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LING903 : Languages and cultures in contact
Availability : |
D1 X1 X2 |
Credit Points: |
4 |
Prerequisites: |
LING212 or LING216, (Undergrad students only) |
Convenor(s): |
Dr Verna Rieschild |
Unit Web Site: |
Description
Students in this unit should read this unit outline carefully at the start of semester as it has important information about the unit. If anything is unclear, please consult the convener or tutor.
About this unit
Unit description and Relevance:
Increasing globalization, internationalization, and migration provide an imperative to develop an awareness and understanding of issues associated with linguistic diversity. Language and culture investigates ‘Language’ and ‘languages’, ‘Society’ and ‘societies’, and ‘Culture’ and ‘cultures’ - seeing language as a social tool rather than simply a mirror, and “language as a cultural resource and speaking as cultural practice” (Duranti 1997).
This unit is designed to develop your understanding and awareness of the links between language and culture and has three strands:
Credit Points: 4
Teaching Staff
| Convened by: |
Dr Verna Robertson Rieschild |
| Room : | C5A529 |
| Telephone: | 9850 9922 |
| Email: | vrieschi@ling.mq.edu.au |
| Lecturers | Dr V Rieschild, A/Prof Ilija Casule |
| Tutors | Gregory Flannery, Email:Greg.Flannery@ling.mq.edu.au |
| Gerard O’Neill, Email:Gerard.ONeill@ling.mq.edu.au | |
| Email your tutor with any questions you may have, or for an appointment. | |
Classes
ON CAMPUS: SEMESTER 1: CLASSES 2 hours / week, one hour lecture then one hour tutorial.
The timetable for classes can be found at the University web site at: http://www.timetables.mq.edu.au/
Required and Recommended texts and/or materials
** = on Reserve. * = 3 day loan (e) = available electronically on e-reserve
Texts
Prescribed
** LING903 Course readings are available for you to buy through the Co-Op bookshop and are on loan at the Reserve Desk of the University Library. (You will find the names of these readings in the Class schedule).
You are also strongly encouraged to source works independently and contribute what you have found to the weekly tutorial discussions.
UNIT WEB PAGE
The MQ Student Portal to students enrolled in this unit (https://my.mq.edu.au/)
Collect your lecture and tutorial notes from this site.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The learning outcomes of this unit are to …
Teaching and Learning Strategy
Students will gain most from the lectures and tutorials by pre- reading at least one of the suggested works from the collection of articles and chapters in the Course Reader before the class. For on campus students, tutorials will deal with Generic skills (5-10 mins) and Unit Content covered in the lecture of the week before.
WEEK 1 -Lecture 1 Dr Verna Rieschild Introduction to the unit. Terms and perspectives.
WEEK 2 - Lecture 2 Dr Verna Rieschild Overview of the issues
Reading: Lado, R. 1986. How to compare two cultures In Valdes (ed) Culture bound: Bridging the culture gap in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP: 52-63.
Tutorial 1: Explaining assessment and expectations of student input into the unit.:
Unit content skills: Recognizing the complexity of identity and avoiding cross cultural fundamentalism
WEEK 3 - Lecture 3 Dr Verna Rieschild Language and Society 1 Regional and class variation
Reading: Wardhaugh, R 1992. Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Oxford & Cambridge: Blackwell. Chapter 6.
Holmes J. 2001. An introduction to sociolinguistics. UK: Longmans Chapter 6 (not in the reader)
Tutorial 2: Generic Skills: Quick lesson in how to get the most from your reading!
Unit content skills: exploring society and culture
WEEK 4 - Lecture 4 Dr Verna Rieschild Language and Society 2 Age, Gender; ethnicity
Reading: Holmes J. 2001. An introduction to sociolinguistics. UK: Longmans Chapters 7 & 8 (not in the reader)
Tutorial 3: Generic skills: how to effectively contribute to small group discussions
Unit content: Region and class
WEEK 5 - Lecture 5 Associate Professor Ilija Casule Linguistic Relativity
Reading: Moore, J.D. 1997. Clifford Geertz. In Moore. Visions of culture: 238-247.
Ochs, E. 1988 Culture and language development. CUP: pp 1-29 and Chapter 8.
Steinfatt, T.M. 1987. Linguistic Relativity: towards a broader view. In Ting-Toomey, S. & F. Korzenny (eds) Language, communication and culture: current directions. Newbury Park, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications: 35-75. 179.
Tutorial 4: Age and gender
WEEK 6 - Lecture 6 Associate Professor Ilija Casule Intercultural professional communication: in health and legal sectors
Read one ( or more, if you like! )
Health: O’Byrne, C. 1994. Intercultural communication for health care professionals. In Brislin, R & T Yoshida (eds) Improving international interactions: Sessions for cross cultural training programs. London: Sage Publications:171-196.
Pauwels, A. 1990. Health professionals’ perceptions of communication difficulties in cross-cultural contexts ARAL Series S, No. 7: 93-111.
