• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.209-224
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• 2009

This study examined the role of contextual knowledge in cross-cultural communication between non-native speakers on an interactive web with a bulletin board system through which college students of English at Japanese and Korean universities interacted with each other discussing the topics of local and global issues. The study investigated the influence of students' relative contextual knowledge on active participation in interactions and discussed the results focusing on the use of discourse strategies for meaning negotiation. The study argues that in interactions even between non-native speakers with limited proficiency, contextual knowledge in the topic under discussion affects the degree to which they accommodate to each other during communication and suggests that the focus of teaching English as a foreign language also should be given to what kind of contextual knowledge students need to obtain and how to express it rather than what level of proficiency in English they need to acquire.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.279-284
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• 2016

As the International Maritime English Organization (IMO) model course for Maritime English has been recently revised and updated, the requirements of current changes to both the 2010 STCW Manila Amendments and English education have been actively reviewed. In order to provide practical guidelines for language teaching, a wide range of new pedagogical approaches and their theoretical backgrounds are also suggested. However, considering the current spread of Business English as a Lingua Franca (BELF) and its critical importance in maritime communication, the pedagogical approaches need to be re-evaluated, specifically in terms of teaching pronunciation in order to emphasize clear and effective communication among international interlocutors. Therefore, the core pedagogical elements of pronunciation should be clearly set and provided with consideration for Lingua Franca Core (LFC), which places importance on mutual intelligibility rather than following the rules of native speakers. In this paper, the current trends of BELF in the maritime industry will thus be introduced. Following this, the importance of LFC in maritime communication will be outlined, and its key features will be discussed in terms of effectiveness and clarity of international maritime communications. Finally, a close comparison between LFC and the pronunciation guidelines suggested by the IMO Maritime English model course 3.17 will be conducted, and pedagogical implications for future teaching pronunciation in cross-cultural global maritime industry will be suggested.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.20
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• pp.295-321
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• 2010

The trend of globalization has sharpened the debate on interculturality, which scholars examine from different and often conflicting points of view ('content' vs. 'practice', 'culture-specific' vs. 'universal', 'communication (meta)theory' vs. 'communication practice', 'individual' vs. 'collective', etc.). Whereas all these approaches are necessary to describe the multiple dimensions of interculturality, their dichotomous nature does not help to account for its internal complexity, which cannot be dissociated from the connections that exist among all these dimensions. The difficulty posed by the essentialist interpretations that tend to result from these dichotomies is compounded by the fact that in postmodern debates priority has been given to approaches that emphasize individual or collective agency over structural constraints which have to do with political economy or with cultural and linguistic codes and traditions. This paper aims mainly at suggesting that the dissolution of the boundaries that exist between these approaches should be pursued in order to get a fuller and richer approach to their common object of study. After discussing, by way of illustration, content-based and practice-based perspectives, we suggest that one way of getting beyond these dichotomies consists in focusing on the 'interactional' dimension of interculturality, which means laying emphasis on intersubjectivity and, particularly, on the individual subjects considered as members of different cultural communities who strive to transcend their sociocultural boundaries in order to reach harmonious interactions in a world in which inequality and the de-territorialization of people and cultures are central features.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.26
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• pp.487-508
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyze communication between school and parents using the "letters to the parents", in order to examine possible areas of improvement for enhancing educational opportunities and school life adjustment for children from multi-cultural families. The letters to the parents used in elementary schools were analysed through genre analysis specifically for this study. At first, the Korean language textbooks for married female immigrants were investigated to see how many letters to parents were included in them. Second, letters to parents were collected to research their structure and content. They were categorized by the text type according to functions and speech acts. It is expected that the results of this study will be helpful for the Korean language education of married female immigrants.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.1216-1222
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• 2005

A shortage of construction field workers has been a serious problem, both in the developed and in the developing countries. As a solution for conquering this problem, these countries import foreign laborers from nearby less-developed countries. While this contributes to lessening the labor deficiency, foreign workers are relatively inefficient in productivity and are often exposed to the cross-cultural risks due to cultural differences, communication difficulties, different work ethics and customs, etc. Despite these facts, construction firms do not well address these issues and are lagged in establishing an appropriate management strategy against it. This paper presents a practical management plan for foreign construction workers through Focus Group Interviews (FGI) and survey investigation. On this basis, this study examines the level of awareness and important managerial aspects of the issue of foreign laborers. Finally, it suggests a cross-cultural and ready-to-use practical human resource management plan for facilitating the foreign worker's productivity.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.02b
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• pp.210-215
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• 2008

