Negotiating language use and norms in intercultural communication: Multilingual university students’ scaling practices in translocal space

Abstract

This study explores the language practices and perceptions of local and international students engaged in translocal space of communication in a transnational university in China. It focuses on the process by which multilingual students, as scale makers, negotiated language norms, reshaped interactional contexts and strategically configured diverse resources embedded in various spatiotemporal scales to accomplish communicative activities. It is found that translocal space is open to plural norms and shifting power relations. Through scaling practices, multilingual students can create, define and refine sociolinguistic contexts to their own advantage. The findings also highlight multilingual students’ awareness of power issues involved in the relationship between language and norms, the development of more open and flexible attitudes towards language use and their capability in applying interactive strategies to negotiate linguistic differences to achieve communicative success in translocal space.