Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language
Кросс-культурная прагматика и межкультурные импликации играют важную роль в обучении английскому языку как иностранному в рамках использования коммуникативного подхода....
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Кримський науковий центр НАН України і МОН України
2012
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irk-123456789-560392014-02-11T03:16:26Z Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language Bondarenko, L. Kahan, M. Студенческие публикации Кросс-культурная прагматика и межкультурные импликации играют важную роль в обучении английскому языку как иностранному в рамках использования коммуникативного подхода. 2012 Article Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language / L. Bondarenko, M. Kahan // Культура народов Причерноморья. — 2012. — № 226. — С. 113-115. — Бібліогр.: 4 назв. — англ. 1562-0808 http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/56039 37.001.12/18 en Культура народов Причерноморья Кримський науковий центр НАН України і МОН України |
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Студенческие публикации Студенческие публикации Bondarenko, L. Kahan, M. Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language Культура народов Причерноморья |
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Кросс-культурная прагматика и межкультурные импликации играют важную роль в обучении английскому языку
как иностранному в рамках использования коммуникативного подхода. |
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Article |
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Bondarenko, L. Kahan, M. |
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Bondarenko, L. Kahan, M. |
| author_sort |
Bondarenko, L. |
| title |
Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language |
| title_short |
Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language |
| title_full |
Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language |
| title_fullStr |
Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language |
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Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language |
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cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching english as a second language |
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Кримський науковий центр НАН України і МОН України |
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2012 |
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Студенческие публикации |
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http://dspace.nbuv.gov.ua/handle/123456789/56039 |
| citation_txt |
Cross-cultural pragmatics and implications in teaching English as a second language / L. Bondarenko, M. Kahan // Культура народов Причерноморья. — 2012. — № 226. — С. 113-115. — Бібліогр.: 4 назв. — англ. |
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Культура народов Причерноморья |
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СТУДЕНЧЕСКИЕ ПУБЛИКАЦИИ
113
Bondarenko L., Kahan M. УДК 37.001.12/18
CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATICS AND IMPLICATIONS IN TEACHING
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
КРОСС-КУЛЬТУРНАЯ ПРАГМАТИКА И ИМПЛИКАЦИИ В ОБУЧЕНИИ АНГЛИЙСКОМУ
ЯЗЫКУ КАК ИНОСТРАННОМУ
Кросс-культурная прагматика и межкультурные импликации играют важную роль в обучении английскому языку
как иностранному в рамках использования коммуникативного подхода.
Being a competent user of English has become increasingly important nowadays, because it is common
knowledge that the English Language has acquired a status of a world language and is now spoken all over the
world. However, being a fluent speaker of English does not mean to be a competent user of the language. The
notion of a competent user of the language has been changing through years, becoming more and more
complicated. Actually, a present day view of a communicatively effective person, and it is exactly what we aim at
while teaching languages to students, is based upon both linguistic and pragmatic competence. As Rintell-Mitchell
writes in her article ‘Cross-cultural pragmatic failure and implications for language teaching’, “Perhaps the
fascination that the study of cross-cultural pragmatics holds for language teachers, researchers, and students of
linguistics stems from the serious trouble to which pragmatic failure can lead. No ‘error’ of grammar can make a
speaker seem so incompetent, so inappropriate, so foreign, as the kind of trouble a learner gets into when he or she
does not understand or otherwise disregards a language’s rules of use” [1, 3].
Pragmatic aspect is an indispensable part of mastering any modern language, whose main role is to be a means
of communication. To become a Culturally Effective Person (CEP), one must take into account pragmatic aspect of
communication, which is closely connected with implications and connotative meanings of the words and phrases
used in discourse. According to I.V. Arnold, “The expressive function of the language with its orientation towards
the speaker’s feelings, and the pragmatic function dealing with the effect of words upon listeners are rendered in
connotations [2, 47]”. The philologist also dwells upon the role the pragmatic aspect plays in the theory of
language, “The extra linguistic factors influencing usage and development of language constitute one of the crucial
problems of linguistics. They are dealt with in sociolinguistics and linguo-stylistics. … socio linguistics is primarily
interested in variations in language according to uses depending on social, educational, sex, age, etc [2, 240]”.
Pragmatics in language teaching is a relatively young problem, attracting a lot of academic attention of
numerous scholars, whose concern is either with teaching, communication or pragmatics. The most reputable
authors in this domain are: Rose Kenneth, G. Pohl, D. Torsborg, H. Spencer- Oatey and others. But for the
paramount importance of the pragmatic competence in teaching a foreign language, stressed in these works, the
focus is on the general principles and the expected outcome, whereas the strategies of fulfilling the goals set before
the teacher are carelessly left behind.
