Toward better understanding Japanese university students’ self-perceived attitudes on intercultural competence: A pre-study abroad perspective

ABSTRACT

This study sought to uncover the attitudinal factors impacting a group of 1st-year Japanese university students’ (n = 89) self-perceived intercultural competence (IC), prior to embarking on a 6-week US-based study-abroad program. Data were collected qualitatively through reaction reports following an interactive lecture-workshop that aimed to mirror the overseas academic classroom context. Thematic analysis of the data revealed: (1) participants typically perceived their IC through an individual lens and/or a collective lens (and whether they then aligned or differentiated themselves from their overall perception of Japanese IC), and (2) they adopted either a passive or proactive mindset toward their impending study-abroad experience. Results suggest that more intentional balancing of linguistic and intercultural content is needed to foster Japanese university students’ success in study-abroad environments.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural competence
• intercultural attitudes
• students’ perceptions
• short-term study abroad

Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the authors’ Grant-in-Aid Scientific Research (C) No. 20K00871 project examining the impact of an active learning-based study-abroad program. The authors wish to also acknowledge Nanzan University for generously supporting this project with a Pache Research Subsidy I-A-2 in 2021. Finally, the contributions of two anonymous reviewers whose valuable comments strengthened previous drafts of this paper are gratefully acknowledged here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 20K00871; Nanzan University Pache Research Subsidy I-A-2 for the 2021 academic year.