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The Visible Hand behind Study-Abroad Waves: Cram Schools, Organizational Framing and the International Mobility of Chinese Students

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Title: The Visible Hand behind Study-Abroad Waves: Cram Schools, Organizational Framing and the International Mobility of Chinese Students
Language: English
Authors: Lin, Le
Source: Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research. Feb 2020 79(2):259-274.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 16
Publication Date: 2020
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Study Abroad, Student Mobility, Test Preparation, English (Second Language), Language Tests, Second Language Learning, Graduate Study, College Entrance Examinations, Coaching (Performance), Self Help Programs, Nationalism, Global Approach, Supplementary Education
Geographic Terms: China
Assessment and Survey Identifiers: Test of English as a Foreign Language, Graduate Record Examinations, International English Language Testing System, SAT (College Admission Test)
DOI: 10.1007/s10734-019-00408-1
ISSN: 0018-1560
Abstract: This paper adds an organizational dimension to the body of literature on international student mobility. Existing studies examine push/pull factors and student motivations, neglecting that students' motivations and demands are not necessarily spontaneous, but can be shaped by external forces. Drawing on interview, archival and observation data collected on four leading cram schools that prepare students for the TOEFL/GRE, IELTS and SAT in China, I argue that cram schools not only coach students on test preparation and "how to study abroad," but they also adopt organizational framing to instill in students "why to study abroad." Leading cram schools have played an integral role in promoting a certain organizational framing as the dominant approach of a niche market in a given era. During the 1990s, when the TOEFL/GRE niche market was rapidly expanding, the market leader in this niche promoted self-help and nationalism as dominant discourses. Self-help discourse frames overseas study and test preparation not as means, but as the ends of students' lives: going beyond one's limit and making one's life complete. Nationalist discourse depicts overseas study as a detour to build a stronger China after learning from the West. After 2000, however, new organizational framing picked up momentum in the new niche markets of IELTS and SAT. Targeting urban middle-class consumers, market leaders in these new niches increasingly framed studying abroad as a springboard for immigration, a channel for becoming global elites and an opportunity for status improvement for the entire family. My article bridges literature on transnational higher education with studies on supplementary education.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2020
Accession Number: EJ1242051
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0141513057;hie01feb.20;2020Feb04.03:53;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0141513057-1">The visible hand behind study-abroad waves: cram schools, organizational framing and the international mobility of Chinese students </title> <p>This paper adds an organizational dimension to the body of literature on international student mobility. Existing studies examine push/pull factors and student motivations, neglecting that students' motivations and demands are not necessarily spontaneous, but can be shaped by external forces. Drawing on interview, archival and observation data collected on four leading cram schools that prepare students for the TOEFL/GRE, IELTS and SAT in China, I argue that cram schools not only coach students on test preparation and "how to study abroad," but they also adopt organizational framing to instill in students "why to study abroad." Leading cram schools have played an integral role in promoting a certain organizational framing as the dominant approach of a niche market in a given era. During the 1990s, when the TOEFL/GRE niche market was rapidly expanding, the market leader in this niche promoted self-help and nationalism as dominant discourses. Self-help discourse frames overseas study and test preparation not as means, but as the ends of students' lives: going beyond one's limit and making one's life complete. Nationalist discourse depicts overseas study as a detour to build a stronger China after learning from the West. After 2000, however, new organizational framing picked up momentum in the new niche markets of IELTS and SAT. Targeting urban middle-class consumers, market leaders in these new niches increasingly framed studying abroad as a springboard for immigration, a channel for becoming global elites and an opportunity for status improvement for the entire family. My article bridges literature on transnational higher education with studies on supplementary education.</p> <p>Keywords: International student mobility; Internationalization of higher education; China; Cram schools; Organizational framing; Push/pull factors; Supplementary education; Shadow education</p> <p>International student mobility is an essential component of higher education internationalization (Knight [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref1">20</reflink>]; Li and Bray [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref2">25</reflink>]). Much ink has been spilt on how and why students choose to study abroad. Using the push/pull model, early studies often focus on nation-state-level factors, such as the academic superiority and economic structure of host countries and the political predicament of home countries (e.g. McMahon [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref3">31</reflink>]; Altbach [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref4">1</reflink>]). Later studies pay more attention to student characteristics, such as students' motivations and their decision-making processes (e.g. Li and Bray [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref5">25</reflink>]; Bodycott [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref6">5</reflink>]). More recently, scholars have noted the necessity to synthesize demand and supply sides and factors of multiple levels, such as students, families, social networks and nation-states (e.g. Park [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref7">37</reflink>]; Findlay [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref8">13</reflink>]; Kondakci [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref9">22</reflink>]; Waters [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref10">45</reflink>]; Beech [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref11">4</reflink>]; Findlay et al. [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref12">14</reflink>]; Yang [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref13">46</reflink>]).</p> <p>The drastic historical change in Chinese students' international mobility provides an ideal case. From the founding of communist China in 1949 to the late 1970s, Chinese students did not participate in overseas higher education, with the exception of attending Soviet colleges for a short period in the 1950s. All this changed after Deng Xiaoping's reform began. The study-abroad waves, also known as "study-abroad fever" (Qian [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref14">38</reflink>]; Zhao [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref15">49</reflink>]), took off in the early 1980s. In four decades, China has developed into the world's largest source of international students. In 2016, there were 300,000 Chinese tertiary students studying in other countries, making up 31% of the world's total population of international students (Institute of International Education [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref16">19</reflink>]). When researching Chinese students' study-abroad waves of the last four decades, scholars have emphasized the interactions among students, their families and home and host countries (e.g. Fang and Wang [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref17">12</reflink>]; Cheng et al. [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref18">9</reflink>]).</p> <p>Despite an increased comprehensiveness, extant literature on study-abroad activities of China and elsewhere depicts students' motivations and intentions as spontaneous and intrinsic, rather than as social constructs that can be shaped or created by external forces, such as organizations. Furthermore, existing literature continues to treat students' motivations and push/pull factors as independent of each other. In other words, it neglects to consider that students' motivations can be a function of how students understand push/pull factors. The role of organizations in shaping students' understanding of push/pull factors has also not been explored to date.</p> <p>In this paper I add an organizational dimension to existing studies on international student mobility. I focus on China's cram schools, whose purpose is to help Chinese students prepare for the tests required by educational institutions abroad, such as the TOEFL, GRE, IELTS and SAT.[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref19">1</reflink>] Cram schools are the backbones of China's education and training industry which provides non-degree-oriented and supplementary education services. I draw on interview, archival and observation data on four leading cram schools. My focus is on their organizational framing[<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref20">2</reflink>] that provides meaning to the study-abroad and test-preparation processes. I argue that cram schools not only coach students on test preparation and provide information regarding "how to study abroad," but they also adopt organizational framing to instill in students "why to study abroad."</p> <p>Leading cram schools have played an integral role in promoting certain organizational framing to be the dominant approach of a given niche market in a given era. During the 1990s, when the TOEFL/GRE niche market was rapidly expanding, a Beijing-based cram school called Supernova rose to be a national market leader, promoting its organizational framing—framing studying abroad with self-help and nationalist discourses—to be the dominant approach of this niche. Self-help discourse[<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref21">3</reflink>] frames studying abroad and preparing for the TOEFL/GRE as going beyond one's limit and making one's life complete. Framed this way, these processes constitute ends of students' lives rather than mere means for attaining other goals. Nationalist discourse depicts overseas study as a detour to build a stronger China after learning from the West. After 2000, however, new organizational framing picked up momentum in the new niche markets of the IELTS and SAT. Targeting urban middle-class consumers, cram schools in these new niche markets increasingly framed studying abroad as a springboard for immigration, a channel for becoming global elites and an opportunity for status improvement for the entire family. Although this new framing became the dominant approach in new niches, it did not replace self-help and nationalist discourses altogether. The three discourses have been co-existing in the study-abroad movement. Here, I discuss the theoretical and policy implications of my findings at the end.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-2">Conceptual framework</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0141513057-3">Researching international student mobility: The changing framework</hd> <p>International student mobility is an essential component of higher education internationalization (Knight [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref22">20</reflink>]; Li and Bray [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref23">25</reflink>]). The initial direction of student mobility was mostly from less developed countries to developed countries (e.g. Lee and Tan [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref24">24</reflink>]). The last two decades, however, have witnessed new patterns, such as the emergence of bridge territories and education hubs as new destinations (Li and Bray [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref25">25</reflink>]; Knight [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref26">21</reflink>]).</p> <p>There has been much debate on how and why students study abroad. Using a push/pull model, early studies often focus on the aggregate demand of students and the economic and cultural factors of less developed countries as key predictors for student outflow (e.g. Lee and Tan [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref27">24</reflink>]). For example, a sending country's involvement in global trade, its interdependence with its trade partners and its weakness in education can push its students outward, whereas the economic, academic and cultural capacity of a host country can attract students of other countries (e.g. McMahon [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref28">31</reflink>]).</p> <p>The push/pull model has been systematically developed to embrace more factors. Altbach ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref29">1</reflink>]) provides a comprehensive list of push/pull factors, ranging from the political and economic predicaments of home countries, to the preferable academic as well as socio-political environments of host countries. Mazzarol and Soutar ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref30">29</reflink>]) further add cost of living, natural environment and geographic proximity as critical pull factors. They also perceive studying abroad as a decision-making process that involves both students and their parents.</p> <p>A new strand of research focuses on the decision-making process and individual choices with regard to overseas studies. Li and Bray ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref31">25</reflink>]), for example, call for greater attention to students' characteristics, especially how students' motivations, intentions and perceptions influence their destination choices. There has been a growing tendency to examine students' choices as individual "consumer behaviors" (Fang and Wang [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref32">12</reflink>]) and as family strategies (Bodycott [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref33">5</reflink>]; Waters [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref34">45</reflink>]). A growing interest in students, their families and other demand-side factors, however, does not necessarily mean neglect of supply-side factors and other structural forces. Some studies build synthetic models by combining demand and supply sides and factors of multiple levels, such as students, families, social networks and nation-states (e.g. Park [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref35">37</reflink>]; Findlay [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref36">13</reflink>]; Kondakci [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref37">22</reflink>]; Waters [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref38">45</reflink>]; Beech [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref39">4</reflink>]; Findlay et al. [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref40">14</reflink>]; Yang [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref41">46</reflink>]).</p> <p>Studies of the international mobility of Chinese students mirror the above-mentioned paradigm shifts. Earlier studies, although not necessarily employing the push/pull concepts, mostly examine nation-state characteristics and the interplay between the state and students (e.g. Orleans [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref42">34</reflink>]; Zhao [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref43">48</reflink>]). Some studies point to the Chinese state and leaders as the initial engines for Chinese students' outward mobility (e.g. Miao [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref44">33</reflink>]). Recent studies, however, not only note the cultural gravity of China, but they also illustrate how students' decisions to study abroad are subject to the interplay between push/pull factors and student characteristics (Li and Bray [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref45">25</reflink>]; Cheng et al. [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref46">9</reflink>]; Yang [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref47">46</reflink>]). The shift of focus of these studies corresponds to the changed characteristics of Chinese overseas students: after 2000, the percentage of self-sponsored and self-financed students increased dramatically, and their growth was accompanied with the increased percentage of undergraduate students and the growing popularity of British Commonwealth countries as destinations (e.g. Fischer [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref48">15</reflink>]).