I have the right to say, to speak out, and I do that’.

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In another case, Risa, sought legitimacy, granted by someone who could
understand ‘what [she] was going through’ (Excerpt 7.3) as an EAL
international students studying in an English-medium university. She felt she
was legitimated by an EAL international academic in the university with a
parallel story to Risa’s struggle at first lectures. For Risa, this legitimacy
counted for more than the cultural capital she had accrued, as manifest in good
marks awarded in the new field of education. Acquisition of a feel for the game
did not entirely fulfil Risa’s aspirations for recognition.

On the other hand, Tom worked on accrual of membership granted by

Anglophone members of his group (Tom Excerpt 6.7). He enabled his audibility
(Miller, 2003) by using cultural capital through a range of strategies to ‘close
the distance between us’. This was his gateway to accrual of linguistic capital
and cultural capital. Membership granted to Tom was pivotal in his process of
being recognised as a valued member of the group. Maryam achieved group
membership and friendship, manifest in permission granted by a friend to learn
from the friend’s assignments. Following this, she built new cultural capital at a
library workshop. Both Tom and Maryam mobilised social capital for actual and
potential cultural capital on the premise of being recognised as friends or
members.

In Excerpt 6.11, Maryam achieved legitimacy by exercising her power to

resolve a disagreement with a group member over strategies to save a group
assignment. She was the colleague who refused to recognise the legitimacy of
an action suggested by an Anglophone international group member. The power
she exercised came from her reconfigured capital portfolio, with newly aligned
cultural capital of doing group work in Australia and embodied dispositions
toward group work ethics. Maryam changed from being legitimated as a friend
(Excerpt 5.23) to legitimating group work practice (Excerpt 6.11).

Slightly different from the resolutions discussed thus far, Wendy’s (Excerpt
7.14) and Siti’s (Excerpt 7.16) were not actions taken to resolve a particular
circumstance. Rather I highlight decisions to go to an art exhibition (Wendy)
and to work as a care giver at a local child care centre (Siti) as resolutions to
explore intercultural experiences in Australia. I argue that these resolutions were

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made possible particularly in a wider social field outside university settings in
Australia, but not similarly accessible to these students in a different field, such
as the students’ countries of origin.

Resolutions to explore intercultural experiences in social sub-fields were

generated by dispositions and aspirations for high culture in the case of
Wendy’s going to an art exhibition; and for employment experiences in the case
of Siti’s casual care giving and relevance to early childhood education in
English-medium contexts in Australia. The students were accruing cultural
capital through intercultural encounters meaningful to them in particular sub-
fields. The value of these experiences was not necessarily legitimated during the
students’ time in Australia or by actors in Australia. Rather, I argue that it can
be predicted that the value would be dependent on the students’ future work
contexts in a particular national or international field. I further argue that these
resolutions were students’ investment in accruing a species of capital through
intercultural encounters, although the students were not necessarily aware of
potential outcomes.

As discussed in Chapter Two, research literature in higher education and

international education largely overlooks the significance of legitimation
working to facilitate pivotal change in processes of friendship building (Jabal,
2010; Sawir, et al., 2008; Wilcox, et al., 2005), capital accrual and exchange
(Duff, 2010; Wilcox, et al., 2005), and membership recognition by group
members or colleagues (Kobayashi, 2003; Koehne, 2006; Leki, 2001; Morita,
2004). To further illustrate multiple senses of legitimation concerning
resolutions, I highlight associated actors involved in the processes.

Legitimation in multiple senses

Table 8.4 Types of Legitimation

Resolutions Theoretical Legitimated Field

interpretations by actors
 To consult teaching staff  Linguistic capital  Authorized Centre
(Julia Excerpt 5.11; granted representatives:
Maryam Excerpt 5.12;
Ngoc Excerpt 5.13 &
 Legitimacy acquired teach staff

7.8; Donna Excerpt 6.1;  A capital portfolio

Risa Excerpt 7.3) reconfigured
 To seek recognition  Capital legitimated by
from someone who lectures/tutors with

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 understands. (Risa good grades,
Excerpts 7.1-4) recognition, and/or
 To exercise student’s praise
rights for a grade review
(Ngoc Excerpt 6.5)
 To seek resources for  Membership granted  EAL Margin
assignments. (Fatimah
Excerpt 5.20; Ruby
 Species of cultural international
peers/colleague
capital accrued
Excerpt 5.19; Sandra M. s
Excerpt 5.21; Celina  Social capital
Excerpt 5.22) mobilised
 To converse in English  Legitimacy acquired
with friends to improve  Habitus adjusted
proficiency. (Ruby
Excerpts 7.10-12; Donna
Excerpts 6.4 & 6.15)
 To build friendship with  Legitimacy granted  Anglophone Centre
Anglophone peers
(Maryam Excerpt 5.23 &
 A feel for the game peers/colleague
s
achieved
6.11; Tom Excerpt 6.7)
  A mixed group
 To ‘fit in’ a group (Tom
Social capital accrued
of Anglophone
Excerpt 6.7)  Cultural capital and EAL
 To exercise ethics for
exchanged students
group work (Maryam  Linguistic capital
Excerpt 6.11) acquired
 Habitus adjusted
 To explore intercultural  Habitus realigned  Not identified Intercultural
encounters
experiences. (Wendy
Excerpt 7.14; Siti
 Capital not yet
legitimated
Excerpt 7.15)

In this thesis, I argue that there are multiple legitimations in overlapping and
adjacent sub-fields in the new field of education. Legitimacy did not come as a
packet; rather, they should be granted against different rules of the game across
sub-fields. These sub-fields are broadly categorized in this thesis as ‘the centre’,
‘the margin’, and ‘intercultural encounters’. By ‘the centre’ I mean the sub-field
that is inhabited by actors with authorized positions and privileged forms of
capital. In this thesis, it refers to the educational institution, or the Australian
university. By ‘the margin’ I mean the sub-field, inhabited by members with
less privileged positions and forms of capital in the field. By ‘intercultural
encounters’, I mean selective social events, intercultural occasions and
circumstances that were only available to and taken as meaningful by the EAL
international students on their study abroad experiences. These categorizations
and resolutions employed are illustrated in the following figure (Figure 8.2).

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Figure 8.2. Resolutions and Field Categorisations

To summarise this section with the figure above, for this thesis, distinguishing
sub-fields is important, as the EAL international students resolved their
complications by finding a new field or position where they enjoyed more
chances of exchanging capital. The students moved simultaneously or
alternatively across several sub-fields. These resolutions were produced by
constant reflections upon lessons learnt, from accrued capital and an acquired
feel for the game in their adaptation. These lessons are discussed in the
following sections on codas.

Codas
In this thesis, codas serve both methodological and theoretical purposes, as
shown in Chapter Three and Four. Therefore, it is instructive to revisit codas
and what they do in a narrative. Codas are an extra part of the narrative structure,
following resolutions, to end a recounted event (Labov & Waletzky, 1967/1997).
They are provided as a moral learnt from the narration of the event and to draw
the audience back to the present. The moral is not about evaluations of the event
per se, but more of circumstances in general. Thus, codas mostly come in
present tense; however, there are exceptions. Simple past can be used when
other linguistic devices are utilized to take the audience away from what
happened in the narrative. The simple past here does not include the historical
present that is used to emphasize dramatic effects of a narrative.

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The codas in this thesis are concerned with morals drawn from actual
experiences as recounted by the EAL international students in a new field of
education. These codas were reflective accounts of habitus, capital, and new and
old fields. They show these students’ views on adjustment to and
accommodation of new rules of the game, vis-à-vis the rules or routines taken
for granted by these students. I stress here that codas link the past of the EAL
international students to conditions in their present. The themes identified
recurred in narratives on similar topics, narrated by the students, as a result of
the methodological design of this thesis, with multiple points of data generation.

Most codas in this thesis were associated with habitus adjustments. They come
in five themes:

 understandings of positions and capital vis-à-vis others in new field;

 awareness of the need to accrue capital and acquire a feel for the game;
 satisfaction about capital accrued and an acquired feel for the game;
 reaffirmations as agent in taking actions and making adaptation;
 feeling comfortable or uncomfortable about the rules of the game.
They are further illustrated in the following Table 8.5.

Table 8.5 Codas and associated theoretical concepts

Themes Codas Theoretical

interpretations
 Understandings  So we don’t know how they study, how  Relation One: Field
of positions and they work in a group (Siti Excerpt and Capital
capital vis-à-vis 6.13)  Relation Two: Habitus
others’ in new
field
 it felt like all the worries I had or and Field
everything were justified. I’m entitled
to have these worries (Risa Excerpt
 Emotional reactions to
new force of the field
7.4)
 I am so happy, so happy, and ((my
marks are)) even more than many local
students (Julia Excerpt 5.11)
 I’m changed … try to have
conversations with English speakers
and I try to enjoy (Ruby Excerpt 7.12)
 To be fair everyone should have the
same number of pages (Patrick Excerpt
6.12)
 Awareness of the  Since I came here I want to do it well  Relation Three:
need to accrue (Donna Excerpt 5.3) Capital and Field
capitals and
acquire a feel for
 Sometimes my difficulty is something  Adjusting habitus to
like that (Ngoc Excerpt 5.8) new force of the field
the game
 That is the only way I can do (Wendy  Emotional reactions

259
 Excerpt 5.17)
 So language is very important, I have
no choice. I must, I have to improve my
language (Donna Excerpt 6.1)
 So I think it is good to make friends.
This is even more helpful than my
progress in language. (Donna Excerpt
6.4)
 so I just like to take the chance to know
more (Wendy Excerpt 7.14)
 Satisfaction  I also learnt one ((thing))-whenever  Relation Three:
about capital you want to argue, you must be clear, Capital and Field
accrued and an you must be strong. (Ngoc Excerpt 7.8)  Relation Two: Habitus
acquired feel for
the game
 Two issues I learn from the process and Field
(Ngoc Excerpt 7.8)
 (Disappoint  I’ve learnt a lot about myself and
about capital not about how to do research (Risa
accrued or Excerpt 7.6)
legitimated)
 Don’t assume that … because the
people don’t talk to you, you assume
they don’t like you (Siti Excerpt 7.17)
 I don’t have a good grasp of it (Sandra
M. Excerpt 5.14)
 Australians, I think, don’t like too
much to mix with us (Patrick Excerpt
6.12)
 Reaffirmations  Ngoc, you have to overcome  Adjusting habitus
as agent in
taking actions
everything by yourself (Ngoc Excerpt
5.9)
 Relation Two: Habitus
and Field
and making
adaptations
 I have no choice. I must, I have to
improve my language (Donna Excerpt
6.1)
 There should be more ups and downs,
but I’m now in one of the better states
at the moment.  (Risa Excerpt 7.1)
 Feeling  There is nothing I can do (Donna  Relation Two: Habitus
comfortable or Excerpt 6.2) and Field
uncomfortable
about the rules of
 I am not interested in it at all (Julia
Excerpt 5.11)
the game
 I think they are right (Maryam Excerpt
6.11)
 I may be too judgmental (Donna
Except 6.15)
 Anyway, I have good interactions with
my Australian classmates in one unit.
That is good enough for me to feel
comfortable (Sandra M. Excerpt 6.17)
 I am proud of myself actually. I’ve
learnt a lot about myself and about
how to do research and so on. …
although I would not like to go through
this again so blindly not knowing what
to expect from university life in
Australia (Risa Excerpt 7.6)
 So I don’t want to do that ((go to
church)) again. (Laugh) Yeah, that’s
the experience about church (Xue
Excerpt 7.13)

