Being a good neighbour: developing intercultural understanding through critical dialogue between an Australian and Finnish cross-case study

ABSTRACT

Language educators in Australia and Finland are expected to foster intercultural understanding within foreign language education. This paper presents findings from a qualitative case study focusing on theoretical and practical intercultural understanding in secondary school language education. The data for this study includes lesson observations as well as student and teachers interviews collected in two secondary schools in Australia and Finland. The findings demonstrate the complex resources teachers and students draw on to develop and share intercultural understanding. The discussion addresses the value of different perspectives and the need for a new metaphor to conceptualise intercultural understanding.

Von Sprachlehrern in Australien und Finnland wird erwartet, dass sie interkulturelle Kompetenz fördern, um Beziehungen zwischen kulturellen Identitäten, Kontexten und sozialen Werten aufzubauen. In diesem Beitrag werden die wichtigsten Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Fallstudie sowohl zum theoretischen Verständnis, als auch zur Ausübung interkultureller Kompetenz, von Lehrern und Schülern der Sekundarstufe diskutiert. Die Daten für diese Studie umfassen Beobachtungen des Unterrichts sowie Interviews mit Studenten und Lehrern, die an zwei weiterführenden Schulen in Australien und Finnland gesammelt wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Entwicklung von interkulturellem Verständnis von Lehrern und Schülern eng mit ihrem Sprachgebrauch im Unterricht und im Alltag verbunden ist.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural understanding
• being a neighbour
• foreign language education
• critical intercultural dialogue
• intercultural pedagogy

SCHLÜSSELWÖRTER:

• interkulturelles verständnis
• fremdsprachenunterricht
• kritischer interkultureller dialog

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Maria Lobytsyna is an educational researcher based in the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University, Australia and also teaches at NSW School of Languages (Department of Education) developing distance education language programs. Her research expertise extends to development of intercultural competencies in the classroom, innovative learning spaces and the Australian and Finnish Curricula.

Josephine Moate is a teacher educator and researcher based in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Josephine’s research interests include teacher and student development, as well as the role of language and culture in education. Josephine coordinates the JULIET programme that prepares class teachers to specialise in foreign language education. Josephine is currently involved in a project mapping and developing language-related innovations across early education and comprehensive school in Finland. Latest publication: Teacher agency within the Finnish CLIL context: tensions and resources < http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13670050.2017.1286292> Pappa, S., Moate, J., Ruohotie-Lyhty & Eteläpelto, A. (2017 published online). Bilingual Education and Bilingualism FREE ACCESS: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/dKEepV4UI3CDDKzruJXR/full

Robyn Moloney is an Honorary Senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University, Australia. Robyn's research interests include issues of intercultural language and development. She is interested in an understanding of language and culture across the curriculum, as an integral and holistic part of both student and teacher development. Robyn believes in the significance of intercultural capital for teachers across the curriculum, as a feature of twenty-first century education. Her research reflects her interests in the development of intercultural competence in language learners, bilingual education and biliteracy internationally, heritage language learners and curriculum provision.