Abstract:

This paper examines the dialogical potential of intercultural critical incidents collected by three graduate students and a teacher at a university in the Czech Republic while conducting a research project on diversity management, concretely on motivational factors affecting the integration of immigrant women workers in the region of Mladá Boleslav.

The body of intercultural critical incidents was collected via 857 surveys, 16 in depth semi-structured interviews with immigrant respondents and immigration centers, 2 group interviews with the research team members, participant observation and researchers’ journals during a two-year timeframe. All sources of data were fully transcribed and coded. In this particular paper, transformative learning potential as defined by Jack Mezirow (1975;1991;1995;2000) and dialogical learning potential as formulated by Paulo Freire (1970) of intercultural critical incidents as perceived by the research team is being discussed.

The paper argues that based on the data collected, intercultural critical incidents have indeed transformational potential and that they can be considered a very useful educational tool to open an authentic dialogue on intercultural issues which can lead to increased intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence that is pivotal not only within both the educational and business setting but also for 21st century life in general.

Keywords:

Intercultural critical incidents, dialogical learning, project-based learning, diversity management, intercultural communication.