With growing recognition of the duality of language and culture, the TESOL profession is placing increasing emphasis on the importance of understanding intercultural dynamics in the second language classroom. Currently, however, there is a lack of empirical information and measurement instruments to aid understanding within the field of cross-cultural communication. In response to this lack of instrumentation, Kelley and Meyers (1993) recently created the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), a 5 0-item, self-perception inventory designed to measure cross-cultural adaptability through a total score and four contributing dimensions: Emotional Resilience, Flexibility/Openness, Perceptual Acuity and Personal Autonomy. The two primary purposes of this study were: (1) to add to a limited empirical base by studying the effect of four independent variables--host culture contact, cultural distance, second language proficiency, and length of previous experience abroad--on the dependent variable of cross-cultural adaptability; (2) to explore the possibility of using the CCAI for cross-cultural training in the TESOL profession. Two hundred and forty-five college/university students from two schools participated in the study. Subjects were selected based on location and length of previous cross-cultural experience abroad. Twenty-eight subjects with academic minors in TESOL were also specifically selected. The statistical methodology of this study differed from that of Kelley and Meyers in its treatment of the CCAI Likert scale data as ordinal rather than interval data. After creating an index based on rank scores, one-way analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used for statistical analysis. Overall, the four primary variables of the study were shown to be significantly related to self-perceptions of cross-cultural adaptability. Of the four, cultural distance showed the weakest relationship. One scale, Personal Autonomy, stood out for consistently different results than those of the other three scales. Results were also discussed for TESOL vs. non-TESOL minors, age, gender, and satisfaction with sojourn abroad.

lntercultural competence is seen as a necessary skill for international business studies graduates. Can faculty and staff members at international business studies programs improve their intercultural competence by participating in a series of intercultural learning activities? In this study 10 faculty and staff members went through nine 4-hour intercultural learning sessions. Their intercultural sensitivity was tested before and after the sessions. The study builds on research that makes use of the Intercultural Development Inventory for the assessment of intercultural competence development. The framework for intercultural learning used in this study is based on a Process Model of Intercultural Competence and the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. The study made use of mixed methods for data collection: IDI pre- and post-testing, participative observation, and interview. Analysis of the data revealed that faculty and staff members gained on average 8.02 points on a 90-point scale (the IDI developmental orientation). The group moved form minimization to acceptance. Faculty and staff members with a positive developmental score reduced their orientation gap with on average 7.47 points. This means they can now more realistically estimate their ability of dealing with cultural differences. In interviews faculty and staff members confirmed to feel more interculturally sensitive and that reflection, engagement and the making of meaning are important elements of mindful intercultural interaction. This study should ideally be followed by a study comparing the intercultural competence development of faculty and staff members with the intercultural competence development of their students, answering the question whether interculturally competent educators hone intercultural competence development of students more or better than those who are less interculturally competent.

