Relações públicas e a mediação do diálogo intercultural na comunicação organizacional

The large flow of businesses going abroad generates an ever more diverse internal multicultural organizational scenario. Different national cultures inside an organization can directly influence the management of people. Human values, languages, customs, work modes/routines and different habits can create conflicts among parties. This study deals with the role of Public Relations as a tool/strategy to deal with conflicting intercultural communication inside business organizations. The analysis is grounded on theoretical principles concerning the roles of communication professionals as the individuals responsible for the relationship between an institution and the internal public. The study introduces intercultural communication as a growing area to be explored by the Public Relations professional and highlights the possibility of emerging innovative solutions for organizational problems. It also brings reports by professionals that have intercultural experience concerning Brazil and Germany in an attempt to illustrate conflicts that might have been prevented by actions taken by a specialist in Communication in order to promote mutual understanding

La competencia comunicativa intercultural en el aula de español de los negocios: análisis de materiales para su enseñanza

RESUMEN La adquisición de la competencia comunicativa intercultural en la enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras (LE) y/o Lenguas para Fines Específicos (LFE) debe ser un proceso de aprendizaje consciente y explícito cuyo fin es la transmisión de conocimientos teóricos, el desarrollo de habilidades comportamentales y de actitudes positivas a través del contacto con la/s cultura/s meta. Esta tesis tiene como objetivo general contribuir al desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa intercultural comercial del estudiante de español de los negocios (EN). Para ello se ha realizado un análisis de los manuales para su enseñanza. En concreto, hemos auditado los manuales de EN con el fin de conocer la metodología didáctica que emplean en la enseñanza de la competencia comunicativa intercultural comercial, tomando como marco de referencia el enfoque intercultural para la enseñanza de las Lenguas de los Negocios. Para alcanzar este fin se ha dividido la investigación en tres partes: 1) la revisión de los antecedentes sobre la enseñanza del componente intercultural y del análisis de materiales en los cursos de LFE; 2) la configuración de un constructo teórico que permitiera a la vez, seleccionar el objeto de estudio, diseñar el instrumento de análisis y disponer de un marco de referencia valorativo; 3) y la creación, pilotaje y aplicación del instrumento de análisis, y la auditoría de los datos. Los resultados muestran que, en líneas generales, predomina una visión tradicional de la cultura; un escaso tratamiento de la relación lengua-y-cultura; un seguimiento parcial de los principios pedagógicos para la adquisición de la competencia comunicativa intercultural; un tratamiento bajo de las habilidades interculturales específicas en las interacciones comerciales; y una cobertura parcial de las habilidades interculturales generales, las cuales se centran fundamentalmente en la adqusición de saberes teóricos. PALABRAS CLAVE: competencia comunicativa intercultural; comunicación intercultural comercial; español de los negocios; español para fines específicos; auditoria de manuales didácticos. ABSTRACT The acquisition of intercultural communicative competence in Foreign Language (FL) and / or Languages for Specific Purposes teaching (LSP) must be a conscious and explicit learning to develop knowledge, skills and positive attitudes through contact with the target culture/s. The overall objective of this thesis is to assist the development of the intercultural communicative competence of the student of Spanish for Business (SB) through the audit of the teaching textbooks published in the last decade through a multidisciplinary approach to teaching LSP. The audit was carried out in order to ascertain the underlying approach and course design for the development of the intercultural communicative competence; to state the methodological approach to culture, language-and-culture relationship, culture teaching, culture acquisition and course design. To achieve this objective, the work has been divided into four parts: 1) review of the background on teaching the intercultural component and the analysis of materials in a courses of LSP through a multidisciplinary approach, 2) configuration of a theoretical construct allowing to select the object of study, to design the analytical instrument and to have an evaluative framework, together with the selection of a corpus of Spanish for Business textbooks, 3) development of the analytical instrument and 4) application of the analytical instrument and audit of selected textbooks. The results show that, in the textbooks analyzed, dominated a traditional view of culture, a low ratio treatment of the language-and-culture relationship, a partial implementation of the pedagogical principles for the acquisition of intercultural communicative competence; poor treatment of specific intercultural skills in business interactions, and partial coverage of the general cultural skills, which focus primarily on the acquisition of theoretical knowledge. KEY WORDS: Intercultural communicative competence; Intercultural communicative competence; Spanish for Business; Spanish for Specific Purposes; Textbook audit

Strengthening communication skills in an innovative context of engineering project management learning

