A Study On Culture Shock And Its Implications For Senior High School English Teaching

From a dozen international students in 1950 to nearly 240,000 in 2009, these numbers indicate the great achievement of Chinese opening-up education policy. China is now one of the destination countries, and its international education has developed quickly. Due to the drive of globalization, the needs of international talents have become much greater. In China, polity is stable; economic development is quick; higher education is improving constantly and the environment of study abroad has become better.The theory of this study is based on Culture Shock by Kalvero, U-Curve Pattern by Sverre Lysgaard. In terms of culture shock and strategies for overcoming culture shock, the author employs quantitative and qualitative research methods and discusses three questions about international adaptation of European and American international students in China: (1) culture shock of European and American international students; (2) strategies for overcoming culture shock and which strategy is their favorite; (3) the implications of culture shock for English teaching.Based on the above questions, the author applies questionnaire and interview to investigate European and American international students in China. Descriptive statistics such as mean is widely used to analyze the raw data. Answers to the three questions are discovered and discussed. (1) Most European and American international students in China experience language shock, mainly from the speaking speed of Chinese language; academic shock, mainly from learning methods and textbooks; daily life shock, mainly from food, accommodation and unsatisfactory services; psychological shock, mainly from feeling estranged; (2) they employ strategies for overcoming culture shock: language strategy, mainly by language courses and chatting with natives; academic strategy, mainly by asking questions and answering questions in classes,and reading; daily life learning strategy, mainly by observation and cultural practice; psychological strategy, mainly by social network like family, friends and teachers to receive social identities; Among them, daily life learning strategy is the most favorite. (3) English teaching should cultivate cross-cultural knowledge and skills.