Teaching Methods and Techniques

INTRODUCTION

 

Dear Sirs,

Welcome to the University’s new project «Intercultural Communication». It is to be delivered by the team of multiculturalists of Foreign Languages Department at International Economics and Management Faculty headed by Professor Olga Shevchenko.

I am...... Today I am honoured with the mission to go through the syllabus of the course, so that you might understand the requirements of the project and the problems the instructors can facilitate.

My second mission is to deliver the introductory lecture on understanding, defining cultures, and experiencing culture on the job

 

COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Course Aims and Objectives

The aim of the course is to help students become sensitive to intercultural communication differences; to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will help them interact successfully with people from different cultures and countries; to find the ways to overcome the challenges encountered.

 

Contents by topics

 

Topics	Number of hours
Full time
all	including
L*	S*	I*	SS*	Exam*
1. Understanding cultures. Defining culture. Experiencing culture on the job
2. Individual and collective cultures
3. High-context and low-context cultures
4. Time: linear, flexible, cyclical
5. Approaches to authority and leadership
6. Uncertainty avoidance
7. Cultural attitude towards corruption
Module Control
8. Using the language in the international environment. Many Englishes		-
9. Communicative strategies
10. Intercultural written communication		-
11. Communicating nonverbally
12. Presenting across cultures		-
13. Negotiating across cultures
Mid-term exam
14. Cross-cultural training: - presentations - project work		-
Exam		-	-	-	-
Total

L − lectures, S − seminars, I − individual classes, SS − self-study, Exam

Learning achievements

Upon completion of this course the students will be able to:

Ø use conceptual apparatus of the course;

Ø apply various theories of culture and communication in particular business settings;

Ø develop and use relevant communication strategies in international communication and devise solutions;

Ø apply the knowledge to common business situations including negotiations, presentations, meetings and employment relationships;

Ø develop the strategy how to avoid intercultural conflicts;

Ø develop tolerant attitude toward representatives of other cultures.

 

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE

Understanding Cultures

Preamble

Judging from the above information, the discussion areas and the descriptors of the course learning outcomes are typical to the studies of that kind. The uniqueness of our project is the logic of its layout and concept formation algorithm.

 

Module 1 as an introductory portion of the project looks briefly at all topics of the syllabus in the following progression:

Culture → Intercultural Communication → Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) → Culture and Language → English as the Language of Global Business → Corporate Culture → Business Skills.

The plan of today’s lecture

· why study intercultural communication;

· conceptualization of culture;

· global, domestic and interpersonal diversity trends;

· conceptualization of intercultural communication;

· fundamentals of intercultural communication competence;

· language and culture;

· English for Specific Purposes in Ukraine: Content Rationale;

· cross-cultural analysis methodology and its interdisciplinary potential;

· mindful business skills.

Keys: 1 a; 2 b; 3 a; 4 a; 5 c; 6 c; 7 c; 8 a; 9 a; 10 c.

What is culture

What do people have to discuss before getting married? What do entrepreneurs have to be sure about before establishing a partnership? The happiness of a family or success of a business depends on the people’s willingness to explore and understand differences and complexities with a lot of patience, commitment and honesty. In other words, people should have common values and share them.

We now turn to a discussion of the concepts of culture and intercultural communication.

Culture is an enigma. It contains both concrete and abstract components. This question has fascinated scholars in various academic disciplines for many decades.

Drawing from D’Andrade’s conceptualization of culture, we define culture as a complex system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, symbols and meanings that are shared to varying degrees by interacting members of the society.

It is like an iceberg: the deeper layers (traditions, beliefs, values) are hidden from our view; we only see and hear the upper layer of cultural artifacts (art, music, fashion etc.) and verbal and nonverbal symbols. However, to understand a culture with any depth, we have to match its underlying values accurately with the respective norms meanings and symbols. Furthermore, to understand commonalities between individuals we have to dig deeper into the universal human needs (such as safety, security, dignity, respect, control, connection, and a sense of well-being).

Culturally shared traditions can include myths, legends, ceremonies, rituals, celebrations that are passed on from one generation to the next.

Culturally shared beliefs refer to a set of fundamental assumptions that people hold dearly without question. These beliefs can revolve around questions of human beings; the concept of time, space, and reality; the existence of the supernatural being; and the meaning of life, death etc. Proposed answers to many of these questions can be found in the major religions of the world such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Cultural values refer to a set of priorities that guide “good” or “bad” behaviours, “desirable” or “undesirable” practices, “fair” or “unfair” actions. Cultural values (e.g. individual competitiveness vs. group harmony) can serve as the motivational bases for action, logic of behaviour, goals to be achieved.

Cultural norms refer to set of collective expectations of proper or improper behaviour in a given situation. They guide the algorithm (e.g. appropriate sequence of activities) we and others should follow in a particular situation (e.g. how to greet a professor, how to introduce yourself to a stranger). While cultural beliefs and values are deep seated and invisible, norms can be readily observed through behaviours. Oftentimes, our ignorance of a different culture’s norms can produce international clashes as people may not even notice that they violated other culture’s norms and rules in a particular situation.

