IEEE Paper Template in A4 (V1) Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 LET: Linguistics, Literature and English Teaching Journal ||Volume||12||Issue||1||Pages||174-192||2022|| |P-ISSN: 20869606; E-ISSN: 25492454| Available online at: http://jurnal.uin-antasari.ac.id/index.php INVESTIGATING CAUSES OF CULTURE SHOCK EXPERIENCED BY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS Widya Pramesti widiapramesti21@gmail.com Nurhaeni Nurhaeni nurhaeni@unsulbar.ac.id Nurul Imansari nurul.imansari@unsulbar.ac.id Sulawesi Barat University, Indonesia Article History: Received: 12 April 2022 Accepted: 26 May 2022 This study aims to investigate the causes of culture shock experienced by international students of Indonesia who study abroad as well as how is the culture shock and how to cope with it. This study employed qualitative research. The research subjects comprised ten international students who study in three different countries; eight in China, one in Australia and one in Netherland. They were selected utilizing purposive sampling techniques and collected through a semi-structured interview. The results of this research showed there are three main conditions of culture shock experienced by international students, that categorized in three dimension of culture shock; affect, behaviour and cognitions. Moreover, it was found that there were several causes of culture shock revealed in academic and non-academic settings. The causes of culture shock in academic settings indicated affecting students GPA score, like language barriers and learning process. While in non- academic settings the culture shock experienced by the international students cause by food, seasons and weather, payment system and people behaviour in their host country. Also, the subjects showed the way to cope with culture shock using their own coping strategy and it was revealed that having pre-departure orientation helped students cope with culture shock. Corresponding Author: nurhaeni@unsulbar.ac.id Keywords: Investigation; culture shock; international students http://jurnal.uin-antasari.ac.id/index.php mailto:widiapramesti21@gmail.com mailto:nurhaeni@unsulbar.ac.id mailto:nurul.imansari@unsulbar.ac.id mailto:nurhaeni@unsulbar.ac.id P a g e | 175 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 INTRODUCTION In this globalized era that supports by the whole world, our fragmented world is gradually replaced by a new borderless environment, mass education, IT and low-cost transportation. As a result, people can move more easily, travel, study, work, etc., all over the world more frequently. Such recent factors make the planet both smaller and cosmopolitan (Rajasekar, 2013, pp. 144,146). According to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), 47,574 Indonesian students study abroad for tertiary study in 2017, the number has continued to increase since 2013. The most popular destination is Australia, reaching 11040, possibly because Australia is the closest western country to Indonesia. In Malaysia, a neighbouring country with a culture and language almost similar to Indonesia, 10401 Indonesian student study there in 2017. In the United Kingdom and the United States, homes of the best Universities in the world ranking, the number of Indonesian students are 8782 and 3620 respectively. 3616 Indonesian study in Japan, which has a historical link to Indonesia, which may be one reason behind the popularity, and Indonesian students in Germany reached 2389 in 2017. One main possible reason for the increased number is the scholarship provided by the government for the excellent students since 2013 (Kemenristek/BRIN, 2017). As international students, it is a great opportunity to live and study overseas. They can get many unforgettable experiences and became more independent. Still, when they live in a new environment and become a part of an unfamiliar culture, they may experience “culture shock”. The term “culture shock has been defined by some researchers in a similar way. For example, Levine & Adelman (1993) reveal that “culture shock as the response that an individual may have when living in a new environment, they may experience confused feelings and disoriented, all aspects of their life can be difficult”. Similarly, Carmen (1998) pointed out: Culture shock is a term that describes the anxiety that arises when a person moves to a new environment. This term expresses a lack of direction; feeling don’t know what to do or how to do and also do not know what is appropriate or inappropriate. Studying abroad and entering an unknown society is indeed a difficult task for international students. Many of them will experience culture shock during the P a g e | 176 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 adjustment process to a new culture. They may face culture shock in academic and non-academic levels or settings, which can be frustrating and challenging (Saylag, 2013). In academic settings, the issues can be in terms of language and study: the distinctive atmosphere of an abroad college, different teaching styles and attitudes of lecturers and students in study and research process. In non-academic settings the issues can be in terms of nourishment or food, seasons accommodations, homesickness, loneliness, sadness, time differences, comfort zone, relationship with others where the life systems are exceptionally distinctive, etc. (Ernofalina, 2017). Whereas Furnham (2018) reveals the symptoms of culture shock, including cognitive, emotional, physical, and other reactions. Some researchers have tried to specify who and how many people will suffer culture shocks such as openness, neuroticism, language ability and tolerance for contradiction. In addition, not everyone experiences the term of culture