Cultivating Multicultural Competence Through Active Participation:

Abstract

This study examined the relevance of higher education institutions' existing student activity programming and its effectiveness in promoting students' multicultural learning. Employing path analysis, this study explored the level of undergraduates' participation in selected college organizations and activities and its linkage to multicultural competence development. Findings show significant positive effect of extracurricular activities on multicultural learning. This study taps into a timely topic and has important implications for institutions' day-to-day policy and practice in sustaining a continued commitment to multiculturalism.Over the past 2 decades, a growing number of studies have demonstrated that a multicultural environment on campus has positive Brought to you by | Nanyang Technological University Authenticated Download Date | 6/8/15 4:58 AM

Intercultural Comfort through Social Practices: Exploring Conditions for Cultural Learning

“…First, institutions are striving to improve student life by promoting student self-formation of groups around extracurricular interests (Cheng and Zhao, 2006). Second, many institutions are promoting service learning, creating the possibility, as in this study, for students to associate long term around their service activities (Eyler, 2000).…”

“…These findings indicate that students' intercultural learning and personal development are enabled by opportunities for intercultural interactions that are informal, positive, and meaningful. Particular informal settings have shown promise in overcoming distancing forces between differing groups, including cross-ethnic living arrangements (Shook and Fazio, 2008;Stearns et al, 2009;McCabe, 2011) and co-curricular activities (Cheng and Zhao, 2006), while others, such as participation in religious organizations or ethnic/ cultural clubs (Stearns et al, 2009), have not. A plausible conclusion is that positive effects of outside-of-class activities are contingent on the social conditions (Allport, 1954) and practices found in those activities or on particular campuses.…”

Extracurricular Activities at Modern Russian University: Student and Faculty Views

“…At present, serious qualitative and quantitative research has been carried out, and a positive connection between the level of academic achievement and the involvement of the student in extracurricular activities has been concluded (Bakoban & Aljarallah, 2015;Zacherman & Foubert, 2014;Strapp & Farr, 2010). The influence of extracurricular activities on the ability to find employment and professional adaptability (extracurricular short-and long-term effects on employability) is analyzed in Clark et al, 2015. A number of Russian and foreign publications discuss the role of extracurricular activities in the process of multi-cultural education, the development of the ability to intercultural interaction in future specialists, and tolerant perception of social and cultural differences (Cheng & Zhao, 2006;Musaev, 2014;Logvinova, 2016). Thus, David Cheng and Chun Mei Zhao show the remarkable positive effect of extracurricular activities on multi-cultural learning (Cheng & Zhao, 2006).…”

“…The influence of extracurricular activities on the ability to find employment and professional adaptability (extracurricular short-and long-term effects on employability) is analyzed in Clark et al, 2015. A number of Russian and foreign publications discuss the role of extracurricular activities in the process of multi-cultural education, the development of the ability to intercultural interaction in future specialists, and tolerant perception of social and cultural differences (Cheng & Zhao, 2006;Musaev, 2014;Logvinova, 2016). Thus, David Cheng and Chun Mei Zhao show the remarkable positive effect of extracurricular activities on multi-cultural learning (Cheng & Zhao, 2006). Nevertheless, in scientific literature, insufficient attention is paid to the attitudes of modern students toward extracurricular activities, their expectations; and the problem of faculty readiness to participate in the organization of extracurricular activities at a university is practically not discussed.…”

Service participation as a predictor of multicultural competency in college graduates: A comparative study of sectarian and nonsectarian institutions

“…Other researchers have attempted to ascertain multicultural learning or education through qualitative studies (Astin et al, 2000 ) or have developed various forms of other measurements to determine the impact of service participation on college students (Bringle et al 2004). The study most similar to the present study is a study conducted by Cheng and Zhao (2006) focusing on the impact of student involvement in student activities and multicultural competency development using a web-based survey they developed. To date, this researcher has yet to find a quantitative study that used CIRP data to study college student multicultural competency development.…”