An Ethnographic Study On International Students' Cross-cultural Academic Adaptation At University X In Wuhan

With the development of China's higher education,more and more international students have enrolled in universities in China to study Chinese language,Chinese culture,and specialty knowledge and skills.International students who come to China for tertiary study face academic challenges brought about by different teaching styles,teacher-student communication mode,academic requirements,etc.than they experienced from their mother culture.Existing studies on the cross-cultural adaptation of international students have mainly been conducted in Beijing,Shanghai,and Guangzhou,and from the perspective of psychological and social cultural adaptation,with less emphasis on the process,problems,and major causes of international students' cross-cultural academic adaptation.Moreover,many related studies have adopted quantitative research methods,such as questionnaire survey,and therefore cannot trace the dynamic process of cross-cultural academic adaptation,nor the multiple factors influencing that process.This study combines qualitative and quantitative research methods,employing questionnaire survey and such ethnographic data collection methods as participant observation,follow-up interviews,self-report,and field notes to investigate the international students' cross-cultural academic adaptation at University X,using the following research questions: 1.What is the current situation of international students' cross-cultural academic adaptation at University X? 2.What cross-cultural academic adaptation processes have international students experienced at University X? 3.What are the factors influencing international students' cross-cultural academic adaptation at University X? 4.What adjustment strategies did international students adopt to cope with academic adaptation problems at University X? What are the effects of those strategies? This questionnaire survey of this study involved 30 participants,including four international students who were involved in the ethnographic study.The questionnaire survey served as a pilot study to understand the current situation of international students' cross-cultural academic adaptation at University X before the ethnographic was conducted in September 2017;the ethnographic study explored more details of the critical events of cross-cultural academic adaptation,lasting about one year from September 2017,to September 2018.The major findings are as follows.Firstly,most of the international students could adapt themselves to the academic life of University X.However,low Chinese language proficiency,limitations on using the library of University X,different teaching styles,and negative interaction with Chinese teachers were major barriers to academic adaptation.Secondly,international students' cross-cultural academic adaptation at University X was a process of dynamic change,during which they transformed from being anxious and feeling strange to being relatively stable,by shaping dynamic adjustment strategies,and building relatively stable academic identities.Thirdly,the international students' learning motivation,language proficiency,cross-cultural experiences,learning attitude and competence,personality,and social identity influenced their cross-cultural academic adaptation,as did University X's classroom teaching,curriculum program,library usage,academic atmosphere,and freshman orientation;also influential were students' interactions with Chinese teachers(including the supervisor),with other students,the emotional support they received from family and friends,and the financial support they got from the university.Finally,international students actively coped with major cross-cultural academic adaptation problems and difficulties by searching for information on the Internet,asking for help from Chinese teachers and students,positively practicing their Chinese language proficiency,and adapting to academic environment of University X.Based on the major findings of the study,implications for university X and for all the universities of international education,implications for international students,the limitations and future directions for research are discussed.