Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sara GanassinORCiD
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
This 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. 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 others 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 others; and scaffolding activities help students to understand intercultural concepts.
Author(s): Holmes P, Bavieri L, Ganassin S
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Intercultural Education
Year: 2015
Volume: 26
Issue: 1
Pages: 16-30
Online publication date: 29/01/2015
Acceptance date: 28/12/2014
ISSN (print): 1467-5986
ISSN (electronic): 1469-8439
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.993250
DOI: 10.1080/14675986.2015.993250
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
