Politeness in conflict: a qualitative analysis of grand strategy of politeness in the film ‘Shortcomings’ (2023)

Farzad Sharifian, (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of language and culture. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015. Pp. xv-522. ISBN: 978-0-415-52701-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-79399-3 (ebk)7

The purpose of the article is to analyse the role of Ukrainian musical art in the contemporary world cultural process and the integration of Ukrainian music into the European cultural space. The main method used to conduct the research was a survey. The methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis, synthesis, and content analysis used to study the scientific literature on the subject were used to reveal its results. The results demonstrate that in the context of Russian aggression, Ukrainian music has become a means of presenting Ukrainian culture at the international level and pointing out the uniqueness of the Ukrainian people from the Russians. The study showed that the vast majority of respondents listen to music several times a day or several times a week. This high popularity makes it possible to use music to convey important social messages and pointers to solutions, including to audiences from other countries. The study also confirms the understanding of the role of music in intercultural communication, which is realised through listening to special musical compositions with an intercultural context or national (state) orientation. The conclusions emphasise that the understanding of music as part of cultural diplomacy remains an under-researched aspect in the Ukrainian context, as the global understanding of the role of musical art in the political arena still needs to be further developed. A promising area for future research could be to explore the possibilities of using music as an element of soft power in politics.

Background and Purpose: Cultural collisions in tourism communication can elicit obstacles or failure to achieve communication goals in social interactions with people of different backgrounds. A communication between cultures can present misunderstandings, vagueness in meanings and frustration due to the diverse social and cultural norms arising from various discourse systems. Among the several types of tourism communication, this study attempted to foreground delivering instructions, which is a frequently utilised speech act (SA) during tour sessions. More specifically, the study examined the use of SA in giving instructions, as expressed by tour guides throughout tour sessions. Delivering instructions is a straightforward mode of communication, even in intercultural context.
 
 Methodology: This study adopted a qualitative research method through the collection of data from audio and visual recordings, along with observational notes from interactions between tour guides and tourists particularly during the five Free Independent Travel (FIT) packages. Five Japanese speaking Malaysian tour guides and 17 Japanese tourists (JTs) were recruited for this study. Categorisation of directive speech act (DSA) by Searle (1979) and structure formation of SDA by Blum-Kulka (1989) were employed to analyse the subcategories of directive.
 
 Findings: Findings indicate that only three subcategories were used, namely the command, insist, and request. The findings also reveal that there were alignments and adjustments to the expressions or utterances when giving instructions. With the aim of effective intercultural communication, the tour guides were identified to have adapted to the tourist culture. The expression of instructions even in an intercultural context did not confer any contradiction of cultural norms, and were unlikely to cause conflict between the tour guides and the JTs.
 
 Contributions: This research is expected to serve as a foundation and reference for parties involved in the teaching and learning of the Japanese language, especially in the expression of SA for tourism communication.
 
 Keywords: Speech act, giving directive, Malaysian tourism, tourism communication, Malaysia tour guide.
 
 Cite as: Rashid, R. A., Mat, N. H., Kamaruzaman, A. S., Ibrahim, M. Y., Noh, C. H. C., & Matsutani, S. (2021). The descriptive analysis of Japanese language directive speech acts in intercultural context by Malaysian tour guides in tour sessions communication. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 358-378. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp358-378

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

In this chapter, the focus shifts from oral communication to written communication, considering the sometimes controversial issue of politeness in written intercultural communication. Firstly, a definition of politeness is discussed; secondly, some key issues related to the topic of intercultural communication are considered; and finally, intercultural e-mail communication is introduced. The aim is to understand how intercultural communication, mediated by the internet, can create compelling and sometime challenging conditions for additional language learning. For example, university students use e-mails a lot. Nonetheless, some issues, amongst which the level of formality when they address university staff, may vary, depending on their own national culture and on the training they receive on the use of this medium. As a result, intercultural clashes may occur. To facilitate foreign language teaching and communication, an instrument to assess politeness in intercultural e-mail communication in an intercultural context will be presented.

