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Chapter 3
Intercultural Communication
What you’ll know:
• What a culture is and the role of communication in it
• The relationship between dominant and co-cultures
• How cultural identity affects communication
• The inherent barriers in intercultural communication
What you’ll be able to do:
• Develop and implement a plan for acquiring accurate knowledge about various cultural groups
• Demonstrate empathy and respect when communicating interculturally
• Employ strategies to improve your intercultural communication competence
Chapter Outline
I. Culture and communication
A. Intercultural communication: interaction between people whose cultural assumptions are
distinct enough to alter the communication event. (Culture shock: the psychological discomfort
you may feel when you attempt to adjust to a new cultural situation.)
B. Dominant cultures, Co-cultures, and Cultural Identity
1. Dominant culture: the attitudes, values, beliefs, and customs that the majority of people
in a society hold in common.
2. Co-cultures: groups of people living within a dominant culture but exhibiting
communication that is sufficiently different to distinguish them from the dominant culture.
Contributors to co-culture include:
a. Gender: women and men communicate differently because of the biological and
socialized differences between them.
b. Race: many people have experienced the socializing effects of perceived race, which is
h. Socioeconomic Status (SES): the position of a person or family in the power hierarchy
of a society based on income, education, and occupation.
i. Age/Generation: the time period in which we are born and raised can have a strong
formative influence
j. Disability: any physical, emotional, mental, or cognitive impairment that impacts how
a person functions in society.
II. How Cultures Differ
A. Seven dimensions for consideration
1. Individualism/collectivism
2. Context
3. Chronemics
4. Uncertainty avoidance
b. Individualism values assertiveness in conflict while collectivism values collaboration or
avoidance in conflict
c. In groups, members of collectivist cultures see group harmony and group welfare as
most important.
C. Context
1. Low-context cultures: speakers use words to convey most of the meaning; verbal
messages are direct, specific, and detailed.
2. High-context cultures: much of the speaker’s message is understood from the context.
D. Chronemics: the study of how the perception of time differs among cultures.
1. Monochronic culture: view time as a series of small units that occur sequentially.
2. Feminine culture: a culture in which people, regardless of sex, are expected to assume a
variety of roles based on the circumstances and their own choices.
H. Long-term/Short-term Orientation
1. Short-term oriented culture: tends to value static rewards in the here and now and
emphasizes quick results.
2. Long-term oriented culture: emphasizes potential future rewards that will eventually be
realized after slow and steady perseverance toward achieving a mutually acceptable
result.
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III. Developing Intercultural Communication Competence
A. Anxiety: feeling some level of discomfort or apprehension when we recognize that we are
different from most everyone else.
B. Assumed similarity or difference: many people erroneously assume other cultures will be very
different or very similar to their own.
G. Competent Communication Strategies - Acquire Accurate Knowledge
1. Formal Study: learn about culture or co-culture by exercising in formal study.
2. Observation: learn about culture or co-culture by watching members interact with each
other.
3. Immersion: learn about culture or co-culture by actively participating in it. Participant
observation is learning about a culture or co-culture by living or working with people
whose cultural assumptions are different from yours0
H. Adopt correct attitudes
1. Tolerate ambiguity
2. Be open-minded
3. Be altruistic
1. Practice listening.
2. Practice intercultural empathy, or imaginatively placing yourself in the dissimilar other
person’s cultural world to attempt to experience what he or she is experiencing.
3. Develop flexibility, or the ability to adjust your communication to fit the other person and
the situation.
Discussion and Assignment Ideas
I. Think about your own family’s cultural identity. How did you identify yourself growing up as a
child? Do you see your family as a part of the dominant culture or from a co-culture? What values,
attitudes, beliefs, and customs lead you to this conclusion?
II. Quotes: These can be used to introduce topics, question perspectives, or gain individual opinion.
Providing students with a quote and prompting them to write or reflect on their personal feelings
about the quote can help to spark discussion and interest. Suggested prompts may include “Define this
concept in your own words”; “Do you agree with this statement? Explain”; “What text material can be
used to support or refute this idea?”
If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so
much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.
—S. I. Hayakawa
Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them far apart.
—Confucius
When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It
is designed to make its own people comfortable.
