Intercultural Friendships - Report Example

Running Head: Intercultural Friendships Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date Submitted: Intercultural Friendships As the world becomes a competitive global arena in the twenty first century, it has made it necessary for people to move and look for opportunities beyond their national borders. People are moving to overseas countries to undertake business activities or to acquire more education. As a result of the differences that exist among the different people from different countries, there is always a gap that exists in the development of friendship among the people from various countries. The increase in interconnectedness is one of the aspects of globalization, which has resulted to a greater variety of possible social relationships. The challenge that arises is the way people from different countries manage their social relationship and how intercultural relationships are established. The aspects of friendships act as the major manifestation of social relationships. This paper looks at the difficulties, which internationals students face while forming intercultural friendships. The paper will also look at some of the factors that would enable internationals students to form better intercultural friendships. International students move from their country to study in other countries where they find it difficult to form intercultural friendships with the locals, and with other students from other countries. Students from various countries have different cultural values which impacts on the way they socialize with other people who are from a different culture. There are many difficulties that many internationals students face when they try to form intercultural relationships. One of the difficulties that many international students face is a lack of similarity in personal characteristics. This is a big hindrance to the formation of intercultural friendship because people from various regions have unique characteristics, which are determined by their culture and according to the kind of environment where they originate. The difference in characteristics makes the students feel as if they cannot be compatible with each other. This is the same case applies in other types of relationships where relationships are formed by people who have the same characteristics or almost have the same characteristics. These differences in characteristic among international students become a barrier to quick formation of friendships. However as time moves the students are able to understand each other characters and form intercultural friendship but after staying together or studying together for a long time. This difference in characteristics mostly is brought about by the cultural background of the students. Students who come from the same cultural backgrounds may expose the same kind of characteristics. It takes a long time for students from different cultures to adopt each other characteristics, which are formed in the socialization process of a person, in the young ages (Berry, Segall & Pandey, 1997). Another issue that makes it difficult for internationals students to form intercultural relationships is study shock. This arises because most of students from Asian countries study ROTE. This learning usually involves memorization. When they come to Australia, they find things very different. This is because, in Australia internationals, students are supposed to undertake research, make preparation of projects in the process of learning and follow the principle of discovering learning. Discovering learning involves being given questions that require one to do research in the library or the use of the Internet so that to come up with the correct answers. The students, therefore, face this challenge of change in the education system. Owing to the fact that they are not used to this type of learning, the students find it difficult to adapt to the system of study in Australia. Most of them spend a lot of their time doing the studies so that they can meet the requirements of the Australia mode of learning. They do not find enough time to socialize with other students. As a result of this, they fail to establish strong intercultural relationships with the local students who are used to this mode of learning. They do not find enough time, which they can form friendships as most of them spend most of their times either in the Internet or the library doing research. Discovery learning has been one of the biggest challenges that Asian students face in Australia as they take a long time to adapt to its requirements (Volet, 2001). The other difficulty that internationals students face in forming intercultural friendship is that most of them are used to working as a team. They are used to working in groups where they take the studies as a collective responsibility. This means that most of the internationals students are very social, and their interests are group based. The type of friendship that exists among the members of the groups is very strong. They share group’s responsibilities whereby they care for each, and they find their security in the groups. To them the kind of loyalty they give to friends is of great importance to them. However, when they come to Australia, they find the situation very different. This is because in Australia people are more individualistic. The students undertake their studies alone, take their responsibility individually and follow their own specific needs. This makes most internationals students have a negative view of the counterparts from Australia. They view them as selfish and as people who it is very difficult to establish any kind of communication or friendship. They interpret this kind of character as a sign of rudeness or a show of racism. This makes it hard for intercultural friendships to be established between internationals students and the local students (Berry, Segall & Pandey, 1997). The issues of values system also arises in the establishment of friendship between international students and the local students. This mostly arises in the aspect of gender whereby, in Australia, both males and females are viewed as equal in all their capacities. For most of the internationals students, this is different from the way gender is taken in their countries of origin. They find it difficult to relate well with students who are of different