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Executive functioning is a cognitive process that coordinates and organizes other mental processes to adapt to the demands of the environment, with the inhibition prepotent responses being a fundamental skill of this process. Inhibition involves interpreting signals and monitoring conflicts, activating the anterior cingulate cortex for greater cognitive control. The attentional control theory suggests that inhibition and attentional control share brain substrates, and their interruption affects the capacity for inhibition and switching. In a task where preponderant responses to certain stimuli must be inhibited, such as the Go/No-Go task, cultural familiarity could influence performance, since exposure to culturalized elements can become preponderant responses. However, this effect has not been fully explored. To explore this phenomenon, an observational study was carried out with 15 normotypical participants subjected to the Go/No-Go task in two versions: the traditional task and a variant with novel stimuli. The correct answers, the reaction time, the commissions, and omissions of both versions were analyzed. The results suggest that there is a large effect size (d = 1.16, p = < 0.001) reaction time differential between the two versions in favor of the traditional version, which responded more quickly. Additionally, the concordance and correspondence measures obtained a low similarity (-0.06 [-0.36 | 0.25]) between the reaction times of the traditional and alternative tasks. It is concluded that the data suggest the influence of a differential effect when using a culturally learned stimulus and one that is not, although this effect is concentrated in response times. It is suggested to pay attention to this factor as an active element of the Go/NoGo task in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental awareness is one of the eighteen characters integrated into teaching materials, needs to be embodied in young learners’ qualities. Selecting appropriate, nativized, and culturally familiar teaching materials to build environmental awareness amongst young learners is respectfully urgent. This study aims to determine the effect of cultural familiarity of Wali Sanga folktales as teaching materials on fostering environmental awareness of pesantren-based EFL young learners. This research used pre-experimental in one group pre-test and post-test design. The researcher used purposive sampling to determine the research participant, consisting of 45 students. The data was collected by using measurement techniques in the form of a written test. Through the written test, it can be revealed that selected Wali Sanga folktales as culturally familiar teaching material containing the value of biocentrism ethical ecology increased students’ environmental awareness.

The authenticity and familiarity of the reading materials used in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes have received a great deal of attention for some time. The aim of the present study is to report on the qualitative analyses of secondary school EFL teachers' perceptions about the influence of cultural familiarity on reading skills development. With the qualitative nature of the data collection and analysis, a deeper insight is sought into EFL teachers' ideas about the issue with a special focus on the factors affecting their perceptions. The participants were three EFL teachers working in different secondary schools in Turkey. For data collection, in addition to completing prior semi-structured interview forms, the teachers completed posterior semi-structured interview forms after implementing two forms of the same text in both control and experimental groups of students. This also enabled the researchers to zoom in on any possible differences in the teachers' views before and after the implementation process. The results showed that the participant teachers' general perceptions about authenticity or familiarity were neither positive nor negative. Detailed analysis showed that both sides claimed to have some advantages and disadvantages even though cultural familiarity was observed to be favoured relatively slightly against authenticity. Also, each teacher, including the one favouring authenticity, stated that their students were relatively more enthusiastic about participating in activities related to the text familiar to their culture. The lack of sample diversity could be considered a limitation of the study as the number of participants were small and they were all working in the same province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study tries to test the effectiveness of cultural familiarity and cultural schemata in enhancing comprehension of culturally loaded texts especially short stories. In doing so, 129 Iranian EFL learners between 9 to 11 years of age were chosen. After ensuring that they are homogeneous, the participants were divided into three groups. In the first group, participants read the nativized version of the short story. In the second one, they read the original version and background knowledge was provided for them and in the third one, they read the nativized version while background knowledge has been provided for them. Then the students were asked to answer multiple choice questions that tested their comprehension. Results revealed that the treatment of group three was the most facilitative one. It is concluded that applying a method which is a mixture of both cultural familiarity and cultural schemata facilitates learners’ comprehension skill best.

