It is believed that miscommunication is one of the most frequent problems in intercultural communication. Through such factors as idiom, interpretation, translation errors and body language so communicative skills can fail due to the misunderstanding. When these intercultural mistakes happen between people, it might be experienced by different cultures as unmannered, laughable, confusing or frighten. However, the situation occurs not only in general society, but also in classrooms which are increasingly international communities.Therefore, this essay will explain several different causes and effects of miscommunication in intercultural classrooms, which consist of: participation in classroom, physical touching and non-verbal communication.
First of all, participation in the classroom is different for students who are from different countries or cultures because different people have been educated to participate in their classroom differently. Asian in general, especially Thais are likely to value silence as vital equipment and hardly apprehend negatively, whereas westerners (American and European students) abhor silence and they interpret negatively as unconcern, imbecility, or disinterest (Hall, 1976). Moreover, while a good student in Japan is a person who is quiet and submissive and performs well on exams, a good American student is considered as one who is competitive and can defy the teacher with excellent opinions (Nozaki, 1993). Owing to Asian students’ performance in classrooms, western teachers might think they are not interested and intelligent enough to study. Consequently, the teachers will probably ignore Asians by not caring or correcting their mistakes, which could lead low grades or the exams’ failure. Similarly, w...
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...articular, because one word or one action can mean different understandings in different cultures. Therefore, people should be responsible and communicate carefully to avoid misinterpretation, which might lead to several problems. For instance, teachers and students may suffer a breakdown of their relationship, teachers’ positive efforts might become negative results and students will probably angry with some teachers due to such intercultural miscommunication.
Works Cited
Gue´guen, N., 2004. Nonverbal encouragement of participation in a course: the effect of touching. Social Psychology of Education 7, 89–98
Hall, E.T. (1976). Beyond culture. New York: Doubleday
Nozaki, K. N. (1993) The Japanese Student and the Foreign Teacher. In P. Wadden (Ed.), A Handbook for Teaching English at Japanese Colleges and Universities (pp. 101-110). New York: Oxford University Press
The school system typically emphasizes participation in speaking in class, which may be more intimidating for Asians due to their background and importance of silence. Participants of Sue’s study “felt forced to conform to Western norms and values (‘talking more’) when such behaviour violated their cultural upbringing” (77). In other words, Asian participants felt uncomfortable trying to fit the White standard of talking and participating in class. Furthermore, the college and university admission decisions may be influenced by unconscious biases. These biases are usually prominent in individuals faced with an uncertain decision.
Ting-Toomey, Stella., & Chung, Leeva C. (2012). Understanding Intercultural Communication. Oxford University Press. 43, 159-160.
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