Abstract
The concept and intercultural application of a "common sense" approach to communication deserves close scrutiny. In an intercultural context, "common sense" should be renamed "cultural perception." In fact, there is nothing that can universally transcend culture and be called "common sense.""Common sense," as a term, refers to what is considered a good-judgment approach to a given situation. However, what is considered good judgment in one culture is often considered bad judgment within another culture. Therefore, the use of the term "common sense" during intercultural interactions hinders understanding and communication and fosters ethnocentric evaluative behavior. But if interactants from homophilous cultures recognize their own "cultural perceptions" filtered from their cognitive schemata, and also consciously consider possible cultural perceptions of the interactant, the resulting behavioral choice will be based on traditional cultural perceptions and nontraditional intercultural perceptions. The English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom is an ideal area for obviating traditional common sense/cultural perception thinking. Several role-playing student-centered activities designed for an intercultural communication classroom can help introduce this theoretical concept. (Two figures are included, and 15 references are attached.) (MM)