Communication Challenges of AEC English Teachers in Australia (A case study of the culture shock experienced by AEC teachers in Australia)

ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
AEC teachers are English teachers that were assumed to have no difficulties when they go abroad to Australia and would not endure culture shock.But in fact, it was the other way around.They did endure culture shock.Culture shock was still relevant for these teachers.This is not only because of the different language they use but it was also more about the different culture they experienced.Alfred G. Smith (1966) says that "the way people communicate is the way they live.It is their culture.Who talks with whom?
How?And about what?These are questions of communication and culture". 1This statement underlines that culture and communication are inseparable.

When these teachers came to
Australia for a three month periode they were challenged to have competence on their intercultural communication.The culture adjustment that was before taken for granted became their first challenge before even realizing how competent they were in intercultural communication.As most researchers see that cross-cultural adjustment is conceptualized as the degree of psychological comfort with various aspects of a host country.Research initially examined language, nonverbal behavior, and concepts such as culture shock, stereotyping, and prejudice, but has now expanded into broader topics such as identity, migration, health communication, intercultural relationships, tourism, and intercultural uses of new media [1].
The difficulties in being in a new culture happen around us for example experienced by Japanese workers who experience culture shock when they were transferred to work in Indonesia.Japanese Resultantly, the research question focused on the communication challenges that these teachers endure and how they experienced the culture shock in Australia.

Culture Shock
Culture shock is a feeling when someone encounters problems in adjusting in a foreign place.There are many potential sources of confusion and frustration the sojourner2 attempts to adjust to an alien social system [2].One can be the result of a different accent even the language is familiar.One can related to different meanings in symbols or even different concepts in mind that develops different perspectives.It is more than simply being unfamiliar with social norms or experiencing new foods and it tends to impact travellers even after they've become familiar with and comfortable in new cultures [3].It is not surprising that this phase of adjustment is sometimes termed "culture shock" to designate the psychological impact of the distortion or absence of familiar cues [2].

METHODS
Because consumer culture is so complex, mixed-method research approaches are seen to be crucial.This strategy integrates qualitative and quantitative techniques to provide a thorough grasp of the intricate variables influencing Indonesian consumers' purchasing decisions.
Techniques for stratified and random sampling will be

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
AEC is an English school located in Bandung that facilitates its teachers to go to Australia to enhance not only their English skills but also their intercultural competence.
The mission is to perform a culture study.The It didn't stop there, when they interacted more with the Australian family and the people around them, they began to feen discharged.Not because the family was being bad to them but because the differences they had.When members of different cultural groups come into contact, they often discover their expectations diverge considerably [1].Results of the interviews also emerged communication challenges that were more related to the verbal communication which is the language used in interacting with one another.There are four categories which consist of:

The Accent
Pratiwi mentioned that she had poor listening when it came to Australians talking to each other or even to her.She admitted it was hard to understand Australians as they have a unique accent.This accent is not custom in Hollywood movies, that was why Pratiwi had a difficult time in understanding.
She also realized that her English accent was also difficult to be understood.So, on some occasion, whether it was Pratiwi or an Australian, they both had difficult times in understanding each other.She tended to avoid long conversation since she was afraid people wouldn't understand her."I always ask people to repeat things when they talk, but sometimes they don't want to repeat it so they say nevermind and the conversation stopped".
There are problems when speaking the common language of others, you are with, but using a different accent, stress and intonation pattern than them, called English origin [7].

Robby without doubts stated that
Australian accent was the hardest thing he could understood."To be honest, I can't really catch up the words from the people who speak with Australian accent".

