Chapter 4 Research Findings
4.3 Other Findings
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4.3 Other Findings
Through text analysis, the researcher examines the use of different forms and cultural themes in both English learning magazines, and finds out the similarity and differences between both magazines. In this section, some other findings during the process of textual analysis will be listed and explained. The findings are: the chase of American dream, the lack of clarification of different measurement unit, the
introduction of new online technology, the teaching of Chinese in the text, the reminder of dos and don’ts in different countries, and the explanation of same term with different meanings.
1. The phenomenon of American dream
The description shows that studying or going to United States is his/her ultimate dream is found in both magazines. The following parts are excerpts from the text:
Hip hop is a force that is sweeping through Asia. In Taiwan, street dance is thriving.
Dancing schools can be found everywhere, such as The Soul Dance Studio in Taichung.
John is the founder of The Soul Dance Studio. His dream is to travel to the motherland of hip hop: America.
(February, 2010, ABC)
From the short passage, it says “his dream is to travel to the motherland of hip hop:
America”. Though it shows the relationship of America and hip hop dance, America here is regarded as a wonderful place to fulfill your dream and try your best to achieve the goal. The next part is from a dialogue about the expectation of studying in the U.S:
Bonnie: I will study at UCLA…
I also hope to make some American friends during my stay.
(p. 31; Feb, 2010, ABC)
This girl who is going to study in America shows her expectation by saying “I also
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hope to make some American friends”. This shows the other side of goal to study in U.S., and the speaker uses “American friends” to restrict the nationality to “American”
rather than use “friends in America” to show other possible nationalities.
Contrary to the examples by ABC, LTE shows some statistic and information about studying in U.S. Here is an article about studying United States:
Many people want to go to college in America. But it’s not easy to choose a college.
America has over 3,000 colleges and universities! How do students choose their school?
When they choose their schools, they have to think about many things. Tuition is one of them. Many American schools are very expensive. Harvard University’s tuition is
over US$27,000 a year! Of course, most schools give many scholarships. American students can also get help from the government.
(p. 61, October, 2009, LTE)
This passage is informative in showing the reality of studying in America. It reminds readers that though many people are interested in going to college in America, there are many issues to think about especially the financial problem.
1. Lack of clarification:
In both magazines, there is some confusion caused by the vocabulary or measurement unit in the text. For example:
There is a hurricane moving toward cities in the South.
(p. 44; Feb, 2010, LTE)
The word, “south”, here refers to the southern part of U.S. The writer does not give a clear explanation, so readers need to read between the lines to understand the definition of “South” refers to the southern part of U.S not of Taiwan. Besides, the direction, the measurement unit also causes some confusion. Both magazines show
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similar problem in using the measurement unit which is not commonly used in Taiwan without giving any explanation. For example:
That insect is two inches long. (June, 2009, ABC)
In Taiwan, people are more familiar with centimeters than inches. However, it does not provide how to change inch into centimeters, and no further comparison between inch and centimeter are shown. Similar to ABC, the money currency is the other confusion appeared many times in LTE. Here is an example of a job-want advertisement:
Part-Time singer. The pay is $ 20 an hour. Tips are extra.
Ramona’s Italian Restaurant needs a singer during lunch and dinner times. The singer can sing traditional Italian songs to customers. Are you interested? Please call Ramona
at 437-222453. Or come to Ramona’s for more information.
(P. 33, June, 2009, LTE)
Throughout many volumes of magazines, the money unit used in the magazine is always US dollars but without explicit explanation, sometimes it’s confusing. It is better to add information to show the relationship and exchange rate between U.S dollars and N.T dollars in the text.
3. New Internet Technology and Social Network
It is noteworthy that both magazines talk about the recently popular social network internet website in the text. Examples are the introduction of Facebook
Jack: I’m sending message to friends on Facebook.
Emma: Everyone uses social networking websites these days.
Tom: They’re great for keeping in touch with friends.
Jack: I agree. I’ve found many old friends on Facebook…
Facebook members share not only messages but also photos and videos.
(p. 19; 2010, March, LTE)
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and discussion on Twitter:
Now there’s a new method for staying close with people in your life—it’s called
“Twitter”. Twitter keeps your friends updated about the little things happening with you.
For example, you can simply write, “I’m waiting for the bus” or “I just ordered a cheeseburger.” You can also follow the updates of people that matter to you. Twitter pages look a lot like blogs, but with very short messages. In fact, you can only write 140
characters at a time…
(p. 46 Twitter Away; 2009, June, ABC)
Both passages show the function and the popularity of the newly introduced social network website. This also shows the characteristic of magazines—to bring latest information to readers and information close to their daily life and social circle, and there is no exception to English learning magazines.
