A Global South Perspective on Mediated Intercultural Experiences in China’s Small-City International Schools: A Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

International schools in China are showing a trend of rapid expansion from major cities (Tier-1) to small cities (Tier-2 and lower tiers). Examining the intercultural experiences of students at international schools in small cities is of great significance for understanding the unequal distribution of resources for intercultural learning across international schools in different regions; however, there is a scarcity of relevant research. This qualitative case study draws on six months of fieldwork at an international school in a small city in China, using semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. Following a thematic analysis of the full dataset, the study examines mediated intercultural experiences across the student cohort and then selects a representative student–teacher pair as a focal case for more detailed analysis. From a Global South perspective, it examines how inequalities in intercultural resources shape the development of students’ intercultural competencies. This study finds that the teacher and student view limited face-to-face intercultural experience as a barrier to understanding other cultures. However, the student attributes the limited opportunities to families’ preferences, without noticing the influence of geographical location. In the absence of authentic lived experience, students rely on mediated sources. Due to differences in the types of mediated experiences involved, a gap may exist between teachers’ expectations of mediated intercultural learning and students’ actual mediated experiences. This may make it difficult to identify certain problematic cultural perceptions in a timely manner. This study further suggests that differences in intercultural learning among students at international schools in small cities are linked to the uneven spatial distribution of intercultural resources as cultural capital.

1. Introduction

Intercultural education is one of the key educational commitments of international schools (Heyward, 2002). Equipping students with intercultural competence in education enables learners to adapt to diverse cultural contexts and to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural interactions (Deardorff, 2006). Also, given that a practical reason parents choose international schools is to prepare their children for higher education abroad (Wright et al., 2022), fostering intercultural competence is both necessary and of practical value for students at international schools. However, there may be variations within international schools in terms of their intercultural education.

International schools in major cities frequently attract public attention, while those in small cities receive relatively little attention. The majority of high-quality international schools are concentrated in major cities (Tier-1 cities), particularly Beijing and Shanghai (Poole, 2021). In terms of numbers, according to the Blue Book of China International Schools (Center for China and Globalization [CCG], 2016) and research by Song (2025), international schools in China are primarily concentrated in developed eastern regions, where many major cities are located. Similarly, the Hurun Education Top International Schools in China 2025 indicates a marked geographical concentration among schools represented in prominent national rankings. Across its two component lists, Shanghai had 40 listed schools and Beijing had 35 (Hurun Education, 2025). It is evident, therefore, that in terms of both numbers and the distribution of high-quality educational resources, international schools in China are heavily concentrated in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. More importantly, this uneven geographical distribution also influences the way in which international schools are evaluated and categorised. Some international schools are classified as “non-premium” in academic research (Bunnell & Poole, 2021), and such schools are often found primarily in small cities (Tier-2 and lower-tier cities) (Poole, 2021). Poole (2021) also notes that although these schools are able to meet local families’ demand for international education, their lack of brand recognition and official accreditation makes them susceptible to being misperceived as international schools lacking legitimacy.

International schools in small cities also face greater operational challenges. Studies focusing on international schools in small cities, such as that by Poole et al. (2022), have found that these schools struggle more than their counterparts in major cities to recruit both students and staff. Having accepted teachers who lack the necessary qualifications, schools must then devote additional effort to “catering for” the students’ academic levels (Poole et al., 2022). Consequently, even though international schools in small cities may share similar educational approaches to those in major cities, putting these principles into practice proves difficult. This disparity is also recognised by the clients of international schools. Song’s (2025) study reports cases of parents in small cities sending their children to international schools in major cities, which suggests that schools in small cities are less attractive to prospective clients compared to those located in major ones.

These differences in attractiveness and operational realities also shape variations in students’ individual capabilities. Research by L. Zhang and Wen (2018) indicates that students in urban areas demonstrate higher levels of international literacy than those in rural areas, whilst a study by Meng et al. (2017) shows that students in Tier-1 cities exhibit significantly higher levels of global competence than those in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Although some studies have highlighted the blurred boundaries between a range of concepts, such as intercultural competence, international competence and international literacy (e.g., H. Zhang et al., 2025; Fantini, 2020), the research by L. Zhang and Wen (2018) and Meng et al. (2017) still offer corroborative evidence regarding the development of intercultural competence across different regions.

However, despite the aforementioned disparities between international schools in major and small cities, the rapid expansion of international schools across China from major to small cities is already a prevailing trend (Poole et al., 2022); consequently, the significance of intercultural education in international schools in small cities is growing. Yet, as the primary target demographic of international schools in China is generally considered to be affluent or middle-class local families (Poole & Qin, 2023; Poole, 2018; Young, 2017), small cities may be perceived as inherently lacking the necessary clientele. Coupled with the visibility in the rankings mentioned above, the current perception of international schools (“non-premium”) and the operational challenges faced in small cities, international schools in small cities may find themselves effectively voiceless. This situation of uneven development can be better understood from the perspective of the Global South. The Global South is a deterritorialised yet still spatial concept (Mahler, 2017). Although it was previously used rather loosely as a collective term for Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania (Haug et al., 2021), more recent scholarship has increasingly conceptualised the Global South as a relative position of marginality (T. Berger, 2021). For example, the “South” may refer to marginal positions within a country or region in relation to centres of economic and political power (Mahler, 2017). As Horner and Hulme (2019) point out, research should attend to inequalities both between and within countries. Consequently, adopting a Global South perspective offers a valuable lens through which to analyse the internal disparities within China’s international school landscape, thereby trying to furnish fresh insights for research into international schools in small cities.

Overall, there is currently insufficient attention being paid to international schools in small cities, and in particular, there is a lack of research on the distribution of intercultural resources within these schools and on students’ intercultural experiences; this falls short of providing effective support for the development of intercultural education in international schools in small cities. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine how the geographical location of international schools in small cities in China influences students’ access to this vital resource for intercultural learning: intercultural experiences. By focusing on neglected school contexts, this study aims to provide theoretical support for redressing the current imbalance in international school research, which predominantly centres on major cities, and to reveal, from a Global South perspective, the unequal distribution of resources for intercultural learning across international schools in different regions. To achieve this objective, this study undertakes three main analytical tasks: first, to identify intercultural experiences available to students, and to analyse the geographical and resource-related factors influencing these experiences; second, to examine how students and teachers understand and utilise these experiences; and third, to explain the spatial inequalities reflected in these experiential differences from the perspectives of the Global South and cultural capital.

In light of this, the research questions for this study are as follows:

(1)

What intercultural experiences are available to students at international schools in small cities? How are these experiences influenced by the school’s geographical location and resource conditions?

(2)

Given limited direct intercultural contact, how do students understand other cultures through different types of mediated resources? What impact do these mediated experiences have on intercultural learning?

(3)

From the perspective of the Global South, does inequality in intercultural experiences reflect issues regarding the distribution of cultural capital?

2. Literature Review

2.1. Geography and Educational Marginality

The uneven development of international schools is influenced by a variety of factors. Firstly, regional disparities in development are linked to educational inequality (Cao, 2008). Although the government has implemented a series of measures to address educational disparities, such disparities remain difficult to eliminate in the short term (Xiang et al., 2020). In the case of international schools, geographical location has a significant impact on their teacher recruitment (Caffyn, 2010). In China, highly qualified teachers are more likely to be drawn to major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing; international schools located in small cities, due to their geographical location, find it difficult to recruit staff of sufficient quantity and quality (Poole et al., 2022).

