Intercultural Adaptation In International Exchange Programs: A Case Study Of Chinese Aiesec Trainees In Four Central-Eastern European Countries

There has been a lot of controversy over the definition of acculturation among the researchers from different disciplines. In this thesis, acculturation is defined as the mutual process whereby the attitudes and/or behaviors of people from different cultures are modified as a result of contact with each other. It is comprised of sociological acculturation and psychological acculturation and can be subdivided into cultural, group/community and individual level. While the cultural and individual acculturations have been studied a lot in immigration research and studies targeted at other cross-cultural sojourners, few have been conducted at the group/community level. The studies about the influence of an organization as a third culture on acculturation are also rare. This research is about the correlation of identity with AIESEC and acculturation among the Chinese AIESEC interns in four Central-eastern European countries.Every year, hundreds of Chinese university students go on international internships through AIESEC, a students' organization that, with its own values and culture, aims to be a platform for the youngsters to develop and make differences. As AIESEC and its members play an important role in the lives of the interns during the internships, the interns are confronted with three major cultures: Chinese culture/the culture of the home country, the culture of the hosting countries and AIESEC culture.The present study aims at finding out whether there is positive correlation between the interns' identification with the AIESEC culture and their acculturation during their internships, and the factors influencing their acculturation, in the hope that it will provide helpful suggestions to AIESEC and its members in the future.In order to test her hypothesis, the author took an 18-week internship in Karvina, Czech Republic, observed the life of the Chinese interns there and interviewed some of them. She also distributed 38 questionnaires among Chinese AIESEC interns in four Central-eastern European countries: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Berry's Acculturation Attitude Scale is used as the major instrument to identify the correlation. Some other scales together with the items designed by the author are also used as supportive instrument to track down the influencing factors. Data obtained from the questionnaires are processed in SPSS 15.0.Results of the survey indicate that there is positive correlation between the interns' identification with the AIESEC culture and their acculturation during the internships. The interns' gender, majors at university, type of internships they take and duration of their internships are all influencing factors of acculturation. The results also show that the interns face problems of inadequate time on academic studies and knowledge of local languages, thus calling upon more attention on both aspects.