BRIEF COMMUNICATIONInformational, Interpersonal, and Intra.docx

BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Informational, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal
Communication in a Family Practice Resident
Support Group
GARY L. ARTHUR1, J. LEBRON MCBRIDE2 &
SHELLEY JACKSON3
1Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA; 2Floyd Medical
Center
Family Practice Residency Program, Rome, GA, USA; and
3Texas A &
M University , Corpus Christi, TX, USA
ABSTRACT Context: This prospective study compared group
process literature to
topics utilized in a yearlong family practice resident support
group.
Objectives: The basic hypothesis was that resident support
groups function in ways that
are similar to other groups to the extent that the literature on
group process could
contribute to our understanding of support groups for residents.
Method: Ten possible discussion topics were grouped along a
continuum from
informational to interpersonal to intrapersonal.
Analysis: Data were subjected to three repeated measures of
analysis of variance
(ANOVA).
Findings: Results re�ected that informational topics did not
decrease, interpersonal

topics did increase signi�cantly, yet intrapersonal topics did
not re�ect any signi�cant
changes over the course of study.
Discussion and Conclusions: The preliminary �ndings indicated
the research literature
on group process may have application to resident support
groups. When more
formalized groups like Balint groups are not available , support
groups may offer a forum
to facilitate the interpersonal and intrapersonal discussions and
communications of
residents. Recommendations derived from the support group
experience and the research
are given.
KEYWORDS Medical education support group, resident
education, resident
communication.
Author for correspondence: Gary L. Arthur, EdD, Georgia State
University, Department of
Counseling and Psychological Services, University Plaza,
Atlanta, GA 30303-308 , USA.
Tel: +1-404-651-3426 . Fax: +1-404-651-1160 . E-mail:
[email protected] u
Education for Health, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2002, 376 – 380
Education for Healt h ISSN 1357–6283 print/ISSN 1469–5804
online # 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080 /135762802100001272 3

Various didactic and experiential methods have been used in
medical education
to promote physician interpersonal and intrapersonal awareness
(Novack et al.,
1997). One of the major approaches for enhancing self- and
other awareness
and for training medical students and residents to respond
empathetically to
patients is participation in a group. This brief communication
reports on one
such resident support group. The basic hypothesis was that
resident support
groups function in ways that are similar to other groups to the
extent that the
literature on group process could contribute to our
understanding and
facilitating of support groups for medical residents.
Methods
Six interns in a family practice residency and a group leader
participated in a
support group and served as participants in this study. For the
research, 10
discussion topics were placed along a continuum and sorted into
one of three
group stages as seen in Table 1. The topics were conceptualized
by the authors
along this continuum to re�ect from a less to more personal
involvement in
communication (task – information, interpersonal – relational,
intrapersonal –
internal) by the residents. Group stages were divided into early,
middle, and
late and paired with topics along this continuum.

Normally the beginning group stage is associated with a fairly
high need for
structure, inclusion, and orientation (Carey, 1995; Gladding,
1991). Tuckman
and Jensen (1977) refer to this stage as ‘‘Forming’’ and as a
time when members
become comfortable with one another. It was anticipated that
the initial topics
would have a more outward and factual focus.
According to Tuckman and Jensen, members next enter the
stages of
‘‘Storming and Norming’’ wherein issues surface and members
work toward
resolution (1977). The topics in this stage involve relationships
in the
Table 1. Resident support group objectives by stages
Early stage Middle stage Late stage
Informational Interpersonal Intrapersonal
Resident education Supervisor resident-attendant Resident
emotional
support
Professional role Resident-nurse Feelings generated in
resident
Support balint group dynamics Resident-patient Resident
personal/family
Patients’ emotional,
psychological, and family
dyamics

Informational ? Interpersonal objectives ? Intrapersonal
objectives
Resident Support Group Communication 377
physician’s work. During this time the interns were expected to
share and seek
support in issues related to communication and interpersonal
interactions with
a nurse, patient family member, or a supervisor.
The �nal stages according to Tuckman and Jensen are
‘‘Performing and
Adjourning’’. This is a time when group work is performed and
closure takes
place. The �nal level of involvement in the group process was
considered to be
intrapersonal and involve sharing at a deeper level of self-
disclosure.
Results
The six residents had an overall 89% attendance rate over the
yearlong twice-
monthly meetings. Data were summed for each participant and
for each
session. The data were then combined for each month resulting
in 10
observations that were utilized for the analysis. Three repeated
measures
ANOVA were used to test the hypotheses in this study (Stevens,
1992).
The results indicate that over the course of the group, there was

a signi�cant
difference in the frequency of discussion of task topics.
However, there was no
signi�cant difference between the frequency of discussion of
task topics when
comparing the early and middle sessions to the later sessions.
A second repeated measures ANOVA was done to test the
hypothesis that
there was a signi�cant increase in the discussion of
interpersonal topics over the
course of the group. Summary scores of the interpersonal topics
from early,
middle and late sessions of the group were compared. A
repeated measures
analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that there was a
signi�cant difference
in the discussion of interpersonal topics (F=8.835, p50.005)
over the course of
the group. Additionally, results indicated that interpersonal
topics were
discussed more often during the latter sessions of the group
compared to the
early and middle sessions (F=7.641, p50.05).
Finally, a third repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the
hypothesis
that the group intervention would increase the participant’s
discussion of
intrapersonal topics such as personal or family dynamics,
emotional support of
the resident, and feelings generated in the resident as a result of
the patient.
Summary scores of the intrapersonal topics from early, middle
and late sessions
were compared. These results indicate that the discussion of

intrapersonal
topics did not signi�cantly increase or decrease over the course
of the group.
Discussion
This research is one of the very few which collected immediate
feedback from a
family practice resident support group. The signi�cance of this
research is its
assessment of how the group members utilized the support
group (task,
interpersonal, intrapersonal).
378 G. L. Arthur et al.
Group member choices in interpersonal topics appeared to
follow group
process, re�ecting a signi�cant increase in frequency when
expected; however,
this was not true for group choices in task or intrapersonal
topics. Two distinct
observations were noted which appear to be different than
expected for group
process. The �rst observation was that normally group process
would expect
informational topics to take priority early in the group process
and then to
diminish over time. However, this group’s use of task topics
signi�cantly
increased over the middle and later stages of the group when
compared to the
initial stage.

Another noted difference in group process was that
intrapersonal topics did
not follow expectations. There was not a signi�cant difference
in discussion of
intrapersonal topics over the course of the year. It was noted
that for two of the
three topics (emotion/family and resident feelings) the
frequency average was
often greater at the beginning and middle stages than task or
interpersonal
topics.
Although each support group has some of its own dynamics,
these
preliminary �ndings indicate the research literature on group
process may
have application to resident support groups. Recommendations
derived from
our experience and/or research and avenues for additional
research include:
. Support groups for persons in the medical �eld may bene�t
from the struc-
ture of a list of topics that are identi�ed as being appropriate
for group dis-
cussion. This may make the group experience less ambiguous.
. Task topics may play a different role in medical training
groups than other
groups. The medical education emphasis on intervention and
‘‘doing’’ may
encourage more frequent use of task oriented discussions.
Therefore, facili-
tators should understand the value of task discussion topics for
residents.

