A CASE STUDY OF NON-NATIVE ENGLISH-SPEAKING INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

The social identity construction of international students studying in the United States is important to the field of second language learning and the study of identity. A Social Identity and Communities of Practice (CoP) framework were used to understand how participation in a CoP informed the identity of non-native speaking university international students studying in the U.S. The focus of this study was to investigate how participation in a CoP informed the identity of non-native speaking international university students studying in the U.S. I proposed that these frameworks provided a foundation for understanding how participation in a CoP for non-native English-speaking university students informed their international student identity. Furthermore, this study showed how participation in a CoP contributed to the participants’ sense of belonging. Data collected for this study included audio recordings of the group and individual interviews, notes from the observation of the CoP, audio recordings of the CoP observations, and notes of researcher’s thoughts. Several major themes emerged including: Identity, Language, and Aspects of Communities of Practice. These themes described why this group of students decided to belong to this particular CoP, their motivation for attending and participating in this CoP, and their experiences in the CoP. Results of this study addressed that participating in a CoP helped participants inform their international student identity and a sense of belonging