Mediated communication as an entryway into interculturality

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors discuss how utilising mediated communication may open new possibilities into exploring and understanding intercultural communication in education. Set in the context of Finnish higher education, the chapter follows a social constructionist viewpoint into mediated communication. The chapter argues for the prevalence of media and technology-mediated communication as a tool with which citizens of a globalised world make sense of themselves as well as the other. The authors present and discuss practical examples of how learners’ own media use practices may be drawn upon in teaching, and how focusing on the everyday affordances of media allows for strengthening learners’ agency. Such a pedagogical approach can also be seen as contributing to the development of critical media literacy.