Module 1oi - First Year English for Intercultural Communication

	University of Rome III ^_ School of Humanities ^_ Degree in Languages and International Communication Università Roma Tre ^_ Facoltà di Lettere ^_Corso di Studio in Lingue e Comunicazione Internazionale	Back Torna

Academic Year: 2004-05 ^_ Course convener: Patrick Boylan ^_ Email: 1oi @ boylan.it for this module

First Year English for the curriculum OCI + LL (English minor)
Lingua Inglese I annualità per il curriculum OCI + LL (inglese seconda lingua)

Module I: Seeing and saying things in English.
Module II: Using local Englishes in multicultural encounters.

click on the orangedots cliccare sui puntinirossi

Regulations, credits - Regolamenti, CFU>
Assessment - Esame: contenuti e date>
Roll - Registro iscrizioni-presenze-voti>
Office hours - Orari di ricevimento>

<Programma e testi - Syllabus, set texts
<Sunto delle lezioni - Recap of lessons
<Attività di ricerca - Research tasks
<Notizie, avvisi - News, Messages

N.B. I programmi dei moduli offerti nel 2004-05 non sono più materia d'esame dopo febbraio 2008
non verranno più conservati dopo tale data i compiti svolti dagli studenti né i relativi voti assegnati..

Lesson schedule:
Mon. 1-3 pm, Room B Lunedì, 13-15, aula B	Wed. 1-3 pm, Room 18 Mercoledì, 13-15, aula 18	Fri. 1-3 pm, Room B Venerdì 13-15, aula B

March 07 09 ¹ 11 14 16 18 ² 21 ³ 23 Easter Vacation 30 April 01 04 06 08 ⁴ 11 13 15 18 27 29 May 02 04 06 09 11 = Lessons for OCI + LL = Lessons just for OCI = Mid-Term Exam (esonero) ^1. March 09=Transport strike. ^2. March 18=Public Service strike. ^3. March 21=Seduta di laurea ^4. April 8th=Pope's funeral

* NEWS * Click on the newspaper to see the archived (old) news items
Students' Message Board (To communicate with the other students or with the teacher.) New user ("Show me how!") click Old user ("I know how!")

NEW MESSAGE ON THE MESSAGE BOARD! Click above. Homework. Module II - Task 2: here What do you have to study for the final exam in June? Click on "Assessment" in the Main Menu and read the list under frequentanti.. PROSSIMO INCONTRO DI TUTORAGGIO mercoledì 3 June, 9:00 am -11:00 am, sala audiovisivi dell'edificio nuovo (dov'è l'aula B), al primo piano. Indicazioni> .
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ROLL* *ENROLLMENT, ATTENDANCE, MARKS
Enrollment form and instructions (in Italian)> NB: Only for frequentanti Informativa sulla privacy>	Photos (by groups)>	PC problems? Phone a student for help>
	Students enrolled> Updated:	Need a PC? Advice > Consigli>
Class Attendance>	Task Marks Module 1> 2>	Test marks: Module 1> 2>
Mid-term tests: To take the mid-term tests (esoneri), you must enroll in this course (use the form above). But no booking is required since they are not "real"exams -- they simply reduce the study load for the final exam (for which you must book). Each mid-term test you pass eliminates one of the texts from the final exam and counts for a part of your final mark. But only the final mark goes on your libretto*.
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ASSESSMENT
Non frequentanti Final exam contents: As a non-attender, you are responsible for all texts (book, monographs) on the Reading List.> Criteria determining your mark> <Avviso per i non frequentanti ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frequentanti Final exam contents: Class discussions (if you don't remember the topics, they are listed here> ) plus a third of the book on the Reading List> (the pages to study are indicated below). Also the two monographs if you didn't eliminate them by taking and passing the mid-term tests (esoneri) Final Exam contents, Module 1 (frequentanti): Seeing and saying things in English 1. Two "factual" questions on chapters 2 and 5 of Crystal, English as a Global Language 2. Two "reflective" questions on class discussion topics. 3. Since the esonero was annulled, two "reflective" questions on the monograph Seeing and saying things in English. Final Exam contents, Module 2 (frequentanti): Using local Englishes in multicultural encounters 1. Two "reflective" questions on class discussion topics. (No questions on Roberts, since this text was covered in class.) (No questions on the esonero since, presumably, everyone passed it.) If you didn't pass the esonero, there will also be two questions on Understanding others. Criteria determining your mark (out of a maximum of 30 points): 4 automatic points for attendance and completion of all assignments + total of marks received for the Research Tasks (out of 20) + average of marks received for the mid-term tests (out of 10) + mark (from -2 to +3) on the final exam (for an explanation, see here> ). The sum of of all the points listed here is more than 30. This increase is meant to compensate for the fact that, in the Italian grading system, rarely do students get more than 8 out of 10 on partial tests and assignments. Yet graduate schools and employers expect at least 25 out of 30 on undergraduate exams, and the university itself requires at least 28 out of 30 for an Honors Degree. The partial marks for the various Research Tasks and mid-term tests may be found in the section ROLL : click here> Calendar for final exams (appelli): Summer session, June/July 2005> There are regulations governing when you can take the exam and in what order you must take each component of this course (the Module, the Exercises), as well as the extra "Lab credit" (if you want English to be your major or "prima lingua"). See the regulations under the heading Prerequisites on the main menu or simply click here>. Avviso per chi ha presentato certificati di lingua per essere esonerati dalla prova lettori. Cliccare qui. Computerized exam booking> Avviso su come prenotare > No booking is required for the mid-term tests (esoneri) since they are not "real" exams (their purpose is to "exonerate" you from some of the material on the final exam) and the mark you get for them does not go on your libretto. Booking is required, however, for the final exam -- and at least 7 days in advance. Click on the orange button above to connect to the booking site, usually active 20 days before the exam period. If your computer breaks down during the booking period, there are two "dedicated" PCs for booking next to the portineria. (N.B. For the written [Lettori] exams, which cover the Exercise component of this course, use instead the registers outside the Lettori Room for your booking.) Return to Menu
NEW MESSAGE ON THE MESSAGE BOARD! Click above. Return to Menu

SYLLABUS, SET TEXTS, HANDOUTS
Syllabus
Seeing and saying things in English Knowing English ‘interculturally’ means having learned not only to say things but also to see things as a native speaker of English might. This does not imply trying to imitate a "perfect Anglo speaker" (an impossible goal since the species does not exist). It does however imply undergoing a transformation of consciousness -- something much more ambitious than just "thinking in English" (the goal that ESL students often say they wish to attain). More precisely, learning English interculturally means acquiring a new mode of being, consonant with the kind of person one wishes to be as a speaker of English and thus -- since one does not normally learn a language to speak to oneself -- consonant with some reference group of speakers of English, however marginal: the group one wishes to be able to "talk sense" to and to "understand from within". Neither task is simple, but both are feasible. Indeed, since "understanding from within" requires not only reassigning word meanings but reconstructing reality -- culture B's "sense" being culture A's nonsense -- clearly the acquisition of English (or any other language) becomes immensely easier if it is experienced as the acquisition of a mind set in tune with one's new interlocutors. This in fact is what learning one's native language is fundamentally all about. And yet linguistics and literary studies either ignore this dimension or attempt to describe it from without -- the first like a person deaf from birth who, out of whim, has learned to comment orchestral scores as combinations of signs; the second like an inhibited music teacher who explains to his/her students the history of an orchestral genre but not how to compose in it (which would require helping them "get into it"). Acquiring an intercultural competence in English is important not only because it clarifies the nature of language, but also because it clarifies the nature of communication and, what is more, the nature of the phenomenon we call "English". From a practical standpoint, it enables learners to create not just understanding, but entente. This ability is what a post-industrial economy needs: while entente is not necessary to export TV sets or computer hardware (specifications speak for themselves), it is necessary to export TV programs or computerized staff evaluation systems, the value of which must be understood in terms that ‘talk’ to foreign interlocutors within their linguistic-cultural value system. This means having mastered their language and mind set -- fundamentally the same thing, when languages are taught as culture. How might "English" be taught as a cultural mind set? In Module 1 we shall examine what language is "beyond words and syntax" -- a move toward a linguistics of parole alongside the traditional Saussurian linguistics of langue. Then, on the basis of our wider definition of language, we shall attempt a cultural description of "English" -- or rather, Englishes, as they exist in today's globalized yet fragmented world. In Module 2 students will attempt to define and introject the cultural maxims associated with one of the varieties of English described in Module 1. The students will then experiment interacting with native speakers of that variety and evaluate the degree of entente created by undergoing or not undergoing the introjection process. For the organizational aspect of the module -- requirements and credits, evaluation criteria and so on -- see the main menu. As for the Reading List, it follows.
Set texts *("programma")*
	Module 1: Seeing and Saying Things in English *a. Book: D. Crystal.1997. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.* Available at university book stores. Note: Attenders read two chapters (2, 5); non attenders read all chapters (1 to 5). *b. Monograph: P. Boylan, 2004, 'Seeing and Saying Things in English'* To read the text click here> To download the text click here> . Note: For both attenders and non attenders. c. Avviso sull'esame To read the text click here> To download the text click here> . Note: Although aimed at non-attenders, the text constitutes exam material for all students since it analyzes what it means to "know" English in the context of the exams for this Course. (International students: read the English version; Italian students: read the Italian version as it discusses your particular situation in more detail). Module 2: Using local Englishes in multicultural encounters a. C. Roberts et al., 2001, Language learners as ethnographers, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Note: Attenders read part of chapter 7 (pp. 142-150): click here for web version (highlighted)> ; to download click here> (not highlighted). Non attenders read all of chapters 4 and 7, available at Pronto Stampa, via Ostienese 461. *b. Monograph: P. Boylan, 2004, 'Understanding Others',* SIETAR Deutschland Journal 10:1 (April), pp. 28-32. To read the text click here> To download the text click here> . Note: For both attenders and non attenders. Only the downloaded version is divided into sections for group work.
Handouts *(Dispense per i soli frequentanti -- i non frequentanti NON devono leggere questi testi.)*
	<cliccare "Learning language as culture" Documento storico di 20 anni fa: è il Manifesto (la prima dichiarazione di principio scritto in lingua italiana) di una nuova concezione di apprendimento delle lingue vive, basata sull'introiezione culturale. La pagina riprodotta è la Postfazione al volume Accenti sull'America di Patrick Boylan, Roma: Armando Curcio Editore, 1987, p. 387. In glottodidattica, "Learning language as culture" viene chiamato anche "l'approccio comunicativo-culturale".
	Linda Beamer – Cultural Parameters Illustrated: How to predict communication friction. Warning: To see this text, your computer must have a Power Point Viewer (most do). You can get one free at www.microsoft.com.
	DOOLEY R., "Four Cultures, One Company: Achieving Corporate Excellence through Working Cultural Complexity", Organization Development Journal (forthcoming)
	Common European Framework of Reference (CEF) You'll hear teachers at Roma Tre (and elsewhere) speak of the Common European Framework (CEF) levels of competence in a second language. For example, our university entry test is targeted for Level B1 in reading ability and A2 in speaking ability. What does this mean? Click the orange dot if you want to know more about the system (which many people criticize as simplistic, so it will probably undergo change in the near future).
	Learn English on the Internet... FREE (no fees to teachers or schools!) Clicking on the orange dot will open a page full of Internet sites where you can practice and extend your English. But you have to know how to distinguish what sites are most useful to you. This means asking yourself (1.) what learning English really means and thus (2.) what kinds of competence you need to acquire and only then (3.) what exercises are best for you.
Internet Cache	Example of a university course in English (as a Second Language) for Intercultural Communication. It applies ideas taken from the paper Seeing and Saying Things in English (.doc) and contains a useful BIBLIOGRAPHY.

