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


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


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

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?



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?

College of Foreign Studies--English Teachers


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


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


Teacher talk
50%
Student talk
50%
Non-English Class


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


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


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.