scholarly journals An Integrative Model of Intercultural Interaction: A Qualitative Analysis Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-474
Author(s):  
Natalya V. Tkachenko ◽  
Oleg E. Khukhlaev

The study of intercultural interaction has recently become one of the topical problems of social psychology. Considered often in the context of developing intercultural competence, they nevertheless ignore the mechanisms that underlie the causes of effective or ineffective communication. The mechanism by which intercultural competence contributes to intercultural efficiency is described in an integrative model of intercultural interaction, which unites a group of theories of communicativistic and socio-psychological approaches. This model substantiates the contribution of uncertainty and anxiety to the effectiveness of intercultural communication, which has been widely studied in quantitative studies. The aim of the study is to test the idea of the role of the situation of uncertainty and anxiety in the situation of intercultural interaction using qualitative analysis. The research was carried out based on a theoretical socio-psychological model of intercultural interaction. Using the in-depth interview method and subsequent phenomenological data analysis, a dense description of effective and ineffective intercultural communication was obtained from the point of view of each of the four aspects of the model: anxiety, uncertainty, social identity and intergroup anxiety. As a result of the analysis, data were obtained that reveal the content of some of the blocks of the model (intercultural abilities, communication efficiency, management of uncertainty), as well as a new block (emotion management) was identified and the properties of connections (between anxiety management and communication efficiency, between emotion management and anxiety management) were highlighted. Since the qualitative analysis made it possible to adjust the theoretical integrative model of intercultural interaction, and also revealed additional components of the model that develop theoretical ideas about the mechanisms underlying effective and ineffective communication, the results of this study can serve as a basis for the practice of the training of specialists working in the field of international relations: teachers of multicultural education, HRs in the field of international business, specialists in intercultural consulting, etc.

Author(s):  
Бронислава Рафаиловна Могилевич

Риск и неопределённость онтологически присутствуют в жизненном цикле людей, и поэтому эти проблемы всегда актуальны, особенно в современном социуме постмодерна. Информационное постиндустриальное общество характеризуется большим объёмом разнообразной информации, легко доступной для всех членов социума. С одной стороны, доступ к информации и её количество представляют собой благо, с другой стороны, люди не могут адекватно выбрать, интерпретировать и оценить новые сведения. Возникающая в этом случае неопределённость дезориентирует людей, нарушая стабильность их социокультурных коммуникативных связей. Неопределённость амбивалентна по своей природе - она субъективна как проекция личностного восприятия социальной реальности; она объективна как актуализация слома/смены социальных смыслов и институтов. Исследование о природе неопределённости и рисков едины в том, что высокий уровень неопределённости современности обусловлен такими факторами, как глобализация, информатизация и цифровизация. «Текучая современность» как социальная реальность характеризует сегодняшнюю жизнь людей в ракурсе основных концептов жизнедеятельности: свободы, индивидуальности, времени и пространства, работы и сообществ. Концепция рисков как продуктов неопределённости варьируется - от сравнения рисков с аварией на Чернобыльской АЭС до оценки рисков как мобилизующих сил. Социокультурные риски, межкультурные в частности, приобретают особую значимость в эпоху постмодерна. Выделенные 6 универсальных категорий культуры определяют межкультурную интеракцию в ракурсе учёта культурных характеристик, детерминирующих успех межкультурного взаимодействия. Теория сокращения неопределённости предлагает пути установления успешной межкультурной коммуникации. Обозначены стратегии смягчения неопределённости (пассивные, активные и интерактивные), и факторы её успеха обусловлены уровнем межкультурной компетенции коммуникантов. Следование принципам Кооперации и Вежливости способствует снижению межкультурной неопределённости и рисков как видов коммуникативного дискомфорта. Risk and uncertainty are ontologically linked with the life cycle of people, and therefore these problems are always relevant, especially in the contemporary postmodern society. The informational postindustrial society is characterized by a large amount of diverse information that is easily accessible to all members of society. On the one hand, access to information and its amount is a real value, on the other hand, people cannot adequately select, interpret and evaluate new information. The uncertainty arising in this case disorients people, disrupting the stability of their socio-cultural communicative ties. Uncertainty is ambivalent in nature - it is subjective as a projection of personal perception of social reality; it is objective as an actualization of the breakdown/change of social meanings and institutions. The study on the nature of uncertainty and risks is unanimous in the fact that the high level of uncertainty of our time is due to such factors as globalization, informatization and digitalization. “Fluid modernity” as a social reality characterizes everyday life of people from the perspective of the main concepts of life: freedom, individuality, time and space, work and communities. The concept of risks as products of uncertainty ranges from comparing risks with the Chernobyl accident to assessing risks as mobilizing forces. Socio-cultural risks, intercultural in particular, acquire special significance in the postmodern era. The identified 6 universal categories of culture define intercultural interaction from the perspective of taking into account cultural characteristics that determine the success of intercultural interaction. Uncertainty reduction theory offers ways to establish successful intercultural communication. The identified strategies for reducing uncertainty (passive, active and interactive) and the factors of its success are determined by the level of intercultural competence of the communicants. In addition, adherence to the principles of Cooperation and Politeness helps to reduce intercultural uncertainty and risks as types of communicative discomfort.


