Research On Intercultural Communication Of Chinese Exchange Students In American Colleges And Universities

International students and the experience of studying abroad have become a popular topic nowadays. More and more Chinese college students want to study abroad because of the decline of the competitiveness of higher education in China. The exchange programs are between schools, so it is much easier to apply than study abroad on your own. As a result, a lot of college students choose to be an exchange student to save money and time. So there is a real need to explore how to deal with intercultural communication.Most researches before are focused on the international students who study abroad by them own instead of the exchange students. This research focus on the difficulties the exchange students meet when they communicate with those who have totally different cultures, and find out ways for them to deal with these difficulties.This study is focusing on three aspects:(1) to identify the intercultural communication concerns of Chinese exchange students, (2) to analysis the concerns related to intercultural communication of Chinese exchange students, (3) to explore way(s) of developing the intercultural communication ability of Chinese exchange students so as to help them studying in the U.S. to adapt to the new environment and make greater academic achievement with minimum hardship.This research is based on the anxiety-uncertainty management theory (AUM) developed by Gudykunst, together with the results of a series of semi-structured interviews was designed. Collection of data was conducted at West Liberty University (USA). Altogether, seven Chinese exchange students, three Chinese students who apply for the degree in America, five American students and five American advisors at West Liberty University (USA) participated in the questionnaire survey.Through the comparison among Chinese exchange students, Chinese students who apply for the degree in America, American students and American advisors, the result shows that the factors that affect Chinese exchange students’intercultural communication include motivation, ability, knowledge and self-concern. In details, they are competence of English, the huge cultural differences between China and the United States and the purpose for them to be an exchange student. These four factors influence the intercultural communication together. Those who have the stronger ability can do the intercultural communication more easily.Based on this study, the Chinese college and foreign college should work together to help exchange students to improve their ability of intercultural communication. The exchange students should pay more attention to these four factors, try their best to prepare for exchange life according to these aspects. For further studies, employing a larger sample and collect more data were suggested. On the other hand, for international exchange students training, in addition to language training, training should pay more attention on cultural differences; try to make the international exchange students have more chance to contact with the destination country’s culture.