This online resource is the product of research conducted by David Ostman at Kumamoto Gakuen University and made possible through funding by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research and the Japan Ministry of Education (MEXT), Kakenhi 21K13084 (2021-24).

The DIM was conceived as a resource for use by EFL educators aiming to incorporate intercultural competence development as a learning objective in environments where cultural diversity is limited. As interviewees from various cultures narrate life events, learners are provided with substitutionary encounters through which to engage in perspective-taking, thereby increasing cultural awareness and understanding towards individuals/groups who may differ not only culturally, but also in age, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Encounters through interviews, followed by self-reflection exercises and group discussions, represent an efficacious strategy for targeting learner empathy, which while extensively employed in other educational fields has received minimal attention amongst EFL educators or in the field of intercultural competence.

This approach, referred to as Intercultural Competence through Narrative (ICN), targets learner ability to engage in cognitive empathy (i.e., perspective taking), enabling the accessing of another’s mental state to understand how they think and feel. Equally important, perspective-taking allows the learner to consider how they would feel in another’s shoes. As learners gain the ability to take alternate worldviews, they gain proficiency in responding flexibly in intercultural situations, while inculcating prosocial attitudes of respect, toleration, and curiosity towards cultural others.

For more information, see How to Use this Resource and About Intercultural Competence through Narrative (ICN).