Intercultural Communication Paper
HRMN 302 6382
Ruseishvili E.
Dr. Chris Cavanaugh
15.2.2015
Part I
Let me start from the definition of intercultural competence for improving the clarity of
the analysis that will be demonstrated below.
The intercultural competence is the knowledge, skills, and personal attributes needed to
live and work in a diverse world. This includes cultural sensitivity, intercultural
communication skills, personal and collective attitudes toward other cultures, and
knowledge about other cultures (W. Lustig, M., Koester, J., 2012).
To tell the truth, having passed INCA Survey offered in a task, I was not surprised.
According to the results, (see Appendix A), I have the basic level of communicative
awareness. I fully agree with this statement, I cannot always show the ability to establish
and support necessary, following from the standing tasks, contacts with other people. I
do not always have the competence for effective process of communication. However, I
can use rather creatively skills and abilities in order to establish contacts with people
from different cultural groups though I own them at a basic level.
The level of my knowledge discovery competence is intermediate (see Appendix A). I
guess that I have a curiosity to find out about other cultures in order to be able to
interact better with people with other cultural heritage. I like to explore interesting
information about other countries that on some steps approaches me to life of people
who are on another continent. I have the "greed" to travel that forces to study life,
culture, language, religion and a mentality of people to apply this knowledge to real
communication.
The level of my respect for otherness competence is full. I think that I inherent the
tactfulness and keenness to an inner world of those with whom I communicate, desire
and ability to understand them, to feel that can give them pleasure, joy or, on the
contrary, to cause in them irritation, disappointment, offense. The respect is very
important for me, so I always try to treat people the way I would like them to treat me.
According to results, (see Appendix A), I have an intermediate level of empathy. I
assume that I can unite the experience and experiences of the other person. It is quite
common for me to show empathy towards people from foreign cultures with their
feelings and thoughts.
The level of my tolerance of ambiguity is basic (see Appendix A). I try to avoid such
situations where there are ambiguity and lack of clarity. I feel visibly uncomfortable, and
cannot deal with this constructively and interpret unclear situations.
The level of my competence is intermediate (see Appendix A). Frankly speaking, I do not
agree with this result. I would estimate the level of my behavioral flexibility as basic. I
can't look at the events under "different corners", and see some options of an exit from
this situation. It is rather difficult for me to adjust my behavior depending on the group
in which I have to communicate.
PART II
Let me start from the definition of the critical incident for improving the clarity of topic
that I will discuss here.
The critical incident is often an event that made you stop and think, or one that raises
questions for you. It increases the awareness and understanding not only of your beliefs,
values, attitude or behavior, but also of attitudes, expectations, and behavior of others.
It is an incident that in some way has had a significant impact on your personal
(Apedaile, S., Schill, L., 2008).
The Critical Incident #3
Often young teachers, recently graduated from university and teacher with considerable
experience faced with the problem of cheating. So, the first critical incident that I would
like to analyze happened with Sandra, the teacher, who faced with this well-known
problem. During the grammar test that Sandra gave, a student was looking at another
student’s answers and writing them on his paper. The teacher asked him to do the test
on his own. The student continued to look at the other student’s answers. The teacher
took his paper away and threw it into the garbage in full view of all the other students to
make the point that the student’s answers were not an indication of his understanding
of the grammar and that it was pointless to write the test if he was just going to cheat.
The student was very upset and went to the office to complain.
The arsenal of tricks to circumvent the system of examination is limitless. For many
students, cheating has become an essential tool for obtaining a satisfactory evaluation
uninteresting subject, and a kind of "easy way" to increase the academic achievement.
The reaction of Sandra on the actions of the student is quite predictable and justified.
Cheating is really a serious problem - to write off student receives a score higher than it
deserves, which leads to reduced competition in education, undermine incentives for
training and, ultimately, ineffective functioning of the educational system (Walker, T.,
2012). Thus, the reaction of cheating student is quite negative.
