Social integration of Chinese students in Thai society: the case of Chinese students in Chulalongkorn University and Dhurakij Pundit University

Abstract

International students may not integrate as successfully and smoothly as has been assumed. These students may experience multiple challenges in their new social and academic host environments. As Chinese student is the majority and the main source of international students in Thailand, promotion for their better integration into Thai society should be done. Therefore, this study aims to investigate social life of Chinese students in Thailand and the factors that influent Chinese students’ integration into Thai society. The author chosen two representative universities as case study. The data was collected from observation and semi-structured interviews about integration in various domains and language proficiency self-evaluation.

Social integration refers to their social networks and involvement in local communities. Regarding integration in each domain, the results of the study show that Chinese students encountered some problems in the process of integration. From the result of patterns of friendships , it is found that Chinese students preferred to make Chinese-dominated social circle. In addition, there are five major problems on integration barriers from interview data. These results imply that Chinese students did not integrate into Thai society successfully. Inferred from the interview data about the main barriers. It is found that language proficiency and commutation with local people could be the most important problem in the process of Chinese students’ integration. Students with better language proficiency could have a better results in their integration. According to the theory of integration, it is clear that language proficiency that facilitates communication with local people is a crucial factor in gaining a more profound understanding of cultural characteristics.