ABSTRACTS

• Junko Kobayashi & Linda Viswat, Intercultural Communication Competence in Business: Communication between Japanese and Americans
  
• Mohamed Amin A. Mekheimer & Hamad S. Aldosari, Impediments to cultural teaching in EFL programmes at a Saudi University
  
• Sonja Modesti, Looking at You Looking at Me: An Autoethnographic Account of a Tattooed Female and (Re)appropriation of the Tourist Gaze
  
• Srividya Ramasubramanian, Television Exposure, Model Minority Portrayals, and Asian-American Stereotypes: An Exploratory Study
  
• Saul Santos García & Karina Ivett Verdín Amaro, Health Service Provision in a Huichol Community in Mexico: an issue of Intercultural Communication
  
• Masoud Raee Sharifabad & Sara Vali, A Comparative Study of Native and Non-native Body Language: The Case of Americans’ Kinesics vs. Persian English Speakers
  
• Moniza Waheed, Andreas Schuck, Claes deVreese, Peter Neijens, More Different Than Similar: Values in Political Speeches of Leaders from Developed and Developing Countries
  

Abstract
This paper summarizes the results of interviews and questionnaires of 20 American business people who have experience in doing business with Japanese people and discusses how Americans with a high degree of intercultural awareness made compromises or could make compromises in order to conduct business negotiations more efficiently. While acknowledging that one’s intercultural communication competence is context-dependent and there is no panacea for resolving cultural differences, the constructive responses given by the American business people will certainly help deepen Japanese and American mutual understanding. This paper examines intercultural awareness and accommodation from a broader perspective, going beyond the previous fixed unilateral accommodation by Japanese business people. The results of these surveys offer many insights for business people who wish to do business internationally.

Keywords: intercultural communication competence, intercultural awareness, intercultural accommodation, Japanese and American business, making compromises

Literature in a given language is the ultimate culmination of cultural expression. However, in Saudi universities, the literature of the English language, mainly British and American, is meagrely taught due to dogmatic religious considerations. This study reviews relevant research on culture and literature teaching in EFL, and further delves into an exploration of the perceptions and attitudes of faculty and students with regard to why literature should or should not be taught in the Saudi EFL context. Employing descriptive research techniques, i.e., questionnaires and interviews, this study aims at investigating the perceptions of faculty and students involved in the EFL programme provisioned in the English Department, College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University (KKU), and their attitudes towards literature teaching and exposure to the culture of a language. Implications for pedagogy and curriculum development will form part of the conclusions.

Keywords: acculturation, literature teaching, culture teaching, Saudi Universities Back to start

As noted through Ury’s (2002) work, the tourist gaze serves as a literal and metaphorical construct describing the process involved in viewing the interculturally different Other. However, traditional understandings of the tourist gaze do not account for the reciprocity involved in the gazing process. Through the use of autoethnography enhanced with visual ethnographic artifacts, this essay dissects the presumed linear nature of the gaze, asserting that certain subjects may become objects of a (re)appropriated gaze in travel encounters. As evidenced through descriptions of travel in Mexican and Central American cultures, the tattooed female tourist serves as such a subject. Illustrating the (re)appropriated and (re)allocated tourist gaze, she is postured as an exotic Other, becoming one vehicle through which a Central American native or local may assess both U.S. American and/or tattoo culture as a whole.

Keywords: tourist gaze, tattoo culture, Central America, visual ethnography, autoethnography

This exploratory study examines how television exposure influences White-American viewers’ attitudes toward Asian-Americans. Prior research reveals that the dominant image of Asian-Americans in contemporary television is that of the "model minority." Drawing on social identity, intergroup communication, and attributional theories, this study explores the negative outcomes of the seemingly positive Asian-American model minority stereotype. Path analyses conducted with preliminary empirical data from a survey of White-American college students (N = 323) revealed that viewers who internalized television stereotypes reported more stereotypical perceptions of Asian-Americans, greater internal attributions for Asian failures, and more symbolic racist beliefs about Asian-Americans. Directions for future research and implications for media scholars, practitioners, and policymakers are discussed.

Keywords: Asian-Americans, intergroup communication, television, model minorities

In Mexico, there is a high incidence of health-related problems among indigenous ethnic groups that are otherwise prevented and have a low impact in non-indigenous rural communities. The Mexican Ministry of Health acknowledges that this problem may be in part due to the fact that the vision of the indigenous patient regarding health issues has been omitted from official programmes. In this paper we show that although understanding cultural aspects is crucial in the development of a culturally-sensitive view of health care service provision, it is also of paramount importance to observe aspects concerning intercultural communication issues, such as differences in expectations regarding interaction patterns. The case of the Huichols, an indigenous ethnic group in Mexico, is presented.

Key words: intercultural communication, healthcare provision, Huichol

Body language is considered as one of the most fundamental components of communication. Many factors including culture, gender, age, and psyche can affect the use of body language among different people. However, related literature shows that culture and gender are more effective in causing variability of kinesics. This study is an attempt to examine the effect of these two factors on the nonverbal behavior of Persian EFL learners. In other words, the research investigates the differences between Persian students and native speakers of English in using body language. A total of 80 (40 males/40 females) Persian students of English (from Payame Noor University of Tehran) participated in this study. The subjects were observed against a checklist by two trained raters on different body language instances. Three Chi-square analyses were employed to analyze the results. The findings of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between Persian EFL students and American native speakers of English in terms of using kinesics. Moreover, it was found that there was no significant difference between Persian male and female students of English in using body language. However, it was observed that Persian EFL learners use more facial expressions than gestures in their communications.

Key words: kinesics, English native speakers, EFL learners

With globalization, the understanding of different values and cultures has become vital. This study investigates differences and similarities in the use of values of political speeches from developed and developing countries. A content analysis was conducted on 48 political speeches of six leaders. Applying the list of Basic Human Values, we found that "benevolence," "universalism," "stimulation," "self-direction," and "achievement" were most present in all speeches. However, "universalism" and "benevolence" were most present in speeches from developed countries while "stimulation" and "self-direction" in speeches from developing countries. Speeches also differed in terms of tones attached to words expressing the values. This study finds that there are more differences than similarities in the use of values in speeches from developed and developing countries.

Keywords: values, political speeches, developed and developing countries