A Longitudinal Study on Change of Attitude between Foreign Students and Japanese Graduate Students through intercultural contact

2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 10680301
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: SEKI Michiko Hokkaido Univ., International Student Center, Prof., 留学生センター, 教授 (60113578)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): FIRKOLA Peter Hokkaido Univ., International Student Center, Asso. Prof., 留学生センター, 助教授 (30301013) ; YAMASHITA Yoshitaka Hokkaido Univ., International Student Center, Asso. Prof., 留学生センター, 助教授 (50241394) ; YONEYAMA Michio Hokkaido Univ., International Student Center, Emer. Prof., 留学生センター, 名誉教授 (90006312)
• Project Period (FY): 1998 – 2001
• Keywords: Adaptation of Foreign Students / Adaptation of Japanese Students / intercultural contact / Values on Education

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate change of foreign students' and Japanese students' adaptation to Japanese university life and their values on education and lifestyle longitudinally. Each group was administered two questionnaires in two or three years' intervals. Three hundred and forty-four foreign students and 240 Japanese graduate school students participated in each of the first questionnaire. However, there were only 34 and 15 respectively for the second questionnaire.
The foreign students showed very high adaptation level to the "study domain", although they showed low adaptation level to the "research method". As far values on education and lifestyle, they showed the same tendencies for some values against Hofstede's (1955) data. Those values related to study and relationship with their professors. However, there were some values, which foreign students answered quite differently. Those values had strong cultural influences. It is necessary to analyze foreign students ' answers according to at least several regions.
Japanese graduate school students as the peer host Japanese for foreign students adapted fairly well to the university life, and especially they showed extremely good relationship between their professors. They were individualists and showed small power distance. Their answers were quite similar to those of students from Western countries.
Japanese graduate school students who had cross-cultural experience showed very high communication skills, high generosity to accept different cultures, and high problem solving ability.
From the longitudinal viewpoint, changes were seen especially in the domain of human relationship, like communication style. Both foreign students and Japanese students showed changes in the same category but opposite values. The foreign students' value changed from the low-context communication to the high-context communication. On the contrary, Japanese students' value changed from the high-context communication to the low-context communication.