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Chinese students' psychological and sociocultural adjustments to Britain: an empirical study

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Spencer-Oatey, Helen, 1952- and Xiong, Zhaoning. (2006) Chinese students' psychological and sociocultural adjustments to Britain: an empirical study. Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol.19 (No.1). pp. 37-53. ISSN 0790-8318

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Abstract

This paper reports an empirical study of the psychological and sociocultural adjustments of two cohorts of Chinese students taking a foundation course in English language at a British university. Using Zung's (1965) Self-Rating Depression Scale and a modification of Ward and Kennedy's (1999) Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, quantitative data were obtained on the students' adjustment experiences, and these were correlated with other variables such as grade point average, age and length of stay in Britain. Interview data provided a richer picture of their experiences. The study found that the majority of students had few psychological or sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Nevertheless, social interaction with non-Chinese was consistently identified as problematic and this, as well as difficulties in adjusting to daily life, were very highly correlated with psychological stress. End-of-course grade point average was found to be negatively correlated with the psychological stress experienced near the beginning of the academic year. The paper calls for further research to follow up these findings, and concludes with a list of suggestions for universities to help address overseas students' psychological and sociocultural adjustment needs.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Chinese students -- Foreign countries, Students, Foreign -- Great Britain, Culture shock -- Great Britain, Adjustment (Psychology) -- Great Britain, Sociolinguistics -- Research
Journal or Publication Title: Language, Culture and Curriculum
Publisher: Routledge
ISSN: 0790-8318
Official Date: May 2006
Volume: Vol.19
Number: No.1
Page Range: pp. 37-53
Identification Number: 10.1080/07908310608668753
Status: Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version: Open Access
References:

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URI: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/2682

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