Cross-Cultural & Multicultural Issues in Advising

We can be more effective teachers and advisors if wey understand some of the issues and processes of cultural adjustment experienced by our students who come from other countries. We can also be more effective when we come to understand that we view others through our own cultural lenses.

The topics discussed below are raised during International Student Pre-Orientation so that international students are informed about the process of cross-cultural adjustment and are hopefully better prepared to handle their feelings and experiences as they begin their lives in the United States and at Mount Holyoke.

The following discussion is general in scope because our students come from over seventy countries. It contains a number of generalizations about American culture for the purposes of illustration and contrasts widely held American values with values from other cultures that are quite different.

Clearly, Americans subscribe to a vast range of values, as do citizens of other countries. By the same token, individuals from a given country vary in the degree to which they personally adhere to the values systems from which they come. International students (like their American peers) go through processes of personal growth and identity formation; their years at Mount Holyoke are even more complicated by the process of cross-cultural adjustment and living that is occurring at the same time.
Goal of Cross-Cultural Adaptation
Given the changing demographic patterns in the United States and the growing awareness of cultural diversity within our own society, the goal of cross-cultural adaptation for the international student is to help the international student to understand how different cultural groups can co-exist in the United States and on campus and to help the student retain her own cultural identity while adapting to life here.
Cross-Cultural Adaptation And "Culture Shock"
If you have traveled or lived abroad for any length of time, then you have probably experienced the process of cross-cultural adaptation that has been described by a U-shaped curve which is sub-divided into distinctive phases.

While the academic literature on intercultural communication and cross-cultural adaptation raises specific questions about this model and its phases, there is general agreement that the model is a useful descriptive device. There is also agreement that any given individual will not necessarily go through all the phases described below and that the length of time a person remains in any stage is highly variable. It is important for the student and those who work with her to recognize that the process of cross-cultural adjustment is normal.

Faculty advisors can be more effective if they are aware that a student might be in a particular phase of adjustment. For example, if your advisee is in the "adjustment/isolation" stage, she is going to be less receptive to advice that encourages her to balance her academic program with extra-curricular activities than if she were in the "adjustment/acceptance" stage.

Stage 1: Honeymoon Phase
Upon arrival in a new culture, an international visitor is often caught up in the excitement and experience of being in a new place. For our students, they are involved with orientation, registration and making it through the first week(s) of classes. If it is their first time in the United States, students are seeing what they have read about or observed in movies and television programs about the United States. They tend to like everything American. Difference is interesting, exciting, a novelty.

Stage 2: Culture Shock
Within a week or two of arrival, a student may begin to experience "difference" as frustrating and personally threatening. Most students grow weary of speaking and listening to American English every day, even students from England! Students get easily frustrated in dealing with college bureaucracy. No one seems to understand them, and they do not understand others. They feel they have not understood lectures and their texts (indeed, some may not have understood). It is a period when they begin to experience a sense of loss of everything from their home country: their parents, family, friends, food, and even their weather.

The depth of students' negative feelings varies widely. Some do not experience this phase at all or experience it only as a series of minor irritations. Others may be profoundly affected to the point that their physical health begins to suffer. Sleep patterns may be disrupted. The student may suffer indigestion to the point that she can no longer eat the food in the dorm. The social and psychological stresses combine with the physical stresses and can lead to a series of illnesses that can have an impact on her academic performance if she begins to miss classes and fall behind in work.

Stage 3: Adjustment/Isolation
The first part of the adjustment process, the isolation phase, often begins a few days or weeks after a student experiences culture shock. At this point a student has made a few friends, feels confident about her ability to manage the complexity of the campus and has completed some assignments with success. However, the student may withdraw, refuse to talk, retreat to her room to sleep or focus solely on her studies so as not to have to deal with other people. At this stage an international student will often seek out other students from her country or region of the world in order to find support from someone who understands her and what she is going through.

It is at this stage that international students often discuss how bad the United States is and how awful Americans are. They may seriously question why they came to study in the United States. This is a phase in a process that a student must go through if she is going to move beyond it.

Stage 4: Adjustment/Acceptance
The acceptance stage begins when a student finally feels at ease with her life at the college and in the United States. She has mastered the language and the routines of campus life enough to feel comfortable. Quite often the awareness that she has managed to function well at Mount Holyoke occurs at the beginning of the second semester. At that point the student compares how it feels at the beginning of the second semester (when she knows what she is doing) to the whole set of alienating experiences associated with her arrival in the country and the beginning of the first semester.

A student is better able to handle with understanding any differences she may have with her peers and others. She begins to develop deeper friendships with her American peers and participates more actively in extracurricular activities.
Key Areas of Cultural Difference
When international students first arrive in the United States they are likely to experience differences with Americans in the following areas: preferred ways of communicating, notions of privacy, time management, knowledge of world geography, and the nature of friendships. Those who work with newly arrived international students can be more effective in their communication with students if they are aware of areas of potential difference.