The present study is designed to investigate the role of cultural schema in ESL context at Higher Secondary level in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It aims to investigate students' comprehension of a short story The Blanket by Floyed Dellin their textbooks. The investigation is however exclusive of content and language schemata. To examine students' reading comprehension qualitatively, this study uses the tool of 'content familiarity questionnaire' for primary data collection from a sample of 200 participants selected via convenient sampling technique. Analysis includes schemata identification of culturally unfamiliar context, norms, rituals and customs by the students while interpreting the selected lesson. Findings reveal a significant mismatch and misperception between students derived understanding and encoded text from less comprehension to the degree of total miscomprehension. It was found that students either wrongly identified the foreign culture phenomena with their own culture, or their constructed schemata neither match the target nor their cultural schema. Thus, the study stands beneficial to ESL students' reading skill as it draws attention to the development of cultural schema and suggests means of improving students' reading comprehension of such lessons in ESL context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of current study was to examine the impact of potential factors that influence audience's attitude toward and intention to watch LPGA tournaments that are typically led by a large number of foreign golfers today. Research participants (N = 375) were LPGA consumers who responded to a questionnaire administered online. SEM analysis was performed to investigate the impact of diversity beliefs, cultural familiarity, perceived image, and femininity on attitude toward and intention to watch. The results revealed positive influence of perceived image and femininity on audience's attitude, while negative impact of assimilation belief on attitude was identified. Furthermore, positive associations between attitude and intention as well as subjective norm and intention were confirmed. These findings suggest that promotion of the image of tour-leading foreign golfers and femininity would be useful to attract media spectators while promotion of diversity mitigating audiences' belief on assimilation approach can be effective under the new globalized tour environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authenticity is crucial in ethnic food perception. However, a conundrum arises when consumers' cultural familiarity varies: Does authenticity remains a key driver for developing a positive likability perception? This research incorporates two studies to investigates the effect of cultural familiarity levels on the perceived authenticity and likability of ethnic foods, specifically traditional vs. localized ethnic food (Study 1), and the message framings (concrete vs. abstract) for localized ethnic food (Study 2). The study also explores the effects of perceived authenticity and likability on electronic word-of-mouth intention. The findings indicate that traditional ethnic food is perceived as more authentic only by low cultural familiarity participants, while localized ethnic food is more likable. Further, concrete message framing is more likable for those with high cultural familiarity, whereas no significant differences are observed for low cultural familiarity participants. Both studies consistently reveal that perceived authenticity and likability positively affect electronic word-of-mouth intention. • Authenticity and likability perceptions differ across the levels of cultural familiarity. • For low cultural familiarity, traditional ethnic food is perceived as more authentic, whereas localized ethnic food is seen as more likable. • For high cultural familiarity, the concrete message for localized ethnic food indicates greater likability. • Authenticity and likability perception significantly positively affect e-WOM intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the interrelationships between cultural familiarity (CF), Korean cultural involvement (KCI), involvement with Korean celebrities (IKC), attitude toward a country (ATCOUN), and word-of-mouth (WOM) toward Korea. Survey data were collected from 358 Tanzanian college students within Tanzania in March of 2017. The findings reveal that CF exerted a positive and significant influence on KCI, IKC, and ATCOUN. Moreover, KCI positively and significantly forms both IKC and ATCOUN. Additionally, IKC was a positive influence on ATCOUN. ATCOUN was demonstrated to be a significant predictor of WOM, while KCI was demonstrated to act as a partial mediator between CF and ATCOUN. IKC was a partial mediator between CF and ATCOUN. IKC was a full mediator between KCI and ATCOUN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of the different methods of teaching English has become increasingly important as the subject of global Englishes receives greater attention. In Asia, more educators have been using textbooks that are culturally specific in their design; however, a limited number of studies have been conducted that demonstrate their practical efficacy. Building on a preliminary study into the effectiveness of culturally familiar materials in EFL education in Japan, a crossover study using both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted to examine the influence of cultural familiarity on university students' reading comprehension, vocabulary retention, and interest in the texts. Seventy-eight lower-intermediate level EFL students from four intact classes were divided into two groups with equivalent vocabulary proficiency. Participants read four simplified newspaper articles that contained culturally familiar or unfamiliar proper nouns allocated using a crossover design. Pre- and post-lesson tests were used to gauge the effectiveness of culturally familiar proper nouns on reading comprehension, vocabulary retention, and interest of each article. The results revealed that students who read the culturally familiar version of the articles scored higher in reading comprehension and vocabulary retention, and generally reported greater interest and engagement. These findings provide important insights to EFL educators, learners and material designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on free trade agreements (FTAs) mostly uses an economic perspective to assess their impact on the level of trade and investments between nations. As a result, there is a distinct paucity of research on the perceptions of employees and managers in organizations affected by FTAs, towards the likely outcomes of those FTAs. We address this gap by using the context of recently signed China-Australia free trade agreement (ChAFTA) to develop a multidimensional scale for the perceived advantages and disadvantages of FTAs. Drawing on social identity theory and the similarly-attraction paradigm we also show direct and interactive effects of perceived ethnic distance (between home and partner country) and cultural familiarity (with the FTA partner country) on these perceived outcomes of FTAs. Our findings highlight the need to look beyond the economic perspective and consider a much broader