A Study Of Power Distance In Classroom Communication Between English Teachers And Non-english Teachers

Culture and language are closely related. On one hand, Culture influences language, which can largely decide how people use language. On the other hand, language can transmit culture and it is a carrier of cultures. Language functions not only to report information but can actually shape the language users'thoughts and values (Whorf, 1956). Here raise two questions which become the focus of the present study. The first is: if people learn or use a foreign language for a long time, do their cultural values change? The second is: will the change be reflected in their daily communication behaviors?To discover the answers, two comparable groups, namely college English teachers and non-English teachers are chosen for the research. Due to the limitation of time and energy, the research only selects Guangxi Normal University as a case study. We assume that English teachers especially college English teachers learn and use English for a long time because of their professional and educational background and they might have been influenced by the western value contained in English; while the non-English teachers are affected mainly by the Chinese traditional culture and keep more traditional cultural value. Therefore, the above two research questions can be answered by comparing differences in cultural value and classroom communication between English teachers and non-English teachers.Among various cultural dimensions, the research focuses on'power distance dimension'which was proposed by Dutch social psychologist Hofstede. He defined power distance as the acceptance degree of the less powerful social members toward power inequality in one social group or organization. According to Hofstede, in high power distance culture, the educational process is teacher-centered and students are dependent on teachers. In the classroom there is supposed to be a strict order, with the teacher initiating all communication. In low power distance culture, teachers treat students as equal and the educational process is student-centered. Students are supposed to ask questions and express their opinions.The research tries to quantitatively measure different tendencies of power distance between college English teachers and non-English teachers through inferential statistics. By designing questionnaire, the research measures English and non-English teachers'power distance tendencies; The research further observes teachers'classroom communication behaviors in terms of teachers request strategies, discourse, students participation, humor use and non-verbal language, by which the influence of teachers'cultural value to classroom communication can be found.Statistic analysis shows that power distance of English teachers is lower than that of non-English teachers, and the difference is caused by major, namely English or non-English. Teachers'gender and professional title have no significant influence on teachers' power distance. The observation result shows that the classroom communication behaviors are different between English teachers and non-English teachers due to different power distance tendencies.Conclusion can be made that college English teachers are affected by western culture contained in English, for a long time of English leaning and using. Their power distance is significant lower than that of non-English teachers. The findings also testify that cultural value has impact on communication behavior and communication behavior can reflect difference in cultural value. It is hoped that college teachers are aware of their cultural value's influences on communication in the classroom and improve teachers'communication skills in order to balance efficiency and humanistic care in the classroom.