MEDIATING EFFECT OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION BETWEEN CROSS- CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ADAPTATION IN CHINA

Abstract

In China, an increasing number of international students experience the issue of academic adaptation which has attracted a great deal of scholars to conduct related studies to decrease that academic problem. The current research was conducted to analyze the influencing factor for the issues of academic adaptation by examining the relationship between cross-cultural adaptation and international students’ academic adaptation and investigate the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation between cross-cultural adaptation and international students’ academic adaptation. In this study, 259 international students learning in Beijing, Wuhan and Haikou participated. To examine the relationship and mediator function of intrinsic motivation, SPSS analysis and AMOS was applied in current study. The results show that psychological adaptation has a direct positive influence on international students’ academic adaptation, but sociocultural adaptation has an indirect influence on international students’ academic adaptation. Intrinsic motivation has an essential mediator role between cross-cultural adaptation and international students’ academic adaptation. Findings from this research provide a guideline for colleges and universities to improve academic adaptation of international students, by enhancing their psychological adaptation, together with improving their intrinsic motivation. In future, conducting longitudinal studies will also be needed to track how cross-cultural adaptation influence international students’ academic adaptation in different adaptation stages to optimize the model shown in this research.