</p> <p>Despite their increased comprehensiveness, extant literature on study-abroad activities of China and elsewhere depicts students' motivation and intentions as natural, intrinsic and spontaneous. They neglect to consider that students' demands and motivations, as social constructs, can be aroused, shaped and even created. First, although existing studies consider studying abroad as a complicated decision-making process involving multiple parties, their key question is <emph>where</emph> to study, assuming that students have already decided to study abroad (e.g. Li and Bray [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref49">25</reflink>]; Gozales et al. [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref50">18</reflink>]). In other words, existing studies assume that all students and families follow the same order when making decisions, and these studies look exclusively at what occurs <emph>after</emph> the initial "predisposition stage" (Salisbury et al. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref51">40</reflink>]). There is a dearth of research on how the predisposition to study abroad takes root. Second, although some existing studies note the interaction, or the combined effects, between nation-state-level push/pull factors and students' perceptions, these and other extant literature still treat students' motivations and push/pull factors as independent of each other. They gloss over the consideration that students' motivations can be a function of how students understand push/pull factors. After all, what matters most for students' decision-making might not be push/pull factors per se, but rather students' perception of these factors (Park [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref52">37</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-4">The role of organizations and organizational framing</hd> <p>Social forces outside of student families are critical in shaping students' motivations and constructing certain images of push/pull factors in students' minds. These forces include peers and a variety of organizations, such as schools at home, future host institutions and their local partners (Mazzarol and Soutar [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref53">29</reflink>]; Findlay [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref54">13</reflink>]; Cantwell and Taylor [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref55">8</reflink>]; Beech [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref56">4</reflink>]). These organizations can affect students' access to information about how to study abroad and where to go. Some studies also note the existence of study-abroad agencies, although preliminary findings show the reluctance of students and their parents to use agency services (Mazzarol and Soutar [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref57">29</reflink>]; Bodycott [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref58">5</reflink>]).</p> <p>In this article I investigate Chinese cram schools whose aim is to prepare students for the TOEFL, GRE, IELTS and SAT. When it comes to influence over students' motivation to study abroad, cram schools are a critical but neglected type of organization. As I will elaborate in the empirical section of my article, a large proportion of students in the 1990s who took the TOEFL/GRE attended cram schools without a clear agenda for overseas study, but many of them became more determined to study abroad after attendance. Chinese parents also prefer to test students' fitness of studying abroad by asking students to attend cram schools before taking any further action, such as engaging with study-abroad agencies. Therefore, cram schools are more relevant to understanding the predisposition stage than are agencies.</p> <p>By focusing on cram schools, I join recent efforts in understanding supplementary education, also known as shadow education (e.g. Bray [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref59">6</reflink>]). Existing studies focus on supplementary education's social causes (e.g. Aurini et al. [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref60">3</reflink>]; Zhang and Bray [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref61">47</reflink>]), its policy implications, impact on education attainment and social stratification (Stevenson and Baker [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref62">42</reflink>]; Buchmann et al. [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref63">7</reflink>]). There is also a growing interest in cram schools and training centers as organizations. Studies have probed their curriculum and organizational model as well as how these entities legitimize themselves (e.g. Aurini [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref64">2</reflink>]). To date, however, no study has examined the role of one country's cram schools in transnational higher education. Although newspapers and test administrators, such as Educational Testing Service (ETS), have noted the impact of Chinese cram schools on U.S. higher education, they have limited their focus to cheating and the unauthorized use of test materials (e.g. Pan [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref65">35</reflink>]).</p> <p>One area of particular relevance to student motivation is how cram schools engage in organizational framing. To study social movement organizations, Snow et al. ([<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref66">41</reflink>]) developed Goffman ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref67">17</reflink>])'s idea of framing as a "schemata of interpretation." Framing enables individuals to "perceive, identify and label" (Snow et al. [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref68">41</reflink>]), rendering events and occurrence meaningful. Organizational framing, either crafted intentionally or institutionalized as taken-for-granted norms, has a significant impact on the meaning system of a wide variety of organizations (e.g. Fiss and Zajac [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref69">16</reflink>]). Hypothetically, cram schools can also employ organizational framing to provide meaning to the study-abroad decision-making and test-preparation processes.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-5">Data and method</hd> <p>In this article I primarily draw cases from cram schools which prepare students for the TOEFL/GRE, IELTS and SAT. Cram schools are a major category within China's education and training industry. Through more than 30 years of development, China's education and training industry has become one of the world's largest and most vibrant for-profit education sectors: its total annual revenue surpassed 200 billion US dollars in 2015 (Deloitte [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref70">11</reflink>]). Its total annual enrollment is over a hundred million people (KPMG [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref71">23</reflink>])— almost one tenth of China's enormous population.</p> <p>I selected four market leaders as primary cases. The most important case is the Supernova cram school. It has dominated China's TOEFL/GRE niche market since the mid 1990s (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref72">28</reflink>]; Pang [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref73">36</reflink>]). Since the early 2000s, it has expanded to and dominated other niches. It was the first Chinese cram school to go public on the U.S. stock market and now has one of the world's highest stock valuations among education corporations. The second case, United IELTS, is the largest cram school in the IELTS niche market. I also chose Westlake and Beansprout, two top players in the SAT niche market, for study. To protect my informants and their organizations, I use pseudonyms throughout the paper.[<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref74">4</reflink>] Additional information on these four cram schools and my data sources is given in Table 1.