從國際賽事看語言管理

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(1)Language Management in International Sport Events. by Hsiao-Hui Hung. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Wei-Wen Chang, Ph. D. National Taiwan Normal University Taipei, Taiwan August, 2013.

(2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to show great gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Wei-Wen Chang, who gave me much instruction and encouragement through the whole graduate learning and the research. She is always patient and kind to solve our confusion. I am heartily thankful to Dr. Shir-Tau Tsai and Dr. Yi-Chun Lin who gave me a lot of suggestions for my thesis. Also, I appreciate Dr. Chih-Chien Lai, Dr. Rosa Yeh and Dr.Cheng-ping Shih greatly since they taught us how to be professional. My gratitude is also extended to the assistant of IHRD, Sandra. She is always kind to answer our questions. Furthermore, I want to thank ETS for the opportunity to do the research. I appreciate Benjamin Wang, Vincent Lu, Tom Yo and Eliza Yang for their supports to this research. I want to thank all my classmates and friends who support me to complete this research. I appreciate my classmates in IHRD, especially William (study room partner), Alan, Matthew, Grace, Lena, Ashley James, Winni and Anita. When we have difficulties we discussed together, which contributes much to the research. I want to show gratitude to my friend, Clin, who accompanied me to do the research. Also, I would like to appreciate people who assist me to complete this research. Thanks for the volunteers and organizers’ important helps. Without them, I can never complete the research. I am heartily thankful to my families. Without them, I cannot have the opportunity to attend IHRD and do this research. They are always the strongest support to me. In the end, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the thesis..

(3) ABSTRACT This research aimed to explore language management in volunteer management of international sport events in Taiwan. From two angles of volunteers and organizers, this study explored the execution of language issues in volunteer management. As an exploratory study, the qualitative methods were adopted with exploring the three international sport events: 2009 World Games, 2011 International Skating Union (ISU) Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and 2011 Tour de Taiwan (International Bicycle Tour Championship in Taiwan). The finding was as following. As for the policies and strategies of organizers, the standards of language abilities, resources of language volunteers and training courses were presented. As for the difficulties of organizers, they indicated concepts about the affairs of schools; the necessity of interview; the limited opportunities for volunteers; the limited human resource in sport associations and the unpredictable situations in implementation. As for the experiences of volunteers, they indicated the concepts about the simple language ability selection; the different language ability selection in schools; the necessity of interview; technical and functional help from training; the argument of language training and the necessity of understanding about cultures in advance. As for the verbal language barriers in communication of volunteers, there are technical term, accent and other languages. As for the silent language barriers, there are the barriers about international etiquette in reception; jokes in conversation; diet and religion. In the end, there are recommendations to volunteers, organizers, government, education institute, future research and the Educational Testing Service, ETS.. Key words: language management, volunteer management, international sport event. I.

(4) TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ......................................................................................................................I Table of Contents .......................................................................................................II List of Tables ..............................................................................................................IV List of Figures ............................................................................................................V. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .......................................................... 1 Background of the Study ...................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................2 Purposes and Questions of the Study .................................................................4 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................5 Definition of Terms ............................................................................................7. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................. 9 Language Management ......................................................................................9 Intercultural Communication .............................................................................14 The Volunteer Management of International Sport Events ................................18. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS ............................................ 25 The Three Cases .................................................................................................25 Research Framework .........................................................................................29 Population and Samples .....................................................................................31 Data Collection ..................................................................................................37 Data Analysis .....................................................................................................39 Research Quality ................................................................................................41. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................ 43 The Management of Language Issues of Organizers .........................................45 The Difficulties and Feedback of Language Management of Organizers .........53 The Experiences of Language Management of Volunteers ...............................57 II.

(5) The Language Barriers in Communication of Volunteers .................................64 Discussions……………………………………………………………………..70. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS........ 75 Conclusions ........................................................................................................75 Recommendations ..............................................................................................77. REFERENCES........................................................................................ 83 APPENDIX A: The 1st ROUND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS I ......... ..87 APPENDIX B: The 1st ROUND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS II ........ ..90 APPENDIX C: The 1st ROUND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS III....... ..92 APPENDIX D: The 2nd ROUND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS I ........ . 94 APPENDIX E: The 2nd ROUND INTERVIEW QUESTIONS II ....... . 98 APPENDIX F: PROCESS of DATA ANALYIS……………………….101 APPENDIX G: The TASKS Of VOLUNTEERS In TOUR DE TAIWAN……………………………………………………………….103 APPENDIX H: The TASKS Of VOLUNTEERS In ISU FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS……………………………..106 APPENDIX I: VOLUNTEERS TRAINING SCHEDULE In 2009 WORLD GAMES …………….……………………………….………108. III.

(6) LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. The Information of the Three Cases……………………………………………28. Table 3.2 The Information of Organizers…………………………...…………………….32 Table 3.3 The Information of Volunteers…………………………...…………………….33 Table 3.4 Example of Categorizing………………………...……………………………..40 Table 3.5 Example of Theme……..………………………...………………………….....40 Table 4.1. List of Findings…………………………………………………………………43. Table 4.2. Schools Supporting Volunteers in the World Games…………………………...46. Table 4.3. The Standards of English Ability of Volunteers in the World Games……….....49. Table 4.4. The Requirements of Abilities of Volunteers in the World Games……………..50. Table 4.5. The Standards of English Ability of Volunteers in Individual Sport Events…...51. Table 4.6. 2009 World Games Volunteer Training Schedule…...……………………….....53. Table 4.7. Motivations of Volunteers…..……………………...…………………………...58. Table 4.8. Answers of Accent in Language Barriers………...…………………………….66. Table 4.9. Answers of the Solution for Accent in Language Barrier………………….......66. Table 4.10. Answers of Other Language in Language Barriers…………………………...67. Table 4.11. Answers of Solutions for Other Language in Language Barriers…………….68. Table 4.12. The Interviewees of the Three Language Barriers……………………………68. IV.

(7) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Dimension of culture…………………………………………………………16. Figure 3.1. The Organization Chart in Kaohsiung World Games………………………..26. Figure 3.2. The Conceptual Framework…………………………………………………29. Figure 3.3. The Research Framework……………………………………………………30. Figure 3.4. The Research Table…………………………………………………………..31. Figure 4.1. The Influences of English Ability……………………………………………62. Figure 5.1. The Suggestions of Language Management to ETS………..…………………82. V.