. Family practice residents may be more open to intrapersonal
discussions
than is often indicated in the literature on medical education.
Providing
the opportunity for discussion of intrapersonal topics can, of
course, be of
great value in self-discovery and physician/patient
relationships.
. Especially where more formalized groups like Balint groups
are not avail-
able, support groups may offer a forum to facilitate the
interpersonal and in-
trapersonal discussions and communications of residents.
References
CAREY, G. (1995). Theory and practice of group counseling,
2nd edn. Paci�c Grove, CA:
Brooks/Cole.
GLADDING, S.T. (1991). Group work: a counseling speciality,
2nd edn. Columbus, OH:
Merrill.
Resident Support Group Communication 379
NOVACK, D.H., SUCHMAN, A.L., CLARK, W., EPSTEIN,
R.M., NAJBERG, E. & KAPLAN, C.
(1997). Calibrating the physician: personal awareness and
effective patient care.
Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 502 – 509.
STEVENS, J. (1992). Applied multivariate statistics for social

sciences. Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Eribaum.
TUCKMAN, B.W. & JENSEN, M.A.C. (1977). Stages of small
group development
revisited. Group and Organizational Studies, 2, 419 – 327.
380 G. L. Arthur et al.
Lab Project
Instructor: Prof. Fahad Saeed
Teaching Assistant: Ayaz Akram
References used: 1) HCS12/9S12 An Introduction to Software
and Hardware Interfacing by
Han-Way Huang 2) Dragon 12 Manual
Lab Project Details
Objectives:
microcontroller.
Dragon EVB.

Project Rules
Assembly Language is allowed.
students are not allowed to copy
the code and strategies used by other groups.
the TA for help but the help provided will
be very limited, as this project is
the final evaluation for this lab.
computers and work at home or
off campus. They can test their codes on the Dragon EVB
during the regular lab sessions.
sessions, he/she can contact the TA
during office hours.
eport which will also be collected
during the last lab session.

resource.
Part 1 (80% marks)
Your task is to write assembly code to initialize an array
of 50 numbers in memory. Each
number of the array should be a multiple of the first number ‘x’
(where 1 <= x <= 10). For example if
x=5, the array should be {5, 10, 15, 20, 25, ... , 245, 250}. Once
the array is initialized, the next task is
to search for a number 'y' in the array using 'Binary Search'
algorithm. The way Binary Search
algorithm works is following:
‘y’
1. Calculate the midpoint index of the array by taking mean of
the index of the first and the last
array elements. The element at mid-point index is called ‘m’.
2. If the element at the midpoint index is the desired element,
the search stops by returning the
index of the desired element.
3. If m is greater than y ignore the part of the array after m
(including m) for further search. If m

is less than y ignore the part of the array before m (including m)
for further search.
4. In any case, repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 on the remaining
elements of the array. Continue till an
element is found or the array indexes to be searched are
exhausted.
Figure 1 shows flow-chart for Binary Search algorithm.
Figure 1. Flow Chart for Binary Search
Your task is to implement binary search algorithm in assembly
code for any random number 'y'.
While the algorithm is working, each midpoint number should
be displayed on the Seven Segment
Display units available on the Dragon EVB. Moreover, there
should be a constant delay of 2 seconds
between each update on the Seven Segment Displays. If the

number being searched is present in the
array the algorithm would finally stop with the number being
displayed on the seven segment display.
In case, the number is not in the array, your code should finally
show all zeros on seven segment
display (a special code indicating that the number being
searched is not in the array). Your code
should be generic and work for any value of y and x (within the
allowed range of 1 to 10).
Part 2 (20% marks)
In part 1, the numbers x and y will be initialized statically. In
part 2, your task is to modify the code
from part 1 such that the numbers x and y are initialized at run
time. You will have to use DIP
switches of Port H to initialize each of these numbers. You can
use one of the four available push
buttons (SW2-SW5) to determine when your code should read
each number configured on dip
switches.
Note:

by the TA in the lab.
project report is to be written in your own words, copy
pasted material will not be
accepted.
in the comments.
be subject to University
policies and procedures. You are responsible for making
yourself aware of and
understanding the University policies and procedures that
pertain to Academic Honesty.
These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and
forgery, multiple
submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. (The
academic policies
addressing Student Rights and Responsibilities can be found in
the Undergraduate
Catalog at

http://catalog.wmich.edu/content.php?catoid=22&navoid=882
and the
Graduate Catalog
athttp://catalog.wmich.edu/content.php?catoid=23&navoid=938.
)
If there is reason to believe you have been involved in
academic dishonesty, you will be
referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the
opportunity to review
the charge(s) and if you believe you are not responsible, you
will have the opportunity
for a hearing. You should consult with your instructor if you are
uncertain about an
issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an
assignment or test.
ENHANCING INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION:
POSITIVE MOOD EFFECTS
DONNA WEBSTER NELSON
Winthrop University
I tested the possibility that positive affect would promote the
design of effective interpersonal
communication. Participants were 44 male and 96 female
undergraduates at a mid-sized
university in the Southeastern United States, who were induced

to experience positive or
neutral affect and were then asked to design communications
relating to 15 abstract stimuli.
Results indicated that, compared with the participants who had
experienced neutral affect,
those in a positive mood constructed messages that contained
greater detail and more literal
information for another person (vs. messages intended for their
own use at a later time).
This suggests that those experiencing positive affect made
adjustments to account for the
perspective of the recipient. That effect was not observed for
participants experiencing a
neutral mood. My findings suggest that effective interpersonal
communication depends, in
part, on the affective state of the communicator.
Keywords: positive affect, mood, interpersonal communication,
audience design, emotion.
The influence of mood states on cognitive and social
psychological processes
is a topic of considerable interest to psychologists. In her
broaden-and-build
theory, Fredrickson (2001) proposes that positive affect fosters
creativity and
an open-minded mentality. In support of this notion, empirical
researchers have
demonstrated that positive affect enhances novel thinking (e.g.,
Isen, Johnson,
Mertz, & Robinson, 1985), improves performance on tasks
requiring ingenuity
(e.g., Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987), increases fluency and
flexibility of
thought (Tan & Qu, 2015), and facilitates social problem
solving (Nelson & Sim,

2014). Positive affect has also been shown to enhance empathy
and perspective
taking between persons who have divergent perspectives
(Nelson, 2009).
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2016, 44(9),
1535–1540
© 2016 Scientific Journal Publishers Limited. All Rights
Reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2016.44.9.1535
1535
Donna Webster Nelson, Department of Psychology, Winthrop
University.
The author thanks Brandy Werner and Brittany Brock for help
with data collection.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
Donna Webster Nelson, Department
of Psychology, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC 29733,
USA. Email: [email protected]
POSITIVE MOOD AND INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION1536
My current interest was in exploring whether or not affective
states would
influence other social processes that involve interpersonal
perspective taking.
One such phenomenon is interpersonal communication.
Researchers have
indicated that a positive mood promotes disclosure of intimate
and varied
information about the self and that personal disclosures of this

sort represent
an effective strategy for enhancing interpersonal relations
(Forgas, 2011).
Successful interpersonal exchanges are also more likely when
communicators
adapt their messages to account for the unique perspective and
preexisting
knowledge of their intended audience (Fussell & Krauss, 1989).
More research
is needed to determine whether or not a positive mood may
facilitate the design
of messages that are understood as intended by the sender. If
one fails to assume
the perspective of a message recipient, one is less likely to
design a message
that is understood as intended. As positive affect bolsters
perspective taking,
it follows that it may also promote the formulation of effective
interpersonal
communication. To test this possibility, I conducted an
experiment in which I
analyzed the composition of messages created by individuals
experiencing either
a positive or neutral mood. I expected those in a positive (vs.
neutral) mood to
adjust messages more frequently to account for the perspective
of the intended
recipient, by including greater detail in the messages and
focusing on common
knowledge shared with the recipient.
Method
Participants
I recruited 44 male and 96 female undergraduates at a mid-sized
Southeastern

