Creating intercultural space in higher education

1. Creating intercultural space in higher education Zhu Hua Birkbeck College, University of London Zhu.hua@bbk.ac.uk

2. outline Where things are in HE when it comes to ‘culture’ From being to doing cultural identities (interculturality)

3. When it comes to culture As a marketing tool: Diverse culture or British culture as a benefit of studying In the UK Source: http://www.ucas.com/how-it-all-works/international/benefits-studying-uk

4. Part of the equality and integration discourse Along with religion, disability, age or sexual orientation. “We are proud of the rich ethnic and culturaldiversity of our students and staff at UAL. Around a third of our UK students come from Black, Asian or Minority ethnic background and our international students come from over 110 countries. It is this diversity that helps us develop our creative and academic interests and contribute to new ways of thinking about social identity.” A UK university website

5. Source: PMI Students Experience Achievement 2006-2011 by UKCISA Intercultural competence as an employability skill and a skill that can improve one’s learning experience

6. Questions No. 1. How useful is the term such as ‘international’ vs. ‘EU/home’? Home students can be just as different or the same as international students. I, too, am Oxford

8. Questions No 2. How useful is the term such as Chinese learners, Spanish students, Arabic speakers?

9. The case of Chinese students Superdiversity: There are thousands of ethnic Chinese students from very different backgrounds in British universities today. third- or fourth-generation British-born Chinese; students from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore who have received whole or part of their primary and secondary education in the UK; Chinese students who completed their schooling in their home countries; several distinctive varieties of Chinese are spoken as well as different varieties of English and other languages.

10. ‘Choice’ and ‘Options’ of the Chinese students staying with their own language variety group staying with their own region-of-origin group creating new transnational and multilingual groupings ‘We are mingling!’ The Chinese students told the VC of a leading university.

11. No. 3 When things go wrong, who and what to blame? Is it linguistic or/and cultural issues? From: xx Sent: xx To: xx Mary I collected some ‘chunks’ about professional identity from the chapters that I read. I’m going to use them in my literature review that I will write tomorrow. Please take a look and see whether what I collected are necessary and important but also whether my references are ok. Shall I include a quotation as it is... or shall I paraphrase? Please answer me as soon as possible. Thanx C [student’s name] (Econonmidou-Kogetsidis (2011, p.3212).

12. Is it culture? Is it pragmatic skills? Is it the lack of the knowledge about how the (UK) system works? Is it ‘novice’ syndrome? • Trying to negotiate the deadline for abstract submission; • Asking for the attendance certificate to be stamped; • Is this conference open to the general public? I have a couple of friends/colleagues who are interested in my presentation. Is it possible that they attend my session? Thank you very much! • Asking for names and contacts of people from the same area so that they can travel together. • Booked a hotel, not refundable, had to cancel the trip a week before. Can the organiser ask other participants? • What is the dress code? • Have the map and the conference dinner place is 2 mins away. Can you lead us there?

13. No. 4. How different can you be? Who carries the burden of adaptation ? Assessment: ‘MA students are sometimes told: ‘We will not penalise you for language errors provided your meaning is clear.’ However, this glib statement is seldom found reassuring, and in effect, is unlikely to function in the straightforward manner implied.’  (Scott & Turner 2008) ‘Penalty’ for being different: Presentation of ‘self’ in Application letters (Zhu Hua, 2007) ‘I am a graduate in English with excellent academic record’ ‘My enthusiasm about linguistics’

14. Interculturality: from being to doing • How participants make (aspects of) cultural identities (ir)relevant; • Interplay of self-orientation and ascription-by-others • Interplay of language practice and identities Cultural identity as given, static A Priori Being vs. Doing

15. Interculturality Key works: Nishizaka (1995); Mori’s (2003); Higgins (2007); Sercombe & Young (2010); and Zhu (2014) Are cultural identities always relevant to intercultural interactions? What do participants do with cultural identities? How do participants do cultural identities? What interactional resources are available for doing cultural identities? Why do people bother with interculturality? How far can participants go when doing cultural identities? Summary of the questions can be found in Zhu Hua (2014)

16. 1. Are cultural identities always relevant to intercultural interactions? Cultural identities: Not taken for granted; Can be made irrelevant; Brought about in interactions as a situated, practical accomplishment (Higgins, 2007)

17. A: One thing I want to ask you is: when Japanese people talk in Japanese, they are sometimes diplomatic, 3 B: Yes. only 4 A: [they] are just apparently sociable, 5 B: Yes. 6 A: [they] are sometimes so, aren’t//[they]? 7 B: Yes. 8 A: For example, “Well, Shiri-san, come to my home uh next holiday,” 9 say [they] very easily. ... 16 A: what [they] mean seem different, 17 B: Yes 18 A: this way Japanese often B: Yes. Nishizaka (1995)

18. 2. What do participants do with cultural identities? Make irrelevant ascribe to others claim identities of others (crossing and passing). Resist cultural membership assigned by others.

