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Chenxing Jin Thesis .pdf (1.12 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

WeChat as a Medium to Socialize into Chinese Culture: The Persistence of Explicit Hierarchy

Jin, Chenxing
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471860969

Abstract Details

2016, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Languages and Literatures.
Language socialization is the process of using language to construct social events and acquire language competence through socialization (Schieffelin & Ochs 1986a, 1986b, 1990, 2011). The process reveals two layers of language socialization: participants gain language ability through interaction with a community, and participants use language as a medium to socialize in the community. The process of language socialization can help learners of a foreign language gradually acquire a competence in the language, while achieving membership in that community. Virtual world, constructed by social media, has become a crucial part of people’s daily life. It establishes a community with its own cultural and social norms. Teachers of Chinese as a foreign language can facilitate their students functioning effectively in the context of social media. For Chinese pedagogy, the central concern is how to facilitate non-native speakers of Chinese to be socialized into the important Chinese online virtual communities. The virtual community constructed by WeChat is one of the most active social media in nowadays China. This study takes WeChat as an example among various applications of social media and explores the value of using social media as a venue for Chinese language learners to socialize in a vast community that is not restricted by place or time, but nonetheless, constrained by culture and social norms. The process of language socialization through WeChat contains two layers of socialization. The first, through interaction on WeChat, Chinese language learners can acquire and exercise language competence. Second, the learner can use such language competence to effectively socialize, and thus, integrate himself/herself into the WeChat community. The study is based on interviews with native speakers of Chinese who interact with non-native speakers of Chinese on WeChat. The study will adopt the concept of performance as a major framework to analyze the examples interviews provided. The examples all deal with moments that make native speaker feel “uncomfortable” with their non-native interlocutors. These “uncomfortable” feeling are caused by an unawareness of the differences in culture hierarchy. Culture hierarchy is not unique to Chinese community, however, the hierarchy in the Chinese community tends to be more consistent and explicit than the Western culture of hierarchy. In addition, this study discusses several features of the languages on WeChat, including the oral-written mixed linguistic form and non-linguistic icons of emojis. The very different ways of using languages from daily communicating under face-to-face setting makes WeChat an outstanding case that language educators cannot ignore. In the end, the study suggests ways on integrating WeChat into a curriculum for Chinese language and culture.
Xiaobin Jian (Advisor)
Galal Walker (Committee Member)
87 p.
Education; Language; Pedagogy
WeChat, social media, language socialization, second language socialization, Chinese as Foreign Language, culture of hierarchy

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jin, C. (2016). WeChat as a Medium to Socialize into Chinese Culture: The Persistence of Explicit Hierarchy [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471860969

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jin, Chenxing. WeChat as a Medium to Socialize into Chinese Culture: The Persistence of Explicit Hierarchy . 2016. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471860969.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jin, Chenxing. "WeChat as a Medium to Socialize into Chinese Culture: The Persistence of Explicit Hierarchy ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471860969

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1471860969
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.