CULTURE
“The water
that bears the
ship is the
same that
engulfs it.”
(Chinese Proverb)
Intercultural
Communication Skills
for Education
Cultivating The Space in Between
Kathryn Brillinger
Conestoga College
CEDP
Phase 2
May 2009
Areas of Diversity
We can apply cultural competency to the categories
of ethnicity, race,
religion, and nationality, and
•
•
•
•
•
Gender
Age (Veteran, Baby Boomer, x, y and …)
Education (1st generation, generation 1.5)
Profession
Socio-economic status/employment status
(Internationally Trained Immigrants, 2nd Career)
• Sexual orientation
• Wellness/illness and Mobility
• Abilities/disabilities,
etc.
Your Stories:
Diversity in College Teaching
• 2 minutes
• Turn to a person in your vicinity (that you
did not come in with) and enthusiastically
and with as many gestures as possible,
tell them about an experience you have
had with diversity in teaching.
• We will share 2 examples as a full group.
Dimensions of Diversity
Primary Dimensions:
Aspects that we cannot change. Things people know
about us before we even open our mouths - they are
physically visible (race, gender, age, mobility etc). Primary
dimensions are well-protected in Canada under federal
legislation.
Secondary Dimensions:
Aspects we have some power to change. We can
sometimes (be forced to) conceal characteristics such as
ethnicity, wellness, education level, language origins,
religious beliefs etc. Secondary dimensions face many
invisible barriers within our education system. Many
secondary dimensions are also protected.
Workshop Objectives and Agenda
•
•
•
•
Recognizing the opportunities that
diversity can bring to education
Culture and its Impact
Cultural Competence
Principles of Intercultural Communication
ICC (Inter-Cultural Communication) Repair
Strategies
Stop, Continue, Start
Striving for a Balance:
Continuums NOT Stereotypes
A Few K-W Stats
Compare the stats to the place where you
teach.
Does this data:
* reflect/not reflect your experience?
* suggest a need?
K-W Population (2006)
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ethnic Origin and Number
English
96,270
German
92,485
Canadian
87,950
Scottish
68,785
Irish
62,860
French
34,215
Polish
18.075
Dutch
16,310
Portuguese
15,055
East Indian
10,440
Italian
10,145
•
•
•
•
Chinese
Latin America
S-E Asian
Arab
9, 200
6,910
6,210
3,175
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population, Statistics Canada catalogue no. 97-562-XCB2006015.
The Waterloo Region had
the 4th highest net inmigration in Ontario between
2001 and 2006.
In 2006, visible minorities
comprised 13% of the
Waterloo Region Census
Division population.
Immigrants represent 23% of
the Waterloo Region's
population (28% - Ontario).
Health Informatics Diversity Data
(Intake September 2008)
• 19 females and 9 males
• 40% speak English as a Second Language
• 14 students have no post high school work/study
experience
• 14 have worked full-time for at least a year
• 11 students are 19 or under, 10 are 20-29, 4 are
30-39, and 3 are 40 or older
• 8 have completed a post-secondary qualification
(2nd career, internationally-trained immigrants)
(Very Near) Future Trends
• Ontario Community Colleges will see
increasing numbers of culturally diverse
students (immigrant students, ESL
students, internationally trained
individuals) and other non-traditional
students (2nd career, 1st generation).
O’ Canada!
Riddle: What
stays in one
corner yet can
travel all over the
world?
O Canada, Drew Brook-Cormack, 1000-pc jigsaw puzzle
Internationalization in Canada has not
kept pace with Globalization
• Globalization is the
economic, political, and
societal forces pulling us
towards international
involvement.
• Internationalization is the
upgrading of international
perspectives, skills and
resources via inter-cultural
training and enhanced
language support.
(Altbach & Knight, 2007)
Intercultural Communication
Training Needs
• personnel with intercultural skills
• intercultural experts
• research and knowledge in cultural
practices
• workplace and material internationalization
(Huisman & van der Wende, 2005)
Prejudice and Discrimination Exists
• Prejudice
– Negative personal attitude towards a member or
members of a racial or cultural group
• Discrimination
– Observable adverse behavior towards such group
members
• Prejudice + Discrimination + Organizational/Dominant group power =
- Deliberate denial of recognition, power, and privilege
Who experiences this?
Nadia-Alysha-Zahra-Tameera
A Practical Model
for Cultural Competency
Development
Yuri Kagolovsky,
internationally-trained
MD, MSc (Health
informatics) and 2-time
immigrant
Kathryn Brillinger, MEd
(TESL), 20 plus years
experience in settlement
language teaching and
10 plus years in teacher
training
What is culture and how does it
impact interactions?
Culture = Shared Meaning
“Shared meaning” informs values, beliefs,
standards, language, thinking patterns,
behavioral norms, communications styles, etc.
Culture guides the decisions and actions of
individuals and groups.
Cultures are always changing but the change
is not always obvious except in hindsight.
“Shared” Meaning
• Cognitive (concepts, ideas) “Group work is a
crucial skill builder/a waste of time.”
• Affective (emotions) “I think that’s perfectly
ok/disgusting!”
