Cultural competence/Intercultural Effectiveness Scale

Below, are the items of the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale as published in Portalla and Chen (2010)

Instructions: Below is a series of statements concerning intercultural communication. There are no right or wrong answers. Please work quickly and record your first impression by indicating the degree to which you agree or disagree with the statement. Thank you for your cooperation.

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5 = strongly agree

4 = agree

3 = uncertain

2 = disagree

1 = strongly disagree

1. I find it is easy to talk with people from different cultures.

2. I am afraid to express myself when interacting with people from different cultures.

3. I find it is easy to get along with people from different cultures.

4. I am not always the person I appear to be when interacting with people from different cultures.

5. I am able to express my ideas clearly when interacting with people from different cultures.

6. I have problems with grammar when interacting with people from different cultures.

7. I am able to answer questions effectively when interacting with people from different cultures.

8. I find it is difficult to feel my culturally different counterparts are similar to me.

9. I use appropriate eye contact when interacting with people from different cultures.

10. I have problems distinguishing between informative and persuasive messages when interacting with people from different cultures.

11. I always know how to initiate a conversation when interacting with people from different cultures.

12. I often miss parts of what is going on when interacting with people from different cultures.

13. I feel relaxed when interacting with people from different cultures.

14. I often act like a very different person when interacting with people from different cultures.

15. I always show respect for my culturally different counterparts during our interaction.

16. I always feel a sense of distance with my culturally different counterparts during our interaction.

17. I find I have a lot in common with my culturally different counterparts during our interaction.

18. I find the best way to act is to be myself when interacting with people from different cultures.

19. I find it is easy to identify with my culturally different counterparts during our interaction.

20. I always show respect for the opinions of my culturally different counterparts during our interaction.

Items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 are reverse-coded before summing the 20 items.

Dimensions

• Behavioral Flexibility items: 2, 4, 14, and 18;
• Interaction Relaxation items: 1, 3, 11, 13, and 19;
• Interactant Respect items: 9, 15, and 20
• Message Skills items: 6, 10, and 12

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A version of the initial 40 items questionnaire is available in the Tamra Portalla & Guo-Ming Chen (2010) article.

References