Studies on the International Students' Adjustment Process to U.S. Writing Standards through Bourdieu

LAURA MARINA COLOMBO

The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations

Common Ground

Año: 2006 vol. 5 p. 143 - 148

1447-9532

In this work I analyse research on international students? process of adjustment to U.S. academic writing standards. It is my purpose to determine whether or not studies on this field have taken into account the hierarchy and power relations in the academic field that influence students´ adjustment process. I apply Bourdieu´s concepts of "symbolic capital," "cultural arbitrary," "habitus" and "field," and I conclude that although scholars recognize the arbitrariness in academic writing standards and propose the explicit teaching of these conventions, these phenomenon remains being analysed as one-way process. By doing this, not only different voices but also different ways of approaching the social reality are muted. Further research is needed to investigate how international students impact the Anglo-American academic community.