How Sojourner Students Cope: When Perceptions of Teachers Don't Match Expectations

Students who traveled to the United States to study ("student sojourners") were asked in a study to describe their initial expectations of teacher communication. Three research questions were probed: (1) Do student sojourners have articulated expectations and norms for teacher communication? (2) Do student sojourners experience violations of their expectations for teacher communication? (3) How do student sojourners respond to violations of their expectations for teacher communication? Ten sojourners (four females and six males) from Canada, China, Croatia, Finland, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, and Taiwan participated. Results showed that student sojourners' expectations did play a role in their experiences in the United States. However, it was not their expectations for teacher communication that were critical. In response to question one, students felt more concerned about expectations of themselves than of their teachers. In response to question two, students said they did feel "violated" but they attributed such feelings to unmet expectations for self or for some relationship. In response to question three, students did not make any comments about how a teacher should communicate. They seemed to take a case-by-case approach for assessing teachers. (Contains 25 references.) (TB)