







































Running Head: NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION       1 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use of New Media in Intercultural Communication Instruction  

Mariko Eguchi  

 University of Shimane, Japan 

Sachiyo M. Shearman 

East Carolina University, USA 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Note 

Mariko Eguchi, Department of Policy Studies, University of Shimane, Japan. 

Sachiyo M. Shearman, School of Communication, East Carolina University, USA. 

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mariko Eguchi, 

Department of Policy Studies, University of Shimane, Hamada, Shimane, Japan 697-0015. 

Contact: ma-eguchi@u-shimane.ac.jp 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        2 

 

Abstract 

The context of Intercultural Communication has changed drastically since its establishment 

due to advancements in information and communication technologies. The authors conducted 

an online survey among instructors of intercultural communication courses to inquire into the 

use of new media as a tool for teaching. We found that about half of the respondents used 

new media to facilitate online interactions of their students with other students, experts, and 

individuals with diverse backgrounds from other countries, in order to foster intercultural 

communication competence. Despite the perceived benefits, the instructors reported many 

challenges in the use of new media for teaching Intercultural Communication. This research 

presents the diverse ways in which new media are incorporated in the teaching of 

Intercultural Communication and identifies the future direction of research focused on 

development of Intercultural Communication instruction in the 21st century. 

Keywords: New media, intercultural communication, online interactions, information 

and communication technologies  

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        3 

 

Use of New Media in Intercultural Communication Instruction 

In 1962, Marshall McLuhan coined the term “global village” (p. 31) to describe the 

situation where the world would become a small community due to the development of 

electronic communication technologies. Today, in the 21st century, our life revolves around 

the Internet: people are connected through a variety of new media, such as email, social 

network services, instant messaging apps, and smartphones. It is common for people to 

conduct business meetings, job interviews, and work collaboratively using text messages and 

videoconferences with those who live in different countries and have different cultural 

backgrounds. Thus, the context of intercultural communication has changed drastically since 

the publication in 1959 of Edward T. Hall’s The Silent Language.  This book is considered to 

have established the field of Intercultural Communication. 

The authors were interested in finding out whether the teaching of Intercultural 

Communication has undergone a change in the way people communicate with each other 

after the advent of the Internet. A few decades ago, working overseas, travelling abroad, and 

watching international news coverage used to be the primary means of intercultural 

encounters. Today, we conduct business through email and videoconferencing, take online 

courses as international students, and apply for jobs in foreign countries on the web. It is easy 

to invite foreign nationals to the classroom using new media and students get to learn about 

other cultures first hand without leaving the classroom. Do instructors of Intercultural 

Communication take advantage of these Internet based technologies? If so, what do they 

perceive as the benefits of incorporating new media for teaching Intercultural 

Communication? If the instructors do not take advantage of Internet based technologies for 

the teaching of Intercultural Communication, what is the reason for this?  

To seek answers to these questions, the authors attempted to inquire into the use of 

new media in the teaching of Intercultural Communication by conducting an online survey. 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        4 

 

Answers to these questions will help develop the pedagogy of Intercultural Communication 

courses. A better understanding of the various ways in which new media are used will 

provide teachers of Intercultural Communication new ideas in how to enhance their teaching 

methods. 

Literature Review 

After reviewing the existing literature on the pedagogy of Intercultural 

Communication, three types of teaching approaches were identified: “lecture,” “activity,” and 

“interaction with unfamiliar others.” This classification was arrived at on the basis of the 

source of information: teachers, classmates, and individuals from different cultures. In a 

lecture, the teacher is the one who provides information to students. In student activities, the 

students reflect and create knowledge in class. In interaction with unfamiliar others, students 

interact with those with different cultural or ethnic background from their own. 

