| With the development of Internet and the popularity of mobile Internet,people’s communication is no longer limited to or satisfied with the traditional face-to-face communication in the past.Social media such as microblog,Wechat and Zhihu have become important places for people to communicate.In the era of social media,emoticons have become the fourth language besides words,sounds and pictures in online communication.However,due to the existence of cultural differences,in the network cross-cultural communication,the collision of different cultures will inevitably lead to the problem of cross-cultural adaptation.As the most popular social media in Chinese market,Wechat has become a necessary tool for overseas students to integrate into Chinese society.In the process of learning and communicating in China,foreign students learn Chinese culture and integrate into Chinese social circle by using Wechat and its emoticons,which leads to cross-cultural adaptation.The research on the use and satisfaction of online emoticons of students studying in China in Wechat chat plays an important role in better using Wechat as a social media,promoting cross-cultural adaptation and better cross-cultural communication in China.Based on the theory of use and satisfaction,this paper investigates the use of Wechat emoticons by foreign students in China through 200 questionnaires and analyzes the factors influencing the use and satisfaction of foreign students’ Wechat emoticons adaptation and the role of Wechat emoticons in cross-cultural adaptation of foreign students.Through the analysis of the questionnaire,it is found that: overseas students in China rely on Wechat emoticons highly;they like to send the default expression of Wechat system to their close friends to meet their main needs of expressing emotions and feelings;foreign students in China generally have a positive attitude towards Wechat emoticons,and they have a great recognition of Wechat emoticons to help them integrate into Chinese culture;factors such as nationality,length of stay in China,Chinese level and other factors are closely related to Wechat of foreign students in China.There is a correlation between the use of emoticons and the use and satisfaction of Wechat emoticons of foreign students in China.Foreign students from high context countries mostly use Wechat emoticons in the context of learning Chinese,while students from low context countries prefer to send emoticons in daily chatting;foreign students with high Chinese proficiency in China use Wechat emoticons more frequently,and more feel more satisfied in expressing their emotions and feelings;the longer the time they come to China,the higher their satisfaction of expressing their feelings and emotions and integrating into the Chinese social circle,while less satisfied they are in learning Chinese and Chinese culture;Wechat emoticons play an important role in expressing emotions and feelings,enhancing identity,building network interpersonal relationships and integrating into Chinese social circle,which is conducive to better cross-cultural adaptation. |
