Showing papers on "Intercultural learning published in 2010"

Internationalization of Higher Education

Abstract: The internationalization of higher education has expanded over the last decades. Numbers of students, teaching staff, and researchers that cross borders are increasing and institutional activities and strategies for internationalization have become more elaborate. Their aims and rationales include networking for mutual understanding and intercultural learning, for achieving academic excellence, and for providing assistance to build capacity in other countries. As the context is increasingly characterized by global competition in which knowledge is a prime factor for economic growth, internationalization has also become more market oriented, aiming to attract talented students and highly skilled workers as key resources for the knowledge economy.

Telecollaboration 2.0 : language, literacies and intercultural learning in the 21st century

Abstract: Contents: Sarah Guth/Francesca Helm: Introduction - Sarah Guth/Michal Thomas: Telecollaboration with Web 2.0 Tools - Francesca Helm/Sarah Guth: The Multifarious Goals of Telecollaboration 2.0: Theoretical and Practical Implications - Marie-Noelle Lamy/Robin Goodfellow: Telecollaboration and Learning 2.0 - Steven L. Thorne: The 'Intercultural Turn' and Language Learning in the Crucible of New Media - Luisa Panichi/Mats Deutschmann/Judith Molka-Danielsen: Virtual Worlds for Language Learning and Intercultural Exchange: Is it for Real? - Elizabeth M.C. Guerin/Maria Elisabetta Cigognini/Maria Chiara Pettenati: Learner 2.0 - Mirjam Hauck: Telecollaboration: At the Interface between Multimodal and Intercultural Communicative Competence - Jane Hughes: The Multilingual Internet - Melinda Dooly: Teacher 2.0 - Gilberte Furstenberg/Sabine Levet: Integrating Telecollaboration into the Language Classroom: Some Insights - Robert O'Dowd: Issues in the Assessment of Online Interaction and Exchange - Sarah Guth/Francesca Helm: Introduction to the Case Studies - Bryan Carter: Virtual Harlem: Building a Community - Suzanne Cloke: The Italia-Australia Intercultural Project - Ivana Fratter/Francesca Helm: The Intercultural Project - Ray Genet: The Soliya Connect Program at ENSIMAG, France - Sarah Guth/Nicoletta Marini-Maio: Close Encounters of a New Kind: The Use of Skype and Wiki in Telecollaboration - Kristi Jauregi/Emerita Banandos: An Intercontinental Video-Web Communication Project between Chile and The Netherlands - Terry King: The CrossCall Project: Cross-sector Computer-assisted Language Learning - Akiko Meguro/Todd Bryand: Finding Language Partners in Unexpected Places: Skype and Social Networking for USA-Japan Telecollaboration.

Understanding telecollaboration through an analysis of intercultural discourse

Abstract: This study examines if and how collaboration and intercultural learning took place during telecollaboration by exploring the linguistic features of the discourse used by the participants, as well as the patterns and types of interactions between intercultural interlocutors. EFL students in Taiwan were paired up with pre-service teacher education students in the US for the project. The data collected included online forum entries written by participants from both sides after they read two articles and the end-of-project reports written by the Taiwanese participants. The findings of this study add to the small but increasing body of literature about online learning and collaborative behaviors. In particular, the linguistic-grounded examination of intercultural discourse adopted by this study echoes a previous assertion that such an approach could provide insights into the complex and multi-layered social interactions in telecollaboration. The new and unexpected findings about intercultural learning between ...

The homecoming: an investigation into the effect that studying overseas had on Chinese postgraduates' life and work on their return to China

Abstract: For over a decade, 50,000 Chinese students have come to study each year in the UK, and the majority of them have since returned and settled back in China. An understanding of their return journey and how relevant their overseas learning is to their home life and work environment is a key to the re‐visioning of the internationalisation of higher education in the UK. Using in‐depth qualitative and narrative interviews carried out in China with eight Chinese postgraduates, this research explores these individuals' overall experience of homecoming, including what motivated them to return, their readjustments to life in China, and their perceptions of the impact of learning from studying overseas on their current life and work in China. This article looks particularly at the change in the graduates' sense of identity. The idea of intercultural identity is developed to explain the phenomenon of these returnees' emerging sense of self, one that is expansive and embraces sources of influence beyond the convention...

