The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence

The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural CompetenceThe SAGE Handbook of
Copyright 2009 by SAGE Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information:
SAGE Publications, Inc. SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. 2455 Teller Road B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Thousand Oaks, Industrial Area
California 91320 Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 E-mail: [email protected] India
SAGE Publications Ltd. SAGE Publications 1 Oliver’s Yard Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 55 City Road 33 Pekin Street #02-01 London EC1Y 1SP Far East Square United Kingdom Singapore 048763
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence / edited by Darla K. Deardorff. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4129-6045-8 (cloth)
1. Intercultural communication. 2. Cultural pluralism. I. Deardorff, Darla K.
HM1211.S24 2009 303.48¢209051—dc22 2009006546
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
09 10 11 12 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acquisitions Editor: Todd R. Armstrong Editorial Assistant: Aja Baker Production Editor: Astrid Virding Copy Editor: Gillian Dickens Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Dennis W. Webb Indexer: Ellen Slavitz Cover Designer: Arup Giri Marketing Manager: Jennifer Reed Banando
Contents
Chapter 1. Conceptualizing Intercultural Competence 2 Brian H. Spitzberg and Gabrielle Changnon
Chapter 2. The Identity Factor in Intercultural Competence 53 Young Yun Kim
Chapter 3. The Interculturally Competent Global Leader 66 Margaret D. Pusch
Chapter 4. The Moral Circle in Intercultural Competence: Trust Across Cultures 85
Gert Jan Hofstede
Chapter 5. Intercultural Conflict Competence as a Facet of Intercultural Competence Development: Multiple Conceptual Approaches 100
Stella Ting-Toomey
Chapter 6. Cultivating Intercultural Competence: A Process Perspective 121 Janet M. Bennett
Chapter 7. Developing Globally Competent Citizens: The Contrasting Cases of the United States and Vietnam 141
Mark A. Ashwill and Du'o'ng Thi. Hoàng Oanh
Chapter 8. Understanding Africans’ Conceptualizations of Intercultural Competence 158
Peter Ogom Nwosu
Chapter 9. An Associative Approach to Intercultural Communication Competence in the Arab World 179
R. S. Zaharna
Chapter 10. A Chinese Model of Intercultural Leadership Competence 196 Guo-Ming Chen and Ran An
Chapter 11. Intercultural Competence in German Discourse 209 Alois Moosmüller and Michael Schönhuth
Chapter 12. India: A Cross-Cultural Overview of Intercultural Competence 233
Ranjini Manian and Shobha Naidu
Chapter 13. Interculturality Versus Intercultural Competencies in Latin America 249
Adriana Medina-López-Portillo and John H. Sinnigen
Chapter 14. Synthesizing Conceptualizations of Intercultural Competence: A Summary and Emerging Themes 264
Darla K. Deardorff
Chapter 15. Intercultural Competence in Human Resources— Passing It On: Intercultural Competence in the Training Arena 272
Craig Storti
Robert T. Moran, William E. Youngdahl, and Sarah V. Moran
Chapter 17. Intercultural Competence in Teacher Education— Developing the Intercultural Competence of Educators and Their Students: Creating the Blueprints 304
Kenneth Cushner and Jennifer Mahon
Chapter 18. Intercultural Competence in Foreign Languages—The Intercultural Speaker and the Pedagogy of Foreign Language Education 321
Michael Byram
R. Michael Paige and Matthew L. Goode
Chapter 20. Intercultural Competence in Social Work— Culturally Competent Practice in Social Work 350
Rowena Fong
John M. Grandin and Norbert Hedderich
Chapter 22. Intercultural Competence in Religious Organizations—Neither Jew nor Gentile: Lessons About Intercultural Competence in Religious Organizations 374
George Yancey
Chapter 23. Intercultural Competence in Health Care— Developing Skills for Interculturally Competent Care 387
Rohini Anand and Indra Lahiri
PART III: RESEARCH AND ASSESSMENT IN INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE 403
Chapter 24. Methodological Issues in Researching Intercultural Competence 404
Fons J. R. Van de Vijver and Kwok Leung
Chapter 25. Applying Theory and Research: The Evolution of Intercultural Competence in U.S. Study Abroad 419
Michael Vande Berg and R. Michael Paige
Chapter 26. Research Application: Toward a General Framework of Competence for Today’s Global Village 438
Fons Trompenaars and Peter Woolliams
Chapter 27. Assessing Intercultural Competence: Issues and Tools 456 Alvino E. Fantini
Chapter 28. Implementing Intercultural Competence Assessment 477 Darla K. Deardorff
Chapter 29. The Real Cost of Intercultural Incompetence: An Epilogue 492 Joseph E. Trimble, Paul B. Pedersen, and Eduardo S. Rodela
Author Index 504
Subject Index 517
viii
