How college students experience intercultural learning: Key features and approaches.

Abstract

Many colleges and universities in the United States aim to promote intercultural competence in their students. However, most research on this outcome has focused on the content of educational programs (what educators offer) rather than on how students experience intercultural learning. This qualitative inquiry from the Wabash National Study analyzed 207 intercultural experiences from 161 college students on 6 campuses to identify contexts, characteristics, and key features of how they experience intercultural learning. Using grounded theory approaches, we summarized student interviews over 2 years, conducted open and axial coding to identify themes, and evaluated the themes over time. Using this approach, we identified three major themes: (a) that intercultural learning occurred when students directly encountered others' experiences; (b) that feeling safe enough to explore cultural differences was a key dimension of intercultural learning; and (c) that students used a variety of approaches that led to intercultural learning (from simply listening or watching to exploring how one's personal identity related to intercultural understanding) and that these varied in degree of complexity and agency. Implications for practice are offered to help educators make decisions about how to promote intercultural effectiveness in collegiate settings.

A virtual caravan—A metaphor for home-internationalization through social media: A qualitative content analysis

“…Direct or indirect contact with people from various ethnic groups leads to intercultural learning (King et al, 2013). Pettigrew et al (2011) also revealed the benefits of indirect contact for intercultural learning.…”

Intercultural Comfort through Social Practices: Exploring Conditions for Cultural Learning

“…Students are most likely to experience intercultural learning after being exposed to others' experiences and reflecting on their individual and collective social experiences with different others (Brewer, 1996;Gaertner et al, 1996;King et al, 2013). Timing matters.…”

Sucesso no Ensino Superior: Uma revisão e conceptualização || Success in Higher Education: A review and conceptualization

“…Tomando os ganhos pessoais, que se traduzem naturalmente em ganhos sociais através do melhoramento do capital humano, o sucesso do estudante estará relacionado com o nível em que conseguiu desenvolver as suas capacidades de leitura e escrita, pensamento crítico, autoconfiança, aprendizagem autodirigida e tolerância face à diversidade (Cruce, Wolniak, Seifert, & Pascarella, 2006;Baxter Magolda, 2008;Franco, 2016;Franco, Costa, & Almeida, 2017;King, Perez, & Shim, 2013;Lea & Street, 1998;Seifert et al, 2008). No seu conjunto, estes domínios de conhecimento e de competência constituem indicadores de um tipo de aprendizagem transformacional, em que o ES promove a transformação de grelhas de referência pessoais para formas de estar no mundo mais inclusivas, emocionalmente abertas à mudança, reflexivas e justas (Baxter Magolda, 2001;Kegan, 2000).…”