Catalog Description

Advisory: Eligibility for ENGL 1A
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Explores communication between people of different cultural communities both globally and locally. Intercultural communication is grounded within historical, political, organizational and interpersonal contexts that shape our individual interactions. This course focuses on intercultural communication theories and research to help students analyze identity, perception, conflict, and how power, privilege and oppression are perpetuated in societies. (C-ID COMM 150) (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Apply theory to explain intercultural dynamics in communities.
  • CSLO #2: Investigate cultural differences and similarities toward mutual understanding.
  • CSLO #3: Examine how cultural identities affect communication.
  • CSLO #4: Connect power, privilege and oppression to communication within a society.

Effective Term

Fall 2024

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

1. Articulate how core values, worldview and communication patterns shape cultural and individual identity. 

2. Explain how culture influences verbal and nonverbal communication. 

3. Identify and explain the social and psychological variables of culture and its expression. 

4. Connect power, privilege and oppression to communication within a society. 

5. Identify and explain barriers to effective intercultural competencies such as stereotyping, prejudice, and ethnocentrism.

6. Evaluate problem solving strategies for dealing with intercultural conflict in the workplace, personal relationships and common social settings.

7. Investigate, differentiate and critique one's own culture.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Behavioral Sciences
    • AA/AS - Comm & Analyt Thinking
    • AA/AS - Multicultural Studies
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • CSUGE - D Social Sciences
    • CSUGE - D7 Interdisciplinary Soc/Behav
  • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
    • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
      • IGETC - 4 Soc./Behav Sciences
      • IGETC - 4G Intrdis Social/Beha

    Articulation Information

    • CSU Transferable
    • UC Transferable

    Methods of Evaluation

    • Classroom Discussions
      • Example: 1. Classroom Discussion: Students will participate in a class activity to learn effective ways of responding to prejudicial and stereotypical comments in an interpersonal situation. Students will complete an activity sheet that asks them to think of a time in which they have encountered prejudicial or stereotypical comments. They will write their response, its impact on the situation and then how they would approach the situation in the future to include the new strategies presented in class. After completing the activity sheet, students will share their answers with a small group. Then the instructor will facilitate a larger class discussion. Grading: The activity will be assessed in the area of participation and evaluated with a rubric that includes critical thinking, engagement with questions they were asked to address and speaking time, both in small groups and in the larger classroom discussion. 2. Classroom Discussion (Online): EXAMPLE: Discussion on cultural dialectics. In an online discussion students will share a dialectical perspective that they hold, or a dialectical perspective with which they are grappling. PROMPT: Choose one of the six dialectics of intercultural communication introduced in the module. Please describe the dialectics in detail and why you hold both opposing views simultaneously. STUDENT REPLIES: Students reply to two peers and share what they learned from a peer’s response or ask questions about a specific dialectic.
    • Objective Examinations
      • Example: Objective Examinations: In both online and face-to-face instruction, students will take multiple-choice exams to assess understanding of key concepts from the assigned reading, module content and lectures on intercultural communication theory and skills for optimal interaction. Sample Question: When Bill speaks he uses direct and precise language. He primarily relies on verbal communication. Bill has a ____________ orientation. Correct Answer: Low-Context
    • Projects
      • Example: Students will create and curate a portfolio throughout the semester to include excerpts of their reflection responses, course papers and submissions to class activities and discussions. The goal of the portfolio is to demonstrate understanding of course theories and their growth as intercultural communicators. At the end of the course, students will write a short reflection response analyzing their learning throughout the course.

    Repeatable

    No

    Methods of Instruction

    • Lecture/Discussion
    • Distance Learning

    Lecture:

    1. The instructor will lecture on intercultural conflict including the definition and differences in conflict orientation on both the personal and cultural levels. Students complete a “What is my Conflict Lens?” assessment to get an idea of their general conflict style preferences. Students form small groups to discuss: (1) their results; (2) how to adapt their preferred conflict styles when needed in an unfamiliar situation or with a person who has a different conflict orientation. The instructor then brings the class together and leads a discussion to examine ways that individuals can adapt their conflict orientations in a culturally competent manner.

    Distance Learning

    1. The instructor will include an in-depth video lecture describing racial identity development models in the course module on identity. After watching the lecture and reading supporting material in the course textbook, students will write a reflection response where they choose the identity development model that best fits them, explain why they chose it, and then describe each stage of their chosen model, including the stage they are currently navigating on their identity journey.

    Typical Out of Class Assignments

    Reading Assignments

    1. Read and critique selected articles addressing current events that demonstrate barriers of intercultural communication in a one-page analysis assignment. 2. After reading a chapter from Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers that provides real-world examples of communication patterns gone wrong, answer a series of questions connecting the chapter to the textbook reading on cultural dimensions and analyze proposed solutions and possible outcomes.

    Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

    1. Write a research paper investigating one's own individual culture(s) and analyze typical communication patterns of the culture(s). 2. In an analytical paper, compare and contrast two cultures, examining beliefs, values, behaviors, customs, rituals and worldviews.

    Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

    Required Materials

    • Exploring Intercultural Communication
      • Author: Grothe, Tom
      • Publisher: LibreTexts
      • Publication Date: 2020
      • Text Edition: N/A
      • Classic Textbook?: No
      • OER Link:
      • OER: Yes
    • Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice
      • Author: Sorrells, Kathryn
      • Publisher: SAGE
      • Publication Date: 2020
      • Text Edition: 3rd
      • Classic Textbook?: No
      • OER Link:
      • OER: No
    • Understanding Intercultural Communication
      • Author: Ting-Toomey, Stella and Chung, Leeva
      • Publisher: Oxford University Press
      • Publication Date: 2021
      • Text Edition: 5th
      • Classic Textbook?: No
      • OER Link:
      • OER: No
    • Language and Culture in Context - A Primer on Intercultural Communication
      • Author: Godwin-Jones, Robert
      • Publisher: LibreTexts
      • Publication Date: 2021
      • Text Edition: N/A
      • Classic Textbook?: No
      • OER Link:
      • OER: Yes

    Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.