Intercultural Communication
Service Learning Paper
Intercultural Communications 2150
Tamra K. Phillips
Submitted by:
Linda Maranto
April 30, 2012
Community PartnerEnglish as a Second Language Lab
Lidya Gonzalez, Coordinator
Salt Lake Community College
TB 213F
801-957-4026
ProjectThe ESL lab is geared towards individuals that have learned English as a
second language. Lidya is the coordinator for the ESL lab and she is in charge of
scheduling tutors with students. She also coordinates service-learning students with
Andy, a professor who teaches a diverse class in proper grammar, English, and
Vocabulary. Both of these listed above, are resources for students who are learning
English as their second language.
With Andy, he split the class up into groups of students. In each group of
students one service-learning student helped “their group” with the students
assignments. I engaged in conversation with many students and taught them
common uses of words, grammar, etc. Lidya set me up on a schedule with a student
named Mohammad Baraki. Mohammad had a wife, a two year old, and an eightmonth-old baby at home. He is an aspiring career driven person who wants to
support his family. He is in his pre-requisite classes needed for advancement into
his career. He was a fun person to work with, who respected me greatly, and I
respected him. We gained a friendship and I wouldn’t mind tutoring him again.
Culture Group-
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Mohammad never mentioned what country he was from. He is a young
father, who currently works graveyard shifts at a hotel. He is planning on continuing
to learn English, and staying in the United States with his family. I worked with
Maria in Andy’s class. She is from Chile and is a young woman. She is in the United
States to learn English, but misses her homeland. Maria enjoys it here, but she
misses her family. Theresa who was from Andy’s class, is from Korea. She was a
middle-aged woman who is living in the United States with her sister. She is here so
her young boys can learn English, along with herself.
ChallengesThe challenges I personally encountered mainly had to do with
understanding and interpreting different dialects and accents. Luckily, I am an
outgoing person so it was easy for me to meet someone for the first time and
become friends with him or her in the same day. When I first met Mohammad, I was
relieved because his accent was not strong and I could interpret his English well. On
the other had, Theresa and Maria sometimes had to write down the words she was
saying because her accent was very heavy. The only other challenge I had was
having enough time to tutor, work two jobs, and do well in school. Tutoring is
excellent, but a lot of time is needed to help students. I will tutor again when my
school load is not as heavy.
TheoryThe theory I want to focus on is Proxemics theory developed by Edward T.
Hall in 1966. The definition of Proxemics is the study of human use of space within
the context of a culture (Brown, 2011). Hall developed his theory arguing that
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human perceptions of space are molded and patterned by culture. Hall believes all
cultures are rooted in a common biology, he uses studies of animal behavior to
discover how humans will act. He says all animals are territorial, some mark their
space with urine to stake a claim for privacy. Humans do the same thing with
furniture, walls, and fences (Griffin, 2012, p. 61). Buildings are considered fixed
feature space and furniture is considered semi-fixed space (Martin & Nakayama,
2010, p. 274).
Humans have boundaries that mark their personal space, called their bubble
(Griffin, 2012, p. 61). The “bubble” goes as deep as the unconscious level. The
“bubble” can lead to serious miscommunication and understanding between two
cultures (Brown, 2011). Hall categorizes this bubble, or distance, as intimate,
personal, social, or public (Griffin, 2012, p. 62). These distances are:
a. Intimate Distance (0-18 inches): The closest “bubble” of space
surrounding a person, only close relationships enter this space
(Brown, 2011). This is the distance of playful wrestling and
lovemaking. At this close range, vision is distorted and any
vocalization is a whisper, moan, or grunt. Our main ways of judging
the intervening space are through body heat, smell, and touch (Griffin,
2012, p. 62). He relates this to the science of the chemical attraction
between two people. This would mean that there are times when
we’re directly wired to another person’s emotions, our feelings
changing in sync to match his or her mood (Griffin, 2012, p. 62). This
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is the area that humans can control most.
b. Personal Distance (18 inches-4 feet): In this space we lose sense of
body heat and all but the most powerful odors (Griffin, 2012, p. 62).
Touch is typical and the other person can be arm’s length away.
Where a person stands within this range shows the closeness of the
friendship (Griffin, 2012, p. 62). This space will probably include
family and close friends.
c. Social Distance (4-10 feet): This is an impersonal zone, where we
rely solely on what we see and hear. A person can comfortably be
social with an acquaintance or stranger (Brown, 2011). By the middle
of the range an eye can focus on the entire face. When the distance is
more than eight feet, it is ok to ignore another’s presence and it is easy
to disengage in conversation (Griffin, 2012, p. 63).
d. Public Distance (10 feet-infinity): The area of space beyond what
people will perceive interactions as impersonal and relatively
anonymous (Brown, 2011). Once you are out this far the eye can take
in the body at a whole glance. You can no longer pick up meaning from
the face or tone of voice. It’s the distance of the lecture halls, mass
meetings, and interactions with powerful figures until such time as
they bid you to come closer (Griffin, 2012, p. 63).
Each cultural has it’s own set of rules for personal space (Martin &
Nakayama, 2010, p. 274). Cultural expectations about these distances vary widely.
In the United States, people engaged in conversation will be roughly 4-7 feet apart.
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In Europe the distance is about close to half (Brown, 2011). The use of each of these
spatial relationships can facilitate or impede effective communication across
cultures (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 274).
