Working toward connectedness: intercultural communication, friendship forming, the emotions of ‘mixing’ and pedagogical approaches for internationalised higher education

In this thesis, I investigate issues of intercultural ‘mixing,’ friendship forming, communication and social inclusion between local and international students in an Australian higher education program. ‘Mixing’ between students in culturally diverse classes has long been considered highly beneficial. The reality apparent in the literature, however, is that intercultural collaboration, friendship forming and connectedness rarely happen. Although they have persisted for the past two decades, the underlying reasons for these issues and possible ways to remedy them remain largely elusive. This study is designed to unearth reasons for the lack of connection between local and international students and suggest ways to address them.

While there is substantial literature on issues of intercultural communication and ‘mixing’ in internationalised higher education classrooms across the globe, the focus is typically on one perspective, either that of the local students or the international students. The preconceptions, evolving perspectives and reported experiences of local and international students have largely not been explored in parallel, leaving a crucial gap in our understanding. This is critical to our understanding of how both groups experience their shared contact.

I address that gap here by reporting data from local and international students throughout their first term of study, gathered through a triangulated mixed-methods approach to data collection, which have allowed for analyses at macro and micro levels. To capture a broader view, surveys were administered to the whole cohort of incoming students at the beginning (N=96) and end (N=128) of their first term of study. Ethnographic classroom observations (96 hours) and in-depth interviews with students (N=17) and teachers (N=2) provided qualitative data at the micro-level of two classrooms. These data helped illuminate the quantitative results and, taken together, these findings shed light on the dynamics of international education and offer explanations for why ‘mixing’ often does not happen. I discuss the benefits of this mixed-method approach and suggest conduct for future research on international cohorts in higher education.

This thesis-by-publication is structured in the following way: firstly, the study design and overarching methodological approach are set out in Chapters 1 and 2; then three published articles, each focusing on a data set, are presented in Chapters 3, 4 and 5; finally, a discussion of the overall findings and a conclusion to the study are given in Chapters 6 and 7.

In the first article, analysis of the whole-cohort surveys indicates that the local and international respondents construed their shared experiences in robustly different ways, and that the onus of successful communication and friendship forming fell on the international students. In the second article, I draw on qualitative data from two Academic Communication classrooms to illustrate the important role of the teacher in developing realistic expectations of the time, skills and perseverance needed for successful intercultural communication. Where this guidance was lacking, negative learner emotions dominated and impacted the success of intercultural ‘mixing.’ In the final article, I examine the impacts of the teachers’ pedagogical practices on social inclusion and ‘mixing.’ While one teacher was able to successfully shift to learner-centred education (LCE) approaches, which fostered intercultural connectedness and a better learning experience, the other reverted to teacher-centred education (TCE) approaches, which did little to support intercultural connectedness. Through an analysis of the different perspectives on shared experiences offered by local and international students, and the emotions that underpinned them during attempts at ‘mixing,’ this study contributes important insight into the long-reported disconnect between these groups. The findings further highlight the crucial role of the teacher in normalising slightly uncomfortable learner emotions and mitigating strongly uncomfortable learner emotions.

These findings suggest that learner emotions lie at the centre of intercultural experiences. On a practical level, they offer a useful tool for raising tertiary teachers’ awareness of this centrality and how it might be addressed in the classroom. On a theoretical level, the findings offer a useful lens through which the complexities of international education research and the role of progressive pedagogies in bringing connectedness to internationalised higher education may be better understood.