Solicitud de envío manuscrito de artículo científico. / Diversas iniciativas desde el Estado y la sociedad civil proponen el uso de herramientas para asegurar los derechos lingüísticos de los hablantes de lenguas originarias en el Perú. Este estudio cualitativo analiza El quechua en la función policial: Manual para el empleo del quechua en las comisarías, herramienta diseñada por Wilfredo Ardito y Gavina Córdova para facilitar el servicio que brinda la Policía Nacional del Perú (PNP) en contextos plurilingües. El objetivo principal del estudio es identificar en qué medida la teoría sobre traducción e interpretación como mediación lingüística se reflejan en el manual, entendido como un material para formar mediadores lingüísticos. De esta manera, se identifica y analiza los principales alcances y limitaciones del desarrollo y contenido del manual, y se proponen estrategias de mejoras. Para ello, se analizó el contenido del manual y se entrevistó a los autores; finalmente, se compararon los resultados con los discursos teóricos sobre interpretación comunitaria e interculturalidad. La investigación concluye que la interpretación comunitaria aún no es percibida por el Estado ni por la sociedad como la respuesta al reto de la comunicación intercultural, a pesar de que existe un marco normativo que respalda su uso. Esto se refleja en el manual y la ausencia de habilidades de interpretación, interpersonales y técnicas. Por lo tanto, se plantea un modelo de mejora que presenta recomendaciones basadas en un diálogo con teorías de la interpretación e interculturalidad aplicables al contexto peruano. / Peru has diverse governmental and social initiatives that propose the use of different tools to ensure linguistic rights of indigenous languages speakers. This qualitative research analyzes El quechua en la función policial: Manual para el empleo del quechua en las comisarías (Quechua in the police work: Handbook of Quechua for Police Officers), a tool created by Wilfredo Ardito and Gavina Córdova aiming to facilitate Peruvian National Police (PNP) service in plurilingual contexts. The main objective of this study is to identify how theories about translation and interpreting as language mediation are shown in the handbook, understood as a training material for PNP officers to work as language mediators. In this manner, the aim is to identify and analyze the main accomplishments and limitations of the development and content of this handbook, so as suggesting strategies to possible improvements. To do so, the handbook was analyzed, and its authors were interviewed. Thereafter, their discourses were compared with theories of community interpreting. This research discovered that community interpreting is not yet perceived by the State as the main tool to address the need for a proper linguistic mediation within the intercultural communication challenge. Although there is a regulatory framework supporting the use of this discipline, there are no public policies nor any measures that assure it or regulate it. Therefore, an improvement model with recommendations based on translation and interpreting theories and localized in at a Peruvian context is proposed. / Tesis

Theoretical part of this Ph.D. thesis deals with the latest findings about intercultural communication and with important intercultural theories focused on two examined countries: the Czech Republic and Japan. It compares Czech and Japanese ways of thinking and behaviors using theory of cultural standards. An overview of current intercultural competence theories is followed by a description of specifics of intercultural competence and of possible ways of developing it. The theoretical part of the thesis is concluded by an overview of benefits and risks of intercultural research in general. The empirical part of the thesis compares intercultural competence of Czech and Japanese university students. The main aim of the study is to construct a questionnaire of intercultural competence, to design an observed situation measuring intercultural competence and to determinate a relationship between components of the questionnaire and the observation criteria. Next aims of the study are to determine differences in intercultural competence of Czech and Japanese university students, to compare them and to find out whether these differences can be explained by the components of the questionnaire. We were interested to what extent is the intercultural competence related to intracultural competence and whether...

