Acculturation and coping strategies Chinese students experiences in an Australian tertiary education discourse

1. Acculturation and coping strategiesChinese students experiences in an Australian tertiary education discourse Thao Lê Liwei Liu

2. The definition of acculturation • Individuals from a different culture generally need to act in response to cultural influences and expectations. In the course of cultural influences and adaptation, acculturation therefore occurs. • Acculturation refers to those processes whereby the culture of a society is modified as the result of contact with the culture of one or more other societies. • Acculturation in this paper specially refers to psychological acculturation with a focus on individuals.

3. Acculturation process • Brown’s acculturation framework of four-stage theory: excitement and euphoria, culture shock, culture stress and full recovery • Lysgaard’s U Curve Hypothesis Enjoying adventurous pleasures, encountering difficulty, suffering from crises and integrating into the new culture • Ward and Berry’s five-stage theory Acculturation experience, appraisal of experience, strategies used, immediate effects and long term outcomes/adaptation.

4. Factors affecting the process of acculturation • In response to environmental demands, changes always take place in individuals, which is referred to adaptation. When a successful adaptation is not achieved, acculturative stress may take place • The amount of acculturative stress and subsequent adaptation outcomes are assumed to be influenced by a number of factors: age, socioeconomic status, language proficiency, personality social support, peer relations, length of stay, discrimination

5. Strategies towards acculturation • Individuals usually adapt one of the following four strategies towards acculturation: assimilation strategy, integration strategy, separation strategy, and marginalization strategy • Individual’s choice of acculturation strategies mainly depend on whether individuals prefer for maintenance of original cultural identification, or maintenance of relations with other groups in new culture.

6. Coping strategies • During the process of dealing with acculturation, individuals, besides adapting different strategies towards acculturation, would employ strategies and attempt to cope with the experiences that are treated as problematic • Eight different coping strategies were elaborated by Lazarus ad Folkman (1984): problem-solving, wishful thinking, detachment, social support, positive thinking, self-blame, tension reduction, and withdrawal.

7. Acculturation of Chinese students from Mainland China • Quite a number of studies about the acculturation of Chinese people in alien cultures have been conducted. However, most of them have focused on Chinese immigrants, particularly in North America • Specific research on Chinese students from mainland China in Australia is even few and far between • It is of great significance to examine the real situation of mainland Chinese students when they struggle for the cultural adjustments.

8. The purpose of the study • To examine the five stages of acculturation among mainland Chinese students, the first three stages in particular • To identify how major factors affect the acculturation process of Chinese students • To examine what strategies Chinese students would adapt to deal with acculturation and cope with their acculturative stress

9. Methodology • Qualitative methodology – semi-structured interview • Participants: 10 (5 males and 5 females), 6 undergraduates from 4 faculties, 2 postgraduates and 2 language learners • Data collection: the interviews were semi-structured. All the questions were open-ended and prepared in advance. • Each interview, lasting from 20 to 40 minutes, was audio taped and transcribed in English and Chinese accordingly.

10. Data analysis • Data collected from interview were categorised into three different themes • The 1st theme contained the data that answered those questions to examine the real situation of Chinese students in different stages of acculturation • The 2nd theme was to identify how the process of acculturation of Chinese students were affected by adapting 5 factors as predictors • The 3rd theme reflected strategies towards acculturation, and coping strategies for acculturative stresses

11. Findings and results • Chinese students engaged in Australian tertiary education did not experience strong culture shocks • English language proficiency played a prominent role in the process of acculturation • Chinese students did not experience or suffer from racial/ethnic prejudice and discrimination although they still had an awareness of them • Low levels of English proficiency and inadequate understandings on each others’ cultures are two main obstacles for Chinese students to overcome before they achieve a dynamic relationship with local students • Chinese students adapted a separation strategy towards acculturation • 3 coping strategies were identified: problem-solving strategy, seeking social support, withdrawal strategy

12. 10 students’ perceptions in one university apparently cannot represent all the Chinese students from mainland China studying in Australia Some participants may not fully confess their real problems Tertiary services to international students should aim at establishing and strengthening their social support networks to enable them to adapt psychologically and academically in Australian society Programs like “peer-pairing” and “residential program” should be carried out to facilitate social interaction and friendship formation with local and other international students. Develop more academic support networks for international students, increase academic staff’s intercultural awareness and encourage them to adapt more strategies to benefit international students’ studies. Limitations and implications

13. Conclusion The study provides educators and administrators in Australian tertiary education with more concrete information about Chinese students learning experiences, their academic and psychological problems, and in turn helps Chinese students improve their understanding of Australian society, culture and educational systems, which will all contribute to their academic success in Australia.

14. Thank you for your attention!