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1 – 10 of 449Shu Fan, Shengyi Yao and Dan Wu
Culture is considered a critical aspect of social media usage. The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultures and languages influence multilingual users' cross-cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
Culture is considered a critical aspect of social media usage. The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultures and languages influence multilingual users' cross-cultural information sharing patterns.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a crowdsourcing survey with Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 355 multilingual users who utilize two or more languages daily. A mixed-method approach combined statistical, and cluster analysis with thematic analysis was employed to analyze information sharing patterns among multilingual users in the Chinese cultural context.
Findings
It was found that most multilingual users surveyed preferred to share in their first and second language mainly because that is what others around them speak or use. Multilingual users have more diverse sharing characteristics and are more actively engaged in social media. The results also provide insights into what incentives make multilingual users engage in social media to share information related to Chinese culture with the MOA model. Finally, the ten motivation factors include learning, entertainment, empathy, personal gain, social engagement, altruism, self-expression, information, trust and sharing culture. One opportunity factor is identified, which is convenience. Three ability factors are recognized consist of self-efficacy, habit and personality.
Originality/value
The findings are conducive to promoting the active participation of multilingual users in online communities, increasing global resource sharing and information flow and promoting the consumption of digital cultural content.
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This study aims to investigate the integration of heritage language and culture in technology-enhanced bilingual education and examine the dominance of the English language and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the integration of heritage language and culture in technology-enhanced bilingual education and examine the dominance of the English language and culture in computer-assisted language learning settings.
Design/methodology/approach
This research used a narrative inquiry methodology. The data came from semi-structured interviews with 25 bilingual teachers in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Texas.
Findings
The study found a significant bias in the use of technology toward the target language, often at the expense of heritage language and culture. The curricula analyzed were predominantly focused on superficial cultural elements of the target language, leading to a neglect of deeper cultural engagement.
Originality/value
This research highlights the phenomenon of cultural cringe within bilingual education and the skewed use of technology toward the target language.
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Understanding linguistic profiling and its substantial consequences on employee career development is essential in diverse workplaces. This study utilizes Levinson’s eras and…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding linguistic profiling and its substantial consequences on employee career development is essential in diverse workplaces. This study utilizes Levinson’s eras and career development theories to analyze the complicated relationship between linguistic profiling and biases, which hamper employee career development.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an interpretive methodology and conducted thematic data analysis. It documented lessons learned from diverse viewpoints through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants conducted in November and December 2022.
Findings
The study demonstrates that linguistic discrimination occurs in diverse workplaces. After data exploration, four intriguing themes appeared. The first theme was related to employees who were discriminated against because of various languages. This shows how often language choice affects employees. The second theme examined how linguistic profiling intersected with marginalized groups, increasing discrimination. The third theme, linguistic profiling and career development showed that bias had a huge influence on career progression. The fourth theme emphasizes organizational policies for preventing language discrimination, promoting career growth and inclusive organizations.
Originality/value
This study advances the understanding of linguistic profiling and career development in a multilingual society. In addition, it furthers discourse and provides ways to minimize biases, creating a more inclusive workplace environment.
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Misunderstanding and harmful stereotyping have become commonplace amongst people in the United States and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region since 2001, if not earlier. If…
Abstract
Misunderstanding and harmful stereotyping have become commonplace amongst people in the United States and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region since 2001, if not earlier. If universities are the locus of transformative education, work remains towards remedying these issues.One non-profit organisation, “Natafaham (pseudonym, Arabic for « we understand each other”), works to undo this negativity student by student. It brings participants from the MENA and Europe/North America into dialogue via Zoom each week. The inter-cultural dialogue availed to participants is empowering to actors, including the dialogue facilitator. This narrative is an autoethnographic exploration of my experience as an intercultural dialogue facilitator. Yet reviewing contemporaneous notes and reflections revealed structural aspects of this programme that empower voices from the MENA region, while facilitating learning amongst participants on both sides of the Atlantic. Such aspects include the format and the location of the programme, its focus on individuals rather than institutions or groups, its mixed top-down and bottom-up approach, and the opportunities it avails for ascension to positions of authority. This narrative analyses these aspects through several lenses and academic traditions, including those of global citizenship, critical internationalisation, (reciprocal) global service learning, and socio-cultural frameworks of second language acquisition. The chapter urges that these aspects are recognised as key catalysts of (more) equal relationships between youth in the MENA region and the United States, which merit widespread replication. It concludes by envisioning a still more equal relationship predicated upon more equitable language usage.