This document presents an innovative, formal educational initiative that is aimed at enhancing the development of engineering students’ specific competences when studying Project Management (PM) subject. The framework of the experience combines (1) theoretical concepts, (2) the development of a real-case project carried out by multidisciplinary groups of three different universities, (3) the use of software web 2.0 tools and (4) group and individual assignments of students that play different roles (project managers and team members). Under this scenario, the study focuses on monitoring the communication competence in the ever growing PM virtual environment. Factors such as corporal language, technical means, stage, and PM specific vocabulary among others have been considered in order to assess the students’ performance on this issue. As a main contribution, the paper introduces an ad-hoc rubric that, based on previous investigations, has been adapted and tested for the first time to this new and specific context. Additionally, the research conducted has provided some interesting findings that suggest further actions to improve and better define future rubrics, oriented to communication or even other competences. As specific PM subject concerns, it has been detected that students playing the role of Project Managers strengthen their competences more than those ones that play the role of Team Members. It has also been detected that students have more difficulty assimilating concepts related to risk and quality management. However those concepts related with scope, time or cost areas of knowledge have been better assimilated by the students.

Embracing english as a lingua franca : learning from portuguese users of english in higher education

Tese de doutoramento, Linguística (Linguística Aplicada), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2016

The idea of the hybrid texts and translation:contact as conflict

Intercultural communication in the global environment frequently involves recourse to translation. This generates new phenomena which, in turn, raise new questions for translation theory and practice. This issue is concerned with the concept of the hybrid text as one of these phenomena. In this introductory chapter, a hybrid text is defined as: „a text that results from a translation process. It shows features that somehow seem ‘out of place'/‘strange'/‘unusual' for the receiving culture, i.e. the target culture”. It is important, however, to differentiate between the true hybrid, which is the result of positive authorial and/or translatorial decisions, and the inadequate text which exhibits features of translationese, resulting from a lack of competence. Textual, contextual and social features of hybrid texts are postulated (see discussion paper). These are the object of critical reflection in sub-sequent chapters, in relation to different genres. The potential of the hybrid text for translation research is explored.

A intercompreensão em Línguas Românicas nas aulas de Espanhol: o que querem e o que podem essas línguas?

The official documents that guide the teaching and learning process of a Foreign Language in Brazil, Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais de Língua Estrangeira, suggest a linguistic and intercultural communication as the main objective of teaching a foreign language inorderto contribute withareflexive formation of the students.Toachieve this goal, a Virtual Interchange was realized connecting distant places like Córdoba, in Argentina, and Natal in Brazil, between High School students through Moodle platform and Facebook. The Interchange is based in the Intercomprehension in Romance Languages(IC) guidelines, inthiscase between Portuguese and Spanish, according to which every student speaks their own language and makes an effort to comprehend the others througha collaborative process thatgo es beyond the limits of mere linguistic objectives and favors the students’ reality acceptance before the diversity. This qualitative study with thno graphic characteristic stries to know whe ther differentiate projects can increase students’ interest to learn the target language. It was also set as an aim of this study to develop the intercultural competence of our students and foster the respect for different cultures. In the case of Argentinian and Brazilian students, wetried to promote reflection about social representation trying to destroy stereotypes between both groups. As methodological resources, we used interviews, questionnaires and intercomprehension activities during the Project, as well as a participant observation of the interactions betweenthe students of both countries.Webe lieve tobe contributing towards the integral formation ofth student asacriticalcitizenthatthinksa bouttheir posture before the world, which is one of the formal education aims according to Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Our theoretical foundation is based on Intercomprehension in Romance Languages (IC) as a plurilingualism didactics, (JAMET AND SPIŢĂ 2010; ARAÚJO AND SÁ et al., 2003; CAPUCHO, 2010; ANDRADE etal.,2003), some the oriesaboutinter culturalisman didentity(Vallespir, 1999;DUARTE&SANCHES,2004; REVUZ,1998;SILVA,2000;CHAUÍ2006; SERRANI-INFANTE 1998), motivation and second language learning (DECI & RYAN, 1985; DÖRNYEI AND OTTÓ, 1998; DÖRNYEI, 2000, 2001; 2011) and Significant Learning Theory (AUSUBEL, 1968). The results show an increase of students’ motivation when in contact with the target language through dynamic activities in an IC context. Moreover, we noticed that a deeper thinking aboutthe Argentinian culture helped to deconstruct previous cultural representation.

