eBooks

Effective Communication in a Global Context

Interconnectivity – Interculturality – Interdisciplinarity

0203
2025
978-3-3811-2312-4
978-3-3811-2311-7
Gunter Narr Verlag 
Thomas Tinnefeld
10.24053/9783381123124

This volume provides a comprehensive exploration of global communication in today's world. By examining the complex interplay of interconnectivity, interculturality, and interdisciplinarity, it provides insights for scholars, practitioners, and students alike. The range of topics covered, from the teaching of global English to the nuances of intercultural competence, reflects the multifaceted nature of communication in our modern era. The ideas presented in this volume serve as a guide to improving our ability to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries. The emphasis on the prefix inter- throughout the book emphasises the fundamental interconnectedness of all aspects of global communication and reinforces the holistic approach needed to understand and address the challenges of our time. Ultimately, this collection of scholarly chapters not only contributes to the academic discourse on global communication but also offers practical insights for those seeking to improve their intercultural and interdisciplinary communication skills. As we continue to face the complexities of our interconnected world, the perspectives and knowledge shared in this book will undoubtedly prove invaluable in fostering more effective and meaningful global communication.

<?page no="0"?> Effective Communication in a Global Context Thomas Tinnefeld (ed.) Interconnectivity - Interculturality - Interdisciplinarity <?page no="1"?> Effective Communication in a Global Context <?page no="3"?> Thomas Tinnefeld (ed.) Effective Communication in a Global Context Interconnectivity - Interculturality - Interdisciplinarity <?page no="4"?> Umschlagabbildung: © iStock, Stock-ID1334086618, Christoph Burgstedt Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http: / / dnb.dnb.de abrufbar. DOI: https: / / doi.org/ 10.24053/ 9783381123124 © 2025 · Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG Dischingerweg 5 · D-72070 Tübingen Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Alle Informationen in diesem Buch wurden mit großer Sorgfalt erstellt. Fehler können dennoch nicht völlig ausgeschlossen werden. Weder Verlag noch Autor: innen oder Herausgeber: innen übernehmen deshalb eine Gewährleistung für die Korrektheit des Inhaltes und haften nicht für fehlerhafte Angaben und deren Folgen. Diese Publikation enthält gegebenenfalls Links zu externen Inhalten Dritter, auf die weder Verlag noch Autor: innen oder Herausgeber: innen Einfluss haben. Für die Inhalte der verlinkten Seiten sind stets die jeweiligen Anbieter oder Betreibenden der Seiten verantwortlich. Internet: www.narr.de eMail: info@narr.de Druck: Elanders Waiblingen GmbH ISBN 978-3-381-12311-7 (Print) ISBN 978-3-381-12312-4 (ePDF) ISBN 978-3-381-12313-1 (ePub) <?page no="5"?> Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 I Interconnectivity Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Heidrun Gerzymisch Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Katja Lochtman Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Esa Christine Hartmann Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 II. Interculturality David Weir Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School - with Special Thanks to Emahoy, Rilke and Tagore . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Wai Meng Chan A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest Traverser les frontières virtuelles : une rencontre interculturelle . . . . . . . 179 <?page no="6"?> Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands : témoignages de candidats à un Prix d ’ Excellence de l ’ Université Franco- Allemande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Thomas Tinnefeld Words Without Borders - Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 III. Interdisciplinarity Paul Gruba Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Klaus-Dieter Baumann Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 6 Table of Contents <?page no="7"?> Preface In an era marked by unprecedented global interconnectivity, the ability to communicate effectively across cultural, linguistic, and disciplinary boundaries has never been more crucial. This book explores the complex nature of communication in our increasingly interconnected world. This collection of scholarly articles explores the complexities and nuances of global communication, offering insights that are both profound and practical. The chapters within this book address a wide array of topics, each contributing to a comprehensive understanding of global communication. From teaching global English to the skills required for universal communication, it examines the basic elements of effective communication across borders. It also explores the field of mediated communication and the critical role of translation and interpretation in bridging linguistic divides. One of the key themes explored is the importance of intercultural competence. As the world becomes more and more interconnected, the ability to mediate between different cultural contexts is of great importance. Moreover, the role of interculturality is addressed in various educational settings, from modern business schools to integrated Franco-German curricula. It underscores the significance of intercultural mediation during foreign language study abroad programmes and the benefits of crossing linguistic and cultural borders through literature. The interdisciplinary nature of knowledge transfer is another focal point. By examining thought patterns in natural scientific and technical-scientific communication, the book reveals how interdisciplinary approaches can enhance our understanding and effectiveness in global communication. The content of this volume is systematically organised into three central domains: interconnectivity, interculturality, and interdisciplinarity. While these terms delineate the primary thematic paths of each section, the consistent prefix interserves as a unifying principle, emphasising the fundamental interconnectedness of all elements. This concept emerges as a central claim of the book. Its structure and content thus reflect a holistic approach to understanding complex systems and relationships across different fields of research. The first section deals with interconnectivity. It explores the complex nature of the relationships and interdependencies that exist within and between the <?page no="8"?> areas under study, be they educational, skill-related, attitudinal, or related to literature and translation. In the first chapter, Gene Vasilopoulos & Douglas Fleming deal with the “ epistemic dependency in global English language teaching ” and problematise the “ reproduction of educational inequalities ” . The analysis they present explores the complex nature of global ELT study abroad research, challenging traditional approaches that emphasise linear knowledge transmission from centre to periphery. The two researchers focus on the West China Project (WCP), a three-month intensive English language teacher training program in Canada for teachers from Western China. By employing an ethico-ontoepistemological approach, their study aims to uncover hidden realities and tensions that participants may not explicitly voice in interviews or focus groups. The analysis looks into the silences and tensions beyond the surfacelevel outcomes, revealing complex dynamics within the program. The findings highlight issues such as content and delivery tensions, surveillance by party officials, self-censorship, and the prevalence of dominant discourse in participant responses. These insights shed light on the perpetuation of epistemic dependency in Global ELT and challenge researchers to critically examine how they interpret participant silence and tension. Thus, this research raises important questions about the ethics of international teacher training programs and the reporting of Global English research. By drawing attention to often overlooked aspects of study-abroad experiences, it invites further exploration into the nuanced realities of cross-cultural educational exchanges and their implications for Global ELT. A universal perspective is also the focus of Heidrun Gerzymisch ’ s chapter. She explores the concept of ‘ universal communication ’ as conceived by the German philosopher Karl Jaspers and how it relates to mediated communication, particularly within the context of translating and interpreting (T&I). Jaspers ’ vision, rooted in his Philosophy of Existence, emphasises mutual understanding and ethical engagement among individuals, extending to a global community. The chapter looks into the interdisciplinary evolution of T&I, illustrating its role as a practical extension of Jaspers ’ theoretical framework. By examining the concept of sense and its application in T&I, the author demonstrates how coherence in texts can be operationalised and compared across different languages and cultures. This analysis underlines the ethical and methodological parallels between Jaspers ’ philosophical communication and the concrete practices of T&I. Additionally, the chapter discusses the threephase process of communication and how it correlates with Jaspers ’ existential encounters, highlighting the stages of understanding, comparing, and struggling for truth. By integrating these theoretical insights with practical exam- 8 Preface <?page no="9"?> ples, the author argues that T&I plays a crucial role in fostering global understanding and tolerance, aligning with Jaspers ’ ideal of boundless communication. This chapter invites readers to appreciate the significance of T&I not only as a linguistic tool but as a mediator of philosophical truths and ethical values in our culturally diverse world, thus promoting a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of human experiences. The chapter written by Martin East, Constanza Tolosa, Jocelyn Howard, Christine Biebricher & Adèle Scott offers insights into communicating across borders and the skills that language users need to do so. The chapter examines the intersection of communicative competence and intercultural communicative competence as foundational frameworks for contemporary language learning programmes. The prevailing understanding of second language (L2) acquisition emphasises communication as its primary objective, necessitating a reevaluation of teaching methodologies and essential curricular components. This research explores the implications of adopting a communicative perspective in L2 education, focusing on developing learners into effective communicators across diverse cultural contexts. Consequently, the study investigates the critical elements required in language courses to achieve this goal, highlighting the importance of both linguistic and intercultural skills for successful cross-border communication. It advocates a balanced approach that integrates these competencies, recognising their interdependence in fostering comprehensive language proficiency. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the current global trend in L2 classrooms, where linguistic aspects often overshadow cultural considerations. This imbalance potentially results in underdeveloped intercultural competencies among language learners, despite their linguistic progress. By analysing these aspects, the authors aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse on enhancing L2 education. They offer insights into potential strategies for bridging the gap between linguistic and intercultural skills development, proposing a more holistic approach to language teaching that better prepares students for effective communication. Katja Lochtman ’ s study reflects interconnectivity as it investigates learners ’ attitudes towards participating in online language learning. The research was conducted at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) following the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to distance learning. This raised questions about students ’ experiences and perceived effectiveness of these emergency distance learning methods compared to traditional approaches. The study investigates overall student comfort levels with emergency online language classes and explores potential influencing factors such as age and gender. The findings provide insights into student perceptions of online language learning effectiveness and participation com- Preface 9 <?page no="10"?> fort. While general trends in student attitudes are identified, the study also reveals nuanced differences among demographic subgroups. These variations offer valuable information about how different student populations adapt to and engage with online learning environments. The results have implications for the organisation and implementation of online language courses, particularly in terms of creating optimal language learning opportunities. By analysing student responses to emergency remote teaching, this study contributes to the growing body of research on online education in higher learning institutions during unprecedented circumstances. The findings may inform future strategies for enhancing the efficacy and inclusivity of online language instruction. Two languages and cultures can be combined in the same book. Esa Christine Hartmann shows this in her chapter, which explores the unique pedagogical potential of translingual picturebooks, emphasising their role in multilingual and intercultural education. It examines how these picturebooks, which integrate multiple languages and semiotic systems, foster multiliteracies - a blend of multilingual, multimodal, and critical literacies. The dynamic interplay of visual and verbal elements in these books enhances readers ’ ability to decode complex texts, promoting linguistic sensitivity and aesthetic appreciation. Recent multilingualism research highlights a shift from viewing languages as separate entities to understanding them as fluid within multilingual speakers ’ repertoires. This translingual perspective supports the educational use of picturebooks that mix languages, reflecting actual bilingual speech practices and encouraging integrated language learning. Through an analysis of selected trilingual picturebooks, the study demonstrates how these works serve as valuable tools for developing creative and reflective thinking. By presenting challenging intertexts and socio-political themes, translingual picturebooks provoke readers to consider cultural and historical contexts critically. The article also invites instructors to reconsider the potential of this literary genre to create inclusive, dynamic and joyful learning experiences, and to make a case for its use in contemporary educational settings by applying the findings to their own teaching materials. The second section of the book addresses the concept of interculturality. It examines, among other things, the manner in which these connections influence students ’ learning processes, emphasising the far-reaching implications that interconnectivity has across different academic disciplines. It also highlights the interplay between cultural contexts and educational outcomes, and underlines the importance of fostering intercultural competencies in today ’ s world. 10 Preface <?page no="11"?> This section is opened by David Weir, who, based on extensive experience in academic and practical settings, offers reflections on business and management education in the twenty-first century, focusing on the concept of interculturality and its implications for managerial training. The chapter acknowledges the hybrid nature of all cultures and examines the challenges posed by globalisation, economic crises, pandemics, and environmental threats. It critically analyses the widespread use of interculturality as a concept, highlighting the lack of consensus on its epistemological foundations and practical applications. It also explores potential strategies and approaches available for developing competent managers and leaders capable of dealing with complex intercultural issues. Finally, it questions current models of leadership in the face of global challenges and explores alternative ways of recognising diversity in management paradigms. The chapter thus contributes to the ongoing discourse on the role of interculturality in business and management education and provides food for thought for educators, researchers and practitioners in the field. In his contribution, Wai Meng Chan focuses on a university setting, namely foreign language study abroad in the context of intercultural mediation. Intercultural mediation obviously plays a crucial role in foreign language and culture learning, facilitating the (coand re-)construction of cultural meanings. This process operates on both interpersonal and intrapersonal levels, supporting learners ’ intercultural development and enabling critical reflection on cultural experiences. This chapter presents findings from a comprehensive qualitative study examining intercultural mediation in shortterm foreign language study abroad programs across six countries. The research aimed to identify, describe, and classify instances of intercultural mediation. Data were collected from programme participants and analysed using a structured framework. This framework categorised mediation events according to several key dimensions. The analysis yielded a nuanced classification system for intercultural mediation, revealing multiple categories and subcategories. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex processes involved in intercultural mediation and their significance in foreign language and culture learning contexts. The results offer important information for educators, researchers, and practitioners in the field of intercultural communication and language education. In their chapter, written in French, Meike Wernicke & Carl Ruest describe and analyse an intercultural encounter that crosses virtual borders. Second language educators often incorporate cultural elements into their lessons as a simple appreciation of the target language culture. According to the authors, this approach alone is insufficient for students to fully develop intercultural Preface 11 <?page no="12"?> competence. Implementing an inclusive approach that values diverse perspectives, knowledge, and identities in our schools necessitates deep critical reflection. Consequently, this chapter discusses an intercultural learning approach exploring the development of such a perspective through a decentering process. Within the framework of a research project examining perceptions of culture teaching in French programmes in Canada, the authors present the outcomes of a workshop designed to explore examples of cultural translation as a productive means of intercultural learning. The workshop ’ s primary activity focused on how cultural texts are extracted from their original context and rearticulated across spaces filled with different codes, conventions, and expectations. This chapter, then, highlights some of the challenges involved in opening up to alternative perspectives when crossing cultural boundaries. Véronique Lemoine-Bresson & Marie-José Gremmo, whose contribution is also in French, present findings from a study examining how students in binational integrated programmes articulate the intercultural added value of their bachelor ’ s or master ’ s degrees when applying for the Franco-German University ’ s Excellence Award. The study explores how candidates interpret the concept of added value presented in the call for applications as a defining dimension of integrated programmes. Additionally, it investigates the construction of students ’ understanding of interculturality within the Franco- German context through academic, professional, and personal experiences. This research contributes to ongoing discussions about developing intercultural competencies that foster awareness of the multifaceted aspects of encountering the Other. It also critically examines the limitations of comparative methodology and highlights the need for training in the complexity of learning processes related to intercultural issues. Altogether, the findings offer insights into the potential for developing intercultural competence within the framework of university degrees, with implications for curriculum design and intercultural education. In the final chapter of the section on interculturality, Thomas Tinnefeld explores the complexities of plurilingualism and intercultural identity in a Franco-German context. Using a mixed-methods approach, his study examines the experiences of students and alumni of the Franco-German University Institute - based at Saarland University of Applied Sciences in Saarbrücken, Germany, and the University of Lorraine in Metz, France - and reveals the complex nature of bilingual education and intercultural interaction. Key findings highlight the positive impacts of bilingualism on cognitive functions, personal identity, and professional opportunities. The chapter also explores the “ France Strategy ” of Saarland, aiming for official bilingualism by 2043, under- 12 Preface <?page no="13"?> lining its broader implications for regional language policies. The research emphasizes that bilingualism extends beyond language proficiency, affecting cultural affinity and intercultural competence. It suggests that interest in a culture drives language acquisition, rather than the reverse, offering insights for educational strategies. The study, balanced in demographic representation, underscores the peaceful coexistence of languages and the profound benefits of bilingual education for individuals and society, particularly within the European integration framework. Overall, the chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the dynamic interplay between language and identity in a plurilingual setting, thus contributing to sociolinguistic and intercultural studies. The third section of the book focuses on interdisciplinarity. It looks into the integration and synthesis of knowledge, methodologies, and perspectives from different academic disciplines. It also explores how the interconnections between different fields of study can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of complex issues. This section also highlights the challenges and opportunities that arise for researchers when personally crossing disciplinary boundaries. This last aspect is the subject of Paul Gruba ’ s chapter. It examines the process of becoming interdisciplinary over a four-decade period, drawing parallels between the crossing of disciplinary boundaries and cross-border communication. The study traces a professional journey from an EFL teacher in Africa to an academic convenor in a digital research initiative in Australia, offering a unique longitudinal perspective on interdisciplinary development. The author employs a conceptual framework that explores the themes of authorization, navigation, and motivation in interdisciplinary pursuits. These themes are illustrated through carefully selected autobiographical sketches and exemplary work, providing nuanced insights into the challenges and opportunities encountered when crossing disciplinary lines. Furthermore, the chapter delves into the evolving nature of disciplinary identity and the concept of academic ‘ home ’ , questioning established notions of belonging within traditional academic structures. It explores the dynamics of interdisciplinary collaborations and examines how the companions on this journey influence the itinerary of one ’ s academic and professional development. The chapter concludes by proposing an agenda for future research, suggesting promising avenues for further exploration in this field and its implications for academic and professional growth. The chapter by Klaus-Dieter Baumann explores the complex relationship between Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) and the thought patterns Preface 13 <?page no="14"?> inherent in scientific and technical communication. By exploring the cognitive and communicative dimensions of LSP, the author shows how mental structures and processes shape and are shaped by specialised texts across various disciplines. The investigation uses a multifaceted approach, analysing the rhetorical and stylistic elements that facilitate effective knowledge transfer in natural and technical sciences. The study highlights the culturally specific strategies and methodological considerations necessary for differentiating communicative-cognitive tactics in specialised fields. It highlights the dynamic relationships between cognitive transformation processes and LSP-based communication, and emphasises the role of specialised thought strategies in enhancing the precision and clarity of scientific discourse. Through comparative analyses, the research reveals significant cultural differences in LSP communication styles, particularly between German and English scientific texts. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how specialised knowledge is constructed and conveyed, offering insights for further interdisciplinary research in LSP and cognitive linguistics. The chapter invites readers to reconsider the foundational elements of scientific communication, promising a comprehensive perspective on the cognitive underpinnings of LSP-based thought patterns. In presenting this collection of scholarly articles, we have endeavoured to provide a comprehensive exploration of global communication in today ’ s interconnected world. The chapters within this volume offer a nuanced examination of the complex relationships between interconnectivity, interculturality, and interdisciplinarity, reflecting the complex nature of communication in our modern era. The wide range of topics covered, from the teaching of global English to the nuances of intercultural competence, will hopefully prove valuable to academics, practitioners and students alike. Our aim has been to not only contribute to the academic discourse but also to offer practical insights for those seeking to enhance their communication skills across cultural and linguistic boundaries. The emphasis on the interprefix throughout the book underscores what we believe to be a fundamental truth: the interconnectedness of all aspects of global communication. This holistic approach will help us to understand the increasingly complex global world in which we all live. I am deeply grateful to all the authors who have shared their knowledge and expertise. Their collective wisdom forms the backbone of this volume, offering a multidimensional perspective on the challenges and opportunities of global communication. 14 Preface <?page no="15"?> Readers are invited to engage critically with the ideas presented here, to question, reflect and apply these insights in their own contexts. It is our sincere hope that this book will serve as a helpful resource in fostering more effective and meaningful global communication, thus contributing in its own way to better understanding in our highly complex world. Saarbrücken, Germany Thomas Tinnefeld Preface 15 <?page no="17"?> I Interconnectivity <?page no="19"?> Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching Eugenia (Gene) Vasilopoulos & Douglas Fleming 1 Introduction This paper re-examines and problematizes the findings in our previously reported study that focused on a state-funded international teacher studyabroad project (Vasilopoulos et al. 2017, Romero & Vasilopoulos 2020). The West China Project (WCP) ran between 2015 - 2018 and involved 243 English language teachers from the Western Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Gansu, who came to a research-based university in Eastern Canada for three months of intensive English language teacher training. As part of the project, we collected extensive quantitative and qualitative data in Canada during the program and in China once our participants returned home. Traditionally, as we argue below, research findings in Global English Language Training (ELT) study-abroad research highlight dominant themes and a linear transmission of uncontested knowledge from centre to periphery. This approach masks a reality that participants in programs which are funded primarily by agencies in positions of authority over them may not understandably be willing to participate unreservedly in recorded interviews / focus groups. For critical researchers, drawing attention to how we interpret participant silence and tension is a question of ethics to un-do dominant discourses that perpetuate epistemic dependency in Global ELT. In this paper, we focus on how epistemic dependency in Global ELT (Kumaravadivelu, 2012, Morgan 2015, Phillipson 2012) is perpetuated in the reporting of Global English research and program evaluation. Theoretically and methodologically, we draw on an ethico-onto-epistemological approach (Barad 2007) and the notion of diffracting diffractive readings of texts (Murris & Bozalek 2019a, 2019b) that are predicated on entanglement and not essentializing identities or reading fixed interpretations. Our renewed analysis focuses on the silences and tensions aside from the more obvious intended outcomes explicitly stated in the interview and focus group transcripts. Findings include tensions experienced in the program content, program <?page no="20"?> delivery, and data collection; surveillance with the presence of party officials as supervisors / leaders in each class; self-censorship regarding the socio-material reality of teaching including political structures and agency to enact change; and dominant discourse whereby many of interviews and focus groups sounded the same. In what follows, we first provide some background as to the conditions faced by ELT teachers in China. This is followed by a description of our participants and a brief outline of our original research methodology. We then discuss and apply our theoretical frameworks: the notions of epistemic dependency, ethicoonto-epistemological approaches, diffractive readings of texts, and responseable pedagogy. We conclude by arguing that our field must take into account the types of research challenges we have outlined and adopt ethics related to the notion of response-able pedagogy (Bozalek & Zembylas 2017). 2 The Study 2.1 Global ELT, the Chinese Context and the WCP The expansion and growth of English as an international language (EIL) has increased the number of people around the world studying this language in different contexts and settings (Block 2003). As Ellis (2008) argues, teachers in foreign English language teaching and learning contexts face diverse challenges. Student motivation is often low, and classes are usually large. This results in significant challenges in terms of classroom management. In addition, the wages for language teachers are commonly low and the available teaching resources are limited. Instruction is commonly formal, teachercentred and form-based. Students in these contexts have few opportunities to use English orally or practice spontaneous conversation. Moreover, as the participants stated, most students in rural China and living in remote communities feel that they have little use for English. In China, English instruction has been dominated by a grammar formfocused pedagogy and the memorization of structures provided by the language teacher (Zhang & Li 2014). However, as Li & Edwards (2013, 2014) note, China has embarked on wholesale educational reform aimed at shifting English instruction from models of pedagogy based on teacher-centred transmission to those that are communicative, task-based and student-centred. This is an integral part of changing Chinese national educational policy (as outlined in Gu 2010). To implement the new curricular innovations and to improve the standards of teaching and learning English, the leading Chinese funder of international education, the China Scholarship Council (CSC), funds projects such as the one under study that sends teachers abroad for three 20 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="21"?> months to participate in professional development projects in English speaking countries, including Australia, the UK, the USA, New Zealand, and Canada. The WCP was delivered at the Faculty of Education at a large research-based bilingual university in Eastern Canada with the assistance of the university ’ s Language Institute. Extensive consultation around the curricular aspects of the project was held with the CSC, the Embassy of China and the Beijing Languages and Culture University (BLCU). In view of the challenges and trends noted above, the CSC established two broad goals for this project: to help Yunnan English teachers improve their second language teaching practices and to improve their levels of English language proficiency. The participants in the program were mostly experienced English language teachers who worked in middle and secondary schools throughout Yunnan and Gansu provinces. Around half of them belonged to various ethnic and linguistic minorities themselves. Although some worked in urban centres, the vast majority came from outlying rural areas within the province. Threequarters of the teachers were women, and one-quarter were men. None of the teachers came from middleor upper-income brackets. Some were homeroom teachers or heads of their local school ’ s English teaching department. However, most were classroom teachers with no additional responsibilities. All had English as their teaching subject. In consultation with CSC, the provincial educational authority selected schools from various localities to participate in this project. Local school principals and colleagues then nominated those who would be asked to participate, and most were enthusiastic about participating in the project, especially given that most had never travelled beyond their home province. The teachers first participated in a month-long orientation to North American culture and pedagogy at BLCU prior to departing for the study abroad component of the program in Canada. At the host Canadian university, the team of multicultural and multilingual professors and graduate students who delivered and designed the project were specialists in second-language education. Most had extensive international teaching experience (several in China): Cohort/ Province Number of Participants Years of Teaching Experience Age/ Gender Ethnolinguistic Background/ Home Language 2015 Yunnan 37 5 - 10 30 - 45 years 30 Females 7 Males Dali; Lijiang; Puer; Yao; Weishan; Lingcang; Binchuan; Midu; Yongren; Han Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 21 <?page no="22"?> Cohort/ Province Number of Participants Years of Teaching Experience Age/ Gender Ethnolinguistic Background/ Home Language 2016 Yunnan 34 3 - 18 24 - 44 years 27 Females 7 Males Lisu; Jinpo; Di; Hani; Yi; Han 2017 Yunnan 73 3 - 20 26 - 44 years 58 Females 15 Males Dai; Yi; Bai; Wa; Han 2018 Yunnan, Gansu 105 5 - 25 28 - 50 years 79 Females 26 Males Han; Hui; Bai; Dai; Hani; Yi; Lisu Table 1: Participant Demographics The syllabus was first drafted by the second author, the lead professor, in consultation with the teaching team, and included the following topics: lessonplanning, curriculum design, general linguistics, teaching material design, the role of grammar, bilingualism, decentralized curriculum decision-making; student-centred pedagogical approaches, anti-racist education, critical multiculturalism, alternate forms of educational leadership, critical curriculum theory, problematizing Canadian culture, multicultural citizenship, globalization and post-colonial discourse. The daily schedule included both theoretical lectures on the above topics and small group hands-on workshops focused on practical application. It is noteworthy that the project endeavoured to employ diverse models of education, including elements of indigenous education. That is, the project strived to create a learning environment that “ honors the culture, language, and world view ” of students, as well as honoring “ who they are and where they have come from ” (Toulouse 2017: 1). The syllabus was then sent to CSC and the Chinese Embassy for feedback. After several months of negotiations between these Chinese officials and the university, the syllabus was finalized and the logistics, accommodations, and financial arrangements were approved. A key characteristic of the program was its flexible design that provided critical content (in both lectures and workshops) via a decentralized delivery instruction model focused on the visiting teachers ’ needs and realities. Changes in curricular content occurred when it became clear, for example, that the teachers needed help in designing group work tasks. The overall emphasis was on helping the teachers adapt communicative approaches to their local teaching conditions. Moreover, the project content explicitly problematized the political nature of English teaching, the notions of native 22 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="23"?> speaker, standardized privileged Anglo-American ‘ core ’ English, and binary stereotypes of Eastern and Western pedagogy. 2.2 Initial Data Collection Data were collected at different periods over the course of four years, typically with each cohort at the beginning and at the end of the training period. The qualitative data that we focus our discussion on here comes from interview data and focus group data collected at the end of the program in Canada (August 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), and again in China in October 2018. 2.3 Findings from Ongoing WCP Program Evaluations and Research The data-collection-and-analysis efforts in the WCP produced robust findings in terms of teacher participant learning outcomes and positive impacts on local teaching, as well as limitations of the curriculum, and barriers to the implementation of teaching in local contexts. Reported post-program benefits centred on improved English language proficiency, increased confidence as an EFL teacher, extended knowledge of language teaching methods, the formation of communities of practice, and deepened intercultural experience. Data revealed that teacher participants improved their English language proficiency as measured through pre-program and post-program listening tests and perceived as expressed in participant interviews. Closely associated with improved linguistic proficiency, participants expressed increased confidence in their capacity as EFL teachers to provide accurate and varied linguistic input in their classroom teaching. Greater awareness of language teaching methods modelled by the WCP instructors and analyzed in the methodology workshops was another dimension that contributed to increased teacher confidence. Intercultural experiences communicating with Canadian (English language speaking) teachers, university staff, and local community members augmented participants ’ confidence and perceived legitimacy as an EFL teacher, namely an English language speaker capable of communicating effectively in authentic contexts. Lastly, participants reported the formation of communities of practice (Lave & Wenger 1991) as networks for professional development and support amongst the visiting teachers themselves and with WCP instructions and staff. These outcomes transfer over to positive impacts in their local teaching context. Focus groups, interviews, and classroom observations conducted during our 2018 visit to China confirmed that across the cohorts, participants reported learning outcomes from their experience in the WCP led to increased student enthusiasm for the English class in part because they had developed novel teaching methods and strategies of a communicative nature that betterengaged students, and also because of their acquired ability to integrate Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 23 <?page no="24"?> Canadian culture into their teaching and appeal to their students ’ curiosity for international travel through their experience abroad. Participants also confirmed the long-lasting impact of the program on their EFL teaching career: months and years after their study-abroad experience, participants were still inspired to continue learning, improving, and serving their students and their school system. Tangible transformations were evidenced in the sustained networks formed during the study-abroad period and through promotions to leadership positions within their schools and districts upon return from Canada. Our findings of benefits are consistent with those of similar Chinesegovernment-funded English language teacher professional development programs hosted at Western Anglophone universities. Most notably, Li, Zhang & Edwards ’ (2016) review of Chinese-sponsored in-service English Language Teacher Professional Development programs in the UK reports: changes in participants teaching philosophy and teaching practices, enhancement in competences such as their English proficiency, lesson planning and implementation and cultural awareness, as well as assumption of new leadership roles and enhanced interest in research (Li, Zhang & Edwards 2016: 191) Here, we emphasize the similarity between the WCP and programs involved in Li, Zhang & Edward ’ s work as large-scale Chinese government initiatives, a point central to our argument and one that we return to in subsequent sections. Besides the positive outcomes reported by the WCP participants, there was also mention of challenges and limitations. Pacek (1996) advocates for the reporting of negative outcomes in language teacher program evaluation to further improve the program curriculum. Data collected post-program in Canada, and later in China, revealed concern over the appropriateness of the WCP curriculum. Misalignment between the program content and methods related primarily to the technology modules and logistic constraints in rural communities with varying degrees of institutional support, limited technological resources, centralized curricula built on regional models, and, most importantly, low motivation for English language education. In both postprogram interviews and data collected in China, participants raised the reoccurring theme of incompatibility between idealistic teaching methods and the real conditions and minimal affordances within their local communities. Such misalignment has been thoroughly documented in other studies on similar programs (Li & Edwards 2013, 2014, Hong & Pawan 2014, Zhao & Mantero 2018), and while designing quality Global ELT PD is a critical issue, this paper focuses on another perhaps more veiled aspect of Global ELT, i. e., that of reporting study abroad research from inner-circle nations. 24 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="25"?> 2.4 Methodological Problematics with Global ELT Research and Epistemic Dependency Epistemic dependency has long been perpetuated in the reporting of Global ELT research (Kumaravadivelu 2012, Morgan 2015, Phillipson 2012). Epistemic dependency refers to the dominance of Western-based knowledge through concepts and domains in Global ELT that sustain Western superiority, the most prominent being native speaker norms, followed by field terminologies (EFL, ESOL, TESOL, NS, N-NS), Western knowledge production, centre-based methods, centre-based cultural competence, and the textbook industry (Kumaravadivelu 2012). Western-based ‘ epistemes ’ are taken for granted in Global ELT; to counter epistemic dependency and the self-marginalization of learners from the outer circle, educators must raise awareness of how teachers from the periphery are positioned in various historical and institutional contexts. Through this awareness, educators can then make space for teacher identity negotiation and transformation (Kumaravadivelu 2012). The notion of epistemic dependency extends to Western-centric research methodologies and discursive practices that centralize and regulate disciplinary knowledge systems and define participant identities and subjectivities in a hierarchy of researcher / researched. Herein, we focus on our complicity as Center-based / inner-circle researchers in sustaining this dependency by failing to interrogate our subject position as ‘ experts ’ . Indeed, the existence of a Western centre depends on the existence of a periphery (Morgan 2015), and inadvertently, our research methods and epistemes may be contributing to these effects. Morgan ’ s (2015) observation relates to how Global ELT research (to which we include teacher study-abroad programs) is framed through Western empiricism that privileges empirically derived facts and truths as the basis for decision-making while overlooking values and ideologies that perhaps bear equal consequences. Traditional Western empiricism is especially pronounced in program evaluation, defined by Keily (2009: 14) as a set of strategies to document and understand the programme (sic). It involves research activity (conventional studies or action research by which teachers learn about and transform aspects of their practice) and assessment data (conventional measures of outcomes). Principles of language program evaluation reflect largely positivist / postpositivist paradigms and involve social science research methods, particularly surveys, focused on improvement, satisfaction, and impact (Keily 2019). The logic of program evaluation is linear: program evaluation reflects the learning, and transformation experienced because of the program. From these findings, Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 25 <?page no="26"?> measures of program quality can directly contribute to understanding program effectiveness (Keily 2019). Reporting positive outcomes from Global ELT studyabroad professional development programs informs future program design and delivery, further improving language teaching around the world. While this is a commendable goal, reporting exclusively on primarily positive outcomes in research also inadvertently serves to promote epistemic dependency. Returning back to the positive outcomes revealed in the WCP research as confirmed in Li, Zhang & Edwards ’ (2016) review of Chinese governmentsponsored international ELT professional development, we turn attention to the roles of researcher / research participant. In both cases - the WCP and the multiple studies associated with similar programs in the UK (Li, Zhang & Edwards 2016) - , evaluators and researchers were also heavily involved in the program delivery and in many cases shared an instructor-trainee relationship. Keily advocates for internal evaluation as opposed to the “ disinterested ” and presumably “ objective assessment ” provided by external evaluators (2019: 89). Internal evaluators, as advocates for the program, bring in a development agenda that seeks to improve the program, and this commitment from program providers is a dimension not easily captured from a distant external view (Keily 2019). Yet, as language researchers, we are fully aware that the absence of third-party researchers for program evaluation casts doubt on researcher objectivity and the trustworthiness of the data (Wang et al. 2019). Li, Zhang & Edwards (2016: 196) concede the disadvantages of our ‘ insider ’ status as researchers trying to evaluate a course in which we played a key part in designing and delivering. People who had known and worked with us over a period of three months might well find it difficult to be frank in assessments of their experience. Transparently, Li, Zhang & Edwards detail the range of measures taken to counteract these effects, including assigning interviewing responsibilities to non-instructional staff who did not share a teacher-learner relationship with interviewees. Critical reflection of positionality vis-à-vis program host-instructor-researcher and visiting-teaching-trainee-participant is perhaps the first step in attuning to the “ social, cultural, and historical identity of the programme (sic! ), as a product of the institution, as a phase in the biographies of participants, and as a context of personal investments of individual stakeholders ” (Kiely 2009: 114) that constitute the program evaluation. We interpret Kiely ’ s guidance to suggest that responsible language program evaluators and researchers must not ignore the persistent power imbalance between centre-based institutions, such as the host university located in an 26 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="27"?> urban city, in contrast to that of the visiting teachers as outer-circle language learners from considerably less-prosperous communities in China. In other words, herein, we advocate for and demonstrate what it might look like to consider the entanglement of not only the participants ’ biographies but also that of the researcher and the institution, in the construction of the data and in the reporting of the research. Such a shift entails adopting an epistemic stance different from ‘ conventional ’ language research / program evaluation to interrogate the epistemic dependency that reifies a unidirectional transmission of knowledge in English language education from the inner circle to the outer in Global ELT. We must then ask ourselves: • How can we report language program evaluation research that presumes cause-effect linearity, fixed identities, and trajectories without reinforcing the centre-periphery dichotomy? • How can we do Global ELT research that is critical of our subject positions? • What does this research look like? Arguably, addressing these questions requires abandoning traditional empiricism and adopting a relational ontology of diffractive reading and response-able methodologies. 2.5 Methodology: Re-reading the Data In educational research, epistemology refers to the different kinds of knowledge claims and how we come to know, while ontology refers to the nature of the world, reality and existence (Scott & Usher 1996). Relational ontology, Wildman (2010: 55) explains, is simply the relations between entities are ontologically more fundamental than the entities themselves. This contrasts with substantive ontology in which entities are ontologically primary and relations ontologically derivative. Relational ontology accounts for the socio-material-affective entanglement between participants, researchers, affective, material, structures, and realities (Barad 2007). For Barad (2007), engaging relational ontologies entails an ethicoonto-epistemological shift predicated on entanglement and not essentializing identities or reading fixed interpretations (Murris & Bozalek 2019a, 2019b, Bozalek & Zembylas 2017). For the WCP, entanglement between the human actors (visiting teachers, research participants, instructors, administrators, and researchers) in the program connects to the affective, material, and structural realities of international professional development and Global ELT. This includes the status Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 27 <?page no="28"?> and expertise of Western-center institutions, the expectations of program participants and sponsors, and the marginality of many visiting teachers within national bureaucracies as well as their marginality internationally as outer circle English language learners. For the WCP, the conditions of the program may bear on the research process. For example, the WCP was financed by the Chinese Scholarship Council generating substantive revenue for the host university: • WCP program administrators were expected to lead a program considered successful by funding agencies to guarantee repeat contracts; • Teacher participants were individually nominated by their school programs, a great honour; • Teacher participants were expected to develop their language and teaching capacities and return to lead their peers. Methodologically, an ethico-onto-epistemological shift in relational thinking is situated within post-qualitative research, an orientation that goes beyond conventional humanist qualitative inquiry to examine how research methods can address the complexity of researcher-participant identities within broader dynamic relations and contexts (Lather & St. Pierre 2013, St. Pierre 2011). More concretely, this means acknowledging the entanglement of the host-expertresearchers and visiting teacher-trainee-participant in the interview process. In this paper, we focus specifically on interview and focus / group data, for it served as the primary data source in the WCP program evaluation / research. To this effect, we interrogate our data to explore different ways of interpreting oral exchanges between researchers and participants (Honan 2014). We interrogate our data through a process of diffractive reading (Barad 2007). Educational researchers describe the methodology of diffractive reading as “ learning to resist representational patterns and thinking ” (Honeyford & Ntelioglou 2021: 431): (D)iffractive reading is unlike a literature review as the latter assumes that you are at a distance of the literature, having a bird ’ s eye point of view − creating an overview by comparing, contrasting, juxtaposing or looking for similarities and themes. A diffractive reading, on the other hand, does not foreground any texts as foundational, but through reading texts through one another, comes to new insights. (Murris & Bozalek 2019a: 1505 - 1506) Our diffractive reading of the data accounts for elements that exceed what is directly stated by the participant and recognizes that realities are constructed and actively reproduce in the social world: 28 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="29"?> meaning is bounded in the materiality of ‘ things ’ and the practices within which concepts are performed, contextually and historically. (Zembylas & Bekerman 2013: 9) In that sense, the information shared by participants in interviews is shaped by more than their experience in the program as reported through the data collection instrument. It is shaped by their relationship with the interviewers, the program, the program sponsoring agencies, and the possible trajectories that might emerge from their involvement in the program. Similarly, the questions posed by the interviewers, later analyzed and interpreted to produce reports for administrative review, are shaped by the explicit and implicit objectives of the reports. The emergence of new insights is central to the notion of diffractive reading, as it allows the reader the ability to respond to the texts rather than stop at representation and literal interpretation. Diffractive reading involves: close respectful responsive and response-able (enabling response) attention to the details of a text; that is, it is important to try to do justice to a text. It is about taking what you find inventive and trying to work carefully with the details of patterns of thinking (in their very materiality) that might take you somewhere interesting that you never would have predicted. It ’ s about working reiteratively, reworking the spacetimemattering of thought patterns; not about leaving behind or turning away from. (Juelskaer & Schwennesen 2012: 13, emphasis in original) Response-able reading and methodologies entail attentiveness, responsibility / accountability, rendering each other capable of the ability to respond (Murris & Bozalek 2019b: 881). Attentiveness involves reading the fine details of texts carefully to ascertain what is and what is not being expressed: • What else is happening in this exchange that is not captured in the transcript? • What interpretation do I give the statements made in the interview? • How can I represent these responses, both the articulated and the unarticulated, in my research? Extending attentiveness, responsibility, or accountability allows us to explore the implications of our research provoking ethical consideration in the reporting phase: What can we do with our analysis of the data, and more importantly, what should we do with it? Referring to Barad (2007), Murris & Bozalek (2019b: 881) pose: What commitments to ourselves and the texts are we willing to take on? Response-able readings of texts are ethical practices; they are not simply a critique to deconstruct and label ‘ wrong ’ . Rather, response-able reading is Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 29 <?page no="30"?> based on an ethics of entanglement that brings interpretation back to the reader / audience and their capacity to respond, again, not by labelling in binary fixed categories as true / false / right / wrong (Murris & Bozalek 2019a, 2019b, Bozalek & Zembylas 2017). To reiterate, the purpose of response-able reading is to invoke the capacity to respond because continuing to assert fixed truths in the name of the scientificity of language program evaluation and research sustains epistemic dependency in Global ELT and international professional development. Not deploying alternative research methods and epistemes to language program evaluation maintains the deductive logic that training imparted by inner circle countries on participants from outer circle nations can be primarily credited for improvements seen in teacher development and practice. Such unquestioned thinking further reifies the superiority of the Center as a source of expertise to be imparted to recipients from outer nations. 3 Response-able Methodologies 3.1 Utility for WCP Research Our turn to response-able methodologies extends from the overwhelming consistency in post-program data collected in Canada across the four cohorts. Below, we outline the conditions of the data collection across the four cohorts in Canada and the data collection in China that complicate the reliability of the interview data as complete and fixed representations of participants ’ experience in the program: 1. Towing the party line and dominant discourse of gratitude for the opportunity to study abroad: As explained above, the program was entirely funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council. Participants were English language teachers in K-12 public schools across the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Gansu. The selection process was long and competitive, and being selected was a coveted once-in-a-life-time opportunity. Naturally, many of the participants expressed gratitude to the national funding agency for this opportunity and were widely supportive of national and regional educational policies and practices. 2. Self-censorship regarding local conditions and policies, and ambivalence towards the enactment of systematic change (blocked possibility of transformation outside of the classroom): participant gratitude becomes relevant when we consider responses to interview questions related to local conditions and policies. For example, while the teachers expressed 30 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="31"?> interest in alternative modes of assessment introduced in the program curriculum, in the interviews, most teachers approved of their current system of centralized standardized testing in the English classroom. Likewise, program content to promote teacher autonomy through the integration of technology was critiqued. Most believed that technology integration would be unfeasible, and taking steps to request additional resources or government support to implement activities requiring technology was quickly deflected. 3. Group surveillance through the presence of party officials as supervisors present in class and in focus group interviews: Not all participants were teachers. Prior to their arrival in Canada, cohorts were divided into teams with a hierarchy of leaders and supervisors responsible for the teachers while abroad. Similarly, government officials accompanied each cohort throughout the three-month period. Focus groups and interviews were conducted by supervisors outside of the research team, with leaders and representatives present in each focus group interview. Similarly, supervisors were present in all classroom observations. 4. Providing interview / focus group questions in advance: Supervisors requested that interview / focus group questions be provided in advance so that participants could be prepared to respond meaningfully. It is unclear whether the creation of focus groups eased individual participants ’ concerns about anonymity and confidentiality, and whether participants collectively pre-planned interviews and focus group responses. 5. Dominant discourse of singing from the choir book: Ultimately, dominant discourses, as reported in the findings above, gave us the sense that alternative methods of reading the data could offer a deeper and more complex understanding of the programs ’ effect on language teacher professional development. To highlight these possibilities, we draw on three provocative excerpts from participants made at different phases of the data collection. 3.2 Response-able Reading in Action The following section revisits participant data and offers a diffractive reading to underscore the necessity for response-able methodologies in Global ELT research. The first excerpt comes from Noreen 1 , a teacher from Gansu who attended the program in 2018. Two months later, in October 2018, the research 1 Pseudonym selected by the participant. Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 31 <?page no="32"?> team visited Gansu, and Noreen participated in a focus group interview with male teachers from the same cohort. Vignette 1 Interviewer: What did you learn from the school visits or from the teaching at the university? Noreen: Yeah, I can see you can put the Bible in your classroom. But in China, you can ’ t put anything that ’ s related to the religion. You can ’ t and you really take some turtle, rabbit, squirrel, into your classroom. It is a happy world for the children. In China, you see the conditions. Especially here, not very good. Even if we want to some activities, the space is not enough. Too many students, but the space is very limited. And some, sometimes we ’ d like to use some scenes (art) that we all make. It makes a class very interesting. We can have the material. (Gansu Focus Group 2, 1: 43) Two months had passed since Noreen returned from Canada and nearly five months since she attended Canadian schools as part of the school visits. When asked what she learned, she referred to the Bible. It is notable especially when the issue of religion was intentionally untouched in the program curriculum and data collection process despite the participants ’ wide-ranging ethniclinguistic-religious diversity. The two male teachers participating in the same focus group were Muslim, a fact they disclosed to their cohort and the WCP instructional team months after their arrival and only when confronted with the dietary restrictions; thus, referring to the Bible was even more peculiar. What meaning can be given to Noreen ’ s response? Likewise, Noreen ’ s comments about bringing in live animals - turtle, rabbit, and squirrel (presumably to entertain the children) - made us wonder how these bodies connect to a “ happy world ” . From this testimony, should we conclude that Canada provides more resources and freedom therefore is ‘ better ’ than the conditions in China? Another reading of the data might focus on the agency that Noreen describes in operationalizing limited space and resources, a skill that may (or may not) be attributed to her learning from the training program. The point we wish to make here is that this data excerpt could be read in multiple ways. The second vignette refers to data collected in an individual interview in 2017. The exchange is between the interviewer (the first author and an instructor in the program), and Luke, a visiting teacher in one of her classes. Luke tells the interviewer that he “ want(s) to be honest with people ” pointing to the unspoken tensions about the program content and delivery, and what can be expressed: Vignette 2 Interviewer (II: Did you find it (your training in Beijing University of Language and Culture prior to leaving China) helpful? 32 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="33"?> Luke (L): A little. I: Ok. Did you find it helpful? L: (Long pause … silence) I: It doesn ’ t matter, you don ’ t have to tell me. So, you said a little. Can you tell me more about your training in BULC? L: I don ’ t know (laughing). I: Ok. That ’ s ok. (laughing). L: Because I want to be honest with people. Most people answer this questions, I guess, well they will say I think it was a great help for them, but to be honest, I don ’ t think so … I think Beijing was to make us, to train us to be a student. To train us to sit for 8 hours … . Yes, but don ’ t forget, not only are we students, but we are also teachers. Sometimes I want to be a student, sometimes I want to be a teacher, too. So sometimes I am a student, but outside of class, equal relations you and I, we have to learn from each other, we have respect for each other. If I find that I am not interested in what you teach, you should change your teaching style maybe. 2 (Luke interview, 38: 48) Notable in this excerpt is the shift in subject position from the experience in Beijing to “ we ” and then “ you ” and what “ you ” teach, literally referring to the interviewer / instructor. What meaning can be given to the shift in subject positions? This might be interpreted as a generalization and not intended for the interlocutor, or it might be an indirect way of expressing his views on the instructor-learner relationship experienced. Reading Luke ’ s data diffractively against other texts, we might conclude that he is resisting and contesting the imposed identity of novice and learner. This becomes clearer when we connect his testimony above to a later excerpt where he reverses the positionality of Western Anglophone nations as experts: Vignette 3 I: If you can, maybe say in one sentence or a few sentences, your overall experience here in the program. L: It ’ s a wonderful experience for me. It is the first time for me to go abroad, especially to go to a developed country. You gave us the opportunity to come here, it will change our idea of education for kids of course. I: Do you think your students will appreciate your new teaching? L: Yes of course. We have to learn something, but you should learn something from China. Why, you know why? … It mentioned from the TV report last year, the UK needs the 40 math teacher. You know why? They have to learn something from China. You know most teacher, they need something, you know most young people are good at doing math. (Luke (It ’ s still Luke, isn ’ t it? ) interview, 43: 20) 2 Participants ’ utterances have not been corrected in terms of language. Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 33 <?page no="34"?> Again, the reversal in subject position from Canada as an expert source and China as the receiver is telling of Luke ’ s positionality in the program, and this data is clearly relevant in understanding the participants ’ experience with Global ELT study abroad. The problem, though, is that such data as microcounter narratives do not fit into research designed to measure the effectiveness and impact of the programme curriculum. As such, these perspectives expressed by Noreen and Luke rarely make it to press, a move that maintains the sterling illusion of Center-expertise and values imparted on Peripherynovices. 4 Conclusion As we noted above, our earlier analysis of the findings associated with the WCP presented dominant themes and fixed interpretations that highlighted a linear relationship between researchers and participants. In this context, this represented a unilateral and uncontested transmission of knowledge from center to periphery. We argue that the power relations involved complicated the trustworthiness of the data and, thus, our interpretation of it. Of course, as we noted above, all research is conducted within the context of power relations. However, we feel that the inequitable balance of power relations in the WCP was glaring, even though one of the primary objectives of the project was to conduct a learning environment that was decolonized. Despite our best efforts as researchers, teachers, and administrators to mitigate these inequities, we were only able to do so much in creating conditions where participants could express opinions critical of the program given its high-profile government-sponsored nature. However, as we have demonstrated above, there were several instances in which these inequities came through in the data. In these instances, participant frustration and openness to resistance are evident. However, the opportunities to explore these tendencies were very limited. These limitations were not simply due to logistical challenges but were also due to the very real need to protect the integrity of participants. Response-able methodologies, like the ones we have described above, allow researchers to focus on messy data and differences found within data as opposed to similarities, prevalence, or intended outcomes. Doing so allows us to problematize essentialized concepts in Global ELT and the reporting of research. More importantly, the un-doing of dominant discourses and the work of non-essentializing subject positions are not simply in the interest of gathering trustworthy data. As we hope we have made clear, it is also a question of ethics. 34 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="35"?> References B ARAD , Karen (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. B LOCK , David (2003). The social turn in second language acquisition. Washington, DC.: Georgetown University Press. B OZALEK , Vivienne, & Z EMBYLAS , Michalinos (2017) Towards a response-able pedagogy across higher education institutions in postapartheid South Africa: An ethico-political analysis. In: Education as Change, 21(2), 62 - 85. E LLIS , Rod (2008). Understanding second language acquisition. New York: Oxford University Press. G U , Michelle Mingyue (2010). Identities constructed in difference: English language learners in China. In: Journal of Pragmatics, 42(1), 139 - 152. H ONAN , Eileen (2014). Disrupting the habit of interviewing. In: Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology, 5(1). (https: / / doi.org/ 10.7577/ rerm.929). H ONEYFORD , Michelle & N TELIOGLOU , Burcu Yaman (2021). Beyond “ Trying to Find a Number ” : Proposing a Relational Ontology for Reconceptualizing Assessment in K − 12 Language and Literacy Classrooms. In: Canadian Modern Language Review, 77(4), 427 - 446. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.3138/ cmlr-2020-0098). H ONG , Pu & P AWAN , Faridah (2014). The pedagogy of practice of Western-trained Chinese English language teachers. New York: Routledge. J UELSKJAER , Malou & S CHWENNESEN , Nete (2012). Intra-active entanglements: an interview with Karen Barad. In: Kvinder, Koen og Forskning, 21(1 - 2), 10 - 23. K UMARAVADIVELU , Bala (2012). Individual identity, cultural globalization and teaching English as an international language: The case for an epistemic break. In Alsagoff, Lubna et al., (Eds.), Teaching English as an international language: Principles and practices. New York: Routledge., 9 - 27. K IELY , Richard (2019). Evaluating English language teacher education programmes. In The Routledge handbook of English language teacher education. New York: Routledge, 82 - 95. L ATHER , Patti & S T . P IERRE , Elizabeth (2013). Post-qualitative research. In: International journal of qualitative studies in education, 26(6), 629 - 633. L AVE , Jean, & W ENGER , Etienne (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. L I , Daguo, & Edwards, Viv (2013). The impact of overseas training on curriculum innovation and change in English language education in Western China. In: Language Teaching Research, 17(4), 390 - 408. Li, Daguo, & E DWARDS , Viv (2014). English language teaching and educational reform in Western China: A knowledge management perspective. In: System, 47, 88 - 101. L I , Daguo, & E DWARDS , Viv (2017). Overseas training of Chinese secondary teachers of English. In: Van Deusen-Scholl, Nelleke & May, Stephen (Eds.), Second and foreign language education. Springer International Publishing, 373 - 383. (DOI 10.1007/ 978-3- 319-02246-8_21). Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 35 <?page no="36"?> L I , Daguo, Z HANG , Xiaorong, & E DWARDS , Viv (2016). Innovation and change in English teaching in the western provinces of China: The impact of overseas training. In: Educational Development in Western China. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Sense, 191 - 215. M URRIS , Karin, & B OZALEK , Vivienne (2019a). Diffracting diffractive readings of texts as methodology: Some propositions. In: Educational Philosophy and Theory, 51(14), 1504 - 1517. M URRIS , Karin, & B OZALEK , Vivienne (2019b). Diffraction and response-able reading of texts: the relational ontologies of Barad and Deleuze. In: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 32(7), 872 - 886. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1080/ 09518398.2019.1609122). M ORGAN , Brian. (2015). Language Teacher Education and the Developing World: Exploring Horizons of Possibility for Identity and Agency. In: Linguistics & the Human Sciences, 11(1). P ACEK , Dorota (1996). Lessons to be learnt from negative evaluation. In: ELT Journal, 50(4), 335 - 343. P HILLIPSON , Robert (2012). Linguistic imperialism. In: The encyclopedia of applied linguistics, 1 - 7. R OMERO , Gloria, & V ASILOPOULOS , Gene. (2020). From Rural China to Canada: Communities of Practice to Support a Teacher Professional Development Study Program Abroad. TESL- EJ (Berkeley, Calif.), 23(4), 1 - 13. S COTT , David, & Usher, Robin (Eds.). (1996). Understanding educational research. London, UK: Psychology Press. S T . P IERRE , Elizabeth (2011). Post qualitative research: The critique and the coming after. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (4th ed.. Newbury Park, CA.: Sage, 611 - 625. T OULOUSE , Pamela Rose. (2017). Integrating aboriginal teaching and values into the classroom. (https: / / www.nipissingu.ca/ sites/ default/ files/ 2018-06/ Dr.%20Pamela% 20Toulouse%20-%20Integrating%20Aboriginal%20Teaching%20and%20Values% 20into%20the%20Classroom.pdf; 26-08-2023). V ASILOPOULOS , Gene, & R OMERO , Gloria, F ARZI , Reza, S HEKARIAN , Mariana, & F LEMING , Douglas. (2018). The practicality and relevance of peace in an EFL teacher training program: Applications and implications. In: Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 16(1), 1 - 20. W ANG , Fang, C LARKE , Anthony, & W EBB , Andrea S. (2019). Tailored for China: Did it work? Reflections on an intensive study abroad programme for Chinese student teachers. In: Teachers and Teaching, 25(7), 800 - 820. W ILDMAN , Wesley, J. (2010). An introduction to relational ontology. In Polkinghorne, John (Ed.), The trinity and an entangled world: Relationality in physical science and theology. Grand Rapids, MI.: Erdmans, 55 - 73. Z EMBYLAS , Michalinos, & B EKERMAN , Zvi (2013). Peace education in the present: Dismantling and reconstructing some fundamental theoretical premises. In: Journal of Peace Education, 10(2), 197 - 214. 36 Eugenia Vasilopoulos / Douglas Fleming <?page no="37"?> Z HANG , Xueyun, & L I , Baiwen (2014). Grammar teaching in the communicative classroom based on focus on form theory. Paper presented May 2014 at Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, doi: 10.2991/ icelaic---14.2014.73. Z HAO , Yan & M ANTERO , Miguel (2018). The Influence of Study-Abroad Experiences on Chinese College EFL Teacher ’ s Identity. In: Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 3(1), 53 - 77. Problematizing Epistemic Dependency in Global English Language Teaching 37 <?page no="39"?> Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) Heidrun Gerzymisch 1 Introduction The following article relates Karl Jaspers ’ concept of universal communication (Jaspers 1973: 60) to its hyponym mediating communication and its practical arm of translating & interpreting (T&I), including sign language interpreting and other forms of multidimensional translation (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005; 2007). A brief introduction to Jaspers ’ vision of universal communication as he described and explained it in his early works Psychologie der Weltanschaungen (1919/ 1971) and in volume II, Existenzerhellung of his Philosophie (1931/ 1973) will be followed by a tour d ’ horizon of the interdisciplinary interest and historical development of Translation and Interpreting and a definition on how it is understood today. In Section 2, we will interrelate conceptual and methodological interdependencies between the two concepts, considering mediated communication as a bridge between the philosophical concept and its practical application. As an illustrating example of its theoretical potential, we will then offer an operationalization of the crucial concept of ‘ sense ’ (coherence) and its application as a parameter and tertium comparationis when comparing texts and translations (Section 3). 2 Key Concepts 2.1 Karl Jaspers ’ Universal Communication Karl Jaspers ’ concept of universal communication rests on the mutual understanding of humans. Being a philosophical concept, it is not intended to be primarily descriptive and empirical but is normative and ethical and extends from individuals to the community, potentially to the world community. It is rooted in Jaspers ’ Existenz Philosophy (Philosophie 1931/ 1973, Volume II), where he delineates and explains the individual ’ s quest for knowing. For Jaspers, philosophic truth is not a singular concept but emerges from engaged <?page no="40"?> communication with others. Jaspers ’ primary concern is with the individual and his / her quest for knowing. Within the realm of knowing he distinguishes (1) science and objective knowing, (2) metaphysics and existenz, and (3) communication. The potential existenz of an individual is seen as the process of an individual becoming aware of him/ herself through others, involving metaphysical transcendence, veiled in metaphor and symbols as ciphers and signalling ethics and values. Existenz as total reality, “ being-in-itself ” (noumenon) other than appearance or phenomena, is, in Jaspers ’ view, beyond man ’ s realm of knowing. Existenz manifests itself in communication during ‘ enlightening existential encounters ’ ( ‘ existentielle Kommunikation ’ ) with others (Jaspers 1931/ 1973: 60), potentially reaching out beyond national boundaries in what Jaspers calls ‘ boundless communication ’ or ‘ Universale Kommunikation ’ (universal communication). 2.2 Translating & Interpreting (T&I) The two concepts, universal communication (UC) and mediated communication (MC) as Translating & Interpreting (T&I), share the general dimension of individuality and the involvement or concern for the other. In addition, the two concepts share the concept of ‘ truth ’ as a process stage in communication, T&I involving a concrete message or text/ discourse as a truth component. Truth in T&I as the struggle for the right word-in-context is exemplified in Goethe ’ s (1952: 30) Faust ’ s first scene, when Faust struggles with the translation for “ Im Anfang war das Wort …” in the Gospel St. John and shifts from “ In the beginning was the word ” to “… mind ” and finally settles for “ In the beginning was the act ” . Rendering the ‘ truth ’ of a message for a particular text in a specific situation commits translators and interpreters to be responsible for the ‘ truth ’ of a mediated message. During this process, mediators have to rely on the concept of ‘ sense ’ . Establishing ‘ sense ’ in context has raised many complex and controversial (research) questions in a century-old debate and captured the interest of many disciplines (Steiner 1992 for an overview). In theology (Bible translation) the ‘ literal ’ versus ‘ free ’ issue was raised as early as Jerome (395), has proceeded to Luther (1530/ 1960) and Buber (1954) and is still a topic in today ’ s ‘ translation science ’ (Nida 1964; Berger & Nord 1999). In literary studies, the issue of fidelity in translation has traditionally played a prominent role (Schleiermacher 1813, Benjamin 1923/ 1955). In addition, in the field of literary history, descriptive translation studies have examined the status and function of translations in the target culture (Even-Zohar 1978, Toury 1995). In philosophy, the controversy over the relationship between language and thought and the 40 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="41"?> world ’ s cultural interpretation led to the development of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and Humboldt ’ s untranslatability thesis (Sapir 1968, Whorf 1956, Humboldt 1836). More recently, deconstruction has questioned the very notion of an original, as well as the belief in equivalence or fidelity (Derrida 1985/ 1987). In semiotics, interlingual translation forms part of the wider field of translation between any two sign systems (Jakobson 1959/ 1966). Translationrelevant issues in semiotics include the nature of signs and codes (Peirce 1991, Eco 1975, 1984) and the relationship between different complex signs (Gorlée 1994). In anthropology, the question of the translatability of cultures - translatability between different (and differentially empowered) cultures and languages, and between different discursive modes (from a way of life into academic discourse) - has been widely debated (Asad 1986, Clifford 1988, Pálsson 1993). The issues of power, representation and translatability recur in postcolonial cultural studies (Bhabha 1994, Greenblatt 1991). Intercultural communication studies deal with both verbal and nonverbal communication between cultures (Clyne 1994/ 1996, Gudykunst & Kim 1992, Göhring 2002). With the resulting diversity of solutions, comments and opinions from within these separate disciplines, it is natural that translation research has developed heterogeneously, leading to the false implication that T&I has no research profile of its own but borrows its theoretical thought from other disciplines, being per se an ‘ interdisciplinary ’ field. With the rising need for international cooperation in politics, science and economics and the ensuing foundation of international organizations after WWII, language and cultural mediation in the form of translation and interpreting became an important international factor, and modern translation research established itself as a discipline of its own. The attempt to simulate translation processes by machine translation in the fifties gave rise to important questions on the lexical and syntactical level of language transfer and subsequently positioned translation within the field of applied linguistics. When machine translation failed to produce the expected results, a ‘ human ’ translation science began to develop in the 1960s, relying on the categories and paradigms of general, applied and contrastive linguistics (Catford 1965, Koller 1979 and the authors of the so-called ‘ Leipzig school ’ Kade 1968, Jäger 1975, Neubert 1968 and - with a communicative orientation - also Nida 1964). In opposition to this ‘ linguistic ’ orientation, a literature-based historico-descriptive paradigm developed, represented by the works of Kloepfer (1967), Kelly (1979), and the ‘ Göttinger Sonderforschungsbereich ’ 1 (Kittel 1988). Rejecting both paradigms as too philology-oriented, a functional translation school 1 Göttingen Collaborative Research Center. Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 41 <?page no="42"?> developed in the 1980s placing the skopos of a translation in the center of attention (Reiß & Vermeer 1984, Nord 1988, Snell-Hornby 1988). While this school made a major contribution towards establishing translation science as a discipline of its own, it still needs to clarify its concepts and methodologies and is today primarily accepted by translation practitioners as relevant for pragmatic texts. Against the background of a fragmented (research) profile with little crossfertilization between its multiple dimensions of intralingual (LSP communication), interlingual translation (translation between national languages) and intersemiotic translation (e. g. audiovisual translation), new technologies have transformed one-dimensional translation tasks (spoken-to-spoken / written-towritten modes) into multidimensional (i. e. multilingual, multimedia, multimodal and polysemiotic) communication scenarios (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2005; 2007). Modern translation tasks typically cut across the interlingual, intralingual and polysemiotic categorizations, potentially involving knowledge management and text (e. g. terminology and software localization), linear to non-linear (e. g. ‘ hypertext ’ ), spoken to written (e. g. subtitling or written interpreting), auditory to visual (subtitling for the hard-of-hearing), visual to auditory (audio description for blind audiences), spoken to manual symbols (sign language interpreting) and subfields such as Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) communication and audiovisual translation (Gerzymisch 2008; 2013). To provide a conceptual umbrella for all these varieties of translation, we will proceed from a very broad definition of T&I, including its manifold varieties and will define it as ‘ making understandable ’ : • a tangible (fixed) concern or interest of a speaker / writer, • the expression of a means of ‘ making understandable ’ , i.e a sign system 1, formulated in a medium 1 (original), • to a hearer / reader, • with a specific purpose in a specific situation, • by means of a sign system 2-n, formulated in a medium 2-n or several sign systems or media. (G ERZYMISCH 2013: 17 for a comparative discussion of definitions) 3 Conceptual and Methodological Interdependencies Having discussed key concepts of UC and MC in the form of T&I, we can now discuss some of the interdependencies of the two concepts. While we cannot offer a detailed picture here, we would like to draw attention to two major interdependencies between the two concepts. 