A Study On The Interpersonal Communication And Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of African Students In China

As China's comprehensive national strength significantly increased,and the development of the cause of higher education,more and more students choose to study in China for further study.The number of African students is also increasing year by year.According to the ministry of education statistics show that the total number of African students studying in China in 2018 was 81562,accounting for16.57 percent.In the process of their learning in China,interpersonal interaction has become an important perspective for their cross-cultural adaptation,which is of great significance for them to carry out cross-cultural communication in the host country.Under the guidance of Ward's two-dimensional theoretical model of cross-cultural adaptation,this study starts from the perspective of cross-cultural communication in communication science.Taking African students from ten universities in Zhejiang province as the research object,this study used a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews to investigate the interpersonal interaction of African students and their impact on cross-cultural adaptation.The study shows that there is distinct compartment in the interpersonal interactions of African students in China and such compartment has a positive effect on the cross-cultural adaptation of international students in the short term,but may hinder their cross-cultural adaptation in the long term.The research shows that African students have a strong desire to communicate with students from othercountries,especially students from the host country,but their face-to-face interaction in real life is not optimistic.The emergence of social media,represented by WeChat has changed the African students communication situation to some extent.Based on the particularity of the network virtual space,the interpersonal interaction of international students has been improved,which has played a significant positive role in the social and cultural adaptation of international students.Therefore,the use of new media platform for students to create the chance of interpersonal interaction helps to improve the social and cultural adaptability for African students in China and the improvement of their psychological adaptation.It also provides new ideas for us to do a good job in the work of international students.