| The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between international students' cultural and linguistic characteristics and their media choice between face-to-face conversation and email, when contacting International Student Services. The research was conducted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the spring semester of 2006. There were 130 participants who completed the questionnaire for this study. In addition, in-depth interviews with six questionnaire participants were conducted.;The results of this study showed that face-to-face conversation is preferred, regardless of the students' cultural and linguistic characteristics and types of situation. Based on the quantitative and qualitative research, two possible explanations for the results were formed. First, the students' individual characteristics did not affect their media choice due to the mass critical of a medium and constant high equivocality in their communication with the school officials. Second, similarity of study participants' individual characteristics resulted in similar media choice behavior. |
