Intercultural Learning - Criticial Incidents, Culture Standards & Assimilator

Critical Incidents:- “der entscheidende Anstoß für das Entstehen eines Lernprozeßes hin zur interkulturellen Kompetenz geht aus von Erfahrungen in als kritisch erlebten interkulturellen Interaktions- (Begegnungs) Situationen und den darauf folgenden Reaktionen“
                    (Thomas, 2003: 146)
(Translation) The decisive trigger for the beginning of a learning process to intercultural competence comes from experiences in critically experienced intercultural interactions, situations and the subsequent reactions.

Critical Incident technique:
- a set of procedures for collecting direct observations of human behavior in such a way as to facilitate their potential usefulness in solving practical problems and developing broad pyschological principles.
- incident - any observable human activity that is sufficiently complete in itself to permit inferences and predictions to be made about the person performing the act
- critical - incident which occurs in a situation where the purpose or intent of the act seems fairly clear to the observer and where its consequences are sufficiently definite to leave little doubt concerning its effects
- originally used in maths and science, then psychology, then cultural psychology
- first to use it in cultural perspectives - Alexander Thomas

Culture Standards:
- orientation on what behaviours to expect in a foreign culture
- distinguish what behaviours are considered normal, typical and acceptable within members of a certain group
- work like implicit theories and are internalised by socialisation (Thomas, 1990)

Definition:
- types of perception, thinking, values, actions found to be normal & acceptable by majority of particular culture
- behaviour of self and others judged and regulated by these standards
- have a regulation function
- the way individuals & groups interpret CS behavioural rules varies within a certain area of tolerance
- modes of behaviour that move outside the borders will opposed & sanctioned by society

Generating culture standards: 
- critical incidents used to generate CS
- CIT Interviews are used: Question: Typical incidents are related that reveal a sense of strangeness, bewilderment and perhaps causing irritation in communication
- incidents are gathered + transcribed
- Analysed for running themes + grouped into categories
- given to experts from that culture for analysis
- Reasons and explanations provided by experts w/insights from the literary, cultural, political, religious history of the area in question
- CS generated

Limitations of Cultural Standards:
- Never describe a culture entirely
- Always seen through eyes of one particular group - relative to eye of beholder
- not static but changing (cultures change, => standards change)
- a help towards cultural orientation & basis for learning more about a culture (not definitive guide to every part of a culture)

Culture Assimilator:
- outward expression of cultural standards
- describes a CI + gives several possible explanations
- learner picks most likely explanation + is given feedback on appropriateness of answer
- description of the central CS in this case
- anchoring the CS in the culture's history