Chinese for Business and Professionals in the Workplace: Reaching across Disciplines 9780367857363, 9780367857349, 9781003014690

Citation preview

Chinese for Business and Professionals in the Workplace

This volume presents a series of the most up-to-date studies on Chinese for Specific Purposes (CSP), an area that has been underrepresented in Language for Specific Purposes (LSP). Drawing from the insights and trends in mainstream theoretical and methodological LSP research, chapters in this volume explore novelties that CSP has developed to prepare Chinese for professional learners for the global economy. These encompass: • • • • •

needs analysis of less-surveyed high school Business Chinese or CSP academic writing classes developments on internationally oriented engineering and internship programs in China innovations in Chinese for business or legal materials development and review on textbook pragmatics studies on language arts and Chinese language use in specific or business settings technology-driven, project-based learning – or discipline-specific curriculum design.

Robustly supported by studies and analysis on the global scale, this volume comprises contributions by professionals from universities across Asia and the United States, each with decades of expertise in LSP. These chapters offer critical insights necessary to help LSP researchers and educators rethink curricula and develop new initiatives for LSP. They may also serve as transferable operations that enhance the practice of LSP as a crucial component of second language education. Haidan Wang is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Hawai‘i, USA. Christine Uber Grosse is Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, USA.

“Chinese for Business and Professionals in the Workplace: Reaching Across Disciplines . . . finally, finally we see a well-crafted academic approach that responds to one of our greatest needs in language learning: the acquisition of language for professional purposes. There is no question that Chinese language learning presents unique challenges. This collection not only brings together those most expert in Chinese language learning, but each of the topics responds to these challenges with practical advice, sound academic knowledge, and level-appropriate examples. This comprehensive compilation will serve as a crucial foundation in the pedagogy of Chinese for Business for years to come.” Orlando R. Kelm, Director, Portuguese Flagship, University of Texas at Austin, USA “With contributions of scholars active in the research and practices of Chinese for Specific Purpose (CSP), the editors provided an excellent and a well-rounded body of CSP scholarship both from theoretical as well as pedagogical perspectives. Scholars, practitioners and business executives would greatly benefit from learning about the scope of research, instructional innovations and how learners’ language skills transform into their professional success. In addition, this is a timely contribution to language learning models with service and experiential learning components.” Wei Hong, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Chinese and Linguistics, Purdue University, USA “I am very pleased to see how this text approaches the Needs Analysis (NA) in such a detailed and comprehensive manner. The NA has finally found a great home.” John J. Staczek, Emeritus Professor, The Arizona State University, USA

Chinese for Business and Professionals in the Workplace Reaching across Disciplines Edited by Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse

Cover image: Getty Images First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-85736-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-85734-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-01469-0 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690 Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Contents

List of contributors Introduction: preparing learners for the workplace: Chinese for business and professionals

viii

1

H A I D A N WA N G AND CHRI S T I NE UBE R GROS S E

PART I

Overview and rationale 1 Insights and innovation from languages for specific purposes

9 11

C H R I S T I N E U BE R GROS S E

2 Why should we seriously consider teaching Chinese for specific purposes?

25

J A M E S D E A N BROWN

PART II

Learning needs, curriculum design, and course development

37

3 Course design of Business Chinese in Marketing – teaching the case of Chun Shui Tang

39

H S I N - H S I N C I N DY L E E AND L I - YU CHE N

4 A Business Chinese program with an internship component: an application of goal-setting theory

61

Z H O N G Q I S H I , QI AOS I YUAN, AND S HUAI L I

5 The Chinese International Engineering Program: history, development, and curriculum refinement S I G R I D B E R K A AND YU ( JOYCE ) WU

73

vi

Contents

6 Needs analysis of Business Chinese course for a high school dual enrollment program

91

LI XIANG

7 Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum design

107

YING LIU

PART III

Transformative approaches to Business Chinese 8 Comprehensive analysis of pragmatic information in Business Chinese conversational textbooks

125

127

H A I D A N WA NG

9 Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

145

LIU LI

10 Becoming professionals: ecological role-play

162

R O B I N C A S E L L I , JI N DONG, JAME S NOKE S , MICH A ELA N U ESSER, J O S E P H R I T CH, S HUAI TANG, AND DONGP I NG ZH EN G

11 New directions in Business Chinese instructional materials development

182

JANE KUO

12 A study of psychomotor learning modules for Business Chinese speaking fluency and accuracy

194

C H I N - C H I N T S E NG AND MAN F ONG L AM

13 Business Chinese from the learner’s perspective

209

R O B E RT G R O S S E

PART IV

Other perspectives on Chinese for specific purposes

221

14 Language arts and Chinese for specific purposes

223

C H U - R E N H UANG AND YANL I N L I

15 Workplace simulations: test-driving life in professional contexts N A I Y I X I E F I NCHAM, JUL I O C. RODRI GUE Z , A N D STEPH EN L. TSCH U D I

238

Contents 16 A case study in conceptualizing, drafting, and implementing course materials for Chinese for Legal Purposes: the China Law Reader

vii

256

L AWR E N C E C . F OS T E R

17 Discipline-specific Chinese language teaching in higher education: a case study in Hong Kong

270

WA I - M U N L E U NG

18 A study of the languages used on official websites of international economic and business organizations

285

L I Z H A N G A N D FANGFANG L I ANG

19 Incorporating Project-Based Language Learning into Chinese language training for specific purposes

298

SONG JIANG

Index

314

Contributors

Sigrid Berka is Professor of German and Executive Director of the International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island. She is Co-Editor of the Journal of International Engineering Education and organizes the Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education. She published on Intercultural Competence Development, Study Abroad and German Literature. James Dean (“JD”) Brown is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He has spoken and taught courses in places ranging from Albuquerque to Zagreb and has published numerous articles and books on language testing, curriculum design, research methods, and connected speech. Robin Caselli is a PhD student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Second Language Studies Department and received her MA from the same program in 2019. Her research interests include ecolinguistics, technology-integrated language learning, project-based language learning, self-regulated language learning, and materials design for adult language learners with ADHD. Li-Yu Chen is a Professor of Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University. She has been publishing extensively in teaching and learning Chinese for Specific Purposes. Dr. Chen is the corresponding author of Chapter 3 and can be reached via email: [email protected]. Jin Dong is a PhD candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She received her Master degree in Second Language Acquisition from Beijing Language and Culture University. Her research interests include (trans)languaging, distributed language, ecolinguistics, virtual world/reality, and game-assisted language learning. Naiyi Xie Fincham (PhD, Michigan State University) is Assistant Faculty Specialist at the Center for Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her works primarily focus on task-based language teaching in online and blended language courses, design of multimodal language learning environments, and project-based language learning. Lawrence Foster’s career began as a Chinese language professor. He then went on to practice law in Hawai’i in the 1980s. Later, he returned to academia as a

Contributors

ix

law professor for over 30 years. Along the way, he practiced and taught law in China for a few years. Christine Uber Grosse is Professor Emeritus at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University. She has written extensively on business languages, cultural literacy, and macro trends in language curriculum design. Recently she published The Global Manager’s Guide to Cultural Literacy. Her current research interest is AI and the future of global business communication. Robert Grosse is Professor of International Business at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University. Professor Grosse is a leading author on international business and business in emerging markets. He co-edited the Oxford Handbook on Management in Emerging Markets (Oxford, 2019). He was President of the Academy of International Business during 2012–14. Chu-Ren Huang (PhD Cornell, Honorary Doctorate Aix-Marseille) is Chair Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is fascinated by what language can tell us about human cognition and our collective reactions to natural and social environments. He applies his expertise in Chinese linguistics, corpus linguistics, language technology, and ontology to explore language and knowledge as complex systems. Song Jiang is Associate Professor and the Director of the Chinese Language Flagship Center at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research interests lie in Chinese linguistics, lexical semantics, cognitive linguistics, pedagogy, and technology in language teaching. He is the author of a monograph and around 20 research papers. Jane Kuo is the former Director of the Chinese language program at the University of California, San Diego, and Professor Emeritus of Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University. Kuo is widely recognized as a pioneer in Business Chinese instruction and has authored many Business Chinese textbooks. Man Fong Lam is Assistant Professor of the School of Education and Languages at Hong Kong Metropolitan University. She received her PhD in Linguistics at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her training is in phonetics and Chinese dialectology. Recent research focuses on Chinese language education and second language acquisition. Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee is Associate Professor in the Department of International Business at National Taipei University of Business and specializes in applied language studies, intercultural communication, and business communications. Dr. Lee is also an author and a host of several textbooks and television programs for language learning. (Email: [email protected]) Wai-Mun Leung is Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research centers on Chinese language education, sociolinguistics and Cantonese studies, recently focusing on the teaching of Chinese to non-Chinese speaking students. She

x

Contributors is the first author of the monograph Biliteracy and Trilingualism: Language Education Policy Research in Hong Kong (2020).

Liu Li is currently Associate Professor of Chinese at Ball State University. She received her PhD in Second Language Acquisition from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests include literacy development of Chinese as a second language, computer-assisted language learning, Business Chinese pedagogy, bilingualism, and psycholinguistics. Shuai Li is Associate Professor of Chinese and Chinese Program Coordinator in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Georgia State University. His research interests include acquisition of L2 Chinese and interlanguage pragmatics. He has published in Language Assessment Quarterly, Language Learning, and The Modern Language Journal, among others. Yanlin Li (MEd, George Mason University; Doctor of Applied Language Sciences in progress, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) is Research Associate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests have been on second language acquisition, language technology, corpus linguistics, building cross-linguistic lexical knowledge base for teaching and learning purposes. Fangfang Liang received her Master’s degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages from the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). She also holds two Bachelor’s degrees, one from BLCU and another from Konstanz University of Applied Sciences. Liang works as a Project Support Senior Specialist at King & Wood Mallesons, China. Ying Liu is Associate Professor in the College of Media and International Studies at Zhejiang University, where she teaches Chinese Pedagogy courses. She received her PhD in Chinese pedagogy from the Ohio State University. Her primary research interests include second language writing and teaching Chinese as a second language. James Nokes holds an MA in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana. His research interests include technology in language education, storytelling and gaming, curriculum and materials design, and the sociolinguistics of the supernatural. Michaela Nuesser is a PhD student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Second Language Studies Department. In 2019, she received a Master of Education in German and English from RWTH Aachen University and MA in German from the University of Alabama. Her interests are ecolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and virtual reality. Joseph Ritch is Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Tajikistan. He received an MA from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in Second Language Studies. His interests are less commonly taught languages, language documentation

Contributors

xi

and revitalization, technology-integrated language learning and teaching, critical pedagogy, and online language learning. Julio C. Rodriguez (PhD, Iowa State University) is Director of the Center for Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Within the broad area of instructional technology, he is primarily focused on faculty development programs, project-based learning, simulated experiences for world languages, and online course design. Zhongqi Shi is Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Chinese program at Columbia University. He directed Columbia’s Business Chinese and Internship Program from 2008–16. He authored several textbooks that are widely used in the USA and China. His research interests include motivation in second language learning, instructional technology, and teaching Chinese for special purposes. Shuai Tang is a language educator and a lifelong language learner. She received her MA in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Her research interests include ecolinguistics, technology-integrated language learning and teaching, critical pedagogy, and language teacher education. Stephen L. Tschudi (MA, University of Hawai‘i), faculty specialist at the Center for Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is a coauthor of the Yale UP Chinese textbook series Encounters. His research interests center around project-based language learning and instructional design for blended and remote learning. Chin-Chin Tseng is Professor of Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University. She received her PhD in Linguistics at the University of Hawai’i, with training in phonetics, interlanguage, and L2 acquisition. Tseng’s recent research focuses on human-robot interaction, domain-specific knowledge, and their applications to L2 language teaching/learning. Haidan Wang is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She has published research on Chinese pedagogy, curriculum design, and program evaluation in international journals and Routledge handbooks. Her interests also include pragmatics, language proficiency assessment, multimodal interactions at workplaces, and technology-assisted Chinese learning for business or other professional purposes. Yu (Joyce) Wu is Associate Professor and Chinese Section Head at the University of Rhode Island. Her research interests include second language acquisition and pedagogy, proficiency-based assessment, learner factors in cognitive language development, computer-assisted language learning, and linguistic and intercultural development in both at home and study abroad contexts. Li Xiang is Faculty Specialist of Chinese in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University. Her research interests include Chinese language pedagogy, curriculum design, and Chinese language

xii

Contributors teachers’ professional development. Dr. Xiang’s publications include textbooks, book chapters, journal articles, dictionaries, etc.

Qiaosi Yuan is a Chinese language Instructor at Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree in Bilingual/Bicultural Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Before joining Harvard Furman, she taught Chinese of different levels at various post-secondary institutions, including Columbia University, Queens College, and Furman University. Her research interests include Chinese pedagogy, second language acquisition, and teaching Chinese for specific purposes. Li Zhang is Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and is currently Director of the Chinese Education Institute and Business Chinese Institutes at Beijing Language and Culture University. He has published numerous books and journal articles on Chinese as a second language, Business Chinese and education, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, marketing management. Dongping Zheng is Associate Professor in the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her research interests include distributed language, (trans)languaging, ecolinguistics, virtual world/reality, and mobile-assisted place-based language learning. She designs distributed language learning environments to contextualize being and becoming with ecological niches.

Introduction Preparing learners for the workplace: Chinese for business and professionals Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse

Language for specific purposes (LSP) has advanced to play an important role in second language education in the interconnected world economies as it implements specialized curricula that prepare students to engage in a culturally and linguistically diverse workplace. Numerous publications of research or pedagogy in LSP have been dominated by English or a few popular European languages (e.g., Spanish, German, and French) for the past few decades. Much of the Chinese as a second language research and publications have covered a very limited aspect of Chinese for specific purposes (CSP), a continuously growing field that deserves more visibility and prominence due to the prosperous Chinese economy and its enormous global trade volume. A recent survey of foreign language demand among 1,200 upperlevel managers and human resources professionals with knowledge of their organization’s foreign language needs (ACTFL, 2019, see Wang, this volume, for the reference detail) has demonstrated that Chinese, ahead of French and Japanese or German, is the second most sought-after language among U.S. employers, only next to Spanish. With the high demand, employees with Chinese proficiency are in greatest shortage and also the most difficult to recruit both domestically and by international enterprises or companies. This becomes incumbent upon CSP educators to utilize materials and innovative approaches and help learners of Chinese become competent communicators at workplaces. This volume presents such an endeavor with the most up-to-date research and practice in CSP from scholars in Asia and the U.S. It exchanges ideas and exhibits insights gained from mainstream second language education, and contributes to LSP research from the less-covered CSP perspectives. Chapters in the volume contain research and practice in program development, curriculum design, and pedagogical approaches in Chinese for business, academic, and other professions from the perspectives of researchers and practitioners. About two-thirds of the chapters are expanded from the keynote speeches and presentations of participants from the conference Beyond a Limited Scope: Chinese for Specific, Academic, and Professional Purposes, the 6th Business Chinese Workshop in Conjunction with the 2nd International Conference on Business Chinese Education which convened in March 30–31, 2018 at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The remaining third of the chapters are from selectively invited scholars who are experts in this field. Quite a few chapters of this volume are authored by well-versed scholars with DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-1

2

Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse

decades of expertise, whereas some others are by authors who are fledging in the field. However, this volume stands out by encompassing innovative advancements in CSP research, concerned with helping learners to meet their immediate Chinese linguistic needs in professional contexts. We categorize these 19 chapters into four interconnected thematic units, led by two chapters in Part I as an overview of LSP as well as why CSP is important. Part II contains five chapters that address learning needs, curriculum design, and course development for language programs meeting professional purposes. Six chapters in Part III present a variety of perspectives in which CSP practitioners address Business Chinese, the most widely taught area in CSP. Another six chapters in Part IV highlight Chinese use or education in various settings, and explore the effects of professional training from perspectives beyond the scope of business. The first chapter by Christine Uber Grosse discusses recent insights and innovations that have emerged from the field of languages for the professions and academic purposes, also known as LSP. Globalization has impacted higher education and led to rising demand for proficiency in languages, cultural understanding, and country knowledge. The chapter also explores the innovations that LSP brings to professional schools and modern language departments. These include an interdisciplinary approach, emphasis on cultural literacy, reliance on digital materials, increased use of AI and technology, and greater exposure to international experiences such as study travel, service learning, and internships. In conclusion, faculty who teach LSP are finding new inspiration in opportunities for professional development, research, travel, networking, and mentoring. For their contribution to internationalizing professional schools and the university, they deserve support and recognition from their institutions of higher education and government agencies. In his chapter, James Dean Brown crafts a powerful and convincing essay on the value of teaching Chinese for specific purposes for both students and faculty. The writing is based on his memorable and rousing keynote speech from the 2nd International Conference on Business Chinese Education which took place in March 2018 at the University of Hawai‘i. Given his long experience and extensive knowledge of teaching English in China, Brown is a credible source for the analysis of the reasons why students pursue the arduous challenge of learning Business Chinese. He further probes what should be included in the curriculum and weighs the comparative advantage of CSP for students, faculty, and employers. Brown makes a seriously compelling argument why we should consider teaching CSP. This book would be incomplete without Brown’s eloquent voice setting the tone, and a high bar for the rest of the volume. As the number of advanced learners in Chinese gradually increases, teaching and learning CSP has become more popular worldwide. Lee and Chen propose to adopt the case of a famous original bubble milk teahouse – the Chun Shui Tang of Taiwan as an example to design a course for teaching and learning Business Chinese in Marketing. They demonstrate how to use a Content-Based Instruction (CBI) approach to integrate both language study and the learning of business content. The rationale for the teaching design is detailed, mapping out a five-session

Introduction 3 course, which includes a Do-It-Yourself experience in the actual workplace. The course design aims to endorse purposeful language study that combines industry information and Marketing concepts. This combination of theory and practice will be a helpful reference for the design of the Marketing Chinese curriculum. Overseas Business Chinese internship programs attract a large number of American students for their rich language and cultural environment and useful preparation for job search and career development. Despite the increase in the number of Business Chinese internship programs over the past two decades, critical questions regarding program goals, means of assessment, content, and teaching methods remain to be addressed. Shi, Yuan, and Li discuss how to design an internship-oriented language immersion program drawing on the experience of running a joint program with Columbia University and Shanghai Jiaotong University (CIS). Goal-setting theory was applied as a guiding principle for the CIS program design, and a three-step approach was proposed, namely setting goals, determining evidence, and selecting the right content and teaching methods. The application of this approach is demonstrated by CIS’s real practices. The chapter by Berka and Wu describes the history and development of a unique educational model, the Chinese International Engineering Program (CIEP) at the University of Rhode Island. It discusses the necessary cornerstones of how to get a program off the ground which creates a bridge between STEM and Humanities disciplines, while providing an integrated year of study and an internship in China. The authors also detail the expansion of the CIEP to other institutions and other disciplines (e.g., through the Chinese Language Flagship Program). Special focus is placed on the creation of a corporate network of internship hosts and a Chinese internship course which creates interventions to move learners along in their language proficiency and cultural competency development. Several career success stories and strategies for program adjustments during the Covid-19 pandemic are provided. Li Xiang uses needs analysis to explore the linguistic and cultural needs of a group of high school dual enrollment students in the business context of a Mandarin Immersion Program. The purpose of the study is to explain and describe which areas of Business Chinese the dual enrollment students are interested in, and how students’ needs can inform curriculum design and instruction. Xiang’s research focuses on the feasibility of integrating Business Chinese curriculum into a high school Mandarin immersion program. In addition, this study investigates students’ needs-based curriculum design, choice of topics, and the challenges of implementing Business Chinese with high school Mandarin learning students. The increasingly interconnected world needs global-ready graduates, who can interact effectively with people from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. To help students better prepare for their future careers, it is important to integrate Business Chinese into the regular language curriculum based on students’ needs. Ying Liu explores the importance of needs analysis and genre analysis, and their application in developing a relevant curriculum design for CSP courses. Liu advocates a shift from proficiency to expertise in a CSP writing curriculum. The

4

Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse

primary goal of designers of Chinese for specific purposes (CSP) curricula is to understand the learners’ needs and incorporate relevant content to fulfill these unique requirements. This chapter provides an analysis of the results of a survey of 51 Chinese L2 learners working or performing academic research in China during the summer of 2012 or before. In this study, typical professional and academic writing tasks in China were identified, as well as how the concept of genre might be utilized to design a four-level CSP writing curriculum. By shifting the focus from “proficiency” to “expertise”, a CSP writing curriculum will equip students with useful strategies to analyze genres and sustain lifelong learning in their respective domains. In her research, Haidan Wang surveys 31 Business Chinese textbooks, organized around the teaching of conversational Business Chinese in order to explicate problems evident in their conveyance of pragmatic information. The analysis is based on a rubric assessing three major perspectives regarding their overall organization of communicative functions, qualities of conversation modeling, and related pedagogical treatments. The discussion focuses on the qualitative analysis of the surveyed pragmatic information with reference to quantitative results. The findings demonstrate scant information on pragmatic input, especially in its lack of adequate contextual information and pragmatics-driven task design. Further, the application of suggested research results to Business Chinese curriculum development would potentially help learners acquire transferable skills as professionals to communicate effectively in various workplaces. In this study, Liu Li discusses how WeChat was utilized in a Business Chinese class to analyze its effectiveness and implications for teaching. The data collected for analysis included the results of students’ surveys and language achievement tests from two classes: an experimental group using WeChat and a control group that didn’t use WeChat. Based on the data, this study made comparisons in three aspects of language learning: 1) language achievement as measured with a pretest and a posttest; 2) students’ opinions of the course measured by course evaluations; and 3) students’ learning activities as analyzed by both the time and types of activities used to learn Chinese after class. The results indicate that the experimental group had significantly higher scores in the posttest. The students’ attitudes towards using WeChat as the pedagogical platform were positive in general. The students in the experimental group were also found to spend more time learning Chinese and interacting with classmates and native speakers after class. The chapter on “ecological role-play” was composed by the RIDLLE (Research on Integrating Distributed Language Learning Environments) Group, consisting of Caselli, Dong, Nokes, Nuesser, Ritch, Tang, and Zheng. Together the group developed the theory of ecological role-play (ERP). The authors’ theory-driven approach to teaching Business Chinese is based on perspectives rooted in cognition and communication. They discuss ways to help prepare learners for their professions through classroom role-play that incorporates technology in “an integrated ecological system”. The authors discuss the fundamental tenets of ERP, an example, as well as a toolkit, classroom set-up recommendations, and an evaluation rubric.

Introduction 5 Since Business Chinese curriculum was implemented in the 1990s in the United States, the development of instructional materials in Business Chinese has been on the rise. Some educators are concerned whether these materials are arbitrary in topic, random in content, or even suitable for real-world business settings. These concerns deserve to be reviewed more vigorously. The chapter by Jane Kuo provides insights into the development of new instructional materials for Business Chinese. It considers the efficacy of instruction employing established the theory and practice for LSP and Content-Based Instruction. It also explores the principles and rationale for materials development, emphasizing learners’ needs, level appropriateness, content logic, and topic relevance. In their chapter, Tseng and Lam propose psychomotor learning modules that are designed to help L2 learners of Business Chinese improve their speaking fluency and accuracy. The authors empirically investigate the effectiveness of a platform named MyCT toward students’ psychomotor performance development. MyCT is a commercial computer-assisted speaking training platform designed by L Labs on which content providers can create training courses. After triangulating data gathered from experiments and self-completed questionnaires, some useful insights were obtained. The authors found that the MyCT platform offered promising outcomes. The module gradually enhanced students’ knowledge, skills, confidence level, and psychomotor performance, which enabled them to adapt their articulators for L2 pronunciation and increase their speaking fluency. This positive indication, although in the early stage of research, has pedagogical implications for higher education students, lecturers, and business schools. Robert Grosse’s chapter offers an interesting and unique view from a U.S. student of Mandarin Chinese who is also a banker and business professor. It discusses some of the instructional techniques used in classes for learning to speak using pinyin and learning to read the Hanzi characters. The author questions the goals of teaching and learning business Mandarin based on his own experience with several languages. Assuming that only a small percentage of students will become fluent enough to use the Mandarin language at a professional level, in conversation or in reading, teachers should recognize this reality. They should focus more attention on the attainable goals of encouraging their business and professional students to appreciate Chinese culture and history, and helping them to see the value in being flexible enough to make the attempt to learn another language. The chapter by Huang and Li introduces Chinese language arts in the context of CSP as effective linguistic devices in the context of theoretical issues involved. The discussion starts with word play on Chinese characters, followed by the concept of regular polysemy, when a word form carries more than one meaning, with the emphasis on regular polysemy as a signature of language for specific purposes. Puns and euphemisms then are introduced at different linguistic levels from character to code switching, and their use in different specific domains. Lastly, other linguistic devices are discussed in the context of how they can also be involved in language arts for specific purposes including, but not limited to, the choice of function words, calque (translation-transliteration), 缩写 suōxiě (abbreviation), haplology (words with omission of repeated syllable), and alphabetic

6

Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse

words. It is hoped that by increasing awareness of linguistic devices for language arts, new perspectives and insights can be introduced to the study of Chinese for specific purposes. Fincham, Rodriguez, and Tschudi discuss how simulations, widely used for instruction in performative contexts such as medicine and aerospace, allow learners to try high-stakes tasks in a low-risk environment. Simulations invigorate classroom instruction with authenticity and significance while allowing learners to measure themselves against the parameters of a real-world experience. In the context of professional language acquisition, simulations can be used to develop professional language, intercultural communication, and 21st-century skills. This chapter highlights the affordances and outlines the key design elements of a workplace simulation experience created for learners of Chinese language at the global professional level. The simulation challenges learners to apply for and secure a job in a fictitious multinational consulting firm, engage in onboarding training on workplace communication and interpersonal skills, and then work collaboratively with learners across disciplines and institutions to develop solutions for the clients of the simulated consultancy. The China Law Reader introduced by Lawrence C. Foster is unique. The text is not intended as a textbook for spoken Chinese, but rather as a textbook for students interested in reading and understanding Chinese legal documents. Chinese legal documents are typically written in what is called Chinese for Legal Purposes. Chinese for Legal Purposes is characterized by the use of classical Chinese, specialized legal vocabulary, common grammatical patterns, and complex sentences. The China Law Reader exposes the student to a wide variety of legal writings such as statutes and regulations from a range of legal topics, attorney work product, and law firm internal email. The China Law Reader includes extensive vocabulary for each reading. Moreover, it includes Law Practice Tips to further enhance the user’s understanding of the reading and Chinese law in general. Each reading is preceded by a short introduction to that area of law written by a Chinese lawyer. Wai-Mun Leung discusses how Chinese language teaching for specific purposes provides an important criterion for measuring the continuity and sustainability of language education. As the relationship between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and mainland China gets closer both economically and politically, there is a need to actively promote the development of discipline-specific Chinese (DSC) to meet the diverse needs of local Chinese students. The key contents of this case study consist of the definition of DSC, the theoretical framework, core principles, needs analysis, syllabus, textbook compilation, and teacher training. Leung finds that close collaboration between the different academic departments and the Chinese language teachers is crucial for ensuring that the subjects reflect the DSC language needs and use. Zhang and Liang report on the result of research that they conducted on the choice of languages on the official websites of 29 international economic and business organizations (IEBOs). Specifically, they studied organizations in which the Chinese government or non-governmental groups play an important role. These organizations included global, regional, and industrial entities. The authors

Introduction 7 focused on the status of languages used on the 29 official websites and documents. They compared similarities and differences in the use of Chinese by the various types of IEBOs. In addition, they investigated the factors that influenced the use of languages on the websites. Finally, the authors discussed the implications of the study results for the teaching of Chinese for business purposes. They concluded that the use of Chinese on the websites of many of the IEBOs in their study did not reflect the true importance and status of China’s global economic power and influence. Song Jiang advocates the incorporation of a project-based approach in Chinese language training for specific purposes. Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL) is a collaborative and communicative instructional approach in which language educators and informants from the community work alongside language learners to create meaningful learning opportunities with real-world applications. This chapter reports on a PBLL initiative focused on enhancing language proficiency, culture awareness, and analytical skills for government and military personnel through studying, analyzing, and solving the issues of the floating population in Honolulu Chinatown. It explores the methods and strategies of implementing PBLL into a language training program for special purposes and examines the effectiveness of this approach in building target language proficiency and success skills. The author concludes that PBLL projects centered around real-world issues in the community are effective in building learners’ professional language proficiency. Additionally, PBLL projects facilitate learners’ growth as they explore, analyze, and respond to similar texts and concerns they may encounter in their future professional target environments. In conclusion, we encourage scholars to build on and expand the research presented in this volume. For example, we recommend the study of learner attributes that contribute to successful language learning in Chinese for Business and Professionals. This important topic has been widely researched in other educational fields, but less so in business and professional Chinese. Further research into learner attributes would provide valuable insight into factors that contribute to individual learner success and the development of effective communication skills. We hope that this collection of studies will inspire colleagues to actively pursue research in this and other areas to expand the knowledge base for Chinese for Business and Professionals. As the summaries have demonstrated, this volume is robustly supported by studies and analysis in observations on a global scale in programs that are created for this purpose. Inspiration shared in these chapters may encourage researchers and educators to rethink curriculum and develop new initiatives for language for specific purposes. We hope they may also serve as transferrable operations that enhance the practice of LSP as a highly valued part of second language education. We would like to acknowledge the generous sponsorships of the aforementioned conference and this book project by the National Resource Center: East Asia, the National Foreign Language Resource Center, and the Dean’s Office of the former College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature – all at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Part I

Overview and rationale

1

Insights and innovation from languages for specific purposes Christine Uber Grosse

Introduction This chapter examines recent insights and innovations that have emerged from the field of languages for specific purposes (LSP), which includes languages for the professions and academic purposes. Globalization has impacted higher education and led to rising demand for proficiency in languages, cultural understanding, and country knowledge. Global accrediting bodies for professional schools such as business, engineering, medicine, and law encourage member institutions to internationalize their curriculum through coursework, content, and international experiences. Universities recognize the value of instruction in language for academic purposes to help students succeed in their degree programs. Thirty-six years ago, the first national survey of Spanish for business in the foreign language curriculum was published (Grosse, 1982). Other national studies soon followed with a broader scope that surveyed languages for the professions including Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian (Grosse, 1985; Grosse & Voght, 1990; Long and Uscinski, 2012). Additionally, Li, Wang, and Wang (2013) published a preliminary study of Business Chinese instruction in the US. Languages for the professions gradually integrated into the foreign language curriculum over the next three decades and became an important part of modern language departments in higher education. Global economic and social changes provided impetus to the field’s growth in the 21st century. Widespread recognition of the need for more international and interdisciplinary studies accelerated its growth as universities realized that they had a responsibility to prepare students for the global economy. In addition, professional organizations called for member colleges and universities to develop more internationally oriented programs that combined professional content, international studies, cultural learning, and communication skills. Over time, LSP went mainstream and gained greater acceptance as an integral part of world language and culture programs. Languages for the professions take many forms in the curriculum. They can be affiliated with language departments or professional schools. In form, they appear as interdisciplinary courses, minors, majors, and dual degree programs that are designed specifically for students who are interested in careers in business, criminal justice, engineering, health care, journalism, law, social work, or tourism. DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-3

12

Christine Uber Grosse

The author explores the innovations that LSP brings to professional schools and modern language departments. These include an interdisciplinary approach, emphasis on cultural literacy, reliance on digital materials, increased use of AI and technology, and international experiences such as study travel, service learning, and internships.

Insights Empirical research, studies of methods, materials, curriculum, technology, second language acquisition, and applied linguistics form a solid knowledge base for LSP. Overviews of the field appear in professional handbooks, anthologies and journals dedicated to second language acquisition, language learning, and applied linguistics (Belcher, Johns, & Paltridge, 2011; Davies & Elder, 2004; Ke, 2018; Trace, Hudson, & Brown, 2015; Hyland, 2011). The Modern Language Journal devoted its 2012 focus issue to languages for the professions (Grosse & Voght, 2012). Research about Chinese for the professions has appeared in a variety of academic journals and texts. Guan and Fei (2010) wrote about task types in Business Chinese class, while Christensen and Bourgerie (2015) discussed how to use individualized instruction in Chinese for Specific Purposes (CSP) as a bridge to overseas direct enrollment. Wang (2011) published her research on workplace needs and Business Chinese textbooks, and strategies to grow enrollment in a Business Chinese program (2013). Wang and Jiang (2019) recently developed and published a broader perspective on CSP. For almost 20 years, the Center of International Business Education and Research (CIBER) of Purdue University sponsored the publication of Global Business Languages (GBL), a refereed volume of articles on LSP. Over the years, through its editors Christiane Keck and Allen Wood and its contributors, GBL made a significant contribution to the LSP literature. Currently, the following journals are potential outlets for publishing studies concerning LSP: Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, International Chinese Language Education, Journal of Chinese Language Teachers’ Association, Journal of Technology and Chinese Language Teaching, Language Learning and Technology, Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, Overseas Chinese Education, Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, and The Modern Language Journal.

Decline in foreign language enrollments National studies conducted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016), the Commission on Language Learning (2016), the Modern Language Association (Looney & Lusin, 2016; Flaherty, 2015), and the National Councils on International Education (2017) have reported a decline in foreign language enrollments across the US. Jaschik (2018) also found that enrollment in most foreign languages in higher education declined from 2013 to 2016. Only Korean and Japanese experienced an increase in enrollment.

Insights and innovation from LSP 13

Change comes to foreign language education Over a decade ago, the Modern Language Association (MLA) called upon world language departments to reform and update their curriculum in its report titled New Structures for a Changed World (MLA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages, 2007). In this report, the MLA committee urged foreign language departments to embrace change and diversify their curriculum through the development of new courses and programs with interdisciplinary content, and collaboration with professional schools. A debate recently raged in The Modern Language Journal concerning the path forward to effect much-needed reform in language departments. Bigelow (2017) argues that it is necessary to lead and collaborate to cause change in language education programs. Provoking thought and discussion, Martel (2017) asks whether “the field of foreign language education is disposed to change” (p. 431). Gelhar (2009) reassures colleagues that “of course they want us at the curriculum internationalization table” (p. 616). Miñana (2017) suggests that foreign language departments need a new mission statement that concentrates on making change happen, while Paesani (2017) proposes a strategy to “think globally, act locally” as “an alternative proposal for effecting change in language education” (p. 433). As the steady decline in foreign language enrollments shows, departments have been slow to change. The enrollment data of the past few years underscores the need for language departments to reform and diversify their curriculum. Many faculty do see LSP courses and programs as value added to the department’s offerings, and view them as a meaningful way to serve students and collaborate with colleagues in other schools. They recognize the opportunity to innovate, reform, and develop professionally. Faculty and departments that embrace change through LSP have the opportunity to grow in interesting, new ways that help students develop their cultural understanding, language proficiency, and global experience.

Demand from professional organizations and employers The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is a professional organization that accredits business schools around the world. For over 20 years their mission has included a mandate to globalize the business school curriculum. In addition, they encourage the development of international and interdisciplinary programs to better prepare students for employment in the global economy in the 21st century. Insights from languages for the professions Many US colleges and universities now offer LSP, and related programs in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The following examples illustrate how these programs serve their students, university, and community.

14

Christine Uber Grosse

English for academic purposes EAP, commonly offered in English Language Programs and academic units across the country, addresses the need to prepare international students for academic success in the US education system. Its primary goal is to help students acquire the language, cultural knowledge, and academic skills necessary for successful completion of their studies in US higher education. One example is the University of Delaware’s English Language Institute. Delaware’s English Language Institute divides its EAP program into language skills and academic skills. The language skills component consists of listening comprehension, fluency development, oral intelligibility, reading, grammar, writing, and vocabulary development. The academic skills program includes test taking and note taking skills, academic vocabulary, critical reading and writing, understanding academic lectures, research and library skills, and composition and research papers. In addition to academic and language skills, EAP programs sometimes offer a cultural component to teach English Language Learners (ELLs) about culturerelated aspects of studying at a US university. For example, international students receive instruction about a university’s policy toward cheating and plagiarism.

Languages for specific purposes Many examples of courses and programs in LSP can be found easily with an internet search. Typically, they provide language and cultural instruction tailored to the needs of one or more the following professions: business, criminal justice, engineering, health professions, law, tourism, and social work.

Rationale for languages for the professions What rationale do language departments and professional schools use to justify programs in languages for the professions? The University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) provides an example of a rationale with global and local components that explains why they developed a Bachelors in Spanish for the Professions degree. The global component emphasizes the roles played by globalization, international trade, cultural diversity, and technology in its decision to offer languages for the professions. According to the UNLV website, the world has become more interrelated. New alliances are being formed among many different countries, and emerging nations are displaying new economic and cultural strengths. In the United States, businesses are expanding their international scope and ethnic diversity is increasing. On an individual level, advances in electronic technology and ease of travel expedite communication among the citizens of the world. These developments have intensified the need to understand other cultures and to become proficient in another language. (UNLV, 2018)

Insights and innovation from LSP 15 Additionally, UNLV provides the following local rationale on its website. This international dimension has also affected Las Vegas. The city has experienced a growth in visitors from a wide range of cultures. Among the minorities, Hispanics make up the largest group, with estimates placing their number at fifteen percent of the population of Southern Nevada. Working with Hispanics has become a reality for many different professionals – for those in the hotel industry, in business, in the medical profession, in the legal field, and in a wide range of social services. The need to connect with clients, customers, and patients of another culture is met not merely by acquiring language skills but also by gaining knowledge of that culture’s traditions, values, and practices. (UNLV, 2018) UNLV’s rationale for LSP emphasizes the community’s need for graduates with cultural knowledge and understanding in addition to language competence. Its philosophy reflects the growing trend for colleges and universities to care about the teaching of culture, in some cases more than they care about the teaching of languages. UNLV offers a variety of courses in Spanish for the professions to complement its degree program, including Introduction to Translation, Interpretation, Business Spanish I and II, Spanish for Social Services, Spanish for Tourism Industry, Spanish for the Legal Profession, and Spanish for the Medical Profession.

Disruptors of language education Major social and economic changes have had a profound effect on LSP in particular, and language education in general. The principal disruptors of modern language education include globalization, technology, and curriculum reform driven by trending emphasis on interdisciplinary education, cultural knowledge, communication skills, and LSP. Interdisciplinary programs and LSP offer alternatives for students to pursue language study, and importantly, the prospect of employment in fields other than language teaching. Globalization drives emerging market economies and the growing interdependence of nations. As regionalism grows in strength, so does the demand for global managers who can work across cultures, with markets, customers, products, and supply chains from around the world. Globalization fuels the demand for graduates with cultural knowledge, communication skills, and experience interacting with people from diverse cultures. Trends in higher education have disrupted language education and caused a decline in enrollments. With online and blended learning programs on the rise, asynchronous learning is available on or off campus 24/7. For example, Wang (2014) describes the design and practice of a hybrid Business Chinese course. A growing preference for culture learning in professional programs and study travel tours also has affected enrollment in foreign languages. Experiential travel

16

Christine Uber Grosse

programs tend to be shorter now in length with an emphasis on cultural and local experiences rather than language immersion. Illustrating this trend, Lee (2015) writes about developing a course in Mandarin Chinese with internships in a study abroad program. Technology continues to transform language learning, and more researchers are focusing on the process. For example, Li, Fukada, and Hong (2012) published a study on online Business Chinese speaking instruction, while Jiang, Wang, and Tschudi (2014) shared their reflections on a web-based platform for intercultural learning. Some major publishers are switching over to digital materials and online education, including Cambridge University Press (CUP). CUP offers self-directed language study on its proprietary Learning Management Systems for its series Mindset for IELTS (2017). The online self-directed study materials provide learners with instant feedback and knowledge of results. Mindset provides interesting activities and engaging content that offer a viable alternative to teacher-directed study. Some publishers actively seek to develop software that gives feedback on writing assignments. Some call this the “holy grail” because, if achieved, it will save writing teachers significant amounts of time that they normally spend reading and grading students’ written work. Of course, this type of software also has the potential to move into the realm of self-directed online learning, where it could reduce or eliminate the need for a writing instructor. Artificial intelligence (AI) already assists translation and interpretation through Google Translate, and Apple’s assistant Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. AI has the potential to disrupt translation and interpretation, and diminish the need for live translators and interpreters in the not-too-distant future. Speak into your iPhone and ask Siri to say a phrase or two in Chinese, and Siri will respond instantly. In fact, Cisco’s Webex is a videoconferencing product that “provides real-time translation of your meetings into 100+ languages including: English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, Japanese.” With Google Translate, you can cut and paste a sentence, paragraph, or entire document in English and request a Chinese translation. At the click of a mouse, the document is translated into Chinese. At the same time, you can listen to a native speaker read the document aloud in Chinese. Although Google Translate is not perfect or completely accurate yet, AI’s capability to translate and interpret has improved dramatically in recent years (The Economist, 2017). Facebook and LinkedIn also have the capability to translate your or others’ messages, posts, and articles into other languages. As for virtual reality (VR), imagine putting on a VR headset and immersing yourself in the experience of walking on a Beijing street or having conch chowder at Monty’s in Miami. It is possible now. How soon will VR experiential learning come to our language and culture classes? Several years ago, Grant and Huang (2010) wrote about the integration of an online 3D virtual learning environment in a Chinese language and culture class.

Insights and innovation from LSP 17 On a final note, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, one of the world’s premier institutions for teaching languages, uses strictly digital materials and online resources in its classes, with an emphasis on communicating with native speakers. How soon then, and to what extent, will artificial intelligence-using Siri, Alexa, Google Translate, Facebook, LinkedIn and Webex and many others affect language study and teaching? The possibilities are exciting, and will have a profound impact on language teaching. Continuity With so much change, what has stayed the same in LSP? Where is the continuity? A national park ranger giving a tour of the Florida Everglades once said, “the only constant here is change.” The same will be true of language education. Will the changes be positive or detrimental to the various stakeholders? The answer may lie in a quote from Hamlet (Shakespeare, 1998), “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (p. 109). How will educators deal with change? Will they view it as opportunity or threat? How will they adapt? Some things may remain the same such as the dedication and motivation of teachers to educate their students, and students’ motivation to learn. What will happen to the speed of second language acquisition, and the attainment of various proficiency levels? Change drivers In recent speeches, three CEOs of Global Fortune 500 companies gave interesting insights into issues that currently drive change in education. Jack Ma, founder and former CEO of Alibaba, talked about technology’s impact on society. Doug MacMillan, CEO of Walmart, discussed the effect of globalization. Finally, Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, commented on the need for curriculum reform in business schools. Jack Ma started his legendary career as an English teacher. He went on to create Alibaba, one of China’s largest and most influential internet companies. In a speech he gave at a tech conference, he spoke about the three major technological revolutions that changed our world. The first revolution in technology caused World War I, and the second brought about World War II. After a brief pause, he pointed out that we were in the midst of the third tech revolution. Jack Ma then asked the audience, “how will we use this third revolution in technology? Will we work together to solve the world’s greatest problems of poverty and pollution?” He made his point as he let the second half of the question go unanswered. It hung in the air (Ma, 2018). Doug MacMillan, CEO of Walmart, made interesting comments about globalization and culture in an interview with Stanford Executive Education. He spoke about his former job as director of Walmart International, where he traveled

18

Christine Uber Grosse

extensively around the world visiting Walmart stores. During his travels, he saw that people were much more similar than they were different. He realized then that he and his employees needed to focus on people’s similarities rather than on their differences. MacMillan explained that all people have many things in common. We all want shelter, need to feed our families, and need to make a decent living. He told a story about how once he visited a Walmart store in Costa Rica, and asked employees to bring him something from the store that was exclusively Costa Rican, other than local produce. Someone brought him a bottle of salsa. When he looked at the bottle closely, he saw that it was a product of Unilever and not unique to Costa Rica after all. MacMillan said that it was getting harder and harder to find a product that was exclusively local in any store, other than homegrown produce (MacMillan, 2015). Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, advocated for curriculum reform in business schools in her speech at an annual conference of the Academy of International Business. She directly challenged business school deans in the audience to break down the silos in their business schools, and make the curriculum more interdisciplinary. She criticized the business school curriculum as being too narrowly focused on traditional business subjects. In her view, today’s managers needed a broader, more global focus than most business schools provided. So she encouraged deans to train the managers that global companies need by developing more interdisciplinary content that includes engineering, environmental studies, intercultural communication, law, sustainability, and computer science (Nooyi, 2017). In their own distinct ways, corporate leaders Ma, MacMillan, and Nooyi highlighted the key drivers of change in language education: technology, globalization, and interdisciplinary curriculum reform. Innovation in LSP What’s new in the field of LSP? Baylor University, College of William and Mary, University of Colorado at Denver, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Rhode Island provide examples of innovation in LSP. Baylor University’s Spanish for the Professions program illustrates the trend of offering courses for diverse professions. Baylor, a private Baptist university located in Waco, Texas, offers Intermediate Spanish for Business, Intermediate Spanish for the Medical Professions, as well as Spanish for Christian Ministry. Karol Hardin (2012), an associate professor at Baylor, describes a course and teaching materials that she developed for Spanish for the Medical Professions. Hardin (2015) also compiled an overview on medical Spanish curricula in the US. With respect to Chinese for medical purposes instruction, Wei Lai (2015) published a study on Mandarin for nursing students. Students can take a class in Spanish for Lawyers at the Law School at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was taught and developed by Denise Koch, Adjunct Professor of Law.

Insights and innovation from LSP 19 The University of Colorado at Denver offers a double major in International Language and Culture and the Professions. The track within the French major takes two years to complete. The major requires 33 credit hours in French and 15 credit hours in Business. Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can minor in Spanish for the Professions. The program is intended for students who plan to have careers where they interact with Hispanic communities in the US or abroad. Career options include Spanish language and culture for Business, Medical and other Health Professions, Media and Journalism, and Law. The program concludes with a capstone course that involves experiential learning through field work and/or public service. For aspiring global engineers, the University of Rhode Island (URI) offers a five-year International Engineering Program. It includes a strong engineering program, immersion in a world language and culture, and a year of study abroad. Students earn two degrees simultaneously: a BS in an engineering discipline and a BA in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Japanese (minor). Dr. John Grandin, professor emeritus at URI, founded the program originally for German students. Berka and Yu describe the URI program and its Chinese component in another chapter in this volume. Another popular trend in MBA programs is the incorporation of travel and cultural experiences as degree requirements or electives. These experiences typically involve a week or two of travel and study abroad between semesters. They focus on experiential and cultural learning rather than language immersion. Stanford, for example, ranked the #1 Global MBA program by the Financial Times, offers Global Experiences to its graduate business students. The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, ranked #3, also offers several programs including Global Immersion, Lauder Culture Quests, and language immersion. Another top-ranked school at #16, the Tuck Business School at Dartmouth University offers global experiences and Global Insight Expeditions for MBA students. Several authors have published studies on intercultural communication and ways to approach the teaching of Chinese culture for the professions, including Gao and Prime (2010), Zhang (2011), Zhu (2013), and Zhou (2014). Grosse (2011) published a study on global manager’s perceptions of cultural competence that may be used to inform curriculum development in this area.

Challenges Faculty who teach and conduct research in LSP face several important challenges, including the use of evolving technologies as well as departmental resistance to change. At times, junior faculty specializing in LSP have encountered obstacles to promotion and tenure. They may receive less recognition for their research and teaching than colleagues who specialize in more traditional language fields. Other faculty in LSP have faced limited access to resources, professional development opportunities, and support networks.

20

Christine Uber Grosse

Technology can be a major obstacle for faculty who struggle to keep up with new developments in hardware and software, social media, and new apps. Some have difficulty learning new technologies that seem to come naturally to their students or younger colleagues. A technology gap exists between some faculty and students, as instructors work to keep up with their students’ level of technological expertise. Other LSP faculty face resistance to any change in the curriculum that includes LSP and interdisciplinary courses. Some colleagues may feel threatened by change, fear losing students, or even their jobs. They may oppose having to retrain to teach professional students, develop culture-centered courses, learn new technologies, or teach online. Colleagues sometimes fear that curricular change would erode their enrollment numbers or status. To address these challenges, junior faculty can work to build a strong network of support within their department, school, and university as well as externally in the local community.

