University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Education. / 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.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to investigate the written guidelines for students attending studies at their first semester on a teachers training programme and a beginners course in Educational Sciences. In our study, we have carried out a comparison between four Swedish higher education establishments and their respective teacher training programmes.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to examine how the term "intercultural" is applied in the written guidelines for the Educational Science courses at the following institutions; Södertörns University Collage, Stockholm Institute of Education, Luleå University of Technology and Malmö University. We have used a method of content analysis to identify intercultural content in the respective universities guidelines regarding their Educational Science courses.</p><p>Through our analysis of the written guidelines, we have reached the conclusion that Södertörn University College has the most markers of intercultural content, whereas the other Universities in our study showed somewhat similar results in the identifications of intercultural content and focused on other central words and expressions.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the written guidelines for students attending studies at their first semester on a teachers training programme and a beginners course in Educational Sciences. In our study, we have carried out a comparison between four Swedish higher education establishments and their respective teacher training programmes. The purpose of this study is to examine how the term "intercultural" is applied in the written guidelines for the Educational Science courses at the following institutions; Södertörns University Collage, Stockholm Institute of Education, Luleå University of Technology and Malmö University. We have used a method of content analysis to identify intercultural content in the respective universities guidelines regarding their Educational Science courses. Through our analysis of the written guidelines, we have reached the conclusion that Södertörn University College has the most markers of intercultural content, whereas the other Universities in our study showed somewhat similar results in the identifications of intercultural content and focused on other central words and expressions.

This thesis examines collaborative intercultural theatre that brings artists from different parts of the world together to create original work. It includes a case-study of the Prague-Toronto-Manitoulin Theatre Project, a theatrical collaboration that took place between 1999 and 2006 and with which I was involved as a performer and facilitator. The thesis considers the case-study within historical context, particularly in relation to the ideas and experiments of influential twentieth-century practitioner-theorists such as Brecht, Artaud, Brook and Schechner. I distinguish between modernist and postmodernist traditions in intercultural theatre discourse by tracing how the latter arose in response to poststructural arguments in cultural theory. In recent decades, theatre practices have accommodated this redirection by being more mindful of politics and ethics. I argue that approaches to research and analysis have lagged behind, and that alternative approaches are needed that are better suited to address contemporary practices and issues. I borrow from critical traditions in Anthropology, Cultural Studies and Education to build up a postmodern ethnographic approach to my case-study of the Prague-Toronto-Manitoulin Theatre Project. At stake in the case-study is the extent to which the additional contextual knowledge available to a postmodern ethnographic approach contributes to theatrical analysis and interpretation. More concerned with the instrumental value of the case-study than its intrinsic properties, I use the data to demonstrate that a postmodern ethnography is well-suited to consider ethics of representation in an intercultural context, that is, what the possibilities and limitations of dialogue across cultural difference may be. This, I argue, is as important as ever in a world in which intercultural encounter is common and cultural performance circulates with increasing fluidity and ease.

This thesis examines collaborative intercultural theatre that brings artists from different parts of the world together to create original work. It includes a case-study of the Prague-Toronto-Manitoulin Theatre Project, a theatrical collaboration that took place between 1999 and 2006 and with which I was involved as a performer and facilitator. The thesis considers the case-study within historical context, particularly in relation to the ideas and experiments of influential twentieth-century practitioner-theorists such as Brecht, Artaud, Brook and Schechner. I distinguish between modernist and postmodernist traditions in intercultural theatre discourse by tracing how the latter arose in response to poststructural arguments in cultural theory. In recent decades, theatre practices have accommodated this redirection by being more mindful of politics and ethics. I argue that approaches to research and analysis have lagged behind, and that alternative approaches are needed that are better suited to address contemporary practices and issues. I borrow from critical traditions in Anthropology, Cultural Studies and Education to build up a postmodern ethnographic approach to my case-study of the Prague-Toronto-Manitoulin Theatre Project. At stake in the case-study is the extent to which the additional contextual knowledge available to a postmodern ethnographic approach contributes to theatrical analysis and interpretation. More concerned with the instrumental value of the case-study than its intrinsic properties, I use the data to demonstrate that a postmodern ethnography is well-suited to consider ethics of representation in an intercultural context, that is, what the possibilities and limitations of dialogue across cultural difference may be. This, I argue, is as important as ever in a world in which intercultural encounter is common and cultural performance circulates with increasing fluidity and ease.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Utah State University, Dept. of Instructional Technology, 2002. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-145).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 301-317).

In this paper we report findings of a study of online participation by culturally diverse participants in a distance adult education course offered in Canada, and examine two of the study’s early findings. First, we explore both the historical and cultural origins of “cyberculture values” as manifested in our findings, using the notions of explicit and implicit enforcement of those values. Second, we examine the notion of “cultural gaps” between participants in the course and the potential consequences for online communication successes and difficulties. We also discuss theoretical perspectives from Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics, Genre and Literacy Theory and Aboriginal Education that may shed further light on “cultural gaps” in online communications. Finally, we identify the need for additional research, primarily in the form of larger scale comparisons across cultural groups of patterns of participation and interaction, but also in the form of case studies that can be submitted to microanalyses of the form as well as the content of communicator’s participation and interaction online.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to examine the use of interactive uncertainty reduction strategies and to se there is a correlation between the use of the strategies and uncertainty reduction process of undergraduate relations students. This is the first attempt of bringing uncertainty reduction theory to explain how the relation students reduce uncertainty during an interaction with a person from a different culture. It is also an initial attempt to apply Douglas' (1990) with intercultural communication and with public relations students. Participants are five undergraduate relations students who volunteer. They will interact role playing with a person from Japan who acts international client. Pre and post-interaction questionnaires are administrated. Two types of interact strategies found are question-asking and self-disclosure Only two of them can significantly reduce uncertainty of interacting with the person from Japan for six minutes. / Department of Journalism