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This study aims to analyze the international communication of Chinese music through the spatiotemporal context of the Old and New Silk Roads. This research builds on an empirical approach using questionnaires that contributed to determining the scope of applying the intercultural Chinese compositions. According to the results of the study, most (80%) Chinese songs written between 2010 and 2019 were written under the influence of Asian culture. The study involved a total number of 175 respondents. Accordingly, the survey revealed that most of the respondents use Chinese compositions written under the influence of other cultures at music competitions and concerts. Consequently, the present research presupposed elaborating the possibilities of exporting Chinese compositions. The survey shows that 79% of respondents consider foreign communication significant because it facilitates the promotion of Chinese music. The present findings can be used by culturologists as a framework for research on foreign musical communication., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This article presents lessons learned on the education for forgiveness and reconciliation in Muslim and Arab majority contexts, especially as part of civic engagement or across content areas. It first presents a brief review of the literature on forgiveness and reconciliation and ways they are interrelated in the larger Arab and Muslim contexts. Secondly, it points out religious and cultural sources that ground the practice of forgiveness and reconciliation. Thirdly, it presents the analysis of forgiveness stories collected from various Arab communities and discusses the main obstacles that hinder adopting a forgiveness and reconciliation agenda. Finally, it proposes forgiveness education and pedagogy based on stories to provide the framework and mechanisms to advance forgiveness and reconciliation education in schools and education spaces. We recommend utilizing local stories and storytelling as a method to delve into interpersonal and social conflicts.

Objective: This study compared native-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch patients' expressions of emotional cues/concerns and GPs' responses to these cues/concerns. Relations between patient's cues/concerns and GPs' perceptions of the patient's health complaint were examined too., Methods: 82 audiotaped encounters with native-Dutch and 38 with Turkish-Dutch GP patients were coded using the VR-CoDES and VR-CoDES-P. Patients filled out a survey before each consultation to assess their cultural identification, Dutch language proficiency and health-related variables. GPs filled out a survey after each consultation to assess their perceptions of the patient's health complaint., Results: Turkish-Dutch patients expressed more cues than native-Dutch patients, which was explained by higher worries about their health and worse perceived general health. GPs responded more often with space-providing responses to Turkish-Dutch patients compared to native-Dutch patients. Turkish-Dutch patients' cue expression strongly influenced GPs' perceptions about the presence of psychosocial problems., Conclusion: Migrant patient-related factors influence the amount of emotional cue expression in primary care. GPs perceive these cues as indicating the presence of psychosocial problems and provide space for patients to elaborate on their emotional distress., Practice Implications: GPs should be trained in using more affective communication techniques to enhance elicitation of the underlying reasons for migrant patients' enhanced emotional cue expression., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This article explores email dialogue between students from the University of Guanajuato and the University of Leeds who shared critical incidents from their personal experience and travels. While the students struggled with essentialism in their exchanges, they retained a willingness to critique specific local cultural practices and challenged some of the usual discourses and familiar tropes associated with mobility and intercultural contact. The data highlights the importance of place in the students' reading and navigation of the world, the dialogic and iterative reformulation of their positions, their ability to deal with complexity through a critical cosmopolitan perspective, and a growing reflexive and ethical consciousness. This affirms our belief in the value of open-ended student dialogue as a strategy to encourage critical cosmopolitan dispositions, and underlines the need for greater nuance around conceptualising essentialism.

Affectivity is an important dimension in humans' social and individual lives. It is either a stimulating or hindering aspect of language learning. This article aims to draw attention to material culture as a powerful, but mostly neglected source of data on the use and acquisition of languages, and demonstrates the close and intricate links between affectivity and material culture. It is hoped that revealing these interrelationships will assist in understanding and managing language diversity. It will allow practitioners and teachers to carry out social and private encounters, events and language teaching with more care, understanding and expertise. Researchers will be encouraged to join the investigation of yet one more important facet of multilingualism--material culture.

