Intercultural Communication Encounters

Intercultural Communication Encounters Donald W. Klopf, University of Hawaii and West Virginia University James McCroskey, West Virginia University Intercultural Encounters provides a brief but broad introduction to the fundamentals of intercultural communication. The text combines theory and knowledge from different disciplines to help prepare students to interact successfully with people who think, feel, and behave differently than they do. Brief commentaries from noted scholars in the field, exercises, activities, and discussion questions provide students with an opportunity to develop communication skills in today’s increasingly diverse world. Features Written in an approachable style, this brief text covers the fundamentals of intercultural communication while providing students with the assistance they’ll need when interacting with communicators from a different culture. The text presents a broad introduction tointercultural communication, including examples and analysis from different cultures all over the world. In addition, the text draws heavily from the theories and practical knowledge of many disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Remaining cognizant of the ethnocentric label attached to intercultural communication instruction in the United States, the text includes Asiacentric and Afrocentric comparisons, while refraining from becoming too heavily positioned in those areas. Throughout the text, commentaries are offered, written by scholars of note and experts in the field, including Ron Gordon on the ethnocentric approach to human communication instruction in the United States and Jeanne Oka’s experiences growing up in an intercultural world. These brief commentaries will broaden the reader’s intercultural education. Praise for Intercultural Communication Encounters “The strengths of this text are many: The authors include important theoretical information, but they present it in a way that non-communication majors can appreciate; they include important interpersonal theory in addition to the intercultural theory; they write in a style that is easily read and understood; and they include concepts and opinions that are not mainstream American… Without a doubt, this is a book you should publish.” Susan I. Dummer, Texas A&M University “In many respects, this book is more comprehensive than other introductory intercultural communication texts because it places communication within the context of ideas taught in other related disciplines… I found myself thinking about this long after I laid the manuscript down.” Rebecca Dumlao, East Carolina University Intercultural Encounters provides a brief, but broad introduction to the fundamentals of intercultural communication. This book combines theory and knowledge from different disciplines to help prepare the reader to interact successfully with people who think, feel, and behave differently than they do. Brief commentaries from noted scholars in the field, exercises, activities, and discussion questions provide the reader with an opportunity to develop communication skills in today’s increasingly diverse world.