university in the United States to take part in my study. The
majority of the
participants (96%) ranged in age from 18 to 24 years. The
remainder (4%) were
25 years or older.
Procedure
Mood induction. Participants were randomly assigned to a
positive or neutral
mood condition. In each instance, they read a string of 25
statements formulated
by Seibert and Ellis (1991) as a method for inducing the
intended mood state.
Affect manipulation check. Participants responded to nine items
taken from
the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, &
Tellegen, 1988).
Specifically, they rated the extent to which they felt alert,
interested, determined,
excited, enthusiastic, inspired, proud, attentive, and active, on a
5-point
Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very slightly or not at all) to 5
(extremely). A
composite positive affect score for each participant was
computed by averaging
these responses.
COMMUNICATION 1537
Message design. Participants were asked to design

communications relating
to 15 abstract stimuli (see Figure 1). This task was modeled
after that used by
Fussell and Krauss (1989). Participants read instructions that
explained how
their descriptions of the abstract stimuli would be used in a
second phase of
the experiment during an identification task. This identification
task would
require participants to recognize the appropriate figure, based
on the message
they had designed. Participants were told either to design a
message for another
(unknown) student or to design a message that they themselves
would use to
complete the identification task. For those writing descriptions
for another
student, compared to those writing for themselves, greater
perspective taking
should result in messages that contained more literal
descriptions (referring to
specific properties of the figure and reflecting knowledge that
would most likely
be shared by the other student) and more lengthy descriptions
(including greater
detail). Independent coders rated the extent to which
descriptions contained
literal content in addition to recording the number of words
contained in each
message. Disagreements among the coders were resolved
through discussion.
Figure 1. Examples of abstract stimuli for which participants
composed descriptions.
Results

Manipulation Check
An independent samples t test was conducted to assess positive
affect as a
function of mood condition. Results revealed that, as expected,
those in the
positive mood condition experienced more positive affect (M =
2.94, SD = 0.73,
n = 71) than those in the neutral condition (M = 2.42, SD =
0.74, n = 69), t(140)
= -4.15, p < .001.
Dependent Measures
A mixed model analysis of variance was conducted with two
levels of mood
condition and two levels of recipient condition on the ratings of
literal content.
COMMUNICATION1538
This yielded a significant interaction effect, F(1, 136) = 3.73, p
< .05. A positive
mood increased literal descriptions in communications directed
toward an
unknown student (M = 6.72, SD = 6.32, n = 36) compared to
those designed for
the self (M = 3.14, SD = 3.37, n = 35). No such differences
were found among
participants in the neutral condition when comparing
communications directed

toward an unknown student (M = 3.57, SD = 4.06, n = 38) to
those developed for
the participant himself or herself (M = 3.06, SD = 4.30, n = 30).
A similar pattern
was found when testing the interaction between mood condition
and recipient
on message length F(1, 136) = 3.29, p < .07. In the positive
mood condition,
messages intended for another student included more words (M
= 12.18, SD =
7.51, n = 36) than did those intended for the self (M = 7.82, SD
= 5.04, n = 35).
No comparable effects were found for neutral mood participants
when comparing
communications directed toward an unknown student (M = 8.24,
SD = 5.22,
n = 38) to those developed for the participant himself or herself
(M = 7.53,
SD = 3.27, n = 31).
Discussion
My objective was to explore whether or not positive affect
would enhance
the design of effective social communication. I predicted that a
positive mood
would promote construction of interpersonal messages that
included literal
and lengthy content, to reflect the perspective of the recipient
and facilitate
comprehension. I also predicted that when experiencing a
neutral, compared
to positive, mood, communicators would be less focused on
conveying precise
or detailed information to the intended recipient. My results
supported these

predictions and are consistent with previous findings that
suggest a positive
mood enhances perspective taking (Nelson, 2009). Those who
were most likely
to assume the perspective of the recipient took more deliberate
steps to create
messages that accounted for that alternative perspective. These
findings have
important implications for contexts where individuals with
different backgrounds
and perspectives communicate with one another. In short, a
positive mood can
help to prevent social misunderstandings, and can enable
diverse persons to relate
to one another more effectively than can a neutral mood.
My study has limitations related to external validity because the
focus was
on designing communications about abstract stimuli in a
laboratory context.
Furthermore, all of the communications were designed for the
self or for
strangers. This paradigm allowed for precise testing of the
cause-and-effect
relationship between mood and communication design.
However, a future
profitable line of research would be to examine the design of
communications
under varying affective states, in naturalistic settings, and
between both strangers
and persons who are well acquainted.
COMMUNICATION 1539

References
Forgas, J. P. (2011). Affective influences on self-disclosure:
Mood effects on the intimacy and
reciprocity of disclosing personal information. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,
100, 449–461. http://doi.org/dm82b8
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in
positive psychology: The broaden-and-
build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56,
218–226. http://doi.org/d2mt85
Fussell, S. R., & Krauss, R. M. (1989). The effects of intended
audience on message production
and comprehension. Reference in a common ground framework.
Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 25, 203–219. http://doi.org/fhsfr2
Isen, A. M., Daubman, K. A., & Nowicki, G. P. (1987). Positive
affect facilitates creative problem
solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52,
1122–1131. http://doi.org/ddjfsw
Isen, A. M., Johnson, M. M., Mertz, E., & Robinson, G. F.
(1985). The influence of positive affect
on the unusualness of word associations. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 48,
1413–1426. http://doi.org/c9s4zd
Nelson, D. W. (2009). Feeling good and open-minded: The
impact of positive affect on cross-cultural
empathic responding. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4,
53–63. http://doi.org/bcbk9b

Nelson, D. W., & Sim, E. K. (2014). Positive affect facilitates
social problem solving. Journal of
Applied Social Psychology, 44, 635–642. http://doi.org/bfks
Seibert, P. S., & Ellis, H. C. (1991). A convenient self-
referencing mood induction procedure. Bulletin
of the Psychonomic Society, 29, 121–124. http://doi.org/bfkt
Tan, C.-S., & Qu, L. (2015). Stability of the positive mood
effect on creativity when task switching,
practice effect, and test item differences are taken into
consideration. The Journal of Creative
Behavior, 49, 94–110. http://doi.org/bfkv
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development
and validation of brief measures of
positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,
54, 1063–1070. http://doi.org/ck3
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However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.
o fulfill the potential
of what Maxine Green

