Immigration, migration and transnational flows and their impact on intercultural competence in U.S. K-16 education
Friday, February 19th at 10:00 am
Henzlik Hall 207
M’Balia Thomas, Ph.D.
The shifts in cultural and linguistic flows brought about by immigration, migration and transnational living require that we as educators continue to examine and redefine the (very) broad topic of intercultural competence. Drawing from her experiences researching and working with refugees in a Citizenship education program and in mentoring, advising and teaching students in a graduate TESOL program, Dr. Thomas’ talk will explore the theme of intercultural competence as moving beyond competently learning to communicate with the “Other”, to one that emphasizes the intersubjective and intersectional nature of this competence across K-16 U.S. education.
Dr. M’Balia Thomas is an Assistant Professor of TESOL in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. Her research interests are in the area of language use and language ideology in TESOL/FLE.