Marginality and Integration in Cross- Cultural Classrooms: A Sociological Analysis of the Learning Experiences of International Students in China - From the Perspective of Discourse, Mobility, and Identity Negotiation in the Context of Educational Internationalization

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the continuous deepening of the internationalization of global higher education, China has rapidly emerged as a key destination for international students. However, there remains widespread debate regarding whether the learning experiences of international students in China truly embody the core spirit of an “internationalized classroom”. Based on a sociological perspective, this paper employs Bourdieu’s capital theory and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the learning experiences, cultural interactions, and identity negotiation processes of international students in China. The study points out that within the institutional framework of educational internationalization, international students often find themselves caught in the tension between “symbolic inclusion” and “structural exclusion”: they are constructed as the “other” in terms of language, teaching methods, and classroom interactions, and their learning experiences are institutionally marginalized. By analyzing texts from social media and educational policy discourses, this paper reveals the cultural power logic and the mechanism of symbolic capital reproduction in the process of the internationalization of higher education in China. The study argues that international students achieve identity negotiation through the transformation of cultural capital and discourse strategies, which reflects the agency and resistance of individuals in the field of cross-cultural education. This paper calls for “pluralistic dialogue” and “cultural equality” to be taken as the core orientations of internationalized education in both policy-making and teaching practice, so as to promote cross-cultural classrooms to move from symbolic inclusion to genuine integration.