Lesson 1 and 2 (background concepts).pdf

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INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
Lesson 1 and 2
D o Thi M ai Thanh (M s.)
D ivisio n o f Lite ratu re and I nte rcu ltu ral C o mmu nicatio n
Faculty o f Linguistics and Cultures o f English sp e aking co untrie s
Unive rsity o f Langu age s and I nte rnatio nal Stu d ie s

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Culture,Communication
and
Interculturalcommunication
Background concepts

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In this lesson, you are going to learn:
⚫ Culture and its concepts for the study of communication
⚫ Components of culture
⚫ The iceberg of culture
⚫ Communication
⚫ Components of communication
⚫ Intercultural communication, Cross-cultural
communication and Intracultural communication
⚫ Why do we need to know about Intercultural
communication?
⚫ History and focus of Intercultural communication

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What is culture?

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What culture?
Culture
Social institutions
(e.g. languages, religions,
laws, the rules of social
conducts, folklores, cultural
icons etc.)
Subjective culture
(e.g. beliefs, norms,
values, attitudes,
practices etc.)
Physical artifacts
(e.g. the tools, goods,
foods, clothing etc.)
Barrette, M. et al(2013: 6)

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What is culture?
I would like you to complete the following
sentences:
+ Parents tell children that a good boy must be ...
+ I think a good husband should be ….
+ I think a good wife should be ….
+ It is said that a certain person is a good mother
because …..

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DEFINING CULTURE FOR THE STUDY OF COMMUNICATION
CULTURE
Culture is a learned set of shared interpretations about
beliefs, values, norms, and social practices, which affects
the behaviors of a relatively large group of people.
(Lustig and Koester, 2010, p.25)

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DEFINING CULTURE FOR THE STUDY OF COMMUNICATION
• Culture is learned
• Culture is a set of shared interpretations
• Culture involves Beliefs,Values, Norms and Social Practices
• Culture affects behavior
• Culture involves large groups of People
(Lustig and Koester, 2010)

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COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: BELIEFS
◦ Beliefs:
These are general, vague opinions held about the world and about the nature of
society.They vary by society and sometimes by subcultures.
(Moore, 1985, p.4)
A belief is an idea that people assume to be true about the world… Parents, teachers,
and other important elders transmit the culture’s assumptions about the nature of the
physical and interpersonal world.
(Lustig and Koester,2010, p.86)
Example:
+ relationship between gods and humans
+ justification of government power
+ the East and the West

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COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: VALUES
•Values involve what a culture regards as good or bad, right or
wrong, fair or unfair, just or unjust, beautiful or ugly, clean or dirty,
valuable or worthless, appropriate or inappropriate, and kind or
cruel.
Example of right:
+ Loyalty to nation
+ sense of duty
Example of wrong:
+ abuse of authority
+ cowardliness

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• Some more examples of values
What makes a woman beautiful?
(https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-bwufv)

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• Different times and different places in the world have different
viewpoints about the beauty standards.

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• There is not just one but many
different standards of beauty that
are upheld all throughout the
world.
• In different regions of the world, a
greater emphasis is placed on
particular aspects of the body or
face.
Women from Burma

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• What might we sum up from HSBC advertisements?

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• Values are standards that the members of a society/
community/culture agree upon.
• Values can be changed significantly over time.
• Values can vary within one society and around the world.
• Values serve as guiding principles in people’s lives (Shalom
Schwartz)

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⚫ Some examples of values
Loyalty Beauty Conformity Compassion
Empathy Family Friendship Generosity
Freedom of
speech
Justice Kindness Honesty
Love Mercy Fairness Simplicity

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⚫ Some contrastive values (Adapted from Interpersonal Communication workshop by Sharon D.
Downey – 1996)
Contrastive values
doing being
optimistic fatalistic
fast, busy pace of life steady, rhythmic pace
Desire pleasure and absence
of pain
Experience fullness of
pleasure and pain
Individual responsibility Group responsibility
Flexible roles Rigid roles
Stress equality Stress hierarchy
Sexual equality Male (Female) superiority
Stress informality Stress formality
Contrastive values
World is physical World is spiritual
Truth is relative Truth is absolute
Future is important Past is important
Time is linear Time is circular
Self-identity Group identity
Youth is valued Experience is valued
Individualistic Conforming to roles
Material goals in life Spiritual goals in life
Non-binding relationship Binding relationship

