State of the art in IC competence in language training

1. State of the art in IC competence in language training John O’Regan

2. Overview • Communication in intercultural communication • English and intercultural communication • Exploring cultures in aviation • Discourse pragmatics and genre • Ethnography • Public and ‘hidden’ transcripts • IC communication practice in language training

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVq4_HhBK8Y • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_nzHrrSlsc

4. What’s our vector, Victor? • Roger (co-pilot) • Victor (navigator) • Captain Clarence Oveur

5. IC miscommunication myth 1 • IC miscommunication is a language problem. • Much intercultural miscommunication at a language level arises from misinterpretation of the functions of language not from the language itself. That is, the difficulty is not what the person said. But what they intended when they said it. • A: I have to fly via Finland. • B: Who are you flying with? [= what airline?] • A: I am flying alone.

6. IC communication myth 2 • IC miscommunication in English is principally a problem for NNSs. • Intercultural miscommunication in English is often NS instigated because of a lack of appreciation of ‘unilateral idiomaticity’. • English is plurilingual, that is, it occurs between speakers of different Englishes

7. World Englishes (Kachru, 1985, 1992)

8. A world Englishes paradigm for IC • Native speaker English is one of a number of Englishes in the world • English is pluricentric: it has many centres, not just one • Effective intercultural communication in multicultural settings is a process of negotiation between users of different Englishes • Context will determine the extent of negotiation possibilities

9. Practice in IC language training • IC language training is context driven • IC language training places an emphasis on discourse • IC language training places an emphasis on small cultures/ CoPs

10. Context: communities of practice • Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. (Wenger, 2006: 1) http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ • Doctors, nurses, physicists, shop workers, pilots, flight attendants, ground crew workersetc. • Communities of practice are realized through the discourse that they use.

11. Discourse pragmatics:force and underlying meaning • (i) The locutionary act (the literal meaning)   • (ii) The illocutionary act (the functional meaning) • (iii) The perlocutionary act (the effect) • Farmer (to walker): This is private land • = Get off my land • Male pilot (to female copilot): There is something you should understand … • = You do not understand because a) you are woman and women have difficulties with these matters, b) I have more power than you, c) that you are a qualified pilot is secondary to your gender role

12. On the flight deck • Copilot, cruising at FL230, requests 310. • Controller: 310 is the wrong altitude for your direction of flight; I can give you 290but you will have to negotiate for higher. • Roger, cleared to 290, leaving 230. • (No challenge from controller – silence) • (At 24,000 controller queries altitude) I did not clear you to climb; descend immediately to FL230. You have traffic at eleven o’clock, fifteen or twenty miles. (From Cushing, 1994: 28)

13. Pragmatic failure • ATC: Please confirm that you are short of the runway line. • Pilot: Affirm, that is what I am saying, I am a few metres past the runway line. • Pilot misinterprets illocution of ATC

14. Structures of expectations • On a flight a few years ago, there was an entire crew [flight attendants] of men, and there was a second officer [pilot], who was a woman. As passengers got on the plane they kept saying, ‘Where are the girls? Where are the girls?’ It was really funny to watch them ’cause it through them off. Especially when Valerie (the female pilot) would make her P.A. from the flight deck (From Murphy, 1998: 514) • If our expectations are not met, we often feel disorientation. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYF6WW68udU

15. Analyzing organizational cultures • Within organizations, a dominant or “preferred” meaning is produced through members’ interactions, and reproduced through their representational practices. Representational practices include the acknowledged rites and rituals, goals, and objectives reproduced through socialization in an organization. (Murphy, 1998: 502)

16. Genre • Genre refers to the staged purposeful social processes through which a culture is realised in language. (Martin and Rothary, 1986: 243) • Checking in, going through security/ passport control, inflight announcements, interactions with passengers, flight deck instructions to the crew, etc. • Language used for repeated purposes in a social (or organizational) context comes to develop a structure and contain features associated with achieving that purpose. These repeated purposes are genres. • We draw on our repeated experiences with genres to interpret social contexts and associated texts.

17. social events reflected in genres expressed in discourse realized in texts

18. Aisle service encounterexchange pattern • an offer of service + a transaction + a salutation. • A: Would you like a drink, madam? • B: Yes, please. I’ll have a diet coke. • A: A diet coke. Yes, of course. Would you like ice and lemon with that? • B: Yes please. • A: Here you are. • B: Thank you. • A: You’re welcome.

