Exploring Japanese international students' development of intercultural competence and identity.

摘要

This qualitative case study presents three Japanese international students who were participating in a peer-pairing language learning/teaching program (Language Bank) offered by the University of Calgary. Through examining the participants' discourse with their Language Bank partners, interviews, and critical incident reports, this study describes how the students negotiated with their social environments in order to develop their intercultural competence and how they transformed their identities in the process of such negotiations. The three cases illustrate individual students' diverse social surroundings and demonstrate students' distinctive approaches to development of intercultural competence and identity. One key finding was that the Japanese students' interaction with Japanese language learners promotes their positive perceptions of themselves.