(1988) describes as “a
world lived in common
with others,” our campuses
must offer the opportunity
for each of us to be touched by the lives
of those different from us. We will never
understand racism, class, social justice,
international development, or the person
sitting next to us without quietly listen-
ing to the stories of those who experi-
ence the world in different ways.
But as psychologist George Kelly
(1963) suggests, learning from experi-
ence requires more than being in the
vicinity of events when they occur.
Learning emerges from our capacity to
construe those events and then to recon-
strue them in transformative ways. On
today’s culturally complicated campus-
es, individuals are indeed in the presence
of intercultural events, but more often
than not, they are having an ethnocentric
experience that they may be ill prepared
to construe.
We have long known that simply
bringing different racial and cultural
groups into contact may generate more
heat than light (Pettigrew, 2000). De-
pending on the readiness of the learners,
our well-structured curriculum may
fail to produce constructive interaction,
much less the commitment to social jus-

tice that we have designed it to produce.
Difficult dialogues about race, ethnicity,
and other cultural differences are hin-
dered when learners are developmentally
unprepared to handle them (Bennett &
Bennett, 2004).
Educators also face new challenges
both in teaching about culture, and in
teaching across cultures. While culture
is often addressed in the content of the
curriculum, it is less frequently incor-
porated into the process of teaching
and learning. Thus, while we study the
sociological consequences of racism,
we may be ineffective in communicat-
ing with the African-American col-
league across the hall. While we may
master Japanese literature, we may not
be able to read between the lines when
a Japanese student attempts to share a
problem with us.
In short, cultural knowledge does
not equal intercultural competence. And
being global citizens—seeing ourselves
as members of a world community, as
well as participants in our local contexts,
knowing that we share the future with
others—requires powerful forms of in-
tercultural competence.
Darla Deardorff conducted a study
of intercultural scholars to develop an
extended definition of intercultural
competence and to examine appropriate

strategies to assess such competence.
Her resulting article in the Journal of
Studies in International Education
(2006) identifies specific components of
intercultural competence and provides
recommendations for fostering it.
It is vital to note the significance
of the “inter” in “intercultural compe-
tence.” Such competence bridges domes-
tic and global diversity by focusing on
patterns of interaction in a cultural con-
text, whether within a country or across
national borders. Intercultural com-
munication is about negotiating shared
meanings. Thus the study-abroad student
needs to be interculturally competent,
as does the student in a course on race,
class, and gender.
The growing global focus on de-
veloping interculturally competent
students, professionals, and citizens
suggests five key trends for which there
are associated resources. While there
are outstanding materials grounded in
other disciplines that address this issue,
the primary focus of this review is to
highlight the contribution of the inter-
cultural perspective.
The Intercultural
Perspective
The materials included in Resource
Box 1 provide frameworks that comprise

the “culture-general” or meta-cultural
perspective that can be used to examine
patterns in any culture, domestic or in-
ternational. They cover core topics such
as nonverbal communication, commu-
nication styles, conflict styles, language
Janet Bennett is executive director of the
Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI),
director of the ICI master’s in intercultural
relations program, and book-review editor
of the International Journal of Intercultural
Relations. Riikka Salonen is a program as-
sociate at the Intercultural Communication
Institute, managing intercultural assessment
and research services.
46 Change ● March/April 2007
Resource Review
I n t e r c u lt u r a l
C o m m u n i c at i o n
a n d t h e N e w
A m e r i c a n C a m p u s
B y J a n e t M . B e n n e t t A N D R i i k k a S a l o n e n
T
Integrating Domestic and
Global Diversity, Learn-
ing Culture Experien-

tially, and Teaching and
Learning on the Cultur-
ally Complicated Campus
Boyacigiller, Nakiye A., Goodman,
Richard A., & Phillips, Margaret E.
(Eds.). (2003). Crossing Cultures:
Insights from Master Teachers. New
York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis
Group).
Cress, Christine M., Collier, Peter
J., Reitenaur, Vicki L., & Associates
(2005). Learning Through Serving: A
Student Guidebook for Service-Learn-
ing Across the Disciplines. Sterling,
VA: Stylus.
Cornwell, Grant H., & Stoddard,
Eve W. (1999). Globalizing Knowl-
edge: Connecting International & In-
tercultural Studies. Washington, DC:
Association of American Colleges &
Universities.
Deardorff, Darla (2006, Fall).
“Identification and Assessment of
Intercultural Competence as a Student
Outcome of Internationalization.”
Journal of Studies in International
Education, 10(3), 241–266.
Green, Maxine (1988). The Dialec-
tic of Freedom. New York: Teachers
College Press.

Kelly, George (1963). A Theory of
Personality. New York: Norton.
Paige, R. Michael, Cohen, Andrew
D., Kappler, Barbara, Chi, Julie C., &
Lassegard, James P. (2002). Maximiz-
ing Study Abroad: A Students’ Guide
to Strategies for Language and Cul-
ture Learning and Use. Minneapolis,
MN: Center for Advanced Research
on Language Acquisition, University
of Minnesota.
Pedersen, Paul (2000). A Hand-
book for Developing Multicultural
Awareness. (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA:
American Counseling Association.
Pettigrew, Thomas F., & Tropp, Lin-
da R. (2000). “Does Intergroup Contact
Reduce Racial and Ethnic Prejudice
Throughout the World?” In Stuart Os-
kamp (Ed.), Reducing Prejudice and
Discrimination (pp. 93–114). Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Singelis, Theodore M. (Ed.).
(1998). Teaching About Culture, Eth-
nicity, and Diversity: Exercises and
Planned Activities. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Stringer, M. Donna, & Cassiday,
Patricia A. (2003). 52 Activities for
Exploring Value Differences.

Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
Yershova, Yelena, DeJaeghere,
Joan, & Mestenhauser, Josef (2000,
Spring). “Thinking Not as Usual:
Adding the Intercultural Perspective.”
Journal of Studies in International
Education, 4(1), 39–78.
Web and Other Resources:
Diversity Resources by Association
of American Colleges & Universities,
www.diversityweb.org, www.aacu.
org/issues/diversity/index.cfm
Hammer, Mitchell R. (2002). The
Intercultural Conflict Style (ICS)
Inventory. North Potomac, MD: Ham-
mer Consulting.
Hammer, Mitchell R. (2003). The
Intercultural Conflict Style (ICS) In-
ventory Facilitator’s Manual. North
Potomac, MD: Hammer Consulting.
Hammer Consulting, www.ham-
merconsulting.org/product_ics.php.
Nipporica Associates, www.nip-
porica.com
The Thiagi Group, www.thiagi.
com
What’s Up With Culture, www.

Resource Box II
Publications
The Intercultural
Perspective
Bennett, Janet M., & Bennett,
Milton J. (2004). “Developing Inter-
cultural Sensitivity: An Integrative
Approach to Global and Domestic
Diversity.” In Dan Landis, Janet M.
Bennett, & Milton J. Bennett (Eds.),
Handbook of Intercultural Training
(3rd ed., pp. 147–165). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bennett, Milton J. (Ed.) (1998).
Basic Concepts of Intercultural
Communication: Selected Readings.
Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
González, Alberto, Houston,
Marsha, & Chen, Victoria (2004).
Our Voices: Essays in Culture,
Ethnicity, and Communication: An
Intercultural Anthology. (4th ed.).
Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Lustig, Myron W., & Koester,
Jolene (2006). Intercultural Com-
petence: Interpersonal Communi-
cation Across Cultures. (5th ed.).
Boston: Pearson (Allyn & Bacon).

Martin, Judith N., & Nakayama,
Thomas K. (2007). Intercultural
Communication in Contexts. (4th
ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Samovar, Larry A., Porter,
Richard E., & McDaniel, Edwin R.
(Eds.). (2006). Intercultural Com-
munication: A Reader. (11th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Ting-Toomey, Stella (1999).
Communicating Across Cultures.
New York: Guilford.
Web Resources:
Intercultural Communication
Institute, www.intercultural.org
Society for Intercultural Educa-
tion, Training, and Research – USA
Resource Box I
Change ● March/April 2007 47
and culture, value patterns, prejudice
and power, identity development, and
cultural adaptation.

