Marisa Cordella

Confrontational style in Spanish arguments: Pragmatics and teaching outlook

The study investigates the conversational style of arguing of three groups of language learners. Students in the first group, G1, were from a Hispanic background; those in the second group, G2, lived for a year in a Hispanic country, and those in the third group, G3, were in contact with the language only as part of their tertiary‐level education. Each group was composed of third‐ and fourth‐year university students, ranging in age from 21 to 25 years. They were asked to talk freely on ‘the role of men and women in society’. Their conversations were recorded and analysed following Garcia (1989), Kockman (1981), and Brown & Levinsons (1987) theories and ideas on confrontational style and face‐threatening acts. The linguistic choices of both Gl and G2 students revealed a similar argumentative style, which contrasted with the discourse style of G3. Examples of confrontational and non‐confrontational style are shown in order to explain the different linguistic forms that each group uses to accomplish this ev...

Negotiating Religious Beliefs in a Medical Setting

This manuscript studies in detail, following a discourse analytical approach, medical consultations in which a patient’s religious belief does not allow blood transfusion to be administered. The patient is a young Jehovahs Witness suffering myeloid leukaemia who is being treated in a Catholic cancer hospital where the practice of blood transfusion forms part of the standard protocol to treat the disease. The consultations under analysis take place in a Chilean cancer clinic where mainly the oncologist and a Jehovah’s Witness Representative (JWR) present discuss and negotiate expert information on the substitute methods to be used. The exchange dynamics of the consultations differ from the usual visits where the medical knowledge and expertise is primarily in the hands of the medical practitioner. In these encounters, the JWR shares vital information with the oncologist providing the basis of the treatment to be used. This shifting of the balance of power—which could have been a cause of tension in the visit and a contributing factor in the disruption of communication—has instead brought light to the encounter where the negotiated treatment has been achieved with relative ease. The patient’s future is in the hands of the oncologist and the JWR, and their successful negotiation of treatment has made it possible to cater for the particular needs of a JW patient. Sharing different medical practices has not been an obstacle, but an opportunity to find out ways to deliver equity access and well-informed practices to a non-conventional patient.

The Role of Gender in Chilean Argumentative Discourse.

The investigation focused on determining the influence of gender on certain linguistic strategies that promote camaraderie. Gender was not seen as playing a completely determining role, for although female and male strategy preferences were exhibited, most were aptly employed by both sexes. While both males and females used joint sentence construction equally, females usually favoured overlap, latching, backchannelling, supportive moves and repetition of others but only when they were in the minority or majority. The use of these strategies was dependent on the number of participants of the same sex in the group. It was quite evident that the frequency and variability of strategy use were affected by a balanced gender ratio combination and by a male majority

Behavioural oncology: psychological, communicative and social dimensions

Medical, educational, and public health efforts have reduced the spread of many major diseases, yet cancer perseveres, in spite of continuing research and improvements in practice. Especially promising among therapeutic strategies are ones that recognise patients as individuals with thoughts, feelings-and speech. Rooted in deep understanding of the mutual relationship between behavior and cancer, Behavioural Oncology combines extensive clinical wisdom and empirical data to illuminate the psychological, social, and existential aspects of cancer, and to offer a framework for empathic, patient-centered care. Chapters delve into the psychobiology of long-term illness, examining stress, pain, fatigue, sensory and sleep disturbances, and other quality of life issues as well as considerations of age, gender, culture, and comorbidity. The books emphasis on linguistic and communicative aspects of cancer-and practical skills from respecting patient narratives to delivering bad news-adds necessary depth to concepts of the therapeutic relationship. In this way, the authors warn about overmedicalizing cases to the point of losing patient identity. Major areas of the coverage include: Biology and behavior in cancer prevention and suppression. The psychology of cancer patients: emotions, cognition, and personality Social dimensions, including stigma, coping, and social support Language, communication, and cross-cultural issues Existential, spiritual, and end-of-life concerns Doctor-patient relationships The psychological benefits of complementary therapies Bringing new scope and substance to familiar mind/body constructs, Behavioural Oncology is a definitive reference for a spectrum of healthcare professionals, among them health and clinical psychologists, oncologists and family physicians, oncology nurses, and clinical social workers. Its discussion questions and summaries make it a suitable text for undergraduate and graduate courses in related topics.

Intergenerational and intercultural encounters: connecting students and older people through language learning

Due to its extensive and dynamic migrant history, Australia is a society rich in cultural and linguistic diversity. Older people are important catalysts for language maintenance, which presents a great opportunity to nurture this diversity and promote community well-being and social inclusion. This article describes a project developed to assist upper secondary school language learners of Chinese, German, or Spanish to enhance their language skills by pairing them up with older speakers of the language. The overarching aim of this three-year project was to examine how these intergenerational and intercultural encounters affect high school students’ language development, intercultural knowledge, and attitudes to aging as well as how these interactions affect older participants’ well-being, selfesteem, empowerment, and sense of belonging. Currently in its second of three years, some preliminary findings relating to the impact of program participation on participants will be reported along with a closer examination of the participatory roles played out in these intergenerational and intercultural encounters.