Acknowledgments
Deep gratitude is expressed first and foremost to the contributors of this handbook. The contributors made this handbook such a pleasure to edit, and without them, this resource would not be possible. It was indeed an
honor to work with them. A special thank you goes to Peggy Pusch for her guidance on the initial project and to those who enthusiastically supported the conceptuali- zation of this project, including the late Bob Kohls, Janet Bennett,Michael Paige, and Brian Spitzberg. I also appreciate the assistance of SAGE editor Todd Armstrong and the SAGE editorial staff for answering my many questions and for providing such wonderful support throughout the process. Many thanks to initial reviewers as well as to colleagues who reviewed chapters of this handbook, including Luis Rivera, Susan Buck Sutton, and Alan Dupont. Above all, I am immensely grateful to my family and especially my husband,Duane Deardorff, for his enormous patience, per- severance, encouragement—and most of all—his unwavering support.
Dr. Darla K. Deardorff
Michael Byram (University of Durham, England)
Prue Holmes (Waikato Management School, University of Waikato)
Young Yun Kim (University of Oklahoma)
Barbara Kappler Mikk (University of Minnesota)
R. Michael Paige (University of Minnesota)
Mark V. Redmond (Iowa State University)
Melissa A. Rychener (Slippery Rock University)
Reviewer List
ix
Foreword
Every serious account of the major forces transforming our world today includes the word globalization. Of course, much of what we mean by globa- lization is largely a continuation of trends and practices that were evident
long before the 21st century. Yet there are aspects of today’s world that seem diff- erent enough, or at least accentuated enough, to make our situation seem different from what has gone before. For one thing, modern communication has developed to a point that it is possi-
ble to collaborate more effectively than ever before with people anywhere in the world. Thanks to the Internet and teleconferencing, scientists as far away as Russia and China are being hired to do applied research with colleagues in corporate labo- ratories here in the United States. Polish doctors can analyze CAT scans for hospi- tals located in New York City. College graduates in Bangalore prepare the tax returns for hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. High-speed travel greatly increases personal contact across national borders. Jet
airplanes allow business executives to visit multiple countries in Asia during a single week to seek new orders, create joint ventures, or consult about common problems. International meetings of all kinds—for public officials, professors, doctors, and many others—have multiplied in number. Tourism has expanded tremendously, bringing ever greater numbers of foreign nationals to the United States while send- ing mounting numbers of Americans to other nations and cultures the world over. More and more people, especially from poorer countries, are moving to search
for jobs and success in more prosperous parts of the world. In 2002, the number of persons living in countries other than their land of birth reached 175 million, more than double the number in 1975. The United States has been experiencing a huge influx of immigrants not only from Latin America and the Caribbean but from Asia as well. As a result, the United States is fast becoming a nation of minorities in which no group, including Whites, will be able to claim a majority of the population. These development s have created a more urgent need than ever before for
Americans to develop intercultural understanding and an ability to live and work pro- ductively and harmoniously with people having very different values, backgrounds, and habits. As James Duderstadt, former president of the University of Michigan, has put it,“Understanding cultures other than our own has become necessary not only for personal enrichment and good citizenship but for our very survival as a nation.”
x THE SAGE HANDBOOK OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
Nowhere is this need felt more keenly than in educational institutions, which must play a central role in helping prepare younger generations for the cosmopoli- tan world that awaits them, a world in which they are bound to interaction with for- eign nationals and different ethnic groups and feel the influence of different values and cultures on a scale unequalled in previous generations. The magnitude of this challenge is surely one reason why a seasoned observer such as Peter Scott, long-time editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, would assert that “globalization is perhaps the most fundamental challenge faced by the university in its long history.” Fortunately, educators do not start from scratch in coping with this challenge.
