Communicative Patterns in Intercultural Classrooms - Case Study with Focus on Intercultural Communication, Humor & Laughter

Abstract

Today, because of globalization and the development of communication technology, it is easier for people from different countries to get in touch and communicate with each other. In order to communicate better in different areas, such as business, diplomacy, tourism, etc, language competence is essential. With the rapid development of economy, Chinese language is becoming one of the most used languages in the world. However, because of the cultural complexity and unique language system, Chinese is difficult to learn. Moreover, the students studying Chinese language as their second language might face difficulties in learning the Chinese language and culture because of cultural diversity in classrooms. This thesis describes and analyzes the communication in Chinese language learning in the intercultural classrooms. It consists of two aspects: intercultural communication (responsible: Rui Zhang) and humor and laughter (responsible: Yanhua Bai). This study is carried out at the Chinese school of Chinese Association of Students & Scholars in Gothenburg by making participant observations for 3 months and Xi’an International School in China by video recordings 4 short Chinese lectures and interviewing a Chinese teacher. The data is analyzed by using Activity Based CommunicationAnalysis (Allwood 1999, 2000, 2007). The main results are the description and analysis of communication in Chinese language learning in the intercultural classrooms with focus on intercultural communication, humor & laughter. This thesis can recommend that attention must be paid to the cultures in the intercultural classrooms, which can help to facilitate the communication in L2 (The Second Language) learning in the intercultural classrooms.