This chapter is divided into four sections; adaptation process of the undergraduate TaiwanICDF students, communication and language issues perceived by the undergraduate TaiwanICDF students, how the language becomes an important aspect in communication and adaptation process for undergraduate TaiwanICDF Students, and the discussions of the research findings.
Adaptation Process of the Undergraduate TaiwanICDF Students
The adaptation process of the undergraduate TaiwanICDF students is presented in three categories, which at the same time are divided into different subcategories; see Table 4.1 on page 38. The first category is the first adaptation perception that is divided in psychological experiences, socio-cultural perceptions and physiological experiences. The second category is culture shock, which is divided into two categories; difficulties and positive changes. The third category is the strategies for adaptation followed by the students; family and friends, social gatherings, food, adventure, and other are the subcategories for this category.
First Adaptation Perception in the Adaptation Process
As mentioned in the paragraph above, the first adaptation perception is subdivided into three subcategories. These subcategories represent the emotions, perceptions and physical wellbeing of the undergraduate TaiwanICDF students.
This category was named as the first adaptation perception because the students chosen for this study have a year of difference while living in Taiwan, since some of them came in 2012 and others in 2013. Therefore, in order to compare and to find similarities or differences between their feelings, opinions and perceptions, the students were asked to express their very first feelings, opinions and perceptions when they first came to Taiwan. This category is really important since it explained and supported part of the literature reviewed in chapter two.
38 Table 4.1.
Summary of Adaptation Process Theme
Theme Category Subcategory Key Concepts
1. Adaptation 1.2 Culture Shock 1.2.1 Difficulties 1.2.1.1 Life style
1.2.1.2 Do what Romans do negative. The psychological experiences include isolation, frustration, homesick, low personal growth, shock, see Table 4.2.
39 Table 4.2.
Coding for Psychological Experiences of the Category First Adaptation Perception
Theme Category Subcategory Key Concepts
1. Adaptation
The students when first arriving Taiwan; and start interacting with the local society varies from person to person; however the negative emotions persist in many of them. 15 students experience different feelings, because of many reasons, but the impact for them is negative.
The statements of the students are the following:
“… I go stressed out… feel far apart. I always was scare of getting lost, so I remind indoors most of the time.” (AF-1)
“I think for me it affected my emotions, my mood. It makes me feel withdrawn from the society and feel lonely…” (AF-4)
“…is very frustrating, because you are not able to do what you want to do really…
sometimes you get demotivated… if you try people don’t understand, people maybe laugh at you, so is like discouraging.” (CA-1)
“…I think at the beginning you are not really like it doesn’t sink in, like you are gonna be staying be staying here right at the beginning, so you don’t see it a big issue…”
(CA-5)
“…I didn’t feel comfortable… affected my attitude toward other people, because you know you are not doing good, your mood is not the best, so it is really hard to get along with other in general…” (CA-7)
“…when I go places usually alone people will always stare at me, and in my country is really rude to stare at people, when they do that is really rude and they never look away… sometimes is easy just to go out and not feel uncomfortable, but other times is not, I go out and I feel very uncomfortable, so it has made me really like sensitive to that kind of thing of being watched all the time and aware…” (TC-5)
40 2. Homesick.
Many international students, as they are going to be in Taiwan for long time, they feel very homesick during the first six months of experiencing the life style of Taiwan. Homesick mostly is perceived by them by missing their families, friends and country. Some of the students stated the following:
“…like back home my mom will look for me, I will just come and then eat whatever I have to eat, but here after school I am on my own, as an individual adult. I have to care for myself….” (AF-2)
“Many ways, psychological ways, nothing comfortable, or nothing like adapting to the place you have been ever before, you have never hear about it before… you could feel that you miss like your place, your people, and so on.” (CA-7)
“…as the time went by I started to miss the littlest thing from home…so whatever I can get that reminds me from home I will try to do it.” (TC-5)
3. Low personal growth.
For western culture is very important to feel the sense of independence, to feel as an adult and that you are able to solve things by yourself. Additionally, in western culture is encouraged, by family and professors, to question others with respect. Therefore some of the students feel that living in Taiwan is delaying their personal growth. The students support this subcategory with the following statements:
“Taiwan doesn’t offer a lot of personal growth. Many will disagree because they’ve never grown talent until they got here…. I grew up in a competitive environment and unfortunately coming here is making my potential “depreciate”.” (CA-8)
“…I am not used to that because in my country you are encourage to give your own opinion, you are encourage to think for yourself, so when you are here and they tell you do this, and you say why, don’t ask why just do it... they expect us to be like their children, …I haven’t been treated like a child since maybe I was 16… not used to having teachers not really trust me… even the fact we don’t pick our courses.” (TC-4)
“…I think they expect us to change quickly and adapt to everything quickly.” (TC-6)
“…for some things you wanna feel a sense of independence, and then when you first come here is the first thing they take away from you… I just coped with it with a laughter I guess, because to me a lot of the things that I see here simple things,
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actually I just laugh about it, because back home is so different…they just have a typical Taiwanese frame and they just try to fit you in that…” (TC-7)
Summary.
