Ashes col' darg lay dong: Trinidadian students' response to the UK

Abstract

This research investigates how Trinidadian students in the United Kingdom (UK) respond to their new environment. The research explores and conceptualises the participants? experiences in the UK. It investigates Trinidadian student adjustment in the UK from a postcolonial perspective. To acquire data on Trinidadian experiences in the UK I created a private, password-protected group blog (interactive webpage) where eight respondents interacted and shared aspects of their everyday life and experiences over six months. After the blogging period follow-up face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with five of the eight participants. The research design was formulated so that the two methods would work together to paint a vivid, multidimensional and dynamic picture of the participants? experiences. These two techniques together are referred to as the blog-interview method. The experiences of three of the participants were captured as in-depth case studies. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data and generate a working theory of the participants? experiences. A theory of adjustment, called (dis)juncture, was developed. The theory views the students? adjustment as a continuous process of negotiation among simultaneous connecting and disconnecting forces. This can create a student who is a synergy of global experiences, signifying systems, representations, identities, worldviews and perspectives that are not exclusively in one domain: they are hybrid. Unlike much work in this area, (dis)juncture does not view adjustment in stages nor does it assume that adjustment is something that can be achieved. Adjustment is advanced as a process of continuous transformation as a result of constant contact with multiple signifying systems simultaneously. (Dis)Juncture breaks important ground in the field by reconceptualising and re-imaging the process of international student adjustment. The theory thus makes a significant contribution to research on international student experiences

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record