42 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="43"?> While Jasper ’ s concern is with the individual understanding of the other for the sake of existential communication between oneself and the other, by extension generally among humans, Translation & Interpreting is understood as ‘ making understable ’ a concrete message / text / discourse for third parties, i. e. people who would otherwise not be able to communicate with each other. Since no one can understand or speak all languages, mediating is a prerequisite for universal communication, although Jaspers (1947/ 1991) in his time did not explore these relationships further (e. g. in his essay Die Sprache ( ‘ On language ’ ), the semantic relationship between the two being one of hypernymy (Lyons 1977.) with T&I being the subordinate concept. Against this general framework, we will discuss two methodological parallels that link the two concepts of UC and MC: 1. three methodological phases and 2. the concept of speakers ’ and hearers ’ opinions (in Jaspers ’ terms) and individual hypotheses (in MC) in the constitution of meaning, resp. contextual ‘ sense ’ . 3.1 Three-Phase Process of UC and MC Both concepts, UC and MC imply three phases of bona fide communication: 1. recognizing/ understanding the other / the text, 2. comparing what is shared between the communicative partner(s) / text and what is ‘ foreign ’ to the other (language, values, mentality … ), and 3. struggling for ‘ truth ’ in communication / the ‘ right ’ word in mediating. Jaspers proceeds from (1) establishing what the partner(s) share in knowledge, empathy or values and (2) comparing how they differ from one ’ s own when trying to understand the other, and (3) the joint struggle of both partners for truth when trying to find a true understanding of what the other says (by activities like active listening, questioning, raising doubts, opposing, arguing), but always remaining oneself ‘ Selbstbleiben ’ ) in this process. In Mediated Communication, the three phases go by the names: 1. Reception (= understanding; for the purpose of mediating texts or discourse) 2. Transfer (= comparing the relative language and cultural similarities and differences) 3. Reproduction (= the struggle for the right word in context) Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 43 <?page no="44"?> The interdependence of these three phases is shown in the following graph (with the well-known MC graph in the centre and the correlating Jaspers ’ phases underneath): Figure 1: The Three-phase Process of Communication The three-phase process in MC is methodologically accessible by the multilayer trias Aspectra, Relatra, and Holontra for text analysis, comparison (as tertium comparationis) and sense constitution in text production (Gerzymisch & Mudersbach 1998). 3.2 Transcendence and Hypotheses “ All languages include an untranslatable world ” , which is “ nevertheless translatable to a certain degree ” (Jaspers 1947/ 1991: 395). This apparent (in) compatibility may lead us to think of the principle of ‘ linguistic relativity ’ in language philosophy, i. e. Humboldt ’ s thought that language is the expression of a nation ’ s spirit ( ‘ Sapir-Whorf hypothesis ’ ) and therefore would lead to untranslatability. Karl Jaspers (1947/ 1991) offers a new perspective to this philosophical debate by projecting the potential for ‘ universal communication ’ ( ‘ grenzenlose Kommunikation als Weltphilosophie ’ ; borderless communication) as a basis for peaceful understanding and communication beyond national borders by suggesting to place more emphasis on the ‘ opinion of speakers or hearers ’ when trying to understand people. Jaspers ’ thought is reflected in the later linguistic differentiation between language (as a system) and texts / discourses (as language in use). While text is understood as a number of utterances connected by sense continuity (= coherence), discourse is understood as a “ communicative text in dialogue form ” requiring “ sense continuity ” , and involving language use and 44 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="45"?> “ interaction ” (Dijk 1997: 32). Both, text and discourse imply Jaspers ’ (1970) “ opinions of speakers and hearers ” in terms of his central concepts of “ ciphers ” ( ‘ Chiffren ’ ) and “ transcendence ” . From a T&I perspective, we can safely say that no one can speak all the world ’ s languages. Jasper ’ s “ Understanding and communicating beyond national borders ” , therefore, presupposes a way of mediating communication beyond language varieties. It follows that semantically, mediated communication is part of universal communication. Being part of, i. e. being subordinated to, universal communication, linguistically means that mediated communication encompasses the conceptual thought of universal communication plus at least one more specific feature (Lyons 1977). This specific feature in mediated communication is the ‘ reproduction ’ component (in at least two cultures, languages, modes and / or sign systems). Text / discourse production in the target culture, language, mode and / or sign system requires ‘ reformulation ’ of sense according to a set of parameters (e. g. purpose, norms, recipient type) to be specified in individual scenarios of translation purpose. For translators and interpreters, sense constitution is essential and implies the differentiation of ‘ facts ’ from ‘ the opinions of speakers and hearers ’ , which is mostly done intuitively when responsibly relaying messages across language / culture barriers. However, we need a reliable yardstick or at least sound categories for ‘ assuming ’ (= form a hypothesis of) what is ‘ fact ’ or ‘ opinion ’ and how the two interact in a specific text / discourse scenario. Sense in both texts / discourses is today understood as coherence, which requires hypotheses on the role of cultural and world knowledge when embedding a provisional understanding of a word into its wider context as the text proceeds and may develop an even deeper understanding by integrating opinions / feelings / empathy or other indications of Jaspers ’ ciphers. In the following section, we will illustrate the process of ‘ making sense ’ and make it available / transparent to others (Gerzymisch & Mudersbach 1998 for details of the methodologies of Aspectra, Holontra, Relatra). 4 Sense and Coherence We have seen above that the concept of sense can look back to a century-old debate; coherence today is an established concept in text linguistics and is defined in a number of ways, depending on whether the reader ’ s world knowledge is a factor in establishing coherence (in the sense of de Beaugrande & Dressler 1996) or whether it is not considered in such description as cohesion (in the sense of Halliday & Hasan 1976). The concept implies mental operations on the part of the reader and - in its most commonly accepted definition - Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 45 <?page no="46"?> depicts sense continuity in a text, involving the active participation of the reader when integrating his / her ‘ world knowledge ’ into comprehending a text message. This ‘ active participation ’ of a reader implies assumptions on his & her part, i. e. hypotheses. Hypotheses are assumed mental operations, also known as ‘ inferences ’ (Bellert 1970), implications, ‘ implicatures ’ (Grice 1975) or individual hypotheses (Gerzymisch 2015). They are identifiable by a variety of text-internal (coherence or cohesion) signals: links between sentences, paragraphs or other parts of a text. These coherence signals enhance the (standard) reading process when a text is read and understood in a linear fashion from the title, the first sentence / utterance to the last sentence / utterance (Gerzymisch 2015). The result is that a reader perceives a text to be either coherent, incoherent or a-coherent (Mudersbach 2004: 50), depending on whether its segments are explicitly or implicitly connected with each other (coherent), incompatible with one another (incoherent) or appear unconnected with one another (a-coherent). In the case of (seemingly) a-coherent utterance sequences ( ‘ islands ’ ), readers may be able to bridge the unconnected utterances by individual world or domain knowledge hypotheses. The following graphs visualize text excerpts as a semantic network: Figure 2: Structural Visualization of Coherence Signaled by Isotopy Involving Individual Hypothesis (as the red line) (Floros 2003: 296) In Figure 2, the red line depicts an isotopy of a text, indicating coherence by implicature, resp. individual hypotheses, which are representable by a holatomistic network based on leksemantic theory (Mudersbach 1983a; 1983b; 1996; 2007). 46 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="47"?> Figure 3: Structural Visualization of a fully connected text (Gorius 2013: 198) Figure 3 depicts a completely connected network as an explicitly formulated semantic network or topic map. As can be seen, coherence can be made transparent and accessible as a tertium comparationis when comparing texts and their translations. This is exemplified by Gorius (2013: 186 - 190), who compares the coherence in the German-English translation of Georg Büchner ’ s Lenz relative to ‘ all ’ and finds an a-coherent English text for ‘ all ’ which requires three individual hypotheses to connect the existing ‘ islands ’ into a fully coherent text network: Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 47 <?page no="48"?> Figure 4: Structural Visualization of the English translation (ibid.) Other visualizations of coherence are offered by Kusztor (2000) with reference to interpreting, Floros (2003) with reference to cultural constellations, Gerzymisch et. al (2006) with reference to a differentiation of theme / rheme / analysis, isotopy and coherence, Gerzymisch (2007) for an application to translation, Bastian & Gerzymisch (2014) for topic maps, and Kembou (2019) for the translation of hybrid texts. 5 Summary We can summarize the conceptual, methodological and ethical linkages between UC and MC, seen from a T&I perspective, as follows: • Conceptual: While Jaspers describes his ‘ enlightening existential communication ’ among humans in philosophical ethical terms, MC establishes practical concrete action formulae with the aim of securing understanding in multiple languages. • Methodological: Both concepts imply a three-phase process of communication, mediating communication involving understanding, comparing and the struggle for ‘ truth ’ or, in T&I, the search for sense. 48 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="49"?> While UC aims at human understanding for its own sake, i. e. peace and worldwide tolerance, translation and interpreting is the medium, the tool for achieving this aim by ‘ making understandable ’ what is understood implying a strategy of constituting ‘ sense ’ . Mediated communication practically involves a ‘ transfer ’ from one text / discourse (in at least two cultures, languages, modes and / or sign systems to another, which both need to be understood as coherent, synthesizing cultural, language and world knowledge and individual hypotheses. • Ethical: Communication as the quest for both knowledge of others and selfhood is characterized by openness and honesty in ‘ boundless communication ’ and requires breaking from the shell of solitude and ideology to engage in the ‘ loving contest ’ ( ‘ liebender Kampf ’ ) with others, in which “ I am revealed to myself, along with the other … Translation and Interpreting certainly involves specific knowledge, honesty, and certainly a breaking from the shell of solitude and ideology to engage in the mediation process. Mediators are subject to a very strict ethical code “ Every translation shall be faithful and render exactly the idea and form of the original - this fidelity constitutes both a moral and legal obligation for the translator. ” (International Federation of Translators 1994) It is hoped that this discussion will help to value and foster Jaspers ’ vision of understanding and tolerance as “ a realistic cosmopolitan vision that could help us address many of the thorny issues of global cultural conflict and diversity that we face today ” (Rasmussen 2015) and appreciate T&I ’ s conceptual and practical contribution to peaceful communication in today ’ s global world of cultural variety and multilingualism. References A SAD , Talal (1986). The Concept of Cultural Translation in British Social Anthropology. In: C LIFFORD , James & George E. M ARCUS (eds) (1986). Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 141 - 164. B ASTIAN , Dorothee, & Heidrun G ERZYMISCH (2014) Text Topics and Their Intercultural Variation. A Sample Analysis using Text Maps. In: Kristin Buhrig, Juliane House, and Jan ten Thije (eds): Translational Action and Intercultural Communication. New York, Routledge: 40 - 61. B ELLERT , Irene (1970). On a Condition of the Coherence of Texts. In: Semiotica 2 (4): 335 - 363. https: / / doi.org/ 10.1515/ semi.1970.2.4.335. B ENJAMIN , Walter (1923/ 1955). Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers. In: Adorno, Theodor W. & Gretel Adorno (eds) (1923/ 1955). Schriften. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 40 - 54. Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 49 <?page no="50"?> B ERGER , Klaus, & Christiane N ORD (trans.) (1999). Das Neue Testament und frühchristliche Schriften, übersetzt und kommentiert. Frankfurt am Main: Insel. B HABHA , Homi K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. B UBER , Martin (1954). Zu einer neuen Verdeutschung der Schrift. Supplement to Die fünf Bücher der Weisung. B UBER , Martin and Franz R OSENZWEIG (trans.). Cologne: Hegner, 3 - 44. B ÜCHNER , Georg (1967). Lenz. In: L EHMANN , Werner R. (ed.) (1967). Georg Büchner: Sämtliche Werke und Briefe. Erster Band: Dichtungen und Übersetzungen mit Dokumentationen zur Stoffgeschichte. Hamburg: Christian Wegner, 77 - 101. C ATFORD , John C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation: An Essay in Applied Linguistics. London: Oxford University Press. C LIFFORD , James (1988). The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. C LYNE , Michael (1994/ 1996). Inter-Cultural Communication at Work: Cultural Values in Discourse. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. de B EAUGRANDE , Robert-Allain & Wolfgang D RESSLER (1996). Introduction to Text Linguistics. New York: Longman. D ERRIDA , Jacques (1985/ 1987). Psyché: Inventions de l ’ autre. Paris: Galilée. E CO , Umberto (1975). Trattato di semiotica generale. Milan: Bompiani. E CO , Umberto (1984). Semiotica e filosofia del linguaggio. Turin: Einaudi. E VEN -Z OHAR , Itamar (1978). Papers in Historical Poetics. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics. F LOROS , Georgios (2003). Kulturelle Konstellationen in Texten. Zur Beschreibung und Übersetzung von Kultur in Texten. Tübingen: Narr. G ERZYMISCH , Heidrun (2013). Translation als Sinngebung. Münster: LIT Verlag G ERZYMISCH , Heidrun (2015) Textverstehen - Kohärenz - Individuelle Hypothesen. In: H UNDT , Markus & Biadala D OROTA (eds) (2015). Handbuch Sprache in der Wirtschaft. Berlin, de Gruyter: 46 - 60. G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST , Heidrun (2005). Text und Translation. In: Zybatow, Lew (ed.) (2005). Translationswissenschaft im interdisziplinären Dialog: Innsbrucker Ringvorlesungen zur Translationswissenschaft III. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 35 - 54. G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST (2007). Universal Thought in Translation. In: MuTra 2007: LSP Translation Scenarios: Conference Proceedings. URL: http: / / www.euroconferences.info/ proceedings/ 2007_Proceedings/ 2007_Gerzymisch-Arbogast_Heidrun.pdf; 10-03- 2024) G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST , Heidrun (2008). Fundamentals of LSP Translation, LSP Translation Scenarios. In: Gerzymisch-Arbogast, Heidrun, Gerhard Budin, & Gertrud Hofer (eds) (2008). Selected contributions to the EU. Marie Curie Conference Vienna 2007, special issue of MuTra journal 2: 7 - 64. G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST , Heidrun & Mudersbach, Klaus (1998). Methoden des wissenschaftlichen Übersetzens. Tübingen & Basel: Francke. G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST , Heidrun, Jan K UNOLD & Dorothee R OTHFU ß-B ASTIAN (2006). Coherence, Theme/ Rheme, Isotopy: Complementary Concepts in Text and Translation. In: 50 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="51"?> H EINE , Carmen, Klaus S CHUBERT , & Heidrun G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST (eds.) (2006). Text and Translation. Theory and Methodology of Translation. Tübingen: Narr, 349 - 370. G OETHE , Johann Wolfgang von (1952). George Madison Priest (trans.). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. G ÖHRING , Heinz (2002). Interkulturelle Kommunikation: Anregungen für Sprach- und Kulturmittler. Tübingen: Stauffenburg. G ORIUS , Anne (2013). Kontextuelle Sinngebung und translatorische Äquivalenz: Am Beispiel von ‚ Alles ‘ in Georg Büchners ‚ Lenz ’ und seiner englischen Übersetzung. In G ERZYMISCH , Heidrun (ed.) (2013). Translation als Sinngebung. Berlin & Münster: Lit Verlag, 168 - 199. G ORLÉE , Dinda L. (1994). Semiotics and the Problem of Translation: With Special Reference to the Semiotics of Charles S. Peirce. Amsterdam: Rodopi. G REENBLATT , Stephen (1991). Marvellous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. G RICE , Herbert P. Logic and conversation. In: Speech acts. Brill, 1975. 41 - 58. G UDYKUNST , William B. & Young Yun K IM (1992). Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication. New York: McGraw Hill. H ALLIDAY , Michael A. K. & Ruqaiya H ASAN (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman. H UMBOLDT , Wilhelm von (1836). Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluß auf die geistige Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechts. Berlin: Dümmler. I NTERNATIONAL F EDERATION OF T RANSLATORS (FIT) (1994). The Translator ’ s Charter (approved by the Congress at Dubrovnik in 1963, and amended in Oslo on July 9, 1994). J AKOBSON , Roman (1959/ 1966). On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. In: Brower, Reuben A. (ed.) (1959/ 1966). On Translation. New York: Oxford University Press, 232 - 239. J ASPERS , Karl (1919/ 1971). Psychologie der Weltanschauungen. Berlin: Springer. J ASPERS , Karl (1931/ 1973). Philosophie, Volume I, II, III. Berlin, Heidelberg & New York: Springer J ASPERS , Karl (1947/ 1991). Von der Wahrheit. München: Piper, 395 - 449. J ASPERS , Karl. (1970). Chiffren der Transzendenz. München: Piper. J EROME (395/ 1973). Letter 57 to Pammachius on the best method of translating. Buchwald, Wolfgang (trans.). In: S TÖRIG , Hans Joachim (ed.) (1973). Das Problem des Übersetzens. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft: 1 - 13. K ADE , Otto (1968). Zufall und Gesetzmäßigkeit in der Übersetzung. Leipzig: Verlag Enzyklopädie. K ELLY , Louis G. (1979). The True Interpreter: A History of Translation Theory and Practice in the West. New York: St. Martin ’ s Press. K EMBOU , Edmond (2019). Understanding and Translating Hybrid Texts: A Methodological Approach Based on French-speaking Cameroonian Literature. Berlin: Lit Verlag. K ITTEL , Harald, ed. (1988). Die literarische Übersetzung: Stand und Perspektiven ihrer Erforschung. Berlin: Schmidt. K LOEPFER , Rolf (1967). Die Theorie der literarischen Übersetzung: Romanisch-deutscher Sprachbereich. München: Wilhelm Fink. Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 51 <?page no="52"?> K OLLER , Werner (1979). Einführung in die Übersetzungswissenschaft. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer. K USZTOR , Monika (2000). Darstellung von Kohärenz in Original und Verdolmetschung. In: K ALINA , Sylvia, Silke B UHL & Heidrun G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST (eds) (2000). Dolmetschen: Theorie, Praxis, Didaktik. St. Ingbert: Röhrig, 19 - 44. L UTHER , Martin (1530/ 1960). Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen. Stuttgart: Reclam. L YONS , John (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. M UDERSBACH , Klaus (1983a). Leksemantik eine hol-atomistische Bedeutungstheorie. In: Conceptus 17 (40/ 41): 139 - 151. M UDERSBACH , Klaus (1983b). Hol-Atomismus als Vereinheitlichung von Holismus und Atomismus. In: W EINGARTNER , Paul & Joseph C ZERMAK (eds) (1983). Epistemology and Philosophy of Science. Proceedings of the 7th International Wittgenstein Symposium. Wien: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, 347 - 349. M UDERSBACH , Klaus (1996). Die juristische Vorschrift als holistische Text. Speyer: Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Verwaltung Speyer M UDERSBACH , Klaus (2004). Kohärenz und Textverstehen in der Lesersicht. Oder: Wie prüft man die Stimmigkeit von Texten beim Lesen? In: H OUSE , Juliane, Werner K OLLER & Klaus S CHUBERT (eds) (2004). Neue Perspektiven in der Übersetzungs- und Dolmetschwissenschaft. Bochum: AKS, 249 - 271. M UDERSBACH , Klaus (2007). Universal Principles of Thinking. In: G ERZYMISCH -A RBOGAST , Heidrun & Gerhard B UDIN (eds) (2007). MuTra (2007): LSP Translation Scenarios: Conference Proceedings. URL: http: / / www.euroconferences.info/ proceedings/ 2007_Proceedings/ 2007_Mudersbach_Klaus.pdf; 10-03-2024). N EUBERT , Albrecht (1968). Grundfragen der Übersetzungswissenschaft. Leipzig: Verlag Enzyklopädie. N IDA , Eugene A. (1964). Toward a Science of Translating: With Special Reference to Principles and Procedures Involved in Bible Translating. Leiden: Brill. N ORD , Christiane (1988). Textanalyse und Übersetzen: Theoretische Grundlagen, Methode und didaktische Anwendung einer übersetzungsrelevanten Textanalyse. Heidelberg: Groos. P ÁLSSON , Gísli (1993). Beyond Boundaries: Understanding, Translation and Anthropological Discourse. Oxford: Berg. P EIRCE , Charles S. (1991). Peirce on Signs: Writings on Semiotics. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. R ASMUSSEN , Kenneth (2015). Karl Jaspers ’ Concept of Universal History in the Context of His Age and Ours. Telospress. Accessed on 12 February 2022. URL: http: / / www.telospress. com/ karl-jaspers-concept-of-universal-history-in-the-context-of-his-age-and-ours/ 9; 10-03-2024). R EI ß, Katharina & Hans J. V ERMEER (1984). Grundlegung einer allgemeinen Translationstheorie. Tübingen: Niemeyer. S APIR , Edward (1968). Selected Writings of Edward Sapir in Language, Culture and Personality. Berkeley: University of California Press. 52 Heidrun Gerzymisch <?page no="53"?> S CHLEIERMACHER , Friedrich (1813/ 1838). Friedrich Schleiermacher ’ s sämmtliche Werke. Berlin: Reimer, 207 - 245. S TEINER , George (1992). After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. London: Oxford University Press. T OURY , Gideon (1995). Descriptive Translation Studies. Amsterdam: Benjamins. W HORF , Benjamin Lee (1956). Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Universal Communication, Mediated Communication and Translating and Interpreting (T&I) 53 <?page no="55"?> Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? Martin East, Constanza Tolosa, Jocelyn Howard, Christine Biebricher & Adèle Scott 1 Introduction It is generally accepted in contemporary language classrooms that people learn additional languages (L2) so that they can communicate with those who speak that language, whether as first language or additional language, in a range of different contexts. As Baker (2022) put it, there is now “ general agreement that the aim of language teaching is to enable learners to communicate through the language being learnt ” (ibid.: 3). However, what it means to communicate in an L2 is not as straightforward as it may seem. More than just language is involved. Baker went on to assert that, bearing the goal of communication in mind, “ it is crucial that language teaching has a proper understanding of what this communication involves ” (ibid.: 3). He added an important caveat - “ this communication is intercultural and transcultural communication and … it is the role of language teaching to prepare learners for this ” (ibid.: 3; our emphases). In other words, from a communicative perspective, we are interested in helping students to become effective communicators. This requires thinking about what elements we need to include in courses and the skills that language users need if they are to communicate successfully and interculturally across national, linguistic and geographic borders. This chapter explores the interface between communicative competence (CC) and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) as two underlying theoretical frameworks that should inform communicatively-oriented L2 programmes. 2 Communicative Competence The approach to L2 pedagogy known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) emerged in the 1970s. It has become the dominant model for L2 pedagogy, at least in Western contexts, across the globe. The focus of CLT is on those who are learning languages so that they can use them effectively in genuine communicative contexts beyond the classroom. <?page no="56"?> In the UK and Europe, the introduction of CLT in the early 1970s marked a significant shift away from a linguistic, grammatically-oriented and structurebased approach represented in methods like grammar-translation and audiolingualism. In their place, the emphasis became what Hedge (2000) described as “ what it means to know a language ” (ibid.: 45) in the sense of being “ able to put that knowledge to use in communicating with people in a variety of settings and situations ” (ibid.: 45). Thus, traditionally the communicative agenda has been interpreted and enacted from a linguistic perspective. Within the CLT paradigm, the goal of teaching becomes to help learners to develop their ability to take part in the process of communicating through language, rather than to insist on their perfect mastery of a language ’ s individual structures. Knowing the grammar may be a useful step towards the process of communicating. In a communicative approach, however, knowing the grammar is essentially about what learners can do with their knowledge of the language in order to communicate. In a parallel development in the US at the start of the 1980s, we saw the emergence of what Kramsch (1986) referred to as the proficiency movement or the proficiency-oriented curriculum. This development was built on the argument that language is primarily a functional tool to be used for communication. Kramsch ’ s view on language teaching and learning carried with it the implicit assumption that “ the final justification for developing students ’ proficiency in a foreign language is to make them interactionally competent on the international scene ” (Kramsch 1986: 367). Students therefore needed to learn “ the ability to function effectively in the language in real-life contexts ” (Higgs 1984: 12). Communicative approaches to language teaching and learning have been informed by several theoretical frameworks. One framework in particular that presents succinctly what it means to communicate proficiently or competently in an L2 is the Canale & Swain model of communicative competence (Canale 1983, Canale & Swain 1980). This model, articulated in the 1980s, was a means of consolidating thinking around the aspects of language acquisition that had begun to emerge from the 1970s and that were considered to be important for communication. The model has been developed and superseded by others (e. g., Walker et al. 2018), but arguably remains a concise interpretation of the key elements of what it means to communicate competently. The Canale & Swain model conceptualised communicative competence as having four key components: 1. Grammatical or formal competence covers knowledge of systematic features of grammar, lexis and phonology. Canale & Swain argued that 56 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="57"?> if a language user is going to communicate competently or effectively in an L2, it is important that this user has an understanding of the grammar rules and how those rules should be applied in communicative contexts. Relating this, for example, to German as L2, grammatical or formal competence would be demonstrated in language users ’ ability to understand ich möchte ( ‘ I would like ’ ) as a conditional or subjunctive form of ich mag ( ‘ I like ’ ). Demonstration of formal competence would not necessarily be dependent on L2 users ’ ability to state the grammatical rule in play (e. g., to explain the metalanguage around subjunctive use). It would more principally be demonstrated in L2 users ’ ability to use the subjunctive form accurately and appropriately in communicative contexts. 2. Sociolinguistic competence represents knowledge of the rules of language use in terms of what is appropriate to different types of interlocutors in different settings and on different topics. In other words, sociolinguistic competence recognises that the context in which we are using language to communicate might make a difference. The type of language we might use when talking with a close friend is likely to be quite different to the language we might draw on when talking to a lawyer or a police officer. Sociolinguistic competence includes knowledge of the appropriate language to choose for the context, and knowing how to apply the appropriate language in different contexts. Once more taking German as L2 as an example, sociolinguistic competence would be demonstrated in L2 users ’ ability to distinguish appropriately between ich möchte, ich will ( ‘ I want ’ ) and ich hätte gern ( ‘ I would like ’ ), or even between gib mir and geben Sie mir as two distinct forms of the imperative ‘ give me ’ . 3. Discourse competence represents the ability to deal with extended use of language in context. In other words, under this model, it is not considered sufficient just to be able to know (and use) individual words and phrases, even though those phrases might be useful at the beginning so as to initiate a competent act of communication in the L2. There is the need to be able to deal with extended input and output, for example, being able to read an article or listen to a lecture, or perhaps deliver a speech. Discourse competence is therefore concerned with the connection of a series of sentences or utterances to form extended texts (whether spoken or written) that have a global meaning that is greater than the sum of the individual sentences or utterances that constitute the text. If we are to communicate competently, we need to have an understanding of the whole. 4. Finally under the Canale & Swain model is strategic competence. This is understood as the ability to compensate in performance for incomplete or Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 57 <?page no="58"?> imperfect linguistic resources in the L2. It includes the strategies that are employed when interlocutors hit a barrier in communicating and wish to enable communication to continue. These strategies might include, for example, asking one person in the interaction to repeat what he has said, asking him to slow down, or asking him to rephrase something so that the communication can continue. The above four elements formed the basis of what Canale & Swain argued was meant when we talk about somebody who can communicate competently in an L2. Indeed, these four elements have informed the development of CLT, the language teaching approach that focuses on helping learners to communicate in the L2. Each of these competences is seen as relative, and not absolute, hence the articulation of different levels across different skills in proficiency frameworks such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe 2001). 3 Shortcomings within CLT The CLT approach to L2 pedagogy, informed by theories of communicative competence, has served us well from around the 1970s until the present day, and that is a long and very successful history. However, over this period, a key shortcoming of communicative approaches has been identified. Liddicoat (2008) put it like this - a language learner who, even for communicative purposes, has “ learnt only the grammar and vocabulary of a language ” is, in his view, “ not well equipped to communicate in that language ” (ibid.: 278; our emphasis). For Liddicoat, the focus on language as the core element of CLT was insufficient: L2 learners who are going to communicate effectively in an L2 require cultural knowledge as much as they require grammar and vocabulary. By this argument, cultural knowledge and language knowledge go hand-inhand. As Scarino & Crighton (2007) put it, language users need to be “ able to negotiate meanings across languages and cultures ” (ibid.: 3; our emphasis). Their argument here was therefore not just on the negotiation of linguistic meaning, but also on the negotiation of cultural meaning, or making different cultural underpinnings and perspectives understandable in communicative contexts. From a communicative perspective, sufficient linguistic competence (i. e., competence that embraces the four foundations of the Canale & Swain model) is crucial. Alongside that, however, there needs to be sufficient cultural knowledge to help enhance the effectiveness of the communication. Indeed, 58 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="59"?> cultural knowledge is arguably implicit in the sociolinguistic competence component of the Canale & Swain model. There is, however, still a missing component - one that recognises more explicitly the role of the cultural dimension for successful interactions. Kramsch has been one of the key theorists and researchers who have argued for the importance of the intercultural dimension in language learning, and her understanding of interactional competence carries with it vital messages about the interface between language and culture. Kramsch (1986) gave a very useful illustration of what she believed had been missing in communicative approaches. She drew on transferring into the real world a very familiar language learning episode within the classroom - the example of a customer ordering “ the legendary cup of coffee in a French restaurant after 3 years of French ” (ibid.: 368). In other words, learning how to order a cup of coffee in a restaurant overseas is a very typical exercise for language learners in communicatively-oriented L2 classrooms. It is frequently practised through some kind of role-play, typically between waiting staff and customer. The role-play requires the interactants at the very least to have learnt particular items of vocabulary and phrases that might help them to be able to communicate successfully and therefore purchase the cup of coffee - know the words, practise the phrases, and the coffee is delivered. However, what happens if, in the real-world context, you cannot make yourself understood and cannot therefore get the required coffee? Kramsch (1986) argued that the challenges most likely are not due to not knowing the right grammar and vocabulary or even not knowing the basic behavioural expectations (all of which are dimensions of communicative competence). After three years of learning French, it is highly likely that, from a linguistic perspective, students will have developed a high level of competence in being able to order a cup of coffee in a French restaurant. Kramsch (1986) suggested that if interlocutors are struggling to make themselves understood, more probably the challenges come down to something more than language. They may be down to differences in perception and understanding of the different social relationships existing in France between waiters and customers, of the different affective, social, and cultural values attached to cups of coffee, of the different perception French waiters might have of [e. g.] American citizens. (ibid.: 368) For example, appropriate politeness conventions would suggest opening the gambit with bonjour. An order for un café will, by default, lead to the delivery of Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 59 <?page no="60"?> a tiny espresso; coffee with milk (café au lait) is likely to be consumed only at breakfast time; drinking coffee is done after a meal, not with it; drinking coffee is a time to relax or socialise. East (2016) summed up the dilemma with these words: Fundamentally, the challenges reside in the different expectations, assumptions and perspectives that can exist between two interlocutors from essentially different worlds. (ibid.: 29) This conceptualisation takes us beyond language. Brown (1994) argued, [a] language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture. (ibid.: 165) From this perspective, therefore, language and culture need to be two intersecting parts of the language teaching and learning endeavour. Language carries with it cultural assumptions and cultural messages, and sometimes, these assumptions and messages are embedded or implicit. However, effective communication across borders depends on skills that include a level of understanding of these embedded and implicit messages alongside the words that make up the utterances. In other words, it is not just a question of developing communicative competence; it is a matter of developing communication skills that recognise that cultural thoughts, beliefs and assumptions lie behind the words and behaviour of an interlocutor. 4 Intercultural Communicative Competence How, then, can learners of an L2 be better equipped to navigate the intercultural divide in the context of learning and using the L2? One way of theorising what is required is the notion of intercultural communicative competence or ICC. This competence represents more than knowing facts about the target culture, no matter how useful those facts might be. One way of describing what is required for effective intercultural communication is to understand the concept in terms of what Lo Bianco et al. (1999) described in the title of their book as ‘ striving for the third place. ’ In a ‘ third place ’ conceptualisation: 1. the first place represents the culture and identity of the language learner - who I am and what / bring at this moment into my interaction with you; 60 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="61"?> 2. the second place represents the culture and identity of the target language speaker - who you are and what you bring in at this moment into your interaction with me; 3. the third place is the space in between. This space in between recognises, values and is comfortable with who I am and who you are in the interaction. In practice, this would suggest that teaching the L2 becomes teaching learners how to make their first culture relate to the target culture in a way which can free them from a monocultural view of the world. (Liddicoat & Crozet 2000: 3) - that is, being able to recognise, accept and be comfortable with perspectives and beliefs that may at times be radically different from one ’ s own. Furthermore, as Liddicoat (2008) explained, this space in between entails language learners interacting with others without the expectation that they should abandon their own thoughts, feelings and values and assimilate themselves to the thoughts, feelings and values of their interlocutors. (ibid.: 279) Rather, they are required to “ reach an accommodation between their own culture and personality and the new culture ” (ibid.: 279). The end goal is to reach a third place - a comfortable unbounded and dynamic space which intercultural communicators create as they interact with each other and in their attempt to bridge the gap between cultural differences. (Liddicoat & Crozet 2000: 1) As Pi ą tkowska (2015) asserted, “ learners face obstacles [in relating with others] stemming from differences between cultures ” (ibid.: 405). A good deal of our cultural behaviour is applied in our day-to-day interactions with others quite implicitly. As such, a successful intercultural communicator needs to be able “ to decentre oneself from one ’ s own perspective and cultural context in order to take the perspective of one ’ s interlocutor, ” and “ to negotiate cultural meanings, solve intercultural problems and mediate between cultures ” (ibid.: 404). As an adjunct to the third place concept, which represents an attitudinal positioning, one framework that has been particularly influential in the European context is Byram ’ s (1997, 2021) model of intercultural communicative competence. His model acknowledges the importance of developing communicative competence in L2 learners and users. However, Byram maintained that the primary intention of L2 learning must be to develop a level of ability for individuals with different cultural backgrounds and experiences to Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 61 <?page no="62"?> understand and relate to one another. His framework was based on three essential characteristics - attitudes, knowledge and skills. Furthermore, Byram argued that what was necessary for intercultural capability was the development of five savoirs ( ‘ knowledges ’ ). For Byram (2009), the interculturally competent L2 speaker is someone who possesses “ some or all of the five savoirs of intercultural competence to some degree ” (ibid.: 327). We present the five components of the savoirs model in Table 1, which is taken from East et al. (2022). As we explained there, the savoirs “ should not be seen in isolation or assumed to develop in language users in a linear way ” (ibid.: 89). They should, rather, be “ seen as interacting components of the successful intercultural interlocutor, ” meaning that “ in reality, the savoirs form part of a whole where each component interacts with the others ” (ibid.: 89): Savoir Definition Essential Positioning Savoir être (knowing how to be) The ability to accept that one ’ s own values, beliefs and behaviours are not necessarily the ‘ right ’ or ‘ only ’ ones, and to see how those values, beliefs and behaviours might look to an outsider This is who I am (it is neither right nor wrong, it just is) Savoir comprendre (knowing how to understand) The ability to compare and interpret documents or events from one ’ s own culture alongside those from another culture This is who I am in comparison with who you are Savoir apprendre (knowing how to learn) The ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture and cultural practices I need to know more about who you are Savoir faire (knowing how to do) The ability to apply knowledge of a culture and cultural practices appropriately when interacting in real time with people from the target culture I need to apply that knowledge as I interact with you Savoir s ’ engager (knowing how to engage) The ability to evaluate critically the perspectives, practices and products in one ’ s own and other cultures I need to be willing to evaluate critically both who I am and who you are Table 1: Byram ’ s savoirs (reproduced from East et al. 2022: 90) 62 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="63"?> In summary, the primary goal of L2 programmes for several decades now has been to help learners to develop their ability to communicate effectively in the L2. The focus of such programmes, informed by theoretical frameworks of communicative competence (e. g., Canale & Swain 1980, Canale 1983), has been on developing the language needed for communication to occur effectively. However, a missing element has often been the parallel development of intercultural skills, that is, skills in understanding, and then negotiating, differences in perspective that may exist due to often implicit thoughts, beliefs and assumptions. In what follows, we offer a detailed illustration of the importance of applying principles of ICC in the context of using an L2 for communicative purposes. 5 An Illustration Two examples, taken from the animated series Lifeswap, illustrate the complexities of the language-culture interface. The series was initiated in 2013 when its two creators, Steffen Kreft (a German, born in Münster, who studied animation at Massey University New Zealand) and his New Zealand partner William Connor, decided to draw on their skills in language, animation and illustration to explain their own cultural differences. The first episode was released in 2016, and the most recent appeared in 2021. The Goethe Institut website (https: / / www.goethe.de/ ins/ nz/ en/ kul/ sup/ lsw.html) describes these episodes as “ a series of short animated Skype conversations between two young men ” - Jörg, 27, from Münster (Germany), and Duncan, 27, from Wellington (New Zealand). The video clips are freely accessible from the site. According to the website introduction: Facing their respective quarter life crises, Jörg and Duncan decided it was time for a change. They spontaneously bought plane tickets to the other side of the world and are now signed up to live each other ’ s lives for a whole year. Their monthly Skype conversations, which function as the framing device for every episode, illustrate the adventures and misadventures of their cultural experiment. Jörg and Duncan allow us to witness their delights, frustrations and misunderstandings as they discover the characteristics and idiosyncrasies of each other ’ s cultures … [and enter] a wonderful and funny adventure, discovering life in the other ’ s country. Thus, the interactions between Jörg and Duncan are framed as vehicles through which to demonstrate the ways in which their cultural experiment leads to both joys and complications as they operate in the target language in different situations. These are due to their interactions with thoughts, beliefs and assumptions that are unknown and unfamiliar to them. A key goal for the series is to get language learners who watch the video clips to think about any Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 63 <?page no="64"?> examples of problematic interactions where full understanding of the language may be occurring (i. e., communicative competence is being demonstrated), but there is inadequate understanding of embedded cultural assumptions (i. e., intercultural communicative competence is lacking). In other words, learners are to identify the examples of language that also appear to require understanding of culture if they are to be fully understood. Two separate incidents in a clip taken from Episode 7 (Making a Funny Party) illustrate ways in which Duncan and Jörg, respectively, were struggling because they were not fully or explicitly aware of the cultural assumptions that were underlying and informing the language they were encountering. In the clip in question, Duncan initiates the Skype call with Jörg. The opening conversation proceeds as follows: Jörg: Na? Duncan: I ’ m pretty sure you can ’ t disagree with me already, Jörg. I haven ’ t said anything yet. Jörg: Nein, Duncan, ‘ na ’ is a German greeting, it means, ‘ so, how ’ s it all going, my close friend? ’ Duncan: Oh, I get you. That ’ s a lot to pack into one small word. What should I say back? Jörg: The answer is also ‘ Na? ’ , which means, ‘ yes, not so very bad, all things considered, it ’ s special that you are here, but in a low-key way, and how are things with you, not just now but in general? ’ Duncan: Jeez, Jörg, I might just stick to Guten Morgen for a while, if that ’ s okay with you. Here we see a small example of how Duncan is uncomfortable with a particular piece of language that is being used within a particular cultural context. Initially, he misinterprets the German na for the New Zealand nah (a sign of disagreement). At the linguistic level, communication is only achieved once Jörg explains (albeit in a somewhat exaggerated way) the meaning of na. However, Jörg ’ s explanation takes Duncan beyond a simple greeting into the implicit cultural assumptions with which Duncan has not yet had to deal. His apprehension around its use seems to drive his decision that it might be better for him to go back to something more familiar at the linguistic level, at least until he develops a greater understanding of the broader meanings and cultural implications of the language he is being asked to engage with. Duncan has clearly not reached a third place in this context, and would benefit from interrogating his own perspective in light of Byram ’ s savoirs. Duncan goes on to comment that he has been following Jörg ’ s Facebook posts, and congratulates Jörg on several ways in which he seems to have integrated himself quite successfully into ‘ Kiwi culture ’ - “ drinking local craft 64 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="65"?> beer, wearing only a T-shirt featuring a stylised New Zealand map despite freezing conditions, and taking part in a spontaneous midnight haka. ” 1 He concludes, “ it ’ s all there Jörg, you have achieved full cultural integration. ” Nonetheless, an invitation that Jörg received (or, rather, did not receive) from one New Zealander was confusing for him. Jörg had met the New Zealander, Chris, on his first day at university. He had tried, in his opening conversation, and using his pre-written notes, to draw on what he understood to be the kind of reserved greeting required between two strangers: “ Excuse me, sorry, would it maybe possibly be okay for me to sit in this seat? ” At the end of the lecture, Chris asked what Jörg labelled “ the usual questions - where I come from, if I ’ ve ever been to the Oktoberfest. And then he said ‘ you should come round for dinner some time Jörg. ’” Jörg responded, “ the next two weekends I ’ m away, but Sunday 2 nd at 19.00 works for me. ” After that day, Chris and Jörg saw each other in class pretty regularly, but “ for months, no invitation. ” The conversation between Jörg and Duncan continued: Duncan: Jörg, technically that wasn ’ t an invitation. … What he said was, ‘ you should come round for tea some time. ’ Note he is using the subjunctive, should. 2 In other words, you should come round for tea, but you won ’ t, because we both know we ’ ve only just met and it would be weird. Jörg: There ’ s so much subtext in your country. Duncan: The other clue is the phrase ‘ some time ’ . In New Zealand, ‘ some time ’ is a mythical point in time in the future. It cannot be put in a diary, Jörg, because it usually turns out to mean ‘ never ’ … in summary, Jörg, ‘ you should come round for dinner some time ’ is Kiwi for ‘ you seem quite nice. ’ Jörg: And what is the correct reply please? Duncan: The answer must also be in the subjunctive and is said in an animated way: ‘ Yeah! That would be really nice! ’ Subtext? ‘ I understand that this event will never happen, but were it to take place, it would be a hypothetically enjoyable occasion. ’ Jörg expresses his concern about the hidden messages that he is clearly failing to understand. Once more, implicit cultural assumptions lie behind the use of language, and not fully understanding those cultural assumptions means that the intent of the language itself is misunderstood - communicative compe- 1 A ceremonial M ā ori war dance or challenge, usually performed in a group and representing a display of a M ā ori tribe ’ s pride, strength and unity. Actions include the stomping of feet, the protrusion of the tongue and rhythmic body slapping to accompany a loud chant (https: / / www.newzealand.com/ ca/ feature/ haka/ ; 31-03-2024) 2 Although Duncan describes the use of ‘ should ’ here as subjunctive, it may be more accurate to describe its use as conditional in the sense of expressing a speculative rather than actual outcome. Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 65 <?page no="66"?> tence (understanding the language) is there; intercultural communicative competence remains to be developed, including an understanding of cultural differences with regard to directness versus hedging. That is, Jörg had opened his conversation with Chris by using what he understood to be sociolinguistically appropriate language (which involved hedging to indicate possibility or intent), but his overly polite initial request to take a seat had led to essentially hyperbolic and caricaturing language. Further, he fails to apply his understanding about a level of circumspection when responding to the potential invitation to dinner. He is taken aback by the lack of response or rebuttal to his direct openness. At a superficial linguistic level, Jörg has understood the invitation. However, he has missed the underlying cultural assumptions. The misinterpretation appears to hinge on use of the modal verb should, which Jörg seems to interpret as the English direct equivalent of sollten. That is, although not containing the same expectation or obligation as müssen (must), the intent of sollen/ sollten is to relay an order or make a request, sometimes as something that the recipient is ‘ supposed ’ to do. By contrast, its English counterpart (should) can have a softer intention, with greater possibility that what is being relayed is purely hypothetical. Thus, the direct German equivalent - ‘ du solltest mal vorbeikommen ’ - could be interpreted as a more direct invitation (you really ought to), whereas ‘ you should come round ’ in English is weaker in its intent ( ‘ perhaps you might ’ ). A more apposite means of rendering the contextual casual intent of the English ‘ you should come round ’ in German might be to say ‘ Komm doch mal vorbei! ’ - thereby removing the modal verb and, alongside it, any nuances of meaning. That said, the issue is likely more complex than word choice and grammar. A tentative invitation of ‘ komm doch mal vorbei ’ is more likely to be followed up than would be the case with ‘ you should come round …’ which is often just a phrase used to make conversation. This is what Jörg does not realise at the time. He may therefore have assumed that people mean what they say when they say it and appears to legitimately question why something is said if it is not meant. Duncan picks up on the culturally-informed clues that are not obvious to Jörg and is able to explain what is going on. He deconstructs the sentence, initially linguistically. Then Duncan unpacks the embedded cultural assumptions that underpin the language. This is not a specific invitation for an event that will take place; rather, it is a means of communicating the beginnings of a level of familiarity and friendship. As with Duncan, Jörg has not yet reached a third place in the context and would benefit from interrogating his own perspective in light of Byram ’ s savoirs. 66 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="67"?> The above examples, although deliberately intended to be humorous (and therefore somewhat exaggerated), illustrate several key points around the interface between language and culture. Language carries meanings that need to be interpreted in light of implicit cultural understandings. Communication fails when the language at the individual word level is generally understood (as in ‘ you should come round for dinner ’ ), but the implicit cultural assumptions are not. Underpinning all of this is the reality that two people engaging in a conversation, i. e., the interlocutors, come into the conversation with different understandings about themselves, their own worlds and their places in a different world in relation to others. The examples illustrate that Jörg and Duncan had tentatively begun the process of understanding and taking into account the perspective of the other - savoir apprendre - but savoir faire and savoir s ’ engager remained superficial and Jörg and Duncan were both still essentially operating from a first place perspective. 6 Challenges in Practice The arguments we have so far presented, alongside the illustrations of interactions between Jörg and Duncan, suggest a necessary progression for L2 pedagogy and the L2 classroom - from communicative competence (CC) to intercultural communicative competence (ICC), and from communicative language teaching (CLT) to intercultural communicative language teaching (ICLT), a model of language teaching that explores culture alongside language. This is not, however, just from the perspective of facts about the target culture. Rather, it is from the perspective of how language and culture interrelate and what that means for effective communication. The ultimate goal is a third place positioning whereby L2 users can live comfortably with difference. This is all very well in theory; there are significant challenges in practice. Pi ą tkowska (2015), for example, made the assertion that ICC provides the most inclusive and integrative theoretical framework in which to understand what IC is and what it involves. She recognised nonetheless that culture is “ a complex phenomenon ” (ibid.: 397). In a similar vein, although Kramsch (2005) had acknowledged the shortcomings inherent in traditional linguisticallyfocused language learning, she also drew attention to lack of agreement around what IC was in the context of L2 learning. Dervin et al. (2020) asserted that the notion of IC “ has been with us for decades ” (ibid.: 4) such that “ [t]oday it feels like everything has been said and written about IC ” (ibid.: 5). However, these authors went on to present a series of studies that illustrated “ the diverse and uneven pathways which educators have taken ” (ibid.: 9) towards understanding IC, and teachers ’ encounters with “ personal and pedagogical risk, Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 67 <?page no="68"?> growth, and, in a number of cases, struggle and frustration ” (ibid.: 9). They also laid bare the challenge of even defining what the construct of IC actually is. As they argued: We each have our own (incomplete) understandings of IC, of course. We agree on some aspects while disagreeing on others … and would not want to give the impression that ours is THE right understanding of IC. That is why we have decided not to share our definitions. (Derwin et al. 2020: 4 - 5) Elsewhere in their volume, and in his own individual chapter, Dervin (2020) argued, “ [t]here is a clear lack of agreement about the notion of interculturality in research, practice and decision-making today ” (ibid.: 59), leading to a “ multiplicity of approaches and meanings ” (ibid.: 59). On this basis, Dervin et al. (2020) preferred to encourage their readers to uncover and reflect on how the concept of IC was presented and understood in each of the individual chapters they included. Apart from adequately defining the construct of IC, a recurring theme of the international literature is how difficult it appears to be to integrate culture into language programmes in ways that will contribute to ICC. In the European context, for example, Brunsmeier (2017) spoke of the development of language learners ’ IC as a significant challenge due to inadequately understood theoretical conceptions of the construct, especially a construct that “ has not yet been clearly defined for young learners ” (ibid.: 152). In the Australian context, Díaz (2013) highlighted the huge gap between theory and practice. Intercultural language teaching and learning was “ still at a rudimentary stage ” (ibid.: 19), and happening at a pace that was “ almost glacial ” (ibid.: 19). Baker (2022), whose arguments around communication we cited at the start of this chapter, argued that even communicatively-oriented language teaching has “ frequently ignored or marginalised the cultural and intercultural dimensions of communication ” (ibid.: 2), relegating these to a place where they are explored “ only when the supposedly more important other skills have been dealt with ” (ibid.: 2). Furthermore, “ when culture is addressed it has traditionally been approached in a simplistic, stereotyped and essentialist manner ” (ibid.: 2). Putting the intercultural dimension into practice in L2 classrooms requires teachers to deliberately change their own classroom practices. This possibility, it seems, largely “ remains to be explored beyond the level of passive recognition ” (Díaz 2013: 13). That is, teachers may recognise the need to do this, but at the moment, most have not taken the necessary steps towards deliberately changing their practices. The focus, it seems, still remains on language, with 68 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="69"?> insufficient attention to culture-in-language and explorations of implicit cultural underpinnings and assumptions. Writing in the New Zealand language learning context - a context where, as we explain below, the intercultural in language learning has been widely promoted - Kennedy (2020) argued that, if intercultural capabilities are to be developed, learners needed both intentional and discrete focus on the intercultural dimension, alongside opportunities to reflect on similarities and differences they may notice, as key components of their language learning experiences. As Kennedy explained, without explicit inclusion of intercultural pedagogies during class (involving discussing, comparing, connecting outside experiences with those in the classroom and reflecting), the skills, knowledge and traits which make up intercultural competence are not likely to evolve. (ibid.: 437; our emphasis). 7 A Study into the Intercultural Dimension In this concluding section, we would like to draw readers ’ attention to a study in the New Zealand context that the authors of this chapter recently completed (East et al. 2022) - a study in which we attempted to promote an explicit inclusion of the intercultural in L2 classrooms. 3 In what follows, we present a brief overview of the study and how we attempted to address some of the challenges around promoting ICC, and we provide some of the conclusions we reached. New Zealand ’ s approach to L2 learning in the school sector has for many years tended to be aligned with the CLT paradigm. The emphasis of L2 courses has been on learning a language for purposes of communication as understood from within that paradigm. The CLT emphasis has been supported by a range of published curriculum support documents, one for each language taught in schools (e. g., Ministry of Education, 2002a, 2002b). These documents reflected a traditional and hierarchical model of second language acquisition, and suggested appropriate communicative functions, grammatical structures and vocabulary at progressive levels of complexity that could form the basis of lesson, unit and programme planning. The cultural dimension of L2 learning was not overlooked in the support documents. In the French and German guidelines, for example, it was made clear that language and culture were “ closely related ” , and that L2 learners should “ learn that speaking a different language involves much more than 3 The entire study and its findings have been published as Gold Open Access and are accessible for free download from the Springer website (https: / / link.springer.com/ book/ 10.1007/ 978-981-19-0991-7). Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 69 <?page no="70"?> simply conveying the same message in different words ” (Ministry of Education 2002a, 2002b: 11 [both versions]; our emphasis). Teachers were encouraged to consider the cultural dimension as they planned their lessons and programmes. This might involve including authentic materials that illustrated aspects of the target culture. However, there was minimal guidance about how exactly to exploit opportunities for intercultural exploration, and the default position became one that tended to focus on facts about the target culture, separated from learning the L2. Since its publication, a document known as the New Zealand Curriculum or NZC (Ministry of Education 2007) has guided the teaching and learning that occurs in the state school system. Within the NZC, a new learning area, Learning Languages, focuses on L2 teaching and learning. It has three components, described as ‘ strands ’ , with the implication that the three components are to be interwoven: 1. The core communication strand 2. The supporting language knowledge strand 3. The supporting cultural knowledge strand. In the three-strand model, communication in the target language maintains a position as the overarching goal of L2 programmes, and theoretical constructs of communicative competence underpin the model. However, language knowledge (grammar focus) and cultural knowledge (culture focus) are seen as equal components, there to support the overarching goal of communication. The cultural knowledge strand outlines the primary learning expectations with regard to culture (Ministry of Education 2007): students will “ learn about culture ” (ibid.: 24) - i. e., develop their knowledge of facts about the target culture. They will also learn about “ the interrelationship between culture and language ” (ibid.: 24) - i. e., develop their knowledge of the relationship that exists between language and culture. Moreover, students will be expected to “ compare and contrast different beliefs and cultural practices, including their own ” (ibid.: 24) so that they “ understand more about themselves and become more understanding of others ” (ibid.: 24) - i. e., move towards third place positioning. Thus, in the NZC, quite explicit goals for (inter)cultural learning have been set. Separately published achievement objectives (Ministry of Education 2009) are there to help teachers to understand how dimensions of each of the three strands might be assessed. As far as cultural knowledge is concerned, it has been made clear that beginners in an L2 could be expected, first, to recognise that the target culture is organised in particular ways, and, as they developed their 70 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="71"?> competence and understanding, to be able to describe, compare and contrast different cultural practices. To further support New Zealand-based teachers with understanding and putting into practice the cultural knowledge strand in the broader context of communication, a set of principles was published that explored so-called intercultural CLT or iCLT (Newton et al. 2010). (As we noted in our project, Newton et al. used the acronym iCLT, rather than ICLT, as a context-specific way of reflecting the NZC emphasis on communication as core and “ the concept of intercultural language learning as an effective means of approaching the supporting strand of cultural knowledge ” [Newton et al. 2010: 4; our emphasis].) The Newton et al. principles made it apparent that an intercultural approach to CLT: 1. integrates language and culture from the beginning 2. engages learners in genuine social interaction 3. encourages and develops an exploratory and reflective approach to culture and culture-in-language 4. fosters explicit comparisons and connections between languages and cultures 5. acknowledges and responds appropriately to diverse learners and learning contexts 6. emphasises intercultural communicative competence rather than nativespeaker competence. (ibid.: 63) Essentially, the Learning Languages area of the NZC puts a clear expectation on teachers to develop their students ’ intercultural skills in the context of a communicative approach to L2 learning. The six principles that are there to guide teachers in their work reflect not only the expectations of the cultural knowledge strand (Ministry of Education 2007) but also the curriculum achievement objectives (Ministry of Education 2009). They encourage L2 learners to think critically about how cultural practices (both the learners ’ own cultures and the target culture) may share similarities and differences. A stronger emphasis on the (inter)cultural in the context of language learning, supported by a range of published documents and the six iCLT principles, has provided a strong theoretical basis on which teachers can build. In practice, the expectations around intercultural reflection and exploration are not being realised as tangibly as may have been anticipated. It seems that this is because teachers are often not aware that they need to do this, or often do not know how they should do this. Our two-year project investigated how five teachers of languages other than English in pre-secondary schools in New Zealand developed their students ’ Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 71 <?page no="72"?> intercultural capability in the context of learning a new language. We drew on a range of data collection methods, including classroom observations, reflective interviews with the teachers, and focus groups with their students. Our study was significant due to its focus on three distinct groups of stakeholders - students, teachers and researchers/ teacher educators - thereby enabling a broad and triangulated account. That is, in East et al. (2022), we presented and reflected on what happened as learners in a range of language classes experienced different ways of engaging with otherness in the context of beginning to learn the L2. We investigated what happened when the teachers in our project presented a range of topics and used these as vehicles to explore the intercultural dimension with their students. These topics included, for example, food and drink, school sports, family relationships and school in general (East et al. 2018 for specific examples of how these topics were utilised by the teachers). Additionally, we took a step back from the project and the data we had collected so that we could consider what we, as both researchers and teacher educators, had learned as we reflected on what we observed in classrooms and what we found out from our discussions with the teachers and the students. The study was informed by a particular philosophical approach that underpins teaching and learning in the New Zealand context guided by the NZC - inquiry into practice. That is, across all subject areas, the NZC promotes reflective approaches to teaching and learning that involve some kind of inquiry, whether by the learners (inquiry learning) or by the teachers (teaching as inquiry). ‘ Inquiry learning ’ on the part of students may be defined as “ an investigation into a topic, idea, problem, or issue with a focus on students constructing their own learning and meanings ” (National Library of New Zealand, n. d., para. 3) Inquiry “ enables students to learn through curiosity, discovery, and collaboration rather than being presented with facts through direct instruction ” (ibid.). ‘ Teaching as inquiry ’ on the part of teachers is presented in the NZC as a cyclical process whereby teachers investigate how a particular teaching strategy works itself out in the classroom (Ministry of Education 2007: 35). This ‘ action research ’ model is essentially “ a process for enhancing reflective practice and professional growth and development … [that] addresses questions of real practical and theoretical interest to many educational practitioners ” (Burns 1999: 24 - 25). The focus on inquiry became “ the means through which we aimed to create spaces with and for the teachers and their students for the kinds of intercultural reflections and explorations that we wished to encourage ” (East et al. 2022: 16). For us as the researchers, inquiry took on special significance as the motif that guided our own critical reflections on the data we collected. 72 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="73"?> Unlike Dervin et al. (2020) who deliberately chose not to define the construct of IC in their collection of studies, we chose to provide an explicit interpretation of the intercultural dimension in order to root the teachers ’ work within a contextually-appropriate theoretical framework: [W]e use the term ‘ intercultural capability ’ … as the ability to relate comfortably with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, appreciating and valuing the learners ’ own cultures and uniqueness alongside the cultures and uniqueness of others. Moreover, we use ‘ capabilities ’ rather than the most commonly used ‘ competence ’ to acknowledge the highly personal individual trajectories that the development of interculturality seems to take (Biebricher et al. 2019: 606) Thus, our interpretation of the construct of IC was context-bound. That is, in light of the NZC (Ministry of Education 2007), the published achievement objectives (Ministry of Education 2009), and the six Newton et al. (2010) principles, we chose a definition of the intercultural dimension in line with these documents. Being clear about our operational definition was also important when supporting the teachers in our project as they began to consider what they wanted to investigate with their students and how they might set up their classroom activities from an inquiry perspective. During the two-year project, we co-constructed with the teachers two teaching-as-inquiry cycles with an intercultural focus, each lasting up to six months, and each taking part as a component of the L2 programmes. We encouraged the teachers to think through how they might best achieve enhanced intercultural capability in the context of L2 learning and to come up with their own context-suitable inquiries, that is, inquiries that were realistic in their own contexts. Thus, importantly, we did not prescribe for the teachers what their intercultural focus or intercultural outcomes should be, or how they should enact and investigate them. What we wanted to do in our project was to collect evidence on how teachers moved forward in planning effective intercultural learning opportunities in light of the NZC, the intercultural achievement objectives, and the Newton et al. (2010) principles. East et al. (2022) “ looks back on our journeys, from a range of perspectives, and the stops and redirections we made on the way, as we attempted to address what it means to enhance intercultural capability in the context of L2 learning ” (ibid.: 17). Furthermore, the book “ presents and discusses the tensions, challenges and classroom realities, and the ways in which our journeys were shaped by those as our own understandings of what was possibly developed ” (ibid.: 17). Of the conclusions that we drew from the project, one clearly aligns with the international literature (e. g., Baker 2022, Brunsmeier 2017, Díaz, 2013). That is, for a host of reasons, developing the intercultural dimension Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 73 <?page no="74"?> through L2 learning, in particular with younger learners, is beset by a range of challenges. Our own inquiry stance uncovered several challenges in practice. That is, we had begun the project with a highly optimistic expectation that suitably scaffolded and mediated inquiry teaching/ learning in light of the published support documents would equate to enhanced intercultural capability for young learners in the context of learning a new language. What we found out in practice was actually quite different to what we had initially anticipated. As we engaged with the process, our thinking about what was possible was developed and refined. The findings presented in East et al. (2022) document instances of breakthrough and growth for the teachers and students, and this was positive. It indicated that interventions with a clear intercultural focus could make some difference to learning outcomes. Our findings also reveal the problems and tensions teachers and students encountered and indicate that careful consideration needs to be given around the complexities involved in enhancing young language learners ’ intercultural skills in time-limited classroom contexts. 8 Conclusions In conclusion, we offer a few principles, derived from our own findings as presented in East et al. (2022) and in the light of findings of other studies. Several matters became apparent: • Teachers need time to invest in planning and to research the content they wish to use as a focus for intercultural reflection. • If ICLT is to be effective, there needs to be this investment of time and research. • Teachers would benefit from professional development opportunities that demonstrate how language and culture can be taught and woven together. • Teachers also need linguistic resources as examples through which to present the intercultural aspects, particularly those that might trigger exploration of differences across languages and cultures. • Teachers and students should be encouraged to reflect on their own culture, values and beliefs in light of the target culture. In East et al. (2022), we concluded: Considerable promise is held out at the theoretical level that a meaningful languageculture interface is achievable [in language classrooms]. However, classroom-based 74 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="75"?> research studies, including our own, indicate that in practice there are significant challenges to be overcome, and the goal of developing intercultural capabilities as part of students ’ L2 learning journeys has had mixed success to date. (ibid.: 173) The illustrations from Jörg and Duncan demonstrate that change is necessary, and that the teaching and learning of an L2 would benefit from greater attention to the intercultural dimension. That is, there is linguistic and intercultural richness in the examples we presented from Jörg and Duncan, and yet “ the extent to which such communication is featured or even acknowledged in L2 language teaching is questionable ” (Baker 2022: 2). For communication across borders to be successful, the intercultural dimension must be included alongside the other skills that language learners need to develop. References B AKER , Will. (2022). Intercultural and transcultural awareness in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. B IEBRICHER , Christine, E AST , Martin, H OWARD , Jocelyn, & T OLOSA , Constanza. (2019). Navigating intercultural language teaching in New Zealand classrooms. Cambridge Journal of Education, 49(5), 605 - 621. B ROWN , Henry Douglas. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching (3 rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. B RUNSMEIER , Sonja. (2017). Primary teachers ’ knowledge when initiating intercultural communicative competence. TESOL Quarterly, 51(1), 143 - 155. B URNS , Anne. (1999). Collaborative action research for English language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. B YRAM , Michael. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. B YRAM , Michael. (2009). Intercultural competence in foreign languages: The intercultural speaker and the pedagogy of foreign language education. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), The Sage handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 321 - 332). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. B YRAM , Michael. (2021). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence: Revisited (2 nd ed.). Bristol: Multilingual Matters. C ANALE , Michael. (1983). On some dimensions of language proficiency. In J. W. J. Oller (Ed.), Issues in language testing research (pp. 333 - 342). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. C ANALE , Michael, & S WAIN , Merrill. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1 - 47. C OUNCIL OF E UROPE . (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. D ERVIN , Fred. (2020). Creating and combining models of Intercultural Competence for teacher education/ training on the need to rethink IC frequently. In F. D ERVIN , R. M OLONEY , & A. S IMPSON (Eds.), Intercultural competence in the work of teachers: Confronting ideologies and practices (pp. 57 - 72). New York, NY: Routledge. Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 75 <?page no="76"?> D ERVIN , Fred, M OLONEY , Robyn, & S IMPSON , Ashley. (2020). Going forward with Intercultural Competence (IC) in teacher education and training: Beyond the ‘ walls built by ghosts ’ ? In F. D ERVIN , R. M OLONEY , & A. S IMPSON (Eds.), Intercultural competence in the work of teachers: Confronting ideologies and practices (pp. 3 - 16). New York, NY: Routledge. D ÍAZ , Adriana. (2013). Intercultural understanding and professional learning through critical engagement. Babel, 48(1), 12 - 19. E AST , Martin. (2016). Assessing foreign language students ’ spoken proficiency: Stakeholder perspectives on assessment innovation. Singapore: Springer. E AST , Martin, T OLOSA , Constanza, B IEBRICHER , Christine, H OWARD , Jocelyn, & Scott, Adèle. (2018). Enhancing language learners ’ intercultural capability: A study in New Zealand ’ s schools. (https: / / ir.canterbury.ac.nz/ handle/ 10092/ 16057; 31-03-2024). E AST , Martin, T OLOSA , Constanza, H OWARD , Jocelyn, B IEBRICHER , Christine, & S COTT , Adèle. (2022). Journeys towards intercultural capability in language classrooms: Voices from students, teachers and researchers. Singapore: Springer. H EDGE , Tricia. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. H IGGS , Theodore V. (Ed.). (1984). Teaching for proficiency: The organizing principle. Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook Company. K ENNEDY , Juliet. (2020). Intercultural pedagogies in Chinese as a foreign language (CFL). Intercultural Education, 31(4), 427 - 446. K RAMSCH , Claire. (1986). From language proficiency to interactional competence. The Modern Language Journal, 70(4), 366 - 372. L IDDICOAT , Anthony. (2008). Pedagogical practice for integrating the intercultural in language teaching and learning. Japanese Studies, 28(3), 277 - 290. L IDDICOAT , Anthony, & C ROZET , Chantal. (Eds.). (2000). Teaching languages, teaching cultures. Melbourne: Language Australia. L O B IANCO , Joe, L IDDICOAT , Anthony, & C ROZET , Chantal. (Eds.). (1999). Striving for the third place: Intercultural competence through language education. Melbourne: Language Australia. M INISTRY OF E DUCATION . (2002a). French in the New Zealand curriculum. Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Education. M INISTRY OF E DUCATION . (2002b). German in the New Zealand curriculum. Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Education. M INISTRY OF E DUCATION . (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Education. M INISTRY OF E DUCATION . (2009). Curriculum achievement objectives by learning area. (http: / / nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/ The-New-Zealand-Curriculum; 31/ 03/ 2024. N ATIONAL L IBRARY OF N EW Z EALAND . (n. d.). Understanding inquiry learning. (https: / / natlib. govt.nz/ schools/ school-libraries/ library-services-for-teaching-and-learning/ supporting-inquiry-learning/ understanding-inquiry-learning; 31-03-2024). N EWTON , Jonathan, Y ATES , Eric, S HEARN , Sandra, & N OWITZKI , Werner. (2010). Intercultural Communicative Language Teaching: Implications for effective teaching and learning a 76 Martin East / Constanza Tolosa / Jocelyn Howard / Christine Biebricher / Adèle Scott <?page no="77"?> literature review and an evidence-based framework for effective teaching. Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Education. P I Ą TKOWSKA , Katarzyna. (2015). From cultural knowledge to intercultural communicative competence: Changing perspectives on the role of culture in foreign language teaching. Intercultural Education, 26(5), 397 - 408. S CARINO , Angela, & C RICHTON , Jonathan. (2007). Why the intercultural matters to languages teaching and learning: An orientation to the ILTLP programme. Adelaide: Research Centre for Languages and Cultures Education, University of South Australia. W ALKER , Izumi, C HAN , Daniel, N AGAMI , Masanori, & B OURGUIGNON , Claire. (Eds.). (2018). New perspectives on the development of communicative and related competence in foreign language education. Berlin: De Gruyter. Communicating across Borders: What Skills Do Language Users Need? 77 <?page no="79"?> Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses Katja Lochtman 1 Introduction Several models of instructed second language acquisition incorporate emotional well-being as an important affective factor that can have an influence on language learning outcomes (Pavlenko 2005). Emotional well-being in the language classroom, i. e. emotions such as foreign language enjoyment and foreign language (classroom) anxiety, is considered an important condition for successful instructed foreign language learning (Dewaele 2019, Dewaele & MacIntyre 2014). Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the year 2020 will probably be remembered as the year when education, and language classes for that matter, changed drastically. Because of the COVID-restrictions issued by governments, teaching activities had to quickly adapt to new measures to ensure their continuity. Emergency remote teaching and learning solutions were widely introduced (Kohnke & Moorhouse 2020, Moser et al. 2021) so that, to ensure social distancing, teachers and students no longer had to be in the same place to teach or attend a class. These drastic changes may have had an influence on students ’ emotional well-being both in and outside of language classes. This has led us to wonder how language students experienced these emergency remote language learning classes in terms of their emotional wellbeing. A further question is whether these students felt that these online language courses were as efficient in terms of language learning opportunities as the traditional on-site alternative had been. In the present article, we will first discuss the role of emotions in foreign language learning. It is hypothesized that negative emotions, such as anxiety and discomfort, can impede the learning process both in traditional and in (emergency) online language classes. Next, we will discuss the differences between emergency and non-emergency remote language classes. In order to answer the research questions, we will finally present and discuss the results of a quantitative study of our own. Suggestions for further research and limitations of the study will be presented so as to round off the article. <?page no="80"?