2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Sociolinguistic Research on the Discourses of Multicultural Workplaces in Japan: Understanding the Linguistic Behaviour and Overcoming Communicative Issues in Cross-cultural Interaction Among Workers
| Project/Area Number |
19K00751
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| Research Institution | Kansai University |
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Principal Investigator |
Barke Andrew 関西大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (90615741)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
嶋津 百代 関西大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (90756868)
村田 和代 龍谷大学, 政策学部, 教授 (50340500)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | multicultural workplaces / communication problems / communication strategies / workplace interaction / Japanese & non-Japanese |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The main goals for Year 1 of this project were:
a) Meet with project members to select data sources & plan collection of data. 3 meetings were held among project members in June, July, and September 2019 and plans were made regarding the collection of data and the presentation of results;
b) Gain consent for the recording of data. A number of companies were approached and asked to participate in the research. Explanations of the research and participant consent forms were created and provided prior to recording;
c) Begin data collection. In 2019 a variety of data were recorded at 10 different workplaces.
In addition to the above, transcription of the data and preliminary analysis of the data is now under way, with project members having presented some results at conferences.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Although it has been easier than I had anticipated to gain consent from companies for their participation in this research, it has proven somewhat difficult to gain consent for actual workplace interactions to be recorded due to concerns about sensitive commercial information. When this was the case, interviews were carried out with Japanese and non-Japanese staff regarding their experiences of communication among workers of different cultures, problems that have arisen, and strategies that they have used to overcome such problems.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In Year 2, we will:
a) Continue to record data when possible. However, due to the coronavirus situation, this may not be possible to do in person.If necessary we will consider conducting interviews using Zoom, etc.
b) Transcription of data already recorded will continue, as will the analysis of the data.
c) Regarding the presentation of results at conferences, etc., unfortunately we had to cancel our planned panel session that had been accepted for the EPICS IX conference in Spain in May 2020 due to the coronavirus situation. Instead, we are planning to submit another proposal for a panel session to the Sociolinguistics Symposium to be held in Switzerland in 2021.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Some of the research project members only used some of the funds granted for 2019, and requested that they be able to carry the remainder of the grant over into 2020.
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Research Products
(17 results)