The most common approach taken for the teaching of Intercultural Communication is 

“lecture.” Gudykunst and Hammer (1983) classified the different approaches to intercultural 

training and argued that the typical approach used is the didactic approach consisting of 

lectures. They called the lecture-based approach as the “university model,” where professors 

share information regarding the differences and similarities of other cultures with regards to 

American culture. In 1986, Beebe and Biggers conducted a survey of introductory courses in 

Intercultural Communication at U.S. colleges. They found that most of the class time was 

devoted to lectures, while guest speakers, videotaping, case studies, small group discussion, 

and field trips consisted of only about 10% of the class time.  

The second approach is “activity.” According to Gudykunst and Hammer (1983), the 

“university model” was replaced by the “experiential” approach, which makes use of 

activities. The activities are designed to familiarize students with situations they might 

encounter in foreign cultures. These include simulation games such as Barnga (Thiagarajan & 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        5 

 

Steinwachs, 1990) and BaFa BaFa (Shirts, 1977). In classroom activities, students are 

encouraged to share their perspectives, stories, and emotions through reflection and 

discussions. 

The third approach is “interaction with others.” Edward Hall encouraged his trainees 

to meet people belonging to different cultures as a means of learning how to communicate 

with others (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1990).  When guest lectures and field trips allow students to 

interact with individuals from other cultures, these teaching methods will be categorized 

under “interaction with others.” In this paper, this approach is further divided into two 

categories: “face-to-face interaction with others” and “online interaction with others.”   

“Face to face interaction with others” is the category of teaching method where 

students actually engage in face-to-face interactions with those whose cultural backgrounds 

are different from their own. Additionally, instructors can ask students to interview an 

international student on campus or an expatriate for a class assignment. One of the most 

common examples of this approach is the study abroad program.   

“Online interaction with others” is the category that the authors would like to 

investigate more in order to understand whether teachers of Intercultural Communication take 

advantage of new media as a way to help students interact and engage with others. Kume and 

Hasegawa (1966) conducted an experiment using an innovative method of teaching cross-

cultural communication that consisted of real-time video conferencing between Australian 

and Japanese universities for the first time. Brown, Cummins, Figueroa, and Sayers (1998) 

reviewed successful cross-cultural collaborative learning projects using communication 

technologies and stated: “the students have become more aware of their own culture as a 

result of the contrast they have experienced with another.” In 2003, Chia, Poe, and Young 

(2011) piloted a real-time intercultural communication course between Chinese and 

American universities using video-conferencing and IRC chat, which developed into a global 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        6 

 

education network called Global Partners in Education (GPE). The authors are part of this 

network and have taught Intercultural Communication courses coordinated by GPE 

(http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/globalinitiatives/) for 7 years. These studies suggest that online 

intercultural encounters help students gain intercultural competence including sensitivity to 

different cultures, openness to the unfamiliar, and skills to cope with issues arising from 

cultural differences. 

Procedure 

In order to find out whether instructors of Intercultural Communication take 

advantage of new media, the authors developed an online survey which consisted of 

questions regarding background of the instructor and the class, teaching methods, and 

perceived benefits and challenges of the use of new media in the teaching of Intercultural 

Communication.  The authors sent emails explaining the survey, providing a link to the 

online survey, and inviting members to participate. Listservs of members of the National 

Communication Association, the Center for Intercultural Dialogue 

(https://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org/) and the Center for Intercultural New Media 

Research (http://www.interculturalnewmedia.com/) were all used for contact potential survey 

participants.  

Results 

Respondents and Classes 

The survey was conducted from February 27, 2017 to May 7, 2017 and 48 instructors 

responded. After eliminating deficient data, 38 responses were obtained. Out of these 38 

respondents, 11 were male (29%), 26 were female (68%), and 1 person did not specify their 

gender. The age of the respondents ranged from 27 to 79, with the average age being 47 years 

(SD = 11.8). The mode was 40 which constituted 49% of the respondents. The academic 

positions of the respondents included adjunct/part-time instructor (8%), full time instructor 

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/globalinitiatives/
http://www.interculturalnewmedia.com/


NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        7 

 

(5%), assistant professor (18%), associate professor (29%), full professor (24%), and others 

such as adjunct professors, Ph.D. candidates, and teaching assistants (13%).  Out of the total 

number of respondents1, 27 were from the communication field (71%), 2 from psychology, 1 

from anthropology, 1 from linguistics, 1 from business, and the rest belonged to other 

departments including education, international education, cultural studies, and a multinational 

company.   

