The process of identifying Skills of interpreting and relating

Different from using students’ reflective journals or autobiography as the data source, students’ responses to the sequentially constructed questions in the questionnaires requires more explanations for their development as IEC learners. Moreover, the teacher-researcher is the one most familiar with the course objective, teaching content and the students’ positions and views on their ICC development (especially with some supplemented information from the

conversation with students in the focus groups interviews after the course), so the supplemented explanations are essential to accomplish and finalize comparatively more comprehensive and context-specific understanding. For example, the evidence for S1a ‘identify ethnocentric perspective in a document or event and explain their origins’ is not obvious from the superficial meaning of the data presented in Table 5-9, and in these circumstances, background information is vital for a more comprehensive understanding.

Skills of interpreting and relating a) (S1a)

Learning objective dimension a) under Skills of interpreting and relating (S1) has 4 items (50%) identified from Teaching Session One ‘Culture Shock’ (n=2), Teaching Session Three ‘Food and Eating Habits’ (n=1) and Teaching Session Four ‘Study in the UK’ (n=1). According to Byram’s (1997) statement, S1a refers to:

(Ability to) identify ethnocentric perspectives in a document or event and explain their origins. The intercultural speaker can ‘read’ a document or event, analyzing its origins/sources e.g. in the media, in political speech or historical writing and the meanings and values which arise from a national or other ethnocentric perspective (stereotypes, historical connotations in texts) and which are presupposed and implicit, leading to conclusions which can be challenged from a different perspective. (p. 60)

Evident from the above illustration, both the ‘ethnocentric document/event’ and the ability to ‘identify and explain the ethnocentric perspectives’ are essential elements for this intercultural skill. In the case of IEC it is impossible to analyze students’ feedback in their learning process worksheets without bringing in the teaching context. For example, identifying what is meant by an ‘ethnocentric document/event’ in a particular teaching and learning context. So the procedure in analyzing learners’ achievement of S1a starts with what an ‘ethnocentric document/event’ meant at a phase in the IEC, then includes students’ responses that demonstrate their ability to analyze the ethnocentric perspectives. The following paragraphs will take instances from Teaching Session One ‘Culture

Shock’ and Teaching Session Four ‘Study in the UK’ as examples to illustrate students’ developed Skills of interpreting and relating.

In Teaching Session One ‘Culture Shock’, students are presented with five Hong Kong students’ diary entries, which describe the critical incidents during their sojourn experiences in the United Kingdom. After reading the story, students are asked to discuss the scenarios with their group members, followed by a whole-class presentation of the results from their group discussions. Throughout these steps, students are allowed sufficient time and space to identify and analyze the ethnocentric perspectives from the reading materials. In this light, the ethnocentric document is the culture shock scenarios. A typical instance is from G4-1-MB’s reply, ‘The English culture have different meanings from the Chinese culture. For example, the travel rules are different (England drives on the left)’, which shows that the student has drawn a comparison between the closely-related documents in the interlocutor’s and their own country’s, and identified different ethnocentric perspectives.

Similar ethnocentric event analysis is displayed in Teaching Session Four ‘Study in the UK’ via video-clips, which portray international students’ studying and living circumstances in the United Kingdom. After watching two clips with contradictory viewpoints, students are required to write down their own views explicitly regarding the comparison between studying in the UK and China. G4-10-FT explains that,

The class covers many aspects of international studies. Actually I don’t exactly stay with either UK or China. Every choice has some advantages and disadvantages that are worth of considering. For instance, as far as

China is concerned, there is not enough space for teenagers who just

graduate from college to develop themselves. And for UK, we must face too many issues that are obvious different from the environment we used to, and the tuition fees is very high; society is also complicated.

It is evident that G4-10-FT has compared the similar phenomena between two countries, identified the inherent differences and arrived at a conclusion based on

her way of information processing. And all the four instances identified in S1a) suggest that IEC learners have developed their abilities with regard to recognizing ethnocentric perspectives.

Skills of interpreting and relating c) (S1c)

Learning objective c) under Skills of interpreting and relating (S1) is another most spotted dimension, with 4 examples (50%) recognized from students’ feedback, and is elaborated in Byram’s (1997) work as:

c) (Ability to) mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena. The intercultural speaker can use their explanations of sources of misunderstanding and dysfunction to help interlocutors overcome conflicting perspectives; can explain the perspective of each and the origins of those perspectives in terms accessible to the other; can help interlocutors to identify common ground and unresolvable difference. (p. 61)

Four S1c instances are recognized from students’ feedback in Teaching Session Three ‘Food and Eating Habits’, when they answer the following question in their post-class worksheet ‘If one of your friends who is from America criticizes Chinese cuisine, what is your possible reaction to his comment?’ The intention of this question is to explore students’ responses when they encounter misunderstandings of their own culture. Some students’ answers are close to S1c indications, and the evidence identified demonstrates students’ capability to ‘mediate between conflicting interpretations of phenomena’. The following are the specific examples:

‘Explain (that) every country has their own custom, and in the neutral standard (position). No side is wrong.’ (TS3-Q13, G1-8-FB)

‘Explain the difference between their culture and mine. Every one of us has the right to choose. When we stay with others, try to avoid the sensitive culture.’ (TS3-Q13, G4-3-ME)

In both instances, when G1-8-FB and G4-3-ME face a completely different viewpoint of a phenomenon from their own culture, they, as a mediator, are willing to identify the common ground and help both sides to overcome the conflicting interpretations. Moreover, G4-3-ME further indicates that he is reluctant to take the initiative to delve into the core conflict (‘When we stay with others, try to avoid the sensitive culture’), which represents the Chinese spiritual essence of Harmonious Society (this aspect will be further explored in the Chapter six ‘Additional ICC Themes’).

In summary, the above eight examples recognized as Skills of interpreting and relating evidence represent IEC learners’ development both in dimension a) and dimension c). However, it is notable that S1 is the second least identified facet (4%) among the five ICC components. The causes of this insufficiency regarding teaching methodology and course design will be further explored in Chapter seven (Teacher and Teaching).