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Flobert Rui Feng University of Alberta A Dyadic Autoethnography of a Learner of English via Chinese by Flobert Rui Feng A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Secondary Education © Flobert Rui Feng Spring 2014 Edmonton, Alberta DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my daughter and son, Justina and Justin, as in their future, their children (and children and grandchildren of others) may have a more efficient way of learning and using one or more additional languages. ABSTRACT The plethora of research on ESL, L1, L2 and ethnography has left under- reported autoethnographies borrowing mathematics as a tool for thinking. In response to the multiplicity, this dissertation explores personal and academic experiences to expose my own development of an L2 learner, in transcultural, translingual, and transnational identity formation and construction, via the learning and teaching of a second language. The methodology I have chosen to use is autoethnography, a relatively new momentum-gaining research tool that combines characteristics of ethnography and autobiography in the latter part of the twentieth century. It is very useful in writing about the dialectical personal and professional creative experiences of fixity and fluidity because, in autoethnographic writing, the observer and observed, the researcher and the researched, the emic and the etic, or the insider and the outsider, are the same. The central issue in this dissertation lies in three questions: In what ways has a person with a Chinese cultural background formed his thoughts and ideas about his English language learning and teaching experiences via exposure to English as a linguistic system and culture? How have the said thoughts and ideas influenced how he performs or reveals his learning and teaching experiences? In what ways can the efficiency of learning an additional language be reached or at least improved based on the dyadic relation between a first language and a second language? The transcultural, translingual and transnational adjustment to a foreign culture in keeping my growth in academia, started with an aim to understand changes in human nature wired by culture and language. Such life-altering cultural and linguistic changes forced the formation and construction of an identity to speed up with presentable performances. By using reflective and available tools for thinking, the speed of gaining quality performance can be efficiently reached. Thus, this research endeavours to provide a model for the development of a critically self-reflexive tool for thinking, so that a second or additional language, and the superstructure of a cultural identity that changes with a new culture, can be organically advanced with synergy and efficiency. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There was once a saying in China about ‘exposed rafters’ that are the first to rot. Such traditional wisdom has always been the accepted way of conducting oneself in Chinese society for several thousands of years. Almost everyone knows this expression, but there are always some that know it better. For those I first acknowledge, all who have encouraged my academic explorations of language learning and teaching, the Jing and Coral Chen family, the Jock and Myrna Fyfe family, the Defeng and Chunling Li family, the Shuying and Shar Li family, the Chunlei and Xiaojian Lu family, Yizhu Wang, Mianmian Xie, and the Bing and Catherine Zuo family. For all the support I received, both financial and academic, from the University of Alberta, all my mentors and instructors, I owe you my heartfelt gratitude. Specifically, this project was made possible by an exchange of emails with Dr. Greg P. Thomas, whose succinct points to follow turned my thinking to move faster at a critical time into the current shape. Importantly, this dissertation could not have been finalised without the encouragement, patience, insightfulness and attentiveness to details highlighted with the professional advocacy of my supervisor Professor Margaret L. Iveson. I will forever remain indebted to her, who has brought together my Examining Committee, Dr. William Dunn, Dr. Ingrid Johnston, Dr. Lynne V. Wiltse, Dr. Carl Leggo, for their insightful questioning, to all of whom I offer my thanks. Revision of this dissertation has been much improved at the editing of Dr. Ed Roach, whose suggestions I could only wish that I followed so closely that not an iota is missed. Thanks to the patience and understanding of my parents and my parents- in-law, as the four of them in their septuagenarian years saw my wife’s doctorate degree and waited so long into their octogenarian years to expect mine. I hope they all can manage into their nonagenarian years to witness my son’s doctorate. Last but never the least, I owe all my said and unsaid gratitude to my family, and especially my doctorate wife, who almost tried all means of fistfight and wordfight to help me finish my doctorate. This degree is sharable with her. Table of Contents DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................ 2 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ 6 LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... 10 LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... 12 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 PROLOGUE ...................................................................................................................................... 1 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE ................................................................................................................... 3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................... 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ....................................................................................................................... 6 DEFINITION OF TERMS ....................................................................................................................... 8 Culture .................................................................................................................................... 9 Dyadic ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Identity .................................................................................................................................... 9 Miseducation .......................................................................................................................... 9 Transcultural identity .............................................................................................................. 9 MY JOURNEY INTO AN INQUISITIVE MIND IN THE FORMING .................................................................... 10 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ................................................................................ 27 AUTOETHNOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 28 RACIAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY THEORIES ............................................................................................. 30 Racial identity. ...................................................................................................................... 31 Ethnic identity. ...................................................................................................................... 32 LANGUAGE AND CULTURE AS IDENTITY ................................................................................................ 32 Linguistic identity. ................................................................................................................. 32 Cultural identity. ................................................................................................................... 33 CULTURES: EAST AND WEST ............................................................................................................. 33 Understanding cultures. ........................................................................................................ 34 Cultures in autoethnographic research. ................................................................................ 35 LANGUAGE TO REVEAL AND TO CONCEAL ............................................................................................ 36 The significance of English as a linguistic system. ................................................................ 37 English as a Second Language (ESL). ...............................................................................................
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