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Acculturation, or changes resulting from first-hand contact with another culture, can be very stressful and problems often arise from differences in language, cultural expectations, physical appearance, and environment (Chataway and Berry, 1989). Three theoretical frameworks, summarized by Searle and Ward (1990), are widely used in the literature for studying cross-cultural translations: (a) clinical perspectives, (b) social learning models, and (c) social cognition approaches.
Clinically oriented models have conventionally drawn attention to the role of personality, life events, changes, losses, and social supports that facilitate or inhibit the adjustment process. Within the stress and coping framework, personality variables and social support may mediate adaptation to a foreign milieu. Personality and situation variables will interact to determine the cultural fit between the sojourners and the host culture, and the better the fit, the lesser the stress. In addition, social support is also thought to act as a buffer against stress but there is considerable debate on whether fellow nationals or hosts provide the most effective source of support.
Social learning models emphasize the acquisition of culturally appropriate skills and behaviors through contact with hosts, cross cultural experience and training. This approach posits that friendships with hosts are crucial for learning the skills of a new culture. Implicit in this approach is the influence of cultural distance between the sojourners and the hosts. The greater the distance, the fewer the culturally appropriate skills the sojourners have for negotiating daily social encounters, and thus the more difficulties they will experience. Also, consistent with the stress and coping model, greater cultural distance implies greater life changes, which in turn, implies a higher level of stress for the sojourners.
Social cognition models instead highlight the importance of expectations, values, attitudes, and perceptions in the cross-cultural adjustment process. The values and attitudes of the sojourners will affect their contact with the hosts, which will determine their perceptions and the level of stress experienced. Obviously, unrealistic expectations will hamper the adjustment process but there is no consensus on whether realistic or modest expectations will better facilitate adjustment.
In recent years, Asians constituted a substantial component of the migrants to New Zealand and changed the human landscape considerably. The demographic portraits of the Asian population living in New Zealand are presented in Statistics New Zealand (1992) which tabulated the statistics on ethnicity, age, sex, marital status, education, religion, employment, income and geographical distribution. In addition, McKinnon (1996) also contrasted many of these statistics against those of the general population. The importance of Asia to New Zealand and its economy is no longer deniable and is well documented in Cremer and Ramasamy (1996).
Asian students, both tax-paying (residents) and fee-paying (foreign), have consequently become a significant part of the New Zealand classrooms. Despite their increasing importance in the education system, relatively little research has been conducted to understand their concerns and formulate strategies to better meet their needs, especially for the non-tertiary students. Most of the research on foreign students were conducted by either students or staff from the universities and thus they tend to focus only on a selected group of students, usually Malaysian and Singaporean university students. For examples, Hwang (1971) conducted a small-scale survey of Malaysian and Singaporean students at Victoria University and Koh (1980) studied a sample of 55 Malaysian Chinese students at the University of Waikaito. James and Watts (1992) provided a succinct summary of many studies by and on university students in New Zealand.
Several more recent studies, however, have broadened the sample to include secondary school students and students from other Asian countries. Searle and Ward (1990) conducted a survey of 105 Malaysian and Singaporean university and high school students, and Ward and Searle (1991) surveyed 155 tertiary students from 42 countries studying in New Zealand. Bennett (1998) provided a historical perspective on Asian students in New Zealand and Keating (1998) provided a different but interesting perspective to the issue by looking at the challenges for tertiary educators created by increasing demand for Asian studies in New Zealand.
Also of interest were several studies conducted overseas on the problems faced by Asian students and their adjustment processes in their host countries. Chataway and Berry (1989) surveyed 42 Chinese, 43 French and 42 English students studying at Queens University in Canada and Tanaka et al (1994) surveyed 237 international students (77% Asians) studying at 7 universities in Japan. Burns (1991) surveyed 76 Australian students and 133 overseas students, mainly from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, who were studying at the Australian National University. Barker et al (1991) surveyed two samples of university students in Australia: the first sample consisted of 105 Asian students, 105 urban Australian students and 112 rural Australian students, and the second sample comprised 101 Australian and 101 ethnic Chinese students from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
Another interesting study by Ward and Kennedy (1993) should also be highlighted because it examined 178 secondary school students from New Zealand who were participating in the American Field Service programme. These students were placed in 23 countries around the world including Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Turkey.
