This study explores the effects of intercultural training from the perspectives of learners and facilitators. Three central questions are addressed: How does participation in an intercultural studies program affect the way learners approach intercultural interactions? How do learners engage learning between the educational and practice contexts? What are the implications for program planning? In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven learners and eight facilitators from a certificate program in intercultural studies at a Canadian university. The program is delivered through a combined on-site and online format. With its emphasis on practice-based learning, this program offered a unique opportunity to explore learner change and the application of learning in the workplace. This study was undertaken to inform program planning for intercultural training. The conceptual resources that guided the study are frameworks for program planning and transfer of learning. Perceived learner change as a result of training is explored through multiple lenses of transfer, including application (engaging and creating knowledge in practice) and diffusion (sharing ideas with others formally and informally in the workplace). Factors that contribute to engagement of learning between the practice and training contexts include the integration of theory and practice and the building of an online learning community. The study explores the concept of emotional safety, the impact of identity and representation on intercultural interactions within the training context, and the challenges of facilitating difficult dialogues related to race, power and identity. This study is situated within the larger context of the field of intercultural training. This is contested terrain comprised of two major streams: international and domestic training. Domestic training is represented by three frameworks: diversity, multicultural and anti-racism training. The study indicates that learning is influenced by the degree to which analyzing power or respecting differences is emphasized in the exploration of intercultural interactions. The study concludes with suggested reflective questions for planners of intercultural programs. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

In this study, performance in the speech event of negotiation was used to investigate the validity of using experiential, linguistic, and psychological/affective/cognitive assessment instruments for training or selecting candidates for intercultural business negotiation between Canadians and Koreans. Instruments used were: background questionnaire, TOEIC scores, and CCAI scores. The participants were 12 businesspeople from Korea and 12 commerce students from Canada. After the bargaining session, each person completed a questionnaire. The negotiation outcome variables considered were source's relative monetary performance and target's relative satisfaction with the negotiation, including process and end-deal aspects. Case analysis suggests that individual experience and middle-to-high TOEIC scores have no significant correlation with either type of performance. Three subsections of the individual CCAI scores were associated with partner satisfaction, but not with monetary performance. Analysis of combined dyadic data revealed strong negative correlation between pair CCAI scores and negotiated endprice. Positive correlation was shown between pair CCAI scores and mutual satisfaction. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

This study explored assumptions about communication styles used by nationals of countries that share what is perceived as a common native language. Participants were from Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, and the common native language was Spanish. Data were gathered before and after their attendance at a five-day training event with attendees from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay via surv'ey questionnaires (pre) and interview questionnaires (post). The data were analyzed for participants' assumptions about communication styles and whether these were confirmed or challenged by intercultural interaction. They were also analyzed for ways in which the perception of a shared native language could influence assumptions and interactions. The results revealed four primary communication styles involved in participants' assumptions: 1) Harmony versus Assertiveness, 2) Accessibility versus Exclusiveness, 3) Vocabulary, and 4) Intercultural Conflict Styles, among other insights related to the study questions.

This research project had the following goals: 1) To locate, describe, and synthesize recognized authoritative standards of performance and guiding principles of effective good practice for study abroad programs that have been established, endorsed, and supported by professionals and national organizations in the study abroad field. 2) To review selected literature on intercultural communication that has been published in the last fifteen years and examine intercultural communication theories and strategies applicable to the study abroad field to identify aspects which can most clearly benefit the study abroad experience of a sojourner through improved communication competence. 3) To assess the extent to which study abroad institutions or programs are operating according to the principles and standards of good practice specified by the professionals and national organizations in the study abroad field, and to discover how important study abroad program administrators feel these principles and standards are for their programs. 4) To assess the degree to which study abroad institutions or programs are incorporating relevant intercultural communication training into their study programs abroad.

