Developing the critical intercultural class-space: theoretical implications and pragmatic applications of critical intercultural communication pedagogy

Teaching intercultural communication presents pedagogical challenges due to the breadth and depth of the discipline and its recent critical turn. Teaching it with a social justice mission, and guiding students to understand critical and postcolonial approaches to its practice, requires complex and multifaceted approaches so as not to oppress or misrepresent marginalised populations. This essay addresses critical intercultural communication pedagogy as a shared system of knowledge among teachers and students, all participants in the cyclical process of learning. Critical intercultural communication pedagogy is presented from a Freirean perspective, as shared ownership of knowledge, including didactic, experiential and reflexive approaches to learning, with educational outcomes that include empathy, connection and ethical responsibilities towards social justice globally and locally. First, several definitions and theoretical perspectives are traced. Next, three short case studies of critical intercultural communication pedagogy (CICP) present varying approaches to teaching critical intercultural issues across diverse populations. Each of the studies is analysed for how the application of different CICP and cosmopolitan pedagogical activities impacts educational outcomes and processes for intercultural students. Finally, several recommendations are given for future scholarship, along with a concluding remark that describes the work’s contribution to critical intercultural communication pedagogy and to the discipline as a whole.     

Towards intercultural communication: from micro to macro perspectives

This paper investigates intercultural communication and its significance to higher education. The paper briefly discusses culture, subculture and the meeting of cultures. It also provides a brief survey of developments in intercultural communication research. With reference to New Zealand, the paper further points to some limitations of intercultural communication theories, but meanwhile acknowledges the significance of these theories to higher education. The author argues that adopting interculturalism based on the principles of equality and respect at the national and institutional levels is more crucial than merely mastering some intercultural competencies or applying some intercultural communication models outlined in intercultural communication theories.     

Turbulence in intercultural communication education (ICE): does it affect higher education?

This article examines a rather neglected context of intercultural education: intercultural communication education (ICE). ICE can be found in different fields such as business, applied linguistics, intercultural communication and health education, amongst others. The authors start by reviewing the latest and ongoing changes (‘turbulences’) in the way that ‘intercultural’ is conceptualized in this field and form a template for analysing a focus group with lecturers focusing on intercultural communication in the Nordic country of Finland. Our analysis shows that these practitioners, who are also researchers specialized in intercultural communication, share discourses about the importance of the ‘intercultural’ in education, but that they are unable to clearly position themselves within the existing polysemic definitions and approaches. The current turbulences seem to have very little coherent impact on the way they talk about the ‘intercultural’.     

In/visible dimensions: framing the intercultural communication course through a critical intercultural communication framework

This article highlights how course material on ‘culture’ and ‘intercultural communication’ faces a distinctive challenge in crafting an engaged power‐focused positionality for students. I discuss the importance of incorporating a ‘critical intercultural communication perspective and practice’ into an upper‐division diversity/intercultural communication course in the US academic context.     

Performing India in America through Pragma-Cultural Markers

Intercultural Communication is marked in literary discourse in numerous ways. Diasporic literary discourse representing intercultural communication uses pragma-cultural markers such as food and music as tools of intercultural communication. This paper attempts to examine intercultural communication foregrounding these pragma-cultural markers as represented in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Queen of Dreams within the framework provided by Relevance Theory (:249). This paper foregrounds the manner in which writers like Divakaruni deploy pragma-cultural markers to express multiple linguistic and cultural perspectives in their literary narratives, thereby portraying an amalgamation of America and India and facilitating intercultural communication which is a dialectical process, as on the one hand the “America” that is in the hearts, minds, and words of these writers shapes their expressions and on the other, their growing presence in terms of their literary output is changing the definition of American art and culture.     

The Role of Intercultural Communication in Cyberterrorism

This article analyzes the role of intercultural communication in cyberterrorism. Cyberspace is a common site of meeting and interaction between cyberterrorists from multiple cultural backgrounds. It is also a place where cyberterrorists have to face law enforcement agents. As a result, intercultural clashes sometimes occur. This justifies the necessity for better understanding intercultural communication in Internet-mediated situations. Although there have been published pieces on hackers' culture, this article breaks new ground partly because no literature review has produced work on the role of intercultural communication in cyberterrorism.     

