Running Head: Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop Principles of Learning EDUC5001G Professor W. Hunter Assignment 2 March 11, 2013 Theresa Shin University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

Abstract By critically reflecting on a workshop entitled, Intercultural Communication Skills: Cultivating the Space in Between, presented by Kathryn Brillinger, which I attended almost 3 years ago, I will analyse the learning environment with respect to the relevant learning theories and perspectives involved. A synthesis and rationale is also provided to indicate a grasp of the learning concepts and relevant learning theories and perspectives. Key Words: intercultural communication, culture

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop The learning environment that Ive been familiar with during the last 15 years has been at a community college in the eastern part of the greater Toronto area (GTA), Ontario, Canada. Although I work at the College as a full-time staff member in a number of different positions over the years, Ive been a part-time student at the College for most of those years, and since 2007, I started teaching part-time at the College as well. I was following my natural instincts as an infovore although I wasnt aware of it at the time (Biederman & Vessel, 2006, p. 249). I was conscious of my need to continue to learn and to challenge myself, but I did not know that my quest for knowledge was part of my physiology in my brain until I read Biederman and Vessels article on Perceptual Pleasure and the Brain (p. 255). I realize now that Im destined for lifelong learning along with the rest of the human beings whether they are aware of it or not.

Along my journey in the quest for knowledge, I was introduced to a topic on intercultural communication at a government sponsored workshop that I attended as a part of a work-related conference. The intercultural communication workshop must have lit up a number of my neurons and dendrites at the time because I connected with many of the concepts introduced at the workshop at an emotional level. I walked away from the workshop wishing that I had known about these concepts/issues sooner. I found practical value in many of the issues mentioned at the workshop. The learning environment of the workshop consisted mainly of lectures with Powerpoint presentation, small group exercises involving case studies with related handouts, and debriefing by some of the groups for the benefit of all who were present. The lecturer or the facilitator encouraged the participants to interrupt with questions or comments during her presentation. She provided some information about her personal background, her preferences, and the possible reasons for these preferences based on the type of environment that she was raised in as a child.

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

The 3-hour workshop included information on culture and its impact, intercultural communication principles, intercultural communication repair strategies, case studies, roleplay and generic examples (Brillinger, 2010). Additionally, a photo of her diverse family was also shown. The presentation felt like an interpersonal dialogue with the presenter and the participants. It was informative, relevant, practical, interesting and entertaining. It seems remarkable that this workshop was held about 3 years ago, and that some of the information is still retained in my memory, especially when I have difficulties recalling other workshops that I attended more recently in the last few months. Through this analysis and synthesis paper, I would like to examine the reasoning behind why this workshop stood out for me more than others, and in the process, perhaps get a better understanding of the learning environment. Part of my work at the College involves advising internationally trained individuals (ITI). In order to communicate effectively with ITIs, I find that I need to extend myself beyond my comfort zone at many levels, depending on the cultural background of the individuals that Im communicating with. Consequently, intercultural communication is very relevant to my daily activity. However, I work at a college where almost 100 ethno cultural groups are represented at the campus with over 80 languages spoken (Centennial College website, 2013). Such diversity would also mean that intercultural communication is very relevant to all who study and work at the College. This intercultural communication workshop has opened my understanding about communication in general. Prior to this workshop, I did not think about communication courses. I had vaguely associated the term with English courses. However, Ive since come to realize that communication is a specialized area of study, and intercultural communication would be a part of that umbrella. Words such as haptics (the study of touching behaviour), proxemics (the study

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

of distance in interaction), and oculesics (the study of eye contact) were all new to me. The value of learning to communicate effectively and appropriately in our work environment, and in our personal and social environments can be easily understood and do not require further explanation. Overall, the workshop was informative, relevant and practical, in terms of value added to my understanding of intercultural communication. As mentioned earlier, a part of the workshop was lecture based with group activities involving case studies and discussions. As there were over 60 participants in the workshop, a lecture format of delivery seemed appropriate when imparting knowledge and comprehension as mentioned by Weston (1986) in Rauschs dissertation (2008). Delivering information by lecture also minimizes the threat to students because it emphasizes learning while listening (Cashin, as cited in Rausch, 2008). However, it does not promote application, analysis, synthesis, influencing attitudes and values (Rausch, 2008). In contrast, the case study in small groups provided an opportunity for the participants to discuss and to find possible resolutions to real life issues brought forward by the advisors. This type of problem-based approach helped the participants to reason through the problem and to generate ideas for possible solutions available to specific issues presented. The participants for this workshop were asked to submit problems or issues that they would like discussed at the workshop prior to the event, and these samples were brought forward in the case studies. Rather than presenting the discussed information to the entire group by each small group, the workshop facilitator asked for a few interested individuals to present their group discussion findings. Interestingly, she used comments from these discussions to highlight some of the possible hidden perceptions of the participants such as prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping and ethnocentrism through questioning techniques. This led to her presentation about culture and theories related to

