Courses

The course provides a comprehensive introduction to intercultural communication, with a particular focus on understanding the cultural patterns, values, and narratives that shape communication in both local and international contexts. The course is designed in accordance with the principles of internationalisation at home. Through listening to specialist podcasts, reading academic texts in the field, watching documentary films provided by the One World in Schools platform, and engaging in class discussions, students will become familiar with the key concepts and theories of intercultural communication and learn how to apply them in the analysis of authentic communicative situations. The course draws on Joseph Shaules's concept of deep culture, which views intercultural learning as an intuitive process shaped primarily by cultural patterns rather than by explicit knowledge, and emphasises experiential, intuitive intercultural learning. It also builds on Darla Deardorff's approach, which conceptualises intercultural competence as a continuous process grounded in openness, curiosity, and the cultivation of adaptive and empathetic attitudes that provide the foundation for the development of knowledge and skills and, eventually, for effective intercultural interactions. The course also develops students' academic and professional writing skills in English, particularly in the area of interculturally sensitive communication and related topics. Students will produce reflective essays and gain an introduction to the fundamentals of critical discourse analysis through the examination of selected media texts. The assigned tasks are designed to foster academic competences, critical thinking, and critical reading skills. Particular emphasis is placed on the ability to articulate and justify culturally conditioned perspectives clearly and persuasively in written form.