> 2 Emotions in Language Courses It was in the middle of the twentieth century already that several authors (e. g. Stengel 1939, Bossard 1945, Gardner & Lambert 1959) acknowledged “ that second language learning and use are also linked to feelings of anxiety, shame, and embarrassment ” (Pavlenko 2005: 32). In more recent years, researchers have established that “ the relevance of affect to language cannot be underestimated ” (Sharwood Smith 2017: 133). However, Sharwood Smith (2017) argues that both in cognitive science in general and in the disciplines of linguistics and language acquisition in particular, the role of affective variables and emotions has been underestimated. Nevertheless, some (earlier) models of second language acquisition have discussed the role of affective variables in relation to foreign language learning outcomes (Pavlenko 2005). The best known among them is Krashen ’ s (1982, 1985) Affective Filter Hypothesis which states that affective variables, such as negative emotions and anxiety, may hamper second language acquisition (Pavlenko 2005). However, both positive and negative emotions are believed to mediate the influence of language input (Dewaele 2019). Positive emotions, such as feeling comfortable or enjoying language learning, possibly facilitate learning, as positive emotions tend to broaden a person ’ s perspective, opening up a learner ’ s mind towards absorbing a foreign language (Dewaele 2019). Negative emotions are believed to be linked to the opposite tendency, i. e. narrowing down students ’ focus and therefore limiting the potential of language input (Dewaele 2019). In the following, we will discuss the affective factor of feeling more or less comfortable with a situation as a function of higher and lower levels of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA). 2.1 Foreign Language Anxiety and Comfortability Foreign language anxiety is oftentimes referred to as the one emotion in second language acquisition “ that most pervasively influences the learning process ” (Pavlenko 2005: 33). More specifically, Horwitz et al. (1986: 128) consider foreign language anxiety as a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process. Anxiety can be regarded as a discomfort that a person feels when communicating, a fear of being ridiculed or not being accepted by others (Guntzviller Yale & Jensen 2016), and can be divided into trait anxiety and state anxiety. Whereas trait anxiety is considered as a stable personality characteristic, state anxiety is regarded as “ a transient, situation-specific response to a particular 80 Katja Lochtman <?page no="81"?> anxiety-provoking stimulus ” (Pavlenko 2005: 33). In other words, trait anxiety refers to “ a general disposition to experience frequent and intense anxiety ” , and state anxiety means “ a transient emotional state that is subject to change across situations and over time ” (Spielberger 1979) ” (Zhou et al. 2020: 4). Anxiety levels in emergency remote language courses can be considered as a form of state anxiety and are believed to influence the learner ’ s emotional well-being or his or her feelings of comfortability in such classes, especially with regard to real-time L2 communication on camera. That said, the present study mainly focuses on state anxiety in online foreign language classrooms, referring to foreign language anxiety as a feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with the language learning context (MacIntyre & Gardner 1991). This feeling may stem from perceived threats to the student ’ s sense of security or self-esteem, and from fear of failure, fear of negative evaluation, and apprehensions about communicating in a language in which one may appear incompetent or ridiculous (Pavlenko 2005: 33). In this respect, anxiety and comfortability may be considered as two extremes on a foreign-language-anxiety continuum. Both anxiety and comfortability play an important role in classroom communication and learning (Ahlquist 2012). Second language acquisition researchers developed a number of scales to measure foreign language anxiety (e. g. Gardner 1985, Gardner & Smythe 1975, Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope 1986). Studies that used these scales with regard to online language classes mainly found that anxiety levels did not differ that much between online and face-to-face interaction (Ushida 2005, Amichai- Hamburger & McHenna 2006, McNeil 2014, Martin & Alvarez-Valdivia 2017, Russell 2020). One might even suggest that online classroom settings are more suitable for shy, introverted and therefore anxious language learners. Since there is a lack of face-to-face communication, the online environment could be perceived as less intimidating, because learners can choose when to log in, decide whether they want to speak using the microphone, write in the chat-box or not interact at all (Amichai-Hamburger & McHenna 2006). Learners might even feel more in control and therefore more comfortable, because they can decide what and how much they write in the chat-box. In their study on interacting via the internet, Amichai-Hamburger & McHenna (2006) found that writing in the chat-box significantly reduced anxiety otherwise provoked by online interaction. In online language courses, learners can consult online dictionaries and other internet tools, which may even increase their confidence to interact. Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 81 <?page no="82"?> According to Dewaele (2019) lower foreign language (classroom) anxiety is linked to a higher degree of multilingualism of the learner, a higher frequency of the use of the foreign language by the learner, a higher degree of socialization in the foreign language, a higher degree of networking in the foreign language and higher self-ratings for learners ’ own language competence. Conversely, a higher level of anxiety may therefore lead to less willingness to initiate communication. Dewaele (2019) stated that FL learners ’ willingness to communicate (WTC) can be influenced by anxiety. WTC can be defined as “ a readiness to enter into discourse at a specific time with a specific person or persons ” (MacIntyre et al. 1998: 547) and, together with FLA, has been recognized as a determinant and predictor of second language learners ’ language achievement in traditional language classrooms (Zhou et al. 2020). Similar to FLA, “ WTC in L2 displays both trait and state characteristics that jointly govern L2 speakers ’ readiness to engage in communication ” (Zhou et al. 2020: 2, MacIntyre et al. 1998). Again, WTC is a stable personality characteristic whereas state WTC refers to situational effects (such as language courses offered online) on L2 WTC. Zhou et al. (2020: 4) found that “ FLA impairs L2 users ’ self-assessment of language competence in L2 communication, thereby weakening the positive effect of high L2 competence on WTC ” . This means that FLA is believed to have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between L2 competence and WTC (Zhou et al. 2020). However, it remains to be seen whether this seemingly remarkable relationship also exists for online language classes, especially with regard to real-time L2 communication on camera. A low level of anxiety and a high level of comfortability can be considered a positive emotion in foreign language learning. MacIntyre & Gregersen (2012) introduced Positive Psychology to the field of foreign language acquisition. This shows that only relatively recently, interest in the role of learners ’ positive emotions has started growing in this context (Prior 2019, Zhou et al. 2021). As mentioned earlier and as opposed to negative emotions, positive emotions are believed to facilitate language learning in that these emotions may broaden a person ’ s perspective, which results in an individual becoming more open to absorbing a foreign language (Dewaele 2019). The most studied positive emotion in foreign language acquisition is foreign language (classroom) enjoyment (FLE), a concept developed by Dewaele & MacIntyre (2014; also Dewaele & Li 2020). FLE arises when learners “ believe that the challenges they face align with their coping capacity, so that they feel neither overwhelmed nor under-challenged ” (Zhou et al. 2021: 5, Dewaele & MacIntyre 2014, 2016). Higher levels of FLE have been linked to many variables such as age (children learn languages in a more playful manner than adults), gender 82 Katja Lochtman <?page no="83"?> (females seem to enjoy language learning more than males), a higher educational level, the cultural distance to the foreign language, a higher degree of multilingualism, a higher level of proficiency in the foreign language (Dewaele & MacIntyre 2014), and a higher level of emotional intelligence (Dewaele 2019). FLE has also been found to be linked to a positive attitude towards the teacher, i. e. their friendliness and their capacity for making jokes (Dewaele & Mac- Intyre 2014). Finally, a high level of FLE could also be linked to a higher level of cultural empathy, to better exam results, to positive attitudes towards the foreign language, and to the relative status within the group (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). It could be hypothesized that for foreign language comfortability as a positive emotion, similar correlations and outcomes could be expected as is the case for FLE. 2.2 Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Language Courses Hodges et al. (2020) discuss the differences between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Whereas learners specifically choose to enroll in online learning courses, learners in emergency remote teaching are confronted with a compulsory and sudden transition to this new learning environment (Hodges et al. 2020, Moser et al. 2021). This type of instruction is a temporary and abrupt shift to instructional delivery due to crises such as weather, war, or health. Remote teaching is not, and cannot be, the same as planned online teaching. (Moser et al. 2021: 1) As an emergency solution, it was not designed for online instruction, but it is a temporary solution which uses the online platform to assure the continuity of instruction as long as the crisis lasts (Moser et al., 2021). Online classes, on the other hand, are specifically designed for online instruction, a procedure that requires weeks or months of preparation (Hodges et al. 2020). Emergency remote courses are delivered online, i. e. via the internet and by using technological tools and online applications that were designed for this purpose. These tools are also referred to as online synchronous meeting tools or SMTs (Kohnke & Moorehouse 2020). Some examples of such tools are Big Blue Button, Zoom, or MS Teams. Technological features like polls, break-out rooms, annotation tools, nonverbal icons such as raising virtual hands, and screen sharing, facilitate instruction which should encourage learners to engage and interact in class (Wang & Woo 2007). Learners can comment on or ‘ like ’ a comment made by someone in the chat-box by selecting the thumb icon, for instance (Kohnke & Moorehouse 2020). Most SMTs are characterized by lecture-style sessions, however the instructor can create break-out rooms and divide the group into smaller groups in such a way that learners can Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 83 <?page no="84"?> interact among peers (Kohnke & Moorehouse 2020). Such activities might reduce anxiety. However, being delivered in a situation of crisis, emergency remote language courses might evoke higher levels of anxiety and discomfort than regular online classes. Due to the pandemic, learners may not only suffer from anxiety related to the general crisis but also related to the use of the new technical tools, and these two types of anxiety may worsen an already existing anxiety condition such as the one associated with language learning (Russel 2020). Ushida (2005) investigated the role of learners ’ motivation and attitudes in online foreign language classes and found that at the beginning of the semester, learners were highly anxious due to their lack of familiarity with the new method of instruction. However, as the course advanced, learners ’ motivation and attitudes seemed to improve. 3 The Study 3.1 Research Questions The current exploratory study aims to discover how language students experience emergency remote teaching classes. Do they feel comfortable or anxious when taking part in these classes and do they consider these courses as effective for them as the traditional alternative? Online classroom comfortability, or emotional well-being for that matter, can be understood in terms of lower FLA and higher WTC in online classes. Using a 27-item questionnaire (Likert scales ranging from 1 - 5) (Appendix), an Online-Course Comfortability Scale (OCCS) was developed. Based on the results, implications for the organization of online (language) classes are discussed in relation to their efficacy for promoting emotional well-being and creating language learning opportunities. The research questions we wanted students to answer were: • RQ1: How do students experience emergency remote language learning classes in terms of their emotional well-being? • RQ2: Do students feel that these courses are as effective in terms of language learning opportunities as traditional on-site classes? 3.2 Instrument The instrument used consisted of 27 Likert scale items ranging from 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest score. A low score corresponds to discomfort and a high anxiety level, whereas a high score corresponds to comfort and a low level of anxiety. The items are listed in the Appendix. Based on these items, it was possible to create a summated rating scale (Spector 1992) which we called the Online-Course Comfortability Scale ’ (OCCS). For this, the 84 Katja Lochtman <?page no="85"?> necessary items (items 5 and 25 in the Appendix) were first reverse-coded. The OCCS resulted in a high internal consistency or reliability score of (Cronbach ’ s Alpha) α = .865. The students were contacted via email with a link to the questionnaire in Google Forms (i. e., convenience sampling). The questionnaires were filled in voluntarily and anonymously. Since the students were in existing classes, the assumption of random sampling was not satisfied. Preliminary analyses of normality of the scores on the scale showed that the distribution of the data was not normal. Therefore, a non-parametric test was chosen for the statistical evaluation of the results, i. e., the Mann-Whitney U test, which is a nonparametric t-test for independent samples. As independent variables, we introduced two age groups, gender and programme (BA or MA) in the statistical software SPSS 27. 3.3 Participants The participants were 79 Bachelor and Master students from the Linguistics and Literary Studies program at the Arts Faculty of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels. The students had at least a B2 proficiency level in English. Their first languages differed considerably, since the study program is addressed to international students from all parts of the world. Students ’ mean age was 26.25 (SD = 7.88), ranging from 18 to 49. In total, there were 17 male and 62 female students. Twenty-five students were enrolled in the Bachelor programme, and fifty-four in the Master ’ s programme. For all the students, it was their first year at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and because of the pandemic, all courses (i. e. including the language courses) were organized online as an emergency remote alternative to the traditional face-to-face classes from before the pandemic. 3.4 Results When considering the total scores for the entire sample (n=79), the scale with 27 items was found to be reliable with a value of, α = .865. Interestingly, the reliability score would be slightly higher when removing item 11 ( “ I prefer to use the chat option to communicate in the online class ” ). This issue will be discussed in more detail later. The overall results showed that students (n = 79) felt moderately comfortable in the emergency online language class with a mean score on the OCCS of 3.15 / 5 (SD 0.52). A Mann-Whitney U test showed that for their separate scores on the OCCS (Table 1), there were no statistically significant differences between the students in the Bachelor (n = 25; M = 3.04) and those in the Master programme (n = 54; M = 3.19). Nor were there significant gender differences with regards to Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 85 <?page no="86"?> the OCCS as a whole. Male (n = 17; M = 3.20) and female students (n = 62; M = 3.19) had very similar scores. However, significant differences could be found in the different age groups. For the purpose of comparison, we discerned two age groups, i. e. a younger group (n = 42; M = 2.96) in which students were aged between 18 and 24, and an older group (n = 37; M = 3.45) with students of 25 years or older. A Mann-Whitney U test showed that the older group felt significantly more comfortable (MR = 48.61) than the younger group (MR = 30.56) (U = 392.00, p < .001). If we consider the scores on item 26 ( “ I enjoy the online classes ” ), the results are very similar to those on the OSCC. The overall score of this item is fairly moderate as well (M = 3.11/ 5), but no significant differences based on the independent variables could be detected: N Mean Rank Sig. (2-tailed) 27-items Bachelor 25 35.08 Master 54 40.88 female 62 38.63 male 17 40.32 age 18 - 24 42 30.56 p < .001 age 25+ 37 48.61 Table 1: Mann-Whitney U tests for independent samples: OCCS all items When taking a closer look at a few individual items (Table 2), some more interesting differences can be found related to gender and the two age groups. The Mann-Whitney U tests showed that male students (M = 3.76; MR = 50.56) felt that they could express themselves more easily (item 6) than female students (M = 3.16; MR = 37.10) in online classes (U = 347.50, p < .025). Furthermore, females (M = 3.76; MR = 42.86) tended to prefer the use of the chat-box more (item 11) than the males (M = 3.06; MR = 29.56) (U = 704.50, p < .028). With regards to the age groups, it was found that the older students (M = 3.59; MR = 48.26) felt more relaxed (Item 5) than the younger students (M = 2.81; MR = 32.73) during the online classes (U = 471.50, p < .002). The older students (M = 3.05; MR = 45.49) also felt more comfortable using the camera (Item 8) in the online classes (item 8) (U = 471.50, p < .002) than the younger students (M = 2.52; MR = 35.17), and the seniors (M = 3.11; MR = 47.96) felt more comfortable during online presentations (item 20) than their younger peers (M = 2.33; MR = 32.99) (U = 482.50, p < .003). Finally, the older students (M = 3.62; MR = 46.61) indicated that they stayed more focused (item 27) than 86 Katja Lochtman <?page no="87"?> the younger students (M = 2.95; MR = 34.18) during the online classes (U = 535.50, p < .012). N Mean Rank Sig. (2-tailed) Item 6 female 62 37.10 p = .025 male 17 50.56 Item 11 female 62 42.86 p = .028 male 17 29.56 Item 5 age 18 - 24 42 32.73 p = .002 age 25+ 37 48.26 Item 8 age 18 - 24 42 35.17 p = .002 age 25+ 37 45.49 Item 20 age 18 - 24 42 32.99 p = .003 age 25+ 37 47.96 Item 27 age18 - 24 42 34.18 p =.012 age 25+ 37 46.61 Table 2: Mann-Whitney U Tests for Independent Samples: Individual items As for the question whether students felt that emergency remote language classes were effective in terms of language learning opportunities, the overall scores were, again, moderate but skewed to the positive side (Table 3). The items related to this effectiveness are Item 1 ( ‘ Live online classes are an interactive way of language learning), Item 4 (The online class is effective for me) and Item 6 (I feel I can easily express myself in the online class). No significant differences related to programme, gender or age groups were found: N Mean SD Item 1 79 3.33 .97 Item 4 79 3.38 1.15 Item 6 79 3.29 1.02 Table 3: Mean Scores on Effectiveness On the basis of these rather neutral results, we cannot convincingly state that overall, students had moderately positive attitudes towards the effectiveness of the classes under study. However, a correlations analysis (Pearson correlation) revealed that the more the students felt comfortable participating in the online classes (Item 3), the more they agreed that the online class was an interactive Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 87 <?page no="88"?> way of learning (iItem 1), the more they felt that classes were effective for them (Item 4) and the more they had the impression that they could easily express themselves (Item 6) in the online class. The more the students agreed that the online class was an interactive way of learning (Item 1) and the more they felt they could easily express themselves in the online classes (Item 6), the more they were likely to agree that the online class was effective for them (Item 4): Item 1 Item 3 Item 4 Item 6 Item 1 Pearson correlation 1 .513 .629 .327 Sig. (2-tailed) p < .001 p < .001 p = .004 Item 3 Pearson correlation .513 1 .641 .583 Sig. (2-tailed) p < .001 p < .001 p < .001 Item 4 Pearson correlation .629 .641 1 .542 Sig. (2-tailed) p < .001 p < .001 p < .001 Item 6 Pearson correlation .327 .583 .542 1 Sig. (2-tailed) p = .004 p < .001 p < .001 Table 4: Correlations between Items 4 Discussion The present analysis first focused on students ’ overall feelings of comfortability or anxiety with regard to emergency remote language classes (Research Question 1). The results showed that students felt rather neutral to moderately comfortable. Moreover, the results for the item on enjoyment (Item 26), were very similar to those overall scores on the OSCC. Students did not seem to particularly enjoy the classes, neither did they really dislike them. Comparative studies on anxiety levels in online language classes before the pandemic mainly found that anxiety levels did not differ that much between online and face-to-face interaction (Ushida 2005, Amichai-Hamburger & McHenna 2006, McNeil 2014, Martin and Alvarerez-Valdivia 2017, Russell 2020). However, in a general crisis situation, emergency remote language courses might evoke higher levels of anxiety and discomfort than regular online classes do. Furthermore, students may not only suffer from anxiety related to the general crisis but also related to the reliability of the internet connection and the use of the new technical tools (Russel 2020). The extent to which such forms of discomfort may increase an already existing anxiety such as the one associated 88 Katja Lochtman <?page no="89"?> with language learning, remains to be explored. Furthermore, Ushida (2005) found that although learners were highly anxious at the beginning of the semester, as the courses advanced and the students got more familiar with the new technology, their motivation and attitudes seemed to improve. Since the present study is only a snapshot of the feelings at one point in time, i. e. at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, further research might shed more light on the development of the feelings of comfortability in emergency remote language classes. The moderate scores might also have an influence on students ’ willingness to participate or communicate in online classrooms (Dewaele 2019), especially with regards to the use of microphone and/ or camera. Since positive emotions such as comfortability, or language learning enjoyment are believed to facilitate learning by making a learner ’ s mind more open to absorbing a foreign language and, conversely, negative emotions such as discomfort and anxiety could limit the influence of language input (Dewaele 2019), the neutral to moderate scores found in the present study hint to limited communication and, therefore, limited language learning opportunities in emergency remote language courses. A further finding was that the older students felt more comfortable than the younger ones, but the seniors did not differ from their younger peers in their moderate scores on enjoyment. Furthermore, it was found that during the online classes, the older students felt more relaxed than the younger ones, and they also felt more comfortable than the younger ones, using the camera and giving online presentations. The older students indicated that they stayed more focused. All this might plausibly suggest that life experience has a positive effect on anxiety levels in emergency or crisis situations, such as the ones they faced during the pandemic. Another explanation might be that online learning solutions are more suitable for older learners, but more research is needed on the link between age and anxiety in online language classes so as to assure such an assumption. Interestingly, anxiety or comfortability seem to be linked to gender. Male students felt that in online classes, they could express themselves more easily than female students: they showed a higher degree of self-confidence, although their scores remained relatively moderate. Furthermore, the female students tended to prefer the use of the chat-box more than the male students did. The female students also seemed to feel a bit more anxious than male students in using camera and microphone, which might refer to a certain degree of shyness on the part of the females. Further research could investigate possible gender differences in relation to participating in online language courses. Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 89 <?page no="90"?> Related to the Input Hypothesis, Krashen (1982, 1985) discussed the role of affective variables in relation to foreign language learning outcomes in his Affective Filter Hypothesis, which states that affective factors such as negative emotions and anxiety would impede second language acquisition (Pavlenko 2005). According to Krashen (1982, 1985) language learners acquire language by understanding messages or taking in understandable input (Edmondson & House 2011). For this, the input should be (i + 1), i. e. slightly above learners ’ current level of competence. The context and extra-linguistic information (e. g. encyclopedic and situational knowledge) are helpful for understanding. According to Krashen (1985), such input can only be effective if the affective conditions are right. For example, when learners are forced to speak or are repeatedly corrected, they become anxious and/ or demotivated. In this way, the success of foreign language learning is hampered. Based on the input hypothesis are the Interaction Hypotheses (Long 1996), which suggest that two-way interaction is more beneficial for language acquisition than one-way positive input. In linguistic interaction, a mutual exchange of information takes place, which enables a negotiation of meaning for the purpose of mutual communication and understanding (Long 1996). The Output Hypothesis (Swain 1985) takes one step further and primarily stems from the traditional view that the acquisition of a skill can be facilitated through the productive practice of that skill. One cannot learn to speak and communicate without having the opportunity to speak and communicate (Swain 1985). Negotiation should be interpreted as an interaction in which learners both make the content understandable and are forced to produce understandable, grammatically correct output. From all this, learning opportunities in the language classroom can be created through meaningful interaction and communication which is not hampered by anxiety (Pavlenko 2005). In language classrooms, learners must therefore first be willing to communicate. Dewaele (2019) claimed that foreign language learners ’ willingness to communicate (WTC) can be impeded by discomfort and anxiety. Interestingly, the reliability score of the OCCS would have been slightly higher when removing item 11 ( “ I prefer to use the chat option to communicate in the online class ” ). A higher score on this item could mean that the informants felt more comfortable when writing in the chat-box as opposed to when speaking, using the microphone. However, based on the scores on this item, we do not know whether they regarded the chat-box as a frequent and standard feature of the online class and therefore, the online class would be more comfortable than a traditional one. Thus, with respect to our Research Question 2 (Do students feel that these courses are as effective in terms of language learning opportunities as traditional on-site classes? ), one could argue that a lower score on this item would hint to less anxiety as 90 Katja Lochtman <?page no="91"?> opposed to the scores in the rest of the scale. One could even suggest that online classroom settings are more apt for shy, introverted and more anxious language learners. Learners might even feel more in control of the situation and therefore more comfortable. Without face-to-face communication, an online environment could be perceived as less intimidating, because learners can choose whether and when to log in, they can decide whether they want to communicate through the use of a microphone or the chat-box (Amichai- Hamburger & McHenna 2006). In their study on interacting via the internet, Amichai-Hamburger & McHenna (2006) found that writing in the chat-box significantly reduced anxiety otherwise provoked by online interaction. Furthermore, in online language courses, learners can consult online tools and dictionaries to improve their language skills, which may even increase their confidence to interact. The question of whether students felt that emergency remote language classes were effective for them in terms of language learning opportunities could not convincingly be confirmed. The overall scores were, again, neutral to moderately positive. However, our results reveal that the more the students felt comfortable participating in the online classes, the more they felt that the online class was an interactive way of learning, the more they believed the classes were effective for them and the more they felt they could easily express themselves in the online setting. From these results, we could deduce that interaction and the capability to express themselves were also considered as effective language learning opportunities by the students in the online classes who might be hampered by anxiety and discomfort. The more the students agreed that the online classes represented an interactive way of learning and the more they felt that they could easily express themselves in the online classes, the more they were likely to agree that the online classes were effective for them. This could lead to the premises that the more comfortable the students felt in online language classes the more language learning opportunities were created (Dewaele 2019). However, more research is needed in order to verify these hypotheses. 5 Conclusions On the basis of the newly developed ‘ online-course comfortability scale ’ (OCCS), the present study has revealed that foreign language learners rated their comfortability with the emergency online language classes moderately positively. Furthermore, our results also showed that age and gender could be identified as influencing variables: older students rated the courses as being more effective and felt more at ease when participating in an online class than Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 91 <?page no="92"?> younger students did; male students seemed to feel a bit more self-confident than female students when participating in online classes. The results of the exploratory study presented here have raised some suggestions for further research. Firstly, the extent to which the crisis situation of the pandemic may increase already existing foreign language learning anxiety remains to be explored. Secondly, since the present study is only a snapshot at one point in time, i. e. at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, further research could shed more light on a more longitudinal development of students ’ feelings of comfortability in emergency remote language classes. Thirdly, more research is needed on the link between age and anxiety and enjoyment in online language classes in order to find out whether online learning solutions are more suitable for older learners than for younger learners. In the same vein, further research could investigate in more depth any possible gender differences in relation to participating in online language courses. Finally, more research could explore the link between language learners ’ willingness to communicate in online classes and their effectiveness for language learning, whereby a distinction is to be made between communication through speaking, using the microphone and through writing, using the chat-box. Linked to this is the hypothesis that the more comfortable the students feel in online language classes, the more language learning opportunities are created. It is important to bear in mind that this study has some limitations. First, the quantitative nature of the study only highlighted overall scores on the comfortability scale. A qualitative study with in-depth interviews could reveal students ’ underlying thoughts and reasons for their feelings of anxiety in the online language class. A second limitation is the exploratory nature of the study and therefore the rather limited number and unequal distribution of participants, which did not allow for parametric statistical analyses to be used. A last limitation is the lack of a definition concerning the concept of ‘ participation in the online language class ’ . In the minds of the participants, does ‘ participating ’ simply mean ‘ to log in ’ or does it entail more active participation such as interacting through speaking or writing? Again, a qualitative study could shed more light on such issues. Appendix: the Online-Course Comfortability Scale (OCCS) 1. Live online classes are an interactive way of language learning. 2. I like to listen to the recording of a lesson. 3. I feel comfortable participating in the online class. 4. The online class is effective for me. 92 Katja Lochtman <?page no="93"?> 5. I feel stressed during the online class. 6. I feel I can easily express myself in the online class. 7. I feel comfortable using the microphone in an online class. 8. I feel comfortable using the camera in an online class. 9. I feel more comfortable expressing myself in an online class than in a traditional classroom. 10. I am less concerned about my accent in an online class. 11. I prefer to use the chat option to communicate in the online class. 12. I feel that the online classes enable my professors to be attentive to my questions during the online class. 13. I feel that the online classes enable my professors to be attentive to my comments during the online class. 14. - I feel comfortable interacting with fellow students in the break-out rooms with camera and microphone on. 15. I feel comfortable contacting fellow students outside of the online class. 16. I am satisfied with the quality of the visuals during the online class (images, videos, slides). 17. I google in search of topics / answers to professors ’ questions during the online class. 18. I put my mobile phone on airplane mode during the online class. 19. I feel comfortable contacting the professors outside of the online class. 20. I feel comfortable during my presentations in the online class. 21. I feel comfortable being corrected in the online class. 22. When things get back to normal, if online classes will still be an option, I prefer to participate in online rather than on-site classes. 23. I actively participate in the online classes. 24. I watch the recordings. 25. Recordings of a lesson are boring. 26. I enjoy the online classes. 27. I stay focused during the online class (no emails, telephone calls, social media, etc.). References A HLQUIST , Sharon (2012). Storyline: A task-based approach for the young learner classroom. ELT Journal 67 (1), 41 - 51 A MICHAI -H AMBURGER , Yair & M CKENNA , Katelyn Y. A. (2006). The contact reconsidered: interacting via the internet. Journal of Computer-Meditated Communication 11, 825 - 843. B OSSARD , J. (1945). The bilingual as a person - linguistic identification with status. American Sociological Review, 10, 6, 699 - 709. Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 93 <?page no="94"?> D EWAELE , Jean-Marc (2019). The Effect of Classroom Emotions, Attitudes Toward English, and Teacher Behavior on Willingness to Communicate Among English Foreign Language Learners. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 38 (4), 523 - 535. D EWAELE , Jean-Marc & Li, C HENGCHEN (2020). Emotions in second language acquisition: A critical review and research agenda. Foreign Language World 196 (1), 34 - 49. D EWAELE , Jean-Marc & M AC I NTYRE , Peter (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 4 (2). 237 - 274. D EWAELE , Jean-Marc & M AC I NTYRE , Peter (2016). Foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety: The right and left feet of the language learner? In Peter MacIntyre, Tammy Gregersen & Sarah Mercer (eds.), Positive psychology in SLA, 215 - 236. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. E DMONDSON , Willis J. & H OUSE , Juliane (2011). Einführung in die Sprachlehrforschung. Tübingen / Basel: Francke. G ARDNER , Robert C. (1985). Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: the Role of Attitudes and Motivation (8 th ed., Vol. 8). Edward Arnold. G ARDNER , Robert C., & L AMBERT , Wallace (1959). Motivational variables in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology,13, 266 - 272. G ARDNER , Robert C. & S MYTHE , Padric C. (1975). Motivation and Second-Language Acquisition, The Canadian Modern Language Review 31 (3), 218 - 233. G UNTZVILLER , Lisa M., Y ALE , Robert N. & J ENSEN , Jakob D. (2016). Foreign language communication anxiety outside of a classroom: Scale validation and curvilinear relationship with foreign language use. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 47, 605 - 625. H ODGES , Charles, M OORE , Stefanie, L OCKEE , Barb, T RUST , Torrey & B OND , Aaron (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning, EDUCAUSE Review. (https: / / er.educause.edu/ articles/ 2020/ 3/ the-difference-between-emergencyremote-teaching-and-online-learning; 17-05-2024) H ORWITZ , Elaine K., H ORWITZ , Michael B. & C OPE , Joann (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal 70 (2), 125 - 132. K OHNKE , Lucas., & M OORHOUSE , Benjamin L. (2020). Facilitating synchronous online language learning through Zoom. RELC, 1 - 6. (DOI: 10.1177/ 0033688220937235). K RASHEN , Stephen (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon. K RASHEN , Stephen (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. New York: Longman. L ONG , Michael H. (1996) The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In William C. Ritchie & Tey K. Bhatia (eds.), Handbook of research on second language acquisition. New York: Academic Press, 413 - 468. M AC I NTYRE , Peter & G ARDNER , Robert C. (1991). Language Anxiety: Its Relationship to Other Anxieties and to Processing in Native and Second Languages. Language Learning 41 (4), 513 - 534. 94 Katja Lochtman <?page no="95"?> M AC I NTYRE , Peter, C LÉMENT , Richard, D ORNYEI , Zoltan & N OELS , Karin (1998). Conceptualizing Willingness to Communicate in an L2: A Situated Model of Confidence and Affiliation. The Modern Language Journal 82, 545 - 562. M AC I NTYRE , Peter & G REGERSEN , Tammy (2012). Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive broadening power of the imagination. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 2, 193 - 213. M ARGULIEUX , Lauren E, M C C RACKEN , Michael, & C ATRAMBONE , Richard (2016). A taxonomy to define courses that mix face-to-face and online learning. Educational Research Review 19, 104 - 118. M ARTIN , Sidney & A LVAREZ -V ALVIDIA , Ibis M. (2017). Students feedback beliefs and anxiety in online foreign language oral tasks. International Journal of Education Technology in Higher Education 14 (18) (DOI: 10.1186/ s41239-017-0056-z.). M C N EIL , Levi (2014). Ecological affordance and anxiety in an oral asynchronous computer-mediated environment. Language Learning & Technology 18 (1), 142 - 159. M OSER , Kelly M., W EI , Tianlan, & B RENNER , Devon (2021). Remote teaching during COVID- 19: implications from a national survey of language educators. System 97, (DOI: 10.1016/ j.system.2020.102431). P AVLENKO , Aneta (2005). Emotions and Multilingualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. P RIOR , Matthew (2019). Elephants in the room: An “ affective turn, ” or just feeling our way? The Modern Language Journal 103 (2). 516 - 527. R USSEL , Victoria (2020). Language anxiety and the online learner. ACTEL (DOI: 10.1111/ flan.12461). R YAN , Richard M., C ONNELL , James P., & P LANT , Robert W. (1990). Emotions in nondirected text learning. Learning and Individual Differences 2 (1), 1 - 17. S HARWOOD S MITH , Michael S. (2017). Language and affective processing implemented within a cross-disciplinary conceptual framework. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, (DOI: 10.1515/ psicl-2017-0003). S PECTOR , Paul (1992). Summated rating scale construction. London: Sage. S PIELBERGER , Charles D. (1979). Understanding Stress and Anxiety. London: Harper & Row. IBM C ORP . (2020). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows. Version 27.0. IBM Corp. S WAIN , Merrill (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In Susan M. Gass and Carolyn G. Madden(eds.), Input in second language acquisition. London: Newbury House, 235 - 253. S TENGEL , Erwin (1939). On learning a new language. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 20, 471 - 479. U SHIDA , Eiko (2005). The role of students ’ attitudes and motivation in second language learning in online language courses. Calico Journal 23 (1), 49 - 78. W ANG , Qiyun, & W OO , Huay L. (2007). Comparing asynchronous online discussions and face-to-face discussions in a classroom setting. British Journal of Educational Technology 38 (2), 272 - 286. Brussels Students ’ Attitudes towards Participating in Emergency Online Language Courses 95 <?page no="96"?> Z HOU , Li, D EWAELE , Jean-Marc., X I , Yiheng, L OCHTMAN , Katja (2021). Foreign language peace of mind: A positive emotion drawn from the Chinese EFL learning context, Applied Linguistics Review (DOI: 10.1515/ applirev-2021-0080). Z HOU , Li, Xi, Y IHENG & L OCHTMAN , Katja (2020). The relationship between second language competence and willingness to communicate: the moderating effect of foreign language anxiety. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (DOI: 10.1080/ 01434632.2020.1801697). 96 Katja Lochtman <?page no="97"?> Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks Esa Christine Hartmann 1 Introduction Modern picturebooks 1 can be described as all-encompassing works of art that combine textual, visual, auditory and tactile elements to form a multimedial art form. The term multimodality has been coined to describe this sophisticated interplay of image and text in picturebooks (Kress & Van Leeuwen 1996), where images serve a visual-narrative function by representing, complementing, counterpointing or deviating from the information provided by the text (Nikolajeva & Scott 2001). The pedagogical potential of picturebooks in multilingual and intercultural teaching and learning contexts is now scientifically recognised: picturebook stories promote the development of young readers ’ identities (Wieler 2018) by opening a playful world of reflective imagination (Arizpe & Styles 2016, Sipe & Pantaleo 2008). Picturebooks, which initiate a multimodal reading process, are an enriching pedagogical medium for the acquisition of visual, linguistic and literary skills and intercultural competences (Bland 2016, Ellis 2016, Heggernes 2019, Mour-o 2015, Ommundsen et al. 2022). Multilingual picturebooks represent a particularly interesting variant of this literary genre, adding another dimension to this already complex mode of representation and meaning making. Indeed, by combining and/ or confronting two or more linguistic systems and forms, multilingual picturebooks enact the intercultural encounter and generate an experience of alterity in the receiving audience (Hélot et al. 2014; Daly & Limbrick 2018). As recent research has shown, multilingual picturebooks can nurture highquality language and literacy learning in multilingual classrooms (Hélot et al. 2014, Kümmerling-Meibauer 2013, Sneddon 2009), based on creativity, em- 1 In modern picturebook research, the word picturebook is written as a single word (i. e. no longer picture book) in order to conceptualise the semantic unity between text and image. In this chapter this is done in the same way. <?page no="98"?> pathy, and intercultural experience. Many pedagogical aspects of intercultural learning in multilingual contexts of language acquisition can thus be explored through multilingual picturebooks (Hartmann 2020; Ibrahim 2020). The pedagogical approaches that apply to the reading of multilingual picturebooks include language awareness, linguistic mediation, metalinguistic awareness, multiliteracies acquisition, as well as intercultural teaching and learning (Hartmann & Hélot 2021). The aim of this research is therefore to analyse the pedagogical affordances of three translingual picturebooks in which the narrative alternates between French and German: Sag mal, comment on fait les animaux (Vergez 2018), Lunes, eine mondlose Nacht (Vialaneix 2017), as well as Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019). The analysis of these crossover picturebooks, aimed at both children and adult readers, shows how translingual picturebooks can promote integrated, multimodal and translingual learning, as well as the development of intercultural competence and multiliteracies. The study is guided by the following research questions: • What are the poetological principles and aesthetic effects of language alternation and language mixing in translingual picturebook stories? • What are the pedagogical affordances of translingual picturebooks in multilingual education? This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part provides a definition of translingual picturebooks, while the second part presents two conceptual shifts in multilingualism research that support the pedagogical use of translingual picturebooks in a multilingual educational context. Then, the pedagogical possibilities of multilingual picturebooks for the acquisition of multiliteracies are summarised. In the fourth part, the literary corpus is analysed, combining a stylistic and a pedagogical approach. Finally, the pedagogical affordances of translingual picturebooks for multilingual and intercultural teaching and learning are discussed. 2 Translingual Picturebooks - a Definition Multilingual picturebooks can adopt two different forms: they can be dual language picturebooks or translingual picturebooks. Dual language picturebooks or parallel bilingual picturebooks present the original text and its translation according to the mirror principle. The original text is accompanied by a complete translation that runs parallel to it and attempts to reproduce its lexical, syntactic, and stylistic characteristics (Hartmann 2020). Dual language picturebooks usually involve a collaboration 98 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="99"?> between three artists: the author of the original text, the illustrator (who may or may not be the author) and the translator. In most cases, the bilingual edition is a reedition of the original (monolingual) picturebook with the new language version added. As a result, dual language books would not exist without the translator ’ s intervention (Hartmann 2021). This type of multilingual picturebook operates on a binary principle, based on a monolingual vision of each language version. The translation that accompanies the original text is usually intended for a monolingual audience, rather than expressing or appealing to a bilingual identity. Thus, the two languages of the bilingual picturebook do not mix, but function as two autonomous and separate systems (Sneddon 2009). An alternative is offered by bilingual picturebooks that perform translanguaging (Garcia & Li 2014) 2 by using two or more languages concomitantly at either the discursive (i. e. in the character ’ s speeches) and/ or the narrative level (i. e. at the level of the story ’ s diegesis). These may be considered interlingual picturebooks (Kümmerling-Meibauer 2013: 63) or translingual picturebooks (Hartmann 2020, 2021). In most cases, the published translingual text is not the result of a translation, but of the translingual writing of a bilingual author who draws on his or her multilingual repertoire to integrate two or more languages into the literary creation process. Translanguaging in picturebooks often corresponds to the actual linguistic practices of bilingual or multilingual communities and conveys a multilingual experience. The identity value of such picturebooks cannot therefore be neglected, as the work is often addressed to a bilingual or multilingual community. 3 . On the other hand, instead of reflecting a multilingual social experience, translingual picturebooks may have a purely pedagogical purpose, as the two translingual picturebooks presented in this study show. In this case, the alternation of languages is often artificially imposed, whether in dialogues between characters who speak different languages, or according to a principle of recurrence that shapes the narrative units of the story (Hartmann 2020; 2021). The pedagogical objective of this type of translingual picturebook lies in the simultaneous acquisition of reading skills in two languages; indeed, reading texts with language alternation is considered an ideal way to train the cognitive flexibility of the multilingual brain and foster its creative performance (Kharkhurin 2012). 2 Translanguaging (Garcia & Li 2014) involves language alternation and/ or mixing, also called code-switching and code-mixing. 3 The translingual picturebook Subway Sparrow by Leyla Torres (1993), which alternates English, Spanish and Polish (Kümmerling-Meibauer, 2013, pp. 63 - 65) can serve as an example. Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 99 <?page no="100"?> In pedagogically motivated translingual picturebooks, language alternation can be created by four different auctorial constellations. The work can be written by (1) a bilingual author who alternates languages during the writing process (simultaneous bilingual genesis); (2) a bilingual author who practices self-translation by first writing the whole story in one language and then translating parts of it into another language (consecutive bilingual genesis); (3) a collaboration between an author and a translator, the latter translating only parts of the story (monolingual genesis and partial translation); (4) two coauthors, each writing a narrative unit in his or her native language (collaborative bilingual genesis based on two alternating monolingual geneses) (Hartmann 2021). Indeed, translingual picturebooks, which combine two languages in the present case, French and German - but also two semiotic systems or modes the visual illustrations and the verbal text - represent a valuable medium for translingual and multimodal language and literacy acquisition. But what are the conceptual foundations in recent multilingualism research that support the pedagogical use of translingual picturebooks? 3 Conceptual Shifts in Multilingualism Research The translingual turn or trans-turn (Valleyo & Dooley 2020, Hawkins & Mori 2018) represents an important conceptual shift in multilingualism research since it justifies the pedagogical use of translingual picturebooks. The transturn illustrates a radicalisation of the multilingual turn (May 2014), as it deconstructs the very concept of language itself, as a system of linguistic elements that are socially constructed. This concept of language is replaced by the individual speaking practice of multilingual learners as social actors, which is often characterised by language switching and mixing, called translingual practice (Canagarajah 2006) or translanguaging (Garcia & Li 2014). Whereas the multilingual perspective sees language acquisition as the addition of separate languages, the translingual perspective allows for cross-linguistic or translingual teaching and learning, since the boundaries between languages no longer exist in the linguistic repertoires of multilingual speakers. Reading translingual picturebooks, which alternate and mix two languages throughout the story, thus becomes a valuable pedagogical tool for integrated and translingual learning of two or more languages. Finally, the multimodal turn (Jewitt 2009, Kress 2000, Serafini 2010) also explains the pedagogical value of translingual picturebooks. The multimodal turn refers to the evolution of the concept of language and text, which, due to the development of new technologies, is no longer understood in its purely 100 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="101"?> verbal dimension, but includes different semiotic systems or modes (Cope & Kalantzis 2009, Jewitt 2009, Kress 2000), such as visual, audio, gestural, and digital elements (Bull & Anstey 2019). Today, reading in the digital world means being able to decode a multimedia text, made up of verbal, visual, audio, and digital elements (New London Group 1996). This multimedia character of language and texts is conceptualised as multimodality (Cope & Kalantzis 2009, Kress 2000, Siegel 1995). As a result, the acquisition of literacy has evolved into the acquisition of multiliteracies, most often combining visual, multilingual and digital literacies. When reading translingual picturebooks aloud, readers are asked to decode visual, verbal and auditory signs, the combination of which makes up the meaning of the story. Translingual picturebooks thus embody multimodality and develop reading skills for multimodal texts that switch between different semiotic modes. 4 The Acquisition of Multiliteracies Multilingual picturebooks, whether bilingual or translingual, are a rich pedagogical resource for the acquisition of multiliteracies (New London Group 1996) by multilingual learners (Bland 2016). As numerous research studies have shown (Brown & Hao 2022, Cummins 2013, Grießhaber 2014, Isbell et al. 2004, Rehbein 2016), biliteracy can be fostered through multifaceted narratives. According to Rehbein, multilingual children ’ s books are a rich resource for the acquisition of biliteracy: Bei der textuellen Literalisierung geschieht ein Ausbau der Sprache und der Sprachen des Kindes. Besondere sprachliche Bereiche sind Konnektivität, Bedeutungserweiterung und sprachliches Wissen im Sinne metasprachlicher Kontrolle. Seit langem wird darauf hingewiesen, dass Kinder einen wesentlichen Teil des Wortschatzes über Bilder- und Märchenbücher erwerben. Wichtig ist, dass die textuelle Literalisierung in L1 und L2 stattfindet, damit das Kind in allen Sprachen komplexe Textfunktionen ausbildet. Das Code-Switching zum Beispiel zeigt, wie umfänglich das Symbolfeld bilingual involviert ist (Rehbein 2016: 273). 4 4 The development of textual competences involves an expansion of the child ’ s language and languages. Particular linguistic areas are connectivity, expansion of meaning and linguistic knowledge in the sense of metalinguistic awareness. It has long been pointed out that children acquire a substantial part of their vocabulary through picture and story books. It is important that literacy learning takes place in L1 and L2, so that the child develops complex textual functions in all languages. Code-switching, for example, shows how extensively the symbol field is involved bilingually [My translation]. Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 101 <?page no="102"?> Similarly, discovering different narrative modes and elements (characters, plot, setting, narrative perspective) through picturebook stories builds and extends narrative skills. Indeed, narrative competence, which includes the decoding of new media forms, is an important complement to functional textual literacy, i. e. the ability to read and write (Mastellotto 2021). In particular, immersive and participatory story worlds delivered through different media allow children to receive, reproduce and reinvent stories (ibid.). In this context, the interplay of visual and textual elements in multilingual picturebooks enables multimodal literacy acquisition (Hasset & Curwood 2009; Hartmann & Hélot 2021; Kümmerling-Meibauer 2013), which encourages readers to actively create meaning, transforming the reading process into a holistic aesthetic experience that includes intercultural learning (Bland 2020, Ommundsen et al. 2022). Moreover, multilingual literacy acquisition through the creative reading of multilingual picturebooks (Hartmann 2020, Hélot et al. 2014) is closely linked to the concept of multimodality (Jewitt 2009, Kress 2000, Serafini 2010), which emphasises the non-linear, interactive, dynamic, visual, and mobile features of narrative communication (Hasset & Curwood 2009). The complex dynamics that emerge between versions of different languages (as presented in dual language books), but also between the words and images that multilingual picturebooks bring to life, invite translingual and intersemiotic reading experiences (Hartmann & Hélot 2021). In addition, the multimodal nature of picturebooks challenges multilingual students to engage in active imagination and meaning-making, and promotes the acquisition of multiliteracies (Bull & Anstey 2019, Ellis 2016, Mastellotto 2021), i. e. a combination of multilingual, visual, and digital literacies. In fact, literacy today refers not only to verbal textual competences, but also to different semiotic modes (Cope & Kalantzis 2009, Jewitt 2009, Kress 2000). This conceptual shift in the notion of text and literacy has led scholars to explore multiple sign systems or modes for understanding multimedia texts, and to design a new form of literacy education that includes digital texts such as films, animations and websites (Brown & Hao 2022, Jewitt 2009, Kress 2010). According to multimodality theory, meaning is created through a combination of different modes such as images, gestures, looks, sounds, or languages (Cope & Kalantzis 2009, Kress 2000, Siegel 1995). This process is called transmediation (Siegel 1995, 2006). In multimodal narratives, transmediation enhances multilingual learners ’ understanding of a story by combining visual, verbal, audio and spatial elements (Brown & Hao 2022). 102 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="103"?> 5 Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders As we have seen, translingual picturebooks can be an interesting and challenging pedagogical medium for promoting intercultural learning and the acquisition of multilingualism. In the following, three translingual picturebooks are presented and analysed for their ability to cross linguistic, cultural, and semiotic borders for translingual, intersemiotic and intercultural learning. 5.1 A Metamorphosis Narrative The translingual picturebook Sag mal, comment on fait les animaux (Vergez 2018) ( ‘ Tell me [German], how do you make animals [French]? ’ ) materialises the passage from one language to another - from French to German and vice versa - in a metamorphosis that is at once pictorial, fictional, and translingual. Highly poetic, the meaning of the text is derived from the illustrations: the text accompanies the illustrations by describing the figurative metamorphoses that take place before our eyes. These metamorphoses are based on a formal analogy revealed by the illustrations - a figurative analogy that is doubled by a sonic analogy produced by the poetic text. On each double-page spread of the translingual picturebook, various elements of nature are transformed into animals according to a formal-visual analogy: the girls ’ pigtails become snakes, the piles of leaves become squirrels, the sawed-off fir trees become crocodiles, the cacti become hedgehogs, the Figure 1: Visual-narrative metamorphosis in Sag mal, comment on fait les animaux? (Vergez 2018: n. pag., © Kidikunst) Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 103 <?page no="104"?> cabbages become frogs … Each metamorphosis is spread over two pages of the book, and each visual transformation can be discovered by opening the flap on the second page. The text is divided according to the two stages of the transformation process: stage 1 (e. g. cactus) is described on the first page, accompanied by an illustration that extends over two pages, while stage 2 (e. g. hedgehog) is described in the flap on the second page. The languages alternate between the two different stages, following the principle of “ one page - one language ” . The keywords identifying the metamorphosing referents are printed in bold and larger type. Many sentences begin with “ On / Man ” ( “ One ” ), so that this anaphora transforms the text into a real poem with, in a few places, binary alexandrines (a classical French verse line of 12 syllables) with a caesura at the hemistich (in the middle of the line, after the sixth syllable). This caesura corresponds to the change of language or code-switching; it is materialised by the three suspension points that mark the suspense of the metamorphosis to be discovered under the closed flap of the second page. Here are some examples of binary alexandrines (the / sign marking the change of page and language in the quotation): Man schneidet Kakteen … / qui s ’ en vont, hérissons German: One cuts cacti … / (French: that go away, (as) hedgehogs On scie les sapins … / Achtung, Krokodile ! French: The trees are sawn … / German: Watch out, crocodiles! On tricote entre amis … / Schafe für den Winter French: We knit with friends … / German: sheep for the winter Each half-line of verse (hemistich) is devoted to one language (German or French), one stage of the metamorphosis, one page and one illustration, so that the alternation of languages is systematic and follows a prosodic principle that creates translingual alexandrines. In fact, the allocation of languages works according to the principle of sound analogy, which underlines the visual analogy of the metamorphoses. Thus, the ascending part of the sentence (protasis corresponding to stage 1) and its descending part (apodosis, stage 2) can be occupied by both language versions (German or French), in order to create an expressive alliteration or assonance in the French or German part of the sentence: Und die Zöpfebeschwörer … / font siffler les serpents German : And the braid charmers … / French: make the snakes hiss In this translingual line, there is an alliteration in [s] in the French part of the sentence, whereas the next example combines an alliteration in [f] with an assonance in [en] in the German half line: 104 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="105"?> On fait ricocher des cailloux … / zu kleinen flachen Fischen French: Pebbles are ricocheted … / German: to small shallow fish To create an imitative harmony, the alliteration in [s] mimics the hissing of snakes, while the alliteration in [f] and the assonance in [en] evoke the sound and rhythm of pebbles bouncing on the surface of the water. On other pages, the linguistic mapping creates a sonic translingual analogy between the first and second parts of the sentence, doubling the visual analogy between the two stages of the metamorphosis. In this sense, the following two examples show a translingual assonance in [a] and [i], whose constellation forms a sonic chiasmus: [a] - [i]/ / [i] - [a]: On scie les sapins … / Achtung, Krokodile ! French: The trees are sawn … / German: watch out, crocodiles! On tricote entre amis … / Schafe für den Winter French: We knit with friends … / German: sheep for the winter In this translingual picturebook, the principle of intra-sentential language alternation has a creative function, enhancing the poeticity of the text and reinforcing the correspondence between text and image by means of a double analogy - a visual as well as a sonic analogy - that allows for metamorphosis at the narrative and illustrative levels. On the other hand, the imitative harmony within the lines of the verse also increases the correspondence between the signifier and the referent, according to the ancient dream of Cratylus, so that we can see and hear the magical transformations of elements into animals. The artistic value of this translingual picturebook cannot be overlooked: this illustrated translingual poem is an intermedial work of art in which semiotic analogies and correspondences give the reader a synaesthetic pleasure. The translation strategies at the origin of this picturebook follow the principles of multimodal analogy and translingual poeticity. In fact, it is the process of translation that creates sound analogies such as alliteration and assonance, as well as metrical correspondences that reinforce the visual analogies underlying the narrative metamorphoses. 5.2 An Initiation Narrative As its title reveals, Lunes … eine mondlose Nacht (Vialaneix 2017) (Moons ([French] … a moonless night [German]) is also a translingual picturebook that alternates and mixes two languages - French and German. Like the translingual picturebook Sag mal, comment on fait les animaux discussed above, Lunes … eine mondlose Nacht is not the work of a bilingual author who practises French-German translanguaging in its written form, but Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 105 <?page no="106"?> the result of a partial translation of certain text passages into German. This partial translation was carried out a posteriori by Sybille Maurer, who transformed the monolingual French text, written and illustrated by Mélanie Vialaneix, into a translingual text. The work is therefore the result of a successive collaboration between an author writing in French and a translator working in German who translates only parts of the story - in short, a monolingual genesis and a partial translation. Lunes … eine mondlose Nacht tells the story of a journey through the night, a search for the hidden moon. Two sisters, Magda and Lilo, are fascinated by the moon. One night, however, the moon does not appear in the sky and Magda, the older sister, sets out to find it. This becomes a journey of initiation, punctuated by fascinating encounters and the discovery of unknown landscapes, until the moon finally appears in front of her. Magda ’ s journey follows the familiar narrative scheme of the mediaeval initiation story, as exemplified by the Arthurian romance Perceval or the Story of the Holy Grail (Chrétien de Troyes 1190). The quest for the moon is placed at the centre of the story, reminding the reader of the quest for the Holy Grail. Before meeting the moon, Magda must overcome three trials: diving into the sea, crossing a desert and climbing a mountain. The aquatic and nocturnal elements represent ‘ threshold ’ moments that Magda must cross in order to reach a different state of consciousness and gain new knowledge. This new stage is symbolised by the final encounter with the moon. The moon reveals to Magda the secret of life, which is the rule of eternal return, and says to her: Ich bin gereist, genau wie du. Ich komme und gehe. Ich helfe dem Ozean auf seinen Wanderungen und den Pflanzen zu gedeihen. Die Natur wandelt sich ständig (Vialaneix 2017: n. pag.). 5 Magda ’ s final return to her sister Lilo at the end of the story symbolises her reintegration into the diurnal world. Visually, the work is enchanting, with its beautiful illustrations dominated by a chiaroscuro effect that creates a dazzling contrast between the nocturnal darkness and the clarity of the lunar rays. Magda ’ s rite of passage also symbolises a gradual introduction to the German language for a French-speaking reader, as this translingual picture- 5 I have traveled, just like you. I come and go. I help the ocean to move and the plants to grow. Nature is always changing [my translation]. 106 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="107"?> book devotes increasing amounts of text to the German language. The first part, up to Magda ’ s departure, is written entirely in French, as is the beginning of her adventure, when she goes out into the garden at night to begin her search for the moon. In this translingual picture book, each language is represented by a different colour: the German passages are in black, the French passages are in grey. On pages with black or dark blue backgrounds, representing the darkness of the night or the depths of the sea, the German text appears in white and the French text in light grey. With this artistic effect, the text blends in perfectly with the illustration and participates in it through its chromatic dimension. The German text first appears when Magda meets a large grey owl in the garden. This first change of language takes place in the dialogue, as the owl speaks German and Magda speaks French: Ce sont les yeux ronds d ’ un grand hibou ! French: These are the round eyes of a big owl ! - Bonsoir, je suis à la recherche de la lune ; l ’ avez-vous vue ? French (Magda) : Good evening, I am looking for the moon; have you seen it ? - Entschuldige, wonach suchst du? German (Owl): Sorry, what are you looking for? Figure 2: Dialogue between Magda and the Owl (Lunes, eine mondlose Nacht; Vialaneix 2017, n. pag., © Kidikunst) Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 107 <?page no="108"?> The encounter between Magda and the owl creates a situation of intercomprehension. Moreover, the communication between the two monolingual speakers is facilitated by a non-verbal body language that allows for intersemiotic translation: the French text accompanying the dialogue between Magda and the owl describes the gesture of the girl who draws a moon with her arms. This gesture of non-verbal communication facilitates the recognition of the referent (the moon). Magda ( … ) dessine un grand cercle de ses bras, et pointe son doigt vers le ciel étoilé. French: Magda ( … ) draws a large circle with her arms and points her finger to the starry sky. The owl ’ s understanding is accentuated by an exclamation: “ Oh, der Mond! ” German: Oh, the moon! - Entschuldige, wonach suchst du? German (owl): Sorry, what are you looking for? - La lune! French (Magda): The moon ! répond Magda qui dessine un grand cercle de ses bras, et pointe son doigt vers le ciel étoilé. [French : answers Magda who draws a large circle with her arms and points her finger to the starry sky.] Oh, der Mond! German (Owl): Oh, the moon! Vielleicht ist er im Wald hinter dem Garten ? German (Owl): Maybe he is in the woods behind the garden? hulule le hibou. French: hoots the owl. In the next translingual passage, the direct speech appears in German, while the narration continues in French. Thus, in this case, the code-switching is motivated by a discursive change (direct speech vs narration). As the direct speech shows, Magda and the white plastic buoy she encounters floating in the ocean both speak German. This does not seem to make sense, as Magda only spoke French in her previous conversation with the owl. On the other hand, speaking German could be one of the wonderful new skills she will have acquired by the end of her journey. But Magda is only halfway there … Hallo, ich bin auf der Suche nach dem Mond! German: Hello, I am looking for the moon! crie Magda à la bouée, en dessinant un croissant de ses doigts. French: Martha shouts at the buoy, drawing a crescent with her fingers. 108 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="109"?> Hm, der Mond ? Vielleicht befindet er sich in der Nähe des Ozeans ? Komm, ich bring dich dahin! German: Hum, the moon? Maybe it is near the ocean? Come on, I will take you there! glougloute la bouée. French: the buoy gurgles. Au milieu de la vaste étendue d ’ eau, il fait noir et un peu froid … French: In the middle of the expanse of water, it is dark and a little cold … Ich kann den Mond nirgendwo sehen … German: I cannot see the moon anywhere … Warte, schau doch mal näher hin, dit la bouée. German: Wait, take a closer look French: says the buoy. Once again, Magda ’ s gesture ( “ drawing a crescent with her fingers ” ) uses nonverbal body language (or intersemiotic mediation) to make her request clear. The third type of code-switching corresponds to a discursive differentiation between free indirect speech (expressing Magda ’ s thoughts) and narration. Des milliers de petits points phosphorescents French : Thousands of small phosphorescent dots apparaissent et se mettent à danser autour d ’ elle. French : appear and begin to dance around her. Winzige Lebewesen! German: Tiny creatures! Oooohhh, exclamation in French or German s ’ écrit Magda émerveillée. French: exclaims Magda in amazement. The German exclamation “ Winzige Lebewesen! ” ( “ Tiny creatures! ” ) could be interpreted as free indirect speech, integrated into the syntactic continuity of the French narration and expressing Magda ’ s thoughts on a semantic level. This discursive shift is characterised by language alternation. So far, we have distinguished three different principles that cause language alternation in this translingual picturebook: 1. Dialogical alternation in direct speech (Magda / the owl) 2. Discursive alternation between direct speech and narration (Magda and the buoy / narration) Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 109 <?page no="110"?> 3. Discursive alternation between free indirect speech and narration (Magda ’ s thoughts / narration). From the middle of the story, we can also observe language mixing, before the text ends exclusively in German. The first intrasentential event takes place at the level of narration: the sentence is split into two octosyllabic halves - the first in German, the second in French - linked by a continuous assonance in [a], which underlines the mystery of the nocturnal water spectacle. The sentence marks a break within a continuous movement: Une lueur balaye alors French: A glow then sweeps across die Oberfläche des Wassers. German: the surface of the water. Although this mid-sentence code-switching seems to produce a poetic effect (a rhythmic balance created by the succession of two octosyllabic units, as well as the presence of a suggestive assonance), this effect is not clearly motivated at a semantic or narrative level. It is possible that the creation of a mysterious melody, produced by the mixing of languages, announces Magda ’ s entry into the “ underwater kingdom ” . On a socio-cultural level, however, this phenomenon does not correspond to the natural speaking practice of a bilingual, as one might say in the case of French-German translanguaging: Une lueur balaye alors la Oberfläche de l ’ eau or Une leur balaye alors la Wasseroberfläche. On the following two pages, the code-switching continues at the narrative level: inter-sentential language alternation is followed by intrasentential language mixing, which becomes increasingly arbitrary. The following sentence shows intrasentential code-mixing between the nominal group “ la petite porte rouge ” (French: the little red door) and its determinative complement in the genitive case “ des Leuchtturms ” (German: of the lighthouse). Magda s ’ en approche et frappe à la petite porte rouge French: Magda comes over and knocks on the little red door des Leuchtturms. Keine Antwort. German: of the lighthouse. No answer. Elle frappe encore et attend. French: She knocks again and waits. Although this phenomenon is interesting and has a pedagogical purpose, i. e. to show the construction of the German genitive “ des Leuchtturms ” , it does not correspond to the natural linguistic habit - the linguistic practice, or the 110 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="111"?> ‘ feeling for language ’ - of a bilingual speaker, who would borrow the German word “ Leuchtturm ” (lighthouse) and leave the article in French: Magda s ’ en approche et frappe à la petite porte rouge du Leuchtturm. Keine Antwort. This more natural version of French-German translanguaging, which allows the bilingual speaker to draw from a single bilingual repertoire, retains a French syntax, in which the borrowed noun “ Leuchtturm ” [lighthouse] is embedded. Such a configuration would not require a visual change of colour or line, because the two languages would truly merge into a single translingual idiom, imitating a natural bilingual discourse. As several researchers have observed, translanguaging has a certain grammatical logic. For example, Timm (1975) identified the constraints of Spanish- English code-switching by distinguishing between sentences that bilingual speakers consider well-formed (e. g., The students habian visto la película italiana) and those that sound unnatural (e. g. The student had visto la película italiana). Researchers who have followed these discoveries (Poplack 1980, Myers-Scotton 1993, MacSwan 2000) have convincingly demonstrated that code-switching, like all linguistic behaviour, is governed by certain constants and rules. As a result, reading a translingual picturebook can prove to be quite challenging, as each occurrence of code-switching can have grammatical, discursive and poetic effects on the reading process and on the comprehension of the narrative, which may or may not follow the natural flow of bilingual discourse. 5.3 A Migration Narrative The linguistic and narrative universe of the translingual picturebook Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019) is defined by its translingual title, which combines a German and a French part and can be translated into English as The Scream. The Migrant Wolf. Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 111 <?page no="112"?> Figure 3: Book cover of Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, © Kidikunst) and The Scream (Munch 1893) The German part of the title, Der Schrei [The Scream], alludes to an important cultural intertext: the title of the scream alludes to the expressionist work of the same name by the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, The Scream (1893). This aesthetic intertextuality requires a textual, visual and intercultural reading. While Edvard Munch ’ s painting symbolises an existential crossing of borders - the screaming figure is depicted on a bridge over a river - the theme of migration evoked in the translingual picturebook also alludes to this. The narrative and semantic correspondence between the two works, which present the scream as an expression of suffering, is enriched by an aesthetic link: The illustrations in the picturebook are also Expressionist in style, recalling the extravagant colours of Evard Munch ’ s paintings. On the other hand, the French part of the title: Le loup migrant ( ‘ The migrant wolf ’ ) alludes to another cultural and literary heritage, the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood (Rotkäppchen in German and Le petit chaperon rouge in French). The classic figure of the fearsome wolf with his sharp teeth is evoked in a humorous way at the beginning of the picturebook: Je suis tout poilu, j ’ ai les dents pointues Je les aiguise chaque jour, pour mieux effrayer Je les brosse aussi … 112 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="113"?> French: I ’ m all hairy, I have sharp teeth I sharpen them every day to scare better, I even brush them … As the story unfolds, however, the frightening wolf of the fairy tale becomes a suffering figure, as in Edward Munch ’ s Expressionist painting. He becomes a migrant wolf, a refugee, an outcast, lost in a nowhere outside of society. Desperately, he states: “ and in this new world, without papers, it is simply impossible to exist. ” This loss of identity of the anonymous migrant who has lost his identity is illustrated by the grey and brown migrant figures sitting in front of the tree: Figure 4: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) The interplay of image and text in this translingual picturebook promotes a multimodal way of reading: text and illustrations must be decoded in a complementary and transsemiotic way, leading to the acquisition of multimodal literacy. On the following page, linguistic and visual signs are integrated into the illustration, which is transformed into a linguistic landscape that develops the narrative on both the textual and visual sides. Multimodal literacy, i. e. the decoding of a combination of textual and visual signs, is also addressed in the following example, where a textual sign is incorporated into the illustration, thus inducing a second level of narration. Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 113 <?page no="114"?> The inscription “ Troumpville ” , which is depicted above the café, is representing the name of the town, where people discuss in coffee shops: “ Man spricht in Cafés darüber ”… But why is this town named “ Troumpville ” ? In fact, on the previous page we read in French and German: The great president of this concrete forest is a troumpe. A troumpe is a big pig with a snout, bigger than all the others. It is a little like an elephant, but looks dumber and, above all, meaner. With his trumpet he sucks in everything that can bring him wealth … Figure 5: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) Figure 6: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) 114 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="115"?> This is, of course, a humorous and subversive reference to the former American president Trump, who diabolically embodies the capitalism he criticises. In addition, the name Troumpe is a play on the French word trompe, which refers to an elephant ’ s trunk. This play on words explains why Mr Troumpe is depicted in the form of an elephant. Collage has already been identified by researchers as a subversive technique in the postmodern picturebook (Rijke 2018). In this translingual picturebook, we can see a powerful example of how collage transforms illustration into a linguistic landscape (Daly 2019) that develops a secondary narrative discourse and subversively critiques Western capitalism, as suggested by the words “ force de vente ” and “ marketing ” , and the graphs of financial development on the skyscraper and the tablet held by the running sheep: Figure 7: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) Multimodal literality as transsemiotic reading is also addressed in the following passage, where collage creates a visual intertextuality that visually links literature and geography, and more specifically, the narrative context of migration to the geographic map of the Arctic Ocean: Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 115 <?page no="116"?> Figure 8: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) / / Geographical map of the Arctic Ocean In the following example, the collage of a geographical map gives a spatial, but also a historical and cultural dimension to the migration experience. It evokes the experience of migration as a crossing of the Mediterranean between the African and European continents, developing a secondary visual narrative that runs parallel to the translingual text. Figure 9: Geographical map of Africa / / Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) However, visual intertextuality also promotes intercultural aesthetics, as the following illustration seems to be inspired by the famous Japanese painting The Great Wave by Hokusai: 116 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="117"?> Figure 10: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) / / The great wave (Hokusai 1830) Acquiring visual literacy therefore means decoding visual narratives that have a cultural background. Such a transsemiotic reading activity promotes intercultural learning. The last passage shows that visual intertextuality can also link literature to history and thus address critical literacy. Through the collage, contemporary migration flows from Africa are linked to the historical slave trade and its associated racial theory. This visual palimpsest adds thematic and narrative depth to the picturebook story and encourages critical thinking and reflection on historical events and contexts: Figure 11: Der Schrei. Le loup migrant (Seiler 2019, n. pag., © Kidikunst) / / Historic depiction of the slave trade Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 117 <?page no="118"?