FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS — International scholars will headline an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis conference, discussing the role of cultural knowledge and intercultural communication as well as the intersection of language and culture in community settings. The conference aims to help university teachers, school teachers and other professionals adapt the latest thinking about the integration of cultural studies into professional and second language learning settings.
The Researching and Teaching Intercultural Competence and Intercultural Rhetoric and Discourse Conference will take place June 6 and 7 at the IUPUI Campus Center, 420 University Blvd, Indianapolis.
The conference is organized by the International Center for Intercultural Communication, the Department of World Languages and Cultures, and the Max Kade German-American Center in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.
This year’s conference also celebrates the memory of professor Daniel C. Nützel, who died in April 2013 at the age of 50. Nützel was associate professor of German, the Hoyt-Reichmann Scholar of German-American Studies and director of the Max Kade German-American Center at IUPUI.
“Professor Nützel was a well-respected colleague, teacher and scholar,” said professor Claudia Grossmann, conference co-organizer and interim director of the Max Kade German-American Center. “He was a proponent of expanding cultural and intercultural competence in communication as an aspect of interest across a range of academic disciplines, and this conference is a fitting part of his legacy.”
The conference focuses on studies of how writers and speakers with various linguistic, cultural and social backgrounds negotiate communication. The conference seeks to bring together current discussions of intercultural competence in language education, rhetoric and discourse research, and application in English and other world language teaching settings.
“Presentations will feature theoretical and empirical investigations of topics along with discussion of practical applications, including classroom practices, writing in business and other professional settings,” said professor Marta Anton, chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures and a conference organizer. “The conference addresses a variety of topics, from the importance of teaching metaphoric meanings as an essential part of developing linguistic proficiency in a second language, to the development of intercultural competence during study abroad or the expressions of ethnicity among German Americans in early-20th-century Indianapolis, to name a few, and highlights cultural contact and language development.”
Plenary talks include:
- “The Present and Future of Intercultural Rhetoric,” Ulla Connor, IUPUI, and Dwight Atkinson, Purdue University
- “Metaphor: The Integration of Culture, Cognition, and Communication,” James Lantolf, Pennsylvania State University
- “The Intercultural Complex and Its Assessment in Healthcare Communication,” Srikant Sarangi, Aalborg University, Denmark
- “Impacting Teacher Use of Critical Sociocultural Practices in K-12 Classrooms,” Annela Teemant, IUPUI
“The conference was established to further research in intercultural competence, and intercultural rhetoric, and to create collaborations among leading research universities and organizations,” said professor Ulla Connor, conference co-organizer and director of the International Center for Intercultural Communication. “It also is intended to build connections at IUPUI and within Indianapolis and Indiana among those who teach in a broad array of disciplines.”
Researchers and teachers of second/foreign languages as well as scholars in second language acquisition, communication, composition and multicultural education, among others, are encouraged to participate.