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LESSONS AFTER EACH LESSON, SEE BELOW FOR THE SLIDES/NOTES USED.
Seating Arrangement: Form groups consist of 6 students, 3 in front and 3 behind. Leave an empty seat or aisle and an empty row between your group and nearby groups. Room B Room 18
TUTORAGE Extra lessons to raise expressive capacity in English from A1 to A2 or B1. To participate as a Trainee (student) or as a Trainer (tutor), click here >
Overall purpose of course: see handout Learning language as culture
MODULE I March 7
7 Mar	Explanation of the regulations, credits, assessment, enrollment procedure. (If you missed something, click on the words in the MENU above.) Discussion on the concepts of "knowing", "English", "knowing English" in different historical periods and today. "Knowledge" as a social construction. "Correct English" as an ethical choice. With globalization the concepts change again. Now: different kinds of English for different purposes; language as behavior and as "establishing a relationship". Assignments: 1. Enroll. 2. Read the Syllabus for further class discussion.
March 11
11 Mar	Comparison of two of the “inner circle” standards: RP UK -- Standard "RP"* English . . *RP = Received Pronunciation, i.e. the aristocratic (and now upper class bourgeois) accent received from tradition. GA USA -- General American or "GA" The most superficial dissimilarity is phonological. The differences among them are not simply phonological and lexical, but also syntactic, pragmatic, textual, stylistic and, above all, cultural. Homework: see Task 1
March 14
14 Mar	Recap: "English" does not exist; only Englishes exist. What we call "English" is in fact: -- ONE of the varieties, the one the we consider the most prestigious -- for example, the Queen's English or R.P. English. (Note, however, that it has lost its power to dictate language norms in most English-speaking countries.) or -- an abstraction or the archetype of the various Englishes. (Note, however, that as such it is inadequate for real-life expressive purposes.); or -- a family name which regroups the various idioms and cultures -- examples here. Also part of the family: the present and former pidgins -- example: the English of New Guinea: Tok Pisin. (Note, however, that these varieties are in a constant struggle for hegemony.) *Thus your task is not the choice of which English to speak* but rather what kind of person (speaking English) you want to be like.** Example of how to describe a speaker of English linguistically and culturally: Haven Hamilton, a character in the Altman film Nashville. Nashville (1975) Robert Altman, director, Hollywood: ABC Motion Pictures/Jerry Weintraub-Robert Altman Productions, Paramount For a review of the film, click here > For the music, click here > 1. Chorus 2. Strophes I, II 3. Chorus 4. Strophes III, IV 5. Chorus For the lyrics to write, click here > To document the mind set > 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Delbert's Afro-American vernacular. FOR NEXT WEDNESDAY DO Task 2
March 16
16 Mar	Choosing an English-speaking double (sosia) Your double should speak an English from Kachru's Inner or Extended circle (click here). See also Graddol's view (click here). You can hear national, regional, ethnic and class-distinctive varieties of English in many films in the language lab: click here. To describe the variety as a verbal phenomenon, you can use IPA transcription symbols, descriptive grammar terminology, and conversational analysis transcriptions. To describe the value system behind the total mode of expression (verbal, behavioral, thematic, etc.) you can use the construct called "cultural dimensions" (parameters for measuring cultural differences) See also those described by Beamer> . (Single slides> ) For an explanation of the homework assignment, see Task 3 (This assignment counts for your mark.)
March 23
23 Mar	Discussion of Task 2 ("write lyrics to a country song"). Five students' songs analyzed for cultural effect: to "speak English" in Nashville also means knowing how to talk about a son and a daughter. This involves an appropriate choice of themes and attitudes as well as lexis and syntax. Discussion on learning languages as "culture" in the sense of acquiring a new and different world view. Discussion on what "learning" anything means. Is "learning" the reception of preconceived, prepackaged "knowledge" transmitted by a teacher? Not in this course. Here "learning" is the creation of knowledge, defined locally by the "student" who constructs it by interacting with the environment (in which there is also, but not only, the "teacher" as repository of tradition). Thus the usefulness of assigning tasks beyond the student's current knowledge and ability. This obliges the student to explore the environment for material to assemble into answers (by surfing the Internet, exploring libraries, interviewing native speakers, questioning the "teacher", questioning the student's own preconceptions, etc.). If this view of "learning" is valid, then "teaching" is not transmitting preconceived, prepackaged "knowledge" but rather training students to raise questions that they see as pertinent to their need to know, and then to explore the environment for answers (this also includes exploring the teacher's mind by active questioning in class and, above all, questioning the doxa inculcated in their own minds). Thus, students should not complain about not understanding how to do a Task "because there were no clear explanations of how to proceed". It is up to them to find a way. Nor should students worry about "doing a Task right": they are responsible for deciding if they have found satisfactory answers to their questions. The teacher will, in the end, show them the distance between what they have found and what traditional scholarship has found. Students can then choose which gives them a better hold on reality. (Usually they make a mix of both responses.) For further explanations, see the latest discussions on the Bulletin Board. (For the marking criteria for Task 3, see the Bulletin Board, too.)
30 Mar
	1. Visit to Trinity College: learn about your hosts from an Encyclopedia Britannica article the Trinity home page (U.S. campus): check out the student newspaper! from the Trinity Rome campus site Then compare what you learn by visiting other American university sites and looking for a web copy their Student Newspaper. NOTE: For the list of students who have confirmed their presence at Trinity College for the evening of April 11th, click here> . Note: the rendezvous is outside the side door of the College, via Clivio dei Publici 2 (Avventino) at 8 pm (Confirmed!). 2. Task 3. ID kit and instructions This is one possible answer and not a very complete one (the formal linguistic description is missing). 3. Article and slides for Seeing and saying things in English
