Kulttuurienvälisen tietoisuuden ja kieliasenteiden kehittyminen CLIL-opetuksessa: retrospektiivinen tarkastelu

A competent participant in the new media landscape: Promoting an interdisciplinary perspective

Dynamic changes in media technology, society, media consumption and the economy affect the media landscape as well as the role and status of media users who are no longer passive receivers, but active media participants, and thus need to develop appropriate competence areas. We argue that using an interdisciplinary perspective within communication and journalism studies is necessary to address the scope of challenges that new media users are facing. Hence, we propose a palette of competence areas to be achieved, which would include intercultural communication, interpersonal communication and a basic knowledge of ethics, visual literacy, and source criticism abilities. While we understand th…

Critical approaches to cultural identities in the public sphere: Assessing and reducing the gap between academic and public discourses

International audience

The Concept of Culture in Media Studies: A Critical Review of Academic Literature

This study examines the way culture has been researched in media studies and suggests how critical intercultural communication could contribute to the field. A literature review was conducted and articles (N=114) published in peer-reviewed journals between 2003 and 2013 were collected. Results show that studies dealing with media and culture do not systematically define the concept of culture. Findings also indicate that culture is oftentimes taken for granted instead of being problematized and addressed as a source of struggle. Advantages of using a critical intercultural communication framework to examine culture are discussed.

Kulttuurienvälisen tietoisuuden ja kieliasenteiden kehittyminen CLIL-opetuksessa

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has been claimed to create a positive attitude towards languages and language learning in general and to raise intercultural awareness. The studies on the topics have however remained scarce. This study examines the issue from former pupils’ perspective. The 24 participants, who received English-medium CLIL during their comprehensive school in the 1990s, were interviewed in-depth and the data were analysed qualitatively. Most participants felt that CLIL had had a very positive effect on their attitudes towards English. However, many considered that CLIL had partly been detrimental to their attitudes towards and learning of other languages. The…

From ‘intercultural-washing’ to meaningful intercultural education: Revisiting higher education practice

This is the first special issue that JPHE hosts—and could there be a more suitable forum for an issue dedicated to exploring and encouraging a critical dialogue around transformative intercultural communication teaching practices in higher education (HE)? What has led us to engage with the theme of making intercultural education meaningful is a shared observation that there seems to be an increasing disconnect between recent developments in intercultural communication theory and practice. With so much critique published over the years, we are perplexed as to why traditional notions of culture still prevail not only in mainstream intercultural communication research but also in institutional…

‘Culture’ as a discursive resource in newspaper articles from Le Monde about secularism : constructing ‘us’ through strategic oppositions with religion

Building on research highlighting the complex webs of relations between secularism, culture, and religion, this study investigates how the concept of culture was utilized in discourses of laïcité from the newspaper le Monde. Articles (N = 76) published between 2011 and 2014 were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results revealed the agency associated with the use of culture as it was strategically – rather than systematically – used in opposition to religion. Overall, culture – and the practices it defined – tended to be represented as normal and invisible. On the other hand, religion tended to be constructed as a disruption to secularism and the corresponding cultural reality. T…

Race et espace : la ville comme lieu d’étude des représentations raciales

Cette étude examine les « paysages raciaux » dans le centre-ville de Bordeaux, c'est-à-dire la façon dont les discours sur la race et le racisme se matérialisent au quotidien. Les paysages raciaux rendent compte de la nature contradictoire des discours sur la race et le racisme en Europe, et en France, qui sont à la fois omniprésents et dissimulés. Analyser le centre-ville de Bordeaux permet d’appréhender la manière dont les discours locaux et nationaux s’étayent et se construisent, mettant ainsi en lumière les relations complexes entre les discours sur la race, le passé colonial et le cadre républicain universaliste spécifique à la France (Fila-Bakabadio 2011). Cette étude pose donc la que…

Dealing with Culture in Schools: A Small-Step Approach Towards Anti-racism in Finland

This chapter discusses anti-racism education by focusing on how culture is used in educational discourses in Finland. More and more studies highlight the pervasive use of culture as a substitute for race, urging scholars to explore how and why cultural claims are made relevant (Breidenbach and Nyiri 2009; Piller 2011). Culture is present in numerous subjects (e.g. religion, literature, history, languages) and anti-racism education should therefore be understood from a holistic perspective. This chapter focuses on the Finnish context which is relevant to examine for two main reasons. First, Finnish school system is globally represented as high quality. Second, the new national curriculum, wh…

Transformative, interdisciplinary and intercultural learning for developing HEI students’ sustainability-oriented competences : a case study

AbstractThe literature has produced relevant theoretical insights into pedagogical frameworks, tools and competences that would be best suited to teach sustainability at higher education (HE). This article contributes to such a discussion using a course on sustainability developed by us as a case study. Two research questions are tackled in this article: (1) How to empower students to address urban sustainability challenges through the inclusion of transformative, interdisciplinary and intercultural learning into the current HE system? (2) Which pedagogical tools can be used to develop students’ sustainability-oriented competences? To address the research questions, the case study consists …

Intercultural communication: Where we’ve been, where we’re going, issues we face

The purpose of this review is to critically analyze the state of intercultural communication literature. This review has three purposes. First, this review summarizes where the discipline has been, paying close attention to the discipline’s history and some key areas of research. Second, this review discusses where the discipline is going, with an emphasis on how the discipline is expanding into new contextual areas of research. Finally, the review presents challenges, issues, and areas for future discussion for intercultural communication.

