Intercultural

communication
Chapter I: A rationale for studying
intercultural communication
Instructor: Bui Thu
 00 Basic concepts

01 Reasons for studying IC

Challenges of studying IC
02
Outline
04 History of IC as a field of
research
 Basic
concepts

Culture?
Communication?
Intercultural communication?
Culture, Communication & ICC
Culture is the way of life of a group of people, including symbols, values,
behaviors, artifacts and other shared aspects.

Communication is the process of creating and sending symbolic behavior, & the
interpretation of behavior between people.
(Baldwin, Coleman, Gonzalez, & Suchitra, 2014)

Intercultural communication refers to the communication between people from

two different cultures.
(Chen & Starosta, 1998)

Intercultural communication occurs when culture impacts the communication

between two or more people enough to make a difference.
(Baldwin, Coleman, Gonzalez, & Suchitra, 2014)
Building a rationale
Why intercultural communication?
Why intercultural
communication?
• Personal growth motive

• Social responsibility motive

• Economic motive

• Cross-cultural travel motive

• Media motive
Why intercultural
communication?

• Personal growth motive??

Why intercultural Better understand others

communication? Worldmindedness
Be more responsible
travellers, consumers and
producers of media

Personal Self- Learn more about our own

cultures and ourselves
growth awareness
motive
Be more flexible as individuals

Become ‘intercultural persons’,

Personal able to move freely between
empowerment cultures

Have the agency to choose

between different ways of being
and seeing the world.
Why intercultural
communication?

• Social responsibility motive??

 Why intercultural
communication?

Live together
peacefully and Protecting environment
ethically
Social
responsibilit
y motive Share planet with Reduce social issues such as
limited space and poverty, social class inequalities
resources

Address issues such as war

and arm conflicts
Why intercultural
communication?

• Economic motive??
 Why intercultural
communication?

E.g. Walmart failed in

Germany because of failing
to understand German
Corporate profitability culture (asking cashiers to
smile at customers
(strangers) during
Economic checkout)
motive
Global economic
development
Why intercultural
communication?

• Cross-cultural travel motive??

Why intercultural
communication?
Working abroad

Studying abroad

Cross-cultural
travel motive
Travelling as tourists

Escaping hostile situation

(refugees, asylum seekers)
Why intercultural
communication?

• Media motive??
 People are consumers and producers
Why intercultural of cross-cultural mediated messages
communication?
Helpful to understand the cultures
involved to understand the reported
perspectives
Culture shapes
Media how people use
social
motive networking
sites

Interconnectedness
Cross-cultural social influenced by the
networking interacts with Internet and social
culture media impact
cultures.
E.g. Asian teenagers
may become more
open and
westernized due to
social media.
Why intercultural communication –
Discussion

• Having explored all the motives for IC,

which do you think is (are) the most
important motive(s)? Why?

• Discuss this question in 5 minutes within

your group.
Challenges of
studying intercultural
communication
Intercultural
communication?

• Challenges??
 Intercultural
communication? E.g. reducing understanding of
Oversimplifying our cultures to national identities,
understanding of cultures seeing cultures as stagnant
and unchanging.

Overgeneralising E.g. Believing that people

Challenges should share similar aspects
and experiences with other
members of their culture

E.g. Swiss and Germans are

Exaggerating differences supposed to be different
than how they are alike
History and focus of
intercultural
communication
 History and focus of intercultural
communication
• Study of IC began with the Foreign Service Institute, a branch of the
U.S government, to help its diplomats be more effective in meeting
state goals.

• The 1980s: decade of theory

• Since 1987, scholars have attempted to ‘de-Westernise’ communication

theory, challenging the ability of Western theory to describe the realities
of African, Asian and other non-Western cultures.
• Western theory ‘disregards, downplays, or overshadows certain values and elements
that have been historically embraced in non-Western cultures. (Miike, 2010, p. 3)
 Group
presentations

• Each group is to be given a card with some

information to present about

• 5 minutes to get ready

• 5 minutes to present
 Summary

• Concepts

• Motives (Personal growth motive, Social responsibility motive, Economic motive,

Cross-cultural travel motive, Media motive)

• Challenges (Oversimplifying, Overgeneralising, Exaggerating differences)

• History
 THANK YOU See you next week
Don’t forget your homework (Read chapter 4)