Intercultural Factors Research Articles

The role of the intercultural factor in the formation of a secondary language personality in modern Europe

Europe is one of those regions of the world where the tendency towards language unity is dual in nature - on the one hand, in the process of its spread, transnational contact English (EL) acquires regionally determined typological forms; on the other hand, there is a common European tendency of opposition to the expansion of its influence on national languages. Significant changes in their dynamics due to globalization are undergoing the functioning of the languages of the peoples of the world. Striving for the economic unity of the world, globalization is also causing a tendency towards its linguistic unity. In transnational communication of European countries, the contact EL is involved in many domestic and special areas. It develops in multilingual contexts of the European Union, which initially implies the need for transcultural and transnational communication among European communicants, within which the relationship of languages is not something fixed once and for all. The paradigm of international culture in the mentality of Europeans develops in the process of secondary socialization, when a secondary linguistic personality is formed, determined by the formal membership of the European community, regardless of the specific country of residence. The structure of the cultural component of the European transnational communication and the specificity of the linguocultural component of the EL in various European countries reflect the long process of secondary socialization and internalization of the EL, which has its own characteristics in different parts of the continent. In contrast to primary socialization, which has a universal national character, secondary socialization is aimed at the entry of the individual into the international community, for example, scientists, students, business people, bloggers, etc. Possession of EL as an instrument of secondary socialization allows representatives of various linguocultural communities to realize acquired cultural norms in both intranational and transnational communication. Within the spatial-temporal framework of European contexts, the linguocultural component of the ELis formed on the basis of the cultural component of primary socialization in the native language; passes through the emotional-personal filter of users, is made out of linguistic means at the appropriate level of knowledge of the EL and receives a secondary cultural orientation in the conditions of secondary socialization. The situation of intercultural communication arises when two or more persons belonging to different cultures interact, and members of different cultures can expect their partners to communicate and behave in the same way as they do, and not to make adjustments to their speech behavior. The paper raises questions of the vitality of culture in conditions of intensive contact, since identity in the context of globalization is a process of differentiation, fragmentation, and complementarity of systemic and subjective-objective factors. The complexity of the process of identifying a modern transcultural linguistic personality lies in the multidimensionality of identity criteria, the actualization of political, social, cultural and symbolic capital.

Addressing international students on Australian and Chinese university webpages: A comparative study

This article investigates the discursive construction of international students on Australian and Chinese university webpages that are directed at international students. The international student theme webpages of three Australian and three Chinese universities were examined in relation to how verbal and visual semiotic resources were co-deployed on the webpages to address international students in the climate of neoliberal thinking in higher education. The tools used for analysis and interpretation were informed by socio-semiotic approaches to multimodal discourse analysis, international education discourses and communication accommodation theories. It was found that the Australian and Chinese university webpages differed in several salient ways to the effect that international students were portrayed as agentive and informed individuals to explore a study abroad experience at the Australian universities versus being explicitly guided through their study abroad at the Chinese universities. These results were compared and interpreted as reflecting each country’s conception of transnational education. The article concludes with a summary of the impacts of cultural and intercultural factors and neoliberal thinking in higher education on multimodal representations of international students on university webpages and directions for further research.

Investigating the moderating role of intercultural factors on consumer cross-shopping behavior

The concept of prejudice has become increasingly important to scientific thinking about relations between groups. Yet, despite extensive research, little is known about how prejudice affects consumer buying behavior, especially regarding activities that involve purchasing products and services thereby crossing to suppliers from the dominant community. The purpose of this study is twofold: to examine the influence of both positive and negative prejudices on cross-shopping intention in the context of an ethnic minority-majority group relationship; and, to investigate the moderating influence of intercultural-related factors (i.e. online contact, social interaction, and acculturation) on the relationship between negative prejudice and cross-shopping intention. A sample consisting of 202 respondents was obtained from across ethnic-minority consumers (the Israeli Arabs) who routinely interact online and offline with individuals from the majority population (Israeli Jews). The conceptual framework and hypothesis are tested using the partial least squares analyses (PLS). The study results provide a better understanding of the conflicting effects of positive and negative prejudice on cross-shopping intention. Additionally, results shed light on the moderating role of intercultural factors on the relationship between negative prejudice and cross-shopping intention. Implications are identified together with consideration of the study limitations and avenues for future research.