Opportunity What opportunities are available for faculty in LSP in terms of professional development and leadership? How can they access limited resources, find professional development opportunities, and create support networks? Several strategies can help them to access these opportunities. One way is for faculty to actively participate in and seek leadership roles on committees at departmental, school, and university levels. Service on committees brings attention, respect, and appreciation from colleagues and administrators. Those who do committee work gain visibility, which helps colleagues get to know them, their teaching, service, and research. Committee work also can give faculty direct access to information about opportunities for professional development, awards, and grants. Another strategy for faculty in LSP is to become more active professionally. They can offer workshops internally and externally, participate in conferences, and volunteer for leadership roles in professional organizations. In these ways, faculty can build their network, professional knowledge, and academic reputation. Participation in social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook can also help faculty to be visible and gain professional recognition. Another strategy involves applying for teaching and research awards and grants. In terms of service to the department, faculty can offer to teach online LSP courses, develop new materials, mentor colleagues, take an internship, start an advisory council, and build a network with colleagues in other departments and professional schools. Educational agencies supported by the US and Chinese governments provide faculty with information about how to access resources, support, and professional development opportunities. For example, there may be a local center funded by the US Department of Education International and Foreign Languages programs. These include 16 Language Resource Centers, 100 National Resource Centers, 17 Centers for International Business Education, and 31 colleges and universities with Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language

Insights and innovation from LSP 21 Education programs. In 2014, these programs received over $63.3 million from the government to strengthen global competitiveness through International Studies and World Language Training at institutions of higher education in the US. In addition, the Language Flagship community, a network of programs funded by the US Department of Defense, promotes language education and proficiency in critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, and Turkish. This network consists of 22 institutions of higher education and ten overseas Flagship Centers. There are 11 Chinese Flagship programs in the US and two in China. Samuel Eisen, director of the Language Flagship program, described his program in a special issue (2012) of the Journal of Chinese Teaching and Research in the U.S. The National Security Agency sponsors StarTalk, a program that promotes the study and teaching of critical need foreign languages. It offers summer language study experiences for K-16 students and language teachers. The University of Maryland’s National Foreign Language Center administers the program. With respect to support from the government of China, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China sponsors a network of 480 Confucius Institutes on six continents. Their mission is to promote Chinese language, culture, and exchanges. About 100 Confucius Institutes are located in the US, housed primarily at universities. Reflections For over 30 years, the field of languages for specific purposes has made a difference in the education of students who pursue careers in business, engineering, health, law, tourism, and other professions. LSP has brought much needed innovation and reform to the curriculum of world language departments and professional schools, and contributed an invaluable interdisciplinary approach to higher education in the 21st century.

Acknowledgments I would like to thank to Dr. Haidan Wang and the National Foreign Language Resource Center at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa for supporting this project. Dr. Wang was Coordinator of Chinese for Business and Professional Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. I presented an earlier version of this chapter at The 6th Business Chinese Workshop in Conjunction with the 2nd International Conference on Business Chinese Education at the University of Hawaii on March 31, 2018. The conference was co-chaired by Dr. Haidan Wang.

References American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (2016). The state of languages in the US: A statistical portrait. Retrieved from www.amacad.org/multimedia/pdfs/publications/ researchpapersmonographs/State-of-Languages-in-US.pdf

22

Christine Uber Grosse

Belcher, D., Johns, A.M., & Paltridge, B. (Eds.). (2011). New directions in English for specific purposes research. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Bigelow, M. (2017). Leading and collaborating for (disruptive) change in higher education language programs. The Modern Language Journal, 101, 412–413. Christensen, M.B., & Bourgerie, D.S. (2015). Chinese for specific purposes: Individualized instruction as a bridge to overseas direct enrollment. In T. Brown & J. Bown (Eds.), To advanced proficiency and beyond (pp. 87–104). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Commission on Language Learning. (2016). American academy of arts and sciences. The state of languages in the US. Retrieved from https://www.amacad.org/publication/ state-languages-us-statistical-portrait Davies, A., & Elder, C. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of applied linguistics. Hoboken, NJ.: Wiley-Blackwell. The Economist. (2017). Finding a voice. Technology Quarterly. 2017, May 1. Retrieved from www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2017-05-01/language Eisen, S. (2012). The language flagship. Journal of Chinese Teaching and Research in the US. Special issue for the Language Flagship, 4, 1–4. Flaherty, C. (2015). Inside higher Ed. Not a small world after all. MLA shows decline in enrollment in most foreign languages. Feb. 11, 2015. Retrieved from www.insidehighered. com/news/2015/02/11/mla-report-shows-declines-enrollment-most-foreign-languages Gao, H., & Prime, P. (2010). Facilitators and obstacles of intercultural business communication for American companies in China. Global Business Languages, 15, 143–169. Gelhar, J.N. (2009). Of course they want us at the curriculum internationalization table. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 616–618. Grant, S., & Huang, H. (2010). The integration of an online 3D virtual learning environment into formal classroom-based undergraduate Chinese language and culture curriculum. Journal of Technology and Chinese Language Teaching, 1(1), 2–13. Grosse, C.U. (1982). A survey of Spanish for business at AACSB colleges and universities in the United States. The Modern Language Journal, 66(4), 383–390. Grosse, C.U. (1985). A survey of foreign languages for business and the professions at U. S. colleges and universities. The Modern Language Journal, 69(3), 221–226. Grosse, C.U. (2011). Global managers’ perceptions of cultural competence. Business Horizons. Kelley School of Business. Indiana University, Elsevier, 54, 307–314. Grosse, C.U., & Voght, G.M. (1990). Foreign languages for business and the professions at US colleges and universities. The Modern Language Journal, 74(1), 36–46. Grosse, C.U., & Voght, G.M. (2012). The continuing evolution of languages for specific purposes. The Modern Language Journal, Focus Issue. Languages for Specific Purposes in the United States in a Global Context: Update on Grosse and Voght (1991), 96(1), 190–202. Guan, D., & Fei, F. (2010). Task type and design in business Chinese instruction. International Chinese Language Education, 1, 48–61. Hardin, K.J. (2012). Targeting oral & cultural proficiency for medical personnel. An examination of current medical Spanish textbooks. Hispania, 95(4), 698–713. Hardin, K.J. (2015). An overview of medical Spanish curricula in the United States. Feature article. Medical Spanish in the US. Hispania, 98(4), 640–661. Hyland, K. (2011). Specific purpose programs. In M. Long & C. Doughty (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Jaschik, S. (2018, August 3). Foreign language enrollments drop sharply. Inside Higher Education. Retrieved from www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/03/07/study-findssharp-decline-foreign-language-enrollments

Insights and innovation from LSP 23 Jiang, S., Wang, H., & Tschudi, S. (2014). Intercultural learning on the Web: Reflections on practice. In D. M. Chun (Ed.), Cultura-inspired intercultural exchanges: Focus on Asian and Pacific languages (pp. 127–144). Honolulu: National Foreign Language Resource Center. Ke, C. (Ed.). (2018). The Routledge handbook of Chinese second language acquisition. London: Routledge. Lai, W. (2015). Mandarin for nursing students. In J. Trace, T. Hudson, & J. D. Brown (Eds.), Developing courses in languages for specific purposes (pp. 100–114). NetWork #69. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. Lee, K.C. (2015). Mandarin Chinese for professional purposes for an internship program in a study abroad context. In J. Trace, T. Hudson, & J. D. Brown (Eds.), Developing courses in languages for specific purposes (pp. 100–114). NetWork #69. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i. Li, B., Fukada, A., & Hong, W. (2012). Online business Chinese speaking instruction: A speak everywhere speaking program for practical business Chinese. Global Business Languages, 17, 91–105. Li, S., Wang, S., & Wang, J. (2013). A preliminary investigation of business Chinese instruction among US institutions of higher education. Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association, 48, 69–90. Long, M., & Uscinski, I. (2012). Evolution of languages for specific purposes programs in the United States: 1990–2011. Modern Language Journal. Focus Issue. Languages for Specific Purposes in the United States in a Global Context: Update on Grosse and Voght (1991), 96(1). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2012.01303.x Looney, D., & Lusin, N. (2016). Modern language association. Enrollments in languages other than English in US Institutions of higher education. Preliminary Report. Sum/Fall 2016: Retrieved from www.mla.org/content/download/83540/2197676/2016-EnrollmentsShort-Report.pdf Ma, J. (Alibaba CEO). (2018, January 25). Breaking your limits. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ENp2BQ8lE MacMillan, D. (2015, March 2). Walmart CEO Doug MacMillan’s talk at Stanford School of Business. [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=041qYmA0d6Y Martel, J. (2017). Is the field of foreign language education disposed to change? The Modern Language Journal, 101, 431–433. Miñana, R. (2017). Making change happen: The new mission and location of language departments. The Modern Language Journal, 101, 413–423. Mindset for IELTS. (2017). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/cambridge-english-exams-ielts/ mindset-ielts Modern Language Association Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. (2007). Foreign languages and higher education: New structures for a changed world. Originally published in Professions. Retrieved from www.mla.org/Resources/Research/SurveysReports-and-Other-Documents/Teaching-Enrollments-and-Programs/Foreign-Languagesand-Higher-Education-New-Structures-for-a-Changed-World National Councils on International Education. (2017). The national K-12 foreign language enrollment report. A comprehensive study of foreign/world language enrollments across the formal US education system, K-12. Sponsored by the Language Flagship, Defense Language and National Security Education Office. Retrieved from www. americancouncils.org/sites/default/files/FLE-report-June17.pdf Nooyi, I. (2017). An interview with Indra Nooyi. CEO of PepsiCo. Association of MBA’s. Published on Oct. 4, 2017. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=36ymIQKgFNs

24

Christine Uber Grosse

Paesani, K. (2017). Think globally, act locally: An alternative proposal for effecting change in language education. Modern Language Journal, 101, 433–436. Shakespeare, W. (1998). Hamlet. Everyman: J.M. Dent, London and Charles E. Tuttle, Vermont. Trace, J., Hudson, T., & Brown, J.D. (Eds.). (2015). Developing courses in languages for specific purposes. Honolulu: University of Hawaii. University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) website, Spanish for the Professions. Retrieved 2018, from www.unlv.edu/degree/minor-spanish-professions). Wang, H. (2011). Chinese for business professionals: Workplace needs and business Chinese textbooks. Global Business Languages, 16, 27–42. Wang, H. (2014). Toward deepening cultural and language understanding: The design and practice of a hybrid business Chinese course. Journal of Teaching in International Business, 25(3), 250–262. Wang, H., & Jiang, S. (2019). Chinese for specific purposes: A broader perspective. In C.-R. Huang, Z. Jing-Schmidt, & B. Meisternst (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of applied Chinese linguistics (pp. 407–421). New York and London: Routledge. Zhang, L. (2011). How business professionals perceive intercultural differences: A survey. Global Business Languages, 16, 15–26. Zhou, Y. (2014). Action-based learning for language proficiency and cross-cultural competency. Global Business Languages, 19, 101–114. Zhu, Y. (2013). A cross-cultural analysis of English and Chinese business faxes: A genre perspective. Ibercia, 26, 35–54.

2

Why should we seriously consider teaching Chinese for specific purposes? James Dean Brown

Introduction My interest in specific purposes language teaching began at UCLA in 1980 with a group of teachers preparing to go to China and set up three English for specific purposes (ESP) programs – two in Beijing and one in Guangzhou. For two years, I worked at Zhongshan Daxue (Sun Yat-sen University), where UCLA helped establish the Guangzhou English Language Center (GELC). Our mission was to provide 30 weeks of specific purposes English for science and technology (EST) for 225 Chinese scientists and engineers at a time to prepare them for going abroad to do post-graduate work in English-speaking countries. Later, I taught for three years at Florida State University (FSU), where we ran an MA program for English teachers working in ARAMCO (the national oil company in Saudi Arabia). Naturally, ARAMCO was interested in petroleum English (PE), another variant of ESP. Then, I was hired by the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) and became the director of the English Language Institute (ELI) at UHM, which I helped shape into a well-organized English for academic purposes (EAP) program over a period of about five years (Brown, 1995). More recently, I co-directed two summer institutes with Thom Hudson for post-secondary teachers of languages for specific purposes (LSP), which resulted in a collection of papers describing LSP projects in a variety of different languages (including a number on Chinese for specific purposes, or CSP; see Trace, Hudson, & Brown, 2015). Also, in recent years, I have developed an interest in World Englishes (WEs), English as an international language (EIL), as well as English as a lingua franca (ELF) (e.g., Brown, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020). WEs, EIL, and ELF can all be directly connected to ESP (Brown, 2012). All in all, you can see that I have actively engaged with a veritable vegetable soup of specific purposes acronyms including ESP and LSP programs over the years beginning with ESP in the GELC EST program set up by UCLA, then the PE in the FSU MA program at ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia, then EAP in the ELI at UHM, followed by LSP of various types in several languages (including CSP) in two summer institutes at UHM, all of which has been colored by an interest in WEs, EIL, and ELF. DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-4

26

James Dean Brown

The importance of Chinese for specific purposes One question that several people have considered in English teaching is the status of the native speaker (NS) (see, e.g., McKay & Brown, 2015). I will discuss some of the issues related to NS-ism here but frame them in terms of Chinese, and the “impossible dream” of being a native speaker of Chinese. I will do so by asking how, what, how long, why, and who. How? How can we define what a native speaker of Chinese is? Is s/he only an educated speaker of Mandarin? Which dialect? Can you point to a single example of an exemplary Chinese NS? Can an illiterate be a NS? How would you define NS in this context? What about the speakers of the so-called Chinese dialects who have been educated in Han? Are they NSs? As you can see from all these questions, in many respects, the notion of NS of Chinese is at best difficult to define, but at worst impossible. And even if we knew how to clearly define NS of Chinese, how many second language (L2) students ever attain anything even close to NS ability in Chinese? What? So maybe we cannot define NS, but what then is Chinese language proficiency (CLP)? Is CLP defined in terms of NSs? Does it mean NS CLP in reading, writing, listening, speaking, pragmatics, interactional competence, etc.? Also, we need to seriously consider which learners, if any, really need NS CLP? And again, how many students ever attain anything even close to NS CLP? How long? More to the point how long does it take to become a NS? Think about mastering anything. Some people estimate that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a musical instrument, sport, or other skill. If so, it might be reasonable to expect it to take 10,000 hours of practice to master Chinese at the NS level. At 45 hours of class per semester and presupposing 45 hours of homework for that same class, 10,000 hours of practice in Chinese would take more than 111 semesters of classes for students to master Chinese (i.e., become native-like). How many semesters of Chinese practice do your students get? Why? And, why do students learn Chinese? To pass a language requirement? To be able to talk to family members? To read Chinese literature? To do postsecondary training in Chinese? And, what percentage need Chinese for reading literature or post-secondary training? More to the point, let me ask again, how many students actually achieve anything even close to the CLP necessary to read and understand the Chinese in literature or post-secondary training? Who?Who will the students use Chinese with in various parts of China? And, who will the students use Chinese with elsewhere? In terms of World Englishes, Levis (2005) described how learners of English might interact with each other in 1) the inner circle (or IC, countries where English is the dominant language like the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia), 2) outer circle (or OC, usually former colonies where English is one official language, which is used in certain educated groups, like India, Singapore, Nigeria, etc.), and 3) expanding circle (or EC, other L2 EFL learners, like those in China, Germany, Japan, etc.) In Levis (2005, p. 373, Figure 2), he shows how these three groups might interact with each other. Reframing his idea a bit, IC speakers/writers might be involved in IC-IC, IC-OC, or IC-EC interactions with listeners/readers; OC speakers/writers might experience

Why should we consider teaching CSP? 27 Table 2.1 Speaker/Writer and Listener/Reader Matrix Varieties of Chinese Mandarin NS Listener/Reader Mandarin NS Speaker/Writer Chinese “Dialect” NS Speaker/Writer Heritage Mandarin Speaker/Writer Heritage “Dialect” Speaker/Writer NNS (Char-Based lang.) Speaker/Writer NNS (AlphaBased lang.) Speaker/Writer

X

Chinese “Dialect” NS Listener/Reader

Heritage Mandarin Listener/Reader

Heritage “Dialect” Listener/Reader

NNS (Char-Based lang.) Listener/Reader

NNS (AlphaBased lang.) Listener/Reader

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

OC-IC, OC-OC, or OC interactions with listeners/readers; and EC speakers/writers might participate in EC-IC, EC-OC, or EC-EC interactions with listeners/readers. Notice that of those nine possible interactions of speakers/writers with listeners/ readers, only two (IC-EC and EC-IC, i.e., the ones in italics in the previous sentence) require L2 learners to interact in writing or orally with NSs. Taking a broader view of the varieties of Chinese, the picture is even more complicated because speakers and writers (as indicated in the first column of Table 2.1) can come from various backgrounds (Mandarin NS, Chinese “Dialect” NS, Heritage “Dialect”, NNs of other character-based languages NNS or alphabet-based languages, etc.), while listeners and readers (as indicated in the first row of Table 2.1) can also come from those same diverse backgrounds (again, Mandarin NS, Chinese “Dialect” NS, Heritage “Dialect”, NNs with other character-based language backgrounds, or NNs with alphabet-based language backgrounds). What is most remarkable in Table 2.1 is that Mandarin NSs are only involved in 11 of 36 possible combinations of speakers/writers and listeners/ readers. Thus, in terms of how difficult it is to define the NS of Chinese, or what that means in terms of what Chinese language proficiency is, or how long it takes to master Chinese, or why students want to learn Chinese, or who the students are likely to listen, speak, read, and write with the so-called NS Chinese standard sets most students up for failure. Why do we do that to them when focusing on the narrower goals of Chinese for specific purposes would be attainable because it does not rely on the notion of NS, or general Chinese language proficiency, or becoming a NS, and it focuses specifically on why the students want to learn Chinese and who they need to communicate with.

Setting narrower, more realistic goals for CSP In this section, I will compare the basic assumptions of traditional CLP-based teaching with those for CSP with the goal of showing how CSP can be used to set narrower, more realistic and attainable goals for student learning than can

28

James Dean Brown

traditional CLP-based teaching. Table 2.2 contains three columns: one dealing with various curriculum design questions, another with the assumptions of traditional CLP-based teaching, and a third with the assumptions of CSP. The questions in the first column will serve as headings for the next seven sections. Table 2.2 Comparing the Basic Assumptions of Traditional CLP Versus CSP Assumptions Curriculum Design Question

Traditional CLP Assumptions

CSP Assumptions

What Should the Target Language and Culture Be?

Mandarin Chinese is the standard and Mandarin NSs are the model; big C and small c culture of Zhōngguó; grammar rules, grammar/ translation, and characters are taught.

Why Do Students Learn Chinese?

Global reasons like: 1. Chinese is an important means of communicating globally 2. Chinese helps foster internationalism 3. Chinese is important for entry into higher education in Sinooriented countries 4. Chinese is an important language in Sinooriented countries for access to entertainment, information, etc. Teacher/textbook knows best: CNOP

Focus on the language students’ purposes; Mandarin and/or dialects as appropriate; NS or bilingual speaker models and standard; international cultures of Taiwan, Singapore, etc.; local cultures of teaching and learning included; communicative/ task-based methods dominant, focusing on meanings students will need to communicate; organized around tasks they will need to perform. Local (in China and other countries) reasons like to: 1. Communicate for specific purposes in the Chinese lingua franca in China 2. Communicate for specific purposes locally with foreign people who speak Chinese 3. Gain advantage over other local people in dealings with foreign people who speak Chinese 4. Speak with friends/family who speak Chinese 5. Gain the prestige locally of speaking a foreign language Needs analysis is essential for CSP: especially CAP or COP

Literature-trained NSs of Mandarin have controlled the curriculum by writing textbooks or guiding/controlling local curriculum development. The views of local students and teachers ignored or downgraded in importance by those literature-trained people.

1. The curriculum is based on information about needs for Chinese language from local students, teachers, administrators, and students’ future professors, employers, colleagues, etc. 2. Bilingual language teachers (who are especially qualified to understand the viewpoints of all of these stakeholders) are involved

How Are the Purposes Delimited? Who Should Be Included in the Curriculum Development Process?

Why should we consider teaching CSP? 29 Curriculum Design Question

Traditional CLP Assumptions

CSP Assumptions

What Other Situational Factors Should Be Considered?

Curriculum developers have ignored the many situational, stakeholder, and theoretical constraints on teaching and learning To date, primarily phonological, structural, and lexical syllabuses

In their needs analyses, curriculum developers can address any situational, stakeholder, and theoretical constraints

What Basic Units of Analysis Should Be Included in the Curriculum?

What Should Be Selected From Among the Basic Units of Analysis?

Promotes language and cultural (typically, those of China and Sino-oriented countries) knowledge and the ability to use that knowledge to communicate in the target country.

1. Syllabuses are adopted from the ever-expanding list: structures; situations; topics; skills; functions; notions; tasks, pragmatics, discourse units, and genres, etc. 2. CSP will probably focus on purposes, functions, notions, tasks, and genres 1. Includes successful bilinguals as CSP language and pedagogic models 2. Fosters Chinese language and cultural behaviors that will help students communicate effectively in specific situations and have friendly dealings with all Chinese speakers 3. Helps students achieve intelligibility when they are among other CSP speakers 4. Enhances students’ access to and capacity to contribute to the international body of CSP information 5. Supports learning CSP efficiently and effectively, and helps students feel better about their Chinese 6. Provides students with awareness of linguistic and cultural differences in the various contexts in which CSP is used, and furnishes them with strategies for handling differences 7. Helps learners be “both global and local speakers of Chinese” who can function in CSP at home and internationally 8. Provides CSP curriculum that respects the local culture of learning and promotes a sense (Continued)

30

James Dean Brown

Table 2.2 (Continued) Curriculum Design Question

Traditional CLP Assumptions

CSP Assumptions of ownership and confidence in the local varieties of CSP 9. Includes materials and activities based on local and international situations that are applicable to the students’ everyday lives, including NS-NNS interactions, and NNS-NNS interactions 10. Includes models of Mandarin, “dialect” users, and NNS of Chinese so students realize that Chinese does not belong exclusively to Mandarin NSs

What should the target language and culture be? One of the most basic questions in language curriculum design is what the target language and culture should be. In traditional CLP teaching, it is assumed that Mandarin Chinese will serve as the standard language to be taught and that (educated) NSs of Mandarin will serve as the models for that language. In terms of culture, big-C culture is most often included (things like Chinese opera, Chinese literature, classical Chinese art, etc.) and sometimes the everyday small-c culture of Zhōngguó is included (things like food, clothing, customs, etc.). Grammar is taught explicitly in terms of grammar rules, grammar/translation exercises, and learning characters is considered very important. In CSP curriculum design and teaching, the assumptions are quite different. The focus is on the specific language that students will need for their own purposes, whatever those purposes may be (e.g., Chinese for occupational purposes like business, tourism, etc. or Chinese for academic purposes like Chinese for economics, science, and technology, etc.). The language of focus will be Mandarin and/or dialects that are appropriate for the students in various proportions, and the models that will be used may be NSs or bilingual speakers of Mandarin or of appropriate dialects. Big-C culture is not likely to be considered very important. Any small-c culture that is included will be related to the specific purpose involved and may be from a variety of regions of China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc., as appropriate. The local cultures of teaching and learning that exist where the CSP is being taught can and should be included, or even be dominant. CSP is most often taught using communicative and task-based teaching methods that focus on meanings students will need to communicate for their specific purposes, and CSP will likely be organized around tasks the students will need to perform in situations they will face in real-world CSP use.

Why should we consider teaching CSP? 31

Why do students learn Chinese? Students no doubt learn Chinese for many institutional and personal reasons, or what Brown (2012, pp. 149–150) labeled in two broad categories: global reasons and local reasons. In traditional CLP-based teaching, it is assumed that students learn Chinese for global reasons. That is, they learn Chinese because it is an important means of communicating globally, it helps foster internationalism, it is important for entry into higher education in Sino-oriented countries, and it is essential in Sino-oriented countries for accessing entertainment, information, international travel, publishing, science, diplomacy, etc. In CSP, teachers and curriculum designers are more likely to assume that students learn Chinese for local reasons, that is because: 1) Chinese is needed for its specific purpose as the lingua franca in China; 2) it is used for the specific purpose of communicating locally with foreign people who speak Chinese; 3) elsewhere it is used as a lingua franca for communicating with local people who speak other mother tongues; 4) it can be used for the purpose of gaining advantage over other local people in dealings with foreign people who speak Chinese; 5) it is sometimes needed for the purpose of speaking with friends/ family who speak Chinese; and 6) knowing Chinese will bestow prestige locally for speaking a foreign language.

How are the purposes delimited? Traditional CLP-based teaching assumes that the teachers and textbooks know best what the students need to learn. Unfortunately, teachers often do not know what students need to learn because almost by definition teachers are old and students are young. As a result, teachers tend to teach what and how they were taught and give undeserved control of curriculum to textbook publishers who are motivated by profits (i.e., selling the most books to the widest possible audience), which means that the curriculum has no connection with any specific group of students or their actual needs. These traditional strategies typically lead to teaching Chinese for no obvious purpose (CNOP). In CSP, by definition, the teaching is directly related to the Chinese that matches students’ language needs for use in specific situations for specific purposes – generally based on a thorough needs analysis (Brown, 2016). This does not mean that CSP leaves the teachers out of the loop or that the curriculum is based only on what the students want. While the focus of needs analysis for CSP is on the students’ needs, information is gathered from students, yes, but also from teachers, future employers, the literature, etc., with a view to understanding what Chinese the students will need in order to accomplish their specific purposes. Such needs analyses are usually conducted within wellestablished frameworks for Chinese for academic purposes (CAP, e.g., Chinese for engineering, Chinese for studying at Beida, etc.) or Chinese for occupational purposes (COP, e.g., Chinese for business, Chinese for tourism, Chinese for beer making, etc.). That information is then used to select and specify

32

James Dean Brown

defensible curriculum including student learning outcomes, materials, classroom activities, classroom tests, etc. for the CSP in question as it is needed by the specific group of learners involved.

Who should be included in the curriculum development process? In traditional CLP teaching, literature-trained NSs of Mandarin have often controlled the curriculum either by writing textbooks or guiding and controlling institutional curriculum development (by shear dint of academic rank or age-based “authority”), even when they know little about language curriculum development (or about language teaching for that matter). As a result, the views of local students and other teachers about language teaching and what students should be learning have often been ignored or been viewed as irrelevant because the older literature-trained teachers know better. In CSP, one article of faith is that stakeholders like local students, teachers, administrators, and the students’ future professors, employers, colleagues, etc. are in the best position to provide useful information about the specific purposes for which students will need Chinese. Indeed, rather than focusing on NSs of Chinese, bilingual Chinese language teachers who (for 20 different reasons) are often seen as being especially qualified to understand the viewpoints of all the stakeholders in a CSP program (Brown, 2012).

What other situational factors should be considered? In traditional CLP teaching, the many situational, stakeholder, and theoretical factors that may constrain curriculum development have typically been ignored. As explained in Brown (2016), situational constraints may be imposed by society, politics or policy, resources (or lack of same), and the curriculum itself; stakeholder constraints may be due to students, teachers, administrators, or other stakeholders; and theoretical constraints may be imposed by the approaches and/ or syllabuses that are adopted in a specific setting. In CSP, because curriculum is based on needs analysis, teachers and curriculum developers are much more likely to be aware of situational, stakeholder, and theoretical constraints like those described in the previous paragraph. As a result, such constraints are more likely to be addressed and even overcome.

What basic units of analysis should be included in the curriculum? Every language curriculum is organized around certain units of analysis. If such organization is missing, students and teachers soon become uncomfortable with the materials and teaching involved. For example, traditional CLP curricula are typically organized around phonological units at the beginning and then structural or sometimes lexical syllabuses thereafter. Some traditional audiolingual teaching will be organized around situations (as chapter headings), but within and across chapters the organization is likely to be based on structures and/or lexis. Students

Why should we consider teaching CSP? 33 and teachers can become quite comfortable with materials and teaching organized in these traditional ways. In CSP, syllabuses tend to be adopted from the ever-expanding list of possibilities including structures, situations, skills, topics, skills, functions, notions, tasks, pragmatics, discourse units, genres, etc. (for a fuller explanation of 12 important types of syllabuses, see Brown, 2016, pp. 46, 48–55). Because it is based on needs analysis, which in turn seeks to identify those meanings that students will most need to communicate for their purposes, CSP is often organized around those meanings and purposes, using functions, notions, tasks, and genres that are related to them.

What should be selected from among the basic units of analysis? Traditional CLP tends to promote knowledge of language and culture (typically, those of China and Sino-oriented countries) and assumes (erroneously it turns out) that students will be able transfer that knowledge to develop the ability to communicate in Chinese in the target country. In fact, knowing the grammar and vocabulary of the written language for reading and writing does not necessarily transfer directly to the listening and speaking abilities. In contrast, CSP promotes language use often by doing the following: 1 Including successful bilinguals (with their local CSP knowledge and intercultural understanding) as CSP language and pedagogic models. 2 Fostering Chinese language and cultural behaviors that will help students communicate effectively in specific situations and have friendly dealings with Chinese speakers from any culture. 3 Helping students achieve intelligibility when they are among other CSP speakers (including NSs and NNSs). 4 Enhancing students’ access to and capacity to contribute to the international body of CSP information. 5 Supporting the learning of CSP efficiently and effectively, as well as helping students feel better about their Chinese. 6 Providing students with awareness of linguistic and cultural differences in the various contexts in which CSP is used, as well as furnishing them with strategies for handling such differences. 7 Helping learners be “both global and local speakers” of Chinese who can function in CSP both at home in their national culture and internationally (Kramsch & Sullivan, 1996). 8 Providing CSP curriculum that respects the local culture of learning and promoting a sense of ownership and confidence in the local varieties of CSP. 9 Including materials and activities based on local and international situations that are recognizable and applicable to the students’ everyday lives, including NS with NNS interactions, as well as NNS with NNS interactions. 10 Including models of Mandarin, “dialect” users, and NNS of Chinese so students realize that Chinese does not belong exclusively to the Mandarin NSs.

34

James Dean Brown

Conclusion In this chapter, I first explained how I am qualified to make a speech about CSP. Then, I discussed why CSP is an important alternative to traditional Chinese language teaching. More specifically, I explored issues related to NS-ism framed in terms of Chinese language learning and what I see as the “impossible dream” of being a NS of Chinese. I did so by addressing five (how, what, how long, why, and who) questions as follows: 1 2 3

4

5

The how subsection addressed the issue of how difficult it is to define what a NS of Chinese is and how few students are likely to ever attain anything even close to NS ability. What raised the question of what Chinese language proficiency (CLP) is in terms of NSs, as well as the scope of CLP and how few learners need and/or can reasonably attain NS CLP. How long discussed how many hours (10,000) it may take an L2 learner to become NS-like, and how that would be equivalent to about 111 semesters of study, which contrasts sharply with the four semesters that most students take and even the number of semesters that Chinese majors take. Why addressed the reasons most students learn Chinese, suggesting in the process that few of them study the language so they can read Chinese literature, and more to the point, few reach a level where they can actually read Chinese literature with any semblance of comprehension and pleasure. Who raises questions about the people that learners are likely to interact with in Chinese, suggesting that very often such interactions will be with second dialect speakers of Mandarin or other L2 learners of Mandarin (depending to some extent on whether we are talking about the receptive skills of reading and listening or productive skills of writing and speaking).

Thus, in terms of how difficult it is to define the NS of Chinese, or what Chinese language proficiency is, or how long it takes to master Chinese, or why students want to learn Chinese, or who the students are likely to interact with, we seem to be missing the mark in our teaching, and worse, we are setting our students up for failure by insisting on the so-called NS Chinese standard. Why do we do that when concentrating on the narrower and clearer objectives of a Chinese for specific purposes curriculum would provide the students with attainable goals – goals that would aim specifically at why the students want to learn Chinese and the people they need to communicate with? I then clarified the curriculum issues involved in setting narrower, more realistic goals for CSP by examining seven very specific questions through a curriculum lens: 1 2 3

What should the target language and culture be? Why do students learn Chinese? How should the purposes be delimited?

Why should we consider teaching CSP? 35 4 5 6 7

Who should be included in the curriculum development process? What other situational factors should be considered? What basic units of analysis should be included in the curriculum? What should be selected from among the basic units of analysis?

We really need to ask ourselves if it isn’t high time that we begin to think outside of the NS standard Chinese box that we are trapped in. Shouldn’t we instead be teaching to the needs of that large majority of Chinese language students who do not in fact study Chinese for global purposes? My answer to those questions is that an important first step in improving Chinese teaching and learning for most students in all settings will require us to develop clearly defined, specific, and directly useful curriculum that reflects the actual CSP needs of our students.

References Brown, J.D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to program development. New York: Heinle & Heinle. Brown, J.D. (2004). What do we mean by bias, Englishes, Englishes in testing, and English language proficiency? World Englishes, 23(2), 317–319. Brown, J.D. (2008). Testing-context analysis: Assessment is just another part of language curriculum development. Language Assessment Quarterly, 5(4), 1–38. Brown, J.D. (2012). EIL curriculum development. In L. Alsagoff, S., McKay, G. W. Hu, & W. A. Renandya (Eds.), Principles and practices for teaching English as an international language (pp. 147–167). London: Routledge. Brown, J.D. (2014). The future of World Englishes in language testing. Language Assessment Quarterly, 11(1), 5–26. Brown, J.D. (2015). The future of world Englishes in language testing. In A. Kunnan (Ed.), Language testing and assessment: Critical concepts in linguistics (pp. 358–386). London: Routledge. Reprinted with permission from Brown (2014). Brown, J.D. (2016). Introducing needs analysis and English for specific purposes. New York: Routledge. Brown, J.D. (2019). Global Englishes and the international standardized English language proficiency tests? In F. Fang & H. Widodo (Eds.), Critical perspectives of global Englishes in Asia: Language Policy and curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment (pp. 64–83). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Brown, J.D. (2020). World Englishes and international standardized English proficiency tests. In C. Nelson, Z. G. Proshina, & D. R. Davis (Eds.), The handbook of world Englishes (2nd ed., pp. 703–724). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Kramsch, C., & Sullivan, P. (1996). Appropriate pedagogy. ELT Journal, 50(3), 199–212. Levis, J.M. (2005). Changing contexts and shifting paradigms in pronunciation teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 369–377. McKay, S.L., & Brown, J.D. (2015). Teaching and assessing EIL in local contexts around the world. New York: Routledge. Trace, J., Hudson, T., & Brown, J.D. (2015). Developing courses in languages for specific purposes. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i, National Foreign Language Resource Center. Available online at (NetWork #69) [PDF document] http://hdl.handle.net/10125/14573

Part II

Learning needs, curriculum design, and course development

3

Course design of Business Chinese in Marketing – teaching the case of Chun Shui Tang Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Introduction Among the Business Chinese textbooks in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, only a small number include units related to Marketing. The majority use case-study pedagogy to probe into the reasons for the success or failure of international enterprise management in China as well as to document the achievements made by Chinese enterprises overseas. In teaching, these analyses and discussions of the real cases are attractive to advanced language learners. On the one hand, students keep learning Business Chinese; on the other hand, they acquire further understanding of business practices in Chinese regions. A typical example of this type of curriculum can be found in Business Chinese for Success (Yuan, 2014) published in Mainland China. The book compiles 12 real cases, covering multinational companies’ operations in China, and Chinese companies in domestic and global markets. There are some famous brand names such as Hai Di Lao, Baidu, and Lenovo. Their localization processes, marketing strategies, competitive advantages, features of operations, and much more are analyzed. The target students are upper-intermediate learners or above. Although such a textbook is helpful for those who are interested in business practices in Mainland China, it appears to be inadequate for those who are learning Business Chinese in Taiwan. Until now, Business Chinese instructors have seen few cases discussing Taiwanese enterprises in Business Chinese teaching material. They have found almost no rationales of relevant course designs. How can instructors deliver the multiple benefits of integrating Business Chinese and content instruction for advanced Chinese learners in Taiwan? The authors attempt to answer this question with a brief sample design in the hope of initiating further discussion. Herewith the authors would like to propose a course design of Business Chinese in Marketing by using the Content-Based Instruction (CBI) approach. First, after reviewing all the current Business Chinese textbooks published in Taiwan, the authors discerned what was absent, and then proceeded to select an appropriate case for a sample course design. Next, the CBI approach was adopted to design a syllabus. Unlike structural, communicative, or task-based approaches to language teaching, the Six-T’s CBI Approach does not prioritize linguistic items; rather it emphasizes the role of content as driving all curricular decisions (Stoller & Grabe, DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-6

40

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

1997). A content-based course is initially “defined by specifying themes, assembling appropriate texts which will support the themes, and designing a coherent set of supporting topics” (Stoller & Grabe, 1997, p. 7). With the framework of Six-T’s CBI Approach, the authors here aim to develop a practical curriculum that integrates local marketing cases into Business Chinese teaching. At the end of this chapter, student feedback, a conclusion, and further recommendations will be made for future teaching and learning Business Chinese in Marketing.

Adopting Content-Based Instruction Content-Based Instruction (CBI) was first used in Canada’s language immersion programs as early as the 1960’s. Then, in the 1970’s, it was widely used in North America’s ESL (English as a Second Language) programs, helping children with lower language proficiency to study academic subjects for entry into elementary or secondary schools (Stryker & Leaver, 1997). Since then, the CBI approach was studied and implemented at the university level for an array of EFL (English as Foreign Language), EAP (English for Academic Purposes), and ESP (English for Specific Purposes) courses. When guiding foreign learners to use the target language to study subject matter or develop content knowledge, the CBI approach provides multiple advantages such as enhancing motivation, self-confidence, target language proficiency, and cultural literacy (Stryker & Leaver, 1997). Above all, making language learning meaningful and motivating is particularly vital to learners of Business Chinese who usually have precise learning needs and objectives. Adopting the CBI approach allows more relevant themes and texts to be introduced to goal-oriented students. The CBI approach also affords authenticity. For example, it is common to see CBI instructors use newspapers, magazine articles, or other media materials that are not originally produced for language teaching purposes (Brinton, Snow & Wesche, 1989). Some authentic texts, such as tourist guidebooks, technical journals, news reports, advertisements, or TV broadcasts, are also recommended by CBI specialists (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). This flexibility especially frees ESP teachers and course designers from the linguistics-centered teaching material so that they can bring the latest industry information to their students. Stroller and Grabe’s study (1997) outlines at least eight approaches to CBI. However, based on earlier studies, they propose the Six-T’s Approach to CBI, which has been used widely since then by ESP course designers in the West as well as in the Chinese-speaking region (Kong & Wang, 2015). The six curricular components which define the Six-T’s Approach are Themes, Texts, Topics, Threads, Tasks, and Transitions. When implementing this approach, there are six criteria for course design: Student Needs, Student Goals, Institutional Expectations, Available Resources, Teacher Abilities, and Expected Final Performance Outcomes. As for teaching steps, many experts have commented on the CBI teaching process (Nunan, 1990; Brown, 1995; Kong & Wang, 2015) though mainly referring

Business Chinese in Marketing

41

to EFL or ESP contexts. Based on current literature, the authors have revised the model, and propose the following CBI teaching process for teaching Business Chinese: 1 2 3 4 5

Preparation stage (choosing a subject of interest, finding suitable sources that can deal with different aspects of the subject) Planning stage (deciding the themes, texts, and topics, checking the threads and designing the tasks and transitions) Student learning activities (forming small student groups, assigning each group a small research task and a source of information in the target language to help them fulfill the task) Cooperative learning stage (groups sharing and comparing information) Conclusion stage (students presenting learning results in the form of an end product such as a report or presentation)

To sum up, as Stoller (2004) indicated, CBI is not just useful for teaching and learning language and content. It also has a third-level teaching objective, which is to help students construct their comprehensive framework of a topic or domain knowledge. That is, a teaching design should not only allow students to study the language use and text content, but it should also empower learners to understand, express, and articulate what they know in their own words.

A model for the design of teaching material Based on the Six-T’s Approach to CBI, the authors propose three industries that are closely related to people’s livelihoods to start with as “themes” for learning Business Chinese in Marketing. These are the leisure drinks industry, food industry, and retail industry (Figure 3.1). Furthermore, the leisure drinks industry will be the design example in this chapter. When selecting the case for teaching Business Chinese in Marketing, the popularity of everyday drinks, especially “bubble milk tea” (or named as “pearl milk tea,” that is, milk tea made with tapioca balls), caught the authors’ attention. On the one hand, “bubble milk tea” seems known to almost every foreign visitor to Taiwan; on the other hand, the product has received great success overseas recently. When designing the teaching material, all the “themes” need to be interrelated (Kong & Wang, 2015). For example, the themes of drinks, foods, and retailers selected here indicate three different industries, but they are also closely relevant. It is neither easy to separate foods and drinks nor to detach them from the channels (retailers) that sell them in daily life. Under these selected themes, topics, texts, and tasks are further designed. Marketing concepts, case studies, linguistic items, and application of the language and content knowledge shall all be integrated during the teaching process. The discussion here takes the first theme as an example, that is, examining the Leisure Drinks Industry. It encompasses four topics related to basic

42

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Business Chinese in Marketing: Taiwan Business Case Studies

Theme 1 Leisure Drinks Industry

Topics, Texts, Tasks

Theme 2 Foods Industry

Theme 3 Retail Industry

Thread

Figure 3.1 An Example of a Curriculum Design for the Study Program of Business Chinese in Marketing

marketing concepts – Market Analysis, Building a Brand, Product Development, and Marketing Strategies – plus one field trip. Under each topic, there are at least two reading texts and various tasks. Each topic takes about three to four hours as a learning session. The texts are extracted and adapted from authentic media reports which drive the design of tasks. The tasks are instructional activities and techniques that facilitate the teaching and learning of both the business content and the language. As for the business content, students will study industry information and marketing concepts either with the reading text or task instruction. The language teaching part covers business vocabulary, communicative interaction, study skills, and academic language skills. It is important to note that the course designer should plan tasks related to the texts used (Stoller & Grabe, 1997). The overall course objectives of Theme 1 – the Leisure Tea Drinks Industry – include the following points: 1 2 3 4 5

Preparing students to acquire an overview of the bubble milk tea industry Introducing students to contemporary Taiwanese tea culture and market trends Familiarizing students with basic marketing concepts Helping students learn Business Chinese through authentic media reports Motivating students to use business language in the real workplace and be able to articulate their opinions regarding the subject learned

Instructors are advised to begin the course with an orientation session. First, the instructor familiarizes him/herself with each student and conducts a needs analysis.

Business Chinese in Marketing

43

In orientation, it is also essential to explain the prescribed syllabus, course objectives, teaching methods, class rules, grading policy, and student activities. However, there should be flexibility to be able to adjust the syllabus design later, subject to the results of the needs analysis. Before the end of this session, the instructor can remind the class to prepare for the next week’s Topic 1 content. The structure of Topic 1 content is illustrated in Figure 3.2; the teaching material is provided in Appendix A. The Topic 1 session – Market Analysis – starts with the study of text on Domestic Market Analysis (Appendix A). Domestically, the market potential of overall leisure tea products (represented by bubble milk tea) has been tremendous. According to Taiwan’s Department of Statistics, Ministry of Economic Affairs, 1.02 billion cups of leisure tea products were sold per year in Taiwan, with an average of 44 cups purchased per person per year (Chang, 2017). To further promote the leisure tea product, the Bureau of Foreign Trade has commissioned Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) to coordinate domestic business owners and manufacturers in the industry to establish the Taiwan Bubble Milk Tea Alliance in 2017. This alliance includes various significant operators in the industry. These are business owners, management consultants, franchisers, suppliers, and manufacturers of tea and raw materials, packaging materials, containers, utensils, and equipment (Chang, 2017). For advanced learners, the language instructor can utilize the top-down approach, namely beginning with reading Text 1.1 directly. After completing the section of reading comprehension, students can be organized into small groups for cross-cultural discussion as a warm-up activity, for example, asking students to compare their favorite drinks in their home country with those in Taiwan and discuss their adaptation experience with Task 1.1 (Appendix A). As for reading comprehension, the study of text can also be combined with a lexical study of Task 1.2 – Studying Business Phrases. In this section, the critical business terms from the text are explained using both pin-yin and English. The language instructor may feel free to choose the audio-lingual, grammartranslation, or other familiar lexical teaching methods. Task 1.3 is for students to practice the academic skill of summarizing and practicing the reporting language to state the industrial production value and market trend in Chinese. Useful expressions and sentence patterns are provided in the teaching material. Next, students can study the second text about the global expansion of Taiwanese tea brands. With success in the domestic market, more and more operators are aiming at the global market. According to Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture, the export value of tapioca balls from Taiwan to Japan reached US$ 26.79 million from January to August 2019, which was a tenfold increase from the same period of the previous year (2018) (US$ 2.37 million) (Wu, 2019). Several Taiwanese leisure drinks chains have been actively expanding their overseas stores; there were more than 7,500 stores in total worldwide by the end of 2019. Taiwan’s bubble milk tea turns out to be the benchmark of the global bubble milk tea industry (Liao, 2019).

44

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Theme: Leisure Drinks Industry/Case: Chun Sui Tang

Topic 1 Market Analysis

Text 1.1 Domestic Market

Topic 2 Branding

Text 1.2 Overseas Market

Topic 3 Product Development

Task 1: Cross-Cultural Discussion Content: production value Language: summarizing and reporting

Task 2: Mini Seminar Content: competitive advantage Language: analyzing and reporting

Topical Transition: From overall industry to a specific case (Topic 2) Task Transition: The content and language functions are linked with scaffolding keywords

Concluding Transition: Final project

Field Trip Thread Topic 4 Marketing Strategies

Figure 3.2 An Example of a Teaching Design for Topic 1 of Theme 1 in the Curriculum

The second text of Topic 1 is also extracted and adapted from authentic media reports. This text includes several specialized terms for describing such expansion of chain stores: “直營店,展店,進軍,插旗,” which literally means “regular chain, expanding business, entering the market/going global, and securing a foothold in a market.” After reading comprehension, Task 2.1 is the study of crucial business phrases, including the specialized terms which will appear again in the instructions for Task 2.2. Task 2.2 (Appendix A) is holding a seminar on strategic analysis. When doing this activity, student groups should be encouraged to take their home countries’ culture and economic environment into consideration, and then exchange their opinions and thoughts. Such interactive communication and cross-cultural comparison aim to stimulate innovative ideas and nourish an entrepreneur’s mind. If the student’s language proficiency is at a near-native level, an advanced exercise is provided here for them to take the challenge. The exercise’s instructions are based on Michael Porter’s notions of national competitive advantages, also known as the “Diamond Model” (Porter, 1998). Here students are requested to use Porter’s notion to evaluate the competitive advantages of Taiwan’s Leisure Drinks Industry. The explanation of the model is translated and provided in the exercise. This extra information on the strategic theory can be used for either teaching or reference. Doing this exercise would be also helpful for those who would like to take an entrance exam for a Master’s program in Business Administration or Marketing Management in Taiwan. According to Stoller and Grabe (1997), it is worth noting that “an additional consideration at this point is the extent of teacher involvement, knowledge of thematic content and willingness to learn additional information and business knowledge with the students” (p. 11). If in agreement, the language teacher may invite a guest speaker or Taiwanese business students to work with the class to

Business Chinese in Marketing

45

facilitate this advanced exercise. The cooperative learning approach will enrich the language instructor’s understanding of business theories. The session for Topic 1 can end with the teacher’s comments on students’ minipresentations in the seminar. Last but not least, the teacher must remind students to preview Topic 2’s content.