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Yingying Huang and Dogan Gursoy
This study aims to examine the interaction effects of chatbots’ language style and customers’ decision-making journey stage on customer’s service encounter satisfaction and the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the interaction effects of chatbots’ language style and customers’ decision-making journey stage on customer’s service encounter satisfaction and the mediating role of customer perception of emotional support and informational support using the construal level theory and social support theory as conceptual frameworks.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a scenario-based experiment with a 2 (chatbot’s language style: abstract language vs concrete language) × 2 (decision-making journey stage: informational stage vs transactional stage) between-subjects design.
Findings
Findings show that during the informational stage, chatbots that use abstract language style exert a strong influence on service encounter satisfaction through emotional support. During the transactional stage, chatbots that use concrete language style exert a strong impact on service encounter satisfaction through informational support.
Practical implications
Findings provide some suggestions for improving customer–chatbot interaction quality during online service encounters.
Originality/value
This study offers a novel perspective on customer interaction experience with chatbots by investigating the chatbot’s language styles at different decision-making journey stages.
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The purpose of this study is to theorize that computer-assisted language learning (CALL) can be integrated in English language learning with a focus on cultural learning of both…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to theorize that computer-assisted language learning (CALL) can be integrated in English language learning with a focus on cultural learning of both home and target language.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study used a systematic methodology to conceive the language and home-culture integrated online learning (LHIOL) curriculum design based on relevant conceptual frameworks and gather qualitative data from focused group interviews of 30 teachers and 3,000 students’ open-ended questionnaires, along with learning artifacts to identify major themes.
Findings
CALL, used as cultural and linguistic material, helps students embrace their cultural identities, especially ethnic minorities, capitalize on their distinctive values, and appreciate and empathize with other languages and cultures. The instructors advocate for localizing intercultural communicative competence (ICC) educational content into Vietnamese culture, using real multimedia resources. However, the LHIOL curriculum faced systemic constraints regarding competitions between linguistic and cultural instruction, teachers’ refusal to recognize ICC’s importance and recognition of an explicit link between virtual cultural learning and their lives.
Originality/value
LHIOL is a preliminary practical effort to suggest how a cultural education from one’s native tongue can be integrated into a culture-focused English/Western language environment. By incorporating fundamental concepts that underpin the integration of language and culture as well as CALL, improving ICC offers a framework that can be applied to elucidate cultural learning.
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Emine Sendurur and Sonja Gabriel
This study aims to discover how domain familiarity and language affect the cognitive load and the strategies applied for the evaluation of search engine results pages (SERP).
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to discover how domain familiarity and language affect the cognitive load and the strategies applied for the evaluation of search engine results pages (SERP).
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an experimental research design. The pattern of the experiment was based upon repeated measures design. Each student was given four SERPs varying in two dimensions: language and content. The criteria of students to decide on the three best links within the SERP, the reasoning behind their selection, and their perceived cognitive load of the given task were the repeated measures collected from each participant.
Findings
The evaluation criteria changed according to the language and task type. The cognitive load was reported higher when the content was presented in English or when the content was academic. Regarding the search strategies, a majority of students trusted familiar sources or relied on keywords they found in the short description of the links. A qualitative analysis showed that students can be grouped into different types according to the reasons they stated for their choices. Source seeker, keyword seeker and specific information seeker were the most common types observed.
Originality/value
This study has an international scope with regard to data collection. Moreover, the tasks and findings contribute to the literature on information literacy.
