TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED

Students need to be able to use a range of technology to support academic literacies appropriate at second year level, that is, those for optimum use of the library, the ilearn website, and scholarly internet research. 

ANY CHANGES?    The assessment tasks vary from year to year. Some intercultural communication topics have been included in the unit content this year. 

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES  The learning and teaching strategies used in this unit are face to face lectures, films and discussion and online participation.

How to get the most out of LING332.

1. Come to the weekly session.   The learning and teaching strategies used in this Unit are face to face lectures, with 1 two hour seminar a week. Classes normally start 5 minutes past the hour shown and end 5 minutes before the hour. Most weeks there will be a lecture and a film showing plus discussion. The actual lecture part of the session will be captured with ECHO and will be available on the iLearn unit homepage.The lectures will help to guide you through the main concepts associated with links between language and culture. Handouts are provided on the web, so you don't need to take copious notes - just listen and engage. Lectures will relate to the readings, but will go beyond them as well. The DVDs and electronic resources films shown and discussed in class may be available after the lecture (please check with Library).
2. Actively participate in the discussions.       Whether the discussions involve the whole group or just small groups, you are expected to be collegial and respectful in your dealings with others. Make a point of listening carefully, and considering the views of others. There is zero tolerance for any real life or virtual trolling with regards to this unit. We are all valuable resources for each other, so treat others with care.
3. Do the readings,     and take notes with at least a brief summary of each reading.   This will   help you when you do the mini-research projects, and the quizzes. 
4. Ask questions about the unit.   You can do this in class, if you think of something on the spot, but if you ask your question in the General Discussion part of the online unit, everyone will have access to the answer. If you have any unit content or assignment problems or difficulties, email the convener immediately. Any iLearn queries can be sent to onehelp@mq.edu.au 
5. It is your responsibility to use the LING332 iLearn website on a weekly basis. All the unit information  and content is on the website. Familiarise yourself with the detailed  information at each assessment link, and within the weekly modules. It is a mistake to think you can just pay attention in the last few weeks. 

WRITING, CITING AND REFERENCING

• Full guidelines on the appropriate format, style and method of referencing can be found on http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/harvard.html
• This unit uses the Harvard Style which includes using author, year:page for in text citations.  
•  Macquarie University provides a number of services intended to help students with academic writing. Short Writing Skills courses are usually held in May/June and August. Enquiries to Sue Spinks, Department of Linguistics, phone 9850 8770, room C5A 531.
•  Credit and non-credit courses on English for Academic Purposes for students of non-English speaking backgrounds. Enquiries should be made to the Department of Linguistics on 98508740 or to lingadmin@ling.mq.edu.au.
•  The Writing Skills Advisory Service offers individual help. Appointments can be made through the Centre for Open Education in X5B, phone 9850 7470.
•  Theory Note and Research Project literature will be a combination of print only scholarly books and articles from electronic scholarly journals. Do not use Wikipedia or any other generic source.  

REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND/OR MATERIALS

Prescribed  

** Duranti, A 2009 Linguistic Anthropology: a reader Blackwell: CUP   Available in the Bookshop and on Closed Reserve at the Library 

Double asterisked items are on Reserve, and (e) is on ereserve    [ (e) = electronic version ]

You are also strongly encouraged to source works independently and contribute what you have found to the weekly seminar discussions. 

Weekly Readings

There are also prescribed readings for each week. Some are from the Reader, but others are on the Library’s eReserve.  If you see (e) in front of a reference, it means it is on the LING332 eReserve site.

Each week students are expected to complete the required readings. The required readings together with the lecture content form the basis of the unit assessment and the General Discussion Board gives students a forum to discuss the readings.   It is recommended that students regularly take part in the Discussion Board, but it is not compulsory. The Unit convener will visit the Discussion Board from time to time to monitor and contribute to discussion.

Unit Webpage 

The LING332 website is a resource for students to use to download lecture notes, receive urgent announcements, submit all their assignments, and use Dialogue to email academic questions to the convener or to contact their peers.  To login to the website, go to http://learn.mq.edu.au 

ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION

WORD LIMITS

 Please take the word limits very seriously and try to make your arguments and examples as concise as they can be to make your point clearly.  The word limit is designed to give each student an opportunity to fulfill the assignment requirements with the same length guidelines. It also provides a level playing field in which each student has equal opportunity to do his/her best.

PLAGIARISM: http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

The University defines plagiarism in its rules: "Plagiarism involves using the work of another person and presenting it as one's own." 