CLIL and Intercultural Communicative Competence: Foundations and Approaches towards a Fusion

Abstract: One of the core developments of globalisation lies in the increased cooperation and communication across cultures. With this, the integrated competencies in foreign languages and intercultural communication are considered to be keys to successfully engaging and participating in modern life and society. The field of foreign language education is seen as a fundamental building block in fostering intercultural communicative competence (ICC). The dual focussed nature of CLIL-classrooms, i.e. the merging of a foreign language with content subject matter, seems to provide an ideal environment to initiate intercultural learning: content is never culturally neutral. Analysing, (re)constructing, comparing, contrasting and relativising one’s own cultural perspective and foreign cultural perspectives are essential elements in the development of intercultural competence. The ability to then shift and mediate between these cultural perspectives is a core objective in the intercultural learning process. Within rich CLIL environments a multitude of impulses may arise, which in turn lead to an exploration of different cultural viewpoints and, subsequently, enable shifts between these.

Chinese Immigrant Children in New Zealand Early Childhood Centres

Abstract: I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III TABLE OF CONTENTS V LIST OF TABLES IX LIST OF FIGURES IX CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

Developing A Culturally Responsive Classroom Collaborative Of Faculty, Students, And Institution

Abstract: Culture is integral to the learning process. It is the organization and way of life within the community of students and teachers and directs the way they communicate, interact, and approach teaching and learning. Although founded in particular values and principles, the academy, like most organizations, is impacted day-to-day by its culture. Yet, the traditional higher education institution has not been designed to operate within a racially or ethnically diverse student population. The social, political, economic, and cultural forces that support the institution influence the teaching and learning environments. To better address cultural diversity in the classroom, faculty must first examine their own cultural background and understand how biases may affect their interactions with students. To advance teaching and learning in the college classroom requires an understanding of the underlying values, beliefs, perceptions and assumptions of students, which affect their understanding of what they hear and read as well as how they express themselves in the classroom. When teachers recognize these different qualities, classroom instruction can be designed to connect content to students’ backgrounds. This paper examines one approach to building a teaching and learning community through faculty professional development and collaboration. It provides an overview of a 5-part workshop series conducted for faculty at the Johnson & Wales University Providence campus on intercultural learning and culturally responsive teaching. Focusing on the essential components of personalizing culture through the five institutions of family, school, religion, politics, and economics through workshop activities, it is an investigation of individual and institutional backgrounds to determine how faculty may recognize the forces that influence student behavior, and how to engage them in a more active learning process.

Making intercultural language learning visible and assessable

Abstract: While languages education (Liddicoat, 2002) is being transformed by intercultural language learning theory, there is little illustration of either how students are achieving intercultural learning or how to assess it. This article reports on a study of high school language students in Sydney, Australia. Its findings make visible student intercultural learning within language study and thus make possible new modes of assessment of this learning. Pedagogical implications arising from this study are discussed.

Innovative Methods for Promoting and Assessing Intercultural Competence in Higher Education.

Abstract: This paper presents an intercultural training program that was developed by the Center for Intercultural Learning at the European University Viadrina in cooperation with students. A few of the student-generated activities will be described in detail. The program, aimed at enabling students to acquire intercultural competence, was developed at an international university on the German-Polish border, and with the special situation, needs and experiences of this place in mind. Local students were involved in creating the program by developing methods and exercises based on their own experiences. As the concept of intercultural competence constitutes the theoretical basis of the program, I first introduce the model we worked with. Then, I outline how the students were involved in the program’s development, and I describe some especially innovative methods that arose from the students’ rich experience and creativity. In this context I describe a model for peer assessment of intercultural competence. The methods depicted serve as examples for the methods that were created within the program and as examples for a new approach to classic intercultural methods such as role-plays and Critical Incident Analysis. It is shown that those methods can be used to achieve a holistic learning effect, which corresponds to the complex concept of culture and intercultural competence.

