Exploring College Students' Intercultural Competence Following a ＂Study Away from Home＂ Program

移地學習對提升大學生的跨文化能力之探討

蔡佳靜(Chia-Ching Karen Tsai)

《Hwa Kang English Journal》 26卷 (2021/07) Pp. 29-53

https://doi.org/10.3966/221880882021072601002

摘要

With the development of globalization, people in all parts of the world have more opportunities than ever before to connect with each other for a variety of purposes. Given that English is a lingua franca in the world, many researchers have emphasized the importance of enlarging students' intercultural competence in the process of second language acquisition (Hall, 2002; Stahl, 2003; Arabski, & Wojtaszek, 2011). Thus, the researcher examined students' intercultural competence (IC) through experiential learning in this study. Thirty-five students in the ＂Study Away from Home＂ program participated in the study in the spring semester of 2020. Intercultural Competence Scale (ICS) was administered to explore students' intercultural competence before and after the program. In addition, a semi-structured interview was applied in the end of the program to probe the correlation with the quantitative results. The results showed that, except for affective orientation to intercultural interaction, there were significant differences in the knowledge of intercultural interaction, self-efficacy in intercultural situations, behavioral performance in intercultural interactions, and the display of intercultural consciousness. Specifically, students' self-efficacy decreased because of the tension and conflict happening in intercultural contexts. This investigation suggests that, apart from teaching customs or traditions of different cultures, language teachers should also teach the values behind the cultures, which should be experienced and practiced by students as well.

關鍵字

Intercultural competence (IC) ； Experiential learning ； Lingua franca ； English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

並列摘要

因應全球化的發展，使得全世界各地的人們為了各種的需求而有更多接觸的機會。也因如此，英文成為了國際通用語，而很多的研究學者針對第二語言習得的過程中，致力於如何增加學生的跨文化溝通能力（Hall, 2002; Stahl, 2003; Arabski, & Wojtaszek, 2011）。本研究主要是在探索經由體驗學習後，是否能提升學生的跨文化能力。35位在2020年的下學期選修移地學習的學生參與本次研究。學生要在課程前後接受大學英語學習者跨文化能力量表（Intercultural Competence Scale, ICS）的施測。此外，半結構式的訪談也予以採用，以期得知是否與本研究中的量化資料有所相關。結果顯示，在ICS量表的五個因素中，除了跨文化互動情意傾向的能力沒有顯著差異外，跨文化溝通相關知識、跨文化互動時的自我升任感、跨文化溝通行為表現能力、以及跨文化敏覺感的呈現這四項能力都有顯著差異。其中，跨文化互動時的自我勝任感卻是呈現減低的趨勢。這項研究提出了語言教師除了教學生不同的傳統習俗外，也要教授並讓學生有機會體驗在這些習俗背後的文化意義與價值。

並列關鍵字

跨文化能力 ； 體驗學習 ； 通用語 ； 外語教學

參考文獻

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