Date of Award

Spring 2020

Document Type

Thesis

Primary Advisor

Dr. James Anderson

Abstract

Globalization is a central aspect to the developing American society, both vocationally and culturally. Increased international representation on college campuses is one example of the prevalence of globalization in an everyday context. As the rate of international students present on American university campuses increases, more research has been focusing on the experiences of international students. The present study focused on adding to the literature surrounding American students’ perceptions and interactions with international students when communicative and cultural barriers arise. The thesis statement proposed that American students attending an American university who had previous international travel experience would be more adept at interacting positively with international students. While the primary thesis statement was not statistically significant, the amount of time that one had spent abroad was found to be a significant predictor of positive responses for one of the cultural barriers provided in the study. The study’s results allow room for future research to more fully determine what the greatest factors are in American and international student interactions in an American context.


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