Asian international doctoral students' assimilation into adapted physical activity graduate programs while attending predominantly White institutions of higher education within the Big Ten Conference

Asian international students compose more than 10% of enrollments at predominantly White-institutions of higher education (PW-IHE) in the United States (US) of America and are primarily enrolled at research IHE (Institute for International Education, 1999). Students from countries outside of the US are an important constituency for IHE in the USA America due to the added cultural richness they bring to the academy (Tan, 1994). However, many Asian international students at PW-IHE in US encounter difficulty when attempting to describe assimilation and may have difficulty adjusting to their environment (Uba, 1994). Specific to adapted physical activity (APA), several Asian countries (e.g. China, Japan, and Korea) have received academic and pedagogical influences related to teaching physical activities and sports for individuals with disabilities from scholars in and beyond USA America (Doll-Tepper, Dahms, Doll, & von Selzam, 1990; Kobayashi, et al., 2000; Sherrill & DePauw, 1997). For example, the book Adapted Physical Activity, Recreation and Sport: Crossdisciplinary and Lifespan (Sherrill, 1997) has been translated from English into Chinese, and likewise the book Early Movement Experiences and Development (Winnick, 1979) has been translated into Japanese and now widely used for elementary special education teachers in these countries (Kobayashi, Nagamatsu, Shichikida, & Miyahara, 2000). As a result, Asian scholars have been inspired to promote the concepts of interdisciplinary and crossdisciplinary theory and practice, which relate to the lifespan physical activity of individuals with psychomotor limitations (Kobayashi et al., 2000). However, the number of adapted physical education (APE) graduate programs in Asian countries is very limited. Therefore, a number of students from various Asian countries enroll in APE degree programs at IHE in the USA America (Fujita, 2001).; The purpose of this study was to describe and explain Asian international doctoral students' assimilation into APA graduate programs while attending PW-IHE within the Big Ten Conference. Participants were seven Asian international APA doctoral students. The theoretical framework was assimilation theory, which refers to a process of interpretation and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitudes of other persons and groups and, by sharing and explaining their experiences and history, incorporate with them in a common cultural life (Park & Burgess, 1969).; This study used an explanatory (holistic) multiple case study design (Yin, 2003). The principle premise of case study method is to better understand some complex social phenomena---while retaining the holistic and meaningful particularities of real-life circumstances (Yin, 2003). Data were collected using (a) a modified demographic questionnaire, Doctoral Education and Career Preparation (DECP; Golde & Dore, 2001) survey; (b) face-to-face interviews (Yin, 2003); and (c) academic program of study from each participant.; Interview data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), which involves systematically examining and refining variations in emergent themes. The basic strategy of this analysis process is to do what its name implies---constantly compare. The researcher begins with a particular incident from an interview, program of study, and demographic questionnaire, for example to compare these data with other content in the same set of data or in another set (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Findings were presented descriptively in narrative as recurring themes. These recurring themes were: (a) academic experiences, (b) relationships, (c) barriers, and (d) identity, political, cultural, and diversity awareness. Implications of these findings are described for APA professional development programs.