Selecting an esp course book for a group of technology employees in vietnam based on a needs analysis

Research question 2: How have intra-national sojourning students adjusted themselves when they interact with friends that they meet in Hà Nội?. Research question 3: How have intra-nation

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

GRADUATION PAPER

STORIES OF INTRA-NATIONAL SOJOURNING STUDENTS: FRIENDSHIP DIALECTICS

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thanh Hà, Ph.D

Student: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai Course: QH2016.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI – 2020 FACULTY OF LINGUISTICS AND CULTURES OF ENGLISH –SPEAKING

COUNTRIES

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA NGÔN NGỮ VÀ VĂN HÓA CÁC NƯỚC NÓI TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

CÂU CHUYỆN VỀ NHỮNG SINH VIÊN NGOẠI TỈNH

TẠI HÀ NỘI: BIỆN CHỨNG TÌNH BẠN

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: T.S Nguyễn Thanh Hà Sinh viên: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai

Khóa: QH2016.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI – 2020

I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Mai, class16E1, being a candidate for the degree

of Bachelor of Arts accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Date

Signature of Approval:

_ Supervisors’ Comments and Suggestions:

_ _ _ _

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deepest admiration and gratitude towards my supervisor, Ms Nguyễn Thanh Hà, for her dedicated instructions on this research It was her critical yet constructive comments that have guided me through all the doubts and setbacks in the process On a personal note, her heart-warming encouragement and patience have become a source of emotional support for me and other supervisees to exert ourselves to pursue this project

I am also grateful to my group of friends, including the anonymous participants who were willing to participate in the interviews; Ms Quynh Trang, Thu Trang, Thu Phuong, and Thu Ha whose kind words have eased my self-doubt and insecurity in carrying out this project Finally, thank you, Mai, for not giving up till the end

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have focused on student mobility, especially identity negotiation and adaptation of sojourning students around the world On realising the exciting implications of this mobility within a country, the study delve into the process of adjustment of intra-national sojourning students in Hà Nội, which welcomes the massive flow of provincial sojourning students every year Three participants from the north, the central and the south of Vietnam are invited to participate in this study I apply a qualitative narrative approach

to explain the adaptation process of these students The findings point out the different strategies they use to make new friends and maintain old friendships Through using three dialectics suggested in the Identity Negotiation Framework by Ting-Toomey (2005), I also explain how sojourning students adjusted themselves when interacting with both groups of friends though First, sojourning students may feel stressed and excluded at the initial stage of adaptation Second, they gain a greater sense of security and inclusion thanks to the acceptance and welcome from their local students Also, the sense of security is significantly higher when student interact with their old friends Finally, the participants enhance their self-worth through their sojourning experience, while staying true to their core values and personal traits The study also raises further suggestions for future research into the association between personal identity stability and close friendship maintenance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of research problem and questions 1

1.2 Scope of the study 3

1.3 Significance of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Identity 5

2.1.1 Identity as fluid, dynamic, multiple and positional 5

2.1.2 Identity as place attachment 5

2.1.3 Identity as adaptation 6

2.1.4 Identity Negotiation Theory (INT) 7

2.1.5 Three dialectics in cultural adjustment study 8

2.2 Friendships 9

2.2.1 Definition of friendship 9

2.2.2 Intercultural friendship formation 10

2.2.3 Intercultural Friendship maintenance 12

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 14

3.1 Participants 14

3.2 Data Collection 15

3.3 Data Analysis 16

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17

4.1 Portraits of the participants 17

4.2 Research question 1: What strategies do intra-national sojourning students employ to form new friendships and maintain old ones? 23

4.2.1 Forming new friendships 23

4.2.2 Maintaining old friendships 29

4.3 Research question 2: How have intra-national sojourning students adjusted themselves when they interact with friends that they meet in Hà Nội? 31

4.3.1 Identity security – vulnerability 31

4.3.1 Identity inclusion – differentiation 32

4.3.3 Identity consistency-change 34

4.4 Research question 3: How have intra-national sojourning students in Hà Nội adjusted themselves when they interact with friends that they knew from their hometown? 38

4.4.1 Identity security-vulnerability 38

4.4.2 Identity inclusion-differentiation 39

4.4.3 Identity consistency-change 40

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 42

5.1 Summary of key ideas 42

5.2 Implications 43

5.3 Limitation and recommendation 43

REFERENCE 45

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of research problem and questions

