Change of Social Habits of British Students since Their Arrival in the UK - Assignment Example

Have the social habits of overseas students changed to become move similar to the social habits of British students since their arrival in the UK? INTRODUCTION Visiting a new country that has totally new cultural beliefs, norms, values and practices has always been found to have varying effects on the individuals visiting. According to researches done, different individuals have different reactions to new cultures with some being resistant and negatively affected while others are positively receptive. In most cases adjusting well to a new environment allows one to competently perform the various roles required by a given social context. As more and more education institutes in the United Kingdom work towards promoting internalization, more and more students from different parts of the world are getting enrolled into this UK institutions to undertake various courses of study (Forland, 2006). These students from different back grounds have different ways of reacting to the new culture with the aspect of culture shock emerging as a key attribute. Culture shock in this case refers to the effects of moving into a new and unfamiliar culture. Research has indicated that over 90 percent of all international students studying in the UK experience culture shock during the first three to six months of their stay. Despite the culture shock arising from the cultural differences, the level and way of adjusting to the experience new culture is different for the various students with some being selecting on what values and practices to agree with and which to disagree with while others get completely carried away by the new found cultures and forget their own. One of the main areas of interest and concern in terms of culture and practices among students and the young generation in general is that of social habits and practices (Pedersen, 1995). Social habits make up one of the cultural values and practices that international students moving to study in the UK may find different than those of their own. In this view, this research study was undertaken to critically evaluate and explain if the social habits of overseas students have changed to become more similar to the social habits of British students since their arrival in the UK. METHODOLOGY This study uses both qualitative and quantitative designs. The research is going to be undertaken from a sample of 100 students, 32 females and 68 males, studying in the UK and who are from different countries of origin. Purposive method of sampling will be used to select the students so as to be able to get those from different countries. The students will be selected from two colleges in the UK, South Thames College and Southgate College in London. Random sampling technique was used to select the two colleges. Random sampling was effective in ensuring that each of the institution in London had an equal chance of being selected. The required data was collected using well constructed questionnaires which will be given to the respondents to fill. The questionnaire mainly contains close ended questions to allow for preciseness and ease in data analysis. The analysis of the findings will be done by using tools such as graphs, bars, pie charts for quantitative data. The qualitative data will be analyzed through comparative analysis of the actual data information collected with standard results of the anticipated outcomes that were set before the roll out of the research. Data analysis will be based on the supplied questionnaire and the data filled. RESULTS Social Demographics From the results obtained through the filled out questionnaires 86 of the students were between the ages of 17-24, 12 were of ages 25-30 while the remaining 2 were over 30 years. From the 100 respondents, 18 were Nigerian, 13 Vietnamese, 13 Chinese, 8 Pakistani, 8 Indian, 11 Srilankans while the rest 14were from Africa, 10 from the Middle East and 5 from Asia. Figure 2.1Chart to show the age of respondents Figure 2.2Chart to show Student’s country of origin Sports Activities Information on which sporting activity among running and jogging , team sports, going to the UK, exercise classes and martial arts was obtained by asking the students which sports they did every week in the UK. The results were as indicated below: Figure 2.3Chart to show Student’s engagement in sports activities Shopping habits To obtain information on the shopping habits, the students were asked on how many hours they spent in a week in their own countries and how many they spent in the UK an on how often they do online shopping when at home and when in the UK. The results were as indicated below Figure 2.3a Chart to show no. of hours spent shopping in own country Figure 2.3b Chart to show no. of hours spent shopping in own country Figure 2.3c Chart to show no. of hours spent doing online shopping in own country Figure 2.3d Chart to show no. of hours spent doing online shopping in the UK Artistic Hobbies To get information on which artistic hobbies among, students were asked how often they did photography, singing, dancing, drawing and design while in the UK. The responses were as shown in the graph below: Figure 2.4 Chart to show how frequent the students were engaged in artistic hobbies Using the internet The student’s usaage of the internet was assesd based on how long they took while using facebook or twitter, yahoo, skype, online games, reading online and in doing other online activities. the number of students using each of the various sites and the duration they spent on them was recorded as below Figure 2.5 Chart to show no. of hours spent using the internet Reading To find out how often they read while in the UK, the students were asked on how often they read magazines, newspapers and others while in the UK. They were also asked on how many hours they spent reading in a day while in their home countries and while in the UK. The chart below presents the report Figure 2.6a Chart to show how frequent students read while in the UK Figure 2.6b Chart to show how many hours students read in a day when in their home country Figure 2.6c Chart to show how many hours students read in a day when in the UK Going out Information on this social activity was obtained by asking the students on how often they went out while in the UK in every month to places such as cinemas, clubs/pubs, festivals/ concerts, museums/ galleries, theatre or comedy. They were also asked on how much they spent each month on entertainment while in the UK. The results obtained are as shown in the graph below Figure 2.7a Chart to show how often students went out in every month when in the UK Figure 2.7b Chart to show much students spend monthly on going out in the UK DISCUSSION From the collected data obtained from the various questionnaires given to the students, information related to the topic could be obtained. On the question of which sports activities one did each week while in the UK, 25 students indicated that they ran or jogged once a week, 29 more than once in a week while 46 did not jog or run at all. 26 of the students did team sports once a week, 15 more than once in a week while 59 never did. While 60 students indicated never having gone to the UK, 16 went once a week and 24 went more than once in a week. 75 students indicated to have never swam, 15 swam once in a week while 10 swam more than once in a week. For exercise classes, 84 students said that they never at any time attended the classes, 10 did so once in a week while 6 did so more than once in a week. 87 of the students never took part in martial arts, 7 took part once in a week while 6 took part more than once in a week. These results clearly indicate that most of the international students did not take part in any of the sports activities identified. Data collected to study the shopping habits of the students while In their home countries indicated that 38 students spent less than two hours in a week shopping, 31 spent 2 to 4 hours, 16 spent 4 to 6 hours while the rest 16 spent more than 6 hours in a week. When shopping in the UK, 42 students spent 2 hours in a week, 34 spent 2 to 4 hours, 11 4-6 hours and 13 spent more than 6 hours in a week. When asked how frequently they did online shopping in their home countries, 59 students said never, 24 said not often, 17 said often while none said everyday. When asked how often they did this in the UK, 26 said never, 3 not often, 40 said often, while 1 said everyday. This means that more students spent more hours shopping in the UK as compared to shopping at home. From the responses given to identify how often the students engaged in the various artistic hobbies, most students did not take part in any of the artistic hobby. Most of the students indicated that they never read any magazines, newspapers or other materials. A considerable number were however found to read books once or more than once per week. The number of hours the international students spent reading daily while in the UK had significantly increased as compared to those spent while in their home countries. Students had varied responses on the usage of the internet while in the UK with most students indicating to have never played online games while most indicating to spent more time on Skype. From the results obtained on going out, most students said that they never go to clubs, festivals, museums or theatres. The cinema was however found to attract most students on a once in a month basis. Most students spent between 40 to 70 pounds on entertainment with only a few spending more than 100 pounds. References Forland, H. (2006) The international student learning experience: Bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality. Paper presented at going global 2.The UK’s international conference. Edinburg. Pedersen, P. (1995) The Five Stages of Culture Shock: Critical Incidents Around the World. Westport: Greenwood Press. Read More