نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دکتری مردمشناسی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی تهران مرکزی و پژوهشگر مرکز تحقیقات زبان و ادبیات فارسی دانشگاه تربیت مدرس.
2 استاد زبانشناسی، دانشگاه علامه طباطبائی، تهران، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
Purpose- This study examines the complexities of culture shock and its role in the process of intercultural identity formation among non-Iranian learners of Persian living in Iran. Its primary aim is to move beyond a reductionist understanding of culture shock as a mere “problem” and to conceptualize it instead as a “transformative transition” and a “cognitive lens” that may give rise to diverse outcomes within the Iranian cultural context, including the redefinition of identity, the acquisition of cultural capital, or, in some cases, the entrenchment of isolation and estrangement. The study also investigates how learners of Persian interpret, negotiate, and reposition their identities in response to everyday cultural differences encountered in institutional and social environments.
Methodology- This study adopted a qualitative design based on the grounded theory approach. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 35 non-Iranian learners of Persian in two educational settings-Allameh Tabataba’i University and Al-Mustafa Al-‘Alamiyah University-complemented by participant observation and ethnographic fieldnotes. Participants were selected using purposive sampling followed by theoretical sampling until theoretical saturation was reached. Data analysis was conducted in three stages-open, axial, and selective coding-to generate the study’s paradigmatic model and final theory. Throughout the analytical process, focus was placed on identifying recurring experiential patterns and the ways participants made meaning of cultural unfamiliarity in both academic settings and everyday life.
Findings- The findings indicate that culture shock in Iran is a multilayered and relational phenomenon experienced at the intersection of three levels: (1) the structural-institutional level, including rules, administrative procedures, and bureaucracy; (2) the level of everyday sociocultural practices, including social etiquette, indirect communicative practices, and ta’arof; and (3) the level of discourses and stereotypes, where learners encounter pre-existing assumptions and symbolic boundaries. Participants’ responses to culture shock followed two distinct trajectories: an active trajectory, characterized by reflexive identity work, selective adaptation, and the construction of a multilayered identity; and a passive trajectory, marked by resistance, withdrawal, and the consolidation of estrangement. While some participants gradually transformed uncertainty into learning, others remained trapped in recurring patterns of estrangement. The transformation of culture shock into a constructive experience, rather than being merely a matter of reducing “cultural distance,” requires the development of a capacity to position oneself and a “cultural apprenticeship” within a complex field of cultural forces. In this process, the Persian language functions as a vital site of power relations and cultural capital, and language learning becomes inseparable from participation in local systems of meaning, values, and social norms.
Conclusions- Culture shock can move beyond being a mere psychological barrier and become a productive site for the development of intercultural identity, provided that educational settings create opportunities for critical reflection and meaningful interaction. Rather than treating cultural difference as an obstacle to be minimized, educational environments should approach it as an interpretive resource that deepens both linguistic and cultural learning. This study underscores the need for curriculum planners and instructors in Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages (TPSOL, known in Iran as AZFA) to shift their orientation from the “management of shock” to the “facilitation of transformative transition,” such that cultural differences are understood as cognitive opportunities for deeper engagement with language and culture. These findings may assist curriculum designers and teachers in developing more responsive pedagogical practices that better support learners’ adaptation, identity negotiation, and intercultural growth.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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