In this multiculturally predetermined setting the participants confirmed their high level of Motivation component, which was identified on the basis of the test results. They referred to the new pieces of information positively, meaning they are open to embrace and understand other practices and behavioral patterns common to other cultures. Also, Participant E confirmed her high levels of Strategy and Action components by adjusting her behavior to the requirements of the extralinguistic situation.

The last event, the conference “Step into the Future”, was attended by I and Participant A. The section of our interest was called “Culturology and design”, which took place at the Moscow State University of Design and Technology. It should be noted, that the culture of the HSE is quite different from the cultures of other universities of Russia. The representatives of several educational establishments were brought together at this conference. Thus, being inside the university created a multicultural environment setting.

When the participants were installing everything necessary for their performance, it turned out that some of them lacked layman-figures. When they approached the organizers of the conference and spoke about their problem, the organizers instructed them to address a person in charge of the special equipment. They warned the participants, however, that the person in charge was an elderly lady and that she is to be spoken to with respect, even if she addresses others in not a very polite manner. Nevertheless, according to the organizers, she is to be treated nicely because, “that`s what we do here at the university. We do everything to maintain harmony, not to scare away inspiration”. Having witnessed this dialogue, Participant A claimed that she would not have tolerated rude behavior of the elderly lady, even though it was a common thing to do at the university. “Other people, even students who are younger than this lady, are to be treated as equals, with respect” she said.

Then we entered the room full of designers, who were making the final adjustments to their models. There were ladies with a piece of thread in their mouths. They were wearing clothes, whilst the designers were making some stitches on them. Participant A was interested, why they did that, and asked one of the designers about it. Having received the answer that this was a common superstition among the designers that without the thread in her mouth, a model is believed to lose his/her memory, Participant A found this tradition, quote, “fascinating”. “I have always wanted to work in the sphere with such interesting beliefs and traditions. If I ever have some clothes tailored specially for me, I will know that I should keep a thread in my mouth, too” she said.

The conference was attended by people from all over Russia, meaning there were representatives of different nationalities there. Participant A demonstrated genuine interest in the pieces of national clothing from Buryatia. Participant A happened to have a friend who lived in that area for several years, and she addressed several questions concerning stereotypes about Buryatia to the natives. As it turned out, most stereotypes she named turned out to be false. “Yep, one minute you think you know something, the other minute they tell you it`s actually not true. But it`s a great way to learn, though” added Participant A.

The behavior of Participant A could be linked to the different CQ components. The participant demonstrated rather developed Knowledge and Drive components, whilst the observation revealed that the Action component still needs to be enhanced. Participant A refused to adjust her behavior to the behavioral pattern common to the representatives of the culture of MSUDT. This fact provided me with an assumption, why the Action component is not as easily boosted, as the Drive or Knowledge, for example. When a person is put into an intercultural environment, they would be ready to adapt to a different behavioral pattern in both verbal and non-verbal communication, in case if this pattern does not entirely contradict their own values and beliefs. For example, in the situation with the participants at the Fair, the act of bowing to the Japanese did not contain any component, which would be incompatible with their values and beliefs, that is why they altered their behavior without any problem. In case with Participant A, however, there was a huge discrepancy between her understanding of the interaction of the university staff and younger people and the view of the organizers, who belong to a different culture. That is why she said she would have refused to adopt the manner of communication suggested by the organizers.

Prepared in-depth interviews

Having conducted some observations and having analyzed the results of the CQ-level test, I obtained sufficient data, necessary to fully assess the CQ of the participants, both in theory and in practice. I was particularly interested what helped the participants to develop their CQ level.

On the basis of observation, the following conclusions were made concerning CQ-level enhancement: being eager to learn and to check the information a person has about other cultures is crucial; learning foreign languages helps to minimize the boundaries in communication as well as provides a person with more perspectives in terms of worldview; in order to produce a favorable impression on the representatives of other cultures, one should implement their background knowledge and devise an effective communication strategy; taking the knowledge about another culture into consideration and observing the behavioral patterns of others can assist a person in adjusting themselves to another culture by both verbal and non-verbal means, provided that these patterns do not contradicts one`s core values and beliefs.

The prepared in-depth interviews were employed in order to understand whether the assumptions above take place in real life. On top of this, it was crucial to gather more background information about the participants, to identify factors contributing to CQ-level enhancement.

When the questions for the interviews were created, the attention was paid to the conclusions made on the basis of the observations as well as to notions of CQ components, what they imply.

