Japanese exchange students in Australia : problems in communication and interaction and the acquisition of communicative and socio-cultural competence

This thesis is based on a longitudinal study of seven female Japanese high school students who lived in Australia for one year under the auspices of the Rotary Youth Exchange Programme, On the basis of regular interviews with students and questionnaire responses from host families the communication and interaction problems which they experienced over the course of their sojourn are investigated. Attempts are made to identify characteristics of the norms by which host families evaluate the students behaviour, and the correction strategies employed by students in response to the decoding of problems. The rate and level of the students acquisition of communicative and socio-cultural competence are examined, and three broad stages are described. This thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author. Author requested conversion to open access 12 Oct 2022