Q&A Hero

Q: Communication researcher Burgoon and her team (2014) used sophisticated computer-assisted behavioral observation tools to study nonverbal behavior and found that in a U. S. sample, deceivers: a. used less illustrator gestures to redirect conversation. b. were less creative in their speech. c. used less lip adaptors, such as biting. d. were concise and preferred direct eye contact.

Q: Brief and everyday slights, insults, indignities, and denigrating messages sent by well-intentioned people who are unaware of the hidden messages being communicated are referred to as: a. innuendos. b. chronemics. c. microagressions. d. signifiers.

Q: Identify a true statement about microagressions. a. They are vocal cues where the intensity or volume of one's speech plays a significant role. b. They are insignificant and meek assertions with no long-lasting impact on the target of these messages. c. They occur when the information of the talker is misunderstood by the listener. d. They are communications that are usually outside the level of conscious awareness of perpetrators.

Q: Hiring practices where resumes and applicants with "foreign" or "non-white" names are routinely rejected, leading some applicants to "whiten" their resumes, are an example of: a. institutionalized discriminations. b. relational messages. c. expectancy violations. d. exclusionary zoning practices.

Q: Which of the following statements is true of postmodern cultural spaces? a. They are definite and static. b. They are places that are defined by racial practices. c. They exist only as long as they are needed in their present form. d. They are created outside existing places.

Q: The classroom building at the Technical University of Denmark where the rooms and walls are fluid and can be moved to accommodate the needs of any particular day's activities such as classes, meetings, and study groups is a typical example of a(n): a. noncontact culture. b. relational message. c. expectancy violation. d. postmodern cultural space.

Q: Which of the following is true of cultural spaces? a. The influence they have on our identities is static. b. Generally, cultural spaces are designated by physical markers. c. Cultural spaces can be accepted or rejected; they are never forced on us. d. We negotiate relationships to the cultural meanings attached to particular spaces we inhabit.

Q: When people are loyal to a particular demographic area that holds significant cultural meaning, they are _____. a. building postmodern cultural spaces b. expressing regionalism c. utilizing a cultural space d. creating personal space

Q: Sufen, an immigrant from Taiwan, feels uncomfortable whenever her boss, an Italian American, talks to her. She feels that her boss stands too close and talks too loud for the space they are in. Sufens apprehensions are probably a result of _____ cultural differences. a. collectivist vs. individualist b. monochronic vs. polychronic c. contact vs. noncontact d. verbal vs. nonverbal

Q: The "bubble" around us that marks the territory between ourselves and others is known as _____. a. an emblem b. an adaptor c. personal space d. a regulator

Q: Which of the following is NOT true about the eye contact of most U.S. Americans? a. They look away from their listeners most of the time. b. They look directly at the listener to signal a conversation turn. c. They look at listeners every 10 to 15 seconds. d. They tend to avert eye gaze during conversation.

Q: People with a _____ concept of time tend to regard time as a commodity. a. polychronic b. regional c. capitalist d. monochronic

Q: Casey is obsessed with punctuality. He gets up at 7:30 every morning, goes to basketball practice at exactly 8:20, takes a one-hour lunch, and comes to class at exactly 12:00 every Tuesday. He knows that being late to class can be interpreted negatively. Casey is probably from a _____ culture. a. polychronic b. regional c. capitalist d. monochronic

Q: People with a ____ orientation toward time tend to view time more holistically and will often interrupt a task to talk to a friend which means that many times things are not finished "on time." a. polychronic b. monochronic c. capitalist d. regional

Q: Which of the following is NOT typically communicated by nonverbal behaviors? a. status b. relational messages c. deception d. content information

Q: _____ is the particular way in which the meanings of various places is constructed. a. Prejudice b. Cultural space c. Popular culture d. Home

Q: A person from Montreal who might identify more strongly with the province of Quebec than her country, Canada, demonstrates _____, a form of cultural space. a. home b. neighborhood c. nationalism d. regionalism

Q: _____ is a way of changing cultural space that is fleeting, temporary, and usually desirable. a. Migration b. Traveling c. Reading d. Regionalizing

Q: Under what circumstances might silence be a primary mode of communication in the United States?

