A Study On The Intercultural Adaptation Of Chinese Guest Teachers In The U.S.

After decades of economy development, our national power is increasing, ourinternational influence is expanding, Chinese culture promoting and Chinese languageteaching is accepted by more and more countries, and the Chinese Guest TeacherProgram in U.S. is a good example. The Chinese Guest Teacher Program iscollaboration between Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters in China and theCollege Board in the United States. Since the program was launched in2006, morethan970teachers from China have been assigned to teach in U.S. schools. However,with the increasing number of Chinese guest teachers teaching in the United States,Chinese guest teachers are facing a variety of issues such as U.S. high schoolclassroom management, intercultural adaptation etc.. One of the biggest challenges isthat these teachers are not quite familiar with the American culture, thus interculturaladaptation is difficult for them. As one of the Chinese Guest Teachers during2010-2011, I got a real feel for the serious problem---intercultural adaptation, if we donot pay enough attention to the problem and take action in time, these problems maycause some other unfavorable results such as an ineffective in Chinese languageteaching or a massive pressure of the Chinese guest teachers themselves.This thesis researches the relationship between social-cultural adaptation andpsychological adaptation with two main factors, Chinese guest teachers’ interculturaltraining and length of stay in U.S., then verifies intercultural adaptation model theory;the thesis also shows the social-cultural adaptation and psychological adjustmentcondition of Chinese guest teachers is positively correlated with the length of stay inU.S..Moreover, the author arrives at the conclusions on the basis of research results,as well as indications for Hanban to improve intercultural adaptation training forChinese guest teachers.