增進台灣高中生的跨文化溝通能力── 以TWIYC.tw計畫為例 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 立. 碩士論文政治 Master’s Thesis大. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. 增進台灣高中生的跨文化溝通能力── 以TWIYC.tw計畫為例 Developing High School Students’ Intercultural Communication Competence through TWIYC.tw al v i Program— A Qualitative Research n C U. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. hengchi. Student: Shin-hwei, Huang 黃馨慧 Advisor: Professor Wei-Wei, Huang 黃葳威教授. 中華民國 108 年 1 月 January 2019. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(2) Abstract. Though intercultural education have been emphasized strongly in Taiwanese education policies in recent times, the resources and effectiveness of improving high school students’ intercultural communication competence (ICC) is still limited. This research aims to discover the design of the TWIYC.tw culture lectures as a new possibility. 政治大 qualitative research methods have been used, including mini focus groups, interviews and 立 for enhancing students’ ICC. This is the first research targeting this program and. ‧ 國. 學. participant observation. These were adopted to explore the lecturers’ design concepts, stakeholders’ feedback and its influences on students’ ICC. Through the finding of this. ‧. research, there is hope that the lecture could develop students’ ICC with all four elements. sit. y. Nat. in the adjusted ICC model of Michael Byram. It appears to develop students’ attitude and. n. al. er. io. knowledge more comprehensively and partially enhances their skills and critical cultural. v. awareness. Suggestions are provided for the improvement of the program, and the. Ch. engchi. i n U. possible future directions for the TWIYC.tw as a visionary intercultural educator are given.. Key words: intercultural education, international education, Michael Byram, cultural exchange, international English. i. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(3) Table of Contents. Abstract ............................................................................................................................ i Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ ii List of Figures ................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1. 政治大. 1.1 Research Background ....................................................................................... 1. 立. 1.2 The World In Your Classroom (TWIYC)....................................................... 2. ‧ 國. 學. Chapter 2: Literature Review ....................................................................................... 7 2.1 Intercultural Education .................................................................................... 7. ‧. 2.2 Intercultural Communication Competence .................................................. 10. y. Nat. sit. 2.3 Byram’s Intercultural Communication Competence Model ...................... 12. n. al. er. io. 2.4 Intercultural Education in Taiwanese Schools ............................................. 16. i n U. v. Chapter 3: Methodology .............................................................................................. 19. Ch. engchi. 3.1 Research Purpose and Questions ................................................................... 19 3.2 Research Scope ................................................................................................ 21 3.3 Mini Focus Group ........................................................................................... 22 3.4 Participant Observation ................................................................................. 28 3.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 4: Findings ...................................................................................................... 31 4.1 The Ideas Behind the TWIYC.tw program .................................................. 31 4.2 Students’ Development of Intercultural Attitudes ....................................... 38 4.3 Students’ Development of Knowledge ........................................................... 49 ii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(4) 4.4 Students’ Development of Skills..................................................................... 57 4.5 Students’ Development of Critical Cultural Awareness .............................. 61 Chapter 5: Conclusion ................................................................................................. 66 5.1 TWIYC.tw Appears to Develop Students’ Attitude and Knowledge More Comprehensively ................................................................................................... 66 5.2 TWIYC.tw Develops Partially Students’ Skills and Critical Cultural Awareness .............................................................................................................. 69 Chapter 6: Suggestion .................................................................................................. 71 References...................................................................................................................... 75. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iii. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(5) List of Figures. Figure 1 Official website of TWIYC.tw organization ............................................... 4 Figure 2 Facebook page of TWIYC.tw organization ................................................ 4 Figure 3 The TWIYC.tw’s Uzbek lecturer in class ................................................... 5 Figure 4 Adjusted model of Byram’s intercultural communicative competence 13 Figure 5 An example of the worksheet provided by teacher to students for the culture lecture .............................................................................................................. 53. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. iv. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(6) List of Tables. Table 1 Information of the observed subjects & mini focus group participants. 24. Table 2 Questions for mini focus groups .................................................................. 25 Table 3 Interview questions ........................................................................................ 27 Table 4 Students’ impression and background knowledge toward lecturers’ cultures ......................................................................................................................... 38. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(7) Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Research Background In our globalized world, intercultural interactions increasingly happen in people’s everyday lives (Perry & Southwell, 2011). The 21st century is an era of globalization. The concept of global village, global division of labor and the popularity of the internet have enhanced collaborations and dependences among different countries in areas such as politics, economy, social activities and information. In addition, international businesses,. 政治大 interactions between organizations 立 and people from around the world. This trend is not. NGOs and NPOs’ rapid developments have also led to increasingly formal and informal. ‧ 國. 學. only shown in the number of inbound or outbound working, traveling and marriage population in Taiwan, but also in the field of education. According to the statistics. ‧. provided by the Ministry of Education, the number of foreign students studying in. sit. y. Nat. Taiwanese universities in 2016 is 116,416, which consists of 8.9% of the total number of. n. al. er. io. enrolled students in universities. The number has raised 2.8 times since 2007. The same. i n U. v. situation applies to Taiwanese students studying abroad. In 2015 the number of. Ch. engchi. Taiwanese students applied to study abroad is 38,166, which is the highest number on record since 1998. The increasing connection between Taiwan and international societies also brings challenges. Education is expected to cultivate students’ Intercultural Communication Competence not from university level, but much earlier, from primary school age. In Taiwan, the Ministry of Education’s A White Paper on International Education for Primary and Secondary School (2011), stresses that the importance of international education is to help students to live and work successfully in the future society. One of the most important goals is to cultivate students’ intercultural communication competence 1. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(8) (ICC) and global mobility ability. However, according to Mon & Lai (2010) the required English language education in Taiwan doesn’t naturally lead to the development of ICC. Proficiency in foreign languages doesn’t equal to a good performance in ICC, either. Therefore, it is the concern of this study to find out how to cultivate students’ ICC.. 1.2 The World In Your Classroom (TWIYC) In the light of the trends described above, there lies a new possibility of inviting. 政治大 students, business people, travelers, marriage migrants or migrant workers to the front 立. people from different cultural backgrounds who stay in Taiwan, such as international. ‧ 國. 