scholarly journals Intercultural competence development during study abroad

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Marcel van der Poel
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingjie Liu ◽  
Thomas Shirley

While all higher education was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, study abroad programs were uniquely challenged by the associated restrictions and limitations. This case study integrates a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) pedagogy approach and virtual reality (VR) technologies into the curriculum redesign process to transform a business study abroad course into an online format. Using VR technology, U.S. students and their international partners in Germany, Brazil, and India created and shared cultural exchange virtual tours. The redesigned online study abroad course engaged students in active learning activities and cultivated students’ intercultural competence development.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joris Boonen ◽  
Ankie Hoefnagels ◽  
Mark Pluymaekers ◽  
Armand Odekerken

PurposeThe authors examine the role of internationalisation at-home activities and an international classroom at a home institution to promote intercultural competence development during a study abroad.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use large scale longitudinal data from the global mind monitor (GMM) (2018–2020) to examine change over time in both multicultural personality (MPQ) and cultural knowledge (CQ) among students in Dutch higher education institutions. The authors analyse the moderating effect of the preparation in the home institution by looking at the added value of both intercultural communication courses and international classroom setting for intercultural competence development during a study abroad.FindingsThe results show that particularly courses on intercultural communication significantly promote intercultural competence development during a stay abroad. Frequent interactions with international staff also seem to be beneficial for this development.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was conducted in the Netherlands, in one of the most internationalised educational systems in the world. Therefore, it is difficult to generalise these findings to other contexts before any further empirical research is conducted.Practical implicationsBased on the findings, the authors formulate practical advice for higher education institutions that aim to get the most out of the international learning outcomes of a study abroad.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to assess the moderating effect of preparatory internationalisation at home initiatives on the intercultural learning effects of international experiences later on in a study program. Other studies have proposed that these effects will exist but have not tested them empirically with longitudinal data.


Author(s):  
Christian Tarchi ◽  
Alessio Surian

AbstractUniversities have been promoting study abroad programmes for a long time to improve intercultural competence. However, the mere exposure to cultural differences while studying abroad does not ensure intercultural competence, unless study abroad students’ reflective processes are explicitly targeted. The article presents the results of a short intervention grounded in the problem-based approach aimed at improving intercultural competence in study abroad students. Students were assigned to three conditions: a video-log condition (in which they have to narrate a critical incident occurred to them), a reflection-induced video-logs (in which they were prompted to reflect on the video-logs produced), and an active control condition. The reflection-induced video-log intervention improved students’ perceived proficiency in Italian and perceived opportunities for cultural reflection, but it did not contribute to improve students’ applicable and conceptual knowledge of intercultural competence.


Author(s):  
Venera-Mihaela Cojocariu

The volume generously provided by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2020 and edited by Christine E. Poteau entitled Pedagogical Approaches to Intercultural Competence Development is organized into seven chapters. Beyond the generic theme of interest under which they come together (Pedagogical Approaches to Intercultural Competence Development) and which gives unity to the volume, each chapter is a small universe in itself, unique, interesting, topical, and attractive as a perspective of approach, design, arguments, contents, applications, implications, bibliography. Therefore, the volume can be covered in full, as a holistic approach to the phenomenon, or by chapters, depending on the interest of the reader and his area of ​​expertise. In full agreement with the theme (and, as it were, to increase the diversity of perspectives), it is proposed as a volume that brings together contributions from different geographical and socio-cultural areas (Brazil, Hawaii, Israel, Japan, USA, Ukraine), to researchers and educators with backgrounds in various fields, concerned with the same major problem (enhancing pedagogical approaches and expanding intercultural competence skill development) and finding solutions that, beyond their immediate focus can allow the emergence of suggestions with a higher degree of applicability or generation of explanatory models. That is why, although the analyses are focused on different specific aspects of the problem (in each chapter), the perspective of approach/solution is one that rises towards the global, in which the answers and proposals of the authors are related to the interdisciplinary approach (e.g.: the need to globalize curricula and identify diverse pedagogical challenges in the development of intercultural competence). One of the effects aimed at following this journalistic approach refers precisely to the development of initiatives across fields of experiential learning and the initiation of cooperation programs for a stronger global community.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document