A tremendous amount has been written on culture shock experienced by people who leave their own cultures for another. It is the purpose of this essay to define and describe culture shock and clash in general, to describe how several experts in the field describe it, to discuss the extensive library literature related to different aspects of culture shock as it relates especially to international students as well as to describe other related library literature, and to discuss some solutions.
Culture Shock, Defined and Described
Culture shock is defined as "a common psychological response to an unfamiliar culture [which] is characterized by disorientation, heightened anxiety, and more rarely by depressed or paranoid behavior." (1) Three groups of people are prone to culture shock - those outside of their own countries, those experiencing a very different culture within their own countries, and former ex-patriots who are now returning home.
There are also three phases of culture shock - euphoria, anxiety, and adjustment. Short-term visitors and people who are very new to a culture see the new culture as exotic and exciting, but have not really left home, yet. Many people who go to international, multicultural, or ethnic fairs or who eat at an ethnic restaurant of a group not their own also experience the first pleasant stage of culture shock.
The second stage is not nearly so pleasant. This usually strikes people who have been in the new culture for awhile, and who are planning to stay longer, but it can also affect those just encountering a new culture. The written and unwritten rules that work so well at home no longer work, and in some cases the new culture makes little or no sense. At worst, people in this second stage see the new culture as a disaster and their own home cultures as ideal and they may experience much anxiety and even paranoia during this time.
People who stay in a new culture long enough and who learn enough of this culture's rules and logic usually adjust. This is the third stage of culture shock. By this time, the sojourner can see the merits and demerits of both the new culture and his home culture.
How Cultures Clash - Experts Count the Ways
Many scholars and researchers have written on culture shock and clash over the years. One of the earliest and most important experts on this subject has been the cultural anthropologist, Edward Twitchell Hall. The main focus in four of his books, Beyond Culture (2), The Dance of Life (3), The Hidden Dimension (4), and The Silent Language (5) has been on how different societies define, perceive, and use time and space. He also gives graphic and compelling examples, both of individuals experiencing culture shock as they adjust to cultures new to them and of groups of people experiencing culture clash as they interact with each other. Hall also discusses whether cultures are "high or low context", hierarchical or equalitarian, and collective or individual. These points will be further discussed below.
Wilma Longstreet (6) built on the foundation laid by Hall and many other researchers by describing in detail five "aspects of ethnicity" - verbal communication, nonverbal comunication, orientation modes, value patterns, and intellectual modes. She applies all of these aspects of ethnicity to classroom behavior and instruction.
Specific aspects of verbal communication include the issue of ethnicity in learning and judging speech, the grammatical structures and nonstandard dialects of languages, denotation and connotations, and discussion modes. Denotations are dictionary definitions of a word, whle connotations are the many unwritten and emotional definitions of words, as used by people from different groups. Definitions and denotations of a word are often very specific while connotations can vary widely. Longstreet also writes at length about discussion modes, including who can interrupt, what interruptions may mean, and whether group members "take turns" in discussions or everybody talks at once. (7)
Longstreet describes several ways that researchers have studied nonverbal communications, including kinesics, "the scientific study of communication based on the body's motions"; proxemics, or Hall's study of interpersonal space; haptics, or the study of interpersonal touching, and the meaning of symbols and signs. Proxemics involves the study of distances between people as they interact with each other, spatial arrangement of people, furniture, buildings, and larger geographic areas, and how different societies use space, in general. The study of haptics include the frequency, quality, and location of touch. (8)
Orientation modes refer to the use of both time and space by people in relating to each other. These modes include body orientation or positions that people from different cultures take as they stand, relax, sit, eat, etc.; attention modes or how people indicate that they are paying attention to a speaker; spatial-architectural orientation, such as how the design of classrooms encourage or discourage learning, and time modes, which is how people from various groups believe that time should be used. (9)
