International students’ distributed agency in reterritorialising campus and virtual spaces to foster intercultural communication
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
Han Guo
,
Yang Song
,
Yuan Huo
Year: 2025
Language(s): English
Abstract:
Research on international students’ agency in intercultural communication has predominantly focused on Anglo-European universities and English-medium-instruction (EMI) programs. Despite the rapid growth of intra-Asian and Asia-bound student mobility, studies seldom consider how international students navigate non-English-dominant universities or how local language mediums shape intercultural life. To address this gap, this study investigates how international students negotiate intercultural challenges and reshape institutional structures at a Chinese university. Drawing on assemblage and reterritorialisation, agency is conceptualised as distributed across heterogeneous elements and reflexively reconfigured through practice. Thematic and small story analysis of semi-structured interviews with international students enrolled in both CMI and EMI programs in a Chinese university helped identify four interrelated themes. First, embodied positioning shows how spatial and material presence enables students to transform stereotypes into dialogue. Second, linguistic and affective practices illustrate how communicative strategies reconcile tensions and sustain understanding. Third, digital mediation highlights how online infrastructures are reterritorialized for intercultural support. Fourth, collective initiatives demonstrate how student unions reshape campus and urban spaces as intercultural hubs. The study contributes theoretically by extending understandings of distributed agency and reterritorialisation, and practically by highlighting the need for multilingual access, flexible spaces, and recognition of student-led initiatives, particularly in Asian contexts.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2025.2584066
Post created by: interculture.de e.V.