INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ CROSS-CULTURAL AND LANGUAGE ADAPTATION IN INDONESIA (AN ANALYSIS OF TURKISH AND KYRGYZ STUDENTS OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT AT STATE UNIVERSITY OF SEMARANG)

Abstract

Higher education institutions of various countries have perceived the importance of international student recruitment, have studied the problems that these students encounter when they study abroad, and have searched for methods and strategies to assist them in adapting to local culture, lifestyles, and languages. This study analyzed the international students’ cross-cultural and language adaptation in Indonesia. International students experienced culture shock when they have to face three different languages in Indonesia. At campus, lecturers use English, but use Indonesian language when talking personally. Meanwhile, local students around them use Javanese language in daily conversation. This study put emphasis on the level of cross-cultural and language adaptation experienced by international students of English Department at State University of Semarang. To achieve this, the qualitative approach was used as the method of this study by developing a questionnaire, conducting a follow-up interview, and observing the Turkish and Kyrgyz students’ cultural activities and communication in Indonesia. In all, there were five Turkish students and one Kyrgyz student participated in this study, both in the questionnaire and and in the follow-up interview. It was found that international students’ language and cross-cultural adaptation concerning the dimension of local culture has the highest level among five dimensions that were observed in this study. This dimension include the Indonesian culture such as local language and traditional show and food. Meanwhile, the dimension of social life has the lowest score of adaptation. In all, there was a need of support and help for the Turkish and Kyrgyz students to achieve better result in cross-cultural and language adaptation in Indonesia. Keywords: cross-cultural adaptation, international students, language adaptation