On Acculturation Status And Competence Cultivation Strategies For Wuhan Students Studying In The United States

With the global economic integration, the continuous development of Chineseeconomy and the constant expansion of opening up, more and more Chinese studentshave gone abroad for further study. Due to the obvious differences between Chinese andwestern culture in educational pattern and educational method, many overseas studentssuffered from the phenomena like "being unaccustomed to the new lifestyle", and theproblem of cross-cultural adaption becomes more and more intense. As an internationalmetropolis and the capital city of Hubei Province with educational advantages, Wuhanis becoming a major source of overseas students studying in the United States and thenumber of overseas students increased continuously.The acculturation refers to a process in which the communicator constantly adjustsoneself to gradually adapt to the new lifestyle when facing the pressure posed by thestrange cultural environment and finally realize the cross-cultural identity. Facts haveproved that only those with strong cross-cultural competence and cross-culturalcommunication skills can have a good comprehension of the foreign culture andcommunicate effectively with others. Cultural connotation and denotation will be madefull use of in a flexible way to bring about successful outcomes of the cooperation.Based on the research achievements made by researchers both at home and abroad,Wuhan students studying in the University of Wisconsin-Platteville are chosen asresearch object. Through investigation and interviews, an in-depth research has beenmade in status quo of acculturation. Therefore, based on scientific theory and practicalanalysis, this thesis analyzed the reasons accounting for the differences in acculturationamong Wuhan students studying in the United States. The thesis concludes that theestablishment of the mode with self-acquisition as main body and integrated with socialtraining; school education and family education will be beneficial to all-roundcross-cultural competence cultivation for these students.In the first part, this thesis introduces the research background and the literaturereview on acculturation research both home and abroad. The fact that the number ofWuhan’s overseas students has doubled makes the cross-cultural competence cultivationan urgent need. It also specified the research objectives;In the second part, this thesis conducts investigation and analysis on thecross-culture competence cultivation status of Wuhan students studying in the UnitedStates. Through the investigation and analysis, it regarded the factors including the trendof younger age, the cross-cultural language communication barriers, the personality andpsychological expectations, and the incomplete comprehension of American culture,and the uncomprehensive as well as single-mode training are the major reasonsaffecting the cross-cultural competence of Wuhan students studying in the United States.Also, it concludes that the regional economy and specialize culture in Wuhan, the lackof comprehensive, professional and effective cross-cultural training, the inconsistencies in cross-cultural trainings between faculty, curriculum and textbooks for Wuhanstudents studying in the United States have set a limit to cross-cultural competencecultivation.In the third part, this thesis puts forward the measures to enhance the cross-culturalcompetence of Wuhan students studying in the United States. Firstly, theself-acquisition is crucial to cross-cultural competence; secondly, the school educationand training will be served as a platform in cross-cultural competence cultivation; next,the family education is the power backing for cross-cultural competence cultivation;finally, the establishment of an effective social support network is the external guaranteeof cross-cultural competence cultivation.In the fourth part, this thesis makes a final conclusion and puts forward for furtherresearch.