CC BY
18Pedagogy
UDC 378.2
senior teacher Muratova Olga Anatol'evna
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Moscow); senior teacher Bernatskaya Marina Vladimirovna
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Moscow)
STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING INTERCULTURAL AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION ONLINE
Аннотация. В статье затрагивается проблема необходимости обучения высококвалифицированных специалистов, способных к быстрой адаптации в условиях неопределенности и умеющих выстраивать взаимовыгодные отношения с деловыми зарубежными партнерами во время пандемии. Основное внимание в работе уделяется значимости формирования межкультурной профессиональной коммуникативной компетенции и совершенствования способности к критическому мышлению у студентов экономических университетов в виртуальной среде. Авторами рассматриваются электронные средства, используемые для формирования данных ключевых компетенций при обучении иностранному языку во время виртуальных занятий. Авторы предприняли попытку обобщить свой практический опыт преподавания иностранного языка в контексте межкультурной и деловой коммуникации на онлайн семинарах в Российском Экономическом Университете имени Г.В. Плеханова.
Ключевые слова: неопределенность, межкультурная коммуникация, критическое мышление, инструменты обучения в онлайн среде, взаимодействие, интерактивный онлайн курс, дистанционное обучение.
Annotation. This article outlines the importance to train highly qualified specialists capable of quick adaptation in the conditions of uncertainty and building successful relations with foreign business representatives during the coronavirus pandemic. It emphasizes the need to develop intercultural professional communicative competence and foster critical thinking skills in students of economic universities in a virtual environment. The authors consider the use of digital tools in an English-learning process that contribute to the development of these key competencies in virtual classrooms. The authors share their practical experience in teaching a foreign language online in the context of intercultural and business communication at Plekhanov Russian Economic University.
Keywords: uncertainty, intercultural communication, critical thinking, digital teaching tools, interaction, interactive online course, distance learning.
Introduction. In today's world, the coronavirus pandemic has triggered dramatic transformations in almost every sphere of people's lives. The lockdown introduced by the governments in developed countries across the globe prompted officials in almost all areas to switch from traditional methods of work to virtual models. Undoubtedly, the chosen course for the implementation of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation", approved by the government of the Russian Federation in March 2017 [8], has facilitated the transitional period to remote learning environments. Governmental grants and investments from private enterprises into the IT industry have accelerated the launch of online platforms and digital tools that prove to be indispensable in all areas of national activity in the conditions of the pandemic. However, the implementation of digital resources into traditional ones implies that specialists should have certain knowledge, skills and abilities to work and communicate in a daily virtual environment.
Thus, the aim of modern economic universities is to encounter challenges caused by Covid-19 outbreak and divert their attention to various online learning platforms for the creation of interactive online courses and applying a wide range of the Internet resources in order to prepare students for effective interaction in a new format. These online educational programs are aimed at forming and developing the key competencies which would enable graduates to participate actively in all areas of socio-economic activity within the digital ecosystem.
The transformations caused by the pandemic and transition to distance learning have undoubtedly affected the educational and training processes in economic institutions. They have encouraged teachers to use innovative teaching methods and approaches and create digital educational models that can equip students with professional knowledge and prepare young professionals for quick adaptation in a current digital economic environment [4].
It goes without saying that the key role in the training of specialists is assigned to teachers of foreign languages, since they are obliged to help graduates in the acquisition of linguistic and cross-cultural skills which are necessary for interaction with business partners in a new format. Since the main aim of the program is the coordinated development of the digital economy in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, the would-be economist should be able to build mutually beneficial relations with partners in the European and Asia-Pacific areas in the formats of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS. This specialist ought to be ready to changes and make appropriate decisions in order to improve relations with international, regional and industrial enterprises, taking into account the interests of the Russian Federation [8]. Consequently, the educator should organize the process of teaching a foreign language, aimed at the formation of special communicative skills required for fruitful interaction and the accomplishment of goals in both physical and virtual classrooms.
The main body. In conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity, the economist must possess cognitive skills such as interpretation, analysis, assessment, inference and explanation of factors for the formation of an accurate, balanced and objective judgment. These skills are of primary importance for making a right choice of a communicative strategy in the process of interaction with representatives of other cultures. In addition, this specialist should have the following qualities: curiosity, awareness, self-confidence, independence, flexibility and assertiveness in expressing thoughts. He or she should have strong positive thinking attributes, be active, unbiased and consistent. Therefore, in order to make right decisions and respond quickly in case of uncertainty in the process of communication with partners, the economist ought to be able to think critically, as the qualities mentioned above are regarded as components of critical thinking [1].