European student mobility and intercultural learning at a portuguese university

The purpose of this study is to understand, impact and evaluate the development of intercultural communicative competencies among European credit-seeking exchange students and other sojourners through purposeful intercultural pedagogy. This pedagogy encompasses intentional intercultural- educational approaches which aim to support and enhance sojourners’ intercultural learning throughout the study abroad cycle (pre-departure, in-country and reentry phases). To test and validate these pedagogies a 20-hour intervention was designed and implemented among two cohorts of 31 sojourners during the in-country phase of their sojourn in Portugal. The process to develop and validate the intercultural intervention was driven by a mixed-methods methodology which combined quantitative and qualitative data to triangulate, complement and expand research results from a pragmatic stance. The mixed methods research design adopted is multi-phased and encompasses a multi-case study and an evaluative component. The multi-case component is embodied by sojourner cohorts: (1) the primary case study involves 19 incoming students at the University of Aveiro (Portugal) as participants in the European exchange program Campus Europae; (2) the second case study comprises three incoming Erasmus students and nine highly skilled immigrants at the same university. All 31 sojourners attended two intermediate Portuguese as Foreign Language classrooms where the intervention was employed. Data collection was extensive and involved collecting, analyzing and mixing quantitative and qualitative strands across four research phases. These phases refer to the: (1) development, (2) implementation and (3) evaluation of the intervention, as well as to (4) a stakeholder analysis of the external value of the intervention and of the Campus Europae program. Data collection instruments included pre and posttest questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Results confirm the intercultural effectiveness of the intervention and the positive impact upon research participants’ intercultural gains. This impact was, however, greater in case study 2. Among explanatory variables, three stand out: (1) participant meaning-making abilities, (2) host language proficiency and related variables, and (3) type of sojourn or exchange programs. Implications for further research highlight the need to systematize purposeful intercultural pedagogy in sojourner populations in general, and in European credit student mobility in particular. In the latter case, these pedagogies should be part of the design and delivery of credit-bearing exchange programs in pre- departure, in-country and re-entry phases. Implications for practice point to the urge to improve intercultural practices in: macro (higher education institutions), mezzo (exchange programs) and micro (sojourner language classrooms) contexts where this research took place, and wider social scenarios they represent.

OVERCOMING INTERCULTURAL CHALLENGES IN INTERPRETING: A CASE STUDY ON CHINESE-ENGLISH CONFERENCE INTERPRETING

This exploratory case study examines the role of culture in Chinese-English conference interpreting. Given that there has been a lack of empirical research in understanding the role of culture in conference interpreting through the lens of intercultural communication frameworks, we know relatively little about conference interpreters’ experiences with intercultural communication challenges. This project helps address this research gap by investigating the types of intercultural communication challenges that Chinese-English conference interpreters experience and their strategies in managing those challenges. This study hears the voices of both professionals and postgraduate interpreting students. A total number of 27 participants were recruited for this research. Twenty professional conference interpreter were interviewed and seven interpreting students were organized for a focus group discussion. Grounded theory was used to analyze the participants’ observations and strategies in managing intercultural communication challenges when doing Chinese-English conference interpreting. The data analysis process led to the emergence of two procedural guidelines and one process – Interpreters’ Intercultural Mediation Process. The two procedural guidelines offer guidance for the interpreters to provide the most appropriate and effective service: meet with the clients beforehand and be prepared to offer intercultural insights when consulted. Interpreters are found to follow the Interpreters’ Intercultural Mediation Process to decide when and how to mediate intercultural communication challenges at work. This Process includes four criteria, seven intercultural challenges, and seven coping strategies. This study offers theoretical and applied contributions to our understanding of the role of culture in interpreting. By jointly applying frameworks from intercultural communication and interpreting studies to examine the conference interpreting process, this case study makes great efforts to connect the field of intercultural communication with the field of interpreting studies. This study identifies the types of intercultural differences that would lead to challenges in Chinese-English conference interpreting. It also contributes to the call for a cultural turn in interpreting studies. By learning the two procedural guidelines, conference interpreters can be better prepared for their work. By following the Interpreters’ Intercultural Mediation Process, conference interpreters can better anticipate and manage the intercultural challenges at work. This study also offers guidance on tailoring intercultural communication courses for postgraduate interpreting training programs.

A educação global e o diálogo intercultural em contexto de aprendizagem online : os cursos de educação global

A enorme interdependência entre os povos, que caracteriza o mundo contemporâneo, justifica a importância crucial da aquisição de competências de comunicação intercultural, uma vez que poderão ter um efeito catalisador na resolução de grandes questões globais. O desafio que é colocado à Educação, para colaborar na aquisição de tais competências, é de adaptação aos novos meios de comunicação globais e de reinvenção de novas metodologias e abordagens. Destacam-se neste campo a Educação Global, como um campo interdisciplinar que se concretiza num processo de aprendizagem transformativa, focando-se nas questões e desafios globais, e o Ensino Online, possuidor da capacidade de quebrar barreiras físicas e temporais e juntar num mesmo “espaço” pessoas dos mais variados pontos do planeta. Com o objetivo geral de analisar a importância dos contextos de formação online no desenvolvimento de competências interculturais, esta investigação propõe-se mostrar de que forma cursos online, oferecidos em contexto multicultural, na área de Educação Global, promovem o desenvolvimento de competências de comunicação intercultural. De entre os resultados da investigação destaca-se a aquisição moderada de uma maior consciência intercultural e de aptidões de comunicação intercultural, considerando-se como elementos fundamentais para a promoção de diálogos interculturais ao longo do curso o facto de a turma ser multicultural, a colaboração entre pares e algumas das ferramentas de comunicação existentes na plataforma onde decorreu a formação.

