This study juxtaposes current approaches to intercultural communication competence (ICC) with Chinese students' learning and communication experiences in a New Zealand pluricultural classroom. Fifteen first-year Chinese university students were interviewed and participated in focus groups. The findings indicated that the Chinese students' rules for communication--face negotiation, and maintaining roles, harmony and relationships--were not compatible with the New Zealand rules for competent classroom communication. Therefore, there is a need for a critical turn that is culture- and context-specific, and exposes power relations when theorising and investigating ICC.