(8) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Background of the Study With the increasing globalization of trade and business in the knowledge-based economy, nowadays almost three out of four multinational companies (MNCs) manage networks of twenty or more overseas operations (Feely & Harzing, 2003; John, Cox, Ietto-Gillies & Grimwade, 1997). They have the co-ordination burden of managing such geographically, culturally and linguistically various networks. The co-ordination is especially the key source for competitive advantage; it makes global communication capability necessary for success (Feely & Harzing, 2003). The importance of global communication capability makes the issues such as crosscultural competence, language ability, communication skill, talent management and development more crucial. The use of an appropriate language has especially become critical for the acquisition of competitive advantage. Language affects the ability of multinational organizations to function in the global market (Dhir, 2004). The management of the diverse languages has become an important issue today. In recent years not only corporations face the language management issue, but also the sport affairs in whole world face the same challenge. Many countries are seeking the opportunities of holding the international sport events, Taiwan is no exception. Taiwan government is advancing internationalization in these years. Many international activities are subsidized by the government such as international conference and sport events. The international events bring many benefits, such as promoting the reputation, increasing the soft power and social capital; cultivate more international talents and building the competitiveness. Holding the international sport events especially promotes the competitiveness of nations. The competitiveness of nations comes from the competitiveness of cities. There are 1.

(9) two kinds of factors in competitiveness of cities: fundamental and advantage factors (Chiang & Huang, 2006). The fundamental factors are the infrastructure, laws and regulations construction. Advantage factors are others, such as human capital, innovative ability, knowledge capital, etc. These factors are essential for cities to hold the international sport events. Taiwan has strived for the opportunities to hold the international sport events for several years; therefore, there have been many events in Taiwan for recent years. For example, The 21th Summer Deaflympics Taipei and World Games in 2009, ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and Tour de Taiwan in 2011. In the future, many units, such as tennis, baseball and football will hold the international sport events. In 2017, Taipei is going to hold World University Games. The participants, judges, medium and even the audiences are from diverse countries and cultures. Facing the different languages, the language management is crucial for the success of the international sport events. Furthermore, there is a group of people playing the key role in the international sport events: the volunteers. The issue of volunteer service has become more and more popular in recent years. Their efforts make the events successful and gather the social capital more. Therefore, this research will also emphasize on different dimensions of volunteer management.. Statement of the Problem Generally, there are three aspects about the problem. First, although there are many researches about volunteer management in international sport events, few or even no researches is related to the language management in sport events. There are diverse cultures and languages in an international event, so the importance of the language factor should be addressed. The lack of research may influence the quality of language in the events and further affect quality of the event. The second aspect is about the language management in early international sport events in Taiwan. The organizing units did not pay much attention to the language factor. For 2.

(10) example, in volunteer management, they used to ask teachers to bring students to assist with the competitions, instead of recruiting great amounts of volunteers. About training, the level of training depends on the organizations. The language and culture competences often lack of training. As for others components in the volunteer management, they did not involve language factors much. In the business field, companies try to ensure the language quality with diverse methods and tools. A company may make better use of existing language-skilled staff; recruiting new staffs that already have the necessary English language skills, and organizing English training for those who need it. Most companies use the last two options simultaneously (Charles & Marschan-Piekkari, 2002). How about the field of international sport event in these days? Hence, the researcher would like to explore the current situation in Taiwan. She wants to know whether the language quality can be ensured in these events with the current volunteer management or event management. The third one is related to language barriers, containing the standardized language and the usage of language. The language management may have been discussed much; however, the language barriers may still exist in communication. Such barriers would cause misunderstanding, distrust and even conflicts between people. There are two items for the language barriers. The first one is standardized language. Many events in Taiwan adopted the popular language, English as the main language in the competition, but actually there are more languages and cultures exist and the adoption of a standardized language is not always the optimal strategy (Dhir, 2005). Within an MNC, the use of English as a company language seems to provide an obvious solution to the problem of communicating with each other. A company language is helpful to internal and external communication since it provides a common medium for all members of the organization and offers easy access to official information channels (Tange & Lauring, 2009); however, it seemed to be creating kinds of problems. Take the Siemens case for example; they have indicated both the positive and negative effects of combining a foreign language with a technical or industry language. Such 3.

(11) a language allows communication on a specific subject with particular vocabulary, but may also create misunderstandings (Charles & Marschan-Piekkari, 2002). Therefore, the researcher would like to know if international sport events have the same situation. The second one is the usage of language. The language competence does not merely involve a linguistic ability to select the correct form of a given language (e.g. grammatical, syntactic, or morphological knowledge), but also a pragmatic capacity to adapt language to particular social situations and contexts (Tange & Lauring, 2009). In business, a dominant, proper or natural language depends on the occasion at hand, which makes the ability to define what is considered legitimate speech in any given situation or setting crucial to the continuous struggle for resources and recognition within an organization. The sociological theories offer a valuable insight into the use of language and mostly based on interaction between speakers of the same, national language (Brubaker, 2002; Jenkins, 1997; Tange & Lauring, 2009). In oral comprehension, the difficulty of understanding different kinds of "Englishes" exists, particularly the accents used in different parts of the world (Charles & Marschan-Piekkari, 2002). In international sport events, members come from diverse countries and with different backgrounds; furthermore, a great amount of communication will occur in a short period. Facing the different usages of language, how to communicate smoothly is a big concern. How to manage communications across the language barrier is the question that every function would like to ask (Feely & Harzing, 2003). Consequently, the researcher would like to understand cross-cultural communication of volunteers. To sum up, this study was focused on language management and cross-cultural communication.. Purposes and Questions of the Study Due to these problems, this study aimed to explore the language management of international sport events in Taiwan, practically in volunteer management process. From the perspectives of organizers and volunteers, the implementation about the language management and volunteer management in the sport events were enquired. This research 4.

(12) provided Taiwan’s government, sport associations and volunteers the information of language management in volunteer management of international sport events in the future. Therefore, this study intended to respond the following research questions: 1. In volunteer management of international sport events in Taiwan, What are the strategies, policies, implementation of language management of the organizers? 2. In volunteer management of international sport events in Taiwan, what difficulties do organizers meet in the language management 3. In the international sport events in Taiwan, how do volunteers experience the language management? 4. During the international sport events in Taiwan, how do volunteers manage language barriers in communication?. Significance of the Study Language as a Forgotten Factor The issues of global and cultural diversity have been discussed and researched largely in the past years; however, language is viewed as the “forgotten factor” in international management (Charles & Marschan-Piekkari, 2002; Tange, 2009). Luo and Shenkar (2006) also pointed out that language is rarely emphasized in the strategy literature. Writers have primarily discussed language management about transnational relationships, leaving the issue of micro-level implementation relatively unexplored. In spite of the significant role of foreign languages and international communication, few studies emphasize specifically on foreign language skills and their role in enhancing communication in the MNC environment (Charles & Marschan-Piekkari, 2002).. The Increasing Intercultural Communication In today’s world, the opportunities for intercultural communication are increasing. Intercultural communication has many difficulties to conquer. Language users’ orientation of social interaction towards the members of their own speech community illustrates an obstacle 5.