This work, being a presentation of the actual teaching experience results is supposed to become a useful
contribution to the bulk of the ones devoted to the problem of the cross-cultural pragmatics and implications.
The methodological basis of this work is constituted by traditional general methods of scientific research, such
as analysis, synthesis, comparative method. Some new methods and approaches are also applied, such as cultural
approach, socio linguistic approach, psychological and cultural – historical approach to the problem of pragmatics
and implications in teaching. Teaching a language is different from teaching any other science, “as learners strive to
express their social identities … and teachers seek to involve the whole person in the learning process” [3, 1].
Rose and Kasper define pragmatics as ‘the study of communicative action in the socio-cultural context’ [3, 1].
Thus, a learner of English should take into account cross-cultural pragmatics of his/her interlocutor, because, say,
European pragmatic context is totally different from the English one, and the American pragmatic implications are
not the same as the English ones. And it is a subject matter of anthropologists and sociologists more than of
linguists. Jeremy Paxman is probably one of the most prominent figures in this domain, as well as his followers,
such as an English anthropologist Kate Fox, whose works have won both academic and public respect through the
last decade. The aim of her books, as the author herself states, is to “…to provide a grammar of English behavior.
[4, 2], such as what to say when you see a person for the first time, how to introduce yourself, how to leave and
how to say “Goodbye!” It is also important to know how to behave and what to say when you are lucky to get
invited to an English house, as it is an extremely rear as far as foreigners is concerned. It must be mentioned that
native speakers of English are usually very tolerant and broadminded people, generously forgiving foreign speakers
of English both their imperfections in accent and behavior. For example, a native speaker would not be shocked if
you ask him/her “What do you do for your living?” However it is not socially accepted to require about the source
of income in the English society [4], as well as about the name of your interlocutor, unless he or she reveals it
him/herself. Kate Fox calls this implication a ‘no-name rule’ [4].
The English culture is very different from the American and European ones, that should be taken into
consideration while teaching English. As Kate Fox, a reputable English anthropologists states, “Native speakers can
rarely explain the grammatical rules of their own language. In the same way, those who are most ‘fluent’ in the
rituals, customs and traditions of a particular culture generally lack the detachment necessary to explain the
‘grammar’ of these practices in an intelligent manner [4, 2]”. But teachers of a foreign language cannot afford this,
helping their students to integrate into a new culture. Say, even most simple things like saying ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’
and ‘weather talk’ in English can have their nuances.
Bondarenko L., Kahan M.
CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATICS AND IMPLICATIONS IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
114
For example, what seems to be easier than introducing yourself, saying “Hello, I am John. What’s your name?”
It is quite acceptable for America and, probably, in some formal situations in Britain, but not if you are somewhere
at the pub bar counter or at a party. The research Kate Fox conducted reveals that ‘the only correct way to introduce
yourself in such settings is not to introduce yourself at all, but to find some other way of initiating a conversation…
[4, с. 39]”. American people often feel astonished if not offended by the English reaction to pronouncing their
names, as the English may just smile politely and say ‘Hello’ without revealing their names in return. Kate Fox
says, “… the English do not want to know your name or tell you theirs until a much greater degree of intimacy has
been established – like maybe you marry their daughter [4, с. 39]”. No matter how ironic it sounds, the fact should
be taken into consideration by the teachers of English, who have to explain to their students the rule of ‘grooming
talk’ with the English.
As a solution to the problem, Kate Fox suggests to strike up a conversation by making ‘a vaguely interrogative
comment about the weather 9or the party, or pub or wherever you happen to be) [4, с. 39]”. It also should not be
done too loudly and the tone should be light and informal, not earnest or intense. The objective is to drift casually
into a conversation, as though by accident, that is much more appealing to the English ear, than direct introduction.
Sometimes, the names of the interlocutors remain a mystery up to the end of the conversation, that is quite correct
according to the rules of cultural pragmatics. In the end of conversation, as Kate Fox suggests, you may say:
“Goodbye, nice to meet you, er, oh – I didn’t catch your name?’ as though you have only just noticed the omission.
Wait, until your new acquaintance divulges his/her name, and it is the time to introduce yourself in an offhand way,
as though it is not a matter of importance: ‘I’m Bill, by the way’[4, с. 39]. In teaching, however it is not always
easy to explain such implications to the students. It is better to play out a situation, creating a pragmatic context.
