This study explores the relationship between intercultural contact (IC) and intercultural communication competence (ICC) among Chinese international students at Lancaster University, UK. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research analyzes the frequency and nature of IC and self-assessed ICC levels. Findings reveal a predominance of indirect IC,…

This study employs the Delphi method to ascertain intercultural scholars' current consensus on a definition, specific components, and key evaluation criteria of intercultural competence. Sixty-eight leading intercultural scholars from Euro-American and East-Asian countries participated in this study. The results are largely congruent with the…

This paper explores the understudied topic of international student sojourners' emotional intercultural competence in higher education by analysing Chinese postgraduate students' experiences of managing their emotions evoked during intercultural communication at a British university. Through ethnographic interviews, this study examines how…

Following the conceptualisation of a third space of internationalisation at a distance (IaD) in this study, we aim to explore how international students at the largest university in Europe, the Open University, might consider their own identities and perspectives. At present over 5000+ international students study at a distance at the Open…

This research explores and compares the learning ecologies of international students studying through internationalisation at a distance (IaD) and internationalisation abroad (IA) by investigating their experiences of first year of master's study with a UK university. We do so by using our previously proposed Revised Ecological Systems Theory as a…

The largest group of international students pursuing their overseas higher education in the UK come from China; and yet, little qualitative research has explored the experiences of Chinese students who have recently made this transition, with even less focusing on the experiences of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. The present article…

Communication skills are highly sought after by employers, as industry reports repeatedly show. At the same time, those reports also reveal that many employers are dissatisfied with their newly hired graduates' communication skills. In addition, increasing globalisation has led to the call for 'global graduates' who can function well in culturally…

The article examines the transnational mobility experienced by two language teachers of Mexican origin, one who migrated to the United States and the other to the UK. Drawing on autobiographies and in-depth interview data, the analysis shows the complex relationship of different factors in shaping how the participants experienced their…

This paper uncovers L1 Chinese speakers' online intercultural communication where they deploy English as a lingua franca and other spatial repertoires to co-construct translanguaging practices with their interlocutors and present three-fold identities--translingual, L1 Chinese, and legitimate users of English, leading to the argument that…

The idea of translanguaging has disrupted much of the thinking in bilingual education. A common misunderstanding, however, is that translanguaging was intended to be a language teaching strategy. This article seeks to explore what a translanguaging approach to language teaching entails, with specific reference to the education of minoritized and…

The aim of this study is to set out to explore how children living in Polish-English transnational families in the UK develop "symbolic competence" and "symbolic power" in home settings. By focusing on the children's use of metaphor in family discourse when talking about the Moon, from a cognitive discursive perspective, this…

In distance cross-cultural supervision scenarios PhD students are supported by supervisors located in different cultural contexts, which may, or may not be, the same as that of the student. Very little research has been conducted into experiences of cross-cultural supervision. This paper aims to explores opportunities and challenges for students…

As the volume of research on intercultural adaptation of international students (IAIS) increases significantly over the past decades, a systematic review of the diverse literature on a global scale and its development process becomes essential. This study conducted a thorough bibliometric analysis for the knowledge domain of IAIS research using…

Telecollaboration has proved to be an excellent means for the development of students' intercultural skills (O'Dowd & Dooly, 2012). Based on this presumption, a telecollaborative project was carried out between B2 level (CEFR) learners of English from Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) and B1 level (CEFR) students of Spanish as a…

This ethnographic study reports four teenage Chinese EAL students' learning journey in a UK independent school. Due to linguistic barriers, they encountered significant challenges in their social lives and academic studies. The school arranged EAL lessons to improve students' English proficiency. However, participants were concerned that the EAL…