When Traditional Chinese Culture Meets a Technical ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Applied ResearchDaniel D. Dinginformation from examples and other sources smacksof Confucianism, which stresses memorization as a wayof learning. Confucius once talked about learning byheart the 300 Classic Poems because memorizing thesepoems would enable one to express oneself by using thelines form the poems (Lau, 1997). More important, itcorroborates Roberts and Tuleja (2008), who observedthat their Chinese students also used similar strategies ofcopying information from sources without citing them.Perhaps rote learning indeed helps Chinese studentslearn to use English faster and more effectively.My students also tried to memorize materials andinformation collectively. That is, they formed into smallgroups of five to seven, and each group member wasassigned to memorize one item. For example, in learningAPA and MLA styles of documentation, the students inClass 3 formed into six groups. Some group memberswere asked to memorize the entry for a book by a singleauthor; others were to learn the entry for a journal articleby three or more authors. In memorizing a sample,some students were to learn the first two paragraphs;others the second three paragraphs. So next time theywere working together, members would contribute theirmemorized information to the group. In this collectiverote learning practice, students demonstrated theimportance not only of memory-based study habits butalso collectivism in class.Broad thinking style vs. specific thinking styleConsiderable research has focused on different thinkingpatterns as a way of studying cultural assumptionsand features in technical communication. Roberts andTuleja (2008), discussing their experiences of teachinga managerial course in a Hong Kong university,identify as a challenge to their pedagogy Chinesestudents’ preference for the inductive approach andtheir resistance to the deductive line of reasoning.Barnum and Li (2006), after comparing Chineseand American communication documents, point outthat Chinese students prefer inductive thinking whileAmerican students always think deductively in theircommunication practices.My sabbatical experience identified another thinkingpattern in my students’ writing. That is, they preferredto think broadly and generally instead of specifically. Ifound this thinking pattern in papers by both graduatesand undergraduate students. For example, in myundergraduate classes, one of the assignments requiredstudents to draft a recommendation, analytical, orinformative report to address a real problem at a real jobsetting. Though I repeatedly emphasized the importanceof picking a specific, small-scope problem that existed ata job setting, most of the students chose broad, largescopeproblems, such as China’s economic developmentafter the Beijing Olympics, China’s status in the globaleconomy, or building China into a world power. Mygraduate students chose problems of similar scope. Forexample, while discussing her plans for her final writtenproject, which was intended to address a problem inthe provincial human resource services where she wasworking, one student picked China’s current educationalsystem as the theme of her final recommendation reportto her program manager. She supported her choice byciting the fact that the Chinese Communist Party hadissued a call for faster development in education andby arguing that China’s education as a whole neededto catch up. I suggested to her that the problem shouldbe narrowed down to a more significant, specific localproblem (e.g., a problem in her department) so that themanager could make an informed decision based on herrecommendations; the manager would not be able todo anything about these large-scope problems becausethey were beyond her ability and managing power. Thisstudent’s explanation for her choice of a broad problemsurprised me. She stated that ever since elementaryschool, her Chinese teachers of composition had advisedher and other students to focus on “big” problems likethose faced by the country and the world instead ofsmall, personal or local problems. Big problems aresignificant because they are related to more people; smallproblems are not worth discussing because they concernonly a few people.Research has provided support for a similarclassification of thinking styles. For example, Kao,Yi-ming, Pei-Lan Lei, and Chuen-Tsai Sun (2008),while discussing web research strategies, identify thesetwo thinking patterns as “global thinking style” and“local thinking style” (p. 1335). They claim that [globalthinking] style users…are less likely to explore an issuein depth compared to [local thinking] style individuals”…who “elaborate on a few specific topics” (p. 1330).They also note that global thinking individuals tendto “deal with relatively large and abstract issues” whilelocal thinking individuals tend to focus on “detailed andconcrete issues” (p. 1335).Volume 58, Number 1, February 2011 l Technical Communication 47
