Maria Dasli | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)
Papers by Maria Dasli
The Routledge handbook of critical interculturality in communication and education, 2024
This paper constitutes the concluding remarks paper to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & S... more This paper constitutes the concluding remarks paper to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, titled ‘Intercultural Communication Pedagogy and the Question of the Other’. The paper presents our own reflections of the broader implications and possible conclusions that can be drawn from contributing papers. Here, we argue that there is one notion, which has been overlooked in the field of Intercultural Communication Pedagogy, namely, the political. In this paper, we argue that the political should not be negated, or relegated, at the expense of the ethical – instead, the political should be included in addressing and redressing the ethics of Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. We reject the liberal doxa that Intercultural Communication Pedagogy should be conceptualised along the lines of non-conflict with the other, e.g., through understanding the other or having a dialogue with the other. Instead, we propose conceptualising the self and other relation in Intercultural Communication Pedagogy as a permanent antagonism, a permanent crisis, without resolution. In outlining our argument, we discuss some conceptual issues surrounding some postpositivist approaches and offer a way forward for Intercultural Communication Pedagogy through an engagement with the political.
This paper constitutes the introduction to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, titl... more This paper constitutes the introduction to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, titled ‘Intercultural Communication Pedagogy and the Question of the Other’, which emerged from the launch event of the Institute for Language Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. It proceeds from the arguments that intercultural communication pedagogy has clung too long to essentialist competency models that erase all differences, and that to counteract their effects one needs to pay greater attention to the most pre-original and non-synthesisable ethical relation between self and other. To do so, the paper draws on debates that have problematised competency models, discussing in depth two interrelated central themes that these debates have tended to overlook. The first theme refers to the possibility of the oppressed turning into oppressors in their efforts to free themselves from the unified notion of culture that competency models support. The second theme refers to the emancipatory mission of critical pedagogy which, despite its best intentions, operates within a normative framework from which self and other become the same. The paper culminates with the questions that drive contributions to this special issue, offering an overview of the papers that it contains.
In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspond... more In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspondence; the other entails the notion of genesis (Cooper, 1983: 15). As in certain branches of philosophy, language teaching has perhaps clung too long to the first of these notions of authenticity at the expense of the other. This paper reviews four key conceptualisations of authenticity which have emerged in the field of applied linguistics: text authenticity, authenticity of language competence, learner authenticity and classroom authenticity. If any of these types of authenticity is couched exclusively in terms of one usage or the other, it can lead to an impoverishment and objectification of the experience of language learning. Text authenticity can lead to a poverty of language; authenticity of competence can lead to a poverty of performance; learner authenticity can lead to a poverty of interpretation; classroom authenticity can lead to a poverty of communication. This paper proposes...
In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed i... more In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed interest in engaging with foreign language (FL) literature in order to develop knowledge of the culture in which the text is located and to raise awareness of intercultural ...
In the 21st century, the ancient concept of cosmopolitanism-a vision of humanity as a single comm... more In the 21st century, the ancient concept of cosmopolitanism-a vision of humanity as a single community with shared responsibilities and diverse identities-has recaptured the imagination of scholars in the social sciences and the humanities. The cultural and socio-political significance of cosmopolitanism has been the subject of both theoretical and empirical research (cf. Beck & Sznaider, 2006; Inglis, 2014) across a constellation of disciplines (cf. Delanty, 2012, for a brief overview). Yet its educational significancehighlighted by Nussbaum in her influential essay Cosmopolitanism and Patriotism (1996)—has come into focus only in recent years. ‘Cosmopolitanism’ has become an almost obligatory reference in educational discourse, particularly in the higher education context, which is engaged increasingly in internationalisation processes (Richardson, 2015; Trahar, Green, de Wit & Whitsed, 2015). However, the concept is deployed in myriad ways (cf. Skrbis & Woodward, 2013) and is tie...
This Briefing forms part of a wider research project which explores the culture learning processe... more This Briefing forms part of a wider research project which explores the culture learning processes of international students attending a credit-bearing British Studies module in part completion of a foundation/access programme in the UK. It draws on three sets of in-depth student interviews and 15 classroom observations used to triangulate findings to reveal that the module presents partial representations of Britishness through discussion of factual information that neglects the affective dimension of learning. From this, students are seen to construct generalisations about the host culture which the module fails to address despite claims to the development of intercultural competence.
