Abstract:

With a variety of people of different cultures and religions coming increasingly in contact with each other, it is important for people to have a strong awareness of the extent to which their personalities are formed culturally and how cultural rules are perceived and reactions to them (Jandt, 2004). It is therefore seen as beneficial to promote courses and knowledge in general about intercultural communications in education and in the workplace. Student and teacher mobility programs are on the rise and more classrooms have pupils and students from all over the world. An awareness of culturally formed identities, as well as any similarities and differences can be seen to promote tolerance and cooperation in educational environments, as well as later on in work places. However, this is not a straightforward matter. According to Ferri (2018) issues of scrutiny in intercultural communication include “the role of tolerance in shaping the relation between self and other, the idea of intercultural awareness as a narrative of reconciliation and final erasure of all differences and finally the notion of intercultural competence”(p.v, 2018). This paper describes student perceptions of a three credit course on intercultural communication which was conducted online in summer 2020.

References:
[1] Ferri, G., 2018. Intercultural communication: Critical approaches and future challenges. Springer.
[2] Jandt, Fr. E., 2004. An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community. Brockport Bookshelf.

Keywords:

Intercultural communication, awareness, tolerance, university students, identity, culture.