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

Year 2013, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, - , 01.06.2013

Behzad GHONSOOLY, Somayye Shalchy

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

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

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Kültürel zeka, yazma becerisi, akıcılık, doğruluk, karmaşıklık

References

• Ang, S. & Van Dyne, L. (2008). Handbook of cultural intelligence: Theory, measurement, and applications. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
• Ang, S., Van Dyne, L. & Koh, C. (2006). Personality Correlates of the Four Factor Model of Cultural Intelligence. Group and Organization Management, 31(1), 100-123.
• Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K-. Y., Templer, K. J. & Tay, C. (2007). Cultural intelligence: its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation, and task performance. Management and organizational Review, 3(3), 335-371.
• Amani. S. (2007). An investigation of the effects of planning on fluency, complexity and accuracy in narrative writing of Iranian EFL students. Unpublished Master's thesis, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
• Ansari, M. I., Radmehr, R. & Shalikar, M. (2012). Analysis the Relationship between Cultural Intelligence and Transformational Leadership (The Case of Managers at the trade office). International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(14), 252-261.
• Atkinson, D. (2003). Writing and culture in the post-process era. Japan Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 49-63.
• Bentler, P. M. (1989). EQS Structural Equations Program Manual. Los Angeles: BMDP Statistical Software.
• Bonzo, J. D. (2008). To assign a topic or not: Observing fluency and complexity in intermediate foreign language writing. Foreign language Annals, 41(4), 722-735.
• Byrne, B. M. (1994). Structural Equation Modeling with EQS and EQS/Windows: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
• Cavanaugh, N. L. (2007). Cultural intelligence: Factors and measurement. Unpublished Master’s thesis. Massachusetts Institution of Technology.
• Chenoweth, N. A. & Hayes, J. R. (2001). Fluency in writing. Generating text in L1 and L2. Written Communication, 18(1), 80-98.
• Crowne, K. A. (2008). What leads to cultural intelligence. Business Horizons, 51, 391-399. Davis. K. D. (2009). Sex, gender and cultural intelligence in the Canadian Forces. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 47(4), 430-455.
• Earley, P. C. & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Hepner, K. A. & Sechrest, L. (2002). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Child Health Questionnaire-Parent Form 50 in a predominantly minority sample. Quality of Life Research, 11, 763-773.
• Kuiken, F. & Vedder, I. (2007). Task complexity and measure of linguistic performance in second language writing, IRAL, 45, 261-284.
• Loehlin, J., C. (1998). Latent Variable Models: An Introduction to Factor, Path and Structural Analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Myles, J. (2002). Second language writing and research: the writing process and error analysis in student texts. Retrieved on September 9, 2012, from http://tesl-ej.org/ej22/a1.html
• Ng. K-. Y., Van Dyne, L. & Ang, S. (2009). From experience to experiential learning: Cultural intelligence as a learning capability for global leader development. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(4), 511-526.
• Nunan, D. (2011). Second language teaching and learning, Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
• Olive, T., Favart, M., Beauvais, C. & Beauvais, L. (in press). Children’s cognitive effort and fluency in writing: effects of genre and of handwriting automatisation. Learning and Instruction. Ong, J. & Zhang, L. J. (2010). Effects of task complexity on the fluency and lexical complexity in EFL students argumentative writing. Journal of Second Language writing, 19, 218-233.
• Peivandi, A. (2011). The relationship between CQ and IQ in writing ability of adult Iranian EFL learners. Unpublished Master's thesis, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
• Rahimpour, M. & Hosseini, P. (2010). The impact of task complexity on second language written narrative. English Language Teaching Journal, 3(3), 198-205.
• Ramsey, J. R., Leonel, J. N. & Gomes, G. Z. (2011). Cultural intelligence's influence on international business traveler's stress. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 18(1), 21-37.
• Salimi, A., Dadaspour, S. & Asadollahfam, H. (2011). The Effect of Task Complexity on EFL learners' Written performance. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 1390-1399.
• Schreiber, J. B., Stage, F. K., King, J., Nora, A. & Barlow, E. A. (2006). Reporting structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis results: a review. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(6), 323-337.
• Sechrest, L., Davis, M. F., Stickle, T. R. & McKnight, P. E. (2000). Understanding ‘method’ variance. In L. Bickman (Ed.), Research Design: Donald Campbell’s Legacy, (pp. 6387). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
• Van Dyne, L., Ang, S. & Koh, C. (2008). Development and validation of the CQS: The cultural intelligence scale. In S. Ang & L. Van Dyne (Eds.), Handbook on cultural intelligence: Theory, measurement and applications, (pp. 16-38). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
• Vedadi, S. (2007/1386). A review on the relation between CQ and the educational administration performance of Qom Islamic science International Center. Unpublished paper, Islamic Azad University of Kermanshah.
• Weigle, C. S. (2009). Assessing writing. New York: Cambridge University Press.