Cover not available
Part of
The Cultural Pragmatics of Danger: Cross-linguistic perspectives
Edited by Carsten Levisen and Zhengdao Ye
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 346] 2024
► pp. 135–157

Chapter 7
Language learning in times of danger

Narratives of confinamiento/confinement in Spanish – English bilingual online conversations during lockdown

ORCID logo | University of Aarhus
 | Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
In this paper, we contribute to the study of intercultural pragmatics and, more specifically, the “pragmatics of danger” by exploring how adult participants in an online exchange program with focus on Spanish and English learning talk about the corona virus and the impact the pandemic has in their lives. We focus on the Covid-19 related topics that emerge in their exchanges and we search for keywords and eventual new words and concepts that shed light on people’s situation at the time. Our material, consisting of video recordings of participant conversations, is from the month of April 2020, a month into the global lockdown. It therefore provides us with a valuable snapshot of a time characterized by insecurity on how things would evolve and on to what degree the pandemic would disrupt life as we knew it.
Keywords: cultural pragmatics, language learning, Spanish, English, online virtual exchange, lockdown, natural semantic metalanguage
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Online virtual exchange during lockdown
  • 3.Theoretical framework for semantic analysis: nsm theory
  • 4.Empirical study
    • 4.1Setting
    • 4.2Task description
    • 4.3Methodology of data collection and analysis
      • 4.3.1Sampling criteria
      • 4.3.2Analysis procedure
  • 5.Narratives and discourses in the online learning environment
    • 5.1Pandemic related topics
      • 5.1.1Topics related to fear
        • Shopping for essentials
        • Government measures
        • The police
        • Work
        • Health
      • 5.1.2Topics related to a need for contact/connection
    • 5.2Explicating emerging concepts
      • 5.2.1Confinement – isolation
      • 5.2.2Balcony and balcony police
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 August 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.346.07fer
References (38)
References
Appel, Christine, and Susana S. Fernández. 2022. “Reimagining language learning in higher education: key-roles for technology”. In Learning with Technologies and Technologies in Learning, ed. by Michael E. Auer, Andreas Pester and Dominik May, 581–602. Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Appel, Christine, and Joan-Tomàs Pujolà. 2021. “Designing speaking interaction in LMOOCs: An eTandem approach”. ReCALL, 33 (2), 161–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Binkley, Marilyn, Ola Erstad, Joan Herman, Senta Raizen, Martin Ripley, May Miller-Ricci, and Mike Rumble. 2012. “Defining Twenty-First Century Skills”. In Assessing and Teaching of 21st Century Skills, ed. by Patrick Griffin, Barry McGraw, and Esther Care, 17–66. Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2006. “Using thematic analysis in psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology. 3 (2), 77–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Byram, Michael. 1997. Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Canale, Michael, and Merrill Swain. 1980. “Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing.” Applied Linguistics 1, 1–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Council of Europe. 2001. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. [URL] (accessed 22 June 2016)
Cristòfol, Blanca, and Christine Appel. 2021. “Student Engagement in an EFL/SFL Speaking LMOOC during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Influence of Learners’ Social, Affective and Cognitive Dimensions.” English as Foreign Language International Journal, Vol 25 (5), 98–118.Google Scholar
Dasli, Maria, and Adriana R. Díaz (eds.). 2017. The Critical Turn in Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy: Theory, Research and Practice. New York: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Dervin, Fred. 2016. Interculturality in Education: A Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, Thommy, Tom Adawi, and Christian Stöhr. 2017. “Time is the bottleneck”: a qualitative study exploring why learners drop out of MOOCs”. J Comput High Educ 29, 133–146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fernández, Susana S., and Christine Appel. In preparation. Intercultural competence in tandemMOOC collaboration.
Fernández, Susana S., and María Isabel Pozzo. 2017. “Intercultural competence in synchronous communication between native and non-native speakers of Spanish.” Language Learning in Higher Education, 7(1), 109–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goddard, Cliff. 2004. “Cultural Scripts: A New Medium for Ethnopragmatic Instruction.” In Cognitive Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching, ed. by Michel Achard, and Susanne Niemeier, 143–163. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006. “Ethnopragmatics: A new paradigm.” In Ethnopragmatics: Understanding discourse in cultural context ed. by Cliff Goddard, 1–29. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. “Cultural scripts: applications to language teaching and intercultural communication.” Studies in Pragmatics [China] 3. 105–119.Google Scholar
. 2018. Ten Lectures on Natural Semantic Metalanguage: Exploring Language, Thought and Culture Using Simple, Translatable Words. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goddard, Cliff, Anna Wierzbicka, and Zhengdao Ye. 2023. “The Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) Approach.” In Handbook of Cognitive Semantics: Vol. 1, ed. by Fuyin Thomas Li, 99–137. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Khalil, Hanan, and Martin Ebner. 2014. “MOOCs completion rates and possible methods to improve retention – A literature review.” In Proceedings of World conference on educational multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications, 1236–1244. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.Google Scholar
Kolb, David. 1984. Experiential Learning as The Science of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Kramsch, Claire. 1993. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Liddicoat, Anthony, and Angela Scarino. 2013. Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning. Malden MA: Wiley Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lo Bianco, Joseph, Anthony Liddicoat, and Chantal Crozet. (eds.) 1999. Striving for the third Place: Intercultural Competence through Language Education. Melbourne: Language Australia.Google Scholar
O’Dowd, Robert. 2015. “The competences of the telecollaborative teacher.” The Language Learning Journal 43(2), 194–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Dowd, Robert, and Breffni O’Rourke. 2019. “New developments in virtual exchange for foreign language education.” Language Learning and Technology, 23 (3), 1–7. [URL]
Risager, Karen. 2012. “Intercultural Learning: Raising Cultural Awareness.” In Basic Issues in EFL Teaching and Learning, ed. by Maria Eisenmann and Theresa Summer, 143–155. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Risager, K. and Lone Svarstad. 2020. Verdensborgen og den interkulturelle læring. Copenhagen: Samfundslitteratur.Google Scholar
Sadow, Lauren, and Susana S. Fernández. 2022. “Pedagogical pragmatics. Natural Semantic Metalanguage Applications to Language Learning and Teaching.” Scandinavian Studies in Language 13 (1), 55–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Svalberg, Agneta M.-L. 2009. “Engagement with language: Interrogating a construct.” Language Awareness, 18(3–4), 242–258. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna. 1972. Semantic primes. Frankfurt/M.: Athenäum-Verl.Google Scholar
. 1991. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1992. Semantics: Culture and Cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1997. Understanding Cultures through their Key Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1999. Emotions across Languages and Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006. The English Language: Meaning and Culture. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010a. Evidence, Experience and Sense: The Hidden Cultural Legacy of English. Nueva York: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010b. “Cultural Scripts and Intercultural Communication.” In Pragmatics across Languages and Cultures, ed. by Anna Trosborg, 43–78. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zheng, Saijing, Mary Beth Rosson, Patrick C. Shih, and John M. Carroll. 2015. “Understanding student motivation, behaviors and perceptions in MOOCs.” In Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work and social computing, 1882–1895. ACM. DOI logoGoogle Scholar