Intercultural communication between Deaf and hearing students at a South African university

Avela Ntsongelwa,Milagros Rivera-Sánchez

doi:10.18820/24150525/comm.v23.11

Abstract

This study investigates the way hearing and Deaf students communicate and develop working and social relationships at the University of the Free State. Centred on the cultural identities of the Deaf subculture and the hearing culture, the authors explore how these two groups interact and how they perceive each other in the context of intercultural communication. The study was able to reach saturation with a total number of eleven participants from the Deaf (n=3) and hearing (n=9) culture. The findings revealed that Deaf students at the University interact with hearing students mostly in class and on-campus residences. Beyond those limited spaces, Deaf students remain isolated from the rest of the university population. The findings also suggest that language is one of the biggest barriers to achieving effective intercultural communication.

Highlights

Ours is a shrinking world where people from different countries or regions share products, world views and ideas, and frequently cross international borders to work, study or travel (Dong et al 2008: 29)
Seven hearing students were in their final year of study, two hearing and one Deaf student were completing their postgraduate studies, and two of the Deaf students were in their first year
All nine Deaf students registered at the University were approached to participate in the study, but six declined

Summary

Introduction

Ours is a shrinking world where people from different countries or regions share products, world views and ideas, and frequently cross international borders to work, study or travel (Dong et al 2008: 29). Communication technologies have made it easier for individuals to socialise with people from other countries and cultures. For these reasons, intercultural communication skills play an important role in our society. Intercultural communication “involves interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbols’ system differ enough to influence the communication event” (Samovar et al 2013). As this definition suggests, culture influences the rules we use to communicate and the way we Ntsongelwa & Rivera-Sánchez interpret words, gestures and situations (Zhijing 2009: 6). We can conclude that each cultural group perceives reality differently

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