(13) to cross-cultural communication; furthermore, the language problem is not necessarily removed by adopting English as a standardized language (Tange & Lauring, 2009). In multinational settings, communication often takes place between speakers whose fluency in English varies and who may use other languages alongside English. Physical distance makes effective communication necessary and cultural distance makes effective global communication essential (Feely & Harzing 2003; Spinks & Wells, 1997). Although there are many tools and methods for solving the language problems, in our modern age of sophisticated technology, the efficiency of communication still requires human input through language (Charles & Marschan-Piekkari, 2002). Therefore, the language system and the contents of communication should be enquired.. The Significance of International Sport Events for English Ability Although researchers have indicated that viewing English as the standardized language have problems, English is still influential. The ability is viewed as one of the indexes of the competitiveness of nations. With English, people can experience the international view and learn new information (Yen, 2010). Not only education is important, but also the learning environment is principle. The opportunities to speak English are necessary. The English village should be built as an environment for people to “use” English, not to “learn” English. It is suggested that the government should improve systems, laws and regulations instead of spending budgets on English village or scenario classrooms. The international sport events indeed provide great numbers of people to “use” English. However, English is merely a tool for understanding other cultures (Yen, 2010). The key of the competitiveness of nations is the viewpoint and creativity. The international sport events provide the opportunities for people to participate the international affairs. Furthermore, this research is one of the few researches to connect language management and international sport events.. 6.

(14) Definition of Terms Language Language is a symbolic resource that individuals use in order to achieve and express cultural and social notions of behavior, in which the process includes conversation, setting, function and social identity. English and other rare languages are included here.. Language Management Language management is a succession of explicit and implicit actions including verbal and nonverbal language policies, strategies, implementations; usually not written in a formal document (Blommaert, 2003; Spolsky, 2004; Senkar, 2006; Tange & Lauring, 2009).. Volunteer Service Under free wills and choices, in approved organizations, without pay, people devote themselves to the behaviors which are benefit to others or society, but the necessary expenditures could be subsidized (Lu, 2002).. Volunteer Management This research defined it as a system and application which develop human resources of volunteers, including recruiting, selecting and training in short-term events.. 7.

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(16) CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW. Language Management The Definition and Background Although Language is a common experience of human beings, it is difficult to have an agreement in the definition. Language is considered as providing and invoking context. It provides the context for our thoughts, interactions and social identities; but it stimulates other social forces (Welch & Piekkari, 2006; Goodwin & Duranti, 1992). Dhir and Abildun (2002) stated that language not only allows us to acquire, but also to transmit knowledge from one generation to the other. Besides, language is a symbolic resource that individuals use in order to achieve and express cultural and social notions of behavior. Other researchers indicated that language users’ choice of a specific linguistic medium to socio-cultural concerns such as the focus of a conversation (e.g. ingroup/outgroup, formal/informal), setting (e.g. place, time, participants), function (e.g. task/relationship), and social identity (e.g. national, professional, gender). Similar criteria can be used to distinguish national from corporate languages (Welch & Piekkari, 2006). In this research, Language is defined as a symbolic resource that individuals use to achieve and express cultural and social notions of behavior, in which the process includes conversation, setting, function and social identity, including English and other rare languages. The process of learning any language is also a process of acquiring the culture that is included by the language. Recent trend emphasizes that language is more than a medium for communication; instead, it’s a “culture resource” that (re)produces the social world (Duranti, 1997; Welch & Piekkari, 2006). Language plays a role that operate globally, bringing people from various cultures and traditions together, who were educated through different learning processes (Dhir, 2005). Individuals interact and make interpretations within their cultural and linguistic context (Von Glinow, Shapiro, & Brett, 2004) with language serving as a cultural 9.

(17) system of signification (Brannen, 2004; Luo & Shenkar, 2006). Consequently, this research will enquire more on the dimensions of culture. Later the literature of intercultural communication will be discussed. Language plays a critical role in various dimensions. It is important in knowledge creation and application, flow of information, and functioning of organizations (Dhir, 2005). Management theories also indicate that language is like a facilitator providing for the acquisition and transmission of information through social interaction with others (Feely & Harzing, 2003). Language not only communicates information, but facilitates the creation of value through exchange of ideas within the context (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). The idea of exchange is similar to the concept of currency. There are three functions of language which correspond to the three functions of currency. The three functions of currency are (1) a unit of exchange (2) a unit of account (3) a store of value (Dhir, 2005). The three corresponding functions of language are (1) exchanging information and knowledge (2) accounting through narratives; and (3) storing value of knowledge and know-how. Language is not value in itself, but rather it creates value in its use of exchange (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). In the process of exchange, many decisions of choice and usage are created. For business, the choices and usages of language have influences on information circulation, presentation and interpretation, which in turn allow corporate headquarters to control global planning and inter-unit coordination. Language also affects the process of enactment in which organizational members internalize environmental information (Luo & Shenkar, 2006; Phillips, Lawrence, & Hardy, 2004). Furthermore, for business there are two kinds of missions of the working language. First from the points of view of the corporate planners, the mission is to maximize the organization’s competitive advantage within the strategic environment in which it operates. Second, from the perspectives of sociolinguists, the mission is to maximize the quality and quantity of the social interactions (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). As for the international events, the language choices and usages are not as complicated as the corporates; 10.

(18) nevertheless, the language setting could make a big difference to the events, especially for the communication between volunteers and the international participants. Consequently, this research not only explored the language issues from the angle of organizations, but also emphasized on the communication contents of the volunteers. Language management is a new issue in recent decades; however, it is difficult to have an agreement in the definition. Blommaert (2003) defined language management as the following: new speech varieties and repertoires are adopted to fulfill certain ”Lingua franca functions”. Spolsky (2004) defined language management as “the formulation and proclamation of an explicit plan or policy, usually but not necessarily written in a formal document, about language use.” Luo and Shenkar (2006) perceived language management as “a variable mechanism that needs to balance global integration with local adaptation in line with corporate strategy and an evolving global environment (P.322)”, which limited language management in enterprises. In this research, language is defined as a system and application which develop human resources of volunteers, including recruiting, selecting and training in short-term events.. The Language Option and Policy Facing the globalized environment, organizations adopt different means and tools to deal with the language issues. The solutions depend on different situations of each organization. Lester (1994, P.43) (as cited in Dhir, 2005) notes: “the easiest and cheapest way to approach the language problem is to hire people already possessing the required skills.” It seems work; however, the nature of language is abstract and talents are not always easy to obtain. Many organizations choose to set the common language (standardized language) but some problems still exist. Using a language that members of a given constituency do not master, or one that limits their ability to converse, lowers their information access and hence power within the organization. Global English is important to corporate performance; however, we should notice that language choice, like other strategic decisions, is not made in a vacuum. With the 11.

