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Even the best verbal communication skills are not enough to create and sustain successful relationships
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT I certify my authority of the Study Project Report submitted entitled A VIETNAMESE - AMERICAN CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF CONVERSATIONAL DISTANCES In fulfilmentfulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Le Thi Huyen Acknowledgements I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, M.A Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, without whose valuable comments and guidance, my thesis would not have been accomplished My special thanks go to my colleagues from Haiphong Water Supply Company, those who helped me fill in my survey questionairequestionnaire and give me constructive suggestions in completing this thesis And I am immensely grateful to my former teacher, Ms Stacy Thompson, who is living and working in the United States She has helped me conduct my survey in the United States I owe my family great attitude for theirMy family: my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law and my boyfriend have been a constant source of love, support and encouragement Finally, I should acknowledge my indebtedness to all my friends for their assistance during the process of preparing for this research Le Thi Huyen ABSTRACT Even the best verbal communication skills are not enough to create and sustain successful relationships Good relationships, both at home and at work, require the ability to communicate with emotional intelligence Part of our culture involves an unspoken rule that people should ignore nonverbal elements– as if the injunction were, "hear what I say, and don't notice the way I say it." These elements are often ignored in school or overridden by parents, so the task of incorporating conscious sensitivity to nonverbal communications is made more difficult Thus, this thesis is an attempt to provide a cross-cultural comparison of common conversational distances, their frequency used in American and Vietnamese cultures and factors affecting conversational distances Special emphasis is given to : - classification and usage of conversational distances as well as and their usage - factors affecting conversational distances The implications are suggested and recommendations provided for avoidance of culture shock and cross-cultural communication breakdown For instance, American people tend to use close phase of intimate distance when showing intimate emotion with mothers more than Vietnamese Besides, there is not much difference whether between brothers or sisters in keeping intimate distance when showing intimate emotion in American, whereas, Vietnamese people tend to keep closer distance with their sister than brother It is also concluded that if two Americans of opposite sex informants are conversing, they find close phase easier, freer and more conventional , however, it is applied for every case that if the communicative partners are of the same sex then closer distance is more popular with Vietnamese informants LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1: Percentage of verbal and nonverbal communication in common use Diagram 1: Classification of nonverbal communication Table 1: Further clarification of nonverbal communication Table 2: Sub-distances of intimate distance and their communicators Table 3: Sub-distances of personal distance and their communicators Table 4: Sub-distances of social distance and their communicators Table 5: Sub-distances of public distance and their communicators Table 6: Interactions among messages, tones of voice and distances between faces Table 7: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their mother Table 8: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their father Table 9: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their brother Table 10: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their sister Table 11: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their same-sex close friend (two male friends) Table 12: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their same-sex close friend (two female friends) Table 13: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their opposite-sex close friend Table 14: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their same-sex acquaintance Table 15: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their opposite-sex acquaintance Table 16: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their same-sex colleague Table 17: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their opposite-sex colleague Table 18: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with their boss Table 19: Figures on using conversational distances by informants between 20 and 40 years old Table 20: Figures on using conversational distances by informants above 40 years old Table 21: Figures on using conversational distances by male informants Table 22: Figures on using conversational distances by female informants Table 23: Figures on using conversational distances by informants living in rural areas Table 24: Figures on using conversational distances by informants living in urban areas Table 25: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with teamwork occupation Table 26: Figures on using conversational distances by informants with independent work occupation TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION .1 I Rationale .1 II Aims of the study III Scope of the study IV Methodology V Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review What is communication? 1.1 Definition of communication 1.2 Types of communication What is nonverbal communication? .7 2.1 Definition of nonverbal communication 2.2 Significance of nonverbal communication .9 2.3 Main categories of nonverbal communication .11 Chapter 2: Conversational distance as nonverbal communication .14 Definition of conversational distances .14 Classification of conversational distances 15 2.1 Intimate distance 15 2.2 Personal distance 17 (Photo credits: dantri.com.vn) 17 2.3 Social distance .18 2.4 Public distance .19 Factors effecting conversational distances 19 3.1 High - low contact culture 20 3.2 Gender 20 3.3 Relationship 21 3.4 Age .21 3.5 Population density 22 3.6 Intended message 23 Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion 24 Methodology 24 1.1 Participants 24 1.2 Instruments 24 1.3 Procedures of data collection 24 Data analysis and findings 26 2.1 Use of conversational distance as seen from communicative partner’s role relationship 26 2.2 Use of conversational distance as seen from informants’ parameters 32 PART C: CONCLUSION 36 I Summary of main findings: 36 II Implications for avoidance of culture shock and cross-cultural communication breakdown 36 III Suggestion for further study .37 PART A: INTRODUCTION I Rationale II Aims of the study III Scope of the study IV Methodology V Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review What is communication? 1.1 Definition of communication 1.2 Types of communication What is nonverbal communication? 2.1 Definition of nonverbal communication 2.2 Significance of nonverbal communication 2.3 Main categories of nonverbal communication CHAPTER 2: CONVERSATIONAL DISTANCES AS NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION Definition of conversational distances Classification of conversational distances 2.1 Intimate distance 2.2 Personal distance (Photo credits: dantri.com.vn) 2.3 Social distance 2.4 Public distance Factors effecting conversational distances 3.1 High - low contact culture 3.2 Gender 3.3 Relationship 3.4 Age 3.5 Population density 3.6 Intended message Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion Methodology 1.1 Participants 1.2 Instruments 1.3 Procedures of data collection Data analysis and findings 2.1 Use of conversational distance as seen from communicative partner’s role relationship 2.2 Use of conversational distance as seen from informants’ parameters PART C: CONCLUSION I Summary of main findings: II Implications for avoidance of culture shock and cross-cultural communication breakdown III Suggestion for further study Bibliography AppendixSurvey Questionnaire 44 Bản điều tra 47 PART A: INTRODUCTION .1 I Rationale II Aims of the study III Scope of the study IV Methodology V Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND CONCEPTS .6 What is communication? 1.1 Definition of communication 1.2 Types of communication What is nonverbal communication? 2.1 Definition of nonverbal communication 2.2 Significance of nonverbal communication 12 2.3 Main categories of nonverbal communication .13 CHAPTER 2: CONVERSATIONAL DISTANCES AS NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION 17 Definition of conversational distance 17 Classification of conversational distances .18 2.1 Intimate distance 18 2.2 Personal distance 19 2.3 Social distance .20 2.4 Public distance .21 Factors effecting conversational distances .22 3.1 High - low contact culture 22 3.2 Gender 23 3.3 Relationship 23 3.4 Age .24 3.5 Population density 24 3.6 Intended message 25 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 Use of converstional distance as seen from communicative partnet’s role relationship 27 3.1.1 Data analysis .27 3.1.2 Major similarities and differences: 33 3.2 Use of conversational distance as seen from informants’ parameters 34 3.2.1 Data analysis .34 3.2.2 Major similarities and differences: 37 PART C: CONCLUSION 38 I Summary of main findings: 38 II Suggestion for further study 40 Appendices References??? Appendices??? ... Design of the study The study falls into three main parts: PART A: INTRODUCTION: Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT:... TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION .1 I Rationale .1 II Aims of the study III Scope of the study IV Methodology V Design of the study. .. .1 I Rationale II Aims of the study III Scope of the study IV Methodology V Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT