Abstract
Guided by multi-layered ecological model, this study examined Chinese international students’ intercultural interactions with two distinctive groups of cultural “others”: multi-national students and domestic students. Based on data collected from semi-structured interviews with Chinese students at three Belgian universities, the research unraveled some essence of this cohort’s intercultural interactions: their perceptions of cultural environment around them, friendships developed with the two distinctive groups and multi-dimensional inhibitors for intercultural interactions. Chinese students also perceived the development of global competence, but mainly through contact with multi-national students. The compatriot network and online social software play an important role in local cultural learning, compensating the lack of host contact.
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Funding
The study is funded by the Humanities and Social Sciences Project of the Ministry of Education of China (Grant Number: 18YJC740063).
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Appendix
Appendix
Interview Protocol
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1.
To what extent do you feel your surrounding environment (i.e. on campus and in Belgian social context as well) is multicultural?
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Please describe your experiences of interactions with non-Chinese international students and to what extent you feel you have built friendships with them while studying in Belgium.
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Please describe to what extent you are satisfied with the quality of intercultural interactions with non-Chinese international students.
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Please describe your experiences of interactions with domestic students and to what extent you feel you have built friendships with them while studying in Belgium.
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Please describe to what extent you are satisfied with the quality of intercultural interactions with domestic students.
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What barriers have you encountered that undermined your interactions with non-Chinese international students?
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What barriers have you encountered that undermined your interactions with domestic students?
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Do you think that your global competence has been developed through intercultural interactions? If yes, please describe in details.
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Meng, Q., Li, J. & Zhu, C. Towards an ecological understanding of Chinese international students’ intercultural interactions in multicultural contexts: Friendships, inhibiting factors and effects on global competence. Curr Psychol 40, 1517–1530 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00280-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00280-3