(Re)constructing identity in the transnational classroom: the student perspective

ABSTRACT

This study examines the ways in which accounting students re(construct) their identities in a transnational education (TNE) environment when taught by visiting academics from another culture. Using focus groups with TNE accounting students and classroom observation, our findings show that TNE students’ identities are forged through a continual dialogic process of negotiation and mediation between previous and current pedagogical practices, their own and other individuals’ cultural values and assumptions, institutional expectations, and their pre-professional identities as accountants. We also highlight that culture, and the influence it exerts on students, is dynamic and cannot be overly generalised. Our findings also have important implications for the design and delivery of domestic accounting programmes with large international cohorts.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnational education
• student identity
• cultural identity
• identity theory
• higher education

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and guidance. The authors would also like to thank participants at the following conferences for their helpful comments: Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) Annual Conference, the European Accounting Association (EAA) Annual Congress and the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Accounting Education Special Interest Group.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 TNE is defined as a situation ‘in which the learners are located in a country different from the one where the awarding institution is based’ (Council of Europe, 2001).

2 It should also be noted that Hall (1996a) has been cited almost 10,000 times in a range of areas, including studies examining gender (Wetherell & Edley, 1999), class (Skeggs, 2005), social media (Lewis & Fabos, 2005), language (Block, 2007), literacy (Moje & Luke, 2009) professional staff (Whitchurch, 2008), disability (N. Watson, 2002), intersectionality (Prins, 2006), ethnicity (Reay et al., 2007) and unemployment (Daskalaki & Simosi, 2018).

3 This paper focuses on identity in the context of Confucian-heritage cultures, rather than the cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede et al. (2010).

4 The researcher is an experienced Australian accounting academic with a post-graduate qualification in tertiary teaching and learning. She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and has undertaken multiple transnational teaching trips throughout Asia for her Australian university. She has also lived in Asia for an extensive period and is therefore well versed to conduct research of this nature due to her familiarity with the region.

5 The focus group guide is available from the corresponding author on request.