Intercultural Sensitivity And Its Implications For Intercultural Training

The journey to a successful intercultural interaction starts from sensitivity towards the differences among world cultures. Therefore intercultural sensitivity has been regarded as a first step toward intercultural communication competence.The thesis begins with intercultural sensitivity because the evaluation of it is the very starting point of intercultural training. Also, with increased attention paid to intercultural sensitivity in the multicultural and globalizing society throughout the past decades, confusion relating to the concept has increased as well (Chen & Starosta, 2000). The development of this concept and various instruments were demonstrated to show briefly the history of this concept.The third part of the thesis is a pilot study which attempts to evaluate current levels of intercultural sensitivity of the postgraduates of Shanghai International Studies University (compared with their American counterparts). This survey can be used to analyze the existing intercultural communication training/ education in Chinese universities and propose appropriate approaches catering to the needs of the Chinese university campus to develop more interculturally prepared graduates.The fourth part of the thesis gives a brief introduction of intercultural training and Bennet and Hammer's Development Model of Intercultural Sensitivity which is of great significance in the field of intercultural communication.The aim of this thesis therefore, is to clarify the concept of intercultural sensitivity and to show its current level among the postgraduate of SISU and the research's implications for intercultural training. In this way, the thesis provides a brief history of this concept as well as the current development and expression of it among a limited sample. In this way, the thesis can add to the collection of academic research on intercultural sensitivity in China.