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Frontiers of Education in China

ISSN 1673-341X

ISSN 1673-3533(Online)

CN 11-5741/G4

Postal Subscription Code 80-979

Front. Educ. China    2014, Vol. 9 Issue (3) : 327-349    https://doi.org/10.3868/s110-003-014-0029-x
research-article
Taiwanese Students in Malaysia and Interculturality: When National Identities Take Primacy over Individualities
Regis MACHART1(),E-Lynn YEOW2,Sin Zi CHIN3,Sep Neo LIM4
1. Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Modern languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Malaysia
2. Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Modern languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Malaysia
3. Department of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Modern languages and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang 43400, Malaysia
4. Faculty of Arts, Communication and Education, Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur, Kajang 43000, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
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Abstract

Using a liquid approach, the authors analyze the intercultural discourse of Taiwanese students who had taken part in a short term exchange program with a Malaysian university. The four participants were graduating in Mandarin Chinese in their home institution and were following a Chinese program in multilingual Malaysia. Data were collected through focus groups held in Mandarin Chinese and focused on their experience in the host country. The authors analyze how participants talk about themselves, Malaysians, and their adaptation to the host country. The processes of essentialization and othering that occur and put in contrast the host and the home contexts are similar to those held in Asia-to-Europe mobility and very far from an “interculturality without culture” (Dervin, 2010). If we focus on the construction of discourses, this Asia-to-Asia mobility forces us to relativize the opposition of cultures as an explanation for difficulties encountered by mobile students.

Keywords interculturality      othering      cultural adjustment      student exchange      Taiwanese students     
Issue Date: 23 September 2014
 Cite this article:   
Regis MACHART,E-Lynn YEOW,Sin Zi CHIN, et al. Taiwanese Students in Malaysia and Interculturality: When National Identities Take Primacy over Individualities[J]. Front. Educ. China, 2014, 9(3): 327-349.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fed/EN/10.3868/s110-003-014-0029-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fed/EN/Y2014/V9/I3/327
[1] Fred DERVIN, Anu HÄRKÖNEN, Mei YUAN, Wan ZHANG, Ning CHEN. “I Want to Feel That I Live in China”: Imaginaries and Hospitality in International Students’ (mis-)Encounters at a Top Chinese University[J]. Front. Educ. China, 2020, 15(4): 588-620.
[2] Fred DERVIN, Ashley SIMPSON. Transnational Edu-Business in China: A Case Study of Culturalist Market-Making from Finland[J]. Front. Educ. China, 2019, 14(1): 33-58.
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