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- Title
Assessing intercultural competence growth using direct and indirect measures.
- Authors
Uribe, Daniel; LeLoup, Jean W.; Haverluk, Terrence W.
- Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore and assess the improvement in intercultural competence of USAF Academy cadets using indirect measures (e.g., questions in end-of-course critiques and institutional surveys) and a direct measure--specifically the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Data gathered from several groups of subjects at different academic levels were evaluated to see if certain variables were facilitating intercultural competence growth. Initial findings suggest that language study and time spent abroad in target language countries assist students in gaining intercultural competence. The notion of multicultural or intercultural competence is clearly not the sole purview of the foreign language (FL) education field. Indeed, it has been an issue of high interest for several decades in a variety of realms such as government milieus, general educational settings, and business environments. As the world became increasingly more global, a need was perceived both to define and then assess one's intercultural competence and potential for success while functioning in a particular venue. One solution proffered to address this need was the creation of a model to describe intercultural competence and then the development of an instrument to measure that competence. Several such models (e.g., Bennett, 1986; Byram, 1997; van der Zee & van Oudenhoven, 2000; Ward & Kennedy, 1999) have been developed in an attempt to describe and then measure intercultural competence, and they have been employed in a wide array of situations where intercultural competence is desired. A discussion of these models and instruments as well as a more detailed explanation of the model selected for use in the present study are presented later in this paper. The particular model selected and the empirical measure of its theoretical concepts were the basis for a study conducted at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in order to measure the intercultural competence of three groups of students (cadets) at different stages in their educational careers and with diverse international experiences. It is important to understand the institutional context of USAFA, as it is distinctly different from most other tertiary institutions on a number of levels.
- Subjects
UNITED States; MULTICULTURAL education; UNITED States Air Force Academy; FOREIGN language education; UNITED States. Air Force; STUDENTS
- Publication
NECTFL Review, 2014, Issue 73, p15
- ISSN
2164-5957
- Publication type
Article