Date of Award

1-1-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. John Caputo

Second Advisor

Dr. David Houglum

Abstract

This study investigates the socio-academic experiences of international students in higher education through the review of existing research and conduct of original research. There is a need for interpersonal communication curriculum in higher education that addresses a multicultural learning context to meet the growing needs of an internationalized workforce (Qing, 2009). Curriculum that addresses a multicultural learning context should meet the needs of internationalization across the globe (2009). The growing number of international students learning in foreign contexts has increased by nearly 50% in the last 10 years. In order to meet the changing needs in higher education, this study aims to develop a curriculum to meet the needs of the student in a multicultural learning context. The first phase of the research takes a close look at existing research by exploring concepts that affect the social and academic success of international students like: Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of basic needs, Cornell West’s philosophy of ethics (Griffin, 1999), the goals of communication education (Vangelisti, 1999), cultural intelligence (Botton et al., 2013), culture shock (Lee, 2011), learning shock (Lee, 2011), and power distance (Qing, 2009). The second phase of the research gathers original research from a purposive sample of community college students that represent the international student and domestic student perspectives as well as qualitative interviews of the campus’ faculty to get the instructors’ perspective. Quantitative research was conducted on the students using a series of self-evaluations on a purposive sample of 26 students. For this project’s purposes, only one of the three evaluations that were conducted during the original research phase is explored in this study. The students’ and instructors’ participation was voluntary.

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