Journal of Research in International Education

Educators of international students are frequently challenged to cope with a clashing diversity of cultures in a classroom setting. This study examined what sorts of themes and images might resonate across nationalities and cultures, which could then be used as transcultural tools for international educators. The study employed mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to identify and analyze transculturally resonant images and themes. International students viewed and rated a series of video clips presented in the context of global business courses. The study findings indicate that themes and images including babies/children, animals, relationships, sports, life cycles and self-image may help evoke a positive transcultural resonance. The findings were used to design models for more effective learning in international classroom settings.

This qualitative study is part of a broader study that explored how adjunct foreign English-language teachers (AFELT) in the Japanese university sector conceptualize their role against the backdrop of internationalization. Forty-three teachers across a range of universities participated in this study. The results report on AFELT perceptions of higher education in Japan, teaching English and the role of AFELT in that context, and reveal a discontinuity between the governmental rhetoric of internationalization concerning English-language education and how this is enacted at the institutional level.

This article explores how Korean exchange students organized their studies during exchange programs in Swedish higher education. For most students, the programs became a disordered period in relation to their education. The value of exchange studies seems mainly to be extra-curricular. Drawing upon actor network theory, the article argues that the students’ way of organizing their studies is based not only on individual choice but also on relations to other actors in a network.

Outbound mobility programs such as exchange programs are one of the many strategies implemented at universities to develop graduates’ intercultural skills and international knowledge. Few Australian students participate in exchange programs. This article presents a literature review and proposes a model of the contextual and individual factors that may influence Australian students in their decision to participate in an exchange program and their choice of host destination. Implications to expand student participation and future areas of research are discussed.

This article reports on an investigation into the formation and maintenance of identity in globally mobile children and young people in the setting of an international school. The findings suggest that students at the school sustain composite identities that encompass their multiple experiences. The school itself offers a milieu which recognizes their way of life as the norm and with which they can identify. The data further suggests that narrative serves to integrate the multiple aspects of participants’ identities.

This article explores chief administrator turnover in international schools. Quantitative and qualitative data from the 83 chief administrators who participated in the study suggests that the average tenure of an international school chief administrator is 3.7 years and that the main reason chief administrators leave international schools is related to school boards, although career considerations are also regarded as important. The two most common school board-related reasons given for leaving are regular changes in board composition and micro-management.