shock similarly, some people may feel culture shock briefly, while others may experience it for a long time. However, they will encounter some common reactions to culture shock. According to Naeem, Nadeem & Khan (2015), “working in a new culture produces various reactions such as confusion, anxiety, depression, elation, isolation, inappropriate social behaviour, and even depression”. In the process of studying abroad, international students must adapt well to their host country. Some of them, did not get enough pre-departure direction, and this orientation can be used as a helping guide for them while they study abroad (Yahya, 2020). Also, this will ease the transition into the new culture and help them interact with the new environment effectively. Furthermore, learning and knowing about culture shock can be a literature direction, if after graduate they want to pursue their study abroad, they already know what will they experience, what are the causes of the culture shock, so they may prepare themselves. Based on the explanation above, this study is conducted to investigates the culture shock that experienced by international students of Indonesia who study overseas. From the research, the researcher would find and show what students understood about culture shock that happened to them, the causes of culture shock P a g e | 177 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 that they experience, and identified the adaptation process of culture shock when they study overseas clearly. METHOD Research Type and Design The research type in this study is a qualitative approach. The qualitative design of this research is descriptive case study. According to Creswell (2012, p. 16) that qualitative is “exploring a problem and developing a detailed understanding of a central phenomenon”. This approach is used because the researcher does not intend to test or compare a theory, but wants to describe a phenomenon. The qualitative approach also is an approach to inquiry that begins with opinions, world view, possibly a theoretical lens, and the study of research problem exploring the individual or groups to describe a social or human problem. In addition, qualitative method is used when the research aims to describe phenomena and the data used are interview, behaviour, and document which is not analysed using statistics pattern. The descriptive qualitative is used to investigate the causes of culture shock that experienced by international students. Data Sources In taking data, the researcher needs sources to get available data. Data sources are the subject of the research from where or whom the data can be obtained (Arikunto, 2019), the data in this research was taken from international students of Indonesia who study overseas. The researcher reached the international students through the community of Sulawesi Barat International Students and social media. The researcher used purposive sampling as the technique that included homogeneous sampling to recruit one particular group of international students as participants in this research. In obtaining the data the researcher takes 10 informants as the data sources from international students of Indonesia who have experienced the culture shock that researcher divided into two categories; culture shock in academic such as the difficulties in the learning process including language barriers and in non-academic level or difficulties in adapting process into the new environment during their study and have stayed in their host country for at least 1 P a g e | 178 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 year. The data sources are Indonesian students who study in China (8 informants), Netherlands (1 informant) and Australia (1 informant). Instrument To achieve the objectives of this study, the necessary data were collected through instruments. The instrument in this research used interviews to collect the data, the researcher used technology mediation to conduct interviews. The first mediation technology that the researcher used was the direct message of WhatsApp media. Through this WhatsApp media, the researcher conducted a pre-survey while conveying the research objectives to the participants. Furthermore, after obtaining approval, the researcher continues the research interview using video call media to get direct and more in-depth information while recording the interview using a tape/audio recorder. The interview has a function to find out and investigate descriptions that include information related to culture shock. The interview sheet contains questions related to this research that was asked to the international students. FINDING AND DISCUSSION Findings The research finding is to answer the research questions that show the culture shock experienced by international students, the causes of culture shock and how they cope with it. The information in this part of the finding was found based on the interview result, and the researcher displayed the data in the form of descriptive text. The interview was involved ten international students of Indonesia who study in three different countries. It was conducted on 5th July – 19th July 2021 and the selected interviewees initial were ICG, ER, NU, SH, ZH, DN, MR, NI are studying China. The other two informants, KH and IM are studying in Australia and Netherlands. Based on the students' background and reasons for studying abroad, the researcher found that there are some reasons for international students to study abroad namely to learn new things, gain new experiences, parents’ choice, broaden horizons and challenge and explore themselves. Also, the other students who study in China mentioned that they want to learn Mandarin, while the other two concerning about the country popularity