Research Awareness in Intercultural Discourse: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Conducting research in a different cultural discourse has many challenges to researchers. As many research concepts and activities such as interview, privacy, meaning, conversation and text are embedded in culture, a lack of intercultural awareness and competence can affect the reliability and validity of a research project. With the emergence of sociolinguistics as a powerful field of study, researchers can incorporate it into their research methodology. This chapter discusses the significance of language in research and subsequently examines how sociolinguistics can contribute to the enhancement of research.