</p> <p>Four leading cram schools as primary cases</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th><p>Name of cram school</p></th><th><p>Year founded</p></th><th><p>Niche<sup>a</sup></p></th><th><p>Status</p></th><th><p>Primary data source and distribution among cram schools</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><p>Supernova</p></td><td><p>1993</p></td><td><p>GRE/TOEFL (1993–1999)</p><p>More niches</p><p>(2000–)</p></td><td><p>National Top 1 (TOEFL/GRE)</p><p>National Top 3 (IELTS)</p></td><td><p>Interviews (40+); archives (200+, including more than 80 h of class recordings); participant observation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>United IELTS</p></td><td><p>1999</p></td><td><p>IELTS</p></td><td><p>National Top 3</p></td><td><p>Interviews (9); archives (3); participant observation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Westlake</p></td><td><p>2008</p></td><td><p>SAT</p></td><td><p>National Top 10</p></td><td><p>Interviews (12); archives (8); participant observation</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Beansprout</p></td><td><p>2009</p></td><td><p>SAT</p></td><td><p>National Top 10</p></td><td><p>Interviews (8); archives (5); participant observation</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <sups>a</sups>See footnote 1 for explanation of niche/tests</p> <p>I collected interviews, archives and observational data on these cases during my 8 months of fieldwork in Beijing, Hangzhou/Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2014 and 2015. My work experience from 2003 to 2007 as a teacher and manager in this industry provides me with a unique advantage in data collection. I relied on my insider knowledge and solid connections to contact the most influential and otherwise elusive entrepreneurs, managers and teachers of these organizations. My 76 informants include founders, shareholders, senior managers, teachers, staff and students. For example, I interviewed the founder of Supernova, two of its three most popular teachers in the 1990s and five of its earliest shareholders. These interviews are semi-structured, and each lasted for about 2 h. I also observed classes and information sessions of the four organizations. With permission from these organizations, I obtained more than 200 internal archives. These documents include class recordings, internal publications, meeting records and marketing materials. After completion of my fieldwork, I followed up with my informants for clarifications via social media and conducted additional interviews via telephones. I also collected posts on the official online accounts of these organizations, the social media accounts of their leaders and major news outlets.</p> <p>As can be seen from Table 1, there are more archives from Supernova than from other organizations. This over-representation is not a problem given the critical role Supernova plays in initiating and diffusing organizational framing across the whole industry. With that said, I add secondary data for underrepresented cases to mitigate the unequal distribution of data across cases. My secondary data comes from scholarly studies, website reports and newspaper articles.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-6">Cram schools and their organizational framing</hd> <p>This section elaborates various organizational framings of Chinese cram schools. I focus on two waves of overseas studies since the inception of Deng Xiaoping's reform in the late 1970s. For each wave, I focus on the dominant cram schools and their organizational framing after introducing the historical context.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-7">The first major wave since Deng's reform: 1980s to 1990s</hd> <p>Although the earliest wave of oversea studies date back to the Qing Empire and early Republican era (1890s to 1920s), studying abroad in the USA and other Western countries came to a stop after the communists took power in China in 1949. All this changed after Deng Xiaoping unveiled the new course of "Reform and Openness" in the late 1970s. State-sponsored oversea study was the dominant model in the early 1980s. Under this model, candidates needed to sign a political affidavit guaranteeing their return after overseas studies. U.S. colleges and universities relied heavily on the Chinese state's recommendation to decide who to admit. Therefore, it was unnecessary for students to prepare for the TOEFL (Qian [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref75">38</reflink>]).</p> <p>The mid 1980s witnessed a higher study-abroad wave, primarily driven by the rapid growth of self-sponsored students. The number of Chinese students in U.S. higher education institutions increased from 1000 in 1980 to more than 20,000 in 1986 (Institute of International Education [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref76">19</reflink>]). Competition among Chinese students intensified, and students were increasingly dependent upon financial aid from U.S. institutions (Qian [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref77">38</reflink>]; Zhao [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref78">49</reflink>]). A satisfactory TOEFL score was viewed by Chinese students as one of the keys to secure financial aid. The Tiananmen student movement in 1989 hastened students' decisions to take tests and study abroad. Worrying about their future in China and fearing the open door for overseas studies would be closed again, students quickly made up their minds to initiate test-preparation and application processes (Qian [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref79">38</reflink>]; Zhao [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref80">49</reflink>]). The number of TOEFL test-takers increased from 5000 in 1985 to over 40,000 in 1989 (Zhao [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref81">49</reflink>]; Miao [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref82">33</reflink>]).</p> <p>Accordingly, the demand for higher scores boomed and cram schools flourished (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref83">28</reflink>]). The earliest cram schools were either affiliated with state universities or organized by those who had retired from state universities. The earliest self-sponsored students were mostly from elite universities, such as Peking and Tsinghua Universities. As demand boomed, new entrepreneurs who either had no higher education experience or who used to only hold marginal positions in the state education system established their privately operated cram schools. These schools soon outcompeted those that were affiliated with state universities (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref84">28</reflink>]).</p> <p>Among the newly founded schools, Supernova stood out. Founded by Su Leidong, a former lecturer of English, Supernova outcompeted other cram schools and rose to local and national dominance by 1999. Its success lies in its low price, reliance on authentic yet unauthorized past test materials[<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref85">5</reflink>] and free public information sessions about how to study abroad. These information sessions proved attractive to students who came from non-elite universities and could not rely on their alumni network for information. More importantly, Supernova developed a unique teaching model—mass teaching. Mass teaching features a large class size, young and eloquent teachers and evaluation of teachers based on student impression of teacher performance. While other cram schools still relied on state university faculty members as part-time teachers, Supernova employed inexperienced but eloquent young teachers who excelled in public speaking. These teachers could easily manage large classes whose size typically exceeded 100 students. Supernova also evaluated teachers by exclusively using student impressions of teacher class performances. Under the mass teaching model, teachers increasingly put priority on non-educational topics, such as self-help stories, nationalist jokes and even singing and dancing.</p> <p>Supernova's unique teaching captured the hearts of young students. After taking classes at Supernova, students shared their class experiences and teachers' quotes with their friends and classmates. As a result of the word-of-mouth effect, students came from all over China to attend Supernova's classes in Beijing. With such popularity, Supernova occupied 80% of the TOEFL/GRE market share in Beijing and over 50% for all of China in the late 1990s (Pang [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref86">36</reflink>]). Figure 1 illustrates Supernova's dominant status by comparing Supernova's annual enrollment with the total number of TOEFL and GRE test-takers in China. Most notably, Supernova's annual enrollment even surpassed the total number of test-takers nationally when it established two branch schools in Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2000. Following its success, Supernova's mass teaching and organizational framing diffused across the TOEFL/GRE field.