“Exploring and Assessing Intercultural Competence,” is a research project of the Federation of The Experiment in International Living (FEIL), conducted from July 2005 through December 2006, with funding support from the Center for Social Development of the Global Service Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. This project was designed as the initial phase of an extended future study, pending further funding. Its purpose was to explore and develop a comprehensive construct of intercultural competence, develop a tool for its assessment, and investigate intercultural outcomes on participants and their hosts in select civic service programs including implications for their lives and work. The study was conducted through use of a survey questionnaire followed by individual interviews, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The research project is important to the Experiment Federation worldwide because it: a) engaged three Member Organizations (Great Britain, Ecuador, and Switzerland) in a learning process that will further their efforts in several areas, b) improve understanding of and further FEIL’s goals and modus operandi, c) has the potential to improve delivery of its volunteer service projects (and related programs), and d) may enhance development of the intercultural competencies of future participants and possibly of their mentors and hosts as well. Finally, this effort also contributes important knowledge to the field of intercultural education regarding international and intercultural efforts concerned with the identification, development, assessment, and impact of intercultural competencies on the lives of those involved.
Citation
Fantini, A. (2007). Exploring and assessing intercultural competence (CSD Research Paper No. 07-01). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.