The role of reflexive thought in the achievement of intercultural competence

ABSTRACT

Reflexivity refers to the capacity for individuals to understand the cultural system and manage their own position within it. Reflexivity is a key concept in the understanding of intercultural communication, particularly in recognising the ability for individuals to understand and adapt to new cultural contexts. However, the prevailing methods used in intercultural communication (namely that of intercultural competencies) do not place a great emphasis on the role of reflexivity in achieving cultural adaptation. In this paper, I argue for the central positioning of the concept of reflexivity in intercultural education as a mechanism which mediates between intercultural experiences and individual behaviour. I present evidence of the reflexive sequence (subject-object-subject) from the reflections of a cohort of students (n = 19). Finally, I suggest a pedagogical instrument (a heuristic) for empirically exploring reflexivity in intercultural communication.     

Dealing with death in an educational context

While empirical investigations and the development of theories for studying intercultural communication are important for developing our understanding of what happens when people of diverse backgrounds come together, equally important are records of specific instances of contact as these provide opportunities to reflect on what we know; to validate or question theories; to critically consider the decisions made by those involved as well as the kinds of decisions we might have taken had we been in that specific situation. This essay represents this latter type of contribution to the field of intercultural communication and intercultural education by presenting a snapshot of some personal experiences I had while living in Japan over a period of 18 years. The focal point of this essay relates to the tragic death of a student – an event that was pivotal in my own acculturation process. It then introduces some other experiences before relating these to some general issues concerning intercultural awareness and intercultural educational practice.     

Are Turkish EFL pre-service teachers ready to manage intercultural challenges?

English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers, as the backbone of language teaching system, are expected to raise the awareness level of students’ intercultural communication competence by helping them relate their own culture to foreign cultures, empathise with foreign cultures’ perspectives and tolerate the ambiguities or differences. This study examines the relationship between certain personal factors such as age, gender, year of study, overseas experience and students’ preferences for Turkish movies over foreign ones and three predictors of intercultural communication competence namely, ambiguity tolerance, empathy and open-mindedness. The sample group of the study consisted of 145 prospective English teachers in the Educational Faculty of a state university in Turkey. The participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire consisting of two parts which investigated their background and perceived levels of ambiguity tolerance, open-mindedness and empathy in Turkish EFL context. The results indicated that half of pre-service EFL teachers had poor intercultural communication competence. In particular, males, the final-year students and those who had been abroad indicated higher levels of tolerance than their respective counterparts. Besides, age and students’ preferences for Turkish or foreign movies were not significant factors in any of the predictors of intercultural communication competence.     

An Assessment of How Length of Study-Abroad Programs Influences Cross-Cultural Adaptation

Utilizing the integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation, the present study sought to examine the extent to which the length of study-abroad programs affects individuals' ethnic and cultural identification, willingness to engage in intercultural communication, intercultural communication competence, and cultural adaptation. The results of the study indicate that while length of study-abroad programs was not correlated to cultural adaptation, length of program was associated with changes in cultural and ethnic identification. Moreover, willingness to communicate with members of the host culture was associated with cultural identification as well as intercultural communication competence.     

European Perspectives on Intercultural Communication

Some of the major aspects of intercultural communication in Italy in particular, and in Europe in general, are summarised in this paper. In the wake of developments in favour of political and social minority rights in the United States, voluntary movements in Europe arose in the 1970s and became stronger in the 1990s. Among their many activities, volunteers working to further intercultural education have taken on the role of multipliers, spreading the application of intercultural learning. They have served alternately as trainers of young people and students of experts, functioning as hinges between teaching and learning. In many European countries, intercultural education in schools is still left to volunteer initiatives. The peculiarity of intercultural communication lies in its pragmatic approach to reality. It is based on a few abstract general truths, such as the fact that all humans have a culture, value orientation, etc. allowing them to understand and interpret an endless amount of practical experiences. Here, we shall present an anthropological approach to intercultural relations, considering various issues, such as the differences between cultural and national identities, the development of ethnocentrism as a response to perceived foreign threats, and the differences between assimilation, inclusion and integration. The focus on the Mediterranean region provides an example of the intercultural communication that takes place among many western and eastern cultures.     

