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This study investigated the intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension of Chinese international students. Participants in the study consisted of Chinese international students over 18 years old studying at two 4-year public universities in the southeastern United States. The study participants completed 2 online survey questionnaires: the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS), which measured the degree of intercultural communication competence, and the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA), which measured the degree of intercultural communication apprehension. The findings of the study indicated a significant relationship between Chinese international students' intercultural communication competence and their intercultural apprehension. Findings also noted that gender, age, number of U.S. friends, and level of education were not factors predicting the participants' degree of intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension. However, frequency of speaking English outside of the classroom was an important factor indicating differences in the degree of the study participants' intercultural communication competence and intercultural communication apprehension. In addition, the study revealed that the length of time in the United States affected participants' intercultural communication competence but not their intercultural communication apprehension.

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No description available.

Among all the international students enrolled in the U.S. colleges or universities, Chinese international students, including those who come from Taiwan, mainland China, and Hong Kong, accounted for 16.7%, which is a fairly high percentage (Institute of International Education, 2004). They may encounter very unique acculturative stress because of different cultural norms and academic expectations between Chinese and American cultures. Ward and her colleagues (1990) claimed that cross-cultural adjustment can be best examined from two fundamental dimensions: psychological and sociocultural adjustment. These two dimensions are conceptually distinct but empirically related. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the influences of acculturation strategies (Berry, 1980), self-views in relation to others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Kagitcibasi, 1996 & 2005), perceived cultural distance (Babiker et al., 1980), and English self-confidence (Clement & Baker, 2001) on different dimensions of Chinese international students’ cross-cultural adjustment. Research questions and hypotheses were focused on how each factor affects the cross-cultural adjustment, and how these factors interact with each other as they generate impacts on adjustment. 177 international students of Chinese heritage from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong participated in the study. They were asked to fill out self-report questionnaires about their demographic information, acculturation strategies, self-construals, perceived cultural distance, English self-confidence, and psychological and sociocultural adjustment in the U.S. Results indicated that length of residence in the U.S., participation in the host society (one dimension of acculturation strategies), direct communication, autonomy (sub-dimensions of independent self-construal), and English self-confidence were positively correlated with psychological adjustment. On the other hand, length of residence, marital status, direct communication (a sub-dimension of independent self-construal), perceived cultural distance, and English self-confidence were positively associated with sociocultural adjustment. In addition, a few mediating effects were revealed: (a) Independent self-construal mediated the relation between participation in the U.S. society and sociocultural adjustment; (b) English self-confidence mediated the relation between participation in the host society and cross-cultural adjustment; (c) English self-confidence mediated the relation between independent self-construal and sociocultural adjustment. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed. / text

Chinese international students represent one sixth of the international post-secondary student population present in Anglophone Canada. A popular field of study for this demographic is engineering. Considering differences in cultural background and English language barriers, Chinese international students face their own unique set of challenges in university classrooms where collaborative work has become a standard measure to instruct and assess material. Four face-to-face focus groups with fourteen Chinese international students examined how collaborative work with non-Chinese peers shapes the self-perceptions of English language skills by Chinese international students. Using Saldaña’s approach to coding as the selected method, the data generated categories, a concept and a key assertion. Participants’ perceptions of English language are shaped by efficiency, embarrassment and confidence. A desired goal of Chinese international students, which is only achieved by very few, is English language fluency. Suggesting an interrelated relationship, the key assertion proposes that language competence and perceptions develop in four stages. Perceptions and language competence transition through a non-linear process, which ranges from Shock, to the Brutal Upward Learning Curve, Acceptance and eventually Confident Mastery. Focus group participants demonstrated a high level of accurate self-assessment and are forced to adopt a dismissive attitude which allows them to move past negative experiences and perceptions and develop a strong sense of confidence which is necessary for survival.

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This study uses a sociocultural framework to trace the experiences of 24 Chinese international undergraduate students studying business and information sciences in a New Zealand university, using community of practice perspectives recognising the university as a site of complex discourses requiring negotiation of new identities and practices. The students’ expectations, the issues that emerged and the processes of change they went through to meet their goals were investigated from retrospective and longitudinal viewpoints, using semi-structured interviews supported by schematic representations developed by the researcher and photographic representations compiled by participants were. The findings suggest that preparation before departure focused largely on expected English demands, rather than wider matters of academic culture, and this was only partially rectified during prior study in New Zealand. Students thus entered the university unfamiliar with its specific discourses and found conditions for resolving difficulties more limited than previously experienced. The anonymity and extreme time pressure pertaining in large first-year classes led to bewilderment about requirements, threats to the sense of identity as competent students which they had arrived with, and often, failure of courses. Nevertheless, the investment, personal and monetary, which this journey represented provided the incentive to persevere. Most students were resourceful in negotiating a fit between their learning preferences and the affordances of the university, resulting in very different journeys for each of them. Measures adopted included those sanctioned by the university, such as developing skills to meet the demands of academic literacies, and others less valued, such as extreme dependence on teacher consultation. Success was gained through personal agency which proved more important than the university goal of student autonomy. Beyond the academic arena, other activities such as part-time jobs were significant in contributing to a sense of identity as competent and educated adults, and to new viewpoints which contrasted with original cultural norms. They continued to identify as Chinese, but in a “third space” owing something to New Zealand influences. The study concludes that entry criteria should include a component of university preparation. It also recommends measures by which the university might enhance the experiences of such students.