Appropriacy is the use of language in such a way as to reflect the relationship between
speaker/writer and listener/reader, to suit the cultural context, to
follow genre conventions and generally to meet listeners' or readers' expectations.
speaker/writer and listener/reader, to suit the cultural context, to
follow genre conventions and generally to meet listeners' or readers' expectations.
Eg : Saying Shut the door, can you? to a friend is more appropriate than I should
appreciate it greatly if you could be so kind as to to close the door.
One of the difficulties involved here is that what is appropriate in terms of linguistic and
other behaviour in one culture may be quite different from what would be done or said in
the same situation in another. Transfer of L1 behaviour to the L2 situation can often be
misinterpreted as impolite, "strange" or offensive. For examples of this see the following
articles in the Notebook:
Cross Cultural Communication : Part One
Cross Cultural Communication : Part Two
Byram, M. Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence, Multilingual Matters
