Intercultural (mis)communication in teacher‐student interaction

Abstract

This article explores communication and miscommunication in Japanese university settings, in English‐medium classroom situations where the students are Japanese and the instructor is a ‘native’, generally Inner Circle, speaker of English. The focus of the analysis is on two aspects of classroom style that are affected by teacher's and students’ divergent norms of interaction and interpretation: (1) turn‐taking behavior, especially student non‐responsiveness represented by an abundance of silence; and (2) forms of address, particularly the names, with or without a title, that students use in calling their teachers. The article is influenced by, and seen as an extension of, Larry E. Smith's work on English for cross‐cultural communication and discourse across cultures.

Miscommunication in Using English as a Lingua Franca

“…Spiral CT chest enhanced scan can not only find special tuberculosis lesions that cannot be detected by conventional chest radiography, but also accurately determine active pulmonary tuberculosis in adults, which is of high diagnostic value. Pulmonary tuberculosis is a serious respiratory disease caused by pulmonary infection with tuberculosis bacteria, and has a high infectivity and mortality [1] . Pulmonary tuberculosis can be asymptomatic in the early stages, or show symptoms such as cough, sputum, low fever, and fatigue, which can easily be misdiagnosed as other respiratory diseases, so the best treatment time is missed, causing respiratory disorders and endanger patients' lives [2][3] .…”

“…world knowledge. Anderson (2018) investigates ELF miscommunication in a Japanese university where English serves as a medium language by Japanese students and an instructor who is a native speaker of English. Miscommunication is caused by different classroom interaction norms of the Japanese students and the Inner Circle instructor about turn-taking and address forms.…”

Main topics of study on teacher-student interaction

“…SL: Engels et al (2016), Jiang, R. et al (2018), Jiang, S. et al (2019), Tsai et al (2020. HL: Anderson (2018).…”

“…Cultural practices can influence teacher-student interactions as well. Anderson (2018), in Japan, points out two specific factors that affect teacher-student interaction in the intercultural university context of Japanese students with English teachers: (1) when taking turns, students in Japan must spend a lot of time in silence (unlike what happens in North American universities); (2) the way in which students address teachers, sometimes by their first name, with or without title, which some consider highly inappropriate in certain English-speaking contexts. Some teachers feel that they are not considered teachers, they feel confusion and discomfort, and they express frustration at the difficulty of changing these practices.…”

Innovative Research on Teaching English for Intercultural Communication Based on Intelligent Assistive Algorithm

“…Based on this, English in colleges and universities must take up the important task of cultivating students' intercultural communication skills and play a more important role in cultivating high-level talents [3][4]. English teachers in colleges and universities should cultivate intercultural communication ability as an important teaching content to expand students' international vision and promote healthy development [5][6]. The situation needs to be reviewed by universities, and students' intercultural communication skills should be developed effectively [7][8][9][10].…”