A Study On Chinese Young Abroad Students' Cross-cultural Adaptation In America

In the past two decades,there have been an ongoing heat of Chinese students studying abroad.W hat draws our attent ion is the fact that students are younger——more and more families send their children abroad when they are in high school.For those fam ilies,America is the most popular country favored by Chinese families.So far,many scholars h ave conducted research es on Chin ese students' cultural adaptation overseas and obtained a series of valuable achievements.However,only a few achievem ents were made on Chinese young students' cross-cultural adaptation.Since young Chinese students are in a special age stag e that they behave immature,impulsive,and so on.T hey are also in a transitional period forming their worldview,philosophy and values.Being unstable and vulnerable in frustrations,they are the most possible group that can be stuck in psychological problems.Therefore,it is urgent to study young Chinese students' cross-cultural adaptation abroad.The thesis explores by theoretical rese arches and em pirical researches with questionnaires,interviews and open-questions,using Y oung Yun Kim's theory of cross-cultural adaptation,applying Stress-Adaptation-Growth model to analyze on data and com e to a basic conclusion.It explores young Chinese students' main obstacles they face when they are studying in the U.S.from the perspective of cultural adaptation and propose suggestions.The basic findings in this thesis are that the difficulties young Chinese students encountered in the U.S.can be identified in aspects like language,academ ic levels,socialization and culture difference.The basic conclusion is that think twice before going ab road to study.Do not go abroad by following the trend,only considering that “it is good to study abroad at a young age” or “it is definitely going to be good to study abroad”.According to Kim's Stress-Adaptation-Growth model and relative theories,cross-cultural adaptation process is spiral,but it grows eventual ly.The downs of cro ss-cultural adaptation process include low language com petence,which has bad impact on young Chinese students' academic levels,socialization,and cultural adaptation.And it even results in many psychological problems.Therefore,a good master of English is the m ost basic and the m ost important requirement for studying abroad.The thesis suggests that young Chinese students should be prepared as much as possible prior to their overseas study: Make sure they have good command of English,cultivate their interpersonal communication skills,shape healthy personalities,and very im portantly——learn basic knowledge of American laws.W hile young Chinese students are in the U.S.,parents should keep in touch with their ch ildren,pay attention to their psychological changes and enlighten them.In the meantime,young Chinese students should take the initiative to strive f or cross-cultural adaptation.Otherwise,they can not adapt n o matter how long they stay.Only in this wa y can we make full advantage of studying abroad at young ages,and help young Chinese students better adapt in the U.S.