Influences on International Students’ Identities and Attitudes: Conversation Analysis on Intercultural Communication Experience at Multicultural Student Housing

Abstract

Student housing plays a fundamental role in studying abroad for international students who leave their home country and stay in the host country. Despite the growing attention to study abroad experiences in a globalized world, diversity and interculturality drawing from international residents’ various cultural backgrounds within student accommodation have not been highlighted enough in the existing studies. This research aims to investigate how a single intercultural communication experience influences the identities and attitudes of international students who reside in a multicultural student housing, namely Plaza. Notably, the research explores the intercultural discourse among internationals with Holliday’s theory (2016) of cultural threads mode and cultural block mode in addition to their interpretation and comprehension of other participants. Consequently, a total of three international residents/students from China, Greek, and Indonesia respectively were invited for the focus group discussion and individual interviews. Upon the combination of two qualitative methodologies, the related themes of the research object were identified and connected to the current literature concerning interpersonal intercultural interactions as well as their impacts on identity negotiation and attitudes transformation. The results from the research data confirmed several existing theories of how foreign engagement positively influences interlocutors’ attitudes toward others with different backgrounds. Despite the limitations of the research, international participants were observed to undergo reflections on their previous images of ‘self’ and ‘others’, and modify their stereotypical perceptions of individuals of a specific group. These results suggest direct intercultural communication and interaction can contribute to the development of intercultural understanding and affective ties with others.