In this interview Professor Farzad Sharifian, a pioneer of Cultural Linguistics, gives a concise history of this relatively new field, which he introduces as a multidisciplinary area of research that examines the intricate relationship between language and cultural conceptualizations. Prof. Sharifian asserts this flourishing field of research can be applied in areas such as intercultural communication, cross-cultural pragmatics, language and politics, and World Englishes. He believes Cultural Linguistics has important implications for the practice of English Language Teaching (ELT) too, especially for Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL). Professor Sharifian also touches on the notion of "metacultural competence" and how new communication technology can help language learners develop that competence. He concludes by saying that the English as an International Language and World Englishes paradigms require us to revisit how we define and assess language proficiency and that intercultural communication skills should constitute the heart of the new definitions and assessment procedures.

Courses: Intercultural Communication, Culture and Conflict, International Conflict and Alliance Building. Objectives: After completing this single-class activity, students should be able to (1) describe the concepts of identity, citizenship, and mobility; (2) empathize with the everyday struggles of students who hold citizenship outside of their "homeland"; and (3) explain how intersectionality influences an individual's ability to traverse national borders.

Drawing on the literature on culture and intercultural communication, current discussions surrounding English as an international language (EIL), and cultural appropriation of ELT books in local communities, this article reports the findings of a qualitative and qualitative research study with English language teachers from Inner (40 American, 36 British), Outer (44 Indian, 40 Malaysian), and Expanding (44 Iranian and 40 Turkish) circles based on Kachru's model (1992) to explore their attitudes toward cultural content of ELT books within the framework of EIL and how they see themselves in relation to the language and culture. The findings demonstrate that most teachers are in favor of implementation of EIL and culture and understanding their perceptions plays a key role in this matter. The findings also highlight the "glocal" aspect of English that the ELT materials should include a blending of cultures, both local and international, so that learners can naturally merge their local experiences and cultures with those that are offered in the ELT materials. This article argues that together with valuing intercultural communication and awareness, it is important to promote ways for the development of EIL and culture in the classroom. Issues like cultural representation, cultural priority of teachers and students, cultural presence within the EIL framework in ELT books and pluralistic and dynamic feature of English language with cultural diversity in the globalized world must be heard and not assumed in order to develop cultural awareness.

Guided by cultural identity theory (CIT), the authors offer the six-word memoir (6WM) as a storytelling vehicle to engage students in critical, reflexive (re)considerations of their cultural identities and positions. This activity's impetus is threefold. First, it recognizes the practical challenges of teaching and learning the important, yet evasive, subject of identity. DeVoss, Jasken, and Hayden (2002) explained that U.S. Americans tend to view intercultural interactions through the privileged Protestant, middle-class, male, white lens, which renders "others" as deviant, and self-examination difficult. Second, it exemplifies an effort to meet identity-related learning objectives for intercultural communication that Driskill, Arjannikova, and Schneider (2010) named: encouraging students to explore their cultural identities, helping students to recognize the influences of their own cultural identities on interactions, and becoming more aware of one's own cultures in relation to cultural others. Third, it fulfills some of the pedagogical promises of CIT to illustrate how identity practices are nested in local, relational, and macro contexts. References and suggested readings are provided.

Purpose: Interdisciplinarity is necessary to explain or solve complex problems and questions of today's world. Therefore, it's important to analyze the situation within an educational institution to get to know what students think about interdisciplinary work. The purpose of this paper is to try to achieve an insight into how e-learning technologies (like WebCT) are perceived by students and to what degree information and communication technologies (ICTs) could improve communication and cooperation between students. Design/methodology/approach: On the basis of two online surveys and the attendance of a course, the experiences and approaches of students were analyzed. Findings: The results show that most of the students see the positive aspects of interdisciplinary interchange and the benefit of learning from each other, so most of them are open minded regarding interdisciplinarity--an important requirement is given. Information and communication technologies are a good instrument to strengthen the cooperation and communication between students and can further be a helpful device for an interdisciplinary working approach. Practical implications: Based on these findings, more accesses to interdisciplinary cooperation can be worked out especially in the master program we have analyzed which sees interdisciplinarity as one of its main goals. Knowing that the openness and readiness from students' side is given, the offer for interdisciplinary ways of interchange could be expanded. Social implications: The results show that the students are open-minded to other students' knowledge and views, which also shows the mutual acceptance and respect for other opinions. This is very important for teamwork and also for multicultural interchange on an international basis. Originality/value: Not only in social regard but also for complex questions of science and society in general the results of student's experiences and approaches are auspicious for international frameworks. (Contains 1 table and 7 figures.)

