Verbal irony in cross-cultural perspective : Japanese ESL students and American students

Verbal Irony in Cross-cultural Perspective: Japanese ESL Students and American Studentsstudents learning English have difficulty understanding verbal irony in American English. Also, it investigated if there is a relationship between students' perceptions about verbal irony and their length of stay in the US. The research also included ascertaining what structure both Japanese and American students seem to prefer when they make ironic or sarcastic comments.The subjects were 23 Japanese graduate and undergraduate students and 20 American undergraduate students who had studied or were currently studying at Ball State University. The survey consisted of two different components. Survey 1 was designed to measure the relationship between nationality and perception of each situationally-based ironic or sarcastic comment, and between length of stay and each comment. Survey 2 measured the relationship between items (specific structures) and nationality, and between items and gender.The results of survey 1 found a correlation between nationality and the perceptions of some of the ironic or sarcastic remarks and situations. Moreover, there was also a correlation between length of stay and the perception of one specific remark. In survey 2, it became apparent that there was a different structural preference in some of the situations between Japanese and American students.Department of EnglishThesis (M.A.