Geographical location also shapes the local cultural contexts within which international schools operate. Whitmarsh (2023) argues that, in China, there is a contextual difference between Tier-1 cities and Tier-2 cities: Tier-2 cities tend to be more traditional, whereas Tier-1 cities such as Shanghai are more globalised. Such differences may influence how international schools implement intercultural education, as school practices are shaped by the socio-cultural contexts in which they are situated (Hacking et al., 2017). For example, major cities host concentrated communities of foreign residents (Yu, 2023), which may provide international schools with greater access to resources for intercultural communication. By contrast, international schools in more traditional Tier-2 cities may need to negotiate more carefully between international educational philosophies and local culture.

Consequently, given the practical differences arising from geographical location, international schools exercise particular care in their site selection, prioritising locations where society believes international schools “ought” to be situated. For example, Kong et al. (2022) describe several cases where international schools were situated in the heart of expatriate communities, due to the large number of foreign companies and expatriate residents in those areas. At the same time, as the student population of international schools in China has increasingly shifted towards local students (Bunnell, 2019; Poole, 2018; Wright et al., 2024; Wu & Koh, 2022), the concentration of expatriate communities in major cities may have become particularly attractive to international schools seeking to provide a more international environment. One possible indication of this is the recruitment of foreign teachers as a visible marker of internationalisation (Poole, 2024; Golis, 2025). Meanwhile, the choice of location should also meet parents’ expectations. Parents tend to favour schools located in “global cities” (Ball & Nikita, 2014). In contrast, international schools in small cities appear to be less attractive. As mentioned above, parents in small cities tend to send their children to international schools in major cities (Song, 2025). However, accessing the educational resources available in major cities is not always easy. In Song’s (2025) study, parents who initially sent their children to international schools in major cities eventually had to transfer them back to schools in their own cities due to practical constraints.

2.2. International Schooling in China: Beyond the Elite Narrative

Existing scholarship that has challenged the elite narrative surrounding international schools provides important insights into changes in their operating conditions as they expand into small cities. International schools were originally regarded as elite institutions, but as they have expanded from major cities to small cities, their elite nature has gradually undergone subtle changes. From the early 21st century to the present day, China’s middle class has been dispersing from major cities to small cities (Barton et al., 2013), meaning that the target demographic for international schools has also begun to migrate to these small cities. International schools are gradually beginning to appear in cities other than Beijing and Shanghai (Bunnell & Poole, 2024). This was originally a gradual process. However, once capital recognised the vast potential market in these small cities, it rapidly facilitated the expansion of international schools from major cities to Tier-2 cities (Bunnell, 2019), and international schools have even gradually begun to appear in Tier-3 and lower-tier cities (Poole et al., 2022). This has led to a surge of schools in small cities that are not driven by educational needs, but rather by the profit-seeking motives of capital (Bunnell, 2019).

As international schools have expanded, some seemingly contradictory perspectives have begun to emerge in the literature. On the one hand, international schools are generally regarded as elitist in mainstream academic discourse (e.g., Tarc & Mishra Tarc, 2015; Bunnell, 2021; Tanu, 2014). On the other hand, a growing body of research has begun to examine international schools and their students from the perspective of the difficulties they face. For example, a controversial study by Young (2017) highlighted the lack of elitism in these emerging international schools, including weaknesses in language learning abilities and academic standards. Other studies have further argued that, as investment and commercial interests are the primary drivers of their expansion (Bunnell, 2019), international schools’ commercial nature leaves these schools lacking a clear educational philosophy and a solid foundation of values (Probert, 2022). Research by Poole et al. (2022) has also found that even delivering on the school’s commitment to English as the language of instruction proves challenging for international schools in small cities. These findings appear contradictory, as the elite nature of international schools seems incompatible with their less-than-satisfactory academic performance. However, this apparent contradiction may reflect the changes that international schools have undergone during their continued expansion. Newly established schools, which are primarily located outside major cities, may not conform to the descriptions found in earlier literature.

However, this does not imply that international schools are elite in major cities whilst struggling in smaller ones. It is worth noting that Young’s (2017) study was, in fact, conducted in Beijing. The challenge to the narrative of elitism in international schools reflects the differentiation that has gradually emerged as these schools have expanded. As Bunnell (2019) observes, international schools have undergone a transition from the “old era”, characterised by Tier-1 cities, to a “new era” of expansion into Tier-2 cities; this trend may represent a move away from the high-end market. Bunnell and Poole (2024) argue that it is unfair for the academic literature to view this expansion through a negative lens. This study suggests that the challenge to the traditional elitist narrative may stem from its inability to account for the schools that emerged later, driven by commercial interests. At the same time, as this market expansion extends further into small cities, resource constraints arising from geographical location may further exacerbate the operational difficulties faced by some emerging schools. This is because the elite nature of international education is sometimes deeply embedded in property development and the educational needs of affluent urban families (Liu, 2024), and it may be difficult to find equivalent resources in smaller cities. Consequently, the educational conditions of international schools in small cities should be understood as the result of the combined effects of the overall commercialisation and typological differentiation of international schools, alongside specific geographical resource constraints.

For this very reason, international schools in small cities in China could be discussed within the context of the Global South to examine the uneven development within international schooling. However, much of the literature on how international schools contribute to educational inequality focuses on how they give rise to segregation and educational stratification (e.g., Lillie, 2024; Wright, 2025; Ayling & Wallace, 2025). This may imply that international schools constitute a wealthy, elite group, which creates a disconnect with much of the current literature describing their challenges. This study seeks to demonstrate that stratification also exists within international education, and that within this context, there are inequalities in the allocation of educational resources. When discussing “international schools in China”, the situation in international schools in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing cannot fully capture the circumstances of international schools in small cities. Therefore, this study focuses on international schools in small cities within the context of the Global South.

2.3. Intercultural Experiences in International School

This study adopts students’ intercultural experiences as a lens through which to examine educational practices in international schools. The choice of “intercultural” as the focus of this research stems from the fact that, firstly, intercultural learning is a key educational commitment of international schools (Heyward, 2002). Secondly, the extent to which schools cultivate students’ intercultural competence also depends on how actively the school engages with the external cultural environment (Hill, 2006), a factor that may be linked to the school’s geographical location. For example, community engagement influences students’ intercultural understanding (Hacking et al., 2017), and numerous studies have highlighted the negative impact that the formation of “islands” within international schools can have on students (e.g., Kong et al., 2022; Woods & Kong, 2020; Ledger, 2016; Bunnell, 2005). Consequently, intercultural experiences represent an educational commitment that is influenced by the school’s geographical location. However, opportunities for international schools in major and small cities to provide intercultural resources may be unequal. As discussed above, geographical location may influence international schools’ access to resources like culturally diverse communities and staff.

With regard to the selection of “intercultural experiences” as a subject of study, in any case, intercultural experiences are indispensable to intercultural learning. Experience is both the starting point and an integral part of the learning process. Therefore, when international schools provide students with intercultural experiences, they are providing them with resources for learning. Both Kolb (1984) and Dewey (1938) have described the role of experience in learning. Without the input of experience, students’ learning may be compromised. Particularly in the context of intercultural learning, Liddicoat and Scarino (2013) argue that learners interpret meanings within their experiences to create new meanings. Experience serves as a vital resource in this process; consequently, providing such experiences is of paramount importance for students. McConachy (2014) further explicitly introduced a concept known as “experience talk” in the context of intercultural learning. Students gain an understanding of their own cultural assumptions by analysing prior experiences (McConachy, 2014). Consequently, experience serves as the resource upon which students’ reflection relies, whilst also providing the foundation and prerequisite for their intercultural learning. However, access to experience is not equal; it is a spatial resource, as discussed above.