While there is no panacea for elimi-
nating cultural misunderstanding, we
can cultivate competence in order to
communicate despite our differences.
The field of intercultural communication
provides a particularly useful perspective
for developing intercultural competence:
It aims to develop the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes necessary for effective and
appropriate interactions across cultures.
Milton Bennett’s Basic Concepts of
Intercultural Communication: Selected
Readings (1998), a collection of clas-
sic articles on the topics I’ve outlined,
serves as an introduction to the basic
concepts of the field, while Alberto
Gonzalez, Marsha Houston, and Victoria
Chen’s Our Voices: Essays in Culture,
Ethnicity and Communication: An Inter-
cultural Anthology (2004) applies those
concepts to the domestic diversity arena.
The following authors each approach the
central topics in the field from a different
perspective: Myron Lustig and Jolene
Koester examine intercultural com-
petence in Intercultural Competence:
Interpersonal Communication Across
Cultures (2006); Judith Martin and
Thomas Nakayama place the issue of
intercultural communication in a variety
of theoretical contexts in Intercultural
Communication in Contexts (2007); and
Stella Ting-Toomey, in Communicat-
ing Across Cultures (1999), presents
an advanced overview of intercultural

concepts that takes into account both
Western and Asian frames of reference.
Finally, now in its 11th edition, Intercul-
tural Communication: A Reader (2006),
by Larry Samovar, Richard Porter, and
Edwin McDaniel features articles from
both a culture-general perspective and a
culture-specific point of view.
For those interested in professional
development in teaching, training,
curriculum design, ethnic-identity de-
velopment, or creating an intercultural
campus, the Intercultural Communica-
tion Institute (ICI) offers a summer
program of workshops and seminars. In
addition, ICI offers intercultural assess-
ment, a master’s degree in cooperation
with the University of the Pacific, and a
resource library of more than 23,000 in-
tercultural materials (www.intercultural.
org). Another such resource is the Soci-
ety for Intercultural Education, Training
and Research—USA (SUSA), which
has an annual conference where profes-
sionals share their applications of the
intercultural perspective (www.sietarusa.
org).
Integrating Domestic and
Global Diversity
The seemingly intractable stress
between those committed to social trans-
formation in America and those focused

on global development presents itself as
a core issue for interculturalists. Mutual
accusations include being self-serving,
uninformed at best, and insidious at
worst. While some suggest that domestic
inequities trump all global consider-
ations, others counter that no issue is
merely local.
The current trend is to view the in-
tersections among these contexts. A key
resource on this topic is Globalizing
Knowledge: Connecting International
& Intercultural Studies (1999) by Grant
H. Cornwell and Eve W. Stoddard.
They construct an intercultural frame-
work around the often-dualistic debates
between the domestic and the global
perspectives: Is citizenship national or
international in scope? Are we educat-
ing patriots or cosmopolites? Is global
development an inevitable necessity or
inevitably fatal? If we think globally,
do we oppress locally? By carefully
constructing a complex, multilayered,
contextualized framework, they make a
persuasive case that globalizing educa-
tion requires both/and, not either/or. The
Web site of the Association of American
Colleges and Universities (www.
diversityweb.org) supports educators
with further resources for this integra-
tion. Resource Box 2 contains references
to these materials.

Janet M. Bennett and Milton J.
Bennett (2004) outline a developmen-
tal model appropriate for teaching and
training in a sequence based on learner
readiness, in “Developing Intercultural
Sensitivity: An Integrative Approach to
Global and Domestic Diversity” (2004).
They suggest that early diversity efforts
often placed the Western perspective at
the center, where not only the content
but also the process belied the core value
of inclusivity. They note that sensitivity
initiatives may often themselves be cul-
turally insensitive.
According to this model, individu-
als respond to cultural differences in
identifiable stages. In the first stage,
those who see culture as a barrier tend
to deny, resist, or minimize differences.
In the second, those who see culture as
a resource tend to accept and appreciate
differences. In order to create a cultur-
ally competent campus, leaders need to
create appropriate interventions to move
people from the first to the second stage.
Learning Experientially
After a long effort to achieve cred-
ibility, experiential learning has earned
its rightful place in academic programs
as a viable, even desirable, approach
to putting theory into practice. Service
learning has linked different cultural

groups within the United States, as well
as overseas. Study abroad has moved far
from the grand tour to a smorgasbord of
programs, short and long, in familiar and
less-familiar destinations. The campus
is increasingly used as a laboratory for
intercultural and interracial dialogues.
Each of these contexts presents opportu-
nities for the development and practice
of intercultural competence, guided by
educators prepared to infuse the curricu-
lum with intercultural learning.
In a recent text, Learning Through
Serving: A Student Guidebook for Ser-
While there is no
panacea for
eliminating cultural
misunderstanding,
we can cultivate
competence in order
to communicate
despite our
differences.

vice Learning Across the Disciplines
(2005), by Christine M. Cress, Peter
J. Collier, Vicki L. Reitenauer, and as-
sociates, the authors presume that com-
munity-based learning places students
in contact with diverse others and,
therefore, that learners must attend to
that aspect of their own development.
They provide the instructor with useful
guidelines for designing and implement-
ing effective service-learning programs.
(See Resource Box 2.)
In the area of international education,
the state of the art suggests three es-
sential requirements for effective expe-
riential learning: that it prepare learners
to understand their own culture, that it
facilitate their cultural learning abroad,
and that it integrate that learning upon
their return. Standard practice suggests
a unified curriculum that attends to all
three of these stages.
The What’s Up With Culture? Web
site (www.pacific.edu/sis/culture/) is
an online cultural training resource for
study abroad that contains modules
for predeparture preparation, reentry,
and resources for going abroad that are
useful for instructors and students. R.
Michael Paige, Andrew D. Cohen, Bar-
bara Kappler, Julie C. Chi, and James
P. Lassegard (2002) recently revised
their Maximizing Study Abroad: A Stu-
dents’ Guide to Strategies for Language

and Culture Learning and Use (2002).
Organized into units focusing on pre-
departure, in-country, and post-study
abroad, the text contains rich resources
for the sojourner, as well as for the
faculty or staff member guiding the
program.
For those facilitating intercultural/
interracial dialogues, Paul Pedersen’s
Handbook for Developing Multicultural
Awareness (2000) supplies conceptual
background understanding, as well as
a series of approaches and methods to
enhance learning while constructively
handling conflict.
The Culturally
Complicated Campus
For the educator, daily interactions
consistently involve adaptation to dif-
ferent cultural styles. Most of us can no
longer enter our classrooms confident
that our learners will share our world-
view, our cultural norms, or even our
language. Campuses have traditionally
privileged certain styles for teaching and
learning, a process that is being trans-
formed in today’s intercultural context.
Diversifying our cognitive styles, learn-
ing styles, and communication styles
has become an essential response to our
diversified populations.

