Globalization makes people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate effectively. To be a global citizen has become the goal of our education. Landis and Bhagat (1996) argued that intercultural sensitivity is cr...Globalization makes people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate effectively. To be a global citizen has become the goal of our education. Landis and Bhagat (1996) argued that intercultural sensitivity is crucial to enable people to live and work with others from different cultural backgrounds. With higher intercultural sensitivity, one will be more global as his understanding of cultural difference becomes more sophisticated. In this present study, the intercultural sensitivity of different majors from a private institute of technology in the north of Taiwan was investigated, using the ISS (Intercultural Sensitivity Scale) developed by Chen and Starosta (2000). Based on a survey of 358 participants from Nursing Department and Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, this study focused on five dimensions of the intercultural sensitivity and the participants' demographic factors affecting their performance on intercultural sensitivity. The five dimensions included in this study were: (1) interaction engagement, (2) interaction confidence, (3) respect for cultural differences, (4) interaction enjoyment, and (5) interaction attentiveness. Among the five dimensions of intercultural sensitivity, the participants had the highest score on the dimension of "respect for the cultural differences" and had the lowest score on the dimension of "interaction confidence". Results generated by stepwise multiple regression indicated "decision of studying abroad" and "experiences of living abroad" could effectively predict the participants' intercultural sensitivity.展开更多
文摘Globalization makes people from diverse cultural backgrounds communicate effectively. To be a global citizen has become the goal of our education. Landis and Bhagat (1996) argued that intercultural sensitivity is crucial to enable people to live and work with others from different cultural backgrounds. With higher intercultural sensitivity, one will be more global as his understanding of cultural difference becomes more sophisticated. In this present study, the intercultural sensitivity of different majors from a private institute of technology in the north of Taiwan was investigated, using the ISS (Intercultural Sensitivity Scale) developed by Chen and Starosta (2000). Based on a survey of 358 participants from Nursing Department and Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, this study focused on five dimensions of the intercultural sensitivity and the participants' demographic factors affecting their performance on intercultural sensitivity. The five dimensions included in this study were: (1) interaction engagement, (2) interaction confidence, (3) respect for cultural differences, (4) interaction enjoyment, and (5) interaction attentiveness. Among the five dimensions of intercultural sensitivity, the participants had the highest score on the dimension of "respect for the cultural differences" and had the lowest score on the dimension of "interaction confidence". Results generated by stepwise multiple regression indicated "decision of studying abroad" and "experiences of living abroad" could effectively predict the participants' intercultural sensitivity.