Fostering a sense of belonging on university campus: a case study of Taiwanese Association
Date
2021-09-29
Authors
Sung, Minjeong
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Abstract
Through the lens of a sense of belonging, this case study explores minority students' personal experience in the Taiwanese Association at the University of Victoria (UVic) and the impact of this organization on students’ lives. The participants were recruited through snowball sampling following the two criteria: membership in the Association with a minimum duration of six months and identifying as racial/ethnic minority students with Taiwanese heritage. A one-hour-long individual interview with each participant was the main source of data and the Association's official Facebook page was also used as a reference. The interviews were video-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed based on Tesch's coding process described by Creswell and Creswell (2018). Three main themes related to a sense of belonging emerged from the data analysis: connectedness, a combination of cultural brokering and an Asian value of 'a senior-junior relationship', and dynamism. The findings suggest that for the participants, who represented ethnic minority students, participating in the Association was essential to their sense of belonging and feeling connected which correlated to their academic success and involvement on campus. More experienced members of the Association acted as a significant source of support because these individuals could recognize the participants’ cultural and academic challenges and offer their support. Overall, the participants acknowledged their positive experience which led them to smooth psychological transition and adaptation to a new cultural, social, or academic environment despite the negative factors such as homesickness, cultural ignorance and insensitivity, and self-recognition as a minority. Implications for future research and recommendations for university community as well as Asian minority students on campus are discussed.
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Keywords
A sense of belonging, Cultural brokering, University campus, Racial/ethnic minority students