Measuring Immigrant Acculturation: Vancouver Index - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Vancouver Index of Acculturation is a bidimensional instrument used to measure and assess the effectiveness of the measures put into place towards immigrants' orientation into a given country. The assessment is done by comparing the orientation and the reactions and attitudes of the immigrants who have gone through an orientation towards the mainstream and heritage traditions of the nations that they have moved into (Hotvedt, 2013). While research has shown that the research on this area is bidimensional, there have been suggestions that the practice might be multidimensional after all.

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The culture which a person is exposed to plays a critical role in the determination of the individual's behaviours and how well they will behave and adapt socially and economically in the new regions that they have moved into. It is, therefore important that measures be put in place to ensure that they are provided with a practical orientation program, through which they will be able to adapt to their new environments and cultures, hence giving them a chance to prosper socioeconomically in these modern societies (Paulhus, 2013). Culture gives people a sense of belonging and therefore plays a critical role in establishing the individual's position in the community that they are in. The better the people accept themselves as being members of the society that they move into, the better equipped they will be in maximizing the benefits that they will reap from their new environments (Schmitz & Berry, 2011).

Aspects of self-identity play a critical role in helping immigrants to adapt to new environments. When the immigrants identify themselves positively, they will find it easier to adjust to the new settings, while negative perceptions of themselves will lead to slower or retarded growth and adaptation of the individuals into the new environments (Klassen et al., 2009). Acculturation, therefore, involves the process of orientation of individuals into new environments, that is, new countries, and this is achieved through changing improving their attitudes and perceptions of themselves, as well as introducing them to the positive and progressive cultures of the new land (Tong & Prez, 2009). Acculturation also involves affecting migrants' changes when they join a modern society as their previously-practiced cultural practices and the cultural practices in their new countries of residence interact (Rafieyan, 2016). Acculturation is done to reduce the number of clashes that occur when two different cultures clash in the migrants and, therefore, eases the immigrants' pressure, hence increasing their chances of settling well into the new countries.

Bicultural integration is the best predictor of adjusting immigrants' progress in adapting to the new environments they are exposed to. Acculturation is conducted to improve the mental health of the immigrants, since they may be put into difficult situations when they need to adjust and fit into different cultural environments from the ones that they were used to. It is therefore used as a mediating factor that helps the immigrants to regulate their ethnic, cultural backgrounds to meet the expectations of their new cultures (Ghazarian & Youhne, 2015). The use of acculturation has also been key in helping people to adjust their previous cultural practices and feelings of ethnicity and nationality to meet those of the countries that they move into. This has been made possible by providing the immigrants with orientation lessons into the cultures of the new states that they have moved into, hence making their integration into these new cultures smooth and easy on them.

How Acculturation Strategy Can Be Related to Self-Efficacy

Acculturation involves an introduction to new languages and the need for adoption of processes through which the immigrants can learn the languages they will be communicating in. The self-esteem of the immigrants will be affected by the acculturation and linguistic factors of the immigrants. Therefore, depending on the acculturation process's effectiveness, the learners will be able to have the confidence to use their newly-learned languages if the method was useful, and ineffective processes will result in the learners' avoiding the use of the new languages (Lopez & Bui, 2014). There is, therefore, a need for the instructors responsible for the acculturation process to include social and emotional support to boost the learners' esteem during the acculturation process so that the procedure can be more successful. Since learning is a social process, when the learners feel that they are understood and appreciated by the instructors, they will put in more effort towards education. Therefore, they will have the confidence needed to learn new languages and practicing their use in public (Mizzi, 2017).

Language confidence is also an essential aspect of acculturation that should be considered when teaching or studying a new language. Language confidence is whereby the individual's confidence in English as a communication device and their ability to use it will determine the chances of the individual successfully learning the languages that they are exposed to (Watanabe, 2006). Therefore, underlying attitudes towards the languages being introduced will increase immigrants' chances of learning and successfully using the languages they are introduced to. Additionally, the time spent in the host country will determine the eagerness and confidence to learn the new languages. This point can be viewed from two angles, whereby the time spent by the immigrants in the country will help them to build up the confidence to learn and use the new languages since they will learn the language from both their social interactions and through formal settings (Gheorgiu & Stephens, 2016). Secondly, the period of stay and its impact on the learner’s ability and confidence to learn new languages can be viewed from the angle of the time that the immigrants will be spending in the host country. When they are staying temporarily, the possibility is that they will not be motivated to learn new languages since they will not have a long-term need.

On the other hand, when they are moving into the new countries as their permanent residences, then they will have the motivation needed for them to learn the new languages, due to the need of the language in their interactions for the rest of their residence in the host countries (Weidong & Chen, 2017). Finally, there is a direct link between the daily experiences immigrants go through and the motivation, need, and confidence to learn the new languages. Immigration is a stressful process for the people who undertake the process, and it, therefore, has some adverse effects on the mentality of the people concerned. It is consequently common for some immigrants to postpone the learning of the new languages and place it at the bottom of their list on what to do when they move into the new countries. However, some situations may force them to undertake the learning process quicker (Tong et al., 2010). For example, when they are supposed to get a formal education, they will have to learn the language of the land since it will be used during the learning process. The stress and hassles they experience due to their lack of grasp of the language used in their new countries of residence will motivate them to learn the new languages.

References

Ghazarian, P. G., & Youhne, M. S. (2015). Exploring intercultural pedagogy: Evidence from international faculty in South Korean higher education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 19(5), 476-490.

Gheorghiu, E., & Stephens, C. S. (2016). Working with “The Others”: Immigrant academics’ acculturation strategies as determinants of perceptions of conflict at work. The Social Science Journal, 53(4), 521-533.

Hotvedt, J. A. (2013). Acculturation as a Mediating Factor between Ethnic and Self-Identities.

Klassen, R. M., Bong, M., Usher, E. L., Chong, W. H., Huan, V. S., Wong, I. Y., & Georgiou, T. (2009). Exploring the validity of a teachers’ self-efficacy scale in five countries. Contemporary educational psychology, 34(1), 67-76.

Lopez, I. Y., & Bui, N. H. (2014). Acculturation and linguistic factors on international students’ self-esteem and language confidence. Journal of International Students, 4(4), 314-329.

Mizzi, R. C. (2017). Bridging borders: Toward a pedagogy of preparedness for visiting faculty. Journal of Studies in International Education, 21(3), 246-260.

Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA). Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Science.

Rafieyan, V. (2016). Relationship between acculturation attitude and effectiveness of pragmatic instruction. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 4(3), 1-7.

Schmitz, P. G., & Berry, J. W. (2011). Structure of acculturation attitudes and their relationships with personality and psychological adaptation: A study with immigrant and national samples in Germany.

Tong, F., & Prez, A. E. (2009). In-service bilingual/ESL teachers’ teaching efficacy, attitudes toward native language instruction and perception on English language learners: What do we know from the field. TABE Journal, 11(1), 1-33.

Tong, F., Castillo, L. G., & Pérez, A. E. (2010). A Psychological Profile of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity and Teaching Efficacy among Latino In-Service Teachers. International Education Studies, 3(3), 41-51.

Watanabe, D. H., Ryder, A. G., & Ring, A. J. (2006). Acculturation and social adjustment: Are there unique benefits to integration in Poster presented at the 67th annual convention of the Canadian Psychological Association, Calgary, AB.

Weidong, L., & Chen, S. (2017). Acculturation Strategy, Integration Paradoxes and Educational Adaptation--A Case Study of Chinese Visiting Scholar's Family in the United States. International Education Studies, 10(9), 39-53.