A Study On Cross-Cultural Adantation Of Western European Students In Beijing

Since the 21st century, China’s economic has developed rapidly, the international status has been steadily improved and the international influence has been increased, more and more students choose to study in China. In some Western Europe countries, Chinese has becoming the most important second language. There is an increasing number of Western European students in Beijing, correspondingly, the problem of Western European students in cross-cultural adaptation is increasing. However, as a group of Western Europe, the research is still limited. As a result, the thesis made a research of Western European students in Beijing. By analyzing the problems and influential factors of their cross-cultural adaptation, the thesis is aimed at knowing more about the current situation. It is useful to improve their cross-cultural adaptation level on the aspects of students’life, study, evaluation to host countries and so on.Concerning the problems experienced by the foreign students due to the cross-cultural adaptation, this thesis mainly investigates four dimensions of adaptability: language adaptability, life adaptability, psychological adaptability and cultural adaptability.Research results and findings are mainly embodied in these two aspects:1. The overall cross-cultural adaptation of the Western European students is on a good level. However, among the four dimensions of adaptability, psychological adaptability and cultural adaptability is the best, language adaptability is in the middle and the life adaptability is on the lowest level.2. Factors that influence the cross-cultural adaptation of the Western European students include gender, cultural distance, duration of stay in China, learning type, level of Chinese and purpose of learning Chinese, etc. These factors mainly affect language adaptability, life adaptability, and cultural adaptability.Last but not least, strategies and recommendations are put forward in two aspects: host country and the school in China of their teaching and management.