01 Apr
01 Apr	Review of the discussion on March 23rd. The concept of "learning a language as culture" where culture means a "transformation of consciousness" (thus not only a cognitive acquisition, but also an affective and volitional transformation). Questions discussed: Is this necessary? Isn't this hypocritical? Isn't this betraying one's "true self"? Does this really improve communication? Can't one say that one "speaks English", even if one does not do this? Is this possible, given that we are already socially structured and given the short duration of the course? How is it possible? Task 4 is due next Wednesay. Use the cue sheets on Asking for Clarification and Discourse Markers when you do Task 4. GROUP LEADERS: Give very few points to presenters who do not use abundant markers to structure their talk, and even fewer points if, when then become listeners, they do not give feedback and ask 4-step questions.
04 Apr
4 Apr	Introductory discussion: the concept of communication ("establishing a relationship through empathetic internalization of the interlocutor's mind set") as applied to translation. Double internalization: (1.) in a representative member of the community that ratified the "sense" of the work to be translated and gave it value; (2.) in a representative member of the community for whom the work is being translated and who wants to discover its ratified value. Every communication is, in a sense, a translation from our private language into our interlocutor's language. Thus every communication is "intercultural". Defining culture: TROMPENAARS' DIMENSIONS SHEET PRACTICE TAKING NOTES. PRACTICE USING CUE SHEETS. Distribute marking sheet to group leaders Task 4 is due next Wednesday. Use the cue sheets on Asking for Clarification and Discourse Markers when you do Task 4. GROUP LEADERS: Give very few points to presenters who do not use abundant markers to structure their talk, and even fewer points if, when then become listeners, they do not give feedback and ask 4-step questions. CILT SLIDES: Seeing and saying things in English. Situate the cultural values of Haven Hamilton. On each of Beamer's dimensions, indicate "H" (Haven), "G" (Gandhi) and "M" ("me", that is, you who are writing). Example: Individualist <\| H M G \|> Collectivist
6 April
6 Apr	Another discussion on the method of FIRST doing a Task (on the basis of very minimal explanations) and THEN, when you have finished, hearing the "full instructions" from the teacher. (At this point, they are no longer "instructions" but rather one possible way to do the Task, that can serve as a comparison with the way YOU did it). Example: You saw the Cultural ID kit AFTER doing Task 3. And, today, you learned about using maxims to internalize a mind-set AFTER doing Task 4. Explanation of Task 5: A day at home as one's double. Preparing maxims. Preparing an ethnographic report. Task due on April 11th, corrected by group leader. See the Task 5 "minimal explanations":
11 April
11 Apr	First impression of the Task 4 recordings (I listened to some already). The best results were obtained by groups who used ALL the resources available: books in the library, information on the Internet, the teacher.... to understand the article Seeing and saying things in English. Yes, the teacher as a "resource"! Have you ever thought of it? After the previous lesson on April 4th and in my office on April 5th, three groups asked me to explain certain parts of the article Seeing and saying things in English. In other words, it was NOT me telling them in class what they had to know. It was them telling me after class what they decided they needed to know, because what they had found by themselves was not enough. In other words, they used their teacher as a supplementary resource. This is difficult to do when you are afraid of the teacher or, more exactly, when you are afraid that if you talk to the teacher, s/he will discover your "ignorance" and think badly of you. So how did these groups find the courage to expose their "ignorance" and get me to help remedy it? Ask them! In any case, their strategy worked! Their explanations not only were close to what I think (which is not necessarily relevant, since I don't give the marks -- the group leader gives the marks), but they were also the clearest and easiest to understand by an average student. A cynical student will say: "Aaaoo, che c'è de novo? E' chiaro che da quanno monno è monno i leccac--i vanno sempre appresso i prof, così c'hanno subbito 'a risposta senza faticà' e pure er voto arto!" But this reasoning doesn't work here: -- as I just said, the teacher doesn't give er voto arto, the group leader does, and not necessarily arto. So using the teacher as a resource is NOT opportunism; -- moreover, it is not a question of laziness, that is, of getting subbito 'a risposta senza faticà' Because if students haven't thought about the subject, I don't give explanations. In the case of these three groups, the students had spent a lot of time trying to understand the obscure passages. One of the groups who came to my office had found related articles on my Internet site (under RESEARCH), and had read them. Another group had found a book in the library describing Gadamer's hermeneutics. And when these resources were not enough, they turned to the "teacher as a supplementary resource". So their work load was not less, but their learning was much greater. GROUP PHOTOS
13 Apr
13 Apr	Consign Task 6. People not at Trinity: next Monday at the latest, in class or during office hours. Enroll: 2 people not enrolled! Trinity: zitti /loquaci For the final exam in June: D. Crystal.1997. English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Attenders read two chapters (2, 5) - approximately 60 pages. Value in points: from -2 to +2 (exceptional cases: +3). Factual reading is enough. There is no need to "read between the lines" or document anything not explained in the text: this is just background information situating English among the other possible "world languages". Mid-term test. Explanation of "Easy/difficult questions". First part - comment. What did you learn from this course? 1. Different view of English. From me: ethnographic view. From Crystal: historical/futuristic view. 2. Different view of learning. What is a "mark"? What is a "student"?" "What is 'knowledge'?" (Texts are lived, not commented.) (The American girl in Rome...) Other courses will not follow this line. Second part.