Contemporary thinking seems to be particularly interested in the investigation of the role of culture in socio-political life. This article presents aspects of a research project, undertaken in Greece, looking into whether a cultural product can foster intercultural communication and influence young people's perceptions of and attitudes to cultural and religious diversity. Such cultural products are the Theatre in Education (TiE) programmes, which focus on the use of the art of theatre as a means of educational intervention. For the purposes of our research a specially designed TiE programme was used as a means of intervention and as a research tool. Our research examines secondary education students' perceptions of and attitudes to cultural and religious diversity prior to and following the intervention in Thessaloniki and in Thrace, Greece. This cultural intervention, which incorporates art and religion, offers new insights into the possibility of the use of TiE for the religious education of young people. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

As students participate in corporate communication classes, they may, on occasion, use the term culture to make sense of their experiences. The authors use Mino's idea of a learning paradigm to shift the emphasis away from teaching traditional theories of culture and use student-centered experiences to teach culture as an expressive practice. Using instances drawn from their own classrooms, the authors show how students can recognize the value of understanding their role in creating culture each time they choose how to act, how to evaluate others' behavior, and whether to label what is going on as cultural.

This paper investigates intercultural communication and its significance to higher education. The paper briefly discusses culture, subculture and the meeting of cultures. It also provides a brief survey of developments in intercultural communication research. With reference to New Zealand, the paper further points to some limitations of intercultural communication theories, but meanwhile acknowledges the significance of these theories to higher education. The author argues that adopting interculturalism based on the principles of equality and respect at the national and institutional levels is more crucial than merely mastering some intercultural competencies or applying some intercultural communication models outlined in intercultural communication theories. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

In multilingual Europe, visual discourse may function as a cross-culturally strategic form of communication, thanks in part to its perceptual and iconic availability. In this regard, we offer a social semiotic critique of a range of visual resources deployed in the official promotional texts of 30 of the 43 cities either nominated or competing for the title of "European Capital of Culture" between 2005 and 2011. In considering the political/cultural/economic ideologies that underpin the production of a supposedly pan-European identity, we also show how these branding exercises manage local/global tensions by exploiting the intercultural meaning potentials of visual discourse. (Contains 4 notes and 9 figures.)

When composition instructors discuss teaching diversity, the concept of tolerance often takes over the conversation. Tolerance constructs an ideal "comfort zone" where every student's voice can be heard and respected. While tolerance is perceived as an admirable goal, Marinara has concluded that the ideal of the comfortable classroom space from which students can speak comes with a high price tag, that it may, in fact, serve to construct more blind spots and exclusions. She believes instead that it is critical for teaching practice to be informed by the interpretation of difference, and for composition instructors to question the dynamics and possibilities for social change in the classroom and in life.

Presents a notion of small culture as an alternative to what has become the default notion of large culture in applied linguistics, social science, and popular usage. A small-culture view of English-language curriculum settings reveals mismatches between professional-academic and organizational cultures at the mezzo level of the institution. (VWL)