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 Annual enrollment in Supernova compared with the total number of TOEFL/GRE) test-takers in China. Note: The only available data for the number of GRE test-takers in China during this period is in year 2000 when 10,161 candidates took the test (correspondence with ETS). The number of TOEFL test-takers in China in the same year was 110,364 (Qian [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref87">39</reflink>]), tenfold higher than that of GRE test-takers. The number of GRE test-takers increased rapidly during 1999-2000 because ETS launched computer-based GRE in China in 1999. Therefore, it is safe to infer that the number of GRE test-takers is no more than one-tenth that of TOEFL test-takers between 1994 and 1999. I obtain the total number of each year by adding the number of TOEFL test-takers and the inferred number of GRE test-takers in that year. Sources: Lu ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref88">28</reflink>]) and Qian ([<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref89">39</reflink>])</p> <p>Supernova's dominance was accompanied with a surprising fact: a large number of students attended its classes even though they did not have a clear agenda to study abroad. According to two veteran Supernova teachers, the informal surveys they conducted in classes found that, during 1996–1997, 30–50% of their students attended GRE classes before making up their minds to study abroad (Informants No. 7, No. 22). Figure 1 also supports the expectation that many students attending Supernova's TOEFL/GRE classes actually did not take the tests, at least not immediately after completion of the classes. Furthermore, students recalled that they had not made up their minds for overseas study before taking classes at Supernova (Supernova Archives No. 4, No. 10, No. 22). This evidence does not mean that these students never <emph>thought of</emph> studying abroad before they attended Supernova, but rather it illustrates that they had not <emph>thought through</emph> the option of overseas higher education.</p> <p>At first glance, attending a TOEFL/GRE cram school before making up one's mind to study abroad sounds counter-intuitive. However, it should be recalled that students were attracted to Supernova as a result of the word-of-mouth effect. What students heard from their peers was that Supernova teachers and classes were "motivational," "inspirational," "lively," "funny" and even "soul-touching" (Supernova Archive No. 16; Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref90">28</reflink>]). Accordingly, student rationales for attending Supernova included admiration for a particular teacher, immersion in motivational atmosphere, curiosity on why Supernova was so popular or simply the lack of anything to do during the summer (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref91">28</reflink>]). Students followed their peers to Supernova because they feared that they would be isolated if "everyone else was going" (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref92">28</reflink>]). At Supernova, they were systematically exposed to non-educational framing discourses. Some Supernova teachers used a substantial proportion of their class time, ranging from 20 to 50%, to talk about these non-educational elements (Supernova Archive No. 31). A dozen students recalled that they became much more determined to study abroad after they attended Supernova classes (Supernova Archives No. 2, No. 10).</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-8">Self-help discourse</hd> <p>The most salient organizational framing Supernova initiated and promoted was adopting self-help discourse. This discourse frames the studying-abroad and test-taking processes as exceeding one's limit and making one's life complete.</p> <p>First, studying abroad has been framed as a must in one's life and a summit to climb (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref93">28</reflink>]). It is an end, rather than a means. Since it is a must in one's life, a person's life is incomplete if he/she does not study abroad (Supernova Archive No. 4). Consider the following account by a student:</p> <p> <emph>"In the eyes of Supernova teachers, the USA is a place we should and must go. In every ceremony and class, Supernova teachers passionately called upon us to conquer the USA. It seems to them that our Chinese students are born for the USA.... According to Supernova, studying abroad is not a means, but an end. If you can study abroad, you are a winner; otherwise you are a loser. In this massive wave for studying-abroad, we should not belittle the role of Supernova. I do not know if we have thought about what we would do after we go out. Probably we study abroad simply for the sake of studying abroad"</emph> Lu ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref94">28</reflink>])</p> <p>Second, preparing for the TOEFL and GRE is framed as an invaluable experience in one's life. To Chinese students, preparing for these standardized tests requires a huge amount of time spent to memorize vocabulary and repeatedly practice on mock-tests. The Supernova founder and teachers frame these processes as boring, despairing and humiliating on the one hand, and as opportunities to transform oneself on the other hand. Such framing is evident in the motto of Supernova: "Pursue excellence and challenge limits. Hew from the mountain of despair a stone of hope. Our lives will eventually shine!" (Supernova Archive No. 30). According to Su, a person can only go beyond himself/herself if he/she can keep fighting for a simple goal, such as mastering GRE vocabulary:</p> <p> <emph>"In our lives, the most touching days are those when we fight for a simple goal wholeheartedly. We should be proud for those tiny and trivial goals. If we put together all those tiny and trivial goals, we will get a magnificent achievement"</emph> (Supernova Archive No. 39).</p> <p>Other Supernova teachers expand on this logic. A famous GRE teacher recalled in class how he prepared for the GRE when he was in college:</p> <p> <emph>"When I was in college, I often prepared for the GRE in the library until 1:00 am. In order to get back to my dorm faster and get enough sleep, I had to take a short cut and climb over a fence. My fellow students and I climbed over it so often that it finally collapsed. The university then had it restored. That broken and restored fence became my most beautiful memory in my college. It is a piece of evidence that I chased my dream every single day like a proud hero"</emph> (Supernova Archive No. 15).</p> <p>Since Supernova organized training sessions and encouraged new teachers to learn from veteran teachers by listening to the latter group's class recordings, the same self-help story could appear in different teachers' classes. A self-help discourse invented in one city could also quickly spread to other cities. A Supernova teacher in Wuhan, for example, transformed an existing self-help discourse into his call for exceeding one's limits: most GRE words are useless in daily life. Mastering these words means nothing but repeating drudgery. However, it is exactly this drudgery-repeating process that is most crucial for one's self-improvement.</p> <p>Preparing for the TOEFL and GRE is also framed as useful for enhancing English language capacity. For example, Su Leidong talks about how he improved his English listening and speaking fluency by preparing and teaching the listening component of the TOEFL. According to him, his spoken English was poor even though he used to be a lecturer of English. All this changed after he taught the TOEFL listening component for 5 years. Within these years, he taught every single listening comprehension question at least 200 times. As a consequence, when he travelled to the USA, most sentences he spoke were TOEFL listening sentences (Supernova Archives No. 2, No. 7).</p> <p>Third, studying abroad has been framed as feasible to anyone who persists and works hard. As a Supernova teacher claims in class, "you will absolutely succeed in studying abroad if you really want to. It is only a matter of time. People failed only because they gave up" (Supernova Archive No. 10). Another teacher conveys the same message by telling a fable: it does not matter if you are the predator or the prey. Just like what lions and zebras do in the African Prairie, you can survive as long as you keep running (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref95">28</reflink>]). As a student recalled, although she never considered herself a qualified candidate for U.S. colleges, she decided to proceed after Supernova classes gave her hope (Supernova Archive No. 7). Framing study abroad as a project fit for anyone expands the scope of potential candidates.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-9">Nationalist discourse</hd> <p>Another major organizational framing Supernova initiated and popularized was adopting nationalist discourse. It frames overseas study as learning from the West first and returning to build China later. This is why Supernova teachers were known to be patriotic (e.g. Supernova Archives No. 5, No. 18). Students who have the dream to study abroad are considered to be "backbones of China" (Supernova Archive No. 25).