Self-Reflection of Attitude after Teaching Abroad: A Narrative of Teaching Indonesian to American Students

Authors

  • Dyan Ayu Andawi Sebelas Maret University
  • Ngadiso Ngadiso Sebelas Maret University
  • Nur Arifah Drajati Sebelas Maret University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21512/humaniora.v10i1.5284

Keywords:

attitude development, self-reflection, teaching abroad, intercultural encounter, intercultural competence

Abstract

This research aimed at exploring how the former participant of teaching abroad reflects intercultural experience in order to know the development of attitude as one of the descriptors of intercultural competence. The attitude being explored were (1) acknowledging the identities of others, (2) respecting otherness, (3) having empathy, (4) identifying positive and negative
emotion, and (5) tolerance for ambiguity. This research applied a qualitative method. The data were taken from the former grantee of Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) who taught Indonesian to the students of higher education in the U.S in the academic year of 2015/2016. The former grantee was examined after two years of the program. The research
was based on a narrative inquiry that used an instrument named the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters. It was a selfreflection portfolio made specifically to reflect an intercultural encounter from the eye of the participant. The results indicate that the participant shows a considerable degree of reflection to five elements of attitude aforementioned. It gives a significant implication that the self-reflection increases the participant awareness upon the experience of otherness thus reinforcing the ability to evaluate the changes in attitude.

Dimensions

Plum Analytics

Author Biographies

Dyan Ayu Andawi, Sebelas Maret University

Dyan Ayu Andawi is a last-year master student of English Education in Sebelas Maret University. She received a bachelor degree in the same field from the same university in 2013 and taught English, Civic Education, Arts and Music in Islamic high school afterward. She currently works on her Thesis in intercultural education field. She is interested in intercultural education/ pedagogy, language and culture, and sociopragmatics.

Ngadiso Ngadiso, Sebelas Maret University

Ngadiso is an Associate Professor who teaches bachelor and master program of English Education in Sebelas Maret University. He received his doctor degree of English Education from State University of Jakarta in 2004. Currently, he is in charge of Graduate School of English Education.

Nur Arifah Drajati, Sebelas Maret University

Nur Arifah Drajati is a Senior Lecturer who teaches in bachelor and master program of English Education in Sebelas Maret University. She received her doctor degree from State University of Jakarta in 2013.

References

Alred, G., & Byram, M. (2002). Becoming an intercultural mediator: A longitudinal study of residence abroad. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23(5), 339–352. Retrieved from http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/023/jmmd0230339.htm%5Cnhttp://dro-test.dur.ac.uk.

AMINEF. (2018). Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) program. Retrieved September 11th, 2017 from https://www.aminef.or.id/grantsfor-indonesians/fulbright-programs/fellowship/fulbright-foreign-language-teaching-assistant-fltaprogram/#.

Barrett, M. (2008). Intercultural competences: Some reflections based on the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters. Paper Presented at the Council of Europe Seminar on “Images of the ‘Other’ in History Teaching: The Role of History Teaching Institutions in the North and Global South,” 25th–26th September, 1–8. Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/.

Bennett, M. J. (2010). A short conceptual history of intercultural learning in study abroad. A History of U.S. Study Abroad: 1965-Present. Special Publication of Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 419–449.

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Byram, M. (2014). Twenty-five years on - from cultural studies to intercultural citizenship. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 27(3), 209–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2014.974329.

Byram, M., Barrett, M., Ipgrave, J., Jackson, R., & Garcia, 62 Humaniora, Vol. 10 No. 1 March 2019, 55-62 M. C. M. (2009a). Autobiography of intercultural encounters: Context, concepts, and theories. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Byram, M., Barrett, M., Ipgrave, J., Jackson, R., & Garcia, M. C. M. (2009b). Autobiography of intercultural encounters: Notes for facilitators. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Byram, M., Barrett, M., Ipgrave, J., Jackson, R., & Garcia, M. C. M. (2009c). Autobiography of intercultural encounters. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Council of Europe. (2018). Autobiography of intercultural encounters. Retrieved February 2nd, 2018 from https://www.coe.int/en/web/autobiographyintercultural-encounters/autobiography-ofintercultural-encounters.

García, M. C. M. (2017). Intercultural reflection through the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters: Students’ accounts of their images of alterity. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17(2), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2016.1159693.

Goodman Research Group. (2016). Evaluation of the impact of the Fulbright FLTA program. Retrieved from https://www.grginc.com/documents/FINALFLTAOverallEvaluationReport.pdf.

Houghton, S. A. (2014). Enhancing critical reflection upon intercultural experience through imagery. 佐賀大学教育実践研究, 31, 133–140. Retrieved from http://portal.dl.saga-u.a c . j p / b i t s t r e a m / 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 / 1 2 2 2 0 8 / 1 /houghton-1_201411.pdf.

Jackson, J. (2011). Cultivating cosmopolitan, intercultural citizenship through critical reflection and international, experiential learning. Language and Intercultural Communication, 11(2), 80–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2011.556737.

Kilianska-Przybylo, G. (2012). Stories from Abroad–Students’ narratives about intercultural encounters. TESOL Journal, 6(June), 123–133. Retrieved from https://tesol-international-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/V6_TESOL.pdf#page=127.

Kirkgoz, Y. (2017). Exploring the impact of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant program on grantees’ educational and cultural beliefs and practices. In J. Mathews-Aydinli (Ed.), International Education Exchanges and Intercultural Understanding: Promoting Peace and Global Relations (pp. 131–157). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43829-0_9.

Marx, H., & Moss, D. M. (2011). Please mind the culture gap: Intercultural development during a teacher education study abroad program. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(1), 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487110381998.

McAllister, L., Whiteford, G., Hill, B., Thomas, N., & Fitzgerald, M. (2006). Reflection in intercultural learning: Examining the international experience through a critical incident approach. Reflective Practice, 7(3), 367–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623940600837624.

Mete, D. E. (2018). Using the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters as a framework to write narratives of intercultural experiences. Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 39, 201–215.

Paige, R. M. (2015). Culture learning. In J. M. Bennet (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence (pp. 200–203). California: Sage Publication, Inc.

Pavlenko, A. (2007). Autobiographic narratives as data in applied linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 28(2), 163–188. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm008.

Peckenpaugh, K. (2012). Intercultural competence: Meeting the bar and falling short in short-term study abroad. Proceeding of Intercultural Competence Conference, 2, 143–162.

Polkinghorne, D. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. In A. Hatch & R. Wisniewski (Eds.), Life History and Narrative (pp. 5–23). London: The Falmer Press. https://doi.org/10.1360/zd-2013-43-6-1064.

Smorti, A. (2011). Autobiographical memory and autobiographical narrative: What is the relationship? Narrative Inquiry, 21(2), 303–310. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.21.2.08smo.

Tracy-Ventura, N., Dewaele, J. M., Köylü, Z., & McManus, K. (2016). Personality changes after the year abroad? A mixed-methods study. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 1(1), 107–127. https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.1.1.05tra.

Downloads

Published

2019-03-29

Issue

Section

Articles
Abstract 1118  .
PDF downloaded 422  .