When a foreign group that wants to relocate comes into contact with the culture of the host group, the process of intercultural adaptation of both groups is set in motion. The process starts and continues through communication, regardless of its form. During this process, individuals undergo a certain degree of intercultural transformation, corresponding to the degree of communication they have had. Transformation is bilateral and occurs naturally and inevitably, even when foreigners do not seek to adapt and want to maintain their individuality, even if they do not have a proactive attitude in order for adaptation to occur, even when there is no desire to effectively participate in communicative activities with the hosts and the foreigners choose to mainly become implicated in superficial contacts with the natives. Even in extreme conflictual situations, such as war or the crisis of refugees, the individuals who came into contact with the culture of the states where they took refuge, upon returning to their own country, no longer have the same cultural traits as when they left their native country. The purpose of this article is to theoretically analyze the psychological mechanisms that are of interest in the field of social work regarding the process of intercultural transformation that takes place through communication between the host group and the foreign group in the clash of two different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisations exist, function and develop through communication. Intercultural communication is a specific communication activity in which the parties involved represent different cultures. The current context, dominated by globalisation, multiculturalism, internationalisation and digitalisation, underlines the importance of studying intercultural communication in an organisational context. The aim of this paper is to develop a comprehensive synthesis of the factors that influence the effectiveness of intercultural communication in organisations and to propose research hypotheses for future studies in this area. The methodology used to conduct this study includes the methods of analysis, synthesis, induction (for logical connections), deduction (for identifying theories from the literature), abduction (for identifying causes and factors and building hypotheses) and hierarchical classification (for grouping factors in the three-level taxonomy). The analysis of the factors mentioned in the literature on the effectiveness of intercultural communication in organisations has led to the development of a three-level taxonomy that groups them into five categories: management-related factors, group factors, individual factors, cultural factors and communication factors. This systematic and clarifying approach suggests linkages and directions for research as well as lines of action for practitioners to ensure sustainable development of multicultural organisations and increase the chances of success of intercultural communication in different organisational contexts. The novelty of the paper lies in the fact that the existing literature does not propose a systemic view of the factors that influence intercultural communication outcomes. Most of the identified research presents comparative, descriptive approaches to the characteristics of intercultural communication in specific cultural contexts.

Broadly speaking, stereotyping is a cognitive mechanism that underlies all aspects of intercultural processes-the way individuals perceive members of other groups shapes their attitudes and behavior towards them and influence different types of intercultural interactions and worldviews Based on the assumption that positive stereotypes about people who come from other cultures are used in human communication as an expression of each person's need to simplify all impressions and representations in order to understand the world and the people around them, positive stereotypes can facilitate communication. On the other hand, negative stereotypes in intercultural communication can lead to complete misunderstandings because it is assumed that all people within a certain group have the same characteristics. Therefore, both positive and negative stereotypes in intercultural communication can result in unfounded generalisations, false evaluations and oversimplifications, thus forming the basis for unfair behavior and labelling towards those to whom they refer, in addition to discrimination and interpersonal conflicts. In the search for a model for successful intercultural communication, the principle that culturally specific information should not be applied to all members of a cultural group and that the uniqueness of each member of the group must be respected can be considered extremely important. Stereotypical classifications should not be resistant to change as they relate to relationships between people, which are highly susceptible to change. Successful intercultural communicators should be able to form an opinion based on their communication experience and independent observations, free from stereotypes that they may have consciously or unconsciously gained. Also, viewing the world from the prism of others, not only from our own egocentric and ethnocentric position, and not allowing stereotypes to act as "filters", which allow in only what is similar to our cultural behavior, are important in preventing the adverse effects of stereotypes on communication. Therefore, a recommendable model of successful and efficient intercultural communication is unburdened by bias and stereotypes towards the members of cultural groups different from our own.

