Using miscommunication to discuss communication

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to delve into a cross-cultural communicative context. There is something uniquely human about the evolution of knowledge though communication. While this is seemingly a universal concept, our focus will move from what is universal about communication to what is distinctly unique about the way English and Spanish differ in similar contexts. What happens when there is a discursive clash between the languages?

The underlying theories will uncover some of the main ingredients to proper discourse. Grice’s cooperative principle will play a role as will the more cognitive roles regarding the relation between discourse and memory (Braddeley, 2007). Discourse analysts study larger chunks of language as they flow together (Tannen, 2012). So ultimately, this model will frame the relation between discourse and interaction in bilingual settings, such as diplomatic circles, international business, and bilingual university classrooms, to name a few.

The study aims to move beyond description to an action research methodology which is clearly grounded in practice and informed by theory. By presenting examples cross linguistically from several different contexts about how language is created in our imperfect, but highly functional bilingual brains, the discussion will challenge listeners to think not only about their message, but how that message is encoded and decoded. In the case of this demonstration, we hope to illustrate how many things we take for granted when communicating in a second language, in order to shed some light on how language shapes the way we communicate.

This approach has been used in several communicative strategy workshops given to non-linguists who wanted to anticipate their miscommunication in order to improve. Effective communication is putting an idea into someone else’s head, or conversely, it is each individual’s ability to capture an idea. In the globalized world today, this interactivity is key.