Standardizing subjectivities: extensions within the field of international education.

• Main Author: Pullman, Ashley
• Other Authors: Carroll, William K.
• Language: English; en
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Sociology of Education; International Education; China; Extended Case Method
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3535

The difficulties non-native-English-speaking students encounter within the field of international education was explored though ethnographic research I conducted on a private Australian accounting college in China. This institute functions within a system and structure of education that has been designed elsewhere – generally for a native-English-speaking learner – under practices of standardization rather than specificity of context. Conflict experienced within everyday practices surrounding discourses of linguistic competences are uprooted to reveal how non-native-English-speaking students are positioned within this field. This positioning requires individuals to follow and recognize a system of learning, acceptable forms of knowledge, and a privileged way of communicating. When previously formed subject positions are individually and/or institutionally deemed in contradiction with this field, conflict within everyday practices arises. While counter-discourses were found within the use of native-languages, they were primarily negatively sanctioned within educational practices leading to further forms of standardization. === Graduate