This past course on Intercultural Communication is designed to introduce different theories, research, and selected applications regarding individuals, groups, and different subcultures within the United States. This course is designed to stress the understanding of contrasting cultures, ways of communicating, and how our perspectives and backgrounds influence the way we communicate with strangers. There is also faith that is integrated within this course. We are challenged to be co-leaders with Christ, and to bring empathy and compassion to our lives, as well as other beings, and also to humane organizational structures.
Throughout these past few months, the most enlightening aspects for me have been the discussion boards that I have experienced with my group, and therefore I have created an artifact that is composed of three discussion boards that I thought were the most insightful: The Wedding, Seven Identities, and The Culture in Which I Grew Up. My group for this course, consisted of several members who each have their own background, perspectives, and insights about intercultural communication and relations with strangers, and from each group member through the channel of our discussions, has shown me that in order to “understand similarities and differences in communication across cultures,” it is necessary to discuss how cultures differ and how they are similar (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 66). As a group, we have compared the dimensions on which our cultures can be different or similar that can be used to explain communication across cultural lines. The first part of my Artifact consists of the discussion about the eight assumptions discussed in our text, Communicating with Strangers. …show more content…
For this assignment, we watched different clips from the film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and then shared with our fellow group members learning examples of our preconceived notions about the nature of communication. To review, the eight assumptions of communication include: Communication is a symbolic activity, communication is a process involving the transmitting and interpreting of messages, communication involves the creation of meaning, communication takes place at varying levels of awareness, communicators make predictions about the outcomes of their communication behavior, intention is not a necessary condition for communication, every communication message has a content dimension and a relationship dimension, and communicators impose structure on their interactions (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 16). The authors state, that the reader may or may not agree with these eight assumptions that are presented, but the ideas that are expressed are taken for granted and are therefore considered assumptions. There are several excellent examples in the clip from the film about the assumptions of communication that can be found in the discussion board from my group about how we “interpret messages" by our individual background and experiences” (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 6). Assumption two about the transmitting and interpreting of messages is seen several times in the film between parents and children from different generations. Toula wants to get an education and work in the travel industry while her father expects her to just get married, have kids, and work in the restaurant. Generational gaps can illustrate the way we transmit and interpret messages because of our unique perspective and background. Another assumption was demonstrated when Toula was working in the restaurant. According to the authors of Communicating with Strangers, we make predictions "consciously and unconsciously about how others will respond when we communicate with them" (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 20). This is another assumption that is easily taken for granted when we communicate with strangers. Communicating with strangers can create high levels of anxiety within people, and this anxiety is related to when strangers respond differently than the predicated behavior (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 21). When we can correctly predict the behavior or outcome, we begin to feel comfortable interacting with the stranger, but when the behavior is not predicable we begin to feel anxiety about the interaction. This can also be applied to intimate relationships because predictability increases the more intimate a relationship is between the two individuals. To maintain our intimate relationships, we need predictability and novelty to facilitate effective communication (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 22). The second part of my artifact consists of the group discussion
Throughout these past few months, the most enlightening aspects for me have been the discussion boards that I have experienced with my group, and therefore I have created an artifact that is composed of three discussion boards that I thought were the most insightful: The Wedding, Seven Identities, and The Culture in Which I Grew Up. My group for this course, consisted of several members who each have their own background, perspectives, and insights about intercultural communication and relations with strangers, and from each group member through the channel of our discussions, has shown me that in order to “understand similarities and differences in communication across cultures,” it is necessary to discuss how cultures differ and how they are similar (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 66). As a group, we have compared the dimensions on which our cultures can be different or similar that can be used to explain communication across cultural lines. The first part of my Artifact consists of the discussion about the eight assumptions discussed in our text, Communicating with Strangers. …show more content…
For this assignment, we watched different clips from the film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and then shared with our fellow group members learning examples of our preconceived notions about the nature of communication. To review, the eight assumptions of communication include: Communication is a symbolic activity, communication is a process involving the transmitting and interpreting of messages, communication involves the creation of meaning, communication takes place at varying levels of awareness, communicators make predictions about the outcomes of their communication behavior, intention is not a necessary condition for communication, every communication message has a content dimension and a relationship dimension, and communicators impose structure on their interactions (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 16). The authors state, that the reader may or may not agree with these eight assumptions that are presented, but the ideas that are expressed are taken for granted and are therefore considered assumptions. There are several excellent examples in the clip from the film about the assumptions of communication that can be found in the discussion board from my group about how we “interpret messages" by our individual background and experiences” (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 6). Assumption two about the transmitting and interpreting of messages is seen several times in the film between parents and children from different generations. Toula wants to get an education and work in the travel industry while her father expects her to just get married, have kids, and work in the restaurant. Generational gaps can illustrate the way we transmit and interpret messages because of our unique perspective and background. Another assumption was demonstrated when Toula was working in the restaurant. According to the authors of Communicating with Strangers, we make predictions "consciously and unconsciously about how others will respond when we communicate with them" (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 20). This is another assumption that is easily taken for granted when we communicate with strangers. Communicating with strangers can create high levels of anxiety within people, and this anxiety is related to when strangers respond differently than the predicated behavior (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 21). When we can correctly predict the behavior or outcome, we begin to feel comfortable interacting with the stranger, but when the behavior is not predicable we begin to feel anxiety about the interaction. This can also be applied to intimate relationships because predictability increases the more intimate a relationship is between the two individuals. To maintain our intimate relationships, we need predictability and novelty to facilitate effective communication (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, Page 22). The second part of my artifact consists of the group discussion