著者

Miller Bruce

出版者

実践女子大学

雑誌

実践女子大学CLEIPジャーナル = Jissen Women's University CLEIP Journal

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, pp.39-55, 2018-03-06

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Abstract: Gestural expression whether accompanied by speech or not, is fundamental to human interaction. We are continuously enacting meaning (Zeuschner, 1997). These meanings are sieved through the cultural landscapes of the users who use them, within a shared cultural-speech community, without much disruption. Conversely, in crosscultural and inter-cultural interactions, a much greater likelihood exists for pragmatic"failure"; that is an interlocutor misinterprets the intended pragmatic force of an utterance resulting in potentially unfulfilled speaking objectives. This paper considers this situation from the perspective of gesture, henceforth, referred to as gestural failure [this author] focusing in on specific, culture-bound gestures in a Japanese L1 context, which can be problematic in the L2 (English). As a result, negative consequences arising from non-verbal, culturally-imbued "sign-posts" can occur if not otherwise noticed and consciously applied (Schmidt, 1993). Therefore, a rich array of interactive, and "real world" cross-cultural and intercultural experiences need to be provided, that take into consideration opportunities existing in Japan, for Japanese L2 learners to draw their attention to the importance of gestures and the pragmatic weight they can carry, outside their own cultural scope. By doing so, the broader gains can not only co-compliment pragmatic competence development but also intercultural and crosscultural competence.Keywords: cross-cultural competence, intercultural competence, pragmatic (i.e.gestural) failure, pragmatic competence; gestural competence; pragmatic transfer; situationalbased utterances (S.B.Us)