Q: Lilly smiles, makes direct eye contact, and touches her partner Dolores frequently. Lilly's nonverbal behavior is communicating _____. a. relational messages b. status c. power d. deception

Q: People in _____ cultures stand closer together while talking, have more direct eye contact, and speak in louder voices than many people in the United States. a. contact b. East Asian c. noncontact d. Northern European

Q: What might be the benefits of the nonassertive assimilation style for a Muslim American working in an organization run by Protestant Americans? What might be the costs of using this approach?

Q: A commonly shared language that is used as a medium of communication between people of different languages is referred to as lingua franca.

Q: Social media has drastically "increased the shelf life" of slang.

Q: The original language text of a translation is called the target text, and the text into which it is translated is called the source text.

Q: Discuss the power effects of labels.

Q: Identify and discuss the issues of equivalency and accuracy in interpretation and translation.

Q: Compare and contrast the high-context communication style with the understated communication style.

Q: Nonassertive separation strategies are used by people who assume that segregation is a part of everyday life.

Q: Labels are not really that important in terms of establishing relationships.

Q: Most bilinguals speak both languages at the same level of fluency.

Q: The use of honorifics in English is limited to formal situations.

Q: Learning the language of a group a person dislikes is pretty much the same as learning the language of a more favored group.

Q: A law stating that English is the only language to be used in educational settings would be a language policy.

Q: Groups of equal power within society's social structure are known as co-cultural groups.

Q: The understated style of communication values simple assertions and silence.

Q: The direct style of communication is often used when individuals wish to preserve the harmony of a relationship.

Q: Language educators think that with the continued growth and progression of machine translation tools such as Google Translate, there will no longer be a need to teach foreign languages in schools.

Q: Which of the following statements is true of machine translation? a. It preserves the meaning of the original context. b. It is familiar with the idioms and slangs of languages. c. It requires access to online tools. d. It is accurate.

Q: The view that the particular language one speaks influences his or her perception but does not completely determine his or her perception is known as the _____. a. pragmatic position b. qualified relativist position c. nominalist position d. semantic relativist position

Q: Metamessage is defined as: a. the meaning of a message that tells others how they should respond to the content of a person's communication based on his or her relationship to them. b. a verbal message often designed to camouflage a speaker's true intentions, needs, wants, and desires. c. the overlap among the syntactics, pragmatics, phonetics, and language styles of a native language creating a third way of communication. d. a type of communication in which much of the information is conveyed in words rather than in nonverbal cues and contexts.

Q: Interlanguage is defined as: a. a commonly shared language that is used as a medium of communication between people of different languages. b. the laws or customs that determine when and where which language will be spoken. c. a kind of communication that emerges when speakers of one language are speaking in another language. d. the process of producing a written text that refers to something said or written in another language.

Q: Groups with the most power in a society use a communication system that supports their perception of the world.

Q: Changing our communication style so that we can be more effective communicators in another culture is known as _____. a. language acquisition b. translation c. code switching d. semantics

Q: Darrel is gay and some of his co-workers are aware of this. At work, he uses communication strategies that emphasize trying to fit in and be accepted by a dominant group. He talks about his nephews when his colleagues talk about their kids, and he laughs at some homophobic jokes that he doesn't really feel are funny. Darrel is using a(n) _____ accommodation strategy in order to assimilate. a. assertive b. aggressive c. nonassertive d. elaborate

Q: Eduardo, a student who uses a wheel chair, goes to great lengths to prove that he is like the other students. He separates himself as much as possible from other people with disabilities and engages in self-ridicule to show that he is humble. Eduardo is using a(n)_____ assimilation strategy. a. assertive b. aggressive c. nonassertive d. instrumental

Q: Kelsey, who is Jewish, tries to blend with the dominant group at work as much as possible. When they offer her a slice of pizza, she gently declines and delicately points out that her religion tells her that she should not eat the meat of cloven-hoofed animals. Kelsey is probably using a(n) _____ accommodation strategy. a. assertive b. aggressive c. nonassertive d. indirect

Q: Leona, an African American, hears one of her white friends use a phrase that has traditionally been used to disparage blacks. She tactfully educates her friend about the history and meaning of the word because while she doesn't wish to be offended, she also knows he meant no harm. Leona is probably using a(n) _____ accommodation strategy. a. assertive b. aggressive c. nonassertive d. indirect