2.4. Distance-Mediated Intercultural Learning

Although the geographical location of international schools may lead to unequal access to intercultural learning opportunities, such limitations can be mitigated through alternative forms of engagement. For example, even in remote small cities, intercultural communication can take place non-face-to-face. Particularly in modern society, an increasing number of intercultural experiences can be facilitated through the media (Godwin-Jones, 2013; Kramsch, 2011; O’Dowd & Dooly, 2020; Thorne, 2003). Research by Vromans et al. (2023) indicates that intercultural learning does not require students to travel abroad or immerse themselves in a foreign cultural environment. Multiple effective learning methods can be implemented within the classroom, such as simulation exercises, role-playing, critical incident analysis, and inviting individuals from different cultural backgrounds to share their experiences in class. For instance, in McConachy’s (2014) study, listening to others describe their intercultural experiences helped students become aware of their own cultural assumptions. For intercultural resources to be meaningful, it is crucial that schools proactively design activities (Nolan et al., 2024) to engage students, rather than expecting such engagement to occur by chance (Jackson, 2005). This offers insights for international schools that are unable to provide face-to-face experiences for their students. International schools can facilitate intercultural learning by providing intercultural resources through non-face-to-face means.

However, despite the educational value of mediated experiences demonstrated in the literature above, existing research has not reached a simple or consistent conclusion. Mediated experiences can also be problematic. Certain studies have highlighted the risks associated with mediated experiences. In the absence of face-to-face interaction, intercultural communication may lead to misinterpretations of the messages conveyed by others (Izmaylova, 2017; Baumer & Van Rensburg, 2011). Take social media, for example: whilst it may help individuals challenge stereotypes, it may also reinforce cultural stereotypes (Sawyer & Chen, 2012). The success of non-face-to-face intercultural communication is further influenced by a variety of factors, including language proficiency, the nature of the interaction, and the mode of interaction (Rui & Wang, 2015), all of which contribute to the uncertainty inherent in intercultural learning. Nonetheless, whilst these studies have devoted considerable attention to mediated experience, they rarely discuss it within the context of the Global South, tending instead to view it as an alternative. This is because much of the relevant research has focused on the higher education setting (Chimeva & Trenchs-Parera, 2024), where participants are predominantly adults and typically have greater access to travelling. For them, engaging locally or online is a matter of choice. In contrast, for the students in this study, mediated experience constitutes their primary means of sustained engagement with other cultures as they have limited mobility. As minors, their ability to travel may depend on parental consent and support. Consequently, this study seeks to broaden the existing discourse by examining how students in small cities engage in intercultural learning through mediated experience in the absence of face-to-face intercultural encounters.

This study adopts a Global South perspective and draws on theories of experiential learning and cultural capital to examine intercultural experiences in small cities, with the aim of analysing such experiences from the educational process to broader social structures. Experiential learning theory explains the educational value of intercultural experiences, while cultural capital theory further demonstrates how the outcomes of such learning may constitute a form of cultural capital in future educational and social competition. However, access to such intercultural experiences is not equitable; consequently, adopting a Global South perspective reveals underlying inequalities rooted in geographical location. The combination of these three approaches enables this study to extend its analysis from the educational value of intercultural experiences to their broader implications as a form of capital, whilst also examining spatial inequalities in the distribution of such capital.

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Background and Case Selection

This study employs a single-case study design inspired by Stake (1995), aiming to gain an understanding of broader issues through an in-depth examination of a single school. It takes an international school in a small city as its overall case, with the students and teacher of one class at that school serving as participants. Based on a thematic analysis of all the data, the study first examines mediated intercultural experiences across the student cohort before focusing more closely on the interview data from Lowe and Annie. It should be noted that Lowe’s experience is not an exception amongst the student participants, but is representative of the entire student cohort. Furthermore, Lowe’s reflections are more in-depth and comprehensive than those of other participants. Therefore, an analysis of Lowe and the teacher’s interviews provide a relatively comprehensive account of the process of forming cultural impressions, from a lack of first-hand intercultural experience and reliance on mediated information to the formation of cultural impressions, and are thus able to effectively link several core themes of this study. Furthermore, their differing identities and perspectives enable them to shed light on the same issue from different angles. This reveals both the shared understanding that students and teachers have of intercultural experiences, and highlights any potential discrepancies between the ways in which students actually engage with and interpret these resources and the teachers’ expectations.

3.1.1. The City

The school examined in this study is located in a typical small city (generally classified as Tier-2 or Tier-3 city). The term “small city” used in this study is not based on strict administrative or population-based classifications, but is used for these Tier-2 and lower-tier cities in contrast to traditional Tier-1 cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Based on this definition, the location of this study can be regarded as a small city in the strict sense. This city has few international schools, and none of them feature in international school rankings such as the “Hurun Education Top International Schools in China”. There are 8 international schools in total in this city; their founding years and curriculum offerings are shown in Table 1 (schools have been anonymised):

Table 1. Overview of international schools in this typical small city.

School (Anonymised)	Year Established/Year International Programme Was Launched	Years of Operation	Curriculum Authorization/Programme Offerings
1	2014	12	A-Level, OSSD, HKDSE
2	2017	9	HKDSE
3	2018	8	A-Level, OSSD
4	2021	5	A-Level, OSSD, HKDSE
5	2014	12	OSSD
6	2018	8	UK and Australian university foundation programmes
7	2017	9	An integrated programme combining the general high school in China curriculum with Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Canadian programmes
8	2012	14	AP, A-Level, UFS (UNSW Foundation Studies, Australia)

Most of these schools were established or launched their international programmes within a relatively short timeframe and have been in operation for only a short period. This may be linked to the capital-driven nature of international school development, as noted by Bunnell (2019). In the process of collecting publicly available information about these schools, the researchers found that their official websites and social media accounts disclosed only limited information. This may also indicate that these schools are still in the early stages of standardising their operations and building their institutional brands.

3.1.2. The School

The school selected for this study (referred to as “School 3” in the table) was established eight years ago, which places it in the middle of the range in terms of the age of all international schools in the city. The school offers international curricula such as A-Levels and the OSSD, whilst students also undertake courses developed in-house by the school.

Almost all the students are native-born Chinese, aged between 15 and 18. They have no experience of extended stays abroad. The school’s full-time teaching and administrative staff are also all native-born Chinese. From this perspective, the school provides a culturally homogeneous environment.

The decision to select this school as a research site was based primarily on the following considerations. Firstly, in terms of its length of operation, curriculum and student body, the school bears a certain resemblance to other international schools in the area (see Table 1); it can therefore, to some extent, reflect some of the common characteristics of local international schools. Secondly, the school is also actively engaged in and promotes intercultural education. The school intentionally recruits teachers who had developed intercultural experience through studying or living abroad. In addition, it organised activities such as multicultural festivals to expose students to different cultures. Furthermore, the school’s institutional framework adopts approaches that differ from those commonly practised in non-international schools. For example, the school has introduced a detention system, an advisor system and a subject-based classroom rotation system. These systems were devised by the school principal at the time of the school’s establishment, following visits to numerous schools in countries such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. These practices provide them with opportunities to experience cultural differences in their everyday school life.

3.1.3. Participants

The participants were the students of a Year 10 class and their English teacher. As the school operates a small-class system, the class consisted of only eight students. Consequently, the study included all students in this class. The lesson selected for observation was their English class; given the interrelationship between language and culture (Zhu, 2019; Kramsch & Zhu, 2016), observing an English lesson was deemed more conducive to observing how intercultural awareness is taught. The participants’ basic information is shown in Table 2:

Table 2. Participants’ basic information in this study.

