Chinese student sojourners and narratives of cultural adjustment at an American university.

摘要

The present study examined the relationship between stories that Chinese student sojourners tell and the process of cultural adaptation. Twenty-three Chinese graduate students from various lengths of time in the United States were interviewed individually or in focus groups at the University of New Mexico. Consistently, eight narrative themes emerged: (1) academics, (2) communication with others, (3) relationships with family and friends in China, (4) relationships with others, (5) American culture, (6) expectations about America, (7) cultural adjustment and (8) language. It was also demonstrated that sojourners use collaborative and comparative stories to make sense and cope with their new experiences. Finally, the results indicated that the Culture Shock model of cultural adjustment did not adequately fit the evolution of the participants' stories as previously expected. Therefore, an adjusted model of culture shock was proposed. The present study suggests that more research on how the Culture Shock model relates to other non-Western cultures is needed.