The current study analyzes discourse style differences between western and Japanese interlocutors in a group consensus-building task discussion. Four discussants (American male, Japanese male, German female and Japanese female) first created a ranking of 5 life values and then participated in a group discussion to arrive at a common group ranking.…

This study aims to explore the shifting roles of Standard English and World Englishes in the identity construction process of EFL learners. This was a qualitative study of two Taiwanese EFL undergraduate students in Taiwan, which synthesized the data from (1) three semi-structured interviews, (2) field notes, (3) an opinion survey, and (4) the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between spiritual growth and the development of intercultural competence through the experiences of followers of Christ working in least developed countries. To address this purpose, a qualitative study using narrative inquiry and in-depth semi structured interviews were employed to…

This article describes a cultural production process called religification, in which religious affiliation, rather than race or ethnicity, has become the core category of identity for working-class Pakistani-American youth in the United States. In this dialectical process, triggered by political changes following the September 11 terrorist…

American Sign Language (ASL) is the natural and preferred language of the Deaf community in both the United States and Canada. Woodward (1978) estimated that approximately 60% of the ASL lexicon is derived from early 19th century French Sign Language, which is known as "langue des signes francaise" (LSF). The lexicon of LSF and ASL may…

Social exchange theory asserts that individuals who receive a gift will be pressed by an internal sense of obligation to give back in turn (Mauss, 2002). While there is a great deal of literature devoted to giving, there is little literature about the receiving end of the exchange cycle. Deeply impacted by the effects of direct reciprocity are…

The new objects of public and open prejudice are Hispanics, primarily Mexicans due to their large population and their proximity to the United States. Because the Iraq War is such a disaster on all fronts, conservatives and reactionaries have shifted their patriotic fervour from invading foreign countries to inveighing against brown-skinned…

Several scholars have suggested the introduction of an environmental literacy requirement into the curricula of Non-Environmental Science disciplines in tertiary institutions of the world as a "greening" strategy for fostering global environmental stewardship necessary for enhancing understanding and collaboration in tackling the major…

Globalization is affecting nearly every aspect of life, from communications to work, but its effects on diasporic communities are ones that will pose challenges both for immigrant students and their schools in the coming years, as students try to navigate schools and the ways of Western schooling. By drawing on his previous scholarship on diaspora…

The present mixed-methods study investigated meanings and affective valences ascribed to "American identity" and the ways in which these meanings and valences relate to ethnic and personal identity. The data were collected from 2004 to 2006 and used a multiethnic sample of 287 college students residing in Miami, Florida. Subjective…

Increasingly diverse classrooms require educators to examine the appropriateness of teaching practices for certain student subgroup populations. With high accountability for schools to account for student achievement inclusively, a growing interest in culturally responsive practices necessitates more investigation of learning and instruction…

This dissertation explores how participants express and interpret verbal cues of interaction involvement in dyadic conversations via text-based Instant Messaging (IM). Moreover, it seeks to discover differences in the way American participants and Chinese participants use verbal cues when they are highly, or lowly involved. Based on previous…

This study examined the linguistic competence in Korean of Korean heritage language learners (HLLs), compared to English-speaking non-heritage language learners (NHLLs) of Korean. It is unclear and controversial as to whether heritage languages learners are exposed to early but are interrupted manifest as L1 competence or share more…

Students are participating in global education programs in schools today. The objectives for these global programs include preparing children intellectually and social-emotionally to be able to communicate and understand others from around the world, as well as encouraging children to develop a global view in their thinking about others in the…

This paper attempts to introduce and explain the famous Three Concentric Circles proposed by Kachru, namely, the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle. Based on Kachru's theory, the paper proceeds to discuss four fallacies in EFL and ESL contexts, which are (1) English learners in the Outer and Expanding Circles learn English…