Students in many public schools and almost all colleges and universities in the United States have been highly diverse for many years. Not only do these institutions have long experience with welcoming students from abroad; they, along with many schools, have also included in their student bodies many young people from ethnic minority groups who have different values and life experiences and often speak another language at home. Such diversity, albeit among fellow Americans, presents challenges not unlike those involving immigrants and visitors from foreign lands. Educational institutions in the United States also possess many of the ingredi-
ents that can almost certainly play a useful role in developing intercultural compe- tence. Schools and colleges have foreign language classes and courses on world history. Colleges have highly trained faculty who specialize in teaching about the history, literature, and political institutions of other countries. Most colleges have even offered over many years a variety of programs for study abroad. Despite these invaluable resources, educators are still far from understanding how to
develop intercultural competence.Many questions remain unanswered. In our colleges, for example, how can we give students such competence amid all the other competing purposes that an undergraduate education is supposed to fulfill? What should we do about teaching foreign languages when few of our students can predict what languages they will need in later life, and precious little time is available to build even a rudimen- tary competence in a single language?What can we usefully teach about other cultures when students rarely know which countries they may eventually live in or which will eventually prove important to their lives and careers? How can we integrate foreign students fully into the residential and extracurricular life of our universities where they are most likely to learn how to live and work effectively with one another? Above all, how can we figure out how to impart something as subtle and intangible as “intercul- tural competence”? Do we even know what the term really means? Amid these many vexing questions, one thing is clear. We will never succeed in
finding answers unless those actively engaged with these questions talk seriously with one another and help others learn from the insights and wisdom accumulated during years of experience. That is the guiding purpose behind the collection of essays that fill this handbook—to start a conversation, share experience, sharpen perceptions, and thereby speed the learning process for all who have an interest in this urgent issue of intercultural competence and a stake in its solution. Nothing could be more welcome or more timely for teachers and educators everywhere.
Derek Bok
Harvard University
xi
Preface
Wemust learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
What is intercultural competence? This was the driving question behind my dissertation research in the early part of this millennium that brought together leading intercultural experts, primarily in the United
States, to reach a consensus definition of intercultural competence, from which two models were developed (Deardorff, 2006). In the course of my research, I saw a need for a comprehensive volume that would address this very question. Scholars have written on this topic for over five decades. This is the first comprehensive volume that brings together those voices from a variety of cultures and fields to discuss this complex concept of intercultural competence. As Derek Bok noted in the Foreword for this handbook, the guiding purpose of this text is to bring together this experi- ence in an effort to further conversations and “sharpen perceptions” on this crucial topic for the 21st century. Specifically, the goals of this volume include providing the reader with a broader
context for intercultural competence, offering the reader more practical knowledge on how intercultural competence is manifested and developed in specific fields as well as to offer practical guidance on researching and assessing this elusive concept. By bringing together the leading voices on this concept and synthesizing some of the latest work on intercultural competence, this interdisciplinary book is intended to be a useful resource for many students, faculty, administrators, and profession- als in a variety of fields. It is intended to be used in a range of advanced under- graduate and graduate courses in different disciplines,most specifically in advanced courses in cross-cultural communication. This volume seeks to address cutting- edge issues by providing a concrete resource for practical application and assess- ment of intercultural competence, broadly defined as appropriate and effective communication and behavior in intercultural situations, although many more detailed definitions and models are provided in the text itself. As such, it can be of use not only to faculty and students but also to business professionals, senior-level postsecondary administrators, study abroad advisers, second-language acquisition instructors, public school teachers, and cross-cultural trainers.