that relates to business as their priority P a g e | 179 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 so they went to China to learn the business for better opportunities. The last two students, got the opportunity provided by the government, one in Netherlands got a scholarship to pursue his postgraduate study, and the last one who studies in Australia getting the opportunity to take part in a youth exchange program allowing him to study abroad. After exploring students' reasons for studying abroad, the researcher then asked further and came to the next section of the interview process. In the section of the interview, to answer the three research questions in this study, the researcher had divided the interview questions into three themes as follows: Culture shock experiences All the participants experienced culture shock. The dimension of culture shock differed among them. There were three points that described how the culture shock was experienced by international students. Affect This dimension related to the feelings and emotions. The case that was experienced by international students, all related to the feelings and emotions that they expressed as the dimension of psychological factors such as anxiety, homesickness, uncomfortable, confused and also frustration. This dimension is experienced by people as the first response to the new culture they live in and the results of encountering an unfamiliar environment. Tehavior This dimension of culture shock related to culture and learning social skills development. The dimension is the behavior dimension in culture shock experiences where the students showed their first impression of becoming a part of the society. As mentioned by the international students; they were impressed by the system, people discipline in their host country, and how the people work that mentioned so workaholic and focused on their job. Also, one student who studies in Netherlands mentioned that people in his host country very value other people P a g e | 180 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 Privacy This also become the reason for him to not share his information of age because he tried to implement the culture to value privacy. Cognitions This dimension is the result of affect and behavior aspects. Where the international students change their perceptions of cultural identity and values because of cultural contact. The cognitions dimension might have negative views when they think about difficulties in social interaction, but in contrast, the two last informants have their positive view when experiencing the culture shock. They stated they learned many things and become more organized, such as discipline, on time, workaholic, and once stated that he suddenly reconstructs his dream because the culture taught him so much about the way to live his life. Causes of culture shock In the process of describing the causes of culture shock experienced by international students, it was categorized into two cases; in academic settings and non-academic settings. Academic settings The researcher asked the informants what are the causes of the culture shock that they experienced in academic life, there are two points answer, language and learning process; Language All of the informants showed difficulties during their study because of the language barriers. From all of the informants’, the researcher found some reasons that made language become one of the causes of culture shock they experienced, namely: some students can speak English and they thought that in the learning process the material will be taught in English but the learning process is full in Mandarin, also the students in their class only using Mandarin so they had the P a g e | 181 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 difficulty and misunderstanding in learning. The other students who already knew a bit about Mandarin still also found difficulty in language because the language in their host country has a different dialect and accent used by the people so it made the language more confusing. Another problem is because of the alphabet, Mandarin does not use the Latin alphabet, Chinese writing has its own character that is hard to memorize and barely to understand. Students also mentioned they had language barriers and sometimes to explain what they wanted to say they use gestures. One of the students stated that the main cause of experiencing culture shock is the language because language became a big deal when anyone who studies abroad does not understand the language of their host country. All Informants showed they were struggling with language barriers. Learning process In the learning process, there were some factors that became the causes of culture shock that impact the student in studying. The researcher asked the international students what caused the culture shock that they experienced in the academic process, and does that affect their GPA score. From all of the informants’ answers, the researcher found that the learning process became the cause of students experiencing culture shock in their host country, and some affected their GPA scores. The struggle they faced in the learning process such as; the way the lecturer conveyed the materials are very students-centered, and the students in class really like to argue about crucial issues and topics, they were so confident at public speaking, also the students in their class were very hardworking and competitive. Some students also mentioned they struggle with time, like adjusting lesson hours and punctuality. The other explained that they had problems communicating with the lecturer and local students because of the language barrier, especially when they wanted to ask about the material. But the other