A Study Of Malaysian Chinese Students’Intercultural Sensitivity In China

Malaysian Chinese students have to be forced to study abroad since1980s, due to the limited admissions and scholarships conditions of local universities. China has become a new target start from21st century. In2003there were only841Malaysian students in China, and there are an increasing number sicne then and in2012there were more than6,000Malaysian students in China. In a different cultural environment, the Malaysian Chinese students in China (MCSC) have experienced cross-cultural difficulties and have been faced to different adaption problems from others foreigners students., Born in a multicultural society where their cultural identity is so different from the ordinary Chinese people, but also from other foreigner students, they comprehend China and ethnic-Chinese culture. They showed their own unique characteristics. Hence more and more attention has been currently paid to MCSC issue. The main purpose of this study is to point out a correlation between the level intercultural sensitivity and the characteristics showed by MCSC.Based on the quantitative study, we apply the theories of cross-cultural psychology and intercultural communication. Chen&Starosta’s model of Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) is used to measure the intercultural sensitivity’s level. SPSS is used for the interpretation of the data. The results come from the analysis processed to five-factor model with variables (gender, grade, major of study, the period in China and residence area) that show relevant and correlation coefficients.With the qualitative study, we search for the status of MCSC’s abilities in adjusting their socio-cultural relationships and identity recognition. The research methods include personal-in-depth interviews and focus group interviews. The personal interviews include expectations, interpersonal and ethnic Chinese cultural identification, etc. In addition, the purpose of the focus group interviews are done with observations of the different members about their comments of communication mode, cross-cultural adaptation and ethnic identity. The similarities and differences of opinions, and views on the research questions have been collected.