All the respondents stated that they taught courses related to culture and 

communication.  As reported by the respondents, Intercultural Communication was the most 

frequently taught class, followed by other courses including Cross-cultural Communication, 

Culture and Communication, International Communication, Intercultural Business 

Communication, Global Communication, International Studies, Inter-ethnic Communication, 

and Study Abroad.  The number of students in their classes varied from 1 to 240. The average 

class size was 46.  

Teaching Methods 

Face-to-face intercultural interaction. To the question “In your intercultural 

communication class, do you provide an opportunity for your students to engage in actual 

face-to-face intercultural encounters?” There were 14 respondents (36%) who answered 

“always,” 11 respondents (28%) answered “most of the time,” and 8 respondents (21%) 

answered “sometimes.” Nobody answered “never,” but there were 5 respondents who did not 

answer. Surprisingly, 86% of the respondents reported that they had created opportunities for 

face-to-face encounter.  

In order to find out how instructors facilitated such encounters, we asked a multiple 

answer question: “How do you provide the opportunity for your students to engage in actual 

intercultural encounters?” The results are shown in Table 1. As Table 1 clearly shows, many 

of the instructors of Intercultural Communication who participated in the study facilitated 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        8 

 

interactions between their students and those with different cultural backgrounds. Some 

instructors invited guest speakers from other cultures so that their students could hear 

authentic stories directly from the culturally-different others. The guest speakers included 

international students, colleagues, or scholars; individuals from the community with different 

cultural backgrounds; country experts and businesspersons returning from foreign 

assignments; visually impaired persons; and gang members, among others. One of the 

instructors teaches international students, so the class consists of students representing 

different cultures. Additionally, they encourage their students to get first-hand encounters 

with the local community by assigning homework outside of the classroom. The assignments 

include having students interact with prison inmates, attendees of international festivals, and 

customers at local bars. 

In addition, they help their students build relationships with the cultural others by 

matching them with international students. They stated that they coordinate meetings 

between their students and ESL students or other international students on campus, or assign 

group projects with exchange students. Other activities include watching foreign movies, 

observing in-group/out-group behavior in various school settings, participating in festivals, 

and visiting temples of different religions and international restaurants, in order to interact 

with individuals belonging to other cultures. 

Benefits and challenges of face-to-face intercultural interaction. None of the 

instructors answered “never” to the question of whether they enable their students to meet the 

culturally others face-to-face and most of them favored face-to-face meeting with individuals 

belonging to different cultures. When asked about the benefits and challenges of face-to-face 

interaction in Intercultural Communication instruction, some of the respondents stated that 

they think that students learn from experience and that they believed face-to-face interaction 

is necessary for students to learn how to communicate with others. Moreover, they stated that 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        9 

 

face-to-face encounters help students understand the concepts of Intercultural 

Communication better as it allows them to apply theory to practice, observe nonverbal cues, 

and discover contrasting perspectives on various issues.  

As for the challenges, some of the respondents expressed lack of access to individuals 

belonging to different cultures. While it is easy to arrange face-to-face encounters in a 

university that has a large population of international students, it is not easy to implement this 

opportunity in other areas where guest speakers are not readily available. One respondent 

stated that she did not learn about this pedagogy in her graduate program and that it did not 

occur to her that face-to-face intercultural encounters could fit with the traditional lecture 

style. 