The article reveals the linguistic aspect of intercultural conflict communication with the help of a specially prepared linguistic experiment on “Interlingual homonyms” (conducted with English- and Ukrainian-speaking students of Vasyl’ Stus Donetsk National University), as well as through scientific observation (interesting conflict-generating communication situations during the educational process, the subject of which was the contradictory use of certain morphological forms and phraseological units, were identified). Intercultural communication is positioned as a process of verbal and non-verbal communication between people belonging to different national and cultural communities. Conflict in intercultural communication (i.e., intercultural conflict communication) is presented as a cultural phenomenon, the content of which is determined by cultural factors, and the process of emergence and development of conflicts is regulated by cultural norms, which under certain circumstances lead to the emergence of special cultural rituals that affect the process of conflict interaction between participants. The analysis of the linguistic aspect of intercultural conflict communication is to identify verbal and non-verbal markers of cultural information in order to achieve communicative interaction between representatives of different cultures and prevent the emergence of communicative conflicts. Specific examples demonstrate that intercultural conflict communication can be realized at several linguistic levels: lexical, phraseological, morphological, and syntactic. It is proved that the most effective way to regulate intercultural conflict communication is to develop intercultural communication competence in its real and potential participants as the ability to adequately use culturally significant language tools, concepts and behavioral stereotypes.

The article is devoted to the current problem of modern linguodidactics, Russian language studies and linguoculturology - linguocultural concepts e-teaching in intercultural context on the material of the Russian language. The article deals with using information and communication technologies in teaching Russian as a foreign language in linguoculturological aspect. Methods of online learning Russian as a foreign language to Chinese students are offered. This study is based on methods of analytical description, systematization, generalization, comparative analysis, linguoconceptual and linguoaxiological analysis, e-learning. As the material of a research, Chinese and Russian aphoristic funds are used (more than 100 aphoristic statements containing lexemes friend , friendship , to be on friendly terms ). The article presents electronic educational teaching materials, which take into account students' specific communication competences formed in the process of studying Russian linguistic and cultural concepts in an intercultural context. Within the framework of a series of webinars (online seminars), the stages of axiological analysis of the concept friendship , verbalized in Chinese and Russian aphorisms, are revealed in the process of e-learning linguocultural concepts in an intercultural context by Chinese students studying Russian as a foreign language. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that for the first time the article offers exercises for online teaching Russian as a foreign language with linguocultural concepts analysis in an intercultural context on the material of Chinese and Russian aphorisms. The article contributes to the development of linguoconceptology, linguoculturology, linguoaxiology, Russian language studies, methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language, e-learning in an intercultural context, and intercultural communication. The materials of the study can be used at classes on Russian as a foreign language, linguodidactics, intercultural communication, and translation theory and practice. The materials of the study could form the basis of an electronic textbook for teaching linguistic and cultural concepts in an intercultural context in the course of Russian as a foreign language.

BackgroundMedically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are highly prevalent and remain challenging in healthcare and medical education, along with the increase in the importance of intercultural issues regarding MUS. However, less is known about the challenges of professionally addressing patients with MUS in the interprofessional and intercultural contexts. Thus, the present study aims to provide the first exploration of the experiences of medical specialists regarding treating MUS in intercultural contexts and inputs for training development on the intercultural aspects of MUS.MethodsThree focus groups (total n = 13) consisting of medical specialists from a Hungarian university who were teaching at the medical faculty in intercultural settings and also worked for the university health services were interviewed. The topics covered the participants' personal experiences on addressing MUS and the challenges of intercultural communication and the intercultural educational context. Thematic analysis was used to yield a qualitative account of the interviews as guided by the research questions.ResultsRepresenting the different aspects of medical specialists, the study identified three main themes in the experiences of medical specialists, namely, 1) the need to adapt to the personal world of patients and search for common frames to understand MUS, 2) the need to discover methods for adapting to cultural differences and 3) the need to enhance the interprofessional coordination of knowledge and practices.ConclusionsThe results are in line with the distinct conclusions of previous studies. Moreover, an integrated educational program on the intercultural aspects of MUS may address the main themes separately and, subsequently, support their integration. Therefore, the study discusses the manner in which an integrated educational program on the intercultural aspects of MUS may address the needs recognized in these aspects.

Understanding intercultural medical communication ensures doctor-patient communication accommodates our cultural differences in medical encounters. While there is existing research that explores doctor-patient communication, further examination is needed to understand how intercultural communicative needs can lead to better medical encounters for the patients involved. This study focuses on intercultural medical communication experience of Indian women living in Singapore. Twenty-eight interviews were conducted with participants between the ages of 30 to 75. The transcripts were analyzed using the three steps of thematic analysis. The findings highlight communication differences in medical experiences, and lack of connectedness with providers. Our findings reiterate that individuals compare medical experiences based on one’s own cultural expectations and these expectations carry over into a different intercultural medical context. The articulations of challenges in communication demonstrate key ways culture plays a role in intercultural medical interaction as well as points toward an even greater need for communication accommodation. Thus, the findings suggest the significance and importance of communication accommodation at both interpersonal and intergroup levels in doctor-patient interaction, especially in an intercultural context.

