The International ClassroomAULC Conference - 2017

Donata PuntilSilvia ColaiacomoModern Language CentreKing’s College London

The context…..

“The incorporation of an international and intercultural dimension into the content of the curriculum, as well as the teaching and learning arrangements and support services of a program of study”. (Leask, B. 2009: 209)

Who we are…....

Modern Language Centre – Faculty of Arts & HumanitiesWe teach around 13 languages as credit-bearing modules from A1 to C1/2 CEFRWe teach UG and PG from different Departments & Faculties (around 1,600 students)We teach applied linguistics and intercultural modulesWe offer intercultural training across the collegeWe teach more than 20 languages as evening courses for the public and at external institutions (around 6,000 students)Around 12o members of staff - different nationalities and academic backgrounds

Who we are….....

Credit-bearing/assessed modules

External contracts

Evening classes

Tailor-made courses

Internal and external training

staff

Teaching staff at the MLC• About 120 teachers

• Four main Teams

• Different national and cultural backgrounds

• Different qualifications

• Different ages, gender, attitudes to teaching and learning

• Majority of teachers (80%) are free-lance professionals working for different institutions, or running their own businesses-turnover

• Teachers often work across programmes; different teaching and assessment requirements, etc.

Teachers’ professional status• All MLC teachers have completed a degree programme and the majority of them have PG

qualifications, in most cases obtained in their home country;

• The majority of them have a teaching qualification for adult education (DTLLS-PGCE for AE; British Lifelong Learning Certificate; CLTA for European Languages, DELTA, CELTA, DITALS, TIAFL etc.)

• Some of them have other qualifications, CPD certificates, etc.

Main common features:- Foundations of teaching approaches and methods- Development of practical teaching skills and class management- Language awareness and analysis - Planning and analysing resources- Designing lessons, syllabi and curricula- Evaluating teaching programmes

Main differences:- Theoretical approach- Attitude towards teaching and learning- Approach to students - Context sensitivity

Modern Language Centre

DIVERSITY

Higher Education ContextThe key elements of contemporary education are embedded in three interrelated policy technologies:

• the market• managerialism • performativity

(Ball, 2003: 215)

The marketization of the educational sector is not simply a vehicle for technical and structural change of organizations but is also a mechanism for reforming teachers (lecturers and researchers) and for changing what it means to be a teacher.

(Robertson, 1996)

Higher Education Context• Two apparently conflicting effects are achieved by such

changes: both an increasing individualization and the construction of new forms of institutional affiliation and ‘community’ based on corporate culture. This involves a re-working of the relationship between individual commitment and action in the organization;

• The work of the manager becomes crucial in this respect as he/she involves instilling the attitude and culture within which workers feel themselves accountable and at the same time committed or personally invested in the organization. These new managers are the ‘technician of transformation’ (May 1994: 619), or what Foucault calls ‘technicians of behaviours’;

HE Key Factors:

1. Self-determination (of institutions and professionals);2. Entrepreneurialism (professionals working for different employers –

negotiating new roles and identities);3. Cost-sustainability (budget);4. Market – consumerism will privilege clients and employers in judging the

quality of the education;5. Importance of building a professional status (individual and

institution);6. Necessity of continuous training to face the challenges of a changing

work setting;7. Challenges of working as a free-lance in terms of financial security and

adaptation to different institutional policies;8. Academic context within one teaches.

(Ball, 2003):

King’s International Strategy King’s College London is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, learning and understanding in the service of global society;

Through strong partnerships and research and teaching excellence, King’s is recognized as a thought-leader on interdisciplinary themes of global significance. King’s provides an internationalized curriculum and student experience which creates global citizens connected to international networks and employable anywhere in the world;

King’s International Strategy to 2020 sets out the university’s vision for taking advantage of the overwhelmingly positive impact thinking globally has on our students, our staff, our research and the world at large:

1. Attract the best international minds to King’s2. Provide an internationalized curriculum and student experience3. Invest in strategic partnerships with world-class institutions4. Raise King’s profile as a thought-leader in areas of global significance5. Create an ethical and enabling environment for King’s international

activities http://www.kcl.ac.uk/aboutkings/international-strategy/index.aspx

Internationalization….....

”It is through staff and students engagement in an international curriculum that the internationalisation agenda of universities connects with students. As graduates, today’s students will shape the world of the future as economic beings (professionals) and as social human beings. Their actions and decisions in the workplace, in their local community, and in their lives will have an impact on others and be influenced by the breadth and depth of their knowledge about the world, their skills in relating to others, and their values [….] international and intercultural interaction and collaboration has the potential to develop cultural insight and exchange that is enriching and enabling for individuals and through them for local, national and global communities.”

(Leask, B. 2015, p.71-72)

Cultures in the international university

Westerholm & Räsänen (2015), adapted from Flowerdew & Miller 1995

How?

Internal Staff DevelopmentRole of the MLC within the CollegeIntercultural Learning ModuleIntercultural Training International Classroom Project

Internal Staff Development • Series of internal “advanced “training activities focusing on different

topics/aims for experienced teachers;

• Series of internal “basic” training activities for less experienced teachers;

• HEA Accreditations;

• Involvement of all Teams;

• Involvement of all teachers at different levels;

• Peer-oriented;

• Staff-led;

• MLC Staff Development workshops• Refreshing your Teaching Skills

Inter-departmental training • Role of the MLC within the Faculty and the College;

• Development of a programme of inter-departmental training in line with the internationalization strategy of the College;

• Intercultural module Intercultural training for both staff and students (UG & PG):

• King’s Worldwide;• Study Abroad Centre;• Career and Employability Centre;• KLI (King’s Learning Institute);• Medical School;• Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience;• Language Departments;• School of Management and Business.