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In some cases, codas reflected on habitus adjustments over time. They showed a
growing match of habitus and field as a result of adjusted hopes and aspirations
against rules of the game in new field. Sandra M’s coda ‘I feel people here are
not as friendly as I imagined. I remember my classmates …. had experiences of
being ignored when talking to local Aussies,’ (Excerpt 6.16), reports a mismatch
of initial expectations in terms of building friendships in the new field, based
upon stories told by a third party. The mismatch informed adjusted hopes and
pointed to potential reserved actions to make friends. Four months later, Sandra
M’s coda changed to the following ‘Anyway, I have good interactions with my
Australian classmates in one unit. That is good enough for me to feel
comfortable …’ (Excerpt 6.17). This change illustrates differently adjusted
hopes and habitus to enable a better match with the field and feeling of comfort.
The point here lies in a compromised condition concerning friendship building,
which might not be ideal but is ‘good enough’. For the purpose of this thesis,
changeability in habitus is possible, in contexts or in narratives told over time
around similar practices of friendship building by the same student.

Codas also reflected on the success and/or failures in the students’ acquisition of
a feel for the game in the new field. The codas captured the students’ views on
their match or mismatch between habitus and field. The focus of these codas is
largely on the present and on their potential to point to future strategies. The
codas ‘There is nothing I can do’ and ‘… I must, I have to improve my language’
(Excerpt 6.1) indicate the limited choices open to the students at that moment
and habitus adjustments necessary to accrue capital. Sometimes the student was
explicit about what had been learnt: ‘I also learn one ((thing))-whenever you
want to argue anything, you must be clear, you must be strong’. It is shown that
habitus can be adjusted to new conditions in the new field and that the moral
learnt would inform future strategies.

In some narratives, codas sought to adjust strategies to accrue capitals. The coda
discussed earlier, ‘… I must, I have to improve my language’, is a typical
example to seek adjustments in capital, linguistic capital in particular. Also, the
coda ‘but that’s the reason why I have to work very hard for final exam of this

261
semester’ indicates that strategies were drawn from past experiences to seek
capital adjustments.

In brief, these codas reflect how EAL international students in this thesis
acquired a feel for the game and how this feel adjusted their habitus. The codas
also inform how the students made sense of the force of the field, whether they
‘fitted in’ the field, and how they proceeded with solutions and strategies to
resolve the challenging task they set for themselves.

International students are not a homogeneous group. As the biographic details in

Chapter Five show, they are disparate in terms of cultural capital, linguistic
capital, social capital, economic capital and institutional sponsorship. They are
also different in how they set their goals in their life and study in Australia. This
will impact on their engagement in the new fields of relations they encounter.
Not all EAL international students struggle; some experience relatively few
challenges in their first year of study in an Australian university. In this thesis, I
argue that a Bourdieusian framework helps to disaggregate the big uniform
‘International students’ and see the difference of this student population.

Research literature thus far, as reviewed in Chapter Two, has not yet adequately
understood EAL international students’ emotional reactions in the process of
engaging with a new field of relations (for example, Koehne, 2006). Marked
emotional contours are reactions to the students’ encounters with new rules in
new fields from both social and academic aspects of lives. Positive emotions
such as confidence, fulfilment, and happiness are typically generated when
students have capital built and legitimated in the new field of relations
legitimated. On the other hand, negative emotional reactions such as anger,
diffidence, and confusion are generally produced when emotional resolutions
and actual outcomes do not match. Emotional resolutions are not the same as ‘a
feel for the game’. Rather, they refer to an emotional fit of actors’ aspirations
and actual outcomes produced by resolutions. ‘A feel for the game’ can fulfil
emotional resolutions when actors’ aspirations match actual outcomes.

Bourdieu’s theory helps to make evident successful adaptation over time with
pivotal legitimation in its multiple senses at various stages of adaption in

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overlapping sub-fields. Questions of adaptation in a new field of relations are a
sociological enquiry about fields and relations, as shown in Three Relations of
Field, Capital and Habitus in Chapter Three. They are not a matter of cultural
learning styles and fixed cultural identities.

As shown in the codas discussed in this chapter, I argue that constant

reciprocated reflections upon habitus and fields of relations make evident that
habitus can be transforming. Actions and strategies are generated by
adjustments made in habitus, newly built capital and legitimations. I argue for
Bourdieu’s corrective stance made regarding potential of habitus change under
circumstances, as discussed in Chapter Three:

not only can habitus be practically transformed … by the effect of social

trajectory leading to conditions of living different from initial ones, it can
also be controlled through awakening of consciousness and socioanalysis
(1990a, p. 116, original emphasis).
My analyses in this thesis is consistent with the claim that some habitus has
transformative potential (Mills, 2008; Naidoo, 2009). I further propose that the
generative mechanism of ‘some transformative habitus’ lies in Three Relations
of Field, Capital and Habitus—transforming habitus is dependent upon
realignments in habitus, a reconfigured capital portfolio and legitimacy granted
by actors in associated fields of relations. Habitus transformation is most likely
generated by a mismatch of actors’ emotional resolutions to actual and potential
outcomes, under circumstances of disruptive times of crisis when habitual
reactions to the new force of the field are no longer applicable.

In the following, I turn to discussions over senses of coming to belong,

produced by emotional reactions to Relation Two: Habitus and Field, alongside
processes of transforming habitus in the adaptation to a new field of relations.

Senses of ‘coming to belong’ and their sources

I propose three senses of coming to belong and identify their sources in this
section. The first is concerned with belonging to the centre of field of
international education. A sense of coming to belong to the centre is achieved
by legitimacy granted by social actors in the centre of the field of international
education. By centre I mean the field operated by authorised representatives.

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Coming to belong to the centre produces positive emotional reactions under the
circumstances of being able to function as full-fledged colleagues with rights,
enshrined in policy of the educational institution. In the case of international
education in Australia in this thesis, ‘the centre’ refers to the university as a
whole. The second is with coming to belong to the margin, enabled by
legitimacy granted by social actors holding positions in the margin, similarly to
those held by the EAL international students, as new arrivals of EAL and
international backgrounds. ‘The margin’ refers to associated sub-fields,
overlapping and adjacent to each other in the field of international education and
its wider social field meaningful to the students.

The final sense of coming to belong is concerned with intercultural encounters.

It is largely produced by two senses of ‘coming to’ Australia to study as an EAL
international student, and of ‘coming to’ belong in the new field of relations,
defined and understood by the student. Coming to belong to intercultural
encounters is not produced by existing legitimacy granted by actors in the new
field of education, but by potential legitimacy to be granted by actors in a
chosen future field of interest. The term ‘intercultural encounter’ refers to

 a meaningful social, cultural and linguistic encounter that is accessible

to the student during the time of study in Australia, but less so in
country of origin;
 a social, cultural and linguistic event that works a pivotal change to
the student in the sense-making process of old and new fields;
 a series of social, cultural and linguistic activities that reaffirm or re-
orient habitus; and
 potentially profitable social, cultural and linguistic experience that can
be convertible to a species of capital, intercultural capital (Luke &
Goldstein, 2006) for example, in a particular field, including countries
of origin, Australia, or other international contexts.
It should be stressed that capital is cumulative; it takes time to accumulate and
be legitimated. For the intercultural encounters experienced by participants to be
legitimated as valid capital, more time is required to turn these experiences to
legitimate forms of capital in their future field of employment. Nonetheless,
these experiences were important to participants during their study abroad life,
as they enabled them to feel that they come to belong in this broad field of
international education in Australia.

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Revisiting the Researcher’s Subjectivity
To turn back to my own narrative of coming to belong over the conduct of this
research, I came to Australia in mid-2006 from Taiwan as a permanent resident
and later a citizen. So I could be considered to be immigrant-oriented, like
Maryam, Donna, Ruby, Julia, Celina, and Wendy. Here I provide my own
narrative of coming to belong, also analysed by narrative structure to end this
section.

Orientation: I came to Brisbane in January 2007 with my two school-aged

sons, hoping to experience English-medium education in Australia.
Complication 1: I remember my first doctoral seminars were like voices
flying over my head. I did not know what they were talking about and I
did not know whether the problem was because of my English or my
lack of knowledge.
Evaluation 1: I panicked. I wondered how it was that some of my
colleagues were responding to the academics easily. I was very slow. It
was a difficult start.
Complication 2: I lost interest in my first proposed topic on technology-
enhanced English learning. I realised strongly that my journey
paralleled that of my children, who had started in Australian primary
and secondary schools six months earlier than I had enrolled at
university. Did they experience feelings of confusion or frustration
similar to me? I wondered if other EAL international students starting
their study in an Australian university felt disoriented as I did.
Resolution 1: I wanted to know more about these processes and situations.
I decided to seek out interested academics as potential supervisors. I
was offered a cup of tea by one academic on my way to meet another—
a welcoming gesture. I was both regretful and angry about this
challenging start, but kept my emotions to myself. Then I dropped in to
visit another academic.
Complication 3: This was when I had a melt-down. With her there,
listening to me, I could not hold emotions back any longer, while I was
talking about my ideas for a new project.
Resolution 2: After that, I changed to the topic of international students’
experiences that I have investigated in the research reported here.
Evaluation 2: I gave a presentation on this new project three months later.
I could feel from the floor some recognition and support for the project.
I was also praised for my fresh look at the topic. I was happy about this.
At the same time, I could see some colleagues struggling with their
presentations and getting less encouraging feedback from the audience.
From this, I realised that I could do well even though I might have had
a slow start.

