SBP: Language tools to improve intercultural interactions.

University Of Kansas Center For Research Inc, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

The presence of ethnic minorities, immigrants, and international visitors increases the diversity and prosperity of countries, but cultural differences may make it difficult to have comfortable and productive interactions at school, in workplaces, and in other everyday settings. This research tests the effectiveness of a simple intervention to improve interactions between members of different cultural groups: Teaching proper pronunciation of unfamiliar “ethnic” names. Names are important to people’s sense of who they are. When others cannot pronounce or remember another person’s name, that can create awkwardness and distance, and it may signal to the other that they do not belong. Learning to correctly pronounce another person’s name may also make the speaker feel closer to the other individual and reduce their prejudice levels. In an increasingly globalized world, enhancing feelings of respect and inclusion through the simple gesture of properly pronouncing names may improve interactions and attitudes between members of different cultural groups, and may boost people’s engagement and productivity in schools and workplaces. Ten experimental studies will test the effects of learning to pronounce ethnic names on both the “speakers” and those whose names are properly learned and used in interactions. Learning to pronounce ethnic names may reduce cognitive disfluency, anxiety, and feelings of “difference” between people from different cultural groups, and as a result, may improve the quality of interactions and attitudes toward the cultural group. For those with unfamiliar ethnic names for the majority of White Americans, the efforts of others to correctly pronounce their names may be a pleasant surprise; it may convey a welcoming environment, thus lowering anxiety, smoothing interaction and increasing positive attitudes. The studies involve placing people in real one-on-one interactions (e.g., between White American and Chinese international students or Latinx students) or in simulated interactions to test the proposed model and to compare the name learning intervention to other approaches, such as multicultural training. The research tests the model from the speaker’s perspective and from the recipient’s perspective. The research builds on and is inspired by findings that international students and other ethnic minorities face negative treatment based on their names, but that the practice of using less “foreign” sounding names is associated with lower self-esteem and well-being. The value of the name pronunciation intervention may lie in its ease and simplicity: It does not require education about cultural differences or bias, it removes the burden of denying one’s name and identity to “fit in,” and it requires only a small gesture and time investment. This training should theoretically influence the attitudes of the speaker and of the recipient. Superficial learning of a language for the purpose of pronouncing ethnic names may have a profound impact on social life, smoothing interactions with and attitudes toward people from different cultural and ethnic groups, and increasing involvement and engagement in work, school, and social settings. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.