Fall 2011 August 29-Dec 19

RW 211, TR 12:30-1:45pm

Course information

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Course Description In this course, the students will heighten their cultural awareness and intelligence as well as create intercultural communication competence. We will explore the notions of culture, identity, difference, and power. Our discussions will focus on the reasons to study intercultural or cross-cultural communication, the popular culture representations of cross-cultural contact, and ways to develop intercultural communication competence

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Learning Objectives During this course, students will:

1. Become familiar with the study of intercultural communication from the traditional social psychological perspective, the interpretive perspective, and the more recent critical perspective.

2. Discover the importance of the roles of context and power in studying intercultural communication.

3. Become more sensitive to the complexity of intercultural interactions.

4. Recognize the influence of their own cultural group(s) on intercultural communication interactions.

5. Become more willing, self-reflective, flexible, and open communicators in intercultural communication interactions. Like other communication courses, this course strives to: - Investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and skills, and values that underlie competent communication; - Promote active critical thinking about the role of communication in everyday life; - Improve your ability to analyze human communication interaction.

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(available from the university bookstore and other retailers)

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2010). Intercultural Communication in Contexts, (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-338512-9

CMCL-C427 Cross-Cultural Communication

Professor: Dr. Natalia Rybas Email: OnCourse & natrybas@iue.edu This is the most effective way. Please use OnCourse message system to communicate with me regarding the course matters. There is no need to copy the message to my email address. On weekdays, I will check these messages at least once a day and will provide a response within 24 hours. In person: Tom Raper 248 You are welcome to visit me in the office during the office hours or during other negotiated times. I plan to have campus office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-3pm. Please let me know if you plan to come to see me. Skype: nr_iueast If you cannot see me on campus, you can contact me via Skype (make sure you introduce yourself “requesting contact”); we’ll talk via video, voice, or chat. My screen name is nr_iueast Phone: (765) 973-8376 Please feel free to call my office during work time. If necessary, we can arrange a phone conversation, please email me your phone number and the best time to call you. Voice Mail: (973) 506-0815. You can leave a voice message calling Google Voice (973) 506-0815. When you dial this number, it rings in the office. If I am there, I’ll pick up. Otherwise, your message will be transcribed and sent to my email. If you leave a message on my office phone (765) 973-8376, I will check it when I am on campus.

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Teaching Philosophy I believe that students learn by doing and active participation. Thus, I strive to create a context of engagement through various activities where each student does meaningful work applying and connecting class activities and life outside classroom. I will utilize a variety of learning strategies and teaching methods in this class to best meet the needs of learners – thus, you will probably never feel that you are idle in the course. These methods of instruction will include small group discussions and activities, reflection engagements, analyses of various sorts, hands-on activities. I do not do lecturing in traditional sense of the word. Rather, we all come to class with the readiness to dig for knowledge!

In order to help you assess your knowledge and competence of the material under study, I will provide you with prompt and timely feedback regarding your performance in the class. I will strive to provide written feedback for your projects within one-week of assignment completion (=after the deadline).

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Academic Integrity *Each student is expected to uphold the standards of academic

honesty by submitting original and individual work in class. You must do your own search and research in preparation for your projects and assignments. *Plagiarism means using someone else’s work in your own academic projects without proper credit, thus plagiarism is a form of theft. Engaging in plagiarism shows that your lack of self-respect and respect for others.

*Cite any work that is not your own. Written work, such as papers and discussion forums, and other instances of your activity in class should reflect original thought as well as cited resources. Tell your peers and me what words and ideas your have borrowed and where they borrowed them from. *Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. The minimum consequence is failing the assignment. In a case of more serious offense, a student may fail the course. *I may use the services of Tuneitin.com to check for originality of your written work.

Academic Information

Course Structure We are scheduled to meet 2 times a week for 75 min. During these meetings, we will engage in different types of activities: • Summarizing the reading for

the sake of understanding in the form of posters, slides, and other;

• Teaching each other about a particular aspect of the topic – a jigsaw discussion;

• Analyzing and examining cases studies, presented as documentaries, speeches, or in other form to seek the application and analysis of theories and concepts that we study;

• Talk with guest speakers who do research related to intercultural communication;

• Working on your course projects;

• Discussing your questions; • Making presentations and

facilitating discussions; The semester consists of 3 units (you can see them color coded on the course calendar), each unit includes a few topics and ends with an application week. During the semester you will do a research project, and make a poster presentation at the very end of the semester. A portfolio will systematically and creatively assemble your work.

Cmcl-C427 syllabus

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Grading Scale A+ = 98% and higher A = 93% and higher A- = 89.5% and higher B + = 87% and higher B = 83% and higher B- = 79.5% and higher C+ = 77% and higher C = 73% and higher C- = 69.5% and higher D+ = 67% and higher D = 63% and higher D- = 60% and higher (lowest passing grade for general education requirements) F = below 60% Work that meets the requirements of an assignment deserves a B. A higher grade is awarded to work that goes above or beyond the minimum standards. You must complete all assignments to successfully fulfill the course requirements. I will NOT round up your grade: if you have 88.5%, your grade is a B+. I do not assign projects for extra credit. Please work on the assignments planned in the course.

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING This is the list of assignments and projects, which are planned to be completed during the semester. Changes are possible. Some assignments will consists of several steps, the details for each step will be provided separately.

