Intercultural Communication Course - Shanghai International Studies University (SISU)
DURATION
5 Weeks
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
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EARLIEST START DATE
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STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
Key Summary
Scholarships
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Introduction
Gain vital insights to understand cross-cultural interactions with this introduction from a top Chinese international university.
Explore how to improve your communication with people from other cultures
As relationships, education, and business become ever-more global, the awareness and practice of intercultural communication have become vital skill sets.
If you are interacting with students from overseas, studying abroad, travelling, working in a multinational office, or simply eager to know ways of improving your communication skills, then seeking to understand how to overcome cultural differences is crucial.
In this course, you’ll learn how to become aware of your own and others’ cultural identities, cultural assumptions we each carry the nuances of cross-cultural interaction, and their potential for (mis)understanding and growth. You’ll learn different communication styles, how values can change from country to country, and how you can more readily assess and adapt to diverse contexts.
When would you like to start?
Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts.
- Available now
Who is the course for?
This course is suitable for pre-university, undergraduate and post-experience students. You will need conversational English or above, an interest in international issues, and curiosity about, exposure to or experience of other cultures.
Who will you learn with?
Steve Kulich
Welcome! As founder of the SISU Intercultural Institute, MA, PhD and MBA IC Programs at Shanghai Int’l Studies Univ and President-Elect of IAIR, I’m eager to learn with you on this IC journey!
Hongling Zhang
Professor and Deputy Director of the Intercultural Institute of Shanghai International Studies University. Director of Office for International Cooperation and Exchange, SISU.
Ruobing Chi
Teacher and researcher at the Intercultural Institute of Shanghai International Studies University.
Who developed the course?
Shanghai International Studies University (SISU)
Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), established in 1949, is one of the earliest institutions where China’s higher education in foreign languages took shape.
Curriculum
What topics will you cover?
- Introduction to the course and field, potential learning objectives, and leading definitions of what constitutes “intercultural communication”.
- Exploration of story narratives, metaphors, and meanings related to interculturality.
- Analysis of situated cases to identify sources of intercultural misunderstanding.
- Benefits of intercultural applications to personal life, business and education.
- Variations in personal, social, and cultural identity, and cultivate greater awareness and sensitivity to one’s own and other’s cultural identities.
- Exposure to and appreciation of cross-cultural complexity through the social learning engagement of this international community.
- Social perceptions of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination related to intergroup contact.
- Variations and perceptions of typical communication behaviours or practices and taxonomies for understanding context, space, time and other contextual factors (Hi-low Context, Proxemics, Monochronic-Polychronic, Silence).
- Exposure to and application of leading values frameworks and levels of analysis that undergird cultural assumptions, expectations, and behaviours (from Hall, Hofstede, Schwartz, the WVS).
- Experiential descriptions of culture shock and coping dynamics, adaptation processes, and growth outcomes in cross-cultural transitions.
- Reflection on complex cases, other’s comments, and replies to enhance mindful observation, analysis, and understanding toward cultivating intercultural competence.
Program Outcome
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to:
- Identify the importance of learning intercultural communication.
- Describe the composition and significance of your cultural identities.
- Compare cultural assumptions of your own and others.
- Identify cultural variations in communication styles.
- Classify some major cultural values underlying different behaviours.
- Apply these for adaptation in intercultural interactions more confidently and resourcefully.