Culture Shock

Culture shock is something that can not be avoided, when staying in another culture for a longer time. It can be helpful to know about its causes, its stages and to understand why it is happening. Especially for TESOL teachers and in connection with this course about implications of culture, it seems to be important to know about culture shock, as teachers might be in close contact with people from other cultures or prepare students to be able to communicate and eventually live in another culture. De Capua and Wintergerst (2004, pp. 209-211) describe four different stages of culture shock: The honeymoon or tourist stage, culture shock, adjustment or acculturation stage and the recovery or adaption stage. The experience of the stage of culture shock can be experienced very different from one person to the other. It seems that some people enter the stage of culture shock earlier and others later, while some experience it longer and heavier, and others experience the culture shock only slightly and shortly. One aspect that influences this stage of culture shock and the following process of adjustment appears to be the person’s personality and character. For some personality types it might be easier to adjust to another culture and environment than for others.

While experiencing culture shock the attitude of the person often decides on how people from the new culture will treat him or her (Oberg, n.d.). Aggressive or frustrated behavior leads to rejection and avoidance from the people of the host country (Oberg, n.d.). Knowing about culture shock and its stages can help a person to understand what is happening and try to act solution orientated, without letting out negative emotions too much.
Culture shock can affect language learning of non-native speakers a lot. Feeling disturbed by the people of the new culture can hinder the success in learning the new language. I believe that the Native speakers of that new language can also help the person, who is experiencing culture shock, if they know about its process and understand the feelings of the language learner.

It is good to know that after the culture shock, the stage of adjustment is following and the person will build up a new identity that is able to live in the new culture happily. When teaching in Germany, I think that the topic of culture shock should be adressed for two reasons. First, it can help and prepare students, who plan to stay in an English speaking country for a longer time. The second reason is that covering the topic about culture shock can help students in the German classroom to understand foreign students better. As Germany has many immigrants, that can be very helpful for the school climate.

DeCapua, A. & Wintergerst, A. (2004). Crossing cultures in the language classroom. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University.

Oberg, L. (n.d.). Culture shock and the problem of adjustment to new cultural environments. Consortium for International and Multicultural Studies. Retrieved from http://www .worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html