5。2 Suggestions 21

5。2。1 Suggestions for South Korean Students 21

5。2。2 Suggestions 源Y于Y优E尔Y论L文W网wwW.yOueRw.com 原文+QQ752018.766 for HZNU 22

5。3 Limitations 22

Reference 24

Appendix I Two Scales 26

Appendix II Interview Questions 28

Appendix III Interview Record (Jin Minjing) 30

Appendix IV Interview Record (Li Li) 36

Appendix V Interview Record (Jin Dieyu) 43

Chapter One Introduction

1。1 Research Background

The 21st century has witnessed the process of globalization in economic and social development。 With the development of technology, the increase of international communication and the improvement of transportation, studying abroad is becoming more accessible and convenient for students around the world。 There are, reportedly, over 1。5 million international students choosing to go abroad for studying each year。 Studying abroad not only enables students to access to better education, broaden their horizons but also gives them chances to experience different cultures。 That is why international students can also be called “the unofficial ambassadors” – they function as the cultural bridge that links the whole world。

In recent years, the number of international students in China has steadily increased。 Statistics from the official website of Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China show that in 2015, there are 397,635 international students from 202 countries and regions studying in China, and Zhejiang province is the third most attracting place。 Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province, also has attracted many international students to study in。 In 2015, South Korea has become the biggest source country of international students in Zhejiang province。 As we know, there are many universities accepting international students in Hangzhou area, among which Hangzhou Normal University (HZNU) has 718 international students in total in 2015, ranking the 10th place, according to the official website of Zhejiang Education Department。 

The study of cross-cultural adaptation was developed on the foundation of intercultural communication。 Many foreign scholars have devoted themselves to the theoretical research。 Lysgaard (1955) studies the Norwegian scholars who were in the US and found that sojourners may go through three stages of adjustment: initial adjustment, crisis, and regained adjustment。 Then Oberg (1960) further describes the slightly different stages of intercultural adaptation as the honeymoon stage, the crisis, the recovery, and the adjustment。 Based on the previous model of intercultural adaptation, Gullahom and Gullahom (1963) claim that the adjustment of the international travelers can be pictured as U-curve and then they extended the U-curve model to the period after sojourners return home。 

Also, a number of empirical researches have been carried on。 A series of studies are conducted by Berry (1989) in order to investigate the acculturation strategies of different immigrant groups in North America, and researches on the psychological adaptation of Chinese sojourners in Canada are also developed。 Since 1990, Ward and her colleagues have investigated over 16 case studies in different countries with different subjects。 

In China, scholars did not begin to study cross-cultural adaptation until late 20th and early 21st century。 However, there are not many mature theories developed but some empirical studies adopting western theories and among those empirical researches, many researchers are interested in choosing Chinese overseas students instead of international students as study subjects。 There are some famous researches, such as Chen Xiangming’s (1998) study, and the thesis of Chen Hui et al (2006) is mainly focused on the psychological study。 The other one is Si Yanfang (2007)’s empirical study, which adopts qualitative research methods based on interviews and observations with four Indian international students。