19. Two observations Dear Professor Zhu Hua,Thank you for your email. Also I thank the Chinese government and the UK government for offering the assistances to seek and rescue the sufferers in North Eastern Japan…We are facing a tragedy but I strongly believe we Japanese can overcome all the difficulties…

20. (S1: Spa-ES; S2, 4, 5 & 7: Ger-At; S3 & 6: Spa-AR; All participants are male except for S2 &7) … 2 S2: yeah you're always speaking spanish so (.) <1> it </1> doesn't work @@@ 3 S3: <1><L1spa> aun {but} </L1spa></1> 4 S3: <L1spa> yaquetenemosotramemoria y: {that we have another memory and} </L1spa> @@ (.) 5 S2: but maybe i'll change the subject and write in spanish or something like that (.) 6 S3: yeah but actually we're NOT SPANISH (2) 7 S2: hh (1) yeah but (.) you're <2> speaking </2> 8 S4: <L1ger><2> jetzt hast </2> ein <9> problem </9> {now you've got a problem} </L1ger><3> @@@ </3> @@ (.) 9 S3: <9><L1spa> yaaun {yes but} </L1spa></9> 10 S2: <3> no:</3> 11 S2: i don't know? (.) is it a problem? when i (.) when I say that you're spanish? 12 S5: yes it's = 13 S2: = but you're spa<4>nish-SPEAking</4> 14 S6: <4> yeah that's different </4> 15 S5: <4> yes it's exactly the same if </4> they say WE <5> have <un> xx </un></5> 16 S6: <5> it's a quite </5> different spanish = 17 S2: = yeah but we speak GERman. (.) <6> and you speak </6> spanish.<7> mhm okay (VOICE LEcon352)

22. 3. How do participants do cultural identities? A range of interactional work and discursive practices Moments of identification Combination of symbolic and indexical cues and category-bound features

23. 4. What interactional resources are available for doing cultural identities Topical talk related to cultural expertise and practice (Zimmerman, 2007) kimuchi vs. tsukemono Metalanguaging about appropriacy of culturally bound practice (TSCLP, Zhu, 2008, 2010) In China, everyone is your uncle. Cultural references by names and address terms (Ryoo, 2007) Jackie Chan Use of the language or a code normally associated with a group ‘Is that a Finnish word?’

24. 5. Why do people bother with interculturality? Part of everyday life for transnationals; Common territories through ethnicity, nationality and autobiographical talk: As a source for comity, affiliative positioning and mutual understanding A learning strategy; yet at the same time dividing participants into ‘us’ vs ‘them’

25. 6. How far can participants go when doing? All choices become possible? A ‘free-floating’ concept? Negotiation is the key, yet there are limits to it. Limitations of choice as a consequence of social structures and (unequal) power relationship between individuals.

26. To conclude Creating intercultural space Shift of focus: Cultural groups  individuals Place  space A critical understanding of how culture works: A default cultural account  culture as opportunities for creativity, invention and emotional enrichment A critical understanding of the power of language: Language as resource and means of negotiating cultural identity.

27. The presentation is based on Chapter 12 in Zhu Hua (2014) Exploring Intercultural Communication: Language in Action. Routledge.

28. Econonmidou-Kogetsidis, M. (2011). ‘Please answer me as soon as possible’: Pragmatic failure in non-native speakers’ email requests to faculty. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 3193-3215. Scott M & J. Turner (2008)  ‘Problematising Proofreading’ Zeitschrift Schreiben 3.10.2008 Zhu Hua (2007) Presentation of self in application letters. In Zhu Hua, Paul Seedhouse, Li Wei & Vivian Cook (eds) Language Learning/Teaching as Social (Inter)Action (pp. 126-147) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Nishizaka (1995); Mori’s (2003); Higgins (2007); Sercombe & Young (2010) can be found in Zhu Hua (2014)

29. THANK YOU! 谢谢 Email: Zhu.hua@bbk.ac.uk