Publication ｜Sophia Linguistica
Mayumi Kawashima
This study aims to qualitatively investigate a Japanese high school student’s 10-month
study abroad experience in the U.S. Focusing on the homestay context, the study
illustrates the kind of interactional challenges the student and her host family faced,
and how they addressed them. Drawing on Language Management Theory (Jernudd &
Neustupný, 1987; Kimura & Fairbrother, 2020), the data collected via regularly submitted
interaction reports along with semi-structured interviews from both the student and the
host were analyzed from sociolinguistic and sociocultural perspectives (Neustupný, 1995).
This paper examines three selected issues regarding the amount of interaction between
the student and host, the use of humor, and dealing with transportation. The main findings
center on three key points: 1) The participants’ perceptions and evaluations of the above
issues did not necessarily correspond to each other; 2) When engaging in the interactions
regarding the use of humor, the student used different processes depending on the context;
and 3) Both participants perceived the above issues as the sociolinguistic and sociocultural
factors intermixed, and even when they implemented an adjustment to remove a problem,
the implementation created another issue which consequently caused them to face another
challenge.
