An american – vietnamese cross-cultural study on non-verbal expressions of disappointment part 3

An american – vietnamese cross-cultural study on non-verbal expressions of disappointment

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT

I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE STUDY PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTEDENTITLED

AN AMERICAN - VIETNAMESE CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY ON NONVERBALEXPRESSIONS OF DISAPPOINTMENT

IS MY OWN STUDY IN THE FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THEDEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS.

Ha Noi, 2009

Bùi Hải Sơn

My deep thanks also go to Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Quang whose interesting lectures on Cross-Cultural Communication with perspectives on cultural variety have inspired me to do this cross- cultural study.

I would like to express my gratitude to my family, to many of my friends and colleagues, for their valuable sharing and encouragements

I wish to acknowledge the important contribution of both Vietnamese and

American informants, whose names I cannot mention here for the completion of my study.

AN AMERICAN – VIETNAMESE CROSS-CULTURAL STUDYON NONVERBAL EXPRESSIONS OF DISAPPOINTMENTABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the most common nonverbal expressions ofdisappointment used by American and Vietnamese people in the field of facial expressions,gestures and postures Another aim was to find out the similarities and differences betweentheir ways of expressions Finally, the influential factors affecting the expressions ofdisappointment were also examined in the study.

The quantitative method was applied in the research The survey inspected Americannonverbal expressions of disappointment through Vietnamese informants’ perception andVietnamese nonverbal ways of expressing disappointment through American informants’observation 30 questionnaires were sent out and 30 responses were received.

One result of the study was that disappointment seemed to be a universal emotion of whichAmerican and Vietnamese people shared most the expressions It was also discovered thatthe informants’ length of stay or work with native people and cultural knowledge had greatinfluence on their perception of communicating partners’ emotional states Additionally,the results of the study revealed that the choice of expressing disappointment dependedmuch on the communicating partners and communicating situations.

The principal conclusion was that people would communicate better when understandingmore about the host culture One different conclusion was that the successful cross-culturalcommunication did not only depend on length of stay or work with people of anotherculture.

TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

NVC: Nonverbal CommunicationELT: English Language TeachingCE: Communication EventCA: Communication ActVN: Vietnam/ VietnameseAM: America/American

List of tables

Table 1: Informants’ parameters

Table 2: American and Vietnamese common expressions of disappointmentTable 3: Amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese culturesTable 4: Amount of expressiveness as seen from informants' length of stay

Table 5: Amount of expressiveness as seen from the informants' cultural knowledgeTable 6: Influence of communicating partners on amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures

Table 7: Influence of comunicating situations on amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures

List of charts and graphics

Chart 1: Importance of Nonverbal CommunicationDiagram 1: Classification of Nonverbal Communication

Chart 2: Amount of expressiveness in American and Vietnamese cultures

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

i Rationale 1

ii Aims of the study 1

iii Scope of the study 2

iv Methods of the study 2

v Organization of the study 3

1.3.1 Definition of nonverbal communication 6

1.3.2 Importance of nonverbal communication 7

1.3.3 Differences between Nonverbal Communication and Verbal Communication 8

1.3.4 Classification of nonverbal communication 8

1.3.5 Nonverbal communication across culture 9

1.4 DISAPPOINTMENT AND ITS NONVERBAL EXPRESSIONS 10

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 COMMENTS ON THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES AND DATA COLLECTION METHOD: 18

2.2 COMMENTS ON THE INFORMANTS 19

2.3 THE PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION 20

2.4 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD 20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS 21

3.1.3 Amount of expressiveness in Vietnamese and American cultures as

seen from informants’ parameters 24

3.1.3.1 Length of stay or work with native people 24

1 SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS 31

2 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION 31

3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 32

BIBLIOGRAPHY 34