> The collage technique creates a double narrative discourse through the dialectical interplay of different visual layers. The semiotic and semantic interaction of the two narrative discourses - the visual and the textual one - stimulates critical reflection within the multimodal reading process. Finally, translingual reading also means encountering challenging words that allude to foreign cultures. The mixing of codes is evident in the following translingual sentence, which begins with a spatial reference in German and continues with the French description of the wolf who becomes the storyteller. Abends, um den Baum herum / il raconte les histoires de sa forêt perdue : On l ’ écoute comme un griot ! German: In the evening, around the tree French: he tells stories of his lost forest: we listen to him like a griot! The word “ griot ” is actually an African word. It refers to the oral storyteller who tells stories to the inhabitants of the African village in the evening in the shade of a tree. The scene here is an example of the continuation of this African tradition in the refugee and migrant camp. The figure of the griot, the storyteller, also introduces a metanarrative and reflexive dimension to the picturebook story, as the storytelling wolf becomes a narrative avatar of the storytelling adult who reads the picture book to the listening child. Translingual reading can thus be linked to intercultural learning, as the reader is confronted here with an African tradition indicated by the word “ griot ” . Challenging intertexts such as the Brothers Grimm ’ s fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood, Edvard Munch ’ s expressionist painting The Scream and Hokosai ’ s Japanese painting The Great Wave form the aesthetic and cultural background of this picture book story. This rich palimpsest shows that Der Schrei. Le loup migrant is indeed a cross-over picture book that offers food for thought both to children and adult readers. 6 Conclusions The passages presented from the three translingual picturebooks show the great pedagogical potential of this literary genre. As we have seen, translingual picturebooks promote four different forms of literacy. Firstly, reading translingual picturebooks contributes to the development of multilingual literacy through the acquisition of literacy in two languages. Translingual picturebooks increase the linguistic sensitivity of bilingual learners by making them aware of the aesthetic and poetic effects of language alternation (code-switching) and language mixing (code-mixing). These two 118 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="119"?> phenomena can be interpreted as pedagogical translanguaging in its written form. Secondly, translingual picturebooks promote the development of multimodal literacy because they stimulate reading in two semiotic systems by combining visual and textual elements. In this process, collage techniques can create a secondary visual narrative that challenges the intersemiotic reading process. Thirdly, we see translingual picturebooks as holistic works of art that promote literary and aesthetic literacy and encourage engagement with a cultural heritage. The challenging cultural intertexts of crossover picturebooks, often in the form of collages, stimulate an intersemiotic, intertextual and intercultural reading process. Fourthly, translingual picture books can also promote critical literacy. For example, in Der Schrei. Le loup migrant, the collage of historical documents on the slave trade and race theory - echoes of which still permeate current discourse on migration - can convey critical discourses that raise young readers ’ intercultural and socio-political awareness. Finally, the two languages used in the translingual picturebooks broaden readers ’ cultural horizons and offer new opportunities for intercultural learning. Lexical challenges that incorporate otherness, such as the African word griot for ‘ storyteller ’ , lead to a reflexive and metanarrative way of reading and demonstrate the linguistic and cultural complexity of translingual picturebooks. The linguistic, literary, aesthetic and cultural potential of translingual picturebooks can therefore contribute to an innovative pedagogical approach to holistic, creative and enjoyable language learning and teaching in multilingual and multicultural contexts. References Primary Sources M UNCH , E. (1893). The Scream. Oslo: National Gallery of Norway. S EILER , P. (2019). Der Schrei. Le loup migrant. Translation by S. Maurer. Schiltigheim: Kidikunst. T ORRES , L. (1993). Subway Sparrow. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. T ROYES , C. de (1985). Perceval or the Story of the Grail (1190). Translation by R. Harwood Cline. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. V ERGEZ , S. (2018). Sag mal, comment on fait les animaux ? Translation by B. Hyvert. Schiltigheim: Kidikunst. V IALANEIX , M. (2017). Lunes … eine mondlose Nacht. Translation by S. Maurer. Schiltigheim: Kidikunst. Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 119 <?page no="120"?> Secondary Sources A RIZPE , E. & Styles, M. (2016). Children reading picturebooks: Interpreting visual texts. London/ New York: Routledge. B LAND , J. (2020). Using literature for intercultural learning in English language education. In: Dypedahl, Magne & Lund, Ragnhild Elisabeth (Eds.): Teaching and learning English interculturally. Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 69 - 89. B LAND , J. (2016). Picturebooks and Diversity. Children ’ s Literature in English Language Education Journal 4(2), 41 - 64. B ROWN , S. & H AO , L. (Eds.) (2022). Multimodal Literacies in Young Emergent Bilinguals: Beyond Print-centric Practices. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. B ULL , G. & A NSTEY , M. (2019). Elaborating Multiliteracies through Multimodal Texts. Changing Classroom Practices and Developing Teacher Pedagogies. London: Routledge. C ANAGARAJAH , S. (2006). Toward a Writing Pedagogy of Shuttling between Languages: Learning from Multilingual Writers. College English, 589 - 604. C OPE , B. & K ALANTZIS , M. (2009). Multiliteracies: New Literacies, New Learning. Pedagogies: an International Journal 4(3), 164 - 195. C UMMINS , J. (2013). Current research on language transfer: Implications for language teaching policy and practice. In: Siemund, Peter (Ed.): Multilingualism and language diversity in urban areas. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 289 - 304. D ALY , N. (2019). The linguistic landscape of multilingual picturebooks, Linguistic Landscape 5(3), 281 - 301. D ALY , N., Limbrick, L. & Dix, P. (Eds.) (2018). Children ’ s literature in a multiliterate world. London: Trentham Books. E LLIS , G. (2016). Promoting ‘ Learning Literacy ’ through Picturebooks: Learning How to Learn. Children ’ s Literature in English Language Education 4(2), 27 - 40. G ARCIA , O. & L I , W. (2014). Translanguaging. Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave: Macmillan. G RIESSHABER , W. (2014). Erst- und zweitsprachliche Mittel bei der (un-) konventionnellen Gestaltung von Texten. In: Kruse, Norbert; Ehlich, Konrad; Maubach, Bernd & Reichardt, Anke (Hrsg.): Unkonventionalität in Lernertexten. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 109 - 131. H ARTMANN , E. (2021). Lunar Journeys. Investigating translation in multilingual picturebooks, Translation Matters 3(2), 92 - 109. H ARTMANN , E. (2020). Les albums bilingues : de la traduction à la bilittéracie, Nouveaux Cahiers d ’ Allemand. Revue de linguistique et de didactique 38(2), 193 - 212. H ARTMANN , E. & H ÉLOT , C. (2021). The Three Robbers in Three Languages: Exploring a Multilingual Picturebook with Bilingual Student Teachers. Journal of Literary Education 4, 174 - 195. H ASSET , D & C URWOOD , J. (2009). Theories and practices of multimodal education: The instructional dynamics of picturebooks and primary classrooms. The Reading Teacher 63(4), 270 - 282. H AWKINS , M. & M ORI , J. (2018). Considering trans-perspectives in language theories and practices, Applied Linguistics 39(1), 1 - 8. 120 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="121"?> H EGGERNES , S. L. (2019). Opening a dialogic space: Intercultural learning through picturebooks. Children ’ s Literature in English Language Education 7(2), 37 - 60. H ÉLOT , C., Sneddon, R. and Daly, N. (Eds.) (2014). Children ’ s Literature in Multilingual Classrooms. From multiliteracy to multimodality. London: Trentham Books. I BRAHIM , N. (2020). The Multilingual Picturebook in English Language Teaching: Linguistic and Cultural Identity. Children ’ s Literature in English Language Education Journal 8(2), 12 - 28. I SBELL , R., S OBOL , J., L INDAUER , L., & L OWRANCE , A. (2004). The effects of storytelling and story reading on the oral language complexity and story comprehension of young children. Early Childhood Education Journal 32(3), 157 - 163. J EWITT , C. (2009). The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis. London/ New York: Routledge. K HARKHURIN , A. (2012). Multilingualism and creativity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. K RESS , G. (2010). Literacy in the new media age. London/ New York: Routledge. K RESS , G. & V AN L EEUWEN , T. (1996). Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge. K ÜMMERLING -M EIBAUER , B. (2013). Interaktion von Bild und Text im mehrsprachigen Bilderbuch. In Gawlitzek I. & Kümmerling-Meibauer, B. (Eds.): Mehrsprachigkeit und Kinderliteratur. Stuttgart: Klett, 47 - 72. L EWIS , D. (2001). Reading contemporary picturebooks. Picturing texts. London: Routledge. M AC S WAN , J. (2000). The architecture of the bilingual language faculty: Evidence from codeswitching, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 3(1), 37 - 54. M ASTELLOTTO , L. (2021). Developing Young Learners ’ Multiliteracies through Multimodal Storytelling. In: Bratoz, S., Kocbek, A. & Prihih, A. (Eds.): Pathways to Plurilingual Education. Koper: University of Primorska Press, 253 - 267. M AY , S. (2014). The Multilingual Turn. Implications for SLA, TESOL, and Bilingual Education. London/ New York: Routledge. M OURÃO , S. (2015). The potential of picturebooks with young learners. In: B LAND , Janice (Ed.): Teaching English to young learners: Critical issues in language teaching with 3 - 12year-olds. London: Bloomsbury, 199 - 217. M YERS -S COTTON , C. (1993). Dueling Languages: Grammatical Structure in Codeswitching. Oxford: Clarendon Press. N EW L ONDON G ROUP . (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review 66, 60 - 92. N IKOLAJEVA , M. & Scott, C. (2001). How Picturebooks Work. New York: Garland. O ITTINEN , R., K ETOLA , A. & G ARAVINI , G. (2018). Translating Picturebooks. Revoicing the verbal, the visual, and the aural for a child audience. London: Routledge. O MMUNDSEN , A., H AALAND , G. & K ÜMMERLING -M EIBAUER , B. (Eds.) (2022). Exploring Challenging Picturebooks in Education. International Perspectives on Language and Literature Learning. London: Routledge. P OPLACK , S. (1980). Sometimes I ’ ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español: Toward a typology of code-switching, Linguistics, 18(7 - 8), 581 - 618. Crossing Linguistic, Cultural, and Semiotic Borders in Translingual Picturebooks 121 <?page no="122"?> R EHBEIN , J. (2016). Textuelle Literalisierung - mehrsprachig. In: R OSENBERG , P. & S CHROEDER , C. (Eds.): Mehrsprachigkeit als Ressource in der Schriftlichkeit. Berlin: De Gruyter, 267 - 304. R IJKE , V. (2018). A juxtaposition of signifiers: radical collage in children ’ s literature. Journal of Literary Education 1, 26 - 38. S ERAFINI , F. (2010). Reading multimodal text: Perceptual structural and ideological perspectives. Children ’ s Literature in Education 41, 85 - 104. S IEGEL , M. (2006). Rereading the Signs: Multimodal Transformations in the Field of Literacy Education. Language Arts 84(1), 65 - 77. S IEGEL , M. (1995). More than Words: The Generative Power of Trans-mediation for Learning. Canadian Journal of Education 20(4), 455 - 475. S IPE , L. & P ANTALEO , S. (2008). Postmodern picturebooks: play, parody, and selfreferentiality. New York: Routledge. S NEDDON , R. (2009). Bilingual Books - Biliterate Children: Learning to read through dual language books. London: Trentham Books. T IMM , L. (1975). Spanish-English code-switching. El porqué and how-not-to. Romance Philology 28, 473 - 482. V ALLEYO , C. & D OOLEY , M. (2020). Plurilingualism and translanguaging: emergent approaches and shared concerns. Introduction to the special issue. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23(1), 1 - 16. W IELER , Petra (2018). Sprachlich-ästhetische Literaturerfahrung als Beitrag zur Identitäts- und Sprachentwicklung jüngerer Kinder. Leseräume. Zeitschrift für Literalität in Schule und Forschung 5(4), 35 - 48. 122 Esa Christine Hartmann <?page no="123"?> II. Interculturality <?page no="125"?> Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School - with Special Thanks to Emahoy, Rilke and Tagore David Weir 1 Interculturality as a Set of Theoretical Concerns and a Locus of Problematic Exposure The notion of culture can be variously defined but as a working social scientist, my understandings and writings about culture have been mediated by the “ thick description ” of Geertz (1973) and the interpretive meaning framework of Clifford (Clifford 1988, Clifford & Marcus 1986) and my teaching by the helpful catechisms of Beattie (1964). In common-sense terms, the term is more broadly defined along the lines of appreciating ‘ culture ’ as what one does naturally without too much ratiocination. Intercultural understanding seems to be in a good place at the current moment in terms of growth in interest, publications and citations being hailed on many platforms as a probable cause of much international misunderstanding and, a fortiori, as a possible cure for many international problems. For many social scientists, cultural differences are now held to be among the main explanations for the way the human world functions (Breidenbach & Nyíri 2009: 9). However, a lack of agreed theory is held against the intercultural area as a scholarly body of knowledge, although in practice there appear to be a wide range of suggested theories with many intersecting strands including intercultural education, training, and study abroad with which this chapter is concerned although a fuller treatment must recognise the interconnectedness of all of these strands (Croucher, 2011), Croucher, Sommier & Rahmani 2015: 71; Arasaratnam 2015: 290). There is a long pedigree across many disciplines and cultures for these topics and it is a recognisable trope in many scholarly disciplines. <?page no="126"?> 1.1 The Role of the Stranger Simmel (2008), seen as the originator of the concept of ‘ the stranger ’ , claimed that in normal social life, any contact with newly met individuals exposes both parties to the vulnerable potential for each to recognise the other as stranger. Interculturality brings the recognition that this stranger role is known everywhere and is an element of all networks of practice that are bordered by variable and penetrable boundaries. Simmel (2008) also introduces a subtle and sophisticated understanding of the co-evolution of physical and social space into the creation of new social forms symbolising “ the man who comes today and stays tomorrow - the potential wanderer, so to speak. ” (Simmel 2008: 1) The tropes of illusion and evasion are present in these symbolic urmythological attributes of the stranger. While the stranger may confuse and be confused about expected rules and behaviours (Simmel & Mosse 2016) and, in a real-life situation, need time to adjust to a new culture, the role of stranger offers pedagogical opportunity, as well (Rogers 1999). Some cultures recognise the stranger as playing a special role in the transmission of intercultural knowledge; and in Islamic literature, there is special recognition for a traveller ’ s account of a journey (especially the Haj, the pilgrimage for the purpose of completing the required visit to the Holy Places of Islam). This journey is called a Rihla and this term denotes both the narrative and the journey itself and the Rihla of Ibn Battuta (Gibb & Beckingham 1994) is one of the great books of world literature and a foundational text of cultural ethnography. 1.2 The Culture Theory Jungle Culture can be defined as a system of inherited conceptions implicating communication, and knowledge-generation. (Geertz 1973) while Schutz (1967) stressed the natural attitude of the ‘ life-world ’ in which a person operates as an ordinary, ‘ normal ’ member. For Business School curricula, the work of Hofstede (2001) has possibly had most contemporary impact This research was based on a sample of IBM managers located in different countries, and identified a number of aspects of culture that can be measured: Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance, Masculinity/ Femininity, Collectivism/ Individualism, Short-term or Long-term Time Orientation and, in a later analysis, Indulgence/ Restraint. In combination, these dimensions are claimed to measure these differing foundations of belief form the basis of a significant distinction between major configurations in particular cultures (Hofstede 1986, 2001). 126 David Weir <?page no="127"?> Hofstede ’ s framework has been critiqued by McSweeney (2002), Holden (2002) and Myers & Tan (2002), among others, who find the essentialist conception of cultures questionable in ignoring existential barriers between technologies and modalities of thought and expression from one period to another. McSweeney ’ s (2002) critique is even more fundamental in that he doubts whether countries can map clearly onto cultures and that a relatively small group of employees from one single organisation could not possibly be representative of other collectivities within which there is much diversity and impermanence. Townsend, Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner (2009) point to Hofstede ’ s reliance on binary thinking and zero-sum assumptions and prefer to adopt a dimensional analysis that differs from that of Hofstede not merely in the dimensions identified but in their interpretations of what ‘ cultures ’ are and how they may change and evolve. This slightly different list identified Universalism/ Particularism, Individualism/ Communitarianism, Specificity/ Diffusion, Neutral/ Affective, Sequential Time/ Synchronous Time, and Internal Direction/ External Direction as Core Dimensions. Nardon & Steers (2009) hint at some bitter scholarly confrontation around these attempts at categorisation, and it is not the intention of this short chapter to add fuel to any of these flames but to note that it is probably dangerous and unnecessary for pedagogic support to rely too uncritically on this type of research as though it was universally accepted, unchallengeable or irreversible. There is no “ last word ” in cultural arenas. 1.3 Formation for Interculturality In the Anglo-Saxon discourse, it is generally acceptable to distinguish explicitly between the concepts of ‘ education ’ and ‘ training ’ , but in this chapter, we reject this in favour of the French term of formation to include both aspects within the umbrella understanding of Éducation intellectuelle et morale d ’ une personne, préparation à un métier. There is a somewhat worrying undercurrent understanding in some of the specialist discourse of management development and training that the field of cultural difference represents an issue, a set of problems, something to be recognised, encountered and dealt with. In Management Education, it is argued that failure to do this represents a testing-ground and agenda that International Business ought to be concerned about, maybe even scared of, because any failure to realise its threats could lead organisational leadership to have to fight battles in even more dangerous waters. But interculturality is not only a problem but an opportunity. Interculturality is normal. Recent research into the intercultural behaviour of managers in Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 127 <?page no="128"?> supposedly quite distinct managerial cultures has continued to produce unexpected and sometimes counter-intuitive conclusions such as those of Yamagishi who finds that the commonly held notion of cross-cultural differences between Japanese and Americans the former being collectivists and the latter individualists cease to exist once all theoretically relevant factors are experimentally controlled. (Yamagishi 2003: 367) Methodologically, the essentialist approaches are being superseded by recognition of the differences implied by contextual features, and questionnaireappropriate shorthands are being rejected in favour of the complexities required in the decoding of complex cultural scenarios. These demand sensitivity to multi-level, polytemporal, multi-faceted complex interactions and interpretative theoretical development that increasingly relies on systems models involving feedback, evolution, iteration and both adaptive and exaptative innovation. The interplay of cultural factors and the demand and use of auditing systems shows that the causality of these relationships and the direction of the influences is complex and situationally-derived in practice. (Kachelmeier & Shehata 1999) Interpersonal networks and informal influence are especially powerful forces in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and China (Hutchings & Weir 2006), and their importance in management training and development in those contexts is now more generally accepted. Most empirical studies of network relations do not touch too strongly on cultural aspects, though there is important work on mathematical modelling and symbolic representation of networks that should be better known among ethnographers, referenced in Horak (2022). Intercultural management training courses tend to underplay the significance of informal networking and the appropriate competences and skill-sets as distinct from the assumed skill-sets either behaviourally available in their host cultures or in the available resources of the social structures in which these agents are situated. A relevant feature of social systems that relates to culture is that they tend to be autopoietic in that changes of features can occur without necessarily entailing changes in structure (Luhmann 1990). Nonetheless, from a pedagogic perspective, the lack of a core theoretical structure around a coherent ‘ discipline ’ may count as a scholarly disadvantage in introducing a subject denoted as ‘ intercultural ’ into the rubric. Thus, if a pedagogy of systems of meaning is to be based on principles already achieved and at least minimally consensual, it becomes necessary at 128 David Weir <?page no="129"?> this point to base the pedagogy on other processes and on theoretical assumptions about self and other that are rooted in real action. 1.4 The Role of Underpinning Philosophy: From Self to Other There is a philosophical crisis in the theory of management at present, and an even more visible one in the practice of management. Many certainties have gone by the board and many isms have become wasms under the relentless critique of post-modernity. The essence of the job of the manager lies not in its definition but in its lack of it, not in its boundaries but in its boundary-lessness, the condition that leads to alienation and its anomie, and this is because the essence of management lies in its care for the life-chances of others and such commitments are in principle indeterminate. The responsibility for the other is boundless but under conditions of late capitalism, these responsibilities cannot be delivered. The other for whom one is responsible cannot be captured by egoistic taxonomy. The whole process of learning in society can be framed in terms of the requirement to resolve the tension between Self and Other. What philosophy can help us with our intercultural learning situation? We can usefully evidence three writers, respectively Austrian-American, Scottish and French: The Austrian philosopher and social phenomenologist Alfred Schutz (1967) points out how interpretation is involved even in selecting a single experience out of one ’ s own stream of experience and highlighting how the meaning of an action to an actor depended upon the project guiding the extended temporal process of the sub-acts leading to its realisation. Schutz ’ s Other breaks out of Cartesian dualism and introduces the possibility of a social science of relationships, distinguishing Consociates who share the same time and spatial access to each other ’ s bodies, Contemporaries with whom one shares only the same time, and Predecessors and Successors. Management formation deals directly with Consociates, whose behaviours are framed by prior experiences with Predecessors and expectations of dealing with Successors. The Scottish philosopher John MacMurray (1961) moves beyond Cartesian dualism to understand minds and bodies in terms of personal agency in which the real world is defined by action, framed by ideas but always related to a Personal Other (MacMurray 1961: 122). Our third philosophical positioning comes from the Lithuanian, Jewish, French writer Emanuel Levinas, and in understanding his interpersonal roots, we may provide a way back to a new discourse of management that comprehends the questions from which, as Levinas claimed, the ‘ first ’ philosophy flows. (Peperzak, 1993). Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 129 <?page no="130"?> Now, I submit that management is indeed a universal activity in its ethical dimension that is present, recognised and honoured in all societies that we know of and which, stripped of its temporal baggage of late-capitalist trappings, can be understood as essentially what Aquinas knew as ‘ the cure of souls ’ . For managers, this responsibility for others stretches into unpaid overtime and extends beyond specific prudentiality for the owners ’ financial interests into the un-restricted care for all stakeholders. This responsibility is not in practice constrained by organisational or even professional boundaries but extends infinitely to recognise that unreachable other for whom the manager ’ s responsibility is infinite. We now require our scholarship to comprehend the various ways of managing that do exist and to move away from the flaccid and tendentious othering, implicit in terms like development, modernisation and globalisation, that has bemused us with its apparently ethics-free positivism and its serious elision of the diversity of relationship and practice. In these three philosophical proposals, we may find a stronger basis for a pedagogy of intercultural management than is presently available. It is to do with reshaping the potentially dangerous ‘ others ’ into comprehensible consociates, appreciating their moral claims as supervening ones ’ own egoism and understanding the need to grasp the need for equality of mutual respect between others as persons. 1.5 Intercultural Formation for Whom? Members of an international MBA programme offered in a country in which one is oneself a stranger have a heightened sense of themselves as persons, unique and both prepared to understand the role of stranger and to embrace it as a learning opportunity; if they approach these new challenges in the guise of missionaries only from the perspective of their own formation, they will tend to fail both here and later in their journey. The formation of managers into interculturality ought to be based on these understandings of the stranger, the person, the other encountered in the natural situations and language of the everyday encounter. The ‘ Natural Attitude ’ is the working mode for people and therefore that pedagogy leaves focussed specialism for specialists but natural learning involves reflection on natural experience. These situations, if they are to be survivable, need to respect the knowledge-bases and normal behaviour of others in normal situations of encounter. In these natural contexts, formation becomes informally and implicitly embodied in behaviours that permit the unlocking of previously held frames and unconscious dispositions (Greene 1973: 1). 130 David Weir <?page no="131"?> Pedagogy need not be based on the exposition of formal theory the appropriate theories of organisation and culture, so we need to enquire whether it is helpful to interrogate the ontology of the human agents involved in intercultural transactions and whether the conventional sociological models of role, status, network and organisation are adequate for intercultural learning. Even some elements of personal biography, of autobiography, of dream data that appear unquestionable when first encountered in natural, real experience. Per contra, historically in Japanese society, the pillow dictionary method has been recommended. This useful concept comes from the ancient Japanese practice of furnishing those who are about to get married with an illustrated book demonstrating the techniques of conjugal sexual relations. The second definition of this term is that of a sexual partner who also serves as a native informant or language teacher for an outsider. An approach to improving intercultural behaviour through the registration and enumeration of competences appears prima facie attractive, and building management training through aiming to at least learning to build on competent performances is quite well-established, and there are good examples to follow. But competent performance works best when driven by unconscious agency rather than by assumed role-play. If competence in demonstrating set routines is the final objective, what is lost is the basis for the autopoietic mutations that constitute new learnings, new behaviours, new experiences in new encounters. 2 The Coffee Shop as a Practical Pedagogic Frame of Natural Attitude in Practice In this section, we are concerned with discussing an appropriate pedagogy for knowledge as practice and in sharing practice that seems to work and so needs to be fluid and situationally responsive. People who voluntarily enter higher education institutions in other cultures than their own may in fact be distinctly different from those who choose to stay within the institutional structuring of their cultures of origin. Often they appear to resemble those who move as managers in mid-career from one cultural scene to another, a behavioural syndrome we have elsewhere characterised as ‘ protean ’ (Crowley Henry & Weir 2007), changing shape and form to respond to situational variation. In the next section, we start to think about how this line of approach can work out in the intercultural classroom when preparing students whose career plans and learning journey are intended to fit them for international business, Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 131 <?page no="132"?> such as are typically found in international business schools. Such students have embarked voluntarily and are engaged in a learning career (Goodlad 2007, Bloomer & Hodkinson 2000) in which emergence is a central feature, as originating intentions are moderated by subsequent experiences and transitions are sometimes celebrated as evidence of burgeoning personal maturity. International talent management consultants note the role of curiosity, determination to explore new experiences, mindfulness to the experience of the moment, of playing the ball that is right in front of you (McKinsey 2023) and cultivating the celebration of “ dancing the orange ” (Rilke 1923: page number? ). Sometimes the learning career profits from serendipitous opportunities. As the late-running would-be concert goer shouted as he jumped into the taxi “ Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall? ” , only to be surprised when the driver replied “ Practice, Practice, Practice! ” . But mobility is essential to learning as Bairner points out there is a pressing need to re-assert the educational value of going for a walk … These are walking for religious reasons, walking as a form of political protest, walking as a shared experience with strangers and walking as a way of understanding the world around us. (Bairner 2011: 371) Walking is a trivial activity, but it is universal and relatively uncomplicated and thus an obvious site of learning at any age. It covers a wide range of experiential possibilities and can be learned. Rufus Thomas (1964) suggests “ If you don ’ t know how to do it, I ’ ll Show you how to walk the dog ” . But the dog introduces strong possibilities of intercultural difference so in pedagogical settings leave the dog at home and with C. C. Peniston (1992), just Keep on Walking! Later still you may be ready to Keep on Running with The Spencer Davis Group (1966). Walking is a central concept in interculturality because it generates the possibility of encounter. In order to have effective intercultural communication, it is essential to overcome and manage stresses and tensions around the role of the stranger, who is an individual who appears to be conceptually unfamiliar. Therefore, during an intercultural communication such as can occur during an international MBA group, the individual often experiences anxiety along with uncertainty (Neuliep 2012). Anxiety can be the result of negative expectations the stranger has about the host culture. On the other hand, uncertainty may be the result of the stranger ’ s reluctance about the hosts ’ behaviour and feedback (Gudykunst 1998). Anxiety Reduction occurs not by avoiding uncertainty but by accepting uncertainty as a parameter of all social interaction and by participating in 132 David Weir <?page no="133"?> cooperative performances that work successfully, hinting that not to know is essential to new knowledge, whereas not to want to know because someone ’ s theory rules out the questioning is unacceptable and creates inevitable failure. In any type of organised structure of human action there must be a cultural dimension and these combined features may distinguish families, ethnic groups, peer groups, age groups, religious or political bodies, as well as business firms and differing industries and sectors, for example. Spender (1989) applied a Schutzian framework to draw out and explicate the phenomenon that when different groups of managers talk of ‘ the market ’ or ‘ the customer ’ , they may appear to be identifying the same objects of comprehension, some which may appear to confirm theoretically-derived expectations but actually indicate that these speakers are talking of different realities (Spender 1989). The immediate experience of the active, mindful, normal member of a culture interfacing with others whose prior experience has been similar but different because their cultural origins are different is an authentic and real source of knowledge of how that culture works and can give insight into how agency works there. Intercultural pedagogy should reflect the otherness of both student and teacher and their own needs and experience as both Self and Other. A passage that will be known by many as a prayer attributed often to the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr reads “ O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, the courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the one from the other. ” There is scholarly disagreement, of course, as to whether it really originated in Niebuhr or in a diary note made by Winnifred Crane Wygal who may or may not have got it from Niebuhr (Wygal 1940). Nonetheless the quote says something of essential importance that is best learned through the experience of finding out what works for oneself in practice. For both the Hofstede and Trompenaars models, and probably for many others, there exist useful training guides and proprietary techniques and instruments for classroom use and management presentations. One training consultancy claims with some laughable precision that its programmes can improve the strength of your organisation ’ s culture by 62 %. The modesty of this claim is stunning. Why can the “ strength of your organisation ’ s culture be improved by only 62 % one wonders … why not faster than a speeding bullet? For some exponents of these proprietary pedagogic delivery systems, this approach may sell soap or assure the buyer that the brown liquid is really Shinola, but ultimately overenthusiastic snake-oil sales talk must be quite boring for the teacher and the classroom. Cultures are not changed by a week ’ s training course! Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 133 <?page no="134"?> So on taking up a new post in 2001, as a (the) Professor of Intercultural Management in a serious HE institution, a French Grande École de Gestion, designing my own approach for tackling the intercultural aspects of management and business, it seemed to me that it was relevant and important to do something different and hopefully to break new ground, and thus to create a pedagogic situation in which participants could enjoy trending into a different level of phenomenological reality. As I planned my programme of a subject in which at that time there were rather few textbooks to compare with and build on, I reflected that it would be a case of the ‘ blind leading the blind ’ but that this itself could be a pedagogic advantage. In another place, Hoey elaborates this line of thought as he reflects on his ethnographic fieldwork because the people with whom I worked were seeking personal insight and engaged in sense-making in a very purposeful way. Among other things, they wanted to know if what they were doing made sense to others and they wanted to learn what meaning their decisions might have in the broader social and cultural context that they believed I might - given my posture as a social scientist - understand somehow more fully or even, perhaps, dispassionately than them. (Hoey 2020) In terms of intercultural learning therefore an important question is what it means to encounter the other in ways that recognise cultural differences without reducing the other to a representative of a predefined or stereotypical understanding of a cultural community (Skrefsrud 2022: 230). The default position is to attempt not to build from a probably restrictive theoretical posture but to let things in the classroom alone and drift a little towards spontaneity in order to confront situations of an everyday nature and see and listen to whatever develops from these common-sense situations. If students feel the need to generalise from their own experience and that of their peers, they can do so. However, the teacher does not need to offer any wider theoretical supporting explanations at this time but to treat these learning points as interesting, original and worthy of attention, while the members of the class can claim some responsibility for co-creating what they have mutually experienced in the classroom. This allows for both challenge and response and permits the venture into talking and listening; telling and hearing may develop later but according to the norms of conduct that have been agreed in what Gherardi & Benozzo (2021) call the ‘ not-yet ’ situation in which shadow learning is infinitely possible. At this stage a personal reflection of my own experience in the first year of secondary school broke into my reflexive sense. We were in woodwork class, 134 David Weir <?page no="135"?> instructed to plane a small block of wood about 16X8X4cms; we were instructed in the uses of the plane, the pencil and the clamp. After a few minutes of vigorous planning, the teacher visited my bench to examine my work. ! … “ what have you done here, Weir? ! ” He shouted “ it looks like a bloomin ’ aeroplane propellor! ” . “ Sir, Sir ” I answered “ I was trying to get it smooth and planed! ” “ Boy ” came the answer “ it was smooth and planed when it came on to your bench. What you ’ ve done has not improved it; You ’ ve made it worse … It was all tight but for a bit of trim. Throw it in the waste and take another piece. ” This is a cautionary reminder that students are usually basically all right when they enter the classroom: something is working already, it can be improved, but it can be made worse. The first session of the post-graduate course in Intercultural Management starts with the classroom floor cleared of desks, chairs and the paraphernalia of its diurnal, proper usage as a classroom; it is a space. As this is a class explained in the programme description as optional but counting for credit, this is usually a surprise to the students. What is supposed to happen here? Initially it seems to be a bit of a mess as there is usually a full house; the students ’ informal networks have worked to let them understand that this is an OK class, no one seems to fail and everyone seems to enjoy the experience, the Prof is a bit different, English but not stuffy. After the drifters have arrived, there seems to be a viable number in the space. Some may even go out, bring back a coffee or just come back in again. Then the Prof speaks: “ Hi, everyone! Welcome! Yes, this is the class in Intercultural Management, Welcome! Bienvenue! ” Some students add their own versions: “ Wilkom, Benvenido, Sejam Benvindos …” . At this stage we can put these variants of the common meaning up on the board or screen. This usually provokes a waving of hands and claims for the adding of another personal version; this can segue into informal discussions of the variety of these words. Then the Prof says, “ We are going to work together but first, we have to be introduced. This is a working situation. But I don ’ t know all of you though I have seen some of you around. So you have to introduce yourselves. We won ’ t do it all at once but as it happens. Meantime, as some of you have coffee, you can do this yourselves. If any of you others want to go for a coffee, go out now, bring it back and as you move around find someone to talk to. Just talk and listen, and keep moving on if you want but maybe get around two or three people and then we ’ ll talk. Carry on. ” This sorts itself out. Some keen-eyed well-organised planners and focus demons understand immediately that this may be all a trick so they may either shout out “ What is the point? ” , “ What do we really have to do? ” , “ Is it a test? ” or “ How are we Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 135 <?page no="136"?> graded? ” Or they may shrug, realising that they recognise someone, maybe from their lycée in Paris or maybe someone of the other sex who looks promising. These all go their own way and do their self-directed thing. After a while, we debrief. The Prof asks, “ Does anybody want to say who they talked with? The only rule is that nobody speaks for themselves. You just have to present another, someone you got to know about this morning. ” The room goes silent until someone pipes up: “ This is Jed, he ’ s American but he doesn ’ t play Baseball, he doesn ’ t do American Football. He ’ s not a Jock! ” “ That ’ s what you call those guys, isn ’ t it, Jed? ” The tutor plays the ball that he has just been passed. Now we are up and running. We could go round the room; we now know this is a room of others. We have to learn some stuff, sure, but listening is the focus and sometime in the next few weeks, one of the class usually comes up with a suggestion that we have a slightly more formal session on listening skills. For today, we can suffice with a short acronym on the white board; often this is OARS. It is an old shorthand from the Arthur Andersen playlist of programmes for accountants to improve their communication. OARS stands for O for Open Ended Questions, A for Acceptance Cues. There isn ’ t a right or wrong here! There is just the need for Attention to and Acceptance of what the other guy or girl is saying. The R can be Respect, Respect, Rephrase, whatever the class advises. By now, the room is full of experts, everyone has Space here to Strut their Stuff. “ Is that what the S is for, Sir? ” Some wag suggests it ’ s for Sir; of course ” this raises a laugh until someone points out that Sir actually moved through the space also pairing with talkers, also listening, Actually the most useful S is Silence which enables “ if you don ’ t have anything to say, don ’ t say it! ” Now the atmosphere has become a little more interested and supportive. Class members are more relaxed. As you move through the field of play, you hear snatches of conversation like “ I am from France my name is Laurence. Laurence is the feminine form, the male gender being a Laurent. ” The ‘ best prepared ’ class members who have met their ‘ real science with numbers ’ paradigms, maybe through a course in social psychology, are often those who evince the most discomfort with silence. In one class, we were favoured with a participant who had a Bachelor ’ s degree in Social psychology from a highly rated Dutch University, who mounted cogent critiques of Hofstede, Trompenaars and the rest because of their weaknesses in ‘ measurement science ’ . At first, he caused genuine grief to some of the class because he seemed to know more than the Professor, which he possibly did. We shuffled along awkwardly together as he adjusted to worry about how “ a guy as smart as you, Sir who has even published in some A-list journals ” 136 David Weir <?page no="137"?> should be prepared to waste his life on mock coffee shops, listening more than talking and mock negotiations. By the end of the session, he was working with a group who had clearly found him hard going, and we were all getting on affably, as you do. He went back to the Dutch multinational that had sponsored his year with us to a job in charge of international recruitment for which he asked me to write a reference that evidently worked. That was that, I supposed; but over a year later, he wrote to me with interesting news. The message is lost now but the sense of it was this: Hi Dave, I had meant to write to you for a long time but I need to tell you that I left the Netherlands company after a couple of years. It was a great job but boring and rather restricting. But I did remember that session in the class when we organised a discussion around a Middle Eastern diwan idea; that worked well. Anyway I took a leap of faith and now I work in a Chinese bank in Shanghai … . The diwan is of course a culturally interesting phenomenon, and maybe, the organising principle can be seen as rather like a diwan in which personal mobility is the mechanism for making the leader available to subordinates through informal access (Weir 2008). This often gets the classroom discussion on to the value of non-verbal communication, and a follow-up note could involve the learning to be obtained through other kinds of learning in practice, through theatre, films, music and observation of the non-verbal protocols of communication, like gesture. So it may be appropriate to work on the English playwright, Harold Pinter ’ s reminder that We communicate only too well, in our silence, in what is unsaid, and that what takes place is a continual evasion, desperate rearguard attempts to keep ourselves to ourselves. (Coleman & Turner 2023). One day in discussion, a participant said “ You know, if everyone ’ s second language was Signing, a lot of things would be easier ” . In our classroom, we are trying to break down the communicative blocks and evasions that we have all, separately, learned to wrap around our persons. Signing is certainly an option. Sometimes, surprising new knowledge emerges from the identity work of the first few days. In connection with some other routine query like “ Surely all societies are based on the desire to increase wealth and consume desirable products, sir? ” , I had mentioned the much-quoted example of the Kwakiutl, a native Canadian tribe that esteems social esteem and status by the value given away in a potlatch rather than accumulated. The room went silent as the class digested this unlikely madness. Then one called out “ Hey, that ’ s the word I forgot to say when I introduced this guy last week, that ’ s what he is! ” He was and he gave the whole class a presentation later in the programme about Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 137 <?page no="138"?> Kwakiutl potlatch (Barnett 1938) giving away events “ like a garage sale but you put out your best stuff and stuff you want … that ’ s what we do … that ’ s what we are. ” This seemed an opportunistic opportunity for ‘ peripheral participation ’ (Wolcott 1996). So far, we didn ’ t bring the tables back, only some of the chairs. They were placed around the walls. That it is possible to learn from oneself and to problematise the role of teacher as an instrument to tackle the special status of being part of a culture in which one is embodied already, one can introduce as a serious scholarly ethnography a piece of semi-playful writing on the exotic Nacirema (Miner 1956).The Nacirema, a fictious society is the word America reversed. Emotion is not a problem in this kind of classroom setting because it occurs as it happens and emerges from a natural stance in contextual discourse and thus becomes contextualised and worthy of appropriate attention and can be rationalised in a shared understanding; when emotion is generated, this signifies that something is happening (Solomon 1978). And the morning and the evening were one day. A day and a week has rolled on. It is time for the next session. Surely after the professor has had some fun, it will be time for some serious work, maybe some Key Ratios, maybe something really useful that will push up the rate for a seriously excessive MBA salary in the international market? By now, the informal discussions between newly-met participants are starting to raise questions involving direct and indirect comparisons between say participants from North Africa and the Middle East or of the Mediterranean where these cultures intersect so theoretical framings around these regional interculturations become relevant (Peristiany 1966, Weir, Mangaliso and Mangaliso 2010, Weir 2017) So, next week we do some more coffee shop learning and we meet some more people. Now we know that we are going to be working together for a few weeks, there is more rotation of partners, better listening skills; we hear more open-ended questions, more acceptance, less cleverness, more useful silence. Around half time we get up to do another exercise. “ We are going to form into Teams, no fewer than five, no more than eight in a team. ” “ How do we do that, Sir? ” “ You do it yourselves. There are no formulae. Only one thing you have to be sure of. Everyone in the team has to be different in some significant way from everybody else in that team. No two people from the same town, or the same lycée, or on the same specialist programme. ” “ Sir, who are we going to play against? Barcelona or Liverpool? ” “ We ’ re not playing against. We ’ re playing with or in ” 138 David Weir <?page no="139"?> The Teams that emerge contain difference and diversity because the key criterion for team selection is a negative one, that no two members of a Team can be ‘ the same ’ and the definition of sameness is open to challenge by any other team. The notion of sameness quickly segues into a theoretical discussion, where other literature becomes relevant (Trost 1990). The texts from which we are working can now be interrogated and critiqued (Forey 2004). Difference is an obvious next connection as is the meaning of all this (Li & Brewer 2004). This procedural rule sometimes offers opportunity for wise-guy disassembly. “ Sir, that is statistically impossible! Half of us are French, you know that Sir! ” “ Yeah, but not the same French, are they? Are you telling me that Paris is ‘ the same! ’ as Nice, or Lille? ” “ Sir, you are ignorant! Nice is not really French, at all! These guys are Italians! They have their own Mafias, you know! ” By the time we have responded to an animated discussion on how many separate Mafias Nice possesses, we agree there are at least five Mafias around here. Meantime, in our not-yet class, we learned some more interesting stuff on comparative regional cultures in France, maybe in Europe. “ Sir, Sir, we are in a team! What is the activity going to be? ” “ Your team will decide that, together, but you can be thinking about what you want to do. But if you want to think about it, discuss it, maybe over a beer, nobody will stop you. ” “ Sir, will it be a competitive thing? Who will be the jury for that? ” Someone from another team may say “ Stop calling him Sir. Can we call you David? … Sir? ” (This is what we call ‘ hedging your bets ’ .) But the class agrees who the Prof is by name before they can move to identifying epithets. Naming comes first, no blaming should follow in classes that run in this style; we have all been involved, all have participated. There are some formal sessions in the spaces of the evolving emergence of the weeks, but they are not programmed as such but emerge as agenda from the interactions taking place in the communally owned space. The programme is autopoietic in the sense that the selection of the future emerges in the evolving agenda of the participants. In fact no two programmes emerge in quite the same way (Veloz 2021). In one session a participant averred that cultures were like clouds, in that they look solid enough but as they drift in the prevailing winds they change shape, losing and gaining mass and electrical potential which developed into a discussion on Thompson ’ s (1961) meteorological models In the third week, each team assigns itself a task although some Teams request guidance which the instructor must never give because this becomes a self-organising structure and process, the eventual outcome of which is that the other teams will understand who they are, what they want to get over and how they work together. Then each team gets into the programme for a time Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 139 <?page no="140"?> that is long enough to do what they want (this, of course, has to be negotiated with the other teams). The rest of the course then writes itself as does its operational basis, what has to be done. The outcomes are performances; often these involve eating because many teams focus along with building on food as a fundamental theatre of cultural difference and also of commonality (Levi-Strauss 2014, Montanari 2006). Quite often, music is involved, sometimes they are presented in the form of stage performances of mini-Rihlas in which the cultures of the participants are visited in sequences; sometimes they have been illustrated in mock negotiations. The work is graded, and grades are reported. Everyone in a team shares the grade of that team so these are collective outcomes. The grades offered to each team are discussed and agreed in a public process. No one ever challenged their team ’ s agreed grade. If Harold Pinter were to be a spectator of what occurs in these classroom settings, he might notice some silence, quite a lot of non-verbal communication and surprisingly little time being spent on discussion of topics like leadership, career progression or MBA salary differential, and this fits with what others have noted in Pinter ’ s plays in which he notes the ability of ordinary people to work out through narratives that are composed of the said and what is not said what has baffled their official leaders. In the intercultural classroom, mimicking a coffee shop, the expertise of the professor is not necessarily as advantageous as the visible evidence of the teacher ’ s shared ignorance, shameless and supportive of the co-creation of ways of getting by, of passing. The classroom, transfigured into a coffee shop, provides a learning opportunity for the emergence of the “ natural attitude ” claimed by Schutz (1967). Through new practices, new bases for identity emerge (Cupach & Imahori 1993), and in the shared community of wilful ignorance about what, if anything, has been intended by the professor or the syllabus as an outcome, the individual performers cannot be shamed and there is no requirement to feel guilt so both of Peristiany ’ s (1966) poles of guilt and shame are avoided. While the enumeration of the various bases of learning can be a useful part of learning theory, it is somewhat otiose in practice as persons tend to differ about what works for them and if it does work well for them, this is reinforced by the addiction of successful practice. It is further reinforced if it leads to competitive superiority over traditional behavioural models. Examples from athletics could include the Fosbury flop in high jumping or the reverse sweep in cricket. Learning a personal style of performance emerges from trial and error in contexts that both encourage and protect the individual ’ s first 140 David Weir <?page no="141"?> fumbling steps in front of others. All senses contribute to the understanding of social interaction and all are needed in the joint work of improving practice. Central to the life of this intercultural course is the ebb and flow of the processes of socialisation which as described thus by Simmel [ … ] takes place every day, every hour; social interaction among people continuously making connections and breaking them off and making them again, a perpetual flowing and pulsing. (Simmel 2009: 33) This flowing and pulsing is connected to the toing and froing involved in the work of translation, taking advantage of false starts and missed beginnings, with reflection intervening. Networks are formed in the practice of apparently procedural and unimportant interactions, but like many entered into at these stages of formation, these friendships may well turn out to become the bases for lifelong affiliation. Some cohorts stick together more than others, but the opportunity to form new bases for interpersonal alliances emerges as a new and useful behavioural skillset. How are we learning in this formation? By the way, we originally learned to eat our food, dress ourselves, get on the bus, line up for school lunch, by doing stuff; that is how we learn. In practice, as normality. The only test in our classroom is usage. It is a start. Thus, there is no need for a list of expected takeaways provided by the theoretical preferences of the professor or the biblical enumeration of the requirements of validating and accrediting agencies. The heavy theoretical reading can occur on demand and as situationally required. The agency is being encountered and forged in practice, and each individual person ’ s difference emerges as a property of that person and as a basis for subsequent learning. Reflective behaviour and negotiation skills usually arrive after a few sessions, as class members ask their own questions or explain their own issues around what they are encountering. These classes can move on to Hofstede v Trompenaars or Hofstede v McSweeney later, when it comes up in class in the natural attitude or when the important and relevant views of Hostede (1986) on cultural differences in teaching and learning are being discussed. This emergent responsive programming offers no theoretically-predetermined closure, no end of history (Fukuyama 1989) because it is continually evolving and resetting. What has been outlined in this chapter is an approach to intercultural learning that is open-ended and emergent and is not premised on any planned or desirable outcomes, still less on the instructional schemes that start from stereotypical assumptions and tend to proceed to questioning why certain Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 141 <?page no="142"?> cultures are right and others are wrong. In this intercultural space, we are using practices emerging from situations of encounter that do occur in international business and may well lead on to increasing awareness of difference in the context of how to recognise and deal with difference in practice. References A RASARATNAM , L. A. (2015). Research in intercultural communication: Reviewing the past decade. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 8(4), 290 - 310. DOI: 10.1080/ 17513057.2015.1087096. B AIRNER , A. (2011). Urban walking and the pedagogies of the street. Sport, Education and Society, 16(3), 371 - 384. B ARNETT H. G. (1938). The nature of the potlatch. American Anthropologist, 40(3), 349 - 358. B EATTIE , J. (1964). Other cultures: Aims, methods and achievements in social anthropology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. B LOOMER , M. & H ODKINSON , P. (2000). Learning careers: Continuity and change in young people ’ s dispositions to learning. British Educational Research Journal, 26(5), 583 - 597. B REIDENBACH , J. & Nyíri, P. (2009). Seeing culture everywhere: From genocide to consumer habits. Seattle: University of Washington Press. C LIFFORD , J., & M ARCUS , G. (1986). Writing culture: The poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. C OLEMAN , J., & T URNER , A. (2023). Lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons. (https: / / theconversation.com/ lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-play-how-silence-andbody-language-can-communicate-as-much-as-words200138? utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February% 2022 %202023 %20-%202550125635&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%2022 %202023 %20-%202550125635+CID_dc70ec6673ad8ee1aff5ce51abd7af09&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=Lemons% 20Lemons%20Lemons%20Lemons%20Lemons%20play%20 %20how%20silence%20and %20body%20language%20can%20communicate%20as%20much%20as%20words; 09- 04-2024). C ROUCHER , S. M., S OMMIER , M., & R AHMANI , D. (2015). Intercultural communication: Where we ’ ve been, where we ’ re going, issues we face. Communication Research and Practice, 1 (1), 71 - 87 (DOI: 10.1080/ 22041451.2015.1042422). C ROWLEY -H ENRY , M., & W EIR , D. (2007). The international protean career: Four women ’ s narratives. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20(2), 245 - 258. (DOI: 10.1108/ 09534810710724784. C UPACH , W. R., & I MAHORI , T. T. (1993). Identity management theory: Communication competence in intercultural episodes and relationships. In R. L. Wiseman & J. Koester 142 David Weir <?page no="143"?> (Eds.), Intercultural communication competence (pp. 112 - 131). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. F UKUYAMA , F. (1989). The end of history? The National Interest, 16, 3 - 18.: (http: / / www.jstor. org/ stable/ 24027184; ; 09-04-2024). G EERTZ , C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books. G HERARDI , S., & B ENOZZO , A. (2021). Shadow organising as dwelling in the space of the ‘ notyet ’ . Studies in Continuing Education. DOI: 10.1080/ 0158037X.2021.1900097. G IBB , H. A. R., & B ECKINGHAM , C. F. (1994). The travels of Ibn Battuta. London: The Hakluyt Society. G OODLAD , C. (2007). The rise and rise of learning careers: a Foucauldian genealogy. Research in post-compulsory education. Volume 12, Issue 1, March 2007, 107 - 120. G REEN , E. (2015). What are the most-cited publications in the social sciences? (http: / / eprints.lse.ac.uk/ 66752/ 1/ __lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_LSE%20Impact%20of%20Soc%20Sci%20blog_2016_May_What %20are%20the%20mostcited%20publications%20in%20the%20social%20sciences% 20according%20to%20Google%20Scholar.pdf; 13-02-2023). G REENE , M. (1973). Teacher as stranger: Educational philosophy for the modern age. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. G UDYKUNST , W. B. (1993). Toward a theory of effective interpersonal and intergroup communication: An anxiety/ uncertainty management (AUM) perspective. In R. L. Wiseman & J. Koester (Eds.), Intercultural communication theory (pp. 33 − 71). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. H OEY , B. A. (2020). Doing Ethnography to Connect, Exchange, and Impact. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Southern Anthropological Society (Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 58 - 98). H OFSTEDE , G. (1986). Cultural Differences in Teaching and Learning. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10, 301 - 320. H OFSTEDE , G. (2001). Culture ’ s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations (2 nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. H OLDEN , N. (2002). Cross-Cultural Management - A Knowledge Management Perspective. Harlow: Prentice Hall. H ORAK , S. (Ed.). (2022). Informal Networks in International Business. Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 231 - 240. https: / / doi.org/ 10.1108/ 978-1-83982-878-220221024. H UTCHINGS , K., & W EIR , D. (2006a). Understanding networking in China and the Arab World: Lessons for international managers. Journal of European Industrial Training, 30 (4), 272 - 290. H UTCHINGS , K., & W EIR , D. (2006b). Guanxi and wasta: A comparison. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(1), 141 - 156. J ENNINGS , J. L. (2000). Edmund Husserl. In A. Kazdin (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Psychology. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association and Oxford University Press. K ACHELMEIER , S. J., & S HEHATA , M. (1997). Internal auditing and voluntary cooperation in firms: A cross-cultural experiment. The Accounting Review, 72(3), 407 - 431. L I , Q., & B REWER , M. B. (2004). What does it mean to be an American? Patriotism, nationalism, and American identity after 9/ 11. Political Psychology, 25(5), 727 - 739. Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 143 <?page no="144"?> L UHMANN , N. (1990). The Cognitive Program of Constructivism and a Reality that Remains Unknown. In W. Krohn, G. Küppers, & H. Nowotny (Eds.), Selforganization. Sociology of the Sciences (A Yearbook), Vol. 14. Springer, Dordrecht. (DOI: 10.1007/ 978-94-017- 2975-8_5). M ACMURRAY , J. (1961). Persons in relation. Humanities Press M C S WEENEY , B. (2002). Hofstede ’ s Identification of National Cultural Differences - A Triumph of Faith, a Failure of Analysis. Human Relations, 55(1), 89 - 118. M C K INSEY (2023). The most fundamental skill: Intentional learning and the career advantage. (https: / / www.mckinsey.com/ featured-insights/ future-of-work/ the-mostfundamental-skill-intentional-learning-and-the-career-advantage: 17-03-2023). M INER , H. (1956). Body Ritual Among the Nacirema. American Anthropologist, 58, 503 - 507. M ONTANARI , M. (2006). Food is Culture. Columbia University Press. M YERS , M. D., & Tan, F. B. (2002). Beyond models of national culture in information systems research. The Journal of Global Information Management, 10(1), 14 - 29. N ARDON , L., & Steers, R. M. (2009). The culture theory jungle: Divergence and convergence in models of national culture. In Cambridge Handbook of Culture, Organizations, and Work (pp. 3 - 22). P ENISTON , C. C. (1992). Keep on Walkin ’ [Video file]. (https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=x0yQsS7fb7c ; 09-04-2024). P EPERZAK , A. T. (1993). To the other: An introduction to the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. Purdue University Press. P ERISTIANY , J. G. (1966). Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. P OWDERMAKER , H. (1966). Stranger and Friend: The Way of an Anthropologist. New York: Norton & Company. R ILKE , R. M. (1923). Sonnets to Orpheus. (http: / / search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx? direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=45620: 17-03-2023). R OGERS , E. M. (1999). Georg Simmel ’ s concept of the stranger and intercultural communication research. Communication Theory, 9(1), 58 - 74. S ABIDO R AMOS , O. (2017). The senses as a resource of meaning in the construction of the Stranger: An approach from Georg Simmel ’ s relational sociology. Simmel Studies, 21 (1), 15 - 41. https: / / doi.org/ 10.7202/ 1041335ar. S CHUTZ , A. (1967). The Phenomenology of the Social World. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. S CHUTZ , A., & L UCKMANN , T. (1973). The Structures of the Life-World. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. S IMMEL , G. (1950). The sociology of Georg Simmel. New York: Simon and Schuster. S IMMEL , G. (2008). The stranger. The Cultural Geography Reader (pp. 323 - 327). Routledge. S IMMEL , G. (2009). Sociology: Inquiries into the Construction of Social Forms. Leiden/ Boston: Brill. S IMMEL , G., & M OSSE , R. (2016). The Stranger. The Baffler, 30, 176 - 179. (http: / / www.jstor. org/ stable/ 43959216; 17-03-2023). 144 David Weir <?page no="145"?> S KREFSRUD , T.-A. (2022). The Buber-Levinas Debate on Otherness: Reflections on Encounters with Diversity in School. In H. V. Kleive, J. G. Lillebø & K.-W. Sæther (Eds.), Møter og Mangfold: Religion og Kultur i Historie, Samtid og Skole (pp. 229 - 247). Cappelen Damm Akademisk. https: / / doi.org/ 10.23865/ noasp.156.ch10. S OLOMON , R. C. (1978). Emotions and Anthropology: The Logic of Emotional World Views. Inquiry, 21(1 - 4), 181 - 199. S PENDER , J.-C. (1989). Industry Recipes: An Inquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement. Oxford: Blackwell. T HE S PENCER D AVIS G ROUP . (1966). Keep on Running [Video file]. (https: / / www.youtube. com/ watch? v=H6LVI1gDswg; 25-07-2023). T HOMAS , R. (1964). Walking the Dog [Video file]. (https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=Fw1KAlQSYjw; 25-07-2023). T HOMPSON , J. W. (1961). Meteorological Models in Social Dynamics: I. Concepts in Meteorology. Human Relations, 14(1), 43 - 49. T OWNSEND , P., T ROMPENAARS , F. & H AMPDEN -T URNER , C. (2009). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. Burr Ridge, IL/ New York: Irwin Professional Publishing. T ROST , J. (1990). Do we mean the same by the concept of family. Communication Research, 17(4), 431 - 443. V ELOZ , T. (2021). Goals as emergent autopoietic processes. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 9, 720652. W EIR , D. T. H. (2008). Cultural Theory and the Diwan. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 21(3), 253 - 265. W EIR , D. T. H. (2007). The Scope for Arab and Islamic Influences on an Emerging Afrocentric Management. In H. Van den Heuvel, M. Mangaliso, & L. Van de Bunt (Eds.), Prophecies and Protests: Ubuntu in Glocal Management (pp. 253 - 265). Amsterdam and Pretoria: Rozenberg Publishers-Savusa Press. W EIR , D. T. H., M ANGALISO , N., & M ANGALISO , M. (2010). Some implications of the Intercultural Approach to International Human Resource Management: Ubuntu and Ummah. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Meeting at Montreal. W OLCOTT , H. F. (1996). Peripheral participation and the Kwakiutl potlatch. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 27(4), 467 - 492. W YGAL , W. (1940). We Plan Our Own Worship Services: Business girls practice the act and the art of group worship. New York: The Woman ’ s Press. p. 25. Y AMAGISHI , T. (2003). Cross-Societal Experimentation on Trust: A Comparison of the United States and Japan. In E. Ostrom & J. Walker (Eds.), Trust and Reciprocity (pp. 352 - 370). New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Learning to Do Interculturality in a Twenty-First Century Business School 145 <?page no="147"?> A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations Wai Meng Chan 1 Introduction The notion of mediation in early research into intercultural language education is heavily influenced by the common understanding of the verb mediate, which is defined as “ to bring accord out of by action as an intermediary ” or “ to interpose between parties to reconcile them ” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online 2024). Byram (1997) sees it as a key attribute of intercultural speakers to be able to build and manage relationships between cultures, and to resolve misunderstandings and conflicts that may arise between them. In much the same vein, Risager (2007) calls the intercultural speaker “ a mediator between different people or groups in his or her outside world - an I-You-You relationship ” and “ an intermediary, an interpreter, a catalyst ” (ibid.: 234). More recently, drawing on ideas from the sociocultural theory (SCT) of learning and language development (e. g., Lantolf & Thorne 2006, Vygotsky 1978, 1986), researchers have expanded the understanding of mediation, which they also view as a series of cognitive activities that learners engage in when moving between different cultural frameworks and constructing new meanings when learning a new language and culture (e. g. Byram, 2012; Liddicoat, 2014; McConachy & Liddicoat, 2016). These activities take place on the intrapersonal plane, for instance, when learners attempt to make sense of and interpret new cultural knowledge, learn to decenter from their existing cultural understandings, and re-construct their own cultural frameworks and identities. Such processes also take place on an interpersonal plane, for example, when more knowledgeable others such as teachers or more proficient speakers of the target language (TL) guide and support learners in their construction of new linguistic and cultural meanings (Corbett 2020, Kohler 2015). Liddicoat, Derivry et al. (2023) point to the huge diversity in the conceptualisation of mediation, which often results from differences in research <?page no="148"?> paradigms, and argue for the need to understand and communicate the different notions and practices of mediation rather than to reduce them to a singular and restrictive definition. Yet, despite the increasing interest in intercultural mediation, there have been no studies that provide a comprehensive description of the various forms of mediation - including the contexts and situations in which mediation takes place, the events and activities that trigger and/ or accompany the mediational process, the mediators and subjects of their mediation, as well the purposes and the effect of mediation. The study presented in this chapter sought to analyse extensive qualitative data collected from language learners participating in foreign language study abroad in six different countries to shed light on and to systematically classify the various forms of mediation observed to create a taxonomy of intercultural mediations which will inform research and practice in intercultural language education. Previous research (e. g., Chan, 2020, Chan & Chi 2017, Chan, Chan, Chi, Klayklueng & Saito, 2020) has shown that foreign language study abroad can trigger and support learners ’ mediation activities and reflections, which will, in turn, contribute to the development of intercultural competence. 2 Intercultural Mediation and its Different Facets In outlining the nature and purpose of mediation, Zannoni (2020) espouses the view that “ intercultural mediation should prevent and manage conflicts, building bridges for reciprocal adaptation through processes of reciprocal and mutual act of understanding, reflexive action and collaborative practices ” (ibid.: 248 - 249). There is indeed a longstanding tradition in Europe to view mediation as an activity that is targeted at establishing and managing relationships between parties of differing cultural backgrounds, usually with the aim of preventing or resolving conflicts arising from differences in the perspectives and practices of different cultures. Byram (1997) sees this as a key goal of intercultural education: The intercultural speaker can use their explanations of sources of misunderstanding and dysfunction to help interlocutors overcome conflicting perspectives; can explain the perspective of each and the origins of those perspectives in terms accessible to the other; can help interlocutors to identify the common ground and unresolvable difference. (Byram 1997: 61) Similarly, Zarate et al. (2004) argue that it is important for mediators in foreign languages to identify cases and sources of misunderstanding and incompre- 148 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="149"?> hension, negotiate acceptance of cultural differences, decode and remedy visible and less visible conflicts, and foster harmony, tolerance and openness to other cultures in plurinational and plurilingual contexts. As is evident from the descriptions and quotes above, this notion of intercultural mediation is rooted in the idea of mediation as a process in an I-You-You constellation as described by Risager (2007) - or as mediation for others (Liddicoat 2014). Mediation occupies a central position in SCT, which situates learning in the interactions of the learner or novice with his or her sociocultural context, in particular, with more knowledgeable others or experts. Vygotsky (1978, 1986) posits that when people grapple with their experiences in and with the world they live in, they make use of symbolic tools, primarily language, both in their communication with more knowledgeable others and in their own inner thoughts to make sense of and to construct meaning out of these experiences. In this manner, learners construct new knowledge, develop higher mental functions, and acquire independence and agency in engaging with the external world (Liddicoat, Derivry et al. 2023). Learning is thus a social activity scaffolded by external mediators, such as a teacher who contributes to the creation of “ conditions necessary for constructing new knowledge ” and “ who understands what is known and unknown and who brings the learner across this zone with the use of appropriate tools, including language ” (Kohler 2015: 134). Kohler (2015) emphasises the significant mediating role of the foreign language in enabling learners to make sense of the new language and culture in relation to their existing linguistic and cultural knowledge frames. Mediation also takes place on the intrapersonal plane - mediation for self (Liddicoat 2014), for instance, when they interpret and connect new information with existing knowledge, reflect on what they already know or thought they knew, or integrate and reconcile new information with their existing reference frameworks. Ultimately, it is the learner who has to navigate “ between his/ her own language and culture and the unfamiliar, new language and culture ” (Kohler 2015: 141 - 142). Liddicoat, Derivry et al. (2023) similarly point to this extended perspective of intercultural mediation as an act of learning and “ a process through which learners learn to make and interpret meanings in languages and cultural contexts that are new for them and which occur in a context where an additional language and culture are the focus of learning ” . They do, however, not advocate limiting the notion of intercultural mediation to just this or any singular definition. Instead, they stress the need for an inclusive approach to the study of this concept and to recognise and accept the complexity and diversity that surrounds it. A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 149 <?page no="150"?> Recent research on the effect of foreign language study abroad on intercultural development has brought insights that strongly suggest that even short-term study abroad of several weeks and the interactions this enables with the target language (TL) communities (as more knowledgeable others and external mediators) can trigger and support learners ’ self-mediation as they learn to participate in and interpret the practices of these communities, and thus promote their intercultural development. There is evidence pointing to the positive contributions of the planned or incidental interventions of their interlocutors from the TL communities, ranging from instructors, student buddies, host families to casual passers-by, to the development of their ability to acquire and apply new linguistic and cultural knowledge, to interpret and connect it to their existing knowledge, to better appreciate cultural differences and decentre from their own cultural assumptions, to critically reflect on both the new and their own cultures, and to question, re-affirm and re-construct their own identities (Chan 2020, Chan et al. 2020, Chan & Chi 2017, Chan & Klayklueng 2018, Heinzmann, Künzle, Schallhart, & Müller 2015, Jackson, 2006, Schwieter & Kunert 2012). Despite the heightened interest in intercultural mediation in recent years, research on the nature and significance of this complex and multi-faceted concept is still in its early stages. To my knowledge, there has been, to date, no published study that sought to describe and classify the various forms that intercultural mediation can take, and to create a taxonomy of intercultural mediations. The study presented in this chapter was conceived to address this gap in and to achieve the following objectives: 1. To analyse and describe instances of intercultural mediation from empirical data collected from foreign language study abroad 2. To classify these instances of intercultural mediation to create a taxonomy of intercultural mediations 3. To investigate how the identified classes of intercultural mediation relate to one another 4. To investigate how the identified classes of intercultural mediation contribute to intercultural development Due to its limited scope, this chapter will focus and report only on the findings pertaining to the first two of these objectives. 150 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="151"?> 3 A Study for the Description and Classification of Intercultural Mediations 3.1 Context, Background and Informants The current qualitative study was part of a larger project on the effects of short-term foreign language study abroad on the development of intercultural competence. It was conducted at the language centre of a public university in Singapore. Since 2001, the centre has been organising annually non-compulsory short-term study abroad programmes of two to four weeks ’ duration in the TL countries. Currently, it offers these programmes in ten different countries in Europe and Asia for the following objectives: 1. to support students in the development of their communicative competence by exposing them to language instruction and authentic communicative situations in a native-speaker environment; and 2. to give students the opportunity to experience and participate in the TL cultures. The informants of this study were 28 students from different faculties and schools with a mean age of 21.4, consisting of 16 females and 12 males, 27 of them being undergraduates and one being a graduate student. These students attended study abroad programmes in six different countries from May to July 2015. All informants were volunteers who gave their informed consent to the study. Table 1 details the various TLs, as well as the sites, duration, and number of participants for these programmes: Languages Countries Cities/ Universities Duration No. of Informants Chinese Taiwan 1 university in Taipei 2 weeks 4 French France 2 language schools in Paris and Brest 4 weeks 6 German Germany 2 universities in Freiburg and Münster 3 weeks 6 Japanese Japan 2 universities in Kyoto and Tokyo 3 weeks 4 Korean South Korea 2 universities in Seoul 3 weeks 6 Thai Thailand 1 university in Chiangrai 3 weeks 2 Table 1: Study Abroad Programmes included in this Study A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 151 <?page no="152"?> 3.2 Data Collection 3.2.1 Journals Qualitative data were collected through weekly journal reports written prior to, during and after their study abroad experience. The journals provided the main body of thick data for this study. The first journal report was submitted at least three days before departure about the informants ’ previous overseas experience, their knowledge of the TL culture, their motivation and expectations for the study abroad programme, and any problems they might anticipate for the programme. Subsequently, during the study abroad programme, the informants submitted a weekly report on their immersion experience, including classroom and other activities, incidents and problems, contact with local people, insights into the TL culture, and feelings and perceptions in relation to the above. They were instructed, in particular, to report any new knowledge and perspectives they had gained about the TLs and their own native cultures. In the post-programme report, submitted within a week after the programme, they were asked to write about their feelings and perceptions with regard to the study abroad, including the instructional and cultural activities, accommodations, and visits. The informants were also asked to comment on new knowledge and perspectives they had gained about the TL culture, their own native culture, and themselves. 3.2.2 Interviews After an initial analysis of the journal reports, the 28 informants were invited to attend individual semi-structured interviews, aimed at verifying the findings from the analysis of the journal data, and at seeking supplemental information, where appropriate. In general, the interviews took place five to seven weeks after study abroad, and lasted between 40 and 50 minutes. They were audiorecorded and subsequently transcribed for analysis. 3.2.3 Activity Observation and Document Inspection Site visits, lasting between three to five days, were also conducted. During these visits, the researchers observed selected activities both in and outside the classroom, including instruction, project work, field trips and excursions, and interactional sessions with members of the local community (such as local students). Wherever possible, the researchers also met and had informal discussions with teachers and administrators of the respective programmes. Field notes were taken to document insights from the observations and discussions. In addition, relevant documents, including programme schedules, course curricula, and samples of instructional and informational materials, were collected and inspected. 152 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="153"?> 3.3 Data Analysis The analysis focused mainly on the journal and interview data. Where appropriate, the field notes from the activity observations and the inspected documents were referred to so as to support the interpretation of the journal and interview data. Instances of intercultural mediation identified in the data were coded and tabulated under the following rubrics: 1. Event/ Act This rubric refers to the event, act or episodes of related events and acts in which an instance or instances of mediation took place. It also includes information on the context, the circumstances surrounding the event or act, as well as the people involved in it. Each event, act or episode can include multiple instances of mediation. 