I minori stranieri: tra famiglia e scuola in prospettiva pedagogica

The present paper focuses on foreign minors: between family and school in a pedagogical perspective. Themes and problems are presented in four main areas: the foundational framework of interculture in a pedagogical perspective; the family as the main observatory and migration project, characterized by development and education tasks involving all its members, with particular attention to their roles and functions, and the role of family and parenting support services; the processes of education / literacy and socialization / education as practices that affect the school curriculum (in its different orders and degrees), addressing also the issues of language and work as the main means of cultural and social integration and inclusion; the professional figures (in initial training and in-service), with specific reference to the educational care provided by teachers, socio-pedagogical professional educators and pedagogists. The paper adopts the perspective of general and social pedagogy, considering also intercultural factors and Adult Education. Moreover, it incorporates the contributions of educational sciences. In terms of sources, it is based on the studies, research and projects in the field, while, at a methodological level, it stems from an investigative approach centered on the dialogue between theory and praxis. Its aim is to offer possible lines of evolution and unchartered bases for educational planning.

“Just Think”—Students Feel Significantly More Relaxed, Less Aroused, and in a Better Mood after a Period of Silence Alone in a Room

A series of studies by Wilson and colleagues in 2014 suggested that participants (mostly students) did not enjoy a 6 to 15 min silent period of “just thinking”. Students in our study (n = 64) similarly spent a period of silence (6:30 min) alone in a room with nothing to do but concentrate on their own thoughts. They sat on a chair facing the door. Unlike the study by Wilson et al., the students felt significantly more relaxed, less aroused, and in a better mood after this period of silence. The subjects did not experience boredom; they were mostly present-oriented and judged that the time had passed quickly. A reason why the students in our study managed a silent period of time just thinking compared to the Wilson et al. study may be due to intercultural factors. Another reason could be that our student sample was already acquainted with aspects of emotional self-awareness owing to their specific study programs and curricula (mostly education, inclusive education, social education). On the basis of such possible influences, the variety of responses our subjects reported for a period of “just thinking” merits further investigation.

Interpreter training: Taking account of intercultural communication

Communication settings involving interpreters are always instances influenced by intercultural factors, due to the fact that in interpreted communication there is the co-presence of two or more cultural and language systems which inevitably give rise to potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations of the original, intended message issued by the speaker. The point of departure of the study is the understanding that besides being language experts, interpreters also need to acquire intercultural effectiveness in order to successfully practice their profession. The study discusses basic concepts of intercultural communication and examines the relationship between interpreting and intercultural awareness, particularly focusing on the role and specific skills of the interpreter. To this effect, a survey was carried out among professional interpreters in the Republic of Macedonia. The aim of the survey was to test interpreters’ point of view of the way they perceive their role during the interpretative event. The importance of including the teaching of intercultural communication as part of the interpreter training program at the Faculty of Philology “Blaže Koneski” – Skopje, will also be highlighted.

On Intercultural Communication (IC) Teaching Model in College English under the Background of “the Belt and Road” (B&R)—Taking the Course Intercultural Communication as an Example

Under the background of B&R, it is increasingly important and urgent to improve college students’ intercultural communication competence (ICC). By taking the course Intercultural Communication as an example, and employing Byram’s intercultural factors [1], the IC teaching model is proposed in this paper with an effort to cultivate students’ ICC awareness, including the teaching principles, objectives, contents, methods and assessment.

Introducción a la enseñanza del español para inmigrantes: dimensiones didácticas e interculturales

El trabajo que aquí se presenta forma parte de un proyecto I+D del Plan Nacional, titulado La formación de los docentes de español para inmigrantes en diferentes contextos educativos (Referencia: EDU2013-43868-P) en el que nos hemos planteado las necesidades de formación especializada de profesores de español como segunda lengua (EL2) a inmigrantes. En este artículo el punto de partida ha sido la revisión de algunos conceptos básicos relacionados con la enseñanza del español al colectivo inmigrante desde el prisma de la diversidad. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es la orientación para futuros profesores de español; por esta razón, se parte de unas nociones de base descriptiva en las que se cuestionan las dimensiones didácticas e interculturales de este tipo de enseñanza. Para ello, hemos hecho una reflexión sobre los conceptos básicos que atañen a la enseñanza del español a inmigrantes en contextos escolares y de adultos alfabetizados (tipos de enseñanza de EL2) y hemos apuntado algunas medidas de apoyo lingüístico. Finalmente, se hace una reflexión sobre la diversidad cultural y los factores interculturales que inciden sobre el colectivo educativo con objeto de profundizar en los elementos más notables para la iniciación de los futuros docentes en este campo profesional.

