There are more Japanese people coming to the United States than ever before.
Increasing numbers of problems and conflicts are occurring between the Americans
(hosts) and Japanese (guests). Many scholars have stated that there is a distinct
difference of communication patterns between Americans and Japanese. The Asia
University American Program (AUAP) established between Oregon State University
and Asia University in Japan is designed to give the students intensive English study
and exposure to American culture.
Using AU Japanese students and OSU American students for samples, this
project sets out to determine to what extent their cultural and language barriers affect the
intercultural and interpersonal communication between Americans and Japanese in their
dormitory environment. Including an American-American paired control group, rates
of satisfaction with roommates were compared between the Japanese students and
experimental American students of the Japanese-American pairs, along with the control
group of American pair students. The study also examines factors which affect
satisfied and unsatisfied communication between Americans and Japanese, and
investigates what efforts the students made to overcome cultural differences and
language barriers. Questionnaire surveys and face-to-face semistructured interviews
were conducted to discover these elements.
The results revealed that the rates of satisfaction are similar for the Japanese-
American paired roommates, and the American-American control roommates.
Therefore, ethnicity did not influence the level of roommate satisfaction for the three
groups. Although cultural difference and cultural similarity did not influence the
roommate relationship according to quantitative measurements, cultural differences that
had qualitative and subjective effects on the relationship were found.
The results of the analysis also show that English competence was not a
predictor for satisfactory relationships. The key factors for successful relationships
were the levels of the Japanese students' eagerness to talk to their American roommates
and the American students' willingness to listen to their Japanese roommates. A
combination of eagerness and willingness between the roommates reinforced the
opportunity for success.
Regarding sex, the data shows that the female students were more satisfied than
the male students. The research literature also supports the observation that female
students achieve more satisfactory relationships.
The main traits that contributed to satisfactory relationships on the part of
American roommates were the traits of "patience", "open-mindedness" and
"willingness to make an effort". The traits of Japanese students which contributed to
satisfactory relationships were "trying to talk" with their American roommates and
"willingness to make an effort". The main factors for the unsatisfied relationship are
just the opposite of those contributing to satisfactory relationships. Roommates who
had unsatisfactory relationships typically had little communication with their roommates
because they stayed away from their rooms. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36882 |
| Date | 22 September 1992 |
| Creators | Ruby, Fumiko Nakamura |
| Contributors | Rosenberger, Nancy |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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