—Clifton Fadiman
III. Hold a discussion with the class about their various experiences with culture shock. Who has
experienced culture shock? What was it like? How difficult was this for you? Did you experience
differences in cultural norms such as individualism/collectivism? Uncertainty avoidance? Power
distance? Masculine/feminine norms? What are some techniques you have learned from this
chapter that would help you prepare for culture shock in the future?
IV. Go to the Communicate! online textbook resources at Cengagebrain.com Look for the “skill
learning activities” link. Click on the Acquiring Accurate Cultural Knowledge link and have your
students conduct research into a distinct culture with which they currently have little or no
familiarity. Have your students fill out the supplied “Acquiring Accurate Cultural Knowledge Log” by
clicking the media icon at the bottom of the webpage.
Technology Resources
Using cengagebrain.com, find the web link for: Individualism and Collectivism. Read the article about
how individualism and collectivism affect groups in school settings. Discuss the ways that these
differing cultural norms could be addressed. What might be done to help maintain relationships and
enhance interactions in the future?
Movies
Movies and movie clips can be used to help students grasp concepts. Clips can be shown in class, or
movies can be assigned as homework. Following the movie clips, ask students written or oral
questions. These questions should address pertinent concepts, thereby actively engaging students in
discussion.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Rated: PG (Mild Profanity, sexual situations)
Synopsis: Toula, a young woman from a traditional Greek family, meets and decides to marry Ian, who
is very much not Greek. So when Toula brings Ian home to her family, there is a strong reaction and the
movie explores the implications involved in this reaction.
Questions for discussion
1. What cultural assumptions are taken for granted by the bride’s and groom’s families? How do they
encounter the differences between the dominant American culture and Greek culture?
2. During the interactions between Toula and her parents, what cultural assumptions are
demonstrated about masculinity and femininity? About collectivism and individualism?
3. What tactics does Toula employ to make Ian feel more welcomed and appreciated in her family?
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Rated: R (Violence, nudity, sex, profanity)
Synopsis: Kathie Nocolo is a recovering addict who has been abandoned by her husband. All she has left
is the house that was left to her by her father, but even that is taken away from her when the
government erroneously thinks she owes property taxes. She is unable to stop the property from
being sold at auction, and so the new owner, Massoud Amir Behrani, an Iranian refugee who once held a
position of power in the Iranian government, takes possession. He hopes to “flip” the house by
improving the property and selling it to pay for his son’s college education. During the legal struggle that
ensues, many conflicts erupt between the parties.
Questions for discussion
1. The movie demonstrates concepts of individualism versus collectivism: How does Kathy’s culture
(individualist) equip her to deal with her desperate situation? How does Behrani’s culture
(collectivist) lead him to place such importance on keeping up appearances in his neighborhood by
hosting a grand wedding?
2. How does Behrani’s meeting with Kathie’s lawyer demonstrate the difference between the Iranian
versus American norms for masculine and feminine norms of communication? How does this
conversation further demonstrate Behrani’s preference for high power distance, given his previous
experience as a high ranking colonel in the Iranian military?
3. How does this movie demonstrate two different interpretations of the American dream?
Additional suggested movies: The Gods Must be Crazy (1980) (monochronic vs. polychronic
orientations, space and distance orientation, individualism vs. collectivism); Bend It Like Beckham
(2002) (individualism vs. collectivism, dominant culture vs. co-culture, religious vs. secular cultural
norms); The Joy Luck Club (1993) (individualism vs. collectivism, power distance, communication
style: high vs. low context); Crash (2004) (stereotypes as barriers to intercultural communication);
World’s Fastest Indian (2006) (effective intercultural communication)
Other Media Resources
Skills and Competency
Please refer to cengagebrain.com for a prompt to Skill Learning Activity 3.1: Observe and Analyze:
Race and Ethnicity. The following suggested answers to this activity can also be found in the
Communicate! online textbook resources.
b. Jewish people: Judaism is seen as both a religion and an ethnicity. For example, when a black
person converts to the Jewish faith, she is Jewish religiously and culturally but not Jewish
ethnically or racially.
6. This analysis suggests that these classification systems are an imprecise science at best and at
worst an example of stereotyping and judging people.
