Intercultural Communication

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

On campus

3 contact hours/week, 5 additional hours/week. Total of 8 hours per week.

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Formerly available as 175-006 and 175-108 Cross-Cultural Communication. Students who have completed 175-006 or 175-108 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject involves the main components of communicative events across cultures, the main linguistic approaches to analysing them, how they vary in a range of cultures from around the world, and the difficulties and misunderstandings these differences create in inter-cultural communication. Specific topics include body language, titles and respect, turn-taking and turn maintenance, narrative structuring, intonation, requests, disagreement and criticism, information seeking, politeness, and business negotiation. Topics will be illustrated with case studies of different speech communities from around the world, such as French, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Anglo-Australian and Aboriginal Australian.

• have a general understanding of the nature of intercultural communication
• have begun to develop skills for analyzing intercultural communication
• have been acquainted with conceptual frameworks for thinking about intercultural communication

Two 1500-word research assignments 70% (due mid-semester and end of semester), a 1-hour examination 30% (during the examination period).

This subject has the following hurdle requirements:

• Regular participation in tutorials is required with a minimum of 75% attendance.
• All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject.

Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per day and in-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.

Holliday, A, M. Hyde and J Kullman (eds) 2004. Intercultural communication: An advanced resource book. London, Routledge.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

• increase their understanding of social, ethical and cultural context.

• develop their written communication through essay preparation and writing.