John Benjamins Publishing Company
Chapter 1. Culture, gender, ethnicity, identity in discourse
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Catherine Evans Davies
Abstract
International teaching assistants in charge of undergraduate classes in American universities present the anomalous situation of the non-native speaker in the role of higher authority, but the native-speaker having greater communicative resources and cultural knowledge. This interactional sociolinguistic case study of a facilitated negotiation of discourse style in conversations between a Chinese teaching assistant and an African-American undergraduate explores the situated enactment and interpretation of identity in relation to culture, gender, and ethnicity. A multilayered analysis involves videotaped role-plays based on a prototypical teacher/student interaction with conflicting goals, guided feedback, repeat enactments, playback sessions, and reverse role-plays. It explores the situated presentation of self and the attempt to exercise power, and reveals difficulties in the development of cross-cultural communicative competence when a discourse style is associated with values incompatible with presentation of self and thus emotionally unacceptable (in this case, to the African-American undergraduate).
Abstract
International teaching assistants in charge of undergraduate classes in American universities present the anomalous situation of the non-native speaker in the role of higher authority, but the native-speaker having greater communicative resources and cultural knowledge. This interactional sociolinguistic case study of a facilitated negotiation of discourse style in conversations between a Chinese teaching assistant and an African-American undergraduate explores the situated enactment and interpretation of identity in relation to culture, gender, and ethnicity. A multilayered analysis involves videotaped role-plays based on a prototypical teacher/student interaction with conflicting goals, guided feedback, repeat enactments, playback sessions, and reverse role-plays. It explores the situated presentation of self and the attempt to exercise power, and reveals difficulties in the development of cross-cultural communicative competence when a discourse style is associated with values incompatible with presentation of self and thus emotionally unacceptable (in this case, to the African-American undergraduate).
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction. Discourse and cognitive perspectives on language learning 1
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Part I. Discourse perspectives
- Chapter 1. Culture, gender, ethnicity, identity in discourse 11
- Chapter 2. Discourse management strategies revisited 37
- Chapter 3. Senior confessions 63
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Part II. Cognitive perspectives
- Chapter 4. The speech went on (and on) as Kerry dozed off (*and off) 85
- Chapter 5. The role of embodiment in the semantic analysis of phrasal verbs 111
- Chapter 6. Synesthetic metaphors of sound 131
- Chapter 7. Conceptual vs. inter-lexical polysemy 159
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Part III. Applications to L2 teaching and learning
- Chapter 8. Formulaicity and context in second language pragmatics 193
- Chapter 9. What is happened? Your amazon.com order has shipped 213
- Chapter 10. Effects of L2 exposure on the use of discourse devices in L2 storytelling 249
- Chapter 11. The use of hedging devices in L2 legal writing 275
- Afterword. The theoretical and applied foundations of Andrea Tyler’s approach to the study of language 301
- Name index 311
- Subject Index 315
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Introduction. Discourse and cognitive perspectives on language learning 1
-
Part I. Discourse perspectives
- Chapter 1. Culture, gender, ethnicity, identity in discourse 11
- Chapter 2. Discourse management strategies revisited 37
- Chapter 3. Senior confessions 63
-
Part II. Cognitive perspectives
- Chapter 4. The speech went on (and on) as Kerry dozed off (*and off) 85
- Chapter 5. The role of embodiment in the semantic analysis of phrasal verbs 111
- Chapter 6. Synesthetic metaphors of sound 131
- Chapter 7. Conceptual vs. inter-lexical polysemy 159
-
Part III. Applications to L2 teaching and learning
- Chapter 8. Formulaicity and context in second language pragmatics 193
- Chapter 9. What is happened? Your amazon.com order has shipped 213
- Chapter 10. Effects of L2 exposure on the use of discourse devices in L2 storytelling 249
- Chapter 11. The use of hedging devices in L2 legal writing 275
- Afterword. The theoretical and applied foundations of Andrea Tyler’s approach to the study of language 301
- Name index 311
- Subject Index 315
