‘Re-discovering myself’:
A Dialogic Approach to the Design of a Transcultural Communication Classroom Activity
for Multilingual Learners1
Dr Celia Thompson
School of Languages & Linguistics, University of Melbourne, Australia
Seminar Presentation at The Centre for Applied Linguistics, The University of
Warwick, March 28th, 2012
Abstract
When preparing teaching materials about communication between people from different
linguistic backgrounds, many factors require consideration; these include theoretical
orientation, purpose, context, educational needs, study level, as well as the cultural
backgrounds of the teachers and their target learners. The classroom activity described in
this paper aims to engage multilingual learners in discussion, analysis and reflection about
the interrelationships between language, identity, culture and communication. The
theoretical basis of the paper draws on dialogic and poststructural approaches to
communication. During this activity students: discuss theoretical approaches to
communication; analyse text extracts about language, identity, culture and communication
written by authors from different linguistic backgrounds; interview each other about their
own experiences of communicating in different languages with people from different
cultures; analyse and reflect on the interview data they have gathered. It is hoped that this
approach to transcultural communication pedagogy will not only deepen students’
understanding of the ways in which language, culture and communication interact in the
creation and practice of their own evolving multilingual identities, but also encourage
teachers to reflect on how their own subjectivities continue to be formed and re-formed
through the design and delivery of such activities in multicultural learning environments.
Biographical information
Dr Celia Thompson lectures in English for Academic Purposes and Transcultural
Communication at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include:
plagiarism and intertextuality; language, culture and identity; and academic writing and
authorship. Celia has published in a range of international journals such as Language,
Culture and Curriculum, Language, Identity and Education and the Journal of
Multidisciplinary International Studies. She has also contributed chapters to books on
academic writing across cultures, authorship and academic integrity and studies in higher
education pedagogy. Celia is a member of a cross-institutional and multidisciplinary project
team that was awarded an Australian Learning and Teaching Council National Priority Grant
(2009-2011). The project investigated academic authorship, assessment and academic
integrity in Web 2.0 learning environments in higher education in Australia. Celia is a
founding member of the British Association of Applied Linguistics Intercultural
Communication Special Interest Group.
1
This paper draws on the following publication: Thompson, C. (2011). A dialogic approach to the
design of a transcultural communication classroom activity for multilingual learners. Language,
Culture and Curriculum, 24 (3), 207-220.