The reason for the lack of response from the student to preventions of the teacher,
meaning the immediate termination of the cheating process, may be the student’s
misunderstanding the full extent of the negative impact of cheating in his learning
process. I think that he does not see any problem here. Unfortunately, the description of
the incident is not specified where the students came from, because, perhaps, his
behavior is associated with education in a country where the cheating is the norm of the
educational process. Like in Russia. It's no secret that in Russian universities cheating
on exams is quite common. Students write off a lot, often and with pleasure (Bailey, W.,
Bailey, S., 2011). Many teachers are taking it philosophically and not too hard fight
against this phenomenon, especially when it comes to the subject that is not essential to
the student's specialty.
This incident made me stop and think because the same event happened with me in
school. It caused me discomfort and added pressure in the short term. I realized that it
was a very significant event in my studies. Being under the influence of youthful
maximalism, I, also like the student from our example, dared to go and complain of
similar "injustice". For me, the fact that nobody was going to punish the teacher, after
all he made everything right, became unexpected. By rules, a student isn't allowed to
write off during individual work. I was asked very sarcastic questions about whom I
would become if I continued to write off, look for the easy way out. “This path ended
only with more deception, loss of respect for others than just a dishonest written test.” I
was forced to reconsider my behavior.
Now I clearly know that the culture of cheating has developed of late. A lot of students
think that there is no way they can succeed in school unless they cheat. They take on
large course loads, and then cannot handle them. They feel overwhelmed and think
there is no way out. Sometimes I think they also feel pressure from parents to take
courses they can't handle. Given this, I do think that teachers should counsel students
who cheat and teach them that there is another way to be successful, and give the
chance for correction. Allowing the student to rewrite this test, pre-letting to prepare
for it, Sandra will show their best side.
Cheating in the classroom leads to cheating in later life--on the job, in marriage and
friendships. It is extremely unfair towards the other students who have put in hours of
study and research into the examination. Thus, it is important for Sandra, who acts as
the mentor of students in that period when they are trained on her, helps to get off the
road that ends only with more deception, loss of respect for others than just a dishonest
written test.
The Critical Incident #6
The next critical incident occurred with Sandra, a fun-loving teacher teaching in the
LINC program. The incident was initiated by Sandra, who announced, at the beginning
of the course, about school guidelines, including the rule of being late. After about a
week and a half, one of her students started to arrive late for class every morning. With
her usual light- hearted manner, Sandra laughed at latecomer who ignored spoken
words, though Sandra had done this before with other students, the reaction was
completely opposite. This fact annoyed Sandra, and she asked the student about being
late, having achieved the rough answer from the student.
This event is the classic example of teacher-student relationship. Experience of Sandra
and positive response of her past students to the manner of her informal
communication played with her a bad joke. Each student is an individual with his/her
beliefs, values, attitude or behavior. The great variation among individuals within
groups means that educators must use diverse teaching strategies with all students
(Costley, K., 2012). The ability to give every student a chance to succeed in
school/university depends upon knowing each student, especially his or her culture, is
essential preparation for facilitating, structuring, and validating successful learning for
all students. So, at the beginning of the course, Sandra should have included questions
about student’s background and sometimes, very little discussion about style of
learning. By adapting to her students, taking into account their personalities, Sandra
will be able to predict outcomes and behavior or to interpret situations. Also, she should
have paid attention to the issues affecting the process of building communication
between teacher and student (Suciu, L., 2014). Perhaps, then she would understand that
not all students like the similar manner of communication that is peculiar to Sandra.
After all, there are students (the student from our example) who seemingly innocent
phrases perceive very painfully, besides it caused a sneer from other students.
On the other hand, the latecomer was an initiator of incident too. He started to arrive
late for class every morning though Sandra explains the rule about being late. It was a
direct violation of discipline. People have different personalities and backgrounds.
Maybe this student grew in easygoing culture that reveals little control and discipline,
but this cultural orientation is acceptable only for off-campus.
The Critical Incident #15
The 15th critical incident is the great of differences between customs that cover the
theme of greeting, particularly the handshake.
The most common greeting in Canada is the handshake. In their culture, they have a
certain set of rules or customs according to which they behave (Kwintessential, n.).
That’s why Irene was insulted when the invited man entered and shook hands with the
men but not with any of the women. It was highly shocking for her when the men
suddenly broke the rules. But it was not the gesture of disrespect. Handshake - the most
widespread action at a greeting. Presently handshake isn't an indispensable condition of
a greeting, though it is used very often.
