A Cross-cultural Communication Experience at a Higher Education Institution in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper describes an online cross-cultural communication experience of a group of Taiwanese college students. Overall, students reported having more confidence in communication and gaining cross-cultural communication skills after participating in this project. The acquisition of cross-cultural communication skills was positively related to the motivation to succeed in the project and the sense of community developed within the online collaborative environment. Other positive correlations were found between (1) motivation to succeed and the development of a sense of community; (2) confidence in communication and a development of a sense of community; (3) confidence in communication and the acquisition of cross-cultural communication skills. Students’ confidence in communication was found to be positively related to students’ self-perceived English proficiency. Finally, the acquisition of cross-cultural communication skills was highly related to the acquisition of interpersonal communication skills through participating in the final project. Future strategies will be employed to motivate students in online collaboration and foster a sense of community within the online environment while taking their language barrier into consideration.