International exchange participants’ cross cultural adaptations in an aiesec exchange program

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS & CULTURES OF ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES GRADUATION PAPER INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE PARTICIPANTS’ CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS IN AN AIESEC EXCHANGE PROGRAM Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thanh Ha Student: Le Huong Giang Course: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2020 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HỐ CÁC NƯỚC NĨI TIẾNG ANH KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP SỰ THÍCH NGHI ĐA VĂN HỐ CỦA TRAO ĐỔI SINH NƯỚC NGỒI TRONG CHƯƠNG TRÌNH TRAO ĐỔI CỦA TỔ CHỨC AIESEC Giáo viên hướng dẫn: TS Nguyễn Thanh Hà Sinh viên: Lê Hương Giang Khóa: QH2016.F1.E1 HÀ NỘI – 2020 Signature of Approval: _ I hereby state that I, Le Huong Giang, from class 16E1, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (programme) 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 Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thanh Ha for her encouraging guidance as well as critical comments for my work Had it not been for her dedication, my graduation thesis would not have been completed due to all of the self-doubt, setbacks and uncertainties I could not have imagined a better supervisor and I am forever thankful for this opportunity to work with her In addition, I am immensely grateful for my family’s unwavering and wholehearted support that helps me strive for the best in the months taken to bring this paper to fruition My heartfelt thanks also go to my anonymous international friends, who were willing to participate in the study and made this project possible On a personal note, thank you, Khanh Linh, for all of the laughs that you bring Your presence is truly a blessing in my life i ABSTRACT The present study examines the cross-cultural adaptation of the international exchange participants who took part in an exchange program hosted by AIESEC in Hanoi organization Specifically, it focuses on finding the factors influencing the adaptation process and the adaptive changes that took place The study is qualitative in nature Semi-constructed interviews were used to gather the data among three research participants and analyzed with inductive thematic analysis The findings highlight several factors affecting the exchange participants’ adaptation during the six-week program Environmental factors include host receptivity and organizational activities while the individual factors concern personality, communication competence, preparedness and cultural distance Regarding the adaptive changes, there is evidence that the participants undergo various transformative changes in terms of attitude, behaviour and knowledge These changes occur in the form of new cultural knowledge gain, transformed perspective and attitudes, and adoption of new coping strategies for tribulations of the host environment Also, there is little evidence that the exchange participants abandon their old cultural habits in their time in the program ii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Research problem and rationale Significance Scope CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Exchange program 1.1 Definitions of exchange program 1.2 Types of exchange programs 1.3 AIESEC and Vietnam Youth Icon (VYI) program Cross-cultural adaptation 2.1 Cross-cultural adaptation definitions 2.2 Problem-based view and growth-based view of cross-cultural adaptations 2.3 Adaptive changes in cross-cultural adaptations 2.3.1 Intercultural knowledge gain 2.3.2 Transformed perspectives and attitudes 2.3.3 Behavioral changes 2.4 Factor affecting cross-cultural adaptation process 2.4.1 Environmental factors 2.4.1.1 Host receptivity 2.4.1.2 Host conformity pressure 2.4.2 Individual factors 2.4.2.1 Personality 2.4.2.2 Preparedness 2.4.2.3 Background 2.4.2.4 Communication CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY Research design Participants iii i ii iii v v 1 4 4 7 11 11 12 12 13 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 17 19 19 19 2.1 Criteria for the selection of participants 19 2.2 Participants’ general background 19 Data collection method 20 Data analysis 21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 22 Overview of participants’ experiences in VYI program 22 Findings and discussion 24 2.1 Research question 1: The factors that the participants perceived to influence their cultural adaptation 24 2.1.1 Individual factors 24 2.1.2 Environmental factors 31 2.2 Research question 2: The cultural adaptive changes the exchange participants experienced 33 2.2.1 The intercultural knowledge gained 33 2.2.2 Transformed perspectives and attitude changes 37 2.2.3 Behaviour changes 39 2.3 Unexpected findings 43 2.3.1 Mediative role of social media on the participants’ exchange experiences 43 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 46 Summary of findings 46 Limitations & recommendations 47 Conclusions 48 REFERENCES 49 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nation I Appendix 2: Excerpt from VYI 16 Proposal II Appendix 3: VYI 15 agenda III Appendix 4: Hanoi Survivor Booklet IV Appendix 5: Interview questions V iv LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES Figure 1: Stress-Adaptation-Growth Dynamic Table 1: The basic information of the participants LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AIESEC: Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales VYI: Vietnam Youth Icon v Conclusions To conclude, this paper provides a deeper understanding of the cross-cultural adaptations of exchange participants, more specifically about the adaptive changes they underwent and factors affecting their experiences Since it was a small scale study that was qualitative in nature, I not attempt to generalize the pattern of results This study thus provides a framework for a larger scale study on AIESEC exchange programs across regions The findings can also be beneficial for students that are about to join exchange programs, as they can be more aware and in control of their cross-cultural adaptive changes and experiences 48 REFERENCES Adler, P S (1972) Culture shock and the cross-cultural learning experience in Readings Intercultural Education Adler, P S (1975) The transitional experience: An alternative view of culture shock Journal of Humanistic Psychology Ahadi, S A., & Puente-Díaz, R (2011) Acculturation, personality, and psychological adjustment Psychological Reports, 109(3), 842-862 Anawati, D., & Craig, A (2006) Behavioral adaptation within cross-cultural virtual teams IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 49(1), 44-56 Anderson, L E (1994) A new look at an old construct: Cross-cultural adaptation International Journal of 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General questions Do you think that your personalities have any impact on your exchange experiences? Have you had any prior exchange experience in Vietnam/other countries before? Could you tell me briefly about it? What are the reasons for you to choose VYI 15/motivation to go exchange to Vietnam? Pre-exchange What did you know about Vietnam prior to your exchange? What did you know about Vietnamese people prior to your exchange? How were these perceptions formed? How did you prepare for the exchange trip? V Please describe the main activities you did on the exchange trip? Please describe your relationship with a Vietnamese during your exchange trip? While-exchange Please describe your relationship with an international friend on your exchange trip? Please describe a time that you felt frustrated/stressed/uncomfortable in Vietnam? How would you describe your relationship with your international friends/ Vietnamese friends now? Post-exchange Are there any significant changes in your life after your exchange? What motivated you to have these changes? Is there anything you would like to add in response to this interview? VI ... international exchange participants' cross- cultural adaptations in the context of an AIESEC exchange program in Hanoi, Vietnam Therefore, the research problem of this study is: International exchange. .. emerging concepts and themes relating to exchange alumni’s cultural learning and cultural adaptations 21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS Overview of participants’ experiences in VYI program In. .. participants' cross- cultural adaptations in an AIESEC exchange program The research will focus on answering these questions: What factors did the exchange participants perceive to influence their cultural