Transcript How is Context in Text?

Lecture 6
Context and Culture
Applied Linguistics
English Department
FKIP – Sriwijaya University
2014
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Context of Culture
Context of Situation
Genre and Register Theory in
Practice
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Context of Culture
(Register + purpose)
Context of Situation
(Register)
Metafunctions
(Lexico-Grammar)
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Con-text
How is Context in Text?
Context of Culture (genre) is in text
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Texts have texture
► Sequential
Implication
► Grammatically
coherent
► Situational coherence
(texture)
► Generic coherence
(Structure)
► Cohesion (Semantic
tie. Eg. Lexical Chains)
► Referential cohesion
Text
+ texture
- texture
Emergent
text
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Recess Text
Freewrite
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Texture
“We do not ordinarily meet with language that is
not textured. What we call ‘non-sense’ is
something we disagree with; but it is perfectly
adequate as discourse…People go to great
lengths to interpret as text anything that is said
or written, and are ready to assume any kind of
displacement – some error in production, or in
their own understanding- rather than admit that
they are faced with a non-text…this is an
unconscious process; we are not aware of
making such adjustments when we listen or
read.”
MAK Halliday (An introduction to Functional
Grammar 1994 p.334)
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What Happened
to Recess?
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Statement of
Problem and
Position
Evidence of
Problem
Restatement
of problem
Restatement
of Position
…In the name of standards, of making sure young children
acquire what are billed as ‘skills for the global economy’
schoolchildren across the country have no playtime. Atlanta
made front-page headlines by building an elementary school
with no playground. In 1998, a front-page story in the New
York Times featured a picture of an appealing little
kindergartner in Atlanta, Toya Gray, who confided to the
reporter that she’d like to “sit on the grass and look for
ladybugs.”
…The times zeroed in on the fact that in the name of standards
and excellence, Toya’s school, a new structure, was built very
deliberately-without a playground…The then Atlanta
superintendent of schools, Benjamin O. Canada, explained the
policy, “We are intent on improving academic performance. You
don’t do that by having kids hanging on the monkey bars.”
…From Chicago to Virginia, school districts have abolished
recess. And even in districts where recess is still on the books,
increasingly, children who score poorly on standarized tests are
forced to forgo the play break…Ironically, as plenty of experts
will testify, by taking away children’s free time, schools are
making it more difficult for them to pay attention.
P. 2
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Con-text
How is Context in Text?
Context of Situation (Register) is in Text
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Exercise
►
Write a small excerpt:
Situation:
Two small children are in the playground
talking about toys.
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How do these texts create meaning?
This vehicle is driven by a
Courteous
Professional
Driver
(White color background)
How am I driving?
Should you agree
Please contact
8888888888
(Blue color background)
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Language in Social
Context
Social activity
Dear ______
We want to have recess but we need to
ask youDiscourse
first. Students learn better when
they have a break. If you want us to learn
better, then please consider giving us a
break. We have very little time to talk to
Our friends.
When we had recess Grammar
earlier in the
Spring we only went outside for 10
Minutes. When we came back in and got
Straight to work. We’ve really
bored since we can no go
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Register: Variation According to Use
Genre
field
tenor
mode
Field
(presenting
ideas, the
world)
Experiential
Ideational choices
·
Noun phrases nominal groups
(participants)
·
Verbs (material, behavioral, mental,
verbal, relational processes) S. p. 53
·
Prepositional phrases, adverbial
adjuncts, and other resources for expressing
time, place, manner (circumstance)
·
Use of conjunctions, pronouns etc. for
making logical relationships.
Mode
(language/
structuring the
text)
Textual
Textual choices
·
Cohesive
devices (conjunctions,
connectors, etc.)
·
Clausecombining strategies
·
Thematic
organization
Tenor
(taking a
stance/expressi
ng speakers’
relationships)
Interpersonal
Interpersonal choices
·
Mood (statements,
questions, demands)
·
Modality (modal verbs,
and adverbs)
·
Intonation
·
Other resources for
evaluative and attitudinal
meaning (appraisal, humor, etc.)
