scholarly journals A theoretical outline of the importance of cross-cultural and pragmatic awareness in the business scenario

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Victor Marques Soprana
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Business Professionals ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Professional Success ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge

English has become crucial for professional success within the globalized world, and indispensable for communicating with people from other countries. It has become a Lingua Franca and, therefore, has been used to speak among people with different mother tongues who share English as a second language. In light of this multicultural process, this paper aims to provide the reader with a theoretical outline about the relevance of cross-cultural and pragmatic knowledge. Such aspects need to be specially considered when developing an English course for business students as there has been a growing need for professionals to be competent users of English within the business context. Due to this specific context, we have favored an approach – English for Specific Purposes – that targets specific aspects of the language. Our focal point is to validate the need of raising both pragmatic and cross-cultural awareness when teaching business professionals as they will probably have communicative scenarios where such capabilities would be remarkably advantageous.

Developing cross-cultural competence in business through multimedia courseware

ReCALL ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL BRETT
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Learning Material ◽  
Multimedia Computing ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Support Tools

The globalisation of business and the internationalisation of companies witnessed over the past decade has increased the need for business people operating across cultures to become both culturally and linguistically aware. The evolution of multimedia computing means that learning material can be created which amalgamates video, subtitles, tasks, text and a variety of support tools. This environment lends itself to the provision of learning opportunities and materials which aim to develop cultural understanding. This paper describes an on-going development project entitled SELECT which is creating multimedia courseware to develop cross-cultural awareness of the British business context. The paper outlines the background to the creation of the courseware and the needs it aims to meet. The theoretical underpinning of the development is outlined, covering the nature of cross-cultural competence, its development and the fit between the capabilities of multimedia and such competence. The approach taken and methods used to research and construct a valid, empirically-based cross-cultural syllabus relevant for those doing business with Britain is described and exemplified. The process of creating the courseware, including the authentic video assets and configuration of the learning design is discussed. The paper concludes with projections of future developments in technology assisted development of cross-cultural competence.

The (Un)translatability of Well-Being

2020 ◽  
pp. 377-394
Author(s):  
Tim Lomas
Keyword(s):  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Scientific Study ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Mainstream Psychology

Positive psychology—the scientific study of well-being—has made considerable strides in understanding its subject matter since emerging in the late 1990s. However, like mainstream psychology more broadly, it can be deemed relatively Western-centric, with its concepts and priorities influenced by ways of thinking and understanding that are prominent in Western cultures. Consequently, the field would benefit from greater cross-cultural awareness, engagement, and understanding. One such means of doing so is through the study of “untranslatable” words (i.e., those lacking an exact equivalent in another language, in this case English). This chapter reflects on the nature of untranslatable words, considers their significance to positive psychology (and psychology more broadly), and offers suggestions for why and how the field should engage with them.

Multicultural Classrooms: Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy among A Sample of Canadian Preservice Teachers

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110625
Author(s):  
Saghar Chahar Mahali ◽  
Phillip R. Sevigny
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Culturally Responsive Teaching ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Burnout Syndrome ◽  
Responsive Teaching ◽  
Cultural Experiences

Many teachers enter classrooms with limited cross-cultural awareness and low levels of confidence to accommodate cultural diversity. Therefore, teaching a heterogeneous body of students requires teachers to have culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE). The investigation of factors impacting teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching diverse students has produced mixed results. The purpose of the current study was to explore the determinants of CRTSE in a sample of Canadian preservice teachers. One hundred and ten preservice teachers from a medium-sized public Canadian University completed measures of political orientation, CRTSE, cross-cultural experiences, and teacher burnout. Higher levels of preservice teachers’ CRTSE were predicted by lower levels of Emotional Exhaustion (i.e., a key aspect of burnout syndrome) and more frequent cross-cultural experiences in their childhood and adolescence. Implications for training preservice teachers are discussed.

scholarly journals On the Acceptability of English Translation of Public Signs

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1315
Author(s):  
Zhengjun Yang
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Scenic Spot ◽  
Informative Role ◽  
Communication Activity ◽  
The Common

The public sign, a “window” of a city or scenic spot, carries more information and plays the informative role in people’s daily life. The translation of public signs not merely transfers the linguistic information of the signs, but also acts as a cross-cultural communication activity. The study analyzes the types of public signs, investigates the common mistakes of English translation of public signs, and puts forward some suggestions for the public signs translation. The improvement of translators’ competence and cross-cultural awareness, the uniformity of the text, readers’ response, and the cultural context should be taken into consideration. They can contribute to the greater acceptability of public signs translation.

scholarly journals Politeness of Vietnamese Students in Writing Request Email in English: a Course-based and Socio-pragmatic Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Thi Minh Trang Pham ◽  
Aiden Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
High Level ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Determining Factor

This exploratory study investigates politeness strategies employed by Vietnamese EFL learners when writing English request emails sent to foreign and Vietnamese professors and school staff. A corpus-based critical discourse analysis is used to analyze sub-elements of politeness including the degree of imposition, terms of address, request-giving strategy and lexicon-syntactic modifier. The results support the assumption that Vietnamese language pragmatic knowledge is deeply ingrained and has tremendous influence on students’ L2 email writing skills. The study also reveals that Vietnamese students applied a high level of imposition with formal term of address and salutation, directness strategies with the overuse of “please” and other hedges. While gender is not a determining factor, the inflexible adoption of fixed phrases and syntactic-lexical devices were attributed to the lack of sociopragmatic competence. Thus, apart from linguistic knowledge, the role of cultural awareness and socio-pragmatic knowledge should be highlighted in communicative English learning and teaching.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document