On Cross Cultural Communication

George Ypsilandis ypsi@itl.auth.gr

Dept of Italian Language and Literature

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

What is the most valuable skill one would expect students to acquire in

Foreign Language Teaching and Learning?

What is the most problematic area for teachers to coach

In Foreign Language Teaching and Learning?

The Art of Communication

THE PRESENT

THE RECENT PAST

THE DISTANT PAST

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

LETTER

PHONE

Email/TANDEMwww.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/

TEXT CHAT

MOO

CONFERENCING

BLOG

SMS

SKYPE

UTUBE

GOOGLETALK

WIKI

ROLE PLAY

NETPHONE

PROBLEMSMonolingual EnvironmentLack of authenticityNot natural languageLimited Communication

PROBLEMSAsynchronous CommunicationDelays in CorrespondenceNot natural/authentic/spontaneous languageGenre not particularly friendly and not developingWritten language not spoken (fluency)Low motivation due to long delays

FINAL RESULTCommunication Becomes Static

and Does not motivate Language Learning

THE PRESENT

THE RECENT PAST

THE DISTANT PAST

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

LETTER

PHONE

Email/TANDEMwww.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/

TEXT CHAT

MOO

CONFERENCING

BLOGS

SMS

SKYPE

UTUBE

GOOGLETALK

WIKI

ROLE PLAY

NETPHONE

THE NEGATIVEAsynchronous CommunicationGenre not particularly friendly but developingLack of spontaneous communicationWritten Language

THE NEGATIVENew language or new writing system e.g. a/s/l, , : (, : )Often ‘one word’ communicationSexual harassmentNon paralinguistic features, such as face grimaces, hand movement, stress, intonation, etc.Bad quality of sound transmission and videoDelayed RoundtripTime and location of meeting

FINAL RESULTCommunication does not develop. Remains at levels of

small talk and often is repeated with new acquaintances

and therefore results in shorting words and phrases`

Το πού• www.icq.com ICQ• www.paltalk.com PALTALK• www.aim.com AOL (AMERICA ON LINE)• www.mirc.com/ MIRC• http://messenger.msn.com/Xp/Default.aspx?mkt=el-gr

MESSENGER• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/

NETMEETING• http://www.cuworld.com/ CUWORLD• http://www.radvision.com/EnterpriseSolutions/

VideoconferencingProducts/ClickToMeet/ CLICK TO MEET• www.skype.com SKYPE• http://www.webacall.com VOIP• http://www.voipbuster.com/en/index.html VOIPBUSTER

TYPICAL INSTANCES OFCROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

TANDEM SYNCHRONOUS

NATIVE-NON NATIVENATIVE-NON NATIVE

NON NATIVE-NON NATIVE

ONE TO ONEONE TO ONE

MANY TO MANY

Comparisons with other studies:Native-Non native,

many to many

Examples of failed communication From O’Reily discussed at a pre-conference workshop in Grenada Spain with reference to The Cultura Project

CAREFUL PREPARATIONPRE-TASK – WHILE TASK – META TASK

AVOIDANCE OF HOT TOPICS

Comparisons with other studies:Non Native-Non native,

one to one

From Ceferoglu (2007)UNTELE conference, Compiegne, France

TYPICALLY STUDIES OF CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN COMPUTER MEDIATED

COMMUNICATION EXAMINE:

•AMOUNT OF LANGUAGE PRODUCED (MLU)•UPTAKE

TYPICALLY STUDIES OF CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN COMPUTER MEDIATED

COMMUNICATION EXAMINE:

•AMOUNT OF LANGUAGE PRODUCED (MLU)•UPTAKE

Study 1: Participation and Engagement, Amount and Confidence

1st Stage Students were engaged in open communication on specific topics

2nd StageStudents were engaged in free

communication on topicsof their interest

3rd StageStudents were engaged in communication collecting

information for project

Communication was recorded and analysed through

Adobe’s AUDITION program

Structured Interviews Followed

Results: findings AUDITIONParticipation is minimal.Single word Phrases.

Voice is extremely low.Discussion is only one sided.

Difficult to identify Who is who by non

Listening to the audio

Results: findings AUDITION

Participation is increasing.Phrases remain short.

Phrases become a little more complex.

Voice is still low.More engaged in Discussion.

Participation is small.Phrases are short.

Phrases are not complex.Voice is low.

Discussion is almost one sided.

Possible to identify Who is who even by non

Listening to the audio

More findings through AUDITION

Participation is equal.Phrases are long.

Phrases are complex.Voice is louder.

Fully engaged in Discussion.