The psychological experiences that most prevail during the interview were feelings of stress, loneliness, withdrawn, and shock. Most of the students also agreed that persisted the feeling of homesickness. Some of the students, as psychological experiences, determined that are not having or not perceiving personal growth.
Socio-cultural perceptions.
Adding to the psychological experiences also the students have perceived socio-cultural differences, which have impacted their personality and the way they perform while interacting with the host population, see Table 4.3.
Table 4.3.
Coding for Socio-cultural Perceptions of the Category First Adaptation Perception
Theme Category Subcategory Key Concepts
1. Adaptation environment within a new country. Therefore, every student has experienced problems with the food and weather. The students answered the following:
“Food was the most difficult thing to adjust to, I cannot say I’ve fully adjusted to it now however I have tried a lot of the foods…. My religion restriction for consuming pork and its products.” (AF-1)
“I found very hard to adapt myself to the food… I couldn’t eat Taiwanese food, so I started to eat a lot of junk food.” (CA-3)
“The weather, just the weather… I wasn’t prepared for that, and the humidity... the winter was ok, I think the summer was the hardest, because was too hot. The weather issue made me uncomfortable all the time…. I was paying more attention to Oh my
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God I’m sweating, Oh my God I don’t wanna go out because is too hot, I wanna be inside.” (CA-4)
“…Food basically, I didn’t feel comfortable with the weather because it was too hot, when I was walking in the streets is like I was in the beach when I wasn’t.” (CA-7)
“For me I am a vegetarian, so it is a big issue… I have certain diet habits.” (TC-4) 2. Language barrier.
Definitely for these students, the language was and is a big obstacle that since the beginning they have encountered. Being the principal way of communication; and trying to interact with locals, the language barrier for some of the students is very important.
“…like going outside, find something like going to a supermarket to find something and they don’t have and then you ask people and they just turn and you don’t know what to say and you are kind of lost.” (AF-2)
“The main difficult for me was the language because I felt that it was hard for me to do normal basic daily life stuff, like buying food, or taking bus or taking the MRT or whatever…even if you try people don’t understand, people maybe they laugh at you…” (CA-1)
“…as long I knew enough Chinese to survive, to order food that was it for me… that how they do it because you can’t speak Chinese, you just point out a picture and I will like Ok, That!.” (TC-7)
3. Cultural differences and aspect.
Some of the students when fist arrived Taiwan were making comparisons from Taiwan and their home country; consequently, they found cultural differences. These differences are perceived differently from the students.
“…if they don’t know you they will never walk to you, they just go their way... until they need something from you. Where I came from, like you hardly see people wearing short things even the own weather, when I came here I saw those in their 50s wearing it, and you know it looks normal to them, to me it is not normal… Another surprising thing was seeing some very old Taiwanese in their 80s still doing business and working hard for survival however in my country those in their 80s and 90s usually stay at home relaxing. Another thing is the value attached to dogs in Taiwan… some of them carry dogs like their own babies. I was so funny when I first saw a Taiwanese
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man holding his woman’s handbag freely without being embarrassed; men in my country hardly do that for their women.” (AF-3)
“Mostly the differences between cultures is positive, because people here are much nicer, is more safe to go around the streets here, but then there’s also a little differences, like for example the toilet if you don’t know how to use them.” (CA-2)
“…one of the things that surprise me the most was how safe Taiwan is… because in my country is really like a bad sign if you are still outside alone walking, so I have to change my mind like it not like that anymore. Taipei is such as cosmopolitan city where there is always something to do or someone to meet…” (CA-5)
“In my case there wasn’t really any issue, because all of my roommates we come from basically the same culture and traditions, if I was sleeping with Taiwanese people, basically my room will be too much clothing hanging in the dorm and I wouldn’t love that at all… you are constantly around Latinos and really you cannot have a culture shock when there are many people from your same culture. …when I go to the bank the guard, he was a very old man, and I was like I’m gonna speak to him in English to see if he speaks, and he really could speak English, and he was the person with the best English proficiency in the bank, so I was really impressed.” (CA-8)
“… this hierarchical type of structure where you are not supposed to talk to adults about certain issues, or they kind of dismiss you. I’m not use to that because in my country you are encourage to give your own opinion, to think for yourself, so when you are here and they tell you do this and you say why, don’t ask why just do it… the model of MingChuang is to treat every student as if we were their own child, and I haven’t been treated like a child since maybe I was 16, so I’m not used to that at all, not used to having the teachers not really trust me, not having people not really like adults not really trust you, I don’t like it at all… the environment here and the environment in my country is so different.” (TC-4)
“…people will always stare at me, and in my country is really rude to stare at people, when they do that is really rude and they never look away… things will still bother me. I just try to be ok with that.” (TC-5)
“I even call message in Taiwan here, which is being black, but I feel this issue with the culture, but I’m getting over it…when I go to them and they see me approach they will be afraid, they will feel overwhelm or scare…” (TC-6)
44 4. Living standards.
