Aaron Castelan Cargile

Language attitudes toward varieties of English: An American‐Japanese context

Abstract To our knowledge, no data exist on attitudes toward speakers with Japanese accented varieties of American English, an area of profound significance given increasing American‐Japanese contacts across a wide range of applied contexts. This “matched‐guise” study provides such by eliciting Americans’ reactions to a Japanese male talking on two different topics (aggressive versus neutral) using four language varieties (viz., standard, moderate‐accented, heavy‐accented, and disfluent). Speaker evaluations on status, attractiveness, and dynamism traits confirmed certain predictions based on the literature, but some surprising, yet interpretable, patterns emerged in this new domain of American‐Japanese inquiry. Specifically, it was found that Japanese‐accented speakers were evaluated in manner unlike all other non‐standard accented speakers of American English, except those of British and Malaysian background. It is suggested that perceptions of social group competitiveness may be responsible for this pa...

“Why Are You Shoving This Stuff Down Our Throats?”: Preparing Intercultural Educators to Challenge Performances of White Racism

Abstract In general, white students respond intensely to explorations of racism. Intercultural educators are often unprepared for the challenges white students assert during conversations about racism and are unsure how to reply appropriately. Herein, we offer examples of student responses to critical race pedagogy in order to assist teachers in addressing similar stories told in their own classrooms. Based on data collected from over 300 student assignments collected between fall 2003 and fall 2006, we present a typology that categorizes patterns of white student resistance, including acknowledgement of racism, white self-preservation, diversion from structural power, and investment in white supremacy.

Attitudes Toward Language: A Review of Speaker-Evaluation Research and a General Process Model

Language attitudes are typically inferred from hearers evaluative reactions to speech variations. Although they are central to human communication, their social scientific study has been reported mainly in journals outside of the communication discipline. This chapter first reviews the multidisciplinary work in the area that has looked to evaluations of speakers as a means of assessing language attitudes. Although this research has resulted in pragmatically interesting generalizations, more recent research and theorizing suggests that such generalizations may be limited due to assumptions and methodologies that neglect the complex process through which language attitudes reveal themselves. An emergent understanding of the speaker-evaluation process is discussed herein and represented by a recently developed model. Our assessment of the area concludes with suggested directions for future research.

Intercultural Communication Training: Review, Critique, and a New Theoretical Framework

This chapter offers a critical examination of the literature on intercultural communication training and a generalized model of the usually implicit process of training. Though limited, some research has tested various outcomes outlined by this model and has produced some supportive, although largely inconclusive, results. The authors argue that an array of important intergroup constituents of the training process remain obscured at best, and disregarded at worst. For instance, negative attitudes and stereotypes about the target host group can compromise attention toward, and acceptance of, much training material. Context, by means of its historical backdrop and the norms it provides, can also restrict training effectiveness. These and other intergroup dynamics can frustrate the training process and even work against the goals it seeks; indeed, boomerang effects have been documented. This chapter offers a new model of intercultural training that affords considerable theoretical status to intergroup processes.

Attitudes toward African-American Vernacular English: A US Export to Japan?.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine attitudes towards African–American vernacular English (AAVE) in a setting outside of the USA. Because foreign attitudes toward AAVE can serve as an indirect assessment of a societys racial prejudice, we decided to explore these attitudes in Japan: a country with an intriguing mix of ties that are both close (i.e. politically and economically) and distant (i.e. culturally) vis-à-vis the USA. Considering the ostensible similarities in racial beliefs widely held in both countries, we hypothesised that evaluations of AAVE in Japan would be comparable to those in the USA. We found that the evaluations expressed by a sample of Japanese college students were virtually indistinguishable from the overall pattern of AAVE evaluations made by US Americans and recommend additional research in order to better understand the nature of contemporary Japanese attitudes towards different varieties of English.

Theories of Intergroup Conflict A Report of Lay Attributions

Lay theory has contributed fundamentally to understanding various phenomena; however, it has not yet been applied to intergroup conflict. Using a series of increasingly structured tasks, the authors allowed college student respondents to report their ideas regarding the varieties of intergroup conflict that exist in their world and the causes of these types of clashes. A general theory of the causes underlying all forms of intergroup conflict emerged, as well as several distinct group-specific theories.

Can Empathy Improve Concern for Secondary Group Members? Testing an Emotionally Engaging Video Intervention

Media presentations that attempt to improve intergroup relations often portray stigmatized group members in a sympathetic light in order to induce empathy. Emotion priming research suggests that induced empathy may not only affect reactions to those portrayed, but also to a wide range of secondary others. In order to test this possible secondary or transfer effect, the present study assessed whether empathy induced by a video of a boy with cancer could also increase caring for an unrelated stigmatized group member. Although the video was not found to have a direct effect, it did have a significant indirect effect on caring for the stigmatized group member, mediated by concern for the boy. In addition, this indirect effect was also moderated by both age and gender.Media presentations that attempt to improve intergroup relations often portray stigmatized group members in a sympathetic light in order to induce empathy. Emotion priming research suggests that induced empathy may not only affect reactions to those portrayed, but also to a wide range of secondary others. In order to test this possible secondary or transfer effect, the present study assessed whether empathy induced by a video of a boy with cancer could also increase caring for an unrelated stigmatized group member. Although the video was not found to have a direct effect, it did have a significant indirect effect on caring for the stigmatized group member, mediated by concern for the boy. In addition, this indirect effect was also moderated by both age and gender.

Adding without Contradiction: The Challenge of Opening Up Interracial Dialogue

Abstract This essay begins with the question, “What can educators do to minimize the risks inherent to interracial dialogue?” Though no such meaningful conversation ever will be without risk, this article offers two specific strategies that have helped foster open classroom climates: adding without contradiction and granting freedom for conclusions. Both of these strategies intervene on several dysfunctional habits U.S. participants enact in conversations about race and, thus, help enrich the ameliorative capacity of interracial dialogue.

Can Video Engender Empathic Concern for Others? Testing a Positive Affect Arousing Intervention

Empathy is widely recognized as the psychological foundation for prosocial behavior, yet very little is known about methods to increase affective empathy in students and trainees. The present research sought to assess the reliability and potential boundary conditions of one such intervention—a brief emotional video featuring a boy diagnosed with cancer. Study 1 found that the video succeeded in indirectly increasing empathic concern for an African American victim of police abuse among an ethnically diverse student sample in a classroom setting. Study 2 replicated the effect in an online environment among a population of near-racially homogeneous adults. The effect of this brief, convenient, positive-affect intervention is in line with other practice-based and negative-affect interventions.

“Sorry You Had to Go Through That” A Taxonomy of Individual Responses to Stories of Race-Based Social Suffering

Social suffering is distress engendered by cultural, social, and political forces. Responses to stories of such suffering serve as rejoinders in an identity negotiation process and can foster either healing or compounded distress—for both individuals and communities alike. Because there is no published study (to our knowledge) that focuses on the language individuals use in responding to stories of social suffering, the present study aimed to develop a theoretically grounded and empirically derived taxonomy of these responses. In order to develop and validate such a taxonomy, we collected a total of 172 audio-recorded responses to two true stories of race-based social suffering from two samples of undergraduate students at a large university in the greater Los Angeles area. The resulting coding scheme is presented here along with evidence of its reliability and validity.