scholarly journals Developing the Intercultural Competence of Graduate Students

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanda Dimitrov ◽  
Debra L. Dawson ◽  
Karyn C. Olsen ◽  
Ken N. Meadows

This study explores how teaching development programs may facilitate the development of intercultural competence in graduate students and prepare them for communicating effectively in the global workplace after graduation. First, we describe the concept of intercultural teaching competence and examine the skills that graduate students may need to cultivate in order to communicate effectively in culturally diverse settings. Then, we discuss the findings of our qualitative study on the impact of teaching development programs enhanced with intercultural communication components. As a result of training, participants became more aware of cultural and disciplinary differences in communication, were able to adapt their communication style to audiences with different levels of background knowledge, and felt more prepared for interpersonal interactions across cultures with undergraduates. Finally, participants were able to transfer the skills learned to other areas of graduate study and used effective intercultural communication strategies when interacting with globally diverse peers and faculty supervisors.  

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (23) ◽  
pp. 108-124
Author(s):  
Antonio José Moreno Guerrero ◽  
Antonio Manuel Rodríguez García ◽  
Carmen Rodríguez Jiménez ◽  
Magdalena Ramos Navas-Parejo

Today, technology is a major issue in society, so it is essential to have acquired digital competence in order to be successful in it. An example of the growing use of technology in education is the didactic use of Augmented Reality, which offers the area of science a wealth of possibilities to facilitate the teaching-learning process. The aim of this study is to understand the impact of digital competence on the use of augmented reality as a teaching resource in science-related classes. The method used is quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive, correlational and predictive. The data collection has been carried out through an ad hoc questionnaire on digital teaching competence and augmented reality with different levels of response. The results show that augmented reality is a resource that has been used by teachers teaching science, presenting them with an average level of digital competence. We conclude by stating that teachers who use augmented reality are more digitally competent than those who do not..


Author(s):  
Rebecca Kuehl

The question I analyze in this case study is how might one use civic engagement to foster campus/community relationships in this polarized era? I describe a teaching challenge in intercultural communication. Students have consistently reported that they arrive to this university from rural, majority-White communities where they have not experienced opportunities to communicate with culturally diverse groups. To address this challenge, I developed a semester-long assignment that provides a structured partnership between students in my Intercultural Communication course and campus co-cultural student groups. To assess this assignment’s benefit to the pedagogy surrounding polarization across cultural differences, I qualitatively analyzed themes in students’ reflection papers (N = 128 papers) from the last five sections of the course (2016–2020). Students addressed how these partnerships helped them develop (1) intercultural competence, (2) acceptance or appreciation through allyship, and (3) curiosity about other cultures. I conclude with implications, including how colleagues might use this assignment in other rural, land-grant public university settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 35-39
Author(s):  
Liting Zhou ◽  

The cultural identity issue has always been an interesting topic in intercultural communication. This paper describes and analyzes the business case of JH under the theoretical framework of Social Identity Theory, Cultural Iceberg Model, and Intercultural Competence Model through the approach of discourse analysis. As is demonstrated in the case of JH, intercultural challenges like cultural awareness, communication style, language barrier and decision-making difference are ineluctable. The paper presents the challenges or threats related to cultural identity in intercultural communication and it attempts to find possible ways to enhance intercultural competence as well as overcoming intercultural barriers in intercultural communication.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Waugh

English in the Workplace (EWP) programs are increasingly surfacing across Can- ada to assist internationally educated professionals (IEPs) with the challenges of integrating into the Canadian workplace. One critical topic of these courses is targeted pragmatics (soft skills) instruction. By learning these skills, IEPs gain valuable tools for communicating effectively and appropriately with their Cana- dian-born colleagues and leaders. The workplace is also becoming increasingly culturally diverse, broadening the required skillsets of IEPs to include intercultural competence—the ability to adapt both cognitively and behaviourally across cultures to achieve communicative goals (Bennett, 1993). As an EWP instructor in a medium-sized institution in Alberta, I worked on the redesign of an EWP course with both pragmatics and intercultural components to be offered online. The course results showed learner development in both pragmatics and intercul- tural competence. In this article, I outline the theory that informed the course design, content, and assessment tools; discuss results of a sample of learners from four pilot offerings; and provide considerations for instructors and instructional designers tasked with the development of online courses of this nature.


