Assessing the development of intercultural sensitivity gained through the domestic experiences of first year students

<p>Institutions of higher education in the United States are becoming more and more diverse and nationwide efforts to provide educational access and equity to underrepresented groups of people will only help to increase that diversity. Increased diversity combined with the need for institutions to produce graduates who are capable of living and working in a global society, has created the need for students to possess a set of cognitive and behavioral skills to aide in successful intercultural interactions. Using the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and the theory of Cultural Intelligence as frameworks, this research attempts to assess the effect of domestic experiences on intercultural competency and cultural intelligence of first year students at the University of the Pacific. Interview participants were chosen from a sample of eighty-seven students who took the Intercultural Development Inventory and were selected for displaying a great deal or lacked of intercultural sensitivity and cultural intelligence. From these interviews, key lines of thought and experiences were determined to have had positive or negative influences on competency. These results are presented in the form of biographical sketches and supplemented with a discussion of the skills essential to developing greater competency in intercultural sensitivity and cultural intelligence through the curriculum and co-curricular involvements.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Administration and Leadership

Year dc:date.available

2008

Author dc:creator

• Morrell, Alicia Montana

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joanna Royce-Davis

• College freshmen Cross-cultural studies
• Education
• Higher Cross-cultural studies
• Postsecondary education United States Cross-cultural studies
• Multicultural education

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/698

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1697