6. Материально-техническое обеспечение дисциплины

Лекция 1

Different Viewpoints for IL.

In all the contexts, IL can be seen from two different perspectives.

First, IL can be seen as an approach to addressing cultural conflict, encouraging awareness of conflicts and their cultural dimension as well as an understanding of their cultural origin. From this perspective, the promotion of IL is a reaction to a given conflict situation.

The second perspective is to look at cultural diversity and intercultural encounters as a resource and as a potential enrichment that can be realized by IL. This perspective has been taken by exchange organizers for many years, but only since the early 1980s has a similar perspective been observed in approaches to education in bicultural or multicultural societies.

Principles and objectives of IL.

There are two main principles for IL.

The first one is cultural relativism, which means that there is no hierarchy of cultures. Intercultural education accepts differences in the thinking and behavior of people from other cultures. This implies that the values and norms of one culture cannot be applied to judge the activities of another culture. This does not mean that another culture cannot or must not be judged. Yet such a judgment must be based on a complete understanding of its character, traits and complexity and not on the values and norms of one’s own culture. The possibility of judging another culture includes the possibility of a critical judgment of one’s own culture. Nevertheless, judgment on a culture must not be confused with judgment on members of this culture.

Cultural relativism also implies that there is a “right” to have a culture, whether it be one’s own or another. As a logical consequence, cultural diversity is seen as a value itself. It is assumed that cultural diversity enables development and growth. The appreciation of other cultures implies the possibility of understanding one’s own culture and learning how to adapt to and benefit from another social environment.

The second principle is reciprocity. IL is not a one-way process but - as the prefix “inter” suggests - a process between cultures. It implies learning from and with each other across cultural boundaries.

These two principles require equal status of cultures, shared dependence and interdependence, shared responsibility and cooperation.

Лекция 2. Понятие коммуникации. Сущность межкультурной коммуникации.

Forms of Intercultural Communication

There are a number of terms that describe various aspects and levels of communication between people of varying backgrounds.

Intercultural communication is the general term that refers to communication between people from different cultural backgrounds. Sometimes the terms “cross-cultural communication” and “trans-cultural communication” are also used. These terms are synonymous with “intercultural communication” and designate the same form of interaction.

Interracial communication. This form of communication occurs when communicators are from different races. It is characterized by the fact that there are racially identifiable physical differences between the communicators. Interracial communication may or may not be intercultural.

E.g. A third generation Korean, whose family has become firmly enculturated in Russia, is talking with a Russian. This would be the case of interracial communication, but not intercultural.

The major difficulty encountered in interracial communication is an attitudinal problem associated with racial prejudice. A person who holds stereotypes about other races often expects certain behaviors or responses that actually might not occur.

Interethnic communication. This term refers generally to describe the situations where communicators are of the same race but of different ethnic origins or backgrounds.

E.g. This term describes the current situation in Canada – communication between an English-Canadian and a French-Canadian. Both are citizens of Canada and members of the same race, yet they maintain quite different backgrounds, perspectives, viewpoints, goals, and languages.

International communication. This term refers primarily to communication between nations and governments. It is communication of diplomacy and propaganda, and frequently involves both intercultural and interracial situations. In the case of international communication, interaction is influenced by the policies, aims, needs, and economies of nations. This form of communication is highly ritualized. It is regulated by international law, military strength, treaties, secret agreements, and world opinion.

Лекция 3. Культура и культурное многообразие мира.

CULTURE (definition)

“Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experiences, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, religion, timing, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and the material objects and possessions acquired by a large group of people in the course of generations. Culture manifests itself in patterns of language and in forms of activity and behavior that act as models for both the common adaptive acts and the styles of communication that enable us to live in a society within a given geographic environment at a given state of technical development at a particular moment in time. It also specifies and is defined by the nature of material things that play an essential role in common life.”

MASCULINITY-FEMININITY

Cultures differ in the extent to which gender roles are distinct or overlap. In a highly “masculine” culture men are viewed as assertive, oriented to material success, and strong; women, on the other hand, are viewed as modest, focused on the quality of life, and tender. In a highly “feminine” culture, both men and women are supposed to be modest, oriented to maintaining the quality of life, and tender. On the basis of Hofstede’s research (Hofstede, 1997), the 10 countries with highest masculinity score (from the highest) are: Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, Ireland, Jamaica, Great Britain, and Germany. The 10 countries with highest femininity score (from the highest) are: Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Costa Rica, Yugoslavia, Finland, Chile, Portugal, and Thailand. Out of 53 countries, ranked, the United States ranked 15^th most masculine.

