International Student’s Studying Abroad Challenges: Culture Shock? (original) (raw)
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Culture Shock: Challenges of International Students
In the globalized landscape of higher education, the number of students seeking academic opportunities abroad has surged. This literature review investigates the cultural shock experienced by international students, examining its scale and impact globally and within Asia. The method used the PRISMA checklist and flowchart for selection and review of journals, consisting of three stages: identification from databases (n = 3,874,770), screening (n = 157), and inclusion (n = 10). Additionally, information was sought from books, dissertations, unpublished materials, and personal experiences as a teacher of international students. The review identified three themes regarding cultural shock. The first theme, Cultural Shock Syndromes, reveals that students generally experience homesickness, a desire to escape their new environment, and distress. The second theme, Aspects of Culture Shock Experienced by Students, includes language barriers, daily schedules, non-verbal communication, homesickness, loneliness, seasons and weather, and food. The third theme, Effects of Culture Shock on Students' Lives during their Study, focuses on academic performance, social integration, and overall well-being. The conclusion is that cultural shock significantly affects international students as they navigate new academic and social environments, encompassing challenges such as homesickness, social exclusion, identity confusion, and cultural dissonance. These factors collectively contribute to heightened stress and anxiety, negatively impacting students' academic performance and overall well-being. Understanding the specific complaints and challenges associated with cultural shock highlights the critical need for comprehensive support systems.
Introduction: This study aims to understand culture shock and identify various stressors that could cause culture shock among international students. The various coping strategies used by different cultures to cope with culture shock are also to be identified. Method: A semi structured interview pattern was used to interview twelve international students at the University of Bedfordshire who have at least completed their second semester. They were interviewed to identify the stressors that caused them to stress within their first month of their arrival in the new country. Their coping strategy to cope with stress is also identified. The same interview questions were repeated to identify the change in the stress levels and coping strategies in their present context. Stages of culture shock were identified and analysed from the interviews. The five factors as identified by the researcher were put forth to the interviewees to observe their views on these factors that would help them to moderate the effects of stress. Questionnaires to measure their emotional intelligence, individualism and collectivism values were also administered to observe individual and cultural differences. Result: The findings of this research closely mirrored with that of literature. The factors that could cause stress are perceived differently and it varies within demographic variables like gender, ethnicity and country. The coping strategies adopted are observed to be different among different cultures. Almost all the students in their present situation are observed to have greater academic and career related stress. Women appear bold and quick in the initial Euphoria stage but men are better able to adapt to the new culture at ease. Conclusion: Even though perception towards stressors and coping strategies are different with culture and ethnicity, all students are caught up within culture shock with varying degrees. Awareness should be made to the students about culture shock and various ways to cope with it. Personal finance was rated to be a major factor in moderating the effects of stress followed by academic achievement and social support. Key words: Culture shock, stress, international students, ethnicity, coping strategy.
This paper examines the salient difficulties as experienced by international students from developing countries studying in Western universities. International students as review of several studies done in this paper has shown may be getting lost in transition due to the enormous nature of challenges they have to surmount while abroad. The extant literature on study abroad challenges used the culture shock framework to reveal some of the problems the sojourners encounter in the course of their living and studying abroad in Western universities. This paper has examined the nature of such culture shock experiences and how it affected this group of travelers abroad. As the review revealed, culture shock experiences of sojourners has obvious negative psychological and social implications in their overall wellbeing which is akin to getting lost in transition. Likewise, the Albert Ellis theoretical framework examined in this paper has shown that the manner at which events are appraised may mediate the kind of effect it will produce. In this regards, the international students' experiences of overwhelming acculturation challenges may be partly based on the kind of mental interpretation they give to the conditions they meet abroad. It is concluded that international students sometimes approach foreign cultures with ethnocentrism and in-group bias which affect them in reconciling the differences in values and conditioning between their home and the host culture. Travelling to a novel and unfamiliar cultural environment has not been easy for international students. Although other travelers experience cross-cultural challenges, international students experiences has becomes an area of concern because the effects of cross-cultural difficulties manifest and affect their academic, social and self-realization process. Intercultural contact therefore has over the history been associated with adjustment problems and with the expansion of educational exchanges and the quality of education in the western world, there has been an enormous increase in the number of students travelling abroad from the developing countries. Thus, the exponential growth in the number of international students
CULTURE SHOCK AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS' ADJUSTMENT TO NEW CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS
Ethos shock or culture shock comprising its variety of symptoms and outcomes is a completely normal physical and psychological reaction to foreign environments and a part of a successful adaptation process-the best and maybe even the only means to experience and understand foreign cultures. This article argues that the anxiety and stress related to the adaptation process are shocking but the extent of adjustment does not depend on whether the negative symptoms of culture shock are experienced, but how they are coped with. Adaptation in hosts cultures can be made through different learning processes rather than single learning process that can have positive outcomes in the end, by serving as a hint that something is not right and therefore motivating thinking about how to adjust that can help reduce ethnocentrism and increase acceptance of cultural diversity and appreciation of cultural integrity relating to the challenges of an unfamiliar environment. It is important for spoon-fed theoretically nurtured Nepalese students to grow through this discomfort in order to understand them better and to gain new sensitivities that encourages personal and intercultural competency developments, positive learning experiences leading to increased self-awareness and personal growth in a comparatively developed pragmatic host culture.
