Orientation for Crosscultural Communication

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Orientation for Cross-cultural Communication

• BeiwaiOnline
• Wang Tong

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Orientation Outline

• Introduction of the course
• Position of the course in BeiwaiOnline modular
  course structure
• Structure, theme of the course
• Focus of the book
• Facts about learners
• Tutorial methods
• Assignment features
• Resource available on line
• A Demo of tutorial material

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Introduction of the Course
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1. Position of the Course

• How is the course positioned in BeiwaiOnline
  modular course structure?

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Where is Cross-cultural Communication Course?
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2. Focus of the Book

• It is 40 on English language proficiency, with
  60 on cross-cultural communication. (p. iv)
• It is less of a language course and more of a
  content one.

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3. Structure and Theme
Unit 12 Language and culture in comm. cultural
shock
Unit 3-6 Whats in a name social interaction
roles and relations non-verbal comm.
Unit 7 In other words
Unit8 From a primitive tribe to a global village
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Facts about Learners
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Facts about Learners
Cause
Result
Unaccustomed to focus of book and changes in
tutoring methods
First content course
Little first-hand experience
Book too abstract mentality
Victims of mass media
Hold cultural prejudices
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Tutorial Focus Methods
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Tutorial Focus
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Tutorial Focus

• Help learners develop basic cross-cultural
  communication competence and further enhance
  their language proficiency
• Focus
• Cross-cultural communication models principles
• Normative level of culture culture
  categorizations cross-cultural differences
  similarities
• Behavioral level of culture names in cultures
  social interactions relations roles nonverbal
  comm.
• Language level of culture idioms proverbs
  slang euphemism

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Focus 1Cross-cultural communication models
Model 1 Language Culture Model
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Focus 1Cross-cultural communication models
Model 2 shared-understanding model
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Focus 1Cross-cultural principles

• ????,????
• Know our culture
• Know other cultures
• Develop intercultural sensitivity
• Adapt ourselves
• Become cross-cultural competent

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Focus 1Cross-cultural principles

•   WE SHARE A WORLD!!!
• For all our differences, we share one world.
• To be tolerant is to welcome the differences and
  delight in the sharing.

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Focus 2 Normative level of culture

• Categorization of cultures
• linear active, multi-active and reactive
• high context / low context
• tolerance of uncertainty vs. avoidance of
  uncertainty
• masculine vs. feminine
• concentrated vs. decentralized power
• Individualism vs. collectivism

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Focus 2 Normative level of culture

• Normative communication styles and values for
  cross-cultural collaboration
• summary of normative communication styles and
  values.doc
• Similarities differences among cultures
• Chinese culture
• Confucianism, Taoism, key Chinese cultural
  concepts in foreign eyes
• Foreign cultures

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Focus 3 Behavioral level of culture

• names in cultures social interactions
  relations roles nonverbal communication

Examples

• Inviting
• Footing bills
• Giving / receiving gifts
• Showing hospitality
• Giving / receiving compliments
• Disagreeing agreeably

• Components of names
• Short forms of names
• Origins of names
• Titles
• Kin terms, age, politeness
• Language and sex

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Focus 4 Language level of culture

• Synonyms
• Idioms
• Proverbs
• Styles / Varieties
• Slang, Taboo Expressions
• Euphemisms

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Tutorial Methods
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Tutorial Methods

• Real life case driven
• Comparison contrast across cultures
• Demonstration/Illustration by tutor, video,
  audio, print material
• learner involvement in application of knowledge
  in case analysis
• Making full use of BeiwaiOnline online resources

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Method 1 Real life case driven

• Sample 1
• Lets shed tears share joys! (1)
• Wangs match-making experience in USA
• I had a good friend in USA who was in the same
  PhD program as mine. She was my age but still
  remained single and boyfriendless (my son was 4
  at that time). Anxious to get married, she often
  complained to me about her miserable situation
  for hours every week. However, she was never ever
  active to change her situation. Unable to bear to
  hear her tearful stories, I, a very open and
  direct person, decided to introduce her to an
  American friend. Then I invited several male and
  single friends to dinner and asked for a
  volunteer. Immediately, an African American PhD
  student, whom both my Chinese friend and I knew
  well, showed his interest in my friend. He said
  Wow, she is beautiful. I hope she is interested
  in me. Exhilarated, I could not wait to tell my
  Chinese friend the good news.
• Can you guess what happened after I phoned her
  about this?

