Intercultural communication of identity: A study of Japanese international students in the United States.

摘要

The purpose of this study is to explore and describe intercultural communication of personal identity in the case of Japanese international students in the United States. In this study, personal identity is defined as the individual unique attributes such as competence which define who they are and individuate them as a distinctive existence in the social environment. Communication of personal identity refers to presenting one's personal identity toward others and receiving others' feedback on his or her presentation of identity. In order to explore communication of personal identity in intercultural situations, this study focuses on self-perceived personal identity (i.e. how a person considers him- or herself), self-observed performance (i.e. how a person observes his or her own performance) and perception of others' identity (i.e., one's imagination of others' perspectives on his or her personal identity). The following research question is addressed: How do Japanese international students experience their self-perceived identity, self-observed performance, and their perception of Americans' perspectives of their identity in intercultural interactions?;A total of eighteen students participated in the interviews. The interviews were conducted individually based on a semi-structured interview protocol. Interview transcripts were analyzed using an ethnographic approach with the aim of understanding the research topic from the perspectives of Japanese international students and presenting rich and thick description of their experiences.;This study finds four features of Japanese students' experiences of intercultural communication with American students. First, the Japanese students in this study described their perceptions of American students' attitudes and behaviors as unwilling to communicate, unfriendly in their responses, and difficult to understand (e.g., speaking too fast). Second, the Japanese students in this study reported that they developed satisfactory relationships with Japan-connected Americans (i.e., Americans who have an interest in Japan). Third, they reported difficulties communicating with Americans because they lack common topics of conversation. Finally, they felt that they had difficulty joking together with Americans;The Japanese students in this study experience the discrepancy between their self-perceived identities and their self-observed performance (i.e., identity-performance discrepancy) as well as the discrepancy between their self-perceived identities and their perception of others' perspectives on their identities (i.e., identity-other discrepancy) with regard to their essential identity elements of being intelligent and socially attractive (e.g., funny, friendly, talkative). To illustrate, the students observed that their performance in intercultural interactions failed to represent their self-perceived identities as being intelligent and socially attractive individuals. As a result of unsuccessful presentations of their identities, the Japanese students believe that the Americans around them recognize them as less intelligent or less socially attractive individuals.;Based on the interview research, this study finds that Japanese students believe that they tend to communicate a reduced or dissonant representation of their self-perceived identity during intercultural interactions with Americans. To illustrate, Japanese students believe that their performances present a reduced or dissonant version of their identity. Consequently, they believe that Americans interpret that they are less intelligent or less socially attractive. As a result, the feedback they receive is discrepant from their self-perceived identity. Grounded in this finding, I propose the concept identity apnea to describe these problems with intercultural communication of personal identity among Japanese international students. This term was chosen as a way to describe the findings that the Japanese students cannot smoothly present (breathe out) their identity elements of being intelligent and socially attractive and they resist internalizing (breathing in) others' perspective on their identities.;This study finds that, in interactions with Americans, Japanese students are undergoing internal struggles with a dilemma between: (a) high motivation to communicate their identity; and (b) low ability to do so toward Americans. Japanese students have learned techniques to communicate their identities in their native culture. When their identities are inseparably bound with their habitual communication styles, they need additional communicative competencies which allow them to communicate their identity in their habitual conversational styles through English language. Based on this finding, I propose the conceptualization of identity flexibility in intercultural interactions (i.e., intercultural identity flexibility).