CIICPD 2023

I learned to always state what makes me uncomfortable in the first encounter, […]” (line 14–15). The whole text can be considered as a negotiation of the ‘degree of

sameness or difference’ within the master course: regular master students ↔ international students specialised ↔ outside of my specialisation they understand terms ↔ I don’t understand terms

they worked on the project in German ↔ my main study language is English they have background knowledge ↔ I don’t have background knowledge. Following the description of the narrator the only thing he shares with the others is “the struggle” (line 6) which ends in the completion of the task: “we were able somehow to work it” (line 12). The use of “somehow” (line 12) implies the lack of explicit strategies to overcome the difficulties. Neither the narrator nor the group are represented as actors possessing higher agency; however, the group has wider power due to the advanced knowledge and its group dynamics. Despite this advantage, which is made relevant repeatedly by the narrator, he does not mention any integrative activity initiated by the group (“they had to switch [in English] after a while” (line 5)). While the international student represents him/herself in the result as able to learn, which implies a change and the capacity to develop new strategies of behaviour, s/he does not mention any change processes within the behaviour of the group. Stimuli for further pedagogical use: – Are there intercultural problems? – Can you help this group? Develop concrete strategies to overcome the struggle. – The narrator provides criticism in a face-saving manner. Can you retrace his/ her strategies? Rewrite the story in a direct communication style. Happy Ending 1 At the beginning of our project, I and another group member have started working on the project, 2 and no one was replying to the group. We thought, because the Microsoft team is not a faster and 3 more user-friendly platform to stay connected with each other, it could be a problem. So, we 4 made a WhatsApp group and tried to get everyone in the WhatsApp group. But it was also a 5 failure because no one was joined in the group. Then we contacted our coordinator of the project 6 and explained the problem. she told us, that, that is not a problem, and she suggested, that the 7 other group members just need a push, and to do so, she suggested, to remind the other group 8 members about their tasks and what should they contribute to the group. And surprisingly the 9 suggestion worked and since then, we worked in the group till the end of our presentation. So it 10 was a happy ending for everyone in our group. CI-narrative 5

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