HCOM 320
Intercultural Communication
Summer Session 1
2006
Instructor: Dr. S. Irene Matz Office Hours: Monday 7-8 a.m.
Or by appointment
Office: CP 420-26 Email:
Mail: CP 420 Website:
Phone: (714)278-4418 http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/imatz
Day Schedule No. Time Classroom_____
MTWR 10362 8:00-10:00 a.m. CP 129
Course Description: Prerequisite: Human Comm 100. This course provides a critical survey of major theories and concepts related to intercultural communication. The course objectives are to understand the differences in cultures, perception of communication’s functionality, value orientations, nonverbal behavior, and language; and to learn how these differences can enhance our understanding and communication with other ethnicities.
Course Goals:
1. To help you understand how different cultural values can influence everyday communication.
2. To increase your self-awareness concerning cultural/ethnic group membership and personal identity issues.
3. To cultivate your mindful attitude and adaptive competencies in dealing with culture shock stressors.
4. To compare and contrast different culture-based verbal and nonverbal communication styles.
5. To reinforce your respect for diversity in communicating with various cultural situations and environments.
Required Text:
Ting-Toomey, S. & Chung, L. (2005). Understanding intercultural communication.
Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Other readings: To be announced.
Learning Outcomes:
1. An understanding and sensitivity to intercultural communication.
2. Become a better communicator with others from various ethnicities and environments.
3. Experience successful communication outcomes both professionally and personally.
4. Through understanding others, promote a more peaceful, harmonious community.
Assignment & Assessment Percentage:
Attendance & Participation 10%
Reaction Papers (2 @ 10% each) 20%
Final Project & Paper 20%
Exams (2 @ 15% each) 30%
Final Exam 20%
Grading: This course will utilize a plus/minus grading system as follows:
GRADING SYSTEM
PLUS/MINUS GRADING
Definition of Grades and
Their Corresponding Grade
Points
A+ 4.0
A 4.0
A- 3.7
B+ 3.3
B 3.0
B- 2.7
C+ 2.3
C 2.0
C- 1.7
D+ 1.3
D 1.0
D- .7
F Failing
Attendance & Participation (10% of grade)
0-2 = A
3 = B
4 = C
5 = D
Below = F
Course Policies
University regulations require that you are provided with a statement about plagiarism in the course syllabus.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking the specific substance of another and offering it as one’s own without giving credit to the source. Sources must be cited accurately and appropriately. When sources are used, acknowledgment of the original author or source must be made following standard scholarly practice. Cases of plagiarism will constitute dismissal from the course with a failing grade.
Honesty: Academic honesty is a core value at Cal State Fullerton. It is cheating if you develop your answers from sources other than those permitted by your professor or represent the work of others as your own. A few specific examples are:
· Using the notes of others
· Using the work of other students
· Handing in work that isn’t yours
· Taking a test for someone else
· Sharing your answers to examination questions or class assignments with others
Attendance: Part of your grade will depend on your attendance. Please reference the attendance scale for your letter grade that will be factored into your final grade. Good attendance and promptness are professional behaviors that reflect a responsible employee who is valued. If you must miss a class, please email or phone the professor prior to the class meeting. Please be on time for classes; tardiness interrupts the entire class – use this opportunity to develop habits that lead to your success. A “F” on attendance will automatically earn you a failing grade for the course unless you previously have contacted the professor. Participation is rated on respect for other students and your professor in addition to your active interest and comments in the course content. Doing other work in our class; reading other materials; studying for exams; using your computer for work other than class note taking; talking on your cell phone (smile – thought I’d throw in the absurd) are all examples of behaviors that are unacceptable.
Cell phones: Please make certain that all cell phones and other technical equipment are turned off during class meetings.
Flexibility: Please allow for flexibility with our schedule due to class enrollment, class speakers, or other events.
Assignments: All assignments are accepted on or before the due date. Assignments should be “professional” quality and must be completed and handed in for a final grade. Please type all assignments.
Grading: Use this as a guide for your written assignments:
CLARITY – structural pattern clear, sentences and paragraphs well developed, transitions and report development.
CONCISENESS – strive for brevity, avoid redundancies, and include well-developed ideas.
COMPLETENESS – introduction, body, and conclusion with support and good development.
GRAMMAR – capitalization, punctuation, references, grammatical correctness, proofreading, professional appearance.
APA STYLE
Please see the following website:
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/social_sciences/intext.html
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition.
Course Schedule
(Please allow for changes)
Week 1: Assignment Chapter
June 5 Introduction to course; Ice breakers
June 6 Why Study Intercultural Communication? 1
June 7 Activity – Bafa Bafa
June 8 What is Intercultural Communication? 2
Reaction Paper 1 Due
Week 2:
June 12 What Are the Essential Cultural Value Patterns? 3
June 13
June 14 What Are the Keys to Understanding Cultural
And Ethnic Identities 4
June 15 What is Cultural Shock? 5
Exam I (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4)
Week 3:
June 19 What is the Relationship Between Language and
Culture? 6
June 20
June 21 What Are the Major Differences in Intercultural
Verbal Styles? 7
June 22 Final Paper Due (Genogram & Paper)
Week 4:
June 26 What Are the Different Ways to Communicate
Nonverbally Across Cultures? 8
June 27 What Causes Us to Hold Biases Against
Outgroups? 9
Exam 2 (Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8)
June 28
June 29 What Are the Best Ways to Manage Intercultural
Conflict? 10
Reaction Paper 2 Due
Week 5:
July 3 What Are the Challenges in Developing an
Intercultural-Intimate Relationship? 11
July 4 Campus closed - Holiday
July 5 What Are the communication Issues Facing a
Global Identity? 12
How Can We Become Ethical Intercultural
Communicators? 13
July 6 Final Exam
(Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13)
A few questions from the two previous exams
ASSIGNMENTS
Reaction Paper 1:
1. After participating in Bafa Bafa, select one concept from Chapter 1 and one concept from
Chapter 2.
2. Illustrate how these two concepts were part of your experience in the Bafa Bafa activity.
3. Provide one personal insight for each concept that relates to your experience.
Paper: At least two pages, double-spaced.
Due: Thursday, June 8th at the beginning of class.
Note: No late papers or submissions by email.
Grading: Grading will be based on the criteria outlined in the syllabus:
Clarity, conciseness, completeness, and grammar (sentence structure, spelling
and grammatical correctness). Be sure to proofread your paper.
Reaction Paper 2:
1. Select one concept from Chapter 5 and one from Chapter 6.
2. Illustrate how these two concepts are or have been relevant to our personal experience.
3. provide one “insight” for each concept.
Paper: At least two pages, double-spaced.
Due: Thursday, June 29th at the beginning of class.
Note: No late paper or submissions by email.
Final Project/Paper:
The final project should be fun and interesting to you personally. Since the course is focused on ethnic differences, understanding various cultures, concepts, theories, I wanted you to have the experience of researching your own family. I will guide you through design and creation of a genogram, then you will design your family’s genogram. I believe in utility with your assignments and this gives you an opportunity to design a family document that hopefully will become a family treasure.
Requirements:
1. Create a family genogram that includes names, dates, professions.
- Poster size (make a copy for your paper, reduced size)
- This would make a nice insert in your holiday greeting card.
2. Need permission from instructor to create a genogram other than your own family.
- Must have a legitimate reason for doing this.
- If you create a genogram for another family, you must research family members and use this research as you would interview information.
3. Interview as many family members as possible to gather their stories.
4. Write a paper that includes your family history, origination, traditions, customs, rituals, verbal, nonverbal, values, conflict management, and any other concept that we studied in this course. Relate your findings to conceptual relevance to our course concepts and theories.
- Double-spaced, 8-10 pages (body)
- Include a title page, table of contents, reference page, and appendix.
- Include at least two course concepts or theories, relate to your findings, and discuss implications (reference research).
- Use APA style; remember, you must cite all research.
- Include at least five outside sources (journal, books, other).
Grading will be based on the criteria outlined in the syllabus:
Clarity, conciseness, completeness, and grammar (sentence structure, spelling and grammatical correctness). Be sure to proofread your paper.