(19) streams of immigration, trade and investment, creating new jargons and dialects that represent mixtures of diverse languages, languages are continually evolving, infused with new vocabularies and language usages (Luo & Shenkar, 2006). It seems that how language workers manage the language issues depends on how the organizations handle with language management. It comes with the term, language policy. Traditionally, language policy issue is about how the languages or its varieties in a nation’s speech repertoire function and the attitudes of the populace to these languages, in order to provide a rational basis for allocating functional roles to these languages; however, language policy can be defined as “the only activity in which a language community takes action actively and intentionally in order to obtain a linguistic change” (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). There are two key ideas which should be considered during developing a language policy. First, linguistic expressions are the product of the relationship between a linguistic and linguistic habitus. Second, individual choices are conditioned by the demands of the target social or economic fields or market (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). As for the options for language issues, scholars indicated many concepts and tools. Cobarrubias (1983) indicated four typical ideologies that motivate decision-making in language planning. These are linguistic assimilation, linguistic pluralism, vernacularzation and internationalism (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). Feely and Harzing (2003) presented several options: lingua franca, functional multilingualism, external language resources, training, corporate languages, language nodes, selective recruitment, expatriate management, impartation, machine translation and control language. Such means offered by the scholars provide the researcher dimensions to examine the implementation of language management in international sport events in Taiwan.. The Dimension of Language Issue Many studies have discussed the factors in language issues. In business, during the language planning stage, there are two kinds of planning: status planning and corpus planning. 12.

(20) Status planning is related to the status of the target language(s) or varieties of a language about other(s); corpus planning is about the internal constitution of the target variety with the goal of changing it (Dhir & Abildun, 2002). Other than the methods of planning, there are other factors which company could take into consideration. Facing the globalized environment, companies have to evaluate the magnitude of the language barrier which they encounter. There are three dimensions helping them to examine the magnitude. The first dimension is language diversity, which means the number of various languages the company has to manage. The second one is language penetration, the number of functions and the number of levels within those functions that are involved in cross-lingual communication. The third dimension is language sophistication, which means the complexity and refinement of the language skills required (Feely & Harzing, 2003). Luo and Shenker (2006) indicated the similar concepts. For MNC, in headquarters, language breadth means how widespread is the use of the parent functional language across geographically dispersed units. In a foreign subunit, breadth refers to how widespread the subunit’s functional language is in communications with other corporate members. In cases of this study, it is closed to the situation in foreign subunit; this dimension is similar to the language penetration. Language intensity means how frequent and intense is the use of a functional language by organizational members. This dimension is related to the language sophistication. Transnationality is the extent to which an MNC has internationalized its major businesses and diversified globally. This dimension is similar to the language diversity. The above dimensions can be applied to the international sport events. The international events include diversity cultures and languages, several subunits and tasks which need different levels of language skills. During the process of planning of the sport events, the dimensions could be considered in the language issues. Over all, for MNCs, language system can be determined by international strategy, organization structure, and level of internationalization (Luo & Shenkar, 2006). 13.

(21) Correspondingly, in an international sport event, the orientation of the event, the structures of the event and its language diversity have influences on the language policy of the international sport event. Tange and Lauring (2009) also indicated factors which influence the form and nature of multilingualism, the organizational level, setting and unit. These make a sociolinguistic analysis of organizational communication a very complex undertaking. In international sport events, these factors can also be applied. The significance of the events to the organization, the setting in the events and the involved units are the dimensions which the organizers can take into account. Therefore, this study explored the dimensions in language planning, the factors in the language policy and other related issues.. Intercultural Communication The Definition and Background Other than discussing the language issues, there is an important factor should be discussed. Communication also plays a critical role in sport events. From becoming the bidding city to the closing ceremony, no matter the organizations or volunteers, the great amount of communication is needed in a sport event. In international sport events, there are people from different countries and cultures which we emphasized in previous chapters. These bring out another important issue, cross-cultural communication, or intercultural communication. For cross-cultural, it general refers to comparing phenomena across cultures. For intercultural communication, it generally refers to face-to-face interaction among people of diverse cultures (Jandt, 2004); therefore, in this research, the researcher will use “intercultural communication”. Edward T. Hall first used the term intercultural communication in 1959; he defined it as communication between persons of different cultures. There are thousands of definitions of culture. Edward Hall (1966) defined culture as deep, common and unstated experience which members of a given culture share. They communicate without knowing. Individuals have a culture, but often are not aware of their behaviors, habits and customs that are culturally based. Beamer and Varner (2001) defined 14.

(22) culture as the coherent, learned and shared view of people about life’s concern which decide what is important, appropriate attitude and behavior (Beamer & Varner, 2001). Culture seems a common, learned and unstated experience shared by members of a given culture share without knowing. The way we think and behavior are all related to culture. As for communication, the study of communication in western culture has been 2500 years in history. Greece described the process of communication as involving a speaker, the speech act, an audience and a purpose. There are many theories about intercultural communication. Edward Hall (1966) indicated the high-context and low-context cultures. High-context cultures in which the context of the message is well understood by both sender and receiver, use the context to communicate the message. Members in low-context cultures put their thoughts into words (Beamer & Varner, 2001; Edward, 1966). About the Schemata Model, among the schemata are those that categorize what we know about cultures about our own; when facing the unfamiliar culture, the new schemata should be created. In the Unites States, communication was studied as the means of transmitting ideas. Western transmission models emphasized the instrumental function of communication. David Berlo’s (1960) indicated that communication is a dynamic process. The transmission models clear defined the components in the process: source, encoding, message, channel, noise, receiver, decoding, receiver response, feedback and context (Jandt, 2004). Communication is a process, culture is the structure through which the communication is formulated and interpreted (Jandt, 2004). Because communication is an element of culture, it can’t be separated with culture. Jandt (2004, p.22) cited the words of Godwin C. Chu (1977) Saying, “Every cultural pattern and every single act of social behavior involve communication to be understood, the two must be studied together. Culture cannot be known without a study of communication, and communication can only be understood with an understanding of the culture it supports.” 15.

(23) The relationship between language, culture and communication is presented more clearly in figure 2.1. To communicate effectively in the intercultural environment, understanding the factors that affect the situation is necessary.. Figure 2.1. Dimension of c adapted from “Cultural orientation: An approach to understanding intercultural communication.” by Borden, G.A.,1991. P. 171. Upper Salle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.. Language is related to thought processes and mental learning process; researchers suggest that language and culture can be used interchangeably, while some think they are indeed separate phenomenon because language is clearly inadequate to help us understand culture,. especially. our. own.. Intercultural. communication. continually. involves. misunderstanding caused by misperception, misinterpretation and misevaluation (Beamer & Varner, 2001). These may lead to more problems such as mistrust, quarrels and conflicts, etc. More seriously these may affect the process of an international event. For successful intercultural communication, the cultural intelligence is mentioned. Chen (1989, 1990) identifies four skill areas: personal strength, communication skills, psychological adjustment, and cultural awareness. Besides, according to Peterson (2004), cultural competence involves the areas of linguistic intelligence, spatial intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and interpersonal intelligence. As for communication skills, individual must be competent in 16.

