Abstracts

This study focuses on how Chinese international graduate students make meanings of their experiences through everyday social communication with native English speaker to make adjustment to their new lives. Grounded on Vygotskys sociocultural theoretical framework, this study is conducted by the case study method to present the target group of students understanding of barriers encountered in social communication and their interpretation of the relations between self and the environment. Perezhivanie shed light on exploring the participants different attitudes and interpretation of the same life issues with the increasing length of residence in the United States. By experiencing a range of emotions generated in social communication, the participants perezhivanie undergo changes, which assists them to achieve clear self-identification, adjust their performance in social life, and make adjustment to the target sociocultural environment. Advisors/Committee Members: Holbrook Mahn, Lucretia Pence, Melissa Axelrod, Seon Park.