In this study, two types of research tools were used: a questionnaire and a semi- structured interview. The questionnaire is used to obtain quantitative data, which consists of lists of items designed to elicit participants' ICC impressions, and the interview data is used to supplement the qualitative data. The combination of questionnaire and interview is justified by the fact that it is more beneficial for subsequent investigation of the results than either one alone (Creswell, 2017). After all, in mixed-methods studies, a single measure is less trustworthy and valid than a combination one (Creswell, 2017). In this study, a questionnaire was used to gather students' perceptions of ICC, and then interviews were conducted to obtain more detailed information about ICC and acculturation strategies that they employed while living in Thailand.
3.3.1 Questionnaire
In this study, the questionnaire contains three parts. In the first part, it is the background information of the participants including gender, age, years of living aboard, multicultural, or intercultural communication courses/ workshops and working
experiences in education. In the second part, there are 41 items of the ICC. And in the last part, it leaves space for students to give additional comments.
The questionnaire framework is illustrated as follows:
Table 3.3 The questionnaire framework
Part 1 Background information Part 2 Items of ICC
Part 3 Additional comments
3.3.1.1 The questionnaire of ICC
The original questionnaire of Fantini ( 2019) consists of 54 items, including 11 items of knowledge, 13 items of attitude, 11 items of skills and 18 items of awareness. In order to better apply the questionnaire to this study, the researcher changed it into 10 items of knowledge, 11 items of attitude, 10 items of skills and 10 items of awareness through the modification methods such as merging and deleting. So, the questionnaire in this study is a combination one with a 41- item for measuring ICC which includes 10 items of Knowledge aspect, 11 items of Attitudes aspect, and 10 items of Skills and 10 items of Awareness.
This study used Byram (2009) ICC framework and this questionnaire is adapted from Fantini ( 2019) and revised by the researcher to fit into this study. Since Byram did not propose the established questionnaire, the researcher adapted the Fantini’
Assessing ICC ( AICC) questionnaire on the four dimensions of attitude, knowledge, skills and awareness. Although there are many aspects of Fantini's questionnaire such as language part, this study specifically focused on the four dimensions and excluded others. The argument for utilizing Fantini's questionnaire is that it investigates the nature of ICC (ICC) from a more inclusive and thorough perspective, as well as creating models that can be applied in many cultures, like Byram does. Simultaneously, his research is often focused on sojourners' interaction with diversity through study abroad and other educational exchange experiences in other countries, and how this influences their growth (Fantini, 2019).
The illustration of questionnaire aspects and items is in Table 3.4 as follows.
Table 3.4 The illustration of questionnaire aspects and item.
Aspect Item Knowledge
(Item 1-10)
1. I know the essential norms and taboos of the host culture.
2. I can contrast important aspects of the host language and culture with my own.
3. I could contrast my own behaviors with those of my hosts in important areas.
4. I can discuss and contrast various behavioral patterns in my own culture with those in host country.
5. I can recognize signs of culture stress and some strategies for overcoming it.
6. I know some techniques to aid my learning of the host language and culture.
7. I can describe a model of cross-cultural adjustment.
8. I can cite various learning processes and apply strategies for learning and adjusting to the host culture.
9. I can describe interactional behaviours common among people in the host culture in social and professional areas (e.g., family roles, teamwork, problem solving).
10. I can cite important historical and socio-political factors that shape my own culture and the host culture.
Attitudes (Item11-21)
11. I am willing to interact with host culture members.
12. I am willing to learn from the language and culture of host country.
13. I am willing to try to communicate in the host language and behave in appropriate ways.
14. I am willing to deal with my emotions and frustrations with the host culture when experiencing cultural differences.
Table 3.4 The illustration of questionnaire aspects and item. (Cont.) Aspect Item
15. I am willing to take on various roles appropriate to different situations.
16.I am interested in learning and experiencing new cultural aspects.
17.I am willing to try to understand differences in the behaviours, values, attitudes and styles of my culture and those of the host.
18.I am willing to adjust my behaviours to communicate appropriately with people from different culture.
19.I am willing to reflect on the impact and consequences and ethical implications of my decisions and choices on my hosts.
20.I am willing to deal with different ways of perceiving, expressing, interacting, and behaving even in something that I was not accustomed or preferred.
21.I am willing to suspend judgment and appreciate the complexities of communicating and interacting interculturally.
Skills (Item22-31)
22.I demonstrate flexibility when interacting with persons from the host culture.
23.I adjust my behaviour, dress etc as appropriate to avoid offending my host.
24.I am able to compare and contrast different aspects of my culture and those of the host.
25.I use strategies for learning the host language and culture.
26.I have the ability a to interact with people appropriately in various social situations
27.I use appropriate strategies to adapt to the host culture and reducing stress in adapting process.