As the ability to think critically, tolerance, empathy and rejection of ethnocentrism and national stereotypes are the key features to successful intercultural communication, universities include programs which are focused on the formation of intercultural competences in the curriculum. Since the pandemic has disrupted the learning process across the globe, educators have been obliged to alter their teaching models aimed at developing key skills through a foreign language in traditional classrooms into virtual ones.
Scientists emphasize the need to create and use such teaching aids, the purpose of which is to teach students business communication and interaction in conditions of instability and global uncertainty. The transition to the digital economy has encouraged universities to create their own interactive online courses and digital resources to increase their competitiveness. However, Covid-19 has been accelerating this process all over the world and educators have turned to different online teaching platforms and are obliged to adopt digital teaching strategies which can enable students to foster their critical thinking skills alongside intercultural communicative competences for successful interaction.
The shift to digital teaching at Plekhanov Russian university of Economics is not an exception. Being under the lockdown, the educators became familiar with Zoom, a popular video conferencing tool which turned out to be indispensable in the conditions of the pandemic [10]. The application's built-in tools have given teachers an opportunity to interact and collaborate with students during online learning.
The most noteworthy Zoom technique is breakout rooms, which are used for collaboration and make the virtual learning environment almost equal to traditional one [10]. They prove to be an invaluable means for the analysis of business cases and dilemmas and the development of critical thinking skills and intercultural competences. The use of break rooms facilitates the organisational process of collaboration in pairs and groups which is necessary for case analyses and increases the effectiveness of the teaching process in a virtual classroom.
Firstly, this tool enables a teacher to split students into pairs or small groups of 3-4 and place them in separate rooms. During a discussion the groups perform independently, focusing full attention on the given task. Meanwhile, teachers can monitor the whole process by joining a room of their choice. Before breaking students into groups, a teacher should:
- give instructions clearly and accurately in order to avoid repetitions and even misunderstanding during discussions in breakout rooms;
- allocate a sufficient amount of time to think and ask questions in case they arise, do not rush to start the process immediately;
- take into account personal qualities and abilities of every student and create a team in which students can feel at maximum comfort showing the best results of productivity;
- fix time limits for the teamwork to structure and systemize activities.
Of course, students' engagement in the collaborative process and motivation for interaction in a team increase significantly at this stage. In general, the number of students in an academic group often exceeds that of twenty learners, which often makes it challenging to encourage discussions in a classroom. Moreover, some students may be reluctant to communicate because of modesty, lack of confidence and motivation. By means of breakout rooms, these problems can be solved as the function of splitting participants into small groups at Zoom allows a teacher to apply an individual approach to each group. As a result, every student in a team is involved in the discussion and is more willing to share their points of view with peers.
However, the role of an educator cannot be neglected as it is considered to be a facilitator in a technology-enhanced learning environment. As the online learning platform contains tremendous amounts of information, the educator should take the role of a careful guide to help learners move through the maze of knowledge. They assist learners in analyzing the materials, collaborating with peers and acquire language skills with pleasure [6].
The second step involves the organisational process of the case analysis within student groups. This requires from learners the use of cognitive skills in order to summarize the main points of the given business situation, state a problem and identify the issues of the case, brainstorm options with their advantages and disadvantages, make a rational choice and give recommendations about optimal solutions to the problem of the case. The teacher should give the following instructions:
• read the business case and underline the sentences expressing the main idea of the given situation;
• highlight the main facts and paraphrase them into five or six sentences;
• consider the situation from the main company/character's perspective;
• state the problem of the case and identify the main issues that can get in the way;
• suggest the possible options that can be applied in order to solve the problem, weigh up their benefits and drawbacks and draw a rational conclusion based on solid evidence;
• choose the most appropriate way to resolve the problem and give justifications;
• suggest a plan of actions to implement recommendations in real life.
This stage implies heated discussions in a group since students are encouraged to analyse and evaluate the given business dilemma, to show ingenuity and resourcefulness in finding appropriate solutions to the stated problem. This phase requires attention to detail, identifying the main patterns, taking different perspectives, objectivity and considering implications and consequences [7].
The final stage is related to the presentation of the results through another built-in tool which enables every team to demonstrate the screen of every participant at Zoom. The conference makes it possible for students to share their solutions to the problems, evaluate their effectiveness by asking questions and making comments and express their points of view online.
