A Study On The Acculturation Of Xinjiang Ethnic Minority Students

China,as a unified multi-ethnic country,has to lay great emphasis on the education of college students from ethnic minority groups,tasks of which are conducive to the ethnic unity,social stability,economic development and in the long run a prosperous society in an all-round way.As part of the higher education,the higher vocational colleges have played a critical role in the education of technical and skilled talents for different regions.More and more Xinjiang ethnic minority students(which are shortened as "ethnic students" in the following)are coming to Zhejiang to learn and study here in the vocational colleges.When the ethnic students move from the familiar ethnic culture environment of their own to the Han-oriented culture environment,they are prone to face the problems concerning cultural differences.Therefore,a survey of the problems is necessary for finding out solutions so as to help the ethnic students better adapt themselves to a new culture and environment,and happily live and study in the college.The results might as well be used as reference for the education of minority students in some inland colleges.The issues to be probed into are as follows:1.What are the status quo,problems and features for the acculturation of Xinjiang ethnic minority students studying in Zhejiang colleges respectively?2.Are there any differences in acculturation between the ethnic students studying in different areas of Zhejiang?3.What are the crucial factors that influence the ethnic students'acculturation?4.How does cross-cultural course work for the students?5.What are the possible counter-measures for improving on ethnic students'acculturation?In order to solve the above issues,the research is conducted in two ways:Step One Investigation;Step Two Course experiment.As regards to the first step,based on literature review of previous studies,a set of issues concerning the status quo,the problems and the influential factors are investigated respectively based on researching methods including questionnaire,interview and case study,etc.The questionnaire is carried out between 151 students from 7 higher vocational colleges,located in the 5 different areas of Zhejiang,namely,Hangzhou,Ningbo,Wenzhou,Jinhua and Huzhou.These students are from 6 minority groups including Uighur,Kyrgyz,Kazakh,Tajik,Hui and Mongols.Besides some personal data,the questionnaire is mainly involved with four parts concerning acculturation:life satisfaction,feelings of life,homesickness and culture shock.The results of the questionnaire is processed and analyzed with SPSS 19.What is more,in the interview study,12 students are selected from the questionnaire samples,the number of which takes up 7.95%of all the questionnaire students.2 of them are selected for case studies,in which interview and observation are mainly turned to as studying methods.Step Two,Course experiment.Purported to help the students form an idea of multi-cultural coexistence as required nowadays in society,further their cross-cultural understanding and communication,and strengthen their friendliness,unity and cultural blending between each other,the course is carried out for the first round with 21 students including both ethnic minority students and Han students who select the course at free choice.Questionnaire is conducted at the end of the course.In addition to some personal data and open-ended questions,the questionnaire mainly explores the effectiveness of the course,which is indicated in recognition of the course,cross-cultural cognition,attitude and occupational skills,etc.,the four aspects of which are covered in 13 questions.Based on the research results and the existing problems from the first round experiment,we have improved on the teaching plan for the second round course,which has also been conducted between ethnic students and Han students who select the course.The number of the students has been kept close to the first round.After the course,some further investigation and analysis has been conducted.Based on the research results from questionnaire,interview,case study and course experiment,we come up with four main points of view as follows1.The characteristics of acculturation from ethnic students are represented in the following three aspects:First,the acculturation process of the ethnic students can be presented in a diversified ways,all of which can be categorized into U type,J type and horizontal type.It has shown us from the interview researching results that U type conforms to the well-known western U curve theory,by which Minority for minority students(which refer to the students whose college entrance exam are taken in their own ethnic language)and part of Minority for Han students(which refer to the students whose college entrance exam are taken in Chinese language)are to experience four stages during their study in the mainland(other than Xinjiang province)colleges,namely,honeymoon stage,crisis stage(culture shock),restoration stage and adaptation stage.J type is a variant from U type,by which some students coming from Mainland vocational classes(which refer to classes that are held by vocational high schools in some developed cities of China for the recruitment of Xinjiang ethnic students)and some Minority for Han students are experiencing only 3 stages,i.e.crisis stage(culture shock),restoration stage and adaptation stage.As for horizontal type,it shows that some ethnic students could quickly adapt themselves to the college life here.Second,acculturation from ethnic students can be divided into two fundamental modes:integrated model and segregate model.In the former model,students get along well with the local classmates or people while retaining their own ethnic identity at the same time.In the latter model,students retain their original identity well but fail to get on well with the local people.Segregation model is periodical,which means that the model arises only at a crisis stage(cultural shock).It is concluded