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This research is a detailed look at intercultural competence, an issue showing escalating importance in today's higher education and the society at large. In this study, intercultural competence was defined in light of the concept of culture and the contact hypothesis. Person-environment interaction theory and college impact theories were incorporated as theoretical foundations for the operationalization of this research. The development of students' intercultural competence was examined from two perspectives--intercultural competence is viewed both as a desirable outcome of college education and as an active environment component that exerts important influence on students' self-reported gains. Findings of this study evidenced that a variety of college activities, especially those emphasizing cooperative and associated learning, play important role in students' intercultural competence development. Intercultural competence, in turn, has substantially positive effect in student gains in multiple realms. The intrinsic influences of student characteristics were also examined. In the end, previous research was drawn upon to scrutinize the findings of this study. Implications to future practice and policy as well as the values and limitations of this study were also presented. / Ph. D.

Unitarian Universalism has arrived at an historic inflection point that calls it to an overarching purpose of helping to bring about the Beloved Community in the wider world while dismantling racism and other systemic oppressions in its members and institutions. For most UU congregations the former is a familiar goal that compels social justice work, but transforming themselves seems a bewildering and daunting goal. This mixed method study of six UU congregations and 50 of their leaders proposes a support structure for congregations on this journey to help them change their institutional leadership practices and foster spiritual vitality in all their members.

In an increasingly multicultural society, history teachers face new challenges for which they need didactic tools to overcome. The realisation that students harbour their own stories in the history classroom is key for a prosperous history education. Further, the curriculum for the Swedish Upper Secondary school dictates an education based on intercultural principles. However, former studies show that history teachers are in need of guidance for how to implement interculturality in their teaching. Additionally, studies also suggest that teacher education programs that are permeated with an intercultural outlook provide a positive effect on history teachers’ intercultural ability. Through our study, we have focused on bringing to light history teacher educators’ view of intercultural competence in history education. The purpose of our study is based on the axiom that student teachers’ intercultural competence is affected by their educators’ intercultural outlook and practice.    Through a qualitative interview study, we have analysed teacher educators’ views and perception of their work with intercultural competence. We analysed the empiricism through a model of intercultural aspects based on our interpretation of Pirjo Lahdenperä’s and Kenneth Nordgren’s theories of intercultural competence. Our interpretation shows that the participants showcase a similar understanding for intercultural competence, specifically with emphasis on the aspects that regard mutual understanding between cultures. Furthermore, through our study we claim that the different aspects rely on each other in a symbiotic relationship. Nevertheless, the result indicates a profound and vast understanding of intercultural competence amongst the teacher educators. Hence, resulting in a prospering environment for its students to develop intercultural competence and, therefore, implement it in their role as history teachers.

This longitudinal study used qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the development of aspects of the intercultural competence (ICC) of Saudi learners of English as a second language in a study abroad (SA) context based on Deardorff's (2004) ICC model. It also examined students' development of Saudis' perceptions of the home and host cultures at the beginning of SA and after four months. Moreover, this study explored the relationship between ICC and second language proficiency. This study found no substantial change in ICC-related attributes over four months of studying abroad. Results also showed an overall agreement in ICC assessment between the teachers and the students. As far as perceptions of members of the Saudi and US cultures are concerned in the second study, the findings suggested that the Saudi SA students continued to use their home frame of reference even after four months of study in the US and that the national stereotypes persisted. In these results, US Americans are perceived to be work-oriented, whereas Saudis are relationship-oriented. The findings of the third study demonstrated that SA students' perceived gains with regard to skills of speaking, listening, reading, grammar, and vocabulary were significantly lower than their expectations at the beginning of the program and that their expectations were relatively low for culture learning. Moreover, no significant relationship was found between SA students' L2 usage patterns and L2 learning, nor between L2 usage patterns and C2 learning. However, the level of L2 proficiency upon entry into the SA program indicated a strong correlation with perceived gains in L2 learning. Interestingly, no relationship was found between ICC and L2 learning, nor between ICC and C2 learning.

[pt] O objetivo desta pesquisa é levantar quais aspectos culturais da sociedade brasileira presentes no Jogo da Capoeira podem ser acessados por praticantes estrangeiros e, consequentemente, auxiliá-los na aquisição de competência intercultural. Através de uma análise qualitativa/etnográfica dos rituais nele apresentados baseada em conceitos de cultura, interculturalismo e multiculturalismo (Bennett e Hall), categorizações de cultura (Hofstede e Lewis) e competência intercultural (Bennett) e da aplicação de questionários a praticantes de capoeira de diversas nacionalidades na Ilha de Manhattan em Nova Iorque, verificou-se a existência de tais aspectos e que estes são percebidos pelos capoeiristas estrangeiros auxiliando-os na aquisição de competência intercultural e, consequentemente, na aprendizagem de PL2E. / [en] The aim of this research is to establish which cultural aspects from Brazillian society related in the Capoeira Game can be accessed by foreigner capoeira students to acquire Intercultural Competence through a qualitative/etnography analysis of its rituals based in Culture, Interculturalism and Multiculturalism concepts (Bennet and Hall), culture categories (Hofstede and Lewis) and intercultural competence (Bennett) and the application of questionnaires to capoeira practitioners from several nationalities in Manhattan, New York City. Such aspects are noticed by the foreign capoeira players and help them to acquire intercultural competence and to learn Portuguese as a Second Language for foreigners.

Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur undervisningen i historieämnet kan bidra till en interkulturell identitetsutveckling. Min målsättning var att utifrån lärarnas upplägg och metoder kunna dra slutsatser om hur lärare arbetar med den kulturella identiteten i historieämnet. För att får svar på detta har jag dels fördjupat mig i teorin om kulturell identitet och interkulturell kompetens samt intervjuat tre lärare verksamma i olika kommuner i Sverige och med olika stor erfarenhet av elever med annan kulturell bakgrund. Metoden jag använde mig av var kvalitativ intervju där jag intervjuade lärare enskilt och ställde övergripande frågor och dels följdfrågor. Svaren har jag analyserat och resultatet av undersökningen visade att lärarna inte har någon medveten strategi i undervisning utifrån elever med annan kulturell bakgrund i klassen. Lärarna använder sig av flera metoder så som läroboken, att belysa olika kulturer men framförallt lägger ansvaret på lärarna som undervisar i ett annat modersmål. I min undersökning framkom inte någon skillnad i undervisningssätt utifrån många eller få elever med annan kulturell bakgrund och den kulturella identiteten tas för givet. Min undersökning visar att de två senaste århundradena av historien inte hinns med och just de två århundradena anser lärarna viktiga för den kulturella identiteten. / The purpose of this paper was to examine how teaching of history can contribute to an intercultural identity development. My goal was, that on the basis of teachers' concepts and methods, to draw conclusions about how the teacher works with the cultural identity in the subject of history. To answer this, I first look into the theory of cultural identity and the intercultural competence. I also interviewed three teachers working in different municipalities in Sweden with different experiences of students with different cultural backgrounds. The method I have used is a qualitative interview where I interviewed the teachers individually. I asked them both global issues questions and follow-up questions.The answers I have analyzed, resulted in that teachers do not have a conscious strategy of teaching students with different cultural backgrounds in the class. Teachers use different methods such as textbooks, to highlight the different cultures but above all they places the responsibility on the teachers who teach in another mother tongue. In my study it did not revealed any difference in teaching methods from many or few students with different cultural backgrounds and the culture identity is taken for granted. My study shows that teachers belives that the last two centuries of history is most important for the cultural identity but they do not teach in the last two centuries.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the possibilities of using children's and adolescent literature with lower-level students of Spanish. The study investigated second-semester students' perceptions of their experiences reading children's and adolescent literature in Spanish and the relevance of reading this literature on their acquisition of Spanish and their understanding and appreciation of Latino culture. Seventy-eight students enrolled in three second-semester Spanish courses in a large Southwestern university read two children's books in Spanish as part of the course curriculum; sixty-eight of these students agreed to participate in the research study. Quantitative data concerning students' periodic self-ratings of their communicative abilities in Spanish were collected via questionnaires. Qualitative data concerning students' perceptions of their experiences reading the children's books were collected through journal entries, surveys, focus-group interviews, and compositions. Students indicated that their communicative skills in Spanish increased throughout the course of the semester. Students in Classes #1 and #2 believed that their reading abilities in Spanish increased from novice-mid to novice-high. Students in Class #3, however, concluded that their reading abilities in Spanish increased from novice-mid to the intermediate-low. Students affirmed that reading the children's books helped them see Spanish vocabulary and grammar in context and reinforced the vocabulary items and grammatical features of Spanish they previously learned in the course textbook. Many students indicated that reading and discussing the children's books contributed to the development of their reading ability as well as other communicative abilities in Spanish. Students' opinions varied concerning the extent to which curricular engagements supported or impeded their comprehension of the children's books. Additionally, students asserted that the children's books contributed to their understanding and appreciation of Latino culture and that the books supported the development of their intercultural competence. A number of research and pedagogical implications of the study are included along with avenues for further research.

Enhancing of internationalisation in Higher education institutions is investigated in the dissertation, with the priority given to human resource management. The intercultural competence is identified as an instrument for complex improvement of internationalisation: its perspectives quantitative and qualitative results. The theoretical and empirical research results are summarised in the concept of HEIs’ internationalisation proposed, which is based on the idea of human resource intercultural competence development. / Darbe nagrinėjamos aukštojo mokslo institucijų veiklos internacionalizavimo tobulinimo problemos, prioritetizuojant žmonių išteklių vadybą. Analizuojama aukštojo mokslo institucijų internacionalizavimo samprata, subjektai ir veiksniai sąlygojantys internacionalizavimo plėtrą, bei kokybinius ir kiekybinius parametrus. Atliktų teorinių ir empirinių tyrimų rezultatai yra apibendrinami pateikiamoje aukštojo mokslo institucijų internacionalizavimo koncepcijoje, grįstoje aukštojo mokslo institucijų žmonių išteklių tarpkultūrinės kompetencijos formavimu. Darbe patiekiami sprendimai siūlomai koncepcijai realizuoti.