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Online program design is important for cross-cultural learning and cultural awareness and responsiveness. Because of the importance of these areas in journalism and similar fields, this research studies an intercultural "bridge" project with journalism and media-related students at a southwest U.S. university and four universities in Yemen. The paper presents an analysis of the students' experience of the cultural exchange on the platform, Slack, of journalism, and other types of media. Data demonstrated the impact of learning about each culture, and interculturally, through students' and instructors' perspectives versus news coverage provided by mainstream media. Intercultural bridge building and relationship development through collective activities and journalistic work also offered promise. The study also revealed impediments to seamless cultural exchanges and learning, and barriers to effective intercultural communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on an ethnographically-informed case study of a Canadian university that is experiencing growth and systems change through three initiatives: internationalization, intercultural education, and Indigenization. The article describes the goals of internationalization and "interculturalization" (a term coined at the university) at the site of the case study. The study then examines points of convergence and tensions between internationalization and interculturalization and emerging Indigenization initiatives. The work draws upon conceptualizations of "imaginaries" in higher education, and identifies that plural imaginaries exist within a single institution, creating opportunities for convergence but also over–reach by particular actors. We conclude that imaginaries are a useful conceptual tool for understanding the broad-based goals of higher education and identifying their varied rationales and also for understanding intra-institutional dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review assessed the requirements and importance of intercultural communication competence (ICC) in human life in the 21st Century, focusing on its practical aspects and elements. The results reported in the current study are from a review of 45 papers published from 2000 to 2023 in 16 different Web of Science and SCOPUS-indexed journals. To record and select the related and required papers, an online search was done using two key terms, "intercultural competence" and "intercultural communication competence," and through the use of WoS and SCOPUS databases. A total of 87 items were recorded from the online search, and after a quick review of all records, 45 papers were selected and reviewed thoroughly. Based on the results from the reviewed papers, ICC is one of the main requirements of human life in today's globalized world, especially in modern education and international business. Findings indicate that the absence of ICC is a crucial reason for failure in many modern professionals. Based on the results, cultural awareness and intercultural sensitivity, language proficiency, empathy, flexibility, and some other traits and skills are among the main components of ICC. The results indicate that staying and studying in multicultural environments, participating in cultural programs, observing felling and emotions, flexibility, and other factors, discussed in the current work, help individuals improve their ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) plays a significant role in learning a foreign language. Therefore, it is important to measure the ICC level of language learners before taking actions to improve the educational process. The present study aimed at developing an ICC Scale to measure the perceived ICC level of Academic English students studying in the Foreign Language Division of an international university. The participants of the study consisted of 325 first year students in their second semester in the 2021 to 2022 academic year enrolled in 48 English-medium instructed (EMI) departments. In order to produce a reliable and valid ICC Scale, statistical data were analyzed through software programs. Further, the Exploratory Factor Analysis generated an 18-item Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) Scale with four factors, namely knowledge, awareness, attitude, and skills. Additionally, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis results confirmed and validated the four factors. Consequently, the ICC Scale was found to be highly reliable in measuring the perceived ICC level of students and had a high internal consistency. The newly designed ICC Scale proves to be a useful instrument for measuring the perceived ICC level of language learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While English as a second language is a component of the education programme in Nunavik, Canada, Inuit (Indigenous people of the Arctic) need to protect Inuktitut (Inuit language) as they navigate an online world where English is often the lingua franca on social media. Inuit qaujimajatuqangit (traditional knowledge) could provide the framework for decolonizing English as a second language education, as it has guided Inuit through centuries of change. This narrative literature review with commentary analysed 50 studies and related resources, summarizing Nunavik's colonial history of linguistic imperialism and how some Indigenous communities resisted colonialism by decolonizing their education programmes. This analysis found a gap in studies specific to decolonizing English as a second language education in the Inuit context; therefore, the findings extrapolated that Inuit can decolonize by decentralizing colonial practices and centralizing Inuit qaujimajatuqangit and Inuktitut. The literature review offers pedagogical recommendations for decolonizing English as a second language education in Nunavik and other Indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scoping literature review examines the extent of research in second-language learning through intercultural communication on social media, specifically in Inuit (Indigenous people of the Arctic) communities. The investigation maps out gaps in the literature and explains the need for research in the Inuit context. Forty-seven studies and related resources are examined through a conceptual lens focused on the intersections between intercultural communication, social media, and Indigenous peoples, revealing concentrations on authentic interaction, Indigenous identity, language revitalization, and maintenance. Particular to the Inuit context, the analysis identifies the following gaps: (a) intercultural communication in second-language learning and Inuit; (b) second language learning through social media and Inuit; and (c) intercultural communication in second-language learning via social media and Inuit. None of the studies reviewed describe pedagogical applications for Inuit. This scoping literature review suggests future research and curriculum development that could be implemented in the Inuit context, particularly in Nunavik. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Going beyond the practical obstacles of and facilitators for inclusive government communication, this study stresses the underlying tension between democratic and bureaucratic values in administrative structures and its implication for inclusive communication. The clash between on the one hand efficiency, market-driven patterns, and impartiality and on the other hand individual rights, advocating equal rights and social justice shows that in coming to terms with the reality of superdiverse societies governments need to reconcile these values on the level of actual decision-making and behavior by public communication practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the content strategies of 12 Chinese universities' international websites. Going beyond the Hofstede–Hall model, we explore a novel mixed-method study using both content strategy analysis and user research to investigate intercultural web-based communication strategies. Our study identifies the impacts of Chinese cultural and socio-political values on web content and the mismatch between such values and the information needs of globally distributed prospective students. We conclude that universities' web content strategies should fully understand target audiences' needs. Designers benefit from doing stakeholder interviews and competitor analysis to provide relevant, accurate, and accessible information to users from different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how racial and linguistic identities are constructed on the Australian reality TV show Border Security. Based on an analysis of 108 episodes of the show involving 253 border force officers and 128 passengers, we explore how the hegemonic Australian identity of the White native speaker of English is constructed on the show. Officers are represented as a relatively uniform group of heroes devoted to protecting Australia's national security. Simultaneously, most of them look white and sound like native speakers of Australian English. In contrast to the officers, passengers, as their antagonists, do not have a predominant racial or linguistic profile. They are represented as highly diverse. What unites them is not any racial or linguistic profile but that they represent a security risk. Threat thus comes to be mapped onto diversity. The show's schema of heroes and antagonists invites the audience to identify with the heroes. By identifying with the White-English heroes, the audience also comes to take on their power of judgment over its diverse linguistic and racial Others. The analysis shows how the White-English identity bundle is constructed as the authoritative and legitimate position of the judging knower. The article's main contribution is to show how the raciolinguistic construct of the White-English complex is made hegemonic in a diverse society officially committed to multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intercultural communication is one of the most important competencies of nurses that enhances the health-care process and increases the quality of care in multicultural environments. Aims: This study was conducted to revise the Turkish Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension Scale. Methods: This methodological study was conducted between November and December 2021 with 321 female and 96 male university students (mean age 20.78 ± 2.04 (min. = 17, max. = 37)). Revision of the Turkish Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension Scale included factor analysis, test–retest analysis for reliability, correlation-based item analysis, Cronbach's alpha internal consistency analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Analysis results showed that the scale was composed of 12 items and explained 56.79% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was found to be 0.88. Internal consistency analysis included item–total score correlations; the values were found to range between −0.59 and 0.79 and the 14th item with negative item–total score correlations was excluded from the scale. Conclusion: The results of this study show that the revised Turkish Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension Scale is a valid and reliable tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored intercultural communication from the perspectives of partners from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. We used a culturally responsive form of video-reflexive ethnography to study intercultural communication processes between Yolŋu, pronounced Yolngu (First Nations people from the region that is now called North-East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia) and Balanda (non-Indigenous people). Yolŋu and Balanda researchers worked collaboratively throughout the study (2017–2021). In a very remote Yolŋu community in northern Australia, five early childhood assessment interactions were recorded and analysed by the 40 Yolŋu and Balanda participants. Researchers analysed data collaboratively using an approach aligned with constructivist grounded theory. We connected key research findings about intercultural communication processes to a place-based metaphor which foregrounds Yolŋu cultural knowledge and encourages reflection on deeper ways of thinking about how we connect, collaborate and communicate interculturally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests adding a social justice framework to the questions that Kostelnick suggests to help students investigate culture in "Seeing Difference." Using visual rhetoric to teach technical communication is beneficial for students; however, problematic representations of culture may unintentionally appear in visual design and are easy to overlook. Using a social justice framework that promotes a contextual study of culture should allow technical communication instructors to prepare students to investigate the social and political aspects of culture. This paper, therefore, revisits "Seeing Difference" and asks that technical communication instructors