Characterizing global participation in an enterprise SNS

Abstract: Social networking sites have been deployed within global enterprises to encourage informal communication and build social capital between its globally distributed members. Such interactions can potentially contribute to intercultural learning opportunities; however, it is unclear whether cross-geographical social contact consistently occurs. We present initial results from a quantitative analysis of user activity from a global enterprise SNS, observe asymmetries in directionality and reciprocity in connections in various geographic regions as well as a strong tendency towards geographic homophily. Finally, we suggest that language proficiency may play a role in differences in regional adoption of the system.

The intercultural dynamics of multicultural working

Abstract: FOREWORD - Michael S. Byram INTRODUCTION - Manuela Guilherme PART I - Ideas and Models in Perspective Ch. 1 - Intercultural Conflict Interaction Competence: From theory to practice - Stella Ting-Toomey Ch. 2 - National Occupational Standards in Intercultural Working: Models of theory and assessment - Anne Davidson-Lund and John O'Regan Ch. 3 - Training and Intercultural Education: The danger in 'good citizenship' - Alison Phipps PART II - Intercultural Communication, Interaction, Management and Responsibility in Theory and Practice Ch. 4 - Intercultural Responsibility: Power and ethics in intercultural dialogue and interaction - Manuela Guilherme, Clara Keating and Daniel Hoppe Ch. 5 - Emotional Management: Expressing, interpreting and making meaning of feelings in multicultural teams - Alexandra Kaar Ch. 6 - Intercultural Interaction: A sense-making approach - Terence Mughan and Greg O'Shea Ch. 7 - Communicative Interaction: Intercultural verbal and non-verbal interaction - Maria Luisa Perez Canado and Maria del Carmen Mendez Garcia Ch. 8 - Ethnography: The use of observation and action research for intercultural learning - Katalin Illes Ch. 9 - Biography: The role of experience in intercultural learning - Maria del Carmen Mendez Garcia and Maria Luisa Perez Canado Ch. 10 - Diversity Management: Negotiating representations in multicultural contexts - Clara Keating, Manuela Guilherme and Daniel Hoppe Ch. 11 - Working in Multicultural Teams - Evelyne Glaser PART III - Voices from the 'Real' World Ch. 12 - Intercultural Relations at the Workplace - Guenther Zoels and Thomas Silbermayr Ch. 13 - Sharing Reflections on Intercultural Learning - Isabel Ferreira Martins Ch. 14 - Intercultural Education in International Management - Anneli Kansanen and Leena Vohlonen CONCLUSION: Intercultural competence for professional mobility - Manuela Guilherme, Evelyne Glaser, Maria del Carmen Mendez-Garcia

Developing A Culturally Responsive Classroom Collaborative Of Faculty, Students, And Institution

Abstract: Culture is integral to the learning process. It is the organization and way of life within the community of students and teachers and directs the way they communicate, interact, and approach teaching and learning. Although founded in particular values and principles, the academy, like most organizations, is impacted day-to-day by its culture. Yet, the traditional higher education institution has not been designed to operate within a racially or ethnically diverse student population. The social, political, economic, and cultural forces that support the institution influence the teaching and learning environments. To better address cultural diversity in the classroom, faculty must first examine their own cultural background and understand how biases may affect their interactions with students. To advance teaching and learning in the college classroom requires an understanding of the underlying values, beliefs, perceptions and assumptions of students, which affect their understanding of what they hear and read as well as how they express themselves in the classroom. When teachers recognize these different qualities, classroom instruction can be designed to connect content to students’ backgrounds. This paper examines one approach to building a teaching and learning community through faculty professional development and collaboration. It provides an overview of a 5-part workshop series conducted for faculty at the Johnson & Wales University Providence campus on intercultural learning and culturally responsive teaching. Focusing on the essential components of personalizing culture through the five institutions of family, school, religion, politics, and economics through workshop activities, it is an investigation of individual and institutional backgrounds to determine how faculty may recognize the forces that influence student behavior, and how to engage them in a more active learning process.

