Chinese students’ perceptions of affordances and challenges, and their associated reactions within different contexts of intercultural communication

The perceptions of Chinese students in intercultural communication have been well-documented in literature. However, the context-dependent features of these perceptions have yet to be addressed by scholars. This study provides a qualitative examination of the perceptions of Chinese students concerning affordances, challenges, and related reactions within the contexts of personal interaction, group work, and class interaction, based on their individual experiences of intercultural communication. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to explore the personal intercultural communication experiences of 22 Chinese international students within multicultural classroom settings at a Dutch university. Qualitative data suggest that the reactions of these Chinese students are closely linked to the context in which they find themselves and the perceptions they experience at the time. The challenges and affordances perceived by participants were summarized within their respective contexts, along with their reactions. The findings reveal the perception and reaction tendencies of these Chinese students across different contexts. Based on these findings, the perspective of context-sensitivity in intercultural communication is reinforced. Furthermore, the construction of appropriate contexts is considered an effective pathway to facilitate Chinese students’ participation in intercultural interactions, and the group work is more appropriate than the other two contexts are for communication as a learning environment.