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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

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

Liao, Hao-Hsiang
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556

Abstract Details

2012, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, East Asian Languages and Literatures.
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.
Galal Walker, Prof. (Advisor)
Mari Noda, Prof. (Committee Member)
Charles Quinn, Prof. (Committee Member)
369 p.
Foreign Language
Chinese language pedagogy; culture; performance; face

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Liao, H.-H. (2012). “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Liao, Hao-Hsiang. “Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining. 2012. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Liao, Hao-Hsiang. "“Face” as Cultural Performance in Chinese: Cases of Requesting and Declining." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1356732556

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1356732556
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© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12