Intercultural Teaching Competence in the Disciplines

Abstract

As universities continue to internationalize their curricula and recruit a growing number of international students, instructors facilitate learning in increasingly diverse classrooms. This chapter explores the application of Intercultural Teaching Competence (ITC) by faculty members across the disciplines at a large Canadian research university. Based on focus group interviews with instructors in eighteen disciplines, it provides varied and concrete examples of how instructors mobilize intercultural teaching competence to navigate diverse classrooms, promote perspective-taking and global learning goals among students, practice culturally relevant teaching, and validate different ways of knowing and communicating among students through assessment practices. Placing disciplines at the centre of the discussion in this way elucidates the extent to which ITC may be adapted to fit the contours of the academic field and allows readers to explore best practices for facilitating the development of intercultural competence among students in their disciplines. Finally, the implications of disciplinary differences in ITC are discussed for faculty development and curriculum support.

Transformative Pathways: Implementing Intercultural Competence Development in Higher Education Using Kotter’s Change Model

“…Faculty and staff play a pivotal role in achieving this goal by modeling intercultural competence and fostering inclusive learning environments. Research has shown that ICL-trained faculty and staff can significantly impact students' educational experiences and outcomes [4].…”

Analysis of Lecturers’ and Students’ Needs Toward Intercultural Learning Material for Drama Subject

“…Teaching drama is essential for improving language communication [6]. Because drama is a resource in the foreign language classroom in promoting intercultural competence and developing an awareness of interpersonal dimension and drama also offers the foreign culture as well as conflict situations and emotions seldom encountered in textbook dialogues and materials, thus opening up to the students a world which is often denied to them in the foreign language classroom [7,8,10]. Furthermore, Drama subject is a media to develop students' awareness about their own culture and other cultures.…”