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

individualistic-collectivistic continuum and the areas of diversity such as ethnicity, race, religion, nationality, personality, gender, age, profession, socio-economic status, wellness, abilities, etc. Having actively engaged the participants to the topic that was pertinent to the participants, the facilitator had effectively brought attention to our assumptions and beliefs, which further prompted the participants to question their way of thinking. As Mezirow referred to in his transformative learning theory, we were in the process of transforming our way of thinking to be more reflective, inclusive, and open (Cardenas, 2012). Moreover, transformative learning is rooted in Piagets assertion that human beings develop cognitive skills in order to better deal with their changing environment (Meade, 2010, p. 36). The discussions were also a means of building on the experiences of the participants, fostering reflection. As Vygotskys social constructivist theory points out, the discussion activity provided a framework in which dialogue was possible, and through the dialogue, ideas were exchanged and development, or knowledge was gained. Consequently, the interactions among the participants and the facilitator helped to construct knowledge (Principles of Learning Course Wiki: Social Constructivist Theory, March 10, 2013). At minimum, the workshop provided an awareness of intercultural communication issues to most of the participants. Depending on the level of receptivity and openness, the absorption of information would have varied greatly among the participants. I felt that considering that this was a 3-hour workshop, it was heavily packed with information and activities in a short period of time. Much of the information covered in the session required more time to absorb the material, to reflect and to discuss beyond the workshop. The concept of shared meaning and cultivating the space in between as shown in a Venn diagram with two overlapping elliptical shapes was one of the important principles to take away from the workshop for review. It focuses on the

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

negotiable and non-negotiable values, beliefs, standards, thinking patterns, etc., and to be able to communicate these views, but still have comfortable relationships with others. Some strategies to examine specific problem cases were presented with diagnostic types of questions that can be reviewed for each situation, along with repair strategies, which also involved reviewing some pertinent questions in a given situation. By providing the participants with a questioning technique to review each challenging situation, we were provided with examples of possible cognitive processes that can be used to resolve our own issues independently in any future incidents. Also, a role-play was used to model two individuals in a challenging intercultural conflict situation, and each group was asked to provide two possible endings for each situation created by the group. The process of creatively staging a realistic situation as part of a team and roleplaying the two individuals in conflict has helped the participants to get a better understanding of the perspectives of each of the individuals in conflict. Exemplifying the constructivist theory, the learners (the workshop participants) were actively involved in constructing reality through the role-play, and in the process, categories of knowledge and understanding were constructed at an individual level (Principles of Learning Course Wiki: Constructivist Theory, March 10, 2013). Discussions within the group for possible solutions to the situation created provided another opportunity to evaluate, synthesize and analyze the situation critically. Although cultural experiences and conditions were not addressed in the experiential learning theory, I feel that the role-playing and the following discussions as mentioned above would apply to experiential learning theory as well. As outlined in the course wiki, experiential learning theory involves learners gaining meaning and understanding through direct experience and that learning results

