Intercultural Communication

Service Learning Paper

Submitted by:
Taylor Markosian
December 11, 2016

Submitted to:
Tamra K. Phillips, M.S.
COMM 2150
Department of Communication
Salt Lake Community College

Service Organization
For my service learning project, I volunteered at the English as a Second Language Lab
at Salt Lake Community College. The contact information is as follows:
Andy Shaw
ESL Instructor
English as a Second Language Classes
Salt Lake Community College
TB 123 & 125
Email: andrewshaw@slcc.edu
Project
The English as a Second Language Lab at Salt Lake Community College is designed to
improve students language skills which will help them successfully develop personally,
professionally and academically at Salt Lake Community College. In order for a student to be
placed into a class, they must first take a placement test to determine the level at which they will
begin. The School of applied technology offers four levels of ESL instruction leading to college
level classes.
For my project, I was assigned to assist students in understanding the English language. I
got to work with students who came from all over the world ranging from Vietnam, Iraq, South
Sudan, and Pakistan. The majority of the students ages I got to work with ranged from 20 to 35
years old. The first student I got to work with was Quan who is 20 years old. He is from Vietnam
and has been in the United States for one month. He seems to like America and seems very
determined to learn the English language. Whenever I worked with him we mainly focused on
defining and pronouncing words that he didnt understand. Another Student I got to work with
was named Raad. He is 32 years old and from Iraq. He understands and speaks English very
well. He works at the airport and dresses very professional whenever he shows up to class. I also

worked with a student named Aback. She is from South Sudan and has been in the United States
for three years. She is 25 years old and has a son thats in kindergarten. She enjoys traveling and
spending time with her son.

Cultural Group
Quan, Quang, and Bao, are from Vietnam which is a collectivist society. Quan and Quang
are 21 years old and Bao is 20 and they are all studying English. Quan and Quang both work part
time at a Vietnamese restaurant in Taylorsville. Being part of a collective society they all find
family to be the most important and are very close to their siblings. They consult others prior to
making decisions in order to get a broader perspective so that each individual in the group is
benefited. Some collective values include harmony, personal dignity, filial piety and respect for
elders, equitable distribution of rewards among the group, and fulfillment of the needs of others.
Raad is 32 years old, from Iraq, and is also part of a collectivist culture. He works at the airport
full time and is a full time student learning English. Aback is 25 years old and is from South
Sudan. She is from a collectivist society.

Challenges
One intercultural challenge that I encountered during my service learning project was
identifying and trying to explain the different types of grammar in a sentence. I havent done this
since elementary school so whenever the teacher was giving examples for the class on the white
board I was taking just as many (if not more) notes as the other students. Another thing that was
difficult was finding a way to explain specific words in way that they would understand and
determining if they actually understood what I was saying or if they were just saying that they

did. I really wanted to help them understand what they were reading and hearing when other
people talked so this was extremely important for me to know. All the students I worked with
asked many questions and I found that showing them pictures and identifying the word at the
same time was more beneficial than just trying to explain the word.

Theory
One theory that can be applied to my service learning experience is Gert Hofstedes The
Cultural Environment. Here he created cultural indexes, charting cultural dimensions. Hofstede
describes four dimensions that provide an effective way of analyzing and understanding cultures.
1. Individualism vs. Collectivism: Observed that some cultures emphasize the individual
while others emphasize the group.
2. Power Distance: the degree to which the culture believes that institutional and
organizational power should be distributed unequally.
3. Uncertainty avoidance: found that some cultures tend to dislike change and avoid

uncertainty while other cultures welcome challenges to the norm. Also asks you to
identify what you were taught and what you now believe about change and uncertainty.
4. Masculinity vs. Femininity: the extent to which you value achievement and assertiveness
over the nurturing of relationships.
If people view themselves as independent and self reliant, and prize personal recognition and
achievement they will belong to an individualist culture. People from North America, most of
Northern and Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are part of the individualistic culture.
If individuals see themselves as interdependent, and value closeness and harmony with others

