CHINESE AT WORK: EVALUATING ADVANCED LANGUAGE USE IN CHINA-RELATED CAREERS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Patrick McAloon, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Galal Walker, advisor Professor Mari Noda _______________________________ Professor Venkat Bendapudi Advisor East Asian Languages & Literatures Graduate Program Copyright by Patrick Owen Robert McAloon 2008 ABSTRACT As American schools from grades K-16+ create Chinese language programs, American communication with Chinese people in Chinese and by Chinese cultural standards will take place with increasing frequency and in professional contexts once dominated by English and Western culture. As a result, a sizeable task lays ahead for Chinese language pedagogues: what do we expect learners with up to 18 years of formal Chinese instruction to be able to do, professionally, upon graduation? To borrow from the language of business, how can we define ‘quality product’ in the field of Chinese language pedagogy? To answer this question, the author shadowed four Americans and one Englishman who speak Chinese at work, interviewed them and two Chinese colleagues each on the subject of professional Chinese use, and obtained quantitative evaluations of the foreigners’ Chinese skills from the subjects themselves, their colleagues, and three native Chinese language instructors at the Ohio State University. The study found that Chinese people believe professional non-native speakers of ii Chinese excel at casual conversation, engaging in question and answer with Chinese natives and are generally skilled at demonstrating expertise in their chosen profession. Naturally, the longer an individual had been working in a given domain, the more likely it was that Chinese natives perceived them as experts. Areas in which learners could professionally benefit from improved skills included cultural appropriateness, ability to make cultural references, and professional writing. The study also found that portfolio evaluation conducted by native speakers is an accurate reflection of what native speakers think of non-native speakers’ foreign language performances. Based on the research results, it is recommended that Chinese language programs in the United States emphasize culturally-appropriate performance, incorporate domain-specific professional training at advanced levels, and evaluate their learners using a performance portfolio assessment system. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser, Galal Walker, for creating an environment in which his students could learn that ‘knowing is doing’ as well as for the many intellectual and occupational doors he has opened to me. I thank Mari Noda for the structured pedagogical training I received in her Summer Programs in East Asian Concentration at Ohio State. The lessons learned there as a learner and as an instructor inform much of this dissertation. I am grateful to Oded Shenkar, Venkat Bendapudi and Mona Makhija for teaching me how business professionals see the world and that domain expertise is reflected in much more than vocabulary. I am indebted to my sister-in-law, Gao Jieping for her assistance in my fieldwork. In addition to being a great help in conducting and transcribing Chinese interviews, her and my mother-in-law’s companionship made a month away from home feel like a month at home. I am also indebted to Liu Jun, whose custom-programmed tools made it possible to obtain manageable data. I also wish to thank those who have fostered, informed and facilitated my education iv in Chinese culture, including Jian Xiaobin, Wang Jianqi, Tang Yanfang, Steven Knicely, Ben Sun, Li Ying, Zhao Huanzhen, Eric Shepherd, Wang Haibo, Jiang Sifan, Shi Jian, Wang Hui, Jin Ruichen, Wu Jiao, Jay Wang, Michelle Chen, Zhou Zaifei, Emilia Li, Jack Lemkin, and many others. Many, many thanks go to the individuals that participated in this research: the five Westerners who graciously allowed me to follow them at work in China and used their time to be interviewed and complete their self-assessments; their colleagues who agreed to be interviewed and complete the assessments, and my three classmates who evaluated so many performance samples that it may take several lifetimes to adequately repay the rénqíng. Thanks also to my parents, my brother Hugh and my sister Kate, who not only made me who I am, but who also helpfully pointed out the difference between being sophomoric and being in a university. Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my wife, Monica, whose care, goading and cooking made this dissertation possible. This research was supported by grants from the Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of Kansas and the Office of Chinese Language Council International. v VITA December 21, 1976……………………….. Born, Fort Belvoir, Virginia 2003………………………………………. M.A. Chinese language pedagogy, The Ohio State University 1998………………………………………. B.A. East Asian Studies, College of William and Mary 2001-present……………………………… Lecturer, Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, The Ohio State University 2001-present……………………………… Cross-cultural business consultant and owner, SinoConnect, LLC 1999-2001………………………………… Director, Storefront operations, MeetChina.com FIELDS OF STUDY Major field: East Asian Languages & Literatures, Chinese language pedagogy track Minor field: International business vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………..ii Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………..iv Vita……………………………………………………………………………………….vi List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………xiv List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………...xvi Chapters: Introduction.............................................................................................................................................1 1. The goal for Chinese language capacity in the United States: more & better.....................................4 1.1 Cross-border interaction between Chinese and Americans .......................................................8 1.2 The domestic need for effective Chinese-American communication......................................10 1.3 National security considerations and understanding Chinese .................................................12 1.4 Professions in which Americans are engaging China and Chinese people .............................15 1.5 What defines professionally-useful foreign language skills? ..................................................19 1.5.1 Professional level language..........................................................................................19 1.5.2 Professional-level performance....................................................................................21 1.5.3 Who should evaluate professional-level Chinese ability?............................................26 1.6 Current United States professional Chinese capacity..............................................................28 1.6.1 US-educated Chinese nationals....................................................................................29 1.6.2 American-born Chinese................................................................................................30 1.6.3 Non-heritage learner Americans trained in Chinese.....................................................31 1.7 How training more Americans to higher levels of Chinese skill serves US interests..............35 1.7.1 Exploring opportunities hidden behind the language barrier .......................................36 1.7.2 Competing with countries that have a greater cultural affinity with China..................41 1.7.2.1 “People like me”................................................................................................43 1.7.2.2 Proximity vs. affinity.........................................................................................44 1.7.3 Chinese staff retention in American organizations.......................................................47 1.8 Arguments against hiring Americans trained to advanced levels of Chinese ability...............54 1.8.1 The Chinese all speak English......................................................................................54 1.8.2 US-educated Chinese nationals can fulfill all of America’s Chinese language needs..55 vii 1.9 Are American organizations actively recruiting Chinese-speaking Americans? .....................58 1.9.1 The supply side.............................................................................................................59 1.9.2 The demand side...........................................................................................................61 1.10 How we can know if we have trained Americans to higher levels of Chinese......................67 2. Multi-disciplinary approaches to culture and effective communication ...........................................69 2.1 Ways of Talking about Culture and Language ..............................................................71 2.1.1 Culture in Business Research ................................................................................72 2.1.1.1 The beginning: Parsons & Shils .....................................................................74 2.1.1.2 Geert Hofstede................................................................................................77 2.1.1.3 Trompenaars: Building on Parsons and Hofstede...........................................80