Legend of Abbreviations (report feedback)
APOS Missing or improperly placed apostrophe
AGR Lack of agreement (verb tense or number)
AWK Awkward locution or phrasing of thought
CIT Citation missing
CS Comma splice
ELAB Need to elaborate or develop this point further
FRAG Fragment; not a compete sentence
FS Fused sentence
GEN Too general in expressing your ideas; be more specific
INT Integration of quotation is inadequate
NOT GRAM Not a grammatical sentence
Q Improper use of Quotation marks
QTL Quotation is too long; select only essential point(s)
REF Unclear reference (noun or pronoun)
SP Incorrect spelling
SS Should be single-spaced
TRANS Better transition needed
VAGUE Point is unclear
WC Word choice could have been more appropriate
WW Wrong word
√ Good point
¶ Need a new paragraph
¶ DEV Ideas in the paragraph need more development
¶ FOC Ideas in the paragraph are not focused or unified
⁄ ⁄ Faulty parallelism
GRAMMAR
WRITING TIPS
NUMBERS
Brief Handbook Associated Press
• use numerals for numbers that are • 10 or above, use the number,
expressed as more than two words, e.g., 10, 11, 12
e.g., 1,568 • under 10, spell out,
3 1/2 e.g., one, two, three
• spell out numbers expressed as
one or two words, e.g., twelve,
seventy-seven, forty billion
Both sources agree: spell out numbers that begin sentences.
WRONG: 993 juniors entered college last year.
RIGHT: Last year, 993 junior entered college.
EXCEPTION: when referencing a year.
e.g., 1990 was a very good year.
SPELL OUT CASUAL EXPRESSIONS:
e.g., A thousand times no.
Thanks a million.
He walked a quarter of a mile.
MIXTURES
Brief Handbook
They had twelve station wagons and 3 1/2 buses.
Associated Press
They had a fleet of 10 station wagons and two buses.
APOSTROPHE
Brief Handbook Associated Press
1900s, 9's 1900s, 9s
use apostrophe, no apostrophe
except dates
LETTERS
a's a's
MULTIPLE LETTERS
IOU'S IOUs
VIP'S VIPs
TIME OF DAY
A.M./P.M. a.m./p.m.
Webster shows both usages.
Avoid 10:00 p.m. tonight.
Use 12:00 noon or midnight.
YOUR/YOU'RE
your — adjective
example: your desk, your health
you're
conjunctive — you are
example: you're my friend, you're the best class
PERSONAL/PERSONNEL
Personal is an adjective meaning "of or pertaining to an individual person."
example: He left work early because of a personal problem.
Personnel is a noun meaning a "group of people engaged in a common job."
example: All personnel should pick up their paychecks on Thursday.
BE CAREFUL NOT TO USE PERSONNEL WHEN THE WORD YOU NEED IS PERSONS OR PEOPLE.
INDIVIDUAL/PERSON
Avoid using individual as a NOUN if person is more appropriate.
Change:
Several individuals on the panel did not vote.
TO:
Several persons on the panel did not vote.
OR:
Several people on the panel did not vote.
Individual is most appropriate when used as an adjective to distinguish a single person from a group.
example: The individual employee's obligation to the firm are detailed in the booklet that describes company policies.
WHOSE/OF WHICH
Whose should normally be used with persons;
of which should normally be used with inanimate objects.
examples: The man whose car had been towed away was angry.
The mantle clock, the parts of which work perfectly, is over one hundred years old.
If these uses cause a sentence to sound awkward, however, whose may be used with inanimate objects.
example: there are added fields, for example, whose totals should never be zero.
WHO'S/WHOSE
Who's is a contraction of who is.
example: Who's scheduled to attend the productivity seminar next month?
Whose is the possessive for who or of which.
example: Whose department will be affected by the budget cuts?
Who's and whose are not interchangeable.
ITS/IT'S
its — ownership, possessive form of it, possessive pronoun, no apostrophe
it's — a contraction of it is; it has
example: It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.
example: It's now twelve o'clock.
example: The surface of the table has lost its shine.
Although nouns normally form the possessive by the addition of an apostrophe and an s, the contraction of it is (it's) has already used that device; therefore, the possessive form of the pronoun it is formed by adding only the s.
AMOUNT/NUMBER
Amount is used with things thought of in bulk (mass nouns).
examples: The amount of electricity available for industrial use is limited.
The amount of oxygen was insufficient for combustion.
Number is used with things that can be counted as individual items (count nouns).
change:
Because the amount of thefts has increased, the doors will be locked in the evening.
to:
Because the number of thefts has increased, the doors will be locked in the evening.
change:
I was surprised at the amount of errors in the report.
to:
I was surprised at the number of errors in the report.
example:
A large number of stockholders attended the meeting.
The number of employees who are qualified for early retirement has increased in recent years.
Avoid using amount when referring to countable items.