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Ong Sue Lyn
Social Categories in Intercultural Communication: A Study of the Interactions of Local and International Students at a Private University in Malaysia
This study investigates the influence of the specific social categories of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, mother tongue and English language ability on group work interactions. The study was informed by work on social identities (Deaux 2001; Hogg & Abrams 1988, 1993; Jenkins 2008a; Tajfel 1981, 1982), and studies (Clarke et al. 2007; Esmonde et al., 2009; Ituarte & Davies 2007) on the social categories of age, gender, ethnicity, and English language ability which were found to affect students' behaviour in group work. It aims to find out which of the social categories of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, mother tongue, and English language ability, selected for study, impact on the formation of self-selected groups and influence the group work interactions of the students in the study. The study employs an integrated conceptual framework comprising Intercultural Communication (Gudykunst & Kim 1997; Holliday 1999, 2011; Martin & Nakayama 2013, 2014; Ting-Toomey & Chung 2005), Language and Intercultural Communication (Nair-Venugopal 2003, 2009, 2015; Piller 2007, 2011, 2012), and Social Identity Theory (Jenkins 2008a; Tajfel 1981, 1982). It also employs Pragmatics (Thomas 1995; Yule 1996) as the broad explanatory apparatus that relies on Goffman's (1967) notions of face, and Brown and Levinson's (1987) Politeness Theory as the main analytical approach. Specifically, the study examines Goffman's (1967) face-work strategies of 'avoidance process' and 'corrective interchanges', and Brown and Levinson's (1987) positive and negative politeness strategies in face-to-face interactions. For Goffman, interaction occurs when two or more individuals are physically in one another's presence which involves the construction of identities. Because 'face' is 'self-image' (Brown & Levinson 1987; Cheng 2003; Cupach & Metts 1994; Goffman 1967; Spencer-aotey 2007), it is also a reflection of an individual's identity. It is posited that the negotiation of face-needs through various face-work and politeness strategies, reflect the influence of social categories on interactions. The study was conducted on group comprising a total of 193 culturally diverse international and local undergraduate students in management programme at a private university in Malaysia, Using an ethnographic approach, the participants were observed during group work sessions and the interactions were audio-taped. The data corpus comprised transcripts of audio-taped recordings, close-ended survey questions, self-reports from post-hoc interviews, feedback from expert informants, and field-notes direct participant observations. The study found that the identified social categories of age, sex/ gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, mother tongue and English language ability impact on the interactions in the groups studied. In the formation of self-selected groups, age (M=3.28, SD=1.272) and English language ability (M=3.65, SD=1.246) are significantly influential. In addition to that, the social category of mother tongue (M=2.65, SD= 1.350) is fairly significant as well. In face-to-face group work interactions, the identified social categories of age, gender, mother tongue, and English language ability influenced the interactions more than nationality, ethnicity and religion did. Age influenced the selection of group leaders. The influence of gender was seen in interactions where male participants showed dominance in the mixed-sex group whereas female participants tended to employ collaborative talk to indicate solidarity. As for mother tongue influence, which is closely linked to those of ethnicity and nationality, it was evident in the frequent use of code switching to display in-group solidarity. English language ability also influenced interactions. Participants chose to belong to groups of similar levels of proficiency. Interactions became difficult and frustrating for some when they interacted in the English language because of varying levels of proficiency. The study showed that not only do the social categories of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, mother tongue, and English language ability impact on group work interactions, but that the most salient were those of age gender, mother tongue and English language ability.