Epistemologically breaking intercultural communication or an epistemological break from intercultural communication? Rethinking praxis as knowledge

Difference between cultures is one of the foci of cross-cultural and intercultural communication research. Difference is often viewed as a problematic source of misunderstanding and conflict. Dialogic scholarship is extensive in interpersonal, organizational, and public communication. However, in the field of intercultural communication, the dialogic approach has not yet been explicitly explored. Based on the dialogic theories of Buber, Levinas, and Bakhtin, this paper argues that to be intercultural is to be dialogic, to celebrate difference, otherness, and plurality. This paper further proposes a critical dialogic approach to understanding difference in intercultural communication, which values both the grand narratives about intercultural power relations and the local meanings of situated intercultural interaction and competing discourses.

With the progress and development of artificial intelligence technology, the use of AI is becoming more and more frequent in people's lives and many fields. The application of AI in academic understanding and communication has attracted wide attention, but there are still shortcomings in the fields related to intercultural communication. This paper analyzes the role of AI in intercultural academic understanding and communication. By using ChatGPT and DeepSeek as two AI tools to translate literature in the field of intercultural communication, this paper analyzes and concludes that AI can be used more efficiently and conveniently in intercultural academic understanding and communication, reduce language barriers, and promote more intercultural academic understanding and communication. Based on the advantages and disadvantages of the two AI tools, this paper puts forward some suggestions, such as learning to use AI in advance, choosing AI tools that better meet the needs of users according to the characteristics of different AI, and insisting on self-thinking.

The concept of identity has steadily emerged in importance in the field of intercultural communication, especially over the last two decades. In a transnational world marked by complex connectivity as well as enduring differences and power inequities, it is imperative to understand and continuously theorize how we perceive the self in relation to the cultural other. Such understandings play a central role in how we negotiate relationships, build alliances, promote peace, and strive for social justice across cultural differences in various contexts. Identity Research in Intercultural Communication, edited by Nilanjana Bardhan and Mark P. Orbe, is unique in scope because it brings together a vast range of positions on identity scholarship under one umbrella. It tracks the state of identity research in the field and includes cutting-edge theoretical essays (some supported by empirical data), and queries what kinds of theoretical, methodological, praxiological and pedagogical boundaries researchers should be pushing in the future. This collection’s primary and qualitative focus is on more recent concepts related to identity that have emerged in scholarship such as power, privilege, intersectionality, critical selfhood, hybridity, diaspora, cosmopolitanism, queer theory, globalization and transnationalism, immigration, gendered and sexual politics, self-reflexivity, positionality, agency, ethics, dialogue and dialectics, and more. The essays are critical/interpretive, postmodern, postcolonial and performative in perspective, and they strike a balance between U.S. and transnational views on identity. This volume is an essential text for scholars, educators, students, and intercultural consultants and trainers.

The development of education in the field of intercultural communication in Poland had its beginnings in the 17th century. World War II and its consequences influenced the fact that the current study cycle does not have a relatively long history. The main determinants inhibiting the development of the didactic offer and scientific activities in the field of intercultural communication had their grounds in the Polish political system after World War II. Since the beginning of the 1990s there has been great development in intercultural communication in many research and educational centers in Poland. Currently, intercultural communication is taught at all levels of education at leading universities in Poland. Polish scientists conduct research in this field that results in scientific publications, they are members of many international organizations dealing with intercultural communication, and they participate in and organize scientific meetings both in Poland and abroad.

This literature review foregrounds the critiques, moves, and junctures that have specifically retheorized culture and communication from a critical intercultural communication perspective, and set the stage for a fifth “moment” in the field of intercultural communication. Likewise, the historically specific moments when various scholars dared to question, confront, and wrestle with definitions and theoretical formations of culture and intercultural communication are delineated. Such a review will elucidate the role a critical perspective has played in the field of intercultural communication, and the crucial research questions, stances, and directions that arise from such a perspective for future intercultural communication studies.