SOME ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE

Georg Auerheimer describes the culture of a society as its means of communication and representation repertoire. This includes the symbolic way of using objects in everyday life, the rituals of communication, the style of housing, etc. Culture enables the interpretation of social life and thus provides orientation for actions and behavior. Auerheimer also describes culture being dynamic and in the process of change. Since the elements of culture are symbolic, they allow ambiguous interpretations which can result in confusion or conflict when encountering representatives of different cultures.

According to Patterson, culture is an identifiable complex of meanings, symbols, values and norms that are shared consciously or unconsciously by a group of people. Patterson makes a point that for members of a cultural group there need not to be a conscious awareness of belonging to it, and that the meanings, symbols, values and norms shared by a cultural group can objectively be verified. Cultural groups are clearly distinct from an ethnic group for which a conscious sense of belonging to it is critical.

Лекция 4. Культура и восприятие.

The concept of culture is related to everyday culture. This culture includes everything that determines our life: the way we eat and what we eat, the way we dress, maintain body hygiene, behave, take decisions, solve problems, greet and relate to others, the physical distance we keep from others, whether we show feelings or not, how we make love. Culture determines basic forms of social behavior and actions. This includes everything from gestures (such as those that indicate agreement or disagreement) and more complex actions (such as how to establish contact with another person) to written rules and laws (such as how to run a meeting or an organization). Culture includes everything that determines interaction, relationships and social life within a society.

Лекция 5. Ценностная картина мира.

The top American values is freedom – freedom to choose your own destiny – whether it leads to success or failure. Japanese culture, on the other hand, finds a higher value in belonging. In this culture, you must belong to and support a group(s) to survive. Belonging to a group is more important to Japanese culture than individualism. Arab culture is less concerned with individualism or belonging to a group, concentrating instead on maintaining their own family security and relying on God for destiny. Individual identity is usually based on the background and position of each person’s family.

The value American culture places on independence and individual freedom of choice naturally leads to the idea that everyone is equal regardless of age, social status, or authority. Japanese and Arab cultures, however, place more value on age and seniority. The Japanese individual will always give way to the feelings of the group, while Arabs respect authority and admire seniority and status.

In most business situations, American will come with a competitive attitude. The Japanese, conversely, value group cooperation in the pursuit of success. An Arab will make compromises in order to achieve a shared goal between two parties.

In American culture, the phrase “time is money” is commonly accepted as a framework for the desire to finish a task in the shortest amount of time with the greatest profit. If a process is considered inefficient, it “wastes” time and money, and possibly will be abandoned. The Japanese, however, value high quality over immediate gain, and they patiently wait for the best possible result. Arab culture also values quality more than immediacy, but the trust in the business relationship is the most important value.

Americans emphasize individual achievement and are results-oriented; therefore, they value directness and openness when dealing with others, enabling individuals to finish tasks more quickly. Because of these values of directness and equality, Americans tend to be informal when speaking and writing, often using first names. The Japanese prefer to follow an indirect, harmonious style when dealing with others. Go-betweens help to move the process along, and interpersonal harmony is considered more important than confrontation. The Arab culture, like the Japanese, avoids direct confrontation. However, Arabs prefer to negotiate directly in the spirit of hospitality and friendship until a compromise is reached.

Americans tend to be oriented toward the present and immediate gains, which explains, why Americans value taking risks. To an American, accomplishing a task as quickly as possible brings the future closer. The Japanese, however view time as a continuum, and are long-term oriented. As a result of their value of a long-term, quality-based relationship, the Japanese tend to be conservative and patient. The Arab culture believes that the present is a continuation of the past and that whatever happens in the future is due to fate and the will of God.

A principal value of American culture is individual achievement. When someone accomplishes something by him or herself, he or she expects and receives recognition for being a creative person, or the one who developed the best idea. The Japanese, because of their value of group achievement, seek information in order to help the entire group succeed. In Arab culture, the individual is not as important as preserving tradition. An Arab measures success by social recognition, status, honor, and reputation.

Лекция (тезисы) 6. Культурная идентичность.

PERSPECTIVES TOWARD UNDERSTANDING IDENTITY

How do we come to understand who we are? What are the characteristics of identity? There are three main contemporary perspectives that provide answers to these questions. The social psychological perspective views the self in relation to the community to which a person belongs. The communication perspective recognizes the role of interaction with others as a factor in developing the self. Finally, the critical perspective views identity as the result of contexts quite distant from the individual.

Many individuals grow up in biracial or bicultural homes. In addition, many others develop multicultural identities for other reasons. Examples include global nomads, people who grow up in many different cultural contexts because their parents moved around a lot; children of missionaries, international business employees, or military families often are global nomads. People who maintain long-term romantic relationships with members of another ethnic or racial culture also tend to develop multicultural identities.

