Cross-Cultural Communication Breakdown - Literature review Example

Running Head: Cross Cultural Communication Breakdown (Institution) (Name) (Course) (Instructor’s Name) Date of submission Going by the definition of communication as the coding and decoding of messages, it is realistic to assume that there can be breakdowns in the coding and decoding of such messages. This is most apparent when communication occurs across cultures. This is because language is moulded by the culture of the people speaking or using that particular language for different purposes. Furthermore, different cultural background may imply different languages. In such cases, cross cultural communication is barred by language differences. This paper will address the issue of cross cultural communication, specifically pronunciation, in three major ways. The first way will be highlighting a communicative event where cross cultural communication breakdown is illustrated. For this event, a communicative event occurs when an Arabic student tries to communicate with fellow students and mispronounces some words creating confusion and misunderstanding. The second way that the paper will demonstrate cross cultural communication breakdown will be from the constructivism theory and intercultural transformation theory of communication and language socialization perspective. The third will be a discussion on how cross cultural communication breakdown can be tackled in the teaching process. The fourth and final way will be a discussion of my future contribution to managing cross cultural communication breakdowns in my careers as a teacher. The paper use support from relevant sources where applicable in presenting the case. Speakers of different languages face challenges in pronouncing certain words and producing certain sounds. Native Arabic speakers, like me, have a problem with English consonant pairs, intonations, vowels and stress and hence have a problem with pronunciation and spelling. Native Arabic students taking English as L2 have a problem with pronunciation of mirror shape sounds such as /p/ and /b/. Words such as push are pronounced as bush or pox is pronounced as box (Killam and Watson p.8). This is due to the absence of the sound /p/ from the Arabic language. Similarly, the initial three consonant clusters such as spr, str, spl, skr do not exist in Arabic. Thus, Arabic speakers have a tendency of inserting short vowels between the consonants and give names bearing these consonants a different pronunciation from the norm. For instance, price will be pronounced as perice, arranged as arrangid and nekist as next (Smith and Swan, 2001, p.198). These pronunciation problems are experienced by ESL teachers teaching Arabic speakers which are also transformed in spelling of such words. The theory of constructivism can be better used to explain this problem. T The constructivism theory of communication seeks to explain the personal differences in the ability to effectively communicate. The theory focuses on individuals’ perception or understanding of the social world influence on their communicating conduct (Samter, 2006, p.108). Griffin (1997, p. 493-494) says that individuals who are cognitively complex in their view of others have a higher capability for sophisticated communication which has positive results and vice versa. He further argues that, these individuals can employ an oratory message design logic which produces personal cantered message that concurrently pursues manifold communication goals. This is the main reason why Australians have a better pronunciation of English words as compared to Arab ESL speakers. In teaching ESL to native Arab speakers, the teacher should be able to note these differences in pronunciation and assist the students to understand the differences. This can be done through emphasis on the consonants in English as opposed to Arabic language where the three-consonant-root word system (k-t-b) is emphasized. For instance, kitaab (book), maktab (office). The teacher can have difficulties in understanding the students but understanding the difference and the root of the problem can enhance learning English as a second language for Arab speakers. In an incident that happened earlier this year, a student of Arabic origin was explaining how he was booked for an offence during a football match. In his conversation with his friends of Australian origin, he said that he was ‘pooked’ for an offence. The friends understood that, this was just a small offence, and he was poked for it by the player he offended. Nevertheless, this was a serious issue as he was awarded a yellow card in addition to one he had received in the previous match. This misunderstanding brought about confusion as his friends expected him to be in the upcoming match but he did not participate as per the rules of football. When they asked him why he was not participating, he told them he had been previously poked for an offence and the friends could not understand why he could not play then. In another incident, the same student went to a bicycle shop and intending to enquire the price of a certain bike. In his enquiry, he asked, “what is the perice of this pike”. The seller could not understand the question and instead went ahead and called Peris, a sales lady at his shop assuming the guy wanted to see Peris. The shop owner had misunderstood that the student was looking for Peris to show her the pike (peak) of the warehouse. The student was annoyed as he did not get the right answer to his question. This sort of communication breakdown can have detrimental effects on both parties. Cross cultural communication should be taken seriously in ESL as it holds significant power in linking and understanding societies and cultures. Arabic speaking students often experience a problem with pronunciation and consonant clusters. This is because, in Arabic, vowel sounds are mostly inserted between consonants (Ruiter, 2005, p.151) and that, the three-consonant-construct