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Field
 the writer's/speaker relationship to the
subject matter.
Common sense/everyday
Technical/specialized
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TENOR
 the relationship between the writer and the
reader.
equal
Power
frequent
Contact
high
Affective Involvement
unequal
occasional
low
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Mode
 the means of communication; the kind
of text that is being made..
Casual
Conversation
Visual contact
Aural
feedback
telephone
e-mail
fax
radio
Novel
Visual contact
Aural
feedback
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Context of Situation always occurs
within the context of Culture
Text 1 (Letter)
Field: Finals of the Soccer World Cup
Tenor: Friend to friend
Mode: Written to be read
►
Text 2 (Conversation)
Field: Finals of the Soccer World Cup
Tenor: Friend to friend
Mode: interactive telephone conversation
►
Text 3 (Newspaper Article)
Field: Finals of the Soccer World Cup
Tenor: Specialist to general audience
Mode: Written to be read
►
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As we could see. . .
► Texts
vary in a number of ways according to
their social purpose (genre) and their
situation (style). The genre determines the
structure of the text, whereas register
determine the style, language patterns and
vocabulary used within the text.
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To Conclude
► Context is in text
► Knowledge of context
(culture and situation) tells
us significant information about how language will
be used. Analysis of the grammar in a text, will
tell us about the context.
► This reciprocal illumination of context and text
allows language educators to target their teaching
specifically to the particular needs of students by
analyzing the context of situation relevant to the
student’s needs, goals, and rights. In this way,
teaching language can become a true ‘evidencebased instruction’ as interventions respond to
specific students, in specific sociopolitical settings
and not to generic interpretations of mandated,
prescripted curricula.
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Dr. Edward Hall
► Anthropologist
and cross-cultural researcher
► Distinguished cultures on the basis of the
role of context in communication
► Context: the whole situation, background, or
environment connected to an event, a
situation, or an individual.
► “It was taken out of context”: without the
words or circumstances and so not fully
understandable.
Contexts: High and Low
Low-Context
High-Context
Information and meaning Individual “internalizes”
are explicitly stated in the meaning and information,
message
so that less is explicitly
stated
Values Individualism
Values Group Sense
Values direct verbal
interaction and is less
able to read nonverbal
expressions
Values indirect verbal
interaction and is more
able to read nonverbal
expressions
Contexts: High and Low
Low-Context
Tends to use “logic” to
present ideas
High-Context
Tends to use more
“feeling” in expressions
Tends to emphasize
Tends to give simple,
highly structured
ambiguous,
messages, give details,
noncontexting messages
and place great stress on
words
Emphasizes linear logic
Emphasizes spiral logic
Low-Context Ideas
a low-context culture, Hall argues, “Most
of the information must be in the
transmitted message in order to make up
for what is missing in the context.”
► In
► To
members of a low-context culture,
speakers in a high-context culture seem to
talk around a subject and never get to the
point.
Clash or Low and High in The
Joy Luck Club
► Mothers expect daughters to learn from and obey their
elders (as they did).
► Mothers do not feel they need to “explain.”
► Mother’s fears, warnings, instructions or examples are not
fully supported by the context of American culture, and so
the daughters have difficulty understanding.
► Daughters feel they do not understand their mothers
because information is omitted; mothers think information
can be inferred and does not need explanation.
Understand Cultural Differences
► Cultural
differences have huge impacts in
the business world
 International business dealings
 Working locally with an international work force
► Culture
profoundly affects how people
communicate
 And communication is the basis of all business activities
► The
Silent Language
 Culture is often outside of people’s conscious awareness
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What is Culture?
► How
does it impact business activities?
► How can cultural differences hamper
international business?
► How can an understanding of cultural
differences improve international business?
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What is Culture?
