International Students' Experience of Learning to Speak Interculturally on an Online Platform

Abstract

Through an online platform, this paper attempted to elicit international students' learning experiences in speaking interculturally. It allows students to learn in both synchronous and asynchronous modes while remaining in their native countries and communicating with others. They had unrestricted access to it from anywhere in the world. To obtain data, this work employed a phenomenology case study and photovoice. Purposive selection of virtual observation and interviews for particular international students who studied at a Thai institution from their home countries (i.e., Cambodia, mainland China, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines) were utilized by the researchers. Despite the fact that the researchers observed 136 business administration undergraduates, just 10 were identified and chosen to conduct specialized studies and in-depth interviews. Furthermore, this research revealed that international students must utilize English to communicate with others in order to improve intercultural communication quality while also growing their cross-cultural competence and interaction. In addition, the practical implications of these findings for intercultural communication learning experiences are highlighted.