Cross-Cultural Communication 3301-JF2631
The aim of this course is to exemplify and analyse a number of cross-cultural differences in the characteristic ways of speaking of selected languages and cultures (in particular Polish, Anglo-Australian, Anglo-American, Chinese). Differences between conversational routines, forms of address, culture-specific speech genres and keywords, ways of self-presentation, characteristic forms of non-verbal communication illustrate and reflect specific values of different societies. Course topics include:
1. Introduction. Language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice. Communicative competence and ethnographies of speaking. Towards a maximally culture-neutral perspective on meaning.
2. Cross-cultural communication and different cultural values: 'modesty', 'assertiveness',' in/directness', 'in/formality', 'warmth' and 'respect' in a comparative perspective.
3. Cultural scripts and conversational routines, part 1: praise and compliment responses, formulating advice and criticism.
4. Cultural scripts and conversational routines, part 2: saying 'yes' and 'no', information-seeking.
5. Polish language and culture: a cross-cultural view. Polish vs. Anglo-American emotional norms. Polish 'serdeczność' (cordiality) and 'narzekanie' (complaining) as cultural verbal practices.
6. Cultural keywords and core cultural values. Case studies: Anglo 'reasonable' and 'fair.' Chinese miànzi and liǎn (face). Further examples from Japanese - amae 'dependence' and omoiyari 'empathy'.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
A student will acquire advanced information about Cross-Cultural Communication and will develop his/her analytical skills. English language instruction at the B2+ level. In class discussions students develop skills of expressing their thoughts in a clear, coherent, logical and precise manner, with the use of language which is correct grammatically, lexically and phonetically.
Assessment criteria
Midterm presentation and semester paper
Bibliography
Bellah, R.N. (Ed.). 1996. Habits of the Heart. University of California Press.
Duranti, A. 1999. Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goddard, C. 2005. The Languages of East and Southeast Asia: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hoffman, E. 1989. Lost in Translation. Chicago: Minerva Press.
Klos Sokol, L. 2005. Shortcuts to Poland. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo IPS (2nd edition).
Kochman, T. 1981. Black and White. Styles in Conflict. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Kornacki, P. 2003. Scripts of 'Face': Chinese Conceptions of Mianzi and Lian from the Natural Semantic Metalanguage perspective. In: Mioduszewska, E. (Ed.) Relevance Studies in Poland, Vol.1, pp.349-383. The Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw.
Kornacki P. (2021) Chinese Cultural Keywords. In: Ye Z. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Chinese Language Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6844-8_43-1
Wierzbicka, A. 2003. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics. The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Wierzbicka, A. 2006. English: Meaning and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: