Improving Emirati students’ social responsibility competence through global citizenship education

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is twofold: to determine if implementing a global citizenship education curriculum can aid the development of Emirati students’ social responsibility competence and to experiment with different instructional strategies that aim to yield improvement in the social responsibility of students. Design/methodology/approach The intervention research study used a mixed-methods quasi-experimental approach to examine Emirati students’ social responsibility gains and overall perceptions of a global citizenship education curriculum. Conceptual frameworks for instructional design of service-learning were used as theoretical underpinnings. The data were collected from student reflections, field notes, questionnaires and interviews. Findings Both the quantitative and qualitative data indicated that the global citizenship curriculum advanced students' understanding of social responsibility and civic concepts, specifically civic awareness, social justice and diversity. Research limitations/implications For future studies, researchers are encouraged to expand the current study's five-week timeframe by exploring the implications of a global citizenship education curriculum over a full term or even a whole academic year. Practical implications The results of the present study indicate that educators should experiment with curriculum redesign to further facilitate the development of social responsibility in undergraduate students. The results also suggest that educators incorporate specific instructional strategies such as integrated reflections and intergroup dialogue on social issues. Originality/value Social responsibility and global citizenship education have broadly been based on Western paradigms. Few studies have explored the impact of global citizenship education on the development of students' social responsibility in the Gulf region. This study fills the gap in knowledge by lending evidence of the role of global citizenship education in undergraduate university programs in the Gulf.

Teachers’ Degree of Practicing Social Responsibility at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia

“…In contrast, the statement with the lowest mean score was implementing training courses for students with low achievement in the education process and implementing training courses for students with low achievement in the educational process. This is contrary to the results by Wren (2021), who found that a "global citizenship education curriculum" helped the Emirati students to become more responsible for their communities. The study shows that a citizenship curriculum should be a part of community service courses for undergraduates by clearly linking classroom projects to current social challenges and fostering student conversation and reflection.…”

“…It also says that other groups, such as parents, should be included. Wren (2021) found that the intervention study used a "global citizenship education curriculum" to help Emirati students become more responsible for their communities. There are strong indications that the civic attitudes and skills questionnaire (CASQ) can be used in the United Arab Emirates.…”

Speaking Interculturally in the Era of Global Englishes: Voices from Indonesian English Language Teacher Educators

“…Kramsch (2011) believes that along with the information, attitudes, and skills listed above, intercultural speakers should also possess linguistic and pragmatic competence, meaning they should be able to use language forms correctly and effectively. In addition, Byram and Fleming (1998;2021) suggested an intercultural speaker as "someone who knows of one or, preferably, more cultures and social identities and can discover and relate to new people from other contexts for which they have not been indirectly prepared." In actuality, the intercultural speaker can employ interpretation and relational abilities by using their cultural knowledge to analyze and contextualize texts from the target culture.…”

“…surrounding the language they speak are known as intercultural speakers.Byram and Fleming (1998;2021) defined intercultural speakers refers to the practice of facilitating understanding and engagement between individuals from different national and cultural origins through language use. Understand the nuances of cultural communication styles, customs, values, and norms.…”

“…The speakers among people in different cultures or nations use a language (respondent 2). Intercultural communication is the process of using language to foster understanding and interaction between people from various national and cultural backgrounds.Intercultural speakers comprises the attitudes, abilities, and knowledge necessary to interact appropriately with people from different cultural backgrounds in one's own language(Jackson, 2014;2021). In a globalized world where English is a lingua franca, intercultural speakers facilitate communication between individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.…”