A symbol is a sign (a national flag), artifact (music, fashion), words, gestures that reflects something meaningful. The meanings or interpretations that we attach to the symbols may be both objective and subjective. The example is the linguistic symbol «home». «Home» on the objective level refers to «a family’s place for residence». On the subjective level «home» can connote spirituality, belonging, identity, sacred place etc. Oftentimes, we learn the values of a cultural community through the acquisition of its linguistic symbols.

What is cultural identity

All individuals are socialized within a larger cultural membership group. No individual person develops a sense of self in a vacuum. Personal identity is developed in conjunction with social identity and vice versa. Both personal identity and social identity are acquired and developed within the larger webs of culture. Regardless of whether we may or may not be conscious of these identities, they influence our everyday behavior in a generalized or particularized manner. The scholars emphasize eight identity domains in influencing our everyday interactions. Cultural identity, ethnic identity, gender identity, personal identity are viewed as Primary identities, whereas role identity, relationship identity, facework identity and interaction identity are situational identities, that is changeable from one situation to the next.

Both primary and situational identities mutually influence one another. For example, our gender identity influence our evaluations of how male and female should or should not behave in a given situation. Both language and nonverbal styles represent part of our interaction identity. Taken together, these eight identity domains influence a person’s behavior in a certain communication episode.

Intercultural Communication competence (ICC)

According to recent research, intercultural competence involves the appropriate management of shared meanings and effective achievement of desired goals. It has three major criteria: effectiveness, appropriateness, and satisfaction. Appropriateness refers to the degree to which behaviours match the expectations generated by the culture. Effectiveness refers to the desirable outcomes of the communication in a given situation.

Intercultural competence can be affected by various factors. Cultural sensitivity (motivation to accept and respect intercultural differences); knowledge (information gained through learning cultures, personal experiences, and observations); communication skills (observation, listening, sensitivity, empathy, flexibility etc.)

Thus, Intercultural Communication competence refers to an integrative theory-practice approach enabling us to mindfully apply the intercultural knowledge which we have learned in a sensitive manner.

To be interculturally competent we have to transform our knowledge of cultural theories into appropriate effective performance.

According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the intercultural competence includes:

ü ability to bring the culture of origin and the foreign culture into relation with each other;

ü ability to identify and use a variety of strategies for contact with those from other cultures;

ü capacity to fulfil the role of cultural intermediary between one’s own culture and the foreign culture;

ü ability to deal effectively with intercultural misunderstanding and conflict situations;

ü ability to overcome stereotyped situations.

 

Language and Culture

Where did language come from?

What about the pre-linguistic thought of babies? How can babies acquire language without thought?

Since its inception in the 1920s and 1930s, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has caused controversy in a variety of disciplines including linguistics, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and education.

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf brought attention to the relationship between language, thought, and culture. Neither of them formally wrote the hypothesis nor supported it with empirical evidence, but through a thorough study of their writings about linguistics, researchers have found two main ideas:

· a theory of linguistic determinism that states that the language you speak determines the way that you will interpret the world around you;

· a theory of linguistic relativism that states that the language you speak influences your thoughts about the real world.

Both Sapir and Whorf agreed that it is our culture that determines our language, which in turn determines the way that we categorize our thoughts about the world and our experiences in it.

For more than eighty years researchers have tried to design studies that will support or refute this hypothesis.

The main problem with the hypothesis is that it requires a measurement of human thought. Measuring thought and one’s world view is nearly impossible. Another problem with the hypothesis is that languages and linguistic concepts are highly translatable.

The problem still remains a mystery. Language can imprison us. It can also set us free. But today researchers have found more proofs of the link between a language and a culture. As Stella Ting-Toomey puts it, «language is taken-for granted aspect of our cultural lives. We acquire meanings and underlying values in symbolic world of the culture». While language can easily create misunderstandings, it also fortunately can clarify them. Sensitive language usage is a pivotal vehicle in reflecting our mindful attitudes in communicating with dissimilar ones.

Each human language reflects a logical, coherent system which implies patterns, rules, and structure. A language is an arbitrary, symbolic system which names ideas, feelings, experiences, events, people, and other phenomena developed by a particular speech community. (That is whychildren in many cultures acquire speaking and comprehending skills first, then reading and writing skills). All human languages are structured according to the following sets of rules: phonology; morphology; syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

We shall consider the pragmatic rules of a language as they refer to the situational rules that govern language usage in a particular culture. Pragmatic concerns the rules of «how to say, what to say, to whom to say, and under what situational conditions to say». Thus, a speech community is defined as a group of individuals who share a common set of norms and rules regarding proper communicative practices.

What is Corporate Culture

Corporate culture refers to the values, beliefs and behaviours that characterize the company and guide its practices. Elements of corporate culture include a company’s physical environment, human resources practices ant the staff itself. Corporate culture is reflected in the degree of the emphasis placed on various defining elements such as hierarchy, collaboration, competition, and social engagement.

A corporate culture that reflects a broader culture is usually more successful than one that is at odds with it. For example, in current global culture, which values transparency, accountability, equality and communication, a secretive company with a strictly hierarchical structure may have a public relations problems. Companies want to be seen as good corporate citizens, with activities that are beneficial for the community and society as a whole. Now they look at the issues of their codes of ethics and codes of behaviour through the prism of the cross-cultural analysis methodology.

