The purpose of this study was to identify the changes in the perceptions of a selected group of Mexican and Japanese foreign students regarding own culture, target culture, and belief system over a time of sojourn in the United States. The total population of this study included 120 Japanese and Mexican students at the University of Arizona and at Pima College, Tucson, Arizona. The students were divided into six equal cells of twenty according to nationality and length of sojourn. The instrumentation employed in this study included: The Cultural Literacy Inventory, Rokeach Dogmatism Scale E, and a personal questionnaire. The following independent variables were also introduced into the study: age, sex, marital status, mobility of residence, past cross-cultural contact, and level of English proficiency. The following independent variables were identified as significant in affecting the target culture perceptions of the students: length of sojourn, sex, marital status in combination with nationality, age, residential mobility from house to house and level of English proficiency. The following independent variables were identified as significant in affecting the own cultural perceptions of the students: length of sojourn in its effect on the intragroup homogeneity of the Mexican students only, and level of English proficiency in its effect on the intragroup homogeneity for both nationalities. The following independent variables were identified as significant in affecting the degree of openness of belief system: nationality, age, residential mobility from house to house in combination with nationality, residential mobility from town to town in combination with nationality, and level of English proficiency. It was predicted that the Mexican students would face more cultural conflict in the areas of Interaction, Association, Subsistence, Temporality, and Learning. It was predicted that the Japanese students would face more cultural conflict in the areas of Interaction, Subsistence, Territoriality, Learning and Play. The researcher offered recommendations for further research and suggestions for the use of the findings of this study as a data base for orientation programs serving foreign students, Americans sojourning abroad, and in teacher education programs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/185304 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | JOHNSTON, GARY WILKIN. |
| Contributors | Wilson, Herbert, Chilcott, John, Grant, Robert |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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