cross-cultural communication : Linguistic and cultural Dimensions-Implications for the Language Classroom

Differences in cultural perspectives can be one ofseveral possible causes for communication breakdowns in cross-cultural communication. This paper will attempt to classisr possible causes for communication breakdown and explore sorts of knowledge and skills students need to avoid these situations, as well as classroom activities that can develop the needed knowledge and skiils.

Differences in cultural perspectives can be one of several possible causes for communication breakdowns in cross-cultural communication.
'fhis paper will attempt to classify possible causes for communication break- down and explore sorts of knowledge and skills students need to avoid these situations, as well as classroom activities that can deveiop the neecieci knowledge and skills.

CAIISES FOR COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWNS
I would like to propose a classification of causes of communication breakdown into three large groups: cultural, textual and structural.We will now examine each of them in turn.
(lultural Causes of Communication Breakdown We looked at one example above of a communication problem resulting liorn differences in attitudes towards and evaluation of a set of activitiesi.c.being a "busybody".Cultural causes of communication breakdowns rrright also involve differences in systems for breaking up the world and classifoing and labelling entities and ideas in it.For example, though in lirrropean languages, including English, sheep and goats are different ani- rrrlls with different names, in many Asian languages a single word is used Ior both.For example, kambing in Indonesian/Malay, wedus in Javanese, .ttd.1tfing in Mandarin can all refer to either. Another example -growth on the outer surface of the skin of birds and nrrrnr-nals is called by more than one name in both Indonesian/Malay and in lrrrglish but the categories are only partially overlapping.In English, regard-Icss of'where the growth is, it is called hair if it is on a human, while mam- rrurls, other than humans, have fur and birds have feathers.ln Indone- ',irrn/Malay, one wordbulurefers to feathers on birds, fur on mammals lotlrcr than humans) and hair on humans everywhere except on the head, Hair on the head is called rambut.
These are just a few examples of differences between languages in clas- sification systems.An example of problems this latter difference might cause in communication has been reported from countries like Malaysia (where some schools use English as the medium of instruction) and the Philippines (where most school subjects are taught in English and where the local languages treat growth on body surfaces semantically like Ma- layAndonesian).Problems here arise in biology classes when teachers are trying to explain the basis for the classification system and make statements in English like, "Birds have feathers but mammals have itr."The children.
however, will mentally translate this as, "Kalau burung, ada bulu, tetapi(?), kalau mamalia, [uga?] ada bulu."Naturally, the children will be confused.six main text types.The list below represents the common features of the two systems (Australian and Singaporean) with slight modification of some of the labels for the sake of clarity: P o edj os oe da rmo, C ro s s-C ultural C o mmuni c a tion 29 r Narratives -tell a story, usually in order to entertain, but sometimes with a moral lesson r Recounts -tell about something that happened r Reportsclassif and describe the characteristics of some class of entities o Instructions -present the steps required to do or make something in sequential order so that someone else can carry them out e Explanation * tell how or why something works the way it does so that someone else will understand the process o Argumentpresents a particular belief or viewpoint so as to con- vince listeners or readers that it is correct.
Each of the English text tlpes is characterised by certain $ammatical f'eatures.For example, narratives (fictional stories) and recounts (true sto- ries) are generally in the past tense.Reports conlain many equational sen- tences indicating the class to which an entity belongs or characteristics it possesses.Reports tend to be in the present tense unless they are describing something that existed in the past but no longer does.Instructions and expla- nations both normally contain lists of sequenced steps, but instructions con- lain verbs in the imperative while explanations are often in the passive.Arguments contain many modals, conditional statements and rhetorical ques- t i or.rs. of the English text types listed above, instructions and expranations nay not have distinct equivalents in lndonesian if the process described is 'rrc that can be carried out by humans.Take, for example, the following ex- ccrpt from a description in Indonesian of batik-making: Anglo dan wajan berisi "malam" harus sudah siap untuk mulai membatik.
If we were asked to translate this text, we need to determine first whether it is intended as instructions or an expianation -that is, does the au- thor expect the reader to want to follow instructions so as to be able to make batik by him or herself, or does the reader simply want to understand hoiv the process works?As this passage comes from a book that is intended to be informative and appealing to tourists, the translation should probably be as an explanation.However, this segment could also be translated as instruc- tions.Compare the two English texts below:

Instructions
Prepare the stove and small wok filled with melted wax before beginning the batik process.
Be sure that the wm is thoroughly dissolved so that it can flow smoothly through the spout of the canting.
Be sure that the fire from the stove remains burning but dan't al- low it to ignite to the point that it licl<s the wax in the wok, as this would be dangerous.The prepared cloth should already be hanging on the frame.
The way yrtu hold a canting is dffirent from the way you hold a pencilyou must keep the canting in a horizontal position.
{Jse the canting to scoop out some of the rnelted wax from the wok.
Before beginning to batik, blow on the canting so that the wax wiil not drip before the spout is placed on the cloth.

Explanation
A stove and small wok filled with rnelteC u)ax are prepat'ed beibre the bqtik-making process begtns.
The wax must be thoroughly dissolved sa that it can flow smoothly through the spout of the canting.The fire from the stoye must remain burning but it should not be al- lowed to ignite to the point that it liclu the wax in the wok, as this wauld be dangerous.The prepared cloth shauld already be hanging on the frame.
The way the canting is held is dffirent from the way a pencil is heldthe canting must always remain in a horizontal position.
The canling is then used to scoop out some melted wax from the wok.
Before beginning to batik, the batik-maker blows on the canting so that lhe wax will not drip before the spout is apptied to the ciath.
To return to the problem of cross-cultural misunderstanding, the pur- pose of a text is usually clear from the surrounding context, but one can imagine a situation in which a student, still grappling with Engrish, is given instructions which he interprets as an explanation.In other words ratherthan "Do this," he thinks he is being told "This is the way it works,', and as a re- sult he may simply nod to show he understands and fail to carry out the in- structions.

Pstterns of Organizution of Ideas in Terts with a Given purpose
There are different patterns of organising ideas within a text.Most text types have characteristic patterns.For example, in English, narratives and rrjcounts usually use chronological order.Reports often begin with general statements and proceed to more specific ones.In describing something, they rnay either begin with external features and proceed to internal ones or vice vcrsa, depending on the nature ofthe entity they are describing and on the ;rssumed background knowledge and point of view of the audience" Instruc- tions and explanations tend to be sequenced according to the steps in the l)rocess they describe.Arguments usually begin by stating a position and tlren present a series of reasons for taking this position.The conclusion usu- rrlly summarises the argument and restates the initial position.Another pos- r;ible pattern of organisation for an argument is to begin by presenting a view opposed to the writer or speaker's position and then present a series of ar- pirrments against this view.Politicians often use this structure.sometimes the usual pattern for organising ideas within a particular type of text in one lalqyge may not apply in another language, or the other language may have additional artemativis that are not forirdTn the first lan_ gu.age.As an example of this, a number of years ago the National Institute of Education in Singapore herd a seminar on Maray lo"try and other riterature.In a brochure advertising the event, which was pilnt.d in both English and Malay, a brief summary of the rife and r.vork of one of the guest writers was given.The English summary was in chronorogicar order, aJ*oura normally be expected for this text type -a recount.tti uatay ufrrion, on the other hand, had organised the information according to impcrta"i irl*., that ran through the life and work of this author.This fiattern oro.guniruiion worked very well in Malay but if transrated into Engrish, the text ivourd appear,,in- coherent"constraints on l{hat is Imptied,lyhat Must be Made Explicit, and what is Redundant one of the most onerous tasks for Engrish language lecturers in coun- tries where English is not .afirs-t rangmge is reaoiig, io**.niing on and marking the academic writing of students -whetherLsignments or exams.This is not really becau_se of the grammaticar errors -*iirin!r;, or super- fluous articles don't really interfeie very much with communiJuiion.It is be_ cause the text is invariably difficult to ieadone can,t easily determine the relationship between one sentence and the next and between one paragraph and the next.The logical structure is a mystery!This may sound initiaily rike the same ihing u. that discussed in the previous section' However, the previous section was about ordering ideas.
we a_re now talking about selecting ideas -what to say and *t at not to say.
In fairness to the students,_especialry ones for whom Engrish is a for- eign ianguage, what they are trying ro say probably Oo", ,.p."Snlan appro_ priate structure in their own language.
-However, ranguages arso differ in terms of what we need to say andwhat there is no n..-d tJr"yu".uuse it is implied in a given text type and form.As an example of this, in Engrish, the Acknowledgement,r at the beginning of a thesis, disserlation or research re- port for publication foilow a rather styrized and formuraic p";;.They in- clude mention of all academic staff and others who in somb officiar or per- haps semi-official manner helped the student or researcher to comprete the Poedjosoedarmo, Cross-Cultural Communication 33 project.The author may mention one or two family members who were par- ticularly helpful, but this should not be a long list, and normally friends are not mentioned unless, again, one or two close friends went out of their way to help.But, sad as it may seem, it is not part of the formula to thank God.
As an example of things that must be said, in an academic paper, again, references must be complete and accurate.Phrases, which may be common in less formal slyles of writing, even in English, such as, "As we all know. .." are not permitted in academic writing in English.A reference must be given to the source of the information cited.

