SBP: Language tools to improve intercultural interactions.

少数民族、移民和国际游客的存在增加了国家的多样性和繁荣，但文化差异可能使在学校、工作场所和其他日常环境中难以进行舒适和富有成效的互动。本研究测试了一个简单的干预措施的有效性，以改善不同文化群体成员之间的互动：教不熟悉的“民族”名字的正确发音。名字对人们认识自己很重要。当别人不能读出或记住另一个人的名字时，这可能会造成尴尬和距离，这可能会向另一个人发出他们不属于这里的信号。学习正确地读出别人的名字也可以让说话者感觉更接近对方，减少他们的偏见。在一个日益全球化的世界中，通过正确念出名字的简单姿态来增强尊重和包容的感觉，可能会改善不同文化群体成员之间的互动和态度，并可能提高人们在学校和工作场所的参与度和生产力。十项实验研究将测试学习念种族名字对“说话者”和那些在互动中正确学习和使用名字的人的影响。学习民族名称的发音可以减少来自不同文化群体的人之间的认知障碍、焦虑和“差异”感，从而可以改善互动的质量和对文化群体的态度。对于那些对大多数美国白人不熟悉的种族名字的人来说，别人努力正确发音他们的名字可能是一个惊喜；它可以传达一个欢迎的环境，从而降低焦虑，使互动更加顺畅，增加积极的态度。这些研究包括让人们进行真实的一对一互动（例如，美国白人和中国国际学生或拉丁裔学生之间的互动）或模拟互动，以测试所提出的模型，并将名字学习干预与其他方法（如多元文化培训）进行比较。本研究从说话者的角度和接受者的角度对该模型进行了验证。这项研究的灵感来自以下发现：国际学生和其他少数民族学生因自己的名字而受到负面对待，但使用听起来不那么“外国”的名字的做法与较低的自尊和幸福感有关。名字发音干预的价值可能在于它的轻松和简单：它不需要关于文化差异或偏见的教育，它消除了为了“融入”而否认自己的名字和身份的负担，它只需要一个小小的手势和时间投入。这种训练理论上应该会影响说话者和接受者的态度。为了发音民族名称而肤浅地学习一门语言，可能会对社会生活产生深远的影响，使与来自不同文化和民族群体的人的互动和态度更加顺畅，并增加对工作、学校和社会环境的参与和参与。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.