Intercultural Communication Competence: Advising International Students in a Texas Community College

Abstract

Academic advising has long been considered a critical factor to student success. With a qualitative, phenomenological research design, this study was undertaken to better understand the lived experiences of academic advisors in communicating with international students in a community college context. Intercultural communication competence was used as a multidimensional construct to guide data collection and analysis used to assess the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of academic advisors' experiences with international students. The findings of the study provide important information on academic advisors' knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and skills in communicating with international students and offer implications for practice, policy, and future research.