paper_Green IT

Introduction

Multicultural collaboration between higher education has been gradually intensified in recent years spurred by the awareness that first-hand experience with other linguacultures is an essential ingredient in academic careers. With this in mind, internationalisation has become top priority on the higher education agenda all over the world.

In addition, contemporary intercultural literature has identified that a multidisciplinary and cross-national teaching approach is an effective means of enhancing learning and teaching conditions in an increasingly mobile and cultural hybrid context (Korhonen, 2010; Virkama, 2010). In other words, teaching across professional, lingua-cultural and ethnical bounderies represents added value for both academic staff and students.

This is where Erasmus Intensive Programmes (IP) come into play. Not only are they intended to encourage effective teaching of specialist knowledge on a multinational level, but, more importantly, they aim at cross-cultural exchanges, be it with regards to teaching or learning methods, curricula approaches or test runs for domestic courses held in international classrooms.

Definition of Key Concepts and Literature Review

1. Erasmus Intensive Programme
   bitte ergänzen, findet alle Infos auf http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus/ip_en.htm (HM)
    
2. Cross-border Partnerships in Higher Education
   Higher education policies within Europe are currently reflected by some key trends such as the promotion of academization, increased flexibility and strengthened efforts with regards to standardisation and internationalisation. A driving force for internationalisation initiatives is the added value in terms of knowledge and language acquisition and curriculum enhancement resulting from cross-border collaborative arrangements. However, the effectivness of cross-cultural academic communities depends on a number of contextual preconditions and "the academic apprenticeship" (Weil et al, 2010: 207) as a training ground for both students and tutors in intercultural environments has only just begun. Unsurprisingly, a great deal of EU projects is premised on the assumption that cross-border cooperations are a particularly fruitful way of sharing knowledge encouraged by the scope of mutual learning especially when cultures are embedded in a range of different disciplinary communities.
    
3. European Programme for Sustainable ICT in Academic Education
   bitte ergänzen, da seit ihr wieder gefragt (HM)
   
    
4. Intercultural Sensitivity in Higher Education Exchanges
   Given that the majority of professionals in organizational and academic frameworks engage in functional groups that share a common understanding of key concepts, expertise and educational goals, a multidisciplinary cross-border collaboration represents per se a major challenge for the stakeholders. The risk of being caught up in one`s own ethnical identity, tacit assumptions and recurrent practices might have negative impact on the willingness to develop intercultural awareness .This is all the more relevant as certain patterns of behaviour affect functional cultures leading to the assumption that similar work ethics result in more productive outcomes. In other words, similar occupational fields require approaches that do not differ substantially. In a similar vein, Duarte et al (2006:65) identified software developers as a functional culture that prefers to lay out plans in a rational fashion. They seem to have a hoizontal process orientation and tend to work versus a vertial orientation within functions.
   
   In the context of the study it is interesting to know that the six academic institutions taking part in the Intensive Programme (IP) come from.... (HM)
    
5. English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in Intercultural Encounters
   Over the past years intercultural learning on short-term sojourns has attracted particular research interest (Chieffo and Griffiths, 2003; Spencer and Tuma, 2008; Jackson, J. 2009). It is generally assumed that residence in the host culture automatically spurs increase of L2 proficiency and, as a result, intercultural sensitivity. "Language learning as a hallmark of cross-cultural competence" (Lynch, 2004: 49) is considered to be a key parameter for global awareness given that every culture is reflected in its language. Yet, most short-term sojourners no longer invest time in learning the local code but instead use their linguistic repertoire of the language spoken by the biggest non-native community,  namely English as a Lingua Franca. (ELF). ELF users engage in communities of practices where they develop norms of their own, no longer founded on the socio-linguistic repertoires of native English-speakers but aimed at effective negotiations of meaning for mutual understanding in a highly situated context.
   
   For this reason, the use of ELF has been identified as a key factor for intercultural communication given that  "ELF is a language for communication rather than a language for identification" (House, 2003:559) intended to encourage international encounters in various global settings. In a similar vein, Seidlhofer (2004:220) coined the term "unilateral idiomaticity" to demonstrate how native speakers of English might fail in engaging in effective intercultural communication when relying too much on English as their L1. Furthermore, she pointed out that the idiomatic language used by natives is often perceived as counter-productive in intercultural encounters whereas ELF speakers frequently make use of a shared linguistic repertoire despite their specific locality. ELF as the most effective means of communciation among L2 speakers should therefore "focus on mutual support and understanding for the diversity in linguistic and cultural backgrounds, instead of on expectations of exonormative correctness" (Smit, 2010:63).
    