Students Between Rumors and Misunderstandings

The detailed study of the students’ conflicts among each-other intends to observe the causes and favorable conditions as a necessity in order to understand the roots of the social phenomena. This implies a comprehensive analysis of social, economical, intercultural factors which influence on its application. The study is conducted at “Aleksander Xhuvani” University in Elbasan, in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics and in the Nursing Faculty. There are surveyed 400 students of these faculties. A special attention was paid even to the interviews and opinions of students, which are reflected in the interior of the study. According to the survey, there is a result; 42% of the students have stated that they are in conflicts with other students. This shows that we have a relation where roughly half of students are in conflict with each-other and this happens due to several factors. In this study, we are focused on rumors and misunderstandings between them as the main cause of the students’ conflicts with each-other.

Intercultural Project Management for IT: Issues and Challenges

Abstract The development of Information Technology projects using Project Management Methodologies like PMP-PMI, Agile or SCRUM for software development, CPM, CCPM, RAD, XP, FDD, ITIL, JAD, LD, PRINCE2, etc.; may be a complete success or a total catastrophe, for series of reasons, events and circumstances that frequently are not related at all with the deliverables, the products being built, the IT technology involved, the level of expertise, the responsibility and professionalism of the stakeholders including the project manager, but due to intercultural factors. The PMP-PMI Model (PMBOK) describes 10 areas: Cost Management, Time Management, Scope Management, Risk Management, Quality Management, Procurement Management, Integration Management, Stakeholder Management, Human Resources Management and Communication Management. An IT project is considered successful if the customer is happy, but technically and formally if the TEAM was able to meet the triple constraint set up by time/cost/scope. This happy ending is not possible if the project manager and the team as a whole are not able to confront, attack and solve the issues associated with Human Resources Management, Stakeholder Management and specially Communication Management. These three areas are highly influenced by Intercultural factors like language, race, age, gender, religion, sexual preferences, beliefs, habits, etc., becoming their analysis an essential task if we want to accomplish and guarantee a favorable outcome. This position paper concludes in contradiction with what is a very common believe between many technical project managers that the most important factors to take in consideration for the success of an IT project management is the careful and planned attention to the potential issues and challenges associated with the cross-cultural communication and the human resources implicated in the projects. This paper will describe the cultural dimensions, issues and challenges associated with Intercultural Project Management for IT.

Relational Integration, Part II: Relational Integration as Developmental and Intercultural

In Part II of this two-part manuscript, we continue to outline the contours of a relational integration approach to the relationship between psychology and theology. Part I focused on relational integration as embodied and hermeneutical; here, in Part II we describe relational integration as developmental and intercultural. We start with hermeneutical work on Colossians 3:1–11 to probe biblical perspectives on the developmental and intercultural dynamics of Christian spiritual formation in community. Developmental research on attachment and interpersonal neurobiology are utilized to frame the prospects and challenges of interpersonal and interdisciplinary collaboration. Spiritual and psychological dynamics of idealization and disintegration are described in relation to developmental and integrative processes. Finally, we argue for the importance of intercultural, gender, and other diversity factors as valuable dimensions for relational integration within our differentiation-based approach.

A Study of a Federally Funded Project between Higher-Ed Institutions in the U.S. and Pakistan

The study explores the technical and intercultural challenges involved in a Department of State (DoS)-funded collaborative research project between a Mid-Sized Regional Public University in the U.S. and an International Research Institution in Pakistan. The collaborative research project on which the study is based is particularly significant as the groups from each institution face the central communication challenges that are the hallmark of distributed teams, namely physical separation, multiple organizations, and different time zones. This manuscript highlights the importance of intercultural factors in shaping the institutional relationships and examines expectations for collective responsibility in the given context.

