Dramatizing Chinese Intellectuals of the Republican Era in Face for Mr. Chiang Kai-shek: Encoding Nostalgia in a Comedy of Ideas

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-294
Author(s):  
Yuan Li ◽  
Tim Beaumont

Face for Mr. Chiang Kai-shek, one of the most influential Chinese plays to have garnered attention in recent years, serves as a reminder of the importance of campus theatre in the formation and development of modern Chinese spoken drama from the early twentieth century onwards. As an old-fashioned high comedy that features witty dialogues and conveys philosophical and political ideas, it stands in opposition to such other forms of theatre in China today as the extravagant, propagandistic ‘main melody’ plays, as well as the experimental theatre of images. This article argues that the play’s focus on Chinese intellectuals of the Republican era and their ideas encodes nostalgia both in its dramatic content and theatrical form: the former encodes nostalgia for the Republican era through a nuanced representation of Chinese intellectuals of that period, while the latter encodes nostalgia for orthodox spoken drama (huaju) in the form of a comedy of ideas. Yuan Li (first author) is Professor of English in the Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. She has published extensively on contemporary Chinese and Anglo-Irish drama, theatre, and cinema. Tim Beaumont (corresponding author) is Assistant Professor at the School of Foreign Languages at Shenzhen University. His research is primarily philosophical, and it is currently focused on the relationship between nineteenth-century liberal nationalism and contemporary multiculturalism.

Author(s):  
Will Baker

AbstractEnglish as a lingua franca (ELF) research highlights the complexity and fluidity of culture in intercultural communication through English. ELF users draw on, construct, and move between global, national, and local orientations towards cultural characterisations. Thus, the relationship between language and culture is best approached as situated and emergent. However, this has challenged previous representations of culture, particularly those centred predominantly on nation states, which are prevalent in English language teaching (ELT) practices and the associated conceptions of communicative and intercultural communicative competence. Two key questions which are then brought to the fore are: how are we to best understand such multifarious characterisations of culture in intercultural communication through ELF and what implications, if any, does this have for ELT and the teaching of culture in language teaching? In relation to the first question, this paper will discuss how complexity theory offers a framework for understanding culture as a constantly changing but nonetheless meaningful category in ELF research, whilst avoiding essentialism and reductionism. This underpins the response to the second question, whereby any formulations of intercultural competence offered as an aim in language pedagogy must also eschew these simplistic and essentialist cultural characterisations. Furthermore, the manner of simplification prevalent in approaches to culture in the ELT language classroom will be critically questioned. It will be argued that such simplification easily leads into essentialist representations of language and culture in ELT and an over representation of “Anglophone cultures.” The paper will conclude with a number of suggestions and examples for how such complex understandings of culture and language through ELF can be meaningfully incorporated into pedagogic practice.


2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ena Lee

While the commodification of English as a global language may give rise to varying degrees of political and economic benefits for language learners, a simultaneous “cost” of this return may be a continued perpetuation of various forms of hegemony. In this vein, this one-year case study investigated a Canadian post-secondary English as a Second Language (ESL) program that analyzed the interconnections between language and culture through a critical dialogic approach. Classroom observations, however, revealed that disjunctions existed between the pedagogy as it was conceptualized and the practices of the instructors teaching there and suggested that the “critical” discourses mediated within the language classrooms essentialized culture and, subsequently, the identities of the students. This paper presents the voices of students from Mainland China as they attempted to negotiate their local and global identities within the larger sociopolitical contexts of the English language, generally, and English language education, in particular. I argue that classroom discourses can (re)create subordinate student identities, thereby limiting their access not only to language-learning opportunities, but to other more powerful identities. This paper thus highlights how ESL pedagogies and practices might address and contest hegemonic discourses and concomitantly reimagine student identities in more emancipatory ways.


Author(s):  
Helene Zamor ◽  
Alicia D. Nicholls ◽  
Albert Christopher Lee

Language and culture play a critical role in international commercial relations. Since the 19th century, the English language has undeniably held the prominent position as the global lingua franca to facilitate communication between nations. However, China’s contemporary re-emergence as an economic superpower has expanded its global influence. Consequently, awareness of Chinese culture and language is becoming important not only globally, but also in the Caribbean, where China’s economic footprint has expanded considerably in recent years. This article conceptually explores the important role of language and culture within the growing Sino-Caribbean commercial relationship. Specifically, it discusses the potential impact of language on the trade and tourism sectors, which are two key industries that drive the economies of English-speaking Caribbean small island developing states. It does this by charting the development of the English and Chinese languages as dominant languages. It then briefly looks at the current level of Chinese engagement with the region in trade and, more contemporarily, the potential of greater Chinese tourism in the Caribbean. It discusses the value of deeper cultural and linguistic understanding in nurturing and expanding these relationships. Finally, the article concludes by providing meaningful recommendations on ways to mitigate cultural and linguistic barriers in order to promote deeper Sino-Caribbean trade and tourism.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Language and culture are two important factors in commercial relationships, especially trade and tourism.</li><br /><li>This article adds to the growing literature on budding Sino-Caribbean relations by exploring the importance of linguistic and cultural understanding to nurturing this relationship.</li><br /><li>It argues that Caribbean countries cannot take for granted that English will always be the lingua franca for Chinese-Caribbean relations given China’s expanding global footprint.</li><br /><li>The article makes recommendations on ways to mitigate linguistic and cultural barriers in order to deepen Sino-Caribbean commercial ties.</li></ul>