19. Inflighttextsgeneral/particular For your safety and comfort, we ask that you please remain seated with your seat belt fastened until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. This will indicate that we have parked at the gate and that it is safe for you to move about. Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought onboard with you and please use caution when opening the overhead bins, as heavy articles may have shifted around during the flight. • http://airodyssey.net/reference/inflight/

20. Narrative • Situation We were flying from Mumbai to Hong Kong • Problem A passenger became ill • Solution The pilot diverted to Bangkok • Evaluation It saved the passenger’s life

21. Some initial questions for analyzing genres in IC language training • What is the context? • What is the purpose of the language in the context? • What kind of language is being used (is it plain, is it intelligible, is it mutual)? • How is cohesion and coherence realized (is the language ordered and meaningful)? • Does the discourse follow a format (is it a mutually recognized format)? • How does turn-taking occur? • What is the relationship between speakers (how is power realized)? • What shared knowledge is assumed (who is assuming what)? • Do shared understandings result (why? why not?) • Adapt the questions according to the context.

22. Public and hidden transcripts as data • The term public transcript describes the organizational discourse openly in circulation (flight manuals, inflight scripts, operational guidelines, customer service codes, dress regulations, training materials/ scenarios/ procedures) • The term hidden transcript refers to the actual discourse, which is normally out of view: how people interact, what they say, what they do; can be anecdotal or taped; may be difficult to collect. • (Based on Scott, 1990; Murphy, 1998)

23. Ethnography of SPEAKING • Setting: place, where? • Participants: who? • Ends: what are their objectives? • Act sequences: what communicative acts occur? • Key: what is the tenor/mood of the event? • Instrumentalities: what communication channels are used? • Norms: what conventions are drawn on? • Genre: what kind of communicative event is it? (Hymes, 1971) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5t5_O8hdA

24. Conclusions • Investigate the particular environment in which the English you are teaching will be used • Increase exposure to the ways in which English is (or could be) used in that context • Look beyond sentence level language to discourse • Analyze the emergence of meaning in the context (locution/illocution) • Analyze the effects (perlocution) • Analyze the patterns of the discourse (genre) • Utilize both public (circulated) and hidden (anecdotal, or taped) transcripts as data • Engage in critical discussion about the intercultural, gendered and other identitied (e.g. religious, ethnic, status, sex orientational etc.) dimensions of the context • Examine how the discourse constructs the context (ethnography, discursive mapping, critical reading/ interpretation)

25. Last words … • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5t5_O8hdA

26. Thank you … • Merci … • شكرا … • 감사합니다 … • 謝謝 … • John O’Regan • j.oregan@ioe.ac.uk

27. A ‘CRITICAL’mnemonic for IC language training C is for critical. Be critical. Resist closure R is for respect. Respect the data. Allow meaning to emerge Iis for interpretation. Interpret from within Tis for teaching. Teach your interpretation to others Iis for investigation. Investigate the interpretations of others Cis for cooperation and communication. Cooperate in order to communicate Ais for analysis. Analyse the construction of knowledge Lis for learning. Learn from the knowledge of others (Based on O’Regan, 2006: 204-5)

28. ICC personal qualities • You enjoy working alongside people with different cultural experiences and perspectives to your own and actively try to appreciate why differences and similarities may exist. • You are able to reflect on how your own working practices might be perceived by others and are ready to negotiate new ways of working. • You are open to the positive potential of cultural diversity in the generation of ideas and in developing workplace productivity. • You are sensitive to the different levels of English language skills people have and are willing to adapt your language in the interests of mutual comprehension. • You are sensitive to how your use of language, tone of voice and behaviour may be interpreted by others. • You are able to look critically at work practices and projects and make contributions designed to enhance intercultural cooperation and understanding. • You are working towards greater critical understanding of difference while appreciating that this is a lifelong process. • You are aware that others subscribe to equality and human rights in different ways, but do your best to adopt an ethical outlook which reflects how you would like to be treated yourself. • (National Occupational Standards for Intercultural Working, CILT, 2008)

29. Semiotic framing • Semiotic framing (drawing on the meaning ensemble beyond language) • Analyzes the micro spaces shaping practices and the meaning codes which inhabit them. • Language is located within a variety of modes for creating meaning, which include colour, space, gesture, gaze, stance, body movement, dress and identity orientation, as all of these dimensions combine with language and each other to make up social (and intercultural) events. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIqwUV-qOiU