Developing intercultural understanding for study abroad: students’ and teachers’ perspectives on pre-departure intercultural learning

Abstract

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.

Teachers’ Opinions on the Use of Personal Learning Environments for Intercultural Competence

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Promoting intercultural awareness among European university students via pre-mobility virtual exchanges

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La interculturalidad como respuesta para la prevención del fracaso escolar en contextos de riesgo.

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