Date of Award

5-1975

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

World Languages and Cultures

Committee Chair(s)

Bonnie M. Spillman

Committee

Bonnie M. Spillman

Committee

Farrell Black

Committee

Richley Crapo

Abstract

As one of the foreign students in this country, I have had a lot of problems while studying here. For example , how should I express myself, how should I behave when going to an American party and participating in other traditional occasions such as Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. Also, how can I learn about Americans' activities and manners? Some of them I can solve by learning from others or by myself. Many Americans have trouble when communicating with foreigners. They try hard, but they often do not understand each other.

Information from both Americans and foreigners indicates that if they want to communicate effectively they need to know about the others' attitudes, values, experiences, manners, expectations and cultures. The most important factor for effective communication is each individual's willingness to communicate.

The purpose of this investigation is to explore problems, barriers, and gaps in communication between American and foreign students. The following areas will be developed: (1) cultural differences in attitudes, values, mores, and manners, (2) communication barriers related to language problems, (3) attitudes of Americans and foreigners towards each others, and (4) some suggested guidelines for more effective communication. The goals of this investigation are: first, to use theoretical, experimental and survey data to determine what major problems exist in the attempt to communicate inter-culturally, and second, to provide some behavioral suggestions for improving the interaction attempt.

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