Strategies used by Korean and Filipino students in the University of the Philippines Diliman to achieve intercultural communication effectiveness

Abstract

The emerging trend towards globalization entails encountering people from various cultures. This necessitates the presence of various nationalities in one area. As such, in order to promote acceptance and better understanding among them and to avoid conflicts, intercultural communication should be given attention. As of the moment/ a huge number of foreigners go to the Philippines for leisure, and business purposes. Because of this, a lot of studies that tackle intercultural communication had already been conducted by various researchers. Most of them were conducted in a business setting, context of marriage and others. However, recently, the country became a popular place for foreigners, specifically Koreans not only for the above mentioned reasons but as well as for academic reasons. Most of them go to the Philippines to receive a quality English language education on a relatively cheaper cost compared to their country. As one of highly recognized institutions, the University of the Philippines Diliman is one of the top universities Koran students choose to study. Because of the huge number of Korean students enrolled in the university, the researcher decided to choose the institution to conduct an intercultural communication study in relation to an academic organization. This research's main objective is to determine how the Korean students in the University of the Philippines Diliman achieve intercultural communication effectiveness. The specific objectives are 1) to find out the perceived cultural differences between Filipinos and Koreans; 2) to determine how uncertainty/ anxiety between the Filipino and Korean students motivate intercultural adaptive communication strategies; 3)to determine the functional and dysfunctional strategies the Koreans and Filipinos use in communicating with one another; and 4) to discuss how intercultural communication effectiveness affect the Korean students' task, positive relationships among Filipino students and their cultural adjustment. This research utilized Dodd's (1998) Model of Intercultural Communication, which illustrates how perceived cultural differences caused by interpersonal relationships, personality and culture produces uncertainty and anxiety. These elements serve as the motivators to use dysfunctional and functional strategies that produces a third culture which leads to intercultural communication effectiveness. This study is qualitative descriptive case study. Therefore, interview schedules were conducted. The interviewees were composed of ten Korean students and 10 Filipino students who had interaction with Koreans. Based on the results, it was found out that the various perceived cultural differences between the two cultures include the religion, education, values, personality, lifestyle and communication styles. It was also proven that the uncertainty and anxieties between the two cultures motivate the Korean students and Filipino students to utilize functional and dysfunctional strategies. It was also revealed that dysfunctional strategies mainly used by both cultures involve relying on stereotypes, avoidance and hesitations. A small number of both cultures have encountered bad or unfair treatment form each other and felt annoyance towards the opposite culture. At some point the majority of the Korean students have experienced irritation and depression. Meanwhile, the functional strategies both cultures used emphasize the use of the knowledge they have gained from interacting with one another. This knowledge in turn paves the way for better understanding and openness towards the opposite culture. Both of nationalities adjust to each other's presence. Some of them employ the Filipino ways and study the language. Finally, both of the cultures were able to establish more relationships with the students from the opposite culture and enhanced the existing ones. They were able to gain more friends and some were even able to create romantic relationships. Both were able to have a smoother cultural adjustment to each other7 s presence and differences. However, only the Koreans have agreed that they achieved better task performances. Most of the Filipinos believe that it did not affect their task performances.