Change in Intercultural Adaptation and Anxiety of Japanese University Students

publisher青森市国立情報学研究所の「学術雑誌公開支援事業」により電子化されました。The purpose of this paper is to clarify the anxiety students feel with regard to intercultural communication before and after intercultural contact during study abroad and to evaluate the timeframe of intercultural adaptation. The research presented here shows the anxiety felt over intercultural communication is quite different before and after intercultural contact has been experienced. The main anxiety among university students that the research revealed was with interpersonal communication with the host family, the main concern being that the students felt that comprehending is not as important as communicating in the target language and this leads to anxiety. As students tend to depend on their mother language even while staying abroad, their communication skills in the target language cannot develop by spending their time within their Japanese group. Nevertheless as far as language usage is concerned students feel that all of their language skills develop during their overseas experience. In addition to this, their anxiety with using the language is gradually reduced and 80% of students adjust to using English within 2 weeks. The main reason for this adjustment is not their level of English, but in the reduction of their anxiety. This study attempts to makes clear what problems need to be overcome for the adjustment into intercultural interaction and through this we can grasp the characteristics of the youth of today