TOPIC 6 - Topic 6: Overcoming Intercultural Challenges

Question 1

What is intercultural communication competence?

Answer 1

• The ability to adapt one’s behavior toward another person in ways that are appropriate to the other person’s culture

Question 2

Describe the key components of intercultural competence.

Answer 2

• Motivation: wanting to be culturally competent
  
  • Knowledge: Assess the situation, what are the things that are contributing towards the other person’s point of view
    Skills: Takes practice, technique. Trial and error. Conflict is a good way to test skills.

Question 3

Describe some ways to achieve intercultural communication competence.

Answer 3

Knowing yourself. You are the most consistent thing in any sort of interaction. If you can understand yourself, that is the beginning to cultural competence.
○ Culture- What are the values associated with your culture?
○ Understand the way that cultural values drive the way we communicate with the people around you.
- Context: How has your context shaped your perspectives?
○ Understand how the ways in which the ways you were socialized, the people who have had an impact on you, how those experiences and the socialization that you have shape the way that you think about the world.
- Communication style: Understand that not everyone approaches it the same way.
○ We tend to divide the world in ways such as being introverted or extroverted.
- Identity: How do you manage your identities?
○ If we understand the ways in which culture makes us think about the way we shape our identities, how we enact the identities using language, our activities, and objects and where we may see our identities sitting.
- Personal Biases: You need to recognize your biases and outgroups that you are particularly sensitive to.
○ What ways do I need to improve in communicating with others or improving my patience or openness.
○ How can I become more open minded?

Knowing Others
- Grouping: Understand the power of in/out group assignment
○ Is my response given an impact on the in group or out group
- Culture: What are the cultural values associated with their cultural group?
○ Being understanding of others cultural values and how they communicate within it.
- Context: How has their context shaped their perspectives?
○ How does the way the way that they were socialized and where they came from shape their perceptions and how they think?
- Observe: Similarities with “different others”
○ Being able to identify ways in which the out group is similar to me is improving the way in which I empathize with others.
Communication Styles: What is their communication style?

Question 4

If given a description of an intercultural challenge, be prepared to use concepts from the course to describe how to deal with the challenge in an interculturally competent manner.