Section 1:Culture

INTRODUCTION III SECTION 1: CULTURE 1 CULTURE AS A PART OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION - PROBLEMS AND POSSIBILITIES 3 CHRIS MERKELBACH NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION IN CROSS-CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS 21 BEATE LUO MANAGING INEQUALITY IN THE MULTICULTURAL WORKPLACE: A MANAGEMENT ISSUE 31 JEFFREY DENTON SECTION 2: LEARNING STYLES 51 DIFFERENTIATING TEACHING ACCORDING TO INDIVIDUAL LEARNING STYLE: A JUSTIFICATION OF THE FEASIBILITY FROM RECENT EMPIRICAL RESEARCH 53 WEN-HUA HSU THE EXISTENCE AND IMPORTANCE OF UTILITY (INSTRUMENTAL) IN NON-ENGLISH STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN STUDYING ENGLISH 67 CLYDE A. WARDEN AND HSIU- JU LIN SECTION3: TEACHING CULTURE 85 TEACHING CULTURE IN THE APPLIED FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT 87 EDWARD DANISON LANGUAGE IS NOT ENOUGH–FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION, CULTURE AND DOING BUSINESS WITH EUROPE 111 ANGELIKA MAYER LOO SECTION4: TEACHING LANGUAGE 125 ADULT EFL IN THE BUXIBAN: A REPORT ON AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE APPROPRIACY OF WESTERN LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS IN TAIWAN’S PRIVATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOLS 127 CHRIS MURPHY ENHANCING LEARNERS’ (AND NON-NATIVE TEACHERS’) INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE THROUGH CURRENT POPULAR AUTHENTIC MATERIALS 151 CAROLINE C. HWANG SECTION5: MULTIMEDIA ENGLISH 175 THE STRATEGIES OF APPLIED ENGLISH WRITING: BEING APPLIED TO THE INTERNET 177 CHU MIN-HUAI THE INTERNET RESEARCH IN ENGLISH PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FOR EFL STUDENTS 193 JONATHAN BENDA GETTING YOUR CLASS ON THE WEB & CREATING INTERACTIVE ONLINE ACTIVITIES, ASSIGNMENTS AND QUIZZES 211 CLYDE A. WARDEN AND DINAH TAI Introduction The conference on Communication & Culture in the Global Economy, held by Chaoyang University’s Department of Applied Foreign Language, on March 22, 1999, was a resounding success. Over three hundred people were in attendance, and 14 research papers were presented. Professor Wu Jin (former Minister of Education) and Dr. Wu Chung-Lih (Vice Chairman, Council for Cultural Affair, Executive Yuan), both pointed out the central importance of communication and culture to Taiwan’s continued success in the next century. This book is the record of the papers presented that day. It is our hope that this is only the first of a series of meetings that will lead to a better understanding of the practical side of foreign language teaching, learning, and use in Taiwan. Every day, we see the importance of foreign languages in Taiwan, especially English, which has become the default international business language. With this in mind, our conference included reference to the global economy, with an emphasis on the communication needed to compete in such an economy. Finally, culture cannot be separated from these two. The international nature of business today brings together people who may speak English, but still cannot communicate effectively due to cultural differences. The importance of these three topics is widely recognized and Taiwan schools have covered such skills in numerous departments, such as international trade, management, English, foreign languages, etc. Each of these departments, however, has its own specialization that never quite succeeds at combining communication, culture, and business into one curriculum. The newly established Applied Foreign Language department appears to be perfectly located to combine these areas. To center on effective communication, cultural understanding, and a practical business orientation first requires an understanding of what exactly these issues involve. The C&C conference series is directed at building such an understanding. This resulting book has a wide selection of papers with practicality as the central theme. Most striking is the international variety of the researchers, German, American, Australian, Chinese, and Taiwanese, yet the central theme is highly relevant to Taiwan’s new AFL department. There is a general understanding of the importance of using languages and cultural understanding for success in the twenty-first century. Clyde Warden Section 1: Culture Certainly there are very few who would dispute the centrality of culture when learning a foreign language. It is almost meaningless to master a language but know nothing of the culture, as one would simply say all the right words, but with all the wrong meanings. Since the AFL department is based on application of language, this department should involve a high level of actual contact with people, and communications, from other cultures, thus increasing the importance of cultural training. Unlike the detached analysis of literature, or the academic study of the details of linguistics, AFL students will go on to actually interface between cultures. Chris