</p> <p>Coaching students for TOEFL/GRE and helping students go abroad are legal businesses in China. These business, however, can also be sensitive because they are easily subject to critiques of xenophilia, traitor or "brain drain" (Liu-Farrer [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref96">27</reflink>]). Furthermore, organizing large classes for young students involves national security and ideological issues, since social gathering is forbidden and young students, according to officials, can be manipulated (Zhao [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref97">49</reflink>]). This is why national security officers sometimes come to monitor Supernova classes (Informants No. 5, No. 7). In this socio-political context, framing oversea study as a springboard for serving the motherland, rather than serving one's own interest, increases the legitimacy of cram schools in the eyes of the Chinese state. A slogan frequently used on Supernova publications was "(Supernova is) the bridge for Chinese students to study abroad and the rainbow connecting them back to China" (Supernova Archive No. 2).</p> <p>Adopting nationalist discourse is especially important during political upheavals. For example, right after NATO's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999, posters appeared across colleges in Beijing, writing "down with Su Leidong, the dog of the USA" (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref98">28</reflink>]). More posters appeared online, calling Su "traitor" and Supernova the "homeland-selling school." These posters criticized Supernova for promoting brain drain and they called for a halt of learning from imperialist America. Supernova's leadership had to issue a public letter criticizing America's brutal attack. Leaders and teachers of Supernova also claimed that the ultimate goal of Supernova students was not to stay in the USA, but rather to return to China in order to "strengthen our motherland" and "surpass Western countries like the USA" (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref99">28</reflink>]). Even without political unrest, resorting to nationalist discourse helped recruit students and add to the attraction of classes. Teachers recalled that those who called for serving the country would be evaluated by students as "passionate," "positive" and "charming" (Informants No. 5, No. 36, No. 40).</p> <p>When adopting nationalist discourse, there are two common approaches. The first approach is attributing the cause. Teachers claimed in class that the reason Chinese students had no choice but to spend countless hours on the boring tests was because of the underdevelopment of China and the language supremacy of English (Supernova Archives No. 11, No. 38). Very often teachers would also ask students to imagine what would happen if China were to become the next superpower. With jokes and colorful language, teachers guided students to conclude that a stronger China would spare future generations from the miserable experiences of preparing for TOEFL/GRE. As a star teacher said in class:</p> <p> <emph>We are preparing for TOEFL today with the purpose to make China really competent so our future generations will never have to prepare for TOEFL. When they (our future generation) become teens as we are now, they can act like American teens, travelling around the world with back packs, enjoying sunshine, beaches and other beauties in their lives. So they will not have to waste their valuable young ages on boring TOEFL and GRE like their father generations did. Finally, let me give to this class my last wish and hope: get out (of China) soon and come back soon</emph> (Supernova Archive No. 25).</p> <p>By the same token, teachers asked students to imagine a new world order under China's supremacy. That would be a time when foreigners would need to learn Chinese, to pass "Chinese TOEFL" and even study Chinese calligraphy in order to be admitted to Chinese colleges (Supernova Archives No. 8, No. 11, No. 43).</p> <p>Another approach when using nationalist discourse is justifying study-abroad with examples of excellent returnees. Teachers and leaders often recounted the stories of early Chinese returnees who studied abroad in the early twentieth century and came back to build China. The examples they used most often were people like Qian Xuesen who was trained as a rocket scientist in the USA but returned to China to lay the foundation of China's missile technology (Lu [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref100">28</reflink>]). In addition, Supernova leaders and teachers glorified historical figures who helped communist leaders study in Europe in the 1920s. For example, an important Supernova anniversary that was open to the public began with the following narrative:</p> <p> <emph>One day in the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping mentioned to people around him about his experience in the "Preparatory School for the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement to France" in Chongqing. When Deng talked about Wang Yunsong, the president of this preparatory school, Deng spoke with deep emotion: "Wang Yunsong cultivated two vice premiers for our new China, and Chinese people will not forget about these..."</emph> <emph>Chinese people will always remember those heroes of our Republic. History will forever document the heroes of our new time. In the coming century of China, who is sending to our great nation the most world class talents? In the upcoming Rise of China, who has cultivated a generation of leaders for our nation and people?</emph> (Supernova Archive No. 30)</p> <p>Apparently, Supernova leaders and teachers were trying to compare what they did to the nationalist hero they cited. Comparing themselves with these heroes who were recognized by the state helps legitimize their businesses.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-10">The second major wave since Deng's reform: since the early 2000s</hd> <p>Since the early 2000s, a new study-abroad wave has swept China on two fronts. First, as the demand to study in the UK, Australia and other Commonwealth nations increased dramatically, so did the need to prepare for IELTS. British Commonwealth countries were appealing to emerging urban middle-class families because higher education in these countries was more accessible and less expensive than U.S. schools. The 9/11 incident and subsequent tightening of visa policies in the USA also pushed Chinese students to British Commonwealth countries. Moreover, Canada's adoption of the IELTS as a rubric for its immigration evaluation in 1999 and Australia's substitution of the IELTS for the TOEFL for college admission spurred the need to prepare for the IELTS. As a result, the number of students who took the IELTS increased from 20,000 in 2000 to 350,000 in 2010, almost twofold higher than the number of those taking the TOEFL in 2010 (China Education Online [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref101">10</reflink>]).</p> <p>Second, the late 2000s witnessed the growth of Chinese applicants to U.S. undergraduate institutions and, accordingly, the need to prepare for the SAT. The majority of Chinese overseas students used to be graduate students who relied on financial aid. However, the continued economic prosperity of China fueled the possibility for Chinese parents to send their children to the USA at their own cost and at early ages. Accordingly, the demand for classes to prepare for the SAT skyrocketed. Even though Chinese students had to travel to Hong Kong to take the SAT, the number of test-takers increased from 1000 in 2006 to 30,000 in 2010, a thirty-fold increase in 4 years (China Education Online [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref102">10</reflink>]).</p> <p>In accordance with these changes, self-funded students comprised 93% of all overseas Chinese students in the early 2010s (Tsang [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref103">43</reflink>]). As students became younger and as their families became the primary financial sponsors, parents were more involved in the decision-making process than previously (Tsang [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref104">43</reflink>]). Parents were also more interested in the educational gain of their children rather than the fancy shows teachers put on the stage.