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

from interactions between a person and the environment (Principles of Learning Course Wiki: Experiential Learning Theory, March 10, 2013). The intercultural communication workshop seemed to be framed in social constructivism paradigms. Its not surprising considering that intercultural communication competence is rooted in human development theory, particularly in the constructivist ideas of Jean Piaget and the sociocultural views of Len Semyonovitch Vygotsky (Meade, 2010, p. 29-30). According to Meade (2010), the role of culture in learning differed between the two theorists, Piaget and Vygotsky. In contrast to Piaget, Vygotsky suggested that learning happened socially before it occurred cognitively (as cited in Meade, 2010, p. 34). Vygotskys view was that learning was more than simply a cognitive function, that it was linked to developing ones social identity and that cognition itself is cultural, that learning and intelligence were both specific to a given culture (Meade, p. 32). However, Piaget later conceded that progress through his developmental stages required cultural support (Meade, 2010, p. 35). Bruner (1997) indicated that Vygotskys genius was in recognizing that individual human intellectual power depended upon our capacity to appropriate human culture and history as tools of the mind, and Piagets genius was to recognize the fundamental role of logic-like operations in human mental activity (as cited in Meade, 2010, p. 35). As Rausch (2008) mentioned, despite of the differences in defining culture, it can include ethnic, or racial groups, age, gender, or social class, and that regardless of the distinction, the concept of culture is relevant to the persons behaviors and the way of communicating (p. 16). Recognizing the fact that the intercultural communication workshop was framed in the learning theories of giants such as Piaget and Vygotsky, and that I learned much from the workshop and enjoyed it thoroughly, my suggestions for a new structure that might improve

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

learning are not many. One major suggestion would have been that a topic such as intercultural communication should be made part of a full semester course with enough time given for thoughtful reflections and reflective papers for students to deliberate the issues. Although an online format of the course is also possible, a literature review of such online courses indicate that effectiveness of in-class courses seems to be more favourable for a number of reasons including online culture such as identity, humour, egoism and silence (St. Amant, 2002, p. 312). Given the time frame of the workshop (3 hours), my respect, appreciation and admiration go to Brillinger (2010) for her ability to introduce so much in many different ways in an interesting and entertaining presentation. The philosophical issues regarding conceptualizing culture-specific and culture-general approaches including culture variability as outlined by Gudykunst, Ting--Toomey and Wiseman (1991, p. 272) were navigated smoothly by Brillinger (2010). Huang and Simkin (2011) argue that intercultural programs for professionals need to prepare them to be appropriate and effective intercultural communicators in the new context of globalisation and that the key to this task requires individuals to embrace problem solving, intuitive, experientially learned and practically oriented knowledge, skills and values (p. 145). As detailed in the above paragraphs, Brillinger achieved these objectives in her workshop, albeit a mini version that provided an introduction to the topic, intercultural communication.

References Biederman, I., & Vessel, E. A. (2006). Perceptual pleasure and the brain. American Scientist, 94, 247253. Brillinger, K. (2010). Intercultural Communication Skills: Cultivating the Space in Between. CIITE Workshop handout for Advisors for Internationally Trained Immigrants.

Analysis and Synthesis Paper: Intercultural Communication Workshop

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Cardenas, D. (2012). Challenges and Rewards of Teaching Intercultural Communication in a Technical Writing Course: a Case Study. J. Technical Writing and Communication, 42(2), 143-158. Cetennial College website. Retrieved from http://www.centennialcollege.ca/AboutCentennial/Centennial. Gudykunst, W. B., Ting-Toomey, S., & Wiseman, R. L. (1991). Taming the Beast: Designing a Course in Intercultural Communication. Communication Education, 40, 272-285. Huang, Y., & Simkin, K. (2011). Teaching Intercultural Communication in China and Australia: Intellectual and Contextual Constraints and Opportunities. Studies in Literature and Language, 2(3), 144-152. Meade, A. (2010). Intercultural Competence: an Appreciative Inquiry. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations, (UMI 3398291). Principles of Learning Course Wiki. Retrieved from http://www.uoittech.ca/wikis/EDUC5001SEP10/index.php/Social_Constructivist_Theory, March 10, 2013. Principles of Learning Course Wiki. Retrieved from http://www.uoittech.ca/wikis/EDUC5001SEP10/index.php/Constructivist_theory, March 10, 2013. Principles of Learning Course Wiki. Retrieved from http://www.uoittech.ca/wikis/EDUC5001SEP10/index.php/Experiential_Learning, March 10, 2013 Rausch, J. J. (2008). Intercultural Communication Courses: An Analysis of Syllabi. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (UMI 1458048). St. Amant, K. (2002). Integrating Intercultural Online Learning Experiences into the Computer Classroom. Technical Communication quarterly, 11(3), 289-315.