Students' migration is recognised as an important, if overlooked, a component of migration and has been deemed as one of the most fundamental mobilities in the 21st century (Findlay et al., 2005; King & Ruiz-Gelices, 2003,

as cited in Holdsworth, 2009) When investigating the trends, motivations and identities of international students in the UK, Prazeres (2013) proposed that future research should venture into exploring student mobilities in developing nations and the influence of mobility on students‘ personal, national and global identities Nonetheless, while the complex issues of mobility and identities of international students have received numerous attention from academics and researchers in recent years (Liu, 2015; Machart, 2017; Qingjiu & Maliki, 2013; Schachner et al., 2017; Wong, 2017), few papers have focused on those of internal student migration or the movement between regions (Findlay et al., 2017)

Within the context of Viet Nam, the report of internal mobility in Viet Nam by UNFPA (2016) points out that the proportions of mobile high school students, undergraduates and apprentices accounted for 15.7% of the intra-national migrants in 2015 As a result of admitting students from other provinces and cities, Hà Nội was observed to welcome 28.9% of the total sojourning students nationwide, ranking second only to Mekong Delta With the change in the place of residence and the corresponding social factors, these students are likely to adapt themselves to the new setting in Hà Nội

Having been away from my hometown, which is situated in the central area of Viet Nam, and resided in Hà Nội for almost four years for higher education, I found myself in the flow of mobile students coming to Hà Nội every year I share the insight of a sojourning student who has made fundamental adjustments to the new life in Hà Nội, especially in the way I

interact with my friends When communicating with friends in Hà Nội, I change my regional dialects and switch to the so-called ―Hà Nội accent‖ My classmates and other friends were intrigued when they suddenly heard my hometown accent In addition to that, despite being unable to make friends in the first year, I have now developed a new way of representing myself with people in Hà Nội I have adopted a new way of thinking like my friends in this place, and every time I surf the newsfeed on my Facebook, I realise that most

of the news comes from friends that I meet in Hà Nội It was at the end of my third year that I realised that those friends had changed me radically; I recognise them as part and parcel of my life However, whenever coming back

to my hometown and using my regional accent, I return to my old ―self‖, I think in a way that people in my city do and converse with others as I always used to While other sojourning students share with me that they are too engaged in the new life in Hà Nội and thus, fail to maintain friendships with friends in their hometown, I have been able to foster my relationship with my old friends Some of them have so far been my best friends for more than a decade From my personal story, I wonder how the story of other mobile students in Hà Nội might be Specifically, I aspire to explore the process of adaptation and friendship maintenance of students residing in Hà Nội, how they develop their identity and construct meaning through that process, both despite and because of their mobility

Realising the gap in the literature and being further driven by my own experience, I am motivated to conduct a thorough study on how intra-national sojourning students have maintained their friendships and negotiated their identity through the adaptation and friend-making process The research problem, hence, is:

Identity negotiation and the process of forming and maintaining friendship of sojourning students in Hà Nội

As most existing accounts of student mobility emphasise the quantitative approach, some aspects of the acculturative processes are neglected Thus, this research employs the qualitative approach to probe deeper into this phenomenon The study, thereby, seeks to answer the following research questions:

Research question 1: What strategies do intra-national sojourning students

employ to form new friendships and maintain old ones?

Research question 2: How have intra-national sojourning students in Hà Nội

adjusted themselves when they interact with friends that they meet in Hà Nội?

Research question 3: How have intra-national sojourning students in Hà Nội

adjusted themselves when they interact with friends that they knew from their hometown?

