Presentation Shared Reality and Cultural Logic more

Sat, Jul 10, 14:30-15:00 Asia/Tokyo

Meaning-making, logic and culture are intimately intertwined. Often when ESL teachers are faced with student essays and reports which seem illogical and incoherent, it is attributed to lack of linguistic abilities. However, meaning is jointly constructed through shared reality; language becomes communication only through implicit agreement of what is real or not. This presentation will use the theoretical paradigm proposed by Dr. John Conlon for abstract, declarative culture versus concrete, procedural culture, which is based on Edward T. Hall’s foundational paradigm of “cultural dimensions”. These paradigms will be used as a basis to consider what is considered “real” or not “real”, and how this leads to cultural preferences for deductive or inductive logic styles. Derived from 30 years of experience working in cross-cultural academic and business contexts in Japan, examples of Western cultural preference for deductive logic style and Japanese preference for inductive style will be used to illustrate this cultural orientation.