2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-79
Author(s):  
Stephanie Swartz ◽  
Belem Barbosa ◽  
Izzy Crawford

By means of a cross-cultural virtual teams project involving classrooms in Scotland, Germany, and Portugal, students were exposed to the challenges of collaborating internationally with the intention of increasing their intercultural competency. Intercultural sensitivity and intercultural communication competency were measured using responses to surveys before and after the 6-week project. Students reported, among other aspects, a heightened awareness of the difficulties of intercultural communication. Despite a general appreciation of the project and its outcomes, negative results, such as an increased dislike of intercultural interaction, emerged. Contradictory results warrant further investigation with data from future collaborations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-112
Author(s):  
V.V. Gritsenko ◽  
O.E. Khukhlaev ◽  
R.I. Zinurova ◽  
V.V. Konstantinov ◽  
E.V Kulesh ◽  
...  

The aim of the study is to determine the role of intercultural competence in the adaptation process of foreign students studying at Russian universities. The research is based on the author's model of intercultural competence, the main components of which are intercultural stability, intercultural interest, the lack of ethnocentrism and the management of intercultural interaction. The sample of the study consisted of 291 foreign students from Turkmenistan studying at universities in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Rostov-on-Don, Khabarovsk, 291 students (48.5% — Women, average age is 22 years). We showed that intercultural com petence is a significant predictor in the adaptation of foreign students. We revealed different contribution of intercultural competence components to the effectiveness in the adaptation of foreign students. Among the components of intercultural competence only intercultural stability directly affects sociocultural adaptation. The absence of ethnocentrism reduces the effect of culture shock when a student enters a new cultural environment, but increases the success of his/her adaptation in this environment only together with intercultural stability. Two other components of intercultural competence: intercultural interest and the management of intercultural interaction have an impact on the successful adaptation of foreign students not directly, but through the activation of the desire to interact with Russian students and to increase the self-esteem in the effectiveness of intercultural communication with them. In turn these mediators are directly related to both psychological adaptation and intercultural stability. Thus we revealed the mechanism of intercultural competence influence on the adaptation of foreign students. The obtained results can be used to predict the adaptation of foreign students and to reduce the possible risks of their maladjustment in a new culture.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-41
Author(s):  
O.E. Khukhlaev