Overcoming Language and Cultural Differences in Medical Encounters: The Use of a Language and Culture Training Course (LACT) in Educating IMGs in Australia

The study of communicative competence and performance of international medical graduates (IMGs) in Australia and the proposal of recommendations that could assist in their training is a much-needed requirement for the production of a better qualified medical workforce. The language and culture training course for IMG (LACT-IMG) introduced in this chapter draws on a multidisciplinary theoretical perspective to establish the principles of intercultural communication in the medical encounter. The chapter provides the foundation to capture the complexities of intercultural communication and medical discourse. It also provides a set of exercises to be used with IMGs that aim to explore and understand how communication develops in different social settings. IMGs are asked to observe different social events, participate in some of them, and video-record an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) performance. Through a multilevel assessment approach, IMGs explore, assess, discuss, and consolidate their language and cultural practices.Keywords: Australia; intercultural communication; international medical graduates (IMGs); language and culture training course (LACT); multilevel assessment approach; objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) performance

A triangle that may work well: Looking through the angles of a three-way exchange in cancer medical encounters

Following a discourse analysis approach this study examines triadic encounters of nine medical consultations carried out in an outpatient cancer clinic in Santiago, Chile involving an oncologist, a patient and a patient’s companion. Consultations are fully transcribed and analysed to understand the participatory roles patients’ companions play in the medical exchanges. In addition, the type of linguistic functions associated with each role and the advantages or downsides of companions’ involvement in the encounters are also investigated. The analysis reveals seven prominent roles that companions may engage in during the visits. These are studied in detail. The results show that although companions may not always provide information that is consistent with the patients’ views, they can be of great help. Relieving the patients of many daunting tasks, monitoring their well-being, establishing a partnership and bringing vital information to the clinic are instances where the controlling power that some may exercise in the medical encounter can be outweighed.

Complementary Psychological Therapies

When we really feel unwell, we should seek the advice of a good and scientifically trained doctor. The doctor will examine us, and, if suspicious of a serious illness, we will be requested to undergo various examinations. The tests may finally tell that we have cancer. What to do next? This may seem a silly question, but today in many societies the patient does have choices and the patient’s life rests on what he or she does with this right to choose. What the individual finally decides to do will be his or her prerogative, but we should hope for a well-informed decision. In this decision-making process it is always possible to make mistakes. The problem with cancer is that by the time the patient realises that he/she got it wrong it may be too late. This was the case of Steve Jobs, the founder of the computer company Apple, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but decided to delay conventional therapy in order to pursue other kinds of therapies such as acupuncture, herbal therapy, diet therapy and spiritual exercises. After 9 months of exclusive non-conventional therapies he decided to undergo chemotherapy and surgery, but it was too late. Does Job’s story prove that complementary psychological therapies (CPTs), such as spiritual exercises and meditation, are therefore useless? Not really. In fact, CPTs do have an important role to play in the overall plan to tackle the challenges of cancer, but such a role should be seen as synergistic with that of conventional therapies (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy), especially when a cancer has been already diagnosed. In addition, CPTs can be useful in the prevention of cancer by decreasing the levels of stress, apart from their use as adjuvant therapies throughout the period of conventional treatment. During remission, CPTs may provide some aid in preventing cancer recurrence or at least help individuals to be mentally better prepared to absorb the shock of recurrence of cancer if it does happen.

Women’s Stories: An Intergenerational Dialogue with Immigrant and Refugee Women By Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia (FECCA)

The immigrant narratives start with the experiences of Iffath from Bangladesh and Salve from the Philippines. Iffath and Salve share the common background of coming from a relatively high socioeconomic level in their native country to a situation in which they had to start from the bottom, such as working in poor-paying jobs outside their area of professional expertise or not being able to afford a maid to help with the household chores. But it was the disruption of former social relationships and the network of help that most affected them. As a consequence, they appreciated any support they received from their family, in particular. In addition, Iffath was especially impacted by the unsupportive and often unfair conditions at work. In spite of these difficulties, both immigrants remained optimistic about the future and they advised future immigrant women to be prepared for an initial hard experience and to face it with hope and determination. The Serbian Dana and the Venezuelan Mariloly tell that they emigrated for very different reasons: Dana was motivated by a sense of adventure, whereas Mariloly was seeking safety (she considered Venezuela to be socially unsafe at the time). In both cases, however, memories and longing are associated with social relationships and family, in particular, and, to some extent, culture. Both women stressed the need for sheer determination, hard work,

Language and the Cross-Cultural Dimension of Cancer

We have seen in the previous chapter the central role of social relationships in promoting the well-being of cancer patients. Their ability to cope with the disease and also the possibility of survivors to reintegrate to a normal life are critically dependent on social support. In turn, such social interactions are modulated by our modes of communication. Through verbal and also non-verbal communication patients display or mask their emotions and thoughts, thus affecting the responses of their carers and other members of their social entourage. Language—even the same language, such as English—also varies cross-culturally in structure, usage and meaning of words, and in a world where people from various backgrounds are coming into contact with each other more frequently, greater knowledge and awareness of such language diversity will foster a more effective communication between cancer patients and people interacting with them. In this chapter we start with a brief introduction to some major linguistic aspects of the cancer experience, including the challenges faced by medical translators and interpreters to then move to more specific issues of language dysfunctions in cancer patients. Through their choice of words, patients and their carers may inadvertently convey very different messages to the ones intended, thus causing miscommunication. Miscommunication becomes prevalent when the communicative expectations of parties are not met. At the centre of the communicative events are the words and meaning attached to them, and this aspect is the focus of a section in this chapter. Many analytical approaches are available to analyse verbal communication, but the full complexity of a verbal exchange can be better unravelled by using tools such as discourse analysis. Therefore examples of the use of discourse analysis in oncology are provided next to then shift our focus to a broader review of the study of narratives. Through discourse analysis (and other analytical tools as well) narratives can be studied as a way of understanding the personal experience of cancer patients, what their needs are and what we can do to help them more effectively. With these sections we set the linguistic foundations for our analysis of the cross-cultural variation in cancer patient communication that follows. This cross-cultural section is organised into 13 different sub-themes. The chapter concludes with a review of the use of metaphors in oncology.