Negotiating Participation, Discourse, and Meaning-Making Within an Intercultural Context

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Cross-Cultural and Intercultural Issues in Literacy

Abstract

Intercultural or cross-cultural communication has previously been viewed as problematic due to the differences, behaviors, and world views among those involved because of their use of diverse languages and differing cultures. Supporting this, Hall (1959/1981) historically argued that language and culture cannot be separated because “culture is communication and communication is culture” (p. 191). More recently, Kramsch (2001) posited “these problems may not be very different from those encountered in communication among people who share the same national language and culture” (p. 201). This is because the intercultural communication is now contextualized the complexities of a post-colonial, global age. People now navigate through the multiplicity of shifting spaces and negotiate multiple identities—which are often conflicting.

This study presented here, reports on the rhetorical interactions negotiated by five diverse elementary aged children in an after-school book club. According to Scollon and Scollon (1981, 1995) analysis of discourse systems gave insight into the different nature and value attributed to literacy and oral practices and underlined the way people the way people talk and interact with one another. Data from this study included both written and oral discourse, audio- and video-transcription, communal meaning statements of texts, and individual journals. Using a framework of intercultural communication, four facets of human interaction were analyzed: (1) the situation of communication and the roles of the participants, (2) their non-verbal behaviors, (3) the goal-oriented structures of discourse, (4) their attitudes, values, and beliefs, and (5) the participants realization of different speech acts (Kramsch, 1998, 2001, 2009, 2011). Results from the study revealed both similarities as well as differences among the participants of diverse cultural backgrounds with respect to all five facets of human interaction. Significantly, data from two participants illustrated their ability to navigate shifting spaces through their interactions with meaning-making and to negotiate multiple identities afforded them through participation in a book club.

Author

• Estanislado S. Barrera, Louisiana State University