Subject : Theory of Communication

Chapter 6 Group 5

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

COMPETENCE

Presenter : Ngân Giang

Adopt Correct Attitudes

1. Tolerate ambiguity

MalaysianFijian

• Identify the misunderstanding.• Try to understand the possible reasons/causes

of the misunderstanding.• Share your expertise with your colleagues to

prevent the same problem happening again.

2. Be open-minded

• An open-minded person is willing to dispassionately receive the ideas and opinions of others.

• Open-minded people are aware of their own culture values and recognize that other people’s values are different.

• Sala (originally from Fiji): When I came here to Australia years ago, people at work would feel my hair. It made me uncomfortable. We don’t go around touching people on the head in my Fijian culture. We also avoid reaching near their head for something.

• Later on, when they found out, they stopped touching my hair. They were curious about how my hair feels as it’s very curly.

• Mary (originally from Ireland): In the Fijian culture touching hair is NOT done. I’m guilty of having done this on many occasions, because I have been friends with Fijians at work. I would run my fingers through their hair and say ‘How I love your hair!’ or something like that. Never for a minute did I think that I was making my friends uncomfortable.

3. Be altruistic, not egocentric

• Altruism is a display of genuine and unselfish concern for the welfare of others => other-centered

• Egocentricity is a selfish interest in one’s own needs to the exclusion of everything else => self-centered

Acquire Knowledge About Other Cultures

Presenter: Minh Sang

Acquire Knowledge About Other Cultures

The more we know about other cultures, the more likely we are to be competent intercultural communicators (Neuliep, 2006).

There are several ways to learn about other cultures :

1. Observe.

2. Formally study.

3. Immerse yourself in the culture.

1.Observe

People can simply watch as members of another culture interact with each other.

Notice how their values, rituals, and communication styles are similar to and different from your own and other cultures with which you are familiar.

“passive observation “ Watching the communication behaviors used by members of a particular culture.

2. Formally studyYou can learn about other cultures by reading accounts by their members and ethnographic research studies, by taking courses, and by interviewing members of the culture about their values, rituals, and so on.

3. Immerse yourself in the culture

You can learn a great deal about another culture by actively participating in it.

When you live or work with people whose cultural assumptions are different from yours, you not only acquire obvious cultural information, but you also learn nuances that escape passive observers and are generally not accessible through formal study alone.

Acquiring Cultural Knowledge

The AssignmentPresenter : Hữu Lộc

Choose a culture you're not familiar with but are curious about. Prepare a 3- to 5-minute speech to deliver in class by gathering materials from(a) reviewing an encyclopedia entry (b) researching two or three academic sources about the culture(c) interviewing someone from that country either face-to-face or online

Use what you learn from the encyclopedia and the academic sources to shape the questions you ask in the interview, in your speech discuss what you learned from each source, answering the following questions: 1. What did you know about the culture before you began your research?2. What did you learn from the encyclopedia article that changed or deepened your knowledge?3. How was your understanding enriched from the additional academic sources you read?4. What did you learn from your interviewee. and how did the interview compare to your other sources?

Using Diverse Resources

• When we are researching any topic, we can be tempted to limit our quest to only one type of information source. But as you will learn in this assignment what you know about a subject is often the result of where you look. That is why it is important to consult a variety of information sources.

• Whether online or in print encyclopedias ore good jumping off points to acquire information and can provide a wonderful overview of the subject. Specialized sources like books and articles by experts provide additional details and can confirm or disconfirm information in the encyclopedia.

Finally, personal interviews with experts add another dimension or level of specificity. For example, in this assignment when you interview the person from the other culture, you can ask for specific examples of his or her experiences and whether what you have read is accurate. Good speeches depend on accurate information, so learning to use diverse sources is important to your success.

Develop culture-specific skills

Presenter: Ngọc Cẩm

How

1. Practice listening2. Practice intercultural empathy3. Develop flexibility

Practice listening

• Language and nonverbal communication vary across cultures => focus closely on the other and listen attentively.

• There are cultural differences in how people engage in listening and the value that cultures place on listening.

E.g

Country/ Culture US

Japan, Finland, Sweden

Far East

Listeningconcrete facts

and information

L more reserved

much more valued

than speaking

While Listening often ask Qs do not ask as

many Qs -

Practice intercultural empathy

Intercultural empathy: imaginatively placing yourself in the other person’s cultural world to attempt to experience what

he/she is experiencing. (Ting-Toomey, 1999)

By paying close attention to others + focusing on emotions displayed improve empathy skills

“Don’t judge a personuntil you have walked a mile in his shoes”

Develop flexibility

Flexibility: the ability to adjust your communication to fit the other person and the situation.

Develop flexibility

• With flexibility: use a wide variety of communication skills and modify your behavior within and across situations.

• Beiing flexible means analyzing a situation + making good decisions and modifying your communication when things are not going well.

Sum-up

Presenter: Minh Dang

Intercultural Communication Competence

1. Adopt Correct Attitudes2. Acquire Knowledge About Other Cultures3. Develop Culture-Specific Skills

1. Adopt Correct Attitudes

a. Tolerate ambiguityb. Be open-mindedc. Be altruistic

2. Acquire Knowledge About Other Cultures

a. Observe.

b. Formally study

c. Immerse yourself in the culture

3. Develop Culture-Specific Skills

a. Practice listeningb. Practice intercultural empathyc. Develop flexibility

CHAPTER’S SUMMARY

• Culture encompasses: – Values – Attitudes – Beliefs – Orientations– Underlying assumptions

prevalent among people in a society.

• Culture shock: the psychological discomfort when people attempt to adjust to a new cultural situation

Intercultural communication takes place when people’s distinct cultural assumptions alter the communication event

• A shared system of meaning exists within the dominant culture, but meanings can vary within co-cultures based on race, ethnicity, sex and gender, religion, sexual orientation, social class, and age

• Cultural norms and values vary in systematic ways, we can understand depend on examining: individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity–femininity

• Barriers to intercultural communication– Anxiety– Assumptions about differences and similarities– Ethnocentrism – Stereotypes and prejudice– Incompatible communication codes– Incompatible norms and values

• To develop intercultural communication competence:– Ambiguity– Be open-minded– Be altruistic

• We can acquire knowledge of other cultures through :– Observing– Formal study– Cultural immersion

• Useful skills for intercultural communication competence:– Listening, – Intercultural empathy– Flexibility.

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

• Group 5:1. Dinh Quoc Minh Dang2. Nguyen Dinh Minh Sang3. Vo Huu Loc4. Tran Thi Ngan Giang5. Nguyen Ngoc Cam