This course explores the complexities of intercultural communication in a globalized world. Through critical discussions, debates, and collaborative activities, students examine real-world challenges that arise from cultural encounters across languages and societies. Framing these issues through the lens of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the course encourages students to reflect on the role of cultural sensitivity and sustainability in global citizenship. In parallel with class activities, students will pursue an individual research project to be presented at the end of the term.
At the completion of the course, students will:
- understand major concepts and theories on culture, which are useful in interpreting cultural variances at a profound level rather than at a mere behavioral level
- recognize and understand advanced aspects of Japanese culture and patterns of behavior, which are intertwined deeply with its history, society, and religion (philosophy)
- relate their understanding of Japanese culture through discussion of their own living and work/study experience as well as other guest speakers’ similar experiences
- interpret and analyze actual cases emerging from the collision of Japanese culture with others by using general concepts and theories
- apply a cultural lens of Sustainable Development to come up with culture-specific problem solving through simulation and games
- operate professionally with persons of different cultures and in multicultural work environments
- apply theoretical and applied knowledge that they learned in this class to their own research projects
All materials are available on Canvas.
Assignment 20% of final grade
Essay Homework 1: 7% of final grade
Essay Homework 2: 8% of final grade
Exam 1: 10% of final grade
Exam 2: 5% of final grade
Three Presentation 15% of final grade
Final Project 15% of final grade
Class Participation: 20% of final grade
** 1% extra credit will be awarded to all students if at least 90% of the class completes the CIOS evaluations at the end of the course.
Please do not tell me whether you completed it—your response must remain confidential. **0.5% extra credit will be given if you participate in a Japanese program event. I will announce which event qualifies at the beginning of class. **Grade distribution is the same for both JPN 6500 students.
Attendance and Class Performance
Students are expected to come to class fully prepared and actively participate in all activities (e.g., pair work, leading discussions). Failure to do so will negatively affect the class performance grade. Students are allowed up to two unexcused absences without penalty. You will get zero (o) points for any class session you miss starting at the 3rd absence regardless of the reasons. You are expect to come to class on time. Class performance grades will be assessed according to the following scale:
3 – Student is well prepared and fully engaged. 2 – Student is not fully prepared or not fully participating. 1 – Student is inattentive or distracted. 0 – Student is absent.
You are expect to come to class on time. Arriving more than 20 minutes late or leaving more than 20 minutes early will be counted as one absence. At the same time, Georgia Tech’s official rules and regulations will be observed (see: http://www.catalog.gatech.edu/rules/4), including excused absences for official university activities, religious observances, funerals, jury duty, and other documented events. If you are missing class for Institute excuse reasons (e.g. athletics and academic competitions), please fill out an official form, and submit it to me AND the Registrar’s Office. The instructor will be notified by email if the absence is approved. Request should be submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the event.
One serious kind of academic misconduct is plagiarism, which occurs when a writer, speaker, or designer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, images, or other original material or code without fully acknowledging its source by quotation marks as appropriate, in footnotes or endnotes, in works cited, and in other ways as appropriate (modified from WPA Statement on “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”). If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment in which you have engaged in academic misconduct and be referred to the Office of Student Integrity, as required by Georgia Tech policy. We strongly urge you to be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites: Honor Challenge — https://osi.gatech.edu/students/honor-code Office of Student Integrity — http://www.osi.gatech.edu/index.php/
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Writing area. Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals. This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question: How do I write effectively in different contexts? Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes: Students will communicate effectively in writing, demonstrating clear organization and structure, using appropriate grammar and writing conventions. Students will appropriately acknowledge the use of materials from original sources. Students will adapt their written communications to purpose and audience. Students will analyze and draw informed inferences from written texts. Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies: Critical Thinking Information Literacy Persuasion