Applied ResearchA Technical Communication Program in a Chinese UniversityOne explanation for my Chinese students’preference for broad and general issues over local andspecific issues relates to their cultural focus on thecollective and its deemphasis of individuals (Ding, 2006;Huang, et al, 1994; Winfield, et al, 2000). China’scollectivist culture places a high value on the interestsof the whole country above those of the local provinces,cities, and enterprises and institutions; and on theinterests of a group over those of individuals. One wayto show an individual’s sense of the collective is to talkabout issues faced by the country rather than issues facedby the local entities or to discuss issues faced by groupsinstead of individuals. Thus, global and broad issuesare culturally more significant than local and specificissues for my Chinese students. Perhaps for this reason,some researchers suggest that when we communicatewith our Chinese colleagues, we also play “collectivism,”for example, using “we” instead of “I” and beginning atext with “general” and “big” issues followed by specificissues (Xu, 1996).ConclusionsMy discussions suggest that the technicalcommunication program in Chinese universities isconditioned by Chinese culture. First, pedagogy oftechnical communication is governed by the testorientedsocietal norms of a society that offers limitedopportunities for too many students. Second, Chinesestudents in their studies are motivated by their desireto uphold collectivism, which Chinese culture stresses.Third, the broad thinking style is a textual mechanismfor students to complete their written assignmentsand to demonstrate their patriotism. My study hasthe following implications for international technicalcommunication education in China:• Technical communication courses in China must belocalized.• When designing a technical communication coursefor a Chinese university, we must consider theregulations of the authorities governing selection oftextbooks and course content.• We must respect the Chinese cultural assumptionof teacher as the knowledge center in class whileteaching technical communication.• Building technical communication coursework forstudents must be based on their rote-learning studyhabits.• Any effort to help China develop its own technicalcommunication program must accommodatethe Chinese educational system, which promotescollectivism and patriotism.As technical communication practitioners andresearchers, we should, among other things, focusmore on the culturally conditioned manifestations inpedagogy to help international technical communicatorsdefine strategies for approaching Chinese students.In this respect, Roberts and Tuleja (2008) have donea wonderful job in that, they studied six particularcultural challenges they encountered in teachingmanagement communication in a Chinese university.These challenges are specific manifestations ofthe generalizations identified by literature aboutinternational technical communication. Based onthese challenges, they “consciously adapted [their]teaching and learning practices” to help students learn(p. 485). Their efforts represent our further researchinto international technical communication. Asinternational technical communicators, we must notonly develop an internationally oriented approach totechnical communication, but more important, we mustunderstand practicing and teaching styles and studyingand learning habits within a particular culture. We mustknow when and how to adapt, in Roberts and Tuleja’swords, “our [emphasis added] strongly entrenched”(p. 476) styles and habits to a particular internationalcommunication environment. I hope my sabbaticalexperiences at Zhengzhou University have providedmore useful information for both practitioners andresearchers to develop a global approach to technicalcommunication.I want to stress that I do not wish, based onmy experiences at one Chinese university, to makeany general pronouncements about technicalcommunication in China as a whole. I do not wanteither to draw any valid conclusions about millions ofChinese college students’ or instructors’ perceptions oftechnical communication based on my contact with300 students and five instructors from one Chineseuniversity. Rather, I just want to make some validobservations about technical communication pedagogy48 Technical Communication l Volume 58, Number 1, February 2011
Page 1: Applied ResearchWhen Traditional Ch
Page 4 and 5: Applied ResearchDaniel D. Dingas st
Page 6 and 7: Applied ResearchDaniel D. Dingnot w
Page 8 and 9: Applied ResearchDaniel D. DingSurve
Page 10 and 11: Applied ResearchDaniel D. Dingideol
Page 12 and 13: Applied ResearchDaniel D. DingResea
Page 16 and 17: Applied ResearchDaniel D. Dingand p
Page 18: Applied ResearchDaniel D. DingSt.Am

When Traditional Chinese Culture Meets a Technical ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?