La aportación de los grados al desarrollo de la sensibilidad y competencia intercultural. Perspectiva comparada entre Trabajo Social y Psicología

This paper presents an analysis of the Intercultural Sensitivity and the Intercultural Competence of students in first and fourth course of Social Work and Psychology from the University of Huelva (2012/13). We analyzed the levels and significant differences of IS according to different characterization variables as well as the dimensions of the Intercultural Sensitivity. Likewise, the overall level of competence and intercultural dimensions intercultural issues intervention and other factors related interest are analyzed. There are no major significant differences in IS or Intercultural Competence, but there are some related to having received training in diversity issues and in maintaining relationship or not with people of foreign origin. Training and contacting are key aspects for appropriate future professional development in diverse contexts and strengthen knowledge on other aspects that arise in these good practices.

Development of Intercultural Competence in the Teaching of Business Russian

The article focuses on development of intercultural awareness in teaching of professional Russian. The formation of intercultural competence represents one of key elements in professional teaching of specialists. The intercultural competence comprises skills which are vital both for verbal and nonverbal communication with foreign language native speakers, requiring the perception and management of various socially and culturally rooted language phenomena and consideration of cultural peculiarities pertaining to the country of the language being studied. The need to develop such competence poses new challenges to teachers by requiring from them to develop a new perception of learning goals. The respective article dwells on didactic aspects of learners’ adaptation to peculiarities of a foreign culture, as well as on teaching of effective communication to achieve professional goals by considering the intercultural factor. Various didactic techniques are therein analysed, namely the linguo-conceptual approach in teaching of a foreign language, formation of discourse frames necessary for professional and everyday communication, exercises with texts containing culturological information. The tailor-made system of exercises is targeted at eliminating possible communication failures inflicted by cultural discrepancies. The purpose is to achieve the level of competence which is sufficient for an adequate and correct implementation of communication goals in analysed situations of everyday and business communication.

Intercultural Communication and Management Factors and Their Impact to the Process of Global Software Development for Virtual and Non-Virtual Teams

Abstract This position paper presents the factors involved in the successful software development and what is the impact of some methodologies like Agile in this process. Global software development projects may be a total success or an anticipated disaster for simple reasons that usually have nothing to do with the technology involved, with the time differences, or the product being built, but because of subtle intercultural factors. How do the language, the race, the gender, the religion, and the location affects the software development process from analysis and design to implementation, testing and maintenance? Do all these factors impact in the same way if we are working with a local team, and offshore development team or even a global virtual team? Is any specific software development methodology better suited for your particular case? How could you decide what’s the better approach? What will be the results and what our goals? The issues at stake are not superficial matters of the ways how people dress, or how clear do they speak in our local language, or what they like to eat, or their small daily behaviors, but are based in the fundamental differences in the systems of values that govern our lives. So institutions, corporations and global companies have to raise the level of awareness of their employees worldwide on the cultural differences, through various programs for intercultural or diversity training. But this poor model of cultural awareness is not enough to overcome some of the obstacles that intercultural differences bring to the table. So this paper will list and describe this important intercultural factors that directly impact in the software development process and how certain software development methodologies could be used in order to have a more systematic look or set of guidelines that would allow the team managers to evaluate and to decide how theuse of each one of these software development methodologies for local teams, non local teams and virtual teams will affect positively or negatively the outcomes of software development practices.

Bodily perspective taking goes social: the role of personal, interpersonal, and intercultural factors

Mentally placing the self in the physical position of another person might engage social perspective taking because participants have to match their own position with that of another. We investigated the influence of personal (sex), interpersonal (siblings, parental marital status), and cultural (individualistic, collectivistic) factors on individuals' abilities to mentally take the position of front-facing and back-facing figures in an online study (369 participants). Replicating findings from laboratory studies responses were slower for front-facing than back-facing figures. Having siblings, parents' marital status, and cultural background influenced task performance in theoretically predictable ways. The present perspective-taking task is a promising experimental paradigm to assess social perspective taking and one that is free from the response biases inherent in self-report.

Do intercultural factors play a role in exacerbating psychiatric symptoms?

We report the case of a 29-year-old mixed-race woman suffering from recurrent major depressive episodes, with suicidal ideation and risk, involving several inpatient admissions. A comorbid diagnosis of borderline personality disorder was also recorded in one of her previous inpatient admissions. During her last inpatient admission, a multidisciplinary case discussion and review of the patient's life highlighted several possible intercultural trigger factors that could have contributed to the exacerbation of her psychiatric illness. We emphasise the need to explore intercultural predisposing and precipitating factors for a more complete psychodynamic understanding of psychiatric illnesses among the multiracial population of Singapore. This also adds to the discussion on the management of such patients with the option of formal in-depth psychotherapy in adjunct to medication. This may prevent recurrent relapses, modify suicide intent and reduce the necessity for inpatient treatment, which will be cost-effective and result in efficacious treatment.