1.2 Scope of the study

The study is restricted to identifying the adaptation and identity negotiation processes of three intra-national sojourning students in Hà Nội in terms of friendship development and management Although the adjustment of

an individual due to mobility is complex and thus can be attributed to numerous factors, within the constraint of time of this bachelor graduation thesis, I would only focus on how students adapt themselves and thus negotiating their identities when interacting with friends The reasons for this are twofold Firstly, friendship plays an indispensable role in identity negotiation as through newfound friends, students can adjust to unfamiliar cultures and adopt new ways to communicate competently in a different cultural living environment (Hotta & Ting-Toomey, 2013) As intra-national sojourning students are geographically apart from people in their hometown and come to Hà Nội for their study, most of their time is spent with their classmates at school and other friends in their social circle Secondly, previous research by Easthope (2009) points out that attention to the ―construction of the self in everyday interactions‖ (Goffman 1963, as cited in Easthope 2009) is

crucial when investigating the influence of migration on identity construction When people change their place, they are likely to encounter new interpersonal relations that may affect their interpretations of their own identities For the two reasons mentioned above, I contend that friendship is a potential theme to investigate the adaptation process of intra-national sojourning students Besides, as this study applies a narrative approach in which individuals share in-depth experiences, three participants is a manageable number to limit possible over-generalisations

1.3 Significance of the study

This study aims at contributing to the current research gap about national student mobility around the world and in Việt Nam specifically The researcher wishes to clarify the strategies that sojourning students use to make new friends and maintain old bonds, as well as explain process of adaptation and friendship management of sojourning students in Hà Nội who leave home

intra-at an early stage of their adult life

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Three crucial dimensions in this thesis are identity, friendship and adaptation Thus, in this section, I synthesise and discuss the existing literature

in accordance with these dimensions In addition, I highlight common theoretical frameworks in the field and discuss their relation to the topic of this study

2.1 Identity

2.1.1 Identity as fluid, dynamic, multiple and positional

The notion of identity as fluid and dynamic has been well established in previous studies since the twentieth century by Mead and Morris (1972) It is widely accepted that identity is not a naturally occurring phenomenon, but a socially constructed concept (Berger, 1973) Identity negotiation occurs during the process of communicating with others, and there exist different layers of identity that are inherently connected with social contexts and expectations (Hecht et al., 2005 as cited in Liu, 2015)

Some sociological research on identity advocates the argument of Bauman (1997, as cited in Easthope, 2009) that identities in this day and age have been less fixed and stable than in the past Holland (1996, p.109, as cited

in Phan, 2007) mention identity as a ―moveable feast‖ which is in constant transformation in connection with how we are represented or addressed in the surrounding cultural context Holland deemed identity as multiple, implying that people presumably adopt different identities due to the change in contexts and times

2.1.2 Identity as place attachment

Previous accounts of identities and mobility have proposed the conceptions of ―identity as place attachment‖, ―place-based‖ identity or ―place

identity‖ (Stedman, 2002; Tuan, 1980) ―Places‖ are primarily understood to be socially constructed in a sense that our notions of place ―are products of the society in which we live‖ (Massey 1995, as cited in Easthope, 2009) According to Tuan (1980), sense of place is based on length or depth of experience vis-a-vis the place, and social relationships are considered as the foundation of attachment rather than the physical setting

Personal identity is intrinsically linked to a consciousness of one‘s

place, which means that place and self are inter-related (Casey, 2001)

Recognising this tie-in, Bachelard emphasises that studies on places are vital to understanding the self and mind (Easthope, 2009) Identity and place, thus, are intrinsically related to each other

These arguments are cemented by the study of Lin (2002) on the mass mobility of the Chinese diaspora from Hong Kong The findings highlighted the significance of place-based identity as one of the multiple impetuses that drove the great spatial mobility of Hong Kong sojourners

2.1.3 Identity as adaptation

Previous research by Huang (2011) indicates that through communication, identity formation is seen as the consequence of the on-going process of adaptation and negotiation This conception is proposed previously

by Baumeister and Muraven (1996), which considers the interrelation of individual identity to social circumstances as ―adaptation‖ They argue that individual identity is an inevitable outcome of historical events, cultural factors, and corresponding social relations in the sequel Through their life, individuals are required to make certain negotiation within themselves to satisfy their wants and needs in the living context, insofar as they can get along with others in their social circle Identity, thus, manifests the adaptation of the self to the socio-cultural context In this process of interacting with the social environment, the self constructs a built-in definition of itself that enables it to progress Baumeister and Muraven (1996) further conclude that the adaptation

processes are a significant part of adolescence, in which the individual develops an adult identity As for the method of investigating cultural adjustment and identity negotiation, Ting-Toomey (2015) recognises the increasing trend in applying a multimethod approach to embrace the variations

in immigrants‘ and sojourners‘ adaptation

Existing scholarship on the acculturation of rural students studying in the city by Pheko et al (2014) points out the rural sojourning students have to handle numerous stress when adapting to a new environment Students from the village refer to the dressing styles and attitudes to lecturers of other students

in the urban area of Bostwana as ―awkward‖, ―uncomfortable‖ and thus, hard

to ―cope with‖ Thus, this suggests that the process of adaptation might not always go smoothly, but might include possible uneasiness