It can be accidental or intentional. Either way, if you plagiarise, you "turn yourself into a blank piece of paper on which other people's ideas are inscribed."(anon, 2012)

To avoid accidental plagiarism, please ensure you know exactly how to paraphase, direct quote and cite other's ideas. If you quote a phrase or sentence, put it in inverted commas, cite where it came from (Author's family name,year:page) and include the full citation in the References section. If you paraphrase the words, you must cite and reference. Unacknowledged paraphrase is one kind of plagiarism. 

Do not buy, borrow or lend a piece of assessment. This kind of breach means at least zero for that assignment, and may have even more serious consequences. 

Plagiarism is a serious breach of the University's rules and carries significant penalties. It is your responsibility as a student to read the University's definition of plagiarism and its academic honesty policy. These can be found in the Handbook of Undergraduate studies or on the web at Policy Central.  The policies and procedures explain what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, the procedures that will be taken in cases of suspected plagiarism, and the penalties if you are found guilty. 

Penalties may be very severe and include failure in an assignment, failure in the unit, and/or referral to the University Discipline Committee.

 ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION AND RETURN

How do you submit? 

• Assignments for this unit will only be accepted if they are submitted via the ONLINE ILEARN UNIT
• DO NOT submit assignments by email directly to the Unit Convener or tutor, and do not hand in a hard copy. 
• Note that each ilearn Assignment link contains the coversheet material, so by submitting online, you agree to the content of the coversheet. You do not need an additional coversheet.

Can you ask for an extension?

Where a student cannot submit the assignment on the due date because of illness or other certified personal difficulties , the student is entitled to ask for an extension for that piece of work. The extension means that no marks will be deducted for lateness.  In order to receive an extension, we ask students to email a scanned copy of their medical certificate or counsellor’s letter to the convener via the Dialogue part of the online unit. In these cases, the student is only entitled to an extension for the period mentioned in the certificate or letter. 

What happens if you submit late?

To help students submit their work in a timely fashion, assignment details will all be available at least three weeks before the submission date. 

If the convener has not granted an extension due to certificated medical problems or to 'unavoidable disruption' prior to the day of submission, a late submission will mean that there will be a 5% deduction for the first day, and a 1% deduction for each subsequent day late, including the day on which the late submission was received.  Weekends and public holidays are included.  For example:

Final MarkRaw MarkDeductionDAYS LATEReceived                 Date Due

58%          65%            7%        3                 Monday 17th          Friday 14th

When and how will your assignments be returned?

Student work will usually be marked and returned with feedback within the timeframe indicated on the online assignment link; that is, there will be a post date that indicates when the work will be available with the marks and comments.

Remember that ‘Gradebook’ in iLearn may have your marks, but the ‘Grademark’ section of your Turnitin assignments will contain both marks and comments. Please see iLearn Student help for information on using Turnitin links, and on using Gradebook and Grademark. 

NO CONSIDERATION FOR LOST WORK:

It is the student's responsibility to keep the original electronic copy of all written work submitted for each unit. No consideration will be given to claims of 'lost work', no matter what the circumstances.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATION:

The University recognises that at times an event or set of circumstances may occur that:

• Could not have reasonably been anticipated, avoided or guarded against by the student
• AND
• Was beyond the student's control AND
• Caused substantial disruption to the student's capacity for effective study and/or completion of required work AND
• Substantially interfered with the otherwise satisfactory fulfillment of unit or program requirements AND
• Was of at least three (3) consecutive days duration within a study period and/or prevented completion of a formal examination.

In such circumstances, students may apply for Special Consideration. Special Consideration applications must be supported by evidence to demonstrate the severity of the circumstance(s) and that substantial disruption has been caused to the student's capacity for effective study.

Special Consideration applications must include specific details of how the unavoidable disruption affected previously satisfactory work by the student.

The University has determined that some circumstances routinely encountered by students are not acceptable grounds for claiming Special Consideration. These grounds include, but are not limited, to:

• Routine demands of employment
• Routine family problems such as tension with or between parents, spouses, and other people closely involved with the student
• Difficulties adjusting to university life, to the self-discipline needed to study effectively, and the demands of academic work
• Stress or anxiety associated with examinations, required assignments or any aspect of academic work
• Routine need for financial support
• Routine demands of sport, clubs and social or extra-curricular activities

Conditions existing prior to commencing a unit of study are not grounds for Special Consideration. The student is responsible for managing their workload in light of any known or anticipated problems. The student is responsible for contacting Student Support Services if they have a chronic condition.

To request Special Consideration, you must fill out the form found at the Special Consideration web address (see below). That form and all accompanying documentation must be submitted to the Student Enquiry Service, NOT directly to your Unit Convenor. The Student Enquiry Service will process your application and communicate it to your Unit Convenor.

For more information, see  http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/special_consideration/policy.html

WEEK 1Introduction to Language and Culture links

Lecture: What is culture? What is the difference between language and society and language and culture links? How do you collect and analyse data in ethnography of communication research?

