Table Of ContentLinguistics for Intercultural Education
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Editors
Nina Spada Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Center for Language Study
University of Toronto Yale University
Volume 33
Linguistics for Intercultural Education
Edited by Fred Dervin and Anthony J. Liddicoat
Linguistics for
Intercultural Education
Edited by
Fred Dervin
University of Helsinki
Anthony J. Liddicoat
University of South Australia
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Linguistics for Intercultural Education / Edited by Fred Dervin, Anthony J. Liddicoat.
p. cm. (Language Learning & Language Teaching, issn 1569-9471 ; v. 33)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Intercultural communication. 2. Multicultural education. 3. Language and languages--
Variation. 4. Cross-cultural orientation. 5. Language and education. 6. Language and
culture. I. Dervin, Fred, 1974- editor of compilation. II. Liddicoat, Anthony,
1962- editor of compilation.
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Table of contents
Introduction: Linguistics for intercultural education 1
Fred Dervin and Anthony J. Liddicoat
Part I. Developing intercultural competence through the use of linguistics
Avoiding the essentialist trap in intercultural education:
Using critical discourse analysis to read nationalist ideologies
in the language classroom 29
Deborah Cole and Bryan Meadows
Linking learning objectives of linguistic savoir-faire and intercultural
competence in mobility experiences of teacher trainees 49
Mirjam Egli Cuenat and Lukas Bleichenbacher
A place for pragmatics in intercultural teaching and learning 71
Troy McConachy
Strategy-based learning of pragmatics for intercultural education 87
Andrew D. Cohen and Julie M. Sykes
Making the ‘invisible’ visible: A conversation analytic approach
to intercultural teaching and learning in the Chinese Mandarin
language classroom 113
Yanyan Wang and Johanna Rendle-Short
Part II. Linguistics for studying interculturality in education
Language teachers and learners interpreting the world: Identifying
intercultural development in language classroom discourse 139
Lesley Harbon and Robyn Moloney
vi Linguistics for Intercultural Education
Constructing a relationship to otherness in web-based exchanges
for language and culture learning 161
Virginie Trémion
Complex and symbolic discursive encounters for intercultural
education in plurilingual times 175
Julie Byrd Clark and Sofia Stratilaki
Index 197
Introduction
Linguistics for intercultural education
Fred Dervin and Anthony J. Liddicoat
University of Helsinki / University of South Australia
1. Introduction
The rationale for this book addresses the urgent need to find ways of improving
intercultural education in a world where, on the one hand, hypermobility leads
to unprecedented encounters between people from different countries, while, on
the other, forms of rejection of and attacks on the ‘Other’ increase on a daily basis.
The possibilities afforded by, and the problems resulting from, increased contacts
across linguistic and cultural boundaries have led educators and education au-
thorities to seek ways of educating for diversity. The issue of intercultural learning
has been tackled in many and varied publications, especially in the fields of educa-
tion (for example, Abdallah-Pretceille 1986; Cushner 1998; Silva 2002; Genovese
2003; Nesbitt 2004; Majhanovich, Fox & Pasalic Kreso 2009; Grant and Portera
2010; Marginson & Sawir 2011) and language education/applied linguistics (for
example Ager, Muskens & Wright 1993; Bolten 1993; Byram 1997, 2008; Cerezal
1999; Corbett 2003; Byram, Nichols & Stevens 2001; Alred, Byram & Fleming
2002; Sercu, Bandura, Castro & Davcheva 2005; Piller 2011; Preisler, Klitgard &
Fabricius 2011). In spite of the extensive literature on the subject, there is still
much which needs to be done to address the ways in which language education
can contribute to educating for diversity.
One of the problems which faces the field of intercultural education is the
diversity of ways of understanding the basic concepts that it addresses. One mani-
festation of this is the diversity of terms used to name the field: intercultural,
multicultural, cross-cultural, transcultural, etc. For example, several journals are
dedicated to intercultural education, but they are not all labeled “intercultural”. In
fact the vast majority of journals use the adjective multicultural: e.g. International
Journal of Multicultural Education, The Journal of Multiculturalism in Education
2 Fred Dervin and Anthony J. Liddicoat
and Multicultural Education and Technology. Of the main journals in the field,
only the International Association for Intercultural Education (IAIE) has the
term “intercultural” in the name of the journal they publish, Intercultural Educa-
tion. This diversity of terms emphasises an initial problem with the notion of in-
tercultural education: there often seems to be some confusion between terms, and
this has an impact on how the issues are conceptualised, tackled and researched.
