Students’ Perceived Cultural Styles, Second Language Communication, and Confidence ‎in Communication

Abstract

A common challenge for most students in intercultural contexts both in their academic studies ‎and future careers is balancing speaking opportunities for talkative and less talkative students. ‎The differences in individuals’ communication styles due to their backgrounds may lead to ‎some concerns about intercultural competencies. In this respect, this study intends to explore the ‎possible relationship between students' confidence in communication levels, their self-‎perception of English proficiency levels, and cultural styles. For this purpose, three ‎questionnaires were carried out by the participation of 106 students at a state university. The ‎obtained data were analyzed by conducting ANOVA tests. The findings indicated that ‎participants have low to medium levels of English proficiency and as their language levels ‎increase, their cultural self-awareness and cross-cultural communication levels increase as well. ‎In addition, there is a significant relationship between their levels of confidence in ‎communication and having outgoing personalities.