2.1.4 Identity Negotiation Theory (INT)

The current prevailing framework is identity negotiation theory by Toomey, which defines identity negotiation as ―the exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages between the two or more communicators in maintaining, threatening, or uplifting the various socio-cultural group-based or unique personal-based identity images of the other in different situations.‖ (Ting-Toomey, 2015, p.1) She assumes that individuals, regardless of their culture of ethnic groups, are spurred on by the uniform basic needs, which compose of

Ting-―identity security, trust, inclusion, connection, and stability‖

Ting-Toomey (1999, 2005) also puts forward the notions of ―identity consistency‖ and ―identity change/ transformation‖ Individuals incline to undergo identity consistency in an acquainted cultural setting and gravitate to identity change and transformation as a response to a newfound or unfamiliar cultural setting In this sense, new immigrants, minority members, and biracial/multiracial individuals are required to ―swing between the various dialectical-thematic poles adaptively and creatively in crafting their strategic

identity negotiation process depending on relative and summative circumstances‖ (Ting-Toomey, 1999, 2005)

INT is a suitable framework for this thesis as it probes into the different dimensions of identity that impact individuals‘ self-perception and adaptive behaviours Previous research by Hotta and Ting-Toomey (2013) reveals that this theory can be used to explain the identity negotiation of sojourners from multiple perspectives Furthermore, the theory sheds light on satisfactory communication outcomes – being understood, supported, respected by others

as the result of successful identity negotiation This result is achieved through enhancing ―intercultural identity-based knowledge, mindfulness, and adaptive interactive negotiation skills‖ (Hotta & Ting-Toomey, 2013) The authors suggest that sojourning students who can harness their identity negotiation strategies will feel more accepted and acknowledged by culturally unfamiliar others This marks the moment sojourners transition from an outsider to a

―welcome guest‖ identity, thereby gaining supportive friendship networks during their intercultural adjustment process

2.1.5 Three dialectics in cultural adjustment study

The INT (Ting-Toomey, 2005) proposes that individuals from all cultures thrive for positive identity affirmation in different communication situations It follows ten core assumptions, which illustrate the ―antecedent,

communication.‖ ( p.422) Her first assumption is that the core dynamics of an individual‘s group membership identities and personal identities are constructed through communication with others The second core assumption stated in INT (Ting-Toomey, 2005) proposes that there is an optimal range on the identity dialectics in the context of negotiating both personal and socio-cultural identity in different social environments

Three of the identity dialectics, namely identity security-vulnerability, inclusion-differentiation, and consistency-change, are previously used in

cultural adjustment research (Hotta & Ting-Toomey, 2013) These dialects are later chosen to investigate the intercultural adaptation and friendship dialectics

of international sojourning students in the US by Hotta and Ting-Toomey (2013) Specifically, using identity negotiation theories, the researchers pay attention to the intercultural adjustment journey of international students in the

US in terms of identity-based emotions In terms of identity security – vulnerability, the results reveal the participants‘ identity fluctuating process in the context of adapting to the new cultures With identity inclusion-differentiation dialectics, the study probes into hands-on stories from the interviewees about some culturally-insensitive distressing comments and other cultural shock experiences that they encounter The study further explains the significance of identity continuity and change processes from the stories of the participants by explaining why some of them only communicate within their

―in-group members‖, and others show efforts of mingling with their new American classmates

Within this study, the researcher would apply these three dialectics as the framework to test whether they could elucidate the complicated matter of identity adaptation of intra-national sojourning students in Hà Nội and if possible, give further explanations about this phenomenon

2.2 Friendships

2.2.1 Definition of friendship

Friendship is described as voluntary interdependence between two people ―that includes the experience and satisfaction‖ of various factors, including intimacy, support, self-validation (Duck et al., 1997)