range of perceived outcomes of FTAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how cultural familiarity and service failure characteristics affect hotel guest ratings of their tolerance and satisfaction toward a failure in hotel service. The study is significant for two key reasons: (1) it provides the first examination of the effects of cultural familiarity in a service failure setting, and (2) introduces the construct of guest tolerance as an important outcome evaluation of the hotel experience. Data was collected from an online survey of 740 Australians. The study comprised a 2 (failure type) x 3 (severity of failure) x 3 (cultural familiarity) experimental design. While a main effect showed that 'interpersonal' failures were less tolerated and resulted in less satisfaction than 'non-interpersonal' failures, this effect differed depending on severity of the failure. Interaction effects demonstrate that high cultural familiarity magnifies the effect of high service failure severity in respect of levels of tolerance and customer satisfaction ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of the present study was to evaluate English language textbooks of grade 7, 8 and 9 in the Iranian Pedagogical curriculum to see to what extent students are exposed to national, international and target cultural familiar content in their classes. As Gurkan (2012) and Ganjabi (2014) say students who are familiar to cultural content of the target language have better reading comprehension scores than those who lack familiarity to target language cultural content. Since culturally familiar content of language in international and target level increases learners' comprehension almost in all skills, textbooks are one of their real manifestations in curriculum. The study also intended to investigate how the content of English textbooks represents national, international and target culturally familiar content for students to be well-prepared to convey their own culture to foreigners as well as to be acquainted with other cultures that they have contact with for any means anywhere in the virtual and real places. Content analysis method was used and a coding scheme was designed according to items listed in Byram's cultural content checklist (1993). The findings of this qualitative study showed that ELT textbooks covered a restricted range of international cultural content as well as target cultural content; moreover, the result revealed that just restricted amount of national culturally familiar content are applied in the English language textbooks. Based on the results of the study, some directions would be suggested to be applied in the English language syllabus; moreover, the results can be used by teachers as a direction for adding some supplementary and complementary materials to develop English language textbooks in education for effective communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TV networks are in constant need of new programs. This study analyses series spin-offs that builds on successful formats, whereby, the networks aim to reduce the innovation risk by providing series that are more or less familiar to viewers. This explorative study adopts a qualitative approach and creates a model of determinants for the spin-offs' success. Five TV spin-offs that stem from different genres and were both successful and failures were analyzed. The major factors of spin-offs were found to be the parent show fan base, intertextuality of parent and spin-off, and consistency in factors like plot and character constellation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates to what extent learners' first language (L1) may have an impact on their writing and speaking performances. While Japanese continues to enjoy a large enrolment across levels in Australian schools and universities, the population of learners has become increasingly diverse creating challenges for teachers. One dimension of this diversity is first language background which is the focus of the present study. The data for the present study includes writing and speaking test task performances from learners of different L1s collected for a larger study (see Scarino et al., 2011, and other papers in this volume). The samples were first scored using the scale developed for the larger study and then further analysed qualitatively. The results show that students from Chinese and Korean language backgrounds received higher scores in both writing and speaking, and showed a richness of content and a variety of forms and structures not evident in the performance of those from English and other L1 backgrounds. These findings are discussed in light of learners' level of familiarity with aspects of Japanese culture. The paper presents some suggestions for pedagogy, assessment and further research based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of prospective and experienced tourists to international tourism destinations. More specifically, this study examines how the differences in the level of familiarity with the host country (i.e., informational familiarity and experiential familiarity) influence sub-destination choice in terms of its scale and popularity. A survey was conducted with Korean nationals as potential visitors to tourism destinations in Japan. Six one-way ANOVA tests and six chi-square tests were performed to identify the relationships and differences between tourists' characteristics and the destination choices. The results indicate that (1) teens and people in their 50s and above were interested in visiting more popular places, (2) tourists who are more familiar with Japan tended to visit less popular destinations, and (3) tourists with more travel experiences to the country tended to visit destinations with bigger scale and less popularity. Managerial implications for each destination with different scales and popularities will be suggested to customize service for prospective first-time and experienced visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the ethnic food consumption intentions of potential Chinese tourists and how their intention of consuming ethnic food affects their destination preferences. In the present context, ethnic food refers to Turkish food. Research findings are based on data collected from 643 potential Chinese tourists. It is concluded that food awareness and cultural familiarity have a negative effect on food neophobia. While food involvement has a positive effect on ethnic food consumption intention, ethnic food consumption intention is influenced by cultural familiarity and food neophobia negatively. Lastly, country image plays a moderating role in the effect of ethnic food consumption on destination visit intention. Based on the research findings, specific theoretical and practical implications are discussed. • Food awareness and cultural familiarity have a negative effect on food neophobia. • Ethnic food consumption intention is influenced by food neophobia negatively. • Ethnic food consumption intention is influenced by cultural familiarity negatively. • Food involvement has a positive effect on ethnic food consumption intention. • Ethnic food consumption intention affects destination visit intention positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]