Computer-mediated intercultural interaction. To the question “In your 

intercultural communication class, do you provide an opportunity for your students to engage 

in computer-mediated intercultural encounters?” There were 53% (17 respondents) who 

stated that they used new media. Out of these, 7 respondents (22%) answered “always,” 2 

respondents (6%) answered “most of the time,” and 8 respondents (25%) answered 

“sometimes.” However, 47%, (15 respondents) chose “never,” and 6 respondents chose not to 

answer. Contrary to the responses to the question on face-to-face interaction, half the 

respondents to this question stated that they have not incorporated new media in their 

teaching. Those who answered “never” explained that they “never thought of it,” “never had 

an opportunity to do so,” that they thought it was “unnecessary for this course,” that they 

“never established any reliable/viable counterpart outside of the U.S.” The other negative 

comments on computer-mediated intercultural interaction were that “the encounters could be 

replicated on campus without using computers,” and that there were “always computer issues 

either on our campus or the other sides.” 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        10 

 

In order to find out how instructors facilitate such encounters, we asked the following 

multiple answer question: “How do you provide the opportunity for your students to engage 

in computer-mediated intercultural encounters?” The results are shown in Table 2. Compared 

to Table 1, Table 2 shows less number of online activities implemented. Nonetheless, more 

than half the respondents incorporate computer-mediated intercultural interactions in their 

teaching, which is quite impressive given that the use of new media in the pedagogy of 

Intercultural Communication is not yet taught in graduate programs of Intercultural 

Communication. Many indicated that they invite experts from several continents to interact 

with their students through Skype or Zoom. They also collaborate with fellow universities 

and conduct online discussions and activities which involve international individuals. The 

students collaborate online to create and test intercultural games. Skype, Zoom, Email, QQ, 

and WhatsApp are used to facilitate these interactions. Another program used is called Soliya 

(https://www.soliya.net/) and connects classrooms around the world.  

Benefits and challenges of computer-mediated intercultural interaction. We 

enquired about the benefits of computer-mediated interaction in Intercultural Communication 

instruction by asking, “What do you believe, if any, are the benefits of using new media such 

as video-conferencing in intercultural communication courses? Please mark all that apply, 

and write any other benefits that you may see.” The results are shown in Table 3. As shown 

in Table 3, no respondents indicated that using new media in intercultural communication 

instruction lacked any benefits. In other words, all of the instructors saw some value in 

incorporating new media while teaching intercultural communication. It was also stated by 23 

respondents that computer-mediated intercultural encounters are beneficial, because new 

media can help connect people around the world. This benefit was recognized by 60% of the 

respondents. Out of these, 16 respondents believed that this would enable students to receive 

immediate feedback from others and 5 respondents thought that this would enable students to 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        11 

 

learn experientially. Other answers stated that communication using new media is part of the 

students’ life in the contemporary world and it is very real for millennial students, although 

most of the respondents left the text entry blank. 

The respondents were also asked about the challenges of computer-mediated 

interaction in Intercultural Communication pedagogy: “What do you believe, if any, are the 

challenges of using new media such as video-conferencing in intercultural communication 

courses? Please mark all that apply, and write any other challenges that you may see.” The 

results are shown in Table 4. Most respondents cited technical difficulties as the biggest 

challenge. Intercultural exchanges facilitated by new media require reliable facilities that 

provide a fast Internet connection along with audiovisual equipment. In addition, 

technological support for instructors is necessary because instructors of Intercultural 

Communication are not usually trained to be proficient in communication technologies and 

audio-visual equipment. As a result, they are unable to keep up with the rapidly developing 

communication technologies. One respondent described this issue by saying, “I have done 

this in the past, but it was too time-consuming and always led to computer issues either on 

our campus or on the other sides. The encounters could be replicated on campus without 

using computers.” The language barrier has also been cited as a challenge for online 

intercultural communication. This issue is not evident when guest speakers are invited to the 

classroom directly, as they are likely to be able to communicate in English. However, when 

guest speakers are invited into the classroom via new media from different parts of the world, 

they often include foreigners who were not as proficient in English as are international 

students in American colleges or foreign nationals in the community. Time differences in 

class times is also an issue, because students should be able to meet foreigners living in other 

countries while classes are in session. One respondent noted that “having a 9 am class means 

that one would need a European counterpart to be available in the afternoon, or a Middle 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        12 

 

Eastern or Asian person late at night, which is usually not feasible.” Other challenges 

included students’ willingness to communicate, lack of previous experience with the use of 

new media, availability of international partners, and lack of sufficient time to make 

arrangements. 