學. line of education, classes at school, to share their own culture and experience, and increase the opportunity of face-to-face intercultural interaction with students. The World in Your. ‧. Classroom- Taiwan (TWIYC.tw) is an organization developed with this in mind. This. sit. y. Nat. research will unveil the applicability of increasing high school students’ ICC through. io. er. TWIYC.tw’s foreign volunteers.. al. v i n C (TWIYC.tw). It is Ua platform that connects foreign World In Your Classroom-Taiwan h engchi n. The focused project of this research is a non-governmental organization, The. volunteers with local junior high schools and senior high schools in Taiwan. This idea originated from the NGO, “The World in Your Classroom” from The Hague, in the Netherlands. Both in Taiwan and the Netherlands, it is aimed to invite internationals to introduce their home countries such as culture, religion, language, economy, politics, history, geography, and current affairs to students. In The Hague, volunteer guest speakers give lectures in English, Spanish, French, Germany and also Chinese to local high school students. The program hopes to provide students, aged 13 to 18 years old, a special and interesting chance to use the languages they are learning, and also broaden 2. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(9) students’ horizons. In 2016, more than 100 internationals joined in this project to serve almost 20 schools in The Hague. In Taiwan, the TWIYC.tw is a newly formed organization, as of January, 2017, as a platform between foreigners and school teachers. For now, their main and only service is providing culture lectures. They reach out to interested high school teachers and recruit foreign volunteers to become culture lecturers with their official website (see Figure 1) and Facebook page (see Figure 2) with rich pictures, videos and words description about the project. The teachers and the volunteers can contact the organization. 政治大. through Facebook or email and register online. The organization also advertised on. 立. foreigners’ Facebook communities in Taiwan and teachers’ communities’ Facebook. 學. ‧ 國. pages to promote this project. When participants register online, they have to provide contact information, available dates, number of lectures they would like to give/receive. ‧. and other information such as nationality, religion, suggestions to this project. With this. Nat. sit. y. information, the organization will match suitable foreigners with school teachers.. n. al. er. io. Normally, a school teacher would like one foreigner to come to their school for a day to. i n U. v. share with their classes. Each class usually lasts for 50 minutes. If the teacher wants to. Ch. engchi. arrange activities and requires more than one foreigner, or longer class session, which are rare situations, TWIYC.tw will also do its best to arrange it.. 3. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(10) 1.. 立. Official. website. of. TWIYC.tw. organization,. https://twiyctw.weebly.com/ on October 7, 2017.. Facebook. retrieved. from:. y. sit. n. al. er. io. 2.. from:. ‧. Nat. Figure. retrieved. 學. ‧ 國. Figure. 政治大. page. Ch. of. engchi. TWIYC.tw. i n U. v. organization,. https://www.facebook.com/twiyctw/ on October 7, 2017. 4. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(11) Besides match making, TWIYC.tw holds one workshop, called the Training Day, for volunteers and teachers to share tips for conducting successful upcoming culture lectures. Hoping to prolong and deepen cultural discussions, TWIYC.tw encourages high school teachers to introduce the basic information of speaker’s culture, lead discussions or ask students to prepare questions prior to and/or after the foreigners’ shares. In addition, the organization introduces Taiwanese education, tips of interacting with Taiwanese teenagers and advises foreign speakers to use Power Point slides to facilitate their explanation, so the content can be more organized and easier to understand. The speakers’. 政治大. country and culture is the topic of the shares. They normally cover the countries’. 立. geographical features, special foods, costumes, festival, landmarks and religions. With an. 學. ‧ 國. understanding on English as an international language and fewer students learning European or other Asian languages, the guest speakers mainly talk to students in English.. ‧. TWIYC.tw hopes that through interactions between guest lecturers and students,. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. (See Figure 3).. y. Taiwanese students would be more curious, eager to explore the world and to use English. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 3. The TWIYC.tw’s Uzbek lecturer in class. 5. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(12) In 2017, 20 foreign volunteer speakers had registered. They conducted more than 40 presentations in total to over 20 Taiwanese high schools and junior high schools. Currently, because of the limitations of funds and human resources, the schools they visited are mostly in northern Taiwan, especially in Taipei and New Taipei City, with just a few visits to Taoyuan city, Taichung and the farthest to Orchid Island. In this paper, the researcher follows the program to 10 classes in 5 high schools to uncover its influences on the ICC of high school students.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 6. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(13) Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Intercultural Education The emphasis on intercultural education in Taiwan began around 2000. However the concept of intercultural education was formed internationally in 1960. After World War II, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) started to encourage schools to promote understanding between different cultures. The UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960) has helped. 政治大 “[Education] shall promote 立 understanding, tolerance and friendship among all. shape the guidelines on Intercultural Education:. ‧ 國. 學. nations, racial and religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace”. ‧. UNESCO hopes that education of all levels will include content from culture. y. sit. n. al. er. io. life styles.. Nat. diversity and will increase understanding and respect between different ethnic groups and. i n U. v. Echoing with the above statement, intercultural education has two main points:. Ch. engchi. firstly, the normality of diversity of human cultures needs to be respected, celebrated and recognized. It raises learners’ realization that mankind has naturally formed a serious of different lifestyles, customs, believes and worldviews. The widths of cultures are important assets that enrich us. Secondly, intercultural education promotes human rights and equality, challenges unfair discrimination, and promotes the establishment of equality values (Irish National Teachers’ Organization, 2004). In UNESCO’s publication, Guidelines on Intercultural Education (2007), the importance of intercultural education as not just be a simple "supplement" of formal courses is further emphasized. It needs to take into account the entire learning 7. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(14) environment, as well as other aspects of educational process, such as decision making, teacher education and training, curriculum, languages, teaching methods, student interaction and learning materials. This can be achieved by including multiple views and voices. The agenda for education was expanded to include intercultural education in the second half of the twentieth century. This strengthened social justice and democracy for African Americans, who were not represented by mainstream courses (Banks & McGee, 1995; Hooks, 1994). European authorities are interested in this knowledge, which will. 政治大. give them a way of 'managing' the increasing diversity in ethnicity and culture (Fase,. 立. 1994; Driessen, 2000; Gundara, 2000; Leeman, 2003; Van Langen & Dekkers, 2001).. 學. ‧ 國. Globalization has caused many changes to Western societies, one such being an increase in international migration. Multiethnic issues characterize these societies and. ‧. forces that conflict: the recognition of difference and the facilitation of social integration,. Nat. sit. y. shapes these societies. (Bauman, 1998). A school can be a pluralized experience, with. n. al. er. io. different learning levels, perspectives on culture and a variety of languages being on offer.. i n U. v. School thus becomes crucial in giving our future lives a higher quality. Social cohesion,. Ch. engchi. as well as social and economic integration, can be taught as competences in school, making it a key institution for tomorrow's citizens. Societal equality can be achieved through the pursuit of plurilingualism and multiculturalism, and thus through an international education. (e.g., Fleming, 2009; 2010; Little, 2010). Since a quality education for all learners is not limited by whatever language or culture one is in, programs that support intercultural dialogue and social cohesion, through intercultural and plurilingual education in schools, have been set up by the Council of Europe. (Little, 2010). 8. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(15) Although with different aims to those of Europe, Taiwan is an example of one of the Asian countries that has celebrated plurilingualism and multiculturalism. Ethnic dialects, as well as international languages such as English have been promoted as policy aims of the most recent Taiwanese governments. South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have all seen increases in the popularity of learning English as a foreign language (EFL), and this is still growing. Local plurilingual and intercultural education programs have become linked with social forces. In order to maintain the rapid pace of development, the Taiwanese island economy has seen speaking English as a vital tool. Prestige is believed. 政治大. to be granted by learning English, as well as upward mobility in social or occupational. 立. status. It was given political and economic significance when education of English was. 學. ‧ 國. brought down in 2005 to the 3rd grade of elementary school. Negotiation with English native speakers is not the only end result of learning English, but is a method of simple. ‧. communication between non-English native speakers wherever they come from.. Nat. sit. y. According to Alptekin (2002), only learning about English-speaking cultures denies a. n. al. er. io. complete understanding of the modern world for English learners. English thus becomes. i n U. v. not merely a foreign language, but a global one too, where different ethnic groups from. Ch. engchi. different countries can become connected to Taiwanese students. (Liao, 2004). There are different ways to practice intercultural education, such as curriculum integration, international exchange programs and teacher’s professional development. Among them, especially for face-to-face communication, participants interact with others using their linguistic knowledge and culturally grounded beliefs, values, and expectations. To analyze the interaction and effect in the TWIYC.tw program Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence has been chosen, due to its comprehensive verbal and non-verbal components, to understand and relate to people from other 9. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(16) countries. It is very suitable for the face to face interaction between foreign speakers and high school students happening in the program.. 2.2 Intercultural Communication Competence The communication aspects of intercultural competence has intercultural communication as a separate and thorough set of theory and research. 'Large and important cultural differences create dissimilar interpretations and expectations about how to communicate competently' (Lustig and Koester, 2006, p.52), thus creating a. 政治大. scenario of intercultural communication. It needs to “be viewed and analyzed as a. 立. complex process” (Stire, 2006, p. 5), not just a simple cultural encounter. Relating to and. ‧ 國. 學. communicating with people who speak a different language and who experience in their. ‧. daily lives a cultural context that is different is not a new idea that requires development and evaluation. Diplomacy, amongst many other things, requires it.. y. Nat. er. io. sit. What is different is that now people of all cultural and linguistic groups, not just travellers or diplomats, are encouraged and in the need of developing intercultural. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. communication competence (Byram, 1997). Intercultural communication competence is. engchi. the framework to assessing one's ability in conducting intercultural communication. Being able to appropriately and effectively communicate with those of other cultures is what defines it. (Arasaratnam 2009). It has been argued that communication competence is a characteristic of individuals' associations, not an individual’s attributes. Intercultural communication needs a relational situational context. (Lustig and Koester 2006). In spite of this, some characteristics have shown relation to intercultural communication competence. Cultural empathy, cultural uncertainty, team effectiveness and interpersonal skills have been conceptualized as the four dimensions that comprise this competence by 10. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(17) Matveev and Nelson (2004). However, Arasaratnam and Doerfel’s (2005) study sets this at five: listening ability, global attitude, empathy, motivation and intercultural experience/training. These qualities are much the same but not as thorough as the popular model constructed by Deardorff (2006). In her model, the actor's ability in achieving desired objectives, that is their effectiveness, serves to evaluate an outcome of external intercultural communication. In the research of the applicability of Deardorff’s model in Taiwanese elementary schools’ cultural exchange activities, Huang (2015) stated that Dearsorff’s model and its elements can be applied to Taiwanese Confucianit culture.. 政治大. However, Taiwanese Confucian culture stresses less effectiveness of communication,. 立. rather more its appropriateness. For Taiwan, then, Deardoff’s model will require further. ‧ 國. 學. adjustment.. Among researches on Michael Byram's model (Byram, 1997), is one of the most. ‧. influential and exhaustive one out there. This model combines intercultural competence. Nat. sit. y. with holistic linguistic and its objectives of ethics and practicality are clear. Although. n. al. er. io. Foreign Language Teaching classes were the intended forum for Byram's model, its use. i n U. v. beyond that was stated by the writer. Knowledge, intercultural attitudes, interpreting and. Ch. engchi. relating skills, discovery and interaction skills, and critical cultural awareness all receive principles in this model; but without syllabuses or teaching methods being constrained. By doing the latter, students from different institutions, nationalities and culture, of different ages and with different purposes are all applicable to the model and thus is 'comprehensive and content-flexible'. Recent research has used this model to analyze body language (Gordan, Krishnan & Khairuddin, 2013) international student study programs (Cots, Aguilar, Mas-Alcolea & Llanes, 2016) and teacher training (McCloskey, 2012). 11. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(18) Byram advocated that successful communication is based on establishing and maintaining relationships in communication instead of focusing on the efﬁciency of information exchange. This notion also values the communicative aspect of human interaction and is appropriate in analyzing face to face interaction in an education setting. Therefore, in this research, Byram’s model is used as a framework to analyze the stake holder’s expectations’ of TWIYC project, as well as the development of Taiwanese high school students’ intercultural communicative competence in the project. The following paragraphs will further illustrate its different elements.. 政治大. 立 Communication Competence Model 2.3 Byram’s Intercultural. ‧ 國. 學. Components of Byram’s intercultural communication model established in 1997. ‧. will now be further discussed. Byram’s model consists of five factors: intercultural attitudes, knowledge, interpreting and relating skills, discovery and interaction skills. y. Nat. er. io. sit. which are the four elements surrounded the fifth centrally placed component, critical cultural awareness. Byram defines ICC as the interplay of linguistic competence,. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and intercultural competence.. engchi. Moreover, Deardorff’s definition of the same elements: attitude, knowledge and skills from her intercultural competence will also be utilized in this research. Since her model, incorporates and specifies Byram’s ideas and is used to analyze students’ intercultural competence, including research on Taiwanese elementary school students (Huang, 2015) and university students (Mon & Lai, 2010). Adding Deardorff’s explanation to Byram’s model thus can draw a better picture to help explaining and understand the following elements. Below, figure 4, is the adjusted Model of Byram’s ICC, that is used in this research. 12. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(19) 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 4. The adjusted model of Byram’s of intercultural communicative competence. ‧. 2.3.1 Intercultural Attitude:. sit. y. Nat. io. er. Successful intercultural interaction required Intercultural Attitude to begin with (Byram, 1997). When different people interpret things in terms of a different culture; in. n. al. terms of beliefs, appropriate. i n C behaviors, prejudicesUand hengchi. v. stereotypes; unsuccessful. interaction is usually the end result. In order to foster intercultural communication, Byram believes that the readiness to suspend disbelief, to be open, and to be curious are all vital. The Council of Europe drew on this principle to go further and say that these attitudes show willingness for one's values to be relativized, as well as behaviors and beliefs; to not assume that a single value is the naturally correct one, to be able to see perspectives of people with other values. They called it the ability to “decenter”.. 2.3.2 Knowledge 13. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(20) Byram’s knowledge element contains the knowledge of individual and society; of self and also of interaction. Deardorff (2006) in her research on intercultural competence further illustrates knowledge element in four aspects. First, cultural self-awareness refers to the ability of noticing how our mother culture influences our identity, behavior patterns, value, and thinking patterns. With this awareness, we can put aside our pre-existing cultural assumption and judgement, and thus accept and understand other cultures better (Palge & Goode,2009; Wmkelman ,2009). Second, deep understanding and knowledge of culture means the understanding of the context of culture, its influence and others’. 政治大. worldview (Deardorff, 2006). Worldview is defined as substance of things, the structure. 立. of the universe, the interrelated assumptions and beliefs of the purpose of human life,. 學. ‧ 國. belief in deities, and other philosophical problems (Ishii, Klopf, & Cooke, 2012). Third, cultural-specific information includes cultural knowledge of values, norms, religion,. ‧. customs and etiquette (Cushner Brislin, 1997; Deardorff, 2010). Finally, sociolinguistic. Nat. sit. y. awareness refers to how an individual can perceive the situational context of the. n. al. er. io. conversation, the type of group to which the participant belongs, and the manner in which. i n U. v. the language is used, and the attitudes that people hold on the language used.. Ch. engchi. 2.3.3 Skills Explaining or finding relations to a document or event from another culture, to interpret and relate it to one’s own culture, is one type of skill, Byram describes. Using one’s existing knowledge to appreciate perceived behaviors, phenomena or messages and to draw meaning from them is a subjective process and the definition of interpretation here (Byram, 1997; Wood, 2014). Different phenomena, messages or acts can be linked to existing knowledge, and is given the name “relating” (Byram, 1997). A second set of 14. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(21) skills, are a real-time interaction application of newly acquired knowledge, cultural or linguistic, that shows an open mind to the “foreign.” This is, then, another level of interaction and discovery (Byram, 1997). Deardorff (2006) adds additional four factors in the skill dimension: listening, observing, analyzing, and evaluating. Listening is understood as an active and complex process that includes focusing, information perception, information selection, organization, responding and memorizing (Wood, 2014). Observing is using all senses to identify similarities and differences among the subjects to discover patterns and the. 政治大. meaning of non-verbal messages (Ting-Toomey & Kurogi, 1998). Analyzing refers to the. 立. decomposition, identifying the relationship between parts and a whole structure. It. 學. ‧ 國. contains differentiations: the ability of recognizing the most important and relevant content; organizing, the capability of identifying how elements are constituted and unified;. ‧. and attributing: to point out underlying intentions, perceptions, prejudices and value. Nat. sit. y. (Zheng Hui, Lin Shihua, 2004). Evaluating means making judgements according to. n. al. er. io. sensed behaviors, information, or phenomena (Gudykunst, 1993).. Ch. 2.3.4 Critical Culture Awareness. engchi. i n U. v. Critical Cultural Awareness is defined as the awareness that generates the ability to critically evaluate one's own behaviors, values, and beliefs, and those of others, by engaging in their culture. It is understood as an “ability to evaluate critically and; on the basis of explicit criteria; gain perspectives, practices, and products in one's own and other cultures and countries” (Byram et al, 2001, p. 7). In other words, being mindful of one's own values is a required competence for intercultural speakers. They must be aware that their viewpoints will affect others as well as how it has done in the past. They must also 15. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(22) display degrees of tolerance, curiosity and openness to other cultures. No changes to learners' values are intended by these critical cultural awareness lessons in education, but they help to make their own conscious and native cultural heritage explicit (Byram, 1997). All language teachers need to encourage learners a fundamental value position of respect for human dignity and equality of rights as social interaction's democratic basis (Byram et al., 2002). Equity and dignity are considered the ultimate goal in cultural learning.. 2.4 Intercultural Education in Taiwanese Schools. 政治大. After international communication competence has been reached through. 立. intercultural education, how schools cultivate this in student communication competence. ‧ 國. 學. in Taiwan is an important investigation. The Nine-Year Consecutive Compulsory. ‧. Education idea was implemented by Taiwan in 2004. “Global vision”, “international literacy” and “multiculturalism” were the aims of what was to be brought to the classroom.. y. Nat. io. sit. Inviting foreign students to visit Taiwanese high schools and directly subsidize schools. n. al. er. in helping them to hold short-term study tours were two of the ways that the “Increasing. Ch. i n U. v. International Horizons of Senior High School Students program” reinforced direct. engchi. communication between global communities and Taiwanese students. This program took place from 2007 to2012. There were around 50 to 94 successful applicants each year, of the 330 high schools and vocational high schools in Taiwan. The number of students who benefited from the policy was restricted to less than 30 students per school because families were required to provide additional financial aid. International education being important was a political consensus, so Taiwan’s Ministry of Education published “A White Paper on International Education for Primary and Secondary School” in 2011, and included applicants for the programs were not just 16. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(23) from high schools. Although it is called “international education,” the concept encompasses intercultural education as defined by the following scholars: in international education intercultural communication situations are inevitable (Hinchcliff-Pelias & Greer, 2004) and cross-cultural understanding is unavoidable (Hill, 2007). Pasternak (2008) further conceptualizes international education as intercultural competence. The aim is for Taiwan to create a work force that can compete with twenty-first century demands internationally. The White Paper subdivides this aim into four goals: to develop student's national identity through the appreciation and understanding of. 政治大. Taiwanese culture; enhancing international awareness through conducting intercultural. 立. communication, with appreciation of cultural diversity, respect and understanding;. 學. ‧ 國. advance students' abilities to observe and compare different cultures with a deep understanding of the cooperation and competitiveness through international exchange. ‧. activities; taking global responsibility in understanding different ethnic groups and. Nat. sit. y. cultures, with an emphasis on the value of world peace, countries' co-dependence,. n. al. er. io. sustainability and human rights. UNESCO’s Guidelines on Intercultural Education and. i n U. v. the concepts of Byram in intercultural communication competence match these goals,. Ch. engchi. although Taiwanese version has a stronger emphasis of personal development at utilitarianism. International exchange and integration of curriculum materials are the tools the government hopes to use to achieve these goals, although limitations exist in development of school materials and resources. Of the English textbooks that junior high schools use, content analyses has revealed inadequate cultural information in them (Chen, 2007). In addition, according to data released in 2009 by the Ministry of Education, Taiwanese schools interact with schools from countries listed here by declining frequency: Japan, 17. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(24) the United States of America, Singapore, the Peoples' Republic of China and New Zealand. These small number of countries being prioritized could lead to unbalanced international perspectives in exchange programs in the long term, according to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China in 2011. The integration of the international education curriculum and international exchange activities is also weak.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 18. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(25) Chapter 3: Methodology After reviewing the literature on intercultural communication and education in the preceding Chapter, this Chapter will focus on research purpose and the chosen research methodologies: mini focus group as the major research methodology and then participant observation as the minor. The reason they are chosen to uncover the effectiveness of the TWIYC.tw program will also be elaborated.. 政治大 3.1 Research Purpose and Questions 立. ‧ 國. 