This study provided an in-depth and immersive field study of the process of protective order hearings. The goal of this study was to examine the communication taking place in the courtroom on Protective Order (PO) day to provide a foundation for uncovering discourse dynamics that affect the experiences of applicants and respondents, as well as the role that legal decision makers play in the process of issuing protective orders for cases of family violence. There are numerous ways in which communication defines and affects the protective order process in the courtroom on PO Day. For the purpose of this study, the focus consisted of communication surrounding 1.) The institutionalized process (role of gatekeepers, access to representation by respondents, and the physical structure/environment of the courtroom---open, public, and fast-paced nature of the docket process), and 2.) Communication as the primary means of evidence (how communication constitutes credibility and the fact that applicants must face their alleged batterer in order to obtain an order of protection). This study focused on viewing institutional discourse in protective order hearings that extends beyond the official legal record in order to broaden our understanding of legal behavior, family violence, and discursive characteristics of the Protective Order courtroom culture. The analysis consisted of macro (immersive ethnographic fieldwork and detailed observations) and micro approaches (Action-Implicative Discourse Analysis). The findings uncovered multiple layers of communication challenges that manifested themselves in all steps of the PO process. Environmental communication challenges were present from the moment applicants initiated the application process and continued through their respective hearings. The physical space presented challenges to access and representation, and the gatekeepers provided differing (and sometimes unequal) levels of support for the applicants and respondents. The functional communication challenges stemmed from the constraints of the legal language to meet the necessary burden of proof for cases of family violence. Implications for future research by communication scholars, as well as for practitioners who work with victims and alleged batterers of family violence, are discussed. / text

Teacher-student writing conferences are an important component in college writing courses. Coming from different cultural and educational backgrounds, many ESL students are not familiar with this practice and tend to listen to the instructor passively. Their perception of the conference may affect their interaction with the instructor. This study investigates how ESL students' perception affects the teacher-student interaction in the writing conferences. The multiple-case study explores: (1) ESL students' expectations of the writing conference and factors contributing to the expectations, (2) participation patterns of ESL students in the conferences, and (3) ESL students' perception of the effectiveness of teacher-student conferencesA questionnaire, distributed to 110 (65 NS and 45ESL) students enrolled in the first-year composition classes, examines students' previous writing experience and expectations of the writing conferences. Pre-conference interviews with 19 focus students (8 NS and 11 ESL) were conducted to verify the survey results. Students' participation patterns were investigated via the video-recorded writing conferences of the 19 focus students. Students' perceptions of the conference were investigated through the post-conference interviews with the 19 focus students and follow-up interviews with six Chinese students.The questionnaire results showed that ESL students and NS students expect to receive feedback on their drafts at the writing conference. ESL students, not familiar with the dynamic feature of the conference, expected the instructor to directly tell them what to do without planning to explain their own thoughts. These student expectations were shaped by factors beyond individual preferences. ESL students' expectations were reflected in the way they participate in the writing conferences. Compared with NS students, who knew better how to "buy" the teacher feedback by asking for opinions or suggestions and announcing plans of revision, ESL students tended to be good listeners at the conference by answering questions. They seldom initiated comments and questions in the conferences. Post-conference interviews revealed that ESL students perceived the conference as effective as they received directive feedback from the teacher. It was noted that their participation was constrained by their preconceived assumption of the teacher-student relationship. The findings offer implications on how to conduct conferences to maximize students' benefits.

In this ethnographic study, I sought to understand the diasporic lives of Afghan Hindus by studying how they discursively constructed their migration and settlement in Germany. By directing attention to their ways of speaking about migration I understood the importance of community and family to the Afghan Hindu way of life, and how the cultural premises of homeland an integral part of their relationships in the diaspora. Speech codes theory is the primary theoretical framework for this ethnographic study. Research was conducted over four separate visits to Germany lasting from four to ten weeks, beginning in summer of 2005 and ending in December 2008, proceeding in phases. Primary methods used were, participation observation, and in-depth interviews. Sites of research included Afghan Hindu temples and family events. The main indigenous term used to describe migration was bikharna, which captured spatial dispersal, relational fragmentation, and loss of traditions. The Afghan Hindu meaning of community was premised on physical proximity and relational connection among Afghan Hindus. The changing meaning of family from the multi-member, multi-generational household of Afghanistan to Western ideas of the nuclear family also figured prominently in ways of speaking about migration. Cultural premises of the homeland continued to inform life in Germany, but were also increasingly being challenged by lifestyle choices of some Afghan Hindus. The temple in Afghan Hindu diasporic lives emerged as an important place, in discursive constructions of community. What was once a place of worship in the homeland was constructed in the diaspora as a place that could bring the fragmented community together. However, the temple was also contested space, as different groups of people within the speech community had different perspectives on its importance in Afghan Hindu lives. This study has implications for the study of culture, communication and relationships in the context of diaspora. Ethnography of communication offers an ideal theoretical framework in which to understand diasporic experiences, by examining the underlying rules and premises of everyday lives of diasporic people. As a case study of a refugee diaspora, this study also has implications for scholarship on South Asian diasporas.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study set out to investigate siding and translanguaged siding as an under-researched student-to-student communication which happen parallel to teaching. Lemke (1990) defines siding as student-to-student talk while the teacher is teaching, and Antia (2017) defines ‘translanguaged siding’ as student-to-student talk in a language or combination of languages that is different from the LoLT. In this way, siding encapsulates ‘translanguaged siding’.

