intercultural communication and understanding 101

Intercultural Communication and Understanding 101

By Paul Raymond DoyonUtsunomiya University

Honors English Camp 2010

What is Culture?

• Culture with a Big C: (“Formal Culture”) – (“The Best in Human Life”)– The History, Fine Arts

• Culture with a Little c: (“Deep Culture”) – (“Everything in Human Life)

• (Patterns of Daily Living; Value Systems)

– The Society: • Behavior• Attitudes• Beliefs• Values

“Commitment to the Teaching of Foreign Cultures” by Genelle Morain from The Modern Language Journal, University of Wisconsin Press, 1983

What is Cross-Cultural Awareness?• Does Contact lead to Understanding?– Not necessarily.

• What else is needed?– RESPECT– PARTICIPATION– EMPATHY (Ability to imagine oneself in another

role)– Individual Plasticity – Tolerance for Ambiguity

“Cross-Cultural Awareness” by Robert G. Hanvey, from Toward Internationalism: Readings in Cross-Cultural Communication, by Louise Fiber Luce and Elise C. Smith (eds). Newbury House, 1986

Does Cross-Cultural Awareness Matter?

• “Yes, cross-cultural awareness does matter, for the following major reason if for no other. Several million years of evolution seem to have produced in us a creature that does not easily recognize the members of its own species. That is stated in rather exaggerated form, but it refers to the fact that human groups commonly have difficulty in accepting the humanness of other human groups.”



• “For example, we need to discover the extent to which our thinking is bound by a culture. Cultures are good in many ways. But, to the extent that they lock us in to one way of looking at the world, we need to transcend them. We need to think beyond them. Why is this important? It’s important because we, as creatures, are deeply determined -- in our life, and in our behavior, and in our character, and in other ways – are determined by our thinking. We have no choice but to be governed by thought. The question is, do we govern the thought that governs us? Ideas control us ... Do we control them? ”

• “Critical Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief” The 27th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking -- July 23 -- 26, 2007 Keynote Address -- July 23, 2007Richard Paul, Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking, Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking


• “We call a group of primitives in northern North America, Eskimos; this name, originated by certain Indians to the south of the Eskimos, means ‘Eaters of Raw Flesh.’ However, the Eskimos’ own name for themselves is not Eskimos but Inupik, meaning ‘Real People.’ By their name they provide a contrast between themselves and other groups; the latter might be ‘people’ but are never ‘real’.”



“Consider the phenomenon -- which is worldwide -- of patriotic history. Patriotic history -- at least in my conception of patriotic history -- consists in telling the story of our past in such ways as to make us look much better than we are and to take those who have come into conflict with us and represent them as worse than they were and are. In other words, patriotic history is dishonest history that makes us, unjustifiably, feel good about ourselves. This is what most societies want of their historians. Tell us about the past so we can see how heroic we are. Fine and good, but what does that imply about others. If we are the chosen people, then everyone else is not chosen. If we're number one, then everyone else is below us. If we're the most important, then others are unimportant or of lesser importance. And so, to penetrate history critically -- to see its dangers, and to see its values, and to be able to think with a different sort of framework -- is certainly crucial to our well being. “ “Critical Thinking in Every Domain of Knowledge and Belief” The 27th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking -- July 23 -- 26, 2007 Keynote Address -- July 23, 2007Richard Paul, Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking, Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking

Achieving Understanding!Initial Willingness to Respect Local Ways &Viewpoints

Participation (which is a concrete demonstrationof respect.)

Rewards: InternalAnd Community Approval

Advanced Participation:Living the Culture

Depth Understanding:“Inside the Head” of the Host Society


Levels of Cross-Cultural Understanding

Level Information Mode Interpretation

1Awareness of Superficial or very visible cultural traits. Stereotypes.

Tourism, Textbooks, Magazines (National Geographic)

Unbelievable!Exotic!Bizarre!

2Awareness of significant & sub-cultural traits that contrast markedly with one’s own

Culture Conflict Situations

Unbelievable!Frustrating!Irrational!

3Awareness of significant & sub-cultural traits that contrast markedly with one’s own

Intellectual Analysis Believable Cognitively

4Awareness of how another culture feels from the standpoint of an insider

Cultural Immersion: Living the culture.

