Collective Face,Politeness Strategies,and Discomfort: Communication of American Domestic Students and Chinese International Students

This two-by-three between-subjects factorial study tested how American domestic students and Chinese international students responded to a scenario of performance failure by a friend whose membership varies across conditions. The study measured collective face, politeness strategies, and participants’ discomfort feelings. Robust findings were observed in the condition where Chinese participants imagined witnessing an ingroup-friend’s incompetence resulting in the strong correlation between collective face and discomfort. The cultural difference between these two groups regarding relating self-images to group-images is also observed. The implications of the study in assessing collective images, identities, and values for intercultural communication research are discussed.     

Intercultural communication between Chinese college students and foreign teachers through the English corner at an elite language university in Shanghai

This paper uses an ethnographic approach and draws critical pedagogical and sociolinguistic insights from Pierre Bourdieu to explore Chinese college students’ participation in an English Corner program at an elite language university in Shanghai. Accordingly, this paper promotes scholarly conversations about intercultural communication between Chinese college students and foreign teachers from English-speaking countries. By underpinning the concepts of intercultural capital, this paper analyzes these themes: (a) linguistic habitus and capital in the stratified field of elite language education; (b) articulating English proficiency; (c) bridging cultural distance and improving intercultural competence; and (d) personal growth and professional development. This paper critically interprets Chinese college students’ benefits and mutual relationships with foreign faculty from English-Speaking Countries; how they cultivated intercultural capital in the field of elite education beyond linguistic capital, how they strove to maintain their accumulated capital to secure better career prospects, and what the roles of international faculty should be.     

Measuring intercultural contact and its effects on intercultural competence: A structural equation modeling approach

This study utilizes a structural equation modeling approach to construct a scale to measure Chinese college students’ intercultural contact and to explore the pathways from intercultural contact to intercultural competence and their significance. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the study conducted a series of reliability and validity analyses. The results indicate that the intercultural contact scale for Chinese college students has good reliability and validity. Moreover, a path analysis with the structural equation model was performed and reveals that the pathways of intercultural contact are beneficial for improving Chinese college students’ intercultural competence. In terms of direct contact, domestic social media is the most important, whereas for indirect contact, cultural products are relatively more important than multimedia and courses. The implications for the theoretical development of intercultural contact could be significant for scholars engaged in intercultural communication as well as for planning international education training programs.     

The road to an international career: The “Erasmus effect” on resilience,intercultural interactions and cultural intelligence

This study is part of a framework that views study abroad programs as an opportunity for experiential and transformative learning. Using a mixed-methods approach with a quantitative multi-wave study, this research examined the relationship between cultural intelligence and the internationalism career anchor – the individual predisposition and desire for international mobility for work. This study considers the role of resilience and intercultural interactions as predictors of cultural intelligence. In addition, we examined the transformative learning process by relating the development of cultural intelligence to specific critical incidents or critical experiences in intercultural interactions that can be considered triggers of the learning process. A sample of 170 outgoing Italian Erasmus students completed a self-report questionnaire prior to departure and another upon return home. The study also included a control group (n = 52) consisting of students from the same university who had not participated in the Erasmus program. The results revealed the positive value of the Erasmus experience, particularly in terms of strengthening the internationalism career anchor, cognitive cultural intelligence and resilience. The results also showed that students’ pre-departure resilience and intercultural interactions with other international students from different countries can explain higher levels of cultural intelligence and the desire to work abroad or take on global work assignments. No significant change across time was found for the same variables in the control group. In addition, the critical experiences reported by students highlighted a strong cognitive and motivational component associated with the Erasmus program. Some practical implications for higher education are discussed.     