Difficult to identify Who is who by non

Listening to the audio

Student opinions and reactions• Half the student population that was invited to

participate did not show up• Some of those who came the first time did not show up

the second time• Feel their language is improved• Feel their confidence in speaking the language is

increasing• Some feel they learn about target language every day

life and culture• Did not have problems with the apparatus• Sound was clear with no delays• Enjoyed speaking• Would have used it regularly

NO MLU EXAMINED

NO UPTAKE

…Student reactions

• Difference in their linguistic behavior when they speak with people of their age or younger for topics of their interest

(One Non Native Speaker)

• Few instances of pragmatic failure immediately negotiated

• No instances of failed communication

Study 2: Quality of Content

• Greeks writing in English (James, Scholfield and Ypsilandis`92) for a scholarship

• English natives evaluate the content

• Subjects are asked about their intention (introspective data)

• Register Pragmatic Failure that had occurred

Greeks writing in English Direct Strategies

Strategy Employed

Language Used Pragmatic Failure

Quasilogical Argumentation

Egocentric Language AV

e.g. “I strongly believe” “Iconsider” “I am”

Don´t impose on your hearer Grice (1973)

Affective Appeal Charged language

e.g. “your schlsp is my only chance” “I hope you will not refuse to me”

Give hearer option Grice (1973)

Quasilogical Argumentation

Direct Demands

e.g. “I am sure… did convince you…”

Don´t impose on your hearer Grice (1973)

Greeks writing in English Indirect Strategies

Strategy Employed

Language Used Pragmatic Failure

Quasilogical Argumentation

Extensive reference to their qualifications

e.g. “I speak… I have… I am..”

Be as informative as is required but no more than that Grice (1973)

Quasilogical Argumentation

Charged language

e.g. “It (schlsp) will give me the chance to complete my research”

Don´t impose on your hearer Grice (1973)

Use of complimentary and anticipatory expressions

Charged language

e.g. “Thank you in advance” “I would like to congratulate you”

Display of manners

Don´t impose on your hearer Grice (1973)

NNS evaluating Greeks writing in English (James, Scholfield and Ypsilandis`94)

PART 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

NSs + - - - - - - - + -

NNs + x S + - S X X + +

KEY

+ = considered suitable, - = considered unsuitable

S = neutral judgment, X = NNSs were divided

Evaluate each sentence in a Likert scale in terms ofAcceptable Neutral Unacceptable

NNS evaluating Greeks writing in English (James, Scholfield and Ypsilandis`94)

TLE VERSION

Gr Sy Po Port Fr Ge

OL VERSION Gr Sy Po Fr Port Ge

Evaluate each sentence in English and their own languageAcceptable Neutral Unacceptable

Implications to Language

Colourless language?

Quirk (1981) proposes English for International Communication (Nuclear Engl.)

NE = ‘culture free as calculus, with no literary, aesthetic, or emotional aspirations’

Fishman = “without love, without sighs, without tears and almost without effect of any kind”

Implications to Syllabus

• Symbolic Cultural competence/awareness/expertise should be included

• The art of accommodation

Which Social genre (Social

Ladder)

What variation Native and Non native Englishes

Implications for Teaching

IMPLICIT EXPLICIT

COST EFFECTIVE

OFFENCE GIVEN AND TAKEN

“studial capacity” Palmer `92

ETHICAL QUESTIONS

KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED

“ersatz” native speaker Cook `93

One Suggestion by Jenny Thomas

Pragmalinguistic FailureMisformulated

Teacher corrects straightforwardly

Sociopragmatic FailureMisused

Teacher points out and discusses

3 PROBLEMS WITH THISAPPROACH

(a) No instructions for non clear-cut, mid-scale instances: corrections on the spot-no source book Skype does not provide a recorded version(b) Should the learner know about this or teacher centred (decide/correct)(c) What pedagogic input should there be in cases of doubt? Is there a test?

PARAPHRASE

the semantic paraphrase your cat has none.

A TEST

Pragmalinguistic FailureMisformulated

e.g. NP, this N of yours has deprecatory overtones as in

This cat of yours has killed my canary,

New Language Teacher

• The Grammar• The Lexicon • The Semantics and Pragmatics• The Skills• Procedural Knowledge - Tasks• The Culture and Rhetoric• Symbolic Expertise and Accommodation• The Socio affective parameters• Be Aware of Cognitive and Learning Style• Enhance Autonomy• Support the Learning Process (Supportive Feedback)• Provide Corrective Feedback• Organinisation skills• Ethnolinguistic knowledge• Knowledge on Sociology• Knowledge on the psychology of learning• Use Computers