Concluding Thoughts: Recap and Future Avenues

In this chapter, the final chapter of this book, the author, Fukada, summarizes the key findings of the longitudinal situated qualitative study, which explored how international students navigate their TL-mediated (target language-mediated) social environments. The study revealed significant insights into students’ social integration, language acquisition, and the challenges they face in establishing meaningful connections in a new cultural context. The author then addresses four limitations of the study: issues related to research ethics, the relatively small sample size, the potential influence of the observer’s paradox on data collection, and the types of data collected, which may not fully capture the complexity of social interactions. To advance this line of research, the chapter proposes four additional research questions. These focus on how international students build TL-mediated social networks in online or virtual spaces, such as those created through platforms like Zoom, social media, VR/AR, and AI technologies. Future research is also needed to explore how online socializing differs from physical socializing, how students can develop a sense of belonging in digital environments, and how they engage in deep, meaningful TL-mediated communication in these spaces.