2023/24 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

MODL3150 Intercultural Communication and Global Citizenship: A Critical Approach for the Horizon Year Abroad

20 creditsClass Size: 40

Module manager: Alison Leslie
Email: a.s.leslie@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: 1 Jun to 30 Sep View Timetable

Year running 2023/24

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module will take a critical approach to intercultural communication and global citizenship to develop your overall knowledge, skills, attitude and awareness in preparation for the Horizon Year Abroad. You will explore how ideas of culture, intercultural communication and global citizenship are relevant to your specific year abroad destination, with the aim of expanding your knowledge and helping you to prepare and navigate extended periods of time outside your home country. This module is designed for and limited to students planning to embark on a Horizon Year Abroad programme.

Objectives

This module provides a critical introduction to intercultural communication and global citizenship for students who are enrolled on the Horizon Year Abroad. The module is designed to support students during their year abroad by encouraging an increased engagement with their new environment and critical and reflective consideration of their experiences living and studying abroad. On completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and awareness to operate effectively as students on their year abroad while retaining an open and global outlook upon their return to Leeds .

Learning outcomes
In terms of specific knowledge outcomes, students joining this module will develop:
- a critical understanding of 'culture' and the 'intercultural'.
- an ability to distinguish between essentialist and non-essentialist discourses and representations of culture.
- an understanding of how the above concepts are often (mis)applied to mark differences which can be based on national stereotypes.
- an awareness of research focusing on 'cultural dimensions' such as time, space, action, communication and power and a critical faculty for evaluating these dimensions.
- an awareness of theories of acculturation including typical affective barriers that can arise when living in a new environment.
- an ability to analyse miscommunication or conflict, reflect critically on specific causes of miscommunication or conflict and suggest solutions.
- a support network which will enable students to make the most of their year abroad.
- an awareness of the complexity of global issues and how these relate to our lives.
- an ability to challenge what the students may see as injustice and inequality.
- an ability to critically evaluate information in the media, especially that which perpetuates myths regarding ‘the other’.
- an ability to make informed choices.

Skills outcomes
This module will help students to develop ethical awareness and social and cultural sensitivity. Additionally, specific language and intercultural skills will be developed as part of the module.

Syllabus

The module will be separated into two distinct teaching periods. The first is a half day intensive pre-departure session which is held after the exam period (first week of June) where students will meet prior to their departure for their year abroad. This session will introduce the online digital content, the module assessment, the concept of interculturality and global citizenship and the importance of language preparation for the year abroad. The second teaching period will be supported by five online digital courses which students will access after the pre-departure session in early June. These lectures will give an introduction to the field of intercultural communication and introduce concepts such as ‘banal nationalism’ ‘essentialist discourses of culture’, ‘cultural dimensions’, ‘small cultures’, ‘identity’, ‘representation’, ‘otherisation’, ‘marginalisation’ and ‘acculturation’. The students’ will be encouraged to post comments on the ODL discussion platform as they progress through the courses.
Assessment will consist of a reflective log (1,250 words) which will be completed in semester one and will focus on the students’ acculturation process through the analysis of a student selected critical incident based on their experience abroad. In semester two, students will complete a project essay which focuses on an aspect of either global citizenship or interculturality and that challenges representations of their destination country as a homogenous single culture. Students will be given options to submit this as a blog, which can be published on the Study Abroad website, or as a recorded presentation which can be shared in a showcase of their year abroad.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminars	1	2.00	2.00
Lecture	1	2.00	2.00
Independent online learning hours			46.00
Private study hours			150.00
Total Contact hours			4.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Reading (approximately 40 hrs.); Reflective log preparation (approximately 18 hrs.); Essay preparation (approximately 22 hrs.) Engagement with aspects of destination country which will inform the work on the module (approximately 70 hrs.)

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Feedback will be provided for both the assessed assignments.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay or Dissertation	1,500 words	50.00
Reflective log	1,250 words	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

The essay question can be answered and presented as a blog or recorded presentation if students prefer.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 28/04/2023 14:42:36

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