Style Shifting as a Measurement of Linguistic and Cultural Improvement during Education Abroad in Japan
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Date
2021-09
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Publisher
Ohio State University. Libraries
Abstract
The current study investigates Japanese style shifting as an additional measurement of linguistic and cultural competence during education abroad (EdA) in Japan. Seven undergraduate students in a Midwest university in the U.S. participated in the current study. OPI interviews were conducted before and after EdA in Japan, which were used as data in the current research. For
quantitative analysis, all sentence matrix predicates were divided into plain forms, masu forms, and fragments (i.e. incomplete sentence) by following Iwasaki's (2008) data analysis. For qualitative analysis, all plain forms were categorized into informal speech style plain form (IfSSPF), detached speech style plain form (DtSS-PF), and others by examining the functions of each plain form. The findings revealed that all the participants used masu forms predominantly. This suggests that all of the participants were able to use appropriate speech style in a formal interview setting. In addition, participants whose OPI ratings were Intermediate-Low or lower tended to use IfSS-PF more than DtSS-PF in their style shifting, and some of the IfSS-PF used
were culturally inappropriate. Qualitative analysis revealed that there were differences in frequency and type of style shifting even among the participants whose OPI ratings were the same. This study suggests that examining style shifting in Japanese conversation is a useful measurement for linguistic and cultural competence that may not be clear in an OPI rating. The findings further suggest that an EdA context in Japan is ideal learning environment for style shifting, examination of style shifting development can provide a better understanding of linguistic and cultural gain during EdA in Japan.
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Keywords
Style shifting, L2 acquisition of Japanese, Education (study) abroad learning, Assessment of linguistic and cultural gain
Citation
Tobaru, Hiromi. "Style Shifting as a Measurement of Linguistic and Cultural Improvement during Education Abroad in Japan." Buckeye East Asian Linguistics, vol. 5 (September 2021), p. 13-21.