Es werden unterschiedliche Teilziele in der Diplomarbeit verfolgt. Das erste theoretische Kapitel soll zunächst die für die interkulturelle Kommunikation (IKK) relevanten Begriffe und Konzepte wie Sprache, Kommunikation und Kultur aufgreifen und den Leser für die vielseitigen Aspekte der interkulturellen Kommunikation sensibilisieren. Eine Darstellung der Ergebnisse kulturvergleichender Studien hat den Zweck, auf die interkulturellen Herausforderungen bei der Begegnung zwischen Personen aus Deutschland und Frankreich hinzuweisen. Die theoretischen Grundlagen II behandeln den Forschungsbereich der interkulturellen Kommunikation und greifen Aspekte wie interkulturelle Kompetenz (IK), interkulturelles Lernen (IL) und Interkulturalität auf, um dadurch in die für den anschließenden praktischen Teil relevante Thematik der interkulturellen Trainings einzuführen. Die Untersuchung des interkulturellen Seminars der öffentlich-rechtlichen Fernsehanstalt ARTE als ein Paradebeispiel der deutsch-französischen Zusammenarbeit hat zum Ziel, darzulegen, wie sich ARTE den Herausforderungen der interkulturellen Kommunikation im Unternehmen stellt und sie bewältigt. Denn auch wenn das Ziel des Kulturkanals in der Förderung der Verständigung und Annäherung der Völker in Europa liegt, besteht meines Erachtens der erste Schritt darin, innerhalb des Unternehmens eine solche Verständigungsbasis zu schaffen, und dort das „couple franco-allemand“ zu stärken. Überdies wird überprüft, wie erstens mit der kulturellen Unterschiedlichkeit und Sprachenvielfalt im Unternehmen umgegangen wird und inwiefern zweitens die Kulturmerkmale bei der Zusammenarbeit der Mitarbeiter von ARTE eine Rolle spielen. Gegenstand des praktischen Teils ist eine Analyse des von ARTE als betriebsinterne Personalentwicklungsmaßnahme angebotenen interkulturellen Seminars (IS), wobei Hauptaugenmerk auf das im Juni 2009 stattgefundene Seminar gelegt wird. Neben der Vorstellung und konkreten Beschreibung des interkulturellen Trainings (IT) soll die Wirksamkeit der Maßnahme mit Hilfe einer Evaluation untersucht werden, indem die Inhalte und Methoden des interkulturellen Trainings mit den in der Diplomarbeit gelegten theoretischen Grundlagen und den Erkenntnissen aus Kulturstudien in Beziehung gesetzt werden. Die Evaluationsergebnisse zum interkulturellen Seminar bilden den Abschluss des praktischen Teils und dienen der Verdeutlichung des status quo bei ARTE. 1 Die vorliegende Arbeit ist in acht Teile untergliedert. Das erste Kapitel beginnt mit einer kurzen Einleitung in die Thematik der interkulturellen Kommunikation unter Bezugnahme auf den betrieblichen Kontext. Nach einer Erläuterung der Rolle von Sprache und Kommunikation sowie ihrer Grundzüge werden im zweiten Teil der viel umwobene Kulturbegriff erklärt und anschließend vier Kulturkonzepte vorgestellt, in welchen einerseits die Rolle und Wahrnehmung der eigenen Kultur dargestellt und andererseits unterschiedliche Kulturdimensionen bzw. Strukturmerkmale aufgezeigt werden. Der dritte Teil widmet sich in einem theoretischen Exkurs Ergebnissen zu kulturvergleichenden Studien über Deutschland und Frankreich, deren kulturspezifischen Charakteristika für den praktischen Teil relevant werden. Auf den wissenschaftlich-theoretischen Ausführungen des zweiten Kapitels bauen die theoretischen Grundlagen des Forschungsbereichs IKK (4. Kapitel) auf. Die Besonderheiten und Schwierigkeiten interkultureller Kommunikation werden herausgearbeitet, und ein Blick auf die Phasen interkulturellen Lernens geworfen. Im Hinblick auf den Erwerb interkultureller Handlungskompetenz wird zudem auf die für im interkulturellen Kontext tätigen Unternehmen, Organisationen oder Institutionen immer wichtiger werdende Personalentwicklungsmaßnahme des interkulturellen Trainings mit Berücksichtigung der Besonderheit des Outdoor-Trainings als innovative Methode interkulturellen Lernens detailliert eingegangen. Der fünfte Teil führt durch eine kurze Beschreibung der deutschfranzösischen Beziehungen in das bi-kulturelle Arbeitsfeld von ARTE ein, dessen Firmengeschichte schließlich im sechsten Kapitel eingehend behandelt wird. Das deutschfranzösische Gemeinschaftsunternehmen mit seiner langen Gründungsgeschichte im interkulturellen Kontext ist Gegenstand der Betrachtung, so dass die Grundlage für den praktischen Teil der Arbeit geschaffen ist. Im siebten Kapitel wird exemplarisch das interkulturellen Seminar als unternehmensinterne Maßnahme vorgestellt und vollständig analysiert. Der letzte Teil fasst abschließend in einem Fazit die wichtigsten Erkenntnisse der Analyse zusammen, bewertet mit einem kritischen Blick die Arbeit und insbesondere die Untersuchungs- bzw. Evaluationsmethode und gibt Anregungen sowie Empfehlungen für die Durchführung zukünftiger Seminare.

