2020 International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence

Symposium

English

Curriculum design and instruction

This symposium demonstrates that international learning experiences and other forms of cultural immersion, such as community-based field experiences, are a valuable and necessary component of teacher preparation.  The papers will explore practices for ethical intercultural engagement within study abroad contexts highlighting new reciprocal models of interaction and consider the implications for internationalizing curricua and program practices.

Paper 1: Beyond Teaching Competence: Preparing to Teach Emergent Bilingual Learners, Daniela Martin and Elizabeth Smolcic (The Pennsylvania State University)

Today, accelerating globalization and the changing landscape of K-12 classrooms obviate traditional notions of “teacher competence”, with a corresponding call for embedded cultural and linguistic experiences. This paper outlines how immersion programs can bridge asset-based pedagogical theory and teaching practice.

Paper 2: Language and (Inter)cultural Learning: Supporting Language Teacher Candidates’ Development of Interculturality during Immersion, Michelle Pasterick (The Pennsylvania State University)

To support intercultural understanding and culturally appropriate exchanges, language teacher candidates must develop skills that allow for facilitating understandings, interactions, and shifting perspectives in their classrooms. This presentation outlines how mediation through an online course during an immersion experience supports candidates’ understandings of teaching about issues of language and culture.

Paper 3: Voices Together: Perspectives from the Host and Sojourner Communities, Eleanor Leggett Sweeney, Sharon Smith Childs (The Pennsylvania State University), Ana Loja Criollo, and Yolanda Loja Criollo (Universidad de Cuenca)

Much of the literature on study abroad focuses on sojourners from the Global North. Missing from the conversation is the perspective of the host community. Using qualitative data, we examined participants’ intercultural development that emerged through positioning one another as equal partners in relationships characterized by mutual respect and reciprocity. 

Paper 4: "Nested Interculturality”: Dispositions and Practices for Navigating Tensions in Immersion, Netta Avineri (Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey)

This paper explores “nested interculturality”, dispositions and practices for ethical intercultural engagement to navigate tensions in cultural and linguistic immersion. “Nests” foregrounds an ecological and dynamic view based on interdependence, symbiosis, and criticality. This paper is theoretical/model-building and pedagogical/practice-oriented, highlighting how relationally-oriented intercultural educators mobilize professional practice for societal change.