ethnicity n
a term sometimes preferred to the term race, and used in research as a category
to distinguish groups based on sociocultural characteristics, such as ancestry,
language, religion, customs, and lifestyle.
ethnocentrism n
the belief that the values, beliefs and behaviours of one’s own group are
superior to those of others.
ethnographic interview n
a teaching technique designed to develop cultural understanding in second/
foreign language learning and that seeks to explore a culture from the point
of view of an insider. An American student learning Mexican Spanish for
example, might interview a speaker of Mexican Spanish by first asking
him or her an open ended question such as “What are the most important
values in Mexican culture?” Subsequent questions are then framed around
the interviewee’s responses. Unlike a structured interviewthe questions are
not framed in advance.
ethnographic research n
see ethnography
ethnography n
a branch of anthropology concerned with the detailed descriptive study of
living cultures. The related field of ethnologycompares the cultures of
different societies or ethnic groups. As a research methodology, ethnographic
researchrequires avoidance of theoretical preconceptions and hypothesis
testing in favour of prolonged direct observation, especially participant
observation, attempting to see social action and the activities of daily life
from the participants’ point of view, resulting in a long detailed description
of what has been observed. In studies of language learning and use, the term
ethnographic research is sometimes used to refer to the observation and
description of naturally occurring language (e.g. between mother and child
or between teacher and students), particularly when there is a strong
cultural element to the research or the analysis. However, much of this
research is quasi-ethnographicat best, since the requirements of prolonged
observation and thick descriptionare frequently not met.
ethnography of communication n
the study of the place of language in culture and society. Language is not
studied in isolation but within a social and/or cultural setting.
Ethnography of communication studies, for example, how people in a
particular group or community communicate with each other and how the
social relationships between these people affect the type of language they use.
ethnicity