INTERNATIONAL TRANSITIONS PRESENTATON (SHAMALA)

• CONTENTS:

- Introduction.

- Types and Dimensions of Boundary Crossers.

- Transitioning to a New Culture: Long-term and Short-term adaptation.

- Types of Transition Shock.

- Language and Culture Shock.

- Stages of Culture Shock and Adjustment.

- An Integrative Communication Theory of Cross-cultural Adaptation.

- Optimizing Intercultural Transitions.

© Jane Jackson - Introducing Language and Intercultural Communication

• Each year, millions of people cross borders to study, work, perform military duties,

represent their government, conduct business or volunteer work, take part in peace

mission or engage in tourism. Some choose to make another territory or country

their new home; others are forced to seek temporary or permanent refugee in a

foreign land. When people leave all that is familiar and enter a region that is new

to them, they naturally come into contact with groups and individuals who have

different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In the process the newcomers may be

exposed to unfamiliar languages or dialects, values, norms, beliefs and behaviors

may be both exhilarating and confounding.

• Types of Migrant Groups: A dialectical perspective requires that we examine

intercultural transitions on both a personal and a contextual level. To understand

intercultural transitions, we need to examine the personal experiences of the

individuals and the larger social, historical, economic, and political contexts in

which the transitions occur.

Types and Dimensions of Boundary Crossers


Migrant is a person who leaves the primary cultural context in which he or she wasraised and moves to a new cultural context for an extended period of time.

Cultural transitions can vary in length and degree of voluntariness.

Four types of migrant groups:

1. Voluntary: There are two types of voluntary migrant groups.

a. Sojourners: Individuals who move into new cultural contexts for a limited period oftime for a specific purpose (for example, study, work).

b. Immigrants: Those who voluntarily settle in a new culture.

• There are various reasons for immigration, and there are fluctuations in therelationships between countries that send and receive immigrants.

• Countries often restrict immigration during economic downturns.

• Most of the international immigration does not occur from developing countries toindustrialized countries; most is from one developing country to another.



2. Involuntary: The voluntariness of immigration is more variable than absolute.There are two types of involuntary migrants.

a. Long-term refugees: People who are permanently forced to relocate because ofwar, famine, and oppression.

b. Short-term refugees: People who are forced to move for short or indefinite periodsof time within a country.

• According to one recent estimate, 14 million people have left their homecountries because of superpower struggles since 1979, and, more recently,because of internal ethnic strife.

• There are also cases of domestic refugees who are forced to move within acountry.

• The large number of refugees presents complex issues for interculturalcommunication, suggesting the importance of context.



Migrant-Host Relationships: There are four different types of migrant-hostrelationships.

A. Assimilation: In an assimilation mode, the migrant does not want to maintain anisolated cultural identity but wants relationships with other groups.

1. The migrant is more or less welcome in the host culture.

2. This is the archetypal "melting pot" because the focus is not on retaining one'scultural heritage.

3. Conflicts may arise if this type of relationship is forced on migrants by the dominantculture.

4. Doses of discrimination over time could discourage or eliminate culturalmaintenance of one's native cultural heritage.

Migrant-Host Relationships



B. Separation: There are two forms of separation.

1. In the first, migrants willingly choose to maintain interactions within their owncultural groups and avoid interacting with others (for example, Amish).

2. In the second, migrants are forced by the dominant society to separate themselves;this is called segregation.

3. De facto segregation includes practices like redlining-banks refusing loans to peoplewho want to live outside "their" area.

4. If migrants realize that they have been excluded from opportunities, they maypromote another mode of relating to the host culture and demand group rightsand recognition, but not assimilation.

C. Integration: Integration occurs when migrants have an interest in maintaining theiroriginal cultures and maintaining daily interactions with other groups.

1. This approach demands a greater degree of interest in maintaining one's owncultural identity.

2. Resistance to assimilation can take different forms, such as celebrating ethnicholidays and avoiding popular culture products or fashion.

3. This approach assumes that the dominant society is open and accepting of others'cultures.



D. Marginalization: Marginalization occurs when there is little interest inmaintaining cultural ties with either the dominant culture or the migrantculture.

