Intercultural Pragmatics, 7.5 credits

The course presents both international and Swedish research on intercultural and cross-cultural communication with an emphasis on pragmatic aspects related to the learning and use of second languages in Sweden. The course provides tools to conduct analyses of pragmatic patterns and conversational strategies in encounters that cross linguistic and cultural boundaries, both in institutional and in everyday settings. The focus is on oral communication where both verbal and embodied practices in the interaction emerge. In the course, different theoretical and methodological frameworks are compared and practical implications emerging from different research traditions on intercultural communication are discussed. The course literature presents intercultural and cross-cultural pragmatics with a critical perspective that focuses on issues of power and dominance in a multicultural and multilingual society. The skills developed in this course are useful for anyone with an interest for intercultural and cross-cultural communication, as well for those who meet speakers of Swedish as a second language in their profession, especially in schools and educational institutions, but also in other administrative institutions and social organizations.