Designing a CLIL-Based Cultural Training Course to Enhance Learners' Cultural Quotient (CQ) by Introducing Internationalisation at Home (IaH)

Due to increasing globalisation, workforce mobility and international assignments, higher education providers are attempting to equip their graduates with professional knowledge and proficient language skills to enhance their competitiveness in the global job market. In addition, intercultural competence is regarded as essential to enable graduates to communicate effectively between cultures. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) education is expected to accommodate these targets in one approach. In our study, we designed a CLIL-based cultural training course and an accompanying self-produced textbook to develop our 43 university students' intercultural awareness before they started a one-year hospitality internship, either at home or overseas. CQ tests were conducted before and after an 18-week course intervention, and the results showed significant increments in the cognitive, meta-cognitive and behavioural dimensions of CQ, but not in motivational CQ. In the interview, the learners also commented on their high level of satisfaction with the course and its activities. The research calls for the implementation of various teaching techniques or educational policies borrowed from Internationalisation at Home (IaH) to enhance the success of cultural training in the classroom.