“Thinking Not As Usual: Adding the
Intercultural Perspective” (2002)—by
Yelena Yershova, Joan DeJaeghere, and
Josef Mestenhauser—addresses the is-
sue of culturally influenced cognitive
styles. Assessing the Western-based ap-
proaches to intercultural competence,
critical thinking, and comparative think-
ing, they dispute the universality of
Western analytical constructs.
Resource Box 2 contains references
to resources for cultural-learning activi-
ties suitable for the university context.
For classroom and experiential learn-
ing, see Crossing Cultures: Insights
from Master Teachers, a 2003 collec-
tion by Nakiye A. Boyacigiller, Richard
A. Goodman, and Margaret E. Phillips,
who gathered the educational modules
used by senior educators. The Web site
for the Thiagi Group: The Source for
Training Games and Interactive Experi-
ential Strategies (www.thiagi.com) fea-
tures a wide variety of free teaching and
training resources, including “frame-
games”—content-free, creatively con-
structed methods (frames) for achieving
the full engagement of learners. In their
collection 52 Activities for Exploring
Value Differences (2003), Donna M.
Stringer and Patricia A. Cassiday have
gathered strategies for teaching about
deep values in both domestic and global

contexts.
Theodore M. Singelis has produced
a thoughtful collection of well-designed,
theoretically grounded methods in his
compendium Teaching About Culture,
Ethnicity, and Diversity (1998). The
Web site for Nipporica Associates, www.
Nipporica.com, features a variety of
learning tools, including a series of case
studies entitled The Cultural Detective
that focus on learning about values and
interaction in specific cultures. Finally,
faculty members teaching about conflict
will find Mitchell Hammer’s Intercul-
tural Conflict Style Inventory (2002,
2003) useful in exploring their students’
own styles as they participate in difficult
dialogues.
Assessing Intercultural
Competence
While excellent instruments exist for
assessing campus climate and learning
outcomes for diversity, not many instru-
ments exist that assess the intercultural
sensitivity or competence of students,
faculty, and staff. R. Michael Paige,
in his 2004 “Instrumentation in Inter-
cultural Training,” provides a detailed
review of the instruments commonly
used to measure organizational climate,
personal development, cultural identity,
prejudice and racism, and intercultural
competence. The instruments noted here

are particularly appropriate for campus
assessments (Resource Box 3):
• The Cross-Cultural Adaptability
Inventory (CCAI) is a widely used self-
assessment tool that addresses a person’s
ability to adapt to both domestic and
international contexts.
• The Global Competencies Inven-
tory (GCI) assesses personal qualities
associated with environments where
there are cultural norms and behaviors
different from one’s own. Based on per-
sonality factors, this instrument can be
used as part of an assessment process for
a variety of functions.
• The Intercultural Development
Inventory (IDI) is a psychometric instru-
Change ● March/April 2007 49
Most of us can
no longer enter
our classrooms
confident that
our learners will
share our world-
view, our

cultural norms,
or even our
language.
ment based on the developmental model
of intercultural sensitivity. Useful for
program evaluation, the IDI can also be
used for audience analysis and needs as-
sessment.
Intercultural
Competence and Global
Citizenship
With global citizenship and civic
engagement as core missions in higher
education, intercultural competence
becomes central across the disciplines.
Grant H. Cornwall and Eve W. Stoddard
(1999) link the two agendas by sug-
gesting that educational goals include
“understanding diverse cultures and un-
derstanding cultures as diverse ... [and]
preparing for citizenship, both local and
global” (Resource Box 2). They elabo-
rate on this idea in their 2006 article
“Freedom, Diversity and Global Leader-
ship” (Resource Box 4).

Researchers in business and manage-
ment have produced multiple texts with a
focus on the impact of culture in the orga-
nizational context, as noted in Resource
Box 4. Nancy J. Adler’s application of
core intercultural notions to the structure
and functions of organizations in Inter-
national Dimensions of Organizational
Behavior (2002) offers not only a con-
ceptual overview but also engaging case
studies. Mark E. Mendenhall, Torsten
Kühlmann, and Günter Stahl offer chap-
ters on global teams, leadership transfor-
mation, assessment, and women leaders
in their collection Developing Global
Business Leaders: Policies, Process, and
Innovations (2000).
Research in global leadership and
managing cultural complexity of-
fers insights to both those within and
outside the corporate world. The com-
prehensive Culture, Leadership and
Organizations: The GLOBE Study of
62 Societies (2004) by Robert J. House,
Paul Hanges, Mansour Javidan, Peter
Dorfman, and Vipin Gupta offers sub-
stantive information about worldwide
value patterns that is useful to profes-
sionals in any field.
For pragmatic applications of in-
tercultural concepts, P. Christopher
Earley and Soon Ang, in their 2003
book Cultural Intelligence: Individual
Interactions Across Cultures, have de-

veloped a model of cultural intelligence
that specifically addresses multicultural
contexts. They review the cognitive, atti-
tudinal, and behavioral bases of cultural
intelligence and describe strategies for
developing, assessing, and promoting it
in organizations.
On the domestic front, Norma Carr-
Ruffino has thoughtfully examined
specific cultural groups in organizations
in her 2003 text Managing Diversity:
People Skills for a Multicultural Work-
place. By reviewing the history of each
group, its experiences of prejudice, its
cultural patterns, and recommended
approaches to management, she has
bridged issues of social justice, inter-
cultural sensitivity, and organizational
productivity.
For those interested in locating re-
sources for teaching in the area of do-
mestic diversity, authors Lee
Gardenswartz and Anita Rowe (1998)
have developed conceptually grounded
strategies for developing intercultural
competence that are useful for practitio-
ners as well as educators. (See also their
2003 collaboration with Patricia Digh
and Martin Bennett in The Global Diver-
sity Desk Reference.)
Recent educational research sug-
gests that for those desiring robust

intercultural transformation on cam-
puses, we must do more than simply
be “in the vicinity of cultural events.”
Intercultural competence is fostered
through developmental opportunities,
grounded in theory and facilitated expe-
riences. Only then will learners be able
to construe—and reconstrue—them to
achieve shared meaning.
Assessing Intercultur-
al Competence
Paige, R. Michael (2004).
“Instrumentation in Intercultural
Training.” In Dan Landis, Janet
M. Bennett, & Milton J. Bennett
(Eds.), Handbook of intercultural
training (3rd ed., pp. 85–128).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
The Cross-Cultural Adaptability
Inventory (CCAI), Colleen
Kelley & Judith Meyers, Web:
www.pearsonps.com/
Solution
s/
PerformanceManagement/Organi-
zationalSurveys/

The Global Competencies In-
ventory (GCI), The Kozai Group,
Web: www.kozaigroup.com/
inventories/inv.html
The Intercultural Development
Inventory (IDI), Bennett, Milton J.
& Hammer, Mitchell R., IDI LLC,
Resource Box III
Linking Intercultural
Competence to Global
Leadership
Adler, Nancy J. (2002). In-
ternational Dimensions of Or-
ganizational Behavior. (4th ed.).
Cincinnati, OH: South-Western.
Carr-Ruffino, Norma (2003).
Managing Diversity: People Skills
for a Multicultural Workplace.

