Culture Bumps: The Organizing Principle for Integrating Cross Cultural Communication in ESL

LCC

Dr. Carol M. Archer Summer 2011

Edward E. HallThe Silent Language

Culture hides much more than it reveals, and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants. Years of study have convinced me that the real job is not to understand foreign culture but to understand our own.

Structure of Sessions

• Experiential activity• Question about differences• Contextualized by theory• Application to type of activity• Application to Toolkit activities• Application to language level• Application to

– Listening– Speaking– Writing– Reading– Grammar– Other

Overview

• Introductions• Questions• Walk through history• Experience a culture bump: Learn why we are different

» Break• Culture bump theory• Finding common ground: Learn how we are the same• The Toolkit for Culture and Communication• Perceptions• Final reflections

What happens when we encounter a difference?

• How does the way we talk about differences impact relationship?

• What is the relationship between perceptions and culture bumps?

• How do we experience culture bound/culture free interactions?

• How does culture bump approach differ from other cross cultural approaches?

• What are theoretical underpinnings of culture bump theory?

• How does culture, relationship and communication impact language acquistion?

Let’s go back in time

• Back to the

• 1950’s….

What is a culture bump?

• A culture bump is merely a cultural difference…. Or is

– An “apparent absurdity” (Hans- George Gadamer)– Being “pulled up short” by a difference (Hans-George

Gadamer)

– A cultural fragment (Martine Abdallah-Pretceille)– A cultural trace (Martine Abdallah-Pretceille)

List a training that you have attended that dealt with differences. When was the approximate date of the training? What were the

outcomes? How did it impact you?

Training _________Date__________Outcome______________

Training _________Date__________Outcome______________

Training _________Date__________Outcome______________

In a classroom or an office setting, which of these behaviors would be

the “most” different for you?

After choosing your “culture bump”,

• Go stand by the one you feel is the most different for you. Answer these questions:

• How do I feel when I look at this photo?

• What are my thoughts as I look at this photo?

• Have a conversation with the other people in your group about the two questions.

By using the term “culture bump”

• We de-personalize the incident

• Empower ourselves

• Allow the possibility of a universal connection

Tung from Vietnam and Oumar from Mali

• Explain about why they keep their eyes lowered during class. In essence, they are explaining “why” they are different..

Tung from Vietnam

• Explains about “handing” objects…

Culture Bound Interaction This is an example of a

• Culture bound interaction

An example of

• A culture bound interaction emanating from encountering a culture bump

Culture Bump

What is a culture bump?

• Think of a seed

• The following is from Living with Strangers in the USA by Carol M. Archer

A culture bump is merely a cultural difference

Culture Bump Trivia

• Professor Smith was giving a lecture on project management. She turned from her power point and noticed that the Libyan graduate students had their arms folded across their chests.

• She thought, “Uh Oh -What’s going on here?”

Professor Smith

• While Professor Smith expected her Libyan students to have language and cultural differences, she didn’t expect the “small” differences such as crossing their arms. In particular, she expected her “graduate” students to just “know” certain things. Surely they know….

What happens at the moment of encountering a difference?

• Let’s put this culture bump under a microscope to see what happens.

At the moment of the bump, two things occur simultaneously

• We experience

Emotional disconnection

• We experience– Rational

disconnection

We feel

• Disconnected– Discomfort

• Distance

• Or….(disconnected)– Interested and

different

Or

• Hump - no big deal and different.

•

Emotional Disconnection for Professor Smith

• She is surprised, and confused. She actually loses her certainty about her role as the professor - How do her students “see” her? As a professor she unconsciously assumes that students are either interested or disinterested. The “bump” breaks an implicit bond out of which there is a shared agreement of what constitutes “interest” or disinterest”.

Rational disconnection for Professor Smith…

She experiences a “need to know” through thoughts such as….

• What’s going on here?• Why are they sitting there like that?• Why aren’t they acting like “we” do?• Why are they different?

• Why questions

This can lead to

• Culture specific information that is accurate

» And/or

Stereotypes

Stereotypes

• They are hostile and belligerent or

• They are uncomfortable with women professors or

• They are very respectful of authority or

Sources of information

• Figure it out for ourselves

• Ask someone from our own culture

• Ask someone from their culture

• Ask an expert on them

Let’s listen

As Ala from Libya

tells us why they cross their arms.

Normative or culture specific information

• While providing normative information that alleviates the “need to know”,

• We are left with a sense Them and Us

• They are different…and we know why.

What we don’t know is

• How we are the same…

Human Commonalities

• We need to continue the process to understand, not only why we are different, but how we are the same.

• We do this by including a self reflective element that can lead to a particular kind of conversation - a culture free conversation.

An example of

We need to continue the process in order to understand not only why we are different but how we are the same. We do this by including a self reflective element that can lead to a particular kind of conversation – a culture free

conversation.

Culture Bump

A culture free conversation between

Professor Smith and the Libyan students Led to a conscious awareness by

Professor Smith of her own expectations:

1. While Libyan students may cross their arms over their chest as a sign of respect or to show that they are paying attention and focusing on the professor, Americans frequently cross their arms when they are uncertain about what someone is saying or when they disagree with what is being said.

