Updated Abstract

  This research-International Among International Students- sheds light on the skills that the international students already had when they were attending their home schools.  Then, it shows that the international students have developed those skills after they arrived at Texas A&M-University Commerce.

Abstract

  

     This research project-- Literacy Among International Students--questions the international students’ literacy before they came to the school and now while they are attending Texas A&M- University Commerce. A wide number of researches from all over the world have tackled a number of cultural, social, academic, linguistic issues regarding the international students. These kinds of problems were discovered in the first place by some researchers who went deep into the field and extracted these issues and suggested solutions to people in charge. Two overt examples of this are the work of Deborah Brant in Literacy in American Lives and Deborah Mutnik in Inscribing the World: An Oral History Project in Brooklyn. In this paper, however, I will not discuss the problems that face the international students here at Texas A&M-Commerce (if any), instead, I will shed some light on what skills they brought to this school. Obviously, I compared their previous skills when they were at home schools and questioned whether they still kept the same skills and whether they benefited from them or not. Apparently, the international students came from different countries, cultures and backgrounds; therefore, they used to have different varieties of skills when they were attending their home institutions. This research, therefore, examines those skills and questions whether they affected the students’ literacy.

      There are two major components I will include and rely on in building the argument of this project—the idea of sponsorship by Deborah Brandt and the idea of place by Deborah Mutnik. For the first one, I will see what the major factors that shape and hone the students’ literacy—is it the school, home, or something else? Also, the idea of place helps identify some blatant factors that make some students excel more in their studies. The idea of place should not only be confined to the place itself but also to who lives in that place, like a roommate. Apparently, a roommate reminds the person of the place he or she lives in. Consequently, the roommate could be looked at as a significant factor in either helping the promotion of the international student’s literacy or in working as an obstacle that disturbs and restrains people from taking their time to read, write, study, etc.