Mary Kate Hoerr

COMM 371
Johnston
Action CQ Self-Assessment
For my action CQ assignment I interviewed my friends mom Jen who I have only
talked to a few times. The duration of my phone call interview with Jen was thirty
minutes. My friend had told me that Jen was from a different country, but I did not know
which country or much about their culture. I thought interviewing her mom Jen would be
outside of my comfort zone since I barely know her, and it would be a good way to learn
about their culture. Jen is from the Philippines.
The interview started out great, my questions were coming out clear. So clear that
it felt more like a discussion between the two of us rather than an interview. But after
five minutes or so it went back to interview format, which made me a lot more nervous as
I scrolled through my prepared questions wondering which one I should ask her next.
Next time I will order my questions in a way that they flow so it feels more like a
conversation rather than an interview. Another weakness of mine was responding in an
affirmative way. Jen told me a lot about how Filipinos do not have an interest in the
nutrient value of the food they eat, they are not too health conscious. My response was
Oh thats interesting! And as soon as I said it, I wanted to take it back. She could have
taken the word interesting negatively since I did not describe what was interesting about
what she said. So next time I have a multi-cultural encounter, I need to be more specific
with my affirmative answers. For example, I could have said, What you said about how
Filipinos do not focus on nutrient value in their meals is interesting, I like how they just

usually eat lots of vegetables that are mixed in with the pork stew because then you
would not taste the vegetables as much. The last thing I thought I struggled with also
correlated with responding to her answers. I wanted to compare the Filipino culture she
was describing to American culture in my response to her. For example, when she told
me that the Philippines is definitely a masculine run culture, I wanted to say well thats
not fair to the women in the society, have there been any changes to make men and
women more equal?. I took a breath and worded the question differently, and mainly
asked how does she feel about it being a masculine culture. Throughout the whole
interview, my thought process wanted to interpret what she was saying about the
Philippines through the lens of my own culture. Although this was a weakness, it brought
out one of my strengths during the interview.
Throughout the interview I was very good at filtering my thoughts so that I do not
say something out loud that shows I am looking at Filipino culture through an American
lens. Filtering your thoughts is very important in multi-cultural encounters because it
helps you identify your preconceived notions and it helps you learn to decrease these
notions. That way, you can have a more open mind while learning about another culture.
Another strength of mine was making sure I did not interrupt her. Or if I accidently did,
to say sorry and let her continue. This strength of mine allowed her to finish verbalizing
her thoughts without me interrupting.
Her feedback about how the interview went made me feel a lot better. When I am
nervous I see all the things I did wrong, rather than the things I did right. Jen thought I
did an amazing job, and I am glad she does because it makes me feel more confident for
future multicultural discussions. Jen found my communication style helpful, in the

evaluation she says, What I truly appreciated about her communication style was the
way she verbalized back to me what I was saying to her, affirming that she understood
what I said. Overall, her assessment is helpful. For future multicultural situations, I am
going to review her assessment of me; this way I will know my strengths and weaknesses
before entering a cross-culture conversation.
In future multi-cultural encounters, I hope that I will feel more comfortable asking
questions about their culture, and eventually not feel nervous about it. I hope for these
future discussions to run more smoothly than this one did with Jen. In addition, I hope
that I will not have thoughts that I have to filter; that I will develop a mindset of clearing
my brain before I learn about a different culture. Learning about the Philippines from Jen
made me want to take a trip their and experience it all in person. Overall, I really enjoyed
interviewing Jen to learn about the culture of the Philippines, and she told me that she
enjoyed the interview too.

Action CQ Assessment Form

Evaluation of Mary Kate by Jen
Definition of Action CQ: Action CQ is the level of my adaptability when
relating and working cross-culturally.
On the following questions please be very honest. Your answers to the
questions represent my skills in Action CQ. For every question, please
select the number that resembles how I did, and make additional
comments to explain why you picked that number.
The meaning of each number:
1= not well at all
2= once in awhile throughout the interview
3= an average amount
4= a noticeable amount
5= a great job of doing so.
Here are the questions:
A. Did I appropriately adapt my communication style to you? Was I polite in the
way I talked to you?
1

5
Comments: Mary Kate was very polite. What I truly appreciated about
her communication style was the way she verbalized back to me what I
was saying to her, affirming that she understood what I said.
B. Did I demonstrate perspective taking? Meaning did I try to seek understanding
of the Filipino culture?
1

5
Comments: Mary Kate asked pertinent questions to clarify and deepen
her understanding of the Filipino culture. One thing Mary Kate did was
compare and contrast the Filipino culture with the American culture to
better understand the differences between the two.

C. Did I appropriately adapt my verbal phrases (accent, tone, pronunciation) for

this interview? Meaning did I appropriately deliver discussion topics and situations
in a non-offensive manner throughout the interview?
1

5
Comments: Mary Kate was very clear and concise and explained what we
had to do very well. She was friendly and warm throughout the
interview. She
spoke very clearly and was very helpful when I had questions to clarify.
D. Did I give you enough time to answer each question?
1

5
Comments: Mary Kate gave me ample time to answer the questions. She
was patiently listening to what I had to say. I could go on and on
talking about my culture.
E. Did I express appreciation or gratitude for learning about the culture in the
Philippines?
1

5
Comments: Yes, Mary Kate was very appreciative of the time I spent with
her
answering the questions about my culture. We actually discussed her
visiting the Philippines one day in the near future! I really liked that!!
Additional overall question:
Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve my Action CQ? Did you notice
something in particular I struggled with? What do you think I could improve on
when having cross-cultural conversations?
You did great!! Just be yourself and show your warmth and interest!