Articles
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Is Culture Something We Have or Something We Do? From Descriptive Essentialist to Dynamic Intercultural Constructivist Communication
Abstract: The descriptive understanding of culture is essentialist. One assumes that a group of people share values, codes and norms. Culture is according to this understanding something people have. People belong to this or that culture, and once one has learned the cultural codes one may predict how people behave. In the global world this understanding of culture has become more problematic. Cultures are mixed and more or less shared across the... [...] Read more
Cultural Values and Digital Discourse An Intercultural Communication Approach to the Transactional Discourse of Spanish and US Sales Websites
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of the cultural dimension of masculinity (Hofstede 1991) on the linguistic variables that shape the transactional discourse of Spanish and US sales websites when transmitting information about their products. It is hypothesized that the different cultural orientations that both countries hold with respect to Hofstede’s masculinity indexes may promote different professional discourse cultures.... [...] Read more
Reel Life Film as a tool for intercultural dialogue in the classroom and beyond
Abstract: We present a method to promote intercultural dialogue in the classroom. It builds on a carefully designed hypertext consisting of film fragments, linked together by one situation. While the fragments present identical situations, the protagonists in the films act differently depending on their value orientations. By presenting the students with fragments only, we trigger their imagination; they use their own cultural backgrounds to fill the... [...] Read more
Factors contributing to low levels of intercultural interaction between Japanese and international students in Japan
Abstract: This paper is a continuation of the discussion of the results of a series of studies (n=465) in which low levels of intercultural interaction between Japanese and international students were observed. While the analysis of the data in the studies was conducted at a micro level and has been completed, the perspective of the current paper is at a macro level. The low levels of intercultural interaction is a matter of great concern because young... [...] Read more
Reflective Journaling Exploring EFL Students' Ethnocentric Perspectives through Cultural Self-inquiry
Abstract: The purpose of the study is to synthesize how reflective journal writing may facilitate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students with exploring their ethnocentric framing of learning activities. The paper is divided into four sections. The first contextualizes EFL students in zone of proximal development (ZPD) to be able to internalize learning activities, and challenges with mediating support of interlocutors or cultural artifacts. The... [...] Read more
Revisiting Facework with a new analysis instrument Face strategies and face negotiation in intercultural communication
Abstract: This paper introduces the Analysis Framework of Face Interaction (AFFI) which is developed based on a new face dimension termed Face Confirmation − Face Confrontation at two levels: Individual level within the group and Collective level between groups. This proposed framework of face analysis reveals a dearth of research on face confrontation as essential communication strategies. It also points out how the mainstream research on facework has... [...] Read more