Culture Life and Learning and Intercultural Competence | Report

Running head: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL: PART A
Reflective Journal: Part A
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1REFLECTIVE JOURNAL: PART A
Topics: Culture life and learning and Intercultural competence
Introduction
Reflection is an effective learning method and enable the learners to recall and
analyze the importance and implications of the theories and concepts that they gather.
Through my course, I learnt about cultural competence, globalization, ethnicity and identity
and celebration of differences. Globalization has changed the demography of the world to a
great extent which has led to the growing importance of developing cultural competence. In
this aspect reflecting on my previous knowledge and the new knowledge that I gathered is
important. This essay, reflects on the knowledge and understanding that I gathered through
module 1 and 2 of my course.
Discussion
Learning through the modules
Through the module learning I have gained in insight into the aspects of intercultural
competence and how to communicate in intercultural context. I have realized that the world is
becoming much smaller than it was before and thus, understanding and accepting different
cultural views are becoming more and more important (Holliday, 2011). Communication is
the key to cultural competence as in our work and personal lives we might face situations
where we have to interact with people coming from different cultures. The module also
taught me about empathy and openness when it comes to intercultural communication.
My initial reactions to the learning resources and activities
When I first started reading the module resources, my initial reaction was to take a
step back and think about situations where I encountered people of different cultures and how

2REFLECTIVE JOURNAL: PART A
I reacted in those situations. I realized that in many cases, I could not understand their
gestures and non-verbal cues. Moreover, many a times, I was not patient enough to take time
to understand them which limited my ability to connect with people belonging to other
cultures. The three components of intercultural communication, motivation, self-other
knowledge and uncertainty tolerance also created an impression on me as I realized that most
of the time I did not have the proper motivation for communication as I did not know how it
would be effective for my personal development (Spencer-Oatey, 2013).
Most interesting or surprising thing from the modules and reason
The most surprising was the challenges that people coming from different cultures
face in a foreign environment. I have seen people struggling to settle into a new country and
feeling disheartened by the response that they are receiving. Many students struggle when
they join foreign study programs. The most interesting thing was the non-verbal
communications and how diverse they are for different culture (DiAngelo & Sensoy, 2014).
These were mostly surprising for me as I had very little knowledge about these aspects of
cultural competency.
Fit of new learning with existing knowledge and experiences
The learning gives me deeper understanding of my previous knowledge and
experience regarding cultural competence and communication. My understanding of the
matter was limited to the videos that I have watched or the movies I have seen and through
the module I was able to realize that culture is not the only constraint that is present.
Individual personality is also an important aspect. In my experience I had some chances to
communicate with people of different culture and the module helps me to enhance my skills.
I have started to reconsider all of previous knowledge and assumptions.