MODULE II 15 April
15 Apr	Lesson conducted by a visiting scholar, the distinguished emeritus Professor I. T. Takestwototango, professor of Textual Commentary at the University of San Marino. Analysis of the questions on Exam A. Exam B will be analyzed on his next visit to Rome III.
18 April
18 Apr	The notion of critical incident or "culture bump" and the notions of negotiation outcomes (loose-loose, win-loose, win-win, 50-50 compromise). TEST Test your intercultural competence: Two critical incidents The concrete example of the culture clash in this class. The academic character of our discussion, plus my exercises on Critical Incidents, and the photos taken during the class may all give the impression that it was just a comedy (or a tragedy?)... Not true. The clash was acutely lived out by ALL parties concerned. And ALL means ALL. However, if the discussion was academic and not emotional, this was a merit of the intercultural mediation that all parties put into practice. In other words, although starting from divergent cultural positions, the parties were able to establish an agreed-upon solution satisfactory to all. NB. The solution chosen after a long class discussion... to see pictures, click here ....was a 50-50 compromise (with the students giving up their preferred ways of attending lessons in order to get the kind of lessons they wanted). This was not, however, a necessary outcome: the students could have done better. For example, the community of students could easily have obtained a win-win solution. How? And why didn't they obtain that solution? Well, for one thing they had a negotiation power that they did not use. Since the teacher is universalistic, it would have been easy to show him that no explicit contract, whether oral or written, had been made and therefore no pact had been violated. For a universalistic mentality, this would have been a very strong argument. Universalistic negotiators put things in writing and specify conditions, dates, etc., while particularistic negotiators prefer oral contracts that can be changed as circumstances change. Thus for a universalistic teacher, no contract had been made. Unfortunately the students, with their particularistic mentality, thought a contract had been made and therefore felt guilty about breaking it. If they had understood their own culture better, they would have seen that what they called a "contract" was not a contract (for a universalistic mentality); it would therefore probably have been easy for them to show the teacher that he was wrong, no contract had been made and next time he must be more explicit before holding the community of students responsible for not-explicitly-agreed-upon conduct. Obviously the students, in arguing like this, would be somewhat hypocritical (since there was a contract for them); nonetheless, by using this argumentation, they could have obtained a more favorable result. The story of Salvatore Example of a Critical Incident - Salavtore <Click from Michael Byram, Developing Intercultural Competence in Practice, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2001 (pp. 117-118) Solution to the critical incident described above (Salvatore and the English teacher from Manchester) as suggested by Group B: - a 50-50 compromise: Salvatore, upon arriving late, should accept to miss the first hour, enter during the interval before the second hour and explain only then to the teacher why he is late. The final result would be 50-50: Salvatore wins one hour, looses one hour, looses the possibility of justifying his late arrival and therefore has to keep his feelings of unease until the end of the hour but avoids the teacher's anger. The teacher wins an uninterrupted class, but has to listen to an explanation privately that does not interest her. There is perhaps a better solution: - a win-win solution: Salvatore, upon, arriving late, enters the class and sits down silently as he has noticed English students doing (his head slightly bowed to show he recognizes his guilt). He has also talked with English students, has learned their viewpoint about arriving late, and has interiorized it. He does not intervene during the first hour because he feels (not just thinks, he feels) it would be improper. During the interval he tells the teacher he is sorry for being late and asks her if she wishes to know the reason for his being late -- she obviously says no. The result is win-win: Salvatore wins complete class time. He also wins mental tranquility because, having internalized the British students' mind set, he does not feel uncomfortable by not giving an excuse immediately. He feels his guilt but accepts living with it as part of the Protestant tradition. At the end of the hour he satisfies his "Italian side" by asking the teacher if she wants an explanation, even though he knows she will say no. (N.B.: This dispenses him from giving an explanantion.) So he is completely satisfied.. The teacher wins an uninterrupted class hour, feels that Salvatore (with a slightly bowed head) is justly repentant, does not have to listen to a useless justification at the end of the lesson, and does not have to seem like a barone (most British professors hate that) by having profuse and humble excuses given her in front of everyone during the class. So she is completely satisfied, too. But although both are winners, the real winner is Salvatore. He made the effort to internalize the teacher's culture, while she did not make that effort. So he understands her and can "use" that knowledge to his advantage whenever he wants. She, on the other hand, does not understand him (since he appears to be a "normal" student in her eyes, she thinks she understands him but in reality understands only her own culture reflected by Salvatore). So she is at risk in any future negotiation with Salvatore. First homework assignment for the new Module: Task 1 (click here )
27 April
27 Apr	Solution to today's discussion problem: WHAT ARE THE LINGUISTIC/CULTURAL INTERACTION TECHNIQUES THAT BRITS USE IN MAKING FRIENDS IN A PUB? Here is the answer proposed by Kate Fox, a British anthropologist who studied pub life in U.K. pubs for over a year, observing her fellow citizens like aborigines in the jungle, with their strange verbal/behavioral rituals around a yellowish liquid served in large glasses> . (And do you remember the Italian linguistic/cultural interaction techniques for making friends in a train compartment?) YOUR NEXT PROJECT: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC INTERVIEW TO TEST ACCOMMODATION THEORY. What are the characteristics of an "ethnographic interview"? Homework -- read 5 pages from Roberts by Friday: here What is "accommodation theory"? In class we first used the definition of Accommodation Theory given by GiIes (University of Cardiff) in the 1970's: linguistic adjustment to "converge" with one's interlocutor. Giles in fact noticed English people change their speech rate, their dialectal pronunciation, and their vocabulary according to the situation they are in. Example: shop assistants in a Cariff bakery and in a Cardiff travel agency -- when clients entered speaking R.P., they did likewise (or half and half); when clients entered speaking with a local accent, they did too. OUR RESEARCH QUESTION: Does accommodation improve communication? Does it produce better understanding? More breakthroughs? Fewer breakdowns? Does accommodation create a bond of solidarity?
29 April
29 Apr	Homi Bhabbha, U of Chicago Creating a third space identity and languaged that you construct with your interlocutor ordinary circumstances: no time no will Intercultural Communication journals Kate Fox's pub rituals (Passport to the Pub, also see her latest book Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. Hodder & Stoughton, 2004) - participant observation = integrated into community but with a METHOD (generally functionalist, as defined by Malinowski: association between forms of behavior and categories of supposed goals interacting with natives while sharing their values, using their language - Fox's empirically observed "rules" tell you what to do you "loose" native cultural/linguistic identity (but "win" your objectives) - it is a model of ethnographic research Accomodation theory (revisited)> Homework -- read 5 pages from Roberts by Monday: here
2 May
2 May	The meaning of an English course for future operatori interculturali. The meaning of the qualification. The kind of studies required. The educational offer of the university. Post grad prospects.
4May
4 May	Ethnographic questioning: to see things "from the native's point of view" (Malinowski). The trap of ethnocentric questioning. Comment on Roberts' definition of ethnocentric questions: "questions asked in particular ways [which] construct and constrain the answers. A different question would produce a different response and so different data." How to get out of the trap of ethnocentric questioning (like that of the jealous boyfriend, in the example cited). Limits of questioning as such and thus the interview as an ethnographic technique. Is participant observation better? Roberts " on the relationship of Participant Observation (PO) and interviewing". Real advantage of ethnographic questioning: by distancing oneself from one's questions, one distances oneself from one's culture. Roberts: since student ethnographers "ask a particular question because it seems significant to them -- i.e. because it is part of their way of believing, acting and valuing and so on -- every interview can deepen the language learners' understanding of themselves as cultural beings as well as teaching them about others." But: how to ask a "non ethnocentric" question? To do so you need to know the culture. But you can only learn the culture by asking "non ethnocentric" questions? It's a vicious circle or, in philosophy, the hermeneutic circle. How to get out of a hermeneutic circle? By progressive approximations that turn the circle into a spiral that takes you into the heart of the culture (Spizer).
6 May
6 May	A Hybrid Solution for reducing the defects of Ethnographic Interviewing and Participant Observation: COMBINE THEM! (STRUCTURED PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION) Examples of student attempts at structured participant observation: 1) the conversation with Australian and British students at The Fiddler's Elbow, a pub in Rome, videotaped with a hidden camera (prior consent of the pub management and post-hoc consent of the students). Note: Privacy laws do not forbid installing and using surveillance cameras; they only forbid showing in public the pictures taken, without the consent of those filmed. 2) the beer party with American students at Rome University, filmed with their consent. Spontaneous speech was guaranteed by using an Eibl-Ebelsfeld lens on the video camera (one that points in one direction but films in another direction, so that the subjects do not feel the camera "on them". Post hoc consent for the use of the material was obtained.) This experiment has been conducted several times over the years. For an example of treatment of material taken from the first attempt (in 1982), click here> Structured questioning during the conversation presupposes: 1. research into the culture of the subjects (Internet, debriefing of people who have had contact with them, ethnographic reports, cultural descriptions by IC training consultants like Global Excellence, etc. 2. formulation of a hypothesis (to be tested) about one of the cultural traits; 3. formulation of two series of apparently natural questions to test the hypothesis; 4. Double Testing: ask one of the series as your Anglo cultural double of your interlocutor; ask the other series as your Italian self (speaking English). 5. Compare the answers and attribute a value to each based on your impression of closeness or distance during each of the two series of questions.
9 May
9 May	Talking during class: After our discussion on April 18th, you resoved to "act like British students" -- which means refraining from talking during lessons. Why didn't your resolve work? My answer: because you didn't (and I failed to encourage you to) internalize the typical British student mind set and value system. Instead, you conserved your Italian mind set and value system. Thus keeping quiet was an effort (bound to fail, like diets when you really aren't convinced). If, on the other hand, you had truly felt British values, keeping quiet would not have been an effort -- it would have been natural. Task 2: the end of first cycle of 5 activities, as explained in "Seeing and saying things in English". For a summary of the 5 activities click here> *Understanding others:* Comments on the highlighted paragraphs. Overall evaluation of class: excellent. You've shown that you've learned. NOTE: This was, it should be remembered, a first cycle. Clearly you would have written better assignments or esoneri papers if you had had a second and third cycle to improve on what you have learned so far. So don't worry about the "correctness" of what you wrote -- "correctness" was not the point. You were not expected to say the "right" things immediately. You were expected to show you can learn (in our case, English for Intercultural Communication). And you have! Q.E.D.

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RESEARCH TASKS
Marking Scheme
Italian school marking system:	1 - 3	4, 5	6	7, 8	(9, 10)
Points for each Task completed:	1	2	3	4	(5)

11 Mar	TASK 1 Due date: Monday, March 14th Finish comparing the two texts (GenAm and StBrEng) paying special attention to pragmatic, textual and stylistic features. (practice task) Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the harder he blew, the tighter the traveler wrapped his coat around him; and at last the North Wind gave up trying. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew, the more closely did the traveller fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun began to shine hot , and right away the traveler took his coat off. And so the North Wind had to admit that the Sun was stronger than he was. Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the traveller took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two. EVALUTATION by Group Leader: form to fill out>

14 Mar	TASK 2 Due date: Wednesday, March 16th You have seen and heard Haven Hamilton in two brief sequences from the film Nashville. Now you must try to understand him culturally. How? Well, first of all, you can read about the city of Nashville and the mentality of the people who live and work there by using the Internet search engine Google. Try word combinations like: "country western" mentality OR mindset Nashville (this combination tells Google to find the expression "country western" and not the pages in which the two words appear separately. In addition this combination tells Google to search for pages containing EITHER the words "mentality" OR the word "mindset". Finally, the presence of the word "Nashville" tells Google to display, from among all the pages that satisfy the requirements previously mentioned, only those pages referring to Nashville.) NOTE: In the lesson recap for March 14th, you will altready find some Internet pages I discovered by using Google... If you don't have time to search, use those! After documenting yourself on Haven Hamilton's culture, rewrite part of a song that people in Haven's culture will recognize as expressing their mentality. The song is "For the sake of the children" and the part you must rewrite are strophes I and II. You can see the lyrics with these strophes missing by clicking here> . NOTE: In writing the song, you must respect the cadence of the music: _ / _ _ / _ Strong beat = / Weak beat = _ For Wednesday, March 16th, bring your strophes to class. If you want, you and your group can select the best strophes and sing them.

