Education

Considering words and the areas of the mind that they impact as two-dimensional shapes forms the theoretical basis from which intercultural communication between the West and Sub-Saharan Africa are examined. Unique shapes of words are illustrated as arising from their meeting with equally unique 'impactible areas' of people's minds, and cultures, resulting in transmitted and received shapes differing in a way related to lexical content at both ends. Differences in overlap between word impacts, shapes of words and fit between words in different languages / cultures are shown to contribute to imprecision in translation, resulting in the recommendation that local policy be of local origin. The above is applied to Christian mission in Africa through diagrammatic representations of 'love' as a spiritual gift in comparison to fellow words, and by an inter-cultural consideration of public…

Despite the general global consistency of road signs, the depicted human icons possess varying degrees and types of gender by country. This paper proposes that greater gender typing in road signs communicates greater inequality in a cultures’ attitude towards women. Leveraging theoretical concepts from semiotics and Bandura’s social cognitive theory, this pilot study creates and measures a visual gender scale and completes a content and semiotic analysis, providing the requisite foundation for investigating the effects of gender presentation. Results highlight the absence of gender neutral icons, internal validity of the gender scale, and pilot outcomes. A full scale study is warranted to formally measure degree of visual gender and social effect. Limitations include the novelty of a gender scale and inhibited ability to discuss effects theoretically as a result of small sample size.

How may culture be defined? Numerous works and important contributions have been answering this crucial question for the past thirty years; yet the problem remains unsolved. When taking a close look at ‘intercultural communication’, we may see that some utterances might not be thatcultural at all. If we have a clear definition of ‘intercultural communication’, then what is ‘intra-cultural communication’ (Winch 1997, Ma 2004)? Is there really a sharp difference between these two concepts and is miscommunication necessarily ‘cultural’ when implying individuals or groups from alleged different cultural backgrounds? We will study various examples and try to separate the cultural from the non-cultural by taking a close look at intercultural and intra-cultural miscommunication, insofar as their definitions seem to ultimately cover the same conceptual maps. After this first step, we will…

At a time when inquiry-based science education is finding increased acceptance, US classrooms are exhibiting a significant increase in diversity. This necessitates attention to the compatibility between the culture of inquiry teaching and the broad range of cultures that form students’ backgrounds. Although some research has considered students’ cultural backgrounds and the roles these might play in the effectiveness of an inquiry approach, none has focused on the specific characteristics of an inquiry approach that might constitute cultural "biases" for a broad range of students with a concomitant broad range of cultural values and beliefs. This article seeks to identify characteristics of an inquiry approach, compare these to the potential cultures students may bring with them to the classroom, using cultural orientations as a heuristic, and suggest construals of inquiry that could…

Despite the prevalence of conflict and violence in the world, education offers hope for social transformation and a recognition of our shared humanity. Much of the hatred and violence has its origins in a fear of 'the other', while education has the potential to equip people with the knowledge and skills to overcome such fear, build social harmony, challenge injustice, and build bridges across cultural and religious barriers. Based on the recognition of our shared humanity and the practice of respectful dialogue, it allows students to explore together what really matters to them as human beings and as members of their society and communities. Case studies of such encounters in Australian educational contexts will be presented in this paper, analyzing their impact and discerning principles they offer for structuring education for a shared humanity.

Culture is an intricate concept, with many different classifications. Simply put, "culture" refers to a group or community with which we share common experiences that shape the way we understand the world. Each of us is shaped by many factors, and culture is one of the powerful forces that influence our lives. This paper offers a critique of problems experienced in multicultural learning environments and explores factors that inhibit intercultural communication. In addition, this paper highlights current psychological and cultural issues which are relevant to contemporary life in South Africa.

Today’s EFL students need both advanced language skills and an appreciation of other cultures. Technology for language learning, however, is usually focused on language skills. Cultural understanding is rarely a primary goal. Intercultural competence was the primary goal of this study, using a technically-mediated and culturally-oriented online learning community to cultivate intercultural competence using social collaboration, understanding, reflection, and appreciation. Students in South Africa and Taiwan reacted to videos on cultural topics made by American college students. Qualitative data analysis included the social media discussions of the participants, end-of-study questions, and teacher-participant journals. Six themes in the data are presented, as well as resulting best practices for instructional design and specific author recommendations.

Exploring the communicative behavior of teachers and students in the Japanese language classroom in Singapore is one important way of looking at intercultural communication between Japanese and Singaporeans. Ease in effective communication is often hindered by differences in expectations resulting in communication gaps. In this study, attempts were made to explore the differences in perceptions held by students and Japanese teachers of (i) a good teacher versus a Japanese teacher; and (ii) a good student versus a university student. A questionnaire based on previous findings was constructed using a 5-point semantic differential scale for this purpose. A comparison of results showed that there were significant differences in students’ and teachers’ perception of a good teacher/student versus the teacher/student in reality.

Sweden is rapidly changing from being a monocultural to a multicultural society. The effects of this process can also be seen in health care which has, up till now, been one of the most ethnically and gender segregated working places, compared to the industrial sector. Increasing multiculturality places the issue of intercultural communication on top of the agenda for Swedish society in general and for the health care sector in particular. This article is based on the results of two interrelated questionnaires, one directed at non-Swedish physicians, a relatively new but rapidly growing group in Swedish heath care, and one directed at Swedish health care personnel, a traditionally ethnically homogeneous group. The respondents’ answers have been summarised and compared in order to get a comprehensive picture of intercultural communication in Swedish health care.

National security culture has emerged as an important factor shaping state behavior in contemporary international relations. In the current geopolitical environment, culture increasingly functions as a dimension of warfare and of national security, including information security. Drawing on a qualitative scoping review and grounded-theory-informed coding within a constructivist framework, this article examines the role of culture in the formation of nation-states’ security visions and behaviors, with particular attention to education as a mediating domain in these processes. The analysis shows that security-related patterns are increasingly embedded in educational discourses, while education itself is evolving into a distinct site of ideological formation that influences the broader culture of national and information security. Particular attention is given to identity, the…