</p> <p>New market leaders took shape in new niches with new organizational models. Founded in 1999, United IELTS developed into a national chain of IELTS cram schools with more than 60% of the market share (Li [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref105">26</reflink>]). Although United IELTS teachers borrowed self-help and nationalist discourses from Supernova, they started to shift to the small class model and initiated a program to monitor how much progress students could achieve. A similar trend can be observed in the SAT niche. All market leaders championed the small-sized or the one-on-one model. In the wake of these changes, it became unnecessary for teachers to talk about non-educational issues (Informant No. 57). In addition, evaluations for teachers changed from an emphasis on teacher performance to a focus on students' educational gains. In these small classes preparing students for the IELTS and SAT, the incentives of teachers to frame studying abroad with self-help and nationalist discourses diminished.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-11">Family improvement discourse</hd> <p>However, cram schools for the IELTS and SAT did not stop using organizational framing; rather they started framing students' studying abroad as opportunities for family improvement—the entire family could immigrate to Western countries and raise their status to global middle class. In 2014 and 2015, all three cram schools preparing students for the IELTS and SAT that I studied employed family improvement discourse during their information sessions (Field notes 2014, 2015). Framing studying abroad this way is not uncommon because social mobility and class reproduction are what middle-class Chinese families care about when they discuss studying abroad (e.g. Waters [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref106">44</reflink>]; Tsang [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref107">43</reflink>]). New platforms came hand in hand with new organizational framing. Teachers and cram school executives increasingly relied on websites, online forums and digital social media. For example, the following is a case illustrating how new framing appears on new platforms. A post on social media by United IELTS discussed the meaning of preparing for the IELTS and attending Canadian 2-year colleges. This post warns against a narrowed understanding of these colleges as equivalents of "vocational schools in China," "mills of associate degrees" or "places where losers will attend" (United IELTS Archive No. 3). This post further argues that these colleges are "shortcuts" to family immigration because "after the short program, anyone with a language score of > 5 can obtain a 3-year work visa" and "the internship experience gained right after the college program will help you secure a job any minute" (United IELTS Archive No. 3).</p> <p>When promoting ideas of family improvement, cram schools also praised parents who could link studying abroad with immigration. An online post by United IELTS claims that parents are "visionary" if they start applying for immigration while their kids are preparing to study abroad because this will enable the entire family to enjoy the comprehensive social welfare in Canada and gain a global elite status much sooner (United IELTS Archive No. 2). SAT cram schools adopted a similar discourse. Westlake SAT school encouraged parents to engage in their children's SAT and essay-writing preparation because these were not only excellent opportunities for children's self-reflection but also chances for parents to become better and globally-minded parents (Westlake Archive No. 1).</p> <p>Framing studying abroad as family improvement also entails re-interpreting push/pull factors, especially pull factors related to the host countries. To facilitate the decision-making processes of parents, the pull factors cram schools reinterpret move beyond academic issues and extend to social issues. Most often, IELTS and SAT cram schools reframed social problems and the risks of host countries into advantages of these countries. One of the online posts by the Westlake SAT school interpreted the rampant gun violence in the USA as a freedom of democracy that few authoritarian countries enjoy. This post claims that "guns should not be banned because they guarantee the rights of citizens to rise up against tyranny" (Westlake Archive No. 1). In another information session organized by the Beansprout SAT school, a teacher responded to a student's question about why homeless and disabled people abound the streets of USA: "The reason is not because there are more disabled people in the USA than in China. It is because disabled people are more capable of going out with the help of wheelchair-accessible routes and buses, elevators, scooters and warm-hearted people. A country is not defined by how strong its military is, but by how it treats vulnerable people" (Beansprout Archive No. 5). Apparently, these cram schools did not consider students' motivations and pull factors to be independent of each other.</p> <p>As family improvement has become the taken-for-granted discourse in the IELTS and SAT niche markets, even Supernova's classes in these areas resort to family improvement discourse (Informant No. 36). With that said, Supernova still relies on self-help and nationalist discourses in its TOEFL/GRE classes. Students still come to Supernova with the expectation to be exposed to self-help and nationalist discourses (Informant No. 5). Multiple discourses have come to co-exist.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-12">Discussion</hd> <p>In this article I extend the theoretical direction of understanding students' studying abroad not as a one-time rational choice that was planned ahead with clear goals and with costs and benefits thoroughly weighted, but rather I consider the decision of students to study abroad to be a complex and contingent process. First, my research supports and develops the idea of "fluidity of life plans" (Findlay et al. [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref108">14</reflink>]), illustrating that studying abroad is not necessarily well planned, but can emerge after an initial experience of overseas studies. My research extends this notion by showing that attending cram schools domestically can also constitute an experience enabling students to further explore overseas studies. Second, my research supports the claim that studying abroad can be a taken-for-granted fad among students (Beech [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref109">4</reflink>]). Students do not necessarily think about overseas studies based on rational calculation, but according to what their peers are doing. My research shows that cram schools can serve as the venues for students to build a peer community that can turn overseas studies into a fad.</p> <p>My findings also prompt rethinking of the concept of cram schools as intermediaries or even suppliers who can financially benefit from student mobility (Findlay [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref110">13</reflink>]). Cram schools affect students' access to information. These organizations can selectively present information regarding the test preparation to students, so that test preparation could carry a more significant meaning among students than it actually does in the application process. These organizations can also downplay the difficulty of the application process in order to show the fitness of overseas studies for more people. Their organizational practices might even lead to various forms of inequalities in student mobility. For example, those who can afford more cram school courses might enjoy higher chances of admission than those who cannot. In addition to the issue of inequality, cram schools can also make it harder for host universities to admit desirable students. To solve these problems, host universities need to elevate their information transparency and increase direct contact with potential students. They can also adopt additional practices, such as interviews, in order to find out more about prospective students.</p> <p>In conclusion, my research suggests that cram schools not only support students in terms of test preparation, but they also create the demand for overseas studies. As my Chinese cases show, study-abroad waves are indeed shaped by the invisible hand of demand and supply, but cram schools and other organizations can also act as a visible hand in pushing the waves ever higher.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-13">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>I am grateful to Andrew Abbott, Dingxin Zhao, Elisabeth Clemens and Kimberly Kay Hoang for their guidance and support. I also thank Hank Levin, Mark Bray and Wei Zhang who offered help in data collection and literature updates. Special thanks to Mun Tsang who introduced me to the topic of education internationalization.