1. This situation may be the result of actions by the dominant culture such aswhen Native Americans were forced to live away from members of theirown nation.

2. Generally, however, individuals are marginalized, not fully able toparticipate in political and social life, as a result of cultural differences.

E. Combined Modes of Relating: Sometimes immigrants and their familiescombine the four modes.

- They may integrate in some areas of life and assimilate in others.- Migrants generally have to adapt to some extent in the new culture.- Adaptation is a process.- It occurs in context.- It varies with each individual.- It is circumscribed by relations ofdominance and power.


Exposure to an un familiar linguistic and cultural environment can have aprofound, long-lasting impact on both temporary and permanent boundarycrossers. In the last few decades, educators and researchers from different fieldsdevoted considerable attention to the linguistic, socio-cultural, psychological andphysical challenges that newcomers face in a foreign land.

1-Long-term adaptation: immigrant and other settlers:

For many decades social psychologists communication specialists applied linguists and otherscholars have studied the adaptation of immigrants and refugees who settle in a new culturalenvironment more or less permanently either voluntarily or due to circumstances beyondtheir control.

ACCULTURATION AND SECOND LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION• ENCULTURATION: the process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, skills (language,

communication), attitudes and values necessary to become functioning members of their culture.• ACCULTURATION: the term used to refer to the changes that take place after contact between

individuals or groups with different cultural backgrounds.• SECOND LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION: refers to the process by which novices in an unfamiliar

linguistic and cultural context gain intercultural communicative competence by acquiring linguistic conventions, socio-pragmatic norms, cultural scripts and other behaviors that are associated with the new culture (Duff 2010; ochs &schieffelin 1984).

This transformation entails knowledge gains in social, cultural and linguistic domains and is closely tied to the notion of identity reconstruction or expansion.

TRANSITIONING TO A NEW CULTURE: LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM ADAPTATION


ACCULTURATION PATTERNS:

Researchers have discovered that the ways in which individuals or groups respond to interculturalcontact and the process of acculturation can differ significantly.

• Cultural Maintenance :refers to the effort to sustain elements of one’s culture orheritage by preserving core values , traditions , ways of being , etc. especially whenfaced with pressure to adopt a more dominant culture (e.g. The majority culture)(Berry 2006)

• Language Maintenance: refers to the preservation of a language or languagevariety in a context where there is considerable pressure for speakers to shifttowards the more prestigious or politically dominant language (swan et al.(2004:172).

• Acculturation strategies: the ways that individuals and ethno-cultural groupsrespond to the process of acculturation. Which include:

- Assimilation

- Integration

- Separation (Segregation)

- Marginalization

2- Short-term Adaptation: sojourners: most investigations of short-term sojourners(e.g. international exchange students, expatriates) have focused on the need toquickly adjust to their new environment.


TRANSITION SHOCK:

• Culture shock is a subcategory of a more universal construct called transition shock. Transition shock is a state of loss and disorientation predicated by a change in one's familiar environment which requires adjustment. There are many symptoms of transition shock, some which include:

- Excessive concern over cleanliness - Feelings of helplessness and withdrawal

- Irritability - Anger - Mood swings - Glazed stare

- Desire for home and old friends - Physiological stress reactions

- Homesickness - Boredom - Withdrawal

- Getting "stuck" on one thing - Suicidal or fatalistic thoughts

- Excessive sleep - Compulsive eating/drinking/weight gain

- Stereotyping host nationals

TYPES OF TRANSITION SHOCK:

• Transition Shock.

• Culture Shock.

• Role Shock.

• Language Shock.

• Identity or Self Shock.© Jane Jackson - Introducing Language and Intercultural Communication

• Transition Shock: It is a broad construct, which refers to the state of loss, disorientation

and identity confusion that can occur when we enter a new situation, job, relationship orphysical location and find ourselves confronted with the strain of adjusting to the unfamiliar(J.M. Bennett 1998). Events such as these can have an emotional, psychological, behavioral,cognitive and psychological impact.

Example: Moving from secondary school to university or from one's family home to adormitory.

• Culture Shock: When sojourners cross borders, they

travel with the language, values, beliefs and habits, that

they developed in their home culture through the process

of enculturation.

