Exploring the experiences and perceptions of EAL learners' challenging cross-cultural interactions

Abstract

This study explores the experiences and perceptions of adult visitors to Canada who experience interaction problems. The researcher adapted Ilieva’s (2001) eight step culture exploration process to include the dimension of empathy which was used as a frame to help with analyzing the participants’ stories. The researcher expands the phenomenological lens by using a heuristic inquiry approach to highlight ten first-person accounts of adult English as an additional language (EAL) learners’ cross-cultural experiences in and out of classrooms. Using open-ended interviews as her primary data source, the researcher advocates for the use of empathy with EAL learners and her findings revealed main themes related to adult visitors’ acculturation such as acceptance of ambivalence, challenges with EAL, and cross-cultural learning. The information from the study provides a starting point to fill the gap in research involving the effectiveness of using empathy with EAL learners as a strategy for handling interaction problems.