大学思辨英语教程精读教师用书

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Unit overview

Both

Units

1

and

2

mention

a

key

word

“communication”.

As

Thomas

Payne points out in Text B of Unit 2, most of us, linguists or non-

linguists,

have

the

common-

sense

notion

that

“the

main

purpose

of

human

language

is

communication

”.

Thus

to

develop

a

deeper

understanding of the nature and function of language, we need to take

a close at human communication. This unit examines this topic from a

cross-cultural

perspective,

illustrating

the

similarities

and

differences in verbal and non-verbal communication between different

cultures,

which

lays

a

foundation

for

further

exploration

into

the

interface between language and culture in the following units.

Text A

People in different communities demonstrate different perceptions and

rules

of

both

verbal

and

non- verbal

communication.

The

way

they

interact

is

culturally

relative

in

almost

every

aspect,

including

when

to

talk,

what

to

say,

pacing

and

pausing,

listenership,

intonation and prosody, formulaicity, indirectness, and coherence and

cohesion.

Text B

Some non-verbal behaviors are practically universal and have the same

meaning

wherever

you

are

(e.g.,

smiling

and

facial

expressions

of

anger,

surprise,

fear,

sadness,

and

so

on).

But

for

cultural

and

historical

reasons,

there

have

also

developed

great

differences

and

variations

in

such

aspects

as

eye

contact,

touch,

gestures,

and

territorial

space,

etc.

Without

an

awareness

of

respect

and

accommodation

for

people

from

a

different

background,

these

differences

are

likely

to

cause

misunderstandings

in

cross-cultural

communication.

The two texts supplement each other in that Text A illustrates cross-

cultural

differences

in

both

verbal

and

non-verbal

communication

while

Text

B

focuses

on

non- verbal

behaviors

and

addressesboth

differences and similarities.

Teaching objectives

This unit is designed to help students develop their reading skills,

communicative competence, critical thinking, intercultural reflection

and abilities of autonomous learning in the following aspects.

Reading skills:

Use context to understand a new word

Identify cohesive devices

Predict the content of an upcoming sentence/paragraph

Communicative competence:

Develop a coherent and cohesive oral/written discourse

Use topic sentences, supporting sentences and concluding sentences in

presentations/essays

Communicate constructively in team work

Critical thinking:

Evaluate

the

strengths

and

weaknesses

of

personal

experience

as

evidence in argumentation

Organize the arguments using an outline

Note

and

reflect

on

the

differences

between

academic

writing

and

everyday writing

Intercultural reflection

Identify

similarities

and

differences

in

non-verbal

communication

across cultures

Be

aware

of

multiple

levels

of

differences

on

which

cross-cultural

communication can falter

Interpret

communication

behaviors

from

cultural

and

historical

perspectives

Teaching strategies

Non-verbal

communication

and

cross-cultural

communication

are

both

interesting topics in linguistics. The teacher can introduce the two

texts

by

quoting

anecdotes

or

relating

to

students’

own

experiences

(question

5

in

Preparatory

work,

p.

59).

For

students

who

lack

experience of cross- cultural communication, the topic can

be led in

by discussions about inter-subcultural communication.

Text A is a research articlefrom an academic journaland its structure

and

writing

style

are

quite

clear.

It

is

recommended

to

draw

students’ attention to

the

author’s

logic (i.e., ways of arguing)

and use of evidence in class. If well-planned, all the questions in

Preparatory

Work

and

Critical

reading

can

be

dealt

with

in

some

detail

in

class.

The

teacher

can

follow

all

the

questions

in

Understanding the text

to check students’ comprehension of the text,

while

the

tasks

in

Evaluation

and

exploration

can

be

divided

and

assigned

to

groups.

For

example,

in

Making

an

outline

(p.

62),

the

teacher can divide

the students into three groups, each responsible

for one topic.

For classical works in intercultural communication, please refer to:

Hall, Edward T. (1955). The Anthropology of Manners.

Scientific

American

,192: 85-89.

Hall, Edward T. (1959).

The Silent Language

. New York: Doubleday.

For more updated information, please find the following journals:

Cross-

Cultural

Communication

published by Canadian Academy of

Oriental and Occidental Culture (CAOOC)

Across Languages and Cultures

published by

AkadémiaiKiadó

Language and Intercultural Communication

published byRoutledge

Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Preparatory work

(1)

Academic

interests:

gender

and

language,

interactional

sociolinguistics,

conversational

interaction,

cross-cultural

communication,

frames

theory,

conversational

vs.

literary

discourse, and new media discourse.

Main publications:

You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York:

Morrow, 1990.

That's Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks

Relationships. NY: William Morrow, 1986.

Gender and Discourse. NY & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Note: Outside the academic world Deborah Tannen is best known as the

author

of?a

number

of

books

on

the

New

York

Times

best

seller

and

she?is

also

a

frequent

guest

on

television

and

radio

news

and

information shows.

(2)

Edward

Sapir

(1884

–