University Students’ Perceptions of and Attitudes Towards Culturally Diverse Group Work

Abstract

This article presents two consecutive studies aimed at disentangling the significance of study contexts on students’ attitudes towards learning and interacting in culturally diverse groups. Context was operationalised as two distinct study programmes with contrasting organisational and instructional characteristics and diverse/nondiverse groups embedded within each. The combination of a small longitudinal questionnaire study (Study 1) and follow-up in-depth interviews (Study 2) provided valuable insight into the significance of contextual aspects of the learning environment for students’ intercultural experiences and attitudes. The findings revealed that language proficiency, academic competencies, and cohort characteristics play an important role for students’ intercultural encounters. The results also suggest that students’ own attitudes towards intercultural interactions may be affected by the quality of close peers’ experiences in culturally diverse groups (extended contact effect).