Experiences of female Chinese university students in Japan: A diary study with a grounded theory approach

Abstract

The focus of this study is to explore the relationship between linguistic and cultural learning processes that female Chinese university exchange students perceived in Japan over one academic year. Methodologically, the data for diary entries with follow-up interviews were analyzed and interpreted, using a grounded theory approach. The main findings were that: none of the Chinese sojourners’ experiences during study abroad represented the models of conceptualizing adaptive changes (Lysgaard, 1955; Oberg 1960). At a linguistic level, the sojourners experienced language shock at the initial arrival stage while at the cultural level, they came to develop negative attitudes towards hosts over time. In the perceptions of linguistically- and culturally-specific restructuring processes in the host environment, with the impact of rich formal classroom instruction and learning in the home country, the sojourners were constructing dual identities negotiated with age and gender. They wished to celebrate their youth with hosts of the same generation by becoming involved in similar linguistic usage on one hand, and to behave in a polite manner like elderly women at linguistic and cultural levels on the other hand.