Re-envisaging English medium instruction, intercultural citizenship development, and higher education in the context of studying abroad

Abstract

Although the development of intercultural citizenship among university students has now been included as a key policy in international universities, pedagogical practices for promoting the awareness, understanding, and development of intercultural citizenship while studying abroad have reportedly been inadequate. To address this gap, this qualitative interview study 1) explores the perceptions of Thai and Chinese students enrolled in English-medium education programs on the development of intercultural citizenship and 2) identifies links between intercultural citizenship and English for students studying in international universities. The findings reveal that the participants generally had positive attitudes toward the concept of intercultural citizenship and agreed that living in a foreign country surrounded by individuals from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds made it more effective to learn about and promote awareness of intercultural citizenship compared to staying in their homelands. They further demonstrate that English proficiency levels, exposure to teaching methods before studying abroad, and regular on-campus and off-campus activities with international friends from different linguistic-cultural backgrounds are significant in enhancing intercultural citizenship competencies. Further, some implications in terms of the promotion of intercultural citizenship education through English are also proposed and discussed. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2021.1996595 .