THE COMMUNICATION ACCOMMODATION AND PATTERNS OF FILIPINO GRADUATE STUDENTS ABROAD

The Communication Accommodation and Patterns of Filipino Graduate Students Abroad

Lozada, G.D.M.E., & Padilla, C.A.B. (2020). The Communication Accommodation and Patterns of Filipino Graduate Students Abroad, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

The researchers explored the interplay between the process of adapting and employing different communication patterns and strategies to facilitate the understanding of Filipino student migrants with the members of their host societies. Using the Model of Communication Patterns of Foreign Immigrants and the Communication Accommodation Theory, this study looked into how Filipino graduate students who studied abroad accommodated the members of their host countries through interpersonal and technologically mediated communication.

Sixteen Filipino former graduate students, who studied in different countries for different durations, were selected as informants according to maximum variation sampling. The study found that the students employed various degrees of convergence, maintenance, and divergence strategies in communicating face-to-face and online. The process of communication in said channels was influenced by language, interaction potential, use of media channels, acculturation motivation, social category memberships, level of accommodation received, and socio-historical knowledge, or lack thereof. Instances of complete avoidance categorized as divergent strategy were also noted. Informants also chose between interpersonal and mediated communication based on the context of their conversations with different groups of people, their needs, and their level of interest in interaction.

The findings have implications on the indispensability of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in bridging the gap between people, in facilitating understanding, and in the adjustment of individuals in their new contexts, through communication with fellow students and members of their respective host countries.