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COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: NORMS
Norms
• Norms refer to rules for appropriate behavior, which provide the
expectations people have of one another and of themselves.
• These are socially expected patterns of behaviour. (Actions that
are regarded as normal). Norms that are vital to a society and have
a certain normal content are sometimes referred to as mores.
(Moore, S.,1985, p. 4)

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COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: ROLES
Social roles are patterns of behaviour expected of certain people
according to the occupation or position they hold in society.
(Moore, S., 1985,p. 4)

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COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: SOCIAL PRACTICES
• Social practices are the predictable behavior patterns that
members of a culture typically follow.Thus, social practices
are the outward manifestations of beliefs, values, and norms.
Examples
• Lunch time
• Gift giving practices

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COMPONENTS OF CULTURE: SOCIAL PRACTICES
Types of social practices
• Informal everyday tasks: eating, sleeping, dressing, working,
playing, and talking to others.
• Formal and prescriptive rituals, ceremonies, and structured
routines: : saluting the flag, praying in church, honoring the
dead at funerals, getting married, and many others.

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Components of Culture: A Look Back
Values/ Beliefs: our thinking/ understanding
Norms: our behaviours defined by our values/beliefs
Social practices: manifestations of beliefs, values, and norms
Rules: standard behaviours that are appropriate in certain
situations.
Mores: strong norms which may lead to (severe) punishment if
violated.
Taboos: strong mores which people often try to avoid
mentioning or doing.

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE ICEBERG OF CULTURE
Brooks Peterson (2004: 21)

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE ICEBERG OF CULTURE
Brooks Peterson (2004: 22)

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Why do we need to know about intercultural
communication?
The personal growth motive
❑ Worldmindedness: learning about cultures and intercultural communication can
simply help us better understand others in the world.
❑ Self-awareness: As we learn more about other cultures, we also learn more
about our own cultures and about ourselves.
❑ Personal empowerment: knowledge of and extended experience with other
cultures make us more flexible
as individuals.
(Baldwin et al., 2014)

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communication?
The social responsibility motive
We are not simply isolated individuals—we live in contact with others, and
we have responsibility to live together peaceably and ethically.

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communication?
The cross-cultural travel motive
High numbers of cross-cultural travelers—tourists, students, refugees,
international workers → for communication across cultures.

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communication?
The media motive
At any one moment, depending on where we live, we see products
advertised by companies in other countries, listen to music made in other
countries, see adverts for products made in other countries, or watch news
about what has happened in other countries.

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Communication
• Communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual process in which
people create shared meanings.
(Lustig, M and Koester, J., 2010, p13)
• communication is the process of creating and sending symbolic behavior, and the
interpretation of behavior between people.
(Baldwin, J. et al., 2014 p.5)
→ Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non verbal messages. It is a
continuous process.Therefore, communication is a dialogue not a monologue.

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Communication
Two approaches to communication
• Communication as process of message exchange
• Communication as meaning-making and interpreting.
(Baldwin, J. et al., 2014)

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COMPONENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
(Meaning making and interpreting)
Participants
- Sender/Encoder
- Receiver/Decoder
Messages
- Meanings
- Symbols
- Encoding and decoding
• .

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Contexts
- Physical contexts
- Social contexts
- Historical contexts
- Psychological contexts
- Cultural contexts
Channels
- Verbal symbols
- Non-verbal cues.

