Four-Character Idioms in Advanced Spoken Chinese: Perception and Reaction of Native Speakers and A Pedagogy of C2 Expectations DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Xin Zhang, M.A. Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Professor Galal Walker, Advisor Professor Mari Noda Professor Xiaobin Jian ! ! Copyright by Xin Zhang 2016 ! ! Abstract The current study examines native Chinese subjects’ reactions towards chengyu usage in a variety of social situations from the most formal speech to casual conversations among close friends. Specifically, native perceptions of chengyu performances conducted by native and non-native speakers are compared. The results reveal that foreign language learners benefit from employing chengyu when engaging in verbal communications with native Chinese counterparts by presenting a desirable C2 persona as perceived by native Chinese speakers. In formal, professional contexts, adequate chengyu capacities contribute to non-native speakers’ presentation of authority and professionalism. In casual settings they enable a delightful persona who excels in the Chinese language and is knowledgeable in the cultural mores: one that opens doors for the foreigner to establish more intimate social relationships by taking the accommodation burden off the Chinese native speaker. Meanwhile, the unequal response towards native and non-native chengyu performance makes explicit the constraints on non-native speakers’ sovereignty over chengyu usage. The unequal treatment of native and nonnative chengyu performance revealed in the experiment data draw attentions to the existence of the “native speaker effect”. Particularly to the point is the native speakers’ mentality as the self-perceived, rightful ii! ! owner of Chinese, which has substantial consequences in the way foreign language learners anticipate and get ready for participating in, and getting evaluated by, another culture. The construct of a pedagogy of expectations is proposed, which raises our awareness of the receptivity of learners in C2 environment. A pedagogy of expectations aims at enabling foreign language learners to recognize native speakers in C2 as the judges of their C2 performances, to identify what is culturally expected of themselves as “cultural outsiders”, and to develop strategies of using that expectations to achieve their own agenda. The end goal is creation of a set of increasingly effective C2 personae that help learners achieve their intentions and remove the anticipation of accommodation burden on the part of the native interlocutors. Grounded in a practical view of language as a form of human actions, this dissertation proposes a new framework of pedagogically treating chengyu and other literary conventional expression as cultural performances. Accordingly, specific pedagogical guidance, including cataloguing chengyu items and incorporating chengyu instructions in all levels in a CFL curriculum, has been provided that aims to transform the old translation- based treatment of chengyu in the current CFL field. iii! ! Dedicated to my parents Songping Zhang and Ping Jiang iv! ! Acknowledgements My heartfelt gratitude goes to all the people that have provided help and support in various ways during the writing of this dissertation. It has truly been a great journey. I owe my deepest gratitude to my advisor and mentor, Professor Galal Walker, who has taught me that scholarship is about breaking new ground despite controversy. Dr. Walker’s vision in, and beyond, the field of Chinese as a Foreign Language has encouraged me to expand my scholarly interests into multiple disciplines that collectively contribute to this dissertation project. I truly enjoyed all the conversations we had during the meetings in his office, as well as the stories about his failed yet persistent attempt to use wit to manipulate canonized Chinese expressions, which inspired the idea of a pedagogy of C2 expectations. I have also been blessed with a committee of remarkable insight, caring, and generosity. I am sincerely grateful to Professor Mari Noda, who has time and again inspired me with her creativity in research design and her passion for data. She has helped to shape my discussions with her wise comments, as well as offering warm encouragement when it was sorely needed. Professor Xiaobin Jian, with his rich expertise with advanced level CFL students, has offered many generous suggestions to my work. Many new thoughts have emerged out of his insightful observations of CFL learners’ interactions in the C2 communities. v! ! Besides the members of my dissertation committee, I am also thankful to all the professors I’ve taken courses with during the six precious years of my graduate studies at OSU. Especially Professor Charles Quinn, Professor David Bloome, and Professor Kathryn Campbell-Kibler, whose seminars have guided me to the crucial scholarship that grounded my study. Carrying out this research would not have been possible with out the contributors to my study. I am particularly grateful to the speakers Ben Reitz, Rachel Wayne, and Cong Li, for lending their voices to this project. My thanks also go to all the Chinese subjects and local friends in Shanghai and Beijing who kindly connected me with the participants. A group of close friends, Zhini Zeng, Junqing Jia, Cong Li, and Yanfei Yin, will always have a special place in my heart for their unconditional love, support, and vigorous feedback that made possible this dissertation and many other precious memories created together. I am also thankful to the DWG (Dissertation Writing Group) and to Jianfen Wang and Feng Pan for the company and the food in the last and most stressful stage of my writing. Finally, I must thank my husband, Cong Li, for his immense contribution to this dissertation. He has offered his service as a copyeditor, a cook, a driver, a native Chinese speaker, a therapist, and a best friend. Nevertheless, he has embraced these many roles effortlessly. For that and many other things, he has my awe, my thanks and my love. vi! ! Vita September 1988 .............................................Born, Dalian, P. R. China 2010................................................................B.A. Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China 2012 ...............................................................M.A. East Asian Languages and Literatures, Chinese Language Pedagogy, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2010-2016…………………………………..Graduate Research Associate, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2016 to present…………………………….Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Oberlin, OH Fields of Study Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures Chinese Language Pedagogy track Minor Field: Chinese Linguistics vii! ! Table of Content Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii! Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v! Vita .............................................................................................................................. vii! Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. viii! List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiii! List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xv! Chapter 1 Language as Conventions .................................................................................. 1! 1.1 Definition of Conventions ............................................................................. 1! 1.2 Conventions in Language Use ...................................................................... 3! 1.2.1 Why is Language Conventional? ........................................................... 3! 1.2.2 Conventions as Community-specific Performances .............................. 5! 1.2.3 Conventions as Central to Negotiation of Intention .............................. 9! 1.3 Conventional Expressions ........................................................................... 17! 1.3.1 Definition of Conventional Expression ............................................... 17! 1.3.2 Cataloguing Conventional Expressions ............................................... 18! 1.4 Summary ..................................................................................................... 23! Chapter 2The Role of Chengyu in Modern Chinese Language and Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) .................................................................................................... 29! 2.1 The Defining Features of Chengyu ............................................................. 29! viii! ! 2.1.1 Literary Origins .................................................................................... 29! 2.1.2 Stabilized Four-Character Structure and Verbatim Usage ......................................................................................................................