This was an exploratory case study which focused on international students' experiences in higher education. In particular, this study investigated the efficacy of uncertainty reduction theory in communication classrooms. The research asked four exploratory questions: (a) What are the students’ perceptions of the teacher/student relationship? (b) Do international students experience uncertainty in communication classrooms? (c) If uncertainty is experienced, what is its source(s)? (d) If uncertainty is experienced, do students seek to reduce it, and if so, how? A phenomenological perspective was utilized in this study as the organizing, theoretical framework. Relevant literature on uncertainty reduction theory was reviewed as well as literature specific to international education, the communication classroom, the role of the teacher, and teacher self-disclosure. Focus group interviews, individual interviews, and member checks were conducted with international students who had taken communication classes at Portland State University in the 1998-1999 academic year. Using a set of analytic measures, 21 initial categories were identified and subsequently collapsed into 4 key categories: international education, teacher/student relationship, uncertainty in the communication classroom, and approaches to managing uncertainty. Based on analyses of the data, this study revealed findings significant to understandings of both international education and uncertainty reduction theory. First, a model of classes within international education was derived from the data and served to deepen understandings of international education, in particular the international students’ perceptions of classes across countries. Second, this research tested the extant claims of uncertainty reduction theory and raised questions regarding its conceptualization. The data revealed that the students' definitions of uncertainty and uncertainty reduction differed from those previously postulated, resulting in the formulation of new definitions. Also, context was found to strongly influence students' experiences of uncertainty; the context of the classroom not only determined the sources of uncertainty, but also influenced how uncertainties were coped with when they were not reduced. These alternative understandings of uncertainty reduction theory are significant as they could aid in further research that explores the theory’s extant claims.

This study is an attempt to discover the intercultural communication problems and the methods of coping used by the Nigerian students in the Portland metropolitan extent to which these discovered problems and tried solutions compare with those of other international students that are commonly reported in the literature.

Self-reported behaviorally-based intercultural communication competence inventories are one way to understand the relationship between a pre-departure training program and its participants' intercultural communication competence (ICC). One such inventory, called the Cross- Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), was chosen to explore this relationship. This research sought to confirm or reject the following three hypotheses: 1) experimental subjects will demonstrate higher levels of ICC than control subjects, 2) experimental subjects will demonstrate higher levels of ICC after they take the pre-departure class at Walla Walla College, and 3) there will be relationships among all subjects' ICC and the demographic variables involved in this research. Fifty seven subjects from Walla Walla College participated in the research, 23 as experimental subjects, and 34 as control subjects. Experimental subjects took the cross-cultural ministry class at Walla Walla College and were given the inventory twice, once before and once after the course. Control subjects had never been SMs, had not taken any previous pre-departure training, and were administered the inventory once.

The film addresses the problem of why it is challenging for Chinese college students to study, socialize and succeed in American universities and how language barriers, differences in family communication, educational systems and socialization between the United States and China contributes to the challenges that Chinese students are facing in the The United States. Some of the problems that Chinese students encounter are getting worse, leading to serious mental health problems or even Chinese students committing suicide.

This study describes cultural values and communication styles that are attributable to Kenyans and U.S. Americans. It examines how Kenyans and U.S. Americans experience these different cultural values and communication styles and how they contribute to intercultural misunderstanding and conflict while working together in an office setting. Ten Kenyans and ten U.S. Americans who work or worked together in Nairobi, Kenya were interviewed and surveyed. The goal of the study was to explore and identify the experiences of the participants relative to the following values: individualism and collectivism; power distance; time orientation; high and low context; and universalism and particularism. The methodology used for this study included phone interviews and an extensive survey, which provided anecdotal evidence on how individuals experience and interpret the differences in these values. The interpretation of the data offers insights into significant intercultural differences between these two groups. The need for effective intercultural communication is an everyday reality in Nairobi, whether at the office, in the market, or on the street. Recommendations are offered for both Kenyans and U.S. Americans to work through and manage the differences to enhance productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Ultimately the findings from this study will facilitate a rich discussion for human resources and training departments of similar organizations whether in Kenya or elsewhere.

Published Article / This article argues that, whether she recognises it or not, the translator is an agent, i.e. someone with an active hand in the intercultural communication process. This position endows the translator with the responsibility to make decisions in intercultural communication that can have far-reaching ideological effects. For this reason, translators should be educated to be able to take up this responsibility. In this regard, the author proposes the notion of wisdom as the aim of translator education. The article also argues in favour of indigenising and even subverting translations in theAfrican context.