Claudia Slegers (CIRCIT at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)
Communication styles - norms for what counts as appropriate interaction - vary greatly from culture to culture, and can lead to misunderstandings when members of different cultures communicate (Scollon and Wong Scollon, 1995). In recent years communication across cultural groups has also included the use of new channels such as email, the Internet and videoconferencing. The focus of this work-in-progress is to understand how and why the communication styles of Deaf and hearing Australians differ. Deaf people who use Australian Sign Language (Auslan), identify as a cultural and linguistic minority, not as a disability group. Auslan is the first truly accessible language for most Deaf people, with English as a second language. Levels of English literacy vary widely among the Deaf community, hence English text-based technologies such as email are often not ideal.
Drawing from anthropological linguistics, this study will examine communication and language of Deaf and hearing Australians to understand what they tell us about cultural values and meanings. Intended and received meanings behind choices of communication channels will be explored. The research will examine the following questions:
Using the approach called ethnography of communication the research will examine the underlying processes which these cultural groups use to produce and interpret communicative experiences, including the unstated assumptions which are shared cultural knowledge (Saville-Troike, 1997). Semi-structured interviews with Deaf and hearing people about their communication patterns in the workplace are being conducted. The interviews will be complemented by participant observation in the workplace. Data will be analysed with the help of the qualitative software programme NUD.IST.