Beyond theoretical and empirical commonalities, the merging of education on ‘language’ and on ‘in... more Beyond theoretical and empirical commonalities, the merging of education on ‘language’ and on ‘intercultural communication’ through a focus on ‘pedagogy’ (teaching and learning) is perhaps even more recent. The literature on pedagogical approaches to the acquisition of ‘intercultural (communicative) competence’ and development of the ‘intercultural speaker’ through modern foreign languages (MFL) education, along with primers and textbooks focused on the role of language in intercultural communication, provide ample evidence of an increasingly established body of scholarship. 4 All of these developments attest to the burgeoning status of ‘language and intercultural communication pedagogy’ as a field in its own right.
Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 2018
Journal of Literary Theory, 2000
In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed i... more In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed interest in engaging with foreign language (FL) literature in order to develop knowledge of the culture in which the text is located and to raise awareness of intercultural attitudes, values and beliefs. However, there has been a reluctance to correspondingly reconsider theories of reading and literary interpretation. In pedagogic textbooks, reading is still theorised almost exclusively in terms of cognitive or psycholinguistic approaches, especially »exemplar models« such as schema theory (Barsalou 2003, 517 -519). Although less widely promulgated, approaches derived from hermeneutics and phenomenology such as reader response theory (Iser 1974; have also been used to describe the reading of FL literature.
Journal of Literary Theory, 2009
... MALCOLM N. MACDONALD/MARIA DASLI/HANY IBRAHIM Literature, Culture and Language Learning 1. In... more ... MALCOLM N. MACDONALD/MARIA DASLI/HANY IBRAHIM Literature, Culture and Language Learning 1. Introduction ... Cook (1994) also claims to synthesize theories of reading; however, this essentially remains an elab-Malcolm N. MacDonald / Maria Dasli / Hany Ibrahim 104 ...
Jlt Articles, Dec 23, 2009
In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed i... more In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed interest in engaging with foreign language (FL) literature in order to develop knowledge of the culture in which the text is located and to raise awareness of intercultural ...
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2006
In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspond... more In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspondence; the other entails the notion of genesis (Cooper, 1983: 15). As in certain branches of philosophy, language teaching has perhaps clung too long to the first of these notions of authenticity at the expense of the other. This paper reviews four key conceptualisations of authenticity
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2017
This paper aims to make a theoretical contribution to the current debate on intercultural educati... more This paper aims to make a theoretical contribution to the current debate on intercultural education by focusing on the nature and limits of tolerance. Drawing on contemporary theorisations of the concept, it is suggested that while tolerance appears fundamental for confronting issues of difference, it has several caveats. The paper discusses the caveats in relation to differences that do not always co-exist harmoniously within the same society, and argues against the view that tolerance brings about automatically positive results to those who practise it. In the light of this argument, I propose that the ethics of hospitality, as elaborated by , may provide a more viable approach to accommodating cultural difference, and conclude the paper with the implications for intercultural education. Specifically, I show that intercultural education has clung too long to the normative goals of modernity, and suggest that in order to go beyond these goals one must bring the ethical relation of responsibility for the other to the fore.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2014
While the language that majorities use to convey ethnic attitudes to members of their own group h... more While the language that majorities use to convey ethnic attitudes to members of their own group has received significant scholarly attention in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United States, the ways in which people of colour actually experience prejudice has been largely ignored. Drawing upon interviews with one young black woman in the south of England, this paper presents findings concerning the patterns of talk and the rhetorical strategies followed to recount experiences of differential treatment. The analysis, inspired by a critical discursive approach, points to the negative construction of the majority group and identifies a number of recurring devices used to bolster the facticity of the accounts. These include the presentation and quoting of self and others, the explicit invocation of category entitlements and the use of extreme case formulations, particularly in anticipation of non-sympathetic hearings. Given the prohibitions on making accusations of racism, the paper culminates with a discussion on factuality which this research attributes to the presence of the white interviewer.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2012
This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on British Studies from the perspective of ei... more This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on British Studies from the perspective of eight international students attending a British Studies module in part completion of a foundation/access programme in the UK. Drawing on three sets of in-depth student interviews and 15 classroom observations used to triangulate findings, the analysis reveals that the module presents partial representations of Britishness through discussion of factual information that places little emphasis on the affective dimension of learning. From this, students are seen to construct generalisations about the host culture which the module fails to address despite claims to the development of intercultural competence.
Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 2011
In the field of modern language education, the discourse of intercultural communication has exper... more In the field of modern language education, the discourse of intercultural communication has experienced three ‘moments’: cultural awareness, cross‐cultural mediation, and critical intercultural language pedagogy. The first refers to the equation between culture and country. The second concerns the development of intercultural competence through acts of tolerance while the third aims to enable a more promising sense of agency within wider political contexts. Despite progression to the third ‘moment’, many intercultural theorists are sceptical of the shifting nature of this discourse. Drawing from cultural and intercultural theory, this paper challenges the first two ‘moments’ through discussion of the notions of imagined communities and communities of shared meanings. It argues in favour of critical intercultural language pedagogy by proposing that the latter be informed from the Habermasian Theory of Communicative Action where acquisition of knowledge depends on the meeting of the S...
AAUSC 2010: Critical and Intercultural Theory and Language Pedagogy, 2011
The Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport and Tourism, 2010
By many measures, the higher education classroom is becoming more culturally diverse and recent y... more By many measures, the higher education classroom is becoming more culturally diverse and recent years have seen a steady increase in the number of international students studying at UK universities. Using developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS), this study aimed to measure the extent to which both home and international students are interculturally sensitive towards each others' needs in a post-92 British University. Using a cohort of undergraduate hospitality and tourism management students, the research identified emerging problems and benefits associated with cultural differences, with international students progressing toward the ethnorelative stages of Bennett's (1993) model and UK students retaining ethnocentric attitudes.
The Routledge handbook of critical interculturality in communication and education, 2024
This paper constitutes the concluding remarks paper to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & S... more This paper constitutes the concluding remarks paper to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, titled ‘Intercultural Communication Pedagogy and the Question of the Other’. The paper presents our own reflections of the broader implications and possible conclusions that can be drawn from contributing papers. Here, we argue that there is one notion, which has been overlooked in the field of Intercultural Communication Pedagogy, namely, the political. In this paper, we argue that the political should not be negated, or relegated, at the expense of the ethical – instead, the political should be included in addressing and redressing the ethics of Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. We reject the liberal doxa that Intercultural Communication Pedagogy should be conceptualised along the lines of non-conflict with the other, e.g., through understanding the other or having a dialogue with the other. Instead, we propose conceptualising the self and other relation in Intercultural Communication Pedagogy as a permanent antagonism, a permanent crisis, without resolution. In outlining our argument, we discuss some conceptual issues surrounding some postpositivist approaches and offer a way forward for Intercultural Communication Pedagogy through an engagement with the political.
This paper constitutes the introduction to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, titl... more This paper constitutes the introduction to the special issue of Pedagogy, Culture & Society, titled ‘Intercultural Communication Pedagogy and the Question of the Other’, which emerged from the launch event of the Institute for Language Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. It proceeds from the arguments that intercultural communication pedagogy has clung too long to essentialist competency models that erase all differences, and that to counteract their effects one needs to pay greater attention to the most pre-original and non-synthesisable ethical relation between self and other. To do so, the paper draws on debates that have problematised competency models, discussing in depth two interrelated central themes that these debates have tended to overlook. The first theme refers to the possibility of the oppressed turning into oppressors in their efforts to free themselves from the unified notion of culture that competency models support. The second theme refers to the emancipatory mission of critical pedagogy which, despite its best intentions, operates within a normative framework from which self and other become the same. The paper culminates with the questions that drive contributions to this special issue, offering an overview of the papers that it contains.
