Four Days in Taiwan : Culture and English Communication Between Japanese and Taiwanese Students

Abstract

In university English Departments, one major goal is to have students communicatethrough English in real life situations. However, this is often difficult to accomplish. Thisarticle describes and analyzes a unique short-term culture exchange program in which 18Japanese and 24 Taiwanese students interacted in Taiwan. Since English was the onlycommon language, students spoke it during planned activities as well as informally in theirrooms in the evening. The findings suggest that when all participants are English-as-asecond-language learners, they are less concerned with mistakes and more concerned withcommunication. Students indicated that when they speak with native English speakers,they have more trouble understanding and communicating then they did with theTaiwanese students. While additional research needs to be undertaken to discern long-termeffects, the findings suggest that very short programs can have an immediate impact onstudents’ language abilities and attitudes.