Abstract
In the globalization era, social media become more popular in everyone’s daily life with its user friendly and effective functions. Social media support the people across the world in communicating, meeting new people, making socialization, sharing knowledge, learning different experiences and interacting with each other instead of distance and separation between persons. Moreover, social media can encourage the increasing of intercultural adaptation level of people who are facing different cultural experiences in new communities. The study shows that people use social media to become more adaptable with the new cultures of the host countries and to preserve their connections with home countries. This paper attempts to find out how social media shape the intercultural adaptation process and bridge the connection with their home countries while they are in new community analyzing on 15 international students who are currently studying in China with the support of Chinese government scholarship program. In-depth interviews using qualitative method are applied in this research. Depending on the analysis result, the discussions are openly stated about the impact of social media in cultural adaptation process.
Highlights
This paper attempts to find out how social media shape the intercultural adaptation process and bridge the connection with their home countries while they are in new community analyzing on 15 international students who are currently studying in China with the support of Chinese government scholarship program
Analyzing about the impact of social media in the process of international students’ cultural adaptation, the questions are based on how their adjustment to verbal and non-verbal communication in the host country, what their culture shocks are, what they learnt about new culture using social media, how social making on social media help them to have adaptation to the new culture of the host country and so on
The result of this research points out how social media shape the cultural adaptation of international students who are studying in China between their home countries and host countries
Summary
It can be said that cultures around the world have their own values, individual traditions, beliefs and norms which can surely make them unique from each. The social media support the effective way to connect a diversity of people, traditions, opinions and places with each other across the world without being restricted by the limitations of time and distance (Sawyer & Chen, 2012) Based on such kind of multi functions, social media become important for sojourners in settling down the stress and depression from the physical and geographical separation from the previous community in the home country. When Sawyer & Chen (2012) analyzed how international students apply social media for their intercultural adaptation, they found that social media could create a community for international students to connect with people from their home and from the host countries It can absolutely support them having a strong personal relationship and establish a sense of adaptation to the culture of host country. The study will show how social media has impact on cultural adaptation of international students in host country and how it can maintain the connections of international students between their host countries and home countries
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