• Behavioral (procedures, rules, rituals) “Make
yourself noticeable in class via contributions.”/
“The nail that sticks out gets pounded down.”
The
Problematic
“Saris and
Samosas”
Approach
Prescription
(versus
description)
can occur
where
power
exists.
One culture’s competence is
another’s incompetence!
Haptics
(the study of touching behaviour)
Seven types of touch:
*positive affect (support,
appreciation, inclusion)
*playfulness
*control (compliance,
attention wanted,
response needed)
*ritual (greeting/leavetaking)
*hybrid (mix some of
above as in a hug goodbye)
*task-related
*accidental
Jones and Yarbrough (1985)
Proxemics
(the study of distance in interaction)
• Public (teacher to
class)
• Social (classmates
chatting)
• Personal (student
asking teacher after
class)
• Intimate (friends in
class whispering)
Traditional
Forms of
Greeting
Haptics and Proxemics
• Share an example with a partner of being
surprised or having someone else
surprised by a haptic or proxemic
difference
• Think inter-culturally, inter-generationally,
inter-professionally, inter-gender etc.
Oculesics
(the study of eye contact)
•
•
•
•
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attentive focus/challenging stare
shifty-eyed/respectful looking away
flirtatious up-look/“adultery of the eyes”
lustful glance/complimentary notice
attempt to access vocabulary/lack of attentiveness or ability
Gesture
•
•
•
•
The triangle
The wrist
The hand to heart
The 3 per utterance
Story: The Iranian Student
and the ‘Rude’ Canadians
What rules are
involved?
What cultural values are
displayed?
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
3.
To what degree
did both parties
“share
meaning”?
The Persian concept of “ta’arof”
involves language, discourse, culture etc.
• Central concept = warm welcoming, praising, politeness and
good manners
• Origins in the Arabic term for “mutual recognition”
• Essential ability for negotiating relationships
• Involves offers, compliments, exchange of pleasantries, food,
gifts, and invitations
• Expression of selflessness and humility - necessary for
keeping face - “shaxsiiyaet” and showing sincerity and respect
- “ehteram”
• Can be interpreted as empty formality or ritual courtesy by NA
but runs much deeper - has no equivalent in NA culture
• Iranians can be dismayed by a lack of ‘ta’arof’ in our
classroom cultures
(Cultural info from Eslami, 2005)
Confucian Heritage Cultures: Face
• Dominant concept in interpreting and regulating social
behavior
• Must be maintained and enhanced
• Each person in a social group is responsible for saving
his/her own face and the face of others
• The teacher, having a higher social standing, is expected to
adhere to a higher standard of ethics and to maintain selfcontrol
• The teacher should not “argue” with the students and vice
versa
• The teacher should protect the face of the students, the other
teachers, and the institution
“I lost a lot of face by being unable to answer the question.
How could he do that to me? I really have no face now.”
(Chan, 2005)
What Comes to Your Mind?
• 2 minutes
• Turn to another person and share a story
or experience where you have not shared
meaning with another culture.
• What did it mean to you?
• Let’s share 2 examples.
Cultivating the Space in Between:
Sharing Meaning
Cultural Boundary Lines
• Cultural boundaries are
fluid and our cultures
can grow and decrease
• Anthropologists have
even found societies
where people MUST
marry someone who
comes from a different
culture. These societies
adapt to extreme living
conditions well. (Wade,
2007)
Preserving
Diversity
Other cultures are mirrors in
which we can better see
ourselves – what the
anthropologist Margaret Mead
(1934) called
“the looking-glass self”
Check out Canadian Wade Davis’
22 minute lecture about the
decreasing “ethnosphere”
on www.ted.com
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/
wade_davis_on_endangered_cul
tures.html
Looking Back
Looking Inwards
Looking Forward
Continuum of Perspectives
Global
Personal
Approaches
to Gaining Cultural Competence
• The culture-specific approach gives information about
individual cultures - usually a business/marketing model.
• The culture-general approach starts with an
understanding and awareness of cultural issues before
specific information is given. - an educational approach
which reduces the chance of stereotyping and
encourages a principled approach.
• This workshop is a blend of both approaches. Further
study would involve looking deeply at various groups
(e.g. Confucian Heritage Cultures, East Indian, MiddleEastern, 1st generation students etc.) and applying the
principles.
Culture clearly impacts our
every thought and move.
What is cultural competence?
Individual Cultural Competency
• knowledge of one’s own cultural practices/
paradigms and those of other cultures
• ability to explain your own culture’s
practices
• ability to interact effectively with individuals
from differing cultures
• ability to effectively participate in diverse
communities
• ability to help solve intercultural conflict
Organizational Cultural Competency
• set of congruent behaviors, practices, attitudes
and policies
• enable effective work to be done in inter-cultural
situations
• based on principles of Universal Design (UD) changes made for a particular case/group group
benefit everyone
• expertise and training available
• internationalization of the curriculum underway
Unconscious
Competence
Practice
Unconscious
Incompetence
Conscious
Incompetence
Education
Conscious
Competence
• Foisting a handshake on a devout Muslim
of the opposite sex
• Telling jokes with graphic sexual content
or identity ridicule (harassment)
• Making negative comparative statements
about another person’s culture or country
and the way things are done “here”
Feedback helps.