Believable due to subjective similarity


Seven Dimensions of Intercultural Competence

1.The capacity to be flexible2.The capacity to be non-judgmental3.Tolerance for ambiguity4.The capacity to communicate respect5.The capacity to personalize one’s

knowledge and perceptions6.The capacity to display empathy7.The capacity for turn taking

“Guidelines for Cross-Cultural Communication Effectiveness” by Brent D. Ruben, from Toward Internationalism: Readings in Cross-Cultural Communication, by Louise Fiber Luce and Elise C. Smith (eds). Newbury House, 1986

Seven Steps in Intercultural Interactions

1. Establishing contact and communication2. Establishing Bona Fide friends and being

accepted into the community3. Observing what is going on around oneself

and making meaning from those experiences4. Establishing a role in the host society5. Gaining consciousness of oneself as a cultural

being and taking responsibility6. Developing needed skills and traits7. Developing meaningful relationships“Seven Concepts in Cross-Cultural Interaction” by Theodore Gochenour and Anne Janeway, from Beyond CultureS. Experiment Press, 1973

Culture BumpOccurs when an individual from one culture finds him/herself in a different, strange , or uncomfortable situation when interacting with persons of a different culture. This phenomenon results from a difference in the way people from one culture behave in a particular situation from people in another culture. Can be

• Negative• Positive• Neutral

Unlike Culture Shock, which extends over an extended period of time, culture bumps are instantaneous, usually over within minutes or seconds, though the effect may be long-lasting, and can occur anytime one is in contact with members of a different culture.“Culture Bump and Beyond” by Carol M. Archer, from Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching, by Joyce M. Valdes (Ed.). Cambridge University Press, 1986

Recognizing a Culture Bump1. Pinpoint some time when I have felt “different” or

noticed something different when I was with someone from a different culture.

2. Define the situation3. List the behaviors of the other person4. List my own behavior5. List my feelings in the situation6. List the behaviors I expect from people in my own

culture in the same situation7. Reflect on the underlying value in my own culture

that prompts that behavior expectation.“Culture Bump and Beyond” by Carol M. Archer, from Culture Bound: Bridging the Cultural Gap in Language Teaching, by Joyce M. Valdes (Ed.). Cambridge University Press, 1986

Multicultural Man

“It suggests a human being whose identifications and loyalties transcend the boundaries of nationalism and whose commitments are pinned to a vision of the world as a global community.”

“Beyond Cultural Identity: Reflections on Cultural and Multicultural Man” by Peter S. Adler, from Intercultural Communication: A Reader (3rd Edition), by Larry A. Samovar and Richard E. Porter. Wadsworth Publishing, 1982

Multicultural Man

“Nation, culture, and society exert tremendous influence on each of our lives, structuring our values, engineering our view of the world, and patterning our responses to experience. No human being can hold himself apart from some form of cultural influence. No one is culture free. Yet the conditions of contemporary history are such that we may now be on the threshold of a new kind of person, a person who is socially and psychologically a product of the interweaving of cultures in the twentieth century.”


Multicultural Man

“What is universal about the multicultural person is his abiding commitment to essential similarities between people everywhere, while paradoxically maintaining an equally strong commitment to their differences. The universal person, suggests Walsh, ‘does not at all eliminate culture differences.’ Rather, he ‘seeks to preserve whatever is most valid, significant, and valuable in each culture as a way of enriching and helping to form the whole.’ ”


The Marginal Person

“A marginal person is thought of as one whose actions do not reflect well any one culture.”

“Marginal persons can be tragic or they can be advantaged. They may fall as well as they may rise.”

“Marginal people who fall may be rootless or alienated; those who rise may be synthesizers. They do not have to act entirely like members of any particular group, majority or minority. Therefore, they can transcend boundaries, see new patterns, and attempt to bridge gaps…. Marginal people are generally broadminded and unchauvinistic.”

“Marginality is an essential component in a healthy social system.”

“Marginality and Multiculturalism: Another Look at Bilingual/Bicultural Education” by John Lum, from Intercultural Communication: A Reader (3rd Edition), by Larry A. Samovar and Richard E. Porter. Wadsworth Publishing, 1982

Cultural Identity

“Why are race and ethnic identity so powerful?”

“They think they are maximizing their identities when they relate primarily to similar persons. In reality, however, they are limiting the range of their identity.”

“It must be contended, however, that emphasizing one’s own cultural and linguistic heritage does not of itself lead that one to be multicultural or pluralistic. If anything, without balance, such emphasis might even lead one to mono-ethnic chauvinism or ethnocentrism.”

