Intercultural Communication in Computer-Mediated Discourse

doi:10.1017/9781108884303.024

23 - Intercultural Communication in Computer-Mediated Discourse

from Part IV - Intercultural Pragmatics in Different Types of Communication

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2022

Carmen Maíz-Arévalo

Edited by

Istvan Kecskes

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Istvan Kecskes: Affiliation:
State University of New York, Albany

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Summary

Political and economic globalization, together with constant technological advances, has resulted in unprecedented levels of international human mobility. As a result, societies are increasingly intercultural. Nowhere is this interculturality more pervasive than in digital discourse (traditionally known as computer-mediated communication or CMC), where interlocutors from different cultural backgrounds may interact on global platforms and social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube, to name but a few. Intercultural communication, however, poses interlocutors with serious challenges to overcome, such as differences in their value systems, and diverging communication styles and behaviours. All of them can easily lead to miscommunication and conflict between cultural groups, both within and across societies, as well as the perpetuation of cultural stereotypes. Yet, most research on CMC to date has focused on monocultural studies or cross-cultural comparisons while intercultural communication in CMC is still rather under-researched. Keeping the above in mind, the present chapter aims to review the research that has been carried out so far in the field of digital discourse with a special focus on intercultural communication, as well as to provide readers with avenues for future research in this burgeoning field.

Keywords

online interaction mediated discourse telecollaboration multilingual awareness multilingual analysis

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Intercultural Pragmatics , pp. 588 - 611

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108884303.024 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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