4. Teaching Chinese in English Learning Magazines
The phenomenon of teaching Chinese words in English only shows up in LTE. It combines the learning of English and Chinese, and understands the pi-ying (拼音) of the word in Chinese. Here are two examples:
Jack: My Nai-Nai is the best!
Nai-Nai. That’s what we call my father’s mother.
Pam: What do you call your mother’s mother?
Jack: We call her Wai-Po.
(P. 18, March, 2010, LTE)
Amy: A-yi means aunt or auntie in Chinese. A person’s a-yi is their mother’s sister…
When a Chinese person calls an older woman a-yi, they are showing respect for her.
(p. 51 Chinese Customs, April, 2010, LTE)
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5. Dos and don’ts in different countries
According to Gray (2002), cultural themes such as politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, isms, and pork are not appropriate in the text. In the research, there is not much discussion and representation of these topics. However, discussion on what is polite and acceptable in other countries is shown in the text below:
Barry: You know what? In Japan, it’s polite to eat remen loudly. It shows that the food tastes really good.
Rachel: That’s interesting. Then what’s a custom for eating in Chinese culture?
Barry: Well, you’re not supposed to have your chopsticks sticking up in a bowl of rice.
(p. 16, April, 2010, ABC) 6. Same Term and Different Meanings
Explanations on same word but has different meanings in different cultures are used in both magazines. The first one is the explanation of differences on the word “egg rolls” in the U.S and in Asia.
At Chinese restaurants in America, people eat egg rolls. You put meat and vegetables in a piece of thin dough. Then you dip it in egg and deep-fry it. In Asia, American egg rolls are called “spring rolls.” So what is an egg roll in Asia? It’s a cookie! Egg roll cookies
are long and thin. They are sweet and can be a snack or a dessert.
(p, 9; April, 2010, LTE)
The other example is the use of the word gondola and ropeway. It has the same translation in Chinese; however, the two words are used in different regions. ABC explains the difference in Chinese by claiming that:
Ropeway is European way to call cable cars; gondola is more commonly used around the world, for example, Maokong Gondola.
(p. 9 Sun Moon Lake Ropeway, 2009, December, ABC)
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Chapter 5 Conclusions, Limitation, and Suggestions
This chapter will include three parts: the result of the textual analysis on the two basic-level English learning magazines, the limitation of the research, and some suggestions for further study. In the first part, the integration of the research question and the findings will be addresses. The next part will focus on the contribution to communication, the limitation, and the suggestion based on the present study.
5.1 Discussion and Conclusion
The research tries to find out the representation of cultural themes in basic-level English learning magazines. The two selected magazines are “Let’s Talk in English” and “ABC Interactive Learning English Magazine” because of its selling numbers and
representativeness in magazine publishing industry. Through textual analysis on a year-round basis, the research aims to find out how and what culture-related contents are introduced in both magazines. The research questions are:
1. In which form is “culture” presented and portrayed (pictures, articles, stories, songs, dialogues, vocabulary) in English materials?
2. What culture themes are introduced in magazines? Do they include both culture with big C and culture with small c?
3. In the text, besides American and English cultures, are there any other cultures being represented? Is the language used to introduce different cultures appropriate and neutral?
Through integrating classification on culture-related themes from different researchers and scholars (Addaskou, Britten, an Fashi, 1990; Brooks, 1968; Zheng, 2006; Sarkar, 1978; Chuang, 2002; Li, 1994; Kappus, 1996; Chen, 2003), the research shows that contextualized practices, informative text, vocabulary, and pictures are forms
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commonly used in both Let’s Talk in English (LTE) and ABC Interactive English Magazine (ABC).
Culture themes are topics relevant to different countries, for example, vocabulary of country names, pictures about famous nation monuments, and article about traditions and customs. Culture themes can be classified into two categories: culture with big C and culture with small c. Culture with big C “requires some knowledge of the formal institutions such as political, economic, history, fine arts, literature, and elite culture which has much to do with past” (Chuang, 2002), while culture with small c is about “a nation’s contemporary life” (Morain, 1988) such as food, home life, interpersonal relations, celebration of holidays, and leisure activities. Some researchers claimed that English learning materials include only small c in the text and is limited to some
specific topics like holidays and festivals (Chuang, 2002; Tseng, 1999). However, in the present study, it shows that both magazines include big C themes such as literature, politics, and economy in the text. Culture with small c can be found in every volume of both magazines. Many culture themes concerning culture with small c appear in both magazines: nation names, national monuments, nation flag, nation heroes, celebrity, food and drinks, leisure activities/sports, traveling, celebrations of holidays, ways to greet, and customs. Popular themes such as festivals and holidays, traveling, sports, and food are introduced in both magazines almost every volume. Besides, the introduction and discussion of celebrity and historic heroes from different cultures are shown in the text. However, both magazines use more pictures and text to introduce contemporary celebrity than historic heroes. The finding infers that there are no limitations for introducing cultural themes; the topic can be either general or specific.