(24) verbal and nonverbal behaviors. These require message skills, behavioral flexibility, interaction management, and social skills (Jandt, 2004). Not only in the international events the intercultural intelligence is needed and implemented, but also in many occasions we have to face different cultures. Therefore, the issue about intercultural communication can’t be ignored.. Verbal and Nonverbal Language Communication is the perception of verbal (words) and nonverbal (without words) behaviors and the assignment of meaning to them. Generally we agree with the words; however, sometimes we may feel there is more to the message than the words. The truth is that we may base the judgment on nonverbal signal or the ”silent language” (Beamer & Varner, 2001). The scholars Judee Burgoon and her colleagues (1988) define nonverbal communication as the actions and attributes of human that have socially shared meaning, are intentionally sent or interpreted, are consciously send or received, and have potential for feedback from the receiver. Nonverbal communication refers to a source’s actions or attributes that are not verbal (Jandt, 2004). The content of the communications is very important. The use of non-verbal communications works a lot (Luo & Shenkar, 2006). Language put limits on expressing certain qualities or concepts with a single word (Beamer & Varner, 2001), nonverbal communication does make communication more comprehensive. There are many functions of nonverbal communication, it can replace spoken language, send uncomfortable messages, form impressions that guide communication, make relationships clear, regulate interaction, reinforce and modify verbal messages (Jandt, 2004). In intercultural environment, nonverbal communication has different issues. Cultures where non-verbal communications are paramount, intense interpersonal interaction is required even if all subunits share the same language (e.g., Singapore, Taiwan, and mainland China). Judee Burgoon (1986) mentioned that some nonverbal communication in the same culture is so ambiguous that its 17.

(25) interpretation is settled by the context (Jandt, 2004). Language choice, like other strategic decisions, is made in the context of bounded rationality, influenced by traditions, heritages, experience and stereotypes. It can be said that not only is language one of the key differences, but also the choice of language, especially the nonverbal language, can affect inter-member trust, which the authors pinpoint as a key adhesive among members (Luo & Shenkar, 2006). Many scholars have discussed the categories of nonverbal communication. For example, Burgoon (1986) identified two perspectives of nonverbal communication. She indicated that much nonverbal communication indeed has recognized meanings and consistent usage within a culture and these form a vocabulary of nonverbal symbols. Nonverbal communication can be divided by such categories, proxemics, kinesics, chronemics, paralanguage, silence, haptic, clothing and physical appearance, territoriality, olfactics and oculesics (Jandt, 2004). Other researchers divided nonverbal communication into two major categories: (1) nonverbal or nonworded communication beyond the spoken or written word (2) nonverbal communication only includes nonverbal language using the body, including paralanguage. In paralanguage, vocal qualifiers and vocalizations are consisted. As for nonverbal convention in face-to-face communication, eye contact, facial expression, gestures, timing in spoken exchanges, touching, the language of space, appearance and silence are emphasized (Beamer & Varner, 2001). In this study, because the researcher addressed the content of communication, the dimensions of culture, processes of communication and the categories of nonverbal communication were explored.. The Volunteer Management of International Sport Events The Definition and Background of Volunteering Through longtime of efforts; with 123 members of the United Nations confirming, the United Nations General Assembly 52nd Session finally announced that the year 2001 is “International Year of Volunteer, IYV.” In Taiwan, The Legislative Yuan also approved of “the Law of Volunteer Services” in Third Reading on January 4th, 2001. In the following 18.

(26) years, the governments of Taiwan announced policies about volunteer services. Many signs indicate that the application of human resource of volunteers is one of the focal policies for current government, especially the sport affairs (Wu, 2005). Volunteering is important to every civilization and society. Volunteers have contributed to creating cohesive societies and adding value to the services that government provide around the world (Chen, 2010; United Nations Volunteers). Nowadays, many people devote themselves into the volunteering services. People have general concepts of volunteering, but it’s difficult to define it. There are two main themes about volunteering, the reward for the service provided and the freewill of the participants (Chen, 2010). Volunteering Center of England in their annual report indicated volunteer services is that without rewards, people devote to the activities which can help others and be beneficial to the environment (Bills & Harris, 1996). UN defined volunteer service as in an organized, goal-directed and method-directed way, adjusting and increasing the adaption of individuals to the environment, the kinds of work are called social service. The definition given by American Social worker Association is a group that people gather under freewill and freedom and pursuit public profit is voluntary group, people who participate the group are volunteers. The Law of Volunteer Service (2001) define it as people improve public affairs efficiency and raise social benefit with sincerity, knowledge, physical ability, experience, technique, time with freewill and none rewards, not individual duty and legal obligation (Kan, 2008). It is also divided into four components: free choice, remuneration, structure and intend beneficiaries. This definition contains the comprehensive factors; will be adopted in this study. If we would like to define volunteer service in Taiwan, volunteer service is, Under free will and choice, in approved organizations, without rewards, people devote themselves to the behaviors which are benefit to others or society, but the necessary expenditures could be subsidized (Lu, 2002). Therefore, we can know that the volunteer behavior is under voluntary not mandatory; Organizations must be approved; 19.

(27) organizations and people do not aim to gain profit, but can have necessary subvention. As for benefit for others or society, many researchers indicate that volunteer service beneficial to themselves is acceptable. The behaviors indeed help self-growth (Hsu, Li, & Chen, 2009). Volunteering results in economic and social impact to the community tremendously (Chen, 2010). The range of voluntary organizations and activities are very broad. Social welfare, religion institutions and sports are three major volunteer fields (Lagerström & Andersson, 2003). In 1999, Switzerland held an international Olympic Games conference; the topic was” volunteer, global society and Olympic.” In the conference, most of countries indicated that volunteers indeed have the important influence on promotion of their mega-events and sporting event for all citizens (Wu, 2005). Nowadays, the involvement of volunteers has become a successful indicator in holding international sport mega-events (Kan, 2008).. Volunteering in Sport Events The sport industry is an important sector; sport organizations and activities attract and rely heavily upon many volunteers (Chen, 2010). Because events are short-termed, organizations cannot provide great opportunities of full-time positions for people (Cheng & Kuo, 2010). Sport events consist of a small number of staff members, thus turning to volunteers to assist in the operation of the event and offset the event costs (Pauline & Pauline, 2009).Volunteers were critical to the successful staging of many international sport mega-events because they provided the substantial amount of unpaid additional labor that was needed (Kemp, 2002). For example, in international field, World Cup, Lillehammer and Sydney Olympic games events (Kemp, 2002). In Taiwan, there are two important international sport events in 2009. In World Game, 4653 volunteers were consisted (Huang & Tsai, 2009). In The 21st Summer Deaflympics Taipei 2009, there are ten thousands of volunteers (Lin, 2009). The 2004 Athens Olympic Games have 45000 volunteers. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have 70000 volunteers (Kan, 2008). In the developed countries, the application of event volunteers is universal; England has 1,468,238 event volunteers in one 20.