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Noise
- Physical noise
- Psychological noise
- Semantic noise
Feedback

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(Message exchange)
1.Verbal Messages - the words we choose (intralanguage)
2. Paraverbal Messages - how we say the words (Paralanguage)
3. Nonverbal Messages - our body language (Body language)
- object language

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Intercultural Communication
Do you think that their communication is intercultural?
Dele is from Nigeria, and Anibal is from Argentina. Both young men completed
secondary education in their own countries and then came to the United States to study.
They studied at the same university, lived in the same dormitory their first year on
campus, and chose agriculture as their major. Eventually, they became roommates,
participated in many of the same activities for international students, and had many
classes together. After completing their bachelor’s degrees, they enrolled in the same
graduate program. After four more years in the United States, each returned to his
home country and took a position in the country’s Agricultural Ministry. In emails, phone
calls, and the occasional visit with each other, both comment on the difficulties that
they are experiencing in working with farmers and the larger agribusiness interests
within their own country.
(Lustig, M and Koester, J., 2010, p.46)

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Janet grew up in a small town of about 3,500 people in western Massachusetts. She is
surrounded by her immediate family, many other relatives, and lots of friends. Her
parents grew up in this same town, but Janet is determined to have experiences away
from her family and away from the small portion of New England that has formed the
boundaries of her existence. Despite parental concerns, Janet goes to one of Colorado’s
major public universities, and she begins her life in the West. Janet is at first excited and
thrilled to be living in Colorado, but within a very short period of time, she begins to feel
very isolated. She is assigned to live in a coeducational dormitory, and she finds it
disconcerting to be meeting male students as she walks down the hallway in her
bathrobe. Although her fellow students seem friendly, her overtures for coffee or
movies or even studying together are usually met with a smile and a statement that “It
would be great, but....” The superficial friendliness of most of the people she meets
starts to annoy her, and Janet becomes bad-tempered and irritable.

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Even though Hamid’s parents immigrated to the United States from Iran (Persia) before
he was born, they speak Persian at home and expect Hamid to behave according to
Persian family values and norms. Because Hamid is the eldest child, his parents have
additional expectations for him. Hamid loves his parents very much, but he finds their
expectations difficult to fulfill. He thinks he speaks respectfully to his mother and father
when he tells them that he is going out with friends rather than staying for a celebration
to which his extended family has been invited, but his parents tell him that he is being
disrespectful. The family reaches a major crisis when Hamid announces that he is going
to go to a college that has a good studio arts program, rather than pursue the business
degree that his parents want him to earn in preparation for taking over the family
business.

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Intercultural communication occurs when large and important cultural
differences create dissimilar interpretations and expectations about how to
communicate competently.
(Lustig, M. and Koester, J., 2010, p. 52)
Intercultural communication occurs when culture impacts the
communication between two or more people enough to make a difference.
(Baldwin, J. et al., 2014 p.5)

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Intercultural communication may happen between individuals
from different
✓countries
✓regions within a country
✓communities (working, education …)
✓generations (family, relatives …)

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Intercultural communication:
o Intercultural communication, by definition, means that people are
interacting with at least one culturally different person. Consequently, the
sense of security, comfort, and predictability that characterizes
communication with culturally similar people is lost.
oThe greater the degree of interculturalness, the greater the loss of
predictability and certainty.
oTerms that are often used when communicating with culturally different
people include unknown, unpredictable, ambiguous, weird, mysterious,
unexplained, exotic, unusual, unfamiliar, curious, novel, odd, outlandish,
and strange.
(Lustig, M. and Koester, J., 2010, p.148)

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Intracultural communication:
Communication between at least two individuals who are the least
likely different from each other on such attributes as communication
codes, role expectations, interpretations … on the end of
“intercultural continuum”.
International communication
International communication refers to interactions among people
from different nations, used in media.
(Lustig, M. and Koester, J., 2010, pp. 53-55)

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION and CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Cross-cultural communication:
The goal of CCC investigations is to conduct a series of intracultural
analyses in order to compare one culture with another on the
attributes of interest.
Intercultural communication involves interactions among people from
different cultures, cross-cultural communication involves a comparison
of interactions among people from the same culture to those from
another culture.
(Lustig, M. and Koester, J.,2010, pp. 53-55)
Cross-cultural communication generally refers to the comparison of
communication behaviours and patterns in two or more cultures,
while intercultural communication involves interaction between
people from different cultural backgrounds.
(Gudykunst, 2003)

