1. Subject : Theory of
Communication
Chapter 6 Group 5

2. INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
COMPETENCE
Presenter : Ngân Giang

3. Adopt Correct Attitudes

4. 1. Tolerate ambiguity
Fijian
Malaysian

5. • Identify the misunderstanding.
• Try to understand the possible reasons/causes
of the misunderstanding.
• Share your expertise with your colleagues to
prevent the same problem happening again.

6. 2. Be open-minded
• An open-minded person is willing to
dispassionately receive the ideas and opinions
of others.
• Open-minded people are aware of their own
culture values and recognize that other
people’s values are different.

7. • Sala (originally from Fiji): When I came here to Australia years ago,
people at work would feel my hair. It made me uncomfortable. We
don’t go around touching people on the head in my Fijian culture. We
also avoid reaching near their head for something.
• Later on, when they found out, they stopped touching my hair. They
were curious about how my hair feels as it’s very curly.
• Mary (originally from Ireland): In the Fijian culture touching hair is NOT
done. I’m guilty of having done this on many occasions, because I have
been friends with Fijians at work. I would run my fingers through their
hair and say ‘How I love your hair!’ or something like that. Never for a
minute did I think that I was making my friends uncomfortable.

8. 3. Be altruistic, not egocentric
• Altruism is a display of genuine and unselfish
concern for the welfare of others => other-
centered
• Egocentricity is a selfish interest in one’s own
needs to the exclusion of everything else =>
self-centered

9. Acquire Knowledge About Other
Cultures
Presenter: Minh Sang

10. Acquire Knowledge About Other
Cultures
The more we know about other cultures, the more likely we are to
be competent intercultural communicators (Neuliep, 2006).
There are several ways to learn about other cultures :
1. Observe.
2. Formally study.
3. Immerse yourself in the culture.

11. 1.Observe
People can simply watch as members of another culture interact
with
each other.
Notice how their values, rituals, and communication styles are
similar to and different from your own and other cultures with
which you are familiar.
“passive observation “  Watching the communication behaviors
used by members of a particular culture.

12. 2. Formally study
You can learn about other cultures by reading accounts by their
members and ethnographic research studies, by taking courses, and
by interviewing members of the culture about their
values, rituals, and so on.

13. 3. Immerse yourself in the culture
You can learn a great deal about another culture by actively
participating in it.
When you live or work with people whose cultural assumptions
are different from yours, you not only acquire obvious cultural
information, but you also learn nuances that escape passive
observers and are generally not accessible through formal study
alone.

14. Acquiring Cultural Knowledge
The Assignment
Presenter : Hữu Lộc

15. Choose a culture you're not familiar with but are
curious about. Prepare a 3- to 5-minute speech
to deliver in class by gathering materials from
(a) reviewing an encyclopedia entry
(b) researching two or three academic sources
about the culture
(c) interviewing someone from that country
either face-to-face or online

16. Use what you learn from the encyclopedia and the
academic sources to shape the questions you ask in
the interview, in your speech discuss what you
learned from each source, answering the following
questions:
1. What did you know about the culture before you
began your research?
2. What did you learn from the encyclopedia article
that changed or deepened your knowledge?
3. How was your understanding enriched from the
additional academic sources you read?
4. What did you learn from your interviewee. and
how did the interview compare to your other
sources?

17. Using Diverse Resources
• When we are researching any topic, we can be
tempted to limit our quest to only one type of
information source. But as you will learn in this
assignment what you know about a subject is often
the result of where you look. That is why it is
important to consult a variety of information sources.
• Whether online or in print encyclopedias ore good
jumping off points to acquire information and can
provide a wonderful overview of the subject.
Specialized sources like books and articles by experts
provide additional details and can confirm or
disconfirm information in the encyclopedia.

18. Finally, personal interviews with experts add
another dimension or level of specificity. For
example, in this assignment when you interview
the person from the other culture, you can ask
for specific examples of his or her experiences
and whether what you have read is accurate.
Good speeches depend on accurate
information, so learning to use diverse sources is
important to your success.

19. Develop culture-specific skills
Presenter: Ngọc Cẩm

20. How
1. Practice listening
2. Practice intercultural empathy
3. Develop flexibility

21. Practice listening
• Language and nonverbal communication vary across
cultures => focus closely on the other and listen
attentively.
• There are cultural differences in how people engage in
listening and the value that cultures place on listening.

22. E.g
Japan,
Country/
US Finland, Far East
Culture
Sweden
concrete facts much more
L more
Listening and valued
reserved
information than speaking
While do not ask as
often ask Qs -
Listening many Qs

23. Practice intercultural empathy
Intercultural empathy: imaginatively placing yourself in the
other person’s cultural world to attempt to experience what
he/she is experiencing.
(Ting-Toomey, 1999)

24. By paying close attention to others + focusing on
emotions displayed  improve empathy skills
“Don’t judge a person
until you have walked a mile in his shoes”

25. Develop flexibility
Flexibility: the ability to adjust your communication to
fit the other person and the situation.

26. Develop flexibility
• With flexibility: use a wide variety of
communication skills and modify your
behavior within and across situations.
• Beiing flexible means analyzing a situation +
making good decisions and modifying your
communication when things are not going
well.

27. Sum-up
Presenter: Minh Dang

28. Intercultural Communication
Competence
1. Adopt Correct Attitudes
2. Acquire Knowledge About Other Cultures
3. Develop Culture-Specific Skills

29. 1. Adopt Correct Attitudes
a. Tolerate ambiguity
b. Be open-minded
c. Be altruistic

30. 2. Acquire Knowledge About Other
Cultures
a. Observe.
b. Formally study
c. Immerse
yourself in the
culture

31. 3. Develop Culture-Specific Skills
a. Practice listening
b. Practice intercultural empathy
c. Develop flexibility

32. CHAPTER’S SUMMARY

33. • Culture encompasses:
– Values
– Attitudes
– Beliefs
– Orientations
– Underlying assumptions
prevalent among people in a
society.

34. • Culture shock: the psychological discomfort
when people attempt to adjust to a new
cultural situation

35. Intercultural
communication
takes place when
people’s distinct
cultural
assumptions alter
the communication
event

36. • A shared system of meaning exists within the
dominant culture, but meanings can vary
within co-cultures based on race, ethnicity, sex
and gender, religion, sexual orientation, social
class, and age

37. • Cultural norms and values vary in systematic
ways, we can understand depend on
examining: individualism-
collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power
distance, and masculinity–femininity

38. • Barriers to intercultural communication
– Anxiety
– Assumptions about differences and similarities
– Ethnocentrism
– Stereotypes and prejudice
– Incompatible communication codes
– Incompatible norms and values

39. • To develop intercultural communication
competence:
– Ambiguity
– Be open-minded
– Be altruistic

40. • We can acquire knowledge of other cultures
through :
– Observing
– Formal study
– Cultural immersion

41. • Useful skills for intercultural communication
competence:
– Listening,
– Intercultural empathy
– Flexibility.

42. THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
• Group 5:
1. Dinh Quoc Minh Dang
2. Nguyen Dinh Minh Sang
3. Vo Huu Loc
4. Tran Thi Ngan Giang
5. Nguyen Ngoc Cam