Foreign Teachers’ Cross-cultural Adaptation Process In China: A Qualitative Research On Three American Teachers

With the popularity of educational internationalization,more and more foreign teachers come to China to join in the work of language education.This is followed by great benefits brought in foreign language teaching in China.However,due to the new living and working condition,and the influence of cultural differences,it is very difficult for foreign teachers to bring their advantages into full play.According to the literature review,former studies on foreign teachers mainly concentrated on management and teaching situation.Studies on foreign teachers’ cross-cultural adaptation process are hardly found.Adopting qualitative research method,this study got three American teachers as research subjects.Data were collected mainly through interviews and this process lasted six months.Under the guidance of cross-cultural adaptation theory,the study aims to interpret the participants’ cross-cultural adaptation process in China,and to delineate the main factors that have an influence on this process.According to the results,the process of cross-cultural adaptation is a dynamic process in which the participants move forward under the pressure caused by the new environment.The participants came across with "voneymoon" stage,pressure and self-adjustment stage,and gradually adapted to the new environment as well as got their personal growth.Among these stages,the "honeymoon" stage is not the period everyone must goes through,and because of the differences of social support,coping strategies and personalities,the time span of each stage is different to different people.The major factors that cause stress in the cross-cultural adaptation process include language,food,living conditions,homesickness and teaching.Main factors that could promote cross-cultural adaptation process include social support,personality and coping strategies.To help foreign teachers achieve success in their cross-cultural adaptation,administrators can provide more chances for foreign teachers to get more social support;Chinese students should be trained to cultivate intercultural awareness and try to be open-minded and actively integrate themselves into foreign teachers’ classes;foreign teachers need to accept the local customs and culture with optimistic attitude,deal with problems actively,integrate into the local culture and develop friend circle to expand their social support network.