The role of language use and communication in Mainland Chinese students’ cross-cultural adaptation to Hong Kong: a qualitative investigative study

ABSTRACT

Mainland Chinese students’ (MCSs’) cross-cultural adaptation experiences in Hong Kong have remained under-researched. Our study investigates this phenomenon with a language and social psychology approach and explores the role of Cantonese ability and communication with locals. We invoked Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) to investigate the intergroup communication between MCSs and locals. Thematic analysis of ten semi-structured interviews revealed that MCSs considered self-perceived Cantonese abilities and communication with locals critical for their adaptation. Invoking CAT to investigate this intercultural context provided valuable insights into the importance MCSs place on locals’ communicative behaviours when deciding whether to communicate in the local language.

内地学生在香港的跨文化适应经历仍未得到充分研究。本研究从语言和社会心理学的角度调查该现象，并探讨粤语能力以及与香港本地人的交际在他们适应过程中的作用。我们调用了交际适应理论（CAT）来研究内地学生和本地人的组间交际。基于十次半结构式访谈的主题分析显示，内地学生认为他们的粤语自我认知水平和与香港本地人的交际对于他们有效的跨文化适应而言至关重要。调用交际适应理论来调查这种跨文化情境能够就本地人的交际行为在内地生是否决定使用当地语言进行交际方面提供宝贵的见解。

KEYWORDS:

• Cantonese ability
• intergroup communication
• Communication Accommodation Theory
• Mainland Chinese students
• cross-cultural adaptation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xiaoyan I. Wu

Xiaoyan Ivy Wu is a PhD candidate with the Department of English and Communication at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her PhD thesis is positioned at the intersection of the social psychology of language and cross-cultural psychology and investigates the role of language and communication in Mainland Chinese students’ cross-cultural adaptation to Hong Kong. She takes an intergroup approach to both second language acquisition and health communication. She focuses on both practitioner–patient and practitioner–practitioner communication, and has also researched into end-of-life communication between care workers and their service users.

Bernadette M. Watson

Bernadette M. Watson is a health psychologist and honorary professor at the School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia. She researches how individuals communicate interpersonally and in groups, primarily in the health context and also in intercultural communication. She conducts research into patient and health professional interactions as well as between multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams of health professionals. Her focus is on the influence of identity and intergroup processes and how individuals communicate their identity to their speech partners. Her research is applied, translational and interdisciplinary.

Susan C. Baker

Susan C. Baker is a social-developmental psychologist with research interests in the area of language and intergroup communication. Her publications focus on second language learning and motivation, Gaelic language survival, communication strategies, intercultural relations, and health communication. She is an honorary senior research fellow at the University of Queensland, and a research associate in the International Research Centre for the Advancement of Health Communication at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.