Background: New horizons have been opened for educational excellence in medical universities by commencing the role of scholarship for medical teachers in recent years. The low rate of faculty reception towards educational scholarship and their low interest in continuing scholarly activities indicated a need for the current study. Methods: In this qualitative research, a non-probability purposive sample of thirteen participants(n=13) engaged in two focus group discussions (FGDs), consisting of executors, collaborators, consultants, and referees of university or national educational processes in the last ten years. Participants were asked several critical questions concerning factors affecting educational scholarship development and sustainability. Qualitative content analysis with a conventional approach was used to analyze the data obtained from the discussions. Results: Merging the codes extracted from the two FGD sessions and repeated review yielded 101 codes classified into two themes: educational scholarship development and sustainability. In all, 19 categories were identified: personal commitment, educational requirements, financial support, faculty development, team building, information resources, educational leadership and management, institutional motivation, culture building, individual characteristics, outcome evaluation of educational scholarship, material and spiritual support, mentorship, sustained training, supportive learning environments, curriculum development, organizational administration and leadership, application of results, and publication of results. Conclusion: Our findings show that encouraging educational scholarship among faculty members and ensuring the sustainability of innovative educational processes are influenced by factors rooted in both individual and institutional dynamics.

The analysis of narrative data frequently raises methodological concerns oscillating between, on the one hand, the necessity to structure and highly heterogeneous and descriptive data for operationalizing analysis and, on the other hand, the interest to preserve the subtlety and context of narration for enhancing analysis. Based on existing research that evidences the inherent coherence of qualitative analysis for narrative data and the operational advantage of quantifying narrative data via textual analysis, this paper presents a methodological exploration combining textual analysis and qualitative content analysis to analyze narrative data. Positioning this methodological process within an abductive approach, this research assesses an analysis conducted on 75 narrative texts written by employees and managers about their work and shows that 1) the textual analysis, with its quantifying techniques, helps peruse and structure narrative data, particularly heterogeneous and massive data; 2) the interaction between quantifying techniques supported by textual analysis and qualitative content analysis based on interpretation favors the interaction between deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning during the analytical process and therefore reinforces the interpretative robustness of qualitative content analysis; 3) if qualitative content analysis cannot intrinsically dissociate from the subjective interpretation, textual analysis might provide relative objectifying adjustments to the subjectivity of interpretation. The paper ends by presenting propositions and recommendations with regard to the utilization of quantifying techniques in the qualitative analysis of narrative data.

Emotion has been widely studied in multiple disciplines which include but are not exhaustive to cognitive psychology, neurobiology, anthropology and linguistics. However, emotion in the context of intercultural communication has received far less well-deserved attention. On the other hand, although certain social factors such as context, common ground, formulaic language use and salience are deemed as indispensable helping us to understand the nature of and challenges in intercultural communication, a key concept such as emotion and its role in shaping people’s perceptions, interpretations, attitudes and language use in intercultural contexts is in effect neglected or taken from an intuitive departure, despite a burgeoning growth of literature contributing to conceptualising intercultural communication theories. In this paper, I intend to fill this overlapping gap in the emotion studies and in the intercultural communication research, drawing on findings on the nature of emotion in cognitive psychology, anthropology and linguistics to develop a sociocultural model theorising emotion in intercultural contexts. Naturally occurring intercultural interactions, where Mandarin is used as the language of communication, are employed to illustrate how the model can be applied to analysing emotion, language and culture in intercultural encounters. It is hoped that this paper can contribute to interdisciplinary efforts on theorising emotion in the area of intercultural communication.

Exclusive breastfeeding is the best start an infant can receive. However, in many high-income countries breastfeeding rates are low and this may be a reflection of social norms which in turn may be influenced by the media. This study therefore explored the portrayal of infant feeding in women's general interest magazines. The five top selling women's weekly magazines in Britain and Ireland for 2013 over a 4-month period were included. A quantitative and qualitative content analysis was conducted for both written and visual content. In 58 magazines, there were 90 references to infant feeding with an average of 1.5 (range: 0-5) per magazine. Breastfeeding and formula feeding references were present in equal number and both were predominantly portrayed positively. There was only 1 visual representation of breast feeding compared with 11 of bottle feeding. Potential drivers for breastfeeding included its role in post-pregnancy weight loss and celebrity endorsement while family routine, the role of males in the house and concerns about adverse health effects were identified as barriers to breastfeeding. An improvement in visual representations of breast feeding and factual information in women's weekly magazines may be helpful in re-defining social norms regarding infant feeding. Keywords: food and nutrition, health promotion, public health.

