Videoconferencing and community of practice interaction. Semantic, pragmatic and intercultural aspects of students' communication in English language classes.
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Discourse and Interaction |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Linguistics |
| Keywords | video-conferencing; intercultural communication; sources of misunderstanding |
| Attached files | |
| Description | This paper explores samples of community of practice communication in multicultural videoconferencing (VC) classes between English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) students at Masaryk University and their conterparts at Aberystwyth University. It comments on a number of pragmatic and semantic issues that have arisen during the videoconferences in addition to situations baused by a lack of intercultural awareness. Examples of students' performances show hoe face-threatening acts are percieved to have been produced by non-native speakers of English. Differences in the reactions of native and non-native speakers of English are then exemplified. The paper further examines the difficulties in distinguishing the levels of formality, directness and politeness and the misunderstandings which arise from the use of certain loaded expressions or metphors without knowledge of cultural differences and sensitivities. To conclude, the authors suggest the importance of teaching pragmatics and raising intercultural sensitivity in international professional communication, where English is used as lingua franca. |
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