Constructing An Intercultural Interaction Model Of International Students In Shanghai:A Grounded Theory Approach

With the dramatic growth of the economy,China has been playing an increasingly prominent role in the world.It has increased national investment in many areas,including offering various scholarships at different levels.Thus,more and more students come to China for study,with the aims of not only learning Chinese but pursuing degrees in China.The extant research on international students in China either focuses on the psychological perspectives or examines the relationships among various adaptation factors.However,focused in-depth descriptive study that provides an analysis of the dynamic and detailed interaction processes related to the diverse perceptions,complex challenges,and multiple ways of coping or adapting to university contexts is needed.By employing a grounded theory approach,this research explores these issues in academic and related social settings,highlights important details and findings related to each,and develops a proposed intercultural adaptation model relevant to academic exchange contexts.The critical point of intercultural adaptation that is examined in this dissertation is the “process of interaction.” Following grounded theory procedures,three rounds of the study were carried out,resulting in a final sample of 25 one-on-one in-depth interviews.Raw interview data are then transcribed,and context-based individual cases are drafted.Within-case and cross-case analysis are then conducted on those narrative cases.This study examines the interactions of international students with the Chinese teachers,classmates,and administration staff in these academic settings,and the interactions with Chinese classmates,friends,and strangers in the social setting.Further,these issues are compared with some culture-general themes as well as examined with some culture-specific themes in the Chinese contexts.In addition,some factors related to the interaction process are examined such as coping strategies,causal attributions,the outcomes of coping,cognition,and emotions,and integrated into the proposed “process of interactions” adaptation model.The intercultural interaction model that is developed through this research consists of four main parts:(1)the background information,approached from country of origin,religious belief,length of stay in Shanghai and China,degree level,etc;(2)the cognitive domain,which includes six stages of cognitive process: no or little awareness,awareness of stress and skills deficits,identification of issues,failed attempts at handling issues,awareness of need to better deal with the issues,and successful attempts at coping;(3)the affective domain,which involves feelings aroused by the issues,feelings related to failed attempts at handling issues,and feelings related to successful attempts at coping;(4)the competence stages,showing growth over four stages of competence development: unconscious incompetence,conscious incompetence,conscious competence,and unconscious competence.Moving beyond description,the proposed interactions model seeks to contribute not only to the development of intercultural adaptation theory,but also provide China-related culture-specific cases and knowledge for present and future international students,educators,and practitioners.