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Despite the rapid increase in international students in the education sector, this area remains an under-researched. In Australia, many schools welcome international learners, but are also aware that the support they can offer cannot fully address the student's needs. Drawing on surveys (n = 51) and focus group interviews (n = 16), this case study considers how Chinese international students at four Australian schools understand their everyday experiences. The findings show that students learn and socialise in ways that make sense to them, based on their observations and interpretations of everyday events. Although the support from the school, teachers, and local peers were appreciated, they did not completely solve students' problems, nor were they necessarily interpreted and accepted by our participants as intended. It is important for educators to develop a more nuanced understanding of the challenges faced by international students in everyday life, and the kind of support that the students need.

English is an important medium for global communication but its use in different communities is inevitably shaped by their local languages and cultures. International education research shows that differences in English language practices could introduce difficulties and stress into intercultural communication between international and host students. This study examines how Chinese international students understand and deal with difficulties in communication with host students at an Australian university in relation to different English practices. Findings show that Chinese students tend to consider their own practices as less legitimate than those of Australians. Since intercultural communication is a process of negotiating shared meanings based on each other's "Local", linguistically and culturally, without acknowledgement of the legitimacy of their own local practices, Chinese students may find it difficult to utilize language and cultural resources to communicate with their Australian peers.

In recent years, over half a million Chinese students travelled abroad to study, making China the largest source of international students in the global higher education market. A large Chinese population on campus does not, however, generate prolific interactions between them and local students. Language barriers and cultural distance are frequently cited in the literature as factors that hinder communication, yet it is not clear how they actually affect the communication process. To address this gap, we utilise quantitative and qualitative data collected at one Australian university through an online survey (n = 124) and focus groups (N = 16) to investigate how Chinese international students and local students understand and experience intercultural communication. We find that both student groups are quite positive about language and cultural differences but struggle with comprehension problems and low-quality interactions. Intercultural communication requires interlocutors to establish common grounds between language and cultural variations via meaning negotiation. However, being restricted by intracultural practices and norms, students are not able to fully utilise communication techniques to fulfil this need. This, in return, affects their motivations to have further intercultural interactions. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for universities and suggestions for further research.