Intercultural Communication in a Global World

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Develop self-awareness and awareness of others in order to understand the influence of cultural background and identity on intercultural communication
• Demonstrate critical awareness, empathy and intercultural awareness in addressing issues with culture and communication;
• Reflect on how ‘culture’ is understood, interpreted and negotiated in interpersonal interactions and in wider social practices
• Address how communicative interactions can be adapted and managed to enhance intercultural communication;

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Select and use a range of reference resources;
• Present ideas about culture and communication through different forms of communication (e.g. speaking and writing);
• Develop and maintain a personal bibliography,
• Use information technology appropriately when presenting your work and engaging with the module online.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Work and study with awareness and effectiveness in intercultural situations
• Address practical issues relating to culture and communication with intercultural awareness.
• Understand how to minimise misunderstandings and miscommunication in intercultural interactions;
• Demonstrate understanding of culture and communication through different forms of communication (e.g. speaking and writing);

This module will reflect on what ‘culture’ is and how cultural practices can differ. We also consider how behaviour, thinking and language can be adapted to enhance communication in a way that minimises miscommunication and maximises understanding.

We will also explore how people accommodate their communicative styles in order to communicate effectively, and the implications this has, especially for global languages such as English.

The module will also reflect on and challenge the knowledge we have of ourselves and our culture(s), as well as our knowledge of others. This includes consideration of how meanings are interpreted differently among people with different backgrounds. We will examine stereotypes, and consider how people accept, consume and perform social difference. Then, through intercultural dialogues, we will look at how we interact with, observe and build knowledge of culture and intercultural communication.

The areas typically include:

• What culture is and how it relates to communication and language
• How intercultural competence and intercultural awareness can be developed in practice and through reflection and dialogue
• What research in the field tells us about effective and problematic practices in intercultural communication
• The role of language, particularly English, in intercultural communication
• How globalisation disseminates and recontextualises cultural meanings and practices
• The implications of the Web for intercultural communication and social identification
• The roles and domains of stereotypes and issues accompanying them in an increasingly globalised world
• Factors that influence working and studying in multilingual and multicultural groups
• Differences between cross-cultural and transcultural communication and intercultural communication, and why this matters in discussions of culture and communication
• Social dynamics of communication and representations of culture in the media (e.g. mass media, popular culture and social networks)

Teaching and learning methods

Your knowledge and understanding of issues and concepts in intercultural communication studies will be developed through participation in seminar discussions and activities, as well as through tasks set outside class (online discussions, group tasks and readings). This module is assessed through a portfolio that showcases your understanding of culture and communication in your experience and in wider society.

Teaching methods typically include:

• Lectures on specific topics each week
• Seminars
• Interactive discussions and tasks

Learning activities typically include:

• Seminar discussions and activities that explore communication in practice
• Applying theoretical knowledge to your own experience and surroundings
• Exploration of ideas through face-to-face input and seminar discussions, online interactions, individual study and group work

Innovative or special features of this module:

• Online discussions and activities consolidate and expand on other input
• Freedom to apply ideas on the module to your own interests and experiences through the portfolio
• Freedom over the communicative style and medium through which you choose to submit your portfolio and communicate your ideas

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

C Kramsch (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

H Spencer-Oatey and P Franklin (2009). Intercultural interaction: a multidisciplinary approach to intercultural communication.. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Feng, A. M. Byram & M. Fleming (2009). Becoming interculturally competent through education and training. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Holliday, A., Hyde, M., and Kullman, J. (2016). Intercultural Communication: An advanced resource book for students,. London: Routledge.

Jackson, J. (2013). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Intercultural Communication.. Oxford:: Routledge..

Assessment strategy

Assessment on this module will take the form of a portfolio.

Half the portfolio should demonstrate your reflective understanding of communication and culture in your own experience (often taking the form of a diary and analysis of intercultural encounters you have had), and half should present your ability to identify, analyse and discuss elements of culture in the wider world. You have the option of producing your portfolio online (as a webpage) or as a traditional Word/PDF file, and you can include multimedia, including web-links and audio or video files, in the portfolio.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External