Being an International Student Can Influence Identity or Self Concepts - Essay Example

Running Head: Identity and Self Concepts Being an international can influence identity or self concepts ofinstitution] Being an international student can influence identity or self concepts INTRODUCTION Human beings are parts of a whole. The individual's perception of self is conditioned by the society around him. The conglomeration of the individual identities constitutes society. The students studying in foreign countries are experiencing a different kind of culture and norms. As the maxim goes those who don't care about society are either God or beast, similarly these students have sometimes a perceptible change and sometimes these changes are subtle. There the relationship between self and the community is reciprocal. Each individual is unique and the working of human mind is complex therefore it is difficult to say with absolute surety what change in self identity the influence of foreign land and culture is going to bring about. In order to understand how the change in self image is engineered we need to analyze the factors that create a persons self identity. The premise can be tested by the how social reforms have been brought which were first initiated by one or more than one philanthropist and then that idea gained currency after a period of tireless struggle. Women were not granted voting rights in past .Many individual women rights activist started an agitation and they achieved their objective. Soon society accepted not only the voting rights of women but also became more acceptable towards the issues of the equality of women. There are many approaches to understanding the society that permeates the environment that is inhabited by the self .One such approach is called the situational approach where the society is viewed as something which is constant mode of evolution. Nothing is permanent and flux is the by word of the world that we inhabit. This perspective gives a very subjective view of society which in turn is governing identity of members of a society. The other point of view with regards to self and society is called the structural approach According to This perspective society is constitutes of certain fixed paradigms that guide members of a society to act in particular fashion. The "patterned regularities that characterize most human action" (Stryker, 1980, p. 65) Individual selves are a microcosm of a society. Each self can be added up to get the whole picture of the society. The members of a society exist within these social structures. The actions of the people are governed by the concepts of who they are and to which social structure they belong. Social identity is the ideas thoughts processes and evaluation of oneself. These deductions are based upon what others think and expect out of us. Cooley Refers to this as "The looking glass self" (Cooley, 1902). The evaluation of the self identity is largely self esteem which has two component one deals with the worthiness and the other deals with the confidence and the acumen of the individual. Identity is governed by what role one is playing in the society .Since each member of society has multiple roles therefore he has multiple identities. The very same person has a different persona when he becomes a spouse a sibling an offspring or a friend. The overlapping social structures like religion race ethnicity geographical region and profession defines the concept of self .The identity are further dependent on the role that an individual is playing and what others expect out of him. It has been researched that strength of an identity is dependent on the number of people connected with that individual. The higher the number of people linked with an individual, more strong are the notions regarding the identity of selves The question arises who are international students .Those individuals who have left their countries of origin to study abroad due to various reasons come in contact with society which is alien to him .The self identity is now a framework of values and norms that had been formulated in his country of origin under various social structures and roles that he had play in that society. Here the role that he takes up is that of a seeker of knowledge. The universities have students from different parts of the world but the majority of the people on campus are from the host nation. The students are interacting in a multicultural environment but the major influence is that of the host nation as the teachers and the staff belongs to the country in which the university is established. The study of the self is very important as the concept has afar reaching effect on the self esteem, motivation interpersonal relationship and behavior .In fact self also defines the world view and the experience of the emotions of an individual (Ie, 2-15, n.d). Language which is a hallmark of a culture is the first factor in the interpersonal relationship. Those students who are proficient in the language in which is the medium of instruction are having high self esteem especially the self awareness of the competency is heightened. It has been observed that the language acquisition is speeded up as the individual is bombarded with the language from all sides. It has also been seen that as the language acquisition so does the self esteem and confidence in one self. Language enhancement leads to conformity to the social milieu (Kate, n.p, 1997). It also an important factor in gaining success in studies. The self image according to Rosenberg consist a whole whose constituents are thought imagination and emotion and these are expressed through the agency of language. (Rosenberg, 1979, n.p) .Therefore language plays a pivotal role in the multicultural interaction of the people. The initial response of individuals who are coming from different countries is that they start adhering to the self construct more rigidly when they are outside their homeland. Most of the students have a change in their perception of the self as some of the features of the host nation are acquired by them either knowingly or unknowingly. These changes are a result of the social interaction on behalf of the students. The recent researches have pointes out how the self image of individual is identified by the self identity of the others. The fact that self develops in regards to the perception of what the other self thinks or expects out of us. The people are reacting in a manner that befits the social structure that they inhabit. There are certain expectations that how the student community should behave. The students from different countries have different perception of what constitutes an ideal behavioral pattern. Certain Asian countries have strict regimental kind of learning environment in their educational institution .The teacher is sort of a demigod whose words and action are to be emulated. Western and the European countries have amore liberal attitude towards the leaner .he is seen as an equal partner in the learning process. The teacher is regarded as some one not to be feared but rather someone who can be asked to review his stand point .The concept of the infallibility of a teacher is deeply rooted in their society. The self image that we are using to analyze our situation and that determines. Our action is in constant flux as it is being influenced by the situational influences. (Burke, 1980 43, 18-29)After an initial shock and clinging on this concept with more vigor and strength, the ground starts slipping as the urge for conformity with the society around starts exercising its pull. Here the other self is a member of a society which is different as far as the social structures are concerned. The