Harris and Vazire (2016) point out three stages of friendships, including friendship formation, friendship maintenance and friendship dissolution This study mainly focuses on two stages, which include the friendship formation of sojourning students with their newly found friends in Hà Nội and the acts of friendship maintenance with their previous friends from their hometown

2.2.2 Intercultural friendship formation

2.2.2.1 Elements in the formation of intercultural friendship

Through intensive research on the topic of friendship, Gareis (2000) concludes that friendship can be attributed to six components: cultural differences, personality, homophily, adjustment stage, communicative competence, and proximity

Gareis concludes that cultural difference might potentially create some setback in friendship development Several components in this difference might

be social structure, value system and thought patterns Her research into the intercultural friendship of German, Indian and Taiwanese students in the USA, suggests the influence of cultural differences on the intricate definitions of friendship and its affiliation within and across cultural groups The second factor – personality – is indirectly related to a sojourner‘s circle of friends in the host environment She suggests that identity can be linked to personal and cultural dimensions Specifically, Gareis gives the example of international students with more definite personal cultural identification might resist interacting with host nationals in the US In contrast, those with less sense of cultural identification, referred by Gareis (2000, p 71), are likely to have more friends

Besides, homophily or similarity has been accepted in the research literature to be influential in friendship formation, since it compensates for the cultural dissimilarity in intercultural encounters Another critical factor in intercultural friendship development mentioned by Gareis is the cultural adjustment stage, which includes two dimensions: cultural sensitivity and cultural shock Sojourners are deemed as interculturally sensitive beings in their sojourning experience They are also expected to undergo potential cultural shock as they live in an unfamiliar environment and respond to new rules The next factor – communicative competence – is supposed to be critical

in friendship formation, as it influences how individuals interact with others Communicative competence goes beyond linguistic proficiency and entails

non-verbal behaviour, interaction management, topic selection, self-disclosure and thinking styles, etc The final factor is proximity, which is related to the geographical distance and frequency of contacts For sojourners, proximity facilitates interactions between them and others in the host culture; thus, it might lead to a closer relationship formation

Reflecting on Gareis model, Kudo and Simkin (2003) conduct a new study on intercultural friendship formation of sojourning Japanese students in Australia, in which they subsequently conclude four main elements in the development of intercultural friendships: (1) frequent contact, (2) similarity, (3) self-disclosure, and (4) receptivity of other nationals The first and second factor is close to proximity and homophily by Gareis (2000, p.73) Self-disclosure is referred to as the openness in sharing private thoughts and personal feelings, while the fourth factor is the way sojourners perceive people

in the host culture

2.2.2.2 The role of friends in the friendship formation process

a Facilitating adaptive attitude

Kudo and Simkin (2003) imply that peer feedback plays a pivotal role in the process of exchanging of information, attitudes and emotions of individuals; thus, contributing to developing close personal relationships Individual‘s adaptive attitude might involve trying to change their passivity to readiness and openness, which are believed to be the key to facilitating intercultural friendship formation In fact, as newcomers, ―sojourners should learn social and communication etiquettes of the host society to relate appropriately to the new people‖ (Furnham, 1993; Kim, 1994, as cited in Kudo

& Simkin, 2003)

b Increasing a sense of school belonging

According to Pittman and Richmond (2008), sense of school belonging

is a key to psychological adjustment of sojourning students, which can be referred to as connectedness to one‘s school or perceived school membership

The sense of belonging is believed to stem from the individual‘s perceived acceptance from their peers As individuals feel that their peers welcome them

to be part of the peer‘s group, individuals might gain a better sense of school belonging In the developing scholarship, researchers imply that, for adolescents, school belonging and attachment might be a vital component in a comprehensive model of predicting college students‘ adjustment

c Enhancing self-worth

A previous paper by Collins and Steinberg (2006) highlights the role of the encouragement and validation from close friends on improving young people‘s perceived social competence and self-worth, thereby they gain the confidence to adapt better at schools When students received compliments from their friends, they might also gain more motivation to make further achievement to be recognised

