CULTURE

Cultures are based on social and linguistic communities. Fielding defines culture as a system of beliefs, assumptions and values shared by a group of people. Anthropologists Kevin Avruch and Peter Black explain that one's own culture provides the "lens" through which we view the world, the "logic" by which we order it and the "grammar" by which it makes sense. In other words, culture is central to what we see, how we make sense of what we see, and how we express ourselves.

In South Africa, we exist amongst diverse groups which are culturally distinctive and which allows us to communicate in different ways. This makes us multicultural du Toit (2004) explains that multiculturalism is more than the expression of cultural variety, it also concerns communication. He adds that for multiculturalism to ‘succeed’ and in order to stimulate peaceful coexistence, meaningful communication is a requisite. Meier agrees that people communicate within and between cultures by means of language, which is therefore central to their social relationships. Campbell concurs that cultural differences tend to be revealed in language, and misunderstandings between people from different cultures tend to arise from their use of language to communicate with each other.

Multicultural education seeks to achieve greater social harmony in a society and world currently beset by intercultural conflict. Based on an ideal of cultural pluralism, this does not mean that people must reject their ethnic identities but strike a compromise between cultural assimilation and cultural separatism or segregation. Being multicultural can lead to an increased perception of the equal human worth of all people and its acceptance as the norm of human experience (Samovar and Porter 1995).

In multicultural countries such as South Africa and the United States, it is imperative that the education system encourages learners to become interculturally competent. The process of becoming intercultural is a "personal transformation from cultural to intercultural … of growth beyond one’s original cultural conditioning. This does not mean that a highly intercultural person’s identity is culture-free or cultureless. Rather, it is not rigidly bound by membership to any one particular culture". Furthermore, for learners to become interculturally competent, it is essential that all participants in the education system – administrators, learners and educators become aware of their own cultural background and how their own beliefs and values influence their interactions with learners of other cultural backgrounds.

Intercultural studies have gained popularity in South Africa. The post-apartheid era in South Africa calls for all racial groups to live in harmony and work together to build a country that is economically, politically and socially stable. Developing intercultural competence includes self-reflection, gathering information about your own and other cultures, appreciating cultural similarities and differences, using cultural resources, and acknowledging the essential equality and value of all cultures. It is demonstrated, among other things, by the ability or sensitivity to interpret cultural styles of communication which include language, signs, gestures, body language and customs.

Fielding (1996) reports on fundamental patterns of cultural differences, and infers that the following are barriers to effective intercultural communication amongst learners at tertiary level:

defensiveness, different world views, different values and beliefs, prejudices, different languages, different ways of using and interpreting the non-verbal code, different ways of constructing messages, unequal power, and the failure to allow for individual cultural differences within a group. These descriptions point out some of the recurring causes of inter-cultural communication difficulties in a multicultural learning environment. As learners enter into multicultural dialogue or collaboration, they are often faced with these generalized differences. Learners need to identify these problems and realize how their culture may be shaping their own reactions. It is important for them to see the world from others’ points of view.