2. Mediator The person(s) carrying out the mediation in a particular event or act. 3. Target of Mediation This rubric records if the mediation took place on the interpersonal plane and was directed at another or other persons (mediating for others) or on the intrapersonal plane directed at oneself (mediating for self). 4. Reason/ Purpose/ Effect of Mediation This rubric describes the motives that gave rise to the observed instance of mediation, the purpose it was expected to fulfil and/ or the effect it had. 5. Data Source This rubric specifies the data instrument(s) (i. e. the journal report number, interview etc.) from which the above information was extracted. 6. Classification of Mediation The classification of the observed instances of mediation is entered under this last rubric. The classification typically reflects - and is therefore coded according to - the reasons, purposes and/ or effects of the mediation. Examples are interpreting and making sense of new cultural information, critically appraising the new culture, re-constructing/ re-affirming one ’ s own values, beliefs and identity. For easy management of the voluminous data, a separate table was created for each of the informants. Coding was undertaken individually and separately by two members of the research team, who then compared their results and resolved any differences in the coding and classification. The interim results were then presented to other team members, and amended and finalised after detailed and lengthy discussions. In identifying instances of intercultural mediation, the study applied the inclusive approach to intercultural mediation proposed by Liddicoat, Derivry, A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 153 <?page no="154"?> et al. (2023) and looked at any interpersonal and intrapersonal activities and processes that: 1. support and enable the construction, co-construction and re-construction of cultural meanings in the learning of a new language and culture and/ or in contacts between two or more cultures; and 2. help in establishing and managing relationships, negotiating or restoring cultural meanings that provide common grounds for communication and exchanges, and/ or resolving conflicts and tensions between cultures. To create a taxonomy of intercultural mediation, the proposed classes of mediation were then grouped under larger headings that reflected the commonalities in these classes. 4 A Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 4.1 Overview The analysis uncovered over 1,500 instances of mediation in the data, which were coded, described and tabulated. Typically, each event or episode recorded in the analysis tables consists of multiple acts, which, in turn, contain multiple instances of mediation, as an example from the following journal excerpt shows (all names cited in the primary data are pseudonyms; primary data are not corrected for spelling or grammatical accuracy): Excerpt 1 Recycling: it ’ s apparently a major issue here. The first night in our host ’ s house [ … ] she pointed out twice (on separate occasions) that any trash must be separated into common trash, plastic, and paper. Paper and plastic was to go into bins set up in the cellar, and the common trash could be thrown in a bin in the kitchen. We were reminded that the bin inside our room is only for paper. In Singapore, it was a fairly common practice to recycle, but not to such an extent that we regulate the trash that we throw in the bedroom. So, this was an interesting practice that could indeed be emulated back home. In Singapore, there has always been an emphasis on the color of different recycling bins. However, this was not always the case here in Freiburg. The bins are not multi-colored and yet the emphasis that was placed on recycling was remarkably larger! It seemed like everyone here recycles! (Nadyah, Freiburg, Weekly Report 1) In this episode, two acts were identified. First, Nadyah ’ s host mother in Freiburg informed her about recycling practices in Germany and instructed her to separate and dispose of trash in the designated receptables. Two instances of mediation were coded here, namely 1) informing Nadyah about an important aspect of the local culture and 2) helping her to adapt to this 154 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="155"?> sociocultural practice. Subsequent to this, Nadyah reflected on this new information and the recycling practices in Germany, and engaged in the following instances of mediation: 1) She noticed the practices of a new culture (e. g. that everybody in Freiburg recycles); 2) she sought to interpret and make sense of her observations (i. e. of recycling and trash separation); 3) she connected new information with existing knowledge (by comparing the practices in Germany and Singapore); and 4) she appraised the new culture (expressing positive sentiments about recycling, as practised in Freiburg). Although she initially felt uncomfortable about the directness of her host mother in repeatedly reminding her to separate the trash, she expressed during the interview that she soon came to understand the importance of this practice from the Germans ’ perspectives: Excerpt 1 “ [My opinion] changed because I can see how important the environment was to them [ … ] so it made sense and I was glad that she, like, wanted us to do what they did [for recycling] ” . (Nadyah, Freiburg, Interview) She also said that, after the trip, she started making a more conscious effort to separate trash and to recycle in Singapore. This seems to point to two further instances of mediation, namely: 1) she learned to appreciate the Germans ’ emphasis on recycling and how they value the environment; and 2) she changed her perspectives to recycling and became more proactive in her recycling efforts. These individual instances were classified under 32 headings, which were further grouped under nine larger headings. These nine larger categories of mediation were then ascribed to the two top categories of Mediation for Others and Mediation for Self, which is consistent with the current view that intercultural mediation not only constitutes activities on the interpersonal plane (e. g., when scaffolding a learner ’ s construction of cultural meanings or managing relationships between cultures), but also encompasses processes on the intrapersonal plane (e. g., when self-mediating one ’ s construction and re-construction of cultural meanings). A taxonomy of intercultural mediations was subsequently constructed on the basis of the analysis. The following list details the structure of this taxonomy, and the various categories and subcategories of mediation identified (Fig. 1 for a schematic diagram of the taxonomy): A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 155 <?page no="156"?> A Mediation for others 1. Informing about culture a. Informing others about one ’ s culture b. Informing others about one ’ s language i. Informing others about one ’ s sociocultural practices ii. Informing others about grammar iii. Informing others about vocabulary c. Informing members of one ’ s own culture about a new culture d. Persuading others to adopt the practice of another culture 2. Scaffolding for adaptation to new culture a. Giving consideration to others ’ cultural practices b. Helping others to adapt to sociocultural practices in one ’ s culture c. Helping others to feel at ease in a new culture 3. Facilitating communication and culture learning a. Facilitating the discovery of the new culture b. Facilitating the connection of new cultural knowledge with existing knowledge c. Facilitating sociopragmatic development i. Instructed context ii. Non-instructed context d. Translating to facilitate communication 4. Establishing and managing relationships a. Managing tensions and intervening in conflicts between cultures b. Preventing stereotyping/ negative impressions of other cultures c. Learning to establish relationships with members of a new culture d. Seeking understanding and support for one ’ s cultural practices e. Showing sensitivity to others ’ cultural practices B Mediation for self 1. Knowledge uptake/ acquisition a. Observing/ noticing practices of a new culture b. Informing oneself about a new culture 2. Meaning-making a. Interpreting and making sense of new cultural knowledge b. Connecting new cultural knowledge with existing knowledge c. Reconstructing/ reaffirming one ’ s knowledge of the new culture 3. Critical appraisal a. Critically appraising the new culture b. Critically appraising one ’ s own culture 156 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="157"?> 4. Decentering a. Accepting differences and the different perspectives of other cultures b. Maintaining open attitudes towards other cultures c. Avoiding stereotyping/ negative impressions of other cultures d. Recognizing the influence of one ’ s cultural perspectives and knowledge e. Distancing oneself from one ’ s own perspectives, values, beliefs f. Understanding new cultural practices from the other culture ’ s perspective 5. Reflexivity a. Reflecting on and understanding one ’ s own culture b. Reflecting on and discovering one ’ s own identity c. Re-constructing/ re-affirming one ’ s own values, beliefs and identity In the following sections, I will describe and elaborate on the various categories of mediation that make up the taxonomy. Because of the limited scope of this chapter, I will focus mainly on the nine larger categories of mediation in this taxonomy (i. e. the headings A1 - A4 and B1 - B5), and elaborate on only selected categories on the next lower level (e. g. A1a - A1d) with the help of specific examples from the data. 4.2 Category A - Mediation for Others 4.2.1 Category A1 - Informing about Culture Providing the learner with information on the new culture is probably the most basic and direct means of initiating and scaffolding the construction of new cultural meanings. While the new information cannot simply be transferred wholesale to the learner, it may lead to a series of self-mediational processes and the (re-)construction of meanings - such as when the learner interprets the new information and connects it to related existing knowledge, and perhaps reflects on and appraises the new cultural practices he or she has just learned about. The mediators identified in the current data set are typically more knowledgeable others, including language instructors, host families, student buddies or student tutors assigned to the learners, who enlighten them about practices of their own cultures, and, sometimes, also the reasons behind these practices (Category A1a: Informing others about one ’ s own culture). In Excerpt 1, we had seen an example of Nadyah ’ s host mother informing and instructing her how to recycle and separate trash in her home. A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 157 <?page no="158"?> Figure 1: Intercultural Mediation 158 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="159"?> There are also a number of instances in the data where the students from Singapore informed the TL community about their home country and culture. In Excerpt 3, Jordan, in satisfying his host family ’ s curiosity about Singapore, informed them about school and family life, and more: Excerpt 3 Well, first of all, we spoke a lot. So they asked me a lot about Singapore. How life is like, how school life is like … um … what my family does on weekends or like, if I ever call my mum to ask … uh … how ’ s your mum doing, what do you normally do. Uh … so on that front I guess they get to learn a bit about that. (Jordan, Freiburg, Interview) Grouped under Category A1b are instances where one informs others about aspects of one ’ s language, including sociolinguistic features, grammar and vocabulary. While such information can technically be subsumed under culture, we decided to group them under a separate heading, because they clearly formed a distinct group related to language and language use. In the example in Excerpt 4, Steven was informed about the complexity of banmal or familiar speech in Korean: Excerpt 4 The Korean language lessons too have been insightful into the culture of the Korean people. We learnt in class how to use banmal, a variant of the Korean language that is used to those whom we have closer social ties with. As a consumer of Korean programming, I am aware of the existence of banmal, but it has proven to be more complicated than I thought. (Steven, Seoul, Weekly Report 1) There were also instances where the students shared with their families and friends about aspects of the new culture that they found notable (Category A1c: Informing members of one ’ s own culture about a new culture). For instance, Jordan, who was very impressed by how his host family values the time they spend together and would make every effort to go on outings or engage in activities together, decided to tell his family about this and to persuade them to do likewise (Category A1d: Persuading others to adopt the practice of another culture): Excerpt 5 [ … ] I ’ ve actually been talking to my family (in Singapore) about this, and we ’ re actually really excited to try to change some of our lifestyles to include more things like simply relaxing together at home, or trying to have more interactive activities as well. (Jordan, Freiburg, Weekly Report 3) (This is Excerpt 15 in your 2020 article.) A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 159 <?page no="160"?> 4.2.2 Category A2 - Scaffolding for Adaptation to New Culture Subsumed under this category are acts of mediation by members of the TL community to make the study abroad participants feel welcome and at ease, and to help them participate in the local culture as legitimate peripheral participants (Lave & Wenger 1991, also Chan 2020; Chan et al. 2020, Chan & Chi 2017, Chan & Klayklueng 2018). This category is therefore closely linked to the study abroad context of the current study, but would conceivably also apply in the case of other new arrivals in a new culture such as full-time foreign students at a university or new migrants in a foreign country. The mediators in the current data set are primarily members of the informants ’ host families, but also include language instructors, student buddies and other members of the local communities encountered incidentally. In Excerpt 6, Nadyah narrates how her host made considerable efforts to cater to her Muslim practices and dietary needs during the fasting month of Ramadhan (Category A2a: Giving consideration to others ’ cultural practices): Excerpt 6 As Muslims, K. (we have the same host family) and I were fasting for Ramadhan here in Freiburg. Having explained the situation to our host the first night we were here, she generally understood that we could only eat from sunset to sunrise (i. e. from around 2130h to 0300h, here in Freiburg). [ … ] Frau F. has been wholeheartedly supportive in terms of preparing food for us! From having dinner ready for us at 2130h, to laying out bread and rice after dinner for our supper [ … ]. She ’ s shown remarkable understanding of our Ramadhan practices [ … ]. (Nadyah, Freiburg, Weekly Report 3) In Excerpt 1, we had seen how Nadyah ’ s host mother taught her to separate and dispose of trash with the intention of helping her adapt to local recycling practices. This is an example of mediations in Category A2b Helping others to adapt to sociocultural practices in one ’ s culture. Another example was narrated by Jin in Chiangrai, who described how her instructor taught her and her classmates to address people in Thailand with familial terms to help them adapt to this common local practice: Excerpt 7 In one of our lessons, we also looked into the culture of calling strangers, older and younger, with familial terms. Thais regard people as their family, if they recognize them and as they help each other. (Jin, Chiangrai, Weekly Report 2) Not just the host families, but also other members of the local communities extended assistance to the students, making them feel welcome and at ease in 160 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="161"?> the new culture and environment (Category A2c: Helping others to feel at ease in a new culture), as in the example narrated in Excerpt 8: Excerpt 8 I like how the Chinese Muslim owners of the beef noodles restaurant and the Buddhist owners of the vegetarian restaurant at Ximending greeted me whenever I come to eat. They could remember my face by the second visit and became even more friendly when I spoke Mandarin to them. The old man of the Muslim beef noodles restaurant even tries to speak some English to me. I think it was not necessary for him to do that but I truly appreciate his sincere intentions and effort. [ … ] The owners of the vegetarian restaurant were quite helpful, especially in the first few days. They did their best to make me as comfortable as possible by smiling at me and being patient in helping me understand the menu and how to order food with them. (Abdulah, Taipei, Weekly Report 2) This example also illustrates how a particular act can in fact be coded under two or more categories of mediation, as it may be intended to serve multiple purposes or have multiple effects. In Abdulah ’ s mind, the kind gestures of the restaurant owners helped him feel comfortable in the new environment. At the same time, they were also informing him about the local culture (Category A1a), and by helping him to read the menu and to order food, they were aiding him in learning and adapting to the local practices (Category A2b). This shows how different categories of mediation may coincide or overlap to some extent and that the individual instances of mediation thus cannot be simply compartmentalised and assigned to singular categories - which clearly reflects the complexity and multifaceted nature of intercultural mediation in the real world. 4.2.3 Category A3 - Facilitating Culture Learning and Communication Most of the activities coded under this category were conducted in the context of the formal language and culture instruction that forms the core of the study abroad programmes, with instructors performing the role of mediators and providing tasks that facilitate their discovery of the new culture (Category A3a). These activities thus support and guide learners in learning about and understanding the new culture. For instance, in Münster, Deeraj and his classmates were asked to carry out interview tasks in their host families: Excerpt (9) [ … ] there were certain tasks where we were asked to interview our hosts on their … on the kind of food that they like to eat for different meals of the day and also about some of the holidays that they celebrate. (Deeraj, Münster, Interview) A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 161 <?page no="162"?> In another example, students in Tokyo were instructed to carry out elaborate group projects to collect information about aspects of the Japanese culture and to compare these with the Singapore culture. In addition to helping them discover the Japanese culture, the instructors were also guiding the students to relate the new culture with their native culture in order to interpret the new culture as well as to reflect on the differences between the cultures (Category A3b: Facilitating the connection of new cultural knowledge with existing cultural knowledge). In Excerpt 10, Yolanda writes about the differences she noticed in the karaoke culture in Japan and Singapore in the course of her project: Excerpt 10 [ … ] I realized that project work is a good time for me to interact constructively (rather than just at the personal level) about the differences in culture between Singapore and Japan. For example, my group chose the topic of “ linking the differences in karaoke cultures to national cultures ” . I realized how vastly different Singaporeans and Japanese behave in karaoke rooms. Even though the Japanese invented karaoke, Singaporeans have utilized karaoke in such a way that explicitly displays our character. [ … ] I find that really surprising and I am excited to delve further into exploring more differences (and similarities) in how Japanese people and Singaporeans behave. (Yolanda, Tokyo, Weekly Report 1) Previous research has argued that enabling discovery and exploration of the new culture (Byram 1997) and relating it to one ’ s own culture (Byram 1997, Kohler 2015, Liddicoat & Scarino 2013) are vital steps in culture learning and the development of interculturality. For Liddicoat & Scarino, “ comparisons [between cultures] provide a resource for reflection ” (2013: 61) and are “ a way of making sense of experience and understanding the experience from multiple perspectives ” (ibid.). Liddicoat & Scarino (2013) argue that interacting and communicating interculturally means continuously developing one ’ s own understanding of the relationship between one ’ s own framework of language and culture and that of others (ibid.: 57) Indeed, recent research into study abroad (e. g. Chan 2020, Chan et al. 2020, Chan & Chi 2017, Chan & Klayklueng 2018) has pointed to the pivotal role of learners ’ interactions with the TL community for their intercultural development. Activities facilitating the development of sociopragmatic ability (Category A3c) thus constitute one form of external scaffolding that helps build students ’ ability to interact with the TL community. Nadyah writes in Excerpt 11 about one such task: 162 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="163"?> Excerpt 11 One of the activities we did as part of the instructional part of the programme was to go out and interview people on the street. The theme of the interview was the multiculturalism in Freiburg. It was very interesting, prompting the use of the German language with native German speakers. (Nadyah, Freiburg, Weekly Report 3) Later, in her post-programme report, she lauds this and other similar tasks for having enhanced her ability to communicate: Excerpt 12 As a whole, the instructional part of the programme was well-rounded, multifaceted and was incredibly effective in boosting our confidence in speaking German to native Germans. ” There were also instances of this category of mediation in non-instructional contexts, for instance, when Yongshan (Seoul) interacted with the hosts of a guesthouse during an excursion trip, they corrected his language to ensure that he would learn to use the correct honorific forms and not accidentally use familiar language in non-appropriate situations: Excerpt 13 [ … ] the perspective of the Koreans being people that respect hierarchy a lot has not changed. When interacting with the host in my guesthouse I would get corrected for my language when speaking Korean, when I spoke in the informal manner. (Yongshan, Seoul, Pre-Immersion Report) 4.2.4 Category A4 - Establishing and Managing Relationships Grouped in this category are forms of mediation that contribute to the establishment and maintenance of a harmonious relationship between cultures - for example, by being sensitive to the practices of other cultures, applying appropriate strategies for relationship building, or intervening in conflicts between cultures. This is consistent with the view of some researchers (e. g. Byram 1997, Zarate et al. 2004) that intercultural mediation includes the ability to mediate between cultures by building and managing relationships, and identifying and resolving misunderstandings and conflicts. However, as the data for the current study were collected from study abroad programmes where the informants were mainly focused on the learning of the TL and its culture, not surprisingly, not many instances of such mediations were reported. There was, however, one incident that involved a dispute that was - in the eyes of the informant - at least partially rooted in differences between two cultures. Natasha was into the second week of her stay with a host family in Freiburg, when a housemate, a student from Japan who had rented her room A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 163 <?page no="164"?> for three months, decided to move out prematurely, without giving prior notice or discussing her problems with the host. It seemed that the lack of communication between her and her host, due in large part to her inadequate proficiency in German and the lack of another common language, had been troubling her and made her feel ill at ease during her stay. Both confided in Natasha about their unhappiness and respective viewpoints. Natasha surmised that differences in the Japanese and German cultures (one being more reserved and reticent, and the other preferring to be open and direct) had probably also contributed to the lack of communication between the two parties. In the following excerpt, she recounts her attempt to mediate between two parties (Category A4a: Managing tensions and intervening in conflicts between cultures): Excerpt 14 Numerous misunderstandings had apparently been cumulating between my host and my housemate, and I attribute it to the lack of a common language of equal proficiencies between the two parties. It resulted in a confrontation between the two of them, with my host seeking/ asking for an explanation of the sudden decision as well as the consequence of the rent, and my housemate refusing to yield and say anything to express herself. There was a lot of tension, and it made me feel uncomfortable and tense myself even though I was not directly involved. But it made me feel strongly enough to step in and explain to my host as well as my housemate that nothing was going to be accomplished if they continued on their current trajectory and so I got them to understand that another meeting would be required for the two of them to settle their issue because they would need somebody who could explain and translate for each of them. [ … ] But to me it also brought to light the severity of miscommunications as well as cultural differences the two parties felt. (Natasha, Freiburg, Weekly Report 3) Natasha sought the advice of the study abroad coordinator at the university in Freiburg and noted how the latter - and her host - was quick to try to reassure her that this single incident is not representative of Germans or the German culture as a whole (Category A4b: Preventing stereotyping/ negative impressions of other cultures): Excerpt 15 [I] have met with Frau P., our coordinator, to bring up the issue with her and then leave it to her. What I find striking is that both Frau P. and my host brought up concerns that they did not want me or my housemate to generalise the cultural differences and think that all Germans are like so. And I just felt like, why would they be so worried about what I may tell others about Germans. And I wonder if they think of us as people who stereotype or judge easily. (Natasha, Freiburg, Weekly Report 2) 164 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="165"?> Another form of mediation under this second level heading is Category A4c: Learning to establish relationships with members of a new culture. An instance of this was seen in Paul ’ s journal, in which he discusses the use of humour as a strategy for striking up conversations and building relationships with new acquaintances: Excerpt 16 Being constantly in situations where I am forced to make good impressions on acquaintances, get to know new people quickly, or try to make friends in a short time, I found that my ability to not take myself too seriously helped a bunch. By joking around with complete strangers, I find myself being able to get on friendly terms rather rapidly, and avoid being stuck in the dreaded situation of making boring small talk that neither party is particularly interested in. Humour ’ s great in how it can transcend language and cultural barriers, and gets everyone involved to be less formal and stiff in succeeding conversations. (Paul, Tokyo, Weekly Report 2) In Excerpt 17, Natasha, like Paul, also reflects on how she had learned that to respect other people ’ s perspectives, practices and beliefs is vital in developing her ability to communicate and build relationships with others: Excerpt 17 But I think I can see from another different perspective now. And I am learning to respect people ’ s different ways of doing, thinking and believing. Sometimes it really just takes time, and definitely living under the same roof in this case helped. But also my host family and I have a mutual understanding to be very clear and honest as to what are we like, just so we can respect the differences. It always helped that I explained why some of my behaviour was as such, and I would tell them that at home I would do it in a certain way, or explain my rationale for certain decisions. And they really take it in and see it from another perspective. (Natasha, Freiburg, Weekly Report 2) In the latter part of this excerpt, Natasha narrates how she would pro-actively explain her behaviours and decisions to her host, which appears to be a strategy for seeking other ’ s understanding and support for one ’ s cultural practices (Category A4d). We had seen another example of this form of mediation in Excerpt 6, where Nadyah took the initiative to inform her host of her fasting practices to seek permission to use the kitchen after 9 p. m. 4.3 Category B - Mediation for Self The majority of the mediational activities captured in the current data set fall under the category of mediation for self, which is in line with current research that underlines the fact that, even with external scaffolding from more A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 165 <?page no="166"?> knowledgeable others, learning has to be ultimately mediated and accomplished by the learners themselves. Mediation on the interpersonal plane triggers mediation on the intrapersonal plane (Vygotsky 1978, 1986), which is a sine qua non for the construction of cultural meanings (Liddicoat & Derivry et al., 2023). The abundance of data on learners ’ mediation for self is doubtlessly also related to the methodology of the study, for the bulk of the data was collected though learners ’ journals, in which they were asked to report on their experiences, feelings and perceptions, as well as any new knowledge and perspectives they had gained. As the data are largely introspective in nature, it was therefore not surprising that the analysis brought forth many instances of mediation for self. 4.3.1 Category B1 - Knowledge Uptake/ Acquisition The forms of mediation grouped under this category usually mark the start of the self-mediational process to (re-)construct cultural meanings. Observing the sociocultural practices of the new culture and noticing their salient features as well as similarities and differences to one ’ s own culture (Category B1a: Observing/ noticing practices of a new culture) is fundamental to culture learning and to deeper reflections on not just the new, but also one ’ s own culture (Liddicoat & Scarino 2013). Indeed, in the majority of the episodes documented in this study, observing and noticing a local sociocultural practice typically leads to further forms of mediation such as interpreting, connecting, critical appraisal, decentering and reflexivity, as the example in Excerpt 18 suggests: Excerpt 18 I was surprised to see Mr N. helping out Mrs S. for cooking. I always thought that Korea is a patriarchal country and that man would not do housework like cooking, washing the dishes or cutting fruits. Mr N. cooked a dish for dinner and cut lots of fruits for us during breakfast the next day. Mr N. also washed the dishes after breakfast. I think Korean drama is part of the reason why I would have such thoughts that man in Korea would not step into the kitchen. [ … ] I have also dropped my stereotype about man not stepping into the kitchen after the homestay. (Yen Shan, Seoul, Weekly Report 3) Yen Shan noticed how her host father was actively sharing the household chores with his wife, and related this observation to her existing notions about gender roles in Korea, gained from watching Korean TV dramas. It eventually caused her to re-examine and correct her previous beliefs. Learners may also take steps to inform themselves about the new culture (Category B1b), such as in the case of Yann, who - two weeks into his stay in 166 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="167"?> Paris - found himself becoming more and more interested in the French culture and started asking his host about it over dinner (Weekly Report 2). In another example, Samantha was trying to make sense of the rowdy behaviour of South Korean parliamentarians and approached her Korean student buddy for an explanation: Excerpt 19 Another thing I learned from the trip would be the political culture in South Korea. It is common for politicians to fight in parliament and I asked my Korean buddy why it is so. She jokingly told me that perhaps the politicians are really passionate in the topic they are working on. It then made me think about my home country ’ s politicians. Fighting is not a common culture in Singapore parliament and politicians make use of the debating platforms to express their views and discontent in a more civilised manner. [ … ] I came to realise it after the immersion and grew to understand that different societies have their own set of complicated domestic political affairs. (Samantha, Seoul, Post-Programme Report) Like in the earlier examples, her observations and the half-joking reply from her buddy triggered further forms of mediation - for instance, comparisons with the political culture in Singapore and the realisation of the differences in the Korean and Singapore cultures and the recognition that these are contextrelated. 4.3.2 Category B2 - Meaning-Making Ignelzi (2000) contends that “ humans actively construct their own reality ” (ibid.: 5), as they attempt to make sense of themselves, the people and the world around them, and to organise and give meaning to their experiences in this world. Kegan (1982) calls this process meaning-making, and views it as a basic human need and a means for the construction of reality - and of human perceptions and knowledge: The activity of being a person is the activity of meaning-making. There is no feeling, no experience, no thought, no perception, independent of a meaning-making context in which it becomes a feeling, an experience, a thought, a perception, because we are the meaning-making context. (ibid.: 11) Being immersed in the TL culture and experiencing its sociocultural practices at first hand required the students to constantly interpret and make sense of their new environment and experiences. Interpreting is at the core of their attempts to construct meaning out of these experiences (Liddicoat & Derivry et al., 2023), and not surprisingly, the meaning-making activities belonging to this category (Category B2a: Interpreting and making sense of the new culture; Category B2b: Connecting new cultural knowledge with existing knowledge; and A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 167 <?page no="168"?> Category B2c: Reconstructing/ reaffirming one ’ s knowledge of the new culture) are the most frequently observed and coded mediations in this study. As Excerpts 18 and 19 show, these three forms of mediation are closely interlinked and commonly occur in the same episodes. In Excerpt 19, Samantha ’ s immediate response to and the mechanism for interpreting the aggressive behaviour of Korean parliamentarians was to connect this with the parliamentary situation in Singapore. The findings of this study would therefore confirm Liddicoat and Scarino (2013) in their reasoning that “ in coming to engage with a new language and culture, a learner needs to connect the new to what is already known ” (ibid.: 57). In Excerpt 18, Yen Shan ’ s unexpected observation of her male host sharing the household chores led her to reexamine and re-construct her existing knowledge of Korean culture and gender roles. 4.3.3 Category B3 - Critical Appraisal Byram (1997) asserts that the ability to appraise a new or one ’ s own culture according to explicit criteria and reasoning is a key attribute that contributes to critical cultural awareness, an essential component of his model of intercultural competence. The intercultural speaker needs to be aware of his or her “ own ideological perspectives and values [ … ] and evaluates documents or events with explicit reference to them ” (ibid.: 64). Many instances of critical appraisals based on explicit reasoning were coded in the data. In Excerpt 20, Jordan compares the different family routines in Germany and Singapore after work. He explains why he felt highly positive about his host family ’ s practice of engaging in common activities in the early evenings (Category B3a: Critically appraising the new culture). At the same time, he laments how, on the contrary, families in Singapore would hardly find the time to interact in the evenings or even on weekends because of the longer hours of work (Category B3b: Critically appraising one ’ s own culture). Excerpt 20 An observation on how different the lifestyle of families can be here in Germany is the different times that people tend to knock-off from work. My host family is able to get home at around 6 or 6.30 in the evening. This leaves them, during summer at least, time to still go out for a short hike or walk, or even drive up to a nice picnic spot to chill. I find that so different from what I experience with my family in Singapore - by the time everyone gets back it ’ s dark and there really isn ’ t anything much to do except stay at home. I think that this could possibly have been a factor that greatly affects family dynamics. For example, with two working parents in Singapore, kids would only ever really have time to interact with their parents in the evening or on weekends. While that isn ’ t in itself bad, it is really different from the 168 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="169"?> German family where evenings could be used for heading out or some outdoor activities. (Jordan, Freiburg, Weekly Report 3) 4.3.4 Category B4 - Decentering Harbouring attitudes of openness and curiosity towards other cultures is a necessary condition for the cultivation of a genuine interest in the practices and perspectives of another culture and for the willingness to critically examine and to relativise one ’ s own cultural values and perspectives (Byram 1997, Zarate et al. 2004). The intercultural speaker needs to develop the ability to decentre - to be able “ to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one ’ s own ” (Byram 1997: 57). To achieve this, learners needs to recognise that their perceptions and interpretations of a new culture may be influenced by their existing cultural framework and must therefore be able to distance themselves from this framework (Eide, Skalle & Müller Gjesdal 2022, Liddicoat & Scarino 2013). This will consequently make them more sensitive to and accepting of cultural differences: Decentering therefore involves the capacity to understand multiple perspectives and to search for and accept multiple possible interpretations. (Liddicoat 2014: 261) Grouped under this category are mediations that represent the different facets of decentering, as espoused by the researchers cited above. For instance, in Excerpt 14, Samantha reflected on the differences in political culture between Korean and Singapore, and learned to accept that these differences have to be understood against the complex societal backgrounds of the respective countries (Category B4a: Accepting the differences and the different perspectives of other cultures). Excerpt 16 presents another example, in which Michael ponders and acknowledges the differences between France and Singapore in their lifestyles and the values manifested by these lifestyles, without trying to judge or reject either perspective: Excerpt 21 To me, the Singapore culture now appears sharply in contrast to the French culture. We do not read much; we do not really enjoy our natural green spaces; we do not afford the time to sit down and let the world run its course. Singapore seems very serious and efficient, getting things done at the fastest possible pace, but to me it lacks the spirit and vibe that Paris has. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just different - it may be partially responsible for the little conveniences that we enjoy in Singapore, like the clean train system and widely-available public toilets. While we lack certain social problems, we also lack the lively spirit that a city like Paris has. (Michael, Paris, Weekly Report 4) A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 169 <?page no="170"?> Both Samantha and Michael had essentially displayed a high degree of openness towards the new culture in learning to accept the cultural differences (Category B4b: Maintaining open attitudes towards other cultures). In his interview, another informant, Abdulah, who was in Taipei, narrates how he had learned about the importance of attitudes of openness and curiosity for his future travels. He believes that the study abroad programme has fostered in him the spirit and mindset to be open, patient and interested in the new things one will encounter on a trip, no matter how unfamiliar these things may initially appear. He feels that this would allow him to better appreciate new experiences through a new and different lens. To maintain attitudes of openness means that one should not judge other cultures too hastily based on commonly held stereotypical notions or isolated incidents (Category B4c: Avoiding stereotyping/ negative impressions of other cultures), such as in the example in Excerpt 22: Excerpt 22 I learnt that just because everyone there are Chinese does not make them the same people. Some are kind, helpful and open to accepting our cultural differences (especially me being a Muslim and donning the headscarf) whereas I ’ ve also met people who are rude and unaccommodating. Hence, I learnt that I cannot judge everyone the same based on the small groups of people I ’ ve encountered. (Aishah, Taipei, Post-Programme Report) Like Aishah, Natasha in Excerpt 14 displayed the same ability to mediate for herself the unpleasant experience of a dispute between her German host and a Japanese housemate, and to avoid generalising her host ’ s strong and anguished response to the German culture as a whole. Indeed, in her post-programme report, she highlights the benefits the study abroad experience in this regard: “ I am very sure that the stereotypes that a lot of people have about Germans are definitely not true and not generalisable. ” In the first week of her homestay, Natasha was clearly perturbed by the rather direct and raucous communications between mother and daughter in her host family and was in fact contemplating a change of host family: Excerpt 23 [ … ] she had a teenage daughter. I haven ’ t had that family dynamic since my younger sister grew up, so that was something new. Mood swings, talking back to parents and adults, these were things in my household that were extremely heavily punished. Respect was something taught in my house and I was more taken aback than anything that any child could talk disrespectfully back to their parents. Talking back in my household wasn ’ t punitive but talking with a tone that disregarded the other person ’ s opinion or just (in my opinion) being taunting was to be severely punished. [ … ] Here then, my opinions about fairness and respect come into play 170 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="171"?> with the dynamics in the host family and the host-student(s) relationship as well. [ … ] how will I be able to enjoy my stay when the family environment is not stable itself? I am considering requesting for a change in my host family, but it has also been a week already. (Natasha, Freiburg, Weekly Report 1) Her feelings of discomfort and even disdain at the ‘ disrespectful ’ behaviour of her host ’ s daughter could be attributed to her own notions of family and respect. However, in the subsequent two weeks, she learned to appraise family relationships in Germany much more positively - for she became aware of how her own beliefs had affected her judgement (Category B4d: Recognizing the influence of one ’ s cultural perspectives and knowledge), learned to perceive things beyond her own subjectiveness (Category B4e: Distancing oneself from one ’ s own perspectives, values, beliefs), and started appreciating the German culture of openness and candid communication from their perspective (Category B4f: Understanding new cultural practices from target culture ’ s perspective), as Excerpt 24 would seem to suggest: Excerpt 24 Germans have a direct way of communication in most social contexts as well. But I appreciate that fully because it meant that any potential misunderstandings could be dealt with immediately before it led to bigger problems, and I do think that that ’ s what leads to stronger bonds being formed between them and the people they meet, as well as the family bonds. Parents and children are free to talk about anything they want and both sides are heard. They know how to listen and yet are not afraid to be heard. That makes for a very honest and (even if somewhat blunt at times) candid conversations. [ … ] I would very much love for me and the people whom I care for to be able to share that kind of dialogues as well. [ … ] As for my culture, I discovered a lot of differences between the host family(ies) in Freiburg and my own at home. There are so many things I would not have chosen to tell my parents about, mostly because I always feel that it would be frowned upon and somehow upset the family dynamics (which tends to happen a lot). In my host family, mother and daughter (as well as occasionally grandparents) can come together and talk about all sorts of things, even personal and intimate issues. But it shows care and concern for each other ’ s well-being. And while everyone had their individual separate views, they understood not to impose it on someone else. And because of that there was a lot of respect for each other, whereas in my family, there was a lot of respect for authority and seniority. (Natasha, Freiburg, Post-Programme Report) 4.3.5 Category B5 - Reflexivity In interpreting a new culture and constructing new cultural meanings, learners relate the new culture to their own native culture. Indeed, one ’ s existing A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 171 <?page no="172"?> cultural frames serve as important resources for learning new cultures (Liddicoat & Scarino 2013). By connecting new with existing cultural knowledge, one invariably also develops a heightened awareness of self - including one ’ s own culture and its perspectives, and the values and beliefs that one holds. As Phipps & Gonzalez (2004) contend, “ to enter other cultures is to re-enter one ’ s own ” (ibid.: 3). In Excerpt 24, Natasha ’ s observations of and reflections on German family communication and mutual respect made her more conscious of the differences to her own notions of family and respect. Her new cultural experiences thus had a reflexive impact and made her question some of the values she had held. This confirms the view of previous research that: Language learning is also reflexive; that is, it invites a reflection on self in relation to others. As students move between the languages and cultures represented in their experiences of language learning, they come to reflect on their own situatedness in their own linguistic and cultural life-worlds and their own related assumptions, perspectives, observations, reactions and responses. (Liddicoat & Derivry et al. 2023: 58) In Excerpt 25, we see how Nadyah, in trying to make sense of the Germans ’ readiness to greet and to help strangers, also reflected on the typical Singaporean behaviour in the same situation (Category B5a: Reflecting on and understanding one ’ s own culture). She pondered about why Singaporeans - and she as well - tend to be more reticent and less forthcoming, attributing this to their reservedness towards non-acquaintances: Excerpt 20 During our first week here, when our host brought us out on a hike, a group of cyclers on the same path called out greetings. We responded in the same manner. My host then explained that in smaller places (i. e. not big city areas), it was customary to greet people with a smile or a greeting. [ … ] I ’ ve realized that Singaporeans, as a whole, are less willing to help strangers on the street. And if we were to approach/ be approached by someone for help, we would be faced with a blank stare. In Himmelreich/ Freiburg, strangers offer assistance without being asked to. [ … ] In the neighbourhood, neighbours walking their dog would ask if you ’ re looking for a place, and whether or not they could help. [ … ] Singaporeans (as a whole) are more reserved, saving their smiles and greetings for just acquaintances. It was a bit hard for me to greet another person here (the action of verbally greeting someone - a stranger - you see on the street is still foreign to me) [ … ] (Nadyah, Freiburg, Weekly Report 3) In the data, there are a number of instances where reflecting on self and the values and beliefs that one holds leads to a greater awareness of one ’ s identity (Category B5b: Reflecting on and discovering one ’ s own identity), culminating, in some instances, in its reconstruction and/ or reaffirmation (Category B5c: Re- 172 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="173"?> constructing/ re-affirming one ’ s own values, beliefs and identity). Weinreich (2003) defines identity as the totality of one ’ s self-construal, in which how one construes oneself in the present expresses the continuity between how one construes oneself as one was in the past and how one construes oneself as one aspires to be in the future. (ibid.: 26) One ’ s construal of self is not a fixed and static state; instead it is constantly changing and is influenced by one ’ s experiences of one ’ s social contexts as well as the people and situations within this context. In any particular event, a person will be constantly attributing particular characteristics to other people acting in or who are involved in this event as well as his own self and behaviour in relation to the other people and the context. He will also evaluate the attributions made to and the construals of others and his own self, which may then result in changes to his identity, that is, how he construes himself (Weinreich 2003). The new cultural experiences of the study abroad participants and their interactions with the TL communities can therefore result in the “ growth and transformation of identities ” (Lave & Wenger 1991: 122). In Excerpt 26, Rahim relates how his study abroad experience had made him more aware of his identity and how he realised that he did not fully identify with Singapore, despite having lived there for the previous 13 years: Excerpt 26 I realised that I am able to adapt to different cultures very fast. Perhaps it is because I ’ ve travelled extensively from a young age, and I ’ ve had the privilege of living in different countries, but I found it easier than some of my friends to assimilate to the French way of things. I also realised that unlike my friends, I did not really get homesick for Singapore. In fact, I don ’ t ever recall a time when I was homesick, because for me, home has always been about the people, rather than a specific place - again possibly because I moved around so much while growing up. (Rahim, Brest, Post-Programme Report) During his interview, he later stressed that while he could identify with some aspects of Singapore culture, he never felt that his identification with Singapore was “ very deep-rooted ” or that he was “ the typical Singaporean kid ” . Apparently, he had come to the realisation during his stay in France that he was more a cosmopolitan citizen of the world, highlighting how he had lived in or travelled to different countries and that he could adapt easily to different cultures. We have seen in Excerpt 24 how Natasha came to question and revise her own beliefs with regard to communication and respect within the family after her observations of and interactions with her host family in Freiburg. Perhaps an even more pronounced example of how engagement with a new culture can lead one to question and re-construct one ’ s values, beliefs and identity can be A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 173 <?page no="174"?> seen in the case of Jin, who was in Chiangrai. Deeply impressed by the hospitality and generosity of her Thai student buddies and the contentment they had found in life despite their far less privileged socio-economic status, Jin developed a sense of guilt towards them because of her own affluent background and the lack of appreciation for the socio-economic advantages she and other Singaporean youths enjoy. She questioned the entitlement mentality of young Singaporeans, including herself, and how they take their wealth for granted: Excerpt 27 I discovered that Singaporeans are very fortunate to have the ability to rely on our parents for most of the things we want. The students here don ’ t dream about studying overseas like most Singaporeans do. Worse, some of us expect it as mandatory to have an overseas experience. Most of the Thais don ’ t have the expenditure to do so and rarely dream about doing so. This has made me reflect on the wealth of Singaporeans and the things that we tend to take for granted. (Jin, Chiangrai, Weekly Report 1) She also felt embarrassed by the national pride and patriotism she perceived in the Thais and therefore questioned why she seemed to lack the same degree of pride or interest in her own country. In fact, she confessed that she momentarily wished “ to be a citizen of another country [Thailand] ” (Jin, Chiangrai, Post-Programme Report). However, through prolonged observation and reflection, she eventually came to realise that the Thai culture is neither superior nor inferior to the Singapore culture, for “ each and every society has their own problems and their culture changes according to the needs of the people ” (Jin, Chiangrai, Weekly Report 2). It was at this point of time that she apparently reaffirmed her Singaporean identity and gained a better appreciation of her ‘ Singaporeanness ’ , which manifested itself in her resolution to deepen her knowledge of her own culture in order to better represent it in future crosscultural contacts: Excerpt 28 I have learnt that Singapore is special in its own way as well. Our mixture of religions has allowed for a different culture to grow, albeit rather messy and mixed up, it makes Singapore Singapore. I cannot confidently say that I am proud to be a Singaporean, I realised that many Singaporeans feel similarly and are not patriotic. I can ’ t help but ask myself why we aren ’ t as patriotic, and it saddens me a little to feel that I too wished to be a citizen of another country. I ’ m not sure what the ingredients are to make one nationalistic, but I do hope that I acquire them as I feel more interested than before to learn more about my home country. (Jin, Chiangrai, Post-Programme Report) 174 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="175"?> Although she reaffirmed her Singaporean identity, this did not stop her from re-constructing it by adopting some of the Thai traits and values she found to be positive. Weinreich (2003) asserts that when one forms “ new identifications with newly encountered individuals, one broadens one ’ s value system ” (ibid.: 62) by generating and aspiring towards new values, beliefs and orientations to the world. In Excerpt 23, Jin voices her desire to develop the same sort of national pride that she perceived in the Thais. Excerpt 29 provides further examples of values she perceived in the Thai culture and was keen to emulate: Excerpt 29 I have definitely learned the value of respecting other people and being thankful for everything around me. The local culture here is friendly, welcoming, full of respect and consideration for one another, and one that displays gratitude through gestures and body language. I found myself very attracted to this aspect of the Thai culture, and would like to adapt this as much as possible into my own culture. [ … ] I am glad to be able to learn a lot from the Thai culture and am really happy to be able to be exposed to their perspective of things and to learn and adapt to them. (Jin, Chiangrai, Weekly Report 3) The examples presented and discussed above illustrate how the self-mediational processes of meaning-making, connecting, reflecting on and critically appraising one ’ s own and other cultures, and decentering from and re-constructing one ’ s own perspectives, beliefs and values can and usually do have a telling and positive impact on one ’ s intercultural and identity development. 5 Conclusions The current study sought to identify, describe and classify instances of intercultural mediation in data collected from students participating in foreign language study abroad in six different countries in Asia and Europe. Altogether, 32 different classes of intercultural mediation were identified, which were grouped under nine larger headings and then further ascribed to the two overarching categories of mediation for others and for self. These classes of mediation were found to support and enable the foreign language learners ’ construction and re-construction of cultural knowledge as well as to help build and manage their relationships with other cultures. In addition, they also contributed to the learners ’ intercultural and identity development - including the ability to decentre from their own cultural perspectives, to critically appraise the new and their own culture, and to examine and re-construct their own values, beliefs and identity. The taxonomy is expected to provide both researchers and educators in intercultural language education with an A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 175 <?page no="176"?> important framework of reference for research design and analysis as well as curriculum planning and materials development. It informs them about the various forms that intercultural mediation can take, and how these are interlinked on both the interand intrapersonal plane to scaffold real-life language and culture learning. While the taxonomy presented here is highly comprehensive, it is by no means exhaustive. This is partly due to the fact that the current data set was drawn from the study abroad context, which has provided us with illuminating insights into their interactions with the TL communities as well as the impact of mediators from these communities, such as their study abroad instructors, host families and student buddies. However, mediational processes in other settings such as in foreign language instruction in their home institution were beyond the scope of the current study. Furthermore, the data were collected from the learners and did not present the perspectives of the external mediators. Hearing from the external mediators themselves may help us to better understand their mediational efforts and intentions and identify further forms of mediation that would make the taxonomy more complete. It is therefore recommended that future research should seek to investigate intercultural mediation and its impact in other contexts such as the language instruction in students ’ home institutions, including both in-class and out-ofclass activities, international language exchanges or collaborative work involving different countries and institutions. Future studies could also seek to focus more on and to collect data from the external mediators of students ’ language and culture learning, including language instructors and programme administrators, host families, student buddies, and other contact persons in their learning journey. Acknowledgements I am grateful to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, for the award of an MOE AcRF Tier 1 grant (No. FY2015-FRC1-001) in support of the project which led to this article. I would also like to thank Andrea Esmeralda Halim, Daniel Kwang Guan Chan, Seo Won Chi, Sasiwimol Klayklueng and Yukiko Saito for their invaluable assistance and support in the analysis of the voluminous data presented in this chapter. References Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 176 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="177"?> Byram, M. (2012). Characteristics and competences of the plurilingual and intercultural citizen. In C. Facke, H. Martinez & F-J. Meissner (Eds.), Mehrsprachigkeit. Bildung - Kommunikation - Standards (pp. 15 - 25). Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag. Chan, W. M. (2020). “ I think I can see from another perspective now ” - Short-term study abroad and intercultural development. Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching, 11(10th Anniversary Issue), 129 - 154. Chan, W. M., Chan, D. K. G., Chi, S. W., Chin, K. N., Klayklueng, S., & Saito, Y. (2020). Short-term in-country language immersion and the intercultural development of foreign language students. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 17(Suppl. 1), 25 - 49. Chan, W. M., & Chi, S. W. (2017). In-country language immersion and the development of Korean language learners ’ intercultural competence. International Journal of Korean Language Education, 3(2), 1 - 36. Chan, W. M., & Klayklueng, S. (2018). Critical cultural awareness and identity development: Insights from a short-term Thai language immersion. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 15(Suppl. 1), 129 - 147. Corbett, J. (2020). Revisiting mediation: Implications for intercultural language education. Language and Intercultural Communication, 21(1), 8 - 23. Eide, L., Skalle, C., & Müller Gjesdal, A. (2022). Intercultural competence in the foreign language classroom. Pedagogical applications of literary texts on migration and exile. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. DOI: 10.1080/ 00313831.2022.2042842 Heinzmann, S., Künzle, R., Schallhart, N., & Müller, M. (2015). The effect of study abroad on intercultural competence: Results from a longitudinal quasi-experimental study. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of SA, 26, 187 - 208. Ignelzi, M. (2000). Meaning-making in the learning and teaching process. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 82, 5 - 14. Jackson, J. (2006). Ethnographic pedagogy and evaluation in short-term study abroad. In M. Byram & A. Feng (Eds.), Living and studying abroad: Research and practice (pp. 134 - 156). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kohler, M. (2015). Teachers as mediators in the foreign language classroom. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Lantolf, J. P., & Thorne, S. L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Liddicoat, A. J. (2014). Pragmatics and intercultural mediation in intercultural language learning. Intercultural Pragmatics, 11(2), 259 - 277. Liddicoat, A. J., Derivry, M. et al. (2023). La médiation interculturelle en didactique des langues et des cultures / Intercultural mediation in teaching and learning languages and cultures learning. Paris: Editions des Archives Contemporaines. A Data-Informed Taxonomy of Intercultural Mediations 177 <?page no="178"?> Liddicoat, A. J., & Scarino, A. (2013). Intercultural language teaching and learning. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. McConachy, T., & Liddicoat, A. J. (2016). Meta-pragmatic awareness and intercultural competence: The role of reflection and interpretation in intercultural mediation. In F. Dervin & Z. Gross (Eds.), Intercultural competence in education (pp. 13 - 30). London: Palgrave Macmillan. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online (2024). Merriam-Webster. https: / / www.merriamwebster.com/ Phipps, A., & Gonzales, M. (2004). Modern languages: Learning and teaching in an intercultural field. London: Sage. Risager, K. (2007). Language and culture pedagogy: From a national to a transnational paradigm. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Schwieter, J. W., & Kunert, S. (2012). Short-term study abroad and cultural sessions: Issues of L2 development, identity, and socialization. In P. Chamness Miller, J. Watze & M. Mantero (Eds.) Readings in language studies. Vol. 3: Critical language studies: Focusing on identity (pp. 587 - 604). New York: International Society for Language Studies. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Weinreich, P. (2003). Identity structure analysis. In P. Weinreich & W. Saunderson (Eds.), Analysing identity: Cross-cultural, societal and clinical contexts (pp. 7 - 76). Hove & New York: Routledge. Zanonni, F. (2020). Intercultural mediation addressed to refugees and asylum seekers in Italy. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities and Social Sciences, 13(2), 246 - 257. Zarate, G., Gohard-Radenkovic, A., Lussier, D., & Penz, H. (2004). Cultural mediation in language learning and teaching. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. 178 Wai Meng Chan <?page no="179"?> Traverser les frontières virtuelles : une rencontre interculturelle Meike Wernicke & Carl Ruest 1 Introduction Dans l ’ enseignement des langues secondes, l ’ intégration d ’ éléments culturels sert le plus souvent à développer une simple appréciation de la culture associée à la langue cible. Pourtant, développer davantage la compétence interculturelle doit inclure une réflexion approfondie sur la conception de culture ou comment comprendre ce qui est différent (Dasli & Díaz 2017). Dans le contexte sociopolitique mondial actuel, dans lequel nous tentons de mieux respecter les réalités autochtones et de mettre en œ uvre des approches et pratiques antiracistes, décolonisantes, inclusives et équitables dans nos salles de classe, l ’ apprentissage interculturel se veut un aspect essentiel de l ’ éducation (Jacquet 2016). De telles approches exigent souvent une certaine vulnérabilité chez l ’ apprenant, qui est appelé à remettre en question ses propres perspectives sur le monde. Dans ce chapitre, nous abordons la question de cet apprentissage interculturel en tant que traduction. Bien que cela puisse impliquer la traduction de textes d ’ une langue à une autre, notre attention porte plutôt sur la manière dont les significations culturelles sont réentextualisées au cours de ce processus dans des discours différents, menant parfois à des interprétations inattendues. Œ uvrant dans le domaine de l ’ éducation des langues secondes au Canada depuis quelques décennies - d ’ abord en tant qu ’ élèves et étudiants, plus tard comme professeurs, formateurs et chercheurs - nous traversons nous-mêmes des frontières multiples, sur les plans géographique et sociopolitique, institutionnel et professionnel, ainsi que, bien sûr, des frontières linguistiques et culturelles. Ces expériences nous font réfléchir depuis longtemps à une conceptualisation pertinente de l ’ interculturel dans le but de faciliter l ’ apprentissage interculturel dans nos salles de classes ou de mieux comprendre comment aider nos étudiants à bénéficier de ces nouvelles connaissances. Par exemple, il peut s ’ agir de guider une telle exploration avec un groupe d ’ élèves <?page no="180"?> en immersion française de l ’ ouest du Canada lors d ’ un échange scolaire au Québec (p. ex. Ruest 2020) ou de l ’ examiner dans un cours de maîtrise avec des enseignants du français langue seconde (p. ex. Wernicke 2021). Qu ’ il s ’ agisse d ’ un projet de recherche ou d ’ élaborer une activité de sciences humaines en huitième année, dans notre approche de l ’ interculturalité, nous nous servons des écrits d ’ une perspective critique afin d ’ interpréter et arriver à une compréhension approfondie de nos propres expériences et réflexions professionnelles et personnelles dans ce domaine. Dans cette optique, ce chapitre discute d ’ une approche d ’ apprentissage interculturel qui amène l ’ apprenant à une réflexion critique et à se rendre vulnérable à partir d ’ un processus de décentrage de ses propres perspectives (Andreotti 2021, Kramsch 1993, Liddicoat & Scarino 2013). La discussion portera sur les résultats d ’ un projet de recherche qui examine les perceptions en enseignement de l ’ interculturalité dans les programmes de français en Colombie-Britannique, pour mieux appréhender les besoins du personnel enseignant en ce qui concerne le développement interculturel dans leur enseignement. En particulier, nous discuterons d ’ un atelier, développé dans le cadre de l ’ étude, qui explore des exemples de traduction culturelle (Kramsch & Zhu Hua 2020) en tant que moyen productif d ’ apprentissage interculturel. L ’ accent est mis sur la mobilisation et la mobilité de ressources virtuelles et la façon dont des textes culturels sont extraits et réarticulés (Leppänen et al. 2014) à travers des espaces remplis de codes, conventions et d ’ attentes différentes (Blommaert 2005). Le chapitre se terminera par une brève discussion des implications pour l ’ enseignement interculturel dans le domaine des langues secondes. Nous commençons d ’ abord par présenter notre positionnement. 2 Positionnement : la réconciliation et la traduction (inter) culturelle La mobilité des textes sur le plan virtuel semble rendre obsolète la nécessité de prendre en compte les lieux d ’ origine et de réception des messages envoyés et reçus. Cependant, c ’ est surtout cette décontextualisation du sens des mots et des images qui nous oblige à prendre en compte que tout acte de communication est conditionné par le contexte et physiquement ancré dans un espace spécifique. Il en est de même pour la recherche. Au lieu de voir la production des données ou des conclusions comme impartiale et objective, le soi physiquement incarné et historiquement situé des chercheurs fait toujours partie intégrante de toute recherche qu ’ ils mènent. C ’ est pourquoi nous aimerions considérer notre propre positionnement vis-à-vis de la recherche présentée dans ce chapitre ainsi que la manière dont les lieux où nous avons vécu et les 180 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="181"?> frontières que nous avons traversées ont façonné nos perspectives et nos pratiques de l ’ enseignement interculturel. En même temps, il ne suffit pas de parler uniquement de l ’ endroit d ’ où nous venons, mais aussi de réfléchir à l ’ endroit où nous sommes arrivés pour entreprendre cette recherche. Comme l ’ a noté Haig-Brown (2009): We have stories of how we came to be here: we need to trace those stories and our place in the process of colonization … to consider [our] relationship to the land and the original people who live on it. (ibid.: 14 - 15) Nous tenons ainsi à reconnaître le territoire ancestral, traditionnel et non cédé du Peuple x ʷ m əθ k ʷə y ̓ ə m (Musqueam) où se trouve l ’ Université de la Colombie- Britannique et où nous sommes en mesure d ’ entreprendre la recherche présentée ici. Ceci est important à reconnaitre parce que, à présent, nous vivons une résurgence des réalités autochtones au Canada (Battiste et Henderson 2021), « un passage nécessaire vers une réconciliation » (Paquet 2016: 80) afin de contrer les systèmes de discrimination et les conséquences du colonialisme de peuplement sur les peuples autochtones. D ’ après Regan (2010: 41), « la réconciliation conceptualisée comme une rencontre interculturelle implique la création d ’ un espace de dialogue critique ». Dans le contexte scolaire et universitaire, ce dialogue exige un apprentissage continu d ’ une vision du monde, des savoirs, et des approches pédagogiques qui peuvent différer des nôtres. Dans le domaine de l ’ éducation des langues secondes en particulier, cet apprentissage nous permet de soutenir les efforts de nos collègues autochtones de faire revivre leurs langues ancestrales, et ainsi de rendre visible et donner place aux connaissances, aux traditions, à d ’ autres visions du monde, véhiculées par ces langues. En même temps, l ’ expérience de ne pas comprendre les langues autochtones autour de nous peut évoquer un sentiment de gêne, d ’ incertitude ou d ’ exclusion, parce que nous n ’ avons pas accès à ces ressources linguistiques, à cette façon de communiquer et de donner un sens au monde. Comme discuté davantage ci-dessous, cette expérience - faire face à une autre vision du monde et ne pas comprendre entièrement cette vision - représente un aspect intégral de l ’ interculturel d ’ une perspective critique, de l ’ interculturalité comprise autrement. En ce qui concerne nos propres expériences en tant qu ’ auteurs, qu ’ implique la compréhension de l ’ interculturel d ’ une autre façon ? De différentes manières, l ’ interculturel est un sujet qui nous a toujours fascinés. Le fait de grandir dans un environnement multilingue depuis un jeune âge nous fait comprendre que la traduction n ’ est pas simplement la transformation d ’ un texte d ’ une langue à l ’ autre en ne changeant que la forme des mots. Même si, en tant que société, nous avons souvent tendance à approcher le sens des mots ainsi, Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 181 <?page no="182"?> surtout en éducation, il faut tenir compte du contexte de la production du sens, du fait que chaque acte de parole est ancré dans un espace temporel et spatial, imbriqué dans la construction identitaire de l ’ auteur ou du locuteur. De nos jours, l ’ emploi généralisé des outils de traduction en ligne (p. ex. Google Translate ou DeepL), dont Gramling (2020) écrit en termes de « supralingualisme », fait d ’ autant plus croire que la coordination globale et la traductibilité soi-disant directe entre les langues individuelles sont à la fois souhaitables et technologiquement envisageables (ibid.: 137). Si nous avons affaire à une conceptualisation simple de la culture dans l ’ enseignement des langues, dans le domaine des technologies de l ’ intelligence artificielle, la culture ne semble même pas exister. Autrement dit, toutes les significations rendues invisibles dans ces textes ne peuvent être mises au jour par la simple traduction ou déconstruction des mots. Kramsch (1998) a constaté il y vingt-cinq ans que l ’ appartenance à une communauté discursive partage un espace social ainsi qu ’ une histoire, une imagination et une vision communes. Gramling (2020) discute de l ’ impact du supralinguisme ou l ’ idée de « global translatability », notamment en lien avec la déhistoricisation des discours. Il explique qu ’ il s ’ agit d ’ un processus par lequel la collecte de données se fait de manière décontextualisée à partir de corpus, tout en excluant le type de discours historique qui permettrait de situer un usage spécifique dans son écologie propre et significative. La mobilité des langues, des significations et des discours, est de plus en plus prise comme acquise, pourtant sans toujours tenir compte de ce que nous perdons dans le transfert de nos messages, des textes que nous utilisons en salle de classe avec nos élèves et nos étudiants. Alors, comment réaliser la traduction culturelle lors d ’ une rencontre interculturelle avec un texte, à l ’ époque actuelle où nous avons accès à un large éventail de produits culturels authentiques qui proviennent, le plus souvent, d ’ un lieu qui n ’ est pas le nôtre ? 3 Vers une théorisation de l ’ interculturel Le terme « interculturel » est associé à un vaste champ de théories et de pratiques issues de plusieurs domaines différents. Dans le domaine de la didactique des langues secondes, Byram (1997, 2021) a élaboré l ’ idée du locuteur interculturel (intercultural speaker) à travers ses collaborations de recherche dans le contexte européen, un concept qui s ’ éloigne de l ’ idéologie du « locuteur natif » et qui exige que l ’ apprenant soit prêt à suspendre tout « jugement à l ’ égard des significations, des croyances et des comportements des autres » tout en suspendant ses propres croyances en ses propres 182 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="183"?> significations et comportements (2021: 45). Un défi souvent relevé dans la recherche, notamment par Byram, comprend la difficulté d ’ arriver à une vision holistique du développement interculturel. Il s ’ agit plutôt d ’ un changement de perspective, c ’ est-à-dire d ’ une transformation, ou « a shift of perspective, not a movement along a scale » (Byram 2021. 146). C ’ est le décentrage de ses propres perspectives dont il est question ici, tel que suggéré par Kramsch dans son concept de « l ’ espace tiers » (1993, 2009) et mentionné par Scarino & Kohler de cette manière : It is not only a matter of assessing performance and achievement but also the capability to decentre from one ’ s own situatedness in one ’ s own language and culture of one ’ s primary and subsequent socialisation. (2022: 193) À cet égard, il est également important de prendre en compte le fait qu ’ il existe toujours un aspect inattendu, spontané, et un élément d ’ imprévisibilité et d ’ incertitude dans les échanges interculturels. Comme toute réaction à un échange interculturel dépend des dispositions des personnes en interaction, l ’ identité est un élément essentiel dans la définition de l ’ interculturel. Willie Ermine, auteur et éthicien cri de la première nation de Sturgeon Lake en Saskatchewan, conceptualise l ’ interculturel comme un espace éthique d ’ engagement entre personnes ou groupes de personnes. Inspiré par les écrits de Roger Poole sur la subjectivité (1972; cité dans Ermine 2007: 194), Ermine a réinterprété l ’ idée que, entre deux personnes, il existe toujours des intentions différentes et donc une structuration différente de l ’ espace occupé par chacune. D ’ après Ermine, dans cet espace ce qui reste caché et enveloppé, ce sont les pensées, les intérêts et les hypothèses plus profonds qui influenceront et animeront inévitablement le type de relation que les deux personnes peuvent avoir. (2007: 195) Depuis les années mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix, Kramsch (1995) insiste sur l ’ idée qu ’ il faut enseigner les langues en tant que culture afin de rendre visible ce qui est invisible. C ’ est ainsi qu ’ elle parle aujourd ’ hui d ’ une compétence symbolique, précisée à travers ses réflexions sur le concept d ’ « espace tiers » notant que : culture today … is seen less as a world of institutions and historical traditions, than as a mental toolkit of subjective metaphors, affectivities, historical memories, entextualizations and transcontextualizations of experience, with which we make meaning of the world around us and share that meaning with others. (Kramsch 2011: 355) De son côté, Piller (2011) fait la distinction entre le multiculturalisme et la communication interculturelle en notant que la communication interculturelle Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 183 <?page no="184"?> s ’ intéresse surtout aux différences culturelles au niveau international. Cela tend toutefois à renforcer l ’ idée que tout ce qui est différent existe à l ’ extérieur du pays, à l ’ étranger, et que l ’ inconnu constitue un phénomène intégral ou essentiel de l ’ autre. Kramsch & Zhu Hua (2020) nous rappellent que la communication interculturelle n ’ est plus une communication à travers les frontières nationales, mais une participation à des réseaux fluctuants d ’ expériences individuelles et de souvenirs (ibid.: 1). Cette conceptualisation est extrêmement pertinente aujourd ’ hui, surtout étant donné la façon dont nous produisons l ’ altérité culturelle même à l ’ intérieur de notre contexte local, de nos villes, de nos écoles, de nos salles de classe. Surtout étant donné la résurgence actuelle des priorités autochtones au Canada et la décolonisation et l ’ autochtonisation de l ’ éducation à tous les niveaux, il faut considérer que, de nos jours, presque chaque rencontre dans des contextes scolaires et universitaires est une rencontre interculturelle. Finalement, afin de préciser l ’ apprentissage interculturel dans le cadre de l ’ enseignement des langues secondes, nous nous servons également de la conceptualisation de Liddicoat & Scarino (2013). D ’ après ces auteurs, une perspective interculturelle se distingue d ’ une perspective culturelle dans l ’ objectif de l ’ apprentissage, notamment dans le but de décentrer les apprenants de leurs hypothèses préexistantes au lieu de simplement acquérir de nouvelles connaissances culturelles. Cette distinction est surtout importante quant aux résultats de notre projet de recherche discuté ci-dessous, étant donné que l ’ enseignement en français langue seconde (FLS) se fait trop souvent d ’ une perspective culturelle plutôt qu ’ interculturelle. 4 Recherches sur l ’ interculturel dans le contexte canadien En Colombie-Britannique, la recherche indique que les élèves du secondaire ont du mal à réfléchir de manière approfondie à leur apprentissage interculturel. En effet, le développement de la compétence interculturelle des adolescents a été examiné dans une étude en contexte d ’ échange linguistique canadien qui a employé l ’ Autobiographie de rencontres interculturelles basée sur le modèle de Byram (Ruest 2020). Celle-ci souligne le défi pour les participants d ’ arriver à une réflexion plus profonde. Les trouvailles suggèrent que les élèves pourraient être mieux préparés à développer leur compétence interculturelle. En effet, dans une étude menée dans la province voisine, l ’ Alberta, et utilisant le dessin réflexif dans le but d ’ examiner comment des étudiants du premier cycle perçoivent l ’ enseignement culturel auquel ils ont été exposé pendant leur scolarité, plusieurs se sont montrés critiques vis-à-vis de l ’ enseignement culturel qu ’ ils ont reçu (Lemaire 2018). 184 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="185"?> Au Québec, Potvin (2006) a entrepris des recherches à Montréal dans le contexte scolaire pour examiner les liens de l ’ approche antiraciste 1 avec l ’ éducation interou multiculturelle et l ’ éducation à la citoyenneté. Comme c ’ est le cas des résultats de Kubota (2010) dans le domaine de l ’ enseignement de l ’ anglais langue seconde, les résultats de Potvin soulignent la nécessité d ’ incorporer les éléments d ’ une perspective antiraciste au sein de l ’ éducation à la citoyenneté, bien que l ’ auteure québécoise le propose sans lien explicite à la question de la langue (Potvin & Carr 2008). Ceci est, par contre, fait dans des recherches auprès des élèves dans des contextes plurilingues où la littérature de jeunesse est utilisée pour favoriser un apprentissage interculturel (p. ex. Fleuret et al. 2013 Fleuret & Sabatier 2019). En Colombie-Britannique, les programmes d ’ études, dans le cadre de leur récente refonte et de l ’ intégration des connaissances et perspectives autochtones, incluent le développement de compétences en lien avec la diversité, l ’ inclusion et l ’ interculturalité (bien que ce dernier terme n ’ y soit pas explicitement employé) (Jacquet 2016, 2019). Est-ce que le personnel enseignant est prêt à accompagner les élèves dans ce processus? Dans les années 1990 et 2000, Mujawamariya Moldoveanu (2002, 2006) a souligné le manque de prise en compte de la diversité ethnoculturelle dans les programmes de formation à l ’ enseignement, en particulier dans la partie des stages. Ces études ont été menées dans trois provinces canadiennes (l ’ Ontario, le Québec, et le Nouveau-Brunswick) auprès d ’ étudiants-maîtres anglophones et francophones, tout en mettant l ’ accent sur l ’ éducation multiculturelle d ’ une perspective critique, qui, selon les auteures, pourrait contribuer à identifier et à réduire les formes subtiles de discrimination raciale. Dans le même esprit, la recherche exploratoire de Ragoonaden (2012), portant sur la compétence en communication interculturelle des étudiants en formation initiale du français langue seconde en Colombie-Britannique, a mis en évidence la tendance de ces étudiants à surestimer leur niveau de sensibilité interculturelle. Chez les enseignants d ’ immersion française au Nouveau-Brunswick, les résultats de recherche montrent une réticence à mettre l ’ accent sur l ’ enseignement interculturel, malgré la reconnaissance de la relation intégrée entre la culture et la langue (Marshall & Bokhorst ‐ Heng 2018), et très peu d ’ engagement par rapport 1 Dans le contexte canadien, jusqu ’ à présent, peu de recherches ont abordé l ’ interculturel dans le contexte de l ’ enseignement du français langue seconde (FLS), surtout de façon explicite. Le terme même ne figure pas toujours dans les écrits. Puisqu ’ il s ’ agit d ’ un domaine si vaste, avec diverses approches et conceptualisations, il se peut que le concept soit exprimé de manière implicite. Notamment, on trouve des études examinant l ’ identité ethnoculturelle et le sentiment d ’ appartenance ou la diversité au sens général ou avec attention sur un aspect particulier d ’ exclusion, comme l ’ antiracisme par exemple. Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 185 <?page no="186"?> à l ’ interculturel (Marshall & Bokhorst-Heng 2020). Il semble donc qu ’ une meilleure formation en lien avec l ’ apprentissage interculturel est nécessaire chez le personnel enseignant pour permettre à leurs élèves de mieux développer les compétences qui y sont associées. 