For example: Hall describes Arab
people as “contact” people, people whose ego is deep within the body. To touch
another is no offense. He also refers to Latin and Southern Europeans as living in a
contact culture (Griffin, 2012, p. 61). Where on the other hand, the United States is a
“noncontact culture”. Our ego extends about a foot and a half from outside of our
body. We prefer casual touch and resent spatial intrusion. We are similar to the
Asians and the Northern Europeans (Griffin, 2012, p. 61).
AnalysisI chose to relate my service-learning project to the Proxemics theory because
it has a lot to do with relationships. When I first began to tutor, my “distance” from
my tutors was much greater than at the end of my project. Each person I interacted
with had a different “starting” comfort zone. What I mean is, each person I tutored is
from a different culture and they were raised with a particular comfort zone. I was
nervous at the beginning of my project because I did not know what to expect from
Mohammad. It turned out that he was shockingly friendly. He was very open and
friendly with me on the first day.
In the beginning, he had to be in the “personal” distance because I was
tutoring him, so he had to be close enough for me to teach him. He did not seem
uncomfortable with the fact that he was this close to me. Being raised in Utah and
all, I have not communicated one-on-one with many different cultures. As a result, I
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became more nervous with the closer distance. After my first tutoring session, Elird
(a ESL tutor) complimented me. He said that he thought I was going to tutor
Mohammad forever. He was referring to the fact, that I seemed really comfortable
with him. It looked as though I previously have had a lot of experience in the world
of tutoring, but he came to find out that Mohammad was my first student.
I ended up tutoring Mohammad two days a week. It resulted in quite a bit of
time together. Each time of tutoring, Mohammad opened up more and more and so
did I. After about a month of tutoring, when Mohammad saw me in the halls he
started saying hello. Towards the end of the tutoring, Mohammad and I walked to
the parking lot together engaging in casual conversation. What I am trying to say is, I
gained a friend from my service-learning project. In the beginning, I felt as if I was
going to dread being there a lot. But, as time went on, I actually enjoyed spending
time helping Mohammad.
Both of the statements I have said above, relates my project yet again to the
Proxemics theory. It is evidence that I can relate to the Proxemics distances. Another
piece of evidence I’d like to tell you about is Andy’s class. In the beginning of the
tutoring with Andy’s class, I sat in the very back of the classroom. I was most
definitely far enough away to be in the “public” distance. I only went to Andy’s class
a handful of times, but throughout the times I was there, my “distance” became
closer to the people I tutored and interacted with; especially Maria.
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I found myself wanting to become greater friends with Maria, but it was hard
to coordinate. She had aspirations to go back to Chile and live there. If she were to
stay here in the United States, I would hope to gain a “social or personal” distance
with her. I actually got along with her quite well and I thought she was sweet to me.
We almost coordinated tutoring sessions with the two of us. She was going to tutor
me in Spanish, as I on the other side would help tutor her in English. Unfortunately,
we didn’t arrange the tutoring, but I hope to one day meet another person like
Maria, and learn Spanish from a friend rather than a teacher. It is easier for me to
have a “personal” distance with a friend than with a teacher.
Overall, I think I had healthy distances with all of the students I interacted
with. I am very thankful for the students I was coordinated to work with by Lidya. I
was lucky to work with outgoing students who were not shy to have “public or
personal” distances with me.
ReflectionWhen I look at my tutoring experience as a whole, I am grateful for the
knowledge and experience I gained from the students. I gained a lot of knowledge
about interacting with other cultures, and it erased a lot of judgments I may have
had. It was interesting for me to go into this blind at the beginning. I was timid and I
did not know what to expect. I did not know my project was going to result in
becoming friends with students from different cultures.
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My whole life I have only had friends that were Caucasian. I never interacted with
many other cultures on the personal level. I gained a lot of confidence towards this
throughout my service-learning project. In the beginning of the semester I defined
civic engagement as: interacting in a positive or negative way with the public. My
definition I believe was spot on. I did not know what to expect from my students
before I started tutoring at the ESL lab. It definitely could have resulted in a negative
experience, though this is not very likely. My experience was definitely positive.
I feel really happy that I could be there for the students I tutored. I feel that I
helped Mohammad out the most overall. He asked me to increase the number of
days that I was tutoring him. I felt honored that he liked me enough to spend more
time with me. I did not know if I was helping him to the point where he was
retaining the information I was saying. When I first started tutoring Mohammad he
was getting decent grades on his work. It turned out that he received 80 and 90
percent papers back from his teacher after tutoring with me. This was a huge
improvement!
Mohammad and all of the students I interacted with taught me to never judge
different cultures before I interact with them. It is an individual’s decision to decide
what they want to: wear, say, follow, or do. If I do not agree with another
individual’s culture, it is none of my business to try to change it. I think diversity is
beautiful. Now when I see funky clothing and mannerisms from different cultures
other than mine, I enjoy it all. I only get to interact with so much diversity every day.
After this service-learning project, I wish I could interact with more!
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References
Brown, N. (2011). Edward T. Hall: Proxemic Theory, 1966. Retrieved April 22, 2012,
from Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science:
http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/13.
Griffin, E. (2012). Proxemic Theory. In Griffin, A First Look at Communication Theory
(pp. 60-67). McGraw-Hill.
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2010). In J. N. Martin, & T. K. Nakayama,
Intercultural Communication In Contexts (Vol. V, pp. 274-275). NY: McGrath-Hill.
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