In 1950, anthropologist Cora DuBois used the term CULTURE SHOCK to refer to thedisorientation that many anthropologists often experience when entering a new culture todo fieldwork (La Barack & Berardo 2007). A decade later, another anthropologist, KalveroOberg (1960) extended the term to encompass the transition of any individual who traveloutside their home environment and face challenges adjusting to new culture. That literatureled Peter Adler (1075) to define Culture Shock is a set of emotional reactions to the loss ofperceptual reinforcements from one's own culture, to new cultural stimuli which have littleor no meaning, and to the misunderstanding of new and diverse experiences.


• Role Shock:

- It is characterized by lack of knowledge and confusion about the norms of behavior in a newculture (e.g. the social roles of politeness, business etiquette).

- In an unfamiliar country, students may be surprised to discover that the roles of teachersand learners differ from what they have become accustomed to.

• Language Shock:

- Boundary crossing frequently involve exposure to a language that is not one's mother tongue.Language shock refers to the challenge of understanding and communicating in a secondlanguage in an unfamiliar environment. (Smalley 1963)

- Language shock is the frustration and mental anguish that results in being reduced to the levelof a two-year-old in one's ability to communicate. Not having enough language skills toperform simple daily task can be very frustrating and humbling.

• Identity or Self Shock:

- It refers to the intrusion of consistent, conflicting self-images, which can involve loss ofcommunication competence, distorted self-reflections in the responses of others and thechallenge of changing identity bound behaviors. (Zaharna 1989)

- As newcomers try to make sense of their new environment and communicate who they are,they are sometimes dismayed to discover that they are not perceived as they would like.Communicating one's preferred identities through a second language can be frustrating andeasily misunderstood. Newcomers also may experience some confusion about who they areand how they fit into the world around them. So newcomers' frustration becomes not somuch trying to make sense of the Other (i.e. culture shock) but rather the Self (i.e. self-shock). (Zaharna 1989)


LANGUAGE AND CULTURE SHOCK:

CAUSES OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE SHOCK

- Unrealistic, romantic expectations: if you have decided to move to a new environmentexpecting it to be perfect, it can be quite shock to discover that it is not like in your dreams.

- Inadequate preparation: Not studying what life will be like in the host culture.

- Abrupt change: With the current advances in transportation we can easily travel from homeenvironment to distant lands in a matter of hours. During we may cross several time zonesand arrive in a place with a different climate as well as many unfamiliar practices.

- Lack of familiarity with signs and symbols. - Loss. - Sensory overload.

- Unfamiliar "way of being": One may be confronted with different ideas about what isappropriate behavior for females and males. Also the religious practices may be verydifferent from what you are used to. Cultures of learning may also be countered especiallythe norms, values, and expectations of teachers and learners relative to classroom activity.(Cortazzi & Jin 1997)

- Feeling trapped: (Micro, Short and long term) Sojourners need to be able to function in the hostculture. One cannot turn off the new country or culture. (Nolan 1999)

- Ambiguity and uncertainty: 1- Culture script (local conventions for apologies, requests,refusals…etc.) 2- Tolerance of Ambiguity (coping with situations that are not clear).

- Lack of socio-emotional support, Standing out, Discrimination or perceptions ofdiscrimination, Language shock, Language fatigue, Miscommunication, Conflict in values,

Change in status or positioning. And more…


DEGREE OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE SHOCK:

• Quality of information: individuals who enter a new environment armed with currentinformation about the host country and the process of adjustment are better equipped todeal with culture shock than those who arrive without having done any ground work.

• Cultural similarity: the degree of similarity between one's home culture and the host culturein terms of values, beliefs, nonverbal behaviors, customs, culture of learning…etc. (CultureDistance Gap).

• Linguistic similarity: the degree of similarity between one's 1st language and the hostlanguage.

• Communication style similarity: the degree of similarity between one's communication styleand the common communication styles in the host culture.

• Interpersonal dimensions: (age, fortitude, independence, previous travel, proficiency in thehost language, resourcefulness, tolerance of ambiguity) all of these traits or personalcharacteristics can impact on one's ability to deal with difficulties that arise.

• Psychological factors.

• Socio-emotional support.

• Degree of control.

• Geopolitical factors.

• Agency.

