Ruba Fahmi Bataineh and Rula Fahmi Bataineh
American University Students’ Apology Strategies: An Intercultural Analysis of the Effect of GenderAbstract
This study aims at investigating potential gender effects in American university students’ use of apologies within the framework of the two-culture theory which claims that men and women are so different that they comprise strikingly different cultures. The researchers used a 10-item questionnaire based on Sugimoto’s (1997). The findings revealed that male and female respondents used the primary apology strategies of statement of remorse, accounts, compensation, and reparation. They also resorted to the use of non-apology strategies such as blaming victim and brushing off the incident as not important to exonerate themselves from blame. The findings further revealed that male and female respondents used the same primary strategies but in different frequencies. In addition, female respondents used fewer non-apology strategies than their male counterparts and more manifestations of the statement of remorse. Both similarities to and differences from Sugimoto’s findings were detected.
Key Words: apologies, apology streategies, the two-culture theory, gender
Back to startNeva Cebron, Reka Jablonkai and Ljerka Rados
The cross-cultural business communication project or expoiting ICT to facilitate ICCAbstract
The paper relates the experience gathered in the area of intercultural awareness raising with respect to methods and approaches used in the classroom and in terms of students’ response. The developments related were an integral part of an EU - Leonardo da Vinci Programme sponsored project in which learning of Business English has been carried out through an integrated skills approach in a series of virtual workshops. Within the CCBC project the teacher had to assume the role of a facilitator helping students to deal with cross-cultural issues while carrying out a simulated transaction in English. Virtual environment formed the backdrop for an international network of simulated companies, thus motivating the exchange of business messages and intercultural encounters. In the academic year 2003/04 almost 500 students, 18 teachers, 16 institutions from 10 different countries participated in the CCBC network.
In the first part, the article provides information on our approaches to intercultural issues, how the topic was tackled at earlier stages of the project and what lessons have been drawn from those attempts to teach ICC (Intercultural Communication Competence). The second part gives an account of improvements introduced at later stages of the project, listing specific tasks, approaches and teaching materials developed to facilitate certain aspects of ICC in an era of the Internet. The third part is concerned mainly with results of students’ work and their perception of own identity. Students benefit from the project since it gives them the opportunity to establish contacts with a number of peer groups from different countries and learn about different cultural communication patterns and possible misunderstandings.
Keywords: Business English, Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC), teaching / learning approaches, raising intercultural awareness, developing understanding, respect, empathy, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based international network
Back to start
Xinping Guan
Attention to Cultural Imperialism beneath Discourse Implicature in International Business CommunicationAbstract
Based on case studies of the author’s first-hand experience, this paper calls attention to the awareness of cultural imperialism by the exploration of discourse implicature in business context across cultures. It is assumed by analysis that the cultural imperialism exists verbally, textually or non-verbally through the behavior of individual interlocutors, who preserve an outdated awareness of cultural-goods against cultural-humble. The cultural awareness serves as the dynamics for the production of communicative behavior and discourse implicature. The effective communication to get rid of such cultural imperialism relies on three major elements, i.e. a sober cultural understanding, a mastery of both source and target languages and an appropriate communicative behavior. Back to start
Simon U. Kragh and Sven Bislev
Universities and student values across nationsAbstract
Over the past decade universities have become increasingly global.
International contacts, cooperation, exchange and communication is used for
benchmarking research and teaching. English-speaking universities,in
particular, are actively recruiting huge numbers of foreign students to
increase the pool of paying and qualified students. At Copenhagen Business
School, a significant number of students (5-10%) are on exchange - in and
out -every year.
Many foreign students find that they encounter a different world when
signing up for classes at CBS - a world of different values and norms,
expressed in discourses and practices in and around the university. This
study investigates, through focus groups and a survey of 800 students, the
character of this experience of contrast. What values do foreigners from
different nations arrive with, how do they experience the difference and
what do they feel about it? We relate our findings to broader notions of
nationally different values in order to discuss both a general value
problematic and issues of comparative and intercultural higher education.
Keywords: University and business school cultures. educational values,
students' preferences, cross-cultural experience.
Back to start
Yumi Nixon and Peter Bull
The effects of cultural awareness on nonverbal perceptual accuracy: British and Japanese training programmesAbstract
Nonverbal perception training was carried out with British
and Japanese university students. The main aim of the
training was to examine whether increasing cultural
awareness in nonverbal communication styles leads to an
improvement in within- and cross-cultural perceptual
accuracy. The perceptual assessment was carried out using
the British and Japanese Social Perception Task (BJSPT)
which is based on the Interpersonal Perception Task ( IPT)
(Costanzo & Archer, 1989). The results showed that
the methods used in the training sessions were effective
in improving cross-cultural perceptual accuracy. The British
training group made more improvement in the perception of
Japanese scenes than British scenes, while the Japanese
training groups made more improvement on British scenes
than Japanese scenes. The different skills involved in
within- and cross-cultural perception are discussed in
the light of the results.
Keywords: Cultural awareness, Nonverbal communication, Cross-cultural perception training, Perceptual accuracy, British and Japanese study.
Back to startIlona E. Podolyan
How Do Ukrainians Communicate? (Observations Based upon Youth Population of Kyiv)Abstract
The paper examines communication patterns of contemporary Ukrainians, represented by a group of 18-30-year-old residents of Kyiv, the capital city. The methods of interview, participant-observation and introspection are used to uncover some nationally specific traits of communication, which are given a superficial or inaccurate coverage in a big number of sources devoted to Ukraine. In addition to the outline of modern Ukrainians’ behaviour in a range of everyday situations, the research contains an analysis of the cultural and psychological characteristics of this East European people – both from synchronic and diachronic aspects.
Keywords: communication patterns, linguistic etiquette, communicative competence, Bohemian-Ukrainian contrasts, cultural stereotypes, particularism, universalism, individualism, collectivism.
Back to start