Social value patterns are the written and unwritten rules of social behavior. Longstreet describes these values as varied, even within groups. She talks about dominant and secondary patterns of value within groups as well as whether group members see values as preferences, minor requirements, important obligations, or as basic moral ideas. She also describes behaviors as "desirable or undesirable, as important to acheive or unimportant, as possible to accomplish or as impossible." (10)
Intellectual modes or the learning and teaching styles valued by a culture includes ethnic influences on approaches to learning, ethnic emphases on favoring development of intellectual abilities, and activities and settings that may encourage or discourage the development of an intellectual ability. Approaches to learning would include behavior during new learning, questioning styles, ways of dealing with different kinds of problems, and ways of organizing data. Ethnic emphases favoring development of intellectual abilities would include whether students are encouraged to memorize, or whether they are encouraged to know how to find information, as well as qualities emphasized in the exercise of intellectual abilities. (11)
A more recent researcher, Patty Lane, (12) who comes from an evangelical Christian perspective, describes cultural modes very similar to those described by Hall and Longstreet, but there are some differences here. The modes that Lane discusses include the following:
Like Hall, Lane discusses whether cultures are high or low context, hierarchical or equalitarian, or collective or individual. Both researchers also discuss how people from different cultures deal with conflict. Lane defines high context cultures as holistic cultures where the "context of an event is as important as the event, itself", where "the listener is responsible for understanding communication", and where "experience is equal in value to fact". (13) It is implied that outsiders understand the culture, so little is explained and much is implied. Instructions are not spelled out. For examples, television commercials from high context cultures may make a subtle point, without ever mentioning the specific product being advertised. It is assumed that the viewer will understand the point of the ad. Commercials from low context cultures are seen as aggresive and intrusive. Some examples of high context cultures include many Asian and African cultures, as well as some cultures within the U.S. (e.g. some Native American, Asian American)
Low context cultures , on the other hand tend not to be holistic, but function by breaking things down into separate parts. There is a strong preference for analytic thinking over holistic thinking. In low context cultures, "the content of the message is more important than the context, the speaker is responsible for communication, and people are defined by their recent acheivements." (14) Less is implied and much more is explained, including instruction and in some cases, even laws and regulations, which can be spelled out to the minute detail. It is not always assumed that "outsiders" or even in some cases "insiders" understand what is going on. Commercials from low context cultures will tell viewers explicitly, not only exactly what they should buy, but why and how they should buy it. Commercials from high context cultures are seen as vague and confusing with viewers asking "What was the point?"A prime example of a low context culture is the dominant culture of the USA, especially in the north.
Both Hall and Lane discuss whether cultures are hierarchical or equalitarian and whether they are collective or individual. Hierarchical cultures are organized by age, class, sex, or ethnicity. In such cultures, some groups, such as the old or the wealthy have more status than others and are addressed accordingly. In most cultures, older people are addressed by honorifics and not by their first names. All of this would govern the use of language, as well as how services are provided. Other societies, like the USA, Australia, or Israel are mor equalitarian, at least in principle. Most adults tend to automatically address each other by first names.
In a collective society, one's status and fate rests largely on one's family, tribe, ethnicity, community, etc. How well or poorly an individual does reflect on all of these things. In such a society, individuals avoid failing or getting into trouble for fear of bringing shame to their families or communities. There is also a certain level of protection for individuals in collective societies. On the other hand, individuals may be afraid of being creative or different, or may have difficulty getting away from their roots, should they want to. Many Asian and African societies are collective in nature, and so are a number of ethnic groups in the U.S.
In individualistic societies one's status and fate rests more upon one's own efforts. How well or poorly individuals do reflect less on their family, village, tribe, nation, etc. Individuals can succeed or fail without reflecting as much on their points of origin. The advantages and disadvantages are in direct contrast to those in collective societies. People in individualistic societies are freer to be eccentric, creative, or just plain different, and in some cases, can get as far away from their roots as they wish. However, they don't have the protection or support system of people in more collective cultures and can be left stranded, on their own, and vulnerable. The USA is currently as individualistic as a culture can be without disintegrating.
While Lane discusses many of the same points addressed by Hall and Longstreet, she also focuses on whether a culture is a "being" culture or a "doing" culture, as well as on whether a culture is pre-modern, modern, or post-modern. "Doing" cultures emphasize the efficient use of time to finish tasks. "Being" cultures tend to see time as infinite and are as concerned with the journey of life or the process of creation as they are with the finishing of tasks. Lane also compares pre-modern (agricultural), modern (industrial), and post-modern (information based) societies.
Implications For Reference and Instruction Librarians
These theories have many implications for reference services and for information literacy instruction. Aspects of ethnicity that would be especially important at the reference desk would include ethnicity in learning and judging speech, the denotations and connotations of words, kinesics, proxemics, haptics, and body orientation and postures of both patrons and librarians. How librarians and patrons interpret each other's speech would have a major impact on how well they answer patron's questions, and in some cases, how seriously they take these questions. The use of gazes and other body language and interpersonal space by librarians and patrons and how each interpret the other can also have a major impact on the success of reference interactions.
In the classroom, it is important for librarians to be aware of the many ways that people indicate that they are paying attention. Some groups do so with silence, and others do so by indicating responses, such as "call and response" throughout the presentation. Librarians should be aware of education philosophies and histories of students' original cultures. Memorization of large amounts of narrative information may be the most important way to learn in some cultures, while knowing how to find, evaluate, and use bits of information may be the most prized in others. What is knowledge and how can or should this be demonstrated? The answer to this varies by culture. Group orientation can also affect individual and group behavior in class, as well as attitudes towards "plagiarism" and "cheating". For cultural groups where everything is shared, the ideas of intellectual (or any other kind of) property and plagiarism may represent real culture shock. There is also the question of what is worse, morally, "cheating" by giving a friend an answer on an examination or not helping a friend in need.
Aspects of ethnicity and culture that would affect both of these library services would include the spatial arrangements of both reference and instruction areas, proxemics, attention modes, and preferred modes of learning. Students from some cultures use questions and answers as a way to learn. In many other cultures, learning is done through modeling. A parent, teacher, or older sibling does the action and the learner observes and then imitates either in front of the leader or on their own. In some cultures, asking questions is seen as a sign of stupidity. This would have many implications, both at the reference desk and in the instruction classroom. Where using questions and answers may not be effective, using modeling may be, for instance.
Library and Information Science (LIS) Perspectives on Culture Shock and Other Related Subjects
There has been a wealth of literature over the years describing in detail culture shock experienced by international students using U.S. libraries by researchers such as Wayman (15), Morehead (16), K. Sarkodie Mensah (17, 18,19, 20), MacDonald and E. Sarkodie Mensah (21), Hendricks (22), Gilton (23, 24), Espinal (25), Jiao and Onwuegbuzie (27), Natowitz (28), and DiMartino and Zoe (29). There is also a separate body of literature on U.S. college students who go through culture shock as they start their academic careers that will not be further described in this essay, but which are listed in this database. This particular phenomenon is known as library anxiety.
The best articles to begin with are those by Allen Natowitz and by Diane DiMartino and Lucinda R. Zoe. Natowitz gives an excellent review of eighteen articles published between 1987-1993, summarizing trends and issues described by a variety of researchers. Major barriers encountered by international students adjusting to U.S. libraries are language barriers, cultural barriers, and technological barriers. Natowitz mentioned that many students speaking English as a Second Language have half the reading comprehension of their U.S. counterparts and less oral comprehension. Some students avoid asking questions because they are self-conscious about their skills in this area. Culture clash occur in libraries because of different library and research traditions that students must negotiate. The role of libraries in society, ways that people use libraries, organization of libraries, and library procedures can vary tremendously from country to country. Natowitz also briefly mentioned technological issues, that were just beginning to emerge at that time.
He then discussed a number of solutions to these problems, including how librarians should behave at the reference desk and how they should plan presentations. Natowitz ended his article by urging more staff training and development for librarians in technology and other subjects, as well as working with other groups that are underserved in the United States, including ethnic minorities, returning students, users with disabilities, and first generation college students.
