In this article, the author presents a theoretical overview of the connections among education, technology and intercultural literacy within Second Life, a multiuser virtual environment. Some researchers and educators are advocating that SL can enhance and encourage intercultural literacy. However, educators and researchers need to be fully aware of how complex culture and cultural identity are...

Background and objective Peru's Ministry of Health has made efforts to increase the cultural inclusiveness of maternal health services. In 2005, the Ministry adopted an intercultural birthing policy (IBP) that authorizes and encourages the use of culturally acceptable birthing practices in government-run health facilities. However, studies suggest that indigenous women may receive inconsistent ...

To expand global and intercultural communication, the effectiveness of asynchronous online communication devices, especially email, have been discussed in the area of foreign language teaching. A lack of specific research exists that addresses the application of online voicemail. This paper reports on a five month period of voicemail exchanges between 53 EFL learners in Taiwan and 56 CFL learne...

English as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has chal­ lenged previ...

Objectives To determine how to enhance integration of minority students in health education, and thereby improve intercultural communication skills and cultural sensitivity in a sample of health teacher students in Norway. Methods After a group-work intervention and for a period of six months afterwards we followed an "action research" approach and observed 47 health teachers-in-training in t...

BACKGROUND Up to one half of the population in Africa, Asia and Latin America has little access to high-quality biomedical services and relies on traditional health systems. Medical pluralism is thus in many developing countries the rule rather than the exception, which is why the World Health Organization is calling for intercultural partnerships to improve health care in these regions. They a...

INTRODUCTION The substantial gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has been slow to improve, despite increased dedicated funding. Partnerships between Australian Indigenous and mainstream Western biomedical organisations are recognised as crucial to improved Indigenous health outcomes. However, these partnerships often experience challenges, particularly in th...