Week Unit Initial release date Chapters Topics

No No
1 Unit 1 06-04-2020 (Monday) Welcome to IACD MOOC and Introduction to the academic fields of Intercultural
introduction Studies, Communication Studies and Cultural Studies -
The complex meaning of Culture; Interculturality;
Dimesnsionalising cultures; Perception of othernes;
Barriers to intercultural communication
Unit 2 08-04-2020 What is culture? The concept of What is culture? Concepts of culture. Approaches -
(Wednesday) culture. Cultural theories Defining Culture, The notion of Culture, The main
elements of Culture: values, norms, beliefs, attitudes,
behaviours, cognition, perseption of Self, stereotypes;
Classification of concepts: subjective and objective
culture; culture as a system of behaviours, set of
meanings and independently existing phenomenon
Unit 3 10-04-2020 (Friday) Dimensions of culture - cultural distances between
countries: identity, power, gender, uncertainty, time and
gratification of needs
2 Unit 4 13-04-2020 (Monday) Cultural taxonomies. A critical approach to cultural
taxonomies - Hofstede's model (Hofstede, 2001;
Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010); Schwartz's theory
of basic values (1992, 2006);Trompenaar's 7 dimensions
of culture (1993); Robert House and the GLOBE Project
(House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004.

Unit 5 15-04-2020 World Value Survey - Inglehart - Welzel Cultural map of

(Wednesday) the world (2005); Survival values versus self-expression
values and Traditional values versus secular-rational
values
  17-04-2020 (Friday) Culture across time and space: ethnic, Understanding Ethnic and cultural diversity -
linguistic and cultural diversity multicultural citizenship and ethnic identity
3 Unit 7 20-04-2020 (Monday) Linguistic barriers as hidden dimensions of culture -
negotiating meanings in intercultural communication;
culturally encoded and decoded verbal and non-verbal
behaviours; language proficiency; socio-pragmatic issues
(expression of politeness, notion of face, complimenting,
refusing, thanking, apologizing and other speech acts
associated with specific cultural underpinnings

Unit 8 22-04-2020 Understanding gender and gender roles in different

(Wednesday) cultural contexts - gender-role beliefs in different
cultural contexts; importance of Power distance and
Masculinity - Feminininity
Unit 9 24-04-2020 (Friday) European cultural identity and European identity and European values - Unity in
diversity: united in diversity diversity
4 Unit 27-04-2020 (Monday) Europe 2020: the current state of EU identity and
10 diversity -Dimensions of European Identity; Culturalist
and Structuralist Models of fostering European identity
Unit 29-04-2020 European identity and values reflected in culture -
11 (Wednesday) cultural pluralism; distinctive values of selfhood and
horizontal relationship, endorsing harmony–
egalitarianism
Unit 01-05-2020 (Friday) Europe’s intercultural HQ: report from Brussels
12
5 Unit 04-05-2020 (Monday) Intercultural communication skills Introduction to the communication studies - basic
13 concepts and models of communication; transmission of
messages, production and exchange of meanings
Unit 06-05-2020 Intercultural communication: culture as a frame for
14 (Wednesday) communication - Intercultural communication model
(Deardorff, 2006): knowledge, skills and attitudes;
Intercultural sensitivity, Intercultural learnin; Michael
Byram’s (1997) Model of Intercultural Communicative
Competence (ICC)
 Unit 08-05-2020 (Friday) Culture matters: the role of cultural factors (linguistic,
15 religious, cultural patterns, customs and traditions) in
intercultural communication - Hall’s concept of High and
Low context (1976, 1977); sequential or
synchroniccultures; affective or neutralcultures

6 Unit 11-05-2020 (Monday) Business etiquette and protocol: Do’s and Don’ts when
16 conducting business in specific cultures/countries - the
East - West divide: how cultural differences affect
business communication style (basic customs, greetings
and politeness, formality, eye contact; physical
closeness, building trust and power relationship, decision
making, email etiquette, concept of time, national pride,
silence, humour, language and tone of voice...)
Unit 13-05-2020 Effective strategies for working in multicultural business
17 (Wednesday) environments - The process of Negotiation between
different cultures: general model, role of the individual,
interaction, outcome (decision making, orientation
toward time, risk-taking, trust, formality, persuasion,
agreement); developing intercultural and strategic
competence, developing knowledge and sensitivity to
recognise different behaviours(active listening,
maintaining personal relationship, open mindedness)

Unit 15-05-2020 (Friday) Wrap-up and summary Wrap-up and summary - Intercultural competence
18 assessment, INCA (Openness - tolerance of ambiguity
and respect for otherness, Adaptability - behavioural
flexibility and communicative awareness, Knowledge -
knowledge discovery andempathy); conclusions and
implications