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abstract: The field of intercultural communication emerged from demonstrated need in the public sector and has roots in cultural anthropology. There is continued need in academic and practitioner domains for improved ways to effectively engage across cultures. To do so, it is necessary to develop approaches that enable a person to take the emic perspective of an intercultural Other. Worldview is a promising concept in several fields, such as anthropology and cross-cultural psychology, but remains undeveloped in the field of intercultural competence. In addition, existing conceptualizations and approaches to identify worldviews are too comprehensive or ambiguous to be useful. The purpose of this project was to propose a novel worldview framework synthesizing existing literature. The resulting construct is constituted by the composite universals, morality, agency, and positionality (MAP). Worldview MAP was applied to intercultural interactions between members of two distinct sociocultural groups working together on a two-week global management project in a multinational organization in Japan. Three research questions focused on identifying intercultural difficulties, worldview assumptions of each party, and relationships between the difficulties and worldviews. Inter-rater reliability was calculated for three morality subdimensions most underdeveloped in the literature. Findings include worldview descriptions for both culture groups across MAP and ways in which worldviews are interconnected with and illuminate three complex intercultural difficulties. Further, five meta-level worldview findings show how implicit worldviews were indirectly revealed in narrative data. Limitations of the study and implications for future work are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2019

The purpose of this research was to examine the usefulness of David A. Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) as a tool for categorization and analysis of systematic differences between American and International students. The research addressed five primary questions: 1. Are the learning styles of the International students tested different from those established by Kolb in previous studies of American students? 2. Do the learning styles of the International students tested differ among the various groups? 3. Are there differences among the groups of International students tested that can be related to gender? 4. Do the learning styles of the International students tested show any variation according to age? And if present, does that pattern differ in any way from patterns identified for American subjects tested? 5. Are the learning styles of the International students tested similar or dissimilar from the norms established by Kolb for American students in various fields of academic study?

The purpose of this thesis is to lay the foundation for a better understanding between the East and the West by (l) a broad overview of the traditional value systems and thought patterns (sometimes referred to as cultural orientations) of the Indians, Chinese, and Euro-Americans, (2) comparing and contrasting these value systems and thought patterns, and (3) showing the effects of the contrasts of the Asian and Western cultural orientations on intercultural communication. The differences in the traditional heritages that affect the way that the three major cultures look at the world are discovered by drawing together descriptions from classical literature that have stood the test of time. The effects of the meaning of these contrasting cultural orientations on intercultural communication are discussed. The terms "culture," "communication," "intercultural communication," "cultural orientations," "thought patterns," "East" and "West" are defined. A general review of the literature shows that the problem of intercultural communication is very complex, sophisticated, and has been present through history. Though philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and communicators have attempted to show and be aware of the cultural differences, not much has been researched in terms of how these differences affect intercultural communication. Their only overwhelming· concern is how people think at the moment of communication. They have usually ignored the nature of intercultural communication behaviors as the subsequent, natural response and expressions of cultural oriented thought patterns of the individuals. An overview of the three major cultures is presented, followed by a comparison and contrast of the categories of will, activity, desire, progress, reason, attitude toward rhetoric, caste, distinctiveness, belief, change, and heroes; illustrations are then given of how these differences caused misunderstanding in the past. It is open to argument whether the "categorized" thought patterns are typical and applicable to contemporary events; however, examples are given to show some of these traditional attitudes and behaviors have influenced intercultural communication.

This study investigated the host family experience, specifically examining the goals of host families and intercultural training of host families. It compares the the importance and accomplishment of goals between interculturally trained host families and untrained host families.The focus of the research addressed the following research questions: 1) Do host families who receive intercultural training rate their goals differently than families who do not receive intercultural training? 1a) Do host families who receive intercultural training rate differently the goals in which the student meets intra-family needs than families who do not receive intercultural training? 2) Do host families who receive intercultural training report the level of accomplishment of their goals differently than host families who do not receive intercultural training? 2a) Do host families who receive intercultural training report the level of accomplishment of goals regarding cultural awareness differently than families who do not receive intercultural training? 3) To what extent is there a relationship between trained host family ratings of importance and ratings of accomplishment of goals? 3a) To what extent is there a relationship between untrained host family ratings of importance and ratings of accomplishment of goals?