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Method 1 Real life case driven

• Sample 1
• Lets shed tears share joys! (1)
• Wangs match-making experience in USA (cont.)
• She immediately and flatly refused my proposal
  and did not give the African American young man a
  single chance to express his good intention. To
  make matters worse, she refused to talk with him
  in out of class. The African American young man
  was confused and would not speak with ME for a
  few days. He even avoided me in the hallway.

Discuss What went wrong in the case?
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Method 1 Real life case driven

• Sample 2
• Contrast American English with British English
• Story 1 The Latest Train
• Last year I took a trip in the States. I left
  Yale university for New York. At the railway
  station, I asked the ticket seller for one ticket
  for the latest training since I was in a hurry.
  To my amazement, he told me that I needed to wait
  for 8 hours for my train!

Is there anything wrong?
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Method 1 Real life case driven

• Sample 2
• Contrast American English with British English
• Story 2
• When I first arrived in Britain I had a lot of
  luggage with me. I asked someone in the hotel I
  was staying at to help me carry my two ports
  upstairs. They looked at me very blankly, as if I
  had come from Mars!

Why did they look at me blankly?
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Method 2 Comparison contrast across cultures

• Sample 1 kin terms
• Kin terms in the West (refer to p.116)
• In what situation do English people use kin
  terms?
• Kin terms in Chinese
• ??,??,??,??,?,?,?,?,??,??
• In what situations do Chinese people use kin
  terms?
• Why Chinese people often use kin terms
• Respectful of others
• Politeness to others
• Understatement of self

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Method 2 Comparison contrast across cultures

• Sample 2 Cultural connotation of colors
• Red
• In Chinese culture
• In Western culture

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Method 3 Multi-form demonstration

• Illustration by tutor, video, audio, print
  material
• ??????(????).MPG
• ????(??).MPG
• socialinteraction_Gu.MPG

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Method 4 Application of knowledge in case
analysis

• learner involvement in application of knowledge
  in case analysis
• See a sample on the next slide

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Method 4 Application of knowledge in case
analysis
Learner involvement in application of knowledge
in case analysis What would you do after
receiving this invitation? (refer to p. 143)

• Should you bring anything?
• When should you arrive?
• When should you leave?
• Should you offer help?
• What should you do after the party?

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Method 5 Making full use of BeiwaiOnline online
resources

• You may rely on the resources on BeiwaiOnline
  tutor platform.

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Assignment Features
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Assignment Features

• Case analysis essay writingassign
  specification.doc
• Focus on analysis of normative behavioral
  levels of comm.
• Sample of assignment
• Sample of learner paperassignment analysis 1.doc

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Assignment Web-page 1
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Assignment Web-page 2
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Resource Available Online
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Resource Available Online

• Tutorial material
• Learner preparationpreparation for units 3-4??
  .doc
• Compulsory reading materialreading material for
  units 3-4.doc
• Tutorial clips
• Tutorial presentation powerpoint slides
• Reference material per unit
• Reading passages 3 pieces
• Video/Audio clips 1 piece
• Website links 2 pieces
• Self-assessment exercises

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Tutorial Material Resource
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Reference Material Resource 1
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Reference Material Resource 2
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Self-assessment Exercises
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Demo of Tutorial Material

• Demo?????3-4??.ppt

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Recap

• Introduction of the course
• Position of the course in BeiwaiOnline modular
  course structure
• Structure, theme of the course
• Focus of the book
• Facts about learners
• Tutorial methods
• Assignment features
• Resource available on line
• A Demo of tutorial material

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Questions are welcome!