Communicative Interaction In A Cross-Cultural Situation

Abstract

The article considers the issue of the importance of cross-cultural competence of the subjects of the educational environment. It examines the social and cultural, as well as language barriers in cross-cultural situations, determines the difficulties experienced by the communicants and their preparedness level to communicative interaction. Authors note that the cross-cultural situation occurs not only in communication of the representatives of different nationalities, but also when teachers communicate with children of migrants, with students of different religions, with children with special educational needs. The article presents the results of a survey of students of the Mari State University concerning their readiness for communicative interaction in the conditions of a cross-cultural situation. The university has students of the Mari, Russian, Tatar, Chuvash, Georgian, Armenian, Chechen, Udmurt, Bashkir and other nationalities, as well as foreign students from India, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Egypt, Hungary, Finland, and other countries. All of them practice different religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, etc.), they are guided by their own rules of communication and adhere to their values. The results of the survey show that the main and first difficulty for foreign students is the language barrier when they come to study in the other country. They also mention social and cultural differences, which render communicative interaction difficult. The article presents quantitative and qualitative indicators of high, medium and low levels of readiness for communicative interaction in a cross-cultural situation.