學. In the past, research on Taiwanese students’ ICC has mainly focused on elementary schools and university students or teachers’ multi-cultural literacy (Lai, 2009;. ‧. Tang, 2010; Chu, 2014). For elementary students, foreigner-in-classroom activities can. sit. y. Nat. successfully enhanced the students’ English learning motivation (Yang, 2014).. n. al. er. io. For university level students, the general development of intercultural. i n U. v. communication competence seems rely more on the accumulation of knowledge from. Ch. engchi. extra-school curricula and life experiences beyond university or school materials they received before. According to Mon & Lai’s research on 500 university students in southern Taiwan (2010), students’ interaction experience with foreigners, numbers of foreign friends, the times and duration of traveling they experienced, and students’ foreign languages speaking abilities, are related to high intercultural competence. In contrast, foreign language ability confined to reading, uninteractive activities focusing on finding information online, the lack of intercultural communication experience leads to students’ low intercultural competence.. 19. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(26) This research investigates the less researched but very crucial group of youth, high school students, and their development of ICC, which has helped to fill the gap for the existing literature. Unlike elementary school or university students, Taiwanese high school students are required to spend the longest hours at school. They also have less extracurricular activities or life experience to develop ICC than university students. Therefore, how their ICC being developed within the school system is worth researching. The target of this study, the TWIYC.tw’s culture lectures, are new and are some of the first services that enables intercultural communication to happen in high school. 政治大. classrooms. It is thus valuable for Taiwanese high school education.. 立. Moreover, compared to the current international exchange programs practiced in. 學. ‧ 國. Taiwanese schools, which are usually partnered with a small number of neighborhoods or English speaking countries, TWIYC.tw does not have this problem. It recruits and. ‧. treats all volunteers equally, and has already provided students intercultural experiences. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. world.. y. with volunteers from more than 20 countries and, in the future, potentially all over the. i n U. v. This study aims to provide a thorough understanding of this new program,. Ch. engchi. TWIYC.tw. The researcher examines the design of its culture lectures, and its influence on high school students’ ICC through observations of ten classes, focus groups, and interviews. The paper investigates the ideas of the program stakeholders, including the founder, participating school teachers and foreign volunteers, on their expectations and their designs in class. In addition, the research’s focus will be formed from the students’ points of view, whether or not and how students think their ICC is enhanced through the classes. The result will contribute to TWIYC.tw and school teachers in developing better classes for students to increase ICC. The research questions are stated as follow: 20. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(27) (1)What is the design of the TWIYC.tw’ lectures? (2)Do the TWIYC.tw’s culture lectures enhance students’ ICC? (3)What kind of ICC can be enhanced on high school students through the TWIYC.tw’s culture lectures?. 3.2 Research Scope A preliminary review of the literature on intercultural communication competence. 政治大. shows that there are many different words and phrases in past studies that are synonymous. 立. with intercultural communication competence, including the following terms: cross-. ‧ 國. 學. cultural competence, multicultural competence, intercultural sensitivity, international. ‧. literacy and global citizenship.. Although terms such as "multicultural" and "intercultural" both describe the fact. y. Nat. er. io. sit. that a country has more than one culture. "Multicultural" is more often used to describe the coexistence of different cultures that do not interact much with each other. On the. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. other hand, “intercultural” shows that people believe that contacting and experiencing. engchi. other cultures enriches individual lives, and that people from different cultural backgrounds should be able to understand and learn from one another (Irish National Teachers' Organization, 2004). Kim and Ruben (1992) also pointed out that the term, "intercultural," is better because the term is not bounded by any specific cultural attributes (p. 404). In addition, according to Gudykenst (2003), intercultural communication often involves face to face dialogue between people of different national cultures. However, cross-cultural communication is often a comparison between cultural traits. Since the research will be 21. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(28) mainly observing the actual face to face interaction between international volunteers and high school students, the use of the term, “intercultural,” is preferable in this research.. 3.3 Mini Focus Group Focus group is a qualitative research method commonly used in social science studies. For this method, a group of people are assembled by one, or in some cases two, moderators to discuss their opinions or beliefs on a certain subject, ranging widely from. 政治大 method include: first, the participants are in a less hostile environment and more willing 立 commercial products to specific concepts or individual experiences. The benefits of this. ‧ 國. 學. to share their ideas or motivate more discussions within the group (Krueger & Casey, 2000). Second, the moderator should strategically focus discussion on themes which are. ‧. sit. Nat. helps to collect more data efficiently in a shorter period of time.. y. especially relevant to the research (Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2005). Third, the method. io. er. The purpose of this focus group is to learn about participants’ experiences and try. al. v i n C h are more likelyUto feel uncomfortable sharing in large groups in which participants engchi n. to gather more in-depth insights from participants their own words. Compared to sharing. thoughts, smaller groups work better for this study, especially when participants have experience of the topic and might have more things to say (Krueger, 2014). Therefore, mini focus groups containing three (Morgan, 1997) to five (Sim & Snell, 1996) participants were chosen to interview students for this study. Each mini focus group contained both male and female students with the exception of the one in Jingmei Girls Senior High School, which all the students are female. In total, the researcher conducted five mini focus groups in class B, D, G, H and I with a sum of 18 students in four senior high schools. Detailed information can be found in Table 1. Among the list of schools, 22. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(29) Taishan senior high school was the only one in which mini focus group or interviews were not practiced. On May 8, 2017, the culture lecture at Taishan senior high school was the first time the researcher joined the activity. Hoping to first observe and understand the whole process of the lecture then to determine the proper research method, mini focus group and interview were not practiced then, only participant observation was applied. Based on this first experience, the thorough research method with mini focus groups and interviews were decided and planed for the following lectures. Using mini focus groups is especially ideal for this research, since members within. 政治大. each group are classmates, who can create a more supporting and cohesive atmosphere. 立. during the interview and decrease the unsafe feeling brought by the less-familiar. 學. ‧ 國. researcher. In addition, face to face observation on the participants can better capture nonverbal messages such as the speakers’ attitudes or behaviors. Sound recordings were made. ‧. during the process.. Nat. sit. y. Conducting many focus groups has the benefit of reaching data saturation,. n. al. er. io. meaning some points have been repetitively addressed. Data saturation helps the. i n U. v. researcher to elicit representative opinions, which better represent large group of people’s. Ch. engchi. opinion or future predictions about the subject matter (Saumure & Given, 2008; Sandelowski, 2008). Morgan (1997) have suggested that 3 to 6 different focus groups meeting once or multiple times would be adequate to reach data saturation or theoretical saturation.. 23. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(30) Table 1: Information of the observed subjects and mini focus group participants. Mini Focus Group Date. Teacher. School Name. Location. Class. Student. Foreigner. Nationality. Age. Occupation. MF1. Egypt. 35. Businessman. FF1*. Turkey. 39. MF2*. Germany. 37. America. 32. Uzbekistan. 25. Participants 2017/5/8. FT1. Taishan Senior High School. New Taipei City. A (11th Grade). No Class B:. 2017/5/22. MT1*. Municipal Datong High. Taipei City. School. B (10th Grade). FS1*. C (10th Grade). FS2*. Full time backpacker. MS1*. Taipei City. School. ‧ 國. High School. FS7*. Athletic Class). MS2* Class H: FS8*. FF2*. MS4*. FS11* FS12*. io. MS5*. y. Class I:. J (11th Grade). Teacher. ‧. MS3*. I (11th Grade). Language. FS9* FS10*. New Taipei City. Teacher. FS5*. FS6*. H (10th Grade). Dan Feng High School. Language. Class G:. G (10th Grade, Taipei City. FS4*. 