guide students to research sociopolitical aspects of culture and visuals to develop designs that are interculturally appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architecture of Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ), set up under Her Highness Sheikha Moza Al-Misnedd and the Qatar Foundation, spatially embodies new possibilities because AIA Gold Medal award-winning architect Ricardo Legorreta designed buildings that both challenge and encompass Gulf Arabian tradition. The buildings exemplify, enact, and embody new ways of experiencing gendered educational identity that also honors traditional local values. This architecture is important because TAMUQ is a U.S. institution that serves several different international student populations. This article emphasizes how TAMUQ functions as a heterotopia, one which creates embodied experiences of gender, education, and identity and requires what Rogoff termed "a curious eye" to discern how these educational spaces reflect changing identities in the Gulf states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As advancements in technology rapidly progress and the enrollment of international students continues to increase concurrently, understanding the impact of social media on their experiences has become an area of significant academic interest in the recent decade. This integrative review employs a hybrid review approach, integrating bibliometric analysis with structured review, to provide a comprehensive overview and systematic synthesis of the literature on social media use among international students. One hundred twenty-one studies retrieved from the Web of Science database were analyzed to delineate the evolution of the field and identify the influential journals. The paper further proposes an integrative framework that thematically summarizes the phenomenon, aiming to highlight the potent components in students’ transitions. This review offers insights into the evolving landscape of social media use among international students, identifying potential directions for future study and policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study aims to discuss cultural intelligence levels and intercultural communication apprehension of nurses. Method: This study was designed as a descriptive and cross-sectional study, and it was conducted with 252 nurses working in a hospital in a south city of Turkey. The research data were collected via a "Personal Information Form" designed by the researchers, "The Cultural Intelligence Scale," and "The Intercultural Communication Apprehension Scale." Results: It was concluded that nurses had moderate levels of cultural intelligence and intercultural communication apprehension, which were positively correlated (p <.001). Cultural intelligence levels and intercultural communication apprehension were further correlated with certain variables such as age, gender, job duration, foreign language proficiency, and their experiences in foreign countries (p <.05). Discussion: In light of the results, it was suggested that moderate levels of intercultural communication apprehension can be a supportive factor in developing cultural intelligence. It was also added that preventing excessive intercultural communication apprehension and supporting nurses to improve language skills and to have abroad experience may be beneficial in developing cultural intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses examples from a case of everyday technical and professional communication (TPC) at a small multinational company on the Mexico–U.S. border to illustrate how coordinating analytical frameworks commonly used in TPC analyses—activity theory (AT) and actor-network theory (ANT)—can help TPC scholars and practitioners negotiate interpreting others' asynchronous communication fairly and justly, even in complex, intercultural contexts. The examples illustrate why developing normative ethics for the 21st century requires attention to the ways that goal-oriented activity and the flat, networked interaction of the human, nonhuman, and black-boxed forces intersect in everyday TPC practitioners' lives and work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a reexamination of intercultural components in prominent, recent technical professional communication textbooks. This examination reveals the need for the technical professional communication field to establish a dynamic definition of culture as well as presents a possible definition, presents areas where textbooks have addressed previous scholars' concerns as well as areas that could still use improvement and may require instructors to add supplemental instruction, and presents considerations for instructors when incorporating intercultural component elements into their courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uncovers language-related issues that skilled female migrants face and what their strategies are to (re-)build their careers after migrating. Using an inductive, interpretative research methodology, the author conducted 19 in-depth interviews with skilled German women who had migrated to France. Contrary to the findings of extant research, the study revealed that host country language proficiency played a minor role in the migration motivation, choice of destination, and labor market integration in this sample. However, the informants' mother tongue (German) and their proficiency in English were perceived as competitive advantages when it came to integrating into the labor market. For some, these particular language skills even led to a conscious change of career. The findings demonstrate that language proficiency goes beyond grammatical mastery but relates, more importantly, to culture-sensitive communication skills underlining the importance of investigating language associated with the concept of culture. This study contributes to the language-related literature on international migration by combining different strands of research and levels of analysis to obtain a more holistic picture of the complex impact of language and its culture-relatedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of traditional folk songs and dances in the development of intercultural communication among elementary school children. Since we live in a multicultural society, it is necessary to develop the awareness of young people regarding the need to nurture harmonious relations among nations. The paper outlines the results of the empirical research aimed at determining whether the eighth-grade students from Central Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija know which nations live in their region and what their traditional songs and dances are. The results of the survey show that most students know the nations living in their vicinity but do not know their traditional songs and dances. This indicates that this kind of information and teaching content were not recognized and used as a means of interethnic connection, getting familiar with and understanding other nations. Traditional songs and dances can be a significant factor of successful intercultural communication in elementary schools if teachers recognize and use their potential. Descriptive method as well as the analysis and synthesis were used in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines an entrepreneurial public diplomacy initiative led by U.S. Embassy in Athens in the form of a hackathon to address the refugee crisis in Greece. Drawing from the public diplomacy framework and principles of intercultural communication, the analysis focused on communication strategies used to bring together a diverse range of stakeholders to work on solutions for the refugees in Athens. Results show that when stakeholders commit to transparent communication and foster intercultural dialogue in a structured format, people from different backgrounds can work collaboratively on entrepreneurial initiatives. Also, by allowing refugees to be equal participants in the hackathon, the organizers empowered them to actively participate in creating solutions for their community, which helped to reinvent how the larger Athens community perceived them as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing reflects some of the different characteristics of the language being used and of the people who are communicating. The present paper focusses on the internal written communication in international and inter-disciplinary research projects. Using a case study of an international public health research project, it argues that the authorship and the languages used in internal project communication are not neutral but help to generate or reinforce power hierarchies. Within research partnerships, language thus raises ethical issues that have so far been neglected. Current ethics guidelines often focus on interactions between scientists and participants of social research and clinical trials, with less attention paid to the interactions among the scientists themselves. Describing all the different project phases based on writing within a research project, the paper distinguishes different influences on the distribution of power that emerge through a focus on written communication. The focus of the present paper is to illuminate the issues of ethics, power and the dimensions of hierarchy, physical location and native versus non-native English speakers that arise from paying attention to such communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid expansion of South Korean investment in Asia and Africa highlights a need to understand how local staff manage intercultural communication, particularly involving conflict with their superiors. South Korea is Vietnam's largest investor and the Southern Key Economic Zone hosts the majority of 1252 projects and 70,000–80,000 South Koreans working in Vietnam. This paper reports on a mixed methods data set comprising 356 survey responses and nine in-depth interviews of Vietnamese workers at South Korean companies in Bình Dương province. According to workers, the main causes of conflict in workplace interactions with Korean managers are 'differences in working culture' – especially about workplace time use – and 'attitude differences'. The most popular solution from both sides is to apologise. However, workers report frequently remaining silent when they are verbally abused. This research shows that intercultural communication is an ongoing and dynamic interpersonal process that is influenced by social, contextual and individual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a multinational company, daily written communication between staff, supervisors, customers, and suppliers is frequently conducted using digital tools (e.g., emails, smartphones, and texting applications) often across multiple nationally, linguistically, and conceptually defined borders. Determining digital tools' impact on intercultural encounters in professional environments like these is difficult but important given the sheer volume of digital contact in technical and professional environments and the ongoing global struggle to broker peace and productivity amid communities' many perceived differences. Using examples drawn from a case study of binational manufacturing sister companies, I build on recent work in professional, networked written communication to analyze two WhatsApp exchanges, one between a central study participant and his customer, another between the participant and an employee. This study shows how asynchronous digital communication tools created complex "silences" in writing between participants. In these silences (e.g., a lack of or delayed response to a text) individuals try to explain others' actions for themselves. Drawing on a combination of third-generation activity theory and Latourian actor-network theory, I show that while explaining others' actions in writing with whatever cultural shorthand is available may remain a common part of everyday life and research, it can be a poor guide for explaining others' actions, especially in digital writing. My study shows how research of, and instruction in, digital tool use in intercultural writing contexts requires attention to the material conditions and objectives potentially shaping one's own as well as others' composition choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the special issue offers a brief report on the proceedings from the 16th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP16) and concludes with an invitation to participate in the upcoming ICLASP17 (Hong Kong, 2020). The nine papers selected for this special issue represent the diversity of scholarship and methodology presented at ICLASP16 (held in Edmonton, Canada, 2018). It includes student debut work, student-faculty collaborative pieces, keynote addresses, competitive papers, and an invited state-of-the-scholarship review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of cooperative learning and blog instruction in a culturally mixed group on decreasing intercultural communication apprehension. The study was implemented in classrooms that include Lebanese and non-Lebanese participants at two universities