Three taiwanese students’ identity transformations: Complexity within a cohort of international students

Although the complexity of identity transformation among Chinese-speaking international students (CSIS) has been emphasized in previous research, there is a perceived linear and causal pattern between studying abroad and being intercultural. This pattern of thinking results in the risk of treating all the CSIS as the same in each cohort of students. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, in this auto/ethnographic study 3 Taiwanese international postgraduate students were followed for 1 year to elucidate the complexity of their identity transformations. The findings suggest a variety of identity changes resulting from the participants’ evaluation of their past, present, and future situations.