Abstract
The students must to be prepared for their integration in a multi-ethnic reality, to work in an inhomogeneous cultural space, which presupposes accepting, relating and collaborating with different people. In this respect, the students have to communicate and work with people who proved by the different cultural spaces. Our study starts from the premise that knowing national culture the students are prepared to understand the other culture and to interact with different people. In this respect, we are presenting some problems liked by the intercultural competences of the students and showing that knowing own culture the students are prepared to understand the other culture and to interact with people from different geographical regions. Additionally, the paper underlines the contribution of teaching-learning strategies in development of the behaviour, attitudes, gestures and values of students. All of examples mentioned in the paper can be used by the students and teachers in the training and teaching activities in the university. The methodological aspects propose in this paper encourage the study of national culture in Higher educational system.
Keywords: Competencescultureeducationethnicinterculturalityuniversity
Introduction
Unfortunately, in higher Romanian education, the intercultural competences are not really evidenced in the studies programs, except of some disciplines about the universal culture (which are included in the specialized studies programs of the Letter Faculty). If these competences are not formed and developed as one directly intended, higher education will not be able to prepare the students to their really integrate in a socio-professional community. Even if higher education is a final step in own specific professional training (Doncheva, 2016), the student need to be integrated in a cultural space that can be different from ethnic perspective. It is necessary, for them, to communicate with people who proved by the different cultural spaces, to accept and work with different people. In this respect, higher education
Problem Statement
Generally, the intercultural competences designate the capacities of students to adapt, to relate and act in a different cultural environment. By means of interculturality (Gojkov, 2011), feeling threatened or judged by the others. In this way they can learn how to interact in a specific situation with people pertaining to a different culture.
Broadly defined, the intercultural competences represent a mixture of capacities, knowledge, abilities and values that allow to students to understand the other cultures, to be motived to work with the other people from the different communities, to relate and communicate with them. The following schema highlights more clearly these aspects. In the
![Structure of intercultural competences](https://www.europeanproceedings.com/files/data/article/85/5246/IEDUHEM2018F008.fig.001.jpg)
Obviously, it is not simple to develop the intercultural competence, especially in higher educational system. In this case, the intercultural competences have to be in a harmonious relationship with the social and professional competences. For this reason, the intercultural competences are more or less developed by the academic courses. More that, in the academic
Research Questions
Generally, to study of the culture national means to have a better knowledge about own ethnical identity. If the students who learn own culture know very well about their own ethnical identity and have an ethnical conscience and conduct, we were wondering the following:
a good knowledge of the national culture allows understanding the other cultures and communicating with people who belong them?
how we can learn the students to have an intercultural behavior if they learn about own culture, and, sometime there are many cases of historical conflicts between the different ethical communities? These moments of conflict are the opponents of the intercultural communication?
if the students learn about the other culture, not of own culture, it is possible to develop the intercultural competences?
how we can use the study of the national culture for develop the intercultural competences? Is the culture national a good context of learning to have an intercultural thinking? What are the working methods in this case?
Purpose of the Study
Starting from premise that both Romanian students’ group (next it is named
to identify the scientific content units which may contribute more at the development of the intercultural competences;
to identify the didactical methods and techniques that stimulate and enhance communication and relationship from the intercultural perspectives (we will select those which have proven to have the best results among the experimental intervention);
to correlate those didactical strategies with the types of learning activities;
to focus on some recommendations regarding the encouragement of teachers to give more attention developing these competences.
In this respect, we had used a small group of them (on the first year of studying in the university) for the purpose of seeking improved modalities to use the national culture elements for develop the intercultural competences of students. Firstly, we had intended to find out the opinions of those students about this subject. Secondly, we had joted down some noticed referring to educational changes introduced during one academic semester. Additionally, we propose some education modalities which encourage the study of national culture in academic educational system. We underline the contribution of the teaching-learning strategies that form behaviour, attitudes, gestures and values that must be respect by the graduates in all activities of working in an inhomogeneous cultural space.
Research Methods
Our paper is based on the notices obtained by the systematically observation method which was applied during the activities with students. Also, we analyse the results of the questionnaire filed by students at the begin of the second academic semester referring to the Romanian culture and civilization, as an academic discipline. In this respect, we will use only a part of the questionnaire, because it is an instrument for another large research; we focus on theoretical and practical aspects aimed at addressing the research results. We need specify that we didn’t make a rigorous research because we had interested to determine the students to reflect on what they know, feel and how they have to action in the inhomogeneous space. In this way we think that the students will be more responsible, correct and interested in the human contact with the others who belong to different cultures.