xii THE SAGE HANDBOOK OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
This handbook is divided into three sections. The first section is conceptual and addresses the theoretical frameworks of this concept as well as ways in which intercultural competence is viewed from a variety of different cultural perspec- tives, including African, Arab, Chinese, Indian, and Latin American perspectives. This section begins with a comprehensive review of over 20 definitions and mod- els of intercultural competence, primarily fromWestern perspectives. This is then followed by several chapters that explore such questions as the role of identity in intercultural competence that is often considered as core to this concept (Magala, 2005), the intersection of leadership and intercultural competence, the role of trust in this concept, the process-nature of intercultural competence develop- ment, and the different approaches to resolving intercultural conflicts as part of intercultural competence. This section concludes with numerous chapters speci- fically written from different cultural perspectives. While it is not possible for a few scholars to speak for entire groups of people, these chapters provide insights into how this concept may be viewed from other culturally conditioned perspec- tives. The importance of seeing from others’ perspectives is a key aspect of inter- cultural competence, and thus the inclusion and understanding of other cultural perspectives is fundamental as we seek to comprehend more fully what it means to relate successfully with those from other cultures. In reading the chapters in this first section of the handbook, readers are encouraged to look for common themes that emerge from these various perspectives, to explore questions that may arise from these readings, and to dialogue with colleagues in an effort to sharpen our perceptions around this complex concept. The reality of the 21st-century workforce is that workers from many different
cultures interact and work together, regardless of their location. The second section addresses the applications of intercultural competence in a variety of fields, inclu- ding education, business, engineering, social work, health care, and even within religious organizations. There are, of course, many other fields that could have been included in this section, such as tourism or policing or the military. The challenge for the reader is to explore what intercultural competence means in these and other fields. What does an interculturally competent worker “look like” in a particular field? For example, the specific intercultural skills and knowledge needed for a glob- ally competent engineer are somewhat different than those needed for a culturally competent health care worker. In diverse societies, teachers must be trained to know how to teach and work with students from many different cultural back- grounds, in order for those students to in turn become more interculturally com- petent in today’s world. Thus, this section strives to put some of the more theoretical and abstract concepts into practical realities of the different fields. One caveat about the chapters in this second section: These chapters are written from a primarily U.S. perspective, based on the fields as they have developed within the United States. So how do we know if someone is interculturally competent? What are the best
ways to assess and research this concept in others? Assessing intercultural compe- tence is highly complex in that it involves not only the individuals’ perspective but also that of others to truly assess the appropriateness of the behavior and commu- nication. The third section of this handbook provides several chapters that discuss
Preface xiii
research and assessment methodologies as well as some of the practical applications of such research and assessment. Numerous research topics related to more in- depth study of intercultural competence and its assessment are suggested for fur- ther exploration. It is hoped that readers will use the experience and knowledge found in these chapters to hone understanding of this concept. Based on my research on this topic, here are some concluding thoughts about
intercultural competence as you prepare to delve into this handbook: Derek Bok, in his book Our Underachieving Colleges (2006), notes the crucial need for students to “think interculturally”—that knowledge alone is not sufficient. Furthermore, lan- guage alone may be necessary but not sufficient for intercultural competence. In fact, two studies found that experts could not reach consensus on the role of lan- guage in intercultural competence (Deardorff, 2006; Hunter, White, & Godbey, 2006), implying that language by itself does not make one interculturally compe- tent. In education, the focus naturally tends to be on knowledge—history, litera- ture, language, music, and so on—the products of a culture, sometimes referred to as “objective culture.”While such products provide valuable windows into under- standing a culture, such knowledge is not sufficient in developing one’s intercul- tural competence—in helping one to think, behave, and communicate interculturally. Thus, within education, there is an urgent need to address “subjective culture” (Triandis, 1994)—to provide learners with the foundations, frameworks, skills, and knowledge to develop an understanding of underlying cultural values, communi- cation styles, and worldviews to better understand others’ behaviors to interact effectively and appropriately with others and, ultimately, to become more intercul- turally competent. Intercultural experience alone is not enough; it is not enough to send someone
into another culture for study or work and expect him or her to return intercultu- rally competent. Mere contact is not sufficient to develop intercultural competence, as Allport (1954) noted so long ago. Building authentic relationships, however, is key in this cultural learning process—through observing, listening, and asking those who are from different backgrounds to teach, to share, to enter into dialogue together about relevant needs and issues. Respect and trust become essential build- ing blocks in developing these authentic relationships from which to learn from each other. Research (Savicki, 2008) has shown that adequate preparation is neces- sary to learners’ intercultural competence development, especially prior to inter- cultural experiences such as an international work assignment or education abroad. Intercultural competence doesn’t just happen; if it did, there would be far fewer cross-cultural misunderstandings. Rather, we must be intentional about developing learners’ intercultural competence. Such development can occur through adequate preparation, substantive intercultural interactions, and relationship building. Intercultural competence is a lifelong process; there is no pinnacle at which
someone becomes “interculturally competent.” Given the lifelong learning inherent in intercultural competence development, therefore, it is imperative that learners…