Little is known about the reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students who have lived and studied in America. Reverse culture shock may impact their process of integration into their home culture. This research investigated the reverse culture shock that Vietnamese students faced after their return to Vietnam. It also examined the correlation between the age of moving oversea, the time living oversea and the influence of reverse culture shock. In this study, qualitative research design was applied. This study used the method of purposive sampling to take the participants and employed content analysis to analyze the data. This research revealed several findings. First, the returnees experience reveres culture shock mostly in language, cuisine, working style and traffic culture. Secondly, the age at which the students move oversea negatively correlates with the influence of reverse culture shock, and there exists the positive correlation between the time of living oversea and the influence of reverse culture shock.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK IN VIETNAMESE STUDENTS RETURNING FROM AMERICAN EDUCATION Supervisor: Đào Thị Thu Trang, MA. Student: Trần Thị Thúy Hà Course: QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP SỐC NGƯỢC VĂN HÓA Ở CÁC DU HỌC SINH VIỆT NAM SAU KHI VỀ NƯỚC Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Đào Thị Thu Trang, MA. Sinh viên: Trần Thị Thúy Hà Khóa: QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Tran Thi Thuy Ha – QH2010.F.1.E.21 , being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I want to say thanks to my dear friend - Tuyet Nhung, who always urged me to accomplish this study and helped me with so many things. Secondly, this study would not be completed without the help from my supervisor – Dao Thi Thu Trang, MA. Thanks to her, I could see clearly the direction of the research. Besides, the contribution from adorable friends who are the subjects of my study is very useful to me. They are the ones who show their great willingness to join this research. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Michael Vu. Thanks to the conversation with him, I have the idea for the topic of this research. He also helped me to invite his relatives and friends to participate in my study. ii ABSTRACT Little is known about the reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students who have lived and studied in America. Reverse culture shock may impact their process of integration into their home culture. This research investigated the reverse culture shock that Vietnamese students faced after their return to Vietnam. It also examined the correlation between the age of moving oversea, the time living oversea and the influence of reverse culture shock. In this study, qualitative research design was applied. This study used the method of purposive sampling to take the participants and employed content analysis to analyze the data. This research revealed several findings. First, the returnees experience reveres culture shock mostly in language, cuisine, working style and traffic culture. Secondly, the age at which the students move oversea negatively correlates with the influence of reverse culture shock, and there exists the positive correlation between the time of living oversea and the influence of reverse culture shock. iii LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATION Illustration 1: Steps of data collection procedure Figure 1: The U-curve in culture shock process Figure 2: The W-curve in culture shock process Figure 3: The age when Vietnamese students moved to the U.S Table 1. Frequency of aspect of reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students Table 2. Frequency of reverse culture shock in language Table 3. Frequency of reverse culture shock in cuisine Table 4. Frequency of reverse culture shock in traffic culture Table 5. Frequency of reverse culture shock in working style Table 6. The reason of reverse culture shock in working style Figure 4: Time period Vietnamese students lived in the U.S Table 7. Frequency of reverse culture shock in service Table 8. Frequency of reverse culture shock in traditional custom Figure 5: Attitude towards aspects of reverse culture shock Table 9. Frequency of attitude towards reverse culture shock Table 10. Level of negative effect due to reverse culture shock Figure 6: Attitude towards reverse culture shock Figure 7: Frequency of reverse culture shock problems Figure 8: experiencing time of reverse culture shock iv Table of Content Table of Content v 1.Discussion of participants 16 2.Research design 17 v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter was designed to present the purposes of this research. Research questions, significance of the research, the scope of the study and thesis structure were also mentioned in this chapter. 1. Statement of research problem and rationale Morreale, Osborn and Pearson considered communication an important factor which is “vital to the development of the whole person”, (p. 15). Therefore, the problems exists in communication would exert influence in individuals. Among the factors affecting the communication, the reverse culture shock is the one that lays impact on the returnees. Reverse culture shock is the process that the returnees have to re-adjust and re-acculturate and re- assimilate into their home culture. The time experiencing reverse culture shock could range in different level depending on each individual’s condition (Adler, 1981; Frank, 1992). In spite of the influence of reverse culture shock, there are limited studies intensively investigating this problem, especially the reverse culture shock in Asian returnees in general and Vietnamese students in particular. Nowadays, more and more Vietnamese students have opportunities to live and study abroad. America is a destination of many students. As the statistic of General Statistics Office of Vietnam (2011), Vietnam ranks eighth in the global scale in the number of student studying in America. Culture shock is a matter that many people often think of and anticipate when moving to a new country or a new culture, however, reverse culture shock is little got concern by the returnees after they came back their home 1 country (Gaw,1995). Therefore, this research was conducted to have a closer understanding about reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students who returned to their home country after a period of time studying and living in America. 2. Research questions The researcher focuses on four specific questions relating to the description of reverse culture shock participants meet, which is divided into cultural differences and difficulties, and their reaction toward reverse culture shock and also the reasons for that reverse culture shock. The research questions are: 1) What is the reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students’ perspective after they returned to Vietnam? 2) What are the reasons for Vietnamese students’ reverse culture shock? 