Sufficient knowledge is available about the definition, details and differences of qualitative content and thematic analysis as two approaches of qualitative descriptive research. However, identifying the main features of theme as the data analysis product and the method of its development remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to describe the meaning of theme and offer a method on theme construction that can be used by qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis researchers in line with the underpinning specific approach to data analysis. This methodological paper comprises an analytical overview of qualitative descriptive research products and the meaning of theme. Also, our practical experiences of qualitative analysis supported by relevant published literature informed the generation of a stage like model of theme construction for qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. This paper comprises: (i) analytical importance of theme, (ii) meaning of theme, (iii) meaning of category, (iv) theme and category in terms of level of content, and (v) theme development. This paper offers a conceptual clarification and a pragmatic step by step method of theme development that has the capacity of assisting nurse researchers understand how theme is developed. As nursing is a pragmatic discipline, nurse researchers have tried to develop practical findings and devise some way to “do something” with findings to enhance the action and impact of nursing. The application of a precise method of theme development for qualitative descriptive data analysis suggested in this paper helps yield meaningful, credible and practical results for nursing.

Introduction Jane Jackson Section I: Foundations of Language and Intercultural Communication * The history and development of the study of intercultural communication and applied linguistics Judith N. Martin, Thomas K. Nakayama and Donal Carbaugh * Culture, communication, context and power Adrian Holliday * Language, identity and intercultural communication Kimberly A. Noels, Tomoko Yashima and Rui Zhang * Interculturality and intercultural pragmatics Istvan Kecskes * Conceptualizing intercultural (communicative) competence and intercultural citizenship Michael Byram Section II: Core Themes and issues Culture and verbal/nonverbal communication and culture * Linguaculture and transnationality: the cultural dimensions of language Karen Risager * Intercultural rhetoric and intercultural communication Dwight Atkinson * Nonverbal communication: The messages of emotion, action, space and silence David Matsumoto and Hyi-sung Hwang * Speech acts, facework and politeness: Relationship-building across cultures Winnie Cheng Language, identity, and intercultural communication * Gender, language, identity and intercultural communication Xingsong Shi and Juliet Langman * Cultural identity, representation and Othering Fred Dervin * Other-language learning, identity and intercultural communication in contexts of conflict Constadina Charalambous and Ben Rampton * Intercultural contact, hybridity and third space Claire Kramsch and Michiko Uryu Understanding intercultural transitions: From adjustment to acculturation * Beyond cultural categories: communication, adaptation and transformation Young Yun Kim * Acculturating intergroup vitalities, accommodation and contact Howard Giles, Douglas Bonilla and Rebecca B. Speer Intercultural communicative competence: Multiple conceptual approaches * Language: An essential component of intercultural communicative competence Alvino E. Fantini * Understanding intercultural conflict competence: Multiple theoretical insights Stella Ting-Toomey * The intercultural speaker and the acquisition of intercultural/global competence Jane Wilkinson * World Englishes, intercultural communication and requisite competencies Farzad Sharifian Section III: Theory into practice: Towards intercultural (communicative) competence and citizenship * An intercultural approach to second language education and citizenship Peih-ying Lu and John Corbett * Intercultural communicative competence through telecollaboration Robert O'Dowd * Critical language and intercultural communication pedagogy Manuela Guilherme * Intercultural training in the global context Kathryn Sorrells * Multiple strategies for assessing intercultural communicative competence Alvino E. Fantini Section IV: Language and Intercultural Communication in Context * Second language teacher education Michael Kelly * The English as a foreign or international language classroom Phyllis Ryan * The multicultural classroom Jennifer Mahon and Ken Cushner * Education abroad Jane Jackson * Business and management education Prue Holmes * Professional and workplace settings Martin Warren * Translation, interpreting and intercultural communication Juliane House * Culture and health care: Intergroup communication and its consequences Bernadette Watson, Cindy Gallois, David G. Hewett and Liz Jones * Legal contexts Christoph A. Hafner * Tourism Gavin Jack and Alison Phipps Section V: New Debates and future directions * A global agenda for intercultural communication research and practice Malcolm N. MacDonald and John P. O'Regan Index