Communicating Across Cultures: Social Determinants and Acculturative Consequences

Past research has consistently documented the relations between interethnic contact, language behaviour and identity on the one hand, and the relations between interethnic contact and psychological adjustment on the other. This study combines these two lines of research through a consideration of the influence of ethnolinguistic vitality on these variables' interrelations. The participants included 285 English-Canadian and 243 French-Canadian students at a bilingual university who originated from high and low ethnolinguistic vitality contexts. The results of analyses of variance showed that vitality and native language group membership influenced the extent of ethnic identification, interethnic contact, and self-confidence in the second language, but did not affect the levels of psychological adjustment. Path analyses supported a model in which linguistic self-confidence mediated the relations between interethnic contact and identity and adjustment, although the patterns of relations differed depending upon the vitality of the group. It is suggested that one reason why ethnolinguistic vitality is an important moderator of cross-cultural adaptation is because it implies group differences in the experience of interethnic contact and linguistic self-confidence.

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