3) What is the correlative relationship between the age of moving, the time living and the influence of reverse culture shock? The following is researcher’s clarification of questions’ importance. Research question 1: What is the reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students’ perspective after they returned to Vietnam? Reverse culture shock discovered in different aspects of culture. Question 1 aims at finding out reverse culture shock in daily routine and working environment which the returnees meet. Because of the differences in culture between Vietnam and America, the returnees experience the influence of reverse culture shock at different level due to the time of living oversea and the age at which they move abroad. Research question 2: What are the reasons for Vietnamese students’ reverse culture shock? 2 This question 2 focuses on the reasons leading to the reverse culture shock in the returnees. Research question 3: What is the correlative relationship between the age of moving, the time of living and the influence of reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students? The research is conducted to understand the correlative relationship between influential factors and the level of reverse culture shock that the returnees have to face. 3. Significance of the research Due to the limitation in the amount of research as well as journal about reverse culture shock in Vietnam, especially in education environment, the researcher was really encouraged to conduct a study in this interesting topic - reverse culture shock encountered by Vietnamese returned students. Besides, the result from this research could be useful information for Vietnamese students before they come back to their hometown to reduce the influence of reverse culture shock in them. In addition, this study would be considered a reference material for other researchers to understand reverse culture shock and have further studies. This research is also hoped to give suggestions for the returnees so that they would soon integrate into their own culture. 4. Scope of the study This study investigates the difficulties that the returnees meet in the process of integrating into Vietnamese culture. The working and studying environment and daily life are concentrated. Due to the limitation of the 3 [...]... degree of individualism and the backwardness in style of working in Vietnam were the reasons leading to their negative attitude towards the shock they had (see Table 6) Table 6 The reason of reverse culture shock in working style Working style/Reason Number of students (person(s)/16) Percentage (%) High degree of power distance in Vietnam 16 100% Low degree of individualism in Vietnam 16 100% The backwardness... in the research Selection of the subjects, research instrument, procedure of data collection and analysis are discussed thoroughly 1 Discussion of participants 1.1 Selection of participants This research is conducted to understand the reverse culture shock in Vietnamese students, who spent years in America and then returned to Vietnam In order to have trustful result, the research should analyze different... The questions in the questionnaire are designed with different forms and the content concerned (see Appendix) 3.3 Data collection procedure 19 The data collection procedure was conducted with steps as illustrated below: Illustration 1: Steps of data collection procedure Inviting the returnees to participate in the research Sending questionnaire Receive answer sheets Firstly, some returnees were invited... concepts and introduces related studies on reverse culture shock Previous research points out the interrelation among reverse culture shock and the adaptation However, there has been limited number of research concerning about reverse culture shock among Vietnamese student returnee In the vein of research background, the researcher is eager to conduct a study to have a closer look at Vietnamese students... clarifies clearly the concept “culture shock” when it refers to culture shock of individuals in their own culture Among different definitions, this research will adapt and use the definition of “culture shock” introduced by American Psychological Association 1.3 Reverse culture shock 8 Reverse culture shock is also known with the name re-entry shock or own culture shock This concept refers to the difficulties... addition, by conducting survey with self-administered questionnaire, the study would reduce the possibility of bias which may occur in interview (Eiselen & Uys, 2005) Besides, the respondents will more readily respond truthfully to sensitive questions The questionnaire was designed carefully and sent to the participants of the research Thanks to the relationship and the chances to contact with Vietnamese students... Introduction This chapter states the research problem, the significance of the study, the scope of the study Chapter 2: Literature review This chapter introduces the explanation of key concepts and presents the researcher’s review on previous studies in related issues Chapter 4: Findings and discussion This chapter presents the research findings and discusses the reverse culture shock that Vietnamese... the matters of language after returning to Vietnam Among them, 12.5% of the returnees did not expect this kind of culture shock before coming back to Vietnam meanwhile 25% of the returnees expected this reverse culture shock but they still experience it (see Table 2) As what one respondent explained, the long time of living abroad makes her feel that Vietnamese language is strange to her, especially... expected reverse culture shock in language however their ability of using Vietnamese language together with the appearance of some new words are the reasons lead to their shock These students are the ones who left Vietnam at the early age ranging from 5- 18 years old The period of immigration in the U.S gives them the feeling that Vietnamese language is 22 strange to them Therefore, getting reverse culture... students returning from oversea Due to the limitation of the research, the researcher decided to choose America to be the culture environment influencing the returnees’ attitude This research is intended to give evidence supporting or disapprove the results of the studies mentioned before Due to the limitation in the number of research in reverse culture shock in Vietnam, this fact leaves a gap that . NƯỚC Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Đào Thị Thu Trang, MA. Sinh viên: Trần Thị Thúy Hà Khóa: QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ACCEPTANCE PAGE I hereby state that I: Tran Thi Thuy Ha – QH2010.F.1.E.21 , being a candidate. comparing the findings to what the researcher known via literature review. 5. Thesis structure This research covered five chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter states the research problem,. willingness to join this research. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Michael Vu. Thanks to the conversation with him, I have the idea for the topic of this research. He also