A DISCUSSION OF THAI STUDENT TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES OF CULTURE SHOCK DURING THEIR STUDY IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Culture shock aspect is such a common issue that is experienced among students who study
abroad. The causes of culture shock aspect usually are anxiety and the lack of intercultural
communication competence. Most of studies in the previous study tend to discuss the importance
of intercultural communication competence and only describe the kinds of culture shock. Thus,
to fill this empirical void, this study aims to investigate Thai student teachers’ experiences of
intercultural communication competence and how they handle their culture shock during study in
Indonesia. In order to understand more about culture shock aspects, we used culture shock and
axiety theory by Oberg (1960) and Dörnyei (2005). The study is employed qualitative method.
Participants in this research were two Thai student teachers who have lived for more or less 4
years in one of Islamic universities in Yogyakarta., They are from different batch and major. The
data were obtained by in-depth interview. We analyzed the data by using thematic analysis
method by Braun & Clarke (2006). The finding showed that all participants experienced the
culture shock symptoms stages, such as tension of adaptation, sense of loss and rejection from
environment, rejected by new culture, unpredictable anxiety, and feeling of helplessness at the
first time they studied in Indonesia. There was also an interesting finding that both of them had
the lack of intercultural communication competence, and also the anxiety leads them to survive
in Indonesia.

Keywords: Culture Shock Symptoms, Intercultural Communication Competence, Anxiety