Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background of the Research

With the globalization of economy, educational internationalization is increasinglystrengthened in the 21stcentury. Therefore, the size, level and qualification of internationalstudents are considered as one of indicators of overall national strength globally.With education internationalization and an increasing number of international students,studies on international students have become a relatively mature research field andcategory with larger size, higher level and wider coverage, but the studies on this group isrelatively few and unable to gain due attention[1]. With the booming of education ofinternational students, the research on acculturation has received wide attention ofresearchers in different fields. Regional characteristics, unique position of Putonghua aswell as increasing internationalization atmosphere in universities, have attracted more andmore international students to study in Hebei.

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1.2 Significance of the Research

This study researches international students in colleges and universities in Hebeiprovince. The purpose of the study is to work out the acculturation situation and analyzethe moderating factors influencing acculturation of the international students in Hebeiprovince. These research subjects include short-term language learning students andlong-term degree-seeking and professional learning students. Those students havecompleted their initial socialization process in their native culture which is different fromChinese culture. Here in Hebei, the international students need to go through anotherenculturation process, which is bound to be affected by a variety of moderating factors.At the beginning of the present study, it understands and masters the acculturationsituation of international students in Hebei. And later, the main internal and externalfactors influencing acculturation of international students in Hebei are summarized. Theresearch has practical significance in the aspects of serving international studentseducation in Hebei colleges and universities by providing valuable reference forinternational student management department and international student collegeadministration in Hebei Province.The present research on moderating factors influencing acculturation provides empiricalinformation for research in this field. It verifies the scientificity of acculturationinfluencing factors theory. The previous studies of international students’ acculturation aremore focused on students in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other developed areas.However, the present study chooses international students in Hebei as a resrarch subject.Kim’s intercultural adaptation models and Worde’s theory on two-dimension culturaladaptation are combined in the study to analyze various aspects of acculturation. Theauthor also puts forward some suggestions on the future acculturation of Hebeiinternational students.

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Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Theoretical Foundations

The concept of acculturation was coined by J.W. Powell in the anthropology perspective,defining that “the psychological changes induced by cross-cultural imitation”.[2]From theintercultural communication perspective, “Acculturation is that individuals from differentcultures come into continuous first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the originalculture patterns of either or both groups". This classical and the first widely useddefinition of acculturation was presented by Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits in the early20th century in America[3].Young Yong Kim defined acculturation from the angle of communication. “This processnot only makes the individual more effective in the new culture, but also brings aspects ofthe old culture into the new”.[4]In her extensive research, communication was viewed ascentral to acculturation process. “The acculturation process, therefore, is an interactive andcontinuous process that evolves in and through the communication of an immigrant withthe new socio cultural environment. The acquired communication competence, in turn,reflects the degree of that immigrant’s acculturation.”[5]Therefore it can be seen thatincomers learn to fit in the host society by communicating. “Acculturation occurs throughthe identification and internalization of the significant symbols of the host society.”[6]Recent definitions were presented by Dawson, Crano, and Burgoon, they definedacculturation as the process by which cultural groups learn all sorts of things in differentculture to adopt the customs and behaviors of a new culture[7]. Redfield et al consideredthat acculturation is a process by which individuals change their cultural modes, resultingin the continuous contact process of two different cultural groups.

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2.2 Relevant Researches of Acculturation at Home and Abroad

People of different races from different areas and countries experience more and moreintercultural contacts, as a result of the rapid development of business and globalization.In particular, economic globalization has contributed to communication and integration ofeconomies, education and cultures of different areas since the 20th century, more and morepeople begin to live abroad for a long term.Research on acculturation began in the beginning of the 20thcentury. There are threestages.First-stage research mainly focuses on mental health of migrants. The population censusof America in 1903 found that twenty percent of American immigrants account for sevenpercent of all patients in hospitals. It causes great interest of researchers. According tothese researchers, when an individual immigrates from a culture to another culture, theshock and pressure results in higher rate of falling illness and admission. At this stage, themain research subjects of cross-culture adaptation are immigrants. It is found that, badcross-culture adaptation appears when people immigrate from one cultural environment toanother cultural environment. This bad adaptation is displayed in the form of physical andmental health. Early research is based on common hypothesis that immigrant has bigproblem of mental health.

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Chapter 3 Research Methodology ......... 19

3.1 Research Subjects ......... 19

3.2 Data Collection.........20

3.3 Data Analysis......... 21

3.3.1 Qualitative Data Analysis.........21

3.3.2 Quantitative Data Analysis......... 22

Chapter 4 Findings, Results and Discussion.........23

4.1 Qualitative Research Results Analysis.........23

4.1.1 Acculturation Level .........24

4.1.2 Acculturation Moderating Factor .........27

4.2 Quantitative Research Result Analysis .........29

4.2.1 Acculturation Level .........30

4.2.2 Acculturation Moderating Factor ......... 31

Chapter5 Conclusions, Limitations and Recommendation.........35

5.1 Conclusions ......... 35

5.2 Limitations.........37

5.3 Implications .........38

Chapter 4 Findings, Results and Discussion

4.1 Qualitative Research Results Analysis

In qualitative research, interview is adopted as a main method. In interview, there is adirect communication with international students in order to get to know relatedinformation of international students in Hebei Province. The author records every questionanswered by foreign students so that some personal reasons caused by the author can beavoided. Meanwhile, the author can judge the acculturation degree of interviewees duringthe interview and find out main moderating factors of acculturation.The main content of this interview is organized into four sections with open-endedquestions: the situation of acculturation, cultural shock experiences, types of socialsupports, and life satisfaction in China. For example, “Is this your frist time to study inchina?” “Is the life here the same as you imagined and look forward to?” “Have you everexperienced culture shock?” Moreover, the respondents can also add their own thoughtsand feelings about studying in China.The method used in the qualitative research is grounded theory, developed by Straussand Corbin[42](1967). Grounded theory is described as a research method in which thetheory is developed directly from the data. This inductive approach moves from thespecific to the general. The basic process of the grounded theory approach is to read a datawhich is acquired from interview record and discover the variables and their relationships.The present study uses the grounded theory to acquire useful information from the overallconditions of acculturation from the international students in Hebei.

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Conclusion

Adaptation is a multidimensional phenomenon. By learning and summarizing previousstudies on factors that influenced international students’ adaptation capability, it obvious tofind out that there are two main influential factors, they are: internal factors and externalfactors, which we take both into consideration when describing and analyzing theadaptation capability of international students. Finally, the present study comes to aconclusion about principal moderating factors among Hebei international students throughscientific, analytic and research methods.The results of this survey show certain differences among Hebei international students’adaptation capability. From the view of internal factors, the previous cross-culturalexperience and unmatched humanity expectation for studying in Hebei is the primarycause that leads to adaptation differences among international students. Generallyspeaking, the students who have clear objectives and cross-cultural experiences tend tobehave more actively than those whose aim is to work and live in China by graspinglanguage and professional knowledge. Most of these students are from undevelopedcountries, once they found their career prospects are not as rosy as expected, they canhardly adapt to studying or living in Hebei and finish their degrees. By comparing andanalyzing the adaptation capability of international students from different countries, wefound that, it’s relatively easy for those who are outgoing, sociable, easygoing and haveever studied abroad before to adapt to the life and study in Hebei.

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Reference (omitted)