List of questions for the in-depth interview:

· How many times a year do you travel abroad?

· How many times a year do you travel across Russia?

· Do you read foreign books in their original language (if possible)? Do you attempt to read books in other languages than Russian?

· How many books do you usually read in the period of six months?

· How many foreign films/series do you usually watch per month?

· When you come across an unknown event/tradition/notion typical of another culture in everyday life or in film/book, do you look it up later to understand what it means, to learn about its history?

· Do you learn about the customs/traditions/way of life of the people from other countries before the trip when you are travelling abroad? Why/why not?

· Do you socialize with the locals when you are travelling abroad? Why/why not?

· How many times per week do you check international news? Do you tend to compare Russian sources to the foreign ones? Why/why not?

· When you interact with the representatives of another culture, do you try to make sure that your way of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is viewed as appropriate from their perspective?

· Do you use your knowledge in the field of intercultural communication while interacting with people from other cultures? How important do you think it is to be provided with a profound theoretical knowledge on the subject in order to communicate with the representatives of other cultures?

· Do you interact with people from other cultures on regular basis (at least once a week)? Do you think the CQ-level and the presence of a sustainable relationship with the representatives of other cultures are linked? Why/why not?

· Have you ever lived abroad for more than a month? How much time do you think should a person spend abroad in order to be able to understand and adjust themselves to another culture?

· How often do you attend theatres/picture galleries/exhibitions/culture festivals? Do you think it helps us understand our own culture as well as other cultures better? Why/why not?

Results of the in-depth interviews

The interviews revealed that all the participants, except for Participant A, travel abroad at least twice a year, and that all the interviewed travel across Russia at least once a year. When travelling to the area, where another culture is represented, four participants prefer to learn something about the culture in advance in order to have a clear understanding of what they will deal with. The rest of the students, however, rejected the idea of looking the information up in advance, since they are convinced that the data presented on the Internet are often distorted and can lead to some biases and prejudices. On top of that, most participants prefer to socialize with locals when they are abroad, because it gives them the feeling that they are a part of the culture, not merely tourists, as well as it provides them with the opportunity to gain knowledge of the culture itself, which does not have the bias of the press. Despite the fact that most of the surveyed are active travelers, none of them had a chance to live abroad for more than a month. Moreover, the students hesitated to state definitively how much time it takes for someone to adjust themselves to another culture, they just claimed that it must be a period of several months. Still, the interviewed are inclined to assume that making sure that their verbal and non-verbal communication is perceived as appropriate is an issue of paramount importance once a person is exposed to another culture. All the surveyed use their background knowledge in Intercultural Communication, none of them believes, though, that possessing a profound theoretical knowledge on the subject is crucial for communicating successfully across cultures.

According to the interview, only Participants E and C maintain a sustainable contact with the representatives of other cultures. Nevertheless, all the students supposed that there is a positive correlation between the number of people from other cultures a person communicates with and their CQ-level. This tendency was underpinned by the explanation that not only can foreign friends provide us with up-to-date knowledge of the culture, but also they can demonstrate appropriate behavioral patterns and help us devise a useful communication strategy. When someone is constantly exposed to communication with people from other cultures, they can subconsciously adapt the models of behavior and then use them without even paying attention to that when put in a multicultural setting.

All the participants claimed that they constantly interact with art, in its different forms. Once literature is taken into consideration, the surveyed attempt to read books in foreign languages at least once a year, with Participant E reading such books at least once in two months. All the interviewed watch foreign films/series at least six times per month. When they encounter some culturally predetermined idea/event/phenomenon, about which they were not aware before, they practically always look it up on the Internet. On the average, the students attend theatres/picture galleries/exhibitions/culture festivals at least seven or eight times per year. They are convinced that such events help us understand our own culture better because we can consider it from different perspectives and compare it to other cultures.

Once the notion of international news is taken into account, the interviewed answered that they check the international news once or twice a week. Four participants usually read foreign sources as well and compare the data presented there to the information in the Russian ones, since they believe it provides them with food for thought and ability to analyze the news themselves. The rest of the surveyed, however, are inclined to suppose that the media are biased and are not to be trusted, thus, there is no sense in comparing foreign sources to the Russian ones.

It should be noted here, that the participants, who obtained more points in the CQ-level test, read more books in foreign languages, compare the news sources, socialize with locals and try to learn as much as possible about a different culture before being exposed to it, in contrast to those with a fewer number of points, who read fewer foreign books and do not participate in the other activities listed above.