Pseudonym	Age	Gender	Grade	Identity	Overseas Experience
Lowe	16	Male	10	Student	No
Zara	15	Female	10	Student	No
Jimmy	16	Male	10	Student	No
Joel	16	Male	10	Student	Yes
Clara	15	Female	10	Student	Yes
Rainy	16	Male	10	Student	No
Logan	16	Male	10	Student	Yes
Sam	15	Male	10	Student	No
Annie	35	Female	/	Teacher	Yes

3.2. Data Collection

Data collection primarily employed two methods, semi-structured interviews and classroom observation, supplemented by the researcher’s routine observations within the school.

Interviews: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students and their English teacher. Four rounds of interviews were held with students and two rounds with the teacher. Prior to each round of interviews, an interview guide was prepared based on the research questions, covering students’ understanding of interculturalism, their own intercultural experiences (if any), and their self-reflection on these experiences. Semi-structured interviews were chosen for their flexibility in allowing for spontaneous follow-up questions, whilst providing space for personalised expression (Kallio et al., 2016). During the interviews, the researcher would follow up on the interviewees’ responses to guide the conversation towards the students’ genuine thoughts and to elicit reflective thinking. Each interview lasted approximately one hour. To facilitate better expression by both the students and the teacher, the interviews were conducted in their native language, Mandarin.

Classroom observations: Classroom observations were conducted two to three times a week, each lasting one English lesson (one hour). The observations focused on how the teacher delivered intercultural content (such as the case studies used, the topics discussed and the media materials introduced) and on the students’ classroom responses.

Routine observations: Given that this study focused on a single school as a case study, the researcher drew on Lincoln and Guba (1985) and adopted prolonged engagement and persistent observation as strategies to enhance the credibility of the research. During the six-month fieldwork period, the researcher was present on campus five days a week from the start of the school day until the end of the school day, participating in or observing various activities organised by the school. However, researchers also recognise that qualitative research is co-constructed by the researcher, the participants and their interactions (Finlay, 2002); consequently, familiarity with the setting is a double-edged sword. Researchers are required to examine their own positions through reflection and consider the potential impact these may have on the research findings (R. Berger, 2015). Consequently, the researcher reflects on personal positioning, regularly reviewing the initially recorded class notes and audio recordings to minimise prior assumptions arising from familiarity with the context.

3.3. Data Analysis

All recordings were subsequently transcribed word-for-word into text, yielding a transcript of approximately 321,000 characters (in Chinese). For the analysis of the transcripts, this study employed thematic analysis. The reason for choosing thematic analysis is that this method does not rely on a pre-established theoretical framework and is suitable for exploratory, data-driven qualitative research (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Data analysis was divided into six stages. The first stage involves familiarising oneself with the data. The researcher read through the transcripts of the interviews with students and teachers repeatedly, noting down preliminary analytical thoughts as they read. The second stage is generating initial codes. The researcher coded content relevant to the research questions, including participants’ descriptions of their knowledge of foreign cultures, the sources through which they obtained intercultural information, their views on personal experiences, and their judgements regarding the reliability of media information. Initial codes included “limited understanding of foreign cultures”, “learning about foreign cultures through novels”, “lack of first-hand contact” and “questioning the reliability of online information”. Although the research questions guided the researcher to focus on intercultural experiences and their sources, the specific codes were derived from the material using an inductive and data-driven approach, without any formal hypotheses requiring verification or pre-determined outcomes. Whilst the study adopted a Global South perspective, the research design endeavoured to avoid a “deficit view”. The third stage involves organising and categorising the codes. The researcher repeatedly compares codes that appear in interviews with different participants, merging codes with similar or overlapping meanings, and grouping smaller codes with shared meanings into higher-level categories. The fourth stage involves formulating candidate themes. The researcher further analyses the connections between codes in different categories and identifies the broader meanings to which they collectively point. The fifth stage involves reviewing and revising the candidate themes. The researchers repeatedly compared the candidate themes with relevant coded excerpts and the full dataset, examining whether the data within each theme formed coherent patterns and whether these themes remained meaningful when considered within the context of the entire dataset. On the sixth stage, after the repeated review described above, three core themes were ultimately identified, which correspond to the three subheadings in the “Research Findings” section of this study:

(1)

Knowing Foreign Cultures “Through Other People’s Mouths”: Mediated Understanding in the Absence of First-Hand Encounters;

(2)

Teacher’s Recognition of the Limits of Mediated Intercultural Understanding;

(3)

The Gap Between Teachers’ Expectations and Students’ Mediated Experiences.

During the transcription process, simple conversational analysis markers (such as pauses of varying lengths) are used to capture the participants’ tone and the flow of their speech. The entire analysis process is iterative, with the researchers constantly cross-referencing the transcribed text, classroom notes and interview material, and returning to the data to seek further evidence in response to new questions that arise during the analysis.

This study analyses the key relevant data to highlight the main findings, with a particular focus on content that is responsive to and significant for issues concerning the Global South. During the process of theme formation and review, the researchers also paid attention to material that did not fully align with the preliminary analysis, and revisited the raw data to ensure that themes were not based solely on material supporting existing interpretations. Having completed the analysis of the entire dataset, this study selected data that was closely relevant to the research questions and could clearly illustrate the core themes for reporting, and further examined how these findings shed light on the research topic. Furthermore, in order to illustrate the differences in intercultural resources among international schools at various urban levels, the researchers additionally collected publicly available information from ten international schools in major Chinese cities and from the case school. By comparing these sources, the study aims to provide potentially informative insights into how the provision of authentic intercultural opportunities may vary across different geographical locations.

4. Findings

This section presents the research findings in three parts. The first part examines students’ mediated intercultural experiences, and how family background and geographical location influence their opportunities to gain first-hand intercultural experiences. The second part presents teachers’ understanding of students’ lack of first-hand intercultural experiences and the role of media resources. The third part analyses the gap between teachers’ expectations of mediated intercultural learning and students’ actual experiences with media.

4.1. Knowing Foreign Cultures “Through Other People’s Mouths”: Mediated Understanding in the Absence of First-Hand Encounters

As most students lack practical experience of living abroad, yet the international school they attend is, to some extent, committed to fostering intercultural learning, the researcher asked participant Lowe during the interviews whether he felt he had a sufficient understanding of foreign cultures. After Lowe described his understanding as “just a drop in the bucket,” the interviewer followed up by asking him to explain why.

Extract 1. Lowe, Interview 4

Interviewer: 为什么你觉得自己不了解？ Interviewer: Why do you think you don’t understand? Lowe: （0.5）因为我:::得到的所有信息都是通过别人的嘴来的，别人的经历或者故事。 Lowe: (0.5) Because all the information I’ve::: received has come from other people’s mouths, from other people’s experiences or stories.

(Lowe, interview 4)

He believes his understanding is limited because of his lack of lived personal experience (“All the information I’ve::: received has come from other people’s mouths, from other people’s experiences or stories.”) The phrase “from other people’s mouths” emphasises the mediated nature of the information source. Compared with experiences heard from others, Lowe considers first-hand experience to be more reliable than experiences gained through the media. This may also imply a subtle hierarchy of experiences.

Lowe’s case is by no means an isolated one. Mediated experience is widespread in student data. The study therefore summarised the mediated experiences mentioned by students during the interviews and identified some typical quotations, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Mediated intercultural experiences reported across four rounds of student interviews.

