The Challenges of the Multilingual and Multicultural Learning Space Jennifer Valcke

Unit of Medical Education / LIME

What’s it all about?

What is international education all

about?

What is intercultural education all

about?

What is English-Medium

Instruction all about?

Internationalisation of Higher Education is: […] the intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions and delivery of post-secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff, and to make a meaningful contribution to society.

(de Wit et al. 2015; based on definition by Knight 2004, 2012)

The Internationalisation of Higher Education: Engages all students with internationally informed research and cultural

and linguistic diversity

Purposefully develops and assesses students’ international and intercultural perspectives and related learning outcomes

Prepares students for life and work in a globalised world

Can be taught in any language (not only in English)

May or may not feature student mobility

The Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC) Incorporation of international, intercultural and global dimensions into the content

of the curriculum as well as the learning outcomes, assessment tasks, teaching methods and support services of a study programme.

Focused on assuring international/intercultural learning outcomes for students.

Formal curriculum Informal / Hidden curriculum

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Internationalisation at Home (IaH) Internationalisation at Home is the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students within domestic learning environments.

(Beelen and Jones, 2015)

What conclusions can we draw so far? The IC is a result of a change process which requires:

• Institutional policies, strategies and support

• Educational development

• Professional development of individual teachers

“While the appeal of the idea of internationalization of the curriculum appears ubiquitous it is not always clear what it means and how it might represent a new way of prioritizing and organizing learning” (Rizvi and Lingard, 2010) “An educational reform that requires that we think differently about the

universality of knowledge” (Mestenhauser, 1998)

Who are the stakeholders?

IoC KI educational leaders*

Programme/Course directors

Academic staff and clinicians

International Office

CLK/Professional Development

Language Support • Staff • Students

Students

Patients

Future employers (hospitals, clinics,

etc.)

*At institutional and local levels.

Internationalisation of the Curriculum in Action The question we must ask is:

How can we internationalise the curriculum in a specific discipline area in our particular institutional context and ensure that, as a result, we improve the learning outcomes of all students?

Teaching and Learning in the International Classroom The assumptions about teaching and learning from

an intercultural/international/global perspective are:

To teach is not to transfer knowledge, but to create the possibility for the production or construction of knowledge,

We assume two main principles of learning: experience and interaction.

These two main assumptions suggest the creation of possible spaces, activities, situations where teachers and students cooperate and share experiences.

How multicultural/international is your classroom?

Stockholm City Demographics 2002-2014 Source: Statistics Sweden

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Born in Sweden with 1 parentborn abroad and 1 parent bornin Sweden

Born in Sweden with 2 parentsborn abroad

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The International Classroom A multilingual and multicultural learning space where students: Have different first languages

Have different ethnic backgrounds

(May) be used to different academic and disciplinary cultures

Didactics

Culture Language

• Teaching styles, beliefs and learner identities, use of humour, academic practices, power distanc plagiarism, etc.

• Discourse conventions and nomenclatures, conceptual frameworks, interdisciplinarity, etc.

• Source for exemplification of concepts and terms, local and intercultural communication conventions, etc.

• Cultural backgrounds of lecturers and students, values & experiences, etc.

ETHNIC CULTURE

LOCAL CULTURE

ACADEMIC CULTURE

DISCIPLINARY CULTURE

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The International Classroom… Is multilingual and multicultural

Engages all students

Is not language specific (Swedish, English, …)

Requires special knowledge and reflection (from teachers) to scaffold the students’ learning

Is characterised by cultural, linguistic and didactic challenges and opportunities

References Beelen, J. and Jones, E. (2015) Redefining Internationalisation at Home: In: Curaj, A. et al. eds.

The European Higher Education Area:Between critical reflections and future policies. Springer.

Childress, L. (2010) The twenty-first century university: developing faculty engagement in internationalisation. Complicated Conversation Vol 32. Peter Lang.

de Wit, H. et al. (2015) Internationalisation of Higher Education. Study requested by the European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ STUD/2015/540370/IPOL_STU(2015)540370_EN.pdf .

Leask, B. (2015) Internationalising the Curriculum. Routledge.

Mestenhauser, J. (1998) Portaits of an internationalized curriculum. In: Mestenhauser, J. & Ellingboe, B. (eds) Reforming the Higher Education Curriculum. The Oryx Press.

Rizvi, F. and Lingard B. 2010. Globalizing Education Policy. Routledge.

Valcke, J. et al (2011) Practising CLIL in Higher Education – Challenges and Perspectives. In: D. Marsh & O. Meyer. Quality Interfaces: Examining Evidence & Exploring Solutions in CLIL, Eichstätt University.