Foreign Students’ Experience in Socialization through Participation in Sports in a Singapore International School: A Case Study

Abstract

This is a qualitative case study that aims at researching on six foreign students’ experiential process in inter-national socialization and identity development in their participation in a Singapore international school’s sport programme. Based on the multi-dimensional model, the study aims to provide understanding of the factors and experiences involved in the socialization process of these students as they participate in both formal and informal sporting activities. The study seeks to gain a theoretical understanding of the phenomena involved through using various social-psychological perspectives and theories to explain research findings. The study also serves to provide an understanding of the value of sport participation in a person’s schooling life as well as the problems young people generally encounter whilst socializing in an international setting.

The findings of the study reveal the importance of having sporting activities as a means for inter-national socialization among the young students, where sport participation can provide a sense of shared reality which builds and develops positive
relationships. The study also reveals the importance of having an amicable and people-oriented ethos in a school, which helps promote socialization in general. In relation to theoretical understanding from both the ‘developmental’ and ‘humanistic-social constructionist’ perspectives, the study reveals that multiple theories have to be utilized to provide better comprehension of the phenomena involved.