Communication Difficulties and Accommodation Strategies of the Mainland Chinese Students in Hong Kong

This study addresses and reveals the major communication difficulties and commonly-used accommodation strategies of mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong during their interactions with local people, both on and off campus, based on the theoretic framework of communication accommodation theory. Language barriers, psychological barriers, and cultural differences are generally considered to be obstacles in students' interactions with locals. The specific convergence and divergence strategies used, such as codeswitching, passing, mediating, topic-avoidance, silence-keeping, and maintenance, are identified and illustrated. The research findings provide an important reference for the relevant authorities and social groups to better understand the communication difficulties of the mainland students as well as to help improve their communication strategies during their interactions with Hong Kong locals