student mentioned that his lecturer was so helpful and did their best to clarify the lessons. Because of the problem caused by the learning process, some students also mentioned that it was affected their GPA scores especially at the beginning of the semester. P a g e | 182 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 Non-academic settings The causes of culture shock in non-academic settings, based on the interview, it was found that there were four cases described by each informant in terms of food, weather, payment method and people behavior. Food Some of the informants had problems caused by food. The students who study in China, could not accept Chinese food because of the different served and smell, even had a problem with appetite. Some food served is different from Indonesia, for example when eating spoons are rarely provide, only chopsticks, so it hard for the students to eat the food, also, some food smells weird like mentioned by one student the food named century egg smell so weird. Because of this, she said that in the early month she had a problem with appetite. The other problem for the students was finding halal food, this related to the student’s religion and culture in Indonesia. Indonesia has different food representatives as a result of culture and the religious majority. Different from the four students who experienced the culture shock caused by food, the rest of the six students were fine the entire time. They enjoy the food in their host country because they using some found food applications and got some information from the internet, and some just cook by themselves because they don’t fit with the food, wanted to try home food that they got from their mothers also to saving the money Seasons and Weather Some students who did not found it difficult in food actually felt the problem with the seasons. As stated by one student “I have problems with the seasons, especially during winter, I was allergic to cold and it was very painful because it was very different from the weather in Indonesia. At that time, I kept monitoring the temperature outside my room and it even showed minus 20 degrees”. Another student also said, “I really didn't dare to go outside when a wave of cold air hit, the chill was really bone-chilling, and I also learned that China has a color-coded P a g e | 183 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 weather warning system with four levels, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue”. There are four seasons in China that define the weather, one of the most influential seasons in the student culture shock experience is winter. This happens because in Indonesia itself there is no winter so students find it difficult to adjust to these conditions. So, when winter was coming students just stayed in their room and dormitory. The other students explained that they learned from the pre- departure orientation so they prepare to bring winter jackets and some information from the related application. Payment System Another cause was in the payment system. As explained by a student “Another thing with the payment system in China, namely the e-money system. the payment system in China is used to not using cash, of course for early users 'the money is invisible, it will not run out it felt like that because the money is not in hand, users hardly know the money spent as a result of irregular use of money”. The payment systems in China already using e-money. In that country, a cell phone is everything. Apart from communicating and socializing, cell phones are also an important means of payment. Starting from buying groceries, paying for a taxi, to renting a bicycle, everything can be done through a smartphone payment tool. This is also explained by the students who study in China, different from Indonesia that we still use cash to transact or buy anything. People Behavior Since it was international students’ first time being abroad, seeing other people different behavior in their daily activity also become one of the causes of culture shock that affected students’ behavior and perspective too. As mentioned by a student “I was Impressed with the Dutch system and culture, in the Netherlands, personal information is strictly kept confidential”. While another stated: “The people were quite indifferent, but about cleanliness they really kept their environment stay clean, and they are also so workaholic, and about punctuality, I learned about time management so much from P a g e | 184 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 them”. Other student also said, “I saw people there who don't really care about what other people think or perspective they can just do whatever they want to do, they are people who are very busy of working”. As experienced by NU and MR, the other three students who study in China too mentioned that punctuality, workaholic and cleanliness were such the things that they learned from people there. International students have some positive views on people behavior in their host country, they learned to manage themselves after experiencing causes of culture shock, especially when they became part of the society. Some said that they learned how to be on time, how to manage private information, maintain cleanliness, also they mentioned that people in their host country so workaholics. Cope with Culture Shock As international students’ first time being abroad for a long period, the researcher asked informants how they cope with culture shock and the way they prepare themselves to live in other countries. International students cope with culture shock in different ways because they are also experiencing different causes of culture shock, one student said that he tried to be realistic, if it’s a positive