Article

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND INTERCULTURAL LEARNING IN CONNECTION WITH YOUTH EXCHANGE

by Erwin Rigo, originally published in ELT Journal | Oxford Academic, 1995

Since the beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century Europe has been facing a rapid change of once steady determinants of ethnic entities towards a multicultural society where its future members will have to rely on a greater acceptance of intercultural communication and be prepared for more intercultural learning. Representatives from different cultural backgrounds will frequently be exchanging information, and in this process, they will be confronted with unknown symbols and different interpretations of symbols. As long as no intercultural learning has taken place, however, communication and any interaction is bound to entail difficulties such as misconceptions and misunderstandings.

The following treatise deals with concepts that are based on psychological interaction and basic cultural standards regulating the perception, cognition, evaluation and emotion involved in the problems of intercultural interaction. They are presented and discussed with regard to communication and the learning process in international youth exchange programs. Theoretical and empirical studies show the importance of such cultural determinants in regulating these processes and in the structuring of the cognitive and emotional results.

Before we can embark on a psychological discourse of the subject, a literary reflection of this issue under discussion seems worth quoting It has been taken from Perseus in the Wind, written by Freya Stark, who alludes to the intercultural aspect by pondering over the general value of travelling:

Though it may be unessential to the imagination, travel is necessary to an understanding of men. Only with long experience and the opening of his wares on many a beach where his language is not spoken, will the merchant come to know the worth of what he carries, and what is parochial and what is universal in his choice. Such delicate goods as justice, love and honour, courtesy, and indeed all the things we care for, are valid everywhere; but they are variously moulded and often differently handled, and sometimes nearly unrecognisable if you meet them in a foreign land; and the art of learning fundamental common values is perhaps the greatest gain to those who wish to live at ease among their fellows.

Intercultural communication and learning are important features of those intercultural interactions characterized by a person or a group of persons who have been raised in a specific cultural environment, leave that environment to experience a foreign culture for a given period of time and attempt to attain their goals under these foreign cultural conditions. This leads to a situation which can be defined as intercultural overlapping, in which the behavioural, cognitive and emotional patterns, which are habitual as they have been formed in the native culture, are confronted with the unusual behavioural, cognitive and emotional patterns of those socialized in a foreign culture.

In order to be able to analyse culturally specific influences of interpersonal communication in situations of cultural overlapping, an appropriate definition of culture may be required at this point. It is commonly agreed upon that within any closed society there is a universal but typical system of orientation, which holds true of any nation, organisation or group. This system of orientation consists of specific symbols that are being passed on within the specific group and influences the individual perception, way of thinking, values and actions of all its members and thus determines an affiliation to the society the individual is a member of.

INDIVIDUAL PRECONDITIONS FOR INTERCULTURAL LEARNING

In the case of a student exchange young individuals with two more or less different systems of orientation start an attempt to communicate with each other. If they intend to approach each other in a humble and curious manner, they will try to detect common values and to overcome differences. If, however; a feeling of superiority among interacting partners arises and distinctions become more apparent, then differences will gradually gain greater importance and common values will tend to be ignored, or sometimes even to be misinterpreted.

This is why cultural learning can only take place if the following aspects have been seriously considered and paid attention to

that knowledge previously occupied, former experiences and existing attitudes towards the other culture determine one’s expectation on a cognitive and emotional level and guide one’s actions.
that other excellent preconditions for learning are character features like the willingness to accept differences/otherness, flexibility of thinking and acting, as well as tolerance for other approaches to a subject, etc.
that for the learning individual the social support in the situation of his/her interaction (integration) is also of vital importance, and that the youngster should be aware of the fact that interacting partners from one’s own cultural background fulfil a different purpose from those of one’s host family.
that we should be aware of the danger of expecting too much on the cognitive and emotional level, for instance if eclectic values are disregarded, or if pressure of time demands an itinerary that is too rigid for the age group. All these factors may cause problems in assimilating, or in “digesting”.
that any common form of learning, such as learning through self-discovery or learning by models, role play or simulating a situation, simply must correspond to the specific aims and the abilities of the group.

