Communication: Readings and Resources
Sharon Raz
By teaching to the Communication learning outcomes, we hope to engage students in intentional communication with others who might not share their social identities.
Intercultural communication is the study and practice of communication across cultural contexts. It applies equally to domestic cultural differences such as ethnicity and gender and to international differences such as those associated with nationality or world region. Intercultural communication is an approach to relations among members of these groups that focuses on the recognition and respect of cultural differences, seeks the goal of mutual adaptation leading to biculturalism rather than simple assimilation, and supports the development of intercultural sensitivity on the part of individuals and organizations to enable empathic understanding and competent coordination of action across cultural differences.
Intercultural dialogue is critical to both the process and goal of social justice. Social injustice is rooted in systemic exclusion, silencing, and dehumanization of individuals and groups based on differences in race, ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, religion, language, and sexual orientation. In public discourse, social justice is often used as an ideal to which groups, institutions, and nationalities aspire and are held accountable. Thus, communicating and working effectively across lines of difference is central to the on-going process of achieving social justice.
In communicating concepts of social justice, we must focus on emphasizing how the historical construction of knowledge, structures, and dynamics of power affect social structure today. An important aspect of intentional communication is the use of inclusive language. Language is constantly evolving, and it is our job as educators to make sure that we are up-to-date with it. To learn more about the importance of language in an inclusive discussion, please see: The Social Justice Phrase Guide.
When we facilitate class discussion, it is imperative that we use intentional communication, which tends to be more explicit and deliberate, and address miscommunications when they happen. Intentional communication differentiates between intent and impact. Sometimes, we have the best intentions in mind, but the outcomes of our words are very different. In other words, the impact our words and expressions have on an audience can be radically different from the message we meant to get across. Sometimes when there is a noticeable gap between intent and impact, our initial reaction may be to pass the blame to our listeners. Instead, we can focus on figuring out what we could have done better – perhaps we didn’t provide enough background, lacked emotion, were disorganized, didn’t tell any compelling stories, or failed to look at things from their point of view.
Intent = What we hope our audience will think, feel, and do.
Impact = What they actually think, feel, and do.
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