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Cross-cultural Understanding and Appreciation

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Session Outline

Part 1 Cross-cultural Understanding and Intercultural Communication

Part 2 Research Methods in Cross-cultural and comparative Studies

Part 3 Cultural Change and Cross-cultural Adaptation

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Part 1 Cross-cultural Understanding and Intercultural Communication Introduction

1. The growing need of cross-cultural interactions

2. Culture defines value and behaviour

3. Language as a way of speaking the culture

4. Challenges in cross-cultural understanding

5. Cultural patterns and intercultural communication competence

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Videos: Apology behaviour across Chinese and British cultures Situation 1: A student didn’t turn up to the tutorial as

previously arranged. Situation 2: A student’s mobile phone rang in a one-

to-one tutorial Discussion: 1. Do you notice any differences?2. Why and how do you think these differences occur?3. Based on your won experience, have you noticed any

cross-cultural differences or mis-understanding due to cultural differences?

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Native speakers’ perception ‘Face-losing’ and ApologyBritish: If I was apologizing, I would never consider I

might lose face if I apologize. Chinese: Daoqian kending hui juede ziji diu mianzi, xinli shang

bu neng jieshou, daoqian shi chengren ziji zuole cuoshi, hui gei ren liuxia huai de yinxiang, ziran hui yingxiang mianzi, suoyi aiyu mianzi, yiban bu hui daoqian. (Apologizing is definitely face-losing and it is hard to accept because apologizing equals acknowledgement of one’s mistakes. Those mistakes might leave others a bad impression of you. So, for the sake of ‘face’, you’d better not apologize.)

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Native speakers’ perception British students didn’t think it is face-threatening to

challenge the tutorB: To decide whether to apologize or not in this situation,

face is not a concern. I think the driver in that situation is to do with whose fault it is and what the consequence of that action is to the person. So, I thought his response was reasonably appropriate, although he wasn’t apologizing necessarily. He said if and it’s conditional. Fair enough. I think it’s unjust if it’s automatically the student’s fault. There should be some negotiation.

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Native speakers’ perception Chinese students felt strong necessity to save the face for their tutor

especially when they believed they were rightC: Wo juede jibian shi laoshi zuo le, ye mei you biyou zhichu. Yingwei,

zheme zuo yiding hui rang laoshi diu mianzi. Yueshi juede shi laoshi cuo le, yueshi yao daoqian. Zhe yang ni jiu neng tixian dui laoshi de zunzhong. Yexu, yihou ta faxian shi ta cuole, ta jiu hui dui ni lingyan xiangdai, juede ni gei le ta mianzi. Suoyi zhe he shui dui shui cuo mieyou guanxi, guanjian zaiyu xiang laoshi biaoming ni dui ta de zunzhong. (I think even though it was the teacher’s fault, it wasn’t necessary to point it out, because if you do so, you will make the teacher feel losing her face. The more you are sure it is the teacher’s fault, the more important it is to apologize. Therefore, it demonstrates your respect to the teacher. Perhaps, one day, if she discovers that it was her fault, she would have a good impression of you because she realized you saved her face. Thus, it is nothing to do with whose mistake it was really. The key issue here is to show your respect to the teacher. )

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Basic Concept: Culture Kluckhohn (cited in Kroeber and Kluckhohn, p. 86) is widely

quoted:Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values.

Spencer-Oatey (2000:04) defines culture in terms of ethnolinguistic identity:Culture is a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioural conventions, and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member’s behaviour and each member’s interpretations of the ‘meaning’ of other people’s behaviour.

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Basic Concept: Cross-cultural Communication v.s. Intercultural Communication

Gudykunst (2003:01)

Cross cultural communication involves comparisons of communication across cultures.

Intercultural communication involves communication between people from different cultures.

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Basic Theory: Individualism and Collectivism Hofstede (1991:51) defines individualism and

collectivism as:

Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his other immediate family. Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

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Basic Theory: Communicative Styles

Individualism Consider individual Distinguish forms of

discourse less Pay attention to context

less Express explicitly and

directly People infer less

Collectivism Consider group Distinguish forms of

discourse more Pay attention to context

more Express inexplicitly and

indirectly People infer more (Fukushima 2000:134)

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Basic Theory: Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Variability Individualism-Collectivism Uncertainty Avoidance Power Distance Masculinity-Femininity

Chinese culture: Confucianism dynasims

e.g. ordering relationships by status and observing this order; having a sense of shame

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Basic Theory: Politeness Theory

Brown and Levinson’s ‘face’ (1978,1987)

‘the public self-image that everybody wants to claim for himself) (1987:06)

Positive face/Negative face The feature of Chinese face

The distinction between ‘lian’ and ‘mianzi’

Criticism on ‘negative face’ (Gu, 1990; Mao, 1994, Ide,1989)

Other-oriented face (Hu, 1944; Mao, 1994)

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Part 2 Research Methods in Cross-cultural and Comparative Studies Theoretical Dimensions 1. Methodological Features2. Theoretical Background3. Methods and Design4. Analysis Practical Dimensions1. Case Studies2. Design a Small Scale Cross-Cultural Study

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Methodological Features of Cross-cultural Studies Comparative Nature Cross-Cultural Studies as Quasi-Experiments Interpretability of Cultural Differencese.g. Stevenson et al, 1986 – significant cultural differences between first and

fifth graders in Japan and USA in test on math, reading and cognitive abilities

Genetic (e.g. Lynn 1994); Parental influence (Sigel 1988); School policy

(Stigler& Perry 1988) Bias as the Major Threat e.g. Being a good son or daughter has different connotation and involves

different behaviors in Chinese and an American context (Ho, 1996)

