“Cultural fit”: A new perspective on personality and sojourner adjustment

An ethnographic study of the friendship patterns of international students in England: An attempt to recreate home through conational interaction

“…Internationalisation strategies take many forms but a common aim is to foster an environment in which cultural awareness can grow in both the international and domestic student communities. The international sojourn, defined by Ward et al (2001) as temporary between-culture contact, is often imbued with the power to transform individuals into intercultural mediators who learn to grow beyond the psychological parameters of the origin culture (Bochner 1981;Gudykunst 1983;McLeod 1981;Taft 1981). Such a mindset is connected by many writers to enhanced employability (see Cushner & Karim 2004) as well as improved prospects for world peace (Gudykunst 1998).…”

“…Such a mindset is connected by many writers to enhanced employability (see Cushner & Karim 2004) as well as improved prospects for world peace (Gudykunst 1998). Studies suggest that for international students, increased contact with the host culture is linked positively to improved language capability, increased satisfaction with the total student experience and greater host communicative competence (Bochner, McLeod & Lin 1977;di Marco 1974;Furnham & Erdmann, 1995;Gudykunst 1998;Kim 1988;Klineberg & Hull 1979;Kramsch 1993;Pellegrino Avenis 2005;Searle & Ward 1990;Toyokawa & Toyokawa 2002;Ward, Bochner & Furnham 2001;Ward & Kennedy 1992Ward & Rana-Deuba 1999).…”

“…Friendship has long been noted as a major contributor to emotional well-being and sojourner adjustment (Dyal & Dyal 1981;Hamburg & Adams 1967;Kim 1988;Owie 1982;Ward et al 2001;Wisemann 1997): the interaction patterns of international students have therefore been the focus of much research. Despite claims for the benefits of internationalisation at policy level, most studies have observed a lack of integration between student groups (Killick 2007;Leask 2007;Peacock & Brown 2007), lending weight to Ward's (2001) claim that the benefits of the international campus are hypothesised and empirically untested.…”

“…It is acknowledged that friendships with compatriots, also referred to by Ward et al (2001) as conational friends, serve an important function in diminishing loneliness and stress but they are also accredited with decreased intercultural interaction and diminished language progress (Bochner et al 1977;Bochner, Hutnik & Furnham 1985;Furnham & Erdman 1995;Kim 1988;Klineberg 1981;Sykes & Eden 1985;Yang & Clum 1995;Ward & Rana-Deuba 1999;Ward 2001;Wiseman, 1997;). In their typology of friendship, which is still used to this day, Bochner et al (1977) describe the bicultural bond as the most important link as the host national friend acts as a cultural informant, whereas segregated friendship groups act to obstruct host culture learning by entrenching sojourners' attachment to the origin culture.…”

The British host: just how welcoming are we?

“…As de Vita (2005, p. 75) states, "the ideal of transforming a culturally diverse student population into a valued resource for activating processes of international connectivity, social cohesion and intercultural learning is still very much that, an ideal." Instead, a pattern of ghettoisation has long been observed, with interaction taking place within conational groups, and with the willingness to leave the confines of the monoethnic group being a rare phenomenon (Ward and Chang 1997;Gu et al 2008;Sovic 2008;Brown 2009c).…”