From sojourners to citizens: perceptual determinants of civic consciousness among international students in South Korea

This study examined the civic consciousness of international students from developing countries pursuing tertiary education in South Korea, specifically how their perceptions of themselves, their peer relationships, and the host nation influenced it. Grounded in the discourse of deterritorialized citizenship in the context of intensifying global migration, this study focused on the multilayered nature of citizenship formation among international students. The findings demonstrated that the international students’ perceptions of themselves, their peer relationships, and the host country, exerted statistically significant influences on their civic consciousness, both in isolation and in combination with each other. By moving beyond an assimilationist, instrumental perspective foregrounding their linguistic practice, adaptation, and productivity, the findings reconceptualize international students as citizens of global civic communities and contribute to expanding deterritorialized understandings of citizenship beyond Western and nationally bounded contexts.