Interview questions about culture and traditions

North Seattle College

HUM 105 Jane Lister Reis, Instructor

Assignment: Cultural Interview and Active Listening Assignment (50 possible points)

Draft Due: Week 5 for Peer Review

Final Paper Due: Week 6

Assignment: Ask someone in class who has a different cultural background than you to be your interviewee. You can also ask someone in your workplace or a friend outside of class. (For this assignment, we are defining culture as place of origin or ethnicity, for example, my culture would be white mid-western.) Before meeting your cultural interviewee, do some initial research about their culture and cultural identity. Spend some time thinking and developing questions you’d like to ask them. Imagine you are a first- time visitor. What would be important for you to know?

You will find a few questions on the second page of this assignment, but these are only suggestions. Students from past classes have told me that taking time to do some research about your interviewee’s culture allows you to start your interview feeling more relaxed and confident.

Spend a minimum of one hour with them asking questions about their culture. Frame your questions within the context of cultural respect and humility (a “beginner’s mind”). Use the listening skills introduced in this class to help you be a more mindful and present listener. Here’s a chance to practice your “So Do You Mean” exercise listed in week 1.

I suggest you audiotape your interview so that you don’t have to rely solely on your notes to develop your paper. If you don’t audiotape your interview, you will need to jot down notes during the interview which is distracting.

Immediately following the interview, go back over your audio or written notes and write about your cultural listening experience (for example, what you learned, how you think you did as a listener, etc.) while your memory and the listening experience are still fresh. These reflective notes will be important when you develop your paper.

If you audiotaped your interview, transcribe the important part of your interview so that you have a significant portion of your interview in note form.

Now you’re ready to write your paper.

FORMAT: Your paper MUST include the following three sections headings. You must use these heading in your paper to separate the different sections of your paper:

Part 1: Overview Write an introduction by telling who you interviewed and why you chose this person. Include in this section responses to the following prompts:

· Introduce your reader to the person you interviewed: Who did you select for your interview? Why? What is their name (you can use first names only if you wish)?

· What is their culture or cultural identity?

· What is yours (to show the contrast in your paper)?

· How did you prepare for your interview?

· Where did you meet?

· What time did the interview start? End?

· How did you create a safe space? What made it so, or what didn’t?

· What did you already know about this person’s culture and cultural identity?

· How easy or difficult it was to ask the questions and have a conversation about culture at the same time as you are trying to listen?

· Did you feel comfortable or awkward during your interview? How do you think the other person felt? What made you think this way? What verbal and nonverbal clues were present?

Part 2: Intercultural Analysis (This section should be 50% about the person you interviewed and 50% about yourself as a communicator.) Write an analysis about what you learned:

1) as a visitor to the other person’s culture, and

2) about yourself as a listener from your cultural conversation with this person.

In the Section #1 of Part 2, you can write about the other person’s culture. What were some of the things you learned about the other person’s culture that surprised you or you found fascinating? Here’s your opportunity to share what you learned about this other person’s culture. For example, a little history of their culture, some cultural traditions, beliefs and values.

In Section #2 of Part 2, you will want to write about what you learned about yourself as an intercultural communicator. Based on what you’ve learned about listening, do you think you were an effective listener? All of the time? Sometimes? What were your challenges? Be specific in your paper. Your paper must include examples of when you used your listening skills and when you didn’t.

In Part #2 of your paper, this is an opportunity for you to use some of the concepts you’re learning about in this class. For example,

· What did you learn about your interviewee’s worldview?

· How did this cultural listening exercise help you become aware of your own worldview? Did you find some similarities or sharp contrasts? For example, did you notice that your own worldview had to expand a bit as you “took in” another person’s culture?

· What about your ability to pay attention to your interviewee’s verbal and non-verbal communication style? Were you genuinely curious or was this just a way to complete an assignment?

· What about your openness to cultural differences? Did you notice any personal biases that got in your way? How did you overcome them to stay present to your interviewee and maintain a safe environment?

Part 3: Personal Reflection (This section should be 100% about yourself as a cultural communicator at the macro level.) This last part of your paper is a chance for you to reflect on your skills as a multicultural communicator at more of a macro level – a chance to step back, reflect on the whole experience and you as the communicator/listener. What were the most important things you learned from this interview about culture, cultural identity and most importantly about yourself as a cultural communicator that will help prepare you to be more competent as a cultural communicator? Write about the things that you learned from doing this interview including responses to the following questions:

· What surprised you, challenged you, or will stay with you as an important aspect of your communication across cultures?

· What changed in you as a result of this interview/conversation?

· Were there communication practices (asking open questions, not interrupting, staying silent but present, etc.) that you wished you had used or done better?

· Did this experience help you understand the challenges and complexities inherent in intercultural communicator?

· What is your take away from this assignment?

Format: typed, double spaced, 12-point font, minimum three pages that includes headings for each of the sections above. Attach your notes to your paper.

RUBRIC for the 50 POSSIBLE POINTS

· Draft completed on time (10 points) – graded separately

· Be clearly organized and formatted with three separate headers labeled Part 1, 2, and 3. (10 points)

· Includes an introspective analysis about yourself as a cultural communicator and what you've learned through this experience – where are your strengths and challenges? (10 points)

· Includes a reference, and examples if possible, of how you integrated and referred to the six elements of our cultural rubric: cultural self- awareness, knowledge of cultural worldview frameworks, empathy, verbal and nonverbal skill, curiosity, and openness and where you see yourself growing. (10 points)

· Be free of basic grammatical and vocabulary errors, and easily comprehensible to the reader (up to 10 points)

A SUCCESSFUL ASSIGNMENT WILL:

· Be clearly organized, with distinctly marked Part 1, 2, and 3.

· Have a clear focus, relating some of the ideas you are learning about culture and cultural differences to your interview experience

· Show a deepening understanding of the challenges of cross-cultural communication and a beginning understanding different listening skills and how to use them to achieve shared meaning

· Be free of basic grammatical and vocabulary errors, and easily comprehensible to the reader

Some potential questions to consider. Please think of your own too.

1. What should I know of your culture’s recent history, governance and language?

2. What do you understand as the major values and beliefs of your culture?

3. What cultural customs might surprise me?

4. If I were to fall in love with someone from your culture, what would you advise me in terms of dating, courtship and marriage practices?

5. What are some different cultural practices that I might not be aware of? For example, understanding of time, work and leisure?

6. Do you have a religious tradition? How was it shaped by your culture and historical tradition? How has this tradition shaped your understanding of the world?

7. What do you see as the most important thing we can do to build greater understanding between cultures?