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Brydie Pye

Tiger Pride Fall 2015

IDI Reflection (Pre-test)


Overview:
To me intercultural communication means not just talking and socializing
with a different culture, but learning about their culture. Learning about their
culture includes finding out what they do daily, which could be very similar to
you, what their values and beliefs are, how they celebrate holidays, what
their household is like, and the list goes on. Intercultural communication
means establishing that their culture is different, but also appreciating it.
When someone is in a culture different from their own and they have the
ability to not only feel comfortable but also establish a common ground
between their culture and the one they are in then they have reached the
level of being an intercultural communicator. Intercultural communication is
a very important skillset for people who work with all different types of
cultures.
My IDI Results:
After taking the IDI Pre-Test my results said that for Perceived Orientation I
scored the Adaptation level (133.73 points), and for the Developmental
Orientation I scored the Acceptance level (126.22 points). The Orientation
Gap was 7.51 points.
In terms of my intercultural communication/awareness this means that I am
aware of the similarity and differences between cultures, and I can
appreciate them, but I am unable to change my behavior when I am in a
different culture. If I could change my behavior then I would be at the
adaptation level of intercultural communication.
Reflection:
I think intercultural communication is an important skill to possess as a
teacher because there are always going to be students from different
cultures within a classroom. Teachers need to be able to learn what the
different cultures are about, accept them, and embrace them. Students learn
better when they are in an environment where they feel comfortable. If a
teacher incorporates aspects of all the different cultures into the classroom
then the student will feel comfortable. It also helps the teacher improve one
on one interaction with students. The teacher can develop different teaching
strategies for each student based on their culture.
I have worked with students from different cultures when I completed
fieldwork for college classes here at the University of the Pacific. We went to
different schools. One school we went to was called Benjamin Holt College
Preparatory Academy and these children were very well behaved. There was
a student who was wearing a turban and he was struggling to keep it on tight
while running across the court. Wearing a turban is a tradition in his culture
so he definitely couldnt take it off. We didnt say anything to him because
we understood that even though it was slowing him down he had to wear it. I

Brydie Pye
Tiger Pride Fall 2015

also worked with students from different cultures when I was home in New
Zealand. I worked as a waterpolo referee monitor and there were a couple of
schools that had all Pacific Island students in their team. One school
complained that one of those schools was being too rough. I observed that
team the next week and it was just a difference of cultures. The Pacific Island
students were all big for their age and they played with a lot of passion
which was mistaken as being rough. Those students just wanted to win. I told
the lady who complained that these students werent playing unfairly; it was
just part of how they were.
There was a difference between my perceived orientation and developmental
orientation. I perceived that I was at the adaptation level but my
developmental orientation showed I was at the acceptance level. I think this
happened because I am from a country that has a diverse population, and a
lot of my friends are from different ethnicities. I thought that since many of
my friends are from different places that I could interact with many cultures,
but I think its just because theyre my friends that I feel comfortable around
them. I might feel comfortable being around a few people from a different
culture, but being in an environment where I am the only one not from that
culture is not something that I would feel comfortable with. I didnt realize
that until after the meeting with Shannon when we went over my results. I
was nervous after Shannon explained the different stages of intercultural
communication to me because I didnt want to have a big orientation gap
since I thought that I was fairly good at intercultural communication. Once
Shannon told me the results I wasnt very surprised because it made sense
to me. I am good at seeing the differences between cultures and embracing
them, but my actions dont show that.
The meeting with Shannon really helped me make sense of the results. I
definitely wouldnt have been able to understand the results if I had just read
them. Shannon answered questions for me and clarified the difference
between the adaptation and awareness stages. The meeting helped me see
that it is important to establish a commonality between different cultures. I
originally thought that each culture had a different way of doing something
and people should accept that, but do things with their friend that doesnt
have a chance of conflictions through culture. It is still an interesting concept
to me because some cultures can be totally different.
Strengths and Weaknesses in IDI:
My strengths in IDI are that I understand that there are different cultures and
I am interested in learning more about them. I appreciate the difference in
values and norms between the cultures. I can say that I have lived in a
different country for a long period of time so I do know how it feels to live in
a different environment. But I dont think the culture is extremely different to
what I grew up with so it wasnt an extreme change, compared to if I moved
somewhere where English wasnt the spoken language. My weaknesses are

Brydie Pye
Tiger Pride Fall 2015

that I am not good at finding the commonalities between cultures. I just think
they are different and thats how it is. I am also not good at being in an
environment where I am the only person from a different culture.
I think that Tiger Pride can help with my intercultural communication quite a
bit because my class is full of students from different ethnicities. I will need
to gain relationships with them to begin to find out what the cultural
differences are and how we can find commonalities. I need to be aware of
the way the students feel about certain things because I dont want any of
them to feel uncomfortable and not want to participate.
Three aspects of my intercultural communication I want to improve on are
engaging in more conversations with people from different cultures and
learning from them, going to events where there are presentations about
different cultures, and lastly reading about different cultures online. I could
just research them or I could read about them in different newspapers to be
up to date with what is happening all over the world. If I improve in all of
these things I think that I could be much better at intercultural
communication.

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