5 L ’ étude La présente étude avait deux objectifs : • dans un premier temps, d ’ examiner, à partir d ’ un sondage, la place de la culture dans l ’ enseignement du français en Colombie-Britannique, ainsi que les défis et les besoins des enseignants et des futurs enseignants lorsqu ’ ils abordent le développement interculturel dans leurs salles de classe, puis, • dans un deuxième temps, de nous baser sur les résultats du sondage dans le but de mettre en place un atelier de formation professionnelle qui encourage une plus grande concentration sur une perspective critique dans la conceptualisation de l ’ interculturel. Au printemps 2019, nous avons lancé le sondage en ligne auprès des enseignants et des futurs enseignants dans l ’ ouest du Canada. Nous avons reçu plus d ’ une centaine de réponses, dont 80 au total ont été retenues selon nos critères (consentement, questionnaire complété, et enseignants provenant de la Colombie-Britannique). Nous avons effectué une analyse quantitative descriptive (Brown 2001, Dörnyei & Taguchi 2010) des réponses aux questions à choix multiples et d ’ échelles de Likert, et une analyse thématique (Braun & Clarke 2022) des réponses aux questions d ’ items ouverts afin de concevoir l ’ atelier en personne pour le printemps et l ’ été 2020. Avec l ’ arrivée de la pandémie COVID-19, nous avons dû réorganiser l ’ atelier en format virtuel, ce qui a généré certains défis pour la génération et la collecte des données. En fin de compte, nous avons réussi à présenter l ’ atelier quatre fois dans le cadre de colloques nationaux et internationaux, tous en format virtuel : 186 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="187"?> 1 Association canadienne des professeurs de langues secondes 2 Association canadienne des professionnels de l ’ immersion 3 International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence, organisé par le Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy, Université d ’ Arizon 4 Éducation et langues secondes du programme de formation à l ’ enseignement à l ’ Université d ’ Ottawa Tableau 1 : Les quatre ateliers présentés dans le contexte de la présente étude (La dernière colonne (n=) représente le nombre total de participants dans l ’ atelier) Étant donné que le format virtuel rend difficile de délimiter géographiquement l ’ origine des participants, nous avons décidé de ne pas nous limiter à un public régional de l ’ ouest du Canada, ni de viser uniquement des enseignantes en français langue seconde (FLS). Nous avons ainsi présenté l ’ atelier dans divers contextes auprès de divers publics. De plus, nous n ’ étions pas toujours en mesure de générer des données pendant l ’ atelier. Ceci était le cas pour la conférence internationale en Arizona, où nous avons présenté l ’ atelier auprès d ’ un public majoritairement américain comprenant des universitaires d ’ une diversité de disciplines. Dans les situations dans lesquelles la production de données était possible, la participation en ligne était difficile et négligeable, souvent à cause du temps alloué à l ’ atelier dans le cadre de la conférence. Il reste à préciser que, au lieu de pouvoir suivre un processus de recherche traditionnel, nous avons vécu une approche qualitative émergente et participative dans le sens où nous étions à la fois chercheurs et pédagogues, entreprenant une sorte de va-et-vient entre les objectifs de l ’ étude et les objectifs de l ’ atelier. Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 187 <?page no="188"?> 6 Le sondage Conception théorique de l ’ atelier Sur la base des réponses au sondage, nous avons constaté que, pour la majorité de des participants, l ’ enseignement des aspects culturels se concentre surtout sur des conceptualisations superficielles : Tableau 2 : Les objectifs de l ’ enseignement culturel et interculturel en français langue seconde classés selon l ’ ordre d ’ importance selon les données du sondage Bien qu ’ un aspect essentiel d ’ un apprentissage interculturel critique, soit la conscience culturelle et identitaire de soi, se retrouve au 2 e rang (sans doute en raison du programme d ’ études de la Colombie-Britannique dont une des compétences essentielles est l ’ Identité personnelle et culturelle positive (Jacquet 2016)), on notera que des aspects plus superficiels occupent le haut du classement par ex. apprécier et connaître divers produits et éléments culturels, être tolérant, noter les similarités et des différences. En bas de classement, on 188 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="189"?> retrouve des aspects plus complexes de l ’ interculturel (p. ex., l ’ influence du contexte culturel sur la langue, l ’ analyse et l ’ évaluation de processus culturels et la gestion de conflits interculturels). Pour l ’ atelier, il était donc de notre intention de faire vivre aux participants une activité ancrée dans l ’ apprentissage expérientiel qui les amènerait à développer des perspectives critiques à travers un processus de décentrage, et ainsi à arriver à une réflexion approfondie sur ce que cela veut dire de développer et d ’ enseigner l ’ interculturel. Pour ce faire, nous avons choisi une stratégie souvent utilisée en salle de classe qui met au centre la mobilité sémiotique (Blommaert 2005) à travers des frontières virtuelles et qui exige la traduction culturelle (Kramsch & Zhu Hua 2020). Cette stratégie comprend l ’ intégration aux leçons d ’ éléments culturels (p. ex. chansons, récits, films et publicités), c ’ est-à-dire, le déplacement des textes et des significations à travers le monde. Comme Blommaert l ’ explique : Mobility, we have to understand, is not mobility across empty spaces, but mobility across spaces filled with codes, customs, rules, expectations, and so forth. Mobility is an itinerary across normative spaces, and these spaces are always somebody ’ s space. [ … ] Whenever discourses travel across the globe, what is carried with them is their shape, but their value, meaning, or function do not often travel along. Value, meaning, and function are a matter of uptake, they have to be granted by others on the basis of the prevailing orders of indexicality, and increasingly also on the basis of their real or potential ‘ market value ’ as a cultural commodity. (2005: 72 - 73) Dans le contexte de l ’ enseignement, comment donc éviter des activités de comparaison simplistes qui finissent par minimiser ou ignorer les significations complexes d ’ un texte qui a été produit dans un autre espace ? C ’ est à cette question que les participants de notre atelier ont été confrontés. Cela requiert une prise en considération de la traduction culturelle, qui est le point de départ et le cadre clé de notre atelier. Selon Kramsch & Zhu Hua (2020: 2), dans un sens métaphorique et non linguistique, ce concept désigne la négociation de sens entre des personnes ayant des systèmes de valeurs et des cultures de communication différents. Il ne s ’ agit pas seulement de visionner ou de lire un texte en français, en espagnol ou en japonais, mais aussi de savoir où, par qui et pour quel public ce texte a été produit. Ceci veut dire aussi que nous ne pouvons pas séparer les caractéristiques linguistiques des autres caractéristiques sémiotiques qui sont toujours culturellement ancrées dans un contexte particulier. Un élément aussi important que celui-ci est l ’ intégration d ’ un texte dans un nouvel espace, qui entraîne toujours des changements dans les rapports de pouvoir et qui met en relief une nouvelle dynamique en ce qui concerne l ’ autorité sur ces textes, leurs significations, et la valorisation qui leur est Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 189 <?page no="190"?> accordée (Park & Bucholtz 2009). La modification et le repositionnement d ’ un texte culturel dans un nouveau contexte sont toujours motivés par les intérêts de la personne entreprenant ce processus de traduction. Cette traduction culturelle se déploie par l ’ « entextualisation » des textes. Le processus consiste à extraire le matériel discursif de son contexte en deux étapes (la décontextualisation) et à l ’ intégrer dans un nouveau contexte (la resémiotisation). C ’ est ce processus de resémiotisation d ’ un texte qui est au c œ ur de l ’ atelier, car nous pouvons y explorer des moments interculturels. La resémiotisation des conceptions culturelles, c ’ est-à-dire, l ’ adaptation et la réarticulation de la signification dans un nouveau contexte, met souvent en évidence des discours contradictoires et des intérêts conflictuels, car pour les gens, ces significations se manifestent de différentes façons en fonction de leurs connaissances préalables et de leurs motivations. C ’ est donc via cette resémiotisation que les personnes peuvent résister ou s ’ ouvrir à une nouvelle vision du monde. 7 L ’ atelier de formation professionnelle 7.1 Aspects généraux Afin de pouvoir explorer ce processus de production de sens pendant l ’ atelier, nous avons choisi l ’ emploi de plusieurs textes culturels associés à la sortie d ’ un film français. Dans cette partie du chapitre, nous présentons d ’ abord la polémique qui a inspiré le sujet de l ’ atelier : l ’ utilisation de deux annonces différentes pour promouvoir un même film. Ensuite, nous décrivons la structure et le contenu de l ’ atelier. Puis, nous discutons des résultats de notre analyse des données qualitatives qui ont été produites au cours de ces ateliers. Pour encourager une réflexion approfondie, nous avons opté pour l ’ analyse d ’ un texte culturel produit en France et entextualisé aux États-Unis, créant ainsi un message modifié pour un public nord-américain. Plus spécifiquement, il s ’ agit d ’ une affiche du film français Mignonnes et la version créée par Netflix avec le titre anglais « Cuties » : 190 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="191"?> Figure 1 : Les affiches du film Mignonnes: l ’ originale (à gauche) et Netflix (à droite), tirées de Twitter sous forme d ’ une capture d ’ écran (@SeriesUpdateFR) En 2020, la sortie du film aux États-Unis sur Netflix a donné lieu à une polémique, notamment en raison de l ’ affiche utilisée par Netflix pour sa promotion, polémique qui se poursuit encore aujourd ’ hui. En voyant cette polémique comme rencontre interculturelle, nous avons décidé d ’ intégrer dans le déroulement de l ’ atelier une expérience semblable sous forme d ’ une exploration interprétative des deux affiches du film. Le design de l ’ atelier se base sur l ’ approche proposée par Scarino & Kohler (2022) dans leur projet sur l ’ évaluation interculturelle en Australie. Elle comprend les trois composantes suivantes : • la participation à une rencontre interculturelle ; • une recherche et l ’ analyse des aspects sémiotiques dans la construction d ’ une nouvelle compréhension du monde à partir de cette rencontre ; • une réflexion par les participants sur leurs propres réactions ainsi que sur les réponses des personnes qui font partie de cette interaction interculturelle. L ’ exploration des textes a impliqué l ’ incorporation de ces trois aspects fondamentaux dans le déroulement de l ’ atelier, comme nous l ’ expliquons en détail dans ce qui suit. Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 191 <?page no="192"?> 7.2 Contenu et déroulement de l ’ atelier Bien que la durée de l ’ atelier varie (de 75 minutes à trois heures), sa structure demeurait relativement inchangée et incluait deux activités : • Dans une première activité interactive, les participants étaient appelés à discuter de leur conception de la notion de culture via des représentations visuelles. En conclusion de cette activité, nous présentions notre conception de la culture (en bref, un cadre d ’ analyse du monde) et du processus de décentrage. • Dans l ’ activité principale, les participants vivaient une expérience interculturelle, selon le design de Scarino & Kohler (2022) présenté auparavant, lors duquel ils étaient amenés à vivre ce décentrage. Dans l ’ étape de participation, ils observaient et réagissaient à l ’ affiche présentée sur la plateforme Netflix pour annoncer le film. Dans une première version de l ’ atelier, les participants étaient invités à écrire l ’ ensemble de leurs réponses dans un formulaire en ligne, notre but étant de collecter ces données pour la recherche. Cependant, ceci coupait le rythme de l ’ atelier et diminuait l ’ interaction entre les participants. Après le premier atelier, nous avons donc décidé de ne plus adopter cette approche et nous avons plutôt généré certaines réponses écrites de façon plus spontanée en utilisant l ’ option de clavardage de Zoom ainsi que le mur collaboratif de l ’ outil numérique Padlet. Dans l ’ étape d ’ analyse et de recherche, d ’ autres textes ont été présentés aux participants pour qu ’ ils puissent mieux comprendre le premier texte, à savoir l ’ affiche de Netflix. Les participants ont observé l ’ affiche originale du film, puis regardé la bande-annonce. Ces deux textes offraient des perspectives différentes de l ’ affiche de Netflix sur le film et les participants étaient appelés à réagir à ces nouveaux textes, comparer leurs différentes interprétations et émettre des hypothèses sur l ’ intention des différents acteurs dans l ’ enjeu (p. ex. Netflix ou la réalisatrice). Puis, pour mieux comprendre l ’ intention et les perspectives de la réalisatrice du film, Mamouïna Docouré, les participants ont regardé un extrait d ’ une entrevue de la réalisatrice. 2 Dans cet extrait, la réalisatrice explique que le film porte sur une jeune pré-adolescente qui navigue pour découvrir sa féminité. Le film est motivé par l ’ hypersexualisation des femmes dans les médias sociaux et la réalisatrice souhaite amener l ’ audience à se questionner sur les images et modèles de féminité que la société présente aux jeunes filles. C ’ est à travers l ’ expérience de ces nouveaux textes et l ’ élaboration d ’ hypothèses que s ’ effectue le processus de décentrage ; 2 https: / / www.youtube.com/ watch? v=Q8dsjAoazdY (15-05-2024). 192 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="193"?> les textes apportent de nouveaux points de vue et les hypothèses qu ’ apportent les participants les amènent à considérer d ’ autres perspectives que celles liées à leurs réactions initiales. Finalement, dans la partie réflexion, les participants reconsidéraient leurs réactions initiales à la lumière de leur recherche et analyse. Comme l ’ interculturel ne consiste pas à adopter la position des autres, mais plutôt de se situer par rapport aux autres (Andreotti 2021), les participants mettaient en relation leurs perspectives réévaluées avec celles présentées par la réalisatrice. Ainsi, l ’ apprentissage interculturel est un processus transformatif en ce sens que les participants s ’ ouvrent à d ’ autres perspectives et reconsidèrent les leurs à la suite de l ’ expérience. 7.3 Les résultats : vers le décentrage de soi Les résultats présentés dans cette partie sont basés sur l ’ analyse des données générées par les participants verbalement ou sous formes de réponses écrites lors des trois ateliers offerts au Canada (Tableau 1). Parmi les 115 personnes qui ont participé à ces trois ateliers, nous comptons des réponses documentées de 35 participants, et, de celles-ci, 23 avec consentement. 7.3.1 Participation à une rencontre: réagir au texte initial Les interprétations initiales des participants des trois ateliers lors de l ’ observation de la première affiche de Netflix sont représentées sous format de « nuages de mots » (Ramlo 2011) pour capturer et synthétiser les thèmes globaux en se basant sur la fréquence des mots utilisés par les participants. Dans ce type d ’ analyse textuelle, les mots d ’ intérêt sont placés dans une forme rectangulaire, et la taille de la police et la couleur des mots placés dans ce nuage représentent la fréquence : plus le mot est visible dans le nuage de mots, plus il apparaît fréquemment dans le texte fourni. Les nuages de mots présentés ci-dessous ont été générés en avril 2023 comme composante de l ’ analyse des données. Dans les représentations visuelles ci-dessous, nous voyons deux aspects de l ’ interprétation initiale. L ’ affiche de Netflix a évoqué des réactions très négatives, en particulier un sentiment d ’ inconfort ou de malaise, tel que clairement visible dans la Figure 2. Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 193 <?page no="194"?> Figure 2 : Nuage de mots représentant la réaction émotionnelle des participants des trois ateliers vis-à-vis de l ’ affiche de Netflix Il y avait au moins six ou sept réponses exprimant le mot « inconfortable » en anglais ou en français. De plus, lorsqu ’ on interrogeait les participants sur le sujet communiqué par l ’ affiche, leurs réponses exprimaient de façon presque unanime la sexualisation des jeunes filles (Figure 3), avec des références directes aux « concours de Cheer ou mini-miss aux États-Unis ». Figure 3 : Un nuage de mots représentant le sujet principal communiqué par l ’ affiche de Netflix selon les participants des trois ateliers Le fait que ces réponses proviennent de trois ateliers différents démontre à quel point les interprétations sont partagées et qu ’ il s ’ agit d ’ un discours dominant et d ’ un message à la fois choquant mais très clair. 194 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="195"?> 7.3.2 Recherche et analyse: élargir ses perspectives à travers d ’ autres textes À la suite des réactions initiales à l ’ affiche de Netflix, les participants étaient appelés à mieux comprendre le film en regardant l ’ affiche originale et la bandeannonce. La sélection représentative des réponses exprimant l ’ interprétation de l ’ affiche originale montre une réévaluation des premières réactions négatives, évidente surtout dans la première ligne du Tableau 3 : Tableau 3 : Réponses des participants des trois ateliers à la question « Quelle est votre réaction en voyant l ’ affiche originale et, d ’ après vous, sur quoi porte le film? » Ceci est surtout visible dans les expressions comme, par exemple, « moins hypersexualisé » ainsi que la comparaison explicite à la première affiche: « the feeling of this poster is different and less gross ». Le mot « intriguing » met en évidence de la curiosité, ainsi que la mention directe du mot « la curiosité ». De plus, cette fois, on voit un plus grand éventail de thèmes: « amitiés », shopping », « la diversité multiculturelle à l ’ école » ainsi que le thème du passage à l ’ âge adulte (p. ex. « transitioning into womanhood »). Parmi les réponses qui démontrent un esprit plus critique, il n ’ y a qu ’ une seule qui mentionne clairement qu ’ il s ’ agit d ’ un texte visant un public spécifique : « pour un auditoire d ’ une autre culture, un autre pays », ce qui fait référence à la Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 195 <?page no="196"?> mobilité du texte. La bande-annonce n ’ a pas vraiment suscité de réflexion additionnelle en lien avec l ’ affiche originale mais a davantage piqué la curiosité des participants, évidente dans des expressions comme « la bande-annonce m ’ intrigue beaucoup », «Ça pique ma curiosité » (atelier de février 2022), et « je crois que ce film serait très intéressant à visionner » (atelier d ’ octobre 2020). Cela dit, malgré une plus grande ouverture à l ’ égard du sujet du film, dans les réponses présentées dans le Tableau 3, on voit également beaucoup de questionnement à travers différentes réinterprétations du sujet principal du film. L ’ aspect le plus surprenant dans les réponses est la persistance des réactions négatives, même après que les participants avaient vu l ’ affiche originale, pourtant plutôt dépourvues d ’ aspects de sexualisation. La plupart des réactions restent centrées sur le thème identifié dans l ’ affiche de Netflix, notamment l ’ exploitation sexuelle et, malgré une minimisation des réactions négatives, une grande partie des réponses montre que les participants s ’ en tiennent à leur première impression: « mon hypothèse ne changerait pas ; ce film aborde la sexualisation extrême » (atelier de février 2022). En général, on voit à quel point il était difficile pour ces participants de se décentrer de leurs façons de comprendre le monde, de se situer à l ’ extérieur du contexte nord-américain, et ceci même après avoir été exposés à des représentations différentes. Dans une certaine mesure, nous restons accrochés à ce qui nous est familier en tant qu ’ expériences, idées, représentations, tout ce qui nous a formés. 7.3.3 Réflexion finale : réévaluer ses positions En visionnant l ’ entretien avec la réalisatrice, les participants ont eu une perspective alternative, contredisant le message de l ’ affiche de Netflix et précisant l ’ objectif du film. La sélection d ’ extraits présentés dans le Tableau 4 ci-dessous a été tirée des réponses écrites du premier atelier : 196 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="197"?> Tableau 4 : Réponses écrites des participants du premier atelier (La conférence nationale Langues sans frontières de l ’ Association canadienne des professeurs de langues secondes) On voit ici toute une ouverture, un changement important dans l ’ attitude envers le film. Il est maintenant jugé « intéressant », un film qui « mérite d ’ être vu », et on a exprimé le désir de le regarder. La plupart des réponses de ces participants se concentrent sur une réinterprétation du film, du sujet, de la problématique et des personnages. On les voit chercher une nouvelle compréhension du texte, et faire un effort de négocier les représentations contradictoires en lien avec leurs propres identités et positionnements. Les deux extraits suivants (Tableau 5) l ’ expriment très clairement cet aspect : Tableau 5 : Extraits des réponses écrites de deux participants du premier atelier Dans ces deux réponses, l ’ identité enseignante est mise en avant, peut-être pour justifier le visionnement en tant qu ’ obligation professionnelle et en vue de l ’ apprentissage nécessaire d ’ une perspective culturelle différente. Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 197 <?page no="198"?> En général, les réflexions exprimées lors des ateliers semblent rester sur le plan de l ’ histoire du film, c ’ est-à-dire sur l ’ expérience interculturelle du personnage dans le film à travers les différentes interactions de la vie, à la maison en famille, à l ’ école avec les copines, dans la communauté musulmane, et dans les médias sociaux. Bien que la plupart des participants reconnaissent que l ’ affiche de Netflix est une stratégie de marketing, la réflexion critique par rapport aux représentations du film qui se font jour dans les différents textes présentés aux participants est moins évidente. Pendant l ’ atelier, la résistance des participants envers ce film persistait dans les discussions. Ici, nous voyons clairement l ’ entextualisation du message du film à travers l ’ affiche de Netflix et sa resémiotisation par le public. En dépit des excuses offertes par Netflix sur Twitter pour la traduction de son affiche, la polémique aux États-Unis se poursuit encore (Maddaus 2022). Il n ’ y a aucun doute que l ’ extraction et le repositionnement du texte français dans le contexte nord-américain ont été effectués en fonction d ’ intérêts particuliers. Le pouvoir est visiblement une composante intégrale de ce processus, avec des conséquences majeures et un impact significatif sur la vie professionnelle et personnelle de la réalisatrice. 7.3.4 Les implications pour l ’ enseignement Nos interactions avec les participants lors des ateliers ainsi que les résultats de l ’ étude nous ont montré à quel point il peut être difficile de remettre en question l ’ interprétation de produits culturels, tirés d ’ un contexte quelconque, pour s ’ en servir d ’ une perspective critique dans l ’ enseignement interculturel. Notamment, d ’ après Scarino & Kohler, il faut être ouvert à accepter l ’ aspect inattendu et contradictoire du travail interprétatif des interactions interculturelles: Instead of assuming that meanings are given, we need to understand meaning as a co-construction that relies on reciprocal interpretation and creation of meanings in situ. Instead of seeing students in the role of performers, doing or acting out communication, we need to see them as both performers and analysers who come to understand the exchange of meanings as effortful and ethical, as involving exchange across difference, a process that is complex and at times, conflictual. (Scarino & Kohler 2022: 192) Afin de réaliser un tel processus d ’ apprentissage, une considération du déroulement de l ’ activité présentée ci-dessus montre qu ’ il faut beaucoup de temps. En comparant les différents formats de notre atelier, nous avons remarqué que la version de trois heures avec des universitaires a provoqué une réflexion plus riche et critique que les versions de 75 minutes. Il est donc crucial de planifier à long terme afin de pouvoir poursuivre le développement 198 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="199"?> interculturel des apprenants, peu importe le niveau et le contexte d ’ apprentissage, à travers des expériences liées à l ’ apprentissage continu (Scarino & Kohler 2022). Bien qu ’ il soit possible de demander aux participants d ’ écrire leurs réponses individuellement pour leur donner un temps de réflexion, il est important de prioriser la discussion collective qui permet aux participants d ’ entendre les perspectives d ’ autrui. Enfin, parmi d ’ autres défis, un engagement critique avec les textes nécessite de la recherche, de l ’ analyse, et une formation particulière à l ’ enseignement interculturel. La rétroaction des participants sur le contenu de l ’ atelier et son influence sur leur apprentissage interculturel met en évidence les défis de ce type d ’ apprentissage dans le cadre de la formation professionnelle. Dans le Tableau 6, nous exposons quelques exemples de rétroaction des participants des trois ateliers organisés au Canada, qui soulignent deux approches pour enseigner l ’ interculturalité. Tableau 6 : Réactions des participants à l ’ atelier Dans la première réponse, par exemple, on voit qu ’ on s ’ attend à des ressources prêtes à l ’ emploi, à des stratégies simples et faciles à incorporer. Dans la deuxième réponse, on cherche à éviter les stéréotypes au lieu d ’ apprendre comment s ’ en servir, et la notion de « fausses idées » laisse entendre qu ’ il existe une seule façon d ’ enseigner l ’ interculturel. Dans la troisième réponse, Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 199 <?page no="200"?> c ’ est l ’ engagement actif dans l ’ apprentissage interculturel qu ’ on cherche à éviter. Une orientation plutôt superficielle renforce la tendance à s ’ accorder aux attentes des élèves et des parents en évitant des thèmes difficiles, qui nécessitent une certaine vulnérabilité et n ’ offrent pas nécessairement un sentiment de responsabilisation et de confiance. Comment alors encourager davantage de réactions exprimées dans les réponses présentées à droite : le fait d ’ être prêt à « vivre l ’ expérience interculturelle » (réponse 4); et d ’ accepter « being okay with not having all the answers » (réponse 5); et adopter une position critique et réflexive (réponse 6). 8 Comment comprendre l ’ apprentissage interculturel Certains conçoivent l ’ apprentissage interculturel d ’ une perspective plus traditionnelle, basée sur la transmission de connaissances, tel que le souligne la troisième réponse dans le Tableau 4 : « I feel like we were teaching ourselves rather than learning from the experts ». Pourtant, l ’ apprentissage interculturel ne peut se cantonner à une liste d ’ activités pré-faites, rester coincé dans une boîte trop serrée, commercialisée, mais se doit d ’ être expérientielle et transformative de nature. Andreotti (2021), suivant Biesta (2013), discute de la distinction entre « learning from », qui suppose des attentes existantes, et « being taught by », qui exige une ouverture à l ’ inconnu et une certaine vulnérabilité. Pour nous, cette dernière disposition est essentielle à l ’ apprentissage interculturel. Dans cette optique, notre conceptualisation de l ’ interculturel correspond à une approche éducative inspirée d ’ Andreotti, qu ’ elle nomme « depth education » (2021, p. 498) : … an approach that is less about delivering content and more about negotiating and sustaining generative containers (or spaces) for educational conversations that can challenge the ways we have been conditioned to think, relate, desire, hope, and imagine. (Andreotti 2021: 498) L ’ interculturel n ’ est donc pas limité à une tâche dans la salle de classe. Il s ’ agit plutôt d ’ une question existentielle, “ an encounter with the world. ” Ainsi, nous arrivons à une conceptualisation de l ’ interculturel vu autrement. L ’ interculturel n ’ est pas facile à comprendre, ni à négocier, ni à enseigner. Nous voyons dans l ’ interculturel un processus continu et difficile, avec des tensions, des incertitudes, et des complexités, et plein d ’ erreurs ou de faux pas. C ’ est en ce sens que nous comprenons l ’ interculturel lié aux priorités et efforts actuels de la décolonisation et à la reconnaissance de notre complicité dans les préjudices historiques et systémiques. 200 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="201"?> Références A NDREOTTI , V. de O. (2021). Depth education and the possibility of GCE otherwise. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 19(4), 496 - 509. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1080/ 14767724.2021.1904214). B ATTISTE , M., & H ENDERSON , S. (2021). Indigenous and Trans-Systemic Knowledge Systems. Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Learning, 7(1), i - xix. B IESTA , G. (2013). Receiving the Gift of Teaching: From ‘ Learning from ’ to ‘ Being Taught By ’ . Studies in Philosophy and Education, 32(5), 449 - 461. B LOMMAERT , J. (2005). Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge University Press. B RAUN , V., & C LARKE , V. (2022). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. SAGE Publications. B ROWN , J. D. (2001). Using surveys in language programs (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. B YRAM , M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Multilingual Matters. B YRAM , M. (2021). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence: Revisited. Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Multilingual Matters. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.21832/ 9781800410251). D ASLI , M., & D ÍAZ , A. R. (Eds.). (2017). The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice. Taylor & Francis. D ELLATTO , M. (2020, August 20). Netflix ‘ deeply sorry ’ for ‘ Cuties ’ poster after backlash for sexualizing kids. New York Post. (https: / / nypost.com/ 2020/ 08/ 20/ netflix-deeply-sorryfor-cuties-poster-after-backlash-for-sexualizing-kids/ ; 02/ 09/ 2023). D ÖRNYEI , Z., & T AGUCHI , T. (2010). Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing. Routledge. E RMINE , W. (2007). The ethical space of engagement. Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1), 193 - 204. F LEURET , C., B ANGOU , F., & I BRAHIM , A. (2013). Langues et enjeux interculturels: Une exploration au coeur d ’ un programme d ’ appui à l ’ apprentissage du français de scolarisation pour les nouveaux arrivants. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(4). F LEURET , C., & S ABATIER , C. (2019). La littérature de jeunesse en contextes pluriels: Perspectives interculturelles, enjeux didactiques et pratiques pédagogiques. Le Français dans le Monde - Recherches et Applications, 65, 95 - 111. G RAMLING , D. (2020). Supralingualism and the translatability industry. Applied Linguistics, 41(1), 129 - 147. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1093/ applin/ amz023). H AIG -B ROWN , C. (2009). Decolonizing Diaspora: Whose traditional land are we on? Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 1(2), 4 - 21. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.18733/ C3H59V). J ACQUET , M. (2016). Inclusion, diversité et approche personnalisée: L ’ articulation d ’ un «nouveau» cadre éducatif en Colombie-Britannique. Alterstice: Revue Internationale de La Recherche Interculturelle/ Alterstice: International Journal of Intercultural Research/ Alterstice: Revista International de la Investigacion Intercultural, 6(1), 147 - 158. Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 201 <?page no="202"?> J ACQUET , M. (2019). Diversité ethnoculturelle et autochtone dans la réforme du curriculum: L ’ architecture d ’ une inclusion. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l ’ éducation, 42(2), 350 - 383. K RAMSCH , C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford University Press. K RAMSCH , C. (1995). The cultural component of language teaching. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8, 83 - 92. K RAMSCH , C. (1998). Language and Culture. Oxford University Press. K RAMSCH , C. (2009). Third Culture and Language Education. In V. J. Cook & L. Wei (Eds.), Contemporary Applied Linguistics: Language Teaching and Learning (Vol. 1, pp. 233 - 254). Continuum. K RAMSCH , C. (2011). The symbolic dimensions of the intercultural. Language Teaching, 44 (3), 354 - 367. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1017/ S026144481000043). K RAMSCH , C., & Z HU , Hua. (2020). Translating culture in global times: An introduction. Applied Linguistics, 41(1), 1 - 9. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1093/ applin/ amz020). K UBOTA , R. (2010). Critical multiculturalism and second language education. In S. May & C. E. Sleeter (Eds.), Critical multiculturalism: Theory and praxis (pp. 30 - 52). Routledge. L EMAIRE , E. (2018). La culture d ’ expression française dans les écoles d ’ immersion et dans les écoles francophones en milieu minoritaire ouest-canadien: Représentations d ’ étudiants. Canadian Modern Language Review, 74(2), 199 - 226. L EPPÄNEN , S., K YTÖLÄ , S., J OUSMÄKI , H., P EURONEN , S., & W ESTINEN , E. (2014). Entextualization and resemiotization as resources for identification in social media. In P. Seargeant & C. Tagg (Eds.), The Language of Social Media: Identity and Community on the Internet (pp. 112 - 136). Palgrave Macmillan UK. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1057/ 9781137029317_6). L IDDICOAT , A. J., & Scarino, A. (2013). Intercultural language teaching and learning. Wiley- Blackwell. M ADDAUS , G. (2022). Texas D. A. appeals order blocking him from bringing a child porn case against Netflix. Variety (December 22) (https: / / variety.com/ 2022/ film/ news/ netflix-cuties-lucas-babin-appeal-child-pornography-1235450642/ ; 15-05-2024). M ARSHALL , K., & B OKHORST ‐ H ENG , W. D. (2018). “ I wouldn ’ t want to impose! ” Intercultural mediation in French immersion. Foreign Language Annals, 51(2), 290 - 312. (https: / / doi. org/ 10.1111/ flan.12340). M ARSHALL , K. L., & Bokhorst-Heng, W. D. (2020). Language ideological debates and intercultural learning in French immersion education. Canadian Modern Language Review, 76(3), 175 - 193. M UJAWAMARIYA , D. (2002). Ce sont nos écoles aussi: Propos de minorites visibles et ethnoculturelles aspirant à la profession enseignante en Ontario francophone. Education Canada, 42(3), 21. M UJAWAMARIYA , D., & M OLDOVEANU , M. (2006). Qu ’ apprennent-ils au sujet de la gestion de la diversité ethnoculturelle pendant leur stage d ’ enseignement? In D. Mujawamariya (Ed.), L ’ éducation multiculturelle dans la formation des enseignants au Canada: Dilemmes et défis (Vol. 13). Peter Lang. P AQUET , N. (2016). La résurgence autochtone, un passage nécessaire vers une réconciliation. Cahiers Du CIÉRA, 13, 79 - 99. 202 Meike Wernicke / Carl Ruest <?page no="203"?> P ARK , J. S.-Y. & B UCHOLTZ , M. (2009). Introduction. Public transcripts: Entextualization and linguistic representation in institutional contexts. Text & Talk, 29(5), 485 - 502. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1515/ TEXT.2009.026). P ILLER , I. (2011). Intercultural communication: A critical introduction. Edinburgh University Press. (http: / / site.ebrary.com/ lib/ ubc/ detail.action? docID=10477158). P OOLE , R. (1972). Towards Deep Subjectivity. Harper & Row. P OTVIN , M., & C ARR , P. (2008). La « valeur ajoutée » de l ’ éducation antiraciste: Conceptualisation et mise en oeuvre au Québec et en Ontario. Éducation et francophonie, 36(1), 197 - 216. P OTVIN , M., M C A NDREW , M., & Kanouté, F. (2006). L ’ éducation antiraciste en milieu scolaire francophone à Montréal: Diagnostic et perspectives. Ministère du Patrimoine Canadien / Chaire de recherche du Canada Éducation et rapports ethniques. R AMLO , S. (2011). Using word clouds to visually present Q methodology data and findings. Journal of Human Subjectivity, 9(2), 95 - 108. R EGAN , P. (2010). Unsettling the settler within: Indian residential schools, truth telling, and reconciliation in Canada. UBC Press. R UEST , C. (2020). The Autobiography of intercultural encounters: Mixed results amongst Canadian adolescents. Language and Intercultural Communication, 20(1), 7 - 21. S CARINO , A., & K OHLER , M. (2022). Assessing intercultural capability: Insights from processes of eliciting and judging student learning. In T. McConachy, I. Golubeva, & M. Wagner (Eds.), Intercultural Learning in Language Education and Beyond: Evolving Concepts, Perspectives and Practices (pp. 188 - 206). Channel View Publications. W ERNICKE , M. (2021). Four ‘ moments ’ of intercultural encountering. Teaching in Higher Education, 26(7 - 8), 1130 - 1140. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1080/ 13562517.2021.1911988). Traverser les frontières virtuelles: une rencontre interculturelle 203 <?page no="205"?> La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands : témoignages de candidats à un Prix d ’ Excellence de l ’ Université Franco-Allemande Véronique Lemoine-Bresson & Marie-José Gremmo 1 Le contexte de l ’ étude 1.1 L ’ UFA et ses Prix d ’ Excellence L ’ Université franco-allemande (UFA) est une institution dotée d ’ une personnalité juridique internationale, créée et financée à parts égales par la France et l ’ Allemagne. Depuis 1997, elle a pour mission principale de susciter, d ’ évaluer et de participer au financement de cursus francoallemands dans les disciplines les plus variées, des sciences de l ’ ingénieur aux sciences humaines et sociales, en passant par les sciences exactes, l ’ économie et la gestion, le droit et la formation des enseignants » (UFA/ DFH 2024). Les cursus intégrés soutenus par l ’ UFA permettent aux étudiants d ’ obtenir un double diplôme de niveau Licence et/ ou Master, proposé par un couple université française/ université allemande. La structuration de la formation proposée est la suivante : en Licence, les étudiants démarrent le cursus en groupes nationaux dans leur université d ’ origine, puis suivent ensemble la suite du cursus, alternativement en France et en Allemagne (ou vice versa) dans chacune des deux universités. En Master, les étudiants suivent ensemble le cursus, une année dans chacune des deux universités concernées. La structuration des diplômes se fait donc par flux croisés, et le groupe d ’ étudiants, sélectionné sur dossier, est constitué pour la durée du diplôme. L ’ UFA décerne chaque année des « Prix d ’ excellence », qui ont pour objectif de « récompenser les diplômé*es de cursus intégrés de l ’ UFA de niveau Licence ou Master ayant démontré leur excellence aux niveaux scientifique et interculturel (résultats particulièrement brillants et/ ou mérites particuliers). Ils visent également à renforcer les échanges entre le monde économique et les jeunes diplômé*es. Dotés de 1 500 euros chacun, les prix sont financés par des acteurs économiques et des institutions de différents secteurs » (UFA/ DFH 2024). Il existe donc plusieurs prix par grand champ disciplinaire. <?page no="206"?> 1.2 Le corpus étudié Les dossiers de candidature à ces Prix doivent être déposés en ligne au mois d ’ octobre précédant l ’ année de remise. Ils sont alors évalués par un groupe d ’ experts universitaires indépendants, et la remise des Prix a lieu au mois de janvier. Le dossier de candidature (UFA/ DFH 2024) est composé de huit documents, et les quatre documents que les candidats doivent rédiger eux-mêmes doivent être fournis à la fois en français et en allemand. L ’ un de ces documents est un texte libre, d ’ une page maximum (format A4, police Arial 11) dont nous donnons la consigne plus bas. Notre corpus est constitué des versions en français de ces textes libres, numérotés de S01 à S42. 1.2.1 Une même consigne ? Notons tout d ’ abord que l ’ appel à candidature n ’ est pas rédigé de manière bilingue, contrairement à ce qui est demandé aux candidats. Ceux-ci doivent choisir soit la version en français soit la version en allemand, téléchargeables à deux endroits différents sur le site de l ’ UFA. La consigne pour ce texte libre est la suivante : • En français : Témoignage de la plus-value que le parcours universitaire franco-allemand et les expériences vécues (encadrement interculturel, coopération avec des cultures scientifiques et professionnelles différentes, p.ex. dans le cadre de stages, etc.) vous ont apportés personnellement dans le domaine de l ’ interculturel (1 page maximum au format A4 par langue). • En allemand : Persönliche Stellungnahme zum interkulturellen Mehrwert Ihres deutsch französischen Studiums (z. B. interkulturelle Betreuung, Erfahrung mit zwei Wissenschafts- und Arbeitskulturen an der Hochschule bzw. im Rahmen von Praktika u. ä.) und Schilderung der persönlichen Erfahrungen mit Interkulturalität (pro Sprache max. 1) DIN- A4-Seite. Il apparaît donc très vite que les consignes ne donnent pas les mêmes éléments aux candidats. Elles diffèrent notamment dans deux grandes directions : • En français, on demande aux candidats un « témoignage », et en allemand un « avis personnel » (persönliche Stellungnahme). Ainsi, ce qui est demandé aux étudiants qui choisissent l ’ appel à candidatures en allemand est moins marqué que ce qui est demandé aux candidats de langue française, à qui on demande un « témoignage », c ’ est-à-dire un « texte, 206 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="207"?> propos racontant des faits vécus » (Larousse 2024), avec, de manière implicite, une insistance sur la véracité des faits (« déclaration de ce que l ’ on a vu, entendu, servant à l ’ établissement de la vérité ») (Le Robert). • D ’ autre part, les expériences sont des « expériences vécues » en français, elles font partie du témoignage et sont qualifiées par la parenthèse au même titre que le « parcours universitaire franco-allemand ». Dans la consigne en allemand, les expériences sont devenues des « expériences interculturelles personnelles », sont déconnectées du parcours universitaire (la parenthèse pour préciser ne concernant que « les études francoallemandes ») et relèvent d ’ une description, et non d ’ un témoignage ou d ’ un avis. Mais le plus important, pour notre analyse, concerne deux éléments qui imposent des biais aux étudiants dans la rédaction de leur texte, quelle que soit la langue de l ’ appel. Le premier de ces biais est fourni par les deux consignes : c ’ est bien sur les aspects « positifs » de leur expérience francoallemande (plus-value, Mehrwert) que les candidats doivent témoigner ou donner leur avis. Toute critique négative est donc d ’ emblée rejetée. Le deuxième biais relève de la situation de communication elle-même : les scripteurs sont des candidats qui postulent pour un prix doté financièrement et valorisé institutionnellement. Comment alors ne pas penser que le témoignage, l ’ avis personnel qu ’ ils présentent, relève, au moins en partie, de ce qu ’ ils jugent comme la manière la plus efficace pour emporter l ’ adhésion du jury ? 1.2.2 Les candidats 2022 et 2023 Les étudiants ont été codifiés de S01 à S42. 14 étudiants ont postulé pour les Prix 2022, et 28 pour les prix 2023. Parmi ces 42 étudiants, 24 préparaient un Master (13 pour 2023, 11 pour 2022) et 18 une Licence (15 pour 2023 et 3 pour 2022) (cf. annexe). Certains de ces étudiants sont depuis longtemps dans des parcours bilingues. En effet, sur les 36 CV qui mentionnent le diplôme de fin d ’ études secondaires (soit 85,7 % du total), dix (soit un peu plus du quart, 27,8 %) mentionnent l ’ « Abibac », le double diplôme français/ allemand, trois autres un baccalauréat « international » ou « européen », et enfin trois un diplôme national avec option de langues vivantes « renforcées ». En tout, cela concerne près de 45 % des étudiants qui postulent. Pour les 55 % restants (cinq « bac français » et 15 « Abitur allemand »), le parcours binational a commencé au niveau des études supérieures. Le groupe des étudiants concernés est constitué de 42 étudiants, où dominent les filles (33, soit 78,6 %), ce qui n ’ est pas étonnant, étant donné que les La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 207 <?page no="208"?> prix d ’ excellence concernent les sciences humaines et sociales, et de manière plus inattendue, les Allemands (26, soit 61,9 %). Six étudiants ont une double nationalité, franco-allemande pour quatre d ’ entre eux. L ’ âge moyen des étudiants de Master est de 25 ans et 4 mois, celui des étudiants de Licence, 22 ans et 8 mois. Comme on peut s ’ y attendre, l ’ éventail des âges est un peu plus large au niveau Master (de 21 à 30 ans, soit neuf ans entre le plus jeune et le plus âgé) qu ’ au niveau Licence (de 21 à 25 ans, soit quatre ans entre le plus jeune et le plus âgé), notamment parce qu ’ un certain nombre d ’ étudiants de Master préparent leur 2° diplôme de ce niveau, ou font état d ’ une année, voire de plusieurs années, d ’ interruption entre deux diplômes. La grande majorité d ’ entre eux (70,7 %) ont effectué des stages dans les deux pays concernés (Allemagne et France), ces stages pouvant être liés à leurs diplômes, mais dans une proportion non négligeable, à des intérêts personnels (bénévolat, activités de loisirs, par ex.). Ils sont 17 (40,5 %) à avoir effectué des stages dans d ’ autres pays, principalement des pays anglophones, et pour cinq d ’ entre eux (11,9 %), certains de leurs stages se sont déroulés hors d ’ Europe. Vingt universités françaises et vingt-et-une universités allemandes sont représentées, et leur éventail géographique est très large : en France, de Lille à Aix-Marseille et de Nantes à Mulhouse, en Allemagne, de Fribourg en Brisgau à Berlin et de Düsseldorf à Leipzig. Les candidats viennent de nombreuses disciplines du champ des sciences humaines et sociales (cf. annexe), avec une légère prédominance des sciences politiques (cinq candidats) et de l ’ histoire (six candidats). Douze des titres des diplômes préparés (soit 28,6 %) comportent un terme comme « international », « transnational » ou « européen » dans leur titre, et dix d ’ entre eux comportent les termes « culture », « culturel » ou « interculturel », les deux catégories étant représentées ensemble dans cinq titres. Il faut, d ’ autre part, préciser que les filières binationales sont des filières sélectives 1 , ce qui n ’ est pas le cas général en France pour les diplômes de Licence, et un certain nombre de diplômes de Master. De plus, pour certains diplômes binationaux, la sélection est faite après une année « préparatoire », comme, par exemple, la filière « Sciences Politiques » en France. On a donc une population aux caractéristiques très variées, beaucoup plus expérimentée dans les séjours extranationaux et les contacts interculturels que la majorité des étudiants de ce niveau, si nous nous référons à d ’ autres études que nous avons faites (Lemoine-Bresson et al. 2022, Lemoine-Bresson et al. 2018). 1 La sélection se faisant notamment sur le niveau linguistique des candidats en français et en allemand. 208 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="209"?> 2 La plus-value telle qu ’ elle se présente dans les écrits des candidats Après une première lecture flottante du corpus dans son entièreté, nous avons procédé à une analyse de texte, avec un repérage du terme « plus-value » dans les 42 textes, et examiné le contexte d ’ énonciation. Nous avons utilisé Voyant Tools, qui est une application Web open source permettant d ’ effectuer une analyse de texte. Nous avons intégré le corpus complet dans l ’ outil d ’ analyse et indiqué une centration sur le terme de plus-value dans son contexte proche d ’ énonciation (Image 1) : Image 1: Capture d ’ écran Voyant Tools Suite à un travail d ’ exploration dans les écrits des candidats, l ’ analyse de texte vise à identifier les différentes significations que ceux-ci attribuent au terme de plus-value, alors qu ’ aucune précision définitoire n ’ est donnée dans l ’ appel à candidature. Les candidats semblent avoir compris la plus-value dans leur contexte comme l ’ augmentation de la valeur des études dans le cadre d ’ un cursus franco-allemand, par rapport à un cursus mononational. De la plusvalue déclarée, il se dégage quatre catégories principales construite dans une approche comparative par les candidats : 1. de meilleures connaissances académiques (la littérature, l ’ histoire, la culture - théâtre, médias - par exemple) ; 2. des ressources comme des compétences méthodologiques et interculturelles - rapport à autrui ; 3. l ’ ouverture sur le monde au-delà du franco-allemand ; 4. la compétitivité sur le marché du travail. La portée réelle de la plus-value est rendue visible par son niveau d ’ intégration tel qu ’ il est déclaré par les étudiants quand ils disent les avoir intégrées La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 209 <?page no="210"?> individuellement pour mieux agir en société (action) ou les considérer comme des outils intellectuels à disposition (cognition). La plus-value d ’ un cursus franco-allemand en viendrait à se définir comme la réunion, en un ensemble, de connaissances et de pratiques envers autrui et dans la société, mobilisables dans les situations professionnelles ou personnelles, et permettant l ’ adaptation aux situations singulières et spécifiques. 2.1 La plus-value qui se construit dans la comparaison Dans leurs témoignages, les candidats procèdent à la comparaison des systèmes nationaux et rapprochent des éléments du système allemand avec ceux du système français pour développer la description des différences, alors que développer des ressemblances n ’ a pas semblé pertinent dans le cadre de l ’ exercice imposé en une page. Dans les textes, il est perceptible que les candidats mettent l ’ accent sur deux systèmes qu ’ ils perçoivent comme spécifiques de l ’ espace national allemand ou français. Ils articulent parfois différentes échelles d ’ analyse quand ils établissent un parallèle entre les deux systèmes pour mieux les différencier, mais aussi pour dégager des intérêts pour leur propre compte. Cet acte de comparer, méthodologie traditionnelle dans les espaces de réflexions sur le franco-allemand, installée depuis le Traité de l ’ Élysée de 1963 2 , pourrait amener, comme c ’ est souvent le cas selon Cassin (2019), un avis de supériorité d ’ appréciation de l ’ un sur l ’ autre considéré comme étrange. Mais, dans le cadre d ’ une candidature à un Prix d ’ Excellence UFA, très peu de candidats associent « un sentiment d ’ étrangeté au pays partenaire » (Demesmay 2022: 103) qui aurait des effets négatifs sur leurs parcours, et donc produirait peu de plus-value. 2.1.1 Comparaisons des systèmes académiques Dans leur témoignage, 35 sur 42 candidats procèdent explicitement à cette comparaison des deux systèmes académiques français et allemand. La comparaison porte sur leurs éléments constitutifs, comme les cours, les séminaires de recherche, le rapport à l ’ enseignant, les méthodes de travail ou les exercices emblématiques, par exemple. Ce qui ressort de manière très nette dans les écrits des candidats est une dichotomie entre le système allemand et le système français, la variable nationale prenant un caractère d ’ évidence. Les candidats placent en regard deux blocs, le système allemand, l ’ autre français, et leurs 2 Signé par le Général De Gaule et le Chancelier Adenauer, le Traité est le socle de l ’ amitié franco-allemande. Le Traité marque un engagement durable entre la France et l ’ Allemagne, par-delà les éventuels changements politiques. Il institutionnalise la coopération entre les deux pays, et la pose comme systématique. 210 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="211"?> écrits se centrent essentiellement sur trois niveaux locatifs (Bray & Thomas 1995), l ’ un macro (en France, en Allemagne), l ’ autre méso (à Sciences Po Lille, à l ’ université de Passau), le dernier se situant au niveau micro (dans la vie quotidienne, dans la vie étudiante). Quand les étudiants généralisent, ils avancent qu ’ on se concentre en France sur des connaissances généralistes, dans une approche pédagogique centrée sur le cours magistral, avec des exercices emblématiques tels que la dissertation et le commentaire composé (Denizot & Mabilon-Bonfils 2012), et que le système allemand laisse pour sa part une place forte à l ’ autonomie des étudiants dans la prise en charge du travail à fournir, tout en exigeant de nombreux Hausarbeiten 3 . En ce sens, le regard des candidats converge avec les principes culturels traditionnels et philosophiques de chacun des deux systèmes d ’ éducation (Geiger-Jaillet 2016). D ’ un côté, se prendre en charge pour assurer son propre développement relèverait du système allemand, d ’ un autre côté, apprendre de façon structurée avec la voix dominante d ’ un maître, du système français. Leur appréciation semble indiquer que ces principes juxtaposent deux systèmes qui seraient hermétiques, ne subissant aucune influence extranationale. Si les cursus proposent des flux croisés d ’ étudiants, les universités et certains encadrants semblent ne pas intégrer d ’ influences de leur système dans leurs propres manières de fonctionner. Dans cette expression de mise en contraste, trois catégories principales de candidats émergent. Dans la catégorie 1, 60,0 % des candidats (21 sur 35) se contentent de souligner la coexistence de deux systèmes distincts, nationalement marqués. Ils listent de manière binaire et alternée des aspects des systèmes qui font différence. Pour exemple, la candidate S30 explique : En France, le système universitaire était plutôt scolaire avec des directives précises. Au contraire de l ’ université allemande qui laissait beaucoup plus de libertés, mais qui nous forçait à gérer de manière autonome notre quotidien universitaire. Dans la catégorie 2, six candidats y associent un jugement positif d ’ appréciation personnelle ou expliquent comment ils en tirent profit en « combinant » les techniques, les approches, les méthodes, comme le fait le candidat S16 : 3 En Allemagne, l ’ année universitaire est répartie en deux semestres. Chaque semestre compte à peu près 4 mois de cours, le semestre d ’ hiver commençant à la mi-octobre et le semestre d ’ été, à la mi-avril. Les deux périodes entre la mi-février et la mi-avril et entre la mi-juillet et la mi-octobre, exemptes de cours, sont appelées vorlesungsfreie Zeit. Pendant cette période, les étudiants préparent et écrivent leurs partiels et rédigent des dossiers à rendre en fin de semestre appelés Hausarbeiten (CIDAL, 2017). La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 211 <?page no="212"?> Je peux passer d ’ une méthode à l ’ autre, et parfois même mélanger harmonieusement deux méthodes culturellement différentes, mais pertinentes et complémentaires l ’ une de l ’ autre. L ’ usage par le candidat S01 des termes « combiner/ combinaison » ou « entredeux » montre que ce candidat à la fois entérine le principe de blocs strictement délimités et inclut l ’ idée de la construction de ressources disponibles, exportables et exploitables (Jullien 2010) au niveau personnel et au profit d ’ une projection professionnelle. C ’ est bien ce qui constitue une plus-value selon les candidats de cette catégorie. Dans la catégorie 3, huit d ’ entre eux montrent clairement que la comparaison traitée par un croisement des deux systèmes donne à penser et génère des changements d ’ attitude dans « certains aspects de [leur] parcours de vie » (candidate S09). Ou encore comme le dit la candidate S21 : Ces expériences [dans les deux systèmes] m ’ ont aidée à réfléchir à mon propre style de travail et, dans une certaine mesure, à mon style de leadership, et à les façonner plus intentionnellement. Il semble, selon les candidats des catégories 2 et 3, que l ’ un et l ’ autre des systèmes fonctionnent comme des espaces de transmissions de valeurs, complémentaires, qui peuvent devenir des ressources, si tant est que les étudiants développent la réflexivité suffisante pour mettre en perspective ces valeurs, les négocier dans la société à laquelle ils appartiennent. Pour eux, l ’ acte de comparer les installe dans une conception plurielle de l ’ Autre et représente en ce sens une plus-value par rapport au cursus mono-national. Pour la candidate S12, la comparaison offre des moments de réflexion auxquels elle n ’ aurait pas forcément eu accès lors d ’ un cursus dit classique. La comparaison apparaît comme un outil cognitif qui dépasse la temporalité du cursus et les disciplines qui y sont enseignées. 2.1.2 Un usage réfléchi de la comparaison Si la plupart des candidats présentent les deux systèmes en deux blocs distincts, certains s ’ emparent de la comparaison pour les faire se répondre l ’ un à l ’ autre, et se positionnent en faveur de l ’ un ou de l ’ autre selon leur expérience ou une situation à gérer, en convoquant explicitement ou implicitement la notion de complémentarité. Des candidats montrent une capacité réflexive qui met en synergie des niveaux d ’ échelle différents, les systèmes à un niveau macro et les décisions qu ’ ils prennent à un niveau micro. Ils essaient, selon l ’ expression de Bartel et al. (2021) de faire un usage réfléchi de la comparaison. Pour ces étudiants, la dynamique croisée franco-allemande produit un changement 212 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="213"?> cognitif (résoudre un problème) ou pratique (s ’ intégrer professionnellement), sans que ne disparaissent les caractéristiques de l ’ un et l ’ autre des systèmes. Pour Werner et Zimmermann (2004), si le croisement des parties française et allemande produit une transformation, ces parties ne disparaissent pas pour autant. Ces candidats ne se contentent pas de dire que les systèmes sont différents, ils tentent d ’ expliquer en quoi cela est intéressant pour eux de mettre l ’ un ou l ’ autre en avant et en quoi cela s ’ inscrit dans une plus-value : Candidat S08 : Les deux cursus se caractérisent par une forte complémentarité, permettant de traiter des questions à la fois avec un niveau de détail et d ’ exigence élevé, tout en étant capable de garder une compréhension systémique et synthétique d ’ un problème. Candidat S13 : En fin de compte, cela me permet de trouver des ensembles de solutions plus créatifs et de m ’ intégrer dans différents systèmes de travail. Ces analyses assorties de citations de candidats montrent dans une certaine mesure (ne pas oublier qu ’ ils doivent défendre la question de la plus-value des cursus franco-allemand dans le cadre d ’ un prix d ’ excellence) le possible intérêt de la comparaison des systèmes nationaux français et allemand, comme la littérature en a d ’ ailleurs déjà fait état (Lallement & Spurk 2003). Dans leurs écrits, les candidats parviennent à rendre compte de la manière dont le cadre national configure les deux paysages académiques et comment ils s ’ en servent à titre personnel. 2.1.3 Un usage culturaliste de la comparaison La remarque de la candidate S04 met la puce à l ’ oreille concernant le tout relatif effet bénéfique du vécu comparatif des deux systèmes quand elle dit « dans l ’ Hexagone, l ’ éducation est davantage mise sur la pratique et l ’ enseignement des connaissances généralistes ». L ’ expression retenue « dans l ’ Hexagone » met au jour à quel point comparer peut présupposer des aires culturelles closes (et ici très restreinte), et comme le souligne Espagne (1994: 113) « la comparaison conforte le clivage national et rend problématique sa remise en question ». D ’ ailleurs, très peu de candidats qui parlent explicitement de comparaison interrogent l ’ appartenance nationale comme pertinente ou non, alors même qu ’ ils sont nombreux à indiquer qu ’ ils (déclarés allemands ou français, plus rarement binationaux) « combinent des méthodes apprises dans l ’ un et l ’ autre des pays » (S05, candidat allemand), ou procèdent dans « un bel entre deux entre la façon française et allemande » (S01). Ces citations montrent que les étudiants se sont acculturés à certains éléments de l ’ autre système, les ont intégrés et ont développé des compétences qu ’ il serait peu judicieux d ’ étiqueter La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 213 <?page no="214"?> d ’ allemandes ou de françaises. Mais aucun candidat ne se questionne sur la comparaison, qui se déplie toujours d ’ un point de vue national, qui se décline par deux visions nationales culturalistes. Ils sont confortés dans l ’ idée qu ’ il existe de façon distincte un modèle français et un modèle allemand, même si une candidate (S11) dit, en référence à la diversité culturelle et linguistique des enseignants universitaires : « je ne sais pas si mon expérience académique à Paris était 100 % française ». En même temps, dans la recherche actuelle (Laumond, 2020), des chercheurs continuent de mobiliser la comparaison franco-allemande dans une approche binaire qui apporte des conclusions du type « En Allemagne … . En France, au contraire … ». Ce point est singulièrement renforcé par l ’ omniprésence de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur* » dans 37 écrits sur 42 : « les deux cultures », « la culture allemande, la culture française », « les différentes cultures », « l ’ autre culture », « la culture d ’ origine », « la culture étrangère », « un public culturellement différent », sans exhaustivité. A contrario, cinq candidats n ’ utilisent jamais de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur* » dans leur témoignage (S08, S11, S24, S32, S33). 2.2 La construction intellectuelle des clivages nationaux par l ’ usage de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur* » Nous nous intéressons ici à la mobilisation de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur* » dans les écrits des étudiants allemands et des étudiants français ainsi que de ceux qui se déclarent binationaux (à la marge dans l ’ effectif). Les termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur* » s ’ imposent massivement dans les écrits des candidats quand ils évoquent leur parcours franco-allemand. Il est intéressant de constater que solliciter un témoignage de la part des étudiants, donc leur vécu du francoallemand à un niveau micro, les amène à reconstruire le franco-allemand à un niveau macro (les systèmes académiques). Ainsi, la mise en texte pour la candidature reflète des choix qui, selon nous, sont posés comme des allants-desoi, ancrés dans un héritage historique, emprunts d ’ un jargon toujours existant des parcours franco-allemands et de la méthode comparative. Ces choix ne sont pas forcément conscientisés, rarement interrogés par les étudiants. Très peu de candidats donnent des indications quant à la littérature qui influence leurs discours, seule une candidate fait référence à Hofstede, chercheur néerlandais culturaliste, qui l ’ a aidée à « visualiser les différences entre l ’ Allemagne et la France » (S26). L ’ usage de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur*» dans 37 textes sur 42 ne nous laisse pas indifférentes sur la grille de lecture qui se construit dans les parcours franco-allemands, et nous amène à questionner la vision de l ’ autre que défendent les candidats dans leurs dossiers, vision qui semble ancrée dans une conception culturaliste. 214 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="215"?> Les candidats de notre corpus, qui, nous le répétons, ont vécu des cursus franco-allemands, ont du mal à se distancier de leur façon de parler de ce qui se fait dans l ’ autre pays, dont le qualificatif est forcément national (« la culture française »). L ’ usage de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur*» dans les écrits donne à voir sur quoi s ’ appuie la plus-value des cursus, du point de vue des étudiants, à savoir une conception souvent juxtaposée des systèmes dits culturellement différents. Pourtant, on peut émettre l ’ hypothèse que les enseignants des universités françaises et allemandes ne sont pas forcément de nationalité française ou allemande. Une fois encore, le niveau macro de l ’ état-nation domine sur ce qui peut se jouer vraiment au niveau micro dans les cours avec des enseignants dont les pratiques peuvent sortir du stéréotype national. Les généralisations stéréotypées empêchent les candidats de considérer davantage les contextes et les situations dans la négociation définitoire des termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur*». Les frontières entre ladite culture française et ladite culture allemande sont définies comme imperméables. Il s ’ agit toujours de deux cultures différentes, de la « culture de recherche de Sciences Po Paris », de la « culture du voisin », qui forment des standards français ou allemands. Cette conception repose sur « l ’ illusion d ’ une essence ou noyau dur, « pur », propre à telle culture » (Jullien 2010: 14). Les deux entités culturelles étant posées pour les 37 candidats, trois d ’ entre eux mobilisent la question de l ’ interaction entre les cultures, celle des ponts, de la rencontre entre les deux cultures, sans pour autant mettre l ’ individu (eux et les autres) au centre de leurs réflexions. Parmi les 34 autres candidatures, une candidate fait preuve de réflexivité quand elle montre comment son expérience des deux cultures l ’ amène à mettre en mots le risque de jugement de l ’ autre culture (car elle n ’ est pas la nôtre) et comment elle conscientise la nécessité de mobiliser les regards pluriels des personnes dans la gestion d ’ une situation. La candidate S13 montre comment l ’ expérientiel conscientisé et réfléchi peut servir une capacité à agir avec autrui, en incluant son point de vue : Candidate S13 : Il ne s ’ agit pas de juger une autre culture, mais de voir, de comprendre et d ’ accepter comment des personnes vivant dans d ’ autres endroits répondent aux mêmes questions avec des approches différentes. Le glissement d ’ une centration sur l ’ objet, « la culture » à une ouverture à l ’ altérité (centration sur le sujet, « des personnes » et leurs pratiques culturelles), notamment dans cet extrait, témoigne du développement de compétences interculturelles en tant que « processus réflexif et (auto)critique qui considère le réel de chacun (comment chacun voit le monde) » (Lemoine- Bresson 2022: 32). Le travail sur la déclaration par les candidats de la plus-value La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 215 <?page no="216"?> des parcours franco-allemands à partir des notions de comparaison et de cultures nationales nous amène à souligner l ’ importance de faire un usage critique et réflexif de la variable nationale, tant le risque est fort de réifier lesdites cultures de chacun des pays, alors vus comme des blocs homogènes et imperméables. A contrario, cinq candidats défendent la plus-value de leur cursus franco-allemand sans jamais faire usage de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur*». Interpelées par ce non-usage de termes avec l ’ entrée « cultur*», nous avons fait le choix d ’ examiner ces cinq textes. 3 L ’ interculturel sans « culture » Nous nous intéressons à ces cinq témoignages pour voir si l ’ absence du terme « culture » permet de sortir de la conception monolithique de l ’ interculturel comme comparaison de cultures nationales, et d ’ engager une réflexion sur sa définition multifacette, idéologique et problématique. Ces cinq témoignages sont exemplaires dans le sens où ils mettent en évidence les différents statuts qui influencent la définition construite par les candidats : leur statut d ’ étudiant dans leur rapport au savoir (apprentissages académiques), leur statut de jeunes libérés du joug parental, leur statut de personnes engagées dans et pour le franco-allemand, voire à l ’ international. Ils sont également intéressants dans une visée heuristique pour des chercheuses interrogeant les dimensions mouvantes et polysémiques de l ’ interculturel. Comme tous les écrits des autres candidats, les cinq témoignages de S08, S11, S24, S32 et S33 rendent compte de leur expérience, directement à destination de l ’ UFA qui sollicite le récit de témoins de la plus-value du franco-allemand (deux tiers remercient la structure universitaire commanditaire). Ces cinq témoignages montrent comment ces candidats exposent ce qu ’ ils ont vu, entendu et vécu dans leur cursus franco-allemand et comment leurs expériences sont, comme dans tout échange, « une partie constitutive des processus de formation et de socialisation » (Kellermann 2018: 83) ; les candidats trouvent les arguments pour prouver à l ’ UFA la plus-value interculturelle rattachée à leurs apprentissages. À noter que le mot allemand pour parler des expériences vécues est Erfahrung, formé sur le verbe erfahren qui veut dire ‘ apprendre ’ . Aucun de ces cinq récits n ’ utilise le terme « culture » pour rendre témoignage. Dans ces cinq témoignages, le stéréotype de l ’ expérience enrichissante s ’ introduit dans les discours. Les candidats S08 et S11 ont la particularité d ’ être des lauréats du Prix d ’ Excellence UFA. 216 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="217"?> 3.1 Les « sans culture » lauréats du Prix d ’ Excellence UFA Le candidat S08, lauréat du concours 2023, a la double nationalité francoallemande, et il a obtenu un master bilingue en « Sciences politiques », rattaché à Sciences Po Lille et l ’ université de Munster en Allemagne. S08 indique dès le début de son texte qu ’ il est actuellement sorti du cadre universitaire, qu ’ il travaille dans une organisation allemande pour la coopération internationale, et qu ’ il doit cette position, entre autres, à son « parcours en sciences sociales franco-allemand ». Dans son texte, il utilise le terme « interculturel », pour mentionner « une certaine sensibilité pour la communication interculturelle » (1 fois), et le « caractère interculturel de [son] parcours » (2 fois). Mais il utilise aussi, et plus souvent, le terme « international » (6 occurrences dans son texte), notamment pour qualifier son « environnement professionnel » et, plus personnellement, son « cercle d ’ amis ». Le premier gain qu ’ il analyse porte sur ses compétences linguistiques, et il y fait intervenir, outre le français et l ’ allemand, l ’ anglais, « langue omniprésente » dans son organisation internationale. Le gain identifié par S08 s ’ inscrit pleinement dans ce que visent les structures qui promeuvent le franco-allemand et la mobilité internationale, à savoir « l ’ acquisition de compétences linguistiques et techniques », « une meilleure intégration sur le marché du travail » (Demesmay 2022: 102). L ’ avis personnel qu ’ il rédige « sur la plus-value du parcours universitaire francoallemand » fait le va-et-vient entre les contenus et les modalités de formation de son master, et les compétences nécessitées dans le type de fonction qu ’ il occupe maintenant, son parcours franco-allemand lui ayant fourni « des outils de compréhension, des connaissances ainsi qu ’ une organisation dans [son] travail qui continuent de [lui] servir aujourd ’ hui ». Ainsi, pour répondre à la demande de l ’ appel à candidature, il choisit de mettre en valeur la manière dont la formation qu ’ il a acquise lui donne une plus-value sur le marché du travail. Cependant, la description qu ’ il donne de son environnement professionnel, tout comme l ’ analyse qu ’ il présente de son parcours académique, fortement reliées à sa spécialisation, reflètent une vision traditionnelle, ancrée géographiquement, de son expérience : il parle ainsi de « marché du travail européen », de « pays francophones » et de « pays anglophones », de « pays dits du Nord et les pays du Sud », de la « méthode de recherche » enseignée « en Allemagne », ou de stages effectués « en France et en Allemagne ». Le candidat S11, également lauréat du concours 2023, est de nationalité allemande, et il a obtenu un master bilingue d ’ Affaires Internationales et Européennes ». Son ancrage scientifique est donc celui des sciences politiques, et le double diplôme était rattaché à Sciences Po Paris et à la Freie Universität de Berlin. Il est actuellement chargé de recherche à l ’ Association allemande de politique étrangère (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 217 <?page no="218"?> . S11 partage avec S08, dans une moindre mesure, la dimension internationale dans sa compréhension de l ’ interculturel. Ce qui nous donne une indication sur l ’ idéologie sous-jacente à sa conception de l ’ interculturel (Dervin 2023), développée dans le contexte spécifique du cursus franco-allemand vécu. S11 indique dès le début de son texte, que « l ’ expérience d ’ étudier en France et en Allemagne était nouvelle pour [lui] », ce qui lui donne un profil très spécifique dans l ’ ensemble des étudiants concernés. L ’ avis personnel qu ’ il rédige « sur la valeur culturelle des études franco-allemandes » est focalisé entièrement sur la situation « d ’ études franco-allemandes », et l ’ expérience qu ’ il décrit comme « véritablement internationale et enrichissante » porte de fait sur la comparaison entre les deux situations universitaires qu ’ il a traversées. Son analyse traduit ainsi une vision très comportementalisée et ancrée dans une approche des différences, dont il conclut, comme beaucoup d ’ autres, qu ’ elles sont « complémentaires ». Le critère de différenciation est principalement géographique, entre Sciences Po Paris, et la FU Berlin. Le texte est stylistiquement fondé sur la comparaison des deux situations, et les contenus de comparaison sont principalement académiques : les contenus mentionnés sont, d ’ une part, les écoles théoriques de son domaine de spécialité, et d ’ autre part, les modalités d ’ enseignement proposées par chacun des cursus. Même sa mention de relations plus personnelles concerne des « camarades d ’ étude ». S11 n ’ utilise jamais de terme avec la racine « culture », lui préférant le terme « international », et pourtant, son texte révèle une conception culturaliste de la situation, où les compétences qu ’ il a gagnées lors de ses études dans le cadre de l ’ UFA relèvent d ’ éléments marqueurs qu ’ on pourrait qualifier de stéréotypes soit d ’ essence « française » (« travailler dans l ’ urgence »), soit d ’ essence « allemande » (« capacité de gestion du temps »). 3.2 Les « sans culture » candidats non retenus La candidate S24 est de nationalité française et a obtenu un Master en Ethnologie et Anthropologie rattaché à l ’ Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) à Paris et l ’ Université Goethe de Francfort-sur-le-Main. Elle indique qu ’ elle a également obtenu une Licence double d ’ Etudes francoallemandes à l ’ Université de Clermont Auvergne et l ’ université de Mainz, et qu ’ elle envisage de préparer une thèse sur les parcours de musiciens d ’ orchestre. La candidate S32 est de nationalité allemande et a obtenu une Licence de Sciences de l ’ Information et de la Communication rattachée à l ’ université Lumière-Lyon 2 et à la Bauhaus-Universität à Weimar. Elle prépare actuellement un Master de Musik Management à Munich. Elle a ainsi bifurqué vers un diplôme mononational. 218 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="219"?> La candidate S33 est aussi de nationalité allemande. La licence qu ’ elle a obtenue est une Licence de Sciences Politiques et Sociales rattachée à Sciences Po à Nancy, et à la Freie Universität de Berlin. Elle prépare actuellement un Double Master Environmental Policy et Business and Management entre Sciences Po Paris et Stockholm School of Economics. S33 a ainsi quitté les cursus intégrés franco-allemands, tout en continuant dans une formation binationale. S32 décline l ’ entrée « intercultur* » à travers les expressions « Mon expérience de l ’ interculturel » ; « un encadrement interculturel » ; « un environnement interculturel ». Elle opère par un mouvement dialectique pour exprimer l ’ ambiguïté d ’ une expérience qui peut être à la fois positive et négative, mélange ces deux contraires pour faire apparaître sa vérité. Cette technique de raisonnement met en parallèle la peur de vivre à Paris « cette ville trop chère, trop grise, trop étroite » et le sentiment d ’ être chez soi « dans cette ville impressionnante ». Un mouvement dialectique s ’ opère également quand sont mis en tension le constat dommageable et malheureux d ’ avoir eu des amis essentiellement allemands et celui d ’ avoir trouvé la situation confortable. Pour S33, c ’ est à la fois « une bénédiction » et « une malédiction ». Enfin, un troisième mouvement dialectique est perceptible dans l ’ analyse faite du manque d ’ encadrement en Allemagne dans le cadre d ’ enseignements en ligne (période Covid-19). Le témoignage de S33 stipule le côté inquiétant de se sentir seule à se débrouiller dans un nouveau système d ’ apprentissage, tout en ayant le sentiment positif de s ’ autonomiser. Nous notons que ce témoignage est l ’ un des rares à mentionner des fragilités personnelles dans un cursus qui est exigeant en adaptations, et à décrire des moments évalués comme négatifs. S33 n ’ hésite pas à dire que la France (Paris), les Français (de Nancy) et la langue française incarnent ce qui est étranger, lui fait peur et l ’ inquiète, comme l ’ a analysé Wulf (2018: 26). Ce qui ne l ’ empêche pas d ’ ajouter qu ’ elle a fait l ’ expérience de l ’ altérité et en a tiré profit. Chaque couple de notions contraires « se donnent appui et relief par l ’ opposition qu ’ elles ont entre elles, mais encore, elles s ’ achèvent dans un terme troisième où nous voyons les oppositions se résorber, et les conflits s ’ évanouir » (Guitton 1954: 142). En effet, à la suite de ces trois mouvements dialectiques, S33 construit une synthèse positive de l ’ expérience traversée dans le cursus franco-allemand. S33 dessine une définition de l ’ interculturel que nous proposons d ’ appeler « un interculturel panthéonique ». Les propos rappellent que chaque système académique et les comportements des groupes assignés comme nationaux s ’ inscrivent dans une sorte de temple de chacune des nations. Mais qu ’ en même temps, cet interculturel renferme des éléments contraires (peur-confiance ; rejet-attirance ; bénédiction-malédiction), mais pas contradictoires puisqu ’ ils mènent à une issue positive. Le témoignage montre également un interculturel qui a une La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 219 <?page no="220"?> double destination, c ’ est-à-dire sociétale (mieux vivre avec autrui) et économico-politique (mieux s ’ insérer sur le marché de l ’ emploi, principalement dans le franco-allemand). Enfin, et cet aspect est partagé par la plupart des témoignages du corpus, l ’ interculturel dans les cursus binationaux est le symbole de l ’ idéal de l ’ entente franco-allemande. À l ’ inverse, les candidates S24 et S32 affichent exclusivement des éléments positifs, avançant « un parcours extrêmement enrichissant », la rencontre avec « des personnes formidables des deux pays » (S32), « des moments de rencontre riches intellectuellement » (S24). Peut-être cherchent-elles à faire plaisir à l ’ UFA, projetant une attente d ’ arguments amélioratifs sur les cursus franco-allemands soutenus par l ’ organisme évaluateur ? Ces deux témoignages, tout en étant laconiques, traversent deux ou trois sphères où se construit la plus-value interculturelle, à savoir au niveau académique, professionnel et personnel. La sphère académique est toujours marquée par la mise en avant des différences entre les systèmes d ’ enseignement universitaires (point commun, comme on l ’ a vu, à de nombreux témoignages du corpus), tout en affichant leur complémentarité (idem). La sphère professionnelle est, pour S32, un environnement de découverte dans les manières de travailler, et dans le contact avec l ’ innovation. La sphère personnelle se décline autour de la notion de communauté d ’ étudiants. Cette communauté « unique », « aussi extraordinaire qu ’ ouverte », selon les témoignages, fait à la fois « cohésion », et assure le développement de la réflexivité dans « la remise en question des choses qui étaient évidentes » (S32), et « influence » les manières de penser (S24). Ces trois témoignages amènent des arguments qui construisent les groupes d ’ étudiants de cursus franco-allemands comme « une communauté de pratique », c ’ est-à-dire groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis. (Wenger et al. 2002: 4) Dans son témoignage, S32 dit : « tout le monde a un lien avec la France et l ’ Allemagne ». On remarque dans ces témoignages à quel point il se joue des dynamiques relationnelles qui semblent, selon les candidats, produire une « cohésion » (remise en question par S33 dans la période Covid-19). La cohésion affichée semble marquer un équilibre entre des mécanismes identitaire, affectif et fonctionnel (Dameron & Josserand 2007). Pour les témoignages de S24 et S32, les dynamiques relationnelles sont fréquemment relatées sous des aspects positifs, occultant les malentendus et les conflits constitutifs des relations ; S33 procédant, comme vu précédemment, par des mouvements 220 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="221"?> dialectiques. Ces deux témoignages insistent sur des dynamiques relationnelles : • qui agissent sur les aspects identitaires des étudiants : appartenance à des cohortes qui forment « notre atelier franco-allemand » (S24), à des groupes constitués « d ’ étudiants à la fois normaux et à la fois différents » (S32) • qui provoquent des mécanismes affectifs : il s ’ installe des affinités amicales, avec « deux étudiantes avec qui nous avons mis en place une réunion hebdomadaire … encore en place aujourd ’ hui et qui me nourrit beaucoup » (S24) ; il se crée un « soutien mutuel car tous savent que l ’ adaptation est difficile » (S32) • qui ont des aspects fonctionnels, les uns et les autres contribuant au développement de compétences individuelles : « L ’ échange entre étudiants du cursus franco-allemand est un moteur pour notre propre recherche » (S24). 3.3 Perception de l ’ interculturel sans « culture » Ces cinq témoignages nous ont donné l ’ occasion de réfléchir à la manière dont les candidats aux témoignages « sans culture » perçoivent la notion d ’ interculturel sur le plan idéologique, et comment ils lui donnent un sens à partir de leurs expériences. Posée comme une évidence pour la majorité de ces candidats, la richesse de l ’ expérience apparaît plus comme quelque chose qui doit se gagner au prix parfois de ressentis négatifs pour S33. L ’ interculturel est fortement défini à partir du franco-allemand pour ces témoignages, avec une dimension internationale pour deux d ’ entre eux, et avec un fond idéologique eurocentré. Il se symbolise dans une centration sur ce qui se joue dans les cursus UFA, et est délimité majoritairement par deux nations, la France et l ’ Allemagne, avec chacune une langue, le français et l ’ allemand. Les deux lauréats pensent plus large en incluant dans leurs discours la notion d ’ international, tout en maintenant des appartenances à des blocs distincts. Le préfixe interindique souvent la combinaison d ’ éléments dits français et allemands, et surtout en termes de différences. La base « cultur* », non utilisée dans les cinq témoignages se reconstruit à partir de l ’ affichage binaire et opposé des approches académiques, des comportements différents des étudiants français et allemands, dont les caractéristiques « plus sauvages dans leur liberté » est notoire chez les Français selon S33. Les cinq témoignages construisent l ’ intérêt de l ’ interculturel, sans forcément citer le terme, en tant que socle de développement de compétences d ’ autonomie, de confiance en soi, de flexibilité (terme relevant de la sphère économique, possibilité de travailler avec succès à La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 221 <?page no="222"?> l ’ international), de réflexivité et d ’ obtention d ’ un double diplôme (utile sur le marché de l ’ emploi). Un seul témoignage fait part du rôle joué par les enseignants, cités par leurs noms, dans « un excellent encadrement interculturel » (S32). Cette remarque soulève la question du travail des encadrants dans la préparation des étudiants à l ’ expérience de l ’ étranger et de l ’ altérité (Wulf 2019) au c œ ur des cursus franco-allemands. Les témoignages montrent comment l ’ utilisation de connaissances culturelles mises en forme dans des systèmes académiques vécus comme très différents et les expériences rendent les apprentissages pertinents, et manifestement plus riches que ceux développés dans un cursus national. Les candidats relatent des témoignages dont ils ont été acteurs, ce qui les amène la plupart du temps à se mettre en scène sous de bons jours (Cochoy et al. 2022), du côté de l ’ ouverture à l ’ autre (S32), du côté du respect d ’ autrui. 4 Conclusion À travers leurs témoignages, les candidats aux Prix d ’ Excellence veulent montrer comment, dans le cadre de leur cursus franco-allemand, ils ont été impliqués dans un rapport avec le monde extérieur et sont restés ouverts à l ’ altérité (Mbiatong 2019), et comment s ’ est construit un savoir d ’ expérience dans le rapport aux autres, dans un contexte spécifique. Pour les candidats, les multiples expériences vécues, dans deux cadres académiques décrits comme différents mais complémentaires, dans la société en France et en Allemagne, dans les interactions avec l ’ autre, représentent une plus-value interculturelle qui façonne leur propre personnalité. De nombreux candidats soutiennent que la confrontation à leurs pairs a permis la construction de ce savoir, tout comme l ’ appartenance et la participation à la communauté de pratiques constituée des étudiants du cursus. On lit à travers les témoignages que les membres de la communauté partagent le même attrait pour le franco-allemand, idéalisent l ’ Europe et le couple franco-allemand, tout en construisant la plus-value interculturelle dans une approche comparative qui exagère les différences entre les deux pays. Des discours essentialisant posent dans une approche binaire et dichotomique ce qui se fait en Allemagne et ce qui se fait en France, essentiellement au sujet des systèmes académiques (« à Lyon, … , à Weimar … »). Cette manière d ’ objectiver l ’ expérience du franco-allemand semble communément partagée et semble s ’ imposer dans ce milieu. Par ailleurs, même si la plupart des candidats déclarent vivre ces expériences comme un enrichissement (Wulf 2019), très peu d ’ entre eux les considèrent comme une menace ou un échec ; c ’ est du moins ce que les candidats donnent à voir dans un 222 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="223"?