Additional information:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThis 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 (the IEREST project, 2014). 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 other 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 other; and scaffolding activities help students to understand intercultural concepts.

Additional information:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThis study investigated how a "while abroad" (IEREST) intercultural experiential learning programme i) encouraged mobile student sojourners to explore the concept of "interculturality"; ii) promoted their intercultural engagement/communication during their stay abroad; and iii) invited them to reflect on their own (developing) interculturality. As students demonstrated their intercultural learning and perspectives, how did they (re)interpret and (re)construct the IEREST learning materials? Data drew on questionnaires, reflective journals and focus groups from two groups of mobile university students (in Italy and the United Kingdom). The findings illustrated how students' initial expectations of the programme (meeting new people, improving language) were exceeded. Through reflection of experience, and discussion with peers, tutors, members of the host community students realised that "interculturality" is multifaceted and complex; they expanded their small culture spheres to explore community cultures (gender, age, locality); they acknowledged the effort, work, and time required in interpreting bilateral understandings of self and other, and the possibilities of such understandings for global/intercultural citizenship. The outcomes offer implications for intercultural learning and training in the study abroad context, materials development, and further research concerning student mobility and intercultural education in other contexts.La ricerca ha inteso investigare le modalità attraverso cui un programma di educazione interculturale, basato su un approccio esperienziale e rivolto a studenti universitari in mobilità (IEREST), i) abbia incoraggiato gli studenti ad indagare sul concetto di 'interculturalità'; ii) abbia promosso il loro impegno e la comunicazione interculturali; iii) li abbia sostenuti nella riflessione sul proprio sviluppo di capacità interculturali. Ci si è pertanto chiesti in quale modo gli studenti abbiano recepito, reinterpretato e ricostruito i concetti sottostanti ai materiali didattici IEREST. I dati, raccolti in Italia e nel Regno Unito mediante questionari scritti, diari riflessivi e focus group, mostrano come gli studenti abbiano acquisito una consapevolezza interculturale oltre le loro aspettative iniziali (incontrare persone nuove, migliorare la lingua). Attraverso la riflessione sulle esperienze vissute e attraverso l'interazione con i propri pari, con gli insegnanti e con membri della comunità locale, gli studenti h...

Intercultural language learning and teaching is generally endorsed in contemporary foreign and second language classroom contexts. This article reports the use of an intercultural education activity taught in an Italian L2 elementary course at the Language Centre of the University of Bologna attended by exchange and degree-seeking students. The intercultural tasks proposed invite students to reflect on their experiences of studying and living in a different country, and encourage them to reflect on their intercultural learning objectives and on their goals for study abroad in relation to their intercultural encounters. Our aim was to explore students’ willingness to engage with the intercultural tasks, their commitment and the possible influence on their behaviours, attitudes and beliefs, considering their relatively limited level of target language proficiency. The data, collected through audio-recorded interviews, show individual differences among the students. Our report concludes with our reflections as practitioners working in a university language centre, on the importance of intercultural language teaching and learning.

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