The authors of this book have brought together their expertise in international relations and technical communication, respectively, and produced a fresh and topical treatment of intercultural communication from an interdisciplinary perspective. The book aims to enhance the reader's basic stance as a culturally aware person and his/her ability to act mindfully in intercultural encounters. The book is divided into four parts: an introduction of the central concepts and key theories of intercultural communication; an explanation of the four different approaches to the study of intercultural and international communication: the social science approach, the interpretative approach, the critical approach, and the dialectical approach; a discussion of the various processes and technologies related to intercultural and international communication; and finally, a discussion of the ethical dimensions related to culture. The book is highly rich in detail, and the work is an invaluable source of information for the reader who is looking for a holistic picture of intercultural and international communication on a global level. On the other hand, its wide scope does not permit a more in-depth treatment of many issues, such as linguistics or translation. There is a fair degree of repetition in the book, which makes skimming and browsing through the book easy, but which might cause some frustration for the chronological reader. However, for classroom purposes, the book is ideal as it offers numerous theoretical viewpoints.

This is the first special issue that JPHE hosts—and could there be a more suitable forum for an issue dedicated to exploring and encouraging a critical dialogue around transformative intercultural communication teaching practices in higher education (HE)? What has led us to engage with the theme of making intercultural education meaningful is a shared observation that there seems to be an increasing disconnect between recent developments in intercultural communication theory and practice. With so much critique published over the years, we are perplexed as to why traditional notions of culture still prevail not only in mainstream intercultural communication research but also in institutional discourses in HE and in popular discourses as articulated by the people who sit—or have once sat—in our classrooms. In this editorial and Special Issue, we approach intercultural communication from a critical angle, akin to the theorization of interculturality as a discursive and contingent, unstable and contradictory, political and ideological construct. We are thrilled to see this approach gain ground in the field of intercultural communication. However, at the same time, we are worried that the terrain of intercultural communication teaching across HE settings has become quite unruly and is characterized by pedagogical solutions that do not have a stable connection to state-of-the-art theory, and that might lead to naive, simplistic, and essentialist understandings of ‘culture’ and ‘the other’.......

Bu makale Kültürlerarası İletişim Çalışmaları`nın başlangıcından bugüne kadar geçirdiği paradigmatik dönüşümleri konu almaktadır. 20. yüzyılın ortasında Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde, ülkenin çıkarlarına hizmet etmek üzere kurulan alan, içinden geçtiği tarihsel ve siyasi olaylarla irtibat kurmakta, buna bağlı olarak da sosyal bilimler içindeki dönüşümlere cevap üretmekte geç kalmıştır. Bu gecikmeye rağmen, 1990’lardan itibaren sosyal inşacı yaklaşımların eleştirel çağrıları alanda karşılık bulmuştur. Eleştirel yaklaşımlar alanın güç ile ilişkisini, kültür kavrayışını, çatışmaya yaklaşımını, ‘fark’ unsurunu negatif gören bakışını problemleştirmiş, alana statüko ve güç ile arasına mesafe koymak, sosyal adaleti ve eşitlikçi bir toplumu savunmak adına dezavantajlı toplumsal grupların yanında konumlanma çağrısında bulunmuştur. Nitekim özellikle 1990 ortalarıyla birlikte alanda eleştirel ve hatta aktivist kültürlerarası iletişimci akademisyenler ortaya çıkmaya başlamıştır. Hala genç bir çalışma alanı olan Kültürlerarası İletişim, güncel tartışmalarla birlikte gelişimini sürdürmektedir. Bu makale alanın farklılıklarla birlikte yaşamak konusundaki potansiyellerine duyulan inançla, eleştirel Kültürlerarası İletişim’i savunmak motivasyonuyla yazılmıştır.

