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Culture Shock

Page history last edited by Alaa 11 years, 3 months ago

Culture Shock

 

 Authors: Angela Santana & Angelica Perez   

  

Cultural_diversity : helping hands Culture shock is the personal disorientation someone feels when finding themselves experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to moving, visiting a new country or finding yourself in an unfamiliar place or job.  This change can be a different social environment like changing jobs or just traveling to another town, city or country whose culture and customs are different from what we are accustomed to.  Social environment culture shock can be described as information overload, language barrier, generation gap, technology gap skills, interdependency and homesickness. More specifically, culture shock could be any unfamiliar experience that causes stress and disorientation. The best summary is offered by Taft (as cited on Pantelidou, 2006 p.777), who conceptualized “culture shock” as comprising six distinct aspects, including the strain of adapting to the new culture, a sense of loss, confusion in role expectations and self-identity, a feeling of being rejected by members of the new culture, and anxiety and feelings of impotence due to not being able to cope with the new environment.

 

                              

 

Culture Shock Distinctive Phases, Wilkelman (1994).

 

          (a)   The honeymoon or tourist phase: during this phase most people are fascinated with the first three

                 weeks of the new change that has taken place.

(b)   The crisis or cultural shock phase: feelings such as anxiety, unpleasantness and

       frustration are commonly experienced. Communication is  one of the most important changes.

(c)   Adjustment, reorientation, and gradual recovery phase: after six to twelve months, things begin to

       feel normal or at least for some of the daily routines.

(d)   The adaption, resolution, or acculturation phase: it does not mean total conversion to the new

       culture, but people are able to participate in the new culture comfortably.

 

                                                 Can you spot the four stages of culture shock? 

                    

                                                                     

Another simple way to describe culture shock and its stages are: fun: as excitement and adventure; flight: as avoiding differences; fight: temptation to judge in a negative way; and fit: willingness to embrace the new culture.

 

As it is mentioned, Xia (2009) international communication has become a common phenomenon because of the trend of globalization which makes culture shock start to be experience by more people and causes growing concerns.

 

Culture shock in the classroom

 

 

        

 

Culture shock is a phenomenon that can be seen in any language teaching classroom.  Adults and younger learners find themselves going through survival situations or acculturation stages that affect their learning skills. It is important that teachers educate themselves to help their students as Xia (2009) suggested, minimize the anxiety feelings that culture shock creates in everyone who has changed his/her life’s environment.  In Florida we have many people who have migrated from different parts of the world. While some already know the English language most do not. What is a teacher to do when they find themselves in that situation?  Recently we got a new fourth grade student from Mexico.  The class was ignoring her because of the language and only one student was speaking to her. After a week, I decided to ease the tension. I told the student that even though "Maya" (not a real name), spoke no English, she was still a human being with feelings who came from a different country, but she was just like them. I told the students that Maya went to school in her native country and she was an excellent student.  Students were given the opportunity to ask Maya questions to get to know her. That experience proved to be fantastic. After that discussion, I noticed that students were more sensitive towards her and found ways of communicating with her using gestures and signs.  Although there are many aspects that count as culture shock, communication is one of the biggest barriers that one faces when it comes to culture shock and teacher need to support positively this learners.  It is imperative that teachers have the knowledge to help their students with this matter.                                                        

 

Teachers and culture shock

 

Cultural_diversity : Different stereotypes of nationalities from all over the world. Hand drawn doodles.  VectorTeachers are there to help their students to learn academic skills. If the teacher learns about culture shock, they will understand that it is important to learn about specific cultures and support the students to minimize frustrations. Educators, who think that learning about culture shock matter, will explore above their students cultures and use it to enhance learning.  Educators will have the tools to help minimize negative effects of culture shock by creating a better climate and learning environment. Educators will be able to use different learning and strategies and assessment to help task accomplishment.  Overall, the significant of learning about culture shock to teachers is that it sensitizes them to be supportive during that frustrating process.

