Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Discussion Questions
Chapter 3: Context, Perception, and Competence
1. Consider specific countries that have diverse populations and those with fairly homogeneous
populations. How does the concept of high and low context help explain political debate, dispute
resolution processes, and other forms of public communication in these countries?
2. Describe how the concept of face can help explain dispute resolution. How might a student confront
an instructor over a grading error? What might that interaction look like in a U.S. classroom versus a
Chinese classroom?
3. Consider a veterinarian who says that he wished he could be a cat just for a few minutes to experience
how a cat senses the world. He speculates, though, that such an experience would forever change him.
Explain in what ways the experience of “two realities” might be so disconcerting.
4. Even within one culture, subgroups may have diverse perceptions. Compare the diverse perceptions
that hunters, vegetarians, and even political parties might have of a deer or moose.
5. What do you think are the most critical elements of intercultural communication competence?
6. Kale suggests that peace is a fundamental human value that could guide intercultural interactions.
Evaluate and discuss this proposition.