Language and intercultural peer interactions: Vietnamese students in Taiwan’s bilingual academic settings

This study examines Vietnamese students’ experiences of language choice practices in intercultural interactions with their local Taiwanese peers. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with students from five different Taiwanese universities where both English and Mandarin Chinese are used as mediums of instruction and communication. Findings suggest that the students frequently used English as a language of neutrality to communicate with local students, which either connected them with or disconnected them from their peers. They, whereas, considered Mandarin as a language of convergence, which helped them to get closer to their Taiwanese friends. They also occasionally made use of Vietnamese—a language of divergence—to a small extent to connect with their local peers. As international students seem to be the ones who often put more effort into addressing the linguistic and cultural gaps and improving the communication effectiveness compared with their local counterparts, it is recommended that local students should play a more proactive role in using proper accommodation strategies to connect with international students. Internationalised universities should also contribute to building a healthy and inclusive intercultural environment for international and local students and facilitating respectful and effective intercultural interactions among them.     

Learning and adaptation with regard to complementary medicine in a foreign context: Intercultural experiences of medical students from different cultural backgrounds

Little is known about challenges and transition that medical students from different cultural backgrounds face with regard to complementary medicine (CM). This paper explores such students’ experiences and perspectives of socio-cultural and academic difference with regard to CM and experiences of intercultural relations. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, 30 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with medical students across 10 Australian medical schools. The data were rigorously analysed through a systematic process of coding, categorisation and theoretical development. The findings indicate that students adapted considerably to the host culture. Students with Western backgrounds integrated better socio-culturally and academically compared to students with non-Western backgrounds. Although nationality represented cultural identity, students’ construction of cultural difference was informed by their perception of diverging value systems within the specific educational environment. These values were, in turn, reflected in students’ reported behaviours, attitudes, and levels of engagement in socio-cultural and academic aspects of university life. Adaptation employed by students was evidenced largely due to their conflicting sense of responsibility towards familial culture regarding CM and focus on fitting in. While students’ tendency to gravitate towards cultural peers was evident, most students adapted to their host environment regarding CM to fit into normal intercultural encounters during medical school. In conclusion, students’ intercultural contact with regard to CM was both complex and problematic. At a time of significant diversification within the higher education student body, this paper highlights the role medical education institutions can play in fostering intercultural and academic guidance and support.     

A Comparative Perspective of Intercultural Sensitivity Between College Students and Multinational Employees in China

Using the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale formulated by G. M. Chen and Starosta, the intercultural sensitivity of English major students, non-English major students, and multinational employees in China were investigated. In this study, intercultural sensitivity was defined as consisting of interaction engagement, interaction confidence, respect for cultural differences, interaction enjoyment, and interaction attentiveness. The focus of this research was to explore how intercultural sensitivity was structured among subjects of different English learning and intercultural communication experience. A series of results generated by multiple regressions showed different weightings of the 5 elements of intercultural sensitivity of the 3 subsamples. For example, respect for cultural differences for English major students was affected by interaction engagement and enjoyment, whereas for multinational employees it was only affected by interaction enjoyment. The study also found that English major students felt interaction enjoyment more easily than non-English major students and multinational employees.     

Intercultural adjustment and friendship dialectics in international students: A qualitative study

Despite the accelerating increase of international students on American campus, there is still a lack of in-depth understanding of how these individuals make sense of their adjustment journey or how they construct meaning concerning their friendship development experience. Existing adjustment research tended to focus primarily on the motivational goals of adjustment or the type of friendship network patterns (e.g., host national network, co-national network, or multi-national network) but did not probe deeper into the narratives of international students’ identity-change adjustment processes or the quality of their friendship networks. Using identity negotiation theory as a guide, this study utilized an interpretive methodology to examine the adjustment narratives and friendship stories of 20 international students. The findings revealed three themes: a variety of intercultural adjustment patterns and with a predominant upward trend or M-shaped adjustment trend, the role of cultural expectancy and personal time sense in intercultural friendship development, and identity shock issues and friendship dialectics. The findings have implications for the study of intercultural adjustment process and friendship development pattern especially concerning the intercultural friendship dialectics of feeling visible versus invisible, communication openness versus closedness, and feeling like a guest versus feeling like an alien.     

