CIICPD 2023

Annex I Translation of the cover note sent with the questionnaire.

CRITICAL INCIDENTS Erasmus+ project 2021–2023

As the Ministry of Education has paid more and more attention to language skills and the understanding of cultural differences, we want to study how this is taken into consideration in language teaching at different levels of education. This knowledge affects language teaching in higher education, too. In daily life, both in free-time and at work, it is important that a language learner acknowledges how the employed language is understood and interpreted, and how one should communicate with different people in different situations. It is necessary to realise the influence of one’s own linguistic and cultural identity. With the help of the questionnaire attached to this email our aim is to study if and how this topic is addressed in language teaching at different levels of education. The questionnaire studies the treatment and utilisation of critical incidents in language teaching, and the target group consists of the language teachers in the western part of Finland. The results will be published in a book which is planned to be published in 2023. SeAMK is participating in an Erasmus+ project: Critical Incidents in Intercultural Communication and Promoting Diversity. The members of the Finnish team are Anne Vuokila, Riikka Ala-Sankila and Heli Simon. Other project partners are FH Oberösterreich from Austria, Škoda Auto University from Czechia, FH Zwickau from Germany and Università di Siena from Italy. Home (webnode.cz) What are critical incidents? Here are two examples: Sales strategy in Poland A large German company set up in Poland and opened several outlets there. The workers and salespeople were Polish, and the CEO was German. In one meeting the CEO was instructing the salespeople about sales strategy. They should not be too intrusive. After a few months it was noticed that the sales slumped. Business dinner in Italy Germans and Italians had a common fair project in Italy, Bologna. After a long day at work, they agreed to go to dinner together. The Italians still wanted to discuss some important details concerning the fair and they invited the Germans for dinner. Right after the apéritif the Germans relaxed and started to laugh, tell jokes and drink more and more. The Italians participated this, but they were disappointed because they were expecting more serious discussions on the fair. The Germans did not notice their disappointment.

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