Exploring transformative intercultural engagement in Australian higher education: insights from educators in Chinese studies

This research investigated educators’ approach to interculturality within language degrees in Australian higher education, a field grappling with a structural dichotomy between language- and content-focused courses. Grounded in the theoretical framework of interculturality, which shifts from static and essentialist notions of competence towards a dynamic lifelong process of becoming, this study addressed a significant research gap: the lack of insight into how educators encourage transformative intercultural engagement across the inbuilt content–language divide. Employing a qualitative research design, the study involved a comparative analysis of three educators in Chinese Studies at an Australian university. Data from pre- and post-observation semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and 31 student questionnaires were analysed using thematic analysis. The analysis revealed five thematic approaches to intercultural engagement, progressing from static to transformative: initiation (cultural literacy), connection (similarities/differences), interaction (situated practice/embodied lived experience), analysis (critical and political) and re-positioning (cultivation of critical stance). The study argues that the built-in content–language divide, together with educators’ research and teaching backgrounds, strongly influence the depth of transformative intercultural engagement.