Publications

Publication details [#63045]

Chen, Hsin-I. 2017. Intercultural communication in online social networking discourse. Language and Intercultural Communication 17 (2) : 166–189.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Routledge

Annotation

This paper proposes a case study that explores how an online social networking community is constituted via intercultural discourse on the part of one learner sojourning in the US. Drawing on Byram’s model of intercultural communicative competence, this paper explores the learner’s naturalistic communication in a social networking site (SNS). The qualitative analysis points out that the learner acted upon the affordances of SNSs to reflect on her intercultural experiences and showed evidence of intercultural understanding during her study abroad years. The learner’s intercultural knowledge, attitudes, and discovery are displayed to be co-constructed by her and other members in the online discourse. This paper points out that computer-mediated communities like SNSs supply the learner with a space in which she documented her cultural experience and reflected on those experiences in real-time exchanges with multilingual, multicultural users. Pedagogical implications are debated.