Intercultural awareness and sensitivity in an Australian university : a study of professional practice of university staff
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2005
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As the cultural and language backgrounds of students enrolling in Australian
universities continue to diversify, education, always an act of communication,
becomes increasingly an act of intercultural communication. Teaching strategies
developed for an homogenous culture need to be revised to include these multicultural
dimensions. Although there is significant literature concerning theories and training
programs in intercultural communication competence that may benefit Australian
university staff, training programs to help staff become more competent at addressing
the complex communication issues that arise in intercultural contexts are not
commonly available for staff at Australian universities. Assuming that university staff
who conscientiously seek to improve their teaching effectiveness would welcome and
benefit from continuing professional education in intercultural communication, an
educational intervention in the form of a Staff Development Training Program in
intercultural awareness and sensitivity was designed and implemented for teaching
staff at a metropolitan case study campus in Australia. This thesis examines the
development and delivery of this intercultural training program to identify the
elements that participants found helpful in increasing their intercultural
communication skills and also to advance pedagogy in the field of cultural awareness
and sensitivity training.
The Training Program was framed as part of processes of both action research and
action learning and was comprised of three Workshops offered over a nine-month period.
Over the course of this intercultural Training Program, teachers were provided
with a selection of intercultural communication theories relevant to their teaching
context and had opportunity to apply these theories to their own professional
experiences and practices.
The aim of the research associated with this Training Program was firstly, to
investigate and facilitate intercultural awareness and sensitivity in academic practice
in the Australian university context, and secondly to identify interculturally aware and
sensitive teaching strategies for dissemination to the campus teaching staff and,
through publication of this thesis, to other institutions delivering higher education in
culturally diverse contexts.
The eleven teachers who attended the workshops also agreed to be research
participants. An interpretive methodology was designed in order to investigate the
teachers' awareness of and sensitivity to the values, beliefs and practices of
international students in the context of their face to face teaching and learning
activities. Hence, in-depth interviews were conducted with workshop participants
after each workshop to explore seven main Research Questions. The researcher also
contributed evidence as a participant-observer and an e-communication list
facilitating the sharing of ideas and materials relevant to the training topic was a
further source of evidence.
Findings from these multiple sources of evidence demonstrated that purpose-designed
intercultural training programs can build the intercultural sensitivity and awareness of
Australian university teachers thus enhancing professional practice in culturally
diverse teaching contexts. There was a significant contribution to contemporary
knowledge of the specific nature of intercultural teaching and learning problems for
international students engaging with Australian curriculum and pedagogy. In
addition, possible strategies were contributed to assist university teachers to have
more confidence and less anxiety concerning their professional practice with
culturally diverse students. In particular, strategies were suggested to help teachers to
address aspects of professional practice related to learning issues associated with
international students such as, teacher-dependence, uncritical thinking and second
language expression. Recommendations were made concerning changes to
organisational policy on staff development programs and support structures for
international students and their teachers in Australian universities. Specifically,
Australian universities should develop ongoing and regular intercultural training
opportunities for their staff beginning with induction. Intercultural training for
teachers should include an examination of culturally different learning styles and
preferences. Australian universities need to establish Learning Support and
Counselling Units for international students. In addition, Australian universities
should promote and support the learning of languages other than English amongst
their staff.
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