Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
This presentation discusses effective communication strategies for academic library staff who work with international students.
Citation preview
Cross-Cultural CommunicationEffective Strategies for Libraries
Dawn AmsberryPenn State UniversityALA Annual 2010
Linguistic and Cultural Diversityin Higher Education670,000 international students in
the United States in 2009Increase of 7.7% over previous
yearLargest sending countries: India,
China, Korea4,421 international students at
Penn State University in 2009http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/
Communicating across Language and Cultural BarriersRate and style of speechUse of idioms and jargonCultural referencesListening for meaningPositive attitude
Rate and style of speechSpeaking slowly does not aid
comprehensionPause at the end of thought
groupsUse normal grammar and syntaxSpeak clearlyBlau, E.K. (1990) “The Effect of Syntax, Speed, and Pauses on Listening Comprehension,” TESOL Quarterly 24: 746-753.
Super Salad?
Idioms
Phrases with meanings that can’t be inferred from the individual words: “Kick the bucket.”
Monty Python’s Flying Circus:How not to use idioms
Dead Parrot Sketch
Monty Python’s Flying Circus:How not to use Idioms
This parrot is no more!
He's expired and gone to meet his maker!
If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he'd bepushing up the daisies!
He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible!!
THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!
Jargon: the third language
bibliographic instruction LC subject
citation database
abstract Boolean logic
authority control index browse
periodical keyword
reserves catalog
reference circulation
classification peer reviewed
Are these books on hold?
ACRL/IS Multilingual Glossary http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/sections/is/projpubs/multilingual.cfm
Cultural References
Batter up!
Wicket Keeper?
Gully, point, sweeper cover…
Language and American cultureBaseball language: touch base, in
the ballpark, batting 1000, cover the bases, curveball, out of left field
Other sports: hole in one, slam dunk, Hail Mary pass
Language and CulturePoker: ace in the
hole, poker face, show your hand, hit the jackpot
References to American politics, history (John Hancock), comic strips, movies, songs
Effective ListeningAccent does not mean
unintelligibleListen for meaning, not individual
soundsIdentify the topicAbility to understand accented
speech improves with exposureMunro, M.J. and Derwing, T.M. (1999), "Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners", Language Learning, Vol. 49, pp. 285-310.
Speech Accent Archivehttp://accent.gmu.edu/
Attitudes toward accented speech
Top Ten Disney Villains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pC6cw5A_rw
Media StereotypesGood guys speak
with American accents
Cartoon villains speak with foreign accentsLippi-Green, R.(1997). English with an accent:
Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge.
Dobrow, J.R. & Gidney, C.L. (1998). The good, the bad and the foreign: The use of dialect in children's animated television. Annals of the American Academy, 557: 1998.
Effective cross-cultural communication strategiesSpeak clearly at a normal rate with
pausesAvoid or explain idioms and cultural
referencesAvoid assumptions about shared
cultural knowledgeListen for meaning rather than
soundsBe aware of attitudes toward
accented speech