thing then he learned to do it, also started communicating with local students. Keep in touch with their family in Indonesia become one of the students’ ways to cope with culture shock, also student prepares themselves by learning about the culture and language from the internet, the student mentioned too that accept and tried to adapt to the culture and environment, also got used to found out more about the environment they lived in, the habitual action of the people and the food too. Besides the students mentioned too that they balanced and follow the positive habits of the people in the host country, prepared physically and mentally, and made friendships with Indonesian students. The student also explained how to cope with culture shock by learning how to cook, be careful in the act, maintain relationships with anyone and focus on learning. Respect cultural differences, cultivate a spirit of tolerance, build relationships with anyone, chat a lot with family and friends, and keep engaging with the community. Some students also mentioned that pre- departure orientation also helped them to prepare themselves. P a g e | 185 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 Discussion In this research, there were 10 informants from international students of Indonesia who study abroad, consisted of 7 females and 3 males. 8 informants are studying in China, and the other 2 are studying in Australia and Netherlands. To collect the data, the researcher used a semi-structured interview. In this discussion part, the researcher elaborated the findings based on each research question. For the first research question, the researcher found out three main conditions of culture shock experienced by international students, categorized in three dimensions; affect, behavior and cognitions. As stated by Ward (2001) about the three dimensions of culture shock called “affect, behavior and cognition (ABC)” these dimensions become the terms for the researcher to recognized each student’s condition of experiencing the culture shock. All international students experienced different conditions and terms that affected their feeling, emotion, perspective and behavior. Experienced by three international students, the affect dimension related to their feeling and emotion when encountering the new culture as their first impression; the feeling of confusion, anxiety, cluelessness, missing home, family and friends and the uncomfortable feeling. One of them said that she struggled to recognize the daily activity in her host country because of the anxious feeling and missing her family and friends in Indonesia. Also, one international student said that she struggled to communicate because of the uncomfortable feeling she felt. Besides the behavior dimension also becomes the experiences of culture shock related to the culture and learning social skills development as the result of becoming the new part of the new society that affected the student’s behavior, habit and social knowledge. There were varieties of expressions described by the international students when they experienced the culture shock in this dimension. They were impressed by their host country’s people’s behavior, perspective, culture, system, and rules. The last dimension is cognitions. In this dimension international students change their perceptions of cultural identity and values because of cultural contact or when the cultural exchange occurs. They learned a lot of things at their first sight, P a g e | 186 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 they learned to be on time, discipline, workaholic and even the new culture changed their perspective about life, study process and also their goals. In this condition students have positive views when they saw and experienced the new culture. Based on the three conditions mentioned above, it concurred with the statement pointed out in Ward’s book that in the dimension of culture shock, an individual might experience three different conditions in terms of feeling or emotion, behavior and cognition, these three dimensions might have a negative or positive impact that affected student’s perspective, views and behavior. But in this study students showed their positive impact. Furthermore, Soraya’s (2020) thesis result about the dimension of culture shock showed the same condition of the students during the culture shock experiences in terms of effect, cognition and behavior dimension. The second research question asked about the causes of culture shock the international students experienced. The result of the data showed several causes of culture shock experienced by international students, that categorized into two cases; in academic settings and non-academic settings. In academic settings, the causes are language and learning process. All international students mentioned that they had problems and struggling with the language because of the language limitations. Language is a means of communication, and if a person cannot understand the language, it is impossible to interact with others and get what they say or want, and this was also the case of international students, they encountered a language barrier. The informants’ answers showed that language barriers were the major cause of this phenomenon because all the international students experienced it due to the lack of linguistic ability. Two international students said that in their learning process they full used Mandarin, so it made them difficult to understand the learning process in their first month of study, and the other explained Chinese alphabet had its own character that was different from the Latin alphabet also they have their own dialect and accent. Also, one of them stated that the main cause of experiencing culture shock