28.I use culture-specific information to improve my style and personal interaction.
29.I help resolve cross-cultural conflicts and misunderstandings when they arose.
Table 3.4 The illustration of questionnaire aspects and item. (Cont.) Aspect Item
30.I use models, strategies, and techniques that aided my learning of the host language and culture.
31.I monitor my behaviours and its impact on my learning, my growth, and especially on my hosts.
Awareness (Item32-41)
32.I am aware of differences and similarities across my own culture and the host language and culture.
33.I am aware of the need to adjust my interaction strategies in different situation in accordance with the host culture.
34.I am aware of diversity in the host culture ( such as differences in race, gender, age).
35.I am aware of the dangers of generalizing individual behaviours as representative of the whole culture.
36.I am aware of my choices and their consequences which made me more or less acceptable by the members of the host culture.
37.I am aware of my hosts’ reactions to me and the reason that reflected their cultural values.
38.I am aware of varying cultural styles and language use, and their effect in social and working situations.
39. I am aware of my own and others level of intercultural development and the factors affected my solutions to overcome cultural frustrations.
40. I am aware of my personal habits and preferences and reactions or responses to differences reflected the values and ethics of my culture.
41. I am aware of how I perceived myself and being perceived by others as communicator, facilitator, mediator, in an intercultural situation.
To collect quantitative data, the quantitative questionnaire is based on a five- point Likert scale ranging from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree.' These five choices of Likert Scale are 1 strongly disagree, 2 disagree, 3 moderately agree, 4 agree, and 5 strongly agree, to show students' perceptions of ICC statements (Ary, Jacobs, Irvine &
Walker,2018). The use of a five-point Likert scale is justified because it evaluates perceptions or attitudes (Ary et. al,2018), and it can boost response rate and quality while decreasing patient respondents' annoyance level (Sachdev & Verma, 2004). At the same time, past research has mainly suggested the Five-Point Likert Scale (i.e., Dawes, 2008; Dillman, Phelps, Tortora, Swift, Kohrell, Berck & Messer, 2009). The use of Faniti's Likert scale is justified since it allows items to convey the content of a cohesive universe in a hierarchical order to indicate growing engagement (Faniti, 2019).
Respondents were asked to indicate their degree of agreement with the items using a five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire is intended to be completed in two languages: English and Chinese. The use of two language versions is justified by the fact that generating multiple language versions of instruments reveals greater scientific and ethical considerations of international study (Erkut, 2010). English is taught as a second language to Nigerians and Burmese. Thais and Chinese, on the other hand, study English as a foreign language. With a total population of 93 and 78 Chinese students, Chinese students account for 84 percent of the total population. As a result, because the majority of students are Chinese, a Chinese version of the questionnaire and interview questions are included to minimize misunderstandings and ambiguities. The back- translation is rechecked by an expert who is fluent in both English and Chinese to assure the accuracy of the Chinese version.
3.3.2 Interview Questions
To collect qualitative data for this study, semi-structured interviews were employed. The use of this sort of interview is justified by the fact that semi-structured interviews are commonly used to elicit information from personal experiences (Galletta, 2013) and allow for flexibility. Meanwhile, it allows the interviewer to cover all of the key elements in the dialogue and have a deeper understanding of the context (Edwards, 2013). Nevertheless, questions are prepared in advance; however, during the interview, the researcher can change the sequence of questions and add some new questions based on the responses of the participants (Kallio, Pietilä, Johnson & Kangasnieme, 2016).
The interview questions are presented in the following table. The interview questions were constructed based on the definition of ICC. The presentation of interview questions about ICC perceptions in Table 3.5 is as follows:
Table 3.5 The presentation of interview questions about ICC perceptions.
Topic/ Theme Questions Objectives General questions 1. Have you heard about ICC?
2. How do you define ICC?
1. To know bilingual education students’
general impression about ICC and how they define ICC.
1. Knowledge 1. Just as you can contact and communicate with people from different cultures in Thailand, do you know the customs and taboos of their cultures? If yes, what are they?
2. Can you cite a definition of host culture and describe its components and complexities?
How is it?
3. Can you recognize signs of culture stress and some strategies for overcoming it? How did you do?
1. To know bilingual education students’
Knowledge about ICC.
Table 3.5 The presentation of interview questions about ICC perceptions. (Cont.) Topic/ Theme Questions Objectives 2. Attitude 1. Are you willing to learn from
the language and culture of host country? Why?
2. Are you willing to try to communicate in the host language and behave in
appropriate ways? How did you do and why?
3. Are you willing to try to understand differences in the behaviours, values, attitudes and styles of your own culture and those of the host? Why?
2. To know bilingual