How do individuals escape embarrassing moments in interaction? Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and video recordings of weekly street corner ciphers (impromptu rap sessions), this paper expands Goffman's theory of defensive and protective face-work. The findings reveal formulaic and indirect dimensions of face-work. First,…

Classroom interactional patterns depend on some contextual, cultural and local factors in addition to the methodologies employed in the classroom. In order to delineate such factors, the focus of classroom interaction research needs to shift from the observables to the unobservables like teachers' and learners' psychological states and cultural…

Academic success among East Asian students is well known and almost stereotypical. Yet the attention to emotional well-being continues to be minimal. The discrepancy between academic success and social/emotional difficulties appears to be a problem among East Asian adolescents. This qualitative grounded theory study examines how the cultural…

The struggle over whether all students have a right to a high-quality, affordable college education, or whether it is a privilege they must "earn" through high test scores and parental savings for tuition, plays out daily in the so-called "remedial" or "developmental" classes. This article presents the author's comments on Mike Rose's essay…

Examines the interactional sociolinguists' treatment of context and its contribution to understanding how sociocultural information enters into the interpretation of intent and evaluation of motives and abilities. Negative perceptions of Zulus by White "gatekeepers" are explained in terms of interactional asynchrony stemming from…

More American adolescent girls today are prey to depression, eating disorders, addictions, and suicide attempts than ever before. This book is an exploration of the underlying causes of this disturbing phenomena, structured around therapy case studies of various teenage girls. The position is taken that despite the women's movement, adolescent…

This paper discusses social and cultural change, deep ecology, and systems thinking in relation to the maintenance of Indigenous cultures and languages. All cultures change, and the current crisis in language loss for Native communities is related to cultural change. From a systems perspective, culture is a way of thinking about one's social…

Counseling across cultures can present many problems for the White American counselor. It is important that the counselor understand the subculture in order to meet the needs of minority clients. In dealing with Black Americans, the counselor must consider issues of racism and religion. When working with Mexican-Americans, the counselor must often…

This book attempts to provide cultural information that will enable an American to communicate effectively with people in Thailand. The book discusses differences between American and Thai culture in such areas as food, laws, customs, religion, language, dress, and basic attitudes. Background information is given on Thailand and the…

This document, which is intended for business educators at all levels, outlines two approaches to facilitating international business communication by adopting a global approach in business communication and related business education courses. In the first half of the document, the following steps in implementing the separate-course approach, are…

What teachers consider to be "discipline problems" are determined by their own culture, and filtered through personal values and teaching styles. Therefore, to manage diverse classrooms effectively, it is essential for teachers to understand what constitutes good classroom discipline within the context of cultural diversity. The first section of…

Examines biopsychosocial effects of acculturation on the high suicide rate among young Ojibwa males in relation to "pimadaziwin" (health, well-being, and longevity for self and family attained through cultural compliance) and "nissitise" (face-saving suicide following loss of "pimadaziwin"). Case study illustrates how…

Thais and U.S. citizens have a number of striking cultural similarities. Both prize the freedoms they enjoy, both are quite pragmatic and individualistic, and both disdain pomposity and arrogance. These traits form a kind of common core that helps Thais and U.S. citizens connect in cross-cultural interactions. Nevertheless, there are also…

In many cultures, the "troubles-talk narrative" is a speech event which builds solidarity between interlocutors through the indirect speech act of complaining and through face-saving strategies such as speaker "hedges" and listener "commiserative responses" as backchannels. The manner in which speakers perform such…

This book describes and analyzes authority relationships in classrooms through explorations of theory, prior research, and contemporary qualitative studies. The emphasis is on the social construction of authority and the crucial role authority plays in K-16 teachers' pedagogy and students' academic engagement and achievement. The introductory…