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A Study in A Study in Cross-Cultural Interpretations Cross-Cultural Interpretations of Back-Channeling Behaviorof Back-Channeling Behavior
Yaffa Al BayyariYaffa Al BayyariNigel WardNigel Ward
The University of Texas at El PasoThe University of Texas at El PasoDepartment of Computer ScienceDepartment of Computer Science
February 22, 2008February 22, 2008 Meeting of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research
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Back-ChannelingBack-Channeling
• Short utterances: uh-huh, yeah, mm-hm ...
• Show active listening
• Frequent: ~4 per minute (English, Arabic)
• Below conscious awareness
• A turn-taking function
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Misunderstandings are Common Misunderstandings are Common in Cross-Cultural Communicationin Cross-Cultural Communication
culture-dependent
interpretations
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What Causes Problems?What Causes Problems?
UniversalLanguage-DependentCulture-Dependent
smiles
simple emotions complex
emotions
non-lexicalutterances
words
emblematic gestures
?????????????????? turn-taking mechanisms ??????????????????
Culture-dependent behaviors that we think are universal can cause deep misunderstandings.
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Cultural Differences in Cultural Differences in Back-ChannelingBack-Channeling
• frequency (Maynard 89)
• words and non-lexicals used • timing (this study)
– typically in response to cues by the other– but the cues differ ...
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Prosodic Cues for Back-ChannelsProsodic Cues for Back-Channels
English
>110 ms
26th percentile
Arabic < 500 ms
>40 ms, with slope > .7% every 10 ms
brief pause
“When you hear such a cue, respond with a back-channel”is a good description of listener behavior.
pitch
pitch
time
time
Game 2: listen to the cue; what emotional value do you perceive?
Game 1: listen to the back-channels
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Initial HypothesesInitial Hypotheses
Pitch downdashperceived as
a cue for aback-channelresponse
Americansubjects
Arabsubjects
noyes
an expression of negative affect
yesno
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responseprosodic cuelead-in
downdash
cadence
upturn silence
full turn
back-channel
Experiment 1 StimuliExperiment 1 Stimuli
resynthesized to obscure the words, retaining pitch contours
subjects asked to judge the naturalness of each response, given the context
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ParticipantsParticipants
• 18 naive American-English speakers– students from an introductory CS class– mostly Spanish-English bilinguals– no knowledge of Arabic
• 18 Arabic speakers– 7 living in El Paso Texas, 11 in Qatar– some to total knowledge of English
• 18 exposed American-English speakers– with about 25 minutes of training in this aspect of Arabic, several months before
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4.34.1 4.2
4.7
3.7
4.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Arab Naive American Exposed American
natu
raln
ess
other pairings
downslope+BC
Results of Experiment 1Results of Experiment 1
Ratings of the naturalness of the various pairings
* matched-pairs t-test
different* different*
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Experiment 2Experiment 2
Subjects were asked to judge the emotional state:
“does the speaker sound more positive or more negative?”
downdash
cadence
upturn
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Experiment 2 ResultsExperiment 2 Results
4.54.2
5
4.2
3.2
4
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Arab Naive American Exposed
American
positive feeling controls
downslope
* matched-pairs t-testdifferent* different*
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Summary of Experiments 1&2Summary of Experiments 1&2
Pitch downdashperceived as
a cue for aback-channelresponse
Americansubjects
Arabsubjects
noyes
an expression of negative affect
yesno
significantly different
significantly different
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What Causes Problems?What Causes Problems?
UniversalLanguage Dependent/
Culture Dependent
smiles
simple emotions complex
emotions
non-lexicalutterances
words
emblematic gestures
back-channeling
Behaviors that are culture-dependent, but that people think are universal, can cause deep misunderstandings.
