A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Multicultural Group Learning

Abstract

Conflict is a natural part of any multicultural group learning (McGL) environment.Dealing with conflicts in McGL is not an easy task due to multiplicity of differences such as cultural origins, beliefs, and practices.It is crucial to address the challenges and contradictions among learners who are increasingly diverse due to internationalization in higher education systems, especially for the foreign students who must adapt the local cultural norms of behavior and interactions.The core idea of McGL includes the mutually constituting influences of social interactions in jointly constructed activities across multiple settings and the function of mediating psychological tools.However, how students make these adaptations remains unclear.To address this, the present paper proposes Engeström's Activity System Theory (AST) as a theoretical framework for analyzing student interactions in complex multicultural group learning (McGL) environments.This paper describes a framework for identifying the sources of conflict in McGL and ways to deal with those conflicts.The ultimate goal of this program of research is to facilitate students' ability to work together by using activity systems analysis as an analytical tool to better understand McGL interactions, which will enable instructors and students to productively engage in the coconstruction of knowledge.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 5 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.