The research recorded in this thesis examined the experience of eight foreign teachers who have taken up residence in China as teachers of oral English language. The study grew out of my reflections on my own challenging, yet rewarding, journey as an international student in New Zealand, and aimed to investigate and unfold the reality of foreigners living and working experience under the influence of traditional Chinese culture, specifically in Pan Yu district, Guang Zhou City, Guang Dong Province. I was interested to find the cultural differences that the teachers struggled to accept or understand. I wondered whether the foreign teachers would reshape their personal beliefs and values, especially about teaching, because of the cultural differences they encountered in China. A sample of eight foreign teachers, from Australia, America, Canada and New Zealand, took part in semi-structured interviews in which I hoped to capture critical incidents in their inter-cultural experience. I was also able to undertake two observations of classroom practice. The data collected was then analysed using Boyatzis' (1998) system of thematic analysis. The research found that participants had similar experiences during their residence in China. For instance, the majority of participants showed a long period of cultural adoption and they all defined their experience as challenging. All participants refused to reshape their moral beliefs about teaching in response to traditional Chinese culture, but that they all, to some extent, eventually adjusted to a Chinese way of thinking. However, issues that direct connected to their own cultural heritage remained unchanged. An interpretation of the findings was that perhaps, on one hand, while the environment and cultural difference initiated various forms of difficulties, on the other hand, participants are trying to reset their personal limits. Most likely, their desire to introduce their Chinese students to a different style of learning convinced them to hold on to personal beliefs about effective teaching and learning, hoping to pass this on to a new generation of Chinese. My research, however, focused on only very small proportion of foreign teachers in China. Further research should be pursued with an expanded focus, to find the potential of the implementation of cultural awareness programmes and support groups for foreigner.

The research recorded in this thesis examined the experience of eight foreign teachers who have taken up residence in China as teachers of oral English language. The study grew out of my reflections on my own challenging, yet rewarding, journey as an international student in New Zealand, and aimed to investigate and unfold the reality of foreigners living and working experience under the influence of traditional Chinese culture, specifically in Pan Yu district, Guang Zhou City, Guang Dong Province. I was interested to find the cultural differences that the teachers struggled to accept or understand. I wondered whether the foreign teachers would reshape their personal beliefs and values, especially about teaching, because of the cultural differences they encountered in China. A sample of eight foreign teachers, from Australia, America, Canada and New Zealand, took part in semi-structured interviews in which I hoped to capture critical incidents in their inter-cultural experience. I was also able to undertake two observations of classroom practice. The data collected was then analysed using Boyatzis' (1998) system of thematic analysis. The research found that participants had similar experiences during their residence in China. For instance, the majority of participants showed a long period of cultural adoption and they all defined their experience as challenging. All participants refused to reshape their moral beliefs about teaching in response to traditional Chinese culture, but that they all, to some extent, eventually adjusted to a Chinese way of thinking. However, issues that direct connected to their own cultural heritage remained unchanged. An interpretation of the findings was that perhaps, on one hand, while the environment and cultural difference initiated various forms of difficulties, on the other hand, participants are trying to reset their personal limits. Most likely, their desire to introduce their Chinese students to a different style of learning convinced them to hold on to personal beliefs about effective teaching and learning, hoping to pass this on to a new generation of Chinese. My research, however, focused on only very small proportion of foreign teachers in China. Further research should be pursued with an expanded focus, to find the potential of the implementation of cultural awareness programmes and support groups for foreigner.

The internationalisation of higher education in the past decade has brought about dramatic changes in the profiles of staff and students in UK universities. The number of international students are estimated to rise to 7 million by 2020 by the OECD (2011) at all levels of education in many parts of the world and particularly in English speaking countries (Davies, 2003; Jackson, 2010). Also, one in four academics had a non-UK nationality in 2010-11 according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE, 2012: 4) apart from the linguistically and culturally diverse, latecomer UK-domiciled academics. In such an atmosphere, there is an increasing trend in research on international students and teachers who are speakers of English as an additional language (EAL) especially in TESOL. Nevertheless, there are few studies into the experiences of the academic staff as speakers of EAL who are working at a UK university. Therefore, this research examined the linguistic, professional and intercultural experiences of ‘international’ academics from different disciplines in the internationalising contexts of higher education in the UK. Fifteen academics who are speakers of EAL at an intercultural UK university were interviewed with a semi-structured format. The participants shared their stories and experiences of the phenomenon “being an ‘international’ academic/lecturer”, which contributed to the development of a deeper understanding of the experiences and challenges they underwent in terms of language, academia and interculturality. The participants shared their language-related experiences and attitudes towards the “(non)native-like” language use as bi-/multi-lingual speakers, the challenges of teaching and researching at an internationalising university and their accounts of experience of interculturality and approaches to (non-)essentialist cultural descriptions as “international” academics.

