From Linguistic Awareness to Intercultural Communication

With the rapid development of communication and transportation technology globalization has brought people of diverse cultures ethnicities geographies and religions together. English is now the primary lingua franca which is used to communicate with speakers of different native languages throughout the world. However today the world is facing with the rapid emergence of many new Englishes with their own specific features and markers. Thus learning only standard British and American English and lack of familiarity with the other English language varieties can cause misperception negative attitude and communication failure with the speakers of those certain varieties. The present book discusses how well international students in Malaysia are aware of Malaysian English and how strongly their level of linguistic awareness affects their intercultural communication effectiveness with Malaysians based on a large-scale interdisciplinary research carried out in Malaysia.