Survive, thrive and transform: African international students’ lived experience of monolingual Chinese higher education

In addressing the two problems within the existing literature – an over-emphasis on English as the medium of instruction (EMI) in the internationalisation of higher education and the under-explored, yet important, 'default' common language for communication beyond university classrooms – this article presents findings of a qualitative study on African international students' lived experience of surviving, thriving and transforming at a provincial university. Drawing upon data collected from semi-structured interviews, the findings reveal that monolingual ideologies and Chinese-only practices were dominant at university. Whilst the participants expressed confusion, anxiety and perceived difficulties and challenges both in pursuing academic studies and social life at the initial stage of study in China, their ensuing self-identified easiness and confidence in making use of Chinese and building social relationships also means Chinese was increasingly considered as a norm and a 'natural' choice for them. It was also found that the participants moblised their agency towards their preferred language competency, which was a response to survival and living needs in the monolingual host community. As China is emerging as an education hub and actively promoting its official language, the article also calls for more nuanced understandings of monolingual, bilingual and multilingual experiences in different categories of universities.