The Teacher’s Role in Organizing Intercultural Communication Between Russian and International Students

Abstract

Today one of the most important characteristics of any university is the number of international students doing a course there, as well as the number of local students sent abroad. In both cases the students may have difficulty in establishing contacts with their peers from different countries. These problems of cross-cultural communication cannot be solved by students themselves because when they come to a foreign country, they tend to stick together in isolated groups. Local students, in their turn, are not always proactive in establishing international relationships. This research is aimed at considering the ways for teachers to organize cross-cultural communication within the international group, which contributes to enriching the learning experience for both Russian and international students. The research is supposed to meet the following objectives: (1) to identify the problems of cross-cultural communication in international groups by monitoring the behavior of students and completing a questionnaire; (2) to outline the ways of developing a system of teambuilding activities and assignments aimed at involving both Russian and international students in the learning collaboration within the framework of three subjects: English for specific purposes (Business English), English (conversational practice) and Conflict management.