Intercultural Communication

Service Learning Paper

Submitted by:
Jeff Klc

April 28, 2019

Submitted to:
Tamra K. Phillips, M.S.
COMM 2150-002
Department of Communication
Salt Lake Community College
Service Organization

For my service learning project I decided to volunteer with the English as a

Second Language Program (ESL) at Salt Lake Community College. My contact I worked

with is listed below:

Andy Shaw
ESL Instructor
English as a Second Language Program
Salt Lake Community College Redwood Campus
TB 018D-E
Phone: (801) 957-4111
Email: andrewshaw@slcc.edu

Project

ESL classes are intensive English practice in reading, writing, listening, speaking,

grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The mission of these ESL classes “is to

improve students’ English language skills which will help them successfully develop

personally, professionally, and academically at Salt Lake Community College” (SLCC

ESL front webpage). Native English speaking students are used to help the teacher by

floating around and assisting the students with various assignments or projects.

For my project I wasn’t assigned to a specific class or student, instead I floated

from class to class depending on the date and time of the class. Each time I volunteered I

was able to meet different students from different cultures. Some students were in

multiple classes and I would help them often. One of these students is an international

student from Columbia named Daniela. I had the opportunity to help Daniela in her

pronunciation class and she requested I come to her reading and writing class since they

usually didn’t have many volunteers in that class. I also had the pleasure of helping

Christian from Peru and David from Mexico in their various classes.
Cultural Groups

I worked with many people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds.

The cultural group all of these students have in common is the English language not

natural to them. Daniela who I mentioned earlier is a young international student studying

in America only temporarily. David who I also mentioned earlier is an immigrant and a

father of three children. There were some people that have lived in Utah for thirty years

and still hadn’t learned English. In one of the pronunciation classes I helped in there was

a mother who brought her child to class that day. In that same class there is another

mother from China who always said her children speak better English then her.

Challenges

I learned how much English I forget because I have taken learning it for granted.

It was challenging trying to help another learn grammar when I couldn’t remember it

myself. There was one class where I was helping a student with their English lab online.

One would think their exercises were easy for a native speaker, however that wasn’t

always the case. I helped this student and looked over their assignment feeling confident

they would get 100% after my help. When the results came in I apparently missed one

question and they ended with a 80% for the assignment. When this happened I had the

feeling that I wasn’t helping which was challenging for me.

Another challenge I faced was a language barrier, however this happened only a

couple times. Some students had very thick accents and I had to listen carefully to

understand what they were saying. Sometimes I had to repeat back what they said to

ensure I heard them correctly. I also tend to mumble when I talk and so I had to focus

when I spoke to speak clearly so the student could understand me.

Theory

The theory I want to focus on is the Value Orientation theory developed by

Florence Kluckhohn and Fred Strodtbeck. In the textbook it defines cultural values as

“the worldview of a cultural group and its set of deeply held belief” (Martin &

Nakayama. 2004, p. 100). Each culture has their own values but some cultures share

similar values. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck recommended that all cultural groups should

answer five important questions.

1. What is human nature?

2. What is the relationship between humans and nature?

3. What is the relationship between humans?

4. What is the preferred personality?

5. What is the orientation toward time?

With each value there is an opposition and the course packet states, “each

opposition can be placed on a continuum with two poles”(Phillips, 2011, p. 40). Human

nature for example could have two poles of basically good and basically evil, having a

mixture of good and evil in the center of the two poles. Relationships between humans

and nature range from humans dominating to nature dominating. There are humans that

interact well with other humans and are more collateral, and on the other side there are

humans that are individualistic and like to be alone. One side of the preferred personality

has a stress on action of doing, while the other side focuses on being who you are, and

having the personality focusing on spiritual growing in the middle. With time some value

thing that lie in the future, others in the past, and the middle there is a focus on the

present.
 Geert Hofstede a social psychologist continued the work of Kluckhohn and

Strodtbeck. The text says, “Whereas Kluckholm and Strodtbeck (1961) based their

framework on cultural patterns of ethnic communities within the United States, Hofstede

and colleagues examined value differences among national societies. (Martin &

Nakayama, 2004, p.107) Hofstede continued with four more value orientation points.

• Power distance: social inequality, including the relationship with authority

• Femininity versus masculinity: the social implications of having been born male
or female

• Ways of dealing with uncertainty, controlling aggression, and expressing

emotions

• Long-term versus short-term orientation to life

(Martin & Nakayama, 2004, p. 108)

Analysis

When I first started my service learning experience I was surprised by how many

different cultures I was spending time with. As I developed a learning in this theory I

quickly understood the concept that these students all have different values orientations

which in some cases made volunteering slightly difficult. There were some students who

value individualism and they tended to favor a more direct response or answer. One

example of this would be when I was helping a student with an exercise in their grammar

workbook. There were multi-choice questions with a couple sentences having incorrect

grammar and one sentence being the correct one. The student I was helping always

wanted a direct answer of why the wrong answers were grammatically incorrect. This put

pressure on me because I couldn’t give a clear direct explanation the student was looking

for.
 There were a couple value orientations that I noticed the majority of the students

in the ESL program had in common. I found this very interesting because they all came

from different cultures but shared some same values. The first example of this would be

orientation to time. In the text is says, “most U.S. cultural communities particularly

European American and middle class seem to emphasize the future,” (Martin &

Nakayama, 2004, p106) and then gives examples of setting up retirement or making

appointments in the future. All the students in the ESL program chose to be there to learn

English. I feel the reason they are paying money to learn the English language is because

it will help them drastically in the future.

