Does nationality composition affect student groups' collaboration and performance? A cross-case analysis

A Dutch STEM university is aiming to create an inclusive international classroom where diversity is appreciated as an indispensable element of the quality of learning. One aspect of the international classroom is to enable students to acquire international collaboration skills through working in mixed nationality student groups. In a previous interview study, we found that group composition of nationalities has consequences for collaboration, in which having just one 'token' international member group seems particularly ineffective. This paper presents a follow-up observation study that compares collaboration and performance in three compositions of mixed-nationality student groups. We analyzed online meeting recordings, evaluation questionnaires, and self-reflection reports. In the cross-case analysis, we focused on: 1) members' participation in the meetings (frequency of utterances), 2) disagreement episodes (triggers and solutions), and 3) group performance (teachers' grading and students' perceived performance). The results suggest that in the group with one international member, group meeting conversations were skewed towards the domestic Dutch students. This group encountered more process-related disagreements, competitive disagreement solutions, experienced a low level of trust, more emotional discomfort (such as pressure), and experienced less satisfaction. By comparison, in the other two groups where nationality was more equally distributed, members evenly contributed to meetings. These groups were observed to have more task-related disagreements, more information elaboration and agreement solutions, and higher levels of trust, satisfaction, and group belongingness. This observation study contributes to awareness of student diversity effects that allow teachers to take the next step towards facilitating mixed-nationality student groups in the international classroom.