265
Resolution 3: I applied for a scholarship as I started my study, partly to
keep the opportunity open to be able to work in Australia later as an
academic. I also aimed to do a thesis that would be good enough to take
me to that next step. I was well supported by supervisors and was
awarded a living stipend by the university at the start of 2008. My
English proficiency in particular was recognised by them as one of my
strengths.
Evaluation 3: I was overjoyed.
Complication 4: Several times during data generation in 2008, I was upset
when hearing participants’ stories—their melt-downs, loneliness, study
and finance pressures. And then my own PhD journey came into
conflict with my children’s study trajectories. I had to accompany my
older son back to Taiwan in January, 2009, to continue senior-
secondary education there the following year, but continued my
research from Taiwan. Many people—myself included—wondered
whether I would ever complete the thesis. When I was pressed to teach
again in my previous school appointment from early 2010, my study
did not come to a halt, but I needed more time.
Resolution 4: I desperately wanted to finish my thesis. I had to split my
life into three parts: teaching, thesis, and family for another 18 months
in Taiwan. However, I did not feel that there was a gap in my
supervision process because one supervisor visited Taiwan for an
extended period of time the same year and we presented papers
together at conferences.
Complication 5: In reality, it was not as neat or simple as this. I broke
down once, not knowing when I would see the end of this thesis. I
wasn’t as strong as I imagined.
Evaluation 4: At school, I felt I was a more interesting and interculturally-
aware teacher because I could share stories illustrating the context-
specificity of the meanings of the vocabulary we were studying. I could
also share stories of my sons’ experiences in Australian schools. My
students enjoyed all of them. I did not quite fit back into my old
structured teaching routines and was unfamiliar with new processes in
the school. But I felt too that I was constantly restraining myself from
critical comment. At the same time, I felt a lot more open to different
perspectives on students’ experiences. During this time, I was lucky
that another supervisor visited me in Taiwan at my school to help
sustain my momentum.
Resolution 5: I returned to the campus in Australia again in mid-2011. I
came with a nearly completed thesis and a theorisation on ‘coming to
belong’ as an EAL speaker in Australian educational settings.
Evaluation 5: I had a warm welcome, even though I had left Australia
without saying proper goodbyes to some friends. A Taiwanese-
Australian friend offered me a car for use and a place to stay. Two
Australian colleagues—recent PhD graduates—had a welcome back
lunch for me. One of them offered me a place to stay on my next trip
back. On campus, I also ran into a former Chinese housemate, a bio-

266
 tech scientist, who had been awaiting conferral of her PhD and working
as a postdoctoral researcher during the brief time we had lived together.
We set up a reunion dinner together with another PhD candidate from
Taiwan. The welcome from my supervisors were also warm. They
offered me an airport pickup and helped arrange accommodation and
office space. I never expected all this.
Coda: Now, as I am finalising my thesis, possibilities of coming to belong
that I understand in theory are happening in practice in my life. It is
like everything I had hoped for and dreamt of before I started my
journey to Australia is coming together. I am happy that my thesis is
almost done. Perhaps my aspirations to be an academic in Australia or
in Taiwan someday are closer to realisation after this challenging
personal and academic journey.
From this self narrative, it is clear that, like my participants, I was seeking a new
field position with a reconfigured capital portfolio. The rules of the game were
opaque to me in the beginning. The first pivotal change came at my initial
presentation. My newly-built cultural capital in the new field was legitimated by
authorised representatives. I then adjusted my goal. My new goal was based on
existing habitus, as a good student, and on reconfigured appreciation of the
forces of the field and the value of my capital portfolio—‘I could do well’. I was
further legitimated when I received a university scholarship. This indicated
convertibility of my cultural capital to economic capital. Academically, I
achieved legitimacy in the centre, but this legitimacy was not granted once and
for all. I felt I had come to belong a little closer to the centre but was not quite
there yet.

I had prolonged complications in the process of thesis writing. These

complications affected my legitimacy. With both cultural and social capital
mobilised through full supervisory support, I was able to sustain my study. On
my return to Australia, I was able to mobilise the capital I had built up in my
social networks over time. I was granted social legitimacy by actors in the
centre and resources from a friend from the local community. I acquired too
academic legitimacy from supervisors in the education field. I had come to
belong simultaneously in multiple sub-fields. The moral I learnt from my own
journey was that I could envision a different future with a reconfigured capital
portfolio and constant adjusted appreciation of the forces of the field.

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Over time, my emotional reactions went from initial confusion, panic, sadness,
and anger, to happiness, satisfaction, fulfilment and pride. These were empirical
manifestations, indicating an initial mismatch of habitus and field, and then
growing adjustment and legitimation. They were produced by tasks in new
fields and the forces of those fields.

The intercultural encounters meaningful to me were concerned with my

children’s experiences in Australian primary and secondary schools and my use
of English in an English-medium context. These encounters became stories I
shared with students for pedagogical purposes or for creating rapport with them;
they were recognised by the students as valuable. For 18 months with my
students, I was legitimated by them as someone bringing cultural and linguistic
capital from an English-speaking country. I came to belong through meaningful
intercultural encounters accessible to me as an EAL international student in
Australia.

Before I proceed, I have three points to make. Firstly, I acknowledge differences

in the classed and racial dimensions of my habitus (Luke, 2009). However, I
focus on what pivotal change I could make in the process of my study as an
EAL international PhD student, as I could not have done much with these
classed and racial experiences. Secondly, my coming to belong was concerned
with accrued capital necessary for my study at pivotal moments. It could be
argued that I have certain classed dispositions, with a relatively short distance to
the educational field I entered into (Bourdieu, 1996). However, I could have
failed or withdrawn my candidature at some points, had I not had the capital
channelled to me through supervision. Class dispositions in this regard were not
determinant in my coming to belong. Thirdly, my sense of coming to belong
was concerned with the symbolic value of legitimacy granted to me. This is
because I ultimately aimed to accrue symbolic capital of a doctorate. However,
it is not to assume that symbolic capital is the only source of coming to belong
or equally important to everyone. As a PhD student, I have decided that cultural
capital and symbolic capital matter; however, as a person, I might change my
priority after my study.

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Conclusion
In this chapter, I have established how EAL international students went through
processes of legitimation, simultaneously and alternatively, across several sub-
fields. They were granted legitimacy on the grounds of their cultural, social, and
linguistic capital by actors holding divergent positions of power in the fields.
Legitimacy in the multiple senses offered by divergent actors in their respective
sub-fields affected senses of coming to belong. In this thesis, legitimacy
(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977) is a parallel term to Bourdieu’s use of recognition,
as explained in Chapter 3. I use legitimacy to refer to pivotal status achieved
when forms of capital are legitimated and recognised in a particular field or sub-
field. This pivotal status, attributed to actors, is dependent upon relations
between habitus, field and capital, or Relation One, Two, and Three, proposed
in this thesis. Also, legitimacy is not the same as distinction (Bourdieu, 1984) or
symbolic value of capital portfolios—symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1991, 1996,
1998). The aim is to discern specificities involved in the packet of recognition,
or value of capital, conferred by divergent actors in varied sub-fields. These
specificities matter as they constitute sources of coming to belong for different
actors.

Extending Bourdieu and Passeron (1977), I propose four forms of legitimacy,

marking shifted power positions conferred at pivotal moments in a particular
sub-field for new students in new education fields. Firstly, academic legitimacy
means a legitimate status recognised on the ground of acquiring legitimated
cultural capital granted by authorised representatives in a particular discipline in
educational institutions. Academic legitimacy, as being institutionalised, is
premised by a new feel for the game and a reconfigured capital portfolio for a
new education field. Secondly, linguistic legitimacy refers to a legitimated status
recognised by members of meaningful (sub-)fields or social fields to EAL
speakers, in particular. Linguistic legitimacy, whether or not institutionalised, is
premised by the linguistic capital achieved in terms of its credibility and
acceptability. However, depending on divergent power endowed on those who
legitimate, linguistic legitimacy does not have the same value. The differential
power of legitimacy works similarly in the case of social legitimacy, which
refers to a legitimate status, or membership, granted by a particular group of

269
peers, colleagues or powerful others. The value of social and linguistic
legitimacy varies from who legitimates in which field of interest. Finally,
intercultural legitimacy means a legitimated status, enabled by investment in
international education, and possible accrual of capital prompted by meaningful
intercultural encounters in an international education field and its wider context.
It should be noted that this intercultural legitimacy seems straightforward;
nonetheless, it is dependent upon Relation Two, Habitus and Field; and Relation
Three, Field and Capital. It is through these relations that intercultural
legitimacy is meaningful and has its potential. This is because the capacity to
‘possible accrual of capital’ is important, as capital takes time to build and to be
legitimated by relevant actors in a field of interest.

Drawing upon the analyses of this thesis, I propose a spectrum of coming to

belong. I argue that coming to belong occurs in the process of refracted beams
composed of academic legitimacy, linguistic legitimacy, and social legitimacy,
and intercultural legitimacy, granted by existing and potential actors in (sub)-
fields of interest. This is illustrated in Figure 8.3.

Figure 8.3. Legitimacy and Coming to belong

270
By this figure, I illustrate relations of legitimacy and coming to belong. The
arrow on the left indicates EAL international students enter a new educational
field, constituted by varied sub-fields overlapping and adjacent to each other.
These students enter with their existing capital portfolios and feel for the game,
which must go through processes of legitimation in the new field to have any
value. The prism in the centre of this figure represents these processes of
legitimation. At the same time, the prism contains different outcomes of these
processes defined by actors holding different field position. These actors are
explained on the side of the prism as ‘EAL peers’, ‘other peers’, ‘authorised
representatives’, and ‘unknown actors’. Depending on power endowed with
varied field positions, they can decide the outcomes of legitimation and
determine to which sub-fields actors will come to belong to, as shown on the
right of Figure 8.3.

The prism of Figure 8.3 is an analogy of legitimation in multiple senses. It

refracts rainbow colours when beams come out of the prism, as shown on the
right of the figure. However, for this thesis, I stress that these beams go through
emotional resolutions, referred to as actors’ decisions as to which source, what
level, by whom and which (sub-)field that matters for their senses of coming to
belong. In a broad and metaphorical sense, the refracted colours can be
categorised as the margin, the centre and intercultural encounters that indicate a
spectrum of coming to belong. The categories ‘The margin’, ‘The centre’, and
‘Intercultural encounters’ may overlap to some degree but can remain
analytically distinct. It is predicted that the more legitimacy acquired, the more
likely it is for the EAL international student to come to belong in the centre;
however, the stance of this thesis would not suggest that coming to belong to the
centre is necessarily the aim for all EAL international students. This spectrum
aims to describe, rather than prescribe outcomes of coming to belong.

I would further emphasize that central to the spectrum of coming to belong is

the concept of emotional resolution, defined as an emotional state, derived from
how habitus adjusts to the force of the field, accrued capital, and aspirations are
adjusted. It functions to enable or disable a sense of coming to belong to a
particular source and/or field. It will then determine whether one comes to

271
belong to the centre, to the margin and/or to intercultural encounters, based on
which species or what combination of legitimacy matters in this process.

