INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION
TWO TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
 Verbal
- Refers to use of language

 Non-verbal
- Refers to the use of gestures,
facial expressions, and other body
movements
INTRODUCTION
”Communication takes place
because of contacts with the areas
of business, military cooperation,
science, education, mass media,
entertainment..”
(Allwood, 2003)
WHAT IS INTERCULUTURAL
COMMUNICATION?

 Refersto effective communication

between people, workers and people
with different cultural backgrounds

 Communication between people

whose cultural perceptions and
symbol systems are distinct from
each other
 An academic field of study which seeks
to understand how people from
different countries behave and
communicate and perceive the world
around them

 Interpersonal interaction between

members of different groups which
differ from each other
ELEMENTS OF INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATION
 Perceptions
 Beliefs, values, attitudes, world views, social
organization
 Verbal processes: the ways in which cultures
employ symbols to portray things and
experiences
 Nonverbal processes: shared thoughts and
feelings of bodily behaviour, time and space
 Context elements: business, education and
health care, tourism and personal
relationships
WHY DO WE STUDY IT?
 Increases self-awareness
 Demographic changes
 Workplace and economic
globalization
 Creative problem solving
 Global and intrapersonal peace
respect
IMPORTANCE TO EDUCATION

Intercultural communication
has become important because
the schools are becoming more
diverse culturally
(Roux, 2002)
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUANGE

 PARALANGUANGE
 One of the auxiliary communication
devices
 Part of redundancy that helps prevent
ineffective communication
 As much as 70% of what we
communicate when talking directly
with other are through paralanguage
KINESICS
The most obvious form of
paralanguage
Also called “body language”

We use our arms and hands to say

goodbye, we use our head to say yes or
no
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?

Language is a system of verbal

and written symbols with rules on
how to use the two to convey more
complex meanings.
FOUR AREAS OF THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE

PHONOLOGY
 The systems of sounds that a particular
language use
 Does not only include the basic units of
sounds (phonemes) but also rules on
putting together phonemes to form
words and intonation patterns
SEMANTICS
 Study of word meanings and word combinations
 Understanding how we use words and how we
combine them in phrases, clauses and sentences

GRAMMAR
 Describes the structure of language and is
composed of two parts: morphology and syntax
 Morphology is the study of language’s smallest
units of meaning called morphemes (prefixes,
suffixes and root words) and how these units are
properly combined
 Syntax specifies how words are combined into
sentences
PRAGMATICS
 Consists of rules for the use of
appropriate language in particular
contexts
 It is concerned, not only with speaking
and writing, but with social interaction
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
The relationship between language and
culture is that the structure of a language
determines the way in which speakers of
that language view the world.

 If culture can affect the structure and

content of its language, then it follows
that linguistic diversity derives in
part from cultural diversity.

(Diversity- the state of having people who are different races or

who have different. cultures in a group or organization)
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

 The linguistic relativity hypothesis

asserts that language determines
thought and therefore culture. In reality
language and culture influence each
other. (Edward Sapir)
CULTURE
 Every society has a culture, no matter
how simple the culture may be, and
every human being is cultured in the
sense of participating in some culture or
other.

WHAT IS CULTURE?
 Refers to the attitudes, values, customs,
and behaviour patterns that
characterize a social group.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
1. Culture is learned
2. Cultured is shared by a group of
people
3. Culture is cumulative
4. Cultures change
5. Culture is dynamic
6. Culture is ideational
7. Culture is diverse
8. Culture gives us a range of
permissible behaviour patterns.
COMPONENTS OF CULTURE

Communication Cognitive Behavioural Material

• Ideas • Norms • Tools, medicines
• Language
• Knowledge • Mores • Books
• Symbols
• Beliefs • Laws • Transportation
• Values • Folkways • Technologies
• Accounts • Rituals
A. COMMUNICATION COMPONENT
1. Language- defines what it means to be
a human.
2. Symbols- form the backbone of
symbolic interaction. Serve as the
basis for everyday reality.
B. COGNITIVE COMPONENT
1. Ideas/Knowledge/Beliefs

Ideas are mental representations (concepts,

categories, metaphors) used to organized
stimulus.

Knowledge is the storehouse where we

accumulate representations, information,
facts, assumptions, etc.

Beliefs accept a proposition, statement,

description of fact, etc. as true.
B. COGNITIVE COMPONENT
2. Values – defined as culturally defined
standards of desirability, goodness and
beauty, which serve as broad guidelines
for social living

3. Accounts – are how people use that

common language to explain, justify,
rationalize, excuse or legitimize our
behaviour to themselves and others.
C. BEHAVIOURAL COMPONENT
1. Norms- are rules and expectations by
which a society guides the behaviour of
its members.

2. Mores – are customary behaviour

patterns or folkways which have taken a
moralistic value.
C. BEHAVIOURAL COMPONENT
3. Laws – are formalized norms, enacted
by people who are vested with
government power and enforced by
political and legal authorities designated
by the government. –Panopio

4. Folkways – are behaviour patterns of

society which are organized and
repetitive.
C. BEHAVIOURAL COMPONENT
5. Rituals – are highly scripted
ceremonies or strips of interaction that
follow a specific sequence of actions.
D. MATERIAL COMPONENTS
Material components of culture refer to
physical objects of culture such as
machines, equipment, tools, books,
clothing, etc.
THE ORGANIZATION OF CULTURE
Cultural trait – represents a single
element or a combination of elements
related to a specific situation.
HOW IS CULTURE TRANSMITTED
1. Enculturation- it is the process of
learning culture of one’s own group
2. Acculturation- it is the process of
learning some new traits from another
culture
3. Assimilation- it is the term used for a
process in which an individual entirely
loses any awareness of his/her
previous group identity and takes on
the culture and attitudes of another
group.
IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
1. Culture helps the individual fulfil his
potential as a human being.

2. Through the development of culture

man can overcome his physical
disadvantages and allows us to provide
ourselves with fire, clothing, food and
shelter.
IMPORTANCE AND FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
3. Culture provides rules of proper
conduct for living in a society

4. Culture also provides the individual

his concepts of family, nation and class.
SUMMARY
 Throughout the world, human beings use
thousands of language to communicate with one
another. Some of these are spoken in many
countries and enjoy international status, while
others are used in country or region or even in a
single village. Some languages have expanded over
the centuries, but there are also many that have
become extinct. With the globalization of
communications, a trend in the number of
languages in the world has recently been observed.
We are still far, however, from a situation where
everyone would speak the same language.
SUMMARY
 Every society has a culture, no matter how simple
the culture may be, and every human being is
cultured, in the sense of participating in some
culture or other. As our nation continues to
change, we all will interact with others from quite
different backgrounds from our own, especially in
the classroom.
 An understanding of culture, its elements and
characteristics, its organization, and how it is
transmitted will provide us with a better
appreciation of the different cultures of people with
whom they may relate now and in the future.
 Thank You
For
Your
Cooperation !