does not exist (Swan and Smith, 2001, p.198). Hence, Arab speakers tend to translate this to English learning which brings about complex problems. Arabs learning ESL also have a problem with letters that have a mirror shape. This problem is reflected even in writing and spelling. This problem is serious as it can hinder communication between individuals when communicating in English. Cross cultural communication is affected and the two parties may not understand one another and may create a huge misunderstanding. In a business context, the cross cultural communication can affect the business to customer relations and affect the business. The bike shop owner was not able to attend or sell to his client as he was not able to understand what he wanted. Consequently, the same student caused confused among his friends when he explained to them that he had been ‘poked’ for an offence while playing soccer instead of being ‘booked’ for an offence. Arabic learners of ESL should be handled specially with the /p/ sound. The /p/ should be handled as a distinct segment sound rather than a bilateral groups of sounds due to the fact that, /b/ is a regular constituent of Arabic phonology. Had the student pronounced these words well, his colleagues would have understood that he would not participate in the next match and would have looked for a substitute player. The communication problem among the Arabs speaking English as a second language is magnificent when involving Australians who are used to speaking Standard English or UK, English. Australians could not understand what the Arab student was driving at and they misinterpreted the student. This can be avoided if the two speakers have prior knowledge of the problem experienced by ESL speakers of Arabic origin. The Australians students could have had easy time in conversing with the Arab student as they could have easily translated what the student meant, despite the pronunciation problem. The Arab speaking students have a problem with English mainly due to the fact that, they are native Arab speakers in a purely Arab speaking country. The effects of their mother tongue (Arabic) have much influence on their English. The fact that they do not have a three segment cluster influences them to insert vowels between such segments. Consequently, they have other issues with mirror shape letters such as p and b. This brings about a major disparity in communication across Arabic speaking ESL students and Native Australians. The Australians have a problem understanding them. Nevertheless, Arab speaking students of English have no problem understanding what their counterparts say. The issue is putting it down on paper or pronouncing it. The acquisition of ESL for Arab speaking students is explained by the intercultural transformation theory of communication and language socialization. This theory acknowledges that, individuals not only experience their basic language socialization, in their childhood but rather continue to experience secondary language socialization during their lives as they transit to new social cultural framework, join new groups of practices (education, work etc), and take new roles in this society, and thus acquire a new language (Lave and Wagner, 1991). This theory explains the behaviour of people acquiring new language across cultures. Arabs are increasingly learning English as a second language due to various reasons including work, education, technology as well as trade. English teachers should acknowledge the unique pronunciation challenges facing individual learners in respect to their mother tongue. The first step in solving any problem is acknowledging the existence of a problem. This is what is recommended to language teachers especially those dealing with globally diverse students. Yao and UKCT (2008, p. 1) cite Tarone (2005) to say that in the recent past there has been increased interest in acquisition of pronunciation skills for foreign language learners. However, the field is as wide as the number of languages world wide. These so called ‘foreigners’ feel they sound foreign and this causes them numerous psychological problems. Gilbert (2008, p. 8) however, says there is hope for these learners with pronunciation problems. Research has revealed a number of models and strategies in approaching this common problem for second language learners. Gilbert (2008, p.8) continues to say that the key step in teaching students with pronunciation problems is starting with solving the psychological problems. Gilbert (2008, p. 1) says that teachers can do this by “thinking of the goal of pronunciation instruction not as helping students to sound like native speakers but as helping them to learn the core elements of spoken English so that they can be easily understood by others.” This implies that teaching pronunciation should be geared towards the rules of English and not gaining a native English speaker accent. Furthermore, it should give weight to areas where pronunciation problem is likely to alter intended meaning. There are two major models for teaching pronunciation to students who have Arabic as their L1 namely multisensory approach and the multicognitive approach (Odisho, p. 2). The multicognitive approach encompasses several cognitive processes in which to assist adults to attain and learn new pronunciations. This approach calls for English learners to “listen to the sounds attentively in the classroom, remember them and compare and contrast them with sounds already part of their psycholinguistic inventory or with versions of sounds produced by other learners” (Odisho, p. 2). This theory is based on the belief that learners can be geared towards conscious thinking of the processes of perception recognition and production of unfamiliar sounds. This is illustrated when a learner is asked to repeat a particular pronunciation when well demonstrated by the instructor. Therefore, from this perception, pronunciations are a cognitive process