An excellent recent publication is Teaching the New Library to Today's Users, edited by Trudi E. Jacobson and Helene C. Williams (30). This book includes chapters on all of the groups mentioned by Natowitz, except for disabled people. It also includes chapters on reaching lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) students, "at-risk" students, graduate students, distance education students and adults and senior citizens as college students.
The chapter on international students by DiMartino and Zoe (31) further addresses issues raised in the Natowitz article, as well as many issues described in this database, including cultural differences, learning styles, and multiple intelligences. This article is especially outstanding in describing in detail language and technological issues faced especially by non-English speaking international students. The ways different languages are structured can affect not only oral communication and comprehension but especially the use of catalogs, indexes, and other databases of the post-modern library. They then described how all of these issues are further complicated by new technologies that have emerged in the past decade by thoroughly analyzing the difficulties of teaching about computers, full-text and other databases, the Internet, and search engines to students with little exposure to these things at home. They give detailed instructions for planning instruction and for implementing presentations and activities. DiMartino and Zoe also briefly discuss the issues of critical thinking and of partnerships between librarians and instructors.
Much of this literature can be helpful to public librarians working with immigrants. Some public librarians have created very innovative services to reach this target group and many of these approaches may also be helpful in other library settings. An especially outstanding program is the New Americans Program from the Queens Borough Public Library in New York. Literature also exist on this and similar programs.
Last, insights from comparative librarianship can be very helpful here, especially for both international students and for recent immigrants. Some very old sources that can give historical information on librarianship and related activities include Kryzs' and Litton's World Librarianship: A Comparative Study (32) and Anne Pellowski's The World of Children's Literature. (33). These studies can be updated by using the World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services (34), publications, such as the UNESCO Journal of Information Science, Librarianship and Archives Administration (35), the IFLA Journal (36), Libri (37), and Bookbird (38) and by looking under specific countries in Library Literature and in related databases. Knowing how libraries and information services have developed in different countries can also be very helpful in planning and implementing improvcd reference and instructional services for diverse groups.
More Insights, Solutions, and Recommendations
Librarians who want to find out more about teaching international students or immigrants should determine what countries students come from, what languages they speak, and how large the various groups are. It is a good idea to start with the comparative library literature, which can give very useful background information. Finding out about education methods in countries of origin can also be helpful.
Librarians should then read LIS literature on teaching international students, starting with the essays by Natowitz and by DiMartino and Zoe. Those needing a more general and theoretical overview can also consult the culture shock literature described at the beginning of this essay. Articles describing public library outreach activities to immigrants may also be useful sources for ideas.
This author wrote a 1994 article on instructing diverse groups (39). In making final recommendations, she will update suggestions made there, and incorporate some insights from Natowitz.
More general information on culture shock can be found elsewhere on this website, as well as specific information on diverse groups in general, international, multicultural, and ethnic researchers, in general, immigrants and international students, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and Native Americans. Sources which reflect insights of some librarians and educators of color. and which discuss learning styles, as well as racism and other issues that affect the education of people of color are listed on those pages. This is in addition to general information on younger researchers, older researchers, and researchers with disabilities available elsewhere on this database.
References
1. David E. Hunter and Phillip Whitten (eds.) Encyclopedia of Anthropology. NY: Harper and Row, 1976.
2. Edward Twitchell Hall. Beyond Culture. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1981.
3. _____. The Dance of Life: the Other Dimension of Time. NY: Doubleday, 1973.
4. _____. The Hidden Dimension. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1961
5. _____. The Silent Language. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959.
6. Wilma Longstreet. Aspects of Ethnicity. NY: Teachers College Press, 1978.
7. Ibid. pp. 42-58.
8. Ibid. pp. 59-73.
9. Ibid. pp. 74-88.
10. Ibid. pp. 89-105.
11. Ibid. pp. 106-113.
12. Patty Lane. A Beginner's Guide to Crossing Cultures: Making Friends in a Multicultural World. Downer's Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002.
