COMM 290: Intercultural Communication

Note: This course was formerly COIN 290.

Course Description
This course serves as an introduction to contemporary concepts, practices, and processes of intercultural communication. Throughout this class, students will acquire the methodologies and knowledge to engage critically with their personal experiences abroad as intercultural communicators. They will participate in critical assessment of intercultural communication theories and apply the explicit goal of addressing a variety of topics. These topics range from the nature of culture and cultural definitions, to analysis of verbal and non-verbal communication, underlying meaning in discourse, representation of individual stereotypes, culture and identities. A strong focus will be given to the relationship between language, culture and identity, and relevant topics will be deeply discussed and applied with relevant hands-on activities. Students will observe communicative events in their context, at various levels of “interculturality”, keeping in mind that all types of communication are intercultural. This course will also help students better navigate the intricacies of Italian culture and intercultural communication during their study abroad experience.

Students will be expected to bring personal insights into the classrooms and use communication theories to understand, analyze, and evaluate intercultural experiences. Questions that they will examine include the following: How is communication scientifically investigated? What are the different components that are relevant in a communication event? What are different elements to communication, e.g., verbal, non-verbal, paralanguage, behavior, posture, and gesture? What is the role of different languages in different contexts of usage? What is the relationship between language, culture and identity? The answers to these issues will be explored through lectures, class discussions, readings, examples from everyday discourse, writing assignments, and research activities.

Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• critically engage with a communicative event;
• critically engage with contemporary theories in intercultural communication, anthropology and linguistics;
• appreciate the value of cultural diversity;
• critically assess the relationship between language, culture, and identity; and
• learn communication techniques to solve intercultural and interpersonal conflict.

Course Materials
Piller, Ingrid. Intercultural Communication, A critical introduction, Edinburgh University Press (2nd Edition), 2017.
Mandatory course reader.