Q: Sankaran immigrated to the United States from India as a child. Although he speaks fluent English, he prefers to live, work, and socialize with people who look like himself. Sankaran has chosen to use a(n) _____ separation strategy. a. assertive b. aggressive c. instrumental d. nonassertive

Q: _____ separation strategies (e.g., attacking and sabotaging others) are used by those for whom co-cultural segregation is an important priority. a. Elaborate b. Aggressive c. Assertive d. Nonassertive

Q: People who speak more than two languages are considered _____. a. bilingual b. multilingual c. multicultural d. translators

Q: The process of verbally expressing what is said or written in another language is known as _____. a. translation b. interpretation c. equivalency d. discourse

Q: Cliff is in the process of producing an English target text that refers to an article written in Portuguese (source text). Cliff is engaged in _____. a. translation b. discourse c. equivalency d. interpretation

Q: In German, the modifier goes before the verb instead of after. If Jorg, a native German speaker, says, "Interesting this is." He is using _____. a. improvised performance b. third culture style c. translation d. interlanguage

Q: Ramona believes in "telling it like it is" with her roommates, even though that means saying negative things sometimes. Ramona is probably using a(n) _____ style of communication. a. understated b. elaborate c. indirect d. direct

Q: What communication strategies are used to place someone in the class hierarchy in the United States?

Q: At what stage in the identity development model are you? Why? What experiences have facilitated or hindered your own identity development?

Q: The study of the sound system of language including how words are pronounced is known as _____. a. phonetics b. semantics c. pragmatics d. syntactics

Q: The study of meaning or how individual words communicate the meaning we intend to get across in our communication is known as _____. a. phonetics b. semantics c. syntactics d. pragmatics

Q: The study of the structure of language or how words are combined into meaningful sentences (e.g., the cat white or the white cat) is known as _____. a. syntactics b. semantics c. pragmatics d. phonetics

Q: The study of how language is actually used in particular contexts is known as _____. a. phonetics b. semantics c. pragmatics d. syntactics

Q: Communication which is indirect because most of the meaning is internalized in the person is known as _____ communication. a. understated b. low-context c. high-context d. elaborate

Q: When the majority of a message is in spoken words, the speaker is probably using a(n) _____ communication style. a. indirect b. low-context c. high-context d. affective

Q: A style of communication in which much of the information is contained in the contexts and nonverbal cues rather than expressed explicitly in words is referred to as _____ communication. a. indirect b. low-context c. high-context d. direct

Q: The _____ communication style is one in which verbal messages reveal a speaker's true intentions, needs, wants, and desires. a. direct b. elaborate c. indirect d. understated

Q: Denise wants a new coat. Instead of asking her mother outright (which would be improper in her family), she openly admires the coats of others. Denise is using a(n) _____ style of communication. a. direct b. personal c. indirect d. instrumental

Q: Many Arabic speakers use rich, expressive language in everyday talk. They probably are using a(n) _____ style of communication. a. elaborate b. succinct c. indirect d. understated

Q: A(n) _____ style of communication emphasizes cooperative communication and sincerity as a basis for human interaction. a. elaborate b. succinct c. indirect d. understated

Q: Howard thinks that relationships are the most important aspect of life. So, if he has information that might disappoint or upset the other person, he may not share it completely. Howard probably prefers a(n) _____ style of communication. a. indirect b. direct c. understated d. elaborate

Q: Why would U.S. Americans not like to discuss class distinctions? What are the ramifications of lack of recognition of class?

Q: A multicultural person with a secure sense of self and exposure to more than one culture's norms and values is in the self-acceptance and assertion stage of multicultural identity development.

Q: Individualism is a core symbol of Mexican American identity.

Q: People with disabilities do not usually go through discernible stages of identity development because they are also members of larger cultural groups.

Q: White people have an advantage of race privilege.

Q: Gender is the same as biological sex.

Q: Individualized identity, evident in many collectivististic cultures, stresses the importance of emotional connectedness to and interdependence with others.

Q: According to the identity negotiation theory, cultural variability influences our sense of self and ultimately influences how successful we are in intercultural interactions.

Q: Ascription is the process by which individuals portray themselves, whereas avowal is the process by which others attribute identities to them.

Q: Core symbols tell us about the fundamental beliefs and the central concepts that define a particular identity.

Q: How might white privilege affect intercultural communication?