A Study Of The Cross-cultural Adaptation Of Foreign Students From "the Belt And Road" Countries

With the rapid globalization and the development of China's economy,the scale of foreign students in China has continued to expand.The number of students studying abroad and studying in China has increased at the same time.China has become the largest foreign students' exporter in the world and the important destination of Asia students.The sources of foreign students are stable and those from the countries along “The Belt and Road” have become the main force to study in China.The countries along “The Belt and Road” speak different languages with distinctive political,economic,cultural,religious and judicial connotations.Hence,it is important to face and attach importance to language and cultural diversity in order to promote the “The Belt and Road” strategy.In the process of cross-cultural communication,the foreign students are faced with the transition from the national culture to the foreign cultures,and will inevitably experience different values and lifestyles in a foreign environment.Therefore,the cultural adaptation has become an important issue worthy of in-depth study and more attentions from domestic and foreign scholars.As the countries along “The Belt and Road” keep a good economic relation with China,this paper,which takes the foreign students studying in the Yangtze University from the countries along “The Belt and Road” as research subjects,has a practical significance.Based on the theory of cross-cultural adaptation,it intends to study the cross-cultural adaptation problems by means of questionnaire survey and interview.The researched students are mainly from eight countries like Pakistan,Nepal,Indonesia,Jordan,Mongolia,Montenegro,Tajikistan and Thailand,of which Pakistan students take the most.Based on Ward & Kennedy and other scholars,and taking the actual situation of foreign students at Yangtze University into consideration,this paper designs the questionnaire from three perspectives: life adaptation,study adaptation and psychological adaptation,intending to explore the cross-cultural adaptation problems.The author firstly does a pilot study of 30 foreign students in her class,which shows that the result agrees with the expectation.This paper expects to perceive the inadaptation problems by the questionnaires from 450 foreign students,and then conducts the in-depth interview with 10 foreign students with obvious inadaptation and 10 Chinese people who maintain frequent contact with foreign students,intending to figure out the influencing factors for inadaptation.Finally,the author proposes some suggestions for universities.According to the statistics and analysis of the relevant data,it is found that most foreign students at Yangtze University adapt to the new cultural environment very well,but there still exist various difficulties in the process of adaptation.For example,in the aspect of life,students have more difficulties with the local food and food culture,the understanding of China's jokes and humor,and communication with the service staff(restaurants,supermarkets,banks,hospitals,etc.);in the aspect of learning,they feel difficult with the teaching methods of Chinese teachers,class schedule(the morning class time,the number of classes per day),the network resources and library resources;in the aspect of psychological adaptation,they are more worried about the health,homesickness and future.These problems have also been further confirmed in the interview.According to the interview analysis,the influencing factors of adaptation for foreign students are as follows:(1)The purpose and expectation of studying in China and experience abroad.If they fail achieving their expectation,and have no experience abroad,they would encounter a greater cultural shock.(2)Chinese level.Language problems will not only hinder the cultural adaptation process of foreign students,but also affect its effective interaction with the host country.(3)Cultural values.They tend to use their own cultural standard to judge whether the behavior of others is correct or appropriate.When they find that their behavior is different from that of the local people,they will meet adaptation problems.(4)Social support.Social support contributes to the physical and mental health of foreign students and promotes their adaptation to the new cultural environment.If the host country's assessment of foreign students in the cultural groups is negative and there are many stereotypes and prejudices,students obtain less social support from the host country and even are marginalized and discriminated.(5)Cultural distance.Each culture has its own features.The greater the cultural distance is,the greater difficulty people will experience.Finally,the author puts forward some suggestions for the cross-cultural adaptation of foreign students from the perspective of the university management,such as homestay with the locals,paying attention to the mental health of the students,conducting cross-cultural communication training for the managing staff,respecting foreign religion and so on.