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Implication and Follow-Up QuestionImplication and Follow-Up Question
Imagine an Arab happens to use this cue while talking to an American (in Arabic or English)
• The American is likely to misinterpret it, without suspecting the danger(Experiments 1 and 2)
• The Arab may feel the American is not
being a cooperative listener ...(Experiment 3)
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Follow-on HypothesesFollow-on Hypotheses
Learners of Arabic who back-channel better
will be judged as
• knowing Arabic better
• being nicer
• being more socially effective
and the effect sizes will be large
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StimuliStimuli
Well Pronounced Greeting
Poorly Pronounced Greeting
Well Timed Back-Channeling
Poorly Timed Back-Channeling
Absent Back-Channeling
Absent Greeting
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ResultsResults
Is this person likely to succeed in making someone want to help him?
3.74.2 4.1
4.7 4.7
5.35.3 5.45.7
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
no back-channelling back-channeling 1 back-channeling 2so
cial
effe
ctiv
enes
s
no greeting
sloppy greeting
good greeting
How well does the listener know Arabic?
3.8
4.4 4.3
3.43.8
4
5.25.5
5.3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
no back-channelling back-channeling 1 back-channeling 2
know
ledg
e of
Ara
bic
no greeting
sloppy greeting
good greeting
significantly different (matched-pairs t-tests, 54 pairs)
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ConclusionsConclusions
• The prosody of back-channeling is not universal. (experiment 1).
• It is worthwhile for learners to master its meaning. (experiment 3).
So they should be taught it, and other turn-taking patterns, and also in other languages.
• Americans perceive it as negative, but even a brief exposure reduces this. (experiment 2)
So people likely to hear even sound-bites of Arabs should also be taught about it.
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A Study in A Study in Cross-Cultural Interpretations Cross-Cultural Interpretations of Back-channeling Behaviorof Back-channeling Behavior
Yaffa Al BayyariYaffa Al BayyariNigel WardNigel Ward
February 22, 2008February 22, 2008 Meeting of the Society for Cross-Cultural Research
Thank You
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The PhenomenonThe Phenomenon
• Back-channel feedback happens when– One person is explaining something– The other produces short response indicating he is
paying attention
• Definition– Responds directly to an utterance of the speaker– Is optional– Does not require acknowledgement by the speaker– Does not interrupt the flow of the conversation
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Predictive Value of the CuePredictive Value of the Cue
Corpus-based study found that these times are commonly indicated by a prosodic feature complex which includes a steep pitch downslope, “downdash”
(Ward & Al Bayyari, 2006, 2007)
• Coverage = 43%• Accuracy = 13%
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Experiment 3Experiment 3
• Stimuli preparation– 9 audio fragments– 11 sec conversation between
Arabic speaker and a learner– Greeting not synthesized– Direction-giving and BC synthesized
• Subjects were asked to judge the Arabic learner
Poor Greeting
Good BC
Poor BC
No BCNo Greeting
Good Greeting
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Previous WorkPrevious Work
• In Arabic:– Statements & wh-questions end with a falling
pitch(Kulk et al., 2005; Eldin & Rajouani, 1999; Rifaat, 2005)
– yes-no questions generally end with a pitch rise (Eldin & Rajouani, 1999; El-Hassan, 1988)
– Back-channels function pragmatically in Arabic much as in English
• Do not always convey understanding• Can overlap the speaker’s talk
(Ola Mohamed Hafez, 1991)
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Results of Experiment 2 Results of Experiment 2 –– cont. cont.
Answers to question “write 2 or 3 adjectives describing the speaker” by English speakers:
For the downslope: half or more used “angry”, “scared”, “sad” or “disgusted”
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HypothesisHypothesis
• The pitch downslope is a cue for back-channel in Arabic, although it is not perceived as such by speakers of American English
• The pitch downslope is perceived negatively by American-English speakers but not by Arabic speakers
• In Arabic good back-channeling matters & even more than good pronunciation
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Does this person sound like a nice person?
3.33.6 3.7
4.34.6
4.955.4
5.8
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
no back-channelling back-channeling 1 back-channeling 2
no greeting
sloppy greeting
good greeting
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Sharp pitch downslope
Most likely we’re gonna stay for a month and a week
To see how life is there and probably uncle & aunt are coming with us, so it’ d be good chance for you to come visit us
OK
OK
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MaskingMasking
Original
Masked