In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspond... more In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspondence; the other entails the notion of genesis (Cooper, 1983: 15). As in certain branches of philosophy, language teaching has perhaps clung too long to the first of these notions of authenticity at the expense of the other. This paper reviews four key conceptualisations of authenticity which have emerged in the field of applied linguistics: text authenticity, authenticity of language competence, learner authenticity and classroom authenticity. If any of these types of authenticity is couched exclusively in terms of one usage or the other, it can lead to an impoverishment and objectification of the experience of language learning. Text authenticity can lead to a poverty of language; authenticity of competence can lead to a poverty of performance; learner authenticity can lead to a poverty of interpretation; classroom authenticity can lead to a poverty of communication. This paper proposes...
In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed i... more In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed interest in engaging with foreign language (FL) literature in order to develop knowledge of the culture in which the text is located and to raise awareness of intercultural ...
In the 21st century, the ancient concept of cosmopolitanism-a vision of humanity as a single comm... more In the 21st century, the ancient concept of cosmopolitanism-a vision of humanity as a single community with shared responsibilities and diverse identities-has recaptured the imagination of scholars in the social sciences and the humanities. The cultural and socio-political significance of cosmopolitanism has been the subject of both theoretical and empirical research (cf. Beck & Sznaider, 2006; Inglis, 2014) across a constellation of disciplines (cf. Delanty, 2012, for a brief overview). Yet its educational significancehighlighted by Nussbaum in her influential essay Cosmopolitanism and Patriotism (1996)—has come into focus only in recent years. ‘Cosmopolitanism’ has become an almost obligatory reference in educational discourse, particularly in the higher education context, which is engaged increasingly in internationalisation processes (Richardson, 2015; Trahar, Green, de Wit & Whitsed, 2015). However, the concept is deployed in myriad ways (cf. Skrbis & Woodward, 2013) and is tie...
This Briefing forms part of a wider research project which explores the culture learning processe... more This Briefing forms part of a wider research project which explores the culture learning processes of international students attending a credit-bearing British Studies module in part completion of a foundation/access programme in the UK. It draws on three sets of in-depth student interviews and 15 classroom observations used to triangulate findings to reveal that the module presents partial representations of Britishness through discussion of factual information that neglects the affective dimension of learning. From this, students are seen to construct generalisations about the host culture which the module fails to address despite claims to the development of intercultural competence.
Beyond theoretical and empirical commonalities, the merging of education on ‘language’ and on ‘in... more Beyond theoretical and empirical commonalities, the merging of education on ‘language’ and on ‘intercultural communication’ through a focus on ‘pedagogy’ (teaching and learning) is perhaps even more recent. The literature on pedagogical approaches to the acquisition of ‘intercultural (communicative) competence’ and development of the ‘intercultural speaker’ through modern foreign languages (MFL) education, along with primers and textbooks focused on the role of language in intercultural communication, provide ample evidence of an increasingly established body of scholarship. 4 All of these developments attest to the burgeoning status of ‘language and intercultural communication pedagogy’ as a field in its own right.
Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 2018
Journal of Literary Theory, 2000
In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed i... more In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed interest in engaging with foreign language (FL) literature in order to develop knowledge of the culture in which the text is located and to raise awareness of intercultural attitudes, values and beliefs. However, there has been a reluctance to correspondingly reconsider theories of reading and literary interpretation. In pedagogic textbooks, reading is still theorised almost exclusively in terms of cognitive or psycholinguistic approaches, especially »exemplar models« such as schema theory (Barsalou 2003, 517 -519). Although less widely promulgated, approaches derived from hermeneutics and phenomenology such as reader response theory (Iser 1974; have also been used to describe the reading of FL literature.
Journal of Literary Theory, 2009
... MALCOLM N. MACDONALD/MARIA DASLI/HANY IBRAHIM Literature, Culture and Language Learning 1. In... more ... MALCOLM N. MACDONALD/MARIA DASLI/HANY IBRAHIM Literature, Culture and Language Learning 1. Introduction ... Cook (1994) also claims to synthesize theories of reading; however, this essentially remains an elab-Malcolm N. MacDonald / Maria Dasli / Hany Ibrahim 104 ...
