1 ACCULTURATION STRATEGY, ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN FIRST-YEAR CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT AN AMERICAN COLLEGE A research thesis presented by James Stephen Lee To The School of Education In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education In the field of Education College of Professional Studies Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts December 2016 2 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................... 8 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................................... 11 Practical Significance....................................................................................................... 11 Research and Theoretical Significance ............................................................................ 13 Positionality Statement ........................................................................................................ 15 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 16 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................ 17 Acculturation and Acculturation Theory ......................................................................... 17 Acculturation Strategies ................................................................................................... 21 Integration ........................................................................................................................ 23 Separation/Segregation .................................................................................................... 23 Assimilation ..................................................................................................................... 24 Marginalization ................................................................................................................ 24 Acculturative Stress ............................................................................................................. 25 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 26 Definition of Terms.............................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................................. 30 Acculturation and Acculturative Stress: Historical Perspective and Development ............. 30 Development of Acculturation Measures for Asian Migrants ............................................. 34 Acculturation Strategies in Chinese International Students................................................. 35 Acculturative Stress in Chinese International Students ....................................................... 39 Measuring Acculturative Stress in Chinese International Students ..................................... 40 Stressors within the Acculturative Process .......................................................................... 42 Phase, Social Integration, and Acculturative Stress......................................................... 42 Communication Patterns and Family Cohesion ............................................................... 46 Cultural Distance, Acculturative Stress, and Academic Impacts .................................... 47 Cultural Identity and Acculturative Stress ....................................................................... 48 Pre-existing Individual-level Variables and Acculturative Stress ................................... 49 Language Proficiency and Social Integration Revisited .................................................. 51 Foundations of Cultural Distance ........................................................................................ 53 Chinese and American Identity and Socialization as Reflected through Education ........ 53 Mandarin to English: The Linguistic Leap ...................................................................... 65 3 Academic Impacts of Language Barriers on International Students ............................... 68 Chinese International Students’ English Language Proficiency and Academic Performance ..................................................................................................................... 69 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 73 Chapter 3: Methodology .......................................................................................................... 78 Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 78 Research Design................................................................................................................... 84 Population and Sampling ..................................................................................................... 86 Data Collection .................................................................................................................... 88 Instruments ........................................................................................................................... 89 Procedures ............................................................................................................................ 90 Data Preparation & Analysis ............................................................................................... 92 Data preparation ................................................................................................................... 92 Preliminary data analyses .................................................................................................... 93 Computation of descriptive statistics ................................................................................... 93 Testing of assumptions ........................................................................................................ 94 Testing of covariates ............................................................................................................ 96 Data analyses for study research questions .......................................................................... 96 Validity, Reliability, and Generalizability ........................................................................... 98 Ethical Considerations ....................................................................................................... 100 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 101 Chapter 4: Results .................................................................................................................. 102 Data Preparation................................................................................................................. 103 Descriptive Statistics: Study Participants .......................................................................... 103 Descriptive Statistics: Demographic Questions ................................................................. 103 Descriptive Statistics: Academic Achievement ................................................................. 106 Descriptive Statistics: Student Family, Friends, and Living Arrangements ...................... 106 Descriptive Statistics: Number of Foreign Languages and Chinese Dialects Spoken and Number of Foreign Countries Visited................................................................................ 108 Descriptive Statistics: Study Variables .............................................................................. 109 Testing of Assumptions ..................................................................................................... 112 Assumption 1: Variables are Measured Without Error.................................................. 112 Assumption 2: Normality in the Distribution of Scale Scores ...................................... 113 Assumption 3: Lack of Multicollinearity ....................................................................... 113 Assumption of lack of multicollinearity: Independent variables ................................... 114 Assumption of lack of multicollinearity: Dependent variables ..................................... 115 Assumption 4: Little to no Autocorrelation between Regression Residuals ................. 115 4 Assumption 5: Homoscedasticity .................................................................................. 115 Testing of Covariates ......................................................................................................... 117 Covariate Testing: Descriptive Variables and Acculturative Stress .............................. 118 Covariate Analyses: Descriptive Variables and First-year