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Theoretical Background

Emic Approach Etic Approach

Studies behavior from within the system

Examines only one culture

Structure discovered by the analyst

Criteria are relative to internal characteristics

Studies behavior from a position outside the system

Examines many cultures, comparing them

Structure created by the analyst

Criteria are considered absolute or universal

Berry (1980, pp11-12)

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Theoretical Background Establishing Equivalence

“If comparisons are to be legitimately made across cultural boundaries, it is first necessary to establish equivalent bases upon which to make comparisons” (Lonner, 1979, p.27)

1. Functional equivalence (e.g. communication apprehension; USA v.s. Japan/Korea)

2. Conceptual equivalence (e.g. guanxi, hanxu in China v.s. assertiveness in UK)

3. Linguistic equivalence (e.g. native language v.s. non-native language)

4. Metric equivalence (e.g. response tendencies, Asians v.s. USA)

5. Sample equivalence (e.g. demographic information; representation)

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Theoretical BackgroundOverview of types of bias and their most common causes (van de

Vijver & Poortinga, 1997, p.26)

Type of bias Source

Construct Incomplete overlap of definitionsDifferential appropriatenessPoor sampling

Method Differential response styleDifferential social desirabilityDifferential familiarity with response proceduresLack of comparability of samplesTester/interviewer effectsDifferences in physical conditions of administration

Item Poor item translationInadequate item formulation

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Methods and Design

Selecting Cultures, Subjects, and Procedures

1. Sampling of Cultures Convenience sampling; systematic sampling; random sampling

2. Sampling of Subjects Strategies to use: matching; statistical control

3. ProcedureTester/interviewer; testee/interviewee; interaction between these

two; response procedures and stimulus materials

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Methods and Design Validity Enhancement1. Ensure the level of equivalence

2. Reduce bias

3. Enhance validity of cross-cultural assessment When implemented Technique

Before data collection

After data collection

Adoption or assembly of instruments

Development of new instruments

Repeated test administration

Triangulation

Experimental control of context variables

Item bias analysis

Application of differential norms

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Analysis Qualitative data 1. Content analysis: main theme 2. Descriptive analysis: categorisation and classification 3. Associate analysis: linkages between phenomena4. Developing explanations: making sense of patterns

and associations

Quantitative data 1. Descriptive statistics2. T-test 3. ANOVA

4. Multivariate analysis of covariance

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Case Studies Study 1:Apologies in Japanese, British and Canadian English

Study 2: Refusal strategies in Mandarin Chinese and American English

Study 3:Adolescent decision making and decision styles with Chinese and

Anglos

Study 4:Television commercials from the U.S., Japan, China, and Korea

Study 5: The concepts of individual, self, and group in Japanese, Japanese

American and European American

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Tasks

How did the study ensure equivalence? Did the study adopt etic or emic approach? Was the study biased in anyway? If so, what can be

improved and how? What instruments were used? How was the result

analyzed? How was the sampling procedure? Could you summarize the strength and weakness of the

research design?

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Summary Cross-cultural differences in scores on social and

behavioural measures tend to be open to multiple interpretations

Cross-cultural studies should assess in each group the appropriateness of construct bias, method bias, item bias

A wide variety of measures can be taken to enhance the validity of cross-cultural comparisons

The decomposition of culture into context variables is a methodologically powerful means to corroborate interpretations of cross-cultural differences and to reduce the number of alternative interpretations

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Summary

Equivalence should be established and cannot be assumed

Higher levels of equivalence are more difficult to establish

The interpretability of cross-cultural research is optimized by a combination of substantive, methodological, and statistical considerations

Cross-cultural research is essential in establishing the generalizability of theories and empirical results

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Part 3 Cultural Change and Cross-cultural adaptation

Existing theories Expectancy Violations Theory Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory Communication Accommodation Theory

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Expectancy Violations Theory Categorization and differentiatione.g. Role of teachers in China and BritainA Chinese graduate student coming to Britain indicated:

You know, for me, I found it very difficult. I came here with the expectation to be very friendly, to develop a very friendly and open relationship with my tutors, only to find that I’m only an outsider of their life, no one would like to invite me into themselves or into their life. And I only come here, it seems to me, to take advantage of their, you know, academic superiority, or whatever. It seems to me, so impersonal. It makes me feel uncomfortable.

Ambiguity

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Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory Dealing with anxietye.g. Many international students are uncomfortable in dealing with

anxiety as they see them as ‘losing face’ and instead of dealing with the real concerns, seek medical attention or academic assistance.

Discomfirmed expectations1. Setting more realistic expectations2. Considering cross-cultural experience as a learning

opportunity3. Learn more and experience more beyond the class In-Group versus Out-Groupe.g. understanding the host country students will already have in-

group ties with their own family and friends; mutual efforts

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Communication Accommodation Theory Sensitivity towards different cultural values Understanding of equality and freedom Acceptance and flexibility Active listening for different perspectives Awareness of one’s own cultural identity Active learning from various cross-cultural and

intercultural communication

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Cross-cultural Adjustment from an education perspective: Suggested Readings

Chinese Students’ Psychological and Sociocultural Adjustment to Britain

Learning and Teaching: A Cross-Cultural differences