</p> <hd id="AN0141513057-14">Publisher's note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0141513057-15"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref4" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Altbach PG. 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The power of Tiananmen: state–society relations and the 1989 Beijing student movement. 2001: Chicago; University of Chicago Press</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0141513057-16"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibtext> TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, and GRE is the Graduate Record Examination. International students are often required to submit the results of the two tests as required application materials to U.S. colleges and universities. IELTS is the equivalent to TOEFL for the British Commonwealth. SAT is a standardized test used for college admission in the USA.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> According to Goffman ([17]) and Snow et al. ([41]), the social process of framing provides meaning to events and occurrences. Although organizations adopt organizational framing, such adoption is not necessarily strategic or intentional. Instead, adopting a particular organizational framing could be due to organizations' internalizing taken-for-granted norms (Meyer and Rowan [32]).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> According to McGee ([30]), self-help discourse, also known as self-improvement discourse, is a makeover culture. Claiming to have a psychological basis, self-help discourse guides oneself to improve economically, intellectually or emotionally through hard work.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> In an article that is based on non-random cases and their historical events, complete anonymity is impossible. Using pseudonyms, however, creates a buffer for my informants. To make the names consistent throughout the paper, I had to change some titles in the reference when they used their real names.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Using unauthorized but authentic test-materials was partly due to the unavailability of authorized materials in China (Lu [28]). With that said, there is no doubt that such usage is a violation of intellectual property. One caveat is that there was neither legal code nor moral standard regarding intellectual property in China in the 1990s and early 2000s.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Le Lin</p> <p>Reported by Author</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref61"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref62"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref65"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref66"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref67"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref69"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref70"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref71"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref72"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref73"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref87"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref96"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref101"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref103"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref105"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref106"></nolink>
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  Data: The Visible Hand behind Study-Abroad Waves: Cram Schools, Organizational Framing and the International Mobility of Chinese Students
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lin%2C+Le%22">Lin, Le</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Higher+Education%3A+The+International+Journal+of+Higher+Education+Research%22"><i>Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research</i></searchLink>. Feb 2020 79(2):259-274.
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  Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
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  Data: 16
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  Data: 2020
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Evaluative
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Study+Abroad%22">Study Abroad</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Mobility%22">Student Mobility</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Test+Preparation%22">Test Preparation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+%28Second+Language%29%22">English (Second Language)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Tests%22">Language Tests</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Second+Language+Learning%22">Second Language Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Graduate+Study%22">Graduate Study</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Entrance+Examinations%22">College Entrance Examinations</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Coaching+%28Performance%29%22">Coaching (Performance)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Self+Help+Programs%22">Self Help Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Nationalism%22">Nationalism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Global+Approach%22">Global Approach</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Supplementary+Education%22">Supplementary Education</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22China%22">China</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SU" term="%22Test+of+English+as+a+Foreign+Language%22">Test of English as a Foreign Language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="SU" term="%22Graduate+Record+Examinations%22">Graduate Record Examinations</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="SU" term="%22International+English+Language+Testing+System%22">International English Language Testing System</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="SU" term="%22SAT+%28College+Admission+Test%29%22">SAT (College Admission Test)</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1007/s10734-019-00408-1
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  Data: 0018-1560
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  Data: This paper adds an organizational dimension to the body of literature on international student mobility. Existing studies examine push/pull factors and student motivations, neglecting that students' motivations and demands are not necessarily spontaneous, but can be shaped by external forces. Drawing on interview, archival and observation data collected on four leading cram schools that prepare students for the TOEFL/GRE, IELTS and SAT in China, I argue that cram schools not only coach students on test preparation and "how to study abroad," but they also adopt organizational framing to instill in students "why to study abroad." Leading cram schools have played an integral role in promoting a certain organizational framing as the dominant approach of a niche market in a given era. During the 1990s, when the TOEFL/GRE niche market was rapidly expanding, the market leader in this niche promoted self-help and nationalism as dominant discourses. Self-help discourse frames overseas study and test preparation not as means, but as the ends of students' lives: going beyond one's limit and making one's life complete. Nationalist discourse depicts overseas study as a detour to build a stronger China after learning from the West. After 2000, however, new organizational framing picked up momentum in the new niche markets of IELTS and SAT. Targeting urban middle-class consumers, market leaders in these new niches increasingly framed studying abroad as a springboard for immigration, a channel for becoming global elites and an opportunity for status improvement for the entire family. My article bridges literature on transnational higher education with studies on supplementary education.
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        PageCount: 16
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    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Study Abroad
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      – SubjectFull: Student Mobility
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      – SubjectFull: Test Preparation
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      – SubjectFull: Supplementary Education
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      – SubjectFull: Test of English as a Foreign Language
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