1- Script of Recording

The IDI: A new tool for measuring intercultural competence
By Barbara R. Deane

How do you know if someone is inter-culturally competent or sensitive? Why is it important to know? Are intercultural sensitivity and competency the same thing? These are questions that the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a relatively new testing instrument developed by Milton Bennett tries to answer.

Intercultural sensitivity can be defined as the ability to discriminate and experience relevant cultural differences, and intercultural competence as the ability to think and act in inter-culturally appropriate ways. The IDI is based on a model or theoretical framework originally developed by Milton Bennett in 1993, known as the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Its goal was to explain how people make sense of cultural difference as they progress along a developmental path.

The model is divided into two parts: Ethnocentrism and Ethnorelativism. The first part follows the progression of Ethnocentric orientations: Denial, Defense, and Minimization. The second part traces the progression of Ethnorelative orientations: Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration. On the Ethnocentric side, your own culture dominates and you use it to interpret others. On the Ethnorelative side, you view other's cultures along side your own: each of the six orientations represents a "worldview structure" encompassing certain attitudes and behaviors toward cultural differences.
What distinguishes Ethnocentrism from Ethnorelativism is complexity of understanding. When people have an Ethnocentric orientation, they do not see nor comprehend the complexity of the cultural difference - they can only view situations through their mono-cultural worldview, unable to see that the person different from them has a different yet viable view of the world. People who are more advanced have resolved these issues effectively," says Bennett. "They are able to reconcile the opposites of Authenticity and Adaptation, so are able to include a wider range of cultural behavior as part of their identity. "

The purpose of most intercultural training and education programs is to broaden and deepen people’s ability to perceive and understand cultural differences and avoid misunderstanding.

The most popular use of the IDI is evaluating programs. Some of the programs in which the IDI has been used include those for students going on study abroad programs, as well as for participants in intercultural training programs.

"At the root of intercultural competence is how people interpret the cultural difference," Bennett, says. "You can know a lot, but if you don’t have a worldview that allows you to treat difference in an Ethnorelative way, it doesn’t matter what you know."

- From Diversityhotwire.com, December 2003

End of Recording

2- Summary

The IDI: A new tool for measuring intercultural competence

An article entitled The IDI: A new tool for measuring intercultural competence, published on Diversityhotwire.com in December 2003, examines the problem of intercultural communication and a new method for testing proficiency in communicating across cultures, the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).

The test measures the ability to discriminate and experience relevant cultural differences, and the ability to think and act appropriately in intercultural situations.

The IDI is based on a theoretical categorization of two behavioral orientations: Ethnocentrism and Ethnorelativism.

The test is used in intercultural training programs with the aim of enhancing one’s ability to understand cultural differences, thereby avoiding misunderstanding.

(100 words)

Important Note:
In Semester One (October 2003 to January 2004), Continuous Assessment students (contrôle continu) were no longer asked to " Sum up the recording in no more than 150 words." They listened to the recording three times then only wrote an Opinion Question.
They were expected to show how much they had understood from the tape by transferring this information into the opinion question.
The aim of this new strategy is to guide students towards making a more efficient use of transferable information and to include examples from the tape (and from classes) in their Opinion Questions.
This is likely to become the new format of LX 330. Com as of October 2004.
However, the format remains UNCHANGED for June 2004 and September 2004: all students will be asked to do a short 100-word summary and an Opinion Question.

3- Opinion Question

Opinion question (no more than 300 words) : “Some people feel they can impose their language and culture on foreign business partners. Others try to imitate the new culture. Is either of these approaches adequate for productive communication? Give your opinion, using examples from class discussion and the article The IDI: A new tool for measuring intercultural competence to illustrate the alternatives.” (200-300 words)

For more help, click here: writing tips

Sample Student Opinion Question :

One may well wonder if people who believe they can impose their language and culture on foreign business partners or those trying to imitate the “new culture” are adopting the right approach to fruitful communication. This doesn’t seem to be the case, which is why it is important to find an alternative to these types of behavior.
The first case, i.e., people imposing their own culture, may conjure up the hegemony of Anglo-Saxon culture. The problem this raises consists in the fact that the Americans, for instance, may appear to be boasting by trying to impose their language and values. Foreign business partners might feel offended and consider the Anglo-Saxon behavior as a lack of respect.
Other people avoid imposing their own culture; they simply imitate the “new” one. One can praise their acceptance of the other culture they choose to imitate. However, it appears that this decision might lead to a loss of identity – a kind of integration pushed too far. In this case, one doesn’t see an “ethnorelative” will – i.e., an effort made to reconcile what the Intercultural Development Inventory terms ‘authenticity’ and ‘adaptation’. Moreover, imitation can be interpreted here as a sign of submission to a possibly stronger dominant culture. A relevant example would be the set of business practices and language (English) used by some economically dynamic Asian nations.
As a suggestion concerning the right way of communicating productively, we should try to exhibit ‘ethnorelative’ behavior, as well as progress in our grasp of cultural differences. Understanding, diplomacy and tact are required in order to become more ‘interculturally sensitive’ and eventually ‘interculturally competent’. It would be interesting for a manager, for instance, to improve their intercultural management skills, and as a result, be promoted!

Most Common Mistakes

1) Students failed to analyze the statement thoroughly; most equated the two types of behavior mentioned with ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behavior, without reflecting on the accuracy of this ‘reasoning’ or proposing alternatives.
2) Students waffled without clearly integrating information from the recording, trying to get around the question without constructing a clear argumentation, and without relating it to concrete examples.
3) Too many students failed to use their time well, re-read and eliminate basic (unpardonable) mistakes of expression.

Some Advice:

1) After reading the opinion question statement, the first thing to do was to rally one’s knowledge of the problem (which was extensively discussed in class) and simply reflect on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Noting down an example or two at this point (including those suggested) could have saved time later.

2) The notes taken on the listening needed to be integrated into an argumentation that was already taking form in the first point above. This new information - concerning a form of testing for culturally appropriate behavior - is in itself part of the development of a search for alternatives, providing a yardstick to measure the validity of different forms of behavior. The theoretical model on which the test is based is an abstract concept however, and individuals don’t directly ‘adopt’ an Ethnorelative viewpoint in the same way they don a garment. There needed to be a more rigorous distinction between theory and actual behavior.

3) Often, attempts to integrate information from the listening were made by quoting passages word for word, often without using so much as ‘according to’ or quotation marks. This is not an acceptable form of writing on an opinion question. The sense of what is reformulation and what is outright plagiarism should be taken more seriously.

created by: Steven Schaefer

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The IDI: A new tool for measuring intercultural competence

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The IDI: A new tool for measuring intercultural competence