Boston: Pearson Custom.
Cornwell, Grant H., &
Stoddard, Eve W. (2006, Spring).
“Freedom, Diversity, and Global
Citizenship.” Liberal Education,
92(2), 26–33.
Earley, P. Christopher, & Ang,
Soon (2003). Cultural
Intelligence: Individual Interac-
tions Across Cultures. Stanford,
CA: Stanford University Press.
Gardenswartz, Lee., & Rowe,
Anita (1998). Managing Diversity:
A Complete Desk Reference and
Planning Guide. (Rev. ed.). New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Gardenswartz, Lee., Rowe,
Anita, Digh, Patricia, & Bennett,
Martin (2003). The Global Diver-
sity Desk Reference: Managing an
International Workforce. San Fran-

cisco: Jossey-Bass.
House, Robert J., Hanges, Paul
J., Javidan, Mansour, Dorfman,
Peter W., & Gupta, Vipin (Eds.).
(2004). Culture, Leadership, and
Organizations: The GLOBE Study
of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Mendenhall, Mark E.,
Kühlmann, Torsten M., & Stahl,
Günter K. (Eds.). (2000). Develop-
ing Global Business Leaders: Poli-
cies, Processes, and Innovations.
Resource Box IV
C
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European Researcher, 2013, Vol.(42), № 2-3
508
UDC 378.016
Civic Literacy in the Space
of Intercultural Communication

Marina V. Mezhova
Kemerovo State University of Culture and Arts, Russia
91, Sportivnayastreet, Kemerovo city, Kemerovo region, 650000
PhD (Culturology)
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract. The article carries out a corresponding of the concept
"civic literacy" and the
concept "intercultural communication".Civic literacy is
characterized as a person’s ability to assess
political, economic, social and culturological situations and to
make the relevant decisions both in
native culture, and in the conditions of intercultural
communication. The main criteriaof civic
literacy formation are suggested and the model of
interculturalcivic literate person is defined.
Keywords: civic literacy; intercultural communication;
education; pedagogical conditions;
society.

Introduction.
Development of any state, formation of civic society and
strengthening of a national consent
demand of high civic literacy without which base values and
principles of society life can't be fully
realized.
So, for example, base values of the Russian society can be
considered: ideology of the
education content, main contents of the spiritual and moral
development programs and education
of young citizens in Russia, forms and methods of pedagogical
interaction of educational system
establishments, public organizations, state institutes and
socialization institutes.
The base values of any national society can be considered:
patriotism, social solidarity,
civilization, family, health, work and creativity, science,
traditional religions, art and literature,
nature, mankind [1].
The essence of the civic society is that it unites and expresses,

first of all, interests of citizens,
their expectations, freedom, inquiries, requirements, instead of
will of ruling elite, the authorities,
the states. The government acts only as an entrusted
representative. It is possible to specify the
most general ideas and the principles of any civic society,
without any specification:
1) economic freedom, variety of ownership forms, market
relations;
2) recognition and protection of human rights and citizen;
3) legitimacy and democratic character of the authority;
4) equality of all before the law and justice, reliable legal
security of the personality;
5) the constitutional state founded on a principle of division and
interaction of the
authorities;
6) political and ideological pluralism, existence of legal
opposition;
7) freedom of opinions, words and mass media, their
independence;
8) non-interference of the government to private life of citizens,
their mutual duties and

responsibilities;
9) effective social policy providing a worthy standard of
people’ wellbeing [1].
In new conditions of society development civic education of
younger generation is of a special
value. So, for example, in the concept of modernization of
Russian education it is noted that
educated, moral, enterprising people who are in a situation of a
choice can independently make
crucial decisions, they are necessary for developing society,
predicting their possible consequences
capable to effective cooperation, different mobility,
constructability of the thinking, possessing the
developed sense of responsibility for the country [5]. Civic
literacy in this essence acts as a key of
social competence identity of any modern society.
Materials and methods.
Thestudy of the pointed issue was developedthrough systemic
way of reviewing the existing
literature concerning diversity number of curricular and
educational programs. The research

509
contains a conceptual analysis of advantages, faults and
possibilities of the formation of civic
literacy in the conditions of intercultural communication in the
educational process. The
comparative method has been applied to the integrating the term
civic literacy and intercultural
communication.
Discussion.
For the analysis of a civic literacy phenomenon, it is necessary
to specify terminological value
of a phenomenon of civilization. In humanitarian sciences the
idea of civilization is connectedwith
political assessment. It is an important aspect, but its realization
is a step to continuation of the
process which initially has an ethical aspect. Adequate
representation is generation of cultural

factors, which is characterized by genetic concentration of
specific subjective properties and public
values. Civilization in an ethical context represents the unique
relations generated by cultural
system between citizens.
Civilization as set of the ethical principles forming the basis of
civil society; need of
realization of these principles, follows from internal essence of
a phenomenon of civilization –
unifications of human society as the purposes and conditions of
its life, and designates thereby the
law, an order, structure.
Civilization is the cultural code of the specific, symbolically
mediated, backbone interhuman
relations comprising a set of forms and types, contextually
allocated with concrete value [6, 1].
The civic consciousness and behavior are formed in the course
of socialization. Moreover,
they are derivative of education which, in turn, depend on a set
of factors: a state and society level
of development and the dominating economic and political
relations, from specifics of functioning

social society and institutes, from extent of leading groups
influence, interrelation with the world
community etc. [6, 1].
This article analyzes a phenomenon of civic literacy in the
conditions of interrelation with the
world community, in the conditions of intercultural
communication. The era of globalization and
expansion of intercultural communications demands to society
not simply civic competent citizen,
but modern civic competent person should own knowledge in
the field of the intercultural
interaction actually in different spheres of social life.
Competent possession and operating by
knowledge and skills of civic literacy, methods and ways of
communication assumes effective
dialogue of cultures, possibility of the independent analysis of
the intercultural conflicts and a way
of their permission at various levels, and application of such
knowledge in the field of interpersonal
and intergroup contacts in another culture.
Inclusion of the various countries in universal processes of
internationalization and
globalization caused a basic change of educational strategy and

led to emergence of the new
didactic, educational and methodical concepts focused on
training of specialists, civic competent
and capable effectively to join the international and
intercultural interaction.
Complexity, multiaspects and interdependence of civic literacy
problems in intercultural
oriented education, defining the practical innovations in
pedagogical process, demands new ideas
and the approaches, new algorithm of procedures of training and
the education realized in the
dialogue of cultures and new pedagogical technologies. By
means of development and introduction
of skills and abilities of formation of civic literacy it is possible
to provide optimum frictionless
interpenetration of national and global, world cultural
environments - (cultural integration) - at
level of traditions, foundations, language, cultural and
behavioural imperatives.
Above-mentioned factors promote the cardinal changes,
occurring in social and economic
and public life of the countries. New realities of life make high
all-round demands to the

personality, and that is why is the need of statement of new
criteria, appropriate to the nowadays
life.
Unfortunately, it should be noted an insufficient level of
development of the civic literacy,
responsible civic behavior at younger generation that is shown
in lack of an active living position,
lack of skills and background knowledge for ensuring effective
communication in intercultural
space.
In this situation there is a need of preparation of civic
competent young generation capable to
formation of the opinion, to the analysis of occurring events in
the world (cultural, political),
reasonable judgments not only within the native culture, but
also at level of the intercultural
communication which orientation in the modern world gains
character of a creative directions.

510
Lack of civic literacy of the youth finds the increased value as
it can lead to loss of accurate social
reference points, a personal initiative and responsibility [3].
Experience of the last decades convincingly proves that those
states which pay special
attention to formation of civil literacy of the youth achieve
political and economic successes.
Respectively, to achieve such educational effect is possible only
in the frame of its purposeful
formation. On this background the interest to civic literacy
increases as a social pedagogical
phenomenon.
Results.
Working out the main proposals. In these conditions it is
necessary to organize
updating of the contents, forms and methods of formation of the
civic literacy, adequate to modern
social and pedagogical realities.