Though both literary critics and anthropologists have sometimes recognized converging aims and methods between ethnography and narrative fiction, few interpretive studies of fiction have been undertaken using the framework of ethnography of communication. Because ethnography of communication centers attention on language in situated communicative interaction, it could be a useful tool for exploring literary texts, especially texts within the genre of "realistic fiction," which sometimes also depend upon observation or creation of situated social interaction. This dissertation uses ethnography of communication to interpret a Victorian novel, Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Ethnography of communication may also serve as a general framework for teaching literature, combining close linguistic or stylistic analysis of the language, detailed examination of the cultural and social situation, and re-creation of the meaning of the event as it may have been experienced by the participants. This approach may be especially appropriate in the case of L2 learners taking literature courses in university programs. The overall framework of the analysis, ethnography of communication, will be supplemented by Goffman's model of interaction ritual and the concept of co-construction of reality. These frameworks will be employed in the analysis of brief communicative events within the novel. Insights about the characters and the speech communities deriving from ethnographic interpretation will be used to build more precise understanding of the events of the novel, thereby contributing to traditional areas of literary criticism, and offering options for literary study in L1 and L2 contexts.

Dissertation thesis Eva Obrátilová Expressions of the traditional world-view of Mongolians, as reflected in the spoken language (with an emphasis on crisis-situation Topics) Abstract The aim of this work is to describe some of the traditional world-view of the speakers of Mongolian. Based on my research, I have placed research emphasis on the connection between culturally specific phenomena and language, the influence between the world-view and linguistic expressions connected with the nomadic way of life of the Mongolians. The material is classified and explicated from an ethnolinguistic and sociolinguistic point of view, with a strong emphasis on the ethnography of communication and intercultural communication. Based on the analysis of communication situations, this dissertation describes some of the manifestations of world-view, taboo, values as well as the traditional world-view of the Mongolian speakers. Keywords: ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, intercultural communication, Mongolian studies

In this thesis, I examine the practical challenge of constructing communication at the Arabic Translation Service (ATS) of the UN through the process of translation. Unlike in English in which "communication" has only one equivalent, in Arabic it has many depending on the context. My analysis focuses on analyzing the occurrence of two translation equivalents, namely ittissal and tawassul given that their use in translation sometimes proves to be cultural. I conducted participant observation over the course of a two-month internship at the UN Headquarters in New York. Using grounded theory, I pieced together insights from a database of occurrences of the term "communication," interviewed staff members about their opinion about previous translations of "communication," witnessed staff interactions during their weekly meetings, and participated in a communication framework to create closer relationships between the ATS and other duty stations outside the UN. The way this framework is designed helps define how communication is understood as both theoretical concept and word used for translation purposes. Adopting an ethnography of communication approach, I illuminate the cultural differences involved in translating the term "communication" into Arabic in UN documents by an Arab multicultural team. By means of exploring translation issues, I aim at defining the prominent model of communication in the UN ATS community, and showing how this community's talk reflects tensions between different culturally embedded models. My conclusion is that ittissal is preferred over tawassul, the first involving more technical meaning and less contact among people. Some translators disagree with some translations. The UN ATS has its own language, given that it communicates to particular audiences. I aim at finding out why ittissal is the preferred term, why is standard Arabic not used for communication among the staff, and what aspects during translation are cultural.

This study is a description and interpretation of talk about hunting. The study is based on data gathered from in-depth interviews with twenty-four hunters in the United States who did not become hunters until adulthood. A single overarching research question guides the study: How do people create and use discourses of hunting? The study is situated within the ethnography of communication research program and, more specifically, within the framework of cultural discourse analysis. The study employs cultural discourse analysis methods and concepts to describe and develop interpretations of how participants render hunting symbolically meaningful, and of what beliefs and values underlie such meanings. The major descriptive findings include recurrent patterns of talk concerning: connecting with land and nature, spirit, other people, human ancestry, and human nature; taking responsibility in ecological, ethical, and health-related ways, both through hunting and through other practices such as gardening; being engaged, present, alert, excited, and challenged; killing for appropriate reasons, in appropriate ways, and with appropriate feeling; and living and acting in response to a modern world that diminishes human experience, brutalizes animals, and harms the natural world. The major interpretive findings include hunting being linked to other practices such as gardening, and being spoken of as a deeply meaningful pursuit practiced for the feelings of connection, engagement, and right relationship that it fosters, and as a physically and spiritually healthful remedy for the negative effects of modern living and of industrial food systems. This research demonstrates that hunting and talk about hunting can be underpinned by common beliefs and values shared by hunters, non-hunters, and anti-hunters. This research also suggests that adult-onset hunters and their discursive practices may be of unique value to wildlife agencies and conservation organizations, to other adult onset-hunters, and to both scholarly and public understandings of—and dialogues about—the practice of hunting.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study sought to understand the culture-sharing group of people working within the shelter area of a Pacific Northwest animal shelter through the Ethnography of Communication. About 63% of households in the United States live with a companion animal (Risley-Curtis et al., 2006). Recently, there has been a shift toward closer examination into the ways in which humans interact with animals, particularly companion animals. The guiding questions of this study were: RQ1: What are the cultural communication forms performed in the context of the humane society? RQ2: How do shelter workers communicate about companion animals? RQ3: What cultural meanings are instantiated through communication in this context? This qualitative research approach included 40 hours of participant observation, individual interviews and an analysis of a set of documents and artifacts. Utilizing the Ethnography of Communication components, thematic and pattern analysis, findings revealed use of three main communication forms within the shelter: verbal, written and nonverbal communication and the overarching key theme of relational bonding occurring within an animal-centric organization among 4 relational categories: A. Shelter animals and shelter animals, B. Shelter animals and shelter workers, C. Shelter workers and shelter workers and D. Shelter workers and the public. Processes leading to relational bonding are delineated including detailed speech as well as aspects of "broken bonds" and euthanasia and it's effects within a "no-kill" organization.