Conflict Management as Intercultural Communication Training in English Language Education
摘要
This chapter explores the integration of a conflict management program into English language teaching to enhance learners’ intercultural communicative competence. Conflict situations often evoke negative emotions such as anger, which can undermine relationships with interlocutors. The proposed program emphasizes two key aspects of communication: intrapersonal and interpersonal interaction. The intrapersonal component addresses cognition in conflict scenarios, focusing on recognizing and reframing perceptions to regulate emotions effectively. The interpersonal component cultivates communication skills such as active listening and assertiveness, enabling learners to engage constructively in conflict. Considering cultural differences, the program examines how Japanese communicators—characterized by high-context communication styles—navigate conflict in English, which is often considered to favor low-context, explicit communication. It also presents experimental results on how native English speakers perceive the adaptation of Japanese speakers’ low-context style in conflict scenarios. The study emphasizes the importance of equipping learners with the linguistic and cultural competences to effectively handle cross-cultural conflicts in English and with principled negotiation skills aimed at problem-solving that benefits both sides.