International students’ cultural representations and their implications for intercultural learning in Australia

Abstract

Intercultural learning is frequently stressed as an essential component of the study abroad learning experience. Overseas students not only have different cultural backgrounds, they also hold different cultural representations of their experience as international students. These representations deserve to be explored, as they offer insights from the students’ perspective for intercultural learning experiences. This paper relates the results of a case study carried out in an Australian university in 2012. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen international students. A thematic analysis was performed to identify the main concepts used to give an account of their cultural experience in Australia. The study found three dominant cultural representations important to consider for intercultural learning. First, most students from abroad see themselves as an ‘international students community’ during their stay in Australia. Second, they generally claim that international students have a sort of ‘global cultural identity’. Third, social relations are essential to understand their intercultural experience in Australia. This paper advocates for the importance of intercultural learning in the academic context. The findings support three propositions for enhancing intercultural learning: establishing a real mixing between international and local students; adopting a contextual and meaningful view of intercultural learning; and integrating overseas students’ academic experience in their overall experience abroad. International students’ presence can enhance intercultural learning for the student population in general, and this chance deserves to be seized.