Cross-cultural communication competence of students in the unique context of the Polish–Czech borderland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35765/mjse.2025.1427.05
Keywords: cultural communication competence, Zaolzie region, inteintercultural communication, bilingual education, youth cultural identity

Abstract

Research objectives (aims) and problem(s): The aim of this study was to identify differences in the level and determinants of intercultural communication competence among school pupils in the Polish–Czech border  region. Specifically, we sought to determine whether statistically significant differences exist among the study groups, and which variables—such as environment, gender, faith, national identity, and community affiliation—shape intercultural communication skills.

Research methods: The study employed a diagnostic survey using a questionnaire. It involved 464 participants across three groups: pupils from bilingual schools in the Czech Republic [A], pupils from Polish schools located near the border [B], and a control group of pupils from public schools in the Silesian Voivodeship.

Process of argumentation: Zaolzie represents a borderland with a unique cultural identity and a longstanding tradition of multiculturalism. This raises the question of whether, in such an environment, students’ levels of intercultural communication competence differ from those in other regions, or whether their declared views are shaped by different variables.

Research findings and their impact on the development of educational sciences: The study found that the local context—the environment in which respondents were raised and educated, situated at the cultural and national border between Poland and the Czech Republic—does not significantly influence their level of intercultural communication competence or their expectations regarding intercultural education. The data indicate that students’ competences are similar to those of adolescents from other regions, and that beliefs, views, and attitudes toward multiculturalism are only minimally affected by the examined variables.

References

Abe, H., & Wiseman, R. L. (1983). A cross-cultural confirmation of the dimensions of intercultural effectiveness. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 7(1), 53-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(83)90005-6

Chen, G. M. (1990). Intercultural communication competence: Some perspectives of research. Howard Journal of Communications, 2(3), 243-261.

Chen, G. M., & Starosta, W. J. (2012). Intercultural communication competence: A synthesis. In Communication yearbook 19 (pp. 353-383). Routledge.

Chromiec, E. (2006). Edukacja w kontekście różnicy i różnorodności kulturowej [Education in the context of cultural difference and diversity]. Impuls.

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001), online: https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97

Długosz, P. (2011). Młodzież pogranicza a modernizacja peryferii [Border youth and the modernisation of the periphery]. Krakowskie Studia Małopolskie, 15, 410-421. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ksm201125

Ferszt-Piłat, K. (2015). Różnorodność kulturowa jako forma innowacji w świetle polskiej i niemieckiej edukacji elementarnej. Wielokrotne studium przypadku [Cultural diversity as a form of innovation in the light of Polish and German elementary education. A multiple case study]. Journal of Modern Science, 26(3), 363-381.

Hopkins, M., Kurowska-Pysz, J., Nowak-Żółty, E., & Szyszka, M. (2023). Attending to cross-border sociocultural competence in bilingual programs in the Polish-Czech border region: An exploratory study. Plos one, 18(11), e0293069. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293069

Hopkins, M., Nowak-Żółty, E., Kurowska-Pysz, J., & Szyszka, M. (2023a). Dimensions of bilingual education program implementation in schools serving linguistically minoritized students in the Czech-Polish border region. Frontiers in Education 8(1277575). https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1277575

Korczyński, M., & Świdzińska, A. (2017). Wrażliwość międzykulturowa studentów z pogranicza polsko-ukraińskiego [Intercultural sensitivity of students from the Polish-Ukrainian border region]. Edukacja Międzykulturowa, 6(1), 113-142. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15804/em.2017.0

Leung, K., Ang, S., & Tan, M. L. (2014). Intercultural competence. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 1(1), 489-519. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091229

Linka, A. (2011). Kompetencja międzykulturowa w nauczaniu języków obcych [Intercultural competence in language teaching]. In J. Horyń & J. Maciejewski (Eds.) Społeczeństwo wielokulturowe wyzwaniem w pracy nauczyciela andragoga, (pp. 81-94). WNITE.

Matsumoto, D., Juang, L. (2007). Psychologia międzykulturowa [Cross-cultural psychology]. GWP.

Misiejuk, D. (2013). Kompetencje do komunikacji międzykulturowej w świetle procesów samooceny w warunkach historycznego zróżnicowania regionu i procesów migracyjnych [Intercultural communication competence in the light of self-assessment processes under conditions of historical regional diversity and migration processes]. Pogranicze. Studia Społeczne 21, 37-44. DOI: 10.15290/pss.2013.21.03

Misiejuk, D. (2013). Dziedzictwo i dziedziczenie w kontekście procesów socjalizacji. Studium teoretyczno-empiryczne o procesach dziedziczenia kulturowego na historycznym pograniczu Podlasia [Heritage and inheritance in the context of socialisation processes. A theoretical-empirical study on cultural inheritance processes in the historical borderland of Podlasie]. Wydawnictwo Trans Humana.

