Chapter 4 Research Findings
4.2 The Two English Learning Magazines
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4.2 The Two English Learning Magazines
In 4-1, the research listed the forms of different culture-related contents, and analyzed the text on the aspect of its cultural themes from the two English learning magazines— Let’s Talk in English and ABC Interactive English Magazine. This section, the comparison and contrast between these two English learning magazines will be addressed.
Comparison and Contrast of the Two English Learning Magazines 1. Forms
In LTE, it uses dialogues as the major way to introduce ideas and conduct English learning. Therefore, most of the culture-related themes are shown in forms of dialogues.
Different speakers have different function in representing culture-related contents; some raise question and arouse curiosity while some try to solve the problem and offer
sufficient information. Besides, LTE is good at making use of different forms to
reinforce the memory toward different cultural themes. For example, when it talks about Thanksgiving, it uses dialogues to start the topic, and then a paragraph of informative text to further explain the story of Thanksgiving, finally with pictures and illustrations to show the food or symbols of Thanksgiving.
In ABC, it does not adopt dialogues as the major form to present all the information.
It uses descriptive text, advertisement, written exchange information such e-mails, comics, and conversation to show different culture-related contents. However, each culture theme is always represented in the same form. In other words, if it introduces Doll’s Festival, the content is shown just in one descriptive form and sometimes with a few relevant pictures or illustrations.
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”;
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while ABC uses Chinese translation directly next to the vocabulary in the text.
2. The use of Big C Themes
Both magazines introduce many topics that belong to the culture with Big C. In LTE, political, economic, and literary themes are shown in the magazines. However, most of the examples are American-oriented. It uses American politics and financial problems as examples to illustrate the topics.
In ABC, different literature and folktale is monthly introduced in the unit “Stories and Fables” of the magazine. Each story occupies at least four pages, and is
accompanied by cartoon-style illustration. The stories are folktales from different countries including Norway, Germany, Japan, and England.
3. Introduced countries
Both magazines list many different countries and cities, but most of them are located in North America, Europe, Asia, or Australia. Except Egypt, no countries from Africa are mentioned and discussed. For LTE, it uses many cities of United States in
illustrative sentences and dialogues such as New York and Chicago; while ABC lists more city names locally such as Chiayi and Kaohsiung.
4. Footnotes
Both magazines use footnotes to further explain some topics, and they use Chinese instead of English. Also, both magazines have a small column called “Did You Know”
to give more information about the literature or festival. In addition to written footnotes, LTE uses pictures and illustrations to strengthen the understanding of the topic.
5. Examples of description on the same cultural theme
As previously mentioned, there are five similar topics concerning the celebration of holidays and international events appeared in both magazines. They are: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, and World Expo in Shanghai.
The following example is a conversation about the celebration of Thanksgiving in
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LTE, followed by an invitation to Thanksgiving Dinner, and ended with a conversation.
(1). Thanksgiving:
Jason: When is Thanksgiving?
Pam: Thanksgiving is this Thursday…Thanksgiving is a holiday. Many people get the day off.
Jason: I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving…Thanksgiving is an American holiday. I don’t know much about American holidays.
Pam: Other countries celebrate Thanksgiving too. But they don’t celebrate on the same day.
Jason: We don’t celebrate this holiday at home…
Pam: I really love Thanksgiving food. I love turkey! I also love my family’s Thanksgiving customs. We do them every year.
In Taiwan, people don’t celebrate this holiday. However, in USA or other countries, people celebrate it though the date might be different. Thanksgiving is a special time of the year. People get together with family and friends to celebrate this holiday. However, some people don’t live near their families. Some people are new in town and don’t have friends here. If you are one of these people, then come to the Jungle Café! Enjoy a big turkey dinner and celebrate Thanksgiving with us! Maybe you will even meet some new
friends!
When: Thursday, November 26, 6:00 pm Where: Jungle Café
Cost: $5
Amy: Will we have pumpkin pie for the Thanksgiving dinner?
Emma: Of course! We must have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving!