Participant	Mediated Intercultural Experience	Representative Quotation(s)
Lowe	Chinese web novels and stories/accounts from others	“可能是看小说给我看出来的一些比较客观，哦不，比较那个主观的印象。” “Perhaps it’s from reading novels that I’ve developed some rather objective impressions, oh no, rather subjective ones.” Lowe, interview 3 “（0.5）因为我:::得到的所有信息都是通过别人的嘴来的，别人的经历或者故事。” “(0.5) Because all the information I’ve::: received has come from other people’s mouths, from other people’s experiences or stories.” Lowe, interview 4
Clara	Accounts from others and media/online representations	“我姐姐当时美国在高中，高中在美国读的，告诉我她的高中真的很快乐。” “My older sister was in high school in the US at the time. She went to high school in the US, and she told me that her high school life was really happy.” Clara, interview 1
Rainy	Professional gamers and tattoos encountered through gaming and social media	“比如说游戏，因为我打游戏看到几个职业哥，他们好像基本都有（纹身）。” “For example in gaming, because when I play, I see a few professional players, and they almost all have (tattoos).” Rainy, interview 3
Joel	Life stories of foreign athletes	“（2.0）我看过一些运动员，然后他们也有纹身。” “ (2.0) I’ve seen some athletes, and they also have tattoos.” “他们对纹身有见解，然后他们去讲他们纹身的时候故事深深吸引到我了。” “They have insights into tattoos, and when they talk about the stories behind their tattoos, it deeply resonates with me.” Joel, interview 3
Zara	Online narratives about India	“我感觉我没见过，没去过印度，我也不知道他们什么，所以我的印象只有网络上传的那样。” “I don’t think I’ve ever seen or been to India, and I don’t know anything about them, so my impression is based solely on what I’ve seen online.” “（3.0）因为印度他们贫穷的地方真的挺苦的。” “ (3.0) Because the poor areas in India are really tough.” Zara, interview 2
Logan	Online videos portraying Thai street food	“就网上看到那些视频，有些人去一些地方，但其实我这次一去体验感不是那样，你别看是路边摊，但是他们每一个地方都打扫得很干净。” “I’ve seen those videos online where some people visit certain places, but actually, when I went there this time, my experience wasn’t like that at all. Don’t let the fact that they’re roadside stalls put you off, every single one of them is spotlessly clean.” Logan, interview 1
Sam	School-based accounts of life and events abroad	“她（Annie）给你讲这些事情的时候，你觉得你有感受到文化差异吗？” “When she (Annie) was telling you about these things, did you feel there were any cultural differences?” “没有亲身体验过，我也:::没有什么感觉。” “Unless I’ve experienced it for myself, I don’t really::: feel anything about it.” Sam, interview 1
Jimmy	Classroom-based information about foreign cultures	“我不认为自己了解（外国文化），因为我，就没，其实刚上国际学校以后才去在课上能听到一些。” “I don’t think I understand (foreign cultures), because I’ve never really::: actually, it was only after I started at the international school that I began to hear a bit about them in class.” “之前有没有出过国？” “Have you ever been abroad before?” “没有。” “No.” Jimmy, interview 4

It can be seen that some of these mediated sources originate from the internet (Lowe, Rainy, Zara and Logan), whilst others come from accounts told by others (Lowe, Clara, Sam and Jimmy). Although there may be slight variations in the sources, mediated experiences were evident in the data of every student participant. Among them, some students mentioned a lack of first-hand experience when describing these mediated experiences (Zara, Sam, and Jimmy). In light of this phenomenon, the study further focuses on Lowe’s case to examine the factors contributing to his limited face-to-face intercultural experiences. The extract presented below sets out Lowe’s analysis of the reasons for his lack of experience.

Extract 2. Lowe, Interview 4

Interviewer: 那你觉得是什么阻碍了你了解他? 或者说为什么在现在这个阶段没有办法通过眼睛去了解？ Interviewer: What do you think has prevented you from understanding them? Or why is it that, at this stage, you do not have the opportunity to understand them through your own eyes? Lowe: 家庭吧。我父母之前带我出去旅游也很少，就是说出国他们更，他们更多的是比较喜欢国内的一些景观，他对于国外好像就不太感兴趣了。 Lowe: Probably my family. My parents rarely took me travelling before. I mean, when it comes to going abroad, they, they tend to prefer some domestic landscapes. They don’t seem very interested in foreign countries.

(Lowe, interview 4)

Lowe attributes his lack of first-hand intercultural experience to parental arrangement, as he said, “Probably my family. My parents rarely took me travelling before.” He believes this is because his parents have little interest in travelling abroad; as they have little interest in travelling abroad, he has to follow his parents’ travel arrangements and finds it difficult to make his own independent travel plans. His parents’ travel preferences undoubtedly served as the direct cause of his lack of first-hand intercultural experiences; therefore, Lowe is justified in attributing this to his parents’ interest in travel. However, his lack of first-hand intercultural experiences may also be the result of a combination of factors. For example, in Tier-1 cities, if schools offer a wealth of opportunities for first-hand intercultural exchange, students would have the chance to utilise the resources provided by the school rather than relying on their parents to gain such experiences.

To gain a better understanding of the differences in the provision of intercultural resources among international schools in cities of varying sizes, this study supplemented its analysis with publicly available data from 10 international schools randomly selected from major cities in China, compiling statistics on the types and numbers of their intercultural activities over the past three years, namely from January 2024 to the present. At the same time, for the purposes of comparison, the study also collected publicly available data on in-person intercultural activities from School 3 in Table 4, which is the case school. The relevant information is summarised in Table 4.

Table 4. Overview of intercultural activity resources in international schools in major cities (based on a survey of 10 schools) and the case school.

School (Anonymised)	City Tier	Total Number of First-Hand Intercultural Opportunities	Distribution of Activity Types	Curriculum Authorization Types	Year Established
1	Tier-1	3	Summer school (2) Cultural exchange (1)	A-Level, IB	2007
2	Tier-1	1	Sports exchange in the United States (1)	IB	2002
3	Tier-1	4	Study tour (3) Hosting visits (1)	A-Level, AP	2003
4	Tier-1	3	Forum/exchange (1) Hosting delegations (1) Arts performance (1)	AP, China-Canada BCA	1996
5	Tier-1	5	Study visit (2) Cultural Day (2) Hosting delegations (1)	A-Level, IB, AP	2004
6	Tier-1	3	Summer camp (1) Young Scholars Programme (1) Forum (1)	A-Level, IB	1963
7	Tier-1	3	Cycling tour (1) Expo (1) Summer school (1)	A-Level, IB, AP	1994
8	Tier-1	2	Overseas research programme (1) Hosting visits (1)	IB	2017
9	Tier-1	1	Study camp (1)	AP	2014
10	Tier-1	2	Overseas study tour (2)	A-Level, AP	2000
School 3	Tier-3	0	/	A-Level, OSSD	2018

As can be seen from the data presented in Table 4, in Tier-1 cities, first-hand intercultural experiences do not rely entirely on arrangements made by families themselves, but can also be gained through school activities. All 10 international schools in Tier-1 cities have offered at least one first-hand intercultural activity, with six of them providing three or more such activities. The formats of these activities are diverse, including study visits, overseas research programmes, summer schools and study camps, cycling tours, Young Scholars programmes, forums and exchange activities, cultural days, arts performances, expos, and the hosting of visiting groups or delegations. These activities may partly compensate for the limited intercultural contact resulting from the schools’ culturally homogeneous environments. In contrast, as shown in Table 4, no first-hand intercultural opportunities since 2024 were identified in the publicly available information for School 3, the case school. This stands in contrast to the other ten schools. It should be noted that the above data is derived entirely from publicly available information on the schools’ websites, which may also serve the purpose of promoting the schools’ brands. Therefore, these figures cannot be taken as definitive conclusions. They are intended, rather, to provide insights into the state of intercultural activities at international schools in different cities.

