A culture general assimilator: Preparation for various types of sojourns

A set of training materials has been developed which can form the basis of various cross-cultural orientation programs. The materials can be used no matter what people's role in other countries (e.g., businessperson, foreign students, diplomats) or their country of assignment. Further, the materials can be used with people who have extensive interaction with members of minority groups within their own country, such as cross-cultural counsellors or social workers who interact frequently with refugees and immigrants. Since the materials are based on 100 critical incidents and presented in a manner similar to existing culture assimilators, the newly developed set of materials is called a “culture general assimilator.” The materials are based on the assumption that there are commonalities, or similar personal experiences, when people live and work in cultures other than their own. These shared experiences, sometimes negative and sometimes positive, form the basis of the phenomenon known as culture shock, as well as opportunities for learning and personal development frequently reported by so-journers. The commonalities form the basis of the 100 critical incidents, which include such concepts as anxiety, disconfirmed expectancies, the ingroup-outgroup distinction, confrontation with one's prejudices, and attributions about the behavior of others. The 100 incidents were derived from conclusions about cross-cultural experiences found in the published literature, the experiences of the four people involved in the materials development, and from interviews with colleagues. The methods of developing the assimilator are reviewed, including the step during which 60 people with extensive cross-cultural experiences validated the incidents. Sample incidents are presented, and suggestions are made for use of the materials in culture-specific training programs, undergraduate college classes, professionals who work with a multicultural clientele, and study abroad participants returning to their home country.     

The “learning how to learn” approach to cross-cultural orientation

Since no amount of specific cultural information can prepare sojourners for every eventuality, orientation participants would benefit from “learning how to learn” about intercultural interaction. This paper discusses how to set goals, design curricula, and organize instruction for orientation programs wishing to teach participants to “learn how to learn.” An adaptation of Kolb's “Learning Cycle” is suggested as a format to assist program planning. The author would like to thank Judith Martin and R. Michael Paige for their suggestions on a draft of this paper.     

Open- and closed-mindedness in cross-cultural adaptation: The roles of mindfulness and need for cognitive closure

Individuals who are high, relative to low, in mindfulness are more open when ascribing meanings to new experiences and more resilient under stress, suggesting that mindfulness may play an important role in cross-cultural adaptation. In contrast, those high in need for cognitive closure (NCC) seem to close one’s mind to new cross-cultural experiences. We tested these contrasting effects of mindfulness and NCC by examining Asian international students (n = 233) who study at an Australian university using several measures of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. The study found that more mindful sojourners develop greater sociocultural skills and superior knowledge of a unique local culture. The role of need for cognitive closure (NCC)―closed-mindedness spurred by a desire for clear-cut understanding―was found primarily in the domain of psychological adjustment. The results highlight the importance of these dimensions of open- versus closed-mindedness during cross-cultural adaptation.     

Training issues in cross-cultural orientation

In this article the author presents an overview of the subsequent articles in this special issue of IJIR. The articles were originally presented as papers at a seminar held in Minneapolis in November 1984: “Cross-Cultural Orientation: Theories, Practices, Problems and Solutions. ” The author first reviews each article, highlighting the major contribution of each author and then identifies common themes that emerge in the papers. Finally, she presents several areas that need to be addressed by researchers and practitioners in conceptualizing, designing, and implementing cross-cultural orientation training.     

Re-entry research and training: Methods and implications

This article reviews the literature on the process of re-entry or “going home” from an overseas sojourn. Its special focus is on student and business returnees, although the experiences of other types of returning sojourners are also examined. Drawing upon the review of the empirical literature base, the author suggests several hypotheses regarding the relationship between the initial overseas adaptation and the subsequent re-entry adaptation. The article also suggests a general content outline for re-entry training programs and workshops. If concludes with an examination of current re-entry training models for student and business repatriates.     

Re-examining public opinion preferences for migrant categorizations: “Refugees” are evaluated more negatively than “migrants” and “foreigners” related to participants’ direct,extended, and mass-mediated intergroup contact experiences

Although migrant categorizations (e.g. “migrants”, “refugees”) are often conflated in political and academic discourse, they may be ascribed to different people and inspire different preferences in public opinion. Previous research in Western Europe has identified more positive attitudes toward “refugees” than toward “migrants” due to the legitimate need for international protection of “real refugees” compared to the perceived illegitimate claims by “economic migrants”. However, little evidence suggests that the same preference also exists in Eastern European countries that have historically received smaller numbers of refugees and had fewer frequent experiences with migrants and foreigners compared to West European countries. Moreover, the term “refugee” was intensively recategorized as “bogus” and de-legitimized in East European political discourse. To provide new evidence, we conducted a pre-registered comparative survey-based study with a sample of young Slovak adults (N = 873) to compare evaluations of three commonly used migrant categorizations in Slovakia -- “refugees”, “migrants”, and “foreigners” -- on multiple attitudinal and behavioural measures. In addition, we also tested the intergroup contact hypothesis about the relationship between participants’ evaluations and their experiences of direct, extended, and mass-mediated contact with these target groups. We found that “refugees” invoked less favourable feelings, attitudes, trust, and greater social distance compared to “migrants” and “foreigners”. These evaluations related to the valence (and less to the quantity) of participants’ experience of intergroup contact. These results challenge previous findings about public opinion preferences for “refugees” over “migrants”, support the intergroup contact hypothesis, and make a case for a more contextualized research.     

