The Role of Bilingualism in Cross-Cultural Communication

Abstract

Mixed ethnic pairs of Ss (French/English) and same ethnic pairs (French/French and English/English) performed an experimental task designed to assess communicational efficiency. Following the communication task Ss completed a questionnaire which assessed their bilingual skills and attitudes about communicating with a member of a different ethnic group. The Ss, unlike previous studies, were French and English Canadian factory workers who daily interact with members of the other ethnic group. The results demonstrated that cross-cultural communication can be as efficient as within group communication. This efficiency seems to result because of a reciprocal bilingualism where members of each group have some degree of fluency in the language of the other. For the communication task both French and English were used almost equally and positive attitudes about communication were evidenced.

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