Japanese L2 English Learners’ Positions in Miscommunication: Who Is Responsible for Failures?

ABSTRACT

This study explores the identity positions that L2 English learners/users would take in case of hypothetical miscommunications. Based on positioning theory, at the time of L2 interaction, L2 learners assign themselves and others specific positions which are established through their learning experiences. It was hypothesized that their current positional identities would impact their communication abilities in their future L2 realities. The study investigated this hypothesis by asking 49 Japanese college students to describe potential triggers for L2 miscommunication in two scenarios: an L1 and an L2 English speaker, and two L2 English speakers. The analysis shows that participants assign themselves in distinctive positional identities of a subordinate English user (non-native deficit L2 English user in a traditional sense) in the L1-L2 miscommunication, and an equal identity in the L2-L2 scenarios. Consequently, the study discusses a critical understanding of L2 learner positional identity with respect to socio-cultural and ideological attributes.

KEYWORDS:

• L2 English learners
• miscommunication
• native and non-native speakers
• positional identity

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to Todd Allen and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and support in completing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. An L1 English speaker refers to those who have acquired English as their first or native language, whereas an L2 English speaker refers to those who learn English after acquiring their first or native language. Such categorization is often equated with the dichotomy of native and non-native speakers of English. In this paper, I use the former, a numerical order of languages acquired and/or learnt, to connote neutrality, while using the latter to problematizes unequal power relation between NSs and NNSs.

2. Word choice reflects my position as a researcher. I employ the term JLEs (Japanese learners of English) to refer to participants in the study and the Japanese in general who have studied English as a foreign language in Japan. Also, I use Japanese L2 English learners and non-native speakers to refer to the same cohort according to the intention described in note 1.

3. Following Mustajoki (2012), I use the term “miscommunication” as an umbrella term to cover different types of communication failures including such as misunderstanding, non-understanding, communication breakdown, non-hearing, and misperception.

4. American was chosen since a white Caucasian who speaks American English is the most typical NS to JLEs (Toh, 2013). On the other hand, L2 English speakers from Europe such as French should be less familiar to them. Four characters were depicted in color on the task sheet. All names were anonymized and pseudonyms were used.

5. The task was implemented to lead to a class discussion on miscommunication after the group work.

6. BackG = backgrounds, ComS = communication strategies, Dis = discourse, Gram = grammar, Lex = lexical, Phono = phonological, Profi = proficiency, SpSt = speech style, Speed = speed, Trans = translation.

7. Both problems indicate JLEs’ tendency of transferring their L1 syntactic features to L2 sentence structures. In particular, JLEs tend to transfer the notion of topicalization when producing an English sentence (e.g., Kuribara, 2004). For instance, “[t]his summer vacation must enjoy” is semantically inappropriate in English, whereas the Japanese equivalent is perfectly grammatical.

8. TOP = topic, SUB = subject, Q = question.

9. One of the reviewers pointed out about an issue of racial and linguistic inequality among NSs of English (Rosa & Flores, 2017). It is critical to note that the monolithic view of NSs blinds such issue and promotes JLEs’ ideal NS images. However, the issue is not further argued since it is beyond scope of the present paper.One of the reviewers pointed out about an issue of racial and linguistic inequality among NSs of English (Rosa & Flores, 2017). It is critical to note that the monolithic view of NSs blinds such issue and promotes JLEs’ ideal NS images. However, the issue is not further argued since it is beyond scope of the present paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Miki Shibata

Miki Shibata is a Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. She received her Ph.D. from University of Arizona. Her research interests focus on language attitudes toward different varieties of English and the role of identity in second language learning.