Languaging about intercultural communication: the occurrence and conceptual focus of intracultural peer collaborative dialogues

ABSTRACT

This study examined intracultural peers using language as a cognitive tool (i.e. languaging) to recognise, understand, and explain intercultural communication concepts. In pairs, 42 Korean public school teachers enrolled in an in-service program completed a describe-interpret-evaluate task through synchronous computer-mediated communication. To investigate languaging about intercultural communication, the analytic concept of language-related episode (LRE) was adapted to create intercultural communication meta-talk (IC-MT). Transcripts from the task were analysed for: (1) the occurrence of IC-MT, and (2) the focus of IC-MT instances in relation to concepts underlying intercultural communication. Results showed that IC-MT occurred at variable rates in peer discourse, sometimes included problematic interactional features, and focused on four aspects of intercultural communication. This study suggests that the intracultural peers use language in ways that create conditions for intercultural learning and that multiple factors mediate participation in collaborative dialogue. Pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed, in addition to avenues for future investigations on languaging and its role in the formation of intercultural competence.

KEYWORDS:

• Intercultural competence
• intracultural communication
• sociocultural theory
• languaging
• computer-mediated communication

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the reviewers and editors for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Intracultural is used to reflect the distinction between intracultural and intercultural computer-mediated communication (Abrams, 2011), and the psychological differences between intra- and intercultural communication outlined in Byram (1997).

2. Instructor and student names were changed.

3. Transcripts were slightly modified to aid the reader. Modifications included minor spelling corrections, and deletions of overlapping turns and off-topic discourse.

4. Translations appear in parentheses.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Sookmyung Women's University Research [grant number 2015].

Notes on contributors

Levi McNeil

Levi McNeil (PhD, Washington State University) is an associate professor at Sookmyung Women's University and serves as an associate editor for TESOL Journal. His research interests include CALL teacher education, new literacies, and situated learning. McNeil's published works on these topics appear in Language Learning and Technology, Language Teaching Research, and Computer Assisted Language Learning, among others.