2. Obviously, doing homework and preparing for class are ways that students in both cultures show respect. However, in addition, American students tend to show that they are paying attention by looking directly at the professor, asking questions, taking notes and/or nodding occasionally.

Culture free conversation

• Together they began to explore various commonalities e.g.– Different ways

Libyans/Americans show agreement or disagreement

– How do Americans/Libyans “cleverly” disagree with authority figures?

– What constitutes a “good” student?

These kinds of conversations are concerned with what Habermas calls “existential themes” through which humans can connect. They “open primordial possibilities of ‘making sense of human life” (p. 59).

More than respect

• Go to school in my country is not only learn what you have to learn, but also you have to learn how to be nice

people. • The way they

speak? Good grammar…

How do you know?

• If someone is well-educated?• What are the characteristics of such an

individual?• Do you consider yourself “well-educated”?• What other terms do you use to refer to this

phenomenon?

The Toolkit for Culture and Communication

Culture Bump Approach to Differences

• Why are we different?

• How are we the same?

Culture Bump Training

• Pre-departure and re-entry programs• ESL enrichment• Conflict Resolution• Short-term, professional training for

internationals• Community/organizational building• Teacher/administration training• Train the Trainer

Range from three hour length to sixty hours

Culture Bump Approach to Training

Integrated Approach to Differences

Cross Cultural Skill Development

• Perceptions

Welcome to the Spaceship Perception. Please feel free to visit each of the three “portholes”. Answer the questions about each

one of the three scenes. The order in which you look at the scenes

is irrelevant. • Porthole 1

– What is your first thought as you look at this photo?

– Is your reaction to this scene generally a positive one or a negative one? Why?

– What do you think is happening here?•

Photos from the Toolkit for Culture and Communication.

Continue…• Porthole 2

• What is your first thought as you look at this scene?

• How do you think you would feel if you were in this scene?

• Is your reaction to this scene generally a positive one or a negative one? Why?

Continue…

• Porthole 3

– What do you notice about this scene?

– Is your reaction to this scene generally a positive one or a negative one?

– Name 3 adjectives for this individual.– When you finish answering the questions, share

your answers with as many as people as possible. What do you notice?

What is your perception of the picture?

Tuk Bum Kim

• I am Tuk Bum Kim. Today is my wedding day, and I am very nervous. In fact, it seems like a dream to me. You see, I am marrying my best friend. I have known Young for many years, because my wife and I were students together at the music conservatory. We have played music together since we were teenagers! But only in the last year did we realize that we were “soul mates”.

Tuk Bum Kim

• Our story is a true love story. She comes from a wealthy family, while I come from a poor family. But music has brought us together.

• In this picture, my mother is throwing chestnuts to us. We try to catch as many as we can because the more chestnuts we catch, the more good luck we will have in our marriage.

Tuk Bum Kim

• We are both very excited because as soon as we are married, we will leave for the United States. My wife will study for her doctorate in music, and I will study for my Master’s Degree in music. These last years have only been the beginning of a wonderful life. Now we will make beautiful music together for the rest of our lives.

Lucy Mae

• I am Lucy Mae. I am riding a four-wheeler on my 90th birthday. This has been a wonderful day for me. Actually the celebration started a week ago when my six daughters came to Fort Worth and began to prepare this party. They bought food and began to cook. They bought decorations and decorated the house. (The house belongs to my granddaughter, Norma Mae. She is named for me.)

Lucy Mae

• They decorated the house like a long time ago when I was a girl. I was raised in a big family on the frontier of Texas. My Daddy was a farmer and we children (there were fourteen of us) helped Mother and Dad on the farm. So my girls decorated with old cowboy type of decorations like bales of hay and red checkered table cloths.

Lucy Mae

• They made western food too. We had bar-b-q, red beans, potato salad, green salad and lots of sweets. We have always had lots of desserts in my family. I guess that is because Mother had me to make all the sweets for the family when I was a girl. I am a pretty good dessert-maker. Of course, there were lots of other things to do when I was a girl, but I’ll tell you about those things at another time.

Lucy Mae

• Back to my party-all my nieces and nephews have come in today for the party too. I am so happy to see all of my family together-cooking and visiting. When it came time to eat, we all held hands and said a prayer, thanking God for our family, the food and all His many blessings. And what am I doing on a four-wheeler? Well it was my great granddaughter, Lori’s idea. She said, “Gam-Let’s ride the four-wheeler. Want to?” I thought it would be fun and sure enough, we had a great time - until my girls came out and had a fit!

Today…

• What new information did you learn?

• What new insights did you have?

• How will this impact your work?

References• Abdallah-Pretceille, M. (2006) Interculturalism as a paradigm for thinking

about diversity. Intercultural Education, 17 (5), 475-483.

• Archer, C. M. (2004) Toolkit for culture and communication. Houston, Texas: Department of Intellectual Property, University of Houston.

• Archer, C. M. (1991) Living with strangers in the USA:Communicating beyond culture. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

• Gadamer, H.G. (1975) Truth and method. London: Sheed and Ward

• Habermas, J. (1984. The theory of communicative action: reason and the rationalization of society (Vol. 1) (T. McCarthy, Trans.) Boston: Beacon Press.

• Hall, E.T. (1959) The silent language. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday.