ICT as an Acculturative Agent and Its Role in the Tourism Context

ICTs have played a transformative role on the cultural components of all stratums of the society. This role has had a demand as well as supply-oriented reflection on the tourism system. In the scope of this chapter, the role of ICTs in the changing social structure is explained through the lens of acculturation. Beyond this, the acculturative process on the modern community's tourism-oriented reflections caused by ICTs were discussed through nine components (renting over owning, free-of-charge ownership, narcissism, connected loneliness, social capital, multiple realities, new identities, novel values, enculturation), and predictions were made with a futuristic perspective. In this context, it was explicated that the ICT-oriented digital acculturation process would add the concepts alternative tourism types, soft mass tourism, sharing economy-based tourism system, intense offline interactions between host and guests, multicultural destinations, virtual reality-based leisure, sharing as a novel pushing motivation, virtual demonstration effect, and diaspora to the future tourism system.

Deficit Thinking and Additional Language Learners in Exceptional Education

In the 2018–19 school year, additional language learners (ALL) represented 10% of total student enrollment K–12 schools with over 5 million ALL learners enrolled in U.S. schools. Additional language learners are the fastest growing population in education in America. There is a disproportionality in the number of ALL learners referred to exceptional education programing in the U.S. instead of being taught in culturally responsive ways specifically to develop language skills in additional languages. Teachers often refer for Exceptional Education assessments ALL learners who are not progressing as fast as students with English as their home language for a learning disability. This chapter aims to identify the acculturation process and best practices for teaching English as an Additional Language specifically in the acculturation period for learners. This chapter will give an overview of ALL learners, culture, acculturation, and differentiation in instruction and assessment for ALL learners in working towards more appropriate and effective programming for ALL learners in American schools.

Armeńscy Jezydzi. Proces akulturacji a specyfika diaspory

Yezidis is a religious group of Yezidi faith, sometimes identifying with Kurds or considering themselves a separate ethnic group. Parts of the Yezidi diaspora are scattered mainly in the countries of the Middle East. In Armenia, they are the largest minority in this country, with a population of around 30,000. The article presents the process of Yezidi acculturation in Armenia. The concept of acculturation of D. Sam and J. Berry, which takes into account the degree to which people want to preserve their identity and culture, and the degree to which they want to be in contact with people outside their own group and participate in everyday life within the framework of wider society, turned out to be helpful here. In the case of the Armenian Yezidis, the acculturation process is quite diverse, as it extends between integrating with the Armenian society and remaining on the margins of it.

Semantic Differential as a Method for Studying Attitudes to the Native and Russian Languages in Context of Psychological Acculturation

The relevance of research on the factors of acculturation is constantly increasing in current globalizing and rapidly changing world. The proficiency the language of the host country is one of the most important preconditions for ones successful entry into a new culture, but until recently there were practically no studies on attitudes towards the language as a factor of the acculturation in the international students. The purposes of the pilot empirical study presented in the article were to identify and compare: (1) attitudes towards the native and Russian languages in the groups of Azerbaijani and Chinese university students, and (2) the correlations between attitudes towards the Russian language and the level of acculturation to Russia in these groups of the international students. The study involved 93 (58% - females) Chinese students and 62 (60% - females) Azerbaijani students studying in bachelors and masters degrees at various Russian universities. To diagnose attitudes towards the native and Russian languages, the author's version of the semantic differential (SD) of 10 bipolar scales was used. To measure the level of acculturation The Acculturation Scale to Russia by A. Ardila et al. was applied. The results of the research show that the similarity prevails in attitudes towards the native and Russian languages on most of the SD scales in both groups, (excluding differences in the assessing of the understandableness of the Russian language, and the popularity of the native language). In contrast, there are much more intercultural differences in the factor structures of the SD scales, especially when assessing the Russian language. In turn, assessments of the Russian language on most SD scales are positively associated with the level of acculturation in the international students, but these correlations are more pronounced in the group of Chinese students. The findings of the study can be used both by the Russian language teachers for international student, and by researchers of the acculturation process with the aim of further improving methods for diagnosing its factors and predictors.

Does a Strong Bicultural Identity Matter for Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Engagement?

In the course of their acculturation process, minority students need to negotiate the adaption to the host society’s culture and the maintenance of the culture of their country of origin. This identity construction is complex and may encompass contradicting and competing goals. The adjustment to school is seen as a relevant acculturation marker. An increasingly prominent multidimensional construct is students’ school engagement because it can provide an insight into the way students feel and interact with the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domains of school. Successful adjustment to school culture, and acculturation in general, can be closely related to school engagement. There is yet no common knowledge about the role bicultural national and/or ethnic identity plays for the three dimensions of school engagement. The present study focusses on minority students in Germany who report a strong bicultural identity (in comparison with single stronger ethnic or national identities, as well as weaker bicultural identification) to explain students’ emotional, cognitive, and behavioral school engagement when controlling for gender, SES, and cultural capital. Data is derived from paper–pencil questionnaires administered in secondary schools in Germany. Regression analyses show that students with a stronger bicultural identity have a significantly higher emotional, cognitive, and behavioral school engagement than their peers with a weaker bicultural identity, when controlling for gender, SES, and cultural capital. The results hint at the relevance of fostering students’ ethnic, but also their national, cultural identity to support their school engagement. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Teaching Practice in Acculturation Educational Settings: A Case Study on an Integration Course

Teaching practice has the potential to guide acculturation educational processes to cultural inclusion. Acculturation may lead to social tensions or peaceful connivance. An acculturation process might be inclusive when educational participants symmetrically recognise, validate and use the different cultures as part of the curriculum. The Cultural Bridge (CB) is an approach that teachers might use to design inclusive teaching practices. The method is a qualitative case study on an integration course in Germany. Results evidence a partially inclusive educational process. According to the teacher’s interview analysis, the teaching practice approximates the CB principles, but there are limitations because of the system and social barriers. The most relevant situations that limit the teacher's practice are the rigid curriculum, the test as the primary goal, the short time for addressing the mandatory topics and the students’ social isolation. As a recommendation, integration courses might engage the local community in the educational process.