I conclude that senses of coming to belong are dependent on

i) emotional resolutions, labelled as 1 in Figure 8.3;

ii) reconfigured capital portfolios, labelled as 2;
iii) species of legitimacy—academic, linguistic, social, and
intercultural—labelled as 3.
There are two points to make here. Firstly, senses of coming to belong for a
particular actor can vary at different timings and in different (sub-)fields.
Secondly, I argue that legitimacy is not the same as distinction or symbolic
capital. I use the term legitimacy to stress the pivotal status, attributed to actors
reliant upon their relations between habitus, field and capital, or Relation One,
Two, and Three, proposed in this thesis.

As discussed in Chapter Five, EAL international students came to an Australian

university by different routes of entry. They might choose to return to home
countries, to immigrate to Australia, or en route to other parts of the world.
Depending upon individual emotional resolutions, some students are happy to
remain in the margin and enjoy an intercultural encounter to experience their
study life abroad. They do so with awareness that they aim for potential
legitimacy of international encounters and anticipated capital to be accrued in a
field outside Australia. Apple from China, for example, was able to land on a
job offer before she graduated from her university. She was recognised as an
interculturally-aware recruit by an international finance firm, based in China.
Her cultural capital, though not yet conferred with a degree at that time, and
intercultural encounters in Australia were legitimated by employers in home
country. Another example is Maryam, who also had a job offer from an
Australian company before graduating from her Master’s program. She recalled
that ‘the first time they [employers] told me they’re really impressed and they’re
really interested in ((my)) working here. They really “want me to come on
board”. This expression he used.’ Both Apple and Maryam successfully
acquired a new field position in their chosen fields with newly accrued cultural
capital.

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Limitations of the Study
I acknowledge that the findings of this thesis are based upon accounts of a
particular group of international EAL university students in the context of
international education in Australia at a particular time. This particular student
body was not recruited to reflect their representativeness of the whole
international or EAL international student population. However, participants’
accounts were interpreted through a cohesive methodological and theoretical
framework, as presented in Chapter Three and Four. The findings have been
conceptualised through sociological theory to explain the generative
mechanisms producing experiences of this particular student population.
Nevertheless, I argue that the participants’ experiences shared commonalities of
those encountered by students of a variety of backgrounds, studying at different
levels in a range of English-medium educational settings in the Britain, Canada
and the U.S., as identified in Chapter Two. I argue that the findings of this thesis
are valid and that the conceptualisation of the findings is translatable. I trust
interpretations of validity of this thesis to the discretion of readers.

Further, the prolonged data generation process of this one-year design and
multiple-point interviews with participants allowed this thesis to capture
participants’ accounts over time in first year experience in an Australian
university. This design might still further explore the findings arguing for
potential legitimation of intercultural encounters, as this design is a longitudinal
one. Nevertheless, I argue that it is a theoretical and methodological challenge
for researchers to capture moments of legitimation after the EAL international
students are conferred with their degrees. This is because capital is cumulative,
and its accumulation is a lifelong process. It takes time to be legitimated by
actors and converted to other forms of capital in a particular field. Based on
these, I make suggestions as to further research in a later section.

Significance of the Study

This thesis provides alternative understandings of life and learning experiences
of EAL international students in an Australian university from sociological
perspectives. Rather than viewing these students’ individual and cultural
attributes as psychological problems, I argue that challenges and problems

273
associated with ‘coming to’ Australia and studying in a language not one’s first
are productively looked at as sociological questions.

The students’ challenges and problems can be understood in terms of social

relations and struggles of legitimation among the EAL international students,
authorised representatives of the university, and peers in sub-fields in the centre
and the margin. They would not have been solved prior to the students’ arrival
in a new field of education in Australia.

Also, this thesis has explored empirical educational research on EAL

international students’ social relations in contexts outside university settings, for
example, churches and workplaces. This adds to the understanding of students’
effort and aspiration to build linguistic capital through the acquisition of social
capital and a possible change in habitus.

In empirical terms
This thesis extended enquiry regarding first year university students to sub-
fields off campus and provides a systematic examination on what produces
senses of belonging, as argued by Wilcox and colleagues (2005). This study
differs from their perspective in that questions of belonging are not concerned
with an either/or selection, but a both/and combination of social and academic
support. My stance here is consistent with that of social engagement researchers
on questions of belonging of ESL migrant students in mainstream education in
the U.S. (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Suarez-Orozco, et al., 2009; Valenzuela, 1999)
and those of non-traditional university students in the Britain (Reay, 2001). On
this ground I have argued that questions of belonging should not be limited to
psychological loneliness (Sawir, et al., 2008) or to exclusion by Anglophone
peers or classmates (Jabal, 2010).

Next, this thesis adds to the understanding of ‘diversity’ from the perspective of
capital accrual and exchange in the field of international education. This
sociological perspective provides insight into how struggle is generated and
resolved in EAL international students’ experiences of diversity brought about
by different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Such insight has been lacking in

274
the literature on higher education and first year experience (McInnis, 2001;
McInnis, James, & Hartley, 2000; Strauss & Alice, 2007).

Further, I add to the research literature on EAL international students, insights

into strategies of seeking a powerful field position for self, as well as family, in
a chosen field, as raised by Singh and Doherty (2008). I conceptualise EAL
international students’ emotional reactions to processes of adaptation and
legitimation, as opposed to discussions over contradictory representations of the
students (Kenway & Bullen, 2003; Koehne, 2006).

Then, I argue in this thesis that ‘legitimate peripheral participation’, as adopted

by Solomon (2007), Morita (2004), and Leki (2001), limits understanding of
struggle of legitimation in the process of adaptation to a new field of education.
Struggle or conflict involved in new members’ participation in a given
community should be explored to reveal the power exercised by other members,
as these power relations can affect new members’ senses of belonging.

Finally, this thesis confirms that theoretical concepts, concerning use of a

legitimate language in a particular field, explored in the ESL migrant student
literature are applicable in the context of higher education. For example, social
relations of a legitimate language affected EAL international students’ audibility
(Miller, 2003), peer social capital (Goldstein, 2003a) and silence as a form of
capital (Goldstein, 2008). In the following I discuss theoretical contributions of
this thesis.

In theoretical terms
The theoretical contributions of this thesis are concerned with new
understandings and theorisations of Bourdieu’s theory. These contributions are
made possible through the empirical work done with a valid Critical Realist
methodological framework, discussed in Chapter Four. I propose theorisations
of

 emotional reactions as empirical manifestations of a (mis)match of

habitus and field;
 transforming habitus at times of crisis;
 coming to belong in Bourdieusian terms; and

275
  mutual accessibility, as a species of intercultural capital.
and address them in turn in the following sections.

Emotional reactions as empirical manifestations

I argue in Chapter Three that Bourdieu talked about emotion in his work in
Pascalian Meditations (2000), but did not elaborate explicitly in his theory
(Reed-Danahay, 2005). I propose that emotion is produced by relations between
habitus, as discussed in Relation Two, Chapter Three, and that emotional
reactions are empirical manifestations of a (mis)match of habitus and field.
When a feel for the game is acquired, positive emotions are likely to be
produced. In contrast, when an actor feels like a fish out of water, negative
emotions can be generated. This proposition is supported in the
conceptualisation of feelings of sadness, disappointment, frustration,
humiliation, happiness, honour, satisfaction, and fulfilment in response to the
force of the field. This builds the ground for further theorisation of ‘coming to
belong’ in Bourdieusian terms.

Coming to belong in Bourdieusian terms

I argue that ‘coming to belong’ is understood as a spectrum of emotional
reactions to legitimacies granted by social actors in a given field through
passage of rites of legitimation. Senses of coming to belong indicate a
(mis)match of habitus and field vis-à-vis emotional resolutions of the social
actors to sub-fields in the margin, in the centre, or intercultural encounters. The
‘coming’ here suggests a temporal passage, concerning the literal meaning of
‘coming’ to a particular field, or across several sub-fields simultaneously or
alternatively. As the metaphor of a spectrum implies, the boundary of sub-fields
can be blurred; the beams refracting from the prism depend on relations of
adjusted habitus, a reconfigured capital portfolio and legitimacy acquired by the
social actors.

Transforming habitus
This thesis takes the stance that adaptability of habitus is possible under the
circumstances of adjusted aspirations, derived from a reconfigured capital
portfolio and legitimacies granted in a new field at times of crisis. The times of
crisis in this thesis are concerned with coming to belong to a new educational

276
system, disrupting the effect of taken-for-granted educational strategies by
social actors in the face of new rules of the game. I use the term transforming
habitus as the generative mechanism producing adaptability of habitus, based
on imbricate relations between realigned aspirations to a reconfigured capital
portfolio and legitimacies, in response to the new force of the field. This extends
the understanding of why some actors have habitus that is more adaptable than
others at new times (S. Kelly, 2009; Mills, 2008).

Mutual accessibility: a species of intercultural capital

Extending Bourdieu (1991, 1993b), Lippi-Green (1997), and Miller (2003),
‘mutual accessibility’ is defined as competence of legitimating capital in
problematic linguistic production by investing more time and effort from both
first and additional speakers of the legitimate language to facilitate access to
capital transmitted in the communication in a particular field. Fostering mutual
accessibility is a condition to accrue capital in communication in a legitimate
language when at least one of the conversants is an EAL speaker. It is a form of
intercultural capital, derived from realigned habitus to the force of a new field.
This field is where new and experienced members of different cultural and
linguistic backgrounds have to go through linguistic situations for study, work,
trade or other purposes in the field of international education.

It should be stressed that the international education field of 21st century

Australia is not the education field of 20th century France described by Bourdieu.
The legitimate speakers in Bourdieu’s work were first speakers of French who
exercised power over social acceptability of other first speakers of regional
French dialects. The grammaticality of regional dialects was questioned at that
time by the legitimate speakers of French, but this is not the concern of this
thesis in the new field in the 21st century. The EAL speakers come with a range
of different levels of grammaticality and proficiency. This thesis does not take
the stance that consideration of grammaticality and proficiency should be
pushed aside. Rather, my point is that consideration of them should be built into
theories of linguistic legitimation.

277
In methodological terms
The methodological contribution of this thesis is premised on a Critical Realist
methodological framework, using narrative enquiry as a way to access the
meanings participants made of events and how these meanings informed their
future actions. Codas, as morals learnt from recounted events, are pivotal in the
analyses. I propose the following theoretical and methodological framework as
major significance of this thesis.

