An Analysis of the Participants Disagreement Strategies in Computer- mediated Intercultural Communication (CMIC)

Abstract

This study explores disagreement strategies in the context of a multicultural Computer-mediated-classroom (CMC) with English as a medium of instruction and communication. It studies how disagreement strategies are influenced by the participants' own cultural pragmatic rules and pose problems for others to follow them as intended. The speech acts of strong and mitigated disagreement are analyzed in detail, with different participants employing different strategies as adopted from their respective cultures. CMC, being a contemporary medium of communication in its own right, is rich in new possibilities for intercultural exchange and collaboration in virtual rather than physical space in which the participants' strategies express differing opinions, or a change in the interpretation of an idea, in the form of contrastive connectives and concussive transition markers. The study concludes that speakers with a lower level of linguistic competence need to be equipped with essential pragmalingusitc strategies and skills in disagreement strategies in intercultural situations.