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Cross‐cultural adaptability and development of speech act production in study abroad
Author(s) -
Taguchi Naoko
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/ijal.12073
Subject(s) - formality , adaptability , politeness , psychology , speech production , test (biology) , openness to experience , production (economics) , autonomy , style (visual arts) , perception , flexibility (engineering) , linguistics , social psychology , speech recognition , computer science , political science , history , mathematics , ecology , paleontology , philosophy , statistics , macroeconomics , archaeology , neuroscience , law , economics , biology
This study investigated a relationship between cross‐cultural adaptability and development of speech act production during a semester study abroad. Participants were 22 learners of Japanese at a J apanese university. Cross‐cultural adaptability subsuming four dimensions (emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perceptual acuity, and personal autonomy) was measured using a 50‐item survey ( C ronbach's alpha = 0.88). Speech act production was measured with a speaking test involving 10 scenarios eliciting speech acts with different formality levels. The test was given at the beginning and end of the semester. Native Japanese speakers evaluated speech samples on appropriateness of speech style (polite and plain forms) and appropriateness of speech act. A significant relationship was found between cross‐cultural adaptability and gains in the appropriateness of speech act but not speech style.