Intercultural Competence: Strategies for Teachers & Studentsglobal-symposium.org/postconference/Session/E1.pdf · Intercultural Competence: Strategies for Teachers & Students ...

Intercultural Competence: Strategies for Teachers & Students

Katie Dutcher, Assistant Director, Intensive English Programs

Alisyn Henneck, Enrollment Marketing Manager

Plan for the Day

● Why Intercultural Competence

● Definitions of Culture

● Diving deeper into culture

● Tips for administrators, staff, and faculty

● Tips for teachers in the classroom

● Continued learning and resources

Introductions

Language training programs designed to prepare rising leaders for cross-cultural and

multilingual academic and professional environments

Why Develop Intercultural Competence?

• Conflict/misunderstanding

• Heightened awareness of our own

culture

• Curiosity about & sensitivity to

cultural differences

• Avoid unintentionally offending

others

• Less apt to take offense at

perceived “insults”

• Help ourselves & others work

through conflict

International Student Data

• International students constitute about 15% of boarding school enrollment in TABS

schools (TABS)

• International student enrollment increased by 7% from 2012-2013 and is now at an all-

time high (Open Doors)

Who needs to develop Intercultural Competence?

Trick question…everyone! Administrators, staff, faculty, students

● Linked to tolerance for ambiguity, behavioral flexibility, communicative awareness, knowledge

discovery, respect for others, empathy, curiosity, motivation, global attitude (Laura B. Perry and

Leonie Southwell)

● For our students→ give them the tools & strategies to ease their adjustment

Hofstede (1994):

• collective programming of the mind which distinguishes

the member of one group or category of people from

another

Hall (1983):

• invisible control mechanism

• only become aware of it when it is severely challenged

Spencer-Oatey (2000)

“Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioral norms

and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group

of people, and that influence each member’s behavior and

his/her interpretations of the “meaning” of other people’s

behavior.”

The Field of ICC: Definitions of Culture

Activity

A photo will appear on the next slide.

Please turn to your neighbor and tell them something

about the image.

Tell me something about this...

D-I-E

*Through our own cultural lens: normal, but need to stay aware of this

Description Interpretation* Evaluation*

What I see

(only observed facts)

What I think

(about what I see)

What I feel

(about what I think…

positive/negative)

The real photo caption

Kyrgyz Nomads, Afghanistan

Photograph by Matthieu Paley, National

Geographic

Kyrgyz herders adore their cell

phones, which they acquire by

trading and keep charged with

solar-powered car batteries. Though

useless for communication—cellular

service doesn't reach the isolated

plateau—the gadgets are used to

play music and take photos.

Iceberg Model

The Field of ICC: Layers of Culture

Onion Model (Spencer-Oatey)

Many ways of categorizing or viewing cultural aspects:

Different dichotomies/continua

● based on behavior

● based on thought patterns

● based on broad philosophies

Examples:

power distance

high context/low context

individualism/collectivism

uncertainty avoidance

long-term orientation

The Field of ICC: Categories & Patterns

“High context cultures make greater distinction between the insiders and outsiders than low-context

cultures do. [...] When talking about something they have on their minds, a high-context individual will

expect his interlocutor to know what is bothering him or her, so that he or she does not have to be

specific. The result is that he will talk around and around the points, in effect putting all the pieces into

place except the crucial one. Placing it properly-- this keystone-- is the role of his interlocutor.”

Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture (1976, p. 98)

Example: High/Low Context

● Build our own and our staff’s intercultural competence

○ Training w/ staff, experiential activities

● Institutional level (if possible)

○ Policies, mission, objectives

○ Culture of institution/department

○ Clarity about what you are doing and why this is a

priority

● Communication

○ Set communication expectations for the

classroom/program, and help people hold to them--

transparency

○ Discuss various viewpoints/shy away from absolutes

○ Listen, listen, listen

○ Open communication + trust relationships

● Research main cultural groups

○ Generalization vs stereotype-- learn about the group,

but be open to the individual

Tips: Administrators, Staff, & Faculty

● Research shows: experiences/experiential

learning is the best way to learn about culture--

we learn and understand when we actually

experience the feeling of being in/working with

another culture.

○ Maximize experience with reflection and

discussion to identify and process what

was learned

● Qualitative methods: observations, interviews,

portfolios-- more deep, authentic, accurate

(Laura B. Perry and Leonie Southwell)... though

harder to assess

● Same tools that we use with ourselves

● Comparisons and sharing activities

● More homogenous class→ less focus on

culture, more focus on other differences

Tips for the Classroom

Suggestions about other strategies?

Questions?

Resource folder online: http://bit.ly/icctabs

Continued Learning

Katie DutcherAssistant Director

Intensive English Programs

Alisyn HenneckEnrollment Marketing Manager

Language & Professional Programs

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 831-647-4115

Questions?