A Qualitative Exploration of Intercultural Contact between Domestic and International Undergraduate Students

ABSTRACT

To assess the influence of quality of contact on attitudes towards intercultural communication while quantity remained constant, 21 domestic-international undergraduate student pairs engaged in four 30-minute semi-structured interaction tasks over the course of a semester. Following each interaction, the 42 participants wrote reflections. Using content analysis, these reflections were coded for major themes. Predominant themes common to both domestic and international students include: Thought-provoking, Learning, and Connection. The least predominant themes common to both domestic and international students include: Stereotype-confirm, No Personal Change, Own-reject, and Awkward. Examination of the most and least predominant themes indicate support for the contact hypothesis.

KEYWORDS:

• Contact hypothesis
• quality
• quantity
• intercultural communication
• international students
• domestic students

Disclosure statement

I have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Notes

1. To ensure anonymity and avoid a grading bias or the potential for social desirability bias of student participants, course instructors were given a list of participating students who earned extra credit at the very end of the semester – after the instructors had already graded the written reflections and returned the grades to the students.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura Jacobi

Laura Jacobi is an Associate Professor in the Communication Studies Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Her research interests include communication pedagogy and intercultural communication.