The provision of intercultural activities at international schools in small cities may be the result of a combination of parental preferences and resource constraints, rather than being determined solely by geographical factors. As the participant Lowe noted, his parents were not interested in their child travelling abroad. One possible explanation is that family preferences may limit students’ access to first-hand intercultural experiences. When the surrounding environment also offers relatively limited alternative opportunities, the influence of family-level choices on students’ intercultural experiences may become even more significant. Consequently, students’ access to intercultural experiences may be influenced by a variety of factors, with geographical location being one such condition that interacts with factors such as family travel agency.

The direct influence of parental travel preferences on Lowe’s intercultural experiences may also be related to his age. All participants were aged 15–16 (see Table 2). For students of this age, travel arrangements are often beyond their control. For instance, whether Lowe could travel abroad depended on his parents’ interest in travel. This provides further support for the literature mentioned earlier regarding the “contradictions” surrounding international institutions, which, on the one hand, provide an elite education, whilst on the other, face significant challenges. Although the target clientele of international schools is the affluent middle class (e.g., Poole & Qin, 2023; Poole, 2018; Young, 2017), some of them are in a disadvantaged position when it comes to accessing face-to-face intercultural experiences. This, to some extent, also reflects a Global South context. In this case, inequality is not entirely economic in nature. Lowe’s family could afford the school’s tuition, which is much higher than public high school. However, this does not necessarily indicate that parents are interested in their children travelling abroad or that Lowe has opportunities to participate in overseas study programmes while attending an international school.

As the Global South can refer to a relative peripheral position (T. Berger, 2021), it may also denote differences within individual countries (Mahler, 2017). From this perspective, differences in the intercultural resources available across schools suggest that international schools in China cannot be treated as an internally homogeneous category. A Global South perspective therefore provides a useful lens for interpreting inequalities in the distribution of intercultural resources among international schools within China. Furthermore, a Global South perspective makes it possible to see how experiential learning is shaped by geographical location. The Discussion Section will further consider how this may, in turn, influence the accumulation of cultural capital. It should be noted that the comparison presented here is intended as a preliminary indication and should not be regarded as a definitive conclusion. This is because information on international schools in Tier-1 cities in Table 4 is derived primarily from publicly available school materials, which reflect the activities the schools choose to showcase externally. In contrast, the data on the case school come from interviews and classroom observations conducted during long-term fieldwork. As these two types of data are not entirely equivalent in nature or evidential weight, this study seeks to highlight potential differences between international schools in different geographical locations in terms of the intercultural experiences they provide to students.

What follows demonstrates the consensus among teachers and students regarding the impact of a lack of personal experience. In interviews with the teacher, she indicated that a lack of personal experience can affect students’ understanding of the intercultural content covered in class.

4.2. Teacher’s Recognition of the Limits of Mediated Intercultural Understanding

What follows is the teacher’s perspective on whether students lack personal experience. In the teacher interviews, when asked whether students could truly understand the content relating to other cultures covered in class, Annie shared her views on students’ intercultural experiences and how this influences her teaching.

Extract 3. Annie, Interview 1

Annie: 你比如说为什么美国它社区会这样，你首先理解美国人的文化，美国社区的文化。这些相对来说对他们来说都比较有挑战性。 Annie: Consider why American communities are the way they are, first, you need to understand the culture of Americans, and the culture of American communities. These are relatively challenging for them. […] Annie: 但是如果是（有关）中国的文化，我觉得他们可能maybe就OK。 Annie: But if it’s (about) Chinese culture, I reckon maybe they’d be OK with it. […] Annie: 你不能那个（.）你像如果说他没出过国，他怎么知道国外人住house，他怎么知道国外人是分散都喜欢住sub-urban area？ Annie: You can’t (.) I mean if they’ve never been abroad, how would they know that people overseas live in houses? How would they know that people overseas generally prefer to live in sub-urban area? […] Annie: 所以你也不能期许他明白。我现在发现咱的小孩，我可能说个电影什么都不知道。就是这些东西如果你不出国，你也可以通过看美剧或者看那个电影你也可以了解到。但是也有可能他们看就看个热闹，他不会去思考文化深层次的这些东西。 Annie: So, you can’t expect them to understand. These days, I’ve noticed that when I talk about a film or something else, my students probably never even heard of it. Even if you don’t travel abroad, you can still learn about these things by watching American TV series or films. But they might just watch for fun, without giving any thought to the deeper cultural aspects.

(Annie, Interview 1)

Annie believes that a lack of personal experience means students’ understanding of other cultures remains superficial, making it difficult for them to gain a deeper insight. When it comes to culture in particular, she believes that to “Consider why American communities are the way they are, first, you need to understand the culture of Americans, and the culture of American communities. These are relatively challenging for them.” The teacher believes that the form of a community is a manifestation, whilst the culture of American communities lies at its core. Annie feels that students lack intercultural experience, so understanding this cultural essence presents a challenge. By contrast, Annie mentioned that students have grown up in China and are more familiar with the Chinese way of life, so “(about) Chinese culture, I reckon maybe they’d be OK with it.” Students tend to find it easier to grasp the essence of a culture they have experienced first-hand. Annie drew a comparison between China and the United States, which suggests that she considers personal experience to be the decisive factor in determining whether one can understand (Chinese culture) or cannot understand (American culture). Furthermore, this factor has an impact on the actual effectiveness of the intercultural learning, namely whether students understand the aspects of American community culture she discusses in class. Annie’s remark, “So, you can’t expect them to understand”, illustrates to some extent that when students lack intercultural experience, this lowers teachers’ expectations of their teaching. From this perspective, the lack of face-to-face intercultural experiences not only results in students’ lack of understanding (Lowe, Interview 4), but also prevents the intercultural learning that should ideally be achieved in international schools from being realised. It is also worth noting that Annie uses the term “my students”, suggesting that a lack of personal experience is a widespread issue amongst the cohort she teaches, or perhaps a widespread issue within the context of this particular school.

Annie also mentioned alternative solutions to the lack of personal experience, and their role. For example, providing “second-hand” information and scenarios, such as through TV series and films, allows students to see what life is like abroad. This can fill some of the gaps in factual knowledge, helping students to know what it is like abroad, so that they are not left completely unable to imagine it. This suggests that, in Annie’s view, media content itself can provide valuable cultural information; however, the process of learning from mediated information requires in-depth study and reflection. Without such reflection, the result may be unsuccessful intercultural learning (but they might just watch for fun, without giving any thought to the deeper cultural aspects). Her understanding is consistent with Liddicoat and Scarino’s (2013) and Tripp’s (1993) emphasis on interpretation and reflection as the processes through which experience acquires educational value.

Drawing on Finding 1 and Lowe’s own reflections on his intercultural knowledge, as well as this section, it can be observed that a consensus has emerged between students and teachers. They both believe that a lack of personal intercultural experience acts as a barrier to understanding foreign cultures, and teachers further contend that this barrier undermines the effectiveness of intercultural teaching in the classroom.

In the next section, the student will describe his mediated experience, which differs from the teacher’s account of watching films and television, thereby providing further insight into the adverse effects of such mediated experiences.