The article deals with the phenomenon of intercultural communication. Presented are the results of the survey method aimed at analysing the level of formation of intercultural competence of Ukrainian VSPU students living abroad. Differences and similarities in the students' intercultural communication experience have been revealed by comparison. The ranking method was used to classify the obtained data when analysing the students' life experiences abroad. The research results were presented graphically in charts and tables using descriptive statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of programmes and schemes make travel more affordable and attractive for young people. They provide opportunities to experience intercultural communication first-hand to those who could not have imagined without being involved in such institutionalized schemes. One such programme is Work & Travel which is offered in the USA. Young people who gain hands-on experience in the USA can potentially gain intercultural skills. A few studies have focused on to what extent this experience could live up to the expectations (1 reference). There is a lack of research on the impact of Summer Work and Travel (SWT) participants and the factors affecting their levels of intercultural sensitivity, especially in the Turkish context. Therefore, the current study aims to measure the intercultural sensitivity (IS) of the SWT participants from Türkiye and the factors which impact their level of IS. The sequential mixed method was used, and the quantitative data was first gathered via a five-point Likert scale with 129 participants. Semi-structured interviews with ten volunteering participants followed the quantitative data collection phase. It was concluded from the data analysis that the participants in the SWT experience had a high level of IS. While some participants had less confidence due to their insufficient language proficiency, they reported that they became more confident as they improved their language skills and adapted to the intercultural environment. The researchers also concluded that the high IS might have resulted from the participants' high level of daily interaction with people from different cultures and at the social events they attended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aimed at exploring intercultural communication as a means to promote inclusivity in diverse organisations. The study adopted a case study design with qualitative data. A semi-structured interview guide with open-ended questions was utilised as the main data collection tool from a sample of ten purposively selected professionals from the departments responsible for transformation, employment equity, and diversity; human resources development, corporate affairs, and marketing. The study’s findings showed that the university lacked a well-thought-out action plan for taking a deliberate approach to intercultural communication as a means to promote inclusivity. In particular, the staff felt that there was no deliberate attempt to guarantee that intercultural communication was handled uniformly throughout the university and that communication strategy documents did not offer direction regarding how successful intercultural communication could take place. The university’s current practices in relation to cultural awareness and training initiatives only focus on cultural diversity and should be amplified to include raising awareness of how intercultural communication can unify people who differ culturally towards a common purpose. Furthermore, the university should consider expanding its current cultural diversity training programmes to include training on intercultural communication dimensions. Cultural awareness campaigns in the form of information fliers, cultural events, and cultural training sessions should form an integral part of intercultural communication enhancement initiatives.