is language, because language become the big deal when anyone who studies in another country does not understand the language of their host country, when they need or want to do anything they must to communicate with the society in that country, and she experienced that too at the beginning. The other three students also experienced the same struggle in language barriers. P a g e | 187 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 As shown above, language is the cause of culture shock that most affects students in academic settings, this happened because the students learned and practiced the language of their host country during their study there, there were no students who were already experts in the language of their host country before they went to the country where they are studying. The case of culture shock in China happened because Mandarin itself has an alphabetic character that is much different from Indonesian, which must be studied separately and further adds to the difficulties of students in learning Mandarin. The people’s use of various accents and dialects also makes students confused in using and learning the language. Some students who can speak English also thought that in the learning process in China, some would use English but it turns out that they use Mandarin full in class, both teachers and students. The students in China faced similar difficulties with language. Even the students who already knew a bit about this language seemed to consider language as a barrier for particular reasons such as the use of different accent and dialect and the different alphabet character. While the cases in Australia and Netherlands also showed that students experienced a slight language barrier due to the lack of language skills in the country where they study. From the cases of language barrier above, it can be seen that students who study in China feel the most impact from the language barrier because the differences between Mandarin and Indonesian are quite significant starting from letters, word writing, pronunciation, dialect and accent. The learning process also one of the issues caused international students experienced culture shock in academic settings, in this case, some affecting their GPA scores like language limitation and different learning method. The student- centered learning system that different from students previous learning environment, the difficulty of catching up with advanced learning, the way students interacted and communicated using different languages with local students and teachers, showed some adverse effects on students who study in China, Australia and Netherlands, affected their GPA scores. Also, different learning styles and methods with the local students in China that some of them mentioned the local students in their classroom very competitive and hardworking, made them hard to reach the local students during their first semester of study that affected their GPA. P a g e | 188 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 Adjusting learning hours and the students center process at the beginning of the semester also became the international student’s problems faced in their early study. Based on the two causes of culture shock showed by international students above, it was coherence with Ernofalina’s (2017) studied that different language barrier, learning styles and methods became the causes of culture shock that affected international students in their academic settings because they were taught by using language that they were not fluent with, the different atmosphere of the university they study, and different attitude of local students and teachers. Apart from academic settings, the causes of culture shock mentioned by international students also showed differently in non-academic settings, which are food, weather, payment-system and people behavior. Some international students said they had problem with the food in their host country, two students who study in China mentioned they could not eat the food because different served and smell, even lost appetite and finding the halal food was the big problem for two other students who study in China and Australia. The weather was also one of the issues that caused international students to experience culture shock, explained by two of them who study in China that during the winter the temperature of the air will be so cold and they couldn’t go outside of their room. Weather also made one of them allergic to cold. Another cause mentioned by one of the international students who also study in China was a payment system that is not using cash, hence, the early user felt confused about using it. The last cause stated by the international students that affecting their non- academic life was people’s behavior. Since it was their first time seeing other people in their host country had different daily activities, it affected their behavior and perspective. The unawareness of the rules of social behavior caused them to misunderstand the social conventions of society, which shocked them and changed their mindset. The people’s behavior in their host country had a positive impact on them, they were impressed with the punctuality, workaholic and cleanliness said by the students who study in China and the other one who studies in Netherland mentioned that was Impressed with the system and culture also personal information that strictly kept confidential. P a g e | 189 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 Based on the students answered about the causes of culture shock in non- academic settings, showed that it experienced by each student in a different condition, it happened because they also faced the different situation, preparation and struggle, especially because