The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1 - 138

dence halls), face-to-face interaction was still
preferred in formal learning environments
(Lohnes & Kinzer, 2007; Salaway, Caruso, &
Nelson, 2007).
While students noted that Facebook was
used to organize social gatherings in the LLC,
several also noted the added value of an RA
going around door to door inviting them to
programs. Students in general use Facebook
for two important communicative reasons-
initiating new relationships and gathering
social information-though those using it to
gather social information were less likely to
also utilize it to engage in collaborative classroom activities (Lampe, Wohn, Vitak, Ellison,
& Wash, 2011).
Though highly used among college students (speciﬁcally domestic students), text
messaging is not the preferred communication method for international students. In
a study of student and staff perceptions on
communication technologies at an Australian
university, researchers found that text messaging was an unpopular communication method
and that text messages were seen as a personal
and costly means of communication (Waycott,
Bennett, Kennedy, Dalgarno, & Gray, 2009).
Findings from the present study indicate
that both face-to-face and social media communication is important, but understanding
the context of the message is needed to utilize
the appropriate medium. As more and more
communities try to use social media to reach
out to students, it is important to recognize
that there is still value in face-to-face meetings.
This is especially important for residential life
staff as they orient and engage international
students in their residential communities.

138

The Experiential Learning Process
Intercultural communication exchanges help
all students develop a sense of intercultural
maturity and allow international students in
particular to experience an easier transition.
Signiﬁcantly, the study ﬁndings suggest that
students often developed intercultural maturity through personal strife and communication
challenges. The acquisition of intercultural
maturity can thus be seen as an experiential
learning process facilitated by opportunities
for intercultural communication; residents
must partake in exchange, experience communication challenges, and then adapt their
responses to similar subsequent situations.
LLCs provide the learning spaces necessary for
this kind of experiential learning to take place
(Kolb & Kolb, 2005; Tinto, 2000).
As the majority of respondents noted,
because this was not the ﬁrst time they had participated in a program similar to the LLC, they
started the school year with some prior experience interacting with people from other cultures. This previous intercultural experience
forms a foundation from which they develop
maturity. When students enter the community,
they are able to compare their previous knowledge to what they have now from their recent
experiences. Respondents overwhelmingly believed they were now more sensitive to others
and had a renewed sense of their own communication style. They also indicated that they
learned a lot from their roommates about interacting with people from different cultures.
They believed that when they leave the community, they will have achieved some competence in intercultural communication, which
will lead to development of their intercultural
competence (see Figure 1).

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1

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