Cross Cultural Communication

Clark Erwin-BillonesEnglish Language FellowMinsk State Linguistic University, 2014-2015

What are the cross-cultural differences between our countries?

Mingle Activity: American Proverbs

▪ Each person will receive two proverbs

▪ Do not share your proverb with other classmates

▪ Read the proverbs and think about the meaning

▪ It is ok to not know the exact meaning, make an educated guess

▪ How do the proverbs relate to American cultural beliefs?

▪ Do the proverbs reflect Belarusian cultural beliefs or Russian language and/or cultural beliefs?

▪ When the mingle starts, find a partner and discuss what your proverb means & switch partners when the teacher yells, “MINGLE!”

Data… on English▪ English is now the official language or dominant language for 2

billion people in at least 75 countries. (2004) http://www.globalenvision.org/library/33/655

▪ 750 million people speak English as a foreign language, more than those who speak it as a native language. (2004) http://www.globalenvision.org/library/33/655

▪ 375 million people are speaking English as a second language. (2000) http://esl.about.com/od/englishlearningresources/f/f_eslmarket.htm

▪ Over 80% of interactions in English worldwide are now estimated to be between non-native speakers. (2011) http://www.academia.edu/459366/English_as_a_lingua_franca_in_education_-_Internationalisation_speaks_English

Cross Cultural Communication Continued…

▪ English is the official language of the Commonwealth of Nations, the European Union, the United Nations and the International Olympic Committeehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territorial_entities_where_English_is_an_official_language

▪Why is English so popular?

In What Spheres Is Cross-Cultural Communication Used?

▪ Internationalization of Education

▪ Global Business

▪ Access to Information & Technology/Internet

▪ Personal & Professional Development

Vocabulary Spotlight

▪Globalization

▪ Internationalization

▪Localization

▪Haptics

▪Proxemics

▪Ethnocentrism

▪Xenophobia

Defining Internationalization

▪ Global expansion of a concept, product or method

▪ Crossing borders

▪ Universal design concepts

http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-i18n

What is Localization?

Localization: adapting something to a specific location

Examples…

▪ Currency

▪ Keyboards

▪ Time/date formats

▪ Texts

▪ Symbols & graphicshttp://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-i18n

Cross Cultural Communication in Education

▪ 9.1% of students (4.4 million) were ELLs in the U.S. (2011-2012)National Center for Education Statistics- http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgf.asp

▪ 94% of upper secondary students in Europe learn English as a foreign language, according to new data published by Eurostat. (2013) http://www.euractiv.com/culture/english-reinforces-supremacy-eur-news-530728

Foreign students in Belarus

▪ 11,000 foreign students are studying in Belarusian universitieshttp://usa.mfa.gov.by/en/visit_Belarus/education_Belarus/

▪ 9,000 students from Turkmenistan

▪ “The Belarusian sidesuggested allocating land

possibly in the studentvillage for the sake of building a hall of residence for students from Turkmenistan and sport facilities nearby. ” http://eng.belta.by/all_news/president/Belarusian-universities-ready-to-welcome-more-students-from-Turkmenistan_i_76339.html

International Students

Estimated numbers of students studying abroad worldwide

▪ 2000: 1.8 million

▪ 2007: 2.8 million

▪ 2025: 7.2 million

(Böhm et al. 2002)

http://www.changemag.org/archives/back%20issues/march-april%202010/tracking-global-full.html

Internationalization Considerations

1. How does Internationalization affect local cultures and languages?

2. Does Internationalization benefit local cultures and individual countries?

Pop Quiz: Cross-Cultural Competence

1) Name two forms/types of non-verbal communication.

▪ Eye contact, smiling, body language

2) Name three countries where the people are not considered to be a haptic or culture that “touches” a lot.

▪ Germans, Estonians, British, Americans, Japanese, Scandinavians

3) Name three countries where the people are considered to be a haptic or “touching” culture.

▪ Russians, Indians, Turkish, French, Italians, Middle Easterners, Spanish, Greeks

Pop Quiz: Cross-Cultural Competence

1) Smiling is considered positive in all cultures. True or False?

False: In Korean culture, smiling shows shallowness and thoughtlessness.

▪ Korean Proverb: The man who smiles a lot is not a real man.

2) English is the official language of the USA. True or False

▪ False

Barriers to Cross-Cultural Communication

Small Dogs Communicating

Understanding non-verbal systems

Differing cultural perspectives (communal v. individual)

Gender roles Haptics (haptic technologies) Proxemics Ethnocentrism Xenophobia Stereotypes Incorporating Cross-cultural Communication in ELT: A Pedagogical Approach

http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/research/books/3rdsymposium/123to132-suneetha.pdf

▪ Larisa Petrova, a student from Russia, won a scholarship to go to an American university. She was very excited about going and did a lot of reading about American culture. Before her arrival, Larisa had read several books about America, its people and its culture. Despite her preparation, however, several confusing and frustrating incidents occurred during her first weeks.

▪ Larisa stayed up all night long writing a term paper for her psychology class. The next morning, during her Spanish class the teacher unexpectedly announced that they were going to have a pop quiz on the material they covered the last two classes. Larisa was afraid that she would fail it as she neither did her homework nor reviewed the material from the previous class. Bill, a friend and also a classmate in Spanish, seemed to be unconcerned about the quiz. During the quiz, Larisa was asking Bill for the answers to the questions she was not sure of. However, Bill seemed to be annoyed by her questions and did not want to share his answers. Larisa's feelings were hurt. To make the matter worse, the teacher, having seen what Larisa was doing, asked her to hand in her incomplete test and to leave the class.

How to Build Cross-Cultural Competence

Good Luck Cat

▪ Build Relationships focused on trust, kindness and respect

▪ Listen Empathetically to students’ questions and conversations

▪ Find Resources and Informationto make sense of other cultures

Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Knowhttp://iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html

Role Play: Acting out Conflicts

▪ Get into small groups (2-3 people)

▪ Create a cultural conflict based on one of the barriers to cross-cultural communication (body language, proxemics, stereotypes, gender roles)

▪ Every one in your group must take part

▪ Be creative and have fun!

Resources

http://eng.belta.by/all_news/president/Belarusian-universities-ready-to-welcome-more-students-from-Turkmenistan_i_76339.html Belarus Foreign Students

(Böhm et al. 2002) International Studentshttp://www.changemag.org/archives/back%20issues/march-april%202010/tracking-global-full.html

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli7029.pdf Haptic Technology

http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/research/books/3rdsymposium/123to132-suneetha.pdf Incorporating Cross-cultural Communication in ELT: A Pedagogical Approach

▪ Clark.erwinbillones@gmail.com

▪ Or

▪ +375.29.986.1300