Tom: There is one Thanksgiving custom I haven’t done yet this year…At home,
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every person in our family talks about something we’re thankful for…
I’m thankful for friends who eat pie with me
(p. 47, 48, 49, 51, 56; November, 2009, LTE)
The above is the introduction of Thanksgiving in LTE. It uses the forms of conversation, advertisement (invitation), and pictures to give detailed information about Thanksgiving. It also shows the time, the meaning, and the way to celebrate Thanksgiving. At the beginning of the conversation, the speaker links this holiday and Taiwan, and claims “I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving…Thanksgiving is an American holiday”. Indeed, Taiwanese people don’t celebrate this holiday let alone to have a day off. However, the speaker then explains that Thanksgiving is celebrated not only in America but in other countries. Here, if the text can provide some examples of countries that also celebrate Thanksgiving, it will make the text more informative.
The must-eat food on Thanksgiving Dinner are turkey and pumpkin pie, and people who should spend the holiday with are family and friends. This concept repeats in the invitation, helping readers remember the celebration of thanksgiving. At the end, the Thanksgiving custom is shown— everyone should take turn to say things they are thankful for. This is a positive way to show your appreciation and to express gratitude.
However, the use of the term “at home” is confusing. One “at home” at the beginning of the conversation means in Taiwan (We don’t celebrate this holiday at home), and other
“at home” at the end of the conversation means in some other countries like America (At home, every person in our family talks about something we’re thankful for).
In ABC, it only uses a small portion in text to talk about Thanksgiving. It is in a comic section called Skip’s World, which mainly focuses on using comic style of stories to teach grammar. In the comics, two sentences are related to Thanksgiving:
I’ll be eating lots of turkey and pumpkin pie.
and
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Thank you, Molly, for this delicious Thanksgiving Dinner.
(P. 38, 40; November, 2009, ABC)
The first sentence shows the food for Thanksgiving dinner, and two pages ahead, is the second sentence about Thanksgiving. Judging from the two sentences, ABC does not use a complete article or in-depth discussion to talk about Thanksgiving; whereas, it uses very fragmental description to point the food and the meal on Thanksgiving. The main purpose of the comics is to teach grammar rather than equip readers with Thanksgiving knowledge. In sum, we can conclude that ABC does not pay much attention to get further to the details of Thanksgiving compared with LTE. However, the only common these two magazines share is they both point out “turkey” and “pumpkin pie” as the food of Thanksgiving.
(2). Christmas
Compared with Thanksgiving, Christmas is widely celebrated almost all over the world, and both magazines introduce this important holiday in the text. In LTE, there are three sections focusing on Christmas. The first part is in forms of a conversation:
Emma: Christmas is coming. It’s my favorite holiday.
Jason: What do you do for Christmas?
Emma: I spend Christmas with my family. We talk and eat lots of cookies and candy!
Jason: Do people spend Christmas with family?
Emma: Yes, families celebrate together.
Jason: What do you do with your family on Christmas?
Emma: We do lots of things. We have many traditions. We eat big Christmas dinner together at my brother’s house. Then we sing Christmas songs together…And after dinner we open the presents together.
Tom: Gifts are a great way to celebrate Christmas.
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Amy: Then we can share our blessings with others.
Jason: What’s the Christmas spirit?
Tom: The spirit of Christmas is feeling and sharing God’s love and peace. (sings)
“We wish you a Merry Christmas…”
All: (sings) “And a Happy New Year!”
Jason: Many people go to church to celebrate Christmas. What else do people do?
Pam: My family and I go to see Handel’s Messiah. Handel wrote songs about Jesus. These songs are very popular during Christmastime.
Tom: I’ve heard of Handel’s Messiah. I heard it’s wonderful.
Jason: Christmas is more than just shopping and gifts.