Future of computer-mediated intercultural interaction. Lastly, the respondents were 

asked, “Would you be interested in providing more opportunities for your students to have 

computer-mediated intercultural encounters in your classes?” The results are shown in Table 

5. 

Those who favored computer-mediated intercultural encounters included 13 

respondents (34%) who answered “definitely yes” and 7 respondents (18%) who answered 

“probably yes,” while about half the respondents did not favor it or did not answer the 

question. Compared to the positive perception toward face-to-face intercultural exchanges, 

the perception toward computer-mediated intercultural exchanges is yet to be determined, as 

42% of the respondents answered “might or might not,” or did not answer.  

The authors did not ask the respondents why they felt that way, but it would probably 

be because some of the respondents explained that they had “never thought of using new 

media” when asked if they arranged for computer-mediated intercultural encounters. The 

reasons for why some of them are not willing to incorporate new media may vary. The 

reasons may be due to lack of training, lack of technical support, or lack of access to 

international partners. This topic needs to be investigated further to determine the reasons for 

this, because only by knowing them would it be possible for us to make use of the 

communication tools for the 21st century. It needs to be investigated further why 13 

respondents chose to answer “definitely yes.” Their accounts of how they overcome the 

challenges of new media might help in developing the pedagogy of Intercultural 

Communication. 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        13 

 

Conclusion 

Results show that the context of Intercultural Communication instruction has changed 

after the advent of the Internet along with related information and communication 

technologies. About half of the respondents answered that they use new media to facilitate 

interactions between their students and those from different cultural backgrounds. They take 

advantage of the benefits of new media by arranging for the students to listen to lectures by 

guest speakers, have discussions with students in foreign universities, build relationships, and 

work collaboratively on global projects. Their use of new media in Intercultural 

Communication was so creative and impressive that they should deserve more attention. It is 

unfortunate that about half the respondents seemed to be unaware of the opportunity that new 

media can bring to intercultural communication classes. The results of this survey clearly 

show that use of new media is taking roots in the current pedagogy of Intercultural 

Communication as against the results of the study conducted by Beebe and Biggers in 1986 

that reported no mention of the use of new media in intercultural communication classes. 

The survey also shows that there are many issues that need to be addressed in order 

for instructors to implement computer-mediated intercultural interaction. Compared to face-

to-face intercultural interaction, computer-mediated interaction entails technical and language 

issues and requires more time because of lack of reliable international partners and 

scheduling difficulties. In addition, this study shows that about half the respondents are 

willing to use new media while the rest are not. We discussed the reasons for these 

conflicting perceptions and suggested future direction of research to enquire into the different 

perceptions toward new media in Intercultural Communication instruction. It is possible that 

the instructors need assistance in technical training, finding international partners, scheduling 

with partners in different time zones, or possibly with developing more creative ideas for 

incorporating new media in Intercultural Communication.  



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        14 

 

However, these findings are not totally conclusive. Not only was the size of the 

survey very small, but there was also a selection bias because we depended on volunteer 

participation and the respondents who volunteered are more likely to be interested in the use 

of new media in Intercultural Communication instruction creating additional bias. Therefore, 

another survey needs to be conducted to reach out to more instructors of Intercultural 

Communication in order for us to generalize our findings. Nonetheless, we believe we were 

able to provide useful information to those interested in advancing the pedagogy of 

Intercultural Communication.  

We live in the age of the Internet, where for the first time in human history, we might 

be able to promote interactions between cultures by overcoming the physical distance that 

divides us. We believe that it is imperative to incorporate new media into the pedagogy of 

Intercultural Communication not only because there are benefits to it but also because it has 

become a part of our lives. Shuter (2012) has pointed out that communication researchers 

have not paid attention to the impact of new media on intercultural communication and that 

the use of new media is a new frontier in intercultural communication. Knowing how 

instructors of Intercultural Communication perceive new media, what challenges they 

experience, and how new media can be incorporated in the pedagogy of Intercultural 

Communication, this will ultimately help equip students with competence in intercultural 

communication. 