In western culture the privacy and own space is really important to feel independence and to feel that something belongs to them. Some of the students feel that they lack of this, and therefore, they have been forced to modify their living standards.
“So trying to synchronize a life style with theirs in order to settle in was a little bit challenging.... So it wouldn’t help wondering so much about my new life…” (AF-4)
“…sharing space is fine to some extent, but we live with three other people and their things…the concept of privacy can become blurry.” (CA-5)
“…I have the chance to change my personality, certainly adapt my living standards a lot; standards of hygiene, everything, because everything here is different, so you just have to adapt or go crazy.” (TC-4)
“…feel a sense of independence, an then when you come here that is the first thing they take from you. Definitely living in the dorms has been a bad thing for me, I never actually, I’ve been a person I love my privacy but at the same time I love my space. I can deal with other people, what it feel this being in the dorms forces me to do is to be diplomatic, like I have to be diplomatic 24-7, just to keep some sense of sanity in my room and you don’t want to disrespect anyone else’s space, but at the same time you can’t heal, you want more space… I come from a place where every house, well, most houses have a yard, it is not every apartment and the you have a little cubicle for yourself and you sleep ther…maybe I wanna go sleep early maybe at 10 o’clock, so I can wake up at 8, and having your roommate with their laptops on, laughing, maybe someone skyping, and stuff, you know, you just have to deal with this things, and they affects you eventually, everything accumulates.” (TC-7)
Summary.
The socio-cultural perceptions of the students are very influential in the way they are trying to adapt since the environment where they are living is changing the way they are performing during their bachelor life. The students have different perceptions about socio-cultural issues, most of them have negative perceptions, but others are more open to the new experiences.
45 Physiological experiences.
Students, but in a minor proportion, presented complains about their health issue. For presenting them a high adaptation, the students need to feel that they are having good health, see table 4.4.
Table 4.4.
Coding for Physiological Experiences of the Category First Adaptation Perception
Theme Category Subcategory Key Concepts
1. Adaptation unconformities about their health, which has been impacted by socio-cultural differences among their cultures and the culture from Taiwan, including food and weather, mostly.
“…I couldn’t eat Taiwanese food, so I started to eat a lot of junk food, so I gained a lot of weight, and basically my health is not good as it was at home.” (CA-3)
“…and the humidity I woke up with allergies in the morning, it was very hard for me to adapt to that” (CA-4)
“…I was really, really, really sick, every week was something different that I was getting sick of” (CA-5)
“Every time I got sick, I used medicine brought from my own country so I didn’t need to attend a hospital.” (CA-8)
“… I need food so sustain myself, I cannot go for very long without eating, or else I will get sick.” (TC-2)
2. Sleeping arrangements.
For students, in western countries, the sleeping arrangement is very important. Some of the students agree on having problems about their sleeping arrangements because of different reasons.
“…they have their own habits and rules for themselves, so is mostly getting alone with each other.” (CA-2)
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“I think for me was sleeping arrangement…” (TC-6)
“…maybe I wanna go sleep early maybe at 10 o’clock, so I can wake up at 8, and having your roommate with their laptops on, laughing, maybe someone skyping, and stuff, you just have to deal with things.” (TC-7)
Summary.
Good sleeping arrangement and health issues, including sickness and weight, are an important matter to the students since their performance during their daily life might be affected.
Culture Shock in the Adaptation Process
The second category during the adaptation process is culture shock, which at the same time at this research is divided into two subcategories. Some of the students have perceived the culture shock as difficult, but others have experienced positives effects from the culture shock.
Difficulties.
After arriving in Taiwan, the students have perceived many issues as difficult in order to get used to the living style, the culture, and behaviors within Taiwan. These difficulties were represented as life style, do what Romans do, personal conflicts and schedule, see Table 4.5.
Table 4.5
Coding for Difficulties of the Category Culture Shock
Theme Category Subcategory Key Concepts
1. Adaptation Process
1.2 Culture Shock 1.2.1 Difficulties 1.2.1.1 Life style
1.2.1.2 Do what Romans do 1.2.1.3 Personal conflicts 1.2.1.4 Schedule
1. Life style and schedule.
The students feel that they have been experiencing a different life style compared to what they were used to in their own countries, causing them to modify their commodities and to reduce their life style. Additionally, the fact of modifying their life style, they needed also to get used to a new schedule in order to communicate with their families and friends back home.
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“…find a schedule that I can cook, and even that was even a problem with the school, because they don´t allow the kind of food we are used to...” (AF-2)
“Sharing space is fine to and extent… it gets crowded to the point where it feels we don’t have enough storage room.” (CA-5)
“I think for me was sleeping arrangement…I had to adjust myself when I can call my mom or when I can call or text my friends; they are sleeping or in their work, and until today is still difficult” (TC-6)
“…I come from a place where every house, well, most of houses have a yard… and then you have this little cubicle for yourself and you sleep there… we actually have yards and stuff, and you already are accustom to space…” (TC-7)
2. Personal conflicts and do what Romans do.
As time pass, the students feel that living within this environment has modified their
As time pass, the students feel that living within this environment has modified their