A Study Of Cross Cultural Adaptation Among Southeast Asian Students In Beijing

In recent years, many foreign students from all of the world come to Beijing to study Chinese as Beijing is the International communication center of China. With the further development of education exchanges between China and the ASEAN countries, there is an increasing number of Southeast Asian students in Beijing. The growing group has become an important bridge for the cooperating of China and the ASEAN countries. However, as the group will inevitably experience the adaptation which is from the familiar environment to the strange social environment, they will be faced with various difficulties and problems because of the differences in religion, customs, cultural values and other aspects. As a result, the thesis made a research of147Southeast Asian students from3universities in Beijing. By analyzing the problems and influential factors of their acculturation, the thesis is aimed at knowing more about the current situation and features of their acculturation in China and making some complements for the Intercultural adaptation study.There are5parts in this thesis. Part1is the introduction. This part mainly introduces the research background, contents, significance and literature review in which the definition of cultural adaptation and the academic achievements in this field made by scholars at home and abroad provide abundant theoretical basis. In addition, part1also introduces the research methods of this thesis:questionnaire and interview. After the quantitative analysis of the data by SPSS, this thesis also made pointed interview to11Southeast Asian students in Beijing and then made comprehensive collation and analysis of the research results interview contents. Part2and part3are the main parts of this thesis. Part2is the statistics and analysis of the research results. This part makes descriptive analysis in4aspects:life adaptation, language adaptation, culture adaptation and mental adaptation. Part3mainly uses ANOVA and T test to discuss the influential factors of their acculturation in Beijing and analyze the diversity of each factor. Part4provides some strategies of strengthening their cultural adaptability. According to the research results, this thesis puts forward some suggestions and advices in the last part.By using descriptive analysis, ANOVA and T test, the thesis has drawn the following conclusions and discovery:1. Southeast Asian students in Beijing are relatively good in mental adaptability and language adaptability, but their academic adaptability are not very good. Most problems exist in life adaptability, especially in the air-pollution, public hygienic environment, attitude of waiters and citizens’awareness of traffic rules as well as moral consciousness.2. Southeast Asian students have little contact with the local people and media, which affects their acculturation process. On one hand, friends from their own countries and Chinese teachers are important social support to their acculturation in Beijing, but their communication with Chinese students and the support from Chinese friends and the embassy are still lacking. On the other hand, Southeast Asian students rarely read the local newspapers and magazines, watch the local TV shows or visit the local website.3. Religion is a unique feature which can affect the acculturation of Southeast Asian students. Students who have religion faith can adjust their attitudes and eliminate the negative emotion in a better way when they encounter mental problems.4. Gender and age have no direct influence to their cultural adaptability, but language level, study type and educational background each has significant difference in life adaptability. Meanwhile, different motivations have influence on their life, language, mentality and culture adaptation in various degrees. Different residence time in Beijing has significant difference in their language adaptability and Overall adaptability.Therefore, in order to strengthen the cultural adaptability of Southeast Asian students in China, we should focus on the perfection of social support to them, hold more multi-culture activities and broaden ways of the communication between Chinese students and them. At the same time, the communication capacities of the local mass media such as the Beijing municipal government website should be intensified. On the other hand, the special religion background of Southeast Asian students should be attached more importance to. Colleges and universities should respect and protect their religious customs and strengthen the intercultural communication competence of the administrative staffs. Meanwhile, the cross-cultural adaptability of Southeast Asian students in China should also be cultivated.