Ildikó Furka is a senior lecturer of the Centre for Modern Languages at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences (Budapest University of Technology and Economics). She is working on identifying organizational and educational values to see where assistance might be needed to bridge any gaps in the teaching and learning styles of instructors and international students. She is currently researching higher education language learners’ motivation to start and/or continue to study languages in an era where artificial intelligence might render foreign language knowledge redundant. She also assists with communicative strategies for students to manage cross-cultural communication breakdowns. She is also supporting faculty and university leadership to foster the successful integration of international students at BME.
Dr. Ildikó Furka is an expert on cross-cultural understanding, culture shock, stress and coping, read this interview to find out more about her labour.
Q- Dr. Ildikó, could you please provide us with more insight into your background and your role within BME?
A– I come from a language and culture background, having graduated with an MA in English Literature and Linguistics, as well as one in Egyptology. Both my majors focused on linguistics and classic cultural training, but my personal interest drove me to look at beliefs and their representations in magical and religious texts in the case of Egyptology, and the figure of Merlin the magician in the poetry of Lord Tennyson. Afterwards I lived in Tel Aviv and spent some time in Canada, both of which environments forced me to realize in hands-on experience how having high linguistic knowledge of a language does not necessarily mean understanding others and being understood all the time. As a result of these experiences, I pursued a PhD in Language Pedagogy, focusing on intercultural competence development in foreign language classrooms, and how cultural value orientations affect communication in a second language, language teaching methodology and second language identity development.
I was recruited to BME because of the above expertise in 2019 to perform curriculum and materials development for the English language instructions of incoming international students. I carried out a needs assessment analysis to base the materials development on scientific evidence. My experience abroad, anecdotes at BME and the needs assessment data showed that there are deeper powers at play in the misunderstandings between international students and instructors. Through the Student Career Path Program I was able to collect data on BME’s most characteristic communication patterns in English, and I am currently working on publishing the results in a way that international student integration in other higher education institutions may benefit from it, too.
Q- Promoting physical mobility among EELISA campuses is one of the main aims of the Alliance. How do you help students navigate and overcome potential cross-cultural communication breakdowns in increasingly diverse educational environments?
A– Working in international and multilingual environments tends to require personal development. I usually start with teaching/facilitating self-reflection of values, behaviors and everyday practices of the given students in order to establish a starting point for their journey of personal development. Then I like to have them do research on their target institutions/courses/projects, and analyse what they think they can expect from entering these situations in other countries and institutions. The next step I highlight is managing expectations, and recognizing emotional states, so that students may realize why they are reacting to a situation in a way they do. Verbalizing and raising awareness of emotions is one of the key factors of recognizing culture shock symptoms, without which it is impossible to assist the student in question. Becoming practised in recognizing emotions, as well as putting them aside to be dealt with later instead of reacting on them immediately, in addition to putting off judgement on others, are essential skills for multi-national and multi-disciplinary scenarios. Emotional intelligence and emotional regulation are essential.
I also teach students not to expect no-problem communication. There will always be problems with one person or another in one situation or another. We don’t even need a foreign language to experience those. So, expecting difficulties, but working on our attitude towards working them out is the most important preparatory task for me.
Q- You are an expert on culture shock, stress and coping. From your experience, how can this area of specialization be leveraged in higher education to address the current challenges posed by international conflicts and the resulting mass displacement of students and university faculty members?
A- The everyday solution I see to tensions arising between international students and academic staff and administrative staff is to look at the person you are talking to at that moment, and try to look for positive intentions behind his/her actions. Do not take anything as a personal attack. “The others’ are not bad or good, they are just different. The different value expressed in different behavior is not bad or good per se, it just is. Most people just want to live and work in peace, regardless of what different groups may promote in their propaganda. Looking at the individual, instead of the labels and connotations of groups they might belong to is the best way to avoid mass conflicts. Conflicts exist where there is anger. But anger is mostly sadness or fear in the disguise of anger. If one finds the real reason of anger against other groups of people, then we can get closer to finding a solution together.
Q- Lastly, could you share what you find to be the most compelling aspect of EELISA for university students?
A- There are two levels to the EELISA opportunity, both of which I find immensely flexible, therefore preferable. From an individual perspective, if you want to study and improve your skills, you can do that in short courses or workshops. If you want to participate in research, you can be pro-active and start or join research groups. If you are looking for industrial partners, you might manage that, too. EELISA provides a great opportunity for networking, becoming a well-trained specialist with a wide range of experiences that may boost your portfolio and job opportunities in the long run. On the other hand, from a community perspective, EELISA also connects European engineers and helps create a European identity and a sense of belonging. Being a part of a community can literally save lives, improve opportunities and provide momentum for further social development. The EELISA communities working for implementing the UN SDG goals through their research, innovation and dissemination practices promote openness, teach tolerance, practice fair treatment and more awareness of where the world should be going at the community-level. Building from the bottom up by providing opportunities for the individual, the end product is a transformed, fairer and more sustainable society giving us hope that the world can be a better place than when we found it.