June 2016
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION INTEREST SECTION OPEN MEETING MINUTES
Maxi-Ann Campbell, Duke Kunshan University, Kunshan, China

Date: Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Time: 6:45 pm–8:15 pm
Location: Baltimore Convention Center

IS Chair: Maxi-Ann Campbell
IS Chair-Elect: Ramin Yazdanpanah
Additional IS Steering Committee Members: Amy Alice Chastain

Number of attendees: 13

Old Business

We were able to accomplish several of the goals that we set from last year’s meeting. Three of which we are particularly proud were mentioned at this year’s meeting.

  1. We chose themes for the newsletters immediately after the convention based on meeting attendees’ interests. This allowed members to prepare in advance for submitting to the newsletter that interested them.
  2. We also were able to have TESOL ICIS panels at other association’s conferences, including SITAR and IALIC. We then featured these panels and highlights from the conference in our newsletter.
  3. We were also able to host a virtual seminar with Darla Deardorff, who is an expert in the field of intercultural communication and competence. This seminar was very successful, with more than 100 participants throughout the live event.

Steering Committee Reports

N / A

New Business

There are two main focuses of this meeting:

  1. What themes are people interested in for this coming year in ICIS?
      1. How do we develop the intercultural competence of EFL teachers-in-training? How do we define culture?
      2. How can we help ITAs deal with the diversity, such as gender and racial diversity and LGBT issues, in their classrooms? This is particularly important for ITAs who are not accustomed to being in classes with such diversity.
      3. How do we foster multiplicity or pluralism? How do we become global citizens without losing our local identities? How do we traverse or code-switch between these different identities and cultures we take on as we go outside our comfort zones?
      4. How do we upset the narrative that in order to be successful people need to assimilate to the “dominant” culture? How do we promote cultural synergy (i.e., mutual, two-way, multiway exchange between cultures)?
  2. What do we want from an online platform for sharing resources and social networking?
      1. The email system on the listserv “replies all” most of the time, even when people only mean to respond to one person. This creates very long email threads that will make people want to stop their subscription to the IS emails.
      2. One suggestion is to have a voice thread in order to avoid miscommunication based on not being able to “hear” how a person sounds.
      3. We should have a system that has biographies with pictures for all members to make networking easier.
      4. Another suggestion is Wordpress. It is very simple, cheap, and is constantly updating a newsfeed. We can then have a “meet the team” and other pages. It can also create alerts to let you know when a new blog is posted.
      5. Video chat would also be good.
      6. Overall, we should offer information in many options: social networks, webpages, emails, and video/audio.

2016–2017 Goals

Newsletter

  1. Continue thematic newsletters
      1. Lessons from the convention/future directions
      2. Cultural Synergy
      3. IC in EFL
      4. Engage. Enrich. Empower.
  2. Continue Member Spotlights

Community Management

  1. Create a Wordpress page for ICIS
      1. Survey members on what they are hoping for from the IS and post results.
      2. Include an “About” and “Current Leadership” page to introduce the IS and the leadership team.
      3. Post blogs regularly on topics of interest to the members.
  2. Create a Facebook page
      1. Post important updates (e.g., reminding members about proposal deadlines and inviting them to check out the TESOL press page).
      2. Post interesting articles/questions related to the field of ICC.

Leadership

  1. Host more virtual webinars.
      1. These seminars can be with well-known scholars in the field, such as Darla Deardorff.
      2. They can also focus on the questions/topics generated under “New Business.”
  2. Coordinate an InterSection with a forum.
      1. The topic would be focused on how people who are working in EFL/ESL settings negotiate their multiple identities, especially those related to issues of gender, race, etc.
      2. We may work with either the Diversity forum or the Globetrotters forum.
  3. Host a webinar or online discussion focused on how to join the IS leadership with the entire IS team.
      1. This will hopefully encourage members who think they are not qualified to participate in the election.
      2. This will give them an opportunity to ask questions about the work and the experience of the current leadership.

Meeting adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Maxi-Ann Campbell is currently an EFL/writing instructor at Duke Kunshan Univeristy and ICIS's chair-elect. She has taught English at Tsinghua University and Shantou University, and has served as a Global Academic Fellow at NYU Shanghai. Her research focuses on native-nonnative speaker interaction in university settings and the interplay of culture and language in Chinese English-medium universities on students’ development of linguistic and cultural competence.