Relationship between Cultural Intelligence and Pragmatic Comprehension

Abstract

Abstract-Cultural intelligence is supposed to be influential to the development of pragmatic comprehension as individuals with a higher cultural intelligence can more easily navigate and understand unfamiliar cultures and adjust their behaviors to perform effectively in culturally diverse situations. To assess the actual relationship between cultural intelligence and pragmatic comprehension ability, a study was conducted over 120 Iranian learners of English in the intensive English program of universities in the United States. Data were collected through a cultural intelligence scale and a pragmatic comprehension test. The results of the Pearson product-moment correlation indicated a strong positive relationship between level of cultural intelligence and pragmatic comprehension ability. Pedagogical implications of the findings suggested exploring target language culture and interacting with target language speakers for language learners who are on educational sojourns.

An Investigation of the Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners’ Cultural Intelligence and Their Performance on the IELTS Listening Modules

“…It means that those EFL learners who have higher CQ are more successful in the IELTS Listening Test and vice versa. This finding is in line with findings obtained in studies conducted by (Rafieyan, Golerazeghi & Orang, 2015;Ghonsooly & Shalchy 2013;Fatemi, Najafzade & Sadeghzade, 2015), who found a strong positive relationship between cultural intelligence, pragmatic comprehension, speaking and writing ability, and job satisfaction, respectively. The results also confirm findings by Khodadady and Ghahari (2012), indicating that cultural intelligence as measured by CQS is negatively associated with TOEFL and its structure subtest.…”

Relationship between Acculturation Attitude and Translation of Culture-Bound Texts

“…Translation students who were more immersed in the source language culture adopting assimilation and integration acculturation attitudes presented a higher quality of translation of culture-bound text than translation students who were less immersed in the source language culture adopting separation and marginalization acculturation attitudes. Therefore, language learners who are on educational sojourns should be encouraged and provided with opportunities to assimilate or integrate into the host country culture to be able to develop their intercultural competence to an optimal level (Rafieyan et al, 2015a;Rafieyan et al, 2015b;Rafieyan, in press).…”

Relationship between Acculturation Attitude and Effectiveness of Pragmatic Instruction

“…Language learners who were more immersed in the target language culture adopting assimilation and integration attitudes enhanced their target language pragmatic competence during the educational sojourn to a greater extent than language learners who were less immersed in target language culture adopting separation and marginalization attitudes. Therefore, language learners who are on an educational sojourn should be encouraged and provided with opportunities to immerse in target language culture to be able to develop their pragmatic competence to an optimal level (Rafieyan et al, 2015a;Rafieyan et al, 2015b;Rafieyan, 2016).…”