Learning Pronunciation of Chinese Surnames, Proper Salutations and Useful Greetings Using VoiceThread Meilene C. Roco University of Hawai’i at Manoa Dept. of Educational Technology 1776 University Avenue Wist Hall, Room 232 Honolulu, Hawai’i 96822 USA [email protected] Abstract: As China rapidly expands its influence economically and politically in the world, there’s a need for global citizens to acquire the basics of the Chinese language and culture. An online instructional module was created following instructional design principles to fill this need. The module teaches adult learners how to correctly pronounce ten commonly mispronounced Chinese surnames, proper salutations and useful greetings using VoiceThread. The module utilizes an integrated approach, multiple means of input and representation in a purposeful and practical manner to build interest and efficiency. Fifteen non-Chinese speaking adults took part in the one-hour module via distance. There was an average 156% increase in accuracy in pronunciation and content knowledge after completion of the module. The effectiveness of the module, areas for refinement and suggestions for future implementation and contribution to the field of language instruction are discussed. Introduction When former U.S. Secretary of State Henry M. Kissinger met China’s leader Deng Xiaoping for the first time, Kissinger greeted Deng at the tarmac with a Chinese greeting “ni hao ma?” (how are you?) it immediately broke the ice and set the tone for that historical meeting. For world leaders, developing and honing multicultural competencies are critical. Since that meeting, China has increased its GDP by tenfold. The Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook (2012) noted that China became the world’s largest exporter in 2010 and in the same year also became the second-largest economy in the world after the U.S., having surpassed Japan in 2001. One year later, China also became the single largest foreign holder of United States Treasury debt. The bilateral trade relation between the U.S. and China is also significant to note. While China exports vast quantities of products to the U.S., China is also the most important importer of U.S. goods. The U.S. Department of State (2012) accounts that in 2010 U.S. exports to China totaled $91.9 billion and China is United States’ largest agricultural export market. International relations and monetary figures such as the ones mentioned can be complex to conceptualize. Examples from local economies, such as tourism, may be more graspable. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that Chinese tourists spend on average $7,200 dollars per person per trip, making them now the most sought-after tourists in the world (Yonan, 2010). Hawaii, being one of the favorite tourist destinations for the Chinese, in year 2011 welcomed 91,000 tourists from China and gained $60 million in revenue from this group of visitors alone (Agrusa, Kim & Wang, 2011). These figures will continue to rise sharply as direct flights are being added and tourist visas becoming easier to obtain. In addition, a World Journal article (Chen, 2012) reports that the Chinese are now the world’s top consumers of luxury goods. Businesses are thus acting quickly, rechartering their practices, including employee training, to capitalize on this market trend. Purpose of Project Besides the tourists, there are Chinese from all walks of life, whether from China or from other Chinese speaking regions, who are meeting and living amongst their global counterparts all over the globe. As already mentioned, the numbers will continue to increase rapidly. The questions to ask are: How can one, whether corporate businesses, world leaders or average citizens, prepare and become more culturally competent to meet and greet one another appropriately and properly? How can interested individuals acquire adequate language and cultural knowledge, albeit basic, in a convenient and time-conscious manner? A comprehensive survey of Chinese language lessons offered online yielded hundreds of courses. The researcher observed that most courses either catered children or adults. For individuals such as hotel front desk agents, who need language skills to better their job performance, they will have a difficult time finding instruction that is properly sequenced, concise and yet substantial enough that delivers just what is needed in an hour or two. Most courses are academic, requiring weeks, months or even years of commitment. They may also comprise a myriad of casual lessons or resources that aim to entertain or teach a wide range of topics and vocabulary words, often unrelated from one to the next. Unless specially designed, there remains a need for an effective and efficient instructional module that can systematically teach just what global citizens need to know. Thus this researcher designed such a module prototype to fill this void . Module Development The audience was first defined and analyzed. While everyone, including children, can learn and benefit from acquiring a foreign language, this instructional module was designed with the non- Chinese speaking working adults in mind. For example: hotel staff, customer service representatives, diplomats, politicians, physicians, nurses, teachers, students, and basically anyone who has a need or interest in acquiring such a skill for personal and professional reasons. As shown in Table 1, an asynchronous distance learning model of different-time, different-place (DT-DP) was deemed most desirable for this module. Coldeway of Coldeway’s Quadrants maintains this type of instruction is the “purest form” of distance learning (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2008, p.10). With today’s busy adults, accessing the module from anywhere in the world at any time via the Internet is a must. The Universal Design Guidelines (2008) encourages the use of multiple inputs and representation to allow different learner types, styles, and abilities equivalent access to information. For this module, auditory recordings, videos as well as text were used throughout the module. Keller’s (1983) ARCS motivational model of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction and Knowles’ (1990) Principles of Adult Learning laid the meaningful foundation for the module. These theorists stress, in brief terms, that unlike children, adults need to know purposefully why they are learning, take control of their learning, and apply what they learn in personal ways. Keller & Suzuki (2004) further contend that when success is expected, promoted and recognized, motivation will accelerate. Therefore, the relevance of the module was made clearly in the beginning of instruction. A positive sense of expectant success was conveyed through means of encouragement. This not only engages the audience’s attention, but also motivates them throughout the learning process. Table 1. Module design considerations implemented ___________________________________________________________________________ Design Considerations Principles & Tools Implemented ___________________________________________________________________________ • Distance learning DT-DP (Coldeway, 1995) • Motivation for learning ARCS Model (Keller, 1987) Principles of Adult Learning (Knowles, 1990) ● Multiple inputs & representation Universal Design Guidelines (UDL, 2008) ● Instructional design (ID) hierarchy Principles of ID (Dick & Carey, 1990) ● “Chunking” or clustering Distance Learning Principles (Landis, 2000) ● Instruction & feedback Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (1992) ● Scaffolding Vygotsky (1978); Wood, Bruner & Ross (1976) ● Integrate cultural knowledge Peck (1998) ● Proper technology VoiceThread ___________________________________________________________________________ The actual instructional sections of the module were created by adhering to the Dick and Carey Model of Instructional Design. After identifying the overall instructional goals, an instructional hierarchy chart was drawn to determine the skills non-speakers of Chinese would and would not possess. Three major performance objectives were identified: ten commonly mispronounced Chinese surnames, three forms of address or salutations and five useful greetings. The overall goal of the module is defined as: after the instruction, the learner should be able to pronounce the ten commonly mispronounced Chinese surnames taught within the module, apply the correct salutations or titles to the names in the correct order and use greetings as deemed socially appropriate with 80% accuracy using the reference sheet provided in the module. It is important to note the goal was not for learners to memorize everything, but with the aid of the reference sheet, learners should be able to produce what they need to say intelligently and intelligibly when necessary. Eight short lessons were sequenced together to make up the entire module with each lesson, or chunk, taking between five to ten minutes to complete (Landis, 2000). The concept of scaffolding (Vygotsky 1978; Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976) was used to ensure that new lessons were built upon learnt materials or what learners already know. Not only were new sounds built upon sounds previously introduced, salutations and greeting phrases were scaffolded as well. The scaffolds were removed at the end of each lesson for learners to evidence their learning in embedded tests. The sequencing of the lessons deserves special mention. Instead of teaching each major performance objective separately and disconnectedly from one another, an integrated approach