1. Preferred Ways of Communicating
   Americans generally prefer to communicate directly what is on their minds, "get it off their chest" and "be up front" about differences with others. Such directness in communication in another culture might be considered highly insulting. Americans will often say "no" to a request as opposed to saying no indirectly.
   
   On the other hand, if an American chooses to say no indirectly by subtle use of the language, an international student's language skills might not be sophisticated enough to grasp the nuance of the conversation to understand she has been told no. By the same token, if a foreign student doesn't command the subtleties of English, she may resort to saying no which may sound "angry" or "aggressive" when that is not her intention.
   
   Most Americans believe that if two people are having a dispute, they should speak to each other directly. In other societies, the correct way to resolve differences is to use an intermediary who is known to both parties involved. International students often experience frustration in their first weeks on campus if they are having difficulty with their roommate, peers or teachers because they cannot communicate directly what is bothering them to their friends, staff, faculty or advisor.
   
   It is important for a faculty advisor to listen carefully not only to what is said but also to listen for that which might be left unsaid. If an advisee appears to be having trouble in a course and difficulty discussing it, an advisor might appropriately offer to speak first to the student's teacher so as to "pave the way" and make it easier for the student to have the conversation with the teacher.
   
   
2. Notions of Privacy
   Americans tend to place a high value on their privacy compared to people from other countries. Americans believe they have a right to their "own space" and greatly value time to be alone by themselves. Such notions of privacy are almost unfathomable to students from other countries where private space and private time are not cultural constructs. In some countries it is highly improper to leave someone by themselves whereas an American would probably value and enjoy that time alone.
   
   
3. Time Management
   In the United States "time is money." On campus we even have workshops on time management. Most faculty have "office hours" which define the points in time when they are available to meet students outside the classroom. The whole process of making an appointment to meet faculty and staff rather than "dropping in" is a new mode of operation that some students will need to learn. Most international students quickly learn to "be on time" for classes, appointments, and meetings, although they are aware this mode of operation may be quite different from the norm in their home country.
   
   
4.  Knowledge of World Geography
   More accurately we should refer to the "lack of knowledge of world geography" on the part of the average American as one of the most shocking dimensions of an international student's experience in this country. While international students would not expect Americans to know a great deal about every country, they do expect them to have some general idea of world geography and the nature of life in other countries.
   
   The following are examples of questions asked of international students that have amused, shocked and even angered them. "Who is the president of Africa?" "Do you eat tomatoes and potatoes in India?" "Is Pakistan one of the largest cities in India?" International students appreciate it when their peers and teachers take the time to get to know something about them and where they come from. They recognize and appreciate it when someone asks questions out of genuine interest and really listens to their responses.
   
   
5. The Nature of Friendships
   When international students first meet Americans, they develop the impression that Americans are superficial and capable of only shallow friendships. This initial impression stems largely from the fact that we typically greet each other by saying "Hi, how are you?" and keep walking past each other. We really do not expect an answer, except "fine" or "good."
   
   Almost all international students are surprised or shocked by this behavior which Americans consider quite normal. The international student who begins to respond to the "how are you?" question is confused when no one takes the time to stop and listen to her response. She leaves the encounter believing that the other person is superficial and does not care about her.
   
   
6. Cross-Cultural Living
   Advisors should be aware that once a student has gone through the experience of cross-cultural adjustment, she will continue to find herself in situations where she experiences tensions between American cultural values and values from her home country.
   
   Throughout their time at Mount Holyoke international students are continuously negotiating their lives between two cultures. The tensions tend to surface at times when a student plans a trip home (particularly long vacations and at graduation) and at times when she is making critical decisions such as choice of major and whether to go to graduate school, work in the United States or return home.
   
   A more subtle and fundamental tension may be the one that stems from the differing cultural value placed on the individual in the home country and in the United States. Our goal at Mount Holyoke is to encourage our students to make decisions for themselves, to assert themselves, and to become more "fully realized" individuals. The goal of developing the individual may be at odds with the cultural values held by our students. For some international students their identity is rooted in their family, and they depend on their family and friends in making all types of decisions more than an American student would in similar circumstances. advisors should be aware that there may be some tension between the student and her family (or larger cultural group) that might play itself out in the advising relationship.
   
   Quite often the family plays a major role in the student's choice of major and selection of individual courses. The family's decision to allow a daughter to study in the United States is often made with certain expectations as to what she will study.
   
   If a student discovers that she doesn't like or is not adept in the field chosen by the family, she is likely to face tremendous pressure to continue in the field. If an advisor or teacher advises her to drop the major or a particular course, it can be devastating to the student because she is coping not only with her own feelings of inadequacy but also has to figure out how to tell her family and friends what is happening and to deal with their reactions as well.