5. CQ-level enhancement guide: structure and design

5.1 Structure and design of the guide

Having analyzed all the data the collected with the help of the CQ-level test, observations and in-depth interviews, I devised a unique CQ-level enhancement guide, which consists of three parts: a brief theoretical outline on the concept of Cultural Intelligence, tips for CQ-level enhancement, and the exercises, which are supposed to boost a person`s overall CQ-level.

Theoretical outline

The brief theoretical outline consists of the term “Cultural Intelligence” itself and its components. The author will deliberately avoid overwhelming the readers with difficult terms in order to prevent the information overload and to make the guide available for everyone, even for people without any background knowledge on Intercultural Communication. Below one can find the way the theoretical information in the guide will be presented.

Originally the term “cultural intelligence” was coined by S. Ang and L. Van Dyne. They defined it as “a person's capability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity” and justified its importance (Ang, Van Dyne, 2007).

Also, it must be noted that CQ is not an inborn, but an acquired set of skills, which can be and should be developed. CQ could be obtained and then underpinned simply by living in society and communicating with people from different social backgrounds.

According to seminal works of the field, there are four dimensions within the CQ concept: metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral.

Metacognitive (Strategy)

This competence indicates a person`s ability to observe and understand intercultural context. It takes some time to get to the bottom of things and to correctly interpret the situation. That is why a meticulously planned communication strategy is the core notion for this dimension, which focuses not only on one person`s cultural knowledge and background, but also on other people`s.

Cognitive (Knowledge)

This dimension is also referred to as a “knowledge dimension”. Its main concern is connected to the awareness that cultures differ from one another and they actually shape the way people perceive the surrounding reality and behave. Moreover, this dimension encompasses the understanding that culturally determined phenomena vary from context to context. When a person`s level of cognitive CQ is high enough, they can communicate across cultures quite successfully. Nevertheless, Linn Van Dyne stresses the idea that only in combination with other three CQ dimensions can a person convey a message in the intercultural environment effectively.

Motivational (Drive)

The motivational factor is the driving force of all the four dimensions since it is responsible for demonstrating interest and desire to learn something about other cultures. What is more, this part of CQ implies being confident while dealing with the representatives from another culture, which is a crucial factor to consider in communication. Even though a person realizes that intercultural communication can be hard to go through at times due to the differences in world perception, they are still ready to tackle the problems and handle the situation. Thus, motivational CQ is linked to one`s effectiveness in intercultural communication processes.

Behavioral (Action)

This CQ aspect has to do with both verbal and non-verbal messages which a person conveys in the intercultural environment. Those who possess a high level of the behavioral CQ know how to use gestures, phrases, posture, tone, etc. correctly, so that the messages are considered to be appropriate by the representatives of another culture. “The behavioral factor of CQ includes the capability to be flexible in verbal and nonverbal actions. It also includes appropriate flexibility in speech acts - the exact words and phrases we use when we communicate specific types of messages.” (Ang, Van Dyne, 2009).

According to Soon Ang (Ang, Van Dyne, 2007), it would be helpful to develop these CQ parts in a certain order, though, all the dimensions are equally significant, and some individuals can acquire them in a different manner. So, the scholar suggests that the first aspect to develop is Drive, which would give rise to a person`s desire to get some information on the issue. Then follows the Knowledge step, where one grasps some basic cultural notions and phenomena. After this comes the metacognitive dimension, in which people observe and plan their communication strategy, sort of mastering the communication scheme. And finally, a person gets the Action CQ and can operate freely, confidently and appropriately in the intercultural environment.

Tips

In the guide, the following pieces of advice can be found.

· Try to travel as much as you can. Your destination should not necessarily be located abroad - most countries are multicultural due to the process of globalization. Consequently, in order to be exposed to another culture, it is not obligatory to visit a foreign land. Try different types of travelling: as a tourist and as an actual traveler. The latter implies that you live in a host family (couch surfing, for instance) or at your friends`.

· Learn foreign languages. Not only will this erase the communication barriers, but also help you look deeper into the way people from other cultures perceive the surrounding reality.

· Acquire new pieces of information concerning different cultures. This will provide you with some data, necessary for devising a useful communication strategy and will give you some food for thought.

· Look up the etymology of words, both from your own language, as well as from other languages. With the help of etymology, we can obtain information on history, culture and traditions, deeply rooted in the past. The odds are that you will find some explanation for the phenomena, which exists up to these days.