The International Classroom• Development from the Intercultural Training;• In line with King’s international strategy;• Project led by the Faculty as part of the Peer-Observation Scheme;• Collaboration with King’s Learning Institute (KLI);• Series of internal workshops and one conference open to all

College;• External speakers + involvement of internal staff;

• The main aims are:1. To enhance staff reflection on how to internationalize the

curriculum and work in a way that challenges taken for granted assumptions about our languages and cultures;

2. To share and create an international professional community based on reflective practice and intercultural awareness.

Focus

Cultural differences – culture shockAcademic difference – academic shock Linguistic differences – language shock Individual differences – individual adjustmentsLearning styles – academic adjustments Disabilities – individual difference-inclusion

International Students Lifecycle (HEA)- https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/international-student-lifecycle

The International Classroom

The International Classroom

Is your role as an academic changing

in aninternational

setting?

Does this process apply only to international

students?What are YOU

becoming in your

international class?

How do you think students are feeling in your class?Do you think their cultural background is relevant?Do you think their mother-tongue is relevant?Do you think their social class is relevant?Do you think their gender is relevant?How do you think they perceive you? What do you represent for them?What does the topic you teach represent for them?

The International Classroom

What is your role in your class?What do you do about diversity in your class?Is diversity related only to nationality?How do you make sure you are not discriminating students?What do you do about all the above-mentioned implicit meanings related to culture?

The International Classroom

Critical pedagogy – students/teachers as critical thinkers;Implicit teaching theories and practices – make them explicit;Curriculum – reshaping the Syllabus;Text-books – adapting them;Extra-resources – design new, varied material, diversity;Class activities – think of different class activities;Teaching styles – problematize/question yourself;Induction/familiarization/orientation – help students to settle down-make familiar the unfamiliar;Social events – help them to socialize outside class.

Some ideas we worked on…...

“Show and Tell” by MLC teachers…...• Development of teaching material on greetings in German A1;

• Comparative Lesson on art in Italian B2;

• Intercultural lesson on colours in French B1;

• Intercultural spaghetti in Italian A1;

• Lesson on games in Arabic A2/B1;

• Reading newspapers across cultures in Spanish C1/2;

• Intercultural hobbies and sports in Greek A1/2;

• Etc…..

Meaning as co-produced by students and teachers …....

“The students and teachers make meaning of diversity in a complex manner and are willing to, and do, engage in negotiating multiple perspectives of knowing which they encounter in pedagogies within international contexts of higher education.”

(Welikala 2013: 54)

A state of becoming…....

”Intercultural competence is a state of mutual becoming, rather than a destination. Hence it is particularly important to explore pedagogies that will assist students to enter this state of becoming interculturally competent.”

(Leask 2015: 63)

The International classroom

Teachers

Institution

Students

Future developments• Managerial and academic role in coordinating training

activities;

• Department investment on training;

• Internal collaboration across Team and colleagues;

• Collaboration with Faculty and with College;

• On-going intercultural training;

• Open up the training to an external audience;

• Publications;

• Collaboration with other institutions.

THANK YOU!

donata.puntil@kcl.ac.uksilvia.colaiacomo@kcl.ac.uk

ReferencesAlred, G., Byram, M., Fleming, M. Intercultural Experience and Education, Multilingual Matters, 2003, p.115Ball, S. (2003), ‘The teacher’s soul and the terrors of performativity’, in Journal of Education Policy, 18:2 (215-228).Berry, J., Y. H., Poortinga, S.M. Breugelmans, A. Chasiotis, D.L. Sam (2011), Cross-Cultural psychology. Research and Applications, Cambridge (CAP)Byramand, M.; Feng A.; Fleming, M. (eds.) (2009), Becoming interculturally competent through education and training, Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Coffey, S., “Strangehood and Intercultural Subjectivity”, in Language and Intercultural Communication, 2013, 13:3,p.266-282.Dark, S. et al. (1997), “The study visit and cultural learning”, in Byram (ed.2011) (pp.36-60)Kramsch, C. (2010), Language and Culture, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Kramsch, C. (2010) The Multilingual Subject, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Ippolito, K. (2007) “Promoting intercultural learning in a multicultural university: ideals and reality,” Teaching in Higher Education, 12:5-6, 749-763.Lang, P. (2011), Intercultural Competence. Concepts, Challenges, Evaluations. Bern: International Academic Publishers. Leask, B. (2009) Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve Interactions between Home and International Students, Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(2), 205-221.Leask, B.(2015) Internationalizing the Curriculum, Abingdon: Routledge.Lo Bianco, J., Liddicoat, A. & Crozet, C. (1999). Striving for the third place: intercultural competence through language education. Melbourne: Language Australia.Roberts, C. at al. (2001), Language Learners as Ethnographers, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Robertson, L.S. (1996), ‘Markets and teacher professionalism: A political economy analysis’, in Melbourne Studies in Education, 37:2 (23-39)Welikala, T. & Watkins, C. (2008) Improving Intercultural Learning Experiences in Higher Education. Responding to cultural scripts for learning. Institute of Education, University of London