Findings
According to their answers about our research questions, we have noticed the followings:
Item: Do you learn the national culture in the academic program studies? Do you think that it is necessary for your working on? Why? Response (approximately percent):
Groupe 1: 70 % of them answered
Group 2: 100 % of them answered
Item: If you can choose one discipline from your studies program, do you choose learning the national culture? Why? Response (approximately percent):
Groupe 1: 85 % of them answered
Groupe 2: 40 % of them answered
Item:
Obviously, the students are not very optimistic about the importance of learning the national culture in their professional development. They believe that this academic discipline is more theoretical one, so it is not really efficient in their learning process. In the same measure, the students’ belief is that knowing the national culture is an ethnical duty and, as a result, they need learn more about own culture. They accorded more importance to the knowledge (cognitive dimension of knowledge), than the feelings and gestures, behaviour, interhuman interaction (the affective and practical dimension). Also, it can be noticed a certain difficulty encountered in students ‘expressing their own point of view, their tendency being to use the information exactly as it was found in the sources. Additionally, it is interesting to notice that the students did not understand the national culture from an intercultural perspective. It is not mentioned about the need to have more information referring to the others and their cultural space, for a good understanding, for a better relationship and a perfect communication and social and professional integration.
As a result of these findings, during the second academic seminar, we have highlighted the importance of shaping and developing the knowledge of Romanian culture, from an intercultural competences perspective. Therefore, in our education program, we used the strategy to develop critical thinking (Nicu, 2007), collaborative (Bocoş, 2002) and cooperation learning (Messick & Jaques, 2001; Mackie, 1989). In the table below (
![Levels of the educational intervention](https://www.europeanproceedings.com/files/data/article/85/5246/IEDUHEM2018F008.fig.002.jpg)
Using the national culture for develop the intercultural competences of students is a difficult didactical action: it depends on experiences and motivation of students and their teachers (Mark, 2007). Trying make it easy, we propose in the next section of paper some recommendations in this direction:
it is important to choose carefully the sources of information, the ideas, opinions, even controversies, and using them in the learning activities; the students need to distinguee between the truthful information, correct intention and national stereotypes, false information, revenge attitudes, discrimination intentions;
the student must be encouraged to involved some activities;
the scientific and didactic strategies used ought to develop abilities to trust in own students cognitive and practical skills, to resist on the information that manipulate the thinking, feeling and action of them;
the educational intervention need to develop students’ curiosity and desire to study more and more about own culture and culture of the others;
through interrogative activities have to develop the self-thinking ability, the interpretation of data in a critical and responsible way, confronting with others and accepting multiple perspectives;
investigation, as a research method, is more efficient if the students use examples from reality that they know better;
the emotional reflexivity will have a stronger impact over one’s own personality, but especially over others, influencing the social interaction, also the cultural contacts.
Reflection must lean more towards reason than towards feelings because it must lean towards finding solutions and towards thinking the aspects that should later assure the success.
Conclusion
Generally, in the higher education the intercultural dialog is not presented as a distinguee task because the accent of educational process is put on specialization knowledge. This aspect can be a big problem for students because they need to work, communicate, interaction with people from different countries, so with many different gestures, attitudes, values and behaviour. On the other hand, the cultural differences will be perceived as means an opportunity to discover and improve one’s own person, a positive aspect in one’s profession. Therefore, knowing national culture the students are prepared to understand the other culture and to interact with different people; studying the elements of own culture, it is easier to refine the intercultural dialogue. Equally, all these imply the formation of students' abilities: to think for themselves, to interpret information critically and responsibly through debating with the others and through accepting multiple perspectives and cultural differences. After applying the educational intervention, we noticed that the attitudes toward others were improved. The both group of students shown more interesting to know better their working partners. Also, they were proposed and involved, from own intention, the nonformal social and cultural activities. Of course, they had said that it was a great opportunity for them to understand better own culture and to have a great communication with colleagues from other countries. In this respect, they establish new virtual contacts, the number of groups begging more and more extended. As a conclusion, the students and teacher need to find time for study the national culture like a way to understand and interaction, accepting the others. The real intercultural dialogue is done by the conscious of ethnic identity that wants to express itself and to reflect it in the other culture. All these observations pinpoint even more the understanding of national culture history as a science of discoveries, reflections, communications and integration.
References
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09 April 2019
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Future Academy
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60
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Multicultural education, education, personal health, public health, social discrimination,social inequality
Cite this article as:
Alexandrache, C. (2019). Studying National Culture – Modality To Develop Intercultural Competences In Higher Education. In E. Soriano, C. Sleeter, M. Antonia Casanova, R. M. Zapata, & V. C. Cala (Eds.), The Value of Education and Health for a Global, Transcultural World, vol 60. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 54-61). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.04.02.8