As occupational mobility becomes an increasing focus in the European Union, it is framed by an education and training context rather than a labor-market framework. This context emphasizes acquisition of skills for transnational employment, including foreign language, intercultural competence, and transferable job skills. (SK)

Offers an overview of Canada's business-communication research efforts. Describes its definition and scope; issues facing Canadian researchers (gaining an institutional presence, creating Canada as a viable research site, and creating a Canadian research focus); disseminating research in Canada; and expanding Canadian business-communication…

Considers two assumptions that underlie the teaching of international business communication: (1) perceptual variations exist within a country, and they sharpen even more across countries and cultures; and (2) critical pedagogy maintains that making students think and revisit their worldviews through an encounter with discomforting or decentering…

Suggests that development of intellectual competencies are embedded in the cultures in which they are practiced and taught. Examines the cultural components of three such competencies in detail: intercultural competence, critical thinking, and comparative thinking. Urges that the international education field address the role of culture in the…

An adult educator working with marginalized multicultural groups describes how the community defined the following core values for working with diversity: living the respect for diversity, climate of extended family, shared grassroots ownership, blend of creativity and practicality, organizational effectiveness, work for the common good, and…

Describes the Research Think Tank of the Association for Business Communication: its history, 1996 focus and participants, and its process. Notes that key ideas emerging from this process focused on international communication, communication technology, connecting international communication, and implications for researchers. (SR)

Reviews the history and structure of the popular music industry; examines applications of the cultural imperialism theory to popular music and the subsequent debate; and surveys newer theories that developed as a result of the debate. Organizes theories along a continuum (meant as a heuristic for researchers) indicating the numerous forms musical…

Examines theoretical and methodological concerns of the new ethnographic writing, analyzing writing practices of both professional anthropologists and student ethnographers who undertake ethnographic research as part of a modern languages degree course in universities in the United Kingdom. Emphasis is on qualitative writing as a heuristic…

The spread of English has increased opportunities for native English speakers in the United States to interact with speakers of other Englishes (WE). These native speakers are rarely encouraged to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for intercultural communication, often resulting in a one-way communicative burden on the world English…

Suggests that, while the affective and behavioral dimensions of intercultural communication competence are related to international students' satisfaction with their communication skills, talking with American students was the single most important factor in perceptions of communication competency and adjusting to American life. (SR)

Investigates what Chinese negotiators are trained to do in the global marketplace by examining China's international business negotiation textbooks used in their training programs. Indicates that Chinese negotiators are taught a large variety of communication techniques for negotiation arrayed along a continuum from the relationship-based win-win…

Uses United States and international students in a study exploring culture's effect on behaviors and outcomes in intercultural negotiation. Supports a "culture in context" perspective of negotiation that takes into account negotiator qualities, contextual and structural features of the negotiation, and mediating processes in addition to…

Identifies three aspects of cross-cultural capability: sensitivity, cross-cultural business skills, and international management competence. Suggests a strategy to shift business students' perspective from ethnocentrism to ethnodiversity and prepare them for global work. (SK)

Without open conversations between Blacks and Whites, society will be unable to face the problems that continue to divide our diverse communities. Article argues most Blacks are reluctant to communicate across the racial divide, and most Whites only encounter sanitized relationships with middle class Blacks. Survival of the emerging multicultural…

Presents three studies that provide a test of gender-as-culture, or "two cultures," hypothesis proposed by Maltz and Borker (1982) to explain male/female differences in language use. Finds that gender preferences for language use among undergraduate students function in ways that are consistent with stylistic preferences that distinguish national…