Positive Effects On Intercultural Communication

Learning with the International Primary Curriculum

But it's also more difficult than ever. In the same way that far fewer children play football because there are so many other competing things for them to do, so it's harder to help young children learn in school when other parts of their lives can seem so much more attractive, and when so many children are in homes -- professional and non-professional -- where time for parents to be attentive to their children is at a premium. Getting a primary curriculum right is more difficult today than it's ever been because it has to meet multiple goals. Of all those goals, the most essential ones are: Rigorous learning : Paying attention to essential and transformational knowledge, to the development of key skills, and to the slow, steady progress towards deep understanding across a broad range of subjects. High levels of children's engagement : Making sure that this rigorous learning can win the battle against superficially more exciting out-of-school activities so that a) children enjoy it and stick to it and b) come to like learning enough to want to continue throughout their lives. Incorporating easy, accessible opportunities for parents to get involved in order to encourage and support their kids. International, global and intercultural awareness : So many of our problems at local and global levels are caused by different groups not knowing or respecting each other. Many of the key problems we face today will only be solved through local and global cooperation. Many of the opportunities open to our current generation of children will be in countries and cultures different from the one in which they are growing up. The development of personal dispositions : Creating opportunities for children to develop qualities that will help them on their journey through life as individuals, citizens and partners.

Communication and Intercultural Communication, Chapter 2

Communication and Intercultural Communication, Chapter 2, Communicating Interculturally, Li Mengyu, Ph.D. and Michael H. Prosser, Ph.D. (in press) Beijing: Higher Education Press

Communication is often called the process of interacting, and therefore is like culture, dynamic, interpersonally located, which in Chinese is called jiaoji, and constantly evolving, while communications are all of the channels and often in a mass setting which in Chinese is referred to as chuambo, by which the communication takes place. The study of communication is by its nature interdisciplinary. Steve J. Kulich indicates that subjects of inquiry relating to the study of intercultural communication include as relative examples: anthropology; sociology; social, cultural, and cross-cultural psychology; speech and mass communication; rhetoric; discourse analysis; linguistics; semiotics; semantics; interpersonal and inter-group communication; comparative literature (primarily in China in contrast to its western placement in literature); legal and political studies; organizational communication; ethnic studies; international media and relations; and diplomacy (2007: 3-4). In Igor Klyukanov’s 2010 book, A Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance, he identities the study of communication theory more specifically, as coming from at least four sources for inquiry: “(a) the rhetorical tradition, (b) propaganda and media effects, (c) transmission and reception of information, as well as (d) group dynamics and interpersonal relational developments” all of which are studied mostly in the context of the humanities and social sciences At the same time, the natural sciences and other scientific studies also contribute, as Klyukanov claims (2010: 16).

No matter which major you are studying, both communication and intercultural communication are very important for your future as Chinese citizens, and more importantly as future world citizens. All human communication is based on the use of verbal or nonverbal symbols and signs (semiotics) and perceived meanings (semantics), incorporated into practical usage (pragmatics). Klyukanov, in his earlier book, Principles of Intercultural Communication (2005: 70-71) articulates three performance principles: (1) Intercultural communication is a process of playing out our identity by moving from rules to roles, (2) enactment of meanings constitutes cultural identity interactively, (3) interactive intercultural communication moves from activity through actions and then back to activity. Thus, he argues that “intercultural communication is a joint effort of creating and enacting meanings.” Carolyn Calloway Thomas, Pamela J. Cooper, and Cecil Blake’s 1999 book Intercultural Communication: Roots and Routes develops some of the same themes metaphorically and practically.

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