13. Ibid. pp. 49-56.
14. Ibid. pp. 56-59.
15. Sally G. Wayman. "The International Student in the Academic Library." Journal of Academic Librarianship. v. 9 no. 6 Jan., 1984 pp. 336-341.
16. Wendy Moorhead. "Ignorance Was Our Excuse: BI For Foreign Students Requires a Shift in Cultural Perspective." College and Research Libraries. v. 9 October, 1986 pp. 585-587.
17. Kwasi Sarkodie-Mensah. "Dealing With International Students in a Multicultural Era." The Journal of Academic Librarianship. v. 18 Sept., 1992 pp. 214-216.
18. _____. "In the Words of a Foreigner" Research Strategies. v. 4 Winter, 1986 pp. 30-31.
19. _____. "The International Student on Campus: History, Trends, Visa Classification, and Adjustment Issues." in Teaching the New Library to Today's Users. Edited by Trudi E. Jacobson and Helene C. Williams. NY: Neal-Schuman, 2000.
20. _____. "International Students in the U.S.: Trends, Cultural Adjustments, and Solutions For a Better Experience." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. v. 39 no. 3 (Summer, 1998) pp. 214-222.
21. Gina MacDonald and Elizabeth Sarkodie-Mensah. "ESL Students and American Libraries." in College and Research Libraries. v. 49 (Sept, 1988) pp. 425-431.
22. Yoshi Hendricks. "The Japanese as Library Patrons." College and Research Libraries News. v. 4 April, 1991 pp. 221-222.
23. Donna L. Gilton. "Multicultural Librarianship: Theoretical Aspects" in Culture Keepers II: Unity Through Diversity. Proceedings of the Second National Conference of African American Librarians. Newark, NJ: Black Caucus of the American Library Association, 1995.
24. _____. "A World of Difference: Preparing for Information Literacy Instruction For Diverse Groups." MultiCultural Review. v. 3 no. 3 pp. 54-62 September, 1994 pp. 54-62.
25. Isabel Espinal. Becoming Fluent in Information Literacy For Latino Students.
26. Ziming Liu. "Difficulties and Characteristics of Students From Developing Countries in Using American Libraries. College and Research Libraries. v. 54 Jan., 1993 pp. 25-31.
27. Qun G. Jiao, and Anthony John Onwuegbuzie. "Sources of Library Anxiety Among International Students." Urban Library Journal. v. 11 no. 1 Fall, 2001 pp. 16-26.
28. Allen Natowitz. "International Students in U.S. Academic Libraries: Recent Concerns and Trends." Research Strategies. v. 13 Winter, 1995 pp. 4-16.
29. Diane DiMartino and Lucinda R. Zoe. "International Students and the Library: New Users and New Instruction" in Teaching the New Library to Today's Users. Edited by Trudi E. Jacobson and Helene C. Williams. NY: Neal-Schuman, 2000 pp. 17-43.
30. Trudi E. Jacobson and Helene C. Williams. Teaching the New Library To Today's Users: Reaching International, Minority, Senior Citizens, Gay/Lesbian, First Generation, At-Risk, Graduate and Returning Students, and Distance Learners. NY: Neal-Schuman, 2000.
31. Di Martino and Zoe. Op. Cit.
32. Richard Kryzs and Gaston Litton. World Librarianship: A Comparative Study. NY: Marcel Dekker, 1983.
33. Anne Pellowski. The World of Children's Literature. NY: Bowker, 1968.
34. Robert Wedgeworth (ed.) World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services. Chicago, IL: ALA, 1993.
35. UNESCO Journal of Information Science, Librarianship, and Archive Administration. Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
36. International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). IFLA Journal. Munich: Verlag Dokumentation.
37. Libri: International Library Review. Copenhagen, Denmark: Munksgaard International Publisher, Ltd.
38. International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Bookbird. Toronto, ON: U. of Toronto Press
39. Gilton. "A World of Difference" Op. Cit. pp. 58-62.