An analysis of an integrated approach to cross-cultural trainingAnalisis de un enfoque integral al entrenamineto transculturalUne analyse d'une approche integree a l'environnement transculturel

Various approaches have been used in training people to effectively function in a foreign culture. This paper reviews six approaches that are currently being used in cross-cultural training. The approaches reviewed are: (1) the intellectual approach, (2) the area simulation approach, (3) the self-awareness approach, (4) the culture awareness approach, (5) the behavioral approach, and (6) the interaction approach. The advantages of using an “integrated” approach to cross-cultural training is discussed and research is presented which supports the effectiveness of this approach. The results offer preliminary evidence that an integrated approach to training can improve participants' attitudinal satisfaction with their stay in another culture. Finally, the paper offers suggestions for the future direction of cross-cultural training.     

Modes of cross-cultural training: Conceptualizing cross-cultural training as education

The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for examining existing intercultural communication training models and to present a multidimensional approach for educating sojourners for experiential learning. The paper differentiates among, orientation, training and education by mapping the goals, the content, and the process approaches used in each. The Intercultural Programming Grid which emerges from this differentiation examines five major programming models based on three aspects which distinguish one model from another: the nature of the goals (cognitive, affective, behavioral), the nature of the content (culture general or culture specific), and the nature of the process (experiential or intellectual). The strengths and limitations of each model are discussed. A multidimensional model is proposed which integrates all the dimensions with the experiential learning cycle.     

A peer mentoring social learning perspective of cross-cultural adjustment: The rapid-acculturation mateship program

One of the persisting challenges facing societies and organizations is to socially integrate sojourners, expatriates, including migrants into the host culture whilst leveraging reciprocal cross-cultural learning experiences. In a quasi-experimental field study, using an embedded unequal design, incoming international students’ (i-Students’) adjustment processes were investigated via a comprehensive 18/19-week peer mentoring social learning cross-cultural adjustment program. Forty-three local mentors were paired with 126 i-Student mentees, and 238 i-Students served as a control group. Quantitative and complementary qualitative data were collected from mentees, mentors, and controls at three time-points. Results showed effects in intercultural communication, cultural adjustment, life skills, and well-being domains. Mentors’ 360-degree synchronous evaluation of mentees showed increases in all skills measured. Post-program responses from participants confirmed the increase in communication and life skills, supporting the social learning hypothesis. Theoretical and practical implications are presented to assist individuals studying and/or working with their acculturation in foreign nations.     

A multilevel treatment approach for culture shock experienced by sojourners

This article describes culture shock as an adjustment reaction syndrome which affects sojourners intellectually, emotionally, behaviorally, and physiologically. A brief review of the literature shows that while various theories regarding the etiology of culture shock have been proffered, and many crosscultural training methods developed for dealing with different aspects of culture shock, to date no treatment has been designed which responds to the needs of sojourners experiencing stress in the four areas mentioned. Therefore a treatment was designed which integrates various cross-cultural training methods with psychotherapeutic techniques in order to provide sojourners with coping skills for dealing with the multilevel impact of culture shock. The treatment was implemented with 64 North Americans who had recently arrived in Costa Rica to study Spanish. A group of students, designated the control group, received no treatment. The next group of students to arrive at the school was offered the 6 week treatment. Both groups of subjects were tested at the end of 12 weeks, using the SCL-90-R, a multidimensional self-report inventory designed to measure symptomatic psychological distress. Treatment and control group subjects were matched on eight control variables and their scores on the SCL-90-R were compared using the t test for correlated samples. Statistical analysis yielded a significant difference between groups with p < .01. It may therefore be inferred that the treatment model described here is effective in reducing symptoms of psychological distress for sojourners similar to those in this study.     