Standardizing interaction design education

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to which extend the didactic format of studio-based group-work is applicable for creating a common-ground for Interaction Design Education in European Perspective. The current debate on design education shows us a landscape of different initiatives. So far difficulties have arisen in the area of accreditation and validation of interaction design as an educational field. This in contrast to all the EU agreements and strategies. In this paper we will closely look at these difficulties from the perspective of the intensive EU-funded summer-course on Interaction Design with four participating institutes coming from four different EU countries. The course facilitated learning through the usage of the didactic format of studio-based group-work. This approach enabled blended learning and provided a commongroud for intercultural learning through design. A qualitative assessment conducted on the learning format by the 40 multi-cultural group of students and staff provided insightful guidelines into the appreciation and value of the format. The evaluation results showed that the studio-based group-work is an efficient method to overcome cultural differences in design methodology, teamwork and personal skills.

Internationalization of Higher Education: A Case Study on College Music Teachers’ Intercultural Expertise

Abstract: School and work organizations are operating in an increasingly global world. Meeting different people and groups is part of daily learning situations. The diversity of student and work communities can change from putting up with difference into conscious learning from dissimilarity in interaction. Intercultural education emphasizes the personal encounter of difference in another person and mutual learning. Internationalization and the effects of a global economy can be seen in the changes concerning work and the workplace as well as in the mobility of the labor force. There is a demand for intercultural competencies not only in business life, but also in arts and science. Internationalization and intercultural learning are also goals of official education policy. International student and staff exchanges, instruction in a foreign language, and credit systems across national borders have posed challenges to educational institutions as well as to the workplace. In this article I will discuss music teachers’ intercultural expertise and internationalization in higher education in Finland. Firstly, I will deal with human capital, which includes intercultural competence as a natural part, followed by a presentation of some case study interviews. INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND MULTICULTURALISM Internationalization, which is a central objective of higher education, is a part of the globalization trend. In higher education, internationalization is measured, for example, in terms of international student and teacher exchange, work experience gained abroad, and the number of international publications. International education seems to be separate from the universities’ internationalization practices. The goals of international education are based on the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and on the recommendations of other documents ratified by Finland (see Allahwerdi, 2001) and the United States. These goals have em-

Cross-cultural connections : intercultural learning for global citizenship

Abstract: This paper discusses a curriculum developed to make innovative use of collaborative digital technologies—including video conferences, collaborative blogs, writing on a Wiki, and dynamic chat—as part of an activity-based research project to foster intercultural competencies among students in globally-distributed teams We present qualitative and quantitative data that indicate successful implementation of the curriculum for facilitating global learning via communication technology tools By situating the curriculum within current debates in intercultural communication and digital pedagogy, we hope to offer new knowledge on how best to foster multiple perspectives through developing intercultural capital that enables world citizenship We conclude with a projection on the scalability and sustainability of the curriculum in an international context and an argument for how such crosscultural connections can foster greater political understanding, ethical awareness, and intercultural competencies in order to bring about improved international and social relations for emerging global citizens

Exploring student identity in an intercultural web-assisted scientific inquiry project

Abstract: This qualitative study based on Gee’s (2001) identity theory examined and compared how American and Chinese middle school students develop identities towards science, culture and technology in an intercultural web-assisted scientific inquiry project. Through analysis of online discussions, videoconferences, interviews, surveys and fieldnotes, we explored how students shaped and reshaped their identities throughout scientific inquiry learning and intercultural collaborative activities. In examining identity development during scientific investigation, we offer insights into the intercultural learning context and suggest ways of facilitating identity formation, which can inform such collaborations in the future.

Conditions for Mutuality and Reciprocity in Development Education Policy and Pedagogy

Abstract: This paper analyses policies that seem to promote mutuality and reciprocity in development education partnerships and pedagogy. It explores challenges to mutuality and reciprocity in global and development education pedagogy in countries in the Global North and proposes that critical literacy and ethical intercultural learning can be a way forward to a renegotiation of ideas of self and other and of power relations between the North and South.

