Published by the students of Xavier University since 1915 Fiat justitia, ruat coelum
Volume CI Issue 22
February 24, 2016
BY RAYMOND HUMIENNY Campus News Editor
Intensive English program. You can see that the vast majority of A trademark quality of the people have not.â€? The Intensive English program VFLHQWLĂ€F PHWKRG LV WKDW \RX will always start with a question at Xavier is designed for internaand invariably end with another tional students looking to attend college in the U.S. Since these question. For assistant director of ad- courses focus heavily on English mission Dan Marschner this in an academic and professional process unfolded as it naturally setting for international students does. Last semester, Marschner almost exclusively, it is very unsent out an online survey to more likely that domestic students than 4,000 Xavier students, facul- would be aware of the program at W\ DQG VWDII LQ RUGHU WR Ă€HOG TXHV- all, according to Marschner. “My experience has been that tions concerning the international student population on campus. (Intensive English students) kind As a result, Marschner has in- of have a sort of separate experiferred that although the 1,464 ence here, in that their classes are respondents to the questionnaire just with others who are learning believe Xavier’s environment ac- English,â€? Marschner said. “They commodates international stu- don’t really feel like there are a dents, there is a discrepancy be- lot of opportunities where they feel comfortable to interact with tween ideals and praxis. “One of the things that I other students here on campus, thought was pretty interesting so that’s one of the challenges amongst these results was that you that they were talking about is can see here 55 percent feel that the sense of not feeling really Xavier is a welcoming environ- integrated.â€? Marschner took particular ment for international students, which is positive,â€? Marschner note of the International Coffee said. “But then you have the part Hour that provides an outlet about whether someone has ac- for domestic students to expetually talked to someone in the rience foreign cultures in order
to aid this integration. However, Marschner has received reports from international students which show that a large amount of participants during these events are international students themselves. “That’s an opportunity that the vast majority of people who go to those events ... tend to be primarily international students,â€? Marschner said. “So the question is why isn’t there an interest in those kinds of events? If you’re serious about learning other cultures, if that’s important to you – having international students here – and that’s something that’s JRLQJ WR EH EHQHĂ€FLDO WR \RX long-term, then why isn’t there more interest in those kinds of opportunities? Those are the kinds of questions (international students) were working through.â€? Marschner has worked closely with a group of 10 students representing nine different countries: Venezuela, China, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Japan, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Vietnam. These individuals helped create the survey and provided qualitative responses to the data to juxtapose quantitative outcomes.
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“The idea was that they could bring a pretty broad perspective and that they could provide more depth to the survey than the (1,464) people who answered the survey questions,â€? Marschner said. “More than a ‘like’ scale, ‘agree or disagree,’ that kind of stuff.â€? The data itself is on public display throughout the second Ă RRU RI *DOODJKHU HDFK TXHVtion paired with the qualitative responses and a photo that represents nonvocal responses made by Marschner’s team of international students. The photos were produced by a technique called Photovoice, in which individuals articulate their thoughts and feelings using a physical image. “One of the pictures they took was a picture of the billiards table outside of Coffee Emporium,â€? Marschner said. “And what I’ve heard a lot of people talk about before was that they don’t really know who the people are they’re playing there. They kind of just do their thing, and there’s this group of people who are here at on campus and just don’t seem to integrate well into the rest of the community, and the question is is that
a decision that they make? Is that a decision that Xavier makes?â€? Marschner summarized his Ă€QGLQJV WKXV IDU E\ H[SODLQLQJ what he has observed from international student responses to his survey as a “hybrid identity.â€? “I think that you’re navigating two realities,â€? Marschner said. “I think that’s a thing a lot of student experience no matter where they come from. I mean, they have their life back home and they have their life here on campus. I think for international students that’s a whole other dimension of realizing you have a life back home and a life on campus, but your life on campus here would have different kinds of dimensions than a life on campus would have for a domestic student.â€? Marschner is currently investigating this research further as a doctorate candidate student at the University of Cincinnati. He is enrolled in the education studies program with an educational and community-based action concentration. His dissertation will pertain to additional questions to be added to the survey.
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