gender due to some prejudices or stereotypes that they may have towards them. For example, some male students have difficulty in talking instructions from female instructors or their fellow students. In Australia, this may be looked as a sign of rudeness. These differences in the way gender is viewed in Australia and in other countries acts as a barrier towards the establishment of healthy friendships among the students (Marginson & Nyland, 2010). Another factor that leads to the difficulty in the establishment of friendship between internationals students and the local students is language barriers. Most internationals students do not have enough knowledge of English, which is used in many of the Australian schools. The local students also are not well versed of the languages of the internationals students. Communicating with students from different cultures is challenging because same words may have a different meaning in various cultures. This acts as a hindrance to the formation of friendships because lack of effective communication among the students. They fail to understand each other in various aspects of communication, which may lead to frustration, which inhibit friendship establishment (Nicotera, 1993). There are factors or strategies that can be put into place to help internationals students to for friendship with local students. According to studies conducted, it has been revealed that the presence of large numbers of students in the country is not enough to promote intercultural relationship between them and the local students. The satiation should be structured to foster these intercultural friendships. There are three factors or strategies that can be put into place to boost the formation of these relationships. There is peer pairing, which involve the establishment of collaboration between the internationals students and the local students who usually meet with regularity outside the classroom environment. This is a scheme, which can have also of positive impacts in helping the international students establish healthy friendships with the local students. This also helps the internationals students to adapt quickly to the new environment. There should also be intercultural cooperative learning strategies, which should be included in the studies. Intercultural group work assists in reduction of cultural stereotypes that students hold in regard to various cultures (Moran & Harris, 2007). Intercultural cooperative learning strategies also enhances willingness of the students to work with each other and with other members who are of different cultures from theirs. By the use of this strategy in the classroom, there are high chances of enhancing academic performance and foster intercultural friendships in internationals settings. It makes students develop respect regarding other students’ cultural values. By this, the students are able to accommodate each other regardless of the cultural background in which they come. It also makes both the internationals and local students understand cultural diversity that exists in all parts of the world (American Psychological Association, 2003). Formation of friendships between internationals students and local students can also be fostered by use of residential programs. This is where the classroom offers activities, which are supposed to be, carried out in the students’ hostels. This would allow students to have more interaction in the classroom and when they are outside the classroom environment. This would lead to increased intercultural knowledge, more intercultural interactions which will then lead to more intercultural friendships. There should be more integration of intercultural activities within the school curriculum and in the students’ lives (Volet, 2001). The students should be encouraged to get involved in these programs, and there should be enough support in the implementation of these programs. The school programs should be internalized in a way that they are accommodative to internationals students. This would work as one way of making the internationals students adapt quickly to the demands of education in Australia. The school curriculum should also include cultural studies in their studies, which will help, the locals students to be aware of various aspects of different cultures allover the world so that they do not find it difficult to interact with internationals students who have different cultures (Chall, 1997). Therefore, as can be seen from the paper the differences that exist between various cultures pose the main difficulty that exist in the formation of friendship between the internationals students and the locals students. The most important thing for schools is to provide an environment that enhances more interaction of the students because it is by these interactions and contacts the friendships will begin. The schools should be accommodative so that the internationals students do not feel isolated both in the classroom and in other activities that are undertaken outside the classroom. Students should also learn that all cultures are not the same and that there is no culture that is more superior to the other. They should accommodate each other values and perceptions that they have in their lives. They should develop the willingness to learn about other students cultures. This would not only enhance the formation of friendships but would also increase their knowledge about different cultures in the world. References American Psychological Association (2003). Psychological abstracts, Volume 90. Michigan: American Psychological Association. Berry, J., Segall, M. & Pandey, J. (1997). Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology: Social behavior and applications, 2nd edition. Tokyo: John Berry publication. Chall, L. (1997). Sociological abstracts, Volume 45. New York: Sociological Abstracts, Inc. Marginson, S. & Nyland, C. (2010). International Student Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Moran, R. & Harris, P. (2007). Managing cultural differences: global leadership strategies for the 21st century, 7th edition. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Nicotera, A. (1993). Interpersonal communication in friend and mate relationships. New York: SUNY Press. Volet, S. (2001). Motivation in learning contexts: theoretical and methodological implications, Vol 10, Oxford: Emerald Group Publishing. Read More