Creating an interculturally competent campus to educate global citizens

Abstract: Liberal arts education has traditionally taken the responsibility of preparing students to be intellectually competent and ethical citizens of society. But now society has evolved into “global villages” where people of different national and ethnic heritage increasingly live side by side in real and virtual environments. Does this kind of post-modern society demand new intellectual and ethical competencies? If so, what is the responsibility and capability of liberal arts education to teach those competencies? This paper explores how the field of intercultural relations can help address issues of intercultural competence and social justice in intellectually coherent and organizationally practical ways. The paper also address applications of intercultural principles to a wide range of curriculum issues, such as the use of intercultural communication frameworks in the classroom, strategies for encouraging intercultural learning through campus, community, and study abroad activities, and faculty development.

Learning across Social Spaces

Abstract: This case explores the mutual link between education, structural evolution, social spaces and institutional change. It develops theoretical perspectives and illustrates them by practical cases. Three approaches of learning (psychological, evolutionist and ontological) lead to specific targets for successful learning settings, both for individual and societal learning. A series of structural transitions seems to best characterize the genesis of economies, civilizations and targets. “Space” is here understood as being created by social, esp. communicative action and can hence be generated anew by pervasive learning processes. Learning across social spaces means both intercultural and interdisciplinary learning and places learners into diverse systems of meaning. In a series of cases for learning settings, especially dialogic intercultural learning is identified as a key path to a harmonious development of nations.

Putting the Anthropological Toolkit to Use in International and Intercultural Learning

Abstract: In spite of the breadth and depth of anthropologists' knowledge of and experience with intercultural and international dynamics, we have done little as a field to tout this knowledge and its relevance and insert it into broader conversations about study abroad, service-learning, and other kinds of experiential learning. The contributions we do make are more idiosyncratic and happen as a result of anthropologists being in positions of influence in their own institutions. However, we have much to offer these conversations; indeed, given the stakes involved—the increasing number of United States students participating in international study and intercultural service learning programs—one could easily argue that we have an obligation to engage in these conversations, sharing our rich methodological and conceptual toolkit to enhance student learning in international and intercultural contexts.

Intercultural Professional Development within a Virtual Learning Community

Abstract: This article is an evaluation of the journey undertaken by participants on the Continuing Intercultural Professional Development in Europe (CIPDE) project, 2007-2009. The project provided participants with opportunities for online learning in order to facilitate reflection on practice and educational contexts. The contention is that the co-construction of shared meanings lies at the very heart of the process of intercultural learning, creating a shared culture of ideas. The article examines the participants' views on the impact of the project on their own learning. It also provides some insights as to the strengths and limitations of online learning across national boundaries.

Intercultural adaptation as a shared learning process in the life-course

Abstract: Workplaces and societies all over the world are becoming more and more culturally diverse. Many people are regularly in their life-course in contact with someone who has a different cultural background and they are facing new challenges in their everyday communication. To better cope with the situation one needs a deeper understanding of the processes of intercultural adaptation, intercultural communication and intercultural learning. Dialectical adaptation models see adaptation as a two-way process where interactions change both parties. In intercultural communication situations cultural, sociocultural, psychocultural and environmental factors exert infl uences. They infl uence what is learned from the information, how the communication situation is interpreted, and what kinds of evaluations are made. Intercultural interactions are a crucial part of intercultural learning and understanding. New dialogical competencies are needed. A situated learning model in intercultural adaptation gives opportunities to practise them and increase their understanding of the meanings. Through shared experiences people can increase cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity and feel comfortable in multicultural contexts. The present article gives an overview of the theoretical concepts in intercultural adaptation and learning.

Evaluation of Intercultural Learning in an Education Abroad Program for STEM Undergraduates

Abstract: This mixed methods study characterizes the intercultural learning that occurred among participants in a project-based education abroad program in Thailand. In addition to their interdisciplinary project work, these STEM students (N=17) engaged in cultural learning activities during a semester-long preparation period and two-month sojourn. In addition, about half of the students completed their projects in mixed teams of Thai and US students. Preand post-administration of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was used as a quantitative indicator of intercultural development, while semi-structured interviews provided some depth and context to the quantitative data. The change in students’ developmental IDI scores was marginally statistically significant, with those in the mixed teams showing greater positive change on average. Most students remained in ethnocentric stages of development, however. Still, all students regardless of their IDI results were able to describe meaningful cultural differences. Overall, this study reinforces both the challenges and opportunities of significant intercultural learning in engineering education abroad programs.