Intercultural competence as an aspect of the communicative ...

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language classes, and that the knowledge they did possess came from sources outside the classroom. This only led to questions whether this was the case in higher education, more precisely, whether university students received intercultural training alongside their EFL or ESP classes and how interculturally competent they were. To give a more detailed answer there are four main research questions: RQ1 Are the Niš University students interculturally competent? RQ2 Do certain factors (i.e. stays abroad, FL learning, year of study, gender) significantly influence the ICC of students? RQ3 Is the ICC of English language students different from the ICC of students from other departments, due to intensive instruction in English coupled with culture and literature classes? RQ4 Are students competent to navigate certain intercultural encounters presented to them and what do they use in terms of attribution to account for IC differences? It was hoped that answers to these question would contribute to a better understanding of ICC in the university setting. Additionally, they might not only provide an insight into attitudinal elements but also offer a further understanding of the skills and knowledge needed for successful ICC, thus informing the practitioners of what students need to master to become able interculturally competent EFL speakers. 1.5. Limitations and delimitations of the study The study participants were the first-year humanities and social sciences students of the University of Niš, so the data obtained cannot be generalized beyond the study group to include the whole student population. Also, not all students enrolled in English language courses participated in the quantitative phase of the study, but only those actually present in the classroom at the time of conducting the questionnaire. Also, since the students shared their attribution to critical incidents in an artificial setting, the study does not claim that their behaviour would be the same in the real-life situations. 10
1.6. Definitions of terms A more detailed analysis of the concepts is given in the literature review section, since many of the terms have been re-defined in different fields and disciplines. Here, the most important terms for the present study will be defined, and they include: Attribution An important issue when discussing intercultural communication and competence is the way new information is processed and how inferences about the other culture are reached during the intercultural exchange. Jones and Davis (1965) (as cited in Gudykunst, Kim 1984) offered a theory of attribution – that is, of making inferences about one’s interlocutor in the intercultural exchange. The basic premise of the theory is that attribution is a rational activity during which participants in the exchange are trying to understand the other’s behaviour on the basis of their own situational factors. During this process there is ‘an increased likelihood that we will attribute the cause of [the participant’s] behavior to one particular characteristic – their cultural background of group membership’ (Gudykunst, Kim 1984: 25). Inevitably, attribution will result in mistakes, since participants ‘use different perspectives’ and therefore ‘there will never be perfect agreement between them as to what behavior means’ (Gudykunst, Kim 1984: 88). Wrong attributions may appear when it seems that cultures are similar enough, so participants stop looking for ‘explanations’ and understanding as soon as they think they have found a reasonable explanation. Also, wrong attribution may be a result of ‘the principle of negativity’ (Kanouse, Hanson 1972 as cited in Gudykunst, Kim 1984) when there is a tendency to overemphasise negative information about other people’s behaviour. In order to make any predictions about other people’s behaviour, one uses factors from three domains – cultural, sociocultural and psychological (Miller and Steinberg 1975). The more experience one has with a particular culture, the more accurate attributions will probably be. Also, the more one is familiar with the particular social group the interlocutor belongs to, the better predictions there will be. Then, on a psychological level, ‘predictions are based on the specific people we are communicating with’ (Gudykunst, Kim 1984: 26). Finally, we put all these elements into categories which we learn as part of our socialization into a particular culture and then use to make sense of the world, and ultimately, to make sense of other people’s behaviour. Individuals tend to make two kinds of attributions (Heider 1958) – one is dispositional attributions where someone’s behaviour is explained by factors specific to 11
Page 1: UNIVERSITY OF NOVI SAD FACULTY OF P
Page 4 and 5: Fizički opis rada: FO 6 poglavlja
Page 6 and 7: UNIVERSITY OF NOVI SAD FACULTY OF P
Page 8 and 9: esults, showing a considerable lack
Page 10 and 11: 2.5.1. Introduction 105 2.5.2. Tech
Page 12 and 13: LIST OF TABLES Table PAGE Table 3.1
Page 14 and 15: LIST OF FIGURES Figure PAGE Figure
Page 17 and 18: ABSTRACT With the increased interco
Page 19 and 20: APSTRAKT Ciljevi nastave engleskog
Page 21 and 22: CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION 1.1. Backg
Page 23 and 24: enough attention is given to interc
Page 25: shows that in spite of an allegedly
Page 29 and 30: group differentiates between in- an
Page 31 and 32: For the purpose of the present stud
Page 33 and 34: CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.
