Enhancing intercultural communication through a bilingual peer mentoring project

This paper reports on the first edition of an intercultural peer mentoring project in a Northern Italian university, organised in the context of Internationalisation at Home. Peer mentoring programmes have been used by universities worldwide to support the transition and adaptation of new students to a study programme or university. The project differed from mentoring schemes that are based on a one-on-one relationship by placing students in intercultural teams made up of two Italian students (mentors) and 2-3 international degree-seeking students(mentees) of mixed provenance. It aimed to enhance the intercultural understanding of all students in the project and to improve the socialisation and sense of belonging of the international students using an experiential learning model. It also aimed to provide informal support for international students to speak Italian. Eleven MA students from the language sciencesfaculty took part in training to become mentors. At the end of the semesterlong project, mentors and some mentees completed a reflective writing assignment in which they reflected on their experience and learning with reference to guidelines. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the writing assignments. Reflective thematic analysis was used, with Mezirow’s transformative learning theory informing the discussion. Results suggest that the project led to sustained interaction, personal development and a transformative intercultural experience for some students, while also pointing to the need to consider student agency, team formation and equity to a greater extent. The paper concludes with recommendations for language and research centres that wish to set up peer mentoring schemes with international students.