Author(s):  
Liam Murray ◽  
Marta Giralt

The new national language strategy (Languages Connect) for Ireland has finally highlighted the importance of language learning for the economic, social and cultural development of the country. Inherent to this strategy is the demand for not only multilingual graduates but interculturally competent graduates. Ireland has been becoming increasingly culturally diverse for many years now, and so our contexts of work and interactions have become multilingual as well as multicultural. Yet many of our students remain limited in their acquisition and exposure to foreign language/s and culture/s. Previously we reported (Authors, 2018) how our pedagogical content and practices are insufficient in addressing the current linguistic and intercultural competence (IC) needs of language specialist graduates. Our new data (n=141) has emerged using a mixed-methods approach from non-specialist language students, who have had limited language or IC training. Our analysis reveals problems arising from these monolingual intercultural communications due to English being the dominant lingua franca.  We have major challenges in motivating these monolingual students to learn another language. The dangers arising from this monolingualism are self-evident, (see, for example: https://www.llas.ac.uk/700reasons.html), the solutions less so. This article explores this perplexing scenario and aims to open a dialogue on this subject, offering some recommendations and potential solutions.


Author(s):  
Maria Giulia Ballatore ◽  
Ettore Felisatti ◽  
Laura Montanaro ◽  
Anita Tabacco

This paper is aimed to describe and critically analyze the so-called "TEACHPOT" experience (POT: Provide Opportunities in Teaching) performed during the last few years at Politecnico di Torino. Due to career criteria, the effort and the time lecturers spend in teaching have currently undergone a significant reduction in quantity. In order to support and meet each lecturers' expectations towards an improvement in their ability to teach, a mix of training opportunities has been provided. This consists of an extremely wide variety of experiences, tools, relationships, from which everyone can feel inspired to increase the effectiveness of their teaching and the participation of their students. The provided activities are designed around three main components: methodological training, teaching technologies, methodological experiences. A discussion on the findings is included and presented basing on the data collected through a survey. The impact of the overall experience can be evaluated on two different levels: the real effect on redesigning lessons, and the discussion on the matter within the entire academic community.


Author(s):  
Nargis - ◽  
Imtihan - Hanim

The different cultures, power distance could be the obstacle in intercultural communication. The aim of this research to identify the types of Cross-Cultural Communication Style Choice between British and American in the Leap Year movie. The researchers attempt to reveal kinds of Cross-Cultural Communication Style Choice between Declan as British and Anna as American for three days. This Qualitative research method analyses data of utterances and are classified into four types of Cross-Cultural Communication Style Choice. The result shows that there are 356 utterances of Anna and Declan. for three days. Anna has 204 utterances with 44,3 % direct style and indirect 5,8 %.. Declan uses 155 utterance with 37 % and 12 % indirect style. British tend to use more indirect styles in expressing their intention to save the interlocutor’s face.Meanwhile, American use direct styles to reveal their intentions as they belong to the high culture communication.Key words: across culture communication,direct style, indirectstyle


Author(s):  
А.Н. Лебедев ◽  
О.А. Бурукина

авторы рассматривают консерватизм вузовских образовательных программ в качестве одного из препятствий в подготовке потенциальных преподавателей университетов. Рассмотрены особенности подготовки педагогов высшей школы по направлениям социально-гуманитарного образования. Авторы презентуют результаты анкетирования магистрантов и аспирантов, свидетельствующие о дефиците прикладных знаний респондентов в области современных технологий, таких как Agile. Обоснованы предложения по интенсификации программ повышения квалификации преподавателей, насыщению образовательных программ вопросами применения современных технологий менеджмента. the authors consider the conservatism of university educational programs as one of the obstacles in the preparation of potential university teachers. The article discusses the features of training higher education teachers in the areas of social and humanitarian education. The authors present the results of a survey of undergraduates and graduate students, indicating a lack of applied knowledge of postgraduate and graduate students in the field of modern technologies such as Agile. The article substantiates the proposals on the intensification of teacher development programs, the saturation of educational programs with the application of modern management technologies.


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