“Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining

“Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Liao, Hao-Hsiang
Language:English
Published: The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2012
Subjects:
Foreign Language
Chinese language pedagogy
culture
performance
face
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13567325562021-08-03T05:20:09Z “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining Liao, Hao-Hsiang Foreign Language Chinese language pedagogy culture performance face Face, a self-image that each member of a society seems to care about, is a cultural performance. Performance refers to situated behaviors that define an individual’s successful functioning in a society. Face can be as explicit as defending yourself in a debate or as implicit as denying a request from a friend. This dissertation investigates how “face” is presented, maintained, negotiated, and how it functions in the cases of requesting and declining in Chinese culture. To be more specific, this dissertation explores “face” in four situations – making a request of your teacher, making a request of a friend, denying a request from your teacher, and denying a request from a friend – and depicts the features of these four situations from both the native speakers’ and the Chinese learners’ perspectives. Based on the results of the research, I argue “face” as a theme in requesting and declining as it runs through the considerations and strategies people resort to in these situations. The considerations are face-based and they correspond to the face-saving themes. In Chinese, more specifically, it is lian on mianzi because the speaker, based on his social status, power, and ability, aims to maintain the semblance of integrity. Last, I provide pedagogical approaches to “face” in C2, both in the beginning and intermediate levels. In the beginning level, I come up with teaching plans for the purpose of classroom practice. In the intermediate level, I design explanations, drills, exercises, and improvisations to show how teachers can incorporate “face” into their instruction and provide learners with opportunities to go through the learning cycle. Exploring “face” in cases of requesting and declining, I hope to bring the field’s attention to the fact that C2 learners’ exposure to “face” in Chinese culture begins on their first day of class when they ask their teacher to repeat what he/she says. Since there is no “faceless” communication, how to train C2 learners to identify, to become perceptive observers, and then to perform “face” successfully over the course of their study becomes a challenge for all Chinese language teachers. 2012 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Foreign Language
Chinese language pedagogy
culture
performance
face
spellingShingle Foreign Language
Chinese language pedagogy
culture
performance
face
Liao, Hao-Hsiang
“Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining
author Liao, Hao-Hsiang
author_facet Liao, Hao-Hsiang
author_sort Liao, Hao-Hsiang
title “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining
title_short “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining
title_full “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining
title_fullStr “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining
title_full_unstemmed “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining
title_sort “face” as cultural performance in chinese: cases of requesting and declining
publisher The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2012
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556
work_keys_str_mv AT liaohaohsiang faceasculturalperformanceinchinesecasesofrequestinganddeclining
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