Chapter 4 The summary of findings and their relation to those of the pilot study
personal and attitude test data – have come to live in Hungary for some years but do not want to stay lifelong. For them knowing the survival language – Hungarian – is not im-portant, but the more positive attitude to it helps integrate into the dominantly Hungar-ian subgroup. The level of the HungarHungar-ian language proficiency in the case when settling down in the host country is probable, helps integrate into not only the closer but the wider community. This phenomenon is more a sign of acculturation than intercultura-tion.
4.2 Interculturation and other factors
As shown in Chapter 3, an important factor influencing interculturation and all the underlying phenomena such as language learning and study achievement is the dis-tance of the cultures the members of a temporary group are from. The more distant the cultures, the lesser degree of interculturation can be observed. Given the temporary na-ture of the community formation, the urge to acquire the skills to survive and perform well in the new context is not strong enough. The cultural distance between the mem-bers from different cultures is not measured in the study, but the difference between the behaviour and performance of certain ethnic groups within the class seems to support this assumption. The pupils from European – some from the former socialist countries – seem to adapt to the new context, to the teaching methods, the familiar educational con-tent and setting, to the general way of social and work-related life more easily, than those for whom the patterns are not familiar. This observation is consonant with that of the CERNET project described by Annási and Görcsné (2001).
Another factor, as the different findings of the pilot study and the main study shows, is the composition of the group and its relation to the wider environment. If there is a large group within the close community the members of which are from the wider
community, interculturation takes place to a lesser degree. In these cases, integration into the close community is a matter of choice and not necessity as in such an interna-tional setting where all the members or their majority are from other than the host coun-try.
4.3 Interculturation and study achievement
Study achievement is demonstrated by school grades and as proved before, they are not sufficient data to measure improvement in performance, they can only indicate tendencies. Yet, the fact that most pupils in task-related context regardless their gender and ethnicity try to make contact with those whose achievement is the highest shows that the wish to perform promotes integration.
Direct relationship between interculturation and study achievement could not be proved on the basis of the findings. An indirect indicator of the rightfulness of the as-sumption is that those pupils who could not integrate into the multicultural community of the class, as the Chinese girls and the Hungarian/Japanese boy gave up their studies in the middle of the second year. The reason could not be the insufficient proficiency in English because neither the grades nor the teachers indicated serious language prob-lems.
4.4 Answers to the research questions
1 Does the level of English as a working language (EWL) proficiency influence group cohesiveness (interculturation)?
It was hypothesised that the more proficient the learners were in English the more cohesive (interculturated) group they created. High level of English language pro-ficiency was hypothesised to promote the creation of a more cohesive (interculturated) group, but the level itself was not considered a decisive factor in group formation
The study confirmed the above hypothesis in the respect that pupils of high level of common language proficiency – in the case of the study English – could make more contact with their classmates, and that promoted their integration into the class. They could break the ethnicity barrier, and could integrate into a dominantly host country subgroup as well. However, it is important to emphasise that the level itself is not a de-cisive factor in interculturation. Pupils on lower, but sufficient for making contact, level could also integrate into the group.
2 Does the level of the language of survival (LS) proficiency influence group co-hesiveness (interculturation)?
The learners’ proficiency level in the language of the host country was hypothe-sised to influence the degree of group cohesion (interculturation). High proficiency level in the language of the host country was hypothesised to be an auxiliary means to help the learners create a more cohesive (interculturated) group.
The above hypothesis was also confirmed by the study. The pupils whose Hun-garian language proficiency level was acceptable were more easily accepted by the rep-resentatives of the dominant group. What is even more important that they could medi-ate between the subgroups thus creating a bridge between pupils of high and lower level of common language proficiency.
3 Is there direct causal relationship between interculturation and study achieve-ment?
It was hypothesised that direct causal relationship between group cohesion and study achievement could not be established because of the many subjective factors in school assessment.
The study confirmed that direct relationship between interculturation and study achievement could not be detected because of the subjective factors in school assess-ment and the external and situational factors modifying the degree of interculturation.
4 Does the degree of group cohesiveness (interculturation) influence the members’
study achievement?
It was hypothesised that a cohesive (interculturated) group was more effective and supportive in cooperation, thus indirectly influencing the members’ study achieve-ment.
The study confirmed that study achievement could not be adequately measured with the instruments applied because the assessment operationalised as grades does not really reflect knowledge because of the subjective factors present in a learning context on the part of the learners and the teachers alike. However, in work-related context when achievement is the aim, the desire to be part of the group is higher than in other contexts.