Language Socialization of Indonesian Students in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Risaharti, 瑞珊
• Other Authors: Chilin Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/04459506001537376655

碩士 === 國立臺灣科技大學 === 應用外語系 === 101 === As higher education in Taiwan is increasingly internationalized, the presence of international students on university campuses has become very common. Language socialization involves how newcomers in a culture gain language and cultural competency to function as a member through interaction with the more competent members. This thesis reports a study of Indonesian students in Taiwan in the perspective of language socialization, including their language socialization experiences and the sources facilitated their language socialization, how they perceived the cultural differences between their home and host countries, and the acculturation strategies they used in obtaining language socialization. Twenty-six Indonesian students in Taiwan participated in the study. Data were collected with multiple methods, including an open questions survey, follow-up interviews, emails, and a collection of their Facebook communication with their consent. Four other Indonesian students in Australia and German were also surveyed to make additional comparison with the students in Taiwan. Results of a qualitative analysis indicate that fellow students and initial source of information which introduce and teach about Taiwan have an important position for assisting students to obtain the new languages and cultural knowledge. Interaction with local society also allowed the students to gain both social and academic competence. Their sense of community belonging contributes to their language inputs. In the process of achieving their language socialization, acculturation attempts were shown as well by the students applying different strategies to deal with the similarities and differences in the host country. The results showed that the most common acculturation strategies applied was integration, followed by separation and assimilation. No specific examples can be found which showed the students’ preference to apply marginalization. After the acculturation efforts they made, they found clearer perception of their multicultural cultural identities.