This paper discusses the topic of educational mobility among students from China. The main aim of the paper is to analyse the reasons why Chinese youth migrate and to indicate the direction of their migration. The paper contains qualitative analysis of UNESCO and OECD educational reports and of Chinese government documents, as well as statements…

The extant literature on student migration flows generally focus on the traditional push-pull factors of migration at the individual level. Such a tendency excludes the broader levels affecting international student mobility. This paper proposes a hybrid of three levels of push-pull dynamics (micro-individual decision-making, meso-academic…

Despite the rapid increase in international students in the education sector, this area remains an under-researched. In Australia, many schools welcome international learners, but are also aware that the support they can offer cannot fully address the student's needs. Drawing on surveys (n = 51) and focus group interviews (n = 16), this case study…

Topics of gender, sexuality and desirability have become prominent themes in study abroad research, particularly when exploring the experiences of Japanese women overseas. However, little research has explored the gendered experiences of Japanese male international students. This paper presents the case study of Ki, a young Japanese man who…

This study utilises the 'small story' approach to investigate metaphor in mobile students' narratives of intercultural experience. Metaphor in narrative is seen as a dynamic, discursive, and sociocognitive phenomenon. The narrative accounts presented in this paper derive from interviews conducted for mobility project evaluation. The participants…

Many colleges around the world have been undergoing demographic shifts under the influence of globalization. The population of international students continues to grow dramatically. As such increasing number of international students has been enrolling U.S colleges. Teacher education is not an exception. However, international teacher candidates'…

Transnational mobility characterized by multiple and circular movement of people and their simultaneous interconnections across transnational borders pose challenges to the conception of a closed boundary of community of practice (CoP). This study aims to explore the changing dynamics of CoP in transnational space by examining experiences of…

Sociocultural theory emphasises the mediational role of tools in learning. International students usually find themselves in a vicious cycle, experiencing difficulties when engaging with local people and culture which might provide the mediation necessary to develop their intercultural communicative competence. Yang (2016) further points out that…

While study abroad (SA) has long been considered an opportunity for language learning, relatively little research has investigated how short-term SA programs hosted by Anglophone countries support varied aspects of sojourners' language learning. To address this gap, the current study examined how 10 college students from a Korean university…

The involvement of East Asia, and in particular China, in the global markets has rapidly increased over the last few decades, and universities in English-speaking countries, including South Africa are increasingly accepting students from that region into their programmes. This requires the students to not only move to a locality where foreign…

This paper documents a cross-sectional look at L1 transfer and L2 contact for learners of English in a UK study abroad (SA) context. The study employed an instructional experimental design over a 6- month period with 34 Chinese students assigned to either an explicitly instructed group or a control group receiving no instruction. Instruction took…

A case study was conducted to explore the experiences of Chinese nurses when completing a graduate nursing degree taught in English (as a second language) in the United States over a 1-year period. The study explored language, academic, and social challenges perceived by the students, strategies used to overcome challenges, and academic support…

In this article, we develop a genealogy of international education studies' tenets of culture shock and skills deficit. To trace their emergence, we map the discursive shifts which underpinned cultural anthropology's involvement in the administration of US colonial, domestic, and international affairs respectively in the early 1900s and 1950s.…

Due to the significant growth in Chinese students pursuing education abroad, there is an increasing trend for researchers to study Chinese international students' challenges, especially the challenges in social adjustment. However, only a few studies intend to design activities or supporting practices to solve these challenges. This study, drawing…

The paper highlights the role of translation in qualitative research that involves multiple languages. Its particular focus is on untranslatables, that is, those words or phrases in a source language that pose challenges to translators because no direct equivalent is available in the target language. "Untranslatables" create moments of…