 

Teachers should be particularly aware of the distinctive phases of the cultural shock phenomenon. They can attend some free workshops, read articles, or watch videos available via Internet to have that awareness. Thus, they can gain insights into how students with cultural shock come to the classroom trying to reinvent their cultural identity. One way of helping students with this phase is to focus on similarities between the two cultures and then how differ in certain aspects. For example if a student is coming from another country, the teacher can discuss with the class how Christmas is celebrated in that culture compare with U.S. culture.

 

To enhance a teacher's understanding about cultural shock it would be a great experience for teachers to have the opportunity to live in another country and go through all the stages themselves. That would help them understand further how a student  feels in a new country. Through her own experience, that teacher will be able to create a low filter classroom environment that will make students feel protected and free to take risks. The teacher will also be able to implement different learning strategies and choose the one that would work best for these students.

 

Parents and culture shock

 

Parents need to know that culture shock is a natural feeling that comes when someone experiences a life’s change. They should be aware about their own feelings including what their children are going through when faced with a change. By educating themselves about these changes they will encounter when moving to live in a new city, country, going overseas or changing jobs, the experience becomes less overwhelming.

 

Katty Watson: "From my own personal experience going through a culture shock when I arrived to the US, I have to say that it would have been very beneficial if my parents knew what culture shock was exactly and its stages.  They would have been able to make me realize that it was something normal.  I thought I was the only one that had all those feelings bottle up inside of me.  Now that I watched the videos you presented, I have identified myself with everything they have mentioned and all that culture shock stages I went through make a lot of sense.  I guess I am one living proof that those stages are real.  If parents and teachers are able to educate newcomers, then they would probably go through those stages in a smoother way, knowing what they are facing, and what is to come.  This would make them realize that after a while things would get easier and that they would adapt.  I remember that I used to questioned myself a lot about my cultural background and values in comparison to this society's values I was learning from.  I also used to be very frustrated with the language.  At times, I thought that I would never be able to be proficient in English."

 

References:

http://alslectures.webs.com/cultureshock.htm

 

http://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/cultural_diversity.html

 

http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/shocks.htm

 

http://www.pictorymag.com/showcases/overseas-and-overwhelmed/

 

http://.worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html

 

Pantelidou, S., Craig, T. (2006). Culture shock and social support. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology. 41 Issue (10) 777-781.

 

Wilkelman, M. (1994). Cultural shock and adaptation.  Journal of Counseling & Development. (2) 121-126.

 

Xia, J. (2009). Analysis of  impact of culture shock on individual psychology. International  Journal of Psychological Studies: 1 (2) 97-101. www.ccsenet.org/journal.html 

 

 

Comments (13)

angela.santana@usf.edu said

at 4:40 pm on Nov 17, 2012

The pages below will include contributions from the current class.

Adam Schwartz said

at 5:15 pm on Nov 20, 2012

Hey team! A great start! A few points:
Perhaps try centering your images for an easier read.
How about a video or clip that might illustrate some of your points/ideas about culture shock? Perhaps something that takes us through Winkleman's phases?

Your phrase, "Adults and younger learners immigrate and find themselves going through survival situations or acculturation stages that affect their learning skills" seems to speak to culture shock in the EFL context. Can you unpack this context a bit more? What about culture shock in FL classrooms? Is that a possibility? Complexify and personalize these cases of culture shock. Perhaps you have an example to share to make this idea come alive?

Militza Garrillo said

at 12:18 am on Nov 27, 2012

I enjoyed your post very much, of course in Florida we relate closely with cultural shock since many of our students have to go through these stages in front of our eyes. Your example of 'Maya' is a perfect way of illustrating what a student goes through and how a teacher can help them feel better. The first video is great at showing the stages of acculturation.

