A Systematic Review of Engineering Students in Intercultural Teamwork: Characteristics, Challenges, and Coping Strategies

Abstract

In response to the challenges posed by globalization and internationalization, engineering education programs are increasingly focused on knowledge, technologies, and competence that meet global needs. Against this backdrop, higher engineering students are often encouraged to collaborate in teams with others from diverse, cultural, and disciplinary backgrounds, for the purpose of preparing them to accommodate change and innovation across international working contexts. Within a growing number of intercultural systematic and meta-analysis reviews in engineering education, little attention has been paid to intercultural team characteristics, and even less has been given to the challenges of intercultural teamwork and the relevant coping strategies. Using a systematic approach, this paper reviewed 77 journal articles to identify the intercultural team characteristics of engineering students based on team formats, level of collaboration, learning goals, evaluation methods, and learning gains. Through the process of intercultural collaboration, several challenges and corresponding coping strategies were reported at the individual, relational, and contextual levels. Recommendations for future practice for engineering educators and programs faculties, and future research directions for engineering educational researchers, are proposed in order to support engineering students’ intercultural team learning.

Teamwork Made in China: Soft Skill Development with a Side of Friendship in the STEM Classroom

“…While this is not surprising, it is outweighed by the benefits. Other studies have also found these advantages and drawbacks in teamwork [80][81][82].…”

Immersive Team-Based Learning in Transnational Virtual Classrooms

“…Students who carry out learning activities in transnational teams, therefore characterized by cultural diversity, have developed independent learning, communication, collaboration, and adaptation skills; they have registered an increase in the level of motivation for learning and a decrease in prejudices and stereotypes; and they have developed creativity, responsibility, and critical thinking (Poort et al, 2022;Jiang et al, 2023). Beaudry & Toth Szalvai (2018) highlighted the fact that one of the benefits of working in transnational teams is, besides the implicit one, the contact and exposure to cultural differences, a better knowledge of one's own culture, but also the students' reflection on the implications that cultural diversity affects teamwork and the acquisition of the necessary skills to manage this cultural diversity.…”

“…Beaudry & Toth Szalvai (2018) highlighted the fact that one of the benefits of working in transnational teams is, besides the implicit one, the contact and exposure to cultural differences, a better knowledge of one's own culture, but also the students' reflection on the implications that cultural diversity affects teamwork and the acquisition of the necessary skills to manage this cultural diversity. Jiang et al (2023) included the following benefits of working in transnational teams: professional development through the sharing of ideas and the identification of alternative solutions to various problems; respect and acceptance of cultural differences; and advancement on an emotional level in terms of curiosity, empathy, tolerance, and managing uncertainty. The cultural diversity of transnational teams is therefore a key element of their collaboration and functioning (Urionabarrenetxea et al, 2021), with a directly proportional relationship between team diversity and teammates' commitment (Poort et al, 2022).…”

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“…Fernández-Morante et al (2022) explored how the STEM active learning approach and project-based learning influence secondary school students' perception of basic learning competencies [73]. Jiang et al (2023) identified intercultural team characteristics of engineering students based on team formats, collaboration levels, learning goals, evaluation methods, and learning gains [74]. Asghar et al (2019) studied secondary students' creative alternative ideas about engineering design technology and technological systems [75].…”