Structural Causes of Communication Breakdown
"Structural causes of miscommunication" here refers to the usual prob- lems that we as teachers tend to focus on -grammatical errors such as verb lorms, marking of pluraiity, use of articies, etc., as well as pronunciation problems, especially confusing sounds.Annoying as these may be, they are actually infrequently the cause of true miscommunication.
If I had to choose the one structural problem which I believe most fre- quently results in misunderstanding, I'd probably say that it's stress place- rrrent.Why do I say this?The placement of what phoneticians call tonic ,r/ress indicates that the lexical item containing this stress is the most impor- tant bit of new information in the sentence.However, one frequently hears rrntrained speakers or people reading a text on an unfamiliar topic placing (he stress on "old" information.The effect of this in speech is to throw the listener off, as he or she tries to identify something new about this item, and ls a result, misses the next part of the utterance. Placement of stress on the wrong syllable of a word can also result in rrrisunderstanding as the listener tries to think of a word with the stress pattcrn heard that might have been intended.Some documented examples of tlris are talking to themselves heard as talking to damsels (because stress was lrlaced on the first rather than second syllable of the word), and He's very tttoture heard as He's very macho (again, because stress was placed on the ljrst rather than second syllable of the word).

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS STUDENTS NEED TO REDUCE OR AVOID COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN AND CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES THAT CAN DEVELOP THE NEEDED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Cultural Causes of Communication Breakdown when learning a new ianguage, especiaily if the student is planning to interact with other people who use it a; a first or dominant language, it is important to be aware of attitudes and values of those people that might dif_ fer from one's own in order to avoid communication breaidown and possi- bly misunderstandings.one of the roles of a teacher is to provide this knowl_ edge, where relevant, perhaps through "pre-teaching', activities at the begin- ning of a relevant lesson.
Sometimes cultural concepts and semantic categories can best be taught a1 Rart of vocabulary.The examples given earlier oi cross-curturar commu- nication problems were all associated with vocabulary itemsboth the ones related to values (busybody, nosy) and the ones rerating to a crassification system (hair, fur, fea,thers).The teaching of such uo.ufr,lury,though, must make the meaning clear.Translation cle=arly would not *o.[.For the first two concepts, a film clip, cartoon, or anecdote involving busy-bodies behav- ing in an obviously offensive manner might get the idea across.Here is an example of an anecdote about Dante, a r3rh century Itarian poet, taken from a website that contains a collection of anecdotes:

