This book looks at the movements of immigrants and refugees and the challenges they face as they cross cultural boundaries and strive to build a new life in an unfamiliar place. It focuses on the psychological dynamic underpinning of their adaptation process, how their internal conditions change over time, the role of their ethnic and personal backgrounds, and of the conditions of the host environment affecting the process. Addressing these and related issues, the author presents a comprehensive theory, or a "big picture,"of the cross-cultural adaptation phenomenon.
As people move into the new era of the twenty-first century, they will have more and more opportunities to communicate and interact with others using foreign languages. While this will naturally generate wide-ranging intercultural experience, people may not be alert to it in everyday life, and teachers may not know how to address the issues that arise. This book starts by exploring what it means to be intercultural from different theoretical standpoints, before contrasting ways in which people do (or do not) become intercultural in both tutored and untutored ways, inside and outside the classroom. The main purpose of this book is to introduce the concept of interculturality, to examine how it can emerge in an unplanned way and to consider ways in which it can be more systematically addressed through education, particularly through foreign language education.
This book demonstrates the complementarity of educational and training approaches to developing intercultural competence as represented by those who work in commercial training and those who work in further and higher education. It does so by presenting chapters of analysis and chapters describing courses in the two sectors.
The French Caribbean authors of In Praise of Creoleness (Eloge de la Créolité) exclaim, "Neither Europeans, nor Africans, nor Asians, we proclaim ourselves to be Creoles." Creoleness, therefore, becomes a metaphor for humanity in all its diversity. Unique among the many images useful for discussing diversity, Creoleness is formed within a history of injustice, oppression, and empire. Creolization offers a way of envisioning a future through the interplay between cultural diversity, injustice and oppression, and intersectionality. People of faith must embrace such metaphors and practices to be relevant and effective for ministry in the 21st century. Using biblical exposition in conversation with present day Creole metaphors and cultural research, Becoming Like Creoles seeks to awaken and prepare followers of Jesus to live and minister in a world where injustice is real and cultural diversity is rapidly increasing. This book will equip ministry readers to embrace a Creole process, becoming culturally competent and social justice focused, whether they are emerging from a history of injustice or they are heirs of privilege.
This text deals with cross-cultural adaptation of immigrants, refugees and sojourners and presents interdisciplinary theory in anthropology, communication, psychiatry, psychology, sociology and linguistics. It emphasizes cross-cultural experiences and social integration.
As world travel is growing exponentially, “alternative” travel has grown apace: from ecotourism, gap years, short-term mission trips, cultural travel-study tours, and foreign language study, to college-level study abroad, “voluntourism”, and international service-learning. This book is intended to help the new generation of ethical and educational travelers make the most of their international experience, and show them how to broaden their cultural horizons while also making a contribution to their host community.This book guides independent and purposeful learners considering destinations off the “beaten path” on connecting with a wider world. Whether traveling on their own, or as part of a group arranged by an educational institution, humanitarian organization, or congregation, this book will enable them to make their international encounter rewarding, authentic, enriching, and learning-oriented. This book draws on the author’s extensive travel and many years of guiding college students’ global learning. Richard Slimbach offers a comprehensive framework for pre-field preparation that includes, but goes beyond, discussions of packing lists and assorted “do’s and don’ts” to consider the ultimate purposes and practical learning strategies needed to enter deeply into a host culture. It also features an in-depth look at the post-sojourn process, helping the reader integrate the experiences and insights from the field into her or his studies and personal life. This book constitutes a vital road map for anyone intent on having their whole being—body, mind, and heart—stretched through the intercultural experience. Becoming World Wise offers an integrated approach to cross-cultural learning aimed at transforming our consciousness while also contributing to the flourishing of the communities that host us. While primarily intended for foreign study and service situations, the ideas are just as relevant to intercultural learning within domestic settings. In a “globalized” world, diverse cultures intermingle near and far, at home and abroad.
Today, students are more familiar with other cultures than ever before because of the media, Internet, local diversity, and their own travels abroad. Using a social constructionist framework, Inter/Cultural Communication provides today's students with a rich understanding of how culture and communication affect and effect each other. Weaving multiple approaches together to provide a comprehensive understanding of and appreciation for the diversity of cultural and intercultural communication, this text helps students become more aware of their own identities and how powerful their identities can be in facilitating change—both in their own lives and in the lives of others.
This edited volume explores the educational significance of intercultural experience. It offers a broader conception of interculturality than commonly found in the area of foreign language teaching. Contributors represent a diverse range of academic and professional interests. The aim of the book is to encourage dialogue and interchange across this range, and beyond, to stimulate thinking about the educational value of intercultural experience.
Translating Theory into Practice Globalizing Intercultural Communication: A Reader introduces students to intercultural communication within the global context, and equips them with the knowledge and understanding to grapple with the dynamic, interconnected and complex nature of intercultural relations in the world today. This reader is organized around foundational and contemporary themes of intercultural communication. Each of the 14 chapters pairs an original research article explicating key topics, theories, or concepts with a first-person narrative that brings the chapter content alive and invites students to develop and apply their knowledge of intercultural communication. Each chapter’s pair of readings is framed by an introduction highlighting important issues presented in the readings that are relevant to the study and practice of intercultural communication and end-of-chapter pedagogical features including key terms and discussion questions. In addition to illuminating concepts, theories, and issues, authors/editors Kathryn Sorrells and Sachi Sekimoto focus particular attention on grounding theory in everyday experience and translating theory into practice and actions that can be taken to promote social responsibility and social justice.
Combining perspectives from discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, the second edition of this popular textbook provides students with an up-to-date overview of the field of intercultural communication. Ingrid Piller explains communication in context using two main approaches. The first treats cultural identity, difference and similarity as discursive constructions. The second, informed by bilingualism studies, highlights the use and prestige of different languages and language varieties as well as the varying access that speakers have to them.