(28) year (Cheng & Kuo, 2010). When it comes to types and definitions, there are two types of sport volunteers, community sport volunteers and sport event volunteers. Community-based sport programs usually have long-term and fixed schedules; an educational and leisure purpose. Sport events usually have a short-term or one-time schedule; with more people involved and with higher competition and more public attention (Chen, 2010). In this study, sport event volunteers are emphasized. Kan (2008) defined sport event volunteers as people devote into public welfare which relates to sport events in order to provide feedback to society and achieve self-growth, without rewards and with sincerity. Cheng and Kuo (2010) indicated that event volunteers exist due to the demand of sport events. With freewill and no rewards, they provide individuals and organizations professional ability to assist with the development of the sport events. Nowadays people compete for the opportunities to volunteer for these sport events. This is not normal in past volunteering cases; therefore, further investigation is worth (Chen, 2010).. Volunteer Management in Sport Events Because of the benefit volunteers can bring to the society, people consider it as a positive activity; however, recruiting and retaining good volunteers is not easy for volunteer organizations. Volunteering is different from paid work; volunteer management is different from general human resource management, especially in sport events (Chen, 2010). The event is all about people coming together to create, operate, and participate in an experience (Silvers, 2004). The term “event” is used for describing different activities designed for different purposes. These activities can be art, sports, tourism and social activities, such as civic events, conventions, expositions, fairs and festivals, hallmark events, hospitality, incentive travel, meetings and conferences, retail events, reunions, social life-cycle events, sport events, and tourism (Goldblatt, 2005; Huseyin, Argan, & Metin, 2011). The cases of sport event are adopted in this study because the trend has become more popular 21.

(29) in Taiwan and the main cities in Taiwan have held the international sport events successfully. Regardless of size, events require a high degree of planning, a range of skills and a lot of energy ( Hillary Commission for Sport, 1997). Every event has an organization behind it; they have to manage activities, organize funding, administer staff and voluntary personnel, undertake marketing and public relations, organize security, print leaflets and tickets, hire performers, arrange decorations, sort out parking and many other activities (Tassiopoulos, 2005). The way in which an organization deals with events is known as event management. In the event management, the human resource management is one of the main issues. The human resource management is much more than recruitment and selection of staff and volunteers (Huseyin et al., 2011). Generally, the numbers of volunteer are greater than the formal staffs in events. Volunteers comprise a large percentage of the overall event staffing. In each event, volunteers are divided into different teams based on the specific needs of the event (Pauline & Pauline, 2009), such as reception, competition, facility, information, marketing, supporting, transportation , accommodation, security, medical treatment, environmental protection, ticket, tourism and social, etc. (Kan, 2008) These various affairs make the human resource is the fundamental part of holding the events. Furthermore, Gratton and Taylor (1948/2005) pointed out there are big differences among the levels of volunteer due to various sport events (Cheng & Kuo, 2010).The volunteer management is a wide-ranging activity, involving the long-term strategic development of the event organization and the short-term events (Huseyin et al., 2011). Encouraging volunteers to devote themselves to making the event successful and achieving high performance may be the first goal of sport event volunteer management (Chen, 2010). However, although volunteers are willing to provide the service for the events or organizations, organizers should understand these volunteers to design better programs, and achieve the results that organization and volunteer all get satisficed (Cheng & Kuo, 2010). Working with volunteers requires consideration, flexibility and enthusiasm because 22.

(30) volunteers often work for the 'fun of it' of for charitable purposes. They are the most crucial group to the events. Without them, the events won’t be successful. Volunteers require just as much management and coordination as employees (Huseyin et al., 2011; Tassiopoulos, 2005). The relationship between sport and volunteerism should be reciprocal. Sport organizations and events provide opportunities for volunteer involvement; correspondingly, depend on volunteers for success. For community-based and international events, sport organizations rely heavily on volunteers to carry out the necessary day-to-day activities or host certain events. Many countries depend on volunteers to make their events happen. The group of volunteers plays a necessary factor for sport industry (United Nations, 2003). Previous research has shown the need and importance of volunteers for the successful operation of sporting events. However, there is limited research on volunteers and mega-events (Kemp, 2002). The following dimensions helped us to explore language management of volunteer management in the cases.. The Dimensions of Volunteer Management Generally, the important input factors to be considered in the human resource management system of volunteers are recruitment, selection, training, organizing, reward, retention strategies; furthermore, the motivation and volunteer characteristics are also contained (Chen, 2010; Kemp, 2002). Kuo and Chung (2010) analyzed the 21st Taipei Deaflympics with the four basic factors in volunteer service: recruitment, training, management and supervising. They mainly explored the items: Volunteers’ authority, obligation, rewards, benefits, and supervising. The functions are providing the directions for volunteers to execute and the ways to finish tasks. Fisher and Cole (1993) indicated that volunteers could be considered as customers. The recruitment, training, retaining, organizing, leadership and rewards in volunteer management have influence on the results of the international sport events. Other than the competition, the recruitment of volunteers and planning of tasks are the key factors in the events (Kan, 2008). 23.

(31) Huang and Tsai (2009) indicated that in 2009 World Games, there are three main items, the recruitment of volunteers and administration; the training of volunteers and relationship development; human resource management of volunteers. The effective recruitment, training and tasks of volunteers are the goals for the management. Wu (2005) mentioned that the application of volunteer system to develop the human resource management in an organization is the trend; therefore, how to effectively recruit thousands of volunteers is the issue that various fields concern. Lu (2003) indicated that training and developing volunteers; providing opportunities to new skills; evaluating their performance could promote continuously volunteer service. A comprehensive training pattern is very important (Cheng & Kuo, 2010). Many researches have shown that the recruitment, training, task distribution, relationship development and even the motivation is crucial in an international sport event. Hence, this research explored volunteer management from these dimensions. It is confusing that while there is wide recognition of the importance of volunteers as a key success factor for events like the Olympic Games, there has been little research on this topic. There is a need for developing theoretical frameworks and testing theories in different empirical settings (Kemp, 2002).. 24.

