Abstract:

Given the uncertainty and ambiguity of the modern world, intercultural aspects of international communication tend to contribute to its challenges. This requires a certain set of critical thinking and intercultural competence skills that would empower conscious choice and flexibility of behavioural patterns selected and adjusted to particular intercultural communication settings. In order to address this goal, educational programmes on intercultural communication at tertiary level are supposed to conform to these requirements. With technological advancements, educational environment is enriched by a number of online learning resources enhancing the efficiency of intercultural training. The article provides a retrospective outline of applying modern online learning resources to run a university course on intercultural communication for master’s degree students in Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Moscow, Russia). The authors assume that the key objective of the course - intercultural communication competence development - lies primarily in the attained level of critical thinking skills being its cognitive base as well as the ability to identify and develop successful strategies to overcome difficulties in intercultural communication. This hypothesis was confirmed by the survey results obtained by means of a questionnaire covering 51 participants (master’s students), which enabled the authors to conduct a comparative analysis of intercultural communication difficulties and reveal endogenous and exogenous factors contributing to their emergence. Based on the survey results and with the focus on key objectives of the intercultural communication course, modern online learning resources were analyzed and compared in terms of the following criteria: typology, key functional and didactic features, application of organizational and methodological provisions as well as pedagogical principles of creating learner-centered and interactive environment. The paper outlines comparative analysis of five selected online learning resources: interactive presentation tools Wooclap and Nearpod, online whiteboards Padlet and Flinga, interactive mindmaps Mindomo, and provides sets of tasks aimed at developing critical thinking and intercultural competence skills in master’s level students. The authors provide practical guidelines on the effective implementation of the suggested online learning resources within a university course on intercultural communication.

Keywords:

Online learning resources, critical thinking skills, intercultural competence, intercultural communication challenges, learner autonomy.