This study investigates the effects of a intercultural competence course that endeavours to cultivate intercultural sensitivity in Emirati engineering students at an EMI university, in the UAE. An exploratory sequential research design using multiple measurements was used. Recommendations will be made for future research with particular reference to language and identity.
This study investigates the effects of a newly developed intercultural competence course that endeavours to cultivate intercultural sensitivity in Emirati engineering and science students studying in an EMI Science and Engineering university, in the United Arab Emirates. An exploratory sequential research design using multiple measurements was used and the data were gathered using a quantative research instrument of an Intercultural Cultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) in terms of pre-test and post-test (Chen and Starosta, 2000). In the second phase, which consisted of semi-structured interviews with six students, IPA methodology was used to gain deep, rich data on contextual factors surrounding the themes that arose in the initial survey. Given that the United Arab Emirates has a dynamic and linguistically diverse context, the opportunity to explore how "intercultural communicative competence" models might be adapted provided yielded rich and interesting data. Research findings from the project will be shared in the session, with recommendations made for future research with particular reference to language and identity.