Magistro darbo tikslas – grįžtamosios migracijos procese, kylančių tapatybės ir susvetimėjimo problemų identifikavimas, taikant pedagoginės hermeneutikos analizės metodą. Pagrindinis tyrimo metodas – pusiau struktūruotas interviu. Darbe konceptualizuojamas grįžtamosios migracijos reiškinys. Atskleidžiama šio reiškinio pokyčio analizė nuo ekonominės, patriotinės sąvokos iki globalios tarpkultūrinės patirties sampratos traktavimo. Kadangi grįžtamoji migracija šiandienos kontekste apima ir vaikų grįžimą į tėvynę, svarbus faktorius tampa grįžtamųjų mokinių edukacinis procesas. Grįžtamosios migracijos pedagoginiame procese ypatingas dėmesys tenka subjektui, gebančiam adaptuoti ir interpretuoti užsienio šalies patirtį savo šalies ugdymo sistemoje. Edukacinės patirties perkeliamumas ir gebėjimas ją interpretuoti yra siejamas su pedagogine hermeneutika. Remiantis užsienio ir Lietuvos autoriais, analizuojama pedagoginė hermeneutika ir jos santykis su grįžtamąja migracija. Tyrimas patvirtina darbo autorių iškeltą hipotezę, kad re-emigrantų mokinių integraciją į Lietuvos edukacinę sistemą, sąlygoja skirtingas mokymo(si) ir kultūrinių skirtumų supratimas. / The aim of this paper is to identify the problems of alienation and identification, influenced by return migration, using the pedagogical hermeneutics analysis method. The instrument of the research – open interview questionnaire created by the authors. By analyzing the foreign and local academic literature, was conceptualized the phenomena of return migration. Was explored the transformation of notion of the return migration from understanding it as economical, patriotic idea to the concept of global intercultural experience treatment. Since the return migration of today's context includes the child's return to the homeland, the important factor is becoming pupils’ educational process. In the pedagogical process of the return migration particular attention goes to the subject enable to adapt and interpret the foreign country’s experiences in the homeland educational system. Educational experience transferability and the ability to interpret is related with pedagogical hermeneutics. The research confirmed the hypothesis that the integration of re-emigrated pupils in Lithuanian education system is determined by the different educational systems and cultural diversity.

Avec une mondialisation omniprésente, les études sur l’aspect interculturel des organisations deviennent de plus en plus d’actualité et fascinent les chercheurs comme les praticiens. Notre étude suit donc cette voie et porte sur la construction du sens de l’expérience interculturelle au sein d’une entreprise multinationale. Nous avons cherché à comprendre, d’un point de vue interprétatif, comment les acteurs construisent le sens des caractères multinationaux et interculturels de l’entreprise, à travers leurs expériences au sein d’une multinationale québécoise. La recherche existante discute les aspects culturels et communicatifs tels que le contexte, la langue et le flux de message, identifiés par E.T. Hall (Hall, 1976, 1990) comme centraux dans la problématique générale de la communication interculturelle. Nous avons cependant abordé ces mêmes aspects depuis la perspective de la théorie du sensemaking (Weick, 1995) en nous centrant sur les points de vue des acteurs et de leurs expériences. Sur la base d’entrevues en profondeur, la recherche montre que, bien qu’il soit fortement valorisé par tous les interviewés, l’aspect interculturel n’a pas été profondément intégré dans les pratiques communicatives de tous les jours, comme nous aurions pu le croire. Néanmoins, cet aspect exerce une influence réelle et considérable pour certains employés, comme les gestionnaires des ressources humaines et des relations publiques, due essentiellement à la nature même de leurs fonctions. Les résultats suggèrent également que l’aspect interculturel est vécu de manière fort différente selon l’identité qui est attachée à l’organisation. Cette dernière est en effet parfois considérée comme (1) une organisation « locale », c’est-à-dire en référence à son origine québécoise, comme (2) une organisation multinationale, en référence aux interactions entre les parties de l’organisation dispersées dans le monde entier, et enfin (3) comme une firme étrangère du point de vue des acteurs des pays hôtes. Dans les trois cas les enjeux interculturels pour les acteurs varient considérablement tout comme, en conséquence, le sens qui est accordé à cet aspect de l’organisation. Mots-clés : Expérience interculturelle, organisation multinationale, théorie du sensemaking, communication interculturelle. / As globalization expands, the intercultural dimensions of organizations and organizational communication draw more and more scholars and practitioners’ attention. Along these lines, this study describes how managers of a multinational organization make sense of their intercultural experiences in everyday work life and their views on the intercultural aspect of the company, using an interpretive perspective. Current research identifies a number of themes as central to intercultural communication: context, message flux and language (Hall, 1976, 1990). This study revisits these constructs from the standpoint of the theory of sensemaking developed by Karl E. Weick (1995), on the basis of which managers’ accounts of their daily experiences of intercultural communication are examined. From interview data, the study shows how the issue of interculturality, although regarded as important and as a valuable asset of the organization, is not consequential for the daily communication practices of most managers in the case under study. It is however quite influential for HR and PR management because of the very nature of their activities. Results also suggest that the intercultural dimension of a multinational organization is experienced in slightly different ways depending on the framing of the organization’s identity. From the standpoint of its region or country of origin, the organization is framed as “local” and domestic. From the perspective of its many relations with its divisions around the world, the organization’s identity tends to be framed as “multinational” and, finally, from the standpoint of the host country, the organization’s identity is framed as “foreign”. These framings are consequential for the definitions and meanings of intercultural communication managers make out of the intercultural dimension of the organization. Keywords: intercultural experiences, intercultural communication, sensemaking, multinational organization.