Figure 8.4. Coming to belong: A theoretical and methodological framework

This triangle in the middle has three layers, representing Critical Realists
layered realities. They are the empirical, the actual and the real. The empirical
constitutes the top layer and is understood as the reality that can be directly seen
and experienced by actors. The actual in the middle is the reality that may or
may not be empirically observed or experienced. The real makes up the bottom
layer of the generative mechanisms producing events, experiences and emotions.
The arrows from the bottom of the triangle to the top illustrate how multiple
causal and emergent mechanisms generate the empirical and the actual. The
different volume of the layers in the triangle shows that the empirical only
accounts for a relative minimum of any reality. I use the Bourdieusian
framework outlined in Chapter Three to understand the actual and the real. This
framework is illustrated on the left of this figure.

278
As shown on the top left, emotion constitutes the empirical layer of the reality. I
argue in this thesis that different emotions are empirical markers of a match or
mismatch between habitus and field. Bourdieu’s theory helps to understand that
emotions are produced by what is in the actual, including lack of capital, feel for
the game, or legitimacy. Concepts of habitus, rules of the game, and processes
of legitimation are also useful to illustrate what generates the empirical or the
actual. These are the generative mechanisms in the real, not necessarily known
to actors.

Finally, narrative on the right of the figure is viewed in this thesis as accounts of
what is seen, experienced, or felt in the empirical. Narrative structure—
orientation, complication, evaluation, resolution and coda— is used as analytic
lens to provide evidence to what is in the empirical, actual, and real.

Recommendations for Further Research

This thesis has attempted to document EAL international students’ pivotal
relations with ‘others’—authorised representatives, peers, associates, and
colleagues—in their first year study in an Australian university. I suggest more
work be done to understand the students’ interactions with ‘others’ in other
contexts; after they return to their home countries; in processes of migration and
job seeking in the local employment market; and in connectivities with peers,
associates, powerful actors, and members of the local community.

I further suggest that all these perspectives for further research can be done in
collaboration with observation data and longer data generation time, in tandem
with accounts of the ‘others’, with fresh theoretical perspectives, in a mixed-
method or quantitative design, and in comparative contexts. Researchers should
aim to look into species of valid intercultural capital that facilitate or hinder the
students’ future plans in a particular national or international field. The purpose
is to understand what else can be counted as intercultural capital; to explore
further aspects of social, linguistic and intercultural legitimacy in meaningful
contexts to these students; to reveal more rules of the game in (sub)fields.

Finally I suggest extending the findings of this thesis on EAL international

students’ learning experiences to policy and practical implications in successive

279
research. I would like to see how the findings can be addressed in first year EAL
international students’ support and service frameworks, in work on group work,
graduate capabilities, and EAL support in the higher education sector. It is also
important to document voices of authorized representatives, including
academics, teaching and service staff of first year international students, in the
higher education sector, in response to possible changes in practical
implementations this thesis had aimed to unsettle.

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Supplementary Materials
Appendix A: Interview Guide

Interview guide for participants (Second Interview)

In this interview I will ask you repeatedly to recount situations in which you
have had certain experiences …

 University life–  Lectures and classmates

academically –on and off  Content
campus
 Assessment
 Criteria
 Speaking
 Listening
 Language use  first language
 English
 Life, jobs, and future

 Friends, family,
acquaintances, classmates
 During the conversation, I will ask you to describe situations where
you wanted to find out certain information and how you tried to find
out about such information. Examples of things you might have
wanted to know about include ….

Chapter Four: Methodology and Method 281

On-site interview guide for researcher (Second
Interview)
Pre-interviewing

Acknowledgment and appreciation—our correspondences

Any questions so far
Topical
Referring back to our first interview
While-interviewing

Exemplary interview questions:

1. Has there been an occasion where you found out something

particularly helpful/challenging from a friend or lecturer, or family
member? Could you please tell me about that situation?
2. Can you think of a particularly relevant experience where you
needed some kind of …? Could you please tell me about the
situation?
3. There are some situations where we find that some information has
particularly helped us. Can you please tell me about a situation
where you found that you were particularly helped by some
information?
4. Can you recall any situation where you feel that you needed
information but were unable to get it? Could you please tell me
about the situation?
5. Was what you just told me a typical day last semester?
6. If you look back what was your first/most recent/most helpful/least
helpful encounter with … Could you please tell me about that?
7. How do you decide where to go for…information? Could you please
recount a situation that makes that clear to me?
8. What do you do if you need …information? Please recount a typical
situation. What do you expect from …with regard to information?
Please recount a typical situation.
Post-interviewing

Invite talk of impressions of the interview situation and context, and any
further comments made after the tape was turned off.

Chapter Four: Methodology and Method 282

Email check-in In-between interview sessions
Hi XXX,

Any story to share with me in the past two weeks?

Regards

XXX

Chapter Four: Methodology and Method 283

Appendix B: Participants’ Profiles

NAME ETHNICITY GENDER RELIGION STUDY AREA

1. Apple Chinese Female Christian* Commerce/

Undergrad.
2. Siti Malay Female Islam Education/
Undergrad.
3. Fatimah Malay Female Islam Education/
Undergrad.
4. Ngoc Vietnamese Female Commerce/ Masters
5. Sandra M. Taiwanese Female Education/ Masters
6. Patrick Swiss Italian Male Science/ Masters

7. Xue Chinese Female Commerce/ Masters

8. Singaporean Male App. Sci./
Chengying Chinese Undergrad.
9. Victor Singaporean Male Sci. and Tech.
Chinese
10. Tom Malaysian Male Humanities/
Chinese Undergrad.
11. Donna Chinese Female Nursing/ Undergrad.
12. Celina Korean Female Nursing/ undergrad.
13. Ruby Korean Female Christian Nursing/ undergrad.
14. Julia Chinese Female Education/ GDip/
Accounting/ Masters
15. Wendy Chinese Female Education/ Masters
16. Risa Japanese Female Humanities/ Honours
17. Maryam Middle East Female Islam Commerce/ Masters
Note. * indicates being Christian during student life in Australia.

284
Appendix C: Transcription Conventions

Speakers:
Int. interviewer
SS1 interviewee (pseudonym for reporting purposes)

Turn-taking:
[words] simultaneous speech
sch- cut-off
= latched turns (without intervening pause between speakers)

Clarity:
words certain transcription
(words) uncertain transcription
( ) intelligible
((laughter)) clarifying comment inserted into transcript by researcher
hhhh audible breathing out
mmm non-word sound

Intonation:
WORDS words read aloud
W-O-R-D words spelt aloud
bold stress

Pause:
((pause)) discernible pause (of any length)

285
Appendix D: Ethics Approval and Information Kit

286
 International Students’ Learning
Experience

Ms Jung-Hsiu (Isadora) Lin, Dr. Karen Dooley & Dr. Catherine Doherty

Information Package

Contact Information
Ms Jung-Hsiu (Isadora) Dr. Karen Dr. Catherine
Lin Dooley Doherty
Postgraduate Student Senior Lecturer Lecturer
School of Cultural and Language Studies in Education
Kelvin Grove Campus, QUT,
Victoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove, Q. 4059

T: (07) 3138-3241 T: (07) 3138-3430 T: (07) 3138-3263

F: (07) 3138-3988 F: (07) 3138-3988 F: (07) 3138-3988
E: E: E:
jhisadora.lin@studdnt.qut.edu.au k.dooley@qut.edu.au c.dohterty@qut.edu.au

287
International Students’ Learning Experience
Informed Consent Form
I __________________ :
(name)

 have read and understood the information package

 have had any questions answered to my satisfaction
 understand that if I have any additional questions I can contact the
research team
 understand that I am free to withdraw at any time without comment or
penalty
 understand that I can contact the Research Ethics Officer 3138 2340
or ethicscontact@qut.edu.au if I have any concerns about the ethical
conduct of the project
 understand that my interview will be audio taped, that my name will
not be attached to any data, and that pseudonyms will be used to all
participants in reports on the project.

I agree to participate in this project.

(signature) (date)

I would/would not like to receive reports regarding the outcomes of this

research, sent to my email address: .

Researcher Supervisory
team
Ms Jung-Hsiu (Isadora) Dr. Karen Dr. Catherine
Lin Dooley Doherty
Postgraduate Student, Senior Lecturer, Lecturer, QUT
QUT QUT
(07) 3138 3241 (07) 3138 3430 (07) 3138 3263
jhisadora.lin@student.qut. k.dooley@qut.e c.doherty@qut.e
edu.au du.au du.au

288
 Description of Project

Researcher

Ms Jung-Hsiu (Isadora) Lin

Supervisors

Dr. Karen Dooley

Dr. Catherine Doherty

Data Collection Period

Semester 1 and 2 in 2008

Aim

This doctoral project seeks international students’ feedback on their first-year

experience of studying in the higher education sector in Australia during the two
semesters in 2008. The purpose of this two-semester longitudinal project is to
explore how international students make sense of their first-year university life
by the stories they tell over time. Attention may be give to what stories are told,
in what sequences, and in what manners by these students. In particular, this
study would like to look into aspects of the complexities of using English as the
medium of education on campus and varying resources these students bring
with them and develop over time in their first-year experiences. At the same
time, this project is also interested in what roles cultural and linguistic
differences play in their everyday interaction with their teachers. This project
hopes to reveal both the process, in which these students and their teachers
interact with each other , and how this process is understood among them. Both
students and their teachers will be interviewed for data collection across two
semesters.

Background to the project

Policies of internationalization in Australian universities target taking in more

international enrolments to the higher educational sector (for example, Liddicoat,

289
Eisenchlas, & Trevaskes, 2003). This effort has been successful in drawing full-
fee paying international students coming from Asia, especially countries like
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, etc. Their
growing presence on campus is evident in the multicultural composition of
many classes.

The how-to literature in the late 90’s (for example, Ballard & Clanchy, 1997)
suggested that international students are problem learners because of their
cultural and linguistic differences. “Fixing” international students’ cultural and
linguistic differences outside their faculties is popular solutions. Also, this
group of literature makes distinctions between international students and local
students, between Western cultures and non-Western cultures, between Western
learning styles and Confucian learning styles. These are not without traces of
colonialism in that distinctions are made for the purpose of defining the self in
relation to the Others (Said, 1978).

Another body of literature has called for a more contextual model for teaching
international students (Biggs, 1997; Renshaw & Volet, 1995; Volet & Renshaw,
1995; Volet, Renshaw, & Tietzel, 1994). However, the former model still
prevails in that courses like Foundation, Bridging and English for Academic
Purpose aim to provide newly-arrived international students with the necessary
cultural learning knowledges and prepare them to be proficient in generic
English abilities. What is even more prominent is the gap between how
international students see themselves as independent and capable, and how
educators and administrative staff represent these students as otherwise in their
everyday interactions (Bullen & Kenway, 2003; Kenway & Bullen, 2003).
However, a more recent trend in the literature seeks recognition of student
agency (for example, Kettle, 2005), and also asks for “fixing” the teachers to
meet needs of all students (Carroll & Ryan, 2005).

