DISCOURSE AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

TEAM 8:
DIWANI FARHAN S.
FITRI NINGSIH

TARBIYAH DEPARTMENT
ENGLISH PROGRAM

STATE ISLAMIC HIGH SCHOOL (STAIN)

SORONG, 2018
 PREFACE

With all the praise and thanks to God the Almighty, who has given his
love and mercy, so that a paper entitled “Discourse and Intercultural
Communication” can we finish well. The paper is structured to meet one the task
of the courses Discourse Analysis.

On this occasion, we would like to thank profusely to all those who have
helped us in completing the writing of this paper, to Abd. Rahman M.Pd. as
lecturer in discourse analysis for the support and motivation. And also to friend
who have contributed their ideas and motivation for writing this paper.

We are fully aware that the many flaws in the writing of this paper, in term
of material, technical and presentation material. Therefore, we expect criticism
and constructive suggestion to further refine the writing of this paper. Finally, we
hope that the writing of this paper can be useful for reader.

Sorong, Mei 2018

Author

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ............................................................................................................ i
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................
1. Issues Background ................................................................................... 1
2. Formulate of The Problems..................................................................... 2
3. Aims of Paper .......................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER II DISCUSSION ................................................................................
1. Definition of Intercultural Communication ............................................ 3
2. The Elements of Intercultural Communication ........................................ 4
3. High-Context and Low-Context Communication Cultures ..................... 4
4. The Problem in Intercultural Communication ......................................... 5
CHAPTER III CONCLUSION .............................................................................
A. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 6
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 7

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1. Issues Background
Usually when we think about intercultural communication, we think about
people from two different countries such as China and the United States
communicating with each other and proceed to search for problems in theirs
communication as a result of their different nationalities. Intercultural
communication refers to the effective communication between people of different
cultural background. Intercultural communication takes place whenever
individuals or groups from different cultural or lingustic backgrounds share and
exchange meaning in a manner that is influenced by their different cultural.
Intercultural communication has two elements. There are verbal
communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication refers to
use of language. Non-verbal communication refers to the use of gestures, facial
expression, and other body movements. Non-verbal communication can be
divided to four categories, there are kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage, and
chronemics. In addition, intercultural communication also has high-context and
low-context communication that is inspired by Bernstein’s (1996)
conceptualization of restricted and elaborate codes.
In Era globalization, the impact of intercultural communication is very
favorable. Intercultural communication can make success of any international
economic, politic, education, and business such as allows workers from different
cultures to work together as a group. Because the coverage of intercultural
communication is wide, the problems in those situations are common. The
problems in intercultural communication usually come from problems in message
transmission. For that, the readers need knowledge about intercultural
communication.

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2. The Formulate of The Problem

Based on the background above, the writer formulate the problem as
follows.
a. What is the intercultural communication?
b. What is the elements of intercultural communication?
c. What is the high and low context communication?
d. What the problem of intercultural communication?

3. Aims of Paper
Based on the formulation of problem above, the writer formulate the
purpose of writing as follows.
a. To know what is intercultural communication.
b. To know the elements of intercultural communication.
c. To know what is the high and low context communication.
d. To know the problem in intercultural communication.
 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

1. Definition of Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication is a discipline that studies communication
across different cultures and social groups, or how culture affects communication.
It is used to describe the wide range of communication processes and problems
that naturally appear within an organization or social context made up of
individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.
With regard to intercultural communication proper, it studies situations where
people from different cultural backgrounds interact. Aside from language,
intercultural communication focuses on social attributes, thought patterns, and
cultures of different groups of people. It also involves understanding the different
cultures, language, and customs of people from other countries. Besides that,
intercultural communication is also referred to as the base for international
businesses and plays a role in social sciences.
Roger and Steinfatt define intercultural communication as “the exchange
of information between individuals who are unalike culturally” similar to Berry et
al.’s conception. Jack and Phipps understand instercultural communication to be
“a participatory set of actions in the world” > “dialogical and material exchanges
between members of cultural groupings”. For these applied linguists cultural
membership is “marked variously by race, ethnicity, nationality, language, class,
age, and gender”. Intercultural communication is also defines as situated
communication between individuals or groups of different linguistic and cultural
origins. Intercultural communication is a dynamic field incorporating social,
economic, and political contexts which are constantly evolving.
So, intercultural communication refers to the effective communication
between people of different cultural background. Intercultural communication
takes place whenever individuals or groups from different cultural or lingustic
backgrounds share and exchange meaning in a manner that is influenced by their
different cultural.

