Intercultural Communication
Inter-cultural communication is part of our daily life. There are a number of factors that impact our ability to be competent inter-cultural communicators. 1. Culture 2. Perceptions 3. Roles and Identities 4. Communication style 5. Personality. All of these factors may influence us directly or indirectly through our interactions with others ( Vuckovic, 2008).
When communicating with others we may have to ajust our behaviors according in order to get a better understanding of what others are trying to tell us. Therefore working with others, especially in the classroom with our young children and their families what we say, and how we say things are very important. We should not have assumptions as to how we think people from other cultures should act. Verbal and non verbal skills or cues are also important in communicating with others. Listenting attentively to what others may be saying and taking in as much information as possible will keep us connected to what is being relayed and enabling us to recieve the message that is indended for me to hear.
In our readings for this week we learned so much information about the Platinium or the Golden Rule. "Do unto others and you would have them to do unto you". To put this in plain English, treat others the way you wish to be treated. This is the first strategy I would apply to any communication style when interacting with others, whether it is children, their families, people in the community, or my professional colleagues. Being aware of cultural differences and adjusting my behavior according to their needs is the key ( Beebe, Beebe, 2011). Another strategy would be to practice active listening. Listenting to what others are saying , asking them to repeat what I think they said is part of me understanding what is being communicated to me ( O'Hair & Wiemann,2009). Having respect for the language others is important, some peole use different wordings or sounds to describe different things, we should not assume anything about what they are trying to communicate to us, until clarification is given.
References
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J. & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
O'Hair, & Wiemann, Real communication: An introduction. Bedford, St. Martin's.
Vuckovi, A. (2008). Inter-cultural communication: A foundation of communicative action. Multicultural
Education and Technology Journal, 2(1), 47-59.
Linda,
ReplyDeleteWhen working in the classroom I agree we must watch what is said and how we say things because it can be interpreted in different ways. I agree verbal and nonverbal clues are important because you can have an expression on your face that people might interpret as not caring when you do care about things around you. The Golden Rule plays an important role in our communication process. If they are treated right they will communicate with people better and with respect I agree hold heartily on that saying. Good Post
Yvette
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteI think adults forget that children deserve to be treated with respect as well. I try my hardest to listen to students, before making a decision, on how I will handle any given situation. I have even had to advocate for children being misunderstood by another staff member. Thank you for your post this week.
Magretta
Linda,
ReplyDeleteI think listening plays an important role when communicating with others because we must listen in order to understand what the other person is saying or to even say what we are thinking. Even in our classrooms we have to listen to a small children because they may be saying something very important that we may need to know. We also have to listen to our children when we are observing them to see where they stand in academic achievement.
Linda-
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the fact that you mentioned some words mean different things to different people. I experienced this first hand during my time in Ghana. In Ghana (and many other parts of the world) soccer is called futbol. It takes some time for a person coming from America to get used to this wording, because to us football is something totally different. It is important to not always asume you know what is being talked about, and to ask questions for clarification.
-Melanie
Linda,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct when communicating with other it is important to pay attention to your non-verbal cues as much as your verbal ones. Being able to listen to all parties being address is also key. Where children are concern I think it makes it that much harder because a lot of the times they do not have the words that adults do so in order to communicate effectively with them we must get creative. Thank you for sharing!
Annie P.