El discurso político en el contexto multicultural de las instituciones de la Unión Europea. El discurso político en español y en polaco

The comparative analysis of Polish and Spanish political discourse in the multilingual context of European institutions is challenging not only due to linguistic, cultural, geopolitical and social differences, but also because of a relatively short history of such contacts in the EU framework. Intercultural communication, as a dynamic social practice is a fascinating object of investigation. Bidirectional comparative analysis of Polish and Spanish oral texts allows define the barriers of such communication. It encompasses the discursive act together with its objectives, strategies and consequences, and also its raison d’être. It explains why different strategies reflected through discursive categories were used. Consequently it describes both, conditions and outcomes of identity negotiation. The latter is a political competence perceived and evaluated by the direct interlocutors, the participants of the political debate, and indirectly, by a public opinion of the European Union. That proves it is two-level communication. The negotiation of political identity through discourse, according to the Ting-Toomey theory, can lead to maintaining, loosing, recovering or reinforcing it282. The Identity Negotiation Theory includes the construction and development of personal, relational, role and desired identity and is one of the methodological axes of this investigation. Political identity consists of exhibiting necessary competences to efficiently participate in the legislation process, for example, in order to present amendments, promote a given ideology, participate in controversial discussions and manage conflicts, and, finally, gain the support of public opinion. The analysis of creation, negotiation, maintenance, recovery and promotion of the political identity is performed through the identification and description of discursive categories proposed by Van Dijk283 and adapted to the needs of this study. This is the second methodological axe of the investigation. The following questions arise: which discursive strategies, used by Polish and Spanish politicians, will be communication facilitators and which will be barriers hampering communication? Which strategies show political competencies of the speaker, his or her influence in the legal EU reality through discourse?...

Presentations in English : find your voice as a presenter

With estimates of more than thirty million given each day, presentations have become an integral part of modern society. They can signify the difference between gaining or losing a job, or being successful or unsuccessful at university and a future career. Presentations in English, combining a 128-page book and DVD, is an innovative and complete course aimed specifically at non-native speakers of English.

Revisiting Industrial Relations

In 1999 I convened Industrial Relations, the annual ADSA Conference hosted by QUT in Brisbane. This event was promoted as ‘a conference exploring the links between theatre scholarship and professional theatre practice’. As well as academics, there was to be substantial representation by ‘industry professionals’, although interest from the latter category turned out to be modest. One day of the conference was designated a special ‘Links with Industry’ day, during which the Association launched its now defunct ADSAIL (ADSA Industry Links) initiative. Keynote speaker Wesley Enoch commented on ‘the very strong resistance in “the industry” to acknowledging any role of academics’. ‘What is the practical role of having them?’ he asked the ‘them’ gathered before him. In a letter declining our invitation to speak (he later changed his mind), David Williamson remarked that he always felt ‘uneasy at such conferences’: My view of my work is that I’ve successfully filled theatres for 30 years now, something dramatists are supposed to do. I suppose there’s part of me that hopes this will be celebrated. It often is, but rarely in academic drama departments …. Perhaps in fifty years time someone in academe will realise that I wasn’t just reinforcing the attitudes of the Anglo Celtic ruling class. Several years on it seems timely to revisit Industrial Relations; to look again at the extent to which problems of intercultural communication between industry and academy are being addressed. And what are the implications of this for the ADSA History project, which seeks to investigate ADSA’s contribution to the development of theatre / performance studies in Australasia? What are the ‘external’ impacts of ADSA’s ongoing conference enterprise, and how might these be measured? Reflections from delegates on these and other questions will be warmly encouraged.

Murri Courts : Indigenous Magistrate Courts : communicating for better outcomes

In setting the scene for this paper, it is useful to briefly outline the history of the Queensland legal system. Our legal system was largely inherited from Britain, so it is, therefore, based in European-Western cultural and legal traditions. Alongside this, and over many thousands of years, Australian Indigenous communities devised their own socio-cultural-legal structures. As a result, when Indigenous people are drawn into interactions with our English-based law and court system, which is very different from Aboriginal law, they face particular disadvantages. Problems may include structural and linguistic differences, the complex language of the law and court processes, cultural differences, gender issues, problems of age, communication differences, the formalities of the courtroom, communication protocols used by judges, barristers, and court administrators, and particularly, the questioning techniques used by police and lawyers.

DIScoveringABILITIES : creating interactive performances over the Internet

This article presents a case study that shows how a creative music educator uses the internet to enable participatory performance.