“Marginality and Multiculturalism: Another Look at Bilingual/Bicultural Education” by John Lum, from Intercultural Communication: A Reader (3rd Edition), by Larry A. Samovar and Richard E. Porter. Wadsworth Publishing, 1982

Kinesics: Non-Verbal Communication

•Postural differences•Movement: e.g. Styles of walking• French perceive American walk as “bouncing” and

“uncivilized.”• Spanish Americans perceive it as “Authoritarian.”•Gestures•Facial Expressions•Eye management•Proxemics (distancing)

“Kinesics and Cross Cultural Communication” by Gennelle G. Morain, from Intercultural Communication: A Reader (3rd Edition), by Larry A. Samovar and Richard E. Porter. Wadsworth Publishing, 1982

Research Methodology: Exploration

1. Observation– Watching– Noticing– Perceiving

2. Inquiry– Asking Questions

Observation Versus Interpretation

• Observation – Perception• Interpretation – Conception

The Experiential Learning Cycle

Concrete Experience

Observationand Reflection

Formation of AbstractConcepts and Generalizations

Testing Implicationsof Concepts in NewSituations (Experimentation)

The Experiential Learning Cycle

Concrete Experience

Formations of Abstract Concepts& Generalizations

ActiveExperimentation

Artists,Musicians,Psychologists

ScientistsEngineers

SociologistsAnthropologists

Businesspeople

Teachers

ReflectiveObservation

FeelingPerception

Apprehension

(observation)

ThinkingConception

Comprehension(Interpretation)

-pre

hen

sion

The prehension dimension refers to the way in which the individual grasps experience. This dimension can be seen as two modes of knowing, ranging from what Kolb calls grasping via “apprehension” to what he calls grasping via “comprehension.” Apprehension is instant intuitive knowledge without a need for rational inquiry or analytical confirmation. The other end of the dimension, grasping via comprehension, on the other hand, emphasizes the role of conscious learning, whereby comprehension introduces order and predictability to the flow of unconscious sensations. This dimension is thus concerned with the ways of grasping reality through the varying degrees of emphasis on unconscious and conscious learning.

(Kohonen, Experiential language learning: second language learning as cooperative learner education. 1992, p. 16)

Two Ways of Knowing: Apprehension & Comprehension

Praxis“reflection and action upon the world in

order to transform it.” Paulo Freire

Reflection(Verbalism)

Action(Activism)

Praxis

Models of Teaching & Learning

One "way in" to this distinction which I have found helpful is to define it in terms of Wallace's (1991) three models of teacher learning: the applied science, craft, and reflective models. According to the applied science model, teachers learn to be teachers by being taught research-based theories, and then applying them in practice: The implication is that the most important professional knowledge is generalizable theory. The craft model means learning teaching in the way apprentices learn crafts like shoemaking or carpentry: The novice watches and imitates a master teacher, and obeys the latter's directions for improvement. Here the implication is that teaching is mainly a practical skill. Finally we have the reflection model, according to which teachers learn by reflecting on their own experience and applying what they have learned in order to develop their professional abilities further.

Penny Ur 1997 “Teacher Training and Teacher Development: A Useful Dichotomy?” The Language Teacher.

Concrete Experience

ReflectiveObservation

Abstract Conceptualization

ActiveExperimentation

Expert PracticeAnecdote, etc.

CriticalObservation

Theories,Abstract Concepts

Research,Experiment

Ur’s Optimal Teaching & Learning Model

The Learner

The Outside World

…to learn only from oneself is limited: One needs also to take advantage of the enormous amount of … knowledge and expertise “out there” waiting to be tapped. Your own experience can be enriched by hearing, seeing, or reading about the experiences of others: your reflections on your own or other’s performance can be enriched by other people’s critical observations; you can discover some beautiful theories through reading the literature or listening to lecturers that help you understand what you are doing; you can supplement your own experimentation by finding out about the experiments of researchers. Such knowledge cannot be taken on board simply through reading or hearing about it. In order for it to function as real knowledge and not just as inert items of information, you need to process it through your own experience, reflection, conceptualization, and experimentation and to construct your own understanding of it.

Penny Ur 1997 “Teacher Training and Teacher Development: A Useful Dichotomy?” The Language Teacher.

Optimal Learning

The End

Thank You Very Much

intercultural communication and understanding 101

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