Cross-Cultural Pragmatics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane House ◽  
Dániel Z. Kádár

This book provides a cutting-edge introduction to cross-cultural pragmatics, a field encompassing the study of language use across linguacultures. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics is relevant for a variety of fields, such as pragmatics, applied linguistics, language learning and teaching, translation, intercultural communication and sociolinguistics. Written by two leading scholars in the field, this book offers an accessible overview of cross-cultural pragmatics, by providing insights into the theory and practice of systematically comparing language use in different cultural contexts. The authors provide a ground-breaking, language-anchored, strictly empirical and replicable framework applicable for the study of different datatypes and situations. The framework is illustrated with case studies drawn from a variety of linguacultures, such as English, Chinese, Japanese and German. In these case studies, the reader is provided with contrastive analyses of language use in important contexts such as globalised business, politics and classrooms. This book is essential reading for both academics and students.

Author(s):  
Alevtina Alexandrovna Kolosova

This paper aimed at exploring and discussing modern methods of teaching and learning of inter-cultural communication in higher school. To fulfil the study, both general scientific methods and methods of a number of humanities were applied including an inter-disciplinary approach and philosophy of synergetics. The survey and interviews with direct questions were conducted among students. As the result of the research, discussions on methods of introducing students cross-cultural knowledge and practical skills were held, and the preferences of the students on the issues of learning and teaching intercultural communication were revealed. The most effective methods and approaches to teaching and learning inter-cultural communication in higher school are the philosophy of synergetics and the dialogue style of communication in the classroom. A key challenge for further research is to identify dimensions for inter-cultural competence measurement. Keywords: Inter-cultural communication, philosophy of synergetics, dialogue style, inter-disciplinary approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-296
Author(s):  
Diana Bravo

ResumenEn este trabajo se aborda la problemática de la universalidad de los actos de habla (Searle, ([1969]1980. Actos de habla. Madrid: Cátedra Visor.) y de su relación con las amenazas a la imagen social (cf. Placencia y Bravo, 2002. Actos de habla y cortesía en español. London: LINCOM; ; Bravo y Briz, 2004. Pragmática sociocultural: estudios del discurso de cortesía en español. Barcelona: Ariel). Dentro de los estudios de orientación pragmática de mayor difusión entre los académicos, encontramos dos posiciones, por un lado la de autores como Leech (([1983] 1988). Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.) y Brown y Levinson ([1978] 1987. Politeness. Some Universals in Language Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.), que asumen que determinados actos de habla serían inherentemente amenazantes para la mantención de la imagen social (face); por otro, la de Thomas ((1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics, 4 (2), pp. 91–112.), Wierzbicka ((1991). Cross-cultural pragmatics. The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.) y Blum-Kulka, S. y Olshtain, E. ((1984). Request and apologies: a cross-cultural study of speech act realization patterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, (5), pp. 196–213.), entre otros, para quienes la percepción de los mismos actos en distintas culturas estaría influida por factores socioculturales, de manera que los actos de habla no serían per se amenazantes, sino que esta condición dependería de su interpretación en contexto. Creemos que los actos se describen de modo distinto dependiendo de cuál sea el contexto del usuario ideal, término que refiere al uso habitual de la lengua en su contexto situacional y sociocultural. Por ello sostenemos que no basta con interpretar los actos con la sola ayuda de la bibliografía y de las propias intuiciones, sino que es necesario consultar al usuario de la lengua. En este artículo nos enfocaremos en justificar una metodología de recogida de datos socio-pragmáticos que establece relaciones directas entre los actos y los hábitos sociales de sus usuarios. Nos basaremos en un método de consulta usado por varios autores, el cuestionario de hábitos sociales (cf. Hernández Flores, (2002). La cortesía en la conversación española de familiares y amigos. La búsqueda de equilibrio entre la imagen del hablante y la imagen del destinatario. Tesis doctoral. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitet. Recuperado de http://edice.asice.se/?page_id=305, y Bernal y Hernández Flores, (2016). Variación socio-pragmática en la enseñanza del español: aplicación didáctica de un cuestionario de hábitos sociales. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching, 3 (2), pp. 114–126.).


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed A. A. Farrah

This study aims to analyze the experiences and perceptions of a group of graduate students regarding an MA Technology in Language Learning and Teaching Course at Hebron University, Palestine. Specifically, the study addressed the aspects of the course that were perceived as the most useful for them and how graduate students perceive their professional growth as a result of the course. The study took place during the second semester of the academic year 2016/2017. The researcher employed a qualitative research to achieve the aims of the study. The participants wrote reflective journals and described how the course integrated theory and practice. The results revealed that the students benefited from the different elements of the course. Particularly, they benefited from the practical projects. The experience helped them in their professional development. Finally, the students offered a number of suggestions for improving the course. The researcher concluded with a set of recommendations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Zhonghao Zhou

Culture and language are inseparable, and cultures as groups adopt particular practices and norms of behavior. Culture teaching is a long and complex process concerning something more than language use itself. The two popular theories influencing practice today are the Constructivist and the Creative Constructionist approaches, and the technique for conveying cultural awareness is cultural assimilator, which has been designed for specific cultures around the world. Cross-cultural training can be used to promote cultural awareness, that is, sensitize people to the influence of culture on people’s values and behaviors and help them recognize and accept the existence of cultural differences.


Author(s):  
Istvan Kecskes

This chapter discusses the differences between cross-cultural and intercultural pragmatics. While cross-cultural pragmatics compares different cultures, based on the investigation of certain aspects of language use, such as speech acts, behaviour patterns, and language behaviour, intercultural pragmatics focuses on intercultural interactions and investigates the nature of the communicative process among people from different cultures, speaking different first languages. Cross-cultural pragmatics analyses the differences and similarities in the language behaviour of people representing different languages and cultures. Intercultural pragmatics, however—a relatively new discipline—is interested in what happens when representatives of different first languages and cultures communicate using a common language.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siylvia Velikova ◽  
◽  
◽  

This article investigates the meanings of key terms used to describe the theory and practice of language learning and teaching as an academic discipline and as a field of enquiry. The study discusses various manifestations of terminological variability and analyses four of the most frequent terms (methodology of language teaching, language didactics, language pedagogy, language education) which reveal the nature of language learning and teaching and its conceptualisation in the current “post-method” era.


Author(s):  
Trudy O'Brien

The teaching of a second or foreign language has always incorporated some aspect of cultural information, but the full and rather complex nature of cross-cultural and intercultural communication has not always been an explicit pedagogical focus. The chapter outlines the key components of cross-cultural and intercultural communication (CCC/ICC), and reviews some major theories that have dominated the area. It is suggested that providing explicit instruction in CCC/ICC to language learners will prepare them for interacting appropriately in the target language in whatever global context they may wish to use it. Learners need to be not only linguistically and pragmatically but culturally competent as well as they move into multicultural contexts of interaction in that language. Specific elements of cross-/intercultural communication with regards to linguistic features and potential points of confusion in the EFL (English-as-a-foreign language) classroom are discussed as accessible examples. The chapter then relates some ways that cross-/intercultural mindfulness and understanding can form an active part of the teaching of a second/foreign language in order to enhance the full language learning experience and subsequent entry to successful communication.


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