Global Competency and Intercultural Sensitivity

Abstract

How do educators enhance their global competencies and intercultural communication skills so they can better educate students in our increasingly diverse society? In Spring 2000, the authors conducted a survey of 52 New Jersey City University faculty and staff to assess the relationships between their international experience, global competencies, and levels of intercultural sensitivity. The survey drew on Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and definitions of global competency from Wilson, Stohl, Singer, and Hanvey. The authors of this article found that both second-language proficiency and substantive experience abroad independently increase the likelihood that an educator will be more advanced on the Bennett Intercultural Sensitivity Scale. This survey provides directional information about the relationship between second-language acquisition, experience abroad, and ethnorelativism. The findings suggest that we need global, intercultural, and professional development for faculty and staff that is ongoing, substantial, and inclusive of work in another language and culture.