CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION PROJECT

You can choose one of the following topics as the subject of your CCC project:

1. A group of Vietnamese people is going to be sent to an English-speaking country

(Britain/American/Australia) for further study or business purpose. You are supposed to
give them an orientation session on how to communicate successfully in English language
in the host society in order to raise their awareness of the cultural differences in the rules of
language use that might cause culture shock in verbal communication across cultures

2. A group of American/British/Australian people has just arrived in Vietnam for study /

business. They can speak Vietnamese. You are supposed to give them an orientation
session on how to communicate successfully in Vietnamese language in the host society in
order to raise their awareness of the cultural differences in the rules of language use that
might cause culture shock in verbal communication across cultures

REQUIREMENTS:

I. Content:

- Clearly state who are the subjects of your orientation and the purpose of their
staying in the host country.

- Choose an area of verbal communication with potential misunderstandings that may

lead to culture shock or communication breakdown

Suggestions:

1. different ways of saying things

2. different rules of performing the same speech act

3. different conversational styles (e.g. starting, closing a conversation, keeping the

conversation moving, choosing topics for small talk with strangers or somebody
you don’t know well)

1
 4. expected verbal behaviors in specific situations (e.g. in a public place, at a
friend’s house, at a formal social function, at an informal social gathering, ...)

5. preferred language of a particular community (e.g. university students, trade

people, business people, office workers ...)

6. ......

- Identify problems and provide cultural knowledge to explain why these problems
may occur

- Give tips on how to behave well in the host culture, explain why you give such tips

- Richness and accuracy of knowledge are highly evaluated

II. Presentation:

- Group work: 4 students in one group

- Time allowance for each group presentation is maximum 25 minutes

- Each group presentation must be a single project presented by 4 speakers (not 4

mini-presentations put together). This requires a smooth transition between
speakers.

- Use visual aids (e.g. videos, pictures, tape, …) or physical demonstration (role-play,
mini drama, action …) for illustration

- Prepare hand-outs, design follow-up activities/exercises for the audience

- Raise questions for discussion

- Be prepared to answer any questions from the audience

- Creativity in the way of presenting the project is encouraged

- Individual speakers with better performance may get higher marks

III. Final report:

- Format: essay, font Arial, size 13, double spacing

2
- Sources of reference must be clearly stated

- Submission: a hard copy and a soft copy of:

+ Project report: reasons for choosing the topic, results/findings of the cultural
project, reflection on what you have achieved from doing the project

+ Ready-for-performance kit:

• Slide presentation (if any)

• Designed tasks and games with how-to instructions

• Accessories/Facilities (if any)

- Submit your final reports according to the agreed schedule. Late papers will be
accepted, but will be marked one grade lower than the grade deserved for every day of
delay.

- Plagiarism will be severely punished.