One of the most difficult tasks business and professional communication teachers face is teaching students to appreciate cultural differences and their effects on business communication, both domestically and internationally. Students from a homogeneous background may dismiss or disparage cultural differences. Some classroom exercises can help…

A 1-day orientation workshop for business clients from other cultures is described. Factors in program design that relate to the specific cultural group addressed are discussed, and include such considerations as culture-specific versus culture-general content, professional focus, and the learning style to which the participants are accustomed.…

The student manual of a Hausa language course is designed for the training of Peace Corps volunteers in Nigeria. It consists of 12 lessons emphasizing grammar and vocabulary development for interpersonal communication. Lesson topics include daily communication needs and market vocabulary and expressions. The lessons contain information and…

A guide to Pulaar is designed for language learning by Peace Corps volunteers. It contains a pronunciation guide to the Pulaar alphabet, 12 language lessons for interpersonal and intercultural communication, and glossaries. The glossaries are in Pulaar, English, and French; all text is in English. The lessons consist of cultural information, a…

Data on the status of Samoan students reveal that they suffer severe educational deprivation in many areas. This deprivation is obscured and often exacerbated by grouping data on Pacific Islanders with that on the comparatively more successful, more numerous, culturally very different and generally more urbanized Asian American groups. While early…

The article presents sociocultural information about Black and Hispanic families and the implications for intervention programs for parents of hearing-impaired minority children. Discussion addresses the importance of the extended family and community in providing care, differing belief systems about handicaps, and anxieties in adjusting to a new…

Relates the difficulties of teaching a college business writing course when the majority of the students are foreign. (NKA)

This study introduces strategies of interlanguage communication associated with developing solutions for limited English proficient learners as they become skilled at English as a second language. First, a significant classification of Faerch and Kasper's communication strategies will be presented. Second, the organizing methods of the other nine…

A study investigated how non-native speakers of English used linguistic and non-linguistic skills to manage interaction in an interview-style verbal test of English proficiency. Subjects were eight international teaching assistants, four native speakers of Spanish and four native speakers of Chinese, who took a standardized oral interview…

Discusses politeness strategies used by native and Dutch speakers of Spanish, contrasting the act of making requests by these two groups of speakers. One of the article's conclusions states that native speakers of Spanish are more direct in their requests, and that nonnative speakers attempt to sound less face-threatening and less offensive. (23…

This paper argues that to be effective, lawyers in the new global economy will need second language skills, understanding of international law, intercultural competence, and communication skills. Law schools must begin to prepare lawyers with these skills for practice even within the United States. (MSE)

Major common language problems arising in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet bloc are outlined, as identified in recent literature, and pressing language-related issues in specific former Soviet states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,…

Offers reasons and suggestions for involving Asian immigrant college students in classroom talk (by initiating informal conversations, involving more students in discussions, and structuring small-group communication). Cautions against pressuring them to adopt American speech habits that may threaten their Asian-language identities. Includes…

Phenomenological study focused on a Spanish-speaking immigrant mother's interactions with primarily English-speaking educators in schools attended by her son. Interactions around four disciplinary actions reveal language and culture as barriers to the mother acting on her son's behalf. She didn't understand school practices and culture and felt…

Describes an electronic discussion on three listservs about whether European Americans should teach courses on Native religions; if not, what would result; if so, how to proceed. Responses discuss issues of cultural imperialism and appropriation, academic freedom, cultural property rights and control, qualifications (and disqualifications) for…