> témoignage de candidature à un Prix d ’ Excellence soutenu par la structure qui porte les cursus auxquels ils appartiennent. L ’ étude présentée ne prétend aucunement indiquer ce qui est bon et moins bon de faire concernant l ’ interculturel dans les cursus franco-allemands pour que cet élément devienne une plus-value. D ’ une part, nous souhaitions essentiellement donner une place à la voix des candidats qui prétendent à un prix qui valorise la plus-value interculturelle du franco-allemand. L ’ étude montre ce que les candidats pensent utile de dire au commanditaire sur la plusvalue interculturelle, dans le but de remporter un prix. Ils ne peuvent donc pas être critiques envers les cursus pour lesquels ils s ’ érigent parfois comme les ambassadeurs, perpétuant les principes et les valeurs du Traité de l ’ Élysée de 1963. En ce sens, les candidats entrent parfaitement dans les objectifs de l ’ UFA qui affiche permettre aux étudiants « d ’ apprendre à connaître le système d ’ enseignement supérieur du pays partenaire aussi bien que le leur » (UFA/ DFH 2024). Nous interrogeons cependant les limites d ’ une méthodologie dont les fondements comparatifs pouvaient être valables à une certaine époque, même si paradoxalement les candidats plébiscitent cette idéologie prônée dans le franco-allemand. Ces fondements nous semblent cependant moins opérants de nos jours quand il s ’ agit de s ’ adapter et gérer des situations dynamiques et changeantes, avec des personnes aux identités flottantes sans frontières fixes (Polet 1993). Moins axée sur la mise en évidence des différences dans une conception binaire, la conception d ’ un franco-allemand croisé semble faire carrière aujourd ’ hui (Putsche 2022, Werner & Zimmermann 2004), dans la mesure où croiser libèrerait de l ’ essentialisation produite par la comparaison traditionnelle. Cette façon de faire du franco-allemand amènerait dans son sillage une conception élargie de l ’ altérité souvent cantonnée à la question du rapport à autrui, constitué principalement dans sa différence. Beaucoup de candidats voient des avantages et des inconvénients dans les deux systèmes académiques. Nous remarquons que certains candidats osent assez massivement formuler une critique négative envers le système d ’ enseignement en France ; ce qui n ’ est pas le cas envers le système allemand. Nous restons perplexes quant au fait que tout puisse être irréprochable dans le système allemand, ce que seule la candidate allemande S27 a trouvé pertinent de mentionner : Il était cependant intéressant d ’ apprendre que mes collègues françaises dans le cursus franco-allemand avaient des sentiments similaires par rapport aux études en Allemagne (regards critiques négatifs sur le système académique). Elles passaient leur semestre à l ’ étranger à l ’ université Goethe de Francfort et considéraient les études en Allemagne comme plus compliquées, moins structurées et moins efficaces qu ’ en France. La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 223 <?page no="224"?> De la même manière, nous nous étonnons des remarques faites par quelques étudiants allemands sur la diversité des personnes qu ’ ils disent avoir rencontrées en France. Il est fort probable que la société en Allemagne se présente également comme un pays de la diversité, en témoigne la “ Charta der Vielfalt 4 ” dans le monde du travail. En tant que formatrices, nous soulignons que ces résultats remettent au goût du jour les bases de l ’ apprentissage expérientiel conceptualisées par Kolb dans les années 1980, et rappellent la nécessaire spiralité du long processus d ’ apprentissage de l ’ altérité. D ’ autre part, dans une visée heuristique et praxéologique, nous voulons indiquer qu ’ il est intéressant de recueillir les points de vue et les expériences des étudiants par témoignages. D ’ un point de vue méthodologique, le recours aux témoignages, inscrit dans un protocole scientifique, a l ’ avantage de « créer une arène d ’ expression temporaire » (Cochoy et al. 2022: 100), afin de disposer d ’ un matériau foisonnant construit à partir de l ’ expérientiel des cursus francoallemands par les acteurs eux-mêmes. Avec ces récits, on peut ensuite être en mesure de travailler avec eux les questions interculturelles, dans les cursus, “ in allowing them to reflect on the notion and the importance of professional development ” (Dervin 2023: 68). Il se pose bien sûr la question de la place, comme un espace tributaire d ’ enjeux, que chaque institution universitaire est en mesure de faire à la formation interculturelle des étudiants. L ’ interculturel est un objet qui se veut relever à la fois d ’ un phénomène inhérent aux relations humaines et d ’ une construction scientifique complexe au c œ ur de tensions idéologiques, et économico-politiques en éducation et en formation (principes du “ Interkulturell denken und handeln ” de Nicklas et al. 2006). La complexité des processus d ’ apprentissage touchant aux problématiques interculturelles ne peut se satisfaire de contenus de formation fortement orientés sur des connaissances historiquement héritées des cursus mononationaux, d ’ autant plus que les étudiants des cursus franco-allemands vont nécessairement être confrontés à l ’ ailleurs, parfois même au sein d ’ un groupe pensé à tort comme homogène. La mobilité intellectuelle et géographique est partie intégrante de leurs cursus ; elle les amène à entrer dans le processus de l ’ altérité, et à en embrasser ses trois dimensions (Briançon 2019) à divers degrés de conscientisation. Ce qui les amène à plus ou moins poser un regard réflexif sur le rapport à autrui (la première dimension), le rapport à soi-même (la deuxième dimension) et le rapport au savoir (la troisième dimension). 4 La « Charta der Vielfalt » (Charte de la diversité), développée par des entreprises allemandes avec l ’ appui du gouvernement fédéral en 2006, fait progresser la reconnaissance, la valorisation et l ’ intégration de la diversité dans le monde du travail. 224 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="225"?> Annexe : Caractéristiques des étudiants du corpus d ’ étude Légende H : homme LUX : Luxembourg F : femme POL : Pologne FR : France POR : Portugal ALL : Allemagne M : Master BI : Binationalité L : Licence Code Corpus SEXE AGE à la candidature NATIO- NALITE Année de candidature Niveau du Diplôme Domaines de spécialité Universités partenaires du cursus intégré UFA Diplôme fin secondaire en France en Allemagne S01 H 27 FR 2023 M Études européennes Université Bourgogne Dijon Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz Abibac S02 F 25 FR 2023 M Études Interculturelles Européennes Université Clermont Auvergne Universität Regensburg Baccalauréat S03 F 24 FR 2023 M Études Interculturelles Européennes Université Clermont Auvergne Universität Regensburg Abibac S04 F 28 BI FR/ AL 2023 M LEA Management international + International Cultural Business Studies Université Aix-Marseille Universität Passau Abitur Intern. S05 H 25 AL 2023 M Histoire Université Aix-Marseille Universität Tübingen non mentionné La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 225 <?page no="226"?> Code Corpus SEXE AGE à la candidature NATIO- NALITE Année de candidature Niveau du Diplôme Domaines de spécialité Universités partenaires du cursus intégré UFA Diplôme fin secondaire en France en Allemagne S06 F 23 FR 2023 M Études interculturelles franco-allemandes ENS Lyon Frankreich Zentrum Albert- Ludwigs Universität Freiburg Abibac S07 F 24 FR 2023 M Histoire de l ’ art et muséologie École du Louvre Universität Heidelberg Abibac S08 H 24 BI FR/ AL 2023 M Sciences Politiques Sciences Po Lille WWW Münster Institut Sciences politiques non mentionné S09 F 23 FR 2023 M Histoire EHESS Universität Heidelberg Baccalauréat S10 F 25 AL 2023 M Master MEEF 2nd degré Université Lyon Lumière 2 Universität Leipzig Allgemeine Hochschulreife S11 H 27 AL 2023 M Affaires européennes/ Affaires internationales Sciences Po Paris Freie Universität Berlin Abitur S12 F 24 FR 2023 M Sciences du langage Bordeaux Montaigne Universität Konstanz Baccalauréat S13 F 27 AL 2023 M Gestion de projets régionaux européens (master trinational) Univesrité de Bretagne Hochschule Zwickau Abitur S14 F 23 FR 2022 M Gestion de Projets Régionaux et européens Université de Bretagne-Sud Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau Baccalauréat 226 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="227"?> Code Corpus SEXE AGE à la candidature NATIO- NALITE Année de candidature Niveau du Diplôme Domaines de spécialité Universités partenaires du cursus intégré UFA Diplôme fin secondaire en France en Allemagne S15 F 22 FR 2022 M Histoire EHESS Paris U. Heidelberg Baccalauréat section européenne anglais S16 H 26 FR 2022 M Etudes Interculturelles Allemagne et France ENS Lyon Albert-Ludwigs U. Freiburg Abibac S17 H 31 AL 2022 M Histoire U. de Bourgogne Dijon Gutenberg U. Mainz Abitur S18 F 30 AL 2022 M Analyse des pratiques Culturelles Cultures scéniques et médiatiques dans l ’ espace transnational Université de Nantes Heinrich-Heine- Universität Düsseldorf non mentionné S19 F 26 BI LUX/ POL 2022 M Master franco-allemand d ’ Histoire Aix-Marseille Université (AMU) Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Fin d ’ études LUX S20 F 24 BI AL/ POR 2022 M Philosophie Université de Bourgogne Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Abitur S21 F 28 AL 2022 M Langues, Littératures et Civilisations Étrangères “ , binational, trilingue Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) Abitur S22 F 24 BI FR/ AL 2022 M Sciences Politiques Sciences Po Paris Freie Universität Berlin Abibac La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 227 <?page no="228"?> Code Corpus SEXE AGE à la candidature NATIO- NALITE Année de candidature Niveau du Diplôme Domaines de spécialité Universités partenaires du cursus intégré UFA Diplôme fin secondaire en France en Allemagne S23 F 23 BI FR/ AL 2022 M Master MEEF, parcours primaire bilingue FR/ AL Université de Haute- Alsace Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg Abibac S24 F 24 FR 2022 M Ethnologie/ Anthropologie EHESS École des hautes études en sciences sociales Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main Abibac S25 H 26 AL 2022 M Sciences Politiques Sciences Po Rennes Katholische Universität Eichstätt- Ingolstadt non mentionné S26 F 25 AL 2022 M LEA management International + International Cultural Business Studies Université Aix-Marseille Universität Passau Allgemeine Hochschulreife S27 F 25 AL 2022 M Ethnologie / Anthropologie EHESS École des hautes études en sciences sociales Goethe Universität Frankfurt Allgemeine Hochschulreife S28 F 25 AL 2022 M Sciences Politiques Sciences Po Aix Albert-Ludwigs- Universität Freiburg Abitur S29 F 23 FR 2023 L Sciences du langage + Métiers de la culture dans le domaine franco-allemand Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris) Freie Universität Berlin Abibac 228 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="229"?> Code Corpus SEXE AGE à la candidature NATIO- NALITE Année de candidature Niveau du Diplôme Domaines de spécialité Universités partenaires du cursus intégré UFA Diplôme fin secondaire en France en Allemagne S30 F 23 AL 2023 L LEA Relations interculturelles et coopération internationale Université Lille, Lumière Lyon 2 Bauhaus Universität Weimar Abitur S31 F 22 FR 2023 L Histoire Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne Maximilian Universität München Baccalauréat section européenne allemand S32 F 24 AL 2023 L Sciences de l ’ information et de la communication Lumière Lyon 2 Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Abitur S33 F 23 AL 2023 L Sciences politiques et sociales Sciences Po Paris Freie Universität Berlin Abitur S34 F 25 AL 2023 L Management franco-allemand IAE Metz Hochschule Mainz Abitur S35 F 22 AL 2023 L Théories et pratiques de l ’ écriture professionnelle Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris) Universität Köln Abitur S36 F 22 AL 2023 L Licence binationale LLCER franco-allemande option enseignement Université Nice Côte d ’ Azur PH Freiburg Allgemeine Hochschulreife S37 F 24 AL 2023 L Langues, lettres, philosophie Option formation enseignants U Bourgogne Dijon U Mainz non mentionné La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 229 <?page no="230"?> Code Corpus SEXE AGE à la candidature NATIO- NALITE Année de candidature Niveau du Diplôme Domaines de spécialité Universités partenaires du cursus intégré UFA Diplôme fin secondaire en France en Allemagne S38 F 23 AL 2023 L Histoire - Études de genre Université Paris Cité Universität Bielefeld Abibac S39 F 22 AL 2023 L Sciences de l ’ information et de la communication U Lyon 2 U Weimar non mentionné S40 F 21 AL 2022 L Études transculturelles : langue, Littérature, Media, Art Université J. Jaurès Toulouse H. Heine Universität Düsseldorf Abitur S41 H 23 AL 2022 L Musicologie Université de Tours Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen Abitur S42 H 21 FR 2022 L Licence franco-allemande d ’ histoire Université de Strasbourg Universität Trier Baccalauréat 230 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="231"?> Références bibliographiques B ARTEL , A., Clementi, K., K ÄCKMEISTER , H., K RATZ , A., & I FFRIG , S. (2021). La comparaison comme méthode et objet. In: Trajectoires, 14. (DOI: https: / / doi.org/ 10.4000/ trajectoires.6864). B RAY , M., & T HOMAS , R. M. (1995). Levels of comparison in educational studies: different insights from different literatures and the value of multi-level analyses. Harvard Educational Review, 65(4), 472 - 490. B RIANÇON , M. (2019). Le sens de l ’ altérité en éducation: Enjeux, formes, processus, pensées et transferts. London: ISTE éditions. C ASSIN , B. (2019). Dictionnaire européen des philosophies. Paris: Le Robert. C ENTRE D ’ INFORMATION SUR L ’ A LLEMAGNE (CIDAL). (2017). Le système éducatif en Allemagne. Ambassade d ’ Allemagne. C HARTA DER V IELFALT (s. d.). En ligne. (https: / / www.charta-der-vielfalt.de/ ; 23/ 03/ 2024). C OCHOY , F., C ALVIGNAC , C., & G AGLIO , G. (2022). L ’ appel à témoignages. Rennes: PUR. D AMERON , S., & J OSSERAND , E. (2007). Le développement d ’ une communauté de pratique: Une analyse relationnelle. Revue française de gestion, 174, 131 - 148. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.3166/ rfg.174.131-148). D EMESMAY , C. (2022). Les promesses du travail international de jeunesse à travers le prisme franco-allemand. Administration, 276, 101 - 103. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.3917/ admi.276. 0101). D ERVIN , F. (2023). Interculturality, criticality and reflexivity in teacher education. Cambridge: Elements. D ENIZOT , N., & M ABILON -B ONFILS , B. (2012). La dissertation : déclinaisons disciplinaires d ’ un objet scolaire. Recherches en didactiques 14, 11 - 27. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.3917/ rdid.014.0011). E SPAGNE , M. (1994). Sur les limites du comparatisme en histoire culturelle. Genèses 17, 112 - 121. G EIGER -J AILLET , A. (2016). Cultures d ’ apprentissage et cultures d ’ enseignement : comparaison France-Allemagne. Synergies Pays Germanophone 9, 13 - 31. G UITTON , J. (1954). Nouvel art de penser. Paris: Aubier. H OLZBRECHER , A. (2001). Interkulturelles Lernen: Die Wahrnehmung des Anderen als pädagogische Herausforderung. Politisches Lernen, 3(4), 47 - 60. J ULLIEN , F. (2010). Le pont des singes. De la diversité à venir. Paris: Galilée. K ELLERMANN , I. (2018). Des langues, des rencontres, des espaces-temps. Expériences d ’ apprentissages performatifs dans les échanges scolaires. In: Brougère, G., & Wulf, C. (Eds.). À la rencontre de l ’ autre (pp. 75 - 136). Paris: Téraèdre. K OLB , D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. L ALLEMENT , M., & S PURK , J. (2003). Stratégies de la comparaison internationale. Paris: CNRS éditions. L AROUSSE (2024). Dictionnaire de français. Article « Témoignage ». (https: / / www.larousse. fr/ dictionnaires/ francais/ t%C3 %A9moignage/ 77200 ; 28/ 03/ 2024. La plus-value interculturelle des cursus intégrés franco-allemands 231 <?page no="232"?> L E R OBERT (2024). Dico en ligne. Article « Témoignage » (https: / / dictionnaire.lerobert.com/ definition/ temoignage ; 28/ 03/ 2024. L AUMOND , B. (2020). La régulation du radicalisme de droite : une comparaison francoallemande. Raisons politiques, 78, 109 - 122. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.3917/ rai.078.0109). L EMOINE -B RESSON , V. (2022). Développer des compétences interculturelles. Promesses et périls d ’ un dispositif pédagogique. Paris: L ’ Harmattan. L EMOINE -B RESSON , V. (2021). Bousculer pour développer des compétences interculturelles en master MEEF. Revue internationale de pédagogie de l ’ enseignement supérieur, 37(1). (https: / / doi.org/ 10.4000/ ripes.3025). L EMOINE -B RESSON , V., Lerat, S., Trémion, V., & Gremmo, M.-J. (2022). Quelles représentations de l ’ interculturalité chez des étudiants futurs enseignants? In: Bretegnier, A., Delorme, V., & Nicolas, L. (Eds.), L ’ interculturel dans l ’ enseignement supérieur. Conceptions, démarches et dispositifs (pp. 211 - 226). Paris: Éditions des Archives Contemporaines. L EMOINE -B RESSON , V., Lerat, S., & Gremmo, M.-J. (2018). (Dé)construction de la notion d ’ interculturalité par les étudiants, futurs enseignants. Recherches en didactiques, 26, 25 - 40. M BIATONG , J. (2019). Savoirs de l ’ expérience. In: Delory-Momberger, C. (Ed.), Vocabulaire des histoires de vie et de la recherche biographique (pp. 158 - 160). Toulouse: Éres. N ICKLAS , H., M ÜLLER , B., & K ORDES , H. (2006). Interkulturell denken und handeln. Theoretische Grundlagen und gesellschaftliche Praxis. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag. P OLET , S. (1993). Der kreative Faktor. Leinen: Bollmann. P UTSCHE , J. (2022). L ’ interculturel contextualisé : franco-allemand, frontalier, transculturel. Une approche sociodidactique. [Dossier HDR], Université de Lorraine. U NIVERSITÉ FRANCO - ALLEMANDE / D EUTSCH -F RANZÖSISCHE H OCHSCHULE (UFA / DFH) (2024). En ligne : Die DFH im Überblick. (https: / / www.dfh-ufa.org/ die-dfh/ die-dfh-im-ueberblick? noredirect=de_DE; 23/ 03/ 2024). Prix d ’ excellence. (https: / / www.dfh-ufa.org/ fr/ vous-etes/ entreprises/ prix-dexcellence ; 23/ 03/ 2024). Appel à candidature. (https: / / www.dfh-ufa.org/ app/ uploads/ 2022/ 04/ 2023_PEX_Appel_a %CC%80_candidatures.pdf ; 23/ 03/ 2024). L ’ UFA en bref. (https: / / www.dfh-ufa.org/ fr/ lufa/ lufa-en-bref ; 23/ 03/ 2024). W ENGER , E., M C D ERMOTT , R. A., & S NYDER , W. M. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice. Harvard Business School Press. W ERNER , M., & Zi M mermann, B. (2004). De la comparaison à l ’ histoire croisée. Paris: Seuil. W ULF , C. (2019). Interculturalité. In: Delory-Momberger, C. (Ed.), Vocabulaire des histoires de vie et de la recherche biographique (pp. 426 - 432). Toulouse: Éres. W ULF , C. (2018). La formation comme appropriation de ce qui nous est étranger. In: Brougère, G., & Wulf, C. (Eds.), À la rencontre de l ’ autre (pp. 25 - 73). Paris: Téraèdre. 232 Véronique Lemoine-Bresson / Marie-José Gremmo <?page no="233"?> Words Without Borders - Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting Thomas Tinnefeld 1 Introduction Nowadays, the importance of multilingualism and intercultural competence cannot be overstated. This chapter looks into these themes through a comprehensive examination of individuals navigating bilingual and bicultural environments. Conducted within the framework of the Franco-German University Institute (Deutsch-Französisches Hochschulinstitut (DFHI) - Institut Supérieur Franco-Allemand de Techniques, d ’ Économie et de Sciences (ISFATES)), located at Saarland University of Applied Sciences in Saarbrücken (Germany) and the University of Lorraine in Metz (France), this empirical study provides insights into the lived experiences of students and alumni who operate at the intersection of German and French cultures. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative components to provide a comprehensive understanding of how individuals manage multiple languages and cultures. Together, these components provide a framework for understanding the nuanced ways in which bilingualism and biculturalism shape individuals ’ identities and experiences. This study uniquely focuses on individuals who have experienced bilingual education and have lived in an intercultural environment. Key aspects of the study include a demographic analysis, the respondents ’ language proficiency, their code-switching behaviours, their perceptions of bilingualism, and their intercultural competence. A significant regional aspect explored in the paper is the so-called “ France Strategy ” of the German state of Saarland, which aims to make Saarland officially bilingual by 2043. This local policy initiative highlights the broader implications of the study ’ s findings for regional and national language policies. By focusing on the German-French context, the research serves as a microcosm for examining broader issues of European integration, crosscultural communication, and the role of language in shaping personal and <?page no="234"?> professional identities. By shedding light on the experiences of those who live and work across cultural boundaries, this research contributes to our understanding of what it means to be truly plurilingual and intercultural in today ’ s interconnected world. 2 Literature Review Plurilingualism and intercultural identity have become increasingly relevant in contemporary sociolinguistic studies, reflecting the complexities of language use in multicultural contexts. The study of these phenomena provides insights into how individuals manage multiple languages and cultures, contributing to our understanding of identity formation and cultural integration. The existing body of literature on these topics is extensive, spanning various disciplines such as linguistics, psychology, and education. Plurilingualism is defined by the Council of Europe as the ability of individuals to use multiple languages to varying degrees of proficiency and for different purposes. Unlike multilingualism, which refers to the coexistence of multiple languages in a given society, plurilingualism emphasises the dynamic and flexible use of languages by individuals. This concept is rooted in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which advocates for language education policies that promote linguistic diversity and cultural awareness (Council of Europe 2001). Research on bilingualism, as a subset of plurilingualism, has consistently shown cognitive benefits associated with the ability to speak two or more languages. Friesen & Bialystok (2012) found that bilingual individuals often demonstrate enhanced executive functions, including improved attention control and task-switching abilities. These findings align with earlier work by Kovács & Mehler (2009), who observed that bilingual children showed greater cognitive flexibility compared to their monolingual counterparts. Intercultural identity, on the other hand, refers to the sense of belonging that individuals develop when they are exposed to and interact with multiple cultures. This concept is closely related to social identity theory, which posits that individuals derive a sense of self from their membership in social groups (Turner & Oakes 1986). In the context of plurilingualism, intercultural identity involves the negotiation and integration of cultural values, practices, and languages, leading to a hybrid or multifaceted identity. Code-switching, i. e. the practice of alternating between two or more languages within a conversation or even a single sentence, a behaviour common among bilinguals (and multilinguals), has been a subject of extensive research in sociolinguistics. Gumperz ’ s (1982) seminal work on conversational 234 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="235"?> code-switching laid the foundation for understanding this phenomenon as a communicative strategy rather than a linguistic deficiency. Research on language attitudes and motivation has shown that positive perceptions of bilingualism can enhance language learning outcomes. Dörnyei & Ushioda (2009) proposed the L2 Motivational Self System, which emphasises the role of learners ’ ideal and ought-to L2 selves in driving language acquisition. In the specific context of German-French bilingualism, Hager (2011) conducted a longitudinal study of students in bilingual education programs, noting improved metalinguistic awareness and problem-solving skills among participants. This research supports the broader literature on bilingualism ’ s cognitive advantages and highlights the potential benefits of German-French bilingual education initiatives. The concept of intercultural competence has become increasingly important in a globalised world. Deardorff (2006) proposed a widely-cited model of intercultural competence that encompasses attitudes, knowledge, skills, and internal/ external outcomes. This model has been applied in various educational and professional contexts, including German-French cross-border initiatives (Cf. also Deardorff 2011) Byram (2011) set out a research agenda for intercultural competence that was valuable in the context of the time. With their handbook, Straub (2007) et al. have helped to advance the field of intercultural competence in shaping understanding and research in this area, particularly in German-speaking academic circles. The relationship between language and identity has been a central theme in sociolinguistic research. Norton (2013) argues that language learning is inextricably linked to identity construction, emphasising the dynamic and sometimes conflicting nature of linguistic identities. In the realm of intercultural identity, Berry (1997) proposes a model of acculturation that includes assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalisation as strategies individuals use to adapt to a new cultural environment. Integration, which involves maintaining one ’ s original culture while adopting aspects of the new culture, is considered the most favourable outcome for psychological well-being and social cohesion. In a Polish-French context, Kmiotek & Boski (2017) examine the relationship between language proficiency and cultural identity formation. The study investigates whether increased bilingual skills correlate with the endorsement of values from both cultural environments. The findings suggest that cultural identity is inversely related to the country of residence, with Polish identity strongest among immigrant youth in France and French identity strongest among Polish students of French. The findings indicate that language compe- Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 235 <?page no="236"?> tencies and cultural identities may not always align, potentially due to the internalisation of cultural stereotypes. Several studies have explored the relationship between language learning and cultural affection. Byram (1997) argues that language education should go beyond linguistic proficiency to include intercultural competence, which involves understanding and appreciating cultural differences. This perspective is supported by Kramsch (1993), who emphasises the role of language as a symbolic system that reflects and shapes cultural meanings. Research has shown that individuals often develop a deeper appreciation for a culture through language learning. For example, a study by Dörnyei & Csizér (2002) found that positive attitudes towards a target culture significantly enhance motivation to learn its language. This finding is corroborated by the present study, which suggests that cultural interest precedes language learning and serves as a strong intrinsic motivator. Phinney (1990) emphasises the role of ethnic identity in the acculturation process, arguing that a strong sense of ethnic identity can provide a sense of continuity and stability amidst cultural change. This perspective is echoed by Haritatos & Benet-Martínez (2002), who introduce the concept of bicultural identity integration, which refers to the ability to reconcile and harmonise multiple cultural identities. Byram (2002) explores the distinctions between biculturalism and interculturalism within educational contexts, with biculturalism involving the integration of two cultural identities and being characterised by the ability to manoeuvre and understand two cultures deeply, and interculturalism referring to the interaction and effective communication between different cultural backgrounds and emphasising skills such as openness, empathy, and cultural awareness. Bicultural education then focuses on fostering dual cultural competence and identity, intercultural education aims to develop skills for engaging with cultural diversity and promoting mutual respect. Byram highlights the importance of distinguishing and understanding these two concepts in education to foster a more inclusive society. Educators should develop students ’ abilities to appreciate and manoeuvre cultural diversity effectively. While much of the literature highlights the benefits of bilingualism and intercultural experiences, some researchers have raised important critiques and challenges. Blommaert (2010) explores how globalisation transforms linguistic practices and social interactions. He critiques traditional geolinguistic models and emphasises the importance of recognising the historical and social trajectories of speakers and their linguistic communities. He also addresses the inequalities produced by global linguistic dynamics, examining 236 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="237"?> how dominant languages, especially English, have spread and indigenised, affecting social integration and marginalisation. Additionally, Hélot & Young (2006) explore a pioneering project aimed at fostering multilingual education and cultural awareness among primary school students in France. They present a detailed account of the project ’ s design, implementation, and outcomes, emphasising the importance of early exposure to multiple languages and cultures. Their initiative seeks to challenge the traditional monolingual paradigm of French education by integrating diverse linguistic and cultural elements into the curriculum. Through classroom activities and teacher training, the project aims to cultivate positive attitudes towards multilingualism and intercultural understanding. The establishment of joint German-French higher education initiatives, such as the German-French University (DFH-UFA), has provided a unique context for studying bilingualism and intercultural competence. Vatter (2017) analyses the experiences of students and alumni from these programs, finding that participants often developed strong intercultural skills and professional networks that spanned both countries. The developmental advantages and educational pathways of bilingualism are explored by Geiger-Jaillet (2005), who deals with the natural acquisition of bilingualism from birth as well as the role of educational systems in fostering bilingual skills, and identifies cognitive, social, and cultural benefits of growing up bilingual. This study underscores the importance of bilingual education in personal and societal growth. The literature on plurilingualism and intercultural identity in the German- French context reveals a rich and complex field of study. While substantial evidence supports the cognitive, social, and professional benefits of bilingualism and intercultural experiences, researchers also emphasise the nuanced and sometimes challenging nature of managing multiple linguistic and cultural identities. The unique historical and geographical context of German-French relations provides a fertile ground for further research into these topics, with implications for language policy, education, and European integration more broadly. In conclusion, exploring plurilingualism and intercultural identity underscores the intricate interplay between the bespoke interlingual and intercultural dynamics. It is only by examining bilingualism and diverse intercultural experiences, that we gain deeper insights into how language shapes and reflects complex identities, enhancing our understanding of cultural fluidity and integration in a globalised world. Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 237 <?page no="238"?> 3 The Study This survey on living in two languages and two cultures, which was launched in February 2022 and is currently (July 2024) still open, is based on a questionnaire with two components, one quantitative and the other qualitative. The two are complementary, with responses to the qualitative component providing more detail on the quantitative component. The survey was aimed at students and (mostly) alumni of the German- French University Institute (DFHI/ ISFATES) 1 of Saarland University of Applied Sciences in Saarbrücken (Germany) and Lorraine University (Metz campus) in France. The underlying questionnaire was circulated by collective email to the members of the various mailing lists of the German branch of DFHI/ ISFATES 2 . For this reason, and because it is not known how many of the addressees of this email forwarded it to friends and former fellow students, it is not possible to estimate the number of potential respondents who received this email. What can be said, however, is that the number of respondents, 232, who had worked on this questionnaire, were even more detailed in their answers to the few open-ended questions than the researcher had hoped for. 3.1 General Information This section looks at the general composition of the respondent group. The age structure of the respondents to this survey is as follows: Figure 1: Respondents ’ Age 1 This institute does not have an official English name, only a German one., Deutschfranzösisches Hochschulinstitut (DFHI), and the French one, Institut supérieur francoallemand de techniques, d ’ économie et de sciences (ISFATES). As this study was carried out on the German side, it will be referred to by the German acronym DFHI. 2 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the DFHI office in Saarbrücken, Germany, for circulating this collective email. 238 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="239"?> 37.0 % of respondents are up to 30 years old, 56.9 % are between 31 and 60 years old and 6.1 % are older than 61. This age distribution implies that the majority of respondents represent the working population. A third are either students or at the beginning of their careers. In terms of gender, there is a slight male dominance of 56.5 % compared to 43.5 % who are women. From these figures it can be concluded that any gender effect is either non-existent or very small. The nationalities of the respondents show a very clear distribution with German (37,9 %) and French (37,5 %) almost equally distributed and German- French nationality representing 13.8 %. These data suggest that the overall group of respondents is highly homogeneous, not only in terms of gender, but also in terms of nationality: Figure 2: Respondents ’ Nationality The same applies to the respondents ’ mother tongues: Figure 3: Respondents ’ Mother Tongue Surprisingly, however, the distribution of mother tongues does not fully reflect the distribution of nationalities, with French (46.1 %) showing a higher proportion than expected and German (38.4 %) reflecting almost exactly the distribution of respondents ’ mother tongues. The presence of German and Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 239 <?page no="240"?> French as mother tongues also reflects the corresponding distribution of nationalities. The question about the respondents ’ second language (i. e. their first foreign language), which in the present Franco-German context should logically be French for the Germans and German for the French, shows an interesting distribution: Figure 4: Respondents ’ Second Language (= their first foreign language) In the above distribution, it is interesting to note that English is almost as well represented as the two expected languages, German and French. This means that for a significant number of informants, English was learnt earlier in their lives than German or French. This also means that these informants did not grow up bilingual in German and French, but learnt the other language later, most probably at school. Looking at the visual representation alone, this applies to around one third of those surveyed, two thirds having benefited from bilingual education in German and French. As for the self-assessed language skills of the respondents, a significant number of them could not assess them in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (cf. the category ‘ not applicable ’ ). For the other categories (A1-C2), however, the more or less equal distribution of proficiency in German and French is surprising, with French being slightly more proficient at C2 level and slightly less proficient at C1 level than German. On the other hand, the respondents ’ mastery of English shows higher values at C1 level (comparable to their mastery of German) and lower values at C2 level, reflecting the fact that English is not usually learnt in German or French families, but at school. With regard to the respondents ’ third language, i. e. their second foreign language, the configuration is as follows: 240 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="241"?> Figure 5: Respondents ’ Third Language (= their second foreign language) Again, apart from the inapplicability of the different levels, there is a remarkable parallelism between German and French, with French being slightly more common at C2 than German. For English, the distribution of proficiency levels is very different from that of the respondents ’ second language, with the advanced levels (C1 and C2) being reached by many more respondents, A1 being slightly higher and A2 slightly lower. Overall, the level of proficiency in English as a third language is higher than it is when it is the respondent ’ s second language. This finding may be due to the phenomenon that a given third language is generally easier to learn than a second language, especially in situations where the second language is not acquired bilingually but in school contexts. In addition to these languages, there is a wide range of languages that respondents as a group are proficient in: Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 241 <?page no="242"?> Figure 6: Respondents ’ Other Linguistic Skills English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian are clearly the dominant languages, ranging from 45.7 % to 5.2 %. A further 17 languages and dialects are listed as being spoken to some extent by the respondents. This finding points to the undeniable plurilingualism of the groups. It also means that bilingualism is very likely to lead to a general openness to other languages and therefore to plurilingualism, a phenomenon which is not surprising but which manifests itself in a remarkable way here. The educational level of the respondents is also quite high, with 58.2 % holding a Master ’ s degree: 242 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="243"?> Figure 7: The Respondents ’ Educational Background When asked whether they had received bilingual primary or secondary education, 45.7 % of respondents said they had and 53.2 % said they had not. This result supports our interpretation of the high frequency of English as their first foreign language. The programmes in which the respondents graduated cover the whole range of subjects offered by the entire institute, the three most important in terms of quantity being the Master of Management Sciences (12.5 %), the Bachelor of Franco-German and International Management (12.1 %) and the Master of Mechanical Engineering (9.1 %). Around three quarters of respondents currently work in business, management and administration (44.8 %) and engineering (27.6 %). This dominance of the administrative sector over the technical sector is important to bear in mind for our further analysis. 3.2 Plurilingual Aspects In order not to take up too much of the respondents ’ time and to increase the chances of a high response rate, no more than ten questions were asked in the qualitative part of the survey. The first of these questions concerned the phenomenon of language mixing, or code-switching: Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 243 <?page no="244"?> Figure 8: Do you ever mix languages in one and the same sentence as in: “ Pass me the Salz, please ” ? The example sentence given here represents the phenomenon of two languages - English and German in this example being used in the same sentence, with the options ranging from 1 = never to 10 = all the time on a Likert scale. For 60.2 % (1 to 5) of respondents, this phenomenon never or rather seldom happens, and for 39.8 %, it happens rather often or always. If we take the two extremes into account, more than twice as many informants (11 %) do not experience this phenomenon as do those who experience it all the time (5.2 %). The same tendency can be seen when comparing the three lowest (43.4 %) and the three highest choices (22.4 %). This phenomenon cannot therefore be overestimated, but neither can it be neglected: it exists, but it does not seem to be very important. Informants ’ attitudes to language mixing are revealed in the next question, where several categories could be ticked: Figure 9: From your perspective, mixing languages is … The figures show that code-switching is associated with good connotations (cf. the responses for the three highest categories practical, creative and generally 244 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="245"?> positive. The negative categories disturbing, generally negative and difficult are the ones with the lowest number of responses. Although this general assessment of code-switching is rather positive, there were some open responses to this question that did not reflect this positive assessment: As a bilingual person, one needs to have the capability to actively differentiate the thoughts and the utilized language. Every language has its rich vocabulary options. One ’ s competences in a foreign language truly show if one knows how to express themselves manifoldly. Sometimes annoying when it happens to you. It is a hindrance when faced with someone who can only speak one of them but it can be useful when they will understand the same several languages. Negative. Only in a family / bi-cultural family context is it inspiring and positive. But not outside this context here I am more purist. Makes it difficult and funny for “ uniliguists ” to understand ( “ befremdlich ” ). Pratique dans un sens ou on ne réfléchit pas, cela évite de fournir un effort. Mais c ’ est perturbant pour les interlocuteurs et est perçu négativement. Les interlocuteurs ne parlent pas forcément les mêmes langues que vous. These judgments, chosen at random, contrast with the quantitative responses in that they emphasise the negative aspects of code-switching, such as its counterproductive nature, its inapplicability in other than informal contexts, its exclusion of monolingual people or people who do not speak the same language(s), and the need to keep one ’ s languages separate. They also reflect fundamental problems of language mixing. These results show that the respondents to this questionnaire are well aware of the benefits of code-switching, but also of its drawbacks. They therefore have a very realistic view. This realistic result may also imply that the languages spoken by our respondents are not in a state of competition, but rather in a state of peaceful coexistence. To complement these questions, respondents were asked if they saw any negative effects of language mixing on their own language use: Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 245 <?page no="246"?> Figure 10: Do you think that mixing languages affects your overall language performance? (1 = Not at all - 10 = Very much so) The majority of respondents (choices 1 - 5: 59.5 %) consider language mixing to be rather unproblematic, two-fifths (choices 6 - 10: 44.5 %) consider it to be rather problematic. Given the responses to this question and the open-ended responses to the previous one, the disadvantages of code-switching seem to be attributed to the respondents ’ interlocutors rather than to the speakers themselves. Apart from this, code-switching is seen as rather positive. To explore another aspect of bilingualism, respondents were asked to give their personal assessment of their own ability to express themselves in more than one language: Figure 11: Being bilingual … It was possible to tick more than one answer; the options were given in the questionnaire. For respondents, the most important benefit of multilingualism is linguistic independence (81.1 %), followed by improved job prospects (80.3 %) and the hope that their own children will be bilingual (76.8 %). While these answers were chosen by three quarters of the informants, there were two 246 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="247"?> others chosen by more than half of them: a new world opened up by mastering several languages (60.5 %) and a feeling of competence (56.7 %) conveyed by mastering languages. Interestingly, however, possible negative aspects of bilingualism are rated very low, such as the fact that bilingualism doesn ’ t always make life easier (11.6 %) and that it can have more negative than positive effects (0.4 %). From this overall result, it can be concluded that the potential personal benefits of being able to communicate in several languages are an affirmation of their linguistic biography and a great motivation for themselves and future generations. Even more revealing are the open-ended answers that respondents were able to give, including the following: From a political point of view, the most important of these few randomly selected answers is the first one quoted here, which makes a clear connection between multilingualism and peace in Europe: to remain in one ’ s own language is to remain in one ’ s own culture. Being able to communicate in more than one language therefore means being open not only to other languages but also to other cultures, which means overcoming division and creating unity. Plurilingualism is also seen as a way to improve teamwork in terms of managing complex situations, saving time and creating team spirit and credibility. The possibility of speaking more than two languages is also emphasised, as is the need to start early, i. e. in primary school. This means that the respondents see the very aspects that are relevant to the phenomenon of plurilingualism and have applied them in practice in their own Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 247 <?page no="248"?> lives. They have thus internalised what has long been laid down in European policy and the relevant European political and linguistic institutions. In this way, theoretical considerations have been validated by/ reflected in practical life experience. 3.3 Intercultural Aspects The next question explores the potential link between respondents ’ level of language proficiency and their affection for the target country: Figure 12: My identification with France / German is directly linked with my proficiency level, that means the better I speak the language, the more I like the country. (1 = Not at all; 10 = Very much so) Contrary to what might be expected, there is no clear link between respondents ’ language proficiency and their identification with the target language and culture: 43.8 % of respondents have a neutral to negative association with this relationship and 56.2 % have a neutral to positive association. This is a surprising result, as it implies that speakers who are better than others at communicating in a given foreign language do not necessarily like the country in which that language is spoken more or less than others. Conversely, working hard to improve one ’ s ability to communicate in that language would not deepen one ’ s emotional relationship with the country and its culture. If this result is realistic, then love of a particular culture may lead people to learn its language, rather than mastering the language leading them to love its culture. In this case, culture would be the determining factor, rather than language. This study thus corroborates Dörnyei ’ s & Csizér ’ s (2002) findings that positive attitudes towards a target culture significantly increase motivation to learn its language. It confirms that cultural interest often precedes language learning and serves as a strong intrinsic motivator. 248 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="249"?> The next question functions as a control question to the previous one: Figure 13: As I master a second (= first foreign) language, my identification with my own culture and country has decreased. (1 = Not at all, 10 = Very much so) In fact, the answers to this question are the same as the previous one. The bar chart above shows the strong disagreement among respondents. This means that identification with one ’ s own culture cannot be diminished by mastering languages other than one ’ s mother tongue, which is a very positive finding in the given context. When asked for possible reasons why the relationship expressed in this question was true or not true, some of the open answers given by respondents were as follows: In these few randomly selected responses, respondents point to some very important factors that come into play in this context: • real life experience ( “ time spent in the other country ” ) • the importance of education (particularly in cross-border regions) Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 249 <?page no="250"?> • the feeling of being European rather than French or German • aa hybrid feeling of being French and German • the feedback on one ’ s own mother tongue through knowledge of foreign languages and the philosophy behind it. These points reflect the complexity of the issue raised in the previous question and the fact that there is no one-dimensional answer to it. There is more to it than the (relatively simple) equation of language ⇔ culture: the factors at play are much more complicated and undoubtedly go far beyond the points mentioned in the open-ended responses quoted. Because of its complexity, this question deserves to be explored in more detail in further research. The following question is indirectly a cultural question and a control question to the previous one: Figure 14: Imagine you are a bilingual German-French speaker. Germany is playing France in the FIFA World Cup. Which team will you support? Logically, it is to be expected that committed football fans - and even less committed television viewers - will support the team with which they identify, i. e. the team that best represents their own culture. Football was chosen because it tends to evoke more emotion than other sports. Against this background, the answers to this question are not surprising, as they correspond exactly to the answers to the previous questions, such as the question on the respondents ’ second and third languages. What we found on these questions is reflected almost identically in this one: the informants support the German team (30.0 %) a little more than the French team (24.9 %), and both teams (30.5 %) even a little more than either of them, although this difference is really negligible. On the basis of this distribution, it can be concluded that those informants who ticked ‘ neither ’ are not indifferent to the two countries in question, but are simply not interested in football. This result shows that the overall distribution among our respondents cannot be more balanced than it actually is in terms of preference for one country or another in 250 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="251"?> the field of football. For this group of respondents in particular, it can be said that the two cultures enjoy a state of peaceful coexistence in their attitudes. After the questions that prepared the respondents for the notion of identification by narrowing it down and providing examples, the decisive factors that mark identification with a given country were asked directly: Figure 15: My identification with a particular country is directly linked to the fact that … The most common response was appreciation of the target culture (86.7 %), followed by fluency in the language (73.0 %), the presence of family and friends in the country (68.7 %) and the fact that the respondent lived in the country (67.8 %). All the other responses were below 50 %, with the appreciation of the country ’ s cuisine (48.5 %) coming close. The distribution of responses suggests that cultural affection slightly outweighs linguistic considerations, such as mastery of the language itself. However, language seems to be only slightly more important 3 than family and friends or oneself living or having lived in the respective country. What is important here is the fact that culture is clearly more important here than language. 3 The differences between the three categories in question of 73.0 % on the one hand and 68.7 % and 67.8 % on the other are not really significant. This is why any deduction made on their basis needs to be made very cautiously. Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 251 <?page no="252"?> The optional open answers given by (very few) respondents suggest some further differentiation: The subject of this study in general, and this question in particular, is certainly an interesting one. Moreover, identification with a particular country may not have entirely positive aspects, especially if it goes too far. And at least as important as the previous factors is nationality, which goes hand in hand with education and the teaching and/ or acquisition of values, in short: socialisation. Again, all the aspects mentioned in these three comments are not related to language, but rather independent of it. 3.4 Educational and Political Aspects Another sub-field examined in this study is bilingual education, represented by Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), which has become increasingly prevalent in the last decade. This field is referred to in the next question: Figure 16: From my point of view, learning a subject (such as accounting, statistics or biology) in another language is … Learning a subject in another language whether at university or in other adult contexts, this was not specified in the question is seen by the vast majority of respondents (72.1 %) as a great opportunity to learn the language and subject in question, while 20.2 % see no great difference between this way of learning and learning in their mother tongue. Having to learn a language and a subject at 252 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="253"?> the same time is seen as a major burden by 7.7 %. This means that more than two thirds of informants have a very positive view of CLIL, and less than a third have an indifferent or negative view. This finding is in line with recent developments that have led to an increase in the provision of CLIL courses in universities across Europe. German students who spend a semester abroad in Poland, for example, and attend English lectures given in English, where English is a foreign language for both the professor and the students, can serve as an example of this development. This way of educating students and facilitating exchanges that would not be possible without CLIL has united Europe even more and more closely than mere political measures could ever do. The last question in our survey raised a mainly political issue of regional interest. It concerns the so-called France Strategy, which has been in place in the German state of Saarland since 2013 and which aims to make Saarland an officially bilingual state within a generation, i. e. by 2043: Figure 17: What do you think of Saarland ’ s “ France Strategy ” (which aims to make Saarland a multilingual state by 2043) The three most frequent answers selected by the respondent were It may help Saarland companies expand and enlarge their markets to French-speaking countries (55.4 %), It will deepen Saarland ’ s economical, and social and cultural collaboration with France (54.5 %), and It will help Saarland stand out as Saarland Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 253 <?page no="254"?> will be the only multilingual federal state in Germany (49.8 %). All other answers are more or less irrelevant in terms of their frequency. One of the interesting aspects here is that the respondents did not think in terms of how to get there, i. e. how to make multilingualism a reality in Saarland, i. e. by implementing appropriate educational measures, or in terms of the positive outcomes for adults or children who will be able to communicate directly with representatives of their neighbouring country, thus fostering relations between them. Instead, they think almost exclusively about the (possibly positive) outcome of this strategy. They do so in terms of the economic side of things, i. e. the expansion of Saarland companies and their chances of finding new markets. For them, another relevant aspect of this strategy is a possible intensification of the existing links between Germany and France, not only in economic terms, but also in terms of positive social and cultural outcomes. The third aspect chosen by the informants is the political outcome of Saarland becoming unique as the only German state to have more than one official language, with all the political implications that may entail. This result shows that the respondents see the advantages that Saarland ’ s language policy can have for different areas, all of which go beyond language. This means that they do not see language, or even multilingualism, as an end in itself, but as a means to an end, which may then be very promising: indeed, it is its indirect result that makes it seem precious, not only the use of it, but the implications that it brings. It is clear that this survey has yielded a number of expected results, but also some unexpected ones, some of which are inspiring. 4 Conclusions Overall, this study has produced a number of interesting findings with implications that go well beyond the scope of this survey. Code-switching is generally not considered negative, but positive, practical and creative. The languages in which our respondents communicate are therefore in a state of peaceful coexistence. The most valuable results of personal bilingualism for the respondents are expressed with a strong reference to their present lives (linguistic independence and better chances on the job market), but also with implications for their future lives (the potential bilingualism of their children). In terms of a potential that goes beyond the individual, bilingualism and plurilingualism are seen as precious for Europe and for the maintenance of peace. An individual ’ s level of proficiency in a given second or foreign language does not automatically lead to (greater) identification with the target country. 254 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="255"?> Conversely, mastering more than one ’ s mother tongue does not lead to less identification with one ’ s own culture or country. The interaction of these factors turned out to be highly complex. In terms of identification with a country, culture slightly outweighs language. Identification with a particular country is determined more by a person ’ s affection for it than by his or her command of its language. This is an important finding because it implies that it is not so much a liking for a particular language that leads to the desire to learn about its culture, but the other way round: it is a person ’ s interest and affection for a particular culture that leads him or her to want to learn its language. If this finding is generalizable, it has important implications for language methodology and policy: learners ’ sensitization to a particular culture should precede their learning of that language, as this interest will then constitute a strong intrinsic motivation. Bilingual education in the sense of CLIL is seen as positive because it has beneficial effects on both the language and the subject. In the same way, the positive aspects of Saarland ’ s France Strategy are recognised by our respondents, in terms of the economy and the increased opportunities for companies to find new markets, in terms of a further boost to Franco-German friendship, and in terms of Saarland ’ s strengthened position as the only officially bilingual German state. This study has some limitations. One of these is the number of respondents. However, we consider the number of 233 respondents to be sufficient, not to provide representative results, but to provide a relatively solid picture of plurilingualism and intercultural identity. In addition, this study is limited in terms of the educational background of the respondents, focusing only on informants who have a university degree and who are open to learning more languages. As this openness to languages is one of the aspects that can only be learned by screening the results, the questionnaire would have been different, with even more questions not about the bilingualism of the respondents, but about their multilingualism. This point will be taken into account in future research. The questions of the survey were asked in English, in order to avoid using any language, neither German nor French, as a means of communication in a context where these languages were simultaneously the subject. Therefore, if respondents had been able to choose the language in which these questions were asked, they might have done so differently. Although there is no obvious reason to believe that their answers were definitely different from what they would have been otherwise, it is worth mentioning. However, respondents were given the opportunity to add their comments and open-ended answers in Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 255 <?page no="256"?> their preferred language, be it German, French or English, and they did so. So this aspect cannot be a limitation of this study. One of the strengths of this study is that it is balanced in terms of age, gender, nationality and mother tongue. Taking these aspects into account, it seems to be promising to keep these results in mind for further research. By shedding light on the experiences of those who live and work across cultural boundaries, this research contributes to our understanding of what it means to be truly plurilingual and intercultural in today ’ s interconnected world. The findings have significant implications for educational policies, language teaching methodologies, and regional language strategies, contributing valuable insights to the fields of sociolinguistics and intercultural studies. References B YRAM , Michael (2011): A Research Agenda for ‘ Intercultural Competence ’ . In Witte, Arnd & Theo Harden (Eds.): Intercultural Competence. Concepts, Challenges, Evaluations. Oxford et al.: Lang, 19 - 35. B LOMMAERT , Jan (2010). The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. B YRAM , Michael (2002). Chapter 4. On Being ‘ Bicultural ’ and ‘ Intercultural ’ . In: Alred, Geoff, Michael Byram & Mike Fleming (2002): Intercultural Experience and Education. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters, 2002, 50 - 66. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.21832/ 9781853596087-007.). C OUNCIL OF E UROP e (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. D EARDORFF , Darla K. (2006). Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education 10(3), 241 - 266. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1177/ 1028315306287002). D EARDORFF , Darla K. (2011). Intercultural Competence in Foreign Language Classrooms: A Framework and Implications for Educators. In: Witte, Arnd & Theo Harden (Eds.): Intercultural Competence. Concepts, Challenges, Evaluations. Oxford et al.: Lang, 37 - 54. D ÖRNYEI , Zoltán. (2009). The L2 Motivational Self System. In: Zoltán Dörnyei & Ema Ushioda: Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters, pp. 9 - 42 (https: / / doi.org/ 10.21832/ 9781847691293-003). F RIESEN , Deanna C. & Ellen B IALYSTOK (2012): Metalinguistic Ability in Bilingual Children: The Role of Executive Control. Rivista di psicolinguistica applicata 12(3): 47 - 56. G UMPERZ , John J. (1982): Discourse Strategies. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. H ARITATOS , Jana & Verónica B ENET -M ARTÍNEZ (2002). Bicultural identities: The interface of cultural, personality, and socio-cognitive processes. Journal of Research in Personality 36 (6), 598 - 606 (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1016/ S0092-6566(02)00510-X). 256 Thomas Tinnefeld <?page no="257"?> H ÉLOT , Christine & Andrea Young (2006). Chapter 3. Imagining Multilingual Education in France: A Language and Cultural Awareness Project at Primary Level. In: García, Ofelia, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas & María E. Torres-Guzmán: Imagining Multilingual Schools: Languages in Education and Glocalization. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters, 2006, 69 - 90 (https: / / doi.org/ 10.21832/ 9781853598968-004). K MIOTEK , Ł ukasz K. & Pawe ł B OSKI (2017). Language Proficiency And Cultural Identity as Two Facets of The Acculturation Process. Psychology of Language and Communication 21 (1), 192 - 214 (DOI: 10.1515/ plc-2017-0010). K OVÁCS , Ágnes Melinda & Jacques M EHLER (2009). Flexible Learning of Multiple Speech Structures in Bilingual Infants. Science 325, 611 - 612. (DOI: 10.1126/ science.1173947). N ORTON , Bonny. (2013). Identity and Language Learning: Extending the Conversation. Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.21832/ 9781783090563). P HINNEY , Jean S. (1990). A Three-Stage Model of Ethnic Identity. In: Martha E. Bernal & George P. Knight (Eds.) (1990): Ethnic Identity. Formation and Transmission among Hispanics and Other Minorities. Albany: State University of New York, 61 - 79. S TRAUB , J. et al. (Eds.) (2007). Handbuch Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Interkulturelle Kompetenz. Stuttgart: Metzler. T URNER , J. C. & P. J. O AKES , (1986), The significance of the social identity concept for social psychology with reference to individualism, interactionism and social influence. British Journal of Social Psychology 25: 237 - 252. (https: / / doi.org/ 10.1111/ j.2044- 8309.1986.tb00732.x). V ATTER , Christoph (2017). Interkulturelles Lernen und Vermittlung interkultureller Kompetenz im Studium. Praxisbeispiele und Konzepte aus der deutschen Hochschullandschaft. In: Gwenn Hiller, Gundula et al. (Hrsg.): Interkulturelle Kompetenz in deutsch-französischen Studiengängen - Les compétences interculturelles dans les cursus franco-allemands. Wiesbaden: Springer, 51 - 66. Plurilingualism and Intercultural Identity in a Franco-German Setting 257 <?page no="259"?> III. Interdisciplinarity <?page no="261"?> Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders Paul Gruba 1 Interdisciplinarity As we know, communicating across borders does not happen magically. And indeed oftentimes those borders are not distant but rather just down the hallway: in another language department, in another discipline, or in another faculty. Traversing disciplinary boundaries, a growing need throughout contemporary universities is increasingly shouldered by academics like ourselves with the responsibilities of encouraging the internationalization and thus the eventual transformation of our higher education institutions (REPKO & SZOSTAK 2020). As an early leader in ‘ interdisciplinary studies ’ , REPKO (2008) provides a number of concepts that can help to frame our work in its initial stages. Table 1 helps us define what a ‘ discipline ’ is and shows us variations that allow us to see ways that disciplinary boundaries can be crossed. Type Conceptual definition Discipline A particular branch of learning or body of knowledge whose defining elements such as assumptions, theories and methods distinguish it from other formations Multidisciplinary Placing disciplinary insights side by side for the purposes of comparing perspectives Cross disciplinary Seeks to construct a theoretical foundation that, for example, can connect two disciplines Interdisciplinary A contested space between disciplines that, through action towards integration, results in the production of new knowledge Transdisciplinary Joint concepts look to ‘ transcend ’ boundaries such that apply to multiple fields and sectors of society Table 1: Crosing disciplinary boundaries <?page no="262"?> As REPKO (2008) argues, the term interdisciplinary is preferred for university and related research settings. Other terms are unsatisfying in that they may not evoke any sense of evaluative thinking that is often the bedrock for productive work involving multiple disciplines. Additionally, REPKO (2008: 41 - 47) provides us an idea of what is required to be a successful ‘ interdisciplinarian ’ , and sets out a summary of the key traits: Traits Key concepts Enterprise Willingness to assume risk to achieve outcomes Love of learning Enthusiasm for learning in new situations in ways that are novel, adaptable and pertinent to the problems ahead Reflection Evaluation of conflicting lines of information, controversial stances that leads to an ability to justify important decisions Tolerance for ambiguity and paradox amid complexity Acceptance of understanding as a constant process that may never be complete, and an attitude to remain open to new information and processes Receptivity of other disciplines, and the perspectives of those disciplines Openness to a range of disciplinary perspectives, and a willingness to work with those embedded in disciplinary ways of thinking Willingness to achieve ‘ adequacy ’ in multiple disciplines Appreciating the difference between achieving an adequate understanding at the expense of mastery of a discipline area Appreciation of diversity Respect for people holding differing views, and an awareness of own biases, as problems and solutions emerge Willingness to work with others Collaborative approaches and thinking that manifest through intellectual, interpersonal and group communication skills Humility A learned state of mind that leads to further learning and greater respect of experts and others Table 2: Traits of an Interdisciplinarian To be frank, few people who work in higher education institutions would possess each of these traits; for most of us, however, an awareness of these traits helps to orient ourselves towards a greater understanding of who is likely to be successful in communicating across disciplinary borders. Of note, our experiences as language academics point to a love of learning, tolerance of ambiguity and an appreciation of diversity as the most important traits. Openness and adequacy are also key to success. Interdisciplinary skills, which are more trainable than core personality traits, have also been found by REPKO (2008) as shown in Table 3. 262 Paul Gruba <?page no="263"?> Skills, or thinking abilities Key characteristics Competent communication Understanding, and translation, of discipline specific terms and concepts in ways that foster team coherence in face of a wide variety of interests, beliefs, and mindsets Abstract thinking Comprehend, and express, interdisciplinary problems in ways that render complex concepts to be friendlier, familiar, and easier to understand Dialectical thinking Systematic style of argumentation that places opposing ideas side-by-side for the purposes of comparison with an intent to bring about an eventual resolution Non-linear thinking Ability to see possibilities ‘ outside of the box ’ in ways that forge new pathways, actions, and solutions Creative thinking Encourage the combination of unrelated ideas, new perspectives, and innovative relationships to build common ground and engage in interaction to produce outcomes Holistic thinking Seeing a problem, or challenge, as one part of an integral and complex ecology of relationships and systems Table 3: Interdisciplinarian Thinking Again, it is worth repeating that few of us possess each of these skills. The main point, though, is that an ability to communicate and an ability to think in a range of differing ways for differing purposes is key. However, how could a higher education academic be trained in such skills? For many academics, learning to be interdisciplinary happens ‘ on the job ’ through collective goodwill and an understanding that we need a bit of latitude to make some mistakes, recover quickly and move on (REPKO & SZOSTACK 2020). To help us in language education, it is useful to understand that such work also involves a combination of authorization, navigation, and motivation to foster continued success. 2 Authorization Crossing borders - even communicating across disciplines - often requires some form of identification, and those in charge want to know: Who are you? Where are you from? Who knows where you started? My first passport was issued in March 1971. I still have the document. A pale 10-year old boy with a nervous smile stares back at me in the photograph, but the passport went unused. After much planning, my parents decided not to Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 263 <?page no="264"?> emigrate to Australia back then and we moved to Los Angeles instead. For years and years afterwards, my only form of identification was issued by educational institutions. It was those cards that got me into school events, permitted discounts at local business, and allowed me to borrow books from the library. All of these forms of border crossing slowly reinforced the need for authorization. The next form of authorization was a driver ’ s licence. Now, the teenage boy stared back at me in a formal photograph that feigned an imagined confidence that I knew all of the rules of the road and would not cause harm. The police would look at it intensely under their drawn flashlights as we sat in parks late into the night. Bank tellers, too, would scrutinize our identification when we went to cash cheques or make deposits. Security guards would laugh at our meager attempts to pass into bars and pubs even as we knew we were underage. At least we tried. The boundaries of authorization occasionally needed to be tested. My second passport was issued in June 1983. This time, free of charge, the US Department of State made me a temporary employee and authorized me to represent them as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, West Africa. After we arrived in Bamako, the passports were locked up for safekeeping and we were issued local identification cards. I still have the card: now, an aspiring man in his early 20s stares back at me through a grainy black and white photograph. Malians at that time rarely carried identification. Without such documents amongst my fellow travelers, border crossings were painful and long drawn out. Internally, moving from district to district, the bush taxi would sometimes be pulled over and the police would ask us each to get out. There we would stand for hours until an exchange was made between driver and guard to let us continue to travel. Unlike others, I would not have to pay extra: my proper identification signified that I was an authorized traveler. Across international borders, the delays were longer, and the payments were higher. Each time I was allowed to pass, yet had to wait for the others. At times, I contributed funds for those in need: cash, I understood, can become a form of authorization for those seeking to cross borders. My next passport was issued in April 1986. I was nervous applying: Would my record be clean? I was unsure if my previous work had left a trace. Subsequent authorization builds on what has gone before, and accumulated experiences can be viewed as being either good or bad. The tourist visa in Japan later became a work visa that was good for several years. That visa allowed me to be issued other forms of identification and authorization, and each permitted smooth passage across cultural borders of nuance and understanding. Authorization is a social act, too. 264 Paul Gruba <?page no="265"?> In the mid 1990s, I gained dual citizenship and now have two passports. I often carry both when I travel, somehow hoping that the combination allows me extra privilege when crossing borders. I suspect, however, that the physical passports are now only artifacts of the true information shared across powerful international databases: authorization has occurred early in the planning stages, checked and rechecked across a variety of agents, presenting a long history of who I am and where I have been. I can no longer see my own photographs, and my eyes and face and fingerprints seem to provide their powerful forms of my unique identification. Contemporary authorization to cross borders, perhaps, develops from birth and spreads across global networks of high-speed computers. Traversing disciplinary boundaries also demands several forms of authorization. First employed at my Australian university to be part of a two person ‘ communication across the curriculum ’ project, my work over a period of five years was to promote communication skills into undergraduate courses. I was forbidden from teaching in my home faculty during this time: accordingly, my efforts were directed across five different faculties in a range of eleven departments. Authorization came to the fore: Who sent me, who was paying, who was I? My responses became routine as I told gatekeepers that I was a member of a university-wide project that was a brainchild of those at the top, and my own background included a journalism degree as well as international travel. Once allowed into the department, the real work began. Unlike the power that identification provides for authorization, crossing disciplinary borders requires that acceptance be forged through sufficient familiarity: that is, in this case, traversal takes place through a shared sense of compromise and mutual benefit. My first series of crossings were awkward, and it wasn ’ t until sometime later that I understood just how important informal meetings were. I recall the first time in the staff room I was told to grab a cup and make myself comfortable was a disaster. No, I said, I didn ’ t want to have a coffee. That response delayed the project by weeks as I sought to make an appointment with the chair of the department. Once granted, the professor walked me down to the staff room and asked me why I simply didn ’ t talk to him and others when they gathered each day for coffee. Once again, like Japan, authorization was social. Gaining authorization from students was a particular challenge: Who gave me the right to teach them? My own experiences, qualifications and faculty interactions did not convince them that what I had to offer was valuable to their careers. It was at this point that I turned to evidence and argumentation. Lectures, I began, started with clipped job advertisements for entry-level positions in their field. Inevitably I would circle the section where the Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 265 <?page no="266"?> employer asked for communication skills both written and oral. Collectively, we imagined their future selves in a distant workplace. Here, authorization came in the form of dreams. Crossing and communicating across borders, both legal and conceptual, requires a form of authorization (van LEEUWEN 2008). Such permission can take the form of documentation, years of experience, social acceptance or working towards a vision. Once allowed, a crossing can only succeed through navigation. 3 Navigation Maps, either visual or conceptual, allow for planning. Borders of communication must be located before they can be crossed. What are the discourses and boundaries of a discipline? Those who allow passage want to know where you are headed, what goods you are bringing with you, and how long you intend to stay. For me, the mapping starts at the library. I search for encyclopedias, journals, and edited books. Once I find these, I skim quickly to get a feeling for the landscape. Patterns emerge as topics and names are repeated. The flyover reveals contours. I stay alert for areas of confluence fed by rivers of information; in short, I seek what we may have in common, and this becomes the point of departure. As with any start, it takes time to get bearings. Companions help to develop a mental map during tentative first steps. The initial flagstones on a disciplinary pathway can be identified by reading major works as these often help establish a wide view of the area. The key task is to gain a preliminary understanding of major concepts and thinkers to be able to engage in some conversation with colleagues from another discipline. Later, through dialogue, that understanding can be developed. An early map can be refined, but that can only happen through mutual engagement. At this point, each colleague will need to offer their own aids to navigation. In particular, they need to share a vision of where they want to go. At this point, I must have something to offer. What does one traveler, or one colleague from another discipline, have to offer the other? Communicating across borders requires us to share insights. For my part, I offer views of language in use, or applied linguistics, as this is where I am most grounded. Researchers in my field have done work in identity, power, and discourse, for example, as they offer insights into the social aspects of research (e. g., PENNYCOOK 2018). I often contribute what I know of ‘ risk discourse ’ , also as it is a topic that cuts across many of the boundaries between 266 Paul Gruba <?page no="267"?> arts and science and engineering. We each seem to share a sense of risk - that is, that our collaborative efforts that are built on well-meaning styles of communication may fail - whenever we cross disciplinary borders. Risk discourse offers the interdisciplinarian a unique set of insights. Although agreeing that risk can be seen as the possibility that an adverse event or action may cause harm to other events, it is often the source and magnitude of risk that is debated. Briefly, LUPTON (2013) situates central theories of risk along a continuum that stretch from a technico-scientific perspective to a sociocultural one. In the first view, often circulated in technical and scientific disciplines, sources of risk can be managed and thus, experts can identify, calculate, and respond appropriately to adverse actions. Risks are objective phenomena that can be predicted and controlled with empirical evidence and applied knowledge. Importantly, experts are distinguished from non-experts as they alone have the scientific perspective that guides their ‘ correct ’ responses to risk mitigation. At the other end of the continuum, LUPTON ’ s (2013) sociocultural perspectives point to an understanding that risk avoidance is an obligation of ‘ good citizens ’ who are responsible to follow advice and act accordingly. Now out of the purview of experts, risk protection is devolved to individual choice. What do perspectives on risk discourse have to do with navigating the borders of interdisciplinary communication? In my mind, it is important that all parties understand where the responsibility for achieving meaning may lie: all too often, I have found, those in engineering disciplines may blame the means or elements of communication on perceived failures and thus defer responsibility for us language educators as experts who can give advice to improve; that is, they may seek to devolve their own personal responsibility for failure and detach from productive engagement. I remind them that each of us are successful in our relative discipline areas and, here on the borders of indisciplinarity, there is a particular responsibility to communicate effectively and be aware of the audience. 4 Motivation If we persist in communicating across disciplines, it may negatively impact our academic careers for several key reasons: failing to keep up with advances in our home discipline, the possible loss of former colleagues, potential lack of continuing funding or grants, and the possibility that an interdisciplinary engagement will fail to make a significant contribution. I have encountered each of these. Returning to teach a graduate course after an absence, I realized that my readings were dated; I missed birthdays in my old department; funding Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 267 <?page no="268"?