Culture Shock refers to the unavoidable situation of being affected by the transitioning from a familiar culture to an unfamiliar one, experienced by people who work, live, or study abroad (Sheih, 2014). Every year students plan to study abroad and although they may read up about what they should prepare for and even try as they may to be prepared, it is inevitable that at some point they will experience culture shock as every student has before them. This is most particular to students who study abroad for the first time but is also prevalent among frequent travelers for every destination is different and comes with its own adjustment problems. In this particular essay, culture shock and its effects on the student will be discussed. …show more content…
In addition, they are largely experienced during the second stage of culture shock.
In some situations students may experience a language barrier if the language in their country of residence is not the same as that of their country of origin. Barty (2011) stated that language is strong vessel of expression of self and interaction with others. Barty (2011) continued that in the situation where international students with English as a second language travel to English speaking countries there is a high expectation that they will be proficient in the language in the academic setting. Barty (2011) further said second language speakers tend to feel deskilled in academics when working alongside first language speakers. Reading with meaning is challenging if the language of instruction is not the mother tongue (Woodrow, 2007). In the case where the students have to learn a new language, it adds stress to their academic work and can sometimes cause a downfall in their …show more content…
Acculturative stress, which is the psychological impact of adaptation to a new culture, happens as immigrants lose touch with self-identifying qualities and values of their homeland (Vaughn, 2010). When students realize that they have lost their previous identity and begin to worry about who they are and where they are going in life it greatly affects their progress in academics.
A student count encounter a situation they are unprepared for due to its absence in their culture thus they have no basis for reference. The expertise used to deal with daily issues in their own culture may be inadequate in the new culture (Twigg, 2005), hence leaving the student confused and