Building Teachers’ Intercultural Competence
Through Study Abroad: A Collaborative
Autoethnography
Jennifer Stacy, MS
Kristine Sudbeck, MA
Jessica Sierk, MS
Department of Teaching Learning and Teacher Education
Introduction
The Teaching, Learning, and
Teacher Education (TLTE)
department of the College of
Education and Human Sciences
at the University of NebraskaLincoln (UNL) seeks to:
•
engage students in conversations about
concrete teaching and learning issues,
•
provide opportunities for students to
consider judgments regarding
contemporary educational issues, and
•
promote the development of critical
intercultural competencies for success
in today’s increasingly pluralistic
society.
A short-term study abroad
opportunity for graduate
students during the
summer of 2013 to study
post-apartheid schooling in
South Africa.
Definition
• An increasingly globalized world requires
teachers to develop intercultural
competence:
the knowledge of others and self, the skills to
interpret, discover and interact, the ability to
value others’ values, beliefs, and behaviors,
and the capability to relativize one’s self (Byrum,
1997).
Core Premises of Intercultural Competence
An interculturally competent individual is aware that his/her
interpretation of a situation is one of many, and is open to new
information or alternative perspectives (Ting-Toomey, 2005).
Intercultural competence is NOT a static state that one can
acquire or master…
Rather, it is a set of skills developed and displayed in the course
of interaction and communication with diverse others.
(Lee et al., 2012, p. 26)
Purpose
Main Research Question
– How does a short-term
study abroad experience
contribute to practicing
university instructors’
development of intercultural
competence?
The purpose of this study…
– to explore the experiences
of three doctoral students
before, during and after
their travel study in South
Africa.
Methods
• Collaborative Autoethnography
– (Chang, H., Wambura Ngunjiri, F., & Hernandez, K.C., 2013)
• Data Collection
– archival materials (e.g. photos and other artifacts)
– self-reflection (e.g. free-form journals)
– self-analysis (e.g. pre-determined schematic forms used
during school visits and other interactions)
– Pre- and post-trip interviews between researchers on the
impact that the study abroad experience has had on their
teaching practices
Researchers/Participants
Jen Stacy, MS
Jessica Sierk, MS
Kristine Sudbeck, MA
Setting
Cape Town, Western Cape
South Africa
Pretoria, Gauteng
South Africa
Learning about schooling in postapartheid South Africa….
…while living history and doing
culture.
Preliminary Findings
Reflective
Teacher
Practices
Relating
with CLD
Students
Study
Abroad in
Teacher
Education
Use of
Language
in the
Classroom
1. Reflective Teacher Practices
•
“A rich point that envelops an experience that expands beyond confronting new
countries, new languages and new people and delves into a much more
profound reality of being me.”
(Stacy-Journal Entry, 7/20/13)
•
“I have also noticed that a lot of my South African counterparts refer to
students as learners. I like this because it places an emphasis on the process
of learning. The word ‘students’ implies that they are studying, but I feel as
though it is a more passive, rote association.”
(Sierk-Journal Entry, 7/10/13)
•
“Constantly wondering what others think of me as they watch me navigate this
new place, what message my social position is sending during each action, each
conversation, and perhaps even, each thought. Critiquing and changing
myself.”
(Stacy-Journal Entry, 7/17/13)
2. Relating with CLD Students
• “Some of the others kept mentioning that we were driving on
‘the wrong side’ of the road and that the steering wheel was on
‘the wrong side’ of the car. I’ve been cognitive of myself saying
‘the opposite side’ rather than “the wrong side.’”
(Sierk- Journal Entry, 7/6/13)
• “Why must everyone conform to learning English? While I
realize the importance of having a common language as a
lingua franca to be able to communicate across these differing
linguistic backgrounds, must it always be to privilege the
already privileged?”
(Sudbeck- Assignment, 7/23/13)
3. Use of Language in the Classroom
“Do you speak French? Bon jour!”
To which I responded, “No, but I do speak Spanish.”
“Teach me something in Spanish!... Can you write
that down?”
I wrote down greetings such as 'hola', 'buenos dias',
'adios', and 'ciao' along with their English translations.
We practiced them aloud so that they could learn how to
pronounce them. One student asked if I would like to
learn something in Sepedi, to which I excitedly
obliged. "Ashe. A-S-H-E. Ashe. That means 'hi' in my
language.“
(Sudbeck- Field Notes, 7/23/13)
“There is no real language barrier, as we all speak English, but I
recognize that I am not doing language in the same way my
classmates are. Yet, our conversation works; its puzzles make it
rich. We are languaging.”
(Stacy-Journal Entry, 7/12/13)
4. Study Abroad in Teacher Education
“The quest for understanding
such a sedimentary system is
lifelong.”
(Stacy, Journal Entry, 7/20/13)
“Here [South Africa] I have no
real comfort zone to fall back
on, so I’m forced, in a way, to
negotiate the unfamiliar.”
(Sierk-Journal Entry, 7/9/13)
“Nothing extraordinarily
different from my frame, but
different enough to take a
moment to notice and to
ponder.”
(Stacy-Journal Entry, 7/20/13)
Discussion
Alternative
Perspectives
Fluidity
Skill Set
Semantics
Lifelong learning
Navigating rich points
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Opposite” vs. “wrong”
“Student” vs. “learner”
•
Challenging the
status quo
•
•
English as a lingua franca
Recognition and experience
of languaculture and rich
points (Agar, 1994)
Ever-evolving sociopolitical
contexts
Classroom contextualization
Constant reflection
Constant juxtaposition
Flexibility
Inclination for travel
Cosmopolitan Identity Recognizing rich
•
Personal and professional
points in the
identity that is in and of the
classroom
world
•
Work of art that is an
ongoing transaction with
the world
(Hansen, 2011)
•
•
•
Materials and topics
Challenging students
Permitting uncomfortable
moments to happen
Conclusions
• Implications
– Continuous evaluation of study abroad programs to
demonstrate the educational outcomes with intentions to
improve the programs or raise awareness about their value
(Emert & Pearson, 2007)
– Raise awareness of the value of study abroad for practicing
teachers in a graduate program in education
• Limitations
– Short term study abroad
– Focus only on university instructors in the field of education
Conclusions
• Areas for Future Research
– Longer study abroad opportunity
– Longitudinal follow-up study
– Focus on K-12 teachers and university
instructors in different fields
References
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agar, M. (1994). Language shock: understanding the culture of conversation. New York: Will
Morrow & Co., Inc.
Brodin, J. (2010). Education for global competencies: an EU-Canada exchange programme
in higher education and training. Journal of Studies in International Education, 14, 569 –
584.
Byram, (1997). In Deerdorff, D. 2006, p. 247
Chang, H., Wambura Ngunjiri, F., & Hernandez, K.C. (2013). Collaborative
Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, Inc.
Emert, H.A., & Pearson, D.L. (2007). Expanding the vision of international education:
Collaboration, assessment, and intercultural development. New Directions for Community
Colleges (Special Issue: International Reform Efforts and Challenges in Community
Colleges), 138, 67-75.
Hansen, D. (2011). The teacher and the world: a study of cosmopolitanism as education.
Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Lee, A., Poch, R., Shaw, M. & Williams, R. (2012). Engaging Diversity in Undergraduate
Classrooms: A Pedagogy for Developing Intercultural Competance. ASHE Higher Education
Report, 38(2): 23-43.
Planel, C. (2008). The rise and fall of comparative education in teacher training: should it
rise again as comparative pedagogy?. Compare, 38 (4) 385-399.
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