Junko Mori
The construction of interculturality: A study of initial encounters between Japanese and American students
This study is part of my on-going research on interactions that involve learners of Japanese. While a number of studies have investigated learners' performances in classroom, proficiency testing situations, or quasi-experimental settings, naturally occurring interactions outside of classroom have not been studied extensively. This article examines a student-organized weekly conversation table, where Japanese and American students gather and chat. More specifically, this paper closely examines the ways in which these participants initiate topical talk as they get acquainted with each other. Through the process, it sheds light on how the participants utilize their cultural differences as a resource for organizing their participation and, at the same time, recreate the salience of the interculturality of the interaction.
Junko Mori is Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
