Abstract :
Effective usage of nonverbal and verbal communication in Japanese such as gestures, mimics, silence and employing grammatical or lexical honorifics plays a significant role in determining the success of foreign language learners in obtaining their intended employment. This study examines the second language (L2) learning of politeness and social interaction in professional life within sociocultural and sociolinguistic competence in situ among those L2 learners of Japanese who took the sociolinguistics competence courses and those who did not. The main purpose of this study to exhibit the importance of employing Sociolinguistic Competence courses to the Japanese Language Education Curriculum in order to have students understand crosscultural and sociocultural phenomena. In the Sociolinguistic Competence courses graduates do not only learn the theoretical sociocultural background of Japanese society and language. In addition, they familiarize themselves with various practical topics such as social manners, those pertaining to e-mail, the telephone, name cards (meishi), and even the seating orders used in Japanese business. The current study analyzed 80 participants who are graduated and are working with native Japanese speakers in their professional lives. Based on the study findings, implications for teaching sociolinguistic and nonverbal/verbal communication tools were explored.