scholarly journals ASSESSING CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN IIUM

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (14) ◽  
pp. 47-63
Author(s):  
Hassan Radwan Jamal ◽  
Saodah Wok
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Culture Shock ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Clash Of Cultures ◽  
Host Nation

In today’s world, many international students from other countries arriving at the host nation are exposed to a wide range of local cultures and values. Malaysia, being a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-cultural country, is put in a unique position that attracts many international students and foreigners alike. Regardless, many international students experience a clash of cultures between their own and the host’s culture, which if not dealt with could have detrimental effects on areas such as studies, social-circles, and self-esteem. Therefore, this study explored the challenges that both undergraduate and postgraduate international students of IIUM encounter when arriving in Malaysia. This study employed a quantitative research design, using the survey method with a questionnaire as the research instrument for data collection. In this study, students aged 21 years old and above were surveyed. This study was based on the theory of cross-cultural adaptation, using the U-curve model that displays each stage of adaptation every student goes through. The findings demonstrated that the cultural stage of adaptation had a positive relationship with the cultural stage of euphoria, the cultural stage of culture shock, and the cultural stage of adjustment. Based on the theory of cross-cultural adaptation as a guide, all the hypotheses were supported in which all relationships were found to be positive and significant.

Language and Interpersonal Resource Predictors of Psychological and Sociocultural Adaptation: International Students in Hong Kong

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 572-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baohua Yu ◽  
Peter Bodycott ◽  
Anita S. Mak
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Stress And Coping ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Sociocultural Adaptation ◽  
Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽  
And Coping

Hong Kong, along with other Asian societies with universities with top world rankings, has in recent years attracted an increasing number of international students, mainly from Asia. Previous research in English-speaking Western countries has indicated the importance of resources, including language proficiency, positive intergroup relations, and social support, in understanding international students’ stress and coping in cross-cultural adaptation. Guided by a similar acculturative stress and coping framework, we investigated predictors of psychological and sociocultural adaptation in a survey sample of 726 international students (62% female and 73% Asian-born) from Hong Kong public universities. We found that English language proficiency, social support, and a low level of perceived discrimination fostered both types of cross-cultural adaptation, while contact with local students and proficiency in the local dialect further enhanced sociocultural adaptation. Implications for future acculturation research and higher education internationalization policies and practices are discussed.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young Yun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Culture Shock ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Identity Transformation ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Common Humanity ◽  
Host Environment ◽  
Cross Cultural Adaptation

Countless immigrants, refugees, and temporary sojourners, as well as domestic migrants, leave the familiar surroundings of their home culture and resettle in a new cultural environment for varying lengths of time. Although unique in individual circumstances, all new arrivals find themselves in need of establishing and maintaining a relatively stable working relationship with the host environment. The process of adapting to an unfamiliar culture unfolds through the stress-adaptation-growth dynamic, a process that is deeply rooted in the natural human tendency to achieve an internal equilibrium in the face of adversarial environmental conditions. The adaptation process typically begins with the psychological and physiological experiences of dislocation and duress commonly known as symptoms of culture shock. Over time, through continuous activities of new cultural learning, most people are able to attain increasing levels of functional and psychological efficacy vis-a-vis the host environment. Underpinning the cross-cultural adaptation process are the two interrelated experiences of deculturation of some of the original cultural habits, on the one hand, and acculturation of new ones, on the other. The cumulative outcome of the acculturation and deculturation experiences is an internal transformation in the direction of assimilation into the mainstream culture. Long-term residents and immigrants are also likely to undergo an identity transformation, a subtle and largely unconscious shift from a largely monocultural to an increasingly intercultural self-other orientation, in which conventional, ascription-based cultural categories diminish in relevance while individuality and common humanity play an increasingly significant role in one’s daily existence. Central to this adaptation process are one’s ability to communicate in accordance to the norms and practices of the host culture and continuous and active engagement in the interpersonal and mass communication activities of the host society.

Silent Protest: Cross-Cultural Adaptation Processes of International Students and Faculty

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-132
Author(s):  
Katharina Resch ◽  
Beate Hörr ◽  
Iris Thimm Netenjakob ◽  
Vera Varhegyi ◽  
Joana Manarte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Adaptation Processes
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