 

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        15 

 

References 

Beebe, S. A., & Biggers, T. (1986). The status of the introductory intercultural 

communication course. Communication Education, 35(1), 56-60. 

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Brown, K., Cummins, J., Figueroa, E., & Sayers, D. (1998). Global learning networks: 

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racist, multicultural education and staff development (pp. 334-354). Washington, DC: 

Network of Educators on the Americas. 

Chia, R. C., Poe, E., & Yang, B. (2011). History of Global Partners in Education. Global 

Partners in Education Journal, 1(1), 3-7. 

Kume, T., & Hasegawa, N. (1999). Japan-Australia collaborative class via videoconferencing 

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zyugyou: bunseki to kousatsu]. Kenkyu Houkoku, 8, 25-43. 

Leeds-Hurwitz, W. (1990). Notes in the history of intercultural communication: The foreign 

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Speech, 76(3), 262-281. 

Gudykunst, W. B., & Hammer, M. R. (1983). Basic training design: Approaches to 

intercultural training. In D. Landis & R. S. Bhagat (Eds.), Handbook of intercultural 

training (pp. 118-147). Elmsford: Pergamon Press.  

McLuhan, M. (1962). The Gutenberg galaxy: The making of typographic man. Toronto: 

University of Toronto Press. 

Shirts, R. G. (1977). BaFa: A cross cultural simulation. Delmar, CA: Smile II. 

Shuter, R. (2012). Intercultural new media studies: The next frontier in intercultural 

communication. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 41(3), 219-237.  



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        16 

 

Thiagarajan, S., & Steinwachs, B. (1990). Barnga: A simulation game on cultural clashes. 

Yarmouth: Intercultural Press. 

 

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        17 

 

Table 1 

Responses to Question, “How do you provide the opportunity for your students to engage in 

actual intercultural encounters?” 

Ways to create face-to-face intercultural encounters Number of 

Respondent

s 

Inviting guest speakers into class 24 

Face-to-face interview assignments 15 

Matching students with international students for multiple meetings 12 

Combination of the above 9 

Others 10 

 

 

 

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        18 

 

Table 2 

Responses to Question, “How do you provide the opportunity for your students to engage in 

computer-mediated intercultural encounters?” 

Ways to create computer-mediated intercultural encounters Number of 

Respondent

s 

Lecture exchange/Video-conferencing by Skype, etc. 6 

Discussion/In-class activity using Skype, etc. 6 

Collaborative assignments 7 

Texting by Facebook, etc. 4 

Email exchanges 6 

Combination of the above 3 

Others 4 

 

 

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        19 

 

Table 3 

Perceived Benefits of Using New Media in Intercultural Communication Courses  

Possible perceived benefits Number of 

Respondent

s 

No benefits 0 

Connecting people in other parts of the world 23 

Instant feedback from the other 16 

Experiential learning opportunity 5 

Others 16 

 

 

 

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        20 

 

Table 4 

Perceived Challenges of Using New Media in Intercultural Communication Courses 

perceived challenges Number of 

Respondent

s 

Technical difficulties 20 

Language barrier 15 

Time difference 6 

No challenges 1 

Other 13 

 

 



NEW MEDIA IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION        21 

 

Table 5 

Interests in Use of New Media in Intercultural Communication Courses 

Response Number of 

Respondent

s 

Definitely yes 13 

Probably yes 7 

Might or might not 4 

Probably not 2 

Definitely not 0 

No answer 12 

 

                                            
1 We did not ask nationalities of the instructors or which country that they teach currently, 

although we assume that most of the participants are those who resides in the United States, 

as the participants were recruited using American-based academic organizations such as 

NCA (National Communication Association) list serve. 


