Distinguished Speaker Series: Key intercultural communication issues for language learning

You are warmly invited to the first Distinguished Speaker Series talk of 2023, where we are delighted to welcome Professor Zhu Hua, Professor of Language Learning and Intercultural Communication and Director of the International Centre for Intercultural Studies at the Institute of Education, University College London (UCL). Zhu Hua is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, UK and Chair of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL). 

Globalisation, the changing dynamics of geopolitics and, more recently, the ongoing pandemic and rising nationalism have heightened the significance of intercultural issues in almost every aspect of everyday life.

In this talk, Professor Zhu Hua will reflect on the key shifts in conceptualisation and methodological positioning within intercultural communication research and discuss their implications for language learning along the following questions:  

• Where is culture in language learning and teaching? 
• What are the perks and perils of intercultural encounters mediated through digital technology?
• How can intercultural communication research contribute to inequality and social justice agendas?

Her research draws from her experience of intercultural living and working in China and UK, and centres on multilingual and intercultural communication and language development. 

The talk will be followed by a discussion from Stefanie Schneider, lecturer in Intercultural Communication from the WELS School of Languages and Applied Linguistics (LAL) around themes from the school's Intercultural Communication short course.

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