· Socialize with people from different cultural backgrounds. This does not necessarily imply that they should come from other countries. It should be born in mind that the term “culture” is quite broad. Communicating with people, who have different values and beliefs, for example, would also contribute to this point.

· Be exposed to art: read books, listen to songs, watch films/series, visit exhibitions, etc. Art is deeply rooted in culture, thus, by understanding it, you become closer to grasping the gist and peculiarities of a culture.

· Try to participate in a conflict solution process. This will enhance your skill of taking various points of view into consideration. The more opinions you are exposed to, the better you can adopt the idea that the reality is versatile, implying that there is never a single way to do/to perceive something. This will enhance your Drive CQ component and motivate you to get to know other cultures better.

· Be immersed into multicultural environment. Observe the behavioral patterns of others. Within some period of time, you will be able to adjust yourself to another culture and behave appropriately without even making a special effort to do so. This will contribute to the development of Knowledge and Action components.

Tasks for CQ-level enhancement

The guide will also provide the readers with a bunch of exercises aimed at CQ-level enhancement.

· Look around you. Take any object and look the etymology of the word. Translate this word into another language and its etymology as well. Repeat two-three times a week.

· Check what date it is today and search the web to see what holidays are celebrated all over the globe. Choose two-three holidays and find out more information about them.

· Take a map, close your eyes, and point at any place. Find out one culture fact about the country you pointed at. Repeat at least once a week.

· Visit a culture festival or an exhibition at least once a month.

· Watch films/series from different countries at least once in two weeks. While watching them, pay special attention to the interaction of the characters and try to evaluate it: are their actions/responses culturally predetermined? Would the representatives of your culture behave the same way?

· Look up the intercultural conflicts present in the news. Try to think how you would solve them. What points are to be taken into account? Do this at least once a week.

· If you are travelling to the area, where another language is spoken, try to learn at least ten phrases in that language.

· Check the news from all over the world, the sections you take interest in. Compare the sources from different countries. Try to analyze the way the pieces of information are presented in different cultures. Do this every three-four days.

· Pick a country and try to remember at least ten facts about it and its people. Then search the web for new information and check whether the data at your disposal were actually true. Repeat at least twice a month.

· If you happen to have contact with the representatives of other cultures, ask them whether some stereotypes about their culture are true. Ask them for possible reasons why the false stereotypes about them are spread.

· Pick a category, e.g. “Education system”, and three random countries. Search for information on how the category is represented in these countries, compare the data to other countries and your own. Repeat this twice a month.

· Before travelling to another place, make notes about what you think of the culture of the area and its people. While being there, keep writing down your impressions about the surrounding reality. Then compare the “before-after” notes.

5.2 Limitations and gaps

Since this is a case study research, relying mostly on qualitative methods, it would be fair to state that despite the fact that the sample is ample for the case study, it may not be enough to state that the conclusions drawn from observations and interviews could be extrapolated for a larger population and be ubiquitous for everyone.

Moreover, it should be noted that the exercises presented in the guide are not aimed at developing the Motivational component, since it has to deal with a person`s desire to obtain new knowledge on the subject of other cultures. The aim of the guide, however, is to provide those already wishing to boost their CQ-level with pieces of advice as well as with practical tasks for CQ-level enhancement.

5.3 Further suggestions for the research

The CQ-level enhancement guide could be improved with the help of further research contributions. The number of participants for the case study may be increased as well as the backgrounds of the surveyed may be altered: they should not necessarily possess background knowledge on Intercultural communication, nor should they be able to speak foreign languages. What is more, the research can be enriched with the data collected for different age and culture groups.

6. Conclusion

Nowadays it is crucially important to possess a sufficient level of CQ in order to operate successfully in the intercultural society which we all are exposed to in the era of globalization. That is why the creation of the CQ-level enhancement guide is considered to be topical nowadays.

The CQ concept stems from the intercultural communication theories. The latter include such notions as time and space perception, the four-dimensional culture model, high and low context and the classification introduced by Lewis. All these factors construct the cultural environment and help others understand what behavioral patterns to expect from other people and how to act themselves.

Basically, CQ is a person's capability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity. The concept has the four components: motivational (Drive CQ), behavioral (Action CQ), cognitive (Knowledge CQ) and metacognitive (Strategy CQ). Motivational CQ is linked to one`s effectiveness in intercultural communication processes and it implies that a person feels confident while interacting with people from other cultures. Cognitive CQ is connected to the awareness that cultures differ from one another and they shape the way people perceive the world around them and behave. Metacognitive CQ indicates a person`s ability to observe and understand intercultural context. And behavioral CQ has to do with both verbal and non-verbal messages which a person conveys in the intercultural environment.