English as a lingua franca (ELF) studies, intercultural communication research and English language teaching (ELT) have all been concerned with ideas of ‘successful’ communication and the competencies needed to achieve this. While all three fields have recognised the importance of language and culture in understanding communication, little agreement has been reached on how to characterise the relationship between language and culture or how this relates to ‘competent’ communication. This chapter will therefore investigate the convergences and conflicts among the fields of ELF studies, applied linguistics research in intercultural communication and ELT in their perspectives on language and culture. These issues are explored, firstly, through a discussion of how culture has been conceived of in ELT and a critique of the often essentialist manner in which this has been done. This is followed by an examination of intercultural communication studies as related to language teaching. A distinction is drawn between essentialist approaches and more recent dynamic characterisation of intercultural communication. How culture and intercultural communication have been conceptualised in ELF is then presented, highlighting features of the intercultural communication literature which have been drawn on, but also a number of points of difference. It is argued here that ELF studies add to the growing body of post-modernist thinking and research in applied linguistics that can inform intercultural communication research through underscoring the dynamic and fluid manner in which form, function and context are constructed in intercultural communication through English as a lingua franca. At the same time intercultural communication research can be of use to ELF studies through the extensive body of work exploring conceptions of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Crucially, it is this focus on ICC and communicative competence that ELT, intercultural communication studies and ELF share. However, ELF research emphasises the importance of a conceptualisation of ICC in which language and culture are seen as emergent resources in intercultural communication which need to be approached critically. To this end the notion of intercultural awareness is proposed as a dynamic framework for intercultural competence. Such critical perspectives in understanding intercultural communication through ELF and associated notions of competencies have fundamental implications for ELT which have yet to be adequately taken up in theory or practice.

В статье рассматриваются проблемы формирования межкультурной коммуникативной компетенций (далее — МКК) вторичной языковой личности при обучении языку делового общения в условиях диалога культур. Главная проблема в обучении в сотрудничестве заключается в том, как управлять, не управляя, как малым резонансным воздействием подтолкнуть систему на один из собственных и благоприятных для человека путей развития, как превращать хаос неорганизованные и спонтанные устремления обучающихся) в творчество, превращая в поле инноваций, способствующее интерактивной цели. Основной тезис статьи: отсутствие или недостаточная сформированность МКК у обучающихся вляется причиной ошибок социокультурного плана, ведет к так называемой дискоммуникации. Для межкультурного делового общения огромное значение имеет понимание и осознание культурно обусловленных различий двух языков. Цель работы — теоретически обосновать и разработать технологию обучения в сотрудничестве для иностранцев, овладевающих параллельно русским языком и спецификой делового общения в сфере межкультурной коммуникации. Гипотеза исследования основана на предположении о том, что подготовка будущих бакалавров лингвистики к участию в межкультурном деловом общении будет более эффективной, если будут уточнены особенности технологии обучения в сотрудничестве с позиции компетентностного подхода при формировании межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции. Для изучения теоретических и практических аспектов проблемы формирования у студентов языкового вуза межкультурной коммуникативной компетенции были выбраны следующие научно‑исследовательские методы: обзор и анализ литературы (методической, лингвистической, психолингвистической и психолого‑педагогической по проблеме исследования), анализ нормативных документов, наблюдение за учебным процессом по дисциплине «Язык деловоuо общения», анкетирование и опрос студентов, обучающихся на втором курсе Международного института экономики и лингвистики Иркутского государственного университета по специальности «Лингвистика». В качестве методологической основы в работе используются основные положения: kичностно‑деятельностного подхода (Л.С.Выготский, 1982, П.Я.Гальперин, 1966, Л.С.Рубинштейн, 2000); концепции языковой и вторичной языковой личности (Ю.Н.Караулов, 1987, Н.Д.Гальскова, 2006, Г.В.Елизарова, 2012); компетентностного подхода к целеполаганию в области обучения иностранным языкам (Мильруд Р. П., 2000, Мишенева Ю. И., 2014). Предложенная технология (этапы, методы, приемы, упражнения) может послужить основой для создания учебных пособий по обучению студентов языкового вуза межкультурной коммуникации. Результаты исследования могут быть использованы в курсе лекций по теории обучения русскому языку как иностранному, в ходе повышения квалификации преподавателей иностранных языков The article examines the problems of formation of the intercultural communicative competence (hereinafter — the ICC) of the secondary linguistic personality when teaching the language of business communication in the conditions of the dialogue of cultures. The main thesis of the article is that the absence or insufficient formation of the ICC of the students is the cause of errors in the sociocultural plan, the so‑called discommunications. For intercultural business communication, understanding and recognition of culturally conditioned differences in two languages is of great importance. The aim of the work is to theoretically substantiate and develop the technology of training in cooperation for foreigners mastering simultaneously the Russian language and the specifics of business communication in the field of intercultural communication. The hypothesis of the study is based on the assumption that the training of future bachelors of linguistics for participation in the intercultural business communication will be more effective if specifics of technology of training in cooperation from the position of a competence approach in formation of intercultural communicative competence are specified To study the theoretical and practical aspects of the problem of formation of the intercultural communicative competence of students of the language university, the following research 4methods were selected: review and analysis of literature (methodological, linguistic, psycholinguistic and psychological‑pedagogical research), analysis of regulatory documents, observation of the educational process in the discipline “Language of business communication”, interviewing and questioning of students studying at the second year of the International Institute of Economics and Linguistics of the Irkutsk State University specializing in “Linguistics”. As a methodological basis of the work the main provisions are used: the personality‑activity approach (L. S. Vygotskii, 1982, P. Ya. Gal’perin, 1966, L. S. Rubinshtein, 2000); the concept of language and secondary linguistic personality (Yu. N. Karaulov, 1987, N. D. Gal’skova, 2006, G. V. Elizarova, 2012); Competence approach to goal‑setting in the field of teaching foreign languages (Milrud R. P., 2000, Misheneva Yu. I., 2014). The proposed technology (stages, methods, techniques, exercises) can serve as a basis for creating teaching aids for teaching students of a language university of the intercultural communication. The results of the research can be used in the course of lectures on the theory of teaching Russian as a foreign language, in the course of improving the qualifications of foreign language teachers

