"The task of writing about local happenings for a global audience motivates students to think critically about what they know," so argued Ruth Breeze, a researcher for the Public Discourse project of the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra. She was reflecting about a project with journalism students on the development of critical thinking. In this instance, they were asked to write a local news story for an international audience.

The researcher laid out the conclusions of this projectin her chapter Promoting Critical Cultural Awareness in the International University as part of the book Essential Competencies for English-medium University Teaching, published by the international publisher Springer and co-edited by the researcher and Carmen Sancho Guinda.

Breeze notes that, "critical cultural awareness is an essential component for thinking in today’s context," and that, "it is increasingly necessary for building effective relationships in a very globalized world." In her opinion, this involves questioning what one has been taught and what one knows as a given or established norm, and thinking about received knowledge from a skeptical point of view. "This kind of awareness," Breeze explains, "allows students to interact with people from other cultural backgrounds."

Breeze further noted that although this critical ability is very important for education, it is not taught in some countries. She suggests that the problem lies in conceiving of education as "the domain of a received body of knowledge" such that teachers are an authority that must be believed.

In her work, Breeze concludes that students can relate better to people from other countries and cultures if they develop this critical capacity and argues that they can begin by "questioning their own preconceived notions of cultural intangibles."

As students move into critical cultural awareness, "they often find themselves confronted more deeply by areas of the cultural iceberg that are below the surface," she notes.

Language to teach

Ruth Breeze stresses that, "Language itself plays an important role in intercultural encounters." For her, mastering writing implies that a person is able to explain and develop texts for different types of readers.

With these benefits in mind, the activity is highly recommended to help students practice this ability and develop a critical capacity. "This activity is highly recommended in English-speaking education systems, but it is not considered a priority elsewhere," she laments.