Another aspect of the same problem is that it is not entirely polite to ask someone directly ‘What do you do?’,
although you might think it is the most obvious question to a new acquaintance. The English prefer to play so called
‘guessing-game’ [4, с. 44]. At the social gatherings where people often meet each other for the first time, the
‘guessing-game’ is played, when people attempt to guess a person’s occupation from ‘clues’ in remarks made about
other matters. Guessing-game techniques are also used widely by the English to find out where people live, whether
they are married, what school or university they went to, and so on.
As part of this work we have been doing some experiments in teaching that kind of implications to the
intermediate and advanced adult students. They were given a task to find out as much personal details as possible
without making a direct inquiry about: name, occupation, place of living, marital status, etc. The activity was
meant to be a role play. For this purpose, the participants were asked to choose his or her English identity: name,
address of the house or flat they live in, occupation, job, social and marital status, number of children, etc. All
personal details should be written on a sheet of paper which is to be signed by a real name of the student and given
to the teacher. In such a way, the learners will remember all their new personal details better and the teacher can
follow the flow of their dialogues and make useful suggestions if necessary. The setting may be a social occasion at
someone’s house or any other place, where people communicate in an informal atmosphere, such as a cocktail party
or an anniversary of someone’s wedding, engagement or a birthday party. The students may stay on their seats or
move around the room, if possible to make the pragmatic context more real. Firstly they should choose someone
they would like to talk to. It does not have to be a dialogue; people can talk in groups of three or even four,
depending on the situation and the learners themselves. The teacher must take care though that everyone is
involved. The teacher, having the personal information about everyone, asks each group to perform a talk. But
before the students start to perform the task, some explanations should be given to make it clear and the results
more effective. Here we again refer to the Kate Fox’s book ‘Watching the English’, which is of great help here.
To find out about occupation, one might like to start with comments about traffic problems in the local area,
which elicit the response: ‘Oh, yes, it is a nightmare and the rush hour is even worse: do you drive to work?’ The
other person knows exactly what question is really intended, and will usually obligingly answer the unspoken
enquiry, as well as the spoken one, saying something like: ‘Yes, but I work at the hospital, so at least I don’t have to
get into the town centre’. It is a sign to the questioner to make a direct guess: ‘Oh, the hospital – you’re a doctor,
then?’ It should be explained, that if two or three possible occupations are indicated, it is polite to name the highest
status one as the first guess – doctor rather than nurse, porter or medical student; solicitor rather than secretary;
senior manager than a office worker, etc. Also, even though an explicit guess is appropriate at this stage, it is best
expressed as an interrogative statement, rather than as direct question [4, с. 44-45].
Everyone knows “the rules of this game”, and most English people tend to offer helpful ‘clues’ early at the
beginning of the conversation, to assist their interlocutor and speed up the process. Even if one may be shy,
embarrassed about one’s job or is trying to be enigmatic, it is considered very rude to prolong the clue-hunting
stage of the game for too long, and once someone makes an explicit guess, you are obliged to reveal your
occupation. It is almost equally impolite to ignore any obvious ‘clue-dropping’ by your new acquaintance. If, say he
or she mentions in passing that ‘My surgery is just round the corner from here’, you are to make a guess: ‘Oh, so –
you’re a GP?’ [4, с. 45].
When the person’s occupation is finally revealed, it is customary, however to express surprise. The standard
response to ‘Yes, I am a doctor [or teacher, accountant, IT manager, secretary, etc]’ is “Oh, really?!” as though
occupation was unexpected or fascinating. These nuances, however, are to be paid attention to while teaching
English only on the intermediate and advanced levels, as they might cause difficulty to explain to beginners or
cause confusion. Besides, such communicative competence is not normally expected from the foreigner, though
very much appreciated.
СТУДЕНЧЕСКИЕ ПУБЛИКАЦИИ
115
Thus, many culture-pragmatic features are implicit, but they are nonetheless central in communicative
encounters. Given the extent of cross-cultural variations, it is not difficult to imagine that inter-cultural encounters
can be a challenge for interlocutors with the potential risk of inter-cultural failure. It should be noted that inter-
cultural is not restricted to mean native-non-native interactions, but any communication between persons who, in
any particular domain, do not share a common linguistic or cultural background, such as workers and management,
members of ethnic minorities and police, in the context of academic writing, university lecturers and new
undergraduate students, young people and elderly, etc. So, it is nothing, but necessary to develop further studies in
teaching cross-cultural pragmatics and implications to all speakers of English to increase both their level of
language and communicative competence.
