Introducing an Identity-based and Student-centered Model of Teaching and Facilitating Intercultural Communication

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The research presents a novel student-centered approach to teaching and facilitating intercultural communication drawing on post-structuralist identity research (Fekete, 2020; Kramsch, 2009) and using English as a lingua franca (ELF) (Jenkins, 2009) in a multilingual/multicultural university classroom in Hungary. Students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of their peers’ cultural backgrounds were examined before and after a cultural intervention. The fourteen participants came from five countries, including Hungary, Indonesia, Spain, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Ukraine. Qualitative data were collected in a pre-test and a post-test via an online questionnaire containing identical open-ended questions that provided comparable answers. The cultural intervention included 1) cultural ice-breaker activities engaging students’ various identities, 2) the discussion of Moran’s cultural understanding framework (2001), and 3) students’ presentations of their culture drawing on Moran’s framework followed by a Q&A session. Qualitative content analysis and frequency counts of emerging themes were used to point out quantitative and qualitative changes in students’ perceptions of their peers and their culture following the intervention. The research is action and classroom research, as the teacher and the researcher are the same person. The results informed the development of an identity-based model of teaching and facilitating intercultural communication. Encouraging students to voice their various identities elicited positive psychological responses, fostering greater investment (Norton, 2013) in their identities via peer interactions. The intervention, therefore, resulted in more intercultural exchanges, increased cross-cultural learning, and a richer and more contextualized understanding of their peers’ cultures which became evident in the qualitative and quantitative shifts in their cultural perceptions impacting their attitudes.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Adrienn Fekete holds a Ph.D. in English Applied Linguistics and serves as an assistant professor at the University of Pécs in Hungary. Her broader research interests include psychological, emotional, and identity responses to language learning, the psychology of online and offline education, and intercultural communication. She is currently engaged in two research projects: one explores the benefits of integrating positive psychology tools into classroom settings, while the other investigates the relationship between cultural empathy and cultural attitudes. She teaches courses in intercultural communication, individual differences psychology, teacher education, research methodology, and translation studies.