Nikitorowicz, J. (2013). Kompetencje do komunikacji międzykulturowej w aspekcie tradycyjnej wielokulturowości regionu i procesów migracyjnych. [Intercultural communication competence in terms of traditional multiculturalism of the region and migration processes]. Pogranicze. Studia Społeczne 21, 9-25. DOI: 10.15290/pss.2013.21.01

Nikitorowicz, J. (2014). Wielokulturowość–pogranicze–człowiek pogranicza. Ku paradygmatowi współistnienia, zachowania i kreowania pokoju [Multiculturalism-Borderlanders. Towards a paradigm of coexistence, preservation and peace-making]. Drohiczyński Przegląd Naukowy, 6, 171-190.

Nikitorowicz, J. (2019). Hybrydowa tożsamość na kulturowym pograniczu–potencjał i problem osobisty i grupowy? [Hybrid identity in a cultural borderland-personal and group potential and problem?] Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio J–Paedagogia-Psychologia, 32(2), 11-22. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/j.2019.32.2.11-22

Rawal, R., & Deardorff, D. K. (2021). Intercultural competences for all. In Reshaping international teaching and learning in higher education (pp. 46-59). Routledge.

Świdzińska, A. (2013). Wybrane konteksty edukacji międzykulturowej na Lubelszczyźnie [Selected contexts of intercultural education in the Lublin region]. Edukacja Międzykulturowa 2, 134-149. DOI 10.15804/em.2013.05

Świdzińska, A., & Maliszewski, W. (2019). Afektywny wymiar kompetencji do komunikacji międzykulturowej studentów pogranicza polsko-białoruskiego [The affective dimension of intercultural communication competence of Polish-Belarusian border students]. Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio J–Paedagogia-Psychologia, 32(2), 161-173. DOI 10.17951/j.2019.32.2.161-173

Zormanová, L. (2018). Tożsamość narodowa i regionalna dzieci i młodzieży na Zaolziu [National and regional identity of children and young people in Zaolzie]. Podstawy edukacji (11), 171-182. http://dx.doi.org/10.16926/pe.2018.11.11

Published
2025-06-27
How to Cite
Szyszka, M., Hopkins, M., Kurowska-Pysz, J., Nowak-Żółty, E., & Krężołek, D. (2025). Cross-cultural communication competence of students in the unique context of the Polish–Czech borderland. Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education, 14(1 (27), 103-123. https://doi.org/10.35765/mjse.2025.1427.05
Issue
Vol. 14 No. 1 (27) (2025): Socio-cultural inclusion/integration of migrant and refugee children at school
Section
Thematic Articles

Copyright (c) 2025 Michał Szyszka, Megan Hopkins, Joanna Kurowska-Pysz, Edyta Nowak-Żółty

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

  1. The Author/Authors declares/declare that their publication is original has not been published before and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere and does not include borrowings from other works which might cause Publisher's responsibility, does not infringe the rights of the third party and that their copyright on this publication is not limited. The Author/Authors will incur all the costs and will pay compensations which might result from the mendacity of the following statement.

  2. The Author/Authors declares/declare that issues about publication ethics, have been appropriately considered.

  3. The Author/Authors agrees/agree to publish the article free of charge in Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education in English or Spanish. The Editorial Board reserves the right to shorten the texts and change the titles.

  4. As part of free publication mentioned in § 1, the Author/Authors agrees/agree to make the full electronic version of their article available in the Internet.

  5. The Author/Authors agrees/agree to index their article in databases at home and abroad, including abstracts and keywords as well as Authors’ affiliation in English and in other languages. The Author/Authors agrees/agree to pass on the information mentioned above to the owners of these databases.

  6. The Author/Authors declares/declare that the article is free of plagiarism.

  7. The Author/Authors declares/declare that funding and conflict of interest information has been included in the article.

  8. The Author/Authors accepts/accept that the author is aware of the consequences of scientific dishonesty, which, once detected, will be documented and disclosed to the public, and information about it will be communicated to the relevant institutions (universities employing the authors, scientific societies, publishing houses, etc.).

  9. The Author/Authors declares/declare to publish the text in the Multidisciplinary Journal of School Education under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0).

  10. For one Author. Please complete the Author Statement and send it to the editorial office. Please download, complete, scan and attach the file in the system during the submission process.
    Download: Author Statement

  11. For more than one Author. The Authors declare to bear complete responsibility for the scientific reliability of the article submitted. The detailed contribution of all co-authors is defined. Please complete the Authors Statement-Authorship Contributions and send it to the editorial office. Please indicate the specific contributions made by each author (list the authors’ initials, e.g., JKH).  Please download, complete, scan and attach the file in the system during the submission process. 
    Download: Authors Statement - Authorship Contributions