Navigating Intercultural Communication: Challenges Faced by International Students
Abstract
Cross-cultural communication among international students presents specific strategies and challenges, particularly within the educational domain. The success of communication largely depends on the ability of international students to adapt and develop effective coping mechanisms in the host country. This study aims to investigate the strategies and coping mechanisms employed by international students during their learning experiences in Indonesia. A descriptive qualitative method was applied, involving two international student participants. The findings reveal several challenges in cross-cultural communication, mainly cultural differences that influence both verbal and non-verbal interactions. Data analysis was conducted through triangulation by comparing participants’ experiences with previous studies and relevant theories. This research provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges and coping strategies of international students, highlighting aspects that have not been extensively discussed in previous studies. The results are expected to serve as a valuable reference for future international students in navigating cross-cultural differences within Indonesian educational contexts.
References
Carter, N., Bryant‐Lukosius, D., DiCenso, A., Blythe, J., & Neville, A. J. (2014). The use of triangulation in qualitative research. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41(5), 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1188/14.onf.545-547
Chen, G. M. 2017. Intercultural com-munication competence: A review and conceptualization. Current Opinion in Psychology, 13, 189-194. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.05.007
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 3rd ed. (3rd ed.). SAGE.
Febianto, D., Fadhillah, F. N., Wiharlan, G., & Nugraha, M. R. (2019). Etika mahasiswa dalam berkomunikasi dengan dosen menggunakan aplikasi Whatsapp. Fokus, 2(5), 192–197. https://journal.ikipsiliwangi.ac.id/index.php/fokus/article/view/4319
Gudykunst, W. B., & Kim, Y. Y. 2017. Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication. Routledge.
Hammer, M. R. 2020. Intercultural communication training: A review and critique. International Journal of Intercultural Relations.
Jackson, J. 2014. Introducing language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
Jing, H., & Wang, W. 2019. Challenges and opportunities of intercultural communication in the era of globalization. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 48(5), 415-429.
Kim, Y. Y., & Gudykunst, W. B. (1988). Theories in intercultural communication (Vol. 12). Sage Publications, Inc., 2111 West Hillcrest Dr., Newbury Park, CA 91320; Speech Communication Association, 5105 Backlick Rd., Building E, Annandale, VA 22003.
King, C. S. T., & Bailey, K. S. (2021). Intercultural communication and US higher education: How US students and faculty can improve. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 82, 278–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.04.007
Mulyana, D., & Zubair, A. (2015). Intercultural communication competence developed by Chinese in communicating with Malays in Bangka Island, Indonesia. Sino-US English Teaching, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.17265/1539-8072/2015.04.009
Murniati. (2023). The reasons for using emojis on whatsapp chats: a case study of indonesian students’ translingual practice. Journal of English Language & Culture, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.30813/jelc.v13i2.4335
Nadeem, M. U., Mohammed, R., & Dalib, S. (2020). Retesting integrated model of intercultural communication competence (IMICC) on international students from the Asian context of Malaysia. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 74, 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2019.10.005
Nam, B. H., Yang, Y., & Draeger, R. (2023). Intercultural communication between Chinese college students and foreign teachers through the English corner at an elite language university in Shanghai. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 93, 101776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2023.101776
Nurdiyani, N., & Sasongko, S. (2022). Students’ politeness to lecturers in WhatsApp application measured using Leech Maxim. Journal of Pragmatics Research, 4(1), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.18326/jopr.v4i2.107-121
Ou, W. A., & Gu, M. Y. M. (2020). Negotiating language use and norms in intercultural communication: Multilingual university students’ scaling practices in translocal space. Linguistics and Education, 57, 100818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2020.100818
Pratama, M. R. A. (2018). Greetings strategies employed by Javanese people. Philosophica, 1(1).
Qian, M., Li, A., & Zhang, H. (2022). How can offline and online contact predict intercultural communication effectiveness? Findings from domestic and international students in China. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 89, 63–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2022.05.007
Rohbiah, T. S. (2017). Classification and description of “you” in Indonesian related with "you(kamu) in plural. Loquen: English Studies Journal, 11(1). https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/500528-classification-and-description-of-you-in-5c7cbef5.pdf
Sabirjanovna, P. Z. (2022). A model for developing students’ communicative competence by teaching them intercultural communication. Galaxy International Interdisciplinary Research Journal (GIIRJ), 10(11).
Safuwan, Syahriandi, Fakhrurrazi, & Ali, M. (2019). Analysis of cultural psychology regarding the phenomenon of Salaman kissing the hands of lecturers among Indonesian students. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE), 7(6).
Suhadi, J., & Purwarno, P. (2018). Reflection of Javanese Characters in Afifah Afra’s Novel Nun Pada Sebuah Cermin. KnE Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v3i4.1953
Wikarti, A. R., Renata, E., & Moira, S. (2019). Contrastive Analysis between Chinese and Indonesian Phonology and Implementation on Conversation Class. International Journal of Culture and Art Studies. https://doi.org/10.32734/ijcas.v3i1.1390
Copyright (c) 2025 Deskripsi Bahasa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Deskripsi Bahasa applies the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, with the copyright on the published articles held by the journal. Authors are required to transmit the copyright to this journal once the articles are accepted. This journal is granted a non-exclusive license to publish the articles as the original publisher, along with the commercial right to publish printed issues for sale. Since this journal applies an open-access mode, authors may post articles published by this journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication while providing bibliographic details that credit this journal.
By publishing with this journal, the copyright holder grants any third party the lawful right to use their published article to the extent provided by the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Subsequently, people are lawfully permitted to share, distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the published articles, even for commercial purposes, so long as they provide appropriate credit or attribution (Title, Author, Source, and License of the work), include a link to the license, indicate if any changes were made, and redistribute the derivative outputs under the same license (CC BY-SA 4.0).
