Required Texts   Language & Linguistics 250 Office:         SE 127
  Saint Michael's College Phone:         654-2642

 		 Helpful Web Sites Prof. Bauer-Ramazani E-mail:

 		 Course Description Fall Semester 2004 Office Hours::         T TH 1:00-2:00 & by appt
  Goals of the Course   T Th 2:30-3:45    

 		 Assignments Saint Edmund's Hall 207

 		 Evaluation

 		 Policies

COURSE OUTLINE 

Required Texts

Samovar, Larry A., & Porter, Richard E. (2004). Communication between cultures (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co. (TEXT)

Samovar, Larry A., & Porter, Richard E. (2003). Intercultural communication: A reader (10th ed.).  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co. (READER)


Helpful Web Sites

eCollege online course companion site: http://www.smcvtonline.org
For first log-in, use the following

  • eCollege user ID: your SMC username
  • password: your Saint Michael's College student ID number

To make changes, click on MY PROFILE in the eCollege course site and change your email address and your password to your preferences.  After that you can log into the course with your new information.  If prompted to "remember my password", please click the box for easy/fast log on the next time.  SAVE your new password: Send an e-mail message to yourself right now with your log-in information and password! Then SAVE the e-mail message in a place where you will surely find it again

InfoTrac (http://www.infotrac-college.com). You have free access to articles from hundreds of publications.  Your individual password can be found in the card that comes with the purchase of a new textbook.

U.S. Peace Corps (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/culturematters/index.html)

Handouts: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/cbr/UG/intercult_comm.htm
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Course Description
 

Intercultural Communication is designed for undergraduates who are interested in other cultures in relation to their own and in communicating with those other cultures.  It approaches the field as a social science: i.e. by the end of the course you should have acquired the theoretical concepts to discuss cultural patterns and communication phenomena.

The course starts by explaining the importance of intercultural communication and provides a world-history perspective on intercultural contact.  It goes on to explore the sources of cultural “realities,” co-cultures, the

manifestations of culture in verbal and nonverbal “language,” and its effects in business or professional settings.
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Goals of the Course

  • Introspection – be able to analyze yourself as an intercultural communicator
  • Exchange – develop effective intercultural communication skills as you share ideas with representatives of other cultures
  • Information – build a basic foundation of knowledge about the field from readings, films, and in-class as well as out-of-class activities

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Assignments and Expectations

Textbook readings will be complemented by articles from the Reader, the websites, or other sources such as handouts.  You need to complete the assigned readings before class so that you can participate in class discussions.

Participation: Your grade for participation will be derived from your contributions to class discussions, brief presentations AND your classmates' postings in the discussion forums in eCollege.  It is expected that you interact both in class and in the eCollege site.

Weekly cross-cultural group meetings: The greatest resource for this class is the group members themselves and the cultural diversity they bring to the classroom.  For this reason, a significant part of your course requirement is to meet outside of class each week the first six weeks in an assigned discussion group to discuss cross-cultural differences in relation to the readings, from a personal perspective.

Weekly cross-cultural learning logs/discussions: Each individual will document his or her discoveries from the group meetings, readings, and personal observations in a brief, weekly cross-cultural learning log.  Each week a different member of the group will post a cross-cultural learning log to the respective discussion forum in our course online companion site in eCollege (http://www.smcvtonline.org).

Reading Summaries and Interaction, Weeks 9-14: In these weeks, the Reading Discussion Forum in eCollege will be staffed by "moderators" who have signed up to post a summary and reaction to the readings in that week.  All class members are expected to post reactions to the readings as well as the summaries and reactions written by the moderators.  It is also expected that the moderators present a brief summary of the readings in class.

Moderators:

Week 9:

Week 12:

Week 10:

Week 13:

Week 11:

Week 14:
  • Summary/Reaction: Moderators need to post a short, 1-paragraph summary plus a 1-paragraph reaction.  To post your response, click on the Reading Discussion Forum button in the left toolbar for each week.  
  • Interaction: In addition, you are expected to read and react to the responses written by your classmates, even if you did not choose the same article to write about. 

