cross cultural mediation in elf migration contexts pedagogical implications on elt multilingual settings

ELF cross-cultural interactions and mediation processes in specialized migration settings are often characterized by 'gatekeeping' asymmetries between the participants involved challenging a successful meaning negotiation (Guido, 2008). The exploration of migration encounters (Sperti, 2017) is particularly useful in the analysis of naturally occurring dialogues among ELF users, since it shows how ELF speakers, engaged in intercultural interactions, appropriate the English language according to their own native linguacultural and paralinguistic schemata, and to specific pragmalinguistic purposes and processes. The multimodal investigation of the occurring hybridization processes is focused on (i) ELF redefinition of existing native paralinguistic correlates in the pragmalinguistic use of an ELF variation; and (ii) resulting L1 transfers affecting the performing of speech acts and the conversational composition and progress. The analysis reveals (a) the mediation of meaning, experience and intentionality in terms of resulting lexical, syntactical, and register performance; and (b) the role played by prosody and paralanguage in the mutual acceptance of speakers' intentions, attitudes, and cognitive schemata, in spoken specialized discourse related to medical and legal integration, mediated migration narratives, cross-cultural conceptual representations and reception of traumatic experience. The heuristic approach applied to the analysis of data derived from the exploration of real plurilingual cross-cultural exchanges is particularly useful in the promotion of the conscious use of cross-cutting strategies as powerful learning tools embedded in the language learning process, with the ultimate aim of (i) investigating the possible impact of migration on teacher education, (ii) defining an ELF-aware pedagogical framework in plurilingual educational settings, and (iii) enhancing the development of learners' skills in intercultural communication

INTRODUCING MEDIATION STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN PLURILINGUAL ACADEMIC CONTEXTS

In language teaching, especially in European multilingual and multicultural contexts, mediation has become an essential tool aimed at reducing the distance between two (or more) linguacultural dimensions. Mediation is a notion officially introduced by the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference (2001), and further developed in the current Companion Volume (2020), where mediation strategies and activities acquire a crucial role as a new form of managing the interaction in the language classroom as well as in daily communicative situations. Mediation is here presented as fundamental in cross-cultural communication and recommended as indispensable in plurilingual educational contexts. In this perspective, mediation and mediation strategies are central in multilingual educational and professional contexts where native and non-native speakers interact by means of an increasing use of ‘lingua francas’, mainly English as a lingua franca (ELF). The present study aims to illustrate the introduction of different language mediation strategies by means of specific tasks and activities within ELF-aware (Sifakis, Bayyurt, 2018) academic ELT (English Language Teaching) courses for language and cultural mediation and international communication. The research focus is on the emerging real-world ‘hybridization’ processes, adopted as learning tools in ELT practices, which prove to be particularly useful for enhancing learners’ awareness of communicative dynamics and the conscious use of mediation skills and strategies in multicultural settings. Pedagogical implications for language teacher education deriving from this study will be discussed.   Introduzione di strategie di mediazione nell’insegnamento della lingua inglese in contesti accademici plurilingui  Nell’insegnamento delle lingue, soprattutto in contesti europei multilingue e multiculturali, la mediazione è diventata uno strumento essenziale per ridurre la distanza tra due (o più) dimensioni linguistiche e culturali. La mediazione è una nozione introdotta ufficialmente dal Quadro Comune Europeo di Riferimento del Consiglio d’Europa (2001) e ulteriormente sviluppata nell’attuale Volume complementare (2020), dove le strategie e le attività di mediazione acquisiscono un ruolo cruciale come nuova forma di gestione dell’interazione in classe e nelle situazioni comunicative quotidiane. La mediazione viene qui presentata come fondamentale nella comunicazione interculturale e raccomandata come indispensabile nei contesti educativi plurilingui. In questa prospettiva, la mediazione e le strategie di mediazione sono centrali nei contesti educativi e professionali plurilingui in cui parlanti nativi e non nativi interagiscono attraverso un uso crescente di “lingue franche”, principalmente l’inglese come lingua franca (ELF). Il presente studio si propone di illustrare l’introduzione di diverse strategie di mediazione linguistica attraverso compiti e attività specifiche all’interno di corsi accademici ELT (English Language Teaching) basati sull’ELF (Sifakis, Bayyurt, 2018) per la mediazione linguistica e culturale e la comunicazione internazionale. La ricerca si concentra sui processi di “ibridazione” emergenti nel mondo reale, adottati come strumenti di apprendimento nelle pratiche ELT, che si rivelano particolarmente utili per migliorare la consapevolezza degli studenti delle dinamiche comunicative e l’uso consapevole di abilità e strategie di mediazione in contesti multiculturali. Saranno discusse le implicazioni pedagogiche per la formazione degli insegnanti di lingue derivanti da questo studio

A phonopragmatic approach to the popularization of the medical discourse on FGM

This chapter explores the process of popularization of medical discourse on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) among people living in target areas in a changing world where cross-cultural contacts occur at an ever faster pace – which entails that the implied receiver of suchpopularized discourse becomes more and more difficult to identify. The aim of this study is to analyze the hybrid genre typology of videos for medical/health information and their overt and covert addressees, investigating issues such as cultural practices, gender and identity in a selected corpus of video-messages produced by both Western and non-Western organizations to awaken public opinion to the FGM problem. A phonopragmatic approach (Sperti forthcoming) is introduced here to investigate to what extent the use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) varieties enable and simplify the accessibility of popularized medical discourse of FGM by the receivers. Moreover, it explores the possible illocutionary intentions (Searle 1969; 1983) of the speakers in such videos as they adopt strategies of (i) speech segmentation in pragmatic acts, (ii) prosodic segmentation of these acts into intonation units, and (iii) acoustic variations in their use of tense, aspect, modality, hedging, and in their simplification of terminology (e.g., substitution, paraphrasing, metaphor, metonymy, analogy – see Gotti 1996) and of technical discourse related to cultural policies (Guido 2006)