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2. The Elements of Intercultural Communication

a. Verbal communication
Verbal communication refers to the use of sounds and language to
relay a message it serves as a vehicle for expressing desires, ideas and
concepts and is vital to the processes of learning and teaching. We use
verbal communication to inform, whether it is to inform others of our
needs or to impart knowledge. Clarification is a key component of verbal
communication. Often, we do not articulate ourselves clearly, or our words
or actions are misconstrued. Verbal communication helps to clarify
misunderstandings and provides missing information.
b. Non-verbal communication
Non-verbal communication between people is communication
through sending and receiving wordless cues. It is includes the use of
visual cues such as body language (kinesics), distance (proxemics), and
physical environments, of voice (paralanguage) and of touch (haptics). It
can also include the use of time (chronemics) and eye contact and the
actions of looking while talking and listening, frequency of glances,
patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate (oculesics).

3. High-Context and Low-Context Communication Cultures

Hall’s high-context and low-context communication is inspired by
Bernstein’s (1996) conceptualization of restricted and elaborate codes. Bernstein
hypothesizes that our speech patterns are conditions by our social. High-context
communication occurs when most of information is either in the physical context
or internalized in the person, with very little information given in the coded,
explicit, transmitted part of the message. Members of high-context
communication cultures rely on their pre-existing knowledge of each other and the
setting to convey or interpret meaning which reduces their reliance on explicit
verbal codes.
In contrast in low-context communication most of the meaning is
conveyed in the explicit verbal code. Members of low-context communication
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cultures expect the message sender to be direct provide detailed information, and
use unambiguous language because they do not assume pre-existing knowledge of
the people or the setting. If there is miscommunication or misunderstanding, the
sender of the message is often held responsible for not constructing a clear, direct
and unambiguous message for the listener to decode easily.

4. The Problem in Intercultural Communication

The problems in intercultural communication usually come from problems
in message transmission. In communication between people of the same culture,
the person who receives the message interprets it based on values, beliefs, and
expectations for behavior similar to those of the person who sent the message.
When this happens, the way the message is interpreted by the receiver is likely to
be fairly similar to what the speaker intended. However, when the receiver of the
message is a person from a different culture, the receiver uses information from
his or her culture to interpret the message. The message that the receiver interprets
may be very different from what the speaker intended.
According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the language we speak,
especially the structure of that language, determines how we perceive and
experience the world around us. To date, this position has received a number of
criticisms. The structure of Asian languages, for example are found to promote
ambiguity, and therefore a tendency to engage in high-context communication.
Kashima and Kashima (1998) examined the use of pronouns in 39 languages and
found that cultures in which speakers can drop the pronouns that indicate the
subject of sentences are more collectivistic than cultures in which speakers cannot
drop pronouns. For example, in the English language, to produce a grammatically
correct sentence, a subject, served by a noun or pronoun, must precede a verb, as
in the sentence “He came back”. In Chinese however, “came back” can stand
alone as a correct sentence without a subject. The message receiver must look for
contextual cues in order to know who “came back”.
 CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION

1. Conclusion
Based on the discussion above, we can conclude that:
a. Intercultural communication refers to the effective communication
between people of different cultural background. Intercultural
communication takes place whenever individuals or groups from different
cultural or lingustic backgrounds share and exchange meaning in a manner
that is influenced by their different cultural.
b. Verbal and Nonverbal communication are part of the complete interaction
process and, in practice, are inseparable. For research purpose, verbal and
nonverbal communication can, however, be looks at as distinctive objects
of study. verbal communication, i.e. what is being said or written has
traditionally been the focus of linguistics. Nonverbal communication, i.e.
how something is being said or written is one of the focuses of
communication science.
c. Hall’s high-context and low-context communication is inspired by
Bernstein’s (1996) conceptualization of restricted and elaborate codes.
Bernstein hypothesizes that our speech patterns are conditions by our
social.
d. The problems in intercultural communication usually come from problems
in message transmission. In communication between people of the same
culture, the person who receives the message may be easier to receive the
message. When the receiver of the message is a person from a different
culture, the message that the receiver interprets may be very different from
what the speaker intended.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://books.google.co.id/books/about/intercultural-communication/ (Access on:

10 May 2018, at: 19.11)
https://communication.oxfordre.com (Access on: 10 May 2018, at: 19.20)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercultural_communication (Access on 10 May
2018, at: 18.57)
https://lanqua.eu/themes/intercultural-communication (Access on: 10 May 2018,
at: 19.26)
https://livestrong.com/article/1556961-the-importance-of-verbal-non-verbal-
communication (Access on: 10 May 2018, at: 20.09)
https://open.lib.umn.edu/businesscommunication/chapter/181-intercultural-
communication (Access on: 10 May 2018, at: 20.23)
Scollon, Ron., and Scollon, Suzanne Wong. 2001. Intercultural Communication.
Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishers Inc.