How to Measure Power Distance?

A Comparison of Power Distance of English Teachers and Non-English Teachers in Classroom Communication -----------A Case Study of Guangxi Normal University Presenter: Li Dongmei

Research Background 

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The relationship between language and culture. Language functions not only to report information but can actually shape the language users’ thoughts and values (Whorf, 1956)

Two Research Questions 

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1. If people learn or use a foreign language for a long time, do their cultural values change? 2. Will the change be reflected in their daily communication behaviors?

Comparing Groups

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College English teachers and Non-English teachers. In Guangxi Normal University

What to Compare?

 

Value-------(power distance) Classroom communication style---by observation

Why Power Distance? 

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Hofstede’s culture dimension theory

Chinese culture as a high power distance culture Value may be changed

How to Measure Power Distance? 

According to Hofstede, power distance is the acceptable degree of the less powerful social members toward power inequality in one social group or organization. So the best way to measure power distance is to ask the less powerful ones’ perception toward the more powerful ones. As a result, College English and non- English teachers’ power distance tendencies should better be measured through the students’ answers.

Observing Teacher’s Communication Style     

teachers request strategies, discourse, students participation, humor use non-verbal language

Data Collection-sampling 

Why Guangxi Normal University?

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College of Foreign Studies--English Teachers

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College of Chinese linguistics and literature , College of Politics and Administration, College of Mathematics and College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering –Non-English Teachers Gender, professional title

Table 1: Teachers Sampling N=26

English teacher Major Title/Gender

Table 5 : Teachers Sampling（N=26）

male

female

male

1

4

1

3

2

2

2

7

1

3

Professor Associate Professor Lecturer

Non-English teacher female

Table 2: Questionnaires Distribution（N=1172） Table 6 : Questionnaires Distribution（N=1172）

English Major

College of Politics and Administration

College of Liberal Arts

College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering

College of Mathematics

CEC

CEC

CE

MC

CEC

MC

MC

MC

Questionnaire Distributed （1195）

113

72

148

52

138 120 175 162 210

Questionnaire Returned （1172）

113

70

144

52

135 118 171 160 209

(CEC = College English Courses; MC=Major Courses)

Data Treatment The data collected from the teachers’ power distance questionnaire are first testified through homogeneity reliability analysis to prove the reliability of the questionnaire. Then they are analyzed through Univariate Analysis of Variance in SPSS 10.0 to determine the effects of three independent variables (major, gender and professional titles) to the dependent variable: teachers' power distance.

Data Treatment 

The observation scales are analyzed by classification and computation of the data manually.

Table 3: Mean Score on Power Distance of English Teachers and Non-English Teachers

Major

NonEnglish Teachers English Teachers

Mean Std. Error

44.752 .302

95% Confidence Interval Lower Upper Bound Bound 44.112 45.392

41.361 .324

40.674

Table 8: Mean Scores of Non-English Teachers and English Teachers

42.048

Table 4: Summary of Results of ANOVA on Data from Teachers' Power Distance Questionnaire

F

Sig.

Mean Square

Eta. Squared

Major

55.474

62.880 .000* .797

Professional Titles Genders

1.900

2.154

.149

.212

1.855

2.103

.166

.116

﹡significant at the 95% level

Observation Result 

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1. English teachers’ requests are more indirect and soft than that of nonEnglish teachers. 2. English teachers begin lessons by prompting some questions, while nonEnglish teachers usually begin lessons directly.

Observation Result English Class 

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Teacher talk 50% Student talk 50%

Non-English Class 

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Teacher talk 67% Student talk 33%

Observation Result 

4. Among 12 non-English teachers, only 3 teachers use humors or jokes during a class hour. While among the 14 English teachers, 6 of them use humors or jokes.

Observation Result 

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5. In non-English class, the teachers stand in front of the class or behind the platform most of the time. The distance between teachers and students is kept within the public distance/zone. But in the English classes, the English teachers try to approach to the students 2-3 times in 40 minutes from public distance to social distance/ zone or even personal distance.

Conclusion 

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The English teacher’s power distance is significantly lower than that of the non-English teachers. This difference is mainly caused by the different time of learning and using English language.

Conclusion 

The research strongly proves that learning and using a language for a long time, people will be influenced by the value contained in that language.