Saying it again: enhancing clarity in English as a lingua franca (ELF) talk through self-repetition (original) (raw)
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Globally, the use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is becoming more common. Those who engage in ELF often use a variety of strategies to facilitate this type of communication. The research presented in this dissertation aimed to establish whether or not the strategies used in normal ELF contexts might be employed by high level learners of English as they interacted in a classroom environment. This environment was set up to resemble a context in which ELF communication might naturally occur. The participants in this study were two small groups of adult learners of different nationalities, both of which performed a speaking task. The spoken data from both groups was recorded, transcribed and then analysed to determine what, if any, strategies were used. The results show that certain strategies common to ELF use were employed, most noticeably accommodation, and that these strategies enabled the participants to use language in a way to convey meaning effectively to achieve the aim of the task. However, due to the very small sample of data that was examined, as well as the limitations incurred by the participants undertaking only one particular task, the findings presented in this text are not in any way intended to be considered conclusive. Consequently, this area would benefit from further research involving a larger sample of learners of different levels and nationalities performing a wider range of ELF-related tasks.
Repetition in Foreign Language Classroom Interaction - 2000
Duff, P. (2000). Repetition in foreign language classroom interaction. In J.K. Hall & L. S. Verplaetse (Eds.), The development of second and foreign language learning through classroom interaction (pp. 109-138). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. NOT ABSTRACT, BUT EXCERPTED FROM INTRODUCTION: In this chapter, I outline some of the ways repetition has been analyzed in previous acquisition and interaction research and then consider a broader, more socially contextualized research perspective. This perspective is based on language socialization principles (e.g., Duff, 1995; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986) and constructivist approaches to educational discourse (e.g., McGroarty, 1998), and supported by discourse analysis. I first present examples analyzing repetition in young children's language learning, then present examples of linguistic interactions involving repetition in FL classrooms with adolescent and young adult learners. The analysis focuses not only on the types of constructions that are repeated, by whom, and in what contexts, but also the implications of the repeated language forms for learning, for effecting solidarity among the members of the class, and for helping them to construct knowledge together through their use of an FL. The chapter shows the range of uses of repetition in classrooms for a combination of disciplinarian, social, cognitive, linguistic, and affective purposes. Beyond psycholinguistic and other curricular reasons for the use of repetition, I also illustrate how repetition can either further students' social and affective interests or, when used excessively, frustrate students, resulting in their diverting classroom discussion in other directions to avoid further repetition.
Achieving mutual understanding in world Englishes: Achieving mutual understanding in world Englishes
World Englishes, 2010
Given the rapid growth in international contacts worldwide, English is increasingly becoming the chosen medium to facilitate communication among people of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. However, the question remains as to how non-native speakers of English of varying levels of proficiency, using different varieties of English, are able to arrive at mutual understanding in this medium. The paper addresses this question by offering some insights into the process of negotiating understanding in English as a lingua franca and the interactional procedures used in this regard. Fifteen hours of transcribed audio recordings of naturally occurring spoken interactions in English as a lingua franca (ELF), between participants of a range of first language and cultural backgrounds, were examined using conversation analytic procedures. Several interactional practices were identified as the ones utilized in the process of constructing shared understanding, namely repetition, paraphrase and various confirmation and clarification procedures. These procedures are strategically employed by both speaker and recipient as warranted by the local context to address problems of understanding when they occur. Thus, regardless of the participants' use of different varieties of English at varying levels of competency, communication is successful as the participants make skilful and adept use of common, shared interactional practices to arrive at mutual understanding.
Repetitions as self-repair strategies in English and German conversations
Journal of Pragmatics, 2003
This is a sociolinguistic study of conversational self-repair strategies used by English-German bilinguals, focusing mainly on repetitions as self-repair strategies. Repetitions of one or several lexical items are considered part of the self-repair organization when their function is to gain linguistic and/or cognitive planning time for the speaker or when used to postpone the possible transition-relevance place. In conversations, English-German bilinguals use repetitions as self-repair strategies differently depending on the language they speak. They repeat more pronoun-verb combinations, more personal pronouns, and more prepositions in English than in German, and they recycle more demonstrative pronouns in German than in English. These differences are explained by structural differences in English and German, demonstrating that the structure of a particular language shapes the repair strategies of language users because it creates opportunities for recycling and thus, that repetition as a self-repair strategy is an orderly phenomenon. #
Managing understanding in intercultural talk: An empirical approach to miscommunication (2002)
Research on miscommunication has not ceased to grow since the early 1980s, especially in connection with the analysis of cross-cultural communication. Yet, this interest has not stimulated a critical debate on the theoretical models underpinning most miscommunication research. This study aims at encouraging scientific discussion by advocating an empirical treatment of communicative conflict, that is one which is grounded in the detailed examination of linguistic data. Through the fine-grained analysis of participants' sense-making processes in a corpus of real-life intercultural data, we seek to unveil the linguistic and conversational strategies that speakers put to work in the handling of miscommunication. Our empirical analysis of understanding difficulties, based exlusively on observable trouble in talk, suggests that analysts can legitimately focus only on those stretches of talk which are experienced as problematic by speakers themselves. It also shows that miscommunication cannot be attributed to an individual speaker, but that it is jointly constructed by interactants through the ways in which they assess and respond to each other's conversational contributions.
