Where to tell people about it

The last aspect where the LETs and FETs had different opinions at pre-communication stage was “where to tell people about it.” Data about their behaviors and perceptions are shown as follows.

4.2.1.5.1 Where to tell people about it—LETs’ and FETs’ behaviors

For this dimension, the social contexts the LETs preferred to perform the directive acts were in private situation, but the FETs were not found to have this

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preference. When discussing how to handle the classroom management problem of students being late, the LET Xiao-Han suggested that “I’ll go and ask the teacher in private. And I will tell the teacher I need the students to come in time,” which shows her inclination to deal with the problem in private.

Two LETs from school C also chose to make suggestions to people in private.

When being asked if she would show her idea to the FET in the next meeting about giving students more group work activities, Shu-Fen expressed that she would rather telling the FET by sending an email privately. Her fellow LET Peng-Hui made the same remark. At that time, Peng-Hui had already emailed the FET her suggestions about teaching, as shown in the following:

And last time I sent an email, a long email to him I said…maybe you speak too fast, and the second point is, he, he would, he would only look at me when he teaches…I said you don’t need to look at me and explain it to me again. I will listen, and if I look at you, it’s because I’m learning from you. Ya I told him, I said, I hope I’m not being rude, and he said it’s fine. And after that time, ya, he doesn’t fix his eyes on me. Now he looks at the students when he teaches.

(Peng-Hui)

(Original text) 然後我上一次是打了一封信，很長的一封信給他我跟他說…

你可能講太快了，然後第二點就是，他他會看，他會很習慣看著我講…我說 你不用看著我再跟我解釋一次，我會聽，我如果看著你是應該，因為我在跟 你學，對我跟他說，我說我希望我沒有講話很無理或他說不會。就從那一次 後他回來，真的，不會刻意看我，他就真的在跟學生上課。

In addition to reporting students’ problems and giving suggestions, when restating some rules or reminding a particular FET to follow some regulations, the LETs preferred to bring this up in private as well. Yi-Xin mentioned that, as a director,

“if I really need to make it clear, I will talk to the person in private, because I don’t like to point out the names directly in situations like during meetings” (Original text:

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如果是真的要講的話，我會私下找那個人講，但是我不喜歡在開會那種場合直 接，直接去指名道姓). What Yi-Xin meant here was, to perform directive acts, she would rather choose a private context than in public.

The FETs in the study did not display a particular preference of where to perform directive acts, but at least they did not show their preference about looking for a private context to perform the acts, compared with the LETs.

4.2.1.5.2 Where to tell people about it—LETs’ and FETs’ perceptions

For the dimension “where to tell people about it,” only the LETs showed the tendency to perform directive acts to the FETs in private. An important reason for the LETs to choose a private context was to protect their hearers’ face and also the harmonious atmosphere in the group. Yi-Xin explained the reason why she would not make the rules clear to specific colleagues in public as follows:

…Usually (when talking about rules in meetings), I don’t like to point out the names, because we are not kids…unless he admitted it himself, or OK, if the atmosphere of the meeting was good, and then I might give some examples to show who violated the rules, and I would watch their facial expressions to see how they reacted. (Yi-Xin)

(Original text) …(開會講規則時)通常我會，我不喜歡指名道姓，因為我覺得 大家是成年人了…除非他自己承認或是說 OK 看到那個大家氣氛很好的時 候，那我會舉幾個例子，然後看他們的臉色反應接不接受。

In her testimony, Yi-Xin mentioned that she would perform the acts depending on the atmosphere of the group and the reaction from hearers. She may not bring up an issue if it would destroy the harmony and make the hearers lose face.

Another reason for the LETs to perform directive acts in private was the concern

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of their nonnative speakers’ role. Worrying that they may not be able to fully understand or completely express themselves to the FETs, the LETs found oral communication in public more time consuming, less clear, and risky to their face.

Shu-Fen revealed that making suggestions to the FET by writing emails in private may save some time and be clearer; whereas in the meeting, she was worried that she may not be eloquent enough or could not find the words to fully express herself, as the following testimony indicates:

But I think it’ll take me a long time (to bring up the suggestion in the next meeting)…and maybe for me it’s clearer (by writing emails), because his way of speaking…kind of circled around the main idea and sometimes I got lost, unless there were other people with me….Actually I kind of knew what he wanted to say, but because sometimes he digressed into something else that I didn’t really understand. I would ask him if I didn’t understand, but I was still worried that I didn’t, um didn’t understand exactly what he wanted to say. And I think he, well, though this is part of communication, I, I’m like, I’m like the type of person that tends to worry, ya, I’m worried, I’m worried, what if our communication is not successful… (Shu-Fen)

(Original text) 可是我覺得我會花很多時間(在開會時提出這個建議)…可能 (寄email)對我來講也比較清楚吧，因為他講話…繞很多我可能就會花掉，

除非旁邊有人跟我一起…其實我大概知道他要講的東西，可是因為他有時候 繞到旁邊有些我是不太懂的東西，雖然我會問，可是我還是會覺得，我問了 我的理解可能又跟他想要表達的可能又不是，就是可能不夠完整，啊我覺得 他，這個是溝通的一部份啦，只是我會，我比較，我是比較會怕的那一種啦，

對，就是我會擔心，我會擔心說我們兩個是不是溝通，會不會不良…

For the above concerns about the group harmony, hearers’ and speakers’ face, nonnative speakers’ role, and the quality of communication, the LETs preferred to perform directive acts to the FETs privately.

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