Abstract:
Living in a global village needs an ability not only to communicate or to exchange information by using global
languages such as English, but also to know other cultures as we get used to getting into contact with other people
from culture other than our own. Intercultural understanding simply refers to the basic ability of people to correctly
recognize, interpret, and react to other people, incidences or situations that are open to misunderstanding due to
different cultural background meaning that they have different life, vision, religion, ethics, norms, laws, education
system etc. Dealing with English language teaching especially for the learners of business communication, it has
been widely recognized that they need not just knowledge and skill in the grammar of the target language but also
the ability to use the target language in socially and culturally appropriate ways. Classroom speaking activities that
can be effectively used to get the goals mentioned are simulation and role-playing as the students ‘stimulate’ a reallife
encounter such as a business meeting as if they were doing so in the real world, either as themselves or taking on
the role of a character culturally different themselves (Harmer, 2001: 274) and when applied in the classroom, they
are proven effective. This paper, therefore, tries to elaborate how to master both English as a means of global
communication in different settings and intercultural communication understanding to avoid misunderstanding in
the global world for the students of Business Communication by means of role playing and simulation in the
classroom.
