Testing the role of language attitudes and motivation on acculturation of international students in universities in China

The literature pertaining to international students especially in adaptation to Asian, African, and South American settings is largely absent, though the acculturation of migrants (including immigrants, sojourners and refugees) has been the object of a great number of studies conducted in the West especially North America, Australia, and to lesser extent Europe (Berry, 1997). With the popularity of the Chinese language and the large influx of international students into China in the past decade, investigating the international students’ adaptation to the cultural and academic milieu of China seems to be of great necessity and value, as they have remained one of the most understudied student populations.
The study is unique for the following three reasons: first, it investigates the interrelationships of a number of affective variables related to language acquisition, cultural learning as well as college adaptation; second, it examines the relationships between above relevant variables and the indices of acculturation; and third, it is the first attempt to assess the changes over time in international students’ attitudes and adaptation during their studying of Chinese in China. Copyright © 2007 The Authors.