Discussion Questions

1. Please list five words to describe your dominant culture. Please list five words to describe a culture with which you are not a member, have little or no contact, or have limited knowledge. Now, compare and contrast the terms noting their inherent value statements.
2. Identify a country you would like to visit. Research the country and find one interesting business fact and share it with the class.
3. Write a brief summary about a city, region, state, or country you have visited that is not like where you live. Share and compare with classmates.
4. Why is the phrase “Know thyself” relevant to the study of intercultural communication?
5. Apply at least one of the six dialectics to a recent intercultural interaction that you had. How does this dialectic help you understand or analyze the situation?
6. Choose two national cultures that interest you. Compare and contrast them using Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture.
7. Choose a community that you know well and decide where you think most members of the community would place themselves within the Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck Value Orientations framework. Explain your reasoning. Are your views the same or different from those of your primary community?
8. Is your primary cultural community a “high-indulgence” or a “high-restraint” community? How does this cultural orientation align with your own personal orientation? Are you a “high-indulgence” or a “high-restraint” person?
9. Do you think it is possible to identify national values, or do you think values differ significantly from person to person and place to place? Explain.
10. Identify an intercultural encounter in which you did not communicate as competently as you would have liked. What concept(s) from the chapter would have helped you in this situation and how?
11. Which of the following components of ICC—motivation, mindfulness, cognitive flexibility, and tolerance for uncertainty—do you think you are most competent at, and which one needs the most work? Identify how you became so competent at the first one and some ways that you can improve the second one.
12. Choose one of the three ways discussed to cultivate ICC and make a list of five steps you can take to enhance this part of your competence.

Homework

For this assignment, you will create a chart of the major theories discussed in Part One. You will be able to refer back to this chart throughout your study of Intercultural Communication.

Discussion questions 1-3 adapted from Chapter 18 of the book Communication for Business Success. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.

Discussion questions 4-5 adapted from Chapter 8.3 of the book Communication in the Real World. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Discussion question 7-9 adapted from Chapter 6 of the book Speaking of Culture by Nolan Weil. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Discussion questions 10-12 adapted from Chapter 8.4 of the book Communication in the Real World. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.