The expansion of the spheres of political, trade, economic and cultural cooperation between Russia and other countries creates real preconditions for intercultural professional communication in all areas of language experts’ activity: teaching, researching, translating, interpreting and speaking for the peers. In these conditions, learning to provide a monologue in different world languages is becoming increasingly important to future linguists. According to the requirements of the new Federal Standard for Higher Professional Education, a linguist must be able to perform intercultural communication in various professional fields, conduct business negotiations, be an active participant in conferences, workshops and roundtable discussions using several working languages and search for topical information to improve his/her professional skills in the field of intercultural communication. Thus, the standard reflects the strategy of modern foreign-language education aimed to form the cultural and linguistic personality of the language expert who has reached a high level of the foreign-language professional communicative competence, which manifests itself in speech culture, an open-minded attitude to unfamiliar traditions and ways of life, along with the abilities for monologue and international professional communication. High-quality monologic speech is a personally and professionally significant skill, due to which specialists do not have difficulties with business conversations, reports, public messages and presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint and freely participate in discussing the course and prospects of joint activities. Mastering such skills begins at the very beginning of learning a foreign language in a higher educational institution to be able to work with complicated scientific texts and prepare creative monologues as a postgraduate student.

Intercultural communication is a highly diverse field; it is being studied within numerous academic and para-academic disciplines and from a range of more or less interdisciplinary perspectives. Intercultural communication is of concern to researchers and practitioners in various strands of linguistics, translation studies, media and communication research, business and management, ethnography, psychology, pedagogy, sociology, philosophy, and international relations – and this list may not be exhaustive. Moreover, a conglomerate of synonymous or related terms exists, such as ‘cross-cultural communication’, ‘intercultural training’, ‘intercultural competence’, and ‘intercultural integration’. A search on Amazon.com (conducted on 29 August 2012) for ‘intercultural communication’ (all searches with quotation marks) yielded 2,651 results and for ‘cross-cultural communication’ another 707 hits for books alone. A search conducted on the same day in the Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) database (ProQuest) turned out 17,322 results for ‘intercultural communication’ and 14,559 for ‘cross-cultural communication’ – and these hits only include the relevant works published in English. Within the framework of this chapter, it is impossible to survey the myriad of books and articles individually. Instead, the attempt is made here to trace basic orientations, theoretical positions and philosophical models towards the triangular constellation of language, culture and (intercultural) communication that, implicitly or explicitly, underlie most works and approaches, and to highlight the particular contribution cultural linguistics can make and has already made to the field.

