Wilczewski Michał, Alon Ilan
Dobra 55, 00-312 Warsaw, Poland Faculty of Applied Linguistics, University of Warsaw.
40700 Ariel, Israel Department of Economics and Business Administration, University of Ariel.
High Educ (Dordr). 2023;85(6):1235-1256. doi: 10.1007/s10734-022-00888-8. Epub 2022 Jul 12.
This article systematically reviews the literature (313 articles) on language and communication in international students' cross-cultural adaptation in institutions of higher education for 1994-2021. We used bibliometric analysis to identify the most impactful journals and articles, and the intellectual structure of the field. We used content analysis to synthesize the results within each research stream and suggest future research directions. We established two major research streams: second-language proficiency and interactions in the host country. We found inconclusive results about the role of communication with co-nationals in students' adaptation, which contradicts the major adaptation theories. New contextualized research and the use of other theories could help explain the contradictory results and develop the existing theories. Our review suggests the need to theoretically refine the interrelationships between the interactional variables and different adaptation domains. Moreover, to create a better fit between the empirical data and the adaptation models, research should test the mediating effects of second-language proficiency and the willingness to communicate with locals. Finally, research should focus on students in non-Anglophone countries and explore the effects of remote communication in online learning on students' adaptation. We document the intellectual structure of the research on the role of language and communication in international students' adaptation and suggest a future research agenda.
本文系统回顾了1994年至2021年期间关于国际学生在高等教育机构中跨文化适应过程中语言与交流的文献（共313篇文章）。我们运用文献计量分析来确定最具影响力的期刊和文章，以及该领域的知识结构。我们运用内容分析来综合每个研究方向的结果，并提出未来的研究方向。我们确定了两个主要研究方向：第二语言能力和在东道国的互动。我们发现，关于与同胞交流在学生适应过程中的作用，研究结果尚无定论，这与主要的适应理论相矛盾。新的情境化研究以及其他理论的运用，可能有助于解释这些矛盾的结果，并发展现有的理论。我们的综述表明，有必要在理论上细化互动变量与不同适应领域之间的相互关系。此外，为了使实证数据与适应模型更好地契合，研究应检验第二语言能力和与当地人交流意愿的中介作用。最后，研究应关注非英语国家的学生，并探讨在线学习中的远程交流对学生适应的影响。我们记录了关于语言和交流在国际学生适应中的作用的研究的知识结构，并提出了未来的研究议程。
