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All I remember from my first weeks studying at an international school are the awkward conversations: subtly working out how to say someone\u2019s name without offending, attempting to make sense of slang I\u2019d never heard before. Speaking with one another wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
Decades on, observing some Manchester students, it doesn\u2019t seem like we\u2019ve made much progress. The assumption existed then, and seems to exist today, that just because students are surrounded by people from different countries, they\u2019ll implicitly learn how to manage exchanges, they\u2019ll \u2018figure it out\u2019. There is little indication, though, that this is the case.<\/p>\n
Communicating across languages and cultures is complex. It involves awareness, understanding, adaptability, a willingness and confidence to step out of our comfort zones. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This matters because what could be a strength, can easily become a silent barrier to learning and participation. In my experience the challenges of communication often become most pronounced during groupwork, especially where there is a shared, assessed outcome.<\/p>\n
To gain a better understanding of these communication difficulties and how we can support students to overcome them, my colleague Rachel Heasley and I worked closely with students and academics in FSE.<\/p>\n
We observed and analysed how groups of students, who didn\u2019t know each other, communicated when completing a task. Through student consultations we then explored our observations.<\/p>\n
A few themes emerged:<\/strong><\/p>\n What is clear, though, is there\u2019s a willingness to make it work. Students just don\u2019t know how to with confidence. For most, this needs to be explicitly taught. Without it, students likely default to what feels safest – talking only with familiar peers.<\/p>\n With that knowledge, we created two targeted interventions: a 120-minute workshop and a 60-minute self-directed resource.<\/p>\n Both feature videos\u00a0of Manchester students sharing real-life stories – honest reflections of the awkward moments and the breakthroughs. They\u2019re accompanied by interactive and reflective\u00a0tasks, which guide students to think about their own communication styles, assumptions and strategies and reach a shared understanding of how to communicate in groups.<\/p>\n In semester one, we piloted these with two year-one undergraduate courses in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Department of Materials, each cohort comprising roughly 140 students.<\/p>\n The timing was deliberate. We didn\u2019t want to wait until students were struggling, we wanted to address it head on, aiming to normalise the idea that communication is a skill to be worked on, it\u2019s not something you \u2018have\u2019 or don\u2019t. Exposing students to this early in their academic studies gives them time to hone their skills before completing higher stake group assessments in years two and three.<\/p>\n Student response was overwhelmingly positive with over 90% of students reporting that they would recommend the workshop or self-study resource to another student. There was a notable shift post workshop in both students\u2019 preparedness and confidence levels, with the percentage more than doubling.<\/p>\n\n
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