Engaging with cross-cultural communication barriers in globalized higher education: the case of research-degree students

Bash, Leslie (2009) Engaging with cross-cultural communication barriers in globalized higher education: the case of research-degree students. Intercultural Education, 20 (5). pp. 475-483. ISSN 1469-8439

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Abstract

Problematic aspects of intercultural communication are considered in the context of: an increasingly internationalized market for higher education; the globalization of knowledge; the compatibility of distinct national higher education cultures; and the capacity for successful cross-cultural cooperation. This is exemplified by reference to a doctoral programme delivered by a UK-based university, largely through distance learning, to students resident in a non-anglophone country. Here, the challenges have concerned: cultural and linguistic barriers; the use of distance-based supervision; and taken-for-granted knowledge related to learning and academic levels. Anecdotal evidence suggests diverse student experiences during the supervision process, in both face-to-face and distance learning contexts, reflecting the extent of familiarity with idiomatic and technical English, and the importance of non-verbal communication. Given unequal power relations between students and university teachers, improved intercultural communicative competence may be achieved through a mutual construction of a discursive arena reflecting the dynamics of an increasingly globalized structure of academic intercourse. This may involve a critique of assumptions associated with 'national' academic cultures together with a pragmatic quest for a common lexicon. This in turn may contribute to the process of cross-national collaboration and cooperation in higher education.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Keywords:	cross‐cultural, globalization, communication, students, universities
Faculty:	ARCHIVED Faculty of Health, Social Care & Education (until September 2018)
Depositing User:	Repository Admin
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2011 11:13
Last Modified:	09 Sep 2021 16:18
URI:	https://arro.anglia.ac.uk/id/eprint/128845

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