Thus, the advanced in-built tools of Zoom application can provide an opportunity to engage students in discussions and increase their motivation for interaction with peers during distance learning. These means enable educators to continue fostering communication skills along with critical thinking skills through solving business cases and dilemmas in a virtual environment. According to the Russian linguist and philologist E.G. Tareva, "the case, stimulating students to comprehend, analyze the essence of intercultural conflict, decide on how to get out of a difficult problem situation of intercultural interaction, will reduce the polarization of intercultural relations and ensure the productivity of contacts at various levels of international relations" [9].
In terms of developing intercultural professional communication competences, the online courses alongside electronic interactive workbooks created by faculty members of Plekhanov Russian university of Economics are being actively used in an online learning environment. For example, such an online course has been successfully used in teaching the discipline "Business and intercultural communication in a foreign language." The course consists of two modules: the first one contains texts with interactive tasks and the latter deals with a project on the socio-cultural development of a potential international company. In the first module, students are offered informative texts with intercultural aspects which equip students with knowledge of cultural peculiarities of different nationalities, followed by a set of interactive exercises. The second module comprises detailed instructions for carrying out a project, which is aimed at comparing and contrasting different cultures, interpreting and analyzing their similarities and differences,
and coming to an unbiased conclusion that would allow them to avoid communicative difficulties and achieve success in business negotiations. One of the benefits of a project approach is that it enables educators to turn a traditional classroom into a research laboratory, in which actual and acute problems are discussed and practical solutions are found taking cultural differences into account [2].
The obvious advantage of this course is the possibility of using it in a remote learning, automatically increasing the potential number of academic extracurricular hours provided for this discipline. The use of various methods of modern communication technologies and conferencing tools, such as ZOOM and Google MEET, provide an opportunity for productive communication in online classrooms.
To increase students' motivation for learning cultural differences and raise awareness about national peculiarities, a number of internet resources are employed in the framework of project preparation. The first one which is highly recommended to students is the online Culture compass [3]. This instrument helps students to understand the influence of their own cultural value preferences and potential behavioural pitfalls while dealing with people from selected countries. The 6-D model, developed by Professor Geert Hofstede, is based on six dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence [3].
Relying on this model, students make up a cultural profile of a business partner with whom they intend to interact and build successful relations in the form of an online Mindomo concept map [5]. The invaluable collaboration tool is used as a visual aid and helps students to summarize the main features of the participant, make comparison with the values of their own culture and present the analysis.
In addition, this resource assists in enhancing critical thinking skills as students should take the following steps:
select factual information, which is necessary for creating a cultural profile of their potential interlocutor;
compare it with their own cultural profile;
define the areas with cognitive coincidence and dissonance;
predict the behavioural pattern of a partner;
select an appropriate communicative strategy based on the received information.
As can be seen from the above, the digital instrument can help students learn the following cognitive skills such as searching, analyzing, comparing and structuring, predicting and planning, which refer to critical thinking [1]. Apart from that, concept maps facilitate the process of outlining possible areas which can cause difficulties in intercultural communication. Taking into account these dissonance zones, students make recommendations on how to communicate with business representatives of different cultures and succeed in the achievement of goals and realization of intentions during negotiations.
These digital tools and resources used for the project fulfilment can enable students to gain a deep insight into cultural differences, avoid cultural dissonance in the process of intercultural communication in business and make corrections in their own behavioural patterns. Students immerse themselves in the specifics of their own and other sociolinguistic environments, which in turn helps them to learn the main concepts of other cultures and reconsider the concepts of their own viewpoint of the world. Analyzing and comparing cultural dimensions students develop essential perceptive and cognitive skills that would facilitate their real life intercultural communication, help them to make accurate judgments regarding cultural profiles of business partners, and choose appropriate behavioural and communicative strategies.
Conclusion. Despite the fact that the pandemic has had a detrimental effect on the development of world economies and disrupted the educational process by forcing institutions to switch to distance learning, it does not have a dramatic impact on the main concepts of the development offered by the governments across the globe. The transition to a digital economy and the need for interaction, establishing contacts and cooperation with business partners from different countries in the context of a new format economy require highly qualified specialists with developed professional intercultural competence and the ability to think critically. In response to this demand, economic universities are making adjustments to the training programs for specialists in this field and thereby encourage academicians to make changes in the process of teaching disciplines, turning to online educational platforms and resources and shifting to virtual classrooms. By means of videoconferencing tools and internet resources, educators should provide future specialists with key and vital skills and abilities for successful business intercultural communication in both real and virtual environments.
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