international or intercultural interaction

You need to document an international or intercultural interaction in which you experience an element of miscommunication. You, as the author of this essay, are required to take part in the miscommunication event. You may use the first person, I, in recounting the events. This event can occur in your private life, personal life, in-person, on the phone, or even online. It must pertain to an element of cultural, ethnic, or national miscommunication or misunderstanding. Consider this to be an analysis of a speech event, or better yet, a miscommunication event.

Describe the event (30 points):

Where did the interaction take place? Who was there? When did it occur? Why were you communicating within this context? What was your role in this interaction? Was it in a familiar setting for you or for others present? Give as much rich description of the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings surrounding the event.

Detail the miscommunication (30 points):

What was said? Who initiated the interaction? What was misunderstood? Were you or another person the one who misunderstood the interaction? What resulted from this misunderstanding? Was it resolved? How if so? If unresolved, what are the greater implications from the lack of resolution to the event? Is there anything to learn from this interaction? Paraphrase or describe if you cannot provide verbatim details of the interaction.

Analysis of the event (30 points):

What of this event relates back to the materials in this course? What does this event illustrate about social or cultural dynamics. How could this event or similar be better handled in the future? What do you take away from this interaction as a learning experience? What do you imagine the others present felt or thought about the interaction?

You MUST refer to lecture, film, and reading to illustrate your analysis. This means you need THREE REFERENCES total in order to receive full credit. Use parenthetical quotes:

(Staib lecture 9/9)
(Gumperz pg. 8)
(Endangered Languages, film in class)

Formatting and style (10 points):

Points will be deducted for misspelled words, poor punctuation and grammar, and incorrect formatting.

Available sources:

Course Text: Anthropology of Language, chapters 1-5 and 8

Articles in Bb Learn: Gumperz, De Saussure, Duranti, Burling, Hill, Wolf, Ochs and Schiefflin

Film/Video: The Linguists; George Carlin; Holding Door/LAHWF; American Tongues; Speaking in Tongues: Endangered Languages; Origin of Language; Linguistic Relativity video; The Californians/SNL video;