Birds of a feather end up flocking together when studying abroad. Can a university bridge the cultural differences that challenge friendships between Pacific Island students and New Zealand students?

Intercultural friendship formation is a key challenge for international students studying abroad. In an increasingly globalised world, where people regularly engage with others from different cultures, meaningful intercultural friendships are important. However, culture can pose a considerable challenge that hinders the formation of friendships between people of different cultures. This paper explores challenges and insights into developing intercultural friendships between international Pacific Island students studying in Aotearoa New Zealand and domestic New Zealand Palagi¹ students. Similar to other studies, the findings in this study highlight the key challenges connected to cultural differences. These findings are surprising as New Zealand Palagi students would have gone to primary and secondary schools with Pacific Island students and should have had some contact and interactions with them and be more accustomed to cultural differences. Unique to this study is that these international Pacific Island students recognised that universities are in a prime position to champion and promote systemic interventions to assist both international and domestic students to engage with each other in order to promote cultural understanding. Overcoming intercultural friendship development challenges involves creating meaningful intercultural spaces and campus ‘friendship’ events to increase intercultural interactions, raise domestic students’ cross-cultural awareness, and encourage reciprocal intercultural learning. Such activities are likely to enhance the overall well-being of all students and improve the internationalisation of universities with increasingly diverse student cohorts.     

Identifying factors that influence the learner empowerment of international students

The internationalisation of education promises to prepare students for diversity in the global workplace. However, many international students do not thrive in their host academic communities. A sample of 196 international students enrolled at a New Zealand (NZ) university between 2011 and 2012 completed an online survey, which explored cultural concepts identified as relevant to the acculturation process. A multiple regression of the quantitative data identified that prior knowledge, perceived relevance, belongingness and cultural distance accounted for almost 50% of the variance in the successful acculturation of students into the university culture. The high level of self-reflectivity throughout the qualitative data provided insight into the integral role of both staff and host students as a catalyst in this process. Findings of this research illustrate that alongside functional support, there is a need to develop the intercultural communication competence of faculty and host culture students. Recommendations to achieve enhanced outcomes for international students include future curriculum development, staff training, host student education and enhanced structural support in areas identified as barriers to successful acculturation.     

Why do christian churches,and not universities,facilitate intercultural engagement for Chinese international students?

The paper offers new, significant insights into the Church engagement experiences of Chinese international students in the UK. Based on a mixed-method research and focusing on a group of international Chinese students participating in local Christian churches, it explores the motivations (for), dynamics and types of connections students establish and maintain with the church communities, and the implications for stakeholders in facilitating intercultural engagement with the local community. The limited cross-cultural interactions alongside other structural and contextual factors often deprive meaningful engagement between international students and host nationals within the campus. According to the research participants, internationalised university is promising and promoting intercultural experiences but not delivering them. Chinese students of usually non-Christian background gravitate towards Christian churches as alternative places to gain desired intercultural experiences. The findings encourage universities to reflect on the quality of intercultural engagement for international students and draw from the reciprocal and respectful intercultural connections that some students discovered through engaging with Christian churches.     

Re-examining intercultural research and relations in the COVID pandemic

The authors provide an urgent call for cross- and intercultural scholars to re-examine many of the related themes and classic or contemporary study areas of “intercultural communication” and “intercultural relations” in light of the impacts that the novel coronal (COVID-19) pandemic is having on human interaction both across and within our social-cultural contexts. As scholars focusing on intercultural communications/relations, education, management, psychology, and social issues, the global COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a range of intercultural problems or issues that need to be researched to better understand related aspects of human suffering, social disruption, and economic inequalities. New research projects/papers need to address how these impact key intercultural theme/topic areas like cultural attributions/expectations, values/beliefs, identities, perceptions/stereotypes/prejudice, language/speech codes, cultural systems/patterns, acculturation/adaptation, intercultural effectiveness/sensitivity/competence, and conflict (Kulich et al., 2020, Table 3.7). Some research areas and applications potentially affected by COVID are highlighted, including our sense of national/international identity and cooperation, our mediated or actual social networks, our ways of framing or carrying out intercultural or cross-cultural cooperation, new issues emerging in inter-group contact, how we apply cross-cultural taxonomies or dimensions to analyze data, and how these ultimately affect our relationships with each other across all levels of culture (from dyads, to groups, sub- or co-cultures) or express and affirm interculturality at such times. Each area is highlighted by calls for specific types of intercultural research to address these challenges and opportunities.     

