Keywords
face negotiation theory
integrating strategies
ombudsman
third-party facilitation
How to Cite
Abstract
Framed by the face negotiation theory and intercultural conflict management concepts, this study aims to identify the facework strategies used by international undergraduates in intercultural conflicts with Malaysian instructors at a private university, and investigate the preferred effective conflict management procedures for Malaysian instructors in managing intercultural conflicts with international undergraduates. This study uses a descriptive cross-sectional design using questionnaires for data collection. A total of 317 participants were involved: 105 Indonesian undergraduates, 106 Chinese undergraduates, and 106 Malaysian instructors. The results showed that both Indonesian and Chinese undergraduate groups have similar tendencies for integrating strategies, although they differ in avoiding and dominating strategies. For intercultural conflict management procedures, the most favourable procedure is mediation and the least favourable is ombudsman service. These findings provide instructors with first-hand data for subsequent teacher development on face-saving application. By applying the appropriate facework strategy and ways to enact it, instructors can further develop their teaching skills by creating a healthy student-teacher relationship with international students.
References
Abdullah, D., & Chung, R.M.F. (2021, June 16). Can the Malaysian higher education system survive without international students?Radio Broadcast. https://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/can-malaysian-higher-education-system-survive-out-international-students-303509
Adrian-Taylor, S. R., Noels, K. A., & Tischler, K. (2007). Conflict between international graduate students and faculty supervisors: Towards effective conflict prevention and management strategies. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(1), 90-117.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315306286313
Arasaratnam, L. A. (2004). Intercultural communication competence: Development and empirical validation of a new model. http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p112579_index.html
Austin, J. L. (1975). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245537.001.0001
Borg, M., Kembro, J., Notander, J. P., Petersson, C., & Ohlsson, L. (2011). Conflict management in student groups: A teacher's perspective in higher education. Hogre Utbildning, 1(2), 111-124.
Bronstein, P., & Farnsworth, L. (1998). Gender differences in faculty experiences of interpersonal climate and processes for advancement. Research in Higher Education, 39(5), 551-585.
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018701722855
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1978). Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena. In E. N. Goody (Ed.), Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction (pp. 56-311). Cambridge University Press.
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Cornille, T. A., Pestle, R. E., & Vanwy, R. W. (1999). Teacher's conflict management styles with peers and student's parents. The International Journal of Conflict Management, 10(1), 69-79.
https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022819
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative & mixed method approaches (5th ed.). Sage.
Dissanayake, D. M. S. B., Niroshan, W. W. A. E., Nisansala, M. H., Rangani, M. L. D., Samarathunga, S. K. R. A., Subasinghe, S. E. I., Wickramaarachchi, D. N., Nirasha, Kalani, Wickramasinghe, D. N., & Wickramasinghe, W. W. M. E. G. P. M. B. (2015). Cultural comparison in Asian countries: An application of Greet Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Proceedings of the 2nd Undergraduate Symposium on Contemporary Management and Theory, 211-224.
Flaherty, B., & Stojakovic, J. (2008, November 21-24). Intercultural competence as a key element toward cultural integration of international students in the United States. [Paper presentation]. Annual meeting of the NCA 94th Annual Convention, San Diego, California. http://www.allacademic.com/meta/ p258719_index.htm
Fowler, F. J. (2014). Survey research methods (5th ed.). Sage.
Goffman, E. (1955). On face-work: an analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 18, 213-231.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1955.11023008
Guan, X., & Lee, H. E. (2017). Fight and flight: A multilevel analysis of facework strategies in intercultural face threatening acts. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 58, 69-81.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.008
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1), 1-26.
https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014
Jackson, J. (2014). Introducing language and intercultural communication. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315848938
Kim, S. W., Guan, X., & Park, H. S. (2012). Face and facework: A cross-cultural comparison of managing politeness norms in U.S. and Korea. International Journal of Communication, 6, 1100-1118.
Krishnasamy, H. N., Hussein, M. H., & Dalib, S. (2014). Intercultural interaction experiences in a tertiary level institution in Malaysia. Procedia- Social and Behavioural Sciences, 155, 465-470.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.10.323
Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children (pp.46-256). Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Lukman, I. B., Othman, J., Hassan, M. S., & Sulaiman, A. H. (2009). Intercultural communication and conflict management among Malaysian employers and Indonesian domestic workers in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian Labour Review, 3(2), 27-38.