2.2.3 Intercultural Friendship maintenance

2.2.3.1 Definition

By and large, relationship maintenance is defined as the behaviours recorded in between the commencement and end of a relationship; however, there are variations on this definition (Dindia & Canary, 1993, as cited in Oswald et al.,2004) Relationship maintenance definitions often belong to one

of four categories: behaviours that people act ―to keep a relationship in existence, to keep a relationship at a specific state or condition, to keep a relationship in satisfactory condition, and to keep a relationship in repair‖ (Dindia &Canary, 1993, p 163, as cited in Oswald et al.,2004, p.2) Current literature approves of the theoretical perspective that friendship maintenance includes behaviours are ―engaged in to maintain the friendship at a satisfying and committed level.‖ (Oswald et al.,2004, p.2)

2.2.3.2 Four fundamental friendship maintenance behaviours

The maintenance of previous friendships, as supported by excellent communication, assists adolescents in developing and adapting to the new

social context (Oswald and Clark, 2003) Four major types of friendship maintenance behaviours have been identified: interaction, positivity, supportiveness, and self-disclosure (Oswald, Clark, & Kelly, 2001) Interaction

is regarded as activities that friends do together, such as get-together or social bondings after class Positivity, meanwhile, refers to actions and behaviours that contribute to bringing about positive and enjoyable experiences Supportiveness entails supportive emotional behaviours between friends such

as giving compliments, showing gratitude or encouragement Finally, disclosure is considered as meaningful communication, such as confiding one‘s private thoughts

self-CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

A qualitative narrative approach is applied in this research paper to shed light on the experiences of intra-national sojourning students leaving their hometown for Hà Nội and study in this city According to Hua (2016), storytelling has been employed by a plethora of previous research as a methodological tool to investigate individual and group experience and identities The method is suitable for this research because it aims to probe deeper into the experiences of intra-national sojourning individuals and their identity construction ―Through the students‘ voices and sharing their lived experiences, the role of identity negotiation and friendship expectations can be clarified with contextualised concrete examples and first-person narrative‖ (Horita & Ting Toomey, 2013, p.2)

3.1 Participants

The participants were born and brought up in provinces other than Hà Nội and the neighbouring areas When coming to Hà Nội, these students are engaged in new relationships with new friends, may it be from their schools or students clubs or their part-time workplace In the meantime, with the development of the Internet and other social media platforms, they can be in contact with friends that they knew from their hometown and thus, maintain the relationship They also had the chance to interact with old friends in their hometown when coming back home on short-term occasions such as Tet Holiday, summer holiday, Independence Day, to name but a few

Using the purposive sampling method, the researcher recruited three students studying at different schools and universities in Hà Nội Within the constraints of the research, sojourning students must have stayed in Hà Nội for

at least one year

The interviewees vary in their age (from 17-22 years old), hometown (from the provinces in the northern, southern and central parts of Vietnam) and regional dialects

Trung

Trung is also a young Vietnamese man, and he has been in Hà Nội for four years He comes from Hà Tĩnh, a province in the central part of Việt Nam Trung can imitate the northern accent, and use this to talk with north friends However, he switches to his hometown accent when he communicates with his friends in his community On average, he comes back to his hometown once per month

Thu

Thu is a 22-year-old Vietnamese woman She comes from a small town

in Hòa Bình, a northern province and belongs to Mường ethnicity Thu has been studying for her bachelor degree in Hà Nội for almost four years She used to share a room with her hometown friend in the first two years; however, she has been living alone since the third year Thu comes back home every two

or three weeks

Vy

Vy is a Vietnamese high school student who has been studying in Hà Nội for almost three years She comes from Long Khánh, a provincial city in the south and stays with her relatives within her time in Hà Nội Unlike Trung,

Vy cannot imitate the northern accent, and she has to use her hometown dialects to communicate with others in Hà Nội

3.2 Data Collection

The data was collected through a set of open-ended semi-structured interview questions (see Appendix 1)

The interview questions were drafted based on the themes in intercultural friendship by Hotta and Ting-Toomey (2013) and the Relationship Assessment Scale by Hendrick (1988) With the first version of the questionnaire, I invited Khanh, who was also a sojourning student in Hà Nội, to participate in my pilot study After the interview, I was able to reflect and revise questions that needed further expansion and clarification