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Kartikasari Tandy Rerung

<p>Nowadays, the communicative teaching has been influenced by the development of technology. Becoming interactive teacher would not be enough if it is not supported by technology usage. Online learning in this case has been a powerful tool to help language learners during their learning progress.  It is said that that online instruction raised the good and average student’s reading performance and the performance of the lowest-performing as well. In listening and speaking, online learning can help students improve their pronunciaton as well the comprehension skill. Therefore, the following study is designed to find out the students’ perceptions towards the use of both online and face-to-face learning in listening and speaking classroom. There are 30 students from the 1<sup>st</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> semester of English Language and Culture Departement and they joined the class for 1 semester. Online learning platform used was taken from Cambridge Learning Management System integrated with Unlock 2 and Unlock 4 books as the source of learning. The result shows that most of the students see online learning as an alternative tool to help them during their learning process.<strong></strong></p><strong>Keywords: </strong>blended learning, online learning, face-to-face learning, language learning


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Sakulrat Worathumrong

This study investigated features of first language and cultural interference in Thai EFL learners&rsquo; English paragraph writing on popular culture. Drawing from theoretical grounds of interlanguage, language interference, and rhetorical interference, the sample of 30 English paragraphs of Thai EFL undergraduate learners was examined quantitatively and qualitatively. The English writing included 15 paragraphs from the Thai learners with high exposure to English language (TEH) group, and 15 paragraphs from those with the low exposure to English language (TEL) group. Using analysis models of metadiscourse markers and topical progressions, the findings revealed the preference of both groups in the use of interactive and interactional devices as well as SP, PP, and EPP types of topical progressions. The preference highlights the feature of oral-based, inductive, or reader-responsible writing orientation with a possibility of writing development, especially among the TEHs to reach expectation of the target language readers. The findings encourage assessing the Thai EFL learners&rsquo; writing as a process and raising frequent awareness of both language and rhetorical interferences when writing English texts. As the introductory stage during COVID-19 remote learning, writing to express learners&rsquo; interests could be used as an effective communication strategy for a positive instructor-learner relationship which assists the learners to further engage in the class in a more meaningful way.&nbsp;


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (65) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Lili Cavalheiro

<span lang="EN-US">Throughout multiples regions around the world, waves of migrants and refugees search for better and safer living conditions. As a result, classrooms are becoming increasingly multicultural and multilingual, with many teachers feeling challenged when faced with this ‘new’ reality. Being English the most commonly shared language around the world, the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom can be a ‘safe’ place where dialogue and intercultural communication are fomented. Not only can it facilitate the integration of migrant/refugee students, but it can also contribute to expanding learners’ (inter)cultural awareness and knowledge of how English may be used by multiple speakers (native and non-native) in diverse settings. In light of this, it is imperative that educators develop more inclusive English-language lessons that help break down barriers and taboos, in terms of language and culture. In order to achieve this, however, it is vital that these issues be developed at the beginning of any teacher training. Bearing this in mind, this paper begins by presenting the concept of English as a Lingua Franca and intercultural communication and follows up by reflecting upon how the traditional EFL classroom should to be reconsidered in light of today’s international role of English. Taking into account the specific growing multicultural/multilingual Portuguese context, the last section of this paper presents how these issues are developed in two pre-service MA programs in English Language Teaching at the University of Lisbon, and also how student teachers have integrated ELF-related activities/resources in their practicum, along with a commentary on their learners’ reactions.</span>


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 180-186
Author(s):  
Svetlana A. Blinova ◽  

The purpose of this article is to describe the verbs of interpersonal interaction with the semantics of mental influence in the English language and to consider the criteria for semantic classification, on the basis of which the selected verbs can be grouped. There is a large number of works devoted to the study of lexico-semantic, pragmatic, morphological and other features of individual subgroups of interpersonal interaction verbs (in particular, compulsion verbs, verbs of speech influence, etc.), however, no attempt has yet been made to identify, study and classify a group of interpersonal interaction verbs with the semantics of mental influence. The material of the study is dictionary definitions from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, as well as examples from the National British Corpus. The study describes in detail the procedure for selecting verbs of interpersonal interaction with the semantics of mental influence, identifies the features that are integral for this group of verbs, as well as the criteria for semantic classification, on the basis of which the selected verbs were divided into subgroups. Verbs of mental influence have a complex semantic structure. The signs «interpersonal interaction» and «impact on the object» are integral for the studied group of verbs. The sign of intentionality is not integral, but it is included in the semantic structure of most verbs of this group. In addition, the semantic structure of verbs of mental effects shows thatthe classification of verbs in this group may be an indication of the impact on a particular area of the psyche which indicates the correlation of the meanings of mental influence verbs with the findings of modern psychological theory