學. FT4*. Municipal Yang Ming Senior. Nat. 2017/6/14. FT3*. FS3*. 政治大 F (10th Grade). 立 2017/6/8. E (10th Grade). sit. FT2*. Class D:. FF3*. Sales. er. 2017/5/24. D (10th Grade). Jingmei Girls Senior High. a l or an interview v *The participant of a mini focus group i n Ch engchi U n. MS6*. In order to protect interviewers, when referring them in the findings their names. are replaced with code letters as in Table 1. The initial letter represents the participant’s sex, “F” for female and “M” for male. “S” stands for the students, “F” stands for the foreigners, and “T” stands for the teachers. There is no significance to the number of coding: 1, 2, 3. etc. The questions designed for discussions are for a single meeting lasting for 30 to 60 minutes right after the culture sharing lectures. Student participants either volunteered or were inquired by the teachers and agreed to join the mini focus groups. Questions were raised in an interactive group setting where participants were free to talk 24. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(31) to other members. Questions were prepared in advance to advocate and served as an informal guide during discussion to explore areas of intercultural communication. The list of questions can be seen in Table 2. There were no significant difference in answers found in. Table 2: Mini Focus Group Questions ICC Category. Questions. Knowledge. What is your prior knowledge of the guest speaker’s. 政治大. country and culture?. 立What was your attitude toward the guest speaker’s. Intercultural Attitudes. ‧ 國. 學. How much content of the guest speaker’s speech. Nat. What is your feeling during the share? Please describe. io. sit. y. Intercultural Attitudes. with some adjectives.. a lWhat are the new things you learn v about the guest i n Ch ecountry? ngchi U speaker’s. n. Knowledge. ‧. could you understand?. er. Skills. visit? Please describe with some adjectives.. Knowledge and Skills. What are the most different features between Taiwan and the introduced country?. Intercultural Attitude and. Which parts of the share do you like the most?. Knowledge Intercultural Attitude,. Will this lecture be helpful for you to better. Knowledge and Skill. communicate with foreigners in the future?. 25. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(32) Knowledge, Skill and. Does it increase your understanding of your own. Critical Culture Awareness. culture’s effect on your ideas and behaviors?. Intercultural Attitude,. After the presentation, do you change your attitude. Knowledge, Skill and. toward his/her country or culture? What are the. Critical Culture Awareness. changes?. Intercultural Attitude,. Does the share offer you a different angle of seeing. Knowledge, Skill and. the world? Please describe.. Critical Culture Awareness. 政治大. Intercultural Attitude and. Are there any issues that you want to further explore. 立after this share? Please describe.. Knowledge. Any more questions you want to ask the guest. Knowledge. speaker?. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Intercultural Attitude and. Nat. this country?. y. Do you hope to have more contacts with people from. Do you have any suggestions to improve future. er. io. sit. Intercultural Attitude. n. a lculture lectures? v i n Ch engchi U. In order to find out the ideas behind the design of the presentation, students’ learning situation and students’ reaction in the presenters’ and the teachers’ eyes, interviews with the teachers and presenters were conducted in either one-on-one or twoon-one format right after the cultural sharing classes were over. Four teachers and four foreigners were interviewed as in Table 1. To make TWIYC.tw’s presumably one-time cultural sharing event more meaningful and effective, and to see better the impact on students, the founder of TWIYC.tw, Pia, was also interviewed through Skype on June 22, 26. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(33) 2017. These data will be supplemented material to analyze the effects of the program and changes in the students. The questions asked can be found in Table 3.. Table 3: Interview Questions For guest speakers: How did you design the presentation? For teachers: How did you prepare students for the culture share prior to the lectures?. 政治大 For both guest speakers and teachers: 立. What are your expected behaviors or changes in students through this lecture?. ‧ 國. 學. What was students’ reaction like during the share from your point of view?. ‧. Do you have any suggestions to improve future shares?. sit. y. Nat. For TWIYC.tw founder:. io. al. er. What was your motivation to establish TWIYC.tw?. n. What is the organization’s expectation on foreign guest speakers, high school. Ch. teachers, and high school students?. engchi. i n U. v. How does TWIYC.tw facilitate foreign guest speakers in designing the culture shares to better improve students’ ICC? What kind of ICC did students present in the culture shares? Are there any plans to further improve the culture sharing project?. 27. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(34) 3.4 Participant Observation Using the research method of participant observation, it means the researcher will take part in the subjects’ lives. With this practice, the subjects’ every day social behaviors can be better found and revealed (Spradley, 2016). In addition, the researcher can minimize the possibilities of imposing her own thoughts to understand the subject matter. The aim of conducting participant observation is to record direct and detailed information during the culture sharing process in order to gain in-depth understanding of students’. 政治大 Table 1). The following paragraphs explain how the researcher entered classrooms and 立. behavior and thoughts. In this study, the researcher entered 10 classrooms (as seen in. ‧ 國. 學. the aim of choosing this method.. The researcher first contacted TWIYC.tw and became its volunteer. She also had. ‧. their agreement on researching this topic. Before actually entering each classroom, the. sit. y. Nat. researcher always contacted TWIYC.tw to receive contact information of school teachers.. io. er. The role of the researcher was explained clearly to the teachers as a Masters degree. al. v i n C h materials. SomeUteachers might explain to their classes, writing records and promotion engchi n. student researching on this project and also a TWIYC.tw volunteer helping to observe the. students about the extra participant in advance. By the time of entering a class, the researcher tried to enter with the least possible disturbance. Following the class teacher’s example, the foreign speaker and the researcher always entered the classroom at the same time. The foreign speaker and the teacher walked on to the stage and quickly caught students’ attention, while the researcher usually went to the back of the classroom to find an empty seat. Sometimes the teacher introduced the researcher to the students as TWIYC.tw’s volunteer, but most of the time they did not mention the researcher and started the presentation directly. This way, the researcher 28. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(35) became a silent participant observer of the event. This was helpful in maintaining a more natural atmosphere during observation, which made subjects’ behavior and reaction more natural. During classes, the researcher made observations, audio recordings and writing records about the whole class’ atmosphere or some specific students’ behavior, such as looking straight, talking to neighbors or not paying attention, but doing something else. However, more detailed information such as students’ facial expressions were mostly missed due to the researcher’s position being at the back of the classroom.. 3.5 Data Analysis. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Transcripts are made for every focus group and interview from the audio recordings to serve as the major data to analyze the effects of TWIYC.tw’s culture shares. ‧. on students ICC. Owing to five focus groups being used for this study, similarities and. sit. y. Nat. differences among students’ feedbacks could be compared comprehensively. The analysis. io. er. include the following directions: firstly, the improved elements of students’ ICC.. al. v i n Ch speakers’ presentation e n g cdesign, h i Uteachers’ n. Secondly, the elements that did not, as demonstrated by the shares, have clear effects. Due to guest. arrangements for the. students and classes’ intercultural experiences, different class characteristics had an impact, so analyzing the interview transcripts of the guest speakers and teachers together with the focus groups data are helpful in clarifying the helpful or harmful designs affecting students’ ICC and can provide more background information. The researcher’s notes from in-class observations can provide examples for the above situations. They also help the researcher to engage and understand better during focus groups and interviews, and analyze the data with a more concrete understanding. The analysis will rely heavily on the subjects’ and interviewers’ own accounts to better prevent research bias. Lastly, 29. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(36) students’, guest speakers’, teachers’ and the organization founder’s suggestions on how to improve the project are also listed to provide guidance for future development of this project or similar intercultural activities.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 30. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(37) Chapter 4: Findings 4.1 The Ideas Behind the TWIYC.tw program 4.1.1 The motivation of the TWIYC.tw program Motivation is the trigger for a group or an individual to develop towards a particular goal (Chan, 1994). TWIYC.tw, being a new program, many of its stories,. 政治大. background and motivation have not been disclosed on their developing website or stated. 立. publically. However, it is important to understand this history and ideals to better. ‧ 國. 學. comprehend their services and potential. The paper thus hopes to organize the information. ‧. and unveil TWIYC.tw program’s value towards developing ICC.. In the interview on Jun 22, 2017, the founder of the TWIYC.tw program, Pia Lin,. y. Nat. er. io. sit. explained the reason she brought the prototype from the Netherlands back to Taiwan. In 2015, she was a Taiwanese exchange student to the Netherlands. She noticed the TWIYC. al. n. v i n in The Hague was recruiting foreign C hvolunteers to shareUtheir cultures with local middle engchi school students. She joined this program in The Hague, in its third year, hoping to. promote Taiwan. However, she soon realized that similar to the Netherlands, Taiwan also had many foreign travelers and foreign residents that can contribute to Taiwan’s intercultural education, but there was no such program in Taiwan yet1. Pia then started to. 1. In Taiwan, there are currently two more programs working on bringing foreigners into the classroom. Both of them have been given different goals from TWIYC.tw. One is ‘沙發客來上課’: ‘Couchsurfers In Class', which puts emphasis on inviting foreign travelers and couchsurfers to visit remote schools in Taiwan to share their culture in local schools and enjoy a local homestay. This group is non-profit, unregistered and volunteer-based. The other group is “TEEP: Taiwan Experience Education Program, National Chengchi University” founded by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. The program invited foreign students studying in NCCU to visit featured local classes at remote elementary schools such as: 31. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(38) work on establishing TWIYC.tw. The TWIYC in The Hague was a program, funded annually by the local government, and run by a non-governmental organization, PEP Den Haag. On the other hand, the TWIYC.tw, which Pia founded in 2017, was a nongovernmental organization formed by voluntary staff members and did not rely on government funds. TWIYC.tw provides free services for its participants and hopes to develop its service area to the whole Taiwan rather than being limited to one city. Taiwanese students rarely had chance to interact with foreigners even though more and more were arriving in Taiwan. In this research, among the mini focus group. 政治大. students, only those from Jingmei Girls Senior High School said that their school offered. 立. more free cultural exchange opportunities to students. For example, students can. 學. ‧ 國. volunteer individually or as a class to receive exchange students and foreign sister school students coming frequently every year. Students from other schools stated that such. ‧. opportunities were limited and were mainly given to the school’s language gifted class. y. Nat. io. sit. (語文資優班), leaving the majority of normal classes neglected. This is the situation in. n. al. er. schools in Taipei, the capital city. Resources of this type for schools in the countryside. Ch. i n U. v. were even scarcer. Pia also found that though some schools were located near famous. engchi. tourist destinations frequented by international travelers, the chance of intercultural interactions with students did not increase. She once brought a foreigner lecturer to a school in Beitou, a popular scenic area. Students “were as excited as it could have been their first time seeing a foreigner,” stated Pia. Therefore, the TWIYC.tw could serve as a bridge between students and foreigners, bringing them to classes. It also welcomes all middle school classes to join without any charges from its participants.. Photography, Tea Making and Unicycle Riding. The aim is to have foreign students promote the advantages of Taiwanese education in their home country. 32. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(39) TWIYC.tw hopes to benefit all three types of its participants. For foreign volunteers, the TWIYC.tw program provides the special experience of integration and interaction with local students, which was not accessible for foreign travelers or even foreign workers in Taiwan before. In Pia’s experience, foreigners from Indonesia or Philippines where their cultures are less popular or less discussed in Taiwan, they especially enjoyed sharing their cultures and found their participation meaningful. “This is exactly what I hope for--volunteers could think this is an enriching experience for them”, said Pia. For local teachers, the organization hopes that they can make use of the. 政治大. resource as many times as possible. “Teachers should have broader horizons other than. 立. only offering textbook contents and exams”, said Pia. The culture lectures could not only. ‧ 國. 學. broaden teachers’ horizon but also inspire them to incorporate more materials and knowledge beyond text books in their teaching. For high school students, the TWIYC.tw. ‧. hopes that they can think differently and have a greater understanding to the introduced. Nat. sit. y. countries. Especially with additional assistance from teachers, the expected effects on. n. al. er. io. students can be further extended. Such assistance may include adding preview activities,. i n U. v. worksheets or collecting students’ feedback, though there is no unified method to be. Ch. engchi. practiced in each class, the sharing event can become more impressive to students. Thus, for students who do not speak up in class, their thoughts and reaction can also be shown and recorded. Due to the program benefits all stakeholders, its popularity can be seen from the 40 sharing events they organized in the first year and the frequent inquiries they received. The TWIYC.tw hoped to tackle the problem that normal school curricula lack stimuli to trigger and develop students’ curiosity about the world. However, for Pia this program has its limitations: 33. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(40) “We do suggest teachers and volunteers work towards developing ICC, but whether students actually gain something from this experience, we cannot guarantee…to be honest, what students can learn from this 45 to 50 minutes activity is limited. In fact, TWIYC.tw doesn’t want to force students to learn, that loses the meaning of bringing foreigners to class. We keep emphasizing on the fact that this activity is a trigger, a trigger to open the door of curiosity in students’ hearts towards the world beyond Taiwan. We can never be sure about students’ development in the future, but we can increase their courage of getting to know the world and its people.”. 立. 政治大. Pia’s goal for this program is clear and without exaggeration. Though through the. 學. ‧ 國. program, intercultural learning could happen in local high schools, Pia still has a more reserved attitude towards the development of students’ ICC through the lecturers. The. ‧. following findings of this research will specify the lectures’ effects and limitations on. a. er. io. sit. y. Nat. ICC.. n. i vActivities 4.1.2 The Design of TWIYC.tw’s Culture Sharing l. Ch. n U engchi. Teaching practices and teaching beliefs are strongly related (Knowles & HoltReynolds, 1991; Carter & Doyle, 1995). Before reviewing students’ feedback on the TWIYC.tw program, it is important to investigate the ideas that shaped the culture lectures. Pia reviewed her experience with TWIYC in The Hague and made considerable changes for the Taiwanese version, including training for both school teachers and foreign volunteers, strengthening the structure of culture lectures, and designing the sharing. 34. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(41) content based on students’ abilities. These three changes are strongly related to students’ development of ICC, and will be elaborated below. From Pia’s experiences there, she as the volunteer did not have the chance to meet the teacher before entering the classroom. She needed to take the initiative of contacting her host teacher and discuss teaching materials with them online. Without discussion about reception details, when Pia arrived at the school gate, she was surprised that there were not any guides or passes prepared for her to enter the campus, nor any indicators of where the classroom was located. The sharing event could not have been completed. 政治大. successfully if the volunteer had not shown initiative in the process. Hence TWIYC.tw. 