Three in-depth interviews were then carried out with the three participants Since we have known each other for quite a long time, they were willing to take part in the meeting when I explained to them about my purpose The sessions last about 2-3 hours Thu and I met each other at a quiet café near our school while the interviews with the two others were conducted online due

to our heavy schedule It was also worth mentioning that three participants were highly competent in English, and all of them achieved 8.0 in the IELTS tests Before the interview, I asked for their prefered language, and since all of them used English as part of their study and work, it was later decided that English would be the dominant language in our interviews The participants were also advised to codeswitch to Vietnamese, their mother tongue whenever necessary

3.3 Data Analysis

The interviews were recorded and transcribed by myself To retain the authenticity of the speech, I did not change any grammatical errors or word uses of the participants Personal data of the students, such as their names and the names of other involved people were altered to keep confidentiality

From the data gained through the interview, I employed thematic coding

to identify potential themes that emerged in the transcript In the next step, I managed to structure the themes into different categories that addressed the research questions Together with this, I also compared and discussed existing papers in the literature review to conduct a detailed synthesis of emerging themes

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, data analysis is presented in four major parts In the first section, three portraits of the participants with their unique backgrounds, personal development and scope of friendship are described In the other three parts, I endeavoured to address the three proposed research questions about the strategies that students used to make friends and the process of adaptation of sojourning students in Hà Nội through their exchanges with both groups of friends

4.1 Portraits of the participants

Trung

Trung grew up with four other members in the suburbs of a small city –

Hà Tĩnh, which is situated in the central part of Vietnam According to Trung, the living standard there is roughly similar to the countryside

Born in Hà Tĩnh, Trung has always proved himself as an excellent student since primary school His yearning for academic achievements is evident when he took part in a lot of competitions at schools Coming to Hà Nội, that urge for excellence was further motivated when he witnessed the extraordinary competence of his new classmates Trung went to great length to learn from his classmates and to befriend with them Trung shared:

They first appeared highly competent in their majors – this is the first trait that I noticed when I met them And also, this is one factor urging

me to become friends with them as I always want to be surrounded by capable people

In retrospect, their friendships stem from the time they studied and worked together to finish school assignments

I think in terms of studying, they play an essential role as we collaborate with each other in many assignments throughout my university years They make a significant contribution to my academic results In terms of

my daily life, they share with me much advice and recommendations as

I am not familiar with life in Hà Nội

Trung received admiration and validation from his friends in Hà Nội for his academic achievement However, Trung received some comments from his friends that he was quite ―secretive‖ and sometimes ―distant‖ In fact, Trung considered himself as ―reserved‖ and ―inactive‖ He believed that his shy nature was more apparent to him as he ventured into a different environment According to Trung, this personality made it hard for him to befriend with others at first Despite this, Trung made efforts to mingle with the new social circle, and he was willing to negotiate with his reservation and passivity to accommodate to his friends‘ way of life

Talking about his scope of friends, Trung believed that he was more comfortable in small groups with those that he was familiar with, and his friendships mainly revolve around his classmates and neighbours Proximity seemed to be an essential factor in these friendships as it gave Trung a lot of time and opportunities to invest in relationships with his friends in Hà Nội and his hometown Since Hà Tĩnh is a small town, his old friends‘ houses are very near his, so they ―had more chance to meet and interact with each other on many occasions.‖ In Hà Nội, Trung went to school every day, so inevitably, the majority of his time was spent with his classmates Though he did not state this explicitly, I observed that Trung was rather careful and selective when it came

to making friends Three criteria for forming friendships that he looked for were reliability, characteristics compatibility, and the amount of acquainted time

I believe it is really hard to find others with such compatible traits of character and understanding of me

I only make friends with those who I interact for quite a long time Like any other university students, besides studying at school, Trung worked part-time and engaged in a romantic relationship Although his co-workers and girlfriend met the two criteria as mentioned above, Trung

disagreed when being asked if he considered them as his friends since he believed that friendships did not include romantic or professional relationships

Thu

Thu was born in a middle-class family in Hòa Bình, a small peaceful mountainous town that is not very far from Hà Nội Although she adopted her parents‘ Muong ethnicity, her way of life was not significantly different from others (with Kinh ethnicity) due to her upbringing Thu came to Hà Nội for her university study