Chapter Activities
3.1: An Intercultural Cocktail Party
Purpose: To enable students to identify barriers to effective intercultural communication and to
develop ways to overcome those problems
Time: 20 minutes for role-plays, 20 minutes for discussion
Process: Before class, prepare 3 x 5 cards with the following instructions on them:
A. You are a North American. You do not know much about any other culture, nor do
you wish to learn. When talking to someone from another culture, make
inaccurate statements about them and their culture. When they make a statement to
correct you, act bored and don’t listen. After all, your culture is better.
B. You are from an Asian culture and the only person from your culture at this party.
You are very anxious to fit in and don’t know what to talk about. You may change
subjects frequently, or suddenly stop talking when you realize that you are
different from the person you are talking to. You may wish to cut the conversation
short if you really feel as if you have little in common with this person. Your
anxiety might cause the conversation to wander all over the place.
C. You are from a Native American culture. You don’t like to talk much with people
you don’t know. Give only minimal response to questions. Don’t offer comments or
information. In your culture, people who talk a lot are considered to be bragging.
D. You are a North American and interested in learning as much as possible about
everyone at this party. You assume that everyone is interesting and exotic. You
want them to tell you all the interesting ways they are different from you. When
they start to share stories about themselves that are too “normal,” you try to get
them to share differences. For example, you might say, “You’re Japanese—don’t
you eat on the floor?
E. You are from Europe and you believe many stereotypes about North Americans.
For example, you think they are ignorant and self-centered. When talking with a
North American, interrupt frequently and talk for long stretches of time. It is your
job to educate them about the world. You feel very sorry for the Native American
because of the horrible way the white North Americans have treated them, and
you want to get the Native Americans to tell you all about how horrible the white
North Americans have treated them. When talking with another European, you
should be yourself.
F. Be yourself. Converse with others as you normally would at a party.
Prepare two cards each for situations A-E and enough for situation F for the rest of the
class. Distribute the cards to the entire class and tell them they are going to role-play at an
intercultural cocktail party at which they know very few people. They are to
strike up conversations as they would in that setting, and they should begin by
introducing themselves and where they are from in the world. Let them know that
periodically you will ask them all to change conversational partners. Start the role-play
and change partners at 5, 10, and 15 minutes, ending the role-play at 20 minutes.
Process the experience using the following questions:
1. What intercultural barriers and miscommunication did you encounter in your
conversations? (Students should be able to identify anxiety, stereotyping,
ethnocentrism, different cultural norms and values, and assuming difference.)
2. What strategies could help these people? What strategies would help you in
dealing with such a situation in the future? For example, how could you apply
open-mindedness, tolerating ambiguity, and being altruistic to these situations?
3. How did you feel during the conversations?
3.2: Intercultural Norms and Values Simulations
Purpose: To illustrate intercultural norms and values
Time: 20 minutes
3.3: Intercultural Communication Competence
Purpose: To illustrate the nature of intercultural competence even in the face of stereotyping
and cultural insensitivity
Time: 30 minutes
Process: Print the following statements on an overhead transparency. Ask the class to imagine
3.4: Intercultural Anxiety
Purpose: To help students identify fears and concerns about intercultural communication
Time: 20 minutes
Process: Have student break into groups and brainstorm various reasons that individuals may
be afraid of intercultural communication. Also have each group come up with
techniques for conversation preparation and anxiety reduction. Share the ideas with
the class.
Journal Assignments
A. Incompatible Communication Codes
Observe a group of people who seem to have a communication code with which you are unfamiliar.
Perhaps they are speaking a different language, or perhaps they have certain “in-group” language
behavior. How can you attempt to interpret the particular conversation you observe so as to avoid
jumping to incorrect conclusions about the conversation?
B. Cultural Norm Violation and Intention
Have you ever intentionally violated a cultural norm described in this chapter? Describe the
circumstance. Is it ever appropriate or effective to violate any of these norms?
C. Cultural Identity
Think about your own family’s cultural identity. How did you identify yourself growing up as a child:
Did you see your family as a part of the dominant culture or from a co-culture? What values,
attitudes, beliefs, and customs led you to this conclusion? Has your assessment changed now that you are
an adult?
D. The Perfect (Imperfect) Society
Ask students to imagine the perfect society. Have them describe the different aspects of their
imaginary society. Make sure they include power structures, co-cultures, and some level of socio-
economic status. Ask the students to identify if their culture is individualistic or collectivistic. Once the
student has constructed their perfect utopia ask them to identify the major reasons the imagined
society would not be possible. Is it possible to construct a perfect society? Why not?