from the interview:Of the 12 students,only one of them is of restoration stage,and the others are all in adaptation stage,the fact of which shows that ethnic students'acculturation state can be mainly generalized as integrated model.Regardless of those directly adapted students,most students' acculturation period lasts from a month to twelve months.In addition to the 12 interviewees,another two students are selected to stand for Minority for minority students and students from Mainland high school classes(which refer to classes that are held by high schools in some developed cities of China for the recruitment of Xinjiang ethnic students)respectively.As the case study indicates,the two students are both of integrated model,too.Third,judging by the factors as genders,student types and family's annual income per capita,ethnic students have remarkable differences in their acculturation The factors that come next are the grades and paternal vocations,which also bring obvious changes to the students' acculturation.Specifically,male students and the students whose fathers are of public sectors(i.e.they work in the positions such as civil servants,teachers or are employees of other public institutions)have higher life satisfaction degree.Minority for minority students and the freshmen are prone to be more homesick.The students from a family of higher annual income per capita show more life satisfaction,better feelings of life,and less culture shock at the same time.2.The acculturation varies with regional differences in Zhejiang.It is found from the investigation results that there are gaps among the students in the four dimensions of acculturation judging by where they study.As for life satisfaction,the ethnic students from Wenzhou ranks as the top,while those from Jinhua at the bottom.Meanwhile,the ethnic students studying in Ningbo are most satisfactory with making friends,while students from Jinhua are with the good command of Chinese language.As for feelings of life,Jinhua is close to Wenzhou,but a bit better than Ningbo and Hangzhou.Hangzhou and Ningbo are similar in the related results,with no big fluctuation.However,Wenzhou and Jinhua pose more obvious fluctuation judging by research results related to feelings of life.As far as homesickness is concerned,the students from Jinhua are the least homesick,while Ningbo students are the most.What's more,Jinhua is quite fluctuating concerning feelings of homesickness,their longing for homegrown food being stronger than that of the students of the other three places.In culture shock,Wenzhou students suffer the least while Hangzhou the most.In Hangzhou,homesickness and culture shock are represented differently among the students respectively with different majors and with different family income.As for students in Ningbo,their life satisfaction is shown in a different way,judging by their genders and family income.In Wenzhou,the students of different grades have different homesickness representation.And in Jinhua,there is no big difference of acculturation between the individuals and colleges.Furthermore,as regards correlations between the four dimensions of acculturation,it is found that the correlation between life satisfaction and culture shock is the highest in Hangzhou,the correlation between homesickness and culture shock the highest in Ningbo,the correlation between feelings of life and culture shock the highest in Jinhua and the correlation between feelings of life and culture shock in Wenzhou the highest,next only to that of Jinhua.3.The key elements that influence ethnic students' acculturation can be concluded in interpersonal communication and awareness.As shown from the statistical model based on the data of questionnaire results,feelings of life impacts on life satisfaction by way of culture shock,and it can also directly affect life satisfaction and thereby acculturation,while the principal factors for feelings of life are interpersonal communication and awareness.Therefore,it can be concluded that interpersonal communication and awareness are the crucial factor for acculturation.The point has also been verified in the interview,from which it is found that social support,interpersonal communication and awareness,and study motivation and desire are the major factors for acculturation.From the case study,we have found Minority for minority students behave differently in acculturation from students of Mainland high school classes in the college as a result of their cultural experiences,interpersonal communication and awareness.The first type of students are inferior to the second type in acculturation.And the differences mainly come from interpersonal communication and awareness.All in all,different research methods have come to a common conclusion that interpersonal communication and awareness is the most important factor for acculturation.4.The cross-cultural course has worked well among the students.According to the research results,the course is generally highly appraised by the students.It has played an important role in the improvement on students'cross-cultural cognition,feelings and some comprehensive skills.Based on course experiment of the first round,the second-round has increased its class hours and improved on its contents.From the research results,the students engaged in the second round course experiment are generally improved in respect of cross-cultural cognition,feelings and skills to some extent,specifically,2.48%increase for cognition,1.51%for feelings and 1.06%for skills.The progress effect for cognition and feelings are more obvious.Based on the above research results,the following measures are assumed to be taken to improve on ethnic students' acculturation:Firstly,set up platforms for acculturation,and expand services for ethnic students;Secondly,improve the environment for acculturation,and create an interactive atmosphere both inside and outside the campus;Thirdly,enhance acculturation-oriented education,and in the meantime explore multi-cultural curriculum.