Intercultural Competence

Prepared By:

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

A Intercultural Competence

B The Components of Intercultural Competence

C The Dimensions of Intercultural Competence

D Improving Intercultural Communication Competence

Fundamental aspects for successful development of

cultural competence

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 Intercultural communication: common, necessary part of
people’s personal and professional lives
 Intercultural competence: ability to become effective and
appropriate in interacting, the sensitivity to cultural
diversity
 Cultural awareness: an important role to overcome
difficulties to ensure smooth communication with people
from different backgrounds
 Intercultural communication competence: ability to
effectively and appropriately execute communication
behaviors to elicit a desired response in a specific
environment

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 The Components of Intercultural
Competence
1. Contextual Components
2. Individual Components
a. Motivation
b. Knowledge
c. Attitudes
d. Behaviors and Skills

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

1.1 sensitive to the contexts, or “situational features”
 specific relational context, particular situational

context
 association between individuals

e.g. a Canadian woman living with a family in

India
1.2 communicator’s social position within a speech
community

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

a. Motivation
 overall set of emotional associations
 intercultural competence
 Reasons for lacking motivation:

（ 1 ） don’t need to know much ；

（ 2 ） be uncomfortable ；
（ 3 ） historical events or political
circumstances.

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

b. Knowledge
 cognitive information about the people, the context,

and the norms of appropriateness in a specific

culture
 various cognitive aspects: about ourselves, about

others, and about various aspects of communication

 important kinds of knowledge:

（ 1 ） culture-general information
（ 2 ） culture-specific information

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

c. Attitudes
 Tolerance for Ambiguity: ease in dealing with much

unknown situations
 Empathy: walk in another person’s shoes
 Nonjudgmentalness: do not judge others according

to our own culture

(1) Description: convey factual information
(2) Interpretation: attach meaning to description
(3) Evaluation: clarify how we feel about something
Only descriptive statements are nonjudgmental.

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

d. Behaviors and Skills
 actual appropriate and effective performance
 two levels of behavioral competence

(1) macro level: many culture-general behaviors

(2) micro level: general behaviors are
implemented in culture-specific ways
e.g. Chinese students, in basic public speaking
classes in America

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 The Dimensions of Intercultural Competence
1. The Knowledge Dimension
2. The Affective Dimension
3. The Psychomotor Dimension
4. The Situational Features Dimension

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

how much one knows about the culture of the person
with whom one is interacting
 includes some background knowledge about other

intercultural communication participants

 clarifies cognitive simplicity and rigidity and

ethnocentrism as barriers

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

the degree to which one approaches or
avoids intercultural communication
 motivation
 attitudes

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

how to do culture in actions, involved with behaviors and
skills
 the actual enactment of the knowledge and affective

dimensions
 includes verbal and nonverbal performance and role

enactment
(1) good verbal and nonverbal performance: makes us
be able to engage in a conversation
(2) role enactment: how well one executes the
appropriate verbal and nonverbal messages

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

the actual situation in which intercultural communication
occurs
 situational features affecting competence include:

the environmental context

previous contact
status differential
third-party interventions

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

Improving Intercultural Competence

 Three most common aspects for improving

1. task performance: doing well at our job
2. ability to adapt to the new culture
3. ability to establish healthy
interpersonal relationships

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 strategies and skills that lead to the
improvement
 1. Knowing Ourselves
 2. Appreciating Similarities and Respecting

Differences
 3. Developing Empathy
 4. Keeping an Open Mind

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 know about our own culture: the first step to
reduce ethnocentrism and guard against prejudice
 develop cultural awareness: cultural beings
 recognize our communication style
 helpful suggestions to know ourselves

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 Culture shows as many similarities as differences.
 We share a series of crucial characteristics that link
the people of the world together.
 Cultures are different due to a host of various
factors.
 two attitudes toward differences: polar opposites,
being different in degrees (reasonable)
 Differences are particular points on the continuum,
not the two ends.
 Cultural differences do not create conflict. Instead,
they enrich our world.
 Beauty is in the coexistence of different cultures.
 helpful suggestions for us:

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

 detection of the own ethnocentrism
 dealing with things that appear strange
 laying the bases for tolerance
 accepting the ethnic differences
 talking about racism
 stressing things in common
 encouraging solidarity
 training of reasonable conflict-solving-techniques - dealing
with cultural conflicts and cultural relativism
 getting aware of the possibility to learn from each other and
to enrich the life through the cultural contact
 getting rid of frontiers by understanding the global
responsibility of everybody

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence

Thank You

Chapter 8 Intercultural Communication Competence