Communication scholar Janet Bennett describes two types of marginal individuals based on her interviews with multicultural individuals. Some people become trapped by their own marginality; Bennett labels these people encapsulated. Those who thrive in their marginality Bennett labels constructive marginals. Encapsulated marginal people feel disintegrated in shifting cultures. They have difficulty making decisions, are troubled by ambiguity, and feel pressure from both groups. They try to assimilate but never feel comfortable, never feel “at home.”

The labels that refer to particular identities are an important part of intercultural communication. These labels do not, of course, exist outside of their relational meanings. It is the relationships – not only interpersonal, but social – that help us understand the importance of the labels.

Identity has a profound influence on intercultural communication processes. This section focuses on one of the communication concerns that arise in intercultural interactions: encounters with people who do not know our identities. In intercultural communication interactions, mistaken identities are often exacerbated and can create communication problems.

Лекция 7. «Свой» и «чужой».

THE FEAR OF THE FOREIGN

In recent years the media throughout Europe have reported events and actions which discriminate against foreigners and examples which promulgate a fear of the foreign – residency requirements for migrants that are not applied to natives, discriminatory treatments of seasonal workers, illegal and destructive acts against refugees. These news stories, as well as the experiences of individuals, demonstrate an increase in both xenophobia and ethnocentrism.

Fear of the foreign seems to be a universal phenomenon. Usually this fear has little to do with an actual threat from the foreign, but relates to a fantasy that such a threat exists, an attitude not based in reality. Larcher describes the fear of the foreign as a historic heritage. It is in us like a piece of nature while not being natural. Although the fear of the foreign and, subsequently, xenophobia and ethnocentrism have been a tradition for thousands of years, they cannot be explained as natural phenomena.

Fear of the foreign is not a fate or destiny that cannot be changed. Unlike animals, human beings are able to suppress and cultivate fear and subsequent aggression. The commandment “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (as well as the admonishment “you shall love your enemies”) has raised a demand which has strongly influenced the cultural evolution of the occident. In his cultural theories, Z. Freud refers to this commandment as the greatest challenge for culture to overcome the barrier that is the constitutional disposition of human beings for aggression towards each other. It seems that a modern society based on freedom, justice and democracy can only be created if it is possible to overcome fear and rejection of the foreign.

Julia Kristeva goes a step further. Referring to Freud, she writes that what we are afraid of when confronted with foreign is in us. Our fear and rejection of the foreign is in fact caused by a fear of what is in us, what has been suppressed so far as part of our cultural effort. Fear of the foreign is a projection of fear of the “dark” areas in us. When rejecting the foreign we are rejecting what is threatening us within ourselves.

Along the same lines, Mario Erdheim writes that fear of the foreign can also be caused by experiences during separation from one’s mother. The fact that the foreign always implies separation continues to be the source of feelings of fear and guilt, which can be avoided by rejection of the foreign – by xenophobia. The foreign occupied with fear becomes a scapegoat. Everything I dislike about myself and the people next to me – the evil parts of myself, the evil parts of my relationships to my mother, father, brothers, sisters, friends, foreigners – is projected on to the foreign. The foreign outside is the same as the foreign inside, which I do not want to perceive consciously.

Fear of the foreign can result in two different and contradictory reactions. One is the aversion to persons who represent the foreign – xenophobia. From this point of view, everything that is outside one’s own culture is considered to be foreign – foreigners, cultural and ethnic minorities, and possibly homosexuals, persons with mental or physical disabilities, people with extreme political positions, men or women. Consequently, the relationship towards the foreign becomes one of defense against the threat attached to it.

The other possible reaction is referred to as exoticism, which is a specific form of xenophobia (love and adoration of the foreign). Exoticism is an idealistic glorification of the foreign. Typical examples of exoticism in Europe are the glorification of Native Americans or of other indigenous cultural groups in Africa, Asia or America. But the increasing tourism to exotic places in Asia, Africa and Latin America can be also interpreted as exoticism. The adoration of the foreign far away has no consequences for one’s own life. One is not confronted with these foreigners in one’s living environment or in one’s workplace. Exoticism can be interpreted as idealistic glorification of the foreign sufficiently far away to compensate for the fear caused by the foreign or social change in the immediate environment and, thus, can be interpreted as escape from one’s personal situation into idealism. Xenophobia, though, becomes credible when it is applied not only to foreigners far away, but also to those in one’s own environment: refugees, migrants, cultural minority groups.

Лекция 8. Язык и культура.

Language and culture are inseparable. M.Agar suggests we use the term “languaculture”. There is no human society that does not depend on , is not shaped by and does not itself shape language. Changes in the language change the culture, and changes in the culture change the language. Language is one of the most fundamental systems of culture and human society. It serves its purposes as it provides the means to express , share, and transmit the ideas and experiences of the people who practice the corresponding culture.