4.3. The Gap Between Teachers’ Expectations and Students’ Mediated Experiences

In the preceding section, Annie’s comments reveal her expectations regarding how students might supplement their lack of first-hand experience, for example by watching TV series or films. These constitute one form of mediated experience, but mediated experience itself encompasses a range of different forms. This section continues to focus on the student Lowe, analysing the impact of his mediated experience on him and the gap between this and the teacher’s expectations.

During the interview, Lowe said that he believed foreigners placed a little more importance on their own affairs, and explained that this impression had come from “the web novels written by Chinese authors in China.” The interviewer then followed up by asking how foreigners were portrayed in these novels.

Extract 4. Lowe, Interview 3

Lowe: 对国外（的人）更多是一种（0.5）比较，比较算是，比较扁的描述，就（0.5）非常的利己，不关心大局。 Lowe: Often perceive foreigners as having a somewhat (0.5), well, rather one-dimensional portrayal, being (0.5) excessively self-centred and not considering the broader context. […] Lowe: 听一个故事，听一段经历。如果这个里面蕴含太多的主观意识，它们可能会影响到自己的判断。 Lowe: When you hear a story, or listen to an experience, if there’s too much subjective opinion in it, it might affect your own judgment.

(Lowe, Interview 3)

Some experiences have led Lowe to adopt a problematic understanding of intercultural learning. Lowe believes that foreigners place greater importance on their own affairs. This is a generalised and simplistic portrayal. He attributes this impression to his experience of reading online novels. The main issue with this experience is that these online novels do not serve any intercultural purpose. Their purpose is to satisfy the psychological needs of a specific readership. Furthermore, even though Lowe recognises that mediated experiences can sometimes be problematic, stating, for example, that when “listening to an experience”, “if there is too much subjective opinion in it, it might affect your own judgement”, he has still not managed to free himself from the influence of such mediated experiences. On the contrary, this has led to a biased perception of foreigners as a homogeneous group of cultural “others” who are more concerned with their own affairs. This illustrates that, at times, mediated experiences may have a negative impact on intercultural learning.

Judging from this section and Extract 3 (teacher interview) in the previous section, both Annie and Lowe, to a certain extent, prioritise lived experience over mediated experience. However, their understanding of the limitations of mediated experience is not entirely the same. Annie believes that films and television programmes can provide intercultural information of some value. If students engage in deep thought and reflection, this information has the potential to support their understanding of other cultures. Consequently, her primary focus is on whether students have engaged in reflection and whether their exposure to media has genuinely translated into intercultural learning. In contrast, the mediated experience described in Lowe’s response is more complex, as it also involves the issue of the media sources themselves. The media content he encounters not only provides one-sided or even problematic cultural representations, but its very purpose is not to help the audience understand other cultures.

Mediated experiences encompass different forms of media, and differences in their textual purposes and functions may shape students’ intercultural understandings and perceptions differently. The online novels Lowe has encountered are written by local authors for local readers. Their content may serve specific narrative purposes, and the portrayal of foreigners also functions to serve these textual aims. By contrast, whilst the foreign films and television series mentioned by Annie are likewise constructed media texts, they may depict cultural life within different cultural contexts. The influence of mediated experiences on intercultural learning may therefore vary according to their sources, forms, and textual purposes.

Beyond the diversity of mediated experiences mentioned above, a comparison of the mediated experiences described by Lowe and those described by teachers reveals that there is a certain gap between the teacher’s expectations of mediated experiences and the actual influence these experiences have on students. This also suggests that the problems students encounter through mediated experiences may be difficult for teachers to identify and address promptly. For example, based on a six-month observation period, Lowe’s novel-based mediated experiences did not emerge in classroom discussions. This suggests that teachers are not necessarily aware of the media content students encounter outside the classroom or how such content shapes their understanding of other cultures. This creates a challenge for international schools. Teachers may find it difficult to address the influence of mediated experiences if they are not aware of how these experiences are shaping students’ understanding.

Lowe’s case study may provide an empirical reference point for international schools in the context of the Global South. The findings described in the text, such as the obstacles posed by mediated experience to students’ understanding of cultural others, and teachers’ lack of awareness of this, need to be understood in relation to the contexts in which international schools operate. Today, international schools lacking an intercultural environment must confront the reality that students no longer encounter cultural diversity in their everyday learning settings (e.g., Bunnell, 2019; Poole, 2018; Wright et al., 2024; Wu & Koh, 2022). As discussed above, local communities in small cities may lack concentrated populations of cultural “others”, parents lack awareness of the necessity of overseas trips for students of this age (see Extract 2), and schools face operational challenges. Furthermore, in this study, there was a certain disparity between the number of face-to-face intercultural activities reported in publicly available data from the case school and those observed in a random sample of international schools in Tier-1 cities. These findings suggest that international schools in smaller cities may be relatively limited in their ability to provide students with face-to-face intercultural experiences. With limited first-hand experience against which to compare and evaluate mediated information, students in small-city international schools may therefore be more susceptible to the influence of mediated experiences.

5. Discussion

In the case examined in this study, the school’s culturally homogeneous environment, together with its geographical and resource conditions, appeared to limit students’ access to first-hand intercultural experiences. In such circumstances, students will, to a greater or lesser extent, seek mediated experiences to supplement their first-hand intercultural experiences. Admittedly, mediated sources can provide intercultural input (Godwin-Jones, 2013; O’Dowd & Dooly, 2020; Thorne, 2003). For example, Annie’s views on mediated experiences in this study are broadly consistent with this strand of literature. At the same time, however, this study also highlights another aspect of mediated experience as a barrier to students’ intercultural learning, which is corroborated by other literature suggesting that media exposure may lead to misinterpretation of information or reinforce stereotypes (Baumer & Van Rensburg, 2011; Izmaylova, 2017; Sawyer & Chen, 2012). Taken together, these findings suggest that different forms of mediated experience may differ in their characteristics and functions, and their influence on students’ intercultural learning therefore cannot be treated as uniform.

The extent to which students are influenced by mediated experiences may also be related to their geographical environment. For example, Lowe, who attended an international school in a small city in this study, believed that his understanding of foreign cultures stemmed primarily from the accounts of others, and felt that a lack of first-hand experience had affected his understanding of those cultures. Furthermore, whilst Lowe attributed his lack of first-hand intercultural experiences primarily to his parents’ limited interest in travelling abroad, a further examination of international schools in large cities within this study revealed that students there appear to be able to gain first-hand intercultural experiences through school-organised activities and other channels. This provides some indication that the influence of mediated experiences may vary across different urban contexts. Where students have relatively limited access to first-hand intercultural experiences, mediated experiences may occupy a more prominent place within their overall intercultural experience and may therefore exert a stronger influence on their cultural understanding, particularly when they lack other first-hand experiences against which such mediated information can be compared.

Considering the context of this study, as Lowe is a minor with relatively limited mobility, his account placed particular emphasis on constraints associated with limited autonomy, such as dependence on family arrangements for travel. The findings of this study therefore also seek to offer a new perspective on research into mediated intercultural experiences. Much of the existing research on non-face-to-face intercultural experiences has focused on students in higher education (Chimeva & Trenchs-Parera, 2024), whereas Lowe is younger and has more limited freedom of choice regarding travel. This case thus suggests that future research on non-face-to-face intercultural experiences should also consider younger age groups with more restricted autonomy.