Objective. Generalization of psychological approaches to the analysis of the effectiveness of intercultural interaction and their integration with related concepts, which will allowing to build an explanatory model for achieving the effectiveness of communication in a situation of intercultural communication. Background. In a traditional models of intercultural competence, the link in which a specific communicative situation is analyzed is missing. For the issue related to the effectiveness of intercultural interaction, the most relevant is a model that focuses on the result of communication — the communicative theory of anxiety / uncertainty management by W. Gudikunst. The combination of communicative and competence-based approaches can bring theoretical analysis to a higher level of understanding and predicting intercultural interaction. This approach describes the process of ensuring intercultural communication as managing uncertainty and anxiety. The socio-psychological mechanisms underlying these processes can be described using the theory of Uncertainty-Identity by M. Hogg and the theory of Intergroup threat by W. Stephan and colleagues. In this case, a comprehensive model using communicative and socio-psychological approaches will allow us to analyze the mechanism by which intercultural competence contributes to intercultural efficiency. Methodology. Systematic approach, method of comparative analysis. Main conclusions. An integrative socio-psychological model for assessing and predicting the effectiveness of intercultural interaction allows us to build an adequate fundamental scientific rationale for studying the effectiveness of intercultural interaction in specific communicative situations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 223-238
Author(s):  
Azam Othman ◽  
Norbaiduri Ruslan

Purpose This paper aims to present the qualitative findings on students’ and teachers’ experiences in communicating and interacting with students and teachers from different ethnic backgrounds in the Malaysian vision schools initiative. Design/methodology/approach Face-to-face interviews were conducted involving 15 informants comprising of three headteachers, three teachers and nine students. The interviews centred on the informants’ experiences and views living and experiencing the reality of the vision schools which is comprising three major races; Malays, Chinese and Indians; which is represented by the three school types which are a national school, Chinese vernacular and Indian vernacular schools. Findings The interview data revealed that the intercultural communication in the vision schools had triggered intercultural understanding and awareness of cultural diversity in the schools. However, the interview data with experienced teachers showed some drawbacks of the intercultural dynamics at the school complex. Among the weaknesses were the absence of structured and formal training on intercultural and multicultural education, lack of trust and poor social skills which may have hindered effective intercultural communication from taking place. Originality/value This study presents the informants’ experiences and views on the reality of intercultural interaction among students and teachers in the context of the Malaysian vision school initiative.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-28
Author(s):  
Oleg E. Khukhlaev ◽  
Valentina V. Gritsenko ◽  
Olga S. Pavlova ◽  
Natalya V. Tkachenko ◽  
Shushanik A. Usubian ◽  
...  

The paper presents theoretical substantiation and development of the authors’ comprehensive model of intercultural competence (ICC), based on the analysis and generalization of empirical models of intercultural interaction existing in Western and Russian science. The model is based on 9 constructs: intercultural stability/sustainability, intercultural flexibility, intercultural openness, intercultural interest, absence of ethnocentrism, cultural sensitivity, intercultural empathy, management of intercultural relations, and tolerance to intercultural uncertainty. Those constructs are combined into three groups of characteristics: 1) intercultural traits; 2) attitudes and mentality features; 3) intercultural skills. Basic mechanisms by which the distinguished constructs of intercultural competence contribute to intercultural efficiency are substantiated - this is maintenance of an optimal level of sensitivity to uncertainty and an optimal level of anxiety in the process of intercultural communication. The role of each component of intercultural competence is shown. Constructs “Cultural Sensitivity”, “Intercultural Empathy”, “Management of Intercultural Relations”, “Tolerance to Intercultural Uncertainty”, and “Intercultural Flexibility” make a significant contribution to maintaining the optimal level of sensitivity to uncertainty and thereby contribute to increasing effectiveness of intercultural interaction. Such components of intercultural competence as “Intercultural Empathy”, “Intercultural Interest”, “Lack of Ethnocentrism”, “Intercultural Openness”, “Tolerance to Intercultural Uncertainty”, maintain the optimal level of anxiety, which contributes to the effectiveness of intercultural communication. It is emphasized that none of the components of the ICC is a universal predictor of the success of intercultural interaction, this effect being achieved only through an integrative combination with other ICC constructs.