Author(s):  
С.М. Кравцов ◽  
Т.Л. Черноситова

Постановка задачи. Исследование билингвальных художественных произведений, созданных писателями-транслингвами, использующими несколько языков в своей творческой деятельности, является одной из наиболее актуальных проблем теории языка, в частности таких ее областей, как социолингвистика, стилистика, язык и социум, язык и культура. Подобные произведения, переведённые автором с одного языка на другой и адресованные представителям разных этнических сообществ, носят лингвосоциокультурный характер, который достигается писателем посредством создания интертекста, содержащего внутритекстовые вкрапления, основанные на аллегориях, реминисценциях, аллюзиях, цитациях и аппликациях. При этом аппликации принадлежит весьма важная роль в решении задачи формирования лингвокультурного диалога в билингвальном романе. Результаты исследования. Во франкоязычной версии романа Нэнси Хьюстон «Cantique des plaines», созданной в результате осуществленного ею самоперевода англоязычного романа «Plainsong», выявлено много текстовых аппликаций в виде фрагментов песен, с помощью которых автор формирует лингвокультурный диалог, а также создает не только смысловой, но и музыкальный фон произведения. Установлено, что с целью формирования лингвокультурного диалога в билингвальном романе аппликации в виде отрывков песен могут не совпадать в англоязычной и франкоязычной версиях. Данный эффект достигается во франкоязычной версии благодаря использованию цитат с расширением их посредством сочетаний слов; использованию лексем с более конкретным, точным значением, чем у их английских аналогов; использованию паронимов их английских аналогов; использованию дословного перевода песен с английского языка на французский; использованию включения в перевод на французский язык строфы из англоязычной песни с сохранением при переводе рифмы без искажения исходного смысла самой песни. Выводы. Результаты исследования позволяют сделать вывод о том, что аппликация песенных фрагментов в романе Нэнси Хьюстон «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong» является довольно продуктивным стилистическим приемом и имеет несколько видов реализации в зависимости от потребности автора в создании определенного смыслового, эмоционального и музыкального фона произведения. Благодаря широкому использованию и адекватному выбору писателем-транслингвом того или иного вида аппликации она служит эффективным способом формирования лингвокультурного диалога в билингвальном романе Нэнси Хьюстон «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong. Problem statement. The study of bilingual novels created by translingual writers who use several languages in their creative activities is one of the most urgent problems of language theory, specifically in such areas as sociolinguistics, stylistics, language and society, language and culture. Such works, translated by the author from one language to another and addressed to representatives of different ethnic communities, are of a linguistic and socio-cultural nature, which is achieved by the writer through the creation of an intertext containing intra-textual inclusions based on allegories, reminiscences, allusions, citations and applications. At the same time, the application plays a very important role in problem solving of forming a linguistic and cultural dialogue in a bilingual novel. The results of the study. In the French-language version of Nancy Huston's novel «Cantique des plaines», created as a result of self-translation of the English-language version of her novel «Plainsong», many text applications in the form of fragments of songs are revealed, by means of which the author forms a linguistic and cultural dialogue, and creates not only a semantic, but also a musical background of the novel. It is established that in order to form a linguistic and cultural dialogue in a bilingual novel, applications in the form of song fragments may not coincide in the English and French versions. This effect is achieved in the French-language version through the use of citations with their extension by word combinations; the use of lexemes with a more specific, accurate meaning than their English counterparts; the use of paronyms of their English counterparts; the use of a literal translation of songs from English into French; the use of including a stanza from an English-language song in the translation into French, while preserving the rhyme without distorting the original meaning of the song itself. Conclusion. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusion that the application of song fragments in Nancy Huston's novel «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong» is a rather productive stylistic technique and has several types of implementation, depending on the author's need to create a certain semantic, emotional and musical background of the work. Due to the wide use and adequate choice of a particular type of application by a translingual writer, it serves as an effective way of forming a linguistic and cultural dialogue in Nancy Huston's bilingual novel «Cantique des plaines» / «Plainsong». The results of the study indicate that it is relevant not only for the theory of language, but also for Romance and Germanic linguistics.


Author(s):  
Xiaochi Zhang

Language And Culture Keep A Very Close Relationship And Are Inseparable. English Language Teaching Is Not Only To Cultivate English Language Learners’ Linguistic Competence, But Also To Promote Their Intercultural Communication Competence. In Fact, English Vocabulary Teaching Is One Part Of Vital Integration In English Language Teaching. Meantime, English Vocabulary Teaching Plays An Important Role In The Cultivation Of English Language Learners’ Intercultural Communication Awareness. Therefore, The Author Attempts To Expound The Significance Of Cultural Elements In English Vocabulary Teaching, Discusses About The Relationship Between Language And Culture, Stresses On The Cultural Connotations Of English Vocabulary Through The Formation Of English Language, Especially In Some Specific Words And Focuses On Some Typical Cases And Analyzes The Functions Of English Vocabulary Teaching For English Language Learners’ Intercultural Communication Awareness Finally, The Author Puts Forward Some Useful Suggestions To Cultivate The English Language Learners’ Intercultural Communication Awareness Through English Vocabulary Teaching.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document