Robby
1 http://www.yorku.ca/wsywong/course/ysdn3104_04/jandt4echp2.pdfworkers who are used to being disciplined and are used to have a high work ethic had difficulty working in Indonesia.They were shocked on how Indonesian workers were often late coming and were not enthusiast in working.Culture shock was also seen in research of Malaysian students facing various social and environmental challenges and also the challenge of adapting as a Muslim when they were in Australia.The explanation above develops an awareness on barriers of intercultural communication which is interesting.
Research about culture shock have been conducted for years, there are several models in describing the process of adjustment in the literature, depicting it as a learning curve.Two that have been used various times and still relevant to this day are the U-curve and W-curve models of adjustment.Both models consist of a varying number of stages, typically three or four with some cases specific timeframes attributed to the different stages.This research will focus on the U-curve model, as the research concentrates more on the 'culture shock' stage.Lysgaard (1955) stated, "Adjustment as a process over time seems to follow a U shaped curve: adjustment is felt to be easy and successful to begin with then follows a crisis in which one feels less well-adjusted somewhat lonely and unhappy.Finally one begins to feel better adjusted again becoming more integrated into the foreign community"[4].As what has been stated above, the U-curve model can explain the process on how a so journal adjust and adapt in a new environment.At first, they will feel excited and enthusiast on something new, assuming that their old life was old and boring, then after some time, they will feel less excited and maybe depress because they realize that this new environment forces them to involve themselves in a different way of life, different values and norms.The lack of friends from the same originated place adds more on an unhappy feeling, following them to feel lonely.Though after a while when they eventually can adapt the life style, they slowly adjust and master the new environment and feel happy again.

Figure 1 :
Figure1: The U-curve of cross-cultural adjustment[4] teachers live in an Australian family home for a three months periode, they are usually treated as a family member in the Australian home and involve themselves in various family activity.The other mission is for them to get involve in the community itself, joining activity groups in the community.Robby was fortune to be able to join activities in the New England University, and had assisted the Indonesian lecturer in some events.While siska had chances to join a knitting group in the society.Kris was also working as a dinner while pratiwi basically did more babysitting time in the home family and in the neighbourhood.All four experienced interaction around the community.All four AEC teachers have also been interviewed for this research.The purpose of this study is to acknowledge their communication challenges and how they experienced the culture shock in Australia.All four admitted that they were very excited to go to Australia, they were well prepared.When they eventually landed in the country they were fascinated on the well West Science Social and Humanities Studies  205 Vol.01, No. 04, October 2023, pp.201-210 managed way of life.From how people commute from one place to another, traffic seemed to be in order not as what they usually experienced in their home country.The garbage system is also well managed.Everything seemed to be in order.The initial time in a new culture is exciting for the teachers, it is pointed out in the U-curve model as a high point on the chart.However, as time progresses, the four teachers stated that they began to feel the stress of adjusting and can begin to feel low, depressed, and even physically ill.Siska in one occasion revealed that she cried because she felt alone and misses her friends and home back in Indonesia.

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mothertongue interference'.This can give wrong signals and impressions.Differences between Asian-English and English-English may lead to difficulties [5].One's intellectual ability is often judged on the basis of how well one speaks English.Foreign accents and accents related to variation in style and pronunciation of native English speech can be subject to negative evaluation and discrimination [6].This might be the cause of insecurity among the four teachers in communicating in English.It is common in Indonesia that people who can speak English are assumed to be intellect, but it also comes with the right accent, which should be the what they call as the "British accent".Roach (2004) in his research focused on the definition of what we call as "The British accent", he categorized it into four aspects: (a) the number of native speakers of this accent who originate in Ireland, Scotland and Wales is very small and probably diminishing.(b) the great majority of native speakers of this accent are of middle-class or upper-class origin, educated at private schools and (if of appropriate age) university.(c) the majority of speakers of this accent live in, or originate from, the south-east of England.(d) The accent is most familiar as that used by most 'official' BBC speakers of In some cases, they would ask about it, then the Australians would likely share information, then explain.Though again, topics could change in an instant and suddenly would talk about other things not didn't relate with the teachers.It definitely confused them.Robby had some problems because every time they finished talking about something, they would always ask him for his opinions, sometimes he could give his thoughts about it, but on several occasion he couldn't, and again it ws because he couldn't relate to the conversation topic.
'individualism' sense.Siska admitted she felt alone when after her honeymoon stage in Australia.This loneliness that she endured