Unveiling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems’ Transformation: A GEM Based Portrait

Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EEs) have attracted the attention of academics, practitioners, and policymakers, that attempt to unlock ‘a winning recipe’ considering the different EEs pillars in order to ignite entrepreneurship at large. Therefore, understanding the degree of influence of each pillar on Entrepreneurial Initiative (EI) is helpful in framing more effective policies towards entrepreneurship. This study aims to bring a new facet to entrepreneurship research, specifically on decomposing the transformation of EEs and the influence of EEs pillars on EI. The transformation of EEs is shown by a balanced panel approach based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset over 8 years (2010–2017), comprising 18 countries. The study has several implications for entrepreneurship theory and practice as well as public policy since discusses three main issues, mainly supported by empirical results. First, the results show an unbalanced influence of EEs pillars on EI. Second, results also show the ineffectiveness of institutions in encouraging the desire to act entrepreneurially. Third, entrepreneurship needs to be part of the acculturation process evidencing the importance of collective normative. Therefore, providing the instruments and structures is not enough to encourage individuals to start an entrepreneurial journey. Generally, the results reveal that contextual determinants are significant in fostering entrepreneurial propensity to start a business. But the impact of the nine pillars is not equalized, revealing a fragmented influence with funding measures, R&D transfer, and cultural and social norms discouraging entrepreneurial initiative. Overall, the study contributes to the understanding of a multidimensional perspective on EEs and points future policy directions to overcome the lack of entrepreneurship and amend flawed entrepreneurship policies.

Acculturation and Sexual Attitudes: a Systematic Review

Introduction The culture plays an important role in sexuality. Although each ethnocultural group has its own sexual attitudes, in multicultural contexts, the acculturation process could modify the sexual attitudes of these groups. The aim of the study was to perform a systematic literature review of the studies that have examined the relationship between acculturation and sexual attitudes. Method The review was carried out in the ProQuest and Scopus databases. There was no time restriction in literature search. Results A total of 25 studies met the inclusion criteria. The year of publication of the studies ranged from 1982 to 2020. The studies were conducted in the USA and/or in Canada and included mainly Asians and Latinos/Hispanics. Proxy indicators, unidimensional, and bidimensional measures were used to measure acculturation. In general, results show that mainstream acculturation is positively related to liberal or positive sexual attitudes. Relevant interaction and mediation effects were also found: (1) mainstream dimension moderates the relationship between heritage dimension and sexual attitudes, (2) heritage dimension moderates the relationship between mainstream dimension and sexual attitudes, (3) acculturation moderates the relation between gender and sexual attitudes, (4) gender moderates the relation between acculturation and sexual attitudes, (5) the ethnocultural origin moderates the relationship between acculturation and sexual attitudes, and (6) sex guilt mediated the relationship between mainstream acculturation and sexual desire. Conclusion The acculturation process is related to sexual attitudes. Policy Implications Knowing the acculturation process could be important to achieve greater equity in sexual health among different groups.

Social determinants of health and the Barrio Advantage among Hispanics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

133 Background: Institutional data confirmed that despite Hispanics having a higher morbidity related to COVID19, mortality and outcomes were more favorable compared to other ethnic counterparts. We decided to study the role of the Barrio Advantage (BA), living in ethnically similar communities leading to health advantage, by taking into account acculturation in our patients in hopes of identifying potential avenues to educate our population and minimize healthcare delivery gaps. Methods: A 15-item IRB-approved questionnaire was administered to cancer patients receiving care at participating cancer centers in English and Spanish. Multivariable analysis was performed using Chi Square test to determine associations between examined variables which included socio-demographic information, fears and attitudes related to COVID19. Results: A total of 251 surveys were analyzed. 43.4% were Hispanic with 72% of them listing Spanish and 28% English as their preferred language. Similar amount of English Speaking Hispanics (ESH) and Spanish Speaking Hispanics (SSH) had no personal or family exposure to COVID19 (66.7% and 59.5%, respectively). SSH have a lower degree of education (33% with at least some college, vs 53.3%). More SSH depend on government issued insurance or have no insurance at all (78.5% vs 63.3%). COVID19 has disproportionately worsened fears in SSH (Table). The Barrio Advantage effect was evidenced by the fact that SSH rely more on faith-based institutions or family/friends for emotional support and healthcare inquiries (22.8% vs 13.3%) although more ESH would do so in the case of food security (53.3% vs 41.8%). Comparison of fears to financial, personal and community health based on English proficiency. Conclusions: Financial, personal and community health concerns are deepened in Hispanics, particularly for SSH, potentially due to the lack of acculturation process. Understanding Hispanics and other underrepresented populations are far from monolithic. Loco-regional social determinants of health must be studied in an attempt minimize health disparities including those related to COVID19. The BA, English proficiency and the acculturation process should be considered when developing interventions aimed at decreasing negative outcomes in this dynamic population.[Table: see text]