Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Intercultural Communicative Competence in German: A Conversation Analytic Approach

Uskokovic, Budimka
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1649955308855867

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Germanic Languages and Literatures.
This qualitative dissertation focuses on intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in a video-mediated environment, as ICC is considered to be one of the most vital skills language learners need to have in the 21st century to successfully communicate and interact with their interlocutors. More specifically, the aim of my dissertation research is to empirically examine how intercultural communicative competence is organized in and through the actual course of the interaction and how intercultural moments – moments during which cultural differences between people become exposed – evolve. Put differently, this dissertation examines how low intermediate German language speakers display their ICC in real-time interactions with L1 speakers of German, how they test their cultural assumptions and co-construct cultural knowledge. In addition to examining L2 learners’ and L1 speakers’ conversational practices and their demonstration of understanding and view of each other’s cultural similarities and differences, this dissertation illustrates how L2 speakers perceive such moments in their reflections. For this study, modules based on previous research (Byram, 1997; Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013) that provide occasions for intercultural moments were created. These intercultural modules consist of instructional stages including preparing students for a recorded video-mediated conversation with L1 speakers of German that involve inquiring about their firsthand experience with a variety of cultural products, practices, and perspectives and a follow-up self-reflection on their experience and shift in cultural knowledge and perspectives. By employing the methodological framework of conversation analysis (CA), which helps us scrutinize how participants demonstrate their understanding of coparticipants’ language use and their cultural and sociocultural background in interactions, the type, position, the outcomes of questions L2 speakers pose, and their assumptions of cultural practices are analyzed and a variety of strategies L2 speakers use while interacting with native speakers to overcome linguistic and cultural obstacles in real time conversations is analyzed. The findings of this dissertation research show that question format depends on L2 speakers’ cultural knowledge, interest in the target culture, linguistic repertoire, and interactional competence, that L1 speakers do not position L2 speakers as less knowledgeable upfront, that in order to have a better understanding of the development of L2 speakers’ ICC, CA-informed transcripts need to be included, and that interculturality is constituted in and through the actual course of the interaction making cultural identities relevant. In doing so, a new approach to teaching intercultural competence where interaction lies at the core of L2 speakers’ skills and propose IC modules for more effective and meaningful engagement with cultural facts is developed. At the same time, a new self-assessment approach is proposed, which will help L2 speakers prepare for subsequent intercultural encounters. Thus, this dissertation contributes not only to the field of ICC but also to the field of SLA, as the findings help teachers and language educators better understand L2 speakers’ linguistic abilities and achievements at the low intermediate level and how they can linguistically and culturally prepare their students for such more meaningful and effective intercultural encounters.
Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm (Advisor)
Matthew Birkhold (Committee Member)
Leslie Moore (Committee Member)
Ludmila Isurin (Committee Member)
318 p.
Conservation; Foreign Language; Language; Linguistics; Modern Language; Multicultural Education; Multilingual Education; Teacher Education; Teaching
conversation analysis, German, talk-in-interaction, intercultural communicative competence, second language acquisition

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Uskokovic, B. (2022). Intercultural Communicative Competence in German: A Conversation Analytic Approach [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1649955308855867

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Uskokovic, Budimka. Intercultural Communicative Competence in German: A Conversation Analytic Approach . 2022. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1649955308855867.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Uskokovic, Budimka. "Intercultural Communicative Competence in German: A Conversation Analytic Approach ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1649955308855867

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1649955308855867
112
© 2022, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.