Cross- cultural Communication This page intentionally left blank

Simulation and role playing
Simulation, including the use of role playing, can be a very effective 
means of teaching cross- cultural awareness and cross- cultural communi-
cation. However, simulations require time and expertise to implement. 
Their use in business training is well established, but is somewhat less so 

---

284 Cross-Cultural Communication
in cultural training. Simulation exercises have the advantage of involving 
a group of students who can be divided into teams. The students are 
required to act out a particular situation over a period of time. They 
should be given considerable freedom to develop their assigned roles from 
the initial briefing so that they feel they have ‘ownership’ of the parts 
they are expected to play.
Role- playing exercises require carefully scripted settings with detailed 
background briefing as well as sufficient time for the players to study their 
roles and prepare to enact them during the exercise. The teaching staff 
should act mainly as facilitators and should inject additional input to test 
the players further by putting them under pressure. Role playing can often 
engender passion among the students if they have fully read themselves 
into their respective roles. This form of learning is mainly experiential and 
therefore more memorable as it brings to life much of the theory that the 
students have previously learned.
Simulation exercises can be used, for example, involving students in a 
boardroom meeting in which policy decisions have to be made, and the 
student players representing different board members being required to jus-
tify their positions. Finally, a consensus has to be agreed on the way ahead. 
Such a simulation should replicate the real tensions, disagreements and 
challenges which occur in a real- life situation. In addition, team- building 
and decision- making skills can be practised. The exercise can incorporate 
CCTV input (for example, newsflashes), input by the directing staff and the 
injection of periods of real- time pressure play to test the players’ reactions in 
a crisis, their time- management skills and the consequences of cultural mis-
understandings and poor intercultural communication skills. It is advisable, 
whenever possible, to video record the whole simulation exercise so that the 
teaching staff can review the proceedings with the students and discuss the 
lessons to be learned in detail.
The learning outcomes from role playing are considerable and are listed 
in Figure 15.1 below.
Importance of preparation before speaking
Practice in speaking in public
Practice in the need to follow accepted protocol and be aware of national and cultural 
sensitivities
The awareness of the problems that can arise during translation and interpreting
The need to use the correct communication style for the target culture
Figure 15.1 Learning outcomes
Some students may find experiential techniques to be unfamiliar and 
even daunting, as they may have been used to more prescriptive teaching 
methods in their home country. They may be unfamiliar with open discus-
sion, both with their fellow students and with their teachers. They may 

---

Teaching Cross- Cultural Communication 285
find, in particular, the encouragement and the opportunity to challenge 
their teachers very difficult to deal with. Therefore, they may require help 
to develop their confidence and their powers of expression before they can 
contribute fully in group exercises and simulations. The teachers themselves 
in such circumstances should make an effort to be aware of the educational 
background of their students and their learning methods, and adapt their 
methodology accordingly.