Communication for Maritime Purposes

Abstract Multilingual and multicultural crews have become the rule rather than the exception in the globalised maritime world. Professionals as well as researchers indicate that this increases the risk of miscommunication both on board and in external communication with major consequences for efficiency and safety (Deboo 2004, de la Campa Portela 2005 & 2006, Horck 2005, Squire 2006, Trenkner 2010). The mission statements of international shipping companies1 reveal objectives that aim not only to provide professional services, ensure safety, increase security and protect the marine environment but also to deal with cultural and linguistic diversity and how to harness its strengths and eliminate its weaknesses. Effective communication at sea plays a key role in achieving these objectives as well as in creating a harmonious and efficient working atmosphere on board. This paper offers an analysis of a survey-based research project (University of Antwerp and Antwerp Maritime Academy2 which aims to determine the linguistic and intercultural features of maritime communication that hinder or aid the quality of work onboard a merchant ship. Having established the profile of the respondent group, the paper explores the influence of (inter)cultural and linguistic features such as verbal and non-verbal communication, intercultural factors (ethical and social norms, thinking patterns, turn-taking in conversation, cross-cultural prejudices), gender issues and organisational factors on the quality of communication in the maritime sector.

Political Systems and the Perspective on Nursing Education during the Spanish Transition (from the Franco Regime to Democracy). A Contribution based on Nursing History

El objetivo del estudio consiste en describir los cambios que afectan a enfermería dentro del sistema educativo durante el proceso previo y posterior al establecimiento de la democracia en España. Se parte de la siguiente hipótesis: las diferencias en la organización social y política influenciaron la evolución de la enfermería española manteniéndola dentro de los esquemas del neopositivismo y los enfoques exclusivamente técnicos hasta la llegada de la democracia. La relación entre los sistemas de organización social y política en España ha determinado la evolución de un perfil específico de enfermería en el sistema educativo. Para comprender la integración de asignaturas como la antropología del los cuidados en los programas educativos de la enfermería española hay que se considerar los factores culturales, interculturales y transculturales que constituyen las claves para el entendimiento de los cambios en la educación enfermera haciendo posible la adopción de una perspectiva holística en los currículos. Hasta la llegada del sistema democrático en 1977, la educación en la Enfermería española fue solamente de naturaleza técnica y los roles de las enfermeras se limitaban al cumplimiento de tareas y procedimientos definidos por el pensamiento burocrático característico del paradigma racional tecnológico. Conclusiones: Durante el largo período predemocrático la enfermería española estuvo bajo la influencia del pensamiento neopositivista y técnico, lo cual se plasmaba en los currículos educativos. La integración en los currículos de materias humanísticas y antropológicas que facilitaban el enfoque holístico se produjo tras la integración de la enfermería en la Universidad en 1977 coincidiendo con los inicios de la democracia en España.

Re-acculturation attitudes among adolescents from returned Portuguese immigrant families

The aim of this study was to understand preferences in re-acculturation attitudes among adolescents from returned immigrant families to Portugal. The study sample consisted of 615 adolescents (mean age = 16.7 years; SD = 1.6). The mean duration of sojourn in Portugal for the sample was 8.3 years (SD = 4.5). Responses obtained from the questionnaire indicated that integration was the most preferred re-acculturation attitude for the adolescents from returned immigrant families to Portugal. Marginalization was the least preferred attitude. Different demographic, and intercultural contact factors were found to account for 18% of the explained variance in assimilation, 16% of integration, 22% of separation and 14% of marginalization. Demographic and intercultural factors emerged as significant and independent predictors of the acculturation attitudes, but globally the intercultural factors were the most important ones. Migratory plans affected the preferred re-acculturation strategies. Understanding the complex relationships between demographic, and intercultural factors, and acculturation attitudes can help the social scientist to develop and apply adequate intervention strategies and to give some suggestions for the development of adequate socio-political re-acculturation programmes.