Integrating International Exchange Students into Local Service-Learning Projects in Hong Kong

Yin Lee Chan,Robin Stanley Snell

doi:10.18060/24272

Abstract

Through qualitative research, which involved qualitative interviews and focus group meetings with members of four student teams, we identified a number of barriers to the development of cohesiveness in teams of local and international exchange (IE) students, who were undertaking service-learning (SL) together. Lack of cohesiveness in such teams resulted in the psychological withdrawal of some of the IE students and appeared to reduce opportunities to derive developmental benefits. Barriers to cohesiveness identified by the students included language, conflicting priorities, and East-West cultural differences. We also identified how students took action to remove the barriers to cohesiveness. These actions included conducting internal team meetings in English and arranging for local students to provide interpretation in meetings with community stakeholders. Students reported that the major developmental benefits associated specifically with working cohesively in a cross-cultural team were improved English language skills, greater interpersonal adaptability, and appreciation of diversity. We offer practical suggestions about how educators can prepare local and IE students to work together effectively on SL projects and about further research. Studies of projects undertaken by inter-cultural SL teams at host universities in other jurisdictions would facilitate the generalizability of the findings.

Highlights

It has become a mainstream educational practice in tertiary education to arrange for students to undertake projects that involve applying academic knowledge to real-life situations beyond the classroom through experiential learning (DiCecco et al, 2004; Gilbert et al, 2014)
We can just divide up an assignment into different parts, and with appropriate allocation of assignment parts to each member, we can do the parts on our. It appeared that as the semester progressed, a sense of cohesiveness among international exchange (IE) and local students developed in Teams 2 and 3, and to some extent in Team 1
We found that language proficiency gaps constituted a major barrier to the development of cross-cultural cohesiveness, these gaps could be offset by adopting appropriate communication strategies within the teams

Summary

Introduction

It has become a mainstream educational practice in tertiary education to arrange for students to undertake projects that involve applying academic knowledge to real-life situations beyond the classroom through experiential learning (DiCecco et al, 2004; Gilbert et al, 2014). Such outside-the-classroom learning platforms include service-learning (SL), internships, and workintegrated learning, which typically aim to develop students’ practical and transferable skills (Brail, 2016), along with international exchange (IE) programs, which seek to equip students for globalization (Chak & Makino, 2010; Gallarza et al, 2017). SL has been found to give rise to a host of other positive developmental outcomes, including greater sensitivity, relationship and team skills, and self-awareness (Conner & Erickson, 2017; Lau & Snell, 2021; Snell & Lau, 2020; Wilson, 2011)

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Discussion

Conclusion