Mahmud, Z., Amat, S., Rahman, S., & Ishak, N. M. (2010). Challenges for international students in Malaysia: Culture, climate and care. Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences 7 (C), 2010, 289-293.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.10.040
Meyers, S. A. (2003). Strategies to prevent and reduce conflict in college classrooms. College Teaching, 51(3), 94-98.Meyers, S. A., Bender, J., Hill, E. K., & Thomas, S. Y. (2006). How do faculty experience and respond to classroom conflict? International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 18(3), 180-187.
https://doi.org/10.1080/87567550309596419
Oetzel, J. G., & Ting-Toomey, S. (2003). Face concerns in interpersonal conflict: A cross-cultural empirical test of the face negotiation theory. Communication Research, 30(6), 599-624.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650203257841
Oetzel, J., Garcia, A. J., & Ting-Toomey, S. (2008). An analysis of the relationships among face concerns and facework behaviours in perceived conflict situations. International Journal of Conflict Management, 19(8), 382-403.
https://doi.org/10.1108/10444060810909310
Oetzel, J. G., Ting-Toomey, S., Yokochi, Y., Masumoto, T., & Takai, J. (2000). A typology of facework behaviours in conflicts with best friends and relative strangers. Communication Quarterly, 48(4), 397-419.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370009385606
Pandian, A. (2008). Multiculturalism in higher education: A case study of Middle-eastern student's perceptions and experiences in a Malaysian university. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 4(1), 33-59.
Qian, H. (2014). Facework strategies in EFL classroom. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(1), 175-182.
https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.5.1.175-182
Rahim, N. A., Halim, H. A., Mamat, R., Sujud, A., & Roslan, S. N. (2014). Discussion among language learners: Conflict in communication. Journal of Human Development and Communication, 3, 9-16.
Searle, J. R. (1976). Classification of illocutionary acts. Language in Society, 1-23.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500006837
Shahmohammadi, N. (2014). Conflict management among secondary school students. Procedia: Social and Behavioural Sciences, 159, 630-635.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.438
Shekarchizadeh, A., Rasli, A., & Hon-Tat, H. (2011). SERQUAL in Malaysian universities: Perspectives of international students. Business Process Management Journal, 17(1), 67-81.
https://doi.org/10.1108/14637151111105580
Spitzberg, B. H. (2000). A model of intercultural communication competence. Intercultural Communication, 9, 375-387.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1985). Toward a theory of conflict and culture. In W. B. Gundykunst, L. Stewart, & S. Ting-Toomey (Eds.), Communication, culture, and organisational processes (pp. 71-86). Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Intercultural conflict styles: A face negotiation theory. In S. Ting-Toomey, Y. Y. Kim, & W. B. Gudykunst (Eds.), Theories in intercultural communication (pp. 213-238). Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (2005a). The matrix of face: An updated face negotiation theory. In W. B. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about intercultural communication (pp. 71-92). Sage.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003252955-8
Ting-Toomey, S. (2005b). Understanding intercultural connection. Roxbury Publishing Company.
Ting-Toomey, S., Gao, G., Trubisky, P., Yang, Z., Kim, H. K., Lin, S., & Nishida, T. (1991). Culture, face maintenance, and styles of handling interpersonal conflict: A study in five cultures. International Journal of Conflict Management, 2(4), 275-296.
https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022702
Ting-Toomey, S., & Kurogi, A. (1998). Facework competence in intercultural conflict: An updated face-negotiation theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22(2), 187-225.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-1767(98)00004-2
Ting-Toomey, S., & Oetzel, J. G. (2001). Managing intercultural conflict effectively. Sage.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452229485
Ting-Toomey, S., Yee-Jung, K. K., Shapiro, R. B., Garcia, W., Wright-Dixon, T. J., & Oetzel, J. G. (2000). Ethnic/cultural identity salience and conflict styles in four US ethnic groups. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24(1), 47-81.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-1767(99)00023-1
U.S Department of Justice. (1994). Conflict management in schools: Sowing seeds for safer society. Ohio.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2014). Higher education in Asia: Expanding out, expanding up: The riseof graduate education and university research. http://4dj7dt2ychlw3310xlowzop2.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/227516e.pdf
Wardhaugh, R., & Fuller, J. M. (2015). An introduction to Sociolinguistics: Pragmatic (7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Wiseman, R. L. (2009). An associative approach to intercultural communication competence in the Arab World. The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence, 179-198.
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071872987.n9
WOB Partner Content. (2019, May 29). World of Buzz: Foreign students studying in M'sia share how they experience racism on a daily basis in our country. https://worldofbuzz.com.https://www.worldofbuzz.com/foreign-students-studying-in-msia-share-how-they-experience-racism-on-a-daily-basis-in-our-country/
Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal
1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and reference publication in the Journal.
2) For open access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.
3) For subscription articles, the author(s) agree that UNIMAS Publisher holds copyright, or an exclusive license to publish. Readers or users may view, download, print, and copy the content, for academic purposes, subject to the following conditions of use: (a) any reuse of materials is subject to permission from UNIMAS Publisher; (b) archived materials may only be used for academic research; (c) archived materials may not be used for commercial purposes, which include but not limited to monetary compensation by means of sale, resale, license, transfer of copyright, loan, etc.; and (d) archived materials may not be re-published in any part, either in print or online.
4) The author(s) is/are responsible to ensure his or her or their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. Corresponding author(s) has (have) obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained the permission from the copyright owners.
5) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare(s) that the researches in which they have conducted are in compliance with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving human or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
6) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that he or she has no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor or UNIMAS Publisher.