The intercultural trust paradigm: Studying joint cultural interaction and social exchange in real time over the Internet

Distance transcending technology of the Internet generated a new experimental paradigm for the study of intercultural, or joint cultural interaction between members of different societies. University students from Japan, China, and Taiwan participated in experiments involving participants from their own society and another society in real time using an intercultural trust paradigm derived from a game theoretic and evolutionary approach to social exchange. The modified trust game improves on the Prisoner's Dilemma Game by eliminating greed as an explanation for lack of cooperation: the truster unilaterally decides whether or not to trust their exchange partner, and the allocator then decides whether or not to divide the reward fairly between the two of them. Participants earned real money by playing six rounds of one-shot trust games with three in-group members and three out-group members over the Internet. Across three experiments involving two interacting societies each, Japanese were found to be less trusting and trustworthy exchange partners compared to cultural Chinese. This suggests that Japanese collectivism is based more on long-term assurance networks, whereas Chinese collectivism provides a more expansive, guanxi-based approach to building new social networks. Japanese also showed less in-group favoritism in both trust and trustworthiness (or conditional fairness) at the national-level compared to cultural Chinese, suggesting that culture-specific content (e.g., collective guilt for WWII) may influence ethnocentrism at the national level.     

The effects of academic adaptation on depression of international students in China: A case study on South Asian students of TCSOL teacher program

The empirical research has not provided definitive answers to questions about how to assess and report academic adjustment and whether or not it influences psychological and sociocultural adjustments. This study is a longitudinal investigation into the relationship between academic and psychological adjustment of international students from South Asian countries in a cross-cultural learning context who partied in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) teacher education programs in Chinese universities. Using Zun's Self-Rating Depression Scale and the self-developed Scale of Academic Adaptation, the first test in December 2017 (T1) and the second in December 2019 (T2) were conducted to measure depression, learning motivation, learning behavior, learning efficacy, academic achievement, and satisfaction of South Asian students. The paper discovered significant positive correlations between five variables, indicating an interaction between the five aspects showing how involved and effective overseas students were in learning in China and a cross-lagged relationship between depression and academic adjustment. This longitudinal empirical study of international students in China aimed to help expand the application of cross-cultural adjustment theory in different educational backgrounds, and provide diverse samples and methods different from the traditional western perspective.     

Addressing Intercultural Experience and Academic Mobility in Higher Education

The present study initially discussed the various aspects of interculturality in higher education and the value of intercultural experience for developing intercultural competence. Then, it investigated the relationship between intercultural experience and students’ progress in their studies from prep year to senior years. The findings indicate that students do not gain intercultural experiences as a natural outcome of progress in higher education. Afterward, the relationship between intercultural experience and motivation for academic mobility was researched. According to the results, having foreign friends and attending intercultural events could be taken as predictors of lenience towards student exchange programs. Finally, the motivating and deterring factors of academic mobility for the participants were determined, and suggestions for future research were made. Participants were 207 students from different study years at a university in Turkey. A mixed questionnaire was employed to obtain data related to students’ intercultural experiences and their perceptions concerning the benefits and barriers of academic mobility.     

