Exploring the Impacts of Social Media Usage on a Chinese International Student’s Identity Development

Abstract

International students’ experiences of studying abroad include constructing their identities in an intercultural context. While much scholarly work on international students’ identity development has concentrated on language learning and adaptation to the host culture, there has been limited investigation on how the usage of social media influence international students’ identity development. Social media, such as Twitter, has opened up a wide range of possibilities for cross-cultural engagement. Although Twitter is officially restricted in mainland China, it has become a popular and cross-national digital platform for Chinese students who study abroad. This paper responds to the need for intercultural research on social media by examining how the media shapes an international student’s identity. Informed by positioning theory, it chose the case of Wei, a Chinese postgraduate student at the University of Edinburgh. By examining Wei’s identity position in her narrative about Twitter, the findings demonstrated that the arguments on Twitter would strengthen the students’ sense of national identity and responsibility of being an intercultural mediator. Furthermore, it implied that social media had a great potential for developing students’ critical intercultural thinking and intercultural competence.