"China Is Different"-Intercultural Learning Processes In Practical Contact

With increasing globalization, study- and work-related stays abroad are being more and more common. This study titled "China is Different - Intercultural Learning Processes in Practical Contact" is in this regard examining how knowledge changes in the course of cultural contact. The aim of the study is to trace intercultural learning processes during a stay abroad and answer the question "Does cultural contact lead to intercultural learning"?Previous research examined intercultural learning mainly in respect of the acquisition of intercultural competence. The pointing out of intercultural learning processes and therefore the creation of an observable experience are often disregarded. Especially learning effects due to stays abroad are rarely addressed. With this Master’s thesis an attempt is made to contribute to close this research gap.For this purpose a person without personal experience about China is interviewed during his internship in China. The interview method is a combination of a problem-centered and narrative interview. The transcribed interviews are then examined for establishing and changing knowledge structure types. As there is no practically applicable analysis procedure for these, such a one is primarily developed. By operationalizing the originally theoretical knowledge structure types, it is attempted to work out linguistic indicators for those. Therefore German modal particles, pronouns, determinants, foreordinations, and comparisons of two nations, all dependent on their context, are evaluated.Due to a very precise gradation that is possible when categorizing existing and newly learned knowledge, knowledge structure types are suitable for analyzing intercultural learning processes. Their dynamic and therefore alterable properties enable to trace modifications of knowledge that resulted from practical contact. Based on practically relevant examples the knowledge structure types and their nuances are clarified one-by-one. A demonstration of the positive potential of the knowledge structure type theory is furthermore required for the creation of a practical evaluation procedure.The evaluation of the results shows that indicators for generalizing knowledge stand out in particular. Thus most of the pronouns, determinants, and foreordinations are classified as indicators for sentences. Especially knowledge about Germany or Germans is expressed in a generalizing absolute way and therefore classified as sentence-knowledge. Regarding knowledge about China and Chinese the influence and impact of the practical contact on pre-existing as well as newly learned knowledge stands out in particular. One example clarifies that especially:Generalizing sentences are getting less and less during the ongoing stay abroad and are often replaced with new knowledge that is based on new personal experiences. This can be explained as several experiences of the interviewed person were not consistent with the previous knowledge, which lead to it being proven false and therefore losing its validity. Among other things due to such revisions and modifications an intercultural learning process can be implied.Even though the results show that the analyzed word classes and words can be indicators for knowledge structure types in certain cases, they often can’t be assigned as indicator for just one knowledge structure type in particular. Therefore the word itself just shows that a form of knowledge or a knowledge structure type is present, but not what kind or which one it is. Regardless of the respective indicators it is proven that with knowledge structure types an intercultural learning process based on the stay abroad can be shown. Therefore the initial research question "Does cultural contact lead to intercultural learning?" can be affirmed.