ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to present a schema that maps the terrain of intercultural assessment strategies. This schema is based upon Haraway’s semiotic square and has two dimensions. The first considers how distant or near the cultural Other is understood to be – whether they are perceived a stranger or a neighbour. The second considers whether the student is encouraged to see the cultural Other as an object about whom one learns facts, or if student and the cultural Other are expected to interact as a means to transforming their mutually interrelated lives. We argue that this mapping helps illuminate the benefits and shortcomings of various assessment strategies, highlighting the underlying curricular assumptions and objectives of these assessment strategies. This paper argues that curricular and assessment models that treat cultural Others as neighbours engaged in joint transformative change should increasingly be the focus of intercultural learning and assessment strategies. A review of extant literature found that school systems, international and transnational curriculum bodies, and some for-profit companies provide a wide range of models for assessing student intercultural awareness, understanding and componence. These models differ so significantly that the term “intercultural” may appear a floating signifier. However, the benefit of our schema is in classifying these models by focusing on the forms of intercultural interactions they anticipate.

摘要

本文的目的是提出一个映射跨文化评估策略领域的模式。该图式基于 Haraway 的符号方格，并具有两个维度。第一个考虑文化他者被理解为有多远或多近——无论他们被认为是陌生人还是邻居. 第二个考虑是否鼓励学生将文化他者视为学习事实的对象，或者是否期望学生和文化他者互动作为改变他们相互关联的生活的一种手段。我们认为，这种映射有助于阐明各种评估策略的优缺点，突出这些评估策略的基本课程假设和目标。本文认为，将文化他人视为参与共同变革变革的邻居的课程和评估模型应该越来越多地成为跨文化学习和评估策略的重点。对现有文献的回顾发现，学校系统、国际和跨国课程机构、一些营利性公司提供了广泛的模型来评估学生的跨文化意识、理解和构成。这些模型差异如此之大，以至于“跨文化”一词可能看起来像是一个浮动的能指。然而，我们的模式的好处在于通过关注他们预期的跨文化互动形式来对这些模型进行分类。