Children in the visual coverage of the European refugee crisis: A case study of the World Press Photo 2016

Shifts in the visual coverage of refugees arriving in Europe and prominent compassion fatigue emphasize the need to examine visual strategies utilized to report on the crisis. This study focuses on representations of refugee children using a case of the World Press Photo (WPP) 2016. The material was interpreted with a model for visual rhetorical interpretation of journalistic photographs. Findings indicate the main visual elements involved in representing refugee children: visual trope of the migrant father, relation between children and barriers, visual oxymoron (juxtaposition of contradictory elements) and atmosphere in photographs. Findings suggest that photographs address polemics speci…

From Ivory Tower to Social Arena:

International audience

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Communication Apprehension : A Comparison of Three European Nations

Data from England, Finland, and Germany were used to explore national differences in communication apprehension (CA). Based on the traditions of oral communication training in each nation, and the history of cross-cultural comparisons in CA, it was proposed that national differences would emerge. English participants scored lower than Finnish and German participants on totalCA, publicCA, dyadicCA, and meetingCA; Finnish participants scored higher than all nations on totalCA, dyadicCA, and meetingCA; and German participants consistently scored in the middle on all aspects of CA, except for publicCA. The study of oral communication, conversational style, and politeness are discussed as potent…

Kulttuurienvälisen tietoisuuden ja kieliasenteiden kehittyminen CLIL-opetuksessa : retrospektiivinen tarkastelu

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has been claimed to create a positive attitude towards languages and language learning in general and to raise intercultural awareness. The studies on the topics have however remained scarce. This study examines the issue from former pupils’ perspective. The 24 participants, who received English-medium CLIL during their comprehensive school in the 1990s, were interviewed in-depth and the data were analysed qualitatively. Most participants felt that CLIL had had a very positive effect on their attitudes towards English. However, many considered that CLIL had partly been detrimental to their attitudes towards and learning of other languages. The…

Representations of individuals in discourses of laïcité from Le Monde : confirming or challenging the republican framework of identity?

In recent decades, the notions of laïcité and identity have been subjects of controversy in France. The two concepts have become sufficiently co-associated since the 1990s to ensure each almost systematically entails the other. Findings from previous studies have pointed out harmful implications of this pervasive association for minorities in France, especially Muslims. This study examines further the ways laïcité and identity are interwoven by exploring who is represented (and how) in newspaper articles from Le Monde dealing with laïcité. Informed by critical intercultural communication scholarship, intersectionality, and a Foucaultian approach to discourse, this study pays particular atte…

Viewing CLIL through the eyes of former pupils : Insights into foreign language and intercultural attitudes

This article examines the long-term effects of CLIL on former pupils’ foreign language and intercultural attitudes. The 24 participants, who received English-medium CLIL for nine years in the 1990s, were interviewed and the data analyzed using thematic analysis. The participants generally felt that CLIL had had a very positive effect on their target language attitudes. However, many considered that CLIL had affected negatively on their attitudes towards other foreign languages. The perceptions regarding the effect of CLIL on intercultural attitudes diverged more. The study elucidates the long-standing impact CLIL can have on individuals’ attitudes yielding insights into future CLIL educatio…

Sustainability education at higher education institutions : pedagogies and students’ competences

Purpose This study aims to examine whether the development of students’ sustainability competences is dependent on how courses are delivered at higher education institutions (HEIs). It further investigates to what extent such competences can affect students’ belief in the new environmental paradigm (NEP) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). Design/methodology/approach The data was collected through an online survey conducted in 2021 among the students of an international research university based in The Netherlands. The final sample (N = 262) consisted of all the students who completed the survey and claimed that they had taken at least one course that addressed sustainability. Linear r…

Representations of individuals in discourses oflaïcitéfromLe Monde: confirming or challenging the republican framework of identity?

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, the notions of laicite and identity have been subjects of controversy in France. The two concepts have become sufficiently co-associated since the 1990s to ensure each almost systematically entails the other. Findings from previous studies have pointed out harmful implications of this pervasive association for minorities in France, especially Muslims. This study examines further the ways laicite and identity are interwoven by exploring who is represented (and how) in newspaper articles from Le Monde dealing with laicite. Informed by critical intercultural communication scholarship, intersectionality, and a Foucaultian approach to discourse, this study pays particu…

Implementing Critical Approaches to Interculturality in Higher Education

Critical approaches to interculturality have gained visibility over the years, both within and outside of academia. And yet, the increasing drive across European higher education institutions to implement internationalization strategies is often articulated around assuming traditional notions of culture, diversity, and intercultural communication. This gap between critical research in interculturality and concrete implementation of intercultural education is what drove us to ask colleagues how they put critical approaches to interculturality into practice. nonPeerReviewed