Intercultural experiences and cultural identity reconstruction of multilingual Chinese international students in Germany

摘要

The goal of this article is to examine intercultural experiences and the cultural identity reconstruction of Chinese international students in Germany by focusing on their cultural learning, and use of multiple languages including English as a lingua franca (ELF), German and Chinese. Three rounds of individual interviews over 1 year were conducted with 17 Chinese students in German universities assisted with emails as a supplementary method. The results of qualitative analysis of data indicate that despite the varying degrees of interculturality they displayed in their intercultural experiences, most participants foregrounded their core Chinese identity against other intercultural identities, and possible explanations for this were discussed. This study extends our understandings of cultural identities of border-crossing students in a broader range of contexts.