Developing Cross-Cultural Awareness in Provincial Hokkaido by Connecting Exchange Students and Kosen Japanese Students
Résumé
Japan has been able to greatly increase the number of exchange students in higher education as a way to improve its global ranking and competitiveness on the international scene. As of May 2018, there were 298,980 international students in Japanese higher education and language institutes. Through various coordinated efforts, the government has so far been successful in reaching a steady increase of 12% each year since 2015, based on the JASSO (Japan Services Student Organization) survey. However, not all regions or prefectures are equal in this effort. Indeed, data show a great discrepancy between urban areas and provincial Japan, with the Kanto region and, unsurprisingly, the greater Tokyo metropolitan area concentrating close to half the total population of international students.
As teachers in the Hokkaido area, which only hosts 1.7% of those students, our goal with this practical research is to provide more opportunities for local students to interact with their international counterparts. As cross-cultural understanding and development of autonomous communication methods, English is a tool, not a finality. The three-step approach, spread over 3 years, consists first of 2-day seminars, then written communication using Moodle chatrooms, and finally group videolink discussions with Skype or GInet. In this presentation, we will focus on the rationale behind the project, the challenges we have encountered, and how the use of technologies has provided some answers for the development of a better and more effective framework. The authors of this study believe it will provide valuable data and a solid framework that could be applied in other technical institutes throughout Japan.
Mots clés
International exchange activities
Intercultural activities
Global studies
international exchange intercultural communication global studies in provincial areas collaborative learning between Japanese and foreign students
international exchange
intercultural communication
global studies in provincial areas
collaborative learning between Japanese and foreign students
Domaines
Sciences de l'Homme et SociétéOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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