Jlt Articles, Dec 23, 2009
In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed i... more In the teaching of modern European languages such as German and English, there has been renewed interest in engaging with foreign language (FL) literature in order to develop knowledge of the culture in which the text is located and to raise awareness of intercultural ...
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2006
In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspond... more In philosophy, authenticity has been used with two meanings: one entails the notion of correspondence; the other entails the notion of genesis (Cooper, 1983: 15). As in certain branches of philosophy, language teaching has perhaps clung too long to the first of these notions of authenticity at the expense of the other. This paper reviews four key conceptualisations of authenticity
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2017
This paper aims to make a theoretical contribution to the current debate on intercultural educati... more This paper aims to make a theoretical contribution to the current debate on intercultural education by focusing on the nature and limits of tolerance. Drawing on contemporary theorisations of the concept, it is suggested that while tolerance appears fundamental for confronting issues of difference, it has several caveats. The paper discusses the caveats in relation to differences that do not always co-exist harmoniously within the same society, and argues against the view that tolerance brings about automatically positive results to those who practise it. In the light of this argument, I propose that the ethics of hospitality, as elaborated by , may provide a more viable approach to accommodating cultural difference, and conclude the paper with the implications for intercultural education. Specifically, I show that intercultural education has clung too long to the normative goals of modernity, and suggest that in order to go beyond these goals one must bring the ethical relation of responsibility for the other to the fore.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2014
While the language that majorities use to convey ethnic attitudes to members of their own group h... more While the language that majorities use to convey ethnic attitudes to members of their own group has received significant scholarly attention in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United States, the ways in which people of colour actually experience prejudice has been largely ignored. Drawing upon interviews with one young black woman in the south of England, this paper presents findings concerning the patterns of talk and the rhetorical strategies followed to recount experiences of differential treatment. The analysis, inspired by a critical discursive approach, points to the negative construction of the majority group and identifies a number of recurring devices used to bolster the facticity of the accounts. These include the presentation and quoting of self and others, the explicit invocation of category entitlements and the use of extreme case formulations, particularly in anticipation of non-sympathetic hearings. Given the prohibitions on making accusations of racism, the paper culminates with a discussion on factuality which this research attributes to the presence of the white interviewer.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2012
This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on British Studies from the perspective of ei... more This paper aims to contribute to the current debate on British Studies from the perspective of eight international students attending a British Studies module in part completion of a foundation/access programme in the UK. Drawing on three sets of in-depth student interviews and 15 classroom observations used to triangulate findings, the analysis reveals that the module presents partial representations of Britishness through discussion of factual information that places little emphasis on the affective dimension of learning. From this, students are seen to construct generalisations about the host culture which the module fails to address despite claims to the development of intercultural competence.
Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 2011
In the field of modern language education, the discourse of intercultural communication has exper... more In the field of modern language education, the discourse of intercultural communication has experienced three ‘moments’: cultural awareness, cross‐cultural mediation, and critical intercultural language pedagogy. The first refers to the equation between culture and country. The second concerns the development of intercultural competence through acts of tolerance while the third aims to enable a more promising sense of agency within wider political contexts. Despite progression to the third ‘moment’, many intercultural theorists are sceptical of the shifting nature of this discourse. Drawing from cultural and intercultural theory, this paper challenges the first two ‘moments’ through discussion of the notions of imagined communities and communities of shared meanings. It argues in favour of critical intercultural language pedagogy by proposing that the latter be informed from the Habermasian Theory of Communicative Action where acquisition of knowledge depends on the meeting of the S...
AAUSC 2010: Critical and Intercultural Theory and Language Pedagogy, 2011
The Journal of Hospitality Leisure Sport and Tourism, 2010
By many measures, the higher education classroom is becoming more culturally diverse and recent y... more By many measures, the higher education classroom is becoming more culturally diverse and recent years have seen a steady increase in the number of international students studying at UK universities. Using developmental model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS), this study aimed to measure the extent to which both home and international students are interculturally sensitive towards each others' needs in a post-92 British University. Using a cohort of undergraduate hospitality and tourism management students, the research identified emerging problems and benefits associated with cultural differences, with international students progressing toward the ethnorelative stages of Bennett's (1993) model and UK students retaining ethnocentric attitudes.