(32) CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODS. This study was to explore language management in volunteer management of international sport events with organizers and volunteers’ experiences. The following sections are discussed in this chapter. The first one is the brief introduction of the three cases. Understanding the background information of the three cases was fundamental to the study which helped the researcher be involved in the cases more and form the primitive research framework. Second, the conceptual and research framework are introduced. This framework helped the researcher to explore from different perspectives comprehensively; however, it could be revised during the research. The third part is about population and samples. The fourth part is data collection. This research adopted two qualitative methods, in-depth interview and document review. The fifth one is data analysis which introduces the coding and analysis process. The final one comes to research quality, which introduces the standards for evaluating validity and reliability and the methods for preventing validity threats.. The Three Cases This research was focused on the three cases: 2009 World Games, 2011 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and 2011 Tour de Taiwan. The following are brief introduction of the three international sport events.. 2009 World Games The World Games are held under the auspices of the international World Games Association (IWGA). The association is made up of 32 international Sports Federations and confirms that the sports and disciplines of sports which are eligible for participants in the Official Sports Program. The IWGA entrusts the organization of The World Game to an Organizing Committee formed by the host city, the National Olympic Committee and the regional government, etc. The conduct of ceremonies and contests is subject to the 'Rules of The World Games'. The big difference between The World Game and The Olympics is that 25.

(33) the host city is never required to build facilities or extend upon available infrastructure for The World Games. Existing infrastructure and venues in and around the host city influences the factor for the sports' selection to be on the Official Sports Program. The World Game is held at quadrennial intervals, in the years following the Games of the Olympiad. In 2009, it is hold form July 16th to July 26th by the host city, Kaohsiung in Taiwan. 84 countries participates in the big events, such as Russia, Japan, Britain, US, Germany, France, etc. The whole systems and events are complicated; the organization chart is shown in figure 3.1. Figure 3.1. The organization chart in Kaohsiung World Games Adapted from website of Kaohsiung World Games. http://www.worldgames2009.tw/wg2009/cht/koc_KOC.php. 2011 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships is an annually important tournament of International Skating Union (ISU). After The Chinese Taipei Skating Union 26.

(34) successfully hold ” ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2006/2007 Chinese Taipei Cup” and attended “ 2010 World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championship in Taipei ” , the union also obtained the opportunity to hold the important event of ISU with Taipei Sports Office. The date of Four Continents Figure Skating Championships was from February 15th to February 20th. The venues are the main hall and vice hall of Taipei Arena. Participants of ISU members were mainly from Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Philippines, Pureto Rico, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, USA, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei.. 2011 Tour de Taiwan (International Bicycle Tour Championship in Taiwan) The Tour de Taiwan is the most representative Bicycle Trailer-Highway-Multiday Race in Taiwan. The date for the event was from March 19th to March 28th in 2011. The highway was from Taipei City, Xinbai City, Taoyuan County, Xinzhu City, Taizhong City, Zhanghua County, Kaohsiung City, Taidong County, Hualian County, to Yilan County. Participants were from five continents. There were twenty teams, which contain Australia, Austria, England, America, Italia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This event was evaluated as 2.2 level by Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). After the researcher reviewed the information of the three international sport events, these events were understood more. Table 3.1 presents the basic information of these cases, especially the amounts of countries participated. This shows that the levels of internationalization of the events are high.. 27.

(35) Table 3.1. The Information of the Three Cases NO.. 1. Name. Date. City. Countries. 2009 World Games. Form July 16th to July 26th. Kaohsiung. 84 countries participates in the big events, such as Russia, Japan, Britain, US, Germany, France, etc.. 2. 2011 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. From February 15th to February 20th. Taipei. Mainly from Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Philippines, Pureto Rico, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, USA, Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei. 3. 2011 Tour de Taiwan. Form March 19th to March 28th. From Taipei City, Xinbai City, Taoyuan County, Xinzhu City, Taizhong City, Zhanghua County,. Australia, Austria, England, America, Italia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.. Kaohsiung City, Taidong County, Hualian County, to Yilan County.. 28.

(36) Research Framework For holding an international sport event, there are many steps and activities, bidding for the events, including inspect visit, organizing the committee, volunteer management, volunteer service and the evaluation. Language management may be involved in these steps; however, the researcher only emphasized on the volunteer management and service. The strategy, policy, implementation and difficulty in language management were explored. Figure 3.2 presents the concept.. Figure 3.2. The conceptual framework The research framework is presented in figure 3.3. From the perspectives of organizers and volunteers, the data about recruiting, selecting and training in volunteer management were collected. The communication in volunteer service was collected mainly form volunteers. With the diverse points of view, the researcher not only explored the general situation of language issues but also the gaps between the organizers and volunteers. From the perspective of organizers, although most of the international sport events were authorized and specified by the international unions, the organizers in Taiwan took responsible for most planning and implementation of volunteer management. As for perspective of volunteers, how they experienced about the language management were 29.

(37) collected. Besides, with their experiences standing on first line, the real situations of communication with the foreigners were collected. Overall, the volunteer management served dimensions for the researcher to explore the language management in events.. Figure 3.3. The research framework In figure 3.4, the conceptual and research frameworks were combined to create the research table. The goal of researcher was to fill in the blank space insides the bold lines, including volunteer management and volunteer service. In volunteer management, the language policies, implementation, difficulties and strategies in functions were explored. In volunteer service, the language policies, implementation, difficulties and strategies in communication were explored.. Figure 3.4 The research table 30.

(38) Population and Samples The population was organizers and volunteers in the international sport events for the purpose of this study. They were involved deeply in the sport events. The samples of this study were the organizers and volunteers in the three international sport events. The snowball sampling method in non-probability sampling was chosen (2010, Chen). In individual sport events, the snow-ball began from organizers. When research interviewed the organizers, she informed them the required volunteer lists. The volunteers were contacted by researcher and organizers. In the World Games, the snow-ball began from the friends of researcher. Because there are a great number of volunteers in World Games, it was not difficult to find the volunteers. When it comes to the sampling criteria, for organizers they must be involved in volunteer management in the international sport event, such as planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating. For the volunteers, there were two criteria (1) they should participate in the whole sport event (2) their tasks should involve foreign languages and cultures. There were 24 interviewees, four organizers and 20 volunteers. In World Games, there were five volunteers and one organizers. In Figure Skating Championships, there were seven volunteers and three organizers. In Tour de Taiwan, there were eight volunteers and two organizers. There was one volunteer in 2009 Deaflympics. The total was more than 20 because some interviewees may participate in two events. Two prior interviews were conducted including one volunteer in World Game and one in Deaflympics. The information of interviewees is presented in table 3.2 and 3.3.. 31.

(39) Table 3.2. The Information of Organizers Name. V. W. X. Age. 36~40. 41~45. 46~50. Job. Marketing and planning. Business. None profit organization. Education. Bachelor. Bachelor. Master. Major. Economics. Journalism. English education. 2011 ISU Four. 1.. 1.. 2009 Kaohsiung World Games. Continents Figure. Four Continents Figure Skating. Four Continents Figure. Skating. Championships. Skating Championships. Championships. 2.. 2.. Event. U. 2011 ISU. 2011 Tour de Taiwan. 2011 ISU. 2011 Tour de Taiwan. Other experience of. 2012 Asian Figure Skating. Since 2006. 2009 Kaohsiung World Games (15 years). assisting sport events. Trophy. Tour de Okinawa. The experience of. Costa Rica. China, Japan, Singapore. American, Canada,. going abroad. China. Indonesia, Malaysia, South. Denmark, Sweden, India, France, Kenya,. Sydney. Africa. China ,Brazil, South Africa, Spain , Philippines,. Norway, Holland,. Singapore ,Malaysia, ,Australia ,New Zealand 32.

