Use of feeling cards by non-native speakers in contact situations to expand engagement areas and demonstrate understanding: working toward dialogue on equal footing between native and non-native speakers of Japanese

Abstract

We are conducting a practical research project with the goal of promoting dialogue on equal footing between native speakers (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) of Japanese living in the same community, on the topic of community development. In the theater workshop analyzed in the present study, participants experienced dis-communication situations through a series of short dramatic sketches and then were divided into five groups, including equal numbers of NS and NNS, to discuss solutions to the situations presented in the sketches. As a communication aid, all participants were given multilingual feeling cards, and interpreters were provided for groups that included NNS at the beginner level of Japanese. We analyzed the group dialogues, finding that the NNS began as side-participants, and that the use of feeling cards by NNS had effects including expanding the engagement area which had been formed only by the NS to include NNS and demonstrating understanding of NS's speech by NNS. Thus, the feeling cards tool allowed NNS at the beginner level to shift from peripheral to central participation without the need for interpretation, which in turn influenced the later development of the dialogues.