16 Mar	TASK 3 (This counts for your mark.) Due date: Wednesday, March 23rd Instructions here> Follow this model for the appearance: (and read the explanations on the marking sheet> )

	TASK 4 (This counts for your mark.) Due date: Wednesday, April 6th For the next time, prepare a group discussion on the article:'Seeing and saying things in English'. It is divided into sections (in the downloadable version only!). Meet with your group and divide the sections to read among you. Each person is responsible for one section. If there are more than 4 members, divide section 2 or 4 into two or more parts. If there are only 2 group members, give one (a.) and (b.) and the other (c.) and (d.). a. Description of the module (THIS SECTION IS SHORT AND EASY), b. Justification (THIS SECTION IS VERY LONG AND VERY HARD), c. Observed Benefits (THIS SECTION IS SHORT AND EASY), d. Activities: Narrative Discourse AND Activities: Interactive Co-constructed Discourse (THESE SECTIONS ARE LONG, NOT HARD, BUT REQUIRE IMAGINATION.) At home, read the entire article to understand the relevance of your sections in the dynamic of the developing thought. Take notes on the section assigned to you. Do not write a summary, write just the key ideas. NOT: This pedagogy is based on a radical redefinition of the concept of 'language' BUT: pedagogy ← radical redefinition 'language' Practice explaining the sections reading just the key words in your notes. Speak out loud (in front of a mirror, if possible). This is excellent practice for the "oral final exams" that you must take in the Italian university system. If you want, you can record your explanation, as before exams. In addition, practice using the cue sheets "Interrupting and asking for a clarification" and "Discussion gambits" so that you can participate actively during the presentations of the other students. Meet with your group again and record a discussion (in English) of the article, in which each student explains to the others the section for which he or she is responsible. The other students interrupt to ask for clarifications using the formulae on the cue sheet. The Group Leader will mark you as Presenter, Listener, and Group Member. What does this mean? How will points be given? Click below for the EVALUATION CRITERIA (Form for the Group Leader to fill out)> After recording your discussion, the Group Leader will listen to the recording and assign the marks. The other students can listen with her/him and offer suggestions (but only suggestions). This interaction will help students become autonomous learners, able to judge themselves. The teacher will accept the Group Leader's marks, whatever they are. However the teacher can raise or lower the Group Leader's mark considerably, according to how reasonably s/he assigned marks to group members. Group Leaders who play Santa Claus will get a 0. The leader will consign cassette and evaluation sheet on April 6th.

	TASK 5 (This counts for your mark.) Due date: Monday, April 8th 1. Explore even deeper your character's way of seeing things and saying things. Imagine approximately 5 maxims that your character seems to say to her/himself every morning when s/he gets up, and that make her/him speak and interact the way s/he does. Write these maxims down -- in English! -- on a sheet of paper. Examples of the maxims a student might write if he has chosen the "Outback" culture of Crocodile Dundee: 1. "Everyone's equal so you can call your dad and mum by their names ("Luigi", "Pina") and tell them (or a teacher or a priest or anyone) dirty jokes... well, if you know any funny ones." 2. "Fancy language is for lawyers and women (neither to be trusted); so just say what you want plainly. Or just take it." 3. "Nature -- and that means dirt, too -- is good; civilization -- armchairs, fancy crockery, bidets, ceremonies, titles, and the subjunctive (congiuntivo) -- is bad." 2. Then do the same thing in italiano. Cioè, scrivere circa 5 massime che sembrano guidare il tuo comportamento e che ti fanno comunicare ed interagire "da italiano/a" con altri italiani, che ti "sentono" come uno di loro proprio perché capisci intimamente (e forse condividi) i valori evocati dalle massime. Solo che, a differenza della lista in inglese, dopo ogni massima, apri una parentesi e scrivi un buon motivo per criticarla, o addirittura per ripudiarla -- cioè, una 'counter-maxim'. Ecco alcune delle tue contro-massime se tu fossi Haven (da Nashville): Io come italiano: "Non alzare la cresta." Io come Haven: "If you got it, show it" Io come italiano:"La mamma è una santa (e una brava cuoca!)." Io come Haven: "Better on your own" (no dependence) Io come italiano:"Anche se colto in flagrante, negare." Io come Haven: "Admit your guilt, make amends." 3. Choose a day you want to spend with your family as your character. (Maybe you won't resist the whole day, but try as long as you can.) When you wake up in the morning, first repeat your Italian maxims: read the "positive" maxim (the one in Italian) silently and then say the counter-maxims (the ones in English) out loud. If you share your bedroom with others, do it in the bathroom, to be alone! Do this twice. Then try to remember how you felt when you playacted your English-speaking character during the recording. In that state, repeat out loud the 5 maxims that you wrote down first, the ones that most typify your double. Do it twice. And that's it: you're ready. Open the bathroom door and walk out as your character. 4. During the day, take note of -- everything you now see as strange in your home life. This includes ways of speaking, of interacting, and of course of judging things. It also includes clothing, eating habits, home furnishings, moral precepts, whatever your family jokes about, political opinions, choice of TV programs, way of greeting (kissing?), family power structure -- everything; -- every pressure you feel to conform to your Italian self. Make written notes since they help you remember details better: but do this without your family noticing!! The best solution is to go periodically to your room to jot down what you have observed in the preceding hour. If you feel you are shocking your parents too much, stay on the sidelines as much as possible and observe your family members more than interacting with them. If you feel during the day that you are slipping back into your Italian persona, go to your room and read the Italian counter-maxims and the English maxims out loud again; this should "recharge your batteries". That evening, write your observations down as an Ethnographic Report. You write the report as your character would have written it after spending a day with your family, to explain to a friend back home what life is like in an Italian family. Use her/his kind of English. Your report should contain the following information: a. Your Italian Maxims & Counter-Maxims, your double's maxims b. what you saw and heard that was "strange" c. the pressures you felt to conform d. the values that (1.) and (2.) represent. Finally, draw a line like this: _____________ and e. tornando alla tua persona italiana abituale, descrivi in italiano l'esperienza complessivamente, ciò che essa ti ha insegnato o che non ti ha insegnato, insomma il suo valore educativo o meno, ai fini dell'apprendimento della lingua inglese. Puoi anche rivelare se i tuoi hanno chiamato la Neuro. Il tutto, sia la parte in inglese che la parte in italiano, in tre pagine dattiloscritte, doppia interlinea, ampie margini. 5. Consign your Ethnographic Report to your group leader on Monday morning (April 11th) for correction and submission that afternoon. Your group leader will use the following form to mark your work: click here> . Read the form before doing the assignment so that you know what you will be marked on.