Film (23mins) and Discussion: I'm normal, you're weird 

Reading: **Hymes D. 2009. “Ways of speaking” In A. Duranti,  Anthropology of Language: a Reader. p: 158-171

(e) Hymes, D. 1962. The ethnography of communication. In T. Gladwin & W. Sturtevant (Eds.), Anthropology and human behavior (pp. 15-53). Washington , D.C: Anthropological Society of Washington

(e) Rieschild V.R. 2003 Origami in a Hurricane:1 Current Challenges to Linguistic Research Australian Journal of Linguistics, Volume 23, Number 1, pp. 71-98

WEEK 2Non-Verbal communication across cultures

LectureWhat are emblems, language marking gestures and proxemics?   What role do they play in interaction? Does non-verbal communication differ between high context and low context culture

Film and Discussion: Nonverbal communication and culture [videorecording 

Reading:  (e) Shahshahani, Soheila 2010. Thought Short Report: Body as a means of non-verbal communication in Iran- International Journal of Modern Anthropology (1)1: 65-81

(e) Nakane, Ikuko. 2006. Silence and politeness in intercultural communication in university seminars Journal of Pragmatics , (38)11: 1811-1835.

Week 3        Linguistic taboos

Lecture: Are there any universal social taboos? What is the difference between social and linguistic taboos?  How do cultural beliefs and linguistic taboos vary across cultures?  How do linguistic taboos contribute towards language change?

Film and Discussion: Cross cultural Communication How culture affects communication

Reading:  (e) Al-Khatib, M 1995 A sociolinguistic view of taboo in Jordanian Arabic Journal of multilingual and multicultural development 16.6.) 

(e)  Qanbar, N. 2011. A sociolinguistic study of the linguistic taboos in the Yemeni society. MJAL, 3(2), 86-104.

Info Session:  Tips on how to do the quizzes. Tips on ethnographic writing: what are the linguistic features of realistic and impressionistic writing styles?

Cullen, J.D. 2011. Researching Workplace Spiritualization Through Auto/ethnography  The Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion Vol. 8, No. 2: 143‐164 (June 2011).  (see version at http://eprints.nuim.ie/2597/1/JC__Autoethnogr.pdf)

WEEK 4 Culture and Performance

What does it mean to be a competent communicator in a culture? What are the different meanings of “performance” and “competence”? How do aesthetics change from culture to culture? What is performance? A performance event? 

Film and Discussion  Hip hop : a culture of influence

Reading:  **Samy Alim 2009 Hip Hop Nation Language, In Duranti, A Linguistic Anthropology: a reader.   Wiley & Blackwells  pp 272-290

**Bauman, Richard 2001 Verbal Art as Performance, In Duranti, A Linguistic Anthropology: a reader. Blackwells (note, this is in the 2001 edition, but not in the re issue in 2009) 

** Kroskrity 2009 Arizona Tewa Kiva Speeech in A Duranti (ed)  A Linguistic Anthropology: a reader. Blackwells  386-401  

Week 5 Kinship

Lecture:  What is linguistic relativity? How are cultural beliefs relevant to kin terms?  How does naming and addressing differ across cultures? How does a cultural belief about relationships between Self and Other influence communicative routines?

Film and Discussion: Land, kinship & culture

Reading:  Wolff, Phillip and Kevin J. Holmes. 2010. Linguistic Relativity Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science (2)3: 253–265.

**Duranti Alessandro 2009 Universal and culture specific aspects of greetings In Duranti, A Linguistic Anthropology: a reader.  Wiley & Blackwells. pp 188-213

(e) Rieschild 1999 Reverse role vocatives in Lebanese Arabic Anthropological linguistics.  

(e) Ye, Zhengdao. 2004. Chinese categorization of interpersonal relationships and the cultural logic of Chinese social interaction: An indigenous perspective. Intercultural Pragmatics 1(2), 211-230.

Week 6  The rhythms and colours of life

Lecture a:   How do members of different cultural groups perceive colours?  What role does language play in shaping color perception? Is there a universal (neurological) element, or is it all relative?

Lecture b:  How is time perceived and linguistically expressed? How is communicative behaviour influenced by attitudes to time? Do cultures vary in their attitudes and language about the past, present and future? 

Workshop: How important is time in your culture?  Before class, write down as many “time words” as you can in a language you know well: e.g. days of the week; months; seasons; times of the day; important human ages and stages.  and be prepared to discuss (a) the metaphors that derive from these (b) the communicative patterns that are generated by these concepts. 

Reading: (e) Nunez, R. E., and E. Sweetser. 2006. With the future behind them: Convergent evidence from Aymara language and gesture in the crosslinguistic comparison of spatial construals of time. Cognitive Science, 30(3):401–450.

