Bachelor thesis: The influences of visibility and language background on communicative success in video calls.
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2021-07-16
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en
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The entire world in 2020 was advised to work from home because of a global pandemic. This meant meetings could no longer be held face-to-face but were scheduled online via services such as Zoom. This raises the question whether communication via Zoom is as effective as a face-to-face communication, As meetings for international companies need to be virtual as well, this issue could have consequences for communication between international colleagues. The present study tried to find out if visibility and language background influence the communicative success of a videocall. Native Dutch and native German Participants were asked in pairs to play a spot-the-difference game in English to test their communicative skills. The participants were divided in pairs where the camera would be turned on or in a condition with the camera turned off. The pairs had a shared language background (same L1) or a mixed language background (different L1). The participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire after the experiment was completed. The study found that having the camera turned on during a conversation increases the communicative success between the partners. However no significant differences were found between shared and non-shared language backgrounds and communicative success. These findings can be used to optimise online international meetings to be as efficient as possible.
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Faculteit der Letteren