• Duration and spatial factors.


POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE SHOCK

• Negative:

Early conception of culture shock were largely negative . Oberg (1960) referred toit as an occupational disease of people who have been transplanted abroad. Formany decades the "disease" oriented perception persisted and pre-sojournsorientation usually emphasized practical ways to avoid culture shock.

• Positive:

- There is growing in the recognition of the positive dimensions of thisphenomenon.

- The focus shifted to productive ways to manage the stress that naturally occursas one enters and adjusts to new environment.

- Studying the potential language and culture stress, lead to deeper levels ofWhole Person Development. (e.g. emotional intelligence, resourcefulness,interpersonal communication skills…etc.) and Identity Expansion (e.g. abroadened, more inclusive sense of self, the development of a global outlook).(Jackson 2012; Kinginger 2009)


STAGES OF CULTURE SHOCK AND ADJUSTMENT

1-The U-curve theory

- The four stages of u-curve theory:

• Honeymoon stage

• Culture stress and shock (crisis and frustration)

• Adjustment(integration or recovery)

• Mastery(adaptation and acceptance, biculturalism)

2- Reentry and the w-curve adjustment model.

• Gullahorn and Gullahorn(1963) maintain that returnees often experience a similarperiod of adjustment when they return home , so they extended the u-curvemodel by adding two stages :

• A-Reentry or reverse culture shock

• B-Resocialization: the process of

readjusting ones attitudes and behaviors

to feel at ease in one’s home environment

after a period way.



THE PROPOSED STAGES FOR STUDENT SOJOURNERS

• Honeymoon Phase (initial euphoria) when sojourners first arrive in the host culture, the curvemodel suggests that most sojourners are excited and looking forward to what lies ahead.

• Hostility Phase: referred to as culture shock, crisis stage or disintegration, the sojourners mayfeel uncomfortable in the new environment (e.g. speak with a different accent, wear differentclothing…….etc)

• Humorous Stage: means the orientation and re-integration phase or adjustment and recovery.in this phase have regained their sense of humor, they have begun to realize that many of theproblems they have experienced in the new environment are due to cultural difference, in thisstage the sojourners are more balanced in their view, they are more aware of linguistic orcultural differences that may have led to misunderstandings.

• The at Home Stage: referred to as adaptation or resolution, the sojourners in this stage feelmore at home and happy in the host environment. Sojourners are able to communicate theirideas and feelings in ways that are context- appropriate as their socio-pragmatic awareness hasincreased. They have become more receptive to new cultures of learning as they betterunderstand what lies behind different practices.

• Resocialization Stage: referred to as reintegration the independence stage or acceptance andunderstanding. The returnees are beginning to feel more at home and are better able tocommunicate effectively and appropriately with their family members , friends and colleagues.Now they are (returnees) better able to find a sense of balance between their new old homeand the culture they have just left.

INTEGRATION COMMUNICATION THEORY OF CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION

A theory proposed by Kim (2001, 2005, 2012) to depict an individual’s gradualadaptation to a new environment. It highlights the individual and contextualfactors that can influence the developmental trajectories.

Two questions are raised:

1. Why are some settlers more successful than others ?

Cognitive competence - affective competence - operational competence

2. What is the essential nature of the adaptation process individual settlers undergoover time?


Stress adaptation growth dynamic

Optimizing Intercultural Transitions

If you decide to study, live or work in unfamiliar linguistic and cultural environment,there are steps you can take to ease your transition.

A. Prior to Sojourn: Research your destination, set realistic goals and expectations,take a course in intercultural communication, practice your L2, attend pre-sojourners orientations.

B. In the new environment: Familiarize your self with the local context, be patient!(it’s natural and takes time), keep touch with family and friends back home,develop e routine and take care of your heath, be open to new experiences, beadvent ours, find a cultural mentor and seek help when needed, enhance you L2.

C. Prior to returning home: Set goals for your return home.

D. Back on home soil: Share your international stories in small doses anddemonstrate interest with others, serve as a buddy to newcomers, talk to peoplewho understand your transition, stay in touch with friends abroad, continue topractice your L2.


Thanks

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INTERNATIONAL TRANSITIONS PRESENTATON (SHAMALA)