No description available.

Ma double culture d’aménagement (franco-allemande) et le travail pour la mise en place d’un dispositif encourageant l’urbanisme durable, l’innovation et l’excellence environnementale pour les élus bretons, avaient fait de mon questionnement personnel de longue date un sujet d’actualité: Peut-on transposer des méthodes et des expériences extraterritoriales d’une culture à une autre pour dynamiser et faire évoluer la qualité des projets et les approches des acteurs locaux ? La réponse à ce questionnement, déterminant pour ma propre pratique professionnelle, n’existe pasdans la littérature en 2005. Partant de la Région Bretagne, à première vue, le choix du Land de la Saxe s’imposait pour la comparaison à cause d’un jumelage datant de 1995. Après enquête, il s’avère que peu d’actions et projets concrets se sont développés. Cela n’est peut-être pas étonnant compte tenu des caractéristiques territoriales très différentes de la Bretagne et la Saxe (passé très industriel, peu d’agriculture, pas de littoral, de nombreuses grandes villes). En conséquence, le Land du Mecklenburg-Vorpommern avec son littoral étendu, ses nombreuses îles, son économie qui separtage entre l’agriculture et le tourisme, semblait plus intéressant pour la comparaison (et pour un partenariat futur, si mes recherches montreraient l’intérêt réel d’une collaboration autour de l’urbanisme durable). Je suis convaincue de la pertinence de l’échelon régional européen (la « Région » en France et le « Land » en Allemagne) pour initier des politiques publiques et stratégies d’aménagement cohérentes sans perdre le lien avec l’identité territoriale mobilisateur. Un état des lieux des potentialités et freins aux transferts d’expériences introduit ma thèse. Un zoom sur les politiques régionales encadrant les dispositifs novateurs dédiés spécifiquement à l’urbanisme durable et la prospective paysagère (Eco-FAUR et Städtebau- und Dorferneuerungsprogramm) permet de situer ces derniers dans leur contexte. La comparaison de 16 projets exemplaires et récents en Bretagne et en Mecklenburg-Vorpommern m’a permis d’analyser en détail les approches, les méthodes, l’intervention des acteurs, les points forts et faibles des projets. Le face-à-face de ces exemples locaux se structure autour de 8 sujets, actuellement dans les discussions des experts européens de l’urbanisme durable et de la prospective paysagère : la revitalisation des coeurs de villes, le renouvellement urbain, les paysages urbains, le grand paysage et la ville, la nouvelle dynamique rurale, l’urbanisme littoral, le tourisme vert et les extensions urbaines sous forme d’éco-lotissements. Mon analyse et les échanges avec plus de 250 acteurs m’ont amenée d’émettre des conclusions positives (sous conditions) concernant les potentialités d’une coopération renforcée dans les domaines analysés entre deux régions européennes non voisines. Ma thèse de doctorat conclut avec des recommandations pour l’amélioration d’efficience des échanges, car l’intérêt pour des projets innovants, concrets et autour d’un groupe d’acteurs restreint et motivé, s’annonce prometteur / My urban planning dual culture (German and French), the works to implement of a device for encouraging the sustainable urban design, the innovation and the environmental excellence for the Brittany elected representatives, had been my personal questioning a long standing concern: Can we transpose extraterritorial experiences from one culture to another and methods to boost and develop the quality of the projects and the approaches of local actors? The answer to this question, determinant for my own professional practice and my standing concern, does not exist in the literature in 2005. Starting from the Brittany region, at first glance, the choice of the Saxony Land was required for comparison resulting of a twinning since 1995. After investigation, it turns out that only few concrete projects and actions were developed. This is, perhaps, not surprising given the very different territorial characteristics from Britain and Saxony (very industrial past, little agriculture, no coastline, many large cities).. Accordingly, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Land with its extensive coastline, its many islands, its economy which is shared between agriculture and tourism, seemed more interesting to compare (and for a future partnership, if my research would showed the real interest of collaboration on sustainable urban design). I am convinced of the relevance of the European regional level (the "region" in France and the "Land" in Germany) to introduce public policies and consistent urban