CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND WRITING ABILITY: DELVING INTO FLUENCY, ACCURACY AND COMPLEXITY

Novitas-ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 2013, 7(2), 147-159. CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND WRITING ABILITY: DELVING INTO FLUENCY, ACCURACY AND COMPLEXITY Behzad GHONSOOLY1 & Somayye SHALCHY2 Abstract: Over the recent decades, cultural intelligence, now referred to as CQ has become a burgeoning area of research in the domain of business and management. Given the paucity of research on the effects of CQ on second or foreign language learning especially writing, this study intends to examine the effects of CQ on L2 learners' written performance particularly in the domain of fluency, complexity, and accuracy. For the purpose of the study, the collected written data from 104 participants were quantified in terms of measures of accuracy, fluency, and complexity and the CQ questionnaire. Using Ang et al.’s (2007) questionnaire, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis on the questionnaire. The predictive power of CQ and its subscales (i.e., cognitive, meta-cognitive, motivational, and behavioral) in the variance of writing scores and fluency, accuracy, and complexity was explored too. The results of the analysis demonstrated that CQ and cognitive CQ are the best predictors of writing ability and writing fluency. Further explanations are provided in the discussion. Keywords: Cultural intelligence, writing ability, fluency, accuracy, complexity Özet: Son yıllarda CQ olarak da adlandırılan kültürel zeka, işletme ve yönetim alanında gelişmekte olan bir araştırma alanı olmuştur. CQ’nun özellikle yazma becerilerini de kapsayan ikinci veya yabancı dil öğrenmenin üzerine etkilerini inceleyen araştırmaların yetersizliği göz önüne alınarak, bu çalışma CQ’nun özellikle akıcılık, karmaşıklık ve doğruluk alanlarında olmak üzere ikinci dil öğrenicilerinin yazılı performansları üzerine etkisini incelemeyi hedeflemektedir. Bu amaçla, 104 katılımcıdan toplanan yazılı very doğruluk, akıcılık ve karmaşıklık ölçümleri açısından ve Ang ve arkadaşlarının (2007) CQ anketi kullanılarak nicel olarak ölçüldü. Kullanılan ankete doğrulayıcı factor analizi uygulandı. Yazma puanlarındaki ve akıcılık, doğruluk ve karmasşıklıktaki değişkenliklerdeki CQ’nun ve onun altölçeklerinin (yani bilişsel, biliş ötesi, motivasyon ve davranışsal) yordama gücü de araştırıldı. Diğer açıklamalar tartışma bölümünde ele alınmıştır. Anahtar sözcükler: Kültürel zeka, yazma becerisi, akıcılık, doğruluk, karmaşıklık 1. Introduction The rapid pace of globalization, which increases day by day, demands preparing people for the nuances of the modern, multicultural century. According to Cavanough (2007), due to the nature of globalization, providing opportunities to work across borders and cultures is a need for anyone to have effective cross cultural interaction. This requires a kind of cultural understanding, a sort of intelligence. As with other intelligences, people vary in terms of having high or low cultural intelligence. Therefore, the need to specify cultural intelligence gave rise to the development of a new construct which shares some attributes with social and emotional intelligence. This construct which was defined by Earley & Ang (2003) as the capability to function in different cultural settings is inherently multidimensional involving behavior as well as cognitive facets. They argued that relatively general capabilities such as emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and social intelligence, despite their relevance to cultural contexts and individual's cognition and behavior do not apply when one is engaged with others from different cultural backgrounds. Building on this convincing argument, Ang and colleagues (Ang et al., 2007; Ang & Van Dyne, 2008; Van Dyne, Ang & Koh, 2008) developed a four-dimensional model consisting of meta-cognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ and behavioral CQ. While meta-cognitive CQ concerns higher-order mental 1                                                                                                                       Prof. Dr., English Language Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, 2 MA, English Language Department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, Ghonsooly & Shalchy processes to acquire cultural knowledge and previous knowledge that leads to better information processing, i.e. planning, monitoring, revising mental models of cultural norms, cognitive CQ relates to the knowledge of norms and convention acquired from experiences and comprehension of the structure of culture, i.e. knowledge of legal systems. Motivational CQ discusses capabilities to direct attention and energy to function appropriately in different situations and interest of individual to interact with people from other cultures. Finally, behavioral CQ concerns ability to function verbally and none-verbally in an appropriate way (Ang et al., 2007; Crowne, 2008). People who are culturally intelligent adjust quickly, with minimal stress to situations where the culture is different from the ones they were socialized. Familiarity with diverse cultures is a skill that some people have not mastered. 2. Empirical studies on CQ Writing in this modern world should break the borders and the traditional view of L2 writing requires change. Atkinson (2003) proposed the view of second language writing that emphasizes its rich embeddedness in the world rather than the perspective which sees writing as solely practiced in the classroom. This new view would give the concept of culture a central place. Weigle (2009) described writing ability as a distinct mode of communication, involving very different socio cultural norms and cognitive processes. She maintains that writing is not merely a cognitive and individual act, rather a social and cultural act. Cultural intelligence is one of the important needs of educational administrators, businessmen in foreign marketing and international business and the army forces, international work candidates, global leaders (Ang, Van Dyne & Ng, 2009; Cavanough, 2007; Crowne, 2008; Davis, 2009; Ramsey, Leonel & Gomes, 2011; Vedadi, 2008). Cavanough (2007) believes that CQ can be developed with training and experience through assignment, culture assimilators or lectures. Cavanough continued that more exposure to various cultural training, and more knowledge acquired as a result would enhance overall capabilities of learners. Those with high CQ most likely develop self-efficacy as global leaders, adopt ethno relative attitudes toward different cultures, improve mental leadership models across cultures, and show flexibility in leadership style. CQ is claimed to have certain effects on individual performance. According to Davis (2009) the development of CQ or cultural competence in the Canadian Forces could enhance success in complex cultural environment. Ramsey, Leonel & Gomes (2011) studied the effect of CQ on international business trav (...truncated)