Weekly reading journals (5-10pts) = starting from week 2 of the semester, you need to bring a write up based on your reading assigned for the week. The content will vary and we’ll decide in class what we want to do. The assignments may include: summarize the most difficult part of the reading; explain how one idea from the reading applies to your life; choose a passage from the reading and explain what it means and why it is important; compose a conversation with a scholar or character; explain a specific real-life use of the material; a high and low points in the reading or other. This paper is 1-2 page long, double space and should include 2-3 questions you want to bring for discussion that week.

Application week 1 (50pts) = Read, present, and discuss an article. This activity will happen in 2 groups. Each student will present 2 times for each group. Then you will have to moderate a discussion on the issues raised by the article. A handout with summary, 3 significant quotes, and at least 3 questions for discussion should be distributed before the presentations.

Application week 2 (50pts) = Watch a movie, summarize an episode, and analyze it based on the theories and concepts we have studied. Each student in the group will have to work with 1 movie, while in the group you will discuss a few of them. You will have to moderate a discussion on the issues raised by the movie as well as participate in discussing questions raised by others. A handout with 150-word episode summary, 400-500word analysis, and at least 3 questions for discussion should be distributed before the presentations.

Application week 3 (50pts) = Produce a poster and make a presentation to share your research findings. Discuss your findings.

Course Project: Local and personal cultural history and communication (160pts) = The focus of this semester long project is to analyze how your family histories intertwine with local histories and influence communication patterns. The question that you want to answer is the following: How the ways you communicate reflect (also create, depend on, differ, influence, construct, etc.) the histories of your family(ies) and your community(ies). You will have to study the ways you communicate, the history of your family, and the history of your community. There will be 6 parts in this assignment. Part 1. Identify your focus. (10pts) Part 2. Explore your own backgrounds and how these backgrounds influence your communication patterns. (30pts) Part 3. Research the community in which you grew up or currently live to discover or critique the communication patterns prevalent in the community. (40pts) Part 4. Interview an elderly member of your community; analyze the communication patterns emerging from the interview. (40pts) Part 5. Suggest a framework for analysis of what you have discovered about yourself, your community culture, and communication patterns – on the basis of studied theories and concepts. This will be the basis and the draft of your presentation (20pts). Part 6. Present your project. Discuss the projects of others (= application week 3)

Course portfolio (30pts)– This activity is called to wrap-up the course. You have to assemble a portfolio to showcase your work during the semester, using a special function in Adobe Acrobat Professional. Your portfolio will include a 1-page overview of your work, a reviewed paper, and other elements of the work you have produced in the course.

Cmcl-C427 syllabus Fall 2011

Writing Instruction for formal assignments Guidelines for written assignments All papers or projects should be formatted in MS Word version 2007 or 2010, available from IUWare. All assignments should be typed using Times New Roman #12 or Arial #11, 2-spaced. Submit your papers or any other work by bringing them to class on the assigned day and/or uploading via Assignment section of the site on OnCourse. I would appreciate if you do not email me your assignments because they tend to get buried. Accurate APA style documentation should be strictly adhered to. No assignments will be accepted for grading after Wed, December 14, 2011, midnight. Saving Materials It is imperative that you keep personal copies of all written work submitted in the course. If there is some discrepancy in your grade or submission for the course due to an online mishap or missing communication, I will ask you that you reproduce these documents. Writing Assistance While there is no teaching assistant or student instructor for this course, writing assistance is available through Writing Center, Whitewater Hall 206, write@iue.edu. I will provide its schedule as it becomes available. The help is provided online if you cannot come to the center. The staff of the Writing Center can assist you with writing style, grammar, and developing good study habits.

Attendance = participation = presence: Communication as a discipline and skills can be learned best when you participate in course activities and actively evaluate your colleagues’ work. Thus your active presence - that is, productive, substantial, original, and critical - is mandatory. Presence implies engagement in a dialogue with people and texts. Mere observation, or just marking your presence with an expression of agreement or disagreement, does not count "by the end of the day." As a result, your participation = presence = attendance will influence your grades.

In other words, attendance is required. When you are resent, you will earn points for quizzes, classwork, peer feedback and other activities. Any student with more than one (1) absence will be penalized 5 points for every absence after the first.

If you plan to be absent from class activities for longer periods of time because of a sport, school, medical, or family event, please let me know and complete your work in advance. In case you miss scheduled events and do not negotiate, you will receive no grade, a zero.

Reporting attendance: A few times during the semester, I have to report if you are attending the course regularly. I will use your most recent email or post on the discussion board as the evidence of your last visit.

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Preparation: I expect you to be well prepared before each week commences. Being prepared means that you must read the assigned text and/or watch videos or listen to audios and complete tasks assigned. Be familiar with the details of each project and assignment. You will not pass the course by occasional appearance in class, scanning the texts, and completing assignments and projects off-the-cuff. Please plan your schedules accordingly. Late/make-up work:

· All assignments are to be completed by the date assigned. Deadlines help switch your attention from one project/task to another; and deadlines help me organize grading routines.

· I reserve the right to not accept any late assignments regardless of the excuse provided. In the case of an emergency or serious illness, please contact me as soon as possible. Assignments turned in late receive a 10% reduction in points for each day. I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY WORK AFTER 5 DAYS PAST THE DUE DATE, including weekends and holidays.

· Graded weekly activities that involve any kind of social interaction (e.g., weekly forums, peer feedback, group work, etc.) cannot be made-up.

· The last day to submit

any work is Wed, Dec 14

Course policies