Acquiring Pragmatic and Intercultural Communicative Competences in the Digital Era - by Sofia Di Sarno-García Hardcover

About the Book

Examines how pragmatic competence and intercultural communicative competence can be acquired through telecollaboration, and how the two are interrelated.

Book Synopsis

This book explores second language pragmatic development and intercultural communicative competence acquisition through telecollaboration.It shows how telecollaborative environments are appropriate for the development of these two competences and how they are inextricably interrelated.

Acquiring Pragmatic and Intercultural Communicative Competences in the Digital Era draws a comparison between the effects of telecollaboration projects and traditional face-to-face instruction within the foreign language classroom for developing pragmatic competence and intercultural communicative competence. Analysis is based on research into how undergraduate Spanish learners of English engage in telecollaboration projects with first language or highly proficient speakers of English and in traditional face-to-face instruction with their Spanish partners. Using synchronous (Zoom) and asynchronous (MeWe) digital tools, the book explores the beneficial role of telecollaboration projects in second and foreign language settings, offering researchers and teachers an example of how to implement this kind of project in their language teaching practices.

Review Quotes

"Acquiring Pragmatic and Intercultural Communicative Competences in the Digital Era is a timely and insightful contribution to language education. By weaving together pragmatics, intercultural competence, and telecollaboration, Sofia Di Sarno-García offers a rigorous and innovative study that demonstrates how digital exchanges can foster meaningful communication across cultures. This book provides both theoretical depth and practical relevance, making it an important resource for scholars, educators, and students interested in the intersections of language, culture, and technology." --Kyria Finardi, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil

"In an increasingly digital and interconnected world, the ability to communicate effectively across cultures is paramount. This book provides an essential roadmap for this complex terrain. With clarity and scholarly rigor, Di Sarno-García shows how pragmatic and intercultural communicative competences can be developed through telecollaboration and digitally mediated learning. By focusing on real-world communicative acts, such as apologies, and exploring the relationship between their acquisition and the acquisition of intercultural communicative competence, this book provides both theoretical insights and practical pathways for educators. Essential reading for teachers, researchers, and practitioners seeking to prepare learners for authentic, meaningful global communication." --Ariadna Sánchez Hernández, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

"This book addresses a key gap at the intersection of L2 pragmatics and CALL with both rigor and originality. It highlights the importance of pragmatic competence alongside intercultural communicative competence in the language classroom, and, more importantly, invites readers to reflect on telecollaborative settings where these competences can no longer be overlooked. The author grounds an innovative study in both extensive prior and original research, resulting in a valuable contribution from a promising scholar; one that will inspire future innovation in language teaching and learning." --Irina Argüelles Álvarez, Technical University of Madrid, Spain

"This manuscript constitutes an important and timely contribution to the fields of computer-assisted language learning and second language (L2) pragmatics. Through a detailed and thorough investigation of three telecollaboration projects, Sofia Di Sarno García provides empirical evidence that the acquisition of pragmatic competence (demonstrated via the speech act of apologies) and intercultural communicative competence (ICC) are inextricably linked in digital exchanges. For researchers in second language pragmatics, this book offers a robust methodological blueprint for assessing complex skills in technologically-mediated environments. For practitioners, it is a useful guide, providing clear frameworks (e.g., Byram's ICC model) and practical findings that affirm telecollaboration's essential role in developing the next generation of culturally savvy, pragmatically competent, Intercultural speakers." --Marta Gonzalez-Lloret, University of Hawai?i at Manoa

"This book is a very welcome addition to the field of applied linguistics and addresses a gap in the literature: the analysis of the pragmatics of apologies in online role-play exchanges. It is an ambitious study that puts forward a convincing case for the combined teaching of pragmatics and intercultural communicative competence through telecollaboration, a pedagogical approach that exposes learners to multimodal intercultural digital interaction. Part 1 provides the reader with a thorough theoretical contextualisation, while Part 2 rigorously analyses telecollaborative exchanges designed by the author and discusses the interesting results obtained. A 'must read' for language educators and researchers worldwide." --Marina Orsini-Jones, Coventry University, UK

About the Author

Sofia Di Sarno-García holds an international PhD from the Universitat Politècnica de València as part of the CAMILLE research group. Currently, she is an Assistant Lecturer at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where she teaches English as a Foreign Language to engineering students. Dr Di Sarno-García has published in both national and international prestigious journals and volumes, and she has participated in national and European research projects in the field of Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Her main research interests include telecollaboration, L2 pragmatics, and intercultural communicative competence. She is a collaborator of the International Association for Teaching Pragmatics, the Multidisciplinary Innovation Group (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), and the Teaching and Learning Languages in Multilingual Education research group (Universitat de València).