Chapter 2. Cross-cultural stances in online discussions
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Carl S. Blyth
Abstract
“One of the most important things we do with wordsis take a stance.” John Du Bois (2007: 139) This study examines the cultural, grammatical, and interactional features of the opinions expressed by French and American college students during telecollaborative discussions of individualism. Research on telecollaboration suggests that L1 pragmatic differences in stancetaking prove problematic for cross-cultural communication. This study adopts a mixed methods approach that includes quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the disparate phenomena associated with stancetaking. Lexical associations and word frequency data indicate different French and American cultural models of the discussion topic. Concordance data confirm the cultural models by uncovering divergent L1 patterns of first-person singular reference. Finally, a qualitative analysis of a single discussion demonstrates how the French and American students negotiate their mismatched L1 stances during online interaction.
Abstract
“One of the most important things we do with wordsis take a stance.” John Du Bois (2007: 139) This study examines the cultural, grammatical, and interactional features of the opinions expressed by French and American college students during telecollaborative discussions of individualism. Research on telecollaboration suggests that L1 pragmatic differences in stancetaking prove problematic for cross-cultural communication. This study adopts a mixed methods approach that includes quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the disparate phenomena associated with stancetaking. Lexical associations and word frequency data indicate different French and American cultural models of the discussion topic. Concordance data confirm the cultural models by uncovering divergent L1 patterns of first-person singular reference. Finally, a qualitative analysis of a single discussion demonstrates how the French and American students negotiate their mismatched L1 stances during online interaction.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Pragmatic variation by gender in market service encounters in Mexico 17
- Chapter 2. Cross-cultural stances in online discussions 49
- Chapter 3. Pragmatic variation in therapeutic discourse 81
- Chapter 4. Disagreement and sociolinguistic variables 113
- Chapter 5. Variation in the pragmatic use of conventional expressions 141
- Chapter 6. Variation in NS-learner interactions 175
- Pragmatic variation in learner perception 209
- Chapter 8. Variationist sociolinguistics, L2 sociopragmatic competence, and corpus analysis of classroom-based synchronous computer-mediated discourse 239
- Research methods for describing variation in intercultural pragmatics for cultures in contact and conflict 271
- Chapter 10. Between pragmatics and sociolinguistics 295
- Chapter 11. Conclusions 319
- Index 337
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Pragmatic variation by gender in market service encounters in Mexico 17
- Chapter 2. Cross-cultural stances in online discussions 49
- Chapter 3. Pragmatic variation in therapeutic discourse 81
- Chapter 4. Disagreement and sociolinguistic variables 113
- Chapter 5. Variation in the pragmatic use of conventional expressions 141
- Chapter 6. Variation in NS-learner interactions 175
- Pragmatic variation in learner perception 209
- Chapter 8. Variationist sociolinguistics, L2 sociopragmatic competence, and corpus analysis of classroom-based synchronous computer-mediated discourse 239
- Research methods for describing variation in intercultural pragmatics for cultures in contact and conflict 271
- Chapter 10. Between pragmatics and sociolinguistics 295
- Chapter 11. Conclusions 319
- Index 337