This project will also draw on literature looking at the social aspects of second
language learners in English-speaking contexts in response to the academic
demands required (Goldstein, 2003; McKay & Wong, 1996; Miller, 2003;
Norton, 1995, 1997, 2000) to document the process of how international
students use English as an additional language in their university life. This

290
project hopes to provide an understanding of how international students can be
better served by the educational institutions in the global era from their
perspectives. Ultimately, it will offer a continuum of phases of their learning
experiences as they negotiate their positioning in the global cultural flows.

Theoretical framework

This project is informed by readings of social theorists in areas such as global

cultural flows (Appadurai, 1996), cultural fluidity (Bauman, 2000), cultural
capital (Bourdieu, 1986), and social capital (Putnam, 2000). It is also informed
by the literature addressing second language learners and native speakers (Cook,
2002; Davies, 2003; Pavlenko, 2002). It hopes to provide a fresh theoretic
framework to look at international students’ learning experiences to see how
cultural and linguistic differences come into play across time in the interactions
between international students and their teachers.

Methodology

Critical realism frames the methodology of this project for three reasons
(Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen, & Karlsson, 2002). The challenges of this
project in methodology are, first of all, how to go beyond what is observable in
empirical fields, and secondly, how the commonly held assumptions are
presented in the empirical research. Critical realism’s three-layered realities
serve as a good foundation for this project to firstly recognize the common
knowledges as one reality, then, treat the observable as another layer of reality,
and lastly to look for the causal mechanism for producing the above-mentioned
phenomenon. Lastly, the importance of theory emphasized by critical realism is
also pertinent in how the observable is understood in the reality and also how it
can be understood in a different light. The rethinking of what is taken for
granted is what this project aims for.

Methods

This study is an interview-based qualitative case study (Brown & Dowling,

1998; Denzin & Lincoln, c2005; Mertens, 1998; Silverman, 2005). Participants
will be drawn by opportunity sampling (Brown & Dowling, 1998) and semi-

291
structured interviews will be conducted for data collection (Gillham, 2005).
Probes will be used around several themed categories of questions based on the
analysis of the researcher for the participants to narrate and reflect on their
experiences. Interview data will be tape-recorded and fully transcribed. Follow-
up email interview data will be collected with the agreement of the participants
for the purpose of gaining the participants’ perspectives over time and also for
member checking interpretations of the data. This longitudinal research design
over two semesters seeks further understanding of international students’ first-
year learning experience.

Analytic Method

Detailed qualitative analyses will be conducted. Interviews with international

students and teachers will be coded by theme, and patterns will be picked up
which are related to their learning experience over time. I will look for repeating
patterns, using Riessmans' notion of narrative as recurring forms, considering
narratives as they come up again and again within the data (Riessman, 2002).

The interpretative framework includes a focus on international students'

agency. Bourdieusian concepts, including student investment in cultural and
social capital, will be used as relevant given repeated coding of similar student
experiences over time. Questions of coming to belong in learning and learning
communities will be of particular interest in looking at the participating
international students' university life.

Attention will be paid to my role as researcher in eliciting and framing data.

Much of my role will be a listener to students' learning experience and as a
prompter for narrative drawing. This eliciting role will be similar in
interviewing teachers. Teachers' accounts will serve the role of triangulation, to
make sense of students' accounts. Email follow-up checking will enable
interpretations to be made which will be more settled. Reflection on the
implication of my own identities in the data production and analysis process
will be undertaken. Key identities are likely to include those of myself as an
international postgraduate student, who holds roles as a teacher of English in a

292
foreign language (EAL) context, and as a user of English as an additional
language (EAL).

Proposed publication

I will seek publications in TESOL Quarterly, and related TESOL research and
professional journals and will advise the committee of other publications with
further information.

Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: cultural dimensions of globalization.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Ballard, B., & Clanchy, J. (1997). Teaching international students: a brief guide
for lecturers and supervisors. Canberra: IDP Education Australia.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Biggs, J. (1997, 8-11 July). Teaching and across and within cultures: the issue
and international students. Paper presented at the Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education: Advancing International Perspectives.
HERDSA Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook
of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 105-116):
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Brown, A., & Dowling, P. (1998). Doing research/reading research: a mode of
interrogation for education. London: The Falmer Press.
Bullen, E., & Kenway, J. (2003). Real or Imagined Women? Staff-
representations of International Women Postgraduate Students.
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 24(1), 36-50.
Carroll, J., & Ryan, J. (Eds.). (2005). Teaching international students:
improving learning for all. London; New York: Routledge.
Cook, V. (2002). Language teaching methodology and the L2 user perspective.
In V. Cook (Ed.), Portraits of the L2 user. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters LTD.
Danermark, B., Ekstrom, M., Jakobsen, L., & Karlsson, J. C. (2002). Explaining
society: Critical Realism in the social sciences. London and New York:
Routledge.
Davies, A. (2003). The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters LTD.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (c2005). The SAGE handbook of
qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Gillham, B. (2005). Research interviewing [electronic resource]: the range of
techniques. Maidenhead, New York: Open University Press.
Goldstein, T. (2003). Contemporary bilingual life at a Canadian high school:
choices, risks, tensions, and dilemmas. Sociology of Education, 76(3),
247-264.
Kenway, J., & Bullen, E. (2003). Self-representations of international women
postgraduate students in the global university ‘contact zone’. Gender
and Education, 15(1), 5-20.

293
Kettle, M. (2005). Agency as discursive practice: From ‘nobody’ to ‘somebody’
as an international student in Australia. Asia Pacific Journal of
Education, 25(1), 45-60.
Liddicoat, A. J., Eisenchlas, S., & Trevaskes, S. (Eds.). (2003). Australian
perspectives on internationalising education. Melbourne: Language
Australia.
McKay, S. L., & Wong, S.-L. C. (1996). Multiple discourses, multiple identities:
investment and agency in second-language learning among Chinese
adolescent immigrant students. Harvard Educational Review, 66(3),
577-608.
Mertens, D. M. (1998). Research methods in education and psychology.
Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
Miller, J. (2003). Audible difference: ESL and social identity in school:
Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Norton P. (1995). Social identity, investment and language learning. TESOL
Quarterly, 29(1), 9-31.
Norton P. (1997). Language, identity and the ownership of English. TESOL
Quarterly, 31(3), 409-429.
Norton P. (2000). Identity and language learning: gender ethnicity and
educational change.
Pavlenko, A. (2002). Poststructuralist approaches to the study of social factors
in second language learning and use. In V. Cook (Ed.), Portraits of the
L2 user (pp. 277-302). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters LTD.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American
Community New York: Simon & Schuster.
Renshaw, P. D., & Volet, S. E. (1995). South-East Asian Students’ at Australian
University: A Reappraisal of Their Tutorial Participation and
Approaches to Study. Australian Educational Researcher, 22(2), 85-106.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism: Western conceptions of the Orient. London:
Penguin.
Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research: a practical handbook.
London & Calif.: Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Volet, S. E., & Renshaw, P. D. (1995). Cross-cultural differences in university
students’ goals and perceptions of study settings for achieving their own
goals. Higher Education, 30, 407-433.
Volet, S. E., Renshaw, P. D., & Tietzel, K. (1994). A Short-term longitudinal
investigation of cross-cultural differences in study approaches using
Biggs' SPQ questionnaire. British Journal of Educational Psychology,
64, 301-318.

294
 To be printed on QUT letterhead
Project Description
International students’ learning experience

Researcher: Ms Jung-Hsiu (Isadora) Lin

Supervisors: Dr. Karen Dooley & Dr. Catherine Doherty
Email: jhisadora.lin@student.qut.edu.au
k.dooley@qut.edu.au, c.doherty@qut.edu.au

Information for Lecturers/Tutors

I am inviting your participation in a study about how undergraduate

international students go about their learning in their first year in Australia. This
is a doctoral project in education based in the Centre of Innovation in Education
at the Queensland University of Technology.

The aim of this project is to examine how international students and their
teachers in Australia interact with each other on campus. I am asking you to
participate in this interview-based project in the following processes:

Firstly, I would like to interview the lecturers/tutors of international students

during students’ first-year study in Australia, to share and reflect on their
experiences of working with these students. If you agree to participate I aim to
interview you twice for about 40 minutes – once at the beginning of the
semester, and again after the semester. The interviews will be audio-taped using
a tape recorder with your permission. Also, if necessary and with your consent, I
would like to invite you to respond to email for an occasional clarification of
information provided.

Secondly, I would appreciate your assistance in gaining access to any relevant

unit guidelines and course materials, be they printed or on-line.

If you choose to participate, your identity and that of your institution will
remain anonymous. When reporting on the project in my thesis and any
associated articles, I will substitute pseudonyms for all participants and
institutions. I will not include any information concerning your identity or your
institution’s identity in the research material or published findings.

You are assured that:

The contents of interviews and the course communication will be confidential,
and that there will be no way by which you or your institution can be identified.
You have the right to withdraw at any time during the project.
If you have any questions about the project, or your participation, you are
welcome to contact the researcher and/or the supervisors before giving your
consent. Contact details are listed above.
If you have any complaints about how this research is conducted, you can
contact the Secretary of the QUT University Human Research Ethics Committee
(ethicscontact@qut.edu.au)

295
If you are willing to give your informed consent please sign the attached form
and give it back to me at the earliest convenient time.

296
 To be printed on QUT letterhead
International students’ learning experience

Researcher: Ms Jung-Hsiu (Isadora) Lin

Supervisors: Dr. Karen Dooley & Dr. Catherine Doherty
Email: jhisadora.lin@student.qut.edu.au
k.dooley@qut.edu.au, c.doherty@qut.edu.au

Information for students

I am writing to invite your participation in a study about how undergraduate

international students go about their learning in their first year in Australia. This
is a doctoral project in education based in the Centre of Innovation in Education
at the Queensland University of Technology.

The aim of this project is to examine how international students and their
teachers in Australia interact with each other on campus. I am asking you to
participate in this interview-based project. I would like to interview some of you
in your first year of study in Australia, asking you to reflect on your
experiences of studying abroad. Interviews will be conducted in three
processes:

Firstly I will conduct three face-to-face interviews in two semesters, namely

one in the beginning of the first semester, one in the beginning of the second
semester, and one at the end of the second semester. The interviews are up to
one hour. The interviews will be audio taped using a tape recorder with your
permission.

Secondly, I will also ask you to respond to email fortnightly in-between the
face-to-face interviews. You will maintain contact with me on campus for
chatting about your university life.

Thirdly, I would like to ask your permission of making copies of a selection of

your assignments to be used in this study.

This project, and whether you choose to participate or not, will have no
impact on your grades or assessment.

If you choose to participate, your identity and that of your institution will
remain anonymous. When reporting on the project in my thesis and any
associated articles, I will use pseudonyms for all participants and institutions. I
will not include any information concerning your identity or your institution’s
identity in the research material or published findings.

You are assured that:

The contents of interviews and the course communication will be confidential,
and that there will be no way by which you or your institution can be identified.
You have the right to withdraw at any time during the project.

297
If you have any questions about the project, or your participation, you can ask
the researcher at any stage. You are welcome to contact me or the supervisors
through the contact details listed above.
If you have any complaints about how this research is conducted, you can
contact the Secretary of the QUT University Human Research Ethics Committee
(ethicscontact@qut.edu.au)

If you are willing to give your informed consent please sign the attached form
and give it back to me at the earliest convenient time.

298
 Student - Background and demographics

Participant code :

Course of Study :

Age: Male/Female
What cultural group(s) do you identify with?
Educational Background:

Qualification Year Institution and Language

completed location of study

Town and country of permanent residence:

First language:
Other language:
Work experience:

Previous experience using English in different settings:

Other relevant backgrounds you would like to share?

299
 Lecturer/Tutor - Background and demographics
Participant code
Course code
Age: Male/Female

Primary language: Other language(s):

What cultural group(s) do you identify with?

Qualifications:

Qualification Year Completed Institution and Language of

location study

Teaching experience:

Other work experience?

Any other pertinent background? (for example, overseas experience, language

learning experience, etc.)

300
 Student interview—second/third

 Can you tell me what you think about your university life so far? Anything
that you notice here that you would like to tell me?

Reflections on

 what are your best experiences so far?

 what are things you wish would have been different?

 Do you think you belong here? Why or why not?

What do you think about academic demands of your units? Academic demands

 What would you tell your friends back home about Australian academic
demands or studying in Australia in general?
Resources

 What is most helpful so far for your study? Friends? Discussions in class?
Consultation times? Discussions with local students? Discussions with
tutors or at tutorials?

 How do you spend your time outside of class?

 Do you think your family helpful to your study? In what ways?

Constraints

 Any problems?

 What stopped you from doing what you wish for? Any reasons for that?

 Is language a problem?

 What do you think about the relations between your cultural backgrounds
and your study here in Australia, if there is any?

English use

 Any change of your experience of using English at home and here?

301
 Any change of the use of English with your friends? Mother tongue or
English?

 Any difference of the use of English, e.g. vocabulary, accent, genres?

 How do you like writing/reading in English? Any change?

 How about speaking/listening in English, or oral presentation? Any change?

 What were your experiences of presenting in English before?

 What do you think about oral presentations in class?

 How are you using English outside of the classroom or the university?

Connectivity

 Where do you go to when you need help?

 Who do you go to when you need help?

 Who are you in contact with?

 What kind of help do you need?

302
 Student follow-up email catch-up

Everyday lives in terms of study

 What have you been doing these days?

 Any story to tell?

Academic demands

 Do you know what to do for your assignment?

Resources

 Can you tell me how you learnt English? (where, how, who, when)

 Who do you go to when you need help?

 Where do you go to when you need help?

Constraints

 Any problems so far?

English use

 Any change of the use of English?

 How about reading and writing in English?

 How about listening and speaking in English?

Connectivity

 How do you make contact? Any favorite tool?

303
Appendix E: Summary of Associated Data
Overview of the data
case Demographics Emails (341 Course of study Ed background Motivation – ‘big story’ Most pertinent/productive point
(age, m/f, total)/transcripts I can focus on
nationality) (969 pp.)
1 Early 20s, female, 14/76 Business/exchange Elite university in Good for future employment Her trip back/job offer/clear
china student/Undergrad china cultural model of a good student
and a good tutor/worth
abroad/BORING vs
COLOURFUL/
2 24, female, 3/48 Education/math/TESOL elite student /gov. English, and culture Her sense of belonging/more
Malaysia, Muslim /undergrad funded religious/more independent
3 Early 30s, female, 18/52 Nursing/undergrad First degree in English and working holiday and Good student all the same
korea korea immigration
4 Early 30s, female, 12/47 Nursing/undergrad College in English, degree and immigration Her serial moves, and agency
korea korea(not
finished)/
TAFE
5 Early 30s, female, 25/67 Nursing/undergrad Medical doctor/ 7 English, qualifications, Humbling
china year work immigration
experience
6 Early 20s, male, 23/71 Humanities/undergrad High school/work Degree, immigration Remedy his failing group work
Malaysia chinese experience
7 Early 20s, female, 4/38 Education/DIP/change to University, food English, employment Her own transformation
china accounting science
engineering
8 Early 20s, male, 22/48 IT/undergrad Diploma Degree, and employment Friends
Singapore, chinese
9 Late 20s, female, 25/64 Business/masters Elite Degree and English and Her self as a project/ a good job

304
 Iran university/work employment and immigration offer
experience
10 Early 30s, female, 28/72 Business/Masters University/work Her own business/degree/English Humbling/identity project/ appeal
Vietnam experience/GM against a mark
11 Late 20s, male, 17/36 Science-bio/ Masters Diploma in Pathway to PhD/degree/English His flexibility-freinds of different
Switzerland Switzerland/work nationalities/travel-habitus/mobile
(Italian/Italian) experience in student/global
China citizen/cosmopolitan
12 Late 20s, female, 18/82 Humanities/undergrad University degree Pathway to Acknowledgement, a research
japan from US/work Masters/degree/English/future student’ journey
experience employment
13 Early 20s, female, 6/28 Education/undergrad Elite university Degree, and culture Social capital, agency, cultural
Malaysia, muslim /gov. funded model
14 Late 20s, female, 51/78 Education/ masters University/work Employment
Taiwan experience
15 Early 20s, male, 13/52 Science/ undergrad Diploma/ change Degree and Employment Challenge in learning, asian
Singapore PR from IT to science values, job
(Malaysia), chinese
16 Early 20s, female, 20/38 Business/ masters University Degree
china
17 Late 20s, female, 42/72 Education/ masters University/ work Degree, employment, Contradictory stories of her study
china experience immigration

305
Chronological overview
case First interview + emails issues and little stories
1 Internship Dilemma; IELTS prep.; kangaroo meat;
MSN; 餅; Bris. News; study abroad; it is a cost.
2 Not confident of eng.; factual; aca-literacy; cultural
capital-competences
3 Working-holiday; love AU; knowing people
through work; intercultural, cultural model of
learning, etiquette; flat-white;
4 Stressed; English; her reasons coming to AU;
5 Stressed; humbled; limited speaking; a medical doc.
In nursing;
6 Group work; language; intercultural;
7 Host family; far; direct entry; live a life;
8 Friends; skype; English not a problem;
9 Religion; free; immigration; family; marked down-
Second interview + emails themes issues and
little stories
Life group; boring; all 7 after first assignments;
trips; waitress; not active; Bris. News; internship
interview; assessment criteria; MSN;
Child-carer; compare; travel; culture; good pointer;
independent; lecturer said, time; like myself better;
money; parents; cultural capital; religion
Good student model; independent; aca-literacy;
comparing two tutors; CP; part-of-the class-
belonging; cultural capital-; one-way interaction--
pedagogic; legitimate speaker-‘pardon’; caring;
facebook;
Religion; Korean family; Korean food; cold
noodles; upgrade her status as nurse; doing hand-
over; one group work; ISS; her friend not
understanding her English;
Prac.; English;
Nil
Complaints about a lecturer; better GPA than
expected;
Family; group work; compare assignments;
306
Third interview + emails issues and little stories
Boring; not believe in God; not active; job offer;
worth study abroad; I can accept it; MSN; they
think 4 or 5 is ok
Child-carer; religion, fasting; belonging; mobility in
the city; first 4 (clouded); not sure; getting a loan,
government jobs (social mobility); parents;
independent;
Uni vs I; nurse vs profession; career; rejecting a
cultural model—private, gender, free; live where I
want to live; sharing notes; recognition-learning,
belonging; tech-community, language; it’s a
complicated relation, so I can’t fix it to be honest.
Facebook; getting called by classmates-for
references; postponing life stages/career change
Shared room; parents’ disconsent; ashamed; uni
degree; not legitimate; determined; tuition fee
support; change personality, not care about people’s
response; enjoy her life in AU; strategies to learn
English-read out loud; English tutor; ISS;
Prac.; challenge;
Change discipline; lonely; think-think-think; limited
social capital; all 7s; change-personality;
independent; money-making not only thing;
Not belong;
Win-win situation; group work; intercultural; social
 English & referencing; sister;
10 Stressed; fever; anger; bridging; accommodation;
11 Intercultural; multilingual; experiences in china;
Messenger/family; his english learning experience;
travel experience; fix computer; father/transnational
professional; French/uni; easy to make friends
12 First degree from US; stressed; more challenging;
western vs Australia ; homesick; technology
normalized;
13 Confident – Eng., parents, aca-literacy,
connectivity-parents; friends; sharing lap-top;
lecturer said, mixing up; IM friends
14 Stressed; aca-literacy; career change; EAP;
15 His best choice for ed; miss home and girlfriend;
visit places again alone; money; stressed
16 Friends; language; deep understanding
17 Stressed; alone; lonely; independent; direct entry;
why a Masters, not DIP;
‘capital’; emailing about grade of a group member;
A grade change; a little happy; share mates; western
vs Australian; silent group discussions; mother
tongue; good student in Vietnam and in AU;
intercultural capital
Conflict in units--Business/bio-science; grouping,
disciplinary knowledge; difficult in units without
background--ethics; easy/exams, assignment; social
capital—all friends international, except two
aussies/one soccer/friend’s boyfriend
Meeting her lecturers; acknowledgement;
economic/having a hair-cut;
independent/mature/making money;
One 4; Cultural capital-4 competences; aca-literacy;
social-exam prep; being shy-cultural model; lecturer
said, mixing-up; comfortable; part-time jobs;
gender; travel; connectivity parents; IM friends;
legitimate speaker-in-house exam-prep.
Stressed; time management; discipline; friends;
Recorder; better grades than expected; group work;
money;
Compare two tutors; friends; English-speaking and
mandarin speaking; ‘help’;
Part-time jobs; 淺嘗即止; hand-in-hand; stressed;
critical thinking vs living; studying not only thing;
not fair;
307
capital; job offer; blogging-sister;
Group not working; writing an assignment; work
experience; English (slang, joke, cf. query); the way
of thinking; social capital; summer employment;
intercultural capital
Nil
Nostalgic; belonging; fought together; thesis writing
journey; feeling not alone; help is out there;
acknowledged; thin her hair/easy shampoo/
legitimation
Nil
Chemistry; group work; friends; asian values vs
aussie youths; not belong; English not problem;
disappointing parents;
Nil
In-between; making her choice; independent; 4 for
research methods; part-time jobs; alone; art exhibit;
studying not only thing; in-between spaces—not
chinese, not Australian; social capital; expenses vs
tuition fees;
Thematic overview (An example)
case Habitus Cultural Legitimated Social capital Humbling Linguistic Pivotal Belonging Field: Virtual Narrative
quotes capital speaker quotes capital /crisis rules of space- of change
quotes quotes quotes points the game technology
quotes
1 Inclination Embodied II: group I: friend-study I: could III: she III: II: Boring II: I: MSN- III: good
I: her discussion; abroad; not get her emailed an worth in two assessment daily life jobs come
discipline of Cultural prepared; all updated info. message international the trip ways: in criteria activities so easy
working on goods: 7; Internship across in company III: Bris. II: and so
her English; good grades III: not a I: full support discussion which issued email to Boring III: early in
farmers’ legitimate from parents— of a group a call for new arrange without interview life.—her
daughter; Institutional speaker they are work recruitments. a time much happy
ized: among local farmers, don’t She denied for a activity; story.
friends, but know much that she email test. III: back
Appreciation ok with about my life, the company home
international so they support because of boring –
Aspiration: I: friends me. her growth,
want to work II: life group— experience in life stage
in a foreign christian AU. Rather,
company groups ; she stressed
chinese, and that it was
English because she
speaking simply
III: HR email wanted
address another
chance.