international student is residing in a place which is different from its culture race religion ethnicity and even the role that has been assigned to them. The other very important aspect of these students is that they are away from their families and have an independent existence. The loss of the secure environment has sometimes a positive effect on the self construct of the individual or it has a detrimental effect on them .Many a study have revealed that in the initial phase most of the students suffer from severe to mild form of depression. Those individuals who are able to form group and are able to socialize with their peers as acquisition of knowledge and growth of an individual is dependent on whether or not an individual is able to interact with others in manner that he is able to get along. The principle that "learning and development occur as people participate in the socio-cultural activities of their community "(Rogoff, 1994: 204)is relevant even in the case of international students who are able to forms their social circles in the host nations which makes up the loss of their social network which is left behind in their homeland. Learning is now a days seen more an more as having a multifaceted approach. It is not confined to unilateral process between teacher and the students .The importance of the social context of the educational process is being stressed and there is increasing importance of the modification in behavior that entails the scholarly enterprise. According to Wenger learning should be seen as occurring in social context and it conditions our experiences of life (Wenger, 1998, n.p). The image of self not only defines the way we are reacting and how subtle changes in self will eventually lead to a change in the behavioral pattern of that individual as well as importing those ideas in the societies across the globe. The world we inhabit today is becoming a global village as the ideas of one society is becoming a part of the identity of the individuals of other society which brings about a kind of homogeneity in the way of the thinking of the educated class of society across the globe. The concept of multiple identity of self is gaining currency as the different role that we play and the hierchical order to which we belong produces myriad kind of identities. It is one of the areas which have not been explored. There are certain expectations from the individuals who are assigned the roles in the society. The' Ideal self' is the objective that has to be achieved by the individuals who are emulating those roles. (McCall & Simmons, 1978, p. 74).Incase of the international students they have limited roles assigned to them .They are either students or they are friends and classmates. The casual acquaintances are of lesser significance .It was be wrong to assumes that foreign students have rigid stereotypes. In fact they are seen to behave at times in very different way as there is minimal urge to confirm to the cultural norms of their society is absent Only those values which has been ingrained in them as code of conduct that have been sanctioned by religion is adhered by the individuals as they have believe in the omnipresence of God. Religion is one of the social structures that are comparatively more rigid than the other structure. The students at the post graduate level are quite mature therefore the level of the acceptability of the values norms of a multicultural society is less. The influences are judged and then absorbed but this doesn't mean they become impermeable to the change while living in different society. The other social structures like gender also plays a crucial role in defining our self image and how that self image can undergo a change as the other selves have different identities. The societal norms regarding a particular gender can determine the level of interaction with the opposite sex. This is more prominent in case of female students .The presence female international student is reflective of the fact that the society back home is not repressive as it has allowed them to go to distant land to pursue studies abroad. The level of mixing might be initially determined by the level of the permissiveness of the societies of their origin. As the year passes it is seen that compelling situations of the two sexes studying together might lead to greater permissiveness. Human minds are a complex entity therefore we have myriad of expression of self and the change in the self image. Sometimes we see that those individuals who are from repressive background espouse liberal attitude towards the other sex and sometimes the permissiveness of the host nation makes them conservatives. International students are living in a melting pot of the variant cultural influences what is going to bring about change in the perception of self is difficult to say but one thing is sure that their contact with the outside world is going to bring changes .Some of them would perceptible the rest would be subtle. CONCLUSION The self image is formed by the influences that society exerts on an individual. Society is made up of the individuals with their peculiar self identities. They share a reciprocal relationship change in one results in change in the other .since human mind is complex entity sometimes those things which are likely to bring change in doesn't do so as in adversity there is chance that a person adheres to the modes and mores of traditional society with stronger conviction. Changes in the self images are a result of various factors like education, gender, race, ethnicity, religion and how these influences. The analyses of society reveals that it is constituted of social structures and these structures play a crucial role in the formation of particular identities. Each member of society plays a multiple role like that of a father, brother professional etc and there are model behavior expected out of him. Therefore multiple identities are another important influence on how the self image is shaped. The self image is developed in respect of the self image of the other self images. Society is amalgamation of fixed patterns versus flux which are result of situational differences. International students are similarly facing different situation a different cultures and a different role .All these variants produce a change in the perception of self which is sometimes subtle and sometimes pronounced and sometimes it leads an individual to stick to his self image with all the more vigor. REFERENCES Burke, P. J. (1980). The self: Measurement implications from a symbolic interactionist perspective. Social Psychology Quarterly, 43, 18-29. Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature and social order. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Ie, Fumiko. "Identity and Socialization of International Students in America" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Sheraton New York, New York City, NY, Online . 2008-04-22 http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p14718_index.html Kate, Cadman. (1997). Thesis Writing for International Students: A Question of Identity McCall, G. J., & Simmons, J. L. (1978). Identities and interactions. New York: Free Pres. Rogoff, B. (1994). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture and Activity, 1, 209-229. Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. New York: Basic Books. Stryker, S. (2000). Identity competition: Key to differential social movement involvement. In S. Stryker, Stryker, S., & Burke, P. J. (2000). The past, present, and future of an identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 63, 284-297 Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge University Press Read More