This comprehensive volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the key issues and developments in study abroad research and practice with a specific focus on the intercultural and language learning dimensions of the study abroad experience. Rather than looking at individual studies, the book seeks to capture the full complexity of the language learning and intercultural dynamics of study abroad by exploring a wide range of topics of particular interest to study abroad researchers and practitioners, including the role of individual differences, identity reconstruction and interculturality, the challenges of assessing learning outcomes, and recent pedagogical interventions designed to enhance and extend language learning and engagement in these contexts. The volume also takes a step back to look at future directions for study abroad research and offers innovative interventions in study abroad programming that emphasise its intercultural elements. This book is an authoritative resource for study abroad scholars and researchers in such fields as intercultural communication, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and language education.

As the number of international students in Chinese higher education increases steadily, this volume is one of the first to focus on their many and varied experiences. With contributions focusing on such topics as intercultural adaptation, soft power and interculturality, language learning strategies and the intercultural, and transformations in perspective, this volume provides the reader with a broad overview of the latest advances in the field of interculturality and study abroad. While the book will appeal to a global audience of researchers, practitioners and students with an interest in Chinese higher education, it will also be of interest to all those who remain intrigued by conceptual and methodological issues of interculturality.

Intercultural Competence in Higher Education features the work of scholars and international education practitioners in understanding the learning outcomes of internationalization, moving beyond rhetoric to concrete practice around the world. Devoted exclusively to exploring the central learning outcomes of internationalization efforts, this edited volume contains a refreshing combination of chapters and case studies from interdisciplinary and cross-cultural contributors, including: cutting-edge issues within intercultural competence development, such as intersectionality, mapping intercultural competence, and assessment; the role of higher education in developing intercultural competence for peacebuilding in the aftermath of violent conflict; facilitating intercultural competence through international student internships; interdisciplinary and cross-cultural contributions from over 19 countries including Japan, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, and Vietnam; the latest research and thinking on global, intercultural, and international learning outcomes, with a unique emphasis on newer voices. Intercultural competence has become an essential element in international as well as domestic education. This text provides the latest thinking and research within the context of internationalization, presents practical case studies on how to integrate this into the preparation of global-ready students and will be of interest to postgraduate students, international education administrators, and practitioners, as well as scholars and researchers in a variety of disciplines who have an interest in intercultural and global competence.

Given the high degree of immigration in the current world, institutions of higher learning are increasingly hosting people of various different cultures and nationalities as employees and students. It has thus become important for universities to invest in their human capital by equipping employees and students with the necessary skills to meet the demands of their institutional diversity in a bid to become culturally flexible in the current multicultural context of higher education across the world. This book is an academic adventure that addresses issues of communication and interculturality in higher education. It provides rigorous details and several contexts through which to understand intercultural communication in higher institutions. The book unpacks a number of barriers with contextual references central to understanding contexts in which intercultural encounters take place in higher institutions. It shows how institutions of higher learning can be a great vehicle for building intercultural awareness and competence, and provides robust discussions of culture and the possible barriers that could affect intercultural relationships in higher institutions.

This book examines the concept of interculturality in English Language Teaching (ELT), using examples from diverse international and educational settings to demonstrate different approaches. Increased contact between multilingual speakers from different cultural backgrounds means that linguistic and intercultural competence must be taught hand in hand, and the approaches featured here will: encourage learners to develop intercultural sensitivity and a critical intercultural attitude; mitigate the limitations of textbooks and extend the learning to global issues, intercultural citizenship, and media literacy; show the potential of telecollaboration and popular culture as pedagogical resources; and demonstrate the value of interculturality in English as lingua franca situations and English for Academic Purposes. The chapters feature empirical studies from around the world, and include questions for reflection and recommended reading so that readers can engage more closely with key concepts, compare and adapt the practices most relevant to them. This book contributes to the literature on (inter)cultural pedagogy, English as a lingua franca, language pedagogy, and teacher professional development, and will be an invaluable tool for English language teachers, teacher trainers and educators seeking to enrich their practice. It will also be of interest to students and scholars of Applied Linguistics, especially language education.

This book presents students’ reflections on their intercultural student experiences, and utilizing the UNESCO Story Circle methodology, illustrates how such reflection can aid the development of intercultural competence (IC). The volume features a broad range of first-person narratives that showcase the diversity of student experience encountered whilst studying abroad in a variety of cultural and institutional settings. Engaging with issues in relation to identity negotiation, stereotypes, cultural difference, and communities of support, the text demonstrates application of the UNESCO Story Circle approach in developing IC. Further, vignettes are analyzed and guiding questions are offered to structure readers’ reflection and discussion to facilitate further honing of intercultural competencies. The volume promotes IC amongst individual educators, trainers, international students, and community members and provides guidance in addressing international students’ wellbeing more broadly. This text will benefit scholars, academics, and students in the fields of higher education, multicultural education, and intercultural communication. Those involved with international and comparative education as well as student affair practice and higher education administration will also benefit from this volume.

Study abroad (SA) as a domain of inquiry in the field of Applied Linguistics has been approached from a variety of different perspectives. Although originally focused on measuring the impact of residence abroad on students’ language development, in the last decade the so-called ‘social’ turn in Second Language Acquisition has brought to the fore the importance of socio-cultural aspects of the students’ experiences (such as the amount of contact they have with the local community, their social networks, etc.). This focus on the students’ entire lived experiences in the destination country opened the door to an increased interest in analysing their language encounters in terms of intercultural learning. This new domain of investigation in SA research, focused on the students’ opportunities for intercultural development while abroad, is varied in terms of perspectives and discourses, as it catalyses the different interests and viewpoints of the various stakeholders, including educational institutions, international political organisations, teachers or the students themselves. This book gathers some of these voices, with contributions on topics such as the features, dynamics, advantages and shortcomings, preparation needs and pedagogical issues relating to student mobility in terms of the participants’ intercultural learning. This book was originally published as a special issue of Language and Intercultural Communication.

Engaging with the topic of critical intercultural education at tertiary level, the book aims to strengthen what critical intercultural communication means and facilitate its implementation in higher education classrooms. With contributors coming from a variety of educational contexts and disciplines, the book provides a versatile and comprehensive picture of how intercultural communication can be approached in different fields. By offering a reflection on theoretical frameworks for teaching and learning critical intercultural communication, it bridges the gap between theory and practice in recent years. Furthermore, it proposes concrete pedagogical solutions that will help educators working at the tertiary level move from essentialist approaches to meaningful intercultural education. Higher education teachers, lecturers and professors responsible for the design and delivery of teaching on intercultural communication will find this book helpful and resourceful.

This book approaches notions of Being, Interculturality and New Knowledge Systems, through a team of expert contributors who share their evidence-based knowledge. It attempts to address the missing connections between what is recognised as 'global knowledge' and the underrepresented knowledges that are constructed across higher education.

This book explores the study of policies and practices in Higher Education by comparing systems, institutions, programs, innovations, results and cultures. In a rapidly changing global and international marketplace, the growth of higher education has occurred within distinct cultural contexts, meaning that change is reflected within local, regional, national and global perspectives. Using a single data methodology across countries and continents, the editors and contributors explore higher education reforms between global and local dimensions, the expansion of access and democratisation, and relevant aspects in the organisation and management of higher education. In doing so, this book arrives at an understanding of higher education at a truly intercultural level, which can lead to a deeper and more holistic understanding of policies and practices in higher education. This innovative book will be of interest and value to students and scholars of higher education across the world as well as the study of interculturality.