Achieving Understanding Discourse in Intercultural Encounters

This is a detailed study of understanding in a second language, related to the actual lives of minority workers. The focus is on everyday interactions between these workers and the bureaucrats of the society in which they are now resident. It provides an important contribution to the debate about the function of language as a social practice, adding a new perspective to the psycholinguistic and experimental paradigms, currently existing in second language acquisition research.

1. Background to the understanding project2. A social perspective on understanding: some issues of theory and method2.0 Introduction2.1 Identifying understanding and problems of understanding2.2 Understanding and interaction2.3 Understanding and context2.4 Data analysis2.5 Issues of variability3. Causes of understanding problems3.0 Introduction3.1 Understanding problems triggered by a single, identifiable element3.2 Understanding problems caused by relative degree of difficulty3.3 Understanding problems caused by indirectness and implicit discourse norms4. Managing understanding from a minority perspective4.0 Introduction4.1 The types of problems with understanding4.2 Options the minority interactant can take: avoiding or indicating the problem with understanding4.3 Managing procedures for indicating non-understanding4.4 Face and the management of understanding4.5 Potential for learning4.6 Conclusion5. Case studies5.0 Introduction5.1 Berta (Spanish-French)5.2 Tino (Italian-German)5.3 Ergun (Turkish-Dutch)5.4 Santo (Italian-English)6. Preventing problems of understanding6.0 Introduction6.1 Some options to prevent non-understanding6.2 Resolving of ignoring problems of understanding: the interviewer's point of view7. Joint negotiation of understanding: procedures for managing problems of understanding 7.0 Introduction7.1 Classification following unspecific indication or 'symptoms' of non-understanding7.2 Classification following specific indication: explication of lexical meaning7.3 Maximal use of procedures-an example8. Taking stock: contexts and reflections8.0 Introduction8.1 Facing upto our methods8.2 Social and discoursal perspective on second language development8.3 A critical perspective8.4 Context and contextualisation8.5 Institutional discourse8.6 Some practical implicationsAppendices, References, Index