| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 傳播研究所 === 102 === In recent years, working holiday has become a popular form of travel among young people in Taiwan. Nevertheless, previous research on this topic has focused only on participants’ work or travel experiences. This study aims to discover the social and cultural meaning behind working holiday. Drawing from Giddens’ theory of self-identity, my research will explore the relationship between working holiday and the formation of self-identity. More specifically, I propose two research questions. Firstly, how do the Taiwanese media frame working holiday? Secondly, how do the participants relate working holiday to their pursuit of self-identity? This research analyzes media frames of working holiday, and in-depth interviews 26 participants. I found four major frames in media text: (1) cosmopolitan outlook, (2) self-improvement, (3) “Taiwanese guest workers”, and (4) female romance. Interviewing data show that participants frame their working holiday experiences in four ways: (1) international mobility and cosmopolitan outlook, (2) pursuit of authentic experience, (3) the breaking from the normal life and its associations with self-growth, and (4) the reversal of leisure and work. In sum, both the frames of the media and the participants indicate that the experience of working holiday will help the participants fulfill their own biographies through three ways: holidays and life exploration, working and self-improvement, and global outlook.
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