Busybody
Dante was once so deeply immersed in meditation during a church service that he negrected to kneel during the hory sacramlnt.-whenhis enemies hastened-to the bishop to ciimand that he be punisheci, Dante was summoned to explain himself.
"If,'' he wryly observed, "those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God, as I did, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and most certainly wourd not have noticed what I was doing." Alighieri, Dante (1265-r3zr) Itarian poet, reader of the Itarian rirerary renaissance [noted for such works as The )ivine comedy-his visionary pro- "But let none ofyou suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or lrs a busybody in other men's matters." King James' Version of the Bible: I Peter 4: l5 For the classification of external growth on the body, mentioned in the second exanrple above, pictures might be used together with a chart (Figure For all of these potential problems, the best solution is to expose stu- (lents to a large variety of texts and spend much more time on understanding tlre organisation, structure and purpose of the texts than on analyzing minute grammatical features in isolation.Derewianka (1990) describes a procedure lbr teaching reading and writing of varicus text types in context.She calls tlris the curriculum cycle.It is represented by a diagram (Figure 2)..lllrrilding knowledge of the field: the class goes to the library or explores rlrc internet or takes a field trip to get information on the topic they will write about l. .lointconstruction: students suggest ideas and the teacher shapes them irrto appropriate language, writing on a board or a computer projected on a screen so children can observe the process 4. Building knowledge of a similar field: students go to the library or search the internet or the class may take another field trip to build up tnowledge of a similar field 5. Independent construction: students draft, peer or teacher conference, and revise 6. Students edit and publish their finished piece of writing.
In a second language context, students might need to spend more time on step (1) especially, perhaps looking at more than one sample.It is also possible to include an intermediate series of steps betwein joint and independent construction, in which children produce a piece of *iiting a, u group'work project.
Another type of activity that can help students master the composition of texts in a foreign language is similar in some ways to translation.Though translation of words is potentially dangerous, comparing equivalent texts in two languages can be a worthwhile activity.students can-work in groups and discover similarities and differences in the way the two texts are con- structed.This will make them conscious of the differences between the pat- terns for constructing a particular type of text in the two languages and will ultimateiy help them to write better in both languages.
Another factor to consider is balancing activities focusing on input with activities requiring output.probably nobody who has had exferience teach- ing English as a second or foreign language would question (rashen,s input hypothesis (1981,1985), or Swain's stress on the importance of giving opportunities to produce output (1985).However, how much of each and yhgn are important questions to consider.Input crearly has to come first and it should be in adequate quantity for students not only to .,get the gist,' but to P o e dj o s oedarmo, C ro s s -C ultural C o m municat io n 39 should be in adequate quantity for students not only to "get the gist" but to l'uliy understand how the texts are organised to convey the message.If out- put is then required of them in the same genre on a similar topic, they will have the framework to produce a coherent text.Requiring students to pro- duce output before this point is bound to result in their looking up words in dictionaries and stringing them together in very un-English patterns.

