This is the outline for the second half of our class presentation we gave on October 2 on pragmatics.
Before break: ask class to consider a cross-cultural pragmatics challenge.
[GINNA]
SLIDE: What Are Cross-Cultural Pragmatics? [10:00]
Objective: As we transition from intra-cultural to cross-cultural perspective, refresh memories about meaning of pragmatics.
- SLIDE: “The study of how speakers mean more than they say and how listeners can understand them.” — LoCastro, 2006
- Illocutionary force: intended meaning
- VIDEO CLIP: Shut up.
What was she really saying? Was she telling Julie to be quiet? Was she being rude? Problems even within same language group. Differences in social class, education, economic background.
Can be funny in movies. Startling in real life.
- VIDEO CLIP: Queen-Liz
Challenges in politics and diplomacy, even within the same language groups. Nixon got the peace sign backwards, which in Ireland means FU.
[REGINA]
[What pragmatics is not] Is this pragmatics:
- VIDEO CLIP: Rubber
Answer: It is related to pragmatics, but it’s more about semantics and lexicon.
What about this? (Give context first.)
- VIDEO CLIP: Korea
Differences between the two?
[GINNA]
The Research [5:00]
Goal: Present an exceptionally brief survey of the field’s history
- Field of pragmatics been around for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t called that till relatively recently. Has roots in psychology, anthropology, linguistics, philosophy…
- SLIDE: 1960s:, Dell Hymes — linguistic anthropologist — explored the relationship between speech and communication. He coined the term “communicative competence.”
- SLIDE: Jump to early 1980s. Canadians Michael Canale and Merrill Swain brought these ideas into SLA.
Their pioneering work ultimately focused attention on four areas of competence — sociolinguistic, grammatical, strategic and discourse.
That ended up laying the foundation for subsequent research into interlanguage pragmatics.
- Empirical research on politeness: thanks, requests, refusals, apologies. Easy to identify and isolate, and strong differences cross-culturally
e.g. in South Asia, gratitude is not expressed in business transactions. I noticed it in Nepal and thought everyone was being rude when I gave them my money.
SLIDE:
- Gabrielle Kasper describes the study of interlanguage as falling into one of four approaches: interactional, cognitive, sociocultural and language socialization. So SLA pragmatics draws on expertise from varying perspectives, often overlapping.
- A 2002 article by Diana Boxer talks advocates a two-way perspective in cross cultural pragmatics, and says we need to focus on three areas: education, workplace and social settings.
- It’s a new-ish field so longitudinal studies are needed.
[GINNA, while REGINA takes notes]
SLIDE: Where Do Pragmatics Come From? [10:00]
Objective: Demonstrate what’s at the root of cross-cultural pragmatics.
- Interactive: As group as a whole to jot down their responses to these questions:
- [Just write ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘doesn’t matter’] Question 1: If a stranger points at you, do you mind? Question 2: What about if s/he asks: Are you married? How old are you? How much did that cost?
[Students raise hands at end, we tally and discuss.]
- In your culture, what do you do with your eyes when you’re talking to someone you’ve just met?
- When you’re listening to someone, what do you do?
Values and norms are the source.
REGINA
SLIDE: Pragmatics in the classroom [15:00]
Objective: Provide teaching ideas.
Challenges
- SLIDE: Lack of understanding of the target norms
- SLIDE: Loyalty to native language. Elka refers to “intricate identity negotiation”
- SLIDE: Norms are largely unconscious — and deeply ingrained — so we have to work harder to adapt them.
- SLIDE: Speaker’s undeveloped syntax
- SLIDE: Lack of motivation
- SLIDE: Inadequate teaching!
[GINNA]
Let’s pull from our own experience as we begin to consider teaching ideas…
Interactive: Consider your x-c experiences. Something concrete. Any volunteers? Twenty-five words or less:
- Experience 1: What were your emotions in that interaction? How did you respond?
- Experience 2: If that had happened in the classroom, what would you do to make it a learning experience?
[REGINA]
Ideas from experts: Virginia LoCastro (2006)
- SLIDE: Learning to listen is fundamental: watch popular films for examples. Make sure they’re current.
- SLIDE: Teach authentic context as well as the conversation. Turkish class example.
- SLIDE: Ask students to listen for examples from the Real World and bring them into the classroom to practice.
SEE other ideas on handout, and e-mail us your ideas for inclusion on our post-talk handout.
[GINNA]
Why all the fuss about teaching pragmatics? [5:00]
- Nessa Wolfson: Failure in grammar or lexicon or other facets of language rarely leads to trouble, but failure in pragmatics does. (Embarasada?)
[REGINA]
- Lack of knowledge about sociolinguistic diversity lies at the heart of most intercultural misunderstandings. because we judge behavior according to our own value systems.
[GINNA]
- Problems with pragmatics lead to negative stereotyping, discrimination (prevalent in work, education, politics, as well as social life.) It tends to wreak the most havoc with the powerless or minority groups.
[REGINA]
- Global: Because of its potential for profound misunderstanding. We can get into wars over pragmatics and our underlying systems of values.