►A
lens – a frame of reference
 Through which we view and interpret human
interaction
► 90%
of communication is nonverbal
 Nonverbal communication is heavily culturally
influenced
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Key Concepts
► Speed:
fast and slow messages
► Context
► Space
► Time
► Information Flow
► Interfacing
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Fast and slow messages
► How
quickly is the meaning of a message
understood?
 Art is slow; a cartoon is fast
 Television is faster than print
► Messages
are sent and received at different
speeds depending upon culture
► People are messages
 How long does it take to “know” a person?
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Context
► How
much of the relevant information is in
the message, and how much is already
understood by sender and receiver?
► High context situations
 a message can contain lots of meaning without
much information content
► Low
context situations
 The message must contain all relevant
information
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Space
► Territoriality
 What space and how much of it is “mine”?
 Size and location of an office
► Personal
space
 How close is too close?
 This is very culturally dependent
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Time
► How
people view time is very culturally
dependent
► Monochromatic vs. polychromatic
 How many things are done at once?
►One
thing: monochromatic
►Many: polychromatic
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Time
► Polychronic
cultures
 Lots of information is present
 Very tolerant of interruptions
 Very fluid and flexible
► Monochronic
cultures
 Compartmentalized
 Schedules and agendas very important
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Time: Orientation to Past, Present
and Future
► Cultures
differ in the importance they place
on past, present and future
 For example: in some cultures, current
proposals must be positioned in terms of their
historical relationships
► Respect
given to age and seniority is also
relevant here
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Time as Communication
► Time-related
behavior “says” a lot
 But it’s all different by culture
► Examples




of time as communication
How far ahead are appointments scheduled?
How much importance is placed on a schedule?
How is waiting time interpreted?
What does setting end dates imply?
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Time as Communication
► Other
cultures
 Schedule and agendas are viewed as goals, not
binding
 Promptness is not as important as completing a
human interaction
►As
a result, interruptions will delay appointments
 Forcing someone to wait is not intended as an
insult
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Information Flow
How fast does information make its way through an
organization?
► In highly networked, high context cultures
 Very fast
 Information is not “hoarded”
► In other cultures
 Information flow is slow because communication is
more compartmentalized
► Email is changing this, but…
 Email is a low-information-content medium
►
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Context
► Low
context cultures
 US and Canadian
 Northern European
► High
context cultures
 Mediterranean (Arab, Greek, Southern
European)
 Japanese
 African
 Latin American
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Space
► Territoriality
 What space and how much of it is “mine”?
 Size and location of an office
► US:
Executives have large, isolated spaces
► Japan: Executives often don’t have private offices
► Personal
space
 How close is too close?
 This is very culturally dependent
 North American, North European
► Don’t
get too close!
 Mediterranean, Latin, African: close
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Time
► How
do monochromatics view
polychronicism?




Chaotic
Noisy
Inefficient (is anything getting done?
Creates anxiety
► How
do polychromatics view
monochronicism?
 Slow, sterile, boring, uncreative
 Creates frustrations
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Time: Orientation to Past, Present
and Future
► Cultures
differ in the importance they place
on past, present and future
► US culture is very present and near-future
oriented
► In some cultures (German, French)
historical context is very important
► Some Asian, Arab cultures are very pastoriented
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Time as Communication
► Highly




scheduled cultures
North America, Northern European
Lots of importance placed on punctuality
Time communicates importance
Poor schedule adherence
►Interpreted
as arrogance or incompetence
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Interfacing
► What
happens when different cultures
meet?
► Least difficult interfacing
 Low context to low context
 Germans and Americans
 Canadians and Scandinavians
► Most
difficulty
 High context to low context
 High context to high context
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So What Do You Do?
► Don’t
judge culture
 No culture is more or less valuable or efficient
than any other
► Understand
your own cultural framework
► Be interested – study – the cultures you
work with
► Move slowly and softly
 Ask, listen, observe
► Be
brave and have fun!
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Any Questions?
If not, End of Lecture
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