Being and becoming an intercultural doctoral student. (original) (raw)
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Being and becoming an intercultural doctoral student: reflective autobiographical narratives
This paper underscores the dynamic and complex dimensions of ‘becoming’ an intercultural doctoral student. It employs autobiography as a research method to portray the reshaping of ourselves as doctoral students to help us engage in self-reflexivity on our mediation of academic, personal and cultural identities in international doctoral education. Our self-narratives on how the plurality of our doctoral identities has emerged and how we have mediated these multiple identities show that becoming an intercultural research student is intimately linked to the process of self-empowerment and re-construction of oneself as a flexible and reflexive intercultural learner and human being. The paper concludes by discussing the notion of ‘reciprocal intercultural supervision’ in doctoral education. It highlights the increased need for (Western) supervisors to develop reciprocal interculturality and the capacity for greater agency in their international doctoral students so that both groups can understand each other better.
Investigating intercultural competence: A doctoral experience
2009
This article traces my development as both a teacher and researcher of language and culture. It examines the development of my doctoral thesis through my interaction with notions of language and culture, grounded in professional practitioner experience. My doctoral research, which examined the nature of intercultural competence in young immersion language learners, has provided useful illustration of classroom intercultural development. Models developed from research findings have contributed to teacher understanding of both complex student outcomes and the teacher's role, in intercultural language pedagogy.
International Review of Qualitative Research, 2015
This article looks at the intellectual and linguistic dilemmas of an international doctoral group and juxtaposes these with some of the existential challenges the group faces. The intention is to offer a kind of ‘dialectical tacking’ between doctoral thinking and doctoral experiences more broadly. The overall aim of the piece is to think in front of each other while developing a sense of ‘equality’ in relation to group contributions. Each of the excursions into research in this article enacts different approaches to research thinking – comparative, inductive, deductive, dialectical and deconstructive. In this piece, the voices of the tutors (Stronach and Frankham) are mostly dominant, but further publication will shift that balance significantly towards the voice of the doctoral student. We begin with an empirical detail that highlights the nature of some of the problems of cultural and linguistic translation.
Towards a Culturally Reflective Practitioner
Academic Mobility Programs and Engagement, 2020
Since 2007, it has been possible for student teachers based in Europe to complete a teaching practicum at a school abroad, supported by the European flagship mobility programme ERASMUS. The focus of this study was on 35 undergraduate preservice teachers who completed a three-month teaching practicum placement in the UK and Ireland. Data from reflective reports was content analysed and completed with focus group discussions six months after the students' stay abroad. On the basis of the reflective reports, a case study was additionally collated that focussed on their intercultural learning development. The findings indicate an interconnection of linguistic, intercultural, and professional development with professional development as the most prominent and the intercultural development as a rather neglected one. Suggestions on how to design a formal instruction element based on the principles of cultural (peer) mentoring and guided cultural reflection as part of the teaching pract...
developing intercultural competence
International education is a key priority for Australian universities, government and employer groups. For students, an international professional experience is uniquely placed in providing opportunities for developing intercultural learning, intercultural competence and global citizenship. Employers see graduates with international experiences as interculturally competent, viewing them as proficient in analysing and responding appropriately to culturally significant values and perceptions. This research seeks to understand how students are prepared for international experiences and how intercultural learning is integrated into course programmes. Academic staff responsible for international experiences were interviewed in one-on-one qualitative interviews about their practices and perceptions of preparing students for these experiences. Although all international programmes were procedurally well planned, we found that most participants did not include intercultural pedagogies into their programmes, nor did they purposefully seek to develop intercultural competence and global citizenship in their students. Professional development opportunities need to be created for academics to rethink their pedagogical intent regarding international experiences. Immersion in culture is not, on its own, an assurance of intercultural learning. Providing international experiences without a pedagogical framework that helps students to reflect on self and others can be a wasted opportunity and runs the risk of reinforcing stereotypical thinking and racist attitudes.
Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2014
As the finale, the participating scholars connect their discussion of key intercultural urgencies, issues, and challenges to our role as intercultural scholars and the pathways for engagement. We all inhabit different and multiple roles for addressing and confronting such urgencies-as researchers, practitioners, activists, teachers, and community members with macro and micro modes of agency, influence, and impact. Discussants grapple with how to envision these roles in contemporary society and actuate meaningful change for multiple constituencies and communities around us.
Role of Reflective Knowledge in the Development of Intercultural Competence
Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2018
This paper is concerned with understanding how Saudi academic migrants utilized reflective knowledge to promote their development of Intercultural Competence. Two collective instrumental case studies investigate how Saudi academic migrants perceived and described their development of intercultural competence. Research findings indicate a variety of common and divergent examples, topics, and themes that describe SAM development of intercultural competence from the category of reflective knowledge. The participants perceived the importance of intercultural competence and, through critical reflection, were able to describe impactful instances of their developing abilities to communicate and behave effectively and appropriately in a variety of intercultural situations.
Learning to become an intercultural practitioner: The case of lifelong learning intensive programme
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This paper dates back to 2009 (it was first presented at the CRLL Conference at Stirling University) and deals with the advances in lifelong learning introduced by an ERASMUS LLP-IP named Interdisciplinary Course of Intercultural Competences (ICIC). The programme, that involves academic and non-academic institutions concerned with higher education of six different European countries, worked out an intensive international learning pathway aimed at developing intercultural competences in three professional fields: education, social work and health care. The paper focuses on the programme's innovative combination of formal and informal learning as a strategic lever to: (1) enhance a holistic concept of "competence" that puts human relationship at the centre of professional skills; (2) assume intercultural competences as key competences transversal to different professions; (3) introduce social skills and reflection as key factors for developing a transformative model of lifelong learning (Jarvis, 2005) that able to match the needs of the current complex, ever-changing societies; and (4) develop experiential learning without giving up to a strong theoretical framework of reference. The programme introduces an educational model that matches the main goals of higher educational priorities started by Bologna Process and relies upon a solid theoretical framework developed in the field of intercultural research at a sociological, socio-psychological and pedagogical level (
Studying Teacher Education
In higher education, doctoral training has been identified as a process of stewardship development whereby individuals learn the knowledge and skills required to advance their respective disciplines. Self-study of teacher education practices is one approach that has gained the interest of doctoral students to help them understand their own development whilst also forging recommendations for others in publications. In this selfstudy, we worked to understand the experiences of Shrehan, a teacher from England beginning doctoral study in the USA. Shrehan had no experience teaching at the college level prior to moving to the USA, and she saw self-study as an opportunity to understand her development and acculturation into an unfamiliar system of higher education. Data were collected through journaling, critical-friend discussions, and artefacts, as well as student data in the form of surveys, exit slips, and focus-group interviews. Qualitative data analysis of Shrehan's experiences was guided by the four stages of acculturation theory-honeymoon, culture shock, adjustment, and recovery. Shrehan's journey emphasizes the importance of getting to know undergraduate students and building rapport as key aspects of teaching at the college level. Self-study provided Shrehan with a heightened personal-identity awareness that increased her cultural sensitivity and broadened her worldview. Results are discussed with reference to acculturation theory and future directions for research are provided.