There is a close two-way relationship between language and culture and this symbiotic relationship shows that culture has an indispensable place in language teaching. In addition, in our world, which is described as a global village with great developments in information, communication and transportation technologies, it has become a normal situation for individuals with different cultural backgrounds to come together and communicate for different reasons, and this reality has turned intercultural communication into a skill that needs to be acquired. This study aims to examine the intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and cultural components (CC) perspectives of preservice teachers of English language studying in the first year and fourth year in a Turkish university setting during the 2014-2015 academic year spring term and looking for any difference between the test scores and variables of grade, gender, and GPA (Grade Point Average). The required data were collected from 85 participants with the ICC Questionnaire (Mirzaei & Forouzandeh, 2013) and the Inventory of CC (Razı, 2012). The results indicated that participants performed high scores in the ICC questionnaire and CC inventory. Moreover, the t-test results indicated that there was a significant difference between different genders and GPA groups and no significant difference between participants in the first year and fourth year of the university. According to the correlation results, high and moderate positive correlations were found between ICC, its components, and CC scores of pre-service teachers of the English language. It can be concluded that the participants had high levels of ICC and CC as well as ICC and CC scores differed regarding the gender and GPA variables, and ICC levels and CC levels had a positive correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International students in Malaysian universities face uncertainty and anxiety toward a multi-new culture, a must-encountered cultural shock. This study investigated the relationship between superficial causes of AUM theory and uncertainty and anxiety in a high-context culture. In this study, 388 international students from different faculties were chosen through a method called stratified random sampling, which sampled two public universities with the largest number and richest nationalities of international students. The researchers used a self-administered questionnaire to gather information from the participants, which was analyzed by AMOS and applied to the validation of theoretical construct through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), and other statistical methods were employed to analyze the data and test seven hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that five superficial causes affect the management of uncertainty and anxiety in AUM theory. The results of this study have important implications for Malaysian public universities in terms of understanding the factors that influence uncertainty and anxiety management among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article explores the epistemological conditions of intercultural encounters. Based on an analysis of Raimon Panikkar's intercultural hermeneutics, we argue that intercultural encounters cannot take place adequately when they are based on purely rhetorical rationality or rational persuasion. We point to the limitations of grounding intercultural relationships on dialectical dialogue and, therefore, of educating them by simply enhancing discursive capacities. We underline the need for other epistemological conditions that should be fostered in order to move forward on the path to actual interculturality. These can be summarised by what Panikkar calls "conversion", an epistemic framework of love—personal relationality, that goes beyond objectifying rationality—for the communication between (culturally different) subjects. We conclude that the culturally diverse human condition refers to being encountered and being understood on a level that is not merely logical or linguistic. What can be understood of a person with another cultural background goes beyond what can be comprehended by logical rationality or captured by veritative judgements about objects. In other words, in intercultural encounters, ontological, rather than merely logical truth is at stake, which means that the presence of the other can lead to experiences of meaning: it reveals a being that calls for conversion. Conversion demands an ontic action on the part of the subject, not merely an epistemological one, that cancels the violence that rational persuasion might entail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to survey language teaching MOOCs that promote intercultural competence (IC). Specifically, the survey aims to identify the keywords most relevant to MOOCs with IC components, the languages taught, the offering countries, and the embedded soft skills. The selection of keywords is important because they can indicate connection between different disciplines. After trialing a broader set of keywords in several rounds of initial search, we identified five keywords that are the most relevant to language education with IC components on MOOCs: culture, intercultural, cross culture, multi culture, and society. Then courses with these five keywords on language learning are selected for further analysis. The results are summarized as follows: (1) Most language teaching MOOCs are found under the keyword "culture," indicating a strong connection between language education and intercultural communication; (2) In terms of the target languages and the offering countries, it is found that English, Chinese, and Spanish are the major languages widely taught in the context of intercultural competence; China, United States, and Ireland are the three countries which offer the highest numbers of MOOCs in this respect; United States, United Kingdom, and Australia are the three countries which offer the highest numbers of MOOCs of different languages. The results indicate that a limited number of languages and offering countries dominate the language learning MOOCs. The study calls for a plurality of languages and cultures to be taught through MOOCs, making more diversified knowledge systems accessible to global audiences. (3) The language teaching MOOCs not only focus on language but also aim to foster five types of soft skills (language learning skills, communication skills, business and entrepreneurship skills, career development skills, and cultural development skills), suggesting that intercultural competence and its related soft skills are usually important components embedded in such MOOCs courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the fact that culture, as a person’s activity and as a set of spiritual and material values, norms, ideals, and behavioral patterns, is involved in the multifaceted process of structuring the social space and building society. The purpose of this research article is to review the system of language symbols that carry culture‎ and the many differences which exist between countries, peoples, social groups, social communities, languages, customs, traditions, lives, and cultural values. Furthermore, the multifaceted nature of intercultural communication from the sides of anthropology, linguistics, sociology, psychology, information theory, and culture is revealed and analyzed. It is also argued that the problem of culture and language is the basis of anthropological research from the ‎viewpoint of intercultural communication in building a cultural model of the nation.‎

Die Autoren gehen davon aus, dass eine Anleitung zum Tandemlernen mit kulturbezogenen Aufgaben, die die Lerner dazu motiviert, im Team jenseits des Klassenzimmers gemeinsam Aufgaben und Projekte zu bewältigen, der Sprachlernsituation im Tandem dienlich ist. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung an der University of International Business and Economics in Beijing mit 20 deutschen und 20 chinesischen Teilnehmern dargelegt, die in Beijing mit Hilfe eines Leitfadens im Tandem Deutsch bzw. Chinesisch gelernt haben. Der Leitfaden gibt jeweils in der Muttersprache der Teilnehmenden anleitende Hinweise zur Fremdsprachenvermittlung, zum Fremdsprachenlernen und speziell zum Lernen im Tandem. Der Kern des Leitfadens sind acht Lektionen mit kulturbezogenen Aufgaben, die ausgewogen chinesische wie auch deutsche Themen beinhalten. Die Auswertung der Untersuchung anhand von 26 Umfragen und 14 Interviews mit den Projekt-Teilnehmern zeigt, dass Lernerfahrung in Sprachpartnerschaften durch Anleitungen zum Lernen im Tandem und durch kulturbezogene Aufgaben in deutsch-chinesischen Tandems verbessert werden können. In dem Beitrag werden auch die Unzulänglichkeiten dieser Studie und potentielle Richtungen für die künftige Forschung diskutiert.