6. Global Awareness
   Cross-border educational endeavours are not only intended to engage in internationally-minded activities, but they should also have beneficial effects for the global awareness of the stakeholders by fostering the intercultural dimension of internationalisation. Global competence is associated with concepts such as critical thinking, cultural intelligence, multicultural sensitivity, civic virtue, critical acculturation and political sensitivity. Globally aware citizens can draw on a knowlege base that enables them to act in an informed manner and to engage in multilingual intergroup communications. Given that global issues are affected by interrelationships between past, present and future, it is vital that young people "think more critically and creatively about the future, especially in relation to creating more just and sustainable futures" (Hicks, 2003:269).
   The conceptual considerations made by Chieffo and Griffiths (2003:167) serve as a basis for the present study where the perceived interest in global sustainability within an academic setting will be investigated. By identifying four categories worth exploring in more detail, namely intercultural awareness, personal growth and development, awareness of global interdependance and functional knowledge of world geography and language, Chieffo and Griffiths encompassed their concept of global awareness. Intercultural awareness relates to the "cognitive aspect of intercultural communication competence that refers to the understanding of cultural conventions that effect how we think and behave (Chen, 2010). Questions about personal growth and development attempt to capture openess towards new experience and relate to mature attitudes and actions. Awareness of global interdependance addresses the issue of globalisation and involves interconnectedness on a variety of levels, be it nationally, internationally or transdisciplinary.  What needs to be well understood is that each academic discipline adopts its particular frame of reference and is characterised by its own body of concepts in the same way as specific ethnic cultures hold certain values. Finally, the category of functional knowledge deal with skills relevant to international encounters in general, and more particularly, to the specific host cultures.
   
   Whereas the advantages of short-term sojourns seem to outweigh detriment effects by far, some researchers still shed a criticial light on cross-border encounters suggesting that inadequate preparation might further entrench negative stereotypes of their host cultures (Allen, Dristas and Mills, 2007; Bateman, 2002).
    

Setting (WK)

Research Design

This paper was conducted as an exploratory study to gain some insight into the development of intercultural sensitivity and the perceptions of both academic staff and domestic students with respect to challenges, benefits and experiences of cross-border higher education collaborations. The question was explored to what extent the individually-mobile participants of this Intensive Programme acquired an increased level of global awareness.

With this small-scale qualitative research the authors seek to identify key parameters relevant for the success of such short programmes of study. The main form of data collection comprised semi-structured interviews with academic staff that participated in the Erasmus intensive programme. However, to explore the factors that are decisive for an effective multicultural exchange, the sample was extended to domestic students who reflected on their experiences gained from this international setting. This approach was adopted to gain both rich and varied insights into the phenomenon under investigation.

Each interviewee provided information regarding their perceived development of intercultural sensitivity and their understanding of how cross-border and multidisciplinary teams might lead to more effective and more sustainable solutions.

Adopting a semi-structured questionnaire with a set of pre-prepared guiding questions allowed a high degree of flexibility which enabled the authors to elaborate on elements that remained unclear or required further explanations. The interview guide was piloted in advance to ensure that the field of research was properly covered. Each qualitative interview lasted about 40 minutes and was recorded. The interviews were conducted in a format that allowed sound reflection of real-life situations in line with a discovery-oriented character.

Findings (MG + Interviews)

Conclusions (MG, HM liest drüber)

References

Allen, H.W.; Dristas, V. & Mills, N. (2007). Cultural learning outcomes and summer study abroad, in: Mantero, M. (Ed) Identity and Second Language Learning: Culture, Inquiry and Dialogic Activity in Educational Contexts. Charlotte, N.C. USA: Information Age Publishing, pp 189-215.

Bateman, B.A. (2002). Promoting openess towards culture learning: Ethnographic interviews for students in Spanish. The Modern Language Journal. Vol. 86, pp 318-331.

Chen, G. (2010). A study of intercultural communication competence. Hong Kong: China Review Academic Publishers Limited.

Chieffo, L. & Griffiths, L. (2003). What`s a month worth? Student perception of what they learned abroad. International Educator, pp 26-31.

Duarte, D. & Snyder, N. (2006). Mastering Virtual Teams. Strategies, tool and techniques that succeed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York.

Hicks, D. (2003). Thirty years of global education: a reminder of key principles and precedents. Educational Review, 55(3), pp 265-275.

House, J. (2003). English as a lingua franca. A threat to multilingualism. Journal of Sociolinguistics 7/4, pp 556-578.

Jackson, J. (2009). Intercultural Learning on Short-term Sojourns. Intercultural Education. Vol. 20, no. sup1, pp S59-S71.

Korhonen, V. (2010). Cross-cultural Lifelong Learning, Tampere: Tampere University Press.

Lynch, E.W. & Hanson, M.J. (2004). Developing Cross-Cultural Competence. A Guide for Working with Children and their Families. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pubishing, pp 41-75.

Seidlhofer, B. (2004). Research perspectives on teaching English as a lingua franca. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, no 24, pp 209-239.

Smit, U. (2010). Conceptualising English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a tertiary classroom language. Stellenbosch Papers of Linguistics, Vol. 39, pp 59-74.

Spencer, S. & Tuma, K. (Eds)(2008). The Guide to Successful Short-term Programs Abroad. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C. NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Virkama, A. (2010). “From othering to understanding,” in V. Korhonen (ed.) CrossCultural Lifelong Learning, Tampere: Tampere University Press, pp 39-60.

Weil, M.; Stolz, S.& Otazo, P. ; Baumgartner, E. (2010). "Academic apprenticeship in cross-cultural settings: Impacts on university learning and teaching" in V. Korhonen (ed.) CrossCultural Lifelong Learning, Tampere: Tampere University Press, pp 207-224.