Intercultural communication competence: Identifying key components from multicultural perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2004.04.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Intercultural communication competence (ICC) is an area of study that is becoming more relevant in the increasingly multicultural communities that we live in. Though much progress has been made in this area of research since Hall [(1959). The silent language. New York: Anchor Books], a satisfactory model of ICC and a scale that translates well into different cultures is yet to be developed. This paper presents a review of past research in ICC and describes a unique approach to identifying variables that contribute toward perceived ICC. Specifically, this study triangulates and updates past research on ICC by integrating the theoretical backgrounds of social psychology, interpersonal communication, and anthropology to construct a multidimensional understanding of ICC. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews with participants representing 15 different countries and responses were analyzed using semantic network analysis. A definition of intercultural communication was derived from the responses, and knowledge and motivation were identified as important components of ICC. Additions to a multidimensional definition of ICC include listening skills, prior cross-cultural experiences, having a global outlook as opposed to an ethnocentric one, and an other-centered style of communication. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

Section snippets

Past approaches to the study of intercultural communication and competence

Intercultural communication is often defined as communication “between people from different national cultures, and many scholars limit it to face-to-face communication” (Gudykunst, 2002, p. 179). The study of competence in an intercultural interaction is often influenced by the researcher's definition of intercultural communication and conceptualization of competence. Conceptualizing competent intercultural communication requires several assumptions in order to justify one's choice of

Arguments for a culture-general conceptualization

A common shortcoming in the models discussed earlier is the lack of a convincing argument as to whether these models are culture general or not. Yet a question remains: Why would one endeavor to look for a culture-general conceptual model of ICC? Is such a model even possible?

Perhaps an effective way of answering these questions is to study competent intercultural communication in real-life situations. However, in order to study the actions of individuals and how competent intercultural

Participants

Data for this study were collected through open-ended interviews with student and non-student volunteers (males=15, females=22) affiliated with a large university. Participants consisted of both Americans and internationals. Participants (N=37) were adults (over the age of 18), who had frequent interaction with culturally different others (examples of such individuals are international students, American students who are involved in international student organizations or study abroad programs,

Results

Fig. 1 displays the dendogram from the analysis of responses to Q1. Four dominant clusters emerged in response to Q1. The first cluster consisted of seven words: able, cross, language, talking, verbal, cultural, and religious. The second cluster consisted of seven words, backgrounds, countries, across, message, ideas, understand, and coming. The third cluster consisted of eight words also, namely beliefs, group, information, exchange, individuals, communicating, outside, and town. The final

Discussion

Results confirm the hypothesis which predicted that themes associated with interpersonal communication competence would also emerge as identifiers of ICC as well. For example, empathy and being a good listener were themes that emerged as positive traits, while not listening and lack of eye contact (can’t face me) were dominant themes in regards to weak ICC. The research questions asked what was a vernacular meaning of ICC and what characteristics were associated with ICC across cultures. These

Conclusion

What is understood as communication has varied over the years (Peters, 1999) and definitions of communication are various (Dance, 1970). Intercultural communication and ICC are probably not exceptions to this trend—the more we attempt to define ICC the more likely are we to come up with different definitions/conceptualizations. But this should not deter our efforts to pursue research in this area. Consider what Dance says about communication and extend it to ICC:

A variety of approaches and

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