A new cross-cultural program has been created to establish friendships through activities between American students and international students.
Blerta Meta, English as a second language instructor, said the Cross-Cultural Education Project is an attempt to bridge the gap of acculturation for international students at Oklahoma Christian University.
“Acculturation is a process that happens the moment you step out of the plane, which means you are put in situations that challenge your values — if you come from another culture, who you are, the way you connect to the environment, the way you speak and everything,” Meta said.
Every interaction with a native speaker presents a moment and level of acculturation, Meta said. International students have to choose in these moments how much they want to adapt to the culture.
“I’ve been teaching [international students] for the last 18 years and the main issue has been that they feel kind of disconnected from the native speakers because of the different cultures,” Meta said. “For their linguistic or social psychological functioning, it helps to have some connections with the native speakers.”
Meta created groups to facilitate conversations between an equal number of American students and international students.
“What I have gotten from a lot of internationals is that, even though they’re in America, they’re kind of isolated from us,” sophomore Kaydee Keene said. “This is an opportunity for them to get to know other American students and have a relationship with them.”
One of the goals associated with the project deals with breaking stereotypes, according to Meta.
“A goal is to create these positive connections because when people come to this country, they still have their stereotypes in their countries of origin,” Meta said. “Unless you meet personally, America can become whatever the bunch of relationships around you are. … We don’t want the students to go back with the same stereotypes – that’s the idea.”
A selection of courses in English and Bible departments require students to have conversations with international students. Senior Bryan Davidson is an American student who is involved in one of the Cross-Cultural Education Project activities.
“It was a good opportunity for us both: for them to make friends and for us to get credit,” Davidson said. “It seems to be becoming a lot more than just getting credit. It’s really cool to be able to get to know all the international students and befriend them.”
Class requirements do not typically fulfill the social and psychological needs of international students for acculturation, according to Meta.
“These are activities that, during the process of playing, they have the chance to get to know people from other cultures and Americans are also helping them to kind of break some stereotypes,” Meta said. “You have to understand the people and these connections help with that breaking of the stereotypes by involving them in a very natural way.”
The Cross-Cultural Educational Project has five groups that meet weekly to connect American students and International students: Ladies Night Out, a board game group, sports group, cafeteria lunch group and a support group.
“A lot of times the activities are a good way to break the ice so that we can actually do things together,” Davidson said. “We get to actually interact without saying anything, and we kind of get to know each other that way first and kind of connect on a deeper level later.”
Meta said the success of the groups would be seen through various qualitative measures.
“As far as measuring it, it’s a combination on the group’s sustainability, the students having positive feedback and having to fill the need between social and psychological connections between the two groups,” Meta said.
Meta said she created this cross-cultural community to act as a practical application for a theory she initially pursued a doctorate in before realizing the lack of resources for her specific passion.
“People that are crossing cultures from a non-western to a western culture, for their integration and acculturation, there’s not even a department,” Meta said. “There is not a department that has only this focus, which is important in the times we live because issues like culture shock or acculturation in combination with the language are very important for our students, and we have a lot of students coming from different countries.”
Originally from Eastern Europe, Meta said she experienced the problem of the “acculturation vacuum” firsthand.
“Not a lot of people here nowadays are talking about culture shock and adjustment and the grief that comes with jumping to another culture,” Meta said. “So, there is a lack of understanding of the process on the part of native speakers who haven’t moved to another country. … For some of our students, it can affect their academics. It has a lot of other effects. It’s like the iceberg, you don’t see them but they’re there and they affect their performance.”
The groups will come together on Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. for the Cross-Cultural Friendship Celebration Dinner in a dining room of the Oklahoma Christian cafeteria.
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