Men in Canada may offer them hand to a woman without waiting for her to extend hers
first (Kwintessential, n.). But in the majority of the countries at a meeting of the man
and woman, the decision on handshake is made by the woman. And she the first offers a
hand (Hedwig, L., 1998). In case she didn't make it, the etiquette doesn't advise the man
to greet and say goodbye to her by a hand. In addition, in some countries it isn't
accepted to greet the woman by means of handshake under any circumstances.
Unfortunately, the example does not specify where the couple emigrated. Perhaps they
are Muslims. Thus, in the Muslim tradition handshake between man and woman is
considered obscene and unacceptable. Besides, the man shouldn't the first greet the
woman (Sheikh, E., n.).
This was obviously a very painful misunderstanding, but it is reasonable to see
interaction situations from perspectives of different cultures. If I were Irene, before
calling new friends to visit, I would have learned more about them, their culture,
traditions, eating habits, how to conduct life, thereby, having demonstrated the crosscultural awareness. It is impossible to overstate the importance of the process of
identifying cultural differences that might have contributed to particular problems,
misunderstandings, and conflicts have provoked the situation where there are ambiguity
and lack of clarity.
It is rather important to highlight differences in order to avoid the misunderstanding
that occurred when Irene, Canadian, who appreciate politeness and expect others to
adhere to the proper protocol for any given situation, would not see the expected hand
outstretched in greeting.
References
1. Apedaile, S., & Schill, L. (2008). Critical Incidents for Intercultural Communication
(1st ed., pp. 7-8). [Edmonton, AB]: NorQuest College. Retrieved from
https://www.norquest.ca/NorquestCollege/media/pdf/centres/intercultural/CriticalInc
identsBooklet.pdf
2. Bailey, W., & Bailey, S. (September, 2011). A comparison of attitudes towards
cheating between U.S. and international students. International Journal Of Business
Research, 11(5). Retrieved from
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/International-Journal-BusinessResearch/272485008.html
3. Costley, K. (2012). Who Are Today’s Students in a Diverse Society?. Russellville:
Arkansas Tech University. Retrieved 13 February 2015, from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/detail/detail?sid=d24738e1-57a14516-8bea
0d44ecf371f1%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4105&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpd
mUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%
4. Hedwig, L. (May, 1998). Body Language: A Guide for Professionals (p. 154). SAGE
Publications Pvt. Ltd.
5. Kwintessential. (n.n.). Canada- Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette | globaletiquette | resources. Retrieved 13 February 2015, from
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/globaletiquette/canada.html?highlight=YToxOntpOjA7czo2OiJjYW5hZGEiO30=
6. W. Lustig, M., & Koester, J. (July, 2012). Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal
Communication Across Cultures (7th ed.). Pearson.
7. Sheikh, E. (n.n.). Shaking Hands With Women. Just Ask Islam. Retrieved 13 February
2015, from http://www.justaskislam.com/69/shaking-hands-with-women/
8. Suciu, L. (February, 2014). The Role of Communication in Building the Pedagogical
Relationship. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences, 116. Retrieved from
http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1877042814008970/1-s2.0-S1877042814008970main.pdf?_tid=3297602a-b4b6-11e4-a3a100000aab0f6c&acdnat=1423965715_dcec5810c3ccbc60272e7ecd2983fef3
9. Walker, T. (December, 2012). What Can Be Done About Student Cheating? - NEA
Today. NEA Today. Retrieved 13 February 2015, from
http://neatoday.org/2012/12/11/what-can-be-done-about-student-cheating-2/
Appendix A
Table 1. INCA survey
Intercultural
competence
INCA questions
for each
Intercultural
Competence
Communicative
awareness
Score
Based on your
score
Questions 1-3
4
Basic
Knowledge
discovery
Questions 4-6
6
Intermediate
Respect for
otherness
Questions 7-9
8
Full
Empathy
Questions 10-12
7
Intermediate
Tolerance of
ambiguity
Questions 13-15
3
Basic
Behavioural
flexibility
Questions 16-18
5
Intermediate