The main goal of the course is to build up students' intercultural communicative competence, delivering specific knowledge in the following areas:

1. Intercultural Communicative Competence

2. Intercultural Communication

3. Pragmatics: discourse and conversation analysis

Students will familiarize themselves with intercultural theories and principles in lectures and will be invited to apply their knowledge to practical cases of intercultural communication in order to train their independent thinking during interactive lectures. The Moodle platform will be used to host group and  pair work activities on the topics presented in  the course.

Students will reflect on the main intercultural strategies which constitute the core  of the professional profile of a  linguistic-cultural mediator.

The course covers a variety of topics dealt with in the order given below:

1.  Intercultural communicative competence:

• descriptive models 
•  intercultural communicative competence 
• verbal and non-verbal codes
• interculturale sensibility 
• cross-cultural communicative strategies

2. The concepts of intercultural communication:

• Cutural Ideology and stereotyping
• Etnocentrism, Xenophobia, Ethno-relativism
• Culture shock
•  Intercultural sensitivity: Bennett’s model 
•  Intercultural  relational abilities

3.  Intercultural pragmatics:

• speech acts, conversational turns, communicative moves 
• contrastive conversation analysis

none

Knowledge and understanding: students will be able to explain the topics that concern intercultural communication. To this end, lectures and interactive activities will be implemented;

Applying knowledge and understanding: students will be able to apply their knowledge to face-to-face and online hands-on activities focusing on intercultural communication;

Making judgements: students will be able to evaluate the degree of efficacy of communication processes in intercultural contexts and will be able to plan solutions to solve communication problems. Short videos focusing on intercultural miscommunication will be shown and evaluated in class; moreover, students will be assigned activities to be carried out online;

Communication: students will be able to interact effectively and collaboratively in intercultural contexts.  To reach this goal, students will give individual and group  presentations  in class and will post comments and ideas, on Moodle,  triggering discussion;

Lifelong learning skills: students will be able to identify and analyze intercultural events autonomously. To this end, workshops and interviews will be organized.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

• Teacher-fronted lectures
• Interactive lectures
• Interviews to Erasmus and Italian students
• Groupwork and written assignments
• Oral presentations

Course books

Balboni E.P., Caon F.,  La comunicazione interculturale, Marsilio Ed., Venezia, 2015;
Zhu Hua, Exploring Intercultural Communication. Language in Action, Routledge, London, 2019 (Second Edition). (Selected chapters)

Assessment

The (oral/ written) exam will be taken partly in English. Attending students will be assessed on the basis of their knowledge of the theoretical concepts introduced in the course (50%), their ability to apply their knowledge to practical cases of intercultural communication (35%), their subject-specific communication skills and their degree of in-class and online participation (15%).

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Course books

Balboni E.P., Caon F.,  La comunicazione interculturale, Marsilio Ed., Venezia, 2015;
Zhu Hua, Exploring Intercultural Communication. Language in Action, Routledge, London, 2019 (Second Edition). (Selected chapters)

Giaccardi C., La comunicazione interculturale nell'era digitale, il Mulino Ed., 2012;

Assessment

The (oral/ written) exam will be taken partly in English on the reading materials assigned. Students will be assessed on the basis of their knowledge of the concepts introduced in the reading materials (60%), their ability to think critically about the topics assigned (30%), and their subject-specific communication skills (10%).

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Only attending students have to study the teaching materials available on Moodle.

The final exam and the bibliography are partially in English .