Asian Students' Experience of Culture Shock and Coping Strategies
Journal of Education and Social Development, 2017
For international students, studying abroad has not been free from personal challenges. Not all students can adjust in an alien culture with ease. This research on Asian students' experience of culture shock and coping strategies offers an understanding of the international students' needs, adjustment difficulties, managing of anxiety and coping strategies. The research will be beneficial in generating ideas for better management of culture shock. In this study, Asian students of collectivist culture were recruited from the existing international student body of a university in the United States. The students willing to spare nearly an hour of their time for in-depth interviews were invited to participate. The data gleaned from the interviews were interpreted and analyzed using a theoretical thematic analysis following the work of Braun and Clarke (2006). Salient themes emerged while applying constant comparison technique in relation to the research questions. It was found that the Asian students' culture shock closely followed a W-curve theory of transition pattern of stages suggested by Zeller and M osier (1993). It is natural for the Asian students to experience a roller coaster ride of cultural adjustment cycle once they embark on a journey abroad for education. Knowing about this pattern could make the transition easier. While students may at times find different cultural values in the host culture frustrating, yet there are positive sides in every approach to life.
'You Can't Go Home Again': Students Adjustment to New Cultural Environments Abroad
Experiencing culture shock in a foreign culture is not a weakness or negative indication of future international success. Culture shock including its variety of symptoms and outcomes is a completely normal physical and psychological reaction to foreign environments and a part of successful adaptation process-the best and may be even the only means to experience and understand foreign cultures. The anxiety and stress related to the adaptation process are shocking but the extent of adjustment does not depend on whether the negative symptoms of culture shock are experienced, but how they are coped with. Adaptation in the culture of hosts can be made through different learning processes rather than single learning process that can have positive outcomes in the end, by serving as a hint that something is not right and therefore motivating thinking about how to adjust that can help reduce ethnocentrism and increase acceptance of cultural diversity and appreciation of cultural integrity relating to the challenges of an unfamiliar environment. It is important for spoon-fed theoretically nurtured Nepalese students to grow through this discomfort in order to understand them better and to gain new sensitivities that encourages personal and intercultural competency developments, positive learning experiences leading to increased self-awareness and personal growth in a comparatively developed pragmatic host culture.
2024
Cultural shock is attributed as a psychological response experienced due to adjusting into a new cultural environment. This present study research explored the impact of cultural shock on psychological adjustment and mental well-being. It was hypothesized that there will be an inverse relationship of Culture shock and Mental Well-Being in international students. For this purpose, correlational cross-sectional research design was used. The sample included 192 international students with the age range of 18 to 40 (M=21.02, SD=1.50) including 154 men and 38 women recruited through using convenience sampling strategy. A self-constructed demographic sheet, psychological adjustment scale (Ryff & Keyes,1995)., Warwick-Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale (Tennant et al., 2007) and culture shock scale (Mumford, 1998) were used for the assessment. The result of Pearson product moment correlation illustrated the inverse relationship between culture shock and psychological adjustment in students. This revealed that examining the links between the evaluation elements could improve the rational understanding of psychological outcomes of acculturation related to personal variability factors. Such insights could also guide host university communities in bolstering the self-esteem and self-belief of their international student peers, aiding them in navigating their psychological adaptation challenges.
Culture Shock Of Studying Abroad - New Trends For The Development Of Intercultural Skills
Romanian Economic and Business Review, 2018
In a multicultural world, where students and professionals have numerous opportunities to travel for business and academic reasons, a set of skills for coping with culture shock is absolutelymandatory. Starting from an understanding of Hofstede's definition of culture as "the collective programming of the human mind", and continuing with Lysgaard"s U-curve of Culture Shock, the present study offers solutions for coping with adaptation problems in a new cultural environment. Based on a set of interviews with international students that experienced the U curve and the W-curve of culture shock, during their international study programs, we will be able to offer better solutions for the problems encountered while being away from the cultural comfort zone.
You Can't Go Ho me Again: International Students Adjustment to New Cultural Environments
Culture shock including its variety of symptoms and outcomes is a completely normal physical and psychological reaction to foreign environments and a part of successful adaptation process-the best and may be even the only means to experience and understand foreign cultures. This article argues that the anxiety and stress related to the adaptation process are shocking b ut the e xte nt o f ad justme nt does not depe nd o n whe ther the ne gative symptoms of culture shock are experienced, but how they are coped with. Adaptation in hosts culture s can be made through different learning processes rather than single learning process that can have positive outcomes in the end, by serving as a hint that something is not right and therefore motivating thinking about how to adjust that can help red uce e thnoce ntr is m a nd increase acceptance of cultural diversity and appreciation of cultural integrity relating to the challenges of an unfamiliar environment. It is important for spoon-fed theoretically nurtured Nepalese students to grow through this discomfort in order to understand them better and to gain new sensitivities tha t encourages personal and intercultural competency developments, positive learning experiences leading to increased self-awa re ness a nd perso na l gro wth in a comparatively developed pragmatic host culture.