CQ is an obtained competence, thus it can be developed. Despite the fact that all the components are of equal importance, it would be useful if a person could develop them in the following order: Drive CQ, Knowledge CQ, Strategy CQ, and Action CQ.

There is a bunch of tests with the help of which a person can identify their CQ level. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the tests are not academically valid. The scholars Ang and Van Dyne managed to devise a competent CQ-level test, where one can get a profound analysis of their CQ proficiency. Nevertheless, the test has several drawbacks, such as participant fatigue by the end of the test because of its length, a difficult result calculation system, etc. So, it was decided to take all these flaws into consideration and to create a CQ-level test, which would be convenient for both the participants and Is.

The test itself contains 20 questions, which means it includes five questions for each of the components. The CQ-levels which a participant can get as a result are Low, Satisfactory, Normal and High. The minimum score a person could get it the test is one and the maximum is seven.

Having conducted a survey and having analyzed the results, it could be stated that the majority of the participants have a CQ-level which equals the Normal level on this test`s scale. The observations and in-depth interviews revealed that the students possessing a normal or a high CQ-level tend to be fond travelers, watch foreign films and series, as well as read literature in different languages.

On the basis of the test, observations and interviews, the CQ-level enhancement guide for those wishing to boost their Cultural Intelligence was compiled. The guide consists of three parts: theoretical section on the notion of CQ, tips, and exercises on improving the level of CQ.

In conclusion, although CQ is a very prominent competence nowadays, this field has not been thoroughly researched yet. There are such gaps as CQ-level indication, the evaluation of the knowledge participants of the surveys possess and also approaches to the subject of studies. Nowadays mostly only Ang and Van Dyne`s works seem to be academically valid and worldwide accepted. This area needs more points of view and more theories, which offers intercultural communication specialists some room for further speculations and research.

7.Bibliography

1. Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2007). Cultural Intelligence: Its Measurement and Effects on Cultural Judgment and Decision Making, Cultural Adaptation, and Task Performance. (3).

2. Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2008). Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement and Applications . New York: M. E. Sharpe.

3. Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2009). Cultural Intelligence: A Pathway for Leading in a Rapidly Globalizing World. New York: M.E. Sharpe.

4. Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2012). Cultural Intelligence: a review, reflections and recommndations for future research.

5. Brislin, R., & Worthley, R. (2001). Cultural Intelligence. Understanding Behaviours that Serve People`s Goals. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

6. Bucker, J., Furrer, O., & Lin, Y. (2015). Measuring cultural intelligence (CQ): A new test of the CQ scale. 15(3).

7. Creswell, J. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications.

8. Earley, C., & Mosakowski, E. (2004). Cultural Intelligence. (10).

9. Hall, E. (1959). The Silent Language. New York: DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC.

10. Hall, E. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. New York: Anchor Books.

11. Hall, E. (1976). Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Books.

12. Hofstede, G. (2010). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York: McGlaw Hill.

13. James, C. (1980). Contrastive analysis. New York: Longman.

14. Lewis, R. (1996). When Cultures Collide. London: Nicholas Brealey International.

15. Lewis, R. D. (1999). Cross Cultural Communication: A Visual Approach. Southampton: Transcreen Publications.

16. Livermore, D. (2009). Cultural Intelligence (Youth, Family, and Culture): Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World. New York: Hachette Book Group.

17. Livermore, D. (2010). Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

18. Merriam, S. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

19. Paige, R. (2004). Instrumentation in intercultural training. Greenwich: JAIPress.

20. Rogers, E. M. (2002). Edward T. Hall and The History of Intercultural Communication: the United States and Japan. (24).

21. Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2014). Intercultural communication. New York: Cengage Learning.

22. Scholz, R., & Tietje, O. (2002). Embedded Case Study Methods. Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Knowledge. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publishing.

23. Soy, S. (2015). The case study as a research method. Journal of Business and Management Sciences, 6-19.

24. Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publishing.

25. Sternberg, R. (1985). Beyond IQ. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

26. Wardhaugh, R. (1970). Contrastive analysis hypothesis. 4(2).

27. Zainal, Z. (2007). Case Study as a Research Method. Jurnal Kemanusiaan.

Размещено на Allbest.ru