Cross-cultural Online Learning in Technical Communication Courses: Aiming for Intercultural Competence

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dc.access.optionOpen Access
dc.contributor.advisorHenze, Brent R.
dc.contributor.authorPennell, Therese Indira
dc.contributor.departmentEnglish
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-01T12:12:54Z
dc.date.available2017-06-01T12:12:54Z
dc.date.created2017-05
dc.date.issued2017-05-03
dc.date.submittedMay 2017
dc.date.updated2017-05-30T19:48:45Z
dc.degree.departmentEnglish
dc.degree.disciplinePHD-Rhetoric, Writ, Prof Comm
dc.degree.grantorEast Carolina University
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePh.D.
dc.description.abstractTeaching online in cross-cultural contexts is still a fairly new phenomenon. My research explores the impact of culture on the learners and instructors in four technical communication online courses. My study uses a comparative analysis to study how four instructors and their learners navigate their respective online courses. The instructors in this study come from two different countries, and all four of them are teaching graduate level technical communication online courses that are open to international learners. The learners in the courses come from several countries in Europe, Asia, and North America, representing an even wider range of cultural backgrounds than those of their instructors. Using a framework based on the theories of Clifford Geertz and Edward T. Hall, I analyze participants' culturally grounded communication patterns to understand how culture impacts instructors' practices and learners' expectations and experiences in their online courses. Hall theorizes that when individuals from different cultures communicate, they must have intercultural competence; they must be able to transition between low and high context communication to understand each other. The findings reveal the complex nature of culture: although national culture affects the online learning experience, other levels including institutional culture, disciplinary culture, and digital culture are also influential and may shape the cultural context of the online course even more powerfully than national culture alone. The study ends with considerations regarding tools and strategies online instructors can implement to help participants of diverse cultural backgrounds reach intercultural competence as they interact with the course and with each other.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/6195
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherEast Carolina University
dc.subjectTechnical communication
dc.subjectOnline pedagogy
dc.subjectCross-cultural
dc.subjecthigh and low context communication
dc.subject.lcshIntercultural communication in education
dc.subject.lcshWeb-based instruction
dc.subject.lcshTechnical education
dc.titleCross-cultural Online Learning in Technical Communication Courses: Aiming for Intercultural Competence
dc.typeDoctoral Dissertation
dc.type.materialtext

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