308
Operationalising theoretical concepts for data analyses
Concept Definition (INTERNAL
THEORETICAL
LANGUAGE)
habitus ‘embodied dispositions
acquired through family,
education systems, social
groups, at different social
and economic positions, etc.
Cultural capital Embodied cultural capital,
including ways of speech,
movement, or grades,
recognition, educational
degrees, or prestige.
Social capital Social membership,
reciprocal, and convertible,
through family connections,
institutions, social fields,
How will i recognise it in my
data? (EXTERNAL
LANGUAGE OF
DESCRIPTION)
By its presence – knowing what
to do, feeling comfortable,
feeling ‘at home’, describing
habitual or usual traits, use of
habitual present tense
By its absence – not knowing
what to do, feeling
uncomfortable, feeling ‘out of
place’-
By its presence
By its absence
Confused about the way things
are particularly in education
sector,
By its presence
accomplish something because of
friends’ help, mentioning friends,
having fun with friends, hanging
Imaginary piece of data Actual example from your data
“It was easy ...
“ I always like to ...
“I couldn’t ..
“I didn’t know what to do ...”
“I understand the lectures. “
“lecture notes are very helpful.”
“I don’t understand the small
things, details in the lectures.”
“I still don’t know how to
argue…to be critical”
“I lack the background of one
subject…”
“My friend told me…” “we know friends are important.”
“I got a lot of help from my “chatting …weekly…leaving message”
friends.” (Ngoc)
309
 etc.
Humbling Sharp contrast between
one’s habitus and one’s
field.
Linguistic capital One’s language capabilities
performing reception,
acknowledgement, or
endorsement.
(the right person, the right
situation, the right form, the
right timing)
(English)
Legitimate speaker Whoever is recognized as a
legitimate member in fields
such as school, class, group,
pair, house, workplace, etc.
out, connecting,
by its absence
being alone, and feeling lonely,
not considered a friend to anyone
1. a drastic change of something
2. by lowering expectations,
aspirations,
3. by doing something not
normally do
By its presence
1. whoever is able to give price to
one’s utterances
2. language performed as
endorsement
3. pursued outcomes by way of
language
By its absence
1 fail in pursuit of something,
social, cultural, or economical
2 fail to be understood in
communication
By its presence
Being accepted as part of …,
being recognized as someone
worth…, being able to speak the
‘language’, including contextual
“Right here, I do not know
many people.”
“I had a very good job, but
now…”
“
“I spoke English a bit slowly
and clearly. They understood
what I said.”
“The sales person did not know
what I ordered.”
“They said ‘hi’ to me…”
310
Same with legitimate speaker
…because – you know – in master
they’re all in the class – every student
has to talk and negotiate some kind of
negotiation and sometimes I know lots
of examples I want to talk about my
experience – when I think about that – I
realise that I don’t know the English
words – good examples about the
project that I was involved in but I can’t
say that. I can’t participate many times
in the class. (Maryam I)
“because of my poor English, I can’t
make friends with Australians…”
(Ruby)
Ngoc’ s appeal against her mark
narrative
Jack’s social capital narrative
knowledge
By its absence
Not recognized as a worthy
member in the social fields, share
house, grouping, workplace,
--“I am so happy that they said hi to me
out of their accord…” (Jack)
“They knew each other before.”
Maryam’s narrative about one Arabic
student’s suggestion in group work –
Accented English
And I really think that they expected me
higher of the English language or higher
level of knowledge but when I went
there they told me they were really
impressed. I have good English
language, good knowledge and good job
experience or may be because of that –
because I worked in a very large
company in [student’s country] – oil and
gas industry and our employer was
[company name]…and they really
enjoyed when I explain about my
experience with[company name] and
they told me that I have enough
knowledge and appropriate job
experience and they were really happy
about that. I think I – just found that –
finding a job is really more difficult than
that and it’s impossible to take the job at
your first interview …(Maryam III)
I: Do you remember a specific phrase
used in that morning that you found it
typical?
S119: Mmm – for example – we have
an Arabic people in our group – he has
brilliant ideas but his English was not
311

Pivotal/crisis Constraints or crises that By its presence
make a pivotal change in
one’s circumstances forced to make quick, and
purposeful decisions to counter
the odds to break through, to
risk…
consequential events—
consequences in educational
journey
by its absence
? I: mmm.
Belonging Feeling comfortable about By its presence
very good. He couldn’t explain his
ideas very well. Our team – the other
members didn’t take him serious –
didn’t pay attention to his ideas but we
lose – we lost the first game – only
because he knew what was the problem
and he advised that but no one pay
attention but in the next game all the
people trust him – and for example
knew that his idea is worthy and he is
the one that he has the brilliant idea and
this one – everybody worked according
to his solution. (Maryam III)
“I need to learn English quickly.”
“I want to…so I need to…” (Ruby)
“sometimes good things are bad, bad
“I had to… otherwise…” things are good.” (Julia) talking about
her relations when meeting other
Chinese students and becoming friends
with Aussies.
…I have found out if I read all the
lecturer notes in the blackboard before
the class I think about it and, yes,
somehow imagine what will happen in
this session I can practice my examples
before the class
S27: so if I practice before the class It
may be easier for me to participate and
explain my ideas. (Maryam I )
312
 one’s circumstances,
Field Social spaces, where actors
interact with each other
with their endowed capitals,
power relations at their
--move beyond one’s comfort
zones (localities, adventure, food,
etc.)
--feel part of social groups, good
student group, membership…
--engaged with lifestyles, values,
learning, activities, etc..
By its absence
Feeling disconnected, feeling
homesick, making moral
judgements, particularly in values
and lifestyles.
By its presence
One’s habitus matching the rules
of the game,
“I went to a place that I have
never been to…”
“I don’t feel that I belong …”
“I don’t know why they want to
do this…”
“it’s easy..” “not much trouble”
313
“I feel I am part of the class…” (Celina)
“not feel restricted in my movement.”
(Siti)
“I am a little happy about my results”
(Ngoc)
I think the main thing is social thing –
yeah – I really feel free [laughs] –
human rights, yeah. I can live –
whatever way I want – whatever I want
I can wear. The clothes I want to
choose, the things I want to eat – yeah –
the basic human rights – I have them,
yeah. And here is the only problem I
have is my English language and finding
work and I now feel that that – they are
not unreachable. I can do it better than I
expected before, yeah. So I can solve
the only problems that I have. (Maryam
III)
“I don’t know the city I live in, haven’t
explored it…” (Wendy)
“If I don’t get involved in the city, I will
miss my country so much.” (Ruby)
I really know the way of being a good
student in Australia…(Ngoc)
“nicknamed Question Girl” because I
social positions. These
interactions are often not
neutral, but there is struggle
in getting new species of
capitals legitimated, so that
the boundaries of fields are
negotiated.
Getting a “feel of the game”
Rules of the game
General rules of the game—
general fields, such as
hierarchy, bureaucracy …
Particular rules of the
game—particular fields,
such as schools, hospitals,
restaurants, Australian
education systems,
contextual knowledge,
The position of the field vis-
à-vis the power of the field
Objective structure of
relations
Different systems of
dispositions vs favourable
opportunity
asked questions to clarify(Ngoc)
Now I feel it’s just another
assignment…Not terrible
anymore…(Julia)
By its absence “confusing, …
When I got my assignment back, I was
wondering why it is 7, not a hundred or
something. (Donna)
I: First of all can you tell me more
about what do you mean by “conflict
and clash” in the morning?
S119: Mmm. For example, you know
when this is really – sample for your
organisation when people are given a
problem to solve – a member – a group
– a different member – you know –
people don’t know each other, don’t
know their abilities and more than doing
the job they try to somehow fix their
position in the group, through the group
or be a manager of the group and this
occurs clashes between members. For
example someone comes up with an
idea – the others start to decide, for
instance, and try to stop him from doing
that because – for example – they think
they must be managers – they can’t –
their idea is better – you know?
(Maryam III)
314
Appendix F: Fieldnote Example
7 March 2008

Meeting Donna in my office for the first interview. I introduced myself and the
research project. She gave me her consent. Invited her to talk about herself a bit.
The interview started in English for about 8 minutes, when I felt that she began
to lose her words for descriptions of events and paused for a bit longer than her
turns, and when she started to get a little bit emotional.

I was surprised that she said that she was a doctor in China. I was also surprised
that she seemed to be ready to share her background with me, but that she had
such resistance to telling it to her classmates. She seemed to trust me more than
her peers.

She began to cry when she talked about her two-year-old son, left behind in
China. She missed him. I stopped the recording, gave her tissues, and waited for
her to calm down. I held my emotions back to myself when seeing her trying so
hard to hold her tears. I felt for her. I wonder why I had such emotions. What
were my emotions then? Sympathy? But why? Anger? But why? Similar
situations as mothers with sons? But different because my sons came to
Australia with me and I became the sole care-taker of them. 不同的辛苦阿.

315
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