Copyright by Chihyang Liu 2007 The Dissertation Committee for Chih-Yang Liu Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF HOW ENGLISH IS USED AND LEARNED LIGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY IN A TAIWANESE BUDDHIST MONASTERY IN LOS ANGELES Committee: Zena T. Moore, Supervisor Elaine K. Horwitz Marrilla Svinicki Oliver Freiberger Nathan Bond A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF HOW ENGLISH IS USED AND LEARNED LIGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY IN A TAIWANESE BUDDHIST MONASTERY IN LOS ANGELES by Chih-yang Liu, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2007 Dedication May all beings have happiness, and the causes of happiness. May all be free from sorrow, and the causes of sorrow. May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless. And may all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion, And live believing in the equality of all that lives. Acknowledgements I thankfully acknowledge the efforts of many people who contributed to this dissertation. My highest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Zena Moore for her insightful guidance, inspiring comments, and prompt feedback. Without her wonderful support, this dissertation would not have been completed. I am also deeply indebted to Dr. Elaine Horwitz, Dr. Marrilla Svinicki, Dr. Oliver Freiberger, and Dr. Nathan Bond, who served as the committee members of my dissertation, for their generous support and valuable comments in every step of my study. I would also like to express my heartfelt gratefulness to the sangha of Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order which has generously allowed me to conduct my research within the temple. Special thanks go to Ven. Yi-Hung, Ven. Chueh-Ching, Ven. Chueh-Chao, Ven. Miao-Shan, Ven. Hui-Ji, Ven. Hui-Sheng, Ven. Miao-Hsi, Ven. Jue-Qian, Ven. Jue- Huang, Ven. Ru An, Ven. Miao-Rang, and Ven. Jue-Wei for their insightful Dharma teachings, their dedication to the spreading of Buddha Dharma in the world, and their great compassion and unconditional love for all sentient beings. Special thanks also go to all my friends around the world—Mei-juan Huang, Mary Ho, Vickie Fu, Raymond Yeh, Priscilla Yeh, Scott Chiu, Yi-feng Lee, Jason Wei, Angela Wei, Rubi Sidharta, Greg Bloom, Alex Liu, Nathan Sires, Kaiman Chang, Elsa v Chang, Jimmy Chen, Annie McCarthy, Helen Reardon, Greg Toftey, Catherine Swan for encouraging me along the process of the study. Last, and the most, I owe my deepest appreciation and love to my beloved parents for their amazing support, spiritually and financially, without any reservation. I also like to extend this appreciation to both of my sisters for taking care of my parents all these years while I was so far away from home. My love for my family has always been the greatest source of strength keeping me company on the journey of life. vi A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF HOW ENGLISH IS USED AND LEARNED LIGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY IN A TAIWANESE BUDDHIST MONASTERY IN LOS ANGELES Publication No._____________ Chih-Yang Liu, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2007 Supervisor: Zena T. Moore English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become a very important activity within Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language since 1960s. Researchers of ESP mostly focus on the issues of academic writing, business English, scientific and technology English, medical English, and legal English. However, through out the development of ESP studies, ESP learning in a religious setting, such as in a monastery has not yet caught the attentions of ESP researchers. No study so far has been conducted regarding religious English learning. Furthermore, ESP researchers rarely pay any attention to the issue of Culture Learning within the ESP context. vii Exploring how Buddhism English is used and learned linguistically and culturally by Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns is the primary focus of this ethnographic qualitative study. Using a variety of data collecting methods including questionnaire, in- depth interviews, documents and field observation, information was gathered at a Chinese Buddhist Temple in LA., CA. The following findings emerged from the analysis of 21 Buddhism speeches in English: (1) the content of the Dharma speeches, (2) the commonly used metaphors in Buddhism, (3) vocabulary in Buddhism English. From the analysis of interviews, questionnaire, and field observations, the participants’ language learning needs, learning materials and learning strategies are identified. Furthermore, the participants’’ cultural learning experience emerged next, for example, (1) the influence of their religious beliefs over the cultural learning, (2) their cultural learning experience in four aspects of culture—the culturally conditioned behaviors, the cultural connotations of words and phrases, the cultural comprehension, and attitudes toward other cultures. Finally, suggestions to Buddhism English learning and ESP learning in general are made. In particular, metaphors in Buddhism can serve as learning and teaching strategies in Buddhism English learning; language and cultural learning is interconnected. The ESP learning and teaching model should include cultural learning in the future to facilitate sociolinguistic and communicative competence of the ESP learners. viii Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................ .............................................. xii List of Figures .................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................1 Rationale ........................................................................................................1 Theoretical Background..................................................................................3 Motivation of the Study ……………………………………………………..5 Research Questions………………………………………………………….7 The Scope of the Study……………………………………………………...8 Limitations of the Study………….………………………………………….8 Significance of the Study……………………………………………………9 Chapter 2 Literature Review.................................................................................11 What is English for Specific Purposes..........................................................11 The Development of ESP.....................................................................12 The Definition of ESP…......................................................................13 The Classifications of ESP...................................................................16 Need Analysis in ESP.. .................................................................................20 What is Meant by Needs?... .................................................................20 Register analysis and Linguistic Analysis… .......................................25 Discourse Analysis in ESP…...............................................................26 Genre Analysis in ESP.........................................................................29 Target Situation Analysis, Present Situation Analysis, and Means Analysis…............................................................................................32 Metaphors in ESL, ESP, and Buddhism… ...................................................34 The Development of Metaphor Theory… .......................................…36 Metaphor and Culture..........................................................................40 Metaphoric Competence in ESL..........................................................44 Metaphor Teaching in ESL..................................................................47 ix Metaphor Teaching and Learning in ESP............................................52 Metaphor and Buddhism......................................................................56 Chapter 3 Methods................................................................................................60 Rationale for Qualitative Research ...............................................................60 Research Questions.......................................................................................61 Study Site, Gaining Entry, and Developing Rapport....................................62 Individual Profile of the Participants ............................................................64 Data Collection .............................................................................................70 Questionnaire .......................................................................................71 Interviews.............................................................................................71 Field Observation.................................................................................72 Documents ...........................................................................................73 Data Analysis................................................................................................73 Document Analysis..............................................................................74 Questionnaire, Interview, and Field Observation Analysis .................76 The Issues of Verification.............................................................................79 The Issues of Generalizability ......................................................................80