This study also seeks to draw attention to a possible prerequisite for intercultural reflection. The existing research has emphasised reflection and task design as important conditions for transforming experiences into intercultural learning (O’Dowd, 2021). The present case also points to a further condition that may warrant attention: teachers’ awareness of the mediated cultural representations that students encounter outside the classroom. In the case study examined in this research, the student mistakenly used material that was not intended for intercultural purposes as a tool for understanding a culturally different other, whilst the teacher remained unaware of this. This suggests that the teacher’s understanding of and expectations regarding the student may have differed from the student’s actual circumstances. This discrepancy may be related to the type and source of the mediated experiences involved.

From the perspective of cultural capital, the inequalities observed in this case may be interpreted as an example of how opportunities to develop intercultural competence are spatially conditioned. Traditionally, international schools have been regarded as sites of capital production (Bunnell, 2021; Tanu, 2014; Tarc & Mishra Tarc, 2015); this study reveals that, even when viewed as sites of advantage, such capital is subject to spatial inequalities within international schools. This highlights the importance of the Global South perspective when considering international schools in small cities. According to Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986), intercultural competence can be understood as a form of cultural capital, specifically embodied cultural capital. Intercultural competence is a key competency in globalised education (Deardorff, 2006) and influences adaptation to international study (Hang & Zhang, 2023). Furthermore, intercultural experiences can cultivate skills valued by employers, thereby enhancing graduates’ employability (Jones, 2013). However, geographical location limits students’ access to such cultural capital, placing them at a disadvantage within the context of international education. Consequently, a Global South perspective can reveal that the seemingly individualised differences in intercultural learning within international schools are, in fact, closely linked to broader inequalities in resources.

In this study, it is possible that the starting point for inequalities in the accumulation of cultural capital is initially manifested as differences in students’ access to opportunities for intercultural experiences. From the perspective of experiential learning, experience constitutes the starting point of learning (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984). Dewey (1938) further emphasised the continuity of experience, namely that prior experiences influence how individuals engage with and interpret subsequent experiences. Consequently, if pupils at international schools in small cities have relatively limited opportunities for intercultural experiences, not only do they have fewer experience resources available for reflection and meaning-making at the present stage, but this may also affect their subsequent experiential learning processes. For example, in intercultural learning, learners construct meaning through the interpretation and reflection on their experiences, and in doing so, re-examine their existing cultural assumptions (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013; McConachy, 2014; Tripp, 1993). Without intercultural experience, students may have limited experience references against which to calibrate their cultural assumptions, which may have a cumulative impact on their subsequent intercultural learning. However, intercultural competence is not merely a learning outcome. When the knowledge and competencies that students gradually develop through these learning processes are internalised and prove valuable in contexts such as education and employment, they can also constitute what Bourdieu (1986) refers to as embodied cultural capital, which may have a potential impact on students’ future adaptation to international learning environments (Hang & Zhang, 2023) and their employment prospects (Jones, 2013). Therefore, students at international schools in small cities may face unfavourable conditions right from the outset in terms of gaining such experiences. Limited opportunities for intercultural experiences do not necessarily imply lower levels of intercultural competence or less embodied cultural capital. The inequality here is reflected more in the fact that students do not have entirely the same opportunities and conditions when participating in the processes of learning and capital accumulation.

At a practical level, this study suggests, first and foremost, that teachers in international schools could encourage students to bring intercultural experiences encountered outside school into the classroom, and help them examine the cultural representations within these experiences through discussion and reflection. For international schools with limited resources, compensating for the lack of first-hand intercultural experiences does not necessarily require expensive overseas trips, particularly for international schools in small cities already facing operational constraints (Poole et al., 2022). By contrast, attention could be focused on providing the requisite teacher support and opportunities for reflection. This would allow intercultural learning to be achieved at comparatively low cost using existing resources, in an attempt to minimise the potential impact of a lack of first-hand experience in this context. More broadly speaking, whilst a single case study is insufficient to formally substantiate specific policy recommendations, the findings of this study nevertheless suggest that, when planning and evaluating international education, the disparities in intercultural learning opportunities arising from geographical location should be regarded as a factor worthy of attention. Identifying such inequalities in opportunities at an early stage of policy formulation may provide a basis for future discussions on cross-regional cooperation and resource sharing.

This study does not seek to argue that the intercultural experiences of students at international schools in small cities are necessarily less rich than those in major cities. This is because geography is a conditioning factor, not a determining one. Living in a small city does not inherently imply a lack of intercultural experiences, nor does living in a major city automatically guarantee high-quality intercultural learning. Geography influences probability, channels and costs, rather than being a mechanical determinant of students’ fates. When students live for extended periods within a particular resource ecosystem, they gradually become familiar with and rationalise the information to which they have access. What requires attention is the inequality inherent in this situation.

In the early stages of the research, the researchers avoided adopting a “deficit view”, yet this issue gradually emerged during the study and was repeatedly reinforced. Future research should incorporate more specific design considerations relating to the Global South at the planning stage. Furthermore, future research could seek to better control for the influence of cultural homogeneity on students’ intercultural learning at the design stage. Mediated experiences are not exclusive to small cities; students at international schools in major cities also encounter mediated information, such as through films, novels and online content. This is because the current situation in international schools in China is characterised by a predominantly local student body. The difference identified in this study is that the ten selected international schools in major cities publicly reported a wider range of intercultural activities than the case school. This provides some indication that, even within similarly culturally homogeneous student populations, international schools in major cities may offer more opportunities for first-hand intercultural experiences. Although this does not prove the existence of widespread differences between different tiers of cities, it does highlight a phenomenon worthy of further investigation.

6. Conclusions

This study takes an international school in a small city in China as its subject, examining how geographical location influences international school students’ access to intercultural experiences, and how students and teachers perceive the adequacy or lack thereof. The research found that although schools in both small and major cities may operate within culturally homogeneous environments, the small-city context in which the case school is located further limits students’ opportunities to gain face-to-face intercultural experiences. In this study, both the student Lowe and the teacher are aware of the lack of first-hand intercultural experiences and regard this as a significant constraint on students’ understanding of cultural others. At the same time, Lowe, a participant in this study, tends to attribute this deficiency to family arrangements and parental preferences, without necessarily being fully aware of the impact of the school’s geographical location and the distribution of urban resources on their intercultural experiences.

In the absence of sufficient face-to-face intercultural experience, students may rely on mediated resources to supplement their intercultural understanding. Whilst these mediated experiences go some way towards bridging the experiential gap, they may also become unstable or even unreliable cultural references due to the likelihood of being filtered or tailored to serve specific textual purposes. The impact of mediated experiences on students appears to be related to the type and source. It is not possible to generalise about the effects of mediated experiences. At the same time, a gap may exist between teachers’ expectations of students’ mediated experiences and the mediated experiences students actually encounter.

From a Global South perspective, disparities in students’ access to intercultural experiences may constitute an early starting point for subsequent inequalities in intercultural learning and the accumulation of embodied cultural capital. Therefore, for schools with somewhat limited resources, appropriate support and reflection can increase the likelihood that students’ existing intercultural experiences will be transformed into intercultural learning.

Through examination of one small-city international school, this study offers insights into how geographical location may shape students’ access to intercultural experiences, and how it may therefore influence students’ opportunities to accumulate cultural capital and gain international advantages potentially. It also aims to extend the research on mediated intercultural learning, which is predominantly based on virtual exchanges, from university students to secondary school students whose mobility and autonomy are more limited. As a small-scale study, this study has its limitations. Future research should compare international schools in small and major cities to further understand the relationship between geographical location, school resources and students’ intercultural learning.