For formation of positive understanding of civic literacy, it is
allowed to put one of the
pedagogical purposes. Thus, for increase of civic literacy level
of the youth here must be the
implementation of the following purpose – formation of such
qualities as ability to respect
another's opinion, to form the opinion on other culture, to
perceive another's culture, to protect
own views, ability to avoid conflicts, not to be mistaken in a
moral choice, ability to be guided and
operate with complete understanding of responsibility for the
decisions and actions.
On the basis of the analysis of psychology-pedagogical
literature, methodical literature and
modern requirements to formation of civic literacy of younger
generation it is possible to allocate
the following faults:
- insufficient attention to this problem from the theory and
practice of civic education
(though the requirements shown by society to formation of civic
literacy of the youth in new social
economic and political conditions increased)

- complexity of creation of pedagogical conditions for the real
process of its formation
- a small amount, both courses (curricular), and hours on the
intercultural communication,
allowing to receive a certain knowledge of different cultures
- absence of integration of actions (courses), directed on
formation of civic literacy in the
general educational process [6].
The listed reasons, certainly, point a problem of formation of
civic literacy. The solution of
these faults will allow to consider civic literacy as a part of
social competence of the personality and
to act as the integrative quality defining full value of
occurrence of the person in various relations
both in native, and in another culture.
At any step of education such elements which would promote
development and realization of
effective formation of civic literacy should be included, and
also would define and carried out the
complete package of measures, the pedagogical technologies of
formation of civic literacy directed

on introduction in the conditions of intercultural
communication.
First of all, they can be:
- creation of organizational and pedagogical conditions of
development of civic literacy;
- inclusion of cultural relevant information and ways of its
processing in a mode of
intercultural comparison in studies on practice foreign
languages and not language disciplines;
- acquaintance with ways of practical application of civic
literacy skills in intercultural
communication;
- carrying out actions, the special courses (curricular)
stimulating formation of civic
literacy [4].
Practical results. From this point of view it is may be
considered to define criteria and
levels of a readiness of civic literacy, and also to develop model
of civic literate students in the
conditions of intercultural communication.

So, for example, it is possible to carry out the methods and
forms of formation of civic
literacy: dialogues, discussions, imitating exercises, training
situations, business games, promotion
actions, on-linelectures in any foreign language, video-lessons
containing cultural information
about other country, the basis of which are the features of
construction, initial condition and logic
of formation of civic literacy.
The main criteria of the civic competent personality are: a
personal dynamic position,
multidimensional tolerance, an orientation on dialogue,
empathy, a reflection, recognition of
plurality and equality of cultures, political literacy (not only
within the country), but also others
including, high political culture, ability to estimate the public
phenomena from universal and class
511

positions, possession of the universal valuable relation to global
problems, individuals, to the
phenomena of public life and consciousness.
Proceeding from the aforesaid, we make an attempt to create a
model of the civic competent
student: a civic competent student is moral, active,
hardworking, socially and creatively active,
owns high political culture, political literacy, has ability of
experience of the highest civic feelings,
has profound knowledge about other cultures and ability of an
adequate tolerant assessment of
occurring events in the world, ability to understanding of other
cultures, the positive relation to it,
judgments of its realities, morals, values, political foundations,
and also is able to function
effectively in the conditions of other linguacultural
environment.
Summing up the main idea.The purposes of formation of civic
literacy are realized in
complete pedagogical process taking into account age and
features of the students. In the modern

world all atmosphere of public and private life of people is
saturated a large quantity of various
information, inconsistent installations, assessments,valuable
orientations. In these conditions the
teacher must possess special knowledge of features of student's
perception of information,
consciousness and judgment of the facts and events.
All subjects of educational process have civic educational
character. Natural and
mathematical disciplines have today the problems of global
policy; subjects of political and
humanitarian cycles open a picture of naturally developing
human society passing from one
civilization to another; subjects of an art and esthetic cycle
connect art with policy, such art
generalization of political life forms the spiritual valuable and
political relation to the reality
phenomena.
Studying the literature, being trained the students learn the
esthetic phenomena of life,
artistic images of heroes which become ideal for them. In this
context, it must be not only in the
context of the native country, but also in foreign culture

(foreign history, foreign literature). I.e. the
task of the teacher is to find such mechanisms of training which
would be directed on formation of
civic competent person ready to intercultural dialogue. Teachers
should give special attention both
to the formed relations and the opinions, occurring in a family
of the student. Quite often, some
students, receiving in educational institution the knowledge of
civic literacy, an assessment of
political events, an assessment about occurring situations in the
world, face in a family the
indifferent relation to tragic events in the country, with petty-
bourgeois views, apolitical
statements, with selfish way of family life.
Thus, it is obviously possible to draw a conclusion that the role
of the teacher of any step of
education in the course of formation of civiс literacy is of great
value. Practically all disciplines
should include such elements of training which will promote
formation of civic literacy for the
modern person capable to communication in global society.
Conclusion.
As civic society isn't a simply set of certain citizens, so a civic

literacy can't be especially of
anindividual quality. To be civic competent and active, it is
necessary, that the educational system
should give the chanceto behave in this way: «Skills of
effective participation in public life can't
develop, if there is no opportunity for participation» [2].
Thus, the analysis of research results, allows to note that
formation of civic literacy is
inseparable from all educational process. Competent and
successful application of pedagogical
technologies positively influences formation of civic literacy of
the students ready to lead dialogue
of cultures and possessing sufficient knowledge, abilities,
competences and personal characteristics
for productive intercultural communication.
References:
1. Bozhovich L.I. The problems of person’s formation. Moscow-
Voronezh, 1995.352 p.
2. Ivanova S.U. A question about ethnical interaction / S.U.
Ivanova // North Caucasus in

the conditions of globalization. Rostov-on-Don, 2001. P. 140-
144.
3. Lapshin A.G. International partnership in the humanitarian
education: prospect sof cross-
culturalliteracy // Cross-culture dialogue: comparative
researches in pedagogy and psychology.
Vladimir, 1999. P. 45–50.
4. MarkovinaI. U. Influence of national specificoflanguageon
the process of intercultural
communication// Speech communication: problems and
prospects. Мoscow, 1983. P. 187-212.
512
5. About concepti on of Russian education modern
ization[Electronicresource]. –
Accessmode: http://www.edu.ru/db/mo/Data/d_02/393.html (last
accessed date 02.02.2013).

6. Rozka V. Methodical studies with pedagogical staff.
Civiceducationandtraining. Мoscow,
2007. 112 p.
УДК 378.016
Гражданская грамотность в пространстве
межкультурной коммуникации
Марина В. Межова
Кемеровский государственный университет культуры и
искусств, Россия
Спортивная, 91, Кемерово, Кемеровская обл., 650000
Кандидат культурологии, доцент
Аннотация. Статья рассматривает соотношение понятия
«гражданская грамотность»

с понятием «межкультурная коммуникация». Гражданская
грамотность характеризуется,
как способность человека оценивать политическую,
экономическую, социальную и
культурологическую ситуации, принимать соответствующие
решения, проявлять
инициативность, оценивать и измерять полученную
информацию, как в пространстве своей
культуры, так и в условиях межкультурной коммуникации.
Предлагаются основные
критерии формирования гражданской грамотности и
определяется модель граждански
грамотного человека в межкультурном пространстве.
Ключевые слова: гражданская грамотность; межкультурная
коммуникация;
образование; педагогические условия; общество.
http://www.edu.ru/db/mo/Data/d_02/393.html�
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