Merkelbach starts us out on this trail, with a look at what culture actually is and how it can be taught. He emphasizes that culture is more than the language and still a vital part of effective communication. Certainly this is true for any cross-culture communication, but my personal experience, as a Westerner in Asia, tells me that it is especially important when dealing with the Asian/Western communication flows, as Merkelbach points out in an all too familiar example (where “Yes” does not mean “Yes”). Beate Luo continues this strand with an exploration of non-verbal communication, or body language. Kinesics is introduced and numerous examples lead to some comic relief, as we have all experienced misunderstandings due to gestures accompanying a communication. This subject is no laughing matter, however, as body language can be assumed to be understood, thus giving a false sense of security in a cross-cultural meeting. In a business situation, this could be disastrous, as the parties each go on to do what they thought was communicated, even though the intended message was actually lost. Jeffrey Denton closes out this section with a look at equality in a multicultural workplace. The very concept of equality is so variable through time, culture, and geographic location, that even within the same country, we can find differing definitions. The experiences of numerous Japanese firms in the United States have shown that equality is very differently understood by these two cultures. But no matter how slippery the definition, Denton is absolutely on target in labeling this a management issue, as in the global economy of the 21st century, it is management’s responsibility to overcome equality questions. Denton introduces numerous sources of inequality and how such problems can be overcome, in order to achieve higher levels of productivity as well as employee satisfaction. Culture as a Part of Foreign Language Instruction - Problems and Possibilities Chris Merkelbach Chinese Culture University Department and Graduate Institute of German Language and Literature ABSTRACT Culture instruction is considered to be an integral part of foreign language instruction and is influenced by the definition of culture. Recently, however, the term culture has been given a new definition based on research done in cross- cultural psychology. This definition calls for a more intensive education in cross- cultural competence, which has been largely neglected in culture instruction. This article describes the development of the culture definition as has been of relevance in culture instruction and shows ways of an education in cross-cultural competence for teaching modern culture. 4 Communication & Culture in the Global Economy INTRODUCTION Basically the acquisition of a foreign language aims at the establishment of contact with other cultures and their members. Misunderstanding, of course, will arise owing to the shaping of different cultures at any cross-cultural contact (Heyd, 1997, p. 34) As a result of this misunderstanding/misinterpretation, stereotypes and resentments towards the other culture may emerge, which contradict a successful communication--the implicit aim of a communicative--pragmatic foreign language class. Successful communication can be divided into several speech acts. But the founders of the speech act theory (Austin, 1961;Searle, 1969; Wunderlich, 1972) only refer to written or spoken language on a phonological, grammatical, lexical and morphological level in one community which shares the same language and, as a result, the same culture. The cultural aspect of a successful speech act is not discussed explicitly, the cross- cultural aspect is simply ignored. In present day times, when the global village is more beseeched than actively created, the intercultural encounter with foreign cultures should not merely be taught as a part of foreign language acquisition or traditional culture class, which only adds declarative knowledge. The intention of foreign language class is a methodological imparting of how to create successful communication across different cultures. Another starting point for language acquisition with an intercultural emphasis should not be neglected, especially for Taiwan as a rich but politically not very powerful country. To keep its economic miracle running, a miracle which guarantees a certain political acceptance in the world community, the business world has to adapt culturally to other countries and their specific needs and habits. To look further into the matter of cross-cultural education in foreign language teaching, an exact definition of culture and of culture introduction is necessary. Culture 5 DEFINITIONS OF CULTURE The development of a concept of culture has produced a wide range of multiple and often ambiguous interpretations or definitions. The reason for this is the challenging task of reconciling human uniqueness with human diversity,

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