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH AS A LINGUA FRANCA
Abstract There is a tendency to interpret intercultural communication as problematic, especially with the diverse cultures that regularly come into contact with one another. Most often than not, misunderstanding and communication breakdown in communication can be traced to intercultural contacts because interlocutors depend on the norms of their mother tongue and culture to negotiate meaning. This paper set out to identify the sources of misunderstanding in intercultural communication in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). A cross cultural analysis of an excerpt based on an ELF interaction revealed that the misunderstanding in intercultural communication in ELF is caused by cultural differences which affect English language interpretation, ambiguity of a speaker’s utterance and the lack of shared knowledge. A range of intercultural communicative skills were suggested to enable interlocutors in cross cultural contexts communicate effectively. The paper concludes that conscious development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), skills and an awareness of cultural differences by interlocutors in any contact situation is pivotal to avoiding misunderstandings in ELF interactions, thereby ensuring successful ELF communication. Keywords: Intercultural communication, English as a lingua franca, misunderstanding.
INVESTIGATIONES LINGUISTICAE , 2018
Intercultural differences in discourse patterns have been considered the most important cause of communication problems. It is less certain if these differences are relevant for talk participants in handling communication problems in intercultural interactions. The aim of the case study presented in this paper is observing if talk participants orient to intercultural differences in discourse patterns and what knowledge of these differences they have. I use ethnomethodological approach in analyzing the interaction of Polish students with their Chinese interlocutor. The interactions is an interview conducted in English as a lingua franca. I also conduct an ethnographic interviewwith the Polish speakers to study their knowledge concerning communication problems which appeared in their interactions with the Chinese speaker. Analyzing the ethnographic interview as interaction, I focus on the content co-construed by the interview participants.
A Discourse-Centered Approach: Repetition in Cross-Cultural Settings
1996
A study investigated how repetition was used in the telling of personal narratives to create emotional involvement on the part of listeners, to evaluate stories, to prevent listeners from asking questions and from losing the story's focus, and to justify narrating that particular story in a cross-cultural setting. It was assumed that narrators from different cultures (American English, British English, Turkish) would use repetition for different narrative purposes. Subjects were 15 each Turkish, British, and American high school graduates, college students and graduates, and college faculty. Each narrated a personal experience about a danger of death situation or an event creating nervousness, using his native language, which was analyzed for repetition types (lexical, syntactic, discursal), subcategories, functions (emphatic, thematic, persuasive, artistic), and frequency. It is concluded that narrators from different cultures use different discourse strategies to evaluate their narratives and involve listeners. However, since cultural expectations direct communication, the potential for miscommunication exists in cross-cultural exchanges. Contains 20 references. (MSE)
The paper argues that Negotiation (capitalised to differentiate from negotiation as an activity type such as business negotiation) is the most important means of engagement in intercultural and lingua franca communication. In intercultural and lingua franca communication, thus also in English as a lingua franca (ELF), variability, heterogeneity and uncertainty are the norm, and therefore, the need to negotiate common frames of reference and cultural identity is greater than in other types of communication. By providing a Negotiation approach for intercultural and lingua franca communication, we are able to focus on individuals taking part in interactions along with their agency rather than cultural groups, the here-and-now nature of interactions rather than assumed or predicted course of actions, the resources individuals bring with them rather than problems, and the process rather than the outcome. 协商作为跨文化和通用语言交流参与方式：参考框架和文化认同互融性 本文提出"协商"是跨文化和通用语言交流最重要的参与方式。在跨文化和通用语言包 括以英语作为通用语言(ELF)交流中， 可变性、差异性和不确定性是常态，因而双 方更需要对参考框架和文化认同进行协商。通过这个协商的概念，我们可以专注于交 流中的个人， 而不是群体背景；专注于交流中"此时此地"的特点，而不是假设或预测 的行为；专注于双方带来的资源，而不是问题；专注于过程，而不是结果。 2 关键词：文化认同，参考框架，协商，文化认同互融性