Cross-cultural competence and power-based rules: A native American case study

Inter-organizational relationships are increasingly formed between entities representing culturally dissimilar and politically unequal populations. This case study of an Anglo-Navajo inter-organizational relationship identifies effective and ineffective communicative acts on the part of individuals who represent the politically dominant group. It shows that effective cross-cultural coordination in these relationships requires the successful navigation of power-based rules.     

Communicating love: Comparisons between American and East Asian university students

This study examined cultural differences in communicating love among 143 young adults from the US and East Asian countries of China, Japan, and South Korea. Through inductive analyses we examined similarities and differences in the activities and beliefs Americans and East Asians have about love in friendship and marriage, as well as the activities and ways in which love is expressed. Americans and East Asians reported that caring, trust, respect, and honesty were all important beliefs about love in friendship, and trust was an important belief about love in marriage. Love in marriage was seen as important and unconditional for Americans, while East Asians were more likely to report caring as an important belief. Sports, preparing food, and shopping were activities associated with expressing love for Americans, while talking and preparing food constituted activities for expressing love for East Asians. Finally, both US and East Asian students expressed love to a friend through acts of support, open discussion, and the sharing of common experiences, while they expressed love to a spouse through physical intimacy, acts of support, and expressions of love such as “I love you” and “I miss you.”     

Social support perceptions,network characteristics,and international student adjustment

Two hundred seventy-six international students reported their perceptions of social support from multiple sources (i.e., friends, family, institution, and significant other) as predictors of three facets of cross-cultural adjustment (i.e., general, interaction, and school-related adjustment). In addition, this study explored the incremental effects of cultural diversity and social network size on adjustment by asking international students to report members of their social network that they rely on for instrumental (i.e., task-oriented) and socio-emotional (i.e., relationship-oriented) support. Findings showed that certain sources of social support (i.e., friends and institution) were more strongly related to adjustment than others. Moreover, cultural diversity and the presence of host-nationals in student’s socio-emotional support network were significant predictors of cross-cultural adjustment. This demonstrates the importance of promoting initiatives that encourage host-national and sojourner interactions and diverse relationships within higher education to benefit cross-cultural adjustment.     

Self-concept in reading: Factor structure,cross-cultural invariance and relationships with reading achievement in an international context (PIRLS 2011)

Using data from 48 countries, this study investigated the factorial structure and tested the cross-cultural invariance of the PIRLS 2011 reading self-concept scale and its relationships with reading achievement. The study showed that a two-factorial structure of the self-concept scale in reading had the best fit with the data. Configural invariance and metric invariance were achieved, scalar invariance was not. The two dimensions ‘Perception of competence’ and ‘Perception of difficulty’ showed robust within-country correlations with reading achievement, especially the second one. At the country level, the ‘Perception of competence’ was negatively related with reading, illustrating the attitudes-achievement paradox: countries in which students on average reported a more positive self-concept performed lower. On the contrary, for the ‘Perception of difficulty’, the sign of the correlation remained the same at the within-country and at the country level.     

Parsing the language of racism and relief: Effects of a short-term urban field placement on teacher candidates’ perceptions of culturally diverse classrooms

This three-year study combines qualitative and quantitative analyses of effects of a one-week, intensive urban field placement on 95 suburban and rural teacher candidates’ self-reported perceptions of urban schools, students, teachers. Data was drawn from anonymous, open-ended, pre- and post-experience participant surveys; reflections; and alumni interviews. Findings include improvement in confidence in cross-cultural teaching abilities and interest in urban schools for future employment. Pre-service teachers’ perceptions can be meaningfully influenced by a short-term, cross-cultural immersion program when it is situated within a mutually-reinforcing, multicultural education curriculum that offers significant faculty scaffolding and structured reflection.     

Investigating pre-service teacher motivation across cultures using the Teachers’ Ten Statements Test

Motivations for choosing teaching as a career were investigated in 200 pre-service teachers from Canada and Oman. We used a novel structured qualitative approach and two theoretical models to analyze how pre-service teacher career-choice motivation varied according to cultural context. The results of the study showed that Canadian participants made more self-references, and expressed higher levels of individual-focused motivation and social utility value as career motivators than did Omani participants. Participants from Oman expressed greater endorsement of teaching as a fallback career and higher levels of socio-cultural influences than Canadian participants. Results extend teacher motivation “teacher motivation theory” by investigating socio-cultural influences.     

英语语言的跨文化特征对外语素养提升效果的研究与探索

随着全球一体化深入,高职阶段的外语教学也加快了"全球化"的脚步并进行了多方位多角度的英美文化的渗透。本文意在通过对跨文化交际能力培养的必要性与英语语言的跨文化交际特征对全面提升学生英语素养的重要性分析,探讨如何实现培养学生英语跨文化交际能力与全面提升学生英语文化素养的有机结合。     

Fearful symmetry: Palestinian and Jewish teachers confront contested narratives in integrated bilingual education

The present paper deals with Jewish and Palestinian teachers who work in an integrated school in Israel, and shows the challenges and possibilities from examining these teachers' powerful historical narratives in the context of in-service training sessions. It is shown how these teachers essentially remain firmly rooted in the hegemonic historical narratives of their own community, even when their attitudes are challenged and clearer alternatives are considered to the reigning narratives. The findings highlight predominantly the failures in terms of the potential of educational efforts to help overcome situations of intractable conflict even within contexts specifically devised for this purpose; yet, also some openings become apparent in the process of negotiating competing narratives and inventing new dialogic possibilities. The implications of this work suggest that schools and their historical tradition are difficult places to reach change or produce it—even in integrated schools in which partial structural change takes place—and teacher training may not always be the answer for the need to bring changes. However, it is also indicated that an ongoing agonistics of raising critical issues regarding one's identifications with hegemonic narratives does offer openings to take responsibility for both the challenges and the dialogic possibilities that are created in the process.     

外语教学与跨文化语用能力的培养

跨越不同文化背景的人。即使双方发音正确，懂得语法。掌握相当数量的词汇。有着较好的语言水平。在交际中也经常会发生故障。这是由于双方对彼此的社会文化传统缺乏了解。以及他们的说话方式或习惯不尽相同所造成的语用失误。本文从外语教学入手．探讨在外语教学中如何培养学生的跨文化语用能力。     

浅谈"跨文化交际学"的教学

跨文化交际学课程的设置、重点教学内容由于点多面广,所以应侧重放在价值观和日常生活的差异比较上。旨在使英语学习者提高对文化差异的敏感性,能适应不同的交际场合,避免因文化因素产生的尴尬和误会,达到与来自目的语文化人士和谐、有效、顺利、轻松、愉快交往的目的。