COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES - SOCIAL DETERMINANTS AND ACCULTURATIVECONSEQUENCES

Past research has consistently documented the relations between intere thnic contact, language behaviour and identity on Be one hand, and the relations between interethnic contact and psychological adjustment on the other. This study combines these two lines of research through a consideration oi: the influence of ethnolinguistic vitality on these v ariables' interrelations. The participants included 285 English-Canadi an and 243 French-Canadian students at a bilingual university who orig inated from high and low ethnolinguistic vitality contexts. The result s of analyses of variance showed that vitality and native language gro up membership influenced the extent of ethnic identification, intereth nic contact, and self-confidence in the second language, but did not a ffect the levels of psychological adjustment. Path analyses supported a model in which Linguistic self-confidence mediated the relations bet ween interethnic contact and identity and adjustment, although the pat terns of relations differed depending upon the vitality of the group. It is suggested that one reason why ethnolinguistic vitality is an imp ortant moderator of cross-cultural adaptation is because it implies gr oup differences in the experience of interethnic contact and linguisti c self-confidence.