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To our understanding, language is a great heaven prize and treasure for human in order to fulfill our vital needs as the social beings: communication
PART A: INTRODUCTION i. Rationale “One’s eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears” Heraclitus To our understanding, language is a great heaven prize and treasure for human in order to fulfill our vital needs as the social beings: communication. Language appeared, remains and flourishes along with human history. With the seen development of language and language studies at the moment, there is no need in proving the crucial and irreplaceable position of language in human life. However, there are now more and more researchers believing that communication without spoken and written words, termed “nonverbal communication” (NVC), is of vital role. As Heraclitus states above, people tend to rely on NVC and to base the partners’ message on the nonverbal cues they receive. One more important thing is that even nonverbal communication takes a big part in transferring meaning in communication; most people do not know how to read other’s behaviors. Thus, the question is: what shape our behaviors and decision? For a successful communication event, one possible answer is emotion. Therefore, the studies into nonverbal expressions for internal emotions have been paid much attention to. The primary emotional states studied include: surprise, fear, disgust, anger, sadness and happiness. Nevertheless, disappointment, one of two primary emotions (together with regret) that involve in decision-making – the success of a communication event, has not been much concerned. All of this leads the author to the research naming: “An American – Vietnamese cross- cultural study on non-verbal expressions of disappointment”. This preliminary study tries to feature out the most common nonverbal expressions for disappointment in order that a successful communication event can be achieved between American and Vietnamese communicators. ii. Aims of the study This research aims to: - investigate the most common nonverbal expressions for disappointment used by Americans and Vietnamese in cross-cultural communication. 1 - raise the awareness of the importance of NVC and suggest ways to improve cross-cultural NVC. In order to achieve the set aims of the study the research questions are as follows: - What are the most common nonverbal expressions for disappointment used by Americans and/or Vietnamese? - What are the similarities and differences between American and Vietnamese nonverbal expressions of disappointment? iii. Scope of the study Nonverbal messages are widely transferred through many channels. For the common consideration, it includes: paralanguage, body language, object language and environment language, of which object language and environment language do not have much contribution to express emotions which include disappointment. It comes to our awareness that paralanguage (the vocal characteristics, types of vocal flow, vocal interferences, silence…) adds a high percentage to the process of communication. However, due to the time constraint and lack of reliable equipment (voice recorder, voice analyzer…), this kind of factor will be unavoidably out of the scope of the study. So, the study only focuses on body language. That is, this study limits itself to facial expressions, gestures and postures only. iv. Methods of the study In order to set up a firm theoretical background for the study, relevant publications are critically reviewed. Information from the Internet sites and previous studies are also referred to. The main method used in this study is quantitative with the illustration of tables and charts presenting statistic data. The analysis is mainly based on the data collected through the survey questionnaires. Consultation with the supervisor, discussion with colleagues, as well as the author’s observation in daily life and his own experience in cross-cultural communication are also of great help in finding out the answers to the research questions. 2 v. Organization of the study The study will be organized into the following structure: Part A: INTRODUCTION outlines the rationale, the methodology, the aims, the scope, the significance and the organization of the study. Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1 LITERATURE REVIEW reviews the theoretical issues. It briefly presents and discusses the theory of communication, NVC with more detailed discussion on facial expressions, gestures and postures which are major parts of body language. Disappointment as a human feeling and its nonverbal expressions are also discussed. Chapter 2 METHODOLOGY describes the data collecting instrument, the informants and research procedures. Chapter 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE FINDINGS presents and discusses similarities and differences in how to express disappointment nonverbally by the American and the Vietnamese. Part C: CONCLUSION Summary of major findings Conclusion and Implications for cross-cultural communication Limitations of the study and Suggestions for further study. 