Teaching and designing material for a business case The popularity and market potential of Taiwan’s bubble milk tea make it meaningful and appropriate to review its origin and to discuss its role as a trendsetter. The international teahouse, Chun Shui Tang (春水堂), which was founded in 1983, claimed to be one of the inventors of bubble milk tea. According to the legend, a store manager, Ms. Lin, one day poured tapioca balls (also called “粉圓 fěn yuan” or “珍珠 zhēn zhū” meaning “pearls”) into a tea drink on a whim. Later in a staff meeting, the management board tasted the trial product, and then decided to launch such a product as “bubble milk tea” (also called as “pearl milk tea”) in March 1987 (Chen, 2017). In the following two decades, the teahouse developed over 80 different flavors for their leisure tea products. Although they did not own the patent for the name of “bubble tea,” Chun Shui Tang believed that their innovations and promotion of Taiwanese tea culture would make them stand out and persist in the industry (Chen, 2017). Twenty-five years have passed since this innovation. Chun Shui Tang established their first overseas store in Daikanyama (代官山) in Tokyo, Japan, which is home to high-end fashion boutiques and an upscale shopping district. More stores have been opened since then, gradually causing a boom in the popularity of bubble milk tea in Japan. Topic 2 of the first theme is about the case of Chun Shui Tang. However, the most challenging part is editing and adapting the news stories for pedagogical purposes. Although using official media reports allows students to learn practical expressions and standard business terms, it is arguable that an unedited news article is not entirely suitable for teaching and learning the target language in the formal classroom. The difficulty increases, especially when choosing and editing the news articles for a case study. There are several concerns for a course designer to consider. First, it is arguable if the structure of a newspaper article, also known as the “inverted pyramid” method, is appropriate for students to learn substantial knowledge. Using the “inverted pyramid” structure, the journalist normally starts a brief paragraph with key information of an incident followed by other short paragraphs to add up details. Although such a writing style helps readers to grasp the main idea and critical information efficiently, it is not meant for in-depth reading (Liao, 2014). Magazines’ feature articles usually are longer and more comprehensive. However, it would be better to filter some flowery expressions or complimentary remarks about the protagonist out of the typical magazine writing style. The course designer must be careful not to turn the language teaching material into propaganda or a publicity tool for any specific person or industry. In brief, when

46

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

organizing the reading text regarding a company or brand, on the one hand, it is crucial to remain faithful to the business terms and authentic tone and manner used by the media. On the other hand, it is also important to edit the content to fit the stated teaching purpose. The second challenging part for the course designer may be the business subject content. Including relevant and useful marketing concepts or management theories in the teaching material of Business Chinese is a professional concern. The news report or feature articles in the magazine which target the general public may not refer to complex business theories. However, if one thinks of using a business textbook for teaching Business Chinese, that will take language course material to another extreme. Keeping a balance between the two is what course designers should strive to achieve. Two approaches are thus recommended here. First, edit the authentic text and include business theories or theoretical terms in the reading text. For example, in the last paragraph of Text 2, Topic 2 (Appendix B), based on the context, the theoretical term of “experiential marketing” (Huang, 2018) was edited and added to the reading text to enrich the content knowledge in marketing. None of the original media reports explicitly used the term “experiential marketing,” but several key features of experiential marketing were repeatedly evident in the various news stories. Therefore, after careful examination, the authors then decided to adopt the term in the final synthesized version as the Topic 2-Text 2: Building the Brand. Under Topic 2-Text 2: Building the Brand (Appendix B), the first task of a lexical study is a list of business administration and marketing words, as students have seen in Topic 1. However, in this text, there is one new task in vocabulary learning: Tea Phrases. Learning specialized terminology of a certain field is a core component of learning Chinese for Specific Purpose (CSP). When students are learning about the tea drinks industry, it is helpful even necessary to acquire the vocabulary related to tea making. Some keywords taken from the edited text are: “茶飲 (tea drinking), 泡茶 (making tea), 花藝 (floral design), 花器 (flower vases), 茶具(tea ware), 茶葉栽植 (tea planting), 茶葉品種 (varieties of tea), 茶葉烘培 (tea fermentation and baking).” The following task requires students to conduct a workshop for employee training on tea knowledge as if they were working for a tea brand. Student groups can choose one of the tea-related phrases in the previous paragraph as the topic for their workshop. Each phrase can be involved in building substantial knowledge. It would also be intriguing for students to learn why and how floral arrangement is related to the tea ceremony (Mittwer, 1974). Through group presentations, students will not only consolidate their experience of cooperative learning but also learn about tea arts. Another ideal approach to deal with business subject content is to integrate theoretical thinking into student activity. For advanced learners, instructors are advised to teach the theory of “experiential marketing” with Topic 2 in depth. The theory was proposed initially by Schmitt (1999) and further applied and extended by many others (Chou & Chen, 2007; Yang, Lee, & Weng, 2015). According to

Business Chinese in Marketing

47

the theory, a marketer can employ “Sense, Feel, Think, Act, and Relate” strategies to design various events and campaigns to engage consumers to create unique brand experiences. The concept of experiential marketing is translated and explained in the exercise for either teaching or reference (Appendix B). After studying the theory more carefully, students will be asked: “Which marketing strategy did Chun Sui Tang try to implement?” The correct answer to this question would be the “Act Strategy.” A more challenging and creative task here is then to ask student groups to design other events or campaigns by employing the same “Act” strategy for the brand. After brainstorming meetings, students would make mini-presentations to propose and discuss their ideas. The rest of the experiential marketing strategies can be left to the following sessions for students to experience in person on the field trip and then brainstorm for the final project of Theme 1.

Applying marketing strategies with the case After the first two topics, the third topic is “product development.” The reading texts selected and edited for Topic 3 were about how Chun Shui Tang researched and developed (R & D) their products beyond the standard operating procedures (SOPs). SOPs are used by operators to ensure efficiency, quality, and safety. Through a series of instructional steps, workers can perform complex routine tasks and comply with industry regulations efficiently. However, for Chun Shui Tang, although they recognize the importance of SOPs for producing quality tea drinks, that is not good enough for their branded teahouse. They believe a tea maker’s knowledge of and passion for tea-making would make an enormous difference (Wu, 2012). In other words, they would like to cultivate employees’ sense and sensibility when making teas for their customers. According to the report, the brand not only intends to train their employees to be “tea experts,” but also encourages them to find inspiration from everyday life for new product development (Wu, 2012; Huang, 2018). They hold brainstorming meetings regularly, in which every employee can participate to contribute their creativity. Nevertheless, keeping innovative does not affect Chun Shui Tang’s positioning. No matter how many competitors and new entrants have sprung into action in recent years, the teahouse keeps the old alive along with the new. For example, despite some other teahouses selling hot pots or coffees which are trendy and fashionable among young customers, Chun Shui Tang continues selling food and drink only related to tea (Chen, 2016). In contrast to modern Instagrammable décor, elegant calligraphy in classic Chinese style remains hanging in the teahouse (Wu, 2012). What is more, the teahouse only uses fresh flowers like a five-star hotel even though this increases their operational cost (Chen, 2016). After studying the texts mentioned previously, there will be a vocabulary study followed by marketing-related tasks. At the intermediate level, the first task for students is to point out their favorite tea drinks, analyze the market opportunity for current products of Chun Shui Tang in their home countries, and then to brainstorm any other flavors that may become popular there. Another task is to analyze the reason and

48

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

strategy behind the teahouse’s choice of interior design. “Why does the teahouse’s interior design insist on classical Chinese style (in contrast to modern/trendy style)?” “What kind of ‘experience’ does the brand intend to create to impress its customers in the teahouse?” These two questions are related to the notion of experiential marketing which was already learned in Topic 2. The students are expected to become familiar with the marketing notion and its application incrementally. For advanced learners, “STP marketing” is recommended here. STP stands for Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. Segmentation indicates dividing the market into distinct groups of customers (segments), and the brand selects the most attractive segments to focus their marketing on (targeting); finally, segmentation determines how to position their product for the target segment (positioning). Student groups first will be requested to analyze Chun Shui Tang’s segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Then, they will be asked if they would like to target a new segment and what kind of new product can be developed to reach this goal. It is a creative brainstorming activity, while rational thinking is also crucial. A successful product does not come in the blink of an eye, but from a careful study of segmentation and research on how to fulfill the consumer’s needs. Students will need to provide their rationale for this task. A language instructor may refer to a recent study in the handmade drinks (leisure drinks) industry (Hsu, 2018) when guiding this advanced activity or co-teaching this session with a business teacher. Nevertheless, the language instructor can combine these exercises with the field trip to the teahouse. After the session on Topic 3 – Product Development – a field trip to Chun Shui Tang is advised. It is also possible to do the field trip earlier, before Topic 3, if students appear very unfamiliar with the teahouse. The trip, serving as a transition between theoretical study and a real workplace, would be an excellent opportunity for students to see what they have read about in person. When visiting the teahouse, students have several tasks to do, for example, analyzing how the interior design and atmosphere appeals to five senses, observing the segment of in-store customers, studying the menu, and learning how to make bubble milk tea. The bubble milk tea DIY (Do It Yourself) experience will allow students to verify their study in their R & D of handmade leisure tea products in Topic 3, and the whole field trip experience will reinforce their previous study of “experiential marketing” in Topic 2. Students will be requested to summarize their findings in the final project. After this exciting experience, the in-class study will involve Chun Sui Tang’s marketing tactics in Topic 4. With Topic 4, students will have to study the teahouse’s official page about their 36th Anniversary promotional activities which include cooperating with the National Taiwan Museum; customers participating in cosplay – wearing traditional/ancient Chinese costume to buy one get one for free (BOGO); ordering tea drinks to get a gift – for example, the postcards of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King in the great classical novel The Journey to the West; and other activities. There will be reflective questions for students to discuss and

Business Chinese in Marketing

49

answer: “What is the theme of the series of activities?” “Why and how does the teahouse work with the National Taiwan Museum?” “Why and how would the ‘cosplay’ – wearing traditional Chinese costumes – be implemented?” “Why does the tea house choose the classical character – Sun Wukong – as the gift idea?” “What kind of brand image does the teahouse like to create, and how does your proposal for the brand in the final project align with the brand image?” The students’ final project is an end-product presentation of this short course, which should cover a summary and feedback on the field trip, a new product proposal for a segment, and a proposal for an experiential marketing campaign for the brand. They can choose to market the product/brand either in Taiwan or in their home country. The students’ group presentations can be brief, but they must be made in Chinese. It would be even more interesting to invite a local staff member from Chun Shui Tang to evaluate the student presentations. Comments and encouragement from the industry will make the teaching and learning of Business Chinese in Marketing even more practical and meaningful. The study of Theme 1 will be closed with students’ final presentations on the marketing plan for the case study – Chun Shui Tang.

Conclusion and student feedback Although this example course model has not yet been fully applied to classroom teaching, the sample texts were pre-tested with three international students. They are one advanced learner from the Netherlands and two upper-intermediate learners respectively from Australia and Argentina. When being interviewed for this study, they were taking a course in Business Chinese at the intermediate level at a university in Taipei. The researchers asked the participants to read the two texts of Topic 1 and answer questions about the difficulty level of the example design to give their suggestions for implementation. The Dutch student, who had been learning Chinese for two years in the Netherlands and once lived in Mainland China for six months, was able to read 90% of the words in two texts, though he had to check the meaning of a few business terms. Since he was a business major, he was familiar with Michael Porter’s Diamond Model and found the advanced analytic task in Topic 1 exciting. His feedback was that students who studied Chinese with simplified characters in the Netherlands might have difficulty reading the traditional forms. Moreover, for teaching and learning one single topic, he estimated that it might be better to spend four hours instead of three if all the tasks would be required to be executed thoroughly, especially for those who have never studied a business subject before. However, he indicated that the Diamond Model is a classical theory. Thus, it should be easy for Dutch students to study and learn by themselves, and then complete the tasks in class. The Australian and Argentinian students’ Chinese proficiency was not as high as that of the Dutch student, but they had been learning Chinese in Taiwan for over a year. When reading the texts of Topic 1 for the first time, they were able to

50

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

read only 60% of the articles. However, surprisingly, they could summarize the main idea of text accurately. The Argentinian student was studying in an international Masters in International Business program when being interviewed; he found those tasks on language practice and analytical brainstorming very useful. He also liked to drink bubble milk tea very much; thus, he welcomed such a topic in the study of Business Chinese. In contrast, the Australian student who was not a business major found the tasks very challenging. This student said he would have to review the text carefully if he wanted to understand the whole text. He also believed other students like him, that is, non-business majors, would need more time to study the business theory involved before completing the advanced activity, though the exercise of practicing reporting language for intermediate learners would not be a problem. Nevertheless, he approved of the idea of learning about business concepts and Taiwan’s industries while studying Business Chinese. He felt he would learn a lot after taking such a course in Business Chinese. The result of the pre-test shows that the example design is feasible for teaching advanced learners of Business Chinese. Upper-intermediate learners may need more time, but the required tasks are still manageable. The material would be more accessible for a business major, whereas a non-business major may want to study the business theory in his or her native language as a preview or review for the class. Most marketing notions and business theories are common throughout the world. Nevertheless, it is advised to deal with business content in a form of cooperative learning in the student activities. It is also positive to see that Taiwan’s business practices and case studies are welcomed by the students so far, though more classroom teaching practices and input will be needed to refine the design of the curriculum for teaching Marketing Chinese programs. By now this chapter has demonstrated how to use the Six-T’s Approach to design a course for Business Chinese in Marketing with a case from Taiwanese business. In the Preparation Stage, the designers had chosen the subject – Business Chinese in Marketing – found suitable sources, and collected relevant materials. In the Planning Stage, the designers decided on the three industries most related to everyday life as themes and used the first theme – the Leisure Drinks Industry – as our design example. Then, the designers selected and edited the texts for the four topics of Theme 1 and checked all the threads and transitions. Next, from Stage 3 – Student Learning Activities – to Stage 5 – Conclusion – suggestions for implementation were provided. In Stage 3, when conducting student learning activities, it will be necessary to organize small student groups. Each group should be assigned small research tasks and a source of information and be helped to accomplish various tasks. The instructor could also arrange a field trip for students to visit the real workplace as a transition between the classroom teaching and industrial reality. In Stage 4 – Cooperative Learning Stage – after the lexical study, the language instructor could guide students to complete their assigned activities. At this stage,

Business Chinese in Marketing

51

it would also be helpful to invite local teachers or students from business faculty to work together with the Chinese language class. Later, student groups could present in a seminar, thus allowing students to share and compare their information. Finally, in the Conclusion Stage, students present their results for the final project of the theme. This last activity will empower them to articulate their analysis as well as showcase their creativity in presenting a marketing plan in their own words. After studying Theme 1: The Leisure Drinks Industry in this short course, students will have an overall understanding about the industry, Taiwanese tea culture, and market trends. Furthermore, they will have learned about the Diamond Model, experiential marketing strategies, and STP marketing. They will also have opportunities to visit the store of the business case – Chun Sui Tang – to experience what they have read from the media reports and then will apply the marketing theories to plan a marketing campaign for the brand. This way, students will have integrated their study of Chinese language and marketing. The authors hope that this curriculum design will be put into practice, and genuinely look forward to seeing more business cases from Taiwan’s local industries be taught in the study of Business Chinese. They seek to inspire further discussions along these lines.

Acknowledgment The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan) for the research project (MOST107–2410-H-003047-).

52

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Appendix A

Business Chinese in Marketing

53

54

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Business Chinese in Marketing

55

56

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Appendix B

Business Chinese in Marketing

57

58

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

Business Chinese in Marketing

59

60

Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee and Li-Yu Chen

References Brinton, D.M., Snow, M.A., & Wesche, M.B. (1989). Content-based second language instruction. New York: Newbury House. Brown, J.D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to program development. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Chang, P.F. (2017, November 16). Taiwan bubble tea alliance established. Commercial Times. Retrieved from www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20171116000074-260202 Chen, D. (2017, December 12). Bubble Tea: How did it start? CNN Travel. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/bubble-tea-inventor/index.html Chen, Y.C. (2016, December 7). Why is a 30-year-old teahouse famous around the world and being praised as having the best Taiwanese taste? The Storm Media. Retrieved from www.storm.mg/lifestyle/197839 Chou, C.L., & Chen, C. (2007). The causal relationship model among experiential marketing strategy, customer relationship management and marketing performance-an empirical research of hotel industry in Taiwan. Marketing Review, 4(3), 339–364. Hsu, W.H. (2018). The study on the competitive strategies of Taiwan’s handmade drink industry: The case study of D group (Master’s thesis, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan). Retrieved from http://thuir.thu.edu.tw Huang, Y.F. (2018, July 30). Make foreigners fall in love with bubble milk tea. The Foodnext News. Retrieved from www.foodnext.net/news/ Kong, F.X., & Wang, X. (2015). The curriculum of an ESP course based on “6T” approach: Research in the effects of implementing the task. Foreign Language World, 6, 77–84. Liao, B.S. (2014). Journalistic English: Reading and translating. Taipei: JW Books. Liao, Y.Y. (2019, October 2). Global bubble tea business opportunities up to 30 billions: TAITRA organizing an alliance to Japan for promotion. Sina News. Retrieve from https://news.sina.com.tw/article/20191002/32837178.html Mittwer, H. (1974). The art of Chabana: Flowers for the tea ceremony. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing Nunan, D. (1990). Using learner data in curriculum development. English for Specific Purposes, 9(1), 17–32. Porter, M.E. (1998). The competitive advantage of nations. New York: Free Press. Richards, C.J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press. Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential Marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(1–3), 53–67. Stoller, F. (2004). Content-based instruction: Perspective on curriculum planning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 261–283. Stoller, F.L., & Grabe, W. (1997). A six-T’s approach to content-based instruction. In M. A. Snow & D. M. Brinton (Eds.), The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content (pp. 78–103). New York: Longman. Stryker, S., & Leaver, B. (Eds.). (1997). Content-Based Instruction in foreign language education. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Wu, J.Z. (2019, October 2). TAITRA organizing bubble milk tea alliance to grab orders in Japan: Buyers from the fair signed up actively – Innovative products will charm the Japanese market soon. Taiwantrade.com. Retrieved from https://info.taiwantrade.com/biznews Wu, Z.Y. (2012, July 6). The secret for being not getting old for an old store – Chun Shui Tang. Commonwealth Magazine. 260. Retrieved from www.cw.com.tw/article/ Yang, B.T, Lee, P.C., & Weng, L.C. (2015). Experiential marketing and customer loyalty. Journal of Commerce, 23, 35–64. Yuan, F.Y. (2014). Business Chinese for success: Real cases from real companies (2nd ed.). Beijing: Peking University Press.

4

A Business Chinese program with an internship component An application of goal-setting theory Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

Introduction Research (Du, 2013; Kubler, 1997) has shown the general benefits of being immersed in the target language environment for a period of time on students’ foreign language learning. For example, students studying abroad improved their fluency (Collentine, 2004; Freed, 1995) and gained a deeper understanding of the local culture (Jin, 2012) than their peers studying at home. Therefore, the past two decades have witnessed a growing number of American students opting to study Chinese in Mainland China, Taiwan, or other Chinese-speaking regions. Among this population, some expressed their desire to learn Chinese in order to help them with job search and professional preparation, and some even requested to work as interns at Chinese-speaking companies. To meet such a need, an increasing number of study-abroad programs started to adapt their existing programs. Yet, some critical questions still await answers. What are some special characteristics that distinguish internshiporiented programs from conventional ones? In what ways should curricula be adapted to meet internship requirements? What changes should teachers make when selecting course content and instructional methods? How should students be evaluated so that both their progress and overall effectiveness of the program can be measured? From 2008 to 2016, the lead author directed and taught in the Business Chinese and Internship Program, jointly run by Columbia University and Shanghai Jiaotong University (CIS). This study-abroad program consists of six weeks of Chinese language training and four weeks of internship hosted by companies in Shanghai. During the intensive language study period, students started their day by attending a two-hour lecture on Business Chinese language and culture, and then practiced speaking for another two hours with teachers in a smaller group setting. Each student was paired up with a Chinese college student with whom they met on a daily basis for at least 1.5 hours. After six weeks of intensive language learning, students started their internship at companies matching their career interest. Their positions and responsibilities varied from one another, with everyone working under the supervision of a mentor designated by the company. DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-7

62

Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

The CIS program offers insights on the design of a Business Chinese internship program. The following sections will discuss how to design an internship-oriented language immersion program using some practices from CIS as examples. Goalsetting theory, which serves as the framework of the program design, will be introduced first.

Goal-setting theory As an important construct in psychology research, a goal refers to an outcome or standard that one aims to achieve (Locke, 1996). Goals have been widely studied because of their broad range of functions, including initiating the action, specifying the direction of the action, and providing and maintaining motivation in the process of achieving the goal (Dörnyei, 2001; Latham & Locke, 2006). While goal theorists have different research interests and focuses, this chapter is mainly based on the goal-setting theory proposed by Locke and Latham (2002). Their research examines the qualitative characteristics of goals. In order for goals to impact behaviors and outcomes, they need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (Conzemius & O’Neill, 2009). “Specific” refers to setting goals as clear and specific as possible with regard to what one wants to achieve. “Measurable” suggests defining what evidence will prove one is making progress toward the goal. “Attainable” means that the goals one sets can be reasonably accomplished within a certain time frame. “Relevant” indicates that one’s goals should align with his or her values and long-term objectives. “Timebound” refers to setting a realistic end-date for task completion, which provides motivation and helps one prioritize tasks. When goals are set in accordance with these principles, they will help produce better performance. For example, Locke and Bryan (1969) shows that compared to no goal or a general goal, such as “Try to do your best”, a specific goal results in higher task performance. This relationship is considered to be one of the most important means to improve employee performance and student academic achievement. In the field of education, a practical application of goal-setting theory is to guide the design, development, and implementation of courses, curricula, and programs. For example, the well-known Backward Curriculum Design is in the same vein as goal-setting theory. In their book Understanding by Design (2005), Wiggins and McTighe suggest that designing a curriculum or course should neither start with the search for teaching materials, nor begin with considering what teaching method is to be used. Instead, the Backward Design proposed a threestep approach: Step 1: Specify the goals to be achieved by the end of the course; Step 2: Consider and determine what evidence can be accepted as measures of progress toward the goals; Step 3: Plan teaching materials and instructional methods that are conducive to the achievement of the goals.

Business Chinese with internship component 63 Because the final outcome has been clearly defined, the designers (teachers in the educational context) can regularly check to what extent students have closed the gap between what they have achieved and what they hope to achieve. A growing body of research shows that curriculum design guided by goal theory can effectively improve students’ learning outcomes (Childre, Sands, & Pope, 2009; Richards, 2013).

From goal theory to practice Step 1: setting goals What are the goals of a study-abroad language immersion program? This seemingly simple question is in fact difficult to answer. Generally speaking, program designers are likely set goals that are flawed in two ways. First, goals are too general. For example, many programs claim to “improve students’ ability to use Chinese to communicate”. While those goals seem perfectly right, they actually lack specificity, thus their usefulness to students will be compromised. The second problem is that too many goals are set for students. Prior research has found that a multiple-goal environment not only puts greater pressure on students, but also makes them feel distracted (Ryan et al., 1996; Wentzel, 1992). If students are not clear about which goals are more important than other goals, their learning behaviors will be random and ineffective. To avoid the first common mistake, we suggest using SMART to self-evaluate program goals. Program directors should constantly examine their program goals by asking the following questions: • • • • •

Are they specific enough for students to understand? Are they measurable using current assessment? Are they attainable for students to accomplish within the time frame of the program? Are they relevant to students’ needs? Do teachers provide timely feedback to students?

For the second common mistake, we suggest that program directors help students learn how to prioritize multiple goals by importance. Because of limited time and resources, students should spend more time on the more important goals, rather than spending time and effort evenly. While the SMART principle can provide useful guidance for the creation of effective goals, another important issue needs to be addressed. Whose intentions and expectations should be included in the goal statements? An internship language program has at least four stakeholders: the organizing school or department, program director and teachers, students, and internship host companies. They are all indispensable for a program’s success, but their goals are not necessarily aligned with each other. The organizing schools or departments care about whether and how the internship program fits into the school’s existing language courses, and whether

64

Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

students will be able to advance to a higher level of classes after they complete the program and return to campus. Their primary goal lies in ensuring that the learning outcomes of the students participating in the program are comparable to those of their peers taking classes in the US. For program directors and teachers, goals center on providing quality instruction and sufficient opportunities for students to practice and communicate with native Chinese speakers. They also hope to help students prepare for what they will face during the internship. These goals determine how much time is devoted to in-class lectures, after-class activities, and internship prep sessions. For students, their goals seem to be more diverse than their home schools’ and teachers’ goals. Although they all want to improve their Chinese at a general level, students have goals specific to their own needs and intentions. For example, since some students have never been to China before, they see this program as a good opportunity to explore the program city and the rest of China. Other students want to spend more time socializing with local people than studying in classroom. Still others hope to focus on speaking, while some others have a greater need for reading and writing. Besides variation among students, their needs and goals also change from year to year. Internship host companies’ goals and expectations are as diverse as students’. While some companies want to engage the students in everyday work, others tend to see them only as a window to understand American culture and people. Some companies assign a lot of work to students, whereas other companies simply ask interns to shadow their mentors or colleagues. In sum, when faced with many different goals, program directors are likely to feel overwhelmed and find it hard to choose. How do they find common ground among multiple stakeholders? How do they create goals that incorporate every party’s needs and expectations? Every program director must keep those goals in mind at all times. Next, CIS will be used as an example to illustrate how goals were created for the program and students. CIS started with a detailed analysis of Columbia’s Chinese program’s learning goals, which were then compared with ACTFL’s proficiency guidelines (2012). Because ACTFL’s guidelines provide detailed descriptions of what individuals can do with language in terms of speaking, writing, listening, and reading in real-world situations, the authors decided to use them as a reference for students’ entry and exit proficiency levels. After discussions and negotiations with Columbia’s Instruction Committee, CIS decided to offer two levels of classes during the summer program: one for Intermediate Mid students and the other for Intermediate High students. After summer, students of these two classes were expected be able to move up one level – to Intermediate High and Advanced Low, respectively. CIS was also aware that the ACTFL guidelines were mainly applicable to regular language courses because they only define language skills for general purposes. Would internship students have different learning goals than improving their language skills? In order to answer this question, CIS used surveys to gather opinions and suggestions. The surveys targeted three groups: 1) Columbia’s

Business Chinese with internship component 65 alumni who were working in China or with Chinese colleagues; 2) students who completed the program within the past years; 3) students who were planning to apply for the program. Through students’ needs analysis, it turned out that several goals that were specific to the program participants were not included in the ACTFL guidelines. These goals included learning about Chinese business culture and social etiquette, having some general knowledge of China’s economy and market, and expanding vocabulary and terms for specific industries. In the meantime, 20 companies were surveyed on their expectations for CIS students. Then, the original skills-based curriculum goals were re-examined and goals specific to the internship requirements were incorporated. Based on the ACTFL guidelines, the Chinese program’s curriculum requirements and survey results, the authors created five goals to guide CIS’s teaching and learning activities. These goals were: • • • • •

Reach the next higher level of proficiency in the four skills described by ACTFL guidelines Use Chinese appropriately to communicate with colleagues and customers Get a deeper understanding and knowledge of Chinese business etiquette and social norms Handle challenges presented in business settings, such as conducting a survey or giving a briefing, successfully and with relative ease Be able to read newspaper articles on topics that students are familiar with

To determine the priority of the goals, these statements were sent to the same surveyed groups as well as the program’s teachers, asking them to rank the goals by importance. Then their order was rearranged according to the pooled ranking, which yielded five ranked goals for the CIS program. Step 2: determining evidence Goal-setting does not end when the statements are crafted. In the process of creating goals, the following questions are important: 1) are these goals measurable? and 2) how can we know whether they are met or not? Goal theorists argue that one of the reasons underlying the goal-leading-to-better-performance phenomenon is that the goal pursuers (students in this case) can see how far they are from the standard that has been set, and they can know whether their effort has reduced the gap. Thus, the gap shown by the goal statement must be measurable to students; otherwise, students will not know how much effort to exert. The designers of a program must know how to answer these questions when students ask: 1) how do we know if students have reached the goals or not by the end of the program? 2) how do we know how far they are from the goals? and 3) in what areas do they need to put more effort? In other words, program designers need to determine what evidence will indicate whether students are progressing or not. For regular language programs, the most common and intuitive method to show student progress is through exams. For example, student mastery of vocabulary

66

Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

and grammar knowledge can be tested by multiple choice questions, and writing skills can be examined by asking students to write a timed essay responding to an assigned topic. In this regard, ACTFL guidelines provide useful samples to illustrate how to determine whether a student has reached the benchmarks. These methods can provide valid evidence for both teachers and students. However, using test scores as the only indicator of students’ goal attainment is not enough for an internship program. Throughout their years of teaching experience, the authors frequently have seen high achievers on tests struggle when communicating with their colleagues or clients during their internship. There must be various reasons for the inconsistency between their performance on tests and in the company. One important reason can be due to the fact that conventional language exams take place in a classroom setting, which is vastly different from real company settings. For example, when teachers speak to their students, they consciously choose words and grammar patterns that have been taught in classes. This kind of “teacher talk” may give some students a false impression that they will have no trouble understanding their colleagues or clients. Teachers are also likely to be misinformed by students’ test scores. They do not normally have an opportunity to see how students conduct authentic conversations in real-life settings. Because of these limitations of in-class evaluation methods like tests, students and teachers find it hard to get an objective and comprehensive indicator of their progress towards their goals. To this end, we need to think out of the box and reconsider how to evaluate students’ language and communication skills. CIS decided to expand the scope of assessment beyond the classroom. In addition to conventional written and oral tests, in-field tasks were also designed for students. Every week, students were asked to complete a task that required them to leave the classroom, speak to strangers, and obtain information that involved direct communication with local people. For example, in one task, students were asked to survey Chinese customers’ opinions about Starbucks’ coffee and tea products and write a summary report. To complete this task, students needed to learn how to design a questionnaire in Chinese and go to nearby Starbucks’ coffee shops to find customers who were willing to answer questions. In a different week, students were asked to order lunch delivery via phone calls. They were specifically told to call the restaurants to ask for group discounts and check the status of the delivery. While students worked on these tasks, teachers were observing how they spoke and acted. After finishing each task, students were first asked to self-evaluate their performance on it. Then teachers met with each student individually to go over their notes of the student’s speech and behavior during the task, pinpointing areas where the student should put in more work for the next week. Finally, there was a group discussion during which students reflected on their experiences and shared their lessons and gains through completing the task. Through the steps mentioned earlier, students would be able to identify the discrepancy between where they were and where they aimed to be for the next task. Students’ performance and progress during their internships are not easy to measure. Commonplace homework and tests are obviously not possible because

Business Chinese with internship component 67 these conventional methods are formative assessments, which aim to provide feedback on how well students master what has been taught. During the internship, however, students do not receive uniform instruction as in classes; instead, each student learns on the job and from their supervisors and colleagues. There is no way for students to be measured using the same questions. How does one find acceptable evidence to show to what extent students have improved their ability to use Chinese in the workplace? After years of experiments and exploration, the authors decided to adapt CIS’s evaluation system by adding three new types of assessment. First, the authors included students’ internship journals designed to keep track of their daily study. The journals consisted of daily Chinese word banks, professional expressions, and idiomatic sentences. Students were asked to take notes of the new words, expressions, and grammar structures they heard and learned at work. They should figure out their meaning and functions by asking colleagues for help. In addition to the daily notes, students were asked to write a weekly reflection, which could be about their language development, cross-cultural encounters, and observations of the differences between China and US’s work culture. The journals were reviewed by teachers on a weekly basis, and teachers met with students to ensure students’ questions were addressed in a timely manner. The second new assessment was conducted by mentors or supervisors of students. Each week, the mentors or supervisors needed to complete a short evaluation of their mentee’s performance. The evaluation concerned how well students were able to communicate with colleagues in different settings, how well students handled their work assignments, and whether there were any suggestions given to the students. At the end of the internship, the mentors or supervisors were asked to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the students’ performance over the internship period. The third method was through the program director’s visit to the companies. The visit was first approved by the company, but the students were not informed. To some extent, the visit was like a pop quiz for students. When the visit took place, the director showed up in the name of finalizing next year’s internship placement. Thus, students were not aware that the director was actually going to observe them. During the visit, the director looked for opportunities to see how students understood their colleagues’ requests and how they handled tasks assigned by supervisors. After the visit, the director would write an observation report along with suggestions for students to further improve. Besides the three new evaluation methods, students were also required to take the Business Chinese Test (BCT), an official Chinese proficiency test (Hanban, n.d.). Based on their entry proficiency levels, the authors worked with students to set an individual goal for their BCT test scores. These four types of evaluations aggregated to their final scores. For CIS, the percentages of the four assessments were: 40% for students’ learning journals, 30% for mentor’s evaluation, 15% for director’s observation, and 15% for the BCT test.1 Note that the specific proportion of each type of assessment can be determined according to the requirements of the program. Students said such a composite assessment could provide a better

68

Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

idea of how much they had progressed over the internship period and they could have control over their learning and progress. Step 3: selecting appropriate content and teaching methods After goals are set and the evidence for reaching each goal is agreed upon, the selection of textbooks and pedagogy rises to the center. Program directors and teachers usually spend a large amount of time on these two aspects because they have direct impact on the students’ learning process. But it must be stressed that this step should take place after goal setting and evidence identifying; reversed order may reduce the efficiency of both teaching and learning. Next, what to teach will be discussed, followed by how to teach. Needless to say, choosing the right textbook is crucial. Once the textbook is decided, what to teach and what to learn will center around the book. Choosing the right textbook is also a time-consuming and laborious process. According to Chenmeng Zhou (C. Zhou, personal communication, May 25, 2019), over 200 Chinese textbooks for business purposes have been published over the past 20 years. These books are different from each other in many ways: vocabulary, grammar, topic, organization, genre, just to name a few. While comparing textbooks, teachers also need to consider many factors. For example, does the textbook suit the program’s goals? Was it created for internship purposes? Is the textbook suitable for students’ levels? How is the textbook reviewed by other users? One thing that the authors found useful is to read book reviews on journals like Chinese as a Second Language. Because many factors need to be considered, teachers often feel that finding a textbook that “fits” is nearly impossible. As far as the authors know, Zhuoyue Hanyu Gongsi Shizhan 《卓越汉语-公司实战》[Excellent Chinese for Business Purposes] (Shi, Hu, & Wang, 2010) was the first textbook written for internship purposes. Regarding the previous questions, the authors propose “One principle and two solutions”. One basic principle is to consider whether the selected teaching textbook can effectively help teachers and students achieve the common goals set by the program. Take Business Chinese internship programs for an example. Although they fall under the Business Chinese category, it does not mean that any textbooks labeled as Business Chinese will fit. In fact, many Business Chinese textbooks are not written for students with internship needs. Thus, using them to teach does not necessarily provide students with adequate preparation. When choosing textbooks, teachers need to not only go over the texts and content, but they also should read the preface and introduction thoroughly to better understand for what purpose the textbook was written. The first solution is to extract content from several published textbooks, such as Shangwu Zhongwen Anli Jiaocheng 《商务中文案例教程》[Business Chinese: Winning Strategy] (Shi & Huang, 2015), or Jichu Shiyong Shangwu Hanyu 《基础实用商务汉语》[A Practical Business Chinese Reader] (Guan, 2000), and compile them into a set of teaching materials. There are several advantages of this way: teachers need not be restricted by one single textbook; and teachers can

Business Chinese with internship component 69 choose the most relevant content for instructional material. Yet the disadvantages are also obvious. Because texts are from multiple sources, chapters may vary in difficulty, organization, and format; the connection between chapters may be loose; and the teacher has to spend extra time to fix these shortcomings. The second solution is to write textbooks specifically geared towards the students and the program. For example, Zhuoyue Hanyu Gongsi Shizhan 《卓越汉 语-公司实战》[Excellent Chinese for Business Purposes] was originally written for CIS students. Because these self-written textbooks have a clear audience in mind, they normally include content that is highly relevant to students’ needs. Another benefit of this type of textbook is its suitability to students’ proficiency levels. Because the authors are also the teachers using these books, they know what kinds of materials will be more suitable for their users. The downside of this solution is that writing textbooks does not happen overnight. Teachers need to spend a lot of time on researching, preparing, creating, and revising. How to teach is another major topic in Business Chinese teaching and research. In Shi, Yuan, and Kong’s review (2019), a number of pedagogical methods are introduced and analyzed, such as task-based instruction, case-study approach, experiential learning model, and communication-oriented strategy approach, many of which are different from traditional classroom teaching methods. Only by selecting an appropriate pedagogical method can the learning objectives be met. Take CIS as an example. Because a large portion of CIS students’ daily internships involved communicating with their colleagues rather than speaking to clients, the authors decided to create various scenarios that were likely to take place in the office. When students were doing role plays, they were instructed to put themselves in the shoes of an apprentice rather than a boss. Besides teaching them to use appropriate words and expressions, the authors also taught students how to use body language properly to facilitate their speech. While research on Business Chinese teaching contributes to a greater repertoire of methods and approaches, teachers should avoid choosing certain approaches simply because they are trendy. Teachers must constantly check and reflect on whether the way they choose to teach is helpful for achieving the goals previously set. How specialized words and expressions are taught in the CIS program serves as a perfect example. Because some students were placed to intern at a trading company, it was necessary for them to know words like surplus [顺差] and deficit [逆差]. Even though these words could be taught using the same role-play-based activities used to teach other vocabulary, the program chose not to do that because students expressed that they needed these words mostly for reading, not speaking. The authors decided instead to allocate certain class time specifically for students to recognize and memorize jargon they might encounter at work. When working on these words, the authors did not ask students to recite or make sentences. Instead, they helped them create networks between relevant words, and presented excerpts from newspapers for students to identify the words to be memorized. This way of teaching specialized words, although not frequently mentioned in any of the common pedagogical methods for Business Chinese, turned

70

Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

out to be an efficient way for students to remember a large number of words within a short of amount of time. Summary The proposed three-step approach may be particularly useful to intensive language programs, especially those programs with an internship component. Next are some excerpts from students’ reflection journals (pseudonym names are used for privacy reasons) that reveal their thoughts on the utility of the programs: Q: What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile? Emily: This was very worthwhile. I was able to strengthen my Chinese language skills and use it in the area. Through this program we also learned about the Chinese culture, and although most of us knew the differences between American and Chinese culture, it was still interesting to see in person. Q: Comments on the program? Ben: I believe CIS was one of the most rewarding summer programs I have attended. I learned more than I could have imagined not only Chinese but the culture, people and more. The 2 parts of the program were perfect. The balance of the program was great and unique. Q: Comments on the program? Alex: Both the Business Chinese lectures and the internship at XXX (company name) have been extremely helpful experiences not simply in terms of career but entirely broadening my perspective.

Conclusion The previous sections describe how to design and implement a language immersion program with an internship component using the framework of goal-setting theory. The three-step procedure exemplifies how to set goals and identify evidence of students’ progress and goal attainment, as well as how to choose the appropriate content and teaching methods to meet the goals. It should be noted that the order of the three steps should not be reversed. Internship-oriented language programs commonly have a wide range of goals to achieve. In addition to helping students improve linguistically and culturally, these programs are expected to enable students to become more knowledgeable and competent when dealing with corporate tasks in real-life settings. To ensure both teachers’ and students’ time is used effectively, it is crucial for them to have clear and shared goals. They must constantly check their progress against the criteria that the teachers and students set together previously and implement effective strategies to move toward their goals. The authors hope that by continued examination and experiments with such practical language programs, more effective curricular paths can be designed and implemented, taking into account

Business Chinese with internship component 71 the needs and values of all stakeholders including students, teachers, program directors, and internship companies.

Note 1 The authors do not calculate the BCT percentage by multiplying their total score on BCT test and 15%. Instead, they consider the difference between their BCT actual score and their expected score. For example, if one student aims to get 50 points on BTC and ends with up getting 45. Then the student will get 45/50*15%=13.5 points leading to their final score.

References ACTFL. (2012). ACTFL proficiency guidelines 2012. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL. Retrieved from www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012 Childre, A., Sands, J.R., & Pope, S.T. (2009). Backward design: Targeting depth of understanding for all learners. Teaching Exceptional Children, 41(5), 6–14. Collentine, J. (2004). The effects of learning context on morphosyntactic and lexical development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 227–248. Conzemius, A., & O’Neill, J. (2009). The power of SMART goals: Using goals to improve student learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Dörnyei, Z. (2001). New themes and approaches in second language motivation research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 43–59. Du, H. (2013). The development of Chinese fluency during study abroad in China. The Modern Language Journal, 97(1), 131–143. Freed, B.F. (1995). What makes us think that students who study abroad become fluent? In B. F. Freed (Ed.), Second language acquisition in a study abroad context (pp. 123–148). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Guan, D. (2000). Jichu Shiyong Shangwu Hanyu 《基础实用商务汉语》[A Practical Business Chinese Reader]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Hanban. (n.d.) Business Chinese test (BCT). Retrieved from http://english.hanban.org/ node_8000.htm Jin, L. (2012). When in China, do as the Chinese do? Learning compliment responding in a study abroad program. Chinese as a Second Language Research, 1(2), 211–240. Kubler, C.C. (1997). Study abroad as an integral part of the Chinese language curriculum. The Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 32(3), 15–30. Latham, G.P., & Locke, E.A. (2006). Enhancing the benefits and overcoming the pitfalls of goal setting. Organizational Dynamics, 35(4), 332–340. Locke, E.A. (1996). Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 5(2), 117–124. Locke, E.A., & Bryan, J.F. (1969). The directing function of goals in task performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 4(1), 35–42. Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717. Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P. (2006). New directions in goal-setting theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5), 265–268. Richards, J.C. (2013). Curriculum approaches in language teaching: Forward, central, and backward design. Relc Journal, 44(1), 5–33.

72

Zhongqi Shi, Qiaosi Yuan, and Shuai Li

Ryan, R.M., Sheldon, K.M., Kasser, T., & Deci, E.L. (1996). All goals are not created equal: An organismic perspective on the nature of goals and their regulation. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 7–26). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Shi, Z., Hu, L., & Wang, X. (2010). Zhuoyue Hanyu Gongsi Shizhan《卓越汉语– 公司 实战》[Excellent Chinese for business purposes]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Shi, Z., & Huang, L. (2015). Shangwu Zhongwen Anli Jiaocheng《商务中文案例教程》 [Business Chinese: Winning Strategy]. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation. Shi, Z., Yuan, Q., & Kong, M. (2019). Developments in business Chinese teaching and research: An overview and perspectives. In H. Tao & H. Chen (Eds.), Chinese for specific and professional purposes: Theory, pedagogical applications, and practices (pp. 133–155). Singapore: Springer. Wentzel, K.R. (1992). Motivation and achievement in adolescence: A multiple goals perspective. Student Perceptions in the Classroom, 287–306. Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

5

The Chinese International Engineering Program History, development, and curriculum refinement Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu1

Historical background Much has been written about the history of the award-winning five-year dual Bachelor’s degree in International Engineering Program (IEP) at the University of Rhode Island2 (Grandin, 2011). Essentially a marriage between languages and engineering, the innovative program was the brainchild of visionary Professor of German, John Grandin. As a Kafka scholar, he was battling declining enrollments in upper-level German language courses. He convinced the late Dean of Engineering Hermann Viets of the value of his undergraduate students doing sixmonth internships in German companies such as Bayer, BMW, or Siemens, and the necessity to prepare them for it by taking German. Dean Viets was convinced about the added value of learning a foreign language, of broadening the horizon and marketability of his engineering students, and lastly of the “Made in Germany” brand for engineering worldwide. He successfully promoted German and a semester of interning in Germany amongst his first-year cohort in 1987. Supported by a $500 scholarship, 42 students signed up right away and were kept excited by getting a continuation of the scholarship in spring if they maintained a B+ or higher in German. After getting off to a good start, the program was aided by the contacts that URI’s Engineering College had amongst local industry who provided connections to their German subsidiaries or mother companies in Germany. A semester of study abroad was added in 1995 when the Technical University of Braunschweig became the first partner university of the IEP. The full-fledged five-year dual degree IEP with an integrated year abroad studying and interning was thus born (Grandin, 2013). Since its beginning in 1987, the IEP has added similar French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and Japanese programs with a total of approximately 300 students currently enrolled. URI’s IEP is viewed as a working model for internationalizing engineering education, and a way of preparing students for the global workplace. The program has been adapted by many institutions across the U.S., providing a visionary model to bridge the Humanities with the STEM disciplines (Grandin & Berka, 2014). Other disciplines on the URI campus such as business, computer science, pharmacy, and international diplomacy studies started their own dual degree tracks following in IEP’s footsteps. This development proved to be a winning DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-8

74

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

proposition for a thriving language department by bringing non-traditional language learners into the classroom through its signature programs (Lavalle, 2019), while the national enrollment trend continued to decline (Johnson, 2019). Student demand and globalization propel creation of the Chinese IEP Chinese at URI got off the ground at a time when China grew from the third to the second largest economic powerhouse in the world. A student petition with over 300 signatures convinced the College of Arts & Sciences that Chinese should be offered as of 2004 with the ultimate goal of chartering a major in the near future. In turn, the student-driven momentum was reflected by a strong demand in industry as national borders became less and less important. The globalization of much of the world’s economy had created a more level playing field, and the corporate world had to stay competitive by using resources worldwide (Friedman, 2005). This paradigmatic shift was felt strongly by local RI companies which began outsourcing manufacturing to China. The toymaker Hasbro, for instance, had designed toys since 1923 on one side of the street in Pawtucket, RI, and manufactured these toys on the other side. However, the company was forced by globalization to shift its manufacturing and distribution to Shenzhen, China, and Hong Kong. Up until 2018, 67% of Hasbro toys were still manufactured in China. In 2019, due to geopolitical risk factors, the company moved operations from China to Vietnam and India (Witten, 2019). Similarly, the Pawtucket-based chemical company, Teknor Apex, was under pressure to set up a subsidiary in Suzhou. The leadership of URI’s Chinese IEP strategized with the company’s CEO on how they could help with that task. As a result, an effective “local to global to local” internship/hiring scheme was set up. A chemical engineering and Chinese Flagship Program student, supported by a Teknor Apex scholarship for two consecutive summers of interning in Pawtucket, completed his internship at Teknor Apex’s Suzhou plant. He was ultimately hired back at headquarters in RI upon graduation. Sam B. shared his insight on the seemingly unusual bridging of a STEM with a Humanities major in his profile on the URI Chinese Flagship Program website: “Mandarin has an inherent logic and structure that lends itself to engineering in interesting ways. For example, the word ‘computer’, combines the characters for ‘electric’ and ‘brain’” (URI Chinese Language Flagship Program, n.d.). Another example of the shift in company direction towards China is Greystone in Lincoln, RI, which branched out to several locations in China. Its CEO met with two URI chemical engineering Chinese IEP students interning in China as part of a China trip in 2016, and hired them upon their graduation. Forwardlooking CEOs like those mentioned earlier saw a great benefit from being closely related to a program whose mission was to educate the new global engineer as it addressed a “major paradigm shift” (Perreault, 2011) in the way business was done with China. But how did the Chinese IEP really begin?

Chinese International Engineering Program 75 Corporate, Chinese and U.S. government support The Chinese IEP began with then CEO of Texas Instruments, Tom Wroe, advocating for an expansion of the IEP to include a Chinese branch, since American business was making major investments in China with little to no knowledge of the language and culture. At a RI business summit, he challenged the state “to make sure that Rhode Islanders have the skills and mindset they need to successfully meet increasing demands from the global marketplace as well as the demands from an increasingly diverse and multilingual clientele in Rhode Island” (Papa et al., 2012, p. 2). Texas Instruments offered the IEP $25K per year for two years as start-up money for a Chinese IEP but also made the point that they expected some results from their investment. Tom Wroe personally established the Wroe scholarship fund for URI students studying in China. Other companies jumped on the bandwagon thereafter. Sensata Technology, a global safety sensor company with manufacturing in Guangzhou, China, provided another start-up fund. In addition, Hasbro donated a $500,000 endowment, the annual yield of which still supports the IEP/IBP Hasbro scholarships to defray the costs for students’ immersion studies in China. Around the same time as the first corporate support to launch a Chinese IEP came about, a well-connected URI Chinese faculty member, Yan Ma, introduced the IEP to Zhejiang University, her alma mater, and to Hanban, a non-profit government organization connected to the Chinese Ministry of Education. It aims to cultivate knowledge and interest in the Chinese language and culture around the world. Most notable for its Confucius Institute program which establishes the guidelines that the separate Confucius Institutes worldwide follow, Hanban also sponsors Chinese Bridge, a speech competition showcasing Chinese proficiency for non-native speakers. Professor Ma was influential in bringing the Confucius Institute (CI) to URI, co-administered by Zhejiang University, the future Chinese IEP partner institution, and URI. Bringing the CI to a second RI university (after Bryant University) contributed enormously to enriching the awareness of the rising importance of China and Chinese language and culture in the state and New England. It also allowed for important outreach to local schools. A URI Honors Colloquium on China Rising in 2007 brought China’s dramatic transformation to the attention of the larger URI community with experts commenting that “China is still run by the Chinese Communist Party, but it has one of the world’s most dynamic capitalist economies. Its global importance in everything from stock markets to fashion design to military strategy is growing” (URI Today, 2007). Faculty involved in this Colloquium were instrumental in later creating an Asian Studies Minor. Aside from the Confucius Institute, Hanban also funded a full-time Chinese lecturer for three years (2006–2009) at $40K per year. This lecturer created the original Chinese curriculum, and later served as Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Chinese IEP.

76

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

The Chinese IEP and the Chinese Language Flagship Program Along the way, the Language Flagship Program at the National Security Education Program (NSEP) of the Department of Defense (DOD), encouraged the IEP to submit a proposal to connect the Chinese IEP with the Language Flagship. Grandin’s initial proposal amounted to a million-dollar grant in 2008 to build a URI Chinese Language Flagship program at URI, an institution that did not yet have a Chinese major. Trust in the 30-year-old IEP and the potential to attract engineering majors to the Flagship were instrumental in NSEP’s decision to fund the Chinese Flagship Program3 at URI (Grandin, 2013, pp. 1–88). The cornerstones for building a successful Chinese IEP program were thus in place: 1) outside funding (corporate, government funding from the Chinese and the U.S.); 2) an exchange agreement with a highly ranked technical partner university abroad (Zhejiang University in Hangzhou); and 3) the commitment by URI to create and sustain a Chinese major in the long run. From the outset, the Chinese IEP and the Chinese Language Flagship Program were thus closely intertwined. Both shared the mission to educate the global engineer (IEP) or global professional (Flagship) and have the same structure – a semester of study at a Chinese university (now expanded to Taiwan), and a semester of internship in a Chinese or Taiwanese company. Since all Chinese Flagship Centers are managed centrally by an outside provider, cohorts from the 13 Chinese Flagships in the U.S. go to the same overseas centers. Initially they went to Nanjing University and Tianjin Normal University, with Beijing Union University and eventually National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taipei replacing Tianjin. The designated Chinese IEP partner institution remained Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Hangzhou with 87 students exchanged to date and an additional five who completed the Zhejiang University/University of Rhode Island “3+x” dual Bachelor’s/Master’s program. This program allows ZJU students to study three or four years towards their B.S. degrees at ZJU and then to pursue an M.S. in their discipline at URI, while sometimes still completing senior undergraduate coursework. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, URI students could no longer study abroad in China since 2020. The IEP/IBP therefore developed an MOU with Tunghai University in Taichung City, Taiwan, where its first cohort will study and intern in 2022–2023. URI students will receive generous scholarships through the Huayu BEST program through the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. From the outset, Chinese IEP and Flagship curricula were also the same. However, gradually it became clear that not all students were up to the rigor and demands of the Flagship program. Different tracks, a Flagship and a regular track of Chinese were developed. Flagship students take Chinese five times a week and regularly work with tutors, and are required to participate in Chinese winter and summer immersion programs. Chinese IEP students in the regular track have classes three times a week. Their track includes a required Advanced Technical Chinese class as well as a Chinese Internship course. As far as tutoring goes, exchange students from Zhejiang University, who live in the International Engineering Living and Learning Community (ILLC) together with Chinese and other IEP students, get a rent deduction in exchange for tutoring the Chinese IEP students in a mutually beneficial arrangement (Berka, Grandin, &

Chinese International Engineering Program 77 Graney, 2020). However, tutoring is not enforced. The IEP advises academically strong engineering first-year students to give Flagship a try, but not all students want to undergo the rigor. They usually can be convinced though that they cannot lose anything. The history of the program has shown that there are engineering and business students in Flagship who do not make capstone selection, which requires an Advanced Level (ILR Level 2) of proficiency to enroll in an Overseas Flagship Center. In these cases, the Chinese IEP acts as a safety net or fallback option, and those students can still go to the Zhejiang or Tunghai University campus. Students in the regular track will not achieve a Superior Level (ILR Level 3) of proficiency as aimed by Flagship, but they can still become proficient in the language. Some have been able to leverage their Chinese skills for their professional career. Due to its origins, engineering at first represented the largest percentage within the Flagship cohort. Gradually other majors on campus were recruited, and now business represents the largest percentage in the Flagship program. Arguably, the combination of engineering and the Chinese Flagship Program is an especially tough one, combining a major in which students usually have a full and demanding course load, with the rigorous Flagship curriculum. Yet the small but driven cohort of Flagship IEP students who succeed each year are generously supported by the Flagship team in terms of extra tutoring, independent study in the case of course conflicts and more. Outstanding advising both from the Flagship, IEP, and engineering sides is necessary to see each of them through. In 2010, the year of Grandin’s retirement, Professor Sigrid Berka took over as Director of the Chinese IEP. At the same time, Professor Wayne He began to direct the Chinese Language Flagship Program as well as the Confucius Institute at URI before its closing in 2018 (Borg, 2019). Chinese developed to the third largest major at URI tying with French (after German #1 and Spanish #2), and the Chinese Flagship Program with approximately 90 students enrolled and 25 graduates, became the largest in the U.S. It was recognized with the 2019–2020 Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) Innovative Excellence in Teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language award. Building an academic and corporate network in China One of the most pressing tasks to get the Chinese IEP off the ground was to build an academic and corporate network. Having the support of the highest level of leadership at URI helped with that task. President David Dooley, a chemist by background, joined the IEP on a development trip to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Changzhou in April 2010. Aside from setting up a corporate network of internship hosts, an additional goal was to enhance understanding of China in the political, economic, cultural, and academic spheres and thus get a better appreciation for the strategic importance of being involved with China. The URI delegation met with the leadership of Zhejiang, Nanjing, and South East universities (where Flagship students could take STEM courses). Since URI’s international strategy to expand the number of students going abroad and coming to URI from abroad overlapped considerably with that of the top Chinese universities, the group was enthusiastically received everywhere and introduced to research labs with synergies to URI’s.

78

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

The Chinese Ministry of Education at that time was spending millions of RMB on its Higher Education System and URI benefited from this trend. Aside from several more in-country visits, the Chinese IEP used the following strategies to build a network of corporate and university hosts for internships in China. First, Zhejiang University leadership and alumni connected the CIEP to start-up companies such as Hengtian Insigma or Offshore Pipelines & Risers OPR, Inc., Hangzhou Architectural Design & Research Institute Co. Ltd, Zhejiang Transportation Engineering & Construction Group Co. Ltd, and laboratories such as the ZJU’s Key National Lab of Chemical Engineering or its Biomedical Imaging Lab. Local Rhode Island or Massachusetts corporations helped with their Chinese subsidiaries such as Hexagon Metrology in Qingdao, or Sensata Technologies in Changzhou, Teknor Apex in Suzhou, and Hasbro in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Additionally, the Chinese IEP benefited from the strong ties that the German IEP had developed with global industry players in Germany who also hosted Chinese IEP students in Shanghai, such as Bayer (China) Co. Ltd, Continental, and ZF (China) Investment Co. Ltd.

The Chinese IEP as a model for other universities’ Engineering in China Programs URI has shared its expertise in building and sustaining its IEP programs with institutions nationwide, mainly through venues such as the Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education (ACIEE), which ran its 23rd conference in October 2020;4 the Online Journal of Global Engineering Education (OJGEE),5 which grew out of the Colloquium; and the Journal of International Engineering Education (JIEE). Whereas many universities have built dual Bachelor international engineering programs modeled on URI’s IEP, only a few have branched out to include a Chinese IEP. While the University of Connecticut’s International Engineering Program celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2018, for the first two decades it operated its Eurotech program in Germany only. UCONN’s Eurotech is the oldest and largest after the URI IEP. In the last few years, it also expanded into China (AsiaTech Program), France (Technopole France Program), and Spain (Engineering Spanish Program). Through UCONN’s AsiaTech program, students spend a semester of studying at the Shanghai Jiaotong University – University of Michigan Institute and then complete an internship in a company in Shanghai.6 Similarly, Valparaiso University offers V-IEP dual masters in its V-IEP French, German, and Spanish programs, while students in the V-IEP Chinese program major in an engineering discipline and minor in Chinese. They study for a semester at Zhejiang University before completing their internships in a Chinese company or research lab.7 Another very successful program, Northern Arizona University’s (NAU) Interdisciplinary Global Programs (IGP) set itself up from its beginnings in 2012 as a dual degree program with engineering, business, the natural sciences, and computer science. It operates in many countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

Chinese International Engineering Program 79 Based on the disciplinary strengths of the partner institutions which best complement NAU’s expertise and curricula, the IGP chose more than just one partner institution abroad. Students in the China branch of the IGP can study at Shantou University in Guangdong province, a university with comprehensive strengths in the natural sciences; at Beijing International Studies University with particular strengths in the liberal arts, foreign language education, management, and economics; and at Chongqing University of Post and Telecommunications (CQUPT) which is renowned for its expertise in Information Science & Technology. They then complete a five-month internship in Chinese companies or research labs.8 Nineteen current students are enrolled across the Chinese IGP cohorts and there are eight alums to date. Aside from the previously mentioned dual Bachelor programs modeled on the IEP, many other institutions implemented very successful engineering programs in or with China for which language and/or cultural preparation is a serious requirement before study abroad. These include Brigham Young University’s missionary service; University of Cincinnati’s joint degree Co-Op Institute with Chongqing University; Georgia Tech University’s International Plan integrated in 27 majors; MIT’s International Science & Technology Initiatives (MISTI)’s China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan programs and its MIT-CETI China student teaching initiative; Purdue University’s GEARE program in Mechanical Engineering with Shanghai Jiaotong University; Virginia Tech’s Rising Sophomore Abroad Program (RSAP) with a short-term China trip integrated into a global engineering course; and Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Global Projects Program in Beijing and its China Project Center (IQP) in Hangzhou to name just a few.

Developing a rigorous Chinese curriculum and the internship course The Chinese IEP aims to nurture linguistically and culturally prepared learners of Chinese. What naturally follows is to develop and maintain a rigorous curriculum that meets students’ academic and professional demands. Accordingly, three overarching objectives have driven the recent development of the Chinese IEP curriculum at URI: 1) increasing students’ language proficiency to the Advanced Level; 2) cultivating students’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC); and 3) building a community of life-long learners of Chinese. This section introduces how to integrate the American Council of Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines, ICC objectives, and build a community through the redesigned IEP internship course. Setting linguistic and ICC objectives for the internship course Students interning abroad through the IEP are enrolled in various six-credit internship courses taught by IEP directors or language faculty. Choosing effective prompts to stimulate student engagement with the target language and culture, these courses guide students along their linguistic and cultural competency

80

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

development. The course curricula reflect current research on study abroad which has shown that sending students abroad does not necessarily lead to an increase in linguistic proficiency or intercultural competence unless the student cohorts are guided by carefully chosen interventions (Paige & Vande Berg, 2012; Davis & Knight, 2018). Studies have also revealed that cultural sensitivity and social network variables are significant predictors for students who have second language (L2) gains during study abroad (Baker-Smemoe et al., 2014). To maximize the benefits of studying abroad, the IEP directors redesigned the six credit internship courses in which students enroll during their six-month internships (Erickson et al., 2020). The second author of this paper refined the structure and content of the Chinese 497/498 course equivalent when she taught the internship course in spring 2018. The main goal for this curriculum redesign was to create interventions to ensure that students used the language at the Advanced Level and interacted with L2 culture while studying abroad. Linguistic goals were set up to the Advanced Low Level based on the ACTFL’s recommendation of oral proficiency level in the workplace (2015). Working in a professional setting, according to ACTFL, requires a minimum of Advanced Low proficiency in Chinese. When equipped with an Advanced Level of proficiency, students can narrate and describe in the past, present, and future. They can effectively deal with an unanticipated complication. Content-wise, students can talk about most informal and some formal topics that are of personal and general current interest. Their speech can be understood by native speakers who do not have much experience interacting with foreigners. In terms of oral production, students’ oral output is at the paragraph length at this stage. In real life, these linguistic goals are all required qualifications for L2 speakers to work independently within the target language community. To measure intercultural communicative competence development, the IEP directors in cooperation with the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department’s Intercultural Communicative Competence Committee have considered several tools. These include the Intercultural Development Continuum (Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003), which specifies five stages of intercultural development (i.e., denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, and adaptation); the 2017 NCSSFL-ACTFL intercultural Can-Do Statements (i.e., students can identify, compare, explain, and potentially analyze and evaluate cultural differences); and other assessments mentioned in Fantini’s work (2009). The goal is to help students move from a lower to a higher level of intercultural competence while studying abroad. Next, specific assignments in the internship course that are designed to foster both linguistic and ICC development will be showcased. The internship course curriculum The Chinese IEP study abroad internship course requires students to complete a total of ten tasks – four essays, four videos, one poster, and one end-of-program survey (see Table 5.1 for a list of assignments). These assignments, coupled with two photos of people/places/customs in China that students have found interesting,

Chinese International Engineering Program 81 Table 5.1 List of Assignment Topics #1: Essay 1: “Where do I live?” – My (new) city #2: Video 1: “How do the Chinese do?” – My cultural observations #3: Essay 2: “How do I work in China?” – My internship #4: Video 2: “What is your career?” – Interviewing a colleague #5: Essay 3: “What did I learn?” – My technical/business know-how #6: Video 3: “What happened there?” – A cultural incident #7: Essay 4: “How have I changed?” – A thank you letter #8: Video 4: “What do I love?” – A travel and food video #9: Poster: “What has happened?” – My year at a glance #10: Survey: “How did it work?” – My feedback

were submitted regularly every two weeks. Each student also commented on two classmates’ posts from the previous assignment. The second author provided feedback to students’ works on a regular basis. Among these assignments, some target the Advanced-Level language functions, such as description, narration, and handling a complicated situation. Take Assignment #3 for example: students were asked to describe and reflect on their internship and the general work and workplace culture in China. They started with a description of their internship responsibilities by responding to a series of questions, such as 1) What is the name of the company/lab you work for and what does it do? 2) What are your tasks? 3) What does your workplace look like? 4) What are the working conditions? and 5) What’s going well? What’s not going so well? Then they compared and contrasted differences between work culture in China and the United States. Assignment #6 addresses two other required linguistic functions, narration and dealing with a complicated situation, at the Advanced Level. Narration means being able to tell a story from the beginning to the end with lots of details. Dealing with a complicated situation requires an L2 learner to solve an issue at hand with their language, for instance, communicating and making arrangements with an airport staff when one’s luggage has not arrived on time with the plane. In Assignment #6, students shared a cultural incident, in which they had done something that did not conform to the cultural norm of the host country and therefore led to a conflict or a funny situation. They made a video detailing what happened, describing the context or situation, how other people reacted, and how they felt. In the end, they reflected on what they have learned from that incident. Opportunities for intercultural observations and reflections are also abundant in this course. In the first assignment, students were encouraged to email and join a local sports club or any student activity group, which put them outside of their comfort zone but created opportunities for them to interact with the locals. In their workplaces, they interviewed colleagues about their careers and compared the U.S. and Chinese work culture and environment (Assignment #4). They also reflected upon their changes since they started the internship course and wrote a thank you note to the supervisor to show appreciation (Assignment #7). They

82

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

documented their travel and joyful moments of tasting different Chinese cuisines (Assignment #8). They observed how the Chinese conduct daily life and documented cultural incidents and their solutions (Assignments #2 and #6). Most importantly, students are also learning things that are related to their engineering majors. Every student collected vocabulary in his/her own discipline (e.g., mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electric engineering, etc.) and wrote a short technical essay to describe a work project or technical process during the internship course using the technical vocabulary (Assignment #5). By completing these regular interventions every two weeks, students are pushed to continue to develop and maintain their language proficiency at the Advanced Level. They are also regularly interacting with the target culture and reflecting upon the similarities and differences between the two cultures. As Fantini (2009) points out, accumulating knowledge and skill in the L2, and maintaining a positive attitude and awareness are key in intercultural competency development, which we have seen through students’ assignments and final reflections of their year abroad. These highlights will be presented in the following section where we share some success stories of Chinese IEP students.

Students’ growth and success stories Engineering and Chinese career pathways The 39 graduates to date of the Chinese IEP/IBP make up a small percentage of the 722 total IEP graduates, but they are highly sought after by globally operating companies such as Audi, Conti, Greystone, Hasbro, Hexagon Automation Intelligence, Intel, Nestle Purina, Sensata Technologies, Teknor Apex, and VW on account of their technical skills combined with linguistic and cultural competency. Employers are convinced that if students could survive a year in China on their own, they will manage anywhere in the world. If they did not immediately join the job market, Chinese IEP and IBP alums were also well positioned to pursue advanced Master or MBA degrees, and even Ph.Ds. (e.g., in Neuroscience). The value of hiring a Chinese IEP graduate can be vividly illustrated by the following alumni career reports: the first Chinese IEP and computer engineering major graduated in May 2011 “retroactively” with Chinese – the major got onto the books a couple of months after his graduation. During his internship, he had learned a software program which, combined with his proficiency in Chinese language and culture, landed him his first job at the software giant Intel. When Joe H. shared his experience on an alumni panel at the 2014 Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education: New Frontiers in Providence, he told an appreciative audience that he was recruited by a VP to lead an Intel delegation to China very early in his employment, and that his background and China expertise helped him to quickly advance in his career.

Chinese International Engineering Program 83 Christian M., a fellow computer engineering and Chinese graduate studied at ZJU and completed his six-month internship at Hexagon in Qingdao, China. Hexagon has been a major corporate partner and supporter of the IEP for over two decades. During Christian’s fifth year back at URI, Hexagon’s Quonset, RI headquarters called because they urgently needed someone who could simultaneously translate technical Chinese. A large delegation from China was visiting for three days and Hexagon had to showcase all of its Coordinate Measurement Machines (CMS) with a million-dollar prospective sales contract in sight. Christian returned from his Spring Break and served as technical translator for the delegation, an opportunity to showcase not only the CMMs but his significant Chinese for professional purposes. Christian was hired by the company immediately upon graduation. Numerous other alumni stories mirror these accounts. The ability to converse with global partners, vendors, or company colleagues in China in Advanced Technical Chinese and to bridge between the U.S. and the Chinese cultures led them to major career opportunities. Additionally, Chinese Flagship IEP students are positioned competitively and have been highly successful in garnering prestigious scholarships such as the national Boren or Gilman awards, or the Rhode Islandwide Beatrice Demers scholarship or even both. As an example, Zachary S., a recent triple major in electrical engineering, German, and Chinese Flagship spent his fourth IEP year studying and interning in Germany, then diligently brought back his Chinese proficiency – which had suffered somewhat during his immersion in Germany – during his fifth year at URI. He then was accepted for the Chinese Flagship capstone year in Taiwan and studied at National Taiwan University. A subsequent internship at Penn Energy Renewables in Taipei was cut short because of suspension of the capstone due to Covid-19. Zachary was supported with a significant and competitive Beatrice Demers scholarship through the Rhode Island Foundation during his year in Germany, and then landed the nationwide Boren award to support his studies in Taiwan. He finished his capstone stay in Taiwan with an impressive ILR 3 proficiency (Superior on the ACTFL scale) despite having had to return to the U.S. several months earlier than originally planned. Students’ growth in linguistic and ICC knowledge during the study abroad year and internship course Dylan and Andy – “WeChat and Alipay are so convenient!” When being asked to observe “How do the Chinese do?” (Assignment #2 in the internship course), students noticed the differences between Chinese and American cultures, and expressed their excitement through video recorded conversations. Dylan K. and Andy J. talked about how they use WeChat and Alipay in Hangzhou to buy breakfast and order deliveries, and how the smart pay technology has impacted daily life. They noticed that people in China do not carry cash anymore. In the video,

84

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

they also mentioned that public transportation in Hangzhou, including shared bikes, makes everyday life much easier for people to move around. Dylan even bought a scooter to go around campus. What makes this conversation interesting is that Andy (an Asian American) entered the study abroad year with an Advanced-mid Level of proficiency, whereas Dylan (a Caucasian American) went with an Intermediate-mid proficiency. This conversation shows that Andy has gained knowledge about the current Chinese culture, whereas Dylan has kept up with the pace and depth of the topic which pushed him more on the linguistic side. Kevin – “Not only have I gained knowledge of both engineering and Chinese, but it has changed my future.” Kevin C. took a semester off from taking Chinese before heading to Zhejiang University. He was worried that his Chinese was too rusty to survive the internship. He jokingly said in his first reflection that the only Chinese he remembered was “Hi I’m Kevin, I’m . . . years old, and I don’t have a girlfriend”. He ultimately flourished during his internship by having an open mind and heart to interacting with lab colleagues and local sports teams. He interned at a ZJU research lab/startup which conducts research on flexible pipelines to be used in offshore drilling operations. Among other duties, Kevin translated research papers and textbooks involving these topics, and assisted with translations of research papers which were presented at an international conference in Spain. In other words, he witnessed how research in the civil engineering discipline can be spun into a successful start-up company, in this case Offshore Pipelines & Risers (OPR), Inc., a Hangzhou-based company servicing the offshore oil and gas development industry worldwide. In his spare time, he joined an ice hockey team in Hangzhou (required by internship course Assignment #1) and participated in their practice each Friday. He also found an opportunity to draw a giant painting for a local museum. He made steady progress in spoken and written Chinese – from short paragraphs with quite a few errors throughout to longer and much clearer essays. Kevin’s end-of-program poster is included in Appendix A. Samuel and Huafen – “When in Hangzhou, do what the Hangzhou people do!” Samuel N. and Huafen G. shared an impressive number of pictures of Chinese delicacies. Samuel made a 13-minute video to illustrate his food and travel adventures in China. He celebrated birthdays and festivals with friends and colleagues with a great variety of delicacies. Huafen mentioned the enjoyment she found through drinking tea, making it a ritual and would continue this after returning to the United States. Huafen also wrote a thank you card to one of her supervisors in the research lab that she interned in, thanking him for giving her the opportunity to learn and grow. Huafen’s thank you letter is included as Appendix B.

Chinese International Engineering Program 85 Positive attitude and awareness All students revealed their positive attitude and awareness of the target culture. These students majored in biomedical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, etc., and interned in ZJU research labs, or companies such as BMSER Technology and Hengtian Insigma. In their end-of-program poster, all of them stressed their professional and personal growth and appreciation of being able to work cross-culturally during their study-abroad year. Madeline W. said, “this year I have not only improved my Chinese language skills, but have also become a more creative, adaptable and well-rounded person”. Samuel felt that “through this study abroad program, I became accustomed to being comfortable with being uncomfortable”. Zhengkun L. believes that “talking to my manager and colleagues had me understand even more the field of electrical engineering and what I may be expecting to do as I go further into my future”. Kevin started looking for a job in China, a country in which he felt “at home” at the end of his study abroad. These students built their own community while studying abroad in China. They constantly interacted with the locals and also interacted with each other online by posting bi-weekly assignments, pictures, and comments to others’ posts. Their words and reflections have revealed that they are appreciating Chinesespecific cultural products, perspectives, and practices, while making steady progress in their linguistic and intercultural development.

Adjusting the Chinese IEP in times of crisis In January 2020, URI put together a high-level task force led by the Director of Health Services, Ellen Reynolds, to address URI’s strategic steps to react to the beginning Covid-19 crisis. Like most other U.S. institutions, URI decided to recall all seven students from China at the end of January. The URI community, similar to other institutions, had to combat fear, backlash, and retaliation as well as racial profiling against Chinese students on campus and those who recently returned from study abroad in China. However, consistent positive and educational messages from URI’s leadership addressed those concerns. The Chinese IEP had to adjust with an immediate plan in terms of the students’ psychological and academic reintegration. One strategy was to accelerate the students’ internship course assignments to allow them to finish the course work in spring, to change assignments to allow for reflection about their unexpected return from China, and to provide additional tutoring. The other strategy was to turn the crisis into an opportunity by setting up two CIEP returnees with continued research with Chinese-speaking faculty in engineering to re-create a semi-Chinese internship environment upon return. This effort also led to faculty collaborations between the ZJU biomedical and the URI machine learning group which leveraged synergies and complementarities of their respective equipment. The IEP Hasbro fund was additionally used to support purchase of key equipment to host a third “stranded” CIEP returnee in a URI chemical engineering lab.

86

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

Concluding remarks Study abroad for fall 2020 and the January J-term 2021 was suspended at URI. According to a recent survey by the Institute of International Education, international mobility has weathered other storms before, and the “resilience of U.S. study abroad shows that while programs are currently cancelled, institutions are prioritizing promotion of study abroad programs in future semesters” (Martel, 2020b, p. 15). Eighty-seven percent of academic institutions plan to offer study abroad programs again in the future. In 2021–2022, IEP students studied abroad in European countries only. Since travel restrictions do not yet allow sending students to study abroad in China, the IEP is sending them instead to a new partner institution in Taiwan, Tunghai University, for the 2022–2023 Academic Year. URI’s Chinese student population is small in comparison to other U.S. institutions who together hosted 369,548 students from China on their campuses in 2018– 2019 (Martel, 2020a, p. 2) and were devastated by the loss of applicants for the current academic year. Hopefully, URI can welcome many more Chinese students through its Chinese IEP exchange program, its “3+x” program through which Zhejiang University students pursue a B.S. in an engineering discipline at ZJU and continue with an M.S. in the same discipline at URI, its dual Ph.D. program with the Ocean University of China, as well as programs in other URI colleges. And hopefully, China can retain its position as the number one sender of international students globally in the coming years.

Chinese International Engineering Program 87

Appendix A End-of-program poster

88

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

Appendix B Thank you card

Chinese International Engineering Program 89

Notes 1 Data collection and human subject research is covered under IRB protocol #1819–164. Correspondence concerning this chapter should be addressed to Sigrid Berka, (sigrid_berka@ uri.edu), and to Yu (Joyce) Wu ([email protected]), University of Rhode Island. 2 For an overview of the International Engineering Program, please see https://web.uri. edu/engineering/academics/iep/. 3 Please see https://web.uri.edu/chineseflagship/ for an overview of the Chinese Language Flagship Program. 4 Please see program for the 2020 ACIEE as well as an archive of previous colloquia at https://web.uri.edu/engineering/academics/iep/2020ciee/. 5 OJGEE operated until 2018, see https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/ojgee/. Then it morphed into the JIEE, see https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/jiee/. 6 For an overview, please see https://internationalengineering.uconn.edu/chinese/. 7 For a program overview, see www.valpo.edu/college-of-engineering/academics/ undergraduate/international/. 8 For a program overview, please consult both https://nau.edu/igp/about-the-program/# and https://nau.edu/igp/international-allies/china/.

References ACTFL. (2015). Oral proficiency levels in the workplace. Retrieved from www.actfl.org/ sites/default/files/guidelines/OralProficiencyWorkplacePoster.pdf Baker-Smemoe, W., Dewey, D., Bown, J., & Martinsen, R. (2014). Variables affecting L2 gains during study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 47(3), 464–486. Berka, S., Grandin, J.M., & Graney, A. (2020). Language housing in a dual degree program: Building community. In J. Bown, W. Baker, Smemoe, & D. P. Dewey (Eds.), Language learning in foreign language houses (pp. 55–76). Auburn, AL: International Association for Language Learning Technology (IALLT). Borg, L. (2019, August 10). URI severs ties with Confucius Institute. Providence Journal. www.providencejournal.com/news/20190110/uri-severs-ties-with-confucius-institute Davis, K., & Knight, D.B. (2018). Impact of a global engineering course on student cultural intelligence and cross-cultural communication. Journal of International Engineering Education, 1(1), 1–38. Erickson, L., Berka, S., Castro, Z., & Hu, X. (2020). Enhancing study abroad: Interventions for greater language proficiency and intercultural development. NECTFL Review, 86, 9–31. Fantini, A. (2009). Assessing intercultural competence: Issues and tools. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 456–476). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Friedman, T.L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Grandin, J.M. (2011). Going the extra mile: University of Rhode Island engineers in the global workplace. Wakefield, RI: Rockland Press. Grandin, J.M. (2013). Merging languages with Engineering: Partnering across the disciplines. In G. Downey & K. Beddoes (Eds.), Synthesis lectures in global Engineering, 2(1), 1–88. Morgan & Claypool. Grandin, J.M., & Berka, S. (2014). Reforming American higher education: The University of Rhode Island International Engineering Program. ADFL Bulletin, 43(1), 23–44. Hammer, M.R., Bennett, M.J., & Wiseman, R. (2003). The intercultural development inventory: A measure of intercultural sensitivity. In M. Paige (Ed.). International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27, 421–443.

90

Sigrid Berka and Yu (Joyce) Wu

Johnson, S. (2019, January 22). Colleges lose a ‘stunning’ 651 foreign-language programs in 3 Years. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from www.chronicle.com/ article/Colleges-Lose-a-Stunning-/245526 Lavalle, D. (2019, January 23). Foreign Language studies booming at URI while enrollments decline nationally. Retrieved from https://today.uri.edu/news/foreign-languagestudies-booming-at-uri-while-enrollments-decline-nationally/ Martel, M. (2020a). Covid-19 effects on U.S. higher education campuses: Academic student mobility to and from China. In IIE Covid-19 Snapshot Survey Series, Report 1. Retrieved from www.iie.org/COVID19-Effects-on-US-Higher-Education-Campuses Martel, M. (2020b). Covid-19 effects on U.S. higher education campuses: New Realities for global student mobility in summer and fall 2020. In IIE Covid-19 Snapshot Survey Series, Report 3. Retrieved from www.iie.org/en/Research-and-Insights/Publications/ COVID-19-Effects-on-US-Higher-Education-Campuses-Report-3 Paige, R.M., & Vande Berg, M. (2012). Why students are and are not learning abroad: A review of recent research. In M. Vande Berg, R. M. Paige, & K. H. Lou (Eds.), Student learning abroad: What our students are learning, what they’re not, and what we can do about it (pp. 3–28). Sterling, VA: Stylus. Papa, E., Berka, S., Brownell, W., Butler, R., Crocker, C., Duggan, S., & Herrera, A. (2012). The Rhode Island roadmap to language excellence. Retrieved from www. thelanguageflagship.org/media/docs/roadmaps/rhode_island_language_roadmap.pdf Perreault, D. (2011, August 6). Chinese language students seek edge in the job market. Providence Business News. Retrieved from https://pbn.com/Chinese-language-studentsseek-edge-in-job-market,60277/?sub%20id=60277&print=1 URI Chinese Language Flagship Program. (n.d.). Samuel Browne. Retrieved from https:// web.uri.edu/chineseflagship/samuel-browne/ URI Today. (2007, August 27). URI Honors Colloquium to examine China rising. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://today.uri.edu/news/uri-honors-colloquium-toexamine-china-rising/ Witten, S. (2019, July 23). Hasbro plans to cut China production and looks to Vietnam and India to make more of its toys. CNBC News. Retrieved from www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/ hasbro-to-cut-china-production-of-its-toys-looks-to-india-and-vietnam.html

6

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course for a high school dual enrollment program Li Xiang

Introduction In recent years, China’s burgeoning economy has attracted an increasing number of people learning Chinese as a second language. The percentage of U.S. elementary and secondary schools offering Chinese language programs increased from 0.3% to 4% from 1997 to 2008 (Pufahl & Rhodes, 2011). Some K-12 schools in the U.S. have established Chinese Immersion Programs to better meet the needs of students. By 2018, there were about 264 Chinese Immersion Programs in the U.S., mostly in K-8 schools (Weise, 2018). However, when Chinese immersion students enter ninth grade, few students take Chinese class because the regular world language classes offered by most high schools cannot give immersion students enough challenges in terms of content knowledge, language, and literacy skills. Currently, some U.S. high schools offer IB Chinese, AP Chinese, or early college programs to intermediate or advanced Chinese language learners, including immersion students, to help them continue their Chinese language learning. Among all these options, in recent years, early college programs at high school have grown in popularity in the U.S. These early college programs are generally viewed as a way to expose students to collegiate learning, provide more challenging learning opportunities, and accelerate the attainment of a college degree. Because these students are concurrently enrolled in two distinct academic institutions – a secondary school and a post-secondary institute, they are also called dual enrollment students, and the early college program is sometimes called a dual enrollment program. This chapter studies such a group of high school Mandarin immersion students enrolled in a college Chinese program at a Midwest U.S. high school. This group of students are the students of the first cohort of this dual enrollment program. Students have been enrolled in the Chinese Immersion Program since kindergarten. In ninth grade, their high school collaborates with a local university to offer a variety of college Chinese language and culture courses on site at the high school, Business Chinese being one of these courses. The study focuses on the needs analysis for the Business Chinese course serving Chinese immersion students at that high school. The course series (see Table 6.1), designed and taught by university faculty for Chinese immersion students, set up a different model in U.S. secondary schools DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-9

92

Li Xiang

to foster immersion students’ language learning. In four years, Chinese immersion students at that Midwest U.S. high school take eight different college Chinese language and culture courses. If students start enrollment in the program in ninth grade, they can earn up to 28 college credits (seven credits per year) upon completion of four years of Chinese language and culture courses in high school. Credits earned from these courses count toward their college degree if they are admitted to that university later. Students can also use the 28 credits to apply for a Chinese minor degree at that university, which only requires 23 credits. Table 6.1 shows the course sequence of this high school’s Chinese dual enrollment program. Immersion students take these courses in sequence as a cohort. As shown in Table 6.1, Business Chinese is a course in Year Two in this dual enrollment program. Business Chinese is an elective course in college, designed for college students with immediate career needs after graduation. There is no prerequisite for taking the Business Chinese course. However, because all courses in the Chinese dual enrollment program are delivered in the target language, students are highly recommended to complete the previous three courses in Year One and the first semester of Year Two before taking Business Chinese. Immersion students have never taken a business related Chinese course in the past. Unlike regular college students who see the business language courses as preparation for their future career upon graduation (Grosse & Voght, 1990), high school students might have different learning needs and expectations for this course. Because this Chinese dual enrollment program is a new model, it is necessary to have a better understanding about students’ thoughts on Business Chinese and their learning needs. Based on needs analysis, this chapter describes the learning needs of a group of high school Chinese immersion students taking Business Chinese, the choice of topics, and the challenges of teaching Business Chinese to high school Chinese immersion students. The main purpose of this study is to explain and describe the areas of Business Chinese that the dual enrollment students are interested in, and how students’ needs can inform the instructors in their designing teaching goals and selecting business-related topics in instruction. In summary, this introductory section reviews the background of a Chinese dual enrollment program and the college courses offered to the immersion students in this program, especially the Business Chinese course. The next section of the chapter will Table 6.1 Course Sequence of the Chinese Dual Enrollment Program Year

Course Number

Course

Year One

CHIN 1010 CHIN 2800 CHIN 2000 CHIN 2100 CHIN 2010 CHIN 2750 CHIN 3160 CHIN 3170

Basic Chinese II Chinese Calligraphy Intermediate Chinese I Business Chinese Intermediate Chinese II Chinese Life and Culture Chinese Composition Chinese Conversation

Year Two Year Three Year Four

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course

93

review the literature on needs analysis, and rationalize the use of needs analysis to identify dual enrollment students’ learning needs for Business Chinese.

Literature review As aforementioned, the Business Chinese course in the dual enrollment program was originally a college course designed for adult students with various language proficiency levels at that partner university. Then what is the role of the Business Chinese course in K-12 schools in the U.S.? Studies indicate that some K-12 school districts in the U.S. have also attempted to incorporate language classes for specific purposes, such as business language, into the K-12 curriculum. Grosse (1988) surveyed the school districts on whether they have programs that integrate business language into the secondary school curriculum. Other studies (Risner & Markley, 2013; Risner et al., 2017) describe the activities and outcome of a business language course (Spanish) in a K-12 intermediate level curriculum. These studies indicate that although the incorporation of business language into K-12 curriculum can improve students’ career readiness, this practice is not widely accepted in K-12 schools. Also, fewer studies focus on integrating Business Chinese into secondary schools. It seems that Business Chinese is a course more commonly taught in colleges. The course sequence in Table 6.1 shows that the dual enrollment students take Business Chinese after completing Intermediate Chinese I in the first semester of Year Two. Students are tenth-grade immersion students at the intermediate level in Chinese language proficiency. College students taking Business Chinese are adult students with various proficiency backgrounds. Considering immersion students’ age and language proficiency levels, the instructor needs to design a Business Chinese course that can match high school students’ interest and their language proficiency levels. Because this group of students are the first cohort of Chinese dual enrollment students taking Business Chinese, and that the instructor has never taught Business Chinese to high school students, it is necessary to conduct a needs analysis among dual enrollment students. Needs analysis of language programs is a set of activities used to collect information to provide a foundation for the ongoing development of a language curriculum that meets the learning needs of its students (Iwai et al., 1999). The identified needs can be taken into consideration when instructors develop tests, materials, teaching activities, and evaluation strategies for the particular language courses (Huang, 2014). Previous studies indicate that needs analysis is a very useful way to gain a deeper understanding of language students’ learning needs (Cowling, 2007; Hodges et al., 2015; Huang, 2014; Kondo-Brown & Brown, 2008). Among these studies, some focus on the needs analysis of the students in non-Chinese foreign language education, such as English as a second language (Bosher & Smalkoski, 2002; Ferris, 1998; Long, 2005; So-mui & Mead, 2000; Watanabe, 2006; Xiao, 2006), Business Spanish (Risner et al., 2017), and Japanese as a second language (Endo, 1995; Iwai et al., 1999). There are also considerable numbers of needs analysis research on Chinese learners. Zhang (2006) pointed out the importance

94

Li Xiang

of fostering communicative skills in Business Chinese teaching. Based on the needs analysis of 232 people working in various business-related workplaces, Zhang (2012) further corroborated that Business Chinese teaching should focus on both work-related and daily personal communicative skills and that listening and speaking skills should be a priority in Business Chinese teaching. Instructors can differentiate teaching content to meet the needs of people working in different areas of the business workplace. Another study by Wang (2011) also pointed out that students of Business Chinese seem to be much more concerned about their general social and personal skills than other generic business or specific businessrelated language skills. Most recently, Wang and Sun (2018) used a mixed-methods research design and surveyed a college Chinese program’s needs from the perspective of students, instructors, administrators, etc. They described the program components as perceived differently between students and teachers. The authors also described the divergence between lower-level learners and upper-level ones “with regard to communicative skills and instructional-approach preferences” (p. 109). In another study, Wang and Jiang (2019) overviewed the field of Chinese for specific purposes (CSP) and argued that CSP has expanded from isolated instruction of Chinese for business to a wider range of various specific purposes and interdisciplinary content areas. The previously mentioned research provides a rich picture of Business Chinese teaching and learning in U.S. universities; however, many studies focus on the needs analysis of college students and adult learners in the work area. Although a few studies have explored how to incorporate LSP into a secondary curriculum, few studies focus on using needs analysis in the context of dual enrollment to explore the nature of high school students’ interest in a language course for specific purposes. High school students learn differently from college students. Matthews and Hamby (1995) studied high school students and college students’ different learning styles and concluded that high school students preferred the Assimilator and Converger learning styles. According to Matthews and Hamby (1995), Converger style means “students do best in situations using data and things and where there is only one correct answer”, and Assimilator learning style means learning by “inductive reasoning and assimilating disparate observations into integrated explanations such as theories and models” (p. 257). High school students learn more effectively by induction and reading the facts. Additionally, this dual enrollment program established for these Midwest high school language immersion students is considered a new model. Different from other dual enrollment programs, high school students take college courses at their high school instead of the college campus. The courses are completely taught by college faculty. The instructors adjust the teaching styles and content appropriate to the young learners because it is important to provide high school students taking college classes with “academic, social, and emotional support within the tailored curriculum and cohesively constructed learning environment” (Mcdonald and Farrell, 2012, p. 241). Therefore, considering both high school students’ learning styles and the new dual enrollment model, it is necessary to conduct the

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course

95

needs analysis to gain a better understanding of what areas of Business Chinese the dual enrollment students are interested in. The needs analysis can also shed light on how to adjust the teaching content based on students’ needs.

Purpose of the study Because currently few studies focus on needs analysis in Business Chinese for high school students in a dual enrollment program, there is a pressing need to have a better understanding of what topics and content of Business Chinese the high school students in the dual enrollment program want to learn. To address this problem, it is necessary to conduct a needs analysis of the Business Chinese language course among dual enrollment students. The purpose of this study is to describe and explain what high school immersion students’ actual needs are in learning Business Chinese, and to inform the instructors for curriculum design and choice of content. The following three research questions guided this study: 1 2 3

What goals do the students have in learning Business Chinese? What specific content areas do the students want to learn in Business Chinese? How do students’ future career goals relate to their motivation in learning Business Chinese?

Methodology Thirty-one ninth grade students from a Chinese dual enrollment program at a Midwest U.S. high school participated in the study. Among them, 11 are male, and 20 are female. All the students are 15 to 16 years old. Except for one heritage student, the rest of the 30 participants are non-heritage students. All 31 students came from the Chinese Immersion Program in K-8 and enrolled in the dual enrollment program as a cohort upon entering high school. In high school, the 31 participants as a cohort are expected to take eight Chinese language and culture courses in the course sequence pre-designed by the partner university. After completing CHIN 1010, CHIN 2800, and CHIN 2000, the 31 students are expected to take Business Chinese in the second semester of their sophomore year. This research project is designed to collect data from high school immersion students to inform the instructors of Business Chinese course goals and choice of teaching content. Therefore, Chinese immersion students at that high school are purposively selected as participants. Purposive sampling is often used in qualitative research to select those individuals who can best inform the researcher (Krathwohl, 2009). The data collected from these immersion students will best inform the instruction of the Business Chinese course. The 31 participants took a needs analysis survey on Business Chinese before taking Business Chinese course. The needs analysis survey on Business Chinese (Appendix A) is adapted from Cowling’s (2007) students’ needs analysis survey. Cowling conducted a needs analysis to develop English language materials for

96

Li Xiang

an intensive course within a large Japanese company. Cowling’s students’ needs analysis survey is aimed at those students who just joined the company and wait for the assignment of different positions in the company. Similarly, students in the dual enrollment program are still high school students who have not started to work in the job market. However, there are some differences between Cowling’s study (2007) and this research in student bodies and the settings. This research studies high school students in the high school classroom, while Cowling (2007) studied the company employees in the company’s training room. Despite the differences, because both researches study learners taking a business course before working and because the research purposes are similar, Cowling’s students’ needs analysis survey is adapted in this study. Since Cowling’s survey is investigating Japanese students’ English language learning needs, the adapted survey has replaced all the English language learning with Chinese learning. The survey consists of 15 open-ended questions. Questions 1–4 are about students’ future career goals; questions 5–10 are about students’ experience of using Chinese outside the classroom; and questions 11–15 are about businessrelated content which students want to learn in a Chinese language class.

Results The 15 open-ended survey questions were designed to describe and explain dual enrollment students’ career goals, their experience of using Chinese language, and their learning needs for Business Chinese. In analyzing the open-ended questions, the researcher first separated responses into short phrases based on the meaning, with one phrase containing one single idea. Next, the researcher identified these short phrases of responses to each question across all data, counted these short phrases of responses across all participants, and then developed themes across all the responses; finally, the researcher classified these themes into three different levels: basic, organizing, and global (Attride-Stirling, 2001). Six steps are involved to implement the thematic network analysis (AttrideStirling, 2001). First, the researcher devises a coding framework based upon recurring messages within the text. The coding framework is then used to dissect the text into pieces (such as passages, quotations, and single words). Second, the researcher identifies and refines themes across them. Third, the researcher organizes and arranges themes into thematic networks. At this stage, the researcher deduces global themes out of the basic themes. Fourth, the researcher describes and explores the networks. At this point, the researcher goes back to the original text and explores themes through the established networks. Fifth, the researcher summarizes the network by explaining the main themes and patterns. Finally, the sixth step is the interpretation of the patterns. The researcher may identify several distinct responses in the participant’s answer to a specific question. For example, one participant’s answer to Question 6 (In which situation do you use Chinese?) is: “Currently, I usually use Chinese in school. However, there are times where I meet new people who are shocked that I know how to speak Chinese, I will have casual conversations with them”.

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course

97

Two basic distinct responses were identified in the answer: using Chinese in school and talking with new people in Chinese. Then the researcher will organize similar basic responses into a theme, then categorize the similar themes to an organizing theme, then categorize similar organizing themes into global themes. Attride-Stirling’s (2001) thematic network is useful in analyzing and interpreting qualitative data because it provides detailed steps for investigators to understand themes of the collected data at different levels, and to organize and visually display themes while showing interconnections between these themes. In analyzing the qualitative data, the researcher followed the six steps of the thematic network to understand, organize, and identify themes from the data. First, themes of participants’ responses were identified, and then Attride-Stirling’s (2001) thematic network was used to analyze the themes across all the responses. The purpose of examining data through the thematic network is to summarize and compare their responses to identify what students want to learn when they take Business Chinese. Corresponding to the three main categories of the survey questions, Tables 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 summarize the themes identified regarding students’ career goals, their experience of using Chinese, and the business content areas students want to learn. In response to future career goals, Table 6.2 shows more than one-third of the students do not have clear future career goals, nor do they think they are going to use Chinese in their future work. Twenty-nine percent of the students are interested in the medical profession. Although 16% of the responses indicate that students would like to have a business career in the future, the majority of the responses (63%) show that no matter what career goals they have in the future, they would love to continue to use Chinese. This shows that the majority of students want to put Chinese language to use in their future jobs, not just limited to business jobs. Surprisingly, only a small percentage of students (16%) are interested in doing business as their future career. Students’ responses to career goals indicate that they have various career goals other than business. It seems that it is more important to introduce some business Table 6.2 Students’ Future Career Goals (Questions 1–4) Types of Future Career Goals

Percentage

Business career Medical profession Social work No goals

16% 29% 19% 36%

Table 6.3 Experiences of Using Chinese Language (Questions 5–10) Experiences of Using Chinese

Percentage

Use Chinese for practical purposes Talk to siblings or families Never speak Chinese outside of the classroom

71% 19% 10%

98

Li Xiang

Table 6.4 Course Content (Questions 11–15) Suggested Content

Examples of the Responses

Specific suggestions Import and export, international sales, business on course content management, business terms, presentation on Unrelated business No idea Business culture and etiquette, business environment in China Communicative skills in daily life as well as on business occasions English to Chinese translation, or vice versa Medical Chinese Grammar and basic reading, writing, and speaking skills Learn how to say numbers in Chinese Change the late homework policy; change the classroom policy; this course is useless

Percentage 32% 11% 18% 5% 5% 11% 5% 8% 5%

content in Chinese language learning so that students can have a better understanding of business-related areas and have more career choices in the future. Table 6.3 is a summary of students’ experiences of using Chinese. Seventy-one percent of the responses indicate that students use Chinese when ordering food in Chinese restaurants, traveling in China, or helping Chinese people who cannot speak English. In their response to Question 9 about whether it is a successful experience of using Chinese outside the classroom, although the majority of students have used Chinese outside of the classroom for practical purposes, only 16% of the students think it is a successful experience. In terms of students’ experience of using Chinese, an interesting finding is that 19% of the responses indicate that students talk to their siblings in Chinese when they do not want other people in the family to know what they are talking about. Because some participants have siblings enrolled in the Chinese program in K-8, they think speaking Chinese between siblings is a very effective way to hide their secrets from their parents. This particular use of Chinese with siblings is an interesting finding. However, not all students think they can use Chinese in a useful way. About 10% of the responses indicate that they rarely use Chinese outside of the classroom. Table 6.4 is a summary of students’ responses to what business course content they are interested in. Five out of 31 (16%) participants have taken business-related courses in the past. These businesses-related courses are not Chinese language courses. When asked how useful they think this course can prepare them for their future career, 14 out of 31 (45%) participants think business-related courses may prepare them for a job in the future, but this job is not just limited to a business career. In terms of course content, 32% of the responses are related to the specific content they want to learn in a Business Chinese course, such as import and export, international sales, business management, business terms in transactions, etc. Quite a few students want to have a career in medicine and use Chinese in the medical area. Eighteen percent of the responses are related to communicative skills, and 11% of responses are about the business culture and etiquette in China.

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course

Business culture and etiquette (11%)

Import and export, international sales (32%)

Basic conversation and daily communicative skills (18%)

Translation (5%)

No idea (5%)

How to say numbers (5%) Grammar and basic skills in languages (11%)

Specific suggestions on course content (87%)

Course content

99

Medical Chinese (5%) Unrelated (8%)

Complaints about the classroom policy (5%)

Complaints about the uselessness of the Business Chinese course (3%)

Figure 6.1 Thematic Network of Responses to Course Content

Figure 6.1 further displays the thematic network of responses to Questions 11–15 about the course content. Rectangles stand for the basic themes and ovals stand for organizing themes. The results of Questions 11–15 are consistent with students’ responses to their future career goals. Some students do not have a clear idea of what content in the business context they want to learn, and some students have mistaken medical Chinese as part of the area of Business Chinese. The top three on students’ lists of the suggested content in Business Chinese are various business-related topics (32%), communicative skills (18%), and business etiquette and culture (11%). These findings give the instructors some insight into what content they should include in the curriculum. There is a divergence between the pre-designed Business Chinese curriculum and students’ suggested course content. The pre-designed Business Chinese curriculum includes a variety of business-related topics, but lacks the content of daily communicative skill practice and introduction on Chinese business etiquette and culture. All these need to be taken into consideration in designing the Business Chinese curriculum for the dual enrollment immersion students.

Discussion In this section, based on the survey results, the researcher will synthesize these findings to address the three research questions. RQ1: what goals do the students have in learning Business Chinese? Chinese dual enrollment students learn Business Chinese to advance their future career, which is not just limited to business. Students want to learn Business

100

Li Xiang

Chinese for practical purposes – to communicate with their business partners, and to learn about import and export and international sales, etc. The results show more students (65%) want to use Chinese in the future at work (such as in a business career, medical job, social work, etc.) than taking business as a future career goal (16%). The discrepancy between the students taking business as a career (16%) and those who will use Chinese in a future career (65%) indicates that students are still interested in Chinese, but do not wish to take business as their future career. Students who want to take business as a career have a clearer idea of what content they want to learn in this course. They gave a list of business-related content they wanted to learn, for example, “saying specific things about companies and better communication skills”, “trading with China”, etc. Developing communicative skills is another motivation, which students want to practice in taking the Business Chinese course. About 18% of the responses are about developing communicative skills both in daily conversation and on business occasions. Besides the business-related content and communicative skills, 11% of the responses want to know about Chinese business culture and etiquette. Although 11% is a small fraction of responses, it indicates that some students are aware of the impact of cultural differences on doing business in different countries, and want to know more about Chinese business culture and etiquette. RQ2: what specific content areas do the students want to learn in Business Chinese? Instructors have an important role in selecting Business Chinese content. Survey results indicate that most students do not have a clear idea of what specific areas they want to learn in Business Chinese. For students who have a clear idea, their suggestions vary from learning some fundamental aspects of conducting business (such as import, export, and supply chain), to developing basic communicative skills and building up grammar and business-related vocabulary. Some students also indicate that they want to know more about Chinese business culture and etiquette. Other students have no idea of what they want to learn. Understandably, the high school ninth graders do not know exactly what they want to learn in a business language class. In this case, instructors should play a more important role to guide students’ learning based on students’ language proficiency levels and their business knowledge. Therefore, in curriculum design, besides language skills, the introduction of basic business concepts and business etiquette should be included. RQ3: how do students’ future career goals relate to their motivation to learn Business Chinese? Most students do not have a career goal and are not very motivated in taking Business Chinese. One-third of the participants do not have a clear view of their future career goals, nor do they think they are going to use Chinese in their future work. A survey on teenagers’ perceptions of career selection shows that most

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course

101

American teens are unclear about their career goals as they head from high school to college (Writer, 2019). At such a young age, most ninth grade students have not started to think about their career goals. Although Business Chinese is designed as an elective course in the course sequence for the Chinese dual enrollment students, all 31 Chinese immersion students are determined to get enrolled in the Business Chinese course, because students want to keep learning Chinese instead of skipping a semester without a Chinese class. They are worried that their language skills will become rusty if they stop taking Chinese even for one semester. Taking this circumstance into consideration, it is understandable that the majority of students are not motivated enough to take Business Chinese course, but just to take a higher-level Chinese course. To motivate students in taking Business Chinese, it is important to raise students’ awareness of career preparation in high school. Starting from the first year of high school, instructors, high school counselors, and students’ parents can work together to help students find their desired future career, set a career goal, and prepare students with the essential skills they can use to find, acquire, maintain, and grow at a job in the future. Chinese language courses for specific purposes, such as Business Chinese, can be part of career preparation that can help students in their future career. The results, especially results to RQ1 and RQ3, echo the directions pointed out by Wang and Jiang (2019) that Business Chinese is moving toward Chinese for general professional purposes, instead of business only. Therefore, the course should be designed to motivate students and prepare students with the essential skills they can use to be successful in their future career. However, Business Chinese is a language course with a specific purpose; it is still important to help students improve their language proficiency levels in the business context. The curriculum may include business topics in a specific business situation or context, communicative skills in a business situation, cultural information and business etiquette, and grammar practice. This needs analysis enables the instructors to not only know more about students’ understanding of Business Chinese, but also find out the difference between the instructor’s intended learning goals and students’ learning needs. Business Chinese course goals and content are adjusted based on the survey results Based on the survey results, the instructor has designed the following Business Chinese course objectives and content to better meet dual enrollment students’ needs. Course goals This course is designed to introduce students to various aspects of Chinese business culture and to provide basic Business Chinese training. By linking the relationship between business culture and business language, this course will equip intermediate level students with the knowledge to do business in Chinesespeaking countries and areas or with Chinese companies.

102

Li Xiang

These course goals are designed in accordance with ACTFL standards. Since students have completed CHIN 2000 Intermediate Chinese I, they are expected to continue to practice their language skills at the intermediate level by taking Business Chinese. The pre-designed course goal focused on the integration of the business into language learning and neglected the crucial role of business culture in business language learning. Course content Various topics in the business context such as the following will be included: writing a job application and resume; business meetings; business negotiation; business connections; signing a contract; shipping and handling; foreign trade corporations; introduction of Chinese business culture and etiquette. This course focuses on communicative activities, language training, and the introduction of Chinese business culture. Although the survey results show that students are not very interested in business trading, the instructor thinks that some specialized business content, such as business negotiation, signing a contract, shipping and handling, need to be introduced to the students. The purpose is to familiarize students with various aspects of business trading. In the section of course content, the instructor has added the following content: job application and resume and business culture and etiquette because this course also intends to provide students with some essential skills that will help them succeed in their future career. In the survey, students only indicated that they would like to know business culture and etiquette, but did not mention writing job applications. The instructor thought that writing job applications in Chinese may help students become better prepared for their future careers. Learning outcomes In the section of learning outcomes, under the ACTFL guidelines, the instructor hopes that students can: 1 2

3

Consolidate the previously learned vocabulary words and grammar in CHIN 2000, and learn additional 150–200 new words in business and 15–20 language patterns and phrases. Use sentence-level language, ranging from discrete sentences to strings of sentences, to talk about both familiar topics in daily life, such as selfintroduction, a business trip, and more challenging topics in the business context, such as negotiating a business contract, signing a contract, placing an order, attending a banquet, filling out a job application, etc. Meet some practical writing needs using connected sentences, including on a resume, cover letter, etc.

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course 4 5

103

Understand the main idea in messages and presentations on basic businessrelated topics. Understand Chinese business culture and business etiquette.

These adjustments in course goals and content are based on the needs analysis. The instructor hopes that the adjusted course goals and contents may bridge the gap between instructor’s design and learners’ needs.

Conclusion This study uses needs analysis to explore the linguistic and cultural needs of a group of high school dual enrollment students in a business context in a Mandarin Immersion Program. This needs analysis study informs the instructor that the majority of high school dual enrollment students have specific needs in taking Business Chinese. These specific needs include: learning more business-related vocabulary words, improving their communicative skills in a business context, and understanding Chinese business culture and etiquette. When instructors adjusted the course goal and content, they took into account various issues including cultural differences, students’ language learning experience in the target language, and their career goals. The results show that high school students do not have a comprehensive understanding of content knowledge of business; therefore, in Business Chinese curriculum design instructors need to integrate the essential elements in Business Chinese. The specific needs of the students are not identifiable because high school dual enrollment students are still in the process of forming their worldviews and exploring their career interests. Therefore, in designing course goals and content, in addition to students’ learning needs, the instructor can purposefully include some career preparation skills in course content.

Limitations and future directions This study has some limitations. First, this needs analysis was administered before students took the new course Business Chinese. After students finished the Business Chinese course, it would be useful if there were an end-of-semester survey to examine if 1) students’ learning needs had been satisfied, 2) students’ precourse learning needs had changed, and 3) students have a better understanding of Business Chinese. The end-of-semester survey can illustrate a fuller picture to the instructors about how to improve instruction in the future. Second, this study only examines students’ learning needs. In designing course goals and content the researcher has integrated some content into the course from the researcher’s perspective. Right now, the researcher is the only faculty teaching Business Chinese to the high school students. With the program expanding, there will be more instructors teaching this course at high schools. In the future, other instructors teaching this course can be invited to take a survey on their view about the content of Business Chinese. In the future, the end-of-semester survey and instructors’ survey can be included in the study to increase the credibility and validity of research findings.

104

Li Xiang

Appendix Needs analysis survey on Business Chinese 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

What job do you want to have in the future? Which sectors do you want to work in? Do you think you will need to use Chinese in the future at work? List the contexts you think you will need to use Chinese for. Have you ever used Chinese outside the classroom? In which situations do you need to use Chinese? Do you think it is a difficult or successful experience of using Chinese outside the classroom? Have you ever visited Chinese-speaking countries in which you needed to use Chinese? Please describe your experiences. Do you think it is a difficult or successful experience of using Chinese in Chinese speaking countries? Do you plan to visit Chinese-speaking countries on business in the future? Have you ever taken a business-relevant Chinese course? How well do you feel the business-related Chinese course prepared you for your job in the future? Are there any topics or language areas you feel are particularly useful for your work in the future? Are there any areas of Business Chinese you feel should have been included that would have been useful for you in your future job? Please give a list of these areas. If you were setting up a syllabus of topics areas for a three-month intensive Business Chinese course, what areas do you feel would be useful for you? Please give a list of these areas and explain the reasons.

References Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: An analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 1(3), 385–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/146879410100100307 Bosher, S., & Smalkoski, K. (2002). From needs analysis to curriculum development: Designing a course in health-care communication for immigrant students in the USA. English for Specific Purposes, 21(1), 59–79. Cowling, J.D. (2007). Needs analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series of intensive workplace courses at a leading Japanese company. English for Specific Purposes, 26(4), 426–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2006.10.003 Endo, O. (1995). Introduction to Japanese language education. Tokyo: Sanshuu. Ferris, D. (1998). Students’ views of academic aural/oral skills: A comparative needs analysis. TESOL Quarterly, 32(2), 289–318. Grosse, C. (1988). Foreign languages for business in the secondary school curriculum. Hispania, 71(1), 166–170. Grosse, C.U., & Voght, G.M. (1990). Foreign languages for business and the professions at US colleges and universities. The Modern Language Journal, 74(1), 36–47. https:// doi.org/10.2307/327941

Needs analysis of Business Chinese course

105

Hodges, N., Watchravesringkan, K., Yurchisin, J., Hegland, J., Karpova, E., Marcketti, S., & Yan, R.-N. (2015). Assessing curriculum designed to foster students’ entrepreneurial knowledge and small business skills from a global perspective. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 43(4), 313–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12115 Huang, C. (2014). A needs analysis for Chinese language teaching at a university in the United States. Language Learning in Higher Education; Berlin, 4(2), 395–422. http:// dx.doi.org.libproxy.library.wmich.edu/10.1515/cercles-2014-0021 Iwai, T., Kondo, K., Lim, D.S.J., Ray, G.E., Shimizu, H., & Brown, J.D. (1999). Japanese language needs analysis 1998–1999. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center. Kondo-Brown, K., & Brown, J.D. (2008). Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage language students: Curriculum needs, materials, and assessment. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Krathwohl, D.R. (2009). Methods of educational and social science research: The logic of methods (3rd edition). Lake Grove, IL: Waveland Press. Long, M. (2005). Second language needs analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Matthews, D., & Hamby, J. (1995). A comparison of the learning styles of high school and college/university students. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 68(4), 257–261. Mcdonald, D., & Farrell, T. (2012). Out of the mouths of babes: early college high school students’ transformational learning experiences. Journal of Advanced Academics, 23(3), 217–248. Pufahl, I., & Rhodes, N.C. (2011). Foreign language instruction in US schools: Results of a national survey of elementary and secondary schools. Foreign Language Annals, 44(2), 258–288. Risner, M., & Markley, L. (2013). The business of languages in the classroom today: A model for k-12 professional development. Global Business Languages, 18, Article 10. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/gbl/vol18/iss1/10 Risner, M., Swarr, M, Bleess, C., & Graham, J. (2017), Developing and implementing LSP curricula at K-12 level. In Language for specific purposes: Trends in curriculum development (pp. 37–53). Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. So-mui, F.L., & Mead, K. (2000). An analysis of English in the workplace: The communication needs of textile and clothing merchandisers. English for Specific Purposes, 19(4). 351–368. Wang, H. (2011). Chinese for business professionals: The workplace needs and business Chinese textbooks. Global Business Languages, 16, Article 5. https://docs.lib.purdue. edu/gbl/vol16/iss1/5 Wang, H., & Jiang, S. (2019). Chinese for specific purposes: A broader perspective. In C. Huang, Z. Jing-Schmidt, & B. Meisterernst (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of applied Chinese linguistics, Chapter 26 (pp. 407–421). London & New York: Routledge. Wang, H., & Sun, Y. (2018). Mixed-methods needs analysis of a Chinese language program: Perspectives from stakeholders. Chinese as a Second Language, 53(2), 109–130 https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.18003.wan Watanabe, Y. (2006). A needs analysis for a Japanese high school EFL general education curriculum. Second Language Studies, 25(1), 83–163. Weise, E. (2018, August 28). We’ve now got 264 Mandarin immersion schools in the United States. Mandarin Immersion Parents Council. Retrieved from https:// miparentscouncil.org/2018/08/28/weve-now-got-264-mandarin-immersion-schoolsin-the-united-states/

106

Li Xiang

Writer, S. (2019, February 27). Majority of teens don’t have career plan before college [survey]. Retrieved from https://thecollegepost.com/teen-perceptions-career-selectionsurvey/ Xiao, L. (2006). What can we learn from a learning needs analysis of Chinese English majors in a university context? Asian EFL Journal, 8(4), 74–99. Zhang, L. (2006). Needs analysis of Business Chinese teaching. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, 3, 55–60. Zhang, L. (2012). A survey on use of Chinese in the international business. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, 1, 30–36.

7

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum design Ying Liu

Introduction Researchers of Chinese L2 teaching and learning for specific purposes have advocated for a needs-oriented curriculum for decades. As early as 1990s, Liu (1994) suggested that one of the primary tasks for designers of Chinese L2 learning materials is to understand the students’ requirements and incorporate relevant content that addresses those needs. It has been more than three decades since Walker (1989) attempted to design such a curriculum based on an investigation of students’ practical needs. However, at that time, the term “learners’ needs” was loosely defined as perceptions and learning goals, with less regard for student performance in future professional contexts. Since then, few empirical studies have assessed these needs in real-life situations, highlighting the present demand for the design of a Chinese L2 curriculum that is centered on the specific needs of students. In order to obtain a detailed understanding of the writing needs of Chinese L2 learners, an investigation was carried out in both professional and academic contexts. The results of the analysis will be of value to both Chinese L2 curriculum designers and teachers at the postsecondary level in the United States.

Literature review Needs analysis literature addresses L2 learners’ language needs in various contexts. Zughoul and Hussein (1985) explored the need for an expanded English curriculum at Yarmouk University in Jordan. Their survey results indicated widespread use of English in most educational settings at a university in Jordan. Thus, the researchers were inspired to propose the English for Specific Purposes program in Jordan. In addition, So-mui and Mead (2000) investigated the need for English lessons for workers in the textile mills of Hong Kong based on their analysis of questionnaires, interviews, and evaluation of texts. According to their study results, So-mui and Mead were able to develop pedagogical materials for the most common tasks such as describing products, following up on orders, etc. Similarly, Chew (2005) investigated the various practical English skills graduate students would require to achieve success in Hong Kong’s banking industry. By analyzing the degree DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-10

108

Ying Liu

of incongruity between English skills taught at university and those needed professionally, Chew concluded that targeted English language training would be a highly desirable component of success in the workplace. Likewise, Taillefer (2007) assessed the professional requirements of economics graduates in France. By comparing their perceived needs to those of other stakeholders in French higher education, Taillefer (2007) discovered a limited interface existed between French higher education and students’ postgraduate professional lives. Other researchers, such as Brown (2011), Crosling and Ward (2002), Richards (2001), and Huhta et al. (2013) focused on the most effective techniques for conducting needs assessments, which encompass practical methods of data collection, quantitative and qualitative analysis, and reporting of findings. These studies revealed that the language needs are context-dependent. Moreover, the numerous contexts of language curricula determine the various approaches for needs assessments. While research of English needs has traditionally been focused on specific workplaces with the goal of developing a curriculum specific to those particular institutions, Chinese L2 writing curriculum designs at American colleges and graduate schools have a much more general purpose of targeting wider contexts. Hence, in this study, the types of skills that Chinese L2 learners are expected to have mastered when they work or study in China were investigated. The study explored the following research questions: 1) To what extent is Chinese composition used in the everyday lives of L2 learners living in China? 2) What types of writing tasks do L2 learners engage in when they are working or studying in China? 3) How could we create a CSP writing curriculum that best meets the practical needs of students?

Research method The survey The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions of a biographical nature designed to elicit self-reflection about the participants’ L2 writing practices. It was divided into four sections: 1) Biographical Data. 2) CSL Writers’ Use of Chinese in Daily Life. 3) CSL Writers’ Use of Chinese in Professional Settings. 4) CSL Writers’ Use of Chinese in Academic Settings. We adapted an online version of the “Verbal Frequency Scale” proposed by Alreck and Settle (2004), which is made up of five degrees (“always,” “often,” “sometimes,” “rarely,” and “never”) meant to gauge how often an action has taken place. We designed it using www.checkbox.com. The online survey’s branching function revealed Sections III and IV only to those respondents who indicated that they had worked in China or had done academic research there. The survey questionnaire can be found in the Appendix. The participants The participants consisted of two groups: 1) Chinese L2 learners who worked in China during the summer of 2012 or before; 2) and those who were performing

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

109

academic research there at this time or earlier. Since the present study focused exclusively on Chinese L2 learners who wrote in Chinese for professional and academic purposes, the chosen participants were only those who specifically worked in China or studied there. Qualifications for participation were stated in the recruitment letter, which was emailed to potential respondents from June 2012–August 2012 along with the link to an online completely anonymous questionnaire. In total, 62 responses were submitted online. Excluding the incomplete questionnaires and responses from unqualified participants, 51 out of the 62 were valid responses.

Results Biographical data At the time of data collection, 49.02% of the participants had completed their master’s degrees and 11.76% had earned their doctorate degrees. The 51 participants represented over 30 different occupations in China, including office worker, interpreter, translator, journalist, professor, Chinese teacher, English teacher, Korean teacher, writer, TV host, consultant, policy analyst, industrial manager, sales manager, business associate, freelance designer, market analyst, financial consultant, product manager, purchasing manager, dentist, CEO of a nonprofit company, volunteer at a nonprofit company, new business planner, software tester, localization manager, freelance performer, graduate student, undergraduate student, and unemployed graduates. Through these relatively representative samples of Chinese L2 learners working/researching in China, we were able to access their overall writing skills in professional and academic contexts. Tables 7.1 and 7.2 show the native languages of the participants and the number of years they had been studying Chinese. Although most participants rated their general Chinese proficiency at an advanced to superior level, they believed their listening and speaking skills to be stronger than their reading and composition, with composition rated consistently as the weakest among the four skills (Table 7.3). Table 7.1 Distribution of Participants According to the Language Spoken at Home Language(s) spoken at home

N=51

English Bulgarian Korean Russian Japanese French German Persian Hindi Punjabi Cantonese

31 5 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1

% 59.62 9.80 7.84 5.88 3.92 1.96 1.96 1.96 1.96 1.96 1.96

110

Ying Liu

Table 7.2 Distribution of Participants Based on Number of Years of Studying Chinese Years of Learning Chinese

N=51

0–1 2–4 5–7 8–10 10+

0 18 20 9 4

% 0 35.29 39.22 17.65 7.84

Table 7.3 Participants’ Self-Rated Language Levels

Listening Speaking Reading Writing

Novice

Intermediate

Advanced

Superior

1 (1.96%) 1 (1.96%) 3 (5.88%) 5 (9.80%)

4 (7.84%) 7 (13.73%) 7 (13.73%) 9 (17.65%)

26 (50.98%) 25 (49.02%) 21 (41.18%) 27 (52.94%)

20 (39.22%) 28 (35.29%) 20 (39.22%) 10 (19.61%)

The last question in Section I highlighted the writing activities of Chinese L2 learners when they were in China. As previously mentioned, depending on their answers, Section III and/or Section IV of the questionnaire would appear on the screen. At the time of data collection, 42 of the 51 participants were working or had worked in China, and 28 were currently involved in or had been involved in academic research there. Chinese L2 learners’ real-world composition tasks According to the survey results, the three most common writing responsibilities for Chinese L2 learners were composing text messages, emails, and online instant messages (Skype, Gtalk, QQ, etc.) (Table 7.4). In addition, some less common types included writing memos, lists, microblogs, online comments (to blogs/microblogs, etc.), filling out forms, and writing greeting cards. Main tasks performed a few times a month included making lists, filling out forms, and composing online instant messages. Clearly, although these L2 learners did not frequently engage in these tasks, they were still essential life skills. The composition tasks they engaged in the least included diary writing, contributing to online forum threads, and online blogging. The results also indicated that email played a dominant role in the lives of the participants. In the open-ended question section, one participant gave the following response: I write emails most. When I was studying in Beijing, I reached my professors through emails. Now I am working in a trade company. We send our notices, reports, and conference minutes through emails. Sometimes we also use QQ (online Chinese instant messenger software). QQ is faster and more convenient, but I still prefer emails.

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

111

Table 7.4 Chinese L2 learners’ Real-World Composition Tasks (N=51)

Text Messages Emails Instant Messages (MSN, Gtalk, QQ, etc.) Memos Lists (Shopping Lists, etc.) Microblogs Online Comments (Comments to News, Blogs, etc.) Forms Letters SNS Posts (Facebook, Renren, Kaixin, etc.) Diaries Greeting Cards Blogs Online Forum Threads

Every A Few Day Times a % Week %

A Few Times a Month %

A Few Times a Year %

Less Than Never Once a % Year %

54.9 19.6 41.18 29.41 35.29 25.49

11.76 13.73 19.61

5.88 5.88 7.84

0.00 1.96 0.00

7.84 7.84 11.76

11.76 23.53 3.92 27.45 5.88 15.69 7.84 9.8

13.73 25.49 15.69 9.8

5.88 1.96 5.88 15.69

7.84 17.65 7.84 7.84

37.25 23.53 49.02 49.02

1.96 0.00 1.96

7.84 5.88 3.92

19.61 9.80 17.65

47.06 19.61 7.84

5.88 17.65 5.88

17.65 47.06 62.75

1.96 0.00 0.00 0.00

3.92 1.96 3.92 3.92

5.88 11.76 9.80 7.84

13.73 39.22 15.69 13.73

7.84 5.88 9.80 9.80

66.67 41.18 60.78 64.71

Unlike ubiquitous emails, only 15.58% of the respondents wrote traditional paper letters more than a few times a month, whereas 84.32% communicated via email more than a few times a month. This finding suggests that emails today have replaced the traditional paper mail as the major form of personal correspondence. Chinese L2 learners’ writing responsibilities in the workplace As expected, in the workplace, email composition again was rated as the most common writing task, followed by English-Chinese translation of business documents and memo writing (Table 7.5). According to Table 7.5, memo composition and preparation of PowerPoint presentation slides closely followed English-Chinese translations of business documents. However, unlike these common composition tasks, the other eight items listed (writing contracts, product descriptions, conference minutes, reports, proposals, statements, and advertisements) were rather unevenly distributed among participants. For example, one out of 42 participants drew up financial statements a few times a week. However, 31 out of 42 participants never performed this task. Three participants wrote advertisements/ promotional letters a few times a week, while this was not part of the job description of 27 participants. Responses to the open-ended questions revealed that the types of compositions participants were responsible for were largely dependent on their particular fields.

112

Ying Liu

Table 7.5 Chinese L2 Learners’ Composition Tasks in the Workplace (N=42)

Business Emails Eng-Chn Translations of Business Documents Memos Presentation Slides Forms Contracts Product Descriptions Conference Minutes Reports Proposals Resumes Business Letters Financial Statements Advertisements/ Promotions Cover Letters

Every Day %

A Few Times a Week %

A Few Times a Month %

A Few Times a Year %

Less Than Once a Year %

Never %

19.05 7.14

35.71 26.19

9.52 16.67

4.76 23.81

9.52 7.14

21.43 19.05

11.90 2.38 0.00 4.76 0.00 2.38 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

14.29 9.52 11.90 4.76 11.90 7.14 11.90 9.52 0.00 4.76 2.38 7.14

16.67 21.43 16.67 4.76 9.52 14.29 9.52 7.14 14.29 9.52 11.90 4.76

9.52 21.43 9.52 19.05 14.29 11.90 11.90 21.43 16.67 9.52 7.14 16.67

4.67 11.90 7.14 11.90 7.14 4.76 7.14 11.90 23.81 16.67 4.76 7.14

42.86 33.33 54.76 54.76 57.14 59.52 59.52 50.00 45.24 59.52 73.81 64.29

0.00

0.00

7.14

11.90

23.81

57.14

For example, one respondent noted, “I’m a doctor, so sometimes I write medical reports in Chinese.” An employee of a trading company replied, “I wrote all my work that requires Chinese: price offers, import/export instructions, trade documents, etc.” An intern at a law firm mentioned that he wrote summaries and analyses of legal cases based on the materials provided by the firm. Other responses included the following: “I work part time in a media company. I wrote captions of documentary films in Chinese.” “I wrote sales reports and meeting minutes in Chinese.” “I wrote schedules, one-year plan, long-term plan, and meeting materials in Chinese for my company.” Respondents’ input suggested that while certain types of composition, such as medical reports, are restricted to a specific field, others are commonly found in almost all types of work. Chinese L2 learners’ composition tasks in academic contexts Twenty-eight out of the 51 respondents indicated that they were currently involved in, or had been involved in, academic research in China. The results of the composition tasks in academic contexts are summarized in Table 7.6.

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

113

Table 7.6 Frequency of Chinese L2 Learners’ Composition Tasks in Academic Settings (N=28)

Lecture Notes Research Papers Presentation Slides Academic Journals Discussion Questions/ Notes Memos Research Proposals Research Paper Abstracts Summaries Resumes Book Reviews Grant Proposals

Everyday % A Few Times a Week %

A Few Times a Month %

A Few Times a Year %

Less Than Never Once a % Year %

32.14 14.29 3.57 14.29 10.71

28.57 28.57 21.43 17.86 25.00

14.29 17.8 35.71 25.00 17.86

7.14 39.29 32.14 17.86 21.43

3.57 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.57

14.29 0.00 7.14 25.00 21.43

7.14 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

17.86 25.00 3.57 10.71 3.57 3.57 0.00

25.00 21.43 21.43 28.57 10.71 3.57 0.00

21.43 32.14 32.14 32.14 46.43 10.71 10.71

0.00 14.29 21.43 7.14 28.57 10.71 17.86

28.57 7.14 21.43 21.43 10.71 71.43 71.43

As seen in Table 7.6, participants wrote PowerPoint presentations, discussion notes, and research prospectuses frequently in academic contexts. Common tasks for learners also included composing research paper abstracts, summaries, and resumes. Among the listed items, only book reviews and grant proposals were never written by a majority of the participants.

Discussion The results of this study suggest that the routine activities of various institutions should determine the types of writing that must be included in CSP curricula. These tasks can be roughly divided into two categories: general domain and specific domain writing. The first refers to the composition tasks frequently associated with a variety of domains, including professional correspondence, English-Chinese translations of business documents, memos, PowerPoint slides, forms, etc.; specific domain compositions are associated with particular fields, such as analysis and writing of legal cases, medical reports, and financial statements, etc. The differences between these two types are illustrated in Figure 7.1. In Figure 7.1, emails and PowerPoint slides represent domain-general compositions, which were relatively evenly required and distributed among all participants, while financial statements and advertisements represent domain-specific compositions, which were rather unevenly required and distributed. The distinction between these two types of writing (Figure 7.2) is reflected in the two proposed genre conceptualizations. According to Swales (1990), “Genre is a class of compositions characterized by a set of communicative purposes identified and mutually understood by the members of a discourse community.” Genres from specific disciplines such as financial statements and medical reports are only found within particular disciplinary domains, whereas domain-general

114

Ying Liu

Never

PowerPoint Slides

Email

Every day

Every day

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Less than once a year

A few times a week

Never

A few times a month

Less than once a year

A few times a year

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

A few times a week A few times a month

A few times a year Domain-General Genres

Never

Advertisement

Financial Statement

Every day

Every day

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Less than once a year

A few times a week

Never

A few times a month

Less than once a year

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

A few times a week A few times a month

A few times a year

A few times a year Domain-Specific Genres

Figure 7.1 Examples of Domain-General and Domain-Specific Genres

genres are incorporated by a set of individually recognized genres with strong similarities across disciplinary and professional boundaries. While genres are generally identified at a very specific individual level and associated with clear-cut discourse communities, they can also fit into general domain categories, which to a large extent have similar individual communicative purposes, although most of them will differ in many other respects such as their disciplinary and professional affiliations. These genre conceptualizations enable teachers to adapt composition instruction for students with a variety of backgrounds and learning goals. For example, Swales (1990), who focused on the academic discourse community by analyzing the structures of abstracts from research articles, inspired students to explore the generic conventions of their particular discourse communities. Moreover, Bhatia (1993) moved beyond one specific discourse community and found that

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

PowerPoint Slides

Email

Never

Advertisement Every day 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Less than once a year

115

Financial Statement

A few times a week

A few times a month

A few times a year

Figure 7.2 A Comparison Between Domain-General Genres and Domain-Specific Genres

cover letters for job applications and sales promotion letters written by business executives are very similar in terms of their communicative purposes and lexicogrammatical features. While Swales and Bhatia described the levels of abstractness of various genres, both perspectives are valuable for designing a Chinese L2 writing curriculum. Our survey revealed that in professional and academic contexts, L2 learners’ writing is domain-based. More specifically, the types of writing they are required to produce are largely dependent on their particular domains. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the needs of learners in particular professional domains and describe the features of common genres within those domains. It is also helpful to incorporate these genre descriptions in Chinese business textbooks and design these curricula accordingly.

Pedagogical recommendations According to Walker (1989), the underlying assumptions within a curriculum design are that language learning should be experiential and that the basic goal of instruction is to create an efficiently organized and presented language experience for the learners. The purpose of the current study is thus to provide curriculum designers with statistics and pedagogical recommendations to help them achieve this goal. Based on the survey data, this section includes a brief discussion of how best to present the writing tasks in a CSP composition curriculum. It must be noted that the arrangement of the composition tasks suggested in the following section is sequential and the boundaries between each instructional level are

116

Ying Liu

flexible and fluid rather than distinct. In other words, Level One in the following section refers to the beginning stage of a curriculum, instead of the first year of class. In addition, the boundaries between levels are flexible and fluid rather than distinct. In practice, for instance, one can legitimately expect a reasonable combination of Level Two and Level Three activities in the same course. Level One: general composition tasks The Level One writing course is item based, with the goal of helping novice students build up character inventories. After they master a certain number of characters, the instructors may begin to assign some of the following simple and practical writing tasks: 1

2

3

4

Filling out simple forms. 82.35% of the participants in the study indicated that they were required to perform this task in China. As a typical item-based activity, filling out forms could be introduced fairly early on in the Chinese L2 curriculum. An ideal way to introduce this activity is to relate it to a topic being discussed in class. For example, after students have learned to write numbers and their names in Chinese, they may use this new information to fill out bank forms. The chapter on courses and school life would be an excellent opportunity to teach students to fill out course registration forms. After learning about addresses in Chinese, they would be ready to write their address as part of an online order. Other possible forms include an application for car insurance, customs, hotel check-in, and hospital registration forms. Item listing. Seventy-six percent of participants indicated they were frequently required to make lists as part of their studies. Thus, a Level One composition class may include to-do, budget, shopping lists, etc. For instance, after students have learned to discuss time and daily activities, they may be asked to produce a to-do list in Chinese. In the unit on shopping, students may make a budget, write a shopping list, and then create a tally list of their expenses in Chinese. The instructor should provide the context of the assignment and make sure students have learned the necessary characters before introducing this practical composition task. Memos. Approximately 12% of the participants in the study were required to write memos every day and almost half did this more than a few times a month. Compared to forms and lists, memos have much more flexible content; therefore, they could be introduced in conjunction with any number of topics. A common type of memo is a note taken after a phone call. Such activities naturally link speaking with composition and reinforce both skills. A talented teacher could introduce memo writing in casual settings such as student dorms as well as formal settings like offices. By varying the contexts, students will have a chance to compare the levels of formality in various contexts. Other practical writing tasks. For example, after discussing interviews in professional contexts, the instructor could introduce how to design business

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

117

cards in class. The unit on asking for and giving directions in Chinese should include how to draw a map for either public transportation or providing walking directions. Other possible tasks include creating a flyer to find a language partner, a roommate, or a tutor. In sum, in a Level One composition class, students learn to correctly produce Chinese words that are appropriate for a particular context. While there is still a focus on increasing the students’ orthographic inventory, introducing practical composition tasks will develop their awareness of different writing contexts. Level Two: informal correspondence While the goal of Level Two classes is to continue to increase students’ Chinese word inventory, at this level, it may be appropriate to assign some short and simple one-paragraph compositions. It would also be beneficial to introduce informal correspondence due to its relatively limited set of formulaic expressions, the accessibility of the content matter, and the ease of explaining the context and identifying its intentions. Moreover, according to the survey results of this study, students need to learn this genre to improve their daily lives and careers in China. People write emails each day to extend invitations, schedule appointments, ask or answer questions, make announcements, accept or decline invitations, offer apologies, give thanks, etc. In addition, various types of emails are created for different audiences – to friends, colleagues, and business partners – within different contexts. If no explicit instructions for writing personal correspondence are included in class, students would be forced to rely on the standards of their native culture and their own translations of expressions, which might lead to miscommunications. In order for an L2 student to develop the skills to write appropriate emails in various Chinese contexts, educators must present them with many examples of the genre and offer opportunities for them to apply what they have learned. Quinn (2003) pointed out, The variety and repetition required in texts presented as models are often underestimated. For a foreign learner to develop a performatively useful feel for a written genre of Japanese, one or two examples of that genre will not suffice. A good dozen, each token slightly different, is a more likely start. Thus, it would be helpful to divide the genre of general “personal correspondence” into more specific tasks, such as creating invitations, making inquiries, scheduling appointments, declining requests, etc. For each specific task, one or two examples/exercises are not enough. Students must be provided with enough models and contexts to ensure they become comfortable writing in various circumstances.

118

Ying Liu

In addition to emails, texts and online instant messages could easily be incorporated into Level Two instruction. Texts and online chatting are more casual, colloquial, and interactive than emails; thus, they may serve as a transition from simpler to more structurally complex composition. By writing texts and online instant messages, students will learn how to create simple, discourse appropriate conversational exchanges and compose discrete sentences to meet practical needs. Level Three: general domain compositions and writing with formal elements Upon completion of Level Two, students will have cultivated the ability to meet most of their practical needs in everyday life. The goal of Level Three is to help them develop the necessary skills to function in professional and academic settings. These courses may focus on general domain compositions. Presentation slides will be used as an example of the writing skill required at this level. Survey respondents reported frequently writing up PowerPoint presentations both in professional and academic settings. Preparing slides in an L2 class should be easily integrated with oral presentations. This will give them opportunities to compare properly written slide texts and appropriate oral delivery, which is a bit more casual, and learn about the differences between written and spoken language. Strategies for writing PowerPoint presentations in Chinese should be discussed, including how to introduce the presentation topic, drawing conclusions, presenting the information in bullet form and how keep the language formal and professional. In addition, successful presentations involve much more than language skills. For example, a good presentation should encompass limited bullet points and simple text, high quality graphs, appropriate charts, striking colors and clear fonts. While these tips are not necessarily related to language skills, they may help students produce more effective presentations. The goal of Level Three is to switch from learning what students can directly apply in the target culture to mastering the essential strategies and tactics for writing in their future domain. It will facilitate the transition from everyday writing to professional or academic compositions that are specific to each student’s field. Thus, the writing at this level should be introduced with generally accessible topics, rather than narrowly defined professional/academic topics of interest only to students from certain domains. Level Three composition serves as a continuation of the second level in that as students continue to expand their writing skills, they will progress from one-paragraph, simple emails to multiple paragraph correspondences in both informal and formal styles. For example, in Level Two, students may write an email to decline a birthday party invitation from a close friend in several sentences; however, in Level Three, they will learn how to reject a project proposal from a colleague that includes complex reasons for the refusal. At this stage, instructors introduce formal style elements and systematically link them to the previously studied spoken style elements. After students have gained sufficient knowledge about the differences between the spoken and written

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

119

styles, the lessons on personal correspondence composition may progress from informal to formal style. Level Four: domain-specific compositions According to the survey results, L2 learners’ composition tasks in professional contexts are domain dependent. While Levels One–Three composition instruction focuses on gaining content and strategies arranged by the instructors, Level Four students will combine their knowledge of the language with investigation of their domains. In other words, they will use the target language to explore their own research topics in their specific fields. They will read authentic Chinese materials and write in this language as an expert in their own domains. Language at this stage functions as a tool of investigation rather than the focus of learning. The benefits of a specific domain Level Four composition course are three-fold. First, it will concentrate resources to areas that will be most useful and needed for advanced level learners. Second, it will provide training for negotiating meaning for access into a particular discourse community and familiarize non-native speakers with the highly contextualized lexicon, genres, and discourses shared within. Third, the process of integrating L2 learners into a particular discourse community will give them a sense of how expertise in writing can be achieved within a specific domain, and thereby prepare them to become independent composition writers. By shifting the focus from proficiency to expertise, a Chinese composition curriculum will equip students with useful strategies for analyzing genres and sustaining lifelong learning in their respective domains.

Conclusion As a needs-analysis survey, this research has several limitations. The data was only from 51 participants, which inevitably limits the generalizability of the findings. In addition, the suggested four-level curriculum design is just sequential. More research is needed to address how much instruction time is needed and how to design class activities within each level. Despite the limitations of this study, it is still possible to draw several preliminary conclusions. First, writing in Chinese is widely used by L2 learners in both their daily lives and in professional settings. With the increasing impact of the internet and smart phones, this has become a daily routine for them in China. Secondly, the study reveals the common and uncommon writing tasks necessary for these students. It is hoped that the results of this study may shed light on the Chinese L2 writing curriculum design. Lastly, the results indicate that the writing tasks of L2 professionals who work in China are often domain-based. To design more focused advanced level Chinese L2 writing courses for them, further investigations into the use of Chinese in specific domains are needed. Training in domain-based writing will give these students a sense of how expertise in writing can be achieved within a specific domain, and thereby prepare them to become independent lifelong learners.

120

Ying Liu

Appendix Survey questionnaire of Chinese L2 writers’ composition tasks 1 What is the highest grade or year or school you have completed? a b c d e f g h i j

college or university/1st year completed college or university/2nd year completed college or university/3rd year completed college or university/4th year completed college or university/5th or higher year completed graduate school/Master degree 1st year completed graduate school/Master degree 2nd year completed graduate school/Ph.D. degree uncompleted graduate school/Ph.D. degree completed other (Please specify_____________________________________)

2 What is your domain or field of work? 3 When you were growing up, what language or languages were usually spoken at home? (Check all that apply.) a b c d e

English Spanish Chinese Mandarin Chinese dialect (Please specify__________________________________) Other (Please specify__________________________________________)

4 How long have you studied Chinese? _______years ______months 5 Why do you study Chinese? (check all that apply) a b c d e f

to fulfill the foreign language requirement for my college study to get a job related to China to communicate with my relatives who speak Chinese to communicate with my friends who speak Chinese to fulfill my interests, such as songs, movies, music, etc. others (please specify)__________________________________________

6 With regard to the Chinese language, how well do you function in the following four skills? Novice Listening Speaking Reading Composition

Intermediate

Advanced

Superior

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

121

7 In your current/previous visit to China, which of the following jobs or activities have you done? (Check all that apply) Study Chinese Worked a part-time job Participated in an internship Worked a full-time job Performed academic research Traveled Visited relatives or friends Other (please specify) 8 During your current/previous visit to China, how often do you write the following types of compositions in Chinese in your daily life?

Everyday

A Few Times a Week

A Few Times a Month

A Few Times a Year

Less Than a Few Times a Year

Never

Diary Entries Memos Lists (e.g. Shopping Lists, etc.) Microblogs Online Forum Threads SNS Posts Letters Emails Instant Messages Blogs Filling out Forms Greeting Cards/Postcards Text Messages Online Comments

9 In addition to the compositions mentioned above, what else have you written as part of your everyday activities? Please add anything that you can think of. 10 You mentioned that you have done academic research in China. With which academic institution(s) are/were you affiliated? 11 When you engage in academic research, how often do you write the following types of compositions in Chinese? (Check all that apply.)

122

Ying Liu Everyday

A Few Times a Week

A Few Times a Month

A Few Times a Year

Several Times a Year

Never

Lecture Notes Reading Journals Creating Presentation Slides Research Papers Thesis/Dissertation Research Plans Funding/Grant Proposals Resumes Research Paper Abstracts Memos Discussion Notes

12 In addition to the compositions mentioned above, what else have you written in Chinese that is related to your academic research? Please add anything that you can think of. 13 You mentioned that you have worked a part-time job, internship, or full-time job in China. With which institutes do/did you work? 14 When you work/worked your part-time job/internship/full-time job, how often do/did you write the following types of compositions in Chinese?

Everyday A Few A Few A Few Less Than Never Times Times a Times Once a a Week Month a Year Year Contracts Conference Minutes Presentation Slides Resumes Cover Letters Proposals Translations of Business Documents (From English to Chinese) Business Letters/Emails Reports (Annual Reports or Seasonal Reports) Filling out Forms Memos Product Descriptions Advertisements/Promotional Letters

15 In addition to the compositions mentioned above, what else have you written in Chinese that is related to your work? Please add anything that you can think of.

Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum

123

References Alreck, P.L., & Settle, R.B. (2004). The survey research handbook (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Bhatia, V.K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. New York: Longman. Brown, J.D. (2011). Using surveys in language programs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chew, K.S. (2005). An investigation of the English language skills used by new entrants in banks in Hong Kong. English for Specific Purposes, 24, 423–435. Crosling, G., & Ward, I. (2002). Oral communication: The workplace needs and uses of business graduate employees. English for Specific Purposes, 21(1), 41–57. Huhta, M., Vogt, K., Johnson, E., & Tulkki, H. (2013). Needs analysis for language course design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Liu, X. (1994). 新一代对外汉语教材的展望—再谈汉语教材的编写原则 [An overview of the new generation of Chinese pedagogical materials: On the principles of Chinese L2 materials development]. 世界汉语教学 [Chinese Teaching in the World], 1, 58–67. Quinn, C. (2003). Taking it from the top: the growth and care of genres. In H. Nara, M. Noda, C. Brockett, F. Harada, & C. Quinn (Eds.), Acts of Reading: Exploring connections in pedagogy of Japanese (pp. 38–60). Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Richards, J.C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. So-mui, F.L., & Mead, K. (2000). An analysis of English in the workplace: The communication needs of textile and clothing merchandisers. English for Specific Purposes, 19(4), 351–368. Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Taillefer, G.F. (2007). The professional language needs of economics graduates: Assessment and perspectives in the French context. English for Specific Purposes, 26(2), 135–155. Walker, G. (1989). Intensive Chinese curriculum: The EASLI model. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 24(2), 43–83. Zughoul, M.R., & Hussein, R.F. (1985). English for higher education in the Arab world: A case study of needs analysis at Yarmouk University. The ESP Journal, 4, 133–152.

Part III

Transformative approaches to Business Chinese

8

Comprehensive analysis of pragmatic information in Business Chinese conversational textbooks Haidan Wang

Introduction In a survey of U.S. employers for the most in-demand foreign languages (ACTFL, 2019), Chinese ranks second, after only Spanish. Proficient Chinese speakers are not only in the greatest shortage, but are also the most difficult to recruit. This growing demand would help learners of Chinese for business or other professional purposes achieve greater potential in the job market. Accordingly, the need for teaching Chinese for business or professional purposes has become increasingly important. The past 30 years has witnessed an explosion of interest in publishing business textbooks. The author has identified an inventory1 of over 150 of such books, including nearly 50 sets, with the term “business Chinese”2 appearing in its title, all of which are printed in mainland China, Taiwan, and the U.S., targeting English speaking users. Given this large number, past studies have focused on the overall development of these textbooks (Wang & Jiang, 2018), or the guiding principles for textbook compilation and the scope of business vocabulary (Shi, Yuan, & Kong, 2019). Only a few (Li, 2016; Wang, Tschudi, & Jiang, 2007) have examined the pragmatic content in these textbooks, and whether they provide adequate pragmatic input or tasks for learners to acquire, and communicate successfully during future business interactions. It is widely accepted that the ability to appropriately communicate with native speakers is crucial for second language (L2) learners. Said appropriateness is demonstrated through learners’ interlanguage pragmatic competence–that is, one’s pragmatic knowledge–and the ability to use it properly in contexts. L2 learners’ phonological, lexical, and syntactic errors might be more readily forgiven than outright sociolinguistic ineptitude, as the latter is typically interpreted as breaches of etiquette (Boxer & Pickering, 1995). Although there are some pragmatic universals underlying cross-linguistic variations, learners develop their pragmatic competence mainly through acquiring pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics knowledge as specified in L2. Guidelines for using proper linguistic forms to convey communicative functions in specific contexts (i.e., pragmalinguistics), along with the sociocultural conventions and their practices (i.e., sociopragmatics), nevertheless should be adequately and clearly presented in instruction (Kasper & Schmidt, 1996). Textbooks as the main instructional resource in the classroom DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-12

128

Haidan Wang

could play an important role in presenting valuable pragmatic input and facilitative practices for L2 learners.

Literature review: studies of pragmatic contents in second language textbooks A considerable number of studies have demonstrated the paucity of pragmatic information presented in textbooks in second or foreign languages. In their survey of seven textbooks of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL), Boxer and Pickering (1995) analyzed speech act presentations regarding complaints in comparison with natural conversation, and found mismatches between intuitively contrived dialogues and natural speech. They pointed out the danger of relying on native speakers’ intuitions to develop textbooks, and identified broader problems, such as the limited information about settings, interlocutors’ relationship, etc. In her widely cited study, Vellenga (2004) examined the amount and quality of pragmatic information in eight ESL/EFL materials – four on integrated skill textbooks and four on grammar reference books. She concluded that there is a dearth of metalinguistic and metapragmatic information following a quantitative assessment of pages with pragmatic content and interviews with textbooks users. Interview results indicated that ESL/EFL teachers seldom bring in pragmaticsrelated materials to supplement this gap, thus rendering the learning of pragmatics from textbooks highly unlikely. Upon analyzing the “communicativeness” regarding social roles, exercise types, and range of situations and language functions, McGoarty and Taguchi (2005) found that communicative skills covered in EFL textbooks in Japan are practiced largely through structured and mechanical language use, but lack sociolinguistic and pragmatic considerations. With a limited range of situations and exercise types, learners such as these textbook users would be unable to communicate outside of the classroom–in the real world, which is quite different from the environment imaginarily constructed in the materials. Later studies of various ESL/EFL textbooks have also made the similar conclusion that language used in surveyed textbooks is often unnatural and stilted (Ishihara & Cohen, 2010), as they are mostly contrived by a native speaker author’s intuitions instead of spontaneous pragmatic language use. As a result, they fail to present pragmatic content adequately (Ren & Han, 2016), and neither incorporate pragmatic information appropriately (Inawati, 2016) nor consistently (Meihami & Khanlarzadeh, 2015) – furthering the gap between the ultimate goals of these textbooks and the intended outcomes in communicative competence (Ton-Nu & Murray, 2020). A study of learners initiating and signing off on online conversations in Chinese (Zhang, 2014) concluded that Chinese textbooks failed to provide learners with ample examples of major components of social interaction–entry into and exit from ordinary conversations, thus highlighting the increasing roles of pragmatics in Chinese language instruction. In summary, most studies of pragmatic information concentrate on ESL/ESL textbooks, with very few on Chinese, or Chinese for business or professionals (Li,

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 129 2016; see details in next section). All studies point to the inadequacy of presentation of pragmatic features, limited in authentic tasks for pragmatic functions, and by intuitively fabricated conversational modeling.

Why this study? Chinese for business or professional purposes is taught to adult learners mostly in classrooms or foreign language environments, where the opportunities for a full range of authentic interactions are relatively limited. Business Chinese textbooks therefore play a critical role in presenting valuable sociolinguistic input and adequately facilitating practice opportunities for learners to achieve pragmatic competence. That said, they may contribute significantly to learners’ success in using appropriate language forms to convey intended functions in specific communicative scenarios. An examination of explicit pragmatic information and related exercises in eight Business Chinese textbooks indicates that only a few of them list pragmatic information as a learning objective (Li, 2016). Among these textbooks with limited explicit pragmatic information, pragmatic features are presented in substantially different ways in terms of pragmalinguistics (e.g., speech act, address terms, tone moderator, style, and routine) and sociopragmatics (e.g., business culture and etiquette). Overall, pragmalinguistics are more often covered than sociopragmatics, possibly due to the fact that these textbooks are primarily used as instructional materials for the introduction of Business Chinese language instead of business conduct itself. The pragmalinguistic features are strongly associated with conversation-dominant Business Chinese textbooks, where styles (i.e., formal vs. informal or written vs. colloquial) are largely covered, whereas tone moderators appear less often. Li’s (2016) review, representing the sole review of Business Chinese textbooks thus far, examines only ACTFL’s upper-Intermediate to Advanced level (ACTFL, 2012) monographic volumes used in U.S. institutions of higher education. Given the booming number of Business Chinese textbooks on the rapidly evolving market, practitioners – including teachers, learners, and material developers – would greatly benefit from a comprehensive overview of the pragmatic content in each publication. This may help them to make appropriate decisions when adapting materials to fulfill their diverse goals. This study outlines a holistic picture of textbooks ranging from the beginning to Advanced levels on their pragmatic profiles for future Business Chinese curriculum research and development. In particular, this chapter surveys 31 textbooks that label or comprise Business Chinese “conversations”3 in their titles or as a major focus, excluding those marked as “readings”.4

Methods and scope of study This study builds upon an earlier effort that reviews pragmatic input in Business Chinese textbooks (Wang, Tschudi, & Jiang, 2007) by referring to a key cognitive framework – the noticing hypothesis (Schmidt, 1993, 2001) – in L2 acquisition. Yet another salient cognitive framework points to the sociocultural perspective

130

Haidan Wang

through instructional scaffolding that is mediated by language or cultural artifacts; this scaffolding can be then woven into dialogic interactions where learning may occur. Eying the practical application of these theoretical frameworks, Ishihara and Cohen (2010) suggest a pragmatic awareness-raising approach, which focuses on both pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic perspectives in instruction. This approach promotes the linguistic provisions of 1) vocabulary use in particular contexts and relevant grammatical structures; 2) strategies used for a speech act; 3) discourse organization; and 4) markers, fillers, or tones for discourse and epistemic purposes – as well as the social and cultural provisions of 5) a range of cultural norms of L2; 6) the use of directness/politeness/formality in interactions; and 7) the identification of the goal, intention, and interpretation of interlocutors, etc. The effects of instructing pragmatic information explicitly have been evidenced in studies on a variety of languages (Li & Taguchi, 2014). Given the selected studies reviewed earlier, this study examines 31 conversational Business Chinese textbooks for their provision of pragmatic information by addressing two research questions. RQ1: To what extent is pragmatic information presented in the surveyed textbooks? RQ2: What are the major characteristics of the top-rated textbooks in their provision of pragmatic information? The RQ1 will be addressed quantitatively by referring to a rubric that was revised from an earlier version developed in another study (Wang, Tschudi, & Jiang, 2007). The author has obtained the permission from the other two colleagues,5 and restructured a rubric by reflecting the two dimensions of explicit instruction of pragmatics reviewed in the aforementioned Ishihara and Cohen (2010). The modifications categorize the rubric into three sections. The first category regards the overall organization and coverage of textbook contents, concerning 1) the tasks and functions; 2) the interconnection of unitary narrative; 3) clarity of pragmatic objectives; and 4) breadth of function. The second category concerns pragmatic presentations in conversations (i.e., the quality of pragmatic coverage and introduction), including 5) the adaptability of multiple roles; 6) the contextual information such as situations, social status of roles, etc.; 7) the authenticity of conversational and/or reading sample, in terms of register, appropriacy, formality, etc.; 8) the completeness of a conversation with a clear opening and ritualized closing as well as other pragmatic features such as appropriate numbers of turns. The third category examines the pedagogical treatments in the exercise or explanation sections, regarding 9) the authenticity and 10) variety of useful speaking/writing tasks; 11) the elucidation of pragmatic features for speech acts, politeness, or implicatures, etc.; 12) the variety of language forms provided; 13) presentation of communicative strategies; and 14) pragmatic richness in its introduction of social conventions and cultural norms. Each of the 14 criteria contains three detailed descriptors that distinguish the presentations of pragmatic information at different levels, with “3” representing the highest ranking, and “1” the lowest for each criterion. The detailed descriptions are illustrated in Appendix A. Two raters independently reviewed the 31

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 131 conversational Business Chinese textbooks that the author has collected. The brief information of these textbooks is listed as Appendix B. The publication period of these textbooks range from the early 1980s to 2018, with 11 for beginning, seven for Intermediate, and 13 for Advanced level learners, respectively. The levels of each textbook (or its set) are based on the description in the “Foreword” of each textbook and their approximate levels based on the descriptors of ACTFL proficiency guidelines (ACTFL, 2012). The RQ2 will be explored through the examination of the top-rated textbooks based on results from RQ1, and will be extensively addressed in the “Discussion” section.

Results The correlation of the scores by two independent raters on these 14 criteria is .816, with an interrater reliability of .899, indicating a high level of agreeability between the two raters on their assessment of pragmatic information based on these categories. The statistics of these three categories (i.e., (I) the overall coverage of pragmatic objectives and functions, (II) the presentation of conversations, and (III) pedagogical treatment, such as explanations and exercises or tasks) are summarized in Table 8.1. The mean score across all ratings is 19.85, slightly less than half of the maximum possible score of 42 (i.e., 14 criteria × 3). The average rating for all categories is 1.42, indicating that the surveyed textbooks are generally assessed below the middle descriptors (i.e., 2) for each criterion on the 1–3 scale range. Category I is rated the highest among the three categories, with 1.80 as the mean, 1.13 the minimum, and 2.63 the maximum, indicating that the surveyed textbooks are assessed near the middle scale of rating (i.e., 2). That is, topic units are organized around tasks encompassing moderate to limited pragmatic language use; units or lessons are sequenced with scenarios partially connected; pragmatic objectives are embedded in the notes or explanations; and the quantity of communicative functions is limited. The lowest rated is Category III (mean = 1.01, min = 0.17, max = 2.00), indicating all surveyed textbooks provide pedagogical treatment related to pragmatics much less often than average. Specifically, most of them have single speaking or writing tasks with little to no instruction in the exercise or practice section; limited or no explicit information on pragmatics that follows the Table 8.1 Summary of Rating Statistics (n = 31)*

Mean SD Median Min Max

Total

Category I

Category II

Category III

Average

19.85 5.29 18.50 11.50 31.50

1.80 0.38 1.69 1.13 2.63

1.65 0.54 1.63 0.75 2.69

1.01 0.43 1.00 0.17 2.00

1.42 0.38 1.32 0.82 2.25

* Special thanks to Dr. Yao Z. Hill at the University of Hawai‘i for input and advice in these tables’ calculations.

132

Haidan Wang

presentation of conversation models; usually only one language form present in the conversation; and are noted or explained with a focus on its linguistic perspective, sometimes with minimal reference to cultural norms or social conventions. The correlations of these three categories are summarized in Table 8.2. Table 8.2 shows that each category is highly correlated with the overall score respectively. Moreover, Category I is relatively highly correlated with Category II (0.74), and its correlation with Category III is moderately high (0.65); whereas the correlation between Category II and III is considerably lower (0.39). This table verifies the statistic results of Table 8.1, indicating that the overall pragmatic objective functions of these textbooks are relatively reflected in its conversation models to certain extents, but the pedagogical treatments are insufficient for conversation samplings in terms of pragmatics-related criteria, or in the inferior quality of exercise design for the training of learners’ pragmatic competence. The third table details the top 12 that are rated overall higher than the rest of the surveyed textbooks in these three categories. This table, i.e. Table 8.3, verifies the correlational results present in Table 8.2 (i.e., the high scores of these 12 textbooks are reflected in their Category I ratings). However, some inconsistencies can be observed between the columns of “Overall Ranking” and Category II or III, respectively. Some notable discrepancies include XSLZS, ranked No. 11 overall, with a fourth place finish in Category III, Table 8.2 The Correlations among Categories I, II, and III (n = 31)

Category I Category II Category III

Overall

Category I

Category II

0.91 0.81 0.84

0.74 0.65

0.39

Table 8.3 Twelve Top-Rated Textbooks out of 31 in Categories I, II, and III Textbook Code*

Overall Ranking

Ranking in Category I

Ranking in Category II

Ranking in Category III

SHLY SHTG SHRC SHTZ JLRSW GJSW SWJQ XSJZJ ZSYS JMQT XSLZS GSHY

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1 2 3 4 6 9 7 5 16 8 14 12

6 2 5 3 10 1 7 13 8 11 24 12

1 3 2 4 6 18 8 9 7 15 4 10

*NB: Full textbook names of all 31 textbooks can be found in Appendix B. Full bibliography of top12-rated textbooks can be found under References.

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 133 yet ranked 24th in Category II. These inconsistencies are also seen in GJSW (No. 6 overall) which has a rating of No. 1 and No. 18 in Category II and III, respectively. The next section examines these 12 textbooks in detail on the extent to which they present pragmatic information, with focus on their major characteristics in terms of these three reviewed categories.

Discussion The results have shown that the majority of the 31 conversational Business Chinese textbooks have failed to provide even moderate pragmatic information as evidenced in the assessment scores across three categories. Taking pragmatics as the organizing principle for textbooks is crucial should the ultimate goal of a textbook be to empower learners to be “able to interpret others’ messages as originally intended and use the L2 to successfully communicate their own messages” (Ishihara, 2010b, p. 202). Regarding the overall coverage of pragmatic functions and organizations, the mean score of Category I is higher than that of the other two categories. The relatively higher rating of this category comes from the contributions of criteria (1), (2) and (4), all of which are higher than the rating of criterion (3). This indicates that units or lessons are organized around functions encompassing moderate to limited pragmatic language use: (1) mean = 2.12 (>2), and sequenced with scenarios partially connected, that is, (3) mean = 1.88 (≈2). The communicative functions are limited overall, with 1.96 (≈2) as the mean score. Instead of being explicitly highlighted for each unit/ lesson, most functional objectives are vaguely embedded within. Limited pragmatic information is implicit in the format of “notes”, or minimally mentioned in the semantic explanations of linguistic forms. The top four textbooks that received higher scores in this category hail from the series edited by L. Zhang 张黎 et al., and published by the Peking University Press from 2005 to 2018 in China. This series covers interconnected unitary contents for learners to achieve proficiencies approximating Novice to Advanced (ACTFL, 2012) levels, and organizes lessons that comprise conversation models on the basis of communicative functions under a Chinese commercial background. Specific communicative goals are briefly summarized as “Guiding Remarks” at the beginning of each lesson. Each lesson comprises two or three conversations centered around a set of functional objectives–such as various small talks among colleagues, the resolution of disagreement during business negotiations, or efforts of communicating effectively through a strategic approach. Not only does this series present an adequate amount of scenarios from a pragmatic standpoint of a variety of stakeholders, but similar functions in business encounters, such as requesting, persuasion, negotiation, suggestions, etc., also recur progressively at various frequencies for learners of different proficiencies. The next highest rated textbook in this category is Kuo’s (2011) (ACTFL) Intermediate level volume (XSJZJ, 新世纪商用汉语中级会话 Startup Business Chinese: An International Course for Professionals). It organizes its 12 lessons into well-intertwined conversational episodes from a single storyline, with communicative objectives or target strategies clearly listed on the front page of each lesson.

134

Haidan Wang

Category II criteria assess the textbooks in their presentation of conversations for their authenticity, in addition to whether they are adaptable to multiple roles, whether there is contextual information provided, and whether they are considered “complete” (i.e., with clear openings and ritualized closings as well as appropriate numbers of talking turns). The mean score of this category is 1.65, a little less than that in Category I (1.80). The GJSW (国际商务汉语 International Business Chinese), edited by Y. Li et al. (1999), scored the highest (i.e., 2.69, the closest to a maximum possible rating of 3). The conversation modeling of this textbook is the scripts of ten interconnected episodes of TV dramas that simulate business interactions between a fictional American and fictional Chinese import and export company. Each episode is constructed as a unit, starting off with a list of the characters’ roles/titles within each company. Each unit contains a screenplay of three acts, each preceded with a description of the setting. Changes of setting and descriptions of major physical or body movements, such as shifts in gaze, headturning, hand-gestures, facial expressions, or laughter, etc., are embedded in the script whenever they occur. Excerpts of films or TV dramas scripted as conversation models are considered to be context-rich scaffolding for authentic language use as they portray more social and cultural details that embed considerable pragmatic information. Previous empirical research has demonstrated that discourse in films could be a useful source of pragmalinguistic information (Rose, 2001) as the data “corresponds fairly closely to naturally-occurring speech” (p. 318). And finally, using film or TV dramas to teach has proven to be effective for beginners (Abrams, 2014), although its effect on the early development of L2 pragmatics still needs to be further elucidated. Very much the same situation holds true for L. Zhang et al.’s (2005, 2018) series in the second category although the conversations in these textbooks seem to be contrived from the compilers’ intuition. Similar to the previously reviewed Y. Li’s GJSW, the contexts of each conversation are clearly stated in the form of setting descriptions, brief narrations of transitions between talking turns, body movements, or facial expressions accompanying the interactions. Each conversation starts with clear openings, and ends with ritualized closings and possesses an appropriate number of turns. Pictures next to certain lines of scripts serve to offer vivid visual scenery of the communicative details among interlocutors. Discourse markers, fillers, hesitations, or pauses are appropriately presented along with formulaic exchanges or even some situational expressions. Another important feature of this series is that it comprises small talk, something commonly interspersed throughout workplace interactions, but which are not included in many other textbooks surveyed in this study. These instances of small talk, as “an integral and even essential part of business communication” (Yang, 2012, p. 101), reflect the truly meaningful and strategic interactions that learners should be exposed to as they are rich in culture and often found in Chinese workplaces. All the background information in these five top-rated textbooks contributes to appropriate conversation modeling with multimodal contexts. As characterized by Räisänen (2018), authentic workplace practices are typically highly interactional and multimodal. The multimodal presentation of live workplace communication

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 135 prompts learners to contextual nuances where the linguistic forms and accompanying body language can be appropriately attended to. The average rating of Category III is the lowest among these three categories, hovering around a 1.01 mean score, meaning that virtually all surveyed textbooks severely lack pragmatically orientated pedagogical treatment. Overall, the majority of exercises or activities are designed for linguistic training on listening/ speaking/reading/writing abilities. The speaking and writing tasks are taught in a simple sentence in most of the surveyed textbooks. Pragmatic knowledge or information is either neglected, minimally mentioned, or weakly embedded in the linguistic explanations. Even though L. Zhang et al.’s (2005, 2018) series does come in the top 4 with a mean score 1.73, it is still lower than the middle criteria score (i.e., 2). The section for speaking tasks is instructed with a single sentence “Try to express yourself in the following situations”, followed by a list of four to six situations, in both Chinese and English, that simulate settings in the modeling conversations. Among these 12 textbooks, the aforementioned GJSW (Y. Li, 1999), which scored No. 1 in Category II, finishes with a low mean score of 0.96, less than the average score of Category III. Its “Language points” section solely provides semantic explanation of word meaning, syntactic details of grammar patterns, and collocation features of discourse forms. There is neither discussion of the communicative strategies, nor mention of various speech acts for learners to attend to, both of which would help to use the rich pragmatic information present in the conversations to better advantage. In contrast, the two volumes of XSLZS, 新丝路：中级速成商务汉语 New Silk Road Business Chinese: Intermediate, edited by X. Li et al. (2009), receives a 1.63 mean score. Although their conversation modeling is assessed to be less natural and lacking contextual information, many speaking or writing tasks are seemingly authentic with detailed instruction that elaborates on the setting and the specific roles that learners could assume within the scenes. Social strategies or culturally appropriate speaking flow is illustrated for learners to follow. An array of language forms is presented as “hints” for learners to adopt as situationally appropriate expressions. By and large, the textbooks surveyed in this study contain less than the medium scale of pragmatic information when assessed under the proposed rubric. Some have functionally organized units, or contextually presented pseudo-authentic conversational modeling, as seen in L. Zhang et al.’s (2005, 2018) series. However, most of them ignore the pragmatic contents that could be well addressed in the post-conversational presentations. The pragmatically content-rich textbooks could be achieved by 1) guiding learners to become aware of communicative strategies with explicit instructions of the pragmatic perspective; 2) supplementing adequate background information for any (pseudo-)authentic speaking or writing tasks with clear and specific guidance; 3) providing information on contextual sensitivity for linguistic forms; and 4) raising learners’ awareness of the different sociocultural assumptions underlying various language-forms (Jiang, 2006). Endeavors on any aspects of the previously mentioned could contribute to

136

Haidan Wang

developing learners’ communicative competence and provide a more holistic and authentic learning experience.

Implications and directions for Business Chinese textbooks The scope of this study is limited by the inventory of the textbooks that the author has direct access to, mostly those published in 2018 or earlier. However, in contrast to the previous assessment of ELT/ESL textbooks that calculate the number of pages containing pragmatic content, this study has significantly contributed to this effort by developing a holistic rubric. It has evaluated the presentation of pragmatic information in the surveyed textbooks from three interrelated perspectives: the organization of functional topics (Category I), its conversational modeling (Category II), and pedagogical treatments (Category III). The calculation of pages containing pragmatic content used in previous studies provides only a partial picture of the information about the speech acts, whereas the holistic rubric in this study provides a panoramic view of Business Chinese conversational textbooks. The author hopes this effort may lay the groundwork for the systematic assessment of the pragmatic information of other conversational textbooks in general. This study has illustrated the status of Business Chinese conversational textbooks by demonstrating that most of them do not incorporate pragmatic instruction adequately. Though L. Zhang et al.’s (2005, 2018) series ranks as the best set in terms of their broadness in communicative functions, this is only true to a certain extent. Even so, these textbooks demonstrate richness in contextualized presentation of conversational models, and somewhat situationally grounded speaking tasks. Compared to all other surveyed textbooks here, this set exemplifies an adoptable model for Business Chinese learners at beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. Other textbooks would be recommended to be adapted only for purposes involving the categories in which they have scored higher. According to the assessment results, XSJZJ (Kuo, 2011) stands out for its overall organization of unitary topics around functional communications for Intermediate level learners. GJSW (Y. Li et al., 1999) and SWJQ (Sun et al., 2005) present more contextualized conversations for Advanced and Intermediate learners, respectively. Regarding authentic speaking and writing tasks, XSLZS (X. Li et al., 2009) is a good resource with adequate background information, illustrative communication strategies, and supplementary language forms. The analysis in this study has advanced our overall view of the pragmatic status of Business Chinese conversational textbooks, and therefore bears implications for business textbook development. Considering the absence of a focus in pragmatics in these textbooks, the current study advocates approaches to textbook development for business or professionals that incorporate explicit instructions of pragmatics, which could be achieved in two important ways. First, echoing the suggestions of finding readily available data taken from spontaneous speech (Boxer & Pickering, 1995), researchers have suggested different ways in providing authentic materials, such as surveying language use in professional contexts (McGroarty, 2010), or adopting movie clips, news media, or spontaneous conversations to foster students’ discourse pragmatics (Tao, 2015). Second, pedagogical

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 137 treatment should accord with the conversational modeling for pragmatic-focused instruction, as explicitly illustrated by Ishihara (2010a). Regarding the first point, fruitful research on live business interactions could be resourced to modify the contrived conversation models in textbooks, such as referring to Zhang (2010) for discourse features, Zhang (2007) for salespromotion, Zhang and Cong (2008) for the descriptions of enterprises, or Zhang and Wang (2011) for conversational features of corporate business meetings. Synergized effort could be achieved to establish a Business Chinese database that comprises various authentic and contextualized visual recordings and descriptions of how Chinese business professionals perform verbally in their day-to-day communications in various settings (Wang, 2008; Jiang, 2016). The live recording should also contain interactions between Chinese speakers and L2 Chinese speakers, as exemplified in L. Zhang et al.’s and Y. Li et al.’s pseudo-authentic conversations. L2 Chinese learners and native Chinese speakers may be involved in business conversational interactions with discourse strategies driven by their respective ideology of communication. As research of negotiation between Chinese and British businessmen has revealed, “the cultural differences in assumptions about the functions of language and communication will have significant effect on intercultural discourse involving people from different traditions” (Li, Zhu, & Li, 2001, p. 145), increasingly so in a globalized era. Regarding the second point, explicitly teaching the pragmatic use of language could be informed by empirical studies on strategies (Hong, 1998), or be supplemented by comprehensively collected and well-curated media clips (Tao, 2020). Creating ready-to-use and manageable clips that video-record natural conversation not only exposes learners to observable visual contexts, but also facilitates their learning of Chinese as video context is proven to be more favorable to generate target language skills in the long run as compared to just picture context, as evidenced in empirical findings (Wang et al., 2021). This study also directs researchers to an emerging practical area, which points to the application of research on pragmatics to language curriculum development, as observed in L. Zhang’s abundant research and his pragmatically oriented textbook set. The ultimate goal is to equip learners with knowledge and linguistic tools for them to interact appropriately in a specific target speech community (Gonzalez-Lloret, 2019). Textbook developers should be active researchers of pragmatics, and integrate research results to curriculum development under the pragmatic framework for L2 instruction for business or professionals. Relying on the ubiquity of technology, the suggested optimal synergy among pragmaticsrelated language presentation, tasks, and technology (Gonzalez-Lloret & Ortega, 2018) can be achieved, and pragmatics-driven curriculum can be designed. This ideal curriculum would feature authentic examples of natural interactions as conversation models contextualized in a variety of settings and power dynamics among interlocutors, followed by an analysis of sociopragmatics and pragmalinguistics details contained in said interactions. This would all be presented in technology-mediated real-world simulations to enhance learners’ pragmatic competence and transferable skills as professionals to equip them with the skills and confidence necessary to communicate effectively in various workplaces.

138

Haidan Wang

Appendix A Rubric and descriptors for the review of pragmatic contents in textbooks Criteria 1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

Category I Organization Tasks and Functions

Unitary Narrative Interconnection

Pragmatic Objectives Clarity

Breadth of Functions

Category II Adaptability to Multiple Roles

Contextual Information (Situation, Social Status of Roles) Conversational/Reading Sample Authenticity (Register, Appropriacy, Formality, Culture, etc.)

Descriptors

Score

• Topic units organized around communicative tasks/functions encompassing a full range of pragmatics as found in authentic contexts • Topical units organized around tasks encompassing moderate to limited pragmatic language use • Units/lessons not organized around communicative tasks/functions • Units/lessons sequenced with connected scenarios or conversations • Units/lessons sequenced with scenarios partially connected • Units/lessons not sequenced with interconnection • Pragmatic objectives clearly stated at the beginning of unit/lesson • Pragmatic objectives embedded in the notes or explanations • No pragmatic objectives stated • Adequate amount of communicative functions presented • A limited amount of communicative functions • Few communicative functions presented

3

• Units/lessons feature scenarios or conversations from the pragmatic standpoint of a variety of stakeholders • Units/lessons mention that different stakeholders may have varying pragmatic behaviors, but exemplification is scant • Units/lessons do not mention pragmatic variability • Adequate contextual information and communicative situations provided • Brief statement of context • Scant contextual information • Language samples are reasonably natural and authentic • Pseudo-authentic materials • Completely contrived based on intuition

2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3

2

1 3 2 1 3 2 1

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 139

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

Criteria

Descriptors

Score

Into-through-out of

• Complete conversation with clear opening and ritualized closing as well as other appropriate pragmatic features (e.g., appropriate #s of turns) • Partial opening and/or closing • Incomplete conversation flow – especially no closing

3

Category III Speaking/Writing Task Authenticity

Variety of Useful Speaking/Writing Tasks

Explicitness of Pragmatic Features (Speech Acts, Politeness, Implicature, etc.) Variety of Language Forms

Effectiveness of Communicative Strategies Pragmatic Richness (Social Conventions, Cultural Norms, etc.)

• Tasks intended to be applied to realworld situations show potential to raise pragmatic awareness • Pseudo-authentic tasks with simple instructions may fail to raise pragmatic awareness • Linguistic assignments only • A variety of authentic tasks provided to expose learners to various situations • Limited variety of tasks provided for learners to practice pragmatic components • Single task without simple instruction • Adequate and qualitative explanations of pragmatic components • Simple explanation of pragmatic perspectives • Little or no explicit information on pragmatics • An array of forms provided for given speech acts or strategies, etc. • A few forms presented for each function • Only one language form presented • Adequate communicative strategies presented and explained • Communicative strategies briefly embedded in linguistic notes • No pragmatic strategies introduced • Pragmatic information adequately embedded (e.g., in cultural notes) • Some pragmatic information embedded in linguistic explanation • Little pragmatic information contained

2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1

140

Haidan Wang

Appendix B Surveyed conversational Business Chinese textbooks in alphabetic order by the first author’s last name Author(s)

Year

Title

Publisher

Code

北语 等 董瑾 等

1982 2005

华语教学 北京大学

WMQT SWTZK

冯禹 等 关道雄 等 黄为之 黄为之 黄为之 黄为之 黄为之 等 Kuo, J.

2006 2000 1999/2006 2007 1998 2001 2002 2006

Cheng & Tsui 北京大学 华语教学 华语教学 华语教学 华语教学 语文 Cheng & Tsui Co.

ZSYS JCSY JMCK JMZK JMHY SWHY QJSM XSJCJ

Kuo, J.

2011

Cheng & Tsui Co.

XSJZJ

李立 等 李忆民 等 李振刚 李晓琪 等

2002 1999 2005 2009

北京大学 北京语言大学 华语教学 北京大学

GSHY GJSW SWSC XSLCS

李晓琪 等

2009

北京大学

XSLZS

刘丽瑛 等 刘美如 孙冰 等

2002 2006 2005

北京语言大学 北京大学 北京大学

JMQT BBCCJ SWJQ

张旺熹 等

2005

北京语言大学

JCSHH

叶德明 等 张红 等 张静贤 等 张黎 等

2006 2006 1996 2005

台师大国教中心 高等教育 北京语言学院 北京大学

SYSYH TYSW WMKY SHLY

张黎 等

2005

北京大学

SHRC

张黎 等

2005

北京大学

SHTG

张黎 等

2018

北京大学

SHTZ

张泰平 张晓慧 等 张晓慧 等 Zhou, Y. et al.

2000 2005 2005 2007

外贸洽谈500句 汉语商务通：中级口 语教程 在商言商9 基础实用商务汉语 经贸初级汉语口语 经贸中级汉语口语 经贸汉语 商务汉语 中国全景—商贸汉语 新世纪商用汉语初级 会话 新世纪商用汉语中级 会话8 公司汉语12 国际商务汉语6 商务汉语速成 新丝路：初级速成商 务汉语 新丝路：中级速成商务 汉语11 经贸洽谈ABC10 BBC初级实用商务汉语 商务汉语金桥·中级 会话7 基础商务汉语：会话 与应用 实用商业会话 体验汉语·商务篇 汉语外贸口语30课 商务汉语入门 ·基本 礼仪篇1 商务汉语入门 ·日常 交际篇3 商务汉语提高 ·应酬 办公业务2 商务汉语拓展 ·交易 与合作 企业管理4 国际商务汉语教程 经理人汉语·生活篇 经理人汉语·商务篇5 实用普通话 Working Mandarin for Beginners

北京大学 外语教学与研究 外语教学与研究 Georgetown University

GJSH JLRSH JLRSW SYPTH

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 141

Notes 1 This number is based on the combined calculation with reference to the collections by Dr. Li-Yu Chen at the National Taiwan Normal University and the author. 2 The words in Chinese for “business” appearing in these titles are 商务 ‘business, commerce; commercial’, 商业 ‘business (field)’, or 商用 ‘commercial’. 3 The Chinese words related to “conversation” appear as 会话 ‘conversation’, 洽谈 ‘negotiation, bargaining’, 口语 ‘spoken language’, or 听说 ‘listening and speaking’, etc. 4 These type of textbooks are commonly labeled or categorized as 阅读 ‘readings’ or 读本 ‘reading (textbook)’. 5 The author is appreciative of the generous support and feedback from Mr. Stephen L. Tschudi and Dr. Song Jiang during the rubric development and revision process.

References Abrams, Z.I. (2014). Using film to provide a context for teaching L2 pragmatics. System, 46, 55–64. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). (2012). ACTFL proficiency guidelines. Retrieved from www.actfl.org/resources/actfl-proficiency-guidelines2012 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). (2019). Making languages our business. Retrieved June 27, 2021, from www.leadwithlanguages.org/wpcontent/uploads/MakingLanguagesOurBusiness_FullReport.pdf. Boxer, D., & Pickering, L. (1995). Problems in the presentation of speech acts in ELT materials: The case of complaints. ELT Journal, 49(1), 44–58. Gonzalez-Lloret, M. (2019). Task-based language teaching and L2 pragmatics. In N. Taguchi (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and pragmatics (pp. 338–352). New York and London: Routledge. Gonzalez-Lloret, M., & Ortega, L. (2018). Pragmatics, tasks, and technology. In N. Taguchi & Y. Kim (Eds.), Task-based approaches to teaching and assessing pragmatics (pp. 193–214). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Hong, W. (1998). An empirical study of Chinese business writing. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 33(3), 1–12. Inawati, I. (2016). The pragmatics of greetings reflected in the textbooks for teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia. Ahmad Dahlan Journal of English Studies, 3(2), 1–10. Ishihara, N. (2010a). Collecting data reflecting the pragmatic use of language. In N. Ishihara & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (pp. 37–55). London & New York: Routledge. Ishihara, N. (2010b). Curriculum writing for L2 pragmatics – principles and practice in the teaching of L2 pragmatics. In N. Ishihara & A. D. Cohen (Eds.), Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet (pp. 201–223). London & New York: Routledge. Ishihara, N., & Cohen, A.D. (2010). Teaching and learning pragmatics: Where language and culture meet. London & New York: Routledge. Jiang, G. 姜国权 (2016). 大数据时代商务汉语教材出版的困境与策略 [Dilemma and strategies in the era of big data for the publishing of business Chinese textbooks]. 出版发行研究 [Publishing Research], 6, 50–52.

142

Haidan Wang

Jiang, X. (2006). Suggestions: What should ESL students know? System, 34(1), 36–54. Kasper, G., & Schmidt, R.W. (1996). Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 149–169. Li, S. (2016). Pragmatics information in selected business Chinese textbooks in the U.S. Chinese as a Second Language, 51(2), 191–217. Li, S., & Taguchi, N. (2014). The effects of practice modality on the development of pragmatic performance in L2 Chinese. The Modern Language Journal, 98(3), 791–812. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12123 Li, W., Zhu, H., & Li, Y. (2001). Conversational management and involvement in Chinese – English business talk. Language and Intercultural Communication, 1(2), 135–150. McGoarty, M., & Taguchi, N. (2005). Evaluating the communicativeness of EFL textbooks for Japanese secondary schools. In J. Frodesen & C. Holten (Eds.), The power of context in language teaching and learning (pp. 211–224). Boston: Thomson/Heinle. McGroarty, M. (2010). Language uses in professional contexts. In R. B. Kaplan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of applied linguistics (2nd ed., pp. 262–274). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Meihami, H., & Khanlarzadeh, M. (2015). Pragmatic content in global and local ELT textbooks: A micro analysis study. SAGE Open, 5(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 2158244015615168 Räisänen, T. (2018). Translingual practice in global business: A longitudinal study of a professional communicative repertoire. In G. Mazzaferro (Ed.), Translingual as everyday practice (Vol. 28, pp. 149–174), Multilingual Education series. Berlin: Springer. Ren, W., & Han, Z. (2016). The representation of pragmatic knowledge in recent ELT textbooks. ELT Journal, 70(4), 424–434. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccw010 Rose, K. (2001). Compliments and compliment responses in film: implications for pragmatics research and language teaching. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 39(4), 309–326. Schmidt, R.W. (1993). Consciousness, learning, and interlanguage pragmatics. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics (pp. 21–42). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Schmidt, R.W. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and second language instruction (pp. 3–32). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Shi, Z., Yuan, Q., & Kong, M. (2019). Development in business Chinese teaching and research: An overview and perspectives. In H. Tao & H. H. Chen (Eds.), Chinese for specific and professional purposes: Theory, pedagogical applications, and practices (pp. 133–155). Singapore: Springer. Tao, H. (2015). Teaching students to be discourse pragmatists: Practices in an L2 Chinese linguistics class. In CHUN-Chinesischunterricht [Chun: Chinese Language Teaching], 2015.30: 30–51. Iudicium Verlag, Munich. Tao, H. (2020). Using authentic materials in a regular classroom: Some theoretical and practical considerations. In National Taiwan University Chinese MA in TCSL Program (Ed.), Chinese language teaching: Cross disciplinary and diverse perspectives (pp. 390–409). Taipei: Linking Publishing. Ton-Nu, A., & Murray, J. (2020). Pragmatic content in EFL textbooks: An investigation into Vietnamese national teaching materials. TESL-EJ, 24(3). http://tesl-ej.org/pdf/ej95/ a8.pdf

Pragmatic information in Business Chinese 143 Vellenga, H. (2004). Learning pragmatics from ESL & EFL textbooks: How likely? TESLEJ, 8(2). www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume8/ej30/ej30a3/ Wang, H. (2008, April 9–11). A corpus-based investigation of business Chinese textbooks and pedagogy in use [Paper presentation]. Annual Business Language Conference. St. Petersburg, FL, United States. Wang, H., & Jiang, S. (2018). Chinese for specific purposes: A broader perspective. In C. Huang, Z. Jing-Schmidt, & B. Meisterernst (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of applied Chinese linguistics (pp. 407–421). London & New York: Routledge. Wang, H., Tschudi, S., & Jiang, S. (2007, March 26–28). Completing transactions: Enhancing pragmatic input in business Chinese [Paper presentation]. The 17th International Pragmatics and Language Learning Conference, Honolulu, HI, United States. Wang, M., Shen, H., Boland, J., & Wei, H. (2021). Visual context modulates L2 longterm structural priming for the Chinese “Ba” construction. Modern Language Journal, 105(2), 526–551. Yang, W. (2012). Small talk: A strategic interaction in Chinese interpersonal business negotiations. Discourse & Communication, 6(1), 101–124. Zhang, D. (2014). More than “hello” and “bye-bye”: Opening and closing the online chats in Mandarin Chinese. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 27(6), 528–544. Zhang, L. 张黎 (2007). 现场促销员的会话策略分析 [Discourse in on-site promotions]. 语言文字应用 [Applied Linguistics], 3, 87–92. https://doi.org/10.16499/j. cnki.1003–5397.2007.03.013 Zhang, L. 张黎 (2010). 商务汉语口语的话语特征 [The discourse features of oral business Chinese]. 汉语学习 [Chinese Language Learning], 3, 90–94. Zhang, L., & Cong, Y. 张黎 丛永清 (2008). 企业介绍的话语特征初探 [Discourse features of enterprise descriptions]. 当代中国话语研究 [Journal of Contemporary Chinese Discourse Studies], 1(1), 85–100. Zhang, L., & Wang, Y. 张黎 王玉芝 (2011). 企业商务会议的会话特征分析 [A case study of conversation features at a corporate business meeting]. 兰州学刊 [The Lanzhou Academic Journal], 12, 140–148.

References for top-12-rated textbooks Feng, Y. et al. 冯禹 等. (2006). 在商言商 (ZSYS) [Closing the deal: Advanced Chinese for creative and productive business]. Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui Company. Kuo, J. (2011). 新世纪商用汉语中级会话 (XSJZJ) [Startup business Chinese: An intermediate course for professionals]. Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui Company. Li, L., & Ding, A. (Eds.) 李立 丁安琪. (2002). 公司汉语 (GSHY) [Business Chinese]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Li, X. et al. (Eds.) 李晓琪 主编. (2009). 新丝路：中级速成商务汉语 (XSLZS) [New Silk Road business Chinese]. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Li, Y. et al. (Eds.) 李忆民 主编. (1999). 国际商务汉语 (GJSW) [International business Chinese]. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Liu, L. et al. (Eds.) 刘丽瑛 主编. (2002). 经贸洽谈ABC (JMQT) [Spoken Chines for business negotiations]. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Sun, B. et al. (Eds.) 孙冰 主编. (2005). 商务汉语金桥：中级会话 (SWJQ) [Golden Bridge for business Chinese: Conversations (Intermediate level)]. Beijing: Peking University Press.

144

Haidan Wang

Zhang, L. et al. (Eds.) 张黎 主编. (2005a). 商务汉语入门—基本礼仪篇 (SHLY) [Gateway to business Chinese: Regular formulas and etiquette]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Zhang, L. et al. (Eds.) 张黎 主编. (2005b). 商务汉语入门—日常交际篇 (SHRC) [Gateway to business Chinese: Daily communication]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Zhang, L. et al. (Eds.) 张黎 主编. (2005c). 商务汉语提高—应酬篇 办公篇 业务篇 (SHTG) [Advanced business Chinese: Social gathering, office work, and day-to-day operations]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Zhang, L. et al. (Eds.) 张黎 主编. (2018). 商务汉语拓展—交易与合作篇 企业管理篇 (SHTZ) [Extended business Chinese]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Zhang, X. et al. (Eds.) 张晓慧 主编. (2005). 经理人汉语—商务篇 (JLRSW) [Chinese for managers: Business Chinese]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

9

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class Liu Li

Introduction Nowadays, social media have become an important part of life, especially for young people. Students interact and socialize in a technology-driven culture which has significantly changed how they learn and communicate. Using various devices, today’s young people will have spent thousands of hours on digital media by the time they graduate from college (Prensky, 2001). They also spend more time online in informal learning environments and share more information digitally than they do with their teachers in a conventional classroom setting (Phillips, Baird, & Fogg, 2011). In the field of foreign language education, instructors are striving to discover new ways of teaching for better connectivity. The goals for language teachers include integrating pedagogical knowledge and skills with technology to enhance teaching and learning, and using technology to improve communication, collaboration, and efficiency (Healey et al., 2011). Like other language teachers in this digital era, teachers of Chinese are exploring innovative pedagogical ideas and methods that take advantage of these digital and computational advancements. During this process, a gap has been observed between the educational tools used by the teacher and the social media used by the students (Xiao-Desai, Wong, & Wu, 2015). Students were found frequently not using educational technology tools adopted by the schools, because many of them considered these tools to be boring school work imposed on them. As a result, these tools may not help them to integrate the knowledge, skills, and context of Chinese into their own world. Therefore, there is a need for teachers to apply new types of tools to motivate students and improve their learning. Although it has been found that social media have increasingly worked their way into Chinese classrooms (Yao et al., 2018), the focus of most of the research to date has been on Facebook. Little attention has been paid to a very popular platform called WeChat, which has become noticeably widespread among Chinese communities all over the world. To find out whether WeChat would help students learning Chinese, we adopted WeChat in our Business Chinese class. DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-13

146

Liu Li

One reason why WeChat was adopted was due to the fact that popular western social media such as Facebook and Twitter have been banned in China. American students could not be immersed online in a Chinese language or cultural environment through western social media. However, they might be able to do so through a popular Chinese social media. When this study started, there was no such controversy as to whether popular Chinese social media, like TikTok and WeChat, should be banned in the USA. At that time, WeChat was the top social media used by the Chinese communities worldwide, including the international students from China. Many American students studying Chinese were interested in using Chinese social media, too. In such a context, we were motivated to examine the effectiveness and implications of using a popular Chinese social media, such as WeChat, in teaching Business Chinese. This chapter shares data from and reflections on our WeChat project, aiming to finding out whether using a popular social media in the target language, like WeChat in Chinese, could indeed improve student learning outcomes, and what, if any, were the underlying contributors for this benefit.

Literature review Social media and second language learning Social media are web-based services that allow individuals, through their public or semi-public profiles, to communicate and share information with a selected group of users within a bounded system (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Social media play an important role in our students’ daily lives. A national survey found that 73% of teenagers and 72% of young adults use social media (Lenhart et al., 2010). Although there has been an increasing scholarly interest in social media, social media have not yet been widely used as instructional tools (Conole, 2010; Harrison & Thomas, 2009; Toetenel, 2014). Currently, the most-studied social medium in language teaching is Facebook, which has been found to bring positive results in language learning. For example, Facebook is said to bring a sense of community belonging, build bonds between classmates, as well as provide a supportive structure for both students and instructors that fosters better interaction and enhanced motivation (Aydin, 2012). Despite the benefits of social media found in many studies, some researchers have claimed that the use of social media by university students is more harmful than beneficial. For example, Selwyn (2009) argued that social media were not always used for a good cause (i.e., for learning). Instead, he found that 95% of Facebook interactions involving UK students were not related to their academic concerns. His study proved that those students tended to use social media to deal with ordinary subjects. Selwyn also claimed that students, generally, did not use social media for academic reasons, and that the applications they had did not

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

147

match their academic level, as they tended to be simple and therefore did not necessitate high intellectual aptitude. Since there has not yet been a consensus on whether social media are beneficial for language learning, more in-depth research is needed. Moreover, very few studies investigate how teachers and learners of less commonly taught languages use social media to develop language competence (Jin, 2017). For example, the topic of how social media affects Chinese language learning remains relatively unexplored. Among those pioneers on this topic, Xiao-Desai, Wong, and Magriney (2018) put forward an exploratory study in several American universities and provide tentative instructional suggestions for teachers to utilize Facebook in particular, and social media in general, as language learning platforms in college-level Chinese classes. The authors aimed at describing the students’ learning experience using Facebook. There is no statistical analysis about students’ language improvement using social media as compared with more traditional teaching materials and methods. Although their study is an exploratory action research, it serves as a good start. Although monetary transactions on WeChat were banned by the American government in Fall 2020, other functions of WeChat are still permitted in the US. WeChat is still the top choice to stay connected with the Chinese community. As some language teachers have successfully incorporated social media such as Facebook into the classroom, it is reasonable to expect that Chinese social media, such as WeChat, will have a place in the instructional curriculum. Literature review on WeChat’s general educational potential appears cautiously optimistic (Yang et al., 2011). Social media, especially WeChat, which play a central role in both the real and virtual lives of people in China, provoke Chinese language teachers to consider how this new tool of community-based sharing and content creation can be employed in language classrooms. Like other social media, WeChat is tightly integrated into the daily media routine of its users. It could serve as a tool in Chinese classes for students to interact with friends and native speakers. Since there has been little research on how effective the use of WeChat in Chinese language class could be in the United States, the current study attempts to add to the literature.

The present study For the purpose of this study, the author examined how Business Chinese had been taught in a conventional way in an American Midwest public university for 12 years. One goal of the Business Chinese class at this university was to encourage language interactions among learners, between learners and instructors, and between learners and native speakers. To achieve this goal, the faculty of the Chinese program considered WeChat to potentially be a good instructional tool. To find out whether Chinese social media could effectively help students learn Business Chinese through increased interaction, the Chinese

148

Liu Li

program incorporated WeChat into their curriculum. By comparing the data from the class using WeChat with a class taught without using WeChat, the project attempted to find out the impact of social media on the learning of Business Chinese. The WeChat project on teaching Business Chinese was implemented for one semester. Data from the two classes were collected using online surveys, questionnaires, researchers’ observations, extensive field notes and observations, along with students’ output on WeChat. This chapter analyzes both quantitative data from students’ tests and online surveys, as well as qualitative data from openended questions to students and the instructor’s observation notes.

Research questions If social media are an integral part of our students’ social and personal lives, it is reasonable for teachers to tap into their educational potential. Informed by extant literature and personal experience, the researcher hypothesized that the integration of WeChat into a language learning routine could increase language production as well as boost active participation and meaningful interaction among the students. This in turn had the potential to improve students’ language learning as indicated by improved test scores. Hence, this chapter seeks to answer four research questions: 1 2 3 4

Language Proficiency: Is there any statistically significant difference in the test results between the WeChat and non-WeChat groups? Students’ Opinion of the Course: Is there any statistically significant difference in the course evaluation scores between the two groups? Learning Activities: What are the differences in the length of time studying Chinese after class and the types of after-class activities between the two groups? Students’ Opinions: What do students think of using WeChat in Business Chinese class?

Methodology Participants Two Business Chinese classes of third-year Chinese students at an American Midwest public university took part in the study. All the students had completed Intermediate Chinese 2, which was the prerequisite for the Business Chinese course. The WeChat project was implemented in one class. This class hereafter is called the experimental group. The total number of the experimental group was 18. Another Business Chinese class, taught without using WeChat as the pedagogical platform, became the control group (hereafter called the control group). There were 16 students in the control group. The participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 22. All the participants were native English speakers. There were no Chinese heritage learners in either group. Both

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

149

classes were taught by the same instructor, using the same textbook and other teaching materials not related to the WeChat project. All the participants took only one Chinese course (that is, Business Chinese) in that semester. General design of the WeChat project In the experimental group, WeChat served as an interactive platform for language use between the instructor and the students, among the students themselves, and between the students and native speakers. All the pedagogical tasks were based on this WeChat feature – “Group”. “Group” is a WeChat feature that stresses collaboration and allows discussions, events, and numerous other activities among the members of the group. To start the experiment, the instructor created a “closed” WeChat “Group” to which students requested membership. Only approved students in this specific class could have access to the WeChat “Group” which was not open to public viewing. Before permitting students to join the “Group”, the instructor gave the class clear instructions about the WeChat assignments, for instance, the number of required weekly updates, likes, or comments. Students were encouraged to view the group site as a safe and friendly socializing space where they could freely express their opinions, tell personal stories, and share other interests in Chinese. The use of English and other languages was kept to a minimum, restricted to proper nouns like personal names, organizations, or places. Students could use various tools for assistance, including online dictionaries, but were asked to limit their application to vocabulary or word items only and not chunks of text or sentences provided by translation programs such as Google Translate. The written assignment was assigned and completed through WeChat. Students could view each other’s submissions. They voluntarily formed small sub-groups to do peer-review and make comments for each other. The peer-review and comments could be viewed by all the students as well as the instructor of the class. The experimental group members could also share additional resources that they considered interesting, relevant, or beneficial to the class. Contrary to the experimental group, the control group did their written assignments individually or in smaller study groups with pen and paper. The peerreview of the students’ homework was conducted within study groups in writing. The written feedback would be submitted to the instructor, too. Each study group, formed by the students voluntarily, consisted of two or three members. The instructor also provided verbal or written feedback on the students’ assignments. The textbook, non-social media teaching materials, content of assignment, and pace of teaching were all the same as those in the experimental class. Data collection Two types of data were collected: quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data included three parts: 1) scores on the achievement test: pretest and

150

Liu Li

posttest, which could be used to examine the students’ learning achievement; 2) course evaluation scores, which were to find out how much students liked/ disliked the course design and teaching methods in general. The qualitative data also included two parts: 1) questionnaire, which was used to find out students’ learning activities; and 2) the analysis of how much time students spent learning Chinese on WeChat. Instruments Language achievement tests A pretest and posttest were administered for both groups. Each test consisted of four parts: listening comprehension (20%), grammar and vocabulary (30%), reading comprehension (25%), and writing (25%). The total score for each test was 100 points. Both groups took the pretest in the first week and the posttest in the last week of the semester. The pretest was administered during the first week of the semester, while the posttest was given in the last week. The purpose of the achievement tests was to measure the language skills and knowledge learned and developed in this course through the semester. Online anonymous course evaluation An online anonymous course evaluation was sent to the students at the end of the semester to find out their opinions on the class. There were 11 5-point Likert scale questions about the course content and instructor’s teaching, with 5 points indicating “strongly agree” and 1 point indicating “strongly disagree”. (See Appendix A.) Questionnaire A questionnaire was designed to gauge students’ learning activities and experiences about learning in the Business Chinese classes. The surveys were sent to both groups toward the end of the semester for class. The questionnaire has five questions: 1 2 3 4 5

How many hours do you spend after class on learning Chinese each week? What activities do you use to learn Chinese after class? What tools do you use to study Chinese after class? How many Chinese native speaker friends do you have? If you have Chinese native speaker friends, how do you interact with them?

Survey In order to collect feedback from the students in the WeChat group, an online survey with 5-point Likert scale questions (see Appendix B) was sent to each

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

151

student in the WeChat group on their opinions of using WeChat in Business Chinese class by the end of semester. The survey includes two parts: 1 2

5-point Likert scale questions: Please rank your experience of using WeChat in Business Chinese class. Open-ended questions: What are the advantages of using WeChat in Business Chinese class? What are the problems of using WeChat in Business Chinese class?

Results Quantitative data Achievement tests Table 9.1 presents the means and standard deviations for the scores of the pretest and the posttest between the two groups. A two-way ANOVA was conducted to examine the effect of WeChat on test scores. There was a statistically significant interaction of the use of WeChat in class on the test scores, F (2, 32) = 4.643, p = .014. Simple main effects analysis showed that the scores of the experimental class were significantly higher than the conventional class (p = .002), but there were no significant differences on the scores of the pretest between the two groups (p = .465). Couse evaluation Table 9.2 presents the mean scores of the 11 questions and the standard deviations of the scores for class evaluation from the two groups. Table 9.1 Descriptive Statistics of the Achievement Test Scores Groups

Experimental Group (n = 18) Control Group (n = 16)

Pretest

Posttest

M

SD

M

SD

82.6 81.7

1.39 1.53

85.9 79.2

1.74 1.55

Table 9.2 Descriptive Statistics of the Class Evaluation Scores

Experimental Group (n=18) Control Group (n=16)

M

SD

4.5 4.7

0.98 1.14

152

Liu Li

A paired-samples t-test on the test scores and found that there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups, t (33) = 13.18, p = .093.

Qualitative data from the WeChat Group Questionnaire Table 9.3 includes the summary of the results from the online questionnaires.

Table 9.3 Results of the Questionnaire From the Two Classes Questions

Experimental Group

Control Group

1 How many hours do you spend on learning Business Chinese each week? 2 What activities do you do to learn Business Chinese after class? (Please rank by the amount of time invested in the activities.)

Mean = 7.1 hours

Mean = 4.5 hours

1 Do Chinese homework. 2 Use WeChat to chat with friends. 3 Use WeChat to follow some public accounts. 4 Watch Chinese videos. 5 Listen to Chinese songs. 6 Participate in Chinese Club activities. 1 Social media such as WeChat. 2 Apps such as Quizlet. 3 Websites such as Google Translate to help with homework and communication. 4 Websites like YouTube to watch videos and listen to music. Mean = 2.6 native speaker friends for each student

1 2 3 4

Through 1 Social media such as WeChat, Facebook, and Twitter. 2 Chinese Club activities. 3 Text messages. 4 Emails. 5 Phone calls.

Through 1 Chinese Club activities. 2 Social media such as Facebook, and Twitter. 3 Text messages. 4 Email. 5 Phone calls.

3 What tools to you use to study Business Chinese after class?

4 How many Chinese native speaker friends do you have? 5 If you have Chinese native speaker friends, how do you interact with them? (Please rank by the amount of time used for the interaction.)

Do Chinese homework. Watch Chinese videos. Listen to Chinese songs. Participate in Chinese Club activities. 5 Chat with Chinese native speaker friends.

1 Apps such as Quizlet. 2 Websites such as Google. Translate to help with homework. 3 Websites like YouTube to watch videos and listen to music. 4 Social media such as Instagram and Facebook. Mean = 0.7 native speaker friend for each student

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

153

Survey on using WeChat for Business Chinese Students’ feedback on integrating WeChat into the Business Chinese curricula was encouraging. All the students in the WeChat group claimed that they enjoyed using WeChat for class. A majority of them (94%) would like their instructor to use WeChat in other Chinese classes, too. Some students reported that they used more Chinese on WeChat than anywhere else, and they had become more motivated there to interact with other students and native speakers outside class in writing. Most of the students used WeChat to socialize with their classmates even after class. One student claimed that WeChat had become her most-used social media tool. The majority of the students (94%) believed that WeChat was beneficial for their learning. A majority of the survey respondents (83%) agreed that it was productive to use WeChat in their Business Chinese class. For example, they produced Chinese sentences much faster and in greater quantity. They also reported that it was easier to read comments and feedbacks from peers. Compared to traditional classroom learning activities, 67% of the students found that the WeChat activities were more relevant to their learning experiences, while 72% considered the WeChat interactions were more engaging and interesting. In addition, 72% of the students felt that the learning activities through WeChat were more time efficient in regard to the amount of knowledge/skill(s) they had gained or learned. They viewed such activities as important to improve their language skills, especially writing, in a positive way. When asked about the problems that WeChat brought to their life or study, some students mentioned “distraction”. Using WeChat could be distracting sometimes. For example, instead of interacting with other people, they may spend a lot of time watching funny/silly videos on WeChat. Another problem is WeChat did not work well on their laptops. The WeChat app was designed specifically for mobile devices, so it worked well on cell phones, but the version of WeChat for computers/laptops was not very convenient.

Discussion In this study, we asked four research questions. The first was about student’s language improvement. The results indicated that the two groups had no statistically significant difference in the pretest, but the experimental group’s scores were significantly higher than the control group in the posttest. This means, although both groups made progress, the experimental group’s gain was significantly larger than the control group. Since the pedagogical intervention in the study was the use of WeChat as the platform for the experimental class, it is reasonable to think that WeChat might have played a positive role in this gain. Our second research question concerned students’ overall attitude towards their class. We looked at the scores of the students’ evaluation on the course they took

154

Liu Li

and asked whether there was any difference between the two groups. We found that although the WeChat group had a slightly higher score on average, the difference was not statistically significant. This finding indicates that both groups enjoyed their class. Overall, both groups liked the content of the course and the way their instructor taught. This could mean the students’ attitude towards their classes may not be a factor contributing to the differences in the language gains between the two groups. The third research question investigated the differences in learning activities between the two groups. First, we found several differences including the fact that the experimental group spent more time studying Business Chinese than the control group. Some examples of the activities on which they spent extra time included interacting with their classmates through WeChat, and practicing with native speaker friends through WeChat. Learning became more enjoyable and communicative with WeChat. Second, the experimental group had more Chinese friends on average than the control group, and interacted with native speakers more often than the control group. One possible explanation is because WeChat made it easier for the students to find new Chinese friends on campus. There was a large number of international students from China on campus, and they were socially active. WeChat was the top social media used by these students from China. The students in the experiment group utilized the WeChat function of “Discover” to search for nearby Chinese people and cultural events related to China. This function helped them make friends with the international students from China more easily. Students could also participate in the events organized by Chinese students from time to time. Contrary to the experimental group’s experience, the control group found it was hard to meet native speakers and make friends with them on campus, even though the students from China were the largest cohort among all the international students. The longer study time and more diverse learning activities may have helped the experimental group gain more in language development. This is in line with what Phillips, Baird, and Fogg (2011) wrote that students spend more time online in informal learning environments and share more information digitally than they do with their teachers in a conventional classroom setting. The last research question treated students’ opinions on using WeChat to learn Business Chinese. The majority of the students in the experimental group believed that WeChat was beneficial for their learning. The advantages that the students reported included: immersion, authenticity, ease (easy to type Chinese characters), sense of community, flexibility, and interaction with native speakers. The reasons why students liked to use WeChat in Business Class are illustrated next. First, students felt that they became immersed in a Chinese-speaking community in a natural way. WeChat is an app developed by a Chinese company and used primarily by Chinese people. The information on WeChat is mostly in Chinese. Students could interact with classmates and Chinese friends in Chinese through

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

155

WeChat. They could also read various public messages in Chinese on WeChat. As a result, the experimental group felt immersed in a Chinese language environment. This motivated them to invest more time and energy in studying Chinese. Since most of the students in this study were interested in doing business with Chinese counterparts in the future, such an experience of language and cultural immersion was important to them. Second, the experimental group felt the messages and information on WeChat were authentic language materials, produced for real communication and an actual audience. They realized that such authenticity could lay a good foundation for any possible business interaction with Chinese people in the future. For example, they practiced how to make friends with native speakers through WeChat, and managed to communicate with them effectively in Chinese. They felt WeChat helped them set up a network with new friends from China and communicate with them in an authentic language environment. According to Delello, McHorter, and Camp (2015), students often do not instantly think of online writing tasks, such as posting on social media, as “real” homework assignments, and hence students were more motivated to use social media to communicate for fun. In this way, WeChat was useful for accomplishing “covert” language tasks. While communicating with classmates and Chinese native speaker friends, many students voluntarily went out of their way to pick up new vocabulary words. Many students remembered these words throughout the semester, because they found relevance in a context for what they learned. If one of the goals of Business Chinese class was to help students learn, retain, and use what was presented, WeChat played an important pedagogical role in this regard. After all, the ways in which students used Chinese to communicate were comparable to how they would talk in reality, including correcting each other’s mistakes, hence making learning the language a lot of “fun”, more “practical”, and “relevant”. Many students also reported that they continued to use Chinese to communicate with classmates and native speaker friends outside class. Pascopella and Richardson (2009) argued that pedagogy changes with technology, and social networking tools can be applied to keep up with students’ interests. Navigating WeChat seemed to successfully engage students and allow them to enhance their interpersonal, presentational, and interpretative communication abilities in Chinese on their own terms. Students understood that these skills would be important for them to do business with Chinese people one day. Another big advantage of WeChat, according to most of the students, was being able to type Chinese characters. Instead of writing Chinese with pen and paper, the experimental group used the Pinyin input to type Chinese characters with their tablets or mobile phones. For most of the American students, typing in Pinyin was much faster than writing characters with a pen. In general, the experimental group reported they could finish their written assignment faster than before. In the same vein, they were also much more motivated to communicate through text message or posts on WeChat.

156

Liu Li

Being able to communicate with classmates and friends through WeChat also helped create a sense of community. Some students stated they felt that they belonged to this WeChat group. They could chat in Chinese on a variety of topics, including Chinese studies and things in their everyday life. Therefore, they were willing to share more information about their studies and life with their classmates and Chinese friends, resulting in more posts and comments on WeChat. Using WeChat also enhanced peer-review and self-correction of errors. Like other social media, WeChat provided a far less threatening medium for students to comment on each other’s language use, even mistakes, for they did not consider the postings as “school work” but rather friendly interactions. Students themselves served as peer reviewers and pointed out their classmates’ errors, for instance, when a character was mistyped (since the same Pinyin, the system by which the students input their Chinese text, could refer to a variety of different characters) or a wrong word was used. Xiao and Wong (2014) found that second language learners experienced lower anxiety (both avoidance behavior and anxiety) in writing assignments when they were done online. Thus, this study found it was productive to use social media such as WeChat to reinforce correct use of language in more agreeable and less intimidating ways. Lastly, using WeChat provided flexibility in that students could view each other’s posts, do assignments, or update posts whenever it was convenient. This resulted in spending more time on WeChat. Although WeChat has many advantages, students also reported some problems that they encountered during the semester. The problems included distraction, the app being not so user-friendly with laptops/computers, fear of being censored, and the inability to write Chinese characters with pen and paper. Like any social media, WeChat could be a big distraction. It could interrupt students’ learning sometimes. Also, while WeChat was very easy to use with a cell phone, it was not so convenient with a laptop. Additionally, a few students were indeed concerned about whether their posts were monitored or censored by the Chinese government. Finally, although the majority of the students expressed their preference to typing, one student still preferred the traditional way to do homework by using pen and paper. She claimed through typing, she quickly forgot how to write Chinese characters. Despite some problems, overall WeChat was found to be beneficial for students to learn Business Chinese. Despite the previously mentioned problems, this study revealed that the students engaged with a new learning opportunity and used WeChat to further their language skills. This supported the view put forward by Wang and Vasquéz’s research (2012), which showed one of the main benefits of using Web 2.0 tools was the creation of a “favorable learning environment”. The generally positive response to this study would suggest further integration of other social media tools in the educational framework. Language teaching in particular lends itself to the openness that is inherent in these new media.

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

157

Overall, the results show that the students were receptive to the use of social media for language learning. The study suggests that the integration of social media tools for language learning can enhance students’ experience and achievement.

Conclusion One of the major predicaments for Chinese language educators today is how to effectively utilize technology to engage the digitally savvy and short-attentionspanned students in lectures and classroom activities. In this study, we integrated one type of social media – WeChat – into teaching Business Chinese, and compared it with a Business Chinese class taught in a traditional way without using WeChat. We found the experimental group’s test scores were significantly higher than the non-WeChat group by the end of the semester. Although both groups positively evaluated their courses, the qualitative data indicated that the WeChat group spent much more time learning Chinese through WeChat and other activities, which may have led to their gains in the test. We also found the WeChat group had very positive attitudes toward using WeChat in class, and their experience was enjoyable. Therefore, we conclude that using social media such as WeChat in Chinese class can be challenging but rewarding. This study is one of the first attempts to examine the use of social media in Chinese class, and hopefully, the beginning of more in-depth and expansive research on the topic. Research on the use of social media tools is still in its infancy. Educators will have to make their decisions to adopt a particular tool. However, the social media tool chosen for this study facilitated the interaction required for learning to take place. This is of particular significance for students in the Business Chinese class, where communication in a social setting plays a key role in developing linguistic competence. Although the recent political tension between China and the US had led to the controversial restriction on monetary transactions through WeChat in the US, WeChat can still be used for effective communication and connection, especially with Chinese-speaking communities all over the world. Given the context that the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 made online connectivity and distance education even more important than ever before, it is reasonable to think that social media like WeChat could possibly play a far more important role in teaching/learning Chinese in future. Some of the limitations of this study are its small scale and tentative conclusions that are drawn from the success of using one social media tool for language learning. Further research with larger groups of differing levels, ages, and backgrounds would yield more comprehensive results about the benefits of choosing social media tools to enhance and improve the experience of second language learning.

158

Liu Li

Appendix A Course evaluation questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

My instructor explains the objectives of the course clearly. My instructor explains the content of the course clearly. My instructor uses effective examples and illustrations. My instructor is respectful when I have questions and comments. My instructor provides feedback that helps me improve my performance in the class. My instructor is available for consultation (e.g. after class, email, office hours, and by appointment). This course has clear objectives. This course is effective in meeting its objectives. This course has assignments related to the objectives of the course. This course has a clear grading system. This course broadens my perspective and/or knowledge.

Appendix B Survey on learning Chinese language and culture through social networks 1 Do you think it is important to use social media such as WeChat in your Chinese classes? (Choose only one of the following.) • • • • •

Very important Somewhat important Neutral Somewhat unimportant Not at all

2 Do you have any difficulties in understanding or using WeChat activities in your Chinese classes? (Choose only one of the following.) • • • • •

Very easy to use and understand Somewhat easy to use and understand Neutral Somewhat difficult to use and understand Very difficult to use and understand

3 Do you think it is productive to use social media such as WeChat in your Chinese classes? (Choose only one of the following.) • • •

Very productive Somewhat productive Neutral

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class • •

159

Somewhat counter-productive Not at all

4 Compared to traditional classroom learning activities, do you find the WeChat activities that the instructor used are productive to your learning experiences? (Choose only one of the following.) • • • • •

Very productive Somewhat productive Neutral Somewhat counter-productive Not at all

5 Compared to traditional classroom learning activities, do you find the WeChat activities that the instructor used are more relevant to your learning experiences? (Choose only one of the following.) • • • • •

Very relevant Somewhat relevant Neutral Somewhat irrelevant Not at all

6 Compared to traditional classroom learning activities, do you find the WeChat activities that the instructor used are more engaging and interesting? (Choose only one of the following.) • • • • •

Very much so Somewhat Neutral Somewhat less Not at all

7 Compared to traditional classroom learning activities, do you find the WeChat activities that the instructor used are more time efficient in regards to the amount of knowledge/skill(s) you have gained or learned? (Choose only one of the following.) • • • • •

Very time efficient Somewhat time efficient Neutral Somewhat inefficient Not at all efficient

9 Do you personally recommend the instructor to continue using a network site in the classroom? • •

Yes No

160

Liu Li

10 What are the advantages and problems of using WeChat in your class? Please leave any reflections, comments, and/or suggestions regarding the WeChat activities and your learning experience in this class (open-ended question).

References Aydin, S. (2012). A review of research on WeChat as an educational environment. Education Tech Research Dev, 60, 1093–1106. Boyd, D.M., & Ellison, N.B. (2008). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 210–230. Conole, G. (2010). Facilitating new forms of discourse for learning and teaching: Harnessing the power of Web 2.0 practices. Open Learning, 25(2), 141–151. Delello, J.A., McHorter, R.R., & Camp, K.M. (2015). Using social media as a tool for learning: A multi-disciplinary study. International Jl. on E-Learning, 14(2), 163–180. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.uttyler.edu/soules-college-of-business/files/ camp_regents/using-social-media-as-a-tool-for-learning.pdf Harrison, R., & Thomas, M. (2009). Identity in online communities: Social networking sites and language learning. International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 7(2), 109–124. Healey, D., Hanson-Smith, E., Hubbard, P., Ioannou-Georgiou, S. Kessler, G., & Ware, P. (2011). TESOL technology standards: Description, implementation, integration (pp. 74–76). Alexandria, VA: TESOL. Jin, L. (2017). Digital affordances on Social media: Learning Chinese as a second language. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 30(1–2), 27–52. Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., & Zickuhr, K. (2010). Social media & mobile Internet use among teens and young adults. Pew Research Center. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED525056.pdf Pascopella, A., & Richardson, W. (2009). The new writing pedagogy. District Administration, 45(10), 44–50. Phillips, L.F., Baird, D., & Fogg, B.J. (2011, May 1). Facebook for educators. Retrieved from http://facebookforeducators.org/educators-guide Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6. Retrieved from: www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives, %20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf Selwyn, N. (2009). Faceworking: Exploring students’ education-related use of Facebook. Learning Media and Technology Media and Technology, 34(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439880902923622 Toetenel, L. (2014). Social networking: A collaborative open educational resource. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 27(2), 149–162. Wang, S., & Vasquéz, C. (2012). Web 2.0 and second language learning: What does the research tell us? CALICO Journal, 29(3), 412–429. Xiao-Desai, Y., Wong, K.F., & Magriney, C. (2018). Utilizing social networks in language classes: Perception, production, and interaction. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, 21, 121–170. Xiao-Desai, Y., Wong, K.F., & Wu, X. (2015). Technology training in Chinese language teacher education: content, concept, and context. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, 17, 173–218.

Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class

161

Xiao, Y., & Wong, K.F. (2014). Exploring heritage language anxiety: A study of Chinese heritage language learners. Modern Language Journal, 98(2), 589–611. Yang, Y., Wang, Q., Woo, H.L., & Quek, C.L. (2011). Using WeChat for teaching and learning: A review of the literature. International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 21, 72–86. Yao, T.C., Xiao-Desai, Y., Wong, K.F., & Magriney, C. (2018). Chinese language pedagogy and collaborative online learning: Social network, blog, and game. In Y. XiaoDesai & K. F. Wong (Eds.), Explorations in teaching Chinese as a second language: A celebration of the lifetime achievements of Tao-chung Yao (pp. 121–170). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui.

10 Becoming professionals Ecological role-play Robin Caselli, Jin Dong, James Nokes, Michaela Nuesser, Joseph Ritch, Shuai Tang, and Dongping Zheng1 Introduction In the Chinese language teaching community, mentioning Business Chinese (BC) conjures up a wide range of pedagogical topics such as business administration, negotiation techniques, reading comprehension of contracts and legal documents, and navigation of intercultural differences and etiquette. The first question encountered in BC course development is which content should be covered. Instructors and curriculum designers rarely agree on whether BC is simply Chinese taught with business topics (Chen, 2012) or an entirely separate discipline entwining language and practice. Supporters of the discipline argument have relied on target situation analysis (TSA), a subcategory of needs analysis, to identify which overarching events and professional and social communicative acts learners should be practicing (Shi, Yuan, & Kong, 2019). TSAs conducted by Wang (2011) identified both work-related (e.g., conferences) and social situations (e.g., shopping, speaking to an in-house nanny). Researchers also examined the needs of instructors across various topics, including students’ background (Sin, 2009) and community involvement in teaching (Yu, 2019). Needs analyses have been informative in regard to learners’ pre-existing perceptions of BC content and instructors’ perceptions and reported pedagogical methods. However, outside of a handful of tested pedagogies in taskbased language teaching (Yuan, 2006), case studies (Yuan, 2006), communicative strategy (Zhang, 2011), and practice teaching (Shen, 2014), BC instruction is still moving toward reconciling identified needs with BC practice. Ecological role-play (ERP) is a pedagogical presupposition grounded in ecological perspectives and seeks to reconcile needs and practice. Compared with role-play, ERP conceptualizes a space for languaging through which both meaning-making and values-realizing arise. This shifts emphasis from second-order linguistic forms, set roles, or predetermined scripts to experiential learning through languaging (Zheng, 2012). Languaging, as used here, foregrounds language as coordination of action, or the nature of language as an activity: Learners explore, discover, create, and make decisions (van Lier, 2004; Swain, 2006), which are conceptualized as first-order activities, meaning they take precedence over the second-order constructs of language forms DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-14

Becoming professionals 163 (Love, 2017; Thibault, 2017). Similarly, translanguaging denotes languaging across languages, using a repertoire of any language an individual has access to (Li, 2018). ERP also enables community and professional becoming, while individual skills are identified with growth as a shared accomplishment (Barab et al., 2019). Thirdly, ERP is event-coordinating; learner- or teacher-centered pedagogies can be flexibly adapted, and expertise can be assumed on the fly among learners, teachers, materials, and technological structural dynamics (Cui et al., 2022). Thus, in addition to teaching and learning linguistic skills, ERP fosters becoming a person who can take skillful actions in conducting business in China and be skilled in linguistic action, including pragmatics and adhering to cultural values and conventions. The theory behind ERP is collective, supported by Bert Hodges (2007) and Stephen Cowley (2012) as part of the distributed language movement in third-wave cognitive sciences, referred to as the ecological perspective for simplicity. This perspective frames BC education and the role technology can play in promoting and implementing ERP beyond the classroom. To construct an ERP, an instructor embodies three co-constitutive roles: 1) a designer who prepares the space, scenario, and resource toolkit; 2) a mentor who offers feedback, challenges, encourages, and administers; 3) a player who performs roles as part of the event along with other learners. Students embody multiple roles as well: 1) an ERP player; 2) a member in a community of practice; 3) a learner of language; and 4) a budding or practicing business professional.

Ecological role-play Role-play is a common pedagogical tool for language classrooms with clear benefits when following a cognitivist approach, in which lexicogrammar is first learned and then practiced in the role-play, often according to scripts or formulas. ERP differs from form-focused role-play in three ways: 1

2

The place where ERP occurs is characterized by materiality, or the objects, tools, and settings which embed, mediate, and give rise to action. The collective learning space, under the guidance of an instructor with a cultivated heart and an ecological perspective, and dominated either by a physical classroom or an online Zoom-like environment, should reflect three unique yet interrelated spaces: an instructional space where typical formal higher educational communicative acts take place; an ERP space in which the environment of the business world can be emulated to the fullest extent possible; and a technology-enabled virtual space to which ERP actions can be simulated. All members of the classroom community are players in the role-play – instructors as well as learners. Teaching and learning fall into an equilibrium via scaffolding, emergence, and improvisation, as instructors share expertise with their learners and vice versa. Community presupposes multicultural perspective taking, as each learner as a member draws on a historicity of interest, hobbies, and business intentions.

164 3

Robin Caselli et al. The duration of events can be flexible. An ERP may last anywhere from one week to several months depending on the number and size of teams, how events transpire, and curricular constraints. It should last long enough for there to be extensive engagement and values-realizing throughout the problem-solving process, but brief enough that learners focus on action without growing complacent. For more on timing, see the section “Risk and magnitude.”

Taken together, these three features in ERP allow for the transformation of a classroom into an immersive environment such as an airplane, a conference room, or a start-up co-working space. Learners can take time to tinker, experiment, make and learn from mistakes, reflect, and build relationships, and in doing so they undergo the process of becoming (i.e., evolving and growing as) a professional by engaging simultaneously with the conventions of business languaging and the dynamics of values-realizing. A brief example of an ERP is the Office Renovation Scenario (ORS) in Table 10.1. In the proceeding text, three tenets of ERP are described in order of theoretical grounding, followed by explanation of how ERP supports language learning along with becoming. In this scenario, learners coordinate to redesign a co-working office space. Learners form two or more start-ups which share the same office (represented by the classroom), and the instructor plays an office manager who manages the budget and must approve the renovation plan. This scenario can be adapted to be longer, more game-like, and more competitive by including contractor companies, rather than only office-sharing start-ups. While an advanced level in interpersonal communication (according to ACTFL descriptors) would equip the learners best for this task, ERPs allow for various adaptations (see section “Constructing an ERP”). In both variations, teams first define the nature of their companies. Both start-up and contractor teams should brainstorm business details, such as mission statements, employee workload, and specialties (e.g., lighting design, locally sourced lumber, a web security service). Then, start-up members negotiate to agree on needs and Table 10.1 Office Renovation Scenario Initial prompt: Your company shares a start-up co-working space, and there is a limited budget to renovate it. You must decide on your company’s needs with your teammates and agree upon a renovation plan with the other companies in your office. Roles: 3–6 start-up companies (2–4 members each) 1 office manager Optional: 1+ contractor companies (2–3 members each) Stages: 1 Teams create and determine the details of their companies. 2 Team members brainstorm and negotiate renovation ideas for their company. 3 Companies negotiate to agree on an office renovation plan. 4 Optional: Contractor companies provide quotes to the office; contractors must compete to offer the best quote and negotiate with the start-up companies on terms and cost.

Becoming professionals 165 potential innovations for themselves (e.g., a new adjustable standing desk), for their company (e.g., a new whiteboard), and for the whole office (e.g., appliances for a small kitchen area). Learners will research the costs associated with various ideas; negotiate to settle on a reasonable, in-budget plan for renovations; and prepare materials to pitch their ideas to their coworkers, the other start-ups, and finally the office manager. In the contractor variant, the ERP continues after the office manager approves a renovation plan, as the contractors – adhering to the constraints of their business as previously determined – draft and pitch quotes for the renovation. The start-ups must then review the quotes and either hire a contractor or continue negotiations to adjust the plan, budget, or quote. Tenet #1: space for languaging Ecological role-playing can be understood as an ecological concept. ERP attunes learners’ attention to others, materials, and space; in other words, ERP extends personal needs to be other-oriented. ERP situates role-play in a scenario richly designed to facilitate diverse learners embodying and easing into the role of professionals. Space can be actualized ecologically in the design of the scenarios, which will be elaborated on in the “Space and materiality” section, and must be carefully considered as part of a purposeful instructional design for action. A space is both material and conceptual: A classroom space, a marketplace, or an online space can all become learning places (Zheng et al., 2018). Considering its materiality, the layout and embedded artifacts must be considered in the space design. Classrooms can be mobilized with material artifacts by either the designer or the teams at some point prior to or as part of the ERP. Conceptually understood, the space should encourage harmonious and effective interplay among coworkers and companies (learner groups) and should facilitate both productivity and the cultivation of vibrant and harmonious energy. These effects can be achieved by arranging classroom furniture into cluster cubicles, decorating the walls with company products or slogans, stationeries, inspirational artwork, etc. Decorations fitting target culture customs along with home culture items can simultaneously serve to raise awareness of cross-cultural differences and initiate conversations when learners show interest in them. Multicultural BC classrooms are especially useful for the exchange of customs displaying and cross-cultural nuances. In van Lier (2000, 2004) and Zheng (2006), the concept of affordances from ecological psychology was introduced to educational linguistics, and to language learning and technology, respectively. Affordance is tied to perception (meaningmaking) and action (values-realizing): For an affordance, material or intangible, to exist, a learner’s attention is attuned to something which they can act upon. For instance, when a space is provided for learners to tinker and to work together as they are becoming professionals, affordances for “doing business” will emerge. Affordances are in dynamic coupling relations with the perceiver’s effectivities, including capacity, readiness, or experience (Young, Barab, & Garrett, 2000). The same affordances are not universally available to all learners, but rather lie on the cotangent between the learners and their environment.

166

Robin Caselli et al.

An ERP designed as a space for languaging with affordances for meaningmaking and values-realizing in role-play will set the stage for learners to engage in languaging: coordination of action through language, not limited to indicational language use. In ERP, tangible material artifacts are critical because they can be manipulated – pointed at, referred to, sat on, and so forth – regardless of learner proficiency. While more advanced learners can engage in predicational language use, lower-level learners may use indicational language or do more translanguaging (drawing on multilingual and multimodal resources) in support of their actions. As Zheng (2012) demonstrates, translanguaging is a natural byproduct of language classrooms and learning spaces. In BC contexts, particularly with ERPs, translanguaging can also play a vital role in reconciling mixed groups of heritage and non-heritage learners. In an ERP, learners language and translanguage to coordinate activity, using wordings which can be conceptualized as binding the embodied with the social and psychological experience of activity (Cowley, 2019). Language learning thus emerges from these socially driven activities (van Lier, 2004), rather than solely from the acquisition of linguistic forms ahead of time. It does not, however, preclude the acquisition of linguistic forms, as the wordings played out in first-order languaging ERP activities can open up second order domains (Cowley, 2019). For example learners can easily make connections between wordings and vocabulary found in textbooks and dictionaries, and through scaffolding and building upon a learner’s own efforts, their language is likely to become more target-like over time (Zheng, Bischoff, & Gilliland, 2015). At the same time, mentors can facilitate individual emergent ecological and linguistic needs and challenge learners to inspire growth. Tenet #1 scenario analysis The example scenario is conceptually situated in a poorly funded start-up office space, in order to set the stage for learners to face the realistic challenge of renovating an office for harmony and productivity within a limited budget and space. Tangible material artifacts that are critical affordances for languaging can be offered in the form of furniture, such as office chairs and desks; useful decoration, such as sticky notes and dry erase boards; and a meaningful division of space with assigned individual and co-working spaces. The office renovation scenario invites students to redesign a co-working office space together and offers opportunities to engage in holistic activities like researching costs, negotiating the budget, and preparing materials for idea presentations. Especially in multicultural classrooms, translanguaging happens when students develop and negotiate creative, reasonable, and constantly weighed solutions with all parties throughout the planning process. Both office-like physical space and scenario design space provide affordances and constraints for languaging that evolves naturally from coordinating activities, such as co-design. While negotiation for meaning may be present as players form their companies, negotiation for action (Zheng et al., 2009) will occur by design invitation (Barab et al., 2019). Players will be encouraged to enact their cultural identity

Becoming professionals 167 throughout the processes of decision-making and problem-solving (Zheng et al., 2009; Zheng & Tian, 2020). Learners also act in coordination with other players, their bodies, and their surroundings as their attention is distributed among them during negotiation for action. Tenet #2: community and professional becoming The second key component to the development of ERPs is its aim to engage learners in being and becoming professionals as members of a community of practice (CoP; Lave & Wenger, 1991). CoP is a concept describing relational, dynamical, and agentic characteristics of a group of people taking actions on a common endeavor. To be called a CoP, there must be a mechanism of interactivity, particularly for new members. Interaction in a CoP implies a teacher-student relationship in which learning can occur through participation, apprenticeship, and legitimate peripheral participation. In a dynamic and distributed CoP studied by Zheng et al. (2018), they found expert and novice roles were not fixed, neither was domain of learning well-defined. Depending on areas demanded by a project, a novice can become an expert, and an expert can resume a learner role. How can a classroom be turned into a community? First, classrooms can be conceptualized as a CoP. From ecological perspectives, professionals and communities are mutually inclusive and enhanced by each member’s participation and their collective energy and goals reciprocally (Reed, 1996). As members move from peripheral to center participation, a wide array of activities is undergone by learners either alone or with other members. Secondly, instructors’ and learners’ roles are co-defined by community goals. Learning to do business in a holistic system of community becoming (Zheng et al., 2018), each member is interdependent with their ecological niche (Hershock, 2006) and, at the same time, much more dynamic than they seem, with every member constantly reevaluating their purposes, needs, and functions. Sharing and utilizing culturally established norms specific to a certain environment in life has always been necessary for the sake of our, each other’s, and the ecosystem’s wellbeing (Cowley, 2012). In that regard, as employee members respond strategically to sudden and possibly disruptive changes, they reflect not only their companies but also the industries in which they work. Meaning and values emerge throughout languaging activity and are prioritized by individuals based upon context. Dialogicality is inherent to human languaging, which presupposes otherorientation, perspective taking, and sense-making. As Linell (2009), drawing on Bakhtin and Holquist (1981), states, humans exist and construe truth not as individuals but in their personal relations in dialogue with others. Dialogicality is also constitutive with care-taking between actors and the environment (Hodges, 2007) and, ultimately, values-realizing (explained further under tenet #3; Hodges, 2009; Hodges et al., 2012; Zheng & Newgarden, 2017). Care-taking prioritizes others and thus draws meaning between others and the self. Languaging activity gives rise to meaning-making and values-realizing, which fill a gap in SLA research when contextualized in conversing activities by Hodges. Thus care-taking is the

168

Robin Caselli et al.

fuel to all actions at different multi-scalar levels and, by extension, undergirds the ERP proposition (more on this in Tenets #2 and #3). If we follow the concept that language is multi-scalar, learning becomes managing multi-scalar complexity. Connecting with surroundings including other people evokes actions, patterned wordings, and embodied experiences (Cowley, 2019). Focus is shifted from second-order forms to coordination with both material and semiotic resources. This coordination depends on physical events, as learners move, speak, hear, and perceive things in continually changing surroundings. As they are coordinating, they are languaging. For example, a team making a company presentation video – a first-order activity – will draw on many second-order resources. When the team members are speaking to each other, listening to each other’s suggestions and perspectives, reading to locate information, and writing a script, etc., they draw on vocabulary, sentence structure, content knowledge, genre conventions of business videos, and the various technical skills involved in video production and editing. Correlatively, language learning occurs at multi-scalar levels of languaging (Cowley, 2019). When a member tries to say something, it becomes dialogical: the sound and meaning are directed together to a team member or the community, not practiced repetitively with a goal of perfection. When two or more learners engage in these dialogical actions, more complex languaging actions take place, such as negotiation, coordination, and perspective taking (Newgarden, Zheng, & Liu, 2015). In the meantime, identity development and problem-solving skills arise as well (Zheng, 2012). Viewing language learning from a languaging perspective allows us to apply the findings from research into phenomena that are typically studied separately, for example, identity, critical pedagogy, second language acquisition, cross-cultural differences, intercultural communication, etc. Tenet #2 scenario analysis Members in an ERP CoP coordinate while working together on long-term, real-world-simulating scenarios. In the office renovation scenario, learners play employees from different start-ups who all must coordinate to agree on the needs and potential innovations to include in a shared renovation plan (e.g., add a small kitchen or rest area, adjustable desks and tables, or a recording studio for media projects). Further values-realizing and collaboration occurs as learners research costs, models, and availability of renovation items, and negotiate a reasonable, in-budget plan. The office renovation scenario fosters community becoming by giving all players a common goal: renovating their office. Learners are to act as representatives of their companies and regularly engage in communication and friendshipbuilding with representatives from other teams. When conflicts of interest arise, such as in differing needs or opinions regarding design, comfort, or functionality, these offer opportunities for languaging, ideally in a way which continues to build friendships and work towards the shared goal. Learning takes place as each member coordinates values, co-solves problems, and responds to events, which

Becoming professionals 169 is typically right before or during actions (Zheng et al., 2019). By coordinating individual, team, and community needs and desires, BC learners learn to appreciate, to care, and to balance. By composing, recomposing, and re-contextualizing these pathways, learners move from novice professionals to experts (Zheng et al., 2018), thus their participation becomes more central. Tenet #3: event-coordinating action The third tenet of ERP is event-coordination, which highlights events as the core around which learners coordinate action. For BC courses, events are tied to business but have wide-reaching effects: from a prototypical center, such as achieving sales goals, to more peripheral circles, such as maintaining relationships within a company or with customers. ERP events are set in and reflect the larger ecosystems of Chinese and international business, and thus reflect the symbiotic ripple effects actions and events have on each other. In doing so, ERPs provide learners with appropriate space for exploring and engaging in business events as a holistic, interdependent system distributed across social, ecological, and philosophical forces. An ERP may, for example, serve as an introduction to cross-cultural differences and as a means to practice resolving them via an event designed to prompt possible conflicts. By engaging in these events, learners are becoming fully actualized professionals with actionable skills of the microcosmic roles they inhabit and the network of complex relationships which compose the macrocosm of the business world. By extending role-play from scripted interactions focused on form and meaning at the linguistic level into larger, multi-scalar levels of events, the learners’ attention is distributed to action and dealing with events. These event-coordinating activities usually begin with problem identification, which involves the actions of seeking help and listening to others’ opinions. Once problems are identified, attention is distributed to problem-solving in a process similar to the problem identification stage. Due to the multi-scalarity of the larger problem, learners rely on each other’s expertise or information found from a different perspective. Learners may introduce novel and unexpected aspects to which others must react spontaneously, which invites relationship-building. Throughout this process, there occurs moment-by-moment languaging within a realistic ebb and flow of relevant values. The micro level of language learning occurrence in coordinating events can be analyzed through values-realizing theory. Distributed Language expands the common definition of values by explaining how copious numbers of values appear in dynamic and heterarchical relationships with each other (Hodges et al., 2012), and are prioritized by individuals based upon context. For example, the driver of a car minimizes risk by constantly adapting to the ever-changing demands of the road: Confident acceleration may be the most important value when merging onto a highway, but caution is the most important value when crossing through a school zone (Hodges, 2019). The nature of values is for many to exist simultaneously and in fluctuating interactivity, which resultantly implies that heterarchical

170

Robin Caselli et al.

values-realizing is different for every individual and in every situation and that meaning and action potential (affordances) in any given environment are subject to an individual’s background, needs, and intentions (van Lier, 2004). Researchers approaching values-realizing through perception-action (Hodges, 2007), social-developmental (Hodges, 2017), and language-cognition (Hodges, 2014) perspectives have consistently returned with findings that support valuesrealizing as an essential component to all human interactivity which, by definition, includes business. When learners are working together as professionals in dealing with events, either pre-existing or emergent ones, they learn by coordinating around the physical events while experiencing them through moving, languaging, and sensing and noticing surroundings (Cowley, 2019). Tenet #3 scenario analysis After an initial prompt, scenario events are open and spontaneous, to be created as they are experienced. Events are coordinated by BC learners utilizing their skills, resources, and material artifacts prepared by all community members to shape event progression and outcomes. Learners can prepare their own materials to support their agenda, be that presentation materials to pitch an idea to an office manager or contractor quotes which compare the least expensive and the most innovative renovation plans. Engaging in these events ensures natural emergence of actions and languaging. When calling for specific skills to help events advance and achieve intelligibility, more artificial activities are encouraged, such as drilling on pronunciation and prosody. In the contractor variation of the office renovation scenario, events continue with each start-up team presenting their renovation needs to the contractors, who (adhering to the constraints of their business as previously decided) draft quotes; the start-ups must then review the quotes and either hire a contractor or continue negotiations within their team and with the contractors. Possible paths and outcomes are numerous, and each event, coming into existence through learners’ interactivity with each other and their surroundings, governs what happens next. In summary, to run an ERP which meets all three tenets, an instructor should: 1 2 3

Create an actionable space in which the ERP is situated (space for languaging). Encourage learners to work collectively to achieve both individual and community goals (community becoming). Provide flexible guidance and leave decisions up to the learners (eventcoordinating).

Constructing an ERP ERP scenarios are highly adaptable. Instructors need only pose an initial prompt and set of roles, and an ERP will unfold. Instructors should introduce the ERP learning framework and tenets before the scenario in order for learners to understand the rationale and act accordingly. Ideally, learners will be able and willing

Becoming professionals 171 to fully embody their roles, whether it is CEO, secretary, or account manager, and follow the etiquette, mannerisms, and job duties appropriate to that role. While instructors may provide some guidance or resources in a resource toolkit (RT) on etiquette, materials, job duties, and mannerisms, learners should take initiative to investigate these and incorporate them into their ERP persona. Instructors can write new scenarios, model them on real-world events, or crowdsource inspiration from their students. The roles and initial prompt should set the stage for an open-ended agenda with substantial problem-solving and conflicts of interest, in order to increase opportunities for languaging, values-realizing, and community becoming in emerging events. Prompts can be structured around situations identified as important in previous needs analyses (Lee & Chen, 2014; Li, 2011), which can also foster values-realizing, such as learning Chinese business world views, values, and culture, or practicing the cultural content or subtle complexities of intercultural communication. Due to its event-driven nature, ERP scenarios will unfold differently for every group and individual, with results emerging to be more complex than the mere sum of individual contributions as each learner both drives and is guided by problems, events, and the material artifacts they are attuned to. Once instructors become comfortable with ERPs, they may reduce preparation time and rely more on real-time support and dynamic engagement in the process. When preparing for an ERP, instructors should carefully consider four areas: 1) space and materiality, 2) technology, 3) risk and magnitude, and 4) evaluation. A summary of the steps to implement an ERP are listed in Table 10.4 at the end of this section.

Space and materiality Instructors should carefully consider design of space and materials prior to starting an ERP in order to ecologically situate a scenario and provide a space for potential perception, action, and languaging. Four recommendations to do so are: Use technology. An instructor can research or crowdsource which programs, devices, or applications to use, evaluating them for their functionality, authenticity, or purpose in the ERP. This is elaborated further in the following section. Set up the classroom before or during the ERP. For example, the act of arranging class furniture into cubicles and decorating the room with company slogans suggested in the office renovation scenario helps transform the designated section of the classroom into a more business-like space. Features to consider are listed in Table 10.2. Incorporate materiality into the scenario prompt, as in the office renovation scenario requirement for learners to research office spaces and materials. Prompts may incorporate other materials common to office spaces, such as dry erase boards, sticky notes, and prototypes for a Design Thinking project, or extra-large sketch pads and posters for a marketing campaign design. Scaffold learners’ perception and action on material affordances both in and outside of class. In between in-class ERP sessions, teams can use technology,

172

Robin Caselli et al.

Table 10.2 Office Space Considerations • Workspace (office chairs, desks, tables, outlets) • Collaboration space (wall space for drawing pads, sticky notes, dry erase boards, Interactive White Boards [IWBs], meeting rooms) • Division of space (assigned workspaces, private workspaces, co-working space, connected offices, creative spaces, rest areas, recreation outlets, etc.) • Ambiance (decor, lighting, noise level, potential distractions, interior design, appliances)

Table 10.3 Sample Resource Toolkit • Business space layout • Feng Shui set for business spaces • Common specialized vocabulary/collocation/speech act list • Cultural norms guides • Confucian virtues (e.g., trust and credibility) • Understanding relations (关系) • Face culture (面子) • Etiquette and conventions guides • Dress codes • Restaurant seating conventions • Chinese high tea conventions • Chinese dinner table drinking culture • YouTube video playlist of business negotiation vignettes • Situational scenarios from popular culture, TV ads, newscasts • Culture shock tips • Job interview stories • Business contract negotiation stories • Historical: 翁同龢2 • Modern: 华为/Huawei

materials, and outdoor spaces, such as restaurants, libraries, or cafes, to continue playing their roles. The instructor should also prepare an RT with content related to both materiality and business practices and invite students to contribute to it. RTs can be hosted on the course website. Instructors should introduce and orient the learners to use the toolkit with critical thinking and in consultation with the teachers when cross-cultural uncertainty arises. For example, how is seating arrangement in a restaurant related to doing business in China? How do Confucian virtues influence Chinese business? Recommendations for RT content are listed in Table 10.3.

Technology The ecological perspective on language and education is co-constitutively distributed among physical and virtual spaces alike. Incorporating real-world technology (i.e., software and devices used in Chinese companies, as opposed

Becoming professionals 173 to education-specific technology) facilitates learners’ becoming professionals by increasing both materiality and potential for values-realizing. However, to properly integrate it into the ecology of a scenario, instructors must carefully evaluate the affordances and constraints a technology offers in relation to the content and context, and not simply add it for superficial reasons such as novelty or popularity. Instructors can consider technological affordances for three key ERP areas: communication, collaboration, and business practice. Technology for communication Technology featuring text, image, or video communication can help learners engage in synchronous and asynchronous collaboration in ways authentic to BC contexts. Video teleconferencing software (VTC; e.g., Zoom) can be used to create virtual meeting spaces for learners to negotiate regardless of their locations or schedules and to bring local artifacts into the space through screen sharing or webcams. When video conferencing, learners should follow common corporate etiquette for professional languaging rather than classroom etiquette (e.g., colleagues negotiating mergers, not group members discussing class projects). Similarly, learners’ use of WeChat or other text-based communication apps facilitates languaging by serving as the “formal” means of engaging with other learners. Text communication in an ERP could take place on both Facebook Messenger and WeChat; learners conduct meta-level discussions (e.g., assigning roles, clarifying the instructions) in English on Messenger, but, as much as possible, use Chinese to play their roles as company employees on WeChat. Learners can also use WeChat to extend beyond the classroom to both maintain relationships with Chinese acquaintances and connect to business professionals for expert guidance. Technology for collaboration Collaboration enables community becoming and can be enhanced by the creation of shared collaborative spaces. These can be achieved through digital workspaces (e.g., Google Drive, Mural), VTC software, and in person with sticky notes on blank walls, dry erase boards, or interactive white boards, depending on availability. These all provide shared spaces for being professional through multimodal languaging. Various mobile-based Social Networking Sites (SNS; e.g., Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube), can also be integrated to create more dynamic and collaborative learning environments. An exciting feature of these technologies is their affordances for creating an extended ecology (Steffensen, 2009), as users extend their physical environments to a virtual audience. Learners can observe and bookmark relevant posts from existing businesses as models, use private social media accounts to collaboratively test business materials or practices, or co-opt the social semiotic and place-based resources from social media to create a business. For example, one can watch Li Ziqi’s YouTube channel to learn about Chinese farm-to-table cooking traditions, as well as how Li became one of the

174

Robin Caselli et al.

most popular social media celebrities worldwide by advertising her products on social media.3 Publishing materials on social media is an act of being professional and serves as fertile ground for collaboration, as learning and effectively engaging with techniques, popular practices, and affordances associated with social media platforms extend across several skill sets. Individual team members’ expertise and passion will influence an emergent distribution and redistribution of roles related to the creative (e.g., photography, graphic design, video editing) and business practices (e.g., post timing, captions, featured products) involved in such ventures. All team members can participate together in the creating, editing, and publishing processes to develop media literacies. Technology for business practices Learners in a BC classroom should use office productivity software that is used by businesses for organization, collaboration, and development (e.g., DingTalk). Learners’ role-played meetings with colleagues, companies, or community representatives can be held over VTC software, as in corporate settings. Likewise, learners may develop individual ePortfolios, a standard business practice which provides evidence of learning, competencies, and employability. This implementation functions as a pedagogical approach, process, and product (Watty & McKay, 2015), and draft or “sample” ePortfolios can be developed further for professional use. SNSs are ideal for collaborative projects due to their highly individual-driven nature, ability to connect and collaborate with target communities to produce authentic outcomes, and multimedia functionality to include text alongside images and videos. Materiality and space in these virtual environments encourage being professional and languaging, as BC learners can both engage with existing business practices (e.g., analyzing advertisements, commenting on products) and take their own actions. They can creatively problem solve in digital spaces, observing standard online business practices while using technology to innovate further, as is common in tech businesses. Whatever problem is posed to learners in a scenario, the affordances of SNSs for innovation and problem-solving should be emphasized. Immersive technology, such as VR when available, can encourage innovation by simulating embodied experiences, and thus be co-opted by learners for seeking, fine-tuning, and developing resolutions, or contextualizing situations with affordances for languaging and doing business.

Risk and magnitude ERPs can be easily adapted for such constraints as time availability, course goals, or learner proficiency. The adaptations required can be simplified into two dimensions: risk and magnitude, which are relational within values-realizing framing. Risk is a spectrum referring to potential degree of impact or perceived impact on a learner’s future career or professional reputation. Although all learning opportunities have some inherent level of risk to a learner’s future, this risk is lower when consequences are contained within a smaller, more supportive CoP.

Becoming professionals 175 ERPs tend to be low risk, as the actions learners take are part of their tinkering in play-acted roles. This affords learners more opportunities for creativity and experimentation, thus allowing them to practice, grow, and become without any risk to their future as professionals. Higher-risk activities, such as networking directly with professionals or interviewing for a desired job, require sufficiently skilled linguistic actions to engage in the professional world and have a greater affordance for career advancement, but mistakes may be more damaging. ERPs serve as low-risk simulations of specific high-risk events, but higher-risk activities can be tied to or incorporated into an ERP if desired and deemed appropriate by both instructor and learners. This can be accomplished in three ways: 1 2 3

Challenge learners who appear ready to move out of their comfort zones and to engage in high-risk activities of their own choosing. Encourage or require learners to network or reach out to professionals and professional resources in order to support their actions in the ERP. Turn products made in the ERP (e.g., website, profile, business plan, marketing designs) into real-world products during or after the ERP (e.g., turn the private profile draft of an Instagram business into a public page, attach marketing materials to a job application).

Magnitude refers to the amount of effort or time an activity requires. Highmagnitude activities involve greater engagement and interactivity among learners and offer more affordances for languaging and values-realizing than quick-and-easy low-magnitude activities. A lower-magnitude ERP may be successful if learners can prepare to play their roles in advance, receive ample scaffolding, or encounter brief scenarios that can be discussed and enacted in a single class session. For a longer, higher-magnitude ERP, an instructor may choose to devote significant class time to enactment throughout the ERP, or they may use class time only to check in on the progress learners make outside of class. The latter arrangement lends itself to an ERP project, in which teams spend most of the ERP preparing for an elaborate, in-classroom, culminating scenario enactment such as a multi-party debate or competitive marketing pitch. If limited class time is available, but instructors want to keep the role-playing in class, learners can prepare independently. Instructors can also increase the magnitude of an ERP by introducing delayed prompts with climactic events such as a market crash, pandemic, or natural disaster partway through the ERP; alternatively, a high-magnitude, project-like ERP can be divided into lower-magnitude, lower-risk activities which can be distributed among team members.

Evaluation of process and performance Learning is evaluative and appropriate evaluation provides learning opportunities. Learning as values-realizing implies each action that a learner takes is a reflection in action (Schön, 1991). An evaluation of the process by which learners

176

Robin Caselli et al.

Table 10.4 Steps for ERP Implementation 1 Introduce ERP rationale. 2 Plan and prepare: scenario prompt and roles, materials and technology, logistics, linguistic and professional learning outcomes, rubric and evaluation, resource toolkit. 3 Give initial prompt and toolkit, and assign roles: a Allow learners/teams time to explore, develop, and settle into their roles. b Set up space and materials. 4 Start ERP: a Monitor, guide, and assess as needed. b Maintain fidelity to the tenets. c Introduce delayed event prompts (e.g., natural disaster, new investor, etc.). d Assign peer reviews and self-evaluations as needed. 5 Final assessment: 6 Optional: fine tune ERP based on assessment. 7 Optional: start new and improved ERP.

can move forward with various events is at fore. This basic mechanism applies to all multi-scalar events taking place in the CoP: interactivity among learners, learners and the environment, and learners and artifacts, in addition to linguistic accuracy and learning goals. Performance of a job is dynamic and brings out heterarchical values, but both dynamic performance and grammar and discrete skills can be contextualized for assessment in can-do statements. These are shown in a rubric for evaluation by the learner, team members, and the instructor (see Appendix). Since the instructor monitors process evaluation, learner goals and needs regarding testing should be integrated into scenario design and implementation. For example, a list of potential lexicogrammar may be provided along with a budget spreadsheet in the office renovation scenario to serve as a point of reference for both use and learning throughout the ERP. There are also ample opportunities throughout an ERP for instructors to provide real-time scaffolding and feedback on linguistic forms and pragmatic actions. If desired, an instructor may implement an ERP after a more traditional lesson to allow learners to freely practice the new content, or an ERP may be implemented for learners to display their understanding of content for the instructor to assess. Instructors may inform learners beforehand if the ERP has a specific purpose as well as other information relevant to learner behavior, such as the scope and kind of scaffolding the instructor will provide or how learners should approach the ERP in regard to test preparation.

Conclusion The main goal for this chapter is to propose enhancements for BC education at undergraduate and graduate levels with learners of intermediate and advanced Chinese proficiency through an emerging understanding of interactivity, language, and cognition as well as implications for technology use. The evolution of

Becoming professionals 177 role-play to ecological role-play is a synthesis of many years of design-based teaching and research done by the RIDLLE group. By incorporating three major tenets from the ecological perspective, role-play becomes a porous and organic pedagogy. It is rooted in problem-based learning, branches out from projectbased learning, and transforms classrooms into spaces which afford deep, contextualized learning. By providing the theoretical grounding of how language, action, and values are entwined, ERP and its premises can be appreciated by both instructors and learners in helping them embody the doing of business and translanguaging in Chinese while also taking actions to think and act as professionals. Learners who experience an ERP for BC can embrace three core understandings. First, linguistic actions and conduct should be aligned in doing business in Chinese or in China (知行合一). Second, language is an ebb and flow of activities. Learning how to do business in Chinese sets up situations and conditions for learners to explore the meaningfulness and appropriateness of language depending on where, when, and to whom one is speaking. It applies 言外之意 in modern Chinese use that meaning potentials extend beyond the language itself. By languaging to experience language cultural norms, learners of BC embody action and thereby close the gap between instructional language and the actual languaging business world. And lastly, what one knows is embodied in what one does. To become a Chinese-speaking business professional, one must be consistent in word and deed (言行一致).

Appendix Rubric for ERP evaluation Three-Dimension Can-Do Assessment: Can I/my team members/the student . . .

Not Observed N/A

Cannot Do It, Effort Shown 1

Can Do It With Help 2

Can Do It Very Well 3

Language assessment Make use of core vocabulary and grammar items: break down further per topic/test/ scope of ERP Take turns/initiative when needed? Produce appropriate/suitable/ fitting utterances? Make themselves understood without pronunciation inhibiting understanding? (Continued)

178

Robin Caselli et al.

(Continued) Three-Dimension Can-Do Assessment: Can I/my team members/the student . . .

Not Observed N/A

Cannot Do It, Effort Shown 1

Can Do It With Help 2

Can Do It Very Well 3

Engage in a conversation by explaining their ideas further if needed? Skills of becoming professionals Perform roles in the group/ perform your own duties/ job performance Embody themselves into the role: Correct register/ formality/mannerism, use of materiality Show creativity/risk-taking/ research skills Take perspectives: incorporate others’ ideas/compromise/ conflict resolution Receive criticism/make changes/resiliency/selfawareness, calibration Collaborate with others (not showboating, contributing enough ideas, etc.): organization, responsibility, time management, orientation to others Take leadership: initiative, management, empathy

Notes 1 This chapter is co-contributed by RIDLLE (Research on Integrating Distributed Language Learning Environments) group members. The authorship is in alphabetical order by last names. 2 Tonghe Weng, a famous politician in the late Qing Dynasty (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Weng_Tonghe). The story of Guangzhao Li’s creative gift to Weng, binding Weng’s calligraphy into a book, is a historical case used in understanding the subtleness of doing business in China. This blog describes two sides of the story (https://rb.gy/qhdcvu): Doing business as friendship building in which knowing interests, hobbies, and values of business partners is more important than straightly following contracts and rules, even though this can easily be perceived as bribing. Li’s “gifting” story to Weng can be used to help BC students to understand that doing business in China is complex. It takes not only knowing the business but also the culture of relationships, friendship making, and the fine boundary between appreciation and bribery. 3 Ziqi Li reached 9 million followers on YouTube. She also has 34 million subscribers on Douyin, China’s version of Tik Tok and 22 million followers on the microblogging site Weibo (Yan, 2020).

Becoming professionals 179

References Bakhtin, M.M., & Holquist, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Austin: University of Texas Press. Barab, S., Arici, A., Aguilera, E., & Dutchin, K. (2019). Ecosystem empowerment: Unlocking human potential through value creation. In R. Barnett & N. Jackson (Eds.), Ecologies for learning and practice (pp. 129–145). London: Routledge. Chen, Q. 陈青海 (2012). 务本求实 : 商 务汉语教学的必由之路 [Foundation and application: A desirable path for business Chinese]. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 47(2), 17–31. Cowley, S.J. (2012). Cognitive dynamics: Language as values realizing activity. Cognitive Dynamics in Linguistic Interactions, 15–46. Cowley, S.J. (2019). The return of languaging: Toward a new ecolinguistics. Chinese Semiotic Studies, 15(4), 483–512. Cui, Z., Dong, J., Liu, Y., Nuesser, M., Rickman, K., Zhang, H., Zheng, D., & Zuo, Y. (2022). Becoming a resourceful language learner in a narrative-driven participatory game. In M. Peterson, & N. Jabbari (Eds.), Advances in digital game-based language learning. London & New York: The Routledge Focus Series. Hershock, P.D. (2006). Buddhism in the public sphere. London: Routledge. Hodges, B.H. (2007). Good prospects: Ecological and social perspectives on conforming, creating, and caring in conversation. Language Sciences, 29(5), 584–604. Hodges, B.H. (2009). Ecological pragmatics: Values, dialogical arrays, complexity, and caring. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17(3), 628–652. Hodges, B.H. (2014). Righting language: A view from ecological psychology. Language Sciences, 41, 93–103. Hodges, B.H. (2017). Conformity and divergence in interactions, groups, and culture. In S. Harkins, K. Williams, & J. Burger (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of social influence (pp. 87–105). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hodges, B.H. (2019). Resisting knowledge, realizing values, and reasoning in complex contexts: Ecological reflections. Theory & Psychology, 29(3), 291–310. Hodges, B.H., Steffensen, S.V., & Martin, J.E. (2012). Caring, conversing, and realizing values: New directions in language studies. Language Sciences, 34(5), 499–506. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Lee, C.H.-H., & Chen, L.-Y. 李欣欣,陳麗宇 (2014). 商務華語文化教學模組研究：商 務人士文化學習需求 暨觀點分析 [Building a culture learning model in the study of business Chinese: An analysis in business professionals’ cultural learning]. 華語文教學 研究[Journal of Chinese Language Teaching], 11(4), 41–71. Li, W. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied linguistics, 39(1), 9–30. Li, Y. (2011). Needs analysis of business Chinese learners. Journal of Chinese Language Teaching, 8(3), 23–46. Linell, P. (2009). Rethinking language, mind, and world dialogically: Interactional and contextual theories of human sense making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Love, N. (2017). On languaging and languages. Language Sciences, 61, 113–147. Newgarden, K., Zheng, D., & Liu, M. (2015). An eco-dialogical study of second language learners’ World of Warcraft (WoW) gameplay. Language Sciences, 48, 22–41. Reed, E.S. (1996). Encountering the world: Toward an ecological psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

180

Robin Caselli et al.

Schön, D.A. (1991). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in Action. Farnham, UK: Ashgate Publishing. Shen, S. 沈庶英 (2014). 来华留学生商务汉语实践教学探索 [Research on practice teaching of business Chinese to foreign students].语言教学与研究 [Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies], 1, 45–50. Shi, Z., Yuan, Q., & Kong, M. (2019). Developments in business Chinese teaching and research: An overview and perspectives. In H. Tao & H. H.-J. Chen (Eds.), Chinese for specific and professional purposes (pp. 133–155). Singapore: Springer Nature. https:// doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9505-5_6 Sin, S. 辛承姬 (2009). 韩国汉语教学的市场需求调研–以“商 务汉语”课程为例 [Survey on Korean education market demand of Chinese as a foreign language – In the case of biz Chinese course]. 福建师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版)[Journal of Fujian Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition)], 1, 166–172. Steffensen, S.V. (2009). Language, languaging, and the extended mind hypothesis. Pragmatics & Cognition, 17(3), 677–697. Swain, M. (2006). Languaging, agency and collaboration in advanced second language proficiency. In H. Byrnes (Ed.), Advanced language learning: The contribution of Holliday and Vygotsky (pp. 95–108). London: Continuum. Thibault, P.J. (2017). The reflexivity of human languaging and Nigel Love’s two orders of language. Language Sciences, 61, 74–85. van Lier, L. (2000). From input to affordance: Social-interactive learning from an ecological perspective. Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning, 78(4), 245–259. van Lier, L. (2004). The ecology and semiotics of language learning: A sociocultural perspective. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Wang, H. (2011). Chinese for business professionals: The workplace needs and business Chinese textbooks. Global Business Languages, 16(1), 27–42. Watty, K., & McKay, J. (2015). Pedagogy and ePortfolios: Purpose aligned to design (or the why and how). International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 10(3), 194–207. Yan, A. (2020, January 10). Chinese YouTube star Li Ziqi dismisses claim she makes US$24 million a year. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://rb.gy/tzgtzs Young, M.F., Barab, S.A., & Garrett, S. (2000). Agent as detector: An ecological psychology perspective on learning by perceiving-acting systems. In D. H. Jonassen & S. M. Land (Eds.), Theoretical foundations of learning environments (pp. 147–173). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Yu, Q. (2019). Designing a task-based and community-engaged business Chinese course. In H. Tao & H. H.-J. Chen (Eds.), Chinese for specific and professional purposes (pp. 167– 186). Singapore: Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9505-5_8 Yuan, F. (2006). Case study approach, task-based language teaching and a framework for business Chinese instruction. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 41(1), 13–30. Zhang, L. (2011). On the teaching approach of communicative strategy: A case study on the course of speech communication of business Chinese. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, 2, 9–15. Zheng, D. (2006). Affordances of three-dimensional virtual environments for English language learning: An ecological psychological analysis (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/affordances-three-dimensional-virtual/ docview/305322250/se-2?accountid=147035 Zheng, D. (2012). Caring in the dynamics of design and languaging: Exploring second language learning in 3D virtual spaces. Language Sciences, 34(5), 543–558.

Becoming professionals 181 Zheng, D., Bischoff, M., & Gilliland, B. (2015). Vocabulary learning in massively multiplayer online games: context and action before words. Educational Technology Research and Development, 63(5), 771–790. Zheng, D., Hu, Y., & Banov, I. (2019). A multiscalar coordination of languaging. Chinese Semiotic Studies, 15(4), 561–587. Zheng, D., Liu, Y., Lambert, A., Lu, A., Tomei, J., & Holden, D. (2018). An ecological community becoming: Language learning as first-order experiencing with place and mobile technologies. Linguistics and Education, 44, 45–57. Zheng, D., & Newgarden, K. (2017). Ecological, dialogical and distributed language approaches to online games and virtual environments. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 9, 1–15. Zheng, D., & Tian, J. 郑东萍,田剪秋 (2020). 生态、对话和分布式 (EDD) 视域、虚 拟环境与第二语言学习的互构 [Co-constituting second language learning from EDD perspectives and virtual environments]. 中国外语 Foreign Languages in China, 17(3), 36–44. Zheng, D., Young, M.F., Wagner, M.M., & Brewer, R.A. (2009). Negotiation for action: English language learning in game-based virtual worlds. The Modern Language Journal, 93(4), 489–511.

11 New directions in Business Chinese instructional materials development Jane Kuo

Introduction The main purpose of Business Chinese courses is to serve learners’ interest to conduct business with Chinese everywhere. Undoubtedly, the course content keeps pace with Chinese and global economic development. Through decadeslong efforts, Business Chinese teaching has achieved recognition for its curriculum design, instructional materials development, and research on teaching materials (Guan, 2017; Shi, Yuan, & Guan, 2019). While the current global economic situation shows signs of weakness or stagnation, the Chinese economy continues to develop. The Chinese economy certainly plays an integral role in global business. The increasing influence of the Chinese economy has sparked renewed international interest in learning Chinese language for business purposes. As China’s “Belt and Road” initiative grows in many countries, Business Chinese courses are in demand (Lan, 2017). However, in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global economy hard, especially in China, the United States, Japan, and Europe. In the second quarter of 2020, production operations have stalled, supply chains have broken, crude oil prices have plunged, and foreign trade transactions have declined. The signs of a global economic recession are apparent. This chapter explores the new normal in business and emphasizes the importance of Business Chinese teachers’ fundamental knowledge of China and its global economic development. The chapter also proposes that Business Chinese instructional materials should be kept current, guiding learners to gain insight into the underlying currents of an economic and political transformation that drives the dynamic business climate.

Problem statement Any course development is based on understanding the needs and motives of learners. Toward this end, teachers must anticipate what the learners’ take-away will be from the class. Will the knowledge taught in the course help students to develop their career prospects? Will they be able to apply the knowledge and information from the course in the workplace? (Kuo, 2019a; Wu & Guo, 2009). DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-15

New directions in Business Chinese 183 Another concern is the teachers’ “knowledge deficit”, that is an anxiety about not being on par with students’ knowledge of current business development. In recent years, data shows some students’ language proficiency is relatively high as more study programs, such as immersion and study abroad programs are readily available for K-12 students (Kuo, 2019a). Others, majoring in economics or business administration may have more advanced knowledge in business and/or more work experience. Today’s classroom exhibits a “new normal” with students having a higher degree of readiness. Naturally, if Business Chinese teachers lack sufficient business knowledge, they might not feel confident and might be apprehensive about how to teach Business Chinese and what to emphasize. In addition, the background of most language teachers is in the humanities, in areas such as second language acquisition, linguistics, and literature.

Theoretical framework for Language for Specific Purposes Curriculum Since the 1990s, Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) has been one of the most prominent development areas in curriculum design and instructional materials development. Its theory derived principally from English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the 1960s. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) argued that ESP was an important perspective for teachers teaching English as a second language. While designing the syllabus, teachers must pay attention to students’ needs so that learners can learn the language more effectively and practically (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987). Robinson (1991) proposed two important principles of ESP theory: 1) ESP is goal-oriented; and 2) ESP is developed from needs analysis. In short, the ultimate goal of ESP teaching philosophy is to learn what you can do with the language – that is, to meet the needs of learners in the shortest time possible to help them acquire the language communication skills required in a specific work environment (Kuo, 2019a). ESP’s teaching philosophy focuses on the particularity, professionalism, pertinence, and practicality of the learning content. In other words, while following the traditional and gradual language teaching methods, educators should also focus on tailoring lessons and applying the right elements to achieve immediate teaching results (Wang, 2003). Other than for its emphasis on efficiency, pertinence, and practicality, ESP theory in the 1990s was used by certain elements of the language teaching community because it embraced an interdisciplinary approach that combined disciplines such as business, medicine, law, etc., with the language teaching curriculum (Kuo, 2019a; Wu & Guo, 2009). For an advanced Business Chinese course, the inter-related disciplines can be a country’s economic system, corporate management operation, financial system or international trade, etc. When a language course employs an interdisciplinary approach using theme-based or content-based instruction, it can integrate subject content and language elements in the course (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989). The interdisciplinary approach includes the contextual examinations of topics. For instance, students not only can learn the language but also can tailor their learning into these contextual topical interests as well. This is a unique advantage of LSP, compared to other teaching theories.

184

Jane Kuo

With its interdisciplinary approach, a Business Language curriculum is inherently more suitable for a student whose major is economics or business administration. By enrolling in Business Chinese as an example, LSP could provide learners with an indepth look at subject matter as well as the language resources necessary to function efficiently and effectively in the working environment (Hughes, 2020). However, the field of LSP faces an urgent need for the ongoing refreshing and development of current teaching materials. As a result, some Business Chinese textbooks need to be abandoned for their outdated content (Wu, 2017). The rapid pace of change in technology as well as global economic development causes LSP instructional materials to go out of date quickly. The business world is changing rapidly in profound ways that affect industries, operating logistics, and the needs of consumers. Therefore, it is crucial that the content of instructional materials reflects the fundamental contextual pillars, such as Chinese regulations, policies, and strategies of economic development. Textbooks and other materials must keep step with the pace of the new era so that students can learn accurate and practical Business Chinese knowledge from their classes. For this reason, most business and economics textbook publishing companies demand that authors provide a new edition every three years – to keep up to date with real-world examples. The following example represents the kind of content that is appropriate for keeping Business Chinese instructional materials up to date.

Six phases: the rise of the Chinese wealth classes The following describe six phases in the development of Chinese wealth classes that have occurred since China’s open market reform was implemented (Figure 11.1). These six phases coincide with the economic development of the country, and provide insight into the underlying currents that fuel China’s modern economic development. Understanding the socio-economic and political characteristics of each phase in China’s growth could aid teachers to compile relevant and current references towards teaching content for Business Chinese curricula.

... Coal Boss

... .. Real Estate Predators

.. ... Private Entrepreneurs

.. Profiteer

Figure 11.1 The Rise of Chinese Wealth Classes

... .. Internet Pioneers

.. Internet Celebrities

New directions in Business Chinese 185

倒爷 ‘profiteer; wheeler and dealer’ – the first phase of the wealth class The first group of moguls were the 倒爷 ‘profiteers; wheeler and dealers’, who emerged after China officially launched its open-market reforms in 1978. The word 倒爷 originates from the Beijing dialect. Merchants who bought and sold commodities for profit in Beijing were called 倒爷. They were ‘dealers’ or ‘traders’. 倒爷 ‘dealers’ or ‘traders’ made their fortune by buying at a low from competitive open markets and selling at a high in markets with an inefficient centralized price system where availability was limited. The most common practice in the early days involved buying garments and electrical appliances from Guangzhou and selling to areas in northern China; likewise, textiles were bought from Shanghai and sold to other areas of the country for profit. The wave of 倒爷 ‘dealers’ or ‘traders’ reached its peak in the late 1980s when the government severely cracked down on corruption and collusion. After the Soviet Union collapsed, and therefore causing the drastic political re-alignment in the Eastern European economy, 倒爷 began multi-lateral trade with these regions during a severe shortage. They sold domestic textiles and light industrial products to Russia and Eastern Europe and bought Russian fur coats, tobacco, and alcohol to sell in the domestic market. The huge profits they made earned them their reputation as 国际倒爷 ‘international speculators’ in the early 1990s. In addition to the 倒爷, individuals, small workshops, and collective factories carried out various transactions of products that filled the supply gap in the form of 蚂蚁雄兵 ‘male ant soldiers’. These individuals became the first batch of 万 元户 ‘10,000 Yuan households’ in China. These people were regarded as China’s first wealth class.

民营企业家 营企业家 ‘private entrepreneurs’ – the second phase of the wealth class Then along came the rise of the manufacturing industry. Special Economic Zones (SEZ) were established in 1979 to practice 三来一补 ‘three-plus-one’1 and cooperation among corporations, China’s manufacturing and processing industry thrived on low-cost labor. These private entrepreneurs embodied the second phase of the emerging wealth class. China’s import and export trade was the dominant force attracting global investors with its cheap labor, laying the foundation for the growth of the value-added manufacturing and processing industry. On the other hand, favorable trade policies and incentives were enacted into laws for foreign investments into various SEZs. Large numbers of manufacturing entities from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan gradually shifted to the mainland, bringing along with them advanced management experience, equipment, and technologies. European and U.S. companies followed thereafter. Benefiting from the infusion of know-how and technology, with an educated low-cost labor force, China became the perfect match for the large-scale transfer of global manufacturing, especially low-end manufacturing. Thus China secured for itself the title of the “world’s factory” (Bsjpai, 2021).

186

Jane Kuo

With this new wave of opportunity, many became truly private entrepreneurs, and succeeded as self-employed, state-owned enterprise reformers, entrepreneurs, rural large-scale contractors, and border trade pioneers, etc. (Wei, 2013). In 2001, China successfully joined the World Trade Organization, with rapid growth in exports and a growing trade surplus. The intensity of attracting foreign capital is unmatched in the world. During this process, the business of “three foreign-funded enterprises” in China has achieved unprecedented development, and it has also had a great impact on the transformation of state-owned enterprises. In the early stage of China’s attraction of foreign investment, Hong Kong and Taiwan investment played an important role. Private enterprises initially provided supporting services to foreign investment (including Hong Kong and Taiwan investment), and then gradually grew and began to surpass foreign enterprises to become the dominant force in the non-public economy. It goes without saying, the development of Chinese private enterprises benefited greatly from the country’s reform and open-door policy, the influx of foreign investments, and the emerging wave of economic globalization. This process maximized China’s 人口红利 ‘demographic dividend’ with a labor force at low cost. The private entrepreneurs became China’s second wealth class generation, and created one of the world’s largest consumer spending markets in the world, something that the U.S. had long anticipated.

煤老板 ‘coal boss’ – the third phase of the wealth class Continuing from the success of the first and second phases, the dealers and private enterprise bosses accumulated a significant amount of capital. Local governments’ natural resource development policies began to take shape. Investors transferred their wealth as capital to diversify into the energy sector. As a result, a large number of 煤老板 ‘coal bosses’ and 矿老板 ‘mine bosses’ emerged and became the next group of China’s wealthy elite. Shanxi Province had the richest mineral resources in China, and the coal bosses became the representatives of Shanxi. Indeed, the vast majority of wealth in Shanxi still comes from the coal industry. According to data from 2018, 14 of the wealthiest people in Shanxi were between the ages of 48 and 64. The wealthiest individual in Shanxi was once worth 26.1 billion Yuan ($4 billion U.S. dollars) (Sohu Finance Network, 2018). Consistent with the 2008 international financial crisis, and the implementation of the country’s more stringent regulations for environmental protection, most small and medium-sized coal mines were forced to limit or stop production (Wu, 2021). Many private entrepreneurs who had been engaged in coal mining for a long time diversified their investments into agriculture, tourism, finance, and high-tech industries. Consequently, ‘coal bosses’ gradually faded from the public eye (Phoenix Finance, 2018). Although ‘coal boss’ has become a historical term, it is the poster child for a rags-to-riches miracle in China. Similar to the global oil moguls, this group is still influential in the capital market today.

New directions in Business Chinese 187

房地产大鳄 ‘real estate predators’ – the fourth phase of the wealth class Since 1980, this group has built their fortunes in real estate investment, development, operation, management, services, and other related industries. The year 1980 was recognized as the commencement year of the real estate era 房地产元 年 ‘the first year of real estate’. Its genesis started with capital accumulated from the previous era. This industry has had the most extensive and lasting impact on China’s economy. Along the way, it created a number of real estate predators on China’s wealthiest list. It includes Wanda’s Wang Jianlin,2 Evergrande’s Xu Jiayin, Country Garden’s Yang Guoqiang, and SOHO’s Pan Shiyi. They are undoubtedly the most influential and most controversial elite group in China due to the huge fortunes they accumulated (Baidu, 2019). China’s real estate industry is an important part of the economy. Its healthy growth promoted the development of related industries and the national economy. It contributed to social and political stability, and improved people’s livelihoods. In developed countries such as the United States and Japan, governments promulgate policies that have real impact on real estate industry development. The explosive growth of the real estate industry in China came at a time when federal funds were made available to invigorate local economies, along with an increase in demand for better housing in response to higher living standards. The real estate industry has made advances in innovative construction techniques, transformed the urban and rural landscapes across China, and improved living environments as well as stimulated local economies. While other related businesses benefited from the real estate boom, it also spurred the growth of the capital market to a large extent. The decline of the real estate boom resulted in decreased funding and a leveling off for other industry development, resulting in the “hollowing out” phenomenon of the manufacturing sector. In addition, the buildup and instability of highly leveraged debt ceilings created a precarious bubble for the economy.

互联网新贵 联网新贵 ‘Internet pioneers’ – the fifth phase of the wealth class The rise of the Internet was characteristically different, as its timing was only made possible with increasing globalization of foreign investment capital, innovation, and technology from Silicon Valley. The preceding wealth classes had financing and policy support from the government and their peers, whereas the Internet pioneers had allies from international investment banks and financial capital through their mastery of IT technology and a unique foresight of market demands. With global capital markets fueling ever-growing consumer spending, this wealth class accumulated capital without the sinful label of impropriety associated with wealth accumulation in previous phases. Chinese companies and entrepreneurs truly had influence over the global economy through the real estate giants and Internet pioneers with close ties to the global capital market. They all influenced global capital and market trends in their fields. For example, Wanda was once the world’s largest commercial real estate

188

Jane Kuo

development operator; Vanke, Country Garden, and Evergrande are still global leaders in residential real estate development and management. These companies had a profound impact on the direction of global commercial and residential real estate development, and on the operation of the extended global hotel, entertainment, and sports industries.

网红 ‘Internet celebrities/social media influencers’ – the sixth phase of the wealth class Along with the ascent of the Internet and China’s continuing commitment to innovation reform, new generations have better career choices with greater prospects for personal freedom. One of these careers is the web influencercelebrity. It is a new profession with low cost, but a high degree of freedom, with a respectable level of income. As of March 2019, more than 60% of Chinese consumers accept the role of influencer-celebrities on the web, while in the United States and Japan, the proportion is less than 40% (Hou et al., 2019). Troyka Brauer, Internet economist at the Free University of Germany, said, “China is the engine of the global celebrity economy and the world’s first celebrity economy” (Yang, 2020). China has a good network infrastructure. It is fast, and has a mature online marketplace, with a large e-commerce presence and numerous social media platforms to facilitate the development of the web celebrity industry. As an e-commerce tool, smartphones account for about 95% of China’s e-commerce activities (Weed, 2018). Commercial and non-commercial live webcasts not only bring better experiences and authenticity to non-consumers, but also allows Internet netizens to see instant feedback on product reviews from all other users. Online shopping is almost like trying out products in person. Consumers have a say in the satisfaction of the shopping process as an influencer, and do not succumb to the role of a helpless consumer. This new shopping model has changed forever the traditional sales approach and advertising norms. Additionally, with the increasing popularity of video sites such as 抖音 ‘Tik Tok’ and 快手 ‘quick worker’, many Internet celebrities have built large audience followings, resulting in high income payouts. Many countries have now set up celebrity marketing schools, and some chambers of commerce and vocational schools also provide celebrity-training programs. However, government regulation is lagging far behind the rapid development of the Internet economy for this sector. The Internet celebrity marketing schools attach great importance to the cultivation of professional ethics that governs content creation and market brands. They also cover legalities for production, copyright, and trademark rights. This will undoubtedly help the web celebrity economy grow, as it can rely on a firm foundation.

Inspiration for Business Chinese teaching The rise of the wealth classes tells the history of China’s recent economic development. From the inception of China’s economic reform, through the creation of

New directions in Business Chinese 189 wealth, to becoming an integral and influential mainstream partner of the global economy, the vivid historical economic development provides valuable resources for improving the content and quality of Business Chinese teaching. The author believes that qualified teachers should possess these resources as their basic “professional knowledge” to augment their efficacy in teaching. The efficacy of business knowledge on Business Chinese teaching Understanding the dynamics of the economic growth that gave rise to the wealth classes and its transformative progression in modern times is an important part of the “content knowledge” that teachers should acquire for Business Chinese teaching. Teaching quality depends to a great extent on the volume of a teacher’s own learned professional knowledge. Combining this background knowledge with flexible teaching methods can directly benefit students’ learning. Business Chinese teachers with relevant business knowledge can ensure a “Value-added effect” in instruction, which is a potent combination of language teaching with business knowledge content. In the context of LSP theory, teachers would include economics and business as integral parts of language teaching. If teachers can wisely choose a textbook that introduces China’s macroeconomic development as the main textbook, properly adding current news or related supplementary materials that meet the needs of students, they can make more effective use of “content-based teaching” and “task-based teaching”. By mastering a wealth of professional knowledge, teachers can overcome instructional anxiety caused by the “knowledge deficit”, and thus carry out effective teaching and increase student interest in learning. The following is the table of contents for New Pathways: An Advanced Chinese Reader, (Kuo, 2019b) an advanced Business Chinese textbook written by the author. It is designed keeping in mind both macro and micro perspectives of China’s economy (Table 11.1). Table 11.1 Contents of New Pathways Reform and Opening Up

• • • Macro Economy Development of • Finance • Marketing

China’s Trade Expansion

• • • • • • •

The Reform of China’s Economic System The Development of Private Enterprises From Special Economic Zones to Free Trade Zone The Evolution of China’s Banking System The influence of Interest Rates and Foreign Exchange Rates on the Economy The Chinese Stock Market Market Research in China Transformation and Trends in Chinese Business Marketing Brand Awareness The Development and New Structure of China’s Foreign Trades China and Free Trade Agreements One Belt and One Road

190

Jane Kuo

Current development in instructional material Contemporary economic development and emerging digital industries expedited the reformation and innovation demands of advanced level Business Chinese teaching content. This content must now be relevant, yet practical. For example, in the 1980s and early 1990s, Business Chinese typically focused on topics such as Chinese manufacturing and trade, and the emphasis was to provide essential vocabulary and topics in line with the context of business activities at the time. Current learning needs are very different from the topics, content, and vocabulary of 20 or 30 years ago. Nowadays, students need a more sophisticated language toolset to understand the current business climate of a broad set of digital industries, such as sharing economies, social media, augmented reality, cloud computing, microtransactions, and digital app development. At present, a new round of scientific and technological innovation is transforming industries and shaping a new language of international business. In this new era, China’s new economy coexists with its traditional economy, and the growth of its digital industries has become the main theme and economic focus of China’s economic plan. But, for China to succeed in the coming years, innovation must remain a priority, as well as building an effective forum for international trade. The growth of these emerging industries will also need to rely on the content of Business Chinese teaching to keep pace with China’s rapid economic development, and to make timely adjustments accordingly. In order to move to a new level and be in line with international standards, in which fields and industries will China drive its economy to continue to grow steadily (Zhou, 2018)? See Table 11.2.

Table 11.2 Innovation Economic Fields and Industries Field

Industry

Feature

Artificial Intelligence

• Transportation and Autonomous Driving • Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR) • Robotics • Banking and Financial Services • Internet of Things (IoT) • Sharing Economy • Cloud Computing • Big Data • Digital Apps • Social Media • Cryptocurrency • Online Shopping • App Transactions and Microtransactions • Fulfillment • Business to Consumer/ Business to Business

The development of artificial intelligence will create new opportunities for all walks of life. Artificial intelligence will take the position of acting financial advisors and stockbrokers.

New Digital Industries

E-Commerce

The growth of China’s e-commerce valuation is increasing at a rate of 12% every year. www.globaldata.com/e-commerce-marketchina-will-reach-us3-trillion-2024forecasts-globaldata/ Inventory and logistics mitigation. The e-com industry has great potential and provides opportunity for personal entrepreneurship.

New directions in Business Chinese 191

Conclusions In addition to a firm foundation of language teaching skills, effective Business Chinese teachers should have knowledge of China’s modern economic developments and current business climate. This will allow students to improve their language skills and learn essential business practices. A recent shift in economic policy opens China to the global arena with strategic themes to “bring in” new resources and “go out” to cultivate new markets. With the steady rollout of the “Belt and Road” initiative, it is uncertain about the eventual scope of the “going out” plans. However, it is certain that the new policy’s paradigm shift will further promote Chinese businesses in every corner of the world (Lu, 2018). Partnership and cooperation are paramount to any successful joint venture. They require mutual understanding and synergy to embrace new ideas, fostering a trusting and harmonious environment to promote mutual benefit. These opportunities will further expand the teaching role to help minimize friction and conflict due to different cultural perspectives and management styles. This era, which is witnessing an ever-changing technological revolution, briefly found its momentum disrupted by the Covid pandemic, only to find the digital economy growing and expanding in exponential ways. Change is certain. A new world order may be the next new direction in economic affairs. What will be the new business frontier and where will it lead us? To respond effectively to the rapidly changing global business environment, the content and methods for teaching Business Chinese must adapt to keep pace with current innovation and reform. Teachers’ commitment to this expanded role fulfills a higher calling to the profession of Business Chinese teaching. It serves business activities in China beyond the classroom, and by extension it also serves the global economy. The new expanded role enriches their knowledge base in business and economics, and raises their competence and confidence levels to create possible further innovation. Furthermore, it will reduce or eliminate anxiety caused by the “knowledge deficit”. With this commitment, the current generation of Business Chinese teachers will become the pioneers for the next professional generation. Their leadership will make a difference in global commerce for years to come.

Notes 1 The ‘three-plus-one’ refers to the processing of import materials, sample and assembly of import parts. The ‘one’ refers to the form of countertrade in which an investment is repaid from the revenues generated by that investment. 2 Wang Jianlin withdrew from the real estate market in 2019.

References Baidu 百度. (2019). 中国房地产大亨都有哪几位？他们的公司叫什么？[Who are the Chinese real estate tycoons? What are their company names?]. Retrieved from https:// zhidao.baidu.com/question/942790399693975652.html. Brinton, D.M., Snow, M.A., & Wesche, M.B. (1989). Content-based second language instruction. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

192

Jane Kuo

Bsjpai, P. (2021). Why China is “the world’s factory”. Retrieved from www.investopedia. com/articles/investing/102214/why-china-worlds-factory.asp www.globaldata.com. E-commerce market in China will reach US $3 Trillion in 2024, Forecasts GlobalData. (China E-Commerce Value CNY Trillion: 2016–2024). www.globaldata.com/e-commerce-market-china-will-reach-us3-trillion-2024-forecastsglobaldata/. Guan, D. 关道雄. (2017). 北美高校商务汉语的课程设计与教学方法 [Curriculum design and teaching methods for business Chinese in North American universities]. In D. Guan & M. Liu (Eds.), 全球视野下的商务汉语教学与研究 [Business Chinese language teaching and research from a global perspective] (pp. 3–17). Beijing: Peking University Press. Hou, J. Qing, M. Li, Z., & Zheng, X. 侯健羽, 青木, 李珍, 郑璇. (2019). 中国网红经 济火爆 世界怎么看 [China’s Internet celebrity economy is booming. What does the world think]. 环球时报 Global Times. Retrieved from https://m.huanqiu.com/ article/9CaKrnKl7Ip Hughes, H.Z. (2020). Book review: New pathways: An advanced business Chinese reader. NECTFL Review, 85, 57–61. Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kuo, J. 郭珠美. (2019a). 美国大学商务汉语课程设置转型探讨 [Exploring Business Chinese Curriculum Design Options in American Universities]. In D. Guan & M. Liu (Eds.), 国 际中文教育新拓展姚道中教授纪念论文集 [Explorations in teaching Chinese as a second language: Studies in honor of Professor Tao-chung “Ted” Yao] (pp. 135–144). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui Co. Kuo, J. 郭珠美. (2019b). 新航道,高 级商务汉语读本 New pathways: An advanced business Chinese reader. Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui. Lan, J. 兰佳睿. (2017). “一带一路”战略背景下的商务汉语新课型建设 [Construction of Business Chinese New Course under the Strategy Background of “the Belt and Road”]. In D. Guan & M. Liu (Eds.), 全球视野下的商务汉语教学与研究 Chinese language teaching and research from a global perspective (pp. 1–36). Beijing: Peking University Press. Li, Y. 李勇. (2018). 中国房地 产行业投资促进报告，产业投资促进系列报告 [Report on Chinese real estate investment promotion]. Retrieved August 22, 2021 from www2. deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/cn/Documents/real-estate/deloitte-cn-re-china-reindustry-investment-promotion-report-zh-180511.pdf Lu, J. 陆俭明. (2018, March 31). “一带一路”建设需要商务汉语教学 [Construction of “One Belt One Road” needs Business Chinese]. [Keynote speech] The 6th Business Chinese Workshop in Conjunction with the 2nd International Conference on Business Chinese Education, Honolulu, HI, United States. Phoenix Finance 凤凰网财经. (2018). 煤炭行 业40年沉浮 录：煤老板已成往事，大煤 气时代到来 [40 Years of Ups and Downs in the Coal Industry: A Coal-Dominant Past Replaced by the Gas Era]. Retrieved from https://finance.ifeng.com/c/7gGw3WBvIfQ. Robinson, P.C. (1991). ESP today: A practitioner’s guide. New York: Prentice Hall. Shi, Z., Yuan, Q., & Guan, D. 史中琦, 袁桥楒, 关道雄 (2019). 1997–2017年商务汉语教 学探索与实践: 热点与反思 [1997–2017 Business Chinese teaching and research overview]. 国际汉语教育 [International Chinese Language Education], 4(4), 6–19. Sohu Finance Network 搜狐财经网. (2018, June 8). 2018山西富豪排行榜 2018山西首 富是谁? [Ranking list of rich people in 2018: Who are the richest people in Shanxi Province?]. Retrieved from www.sohu.com/a/234622430_119746

New directions in Business Chinese 193 Wang, R. 王若江 (2003). 特殊目的汉语教学实践引发的思考 [Thoughts inspired by Special Purposes Chinese practice]. 汉语教学与研究 [Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies], 1, 52–57. Weed, K. (2018). How technology is changing consumer experience in China. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/how-technology-is-changing-consumerexperience-in-china/ Wei, X. 卫祥云 (2013). 国企改革新思路, [New ideas for reform of state-owned enterprises]. 长江文艺出版社 Changjiang Literature Publishing House. Wu, J. 吴远鹏. (2017). 试论商务汉语教学在海外大学教学中的相关问题：教材、教 法及策略 [Issues in teaching Business Chinese overseas at the college level: Materials, pedagogy and strategies]. In D. Guan & M. Liu (Eds.), 全球视野下的商务汉语教学与 研究 [Chinese language teaching and research from a global perspective] (pp. 72–80). Beijing: Peking University Press. Wu, Q. 吴琼. (2021, June 24). 山西责令两家煤矿停产整顿 [Shanxi orders two coal mines to suspend production for rectification]. Retrieved from https://finance.sina.com. cn/tech/2021-06-24/doc Wu, Z., & Guo, P. 吴中伟, 郭鹏. (2009). 任务型教学与专门用途汉语教学，对外汉语 任务型教学 [Task-based teaching method and teaching Chinese for Specific Purposes]. Beijing: Peking University Press. Yang, J.F. 杨俊峰. (2020, January 14). 中国成为网红经济发动机 [China becomes the economic engine of Internet celebrities]. 人民日报海外版 [People’s Daily Overseas Edition]. Retrieved from www.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2020-01/14/c_1125457885.htm Zhou, H. 周慧婷. (2018). 盘点10个行业，我们预测了2019年的发展趋势 [We look at 10 industries and forecast the development trends in 2019]. Retrieved from https://t. cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/6452647085/1809b94ad01900bg0g

12 A study of psychomotor learning modules for Business Chinese speaking fluency and accuracy Chin-Chin Tseng and Man Fong Lam

Introduction This chapter presents a learning module of cognitive function and articulatory movements for Business Chinese context. In the 1948 American Psychological Association Convention, it was decided to divide educational goals into three areas: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Psychomotor means an action controlled or guided by the mind. As one of the primary domains of learning (Bloom, 1956), psychomotor is demonstrated or done by the learners, requiring imitation, manipulation and precision (Moore, 2001). Speaking involves many psychomotor processes, requires repetition and practice (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 2010). Psychomotor learning is demonstrated by articulatory language control skills, including four performance descriptors: coordination of pronunciation, pitch control, intensity manipulation and speed. Coordination of pronunciation for business content requires adapting to new articulatory fine motor skills, such as repositioning the articulator to an unfamiliar position or switching the manner of articulation. Considering the psychomotor needs of pronunciation, technologies such as computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT), providing individualized practice, immediate feedback (Neri et al., 2002), seem an ideal support for learners to facilitate acquiring psychomotor skills. Regarding the potential of ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) systems for pronunciation training, Neri, Cucchiarini and Strik (2008) found that there are considerable improvements in the group of learners receiving ASR feedback. Similarly, Hong (1997) showed that computer-assisted readings in Business Chinese effectively improved students’ proficiency. In this study, the MyCT platform is employed as an online/mobile articulation feedback tool to facilitate acquiring psychomotor skills. When an L2 learner takes a Business Chinese course, he/she may not have enough proficiency in their speaking fluency and accuracy. In real business world communication, comprehensible output is a must. Therefore, training for L2 learners of Business Chinese should include speaking fluency and accuracy.

Research design of the psychomotor learning modules In this study, two experiments were designed to test the effect of the online/mobile articulation feedback tool. Brown (2001) discusses three principles of teaching: cognitive, affective and linguistic. The native language effect, interlanguage and DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-16

Psychomotor learning modules

195

communicative competence are included in the linguistic principals. In our study, the native language effect was shown in Experiment 2, whether the subject’s native language is a tone language did affect their psychomotor control. Second language learners of a non-tone language tend to go through a parameter resetting process as they progress to full competence in a tone language. However, if there is no corrective feedback provided for the learner, his/her pronunciation, including pitch control, may fossilize. This is where computer-assisted psychomotor skill training can play a role. For Business Chinese class, communicative competence is the focus, which includes organizational, pragmatic, strategic and psychomotor instruction. Brown (2001) pointed out that communicative goals should be given to fluency as well, not just accuracy, in authentic language and contexts, and to students’ eventual need to apply classroom learning in the real world. For this reason, authentic materials were employed in the learning modules design. According to Little, Devitt, and Singleton (1989), authentic materials are “the materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purposes in the language community”. In Experiment 1, aircraft broadcast training materials containing 18 sentences commonly used during airline broadcasts were adapted (Appendix A). In Experiment 2, world currencies and the names of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries were introduced, where Business Chinese language is likely to be used. A list of training materials consisting of numbers and the name of the currency in Chinese is designed to help L2 learners pronounce large numbers, country names and their currencies in a finance and international business context (Appendix B). The learning materials are compiled from authentic business news covering international business and world currencies, including the currencies used by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The sentences and the phrases were selected for the purpose of providing such authentic materials for Business Chinese training. The learning objective is for learners to gradually develop their L2 psychomotor skills through the learning modules. Cioni and Sgandurra (2013) have pointed out that in humans, critical periods are extended over years and there are different critical periods for different brain functions. Unless a certain psychomotor skill is acquired during this period, the corresponding linguistic performance will remain poor. For language acquisition of tones, it seems to remain poor unless learned during critical learning periods. Nevertheless, noticing and imitation both provide a foundation for language acquisition and skill learning. Therefore, in the experiment design, stages for the psychomotor development were observed. In the first stage, L2 learners attempted to read the learning materials without prior knowledge or prior practice. In the second stage, L2 learners listened to the target item and tried to imitate. Then immediate feedback was given on their pronunciation. In the final stage, the learner continued to refine psychomotor skills through practice.

Experiment 1 Instruments The instrument used in this study is the MyCT online/mobile articulation feedback speaking platform.2 Authentic reading texts sourced from commercial

196

Chin-Chin Tseng and Man Fong Lam

airline contexts were used for training psychomotor skills. The learning modules consisted of 18 sentences in-flight passenger announcements (Appendix A). Participants’ questionnaires were also conducted. The questionnaire (Appendix C) mainly consisted of participants’ personal information, language background, Chinese language learning experience and self-evaluation of Chinese proficiency. The platform enables learners to use online real-time feedback to effectively self-monitor their pronunciation. The learner can adjust psychological pronunciation actions according to the scoring and pronunciation feedback, correct their pronunciation and adjust pitch and tone control of utterances to achieve learner autonomy. Participants In Experiment 1, the participants are 18 adult L2 Chinese learners of various nationalities, age 20 to 52. Forty-four percent of the learners are Thai (the nationalities of the participants are listed in Figure 12.1); 58.8% of participants are intermediate-level learners who majored in Chinese as a Foreign Language; 80% of the learners have never received musical training, vocal or instrumental; 52.9% of the learners passed the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK/Chinese Proficiency Test) or Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL) with a minimum of level 3. For self-evaluation of Chinese proficiency, 94% of the participants would like to improve their speaking proficiency as shown in Figure 12.2. Procedure An initial pretest “cold reading”3 was conducted, followed by a procedure modeled on Simpson’s five step psychomotor system (1966). Perception is the first

Filipino 6%

Indian 6%

Korean 6%

French 5%

Thai 44%

Polish 5% Japanese 11% American 17%

Figure 12.1 Proportion of Participants by Nationality

197

SPEAKING

44%

LISTENING

44%

50%

94%

Psychomotor learning modules

READING

WRITING

Figure 12.2 Self-evaluation of Chinese Language Skill Needs Assessment in Experiment 1

step of becoming aware of objects, qualities or relations by way of the sense organs. In our research design, the learner will attend to the model examples of phrases and sentences articulated by a Chinese instructor. The second step, “Set”, is a preparatory adjustment or readiness for a particular kind of action or experience to get ready to utter the target language phrases or sentences. The third step, “Guided response”, is the overt behavioral act of an individual under the guidance of the instructor. MyCT online/mobile articulation feedback speaking platform played the instructor role in our study. The fourth step is the learner’s attempt to adjust their articulatory movements according to the scores and the explicit psychomotor instruction to achieve a certain confidence and degree of skill in the performance of the articulatory act. The fifth step is the automation of production by the learner, where he/she strives to perform the act smoothly and efficiently through daily practice with minimum expenditure of time and energy. Resolution of uncertainty and automatic performance are then acquired. During the perception process, sensory stimulation like auditory, visual, kinesthetic and other sense organs are involved (Simpson, 1966). By incorporating both auditory and visual cues, CAPT (computer-assisted pronunciation training) systems help pronunciation teaching from different modalities. The learners listen to speech, increase motor activities of tongue muscles when the heard words involve tongue movements. Based on their own articulations, visual articulation feedback stimulates meaningful learning by presenting material multi-modally and providing customized input to learners (Neri et al., 2002). For Experiment 1, the participants received five days of pronunciation instruction, in which the participants were presented model utterances and corresponding pitch contours of the target sentences, followed by pronunciation practice sessions of the target sentences on the MyCT computer-assisted pronunciation training

198

Chin-Chin Tseng and Man Fong Lam

platform. During this period, the participants were instructed to use the online platform to practice 30 minutes a day. Computerized speaking tests were conducted before and after the training to measure the improvement of their pronunciation. Results For illustrative purposes, the pronunciation results in Experiment 1 are presented in Figure 12.3 where the mean overall score and mean individual scores of segmental pronunciation, pitch, intonation, fluency, the emphasis of phrases and sentence production are provided. The Experiment 1 scores (see Figure 12.3) show that the largest improvement in individual score was made in the “Fluency” category (30.76%). After the fiveday psychomotor training, improvement in the “Fluency” category had reached statistical significance (paired t-test, p=0.007