The sources for the implicit misunderstandings in relation to the cultural and educationaldifferences as we have extensively discussed in this study, offer insights into the work ofacademics and educators who are involved or interested in supervision of internationalresearch students. A first insight relevant for others in similar contexts, is the relevancy ofexplicitly addressing the issues of cultural and educational similarities and differences. Ourinitial tendency was not to address them out of a respect for each other’s culture, and alsoactually a fear for doing so due to a lack of knowledge and skill to make this a point ofconversation. Knowledge of and a dialogue about each other’s cultural and educationalbackground is a necessary condition for intercultural supervision. It would be recommendedto start the supervision with explicitly addressing these cultural and educational differencesand similarities.A second insight is that many of the intercultural differences are embedded in concretebehaviors, interactional patterns and expectations about supervision, which, if not perceivedin terms of intercultural differences, might lead to misunderstandings, biased judgments, anda poor quality of the supervision. For instance, supervisors might perceive certain behavioras poor academic behavior instead of part of someone’s cultural background, such as students’reluctance to express their opinion, or a hesitancy to question teacher’s knowledge,or a tendency to be guided by teachers rather than taking initiative. Being aware of thebackground of this behavior, supervisors can make their international students aware ofhow such behavior is perceived in a Western academic environment and invite them to tryto adjust themselves to this different environment.To go back to the start of this article, as for Klaas, in his role as Ph.D. supervisor of internationalstudents, he was strongly reminded of the complexity of intercultural communication,even though in advance he saw himself quite capable based on many previous experiences.His subsequent approach to supervising international students, and even Dutch students,is to be more articulate about expectations and to conceptualize them explicitly in culturaland educational terms.At the start of our collaboration we assumed that there were many differences betweenus. At the same time, these assumptions made it difficult to notice the many similarities ofwhich we gradually became aware as we discussed our misunderstandings. In internationalcollaboration, celebrating cultural differences while also perceiving them as challenges isan absolute necessity.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
The sources for the implicit misunderstandings in relation to the cultural and educational<br>differences as we have extensively discussed in this study, offer insights into the work of<br>academics and educators who are involved or interested in supervision of international<br>research students. A first insight relevant for others in similar contexts, is the relevancy of<br>explicitly addressing the issues of cultural and educational similarities and differences. Our<br>initial tendency was not to address them out of a respect for each other’s culture, and also<br>actually a fear for doing so due to a lack of knowledge and skill to make this a point of<br>conversation. Knowledge of and a dialogue about each other’s cultural and educational<br>background is a necessary condition for intercultural supervision. It would be recommended<br>to start the supervision with explicitly addressing these cultural and educational differences<br>and similarities.<br>A second insight is that many of the intercultural differences are embedded in concrete<br>behaviors, interactional patterns and expectations about supervision, which, if not perceived<br>in terms of intercultural differences, might lead to misunderstandings, biased judgments, and<br>a poor quality of the supervision. For instance, supervisors might perceive certain behavior<br>as poor academic behavior instead of part of someone’s cultural background, such as students’<br>reluctance to express their opinion, or a hesitancy to question teacher’s knowledge,<br>or a tendency to be guided by teachers rather than taking initiative. Being aware of the<br>background of this behavior, supervisors can make their international students aware of<br>how such behavior is perceived in a Western academic environment and invite them to try<br>to adjust themselves to this different environment.<br>To go back to the start of this article, as for Klaas, in his role as Ph.D. supervisor of international<br>students, he was strongly reminded of the complexity of intercultural communication,<br>even though in advance he saw himself quite capable based on many previous experiences.<br>His subsequent approach to supervising international students, and even Dutch students,<br>是約為預期更加明確,對他們在文化明確概念化<br>和教育方面。<br>在我們合作的開始,我們假設有許多不同之處<br>我們。與此同時,這些假設,因此很難注意到很多相似之處的<br>,我們討論了我們的誤解,我們逐漸意識到。在國際<br>合作,慶祝文化上的差異,同時感知他們作為挑戰是<br>絕對必要的。<br>披露聲明<br>沒有利益可能發生衝突報告由作者。
正在翻譯中..