over personal goals then they are part of a collective culture. Collectivism is common in Asia,
Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America and the Pacific Islands.
Hofstede defines Power Distance as the communication distance between the most powerful
and the least powerful people in a society. (Reynolds, 2011, 39). High Power distance cultures
tend to have strict hierarchical power structures. The communication emanates from the top of
the hierarchy and can be viewed as a carefully guarded tool for protecting and maintaining the
hierarchy. Low Power distance cultures tend to have more democratic social structures. The
distance between the more powerful and the less powerful is smaller and communication flows
up as well as down in the hierarchy.
Another theory that I found effective was Edward T. Hall and Mildred Reed Halls
Comparison of Monochronic and Polychronic People. Monochronic people tend to do one
thing at a time, concentrate on the job, take time commitments seriously, are low context and
need information, and adhere to plans. Polychroic people do many things at once, are easily
distracted and subject to interactions, consider time commitments an objective to be achieved if
possible, are high context and rely on non-verbal and environmental cues, and are committed to
people and human relationships.

Analysis
I was able to apply Hofstedes theory on individualist vs. collectivist culture to the
different students I worked with after asking where they were from. This was beneficial for me in
identifying the different ways that would be effective in helping them based on the culture that
they came from. Because all the students I helped were from a collective culture, I really had to
focus on the communication to be intuitive, complex, and impressionistic. Individuals from

collective cultures find explicit and direct communication to be less important. I found that all of
the students from Vietnam were very friendly and allowed for plenty of time to develop the
relationship. They were very interested in my life and allowed me to ask questions about their
life as well as their interests. I noticed in learning more about each student, they became more
open to asking questions and correcting their assignments. Personally, I come from a
individualist culture but I believe I share many characteristics of those from a collectivist culture.
One value I share with the collectivist culture is the emphasis on the context, because I believe
that experience is extremely important as well as intuition and the building of a relationship.
A specific example where I found the theory on Monochronic and Polychronic useful was
in helping Raad understand what the substitute teacher had assigned and what he was assigned to
write. He continuously would ask the teacher what was assigned but the more she would explain,
the more confused he would get. I noticed that he was quickly getting frustrated so I went over
and applied this theory to how I would try and explain what she was saying to him. I first had
him explain to me what he didnt understand and when he was finished would go over each
detail of what he didnt understand. In the end he finally understood what he was supposed to do
and the frustration that he had went away.

Reflection
At the beginning of the semester, I was very excited to be a part of this project. I was not
only excited to help these students in learning English; I was also excited to gain more
knowledge about them and the culture that they came from. I enjoy learning new information
about different cultures because I think its interesting to see the different ways they view things
in comparison to the culture that I was raised in as well as how they communicate with people

from their own culture. Ive always loved providing service but I havent always had time for it,
but this project has been very convenient for me because it is at the school and I am able to go
when I have breaks in between classes.
I knew very little about the culture I was working with so it was very interesting and
exciting to work with the students and learn more about where there from and the culture they
are a part of. I learned that the students from Vietnam and Iraq are more concerned about the well
being of another person over themselves. They are very considerate towards others and are one
of the most kind hearted people that Ive ever met which I would have never thought. I think the
media has a very negative effect on people from these different cultures and thats why I had the
thoughts that I did about them. I didnt ever perceive them to be cold hearted people but I didnt
expect them to be how they were or act how they did.
The different theories that I learned in the classroom and that were provided in the course
packet helped me in determining how I should approach certain situations and handle that
specific individual I was working with. I think examining whether the person was part of an
individualistic or collective culture helped in identifying how they prefer to communicate and
learn.
I defined civic engagement as being involved and working with different types of people
in a community. I still hold this to be accurate but I would add in that it is also getting to know
the individuals in the community and learning from them as well as working them.
From this service learning project I benefited by learning more about the different
cultures as well as learn effective ways in communicating with them. The people benefited from
me being there by learning how to have conversations in English and also to ask questions when
they didnt understand something that was in English. They also got to learn more about the

culture of the United States by hearing about some of my hobbies and the different activities that
I do.
I can incorporate what I learned from this project in future classes, my career, and life by
having an open mind towards all the different people I encounter and find effective ways of
communicating with them in a way that theyll understand. It also gives me a clear understanding
of why some people act the way they do based on the culture that they were raised in.

References
Reynolds, S. (2011). Cross-Cultural Communication (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall.
Phillips, T. K. (2011). Intercultural Communication Course Packet.
SLCC ESL website http://www.slcc.edu/sat/programs/basicskills/esl.aspx
Phillips, T. K. (2016). Class Notes