Cross-Cultural Communication with International Instructors
How can we improve understanding and attitudes between students and their international TAs and instructors?
In this multi-site collaboration, we are trying various intergroup contact activities and accent familiarization training with college freshmen and international TAs to improve inter-cultural communication, attitudes and mutual understanding.
Presentations
- Freeman, V., Loss, S., & Baese-Berk, M. (2023, May). Interventions to improve undergraduate communication with international instructors. Special Session on Infusing Social Justice in Speech and Hearing Acoustics Pedagogy: Principles and Case Studies, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Chicago, IL.
- Loss, S., Freeman, V., Horton, H. N., & Kang, O. (2023, January). Engaging undergraduates in global society through intergroup contact with international peers. Linguistic Society of America, Denver, CO.
Collaborators
- Sara Loss, OSU Linguistics
- Ho'omana Nathan Horton, OSU International TA Program
- Okim Kang, Northern Arizona Applied Linguistics/TESL
- Melissa Baese-Berk, Oregon/Chicago Linguistics
Student Corner
Data and Materials
- Video of ESL instructors giving 5-minute introductory lectures.
- Audio clips from the lectures (30-sec clips, single sentences).
- Intelligibility and first-impressions surveys (pre/post-tests) in Qualtrics.
- Inter-group contact activities.
- Accent familiarization training materials.
Project Ideas
- Compare outcomes of the various training tasks.
- Find/create other audio samples of ESL speakers.
- Create/lead inner-group contact activities in classrooms/workshops.