Session Information
99 ERC SES 07 C, Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Student mobility has been constantly growing across the globe (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). More and more students participate in short-term mobility programmes such as the ERASMUS+ exchange study programme, and the provision of English-taught programmes has been expanding. Following this global trend, Finland has also increased the number of English-taught programmes and courses across universities (Wächter & Maiworm, 2014) which led to a steadily increase of international degree students. Indicatively, in 2001 the number of international students in Finland was 6,877 and in two decades it tripled to 20,868 in 2020 (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2018, 2022a). These developments increased the cultural diversity inside higher education classrooms which subsequently raised the need to use flexible and culturally diverse teaching methods (Leask, 2009), as well as to implement inclusive approaches and responsive strategies (Larke, 2013). Furthermore, teachers are expected to consider students’ experiences and knowledge to construct new knowledge (Biggs & Tang, 2011) while students familiarise themselves with the new learning environment, have their own expectations (Stier, 2003) and points of reference (Hahl, 2016).
Forming culturally diverse groups has been shown to have a positive impact on students’ academic and sociocultural adaptation (Wang, 2012). Yet, group work between culturally diverse students does not ensure intercultural interaction (Moore & Hampton, 2015) as it can be affected by different communication styles, values, and approaches (Reid & Garson, 2017). Following the work of Reid and Garson (2017) this paper discusses how students’ experience group work in a culturally diverse environment in higher education. The research questions are: 1) What aspects of group work contribute most positively to students’ learning experiences in an intercultural setting? 2) What are the most common challenges faced by students in an intercultural group setting? 3) What strategies were most effective in overcoming those challenges?
The participants of this course were mainly exchange students in their bachelor’s level studies and a few students from the master’s degree programmes (international and Finnish students) who attended a course on Multicultural Education. The course’s participants were mainly from European countries (n=20) followed by Asian (n=16), African (n=1), and Central American countries (n=1). As a compulsory task for the course, the students were instructed to spend approximately 8 hours to read a case study (provided by the teacher), discuss it withing their group and then prepare a 20-minute presentation about it. Instructions about the focus of the presentation were also provided. The case studies were authored by the course book and were based on interviews with high school students. These case studies included the reflections of these high school students on their academic life, personal experiences, and their ties with their cultural background and family. In addition, each case study focuses on a significant theme relevant to the high school student profile such as immigration matters, language and cultural dynamics, stereotypes, identity etc. The goal of this activity was to engage in a critical analysis and discussion of the case study, exchange perspectives, develop teamwork abilities, create a presentation, and highlight effective strategies for teachers who teach in culturally diverse classrooms.
Method
After the presentations, an email was sent to all the participants with the research privacy notice, a cover page informing the participants about the purpose of the study, including information on data management. The participants were free to accept or decline participation and their participation was done on a voluntarily basis. In the same email a consent form was also provided as well as the link to the online survey. In total the research invitation was sent to 38 participants in autumn 2023. After a week, a reminder was sent to the participants which also informed them that the link will close after three weeks. In total, out of 38 participants, 22 responded so the response rate was 58%. It has to be noted, that questions related to personal characteristics such as, gender, ethnicity, prior educational experiences were not asked in the survey to protect participants’ identity and avoid bias. The online survey was chosen as it gave the possibility to the participants to respond at their own time without the researcher being present (Braun et al., 2021). In the survey there were ten open-ended questions and a Likert-scale statement to evaluate the group work experiences. Six of the open-ended questions were adapted from Reid and Garson’s study (2017). These questions are marked with an asterisk (*) and the one without an asterisk was created by the researcher. The next questions were analysed for this study: 1. What was the best part of working in a group for this course?* 2. What was the worst part of working in a group for this course? 3. Which part of group work did you find most challenging and what were some of the strategies you used to deal with the challenges?* To analyse the qualitative data content analysis method was employed (Miles & Huberman, 1984). The participants’ responses were read multiple times while notes were taken simultaneously on differences and similarities between the responses. Then broader categories were defined with specific coding rules. After data coding, the results were analysed to identify patterns and themes.
Expected Outcomes
Preliminary findings indicate that the opportunity to discuss about the case study, while listening, sharing, and exchanging perspectives and personal stories contributed most positively to students’ learning experiences. Students’ attitudes on being respectful to each other, expressing their views openly and freely were also noted by the students. Moreover, students described that this activity helped them develop negotiation skills, cultural awareness and sensitivity. The most common challenge faced by students related to practical matters such as, finding a common time to work together as students had different schedules. In addition, task division and ensuring that everyone knows their own role and responsibility was also noted. To overcome those challenges, students applied a variety of strategies such as having a leader who oversees the work progression, having a mutual participation in the fair division of the tasks, and considering what each person prefers to do. Dealing with these challenges led the students to become more aware of their position and role in a team e.g., when it is important to step back, how much to argue, how much space to give to others, which will have a positive impact in their future group work and professional career. Although the study was conducted in Finland, its findings and potential applications can be relevant to group work and instructional methods in other higher education settings.
References
Biggs, J. B., & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press. Braun, V., Clarke, V., Boulton, E., Davey, L. & McEvoy, L. (2021). The online survey as a qualitative research tool. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 24(6), 641-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1805550 Finnish National Agency for Education. (2018). Statistics on foreign degree students in Finnish higher education institutions in 2017. Retrieved from https://www.oph.fi/sites/default/files/documents/167121_factsexpress9b_2018_0.pdf Finnish National Agency for Education. (2022a). International full degree students in Finnish higher education institutions (universities and universities of applied sciences) 2010-2020. Retrieved from: https://www.oph.fi/sites/default/files/documents/International%20full%20degree%20students%20in%20Finnish%20HE%202010-2020.pdf Hahl, K. (2016). Co-constructing meaning and context in international teacher education. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 5(1), 83–105. doi:10.1515/jelf-2016-0004 Larke, P. (2013). Culturally responsive teaching in higher education: What professors need to know. Counterpoints, 391, 38–50. Leask, B. (2009). Using formal and informal curricula to improve interactions between home and international students. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(2), 205–221. doi:10.1177/1028315308329786 Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1984). Drawing valid meaning from qualitative data: Toward a shared craft. Educational Researcher, 13(5), 20–30. doi:10.2307/1174243 Moore, P., & Hampton, G. (2015). “It’s a bit of a generalisation, but . . .”: Participant perspectives on intercultural group assessment in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 40(3), 390–406. Reid, R., & Garson, K. (2017). Rethinking multicultural group work as intercultural learning. Journal of Studies in International Education, 21(3), 195-212. Stier, J. (2003) Internationalisation, ethnic diversity and the acquisition of intercultural competencies. Intercultural Education, 14(1), 77–91. doi:10.1080/1467598032000044674 Wang, Y. (2012). Mainland Chinese students’ group work adaptation in a UK business school. Teaching in Higher Education, 17(5), 523–535.
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