in Lebanon. The study used a pretest–posttest experimental design, whereby five writing intact classes were randomly assigned to control and experimental conditions. One hundred two (N = 102) university students from diverse cultural backgrounds participated in the study. The Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension survey and the interview as a qualitative method were used to elicit data to validate or reject the main assumption of the study. The analysis of the emergent themes along with the comparison between results of the pre and post of the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension proved the effectiveness of cooperative instruction through the use of blogs in decreasing the students' intercultural communication apprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study developed a mixed-methods coding scheme to explore the degree of correspondence between Latino patients' and their psychotherapists' descriptions of the presenting problems. We interviewed 34 patients and clinicians (17 dyads) following an initial therapy session. Using a theoretical thematic approach, we generated a list of problem areas reported in participants' descriptions. Independent coders reliably rated the presence and salience of these problems using a quantitative index. We then statistically estimated the fit between corresponding narratives. We found poor congruence across dyads' descriptions of all problem areas, with two exceptions. We also noted patterns of incongruences, primarily characterized by therapists providing explanations that went beyond what their patients said. This study provides an innovative objective approach to estimate the nuanced degrees of concordance within dyads' narratives. Our findings provide initial evidence of poor match between views held by Latino patients and their clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores contextual factors that influenced teacher leadership behavior during the evolution of a dual language education program for elementary Englishlanguage learners. Teachers' narratives provide evidence of the relative strength of school leadership streams, that is, relationships, moral purpose, and commitment to action. However, emergent themes reveal that the primary obstacle to progress was intercultural communication. Diverse teachers struggled to work collaboratively on committees, which ultimately affected group decision-making and the progress of the program. Although teacher preparation programs and schools are focusing on culturally responsive pedagogy, the data indicate that cultural competence among colleagues warrants attention as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological models of second language (L2) communication have focused on cognitive, affective, and motivational precursors to L2 communication, while largely neglecting sociostructural factors. One way to conceptualize structural variables is in terms of social network reciprocity (mutually acknowledged network ties) and brokerage (social intermediaries). To investigate whether network positions predict willingness to communicate in the second language (L2 WTC), a cohort of English-for-Academic-Purposes students (N = 67) was surveyed about discussion partners within the group. An autologistic actor attribute model was used to examine social network patterns of L2 WTC. As hypothesized, students involved in reciprocal structures reported stronger L2 WTC, as well as those in brokerage positions between larger social clusters. Contrary to initial hypotheses, local forms of brokerage held a negative association with WTC, suggesting the possible role of network closure. Results indicate that communicativeness is supported by tight-knit predictable exchanges, and by being in a position to influence the social diffusion of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low employment rate, owing to lack of aptly skilled workforce, is one of the major concerns of the Indian Information Technology (IT) sector. The study employed ranking-type Delphi method with an aim to identify those communication competencies which the employers of the Indian IT industry deem crucial for intercultural business interactions. A panel of 10 experts was created, and a total of 3 iterations were administered to achieve a satisfactory level of consensus among experts regarding the most important intercultural communication competencies (ICCs) for the Indian IT industry. Initially, a list of 25 competencies, identified through literature review, was sent to experts to be ranked. After the third iteration, the study provided a set of 10 ICCs for which there was strong agreement among the experts. Challenges and limitations have been discussed in brief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article theorises the process of adapting my research on intercultural communication for public performance in collaboration with a theatre company. I frame the collaboration as taking place within a hospitable institutional space, and then consider what it means to enact hospitality interpersonally, given Derrida's understanding that the condition of its possibility is at the same time the condition of its impossibility. I suggest that the enactment of hospitality can be understood through the application of an intercultural theoretical framework based on Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of outsideness, and that this framework can be applied to both the collaboration with the theatre company and to the purposes of public engagement with research. I conclude with a consideration of the relationship between hospitality and hope, and a call to move towards a ‘condition of possibility’ for working as academics, for public engagement, and for living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two cultural texts, Philip Roth’s Nemesis and Ridley Scott’s Alien, based on cognitive linguistic approaches to figurative language in communication, cognitive metaphor theory and its pragmalinguistic applications. It explores how far very similar image schemas are functionally employed across modes and genres to communicate a certain affect, in this case horror, to a global, culturally diverse audience. The results are put into the perspective of ongoing debates about the universality and variation of metaphors and image schemas across types of texts and, in extrapolation, across cultures. The paper aims to contribute to discussions about the functions and modalities of intercultural transfers of literature and popular culture, combining the cognitive, the