ABSTRACT
International students in foreign countries face new challenges in intercultural communication. Their communication competence is crucial as it defines their ability to effectively communicate and interact with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Language proficiency, nonverbal communication, and cultural awareness are factors that foster intercultural competence. This chapter analyzes how international students in intercultural contexts engage with the cultural differences and communicative barriers in Canada. It specifically explores the strategies students adopt to negotiate their cultural anxieties in a foreign land. This essay explores the cross-cultural psychology of international students and how a foreign society's cultural values, social norms, legal parameters, and education affect and shape their identity, behavior, and intercultural competence. Berry's acculturation framework is applied to examine the strategies employed by international students to adapt to the cultural norms and practices of their host countries. By exploring the acculturation experiences of university students, this framework will provide insights into the factors influencing their communicative adaptation and intercultural competence in foreign environments. This chapter will explore how international students derive their sense of self from their interactions in an unknown land and how it helps them negotiate their cultural identity with their national, ethnic, and student identities. This discussion adds to the current debate about the complexities of cultural adaptation and identity formation in foreign countries.