By regarding impoliteness as a dynamic process, this research examined impoliteness in the polylogal intercultural communication among Asian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), including the impoliteness acts by the face-threat initiators, and the responses to the impoliteness acts by both the face-threat recipients and the face-threat witnesses. Moreover, it attempted to identify the factors that caused impoliteness in intercultural communication. Eighty-four Asian EFL learners from five Asian countries were engaged in this research. This research used group discussions to collect the nearly naturally occurring communication. The result illustrated that Asian EFL learners used the criticize/dispraise the hearer impoliteness strategy most frequently. Two new impoliteness strategies were identified, namely the use of the face-threat initiator’s first language (L1), and the use of inappropriate English expressions. In addition, a new reaction was used by both the face-threat recipients and the face-threat witnesses, namely the confirmation of impoliteness. A dynamic model of impoliteness based on the results of this research was proposed. Furthermore, six factors that caused impoliteness were discussed, including different individual cultural variations, accommodation to the intercultural communication, the degree of mindfulness, the individual prior experience of knowledge about the English language, the English proficiency levels of the EFL learners, and differences in individual salience that resulted in the failure of cooperative intention by the interactants in the intercultural communication. This research attempts to fill the lacuna in impoliteness studies in the fields of intercultural communication and intercultural pragmatics.

This article discusses topical issues of future speech therapists’ training in terms of a competence approach. Special attention is paid to formation of universal competences of future teachers in the field of intercultural collaboration. Current bachelor training curricula of specialized (speech pathology) education of speech therapy major 44.03.03 have been analyzed regarding formation of competences of future speech therapists in the field of intercultural communication. Efficient intercultural communication does not emerge spontaneously, it should be consistently developed. Modern life calls for mastering the skills of such communication. At present, special attention is paid to formation of universal competences in future speech pathologists, especially aimed at intercultural collaboration. It is believed that a speech therapist possessing such competences will be able to perceive cultural diversity of society in social, historical, and philosophical contexts. This article analyzes the experimental study of development level of future speech therapists’ general cultural competences. Junior and senior students from the Department of speech therapy, Institute of special education and psychology, Moscow City University took part in this research. The main experimental method was a survey of students. Particular attention was paid to the issues of formation of speech culture of speech therapists and the possibility to apply knowledge acquired during studies of a humanitarian module in professional activities of cultural and educational type. The main results of the analysis are a proven opportunity of updating theoretical knowledge of speech therapists in the field of intercultural communication acquired during studies of humanitarian, psychological, pedagogical and professional sections using interactive approaches to teacher activities.

The paper sets forth the need for an increase in research in intercultural business communication in Kazakhstan, particularly business negotiations. The Republic of Kazakhstan is quite a young country which is about 20 years since it has got its independence. It is one of the former USSR countries. Kazakhstan is a multicultural country; there are more than 140 various nationalities that live in peace and agreement. When we speak of various nationalities we mean different cultures, different mentalities, different languages as well as different norms and standards of communication. Hence, living in such a variety of cultures in order to communicate and interact successfully, people improve their intercultural communication skills, literacy and competence. Along with the growth of economics and commerce in Kazakhstan the level of intercultural communication competence increases also. Thus, we can state that people living in a multilingual country obtain high level of intercultural communication skills, as well as intercultural literacy and competence. This is particularly critical for business dealers during their business trips, negotiations, signing agreements and contracts, etc. There are many cases in the world when misunderstandings due to lack of knowledge in the culture of business partners or communicative (cultural) barriers prevent from signing an agreement or even lead to failure of the business. And that is why intercultural communication is such an important and critical subject to study in the business sector nowadays. The paper tries to describe some specific features of Kazakhstani people in business negotiations, provides some cultural values of the Kazakh people and some cases of cultural misunderstandings that resulted in failure of business negotiation. Index Terms - linguistics, intercultural communication, business communication, negotiations, Kazakhstan.