Introduction to Intercultural Communication
Keywords |
Classification |
Keyword |
OFICIAL |
German Linguistics |
Instance: 2017/2018 - 1S
Cycles of Study/Courses
Teaching language
Suitable for English-speaking students
Objectives
This course unit sets out to provide the theoretical and practical knowledge required for intercultural communications. Students will develop the ability to contextualise their individual cultural experience within the wider scope of foreign cultures, which will enable them to have a broader grasp of the extensive system of existing cultural standards. Awareness of certain aspects of so-called foreign cultures should enable them to reflect on their own cultural habits and standards. This unit will see the start of the development of a new professional profile of the cultural mediator (the material in this course unit can be dealt with in greater depth in the 2nd cycle), which can be very important in cultural, didactic and business activities.
Learning outcomes and competences
Students should be able to:
• Reflect upon the meaning of "culture (s)";
• Understand the different ways to approach the concept of culture / cultures in different areas of the Humanities;
• Identify various forms of contact between cultures;
• Identify stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination cases;
• Reflect upon the concepts of identity / alterity;
• Identify and explain different ways to communicate (direct communication, indirect, conversational maxims (intercultural)
• Compare “national cultures” recurring to cultural dimensions (regarding hierarchies, the ralation between the self and the other, time and space, management of uncertainty and emotions).
Understand the relation between language, culture and cognition.
Working method
Presencial
Program
1. Approaches and meanings of “culture”;
2. Cultures in contact: culture shock, acculturation, identity and otherness;
3. Intercultural sensitivity;
4. Cultural dimensions, concepts and criteria for the comparison of “cultures”;
5. Culture and language: direct and indirect communication;
6. Culture and body: multimodalities of face-to-face interaction;
7. Interpreting cultural values from different kinds of material (films, pictures, adverts, written texts).
Mandatory literature
Trompenaars Fons;
Riding the waves of culture. ISBN: 1-85788-176-1
Hofstede, Geert; Hofstede, Gert Jan, Minkov, Michael; Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition (Business Skills and Development), McGraw-Hill Education; 3 edition, 2010
Meyer, Erin ; The culture map, Public Affairs, 2015
Complementary Bibliography
Hall, Edward ; Unserstanding cultural differences. , Random House, 1993
Hall, Edward; The hidden dimenstion, Cambridge University Press, 1990
Teaching methods and learning activities
Classes will be student-centered, stimulating the sensibility to understand the dynamics of cultures, considering different habits, different forms of interpersonal communication and differences of perceiving and interpreting the world.
Individual participation, critical thinking and problem solving will be encouraged, avoiding the lecture. Apart from brief exposures and theoretical explanations, much of the content will be introduced alongside the observation and analysis of different materials.
Main attention is given to the active participation in class, by submitting small projects on different thematic issues. keywords
Social sciences > Cultural studies
Humanities
Evaluation Type
Distributed evaluation with final exam
Assessment Components
Designation |
Weight (%) |
Exame |
70,00 |
Participação presencial |
30,00 |
Total: |
100,00 |
Amount of time allocated to each course unit
Designation |
Time (hours) |
Estudo autónomo |
108,00 |
Frequência das aulas |
54,00 |
Total: |
162,00 |
Eligibility for exams
positive note in all acessment components
Calculation formula of final grade
Exam = 70%
Presentation of a topic, active participation in class, exercises = 30%
Classification improvement
in accordance with the assessment regulations