The Differences in Communication Style between Japanese and American College Students and the Development of Data-based Teaching Material

本研究结合日本与美国学生沟通方式的比较研究与资料教材的开发。程序和结果如下：(1)用日语和英语设计了一个语篇完成测试，由20个常见的会话情景组成。日语测试的对象是11名说日语的大学生，英语测试的对象是11名说英语的大学生。(2)对响应（数据）进行分析和讨论。我们发现文化背景可以解释这些差异。(3)根据日美大学生沟通方式的差异制作教材，并在日本白国大学、信州大学和美国韦尔斯利学院的学生中进行测试。我们发现，以数据为基础的教材非常有效，在讨论式课堂上受到大多数学生的欢迎。教材目前正在准备出版。(4)作为这个研究项目的进一步发展，我们已经开始调查日本人和美国人在我们所研究的对话情境中感到愉快或不愉快的程度。

This research is a combination of a comparative study on the communication styles of Japanese and American students and the development of data-based teaching materials. The procedures and results are as follows :(1) A Discourse Completion Test, consisting of twenty common conversational situations, was designed in Japanese and English. The Japanese test was given to L1Japanese-speaking college students and the English version to L1English-speaking college students.(2) The responses (data) were analyzed and discussed. We found that cultural background could explain the differences.(3) Teaching material based on the differences in communication style between Japanese and American college students was produced and tested on students at Hakuoh University and Shinshu University in Japan and Wellesley College in the USA.We found that the data-based teaching material was very effective and welcomed by most of the students in discussion-style classes. The teaching material is now being prepared for publication.(4) As a further development of this research project, we have started to investigate the degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness Japanese and Americans feel in the conversational situations we have been studying.