Author(s):  
Will Baker

AbstractEnglish as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has challenged previous representations of culture, particularly those centred predominantly on nation states, which are prevalent in English language teaching (ELT) practices and the associated conceptions of communicative and intercultural communicative competence. Two key questions which are then brought to the fore are: how are we to best understand such multifarious characterisations of culture in intercultural communication through ELF and what implications, if any, does this have for ELT and the teaching of culture in language teaching? In relation to the first question, this paper will discuss how complexity theory offers a framework for understanding culture as a constantly changing but nonetheless meaningful category in ELF research, whilst avoiding essentialism and reductionism. This underpins the response to the second question, whereby any formulations of intercultural competence offered as an aim in language pedagogy must also eschew these simplistic and essentialist cultural characterisations. Furthermore, the manner of simplification prevalent in approaches to culture in the ELT language classroom will be critically questioned. It will be argued that such simplification easily leads into essentialist representations of language and culture in ELT and an over representation of “Anglophone cultures.” The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions and examples for how such complex understandings of culture and language through ELF can be meaningfully incorporated into pedagogic practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana G. Raskind ◽  
Rachel C. Shelton ◽  
Dawn L. Comeau ◽  
Hannah L. F. Cooper ◽  
Derek M. Griffith ◽  
...  

Data analysis is one of the most important, yet least understood, stages of the qualitative research process. Through rigorous analysis, data can illuminate the complexity of human behavior, inform interventions, and give voice to people’s lived experiences. While significant progress has been made in advancing the rigor of qualitative analysis, the process often remains nebulous. To better understand how our field conducts and reports qualitative analysis, we reviewed qualitative articles published in Health Education & Behavior between 2000 and 2015. Two independent reviewers abstracted information in the following categories: data management software, coding approach, analytic approach, indicators of trustworthiness, and reflexivity. Of the 48 ( n = 48) articles identified, the majority ( n = 31) reported using qualitative software to manage data. Double-coding transcripts was the most common coding method ( n = 23); however, nearly one third of articles did not clearly describe the coding approach. Although the terminology used to describe the analytic process varied widely, we identified four overarching trajectories common to most articles ( n = 37). Trajectories differed in their use of inductive and deductive coding approaches, formal coding templates, and rounds or levels of coding. Trajectories culminated in the iterative review of coded data to identify emergent themes. Few articles explicitly discussed trustworthiness or reflexivity. Member checks ( n = 9), triangulation of methods ( n = 8), and peer debriefing ( n = 7) were the most common procedures. Variation in the type and depth of information provided poses challenges to assessing quality and enabling replication. Greater transparency and more intentional application of diverse analytic methods can advance the rigor and impact of qualitative research in our field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-87
Author(s):  
Oral Oko ◽  
Ferdie Denny Tuwo

This research aims to find out the pastor's tendency as the executor of Bible teaching, as well as the aspects that shape it. How is the compatibility of the implementation of Bible teaching in GPdI Haniel Sentani Jayapura Papua with the pattern in the Bible. In this research, the analysis used is qualitative analysis. Data collection using a questionnaire, given to 100 participants. Based on the findings and analysis, most of the GPdI Haniel Sentani Papua congregations understand the shepherd's teaching patterns based on the Bible. In conclusion, the appropriateness of shepherd teaching is the same as the Bible pattern in GPdI Haniel Sentani Jayapura Papua. This can be proven by increasing church growth from year to year, both in quality and quantity. Congregations increasingly love God through loyalty and obedience in teaching.AbstrakPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kecendurungan gembala sidang sebagai pelaksana pengajaraan Alkitab, serta aspek-aspek yang membentuknya. Bagaimana kesesuaian pelaksanaan pengajaran Alkitab di GPdI Haniel Sentani Jayapura Papua dengan pola dalam Alkitab. Dalam penelitian ini, analisis yang digunakan adalah analisis kualitatif. Pengumpulan data mengunakan angket, kepada 100 partisipan. Berdasarkan hasil penemuan dan Analisa, sebagian besar jemaat GPdI Haniel Sentani Papua memahami tentang pola pengajaran gembala yang berdasarkan Alkitab. Kesimpulannya, bahwa kesesuaian pelaksanaan pengajaran gembala sama dengan pola Alkitab di GPdI Haniel Sentani Jayapura Papua. Hal ini dapat dibuktikan melalui perkembengan pertumbuhan gereja dari tahun ke tahun semakin bertambah, baik secara kualitas maupun secara kuantitas. Jemaat semakin mengasihi Tuhan melalui kesetiaan dan ketaatan dalam melakukan pengajaran.


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