From English language learners to intercultural citizens: Chinese student sojourners’ development of intercultural citizenship in ELT and EMI programmes

The notion of global or intercultural citizenship has become prominent in international higher education and English medium instruction. The goal is to educate students for successful interaction in intercultural situations across multiple communities from the local to the global. However, most discussions are at the theoretical level and there is insufficient empirical evidence documenting the extent to which experiences of students in international universities actually leads to the development of intercultural citizenship. To address this gap this research explored the experiences of Chinese students (the largest group of international students in the UK and a major group of English language teaching learners) before, during and after study abroad. Data was collected from students (n = 258) via questionnaires, interviews and a focus group in the UK and China. Findings demonstrated generally positive attitudes towards intercultural citizenship and intercultural citizenship education. Furthermore, many participants reported developing an increased sense of identification with intercultural citizenship as a result of study abroad. However, understanding of intercultural citizenship was often superficial and no students reported any formal intercultural citizenship education either in preparation for study abroad or during their time in the UK. Moreover, a number of students either rejected or withdrew from the idea of developing an intercultural identity due to negative impressions of intercultural experiences. We argue that these mixed findings are unsurprising given the lack of opportunities to prepare for or reflect on intercultural experiences. Furthermore, the absence of intercultural citizenship education is a missed opportunity in English language teaching and English for academic provision