Structural Causes of Communication Breakdown
As mentioned earlier, structural problems are perhaps the least fre- tlLrently responsible for serious communication breakCown, though pronun- ciation problems can sometimes cause confusion, especially, though one rrray not expect it to be importantwhen sentence stress placement is inap- propriate.
Activities to raise awareness and practice using appropriate stress lrlacement (as well as other pronunciation features) can include letting stu- ricrrts discover patterns by listening to examples in context and repeating tlrcrn.From this, they can try to discover "rules" for stress placement.This r';rrr b€ followed by choral readings of farniliar stories or other texts to prac- tise the same patterns.Examples and activities of this sort are found in poed- t( )soedarmo (2003).
(.ONCLUDING NOTES l,anguage, ofcourse, changes over time, and contact between languages ,rrrrl varieties is one reason for these changes.As English is increasingly .rtl.ptcd as a second language in more and more parts oithe world, as it bei rrnrcs the medium of instruction in schools in increasingly more locations r rr.ls.ls1 example, the recent decision in Malaysia to return to using English l.r irrstruction in science and mathematics), yet more local varieties are l,('un(l to arise.As this happens the question of "which model to teach?" be- , r'rrrc:l increasingly complex. Jenkins (2000), has argued that aiming for a "native speaker" variety is unrealistic and, anyway, probably more communication in English these days takes place between non-native speakers than between a non-native and native speaker.Therefore, she says, in teaching or learning English, we should aim for "international intelligibility" rather than for the accent of a particular English-speaking country or region.
In line with this suggestion, the Ministry of Education in Singapore, which in previous decades had advocated teaching British Rp pronunciation, states in the 2001 English Language Syllabus only that the English of stu- dents should be "internationally intelligible".Similarry, while the media in singapore had previously advocated British Rp accents for their announcers, one now finds that news readers seem to appear in pairs of one woman with a British-iike accent and one man with an American-like accent.In adver- tisements on Singapore radio stations, one also increasingly hears Australian accents.
But pronunciation, as we've said, is probabry not the most likely factor to cause serious communication breakdowns.More frequently the problem has to do with cultural constraints on what one should say or do, or on pat- tems for organizing ideas in a text with a given purpose.will these features of language also blend and merge as cross-national and cross-cultural inter- action increases?_ Perhaps Singapore, being a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society with English as the medium of communication in schools, cun iep."srnt a sort of window into the future in this respect.we do indeed find that the English of Singaporeans includes very few examples of things that speakers of English in other places do not also say.spoken and writien texts created by Si-nga- poreans in English seem almost never to deviate so far from standard p-at- terns of discourse organisation in other praces, that they cannot be inter- preteci.
on the flip side, though, one hears an increasing number of young Sin- gaporeans confessing that they cannot speak their o,mother tongue',.Is sin- gapore becoming a monolingual English-speaking society?Thisls surely not something that is wanted by other countries in thregion, especially Indone- sia, with so many languages and cultures having ru.h long ancl ,ich histories, P oedj osoedarmo, C ro s s-Cuhura I C o mmun ic a t b n,N I In conclusion then, cross-cultural communication should remain cro,\.\-cultural.The teaching of English should include developing another cultur.alperspective but never replacing one's own.Children should leam how Eng- lish-speaking people think and organise ideas so that they can communicatc effectively with people from other places.However, at the same time they should preserve a firm control ofindigenous patterns fbr organising texts in their own languages.And it is up to us as teachers to see that this happens.

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oedj o s oedormo, C r o s s -Cu ltura I C ommunica t ion 3 I

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oe dj o s oe da rmo, C ros s-C ul tural C ommun ica t ion 35 gress through Hell and Purgatory (escor-ted by Virgil) and paradise (guided by his love, Beatrice) -(completed l32l) and La vita nuova (c.1292), as ivell as his critical treatises on Italian as a literary language] [Sources: C. Speroni, Wit and Wisdom of the ltalian Renaissance] (http ://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?ai d:9966 ; Sometimes a quotation that clearly gives the context can help students rrnderstand the meaning: Figure l.Pictures and a Chart l,lil,lN .lrturtutl,lltlutne XVl, Number l, Februarv 2005 l lrr.nrrrrrlrt.r'srcpresent the following steps: I M.rlcllirrg the genre: in this phase the teacher introduces an example of a re xr irr thc genre the children will learn to write and the children analyse it rvitlr thc help of the teacher. in Classijication and Features of Particular Text Types For English, different writers have proposed somewhat different classifications of text types or genres (a classification based on communicative purpose of the text).The classification adopted by the Singapore Ministry of Education in the 2001 Syllabus, which is parallel in many respects to the one that has been in use in Australian schools for more than a decade, recognises Textual Causes of Communication Breakdown We will now look at textualcauses of communication breakdown.This includes features of discourse structure.which mav include: o differences in classification and features ofpuni"utu, text types, .pattems of organization of ideas in texts with a given purpose, .constraints on what is implied, what must be made explicit, and what is redundant.Let's look at some examples.Dffirences