Guidelines for writing a summary/reaction: To identify the article you are summarizing and reacting to, use a heading for the posting that indicates the chapter and title of the article, e.g. S&P Reader, Ch. 3.  In the first paragraph, briefly summarize the author's (or authors') point(s) of view.  In the second paragraph (reaction), state your own position, and provide some arguments to support your position.  Personal experience, especially as it relates to cultural observations or cross-cultural incidents make a great supportive argument!  
Please try to stay within the 2-paragraph range for your summary/reaction, as longer postings are more difficult (and more intimidating) for your classmates to react to.

Cross-cultural reflection paper: Students will synthesize their thoughts and discoveries on cross-cultural learning experiences in a reflection paper (about 4 to 6 pages), to be submitted in Week 8 of the course (uploaded to the Dropbox in eCollege). 

Group presentation: In Week 8, your group will also share a presentation with the rest of the class that represents a summary of the most interesting cross-cultural communication phenomena they experienced in their group.  This group presentation should be done as a PowerPoint slide show and uploaded to DocSharing in eCollege.

Exams/Quizzes:Beside these practical assignments, two exams will be given to evaluate your understanding of the course material.  There may also be several short quizzes (short answer, fill-in the blank, true/false) on the readings to evaluate your understanding of the course material. 

Cross-cultural analysis project: Finally, you will complete a short research project (about 8 pages, double-spaced), in which you analyze cultural identities and communication in light of the theories and cultural patterns you have learned through the readings/videos/discussions.  In this paper you will analyze cultural roots in terms of history, family, religion, race, education, and identify patterns of verbal and non-verbal behavior, as well as comment on potential biases.  It is recommended that you follow the stages of the writing process (brainstorming, outline, first draft, final draft) and consult with me at various points during these stages in the process. You should also take the opportunity to consult the excellent writing coaches at the Writing Center at any or all stages of the process.  Proper APA citations of both print and electronic materials are expected (see Citing Electronic Resources on my Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/citing_electronic_resources.htm.
This project is to be uploaded by Dec. 7 to the Dropbox in eCollege.

For this project you have several choices:

  1. You may write a cross-cultural analysis of another person’s cultural and communication patterns based on interviews with that person. 

  2. You may write a so-called autoethnography, in which you analyze your own culture and cultural identity in light of the theories and cultural patterns you have learned through the readings.

  3. You may use the online information in InfoTrac (in your textbook) to write a paper

  4. with a focus of your choice.

Oral Presentation: Synthesize the research and findings from your cross-cultural analysis project into an oral presentation in PowerPoint.

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Evaluation
 
Meetings—class and group—attendance and participation/Discussions in eCollege  15%
Exams:  15% each x 2 30%
Reflection paper  15%
Group Presentation 10%
Research Project 15%
Chapter/video worksheets   5%
Weekly cross-cultural learning logs (8 weeks) 10%

Grading Scale:

100 – 94% A; 93 – 90% A-; 89 – 87% B+; 86 – 84% B; 83 – 80% B-; 79 – 77 C+; 76 – 74% C; 73 – 70% C-; 69 – 67% D+; 66 – 64% D; 63 – 60% D-; 59 or lower F

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Policies

Due dates:
Exams and projects must be completed by the assigned dates; papers/projects that are late will receive an automatic reduction of 10% per day late.  Extensions and incomplete grades will not be given except in extreme circumstances after prior consultation with your professor.

Writing:
 Spell-check, organize and review (proof) all written material for errors in grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, and capitalization. 

Citation conventions will be considered in evaluating your papers.  Follow APA-style in-text citations; style manuals are available in the library and under Citing Electronic Resources on my Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/citing_electronic_resources.htm. Most importantly, make sure that every information source included in your paper is referenced in a Reference List and that every entry in the Reference List is also cited in the paper as a framed in-text citation..

Plagiarism:
Be very careful to avoid plagiarism in your writing; it is considered a serious offence in American academia, and its consequences can be serious.  To avoid unintentional plagiarism, make sure you never reproduce the words or original ideas of another author without citing the author correctly.  Use quotation devices (quotation marks or indented blocks) whenever reproducing exact wording -- even a little as a sentence or a long phrase—without citing the author correctly (see the examples and exercises on separate handout)..

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Course Outline (Click here.)

Last updated on December 19, 2012
© Ch. Bauer-Ramazani