Applying Transformative Learning to Cross-cultural Training Endeavours: Cultural Self-awareness and Perspective Shifts

This situational case study examined the applicability of transformative learning theory and its attendant teaching and learning strategies of critical reflection and discourse to one program of cross-cultural training. It illustrates that transformative learning theory can inform both the content and approach of training programs. By providing participants with structured opportunities guided by critical reflection and discourse, cross-cultural training can be viewed as a transformative learning experience as understood in the field of adult education. These findings have the potential to provide thefield of cross-cultural training with relevant theoryand methodology to help unify its diverse aims. Furthermore, the findings may also inform transformative learning theory in that they demonstrate that transformative learning may not be confined to the linear process advocated in earlier theory, such as Mezirow (1990), but in fact involve phases of a cyclical or spiral structure, as more recent writers suggest.