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Intercultural Communication in a Global World

Module description

The 21st century is characterised by increasing transnational movements (of people, products, socio-cultural practices, etc.) which affect individual and collective perceptions and understanding of one’s own culture, language, and identity. To succeed in such complex multilingual and multicultural environments, intercultural awareness, and competence, (the ability to recognise diversity and to function effectively in culturally diverse contexts) is fundamental. This team-taught module will help you deepen your understanding of intercultural communication in a wide range of settings, such as business and organisational contexts, and support the development of a non-essentialist view of culture to avoid stereotyping, prejudice, and othering. This is of particular relevance whether encounters are temporary, as in the case of tourism, or prolonged such as a period of study or work abroad, and migration. Adopting a global perspective, the module will give you the opportunity 1) to reflect critically on your own intercultural encounters, critical incidents, and culture shocks you may have experienced, and develop your intercultural competence, as well as an opportunity 2) to explore in depth verbal, nonverbal and visual data you have collected.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Examine key theoretical perspectives on identity, language and culture, and explore how these  concepts affect and inform the dynamics of interactions in multilingual and multicultural settings.
• Explore what intercultural communication is and how an ability to understand diversity and respond effectively and appropriately to unfamiliar cultural practices is an essential competence in any international working and social environment to avoid prejudice, bias, and ‘othering’.
• Develop a greater sensitivity to cultural and linguistic diversity through engagement with critical concepts such as culture, identity, othering, bias and discrimination, mis/communication, culture shock, and acculturation in a range of different contexts and through different media.
• Develop intercultural competence and reduce ethnocentric attitudes.

The module adopts an interdisciplinary approach, and it will help you to develop a familiarity with different analytical tools and approaches, as well as the ability to reflect critically on your own experience and design and develop an individual research project.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate understanding of the key theoretical notions and concepts in Intercultural Communication Theory as well as their relevance in multilingual and multicultural contexts, and in particular diverse working environments.
• 2. Demonstrate the development of intercultural competence through critical reflection on your personal experience and the analysis of data which illustrate instances of cultural diversity and/or mis/understanding, bias and prejudice in a broad range of contexts including business and organisation contexts.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Recognise, describe, and evaluate, under guidance from the module tutor/s, a variety of critical responses to case studies and sources.
• 4. Identify, research and analyse critically situations in which aspects of cultural diversity may impact on communication and interaction in global contexts.
• 5. Recognise and understand the role of language/s as a key locus of personal and sociocultural identity as well as of intercultural mis/understanding.
• 6. Demonstrate understanding of and ability to apply relevant theories of intercultural communication and intercultural communicative competence to your life experience, real-life scenarios and business and organisational contexts.
• 7. Engage with a variety of research approaches, including ethnography of communication, contrastive pragmatics, and discourse analysis.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Develop intercultural awareness and competence based on engagement with a variety of readings and case studies, as well as critical reflection on your experience.
• 9. Undertake a small independent research project, which may involve data collection and use of appropriate intercultural communication key concepts and analytical frameworks

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Language, culture, and identity
• Approaches to intercultural communication
• Intercultural mis/communication: bias, prejudice, and othering in the workplace
• Intercultural transitions: Immigration and acculturation
• Language bias and prejudice in the workplace
• Intercultural competence in business discourse and advertising
• Gender in intercultural encounters
• Intercultural issues in films and media
• Tourism as an intercultural challenge
• Interculturality in the workplace
• Language/s in interaction: Crossing linguistic and cultural bridges
• Managing and resolving intercultural conflicts: Becoming an effective intercultural mediator

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Successful referred students will receive the maximum achievable mark of 40 for their essay. Successful deferred students will have their re-assessment treated as a first attempt, thus the full range of marks will be available.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bok, D. C. (2009). The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Sage.
• Guirdham, M., & Guirdham, O. (2017). Communicating across cultures at work. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Holliday, A., Hyde, M., & Kullman, J. (2010). Intercultural communication: An advanced resource book for students. Routledge.
• Holliday, A. (2010). Intercultural Communication & Ideology: SAGE Publications. Sage.
• Holliday, A. (2018). Understanding intercultural communication: Negotiating a grammar of culture. Routledge.
• Holliday, A. (2021). Contesting grand narratives of the intercultural. Routledge.
• Hua, Z. (2018). Exploring intercultural communication: Language in action. Routledge.
• Jackson, J. (Ed.). (2012). The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
• Jackson, J. (2014). Introducing language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
• Kotthoff, H., & Spencer-Oatey, H. (Eds.). (2007). Handbook of intercultural communication (Vol. 7). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Oetzel, J. G., & Ting-Toomey, S. (2006). The Sage handbook of conflict communication: Integrating theory, research, and practice. Sage Publications.
• Rings, G., & Rasinger, S. (Eds.). (2020). The Cambridge handbook of intercultural communication. Cambridge University Press.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=6568

Key words search

Intercultural competence and intercultural communication, identity, culture, conflicts, othering and prejudice, media representations, workplace