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Research has linked cultural differences between a sojourner's home and host country with their cultural transformation. Nonetheless, the results of empirical studies are inconclusive due to different operationalizations of cultural differences and testing among different groups of sojourners. We extend previous investigations by examining the effects of cultural novelty (i.e., the subjective perception of cultural differences) on the experience of international students (N = 1114) in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the USA. Drawing on acculturation and social learning theories, we conceptualized a model of students' adjustment and satisfaction taking into account cultural novelty. We tested the model through multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) and examined the various relationships across subsamples from all five countries. We determined the significant effects of cultural novelty and a range of factors impacting students' intercultural experience, such as their cultural intelligence, cultural background, second-language skills, time in the host country, and socialization with domestic students, and how the effects may vary by the host country. We discuss implications for future research and practice.

Government communication has been playing an important role in mass vaccination to conduct the largest vaccination campaign of the world for COVID-19 and to counter vaccine hesitancy. This study employs the health belief model to examine the association between government communication and the COVID-19 vaccination intention. A survey of Chinese adults (N = 557) was conducted in March 2021, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to estimate the multi-construct relationships. The findings indicate that government communication has both direct positive association with vaccination intention and indirect association with vaccination intention through the mediation of perceived severity, benefits, and barriers. Multi-group comparisons suggest that individuals from private sectors are more easily mobilized to receive COVID-19 vaccination by government communication than those from public sectors. Similarly, the correlation between government communication and the vaccination intention of individuals with a good health status was stronger than that of those with a poor health status. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines intercultural practices of an English program taught by international volunteers at a village school in rural Sri Lanka. Viewing learning contexts as complex adaptive systems, this research delineates the multi-layer complexity of intercultural contexts and discusses that intercultural learning practices are intertwined with actors and locations. By conducting two-month field work and 27 in-depth interviews, this research offers fresh insights looking into intercultural practices on a community level which involve international volunteer teachers, village students, their parents and village people. From the perspective of nexus of practice, the results highlight that emotional encounters and social interactions on a community level are central to intercultural learning. The results offer implications for intercultural educators and practitioners considering the recent multilingual landscape of rural villages in developing countries. We call for reflexive understandings of intercultural learning and online space which go beyond the traditional notions of the nation-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital media era, new media platforms have become the main channels for transmitting medical and health information in China. However, anti-intellectualism limits the effectiveness of disseminating health information. Therefore, in China, the government and health departments have made efforts to determine how to control anti-intellectualism to effectively disseminate medical and health information, given the situation of a global pandemic and its counter-measures. Against this backdrop, this study applied textual analysis to explore the manifestations of anti-intellectualism in network platforms. The key findings indicate that the irrational behavior of anti-intellectuals is manifested in emotional dominance, abusive behavior, overconfidence and trusting rumors. Based on these results, the authors propose some measures to balance the relationship between anti-intellectualism and health communication. The findings of the study have significant implications for improving the effectiveness of health communication in China.