The countries introduced and described in the text are not limited to native English-speaking cultures. In other words, many countries and cities are introduced in both magazines; nevertheless, most of them are located in North America, Europe, Asia,
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or Australia. Except Egypt, no countries from Africa are mentioned and discussed.
Therefore, the unbalanced distribution of countries and cities in both English learning is found in the study. The language used to introduce different cultures is appropriate and neutral. Most descriptions focus on introducing some landmarks and history of the countries, so not many personal comments and evaluations are found in the text. Also, both magazines provide sufficient footnotes and background information when
introducing a new culture-related topic, which is an important element for a successful English learning materials based on Chang’s (2000) study. Though both magazines use Chinese rather than English to give background information and footnotes, it still helps learners to build up more concrete ideas toward the culture-related contents.
In addition to find out the forms and culture themes shown in both English magazines, the research aims to compare and contrast the two magazines in order to discover the similarities and differences. The result shows that LTE tends to use diversified forms within the same topic. For example, when it talks about Christmas, it uses dialogues, informative text, and comparison and contrast form to help learners reinforce their memory toward this cultural theme; whereas, ABC chooses to use the same form in introducing a culture theme. Also, the use of vocabulary is different between both magazines. LTE puts country names and relevant words such as its citizen or language in the category of “More Information”; while ABC uses Chinese translation next to the vocabulary in the text.
While examining how these two magazines represent and arrange the same topic, for example, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, there are different strategies and ways of description in the text. In LTE, it introduces
American-related topics such as American political parties and American customs in details. In contrast, ABC does not go into details when talking about different countries, but it mentions many cities in Taiwan in the text and combines locals with foreign
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countries. For example, when it talks about an international event like World Expo in Shanghai, it relates to Taiwan and the role Taiwan plays in the event. It is combination of local and foreign cultures, which is the contrast to Gray’s (2002) criticism on English materials because of “the absence of local”. This shows that magazines can vary in showing the same topic; besides, when the topic and content is similar, the way magazines show them may vary.
Last but not least, through the study, many special characteristics of both
magazines are shown. Both magazines show the pursuit of American dream in different fields: dancing and study. They both include new online technology and social network in the text by introducing Twitter and Facebook. Moreover, both magazines emphasize on language learning and using the right terms. In LTE, it teaches and explains some Chinese words and phrases; in ABC, it explains the same words in Chinese but may have different usage in different cultures. This phenomenon shows the variety in language and culture learning in both magazines. However, there is some confusion of the words used in the text and lack of clarification on some phrases. For example, the phrase “at home” is confusing in different context. Also, in informative text, the lack of examples while talking about the traditions in “some countries” can be found. Therefore, both magazines should pay attention to avoid using vague and confusing words and provide sufficient examples instead of using words like “in some countries” or “in some cultures”.
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5.2 Limitation and Suggestion
This research aims to help English learners to have a basic idea on the current situation of culture-related contents in English learning magazines in Taiwan, and help foreign language course designers, English learning material writers, and English magazine editors those who decide what culture means to improve and reevaluate whether their text is informative, appropriate, and useful. For language teachers and readers, they can decide what English learning magazines to choose as good
supplementary teaching and learning aids.
The present study uses textual analysis to closely examine and analyze how and what the representation of culture-related themes is shown. The research method can help uncover the connotation and unsaid contents in the text; however, it may easily be misinterpreted. In other words, the use of textual analysis can be subjective in
explaining and interpreting the text. It is better to combine with other quantitative research methods such as questionnaires or content analysis. Moreover, this research focuses only on two English learning magazines in Taiwan. There are more than twenty English learning magazines sold in bookstores (Lin, 2000), and many of them may contain culture themes. Therefore, it will be more complete and objective if the researcher can analyze all the English learning magazines and compare the
representation of culture themes in different magazines targeting at learners on different English levels. Besides, the study pays attention mostly to the text and the phrases used to introduce and describe the culture-related contents. For future study, the researcher can focus on the use of pictures or illustrations that are related to culture-related themes.
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