Law: Cooke, Michael. 1995. Aboriginal evidence in the cross cultural courtroom. In Eades D. (Ed.) Language in evidence. UNSW Press: 55-96.
Tutorial 5: Intercultural communication in professional settings and
WEEK 7 - Lecture 7 and Tutorial 6 Oral Presentations (Assignment 2)
BREAK
WEEK 8 - Lecture 8 Dr V Rieschild Theoretical Issues: Stereotype; politeness; foreigner talk
Readings: Hewstone, M & H. Giles 1988. Social groups and social stereotypes in intergroup communication. In Gunykunst, (Ed) Intergroup communication. London: Edward Arnold:10-20. (reprinted in Coupland & Jaworski 1998: 270-283).
Sarangi, S. 1996 Conflation of institutional and cultural stereotyping in Asian migrants’discourse. Discourse & Society. 7(3): 359-387.
Tutorial 7: Ethnographic observation of a cultural schema: flexible schemata not fixed stereotypes
WEEK 9 - Lecture 9 Dr Verna Rieschild Semantics
Readings: Wierzbicka, A. 1991. Cross-cultural pragmatics. Chapter 5:183-195.
Goddard, C. 1997. Semantic analysis. New York: OUP: 96-106
Tutorial 8: Exploring words, idioms and conceptual metaphors.
WEEK 10 - Lecture 10. A/Professor Ilija Casule Culture-specific labels Culture and Translation
Readings: Ferre, R. 1995. On destiny, Language, and translation; or, Ophelia adrift in the C. & O.
Canal. In Dingwaney, A. & C. Maier (Eds.) Between languages and cultures: translation and cross-cultural texts. Pittsburgh & London: University of Pittsburgh
Wroblewski, J. 1990. False friends revisited. In Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. & M. Thelen (Eds.). Translation and meaning, Part 4. UPM: 213-221.
Tutorial 9: Idioms and other challenges in translating across cultures
WEEK 11 - Lecture 11 Dr Verna Rieschild Intercultural classroom communication
Readings: Brick, J. 1991. China A handbook in intercultural communication. NCELTR. 153-160.
Jin, Lixian & M Cortazzi. 1998. The culture the learner brings: a bridge or barrier. In Bryam & Fleming (Eds.) Language learning in intercultural perspective. Cambridge:CUP:98-118.
Damen, L. 1987 Crosscultural considerations in the classroom In Damen, L. Culture learning: the fifth dimension in the classroom. Addison Wesley:Chapter 15.
Tutorial 10: Culture specific aspects of being a good learner/teacher
WEEK 12- Lecture 12 Dr Verna Rieschild Culture and Rhetoric Preferences
Readings: Ho, J.W.Y. 1998. Cultural transmission in literacy acquisition: a case study in Chinese. ARAL Series S, 14:102-117.
Clyne, M. 1998. Cultural differences in the organization of academic texts: English and German. In Cheshire, J. & P. Trudgill (Eds) The sociolinguistic reader: Volume 2 London: Arnold: 315-347.
Kaplan, R. 1966 Cultural thought patterns in intercultural communication. Language Learning, 16:1-20.
Kirkpatrick, A. 1997. Using contrastive rhetoric to teach writing: 7 principles. ARAL 89-101.
Hinds, J. 1983 Contrastive rhetoric: Japanese and English. Text 3 (2) 183-195.
Tutorial 11: Examining sequence of components of speech and text types
WEEK 13 - Lecture 13 TBA Culture and language teaching/learning materials
Readings: Crozet, C & A. Liddicoat 1997. Teaching Culture as an integrated part of language teaching: an introduction. ARAL 1-22.
Damen, L. 1987 Textbook selection and evaluation in Damen ln Culture learning: the fifth dimension in the classroom. Addison Wesley:Chapter 13.
Achren, L 1991 Do we assume too much? Measuring the cross cultural appropriacy of teaching aids. Prospect Vol 6 No 2.
Tutorial 12: Discussion: to what extent is cognitive, affective and behavioural expression conditioned by culture?
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ASSESSMENT AND LEARNING OUTCOMES
Rationale for the modes of assessment
Assignment 1 gives students an opportunity to display a critical awareness of a number of issues relevant to the links between language and culture,
Assignment 2 gives students an opportunity to understand and evaluate theoretical debates, demonstrate an understanding of the processes involved in critically reading of scholarly work and writing with academic integrity. Dealing with the literature develops the student’s skills in critical reading and writing and citation and referencing systems.
Assignment 3 gives students the opportunity to demonstrate integration of learning from a range of sources. It will develop creative thinking, problem solving and analytical skills.
ASSESSMENT
ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION:
| Assignment 1 due by | week 7 10/4/08 | 30% Linguistic Repertoire |
| Assignment 2 due by | week 12 29/5/08 | 45% Literature Essay |
| Assignment 3 Ongoing (hand in each fortnight from week 4) | 25% Journal | |