> cutbacks reduced our interdisciplinary initiative; my work on the margins of the new field was hardly cited. Why keep crossing and not head back to the safety of a known discipline area? I didn ’ t have an answer, yet like many expatriates, I somehow liked being away. Now all I had to do was come up with a stronger reason to be there, a clearer motivation for my actions. After some thinking and investigation, I saw that the field of program evaluation offered me what I sought. The field is wide and draws on a range of disciplines, cuts across boundaries and institutional structures, and focuses on development and improvement at its core. It suited me. With that decision in place, I sought a position at a large digital research capability initiative that was housed in the chancellery at the top level of the university structure. I was successful and became one of four academic convenors who each represented one area of the university: Engineering, Medicine, Science, or Arts. Over the next four years in my role as an academic convenor, my job was to be an advocate for Arts in university-wide efforts to build overall digital research capability. Communicating across borders now assumed an even greater significance in my career. My first task was to map out where each of us on the Initiative would contribute as shown in Table 4: Type of academic input Contribution Academic convenor Framing the direction of digital capability spent based on published research and theory Specialist convenor Hands-on, focused, practical advice grounded in years of experience in several digital research projects Embedded academic specialist co-location Ongoing dialogue with informed colleagues who themselves collaborate with a range of discipline-based researchers Academic specialist secondment Direct working with infrastructure staff to build relationships, mutual understanding, and greater collaboration in future projects Senior academic committee (Advisory committee) High-level, strategic advice and direction in accord with the University strategies and senior leadership Representative academic (University committee) Faculty-based, strategic advice and direction informs decisions grounded in Faculty-based research perspectives Expert group High level advice to focus efforts and maintain stakeholder involvement in decisions related to Infrastructure Table 4: Mapping the Stages of Interdisciplinary Contribution 268 Paul Gruba <?page no="269"?> The mapping made my work clear: I was to provide direction based on ‘ theory ’ and evidence. As emphasized throughout the Initiative, the work was designed from the start to be ‘ academic led ’ . With seven forms of academic interaction, the leadership team was able to perform across multiple borders and levels of the institution. Communicating across flexible borders requires a diverse strategy. After settling into our roles as academic convenors, we began to see the University as a ‘ complex adaptive system ’ . Accordingly, we characterize our collective efforts and work as nonlinear, emergent, dynamic, uncertain, and collegial. Such a perspective helped us as a team to anticipate the unexpected and thus take on flexible, adaptive, and agile approaches. Of particular importance, we sought to integrate ‘ evaluative thinking ’ throughout the Initiative: evaluative thinking forces clarity about the inquiry purpose, who it is for, with what intended uses, to be judged by what quality criteria; being explicit about what criteria are being applied in framing inquiry questions, making design decisions, determining what constitutes appropriate methods, and selecting and following analytical processes; and being aware of and articulating values, ethical considerations, contextual implications, strengths and weaknesses of the inquiry, and potential (or actual) misinterpretations, misuses, and misapplications. (P ATTON 2018: 23) Adopting evaluative thinking helped our interdisciplinary team to face uncertainty created by having such a vast cast of people and organizational cultures and systems with which they had to interact, many of which were outside their ability to directly influence. Indeed, being part of the complex adaptive system that characterizes the environment of large universities, we needed to establish the basis for appropriate evaluation planning, criteria, and statements of success. As shown in Table 5, one early task involved a consideration of levels of complexity that came to shape our collective views: Degree Characteristics Complex The situation has a many-to-many series of relationships amongst inputs and outputs whose influence cannot be calculated in advance nor result in a singular accomplishment within a specific timeframe or environment. The attempt to influence the environment with the intent to create a specific outcome, may not be recognised as an achievement within a designated time frame. Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 269 <?page no="270"?> Degree Characteristics Complicated The situation has a many-to-one cause-and-effect relationship of input to output; the single output can be calculated in advance. An example would be the space flight in which the many inputs of rocket, spacecraft, and life support systems each are calculated and have a measurable contribution to the safe return of astronauts at a specific splashdown time and location. The successfully completed output of the process is recognised as an achievement within a designated timeframe. Simple The situation has a one-to-one cause-and-effect relationship of input to output; the single output can be calculated in advance. An example would be the building of a bridge such that the structure and its purpose fit a particular need in a specific location. The successful completion of the bridge can be seen as a relatively simple achievement within a designated timeframe. Table 5: Degree of Complexity Each term is relative and best understood along a continuum. For example, within institutions, the degrees of complexity often manifest in the scale and purpose of work being attempted; accordingly, the team thought of how common categories may vary within a complex adaptive system as shown in Table 6: Initiative A large-scale, novel, and holistic endeavor designed to encourage a widespread change of culture (or ‘ impact ’ ) that itself has been motivated by global shifts in thinking, events, or new technology Program A unified collection of related projects that each lead to outputs and a focal outcome Project A defined scope of work that is bound by identified constraints, often defined in terms of specific goals within a set schedule, that, when completed, leads to specific outputs Table 6: Common Structures of Complexity Framing our work according to these three levels of complexity, we were able to shift the focus of an effort (the ‘ evaluand ’ ) in ways that could recognise the unique attributes of each level. As a team, we understood the overall Initiative through a principles-focused approach (PATTON 2018); at the Program level, we adopted a view that programs can be evaluated through interpretive arguments (GRUBA, CARDENAS-CLAROS, SUVOROV & RICK 2016); for 270 Paul Gruba <?page no="271"?> Projects, we adopted the well-known metric of SMART goals. These are summarized in Table 7: Structure Approach Basis of Success Initiative Effectiveness principles: A set of long-held beliefs, perspectives, or positions that are made public to clarify the basis for decisions, but which are not bound to a specific purpose, are subject to debate and interpretation, and may or may not be openly recognised by members within the institution. Adherence to principles Programs Interpretive arguments: An evidence-based outcome built on the stepwise logic of working through the grounds, assumptions, and inferences that is bound within a specific purpose which can be recognised as a completed process by members within the institution. Strength of evidence-based claims Projects SMART goals: A purposeful target set within a defined field and set of rules with specific boundaries that, once completed, the work is recognised as a particular achievement by members within the institution. Achievement of stated targets Table 7: Approaches to Evaluation by Structure In summary, it is important to recognise varied degrees of complexity across the institution and make use of different criteria to direct efforts of communication across varied levels. Briefly, seen as a large-scale Initiative, our work could be evaluated on its adherence to effectiveness principles; at the program level, we could be assessed on strength of its claims; if needed, SMART goals could be used to direct work at the project level. 5 Evaluation 5.1 Focus on Principles Far removed from its early roots as a means of auditing, contemporary evaluators now seek to work with stakeholders to foster discussion and improvement of organizational work. Importantly, the field of evaluation has come to recognise the need for a variety of approaches, tools, and criteria that recognise the unique nature of each level of an institution. Following PATTON (2018), regarding complexity thinking, we created a set of effectiveness principles as shown in Table 8: Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 271 <?page no="272"?> Principle Definition Associated keywords Grounded Our leadership is grounded in academic values. Critical, inquisitive, peer reviewed, defensible, publishable, theoretically informed, collegial, ethical Collaborative Mutual commitment to a common good informs our designs. Respectful, partners, codesign, cooperative, mutual Inclusive Diverse people, talents and methodologies provide the basis for our success. Open-minded, respectful, multifaceted, tolerant, informed, sensitive Innovative Innovation is a hallmark of our style and work. Agile, innovative, responsive, far reaching, visionary. Sustainable Our designs and processes are designed for long-term use. Long-term, proactive, repeatable, structured, grounded, understandable, transferable Table 8: Effectiveness Principles Throughout, the principles were used by the team as a basis for decisionmaking at times when a situation presented a wide range of options, considerations, and implications. A well-known set of criteria informed our approach as set out by PATTON (2018: 40): Criterion Justification Guiding - informs priorities and direction Use principles as a basis for complex decisions Useful - informs decisions; feasible Establish a means to foster transparency, ensure value and justify the reasons for decisions Inspiring - values are explicit; basis for long-term engagement Communicate values in ways that promote an inclusive, sustainable, and engaging approach to the Initiative efforts Developmental - sensitive to context and complexity, enduring Encourage a respectful engagement with researchers, professional teams, and institutional norms Evaluable - requires interpretation and judgement of evidence; qualitative with some quantitative results Use mixed methods to gather evidence for the evaluation of principles as a basis for leadership, direction, and sustainability Table 9: GUIDE Principles Criteria 272 Paul Gruba <?page no="273"?> As members of the Leadership team, we continued to revise principles considering their utility in decision making as well as through collegial feedback. As well as guiding the overall Initiative, a subset of the overarching set of principles was created for each domain to be fit-for-purpose, yet ensure a link to the larger Initiative. More importantly, however, each domain was framed as its core as a program that had a set of claims, based on interpretive arguments, as focal evaluands. 5.2 Interpretive Arguments Briefly, interpretative arguments are based on a Toulmin style of argumentation: the grounds of an argument, motivated by a warrant, require evidence to pass through a series of inferences to bolster a claim. At each inference, conditions must be met and lead to an assessment of the relative strength of the overall claim. In practice, the strength of an argument can be assessed as ‘ weak ’ , ‘ moderate ’ , or ‘ strong ’ depending on the amount and type of evidence that is brought to bear (GRUBA, CARDENAS-CLAROS, SUVOROV & RICK 2016). Based on work in language program evaluation, we continued to develop interpretative arguments for use at the program level. Characterized as ‘ complicated ’ entities, programs have constrained parameters: positions must be filled, equipment deployed, and timelines met in line with available resources. In this way, we framed the Initiative in terms of four programs - Infrastructure, Workforce, Research Dat Management (RDM), and Leadership - , each of which has a specific set of claims that can be evaluated on the strength of a proposed argument. Argument-based approaches are completed in four stages: 1. Planning the Argument, 2. Gathering the Evidence, 3. Presenting the Argument, and 4. Appraising the Argument. Crucially, widespread consultation with key stakeholders in evaluation is needed for two reasons: a. to prevent blind spots in data collection and analyses and, b. to enhance the uptake, or utility, of recommendations for improvement. The initial phase of an argument-based approach is based on thorough planning; importantly, the construction of a plan should involve primary stakeholders as a strategy to enhance the utility of outcomes. The argument-based approach first establishes the warrant for the program ( ‘ what Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 273 <?page no="274"?> factors motivated it in the first place? ’ ), and then sets out the central claims, its assumptions, and possible counterarguments. With these points in place, the plan sets out a ‘ chain of inferences ’ that each must be eventually crossed as the evaluation is completed. In this report, we set out the evaluation for the purposes of development and planning; that is, not as a ‘ summative ’ conclusion of the work that has been completed. The second phase of an argument-based approach necessarily involves gathering evidence. With the plan in hand, the evaluator ensures that the material used to support an inference is reliable, valid, and aligned with current methods. Both quantitative and qualitative measures can be gathered as the core of logical argumentation is agnostic. The third phase of the approach concerns presentation in ways that can be understood by the primary stakeholder. Argument-based approaches end with an appraisal. The scale, and type, of an appraisal can be negotiated with stakeholders; generally, scales consist of a series of descriptors such as ‘ weak ’ , ‘ moderate ’ and ‘ strong ’ for sample, or can be grounded in more fine-grained systems of rating. Congruent with the socio-technical nature of the initiative, our team adopted a scale of appraisal based on the well-regarded ‘ Capability Maturity Model ’ (HARMON 2019). Although initially developed for use in software engineering, this model has been widely adopted across several disciplines. Our own adaption seeks to incorporate stages from ‘ developing ’ through to ‘ leading ’ that are set on a five point-scale: PCI 1: Developing PCI 2: Establishing PCI 3: Maturing PCI 4: Sustaining PCI 5: Leading Creating an awareness for an expansion of research capability Building foundations for essential research capability Facilitating systemic, integral research capability Embedding systemic, longterm research capability Leading and motivating sector-wide research capability Table 10: Stages of Maturity for the Initiative Simply stated, the continuum seeks to provide an indicative assessment of the strength of a claim. At the first stage, for example, encouraging stakeholders to be aware of the need for research support to build capability is a goal; at the end of the scale, being a leader is seen as an outcome. Next, we considered how to evaluate work that is focused on constrained resources and goals. In line with their prevailing usage for evaluation throughout the institution, we adopted SMART goals in the use of project-level activities. 274 Paul Gruba <?page no="275"?> 5.3 SMART Goals Responding to calls for greater corporate accountability, the acronym ‘ SMART ’ (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound) was developed in the early 1980s. The spread of SMART goals has been extensive: now used for everything from directing self-improvement efforts through to very large projects, it is clear that the approach has been influential. Table 11 provides an overview: SMART Objective Definition Specific A goal is defined in a specific way with constraints and clear language Measurable Quantitative measures indicate progress toward the goal Actionable The goal can be achieved within available timelines and resources Relevant Attaining the goal contributes to an overall, larger purpose that is understood within the project Timebound A specific schedule within milestones is established Table 11: SMART Objectives For decades, an extensive use of SMART goals has underpinned the planning and evaluation of many university projects; indeed, SMART goals provide managers a well-known basis to determine and set probation criteria, underpin the construction of roadmaps and set performance metrics for a range of small projects. In summary, long-term commitment to communicating across interdisciplinary borders requires sustained motivation because such effort may harm the trajectory of an academic career. One way forward, as illustrated, is to contribute to mutual work through the lens of program evaluation. As a first step, understanding degrees of complexity may inform where and how to evaluate. At macro levels, principles are suggested; program levels can be evaluated on the strength of their claims; at the project level, criteria in the form of SMART goals are well regarded. The key point for language education academics is to make a recognizable contribution when communicating across the border such that it helps to sustain and advance an academic career. 6 Agenda for Further Research Several thematic publications and related conferences continue to remind us: communication across borders is a challenge. In this chapter, I responded to that challenge with my own experiences and insights in my journey to become Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 275 <?page no="276"?> interdisciplinary. I highlighted areas of authorization, navigation, and motivation. How do we, as language education academics, continue to respond to increasing calls for internationalization of the curriculum, for example, as well as demonstrate leadership in what can readily be seen as interdisciplinary scholarship? First of all, through dialogue and conference, we continue to empower ourselves. We can authorize our own voices to be the ones that blur the boundaries. That is, as core to our professional identities, we take charge in approaching other disciplines to generate interest in languages. Take a chemistry class in German, for example, or learn about South American architecture in Spanish. Study culture in Japanese. Our departments already do some of this work, but more can be done. We can lead, and that leadership can inform scholarship in our specific disciplines as well as those across the curriculum. Language education academics must also build on their strengths. Specifically, we are well suited to navigate the discourses and cultures of academic departments. Many of us know how to learn a language, and this knowledge can provide insights into acquiring the specialized terms used in particular disciplines. Further, we can help to ‘ translate ’ concepts in ways that strengthen effective communication amongst academics. We are uniquely suited to meet the demands of navigating the institution. We each have something to contribute that underpins our reasons for wanting to communicate across disciplinary boundaries. For me, engaging interdisciplinary colleagues through program evaluation provided a means to contribute to institutional improvements, management and leadership, infrastructure planning as well as be the basis for mutual interdisciplinary dialogue. In pursuit of those contributions, I also discovered that language program evaluation itself is often neglected. Other contributions might well arise in researching diversity in academic cultures, for example, or investigating ways language influences academic identity, power, and critical inquiry across a range of fields. References G RUBA , P., C ARDENAS -C LAROS , M., S UVOROV , R., & Rick, K. (2016). Blended language program evaluation. Palgrave Macmillan. New York. H ARMON , P. (2019). Business process change (4th ed.). Morgan Kaufmann. San Francisco. L UPTON , D. (2013). Risk, 2nd ed. Routledge. New York. P ATTON , M. Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. The Guilford Press. New York. 276 Paul Gruba <?page no="277"?> P ATTON , M. Q. (2018a). Principles-focused evaluation: The GUIDE. Guilford Press. New York. P ATTON , M. Q. (2018b). A historical perspective on the evolution of evaluative thinking. In A. T. V O & T. A RCHIBALD (Eds.), Evaluative Thinking. New Directions for Evaluation, 158, 11 - 28. P ENNYCOOK , A. (2018). Applied linguistics as epistemic assemblage. AILA Review, 31, 113 - 134. R EPKO , A. F., & S ZOSTAK , R. (2020). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory, 4th ed. Los Angeles: Sage. R EPKO , A. F. (2008). Interdisciplinary research: Process and theory, 1st ed. Los Angeles: Sage. Van L EEUWEN , T. (2007). Legitimation in discourse and communication. Discourse & Communication, 1(1), 91 - 112. Becoming Interdisciplinary: Communication across Borders 277 <?page no="279"?> Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication Klaus-Dieter Baumann 1 Introduction Since the mid-1980s, as is generally known, the cognitive expansion of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) research has led to a shift in its analytical focus (Kalverkämper & Baumann 1996: 355). Since then, the focus of LSP research has been on the implementation of the mental structures and processes in communication, which form the basis of the production and reception of LSP texts. The analysis of representative LSP texts from different scientific disciplines, technical chains and specific languages, in particular through the investigation of the dialectic relationship between LSP and LSP-based thought patterns, has provided evidence that the correlation between LSP thinking and LSP can contribute to new insights into the LSP economy as a cognitive and communicative phenomenon (Baumann 1992: 139, Baumann 1994, Haken & Haken- Krell 1997, Zimmer 1999) and can help us to achieve more precise research findings. There is tremendous application potential for possible findings resulting from this multifaceted investigation. This type of investigation affects the different aspects of linguistic externalisation and internalisation of scientific results and the inherent strategies to transfer mental representations of LSP-based reality by means of communication (Baumann 2001). From the methodological point of view, this gives rise to the task of analysing the specific influence exerted by a respective object or subject field on LSP(-based thought patterns). Simultaneously, Buhlmann & Fearns (2000) have reached wide-ranging results from their foreign language method-oriented analyses, which were aimed at the conveyance of natural/ technical science LSP. These findings concern the complex relationship between the respective technical objects at hand - LSP-based thought patterns and LSP. The two researchers express the following endpoint: <?page no="280"?> LSP as a means of communication is a result of socialisation within a certain scientific discipline. It is characterised as such by reflecting certain thought structures that are determined by the interest in findings and research prevailing in the respective field. LSP is important for the communication of technical contents - objects, operations, processes, procedures, theories, etc. - and, from a linguistic point of view, uses the most concise and precise form ” (Buhlmann & Fearns 2000: 12 - 13). They ultimately draw the fundamental conclusion that: LSP is therefore linked to the thought elements of the field that the technical terms exist in - the thought structures of the field and the customary communication structures of the discipline. (Buhlmann & Fearns 2000: 13) There is an increasing number of data relating to the history of science and the philosophy of science, pointing out the methodological significance of the interactive relationship between the technical object at hand and LSP-based thought patterns, characteristic of a particular scientific discipline (Grmek 1996, Breuer 2001, Pauen & Roth 2001, Kromrey 2002). In this respect, one of the crucial challenges for LSP research and other (non-)linguistic disciplines lies in finding a method of differentiating the diverse communicative-cognitive strategies that are used in the efficient transfer of specialised knowledge. The category of LSP-based thought patterns has, since the mid-1980s, assumed a central epistemological role in interdisciplinary LSP text analyses (Baumann 1992: 144). It is aimed at systematically analysing the particularities of the knowledge process in a specific technical-professional environment of reality. LSP-based thought patterns are, therefore, perceived as exceedingly complex cognitive operations that are based on analysing and/ or regulating the processing of information. In the scientific process of investigation, the dominant role befits LSP-based thought patterns because terminologically predetermined cognitive reflections of technical spheres of objective reality are conveyed through analytic-synthetic thought operations. Depending on the status of such a kind of investigation, the cognitive reflection on the technical contents and processes is of a partial nature, which may be complemented through secondary knowledge processes (Müsseler & Prinz 2002: 645). By uncovering the driving force, the causes, and the regularities in particular developments in technical reality, it becomes possible to formulate specific scientific theories that enable reflecting the object of a given investigation more thoroughly than through mere observation. In doing so, LSP-based thought patterns are viable through the use of the preferred thought methods and thought procedures (Bochenski 1993). 280 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="281"?> From the point of view of the corresponding analyses, the thought process based on the LSP is mainly determined by the following factors (Baumann 2001: 57 - 101): • the mental structuring of the scientifically specialised subject field, • the nature of the mental objects (the homogeneity or heterogeneity of objects that are subject to cognitive processing), • the quality of the subject or object-specific status of investigation, • the subjective stance on the object of investigation, • the allocation of tasks and the inherent cognitive requirements, • the proximity of the object of investigation to the researcher ’ s quotidian scope of experience, • the practice-orientedness of the knowledge process (fundamental vs. applied sciences), • notions and schemata as cognitive models of organisation, • the application of scientific principles of investigation (inductive or deductive reasoning), • the historic, ideological-philosophical, cultural, social and economic foundations of the knowledge process, • the mental quality of perception of specialised contents (affirmative/ critical/ rational/ emotional orientation), • the identification of the individual ’ s specific thought patterns (schools of thought), • the mentally anticipated goal of investigation (quest for rules, practical implementations), • researchers ’ motivation determining the knowledge process, • mental strategies/ methods of analysis, • the ethical neutrality of scientific investigations and • the intra-, inter-, and transdisciplinary nature of scientific illustrations. Representative studies carried out in various academic disciplines and individual languages have indicated that the specific strategies of LSP-based thought patterns constitute the methodological starting point for the analysis of the linguistic transfer of terminologically predetermined reflections of specialised contents. This epistemologically innovative analytical approach enables current LSP research to implement the cognitive shift in an object-specific way. The aim of this shift is to develop typologies of thought strategies based on LSP that are conductive to the deduction of a typology of communicative regularities that occur in the implementation of reflections of a subject-specific reality. Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 281 <?page no="282"?> On the above-mentioned ground, the first step in communicative-cognitive examinations of LSP-based communication consists in depicting the diversity of individual scientific disciplines in terms of cognitive operations, strategies, and processual qualities of mental activity, which determine the way in which specialists orient themselves in their specialised environment and how they intellectually master them (Prim & Tilmann 1997). The next step will then necessitate a delineation of the multi-faceted communicative constitution of technical thought patterns. This leads to a detachment of the relationship between the mental representations from the specific specialised situation of activity, its generalisation, and the transfer of cognitive performance onto new technical requirements. The third focus consists in forming an analytical connection between the mental representations of the different classes of contents that are customary in the respective field, as well as the mental performance characteristic of certain specialised situations of activity and their structural-functional implementation in the context of LSP-based communication. The results of LSP-linguistic research carried out in the last few decades confirm that a scientifically reflected differentiation of objective reality goes hand in hand with the multi-faceted differentiation of LSP communication, designed to facilitate the best possible transfer of information. The increasing number of LSPs is characterised by a considerable diversity of structuralfunctional and/ or communicative/ cognitive characteristics on varying levels (Hoffmann 1976, Baumann 1994). Relatedly, statistical analyses of language have shown that the number of identical characteristics shared by respective LSPs may vary (Hoffmann & Piotrowski 1979). In addition to these differences, consequently, the criterion of the homogeneity of LSPs has become a further goal of linguistic analysis (Hoffmann 1984: 53, Fluck 1997). This is the analytic focus of mainly these LSP-linguistic approaches, which endeavour to present evidence for a structural-functional kinship between LSPs in scientific fields with LSPs in other academic disciplines linked to them (nature, society, thought, and others) (Hoffmann 1978, Satzger 1999). Three different scientific clusters have emerged regarding the level of homogeneity or heterogeneity of particular specialised academic disciplines and their LSPs: • LSPs and the natural sciences (cf. exact and biological natural sciences, e. g. biochemistry and beekeeping; Pörksen 1986, van Doren 1996), • LSPs and the humanities (philosophy, cultural and social sciences, political science, economics and law, linguistics, art research, pedagogy, ethnology, anthropology and others) (Skudlik 1990), 282 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="283"?> • LSPs and the technical sciences (process engineering, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, biotechnology, environmental technology, traffic technology, mining, and others) (Krings 1996, Fischer 2004). Furthermore, some researchers working within the ‘ philosophy of science ’ circle are increasingly interested in extracting the cognitive foundations of LSP-based thought patterns in the natural, social, and technical sciences (Gloy 1995, 1996, Lyre 2002). The first focus of these studies consists in implementing the purpose of the sciences and documenting the respective epistemological basic values, basic norms, and perspectives. The other one aims at investigating the question of how the specialised basic concepts and methods customary in one scientific field have to be arranged in order to optimise the acquisition of knowledge. Taking all the above ruminations into consideration, the central elements of LSP-based thought patterns in the natural sciences can be characterised as follows (Lyre 2002: 214 ff.): 1. The acquisition of knowledge oscillates around a complex of animated as well as lifeless characteristics of nature (including man ’ s nature-relatedness). 2. Depending on the current level of knowledge in society, a theoretically founded and empirically secured differentiation of natural scientific reality will be assumed. 3. In the specialised “ spheres, ” the acquisition and classification of factual knowledge is at the centre of attention, i. e., deriving physical constants, understanding basic characteristics of matter, deducing equations, algorithms, and models, deductive theories, and the extraction of objective laws of nature. From the epistemological point of view, the principle of causality plays a decisive role here. 4. The systematic investigation of the branches of biology requires an object-oriented system of technical terms, categories, constructs, principles, and methods (Thielmann 1999). 5. The acquisition of knowledge from the knowledge subject to the knowledge object is put into practice with the help of certain analytical means (appliances, substances, experiments, etc.) (Lenk 1998). 6. Without establishing measurement parameters and/ or exact metering of measurable entities of specialised matter, the acquisition of knowledge on a high level of formality, objectivity, and precision, is impossible (e. g. pattern recognition, development of paradigms and regularities). Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 283 <?page no="284"?> In contrast to the above, LSP-based thought in the field of humanities is characterised by the following factors (Otto et al. 2000): 1. The quest for knowledge concentrates on the extraordinarily complex interactive relationship between man and society. Finding evidence for certain regularities of social development is the main interest of the investigation. 2. Man and society as objects of investigation are subject to an objectoriented classification into individual scientific disciplines, which deals with the various aspects of this dialectic element of analysis in a targetoriented way. In this context, the unity of theory and practice, and the primacy of thought and existence play a fundamental epistemological role. 3. Basic elements of the knowledge process are the deduction of the goal of investigation, a theory (an intellectual approach or school of thought), the creation of a terminological system, the finding of empirical facts, and the theoretical assessment of specific results (Kromrey 2002: 53ff). The appropriate thought cycles can be followed back to the cognitive theory-experiment-theory pattern. 4. The self-orientedness of man ’ s intellectual discussion, concentrating on himself as the object of investigation, leads to the utilisation of methods of investigation that interpret, compare, classify, assess, and are open to subjective explanations (Bochenski 1993: 12ff). 5. The epistemological quality of the thought patterns characteristic of the social sciences depends mainly on the researcher ’ s point of view. This is because the individual ’ s perspective on knowledge is influenced by a complex of individual, social, economic, cultural, ideological and other factors. 6. Emotions as a cognitive assessment of social scientific subject matters are a constituent of specialised thought strategy. Specialised thought patterns in the only recently-evolved technical sciences mainly feature the following characteristics (Fischer 2004: 180): 1. The acquisition of knowledge focuses on illustrating, designing, and optimising technical procedures, as well as on modelling and using technical systems. Its prerequisites are: knowledge of the laws of nature, acquaintance with materials and their characteristics, the knowledge of handling methods, the ability to think ahead in a productive manner, and implementing ideas purposefully in order to improve man ’ s practical living conditions. 284 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="285"?> 2. The traditional distinction between different branches of technical sciences is justified on the basis of the practically or industrially connected branches of work processes (mining and metallurgy, electrical engineering, production engineering, construction technology, heating engineering, etc.). 3. The depiction and utilisation of natural events and the laws of nature in technical and technological systems represents the epistemological framework for the specialised thought patterns characteristic of the technical sciences. Both are aimed at the derivation of technical laws, which are in turn based on the dialectic relationship between the system in its entirety and the element, or rather between necessity and coincidence. Correspondingly, technical laws could be subdivided into anticipative (normative-descriptive, prescriptive-descriptive), universal, and representational ones. 4. Thought strategies typical of the technical sciences are coined by the specific handling methods used by the researcher with regard to an object of investigation. Moreover, these are closely linked to the characteristics and functions of the respective instruments (appliances, machines, procedures, etc.). 5. The cognitive transformation procedures that are to be presented and that result from applying the laws of nature to their practical spheres of validity, constitute the central element of thought patterns characteristic of the technical sciences. 6. Thought patterns typical of the technical sciences are genuinely interdisciplinary and aim at activating man ’ s unlimited development potential as an unconscious element of the man-machine-system. The analysis of LSP-based thought patterns characteristic of each of the three scientific disciplines shows that specialised thought strategies contain changing as well as unchanging elements. As a consequence of the interdisciplinary interplay of natural, social, and technical scientific communication, however, the respective specialised thought strategies may overlap. 2 The Contribution of Rhetorical-Stylistic Means to LSP-Based Thought Patterns in The Natural and Technical Sciences On the basis of LSP text analyses, it has been established that the following levels (in decreasing order), all bearing on the use of rhetorical-stylistic means, are important for developing strategies of specialised thought patterns in the spheres of natural, technical, and social scientific communication. Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 285 <?page no="286"?> 2.1 The Culturally Specific Level The importance of culturally specific knowledge for the specialised communication process has been underestimated for a long time. In interlingual comparative analyses of rhetorical-stylistic elements in LSP texts from the three scientific disciplines mentioned above, it has been shown that significant cultural differences exist, especially between LSP texts from the humanities and texts coming from the natural and technical sciences. Some of these differences should be statistically analysed. In this context, we should mention the existence of different, historically rooted, communication styles. Among these, in the field of LSP-based communication, there are, for instance, the Teutonic, Gallic, Anglo-Saxon and Nipponic Style (Clyne 1987: 211 - 247). These four communicative styles, which are postulated based on scientific LSP text analyses carried out in the field of linguistics and sociology by the Australian linguist Michael Clyne, are linked to a certain content-related and formal degree of abstraction in LSP-based communication (ibid.). Clyne stresses that the Teutonic and the Gallic Style in LSP-based communication require the highest degree of linguistic articulation. In contrast, the Anglo-Saxon style and the Nipponic scientific style are considered to be less elitist. Moreover, Clyne has convincingly drawn attention to the fact that, in the fields of linguistics and sociology, German LSP-based communication utilises different textual organisation structures than the ones customary in the English language. Specifically, while German LSP-based communication is characterised by the element of reader responsibility (the reader ’ s duty to understand the LSP text without any communicative aids provided by the author), English LSP-based communication is characterised by the author ’ s responsibility. This implies that the author assumes strategic responsibility for the comprehensibility of his text. He may, for instance, facilitate its comprehension by means of a higher degree of rhetorical-stylistic means in the technical text. According to Clyne, the respective strategic differences in communication can be attributed to varying cultural traditions customary in the respective scientific communities. Relatedly, he states that “ each cultural group has their own expectations of communication, which in turn are rooted in a specific cultural value system ” (Clyne 1993: 3). Interdisciplinary studies of social, natural, and technical texts have confirmed that the culturally specific dimension of using rhetorical-stylistic elements is particularly important in social science texts. In natural and technical science texts, however, the culturally specific dimension is of secondary importance, given the more strongly regulated and conventionalised LSP text structure (Lauren & Nordman 1996). 286 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="287"?> 2.2 The Social Level Analysing the influence of social factors on the choice and use of rhetoricalstylistic means in natural and technical science texts, the following findings have to be considered: a. Bringing a specialised technical fact or subject matter closer to an interested layman requires great care and attention on the part of the LSP text author in the process of the linguistic composition of explanations and comments. This implies that a greater effort is needed to convey the message of the text to a layman than, for instance, to a work colleague. Varying degrees of previous knowledge on the parts of LSP text author and recipient(s), respectively, lead to the integration of socially relevant elements of partner-related redundancy in order to secure the success of the information transfer. In technical texts directed to laymen, the LSP text author is forced to adapt himself / herself to the level of knowledge and expertise of his or her recipients by adding explanations and illustrations to foster the comprehensibility of the text. Addressing other specialists, however, these pieces of additional information are dispensable. In these partneroriented constellations, stylistic means such as parentheses, parallelism, addenda, and others may be used to foster textual comprehensibility. b. The analysis of rhetorical-stylistic elements indicates that a partnerrelated attitude on the part of the author of the LSP text can be put into practice by means of efficiently stylised wording and a loosened sentence structure. By using syntactic stylistic means, like the chiasmus, for instance, the author is able to get the recipient ’ s full attention, emphasise important findings, and/ or design the conclusion in an original and memorable manner. c. The expressivity conveyed through stylistic means represents an important prerequisite for a successful course of LSP-based communication, since it leads to a heightened degree of perception on the part of the LSP text recipient regarding the subject matter at hand. Activating their attention triggers the release of cognitive energy, which favours the subjective processing of information. In this context, the degree of expressivity of grapho-stylistic means (visual code) is an element that facilitates the decryption of natural and technical scientific texts (Riesel & Schendels 1975). d. LSP text analyses from all three scientific disciplines have confirmed that certain semantic and syntactic styles are particularly suitable for bridging the different levels of prior knowledge of the communication partners in a Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 287 <?page no="288"?> socially asymmetrical relationship. As a consequence, the LSP text author may vary the linguistic structuring of specialised facts or subject matters by means of repetitions and/ or synonymy, thereby helping the recipient to remember a larger share of the pieces of information presented to him. Choosing and using the appropriate rhetorical-stylistic means in natural and technical scientific texts is, therefore, highly dependent on the communicative partners ’ social constellation. 2.3 The Cognitive Level The cognitive level of choosing and using rhetorical-stylistic elements in LSP texts gives rise to the belief that certain stylistic means are particularly suitable to optimise proceedings linked to information processing and information storage (Möller 1983). With regard to this, Fleck (1994) has introduced the term “ thought styles ” , which he defines as “ directed perception and appropriate mental and factual assimilation of what has been perceived ” (Fleck 1994: 109ff). From a cognitive-linguistic point of view, thought-stylistic means (e. g. amplification, syllogism, isologue, antithesis, simile, allegory, irony, hysteron-proteron, etc.) are theoretical-linguistic elements of information processing strategies, the use of which can be attributed to certain attitudes, prior knowledge, emotional states, evaluation standards and/ or emotions on the part of the author (Nischik 1991: 58ff). In natural and technical scientific LSP-based communication, thought-stylistic means contribute to the implementation of the following functions (Baumann 1992, 139 - 158): a. increasing the vigour when designing an LSP text (metaphor, metonymy, epithets, etc.), b. increasing clarity in the illustration of the specialised content (e. g. anaphora+ parallelism as a clearly perceptible theoretical organisation pattern, antithesis, question-answer combination, rhetorical question), c. striving for clarity (by means of explanatory parenthesis [explication, appendix, and/ or isolation]) and for precision (images, charts, formulas, etc.) as an indication of associative thought patterns on the part of the author, and d. efforts to facilitate text reception (improving comprehensibility). In LSP texts, the combination of general, particular, and/ or single pieces of information helps to memorise the information and foster new findings. A generalisation of findings without reference to particular or single pieces of information bears the risk of misinterpretation on the part of the recipient. By inserting examples, the recipient is granted a break to think about the 288 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="289"?> information that has been previously mentioned. In order to make the text reception of a complicated complex of thoughts more palatable to the reader, the author can repeat facts about the case. Thereby, one thought from the progression of information is emphasised in the LSP text. This emphasis can be achieved by means of (syndetic, asyndetic, polysyndetic) repetition or synonymy. LSP text research in the fields of the natural and technical sciences confirms that the thought-stylistic means have a knowledge-fostering function. The choice and utilisation of the appropriate means occur on the basis of certain sender-recipient-strategies that facilitate the conveyance of specialised text contents. In this context, it has been observed that due to differing levels of previous knowledge, the diversity and the number of thought stylistic means increase, if the degree of specificity between the communication partners is rather low (Baumann 1994: 122ff). 2.4 The Content-related Fact-based Level Comparative analyses of different LSP texts from different scientific disciplines, different languages and different LSP text types reveal three determining factors which illustrate the importance of the task of the content-related factual level in selecting and using rhetorical-stylistic means in LSP-based communication. a. The influence of the individual scientific discipline: Rhetorical-scientific similarities between different LSP text forms from a single discipline (e. g. historiography, linguistics, psychology) are obviously more significant than the number of matching elements present in texts belonging to the same LSP text form from different scientific disciplines (Baumann 1992: 74). S. Skudlik (1990) also draws our attention to the connection between the scientific discipline and style: Undifferentiated prior understanding detects clear differences between the language customary in the natural sciences and that of humanities. The latter seems closer to everyday speech and it is characterised, it seems, by terminologically more strongly determined use of standard language and especially through stylistic usages distinct from the scientific language. The first, however, evokes the idea of an extensive terminological apparatus, offering expressions entirely unknown to a layman, a host of formulas, and/ or the formula-like employment of certain linguistic means. (Skudlik 1990: 221) b. The relationship between the LSP-communicators and the subject matter at hand: Rhetorical-stylistic means (e. g., captions in technical texts in the fields of architecture, automotive engineering, etc.) activate important impulses in Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 289 <?page no="290"?> the text that may foster knowledge (rationality, emotionality), facilitating the partner ’ s analysis of the subject of communication. Thus, rhetoricalstylistic means can contribute to expressing the objective information contained in the text-specific meaning. In social science texts, stylistic means characterise the communicator ’ s attitude towards the reflected object. In natural and technical scientific texts, the choice and use of rhetorical-stylistic means are determined by the degree of detail (redundancy vs. restrictions) and precision (e. g., understatement vs. overstatement) with which the author endeavours to linguistically implement the subject matter (Jahr 2000). c. The correlation between the system of the LSP text with regard to content and object of investigation, and the individual levels of knowledge and expertise of those participating in the act of LSP-based communication (Skyum-Nielsen / Schröder 1994): In this context, a classification of the specialised styles customary in the natural, technical, and social sciences has been postulated. For example: - the theoretical scientific technical style, - the popular scientific style, - the didactic style, and - the instructing style (Riesel & Schendels 1975, Sandig 1986). To summarise, it can be said that certain specialised contents in specific LSP text/ text forms are preferably conveyed using a set of selected stylistic elements. These interactions facilitate a more efficient communicative implementation of the information transfer. 2.5 The Functional Level The functional level of rhetorical-stylistic elements in LSP-based communication relates to their mode of application in the LSP text. Together with the stylistic inventory, typical aspects of the facts and processes addressed in the text are thus emphasised. In the field of lexis, this level of rhetorical-stylistic elements is expressed by means of the area of activity of the lexical stylistic means used (foreign words, phraseologisms, etc.) and/ or by means of their communicative connotation (technical and dialectical terms, specialised vocabulary, etc.). However, these elements are predominantly used in social science texts. In contrast, scientific and technical texts are dominated by nomenclatures, abbreviations and formulae. On the syntactic level, the functional level of rhetorical-stylistic means is determined primarily by function-oriented variations in sentence length, contracted verb forms and/ or the degree of functionoriented changes in word order and sentence structure. On the textual level, 290 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="291"?> the functional dimension of the rhetorical-stylistic inventory is determined by the percentage of nominal or verbal LSP text constituents (nominal/ verbal style), the respective sentence linkage means, the use of certain tenses, grammatical mood, diathesis as functionally determined and stylistically relevant LSP text elements, the stylistic form of mental-linguistic communication and complex procedures, and the functional particularities of the author ’ s communication strategy (the integration of quotes as pieces of evidence, illustrations, theses and/ or quotations in order to express one ’ s ironic and critical stance on the subject matter at hand). In natural science and technical LSP texts, the high level of content-related precision and the labelling of the text ’ s inherent logical congruity can cause the text to be dominated by the nominal style, causal types of sentence relations, and passive structures (Lauren & Nordman 1996). The functional level of the rhetorical-stylistic potential thus encompasses any linguistic and non-linguistic means that indicate the communicative partner ’ s ability to acquire knowledge and to act, at their present level of knowledge/ or degree of specificity. 2.6 The Textual Level Representative LSP text studies carried out in all three scientific disciplines provided evidence for the existence of rhetorical-stylistic text layout principles, which have a lasting effect on the absorption and the integration of the pieces of information in the text. In this context, the rhetorical-stylistic text layout principles feature a qualitative-functional dimension, relating to the compulsory and optional stylistic means that are integrated into the LSP text. The frequency, the distribution, and the combination of stylistic means constitute the quantitative-structural side of rhetorical-stylistic text layout principles. The development of different rhetorical-stylistic text layout principles is primarily based on the following links (Baumann 1992: 69 - 70): • The body of stylistic means used in the LSP text has structural and/ or functional particularities. They emphasise the lack of symmetry of form and content in the field of LSP communication. • The choice and use of rhetorical-stylistic means are closely linked to the intention, the topic, and the author ’ s communication strategy. During the linguistic implementation of certain contents, these factors are combined to form a text-specific pattern, which secures certain communicative effects. • LSP text forms (essays, scientific magazine articles, and others) distinguish themselves through regularities in the structure and the combina- Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 291 <?page no="292"?> tion of stylistic means. Apparently, it is possible in these LSP text forms to summarise groups of rhetoric-stylistic means in terms of identical function (e. g. convincing the communication partner) to formulate equivalent rhetorical-stylistic text layout principles (e. g. euphemistic/ pessimistic point of view regarding items and processes of specialised reality, forming an affirmative/ critical stance on specialised contents, integration/ omission of personal matters, redundant/ restricted illustrations, etc.) Investigations on the subject-matter have shown that certain rhetoricalstylistic text layout principles predominate in natural and technical science texts (congruity of statements, omission of personal matters, etc.) In conclusion, it can be said that the implementation of stylistic layout principles in LSP texts does not depend on the efficiency of the decoding process of contained information. They also have an effect on the comprehensibility of the text. 2.7 The Syntactic Level The complex cognitive structure of (specialised) knowledge that is to be transferred in the communication process among the communicative partners requires applying a particular perspective to their interaction, which includes a determination of form and function regarding the syntactic stylistic means. The syntactic stylistic means focus on organising passages of the LSP text, in such a manner that the individual effort necessary to process the text be minimised, the restricted capacity of one ’ s memory be not overworked, and the subsequent information contained in the text conforms to the expectations of the recipient(s) (Miller 1962: 748 - 762; Redder & Rehbein 1999). Technical text analyses from three different scientific complexes have shown that the following text-syntactic categories are stylistically relevant (Baumann 2001: 57ff): a. tense (the historical present tense), b. grammatical mood (the author ’ s position on the level of validity of the conclusion of the text), c. functional sentence perspective (FSP, topicalisation and rhematisation), d. formation of ellipses, e. syntactic stereotypes (firmly established emotional ‘ bias ’ ) in certain LSPbased texts forms (e. g., user manual), f. the syntactic combination of LSP text passages and captions (images, diagrams, charts, symbols, formulas, etc.), g. the share of paratactic and hypotactic sentence configurations in the technical text, 292 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="293"?> h. sentence linkage means (anaphora + parallelism, antitheses and others), i. reproduction of somebody else ’ s discourse (quotations), j. emphases by means of inverted word order (stylistic inversion, rhetorical question and others) and k. the logical structure of the content (question-answer-combination, rhetorical question). Furthermore, the stylistic analyses by L. Hoffmann & R. G. Piotrowski (1979) have demonstrated that the syntactic stylistic means are of varying significance for the LSP-based communication process. In social scientific texts, they are first and foremost aimed at increasing the degree of emotionality and expressivity of the LSP-based text ’ s conclusion. This occurs with the help of the following strategies: 1. Securing accessibility of the relevant pieces of information in the technical text by means of emphasis (presence of consciousness), 2. Increasing the conspicuousness of relevant LSP text contents by means of topicalisation (topic-comment-structure, inversion, emphasis), 3. Stressing LSP text contents by restructuring communicative acts (adopting someone else ’ s perspective, referring to someone else ’ s viewpoints, direct speech as quotation, question-answer-sequences, as well as contrasting and repetition of statements) and 4. Modifying of the LSP text author ’ s position (grammatical mood: subjunctive, imperative). Syntactic stylistic means offer a wide range of possibilities to express the LSP text author ’ s emotional and/ or mental commitment to certain contents in an efficient manner. 2.8 The Semantic-Lexical Level In all scientific disciplines, the coordination of conceptual knowledge between the communication partners occurs by means of terminology (Budin 1996). It secures a maximum level of conceptual agreement among the participants of a communicative act. Since the terminological system follows the precepts of the respective scientific discipline and represents the highest degree of conceptual abstraction, it facilitates optimal communication between specialists (Kalverkämper 1988: 166). Therefore, technical terms represent the obligatory stylistic means of a technical text. In the field of natural sciences, these do not have an expressive colouring. In stylistic analyses of lexis and semantics in natural science and technical science texts, it has been established that the share of technical terms in Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 293 <?page no="294"?> relation to the total word count varies considerably, depending on the level of subject-specificity. In this context, it was found that a high level of specificity always entailed a high percentage of technical terms (Baumann 1994: 127ff). Moreover, the number of term repetitions in a technical text, the concentration of terms in certain macro-structural elements of the text, and the number and the nature of those scientific disciplines that contribute to the specialised word count are of special significance (Nycz et al. 2016). In text analyses of natural as well as technical scientific texts, it has been demonstrated by means of statistical surveys on language that the degree of subject-specificity in the text increases along with a higher percentage of specialised vocabulary in comparison to the total word count (Baumann 1994: 128ff). As a consequence of this, text comprehension would be rendered more difficult for laymen, since they would have to activate several contexts of knowledge in their memories. In contrast to the obligatory stylistically neutral elements of technical texts, the optional semantic stylistic means indicate individual contributions to the reflection process of the respective specialised reality (rationality vs. emotionality, metaphors, metonymy and others) when defining terms (synonymy, polysemy and others) and/ or in the case of a combination of certain characteristics (hyperonym - hyponym). A comparative analysis of lexical-semantic stylistic means in social, natural, and technical science texts has shown that the percentage and the diversity of optional semantic stylistic means is much higher in social science texts than in the other two academic spheres, where inner logic and mandatory precision during the linguistic implementation of technical contents entail a more economical use of stylistically relevant elements (Baumann & Kalverkämper 1992, 2004, Kalverkämper & Baumann 1996). 3 Summary Our recent interdisciplinary empirical analyses of different LSP text forms (scientific article, monograph, students ’ textbook), from various social (linguistics, history, law, economy), natural scientific (psychology, medicine) and technical sciences (technology and materials, audio engineering), from oral, written and electronic media and from German and English languages have led to several new insights, some of which prove to be extremely significant for further interdisciplinary specialist thinking research. 294 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="295"?> References B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter (1992). Integrative Textlinguistik. Tübingen: Narr. B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter (1994). Fachlichkeit von Texten. Egelsbach, Frankfurt a.M, Washington: Hänsel-Hohenhausen. B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter (2001). Kenntnissysteme im Fachtext. Egelsbach, Frankfurt a. M., München, New York: Hänsel-Hohenhausen. B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter & Kalverkämper, Hartwig (eds.) (1992). Kontrastive Fachsprachenforschung. Tübingen: Narr. B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter & Kalverkämper, Hartwig (eds.) (2004). Pluralität in der Fachsprachenforschung. Tübingen: Narr. B OCHENSKI , Joseph Maria ( 10 1993). Die zeitgenössischen Denkmethoden. UTB 6. B UDIN , Gerhard (1996). Wissensorganisation und Terminologie. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. B UHLMANN , Rosemarie & F EARNS , Anneliese ( 6 2000). Handbuch des Fachsprachenunterrichts. Tübingen: Narr Studienbücher. B REUER , Ingeborg (2001). Das 20. Jahrhundert-Projekt: Kultur- und Geisteswissenschaften. Hamburg: Rotbuch. C LYNE , Michael (1987). Cultural differences in the organization of academic texts. In: Journal of Pragmatics, 11, 217 - 247. C LYNE , Michael (1993). Pragmatik, Textstruktur und kulturelle Werte. Eine interkulturelle Perspektive. In: Hartmut Schröder (Hrsg.), Fachtextpragmatik. Forum für Fachsprachen-Forschung (pp. 3 - 18). Tübingen: Narr. F ISCHER , Peter (2004). Philosophie der Technik. München: Fink. F LECK , Ludwik ( 3 1994). Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Berlin: Suhrmamp. F LUCK , Hans-Rüdiger (1997). Fachdeutsch in Naturwissenschaft und Technik. Heidelberg: Groos. G LOY , Karen (1996). Das Verständnis der Natur. Bd. 2: Die Geschichte des ganzheitlichen Denkens. München: CH Beck. G RMEK , Mirko D. (Hrsg.) (1997). Die Geschichte des medizinischen Denkens. München: CH Beck. H AKEN , Hermann & H AKEN -K RELL , Maria (1997). Gehirn und Verhalten. Stuttgart: DVA H OFFMANN , Lothar (1976). Kommunikationsmittel Fachsprache. Eine Einführung. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. H OFFMANN , Lothar (Hrsg.) (1978). Sprache in Wissenschaft und Technik. Leipzig: Enzyklopädie. H OFFMANN , Lothar ( 2 1984). Kommunikationsmittel Fachsprache. Eine Einführung. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. H OFFMANN , Lothar & P IOTROWSKI , Rajmund G. (1979). Beiträge zur Sprachstatistik. Leipzig: Enzyklopädie. J AHR , Silke (2000). Emotionen und Emotionsstrukturen in Sachtexten. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Thought Patterns in Natural Scientific and Technical Scientific Communication 295 <?page no="296"?> K ALVERKÄMPER , Hartwig (Hrsg.) (1998). Fachsprachen in der Romania. Tübingen: Narr. K ALVERKÄMPER , Hartwig & B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter (Hrsg.) (1996). Fachliche Textsorten. Tübingen: Narr. K RINGS , Hans P. (Hrsg.) (1996). Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen der Technischen Kommunikation. Tübingen: Narr. K ROMREY , Helmut ( 10 2002). Empirische Sozialforschung. UTB 1040. Stuttgart: Springer. L AUREN , Christer & N ORDMAN , Marianne (1996). Wissenschaftliche Technolekte. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang. L YRE , Holger (2002). Informationstheorie. Fink: München M ILLER , G. A. (1962). Some Psychological Studies of Grammar. In: American Psychologist, 17, 748 - 762. M ÖLLER , Georg (1983). Warum formuliert man so? Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut. M ÜSSELER , Jochen & P RINZ , Wolfgang (Hrsg.) (2002). Allgemeine Psychologie. Spektrum: Heidelberg. N ISCHIK , Reingard. M. (1991). Mentalstilistik. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. N YCZ , Krzysztof, B AUMANN , Klaus-Dieter & K ALVERKÄMPER , Hartwig (Hrsg.) (2016). Fachsprachenforschung in Polen. Berlin: Frank & Timme. O TTO , Jürgen H., E ULER , Harald A. & M ANDL , Heinz (2000). Emotionspsychologie. Weinheim: Psychologie Verlags Union. P AUEN , Michael & Roth, Gerhard (Hrsg.) (2001). Neurowissenschaften und Philosophie. Wilhelm Fink: München P ÖRKSEN , Uwe (1986). Deutsche Naturwissenschaftssprachen. Tübingen: Narr. P RIM , Rolf & T ILMANN , Heribert (1997). Grundlagen einer kritisch-rationalen Sozialwissenschaft. 7. Wiebeisheim: Quelle & Meyer Verlag. R EDDER , Angelika & R EHBEIN , Jochen (Hrsg.) (1999). Grammatik und mentale Prozesse. Tübingen: Stauffenburg. R IESEL , Elise & S CHENDELS , Josifovna Evgenija (1975). Deutsche Stilistik. Moskow: Verlag Wissenschaft. S ANDIG , Barbara (1986). Stilistik der deutschen Sprache. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. S ATZGER , Axel (ed.) (1999). Sprache und Technik. Forum Angewandte Linguistik 36. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang. S KUDLIK , Sabine (1990). Sprachen in den Wissenschaften. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag. T HIELMANN , Winfried (1999). Fachsprache der Physik als begriffliches Instrumentarium. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang. V AN D OREN , Charles (1996). Geschichte des Wissens. München: Fink. Z IMMER , Dieter E. ( 5 1999). So kommt der Mensch zur Sprache. München: Heyne. 296 Klaus-Dieter Baumann <?page no="297"?> Authors Klaus-Dieter Baumann Dr. Klaus-Dieter Baumann is a distinguished scholar in the field of Applied Linguistics and Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP). Professor Emeritus at the renowned Institute of Applied Linguistics and Translatology at the University of Leipzig in Germany, he has made significant contributions to the understanding of technical communication. His research interests include specialist thinking strategies, integrative text linguistics, and the organisation of complex knowledge systems within specialised texts. His comparative studies of German and English LSP communication have provided valuable insights into textual organisation structures. Internationally recognized, Baumann serves on the editorial boards of several prestigious academic journals. His work continues to influence and inspire scholars and practitioners alike. Christine Biebricher Dr. Christine Biebricher is Senior Lecturer in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Christine ’ s academic work draws on her background in Language Methodology, Applied Linguistics, and on her expertise in Teaching English as an Additional Language. Her research interests are in teacher education, teacher professional development in languages and literacies, interculturality and supporting multilingual learners. She has published in a range of international journals, including Teachers and Teacher Education, The Cambridge Journal of Education, and Language and Intercultural Communication. Her (co)-authored books “ Lesen in der Fremdsprache. Eine Studie zu Effekten extensiven Lesens ” (Narr 2008) and “ Journeys Towards Intercultural Capability in Language Classrooms: Voices from Students, Teachers and Researchers ” (Springer 2022) focus on language methodology and how theory can be applied in different language teaching contexts. Wai Meng Chan Dr. Wai Meng Chan received his M. A. and Dr. phil. degrees in German Language and Literature from the German Universities of Würzburg and Kassel, respectively. He is an Associate Professor and served as the Director of the Centre for Language Studies at the National University of Singapore from 2005 to 2015. His research currently focuses on intercultural mediation <?page no="298"?> and development in foreign language education, learner autonomy and metacognition, and computer assisted language learning. He is a member of the AILA Research Network on Intercultural Mediation that jointly published a bilingual book in English and French on “ Intercultural Mediation in Teaching and Learning Languages and Cultures ” (2023). Martin East Dr. Martin East is Professor of Language Education and current Head of the School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics, the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Prior to this, he was for ten years a language teacher educator in the University ’ s Faculty of Education and Social Work. Before settling in New Zealand at the turn of the century, he was a high school teacher and Head of Languages in the UK. His practical experiences over many years have informed his research interests, which include innovative practices in language pedagogy and challenges for additional language learning in English-dominant contexts. He is the author of numerous publications in the field of language pedagogy and assessment. His co-authored book “ Journeys Towards Intercultural Capability in Language Classrooms: Voices from Students, Teachers and Researchers ” (Springer 2022), presents an account of a project he led which explored how primary school students developed intercultural skills in language classrooms. Douglas Fleming Dr. Douglas Fleming is a full professor for the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa in Canada. His research and teaching focus on ESL and critical notions of citizenship that are related to second language immigrant and marginalised populations (especially in terms of social class, race and gender), critical pedagogy, equity, multilingual communities, language assessment, and post-Marxist approaches to qualitative research methods. Prior to graduating from UBC with a PhD in Language and Literacy Education in 2007, he taught for 20 years for the Toronto (Ontario) and Surrey (British Columbia) School Districts. He has worked on numerous curricular projects for NGO ’ s, professional bodies and government. For more information, please visit http: / / douglasfleming.weebly.com. Heidrun Gerzymisch Dr. Heidrun Gerzymisch is Professor Emerita of applied linguistics and translation science at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, and founded its Advanced Translation Research Center (ATRC) in 1994. She graduated as translator from the University of Heidelberg, obtained her PhD 298 Authors <?page no="299"?> in Anglophone Studies (with a focus on literature) at the University of Mainz at Germersheim and was granted the venia legendi for her habilitation in translation science from the University of Heidelberg. She taught translation at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Cal., at the universities of Prague, Graz, Vienna, and at the ZHAW in Zürich (Winterthur). She published on translation methodology, terminology, German-English contrastive (theme-rheme) analyses and culture as well as translation evaluation (https: / / en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Heidrun_Gerzymisch). Marie-José Gremmo Dr. Marie-José Gremmo is Professor Emerita of Education Sciences at the University of Lorraine (France), and has been a member of the Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Sciences de l ’ Education et de la Communication (LISEC -UR 2310) since 2000. Her more recent research focuses on teaching and learning practices at university level, notably intercultural training for students and future teachers, the use of technology among higher education teachers, and forms of self-study at university (tutoring and supervising Bachelor ’ s and Master ’ s theses). Previously, she conducted research in the methodology of languages and cultures for about 20 years, in particular on selfdirected language learning both in its theoretical dimensions (self-training and innovation; cultural dimensions) and in its implementation aspects (learning environments, learning practices; tutoring). She has played an expert role in shaping language teaching and learning in many countries. Paul Gruba Dr. Paul Gruba is an Associate Professor and Honorary (Fellow) at the School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Australia. Over his academic career, he taught language and applied linguistics in the École Nationale d ’ Administration (Bamako, Mali), UCLA (Los Angeles, California), Kanda University of International Studies (Makuhari, Japan) and at Melbourne. During this time, he has authored more than 100 publications, supervised Masters and PhD students, and consulted in digital research infrastructure. His most recent book, “ Designs for Language Program Evaluation ” (Palgrave Macmillan), was published in 2024. Esa Hartmann Dr. Esa Christine Hartmann is an associate professor of German and Bilingual Education (French - German) at the University of Strasbourg, France, and an associated member of the research group Multilingualism, Translation, Creation of the Institut des Textes et Manuscrits Modernes (ITEM) of the Centre Authors 299 <?page no="300"?> National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, France. Her research interests are devoted to bilingual and multilingual picturebooks, bilingual and multilingual pedagogy, multilingual writing, genetic translation studies, collaborative translation, genetic criticism, and stylistics. Her most recent publications dedicated to multilingual picturebooks include “ Lunar Journeys. Investigating Translation in Multilingual Picturebooks ” (Translation Matters 3 (2), 92 - 109) and “ The Three Robbers in Three Languages: Exploring a Trilingual Picturebook with Bilingual Student Teachers (Journal of Literary Education (4), 174 - 195). Jocelyn Howard Jocelyn Howard is a senior lecturer in the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She currently works with pre-service early childhood, primary and secondary teachers to integrate language teaching within their mainstream teaching programmes. She also has extensive experience developing customised programmes for international in-service teachers. Jocelyn researches language education, covering English as Second or Foreign Language (ESL/ EFL) and languages other than English, the integration of technology in education, and issues impacting minority ethnicity students. She is a co-author of “ Journeys Towards Intercultural Capability in Language Classrooms: Voices from Students, Teachers and Researchers ” (Springer 2022). Véronique Lemoine-Bresson Dr. Véronique Lemoine-Bresson is Associate Professor HDR, accredited to supervise PhD research at the University of Lorraine (ATILF CNRS). She teaches at the Faculty of Education and Lifelong Learning (INSPÉ) in initial primary teacher education and pedagogical design. Her research and teaching interests focus on interculturality in education, collaborative research and collaborative writing. She integrates feminist perspectives and decolonising approaches into her teaching. She leads collaborative research at the Institut français d ’ éducation (ENS Lyon) on teachers ’ language awareness and plurilingual education. Her research in international contexts includes collaborations at the GReJI (Groupe de recherche sur les jumelages interculturels, UQAM and Vanier College, Montréal, Canada). Since 2018, she has been working for the Franco-German University (Deutsch-Französische Hochschule, Saarbrücken, Germany) to evaluate binational Franco-German university programs. With Virginie Tremion, she wrote the book “ Les cultures à l ’ école. Mythes et réalités ” (RETZ 2022). 300 Authors <?page no="301"?> Katja Lochtman Dr. Katja Lochtman is Professor of German Linguistics and Foreign Language Education (German and English as foreign languages) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. Her research interests include foreign language acquisition and teaching, multilingualism and intercultural communication, second and foreign language learning pedagogy in multilingual contexts, and intercultural and contrastive pragmatics. She publishes in international journals, including Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, Applied Linguistics Review, Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen, Contrastive Pragmatics, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, and Multicultural Education Review. Carl Ruest Dr. Carl Ruest is a settler scholar and Assistant Professor of Teaching in French Education and French Teacher Education. He is grateful to be able to work and learn on the ancestral, traditional and unceded lands of the h ə n ̓ q ̓ ə min ̓ ə m ̓ speaking x ʷ m əθ k ʷə y ̓ ə m (Musqueam) people, on whose territory the UBC Vancouver campus is situated. His scholarship in French Teacher Education aims to support French educators: develop strong identities as professional French teachers, develop strong community relationships, and adopt a critical intercultural orientation to teaching French, which promotes the acknowledgment of the learners ’ multiple and plurilingual identities and a deep, thoughtful and critical engagement with the world. Prior joining LLED as Assistant Professor, he completed his PhD in language and literacy education at UBC with a focus on interculturality in second language learning, and was a high school French Immersion Teacher. Adèle Scott Dr. Adèle Scott is an Advisory Officer in the policy team of the Post-Primary Teachers ’ Association, where she works on curriculum development and assessment matters. Previously, Adèle has been a cross-curricular pedagogical leader at New Zealand ’ s largest school and online education provider, and she also worked for 19 years as a senior lecturer in the secondary initial teacher education programme at Massey University, New Zealand. Her doctoral thesis examined the roles, experiences, place and identity of teachers of additional languages in New Zealand schools. She has also been a classroom teacher of Japanese and French, and a regular visitor to Japan to give guest lectures and support professional development opportunities for teachers. She is a co- Authors 301 <?page no="302"?> author of “ Journeys Towards Intercultural Capability in Language Classrooms: Voices from Students, Teachers and Researchers ” (Springer 2022). Constanza Tolosa Dr. Constanza Tolosa is a Senior Lecturer in Languages Education in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education and Social Work, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research and teaching expertise is the learning and teaching of languages. Her current areas of research include the development of intercultural competencies through language education, the intersection of pedagogy and different technologies, and the use of communicative tasks in language classrooms. An experienced language teacher and language teacher educator, Constanza teaches in different degrees as well as in pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes. Two of her recent book publications are available as Open Access: “ Pedagogical Realities of Implementing Task-Based Language Teaching ” (John Benjamins 2022) and “ Journeys Towards Intercultural Capability in Language Classrooms: Voices from Students, Teachers and Researchers ” (Springer 2022). Eugenia (Gene) Vasilopoulos Dr. Eugenia (Gene) Vasilopoulos is an LTA/ Assistant Professor with the Department of Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She has a Ph. D. in Second Language Education from the Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, and has been teaching English in Canada and abroad for over 25 years. More recently, her professional focus has shifted to language teacher education, professional development for pre-service and in-service language teachers, and the integration of technology in language teaching. Her research interests include e-pedagogy, language teaching methods, and critical applied linguistics. Most recently, her work has appeared in E-Learning and Digital Media, the Canadian Modern Language Review, and TESL-EJ. David Weir Dr. David Weir is Professor of Intercultural Management at York St John University and has held Chairs at several Universities including Glasgow, Bradford, Northumbria, SKEMA (France) Liverpool Hope, Essex, Huddersfield and has taught and has held visiting positions at many Universities in the world. He has researched and published extensively on Management in the Arab world and undertaken consultancy with many leading organisations including the World Bank, UNESCO, JEDCO the Jordan Economic Development Corporation, the Islamic Development Bank, the Palestinian Authority, the government of Sind. and the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Program in the 302 Authors <?page no="303"?> UAE. He is a published poet, who has been a director of a double glazing company and partner in a perfume business. He has pioneered the intercultural focus on management which sees management as centrally and differently embedded in the diverse, versatile, evolving, and multifaceted cultures of the global society. Meike Wernicke Dr. Meike Wernicke is a settler scholar and Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia. Her research with French language teachers in minority language settings engages critical questions that examine teacher professional learning, teacher identity, and language-in-education policies related to language use, instructional practice, and discursive processes that inform raciolinguistic ideologies and marginalisation. Multilingualism and anticolonial approaches inform her current research projects with the aim of centering local Indigenous language reclamation and critical intercultural pedagogies in second language teacher education. Authors 303 <?page no="304"?> Editor Thomas Tinnefeld Dr. Thomas Tinnefeld is a Full Professor of Applied Languages at Saarland University of Applied Sciences, Germany. His research interests encompass applied linguistics, language methodology, grammar and grammaticography, interculturality and examination methodology in German, French, English, and Spanish. He is the Editor of the Journal of Linguistics and Language Teaching and the Saarbrücken Book Series on Linguistics and Language Methodology. He is also the Chairman of the Saarbrücken International Conferences on Foreign Language Teaching. In addition, he serves as the President of the Language Council of Saarland. His publications, prolific editorial work, and conference organisation reflect his extensive contributions to the field of applied linguistics and language teaching. <?page no="305"?> ISBN 978-3-381-12311-7 This volume provides a comprehensive exploration of global communication in today’s world. By examining the complex interplay of interconnectivity, interculturality, and interdisciplinarity, it provides insights for scholars, practitioners, and students alike. The range of topics covered, from the teaching of global English to the nuances of intercultural competence, reflects the multifaceted nature of communication in our modern era. The ideas presented in this volume serve as a guide to improving our ability to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries. The emphasis on the prefix interthroughout the book emphasises the fundamental interconnectedness of all aspects of global communication and reinforces the holistic approach needed to understand and address the challenges of our time. Ultimately, this collection of scholarly chapters not only contributes to the academic discourse on global communication but also offers practical insights for those seeking to improve their intercultural and interdisciplinary communication skills. As we continue to face the complexities of our interconnected world, the perspectives and knowledge shared in this book will undoubtedly prove invaluable in fostering more effective and meaningful global communication.