Transcultural Competence as Transformative Learning for Building an Inclusive Society

dc.contributor.advisorGuo, Shibaod
dc.contributor.authorJurkova, Sinela
dc.contributor.committeememberGroen, Janet Elizabeth
dc.contributor.committeememberWong, Lloyd L.
dc.contributor.committeememberFrideres, James S.
dc.contributor.committeememberTarc, Paul
dc.date2019-11
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-27T18:21:51Z
dc.date.available2019-08-27T18:21:51Z
dc.date.issued2019-08-22
dc.description.abstractThis qualitative research examines the process of acquiring transcultural competence by adult learners and how transcultural skills and knowledge empower personal growth and foster societal inclusion. The theoretical concept links transculturalism with transformative learning as a continuous process of recognizing different world views and multiple identities, adaptation and interaction in our culturally dynamic reality and transnational mobility. I contend that transculture can be perceived as encompassing and creating space for individual’s transformative learning and for developing transcultural competence. Based on findings from 21 face-to-face interviews, two focus groups, observation, and document analysis, my investigation unfolds around four areas of learning and constructing the path of transcultural competence. The first is related to developing the qualities of transcultural person. I outlined cognitive, affective, and social dimensions through which individuals develop transcultural competence. The second area reveals intrinsic and extrinsic factors that motivate learning engagement. I found the dominance of internal motivation which relates to the need of personal growth, family relationships, and adaptation to a new society and working environment. Moreover, the concept of motivation for learning on personal and organizational levels refers to a complex system recognizing individual experience, personal emotions, cognitive knowledge, and engagement in relationships. The third area is about constructing transcultural learning as a holistic transformative process that involves inquiry, framing, positionality, and progressing to dialogue, reflection, and competent action. As such, the process relates to multiple forces that connect local to global, challenging taken-for-granted frames of reference, expanding world views, integrating new practices, and transforming individuals. The fourth area reveals that individuals empowered with transcultural knowledge transfer this knowledge and act as agent of change for fostering inclusion in workplace and in society. My participants identified a deficiency in transcultural knowledge in education, organizational professional development, in government policies of integration, where the implications of this study will be valuable. This research offers a theoretical perspective and a vision aimed at dissolving cultural and ethnic binaries, the notion of belonging from culturally specific and nationally exclusive to transcultural and interspatial connections. As such transcultural learning model could have multiple implications in policies and practices in adult and higher education, immigrant integration, personal and organizational growth, for facilitating sociocultural adaptation and inclusion in the global age of transnational migration.en_US
dc.identifier.citationJurkova, S. (2019). Transcultural Competence as Transformative Learning for Building an Inclusive Society (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/36912
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/110830
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyWerklund School of Educationen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjecttransculture, transcultural learning, transcultural competence, transformative learning, inclusionen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Adult and Continuingen_US
dc.titleTranscultural Competence as Transformative Learning for Building an Inclusive Societyen_US
dc.typedoctoral thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation Graduate Program – Educational Researchen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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