The main problem of designing a communication campaign for Asian international students and addressing a reticence issue was making sure that the message as precise as possible. It was highly difficult to bring such an issue without participating in cultural appropriation and stereotyping. The topic was selected solely based on the studies of various scholars, including Asian ones. Therefore, the whole structure of the communication campaign was scientific and academic without a single input from an irrelevant source. In order to address it, every step was continuously fact-checked, because any incorrect assumption would threaten the purpose of the campaign. In addition, it was difficult to correctly design the overall approach of raising awareness on the issue of reticence. The study indicates that the given problem is not culturally conditioned, but it is prevalent in Asian international students (Shao & Gao, 2016). Therefore, it might be the result of immersing in a new culture, which is why likeability and validation were selected as solutions. The issue is not fixing a dysfunctional culture, which is xenophobic, but rather creating a welcoming environment in the local culture.
In the future, it will be essential to widen the scope of research and analysis in order for a campaign to be fully explicit and factual. The main reason for running into such issues is the fact that the literature available for analysis was scarce. In future instances, the solution would still be relevant because any campaign needs to be based on solid data. It is important to conduct an in-depth search for more established sources for the topic. In addition, it is essential to ask for aid from the target group members because they have more insight on the topic.
References
Shao, Q., & Gao, X. (2016). Reticence and willingness to communicate (WTC) of East Asian language learners. System, 63, 115-120.