(40) Table 3.3. The Information of Volunteers Event A Tour de Taiwan. Affair. Gender. Age. Type of work. Level of Language. Prior experiences of sport events. Experiences of going abroad. Medical. Female. 21~25. Student. English - TOEIC 850. Taipei Summer. Did not ask. service. Deaflympics, 2009 (Medical service). B Tour de Taiwan. Traffic control. Female. 21~25. Business planning specialist. English- TOEIC 650. None. Did not ask. C Figure Skating. ST. Female. 21~25. Business. English- TOEIC 955. None. Did not ask. planning specialis t. GEPT- medial and high level Spanish, French Korean. Student. English- TOEIC 800. None. Did not ask. English- TOEIC 750 French. None. Did not ask. Championships. D Figure Skating Championships. Accredit ation. Female. 21~25. E. Accredit ation. Female. 21~25. Figure Skating Championships. (continued) 33.

(41) Table 3.3. (continued). F. Event. Affair. Gender. Age. Type of work. Level of Language. Prior experiences of sport events. Experiences of going abroad. Figure Skating Championships. Accreditati on. Female. 21~2 5. Student. English-TOEIC 855. None. Did not ask. Public Relation. Female. 21~2 5. Student. GEPT –high and middle TOEIC- 955 TOFEL- 92. None. Japan, Turkey, China. Female. 31~3 5. Teacher. IELT- 8 TOEIC- 990. 2000 World Cup baseball. Australia. G Tour de Taiwan Figure Skating Championships. Announcer & music. H Figure Skating Championships. Time-acco unting. competition None. I. Figure Skating Championships. Anti-dopin g control. Female. 21~2 5. Student. TOEIC- 915 Germany- 1 year. China Malaysia. J. Tour de Taiwan. Reception. Female. 16~2 0. Student. GEPT- middle TOEIC- 900. None. America, Australia England , French. K Tour de Taiwan. Awarding & Ceremony. Female. 21~2 5. Overseas Sales. TOEIC- 615 Japanese- 3 years. ISTP Bicycle Tour Championship. Japan China (continued). 34.

(42) Table 3.3. (continued). L. Event. Affair. Gende r. Age. Type of work. Level of Language. Prior experiences of sport events. Experiences of going abroad. Tour de Taiwan. VIP reception Pick-up. Femal e Male. 21~2 5 21~2. Student. TOEIC- 865. None. America. Student. TOEIC- 905(2011). Several. Africa, Germany,. M Figure Skating .. Championships. 5. Holland, Belgium. Tour de Taiwan. Traffic control. N Tour de Taiwan. Traffic control. Male. 21~2 5. Student. TOEIC- 675(2012.2). Several. None. O 2009 World Games. Announcer Random. Male. 21~2 5. Student. TOEIC- 935 Spanish- 2 years. None. America Japan. P. Team. Femal e. 21~2 5. TOEIC- 955. None. Translating. Male. 21~2. Technol ogy industry Student. TOFEL- 107(2010). None. 2009 World Games. Q 2009 World Games. 5. Spanish- 3 years. America, Japan, China, Germany, Austria, Slovakia (continued). 35.

(43) Table 3.3. (continued) Event S. 2009 World Games R 2009 World. T. Affair. Gander. Age. Type of work. Level of Language. Prior experiences of sport events. Team. Female. Student. Male. TOEIC- 830 Japanese- 3 TOEIC- 850. None. VIP. 21~ 25 21~. Games. reception. Taipei Summer Deaflympics, 2009. Informati on Desk and Reception. Student. Experiences of going abroad. None. America. None. America Canada England. 25 Female. 31~ 35. Product manager. 36.

(44) Data Collection Qualitative methods were suitable for this exploratory research for two reasons. First, through literature review and past experiences, it was found that language plays a tool in social interaction and seems to be an abstract concept. Second, most researches adopted qualitative methods. These give evidences that the qualitative methods are appropriate for research in this field. There are several characteristics of qualitative approaches (1) interpreting and describing everything in details. (2) enquiring the specific phenomenon to find out the new problems and raise new point of views (3) using language and image to make statements; following the process of events in a flow of time (4) emphasizing on understanding samples from their points of view; noticing their mental state and meaning construction (Chen,2010). These characteristics are proper for answering the research questions. The case study approach was chosen in this research, as it is appropriate when explorative questions are asked and when a contemporary phenomenon is in focus (Lagerström & Andersson, 2003; Yin, 1993). The qualitative methods included in-depth interview and document review.. In-depth Interview This study was largely based on qualitative data from interviews with the organizers and volunteers. This study explored the nature and basic factors and to explore the factors under investigation, a semi-structured qualitative approach was appropriate. This enabled key topic to be covered and allowed these interviewees to provide their own views in an order and depth that they felt comfortable with (Chaudhry & Crick, 2008). Semi-structured interview also provided an in-depth and multidimensional understanding of the setting, as well as a valuable insight into implicit issues such as language usage and communication practice (Tange & Lauring, 2009). The interview questions were developed from literatures in language management and volunteer management. There were three phases in developing interview questions. First, researcher discussed with academic advisor. Second, the peer 37.

(45) review was conducted. Four peers were included in the peer review. Third, the researcher discussed with the key informants before they transfer the questions to the interviewees. Most interviews were conducted through personal and face to face conversation; two interviews were carried out over Skype on internet due to physical distance. Each interview was ranged around one hour; in certain cases, the basic information of the interviewees was gathered through e-mails. The location of each interview depended on the interviewee’s situation, like coffee shop and schools. With permission of the interviewees, each interview was recorded with MP3 and transcribed word by word. They were saved as digital files and hard-copies for analysis and quality of the research.. Document Review Reviewing the related documents in different dimensions helped the researcher to understand cases more comprehensively. These included organizational manuals, sport event manuals, volunteer training materials, related magazines and reports. Most of the documents were collected through websites and interviews. When conducting interviews, the researcher informed the interviewees about the demands of documents and explained clearly about the importance of the documents which were kept confidential. The documents were considered as supportive source which supported the findings form the interviews; however, the specific documents were chosen to analysis for its potential in enquiring language issues.. Schedule There were three stages for data collection, including key informant meeting and two rounds of interview. Key informant meeting. The goal for the meeting was to meet the key informant and understand the background of the international sport events. The key informant has been involved in many sport events and also managed parts of the volunteer management. Through the meeting, researcher found more inspiring thoughts and concrete direction of this research. 38.