Essay On Sociocultural Adaptation

Adjustment competence is adaptation, so adaptation is the ability to adjust and integrate in a new environment. This would include understanding and accepting a given culture. There are different forms of adaptation, psychological and sociocultural (Searle, Ward 1990).

Sociocultural adaptation can be understood as a process of social learning and is associated with the length of time, the existing cultural distance and the amount of contact with members of the host culture. These could make it more or less difficult to adapt to a new culture (Zlobina, Paez 2004). Foreigners who leave their culture of origin and are immersed in a new culture with norms, values and customs that they do not recognize as their own, have to make an effort to adapt. The above process of adaptation or adjustment involves three basic aspects: 1) Psychological adaptation, including acceptance and the degree of satisfaction in the new cultural environment. 2) Cultural learning, which is the acquisition of social skills that enable the sojourner to adapt the host culture, and establish links with members of the host culture and, finally, 3) Learning behavior appropriate for the resolution of social tasks. Sociocultural adaptation involves social and cultural learning. The three dimensions are linked, but have some independence between them (Moghaddam, Taylor , Wright, 1993). Ward ( 2004) showed that international students, who were culturally adapted, adopted elements of both cultures and tried to achieve a bicultural identity. It is important to note that any sojourner has gone through a series of grieving process after migration due to the loss of two important elements such as: firstly, the extended family and friends, who constitute the soc...

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...n the questionnaires were filled, the lighting was switched off to prevent electricity leakage

CHAPTER THREE

Results and discussion

3.1.1 Assessment of adjustment competence

The data received for the revised sociocultural adaptation scale of the newer students showed (m=3.1, s.d =0.37) and for the older students (m=3.95, s.d=0.66). A T-test was done to determine the significant difference between the means of the two groups. A p value of 0.0002 with a 95% confidence level indicated a significant difference between the scores.

This showed that the older students had a greater level of competence in adjusting to the host culture. In order to know the potential areas where the students felt most competent, we need to look at the scores for each subscale.