With the idea of learning any new language (English in this case) there seems to

always be a preferred personality of “Doing” or a stress on action. In the ESL program at

Salt Lake Community College many students stressed this personality. It is possible since

they were in a college structured class there may have been added stressors like grading

and time running out in the semester that these could add to the motivation aspect of

learning English. I feel like all the students I spoke with and helped they really wanted to

learn this new language.

Earlier I mentioned an example of how some students value individualism when it

comes to their personal work. The ESL program as a whole I feel is a very collectivistic

program because all the students are coming together with the same purpose. Each and

every one of these students have the same goal of learning English and it was interesting

to see how they helped one another obtain this goal. One example of this was towards the

end of the semester when the students had an assignment to explain in English something

they learned about the class and each other. If you were to step in this class to volunteer
for the first time you would feel like these student knew each other for years. The ESL

program builds a community and friendship, which I feel, is a collectivistic value.

Reflection

When I learned about this project at the beginning of the semester I had mixed

feelings. The proposal for the project was due the earliest which motivated me to find a

culture I wanted to serve. The option of helping the ESL program that was in the same

location, as this class seemed logical and most time effective. Overall I was excited to

serve and I was glad it was incorporated in this course. I have served different cultures

before at Shriner’s Children Hospital and the Make A Wish Foundation of Utah. Each

time I have served other people in the past it felt good and I had a good time.

There were two main things I learned when serving this culture. First I was

amazed at how terrible I am at speaking English. Growing up learning the English

language I really have taken it for granted. There were multiple times where I couldn’t

explain why the English is spoken or written the way it is. I grew up learning it and so

sentences just sound wrong when the grammar is off. This put things in perspective for

me of how difficult the English is and what the students are going through. These

students in the ESL program however have the drive and motivation unlike any other

(which is my second point). I learned that these students are really determined to learn the

English language and work hard everyday.

My apprehension and attitude did change drastically throughout the project. The

first part of the semester it took some motivation for me to get back into the classroom to

volunteer. This was maybe because the first couple times I didn’t see the use for me there

and the students stayed to themselves. As the semester continued then friendships started
forming from student to student and also student to volunteer. This made volunteering

more fun because peoples’ personalities were surfacing and instead of class it seemed

more like friends hanging out. The students were no more open for the volunteers to help

and joke with. By the end of the semester I didn’t want it to end and I am thinking about

serving in the future just for fun.

I think the insight I gained is noticing how much of help the volunteers were in

the ESL program. There were some classes where is seemed we didn’t do much help but

overall the impact of the volunteers was important. I remember there was one class where

there were only three students that attended and there were three volunteers that day as

well. This particular day was very special because we had a one on one experience the

entire class. It is incredible the amount of volunteers that chose to help in the class it

really helps the instructors help all the students obtain their potential.

When I applied the application of theory stated above and other theories it

provided a bigger picture with the culture I was serving. For example the students all had

a collateral orientation towards one another because no matter what their backgrounds

they were all trying to learn English. As I understood this concept it created a collectivist

connection to the students and I as a volunteer could be a part of them learning and

growing over the semester.

It makes me wonder what these students go through each day not knowing how to

speak English. My contribution to the community starts with the people I served. My

participation hopefully helped these students understand key concepts of the English

language. These students aren’t completely fluent after one semester but perhaps the

more they put what they learn into practice then they can focus on other goals they might
have. Also I wanted these students to have a good time in the classroom so it was fun to

joke around and make school a positive experience. The interesting thing is serving these

students made school for me a fun and inviting experience. I feel like it would be a

positive impact for the community if these students have a passion to continue their

education because it is fun for them.

I want to get my degree in international studies and so I definitely will apply what

I have learned from this service learning experience into my desired career. I love to

travel and understanding different cultures and the different cultural theories will help me

communicate in foreign countries. But I don’t need to travel to experience different

cultures. The day this assignment was explained it was interesting to me how many

different types of cultures there are. I realized that in a year I probably interact with many

cultures different from mine without realizing it. I hope in the future as I interact with

other cultures I can embrace mine and respect others.

References

School of Applied Technology and Technical Specialties. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.slcc.edu/satts/programs/esl.aspx

Phillips, T.K. (2011). International Communication Course Packet

Martin, J. N. & Nakayam, T.K. (2004). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (4th ed.)