TITLE:
Assessing Intercultural Competence Using Situational Judgement Tests: Reports from an EMI Course in Japan
AUTHORS:
Todd J. Allen
KEYWORDS:
Intercultural Competence, Intercultural Assessment, EMI, Situational Judgements, Workplace Incidents
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.13,
December
30,
2022
ABSTRACT: Intercultural competence has become a central feature of intercultural
communication education as a means of assessing students’ development. Like
other university courses, teachers and other stakeholders need to find ways to
account for students’ development and achievement in intercultural learning.
Previous research has shown that there is not one single way to account for a
student’s intercultural competence; instead employing a variety of measures
such as quizzes, interaction activities, interviews, and surveys is advocated
in determining a student’s intercultural development in a classroom setting. As
a result, in this study, participants’ (n = 48)
responses to situational judgement tests are analysed and explored.
Specifically, participants responded to three cross-cultural workplace videos
that depicted various intercultural incidents such as a misperception of time,
unawareness of appropriate language and communicative behaviours in the
workplace, and cultural differences in non-verbal communication. Overall, the
results showed that participants can articulate an awareness of various
intercultural concepts prompted by the videos. Furthermore, participants were
able to demonstrate facets of intercultural competence by observing and
reflecting on various issues in the workplace. However, the analysis revealed
that participants’ reports are often inconsistent and varied in terms of
complexity. In addition, grading the assessment is time-consuming and additional
rubrics and raters may be required to evaluate student reports accurately and
consistently. Despite these challenges, the study shows that situational
judgement tests are effective in assessing students’ intercultural knowledge,
skills, and attitudes. Using authentic materials can also be a beneficial tool,
particularly in culturally homogenous EMI classrooms.