China’s national image in the classroom: evidence of bicultural identity integration

Abstract

Curriculum is the most direct way for international students to perceive China, and how the Chinese national image courses can help international students to form the ability of bicultural identity integration is an important issue to be solved in this study. Based on the bicultural identity integration theory, this study constructed a model of international students’ perceptions of the Chinese national image courses and explored the mechanisms of bicultural identity integration among international students, with the following conclusions: firstly, perceived usefulness had the greatest influence on international students’ attitudes toward learning the Chinese national image courses, followed by self-efficacy. Secondly, the three paths of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and self-efficacy can indirectly influence the bicultural identity integration of international students coming to China. Finally, perceived risk can moderate bicultural identity integration to some extent. Based on this, this study puts forward some suggestions for the construction of curriculum resources on China’s national image for international students, in order to help international students better develop intercultural cognition and communicative competence. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.

Keywords

Author Keywords

self-efficacy International students Bicultural identity integration Perceived ease of use Perceived risk Perceived usefulness

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

School of International Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

Funding & Acknowledgements

National Natural Science Foundation of China, NSFC

This work is partially supported by the SDIC Key Project of International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.W2412162), the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 24&ZD150), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.72174139), the International Chinese Language Education Research Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.23YH39D), the Philosophical and Social Science Planning Project of Tianjin (No. TJGLQN23-006), and the Science and Technology Innovation Leaders Cultivation Program of Tianjin University (No.2024XQM-001).

National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences, NPOPSS

Grant: 24&ZD150, 72174139

This work is partially supported by the SDIC Key Project of International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.W2412162), the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 24&ZD150), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.72174139), the International Chinese Language Education Research Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.23YH39D), the Philosophical and Social Science Planning Project of Tianjin (No. TJGLQN23-006), and the Science and Technology Innovation Leaders Cultivation Program of Tianjin University (No.2024XQM-001).

National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences, NPOPSS

This work is partially supported by the SDIC Key Project of International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.W2412162), the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 24&ZD150), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.72174139), the International Chinese Language Education Research Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.23YH39D), the Philosophical and Social Science Planning Project of Tianjin (No. TJGLQN23-006), and the Science and Technology Innovation Leaders Cultivation Program of Tianjin University (No.2024XQM-001).

Grant: 23YH39D

This work is partially supported by the SDIC Key Project of International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.W2412162), the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 24&ZD150), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.72174139), the International Chinese Language Education Research Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.23YH39D), the Philosophical and Social Science Planning Project of Tianjin (No. TJGLQN23-006), and the Science and Technology Innovation Leaders Cultivation Program of Tianjin University (No.2024XQM-001).

Grant: TJGLQN23-006

This work is partially supported by the SDIC Key Project of International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.W2412162), the Major Project of National Social Science Foundation of China (No. 24&ZD150), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.72174139), the International Chinese Language Education Research Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No.23YH39D), the Philosophical and Social Science Planning Project of Tianjin (No. TJGLQN23-006), and the Science and Technology Innovation Leaders Cultivation Program of Tianjin University (No.2024XQM-001).

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China’s national image in the classroom: evidence of bicultural identity integration

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