Human beings draw close to one another by their common nature, but habits and customs keep them apart (Mhene,2022).
Intercultural-ism and Education
Want to know a simple truth?" According to a Namibian case study of December, 2020 that was conducted at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), investigated that the challenges of intercultural communication between lecturers and first year students in the faculty of Human Sciences" hence, it was suggested that all first-year students in the Faculty, regardless of program, should have access to English with intercultural communication material.The study showed the age and gender composition of the students, whereby 20 % were male students between the age of 18-25 and 5% were between the age of 36-49 years old. Female students were 32% between the ages of 18-25, while another 5% were between the age of 36-49 and 10% of the females were between the age of 26-35. However, because NUST offers language programs for foreigners and beginners students who have trouble communicating and learning in English are encouraged to sign up for additional language sessions to improve their ability to interact with lecturers and fellow students. It was further suggested that lecturers and students should broaden their knowledge to enable them to accept cultural diversity in order to improve the competence of students and teachers in intercultural communication and inter language pragmatics. The complexity of academic communication is far greater than generally believed, especially in intercultural interactions." According to Elze and Podlesny (2014), different cultures gather and interpret information differently. Since that NUST has culturally diverse academic community, communication problems are prone to occur, especially when cross cultural interactions are involved."
Photo from: Nust website.
The world is rapidly transforming into a small overlapping community as a result of rapid development in the global economy, technology systems and immigration laws. We frequently deal with individuals from various cultural backgrounds. Students will gain the information and dynamic skills necessary to manage cultural differences properly and effectively via the study of intercultural communication. It also entails cultivating a creative mindset to view things objectively from various perspectives. Listening to what John Lennon , a wonderful vocalist had to say in his outstanding song "Imagine" is of the utmost significance. The line "the world will live as one", is emphasized a lot in his song. Living as an one human being is the goal of intercultural communication. Also, it was summed up in the song " Together as one," performed by the late South African artist Lucky Dube.
Photo from : Nust website, Be a buddy poster.
International students and NUST students are connected by the NUST buddy system . The goal is to make sure that international students are successfully assimilated into Namibia University of Science and Technology as well in the Namibian society at large. Knowledge of other cultures provides access to the enormous diversity of human experience.It broadens out perspective and helps us see the reasoning behind acts and behaviors.
People from many cultural backgrounds converse with one another on a daily basis in the faculty of human sciences, making intercultural communication a frequent activity. While interacting with students from other cultures, most people take their cultural background into consideration. The teaching and learning process in the university is not significantly impacted by the cultural difference, nevertheless. Listening and showing empathy is crucial in intercultural communication.
How does cultural difference influence the teaching and learning process ?