In spite of the significance of the differences in terminology for conceptualising
the field, the range of terms used does not seem to reflect clear differences in un-
derstanding. A quick look at the aims and scope of two of the abovementioned
journals, Intercultural Education and International Journal of Multicultural Educa-
tion, reveals that the reasons for using the terms “intercultural” or “multicultural”
are not explained and that, in spite of the differences in name, their aims are in a
way very similar:
Intercultural Education is a global forum for the analysis of issues dealing
with education in plural societies. It provides educational professionals with
the knowledge and information that can assist them in contributing to the
critical analysis and the implementation of intercultural education. Topics
covered include: terminological issues, education and multicultural society
today, intercultural communication, human rights and anti-racist education,
pluralism and diversity in a democratic frame work, pluralism in post-com-
munist and in post-colonial countries, migration and indigenous minority
issues, refugee issues, language policy issues, curriculum and classroom
organisation, and school development.
International Journal of Multicultural Education (IJME) is a peer-reviewed
open-access journal for scholars, practitioners, and students of multicul-
tural education. Committed to promoting educational equity, cross-cultural
understanding, and global awareness in all levels of education, IJME publishes
reports of empirical research, typically in qualitative research orientation;
literature-based scholarly articles that advance theories and scholarship of
multicultural education; praxis essays that discuss successful multicultural
education programs or practical instructional ideas and strategies; and
reviews of visual arts, professional and children’s books, and multimedia
resources (primarily websites and films).
In these statements the area of inquiry seems to be very similar in spite of the
different ways of naming the field and the various terms appear to be used in-
terchangeably. Intercultural Education uses the adjective ‘multicultural’ once to
describe its area of focus and the International Journal of Multicultural Education
uses ‘cross-cultural’. Although the significance of the overlapping use of terms is
debated, Grant & Portera (2010) argue that because there is no consensus amongst
Introduction 3
practitioners and scholars on their meaning this is not so important. Nonetheless,
we see the lack of semantic and epistemic clarity in the use of terms as problem-
atic for developing clear conceptualisations of the field. In this volume, we have
chosen to use the adjective ‘intercultural’ and propose in the following discussion
to clarify ways of understanding and working with the term.
2. A different approach: Linguistics for intercultural education?
In language education the issue of intercultural education is often tackled through
the concepts of culture or identity (see infra) which are investigated quantitatively
and qualitatively using approaches such as content analysis, narrative analysis,
ethnography, certain forms of discourse analysis, etc. In such approaches, the
most reported classroom practices include such techniques as simulation activi-
ties, role-plays, self-reflexive essays, ethnographic exercises, critical incidents, etc.
These are often accompanied by content or narrative analyses, which are used to
examine the data produced. In such ways of working, the analysis of language has
tended to be overshadowed by many disciplinary fields.
The focus of this book is to investigate ways in which language can be used as
the focus for intercultural learning. To date, linguistic approaches have not been
systematically or coherently used to deal with intercultural education in research
or in classrooms, while such fields as anthropology, sociology, psychology and
philosophy have had a clear influence on theory, practices and research direc-
tions. The lack of linguistic approaches in intercultural education is in many ways
surprising. Some of the well-known authors from language learning and teach-
ing or applied linguistics (for example, Byram, Corbett, Kramsch, Risager, Sercu)
have laid a lot of emphasis on language in their understanding of intercultural
learning. The same is also true for the journal Language and Intercultural Commu-
nication, which is indirectly related to intercultural (communication) education.
Yet researchers in the area do not use linguistic tools to research intercultural
phenomena in education or to propose ways of improving teaching and learn-
ing in the same way as ‘linguistics’ journals such as Intercultural Pragmatics and
Journal of Multicultural Discourses, which deal with intercultural communication
more generally.
What we endeavour to present in this volume is a linguistically oriented focus
applied to intercultural learning in formal educational contexts. We thus aim to
give language a more central place in intercultural education and propose to bring
together language education, linguistics and the ‘intercultural’ as a coherent focus.
The relationship between these elements has varied over time and most recently,
linguistics has played a more reduced role in developing theory, methods and
