Symbolic competence is integral to intercultural teaching and learning, but limited research and teaching guidance exist in foreign language classrooms. This paper explores the use of critical incidents in developing the symbolic competence of advanced-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at a Chinese university. Mixed methods…

Intercultural competence (IC) is essential for fostering meaningful interactions and understanding in diverse environments, particularly in today's pluralistic societies. The impacts of both intercultural competence and incompetence are profound, shaping relationships and outcomes in various ways. Many definitions of IC emphasize being 'effective'…

Teaching and learning international business requires a broad and integrated perspective. This manuscript discusses a pedagogical exercise students have undertaken that is both broad and integrated and as a result expands not only their global mindset but also a broader perspective about self, others, and the world they live in. The exercise in…

On a February morning, Ms. Nelson (all names pseudonyms) was preparing her eleventh-grade class for a new unit with the goal of crafting arguments about the people and issues present in the classic novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. As, teacher educators Eileen Shanahan and Min-Young Kim were observing in the classroom, it was…

In this conceptual piece, I explore complex and contradictory conversations during an idea mapping task in which prospective elementary teachers interrogated dominant discourses within mathematics education, such as "mathematics is everywhere" and "being a math person." I argue that this exercise of engaging with contradictions…

Young children's ability to learn something new from a third-party interaction may be related to the ability to imagine themselves in the third-party interaction. This imaginative ability presupposes an understanding of self-other equivalence, which is manifested in an objective understanding of the self and an understanding of others' subjective…

As part of a larger study (not discussed) ten educated Malaysian citizens were interviewed to find whether their rising political consciousness, over a ten year period (1988-1999), indicated that their transformation was influenced by their culture. The subjects were between 35-45 years old, married, with an average of four children. All were…