References:
1. Mitchell R. Cross-cultural pragmatics in teaching languages / R. Mitchell, D. Torsborg. – London : Continuum,
1994. – 125 p.
2. Arnold I. V. The English Word / I. V. Arnold. – М. : Высш. шк., 1986. – 295 с.
3. Lo Biance J. Teaching invisible culture – Classroom practice and theory / J. Lo Biance, C. Crozet. –
Melbourne : Language Australia Ltd, 2003. – 250 p.
4. Fox K. Watching the English / K. Fox. – GB : Hodder, 2004. – 424 p.
Волобуева Ю.А. УДК 811.112.2’253:33
АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ КРИТЕРИИ ОФОРМЛЕНИЯ НЕМЕЦКОЯЗЫЧНОЙ ДЕЛОВОЙ
ПЕРЕПИСКИ
В современной деловой коммуникации значительное место занимает переписка, как официальная, так и
неофициальная. Во все времена деловое общение и соответственно деловая переписка были одними из
важной составляющей любого бизнеса, главными средствами взаимодействия в его рамках. Умение
грамотного оформления деловых писем является одним из факторов успешной предпринимательской
деятельности. Соблюдение правил, установленных спецификой формы делового письма и традициями
общения, играет значительную роль в бизнесе при ведении официальной переписки, поэтому изучение и
выявление норм, касающихся не только оформления письма, но также и характера изложения его
содержания, определяют актуальность данной работы. В данной статье рассматривается официальная
переписка и ее особенности, а также представлены актуальные тенденции развития немецкоязычной
деловой переписки.
На сегодняшний день существует большое количество исследовательских работ на тему деловой
переписки, но, к сожалению, проблема оформления официально-делового письма раскрыта не в полной
мере. Выбранная тема представляется актуальной, так как исследуются последние критерии оформления
официальной переписки.
Целью статьи является исследование и изучение жанра современного делового письма и специфики
перевода. Для достижения этой цели ставятся такие задачи как рассмотрение и анализ развития
современного официально-делового стиля в немецком языке, выявление основных черт, которые
характерны для современного официального письма, анализ специфики его перевода.
Официально-деловой стиль - функциональная разновидность языка, этот стиль удовлетворяет
потребность общества в документальном оформлении разных актов государственной, общественной,
политической, экономической жизни, деловых отношений между государством и организациями, а также
между членами общества в официальной сфере их общения [6]. Тексты этого стиля представляют огромное
разнообразие жанров: устав, закон, приказ, распоряжение, договор, инструкция, жалоба, рецепт, различного
рода заявления, а также множество деловых жанров (например, объяснительная записка, автобиография,
анкета, статистический отчет и др.). Жанры официально-делового стиля выполняют информационную,
предписывающую, констатирующую функции в различных сферах деятельности [1, с. 40].
Критериями официально-делового стиля, по Н.А. Богатыревой и Л.А. Ноздриной являются
“однозначность, целостность и четкость понятий”[1, с. 39].
Характерными экстралингвистическими чертами официально-делового стиля по Э.Ризель [2, с. 439]
являются функциональность, отсутствие «индивидуальности», формальность и точность.
С лингвистической точки зрения стилю свойственно употребление так называемой функционально
окрашенной лексики, местоименных наречий (hiermit, hiervon, hierfuer), «общих» глаголов (unternehmen,
durchfuehren, erfordern), а также предлогов zwecks, laut, infolge.
Современное письмо должно быть четким и приветливым по отношению к адресату. Поэтому следует
избегать пустых, общих или высокопарных фраз, пространных речевых оборотов, которые, разрастаясь,
только утомят адресата или вовсе оттолкнут его. Излишними могут быть, к примеру, такие формулировки:
"Wir haben von Ihrem Schreiben in allen Teilen bestens dankend Kenntnis genommen" - "Unter Bezugnahme auf
Ihre Nachricht von 3.7., mit der Sie davon Kenntnis geben, dass ..."
Писать рекомендуется в активном залоге. Предмет пассивен; все живое - активно. Поэтому по
возможности следует использовать форму деятеля.[1, с. 42]
Активный залог оживляет стиль письма и потому предпочтительней, однако пассивный залог не
является абсолютно неприемлемым. Кроме того, пассивный залог предпочтительней, когда нежелательно
|