linguistic and the cultural dimension of literary texts communicating across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An online survey is reported that was carried out with more than 385 social media users aged 18 and over and extracted from nine Arab countries; Bahrain, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan and Yemen. This research focuses on the use of Facebook by a selected group called Open Media Library (OML) which have interests in social media use. The aim of this research is to understand how and why users utilise Facebook and what their attitudes and perceptions are towards the purposes of Facebook. It examines how OML users utilise information and knowledge posted on Facebook, their preferred topics and motivations and the gratifications they obtained. As stated in the literature, this research confirms that Facebook can be used/defined as communication, collaboration and resourcesharing, as well as for intercultural communication and intercultural relationships. Curiosity and escapism, communication and experience, friendship and entertainment and identification of news and events are the main motivations for using Facebook. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the future of social media and its impacts on intercultural communication, media use and intercultural relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to wrestle effectively with the problems facing our world in the 21st century, we need to draw together the vast array of knowledge systems that all human cultures have produced. This means creating space for Southern, Eastern and Indigenous knowledge in universities and developing more effective forms of intercultural communication. In a recent book, I argued that intercultural doctoral supervision could be a key site for the recognition and ongoing development of Southern, Eastern and Indigenous knowledge. In order for this to become possible, I suggested that there needs to be a serious commitment to understanding how place, time and knowledge play out in supervision across and between cultures. The purpose of this essay is to briefly outline my attempts to (re)read a range of 'Southern' theoretical resources pedagogically and through interview data in order generate a series of implications for intercultural doctoral supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the results of 12 recent interviews with nonnative-English-speaking (NNES) authors who have conducted research and written articles on health and medical subjects. Analyzing the interview transcripts through the theoretical lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s forms of capital, this study expands on previous research by offering a more precise and theoretically grounded understanding of how NNES authors perceive the value of English proficiency in relation to their success as scientific researchers. This theorization of the varying ways in which authors perceive the value of English proficiency affords new perspectives on the inequities that NNES authors encounter in the global publishing economy and their rhetorical strategies for overcoming these inequities. The study concludes by reflecting on theoretical and practical implications for researchers, teachers, and other stakeholders in the global publishing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015 have raised many questions as to what such acts of violence have to do with culture and religion, and how the academic field of intercultural communication could explain these acts. This article argues that it is best to leave out culture as well as religion when trying to come to terms with these and similar acts of horrorrism, to express more than étatique forms of solidarity, to engage in broader and deeper analysis of culture and communication in the various peripheries of society, and above anything else, to use a language ‘that permits knowledge and encourages the mutual exchange of ideas’ (Toni Morrison). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that lack of interpersonal interaction between media professionals in Europe and China partly accounts for continued misperceptions and gaps in understanding between both the nations. Investing into people-to-people dialogue is essential for journalists to overcome prejudice and to improve mutual knowledge. Days during which journalists are immersed into another country’s culture and media scene have great potential to induce changes in perceptions, both at the individual and societal level. This can be attributed to the built-in multiplier effect of media publications reaching wide audiences. Drawing on the “Europe-China Media Exchange ” set up, developed by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the article presents achievements (but also lessons) learnt from interpersonal exchange programs developed for European and Chinese journalists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore how Chinese overseas doctoral students adjust to a different academic, social and cultural environment, using Giddens’ theoretical framework of self-identity. The findings indicate the participants proactively used various coping strategies in meeting challenges and adapting to new social environments. Continuity and stability of self-identity were achieved either culturally or academically through self-reflexivity, autonomy, creativity, authenticity and reliance on an ontological identity. The results challenge the grand narrative of essentialised ‘problematic Chinese learners’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Guide to Kuan Hua, arguably the world’s first business Chinese textbook series, exploring how a group of business communication experts in late 19th-century China created instructional materials that allowed foreigners to function efficiently in China’s business and bureaucratic environment. Rather than simply focusing on the mechanics of language, editors of the series fostered in students a set of literacies that would help them cope with the tumultuous change in 19th-century China. This study suggests that the experience of 19th-century textbook editors may inform our approach to complex intercultural communication challenges in today’s globalized world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence supports the notion that communication behaviors in intercultural encounters are effectively extensions of cultural values as well as epistemologies. Study 1 established communication behaviors of Asians and New Zealanders (NZs) as consistent with vertical collectivism and horizontal