Intercultural praxis: Australian diploma of early childhood education preservice teacher visual literacy comparisons between Australia and Vietnam

ABSTRACT

This research investigates an intercultural praxis approach to using visual research methods, in Australia and Vietnam, with preservice teachers in a Diploma of Early Childhood (DEC) course. The paper results from limited research with DEC preservice teachers exploring the development of intercultural praxis and limited research in teaching whilst using visual images (photos). The methodology is supported by using Bennett’s developmental continuum for intercultural sensitivity and draws on sociocultural theories to consider how these DEC preservice teachers’ histories and situational contexts are relevant in understanding the development of intercultural communication. Mixed methods include a comparative analysis of student-produced visual multiliteracy images (photographs) generated in Australia and Vietnam, during 2015 and 2016, annotations on those photos and interviews with two cohorts of students (n = 27) six months after their experiences in Vietnam. Analysis is reinforced with Sorrells’ intercultural praxis framework to understand students’ capacity to use inquiry, framing, positioning, and dialogue processes as a result of their study tour to Vietnam. The paper outlines and reinforces the importance of being explicit in developing intercultural sensitivity in dynamic teaching contexts and illustrates the increasing awareness of intercultural communication with these DEC students.     

Understanding immigrant internal publics of organizations: Immigrant professionals’ adaptation and identity development

ABSTRACT

Immigrant professionals (IPs) compose important internal publics in U.S. organizations. This study examined the processes of intercultural identity development through IPs’ stress, adaptation, and intercultural communication competence, as well as the outcomes of such identity development. Twenty-three interviews with Indian IPs in a major southern cosmopolitan area in the United States revealed three types of stressors: insufficiency in culture-specific knowledge and skills, ineffective expression, and imbalance in home and host social communication. Adaptation responses included active language and culture learning, perspective taking, compromising, ignoring, passive acceptance, and active initiating and participating in social interactions. Further, IPs demonstrated three major types of intercultural identities: integrated with both cultures, non-integrated (leaning more toward either home or host culture), and ambivalent (feeling rootless and uncertain about what culture to teach their children). In the context of intercultural identity development, the concepts of avowed and ascribed identities become even more nuanced. This study contributes to research in public relations by deepening the understanding of organizations’ immigrant internal publics and facilitating more effective relationship management with these publics.     

Effective educators are culturally competent communicators

Effective formal education or schooling is not simply a matter of teaching and learning curriculum content. It is also about values, assumptions, feelings, perceptions and relationships. No education can take place without interpersonal communication. Effective teaching can thus be qualified in terms of relating effectively in the classroom. Effective education thus also presupposes effective communication skills. Communication as the means and indeed the medium of education is therefore crucial to school success in culturally diverse education. Teachers should therefore be sensitive to the potentially problematic outcomes of intercultural communication in the culturally diverse class. Communication may be a useful source of intercultural knowledge and mutual enrichment between culturally diverse students if managed proactively by the teacher. Otherwise, it could be a source of frustration, misapprehensions, intercultural conflict and ultimately school failure. Effective and successful communication is difficult to realise even in the most favourable circumstances. Intercultural factors, therefore, create the potential for numerous communication problems and intercultural conflict. Communication, both verbal as well as non-verbal, is critically important in cross-cultural competence. As language and culture are inextricably bound, cross-cultural communication is complex and potentially problematic. In this paper, it is argued that effective educators are effective communicators and thus culturally competent in cross-cultural encounters.     

‘Intercultural Training’ in exchange situations for experts and management: a critical reflection

In this paper, developments in the area of ‘intercultural communication’ are described to shed light on the pitfalls that the author has discovered in her analysis of some of the more popular intercultural training programs, through practical applications of communication training programs and through her own personal experiences in exchange situations. Recommendations are given for the creation of more appropriate intercultural training programs.     

The Research on the Necessity of Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication is a field of study which incorporates many aspects. The paper discusses the necessity of intercultural communication.     

Interkulturelle Arbeit und Kommunikation – Gibt es das?

The concept of intercultural communication seems to be a meaningless concept, because it does not point out a specific difference between intercultural and other kinds of communication. Yet its general use makes sense because it helps to become aware that, figuratively speaking, every attempt to communicate is a journey into an unknown foreign country where people like us, are just living in very different way than we are. The concept of intercultural communication is a reminder that every communication is a meeting between two or more equally valuable unknown cultures. Because they are so different, unknown and equally valuable, they first have to respectfully get acquainted with each other, which is not easy, because they only can see each other with their own cultural concepts. Therefore communication is very unlikely to be successful.     

On the Conflicts in the Perspective of Intercultural Communication in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

The study of intercultural communication is a subject which focuses on conflicts between people of different backgrounds coming to communicate and on the solutions for these conflicts.In China,it is developing rapidly and more and more important and emphasis have been placed on it.From an intercultural communication approach,I will contrastively analyze the conflicts experienced by Chinese mothers and Americanized daughters in The Joy Luck Club.By comparatively analyzing the differences between two cultures,we may enhance the understanding of our own culture and also make it easier for us to grasp the characteristics of each culture.