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Jung Hyun Lee, Hillary Anger Elfenbein and William P. Bottom
This study aims to test negotiation outcomes when bilinguals negotiate in a foreign rather than their native language. Decision research on the foreign language effect indicates…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test negotiation outcomes when bilinguals negotiate in a foreign rather than their native language. Decision research on the foreign language effect indicates that bilingual individuals may be less susceptible to framing bias when using a foreign language because they make less emotional and biased choices. With increasing international business activity, there is a pressing need to examine the effect of language on bilingual negotiators.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested the hypotheses using a two (task frame: gain vs loss) × 2 (language: foreign vs native) factorial design recruiting 246 Korean–English bilinguals. A negotiation simulation with three issues was used, and participants exchanged offers with a preprogrammed computer they believed to be a real counterpart.
Findings
There was no significant interaction effect between framing and language on the offers made, but the framing effect was mitigated and nonsignificant for negotiators who used their foreign language. The interaction between framing and language conditions significantly affected negotiators’ positive emotions and satisfaction with the negotiation.
Originality/value
The uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort to investigate the effect of negotiation language on a negotiator’s decision-making. Considering globalization and the increasing prevalence of international negotiations, this paper has implications for researchers and practitioners.
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JiaMan Xing and Qianling Jiang
Since the introduction of the outstanding web AI chat system, ChatGPT, it has caused a significant impact in both academia and the business world. Many studies have started to…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the introduction of the outstanding web AI chat system, ChatGPT, it has caused a significant impact in both academia and the business world. Many studies have started to explore its potential applications in various fields. However, there is a lack of research from the perspective of user experience. To fill this theoretical gap and provide a theoretical basis for the operation and design of related services, this study plans to develop a set of evaluation scales for AI chat system user experience and explore the relationship between various factors and user satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
This study obtained 41 evaluation indicators through literature review and user research. Subsequently, these indicators were used as questionnaire items, combined with satisfaction metrics. A total of 515 questionnaires were distributed, and factor analysis and linear regression were employed to determine the specific elements influencing user experience and the user satisfaction model.
Findings
This study found that the factors influencing user experience are usefulness, accuracy, logical inference, interactivity, growth, anthropomorphism, convenience, credibility, ease of use, creativity, and security. Among these factors, only accuracy, anthropomorphism, creativity, and security indirectly influence satisfaction through usefulness, while the rest of the factors have a direct positive impact on user satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study provides constructive suggestions for the design and operation of related services and serves as a reference for future theoretical research in this area.
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Young Ah Lee, Marian Patricia Bea Francisco, Shariffa Khalid Qais Al-Said, Muna Yousuf Abdullah Al Bulushi and Ye Wang
This comparative study explored the perceptions of educational stakeholders in Oman and the Philippines concerning children with disabilities and the goals of special education…
Abstract
Purpose
This comparative study explored the perceptions of educational stakeholders in Oman and the Philippines concerning children with disabilities and the goals of special education. Stakeholders' perspectives can influence their professional behaviours and attitudes, which, in turn, can profoundly impact children with disabilities who already face numerous challenges. Hence, comprehending the viewpoints of these stakeholders is vital for fostering socially just education for individuals with disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a qualitative comparative case study approach with a horizontal comparison strategy, and both convenience and purposeful sampling techniques were used for participant selection. The study involved 53 participants from both countries, including policymakers, teacher educators, in-service teachers and student teachers from general and special education domains. Data were gathered through individual interviews and themes were subsequently discerned via data analysis.
Findings
Despite the different cultural and historical contexts and distinct roles of stakeholders in both countries, the results indicate more parallels than disparities in their perceptions. The primary congruence underscored in this research was imperative to critically assess the language and ideology surrounding the goals of special education, such as mainstreaming and normalisation.
Originality/value
Although numerous studies have probed the perceptions of various educational stakeholders concerning children with disabilities and educational goals, there is limited research that encompasses the perspectives of the seven distinct stakeholder groups. The consistency of language usage across both countries and among all stakeholders underscores the need for a rigorous cross-country examination involving all educational participants.
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