2022 International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence

This talk presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that investigated the impact of ethnographic inquiry on British modern languages students’ perceptions of the European and Latin American foreign other during the year abroad. It begins from the argument that although ethnography is integrated into many modern languages undergraduate degree programmes in the UK and beyond, very little prior empirical research has assessed its actual intercultural learning outcomes for modern languages sojourners. Drawing on pre-departure and post-return semi-structured active interviews and reflective diaries that students wrote during their sojourns, the thematic and critical discourse analysis of the data directs attention to the cultural stereotypes and negative generalisations most participants produced when talking and writing about the foreign other. It is suggested that although some of these generalisations were more blatantly negative than others, common to all was the use of discursive devices (e.g., disclaimers, presentation and quoting of self and others) that attenuate the potentially face-damaging impact of ethnocentric expressions. Because these expressions remained almost intact throughout the year abroad, this talk problematises the view that ethnography provides significant intercultural benefits to modern languages sojourners against the backdrop of a wounded post-Brexit economy that makes the opportunities, as well as the resources, for going abroad increasingly scarce.