Providing these aspects are borne in mind, intercultural learning does not remain a single and unique experience but a process. Naturally, we have to differentiate between the acquisition of certain foreign-cultural patterns of behaviour, or stocks of knowledge, and the ability to make use of a culturally different kind of world perception. The quality and the attainable level of intercultural learning can vary a great deal. In this context I would like to express a serious warning against too high expectations of relatively short international exchanges. If, on the other hand; necessary pedagogic measures have not been taken beforehand, at best the first two steps of the four listed below can be successfully covered. Let me refer to G. Winter who differentiates between the following four levels:

FOUR DISTINCTIVE STEPS OF INTERCULTURAL LEARNING

Step 1: intercultural learning in the sense of acquiring knowledge in terms of orientation in a new environment, such as getting to know new customs, social patterns of behaviour and the like.
Step 2: intercultural learning in connection with a conception of new cultural systems of orientation like norms, attitudes, convictions and values.
Step 3: intercultural learning in the sense of coordinating culturally diverging schemes of action. On this level, both interacting partners accept new rules that can be applied successfully in their dealing with each other. New rules and forms of communication, even new habits of interaction are being developed.
Step 4: intercultural learning directed towards a generalized understanding of the culture under discussion after manifold experiences of intercultural communication.

Primarily, intercultural action takes place in cultural situations of overlapping where the agent first applies his culturally accustomed system of orientation to test it against a new field of action.

Thus, to achieve successful control of such overlapping situations, both systems of orientation have to be applied simultaneously, often complementing each other if they are to be used productively.

ARE THERE ANY CULTURAL STANDARDS?

An aspect that so far has been disregarded is the question of cultural standards which are commonly accepted ways of perception, thinking, evaluating and acting upon, which the majority of members of a specific culture have agreed upon.

As early as 1936 Kurt Lewin, as a German immigrant to the USA, reflected on the diverging cultural standards between Americans and Germans and concluded that the greater openness of the Americans was due to an easier access to the core of the individual. In other words, the higher the degree of privacy that a person is willing to share, the less the social distance and the more there are central regions of an individual touched.

Any stranger, in our case an exchange student, requires help, advice in making decisions and social affection to reduce insecurity in a new environment. If these favourable preconditions are at the student’s disposal, intercultural adaptation can be facilitated enormously.

CONSEQUENCES FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGES

In both cultures the interacting partners must rely on their different patterns of social habits, and as certain aims and results of interaction are anticipated, each agent is full of specific expectations about the other. In order to avoid misunderstanding, it is therefore vital for the leader of such a youth exchange program to make the participants reflect upon the impact of cultural standards and make them aware of the psychological consequences of the overlapping aspect.

In conclusion I would like to draw your attention to some further psychological consequences for international exchanges:

The promotion of intercultural learning and understanding requires a profound knowledge of the psychological preconditions of intercultural encounter. Therefore a proper pedagogic qualification of the chaperons and organizers is highly desirable.
All research results concerning this topic should eventually help in planning, supervising and evaluating future projects.
If international youth and student exchange is simply to follow the concept of “learning by discovery” in a foreign culture and is becoming more and more a process of learning by trial and error, the result is accidental experiences in a foreign culture. Therefore, it is vital to create an orientation of central signs that are important for the intercultural understanding of the culture which is to be explored. — Making the students aware of different cultural standards, observing and interpreting diverging patterns of behaviour prior to their departure and also in the course of the exchange, facilitates a new orientation in a culturally overlapping situation and reinforces the understanding of such a cultural encounter.
Pedagogic programs of international youth and student exchange with the aim of promoting intercultural learning and understanding require a precise group-oriented preparation and implementation of such a project.

Finally, one has to bear in mind that different forms of cultural encounter create different values of learning and attraction to young people of different age groups and different social backgrounds. Thus, the scope of perception and tolerance of any individual involved is immensely enlarged and a foundation stone is laid for the fortress against the impending xenophobia of the years to come.