An exploratory study on intercultural communication research contents and methods: A survey based on the international and domestic journal papers published from 2001 to 2005

With the progressive acceleration of globalization in the world, the study of intercultural communication is accordingly flourishing day by day on both domestic and international levels. In order to discern the current trends of intercultural communication research in China and abroad and furthermore provide suggestions for future research, the present study has made an analysis of 368 intercultural communication articles published between 2001 and 2005 in 11 major international and domestic academic journals, among which 203 articles are from 10 major domestic academic journals and 165 ones from the American journal entitled International Journal of Intercultural Relations. Each article is analyzed from two perspectives: the research contents and research methods. The results indicate that intercultural communication research in China is sharply different from research abroad with regards to research contents and methods. The main concern of researchers abroad is intercultural adaptation and intercultural training while the Chinese researchers are mainly concerned with cross-cultural pragmatics. As far as research methods are concerned, most studies abroad are conducted using empirical research methods, the majority of which adopt the quantitative research method. On the contrary, most studies in China are non-empirical research. Of the small number of empirical studies, considerable attention is paid to the mixed use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. At the end of the paper, constructive suggestions are made for future research.     

A First-Year Seminar Course that Supports the Transition of International Students to Higher Education and Fosters the Development of Intercultural Communication Competence

Colleges and universities in the United States and in other countries are admitting and educating an increasing number of international students. This trend creates both challenges and opportunities for modern higher education. While much of the early scholarship focused on understanding the various academic and social challenges faced by international students, both researchers and practitioners have recently shifted their focus to program development and assessment. This paper, then, examines a specialized first-year seminar course, which includes an out-of-class engagement component that allows international students to interact directly with host country peers. The course and the engagement component were designed to address the transitional academic and social needs of international students. More specifically, this is a report on a three-year study of cohorts of first-semester international students (N = 58) which examined the effectiveness of the specialized first-year seminar within a framework of intercultural communication. The results show that the program was not only a way to support students’ transition to the university, but also facilitated their development of intercultural communication competence.     

Why can’t we be friends?: Multicultural attitudes and friendships with international students

International students in the U.S. undertake a life changing endeavor that offers benefits and presents challenges, including a loss of social support. While studies suggest friendships with host country nationals are important for a successful experience, forming friendships with U.S. American students is challenging and rare. Difficulties establishing friendships are exacerbated when the context of adjustment is marked by prejudicial attitudes or a history of problematic intercultural relations. In this study, we sought to understand the lack of cross-cultural social reciprocity from U.S. students at a mid-size Southern university known for its racial divisiveness. We explored how students with and without international friendships differed on multicultural personality characteristics, intercultural attitudes, and multicultural experiences, such as participation in study abroad. Differences related to gender and membership in a sorority or fraternity were explored, as were amount of contact and closeness of the friendships. Students with international friendships had higher scores on open-mindedness and lower scores on intercultural communication apprehension. We discuss the findings and their implications for promoting international and U.S. student friendships.     

The role of intercultural competence,in the relationship between intercultural experiences and creativity among students

We studied the interplay of intercultural competence, intercultural experiences, and creativity among Russian students from Moscow (N = 272). We expected the students from culturally diverse groups, attending the courses on cultural issues, to be more creative. We based our expectation on the idea that cultural diversity and cultural learning are associated with a higher level of intercultural competence that might contribute to students’ creativity. We measured the intercultural experiences by cultural diversity of study groups (a number of foreign students in the groups and the intensity of friendly contacts with them) and by cultural learning (a number of culture-related courses that students attended). We measured creativity by the “Many Instances Game” from the Runco Creativity Assessment Battery (rCAB). We measured intercultural competence by the adapted scale of Fantini and Tirmizi. We discovered positive associations of intercultural experiences in the university with students’ creativity. Such components of intercultural competence as attitudes and skills (the adaptability of behavior), played an important role in the students’ creativity. The attitudes were positive and the skills were negative, related to the creativity. We also revealed that these two components of intercultural competence mediated the relationship between the intercultural experiences and creativity of students. Based on the results, we discussed the factors of the educational environment which may enhance or prohibit creativity.