The Experiential Learning Cycle - Culture Bump and Beyond Sample Task

Describe a personal encounter that was less than satisfactory. This encounter could be with someone from your own culture or with someone from another culture (remember the model of the 'communication process' and the possible causes for 'communication breakdown' could describe both interpersonal and intercultural communication). Use the examples given below to guide you.

I remember once I was in a post office once and there was a queue of people. The next person to be served in the queue was a young woman with blond hair. The young women went up to the counter an in a loud voice said 'give me three stamps.

What happened?

I can remember the situation so clearly. There was a gasp of horror from the people in the queue and suddenly you could almost feel the hostility in the atmosphere. As we say in England you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. People in the queue were so angry.

List the behaviour of the other person

• The person loudly demanded her stamps using the imperative voice and intonation. There was no please or thank you.

• appreciated they will continue to do a good job A person who treats another badly is a bully and is not well regarded.

What were the causes of the unsatisfactory result? Is it possible that the communication breakdown was due to factors other than language?

Based on C A Archer (1986). 'Culture Bump and Beyond in culture Bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching'. J Merril Valdes (ed.), 170 -178, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Active Listening Skills

Content learning/objectives.

• to introduce participants to the skills of effective listening;

• to prepare participants for a programme of study in which active listening skills will play an important role;

• to allow participants to reflect on their experiences and learning.

Developing Active Listening Skills

An important element of intercultural communication is listening. Listening is an essential skill for making and keeping relationships. Listening is a commitment and a compliment. It is a commitment to understanding how other people feel, how they see their world. It means putting aside your own prejudices and beliefs, your anxieties and self-interest, so that you can step behind the other person's eyes. You try to look at things from his or her perspective.

Real versus Pseudo Listening

Being quiet while someone talks does not constitute real listening. Real listening is based on the intention to do one of four things:

• to understand someone;

• to enjoy the company of someone;

• to learn something;

• to give help or solace to someone.

Pseudo-listening on the other hand often hides as the real thing. The intention in pseudo-listening is not to listen, but to meet some other need. The need maybe to:

• make people think you are interested so they will like you;

• listening to one specific piece of information and ignoring everything else, because you want to hear what you want to hear;

• looking for weak points in an argument so you can always be right;

• half-listening because that is what a good, kind or nice person would do.

Everyone is a pseudo-listener at times. Problems develop when real listening happens a lot less than pseudo-listening.