Page 35 and 36: the experience. Finally, the concep
Page 37 and 38: problem, but culture is still seen
Page 39 and 40: Keesing (1974) proposes a definitio
Page 41 and 42: to the complexity of the concept (B
Page 43 and 44: 2.1.2. Cultural awareness Cultural
Page 45 and 46: Ronnau (1994) states that CC requir
Page 47 and 48: Culture Language world knowledge sp
Page 49 and 50: The iceberg theory Since culture is
Page 51 and 52: Hofstede’s onion layers model Hof
Page 53 and 54: Spencer-Oatey’s model In order to
Page 55 and 56: 2.2.2. Communicative competence mod
Page 57 and 58: This observation will be important
Page 59 and 60: the ‘development of social respon
Page 61 and 62: Celce-Murcia In 1995, Celce-Murcia
Page 63 and 64: as dependent on ‘the cultural fea
Page 65 and 66: also ‘the cognitive, affective, a
Page 67 and 68: The two prevailing comments on Hall
Page 69 and 70: The success in intercultural compet
Page 71 and 72: already mentioned categorisation of
Page 73 and 74: how they guide one’s behaviour. F
Page 75 and 76: the experiential, cognitive and soc
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put forth not only definitions but
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training which students received be
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no link between positive attitudes
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subjective process. Some authors ra
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easily’ (Oksaar 1990: 242), as th
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process of cross-cultural mediation
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stage, but it is a teacher’s role
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Ruben’s behavioural approach Rube
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The first one is Denial of differen
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This stage is a goal of IC training
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Beamer proposes a model that has fi
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Hofstede’s culture dimensions Hof
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The model has been among the first
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Internal vs. external distinction s
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these ‘can be achieved through st
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implementation in the classroom. Ho
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language mastery, and incorporates
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connected to the skills of discover
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Another important characteristic of
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Intercultural Competence Assessment
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Kramer The model that Kramer (2000)
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component is the situation in which
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hand, an inductive approach since a
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‣ gain awareness of the things th
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into practice certain forms they sh
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a culture (values and beliefs every
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eporting that people gave a more fa
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for their preparation for a society
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web-based self-study. The course wa
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esearch in the area of ICC in our r
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However, despite positive results t
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Understandably, there was a clear d
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aimed at teachers 27 , or teachers
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CHAPTER III - METHODOLOGY 3.1. Intr
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certain of their findings; it enhan
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students in the research are the fi
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which represents a degree of comple
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different groups of students who ha
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phase, a qualitative technique, an
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of the interview, here too, the epi
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these reasons the culture assimilat
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irritated by the kids’ behaviour
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The curriculum of the Faculty of Ec
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with information gathered in interv
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classrooms varied greatly. Not only
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insight into the research, but only
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esearch notes, where the first inte
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3.9. Summary In this chapter the re
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CHAPTER IV - RESULTS 4.1. Introduct
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For the Intrapersonal domain that i
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Serbian Mean 2,9182 3,4176 3,9778 4
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English language students In order
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Total 330 Affect 1 233 169,46 39563
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Even thought language instruction c
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there was a statistically significa
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willingness to engage with others w
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showed confidence about their inter
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In order to be analysed, the interv
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Then, the interviewees were asked t
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4.4.2. Attributions The central par
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judgments and finally, to probe for
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Some kind of prejudice that Serbs a
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4.4.2.3. Socializing As an importan
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Maybe he wasn’t ready, maybe his
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In another critical incident from s
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We talked about that in Sociology o
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4.4.2.6. Family life There were two
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The ability to create an intercultu
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Lastly, not all interviewees provid
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CHAPTER V - DISCUSSION 5.1. Introdu
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subdomains. However, the idea of th
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academic year in the USA. However,
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contact with other nations we are b
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one’s intercultural learning, sen
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However, the knowledge of customs o
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a significant role in each of the c
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It is interesting that none of the
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FL training should be employed to h
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al. 2012) and, since authority of i
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the seniors in the firm. However, t
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5.2.7. Intercultural awareness Fina
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interviews were basic and very simp
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e only implied. Although the mean o
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5.4. Summary In this chapter the re
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CHAPTER VI - CONCLUSION 6.1. Conclu
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the students for the most part foun
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Another limitation is that the rese
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The research tool used for the pres
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REFERENCES Aguilar, M. J. C. (2008)
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Bennett, M.J. (2004). Becoming inte
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Byram, M., M. Fleming (Eds.) (1998)
Page 259 and 260:
Dahl, S. (2004). Intercultural Rese
Page 261 and 262:
Fennes, H., K. Hapgood (1997). Inte
Page 263 and 264:
Nishida (Eds.), Communication in pe
Page 265 and 266:
Ignjačević, A. (1998). Stavovi o
Page 267 and 268:
Kovalainen, N. (2005). Students’
Page 269 and 270:
Lincoln, Y.S., E. Guba (1985). Natu
Page 271 and 272:
Current Trends in European Second L
Page 273 and 274:
Rickheit, Gert, H. Strohner, C. Vor
Page 275 and 276:
Sheḳedi, A. (2005). Multiple Case
Page 277 and 278:
The Common European Framework of Re
Page 279 and 280:
Yarbro, C.L.M. (1988). An assessmen
Page 281 and 282:
APPENDICES Appendix 1 - Informed co
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Appendix 3 - Permission to use the
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Appendix 4 - The Global Perspective
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Appendix 5- GPI subdomain items Kno
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Appendix 6 - Transcription conventi
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43 R Da li misliš da smo mi toliko
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uopšte, ima samo par profesora koj
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Appendix 8 - Critical incidents use
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(18) Ešli je u Srbiji već jedan m
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d) Showing one’s love interest mi
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6. Jack came to Serbia to be a mana
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9. Veljko is an exchange student of
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) Dusan took the colleague too seri
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a) There aren’t many strict rules
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Ashley: Can’t we at least split i
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d) He thinks that he is intentional
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Appendix 11 - Tables and figures Ta
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Table A.3 Stays abroad and subdomai
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Figure A.3 Department comparison on
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