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INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIONAND CROSS CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
Lustig, M. and Koester, J., (2010), Baker, W., (2014)

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CULTURE AND ITS RELATED TERMS
Nation: a political term referring to
formal and legal mechanism.
Race: a political and societal term to
justify economic and social distinctions.
Ethnic group: a term referring to a
group sharing a language, historical
origins, religion, nation-state or culture
system.
(Lustig, M. and Koester, J.,2010)
CULTURE

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• a term referring to racial and ethnic
minority groups sharing both a
common nation state with other
cultures and some aspects of the
larger culture.
•Lifestyle or social groups: referring
to a more individualistic identity
(Lustig, M. and Koester, J.,2010)
SUBCULTURE
/CO-
CULTURE

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•Cultural groups exist at many different
levels, in different sizes and for different
purposes.
•A cultural group can co-exist with
another group (i.e., co-culture), be
embedded in another culture (i.e., sub-
culture) or overlap with another group.
•A person can belong to several
different cultures at the same timety
(Zhu Hua, 2019, p.298)
CULTURAL
GROUPS

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History and Focus of Intercultural communication
•Emerged in the mid-20th century as a response to the
increasing interconnectedness of the world and the need
to understand and navigate cultural differences in various
contexts.

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Focus (Some) Authors
Early influences
(1940s-1950s)
• understanding different cultures and societies, exploring
how they shape communication patterns and social
interactions.
• studying intercultural communication as a way to
promote peace, understanding, and cooperation.
Edward T. Hall and his
colleagues at the Foreign
Service institute
Kluckhohn, C. & Kluckhhn, F.
Strodtbeck, F.
Birdwhistell
Cultural Studies
Approach
(1960s-1970s)
• the importance of studying communication within a
broader cultural context.
• examining how cultural values, norms, and beliefs
influence communication practices and how they shape
intercultural encounters.
• Edward T. Hall and his colleagues saw culture as
patterned and predictable. He shifted research focus
from specific cultures to an examination of interaction
between people from different cultures.
Edward T. Hall
Kaplan
Samovar and Porter
Hammer, Gudykunst, &
Wiseman, 1978; Ruben,
1976; Ruben & Kealey, 1979

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Focus Authors
Cross-cultural
communication
(1980s-1990s)
• identifying and comparing communication patterns across
different cultures.
• developing frameworks and models to analyze and
understand these patterns, such as the famous Hofstede's
cultural dimensions.
• certain aspects of intercultural communication, such as
conflict outcomes, adjustment, cross-cultural relational
development, or effectiveness.
Young Yun Kim
William Gudykunst
Hofstede
Triandis
Scollon, Scollon, & Jones
Koester
Abe & Wiseman
Critical
Intercultural
communication
(2000s-present)
• Scholars began adopting a critical perspective, examining
the power dynamics and social inequalities inherent in
intercultural communication. (frequently deal with
dominant and subordinate cultures, issues of
empowerment and resistance)
• They explored issues such as race, gender, postcolonialism,
and identity politics in intercultural contexts.
Nakayama & Halualani
Deardorff
Zhang
Byram, Gribkova & Starkey
Young Yun Kim
…

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In the past 15 years, there have been 3 notable shifts:
• a tremendous increase in qualitative and critical research,
• the emergence of mediated and social media communication,
and
• an increase in the number of international scholars (non - Western
scholars).

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Challenges of Studying Intercultural Communication
• The danger of oversimplifying other cultures: treating
cultures as unchanging or overly homogeneous
• The danger of overgeneralizing: thinking specific
individuals will be exactly like their cultures
• The tendency to exaggerate differences: forgetting to
see how similar we are in many ways to people from other
cultures
(Following J. Baldwin’s lecture notes, 2013)

Lesson 1 and 2 (background concepts).pdf

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Lesson 1 and 2 (background concepts).pdf