Running head: EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS

Effective International Communication Methods on American Campus.

Chuande Ye
ENGL 106I
Kyongson Park
April 6, 2015
Purdue University

Author Note
Chuande Ye is a freshman student at College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Chuande Ye.
The College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Contact: ye131@purdue.edu

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS

Effective International Communication Methods on American Campus.

Introduction
According to Purdue Universitys report, Purdue had 9,998 international students in the
2013-14 academic year. It is import to ensure that this huge international student group is able to
communicate with local students efficiently. Oftentimes there are so many barriers like
difference in culture, personality, and language to influence effective communication. Those
barriers are likely to make a vast number of misunderstanding and prevent international students
from communicating with American students. Also, it may cause a negative impact on their study
if they lack effective method to communicate with American Students. For example, they can
hardly join the class discussing workshop or teamwork. I decided to conduct a research, in order
to find some effective ways for our international students to communicate with domestic students
and boost intercultural communication. To find those solutions, I read 3 articles and analyzed
those references to support my arguments and solutions of those problems.
Literature Review
Zimmermann (1995) shows international students adaption process on an American
campus. This research paper mainly talks about international students adaption progress and
international students aspect and ability in international communication. The author wanted to
find some importance area that would help international student adapt to American campus
through analyzing the communication experience of international student on an American
campus. Participants in the study were 101 international students enrolled in a mediumsized
university in the Midwest. The surveys result shows that The most important factor in
international students' adjustment to American culture was frequency of interaction with
American students. and who spent more of their leisure time with Americans were

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS

significantly better adapted than those who spent more leisure time with fellow citizens.
(Zimmermann, 1995, p. 329). This result shows that one of the most important method for
international students to communicate with domestic students is to join American students
activities like join clubs or organizations and to communicate with them. I totally agree with this
opinion because it supports and conform to one of my opinion in the interview report that The
most effective way to communicate with American students is to interact with them like joining
their activities and playing with them.
While Zimmermanns paper focuses on how the culture difference influence international
communication. Wang, Sun, and Liu (2010) were more concerned with the linguistic part. Their
research paper focuses on the communication between Chinese graduate students and American
advisors in an American university. All in all, 107 Chinese graduate students and 49 American
advisors participated in this study, and 10 Chinese graduate students and six American professors
participated in the follow-up interview. The result is interesting, it shows that sometimes both
international students and native speakers are feel anxious and unconfutable during communicate
process. In authors conclusion, both Chinese graduate students and American advisors
expressed a higher level of anxiety about students language proficiency and communication in
classroom settings. Also, graduate students English ability has more influence that their
Culture-related behavior patterns. (Wang, Sun, &Liu, 2010, p. 217). This paper provides me
some news thoughts about my research topic like The language proficiency and cultural
disparity represent the main barriers in international students interaction with their advisors.
(Wang, Sun, &Liu, 2010, p. 231). Though this paper seems mainly talks about the
communication between Chinese graduate students and their American advisors, I think those

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS

thought can still be applied on undergraduate students and their advisors because those are
common cause of inefficient international communication.
My final reference is an article that posted on Indiana Universitys (2012) website, which
provides some skills for domestic students and faculties to communicate with international
students. Those skills are: (1). Learn names. For example, native speakers should learn to
pronounce international students name and tell international students how to pronounce their
(domestic students and faculties) name. (2). Listen. The domestic students and faculties should
be patient when communicating with international students, they should keep listing so they
can understand what international student say. (3). Limit Unclear Languages. Like the article
shows, Speak slowly. Use short sentences. Pause for an instant after each sentence to give
students time to process what you said of speech. Limit the use of slang, figures. (4). Watch for
cultural difference indications. For instance, yes may mean no in some cultures and people
from some country never say no because its out of respect; (5). Consider body language
difference. For example, international students sometimes may not make eye contact to be out of
respect. (6). Use feedback loops. It means Try restating and summarizing. Paraphrase what you
think the student said and ask if thats what he or she means. (Indiana University, 2012, p. 1).
(7). Use visual and written words. Because sometimes spoken English words may be difficult to
understand and some academic English words may hard to use in oral communication. In my
opinion, this article gives me a total new aspect to analyze the cause of inefficient
communication between international students and domestic students. Also, I am able to
understand Americans thoughts about international communication and their opinion about
effective methods in intercultural communication.

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS

Conclusion
All in all, although those three references are focus on three different areas: International
students adaption process on an American campus; Communication between Chinese graduate
students and American advisors; Communicating with Culturally Diverse Students, they are
relevant- they all focus on international communication and provide many precious ideas and
theories about international communication on American campus in different aspects. For
example, my former research was focus on the culture barrier in international communication
until I saw Wang, Sun, & Lius (2010) research I knew that langue may be the biggest issues.
Also, Indiana Universitys article provides me a total new aspect: It let me know how domestic
peoples opinion about international communication and some skills that they use to boost
international communication. I think those article are useful and priceless!

EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS

References
Indiana University [IU]. (2015, March 30). Communicating with Culturally Diverse Students.
Retrieved from http://citl.indiana.edu/files/pdf/communicating_diversity.pdf
Wang, S., Sun, X., & Liu, C. (2010). Intercultural analysis of communication anxieties
encountered by international students in the United States. Intercultural Communication
Studies, 19(2), 217-234
Zimmermann, S. (1995). Perceptions of intercultural communication competence and
international student adaptation to an American campus. Communication Education,
44(4), 321-335.