Located in SF901, the distance learning classroom of the Divine Word Academic Highrise, “Cross-Cultural Communication: Global Understanding Project” is an elective course offered by the Department of English Language and Literature at Fu Jen Catholic University (FJCU) that is designed to allow students from FJCU to learn different cultures without traveling.
The course aims to promote students’ cultural awareness and improve their intercultural communication skills. This is done through the provision of international connections for students in several different countries with the aid of technological devices.
In addition, this course is also part of the Global Virtual Exchange (GVE) Programs of the Global Partners in Education (GPE) organization directed by East Carolina University (ECU) in the United States. This project is established for students to connect with other students from more than 40 global partners in 29 countries, and the program has received numerous awards in the United States.
As Professor Doris Shih, the GPE coordinator in Taiwan and the instructor of “Cross-Cultural Communication: Global Understanding Project” mentioned, this course has been established since the spring of 2007.Each semester the course is offered, ECU will help assign two to three different institutions from different countries to connect with students in FJCU (countries for connection in the recent years included USA, Japan, Peru, and Mexico), and the connection for each country lasts three to four weeks.
Students from FJCU and ECU presenting together. Photo by TA Christine Zheng.
The course covers such topics as college life, family structure, the meaning of life, religions, health care, food and nutrition, stereotypes, and prejudices, demonstrating the variation in cultural learning. Class sessions include discussion in both small groups and one-on-one chats with reflective journals, papers, and oral presentations.
Though it may sound easy to interact with students from different countries, Christine Zheng, the current teaching assistant (TA) and also a former student of this course, noted that one perennial difficulty is some students may be too shy to talk.She said, “we expect the students to talk more because it’s really a precious chance to do this kind of activity. But when I see students not talking, I don't know how to encourage them.”
Zheng recommends the course since “it’s a very precious opportunity to get to interact with people from other countries and know their culture, and it’s important to know how to interact with people from different backgrounds.
However, the number of students in this course must be limited. Since having too many students may affect the quality of connections, “the thing is that, as you know, I can only limit students to maybe 16 or 18 people at maximum,” Professor Shih said.
In addition to limited enrollment, Professor Shih said that she “must meet my students and do some preparation lectures the very first week of the semester, but sometimes they [the coordinating university ECU] just let us jump into the connection right on the second week. That would always give me a heart attack because in the second week, usually students are still doing add and drop … if you are sure to be in my course to do the connection, you must come to class on the first week.”
Students connecting with foreign students with technological devices. Photo by TA Christine Zheng.
Besides these potential obstacles for students, Professor Shih must “do a trial test before our actual class connection with every partner,” as well as coordinating time differences between partner schools. Ultimately, while the pandemic has impacted travel and person-to-person meetings, technology allows for continued cultural exchanges, the development of intercultural skills, and interaction with people from different countries.