Out-of-classroom experiences and academic discourse socialization among international graduate students in South Korea

Despite a surge of studies on international students’ academic discourse socialization (ADS) over past decades, insufficient attention has been paid to the interplay between their out-of-class experiences and ADS. Grounded in affordance theory perspective, this study explored how international students in South Korea actively shaped their academic engagement beyond formal instruction. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and participants’ reflective journals and then analysed thematically to identify patterns of strategic agency, collaborative learning, and evolving discourse practices. The results indicated that the participant expanded her academic participation by leveraging peer networks, digital platforms, and extracurricular activities. These insights extend ADS scholarship by demonstrating how agency enables individuals to transform environmental affordances into meaningful learning opportunities. Especially in non-Anglophone countries like South Korea, international students need to leverage affordances linguistically and culturally to meet both local and global academic conventions. Pedagogically, the findings underscore the importance of constructing an affordable learning environment and encouraging the multicompetence of multilingual students.