they also came from different background of family and the habitual action of culture, so the causes of culture shock in non- academic settings they experienced depended on the environment they lived in and the different expectation they thought. In this study, the causes of culture shock happened because of food, weather and seasons, people behavior and payment system, concurred with the statement pointed out by Ernofalina (2017) that the problems that international students’ experience will be in terms of food, seasons or weather, social norms in terms of people behavior. The uniqueness of this research is that the payment system has become one of the causes of culture shock in this modern era that experienced by students who study in China as the product of digital platforms. As mentioned furthermore in Thomas’ (2005) study that each individual experiencing the different terms of culture shock, and all the causes of culture shock will uniquely affect individuals because the reaction to a new culture varies. The last research question asked about the way on how to cope with culture shock. The result of the data showed that some international students got pre- departure orientation, and it helped them to prepare themselves, even the culture shock still happened to them but pre-departure orientation helped them to reduce the effect of the causes of culture shock and also taught them some ways to cope with it. The students who study in China said they kept in touch with their family and friends in Indonesia, tried to be friends with local students, balanced themselves and follow their habits on the positive and leave the negative. Moreover, the way they coped with culture shock is to try to be realistic, accept and try to adapt to the culture, and find out more about the culture they lived in, the habitual action and the food. Most of the students also mentioned that acceptance was one of the ways to coped with the culture shock, besides accepted it, enjoyed and learned about the culture also helped students. Stated by one international student also that respecting cultural differences, cultivate a spirit of tolerance, tried to adapt to the surrounding P a g e | 190 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 environment and build good relationships with anyone was the ways to coped with the culture shock. While other students who study in Australia mentioned the best ways to cope with culture shock were dare to meet new people, keep engaging with the community, and make friends. And for student in Netherland stated the way to cope with culture shock was learning sustainably about the new culture. Students in three different countries have their own way to cope with culture shock because they cope with the different causes of culture shock, also each of them adapts to the culture in their host country differently, but students who study in Netherland adapt to the culture more quickly because he was learning sustainably about the culture. On Soraya’s (2020) previous study about the way to cope with the culture shock that stated to cope with culture shock, it will have a different strategy, in this study also mentioned that before entering the new culture the informants in this study got some information from the local people so they could reduce the causes of culture shock that happened to them. While in this study, all international students did not have acquaintances, so before they go abroad, they have to find the information of their host country by themselves. Based on most students answer that having pre-departure orientation helped them to prepare themselves before entering the new environment, this was also the major reason they can coped better with the causes of culture shock that affecting them differently. It was agreed by Yahya’s (2020) Statement that in order to cope with the new culture, international students must to have pre-departure orientation. Also, the result of this study showed that all international students could cope with the culture shock effectively based on their own coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS Culture shock is a normal condition experienced by a foreigner when entering a new environment. In culture shock, there are three different terms of dimension that foreigners will surely pass, the dimension of affect, behavior and cognitions. This research found the causes of culture shock experienced by international students who study in China, Australia and Netherland. After obtaining the data from the interview, the data shows that the causes of culture P a g e | 191 Widya Pramesti LET: Linguistics, Literature and Language Teaching Journal Vol. 12 No. 1 2022 shock affected their academic no-academic life. The culture shocks the students experienced showed in three dimensions; affect dimension that affects their emotions and feelings, behaviour affecting their social skills development and cognitions that affect their perspective and change their view about the new culture, new behaviour of people in their host country and the new system they experienced. The researcher found that there were two main problems in academic and non- academic settings that became the causes of culture shock experienced by international students, affecting in academic settings; language and learning process. Moreover, this causes of culture shock, affecting their GPA score. While in non- academic settings the culture shock experienced by the international students caused by food, seasons and weather, payment system and people behaviour in their host country. These all ten international students showed the different processes to cope with culture shock depending on what causes they experienced. 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