Conflict management in Japanese: An examination of native and non-native speakers

Yumi Takamiya, Purdue University

Abstract

With an aim of establishing empirical evidence as a basis for designing Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) pedagogy concerning pragmatic strategies for conflict resolution, this study compares how native (NS) and non-native (NNS) speakers of Japanese manage conflict in educational settings. Specifically, Japanese teaching assistants at an American university participating in weekly staff meetings and learners planning extra-curricular activities in an intensive total immersion Japanese program are compared with respect to their interactional strategies for avoiding, negotiating and mitigating interpersonal conflict using applied conversation analysis. Both linguistic strategies and non-linguistic strategies are examined. As for linguistic strategies, there were five areas in which differences were observed between NS and NNS: (1) indirectness and mitigating strategies, (2) speech style shift, (3) direct statements of opinion that did not cause face threatening acts, (4) post-conflict strategies and (5) humor. As for non-linguistic strategies, differences were found between NS and NNS in these areas: (1) eye gaze, (2) gesture and (3) laughter. These findings are discussed in relation to Brown and Levinson's politeness theory and other discourse and conversation analysis studies. Such findings can be useful in developing methods for teaching pragmatic strategies for conflict resolution and enhancing Japanese L2 learners' communication skills.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Fukada, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Linguistics|Modern language|Foreign language education|Social psychology|Communication|Sociolinguistics

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