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Ensuring intercultural communication in modern learning conditions is an urgent problem for research, given the globalization of the educational space. The article aims at analyzing intercultural communication in higher education institutions in Ukraine. To implement this goal, a systematic method of research was used, which allowed to comprehend intercultural communication as a dynamic phenomenon, and a method of thematic categorization, which allowed to outline the main research problems. The results of the study found that intercultural communication is the idea of interaction between multilingual and multicultural individuals through the establishment and arrangement of interconnection and the search for mutual understanding. The important role of the teacher as a mediator in the organization of the educational process is also emphasized: teaching work today also involves establishing the intercultural interaction between applicants for education, who often belong to different cultural environments. In Ukrainian realities, this work is complicated by Russian aggression, but the dynamics of the increase in the number of foreign students in Ukrainian universities demonstrated that the process of establishing cultural communication not only existed, but also developed. In conclusion, attention is drawn to the importance of ethical moments of interaction, since in different cultures there is a different perception of respect, morality, the role of gender, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of mediators in the context of intercultural communication, and identifies the challenges and coping strategies associated with this role. Intercultural communication is becoming increasingly relevant in today's world, where globalization and migration lead to interaction between people of different cultures and backgrounds. Mediators play an important role in facilitating this interaction by mediating between the parties and helping to overcome linguistic, cultural and psychological barriers. The article analyzes the diverse roles of mediators in intercultural communication, including translators, cultural mediators, intercultural communication trainers, and other professionals. Key strategies that mediators can use to facilitate communication between different cultures are highlighted, such as active listening, adapting communication styles, addressing misunderstandings, and facilitating conflict resolution. However, the article also identifies challenges that can arise when mediators work in cross-cultural settings. These challenges include differences in values, stereotypes, trust issues, etc. The author of the article suggests a number of strategies to overcome these challenges, such as mediator education and training, developing intercultural competence, and using conflict resolution tools. In conclusion, the article emphasizes the importance of the role of mediators in today's world, where effective intercultural communication becomes a key factor for successful interaction between people of different cultures and nationalities. It also calls for further research on this topic and the development of more effective strategies to support mediators in their important work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Japan prepares for the 2020 Summer Olympics, the elementary school English curriculum is rapidly changing, with new textbooks and more class hours devoted to English education. These language classes have the potential to clarify and improve students' perceptions of global cultures, including their own. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to provide practical suggestions for Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs), Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs), and Japanese homeroom teachers to foster intercultural communication and understanding in their Grade 5 and 6 classrooms. Elaborating upon ideas in (Davidson & Liu, 2018), this article proposes that students may develop intercultural competencies through authentic materials, guided in-class discussions, English Notebook assignments, and local engagement with international interlocutors. While tailored to the Japanese elementary school classroom, these suggestions may be adapted to other EFL contexts as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry is the property of Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Spiritual experiences are common across religious and non-religious faiths, but schoolchildren are often afraid to share these because they fear ridicule from peers who are convinced religion is irrational. The need to speak about spirituality in religious education is increasingly recognised. Signposts suggests that intercultural understanding implies recognising religious students' perception of reality and helping others understand it. Religious education in Norway now includes exploration of existential questions as a core element, and in England, making sense of religious, spiritual and mystical experiences has been suggested as a big idea. In this paper, we discuss how the dualistic paradigm of modern science makes it difficult to take spirituality seriously as lived experience and empirical phenomenon. Instead we suggest a transrational approach to explore our multidimensional reality in an intercultural dialogue where insiders and outsiders learn from each other. We also explore examples of transrational research on spiritual phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her opening keynote to the 21st AFMLTA International Languages Conference, Languages - Keys to Global Connections, Nina Spada posed the question whether attention to grammar should be isolated from, or integrated