CULTURE TALKS : AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY ON LANGUAGE-CULTURE CONNECTION

This paper is based on an ethnographic study which attempts to explore different personal cultural values and beliefs from a number of participants’ point of view as a step in gaining cross-cultural understanding, communication and competence. The participants were university/school students and employees of different ethnic origin studying or working in Adelaide, South Australia. Using a questionnaire which is based on Furstenberg et al.’s model of cross-cultural learning, information about the participant’s cultural views on family relations, power structure, social interaction and individual achievement was gathered manually and electronically. The results showed that although the participants come from various cultural backgrounds, there was a tendency that they provided similar answers rather different ones due to their academic and residential influences.