Lynda Yates

Interaction, language learning and social inclusion in early settlement

Abstract While first language social networks offer immigrants practical and emotional support in the early period of their settlement in a new country, the development of social networks through English is crucial at this time not only for the acquisition of the linguistic and social capital vital to their long-term advancement, but also for the development of a community that is socially inclusive. In this paper I draw on data from a nation-wide study of the experiences of newly arrived immigrants over a one-year period as they studied English in an on-arrival program and moved on to work and study in the community. I first explore the opportunities they reported for using and making social connections through English and then consider the impact of the issues they encountered on their language learning and attitudes to the community. I then reflect on the implications for a dynamic view of social inclusion as driving rather than reacting to social change.

Challenges to Brand Australia: International Students and the Problem with Speaking.

Although communication skills in English are important for both their career prospects and the success of their overall study experience, many international students find their spoken English a barrier to employment after graduation. In this paper, we draw on longitudinal interview data from international postgraduates to investigate the individual and social factors that impacted on the development of their speaking skills as they studied in Australia. Our findings suggest that, despite high levels of motivation to improve, they received little instruction in such skills on their English for Academic Purposes programs and had little access to them in the community. We argue that for compelling moral as well as economic reasons universities urgently need to address these issues through both instruction and social integration initiatives if they are to safeguard their lucrative but vulnerable overseas markets.

Enhancing international medical graduates’ communication: the contribution of applied linguistics

International medical graduates (IMGs) make up one‐third of the Australian medical workforce. Those from non‐English‐language backgrounds can face cultural and communication barriers, yet linguistic support is variable and medical educators are often required to provide feedback on both medical and communication issues. However, some communication difficulties may be very specific to the experiences of IMGs as second language users.

Learning how to speak: Pronunciation, pragmatics and practicalities in the classroom and beyond

That learners who want to develop good pragmatically-appropriate speaking skills in a language also need to develop good pronunciation is beyond dispute, and yet research continues to report that both areas still have low visibility in the curriculum and are often treated as poor relations in the classroom. Many teachers are still wary of what they see as specialist areas, a perspective that encourages their neglect in the curriculum, in assessment and in teacher training programmes. In this plenary I go back to basics and focus on what learners need to accomplish outside the classroom with the language they are learning. Drawing on studies that have explored the communicative needs of immigrants to Australia from language backgrounds other than English, I will illustrate the importance of both pronunciation and pragmatics in their lives. I will then consider the implications for how we can approach both skills proactively in the classroom in an integrated way that is capable of developing students’ repertoire of speaking skills for effective and appropriate use outside.

Trust, talk and the dictaphone: Tracing the discursive accomplishment of trust in a surgical consultation:

Using discourse analytical methods, this article examines the interactional accomplishment of trust. Focusing on a case study drawn from a corpus of 28 surgical consultations collected in a gastro-intestinal clinic, it traces the trust-building process in a specific, communicatively challenging encounter where the patient is seeking a second opinion following an operation that she deems unsuccessful. Discourse analytical findings make visible the doctor’s strategic interactional work to build interpersonal trust with the patient and to regain her trust in the surgical profession. This work extends beyond interaction with the patient to include dictation of a letter to the referring doctor in the patient’s presence. Close analysis of the encounter reveals how this co-constructed consultation letter is deployed to strengthen the fragile patient–doctor trust engendered thus far. The article therefore provides insights into the discursive processes of trust building that could potentially be of considerable practical relevance to the medical profession.

Love, Language and Little Ones: Successes and Stresses for Mothers Raising Bilingual Children in Exogamous Relationships

Immigrants to Australia in exogamous relationships with English native-speakers are among the most disadvantaged when it comes to retaining and promoting their first language within the family. In the first few years of their settlement, they may be struggling to learn English at the same time as they are acculturating to a new environment and, often, negotiating a new relationship. Their partners may not speak their first language, and their children will have the seductions of English – a language of both local and global relevance – both inside and outside the home. Moreover, decisions about what language(s) to learn and use in the family can be influenced by macro social questions such as their relative status and the attitudes of the community, as well as to individual factors of proficiency in each language, living circumstances and the nature of family relationships and attitudes. In this chapter, we explore how these factors interact in early settlement to influence the use of the immigrant’s heritage language. The data are drawn from a large-scale longitudinal qualitative study of immigrants to Australia in the first 5 years of their settlement. Based on semi-structured interviews with 13 newly arrived immigrants living with English-native-speaking partners and their children, our analysis focuses on the factors that seem to enhance their chances of success in maintaining and building the use of their first language with their children. We explore how successful they have been and consider the implications for educators, counsellors parents and researchers involved in supporting this crucial aspect of early settlement.

Intercultural communication and the transnational: managing impressions at work

Abstract Whether in pursuit of a safer place to live, economic advancement or simply from a desire to travel, increasing numbers of professionals find themselves working outside familiar cultural settings and using a language in which they did not train. As a country of migration, Australia is home to many such transnationals. Despite high levels of proficiency in English, however, many find that communication at work can be something of a challenge, and that different perspectives on professional roles and identities as well as differences in pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic assumptions can become invisible barriers to success and progression. In this article I will draw on recent research into the demands of two different professions, childcare and medicine, to consider some of the issues faced by transnationals seeking to master not only the language but also the professional and community cultures underlying talk at work. I argue that language instruction programs designed to prepare new arrivals to enter the workforce should include explicit attention to cultural values based on empirical evidence in order to increase understanding of both how and why people talk the way they do in different working environments.

Into the Spotlight: Exploring the Use of the Dictaphone During Surgical Consultations

The study of computer use during consultations and in clinical communication teaching has generated considerable research interest in recent decades, but few studies have investigated how the use of other technological devices such as the dictaphone may be linked to the acquisition of interpersonal communication skills. Research on the dictaphone has focused on “backstage” activity such as dictating consultation letters after consultations, and largely neglected its potential in “frontstage” interactions with patients or as an educational tool in teaching clinical communication. This article draws on 28 consultations recorded in a gastrointestinal clinic and a follow-up interview with the participating surgeon to explore the use of the dictaphone during consultations. All data were transcribed and reiterative thematic analyses were conducted. The analyses presented here show how the dictaphone can serve a range of important relational and medical functions when used to co-construct consultation letters with patients. These functions include establishing and maintaining rapport, building trust, checking and clarifying information, aiding information accuracy, and closing the consultation. This study shows how a technological device usually reserved for “backstage” medical communication can be successfully used as a communicative tool in “frontstage” interactions and illustrates the multifaceted and beneficial functions of the dictaphone.

Working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause

WORKING WITH DISCOURSE: MEANING BEYOND THE CLAUSE. J. R. Martin and David Rose (Eds.) . New York: Continuum, 2003. Pp. 293.

Language learning on-the-job

125.00 cloth,