The area of design is the key which can create the generation's core values consistently influenced by the various media, throughout the rapid growth of technology and globalization. In the past, the design used to be defined as 'aesthetic', 'decorative', and 'satisfaction of the sensibility'. However, we believe it is time for a different value followed by the issue of user's different backgrounds and cultures. As the need arises, cross culture study has requested that we analyze how we understand the user's backgrounds and cultures. By doing so, it defines the user's needs like focus group interviews and methodology on process of product development or evaluation. Therefore the subject of this study is how the communication between two groups are affected by the difference between two cultures that centers on focus group interviews which has different consequence by diverse cultural backgrounds and personalities. Because personalities cannot be separated from cultural context, we have the compared group as a result of MBTI and establish practical methodology for proving the cultural factor which influenced to the difference of communication ways.

• Journal of International Area Studies (JIAS)
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.133-164
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• 2018

What is the impact of intercultural understanding and communication on a 'foreign' company's performance? We suggest that a firm's localization is a bilateral process requiring mutual understanding and respect of the foreign and indigenous cultures. To assess this argument, we investigate the relationship between mutual understanding (measured by power distance, communication satisfaction, and cross-cultural understanding) on organizational performance at Korean firms employing Indonesian workers in Indonesia. Survey and statistical results indicate that firm performance was negatively affected by power distance and positively affected by cross-cultural understanding. The results suggest a new perspective on enhancing the organization's performance for overseas operations. While it is necessary for Korean investors to understand local culture, educating local managers on Korean culture better enhances organizational performance.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.24
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• pp.170-183
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• 2011

This study explored how a Chinese college student who previously had not reached a threshold level of Korean proficiency used L1 (Chinese) and L2 (English) as a tool to socialize into Korean (L3) culture of learning over the course of study. From a perspective of language socialization, this study examined the cross-linguistic influence of L1 and L2 on the L3 acquisition process by tracing an approach to language learning and practices taken by the Chinese student as a case study. Data were collected through three methods; interview protocols, various types of written texts, and observations. The results showed that the student used English as a means to negotiate difficulties and expertise by empowering her L2 exposure during the classroom practices. Her ways of using L2 in oral practices could be characterized as the 'Inverse U-shape' pattern, under which she increased L2 exposure at the early stage of the study and shifted the intermediate language to L3 at the later stage of the study. When it comes to the language use in written practices, the sequence of "L2-L1-L3" use gradually changed to the "L2-L3" sequence over time, signifying the importance of interaction between L2 and L3. However, the use of her native language (L1) in a Korean-speaking classroom was limited to a certain aspect of literacy practices (i.e., vocabulary learning or translation). This study argues for L2 communication channel in cross-cultural classrooms as a key factor to determine sustainable learning growth.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.43
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• pp.139-170
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• 2016

Through the process, it is possible to understand the meanings of specific numerical symbols that are present in our daily lives, rather than regarding them as abstract symbols. The symbols can be efficiently utilized for cultural communication between Korean teachers and foreign learners, and between learners with different cultural backgrounds. A symbol that intensively shows Korean culture can be applied efficiently to cultural education. This is because Korean identity can be understood by means of symbols that represent Korean thoughts and emotions. Therefore, this study intends to examine the contents of symbol education applicable to Korean culture education, centering on numerical symbols amid far-reaching symbol systems. For this purpose, this study analyzed how the application of numerical symbols is presented in Korean textbooks, with the intent to organize the symbols into 4 categories of myth, folklore, taboo, and idiomatic expressions, which might be actually helpful for understanding Korean culture.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.519-529
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• 2022

This research analyzed the characteristics of Hanfu street snaps in the Chinese version of TikTok to determine the development and meaning of Hanfu. Based on grounded theory, this study selected 102 representative cases by sorting Hanfu street snaps on TikTok according to popularity. Subsequently, through open coding, the cases were organized and summarized into five main categories. The findings are as follows: 1) The national cultural pride has enabled a greater number of Hanfu fans and groups to upload short videos promoting the Hanfu movement on TikTok to expand the influence of the activities and popularize cultural knowledge. 2) The users attempted cross-cultural communication by participating in cultural festivals in Western countries wearing Hanfu. 3) The 'See now buy now' function of TikTok enables numerous Hanfu merchants to upload short videos about Hanfu products to promote their products and boost sales. 4) As 'gamification' affects everyday life, computer game enthusiasts among them wear Hanfu in the form of role-playing. 5)As a unique "meme" phenomenon on TikTok, wearing Hanfu to make interesting videos has also become a form of entertainment. Thus, although the characteristics of Hanfu street snaps on TikTok originated from the transmission of Hanfu culture, the culture has now been transformed through social media into symbolic consumption and play culture.