Intercultural awareness through the ethnography of speaking

    Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation › Scientific

    Description

    From the very outset the Ethnography of Speaking was meant as a means to study cultures comparatively. The presentation will show how Hymes' SPEAKING grid can be used in the classroom to help students understand what interculturality means. Although it has generally been applied to the study of "exotic" cultures, it can nevertheless be applied to western societies.
    A video from an Australian Question Time and a song from Lady Gaga (Telephone) were given to a 1st year undergraduate English language course. Students were asked to apply Hymes' grid to these communicative events. The aim of the task was to highlight, on the one side, the emergence of conversational routines and norms, and, on the other, to underline possible differences or similarities between the Italian and English cultures. A further step was to focus on possible differences WITHIN the English speaking countries.
    Period30 Nov 2010
    Event titleTESOL-ITALY
    Event typeConference
    LocationRome, ItalyShow on map
    Degree of RecognitionInternational

    Keywords

    • Intercultural Communication
    • Ethnography of Speaking
    • ELT
    • EFL