Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process

It is a common belief that tertiary students acquire intercultural communication competence through interacting with each other in multicultural classrooms. Much research undertaken in Australia, however, indicates that having culturally diverse classrooms will not, by itself, necessarily promote st...

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Main Author: Briguglio, Carmela
Other Authors: ISANA
Format: Conference Paper
Published: ISANA International Education Association Inc. 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42365
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author Briguglio, Carmela
author2 ISANA
author_facet ISANA
Briguglio, Carmela
author_sort Briguglio, Carmela
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description It is a common belief that tertiary students acquire intercultural communication competence through interacting with each other in multicultural classrooms. Much research undertaken in Australia, however, indicates that having culturally diverse classrooms will not, by itself, necessarily promote student development in this area. This is particularly true of students working in multinational/multicultural teams, where often the experience can reinforce negative stereotypes instead of promoting understanding. What is required, instead, is deliberate and structured intervention promoting two-way learning not only between international and local Australian students, but also between all students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.This paper describes a workshop that was implemented with a group of undergraduate students at Curtin University of Technology to assist them in working successfully in multinational student teams. It will describe the activities used, not only to raise student awareness, but also to lead them to a deeper level of understanding and to develop intercultural communication competence. The paper emphasises the importance of guided discussion and how the workshop facilitator needs to lead students carefully and sensitively to explore cultural and linguistic issues in intercultural communication. The paper also discusses directions for a classroom pedagogy which utilises teaching and learning approaches that build on cultural diversity and develop intercultural communication competence in students. That is, possibilities for two-way learning in classroom contexts are explored and discussed.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-423652017-01-30T14:59:13Z Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process Briguglio, Carmela ISANA intercultural education intercultural communication internationalisation of curriculum It is a common belief that tertiary students acquire intercultural communication competence through interacting with each other in multicultural classrooms. Much research undertaken in Australia, however, indicates that having culturally diverse classrooms will not, by itself, necessarily promote student development in this area. This is particularly true of students working in multinational/multicultural teams, where often the experience can reinforce negative stereotypes instead of promoting understanding. What is required, instead, is deliberate and structured intervention promoting two-way learning not only between international and local Australian students, but also between all students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.This paper describes a workshop that was implemented with a group of undergraduate students at Curtin University of Technology to assist them in working successfully in multinational student teams. It will describe the activities used, not only to raise student awareness, but also to lead them to a deeper level of understanding and to develop intercultural communication competence. The paper emphasises the importance of guided discussion and how the workshop facilitator needs to lead students carefully and sensitively to explore cultural and linguistic issues in intercultural communication. The paper also discusses directions for a classroom pedagogy which utilises teaching and learning approaches that build on cultural diversity and develop intercultural communication competence in students. That is, possibilities for two-way learning in classroom contexts are explored and discussed. 2006 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42365 ISANA International Education Association Inc. fulltext
spellingShingle intercultural education
intercultural communication
internationalisation of curriculum
Briguglio, Carmela
Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
title Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
title_full Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
title_fullStr Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
title_full_unstemmed Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
title_short Empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
title_sort empowering students by developing their intercultural communication competence: a two-way process
topic intercultural education
intercultural communication
internationalisation of curriculum
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42365