	TASK 6 (This counts for your mark.) Due date: Wednesday, April 13th Use this form> (to print, download it here> ) to prepare for your interview of a native speaker of English at Trinity College. This time, the person does NOT have to be of the same linguistic-cultural community as your double. (During the continuation of this course, Module 2, you will have to find someone from your double's community, but not now.) This means that you can speak English as your Italian self if you want (you do not necessarily have to accommodate to your interviewee's language and culture). Follow the instructions on the module in conducting the interview and in making your report. This report must be in U.S. academic style and will be evaluated by your Group Leader 6 using this module (which is different from the ones used in previous assignments)> . Students who do the activity independently (not with Trinity students) can use the "Lairs" page on the class site to find native speakers of English in Rome> .


	Module II - Task 1
	Critical Incidents a. Re-do the two exercise on judging Critical Incidents and report your choices. Exercise: Test on two critical incidents b. Read the Critical Incident, then explain the causes and suggest a remedy. Case Study: the Culture bump of a Spanish student in England Before you do the task, read the criteria for your mark below: POINTS (form) 0 = not neat/legible and/or not U.S. academic style; 1 = both neat/legible and written in U.S. academic style. POINTS (content) 1 point if you gave correct answers to BOTH critical incidents in the exercises; 0 points if you gave only one or no correct answer; 1 point if you explained the causes of the incident as contrasting existential values; 0 points if you explained them as feelings or conflicting rules of common sense; What do these terms mean? Why must your Group Leader give one point* for existential values and no points for feelings or rules of common sense? Why are values a good explanation of someone's behavior, but feelings and common sense a poor explanation?: An example will clarify the differences between these terms. Do you remember the incident between Salvatore, who came late to class, and his English teacher from Manchester (see the lesson on April 18th). In this case, particularism and saving the face of superiors were the cultural/existential values that determined Salvatore's behavior (although he was not aware of them). Salvaore was only aware of: (1.) his psychological feeling of embarrassment at disturbing the lesson and (2.) the "common sense" rules he learned as a child (be polite, avoid seeming rude). But these are superficial explanations. They raise more questions than they answer: (1.) Why does Salvatore feel embarrassed when disturbing a lesson, but not when disturbing a Mass by entering church late? For many British students it is the opposite. (2.) Why does "common sense" tell him that, upon entering a lesson late, it is "polite" to justify oneself for the disturbance? The common sense of most British students does not tell them that it is "polite" to interrupt the lesson with an explanation! And so on. In other words, slogans like be polite, avoid seeming rude are vague and empty because they can mean anything, according to the culture you happen to be in. So do you see the difference now? Feelings and common sense are the products of a society's secret value system. To really understand the society, you must discover the value system that "informs" them. If you remain on the surface and try to explain a person's behavior in terms of the products of that system, your reasoning is circular: you explain one effect by other effects instead of searching for the causes. *The causes are the values that, all together in a given society, form a commonly-shared vision of the world* or Weltanschauung** (For an explanation of the German term Weltanschauung, from Welt = world and anschauung = vision, see Karl Mannheim, Sociology of Knowledge, London, 1936). ___________________ P.S. Here are the answers to the questions just asked: (1.) Why does Salvatore feel embarrassed when disturbing a lesson, but not when disturbing a Mass by entering church late? Because Salvatore's REAL desire in speaking upon entering, is NOT to ask pardon for a disturbance. No! His REAL desire is to save the face of his superiors, especially if those superiors have a high opinion of themselves and therefore may hurt Salvatore if they feel offended by him. The teachers that Salvatore has known back home all have a high opinion of themselves and, if you make them loose face, can fail you. Savatore thinks that the teacher in Manchester is like them, since she is in cathedra, too. Thus she represents a real danger for him in THIS life. God, on the other hand, can promote or fail Salvatore only in the NEXT life -- something that is less real to him -- so he does not feel embarrassed when entering a church late. Besides, the people in the church are his equals, not his superiors, so he does not think he owes them respect and does not worry about saving their face.. (2.) Why does "common sense" tell Salvatore that it is "polite" to justify oneself for the disturbance upon entering a lesson late? Because Salvatore's "common sense" is the "common sense" of a particularistic culture, which requires you to specify the particular facts that exonerate you from a rule, otherwise you are not exonerated. But in a universalistic culture there can seldom be any facts that exonerate you because there can seldom be exceptions. So speaking is useless and can seem like denying your guilt (you must admit your guilt in a universalistic culture). In other words, the "common sense" of a universalistic culture clashes with Salvatore's "common sense". But Salvatore thinks that his "common sense" is everyone's common sense, and therefore cannot understand why his teacher does not want to know the specific facts that exonerate him from the rule of coming on time. Finally: 1 point for offering a win-win or a 50-50 compromise solution; 0 points for a win-loose or a loose-loose solution. Form for the Group Leader to fill out)>
	Module II - Task 2
	Read the summary of the May 4th Lesson> and the May 6th Lesson> . Decide upon a hypothesis to test and prepare your "structured questioning" to use during your conversation with an Anglo speaker. Go to one of the Rome lairs of Anglo speakers> and try to find a speaker from the linguistic-cultural community you have taken as a model. Then test your hypothesis. Do the two series of questions, one as your double and then one as yourself. Write a two page report which is to be marked by Group Leader 3. What should the paper focus on? See the criteria for a good paper here> Consign the marked paper on May 11th during our last lesson (if you need extra time, May 16th during office hours: 3:30 - 4:30 pm). Form for the Group Leader to fill out>

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