Generational gaps in attitudes toward migrants: Hong Kong and Shanghai in comparison

Previous studies documented inconsistent findings of cohort differences in attitudes toward migrants. Some research has shown that younger people tend to be more welcoming toward migrants compared to older people; however, other research has shown the opposite. This suggests that the way different generations perceive migrants may depend on the specific local contexts in which they live. In this paper, we compared attitudes toward migrants in Hong Kong and Shanghai under the “one country, two systems” framework, using comparable data from the Hong Kong Panel Study of Social Dynamics and Shanghai Urban Neighborhood Survey. We found a sharp contrast in the attitudes toward migrants between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Compared to older people, young people in Shanghai were more friendly to migrants, yet young people in Hong Kong were more resistant to migrants. Our study identified disparities of generational gaps in attitudes toward migrants of the same ethnicity within one country. The relatively more positive attitudes toward migrants of younger cohorts (compared to people born before 1960) in Shanghai could be explained by educational level and life satisfaction. The relatively more negative attitudes toward migrants in Hong Kong could be explained by identity. Our empirical analyses suggest that local contexts matter in explaining generational gaps in attitudes toward migrants.     

Understandings of national identity and outgroup attitudes in culturally diverse Mauritius

This study investigated understandings of national group belonging in relation to attitudes toward foreign and established outgroups in Mauritius. Representative data were collected among the three numerically largest ethno-cultural groups (Hindus, Muslims, and Creoles; N_total = 1770) and results confirmed a distinction between “being,” “doing,” and “feeling” Mauritian among all three groups, with some small differences for Creoles compared to Hindus and Muslims. Furthermore, “being” Mauritian was not significantly related to attitudes toward established and foreign outgroups. In contrast, the “doing” understanding was negatively associated with both attitudes, and the “feeling” understanding showed positive associations with both outgroup attitudes among all three participant groups. The findings make a novel contribution to the literature on how people understand national identity, how these understandings differ between ethno-cultural groups within a nation, and how these relate to attitudes toward foreign as well as established outgroups.     

Social support and cultural distance: Sojourners’ experience in China

Previous research has pinpointed that social support from host, co-national, and other international friends plays a pivotal role in successful adaptation to a new culture, yet research on this topic pertaining to China is inadequate. As such, using a cross-sectional sample of sojourners (N = 199) in major Chinese cities, the current study examines the relationship between sojourners’ self-reports of social support from the three sources and two psychological adaptation variables (i.e., anxiety and well-being) as well as the moderating effect of objective cultural distance. Regression analysis indicates that perceptions of host and international support are significant negative predictors of anxiety and positive predictors of psychological well-being. In addition, cultural distance moderated these predictive associations: host support and international support had a stronger negative association with anxiety and host support had a stronger positive association with well-being for participants whose cultural distance to China was lower compared to those whose cultural distance was higher. This study enhances our understanding of the dynamic interplay between social support and cultural distance in cross-cultural adaptation research within a Chinese cultural context.     

The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions

This study attempts empirically to distinguish psychological and sociocultural forms of adjustment during the process of cross-cultural transitions. One hundred and five sojourners (Malaysian and Singaporean students in New Zealand) completed a questionnaire which examined psychological well-being (depression) and sociocultural competence (social difficulty) in relationship to the following variables: expected difficulty, cultural distance, quantity and quality of social interactions with both host and fellow nationals, attitudes towards hosts, extraversion, life changes and personal variables such as age, sex, length of residence in New Zealand, cross-cultural training, and previous cross-cultural experiences. Multiple regression analysis was employed to construct predictive models of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Satisfaction with relationships with host nationals, extraversion, life changes, and social difficulty combined to account for 34% of the variance in psychological adjustment. Cultural distance, expected difficulty, and depression combined to account for 36% of the variance in sociocultural adjustment. It was concluded that although psychological and sociocultural adjustment are interrelated, there is a need to regard these factors as conceptually distinct.     

Developing Teaching-Specific Spanish Competencies in Bilingual Teacher Education: Toward a Culturally,Linguistically, and Professionally Relevant Approach

The emergence of K-12 bilingual/dual-language schools¹¹ Although we recognize the distinction between “dynamic” forms of bilingualism characteristic of bilingual education programs and “compartmentalized” forms generally characteristic of “dual-language” programs (García, 2014), in this article we employ the term “bilingual/dual-language education” to include both programmatic approaches and to reclaim the term “bilingual.”View all notes in the United States require bilingual teacher education programs across the nation continue to “build on the language strengths”²² See Zentella (2005).View all notes of bilingual teacher candidates and provide them with ample opportunities to acquire the language competencies needed for teaching content-area knowledge across the bilingual curriculum. Although the need to prepare linguistically qualified bilingual/dual-language teachers is relevant to all language programs comprising the bilingual teacher education field, in this article the authors describe a culturally, linguistically, and professionally relevant approach for developing the teaching-specific Spanish language competencies of future bilingual teachers. Educating the new generation of linguistically qualified bilingual educators calls for an engaged and responsive pedagogy that will prepare teachers to orchestrate K-12 teaching and learning experiences where languages (Spanish, in this particular case) function as multidimensional bodies encompassing and empowering the cultures and funds of knowledge teachers and students bring to the classroom.