Institutional culture in a multicultural community of practice: A case study of a Kenyan University College.

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to explore institutional culture in a multicultural and linguisticallydiverse university college in Nairobi County, Kenya. It examined intercultural communication andthe ability of a shared Community of Practice (CofP) to overcome intercultural barriers andcontribute to intercultural understanding, rather than misunderstanding. The study adopted aqualitative paradigm through the collective case study design. The study was guided by fourresearch questions: how institutional culture is constructed in official policy documents in aKenyan university college; how students in a Kenyan university college perceive the institution'sefforts to make them aware of each other's culture; how staff members in a Kenyan universitycollege perceive the institution's efforts to make them aware of each other's culture; and howstudents at a culturally and linguistically diverse institution in a Kenyan university college viewthemselves and others in relation to the institutional culture and official language practices. Thestudy focused on first to fourth year students who were enrolled in the institution in the Departmentof Education, and teaching and non-teaching staff. The researcher used homogeneous andpurposeful random sampling techniques to select the students. For the teaching and non-teachingstaff, the researcher employed a purposive sampling technique. The total number of participantsfor this collective case study was 34. The instruments that the researcher used to collect data forthis study were a focus group discussion schedule for students, an interview schedule for teachingand non-teaching staff and a document analysis guide. The researcher transcribed the interviews,manually coded the data, categorised the data, derived themes from the categories, interrelatedthemes and interpreted the meaning of themes. In spite of creating understanding among membersof the established CofP, the study established that the core values of the university college aresometimes a source of conflict between members of the institution. Linguistic variety excludessome members of the institution in the CofP and misinterpretation also occurs in contexts whereambiguous words that denote different meanings in varied languages are used. The studyrecommended that the administration and staff should continue to create awareness of and sensitisestudents to the core values. Students should practise intercultural fluency to promote inclusivenessand cohesion in diversity and members of the community should at all times use a commonlanguage.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University