UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE IMPACT OF TEACHING STRATEGIES - CASE STUDY ON AN INTERCULTURAL COMPARISON COURSE IN GENERAL EDUCATION

This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated pedagogies those foster intercultural sensitivity development in a university general education course. In this study, teaching strategies such as narrative writing, group learning, issues-based approach, case studies, movie watching and discussion, extended essay were applied and students' perceptions on the effectiveness of these strategies were collected through individual interviews. It is found that, 1) more than half participants reported the movement of their intercultural sensitivity from a lower stage to a higher stage upon the completion of the course; 2) narrative writing is an effective learning experience to trace students' cultural values back to their childhood, family, school life experience etc, which has positive influence on the understanding of and reflection on the self of a student, further, the extended essay is recognized as a very useful approach to gain the deep exploration and understanding of cultural difference issues; 3) students have extremely different perceptions on the discussion of controversial issues and the adaption of this strategy according to individuals' development stages should be considered; 4) Students have diversified views on the effects of movie watching and discussion, case study, and group learning. The paper discusses the implications of the findings at the end.