Professor Prue Holmes p.m.holmes@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Developing intercultural understanding for study abroad: Students' and teachers' perspectives on pre-departure intercultural learning
Holmes, P.; Bavieri, L.; Ganassin, S.
Authors
L. Bavieri
S. Ganassin
Abstract
This study reports on students’ and teachers’ perspectives on a programme designed to develop Erasmus students’ intercultural understanding prior to going abroad. We aimed to understand how students and their teachers perceived pre-departure materials in promoting their awareness of key concepts related to interculturality (e.g., essentialism, stereotyping, otherising) during an intercultural education course for mobile students. Twenty pre-departure Erasmus undergraduate students from an Italian university, four teachers and one observer participated in the study. Seven hours of audio/video recordings of classroom discussions and teachers’ retrospective narratives were analysed thematically. Although students initially subverted the goals of one of the tasks, they demonstrated foundations of intercultural thinking; followed by movement from self-interest to intercultural awareness of the other; and finally, developing intercultural awareness, supported through opportunities to express emotions/feelings and discussion and application of key concepts of interculturality. Teachers’/observer’s perspectives confirmed the quality and flexibility of the materials in developing students’ intercultural awareness. The findings suggest that pre-departure materials can help students to recognise variety and complexity in self and others in intercultural encounters. But students’ primary needs for practical information should first be satisfied; interactive spaces for expressing emotion and feelings are important for understanding self and others; and scaffolding activities help students to understand intercultural concepts.
Citation
Holmes, P., Bavieri, L., & Ganassin, S. (2015). Developing intercultural understanding for study abroad: Students' and teachers' perspectives on pre-departure intercultural learning. Intercultural Education, 26(1), 16-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.993250
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Online Publication Date | Jan 29, 2015 |
Publication Date | Jan 29, 2015 |
Deposit Date | Jan 29, 2015 |
Publicly Available Date | Jul 29, 2016 |
Journal | Intercultural Education |
Print ISSN | 1467-5986 |
Electronic ISSN | 1469-8439 |
Publisher | Taylor and Francis Group |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 26 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 16-30 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.993250 |
Keywords | Study abroad, Intercultural encounters, Experiential learning, Intercultural communications, Internationalisation, Essentialising. |
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Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Intercultural Education on 29/01/2015, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14675986.2015.993250.
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