planning strategies without losing the link with the mobilizing territorial identity.A State of art of the potential and limits of the transfer experiences introduced my thesis. A focus on the regional policies give a framework for the innovative devices specifically dedicated to the sustainable urban design and the prospective landscape (Eco-FAUR and Städtebau-und Dorferneuerungsprogramm) to place them in context. Comparison of 16 best and recent projects in Brittany and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern allowed me to analyze in detail the approaches, methods, the intervention of the actors, the best and weak points of the projects. The face to face of these local examples give a framework on 8 topics currently in the discussions of the prospective and sustainable urban landscape Europeanexperts: the revitalization of the cities centers, the urban renewal, the urban landscapes, the great landscape and the city, the new rural dynamic, urban coastal planning, green tourism and urban eco-subdivisions as extensions. My analysis and exchanges with more than 250 actors led me some positive issues (under conditions) concerning the potential of enhanced cooperation between two non-adjacent European areas. My PhD thesis concludes with recommendations for the improvement of trade efficiency, because the interest for the innovative and concrete projects, and around a limited motivated actors group looks promising / Meine doppelte deutsch-französische Raumplanungskultur und meine Arbeit für Politiker der Bretagne (Aufbau eines Förderprogrammes für nachhaltigen Städtebau, Innovation und hohe Umweltverträglichkeit) machen aus meiner langjährigen persönlichen Fragestellung ein Thema der Aktualität: Kann man Erfahrungen, die auf einer anderen, außerterritorialen Planungskultur aufbauen transferieren, um die Qualität der Projekte und die Herangehensweise der Akteure vor Ort zu „dynamisieren“, zu verbessern ? Die Antwort auf diese Frage existierte im Jahr 2005 nicht in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur. Von der Bretagne ausgehend bot sich eigentlich Sachsen zum Vergleich an, da eine offizielleRegionalpartnerschaft seit 1995 besteht. Bei den Voruntersuchungen stellte sich aber heraus, dass sich sehr wenige Aktionen und konkrete Projekte entwickelt haben. Das ist vielleicht nicht verwunderlich wenn man sich die sehr unterschiedlichen territorialen Charakteristiken der Bretagne und Sachsens (Industriestandort, wenig Landwirtschaft, keine Küste und viele große Städte) vor Augen führt. So schien mir der Vergleich mit Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (ausgedehnte Küste mit Inseln, eine auf Landwirtschaft und Tourismus basierende Wirtschaftsstrukture) viel versprechender, vor allem wenn meine Forschungen ein reelles Interesse für eine Zusammenarbeit im Gebiet des Nachhaltigen Stadtbaus und der Landschaftsentwicklungsplanung aufzeigen sollten. Ich bin überzeugt, dass es der regionale Ansatz (die Region in Frankreich und das Land in Deutschland) ist, der im europäischen Rahmen kohärente Lösungen für lokale Entwicklungsstrategien hervorbringt, weil ein genügend großes Territorium mit der mobilisierenden Identität der Akteure verbunden werden kann. Eine Bestandsanalyse der positiven und negativen Faktoren für einen Erfahrungstransfer führtmeine Dissertation ein. Eine Fokussierung auf die Rahmenbedingungen (globale Regionalpolitik) ermöglicht, die beiden auf nachhaltigen Städtebau- und Landschaftsentwicklungsplanung spezialisierten Programme (Eco-FAUR und Städtebau- und Dorferneuerungsprogramm) einzuordnen. Der Vergleich von 16 innovativen und aktuellen Projekten der Bretagne und Mecklenburg- Vorpommerns gab mir die Möglichkeit, im Detail die Herangehensweisen, Methoden, Beteiligung derAkteure sowie die Stärken und Schwachpunkte der Projekte aufzuzeigen. Die Gegenüberstellung bedient sich 8, die aktuelle Fachdebatte der europäischen Experten in Städtebau und ländlicher Entwicklung anregende, Themen: Innenstadtrevitalisierung, Stadtumbau, Stadtlandschaft, Landschaftsplanung und Stadt, Dynamik des ländlichen Raumes, Küstenbebauung, Ökotourismus, Ökoquartiere. Meine Analyse und der Austausch mit über 250 Akteuren erlauben mir einen optimistische Einschätzung (unter entsprechenden Rahmenbedingungen) der Möglichkeiten der Intensivierungder Zusammenarbeit in den analysierten Gebieten und zwischen nichtbenachbarten europäischen Regionen. Meine Dissertation schließt mit Vorschlägen zur Verbesserung des Erfahrungsaustausches ab, da die Zusammenarbeit von motivierten, kleinen Gruppen von Akteuren mit konkreten, innovativen Projekten, vielversprechend erscheint