 

Conclusion

The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has approved a national English for Specific Purposes (ESP) curriculum. It is a flexible document which sets challenging tasks in terms of more effective intercultural communication, better access to information and deeper mutual understanding. The course «Intercultural Communications» is designed to meet students’ diverse requirements for language proficiency levels in professional environments worldwide. Under conditions of growing academic mobility promoted by the Bologna process the course for Master’s students opens up the opportunity for KNEU to join the European Higher Education Area as a strong and equal partner sharing similar cultural values and norms.

References

1. The European Higher Education Area. Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education (1999).

2. Програма з англійської мови для професійного спілкування. Колектив авторів: Г.Є Бакаєва, О.А. Борисенко, І.І Зуєнок, В.О. Іваніщева, А.О. Ходцева. – К.: Ленвіт, 2005.

3. Adler N. 1995. Competitive frontiers: Cross-cultural management and the 21^st century.

4. D’Andrade R. 1984. Cultural Meaning Systems. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press

4. Hofstede G., (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage

5. Hall E.T., (1981). Beyond Culture: Perspective in Practice (2^nd. ed.), Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubled

Sapir E. 1921. Language: An introduction to the study of speech. New York: Harcourt. Brace&World.

6. Ting-Toomey S., (1994) Communication across Cultures, Guilford Press No.4

7. Trompenaars F., (2009). The Layers of Cultures. Retrieved from http://www.culture/content/;cont04/html

8. Triandis H. 1994. Culture and Social Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Dear Sirs,

Welcome to the University’s new project «Intercultural Communication». It is to be delivered by the team of multiculturalists of Foreign Languages Department at International Economics and Management Faculty headed by Professor Olga Shevchenko.

I am...... Today I am honoured with the mission to go through the syllabus of the course, so that you might understand the requirements of the project and the problems the instructors can facilitate.

My second mission is to deliver the introductory lecture on understanding, defining cultures, and experiencing culture on the job

 

COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Course Aims and Objectives

The aim of the course is to help students become sensitive to intercultural communication differences; to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will help them interact successfully with people from different cultures and countries; to find the ways to overcome the challenges encountered.

 

Contents by topics

 

Topics	Number of hours
Full time
all	including
L*	S*	I*	SS*	Exam*
1. Understanding cultures. Defining culture. Experiencing culture on the job
2. Individual and collective cultures
3. High-context and low-context cultures
4. Time: linear, flexible, cyclical
5. Approaches to authority and leadership
6. Uncertainty avoidance
7. Cultural attitude towards corruption
Module Control
8. Using the language in the international environment. Many Englishes		-
9. Communicative strategies
10. Intercultural written communication		-
11. Communicating nonverbally
12. Presenting across cultures		-
13. Negotiating across cultures
Mid-term exam
14. Cross-cultural training: - presentations - project work		-
Exam		-	-	-	-
Total

L − lectures, S − seminars, I − individual classes, SS − self-study, Exam

Learning achievements

Upon completion of this course the students will be able to:

Ø use conceptual apparatus of the course;

Ø apply various theories of culture and communication in particular business settings;

Ø develop and use relevant communication strategies in international communication and devise solutions;

Ø apply the knowledge to common business situations including negotiations, presentations, meetings and employment relationships;

Ø develop the strategy how to avoid intercultural conflicts;

Ø develop tolerant attitude toward representatives of other cultures.

 

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE

Understanding Cultures

Preamble

Judging from the above information, the discussion areas and the descriptors of the course learning outcomes are typical to the studies of that kind. The uniqueness of our project is the logic of its layout and concept formation algorithm.

 

Module 1 as an introductory portion of the project looks briefly at all topics of the syllabus in the following progression:

Culture → Intercultural Communication → Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) → Culture and Language → English as the Language of Global Business → Corporate Culture → Business Skills.

The plan of today’s lecture

· why study intercultural communication;

· conceptualization of culture;

· global, domestic and interpersonal diversity trends;

· conceptualization of intercultural communication;

· fundamentals of intercultural communication competence;

· language and culture;

· English for Specific Purposes in Ukraine: Content Rationale;

· cross-cultural analysis methodology and its interdisciplinary potential;

· mindful business skills.

Teaching Methods and Techniques

Methods of study may include:

ü lecture

ü large and small group discussions

ü student presentations

ü videos on culture

ü cultural simulation games

ü reports, essays

Recommended Textbooks & Resources

1. Hofstede G., (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage

2. Hall E.T., (1981). Beyond Culture: Perspective in Practice (2^nd. ed.), Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday

3. Ting-Toomey S., (1994) Communication across Cultures, Guilford Press No.4

4. Trompenaars F., (2009). The Layers of Cultures. Retrieved from http://www.culture/content/;cont04/html

 

We would kindly ask you to mind the following cultural tips:

1. Please, be punctual.

1. Please respect your colleagues and instructor; give the presenter your

attention, be present both physically and mentally.

2. Please silence all cell phones.