Chinese Culture Themes and Cultural Development: from a Family Pedagogy to A
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Chinese Culture themes and Cultural Development: from a Family Pedagogy to a Performance-based Pedagogy of a Foreign Language and Culture DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Nan Meng Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: Galal Walker, Advisor Mari Noda Mineharu Nakayama Copyright by Nan Meng 2012 Abstract As the number of Americans studying and working in China increases, it becomes important for language educators to reconsider the role of culture in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Many American learners of Chinese fail to achieve their communicative goals in China because they are unable to establish and convey their intentions, or to interpret their interlocutors’ intentions. Only knowing the linguistic code is not sufficient; therefore, it is essential to develop learners’ abilities to be socialized to Chinese culture. A working definition of culture theme as a series of situated acts associated with cultural values is proposed. In order to explore how children acquire culture themes with competent social guides, a quantitative comparative study of maternal speech and a micro-ethnographic discourse analysis of adult-child interactions are presented. Parental discourse patterns are shown to be culturally specific activities that not only foster language development, but also maintain normative dimensions of social life. The culture themes are developed at a young age through children’s interactions with Chinese speakers under the guidance of their parents or caregivers. In order to communicate successfully people have to do things within the shared time and space provided by the culture. ii In foreign language study, the goal is to inculcate default linguistic and social behaviors that sustain participation in a culture. Therefore, it is not enough to understand the cultural values; it is also important to know what actions are associated with conveying these values. A culture theme acquisition model is proposed. In this model, culture themes—the specific behaviors associated with specific values—are seen as the core of cultural instruction. iii Dedication This document is dedicated to my parents. iv Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my dissertation committee for their advice and support: Dr. Galal Walker, Dr. Mari Noda and Dr. Mineharu Nakayama. First I wish to thank my adviser Dr. Walker for his research insights, guidance, and support throughout the process of this research. I want to thank him for creating a learning environment in which he guides me into the world of language pedagogy, and for his stimulating me with his philosophical insights on Chinese language and culture. I am also greatly grateful to Dr. Mari Noda, for her perceptive suggestions and comments regarding this project as well as the invaluable experience I gained from being trained and teaching in SPEAC (Summer Programs East Asian Concentration). I wish to thank Dr. Mineharu Nakayama for his help with the maternal speech project. I appreciate all the time he spent reading my dissertation chapters and offering suggestions for revisions that greatly improved the quality of this dissertation. In addition to my dissertation committee, I must thank Li Yu, Eric Shepherd, Patrick McAloon, Yongfang Zhang, Yunxin Zhang, Zhini Zeng, Ying Liu, Bo Zhu, Chunsheng Yang, Xizhen Qin, and many other current and former graduate students in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures. Discussions with them inspired v me greatly in understanding C1 and C2 development and issues in Chinese culture instructions. My gratitude also extends to my colleague, Hanning Chen in Foreign Language Center. It was the discussion about parenting with her inspired me to start the project on culture theme acquisition. I am truly grateful to all the participants in my two studies. These mothers generously spent time helping collect data and sharing their experiences educating their children. Special thanks must be given to my friends Nathaniel Carr and Erin Greenwalt for their professional editorial skills and constant assistance with the English language. Finally, I would also like to thank my parents for their unending support, sacrifice and love. My heartfelt gratitude goes to my husband Peng Zhao and my daughter Mindy Zhao for their unconditional love and unwavering emotional support. vi Vita July 22, 1980. Born, Laiwu, Shandong Province, P.R.China June 2002. B.A. English Language and Literature, Shandong University, P.R.China May 2004. M.A. Teaching English as a Second Language, Bowling Green State University, U.S.A. 2005. Program Specialist, Foreign Language Center, The Ohio State University. 2006. M.A., Chinese Pedagogy, Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2005 – present . Graduate Research Associate,The Ohio State University. vii Publications Teacher or coach or co-player: what is the instructor's role in second language socialization? Proceedings of 9th International Conference of Chinese Pedagogy. Beijing, July, 2011. Multimedia based pedagogical material development and its application in classroom instructions. Co-authored with Hanning Chen and Yong Lang. Proceedings of The Sixth International Conference of Technology of Chinese Language Teaching (TCLT6), June, 2010. Making requests: a pragmatic study of Chinese mother-child dyads. Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20). Chan, M. & H. Kang (eds). Volume 2. 1011-1022. .Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University. 2008. Fields of Study Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures viii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Dedication ......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. v Vita ................................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................. xiii List of Figures ................................................................................................................. xiv Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter one: Language Socialization and Cultural Development ............................... 7 1.1 Language Socialization: Theoretical approaches ..................................................... 7 1.1.1Historical overview of socialization ........................................................... 7 1.1.2 Defining language socialization .............................................................. 10 1.1.3 The ethnography of communication and language socialization ............ 13 1.1.4 Sociocultural theory and language socialization ..................................... 18 1.1.5 Studies of first and second language socialization .................................. 21 1.2 Cultural development ............................................................................................. 24 1.2.1 Defining culture as a meditational process .............................................. 24 1.2.1.1 Emic vs. Etic approaches................................................................. 24 1.2.1.3 Artifacts and Artifact-Mediated Action .......................................... 27 1.2.1.4 Cultural view of language development .......................................... 32 1.2.1.5 Language development in context ................................................... 35 1.2.1.6 Schema and script ............................................................................ 39 1.2.2 Defining culture theme as situated acts ................................................... 42 ix Chapter two: A Case Study of Chinese Maternal Speech: Forms, Functions and Cultural values ................................................................................................................ 47 2.1 Cross culture studies of maternal speech ............................................................... 47 2.1.1 Infant-directed speech ............................................................................. 47 2.1.2 Maternal speech: East and West .............................................................. 49 2.1.3 A review of maternal speech studies in Korean and Japanese ................ 51 2.2 Structures and cultural values in Chinese maternal speech ................................... 52 2.3 Purpose of the current study ................................................................................... 56 2.4 Research Method .................................................................................................... 56 2.4.1 Participants .............................................................................................. 56 2.4.2 Procedure ................................................................................................. 57 2.4.2.1 Stimuli ............................................................................................. 57 2.4.2.2