individualism, respectively. In particular, argumentativeness is positively related to independent self-construal (SC) and negatively related to interdependent SC. This supports Markus and Kitayama’s SC theory. Study 2 showed that NZs exhibited more idiocentric and argumentative behavior, while Asians displayed more sociocentric and less argumentative behavior during two actual interactions; specifically, participants diverged in their communication styles to be more consistent with their cultural values during intercultural interactions. Analyses of decision outcomes provide support that culture moderates cognitive consistency behaviors such that NZs exhibited more inconsistency-reduction behaviors, which is rooted in adherence to noncontradiction. In contrast, Asians exhibited more inconsistency-support behaviors, suggesting that naive dialecticism rooted in acceptance of contradiction is customary in Asian social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a critical overview of the challenges that content management poses for technical communicators who work on multilingual projects. These issues include determining whether to translate or to localize, resolving the problems presented by the decontextualizing and repurposing of text, managing the complexities of the localization industry’s work practices and tools, and handling the linguistic idiosyncrasies of particular languages. The authors draw on their experience with content management and the translation–localization industry in seeking to problematize increasingly standardized practices that deserve further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) is a new cognitive intervention designed to improve intergroup relations. In two studies, we examined whether it could also facilitate intercultural communication among international students and host country natives engaged in a college exchange program. In Study 1, international students who had recently arrived in Italy and participated in an imagined contact session displayed increased self-disclosure toward, and improved evaluation of, host country natives. In Study 2, Italian students mentally simulated positive contact with an unknown native from the host country prior to leaving for the exchange. Results from an online questionnaire administered on their return (on average, more than 7 months after the imagery task) revealed that participants who imagined contact reported spending more time with natives during the stay and enhanced outgroup evaluation, via reduced intergroup anxiety. Implications for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of college student exchange programs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While education abroad programs are part of an emphasis to prepare university students to be more interculturally competent, one criticism is that programs often send students overseas without adequate preparation. This study aims to explore what students have learned from education abroad programs and how their stories might reveal the need for predeparture and postdeparture training. Using the concept of intercultural competence from the field of intercultural communication, this study analyzes reflective papers of 18 students who have returned from education abroad programs. The results indicate that while experiences abroad have an obvious impact on students’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills, they do not necessarily help to develop deeper levels of intercultural competence. This study concludes that immersion into the culture alone may not increase intercultural competence. Ways in which intercultural communication courses can leverage the students’ experiences in education abroad programs are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical communication increasingly occurs in distributed, cross-cultural, and cross-organizational environments in which stakeholders may have widely disparate—even conflicting—perspectives. Information and communication technology for development (ICTD) is one such environment. Balancing complex and conflicting perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups is a challenge, and unstable stakeholder participation is a widespread problem in ICTD projects. The study presented here shows that stakeholders’ participation in a project was sustained most easily when the value that the stakeholders would gain from such participation was congruent with their respective national and organizational cultures. This study has implications for technical communicators working on cross-organizational projects, particularly projects that occur in distributed, cross-cultural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This cross-cultural study involves a comparison of 55 pairs of global news items in Chinese- and English-language tabloid newspapers collected during a two-month period in 2009. Drawing on Bateman’s Multimodality and Genre (2008), the news articles were analyzed in terms of their base unit realizations, which can be sub-divided into three categories: text-typographic, photo-pictorial and diagram-representational units. The results show that Chinese news tends to employ more photo-pictorial elements, such as photos, icons and arrows, exemplifying the atomization or compartmentalization approach in layout design. Icons and arrows are also argued to have the interpersonal function of building rapport with the audience and the organizational function of helping readers to navigate. English news tends to adopt larger pictures as background, on which other elements are embedded in a more complex manner, exemplifying the graphic composite approach in visual layout. English news also features more text-typographic units because of embedded typographic units, such as capitalized and bold-face fonts, that substitute for the stress patterns in spoken English. Diagrams (such as tables and lists), which serve the function of providing additional information, are more common in Chinese news. It is argued that, although Chinese newspapers exhibit a globalized ‘inverted pyramid’ structure in their written forms, a more fragmented approach of atomization is still preferred in the overall layout of Chinese newspapers. This research highlights the importance of studying the ‘local’ experience of globalization [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Samuel Huntington (1996) argued that the source of the great divisions and conflicts between peoples of global society would be cultural, and not necessarily ideological or economic as in the last century. Although, the validity of Huntington’s claim was not clear at the time, it certainly began to gain credence in western circles following recent terrorist attacks ranging from 9/11 in the US, 7/7 in London to the bombings in Madrid, the Philippines and Mumbai, all in the space of seven years. These events have undoubtedly reinforced hostile perceptions and attitudes towards ‘other’ cultures and the peoples that live in some distant countries. Drawing on a 2007 study of Germany’s Muslim community which revealed a consistently close link between radicalization and ‘vicarious’ experiences of marginalization and discrimination, this article critically analyses eight British newspapers’ coverage of the 7/7 London terror attacks to determine the extent of the stereotypical representations employed and their implications for intercultural communication and terrorism prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This investigation is about how Chinese overseas online commentators (COOCs) respond to political discourses on China. COOCs present the ideological heterogeneity of Chinese overseas. Their diverse responses to different ideological debates show patterns that manifest how the Chinese diaspora enact their positional cultural identification. The analysis of the data showed that on both sides of the divide, the debate leads commentators to assume positions of attachment to, or detachment from, their Chinese cultural affiliations not in a set of binary oppositions but as a continuum with varying degrees. Along this division line, internal fragmentation can be further identified by different views of China’s external tension with other world powers. The notable internal complexity can arguably represent the nation’s maturation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, the author critically examines The New York Times (NYT) representation of the Israel–Palestine conflict in the recent political contexts presented by US President Obama’s Cairo speech in 2009 and leader of West Bank, President Mahmoud Abbas’s, imminent claim to nationhood at the UN in 2011. The purpose of the case study is to establish a theoretical framework for the connection between media representation of conflicts and influence on intercultural communication and relations between various cultural groups. The analysis of the editorials, op-eds, and letters to the editor reveals that media representation of conflicts has deep implications for intercultural communication and relations, that representational politics allows for overrepresentation of dominant groups in the Israel–Palestine conflict context, that discursive use of conflict terms like ‘peace,’ ‘victim,’ etc., constructs particular identities that privilege dominant groups, and that there is unconscious projection of cultural expectations of the dominant groups in the discursive representation of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The growing need for intercultural literacy in an increasingly interconnected and computer-mediated world contrasts with the dearth of investigation in best practices when designing simulations aimed at improving intercultural communication. Synthetic cultures inspired by real-world cultural traits, problem-based learning, and a social constructivist theoretical base represent core components of immersive learning environments designed to improve intercultural literacy. Through an analysis of the literature, a model is proposed primarily to promote discussion and debate about intercultural simulations. The Model for Intercultural Communication in Simulations asserts that along with those components, the Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC), natural decision making, and third place thinking form an approach in understanding how intercultural simulations should be designed. The Model for Intercultural Communication in Simulations challenges the learner to move beyond known paradigms and encourages simulation and e-learning designers to employ socially situated contexts. Accordingly, within the context of the model, a culminating evaluation of an online intercultural training simulation (ARGONAUTONLINE) follows the introduction of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International students’ adjustment to living in an unfamiliar cultural environment and studying in a different educational system and language has been a topic of much research. Literature has shown that support from the host community could be the difference between a smooth transition and one fraught with problems and difficulties. This article describes a “buddy project” used in an intercultural communication class in which each student was a buddy for a newly arrived international student for a semester. The purpose of the project was to give social support to international students in the crucial first few months of their sojourn while at the same time complementing host students’ class-based theoretical learning with practical, meaningful experience with peers from another culture. The article discusses the outcomes, challenges, and students’ evaluations of the experiential learning exercise. Recommendations for future projects are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary: Multicultural modern society shows the necessity for a systematic assessment of needs and the formulation of policies which are based on rigorous and systematic research. Specifically, in Spain juvenile penal justice represents one of the major contexts where the presence of cultural diversity has made itself forcefully felt. This situation has led to an ongoing reappraisal of the way in which the forms of conflict management which currently form part of the Spanish Juvenile Penal Code are applied. This article represents an attempt to take a closer look at the way mediation is used as a policy alternative in the penal context, and in particular how it is used in situations when one part of the process involves a young immigrant. We focus on the meaning attributed to penal mediation from the perspective of the victim or the offender and on the difficulties in applying mediation programs among young immigrants.• Findings: This analysis shows the presence of several asymmetries in intercultural mediation and suggests the importance of intercultural communication in mediation.• Application: We aim to develop a more comprehensive framework in order to improve the way such processes are implemented in practice, paying special attention to the possible application of mediation in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]