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. CULTURE As Harrison and Huntington noted, “the term ‘culture,’ of course, has had different meanings in different disciplines and different contexts”. By stating “culture is the human-made part of the environment,” W.J.Lonner and R.S.Malpass (1994:7) contrast the culture and the nature. In their ideas, things in environment will never become cultural without the “touch” of human. According to H. Triandis (1994:23), “Culture is a set of human-made objective and subjective elements that in the past have increased the probability of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the participants in a ecological niche, and this became shared among those who could communicate with each other because they had a common language and they lived in the same time and place.” The subjective elements of culture here are elements such as values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations and underlying assumptions prevalent among people in a society. All of these elements act as a framework that influences your interpretation of the world and interactions in it. 1.2. COMMUNICATION 1.2.1. Definition of Communication “We are great communicators” Liz & John Soars: 1997 We, human beings, communicate during our whole life for our own purpose. A child cries (communicates) to his parents as he needs changing his diaper or feeding. Family members communicate for help and emotional support and to maintain a good family atmosphere. At work, people communicate for the purpose of exchanging ideas, negotiating… Leaders communicate their visions to their staff. Executives communicate to the lower-level employees. Organizations communicate to their customers and the public. Press conferences, press releases, employee newsletters, catalogues, direct mail, phone calls, employee suggestion systems, meetings, formal performance appraisals, on-the-job feedback from managers, attitude surveys, speeches, conference room briefings, letters, memos and 4 evaluation forms - all of these are examples of communication. We now come to a conclusion that communication is very important in our lives, as Hybels (1992:5) claims “Communication, then, is vital to our lives. To live is to communicate.” Larry A., Richard E. Porter and Edwin R. McDaniel (2006:12) select the all-encompassing definition of “human communication is the process through which symbols are transmitted for the purpose of eliciting a response”. Lustig (1996:29) defines communication as “a symbolic process in which people create shared meanings”. In the both definitions, the centre is “symbol”. A symbol may be “a word, action or object”, containing thoughts, perception or feelings one wants to communicate with others. 1.2.2. Forms of Communication Communication as claimed by Lustig above is the process of exchange shared meanings. And in order to create share meaning, people have to use code or symbol. In reality, the two kinds of code or symbol are verbal (spoken and written) and nonverbal (unspoken). These are referred to as forms of communication. To get a better view, communication can be illustrated in the following diagram: 1.2.3. Components of Communication The followings are components of communication according to Hymes: 1972. - Situation: setting and sense - Participants: speaker, presenter, hearer, receiver, narrator - End: purpose, result or goal - Act sequences: model or language content - Key: Clues that establish the "tone, manner, or spirit" of the speech act. - Instrumentalities: channel, form or style - Norms: norms of interpretation, norms of interaction - Genres: kind of speech act or event COMMUNICATION VERBAL COMMUNICATION NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 5 Among these, the participants (speaker and hearer) and situation are prominent to the choice of message coder (language or nonverbal cues used). The participants’ background impacts much on the choice of the coder used. The background includes: age, sex, living place, occupation… When discussing different participants and situations, the underlying effect of power (P), social distance (D) and rank of imposition (R) have to be considered. With combination of the three factors, the choice of message coder can be in diversity. 1.2.4. Cross-cultural communication The relationship between culture and communication is often compared with the bond between the voice and the echo. From culture and communication, there are three branches of communication as follows: Intra-cultural communication: is the communication between people who live in the same country and come from the same cultural background. Inter-cultural communication: is the communication between people who live in the same country but come from different cultural background. Cross-cultural communication: is the communication between people who live in different countries and come from different cultural background. Coming from different geographic locations and holding different values, beliefs,… people in cross-cultural communication face more problems than in intra-cultural and inter-cultural branches. This is because people have different ways of interpreting social meanings conveyed in their interaction with the outside world. 1.3. NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 1.3.1 Definition of nonverbal communication In the process of communication, people do not only send verbal messages but nonverbal ones as well. NVC is understood as a way of communicating without the use of written or spoken language. According to Lustig (1996:187-188), “nonverbal communication is a multi-channeled process that is usually performed simultaneously; it typically involves a subtle set of nonlinguistic behaviors that are often enacted subconsciously. Nonverbal behaviors can become part of the communication process when someone intentionally tries to convey a 6 . partners’ message on the nonverbal cues they receive. One more important thing is that even nonverbal communication takes a big part. to. The main method used in this study is quantitative with the illustration of tables and charts presenting statistic data. The analysis is mainly based