Resources for intercultural learning in a non-essentialist perspective: an investigation of student and teacher perceptions in Chinese universities

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents a study focused on how English language students and teachers in Chinese higher education experienced a set of interculturality-oriented teaching materials developed by the European RICH-Ed project. The investigation involved 2,267 students and 41 teachers, who had tested one of the teaching modules put forward by RICH-Ed to stimulate intercultural development in a non-essentialist perspective. They were involved either by means of interviews or questionnaires. Findings indicate that participants resisted the idea that there are no right and wrong answers when talking about cultural groups, and that learning is contextual, since it depends on situated emerging meanings.