In this conversation, many factors for celebrating Christmas are mentioned. It is a holiday with families and people can eat a lot of cookies and candies. Moreover, a big Christmas dinner and sing Christmas songs with family members are Christmas traditions. The sharing of Christmas presents shows the spirit of Christmas, i.e., showing your blessing to people around you and “feeling and sharing God’s love and peace”. In the dialogue, the use of Christmas song, famous classical work—Messiah by Handel, and go to church to celebrate Christmas all enrich the contents with concrete examples. The next paragraph provides more information in forms of descriptive text.
We celebrate Christmas in many ways. We give gifts, go to parties and eat good food. But why do we celebrate Christmas? What is the meaning of Christmas?
At Christmastime, people remember then true meaning of joy and peace. Many people go to church to celebrate Christmas. They celebrate Christmas because Jesus was born.
If you visit a church, you can hear the Christmas story. You can also learn more about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas.
(p. 43, 46, 48, 50, 51; December, 2009, LTE)
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The paragraph once again shows the spirit of Christmas—to “remember the true meaning of joy and peace” and share it with people around you. At the end, it comes to the core of celebrating Christmas, that is, to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. Also, it invites readers who are motivated to know more about the story to visit a church, which is an effective way to help culture learning because it combines the cultural behavior (celebration of Christmas) with readers’ daily lives (Cao, 1987) and provides a way to take the learning into action. In the following article, LTE provides more information about celebration of Christmas around the world.
Did you know that people celebrate Christmas on over 160 countries? Each country has its own special Christmas traditions. Here are some.
Greece. People in Greece don’t eat meat for 40 days before Christmas. They think this
helps them prepare themselves for Christmas. Then, on Christmas day, they have a big meal. It has meat and many other good foods.
Mexico. People in Mexico act out the Christmas story. Children dress up like Mary and
Joseph, Jesus’ parents. They walk through the streets. They stop at houses and ask for a place to stay. But no one helps them. Finally, they come to a house whose owners let
them come in. They go inside and a party begins.
Germany. The tradition of the Christmas tree comes from Germany. People in Germany
like to buy their tree on Christmas Eve. They decorate it with nuts, apples, cookies and other decorations.
(p. 61, December, 2009, LTE)
This article from LTE brings new idea to readers. At the beginning, it poses a question as an attention getter—“Did you know that people celebrate Christmas on over 160 countries?” This is an informative and creative way to relate the topic to cultural learning; readers will notice the contents about celebration of Christmas in different countries. Here, three countries are introduced because of their uniqueness. They are
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Greece, Mexico, and Germany. Greeks save the best for the Christmas and enjoy the meat thoroughly after 40 days without having meat; Mexicans act out the story of Jesus which indicates that they value the origin of Christmas highly and repetitively do it every year; Germans celebrate it by decorating Christmas tree and it seems typical in many other countries. This passage broadens the knowledge about celebrating Christmas in different countries, and help readers understand that even in Western countries, there are great differences in celebrating Christmas. This strategy of introducing different cultures from the way they celebrate a holiday is also used in ABC’s representation of Christmas around the world:
Christmas makes me think of Santa Claus, delicious food, and presents…I was surprised to learn that this holiday is not the same everywhere. For instance, Santa Claus has so many names! He is known in different nations as Father Christmas, Kriss Kringle, and Saint Nicholas. I also believed that Santa was helped by cute little elves. In
Holland, he has an assistant named Black Pete. Also in Holland, gifts are left in the shoes of children, not under the Christmas tree.
Every Christmas, my family would decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments. In Spain, people fill the inside of a tree with nuts and candy. Then children hit the trees with sticks to get them out. As for Christmas dinner, my mom would always make turkey
and potatoes. Australians have Christmas in beach, so families barbecue on the beach instead. In England, on the other hand, plum pudding is always eaten at Christmas
dinner.
(p. 26, 27 Christmas Around the World, December, 2009, ABC)
Many countries are mentioned in the text: Holland, Spain, Australia, and England.
The text shows the special way of these countries to celebrate Christmas, but all the description is limited to one or two sentences. The article talks much about the name
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and role of Santa Claus, which is not shown in LTE. However, it does not inform readers of the origin and the history of Christmas. Also, many sentences are sharing of the author’s personal experience of celebrating Christmas and followed by examples of different countries to show the differences. But the author does not point out his/her nationality; readers can not relate the contents to a specific culture.