Whether they are Asian students in New Zealand or New Zealand students in Asia, students from one culture will experience some difficulties in coping with their studies and trying to adapt to different culture and environment. The degree of difficulties will depend on the student's characteristics, the school environment and the differences in the two cultures. The problems could be quite severe if the two cultures are completely different and relatively little support is provided by the school to assist the student in adapting to the new environment.
For example, in a study on Chinese students in Canada, Chataway and Berry (1989) found that these students experienced, in order of importance, problems related to the uncertainty of their future, homesickness and loneliness, and the highest predictors of stress among these students were loneliness, prejudice experiences and language problems. As expected, the Chinese students experienced higher acculturation stress than their French and English counterparts, experienced less social support, tended to use passive or avoidance coping techniques, and appeared to be less satisfied with their academic performance and coping abilities, even though they had a relatively higher academic average. In addition, having immigrant status did not affect the responses of the students. The French students, on the other hand, experienced more social support and fewer problems with communication, prejudice and adaptation difficulties.
In a summary of the early research conducted on overseas students in New Zealand, James and Watts (1992) concluded that the students were concerned socially with their lack of acceptance by New Zealanders beyond a superficial level and with not being able to cross social barriers. As a consequence, and in response to their needs for security and cultural identity, many of these students tended to associate with people with the same ethnicity. This grouping had occasionally led to misunderstanding and tension within the community.
Consistent with the above findings, Barker et al. (1991) also found that the Asian students in Australia experienced more difficulties in making friends with Australians, getting to know them in depth and taking initiatives in conversation. Asian students also had more difficulty than Australian students in going to pubs, attending formal dinners, dating, being intimate with a member of the opposite sex, and dealing with someone who was angry or aggressive.
The students' transitions and adjustment outcomes, however, will also depend on their personalities and social support available. Searle and Ward (1990) found that extraversion was conducive to the well being of Malaysian and Singaporean students studying in New Zealand because this personality trait resembled more closely to those of the host culture.7 In addition, satisfaction with relationships with New Zealanders, rather than fellow nationals, appeared to be more salient in predicting the psychological adjustments of these students.
Besides social adjustment problems, Asian students often also faced academic problems due to the difference in culture of their home and host countries. Some of the common academic problems included difficulty with the language, particularly in oral expressions, difficulty in adjusting to academic requirement, especially participation in discussion; and difficulty with the more informal teacher-student relationship (Barker et al., 1989; Burns, 1991; Chataway and Berry, 1989; James and Watts, 1992). Fortunately, most of the Asian students in New Zealand indicated that their English competency improved over time which, in turn, lowered the level of difficulty they experienced in school (James and Watts, 1992).
Interestingly, Barker et al (1991) found that Asian students were more likely to use problem-focus coping strategy including information seeking and problem solving as ways of coping with difficult situations. For example, they were more inclined than their Australian counterparts to find out more about the situation and make follow up plans. In contrast, Australian students were found to rely more on emotion-focus coping when dealing with stress, and were thus more prone to emotional discharges such as drinking, eating and smoking.
Bennett (1998) claimed that the trendsetters in New Zealand education market, with regard to Asian students, were more likely to be found in secondary schools rather than the tertiary institutions. Teachers and Boards of Trustees perceived cultural and financial benefits as the greatest advantages, in addition to others such as the benefit of good role models in work habits, the challenge of making teachers more creative and the fostering of trade links. Some of the students, however, strongly resented Asian students for speaking their own languages and sticking together. Some references were also made regarding Asian students' excessive demand on the teachers' time and the students' limited English abilities.
Many secondary schools have implemented programmes to facilitate the integration of Asian students into the mainstream. Examples of these schemes include a buddy system, nominated counsellors, orientation programme, encouragement to participate in sports, Kiwi home-stays, and limiting the number of students from one nationality (Bennett, 1998). Nevertheless, social interaction is difficult and host institutions need some particularly devoted teachers and administrators to smooth over difficulties. Also, it is imperative to deal immediately with any problems of racial intolerance (Bennett, 1998).
7 Being extravert is not necessary more conducive to the transition process. Armes and Ward (1989) found that extraversion was linked to higher level stress in Anglo-expatriates in Singapore because of poorer cultural fit with the norms in the host country.
