The English language as a reflective judgement component in the intercultural Erasmus exchange to and from Poland

In the empirical study of intercultural exchange presented in this paper, we assessed Erasmus students for knowledge of English as a foreign language (EFL) and their level of reflective judgement, to test for correlation between the two variables. The basic theoretical framing was derived from King and Kitchener’s (1994) reflective judgment model (RJM), based on 3 different levels of reflectivity, connected to progressive cognitive development of adults: pre-reflective, quasireflective and reflective. The results of the study show that the students displayed high levels of reflective judgment and importantly, we found a correlation between their standard of English and their level of reflectivity. The ability to communicate in English is a prerequisite to participation in the Erasmus programme, therefore it was expected that the students would score well for English knowledge. However, the results of the study suggest that being competent in the use of English as a foreign language may be a predictor of higher reflectivity amongst students in higher education. This creates a controversial pedagogical implication suggesting that learning English as a foreign language to a high standard fuels reflectivity.