Areas of Study

Phase 1. This involves a reflection about one's own values, attitudes and cultural identity. These reflections are combined with a positive and confident attitude towards one's self-image and identity. These reflections lead to an awareness that what you may take as obvious is not universally true for others.

Phase 2. This involves moving from the personal study of cultural identity towards a study of interpersonal communication across cultures; you are taught to examine, challenge or verify intercultural communication theory as part of your experience.

Phase 3. This involves the teaching of specific research tools and techniques in order to facilitate the process of discovery, to explore the unknown, and discover patterns of thinking. This is coupled with the development of strategies and skills such as active listening skills, ethnographic research methods to support the learning experience.

These phases are recycled throughout the programme. With each new cycle you are given new challenges. Each new challenge builds on what has been taught previously and prepares you for the next learning phase.

Topics Covered

• Unit 1 Cultural identity

• Unit 2 Culture, communication and intercultural communication

• Unit 3 Communication and the communication process

• Unit 4 The effective intercultural communicator

• Unit 5 Values, beliefs and assumptions

• Unit 6 Ethnography

• Unit 7 Language and communication

• Unit 8 The way forward

The following texts are sample extracts from teaching material demonstrating the four approaches in action

Cultural criticality Critical Incidents

Study the following four incidents and select from the four possible answers given the most likely reason as to what may have happened. The discussions of the alternative explanation can be found in the answer key. All of the alternatives should be considered, for two reasons. First, in many cases, two (or even more) of the alternative explanations may be considered correct or appropriate. After all in everyday life people do not find only one exact explanation for every incident they encounter. Second, successful intercultural adjustments depends on the individual's ability to reject incorrect explanations as well as find correct ones. Before checking your answer, explain how you arrived at this answer.

Whilst doing the exercise can you think of any similar incidents that you may have encountered?

Critical Incident 1. The Assessment of His Efforts

Tal was an African student from Gambia who recently began a postgraduate business administration course at a British university. It was the first time he had been to a foreign country, but having won a Gambian scholarship to attend university he was confident of his ability to do well. He applied himself enthusiastically to his studies and felt he had few difficulties with the material presented. However, when he received the first assessment of his papers and contributions to tutorials, he was disconcerted to find they were not very favourable. he was told that although his ideas were ' interesting' he did not keep to the topic, brought in too many irrelevancies and did not present his arguments in a logical manner. Tal was puzzled by this, as his work seemed logical and relevant to him, so he sought advice from Tony, one of his British classmates. Tony showed him some of his papers that had been given good grades, but this only increased Tal's confusion, because Tony's work seemed to Tal to be insubstantial and dull.

How would you explain to Tal's professors the origins of his confusion as to what is expected of him?

1. Gambian and British modes of thinking and communicating are very different.

2. Tal probably did not have the intellectual capacity to tackle postgraduate course

3. Tal's Gambian education did not prepare him for the more rigorous British educational system

4. Tal was probably going through a confusing settling-in period, and with time would produce more organised work.

How did you arrive at your answer?