In sum, LTE focuses more on the discussion of Christmas, the demonstration of Christmas spirit, and information about the special way to celebrate Christmas;
nevertheless, ABC pays more attention on some symbols of Christmas such as Santa Clause, and Christmas tree, and then shares personal experience or introduces how different cultures celebrate Christmas with these symbols. For the depth of introducing Christmas, LTE gives more detailed information and discussion while ABC uses brief description to introduce celebration of Christmas in different countries.
(3). Chinese New Year:
Chinese New Year, unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, is originated from Chinese culture. Therefore, the introduction of Chinese New Year in English learning materials is a combination of local and foreign cultures. Both magazines arrange this topic in the content, which is a performance of “placing the local in the global” (Gray, 2002). LTE uses dialogues to talk about some tradition and food during Chinese New Year. Here is one example:
Amy: Cleaning before Chinese New Year is a traditional activity.
Tom: Why is cleaning a tradition?
Amy: Some people say you can sweep away bad luck.
Tom: We could order pizza! (For Chinese New Year party) Jason: (laughs) Pizza!
Amy: No thank you. I prefer making traditional Chinese dishes. Jason, do you think I should prepare a whole fish or a whole chicken?
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Jason: I like fish. My mom always prepares fish.
Amy: OK, then I will prepare a whole fish.
Tom: A whole fish? Wouldn’t cutting off the head and tail be better?
Amy: No! Some people believe that’s not lucky. In Chinese, “fish” sounds like the word for “extra”.
Jason: They want to have more than they need for next year.
Amy: It’s a tradition. I will make noodles because they are a symbol for long life.
Jason: How about jiao-zi? Will you make them too?
Amy: Yes! Tom, jiao-zi are dumplings.
(p.31-33, Feb, 2010, LTE)
This dialogue mainly talks about food, and it shows that each food eaten during Chinese New Year has special significance and symbol. The explanation is included, for example, while talking about cutting the whole fish into pieces, the speaker responds “Some people believe that’s not lucky. In Chinese, “fish” sounds like the word for extra”. The text explains the taboo and reason for having this food, and it also shows Chinese characteristics of being superstitious and obedient to tradition.
Moreover, it includes situation of culture shock in the conversation as Tom, an American boy, suggests eating pizza for Chinese New Year party. This suggestion is treated with laughs and indirect refusal “I prefer making traditional Chinese dishes”;
however, this strategy helps readers think from other culture and reexamine the custom and tradition of Chinese New Year with different view. Unlike LTE, ABC uses a written information form—e-mail, to show a typical way to celebrate Chinese New Year:
Dear Annie:
I’m going to get together with my family on Chinese New Year. It is my favorite holiday. I’m going to the temple near my house. There will be many festival activities
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Of course, there will be many people, too.
On the second day of Chinese New Year, I’m going to my grandparents’ house in Chiayi. They will give me a lot of money like my other grandparents and maybe more than them
During Chinese New Year, there will be many happy memories in my life.
Yu-Hui Kao (P. 22; February, 2010, ABC)
In the text, it lists things people do during Chinese New Year from a perspective of a citizen. It mentions that people would spend this holiday with family, go to the temple, visit grandparents’ house the day after Chinese New Year’s Day, and get lucky money from them. It shows the celebration of Chinese New Year in a clear and simple way without adding culture factors and tradition in the text.
(4). Easter
Easter is an important holiday in Christian world, and some compared it as the Chinese New Year to Chinese culture, so does Easter to Westerners. Both magazines introduce Easter in different ways. In LTE, it first introduces Easter in lexical level and focuses on the explanation of Easter eggs and Easter egg hunts. The following passages are examples:
Easter Eggs: This year, Easter is on Sunday. How do people celebrate this holiday?
Some people decorate eggs. They dye or paint real eggs. Then they decorate their homes
Some people decorate eggs. They dye or paint real eggs. Then they decorate their homes