立. invited both foreign volunteers and school teachers to join the Training Day, a one-day. 學. ‧ 國. briefing and teaching workshop for the culture lectures, unlike the one in the Hague was for foreign volunteers only. TWIYC.tw hoped that both sides would understand their. ‧. duties better. They regard school teachers as hosts. Hosts are encouraged to arrange. Nat. sit. y. receptions and welcoming activities for foreign volunteers. Foreign volunteers are. n. al. er. io. considered as guests. They will be given tips and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). i n U. v. for before, during, and after the sharing events, which emphasize communication with. Ch. engchi. host teachers and preparation before class. TWIYC.tw thinks setting up both parties’ mindsets is an essential first step for success. In addition, the TWIYC.tw strengthened the structure of the lectures. In The Hague, the Training Day was led by a speaker with education background. It included a Dutch education system introduction, basic steps on writing lesson plans, and brainstorming about the problems that might happen in class. The organization left plenty of room for volunteers to design their own classes. As a result, the class structure volunteers delivered varied a lot. Some volunteers brought treats to class or planned craft 35. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(42) activities. One volunteer chose to speak to students without presentation slides and told Pia that, in the end, the students were indifferent to her sharing. Her negative experience inspired Pia to provide more teaching resources for volunteers, who might not have a teaching background or abundant teaching skills. “I think the most important thing is to make every sharing event meaningful, so we have to let volunteers know what to share and how to share their experiences,” she said. Therefore, in the Training day in Taiwan, TWIYC.tw strongly suggests volunteers present in class with slides. They also provide past volunteers’ slides and lesson plans for. 政治大. new volunteers. Due to Taiwanese students’ tendency to be more shy, they advise. 立. volunteers to incorporate more interactive elements into their sharings, such as by asking. ‧ 國. 學. questions for students to guess the answers to. A volunteer’s sharing time in class is around fifty minutes. However, with assistance from school teachers, the impact on. ‧. students can go beyond the time limit. TWIYC.tw encourages school teachers to. Nat. sit. y. introduce or discuss the volunteers’ country and culture before and after the sharing event.. al. n. quality of its lectures.. er. io. With these ideas, the organization successfully helps its participants and increases the. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In The Hague, Pia noticed that once, when a speaker talked about her countries’ trade and economy to students with less academic interest, most of the students lost their interest and fell asleep. “One obstacle of the program is volunteers don’t know what students want,” Lucie Herraiz Cunningham, the director of TWIYC in The Hague, told Pia. To enhance the effectiveness of the lectures, TWIYC.tw gave a list of reference topics to volunteers, including: news, tourist sites, festivals and foods; in order to assist volunteers in structuring their classes. Discussion about religion, with the intent to convert, and politics are the two more sensitive topics that TWIYC.tw hoped volunteers would 36. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(43) think twice about before discussing. In addition, TWIYC.tw encouraged teachers and volunteers to discuss each class’ interests and levels of understanding. With this knowledge, foreign volunteers could decide what themes they wanted to cover, and how deep they would introduce certain topics for each class. If teachers had suggestions and specific requirements, they could communicate these with the volunteers. For example, TWIYC.tw once sent three volunteers to a class in Taichung to cooperate with the teacher. They organized sharing and discussion activities in smaller groups. As a result, sharing activities were more varied and customized to fit the class’s needs. Behind these changes,. 政治大. Pia hopes to optimize the TWIYC model and cultivate positive intercultural experiences. 立. among its participants (students and foreign volunteers).. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 37. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(44) 4.2 Students’ Development of Intercultural Attitudes 4.2.1 Students’ familiarity with the countries and their intercultural attitude In TWIYC.tw lectures, students have the potential to meet lecturers from different countries, from Japan and America which Taiwanese people are more familiar with, to countries that students might have never heard of. It is important to find out whether students’ intercultural attitude towards the lectures could be strongly affected by their. 政治大. familiarity with the country. According to Byram (1997) positive intercultural attitudes. 立. includes, openness, willingness to suspend disbelief and curiosity; negative attitudes are. ‧ 國. 學. prejudice, or discrimination, etc. Below are the impression and background knowledge. ‧. students have towards the speakers’ countries before the TWIYC.tw activity.. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. lecturers’ cultures. sit. Table 4: Students’ impression and background knowledge towards the. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Students’ impression and background knowledge about Turkey FS1. "I know Pamukkale, Ottoman Empire and Hagia Sophia, basically, the ones you read on textbook, but I don’t know much about the culture and everyday lives in Turkey.”. FS2. "Actually, I have been to Turkey, 99% of its people are Muslim. Most people don't wear hijabs, which I was very surprised. They are more openminded towards religion. Some countries take religion so seriously that. 38. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(45) even tourists have to wear hijabs. Another thing is that when I went to Turkey, there weren't any clouds in the sky. The sky was very beautiful.” MS1. “I know Turkish ice cream. Turkey is in Asia, that most people do not know. They might think Turkey is in Europe.” Students’ impression and background knowledge about Germany. FS3. “I think Germany is a solemn country, and they are very disciplined. Germany is a big and powerful country, it is the leader in the European Union. They have well-developed technology and are known for making. 政治大. good car engines. Germans are aware of nationalism, and they are in the. 立. news a lot recently due to the refugee crisis.”. “I think Germany is a very isolated country because of what I read about. ‧ 國. 學. FS4. them in history textbooks, which are mostly about wars. Due to the. ‧. refugees’ crisis and terrorist attacks, I think Germany is a dangerous place.”. y. Nat. “I think Germany is a serious country compare to its romantic neighbors,. sit. FS5. n. al. er. io. France and Italy. I feel that Germans have a strong attitude in doing things,. i n U. for example, they have a solid car industry.”. Ch. engchi. v. Students’ impression and background knowledge about America FS6. I learn about America from American movies and songs.. FS7. I got to know America through text book. I learned about their holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Halloween.. MS2. I know America pretty well because I had lived in West Virginia till I was ten years old. West Virginia is located in the south of Pennsylvania, east of Ohio and north of Kentucky. In America, there is a diversity of food. I have. 39. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.

(46) been to the places the speaker showed us, including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore. FS8. Americans are all very tall and beautiful. There are many ethnic groups and cultures; it feels like a powerful country with many talented and skillful people.. FS9. I feel that America is powerful from every perspective.. FS10. I think America is a big country and many people go there for a better future, searching for jobs or chasing after their dreams. It has a lot of. 政治大. different cultures and different people. There are many tourists, especially in the summer.. ‧ 國. 學. MS3. 立. I really like sports, so what comes to my mind is NBA. I learned from history that America has racial discrimination. Also, America is very. ‧. powerful economically and militarily.. y. Nat. io. Grammys awards are famous internationally.. n. al. sit. My impression is that people there like to eat fast food. The Oscar and. er. MS4. i n U. v. Students’ impression and background knowledge about Uzbekistan. Ch. engchi. FS11. The country seems pretty far away and unfamiliar to me.. FS12. I didn’t know this country.. MS5. I have not heard of this country.. MS6. I have heard of this country, but I know nothing about it.. Although students’ familiarity towards the sharer’s country differs, this has no direct influence on students’ starting attitude towards the TWIYC.tw program. 15 out of 18 students held positive attitudes towards it. From the students who are least familiar 40. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.001.2019.F05.