Like Trung, Thu shared a small group of friends with ex-classmates in her hometown and classmates in Hà Nội In Hòa Bình, she formed a trio with two other girls that had been with her since primary school Thu shared that her choice of small friendship circles had stayed the same ever since Thu explained the reason for this small network: ―Because I rarely talk to people outside my class ever since primary school.‖ Coming to Hà Nội, Thu was consistent in her choice of friends and thus only sticking to her classmates – mostly Hanoian people, as can be seen in the way she mentioned her classmates: ―They are completely my social groups in Hà Nội.‖

Another similarity between Thu and Trung was that Thu classified herself as an introvert, who was more "selective" when making friends with others Her criteria for forming a new relationship were similar to Trung‘s: characteristics compatibility, the amount of time spent together, and level of reliability: ―It takes quite a while for me to make friends with someone because

I have to make sure that they also like to be my friends.‖

Despite the similarities mentioned above, Thu did not have any prior difficulties or concerns in mingling in the new life like Trung She kept being herself while exhibiting affability towards her new fellows The process of making friends to Thu was not to change herself to adapt to the environment but to find those whose characteristics were compatible with hers

Being an introvert makes me more selective when it comes to letting people into my social circle Because I'm comfortable being on my own

I only spend time with people whom I enjoy being with

I don't care much about whether I'm liked by other people So I just tried

to be genuine and helpful We [my friends and I] became friends quite easily and naturally

It is crucial to note that Thu‘s Hà Nội friends were well-matched with her ideal type of friends Being selective and careful herself, Thu admitted that her new group of friends suited her completely ―The thing I don‘t like about

my classmates is practically none.‖ When being asked about whether she had any conflicts with her peers, she answered: ―Gladly none, we had arguments when working together on assignments, but we didn‘t take it personally and remained good friends afterwards.‖ No personal conflicts in her friendships were reported during the interview

Thu appears to me as a very independent and rational girl When being asked about her professional and romantic lives, she set a clear line between these relationships To her, clients, mentors, or co-workers were not considered

as her friends, ―because I try to separate my personal and professional life.‖ Meanwhile, Thu thought of her boyfriend as ―the closest best friend.‖ Again, characteristics compatibility, the amount of time spent together, and the level

of reliability were found in this relationship:

I trust him completely He's also a good listener, and I can tell him anything Also, we seem to be on the same level intellectually and emotionally, so it's easy to understand each other We can discuss at length about various topics without ever getting bored, just basically enjoying each other's company

This relationship means the world to me He's my rock, someone I can turn to no matter what Luckily the feelings are mutual, and he considers

me his confidant also

Vy

Vy was an 18-year-old girl from Long Khánh, Đồng Nai, a small province in the south of Vietnam She was born and stayed there until she

moved to Hà Nội to study at a high school here at the age of 17 Vy spent a year studying high school in Long Khánh and two years in Hà Nội

Vy appeared to me as a positive, friendly girl with a large circle of friends, although she admitted that she had not always been like that when she was in her hometown She shared with me about the unforgettable memories of being bullied from primary school, where her peers were disobedient, rude, and even violent She was always the best student in her class, being favoured by the teacher and at the same time, hated by other incapable students It was evident throughout the interview that Vy was very unhappy during those primary school years for being unable to fit in and bullied because of her academic excellence She expressed her deep hatred of those friends and the feeling of freedom after graduating her primary school: ―They were rude, immature You can‘t imagine how uncultured they were I felt so relieved that I didn‘t have to meet them again after primary school.‖

When she transitioned to secondary school, the situation got better in the sense that Vy no longer experienced bullying However, she did not get close

to anyone since most of her friends were rebellious and immature, which she could not get along with

I remained silent, even sometimes timid I didn‘t make a lot of friends since their interests in a romantic relationship and school gossips were not appealing to me We just did not share the same mindset

Things did not become better until Vy transitioned to her high school in Long Khánh, where her new friends were ―progressive,‖ and she managed to find two close friends in her high school in Long Khánh, who she described as

―the closest friends so far‖: ―I feel like no one can replace them.‖

To Vy, those friends were the first ones to help her widen her horizon before coming to Hà Nội Unlike previous classmates who were ―incapable‖ and ―rude,‖ Vy and her new friends in her hometown high school shared the same ground of ability and interest; thus, it was understandable that she felt a sense of belonging to this particular group In Vy‘s unique case, since she did not consider those from primary school and secondary school as her friends,