HENB10581U Interacting across cultures: developing awareness, critical reflection and skills

This course focuses on students’ development of intercultural communicative skills through interaction with peers from other Nordic universities throughout the semester.

The course consists of three parts focusing on “Navigating academic cultures”, “The role of language in intercultural communication”, and “Engaging with and reflecting on culture(s)”, which are taught by teachers from the participating Nordic universities.

Synchronous activities, such as online teaching and group discussions, will take place Fridays 12:00-14:00 (Danish time).

Part 1: Navigating academic culture
This first part of the course introduces students to an academic approach to learning and university studies. Focus will be placed on relevant theories and understanding of academic cultural differences, both in text and context. The students will reflect and discuss how to handle the transition between explicit and implicit cultural expectations, including communication between teachers and students, teaching, examinations, independent learning, and initiative-taking.
 

Part 2: The role of language in intercultural communication
This part focuses on intercultural communication, especially the linguistic aspects of communication. Students will have the opportunity -- individually and in a group -- to reflect and process their own experiences of cross-language communication. Topics include intercultural communication, communicative norms, and communicative bias.

Part 3: Engaging with and reflecting on culture(s)
This part provides theoretical grounding to support practical cultural analysis, based on an intercultural toolbox and activities that challenge cultural assumptions and may cause cultural dissonance. Guided and spontaneous meta-cognitive/meta-emotional reflection has a core role throughout the course.

A crucial tenet of the course is that students experience a safe space for open, critical and complex, at times difficult, discussion of intercultural themes and related thoughts, emotions, perspectives, and ideas.