• Avoiding interaction with members of
another culture for fear of doing something
inappropriate
• Insisting that “they” should adopt “our”
ways, because they have moved here.
Education helps.
Gaining Competence
Ghada and the coffee.
• What rules are involved?
• What does following the rules mean to each
culture?
• What cultural values are displayed?
• What would each party have needed to know to
avoid the intercultural breakdown?
• Was I as the teacher negligent? Was the
planned curriculum inadequate? Did the host
workplace bear responsibility?
• Educating yourself on appropriate crosscultural etiquette and experimenting in
applying it
• Self-conscious, unsure of own capabilities
Practice helps.
• Comfortable with cross-cultural interaction
• Seek out opportunities to learn about and
interact with new cultures
• Mindful of how your actions are affecting
others, able to ask questions and adjust
quickly
• Institute mindful and reflective adaptations
of situation to accommodate diversity
What are some principles
that I can apply to
intercultural communication?
Principle #1
We are cultural beings.
Principle #2
We are unaware of how our
cultures inform our perceptions,
cognition, emotions and actions.
E.g. The math teacher and the Serbian father
Principle #3
Culture provides unstated sets of
rules by which we operate and
reward and punish.
E.g. My big presentation in Mexico City.
From Monochronic to Polychronic
(Chronemics)
Monochronic Concepts
• one thing at a time is best - concentrate on the
task at hand
• time commitments/deadlines/schedules are
serious
• adhere religiously to plans
Polychronic Concepts
• Do many things at once
• Distractions are
acceptable/interruptions
are acceptable
• Commit to people and
relationships not time
• Change plans often and
easily
Principle #4
We are unaware of our
own level of inter-cultural
sensitivity and skills.
Changes must occur in three areas.
Principle #5
Building inter-cultural
communication skills is an
ongoing, recursive
process requiring
cognitive, affective and
procedural changes.
Principle #6
Inter-cultural communication
is the responsibility of each
party.
E.g. Plagiarism debate (inter-generational,
inter-gender, and inter-cultural)
Principle #7
Inter-cultural communication
necessitates a re-distribution of
power.
E.g. Some examples from Canadian history
Cultural Competency Success
• Everyone can experience
• Everyone can contribute
• Everyone can learn
Educators need to demonstrate best
practices.
We need cultural competency training
in order to develop those practices.
Seven questions to ask ourselves when
intercultural communication goes wrong:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is it language or discourse rules?
Is it culture?
Is it the situation or context?
Is it racism, nationalism, or discrimination?
Is it a systemic barrier?
Without a
diagnosis
Is it someone’s personality?
moving forward
is nearly
Is it me?
impossible. Let’s
look at an
example of each.
ICC Repair Strategies
• Asking someone why they do something
culturally can cause a defensive reaction
– E.g., asking a student why he plagiarized or why she
is always late
• “Why” questions can be seen as promoting
potentially unfavorable comparisons and
“otherness”
• Therefore, we recommend an invitational
approach that can create a dialogue and allow
for shared meaning
Case Study:
Plagiarism
• Think of a time when a student
plagiarized.
• Tell your story to a partner.
• Was this an intercultural situation?
• Let’s role play one plagiarism case using
the questions.
Repair Strategies (cont.)
• What does <this> mean to you personally/as a student?
• What does <this> mean to you as a member of your
group/class/program?
• What does <this> mean to your group/class/program?
• What does <this> mean to the community where you live
now/lived before?
• What does <this> mean to the society of the
nation/country?
• Do you know the history of this phenomenon? Has it
changed over time?
• If <this> does not happen, what would it mean to you
(your group, your community, society)?
“LEARN” Model
(adapted from Berlin and Fowkes,1995 medical CC model)
Listen to the student’s perception of the
problem
Explain your perception of the problem
Acknowledge and discuss
differences/similarities
Recommend a solution
Negotiate the final solution
- and then reflect on the new learning you
got from this “lucky” encounter
Expect Challenges - Nurture Empathy
• Communication in a heterogeneous
context is tiring and can not take place in
the same way as in a homogeneous
context.
• We need to be explicit about expectations
and responsibilities.
Summary
• We have looked at examples of
intercultural communication and practiced
some strategies and principles that can be
applied.
• We need to continually develop our
cultural competency to support our
diversity.
• We need to determine and exemplify best
practices within the college.
•Reflect on what
values, feelings,
or behaviour(s)
need to Stop,
Start and
Continue in order
to show cultural
competency in
your college
teaching
•Share one of
your suggestions
The Space in Between
“Once the realization is
accepted that even
between the closest human
beings infinite distances
continue, a wonderful living
side by side can grow, if
they succeed in loving the
distance between them
which makes it possible for
each to see the other whole
against the sky.”
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Thank you!
Questions?
Comments?
Suggestions?
Complaints?
Concerns?
kbrillinger@conestogac.on.ca