(e) Boroditsky, L. 2001. Does language Shape Thought?: Mandarin and English speakers’ conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology 43:1-22

Info Session: Tips on how to do linguistic description and ethnographic interpretation. 

WEEK 7Negotiation styles across cultures

Lecture:    What part does cultural belief play in litigation? What are the cultural beliefs that trigger certain communicative patterns in Middlle East negotiations?     What is politeness theory? How can Speech act theory be used to analyse interaction?

(e) Hatfield, H. & Hahn, J. 2011. What Korean apologies require of politeness theory, Journal of Pragmatics, (43) 5: 1303-1317.

(e) Ohashi, Jun. 2008. "Linguistic rituals for thanking in Japanese: balancing obligations" Journal of Pragmatics , (40)12:2150-2174

Irani, George E. and Nathan C. Funk 2000 Rituals of Reconciliation: Arab-Islamic Perspectives  Kroc Institute Occasional Paper #19:OP:2   available at

http://www.academia.edu/352902/_Rituals_of_Reconciliation_Arab-Islamic_Perspectives_

MID SEMESTER BREAK 

WEEK 8      Language and socialization across cultures

Lecture:  What is the perceived nature of the child across cultures and languages? How is the language used by and to children important for their socialization/acculturation? How is child communicative behaviour selectively affected by those who interact with them? Is baby talk and other adult accommodations to the child universal? 

Film and Discussion: Awladuna: Arabic Families and Parenting in Australia 

Reading: ** What no Bedtime Story Means: Narrative skills at home and at school. Shirley Brice Heath In In Duranti, A (ed) Linguistic Anthropology: a reader Wiley & Blackwells p 343-362

** Ochs, E. & Scheiffelin 2009. Language Acquisition and socialization.... In Duranti, A (ed) Linguistic Anthropology: a reader Wiley & Blackwells p. 296-328

WEEK 9 Language, Culture and health care encounters

Lecture: What cultural beliefs about the causes of “disease” and their cures influence communicative norms? Why can it be difficult to communicate in a health care setting? How can health care providers and patients communicate effectively across linguistic and cultural barriers? How are the Patient and Doctor roles culturally constituted? How can Conceptual Metaphor Theory help us understand emotions across cultures and languages?

Film and Discussion: . Vignettes of culturally different counseling 

Reading: (e)  Flores, Glenn; Jennifer Rabke-Veran; Whitney Pine; and Ashu Sabharwal. 2002. The importance of cultural and linguistic issues in the emergency care of children. Pediatric Emergency Care. 18(4):271-284. 

(e)  Westby, C. 2009. Considerations in working successfully with culturally/linguistically diverse families in assessment and intervention of communication disorders. Seminars in Speech and Language, (30): 279-289.

(e) Hanssen, Ingrid and Lise-Merete Alpers. 2010. Interpreters in Intercultural Health Care Settings: Health professionals’ and professional interpreters’ cultural knowledge, and their reciprocal perception and collaboration Journal of Intercultural Communication (23). 

WEEK 10Language, culture, knowledge and learning

Lecture:  Who has access to cultural knowledge? Who has the right to pass it on and receive it? What is the “good pupil/teacher” in different cultures? How can multicultural settings allow for diversity and social inclusion?

Film and Discussion: Crook Hat and Camphoo DU125.A49 C76 2005. Transferring traditional knowledge in Indigenous Australian communities

Reading: (e)  Jin, L., and M. Cortazzi. 2006. Changing practices in Chinese cultures of learning. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 19 (1), 5-20.

Read this before class: http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/education/cultural_protocol/culturalprotocol.pdf

WEEK 11Intercultural communication in business

Lecture: Are attitudes to work universal? What communicative strategies can help intercultural communication at work?

Film and Discussion:  Crosstalk at work

Reading: ** Bailey 2009 Communication of respect in interethnic service encounters In Duranti, A. (Ed) Linguistic Anthropology: a Reader Wiley & Blackwells

WEEK 12Living between cultures

How can heritage, mainstream and "third culture" identities co-exist in the 21st Century?

Film and discussion: In my father’s country 

Reading: (e) Perry, Laura B and Leonie Southwell. 2011.  Developing intercultural understanding and skills: models and approaches. Intercultural Education (22) 6: 453-466

Week 13  Conclusion

On the basis of all we have learned about links between language and culture, what can we say about intercultural communication in the 21st Century? Is the notion of linguistic relativity relevant to internet communication?  Will English take over many of the functions of bilingual societies?  How important is language preservation to cultural vitality?

Film and Discussion: Beyond Babel ; Ep 2. L1/2/3 English as a worldwide vehicle for artistic expression