| This study examines nonnative-English-speaking (NNES) international graduate students' disciplinary enculturation across disciplines. It aims to interrogate the presumed primacy of English to NNES students' academic success and challenge the disadvantaged portrayal of NNES international students in English-speaking academic communities.;Through the lens of communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger 1998), investment (Norton Peirce, 1995) and capital (Bourdieu, 1977 & 1991), and imagined communities (Kanno & Norton, 2003), this study uses multiple interviews, shadowing observations, and compilation of written documents to explore the experiences of four NNES international doctoral students' academic experiences in three different disciplines (aeronautics and astronautics engineering, economics, and Chinese) at a U.S. university. The analysis focuses on (1) the role English proficiency plays in NNES international graduate students' participation and identity development, and (2) the relationship between students' career aspirations and selections of academic investment.;The findings illustrate that language competence does not necessarily have the same value across different disciplines and disciplinary practices. Moreover, rather than being disadvantaged by linguistics and cultural barriers, the NNES international students are able to position themselves strategically and make deft use of their resources to claim legitimate membership in their respective disciplinary communities. Additionally, the students in this study make conscious choices to participate in practices that would most likely bring added-value to their existing resources, and further endow them with the kinds of capital meaningful to their future career and academic aspirations.;Based on the findings, I propose a reconceptualization of the notion of disciplinary enculturation as a selective process in which students make strategic adaptation and investment rather than passively accepting institutionalized disciplinary demands. Disciplinary enculturation for NNES students is a continuous endeavor of learning to negotiate the different social, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal forces at play and to make-do with the requirements of the new socio-academic community. Finally, as these NNES international students are key contributors to the global knowledge production, I call for more learner-centered schemes to foster NNES international students academic and professional aspirations, prepare them for their academic quest, and meet their diverse needs during their studies. |
