Tell it or not—LETs’ and FETs’ perceptions

The above differences in performing directive acts or not can be explained by the different perceptions the LETs and FETs had about the results of performing the acts.

The LETs worried the acts would hurt hearers’ feelings, and the FETs considered the acts to be interpreted by their hearers as trustworthy and honest.

Quite a few LETs mentioned that they were afraid the FETs would feel

uncomfortable upon hearing their suggestions. For example, the researcher noticed a sense of nervous and tense atmosphere in a meeting in school C when the LETs were making suggestions to their FET. When being asked after the meeting if it was uneasy for them to give suggestions, the LET Wen-Ting claimed, “Of course… perhaps we’re afraid that he would feel uncomfortable” (Original text: 當然會啦…可能我們也怕 他覺得不舒服吧). Before that meeting, the LET Peng-Hui had also asked the FET if she was being rude when emailing him some suggestions, for fear that her act of giving suggestions might give the FET ill feeling.

The other reason that kept the LETs from speaking their mind was that they did

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not think it was time yet. Wen-Ting and Shu-Fen from school C both mentioned in the interviews that they were still observing the FET before giving any further

suggestions. They were observing if the FET was friendly enough to build a

relationship with, and if any suggestions for his teaching were really needed, as the following two excerpts suggests:

We’ve been teaching together for a while, but we’re not sure, we’re still not clear about his personality or something else. Maybe we’re still getting to know each other, and everyone’s like, so far he has been really nice… (Wen-Ting)

(Original text) 因為畢竟也是相處了一段時間，不清楚說，還沒有辦法真的 很清楚他的就是可能個性或怎麼樣的。那我們也還在探索吧，大家目前就 是，他一直都表現得很 nice 這樣…

We think, because honestly we’re still observing, we’re still observing what Eric can bring to students, ya, so, so far it hasn’t been necessary for us to interrupt and tell him to do it a different way… (Shu-Fen)

(Original text) 我們是覺得，因為我們還在觀察啦說實在的，我們還在觀察 Eric他可以給學生什麼，對，所以我們變成說目前還沒有會需要我們特別插 手，就是跟他說希望朝哪個方向…

While the LETs’ hesitation about making the suggestions was sometimes out of their consideration of the FETs’ feelings and face, the FETs were actually

open-minded about receiving suggestions and were eager to know how they could improve themselves. Anna in school A asserted that she longed for some feedback from Taiwanese teachers after her teaching demonstration in the FET training workshop held by City Education Bureau:

Um they never tell me anything negative, so then I always question I’m like, am I just like a wonderful teacher, am I just the number one best foreign teacher in Taiwan? Probably not...And I’m not opposed to hearing the bad news but I think, um that’s not the way you do it here like it’s not, maybe you can say it, you can

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say it in a different way, but you’ll never say it like straight up. When your students are not sitting nicely and listening, you, I, I don’t even know! I have my own internal evaluation that I’m doing, but I need the external feedback

sometimes. (Anna)

Wondering if she was the number one best foreign teacher in Taiwan, Anna uttered that she needed feedback from Taiwanese teachers to help her improve her teaching and become a better teacher. She tried to recall her memory about how a Taiwanese teacher would give her suggestions, but she failed at the end and said “I don’t even know!”

Some LETs were able to sense the cultural differences in deciding to give suggestions or not; however, changing their way of communicating was not that easy, as the following excerpt shows:

I think it’s the differences between the East and the West…and also maybe because of different personalities. We’re able to give suggestions, but what we accustomed to is that we use an indirect way or reserved way to give

suggestions…ya, and I think their culture is different, they will just speak out…I think we can, um, we can talk about these suggestions more, with a more open-mind, but maybe we’re still adapting to their styles… (Shu-Fen)

(Original text)我覺得也是西方跟東方的差異啦，…其實我覺得也看個性啦，

我們習慣上就是，我們會提，我們會提想要什麼或建議什麼，可是問題是我 們比較嗯含蓄或保留…對，就是我覺得是文化不一樣，他們有話就說…我會 覺得我們，嗯，我們可以再，再嗯開闊心胸一點去跟他講這些事情啦，只是 我們可能也還沒有完全調整好…

On the contrary, the FETs perceived the act of performing directive acts less harmful. In explaining why he was used to make suggestions directly to the boss in Australia, Carl asserted that in the west, people tend to expect being direct with one another, and the act of pointing problems out is considered a feature of professional obligation, as suggested in the following excerpt:

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…a part of western culture depends on being very direct with people. I believe, as a westerner, if I’m with a western person, that they’re more honest, more trustworthy, um, if when they talk to me, they look me straight in the eye, when I ask them for their opinion, they tell me exactly what they think, and that they have the courage to disagree with me if they think I made a mistake, that’s common thinking in western culture. (Carl)

While most of the LETs did not approach problems that directly like the FETs, some LETs did mention that they thought direct communication in their offices could be helpful for their cooperation. The LETs Zi-Jie from school A and Jia-Ying from school D both agreed that their FETs performed directive acts more openly compared to other Taiwanese teachers. But in their opinions, this kind of direct communication allowed them to clear up each other’s intention and helped their cooperation.