Building Intercultural Competence One “Patch” at a Time

Table 1

Deardorff’s elements of intercultural competence.

Element of intercultural competence	Indicators
	(i) Respect (valuing other cultures, cultural diversity)
(1) Requisite attitudes	(ii) Openness (to intercultural learning and to people from other cultures, withholding judgment)
	(iii) Curiosity and discovery (tolerating ambiguity and uncertainty).
(2) Knowledge and comprehension	(i) Cultural self-awareness, deep understanding, and knowledge of culture (including contexts, role, and  impact of culture and others’ world views)
	(ii) Culture-specific information
	(iii) Sociolinguistic awareness
(3) Skills	(i) To listen, observe, and interpret
	(ii) To analyse, evaluate, and relate
(4) Desired internal outcome	Informed frame of reference/filter shift:
	(i) Adaptability (to difference communication styles and behaviours; adjustment to new cultural environments)
	(ii) Flexibility (selecting and using appropriate communication styles and behaviours; cognitive flexibility)
	(iii) Ethnorelative view
	(iv) Empathy
(5) Desired external outcome	Behaving and communicating effectively and appropriately (based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes) to achieve one’s goals to some degree.