Study On Intercultural Adaptation Of International Students From English-speaking Countries In Beijing

With the growing Chinese fads, more and more international students choose to come to China for further education. The problems of foreign students in China concerning intercultural adaptation does not only affect the everyday life of the students themselves, but also pose a challenge to our government and the universities. As the political, economic and cultural center of the country, Beijing is the city that has the largest international student populations in China. The development of international education would bring lots of benefits to the city. How to help overseas students adapt better to the life in Beijing has become an issue that gains more and more attention from both the government and universities. Based on related theories and empirical literature, we did some research on the Cross-cultural adaptation of international students from English-speaking countries in Beijing, hoping to find better solutions to their adaptation problems.The 1st chapter briefly introduces the related theories on intercultural contact, more specifically, cross-cultural adaptation. Then there’s the review of studies by Chinese scholars on the intercultural adaptation of international students in China. The 2nd chapter is an introduction of the methodology we adopted in our study, which includes questionnaire and interview. We divided intercultural adaptation into four categories: linguistic adaptation, life adaptation, psychological adaptation and cultural adaptation. Chapter3 shows the questionnaire results and data analysis. Chapter 4 presents in-depth analysis of the cross-cultural adaptation of international students form English-speaking countries (in Beijing). First we take a look at their life, in terms of linguistic adaptation, life adaptation, psychological adaptation, cultural adaptation and contact with host nationals. Then we discuss both societal and individual level variables that influence their acculturation process in Beijing. By comparing English-speaking students with their counterparts from other countries or regions, we find out more. Finally in chapter 5,we provide suggestions as to how to ease the adaptation process of international students from the perspective of the government, universities and students themselves.