To understand the effects of the language on intercultural communication we must explore the following fundamental question: “Do the categories of a language – its words, grammar and usage – influence how people think and behave?”

In 1921 E. Sapir began to articulate his view of language which said that language influenced or even determined the way in which people thought. B/ Whorf continued to develop Sapir’s ideas into the 1950s. Together, their ideas were later called “the theory of linguistic determinism” or “the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis”.

Since all cultures have a system of language, the importance of verbal messages in interpersonal communication appears to be universally acknowledged. Cultures differ, however, in the importance placed on words and talk.

An important part of communication is silence.

Лекция 9. Изучение иноязычной культуры через изучение языка.

It is obvious that our culture teaches us to name what is practical, useful and important. The important things in our environment take on specific names, while the less important things have more generalized names that must be modified through additional words to become specific.

Many words in different languages have two parts to their meaning: denotative and connotative. Cultural differences in connotative meanings of words may lead to intercultural miscommunication.

Languages do not remain stable, they change overtime. There is a strong tendency today in the U.S. to use “politically correct” vocabulary ((e.g. poor – disadvantaged – economically challenged; unemployed – unwaged, etc)

Sometimes different cultures use identical words that have rather different meaning (e.g. manager), which may lead to misunderstanding in intercultural discourse.

Pragmalinguistic errors are language specific errors that involve the pragmatic force of an utterance having different meanings in two languages. In other words, these errors occur when speech strategies are inappropriately transferred from one language to another.

Sociopragmatic errors stem from cross-culturally different perceptions of what constitutes appropriate linguistic behaviour. These errors occur when the communicator does not perceive the situation or does not categorize the other people involved in accordance with the cultural norms they are using.

Verbal communication style is a meta-message that contexualizes how individuals should accept and interpret a verbal message. The following styles may be distinguished: direct :: indirect; elaborate :: exact :: succinct; personal :: contextual; instrumental :: affective; etc.

Лекция 10. Освоение культуры.

Anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1960), who first used the term culture shock, notes that it occurs in stages.

At the first stage, the honeymoon, there is fascination, even enchantment, with the new culture and its people. You finally have your own apartment. You are your own boss. Finally, on your own! When in groups of people who are culturally different, this stage is characterized by cordiality and friendship among these early and superficial relationships. Many tourists remain at this stage because their stay in foreign countries is so brief.

At stage two, the crisis stage, the differences between your culture and the new one create problems. Feelings of frustration and inadequacy come to the fore. This is the stage at which you experience the actual shock of the new culture. In one study of foreign students coming from over 100 different countries and studying in 11 different countries, it was found that 25% of the students experienced depression (Klineberg & Hull, 1979).

During the third period, the recovery, you gain the skills necessary to function effectively. You learn how to shop, you find a local laundry. You learn the language and ways of the new culture. Your feelings of inadequacy subside.

At the final stage, the adjustment, you adjust to and come to enjoy the new culture and the new experiences. You may still experience periodic difficulties and strains, but on the whole, the experience is pleasant.

Time spent in a foreign country is not sufficient for the development of positive attitudes; in fact, the development of negative attitudes is often found. Rather, friendships with nationals are crucial for satisfaction with the new culture. Contacts only with other expatriates or sojourners are not sufficient.

People may also experience culture shock when they return to their original culture after living in a foreign culture, a kind of reverse culture shock (Jandt, 1995). However, the recovery period is shorter and the sense of inadequacy and frustration is less.

Лекция 11. Межкультурная компетенция.

There is still some disagreement among communication scholars about how best to conceptualize and measure communication competence. The following definition of communication competence is given by Brian Spitzberg and his colleagues: “Competent communication is interaction that is perceived as effective in fulfilling certain rewarding objectives in a way that is also appropriate to the context in which the interaction occurs.”

Four approaches have been used to investigate intercultural competence: t5he trait approach; perceptual approach, behavioral approach , and culture-specific approach.

The complexity of human communication in general, and intercultural communication in particular, denies the possibility of giving a prescription that can make one “interculturally competent”. Besides, there is not necessarily only one way to be competent in your intercultural communication. However, we can define the components that constitute intercultural competence. The competent intercultural communication is contextual; it produces behaviors that are both appropriate and effective; and it requires sufficient knowledge, suitable motivation, and skilled actions.

There are a number of objectives for IL:

1. overcoming ethnocentrism, which implies a consciousness that one’s perception is influenced by one’s culture and experience;

2. acquiring ability to empathize with other cultures, which implies an openness toward the foreign and unknown;

3. acquiring the ability to communicate across cultural boundaries, which implies the knowledge of 2 or more languages;

4. developing a means of cooperation across cultural boundaries, which implies the knowledge of other cultural values, attitudes, norms and behaviors.