Research Methods Intercultural Communication

Students:
* are familiar with different linguistic and communicative approaches  in the field of intercultural communication and can compare and apply these approaches. 

* set up their own research on intercultural communication in mass media (film, television, press), public communication, face-to-face or digital communication. 

* can apply research results to improve intercultural understanding. 

* can reflect on the influence and consequences of different cultural backgrounds on professional and personal communication. 

Within the broad field of research into intercultural communication, four approaches are distinguished: 

(1) Comparative studies aim to develop categories to describe the similarities and differences between cultures and their languages. A key issue concerns the dimension from which discourse or text in different languages can be examined as (functional) equivalent. 

(2) The cultural representation approach focuses on the question how cultural identities are expressed in language and how image creation works. Attention is paid to the way in which both 'the other' and 'the self' are constructed in texts. 

(3) The multilingualism approach compares the discourse of native speakers with that of non-natives of a second or foreign language. Attention is paid to the interference of grammatical, pragmatic and discursive phenomena. 

(4) The interactive approach focuses on the discourse of people from different cultural backgrounds, who interact with each other in a lingua franca, listening language or in the native language of one of the persons involved. Attention is paid to linguistic structures which cause misunderstandings or which characterize successful intercultural interaction. 
 

Please note: the time slot shown here is not yet final and may still be modified until the 3rd Wednesday in September. 

This course is primarily aimed at students of the following BA programmes: German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Language and Culture Studies and Liberal Arts & Sciences. 

This course is also part of the minor Interculturele communicatie.

This course is equivalent to the following courses:
TL3V14001 Methods of Research in Intercultural Communication
CI2V14004 Culture, communication and diversity
CI3V18401 Intercultural communication

If you have already completed one of these courses, you may not take Research Methods Intercultural Communication due to too much overlap in content.