Katty Watson said

at 1:39 am on Nov 29, 2012

Loved it!!! Awesome job!!! Thank you for helping me understand what I went through, now everything makes much more sense. This will also help me help students, family and friends that go through culture shock, so that they won't feel like it is just them.

djones said

at 5:32 am on Nov 29, 2012

Hi Angela and Angelica,

Interesting post! I made a few changes to minor grammatical discrepancies under "definitions" and "cultural shock distinctive phases". Here's a list of what I changed:
- "of" to "or" in the first paragraph
- "Specific" to "specifically"
- "he conceptualized" to "who conceptualized"
- the wording of the definition for the crisis or cultural shock phase
- "month" to "months"

marie16@mail.usf.edu said

at 11:58 pm on Nov 30, 2012

Dear Angela and Angelica:

I love your post! What an excellent resource! I went through a similar situation as I have lived in Europe for 10 years and I experienced the four stages myself. My own experience has helped me understand better my students who come from another country as I am able to provide them a low filter classroom environment where they feel protected and free to take risks.

I have added the following information to your posting.

To enhance a teacher's understanding about cultural shock it would be a great experience for teachers to have the opportunity to live in another country and go through all the stages themselves. That would help them understand further how a student feels in a new country. Through her own experience, that teacher will be able to create a low filter classroom environment that will make students feel protected and free to take risks. The teacher will also be able to implement different learning strategies and choose the one that would work best for these students.

marie16@mail.usf.edu said

at 12:00 am on Dec 1, 2012

Dear Angela and Angelica.

I also made a tiny correction: a changed a "who" instead of "that".

Marie-Helene Lacascade

Hatime Ciftci said

at 11:51 am on Dec 2, 2012

Hi Angela and Angelica,

This is a very important topic and I liked reading your wiki. I made a couple of changes in "Teachers and Culture Shock" section. First, I made the fonts bigger because the script was really hard to read for me and made the fonts 'black'. I also added the following expression to connect the ideas: "They can attend some free workshops, read articles, or watch videos available via Internet to have that awareness. Thus, they can gain insights into how .."

Hatime

Alaa said

at 1:04 pm on Dec 2, 2012

Hi Angela and Angelica,
I really enjoyed your wiki, it's important for teachers to be aware of culture shock, since it can have an impact on the student's performance. I did notice that there were two fonts and font sizes throughout the wiki, Arial and Times and font size 10 and 12. So I changed it to be all the same font size and font, which is Times and size 14.

Alaa said

at 1:18 pm on Dec 2, 2012

I also want to point out the reference section for the weblinks is not correct, I can't edit that for you since I would need information that you would only have. An internet source citation needs to look like this:
Hispanic men in the corporate world. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2004, from
http://psychek.com/psy/edu.htm
The title needs to be in italics, for some reason it won't let me put it in italics in the comment section.





Alaa said

at 1:23 pm on Dec 2, 2012

and the web link should not be underlined and the second line should be indented by half an inch, but it wouldn't let me change that either.

Katty Watson said

at 12:28 am on Dec 3, 2012

Katty Watson: "From my own personal experience going through a culture shock when I arrived to the US, I have to say that it would have been very beneficial if my parents knew what culture shock was exactly and its stages. They would have been able to make me realize that it was something normal. I thought I was the only one that had all those feelings bottle up inside of me. Now that I watched the videos you presented, I have identified myself with everything they have mentioned and all that culture shock stages I went through make a lot of sense. I guess I am one living proof that those stages are real. If parents and teachers are able to educate newcomers, then they would probably go through those stages in a smoother way, knowing what they are facing, and what is to come. This would make them realize that after a while things would get easier and that they would adapt. I remember that I used to questioned myself a lot about my cultural background and values in comparison to this society's values I was learning from. I also used to be very frustrated with the language. At times, I thought that I would never be able to be proficient in English."

(I added this days ago... but I am not quite sure if by "editing" they meant that we should actually added in or just put it under comments.) Right now is 12/2/12 11:28p.m. (The website gives out the wrong time making it 12/3 already)

angela.santana@usf.edu said

at 8:32 am on Dec 6, 2012

We want to thank you all of you who took the time to read and edit our WIKI bringing your knowledge and ideas into it to make it read and look better. I would not change any of your ideas. Happy Holidays to you all! Angela and Angelica

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