into, communicative use of the target language. In the context of what Spada noted as a 21st century development to communicative language teaching, this article applies the issues Spada raised to the development of language learners' intercultural understanding. Drawing on data collected as part of a two-year project, the article reflects on two questions: Is intercultural understanding better developed in an 'integrated' model through which intercultural noticing is interwoven with language in actual use? Or is it better developed in an 'isolated' model whereby intercultural incidents are examined and reflected on outside of, or as an adjunct to, language in use? Just as the development of grammatical skills may be attended to in different ways, we conclude that, when it comes to developing students' intercultural understanding, answering these two questions is not straightforward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study had two purposes: (1) to develop university classes in which students can participate in intercultural dialogue by exchanging letters focusing on a topic about everyday norms implicit in each culture, and (2) to examine how students develop their intercultural understanding through participating in these classes. Twenty-two Japanese and six Chinese university students (each group in their own country) participated in three class sessions. At the beginning of the first class, students were given a dialogue theme that focused on cultural differences. The selected theme was mobile phone use while riding on public transportation, as this practice is prohibited in Tokyo but not in Beijing. Students discussed their opinions in small groups, wrote questions to their counterparts in the other country, and then reflected on and discussed the answers received. Analysis of the Japanese students' written reflections showed that their understanding of different cultural values and beliefs changed from one based only on a Japanese cultural perspective to one that respected the relativity of cultural norms. The results suggested that the arousal of negative emotions when students are exposed to the perspectives of other cultures is closely related to their understanding of cultural relativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ESSACHESS is the property of ESSACHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper critically engages with the idea that everyday spaces of association can be seen as key sites in the development of intercultural understanding for diverse individuals. Drawing on research undertaken in two culturally diverse primary schools in metropolitan Melbourne, it explores the primary school as a key site for intercultural encounters between parents in Australia’s culturally diverse suburbs. This paper identifies a number of barriers limiting productive intercultural encounters between parents within the primary school setting. Specifically, it shows that such encounters are limited by national narratives of diversity, the complex demands of urban life, and the social and emotional benefits of avoiding uncertain interactions with difference. The paper builds on understandings of encounter as a contingent achievement and underscores the complexity of the ‘everyday’ as a space of political possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article aims to offer both a theoretical contribution and examples of practices of trust building in peace education; the article presents an empirical analysis of videotaped interactions in the context of peace education activities in international groups of adolescents. The analysis regards two international summer camps promoted by the School of Peace of Monte Sole, established in the Province of Bologna, Italy, in the place where in 1944 a Nazi assault killed almost 800 children, women and old people. Each camp lasted two weeks, and was attended by four delegations of 10 adolescents coming from different countries; the camps aimed to promote adolescents’ ability in conflict resolution, their interest in peaceful relationships and their respect for different perspectives, and reducing their prejudices and stereotypes. Our analysis highlights some ways in which facilitators’ actions create the conditions of adolescents’ trusting commitment in group activities. Through promotional and feedback questions, formulations and also linguistic help, facilitators can promote adolescents’ trusting commitment in peace education, supporting their agency and avoiding evaluations of their interpretations. Facilitators are able to build trust projecting affective expectations, which are expectations of adolescents’ self-expression as a result of the interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The novelty of the presented approach of perspectivizing for intercultural understanding is to break away from the general presumption of ‘intercultural blockage’ or ‘intercultural obstacles or barriers’, often leading to misunderstandings. Instead, the proposed study focuses on the verbal communication in intercultural contacts ‘beyond misunderstanding’ and sets out to explore realistic mechanisms of reflective activities of interlocutors and their communicative efforts that lead to interpersonal and mutual understanding. These efforts are regarded as functional pragmatic action knowledge embedded in receptive intercultural interaction. The paper examines a three-step strategy for achieving intercultural understanding that reproduces the process of considering communicative expectations in intercultural discourse: by generalizing, an interactant considers his speech action to be a cultural standard solution; by perspectivizing, he locates his speech action in the actual speech situation taking into account the cultural standards of the other. By contrasting cultures, the speaker enables the hearer to compare the speaker''s cultural standards with his own and thus attain an adequate interpretation of the discourse. Four case studies are analyzed in which the three-step model is related to cultural differences, age difference, expert knowledge, and L1-L2 constellations. These differences can be accounted for within the three-step model. The data originate from a study on biographical stories about the East German car, the Trabant, commonly known as the Trabi. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article posits that musicking can uniquely foster the development of social capital, which leads to civic engagement and intercultural understanding. I review pertinent literature and build a case that music educators and community musicians have a unique role to play in its development. I also reveal a weakness in the theoretical framework of social capital and in the music research literature, and I advocate for developing a richer theoretical framework that analyses both the development of social capital and the unique civic roles, social skills, habits and dispositions developed in various musical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of 'what makes a good life' is loaded with cultural assumptions. It sounds simple and natural in English but is not translatable into most other languages. This paper argues that to connect this question with universal human concerns we need to examine the question itself, and it offers a methodology for doing so. This methodology (NSM; from natural semantic metalanguage), developed and perfected within linguistics, relies on a set of universal human concepts, discovered through empirical cross-linguistic research. It offers a simple, universal mini-language which allows the researchers to think and talk about psychological and philosophical issues in a new conceptual space. This paper shows that this methodology can help to free 'positive psychology' from Anglocentric biases and assumptions and to look at questions such as 'what makes a good life?' from a universal, language- and culture-independent perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Habermas sees intercultural understanding as a political task, his model of communicative rationality cannot satisfactorily explain how this could happen. One reason is the definition of the aesthetic, form-giving, moment of imagination, which reflects deeper epistemological and linguistic assumptions of discourse ethics. Despite sporadic attempts to recognize the role of rhetoric and poetry as an indispensable part of the communicative praxis, at the end of the day, Habermas sees language as fundamentally geared toward transparency and clarity, and not as endowed with poetic power and polyphonic creativity. My article aims to further develop, with the help of Vico and Bakhtin, the incipient thread in Habermas's discourse ethics that recognizes the importance of linguistic creativity and of imagination in communicative practice. This would help one to argue that, even when rational consensus and agreement cannot be achieved, dialogue is still not abandoned. This is the case because, through a larger definition of the dialogical, which adds to the discursive aspect, an aesthetic, rhetorical, and metaphorical dimension, it is possible to say that, even when conflicting, different voices and languages are still creatively and imaginatively interilluminating and hybridizing each other. Thus, they still transform each other, creating, at the same time, a prediscursive commonality, that can function as a necessary prerequisite for intercultural understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing a model of intercultural communication faces two major challenges. First, it has to cope with the problem of understanding, and second, a model must be developed that explains how shared meaning can emerge from interaction processes and in which ways. In order to answer these two questions, I propose, to identify different modes of communication in the literature about post-colonialism and hermeneutics, and to bring them together systematically. The analysis of the works by Shmuel Eisenstadt, Homi Bhabha, and Hans Georg Gadamer show that we have to distinguish between three forms of interaction: mimicry, appropriation, and non-appropriative communication. Mimicry can be understood as an unconscious process of imitation of ideas and cultural practices. In contrast, appropriation, as an intentional and creative mode of changing meaning, refers to an action that takes a term or idea intentionally out of its former context, integrating it into one's own horizon, or narrative. This appropriation can lead to new meanings, but it does not include actors or authors of the "other" idea, term, or vocabulary into the communicative act. In contrast, non-appropriative communication, as Gadamer developed it rudimentarily in his model of the convergence of horizons, seeks to include the other into the communicative act. But, the problem, his approach causes, is that the two concepts of understanding and judging are too closely linked together. A concept of intercultural communication instead needs to explain how understanding is possible without instantaneously judging. A fourth leading approach seems to be Judith Butler's concept of addressing. It shows how interrupting the judgment opens up the possibility of learning about the other, and of understanding the way he or she wants to be. Therefore, building on the difference between understanding and evaluating, non-appropriating communication has to be described as the approximation of intermediate horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]