guided by the brain. Instructors teaching ESL learners should strive to create mechanical habit formation on the students through continuous systematic rehearsals of the problematic pronunciations and sounds. In this case therefore, the instructor needs to impressively pronounce the sounds of /b/ in book and /p/ in poke and ask the learner to repeat these sounds until he/she learns to pronounce them correctly. The multisensory approach assumes that the brain has to be bombarded and stimulated with diverse auditory, visual and kinaesthetic impressions that will leave a lasting mark on the learner. This strategy thus requires a multi-pronged approach to the whole learning practice where there is auditory input, visual input and kinesthetic/proprioceptive input (Odisho p. 3). This calls for instructors to make learners to clearly observe any notable manipulations of the lips, air and tongue in the production of sound and making pronunciations. In the case of ‘book’ and ‘poke’ there is very little visual input in the learning and teaching and hence for this reason, instructors should use the other alternative inputs. In the real class situation, there is The approach to teaching Arabic students taking English as L2 will depend on many factors such as the nature of the problematic sound. Odisho (p. 5) notes that some sounds have to be taught individually while others can be taught in categories. The author further instructs that for Arabic students learning English as L2, the sound /p/ should be treated as an entirely new sound as opposed to teaching it as a bilabial category of sound /b/. This is because sound /b/ has a phonological status while sound /p/ does not. This explains the problem of mis-pronunciation of sound /p/ as sound /b/ in English among native Arabic speakers. This implies that the teaching of learner the new sound has to be done by adapting the multicognitive approach in training the learner how to produce sound /p/. In my career as a teacher, I will use the multicognitive approach for students having trouble with sound /p/, where systematic repetition will create a habit for the learner in producing that sound. Such an approach will be applied in teaching all new sounds in the first stages. In the advanced stages of learning sounds, the multisensory approach will be used. This can be critical in enabling the learner to know the different variations of the sound /p/ to suit different words. For instance, where there is need to put emphasis on a particular sound in a word. In teaching, I will be very keen on how I train my students to pronounce various sounds in English. In appreciation of my first language which is Arabic, I shall be very keen on noting some of the sounds that are not available in Arabic but are important in English. Again, native Arabic speakers learning English as L2 will require special attention on practicing cluster consonants and producing sound /p/. This will be critical is avoiding miscommunication and misunderstanding that may arise out of poor pronunciations. Furthermore, I will take interest in perfecting my pronunciation since an instructor should be setting examples for learners on how to produce certain sounds and pronounce certain words. As a non-native English teacher, I acknowledge that my pronunciation might be wanting in comparison to fellow native English teachers. As such, my personal interest as a teacher will be centred on improving my pronunciation because how I produce certain sounds and pronounce some words will be embedded in my students. Additionally, I shall embark on training my students on colloquialism in English. As much as the mainstream academic voices discredit colloquialism, it has gained prominence especially in online social networking and short messaging services (sms). This will allow ESL students whether in Australia or those taking their studies online to integrate into the Australian society and not feel secluded. A lot of meaning is lost to ESL students in and out of campus especially in the very first days as a result of the use of colloquial English and Slang. From discussion above, it is apparent that cross cultural communication is a major problem for immigrant students in Australia and other English speaking countries. The problems of pronunciation are unique to the mother tongue. As such, there as variations in pronunciation of English words and sounds as there are as many languages world wide. This means that mispronunciation should not be condemned but rather acknowledge as a problem that needs to be solved in order to lower the levels of cross cultural communication breakdown. The two theories discussed have proved successful in addressing the problems of cross cultural communication breakdown by guiding English teachers on the best way forward in training their students on how to pronounce and produce certain sounds correctly. My planned contribution in addressing this problem is based on training ESL learners on how to pronounce sounds and words correctly. References Griffin, E. (1997). A first look at communication theory (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. 128-139. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated cognition: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press. Odisho, E. (2005). Techniques of teaching comparative pronunciation in Arabic and English. Sydney: Gorgias Press LLC Ruiter, R. (2005). Highway to E.S.L.: A user-friendly guide to teaching English as a second language. Lincoln, Neb: iUniverse, Inc. Samter, W. (2006). Explaining Communication: Contemporary Theories and Exemplars. New York: Routledge. Swan, M. and Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A teacher's guide to interference and other problems. Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press. Yao, H. (2008). An interview study of native Chinese-speaking English as a foreign language university students’ experience of acquiring English pronunciation. New York: ProQuest. Read More