Mass Comm Bachelor of Communication Bachelor of Communication: Intercultural Competency 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which acculturation strategy involves rejecting both the heritage culture and the host culture?
- Integration
- Separation
- Assimilation
- Marginalization (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Marginalization
Marginalization occurs when individuals do not identify with either their original culture or the new culture, often leading to isolation.
Question 2: A communicator who can accurately interpret both verbal and nonverbal cues across cultural contexts demonstrates:
- Cultural assimilation
- Intercultural communication competence (Correct answer)
- Monolingualism
- Ethnorelativism
Correct answer: Intercultural communication competence
Intercultural communication competence includes knowledge, motivation, and skills to communicate effectively and appropriately in cross-cultural contexts.
Question 3: When analyzing news media portrayals of immigrant communities, a researcher finding consistent negative stereotyping would use which framework?
- Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Framing Theory (Correct answer)
- Social Penetration Theory
- Cultivation Theory
Correct answer: Framing Theory
Framing Theory examines how media selects and emphasizes certain aspects of reality to construct meaning and shape audience perception.
Question 4: The 'golden rule' of intercultural ethics ('treat others as you want to be treated') has been critiqued because it:
- Promotes ethnocentrism by assuming others share your preferences (Correct answer)
- Eliminates the need for cultural sensitivity training
- Is incompatible with collectivist cultures only
- Was developed exclusively in Western legal traditions
Correct answer: Promotes ethnocentrism by assuming others share your preferences
The golden rule can be ethnocentric because it projects one's own values and expectations onto others who may have different preferences.
Question 5: Which communication strategy is most effective when working in a multilingual international team with varying English proficiency levels?
- Using idioms and colloquialisms to build rapport
- Speaking more slowly and using plain language with visual aids (Correct answer)
- Avoiding written communication to prevent misinterpretation
- Assigning all communication roles to native English speakers
Correct answer: Speaking more slowly and using plain language with visual aids
Plain language, slower delivery, and visual support improve comprehension for non-native speakers in multilingual settings.
Question 6: Which dimension of Hofstede's framework distinguishes cultures that embrace ambiguity from those that need structured rules and certainty?
- Power Distance
- Individualism vs. Collectivism
- Uncertainty Avoidance (Correct answer)
- Indulgence vs. Restraint
Correct answer: Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty Avoidance measures the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and create rules to avoid them.
Question 7: A public relations campaign that fails in a new market because its humorous slogan was translated literally, losing comedic intent, illustrates which problem?
- Cognitive dissonance
- Lost-in-translation effect (Correct answer)
- Selective exposure
- Media gatekeeping
Correct answer: Lost-in-translation effect
The lost-in-translation effect occurs when linguistic or cultural nuances—like humor, irony, or metaphor—fail to carry across languages.
Mass Comm Bachelor of Communication Bachelor of Communication: Intercultural Competency 5
Which acculturation strategy involves rejecting both the heritage culture and the host culture?